Police abuse

Halifax2TheMax

And posters wonder why black people flee the police. Still. Rodney King to George Floyd and all those in between and since and you still wonder? “Just comply.”

Video shows 5 officers tackling mentally ill man. Experts question why. 

The Arlington police officers took down Delgardo Franklin II after he refused to surrender. It defied their training, a Post investigation found.

Delgardo Franklin II had been hearing voices in his head but refusing mental health treatment for weeks. So his father took matters into his own hands, calling Arlington police while his son sat at a bus stop on a summer day in 2019.

Four years later, the father, also named Delgardo Franklin, still chokes up describing the anger and regret he feels over what happened next.

As one officer pointed a Taser device at the younger Franklin, another ordered him to kneel so he could be handcuffed, video of the encounter obtained by The Washington Post shows. When Franklin refused, five officers circled him and moved in on cue, wrestling him to the ground.

Police then jailed Franklin and charged him with assaulting three officers. All of it while his father stood by, watching in disbelief as police overpowered an unarmed man he told them was in mental distress.

“He’s noncombative. He’s nonaggressive,” the father recalled in an interview. “He’s dropping a couple of F-bombs. How would you expect someone to not be upset and agitated when you’re approaching them? Yes, I called them. But, again, I called them for help.”

Three policing experts who reviewed the dashboard-camera video and documents in the case told The Post the encounter was an example of how not to respond to a mental health crisis. Although all five officers who tackled Franklin had crisis intervention training that called for them to de-escalate the situation, they decided within minutes to forcibly take him into custody, the experts noted.

“Taking him down was not the answer,” said T.T. Williams Jr., a use-of-force expert who worked at the Los Angeles Police Department for 29 years. “The man needed help.”

Franklin’s mental health deteriorated after the encounter, his father said. He was prosecuted for a year and a half, even after a Virginia judge found him incompetent to stand trial. Another judge found that his competence had been restored months later, but the charges were ultimately dropped in May 2021, after the case was docketed for hearings 17 times.

Police video of the encounter is now the central piece of evidence in a lawsuit Franklin filed in Alexandria federal court in May, alleging wrongful arrest, excessive force, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution and emotional distress. Arlington County officials and the five officers, who are all White, face an Aug. 8 deadline to respond in court. Franklin’s attorneys, Tyler Christians and Jeffrey Danzig, declined to say how much money he is seeking in damages.

A spokesperson for the Arlington County Police Department declined to comment on the lawsuit. In a statement, the department said that it “remains committed to treating all individuals with dignity and respect and protecting the constitutional rights of its constituents,” and that officers “strive to resolve all incidents through voluntary compliance while ensuring the safety of Arlington’s community members, homes, and businesses.” In a written report, one of the officers claimed to have made a “multitude of attempts to deescalate the situation” and asserted that Franklin “needed” to be taken into custody.

Franklin, who is Black and disabled, was 24 years old at the time of the Aug. 28, 2019, incident. His father said he had noticed Franklin “laughing to himself” and behaving strangely in the weeks leading up to it. After Franklin twice stormed out of places where his parents tried to get him medical attention, his father requested help from the police. If officers could observe Franklin behaving erratically, they could get an emergency custody order and take him in for a mental health evaluation, the father said.

Video of the encounter shows that Franklin removed his hands from his pockets after officers asked him to do so and that he was not carrying weapons. Police encountered him sitting alone in a bus shelter at the intersection of N. Oakland Street and Wilson Boulevard, speaking by cellphone to his father, who arrived at the scene just as police did.

“From the perspective of Delgardo, he’s not doing anything wrong,” said Peter A. Joy, director of the Criminal Justice Clinic at Washington University in St. Louis’s School of Law. “But he’s not complying with the police orders. … Above all, the police want individuals to comply with their orders. And if a person is not compliant, then oftentimes the police will escalate the situation.”

