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police brutality

Thousands Of Police Killings Are Unreported

The New York Times and other outlets report that most police killings in this country are “mislabeled.” The sanitized language is worse than an understatement because it implies that these murders are categorized improperly due to ordinary human error. In fact, there is a long and sordid history of covering up these crimes. The initial coroner’s report for George Floyd, whose murder was witnessed by millions of people, reported drug use and underlying health conditions as the causes of death. According to a report in the Lancet , between 1980 and 2018 police in the U.S. killed an estimated 30,800 people. This number is 17,000 more than reported by the National Vital Statistics System (NVSS), which is a misclassification rate of 55%. The deaths of Black people are the most likely to be undercounted, with 5,670 deaths missing out of an estimated 9,540.

US Police Have Killed More Than 30,000 People Since 1980

The new study provides a clearer picture of the issue of police violence in the United States. However, it does not fully account for the real social toll. What’s missing from this report is the untold number of victims that are brutalized by police but survive the physical and emotional scars bore by the victims and their families and the immeasurable suffering inflicted on families and communities that lose a loved one at the hands of police.

Cops Brutalize And Arrest Queer Marchers On Anniversary Of Stonewall

Just one day before the 52nd anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, a riot against the police led by trans women of color, New York City cops brutalized and arrested marchers as well as a street vendor. On early Sunday evening, after the Queer Liberation March and the Stonewall Protests’ Pride March, people poured into Washington Square Park. After individuals allegedly moved barricades, the police arrested, brutalized, and pepper-sprayed eight people. Journalist Janus Rose told Gothamist, “The park was packed and people were just hanging out and having a good time after the Queer Liberation March. Then all of a sudden we started seeing dozens of police vans circle around the park with their sirens and lights flashing, pedal to the metal.”

3 Police Officers Indicted For Using Excessive Force And Attempted Cover-Up

Accused of severely beating arrestees and attempting to cover up the repeated use of excessive force, three Indiana police officers were recently indicted on 12 counts. One of the officers is the former police chief’s son. On Friday, the Justice Department announced that a federal grand jury in Indianapolis, Indiana, charged Muncie Police Officer Joseph Chase Winkle, son of the former police chief, with nine felony offenses.

Progressive Prosecutors, Police Accountability, And Decarceration

In 2014, St. Louis County experienced periods of heightened social protests following the highly publicized shooting of Michael Brown by then-police officer Darren Wilson. According to the New York Times, Wilson noticed Brown fit the description of a suspect who had stolen cigarillos and pulled up near Brown in his police SUV. A struggle ensued and Wilson fired his pistol at close range. Brown moved away from Wilson initially but turned towards him after a short pursuit.

New San Francisco D.A. Inherits Chance To Hold Police Accountable In Shooting Of Man With Mental Illness

On Jan. 6, 2017, at about 4:15 a.m., San Francisco Police Department officers Colin Patino and Kenneth Cha arrived at Sean Moore’s home. Moore’s neighbor, who had a temporary restraining order against him, had called police when he heard a knock on their shared wall. Body camera footage shows that Moore answered his door and, in response to their questions, denied violating the restraining order.

A (Re)Born National “Black And Left-Led” Organization Fights For Community Control Of Police

Eight-hundred organizers from 28 states gathered last weekend at the Chicago’s teachers union hall to “re-found” the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, an organization initially launched in 1973  by Angela Davis and fellow Communists to resist state destruction of what remained of the 1960s radical movement. Davis, a university professor who became a fugitive and political prisoner when the FBI attempted to entangle her in the 1970 Marin County shootout , was on hand to help restore the Alliance to national status.

A Story Of Police Violence In France

ROAR is proud to present a powerful new independent documentary that tells the story of three lives affected by police violence in France during the popular uprising of the Gilets Jaunes (Yellow Vests) movement. Mutilations and deaths through so-called “sub-lethal” riot control weapons have become all too common in the modern day Republic. Two dozen people lost the use of an eye from LBD (flashball) rubber bullet launchers, and five people have had their hands blown off by military grade grenades thrown by the police at the protesters.

