ACLU staffer said she witnessed deputies beating inmate at Twin Towers

ACLU staffer said she witnessed deputies beating inmate at Twin Towers

www.latimes.com

A civilian jail monitor said she witnessed two Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies treat an inmate like "a punching bag," unjustifiably beating him as he lay unconscious for at least two minutes, according to a court declaration filed Monday by the ACLU.

The representative for the civil liberties organization was at Twin Towers jail for an unrelated meeting with another inmate when, according to her declaration, she heard thuds from outside the room she was in. Through a window, she said, she saw two deputies punching, kicking and Tasering an inmate.

(visit the link for the full news article)

This one likely will go nowhere, as there is no corroborating video evidence, and a single witness, even if an ACLU rep, against two deputies, is likley fighting a tall order.

If this account is even remotely true, then here we have yet ANOTHER shining example of how wonderfully our "justice" system is working, especially when one considers that had this not been witnessed BY an ACLU rep, chances of this ever even being brought to public attention would be virtually non-existent.

If this is indeed a true account of what took place, then this is literally CHILLING. Absolute barbaric, sadistic, VICIOUS behavior.

www.latimes.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Sounds like an ambulance chaser to me. John Edwards anywhere around?

Isn't it illegal to witness any wrongdoing by police officers? If not, certainly its illegal to testify as much.

LOL!

I've witnessed detectives beat an inmate too. Anybody that has been to jail has seen this, it isn't news. They almost always deserve it. My favorite one had some big, loud, drunk guy, refusing to give any identifying information, sweating, bleeding, yelling, and stinking all over the place, and he kept telling this one detective (a friend of mine, although I was in cuffs at the time), what he would do if the badge, guns, and cuffs weren't there. The detective ignored it for about 20 minutes, but eventually the drunk guy broke something and then started to piss on the floor. The detective politely and quietly took everything off his belt, and then took the belt off as well, he locked it in a drawer, he got up and opened a cell door, he escorted the man into the room, and started trying to take the cuffs off. They guy resisted and changed his whole tune! He no longer wanted the cuffs off, and he kept trying to get away, eventually the detective got the cuffs off of him, and shut the door behind him. It was one on one in the room and the other guy was far larger. After about 15 minutes, he came out with a torn T-shirt, and sweating profusely, and he quietly got dressed again and went back to his paperwork. All was quiet in the cell for the next hour, and then I was taken away to go home. No witnesses except for me, and the guy was already torn up when he got there, so he could never have proven any injuries came from the detective.

Moral of the story, it happens commonly, and in most cases it is well-deserved, although there are many cases on ATS that are obvious abuses of authority. Sometime it is just bad guys getting exactly what they ask for.

reply to post by getreadyalready

Moral of the story, it happens commonly, and in most cases it is well-deserved, although there are many cases on ATS that are obvious abuses of authority. Sometime it is just bad guys getting exactly what they ask for.

No idea how you got to be a mod with that kind of ignorance.
One only has to look at the videos that are readily available, to see that police brutality happens to
people that DONT deserve it, on a regular basis.

Your ATS mod status needs a bit of scrutiny if you ask me.

reply to post by getreadyalready


Certainly true that inmates act up and push the limits and do often assault the guards, and from the deputies account here, the inmate allegedly assaulted them both prior to what the witness observed.

BUT-If her account is accurate, that they tasered the guy over a half dozen times, THEN administered such a ferocious beating while he lay there unconscious, then they went WAY overboard imho, "bad guy" or not. Again, LE is trained to remain professional and in control---Neutralize the situation and gain control of the inmate, but that does not constitute a 2 minute taser-fest and pummeling while the guy is already completely incapacitated. Then, how does one really draw the line BETWEEN who is the "good guy" and "bad guy"? Two wrongs don't make a right.

Another part of this story that is quite creepy (if witness account is true) is the cops going through the rhetoric of "stop resisting" while the guy is knocked unconscious, to somehow justify the continued beating, as well as the one officer putting his finger up to his lips in a "shhhh" motion, and then menacing the witness with a glare and telling her to stop watching, by motioning her to step back from the window...

reply to post by DimensionalDetective


Totally agree that "if" her account is true, then it is an extreme case of abuse.

I have a hard time believing that it is possible that this could happen with multiple cops on the scene for many reasons. #1 most cops are good, and they wouldn't allow it, and they wouldn't allow their buddies to get in trouble for it. #2 there is no satisfaction in beating up an unconscious person. In order to continue a beating, there has to be some self-satsifaction or justice involved and that isn't accomplished once they are unconscious. #3 ACLU doesn't have a great track record in being fair with cops, so her motives are suspect at best.