In their written narratives describing the encounter, the two lead officers at the scene, Tyler W. Duncan and Alex Freiert, said they feared Franklin was about to attack them because he clenched his jaw, flared his nostrils, balled his fists and “bladed his body.” Franklin’s father told police at the time that he thought his son possibly had “taken something synthetic,” but Franklin’s attorneys said there was no evidence of drug use. The video does not show Franklin assuming a fighting stance or raising his fists, and his attorneys argued he posed no threat to the officers. Franklin appears agitated in the video, pacing next to the bus stop and raising his voice at the police.

“Imagine being surrounded by five police officers who are going to tackle you to the ground,” Christians said.

The video shows that Freiert pointed a Taser at Franklin moments before Duncan told Franklin to kneel so he could be handcuffed. “Keep your hands out of your pockets and go to your knees for me, okay? We’re just going to put you in cuffs so we can calm everything down,” Duncan says in the video.

Franklin and three of the officers suffered injuries in the ensuing scuffle, but Franklin’s were the only ones to break skin, according to a written report from an officer who arrived after the incident to take photographs of the scene.

The Post requested copies of the photographs showing the officers’ injuries. The police department denied the request, citing an exemption in Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act that covers records of criminal investigations.

Police officers and other officials in Arlington have been getting Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training since 2018. The program was designed to provide help and resources to mentally ill individuals, with a goal of diverting them from jail, and teach police officers de-escalation techniques. TheMemphis Police Departmentdeveloped CIT training in 1988, after police there killed a 27-year-old man in a mental health crisis, and its methodology has since been replicated by departments across the country.

A presentation slide from a 40-hour crisis intervention training course taught by the Arlington County Police Department in 2019. The Post obtained the training documents via a Freedom of Information Act request. (Arlington County) 

More than half of Arlington’s patrol officers had completed the 40-hour CIT training course as of March, according to the county’s website. All five officers who tackled Franklin had received the training as of August 2019, according to records provided by the Arlington County Police Department.

In one CIT role-playing exercise that was being taught at the time of the 2019 incident, Arlington police officers would encounter a schizophrenic individual causing a disturbance, and the goal was “to persuade the individual to leave and enter treatment,” according to materials The Post obtained under Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act. “Any use of force by the officer(s) will cause the scenario to stop and require re-training,” the worksheet says.

A separate PowerPoint presentation used for Arlington’s CIT training in 2019 says officers should “avoid physical confrontation” with individuals displaying signs of “psychotic disorders.” Five pages of community resources were attached, including contacts for a mental health magistrate and the Arlington County forensic jail diversion team.

Duncan wrote in his police report that after Franklin refused to kneel and surrender, “it was established that Delgardo needed to be taken into custody in order to further assess his possible mental health concerns or drug intoxication.”

“Despite a multitude of attempts to de-escalate the situation using CIT techniques, I was unable to get Delgardo to comply with surrendering,” Duncan wrote. “As officers moved in to take him into custody, Delgardo immediately showed that he would not be taken into custody without resistance; Delgardo recognized our approach and braced his hands and arms tightly in front of his body.”

After reviewing the CIT training materials Arlington used in 2019 and police accounts of the incident, Joy said “it was like the officers never attended the training” or “didn’t believe what they were being told, because they didn’t follow any of the protocols.”

Franklin was charged with three felony counts of assaulting police — based on injuries sustained by Duncan and officers Joel M. Davis and Harley L. Guenther. Freiert and the fifth officer involved in restraining Franklin, Jason Pardee, did not claim injuries.

Alphonse Gerhardstein, a civil rights attorney who has represented victims of police misconduct and helped overhaul Cincinnati police’s use-of-force policies, said he questioned why prosecutors pursued the case. Gerhardstein said there was no need to “lay hands on” Franklin to resolve the situation and “certainly no basis to charge with a crime since all the physical contact was initiated by police.”

Arlington General District Court Judge R. Frances O’Brien found that Franklin was incompetent to stand trial in January 2020. Another judge, Daniel T. Lopez, found in June of that year that Franklin’s competence had been restored after some treatment and medication. An assistant commonwealth’s attorney in Arlington, Elizabeth Tuomey, offered a deal in July 2020 that required Franklin to plead guilty to misdemeanor counts in exchange for no jail time. He refused.

