Abuse and Injury

For almost 2 years, the Miami Police Department has desperately been trying to ensure that the 2003 FTAA police operations plan remains a secret, even from the city's own Civilian Investigative Panel which is charged with investigating the large scale police brutality that took place on November 20-21, 2003. MPD has finally revealed it's reasoning for the secrecy: releasing the plan could "jeopardize future operations nationwide" because "authorities THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY have adopted the plan". This is a stunning, yet frightening admission, as it confirms the deep suspicions of political activists who have personally witnessed the same repressive tactics travel from city to city, protest to protest. This also lends further support to the ominous statements made earlier by Miami Police Chief John Timoney, that the FTAA was "the first big event for Homeland Security...the first real realistic run-through to see how it would work."

The Pittsburgh Police Department displayed an excessive use of force at a demonstration yesterday outside a military recruitment station located near the University of Pittsburgh. Five were arrested, two were hospitalized and several others received injuries as a result of police unwarranted use of Tasers, pepper spray, retracting batons and K-9 units. Two others were issued citations when they complained about police misconduct.

Dozens of incidents in which police officers have used electric stun guns to subdue unruly students have led school officials around the USA to restrict the use of the devices on campus.

Today, May 25, 2005, the Stern Commission, an independent group investigating the police shooting of 21-year-old Victoria Snelgrove on October 21, 2004, released their findings. Their report concludes that Snelgrove's death was caused by series a mistakes made by the Boston Police, starting with the purchase of the weapon that was used in the shooting.

Snelgrove, a broadcast journalism student at Emerson College, was killed after being hit in the eye by a pepper-spray projectile while celebrating the Boston Red Sox's victory over the New York Yankees in the American League playoffs. The projectile was fired by a FN-303 "less lethal" launcher that was purchased earlier in the year with funds earmarked for DNC security. Earlier this month the city of Boston paid her family a $5.1 million settlement to avoid a wrongful death lawsuit, and the Boston ACLU released their recommendations for so-called "less lethal" weapons used by the Boston Police Department and other law enforcement agencies in the Commonwealth.

However, members of Save Our Civil Liberties feel that there are reasons to be concerned with the Stern report.

[ Stern Commission report | Boston ACLU report | feature about settlement | original feature about Snelgrove's shooting ]

(Washington, DC)—Today Dr. William F. Schulz, Executive Director of Amnesty International USA (AIUSA), released the following statement regarding documents listing Taser International executives, consultants and businesses partners as panelists in the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) TASER study. This discovery reported over the weekend by the Arizona Republic marks the third time in five months that the manufacturer has been linked to "independent" studies:

Police get rowdy at a Halliburton protest in Houston, TX on Wednesday, May 18th. At least two indymedia videographer were arrested as police used horses to trample and harm protesters outside Halliburton's annual shareholders meeting. Inside, police used "pain compliance" techniques to arrest people doing peaceful civil disobedience.

The City of Boston announced yesterday that it will pay the biggest wrongful death settlement in its history, $5 million, to the family of Victoria Snelgrove, the college student killed in October by police trying to control a crowd outside Fenway Park.

A videotape of the struggle between Frederick Williams and Gwinnett County [Georgie] Sheriff's deputies shows he was struck with a Taser stun gun five times within one minute. Within four minutes, the 31-year-old Lawrenceville man had lost consciousness.

San Francisco, CA. - The jury has just returned a unanimous verdict for the activists/plaintiffs, finding the County of Humboldt and City of Eureka liable for excessive force used by Humboldt County Sheriff's Deputies and Eureka Police Officers when they applied pepper spray directly to the eyes of the eight nonviolent forest defense protesters in three incidents in 1997. Former sheriff Dennis Lewis and present sheriff Gary Philp also were found liable for causing the use of excessive force by ordering the unprecedented use of pepper spray on the passive, locked together sit-in demonstrators.

The jury awarded nominal damages of $1 to each of the plaintiffs, who made it clear all along that they weren't suing for the money, but to bring about a change of policy, to stop the use of pepper spray in Humboldt in the way it was used on them. A 2003 settlement offer by the activists, who felt vindicated after their trip to the Court of Appeals, contained similar terms to the outcome of this lawsuit; law enforcement will be deterred from applying pepper spray directly to the eyes of peaceful people, and Humboldt County and City of Eureka will owe for attorneys fees that may reach over a million dollars following two additional jury trials.

Attorneys for the pepper spray Plaintiffs, Dennis Cunningham, J. Tony Serra, Bob Bloom, Ben Rosenfeld and Bill Simpich, made up part of the award winning legal team that beat the FBI in 2002 on behalf of Earth First! Organizer Judi Bari, who was the victim of a car bomb assassination attempt in 1990, which was covered up by the FBI and Oakland Police.

WASHINGTON — Hundreds of police officers nationwide also are on payrolls of companies that supply weapons, riot gear and other equipment to the officers' departments, creating possible conflicts of interest.