A Texas man is richer and his town is a little safer from the pair of cops who pepper sprayed and arrested him for recording a traffic stop involving his son from a public sidewalk last year.

One of the two Keller police officers who arrested him, Blake Shimanek, resigned Monday but he is still certified as an officer, meaning he will probably move on to another law enforcement agency. The other cop, Ankit Tomer, still carries a badge and gun and has the authority to terrorize the same citizens who fund his salary.

The incident also led to “policy changes” within the police department, according to a city newsletter. But policy changes historically have proven to have little effect on police abuse if the department keeps these cops employed.

However, Marco Puente, the victim, was happy with the $200,000 settlement over the August 15 incident that was captured on body cam video. And the city tried to justify the settlement by stating taxpayer’s only paid $5,000 towards the payout with the rest paid by the city’s tax-funded insurance company, according to the New York Times.

It all started when Keller police pulled over Puente’s son, Dillon Puentes, because he had made a “wide right turn” – even though police did not release video showing this infraction. They claim the 23-year-old man had “appeared nervous” prior to the stop.

Keller police also say the teen rolled up his dark-tinted windows during the traffic stop which they described as an “officer safety concern” which is the reason Shimanek ordered Dillon Puentes out of the car and handcuffed him.

That was when Marco Puentes pulled up, stopping his car near the curb on the opposite side of the street and began recording from the driver’s seat which Shimanek claims created even more of an officer safety concern.

Shimanek ordered Marco Puente to park his car down the street and record on foot which he did, returning a few moments later and standing on the sidewalk exercising his First Amendment right to record police in public.

Nevertheless, Shimanek ordered Tomer to arrest him “for blocking the roadway” which is what led to Tomer pepper spraying him twice at close range.

The lawsuit states that after the arrest, Marco Puente pleaded for the cops to wipe the pepper spray from his eyes and face which were burning but the cops ignored his request.

At one point, body camera footage shows Shimanek using a towel and water to wipe away the pepper spray from his own body. He also told jail staff “I’m on fire” regarding the pepper spray on his body, indicating he was well aware of the pain Marco Puente was going through but did nothing to help him.

Instead, he came up with a litany of lies to justify his unlawful arrest, according to the lawsuit which you can read here. Read the policy changes that will be made below.

Please help support the 2021 PINAC Brady List Project where we plan to build a database of bad cops.​

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It’s been three weeks since a federal police officer was killed trying to stop a mob of enraged Trump loyalists from storming the United States Capitol in an attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election and we still do not know how he died or who was responsible for his death.

But we do know that a growing number of off-duty police officers from around the country participated in the January 6 riot that left an additional four people dead and 15 cops hospitalized as well as more than a hundred officers injured – a shocking assault on democracy described by the feds in charging documents as a “violent insurrection that attempted to overthrow the United States Government.”

We also know that Capitol police ignored intelligence reports stating that various right-wing organizations were planning on attacking Congress that day – staffing only 1,200 officers, the same as any other day – except 8,000 angry insurgents ended up storming the Capitol with some chanting “hang Mike Pence!”.

As of today, at least 39 cops from 17 states have been confirmed to have attended the “Stop the Steal” rally, according to The Appeal which created a spreadsheet of the cops which they have been updating. Most are being investigated by their own departments or the FBI to determine whether they breached the Capitol which would result in federal charges.

Also, 17 Capitol police officers who were supposed to defend the Capitol have been suspended and are under investigation by their own department for possible involvement in the insurgency that turned into an international embarrassment for the federal government after decades of security theater and policing elections in other countries.

Four off-duty law enforcement officers who breached the Capitol that day have been arrested so far; two from a small police department in Virginia, including one who bragged about urinating in Nancy Pelosi’s toilet during the insurgency, and another from the Houston Police Department who claimed to have entered the Capitol that day to look at art as well as a corrections officer from New Jersey.

Jacob Fracker and Thomas Robertson were off-duty from the Rocky Mount Police Department in Virginia when they photographed themselves standing in front of a statue of Revolutionary War hero John Stark inside the Capitol with Fracker making an obscene gesture with his middle finger. Fracker sent the photo to other officers in their department and from there it ended up on social media and in the news.

As the photo began going viral, Robertson claimed on social media that they broke no laws because they were “escorted in by the Capitol Police.”

But Fracker, 29, claimed in a Facebook message recovered by the FBI that they were part of a group of insurgents battling the Capitol cops that day who were keeping them from entering the building, comparing it to an experience he had when serving in the army in Afghanistan.

“Flash bangs going off, CS gas, rubber bullets flying by. Felt so good to be back in the shit hahaha I was like 8th person inside the building, shit was fuckin LIT, I haven’t been that hyped up since fuckin Nowzad hahaha.”

Fracker and Robertson, 47, have both been fired and are each facing one count of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.

Then there was Houston police officer Tam Dinh Pham, 48, who initially told federal agents he was at the rally but did not enter the Capitol. But the FBI found deleted photos of himself inside the Capitol on his phone from the day of the insurgency, showing him posing in front of a huge Trump flag. He then explained he only entered the Capitol to look at art but is facing the same charges as the former Virginia cops. He has resigned after an 18-year career.

Marissa Suarez, the corrections officer from New Jersey, has also resigned from the Monmouoth County Corrections Facility from where she took an emergency holiday to attend the insurgency. She is facing the same charges as the other cops.

While law enforcement officers have the First Amendment right to support the presidential candidate of their choice, they are expected to place country before party when their candidate loses instead of joining a violent mob to overturn the election.

Otherwise, they are displaying more loyalty to Trump than to the U.S. Constitution which invalidates the oath they swore to “defend the Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic.” Same as the Capitol cops who did not even bother trying to stop the mob, removing the barricades and waving them through, watching passively as they looted the Capitol which is why they are under investigation.

Some Capitol cops even posed for selfies with the insurgents as if they were part of an organized tour of the Capitol instead of an enraged mob attempting a coup. Trump loyalists, after all, pride themselves on backing the blue, waving thin blue line flags alongside their Gadsden flags in Trump rallies which earned them many allies with badges.

“We knew that there was a strong potential for violence and that Congress was the target,” admitted interim Capitol Police Chief Yogananda D. Pittman in a memo after Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund resigned in disgrace along with House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving and Senate Sergeant at Arms Michael Stenger.

Sund said he requested the National Guard two days prior to the insurgency but was denied.

Those cops who did try to stop the insurgents were quickly overpowered by the frenzied mob who beat them with flagpoles, lead pipes and hockey sticks – evidently no longer backing the blue.

One video shows the crowd chanting “USA! USA!” while dragging a Metropolitan DC police officer down the stairs as he is beaten with an American flag. Another video shows a DC cop screaming in agony as he is pinned between two doors and the rioters pull his gas mask from his face. Other videos show rioters throwing fire extinguishers and furniture at the cops while taunting and threatening them.

