After border patrol agents pulled over Andres Lopez-Cruz near the U.S.-Mexico border in Jacumba, California, Lopez-Cruz gave them consent to search his phone. But when Lopez-Cruz’s phone rang, an agent answered it — twice — and pretended to be Lopez-Cruz in responding to the callers on the other end.

In a unanimous ruling Thursday, a federal appeals court held a border agent violated the Fourth Amendment when he impersonated a phone’s owner and answered calls on his behalf — even though he had consent to search his phone.

“[C]onsent to search a cell phone is insufficient to allow an agent to answer that phone; rather, specific consent to answer is necessary,” Judge Stephen Reinhardt wrote for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

A Middletown family is suing the city of Wilmington after the Wilmington police SWAT team stormed their house last year while looking for a man who had last lived there in 2009.

Steven and Jennifer Tuppeny, of Willow Grove Mill Drive, filed a suit today saying police handcuffed Steven in his garage on Oct. 4, bashed in the door to his house, and pointed guns at Jennifer and their 8-year-old daughter before sending them all to the living room.

The lawsuit says police violated the family’s constitutional rights protecting them against unreasonable search and seizure and caused them emotional and physical harm. It seeks an unspecified amount to cover property damage, medical expenses and court costs.

City spokeswoman Alexandra Coppadge said the city was unable to comment because it was a pending legal matter.

Seattle Cop Suspended After He Repeatedly Punches Man In The Face Because "HE FIT THE DESCRIPTION"

Another assault by sociopathic cops, another video to prove it. Christina West, 44, was arrested by a swarm of Tallahassee police in the early morning hours after she crashed her car. Though she seems to pass their sobriety test, they put her in the patrol car, take her out and then, evidently because she starts worriedly asking about moving her child's car seat into her husband's car, savage her - slam her face into the car, brutally take her down while smashing her face into the street (thus breaking her cheekbone), knee her in the back and finally throw her again into the patrol car, all the while as she screams in pain. After the video surfaced and her lawyer and other sensible people declared it "disturbing," police responded that they “stand by our practices” but put the officers on leave pending an "investigation." The police report says West was "placed on the ground where she began to thrash and kick wildly." That is not evident from the video, whose escalation unfolds in long slow dread from a playful West happily reciting the alphabet for the sobriety test and proclaiming it "awesome" to her suddenly being grabbed, slammed, kneed and thrown as, all the while, she increasingly wails in horror, fear and pain. The irony: These goons are so caught up in their sick violence, they always forget the camera's rolling. Warning: Video gets increasingly graphic.

UPDATED by Julie Montanaro
September 11, 2013

Two Tallahassee Police officers at the heart of an excessive force scandal are now on administrative leave.

They were placed on leave last night, just hours after a dashcam video of a DUI arrest went viral

The dashcam video shows officers Chris Ormerod and Matthew Smidt arresting a woman for DUI on AUGUST 10th.

Christina West had slipped her handcuffs, they claim, and started to scuffle when they tried to put them back on.

It's the seconds that follow that sent West to the hospital first and then to jail.

West wound up with a broken cheek bone, a black eye, a bloody nose and more. She's had two surgeries so far.

Charges that she assaulted the officers that night have already been dropped by the state attorney, the officers have now been put on paid leave and Tallahassee Police promise a thorough investigation.

It was night. I was winding down, watching "Star Trek" in the living room when Irene yelled in panic from the back of our railroad flat in Brooklyn. A few seconds later, she emerged half-dressed and red-faced. "Some guy tried to climb into my bedroom from the fire escape. But I screamed, and he ran off," she panted in her Irish brogue.

Grabbing the phone, I dialed 911 and said a guy had tried to break into our apartment but had fled. "They're in your apartment?" the dispatcher asked. "No! It was an attempted break-in. They're gone." I emphasized, "Attempted, attempted. They are long gone." I walked toward Irene's bedroom and from her window adjoining the fire escape blue-and-red lights flashed in the dark as a police cruiser rounded the corner.

...

Interim Seattle police Chief Jim Pugel has handed an eight-day suspension to a patrol officer, finding the officer used excessive force and unnecessarily escalated a confrontation with a man suspected of hit-and-run driving, according to newly released records.

...

The officers contacted Etherly as he walked away from the van as a third officer, Jonathan Chin, arrived.

“Upon contact, the subject was belligerent and uncooperative with the officers,” according to a report by the department’s Office of Professional Accountability (OPA).

Video from Chin’s patrol car indicated Campbell persuaded Etherly to place his hands on the patrol car’s hood.

But Etherly kept trying to remove his hands, complaining the hood was hot. Etherly suggested he would sit on the bumper, with Campbell and Chin seeming to go along with the request, according to the OPA report.

Faust, in a statement made later to the OPA, said he had gone to inspect the van and that when he returned he heard Etherly raising his voice but no longer acting aggressively.