In an email to Franklin’s attorney that month, Tuomey wrote that the video showed Franklin “essentially assaulted (as in, an impending battery) the officers and/or committed disorderly conduct when he balled his fists and appeared to the officers that he wanted to fight.” She added that “the mental health component is a mitigating factor to me, and I will heavily consider it in making an offer, but I am not willing to dismiss the charges.” The prosecutor downgraded the charges from felonies to misdemeanors in August 2020, then agreed to drop all charges in May 2021 after asking that Franklin maintain good behavior and provide a letter from a doctor or therapist attesting that he was getting medical treatment. Tuomey declined to comment.

Arlington Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti (D) said in an interview that she could not comment on pending litigation but that she was looking into why Franklin’s case took about 21 months to resolve.

“We amended the charges to what we thought were more accurate to the facts,” Dehghani-Tafti said. “It was ultimately dismissed as part of a general continuance, where there were conditions that had to be met.”

“We hope this case will be used to illustrate what not to do when a father calls for help.”

— Delgardo Franklin II

Franklin declined to be interviewed for this article. His father and attorneys said that his mental health had improved since the charges were dropped but that the experience had scarred his family.

“Thankfully, the evidence speaks for itself,” Franklin and his attorneys said in a joint statement. “We hope this case will be used to illustrate what not to do when a father calls for help.”

Duncan wrote in his police report that he spoke to Franklin’s father after the incident. When told his son was being booked in the Arlington County jail, “he seemed to indicate it was in his best interest and that he thought he needed to be here,” Duncan wrote. In the interview with The Post, which was conducted at Christians’s law office, Franklin’s father disputed that he told police his son needed to be in jail or that it was in his best interest.

In his report, Duncan wrote that Prince William County police had been called to a hospital and “witnessed Delgardo attack Mr. Franklin” during an earlier incident. Franklin’s father said police were already at that hospital, Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center in Woodbridge, when he took his son there for an evaluation that he angrily refused in mid-August 2019, days before the Arlington incident. Franklin’s father disputed that his son attacked him. A spokesman for the Prince William County Police Department said that court records did not show someone named Delgardo Franklin had been arrested or charged during those dates and that, without a court order, police records identifying victims or “other parties” are exempt from disclosure.

“There’s still no way any sensible human being that saw that video could even begin to remotely think that my son was either about to attack those officers or that they were in any kind of danger,” Delgardo Franklin said.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/07/25/video-officers-tackle-mentally-ill-man/

mace1229

Gern Blansten said:

cottagesteeze said:

Gern Blansten said:

cottagesteeze said:

mace1229 said:

I don’t think mud flaps are that unheard of to get a warning or ticket for. I’ve seen jeep and truck forums with people talking about lifting their cars and at what point you’d need flaps and comments with tickets and warning.
Ive been pulled over for fix it tickets before. Didn’t lead them in a chase and was let off with a warning.
That can all be true and still be true that the dog was unnecessary and discipline is warranted. Unless the cop just lost control or something, I couldn’t tell from the video. 

But why is anyone surprised that they had a K-9 unit ready at the end of a 30 minute chase that required tire spikes to stop the truck? Seems completely reasonable to have a K-9 unit on scene if you’re planning to deploy spikes. 

But they didn’t need to send off the dog.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/24/us/circleville-ohio-police-k9-dog-attack/index.html

 Excuse me if I'm wrong, but isn't this the same case where the driver stopped originally? Then took off and called 911 himself because the cops were approaching him with guns drawn. What about mud flaps requires that?
Rule number one of firearms - don't aim at anything you don't intend to kill.
What would your response be if police approached you with guns drawn? The man rightfully feared for his life.

Regardless of this incident, I personally view the use of police dogs as unethical. They're vicious and cause unnecessary harm to way to many people.

yes but according to the article the cops were only called after he refused to pull over for the inspection officer. So he made the decision to ignore the inspection officer first. Then, when the marked police cars arrived, he called 911 and said he was too scared to pull over.

Okay, after reading through the article again, I agree with you that he refused to pull over the first time. I originally pictured it as if he pulled over right away and then fled when he was approached with guns drawn for his mud flap violation.

