A Philadelphia jury awarded a Germantown man more than $1 million Wednesday after it agreed that he was improperly arrested and recklessly charged in a car-bike crash that killed a police officer in 2012.

...

Alleyne, a former bank teller, was charged four years ago with vehicular homicide and involuntary manslaughter in the death of Officer Marc Brady, 35, in a collision outside the home of a woman with whom both men had relationships.

A judge dismissed the charges in 2014 for lack of evidence. Alleyne then sued three homicide investigators who probed the crash - Lt. Philip Riehl and Detectives James Pitts and George Pirrone - claiming their investigation was flawed because they were eager to implicate him and minimize blame on their deceased colleague.

...

Funt and colleagues Lori Mach and Noah Cohen made clear during the trial that there was no argument that Alleyne had struck and killed Brady with his car on July 15, 2012, outside the East Mount Airy home of Romara Glenn, Alleyne's girlfriend at the time and the mother of six of Brady's children.

But the attorneys argued that investigators were too quick to conclude that Alleyne intentionally ran over Brady - and said the officers purposefully downplayed or overlooked Internal Affairs files detailing Brady's previous stalking and harassing of Alleyne, because those files could have suggested their colleague was at fault for the crash.

"Marc Brady was a man with nothing else to lose, spiraling out of control, and they knew it," Funt said during closing arguments Tuesday. "They knew Kareem Alleyne was an innocent, innocent man."

Alleyne has struggled to find steady employment since being charged, even after his acquittal in the criminal trial, his lawyers told the jury. An online search for his name yields scores of old news clips showing that he killed a police officer.


...

The officers who testified during trial and their attorneys sought to point out that information about Brady's past was included with the evidence they gave to the District Attorney's Office - and that prosecutors decided to move forward with charges anyway.

Riehl testified that he did not think Alleyne should have been charged, and that he told prosecutors as much at the time. Nothing, Riehl said, was done to minimize damning evidence against Brady, whom he described on the stand as "a ticking time bomb."

"Everything we did was pro-Alleyne," Riehl said.

The jury of nine women and three men evidently disagreed. Riehl, Pirrone, and Pitts were each found liable for malicious prosecution, and Riehl and Pirrone were found liable for false arrest.

Alleyne was awarded $336,000 for harm to his reputation, $330,000 for economic losses, $318,750 for emotional and mental anguish, and $45,500 for legal expenses.

A Chicago man, who spent 10 years in jail on drug charges, has been set free after an investigation proved that police officers and a state’s attorney investigator lied under oath to get him convicted.

Jermaine Walker was released from prison in late March after his lawyer found proof that there was a surveillance camera in the alley during his 2006 altercation with three Chicago police officers, a fact that contradicts testimonies from the officers and state’s attorney investigator.

According to court records, Eric Reyes and Sebastian Flatley, two of the Chicago police officers, who apprehended Walker, testified that there was no security camera in the alley, where the arrest took place. Their testimony was supported by a Cook County State’s Attorney’s office investigator Thomas Finnelly, who took photos of the scene and told the court that he visited the alley twice and never saw a security camera on the Lawrence Houses.

On June 2, 2006, a jury found Walker guilty. He was sentenced to 10 to 22 years in prison for dealing drugs within 1,000 feet of a school.

However, attorney Ingrid Gill and the Cook County Public Defender’s Office proved beyond all reasonable doubt that the camera Walker claimed was in the alley did in fact exist.

Walker’s sentence was vacated on March 25 by Judge Catherine Haberkorn, who rendered an apology to him before setting him free.

Isaac Ocak’s civil rights were violated the day he was brutally beaten by four cops shortly after they pulled him over in West Seattle’s Westwood Village shopping mall. As it was stated, the man was driving his girlfriend’s car before being stopped by police. He never had a chance to verify his story since the officers didn’t let him give a call to his girlfriend. Instead, they immediately began roughing him up. Dash cam video of the altercation that led to Ocak’s illegal arrest shows him being slammed face down into the car hood and repeatedly punched in the face. He was struggling to break free but that seemed impossible since the cops pounced on him. The confrontation ended in Isaac Ocak suffering multiple injuries. What is more, he was accused of an attempt to harm the officers and charged with fourth-degree assault. He was cleared of charges only due to the videotape that proved the SPD wrong. As a result, Ocak was awarded $ 70,000. The officers were never indicted.

The Albuquerque Police Department (APD) released bodycam footage showing 10 officers firing at a man driving an SUV after they cornered him in a yard. The cops involved in the shooting told investigators they thought the driver, 20-year-old Rodrigo Garcia, had run over their lieutenant when, in fact, she had been knocked over by a falling fence.

48 rounds were fired at Garcia, with seven striking him, including one in the head that required part of his brain to be removed. Doctors said his injuries will severely affect the quality of his life.

Garcia, who was wanted on charges of vehicle theft, felony in possession of a firearm and drug charges, had eluded officers the day before. He tried to flee again on May 29, but was not armed and there was no indication that he tried to run over an officer.

