Saturday, January 24, 2015

Lights Flashing in Ferguson

Good thing it didn't happen in D.C.:

"The American Civil Liberties Union announced Friday that it has settled a lawsuit with a Kansas City suburb after the town agreed to stop ticketing drivers who flash their headlights at oncoming traffic to warn that a speed trap lies ahead."

All over this:

"Wilson testified Brown charged at him, and other witnesses backed up his account."

Then Kaminski was right, and the ma$$ media has been nothing but distortion in service to agenda-pushing division while prominently featuring controlled opposition protest coverage -- as I suspected based on the leaders cited. 

It's not the first time they have done this: they did it to Zimmerman and they did it to that rancher in Nevada. The point is EVERYTHING COMING from the AmeriKan ma$$ media is DISTORTION at BEST, outright FICTION at WORST! 

Some choice to turn to for news and truth, huh?

"Civil rights charges unlikely in Ferguson, Mo. case" by Matt Apuzzo and Michael S. Schmidt, New York Times  January 22, 2015

No uproar?

WASHINGTON — Justice Department lawyers will recommend that no civil rights charges be brought against the police officer involved in the fatal shooting of an unarmed teenager in Ferguson, Mo., law enforecment officials said Wednesday.

The recommendation follows an FBI investigation that found no evidence to support charges, but Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. and his civil rights chief, Vanita Gupta, will have the final say on whether the department will close the case against the officer, Darren Wilson. It would be unusual for them to overrule the prosecutors on the case, who are still working on a legal memo explaining their recommendation.

A decision by the Justice Department would bring to an end to the politically charged investigation of Wilson in the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown, but a broader Justice Department civil rights investigation into allegations of discriminatory traffic stops and excessive force by the Ferguson Police Department remains open. That investigation could lead to significant changes at the overwhelmingly white department, which serves a city that is mostly black.

Benjamin L. Crump, a lawyer for Brown’s family, said he did not want to comment on the investigation until the Justice Department made an official announcement. The lawyer for Wilson did not return calls for comment.

The federal investigation did not uncover any facts that differed significantly from the evidence made public by the authorities in Missouri late last year, the law enforcement officials said. To bring federal civil rights charges, the Justice Department would have needed to prove that Wilson had intended to violate Brown’s rights when he had opened fire and that he had done so willfully — meaning he knew that it was wrong to fire, but did so anyway.

The Justice Department plans to release a report explaining its decision, though it is not clear when.

Brown’s death touched off protests and violent clashes between demonstrators and heavily armed police in Ferguson. Soon after the shooting, witnesses told reporters Brown had his hands up in a gesture of surrender when he was shot and killed by Wilson on a city street.

The FBI investigation, however, painted a murkier picture. Wilson told investigators Brown tussled with him through the window of his police car and tried to grab his gun, an account supported by bruises and DNA evidence. Two shots were fired during that struggle.

What happened next is in dispute. While some witnesses were adamant that Brown had his hands up, some recanted their stories. Wilson testified Brown charged at him, and other witnesses backed up his account. 

Does AmeriKa's ma$$ frikkin' media every relay an accurate report on anything, or is it all, all crap?

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Holder said the Justice Department’s investigation into Brown’s death would be independent from the one conducted by local authorities. While the FBI and local officials conducted some interviews together and shared evidence, the analysis and decision-making were separate. Holder resisted calls from local officials to announce his conclusion with the county prosecutor last year, in part because he did not want it to appear as if they had reached their decisions together....

It is not clear when the broader civil rights inquiry of the Police Department, known as a pattern or practice investigation, will be completed. Under Holder, prosecutors have opened more than 20 such investigations nationwide. The Justice Department recently called for sweeping changes to the Cleveland Police Department and negotiated an independent monitor to oversee the department in Albuquerque.

The Cleveland cops left the kid to die, but what happened in Albuquerque is an aberration.

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"Authorities release video of fatal N.J. police shooting" by Sean Carlin and Geoff Mulvihill, Associated Press  January 22, 2015

BRIDGETON, N.J. — With the dashboard camera in their cruiser rolling, police pulled a Jaguar over for running a stop sign on a dark New Jersey night. But things suddenly turned tense when one of the officers warned his partner that he could see a gun in the glove compartment.

