Former Oklahoma City Police Officer Found Guilty of Rapes

By DAVE PHILIPPS

DEC. 10, 2015 Daniel Holtzclaw, a former Oklahoma City police officer accused of raping women while on duty, was found guilty on Thursday. Mr. Holtzclaw was convicted on 18 of 36 counts of sexual assault in attacks on 13 women. Conviction on the charges comes with the possibility of a life sentence.

The former police officer worked the night shift on the northeast side of the city. In the trial, prosecutors said that from December 2013 to June 2014, Mr. Holtzclaw targeted women he stopped while on patrol, singling out poor, black victims with criminal backgrounds whose stories would not be believed.

“He didn’t choose C.E.O.s or soccer moms; he chose women he could count on not telling what he was doing,” the prosecutor, District Attorney Lori McConnell, said in closing arguments on Monday, according to a report by Reuters. “He counted on the fact no one would believe them and no one would care.”

Thirteen women testified in the five­week trial, describing sexual assaults that started with groping and progressed to forced oral sex and rape. Many said the officer had found them with drugs and told them he would not arrest them if they did as he said.

Prosecutors also presented evidence of DNA found near Mr. Holtzclaw’s pants zipper that matched the DNA of a 17­year­old girl who testified that Mr. Holtzclaw had raped her on her front porch.

Mr. Holtzclaw, who was arrested in August 2014 and fired from the Oklahoma City Police Department in January, declined to testify. Defense lawyers called only one witness, an ex­girlfriend who said Mr. Holtzclaw never made her feel uncomfortable.

KFOR­TV reported that the verdict came down on Mr. Holtzclaw’s 29th birthday, and the reporter covering the trial broadcast video on Twitter of victims’ supporters singing “Happy Birthday” to him.

The jury began deliberating Monday evening after testimony from more than 40 witnesses.

Correction: December 12, 2015 Because of an editing error, an article on Friday about the conviction of a former Oklahoma City police officer on charges of raping women while on duty misstated his age in some copies. The officer, Daniel Holtzclaw, is 29, not 28. (He turned 29 on Thursday, the day of the verdict.) A version of this article appears in print on December 11, 2015, on page A28 of the New York edition with the headline: Oklahoma City Officer Guilty; Was Accused of Rapes on Duty

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/11/us/former-oklahoma-city-police-officer-found-guilty-of-rapes.html

2 Los Angeles Police Officers Accused of Repeated Sexual Assaults

By LIAM STACK FEB. 18, 2016

Two officers from the Los Angeles Police Department have been charged with repeatedly sexually assaulting four women over the course of more than two years, prosecutors said on Wednesday.

The officers, James Nichols, 44, and Luis Valenzuela, 43, were each charged with multiple counts of sexual assault, including rape, according to a statement from the office of the Los Angeles County district attorney, Jackie Lacey, on Wednesday.

Prosecutors also charged Mr. Valenzuela with one count of assault with a firearm, accusing him of pointing a gun at one of the victims. The criminal complaint said most of the assaults happened while the officers were on duty and armed and that some took place inside a police vehicle.

 The officers are scheduled to be arraigned on Thursday, and prosecutors said they would ask that bail be set at more than $3.8 million for Mr. Nichols and more than $3.7 million for Mr. Valenzuela. If convicted, both men face a sentence of life in prison.

Prosecutors said the string of attacks began after the two officers were assigned to work as partners in the police department’s Hollywood division in late 2008 and continued into 2011. Some of the victims were assaulted multiple times, prosecutors said. The district attorney’s office declined to provide additional information about the assaults, except to say that the victims were aged 19, 24, 25 and 34 at the time of the attacks and had been arrested for drug­related crimes. “Because of the nature of the charges, we are not commenting further on the facts of the case or evidence,” said Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office.

The Los Angeles Police Department said in a statement on Wednesday that the case stemmed from an investigation it conducted into complaints against the two officers, who were longtime veterans of the force. Mr. Nichols was a police officer in Los Angeles for 15 years and Mr. Valenzuela for 18 years, the department said. Both men have been relieved of duty. “I will say again, any officer that abuses the public’s trust is not welcome in the LAPD and we will continue vigorously investigating officers accused of alleged crimes and cooperate fully with the District Attorney’s office,” Charlie Beck, the Los Angeles police chief, said in the statement.

The charges in Los Angeles have echoes of another recent case involving accusations of a police officer assaulting women. In that case, a former Oklahoma City police officer, Daniel Holtzclaw, was convicted in December of raping 13 women while on duty. Prosectors said Mr. Holtzclaw preyed on poor black women with criminal histories whose stories he thought were unlikely to be believed.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/18/us/2-los-angeles-police-officers-accused-of-repeated-sexual-assaults.html

Retired cop files complaint against Philly cops

DAVID GAMBACORTA, Staff Writer

Posted: Wednesday, February 3, 2016, 12:16 AM

KEVIN BOOKER figures it was around 11:30 at night when someone started pounding on his front door, late enough to make him a little nervous.