That said, i still believe we need to get rid of attack K9's. Sure, we can use them for bomb sniffing but attacking humans is cruel and unusual punishment in my book.

Yeah it's an odd situation. They likely brought the dog figuring the guy would eventually pull over and then run.

They had to stop him with spike strips.
I assume they coordinated the spot and had plenty of backup where they placed the strips, including the K9 on stand by. Would seem like poor planning if that’s not the case.
At that point I have no problem with guns drawn and a k9 on site, you brought that on yourself by thinking you can outrun police in a semi for what would have been a fox it ticket. I mean, someone willing to go in the run in a semi you’d think is probably wanted for murder if they’re that dumb and desperate. And who knows when they’ll do when they’re finally stopped. 

As you mentioned before, I doubt they were even aware of his color at first. Plenty of people get fix it tickets, and seeing a driver in a semi, it’s hard for me to see the driver when when I pass one. So seems unlikely he was being pulled over for his color and not failing to have mud flaps. When I was in Colorado I was averaging about 1 rock chip every 6 months, so pull over every truck without mud flaps. They take about 2 minutes to instal I and are relatively cheap but can save my $300 windshield.

The only problem in this whole scenario was that the dog got released. And even the person who seems to be in charge was yelling not to do it. I don’t know why he did, and none of us do. If he just lost control of the dog then we need to look into the training and what it takes to pass, I know those dogs go through extensive training in most departments. If it was intentionally released for whatever reason then that cop should be fired and responsible for the injuries.

Gern Blansten

mace1229 said:

Gern Blansten said:

cottagesteeze said:

Gern Blansten said:

cottagesteeze said:

mace1229 said:

I don’t think mud flaps are that unheard of to get a warning or ticket for. I’ve seen jeep and truck forums with people talking about lifting their cars and at what point you’d need flaps and comments with tickets and warning.
Ive been pulled over for fix it tickets before. Didn’t lead them in a chase and was let off with a warning.
That can all be true and still be true that the dog was unnecessary and discipline is warranted. Unless the cop just lost control or something, I couldn’t tell from the video. 

But why is anyone surprised that they had a K-9 unit ready at the end of a 30 minute chase that required tire spikes to stop the truck? Seems completely reasonable to have a K-9 unit on scene if you’re planning to deploy spikes. 

But they didn’t need to send off the dog.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/24/us/circleville-ohio-police-k9-dog-attack/index.html

 Excuse me if I'm wrong, but isn't this the same case where the driver stopped originally? Then took off and called 911 himself because the cops were approaching him with guns drawn. What about mud flaps requires that?
Rule number one of firearms - don't aim at anything you don't intend to kill.
What would your response be if police approached you with guns drawn? The man rightfully feared for his life.

Regardless of this incident, I personally view the use of police dogs as unethical. They're vicious and cause unnecessary harm to way to many people.

yes but according to the article the cops were only called after he refused to pull over for the inspection officer. So he made the decision to ignore the inspection officer first. Then, when the marked police cars arrived, he called 911 and said he was too scared to pull over.

Okay, after reading through the article again, I agree with you that he refused to pull over the first time. I originally pictured it as if he pulled over right away and then fled when he was approached with guns drawn for his mud flap violation.

That said, i still believe we need to get rid of attack K9's. Sure, we can use them for bomb sniffing but attacking humans is cruel and unusual punishment in my book.

Yeah it's an odd situation. They likely brought the dog figuring the guy would eventually pull over and then run.

They had to stop him with spike strips.
I assume they coordinated the spot and had plenty of backup where they placed the strips, including the K9 on stand by. Would seem like poor planning if that’s not the case.
At that point I have no problem with guns drawn and a k9 on site, you brought that on yourself by thinking you can outrun police in a semi for what would have been a fox it ticket. I mean, someone willing to go in the run in a semi you’d think is probably wanted for murder if they’re that dumb and desperate. And who knows when they’ll do when they’re finally stopped. 

As you mentioned before, I doubt they were even aware of his color at first. Plenty of people get fix it tickets, and seeing a driver in a semi, it’s hard for me to see the driver when when I pass one. So seems unlikely he was being pulled over for his color and not failing to have mud flaps. When I was in Colorado I was averaging about 1 rock chip every 6 months, so pull over every truck without mud flaps. They take about 2 minutes to instal I and are relatively cheap but can save my $300 windshield.