Screaming over and over ‘‘Don’t you [expletive] move!’’ and ‘‘Show me your hands!’’ at the man in the passenger seat, the officer reached into the car and appeared to remove a silver handgun. Then, despite being warned repeatedly not to move, the passenger stepped out of the Jaguar, his hands raised about shoulder level.

The officers opened fire, killing him. The video of the Dec. 30 killing of Jerame Reid in Bridgeton, a city of 25,000 people about 35 miles south of Philadelphia, was released this week, raising a host of questions and stirring anger over yet another death at the hands of police.

The standoff came after the killings of black men in New York and Ferguson, Mo., triggered months of protests, violence, and calls for a reexamination of police use of force.

Both Reid and the man driving the car were black. The Bridgeton officer who spotted the gun, Braheme Days, is black; his partner, Roger Worley, is white. 

The black cop shot him?

‘‘The video speaks for itself that at no point was Jerame Reid a threat, and that he possessed no weapon on his person,’’ Walter Hudson, chairman and founder of the civil rights group the National Awareness Alliance, said Wednesday. ‘‘He complied with the officer, and the officer shot him.’’

Actually, he didn't comply.

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Related: The Jerame Reid Shooting Video Isn’t that Cut and Dry

Anyone remember Kenneth Howe?

Also see:

Jury selection starts in Colorado theater shooting trial

It's a limited hangout that smells like BS.

Newtown to destroy shooter’s home

The destruction of more evidence to cover up the hoax.

2-year-old fatally shoots self in Fla.

When babies are killing babies....

"Campuses arming officers as parents, others seek assurances" by Carolyn Thompson, Associated Press  January 21, 2015

Nearly all campus police officers at public universities now carry guns, pepper spray, and other weapons, according to a new Justice Department report, and specialists say more private schools are looking to arm police.

Overall, about two-thirds of public and private campuses used armed officers during the 2011-12 school year, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics survey of 900 four-year colleges with at least 2,500 students. Officers at public universities were more than twice as likely as those at private schools to carry guns.

Schools are not required to report weapon use to federal authorities.

Analysts said campus administrators are increasingly pressed for assurances that officers are well-equipped and well-trained following high-profile crimes like the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics last surveyed campus law enforcement agencies in 2004-05. On the more than 700 campuses questioned for both reports, the percentage of agencies arming their officers rose from 68 percent to 75 percent. About 32,000 people were working full time for campus law enforcement at four-year institutions in 2011-12, the most recent statistics available.

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Also see:

"University of Rhode Island officials have postponed arming campus police with guns, citing delays in mandatory requirements. URI president David Dooley had said officers would begin carrying guns this month, but university spokeswoman Linda Acciardo told the Providence Journal that arming the police won’t start until mid-April at the earliest. Spring semester classes start Wednesday. All 29 URI officers graduated from the state Municipal Police Training Academy, but they need to pass background checks, psychological tests, and weapons training — in that order — before they can carry guns. State Police did the background checks in October, which was two months later than planned and delayed the other testing. URI is the only public university in the country where campus police don’t carry firearms."

Oh yeah?

Related: Rhode Island Seeking to Make Schools Safe

How many psyop fakes are we going to have to stomach?

"Police find Chelsea 18-year-old shot to death in Revere" by Laura Crimaldi, Globe Staff  January 23, 2015

REVERE — To his friends, 18-year-old Andres Jaramillo was a “sweetheart” and a “shoulder to cry on.”

So when word started circulating Friday on social media that he had been shot dead on a Revere street, some said they found themselves at a loss to make sense of what happened to the Chelsea resident.

“I don’t think he deserved it all,” said Karina Garcia, an 18-year-old Chelsea High School student. “He was way too young.”

But court records also indicated a troubled side to Jaramillo, who was facing a March court date in connection with an alleged assault on his former girlfriend last fall....

Then maybe he did.

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One who damn well did:

"Boston police used self-defense in fatal 2013 shooting, DA concludes" by Evan Allen and John R. Ellement, Globe Staff  January 20, 2015

When three officers from the Boston Police gang unit saw Darryl Dookhran walking down Geneva Avenue on the afternoon of Dec. 7, 2013, one of them recognized him from a recent intelligence report that said the 20-year-old with the lengthy criminal record may be carrying a gun.

So they pulled up next to Dookhran and his friend Christopher Murrain and asked to talk, according to the officers, Murrain, and witnesses nearby — but Dookhran said nothing, turned, and fled toward Westville Street.

