Category: Police brutality

Arrest Warrant, Crime, Police brutality, Police Shooting

Dallas Cop Charged with Manslaughter in Death of Accountant

The ReadyWriter

A Dallas police officer has been charged with manslaughter in the shooting death of a 26-year-old accountant. An independent investigation by the Texas Rangers determined there was enough evidence to charge Officer Amber Guyger, who shot Botham Shem Jean at his own apartment door on Friday, Sept. 7.

Jail records show Guyger was arrested on Sunday, Sept. 9., and released on $300,000 bond.

Guyger, 30, who is also known by an alias Amy Gyger, was a member of the Dallas police force for four years. She was the only female member of an “elite critical response team of about 10 officers who make high-risk arrests in the division’s crime hot spots.”

After working a 15-hour shift (including overtime) on Friday, Guyger arrived home around 7:30 p.m. (CST) at the upscale South Side Flats apartments located several blocks from police headquarters.

She reportedly parked her car on the wrong floor of the parking deck, and walked to Mr. Jean’s apartment, which was one floor up from hers and the only apartment in the hallway with a red doormat.

When her key didn’t work in the lock, Mr. Jean opened the door, startling her.

According to the Dallas Police, Guyger, who was described as “tired,” was “confronted” by Mr. Jean when he opened his door.

No words were exchanged before Guyger unholstered her service weapon and shot Jean, who was pronounced dead at a local hospital on Friday.

Guyger’s key was still in Jean’s door lock when police and paramedics arrived.

Building management said the doors can be unlocked by a key, an electronic keypad and a key fob which is uniquely programmed for each door.

When Guyger tried to turn her key, the electronic keypad flashed red — indicating she was at the wrong door. But she continued turning the key until Jean opened the door.

A neighbor several doors down from Jean’s apartment claims she heard a cop yelling “Open up! Open up!” prior to the gunshot.

Jean was an accountant who worked as a risk assessment associate for the consulting firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers in Dallas.

He hailed from a prominent St. Lucian family of politicians and government ministers. He graduated from Harding University and he also studied accounting and mathematics at St. Mary’s College. Jean was a Young Leaders president, a member of the debate team and he sang in the choir.

He also mentored youth at the College Church of Christ in Searcy, Arkansas.

Hundreds of mourners turned out on Saturday for a “celebratory prayer vigil” at Dallas West Church of Christ on Sunday. Mourners included his mother, Allison Jean, who arrived on Saturday from her native St. Lucia.

“Botham loved God. Botham loved you. Botham loved mankind,” Allison Jean said. “Botham is singing with the angels, and I want to be in that choir. I want to see my son again.”

Al Sharpton, Police brutality, Police Shooting

Al Sharpton Embraces Stephon Clark’s Brother & Slams White House for calling shooting a ‘local matter’

The ReadyWriter

SACRAMENTO, CA – MARCH 29: Rev. Al Sharpton (L) is hugged by Stevante Clark during the funeral services for police shooting victim Stephon Clark

The Reverend Al Sharpton is not impressed with the White House’s response to the police overkill of an unarmed black man in Sacramento, California. 22-year-old Stephon Clark was shot 20 times after he was spotted hopping a fence into his grandmother’s backyard during a police foot chase.

Clark is suspected of attempting to break into a car and a home on 29th Street on March 18. Police say he fit the description of the suspect who wore a black hoodie. Two pursuing officers claim they mistook his cell phone for a gun.

Sharpton supported Clark’s family, including his brother Ste’vante Clark, at Clark’s funeral on Thursday.

The reverend condemned the White House for calling the police shooting a “local matter” rather than a federal rights violation.

“They have been killing black men all across the country,” said Sharpton. “We are going to start standing up. It’s time to stop this madness. We will make Donald Trump and the whole world deal with police misconduct. Stephon Clark has woke up the nation.” If the killing of Amadou Diallo didn’t wake this country up 19 years ago, it never will.

Police, Police brutality, Police Shooting, President Obama, Protest/Boycott, Racial tension, racial unrest, Racially motivated, Racism in America

Another Black Man Killed in NC, yet President Obama is concerned about his Legacy?

The ReadyWriter

Police fatally shot a North Carolina man they claim was armed — but a woman who said she was his daughter cried out on Facebook Live that he didn’t have a gun, triggering riotous protests that stretched out into the streets of Charlotte during pre-dawn hours of the morning.

