"If you don"t get out of the car you"re going to catch these f—king bullets," an off-duty officer was caught yelling at an unarmed man before she shot him multiple times.
The post WATCH: Cop Gets In Man’s Car, Shoots and Kills Him as They Drive Down the Road—No Charges appeared first on The Free Thought Project.
A mentally ill man in his 30’s was shot and killed by NYPD police officers after he refused to put down the pipe he was holding.
The post Police Release Video Leading Up to Killing of Mentally Ill Man for Pointing a Small Pipe appeared first on The Free Thought Project.
A Huntington Beach, CA officer has been cleared of all wrong-doing in the shooting death of a 27-year-old homeless Navy veteran who was unarmed at the time of his death.
When looking into the past of an officer charged with the murder of a child while riding an ATV, a massive failure of accountability is exposed.
A video has resurfaced apparently showing Philip Brailsford, the police officer who killed Daniel Shaver, violently abusing teenagers.
An Oklahoma City police officer has been charged with 2nd-degree murder for killing an unarmed mentally-ill man on video.
Las Vegas, NV — The response time of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department during a recent mass shooting has been called into question by an Iraq War Veteran who claims he told police exactly where the suspect, Stephen Paddock, was firing on concertgoers, which was above his room in the Mandalay Bay casino.
Chris Bethel told reporters he was staying in a room just a few floors below Paddock and notified police to the mass murderer’s precise location. Now, Bethel is demanding an answer to the question as to why it took the LVMPD Swat team 1 hour and 12 minutes to penetrate Paddock’s room to neutralize the threat.
According to a timeline produced by the DailyMail, the first reports of gunfire at the Route 91 Harvest Festival came in at 10:08 p.m. Bethel claimed he called the police to let them know from which floor and room the shooter was firing from. He is now miffed with incredulity that it took police 72 minutes to enter the room, only to find that Paddock had reportedly taken his life.
Recognizing the types of weapons being used, and the presence of explosives, Bethel described what he heard:
Advertisment
Bethel said he called the front desk to tell them where the shooter was firing from but no one answered the phone. All the while, he could hear the shooter changing calibers and weapons as well.
READ MORE: Cops Kill Deaf Electrical Engineer, Detain the Only Witness and Delete His Video
He told reporters as he watched the police attempt to locate the shooter’s room, he noticed they were going in the wrong direction. Eventually, he was able to get someone on the phone to tell them, “He’s not over there. He’s over here!”
The first look into the officers’ view during the shooting was revealed after Body Camera footage was released on Tuesday, showing the sheer chaos and terror at the scene as they searched for the shooter.
According to the DailyMail’s timeline, LVMPD admitted they knew of Paddock’s exact location at 10:24 p.m., but they delayed in storming the room and taking out the suspect. It was not until 11:21 p.m. that the SWAT team used explosives to blow their way into the room, only to find Paddock reportedly deceased from self-inflicted gunshot wounds. Bethel said he is filled with regret about the fact that it took LVMPD over an hour to get inside the room.
“I feel like I didn’t do enough,” he told CBS DFW. “I feel like I couldn’t get a hold of somebody quick enough to let them know. And it felt like it took them too long to get over there, to take him out.”
In all, 59 people were killed and 527 injured in the attack now known as the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history. But LVMPD has not always been so slow to respond to reports of armed and dangerous individuals.
READ MORE: Cops Shoot Man 7 times, Run Him Over and Kill Him Because He Had a Bright Green Water Gun
In 2010, LVMPD officers were called to the Costco in Sumerlin because concealed carry permit holder and West Point graduate Erik Scott had been seen carrying a concealed handgun in his waistband. It took LVMPD less than 15 minutes from when they received the call from Costco security until they arrived on scene.
After they confronted Scott at the entrance to the Costco, they shot and killed the man many said was attempting to comply with their commands. Not only was he not brandishing a weapon and not firing upon innocent shoppers, but he had his arms raised above his head when he was struck by officers’ bullets with one piercing his heart.
The fact that the LVMPD was so quick to respond to the call to a local warehouse club where a man was threatening no one and yet, were so slow to take action while an active shooter was mowing down hundreds of partygoers, has not gone unnoticed.
While the gun grabbers are quick to push their unconstitutional initiatives to take away the rights of citizens to keep and bear arms, some criticism should be reserved for a police department that arguably dragged its feet. According to Bethel, they could have truly saved lives by responding much sooner and taking action immediately after they were given the location where Paddock was firing from.
Surprise, AZ — Body camera footage is giving new insight into the case of a 20-year-old man who was shot and killed by police after they approached him while he was sleeping in the front seat of his car—and its revelations are giving hope to the man’s family, as they pursue a wrongful death lawsuit.
When Derek Adame was approached by Police Officer Joseph Gruver on Nov. 26, 2016, in Surprise, Arizona, he was reportedly asleep in his vehicle. Adame had parked his 2016 Nissan Sentra on the side of the road in a residential neighborhood, but when Gruver ran the vehicle’s plates, the car came back as stolen. Someone in the neighborhood called the police to report the suspicious vehicle, but before the sun rose in the morning, Adame would be killed, shot by Gruver.
It was not until this week that the Surprise Police Department released the body camera footage captured by the two responding officers. Officer Shaun McGonigle was Gruver’s backup. Gruver’s body camera footage shows the moments leading up to the shooting and killing in his vehicle.
Advertisment
According to AZCentral, who obtained court documents related to the lawsuit, the suit alleges that “without any warning or legal justification, Defendant Gruver used willful, excessive and unreasonable force when he shot and killed Adame … Defendant Gruver’s negligent handling of his firearm resulted in Adame sustaining fatal gunshot wounds to his right forearm, torso and right shoulder.”
In an analysis of the police reports, AZCentral discovered the police officer’s statements, the police report and the body camera footage do not all add up to provide a complete description of what happened that night.
