Musky (file this under cool story bro) A guy I know was messing with this cops girl. Cop put some program on her phone that recorded the texts. Word was it was graphic and obvious things were going down. Cop seemed like cool guy too, he supported the girl and her kid. Anyway, the "boys" were relentless on the guy to the point where he took up a complaint with the state police. Never heard the end result but the lesson was don't mess with a cops girl, don't mess with anyone's girl.
Prosecutor says he will release all testimony, then when it's discovered that not all was released, he released a second batch of testimony without comment and still not all testimony has been released.
Everybody has been caught lying from Darren Wilson to prosecutor Mccolough and everyone in between.
We posed that question to CNN legal analysts. Why did prosecutors present evidence from witnesses with shaky credibility?
Sunny Hostin, a former federal prosecutor, believes the state wanted to avoid presenting a clear-cut case that would have led to an indictment. "Prosecutors generally present very streamlined cases to the grand jury," she says. "As a prosecutor you should not present witnesses in front of the grand jury that you wouldn't present at trial."
"The prosecutors didn't want to indict," Hostin says. "That's why they conducted it that way."
We posed that question to CNN legal analysts. Why did prosecutors present evidence from witnesses with shaky credibility?
Sunny Hostin, a former federal prosecutor, believes the state wanted to avoid presenting a clear-cut case that would have led to an indictment. "Prosecutors generally present very streamlined cases to the grand jury," she says. "As a prosecutor you should not present witnesses in front of the grand jury that you wouldn't present at trial."
"The prosecutors didn't want to indict," Hostin says. "That's why they conducted it that way."
And, continuing on in the same piece:
Mark O'Mara, a defense attorney, said St. Louis County County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch had a different reason to present so many people.
The chief prosecutor's goal was "to avoid the argument that he customized the presentation for a particular result -- even though he had to presume, as it turned out, that he would still be criticized for that," O'Mara said.
We posed that question to CNN legal analysts. Why did prosecutors present evidence from witnesses with shaky credibility?
Sunny Hostin, a former federal prosecutor, believes the state wanted to avoid presenting a clear-cut case that would have led to an indictment. "Prosecutors generally present very streamlined cases to the grand jury," she says. "As a prosecutor you should not present witnesses in front of the grand jury that you wouldn't present at trial."
"The prosecutors didn't want to indict," Hostin says. "That's why they conducted it that way."
And, continuing on in the same piece:
Mark O'Mara, a defense attorney, said St. Louis County County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch had a different reason to present so many people.
The chief prosecutor's goal was "to avoid the argument that he customized the presentation for a particular result -- even though he had to presume, as it turned out, that he would still be criticized for that," O'Mara said.
“As far as you need to know, just don’t worry about that.”
Yes it is the Daily Kos....but I am not pointing out someone's opinion, I'm pointing out the potential fact that Witness #40 was called in front of the grand jury twice and likely wasn't even in the area.
The judge in Ferguson, Missouri, who is accused of fixing traffic tickets for himself and colleagues while inflicting a punishing regime of fines and fees on the city’s residents, also owes more than $170,000 in unpaid taxes.
Ronald J Brockmeyer, whose court allegedly jailed impoverished defendants unable to pay fines of a few hundred dollars, has a string of outstanding debts to the US government dating back to 2007, according to tax filings obtained by the Guardian from authorities in Missouri.
Brockmeyer, 70, was this week singled out by Department of Justice investigators as being a driving force behind Ferguson’s strategy of using its municipal court to aggressively generate revenues. The policy has been blamed for a breakdown in relations between the city’s overwhelmingly white authorities and residents, two-thirds of whom are African American.
Investigators found Brockmeyer had boasted of creating a range of new court fees, “many of which are widely considered abusive and may be unlawful”. A city councilman opposing the judge’s reappointment was warned “switching judges would/could lead to loss of revenue”.
