• The Williamson Co TX police department is the subject of two separate excessive force lawsuits. One of which claims that an officer broke a woman’s hip when he threw her into a bench at the station then was caught on audio bragging about other incidents and talking about how to edit the surveillance video to hide it. The other claims that officer’s broke a man’s collarbone when they tackled him off of his motorcycle and pistol whipped him. Officers then allegedly told him they were going to make sure he never worked as a paramedic, which he was studying for, while taunting him in front of hospital staff. [5]
• Goodyear AZ is facing two lawsuits over a single incident where officers are accused of flubbing an investigation where a fellow officer was accused of fatally hitting a teen with his cruiser. The suits come after two of the key officers were promoted, one of which was filed by the family and another filed by a victim’s advocate who claims she was retaliated against for bringing the flawed investigation to light. [4]
• A Fresno County CA deputy was ruled to be half liable for a fatal shooting incident where the victim was also assigned 50% of the blame. The man’s widow was awarded $500,000 in that lawsuit as a result. [0]
• A Chicago IL police officer who was the purported ringleader of the corrupt SOS unit accepted a plea deal dropping a number of charges in exchange for guilty pleas to tax evasion and for a plot to kill a fellow officer for cooperating in the case against them. [0]
• An Alameda County CA deputy is the subject of a lawsuit filed by a public defender claiming the deputy pulled him over without cause, saying he thought he heard a loud voice from his car, then handcuffed him when the attorney tried to record what was happening. [4]
• Seattle WA police received a stinging rebuke by a judge who dismissed a case against a man accused of assaulting a gang cop he claims choked him while he was cuffed instead. The judge told the police that this was the poorest investigated case she’d seen in 22 years on the bench and criticized officers over missing segments of dashcam video where it appeared officers intentionally turned off their cameras then turned them back on later. The officer who claimed he was assaulted who was accused of choking that man was the same officer in a high-profile video showing him stomp on a man’s head after telling him he was going to “beat the Mexican piss” out of him. [5]
• A San Juan County NM deputy was fired after a lawsuit was filed over a videotaped incident where he was shown beating a man in the head with his flashlight. [0]
• Harlingen TX police are being sued by two men who both claim that the police department jail conditions are so deplorable that both had to be hospitalized while they were detained for unpaid traffic tickets. One claims he was only allowed to shower once every three days and he became violently ill when he ate a rotten sandwich. The other claims that police ignored his need for a reduced salt diet and denied him access to his high blood pressure medication which caused him to be ill. [3]
• Maricopa County AZ deputies were ruled to have violated the civil rights of two men they detained and transported to the cite of an immigration raid for no other reason than that they both worked at the workplace being raided. Both were later released after being found to be in the country legally. [4]
• A Houston TX ISD police officer has been charged with 2 felony counts of sexual assault on a child involving a 15-year-old female student at the school he worked at. [0]
• A second Richmond CA cop accused of hiring teen explorers and arming them with firearms forbidden to the general public for security gigs has resigned. It should be noted, however, that both officers involved in the scandal filed a lawsuit against the department prior to the allegations claiming racial discrimination and harassment. [0]
• Chicago IL has settled a 1st Amendment lawsuit filed by the ACLU for $12,500 for spying on a Quaker-based activist group. The group received $5,000 of the settlement and the ACLU received the rest. [0]
• A Prince Georges County MD deputy was fined $35,000 and received probation in a plea deal reducing assault and sexual misconduct charges to a single disorderly conduct charge over an incident where he assaulted a man and a woman at a bar which left the woman with significant injuries. [0]
• A Santa Fe County NM sheriff’s lieutenant has been placed on paid leave after being cited for shoplifting a $20 item at a local K-Mart. [0]
• A Conyers GA police officer received a fine and probation after taking a plea deal to a window tint & reckless operation charge after he was originally charged with drunk driving. [0]
• A Philadelphia PA police officer is under investigation after shooting a man in the chest during an alleged dispute over a parking space while off duty. While the officer claims the man he shot pointed a gun at him neighbors and the man’s girlfriend dispute that account claiming instead that the officer chased the man inside his own home and shot him in the chest before fleeing to his relative’s home next door. Doctors say the man’s chances of survival are slim. [3]
• Indianapolis IN police officers are accused of using excessive force in a cellphone video apparently showing the officers dragging an unconscious handcuffed man and dropping him on his face a number of times when they responded to a medical call about the 19-year-old who was passed out in an apartment building. Witnesses say the officers picked the boy up by his throat when they cuffed his unresponsive body. The video can be seen here. [4]
• A New York NY police officer has pled guilty to using badge and supplying police equipment in order to help a gang pull off over 100 robberies of about 250 kilos of cocaine and $1,000,000 in cash. [0]