When he swung open the door to his Logan home on Jan. 8, no one was there. Booker shrugged it off, trudged back to bed, and went to sleep.

An hour later, the pounding resumed. This time it was loud enough to wake his neighbors.
Booker, 54, a retired Philadelphia police officer, grabbed his .380-caliber handgun and headed for the door again.

"I said, 'Who is it?' and I heard someone say, 'Police, open up!' " he said.

He placed his gun on a banister and opened the door.

There, two police officers accused Booker of using two phony $10 bills to pay a delivery driver for a cheesesteak and pizza that Booker insisted he never ordered.

During the ensuing back-and-forth, Booker claims, the officers forced their way into his house, handcuffed him, and threatened to haul him off to jail.

But they eventually left, after realizing that Booker hadn't ordered any food or dished out any counterfeit bills. Internal Affairs is investigating the incident, and Booker is vowing to sue the Police Department.

"This is the kind of thing that makes it harder for people to trust the police," Booker told the Daily News. "And it makes people like me angry. I used to be a police officer."

Booker said a delivery driver from Sorrento's Pizza, on Olney Avenue near Ogontz, stood near his house on Ashdale Street near Belfield Avenue while one of the officers questioned Booker about the supposed transaction.

"He said, 'Look, if you don't give [the driver] his $20, I'm taking you to Northwest Detectives,' " Booker said. "I didn't order any food. I asked the delivery guy, 'Are you sure you came to this house?' He just pointed at my address number and then at his phone."

Booker said he told the cops to check the phone number on the delivery slip, certain that it wouldn't match his.

They didn't go for it.

Booker claims that one of the officers forcibly entered his house, threw him to the floor, handcuffed him, and punched him in the back of the head. The other cop rifled through his trash, recycling bin, and refrigerator, perhaps hoping to find traces of the takeout meal.

"I said, 'I used to be a police officer,' and the one officer said, 'I don't care. It doesn't matter. You probably got fired anyway,' " Booker said.

Booker spent nine years on the police force, retiring in 2000 because of a knee injury he said he sustained in a fall.

The cops pulled off the cuffs and left. Booker said he tracked down the delivery driver, who apologized for the confusing ordeal. The driver explained that someone had used Booker's address to order the food, then paid him with the phony bills at the curb and took off.

Booker said he filed a complaint with Internal Affairs and was interviewed by a detective. He also hired the prominent civil rights attorney David Rudovsky.

"Once we have the results of the investigation, we'll make a further determination on how to proceed," Rudovsky said.

"I think they need to be fired," Booker said of the two cops. "They didn't do their jobs properly. They violated me."

Lt. John Stanford, a police spokesman, said the officers are on active duty while the Internal Affairs investigation plays out.

gambacd@phillynews.com

215-854-5994

On Twitter: @dgambacorta

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20160203_Retired_cop_files_complaint_against_Philly_cops.html

Cop shoots dog while checking on owner's home

FLORIDA CITY, Fla. - Police say an officer fatally shot a bulldog that "rushed" him as he knocked on the front door of a home in Florida City.

Florida City police spokesman Ken Armenteros says the officer was patrolling the area on Tuesday. He saw an open car door in the driveway and approached the home to make sure everything was fine. When he knocked on the door, he was met by Duchess, the family's bulldog mix.

Armenteros says the officer is on paid administrative leave pending an investigation.

But the family is asking for answers.

The Miami Herald reports Sage Raphael says the door open was open as she got ready to take Duchess to the veterinarian. The incident was caught on the home's surveillance video.

http://www.mysuncoast.com/news/state/cop-shoots-dog-while-checking-on-owner-s-home/article_a4328fae-77ff-11e5-bdda-5b16c49388c9.html

Corey Jones: Black man shot and killed by policeman as he waited by broken down car

Corey Jones was waiting next to his broken down car when an unarmed officer stopped to investigate the vehicle

• Wesley Lowery 
• 14 hours  ago

Their band, Future Prezidents, had finished their gig almost an hour earlier, so bass player Mathew Huntsberger was surprised to get a call from drummer Corey Jones, 31, around 1:45 a.m. on Sunday.

Jones told Huntsberger that his SUV had broken down and asked if he could help, so Huntsberger drove to find his bandmate, who was stranded north of West Palm Beach, Florida, on Interstate 95. He brought along some oil, but when that didn’t work, the two decided to look up numbers for a tow truck.

“I tried to help him the best I could, but I’m not a mechanic or anything,” Huntsberger said in an interview with The Washington Post on Monday afternoon.