The FBI so far has charged at least 164 people for participating in the riot as it gathers and examines hundreds of videos including several who have been charged with assaulting a police officer after their actions were caught on video.

But no video has surfaced yet of the incident that led to the death of Capitol police officer Brian Sicknick who police say collapsed in his office the evening of the insurgency after he was struck on the head with a fire extinguisher “while physically engaging with protesters,” dying at a local hospital the following day. And no suspect had been identified.

Meanwhile, some commenters on pro-cop Facebook pages like Blue Lives Matter and Police One – who never fail to take the “law and order” stance – are referring to the cops who have been arrested as “patriots” and the cops who tried to stop them as “traitors.”

Some are uncharacteristically questioning the police narrative behind the death of Sicknick, claiming Trump supporters would never harm police.

They point to a report from Sicknick’s family that he died from a stroke, which they argue, proves he did not die from a head injury caused by a insurgent who attacked him with a fire extinguisher but from a pre-existing condition. However, it is common knowledge that brain injuries increase the risk of strokes.

And some commenters even accuse Capitol police officer Eugene Goodman, the Black officer who is being hailed as a hero for leading a group of mostly White insurgents up two flights of stairs, away from Senate chambers, of being an “actor,” paid by Democrats to make Trump look bad.

They are also critical of Metropolitan DC police officer Michael Fanone who told CNN the insurgents surrounded him and took his taser and tried to take his gun and all he could do was plead for his life because he did not have enough bullets to stop them all.

They wonder if he is even a real cop with all those neck tattoos, oblivious to the fact that fully tatted cops are almost the norm in big cities these days. For all they know, he could be another actor trying to topple Trump from his rightful throne.

Anything is possible in the alternative reality universe created by Trump whose outright lies were described as “alternative facts” by his campaign manager and whose repeated claims of election fraud became truth in the minds of many of his supporters but were nothing but deflections and denials from a defeated narcissist.

Numerous recounts since the election had failed to prove fraud and dozens of lawsuits alleging fraud had been dismissed by judges for lacking merit, including several judges appointed by the president himself.

And that is where it should have ended if we’re going to respect the Constitution and its system of checks and balances but Trump then tried to overturn the election by strong-arming other government officials into helping him, including placing an intimidating phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, telling him that, “I just want to find 11,780 votes” to allow him to win the state’s 16 electoral votes.

Trump then tried to get then-Vice President Mike Pence to not certify the vote but he refused which is why the insurgents wanted to hang him. They even brought a makeshift gallows with noose and placed it outside the Capitol that day.

“You can either go down in history as a patriot or you can go down in history as a pussy,” Trump allegedly told Pence, according to the New York Times.

Meanwhile, Trump was telling his followers that the election was being stolen from him which is why so many believed they were actually protecting the U.S. Constitution by storming the Capitol.

What’s even more troubling is that many of his believers are police officers willing to take up arms against the federal government without actually examining and analyzing the available evidence.

“Civility has left me,” explained former Rocky Mount police officer Thomas Robertson on December 19, 2020 in a Facebook post before he was fired and charged for participating in the riot, according to an FBI search warrant which you can read here.

​*“Im tired of always taking the high road and being beat by those who cheat, lie, and steal to win and then allow their media to paint me as the bad guy. I won’t be disenfranchised. I’ll follow the path our founders gave us. Redress of grievances (already done) civil disobedience (here now) and then open armed rebellion. I’ve spent the last 10 years fighting an insurgency in Iraq and then Afghanistan. Im prepared to start one here and know a bunch of like minded and trained individuals.”*

After numerous failed attempts to overturn the election, it had come down to January 6 which was touted as “Trump’s last stand” on social media, a day where various right-wing groups, including the Proud Boys, were openly planning on targeting Congress to intimidate them into reversing the election results.

Anybody paying attention could have predicted the outcome but somehow a federal law enforcement agency with a budget of $500 million did not see the need to staff additional officers to ensure nothing disrupts the certifying of the election results.

Some of the off-duty cops storming the Capitol flashed their badges to Capitol police officers who waved them through along with hundreds of other angry insurgents looking to lynch the vice president who was in the Senate chambers about to certify the election results.

Besides Sicknick, four others died that day, including an unarmed woman named Ashli Babbitt, an Air Force veteran who was shot and killed by a Capitol police officer while trying to crawl through a broken window pane to access Senate chambers. Capitol police have not released the name of the cop who shot her.

The three others who died were Trump loyalists who suffered medical emergencies while storming the Capitol. They have been identified as Benjamin Philips, 50, Kevin Greeson, 55, and Rosanne Boyland, 34.

The suicides of two officers who worked that day have been attributed to the insurgency as well, including Capitol police officer Howard Liebengood and Metropolitan DC police officer Jeffrey Smith.

Capitol Police Labor Committee Gus Papathanasiou told NPR the following:

“Another officer has tragically taken his own life. Between USCP and our colleagues at the Metropolitan Police Department, we have almost 140 officers injured. I have officers who were not issued helmets prior to the attack who have sustained brain injuries. One officer has two cracked ribs and two smashed spinal discs. One officer is going to lose his eye, and another was stabbed with a metal fence stake.”

But despite the violence against cops, Trump’s support among police officers remains strong. Trump, after all, was a cop’s dream come true, a “law and order” president who not only backed the blue but encouraged them to get violent with suspects as was done in the “good old days.”

He also shared with cops a contempt for the Black Lives Matter movement, referring to it as a domestic terror group, even signing an executive order targeting leftist protesters after last summer’s riots against police abuse, promising ten-year prison sentences for anybody arrested vandalizing or destroying federal statues and buildings.

But now it is is the Trump loyalists being labeled domestic terrorists with several facing decades in prison for breaching the Capitol and terrorizing elected officials in the name of Trump.

They had been counting on Trump pardoning them but he left office without acknowledging their arrests, issuing more than 100 last-minute pardons to a wide range of individuals who had nothing to do with the insurgency including rappers Lil Wayne and Kodak Black.

Some of his most advent supporters, the right-wing street fighting Proud Boys, have disavowed their allegiance to Trump, calling him a traitor for selling them out as at least seven members face federal charges for their roles in the insurgency.

The insurgency may have failed but the threat of domestic terrorism from Trump-supporting extremists who have been “fueled by false narratives” is still strong, according to a bulletin issued by the United States Department of Homeland Security.

However, the bulletin makes no mention that some of these anti-government extremists are government-funded police officers who have been terrorizing citizens for years. The same cops who have long been protected by agencies like Homeland Security.

Newly elected president Joe Biden has vowed to reform the criminal justice system by eliminating the systemic racism within it but one man alone is not going to change the system when it is crooked at so many levels and when there is so much spin and misinformation accepted as truth.

That job falls on us where we take control of the government, not through violence and intimidation but through knowledge and education, using the available tools like public records laws to keep government transparent. They can’t jail us for that. At least not lawfully.

