Police Beat: When Cops Kill in Cold Blood

credit: Cleveland Plain Dealer

More: The Cleveland police have been under investigation by the Department of Justice for excessive or unecessary use of force since last year. This week DOJ released its report saying there was evidence that Cleveland police use excessive force in violation of the Fourth Amendment rights of suspects. Not surpising since it has been only one month since young Tamir Rice was gunned down at close range after not responding to orders to raise his hands within a moment of a police cruiser arriving at the scene. He held a replica pistol in his waistband at the time. Shot if you do; shot if you don't.

Further: {3.12.14}One of the first things a student learns in law school if she decides to take criminal law and procedure courses is that the a grand jury is the tool of a public prosecutor. The prosecutor is in complete control of the evidence presented to the jury whose only job is to determine whether there is reasonable probability a crime has been committed, not whether a particular person is guilty of the crime. That distinction is important because a much lesser standard of proof is operable than at trial where a person's guilt must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. Thus, it is often jokingly said an indictment can be obtained against a ham sandwich. Except when it comes to indicting cops for a crime against an alleged perpetrator. Prosecutors are a brick in the institutional edifice of law enforcement. They rely heavily on police cooperation to bring successful prosecutions. So it takes a public prosecutor of unusual integrity or independence to indict a police officer for a crime committed while enforcing the law. Viewed from this perspective the St. Louis county prosecutor's decision to present conflicting evidence to grand jurors is completely predictable especially after he supported official innocence in his press statements.

What 'Merica is experiencing in the failure to indict the cop in Ferguson, MO for killing a man with his hands up in surrender, or the cop in New York for choking a man to death after he was prostrate on the ground and subdued by a gang of his colleagues, is the logical outcome of a system of enforcement that is racist, biased in favor of the police, and corrupt. Cops are sworn to enforce the law, but they are supposed to do so within the confines of the law that generally prohibits the use of deadly force except to protect themselves or others from imminent danger. Both cases were clearly outside the recognized boundaries of acceptable use of deadly force. Racial politics and fear have colored reasonable perceptions of justice. People who defend cops in these cases are doing the nation a severe disservice by perpetuating a police state mentality in which cops are above the law and functionally immune from accountability for their crimes.

Update: {2.12.14}Cleveland has a race problem and its police are making that clear. Just a few days after Tamir Rice was shot dead, white police officers filed a lawsuit claiming the department discriminated against them by imposing substantially harsher discipline on them than that given to black officers who inappropriately used deadly force. The lawsuit arises from a deadly 2012 car chase in which 13 cops fired 137 shots at a Chevrolet Malibu [photo]. The occupants were hit over 20 times and killed. Neither had a weapon. The city settled a lawsuit against it by the victims' families for $3 million. The punishment at issue: 3 days of administrative leave followed by 16 months of restricted duty during which they were denied overtime. Restricted duty is usually 45 days in length, but political uproar over the chase killings extended it. The plaintiffs also say the treatment hurt their careers too because they were unable to apply for promotion. If the Current Occupant wishes to accomplish something in the last two years in office, no small victory would be to re-establish local control over municipal police departments that have experienced "systemic failure" as Ohio's attorney general described the situation in Cleveland. The national epidemic of shoot on sight unprofessionalism and official lawlessness is not only costing money, but lives.

More:{01.12.14}Cleveland cops responded to a call that a young black boy was waving a gun in a park on Saturday. The 911 caller told the dispatcher the gun appeared not to be real. Nevertheless, when cops got to the scene and confronted the 12 year-old he refused to put down the toy, so a rookie policeman shot him in the stomach within two seconds of their arrival [video]. The cops did not administer first aid to Tamir Rice for four minutes, until a detective and an FBI agent arrived; by then it was too late. The boy died while being transported to a hospital. The reason for an FBI agent responding is that Cleveland's cops are being investigated by the US Justice Department for excessive and unreasonable deadly force.  Chalk up another case study.

{24.11.14} One of the prevailing myths of modern 'Merica is that cops only shoot when necessary to protect themselves or innocent civilians. The current controversy in Ferguson, MO is a world-wide exemplar of that falsehood. Amnesty International, the human rights group, has sent a team to Ferguson to monitor police tactics after at least eight journalists were arrested covering the civil unrest. Protected by this informal immunity conferred on them by nervous authorities, cops are pulling their guns and killing in all sorts of unjustifiable situations. A recent case in New York is a clear cut example of police manslaughter. On Thursday night two NYPD police officers were on a routine patrol of a Brooklyn housing project. Coming down a dark stairwell from the seventh floor instead of taking a slow elevator, Akai Gurley and his girlfriend were doing nothing wrong, but they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Gurley was not armed. NYPD officer Peter Liang entered the stairwell from the eighth floor with his flashlight and gun drawn. Without notification, he fired a single shot at Gurley hitting him in the chest. Gurley staggerd down to the fifth floor were he collapsed dead. Gurley's girlfriend told reporters they police never identified themselves or asked Gurley to identify himself; Liang simply shot him in the chest.

Liang claims he shot Gurley accidently. His police buddies back him up saying Liang held his Glock 9mm while opening the stairwell door with his gun hand and accidently fired a shot. Both Liang and his partner on patrol were probationary officers. They waited five minutes to report the death and never came down the stairs to check on Gurley's condition. Liang sat on the floor crying for 45 minutes. It is very hard to accept that NYPD trains its officers to open doors with their gun hand while their side arm is loaded and safety off. Police officials admit Gurley was not engaged in criminal activity when he died at the hands of nervous or fearful cop in a high crime district. NYPD's current motto emblazzoned on their vehicles is: "Courtesy, Professionalism, Respect". Clearly, Officer Liang failed that aspiration.Within a month five unarmed black men have been killed by police.