Has Anyone Else's life Been Affected by Police Brutality?

[whoaskew]

Over the past couple months, there have been many instances of police brutality and police killings being reported that have garnered national attention – Mike Brown, Andrew Scott Gaynier, Ezell Ford, Dillon Taylor, Dante Parker, Omar Abrego, Jacinto Zavala, Diana Showman, Michelle Cusseaux, Joshua Paul, Joseph Jennings, Guillermo Canas, Chris Lollie, Bryce Masters, and many, many others



I thought I should share my personal experience about how my life has been affected by Police Brutality:


While a senior at PSU, where he majored in accounting, my Dad was a victim of police brutality. He was driving home to KC for the weekend, when an 18 wheeler veered into his lane causing a wreck. The Police arrived, and saw that he was Black, so they beat him - breaking over a dozen bones and leaving him with permanent brain damage. Eventually my Dad received a settlement from the Police Department, but the money didn't erase what they did, and it surely didn't make up for all the lives that were affected in the process.

My mother was pregnant with me at the time this occurred, so I never even got a chance to develop a relationship with my Dad before the incident occurred. I remember telling my Dad I would be going to college in a small town, just like he did, and I remember him breaking down in tears begging me not to... swearing that if I went to college in a small town, someone would kill me before I made it to graduation, just like they tried to do to him. I kept that thought in the back of my mind, every day for the entire fours years that I attended Lincoln University, and especially during my junior and senior years when I commuted twice per week between Lincoln University in Jefferson City, MO and Kansas City, Missouri where I worked as a Supervisor at H&R Block.

I was fortunate that despite his injuries, my father lived to see my 30th birthday. That was long enough for him to see me graduate with my bachelor's degree in business, see the birth of both of his grandsons (my sons), and later saw me graduate with my master's degree in business. My father died at 52 years old, and while it was initially thought that his death was suspicious, it was later confirmed that his death was due to the brain damage caused by a stroke.

On the day my Dad died, I made this post on the planet - http://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showthread.php?p=5845168 - and I am still grateful for all the support that I received during that time.


If you have any comments or experiences with police brutality, please share them below


P.S. For those that are interested, you can follow along as I make updates about this topic on my blog - http://www.asknigeljohnson.com/stop-police-brutality/

[JakeLV]

It's terrible that people are actually allowed to do things like that. I'm sorry to the both of you.

I have nothing positive to add to the discussion.

How do you go about breaking the police culture? Mandating college degrees would be a start. I honestly don't want people who barely graduate high school being tasked with navigating very complex situations.

[BucEyedPea]

Originally Posted by JakeLV

It's terrible that people are actually allowed to do things like that. I'm sorry to the both of you.

I have nothing positive to add to the discussion.

How do you go about breaking the police culture? Mandating college degrees would be a start. I honestly don't want people who barely graduate high school being tasked with navigating very complex situations.

Some are college grads and many are ex-military. If they were in a war zone I think it affects them. I also think certain personality-types are attracted to certain professions. So I think anger types or aggressive types could flock to this one. JMO.

[MOhillbilly]

Originally Posted by BucEyedPea

Some are college grads and many are ex-military. If they were in a war zone I think it affects them. I also think certain personality-types are attracted to certain professions. So I think anger types or aggressive types could flock to this one. JMO.

Loads of em are chickenshits with a power trip.

[GloucesterChief]

Originally Posted by JakeLV

It's terrible that people are actually allowed to do things like that. I'm sorry to the both of you.

I have nothing positive to add to the discussion.

How do you go about breaking the police culture? Mandating college degrees would be a start. I honestly don't want people who barely graduate high school being tasked with navigating very complex situations.

Liability. Make them carry insurance like Doctor's do. Right now since the city, state, or county will pay any damages due to police actions there is a moral hazard in that the individual officers due not pay out of pocket for their misdeeds.

[Ming the Merciless]

Originally Posted by GloucesterChief

Liability. Make them carry insurance like Doctor's do. Right now since the city, state, or county will pay any damages due to police actions there is a moral hazard in that the individual officers due not pay out of pocket for their misdeeds.

The insurance isn't a the biggest issue I do not believe.

The biggest issue is that usually there needs to be some type of administrative finding of 'misconduct' before a lawsuit would be successful.

