In Elyria, Ohio, cops encouraged a woman to kick in her ex-boyfriend’s front door, so that she could get her belongings inside. They did not have a warrant. But they followed her inside the man’s house anyways, and proceeded to walk upstairs and surprise him as he got out of the shower. Then they tased him multiple times, arrested him, and charged him with multiple felonies. But then he got a lawyer, and the lawyer reviewed the body cam footage.
By the way, this is the same police department that went viral for the huge SWAT raid where they used the flash bangs against the innocent mom and baby inside. Media report from that here.
A police officer in South Whitley, Indiana pulled over an 18 year old high school girl for allegedly speeding, as well as for one of her headlights being out. Within minutes, he violently pulled her out of her car and slammed her onto the asphalt. He handcuffed her and put her in the rear of his police car. This was her first time ever being pulled over. The charge? She didn’t provide her ID quickly enough. Her father showed up to the scene, and is now fighting for justice.
The New Jersey Office of the State Comptroller recently published a scandalous report detailing private for-profit police training of 1000’s of police officers from around the country that, among other things: promoted the use of unconstitutional policing tactics for motor vehicle stops; glorified violence and an excessively militaristic or “warrior” approach to policing; spoke disparagingly of the internal affairs process; promoted an “us vs. them” approach; and espoused views and tactics that would undermine almost a decade of police reform efforts in New Jersey, including those aimed at de-escalating civilian-police encounters; and which included over 100 discriminatory and harassing remarks by speakers and instructors, with repeated references to speakers’ genitalia, lewd gestures, and demeaning quips about women and minorities.
Specifically, the report details a 2021 seminar held in Atlantic City, NJ, attended by approximately 1,000 police officers from across the country. Along with the report, the Acting Comptroller released video footage…
Here’s a media report about one of the instructors subsequently being charged with criminal violations for the video he bragged about, showing him shooting at a fleeing vehicle.
Here’s another media report about the founder of the training company retiring from police-work shortly after being sued for misconduct.
Here’s the list of states that sent police officers to the 2021 seminar featured in the report and video footage:
This footage comes from Oilton, Oklahoma, where they’ve apparently been through 9 different police chiefs in the past few years, which may not surprise you once you watch this bodycam footage. The video was released by the Oilton Police Department after the local TV news ran a story about an officer confronting and attacking a 76 year old veteran on his own property. But does the video help, or hurt, the Oilton PD? Also, just four months ago, the Oilton PD apparently didn’t even exist.
An internal investigation from the Bountiful (Utah) Police Department found its own Cpl. Jon Joubert used excessive force while arresting 64-year-old Gretta Jensen in December 2020. Body camera footage, recently released, shows Joubert appearing to punch Jensen in the face while she is on the ground as she yells for help. Jensen has filed a “$1 million federal lawsuit” against Joubert, alleging that he violated her constitutional rights by using excessive force when he arrested her. She also argues that she had committed no crime. Despite the internal investigation findings, Officer Joubert was only given a written reprimand.
The City of Long Beach has agreed to pay $300,000 to a man who sued, alleging he was threatened, beaten and detained by police officers over an expired car registration in 2022. In a lawsuit filed in October, Johnny Jackson says he had just gotten out of the hospital after getting surgery to treat prostate cancer and had driven to Staples to make a copy of a doctor’s note for his employer when police pulled him over on the way back to his Long Beach home.
Imagine that your 62 year old father was driving late at night after 11 hours on the road. Would you worry that he would fall asleep? Hopefully he would just pull over somewhere and take a nap if he was tired. Right? Usually, yes. But not in Spokane County, Washington.
62 year old Kevin Hinton had just driven 11 hours into his road trip back from meeting his brand new baby granddaughter in Oregon. He was too tired to continue driving. He couldn’t keep his eyes open. So he pulled over into a parking lot at Terrace View Park, in Spokane, Washington, to take a nap. Shortly afterwards he would encounter Sgt. Clay Hilton with the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office. Within three minutes, Hilton would forcibly remove Mr. Hinton from his vehicle in such a way as to leave him with 8 broken ribs, a punctured lung, severe concussion, shoulder injury, and a disfigured lip. Why? Because Sgt. Hilton thought he was being rude.
Police officers in Northhampton, Massachusetts, pulled a 60 year old woman over for a defective headlight. Within minutes of the traffic stop, she was violently pulled out of her car, slammed to the ground and then pepper sprayed. All criminal charges were subsequently dropped. The woman, who speaks English as a second language and had some difficulty communicating with the officers, has now hired a lawyer and is threatening to sue. Let’s go over the dash cam footage and see whether any constitutional violations occurred.
Police charged Driouech with assault and battery on a police officer, attempting to disarm a police officer, resisting arrest and refusing to identify herself, in addition to the lights violation, according to court documents. In his arrest report, Sellew alleged she tried to roll up her window and put her car in drive during the traffic stop, then resisted arrest when Sellew ordered her to step out of her car and grabbed his baton as he tried to take her down.However, the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office soon dismissed all of those criminal charges against Driouech. She did admit to the broken headlight charge in court.
Vancouver Police Department Officer Andrea Mendoza allegedly pulled a man’s pants down and threatened to charge a Taser onto his exposed genitals. This occurred immediately after police were called to Walmart due to suspected shoplifting. The man had already said he was “done” resisting by that point, body camera footage shows. But she threatened him again and held the Taser against his skin for 24 seconds.
On Tuesday, the Clark County Prosecutor’s Office filed fourth-degree assault charges against the officer. The local police union has, of course, objected to the prosecutor’s decision. Apparently, all of the criminal charges against the shoplifting suspect were dropped.
Recently, a new sheriff was elected in Los Angeles County. He held a press conference about some bodycam footage that he had just become aware of, showing a deputy punching a mother in the face, in an attempt to take the baby from the mother over concerns that she had not properly transported the child in a carseat. Did the officer act reasonably?
By the way, this is the same agency that is also under investigation for another incident, wherein an elderly woman was slammed to the ground unnecessarily.
