Free Republic

HAWTHORNE, Nev. (News 4 & Fox 11) — The family of a 27-year-old woman who died in a jail cell in Mineral County has filed a lawsuit arguing deputies left her to die after ignoring her serious medical needs. Kelly Coltrain was jailed in July of 2017 for unpaid traffic tickets after she was pulled over for speeding.

Amber Guyger’s killing of Botham Shem Jean is an unspeakable tragedy. It also highlights the need for officers like Guyger to face impartial justice. It is hard to think of a more tragic, more senseless shooting in America than the killing last week of Botham Shem Jean, a young black risk-assurance associate at PricewaterhouseCoopers, and a member of Dallas West Church of Christ. This is what we know so far. Jean was home alone in his apartment in the South Side Flats complexin Dallas when police officer Amber Guyger entered and shot him dead. The precise chain of events is...

TOMS RIVER — Howell police Sgt. Richard Conte, the head of Monmouth County's emergency response team, was charged with attempting to lure or entice a minor into a motor vehicle. Conte, 47, was arrested after being accused of making arrangements to meet a teenage girl in what turned out to be a sting operation in Toms River, according to a source familiar with the case but not authorized to speak about it

UPDATED at 4 p.m. with statement from police union official. ST. LOUIS • St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner will no longer accept criminal cases from 28 city police officers and is reviewing any open cases they handled for “viability.” Gardner delivered the list of officers to the police department Tuesday, calling it an “exclusion list,” according to documents obtained by the Post-Dispatch. A written statement from Gardner said, in part, that prosecutors have “the responsibility to defend the integrity of the criminal justice system. Police officers play an important role in the criminal justice system, and the credibility of...

Stephon Clark, the unarmed 22-year-old killed by Sacramento police officers earlier this month, was shot eight times, with most of the bullets hitting him in the back, according to an independent autopsy requested by his family’s attorneys. These bullets — some of which struck Clark in the back, neck and thigh — caused extensive bleeding, said Dr. Bennet Omalu, a forensic pathologist. At least one pierced Clark’s lung, he said.

Lawyers for a Chicago police officer accused of murdering a Chicago teen in a shooting captured on dashcam video that ignited protests in the city and around the country are arguing their client will not be able to get a fair trial in Chicago. Chicago cop Jason Van Dyke was back in court Thursday as his lawyers argued extensive media coverage of the October 2014 incident in which Van Dyke shot and killed 17-year old Laquan McDonald means Van Dyke will not be able to get a fair trial in Cook County where Chicago is the county seat.

<p>PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Authorities in Massachusetts say a Maine police officer accused officers of racial profiling as they arrested her for pushing through a concert crowd and refusing to leave after being asked dozens of time.</p> <p>Worcester police arrested 24-year-old Portland officer Zahra Munye Abu on Saturday night at a Ja Rule and Ashanti concert.</p>

It was a routine drug arrest in one of Baltimore’s more troubled neighborhoods. But it has become a flash point sparked by video from one of the officer’s body cameras. The public defender’s office looked at the video and contended it showed an officer planting evidence in a trash-strewn alley. Baltimore police countered with a more complicated explanation. They are investigating whether the officer had legitimately found drugs but, realizing he had forgotten to turn on his body camera, reconstructed his find. His body camera captured both him hiding the drugs and then finding them. Authorities said that would be...

BALCH SPRINGS -- The officer who shot and killed 15-year-old Jordan Edwards has been fired. In a news conference, Balch Springs Police Chief Jonathan Haber said the officer, Roy Oliver, violated department policies, but won't elaborate which policies. Oliver has been with the department since 2011. He has 10 days to appeal. Jordan Edwards was killed in front of his brother as they were leaving a party over the weekend. Neighbors said a large house party was underway at the time. Balch Springs police said officers responded to a report of intoxicated teenagers on a residential street in the 12300...

An inquest jury Monday issued an advisory verdict that probable cause of a crime exists in the death of Terrill Thomas in the Milwaukee County Jail a year ago. The jury found probable cause of a crime in the actions of seven jail officials under a felony statute prohibiting abuse, neglect and ill-treatment of inmates. Now it will be up to District Attorney John Chisholm to decide if any criminal charges are warranted in the April 2016 death of Thomas, a 38-year-old with bipolar disorder who was deprived of water and a mattress during seven straight days at the Milwaukee...