Brockmeyer, who has been Ferguson’s municipal court judge for 12 years, serves simultaneously as a prosecutor in two nearby cities and as a private attorney. Legal experts said his potentially conflicting interests illustrate a serious problem in the region’s judicial system. Brockmeyer, who reportedly earns $600 per shift as a prosecutor, said last year his dual role benefited defendants. “I see both sides of it,” he said. “I think it’s even better.” judge ronald brockmeyer ferguson As well as being a judge in Ferguson’s municipal court, Ronald Brockmeyer is also a prosecutor in two nearby cities and a private attorney. Photograph: brockmeyerlaw.com
While Brockmeyer owes the US government $172,646 in taxes, his court in Ferguson is at the centre of a class-action federal lawsuit that alleges Ferguson repeatedly “imprisoned a human being solely because the person could not afford to make a monetary payment”.
“Judge Brockmeyer not being incarcerated is a perfect illustration of how we should go about collecting debt from people who owe it,” said Thomas Harvey, the director of Arch City Defenders, one of the legal non-profits representing plaintiffs who were jailed in Ferguson.
Brockmeyer did not respond to multiple emails and telephone calls requesting comment. Federal tax liens filed against Brockmeyer by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) state that he has tens of thousands of dollars in overdue personal income taxes from joint filings with his wife, Amy. He also owes tens of thousands in employer taxes for his law firm and an annual tax paid by employers to fund benefits for the unemployed. Since November 2013, Brockmeyer has paid off another three overdue tax bills totalling $64,599.
He owns three properties in the St Louis area and accompanied his family on a vacation to Walt Disney World in Florida in 2013.
The judge was also named among a group of white Ferguson officials found by Department of Justice investigators to be writing off citations for themselves and friends while punishing residents for similar offences. Another of these officials, court clerk Mary Ann Twitty, was fired by the city in connection with racist emails also uncovered by the inquiry.
The report said Brockmeyer agreed to “take care” of a speeding ticket for a senior Ferguson police officer in August 2014, and had a red light camera ticket he received himself from the nearby city of Hazelwood dismissed in October 2013.
“Even as Ferguson city officials maintain the harmful stereotype that black individuals lack personal responsibility – and continue to cite this lack of personal responsibility as the cause of the disparate impact of Ferguson’s practices – white city officials condone a striking lack of personal responsibility among themselves and their friends,” the Justice Department investigators said, in a scathing report on the city’s administration.
The class action lawsuit filed against Ferguson earlier this year alleges that the city violates the constitutional rights of defendants imprisoned over outstanding tickets and minor offences. It seeks compensation and asks a federal judge to force Ferguson to halt the practices.
“Once locked in the Ferguson jail, impoverished people owing debts to the city endure grotesque treatment. They are kept in overcrowded cells; they are denied toothbrushes, toothpaste, and soap; they are subjected to the constant stench of excrement and refuse in their congested cells [and] they are surrounded by walls smeared with mucus and blood,” said one passage of the lawsuit, which went on to name several more hardships.
One of the plaintiffs – Roelif Carter, a 62-year-old disabled military veteran – alleges he was arrested and jailed for three days in Ferguson in 2010 after trying to pay the $100 monthly instalment for his outstanding traffic fines on the second day of the month rather than the first, when it was due. While living in “constant fear” he was arrested and jailed three more times in the following years when he was unable to pay the monthly charge, the lawsuit alleges.
“Most debtors in this country are not rounded up and jailed in brutal conditions,” said Alec Karakatsanis, a co-founder of Equal Justice Under Law and a lead attorney on the lawsuit. “But if you happen to owe your debts to a municipality in St Louis County, they are willing to let you languish there on a ransom.”
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
The full extent of the racial persecution of black residents in Ferguson, Missouri, by the city’s overwhelmingly white law enforcement authorities was disclosed on Wednesday in a damning report by the US Department of Justice.
Ferguson’s police department and court system “reflect and exacerbate existing racial bias”, the 105-page study found, adding that “discriminatory intent” among city officials – several of whom were found to have sent racist emails – was partly to blame.