As for the other response, a couple of dozen videos on a site like ATS or GLP do not substantiate the "norm" or the majority of encounters with cops. They are the extreme exception, and they make the news because they are the extreme exception. Abuse does happen, but there are literally millions of interactions between police and civilians everyday that go smoothly. There are also cases where the cops are later found to have been justified in their actions, but you never see those headlines. You only see the original shocking headline in the news, you never see the follow up 6 months later where the truth comes out and exhonerates the cop.

Florida has already had more cops killed this year than all of 2010. A couple of them were personally known to me. Do not fall victim to the oversensationalism of our modern media. They are not monsters, they are trying to do a job under the most difficult of circumstances. Bad guys don't follow the rules, and the cops are trying to make life and death decisions in a split second while abiding by the laws, not violating any rights, and keeping the integrity of the case intact so that a bad guy doesn't walk on a technicality.

Sometimes it takes months of investigations and teams of lawyers and judges to decide if they were justified in their actions, but we expect them to make the decision in a micro-second!

reply to post by getreadyalready

They are the extreme exception, and they make the news because they are the extreme exception

No, thats the thing.. They dont always make the news, they make youtube or liveleak but even then people seem to take your attitude about it, which is "they deserved it"
What is rare are the ones that do get national attention, only then are the officials forced to create a scapegoat and suspend someone "with pay" for several months, while the investigation is underway.

One example for a bit of proof?

This particular incident involved a cousin of mine, he was a claims adjuster for allstate after the hurricanes that hit that area.

The lawsuit is one of a slew filed since Jessie Lee Williams Jr. died, two days after being beaten at the jail in February 2006. Corrections officer Ryan Teel was convicted in Williams’ death earlier this year and sentenced to two life sentences. Other corrections officers have pleaded guilty and been sentenced.

source


Since it is a pretty big page, ill paste the specific area that im talking about..

Jail Beating And Abuse Lawsuits Rain Down On Harrison County Mississippi GULFPORT, MISSISSIPPI - A Texas resident has filed suit against the Harrison County Sheriff’s Department, claiming he was beaten and abused at the county jail in an incident in 2005. The lawsuit, filed Friday in U.S. District Court, claims Gary Brice McBay was brutally beaten at the jail by corrections officers in the department after he was arrested Nov. 6, 2005, allegedly for being drunk in public. The lawsuit also charges officials within the department denied and covered up the abuse after McBay complained about the incident and that he was denied medical care. According to the lawsuit, McBay was hog-tied in the booking room and later taken into a shower where there were no surveillance cameras and beaten. The suit alleges McBay was held down by officers who repeatedly struck him in the face and head and that his head was slammed into a drain inside the shower. The lawsuit also claims both McBay’s eyes were swollen, bruised and blackened, he had a laceration in the shape of an “X” on his forehead, his face was disfigured and his nose was broken and crooked. The lawsuit is one of a slew filed since Jessie Lee Williams Jr. died, two days after being beaten at the jail in February 2006. Corrections officer Ryan Teel was convicted in Williams’ death earlier this year and sentenced to two life sentences. Other corrections officers have pleaded guilty and been sentenced. A lawsuit represents one side of a legal argument. Cy Faneca, who represents the Sheriff’s Department, could not be reached for comment. Defendants in the lawsuit include Sheriff George Payne Jr.; the Harrison County Board of Supervisors; Maj. Wayne Payne; Diane Gatson-Riley, former warden; Steve Campbell, who ran the professional standards unit; former supervisor Rick Gaston and corrections officers Teel, Morgan Thompson and four unnamed officers; the American Correctional Association and its executive director, James Gondles Jr., and three employees; and Health Assurance LLC and two of its employees. McBay’s attorney, Robert Harenski, said he is not seeking a specific amount of money in damages, but he does want payment for actual and compensatory damages, past, current and future. Earlier this year Michael Shane Stephens also filed suit in U.S. District Court against the Sheriff’s Department and several corrections officers, claiming a deputy struck him with a car after a chase on Interstate 10. The lawsuit claims Stephens began running but was told to lie on the ground. After that, the suit claims, officers took turns beating and hitting Stephens and one of them stomped on his head. Stephens is seeking at least $3 million in damages.

reply to post by Animatrix


I can agree with that, the really bad ones don't make the news enough. However, I would say that some of the time there is a reason they don't make the news. There is a back story or a "victim" that is such a bad guy that he/she won't get any sympathy from the jury of the public, and therefore it doesn't make a good enough story.

The ones that do make the MSM are probably the worst of the worst, and they probably deserve all the attention they get, and the police involved probably deserve the book thrown at them.

When generalizing these things though, think of this:

There are as of 2006, 683,396 full time state, city, university and college, metropolitan and non-metropolitan county, and other law enforcement officers in the United States. There are approx. 120,000 full time law enforcement personnel working for the federal government adding up to a total number of 800,000 law enforcement personnel in the U.S.

