...Arrieta was at Kern Medical Center around midnight on May 7, 2013 when he saw the deputies "hitting an unrelated third man with their batons across the streets," according to the 30-page complaint.

It continues: "During this violent encounter, plaintiff used his cell phone to record the acts of defendants. About two hours later, defendants showed up unannounced at the apartment of another witness and demanded plaintiff's cell phone that he had used to record the violent encounter. Defendants refused to allow anyone, including but not limited to plaintiff, to enter and/or exit the apartment unless plaintiff's cell phone was provided to defendants. Plaintiff told defendants they could make a copy of the video on his phone. Plaintiff explained to defendants that he could not give his phone to defendants because it had all of his personal contacts, pictures, and videos. Despite plaintiff's efforts to cooperate, defendants still refused to allow anyone ... to enter and/or exit the apartment."

While the deputies were in Arrieta's apartment, he says, they "harass[ed], threaten[ed], intimidate[d], pressure[d], unlawfully touch[ed], and/or assault[ed] those present at the apartment," including Arrieta.

This went on for four hours until Arrieta finally gave the deputies his cell phone to avoid being late for work, according to the complaint.

Arrieta claims the deputies conspired to "intrude into the apartment [to] seize, assault, batter and use excessive force" against him despite having no probable cause or reasonable suspicion to do so.

He claims the deputies violated his free speech and due process rights by taking his cell phone without permission or just compensation.

He claims the Kern County Sheriff's Department sanctions the use of excessive force and violation of people's constitutional rights by its deputies through "inadequate" training and policies "regarding the use of force, such as against plaintiff."

Arrieta claims he has suffered "personal injury, emotional distress, trauma, past and continuing medical expenses, wage loss and loss of earning capacity" as a result of the deputies' wrongful search and seizure.

He seeks special and punitive damages in amounts to be determined at trial.

He and the other plaintiffs are represented by Daniel Rodriguez.

Emails to the Sheriff's Department seeking comment were redirected to county counsel, who did not return them by the end of business hours Monday

Plaintiff Vasquez claims her family and friends recorded the incident on their cell phones. Two hours later, the deputies arrived at her friend's apartment and harassed them until they gave up their phones.

Plaintiff Melendez, who also recorded the incident, says the deputies showed up at her daughter's apartment the next morning demanding Melendez's cell phone and harassed her for two hours before they got a warrant to seize her phone.

Sisters Sulina and Melissa Quair claim that after their mother and friend used their phones to record the incident, deputies showed up at the sisters' apartment twice and would not let anyone leave until they handed over the phones.

The U.S.-Mexico border has been turned into a militarized zone, all in the name of "border security":

The Border Patrol's claim to broad powers coupled with lack of effective oversight in the region has led to an unprecedented jump in civil rights violations.

- Armed Border Patrol agents man checkpoints on nearly every highway.
- Roving patrols pull over innocent travelers.
- Surveillance cameras, drones and helicopters invade the privacy of border residents.

A Vietnam vet and former prison guard, Larry Kirschenman thought he had the right to ask what probable cause U.S. border agents had to search his vehicle. Larry wound up in the hospital with serious injuries.

Civilians shoot and upload police encounters to the Internet everyday using tiny cameras on their cell phones and other mobile devices. In fact it may be easier than ever to keep the police accountable with the technology we all carry around in our pockets. But police are looking to keep civilians accountable too by wearing cameras of their own. Reason TV sat down with former Seattle Police officer Steve Ward, who left the force to start Vievu, a company that makes body cameras for police officers.

"Everyone behaves better when they're on video," says Ward. "I realized that dash cams only capture about five percent of what a cop does. And I wanted to catch 100 percent of what a cop does."

The cameras are small, light, and clip to the clothing of a police officer's uniform. They turn on with a large switch on the front of the camera and have a green circle that surrounds the lens so that civilians know that the camera is recording.

But once the data is recorded, what stops an officer from editing or manipulating the video? Ward says his cameras contain software that stops officers from doing anything nefarious with it, "Our software platform stops officers from altering, deleting, copying, editing, uploading to YouTube, any of the videos that the cops take."

While body cameras present the strong benefit of keeping police accountable, they also present a risk of invading civilians' privacy. But in a policy brief from October 2013, the American Civil Liberties Union argued that depending on how the body cameras were implemented, the privacy concerns could be dealt with.

Although we generally take a dim view of the proliferation of surveillance cameras in American life, police on-body cameras are different because of their potential to serve as a check against the abuse of power by police officers. Historically, there was no documentary evidence of most encounters between police officers and the public, and due to the volatile nature of those encounters, this often resulted in radically divergent accounts of incidents. Cameras have the potential to be a win-win, helping protect the public against police misconduct, and at the same time helping protect police against false accusations of abuse.

In 2013, The New York Times reported that the city of Rialto, Calif., was able to cut down on complaints against officers by 88 percent over the previous year when it gave its officers body cameras. Use of force by officers fell by almost 60 percent.

Bob Harte groggily opened his front door and found a fully-armed Johnson County SWAT team in front of him early in the morning of April 20, 2012.

