A police department is defending its officers after they fired more than 20 rounds into a car because they "reasonably believed they were pursuing” a man who had escaped from jail.
The post Cops Mistook Man for Escaped Convict So They Murdered Him and Called It ‘Reasonable’ appeared first on The Free Thought Project.
An innocent man called 911 for help while his home was being burglarized. However, when police showed up, the robber got away and they shot the innocent man instead—leaving him paralyzed for life.
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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Frank Ranelli is still waiting for the return of thousands of dollars’ worth of computers police took from his business in 2010, even though charges were dismissed years ago.
“Here I was, a man, owned this business, been coming to work every day like a good old guy for 23 years, and I show up at work that morning – I was in here doing my books from the day before – and the police just f***ed my life,” Ranelli told AL.com.
Discover How To Become Invisible In Today’s Surveillance State!
Around 20 Homewood, Ala., police officers came into Ranelli’s computer repair business on June 29, 2010, and took 130 computers, alleging that he knew they were stolen. Ranelli recalled that some of the officers were wearing flak jackets and carrying semiautomatic rifles.
Police had received a tip that Ranelli’s store, FAR Computers, was knowingly buying stolen electronics from local crooks, court documents indicate. The tip was apparently bogus, and charges were eventually dismissed, but Ranelli is still waiting to get the stuff back more than seven years later.
Police used a law known as civil asset seizure to take the computers — many of which belonged to his customers. The law allows them to seize property even if a crime isn’t proven.
More asset forfeiture horror stories like this one are likely after U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions reversed an order that had barred seizure of cash and property without warrants or charges in July, The Washington Post reported.
Sessions also set up a special unit within the Justice Department to oversee forfeiture and limit abuses. Skeptics were not convinced by that action.
“It’s nice to see at least some acknowledgment that civil forfeiture is in need of increased oversight, but the changes really don’t go far enough and the core problem still remains,” U.S. Representative Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) complained. “Americans are still going to have their property taken from them, without due process, at record rates.”
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Crawfordsville, IN — In the United States, cops mistake innocent people for criminals and use deadly force against them—all too often. Also in the United States, cops shoot first and ask questions later. The story below is unique because it involves both shooting first and asking questions later and mistaking an innocent person for a criminal.
Last week, Montgomery County Movies was filming a scene at the Backstep Brewing Company on North Green Street in Crawfordsville, Indiana when a police officer responded to what he thought was a robbery in progress.
As ABC 7 , it must have been realistic, because someone called 911 to report a possible armed robbery, and when Crawfordsville police arrived, “a subject came out with a ski mask on carrying a handgun, and a shot was fired by police,” a statement from ISP said.
While the officer was certainly justified in pulling his gun on what he thought was an armed robber, firing a round at the man after they walked onto a cordoned off movie set was irresponsible and nearly led to the death of an innocent man.
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As the video begins, the officer is walking up to the set when actor Jim Duff began “backing out of the door with the mask on and still holding the gun,” which was actually a movie prop, ISP said.
The officers yell at Duff to “drop the gun” and before he could comply, one of them fired off a round.
The officers told him to drop the gun, but the surprised actor just turned towards the officers, ISP said.
“The officers felt their lives were in danger and fired at the suspect. The subject dropped the gun and pulled off the mask while telling the officers this is a movie set.”
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Luckily for Duff, the officer was a lousy shot, otherwise, he’d be in the hospital right now or worse.
After the shooting, Montgomery County Movies made the following post on their Facebook page to let everyone know that they would not make the terrible decision of filming a robbery scene without first telling the police:
Montgomery County Movies would first of all like to thank the Crawfordsville Police Department for their hasty response to what they thought was a crime being committed. Had it been a real robbery, the police were quick to the scene, and the situation would have been diffused promptly.
Movie officials did not physically see what transpired outside the location, except for what was visible through the glass doors entering the establishment.
During the scene, a masked robber was suppose to flee the place after being intimidated by the patrons inside. Once outside, from what witnesses could hear and see, the actor complied with the police, removed his mask, and a gunshot was fired.
Montgomery County Movies is currently working with local law enforcement to put a plan in place so this doesn’t happen again. Safety should be of the highest priority, and communication could have spared all of us from the incident, not just for MCM, but for anyone out there looking to make films.
No one was hurt in the incident.
Oddly enough, this is not the first time TFTP has reported on a police officer shooting at an actor they thought was a criminal.
Dushon Shepherd, 26, and Keenan Black, 39, both of Detroit, took part in the filming of a rap video in June. One scene in the video, in which Shepard and Black were actors, required them to pretend to carjack another person in an Aston Marton.
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The duo donned their red bandanas and toy guns and acted out the scene by driving their doorless Jeep and running up to the sports car. They got out of the car, ran up to the Aston Martin — also occupied by an actor — and shots rang out. These shots, however, were not part of the film.
A Detroit cop ran up to the scene, thinking a real carjacking was taking place, and opened fire on who he thought were real carjackers. Luckily, none of those shots hit anyone as well.
Police officers in Tulsa, Oklahoma, were caught on video commending each other on their use of force in the arrest of a suspect—but the man they put in handcuffs was an innocent man they beat to a bloody pulp, after trespassing on his property. Now, he is the one facing criminal charges.
Jack Morris, a 53-year-old man from Tulsa, is charged with a felony count of assault and battery on a police officer, and misdemeanor complaints of assault on an officer, obstruction and resisting an officer.
When Morris was brought to jail on Aug. 16, his face was bloodied and swollen, his shirt was covered in blood, and he was eventually taken to an Emergency Room, where he received nine stitches and was treated for a broken arm. However, there are still questions as to how Morris became a police suspect in the first place.
