Teenager tasered for not having drivers license

Police dash cam:Recently released video obtained through the freedom of information act from the Medical Lake Police Dept.Driver alleges police officer tasered him for failing to produce drivers license....officer claims the suspect was resisting arrest.

Crooked cop gets off lightly

A Fulton County jury acquitted an Atlanta police on two charges but found him guilty Tuesday of lying to investigators about a botched drug raid that led to the fatal shooting of a 92-year-old woman. The verdict came after the jury deliberated for three days and spent hours reviewing a transcript of Detective Arthur Bruce Tesler's testimony in his own defense.

Tesler, 42, faces up to five years in prison, with sentencing set for Thursday. He was the only officer to face a jury on charges related to an illegal search warrant that led to the death of Kathryn Johnston in a case that drew national attention.
State Sen. Vincent Fort struggled to contain his anger that Tesler had escaped conviction on two of the charges. "He is just as responsible for what happened to Mrs. Johnston as the other two officers [who participated in the raid]," said Fort. "No matter how much time he spends in jail, he will have to live with himself."

Tesler was charged with violating his oath of office, lying in an official investigation and falsely imprisoning Johnston, who was shot in her home after she fired a revolver at plainclothes officers as they burst into the house on Nov. 21, 2006.

The jury acquitted him of the violation of oath and false imprisonment charges. He could have faced 20 years in prison if convicted of all charges. Defense lawyer William McKenney acknowledged that the jury would have had trouble acquitting his client of lying in an official investigation.

Tesler had testified that he participated in the coverup of the illegal warrant because he feared for his safety from his partners and he feared being labeled a "rat" if he informed on them. "We admitted he did not tell the truth to the FBI," McKenney said. "The issue was whether they felt he was coerced into making a false statement."

Tesler's two partners, Gregg Junnier and Jason R. Smith, who were charged with murder in the case, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter. Tesler, stationed at the rear of the house, fired no shots. Smith and Junnier both fired their weapons.

Tesler, 42, has contended he did not know that Smith lied to a judge to get a no-knock search warrant for a house at 933 Neal Street. The detectives said they had been told a kilo of cocaine was hidden in the house. Instead, Smith planted drugs in the house after the officers killed Johnston, according to testimony.

There appeared to be a heavy police presence in the neighborhood Tuesday evening. Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington said Tuesday his force was prepared for any outbreak of "civil unrest" — backlash if the Tesler verdict was not received well in the community. The 2006 killing shocked metro Atlanta and enraged many in the African-American community, who complained that shoddy or heavy-handed police work in the war on drugs was a source of repeated abuses.

Pennington responded to the verdict at news conference announcing the results of the new narcotics unit's first major operation since it was disbanded and rebuilt after the Johnston shooting. "I think the jury has spoken," Pennington said. "He [Tesler] has been given an opportunity to go before his peers, in terms of a trial by jury." Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard said, "One of the things we hope that people in the community realize is that it doesn't make a difference if you commit a crime in Fulton County whether you are a police officer or a citizen, you will be held accountable."

Neal Street residents near Johnston's house expressed outrage at the verdict. "There's a lot of people down here who have lost their respect for the police," said Marie Thomas, 36. "This verdict is a slap in the face. If they're going to get away with it this time, they'll do it again."

But the Rev. Markel Hutchins, a spokesman for Johnston's family, said Atlanta has a different police department because of the case. He contended no-knock warrants aren't being issued so easily and that supervisors are being scrutinized to ensure they followed policies. He said conviction of Tesler on the single charge is a partial victory for justice, but that superiors of the three officers should have also been held accountable. Hutchins noted testimony in the trial from Junnier, Tesler's partner, that the head of the narcotics division adopted a see-no-evil, hear-no-evil approach to supervision. "We will continue to push for criminal prosecution for those who turn their heads," he said. "We certainly hope that this is not over."

Source: Strange Justice

Drug conviction tossed out over illegal police frisking

OLYMPIA -- In another nod to the Washington Constitution's broad privacy protections, the state Supreme Court has thrown out the drug conviction of a man who was searched by police solely because of his weird behavior.

