Sunday, April 12, 2015
44-year-old Victim of White Supremacy Eric Harris of OK killed by Tulsa County Enforcement official Bob Bates
Tulsa County Enforcement official Bob Bates said he thought he was holding a stun gun when he shot and killed 44-year-old Eric Harris on April 2nd as Harris struggled with deputies trying to arrest him. (April 12)
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Osiel Santana of Hialeah
Osiel Santana, of Hialeah, Florida His sister Yahima Gonzalez, said she believes an officer jumped on her brother's head and killed him.
Sources said that Santana made a tea from Angel Trumpet, a hallucinogenic plant. Police were called because Santana was ”high” and “ sat in the middle of the street.” When the PIGS arrived they said he resisted arrest. The PIGS said they had to use force to restrain him and that as soon as they got him in the PIG Mobile he started banging his head against the inside of it. (The pigs always have an excuse) Witnesses said police slammed Santana down on the ground and beat him up. Santana's sister said "The only thing I can say is that he's gone. I don't have him anymore. I hope justice is made because they finished him.”
Santana family attorney, Lee Marks, said the family wants to find out what happened after he was picked up, because he was conscious when they left.
A medical examiner later said that Santana didn’t die from his assault by the pigs (c-o-v-e-r-u-p), and that it was more possible that he died from the use of the Angel trumpet.
We need your help.
We recognize that this is a community effort.If you know of any incidents in your area,please post them here. Give the murder victim's name, tell what PD,and the PO that committed this murder if possible. And by all means tell the story in as much details as possible. An image of those murdered by the Cops and the cops themselves is helpful.
Sunday, January 01, 2006
Bich Cau Thi Tran
Bich Cau Thi Tran, a Vietnamese immigrant and 25-year-old mother of two toddlers, was shot dead in her kitchen by Euro-American San Jose policeman Chad Marshall when he responded to a 911 call that an unsupervised toddler was roaming the street. Seconds after Marshall knocked on the door, he put a bullet through the chest of the young mother, just a few feet away from her children.
Saturday, December 31, 2005
The SFPD execution of Gus Rugley
source:http://www.sfbayview.com/
In recognition of Governmental Terrorism Month, we had to highlight the San Francisco police execution of 21-year-old Gustavus Rugley. Thirty-six bullets were retrieved from his body. No one on the police force has been indicted for his murder or even lost their job.
Welcome to Amerikkka, ladies and gentleman, where Black people are murdered with impunity. Check out this story from one of Gus’ family members:
His real name is Gustavus Rugley, but we called him Gus. He was executed on June 29, 2004, at 6:30 p.m.
Gus had been under surveillance that day from 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. He left the house twice on foot. The third time he left the house, I noticed that his truck was not sitting in the front of the house.
Mr. Rugley was watched by over 20 officers – there was the gang task force, homicide, special units and tactical units. These are major players with M-16s and AR-15s – the heavy artillery. They carry 30- and 60-bullet clips in their guns.
They were on a mission that day, and Gus was just a suspect. He was never once questioned, apprehended, asked to come to the station. As I said, he left twice that day, not one person ever tried to stop him.
San Francisco Police have this thing that is called the kill-time. They say at 6:30 p.m. it is rush hour, and they need to protect the public from anyone who is doing something erroneous – such as driving his car recklessly or doing something that they consider crazy.
But those of you who live in the city know that (the intersection at) Alemany Boulevard and Ocean Avenue, at 6:30 p.m., is congested with traffic both ways. There is no way that you could bob and weave in and out of cars there.
I want to touch on the end of the chase: Gus had given up. His hands were up in the air.
A witness, Anna Catreras, said Mr. Rugley sat in his truck and an officer in a light blue sweatshirt walked up, opened up the back passenger door of Gus’ vehicle and proceeded to unload her gun. Ms. Catreras’ later said that her statement was completely turned around in a July 2004 Chronicle story. She never said that Mr. Rugley was shooting back.
After he was shot, the command was given for Mr. Rugley to come out of the truck with his hands up. But he was dead.
The whole force shot at Gustavus Rugley. His right temple was struck, and his body on the whole right side had bullet holes.
This is an unjustified use of a firearm in the worst way. He was dead, and they all knew that.
