Ferguson police report: Most shocking parts

[Jaykay767]

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Ferguson police report: Most shocking parts

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/03/04/politics/ferguson-justice-report-shocking/

The JusticeDepartment report found that African-American Ferguson residents may havefelt like they were being used as the city's personal ATM, by the way thepolice department hit them with traffic fines.
One woman has paid $550 on what was original a $151fine for two parking tickets -- and, more than seven years later, she stillowes $541.
The police also let dogs loose on residents,sometimes without warning.
One 14-year-old African-American boy said he waswaiting for his friends at a house, unarmed, when police released a dog thatbit his ankle, thigh and arm.
Harassment was also a common occurrence.
An African-American man was coolingoff in his car after playing basketball in a public park in Ferguson, Missouri,in 2012 when a police officer approached him and accused him of being apedophile.

Attorney General Eric Holder said a "highly toxicenvironment" existed between Ferguson police officers and the city'sAfrican-American residents before Officer Darren Wilson shot and killed MichaelBrown last year.

He pointed to the use of excessive force overwhelminglyagainst African-American residents, noting that only African-Americans were bitby police dogs, and said "no alternative explanation" except racialbias exists to explain it.

Holder also said Ferguson's police department violatedresidents' First Amendment rights to record the activities of officers,regularly conducted illegal searches and unlawfully detained citizens andcompeted with each other to "see who can issue the largest number of citationsin a single stop."

 

[Jaykay767]

1. Unlawful arrest has long-term consequences
Summer of 2012. A32-year-old African-American was cooling off in his car after a basketball gamein a public park.

What comes next is aseries of civil rights violations described in the Justice Department reportthat resulted in the man losing his job as a federal contractor.

A Ferguson police officerdemands the man's Social Security number and identification before accusing himof being a pedophile and ordering the man out of his car.

When the officer asked tosearch the man's car, the 32-year-old refused, invoking his constitutionalright.

The response? The officerarrested the man at gunpoint, slapped him with eight charges, including for notwearing a seat belt, despite the fact that he was sitting in a parked car. Theofficer also cited him for "making a false declaration" because hegave his name as 'Mike' instead of 'Michael.'

"The man told usthat, because of these charges, he lost his job as a contractor with thefederal government that he had held for years," the report says.

 

[Jaykay767]

[h=3]3. Racist emails

Ferguson's police officersand city court officials' practices didn't just happen to disproportionatelytarget African-Americans.

"Rather, our investigationhas revealed that these disparities occur, at least in part, because ofunlawful bias against and stereotypes about African-Americans," theinvestigators concluded.

Part of that bias cameacross in emails shared around by police and court officials:

A November 2008 email readin part that President Barack Obama wouldn't likely be president for longbecause "what black man holds a steady job for four years." And thenin April 2011, another email depicted Obama as a chimpanzee.

Another email joked thatAfrican-American women should use abortion to control crime.

May 2011 email: "AnAfrican-American woman in New Orleans was admitted into the hospital for apregnancy termination. Two weeks later she received a check for $3,000. Shephoned the hospital to ask who it was from. The hospital said:'Crimestoppers.'"

A March 2010 emailmockingly read: "I be so glad that dis be my last child supportpayment!" Month after month, year after year, all dose payments!"

October 2011: An emailincluded a photo of a group of topless, dancing black women, seemingly inAfrica, with the caption: "Michelle Obama's High School Reunion."

A December 2011 emailincluded jokes playing on offensive Muslim stereotypes

"Our investigationhas not revealed any indication that any officer or court clerk engaged inthese communications was ever disciplined," the report reads.
All those who sent theemails are current Ferguson city officials.

[/h]

 

[Jaykay767]

4. Didn't pay that parking ticket? Here's your arrestwarrant

The Justice Department probe revealed racialdiscrimination by the police department, but also by the municipal court.

The city court issued more than 9,000 arrest warrantsstemming from minor violations like parking and traffic tickets.

The city wasn't just focused on revenue through tickets,but the fines associated with late payment of fines and additional arrest fees,according to the report.

The investigators spoke with one woman who is stilldealing with the repercussions of a 2007 parking violation.

More than seven years later, she's now been arrestedtwice because of the parking violation and has already paid $550 in feesstemming from the parking violation.

She still owes $541 ... on a ticket that originallyamounted to a $151 fine.

"The woman, who experienced financial difficultiesand periods of homelessness over several years, was charged with seven Failureto Appear offenses for missing court dates or fine payments on her parkingtickets between 2007 and 2010," the report says.

 

[Jaykay767]

5. Use of force

The Ferguson PoliceDepartment recorded 151 instances in which officers used force, documents thatprovide a litany of evidence of excessive use of force.

"Our finding that FPDforce is routinely unreasonable and sometimes clearly punitive is drawn largelyfrom FPD's documentation; that is, from officers' own words," the JusticeDepartment explained.