Thursday's unanimous decision reinforces the rules for simple pat-downs under state law, which offers stronger safeguards against police searches than the U.S. Constitution.

Without a search warrant or probable cause to make an arrest, police in Washington may frisk someone for weapons only if an officer has reason to believe the person is armed and dangerous.

The court said those rules weren't followed in the case of Michael D. Setterstrom, who was arrested in 2005 after police got a call about two men behaving oddly at a Department of Social and Health Services office in Tumwater.

When two officers showed up at the office, Setterstrom was sitting on a bench, filling out an application for public assistance. He was sitting next to another man, who was asleep.

Setterstrom, who was described as increasingly nervous and fidgety, gave two different names to the officers when questioned. Setterstrom also blurted out the second name when police woke his companion to ask about Setterstrom's true identity.

Believing that Setterstrom was high on methamphetamine, Lt. Don Stevens frisked him for possible weapons.

Although Setterstrom didn't stand up, put his hands in his pockets or do anything threatening, Stevens said he feared danger because his experience was that meth users might become violent without warning.

The pat-down uncovered a small plastic baggie of white powder in Setterstrom's pocket. Stevens put the baggie on the bench and told Setterstrom he was under arrest.

"What happened next was, we assume, unusual," the court said: Setterstrom fell to his knees, grabbed the baggie and swallowed it. "For obvious reasons, police never recovered the baggie," Justice James Johnson wrote for the court.

Police also found a small, locked safe in Setterstrom's backpack. After getting a search warrant, police opened the safe and found another baggie, which contained meth, along with a needle, a pipe, and a scale. Setterstrom was convicted of drug possession and sentenced to six months in jail.

He appealed, claiming that the search was illegal. The Supreme Court agreed.

To frisk someone without a warrant or probable cause, police must have "a reasonable belief, based on objective facts, that the suspect is armed and presently dangerous."

The court said that justification didn't exist in Setterstrom's case. In fact, justices said, the record shows only that Setterstrom may have been high -- and that isn't a crime.

Furthermore, police didn't find Setterstrom "in a dark alley in a crime-ridden area," the court said. Rather, he was lawfully in the public area of a social services office.

"It seems likely that some people filling out benefits forms exhibit erratic behavior, making employment difficult and benefits applicable," the court said.

Since the search warrant for the safe in Setterstrom's backpack was based on the illegal pat-down, his conviction for the drugs within must be overturned, the court ruled.

SRC: Seattle PI

Mayor: Officers in taped beating will be fired

Four Philadelphia police officers will be fired, two others will be disciplined and a supervising sergeant will be demoted because of the violent beating of three suspects caught after a shooting, the city's mayor and police commissioner said Monday.

On May 5, a television news helicopter captured footage of more than a dozen predominantly white police officers pulling three African-American men out of a car after a pursuit.

The video footage shows the officers kicking, punching and striking the suspects with batons, while the men lie restrained on the ground.

Police Looting Wal-mart After Katrina

Americans To Be Tortured For Refusing To Show ID?

This a horror video that wouldn't look out of place in Maoist China or Nazi Germany shows a student being repeatedly shot with a stun gun by UCLA police for the crime of not showing his ID. As similar cases begin to pile up how long will it be before Americans are routinely tortured for noncompliance and refusing to have their 4th amendment violated?

Source: JonesReport

Baltimore Cop Strikes Again!

The same Baltimore cop who was beating up the 14yo skater, has been seen again.
New charges against Baltimore City cop';2nd Incident Caught on Tape
2/15/08 New video of Baltimore police officer Salvatore Rivieri in action at the Inner Harbor. This time he confronts Billy Friebele, an artist from Washington D.C., who was videotaping at the Harbor last summer.

Friebele said he was taping the reactions of passersby to a box he was moving with a remote controlled car. Officer Rivieri is seen on tape kicking the box off of the car and then kicking the car. The officer then orders Friebele to leave the area.

Rivieri is the same officer caught on a video wrestling a 14 year old skate boarder to the ground. A spokesperson for the Baltimore Police Department declined to comment on this latest videotape. Officer Rivieri is suspended without pay pending the outcome of an internal investigation of the incident with the skate boarder.