FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. (WUSA9) -- A video posted on Facebook has sparked a use of force investigation in Fairfax County, officials said.

The Fairfax County Police Department is investigating "the facts and circumstances which led to the deployment of a electronic control weapon (ECW) in the Rose Hill area of the Franconia district on Thursday September 24, 2015."

Police said the suspect refused treatment and was arrested in connection to a theft. He has been charged with larceny.

It is still unclear what lead up to the incident.

Should anyone have additional witness information, please contact the Fairfax County Police Department's Internal Affairs Bureau at 703-246-2793.

The city has paid $70,000 to a Staten Island resident after he filed a suit alleging the NYPD allowed footage of him being beaten by officers to be erased.

The SI Advance reports that 22-year-old Keashon Gillam filed a federal lawsuit stemming from an October 2011 incident in which he was allegedly brutally beaten outside the Stapleton Houses in the borough. The incident, which the suit says left Gillam with a concussion and medical staples in his head, was reportedly caught on an NYPD "VIPER" camera—however, Gillam claimed that the NYPD failed to follow procedure and flag the footage of the beating, allowing it to be erased after seven days.

According to the suit, the then 18-year-old Gillam was standing outside with his cousin that day when he was approached by police officers. He claimed he tried to walk away from the cops when they called after him, but officers then kicked him to the ground and bashed him in the head with a police radio after they cuffed him. "Me and my cousin, we're going home, we're not doing nothing, so we didn't think they were talking to us," he told the Advance, noting that he had a small amount of marijuana on him at the time. An officer, Daniel Magee, witnessed the incident on surveillance camera.
Per the suit:

Although it was procedure to do so, Magee should have prepared an incident report to flag the video of the incident, which was caught on camera. He purposely did not to protect [the arresting officer] and his brethren from being charged with excessive force.

Earlier this year, Gillam, who says a cop also called him a racial slur, was acquitted of resisting arrest stemming from that incident. The federal suit was dismissed in court yesterday, and Gillam was awarded the $70K settlement, which is more than double the average the city pays for NYPD-related civilian suits.

A mentally ill black woman refused to let Phoenix police into her home because she was afraid they would shoot her, so they broke in and shot her to death, her mother claims in court.

The late Michelle Cusseaux suffered from “schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, prolonged post traumatic stress disorder, major depression, personality disorders, and otherwise was diagnosed as seriously mentally ill,” her mother Frances Garrett claims in her July 14 federal lawsuit.

A mental health facility asked police to do an “involuntary evaluation” of her, and she was alone in her home when police arrived, her mother, Frances Garrett says. In answer to its question, Garrett says, she told the mental health group that her daughter did not have a gun and never had.

When officers arrived, “Michelle told the PPD officers that she did not trust them and thought that they would shoot her,” her mother says in the complaint.

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The officers did not call for anyone with training in dealing with the mentally ill, Garrett says. They asked, through the door, if Michelle had any weapons, and she said she did not. Defendant Sgt. Percy Dupra then told Officer Elizabeth Anderson to pick the lock on the door, according to the complaint.

She did so, and the officers saw Michelle standing near the doorway with a hammer in her right hand. Dupra shot her in the chest and killed her, her mother says. She says two witnesses said “that they did not hear anything (e.g., orders to drop the hammer) before the gunshot.”

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Garrett says in the lawsuit that “Dupra and the other PPD officers on scene either had not received any training from the PPD or the City of Phoenix regarding appropriate, permissible interactions with and counseling of the mentally ill and emotionally disturbed, or had not been adequately trained in this regard.”

Dupra could have used a Taser or pepper spray instead of killing her, Michelle’s mother says. Or police could have simply kept her in her home until trained help arrived.

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The doctor had to pause her delivery twice in that brief time to unwrap Dana's daughter's umbilical cord, later saying that had she given birth on the side of the road the child would have died.

During a Peaceful Streets Project cop watch in downtown Austin on the night of September 26, 2015, we observed criminal, coward, thug police officers Anderson #7401 and Holland #7608 assault an immobilized black man. The suspect was already on the ground, face down, with five cops on top of him. The suspect clearly wasn't resisting arrest, nor was he posing any threat to himself, the police, or anyone else.

According to APD policy, the cops are only supposed to use objectively reasonable force, meaning they are not supposed to use force beyond what is necessary to effect an arrest. When someone is face down on the ground, not resisting, the appropriate amount of force by competent cops would be simply grabbing the wrists and putting them behind his back.

However, Officer Holland felt that it would be fun to jump in the air and bring down all of his force with his knee to the back of the immobilized suspect. Meanwhile, Officer Anderson thought that he would get his jollies by repeatedly punching the immobilized suspect in the back and side. These are not the actions of cops who are interested in protecting and serving the public. These are the actions of thug, terrorist cops who enjoy abusing people who cannot fight back. Anderson and Holland are not uncommon amongst the criminal gang called the Austin Police Department.