The only problem in this whole scenario was that the dog got released. And even the person who seems to be in charge was yelling not to do it. I don’t know why he did, and none of us do. If he just lost control of the dog then we need to look into the training and what it takes to pass, I know those dogs go through extensive training in most departments. If it was intentionally released for whatever reason then that cop should be fired and responsible for the injuries.

agreed...yes not having the flaps can cause property damage and could take someone's life if a rock hit a motorcyclist in the head or cracked someone's windshield causing them to wreck, etc.

mickeyrat

FIRED!!!!!

https://apnews.com/article/ohio-police-dog-attack-ryan-speakman-c7bb9c16db7cbe9fe9989a529aff05af

tempo_n_groove

mickeyrat said:

FIRED!!!!!

https://apnews.com/article/ohio-police-dog-attack-ryan-speakman-c7bb9c16db7cbe9fe9989a529aff05af

Good.

So the review board saw nothing wrong but the department did and fired him.  The union filed a grievance as they should but cmon man.  The guy did the wrong thing.  Stop defending this shit.  

mickeyrat

TEXAS.....

https://twitter.com/Imposter_Edits/status/1685709582448906240?t=ET8dKlgaieHwGVMyDKvlmA&s=19

tempo_n_groove

mickeyrat said:

TEXAS.....

https://twitter.com/Imposter_Edits/status/1685709582448906240?t=ET8dKlgaieHwGVMyDKvlmA&s=19

At least the cops were courteous after a messed up situation.

I'm not finding anything wrong with this.

Edit:  I thought about this more.  Why did he run the plate?

mickeyrat

need to see from earlier in this posted clip but this looks like the kid wasnt doing anything. dude in white had the stick/pole....

https://twitter.com/krassenstein/status/1687805317323599873?t=xqRBdOMHRRfHzxAihX0Iwg&s=19

nicknyr15

mickeyrat said:

need to see from earlier in this posted clip but this looks like the kid wasnt doing anything. dude in white had the stick/pole....

https://twitter.com/krassenstein/status/1687805317323599873?t=xqRBdOMHRRfHzxAihX0Iwg&s=19

Has this fucking idiot been charged with inciting a riot? This was totally unnecessary 

tempo_n_groove

nicknyr15 said:

mickeyrat said:

need to see from earlier in this posted clip but this looks like the kid wasnt doing anything. dude in white had the stick/pole....

https://twitter.com/krassenstein/status/1687805317323599873?t=xqRBdOMHRRfHzxAihX0Iwg&s=19

Has this fucking idiot been charged with inciting a riot? This was totally unnecessary 

I thought they did?

Had a friend going through their when shit went down his reply was "tik tokers aren't tough" lol.

nicknyr15

tempo_n_groove said:

nicknyr15 said:

mickeyrat said:

need to see from earlier in this posted clip but this looks like the kid wasnt doing anything. dude in white had the stick/pole....

https://twitter.com/krassenstein/status/1687805317323599873?t=xqRBdOMHRRfHzxAihX0Iwg&s=19

Has this fucking idiot been charged with inciting a riot? This was totally unnecessary 

I thought they did?

Had a friend going through there when shit went down his reply was "tik tokers aren't tough" lol.

I read he got off with a desktop appearance. Ridiculous. 

Bentleyspop

Tasers, taunts, torment: How 6 White officers subjected 2 Black men to hours of grueling violence, and then tried to cover it up

https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/13/us/mississippi-white-officers-torture-black-men-federal-charge

cblock4life

https://www.wilx.com/2023/08/12/lansing-police-face-criticism-after-handcuffing-12-year-old-child/

https://nypost.com/2023/08/11/man-mistakenly-beat-down-by-cops-in-wi-applebees-with-baby-in-his-arms-as-real-hit-and-run-culprits-hide-in-bathroom/amp/

I’m sure a clearer version is somewhere but this one has been blurred to protect the baby,
I imagine 

I couldn’t completely watch the Applebees video.  When he gets yanked by the hair I felt like I was going to vomit and had to leave the room.  I understand he was beat pretty badly as well. 

mace1229

tempo_n_groove said:

mickeyrat said:

TEXAS.....

https://twitter.com/Imposter_Edits/status/1685709582448906240?t=ET8dKlgaieHwGVMyDKvlmA&s=19

At least the cops were courteous after a messed up situation.