In the days after the shooting, Surprise police explained the fatal shooting by saying there was a struggle and concern that Adame was planning to drive away and purposely drag the officer. That sentiment is chronicled in the 89-page police report detailing aspects of the incident. However, Gruver’s statements to police do not exactly match what is clear on the body camera footage. Gruver, according to police reports, detailed his thoughts to investigators as he entered the passenger side of the vehicle. He struggled with Adame, who Gruver says hit the accelerator. That caused him to get “sucked into” the vehicle, according to reports.
The vehicle was barely rolling when it appears Gruver opened fire with two fatal shots. After falling out of the rolling vehicle, he radioed to dispatch “shots fired” and indicated that Adame had been hit. He then said something that was patently false: “I think I’ve been hit, too,” he said implying the suspect had shot the officer. Allowing that impression to proliferate was potentially deceptive on the part of the officer who knew he did not see a gun and had not been fired upon.
READ MORE: Innocent Man Tackled and Arrested for Filming Cops Choke a Young Man for Biking on the Sidewalk
A subsequent search of Adame’s car revealed that no firearm was found in the vehicle. Only a folding pocket knife was uncovered. However, heroin paraphernalia was reportedly recovered, which may have been the reason Adame was so jumpy in the presence of Officer Gruver. Adame’s case serves to illustrate precisely what can happen when police are called to investigate a suspicious vehicle.
As The Free Thought Project reported this week, a Maryland man, who was reportedly a heroin addict, was nearly shot and killed by Phoenix police this summer after someone called to report a suspicious vehicle. Unlike Adame, Antonio Garcia-Goff successfully drove away from police—but not before being shot at six times by Officer George Davis. Fortunately, Davis was a terrible shot and did not wound Goff with the hail of bullets.
Both encounters were recorded on body cameras worn by the police officers involved. As a result, the statements by the officers can be evaluated in light of the official recordings. Unfortunately, Adame lost his life, and if the wrongful death lawsuit his family filed is successful, taxpayers in Surprise, Arizona, will foot the bill for the alleged trigger-happy negligence of its officers. Non-compliance with police commands should not be a death sentence for motorists, yet it seems it is becoming an epidemic.
A storm of controversy is brewing in Lincoln Parish, Louisiana, after a police officer killed a deaf electrical engineer this past week in broad daylight outside Simsboro High School.
The man, Joshua Cloud, was a graduate of the University of Alabama’s School of Engineering. By all accounts, he was a happy, healthy, respectful, generous and kind human being. But by the official police statements, he shot at a police officer and was gunned down as a result. The only problem with the official story is that it does not match up with an eye witness accounts of the shooting.
One witness is calling Cloud’s death an act of “murder.” Quintin Crowe is a school security guard at Simsboro High. He said he was taking a smoke break when he heard a police taser being deployed. Crowe said he grabbed his camera and began recording. He observed a white male wrestling and fighting with an officer.
The man began asking the officer, shouting in fear, “What did I do?” Crowe said the officer deployed a K9 police dog on the man and said the man “busted a move” and he believed began to run in the opposite direction. It was at that instant that the shots rang out and Crowe said he saw the man fall, laying lifeless on the ground. Here’s Crowe’s first-hand account of what he saw:
Advertisment
Even though Crowe never once mentioned seeing the man with a gun, the Lincoln Parish Sheriff’s Department issued the following statement, saying not only did Cloud have a gun, but he shot the deputy first!
“Today, August 29th, one of our Lincoln Parish Sheriff’s Deputies conducted a traffic stop in Simsboro, LA. During
the course of the stop the suspect, a white male believed to be from the State of Tennessee, became non-compliant and
combative. The suspect, produced a weapon and fired striking out Deputy in his duty vest. Our Deputy returned fire on the suspect. The suspect was subsequently pronounced dead at the scene. This incident occurred in very close proximity to the Simsboro School. Out of caution, the school
was placed on temporary lock down until the scene was secured. As is standard operating procedure for this department
the Louisiana State Police will be the agency investigating this incident. Any inquiries into this incident should be directed to the
PIO for the Louisiana State Police, or the Louisiana State Police, Bureau of Investigations, Monroe, LA, field office.
Names have been withheld, pending the notification of next of kin. I would like to offer thanks to the outpouring of
appreciation and concern that this office has received from the public and surrounding jurisdictions.”
— Sheriff Mike Stone
Sheriff Stone’s statements stand in stark contrast to the eyewitness account, as well as the character witness testimony of dozens of Cloud’s friends—many of whom now believe the police are covering up a murder.
READ MORE: St. Louis Officer Charged for Being High on Cocaine While He Shot a Man in the Back
As a result, Cloud’s friends are now accusing the sheriff’s deputy, Officer Kyle Luker, of killing Cloud and creating the narrative he shot the engineer in self-defense. They are saying Cloud was likely shot for not complying with Luker’s commands, something he could not possibly have heard as he is legally deaf.
Fueling their suspicions is Crowe’s own admission that police took his phone and deleted the video of the incident. Even though Lincoln Parish Sheriff’s Department detectives told him they are in possession of his cell phone recording and will use it as evidence, none of Cloud’s friends are accepting that conclusion. They are saying the police department and Sheriff Stone are engaged in an active cover-up of an officer-involved shooting that looks more like a murder.
Zach Cooley, formerly with the US Navy, commented on the Sheriff’s department page, “You obviously have no clue who he murdered.” Another friend, Chris Schneider, responded with what one could describe as seething anger. He wrote:
“Where’s the video evidence! The victim was a solid human being with respect, dignity, and poise. A total law abiding American citizen!”
He described the incident as possibly a mistake:
“Cops mess up, they’re people too, and like people they cover up things when they mess up unfortunately.”
Schneider pointed out how not all police can be trusted as TFTP has reported. In Baltimore, MD, several officers were implicated in planting evidence on a suspect. He drew the appropriate analogy:
“I guess everyone supporting this cop on here doesn’t see the hard evidence on the news around the US of cops planting drugs and weapons on innocent people and taking them to jail for a crime they never committed. OR a cop shooting an innocent man to death in front of his own daughter two feet away from him in a car?”