Unveiling the report at a press conference in Washington, the US attorney general, Eric Holder, blamed Ferguson police for creating a “toxic environment, defined by mistrust and resentment” that had been set off “like a powder keg” by a white officer shooting dead an unarmed black 18-year-old.
“It is time for Ferguson’s leaders to take immediate, wholesale and structural corrective action,” said Holder. “Let me be clear: the United States Department of Justice reserves all its rights and abilities to force compliance and implement basic change. Nothing is off the table.”
The investigators concluded: “Over time, Ferguson’s police and municipal court practices have sown deep mistrust between parts of the community and the police department, undermining law enforcement legitimacy among African Americans in particular”.
They also unearthed evidence of wider corruption among white court officials. They outlined 26 recommendations for Ferguson’s police department and courts system, indicating that these may form the basis of a binding reform agreement likely to be drawn up between the city and US officials. Under such a “consent decree”, Ferguson would be sued by the federal government if it failed to make necessary changes.
Ferguson’s mayor, James Knowles III told a press conference on Wednesday evening that one city official who sent a racist email had been fired and two others had been suspended pending an internal inquiry.
“This type of behaviour will not be tolerated in the Ferguson police department or in any department in the city of Ferguson,” said Knowles. The Justice Department’s report said their inquiry “revealed many additional email communications that exhibited racial or ethnic bias, as well as other forms of bias” in addition to those quoted.
He said Ferguson’s police department had recently hired some African American women and implemented “mandatory diversity training” for officers. The mayor refused to answer questions from reporters.
Yet the Justice Department study stopped short of recommending that Ferguson’s police force be disbanded and absorbed by St Louis County, as some campaigners had predicted. Stating that the city “has the capacity to reform its approach to law enforcement”, it suggested keeping a small force. At his Wednesday night press conference, Knowles announced no major reforms or personnel changes.
Bob McCulloch, the St Louis County prosecutor who oversaw the state grand jury inquiry that looked into Brown’s death, insisted that discrimination by law enforcement was a rarity but said authorities must “weed it out”.
“Nobody could deny there have been instances of racial profiling,” McCulloch told reporters at his offices in Clayton. “Nobody wants to see anybody treated unfairly”. He added: “We’ve got a long way to go.”
The Justice Department’s report ended a six-month inquiry prompted by unrest that followed a white police officer, Darren Wilson, shooting dead Michael Brown. Officials announced simultaneously in a second report on Wednesday that Wilson would not face federal civil rights charges over the 9 August incident.
In a statement issued through their attorneys, Brown’s parents said they were “encouraged that the DOJ will hold the Ferguson Police Department accountable for the pattern of racial bias and profiling they found in their handling of interactions with people of color”.
“It is our hope that through this action, true change will come not only in Ferguson, but around the country,” they said. “If that change happens, our son’s death will not have been in vain.” Ferguson leaders were expected to respond to the report at a press conference later on Wednesday.
Federal investigators conducted hundreds of interviews, reviewed tens of thousands of documents and spent several days observing courtrooms. They found “a pattern of unconstitutional policing” and a municipal court system inflicting “unnecessary harm” under a drive to raise more revenues for the city.
Detailing an extensive list of individual injustices, the investigators concluded officers showed a pattern of stops without reasonable suspicion, arrests without probable cause and excessive force, all in violation of the fourth amendment to the US constitution.
Ferguson’s population is 67% African American, according to the 2010 census. Yet between 2012 and 2014, 93% of all arrests were of black people and almost nine in 10 uses of force were against African Americans. In all 14 bites by police dogs when racial information of the person bitten was available, that person was African American.
The review found 85% of drivers stopped by police were black, and that African American drivers were twice as likely as white drivers to be searched. Yet black drivers were more than 25% less likely to be found in possession of illegal substances or goods. African American drivers were much more likely than whites to be cited for driving offences when these were observed by police officers in person rather than detected by radar or similar technology.
As black residents then moved through the courts system, the investigators found, they faced punitive sanctions and hypocrisy from the white officials in charge.