That is why we have turned PINAC News into a nonprofit and why we are seeking funding to create a national database of bad cops which will only succeed if the readers get involved.

At the moment, we are in the very early stages trying to raise the seed money and establish the necessary partnerships to make this happen. We have spent the last few weeks writing several grants which are due next month and plan to apply for more but it can take months before we are funded.

As a nonprofit, we are able to accept tax-deductible donations but we are required by law to account for every dollar we receive so we plan to operate with the same transparency we expect from our government by posting our tax returns on the site. This is not a partisan issue but a Constitutional issue.

Click here to donate or here to read more about the 2021 PINAC Brady List Project.

5 people total were killed in the violent and wild United States Capitol raid amongst President Donald Trump supporters on January 6, 2021 in Washington, D.C.

U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick died after fighting with pro-Trump rioters. Sicknick died on January 7. Ashli Babbitt, 35, also died during the U.S. Capitol raids. Babbitt was shot in the neck while she was trying to climb into a broken window to gain further access into the U.S. Capitol during the siege, NBC News reports. A unidentified police officer killed Babbitt.

Babbitt served 12 years in the Air Force, Air Force Reserves, and Air National Guard as a Security Forces Controller and had the enlisted rank of Senior Airman. Sicknick also served in the United States military as a Airforce National Guard soldier.

President Trump held a rally to contest the presidential election results and ordered the 30,000 member crowd to go to the Capitol building. Once at the Capitol, the Trump supporters got out of control and began throwing objects, bull dosing through police, and eventually penetrating the doors and windows of the Capitol gaining entry.

Sicknick was at the U.S. Capitol preventing President Trump supporters from entering the building. A ruthless mob pulled Sicknick into the crowd and began to beat him, he was even hit in the head with a metal flag pole. Sicknick was able to escape and returned to his division office, where he collapsed.

Sicknick was taken to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries and died. The murder of Sicknick will be investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department’s Homicide Branch and federal authorities.

Sicknick joined the police department in July 2008.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi offered a statement saying:

On behalf of the House of Representatives, I send our deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of Officer Brian Sicknick, who died after defending the Capitol complex and protecting those who serve and work here. The perpetrators of Officer Sicknick’s death must be brought to justice.

The violent and deadly act of insurrection targeting the Capitol, our temple of American Democracy, and its workers was a profound tragedy and stain on our nation’s history. But because of the heroism of our first responders and the determination of the Congress, we were not, and we will never be, diverted from our duty to the Constitution and the American people.

I have ordered the flags at the Capitol lowered to half-staff in Officer Sicknick’s honor. The sacrifice of Officer Sicknick reminds us of our obligation to those we serve: to protect our country from all threats foreign and domestic. May it be a comfort to Officer Sicknick’s family that so many mourn with and pray for them at this sad time.

As protesters were forcing their way toward the House Chamber where Members of Congress were sheltering in place, a sworn U.S. Capitol police officer discharged their service weapon at Babbitt, shooting her in the neck. Medical assistance was rendered immediately, and Babbitt was transported to the hospital where she later died.

The officer has been placed on administrative leave and their police powers have been suspended pending the outcome of a joint Metropolitan Police Department and U.S. Capitol Police investigation.

A report of two pipe bombs were discovered in the U.S. Capitol building area. A police Hazardous Materials Response Team determined that both pipe bombs were in fact hazardous and could cause great harm to public safety. The devices were disabled and turned over to the FBI for further investigation and analysis.

The U.S. Capitol Police released the following statement:

United States Capitol Police officers and our law enforcement partners responded valiantly when faced with thousands of individuals involved in violent riotous actions as they stormed the United States Capitol Building. These individuals actively attacked United States Capitol Police Officers and other uniformed law enforcement officers with metal pipes, discharged chemical irritants, and took up other weapons against our officers. They were determined to enter into the Capitol Building by causing great damage.

More than 50 U.S. Capitol police sustained injuries during the attack on the United States Capitol. Several officers have been hospitalized with serious injuries.

Officer Keith Larson of the Plymouth Police Department in Plymouth, MA shot and killed his K-9 police dog Nico. Larson claims Nico bit him and would not let go.

On December 29, 2020 officers were dispatched to a 911 call where the suspect had fled the scene. Larson arrived at the location and was preparing Nico to track the suspect, but Nico allegedly bit Larson.

Police say that Larson tried several times to disengage Nico, but Nico kept his teeth into the skin of Larson. Police say that Larson was forced to shoot Nico with his department issued duty weapon, Boston 25 News reports.

Nico was hit several times and died at the scene. Larson was transported to the hospital by medics to be treated for bite wounds on his hands. Nico was a German Shepard. Larson is a 17-year veteran of the police force and has been assigned to the K-9 unit since 2017.

Police say that Nico bit Larson in April of 2020 also. Larson and Nico took additional courses and training, having to be recertified in July 2020.

Plymouth Police Chief Michael Botieri gave a briefing at police headquarters saying:

“It happened in less than 30-45 seconds, which is a long time that he had to go through that. I’m sure you realize it is difficult too for a K-9 officer to dispatch their own dog like that.”

A Black man with dreadlocks man was sharing a meal with his family in a shopping mall Saturday when Virginia Beach police walked up to him and handcuffed him without telling him why.

The cops led him outside to a parking lot of the Lynnhaven Mall, detaining him for several minutes, still refusing to tell him why they had handcuffed him.

It was only after the same cops arrested another Black man with dreadlocks that they removed the handcuffs, allowing him to be on his way with a weak apology.

“We got a description somebody was using stolen credit cards,” a cop told the man’s wife who posted the video to her Facebook page where she goes by Kiara Love.

“That person is a Black man with dreads and was wearing all black and was with a boy that was wearing red,” the cop explained. “I completely apologize. It was a complete misunderstanding.”

But for Black Americans, it was just another case of racial profiling which could have easily led to another innocent Black man shot and killed by police.

“That’s why we say, ‘Black Lives Matter,'” said the man who has only been identified as “Jehmel” at this time. “Look how you treat us in front of people. Black Lives Matter. That’s why we fight.”

The cops in the video were not wearing facial masks when they first handcuffed Jehmel even though last month Governor Ralph Northam issued an order that everybody over the age of five must wear a mask while inside public places of business.

Watch the shortened video below or the full video here.

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Emily Weinman was relaxing on a New Jersey beach eating watermelon with a friend when a pair of cops walked up to them and demanded they take a breathalyzer to prove they had not been drinking.

Weinman and her friend agreed to take the test which indicated they had not been drinking. Weinman, 20, even agreed to blow into the device a second time when the first reading did not satisfy the cops.

And the Wildwood police officers should have just left it at that but they chose to escalate the situation instead, obsessing over a few unopened bottles of Twisted Teas lying against a cooler near Weinman’s beach towel that did not even belong to her.

