The jury in the case of former Louisville, Kentucky police detective Brent Hankison has come in and it found the officer not guilty of the three charges in the case. He was charged with firing his weapon into the apartment of Breonna Taylor with those rounds ultimately entered the next apartment placing the innocent residents […]
Category Archives: police use of force
A travesty
A jury in the Federal trial of three former Minneapolis officers found them guilty of violating the civil rights of George Floyd. The Justice Department successfully argued that they failed to provide medical aid to Mr. Floyd and that constituted a violation of his civil rights. Nowhere in US Code Section 1983 is there a […]
The conviction of Kim Potter
This must begin with the statement that the death of Duante Wright was tragic and avoidable. However, the criminal conviction of the police officer who caused the death raises a number of issues which will likely be addressed at the appellate level. The family of Mr. Wright has suffered an irreparable loss, that is unarguable. […]
When does is stop?
A police officer responding to a call is surrounded by people who are beating on his vehicle and his windows in Tacoma, WA. Is being vilified because he drove into the crowd fearing for his life, but not a single word of criticism for the people who were involved in the outrageous conduct from the […]
The Capitol Fiasco
The fiasco at the U.S. Capitol last week obviously failed miserably and there are calls from Democratic members of Congress for heads to roll. Those cries were made after the Capitol Police Chief and the Sergeant at Arms of the Senate had also both announced their resignations. In a television interview Chief Michael Sun told […]
A new strange case
In what gets ever stranger, a Grand Jury in Oklahoma City has indicted a Blackwell, Oklahoma Police Lieutenant for second degree murder in the shooting death of a 34 year old female who had fired at police officers and others. It is reported that the Grand Jury based their decision on the number of shots […]
A WIN for Cops
The United States Supreme Court in a 7-2 ruling has found that a Tuscon, AZ. police officer who shot and wounded a female armed with a knife IS protected by qualified immunity and cannot be sued civilly for alleged violation of her Civil Rights. The Court slapped the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, who reversed […]
Arming Security Officers
Up until the mid-1980’s, a significant percentage of proprietary (in house) security departments armed and in many cases commissioned (police authority) their force. This includes Universities, Hospitals and schools.That changed due to a number of factors. First and foremost, corporations determined that the potential liability of misuse or abuse outweighed the value of officers carrying […]
Nashville Police Officer charged in shooting
A twenty-five year old Nashville, Tennessee police officer has been charged with felony Criminal Homicide after shooting a twenty-eight year old suspect. The facts of this case are convoluted as Nashville Police became involved in a vehicle pursuit of a carjacking suspect who was able to elude them. A police radio broadcast was initiated and […]
This is outrageous
Violent protests broke out in Chicago after a police shooting that were based upon LIES promulgated by the group Black Lives Matter. It was claimed that the individual shot was unarmed when, in fact, pictures show he had a holstered semi-automatic handgun on his right side as well as extra magazines on his belt. It […]
A video that needs to be shown to all Law Enforcement
The Louisville, Kentucky Police Department released two body camera video of a police shooting that should be shown in every police agency in the U.S. It is a textbook example of handling a crisis situation Officer 1 is in a foot chase of a suspect carrying a screwdriver. When the suspect turns around and faces […]
A time for a change in tactics
Few will dispute that the right to peacefully protest is constitutionally protected. But walking down the middle of an urban street or standing in the lanes of an Interstate highway is conduct which is not protected. Urban cities across the country have taken a “hands off” approach to demonstrators and the result is chaos. Like […]
The circus returns to Cincinnati
The re-trial of a former University of Cincinnati police officer charged with Murder started Thursday in a Hamilton County, Ohio courtroom. It actually started the day before when the defense filed a Motion for Dismissal alleging that Prosecutor Joe Deters violated the Court’s gag order in an attempt to poison prospective jurors by doing a television interview.
Mr. Deters was too busy to personally attend the hearing on the motion sending his first assistant to apologize for the “mistake” of his boss. Judge Leslie Ghiz, who previously worked for Mr. Deters, ruled that she could not dismiss the case because “the community would not be served.”
The second day of the case presented other motions for the Judge to rule on. The defense requested that an undershirt, worn under the ballistic vest, which had a Confederate flag should be excluded from evidence. Judge Ghiz ruled that the prejudice would outweigh the probative value. The Judge also excluded a defense expert who did an animation from the body cam stating that it would make an imperfect event into a perfect event. The jury will still see a video enhancement which broke the event into milliseconds.
The jury will be picked after the Memorial Day holiday and the trial is expected to last about three weeks. There are cries of racism as the small number of African-American jurors in the pool have claimed hardships. The Black Lawyers Association is calling for the jury pool to include any person who possesses a driver’s license rather than only registered voters.
Mr. Deters, who led the prosecution in the first trial, assigned the presentation of the case to two of his senior prosecutors. The trial will be live-streamed on the websites of all of the local television stations and the jury will be sequestered for their deliberations.
New blogs will be posted each day to update the events of the day.
Thoughts on police training
American police training is recognized throughout the world as the best. Recruits are given intense training in a short period of time. In Scotland, police cadets attend (and live at) the Scottish Police College for five years before they ever see the streets. In England, officers receive eighteen months of training in pursuit driving on […]
Cops being held to a different standard
A homeowner gets involved with a group of juveniles on his lawn. A confrontation occurs and the homeowner pulls a firearm from his waistband and fires a single shot into the ground. No one is injured in the confrontation. At best this is a local news story unless the homeowner happens to be an off […]
Police Shootings of “Unarmed” suspects
The media’s use of the word “unarmed” in the high profile cases of police shootings as a catch phrase is simply inaccurate and enflames tragic incidents of police use of deadly force. It indicates that the suspect was not in possession of a firearm which, looking at two of the incidents, is simply wrong. In […]
Are police held to a different standard?
There has been an outcry across the country that police officers receive special treatment in the decision of whether criminal charges are appropriate in a use of force case. Police officers are, by necessity, given a different standard that other citizens for a valid reason. If a police officer were held to the same standard, […]