While they were bombarded with fines and tickets, white figures – including the municipal judge, court clerk and senior police officers – were found “assisting friends, colleagues, acquaintances, and themselves in eliminating citations, fines, and fees”.
The review found that 95% of people detained at the city jail for more than two days between April and September 2014 were black. During the same period, black defendants were 68% less likely than others to have their cases dismissed.
Dismissing the notion that the discrepancies could be explained simply by a “difference in the rate at which people of different races violate the law”, the Justice Department investigators pointed to “substantial evidence of racial bias” among court and police officials. Ferguson report details shocking set of racist emails sent by law enforcement Read more
Details of seven racist emails sent by senior officials were published in the report. An April 2011 email “depicted President Barack Obama as a chimpanzee”, while an email the following month “included a photo of a bare-chested group of dancing women, apparently in Africa, with the caption, ‘Michelle Obama’s High School Reunion’.”
The authors of the emails, who were apparently not punished or told to cease, were not named. However, the report noted that John Shaw, Ferguson’s powerful city manager, forwarded an email in 2012 containing stereotypes of Latinos, before quickly apologising.
The investigators said they found officials insisting that rather than reflecting racial bias from law enforcement, the disproportionate action against African Americans was instead due to a pervasive lack of “personal responsibility” among “certain segments” of the community.
“Our investigation suggests that this explanation is at odds with the facts,” the investigators wrote. They added that “while there are people of all races who may lack personal responsibility, the harm of Ferguson’s approach to law enforcement is largely due to the myriad systemic deficiencies” discovered in their investigation.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
What would be the proper amount of arrests and traffic stops for a city who's population is over two thirds African American?
I would hazard to guess around 2/3
I haven't read the report the DoJ released. Just the "highlights". I just wonder how those stats compare with other cities with similar diversity numbers.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
What would be the proper amount of arrests and traffic stops for a city who's population is over two thirds African American?
would you agree it should be roughly the same as a given population density give or take a few percentage points?
I don't know. Like I said, I wonder how it compares to other cities with the same population numbers. Why should 70% be the proper number? What if, by chance, African Americans in Ferguson speed more often?
Side note: I am not defending the racist actions the Ferguson police department has displayed over the past 10 years. I simply would like to see other cities numbers for comparison.
fair enough. look to NYC for stop and frisk numbers in comparison.
Also be good to look at communities with different policing methods and how the crime rates are there vs who and how those stopped made contact with police.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
96 Randall's Island II
98 CAA
00 Virginia Beach;Camden I; Jones Beach III
05 Borgata Night I; Wachovia Center
06 Letterman Show; Webcast (guy in blue shirt), Camden I; DC
08 Camden I; Camden II; DC
09 Phillie III
10 MSG II
13 Wrigley Field
16 Phillie II
2 officers shot in Ferguson last night. They were just standing guard outside the police station. This should really improve the relationships between cops and the people of Ferguson. What a fucking mess.
Comments
A guy I know was messing with this cops girl. Cop put some program on her phone that recorded the texts. Word was it was graphic and obvious things were going down. Cop seemed like cool guy too, he supported the girl and her kid. Anyway, the "boys" were relentless on the guy to the point where he took up a complaint with the state police. Never heard the end result but the lesson was don't mess with a cops girl, don't mess with anyone's girl.
Mccsweaty didn't release all testimony, missing next closest person alive to Brown besides DW...hmmmm?
really messed up...
The Golden Age is 2 months away. And guess what….. you’re gonna love it! (teskeinc 11.19.24)
1998: Noblesville; 2003: Noblesville; 2009: EV Nashville, Chicago, Chicago
2010: St Louis, Columbus, Noblesville; 2011: EV Chicago, East Troy, East Troy
2013: London ON, Wrigley; 2014: Cincy, St Louis, Moline (NO CODE)
2016: Lexington, Wrigley #1; 2018: Wrigley, Wrigley, Boston, Boston
2020: Oakland, Oakland: 2021: EV Ohana, Ohana, Ohana, Ohana
2022: Oakland, Oakland, Nashville, Louisville; 2023: Chicago, Chicago, Noblesville
2024: Noblesville, Wrigley, Wrigley, Ohana, Ohana; 2025: Pitt1, Pitt2
Everybody has been caught lying from Darren Wilson to prosecutor Mccolough and everyone in between.
