Tag Archives: Brooklyn

Government Accountability, Police Accountability, Police State, Politics, US

Proposed Bill Would Make Police Chokeholds a Federal Crime

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The Excessive Use of Force Prevention Act, a bill sponsored by New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn), would make the use of chokeholds by officers on suspects a crime under federal law.

The bill, which defines a chokehold as “the application of any pressure to the throat or windpipe which may prevent or hinder breathing or reduce the intake of air,” will be introduced in Congress on Tuesday.

At a press conference on Monday, Jeffries was joined by Gwen Carr, the mother of Eric Garner, the 43-year-old black man who was choked to death on July 17 by New York Police Officer Daniel Pantaleo.

Garner’s encounter with Pantaleo was captured on video, which revealed that after Pantaleo confronted Garner for allegedly selling untaxed “loose” cigarettes, and put him in a chokehold, Garner said, “I can’t breathe” 11 times before the chokehold took his life. The Staten Island grand jury announced their decision not to indict Pantaleo on Dec. 3.

“The chokehold is a classic example of violent police tactics,” Jeffries said. “It is an unreasonable measure. It is an unnecessary measure. It is an uncivilized measure. This bill will make it an unlawful measure.”

Carr called this bill a “step in the right direction,” and said she was going to do whatever she could to help the bill pass.

“Because police officers are just like other citizens – if there’s a crime, if there’s misconduct, they should arrested and they should be held accountable just like any other citizen,” Carr said. “They should enforce the law, but not be above the law.”

The Huffington Post reported that the United States Dept. of Justice is currently investigating Garner’s death to determine whether Pantaleo violated Garner’s civil rights, and noted that DOJ investigations into alleged police misconduct, “rarely lead to charges being filed.”

According to the Associated Press,  Jeffries defined the bill was a way to amend civil rights laws dealing with excessive force by “defining chokeholds as a depravation of rights under the color of law.”

Jeffries said it is clear that the current department police is “not sufficient,” referencing over over 1,000 complaints that have been filed with the Civilian Complaint Review Board regarding NYPD chokeholds from 2009 to 2013. The Huffington Post noted, “only nine of those complaints were substantiated by the CCRB, and only one officer was disciplined – by being docked some vacation days.”

 

Politics, Technology, US

New York Judge Lets Wife Serve Divorce Papers To Husband Via Facebook

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A landmark ruling by a Manhattan Supreme Court Judge is allowing a woman to legally serve her husband with divorce papers via a private message on Facebook, due to the fact that he is “hard to find” and has no physical address.

The NY Daily News first reported that Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Matthew Cooper is allowing a 26-year-old nurse from Brooklyn, Ellanora Baidoo, to serve her elusive husband, Victor Sena Blood-Dzraku, with divorce papers, using a private Facebook message from her lawyer.

Cooper wrote that Baidoo is “granted permission serve defendant with the divorce summons using a private message through Facebook,” because of his lack of a registered physical address.

“This transmittal shall be repeated by plaintiff’s attorney to defendant once a week for three consecutive weeks or until acknowledged,” wrote Cooper.

Andrew Spinnell, Baidoo’s lawyer, will be the one sending the messages to Blood-Dzraku. He told the NY Daily News that Baidoo and Blood-Dzraku, who are both from Ghana, were married in a civil ceremony in 2009.

Spinnell said that although Blood-Dzraku would not keep his promise to have a traditional Ghanian wedding ceremony, and the two never lived together, or consummated their marriage, Blood-Dzraku still does not want a divorce.

Cooper’s ruling states Blood-Dzraku mainly communicated with Baidoo by telephone and Facebook, and that she learned over a phone call that he “has no fixed address and no place of employment.”

Cooper went on to state that Blood-Dzraku has “refused to make himself available to be served with divorce papers,” and he has not been located, due to the fact that the “post office has no forwarding address for him, there is no billing address linked to his prepaid cell phone, and the Department of Motor Vehicles has no record of him.”

Spinnell told the NY Daily News that they have tried multiple ways to locate Blood-Dzraku, including hiring a private detective, and that the first Facebook message notifying him of his divorce was sent last week, but Blood-Dzraku has not responded.

Police Accountability, Police State, US

NYPD officer indicted for stomping a citizen’s head

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An NYPD officer has been indicted on multiple charges, including assault, after he allegedly kicked a subdued citizen in the head during an arrest over the summer.

A video of the arrest allegedly shows Officer Joel Edouard, 37, and his partner arresting 32-year-old Jahmiel Cuffee, according to CBS New York.

Cuffee was allegedly drinking on a sidewalk in Brooklyn, and the officers claim he was in possession of marijuana at the time. While attempting to arrest Cuffee, a bystander began to videotape the incident with their cellphone. This video shows other officers begin to arrive to help mediate the situation, but near the end of the video, Edouard allegedly is seen stomping on Cuffee’s head after he was already handcuffed and on the ground.

Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson said, according to RT, “Police officers put their lives on the line every day to keep us all safe. However, this defendant allegedly stomped on the head of a suspect as he lay on the ground, which is unacceptable for a police officer.” Thompson continued by saying this indictment should not reflect the work the majority of officers who perform their duty honorably are doing in New York City. 

At the trial on Tuesday, Edouard’s attorney, Stephen Worth, pleaded not guilty to the charges he is faced with. Worth also said Edouard was simply trying to place handcuffs on Cuffee and this is no more than a case of an officer doing their job. “The act, so-called kick, was part of the arrest process and to attempt to get his hand in custody so he could be handcuffed… It’s not a kick, we’ll leave that for trial.”