The alcoholic beverages belonged to her aunt who had gone for a swim, Weinman told the cops. When the cops told her they wanted to speak to her aunt, Weinman told them they were welcome to wait as she should be back from swimming at any moment.

But Weinman also made it clear she had nothing more to say to the cops considering she had already proven she was not intoxicated. After all, they no longer had a reasonable suspicion she was committing a crime.

But the cops took it as a personal insult that she did not want to answer their questions which led to them chasing after her on the beach and shoving her face into the sand while punching her in the face and head.

All because she would not provide her surname.

“What’s your last name?” Wildwood police officer Thomas Cannon demands, according to his body camera video.

“You don’t need my last name,” she responds.

“Ok, that’s it, I’m done with you,” Cannon responds, before asking another cop for his handcuffs to arrest her.

“Get over here!,” Cannon says, chasing after her.

“You’re about to get dropped,” he says before catching up to her and beating her.

The incident took place on May 25, 2018 and was captured on body cameras as well as witness video but that did not stop police from fabricating felonies against her, accusing her of kicking them in the groin and spitting at them – none of which was captured on camera.

There is also a 13-second gap in the body camera video where the audio is inexplicably muted which happens to be the portion where she supposedly disrespected the cops by “not cooperating,” according to their conversation when the audio comes back on.

She was charged with two counts of aggravated assault, throwing bodily fluids in the third degree, resisting arrest in the third degree as well as hindering apprehension in the fourth degree, charges that could have landed her in prison for decades. She was brought before a New Jersey grand jury.

Meanwhile, all three cops, Cannon, Robert Jordan and Kenneth Gallagher were cleared of any wrongdoing by the Clay County District Attorney’s Office.

The Philadelphia resident ended up pleading guilty to one count of misdemeanor disorderly conduct in February 2019, a typical contempt of cop charge that cops use when no law was actually broken. She was sentenced to one year probation during which she was no longer allowed in the city of Wildwood.

However, Weinman filed a federal lawsuit against the cops in a Pennsylvania in October 2019, keeping it out of the New Jersey criminal justice which has proven for years to defend bad cops at all costs resulting in a settlement of $325,000 last month.

Former mayor of Wildwood Ernie Troiano, Jr. who was in office when Weinman was arrested called the settlement a “travesty and miscarriage of justice.”

Troiano was part of the initial coverup, painting Weinman as public enemy number one while painting the cops as heroic victims, claiming they were unable to handle such an aggressive woman even though she only weighed 100 pounds and stood at 5-feet.

Troiano also lied to the Associated Press, claiming at the time the body cameras would show Weinman spitting and kicking at the cops. But none of that was visible on the body cam videos when they were eventually released.

According to the Associated Press article from May 2018:

“We’re not dealing with an angel here. She chose to take on the police. The police did their job,” said Troiano, who added he’s a former bouncer and doorman. ”(Women) can be hard to control. They’re kicking. They don’t care.”

Troiano told Philly.com that Weinman “chose to attack the officer, spit on the officer.”

“Look I don’t care who you are and what you are, the worst people (to try to subdue) are women,” he said.

Weinman told the reporter in a Facebook message that she was spitting sand out of her mouth after being knocked to the ground, not spitting at the officers. She’s facing two counts of aggravated assault on a police officer, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest and other charges, according to Wildwood police.

The video filmed by another beachgoer Saturday and posted to social media shows two officers trying to subdue Weinman, with one officer hitting her in the head twice with a closed fist. The beachgoer said she woke up to the altercation and began filming. The video does not show what led to it.

Troiano said the officers’ body camera footage will show a different story, including the woman’s spitting at the officers and kicking one in the groin.

The settlement was approved by the Atlantic County Municipal Joint Insurance Fund which represents cities in New Jersey and probably realized a jury would have awarded her a much higher payout after hearing the following details described in the lawsuit of how bad cops are routinely protected in New Jersey.​

The Defendants and other higher-ranking Wildwood police personnel agreed that they should fabricate an account of what transpired to justify falsely charging Plaintiff with indictable offenses in part to lend greater justification to the Defendants’ unreasonable use of force. This plan to over-charge Plaintiff would also provide Defendants with leverage against Plaintiff, pressuring Plaintiff to admit guilt to a disorderly persons offense so as to avoid the risk of prison time if she had to defend herself at trial on an indictable offense. The goal was to ensure that Plaintiff pled guilty to some offense, because by securing a guilty plea to any of the charges, Plaintiff’s chances of a successful civil prosecution would be reduced.

Defendants employed the age-old law enforcement doctrine of “hurt a man; charge a man” as a way of protecting themselves and the department from potential criminal and civil liability.

To carry out this conspiracy, Defendant CANNON not only made false statements in his police report and sworn complaint summons, but Defendant GALLAGHER repeated those false statements in sworn testimony before a grand jury to secure trumped-up charges against Plaintiff.

Specifically, Defendant GALLAGHER testified falsely to the following:

• [the defendant] struck Officer Cannon with an open left hand

• [the defendant] “attempted to kick the officers and eventually did, in fact, kick Officer Jordan full force in the testicles, as well as did kick Officer Cannon.

• During the arrest, the defendant was spitting at officers

• While the officers were placing [the defendant] in a police vehicle, she spit at Patrolman Hillman.

Plaintiff was subsequently charged with a litany of additional indictable offenses including two counts of aggravated assault, throwing bodily fluids in the third degree, resisting arrest in the third degree, and hindering apprehension in the fourth degree.

Plaintiff later pled guilty to a single, petty disorderly persons offense for disorderly conduct. The trial court granted her a civil reservation.

*****

On information and belief, the Wildwood police department’s internal affairs function did not/does not comply with New Jersey’s Attorney General Guidelines and uses the internal affairs function to protect officers from misconduct rather than remediate it. In 2013, the New Jersey ACLU conducted a widespread study examining whether New Jersey Internal Affairs Police Departments were following Attorney General Guidelines with respect to Internal Affairs process. The ACLU found that most departments in the stated failed to follow New Jersey Attorney General guidelines when investigating internal affairs civilian complaints.

On information and belief, the department does not initiate internal affairs investigations into excessive force and that when they do the department rarely if sustains them. In fact, in all of Cape May County, a total of only three (3) internal affairs complaints for excessive force were sustained between a four year period of 2014 through 2017.

The City’s reckless disregard and indifference to its use of force problem has resulted in a number of federal civil lawsuits for excessive force, not including this one. See, e.g., Araromi v. Middle Township Police Dept., Wildwood Police Dept., et al., 10 CV 1048; Carey v. City of Wildwood, et al. 12 CV 1298, Lenart v. City of Wildwood, et al., 16 CV 4296, Piccolo v. City of Wildwood, et al., 18 CV 15226. This list does not take into account any lawsuits brought in state court for excessive force or related claims or lawsuits that do not name the municipality as a party.