• A Brunswick County NC sheriff’s detective was fired before being arrested on indecent liberties with a child charges but no other details about the case have been released yet. [0]
• A Richmond VA deputy has been arrested on an indecent liberties charge after he allegedly threatened to rape two 14-year-old girls. [0]
• Middletown PA settles suit for $100k to woman claiming drug cops rifled through photographs of her in the nude and even displayed them to others through a window in her home while they were raiding her home in a drug investigation against her husband who later admitted the drugs belonged to him, not her. [3]
• A Shreveport LA police officer has been sentenced to 4 years in prison on a perjury conviction for lying about how he ran away from a shootout. [0]
• A Cleveland OH police officer is expected to turn himself in after a warrant was issued for for his arrest on allegations that he misused police databases. [1]
• A Chattanooga TN police officer is under investigation on allegations he showed up for training class while drunk. This wasn’t the officer’s first problem with alcohol though. [0]
• Another Chattanooga TN police officer was arrested over an alleged domestic incident where she allegedly attacked her boyfriend, also a cop, then vandalized his apartment before stealing his phone and some cash when she found out he was cheating on her. [0]
• And finally, in a follow up to a story last week, a Houston TX police sergeant has been charged with drunken driving after crashing into school bus on his way into work while in uniform. Blood tests at the hospital showed he had a BAC of .20 at the time. Witnesses alleged at the time of the accident that there appeared to be an effort to cover up the case when they claimed officers threatened them and tried to hide open containers found in the officer’s vehicle. [0]
• In Las Vegas NV there’s been an update to a report we covered last month where a police officer is now suspended while under investigation for beating & arresting a man for videotaping police from his own yard. The video of the incident, shown above, was briefly released on the Las Vegas Review-Journal news site but then mysteriously retracted and has been being systematically removed from YouTube. We took this one from a site called Disclose.tv so we’ll see how long that lasts.
• A Houston TX police officer is the subject of a lawsuit after an autopsy that was kept secret for over a year showed he fatally shot an unarmed man 4 times in the back. [4]
• San Jose CA is being sued by a man claiming police officers broke his eye socket when they beat him three times, at least one of those times while he was already handcuffed. His sister was also arrested for complaining that he wasn’t resisting while being beaten. [4]
• Again in San Jose CA, police are the subject of another lawsuit alleging they threw a baton at a fleeing man then ran him over when he fell. sued by man claiming cops threw baton at him then ran him over. The suit also alleges that officers then jumped on the man even after he was hit by the police cruiser, all over an alleged bar fight. [3]
• A Honolulu HI police officer is accused of stopping a motorist without cause while that officer was off-duty then beating that man before charging him with assaulting an officer. Apparently there’s some history between the two and the alleged victim claims the officer has been out to get him. [3]
• Denver CO is preparing to settle a lawsuit for $50,000 to a man claiming two officers illegally entered his home then used excessive force before falsely arresting him when he refused to let them enter his home without a warrant. Officers apparently wrongly told him they could enter without a warrant because a woman claimed to be his ex-girlfriend and wanted her things. [3]
• A San Diego CA police officer may face felony assault charges for allegedly beating a teenager he caught smoking pot in a car parked on the street in front of his home while he was off-duty. [0]
• Oak Creek CO settled a lawsuit for $25,000 to that town’s ex-mayor who claims a police officer illegally entered her home and tased her over an alleged traffic violation. [3]
• A San Bernardino County CA deputy was arrested on allegations that he had sex with a 16-year-old girl who was in that department’s explorers program. [0]
• An Alma GA police officer has been fired after being arrested on sexual assault of a person in custody charges. The officer admitted it but claims it was consentual. [0]
• New Britain CT police are being sued by a female officer alleging she was subjected to sexual harassment by the captain of the internal affairs division and then suffered retaliation for refusing his advances. [3]
• Chattanooga TN is being sued by a man claiming he was falsely arrested for honking his horn at a police officer who refused to go when she was ahead of him at a green light. [3]
• The police chief of Yukon OK has apparently resigned with an end-date in 13 months but will remain on paid leave until then. The chief was already on paid leave when he announced his decision but there’s been no word on why he was suspended. [3]
• A Cherokee County NC chief deputy has been fired and 2 deputies suspended while the sheriff’s office is the subject of an unspecified state investigation. There’s been no word on whether the two events are related or what either might involve. [3]
• A McAlester OK police officer is on paid leave after arrested on a felony distribution of controlled substance charge. [1]
• A Los Angeles CA police officer has been arrested on a drunk driving charge after being stopped near LAX for driving his motorcycle the wrong way through a tunnel. [0]
• A Honolulu HI police officer was arrested on drunk driving and failure to remain at the scene of an accident charges. [0]