After the incident, Edouard was stripped of his badge and gun according to New York Magazine. If convicted, Edouard could face up to a year in prison.

Featured, Politics, US

After Killing of Two Officers, NYPD Union Declares Itself a “Wartime” Police Department

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Following the shooting that killed two New York police officers, the NYPD’s union has issued a statement announcing that in response, it has become a “wartime” police department.

As previously reported, Officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos were killed by Ismaaiyl Brinsley, after he who ambushed and shot them both, in an alleged attempt to avenge the death of Eric Garner. Brinsley’s ambush of the two officers occurred shortly after he shot and wounded his ex-girlfriend in Baltimore, and then posted his plans to strike back at the police to her Instagram account.

According to the New York Post, Liu and Ramos were “working overtime as part of an anti-terrorism drill in Bedford-Stuyvesant,” when they were “shot point-blank in the head” by Brinsley.

Newsmax reported that the NYPD’s union, the New York Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, issued a statement regarding the way the department is responding to this incident, and the way it is working to prevent future threats:

“Starting IMMEDIATELY: At least two units are to respond to EVERY call, no matter the condition or severity, no matter what type of job is pending, or what the opinion of the patrol supervisor happens to be.”

The statement went on to say that from this point forward, there would be no unnecessary arrests by New York police officers:

“IN ADDITION: Absolutely NO enforcement action in the form of arrests and or summonses is to be taken unless absolutely necessary and an individual MUST be placed under arrest.”

The statement noted that these precautions were ones that had been taken in the 1970s, when “police officers were ambushed and executed on a regular basis.”

The union concluded its statement by criticizing New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, and blaming him for the fact that the NYPD has become a “wartime” police department:

“The mayor’s hands are literally dripping with our blood because of his words actions and policies and we have, for the first time in a number of years, become a ‘wartime’ police department. We will act accordingly.”

Police Accountability, Police State, Politics, US

“Questionable Police Conduct”: Report Examines Alleged NYPD Gun Planting, Judges’ Distrust Of Police

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A New York Times investigation of three individuals arrested on gun charges by the NYPD has shed light on several similarities involving anonymous informants and some of the same arresting officers in each case. The Times’ report on the three men- Eugene Moore, John Hooper, and Jeffrey Herring- is part of an outline that questions the methods of one group of police: “Taken individually, the cases seem to be routine examples of differences between the police account of an arrest and that of the person arrested. But taken together, the cases — along with other gun arrests made in the precinct by these officers — suggest a pattern of questionable police conduct and tactics.”

Moore, Herring, and Hooper were each arrested on gun charges with similar circumstances involving tips given to police by anonymous informants. No information regarding informants in these cases had been introduced by police until months after prosecution began. The report stated that the suspects, who were all arrested on different occasions in Brooklyn’s 67th Precinct, claimed that the guns were planted by the police.

Moore was arrested by NYPD Detective Gregory Jean-Baptiste and Sgt. Vassilios Aidiniou on gun possession charges. The police said that Moore “had stored a gun in a white plastic bag underneath containers of takeout food” based on a tip from an informant. Moore spent a year in jail before his charges were dismissed. According to the Times, the judge was not convinced by Jean-Baptiste’s testimony:

“Detective Jean-Baptiste went on to give conflicting testimony about the informer and the circumstances of the arrest. Justice William Harrington of State Supreme Court in Brooklyn called the detective ‘extremely evasive’ and said he did not find him ‘to be credible.’ The judge suppressed the gun evidence, and Mr. Moore’s case was dismissed and sealed.”

In the separate case of Hooper, he was also arrested by Jean-Baptiste, who was dressed in plainclothes at the time of the arrest. Aidiniou was involved in Hooper’s case as well. Similarly to the arrest of Moore, Jean-Baptiste was allegedly tipped off by an anonymous informant that Hooper was in possession of a gun. Police claimed that as Hooper was approached by Jean-Baptiste, Hooper took a gun that was wrapped in a red bandanna and threw it into a wastebasket.

Police failed to produce the informant who had allegedly seen Hooper with a gun. In a probable cause hearing Jean-Baptiste said that he could see a gun-shaped bulge in Hooper’s pocket despite being a car length away and acknowledging that Hooper was dressed in a long shirt and baggy pants. The judge in Hooper’s case was also doubtful of police testimony:

“Supposedly this defendant doesn’t see the police coming, but elects out of nowhere to take the object out of his pants pocket and dump it in a garbage can?” Justice Guy J. Mangano said. “I find it incredible that they thought it was a gun.”

The district attorney offered Hooper a plea deal for time served ahead of Mangano’s decision. Hooper agreed, having spent almost a year in jail.

Herring is scheduled to appear in court on Monday. He was arrested in 2013 after police said that a plainclothes officer saw Herring reach “into a white plastic bag and removed a gun, putting it in a black plastic bag” before tossing the bag. Debora Silberman, Herring’s attorney challenging his charges, noticed that Jean-Baptiste- one of the officers involved in Herring’s arrest- had been found providing undependable testimony in the past.

Silberman contacted Moore’s attorney, Jeffrey Chabrowe, and discovered that the circumstances surrounding Herring’s arrest were close to those of Moore’s.

Silberman and another defense lawyer, Scott Hechinger, have implied through court papers that officers might be fabricating these confidential informants for different reasons. One could be a motivation to fulfill department quotas. The attorneys also questioned the possibility of officers collecting money from an initiative called Operation Gun Stop, where informants are given a $1,000 reward; the officers have been unable to produce any informants in these three cases, even when ordered by judges to do so.