Additionally, Wildwood police officers are not trained to de-escalate minor conflicts with civilians, but rather are encouraged to arrest civilians simply for showing lack of respect. Wildwood officers are encouraged to assault and arrest civilians for the fictional crime of ‘contempt of cop’ and then justify their conduct with fabricated claims.

After this incident, the Chief of Police and even the Mayor of the City of Wildwood doubled down on their officers’ unreasonable use of force, finding that the officers acted in accordance with their policies.

The de facto policies and practices of the department were the moving force behind the Defendants’ unconstitutional conduct.

​Weinman, who is now 22, posted the following description of the incident shortly after her arrest in the summer of 2018.​

I asked them don’t they have something better to do as cops than to stop people for underage drinking on the beach, saying to that there’s so much more serious stuff going on… the cop said, “I was gonna let you go but now I’ll write you up” and he asked my name. I did not do anything wrong and anything could’ve been written down on that paper so I wouldn’t give it to him. At that point I was told if I don’t give it to him he’s going to arrest me. I told him I have my 18 month old daughter with me and there’s no need for all of it and that again, I’m not gonna give him my information knowing I didn’t do anything wrong. He told me he’s arresting me and started coming towards me to put handcuffs on me. I cautiously was backing up from him (facing him) and yelled for my daughters father. (he was playing in the ocean with our daughter at the time).. I tripped and fell and the cop tackled me to the ground and smashed my head into the sand. At that point I blacked out and fought any way possible trying to get up and push him off me. Thats when he head locked me me by his arm around my neck, punched on me in my head and then he head locked me again but this time choking me, I was gasping for ear. Yes, i know I should’ve gave him my name.. I was partly wrong in a way but I was scared; Like I said I didn’t do anything wrong and anything could’ve been written on that paper, the whole situation was iffy and I didn’t trust it.. especially being aware of the fact of how grimy law enforcement can be now a days. & honestly, I can say if I took even a sip, then I would’ve gave them my information and called it a day; I’m underage, so I know better. But this whole situation was handled wrongly and blew out of proportion all because these pigs didn’t do their jobs the way they were TRAINED to do so. maybe that’s just how they train them nowadays, who knows with the world we live in today.

Watch the edited video above which includes footage from both the body camera and witness camera. Watch the full body camera video here. Read the lawsuit here.

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Ryan Whitaker spent the last moments of his life playing video games with his girlfriend when Phoenix police came knocking on his door in response to a complaint from his upstairs neighbor, accusing him of domestic violence.

The cops panicked when the 40-year-old came to the door legally holding a gun by his right side, shooting him within five seconds even though bodycam footage shows the father of two was trying to surrender after realizing they were cops.

It was an infuriating video showing the cops never gave Whitaker a chance, made even more infuriating by the fact the neighbor who called police exaggerated the complaint in order to get them to respond quicker.

Last week, the Phoenix City Council approved a $3 million settlement to Whitaker’s family but both cops remain on the force, according to Fox 10.

The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office says it continues to “investigate” the incident to determine if any charges will be filed against the cop who fired the shots but large settlements usually means no charges will be filed.

In other words, it is nothing but tax-funded hush money, allowing the cops to continue operating without any real discipline. And it does not appear as if the man who called police whose name has not been released will face any legal scrutiny either.

In fact, Jeff Cooke, the 33-year-old cop who shot Whitaker in the back, was praised by his superiors following the shooting, according to the Arizona Republic.

According to internal Phoenix police files, Cooke had been praised by supervisors for his work ethic, positive attitude and taking on police duties that other officers didn’t.

His sergeant also commented on Cooke’s demeanor after the shooting, saying in Cooke’s performance review: “Your personal preparation and ability to control your emotions under pressure was definitely necessary during this critical time. Your calm cool demeanor kept other officers calm on route to assist you.”

According to the police report, Cooke told detectives that he shot Whitaker because he feared for his life.

Ferragamo later told another officer at the scene that he would have shot, too, but didn’t because Cooke did, according to the video footage and the police report.

However, Cooke’s “calm cool demeanor” was not evident in the seconds prior to the shooting which would have spared Whitaker’s life. And neither Cooke nor the other officer, 53-year-old John Ferragamo, made much of an effort to save his life after he was shot.

The incident took place on May 21, 2020 following two calls to 911 from the upstairs neighbor about the couple downstairs.

“I have a domestic dispute going on and I can tell they’re at each other’s throats down there,” the neighbor told the 911 dispatcher in his first call.

Thirty minutes later when cops had not arrived, the neighbor called again, suggesting the verbal argument had turned physical.

“It could be physical, I could say yeah if that makes anybody hurry up and get over here any faster,” the neighbor said, prompting the dispatcher to upgrade the call to an emergency.

But no sounds could be heard from the apartment when the cops arrived eight minutes later, knocking on the door and announcing themselves as “Phoenix police” before positioning themselves on either side of the door, making it impossible for Whitaker to view them through the peephole.

It does not appear as if Whitaker heard or understood that police were at his door because he opened it with the gun by his side, then quickly lowered his body as if to place the gun down while raising his left arm as if surrendering. He was shot around 10:52 p.m.

“Why did you guys shoot him?” Whitaker’s girlfriend, Brandee Nees, yelled as she stepped into the doorway as he lay dying on the ground.

“He just pulled a gun on us, ma’am,” Cooke said.

“Because it’s dark and someone just knocked on the door,” Nees responded.

When the other cop asked if they had been fighting, she told him they were only playing video games.

“Literally we were making salsa and playing Crash Bandicoot so there may have been some screaming from PlayStation but it wasn’t domestic violence or anything,” she said.

Nees told the cops that Whitaker had grabbed his gun after hearing a knock on the door because a few nights earlier, somebody had knocked on the door but when Whitaker looked through the peephole, nobody was there. She also told them about another incident when a woman who used to live in the complex knocked on the door asking for help after she had gotten into a fight with her boyfriend, the Arizona Republic reported.

The video below includes the shooting from both cameras, including portions in slow motion as well as statements from Whitaker’s girlfriend that they were not fighting. The 911 call that claimed they were fighting is also included.

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​It was 8 a.m. on a Monday morning when Diamonds Ford and her fiancé, Anthony Gantt, were jolted awake by the sound of shattering glass and men breaking into their home.

Gantt handed Ford her .45 caliber and she fired seven times before running into the bathroom with her phone and calling 911, pleading with the dispatcher to send help.

That was the officers at the door identified themselves as officers from the Jacksonville Sherif’s Office – which was when both Ford and Gantt surrendered.

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said it was assisting the federal Drug Enforcement Administration in serving a “high risk search warrant” on September 28, 2020 to search for narcotics when they were fired upon. One officer was shot in the chest but was saved by his bulletproof vest.

The cops ended up seizing just over four ounces of weed which would be a misdemeanor in certain states. The arrest report makes no mention of any scales or baggies or any other indicator they were trafficking in marijuana. All it says was that 124.7 grams of marijuana was found which is about 4.39 ounces.

