Police abuse

Amnesty International says that since 2001 more than 500 people have been killed in the U.S. after being shocked by a Taser. Of those, more than 60 were listed by medical examiners as being directly attributable to the device; others had a cause of death unknown. Amnesty says Tasers have become tools of the lazy cop who wants a suspect down in an instant, a tool that police have been told so often is “nonlethal” that they have come to use it without much regard for why they’re firing it or where they’re aiming. The problem, said Suzanne Trimel, a spokeswoman for Amnesty International, is that police have come to rely on Tasers as a “weapon of first resort.” “They were introduced as a nonlethal equivalent of firearms, but more and more they’re used when firearms wouldn’t even be justified,” she said.

Once upon a time, the police were one of the most respected institutions in America, but now most Americans fear them. Almost every single day there are multiple stories of police brutality or misconduct that make the national news. Just this week, there have been stories about police killing a baby deer at an animal shelter, about police killing a 95-year-old World War II veteran in a retirement home, and about police using legal technicalities to “legally” steal massive amounts of money from innocent citizens. Why are police acting like this? Why have police in America turned into such ruthless thugs? In the case of the baby deer that was killed, 13 armed agents stormed the animal shelter up in Wisconsin where it was being cared for. Is this really the kind of country that we want our children to grow up in? A country where Bambi is hunted down by armed thugs working for the government? Sadly, the story about that deer is not an isolated incident. The truth is that police all over the country kill animals every single day. In fact, police in Chicago have shot 488 animals since 2008.

An emotionally-charged rally has been held at the site where 18-year-old Miami graffiti artist Israel Hernandez-Llach was shot with a Taser gun, dying shortly after. Hundreds of friends, supporters and relatives of the teenager gathered at the spot where the teenager was spray-painting a shuttered McDonald’s restaurant before being chased by police – an incident that resulted in his death shortly after being tasered by the officers after refusing to stop running. Hernandez-Llach’s female friend and former classmate, Lucy Rynka, had touching words to say about him: “he was a genius… He showed me how powerful art can be, how you can use color and design to relay a powerful message.”

On February 2, 2012, NYPD Officer Richard Haste followed our son, Ramarley Graham, home, broke down the door, and killed him in front of his grandmother and six-year-old brother. Haste claims he believed Ramarley had a gun, yet no gun was found at the scene. The defense says Ramarley was running from NYPD officers into his house, but video footage from that day clearly shows he was NOT running. A Bronx grand jury has failed to indict NYPD Officer Richard Haste for killing Ramarley Graham, but we are not done fighting for justice for our son! Please sign our petition to the Department of Justice today!

A celebrated 18-year-old graffiti artist died Tuesday after Miami police shot a taser into his chest, the Miami Herald reports. Israel Hernandez-Llach was something of a prodigy on the Miami art scene, who had won acclaim for his art and recently launched his own line of specially designed skateboards. By night, he was a graffiti artist known as “Reefa.” The Miami Police Department has undergone federal investigation for its misconduct twice in the past 7 years. The latest Department of Justice investigation found that officers routinely used excessive force when confronting suspects, leading to avoidable deaths.