It was 7:30 a.m. when he'd heard a knock at the door and pulled himself out of bed to answer it while his wife and two kids slept. A SWAT team surrounded his home, and a deputy had a battering ram ready to charge through the door had Bob had not opened it.

The deputies pushed Bob to the floor of the entry way of his home and stood over him with rifles screaming, “Where are the children in the home?” Bob told them they were in their rooms and the deputies ran to find them.

The commotion woke his wife Addie Harte who came downstairs to find out what was going on.

“We just kept saying ‘You’re in the wrong house!’ said Addie.

...

After the raid, the couple thought they could access public records to find out why law enforcement suspected drugs were in their home. They told 41 Action News they were shocked to find out they could not access any of those records under Kansas law.

“We were chosen more or less at random for this drug raid and we were like ‘what do you mean we can't get the records? They raided our house,” said Addie.

The Hartes spent $25,000 hiring an attorney to fight to get access to the records. It took a year, but the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office eventually released the records. The Hartes were surprised by what they read.

Records showed on Aug. 9, 2011, a Missouri Highway Patrol trooper observed a man leaving the Green Circle hydroponics store in Kansas City, Mo., in a KIA with his children and a small bag.

Bob said he had been to the store to get supplies for a science project he was working on with his son: a basement hydroponic garden.

...

A week later, on April 10th, investigators returned to the home. Again, deputies searched through the trash. This time, when they found plant-like material, they performed a field test which indicated the substance was marijuana.

Deputies went to the home a third time on April 17th, 2012. Again, deputies found plant material in the Harte’s trash. They performed another field test which again indicated a positive result for marijuana.

The Hartes say they knew immediately what police had located.

“Bob instantly said, ‘It's your tea!’ because I drink loose tea and those are saturated leaves,” said Addie, who told 41 Action News she often threw the leaves in the kitchen trash.

Though field tests are known to be unreliable, reports obtained from the Johnson County crime lab indicate the deputies did not send any of the samples to the crime lab for confirmation. The records also note that deputies did not intend to, but changed their minds when the Hartes started questioning why deputies raided their home.

When the crime lab processed the evidence, their tests came back negative for marijuana. The results came back in May of 2012. The Johnson County Sheriff’s office had that information months before the Hartes were able to get the records that the material was not marijuana.

The embarrassing misstep for deputies would have remained hidden if the Hartes had not had the means to spend money to gain access to the records.

The city has agreed to pay a $100,000 settlement to a Brooklyn man whose beatdown by cops in a synagogue was captured on video, the Daily News has learned.

Ehud Halevy, 22, was sleeping in a back room of the Aliya Institute in Crown Heights on Oct. 8, 2012, when a security guard called police. Although youths were sometimes allowed to sleep there, the guard was apparently alarmed because Halevy was shirtless and not wearing pants.

When Nahid Alikhani and her sons came home on March 18, they found the front door jammed, muddy footprints throughout the house, their mail strewn about, doors ajar and all of their electronic devices missing.

Fearing a burglary, they called 9-1-1.

“The police said, ‘Actually it was us,’” said Alikhani.

That’s when they noticed the search warrant that had been left. It was for their Markham address, but none of their names were listed. Then Alikhani spotted a name she did recognize — the son of the home’s previous owner.

Their story highlights difficulties surrounding police investigations, and obtaining search warrants while protecting personal privacy when the person police are looking for are no longer at the home being searched.

The Toronto police say the family was the victim of a sophisticated crime ring busted this week and that proper procedure was followed in lawfully entering the home.
The family sees it differently.

“They took every computer, laptop, tablet, everything,” said Alikhani’s husband, Ramin Rownaghi. His sons’ video game console, the Internet router, medications and credit cards were also missing.

He said it took hours to get police on the phone to explain the situation.

A St. Louis Metropolitan Police officer with three years on the force shot a robbery suspect during a foot chase Thursday night near Fairground Park, striking him in the thigh.

Turns out, suspect Keon Davis wasn't involved in the robbery police were investigating. But a department-issued bullet in the leg didn't stop the Circuit Attorney's Office from charging the seventeen-year-old with unlawful use of a weapon, possession of up to 35 grams of marijuana and resisting arrest.

News • March 26th, 2014



A volunteer firefighter who was treating a patient was cuffed by a Louisiana police officer Monday night because he didn't move his fire truck.

Both a neighbor and a medic who witnessed the confrontation in New Roads told WBRZ reporters it was the most unprofessional incident they had ever seen.

Witnesses said it stemmed from the firefighter refusing to move his fire truck because he was rendering aid to the patient.

"This is very disheartening, very disappointing and very embarrassing," Joyce Harris said of the incident that unfolded at her neighbor's house.

A surveillance cameras at the Housing Authority in New Roads captured it all. The fire truck, with its emergency lights activated, was parked as the firefighter was with the patient.

Harris said that the moment the New Roads officer showed up he demanded that the volunteer firefighter move his truck from the street as the lights flashed. When he didn't, he was placed in handcuffs and put in the back of a police car for nearly 15 minutes.

