Cop Arrested for Beating a Citizen in “One on One” Street Fight While on Duty, In Uniform

Springfield, IL — “I’m sorry ma’am. But you know what it is? I’m tired of getting talked to like that,” said Springfield, Illinois police officer Samuel Rosario, just after he gave a  19-year-old citizen a beat down and potentially threw away his law enforcement career. The encounter, recorded in its entirety from two different body cameras (Rosario’s and his fellow officer’s), shows officers responding to a domestic disturbance at the 2100 Block of East Stuart St.

Upon arrival, Rosario meets with the mother who says her 16-year-old daughter was upset and broke her glass table before storming off, out of the house, and down the road. While the officer was speaking, an unidentified man kept interrupting the conversation between the officer and the mother (name withheld as daughter is a juvenile).

When Rosario mentioned they would charge the daughter with a destruction of property charge, the man became angry and stated she should also be charged with domestic violence. It seems from the dialog in the video, the family wanted the daughter locked away for some extended period of time, possibly due to the ongoing conflict in the home.

That’s when it all escalated. Rosario fired back with a seemingly condescending conversation about the man’s knowledge of the law, and the man responded with wanting to know Rosario’s badge number. “If she ain’t getting at least two charges, I want both ya’ll badge numbers,” the man said which apparently infuriated the officer who seemed to maintain decorum and civility until the threat to file a police report was made.

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Rosario then engaged the young man with talk about going to the police academy, being a lawyer and knowing the law, all of which, one could say, escalated the encounter needlessly. “Go back to Mexico, n*****,” someone said to which Rosario responded, “I ain’t from Mexico, you stupid motherf***er.”

Rosario seemed to enjoy jousting with the man and even began threatening to fight with the very person who was, at one point in the video, attempting to help the officer locate the wayward juvenile. “What do you want me to do for you to put some hands on me?” Rosario asked. Going further he questioned the man, “You want these hands? You can have ’em … you a b****.”

That’s when the officer further provoked the man into fighting. Rosario is seen walking toward the teen and appears to push him, saying, “Did I not just touch you?” That’s when the fight started, which apparently was all one-sided, meaning the officer took down the man and beat him quite viciously one might conclude. The mom can be heard saying, “He started it first, police did…the rookie started first…that’s assault and battery.”

From his partner’s body cam footage, the backup officer appears to attempt to make an arrest but Rosario called him off and implied not to arrest the young man. That’s when the gloating began. “Dude, I felt bad for you, that’s why I stopped hitting you,” Rosario said.

The altercation took place on February 27th. Springfield police reportedly stated another officer who was not involved in the incident, did what The Free Thought Project has been encouraging other good cops to do, and turned on the so-called bad apple officer, informing the police department of the incident. Following up on the tip, Springfield police investigated and the bully cop was arrested and charged with two counts of battery and one count of official misconduct on February 28th.

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The Illinois State Police were called in and recently concluded their criminal investigation into the matter. The Springfield Police Department issued a statement which reads in part, “This incident does not depict the actions of the hard-working men and women of the Springfield Police Department.”

From our analysis of the complete bodycam video uploaded to YouTube, Officer Rosario hit the man 12 times in the head. It should be obvious to anyone viewing the video, the officer had lost control. He made reference to a bracelet he wore which to him implied his true patriotism, so it may be the officer is a veteran of one of the many wars in which our country is engaged. Hopefully, he can get the help he needs to be able to control his anger and find a new career path, but one which is not in law enforcement.

According to NBC News, “Officer Rosario has been placed on unpaid administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal investigation. Official misconduct is a Class 3 felony which is punishable by 2 to 5 years in prison.”

The Free Thought Project spoke with officer Dominick Izzo who is a police officer in Illinois as well. Here’s what he had to say about officer Rosario, and we agree.

“Can’t find a single thing to justify the actions of this ‘officer’. This is not a cop,” said Izzo. “This is a savage who snuck past all psychological testing to further help the hate against us.”

Too Poor to Pay Fines: Town Forced to “Pay $680K For Running Debtor’s Prison”

This article was written by Jack Burns and originally published at The Free Thought Project.

Editor’s Comment: The state has turned its people into serfs once again, and through petty fines and regulations, everyone has once again come under the thumb. For the corporeally liberated, it is primarily a form of debt servitude, but for the poorest, who have nothing left to lose, it can mean jail time, sometimes for literally nothing more than getting caught up in a system of bureaucracy and unable to fork over more and more money for the process.

Town Busted Running “Debtor’s Prison” Must Pay $680K, Sheriff Told to Resign

by Jack Burns

Alexander, AL — The Southern Poverty Law Center has reached a $680,000 settlement in its lawsuit against the Alabama city of Alexander and its police chief Willie Robinson. The settlement was for depriving 190 of its residents their rights to due process (6th Amendment) and the unlawful seizure of their property (4th Amendment). Sheriff Robinson has even been asked to resign by lawyers representing their client.