Read more: Source

With 800,000 law enforcement personnel working 8 hour shifts everyday and encountering at least 1 person per hour, that is at least 6.4 million encounters per day. Each of those encounters is a volatile and confrontational situation. Each of those encounters involves at least one armed person, and at least one person suspected of foul play and probably angry at being a suspect. Even common traffic stops are volatile situations, and sometimes they are the most deadly. Yet, we see maybe a half dozen of these youtube videos per week? Even if we saw hundreds of these youtube videos everyday, it would still be a miniscule amount compared to the total encounters.

The reason the number is so low, is because of the professionalism of the vast majority of officers.

Edit to add:
I'm sorry for your cousin, and that is a tragedy. The bright spot is that the officer was at least convicted and didn't get away with it.

reply to post by getreadyalready

The ones that do make the MSM are probably the worst of the worst, and they probably deserve all the attention they get, and the police involved probably deserve the book thrown at them.

I dont believe that is true either and Ill give this example to back up my opinion.
First of all, I really have always wanted to know what determines what story gets covered by
the "MSM" because, for example, there are an average of 59000 kids missing each year, (non family abductions)
family abductions are about 750,000.
Those are all "extreme" cases in my opinion but how many are given major MSM attention? less than a dozen each year maybe?

The U.S. Department of Justice reports * 797,500 children (younger than 18) were reported missing in a one-year period of time studied resulting in an average of 2,185 children being reported missing each day. * 203,900 children were the victims of family abductions. * 58,200 children were the victims of non-family abductions. * 115 children were the victims of “stereotypical” kidnapping. (These crimes involve someone the child does not know or someone of slight acquaintance, who holds the child overnight, transports the child 50 miles or more, kills the child, demands ransom, or intends to keep the child permanently.)

source

reply to post by Animatrix


That is a little off-topic, but I totally agree. It should be a crime to put a Lindsay Lohen story ahead of 10,000 missing kid stories! The few that do make the MSM have a beautiful child, with attractive parents, usually with a little money, and they are the perfect combination of mad/sad/emotional.

Someone told me that Rush Limbaugh (whom I despise) actually said that his job wasn't to report the news, it was to sell advertising, and he was good at his job. I don't know if it is true that he said it, but it is definitely true of the entire news industry.

They don't care about stories, they care about attention. Attention = money.

reply to post by Animatrix


59000 kids missing each year,
Thats just in North America right? Jesus that is horrible , thanks for raising this point ! - worth a seperate thread too id say .

reply to post by getreadyalready

That is a little off-topic, but I totally agree.

Not really because I was making a counter point, to your point that extreme cases of police brutality get covered by the MSM.
And my point is that they dont... a mere fraction of what happens in this country/world are reported, regardless of how extreme they are.
Who knows why the media latches on to one particular story and ignore hundreds of others that happen at the same time.

So, final point being.. for every 1 story of police/corrections officer brutality you may read about, there are several, several others that, may be more heinous but dont get reported, for whatever reason.

reply to post by Animatrix


Since it is point-counter point, I will say that if there were 59,000 cases of severe police brutality, or even 750,000 cases of regular police brutality, like your example with child abductions, it would still only constitute 0.003% of all police encounters (750,000 / (6.4 mil *365)). And remember that every one of those encounters is confrontational by nature, and at least one party is always unhappy and at least one party is always armed. So, those numbers are pretty amazing in my opinion!

So, while I think it is apples and oranges, if we use your numbers, it still proves that the vast majority 99.997% of encounters, conservatively speaking, are non-events.

Since we see about as many news stories of police brutality as we do news stories of child abductions, perhaps the numbers are accurate?

reply to post by getreadyalready


Wow dude, nice math.. but it isnt the math that im talking about.. its what gets reported.
You claimed that only the most "extreme" cases of police brutality get reported by the MSM and I claim that they dont.and that the media chooses one out of several to report on, for whatever reason.
I simply used the missing childrens stats to make the point that only a fraction of the bad gets reported.

If you want police brutality stats, ill look it up too.. even though you probably already have.

reply to post by Animatrix


I didn't bother looking up the stats, because admittedly those stats would be skewed by their very nature.

I am sure the number of reported claims are outnumbered by the ones that are not reported, and I am sure half of the ones reported are frivolus attempts to get away with a crime, while most of the ones not reported are probably legitimate. I believe those stats would be useless for either of our arguments.

reply to post by getreadyalready


Allright bro, I can see that you wont bend in your beliefs, no matter how skewed they are, and I wont bend in mine..
Ill agree to disagree, mainly because I have to be at fedex before 5..
take care

reply to post by Doomzilla


There already is a nice thread about that now.

Conspiracy of Missing Children
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Another here.
One Million children go missing every year in US and UK alone!,
www.abovetopsecret.com...


I believe there is one other rather large thread but I cannot find it in a search (I am sure it is there though I just cannot pinpoint it as the search here is less than grand). I am sure there are many others offering information on this though.

Raist