Watch video

"I think what his problem was, was an ego thing," Harris told the reporters. "He's not listening to me because I'm in authority and he should have moved faster when I told him to. I don't think it was fair. I don't think that's right."

At least one paramedic who could not go on camera told News 2 it was one of the most unprofessional things he's witnessed in his career.

Police Chief Kevin McDonald told the station it's been resolved, adding that the officer won't be disciplined.

Harris, however, said he should be fired.

On the other side of the country, a California firefighter who was cuffed for not moving a fire truck at a crash scene filed a claim this week.

But, the firefighter said he'll settle for a change in behavior and attitude from CHP.

On March 17, 2014 I was served a “Warrant in Debt”. As you will see in the attached image, I’m being sued for $5,000 by Virginia State Police Trooper Melanie McKenney. Some of you readers may recall that two years ago I was pulled over by Trooper Melanie McKenney during Memorial Day Weekend when the Virginia State Police had many of their Revenue Generating Officers out on the interstates. I had described it as the second most aggressive traffic stop I had ever been involved in. She violated my rights and denied my right to record her by claiming my cell phone could be a gun – however the information and videos given to me through the FOIA Request showed that she knew it wasn’t a gun, in her words, “I don’t want myself on any type of YouTube or whatever.” If you are not aware of this incident and would like to see the article and videos of that incident click here.

So almost two years later VSP Trooper Melanie McKenney is suing me for “Defamation”. That’s all the information I have and that apparently she has provided the courts. Below is a statement from my Attorneys Stephen Lewis and Danielle Lewis. As you’ll noticed it’s directed to local CBS 6 reporter Mark Holmberg who has already expressed in this story.

Albuquerque police shot and killed another man Tuesday night after claiming he had shot at them first.

However, video from a witness contradicts this claim.

Albuquerque Police Chief Gordon Eden, who took over the beleaguered agency last month, claimed “the suspect, Alfred “Lionel” Redwine, exited the apartment with a firearm, and fired the firearm,” forcing the cops to open fire on him, according to KOB.

But Redwine’s family members say he was only holding a cell phone.

And the video, which shows him holding an object close to his head, seems to support this.

The incident took place hours after hundreds of Albuquerque citizens took to the streets to protest another incident in which police shot and killed a homeless man who had been camping illegally near the mountains.

And it once again disproves the theory that has been making the rounds on the internet that body-mounted cameras on officers lead to an automatic reduction in use of force incidents.

In fact, the Albuquerque Police Department has killed so many citizens since introducing the cameras in 2010 that the United States Department of Justice launched an investigation in 2012, which is still pending.

While there is most likely more video footage of the shooting from the lapel cameras worn by officers, the department has proven to be reluctant in releasing video if it contradicts their initial claims.

Harriman State Park - Volunteers attempting to search the area of Seven Lakes Drive in the Bear Mountains section of Harriman State Park were ticketed by officers of the New York State Parks Police for trespassing and illegally parked vehicles, sources told JP.

More than 30 such tickets were issued to volunteers by 2 officers of the Park Police.

This is the exact location where the vehicle with the body of Peretz Sontag was later discovered.

Volunteers of United Search and Rescue have told JP that last week Monday and again on Thursday they attempted to search the exact area where Mr. Sontag was found, but they were turned away by the Park Police.

The sources noted, that when the organizers of the volunteers search efforts reached out to the Park Police to assist with the search, they refused to take part in the search, claiming that they do not have enough resources. However, for some reason, they found resources to issue tickets.

Town of Ramapo Councilman Daniel Friedman sent out the following message on twitter:

A former suburban Chicago police officer accused of operating a drug ring with two colleagues was sentenced to 24 years in prison.
Former Schaumburg Officer Terrence O'Brien pleaded guilty Friday to unlawful possession of a controlled substance, official misconduct, burglary and armed violence before DuPage County Circuit Judge Blanche Hill Fawell.
The 47-year-old O'Brien was arrested last year along with 30-year-old John Cichy and 29-year-old Matthew Hudak for allegedly stealing drugs seized by police and selling them through a street dealer. Among the drugs allegedly sold was marijuana and cocaine.
Authorities became aware of the scheme in January 2013, when an informant told investigators in a neighboring community he had been asked to sell drugs given him by police.
DuPage County prosecutors say cases against Cichy and Hudak are pending.

As a general rule, it's probably best to avoid driving through Cockrell Hill. Police in the tiny hamlet, a .6-square-mile splotch in the middle of Oak Cliff, wrote 7,890 traffic tickets last year, nearly two for each of its residents.
That's doubly true if you lack proof of insurance. Each month, the city impounds 200 to 300 cars, according to an investigation conducted by Mayor Luis Cerrera and reported last night by CBS 11's Jason Allen.

That's an insane number for a town of Cockrell Hill's size, but it wasn't his department's penchant for towing cars that prompted Police Chief Michael Sellers to resign yesterday. It was because he was bypassing the legally required public auction and selling some of the seized vehicles from the department's front window.