Furthermore, as in every single instance that we have seen cops abusing people or violating their rights, there is not a single "good" cop to be found. The mythical creatures known as "good" cops always seem to be nowhere to be found when they have the opportunity to arrest a criminal cop who is harming a member of the public.

Instead of waiting around for a "good" cop to deal with all the coward and criminal cops, we will continue to film the police and encourage people to organize to expel the terrorist cops from their communities.

Kodiak Police announced Tuesday that, until investigations are completed, the department will not comment on recent allegations of excessive force used in an incident with an autistic man last Wednesday.

Nick Pletnikoff's mother Judy said it all started when he left home to check the mail and ended up bruised, scraped and burning from pepper spray.

Joshua Fitzgerald, an attorney investigating the cause of Pletnikoff's injuries, said KPD's Monday statement describing the officers' use of force as "minimal and necessary" was far from the truth.

"If this individual gets this kind of treatment, I shudder to think what somebody who has a few drinks or someone who is lippy or mouthy or any of the things that are not present here, so it's concerning on that level," Fitzgerald said.

Fitzgerald said he believes Pletnikoff has never been in trouble with the law before and was not charged after what KPD described as "A Response to 911 Call Harassment and Theft of Vehicle".

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Chief Wallace confirmed officers do have body cameras, but denied Channel 2's request for footage from the incident.

Requests for copies of the department's officer training manual and use-of-force policy were also denied.

In the city of Detroit, where 9-1-1 calls for real crimes and emergencies often go unanswered, the police conducted a drug raid where they were seen on video smashing up someone’s house for no reason.

Police busted through the resident’s windows and entered the house like storm troopers, even though the front door was wide open the entire time.

According to police, they were chasing a suspect and thought that he might be inside the home. Since they allegedly believed the home to be a “known drug house,” they felt that they had probable cause and could raid the house without a warrant.

“What they did last night was basically bust up a private residence in a very unprofessional manner and cause a lot of fear to lawful residents of that home,” attorney James Galen said.

One of the people who live in the home decided to take out their cellphone camera and record the scene.

After the incident, she told reporters that she decided to film because she is aware of “the types of things that police have been doing recently.”

In the video, police can be seen smashing through the windows with their feet and with large batons, shattering glass all over the inside of the home.

“If I would have broken into somebody’s house like that, I would have been shot, and if I would’ve been shot, nobody would have cared,” Samantha Sayranian told reporters.

Despite their claim of the people in the house hiding a suspect and running a drug operation, no drugs were found in the home and the person who police claimed had a weapon was unarmed.

The police say that they haven’t done anything wrong and have threatened to come back and evict the people who are living there because they have actually been squatting in the condemned house for nearly 4 years.

Squatting is fairly common in Detroit, where entire neighborhoods have fallen into disrepair and banks have foreclosed on much of the property.

It is common practice for police to be as destructive as possible during raids and searches. Whether it is a car search on the side of the road or a full on raid, police are known to throw things around and break things when dealing with any type of suspect.

In Montgomery, Illinois, about 45 minutes outside of Chicago, two police officers have been caught on camera targeting, harassing, assaulting, and wrongfully arresting an African American family in the overwhelmingly white town—including calling the family a "bunch of ******* *******."

But they were fired, right? Because this would be damning evidence of racial bias unfit for officers of the law, right?

Nah. Not even close. The officers were given a three-day suspension.

Yeah. For real.

Please see the horrendous video below, which shows George Taylor being illegally targeted by police over and over again.

Inside the University of Miami’s dorms, administrative searches are commonplace, and students are warned days ahead of time so they can get rid of their bongs, beer bottles, and hotplates beforehand.

Last month, Jonathan Harrington thought he’d have some fun with the search. Before inspectors arrived, the 21-year-old English major left lines of white powder on the coffee table and kitchen counter, a rolled-up dollar bill, and seven white pills. Because the lines were just powdered sugar and the pills aspirin, Harrington figured everyone would get a good chuckle out of it and move on.

Instead, Harrington ended up handcuffed, dragged to jail, and charged with felony cocaine possession.

“It was indeed powdered sugar — 23.7 grams of the finest you can buy at Publix. I know the amount from the police report,” Harrington insists. “I doubt they’d believe me. To them it is more plausible that I left $1,500 worth of cocaine strewn around my apartment.”

The trouble began August 30 when housing officials discovered Harrington’s stash and — following protocol — phoned University of Miami Police to test the powder and pills. That’s when Harrington busted in and, according to the police report, said, “I guess you guys are here about the powdered-sugar prank!”