Ferguson: Was 'Witness 40' even there?:
http://m.dailykos.com/story/2014/12/12/1351303/-Sean-Hannity-s-favorite-witness-for-Darren-Wilson-is-a-self-admitted-bi-polar-racist-w-memory-loss
We posed that question to CNN legal analysts. Why did prosecutors present evidence from witnesses with shaky credibility?
Sunny Hostin, a former federal prosecutor, believes the state wanted to avoid presenting a clear-cut case that would have led to an indictment. "Prosecutors generally present very streamlined cases to the grand jury," she says. "As a prosecutor you should not present witnesses in front of the grand jury that you wouldn't present at trial."
"The prosecutors didn't want to indict," Hostin says. "That's why they conducted it that way."
Mark O'Mara, a defense attorney, said St. Louis County County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch had a different reason to present so many people.
The chief prosecutor's goal was "to avoid the argument that he customized the presentation for a particular result -- even though he had to presume, as it turned out, that he would still be criticized for that," O'Mara said.
"...I changed by not changing at all..."
Yes it is the Daily Kos....but I am not pointing out someone's opinion, I'm pointing out the potential fact that Witness #40 was called in front of the grand jury twice and likely wasn't even in the area.
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/unmasking-Ferguson-witness-40-496236
It will be interesting to see if the MSM picks up on any of this.
The Golden Age is 2 months away. And guess what….. you’re gonna love it! (teskeinc 11.19.24)
1998: Noblesville; 2003: Noblesville; 2009: EV Nashville, Chicago, Chicago
2010: St Louis, Columbus, Noblesville; 2011: EV Chicago, East Troy, East Troy
2013: London ON, Wrigley; 2014: Cincy, St Louis, Moline (NO CODE)
2016: Lexington, Wrigley #1; 2018: Wrigley, Wrigley, Boston, Boston
2020: Oakland, Oakland: 2021: EV Ohana, Ohana, Ohana, Ohana
2022: Oakland, Oakland, Nashville, Louisville; 2023: Chicago, Chicago, Noblesville
2024: Noblesville, Wrigley, Wrigley, Ohana, Ohana; 2025: Pitt1, Pitt2
This should be good...
The Golden Age is 2 months away. And guess what….. you’re gonna love it! (teskeinc 11.19.24)
1998: Noblesville; 2003: Noblesville; 2009: EV Nashville, Chicago, Chicago
2010: St Louis, Columbus, Noblesville; 2011: EV Chicago, East Troy, East Troy
2013: London ON, Wrigley; 2014: Cincy, St Louis, Moline (NO CODE)
2016: Lexington, Wrigley #1; 2018: Wrigley, Wrigley, Boston, Boston
2020: Oakland, Oakland: 2021: EV Ohana, Ohana, Ohana, Ohana
2022: Oakland, Oakland, Nashville, Louisville; 2023: Chicago, Chicago, Noblesville
2024: Noblesville, Wrigley, Wrigley, Ohana, Ohana; 2025: Pitt1, Pitt2
The Golden Age is 2 months away. And guess what….. you’re gonna love it! (teskeinc 11.19.24)
1998: Noblesville; 2003: Noblesville; 2009: EV Nashville, Chicago, Chicago
2010: St Louis, Columbus, Noblesville; 2011: EV Chicago, East Troy, East Troy
2013: London ON, Wrigley; 2014: Cincy, St Louis, Moline (NO CODE)
2016: Lexington, Wrigley #1; 2018: Wrigley, Wrigley, Boston, Boston
2020: Oakland, Oakland: 2021: EV Ohana, Ohana, Ohana, Ohana
2022: Oakland, Oakland, Nashville, Louisville; 2023: Chicago, Chicago, Noblesville
2024: Noblesville, Wrigley, Wrigley, Ohana, Ohana; 2025: Pitt1, Pitt2
https://news.vice.com/article/san-francisco-cop-caught-on-video-trying-to-dump-quadriplegic-man-from-wheelchair-into-street?utm_source=vicenewstwitter
Fast forward to the 2:10 mark when the mob soon discovers it easier to go straight through the wall then trying to break the door open.