Cloud’s friend then openly accused the police department of lying and covering up the truth:
“There is a real story that isn’t being shared with the public, shame on you. I hope true honest and fair justice will be served here. You have hundreds of people around the country weighing [sic] in on this case that are close with this victim.”
Schneider then called on the police department and Sheriff Stone to reveal the truth and stop trying to protect their officer:
“hope you do the right thing for the right reason. Would be a shame to see a wonderful human being’s life get swept under the floor because a cop had no integrity and neither did a whole police force in a Louisiana community. YOU ARE BEING WATCHED AND ACCOUNTED FOR!!! And if you feel threatened by that then you’re in the wrong! Because at the end of the day when you take off that uniform you are just like me and everyone else in your communities! You are nothing special!”
Drew Glines, another of Cloud’s friends, is questioning the official police narrative as well. He wrote:
“Joshua Cloud was legally deaf….. and was one of the kindest, most sincere, genuine, selfless individuals I have had the opportunity to encounter. I am privileged to call him my friend. He would never have endangered someone’s life, police or otherwise, if he did not feel his life was in imminent danger. I eagerly await video and audio evidence of this encounter… bc this is not as cut and dry as, ‘bad guy shot cop, cop fired back’ …
When should we expect that more details will be released?”
The details the police should release immediately are the gun with its serial number, make and model, and more importantly, the video that Crowe took and police have deleted.
READ MORE: Man Arrested for Filming Cops, Apparently They "Felt Threatened" by the Presence of a Cell Phone
Any dash cam or body camera footage should also be released as well as security camera footage of the incident recorded from Simsboro High School where police reportedly took Crowe to confiscate his cell phone footage. Such confusion and unanswered questions exist surrounding the officer-involved shooting that releasing those details in a timely manner may dispel all doubt about whether or not Cloud was murdered, as Crowe alleges, or was killed in self-defense as Sheriff Stone contends.
Schneider is demanding “hard evidence” be presented and promises he is not going to sit idly by as police try to push their own narrative of last week’s deadly encounter with police. “I already messaged them, emailed them, and writing the state later today. There needs to be noise made over this. I’ll be damned if I let a guilty man still continue to serve that community while my friend is dead,” he emphatically wrote.
Cassidy McCool is Cloud’s girlfriend. She, too, vouched for his character as a reply to Sheriff Stone’s contention that her boyfriend was shot and killed because he opened fire on deputies. She called it murder what happened to her boyfriend. She wrote:
“My boyfriend, Joshua Cloud, was the single most level-headed and calm-mannered man I have ever known. I have NEVER even seen him get upset or angry. Never has he ever been violent, he has always been a lover not a fighter. He was just on the way home from a long summer away from home. He was LEGALLY DEAF & does not wear hearing aids! He probably did not understand what the officer was saying and HE MURDERED MY SOULMATE. I need to know what this officer did to my boyfriend! I need video evidence! I need to know what you did to Josh! Josh was the most rational and ingenious man I have ever known, and he just attained his degree in electrical engineering! WHAT DID THAT COP DO TO MY BOYFRIEND?!?!? WHY DID YOU MURDER MY BOYFRIEND?!?”
Joshua Cloud was from Knoxville, TN. He was buried on Sunday. His death marks the 806th death by cop in 2017.
St. Louis, MO — On Wednesday, St. Louis Police Swat team members executed what appeared to be a no-knock raid on a home, killing 21-year-old Isaiah Hammett. According to the Riverfront Times, Hammett was suspected of dealing in drugs and weapons, but his family is telling a very different version of events from what the St. Louis Police Department is sharing.
“A bunch of shots was going on. My grandson was trying to protect me, threw me on the floor,” his grandfather told reporters. “Then I hear screaming. He went in the dining room. I see my grandson laying dead on the dining room floor. And police SWAT team out front told me to come out. I come out. I didn’t know what was going on,” he said still in an apparent state of shock and disbelief.
Police say they had a search warrant to enter the home, but the grandfather made no mention of seeing a warrant or hearing police announce their presence. Nonetheless, the SWAT team penetrated the home. They’re now saying Hammett opened fire on them, according to Lt. Colonel Lawrence O’Toole, acting St. Louis Police Chief.
O’Toole told reporters, “I can describe it only as being a firefight that was inside the residence…Numerous rounds were fired.”
Hammett’s family disputes those claims.
Gina Torres, Hammett’s mother said the young man and his grandfather believed someone was breaking into the home, and tried to hide. “The cops came in and they killed my son,” Torres said matter of factly.
“I needed my son and I feel like dying right now,” she cried in the street as she conveyed her heartache. “For no reason. They shot my son to death,” Torres said, tears streaming down her face.
READ MORE: Mainstream Media Just Admitted Magic Mushrooms are Safest Recreational Drug
O’Toole said his SWAT officers did a “Fantastic” job executing the search warrant and that Hammett shot at them first with an AK-47 they recovered at the scene. The semi-automatic rifle is sold in gun stores throughout the U.S. and is not illegal to possess by most citizens. O’Toole proudly displayed the rifle, which is commonly used for self-protection against such home invasions.
Noticeably absent from O’Toole’s press conference was any mention of drugs being found at the home. Also not mentioned was any discussion about other weapons found on the premises. Conventionally left out of the press conference was any reference to body cameras being worn by officers, the footage of which rarely lies. In other words, all the police found at the home was one solitary rifle, a weapon which cost one young man his life.
The family, convinced largely by the testimony of Hammett’s grandfather who was with his grandson at the time of his killing, believes the police are lying. Hammett’s grandfather reiterated to reporters his eyewitness testimony of the events which took place Wednesday.
“I just heard a bunch of gunshots, my grandson coming in. He took me out of the bed, put me on the floor, more shots was being involved. The next thing I know, he’s laying on the ground dead,” his 71-year-old grandpa said. The family admits to there being more guns in the home but insist their son did not fire first.