Nevertheless, the couple have been in jail nearly two months on felony charges of attempted murder of a police officer and armed possession of marijuana with the intent to sell.

However, the recording of her conversation with the 911 dispatcher makes it clear she had no idea it was law enforcement officers breaking into her home. Her tone on the phone went from being terrified of being killed by the men breaking into her home to being confused as to why cops were breaking into her home.

“Wait, that’s the sheriff’s office?” Ford says seconds after the deputies identified themselves.

“I’m opening the door!” she tells the officers. “You got the wrong house!”

The recording which can be listened to in the clip above was obtained by Ford’s attorneys who were interviewed by News4Jax:

“She had no idea it was law enforcement in her home. Once they made their announcement she complied,” said Stephen Kelly, Ford’s attorney.

Ford’s attorneys Wade Rolle and Kelly said she didn’t know the police were at her front door and she shot in self-defense and wants to come home to her family.

News4Jax Crime and Safety Expert Ken Jefferson listened to the call.

“It does not appear in my opinion that she knew that the police were out there or that she wanted to take a shot at the police or try to fend them off,” Jefferson said. “It’s clear based on the recording she just felt that someone was breaking into her house, protecting herself and her property of which she is allowed to do by law.”

Police say they announced their presence through a loud speaker before they tried to break in but even if that is true, the couple said they were sleeping and only woke up to the sound of shattering glass.

And even if it is true, it still does not justify breaking into their home under the pretense of a “high profile search warrant” for four ounces of weed that could easily have been their personal stash.

The arrest report states that officers were wearing body cameras but no footage has been released.

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For more than a minute, a Canadian cop remained calmly seated in his cruiser as two masked men smashed his patrol car with sticks and rocks, ordering him to leave the area Sunday.

But the video ends as soon as the cop reaches for the door handle, so we cannot see what takes place next.

Nevertheless, Ontario Provincial police want us to believe the short video shows their “measured response to keep the peace and preserve life while under attack.”

However, a spokesperson for the demonstrators say the short video was taken out of context because the cops have been far from peaceful during the three-month standoff between police and members of the First Nation over a planned development near Indigenous land.

The video was tweeted by Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner Thomas Carrique Sunday night.

“A man with camo is throwing rocks at us,” the cops says into his radio. “A lacross stick is hitting our cruiser.”

According to the Brampton Guardian:

“Protesters falsely blamed OPP for escalation in Caledonia,” Carrique’s tweet read.

“Extremely proud of my officers for their professional and measured response to keep the peace and preserve life while under attack.”

Demonstrators at the site they’re calling 1492 Land Back Lane said Carrique’s post is an out-of-context attempt to reframe the violence and further escalate tension.

“I think it’s really despicable content that you show a one-minute clip out of context,” camp spokesperson Skyler Williams told reporters Monday.

The site has been occupied since July, reaching the 100-day mark on Monday.

Demonstrators argue the development near Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation is on unceded Indigenous land and violates the sovereignty of the Haudenosaunee people.

Last week, a judge issued an injunction against the demonstrators, ordering them off the land which is what led to the clashes between police and demonstrators where more than 30 people have been arrested so far, according to the CDC.

People at the blockade said officers with the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) used a Taser on one person and fired at least one rubber bullet.

The OPP said police cruisers parked on the street were “heavily damaged” by the protest and that officers responded with “appropriate non-lethal force.” There were no injuries and an investigation is underway, the force said on Twitter. Several cruisers had been used to create a buffer zone between the burning blockade and the public.

Camp spokesperson Skyler Williams said the police ignited the situation.

“It’s another example of the OPP coming in here with violent acts of aggression against people that are just occupying their traditional territory. I think all of us are quite sick of it,” he said.

According to a Go Fund Me fundraising drive to help pay legal costs of the arrested demonstrators. They have raised more than $266,000 at the time of this publication.

On July 19 2020 The Land Defenders of 1492 Land Back Lane stopped the housing development project of Mackenzie Meadows boarding the town of Caledonia and the Six Nations reserve. We have taken this peaceful direct action to call attention to the ongoing aggressive development of our lands. Mackenzie meadows housing development is one of several approved developments surrounding our community. Friday July 31st ,2020 our land back camp was served with an injunction order. On August 5th, 2020 the OPP brought violence into our community and enforced the injunction. Several arrests were made, and the community of Six Nations took direct action to protect our people and several roads were blocked, the CN railways was blocked and the OPP was walked out of our territory. The current situation in Six Nations is very intense as the ongoing threat of violence against us has been granted again by the Courts. On Friday August 7th Haldimand County was granted an injunction for the roadways to be cleared of our people. CN also received an injunction for the railway through our community. The interim injunction for 1492 Land Back Lane was also extended to a permanent injunction. These injunctions only serve as a colonial mechanism to disposes us of our lands and resources, which fundamentally violates our rights as sovereign Indigenous people. We will remain at 1492 and hold strong. We urge you to donate what you can to assist us in our legal fund to support Land Defenders facing current charges and any future charges that may result from the numerous injunctions against us in this particular issue.

Police say they have identified the man with the lacrosse stick but are still trying to identify the man wearing camouflage, according to the Toronto Sun.

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Indiana sheriff’s deputies said they were acting on an “anonymous tip” when they entered a man’s property and arrested him in front of his children on a warrant last week.

Although the man, Michael Daniel Brock, insisted there was no warrant for his arrest, Marion County sheriff’s deputies ignored him, convinced they had the right man, forcing him to remain handcuffed in his driveway.

After all, they say, a random home remodeler down the street told them Brock was the man they were looking for.

They didn’t even bother comparing the information on his driver’s license to the information on the warrant which stated they were looking for a man named Michael Shane Brock with a different birthdate.

It wasn’t until Brock’s wife arrived home 45 minutes later and asked to see the warrant that they discovered they had the wrong man. But even then, they were not convinced at first, still insisting on transporting him to the Marion County jail where two inmates have been murdered this month.

According to FOX59:

“’This isn’t him. I can tell you,’” Albers remembers telling the deputies. ”And then the officer just kept telling me, ‘There’s something he’s not telling you. There’s something you’re missing.’

“I’m like, ‘There’s no way. There’s absolutely no way that this is him.’ And they guy just kept telling me, ‘Maybe there’s something that you don’t know.’”

In reality, maybe there was something the Marion County Sheriff’s deputies didn’t know.

An anonymous tip brought the Warrant Team to Brock’s front and back doors that morning.

“Both officers…the K9 officer and the officer who came in through the back gate…put hands on me, immediately put me in handcuffs and put shackles on me,” said Brock.

The deputies said they had a warrant for the arrest of Michael Brock on a probation violation for a methamphetamine conviction.

FOX59 news reporter Russ McQuaid managed to track down the real suspect in five minutes through a publicly listed address which was 20 minutes away and paid him a visit.