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
Very one sided.Reverse rascist.
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/mar/06/ferguson-judge-owes-unpaid-taxes-ronald-brockmeyer
The judge in Ferguson, Missouri, who is accused of fixing traffic tickets for himself and colleagues while inflicting a punishing regime of fines and fees on the city’s residents, also owes more than $170,000 in unpaid taxes.
Ronald J Brockmeyer, whose court allegedly jailed impoverished defendants unable to pay fines of a few hundred dollars, has a string of outstanding debts to the US government dating back to 2007, according to tax filings obtained by the Guardian from authorities in Missouri.
Brockmeyer, 70, was this week singled out by Department of Justice investigators as being a driving force behind Ferguson’s strategy of using its municipal court to aggressively generate revenues. The policy has been blamed for a breakdown in relations between the city’s overwhelmingly white authorities and residents, two-thirds of whom are African American.
Investigators found Brockmeyer had boasted of creating a range of new court fees, “many of which are widely considered abusive and may be unlawful”. A city councilman opposing the judge’s reappointment was warned “switching judges would/could lead to loss of revenue”.
Brockmeyer, who has been Ferguson’s municipal court judge for 12 years, serves simultaneously as a prosecutor in two nearby cities and as a private attorney. Legal experts said his potentially conflicting interests illustrate a serious problem in the region’s judicial system. Brockmeyer, who reportedly earns $600 per shift as a prosecutor, said last year his dual role benefited defendants. “I see both sides of it,” he said. “I think it’s even better.”
judge ronald brockmeyer ferguson As well as being a judge in Ferguson’s municipal court, Ronald Brockmeyer is also a prosecutor in two nearby cities and a private attorney. Photograph: brockmeyerlaw.com
While Brockmeyer owes the US government $172,646 in taxes, his court in Ferguson is at the centre of a class-action federal lawsuit that alleges Ferguson repeatedly “imprisoned a human being solely because the person could not afford to make a monetary payment”.
“Judge Brockmeyer not being incarcerated is a perfect illustration of how we should go about collecting debt from people who owe it,” said Thomas Harvey, the director of Arch City Defenders, one of the legal non-profits representing plaintiffs who were jailed in Ferguson.
Brockmeyer did not respond to multiple emails and telephone calls requesting comment. Federal tax liens filed against Brockmeyer by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) state that he has tens of thousands of dollars in overdue personal income taxes from joint filings with his wife, Amy. He also owes tens of thousands in employer taxes for his law firm and an annual tax paid by employers to fund benefits for the unemployed. Since November 2013, Brockmeyer has paid off another three overdue tax bills totalling $64,599.
He owns three properties in the St Louis area and accompanied his family on a vacation to Walt Disney World in Florida in 2013.
The judge was also named among a group of white Ferguson officials found by Department of Justice investigators to be writing off citations for themselves and friends while punishing residents for similar offences. Another of these officials, court clerk Mary Ann Twitty, was fired by the city in connection with racist emails also uncovered by the inquiry.
The report said Brockmeyer agreed to “take care” of a speeding ticket for a senior Ferguson police officer in August 2014, and had a red light camera ticket he received himself from the nearby city of Hazelwood dismissed in October 2013.
“Even as Ferguson city officials maintain the harmful stereotype that black individuals lack personal responsibility – and continue to cite this lack of personal responsibility as the cause of the disparate impact of Ferguson’s practices – white city officials condone a striking lack of personal responsibility among themselves and their friends,” the Justice Department investigators said, in a scathing report on the city’s administration.