As TFTP has documented on numerous occasions, citizens are often surprised when SWAT teams execute search warrants, some even conducted without firstly knocking and identifying themselves as officers. The “no-knock” search warrant is especially dangerous as many citizens do not know it’s police who are knocking down their doors attempting to make entry.
READ MORE: Peer Reviewed Study Shows Cops Kill Black People at 3 Times the Rate of their White Counterparts
Often times innocent people are killed in the process, and sometimes it’s the police officers who are killed. In Texas, where the “Castle” law is in effect, several officers have been killed executing such warrants, with at least one homeowner being exonerated for killing the intruders.
Oddly enough, Hammett may have had every right to fire on officers, especially if they did not announce their presence before throwing in the flash-bang grenade. The law states according to GunLaws101;
Missouri’s Castle Doctrine. The use of force to defend one’s self is justified when the person believes there is a certain risk of death, or great physical harm. This also applies when someone is trying to break into an occupied vehicle or home.
Unfortunately, Isaiah Hammett will not get a chance to prove his innocence in a court of law because police became his executioners, and we at TFTP do not think there is anything “fantastic” about that. Hammett’s only prior conviction was for possession of marijuana, a God-given plant, which is legal to use either recreationally or medicinally in 29 U.S. States. He now becomes one of the latest victims in the failed War on Drugs.
Appleton, WI — Police shot and killed a man last Sunday at Jack’s Apple Pub. Jimmie Sanders, of Milwaukee, was fatally wounded when police arrived after someone at the pub called 911.
Sanders and Henry Nellum got into a fight. Nellum pulled out the gun witnesses said he brought with him to the bar. Nellum told police he was attempting to hand his gun to a friend when the fight broke out. But witnesses told police that wasn’t true.
Nellum allegedly put the gun to Sanders’ neck just before Sanders wrestled the firearm away from him. During the scuffle, the gun went off. That’s when police were called to the scene.
When police arrived, Sanders had just gotten the gun away from Nellum and, according to witnesses, this resolved the situation. However, seeing the gun in his hand, police opened fire on Sanders, killing him. Now, police have charged Nellum with attempted homicide but it wasn’t Nellum who killed Sanders. It was the Appleton police.
The whole ordeal has left the Sanders family with more questions than answers, especially after the criminal complaint filed against Nellum made no mention of their loved one’s death by cop.
A person purported to be Sanders’ cousin described the incident in a Facebook message submitted by The Free Thought Project.
This past Sunday my cousin was shot by the police in Appleton Wisconsin. Jimmy was in the bar with a friend. A fight broke out. During the fight the unknown male pulled out a gun. During the scuffle my cousin was trying to get the gun out the man hands. The gun went off in the mist of trying to take it from the guy. The police were called. When the officers entered the bar they seen a black man with a weapon and fired.
The family believes the police wasted no time in killing their loved one and said they can prove it. They claim to have witnesses who say absolutely no attempt was made to deescalate the situation. They also claim, as the criminal complaint alleges, it was Nellum’s gun and did not belong to Sanders. The message continues;
Witness said the officer didnt even give my cousin a chance to surrender or drop the weapon. when the police came into the bar they seen a black man holding a gun and shot him. The man he was fighting was the one who pulled the gun out.
The message even claims the family can prove Nellum pulled the gun on Sanders who, understandably, disarmed his attacker. The cousin believes, according to the testimony the family received from witnesses, that no attempt was made to get Sanders to drop the gun.
There was even a video that the man pulled the gun out and Jimmy took it from him. Please share my cousins story I believe that the police saw a black man with a gun a opened fire not giving him a chance to surrender. He was not even given a command to comply.
The District Attorney handling Nellum’s case, Carrie Schneider, described to reporters the charges against Nellum, who’s also a convicted felon. Nellum was charged with First Degree Intentional Homicide, Felony in Possession of a Firearm, Wrecklessly Endangering Safety and several misdemeanor charges. Even though it wasn’t Nellum who killed Sanders, he’s been charged with his death by being ultimately responsible for the presence of a gun inside the pub.
READ MORE: Retired Cop Shoots Man in Subway, Video Shows NYPD Arrest the Man Trying to Save Him
According to Sanders’ family advocate, Torrey Lowe, the wrong man was killed. “It was an unfortunate incident which took place and it looks like the man who was shot was not the one who brandished the gun,” Lowe told reporters.
Schneider said “additional charges” could be filed in Sanders’ shooting death, but did not indicate whether or not she was referencing the unnamed Appleton police officer who killed Sanders. Currently, Green Bay police are investigating the officer-involved shooting which took Sanders’ life.
As The Free Thought Project has advocated on numerous occasions, police officers need to be trained and in some cases retrained in deescalation methods. The Salt Lake City Utah Police Department has retrained all of its officers to deescalate conflicts such as the one which took Sanders’ life. Since the 2015 implementation, the department has not had one officer-involved shooting which took the life of a citizen.
As of this Sunday, Jimmy Sanders’ was the 482nd person killed by police so far in 2017. What’s more, his death will more likely than not be ‘officially’ counted by police as they are charging another person for it.
Virginia Beach, VA — It has happened again. We first told you the story about several Black youth playing basketball when a police officer rolled up in his cruiser and pointed his gun at the boys demanding they get on the ground. Now, it has happened to another group of boys…this time in Virginia Beach.
According to the allegations leveled at police by Damien Jackson, 12, Ken Sedlack, 13, Davian Jackson, 12, and Maurice Victoria, 14, the boys were sitting in the backyard of a home where one of their fathers, Ken Sedlack 43, had been working. They say they were playing soccer and drinking Slurpees while Ken made a run to the hardware store for supplies.
The kids accompanied Ken’s father to go and work on the home which was in need of repair. They’re reportedly all honors students and their school, which is in another district, was on Spring Break. They also play travel soccer.