Huntsberger said he called roadside assistance for his bandmate and then, at about 2:30 a.m, left to head home while Jones waited for the tow truck.

About 45 minutes later, Jones was dead — shot and killed by a police officer.

“When I left him he was sitting in his car calling roadside assistance,” Huntsberger said. “I never would have thought that someone was going to come kill him.”

Few details have been released about the Oct. 18 shooting — which is one of more than 780 fatal police shootings so far in 2015, according to a Washington Post database of all deadly on-duty shootings by police officers in 2015.

In a statement issued Monday afternoon, the Palm Beach Gardens Police Department said that officer Nouman Raja was in plainclothes in an unmarked car when he stopped to investigate what he believed to be an abandoned vehicle on an Interstate 95 exit ramp.

“As the officer exited his vehicle, he was suddenly confronted by an armed subject,” the police department said in a statement. “As a result of the confrontation, the officer discharged his firearm, resulting in the death of the subject.”

Palm Beach Gardens is a roughly 50,000-resident city near Palm Beach, made up primarily of white residents.  The Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office has referred requests for comment to the Palm Beach Gardens Police Department. Officials with the Palm Beach Gardens Police Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

“They’re saying he was armed, but I don’t know if I believe it,” said Huntsberger, who described Jones as a really mellow, church-going guy. “If I was there, maybe it’s a different situation. I just don’t know what happened.”

Family members, several of whom are clergy members in the Palm Beach region, and friends have described Jones as a well-known and liked church drummer at Bible Church of God in Boynton Beach.  Jones family plans to gather tonight at a local church to share memories of him, and are making funeral plans for Saturday.

“He was a good kid, just coming home from a gig,” said Jones’s cousin Frank Hearst, 36, of Nashville, Tennessee. “He was just an all-around good guy who never got into any trouble, never had any record. It’s just an unfortunate situation.”

Hearst said family members are upset at how little information has been provided about the shooting. They want to know how many shots were fired, and what weapon he allegedly was carrying when he was killed. They say Jones never carried a firearm.

“They’re saying Corey approached him armed,” Hearst said. “That don’t make sense.”

Benjamin Dixon said he met Jones because they were both church musicians, occasionally filling in for each other’s bands when a member had to miss a service.

“When you play with someone two or three times, they become friends. Two or three times more, and they become family,” Dixon said.

He remembered Jones as a laid-back guy, often found wielding his drumsticks behind a kit in a church sanctuary.

“He was a very hard worker who you could also find in his church,” Dixon said.

Washington Post
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/man-shot-and-killed-by-policeman-in-florida-as-he-waited-by-car-a6701321.html

Family sues Eaton County over son's traffic-stop death

By Rachel Greco, Lansing State Journal10:18 p.m. EDT October 15, 2015

The family's decision comes four months after Eaton County Prosecutor Doug Lloyd determined that Sgt. Jonathan Frost's actions were lawful when he shot and killed Deven Guilford during a traffic stop.

EATON COUNTY — The family of a 17-year-old Mulliken teen shot who was shot and killed by an Eaton County Sheriff's sergeant following a February traffic stop filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against the county and the police officer.

Deven Guilford's parents, Brian and Becky Guilford, said in a statement that their trust in law enforcement was "shaken to the core" by the shooting.

"As we take this action today we are outraged at the huge miscarriage of justice done to our son Deven Guilford," they said.

The lawsuit comes four months after Eaton County Prosecutor Doug Lloyd cleared Sgt. Jonathan Frost of criminal wrongdoing. Frost shot Deven Guilford, who was unarmed, seven times during the traffic stop.

The lawsuit against Frost and Eaton County alleges that Frost's "entire course of action was illegal and in violation of Deven's constitutional rights."

"Deven's tragic and totally unnecessary death represents a disturbing trend of demanding 100% compliance with police authority, coupled with zero tolerance of risk of harm to police officers," said Cynthia Heenan of Constitutional Litigation Associates P.C., a Detroit law firm specializing in police misconduct litigation and representing the family, in a statement.

The lawsuit asks for a jury trial but does not seek specific monetary damages.

Theresa O'Dell, executive assistant to Eaton County Sheriff Tom Reich, said county officials have been advised not to comment by their legal counsel. Eaton County Controller John Fuentes also declined to comment on the lawsuit.

Frost, an eight-year veteran, initiated the traffic stop around 8 p.m. Feb. 28 on M-43 in Roxand Township after Guilford flashed his bright lights at Frost because he thought Frost's brights were on.

According to his family, Guilford was driving home from a basketball game at Liberty Church in Grand Ledge and was on his way to his girlfriend's home to watch movies.