As Officer Ryan Lenane and Sergeant Thomas Teahan chased him, video shows Dookhran turning back and raising a gun in his right hand. Lenane told investigators later that he heard a gunshot and felt something hit his left arm.

Two other cameras capture the men seconds later: Teahan and then Lenane round the corner behind Dookhran, who again twists to raise his gun. Dookhran shot again, according to police documents, and both officers shot back, hitting Dookhran in the head and the arm, and killing him.

On Tuesday, Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley concluded that Lenane and Teahan acted to defend themselves and others when they shot Dookhran. 

Fine, except THEY WERE CHASING HIM!

“Based on a thorough investigation into the facts and circumstances surrounding Mr. Dookhran’s death, I conclude that there is no evidence of criminal conduct by the officers involved,” Conley wrote in a letter to Boston Police Commissioner William B. Evans.

In the moments after the shootout, Murrain’s girlfriend told police she got a call from Murrain, who said Dookhran, whom he called “Slice,” had “wilded out.”

“Baby come down Geneva,” he told her, she said. “Slice did some [expletive], he’s dead, and I’m about to get locked up.”

Dookhran’s family declined to comment on Conley’s announcement Tuesday, directing questions to their lawyer, Howard Friedman.

“Today’s a very upsetting day,” Friedman said. “It’s upsetting whether it’s justified or unjustified.”

Conley’s office voluntarily released to the family and the media the entire prosecutors’ investigative file, including the Firearm Discharge Investigation Team’s final report, autopsy findings, witness interviews, videos of the shooting, and photographs of the scene. Friedman said he and the family are still reading through the documents and are not ready to comment on the substance of the finding that the shooting was justified.

“The police had a year to come up with their conclusions,” Friedman said. “To require [the family] to come up with their view of the conclusions within an hour doesn’t seem fair.”

Friedman said the family is upset that they had to wait so long for information that the police had very soon after the shooting. “They were desperate for information,” he said. “It’s hard to understand why it should take so long.”

Dookhran had a lengthy criminal record for gang-related violence and at the time he was shot had recently completed a prison sentence for bringing a high-velocity semiautomatic weapon into a community college classroom.

His record included multiple gun charges, and as a juvenile, he was kicked out of two high schools for violent gang-related attacks, including stabbing a rival gang member. 

Then this world is better off without him, right?

A police intelligence report dated Nov. 22, 2013, which was included in the documents released Tuesday, showed that officers were advised to look out for Dookhran, who was believed to have a gun, and whose gang had an “active feud” with another group. “These groups have been very active in firearm violence over the past month,” the report stated.

Murrain told police that he and Dookhran were walking to a computer store when the officers pulled up and asked to talk. Murrain said he stopped, but his friend “took off” without saying anything. Murrain said he then heard gunshots. He denied knowing his friend’s name, and said he never made a phone call after the shooting.

Murrain later pleaded guilty to assault and battery on a police officer for shoulder-checking Lenane as Lenane tried to run after Dookhran, according to Conley’s office.

One witness said he saw police try to talk “to two guys stopped on the sidewalk,” and that when one of the officers placed his hand on the sleeve of one of the men, the man started to run and began shooting. The witness said he was not sure who shot first.

Citing surveillance video, ballistic and other forensic evidence, as well as the accounts of witnesses and officers, Conley concluded that police opened fire only after Dookhran shot first, wounding Lenane in the left arm. Then, Conley wrote, “in an exchange of gunfire in a thickly-settled residential and commercial neighborhood,” Dookhran fired at Teahan, Lenane, and another officer who was present but did not return fire.

Conley concluded that “under the circumstances, Sergeant Teahan and Officer Lenane acted reasonably and lawfully when they discharged their service weapons.’’

The ruling shooting comes amid a national debate about policing sparked by the deaths of unarmed black men at the hands of police in Ferguson, Mo., and New York City.

On Tuesday, Conley met with community leaders to explain the facts of the case, his legal analysis, and his determination that the shooting was justified. The meeting was private, but City Councilor Timothy McCarthy said Conley and his team spent more than an hour discussing the case. McCarthy lauded Conley’s transparency and thoroughness.

“It’s pretty clear from the film that there were shots fired, there was an officer hit,” McCarthy said. “For the safety of the officers and, clearly, the safety of the people in and around the stores . . . I have to agree with the district attorney.”

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In light of the truth coming out of Ferguson, they did the neighborhood a favor.