“Has the Marion County Sheriff ever come looking for you?” I asked.

“No,” said Michael S. Brock.

“How long have you been on the run from this probation violation?” I asked.

“February,” said Michael S. Brock.

“And in eight months, I’m the first guy who’s ever come looking for you?” I asked.

“Yes,” said Michael S. Brock.

Over the course of the next 15 minutes Michael S. Brock and I talked about the vagaries of the Marion County criminal justice system, how his own records are often in error, how he’s spent excessive time in jail after posting bond, how he’s been hiding in plain sight with his home address currently listed in public records and how he’s straightened out his life since violating probation last winter.

“I’m real sorry that other guy got arrested on my case,” said Michael S. Brock. “Tell him I apologize.”

The Marion County Sheriff’s Office has not apologized, however, blaming the anonymous tipster down the street for the unlawful arrest.

The Marion County Sheriff’s Office told FOX59 News that the deputies confirmed Brock’s identity by stopping a home remodeler down the street and asking him if his friend was at the house.

“The Marion County Sheriff’s Office received an anonymous tip from Crimestoppers of a wanted subject,” read a statement emailed to FOX59 News. “The information included his home address and place of employment. The MCSO Warrant Team confirmed there was a wanted subject by that name and went to the location listed as his home address. They showed a picture of the wanted subject to a citizen working at the residence, who reported he was inside the home. Mr. Brock was placed in handcuffs.”

According to online records, Michael Shane Brock was taken into custody earlier today.

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It was 4 a.m. on a Sunday morning when a group of rowdy drunks were kicked out of an Illinois bar. Outside the bar, one of the men pulled out a gun and opened fire, wounding four people.

A security guard named Jemel Roberson managed to apprehend the shooter before he was able to kill anybody.

But the 26-year-old aspiring cop was shot dead by a police officer responding to the scene who mistook him for the gunman.

The initial narrative from the Midthodian Police Department was that officer Ian Covey shot Roberson dead after he ignored “verbal commands” which made Covey fear for everybody’s safety.

But witnesses say Covey shot Roberson within five seconds of issuing his verbal commands – even after several people tried to warn him Roberson was the good guy. Audio from his dash camera confirms those statements.

One witness said a cop turned to Covey in the seconds after the shooting, expressing disappointment in his reckless decision that led to the death of an innocent man in suburbia Chicago on November 11, 2018.

“Man you didn’t have to do that,” the cop is alleged to have told him, according to the Chicago Tribune.

“You didn’t have to do that. We know these guys. We told you they’re security.”

But after an almost two-year investigation, Illinois prosecutors earlier this month determined that Covey did nothing wrong when he shot and killed Roberson, concluding the “use of force was objectively reasonable.”

The officers were not wearing body cameras so ​the Cook County State Attorney’s Office based its decision after “investigators interviewed over 100 law enforcement and civilian witnesses, and reviewed 911 calls, police radio transmissions, police in-car cameras, cell phone videos, private surveillance video, photographs of the scene, police reports, medical records and the results of forensic examinations.”

According to the statement from the prosecutor’s office:

At approximately 4:00 A.M., a physical altercation erupted inside of Manny’s Blue Room Lounge which necessitated security guards, including Jemel Roberson, removing patrons from the establishment. The altercation escalated and several individuals fired multiple gunshots inside and outside of the lounge, resulting in four people being shot. At the time of the shooting, Robbins Police officers were on scene and requested assistance from surrounding police departments. Several patrons and a wounded employee called 911 seeking police assistance. Officers from approximately ten police agencies, including local, county, and state responded to the calls for assistance. Midlothian Police Officer Ian Covey arrived in the parking lot of Manny’s dressed in full police uniform in a marked police vehicle equipped with an in-car camera and microphone. Officer Covey was not issued a Body-Worn Camera. None of the suburban police officers who responded prior to or during the officer-involved shooting were issued Body-Worn Cameras.

Officer Covey observed a male, now known to be Jemel Roberson, wearing all black clothing with no identifying markings, straddled over a male who he held face down on the ground. Mr. Roberson held the gun in his right hand which he pointed toward the front area of the bar where patrons were exiting and responding officers were arriving. Mr. Roberson’s clothing had no indication that he was a security guard. Officer Covey ordered Mr. Roberson repeatedly to, “Get down” and drop the gun. Mr. Roberson turned in Officer Covey’s direction but did not acknowledge or follow Officer Covey’s verbal commands. Believing Mr. Roberson was the active shooter, Officer Covey fired his Rock River Arms Model LAR-15, 5.56 mm caliber rifle four times, striking Mr. Roberson four times on his right side and right back which was the part of Mr. Roberson’s body facing closest to Officer Covey. A Glock 17 semiautomatic handgun fell from Mr. Roberson’s right hand and was recovered by officers.

The evidence at any trial would include evidence indicating that when Mr. Roberson did not acknowledge or follow Officer Covey’s verbal commands to get down and drop the gun, it was not unreasonable for Officer Covey to believe that Mr. Roberson was the active shooter on the scene who was intending to cause further harm than already inflicted by killing, or causing great bodily harm to the patrons, employees, and police officers on scene.

No video footage captured the shooting. However, Officer Covey’s in-car camera microphone recorded the verbal commands Officer Covey gave as he entered Manny’s as well as those he gave to Mr. Roberson.

While it’s true the footage from Covey’s patrol car captures what sounds like a cop ordering commands before several gunshots are fired, it also confirms that the opened fire within five seconds of ordering the commands. That footage can be seen towards the end of the above video.

After initially blaming Roberson for his own death for ignoring commands, Midthodian Police Chief Daniel Delaney referred to the shooting as a “blue on blue friendly fire incident,” according to CBS Chicago.

Roberson’s family still has a pending lawsuit over his death which you can read here.

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The daughter of Jacobo Juarez Cedillo, 50, is suing the city of Los Angeles in federal court, alleging her father was subjected to excessive force in violation of his constitutional rights. The lawsuit was filed in October 2020.

On April 8, 2019 at 4:15 a.m., Cedillo was sitting on the sidewalk of gas station in Van Nuys. Police got a 911 call about Cedillo on the ground at the gas station.

Los Angeles police responded to the scene and immediately put Cedillo in handcuffs even though he had not broken the law. Hence, violating his Fourth Amendment Constitutional Right granted by the United States Constitution.

Cedillo tells officers that he is waiting for the bus and is not feeling well, ABC 7 News reports. Officers attempt to go through Cedillo’s pockets and a brief struggle happens. It was then that officers threw Cedillo to the ground. Cedillo almost immediately lost consciousness and lay motionless on the hard asphalt.

Paramedics treated Cedillo at the scene and then transported him to a nearby hospital. Cedillo died at the hospital five days later from cardiopulmonary arrest, loss of blood flow to the brain, and effects of methamphetamine.