Yet Faust “interjected himself in an aggressive manner in an unsuccessful effort to gain control of the subject,” OPA found.

When Faust asked Etherly his name, Etherly became hostile but remained seated on the bumper.

After Etherly refused to give his name, Faust decided to handcuff him to protect everyone’s safety.

But other than shouting and expressing hostility, Etherly “had done nothing physically aggressive or combative,” according to the OPA report.

“An arrest based upon the vehicle-related crimes was premature” since little was known about the facts, OPA found.

With three officers present and Etherly “in a position of disadvantage,” the OPA report said, the use of force seemed premature when little verbal persuasion had been attempted.

“The use of force at this point was not necessary,” OPA concluded, noting that Faust’s actions seemed to expose him to “far greater threat of assault or injury” than leaving Etherly seated on the bumper encircled by three officers.

In the video, Etherly can be seen trying to yank his left hand free as the three officers tried to handcuff him. Faust then put a hand to Etherly’s neck and pushed him back onto the hood of the patrol car.

When Etherly complained of being choked, Faust responded: “I’m not choking you. I’m getting your head away from me.”

Etherly then appeared to turn his head and spit at Faust, who along with the other officers was hit with saliva. Etherly’s attorney, James Egan, has said Etherly was breathing his own saliva and didn’t intend to spit.

It was at this point Faust used his forearm to strike Etherly in the head, as Etherly continued to resist being handcuffed. As the officers took Etherly to the ground, mostly out of camera’s view, Faust appeared to deliver a second punch to Etherly’s head.

The two blows to stop spitting or aggression were “not reasonable under the circumstances,” OPA found.

In Pugel’s disciplinary report, he wrote that Faust properly detained Etherly.

“However, you escalated the detention of the suspect which resulted in the suspect spitting at you,” Pugel wrote. “You then responded by punching the suspect in the face.”

As Natasha Allen walked away from the Orleans Parish criminal courthouse Friday, 18 months after her oldest son was gunned down by a New Orleans police officer, she said that she might, finally, find some rest.

Former cop Joshua Colclough admitted Friday that he shot her unarmed son dead, during a botched drug raid that ignited racially charged tensions across the city.

He pleaded guilty to manslaughter and accepted a four-year prison sentence . . .

On March 7 of last year, Colclough was among a group of officers who raided her home on Prentiss Street in Gentilly, looking for evidence of drug dealing.

As they marched up the stairs, 20-year-old Wendell Allen appeared at the top of the staircase. He was shirtless, wearing only pants and a pair of sneakers.

He had nothing in his hands, Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro said Friday. He was unarmed.

But Colclough fired his weapon once. The bullet tore through Allen’s chest, into his heart and his lungs. He fell on the landing and died within seconds.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. —The New Mexico Law Enforcement Academy has approved a 16-week training academy -- six weeks shorter than the current academy.

The purpose is to get officers out on the street faster.

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Attorneys for a former Sacramento Police officer accused of raping a 76-year-old woman may use the woman’s disability to sway the jury in their favor.

Gary Baker took notes and flashed an occasional half-smile—not the reaction you’d expect from a suspect about to go on trial accused of raping a disabled elderly woman.

The woman has trouble talking and writing after she suffered a stroke, which made it difficult for her to accurately communicate what happened with the alleged rape. That could be used against her in the trial.

Rod MacIver received a faulty ticket in December which lead him to suing the small Vermont town of Shelburne. He arrived at court to fight the complaint but the judge in small claims court had to postpone the hearing. The police officers who were defending themselves were advised by their attorney to skip the court date and go to a local coffee shop instead. Now the ACLU has gotten involved and slapped the town with twin federal civil rights cases.

The ACLU believes that the officers violated MacIver’s Fourth Amendment rights in pulling him over for no reason and his First Amendment rights when the officer told him to “shut up or get ticketed”. Police initially argued that their video showed a violation, but then conceded later he was wrong and the man apparently committed no crime. Now the police are left to fight off MacIver and the ACLU.

...

"Basically, I was pulled over in the middle of the night for no reason, and when I objected, admittedly in strong terms, the officer gave me a ticket for something he knew I didn’t do — run a red light.”

Police Officer shoots UNARMED man 41 times,reloading twice

cop pulled somebody over and blocked neighbors driveway, neighbor comes home and asks cop to move vehicle..this is what happens.

Warning, disturbing footage. This is the video recording of Danielle Maudsley getting tazed while handcuffed by a Florida State Trooper. Due to the excessive force she is now in a vegetative state. Photos of her condition have been included to show severity.

GRAY, LA — A 15-year-old student has been arrested after uploading a YouTube video of gameplay from a phone application. Authorities said his video “terrorized and interfered with operation of his school” and charged him with offenses that could give him a maximum of 20 years in prison if convicted.

