Police Interactions.

CatHedral said:

911, not 9/11

However having externals monitor and store the video is imo a very good idea.

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DENVER (AP) — Three suburban Denver police officers and two paramedics were indicted on manslaughter and other charges in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black man put into a chokehold and injected with a powerful sedative in a fatal encounter that provoked national outcry during racial injustice protests last year.

The grand jury indictments announced Wednesday by state Attorney General Phil Weiser are the latest chapter for the Police Department in the city of Aurora, which has been plagued by allegations of misconduct against people of color, including a officer charged this summer with pistol-whipping a Black man.

McClain’s death helped inspire a sweeping police accountability law in Colorado, a ban on chokeholds and restrictions on the use of the sedative ketamine, both of which the indictment alleges contributed to his death. The charges were announced days after the second anniversary of when police stopped McClain on the street after a 911 caller reported a man who seemed “sketchy.”

“What I set out to do is still not over, but I’m halfway there. I’m halfway there,” McClain’s mother, Sheneen McClain, told The Associated Press of her efforts to hold police accountable.

Aurora Police Chief Vanessa Wilson, who took over last year and has pledged to work to restore public trust, said the department will continue to cooperate with the judicial process.

“I know this has been a long-awaited decision for Ms. McClain and her family. This tragedy will forever be imprinted on our community,” she said in a statement.

Officers Randy Roedema, Nathan Woodyard and Jason Rosenblatt and fire department paramedic Jeremy Cooper and fire Lt. Peter Cichuniec were charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.

Roedema and Rosenblatt also were charged with second-degree assault with intent to cause bodily injury and one count of a crime of violence related to the assault charge. Cooper and Cichuniec also each face three counts of second-degree assault.

Lawyers for the defendants didn’t immediately respond to calls and emails seeking comment.

Marc Sears, president of Aurora’s branch of the Fraternal Order of Police, which says it’s the largest union representing police in the city, told the Sentinel Colorado newspaper that “our officers are innocent until proven guilty, and we stand by our brothers.”

City Manager Jim Twombly said the officers were indefinitely suspended. One had previously been fired.

The indictment says police responding to a 911 call about a suspicious person confronted McClain on Aug. 24, 2019, as he walked home from a grocery store after buying iced tea. The encounter quickly escalated, with McClain initially losing consciousness as Woodyard applied a chokehold. McClain complained he couldn’t breathe as three officers held him, handcuffed, on the ground, and he vomited several times.

Paramedics injected McClain with an amount of ketamine appropriate for someone 77 pounds (35 kilograms) heavier than his 143-pound (64-kilogram) frame, the indictment says, without determining if it was necessary and without monitoring him for side effects afterward.

McClain never regained consciousness and was later declared brain dead at a hospital.

Family and friends described McClain, a massage therapist, as a gentle and kind introvert who volunteered to play his violin to comfort cats at an animal shelter. His pleading words captured on police body camera video — “I’m just different” — painfully underscored his apparent confusion at what was happening.

In 2019, a district attorney said he could not charge the officers because an autopsy could not determine how McClain died. Democratic Gov. Jared Polis ordered Weiser to open a criminal investigation last year amid nationwide protests over racist policing, and the U.S. Justice Department and the FBI said they were looking at opening a civil rights investigation. Weiser’s office is conducting a probe into the overall conduct of Aurora police, the first under the new police accountability law.

It’s very rare for officers to face criminal charges in on-duty deaths, and it’s almost unheard of for paramedics to be charged, said Alex Piquero, a criminologist at the University of Miami.

“It’s a pretty big deal,” he said. The fact that a grand jury saw the evidence and decided what charges to file is an indication of a strong case, Piquero said.

A family lawsuit alleges McClain died as a result of a dramatic increase of lactic acid in his blood caused by excessive force used by police over about 18 minutes, combined with the effects of ketamine. They claim police continued to “torture” McClain after he was restrained, a result of the department’s history of “unconstitutional racist brutality.”

A city review found no evidence to justify officers stopping McClain, who was wearing a ski mask because family said he had anemia that caused him to get cold easily.

Police body camera video shows an officer approaching McClain and saying, “I have a right to stop you because you’re being suspicious.”

“I’m just different. I’m just different, that’s all,” McClain exclaims as he’s being restrained. “I’m so sorry. I have no gun. I don’t do that stuff. I don’t do any fighting. Why were you attacking me? I don’t do guns. I don’t even kill flies.”

The indictment comes after three Aurora officers, including Rosenblatt, were fired and one resigned last year over photos mimicking the chokehold used on McClain.

The department also faced criticism when officers put four Black girls on the ground last year and handcuffed two of themnext to a car that police suspected was stolen but turned out not to be.