Police Try To Assassinate Atatiana Jefferson’s Character After Killing Her In Her Own Home

The Fort Worth Police Department was in shameless damage control mode after one of its officers killed a Black woman in her own home by shooting his gun through a window early Saturday morning. The unnamed officer was responding to a non-emergency welfare check requested by a concerned neighbor. In a subsequent press release announcing the shooting, Fort Worth police seemed to be trying to justify the shooting of Atatiana Jefferson by claiming the officer was “Perceiving a threat” at the time. The press release also said that officers saw “a firearm” when they entered Jefferson’s home and found her.

Five Years Later, Do Black Lives Matter?

The autopsy report confirmed what her neighbors said happened in an apartment complex outside of Houston, Texas. Pamela Turner, a forty-four-year-old grandmother of three, was on the ground, trying to connect with the humanity of the police officer who stood over her by screaming that she was pregnant. Officer Juan Delacruz ignored her pleas, stepped back, unholstered his gun, and shot five times. Three of his bullets ripped through Turner’s body, ending her life. One entered her left cheek, shattering her face. Another tore through her left chest, and the last, her abdomen. The medical examiner ruled it a homicide.

Rio de Janeiro’s Police Killed A Record Number Of People In Three Months

Yesterday, on May 6, police snipers from a helicopter fatally shot eight people in a densely populated area of Rio de Janeiro, according to reports from the Brazilian news outlet UOL. The community Facebook page Maré vive posted a photo of what appears to be schoolchildren in the neighborhood of Complexo da Maré running from the attacks. The killings follow a succession of shootings by police across the state. In the first three months of this year, according to official data reviewed by the Associated Press, Rio de Janeiro police killed 434 citizens. This amount is up from 368 in the same period last year.

Outrage As Colorado Police Returned To Duty After Shooting 19-Year-Old In The Back

On Thursday, the Colorado Springs Police Department released bodycam video footage of the police murder of 19-year-old De’Von Bailey. By Friday, a police department spokesperson announced that the two officers responsible for his death will return to active duty, indicating that it is unlikely that any charges will be brought. Bailey was shot to death on August 3. He was the 537th person to be killed by police in the US in 2019, according to records collected by the Washington Post. Thirty-three more people have been killed by cops in the two weeks since his death, bringing the total up to 570.

After Nationwide Calls For Justice And Family’s Tireless Advocacy, NYPD Fires Officer Who Killed Eric Garner

Civil rights advocates on Monday applauded the family of Eric Garner for their tireless advocacy over the past five years, as the NYPD announced that Daniel Pantaleo, the officer who killed Garner in 2014, had been fired. A number of observers also made clear that Pantaleo's firing—after five years of sustained pressure and a number of failures by the justice system to hold the officer accountable—must mark the beginning of a new era of social justice reform. Garner's daughter Emerald spoke shortly after the announement, expressing thanks for Pantaleo's long-awaited dismissal, but pledging, "the fight is not over."

This Is What Activism Does To Your Body

August 9 marks five years since a white police officer, Darren Wilson, shot and killed an unarmed Black teenager named Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. While accounts of exactly what happened vary, Wilson shot Brown at least six times ― twice in the head. Brown’s bloody body was left on a residential street for four hours in broad daylight. Weeks of demonstrations, vigils and protests followed. These protests eventually turned into riots with militarized police officers on one side and fed-up Black residents on another.

Police Have Killed 5,000 Americans Since Ferguson Protests

Friday marked five years since 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot at least six times, including once through the top of the head, and left for four-and-a-half hours to die in the street by Ferguson, Missouri police officer Darren Wilson. Brown’s father, Michael Brown, Sr. used the grim anniversary to call for a reopening of the investigation into his son’s death. The killer cop has never been charged. “Justice has not been served,” Brown, Sr. said at a press conference Friday morning outside the St. Louis County Justice Services Center, not far from where Michael Brown was killed.
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