I'm not super up on it, but most people that make the kind of money police officers do (150 G a year with benefits) actually do have a million or 3 million of 'personal liability umbrella' insurance (or something similar that would cover them) which would be enough to handle 99% of all defenses you would ever need.

But it probably rarely even has to kick in, because of the requirement for misconduct....and also because the union probably has their own insurance that defends them 1st, even if a lawsuit gets through the administrative phase

Hopefully someone more in the know can correct me if I am wrong though.

[LoneWolf]

Originally Posted by Pawnmower

The insurance isn't a the biggest issue I do not believe.

The biggest issue is that usually there needs to be some type of administrative finding of 'misconduct' before a lawsuit would be successful.

I'm not super up on it, but most people that make the kind of money police officers do (150 G a year with benefits) actually do have a million or 3 million of 'personal liability umbrella' insurance (or something similar that would cover them) which would be enough to handle 99% of all defenses you would ever need.

But it probably rarely even has to kick in, because of the requirement for misconduct....and also because the union probably has their own insurance that defends them 1st, even if a lawsuit gets through the administrative phase

Hopefully someone more in the know can correct me if I am wrong though.

You think police officers make $150,000 a year?

[loochy]

Originally Posted by Pawnmower

I'm not super up on it, but most people that make the kind of money police officers do (150 G a year with benefits)

WTF?

Maybe long tenured officers in high cost of living areas like NYC or LA make that much.

I guarantee you that most don't make anywhere near that.

I think you need to be looking at about 100 k less than that - 50k per year is much more realistic.

[WhiteWhale]

I'm not going into details, but when I was 14 3 police officers beat the shit out of me while I was handcuffed to a rail mounted to the concrete wall at their police station.

My crime? My friend and I were walking home after a movie and they busted us for being out past the 10 oclock curfew... it was 10:07.

They also kept pointing guns at me and making jokes about murdering me, burying me in a field, and how nobody would know. So I got my ass whipped and my life threatened (one of the officers kept grabbing my junk too) because I was out past curfew. Procedure for such a case was for the officers to take the kids home to their guardian, instead they took us to a police station for entertainment.

Originally Posted by DC.chief

One June night in 2008, I had an argument with my father and had left the house to cool down. While I was out my mother called and said I need you here now it's about dad hurry. I speed home and find my dad in the backyard underneath the deck sitting on a retaining wall with a gun behind his back. He was calm at the time but had claimed he was going to shoot himself. I was back there with my mom and my neighbor having a calm conversation and trying to talk him into giving us the gun.

I left the yard and went next door where two federal law enforcement agents resided. I ask them for advice as they were friends and the both said call the cops. I felt things were under control but decided lets be safe about this. I call. 4 deputies show up and formulate a plan in less than 2 minutes to basically storm through the gate through our privacy fence to taser him. It is pitch black outside as it is nearly midnight mind you. They storm through the gate. point flashlights in his face and fire tasers at him before even announcing themselves. one probe hits his arm but the other misses. He stands up and runs to the back door of the house while leaving the gun behind on the retaining wall. as he opens the door a deputy puts a 3 round burst from an ar-15 in his back and he falls face first into the rec room. my mother and I were both with in a few feet of him. I watched him lift his head and arm for a brief second and he took his last breath.

We went through two federal trials and lost both. the police claimed he had the gun on him and raised it at them even though all 3 bullet wounds were in his backside. They lied and said the gun was underneath him after he fell. Yet from all the blood that stained the carpet underneath his torso not a drop of it was on the gun, which was still in its holster by the way. we lost the appeal. I will never under any circumstance call the police again. If I had only tackled him and took the gun from him, which I could have, this all could have been avoided. In my defining moment, I failed.

Makes my ass whipping seem pretty small time. I don't really have any words.

Courts will take the word of a police officer over demonstrable evidence. This may be the worst example. No one should have to witness such a thing.

[WhiteWhale]

Originally Posted by Pawnmower

The insurance isn't a the biggest issue I do not believe.

The biggest issue is that usually there needs to be some type of administrative finding of 'misconduct' before a lawsuit would be successful.