Police noted the white tablets were indeed marked as aspirin. But when they tested the white powder, it came back positive for cocaine. Harrington was arrested on the spot and spent the night and following day in jail, sleeping on hard plastic chairs and eating ham sandwiches.

What exactly happened? Harrington insists the drug field test yielded a false positive.

It’s not impossible. In fact, the quick drug tests used in the field are notoriously wonky. In 2009, a Kissimmee man was arrested after the breath mints in his car tested positive for crack cocaine. In 2011, a birdwatcher in Weston was arrested when her sage tested positive for marijuana. In 2013, police cuffed a 25-year-old Coney Island man after his Jolly Rancher candies tested positive for methamphetamine. In February, a Minnesota man was arrested when his vitamin powder tested positive for amphetamines.

Harrington’s roommate, Kritos Vasiloudes, backs up his story of a powdered-sugar prank. Vasiloudes told police that Harrington tipped him off about the prank and that he agreed to go along. But Vasiloudes says he was studying in his room when Harrington staged the scene.

For now, Harrington faces arraignment next week on one felony count of cocaine possession, which carries a maximum of five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. At UM, he faces suspension but says those proceedings have been paused until the court matter is settled.

But he’s confident that a more sophisticated lab analysis will confirm his side of the story. Coral Gables PD says the powder has been sent to a lab but could take up to two months to process.

“I’m hoping the prosecutor’s office will drop it once they realize their error,” Harrington says.

A South Florida detective who oversaw a youth police program has been arrested on accusations of engaging in sex acts with young girls.

Florida Department of Law officials had been investigating 47-year-old South Miami Police Detective Joe Mendez after a complaint alleged that he had sexual interactions with multiple female cadets.

Mendez was arrested without incident Tuesday and was charged with eight counts of possession of sexual performance by a minor and four counts of selling, giving or serving an alcoholic beverage to a person under 21. He is being held on a $42,000 bond. It's unclear whether he has an attorney to comment on the case.

Mendez coordinated the Police Explorer Program for five years for his agency, which teaches youths about crime prevention and allows them to participate in community events.

Authorities say they believe there may be additional victims.

Minnesota police departments lost their bid Monday to classify most body-camera footage as private.

The commissioner for the Department of Administration rejected a request to temporarily wall off the data until state lawmakers pass body-camera regulations. A coalition of police departments had sought the data lockdown to avoid having to release footage they say could infringe on privacy of people officers interact with.

In a letter outlining his decision, Commissioner Matt Massman said it's outside of his authority to classify the information as private because current laws say the footage is public in the same way as written arrest data and police reports. Massman urged the police chiefs to approach the Legislature about clarifying data laws.

"Minnesota's data practices laws are designed to be neutral to technology," Massman wrote. "The reality is, however, that body cams have the potential to collect substantial amounts of video and audio in private and very sensitive circumstances."

Transparency watchdogs contend that making footage private would lessen the accountability aspect of body cameras.

Maplewood Police Chief Paul Schnell, who spearheaded the request, said the police departments knew the request was a longshot.

Jamycheal Mitchell had stopped taking his schizophrenia medication before he walked into a 7-Eleven near his family’s Portsmouth, Va., home in April and allegedly stole a Mountain Dew, a Snickers bar and a Zebra Cake totaling $5.05.

After the 24-year-old’s arrest, a judge ordered him to a state psychiatric hospital to get help. But like an increasing number of the mentally ill, he sat in jail for months as he waited for a bed to open.

Other inmates said Mitchell paced naked in a cell often covered in his own filth. Family members said they were told he sometimes refused to eat or take medication, and jail records show he manically yelled. He grew gaunt, and by Aug. 19 he was dead, having shed at least 36 pounds.

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LAPD Spends Hours and Hours, 20 cop cars, 30 cops, K-9's etc. Investigating Burglary Only To Find Out It Was A False Alarm - Tax Payer Dollars Hard At Work

A faulty sex law in North Carolina may put away a teen for 10 years for sending naked pictures of himself.

High school quarterback Cormega Copening is facing felony charges and may have to register as a sex offender for exchanging nude photos with his girlfriend when they were both 16. Both were charged as adults.

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"You can be labeled a convicted sex offender as an adult at the age of 16, but you are a minor by being under the age of 18 to commit the offense in the first place," said attorney Karl Knudsen. "It really makes terrible sense logically but that's the way the law is written."
"The consequences for this young man are absolutely horrendous," he added.

Authorities became aware of the photos after they asked his mother's permission to examine his cell phone in 2014 as part of a statutory rape investigation in which the teen was not a suspect. Police say they did not target the teens, however, could not ignore the explicit images or the state's law.

Copening is due back in court Sept. 30, and if convicted, could face up to 10 years in prison and be registered as a sex offender.