The boy, who has not been named, was a student at H.L. Bourgeois High school. He had downloaded a phone application called “The Real Strike” which utilizes the camera on a smart phone and superimposes a picture of a gun over the live-feed video. Whatever the camera phone points towards shows up on the screen with a graphic of a gun pointed towards it. The user can then use the app to simulate a mock shootout, and can record and share the results.

The student used his phone at school to record some of his classmates, allegedly making a video of a mock shootout at school. He took his phone home and uploaded the video to YouTube. Worried parents reported him to the police and he was arrested. He was charged with “terrorizing and interference with the operation of a school,” according to WGNO...

BOISE — A woman was mauled by a tiger and shot by a police officer's bullet at the Zoo Boise before the 600-pound animal was locked into a secure area.

The giant cat slipped through a cage door left open through "human error," police reported. It happened during an annual benefit dinner called "Feast for the Beast."

Janet C. Gold, 40, suffered a gunshot wound to the leg when Police Sgt. Rich Schnebly tried to scare the tiger away by shooting near the animal as it attacked the woman.

For several months homeless people have been camped out in front of Portland City Hall and across the street, at the federally-owned Terry Schrunk Plaza and subject to routine searches by the Department of Homeland Security. Some of the homeless rights advocates have pointed out the searches are in violation of civil liberties and waging a court battle at Portland City Hall.

This film contains footage from one of those raids with the DHS agents "just following orders", in addition to a cop watching patrol with FTP Portland's Mike Bluehair.

On Sunday, September 8th of 2013, at approximately 1050 hours the El Paso County Sheriffs Office was dispatched to (Address Voided for Safety) in reference to a disturbance call made by (Name Protected) (DOB 5/5/1970). Multiple deputies arrived one scene (x3) and the primary responding officer was Deputy G. Cirka (EID# 04010). Upon arrival on scene the deputies were informed by the reporting party that, Vincent L. Olivero was to leave to premises of (Address Voided for Safety), because she had stated that Vincent Olivero had vacated the premises the day before, and there was no further need for him to be on the property. When Deputy G. Cirka asked Vincent Olivero why he was on the property he responded with " This is my legal address and I have not been served any from of an legal eviction notice, and there for it is my right to be on this property." Our investigation has concluded that Vincent. L Olivero is in fact a legal resident to the dispatched address as confirmed by CO State DMV. After further conversation between (Name Protected), Vincent ,and the dispatched deputies, additional deputies arrived on scene.

Deputy C. Kull (EID#01014) was one of the additional deputies that arrived at the dispatched address. Upon his arrival, the deputy made no verbal contact to any of the legal residence of (Address Voided for Safety), and made no verbal contact to any of the other deputies that were already on scene. The deputy got out of his patrol vehicle with another training deputy, and walked onto the property strait towards Vincent L. Olivero and proceeded to slam Mr. Olivero against the RP"s private vehicle, that was stationary in the drive way of the dispatched address. "He walked up to me with no warning as to his intent, and immediately grabbed my arms fiercely and slammed me against the vehicle." states Mr. Olivero. The deputy then asked Vincent "Where are you going?!"multiple times. Mr. Olivero then told the deputy to "get off of me!" When Mr. Olivero asked Deputy C. Kull what he was doing wrong, the deputy replied " Your walking around!" Mr. Olivero stated in a troubled voice, "I can't walk around?" The deputy Stated "NO!" After such the deputy began searching Mr. Olivero for weapons and afterward informed Vincent. L Olivero that he was under arrest. The deputy did not clarify with Mr. Olivero as to what he was being arrested for on scene.

For most of its entirety Mr. V. Olivero Recorded the incident via video and audio recording. All of the above information is FACT and was recorded by a camera on Mr. Olivero's person. The Video is online as of now. Mr. Olivero posted the video to Youtube for online storage. This video will be released to the press, social media, as well as to any other party who requests such.

Harassment from local police and their misuse of force will not be tolerated. When arresting a civilian for unknown crimes, the officer must specify that he is in fact placing the defendant under arrest and such comes before the actual arrest is made. Physical Contact toward Vincent. L Olivero displayed by Deputy C. Kull was out of line and an obvious misuse of force. Potential punitive action may lye in the hands of EPSO's Internal Affairs unit. If no punitive action is to take place, this video will be released to multiple press agencies.

These types of incidents occur often, and multiple video recordings regarding EPSO's wrong doings have been recorded and are being collected for further evidence of this Private case. Harassment from The El Paso County Sheriff's office toward the Olivero Family is extensive and is proven via video and audio recording ,and by reports made to EPSO over the course of 10 years.

Meet Rick Rynearson and his badass Mitsubishi Eclipse.

After a couple of negative interactions with what he calls "unscrupulous cops", Rick took the initiative to outfit his ride with some cutting-edge technology.