According to The Virginian-Pilot, the boys were confronted by a neighbor who asked if they had permission to be at the home. They said they did and went back to playing. One of the boys needed to use the restroom so he crawled through an open window to get inside the locked home. While inside, he opened the door for the other boys to come inside.
After being inside for a while, playing video games on their phones wasn’t much fun any longer, so Maurice and Ken went into the backyard to play soccer. Damien went to the carport and listened to music, while Davien, his twin brother, stayed inside to keep playing video games.
READ MORE: Los Angeles Cops Argue All Cars in LA Are Under Investigation
Police first approached Davien. “I heard a voice real loud say, ‘Come here!’ I saw three cops with guns and one cop without a gun,” he told reporters. He said a cop came in the house and yelled, “Hey!”, pointing his gun to Damien’s chest the entire time. Damien noticed the officer’s finger was on the trigger.
“I was shocked he was pointing a gun at me…I was like, ‘Whoa!’ ” said the sixth grader. Officers then moved to the backyard where they found the other two boys. Maurice said one of the officers yelled at him, “Hey! Big guy!” Maurice is six feet two inches tall, but hardly any match for a seasoned officer — as he is still only a child.
“He said, ‘Drop the Slurpee!’” he told reporters. He admitted, “I didn’t see the gun, but they (the other boys) all told me about it.” Maurice said he was so scared he put down the offending slurpee, lowered his head, and got on his knees, placing his hands in the air.
Ken, too, was holding an offensive object in his hands, a soccer ball. “I still had the soccer ball in my hand…He pointed the gun at me and said, ‘Drop the ball!’ … All I saw was that finger on the trigger,” Ken told the press. All the boys were rounded up and taken to the front of the house where they were forced to sit in a circle while police determined if they were legally allowed to be at the home.
After a brief conversation, police then called Ken on the phone to determine for what reason the boys were present at the home during school hours. The explanation was satisfactory for the police, who explained school was not out for students in their district, and they proceeded on their way.
READ MORE: SWAT Team Raids Unarmed Man"s Home and Kills Him Over Two Grams of Pot
But Ken wasn’t done with the officers. Upon learning at least one of the officers pointed his weapon at the children, with his finger supposedly on the trigger and the gun pointed at their chest and their head, he filed a complaint against the officers. Ken along with little Ken’s mother, Georgina Vazquez, filed complaints.
An internal affairs investigation was opened. The Virginian-Pilot filed a Freedom of Information Act request to receive body cam footage but the request was denied as the boys involved are all minors.
The newspaper spoke with Lt. Johnny Gandy, a police spokesman, who said the incident was one of three which occurred at about the same time. The Virginian-Pilot reported;
Gandy, the police spokesman, said there were two 911 calls that day that led police to the house. One was for an armed robbery involving multiple juvenile suspects in the 4800 block of North Witchduck Road. The area is 1.3 miles from Sedlack’s house.
Gandy said the call came in at 12:31 p.m., which was about a half-hour before the officers arrived at Sedlack’s home. An incident report said that the call came in at 12:50 p.m. and that no weapon was involved. An 18-year-old and two 16-year-olds were later charged, Gandy said.
The other call, at 12:47 p.m., was for a possible trespassing in the 400 block of Declaration Road, Gandy said. That’s where the home owned by Sedlack is located. No report was filed, he said.
Contrary to what the boys allege, Gandy retorted, “No officer is going to point a gun at a kid kicking around a soccer ball.” Unfortunately, Mr. Gandy, we here at The Free Thought Project, beg to differ.
READ MORE: Cop With a History of DUI Caught "Aggressively Drunk" Smashing SUV into Parked Cars
As we’ve reported, police hardly need a reason to point their loaded weapons at anyone. They do so at will, every day. All of which serves to highlight our contention that no officer should be allowed to point a loaded weapon at anyone, anytime, unless of course, another person is pointing a weapon at them.
Critics would contend doing so would place police officers in harm’s way unnecessarily. But when statistics show that less than 100 of the over 1 million full-time police officers die from gun violence, there’s hardly a reason at all to point a loaded weapon at anyone, unless you’re trying to kill them. In fact, more officers die in car crashes and from natural causes than die from violent crimes. In other words, driving recklessly to a scene where kids are playing soccer, video games, and listening to music, is much more dangerous than a kid holding a slurpee or a soccer ball. Keep your guns holstered. Garbage truck drivers have more dangerous jobs.
As TFTP has reported, more than 1,000 people die every year when officers shoot them. Children who are playing basketball in the front yard, or soccer in the backyard, pose no threat to anyone and should be treated as children, not criminals. Speaking about his experience with police pointing their weapons at him, Damien said he used to respect officers, “But not anymore. Not after what happened. Now I’m just scared of them.”
Law Enforcement Officer deaths by firearm are down slightly through May 20th, as compared to this time last year. In 2016, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund (NLEOMF), 18 officers were killed by firearms.
So far this year, only 17 officers have been killed by firearms. With nearly one million sworn officers in the U.S., the preliminary report may be welcomed news to officers everywhere. Unfortunately, however, an epidemic of officer-involved shootings persists.
The NLEOMF has been tracking police officer deaths for decades now. Their mission statement reads in part, “Founded in 1984, the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund is dedicated to telling the story of American Law Enforcement and making it safer for those who serve.” Unfortunately, in 2017 a surge of officers dying accidentally has been observed.
Total Fatalities: 51—↑ 42%
Firearms-related: 17—↓ 6%
Traffic-related: 22—↑ 69%
Other Causes: 12—↑ 140%
While firearms-related officer deaths are down across the nation, traffic-related and other causes for death, like heart attacks, appear to have skyrocketed. Also, not all of the firearms-related deaths can be attributed to shootouts with bad guys, presumably, as death by friendly fire is also included in that category. We contacted the NLEOMF who confirmed suicides by cops either on or off-duty were not recorded in the publication.