I'm not finding anything wrong with this.

Edit:  I thought about this more.  Why did he run the plate?

When I was on a ride along he just randomly ran plates. I think it’s pretty normal. Stopped at a red light just run the plate in front of you, see if he has any warrants or a stolen vehicle.
My brother found a guy with a warrant out for murder doing that once.

Bentleyspop

Bentleyspop said:

Tasers, taunts, torment: How 6 White officers subjected 2 Black men to hours of grueling violence, and then tried to cover it up

https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/13/us/mississippi-white-officers-torture-black-men-federal-charge

6 ex-officers, some of whom called themselves ‘The Goon Squad,’ plead guilty to state charges in torture of 2 Black men

https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/14/us/mississippi-goon-squad-cops-guilty-plea

tempo_n_groove

mace1229 said:

tempo_n_groove said:

mickeyrat said:

TEXAS.....

https://twitter.com/Imposter_Edits/status/1685709582448906240?t=ET8dKlgaieHwGVMyDKvlmA&s=19

At least the cops were courteous after a messed up situation.

I'm not finding anything wrong with this.

Edit:  I thought about this more.  Why did he run the plate?

When I was on a ride along he just randomly ran plates. I think it’s pretty normal. Stopped at a red light just run the plate in front of you, see if he has any warrants or a stolen vehicle.
My brother found a guy with a warrant out for murder doing that once.

I had thought they needed a cause to run a plate, granted if you have an out of state plate that opens up a whole new world for them.

Merkin Baller

tempo_n_groove said:

mace1229 said:

tempo_n_groove said:

mickeyrat said:

TEXAS.....

https://twitter.com/Imposter_Edits/status/1685709582448906240?t=ET8dKlgaieHwGVMyDKvlmA&s=19

At least the cops were courteous after a messed up situation.

I'm not finding anything wrong with this.

Edit:  I thought about this more.  Why did he run the plate?

When I was on a ride along he just randomly ran plates. I think it’s pretty normal. Stopped at a red light just run the plate in front of you, see if he has any warrants or a stolen vehicle.
My brother found a guy with a warrant out for murder doing that once.

I had thought they needed a cause to run a plate, granted if you have an out of state plate that opens up a whole new world for them.

I think since the plates are out in public view, it's not considered a violation of the 4th amendment for them to randomly run plates. 

mickeyrat

https://twitter.com/realTuckFrumper/status/1692293121881850135?t=yHdbEOngXt7HkC8TqmBm4A&s=19

brianlux

Man, if this happens in the Bay Area in Northern California, imagine what happens in more conservative area.  Some nasty shit here:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/17/california-fbi-arrest-police-officers-racist-texts-antioch-pittsburg-san-francisco

FBI arrest California police officers involved in racist text messages scandal

A grand jury had indicted officers from Antioch and Pittsburg for a wide range of offenses, including criminal conspiracy

The FBI arrested nine current and former California police officers on Thursday as part of a major criminal investigation into racist text messages of dozens of law enforcement officials, prosecutors said.

Early-morning federal raids, first reported by the Bay Area News Group, rounded up officers from Antioch and Pittsburg, two cities east of San Francisco, after they were charged in four grand jury indictments.

The arrests come after revelations that Antioch officers sent violently racist, misogynistic and anti-gay text messages between 2019 and 2022. The hateful messages emerged as part of an inquiry by federal officials and local prosecutors investigating claims of widespread civil rights violations, excessive force and falsification of records....

*******************
HEADS UP: The article goes on to describe some of the very ugly and brutal texting. 

mickeyrat

ripe for abuse. no?

https://twitter.com/JoshuaPHilll/status/1697053702975082585?t=WIwyElfZKg5-W4TDaftUVw&s=19