In response to both the killing an unarmed young man this past weekend and subsequent police brutality against protesters, hundreds of demonstrators converged in from of Anaheim City Hall yesterday, and cops once again responded violently, blanketing residents and reporters with a barrage of pepper balls and bean bag rounds as unrest in the city continues to grow:
Terrible footage of police violence against a crowd which had gathered in protest after Anaheim police fatally shot an unarmed young man in the back. Men, women, and young children were sprayed with rubber bullets and mauled by a police dog:
Has medical marijuana truly been legalized if this is considered acceptable police procedure? Watch as police rampage through the THC Downtown Collective, a marijuana dispensary in Long Beach, California, which was operating in accordance with state laws but lacked a proper city permit. Officers do as much destruction as possible, knock out the facility’s security cameras in an attempt to cover their tracks, and step on the neck and back of a volunteer employee whom they had ordered to lie on the ground:
An adorable animation unveiling the ACLU’s free Police Tape app, available initially for Android and soon for iOS. You too can be a watchdog!
Citizens can hold police accountable in the palms of their hands with “Police Tape,” a smartphone application from the ACLU of New Jersey that allows people to securely record and store interactions with police, as well as provide legal information about citizens’ rights when interacting with the police.
By Samantha Tata and Michelle Valles, NBCLosAngeles.com, via MSNBC:
A raid on a marijuana dispensary in Long Beach was caught on video showing officers smashing surveillance cameras and stepping on a suspect, moves that prompted accusations against the officers of excessive force.
More than a dozen police raided THC Downtown Collective in the 300 block of Atlantic Boulevard (map) on June 19, officials said. The video was posted to YouTube by user “Long Beach Raids” on July 1. Officials said they learned about the video on July 3.
The two-minute-long video opens to show a man surrendering to police, three of whom surround him while two put him in handcuffs.
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One of the officers is seen stepping on volunteer employee Dorian Brooks’ back with both feet before stepping on his neck, with what Brooks described as 300 pounds of pressure…
After reading the myriad racist comments on CNN’s story about Rodney King’s death, I feel a bit of pertinent info should not be flushed down the memory hole. King wasn’t the only one beaten that night, as many police brutality apologists (none of whom have ever driven over the speed limit, of course) like to claim, but the two passengers of King’s car were too.
An Associated Press story from May 5th, 1992 [1, 2, 3] states:
The testimony of a passenger in Rodney King’s car that he, too, was beaten by police takes on new significance since the acquittal of four officers.
Bryant Allen testified during the officers’ trial that he was “kicked and stomped” as he lay on the ground outside King’s car, but neither the defense nor prosecutors followed up on his brief statement. On Monday’s “Montel Williams Show,” a syndicated television talk show, Bryant said: “I was stomped once and I was kicked twice.”…
On the show, he said he told police and prosecutors what happened to him soon after the March 3, 1991, videotaped beating of King.
The Infamous Brad on the damning report just released by UC Davis regarding the infamous police brutality (involving illegal, military-grade pepper spray) against students engaging in (entirely legal) protests this past year:
You know how every time somebody in law enforcement does something that looks bad, we’re told that we should “wait until the facts are in” before passing judgment? Well, after Lieutenant Pike of the UC Davis Police Department became an internet meme by using high-pressure pepper-spray on peaceful resisters, the campus hired an independent consulting firm to interview everybody they could find, review all the videos and other evidence, review the relevant policies and laws, and issue a final fact-finding report to the university. The university just released that report, along with their summary, and the final report is even worse than the news accounts made it seem.
You probably weren’t aware that the protesters warned the university that they were going to be protesting two weeks in advance, were you?
Image via Twitter @OccupiersFilm
Natalie W writes at Diatribe Media:
An Open Letter To The St. Louis Mayor, Chief of Police, and Media
Dear Mayor Slay and Chief Isom,
My name is Natalie and I’m a member of Occupy Chicago. Please know that I only speak for myself and am not claiming to represent the opinions of Occupy Chicago or any other Occupations. I am however a sister in the global revolution of citizens united to restore power to the people and remove corporate influence over the state, among other initiatives.
On Thursday, March 15, 2012, I watched a livestream feed of Occupy the Midwest and saw my Occupy family was smashed with cold police batons as they attempted to comply with illogical regulation of public land, the space specifically bought and maintained with public dollars. Simply, I watched the footage of senseless violence wrought against as they crossed the street, attempting to obey police orders to disperse from Compton Hill Reservoir Park.… Read the rest
Seattle’s KOMO 4 News reports on their city’s police department’s issue with tens of thousands of cop car dashcam videos “vanishing”. In the latest incident for which cruiser footage of critical moments was mysteriously lost, two innocent young men (both African American) were beaten and arrested at gunpoint for no legitimate reason. After they are taken to jail, an officer tells one that he will “make stuff up” and send them to prison for robbery.
But no worries, the police department investigated itself and found no wrongdoing by officers. A department spokesman comments that concerned citizens have to “trust the system, trust the process”.
Abby Zimet for Common Dreams:
The city council of Henderson, Nev. has approved a settlement of $158,500 after police brutally beat a man in diabetic shock after they stopped him for what they thought was drunken driving. Video shows five officers screaming at, pulling guns on and subduing Adam Greene as a sixth kicks him hard enough to break several ribs. Then they figured out he was ill. Who is it these guys work for again?