The class action lawsuit filed against Ferguson earlier this year alleges that the city violates the constitutional rights of defendants imprisoned over outstanding tickets and minor offences. It seeks compensation and asks a federal judge to force Ferguson to halt the practices.
“Once locked in the Ferguson jail, impoverished people owing debts to the city endure grotesque treatment. They are kept in overcrowded cells; they are denied toothbrushes, toothpaste, and soap; they are subjected to the constant stench of excrement and refuse in their congested cells [and] they are surrounded by walls smeared with mucus and blood,” said one passage of the lawsuit, which went on to name several more hardships.
One of the plaintiffs – Roelif Carter, a 62-year-old disabled military veteran – alleges he was arrested and jailed for three days in Ferguson in 2010 after trying to pay the $100 monthly instalment for his outstanding traffic fines on the second day of the month rather than the first, when it was due. While living in “constant fear” he was arrested and jailed three more times in the following years when he was unable to pay the monthly charge, the lawsuit alleges.
“Most debtors in this country are not rounded up and jailed in brutal conditions,” said Alec Karakatsanis, a co-founder of Equal Justice Under Law and a lead attorney on the lawsuit. “But if you happen to owe your debts to a municipality in St Louis County, they are willing to let you languish there on a ransom.”
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
The full extent of the racial persecution of black residents in Ferguson, Missouri, by the city’s overwhelmingly white law enforcement authorities was disclosed on Wednesday in a damning report by the US Department of Justice.
Ferguson’s police department and court system “reflect and exacerbate existing racial bias”, the 105-page study found, adding that “discriminatory intent” among city officials – several of whom were found to have sent racist emails – was partly to blame.
Unveiling the report at a press conference in Washington, the US attorney general, Eric Holder, blamed Ferguson police for creating a “toxic environment, defined by mistrust and resentment” that had been set off “like a powder keg” by a white officer shooting dead an unarmed black 18-year-old.
“It is time for Ferguson’s leaders to take immediate, wholesale and structural corrective action,” said Holder. “Let me be clear: the United States Department of Justice reserves all its rights and abilities to force compliance and implement basic change. Nothing is off the table.”
The investigators concluded: “Over time, Ferguson’s police and municipal court practices have sown deep mistrust between parts of the community and the police department, undermining law enforcement legitimacy among African Americans in particular”.
They also unearthed evidence of wider corruption among white court officials. They outlined 26 recommendations for Ferguson’s police department and courts system, indicating that these may form the basis of a binding reform agreement likely to be drawn up between the city and US officials. Under such a “consent decree”, Ferguson would be sued by the federal government if it failed to make necessary changes.
Ferguson’s mayor, James Knowles III told a press conference on Wednesday evening that one city official who sent a racist email had been fired and two others had been suspended pending an internal inquiry.
“This type of behaviour will not be tolerated in the Ferguson police department or in any department in the city of Ferguson,” said Knowles. The Justice Department’s report said their inquiry “revealed many additional email communications that exhibited racial or ethnic bias, as well as other forms of bias” in addition to those quoted.
He said Ferguson’s police department had recently hired some African American women and implemented “mandatory diversity training” for officers. The mayor refused to answer questions from reporters.
Yet the Justice Department study stopped short of recommending that Ferguson’s police force be disbanded and absorbed by St Louis County, as some campaigners had predicted. Stating that the city “has the capacity to reform its approach to law enforcement”, it suggested keeping a small force. At his Wednesday night press conference, Knowles announced no major reforms or personnel changes.
Bob McCulloch, the St Louis County prosecutor who oversaw the state grand jury inquiry that looked into Brown’s death, insisted that discrimination by law enforcement was a rarity but said authorities must “weed it out”.
“Nobody could deny there have been instances of racial profiling,” McCulloch told reporters at his offices in Clayton. “Nobody wants to see anybody treated unfairly”. He added: “We’ve got a long way to go.”
