Jailed and ignored for two years, Stephen Slevin was awarded $22 million by a federal jury in Santa Fe in one of the largest prisoner-rights judgments ever.
Stephen Slevin was never convicted of a crime. But for two years, he languished in a New Mexico jail cell, going month after month without showers or outdoor recreation or human contact.
His nails grew so long that they curled. Refused medication and denied access to a dentist, he says he was forced to pull his own tooth.
In the photo on the left, Slevin appears in his mugshot following his August 2005 arrest; on the right, he is malnourished and disheveled after two years in solitary confinement.
Photo: Dona Ana County Sheriff’s Department/AP
Holy shit!
- 4 months ago
- 846
Miami police officer J. Brutus is OK, but possibly feeling a bit sheepish Tuesday morning, after getting distracted while driving and running his patrol car up a pole. Not into it, but up it. …
The officer was not hurt, and after the door was opened from the outside, the officer was able to walk away while laughing.
“For us to look and see him come out of the car, not a scratch on him,” said Yvonne Sorellis, “He didn’t even look shook up because he was just laughing.”
Laughing, because he knows he will face no consequences. An average citizen would likely face, at the very least, tickets and fines. An average citizen would have to pay for the damages to his vehicle and private/city property. An average citizen, who drives as part of his job and who wrecked his company’s vehicle, would undoubtedly be fired and possibly even criminally charged.
Not so a cop. The worst this cop will face is a small suspension with pay, and the taxpayers clean up the mess.
And so he laughs.
- 5 months ago
- 42
"
A report from the New York Civil Liberties Union recently looked at police use of Taser stun guns in the state, and revealed that in 60% of incidents where they were used, the incident did not meet the recommended criteria for such a weapon. Some cases involved people already handcuffed and 40% involved “at risk” subjects such as children, the elderly or mentally ill…
In Los Angeles, officers in the sheriff’s department are accused of physically abusing some prison inmates and having sex with others. An internal report, obtained by the Los Angeles Times, revealed allegations that included beating people visiting relatives in jail. In Pittsburgh, there is the case of Jordan Miles, a high-flying high-school student stopped by three plainclothes policemen. Miles, 18 at the time, was walking to his grandmother’s house and had no idea who the men were, as they did not identify themselves. He ran, but the officers caught him and beat him so badly that he ended up in hospital. He is undergoing neurological treatment for memory problems and has had to drop out of college.
Yet it was Miles who was charged with aggravated assault – a case that a judge later threw out….
In Chicago, Jimmel Cannon, 13, was shot eight times by police who claimed that he had a BB gun in his hand. His family said that he had his hands in the air. In Tucson, Arizona, former marine Jose Guerena was killed by a Swat team on a drugs raid. They found nothing illegal, but Guerena was shot 23 times.
"- 6 months ago
- 21
Police officer seeks criminal charges against woman who videotaped police beating
A police officer from Springfield, Massachusetts has filed an application for a criminal complaint against a woman who recorded his fellow officer beating a black suspect while he stood by.
In November 2009, Tyrisha Greene made a 20-minute recording of now-retired Springfield patrolman Jeffrey M. Asher repeatedly beating Melvin Jones III with a flashlight during a traffic stop. The recording shows a group of other officers standing around Jones without intervening.
Jones was partially blinded in one eye from the attack, and had bones all over his face broken. The officers claimed that Jones grabbed one of their guns as they tried to arrest him and that Asher struck Jones with his flashlight in order to “disorientate him.”
But a grand jury rejected that claim, finding no evidence that Jones behaved aggressively towards them.
Michael Sedergren was one of the four officers disciplined for the incident. He was suspended for 45 days. Sedergren claims Greene violated the state’s wiretapping laws by recording him without his consent.
(Source: anarchyagogo)
- 9 months ago
- 58