The federal investigationbased on those reports revealed that officers are "quick to escalateencounters with subjects they perceive to be disobeying their orders orarrest."

"They have come torely on ECWs, specifically Tasers, where less force -- or not force at all --would do," the report explains.

The officers' use of forcein some cases had "no basis in law" while others were simply"punitive and retaliatory."

"In addition, FPDrecords suggest a tendency to use unnecessary force against vulnerable groupssuch as people with mental health conditions or cognitive disabilities, andjuvenile students," the investigators found.

Tasers, or "ECWs--anelectroshock weapon that disrupts a person's muscle control"
"FPD officers seemto regard ECWs as an all-purpose tool bearing no risk." - DOJ report
The Justice Departmentdescribed officers' use of ECWs as "swift, at times automatic" andshows several examples, such as:

A Ferguson correctionalofficer fired an ECW at an African-American woman because she yelled an insultat the officer and wouldn't go to her cell. She had been arrested for drivingwhile intoxicated. The officer said he used the Taser because she was "notdoing as she was told."
And in September 2012, anofficer stunned a handcuffed woman in the back of his squad car because she wasusing her legs to block him from closing the door.

Dogs

"Canine officersuse dogs out of proportion to the threat posed by the people they encounter,leaving serious puncture wounds to nonviolent offenders, some of themchildren." - DOJ report

Every single time Fergusonpolice officers released a dog to bite an individual involved anAfrican-American, according to the department's records.

In one incident, a policeofficer released a dog on a 14-year-old African-American boy who was foundhiding in the closet of an abandoned house, "curled up in a ball,"according to the police report. After the boy wouldn't show his hands and afterbeing warned, the police officer released the dog, which bit the boy's arm. Theboy told federal investigators he never hid in a closet, was never warned thedog would be released and was just waiting for his friends at the house. Hesaid he was bitten in the ankle, thigh and arm.

In other incidents, theofficers failed to warn suspects that they would release a dog.
In another instance, anofficer deployed a dog on a fleeing suspect even though he had just patted downthe suspect and knew he was not armed. Officers are only supposed to release acanine officer if they fear for their life or believe the suspect may be armed.

 

[Jaykay767]

with such horrific racism, I should NOT call the whites as Junk Whites - this is unimaginable, unprecedented, cannot be allowed, how can non whites call whites as Junk, oh my god, the whole world has collapsed, blah blah blah!!. Our NRIs are so upset, they are willing to wage "Jihad" against the poster/messenger!!. They are okay if the Junk (Oops!) Whites call other races names, release dogs on them, use taser guns, send arrest warrants for parking tickets etc...


And they don't stop with this, they say NRI lifestyle is great, what enjoyment in the casinos, whites are great, what freedom they get by discarding all our ancient traditions, how they abhor our country due to caste system, how they will never allow their kids to learn about our traditions since they are all tainted by the caste system, they are permanently settled in USA & Canada, etc... of course that doesn't stop them from looking for retirement homes in TN – LOL !!!!!!!!!

Sabhaash !!

 

[Jaykay767]

Don’t be surprised if these people immediately start gunning the poster/messenger asking – what about the caste system?. You first condemn it, then lets talk the racism in India, Indians are the most racist, in other countries it is all isolated incidents blah, blah, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blahblah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blahblah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blahblah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blahblah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blahblah blah blah blah blah blah :drum:

 

[Jaykay767]

Not to mention, with such horrific racism, I/we should not equate racism in the west to gutter & sewage... apparently two NRIs are very very very very very upset about such language... they are okay if the non-whites are hunted down by dogs like animals - LOL !!

 

[vgane]

I too agree that racism is a big issue in the west...There are huge opportunities in India & one can live comfortable here...I am in Chennai (Nanganallur) right now and enjoying the place...The place which was considered a far cry from the city with no facilities is teaming with high rises, super markets and facilities at door step combined with religious fervor!

 

[Jaykay767]

Vgane – exactly, we have almost everything we need right here at home. so why go to the west & face all these racist problems. LOL !!

This is what we must all tell our next gen kids, so that they are aware of the horrific racism that exists in the USA/West. these kids will then stay back, work here, start business here, provide more employment to people here instead of starting in the west!!.

Hopefully our NRIs adults will allow us to have a conversation on this subject in an Indian forum dominated with majority Indians affecting our Indian kids , without de-railing it with personal attacks – LOL!!

 

[sarang]

Not only adults, kids too are exhibiting racist tendencies. This 'sikh' school boy was hecked with racial slangs by boy and girl classmates in the school bus. That video has gone viral. No action taken against the culprits by the school or the law.

 

[Jaykay767]

Sarang – absolutely, it was the racism faced by the young kid, that enraged me & many others in India!!

See, there is no way the white kids developed racist tendency on their own & started calling the Indian kid as terrorist. It is coz their white parents keep talking racist language at home which these kids pick up!! So that’s how deep the racism is in USA & west !