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Midland, TX — Rosendo Gino Rodriquez, 49, was shot dead in an altercation Monday while Midland Police were conducting a routine welfare check. The Midland County mental health unit was conducting a regular welfare check at a home on the 2700 block of Washington Street, when things went sour. According to the Midland police, Rodriquez became “aggressive” during the welfare check. The term aggressive is used loosely by the MPD, as they claim he acted out said “aggression” by running away from them, back into his house, and barricading himself in a room. The Free Thought Project would like to...

At least one person is killed every day by a U.S. police officer, a new report says. On average, local police forces kill 400 people every year in the Unites States, according to a seven-year FBI study. In 2012, cops were responsible for 410 deaths. All but one was with a firearm. About a fourth of those annual incidents — about 96 a year, or two every week — involve a white officer and a black victim, USA Today reported.

Staten Island man dies after NYPD cop puts him in chokehold — SEE THE VIDEO VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: A 400-pound asthmatic Staten Island dad died Thursday after a cop put him in a chokehold and other officers appeared to slam his head against the sidewalk, video of the incident shows. BY KEN MURRAY , KERRY BURKE , CHELSIA ROSE MARCIUS , ROCCO PARASCANDOLA A 400-pound asthmatic Staten Island dad died Thursday after a cop put him in a chokehold and other officers appeared to slam his head against the sidewalk, video of the incident shows. “I can’t breathe! I can’t breathe!”...

Albuquerque police’s new chief says the latest officer involved shooting that killed a homeless man in the foothills is justified. But new video police released Friday is raising a lot of questions about how it all played out. The release came Friday as APD’s first press conference since the shooting. http://krqe.com/2014/03/21/apd-officer-involved-shooting-was-justified/ Read more at

On August 20, 2013, Sherman police stopped Lesa Surratt’s vehicle for failing to signal a lane change. An officer removed Surratt from the vehicle. From there, she was placed in the rear of a patrol car but without performing a search, the suit claims. Surratt’s passenger, Monica Garza, was also placed in the patrol car. Brian McClarin, a narcotics officer, had directed the traffic stop. The complaint acknowledges that Surratt removed a small amount of cocaine she was concealing and began swallowing it. One of the officers realized what was going on “and climbed in the back seat, across the...

A California woman says Veterans Administration hospital guards beat her husband to death after he waited four hours for dialysis. Norma Montano says her husband of 44 years, Jonathan, died of a stroke on June 11, 2011, after he was beaten and had his carotid artery stomped by VA guards. Montano says the hospital also lied to her about what happened to her husband. Montano’s son and daughter are also plaintiffs in the suit. Montano says he husband was tired of waiting, but when he tried to leave and go to another facility, he “was told by the nursing staff...

PURCELLVILLE, Va. - The family of a Purcellville teen killed by police want answers. They believe he didn't have to die. Police were called for help Saturday afternoon because 17-year-old Christian Sierra was suicidal. Instead, an officer shot him dead. His parents say he was crying out for help and that police were too quick to shoot and kill. His family said Christian was depressed, but not violent. He was at a friend's house and became suicidal. So they called 911 for help. When Purcellville police arrived, he was armed with a knife. According to a witness, Christian came around...

Salinas police killed a man earlier today, claiming to the local media that they were in fear for their lives after he had waved a pair of garden shearers in their direction, indicating he was going to shred them to pieces. But then a witness posted a video online, contradicting those claims, showing the man trying to walk away from the cops as they move in on him barking orders with their guns drawn. Read the statement below and view the video above and tell me what you think. According to the Californian: Attempts at hailing the man in English...

On Mother’s Day Tommy Yancy, father of two, was pulled over for not having a front license plate. What transpired beyond that point is not totally clear, but his injuries resulted in his death. Yancy, 32, was a veteran of both Iraq and Afghanistan. There has been almost zero media coverage of the incident. A local publication, Imperial Valley Press, offers only a sidenote about his family raising money for his memorial and this: The 32-year-old Yancy died following an altercation with law enforcement during a traffic stop May 11 in Imperial. The circumstances around the death and the traffic...

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — A young hospital patient is tased by Baltimore City Police, then falls into a coma and dies. The department launches an investigation into the officers’ actions at Good Samaritan Hospital. The death of a 19-year-old hospital patient this week is the focal point of a Baltimore City Police investigation after they say one of their officers tased the teen who was in a violent altercation with Good Samaritan Hospital security earlier this month.

A Washington man is dead after police tasered him four times and beat him with their fists and a flashlight, according to eyewitnesses. Neighbors report that what happened between 44-year-old Ron Hillstrom and University Place police was essentially murder. “You beat this man to death last night for no reason and we caught you, period,” said one of Hillstrom’s neighbors, who saw the incident. Police were called to the parking lot of Hillstrom’s apartment complex in the early morning hours. Hillstrom was having some sort of psychotic episode: He was pacing in a circle and muttering that people were after...

In Huntsville, Alabama police are facing no charges whatsoever after allegedly killing a 17 year old boy while trying to find drugs in his throat with a sharp object. Mainstream media won’t touch the story, and of course, independent media fueled by citizen journalists broke this to the public, releasing the 16 page wrongful death suit filed by the teen’s mother, Nancy Smith. According to the autopsy: “Because of the circumstances of this event, it is difficult to discern if the decedent died from a drug overdose or an asphyxia event exacerbated by either the occlusion of the airway by...