The LAPD says a preliminary test at the hospital indicated the presence of methamphetamine in Cedillo’s system.

The lawsuit alleges that the officers restricted Cedillo’s breathing by throwing him to the ground and putting their body weight on him. George Floyd’s breathing was restricted in a similar take down arrest, as an officer put full body weight on Floyd’s neck, killing him.

According to the lawsuit, it is well known throughout law enforcement and medical professionals that holding a subject in a prone position restraint can be deadly. The lawsuit goes on to say that compressing an arrestee in a prone position with a police officer’s weight on his or her back, and/or upper torso, restricts the ability to breathe and blood flow to the brain, and can result in anoxic encephalopathy, which is a process that begins with the cessation of cerebral blood flow to brain tissue, like in this case.

The Los Angeles medical examiner wrote:

There is a temporal relationship between the cardiopulmonary arrest after prone physical restraint by law enforcement and the decedent was reported to become unresponsive after placement on the gurney. A component of asphyxia due to possible compression of the body may be contributory to the cardiopulmonary arrest, however there are no findings at autopsy that establish asphyxia.

The LAPD says that Cedillo had prior arrests for assault with a deadly weapon, exhibiting a deadly weapon, and driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. None of the officers were found in violation of any wrong doing by the LAPD internal affairs unit.

Read the lawsuit here.​

Beverly Hills police are being accused of racial profiling after they stopped a Black man for jaywalking last week, then proceeded to treat him as if he were an armed felon.

Turns out, he was an executive at Versace who had just purchased a pair of sneakers he had designed.

But the cops viewed him as a possible cop killer, asking for his identification, then panicking when he began to reach into his pocket for it. The same type of fear that drove a Minnesota cop to kill a Black man named Philando Castile in 2016.

“Do you have any ID on you, by chance?” the cop asks Salehe Bembury, the vice president of Sneakers and Men’s Footwear for Versace.

But when Bembury laid his bags down on the sidewalk to reach into his pocket, the cop began panicking.

“Without reaching into your pockets, you don’t have any weapons?” the cop asks.

“I don’t,” responds Bembury. “I’m like super-nervous right now.”

The cop tries to assure him he has nothing to fear.

“I just want to know if you have ID without reaching into your pockets,” the cop says.

“I do have an ID,” Bembury responds.

“Do you have any weapons?” the cop asks.

“I do not,” Bembury responds.

“Do you mind if I check really quick,” the cop asks.

“You can do whatever you want, I’m just nervous,” Bembury responds.

The cop then orders him to turn around and searches him as more cops arrive and surround him, acting as if it were the most normal thing in the world to stop a man for jaywalking, then treat him as a murderer.

Almost three minutes into the bodycam video, Bembury begins recording on his own phone, telling his viewers that he is being racially profiled which offended the cops.

“I’m in Beverly Hills right now and I’m getting f_cking searched for shopping at the store I work for and just being Black,” he says into the phone.

“You’re making a completely different narrative,” a cop responds.

According to CNN:

Donatella Versace posted a copy of Bembery’s video on her Instagram account in support of the shoe designer, saying she is “appalled” by the actions of the police officers.

“I am appalled this happened to Salehe Bembury today,” she wrote. “He has been a consultant at Versace for a long time and the behavior he experienced is totally unacceptable. He was stopped on the street solely for the color of his skin. Stay strong @salehebembury. Sending you love and support.”

Attorney Ben Crump, who also shared the body camera video on Tuesday, questioned if police would have treated him differently if he were white.

“Would they have treated a jogging white woman in Beverly Hills the same way?” Crump wrote in a tweet.

In a statement to CNN, the Beverly Hills Police Department denied Bembury was racially profiled by officers, saying it “does not protect the public based on race.”

“Mr. Bembury, as confirmed in the full 3 ½ minute body camera video, was stopped due to a pedestrian violation. The department is committed to full transparency and released the full 3 ½ minute body camera video within 24 hours,” Police Lt. Max Subin said.

Police allowed Bembury to leave without a citation shortly after he began recording after checking him for warrants and finding none.

“Next time don’t change the narrative like that,” the cop tells him.

The sneering cop who turned to a camera while a man was live streaming and said, “You’re going to get your ass whooped in front of f_cking lord and all creation” before pulling the man out of his car and beating him will not face criminal charges.

Virginia State Trooper Charles Hewitt’s actions were “distasteful but legal,” said Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano in announcing his decision Tuesday.

The incident took place on April 20, 2019 but did not come to light until July 2020 after the attorney for the driver posted the video online which led to the investigation by the prosecutor’s office.

Derrick Thompson was pulled over for an expired inspection sticker but then the cops claimed to smell marijuana and ordered him out of the car. But Thompson refused to step out of the car, believing he was being racially profiled.

“Watch the show, folks,” Hewitt said to the camera before attacking Thompson.

No marijuana was ever found in the car but Thompson was convicted of obstruction of justice in 2019. But his attorney, Joshua Erlich, said he plans to file a lawsuit.

Although Hewitt was cleared of any criminal charges, he will now be investigated by his own department who do not appear too happy with his actions.

“Even though criminal charges are not being brought forth in this incident, Trooper Hewitt’s conduct is still inexcusable and not reflective of our department, our personnel, or our standards of conduct,” Virginia State Police Colonel Gary T. Settle said in a statement, according to the Washington Post.

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Newly released video shows 41-year-old Harold Easter dying at the hands of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department in Charlotte, NC. The video was released on October 1. Easter was arrested on January 23 after swallowing cocaine. Officers failed to watch him and he died.

Now the following officers have been recommended for termination, but they resigned before they could be fired: Sgt. Nicolas Vincent, Officer Brentley Vinson, Officer Michael Benfield, Officer Michael Joseph, and Officer Shon Sheffield.

An internal investigation found the four officers, and one sergeant, involved in Easter’s arrest, knew he had ingested cocaine but failed to get him proper medical care.

On January 23 police say they observed a suspected drug transaction involving Easter. Police conducted a traffic stop on Easter’s black SUV. Easter was found to be in possession of cocaine and marijuana.

Easter ate some of the alleged cocaine to avoid officer detection.

Easter was taken into custody for drug and traffic charges and then transported to a police precinct. Preliminary information indicates that during this process, Easter began experiencing a medical emergency and lost consciousness. Officers began administering medical aid and requested medic.

Easter was transported by medic to a nearby hospital where he died.

Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department Chief Johnny Jennings said two policies were violated on the day of Easter’s arrest. Per police policy, officers are to call medic immediately if they believe a suspect has ingested any type of narcotic. Officers in Easter’s case did not call medic immediately.

The other policy officers violated was leaving Easter alone in an interrogation room unsupervised for an extended period of time. The policy at the time of the arrest stated suspects should not be left alone for more than 15 minutes.

Per Eater’s death, the policy has since been changed. Suspects now have to be supervised the entire time they are in police custody – either with video and audio surveillance or in person.