I'm not super up on it, but most people that make the kind of money police officers do (150 G a year with benefits) actually do have a million or 3 million of 'personal liability umbrella' insurance (or something similar that would cover them) which would be enough to handle 99% of all defenses you would ever need.

But it probably rarely even has to kick in, because of the requirement for misconduct....and also because the union probably has their own insurance that defends them 1st, even if a lawsuit gets through the administrative phase

Hopefully someone more in the know can correct me if I am wrong though.

Most police officers make between 40K and 55k per year according to all statistics available.

I have no idea where you pulled 150K per year with benefits.

[Don Corlemahomes]

Originally Posted by DC.chief

One June night in 2008, I had an argument with my father and had left the house to cool down. While I was out my mother called and said I need you here now it's about dad hurry. I speed home and find my dad in the backyard underneath the deck sitting on a retaining wall with a gun behind his back. He was calm at the time but had claimed he was going to shoot himself. I was back there with my mom and my neighbor having a calm conversation and trying to talk him into giving us the gun.

I left the yard and went next door where two federal law enforcement agents resided. I ask them for advice as they were friends and the both said call the cops. I felt things were under control but decided lets be safe about this. I call. 4 deputies show up and formulate a plan in less than 2 minutes to basically storm through the gate through our privacy fence to taser him. It is pitch black outside as it is nearly midnight mind you. They storm through the gate. point flashlights in his face and fire tasers at him before even announcing themselves. one probe hits his arm but the other misses. He stands up and runs to the back door of the house while leaving the gun behind on the retaining wall. as he opens the door a deputy puts a 3 round burst from an ar-15 in his back and he falls face first into the rec room. my mother and I were both with in a few feet of him. I watched him lift his head and arm for a brief second and he took his last breath.

We went through two federal trials and lost both. the police claimed he had the gun on him and raised it at them even though all 3 bullet wounds were in his backside. They lied and said the gun was underneath him after he fell. Yet from all the blood that stained the carpet underneath his torso not a drop of it was on the gun, which was still in its holster by the way. we lost the appeal. I will never under any circumstance call the police again. If I had only tackled him and took the gun from him, which I could have, this all could have been avoided. In my defining moment, I failed.

****ing shit, man. I'm so sorry to hear this.

[Don Corlemahomes]

Originally Posted by WhiteWhale

I'm not going into details, but when I was 14 3 police officers beat the shit out of me while I was handcuffed to a rail mounted to the concrete wall at their police station.

My crime? My friend and I were walking home after a movie and they busted us for being out past the 10 oclock curfew... it was 10:07.

They also kept pointing guns at me and making jokes about murdering me, burying me in a field, and how nobody would know. So I got my ass whipped and my life threatened (one of the officers kept grabbing my junk too) because I was out past curfew. Procedure for such a case was for the officers to take the kids home to their guardian, instead they took us to a police station for entertainment.



Makes my ass whipping seem pretty small time. I don't really have any words.

Courts will take the word of a police officer over demonstrable evidence. This may be the worst example. No one should have to witness such a thing.

More .

What power hungry douchebags.

[Otter]

Originally Posted by whoaskew

Over the past couple months, there have been many instances of police brutality and police killings being reported that have garnered national attention – Mike Brown, Andrew Scott Gaynier, Ezell Ford, Dillon Taylor, Dante Parker, Omar Abrego, Jacinto Zavala, Diana Showman, Michelle Cusseaux, Joshua Paul, Joseph Jennings, Guillermo Canas, Chris Lollie, Bryce Masters, and many, many others



I thought I should share my personal experience about how my life has been affected by Police Brutality:


While a senior at PSU, where he majored in accounting, my Dad was a victim of police brutality. He was driving home to KC for the weekend, when an 18 wheeler veered into his lane causing a wreck. The Police arrived, and saw that he was Black, so they beat him - breaking over a dozen bones and leaving him with permanent brain damage. Eventually my Dad received a settlement from the Police Department, but the money didn't erase what they did, and it surely didn't make up for all the lives that were affected in the process.

My mother was pregnant with me at the time this occurred, so I never even got a chance to develop a relationship with my Dad before the incident occurred. I remember telling my Dad I would be going to college in a small town, just like he did, and I remember him breaking down in tears begging me not to... swearing that if I went to college in a small town, someone would kill me before I made it to graduation, just like they tried to do to him. I kept that thought in the back of my mind, every day for the entire fours years that I attended Lincoln University, and especially during my junior and senior years when I commuted twice per week between Lincoln University in Jefferson City, MO and Kansas City, Missouri where I worked as a Supervisor at H&R Block.