Although 2016 was a tragic year for law enforcement (as several officers were targeted in planned ambushes…NLEOMF noted the 7/7/16 killings of 5 Dallas PD officers), it can hardly reflect a war on police officers as some members of the media may want it to seem. During times of war and most notably, during prohibition, police officer deaths have skyrocketed, rising above the 300 mark during the height of state’s war on alcohol.
READ MORE: Wife Calls 911 for Medical Help, Cops Come Instead, Beat Unarmed Husband to Death
That fact, alone, is enough for those who care about police officer safety to consider becoming anti-war, and even stand against the failed War on Drugs which has led to the United States having a large prison population than any other developed country on earth.
In 2016, 64 officers were shot and killed, 21 of those dying in ambushes. Contrasting those statistics published by the NLEOMF are citizen-led organizations who track the number of people killed by police in the line of duty. Killed by Police tracks the number of officer-involved shootings which lead to someone’s death.
From Jan. 1 to May 20th of 2017, KBP has documented 453 deaths by cop, many of whom as TFTP has reported, were unarmed at the time of their deaths. Several officers in 2017 have already been charged with homicide, with more charges coming for investigations which have not yet concluded.
Deaths by cop are equal to 2016. From January 1-May 20th of 2016, 453 deaths by cop were documented by KBP, an organization which depends largely on news reports for its source work. As TFTP has reported, 2017 is the first year the FBI has tracked the death by cop statistics, depending upon voluntary reporting by law enforcement agencies (LEA). Many fear the number of those killed by cops are much higher and simply don’t get reported in the news.
Worth noting is the fact both the NLEOMF and the DBC statistics both pale in comparison to the number of Americans killed by criminals. While we are still waiting on 2016’s official numbers, there were 15,696 murders in 2015, with guns being used in nearly 3/4ths of those killings.
READ MORE: Video: Police Kill Man In Front of His Family Within 2 Seconds of Opening His Door
Both organizations, one which tracks officer deaths, and the one which tracks those killed by cops, have equally important tasks. Being a police officer in the United States is a dangerous job, but certainly not the most dangerous.
There are a great number of occupations and professions which are much more dangerous than being a police officer, the most dangerous of which is being a truck driver. Nearly 800 truck drivers died in their line of work. Construction worker deaths (mostly Latino) come in second.
And there’s certainly no war on cops. There is, however, as some have called it, a staggering phenomena taking place in law enforcement; nearly 1,200 people are being killed by police every year.
As NLEOMF reported, it’s more dangerous for police officers who are responding in their vehicles to calls for backup, than it is for them to be confronted with someone suspected of being armed. From 2011-2015, 167 officers died in automobile accidents. Almost fifty percent (49%) of the officers who were killed in those automobile accidents died in single car accidents, their own, presumably from driving recklessly or going too fast.
Tulsa, OK — Tulsa police officer Betty Shelby will not spend a day in prison for killing 40-year-old Terence Crutcher. In fact, according to officials on Friday, Shelby will be allowed to return to her job on the police force.
Tulsa police Chief Chuck Jordan said in an email Friday Shelby will once again be a police officer with his department but would not be allowed to patrol Tulsa’s streets.
Shelby’s trial concluded this week when she was found “not guilty” of manslaughter Wednesday, by a jury of her peers. The jurors also wanted to go on record as saying she is not without blame.
Shannon McMurray, Shelby’s lawyer didn’t appear convinced her client would return to the force, even expressing doubt it would be a good idea. “She’s going to self-guess herself and get herself killed or somebody else,” McMurray said, implying she may still be a danger to society. She’s been on unpaid administrative leave since September when she was charged with manslaughter.
Crutcher’s family isn’t waiting around for their son and father’s killer to make up her mind whether or not to return to the police department. According to the Associated Press (AP) they’re petitioning the city to prevent such a reinstatement of her employment.
Crutcher’s death was captured on video from a police helicopter which was flying overhead. Shelby’s husband, Dave Shelby, was in the chopper and watched as his wife made the decision to shoot Crutcher, who died from his injuries.
Shelby even took her case to the court of public opinion, granting an interview with 60 Minutes where she discussed the shooting in detail.
READ MORE: After Not Being Charged for Stalking on Duty - Ex-Cop Murders Multiple Women, Kept Bodies in Fridge
In her interview with 60 Minutes she said Crutcher wasn’t obeying her commands and was acting “Zombie-lik.e. She said she began to fear when he ignored her orders. “I’m thinking he’s calculating how he can get to his vehicle to get whatever weapon it is that he’s going to get because he didn’t find it in his pocket,” she said.
She described the moment she fired. “It’s like slow motion of me bringing my gun up, my finger coming in and then letting off. And he stopped and then he just slowly fell to the ground.”
She then blamed her shooting Crutcher — on Crutcher.
In court, the AP described her defense team’s strategy:
Shelby said she fired her weapon out of fear because Crutcher ignored her commands to lie down and appeared to reach inside his SUV for what she thought was a gun. But prosecutors said she overreacted, arguing that Crutcher had his hands in the air and wasn’t combative, part of which was confirmed by police video that showed Crutcher walking away from Shelby with his hands above his head.
The father’s killing drew outrage from the community and the nation as a whole. As The Free Thought Project has reported, there is an apparent epidemic of police-involved shootings which has led, by some estimates, to the deaths of over 1,000 people per year. The number may, in fact, be higher, as no government entity currently tracks Deaths by Cop.
Tulsa’s mayor G.T. Bynum addressed reporters following the “not guilty” verdict. “We have a long way to go, as a city, when one part of our city is synonymous with an entire race. We have a long way to go, as a city, when people keep expecting lawlessness from African Americans in response to an incident or a verdict.”
READ MORE: Wife Calls 911 for Medical Help, Cops Come Instead, Beat Unarmed Husband to Death
Addressing the racial disparity he observes in his city, Bynum said, “I would remind Tulsans that our history shows us African Americans in Tulsa have not been the instigators of lawlessness, and riots. They have been the victims of them. So I would ask that we not keep assuming the worst from a part of our community that has been exposed to the worst in this city’s history.”