Each one of the 190 individuals will receive $500 cash from the city for jailing them for being too poor to pay the fines imposed on them by the town. As reported by AL.com, “Hundreds of impoverished residents have faced unconstitutional and unjust treatment in Alexander City simply because they were too poor to pay fines and fees,” said Sam Brooke, in a press release. Brooke is the SPLC’s deputy legal director. He added, “The shuttering of this modern-day debtors’ prison, along with the monetary award, brings justice to many of the people who were unfairly targeted for being poor.”

The way the injustice flourished was as follows. A resident would receive a speeding ticket, for example. If they were unable to pay, they were arrested, taken to jail, and forced to remain there. While in jail, they would earn $20 a day for just being in jail, and $40 a day for doing laundry, cleaning, or washing police cruisers, until the total sum of the fine was paid in full. Each person was not allowed to go before a judge, nor to have a lawyer present to help in aid in their defense.

“Around 30 percent of Alexander inhabitants live below the poverty line. Plaintiff Amanda Underwood is one such person, who was jailed twice for not being able to pay her fines. Underwood previously earned $8 an hour and has two young children, according to the SPLC release. After not being able to pay a fine of $205 for a traffic violation, Underwood had to borrow money to secure her release. On a separate occasion, Underwood was fined $250 for driving without a license. She spent five days in jail working off her debt.”

What may have seemed like a quick way for the town to punish offenders — and settle long-standing fines, fees, and court costs — turned out to be a complete violation of Alexander’s residents’ civil rights. Underwood reveled in the victory saying, “I am glad the city is going to pay everyone who they jailed, to try to undo some of the harm they caused…I am so proud that this lawsuit has made a difference. I hope it will help many others, especially those like me who have been unfairly punished for being poor.”

Brooke said Alexander’s settlement out of court is just the latest in a string of successful lawsuits in Alabama which have made a positive impact on civil rights. “Courts are being sued and forced to change their procedures, and judges have been censured and suspended,” Brooke said. “And now a municipality has been forced to pay those it illegally jailed. We hope and believe all courts are now getting the message: It is unacceptable to punish the poor just because of their poverty.”

There’s very little difference between jailing someone to work off a fine, and selling one’s property to pay for such fines. One is a debtor’s prison and the other results in a debtor’s auction. In both cases, the police benefit from free labor and free revenue generation. Civil Asset Forfeiture (CAF) has been used for years to punish citizens accused of crimes such as drunk driving, driving with too much cash on hand, or being in possession of marijuana. Hopefully, with wins such as what the SPLC has been able to achieve in Alabama, more progress can likewise be made in CAF cases across the country as well.

This article was written by Jack Burns and originally published at The Free Thought Project.

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Author: Jack Burns
Views: Read by 136 people
Date: March 16th, 2017
Website: http://thefreethoughtproject.com/sheriff-town-pay-debtors-prison/

Copyright Information: This content has been contributed to SHTFplan by a third-party or has been republished with permission from the author. Please contact the author directly for republishing information.

Cop Convicted for Kicking Handcuffed Man in the Face for Calling Him a “Storm Trooper” on Video

After only 45 minutes of deliberation, a jury found it quite easy to convict a cop for official oppression and assault after he was captured on dashcam video kicking a man in the face for calling him a “storm trooper.”

Senior Deputy District Attorney Stephen Zawisky said he’ll probably seek jail time when Judge Scott A. Evans sentences Ryan Luckenbaugh, the 37-year-old Mechanicsburg man in April.

“Dude you just kicked a man in the face!” says Pennsylvania State Trooper Michael Trotta to his partner Trooper Luckenbaugh. The man, who’d been assaulted by Luckenbaugh was Christopher Siennick, a local activist who had just practiced his freedom of speech by giving the pair of troopers the middle finger as he skateboarded past them.

The ensuing encounter, as we previously reported, led to Siennick being forcefully arrested, pepper sprayed, tased, man-handled, and later charged — for skating down the wrong side of the street. But while he was seated on the sidewalk, awaiting his patty-wagon ride to the pokey, he began to give the troopers a little piece of his mind. “I’m an American…f’ing fascist pigs. This is just like f’ing the empire. You’re just a f’ing storm trooper. You dumb shit. Why don’t you wake up and (inaudible),” and then Siennick can be heard spitting.

