Tag Archives: police brutality
Cops May Be Liable for Felling Occupy Berkeley
Courthouse News Service
Mar. 1, 2012
By CHRIS MARSHALL
OAKLAND, Calif. (CN) – Police must face excessive-force claims related to an Occupy protest they dispersed at the University of California, Berkeley, a federal judge ruled.
The protesters claimed to have been engaged in a peaceful protest of tuition hikes and the privatization of public education when officers battered them and used excessive force.
After police raided their Sproul Hall encampment on Nov. 9, 2011, hundreds of protestors allegedly returned later that evening and erected more tents.
They said Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Harry LeGrande warned them to remove their tents before the police arrived 10 p.m., at which time they would allegedly give a 10-minute warning and remove the tents by force. Officers actually arrived in riot gear at 9:30 and raided the encampment, according to the complaint.
University of Calif agrees to pay $1M to settle lawsuit by students who were pepper-sprayed
Associated Press
Sept. 26, 2012
SAN FRANCISCO — The University of California has agreed to pay $1 million to settle a lawsuit filed by demonstrators who were pepper-sprayed during an Occupy protest at UC Davis last fall, according to a preliminary settlement filed Wednesday.
The Nov. 18, 2011, incident prompted national outrage, angry campus protests and calls for the resignation of Chancellor Linda Katehi after online videos shot by witnesses went viral.
Images of a police officer casually spraying orange pepper-spray in the faces of nonviolent protesters became a rallying symbol for the Occupy Wall Street movement. The demonstrators had been protesting steep tuition hikes and police brutality.
Under the proposed settlement, UC would pay $30,000 to each of 21 plaintiffs named in the complaint and an additional $250,000 for their attorneys to split.
Houston Officer Kills Double Amputee in Wheelchair
Associated Press
Sept. 22, 2012
A Houston police officer shot and killed a one-armed, one-legged man in a wheelchair Saturday inside a group home after police say the double amputee threatened the officer and aggressively waved a metal object that turned out to be a pen.
Police spokeswoman Jodi Silva said the man cornered the officer in his wheelchair and was making threats while trying to stab the officer with the pen. At the time, the officer did not know what the metal object was that the man was waving, Silva said.
She said the man came “within inches to a foot” of the officer and did not follow instructions to calm down and remain still.
Pepper-spraying campus police won’t face charges
Sept. 20, 2012
DAVIS, Calif. (AP) — The University of California, Davis police officers who doused students and alumni with pepper spray during a campus protest last November won’t face criminal charges, prosecutors said Wednesday.
The chemical crackdown prompted widespread condemnation, campus protests and calls for the resignation of Chancellor Linda Katehi after videos shot by witnesses were widely played online. Images of an officer casually spraying orange pepper-spray in the faces of nonviolent protesters became a rallying point for the Occupy Wall Street movement.
But the Yolo County District Attorney’s office said in a statement that there was insufficient evidence to prove the use of force was illegal.
A task force appointed by the university concluded in April that the Nov. 18 pepper-spraying was “objectively unreasonable” and could have been prevented.
Criticism mounts around violent MN arrest caught on video
Raw Story
Sept. 1, 2012
By Arturo Garcia
Black community leaders in St. Paul, Minnesota, are criticizing local police after the violent arrest of a stalking suspect surfaced on YouTube.
Authorities charged 30-year-old Eric R. Hightower on Thursday with aggravated stalking, terroristic threats and property damage against his ex-girlfriend following his arrest on Tuesday, during which an officer was filmed kicking him and then, with another officer, slamming him head-first onto the hood of a police car.
According to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, a group of representatives from local civic groups and churches denounced the use of “street justice” in Hightower’s arrest and asked residents to report similar encounters to prove it wasn’t an isolated incident.