As always, Charlotte police said Keith Lamont, 43 posed as an imminent threat when they tried to serve him with a warrant and he exited his vehicle with a gun. Lamont’s daughter took to her Facebook page to recant the cops claims that her father was armed.

In the meantime nation of Islam leader, The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan chastised President Barack Obama for reprimanding black people about protecting his legacy.

farrakhan-video-550x301

Farakhan spoke with disdain in his voice about Obama’s self-serving speech at the Congressional Black Caucus gala, where Obama said his presidential “legacy” was in jeopardy if black people didn’t vote for Hillary Clinton.

“I just want to tell you, Mr. President, you’re from Chicago, and so am I,” said Minister Farrakhan during a service at Union Temple Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. on Sunday.

“I go out in the street with the people… I visited the worst neighborhoods… I talked to the gangs. They said, ‘you know, Farrakhan, the president ain’t never come… could you get him to come and look after us?’”

Farrakhan added:

“There’s your legacy, Mr. President… it’s in the streets with your suffering people, Mrs. President. And if you can’t go and see about them, then don’t worry about your legacy… ’cause the white people that you serve so well… they’ll preserve your legacy — the hell they will — but you didn’t earn your legacy with us!

“You didn’t earn your legacy with Black people. You fought for the rights of gay people… You fight for Israel… Your people are suffering and dying in the streets!”

Watch the video below or click here to go directly to Farrakhan’s comments about Obama, which begins at the 1:55:40 mark. The video is 2 hours long.

Police brutality, Police Shooting, Racial Profiling, Racial tension, racial unrest, Racially motivated, Racism in America

Another UNARMED Black Man Shot? And Black People Should be Voting for Who?

The ReadyWriter

His vehicle was simply stalled on a highway in Tulsa, Oklahoma, yet all these police officers responded with their guns drawn.

Graphic video showing the shooting death of Terence Crutcher, 40, on Friday, went viral, adding the case to the list of police-involved shootings raising questions about relations between law enforcement in the United States and black men.

Police said they were responding to a call of a vehicle abandoned in the middle of the roadway. In video from officers’ dashcams and also from a helicopter, four officers are seen responding as Crutcher holds his hands up in the air and walks  away from officers, toward his stalled vehicle.

In the video taken from the helicopter, a male is heard to say, “That looks like a bad dude too. He might be on something.”

Police said Crutcher did not respond to their commands and that one officer used a stun gun on him and another shot him.

Police Chief Chuck Jordan, meeting with reporters, assured that justice would be done and called in the Justice Department before the Justice Department called him to ask for an investigation.

“I’m going to tell you right now that there was no gun on the suspect or in the suspect’s vehicle,” Jordan said. “I want to assure our community and I want to assure all of you and people  across the nation who are going to be looking at this: we will achieve justice.”

20xp-tulsa2-master768Crutcher’s twin sister, Tiffany Crutcher, said the family demands to know what happened and wants charges pressed against police officer Betty Shelby, who shot and killed Crutcher.

“We ask for facts, we ask for answers, and we clearly got it through the video and we are devastated,” she said. “The entire family is devastated.”

Tiffany Crutcher, playing on the words of the male on the video shot from the helicopter, said her brother was a good man who loved God.

Law Enforcement, Police, Police brutality, Police Shooting, President Obama, racial unrest, Racism in America

“Obama Issues Statement On Deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castille”

The ReadyWriter

obama-statement-550x323President Obama made a brief statement about the senseless shooting deaths of 2 black males by cops.

In a statement released on Thursday, Obama said he was “encouraged” that his justice department opened an investigation into the death of Alton Sterling.

The 37-year-old father-of-5 was selling CDs outside a Baton Rouge convenience store when he was killed by 2 cops early Wednesday.

Obama also mentioned 32-year-old Philando Castile, a Minnesota cafeteria worker who was shot to death on Wednesday by a milquetoast cop during a routine traffic stop.

“We’ve seen such tragedies far too many times, and our hearts go out to the families and communities who’ve suffered such a painful loss,” Obama said in his statement.

Obama took care to praise the thousands of men and women in law enforcement who risk their lives to protect the public.

“To admit we’ve got a serious problem in no way contradicts our respect and appreciation for the vast majority of police officers who put their lives on the line to protect us every single day,” Obama said. “It is to say that, as a nation, we can and must do better to institute the best practices that reduce the appearance or reality of racial bias in law enforcement.”