I was fortunate that despite his injuries, my father lived to see my 30th birthday. That was long enough for him to see me graduate with my bachelor's degree in business, see the birth of both of his grandsons (my sons), and later saw me graduate with my master's degree in business. My father died at 52 years old, and while it was initially thought that his death was suspicious, it was later confirmed that his death was due to the brain damage caused by a stroke.

On the day my Dad died, I made this post on the planet - http://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showthread.php?p=5845168 - and I am still grateful for all the support that I received during that time.


If you have any comments or experiences with police brutality, please share them below


P.S. For those that are interested, you can follow along as I make updates about this topic on my blog - http://www.asknigeljohnson.com/stop-police-brutality/

Damn, I'm sorry to hear about this man. I'm originally from PA and no stranger to PSU. That place is pretty famous for over zealous police.

[J Diddy]

Originally Posted by Otter

Damn, I'm sorry to hear about this man. I'm originally from PA and no stranger to PSU. That place is pretty famous for over zealous police.

I'm thinking perhaps he's talking about Pittsburg State University in Kansas

[CoMoChief]

I got beaten and sprayed back in 2004 for simply walking next door to my buddy's apt who was having a party til the police showed up due to a noise violation...they told everyone to leave which I did originally...I lived next door and was just gonna wait til they left before I headed back over. Although I left my cell phone on an end table near the front door and friends of mine were coming in town that night so I headed back over there to get it real quick in case they called so I could tell them party was broken up etc... when said cop (all 5ft 150 lbs of him) screamed and cussed me out for coming back and didn't like the fact I was "eye ****ing" him. Told him I was just getting my phone and so i grabbed my phone and turned around to leave and as I was walking out cop slammed me up against the wall and asked me if I was being a tough guy for ignoring his direct orders. (btw I had just arrived to the party right before the cops showed up cuz I had just gotten off work..so I really haven't had anything to drink yet). This was right at the doorway of the apt so it eventually got taken outside on front patio right in front of my door actually. Cop with small man syndrome was trying to throw me down to the ground and it just wasn't working and he was screaming for me to stop resisting I just kept telling him I wasn't doing anything wrong and he's the one attacking me. Well he finally swung me down to the ground by my jacket and I landed on top of him. This bitch coward of a cop starts screaming for help like a little girl and at this point he has one of my arms kind of in that chicken winged hold. I'm still on top of him because of the way he had my arm pinned to where I couldn't really move although I was trying to get up. This startled the other cops inside who came rushing outside and one immediately took out his baton and started swinging. Which didn't hurt my adrenaline at this point is pumping too much for me to really feel anything til the next morning. But then came the pepper spray from point blank range right in my eyes. That shit sucks lol. I was then handcuffed and arrested and charged for assault on LEO and resisting arrest.

Independent witness across the parking lot witnesses the whole thing and was nice enough to testify and give written statement of what she saw plus much of this was caught on one of the squad cars. Btw 5 squad cars arrived at this college party where there were maybe 20ppl. 1 out of the 5 squad cars had their dash cams on and it was the one that captured the footage which was obtained by my attorney. The police report said I dumped a beer on the officer (lies) and had reached for cops gun (lies) after I had slammed him onto the ground (lies) and because of my physical size and strength the cop was feared for his life (lies). Thank god for the independent eye witness and dash cam. Case was thrown out and I sued the police department for assault and won with a settlement. Then through some resources of mine I found out where said cop lived and I'll just leave it at that. He's no longer a cop in that police dept and ended up moving to Oklahoma as of 2006 from what I was told. Justice was ****ing served.

This was one of many police officer abuse cases in about a 3month period cops everywhere in this dept were beating up college kids because a woman cop was shot in the head during a traffic stop and she was the first woman cop to be killed on the job and the whole dept and city govt made a big fuss about it and the cops from that point for about a few months were having their way with college kids. My attorney had about 7 or 8 other cases like mine that all happened within a few weeks from another.

[tooge]

It's who askED you