This shot apparently set the cops into a frenzy, and they began unloading on the SUV even though homes can be seen behind the line of fire. As Garcia is trapped and slowly backs up, the cops unload a final volley at close range.

The video ends shortly thereafter. A SWAT team was called in, which initiated a standoff with the injured Garcia and finally threw a flash-bang grenade at him and swarmed the vehicle.

According to a police spokeswoman, no charges will be filed against Garcia due to the severity of his injuries.

...

A lawsuit being filed by attorney Joe Kennedy on behalf of Garcia and his family may uncover the truth of the matter. Could 10 officers really believe they witnessed Garcia run over another officer, when she was actually knocked over by a falling fence? Or was it just the pretext they decided to give in order to justify their shooting rampage?

For 5 days, Elliot Williams, a 37 year old veteran, had explained to guards in the Tulsa County jail that he could not move anything below his neck.

As it turned out, his neck was broken. But the guards did not believe him. So he cried, screamed, and could not move for days on end.

Finally, they took him to this cell that had a camera in it. They tossed water on him, while he continued to beg them to get him help.

For hours on end, his feet don’t move even an inch. That’s because they can’t.

They continue to yell at him that he’s faking it. Then they leave him until he dies here in the video.

After the recording was held for a long-lasting period, the police finally released it, showing how an officer is executing a man. Heriberto Godinez, 24-yo, was brutally killed by Chicago police officer who was captured on camera while holding Godinez on the ground and then placing his foot on his face. We got horrified at the sight of the cop standing on the man’s neck, pressing him into the ground. Obviously, the injuries Godinez suffered were so severe that he died right at the scene. During a physical confrontation that led to Godinez’s arrest, the two officers were responding to a burglary call. It was initially supposed that the suspect’s death was allegedly caused by the presence of drugs and alcohol determined in his system. However, this version wasn’t confirmed. After that harrowing death of Heriberto his family brought a lawsuit against the killer cops.

Dashcam video and audio released earlier this month show deputies debating whether to rescue three teenage girls from a stolen car as it was sinking in a Florida pond.

All three of the girls drowned. At one point, a deputy shouts, "I hear them yelling, I think," but they concluded it would be too unsafe to try pulling the girls out of the car, which had plunged 15 feet into the water.

It started when a deputy reported spotting the stolen 1998 Honda Accord without headlights on March 31 near St. Petersburg. After trying to escape law enforcement, the driver apparently missed a sharp turn near a cemetery, plunging into the water, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said.

Investigators said over the radio they initially thought the girls had escaped from the car and ran off as it sank, Bay News 9 reports. According to the sheriff's office, the deputies took off their gun belts and entered the water once they realized the girls were still in the car.

However, the officers claimed their feet sank in the bottom of the pond, leading them to believe a rescue would be too risky.

Eventually a deputy says, "Now, they’re done. They’re done."

The sheriff said the car was like a "death chamber," with its windows rolled up and doors closed.

Investigators identified the girls as Dominique Battle, 16, and Ashaunti Butler and Laniya Miller, both 15. The girls had been arrested a combined seven times for crimes including grand theft auto, the Tampa Tribune reports.

Lawyers representing the teens' families called the sheriff's office account a "smear campaign" full of holes. "There’s inconsistencies that need to be addressed, and we’re asking for those answers to come," attorney Michele Whitfield said.

Two city police officers have been suspended following a September incident in which they were found to have engaged in “disgraceful” and “unacceptable” behavior that violated department policies. Internal police investigators also initially suspected one officer improperly used force, though an investigation into the incident did not reveal evidence of that.

A report on the internal affairs investigation, obtained by the Record-Journal through a Freedom of Information Act request, details the response by officers John Slepski and John Slezak to a Sept. 19, 2015, incident. Their actions resulted in unpaid suspensions for both officers — 60 days for Slepski, starting on Feb. 2, and five days for Slezak, starting on Feb. 5.

The police union president, Detective John Williams, defended the officers and called the discipline excessive. Though Slepski declined to grieve his discipline, Williams said the union would be filing a grievance over Slezak’s discipline. Attempts to reach Slepski and Slezak were not immediately successful.

According to the IA report, Slepski and Slezak responded to Arch Parkway that Saturday evening to find a reportedly intoxicated man lying in a fetal position in the street.

Over the next few minutes, Slezak and Slepski attempted to get the man onto the sidewalk while waiting for medical technicians to arrive. The officers’ body microphones captured audio of the incident, which was also captured on cruiser video, according to the report. Police did not respond to Record-Journal requests for the audio and video.

Slepski unleashed a string of expletives toward the man starting almost as soon as he got out of his cruiser, the report states. Slepski also nudged the man with his foot and both officers used their collapsible batons to poke the man in the upper body while urging him to get out of the street.

According to the report, Slepski told the man to “crawl if (he) has to,” to get to the curb. Slepski can be heard referring to the man as a “(expletive) hole,” a “(expletive) douche bag,” and saying to Slezak, “I think we ought to just “(expletive) pop him.”