A Michigan State Police investigation included the review of video of the stop, both from Guilford's cell phone — the teen was recording the traffic stop — and Frost's body camera. Frost's new patrol vehicle did not have a dash camera, according to Lloyd.

Guilford refused to give Frost his driver's license, registration and proof of insurance, which would have been a misdemeanor, according to Lloyd. It was later determined Guilford's license was with his girlfriend. Frost declined requests from Guilford for his badge number.

Frost pulled Guilford from the vehicle and ordered him to lie on his stomach next to his vehicle. When Guilford would not put both his hands behind his back as Frost was attempting to handcuff him, Frost fired his stun gun into Guilford. The stun gun wasn't fully effective because only one of two probes embedded into Guilford, according to Lloyd.

Lloyd says the investigation determined an altercation then ensued, which ended in a snow-filled ditch. Guilford was shot seven times. There is no video of the final moments of the traffic stop. Frost's body camera came off during what Lloyd said was a struggle. Guilford's cell phone remained on the pavement, recording audio of the gunshots but did not capture video of the shooting. Frost was treated for facial injuries at a local hospital and released.

Toxicology results showed that THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, was in Guilford's system at the time of the stop.

"The officer did nothing to calm or de-escalate the situation," the Guilford family statement says. "Instead, Frost rapidly became argumentative and agitated when Deven asserted that the officer had been driving with his high beams on and resisted producing his ID."

Aaron Guilford, Deven's brother, called his death "senseless."

"I don't understand how an innocent situation can escalate so much to end in the death of a harmless kid," he said in a statement. "Deven was listening to Frost's commands, he never swore or used any profane language. He was confused and he never received any respect in return."

An internal investigation into the shooting released in August determined that the sergeant followed Eaton County Sheriff’s Office “regulations, general orders and training.”

It did, however, recommend the department “re-emphasize” training on stun gun use and continue to place an emphasis during training on communication and “defensive ground fighting tactics.”

Supporters of the Guilford family are planning to hold a rally at the State Capitol from 2 to 5 p.m. Oct. 24.

Contact Rachel Greco at 517-528-2075 or rgreco@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @GrecoatLSJ. 

http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2015/10/14/guilford-family-files-federal-lawsuit-teens-death/73928404/

Cops Removed Clothes From Young Woman’s Dead Body, Took Nude Photo

AUTHOR: RANDA MORRIS APRIL 22, 2015 6:36 PM

Photos taken by police on the night that 20-year-old Jessica Mejia was killed show that the young woman was in the back of the vehicle, when police arrived on the scene. According to the Chicago Tribune, which was given access to the photos, pictures taken while she was inside the vehicle show that Jessica Mejia was dressed in a pair of jeans and a white tee-shirt when she died. Subsequent images of the young woman, taken by Sheriff’s deputies in Cook County, Illinois, however, are the subject of a pending lawsuit.

According to the Chicago Tribune, photos provided to them by the family attorney show that police removed Jessica Mejia’s body from the vehicle. They then proceeded to undress her at the scene. Jessica’s naked body was laid out on a tarp. Police then photographed her naked corpse, which they manipulated into various poses.

The accident that took the young woman’s life occurred on New Year’s Eve, 2009. Shortly after, her family filed a lawsuit against the Cook County Sheriff’s Department. Jessica Mejia’s mother says she filed the suit to restore her daughter’s name.

According to the young woman’s mother, the officers who removed Jessica Mejia’s clothing at the scene of the accident created a false impression of what happened that night. Christian Mejia told the Chicago Tribune that:

“(People) think my daughter died from having sex, not from somebody being drunk and killing her. Because they took these photos, by the time everybody else got to the scene, all the ambulances and everybody else, she was partially naked because they made her naked… So the rumors, and the allegations … they made it believable.”

In December of 2010, a spokesman with the Cook County Sheriff’s Office denied that the pictures existed. Department spokesman Steve Patterson called the family’s claims “bizarre,” saying:

“There were multiple independent witnesses on the scene that night and crime scene photographs taken which would have prevented the scenario described from happening. We’re sorry for the family’s loss.”

This story certainly is bizarre, but the Sheriff’s department is no longer disputing the fact that the photos exist. Instead, they now claim that it was “medically necessary” for deputies to remove Jessica Mejia’s clothing and take nude photographs, as her dead body lay on the ground, sprawled out on a tarp. That claim seems beyond bizarre.

Don Perry, one of the family’s attorneys said in a statement to the Chicago Tribune:

“This was a young lady that just died and was treated with less dignity than a deer carcass you find on the side of the road.”

Here’s more on the story from WGN News, in Chicago.

*Featured image credit: video screen capture WGN News Chicago

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/04/22/cops-took-nude-photos-of-20-year-old-killed-in-accident-video/