And an officer was charged with assault in July after being captured on body camera video pistol-whipping and choking a Black man during an arrest. Another officer was charged with not intervening as required under the new police accountability law.

Deborah Richardson, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado, said the indictment is one step to changing the “deeply embedded systemic failures of the city of Aurora.”

“Historically, the internal culture of policing normalized the treatment Mr. McClain experienced and was callously written off. Hopefully, this law enforcement abuse will no longer be tolerated,” Richardson said.

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A woman was shot to death by police Wednesday after hurling racial slurs at a crew working to repair damage from Hurricane Ida in Metairie, Louisiana.

After city workers in Jefferson Parish flagged down police in response to the unidentified woman's racist abuse, she struck and dragged one deputy with her car, prompting another to shoot her 8-9 times, according to media reports.

During a news conference, Sheriff Joe Lopinto was asked whether "long lines" and oppressive heat in the region devastated by Ida, where many remain without power and water, may have been a contributing factor.

"I have no clue about her motive, or any information about her," Lopinto said, according to video from the local CBS affiliate. "I don't know at this point in time. Look, as I said yesterday and will say again, tensions have been high around here. These things are happening. Disturbances at gas stations — we're getting a bunch of them right now. Still, you know, it doesn't lead to this, where you try to run over a deputy. I don't care what the tensions are, people need to learn a little patience around here. That being said, the circumstances with this individual, I'm not sure."

According to NOLA.com, Lopinto said the woman may have been in "mental distress" — and she had previously been committed for mental health issues.

"Many across Jefferson feel desperate after Category 4 Ida knocked out power and drinking water to most of the parish on Sunday, and amid the 18-months-and-counting coronavirus pandemic," the newspaper reported. "But Lopinto said there was no excuse to lose control in the way the workers and deputies described."

The workers were repairing a water main when the unidentified woman pulled up in her BMW SUV and called them "f*cking n*ggers" and said they needed to go back to their country, according to NOLA.com, which reviewed video shot by a bystander who declined to release the footage because it had been turned over to police as evidence.

When the deputies arrived to speak with her, the woman continued hurling racial slurs and demanded that the workers be arrested.

The deputies patiently tried to reason with the woman and get her to do the right thing, but she eventually rolled up her window and accelerated, hitting and dragging a deputy who had his hand on her car. After leading police on a high-speed chase for nearly a mile before getting blocked by traffic, the woman allegedly hit the same deputy a second time after he stepped in front of her vehicle.

At that point, the other deputy opened fire.

The bystander who filmed the incident said the workers didn't deserve the abuse — and he showed NOLA.com another video of them giving their parish-provided lunches to hungry residents.

The deputy who was hit by the woman's car suffered minor injuries.

"They really tried to help the lady," the man added, referring to the deputies. "And she f-*cked them over."

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hanimmal said:

The guy makes a really interesting point about the lights not being turned on and how a the lights tend to trigger the dash cam on the police cars.

The cameras (should have 360 degree view too) in these cars should defiantly be running anytime the car is on if nothing else to capture events that the officer might not be aware of or have tim to react to.

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smokinrav said:

From vermontdaily.com

Kaigle currently has four open court cases to include; 1-Simple Assault, 2-Aggravated Assaults, and 1-Domestic Assault charge from August 2020. Kaigle has an open criminal investigation regarding a Violation of a Restraining Order. Kaigle is also a person of interest in an assault that occurred on Church St on the night of 30 August 2021. Kaigle has multiple court conditions already issued to him.
Kaigle’s criminal history showed 1 Violation of Court Ordered or Conditions (0 conviction), 11 Felonies charges (2 convictions), 11 Misdemeanor charges (5 convictions), 8 Assaultive crime charges (0 conviction), 1 Assault of Law Enforcement, 1 Dangerous/Deadly Weapon related charges, and 4 violations of Probation/Parole charges (0 conviction).
Kaigle has had approximately 54 law enforcement encounters since January 2021. In May 2021, Kaigle was arrested for Aggravated Assault when he used his vehicle as a battering-ram to move another vehicle out of the way that was blocking an exit to a parking lot. In July 2021, Kaigle was a person of interest in a fight in which Kaigle retrieved a sledge hammer, threatening the other male. Kaigle has displayed many violent tendencies towards other members of the public in recent months, unfortunately the victims did not want to cooperate with Police due to fear of retaliation from Kaigle.

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HGCC said:

Teen shot by Loveland officer during mental health crisis dies

A family member of Alex Domina, 19, called for help on Aug. 16 to report that he was suffering a mental health crisis in the backyard of the home.

www.9news.com

This is why I am really glad denver has the non-cops that get called out. I wouldn't know wtf to do if I called the police for help because my kid was having a mental breakdown and they shot him. That shit is horrible and needs to be fixed.

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