Bynum says his time spent with the Crutcher family shows him they’re “really good people.” Speaking of the loss of their loved one he said, “His parents have had to bury a son. His kids will have to grow up without a dad who loves them. His sister, all of her best memories of her brother will be memories. There will be no more new ones.”
On Friday, an unusual action was taken on behalf of the jury. The twelve members (3 of whom were Black) issued a post-trial statement. According to the AP, they presented a “post-trial court filing on Friday [indicating] that Shelby could have used a less-lethal method to subdue Crutcher and could have saved his life. The foreman of the jury also says in a three-page memo that jurors weren’t comfortable with the idea that Shelby was ‘blameless’ in Crutcher’s death.”
McMurray acknowledged her client could have chosen a less-than-lethal method of subduing Crutcher but added her client had to make a “split-second” decision.
Just like that — cops can kill unarmed, non-violent, and arguably innocent fathers on video, and not only be acquitted — but still be cops.
READ MORE: Woman Serves Stalker Cop with a Restraining Order, So He Killed Her and Shot Her Daughter
Galveston, TX — According to national mortality statistics, it’s fairly easy to get killed while operating heavy equipment or fishing. But while Jeronimo Zamora Junior of Galveston, TX enjoyed working in both fields, it was police who killed him, not his occupation. And now, the family wants answers.
Zamora’s wife Carrasco called 911 because, as she told reporters, he was having some sort of panic attack. Instead of medics responding like she asked, nine Galveston County Sheriff’s deputies responded, and that’s where things took a turn for the worse.
The family said when police arrived they beat, tased, punched, kicked and used their batons on Zamora, who was beaten so bad that he was hospitalized and later died from his injuries.
According to reports, the Sheriff’s office said Zamora’s behavior was erratic, and that he was sweating profusely, combative, and began fighting with police. While dashcam footage was taken of the incident, none of the deputies were wearing body cameras.
The family’s attorney, Randall Kallinen questioned the police narrative of the incident. Kallinen wants to know why none of the officers had any physical injuries from the incident.
“They claim he was fighting with them but not one single sheriff’s deputy was injured.”
Carrasco Zamora said her day started out pleasant but ended with his death. “No family should go through this at all. That was my heart, my best friend, the love of my life. My day started off picking flowers for my husband,” said Carrasco.
Showing pictures of her husband’s smashed in face, she noted he had a broken nose. Zamora’s breathing mask also seems to be filled with blood in the pictures, indicating the internal injuries sustained in the brutal attack.
READ MORE: Video: Police Kill Man In Front of His Family Within 2 Seconds of Opening His Door
Zamora’s brother, Juan Salinas said the siblings had plans to celebrate his birthday. However, now, funeral preparations are the only activities of the day.
“He had a future and they took it from him. Tomorrow is my birthday and we had plans. Now I have to bury my brother on my birthday,” Salinas said as he choked back the tears.
Zamora’s death is one of the latest officer-involved killings. As The Free Thought Project has recently reported, more people have reportedly been killed by police since 9/11/01 than soldiers killed in the subsequent wars, averaging over 1000 per year.
And while the policing profession is a dangerous one, it’s more dangerous to be a heavy equipment operator or a fisherman than it is to be an officer. Zamora’s family is surely wishing he’d been working on the day of his death than suffering from a panic attack. Maybe then he’d still be alive.
His death also serves to illustrate the need to further train officers to deal with the mentally ill, and those suffering from emotional crises.
As TFTP has advocated, the profession of being a police officer is one of the easiest professions in which to be certified, requiring only a summer’s training in a police academy. By contrast, nurses require at least two years of training, and teachers four, yet neither profession gives its graduates a badge and a gun along with the full authority of the law, and justification to use deadly force.
For their part, the Galveston County Sheriff’s department is conducting an internal investigation. For the moment, no charges have been filed against the officers. Yet, if Zamora’s neighbors had taken it upon themselves to conduct themselves in the same manner as the officers, no doubt murder charges would be filed against everyone involved.
READ MORE: Video: Police Kill Man In Front of His Family Within 2 Seconds of Opening His Door
Strongsville, OH — Roy Evans Jr. was assassinated in his vehicle in Strongsville, Ohio, in front of his girlfriend and his children. The family was returning home from a carpeting job they were working, when police attempted to pull over Evans’ van for a minor traffic violation.
Evans shouldn’t have done it, but according to his girlfriend, Amanda Pauley, he was afraid of going back to jail and didn’t stop for police. Police say he sped away at a high rate of speed, but it’s unclear how fast his 15 passenger van could possibly have been going. Nevertheless, the police deployed spike strips, disabled the vehicle, and trapped the van, keeping it from advancing.
That’s when the police, in effect operating as would-be assassins, exited their own vehicles, guns drawn, and yelling commands. Evans can be seen trying to slowly back up his vehicle to presumably pull around the officers’ cruisers, and potentially get away. That’s when the police ended Evans’ life. Two shots were fired center mass into his chest, probably killing him instantly. The rest of the family, fortunately , were uninjured.
Police dragged Evans’ lifeless body to the ground, laid him face down, and then handcuffed his lifeless body. He wasn’t armed. No weapon was found in the vehicle. And according to reports, he was only reaching to light up a cigarette when police opened fire.
The children, who were shell-shocked from seeing the hit men kill their dad, began to wail, scream, and cry aloud. It’s unclear which officer fired the fatal bullets, but one officer attempted to steer the children’s attention away from their murdered father’s body. He told the kids, “Don’t look at it,” as if the human being whose life was just struck down was some sort of lifeless carcass and not a human life.
READ MORE: Entrepreneur Employs Ex-Cons to Turn City Destruction into Massive 60-acre Urban Farm
Evans’ son screamed in disbelief, questioning the officer’s actions, “That’s my dad, dog…That’s my dad!…What the fuck is wrong with you?…Why the fuck would you shoot him like that?”