The Justice Department’s report ended a six-month inquiry prompted by unrest that followed a white police officer, Darren Wilson, shooting dead Michael Brown. Officials announced simultaneously in a second report on Wednesday that Wilson would not face federal civil rights charges over the 9 August incident.
In a statement issued through their attorneys, Brown’s parents said they were “encouraged that the DOJ will hold the Ferguson Police Department accountable for the pattern of racial bias and profiling they found in their handling of interactions with people of color”.
“It is our hope that through this action, true change will come not only in Ferguson, but around the country,” they said. “If that change happens, our son’s death will not have been in vain.” Ferguson leaders were expected to respond to the report at a press conference later on Wednesday.
Federal investigators conducted hundreds of interviews, reviewed tens of thousands of documents and spent several days observing courtrooms. They found “a pattern of unconstitutional policing” and a municipal court system inflicting “unnecessary harm” under a drive to raise more revenues for the city.
Detailing an extensive list of individual injustices, the investigators concluded officers showed a pattern of stops without reasonable suspicion, arrests without probable cause and excessive force, all in violation of the fourth amendment to the US constitution.
Ferguson’s population is 67% African American, according to the 2010 census. Yet between 2012 and 2014, 93% of all arrests were of black people and almost nine in 10 uses of force were against African Americans. In all 14 bites by police dogs when racial information of the person bitten was available, that person was African American.
The review found 85% of drivers stopped by police were black, and that African American drivers were twice as likely as white drivers to be searched. Yet black drivers were more than 25% less likely to be found in possession of illegal substances or goods. African American drivers were much more likely than whites to be cited for driving offences when these were observed by police officers in person rather than detected by radar or similar technology.
As black residents then moved through the courts system, the investigators found, they faced punitive sanctions and hypocrisy from the white officials in charge.
While they were bombarded with fines and tickets, white figures – including the municipal judge, court clerk and senior police officers – were found “assisting friends, colleagues, acquaintances, and themselves in eliminating citations, fines, and fees”.
The review found that 95% of people detained at the city jail for more than two days between April and September 2014 were black. During the same period, black defendants were 68% less likely than others to have their cases dismissed.
Dismissing the notion that the discrepancies could be explained simply by a “difference in the rate at which people of different races violate the law”, the Justice Department investigators pointed to “substantial evidence of racial bias” among court and police officials.
Ferguson report details shocking set of racist emails sent by law enforcement
Read more
Details of seven racist emails sent by senior officials were published in the report. An April 2011 email “depicted President Barack Obama as a chimpanzee”, while an email the following month “included a photo of a bare-chested group of dancing women, apparently in Africa, with the caption, ‘Michelle Obama’s High School Reunion’.”
The authors of the emails, who were apparently not punished or told to cease, were not named. However, the report noted that John Shaw, Ferguson’s powerful city manager, forwarded an email in 2012 containing stereotypes of Latinos, before quickly apologising.
The investigators said they found officials insisting that rather than reflecting racial bias from law enforcement, the disproportionate action against African Americans was instead due to a pervasive lack of “personal responsibility” among “certain segments” of the community.
“Our investigation suggests that this explanation is at odds with the facts,” the investigators wrote. They added that “while there are people of all races who may lack personal responsibility, the harm of Ferguson’s approach to law enforcement is largely due to the myriad systemic deficiencies” discovered in their investigation.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Side note: I am not defending the racist actions the Ferguson police department has displayed over the past 10 years. I simply would like to see other cities numbers for comparison.
Also be good to look at communities with different policing methods and how the crime rates are there vs who and how those stopped made contact with police.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
98 CAA
00 Virginia Beach;Camden I; Jones Beach III
05 Borgata Night I; Wachovia Center
06 Letterman Show; Webcast (guy in blue shirt), Camden I; DC
08 Camden I; Camden II; DC
09 Phillie III
10 MSG II
13 Wrigley Field
16 Phillie II
http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/12/us/ferguson-protests/index.html