Also see: Police, civic leaders discuss race relations with residents in Roxbury

"3 held after high-speed Boston police chase" by Peter Schworm, Globe Staff  January 23, 2015

Police were in the Morton Street housing development Thursday afternoon, looking for a man wanted on gun charges. Around 4 p.m., they spotted him getting into an idling black Ford Explorer, and then driving off.

Police followed as the sport utility vehicle made a series of random turns as if to shake them off, before bracketing the car as it cut through a McDonald’s parking lot. But when the SUV driver saw the police, he sped off, nearly hitting an officer, police said Friday.

The driver then led police on a high-speed chase through Dorchester that ended with an armed standoff, police said. The driver, whom police identified as Daniel Murphy-Wilkins, 20, allegedly pointed a gun directly at three officers, who yelled “Gun!” and ordered him to drop it. He threw the weapon down, and officers arrested him after a violent struggle.

Two passengers in the SUV were also arrested, and police recovered a 9mm gun allegedly discarded by one of the men.

All three men were ordered held on high bail at their arraignments Friday in Dorchester District Court, where prosecutors detailed the chase and arrests. The men pleaded not guilty. They are due back in court Feb. 23.

Police Commissioner William Evans praised the officers for their restraint in arresting the men without firing a shot.

“My officers continue to take illegal guns out of our neighborhoods under what we can see are often tremendously violent and aggressive circumstances,” he said in a statement. “They continue to demonstrate enormous restraint when faced with situations where lethal force would be justified.”

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RelatedBoston police arrest New York man in 2014 killing

"Governor Baker warns protesters not to block roads" by Jim O’Sullivan, Globe Staff  January 23, 2015

Demonstrators who disrupt major thoroughfares, like those who blocked Interstate 93 last week, “will be dealt with swiftly and appropriately,” Governor Charlie Baker said Friday.

“That’s just kind of the way it’s going to be,” Baker told reporters.

The protesters were “universally panned by everybody,” Baker said, adding that he looked forward to working with lawmakers on legislation stiffening penalties for such demonstrations.

Related: Occupy Protesters Spoiled MLK's Birthday

Twenty-nine protesters were arrested Jan. 15 after forming human barricades on Boston’s largest highway, in affiliation with the activist group Black Lives Matter as it worked to bring attention to the deaths of unarmed black men at the hands of police in New York and Missouri.

Baker said he believes public protests are “sort of what being an American is all about,” and that he approves of “the more peaceful stuff.”

But of the I-93 protesters, he said: “I was glad they were arrested.”

Baker did not take the bait when asked about another controversy roiling the region, over whether the New England Patriots football team intentionally deflated footballs to increase their competitive advantage against the Indianapolis Colts in last Sunday’s American Football Conference championship game. The Patriots won the game, 45-7, and are preparing to face the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl, the sport’s championship contest.

“People are going to say whatever they’re going to say; they’re going to think whatever they’re going to think,” Baker said. “From my point of view? I’ve been a Patriots fan ever since they used to play at Fenway Park when I was a little kid, I’m always going to be a Patriots fan, and I’m going to root for them against the Seahawks.”

I'm feeling sick again.

Baker declined to detail any budget cuts under consideration as the administration works through a midyear deficit it has pegged at $765 million.

Patrick's housewarming present.

Speaking to a conference of local officials at the Hynes Convention Center, he announced an executive order he had signed earlier in the morning creating a new government entity that he said was designed to strengthen Beacon Hill’s cooperation with cities and towns.

The new “Community Compact Cabinet” will focus on “mutual accountability, work to reduce red tape, promote best practices, and develop specific ‘community compacts’ with local governments,” an administration press release said.

The directive also creates a new position in the state Department of Revenue, a senior commissioner for its Division of Local Services.

Baker aides later explained that the new commissioner position will be forged by elevating a current post, meaning that the department’s head count will not increase as a result.

The governor also responded to a question about his predecessor.

Asked whether he thought Deval Patrick had been hampered while in office because of a lack of prior service in local government, Baker, a former Swampscott selectman, replied, “We’re all creatures of whatever our experience in life is.”

What jerk idiot asked that!?

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Oh. 

Time for me to turn out the lights.

NDUs (glad I did): 

6 hurt in shooting at party for Jamaica Plain teen

It's gangs.

Danielle Allen resets goals for Harvard ethics center 

(Click)