In an interview later, Slepski clarified that he meant to smack, hit, or strike the man when he said “pop,” though Lt. Salvatore Nesci, who wrote the IA report, noted that in his nearly 20 years of police service, “pop” is understood to mean that a firearm should be used against someone. Slepski again said he used the term meaning to strike him.

...

In the in-car video from the Sept. 19 incident, Slepski can be seen looking south and north along Arch Parkway with his flashlight before leaning in closely to Slezak and saying, “I think we ought to (expletive) pepper spray this (expletive) dude.”

Slezak responded, “All right, you’re going to pepper spray him to get him up.”

Slepski said, “Yeah.”

Slezak said, “All right, spray. You going to spray, come on get the spray,” then he looked over his left shoulder at an approaching vehicle.

...

Then, what sounds like an aerosol canister being discharged can be heard, and Slepski steps to the right “as to avoid the pepper spray,” according to the report.

In their interviews, both officers said Slepski only pretended to discharge his pepper spray, mimicking the sound it makes in order to startle the man into complying with their request to get out of the street and onto the sidewalk. The “ruse,” Slezak said in his interview, was used in order to prevent “going hands-on” with the man.

Ultimately, the man stood up and, flanked by officers, staggered to the curb, where he was treated by medical personnel.

...

In addition to the suspension, Slepski is on a type of probation for the next five years. If he violates any department policies or procedures within the next five years, he’ll be terminated.

To Slezak, Cossette wrote that his behavior was “unacceptable.”

“If a fellow officer is behaving in a demeaning and demoralizing way toward a citizen, you have a Duty to Act. You said nothing to Officer Slepski as he directed the derogatory comments toward the citizen. When the citizen was directed to ‘crawl on the ground if he had to,’ you offered no assistance to this citizen. You allowed for this citizen to be treated in this manner.”

Williams, the police union president, said he was “disappointed in the discipline of both union members.”

Williams said it was the union that requested the in-car camera video be enhanced to determine whether pepper spray was in fact deployed.

“Our Internal Affairs Unit was convinced that the spray was deployed and the State Labs concluded that they were wrong and the (union’s) representation that the spray was not actually physically sprayed was right,” he wrote in an email to the Record-Journal.

Furthermore, the ruse of using pepper spray to get someone to comply with a request is “a U.S. Supreme Court approved use of tactics by police to obtain compliance from uncooperative individuals,” Williams wrote.

...

...Sheriff’s deputies with the Muskogee County Sheriff’s Department stopped Eh Wah for a broken taillight Feb. 27 and later discovered the musician was carrying more than $53,000 in cash—proceeds from the band’s concerts and donations it raised for an orphanage in Thailand and a nonprofit Christian college in Myanmar.

The sheriff’s department seized the cash under Oklahoma’s civil asset forfeiture laws and argued Eh Wah was in “possession of drug proceeds,” according to an affidavit filed by law enforcement.

When sheriff’s deputies department searched the car, however, they didn’t find drugs or drug paraphernalia.

...

The more than $53,000 in cash seized by the sheriff’s department came from money the Christian band collected during its shows and, according to the Institute for Justice, included:

• $32,000 from ticket sales and donations.
• $7,300 from CD and souvenir sales.
• $1,000 in donations to the orphanage in Thailand, bundled in envelopes marked with its name, Hsa Thoo Lei Orphanage.
• $10,980 given to bassist Saw Win Ston from family and friends in Buffalo, N.Y.
• $2,000 that belonged to Eh Wah, for travel and pocket money as he and the band toured.

The Institute for Justice represented Eh Wah, Saw Win Ston, Klo & Kweh Music Team, the Karen Christian Revival Church in Omaha, Neb., which sponsored the tour, and the Thai orphanage.

Just as the Justice Department announced this week that it is resuming a controversial program that funnels hundreds of millions of dollars in seized assets to police departments around the country, a new report says the practice disproportionately targets low-income and minority communities.

A report by the Center for American Progress, released on Friday, says that “a growing array of studies indicates that low-income individuals and communities of color are hit hardest” by the practice of civil asset forfeiture.

Under these sorts of laws, police can seize citizens’ property—cash, cars and even houses—without ever convicting them of, or in some cases even charging them with, a crime. The laws were created to fight drug trafficking in the ’80s, but civil liberties groups say the perverse incentives just as often lead police to target everyday people.

...

“You have no hope of understanding the process without representation,” Rebecca Vallas, the report’s lead author, said in an interview. “It’s a massive, massive problem basically setting up two-tiered justice based on your income.”

According to the report, low-income communities and communities of color are also hardest hit by civil asset forfeiture because they have less access to banking institutions—which means they often carry more cash on hand, a tempting target for police looking for seizures. For example, the report cites a random survey of cash seizures by Philadelphia police in 2012 and 2013 found that half of the seizures were less than $192.

“We also found civil asset forfeiture can drive struggling families back into poverty,” Vallas said.

I once sat through a daily session of Philadelphia’s rapacious asset forfeiture court and watched dozens similar cases of seized cars and small amounts of cash get processed, nearly all of them against low-income and minority citizens.