Not approving of Siennick’s free speech, Luckenbaugh then kicked Siennick in the face, even though he was handcuffed and seated on the sidewalk. Almost immediately, Luckenbaugh began to allegedly lie about the incident, saying he’d spit on the troopers and threw something at their cruiser while skating by. The officers can then be heard bragging about taking Siennick “down like a sack of potatoes” someone they mockingly referred to as their “local anarchist.” “He’s the local pop star,” the officers said.

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But a closer examination of the video, which shows the officer kicking the activist in the face, also reveals the displeasure other officers demonstrated during the incident. One of the officers immediately stated, after Luckenbaugh kicked Siennick in the face, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, no, no, no, no,” and seemed to step in and motion for the attack to end. The entire incident, recorded by the officer’s dash cam, led to criminal charges being filed against Luckenbaugh for assault and official oppression charges. Siennick spent two weeks in jail, was released and all charges against him were dropped once the district attorney had a chance to evaluate his case.

Luckenbaug’s trial started Tuesday, and Senior Deputy District Attorney Stephen Zawisky wasted no time attempting to destroy his defense by showing both of the dashcam videos from the night Siennick was assaulted. Neither one of the videos showed Siennick throwing anything at the troopers, nor did it demonstrate the officers had given Siennick any orders to get out of the street. But it did allegedly demonstrate the pair of officers were intent on inflicting injury to the local activist, saying their actions would result in a “BPR” or an internal investigation of abuse by the Penn. State Police.

Penn Live documented the scene in court:

Over defense attorney Edward Spreha Jr,’s periodic objections, Zawisky walked Masteller [officer in charge of the. internal investigations] through the 14 charges Luckenbaugh filed against Siennick and questioned whether any of them were justified. Those counts all were withdrawn and Siennick was released from county prison once the DA’s office began probing the incident.In one of several disorderly conduct charges, Luckenbaugh mentions Siennick’s middle-finger salute.”Is the middle finger considered obscene?” Zawisky asked. “Not for legal purposes,” Masteller replied. Luckenbaug has been suspended without pay by the state police. Trotta was later fired for other misconduct.

Siennick is now filing a civil rights violation lawsuit against the city and the police department. As for Siennick’s reaction to Luckenbaugh’s conviction, it was a simple one — “Cowabunga!”

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WATCH: A Man Was Dancing at a Bus Stop, So 4 Cops Taser, Beat, and Arrest Him

Austin, TX — In today’s ‘See Something, Say Something’ society, doing the ‘pee pee dance’ while waiting for a bus is grounds for police action — at least that’s what a woman in Austin thought when she called the cops on a dancing man. Unfortunately, for the dancing man, police would also perceive his harmless behavior a threat and move to neutralize it.

This latest instance of ridiculous police brutality was captured on video Tuesday outside of an Austin restaurant. As the video begins, a nicely dressed man was standing at a bus stop doing a bit of a sidestep dance in place. The officer responding to the fearful woman’s 911 call perceived this dance as a potentially dangerous act.

The dancing man appeared to have a mental imbalance and may have flipped the bird at someone driving by. According to witnesses at the scene, the man may have had “some kind of disorder” and a “mental imbalance of some kind.” However, this was not grounds for what happened next.

In the video, we see the man doing nothing other than dancing when the officer approaches him as if he’s holding a child hostage. Within just a few moments the officer has his taser drawn, aiming it at the man’s head.

When the bus shows up, the man attempts to get on it, as it appears that was his intention the entire time. However, the cop would not have it. As the man attempted to walk toward the bus, the cop waved it on.

“He didn’t do anything,” a bystander says just before the situation turns violent. “He’s just standing there, minding his own business.”

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Then, boom, taser goes off, and the man falls to the ground.

For dancing, this man was shot with a taser and then tackled, assaulted, and handcuffed.

“Stop tasering him, you asshole,” a bystander yells as the cop continues his assault.

“Am I under arrest,” the man keeps asking as the cop sits on him.

“Put your hands behind your back and stop resisting,” says the officer to the man who is lying face down and not resisting at all.

At this point, another officer shows up and apparently had no other way to join in the assault so he started grabbing the man’s legs and twisting them.

“What the fuck, you can’t do that,” another bystander yells.

“He is not even moving,” a woman says.

A third cop then shows up and the officers, clearly at a loss for what their justification was for attacking the man, simply stand around and talk about ‘safety.’

For good measure, to make sure this handcuffed dancing man, who had harmed no one, would be absolutely neutralized — a fourth cop showed up.

“Four cop cars for a person that was appearing a little unstable but not bothering anyone,” says the woman taking the video.

h/t PINAC

Matt Agorist is an honorably discharged veteran of the USMC and former intelligence operator directly tasked by the NSA. This prior experience gives him unique insight into the world of government corruption and the American police state. Agorist has been an independent journalist for over a decade and has been featured on mainstream networks around the world. Follow @MattAgorist on Twitter and now on Steemit