Oklahoma Highway Patrol Uses New Device To Seize Money Used During The Commission Of - News9.com http://m.news9.com/story.aspx?story=32168555&catId=112032 Posted: Jun 07, 2016 5:57PM CDT Aaron Brilbeck, News 9 You may have heard of civil asset forfeiture. That's where police can seize your property and cash without first proving you committed a crime; without a warrant and without arresting you, as long as they suspect that your property is somehow tied to a crime. Now, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol has a device that also allows them to seize money in your bank account or on prepaid cards. It's called an ERAD, or...

Beyond James Comey, there are still a few law enforcement officials beating the anti-encryption drum. Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance is one of those. He's been joined in this fight by some like-minded district attorneys from the other coast, seeing as New York and California both have anti-encryption bills currently working their way through local legislatures. Vance, along with Los Angeles County DA Jackie Lacey and San Diego County DA Bonnie Dumanis, penned an op-ed against encryption for the LA Times. In it, they argue that tech companies have set them up as "gatekeepers" of communications and data, which they believe...

North Carolina Sheriff Earl “Moose” Butler suspended five deputies after 78 year-old John Franklin McGraw punched a Black Lives Matter activist who disrupted a Trump rally and flipped off the crowd.The sheriff suspended the deputies for several days. Two deputies were demoted.Seriously? A North Carolina sheriff has suspended five deputies for their actions at a Donald Trump rally in which a black man being escorted from the event was allegedly assaulted by a white man. A statement from Cumberland County Sheriff Earl “Moose” Butler on Wednesday said three deputies were demoted and suspended without pay for five days. Two other...

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Two veteran Los Angeles Police Department officers have been charged with repeatedly sexually assaulting four women while on duty, the L.A. County District Attorney's Office said Wednesday. James Nichols, 44, and Luis Valenzuela, 43, worked as partners for the LAPD's Hollywood Division. Both men are accused of sexually assaulting women in various locations, including their police vehicle, between December 2008 and March 2011.

NEW YORK (AP) -- A rookie police officer who shot an unarmed man dead in a darkened public housing stairwell was convicted Thursday of manslaughter in a case closely watched by advocates for police accountability. The courtroom audience gasped and Officer Peter Liang, who had broken into tears as he testified about the 2014 shooting of Akai Gurley, buried his head in his hands as the verdict came after 17 hours of jury deliberations. The manslaughter charge carries up to 15 years in prison. Liang's sentencing is set for April 14.

In a speech that lasted almost 30 minutes, Judge Vonda Evans of Detroit laid into 47-year-old William Melendez, the former Inkster, Michigan, police officer caught on video beating an unarmed black man in January 2015. Melendez was sentenced to 13 months to 10 years in prison Tuesday for his role in the attack on Floyd Dent, a 58-year-old black auto worker, that occurred during a late night traffic stop in the struggling Wayne County suburb last winter. "The one image [from this trial] that stood out to the court was looking at Mr. Dent in his cell, shaking his head...

Let me say up front that I know this will be unpopular. But I can't help the uneasiness that I feel toward law enforcement lately...and I have some good reasons. Gone are the days of Officer Friendly, the neighborhood cop who knows everyone and is looking out for the community's best interest. It seems that lately, police officers end up terrorizing those they are supposed to be serving and protecting. Clearly, not all police are acting this way, but it sure seems the police state is ramping up. I have a high respect for police officers who respect the law....

Proving to be unstable, combative and petty, an FBI agent interjected himself in a family custodial dispute on behalf of his girlfriend and her estranged husband, who was two hours late in dropping off their baby. But FBI Agent Gerald Rogero’s intrusive attempts at heroism led to him assaulting and threatening to shoot the 15-year-old son of the estranged husband’s girlfriend. He then threatened the teen’s mother with arrest when she tried to intervene

Police in St. Paul, Minnesota, have put an officer on leave while investigators try to figure out if he's responsible for a Facebook post urging drivers to run over Black Lives Matter protesters on Martin Luther King Jr. Day — and how to get away with it. "Run them over. Keep traffic flowing and don't slow down for any of these idiots who try and block the streets," said the post attributed to RM Roth. "Since they are trying to block the street and/or cross where there is no crossing you should not be charged with anything." Andrew Henderson saw...

The Metropolitan Police officer who was arrested Monday on domestic battery charges was arrested four years before on similar charges, but that case was dismissed, the Clark County district attorney's office confirmed Wednesday. James Burt, 41, was taken into custody Monday on suspicion of domestic battery by strangulation and kidnapping involving his girlfriend, an arrest report shows. In 2011, he was arrested on two counts of domestic battery, coercion with force and kidnapping involving his then-wife. They divorced about a year later. That first case was dismissed less than six weeks after he was arrested. "What it looks like on...