According to a report from the Tulsa World, the Tulsa Police Department recently responded to an open records request by releasing 14 videos that gave insight into the events surrounding the arrest. While video evidence of the physical altercation was not included, the comments the officers made in the aftermath were included.
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At the time, Officers Joshua Dupler and Anthony First were responding to reports of a stolen vehicle. They were searching for two suspects, and they claimed they entered Morris’ property on the suspicion that one of the suspects was hiding in his barn.
Morris told the Tulsa World that he received a call from his neighbors about the officers’ presence on his property, and he drove out to the field to check on one of his horses. Once he got there, the officers told him that he was not allowed to go near his horses and he needed to leave.
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According to the officers’ reports of the encounter, Morris responded to their commands by balling his fists, squaring his shoulders and yelling, “Take me to jail, motherf—kers.” However, Morris claims that he made no attempts to assault any of the officers on the scene, and said they were ones who assaulted him.
In the video footage that showed officers commenting on the incident, one officer can be heard describing Morris as “one of those guys that does not understand how things work.”
“At some point he either head-butted me or threw an elbow,” Dupler said, describing the altercation. “I don’t know but I got a little mark on the side of my face. Then I remember him pushing up [and] you and I—he’s a strong bastard—he’s pushing up, and I fired off three or four closed-fist hand strikes, but they were, you know, medium force, literally just in an attempt to bring his hands back up so we could get access to his hands again.”
Dupler continued, “And then later on I think (Sgt. Kurt) Dodd or I put a knee into him, and me and you finally got both hands behind his back even though I know there were like four different times when he got his hands away from us.”
Despite the fact that the officers’ use of force—which included an abundance of pepper spray and physical strikes—sent Morris to the hospital, Dupler commented on what an excellent job they did. “Like literally, it was just a good [use of force]. You sprayed him. We got him in custody. He’s probably still gonna try to sue us just because he’s an asshat and he’s got money,” he said.
READ MORE: Deputies Caught on Video Brutally Beating Surrendering Man, Charged With Assault
As The Free Thought Project has reported, Tulsa Police have come under fire for a number of incidents, including reports of collusion among officers intending to steals guns and cash from citizens.
While it remains to be seen whether the officers involved will be held accountable for their actions, Sgt. Shane Tuell told the Tulsa World that the incident “will be subject to an internal use-of-force review, which occurs every time an officer uses pepper spray, an impact weapon or less-lethal option, as well as when an officer causes great bodily injury in another way.”
Morris pleaded not guilty to the charges at his arraignment, and his preliminary hearing is scheduled for Sept. 25.
Jersey City, NJ — A high-speed chase in Jersey City ended when the car police were chasing crashed, turned another man’s car into a ball of flames. But it’s the chaotic insanity which followed the crash and the fire that has several Jersey City police officers’ careers and freedom on the line.
Jersey City police were pursuing a criminal suspect and had attempted to kill the man by firing rounds into his vehicle. He fled, but crashed into another car which was pushed into a telephone pole.
The car the suspect crashed into then caught on fire. The innocent man inside the car was able to escape the flames, but not without injury. His clothes and skin were burning.
As the man scrambles to take off his burning clothes as he gets out of the fire, a bystander named Erik Roberto was filming the scene. Roberto screamed to the police, “Oh no…no…Help him out! Help him out!”
But they did the exact opposite.
“They didn’t help him. They just started kicking him and dragging him…I don’t think they treated him in the right way and that’s not how you treat any human being in this world,” Roberto lamented to reporters.
After police rapidly approached the man, with guns drawn, they began kicking him in the ribs and head, apparently mistaking him for the fleeing driver. It was only after kicking and beating him that they then decided to drag him away from the flames of the burning vehicle.
The actions of the officers are considered abhorrent by Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop who told reporters, “I don’t think there’s any explanation that would justify their actions…The entire pursuit that was previous to that fiery crash had questionable judgment calls by the officers, from the shootings to continuing to pursue the car…”
READ MORE: Cop Detains and Beat a Man in Front of Family...Whoops Wrong Guy
The Jersey City Police Officers Benevolent Association (JCPOBA) president Carmine Disbrow issued a statement defending the actions of its officers.
As it should be, this entire incident is being fully investigated. Taking swift action isn’t always elegant, but this video clearly shows that the officers acted quickly to extinguish the flames and pull this man out of harm’s way.
We at The Free Thought Project beg to differ. It’s obvious Disbrow didn’t see the video we’ve been presented. It clearly shows officers, who would have to have been blind not to see a burning man, go up and kick him like a junkyard dog and drag his body like a dead corpse across the pavement.
The whole incident leaves many people scratching their heads in disbelief incredulously wondering not only why the officers would choose to assault a burning man, but also how any police officers union would dare to defend their actions.
The unidentified innocent man lives in West NY. His father said he suffered severe burns and is in a burn unit in the hospital. He also has fractured ribs. Mayor Fulop is now calling for the officers involved to be fired and possibly charged for the crimes committed against the innocent man.
His father called the actions of the officers an attempted “massacre” and said he’d just left home to go to work when the accident and beating took place. The suspect police were pursuing, 48-year-old Leo Pinkston, was eventually arrested.
The entire incident serves to illustrate how police officers treat individuals they suspect as having committed crimes. No longer are suspects innocent until proven guilty. All too often, as TFTP has tirelessly reported, cops comport themselves as judge, jury, and executioners. Mayor Fulop tweeted Wednesday, “This is unacceptable…We’re IDing officers. We’ll pursue termination + criminal charges as appropriate.”
READ MORE: Cop With History of Careless Driving Won"t Face Charges After Backing Over 101-year-old Woman
We will see.