According to PINAC:
Jill Del Greco, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office spokeswoman confirmed no weapons were found on Evans, but hinted officers will use the defense that Evans might have used his van as a weapon in order to clear the officers for hastily shooting an unarmed man in front of his entire family. ‘We are still investigating to determine whether or not the van itself was used as a weapon,’ she said. Strongsville police declined to comment and have yet to identify the officer who fired the fatal shots.
Those details will eventually emerge, along with any body camera footage taken by the officers. There will be an investigation, internally of course, which will likely conclude the officer’s had a reasonable belief Mr. Evans was attempting to flee, potentially using his vehicle as a weapon, and injuring officers who will undoubtedly claim they were “in fear for their lives” and none of the officers will see any jail time for shooting an unarmed man, father, worker, and boyfriend in front of his family. Something is seriously wrong with our culture when officers can act with reckless abandon and experience no legal ramifications.
As Matt Agorist of The Free Thought Project explained in our first article covering this story:
This case comes on the heels of officer Derrick Stafford’s trial starting this week for a hauntingly similar stop that was also caught on video. Stafford and another officer, Norris Greenhouse Jr. opened fire on an unarmed father, Christopher Few. However, in that case, the father lived and the 6-year-old boy inside the vehicle, Jeremy Mardis did not.
Police officers fearing for their lives over unarmed people in vehicles is an all too common and tragic reality. Sadly, these children will now all grow up with the memory of their daddy being blown away in front of them by a person, who they are told, ‘protects society.’
Many, if not most, police departments are moving away from active pursuits to a “restrictive pursuit policy“. Knowing that most suspects flee from police without being guilty of committing any felonies, it’s much cheaper and safer for police not to give chase. Lengthy and expensive court cases cost the taxpayer millions of dollars in settlement fees. Police cruisers are also expensive. There may be very little doubt, had Strongsville Police not given chase, not only would their vehicles not have been damaged, but Mr. Evans would still be laying carpet with his family. Something’s got to give.
READ MORE: In America, Rapists Get 3-Months While Marijuana Offenders Get Life Sentences -- Justice is Broken
Strongsville, OH — Roy Evans Jr. was assassinated in his vehicle in Strongsville, Ohio, in front of his girlfriend and his children. The family was returning home from a carpeting job they were working, when police attempted to pull over Evans’ van for a minor traffic violation.
Evans shouldn’t have done it, but according to his girlfriend, Amanda Pauley, he was afraid of going back to jail and didn’t stop for police. Police say he sped away at a high rate of speed, but it’s unclear how fast his 15 passenger van could possibly have been going. Nevertheless, the police deployed spike strips, disabled the vehicle, and trapped the van, keeping it from advancing.
That’s when the police, in effect operating as would-be assassins, exited their own vehicles, guns drawn, and yelling commands. Evans can be seen trying to slowly back up his vehicle to presumably pull around the officers’ cruisers, and potentially get away. That’s when the police ended Evans’ life. Two shots were fired center mass into his chest, probably killing him instantly. The rest of the family, fortunately , were uninjured.
Police dragged Evans’ lifeless body to the ground, laid him face down, and then handcuffed his lifeless body. He wasn’t armed. No weapon was found in the vehicle. And according to reports, he was only reaching to light up a cigarette when police opened fire.
The children, who were shell-shocked from seeing the hit men kill their dad, began to wail, scream, and cry aloud. It’s unclear which officer fired the fatal bullets, but one officer attempted to steer the children’s attention away from their murdered father’s body. He told the kids, “Don’t look at it,” as if the human being whose life was just struck down was some sort of lifeless carcass and not a human life.
READ MORE: Entrepreneur Puts Prisons to Shame, Turns Ex-Cons into Bee-Keepers - Keeping them Out of Jail
Evans’ son screamed in disbelief, questioning the officer’s actions, “That’s my dad, dog…That’s my dad!…What the fuck is wrong with you?…Why the fuck would you shoot him like that?”
According to PINAC:
Jill Del Greco, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office spokeswoman confirmed no weapons were found on Evans, but hinted officers will use the defense that Evans might have used his van as a weapon in order to clear the officers for hastily shooting an unarmed man in front of his entire family. ‘We are still investigating to determine whether or not the van itself was used as a weapon,’ she said. Strongsville police declined to comment and have yet to identify the officer who fired the fatal shots.
Those details will eventually emerge, along with any body camera footage taken by the officers. There will be an investigation, internally of course, which will likely conclude the officer’s had a reasonable belief Mr. Evans was attempting to flee, potentially using his vehicle as a weapon, and injuring officers who will undoubtedly claim they were “in fear for their lives” and none of the officers will see any jail time for shooting an unarmed man, father, worker, and boyfriend in front of his family. Something is seriously wrong with our culture when officers can act with reckless abandon and experience no legal ramifications.
As Matt Agorist of The Free Thought Project explained in our first article covering this story:
This case comes on the heels of officer Derrick Stafford’s trial starting this week for a hauntingly similar stop that was also caught on video. Stafford and another officer, Norris Greenhouse Jr. opened fire on an unarmed father, Christopher Few. However, in that case, the father lived and the 6-year-old boy inside the vehicle, Jeremy Mardis did not.
Police officers fearing for their lives over unarmed people in vehicles is an all too common and tragic reality. Sadly, these children will now all grow up with the memory of their daddy being blown away in front of them by a person, who they are told, ‘protects society.’
Many, if not most, police departments are moving away from active pursuits to a “restrictive pursuit policy“. Knowing that most suspects flee from police without being guilty of committing any felonies, it’s much cheaper and safer for police not to give chase. Lengthy and expensive court cases cost the taxpayer millions of dollars in settlement fees. Police cruisers are also expensive. There may be very little doubt, had Strongsville Police not given chase, not only would their vehicles not have been damaged, but Mr. Evans would still be laying carpet with his family. Something’s got to give.
READ MORE: The Truth about Police Violence Against Minorities, What #BlackLivesMatter isn"t Talking About