And then do you know what they said? “He was shooting at us.”
The family got an autopsy nine and a half months later. It took them so long to give it to Ms. Pollard because they were hiding things. They knew public outcry was going to be so bad that we were going to tear the city up. But we’re not a family like that.
We just want to find out what really happened here, and we want justice. We want justice for Gus, who is no longer here.
I told y’all that it took nine and a half months to give my family the autopsy report. But let’s go back: It took almost three weeks for them to release his body – that was another cover-up.
The autopsy report stated that there was no gunpowder residue on the fronts or the backs of this young man’s hands and none on his clothing. So who the hell was shooting at who?
I think that this is an injustice in the worse way. Gustavus had 36 bullets – not 32, not 31 – but 36 bullets in him, with six being in his head. He had a temple shot at close range and was shot from front to back, back to front, right to left and left to right.
That’s an execution! You shouldn’t be able to justify shooting someone like that.
They say during the chase Gus hit four of their police cars. Even I know that if you bump a police car, they’re going to shoot you dead on the first bump. We’re talking about four cars hit by the end of the chase – I don’t think so.
There was no airbag deployed, not in the police cars or in Gus’ truck. So that is another story that they webbed, and it’s another lie. Police will lie, lie, lie, lie. This is a web of lies.
We’re still finding out facts, and here’s another one: The young man that Gus is accused of killing – Gus didn’t kill him. And even the police knew Gus didn’t kill him. But they made him a suspect, got a $1 million warrant and came and hunted him down like a wild piece of meat.
When Mr. Rugley was walking on the streets, before he got to his truck, not one officer tried to apprehend him and say, “You’re under arrest.” They baited him to get him into his truck.
They were in unmarked cars – all the officers were in plain clothes. No lights, no sirens. Now what kind of high speed chase goes on with no lights and no sirens and at the end the suspect is dead? You tell me.
It was all about an execution, and at the end Gustavus Rugley was executed.
We want to encourage people to get Gus Rugley’s autopsy report from the Coroner’s Office, Hall of Justice, 850 Bryant St. San Francisco. For more information, email Justice4Gus at justice4gus@yahoo.com.
In recognition of Governmental Terrorism Month, we had to highlight the San Francisco police execution of 21-year-old Gustavus Rugley. Thirty-six bullets were retrieved from his body. No one on the police force has been indicted for his murder or even lost their job.
Welcome to Amerikkka, ladies and gentleman, where Black people are murdered with impunity. Check out this story from one of Gus’ family members:
His real name is Gustavus Rugley, but we called him Gus. He was executed on June 29, 2004, at 6:30 p.m.
Gus had been under surveillance that day from 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. He left the house twice on foot. The third time he left the house, I noticed that his truck was not sitting in the front of the house.
Mr. Rugley was watched by over 20 officers – there was the gang task force, homicide, special units and tactical units. These are major players with M-16s and AR-15s – the heavy artillery. They carry 30- and 60-bullet clips in their guns.
They were on a mission that day, and Gus was just a suspect. He was never once questioned, apprehended, asked to come to the station. As I said, he left twice that day, not one person ever tried to stop him.
San Francisco Police have this thing that is called the kill-time. They say at 6:30 p.m. it is rush hour, and they need to protect the public from anyone who is doing something erroneous – such as driving his car recklessly or doing something that they consider crazy.
But those of you who live in the city know that (the intersection at) Alemany Boulevard and Ocean Avenue, at 6:30 p.m., is congested with traffic both ways. There is no way that you could bob and weave in and out of cars there.
I want to touch on the end of the chase: Gus had given up. His hands were up in the air.
A witness, Anna Catreras, said Mr. Rugley sat in his truck and an officer in a light blue sweatshirt walked up, opened up the back passenger door of Gus’ vehicle and proceeded to unload her gun. Ms. Catreras’ later said that her statement was completely turned around in a July 2004 Chronicle story. She never said that Mr. Rugley was shooting back.
After he was shot, the command was given for Mr. Rugley to come out of the truck with his hands up. But he was dead.
The whole force shot at Gustavus Rugley. His right temple was struck, and his body on the whole right side had bullet holes.
This is an unjustified use of a firearm in the worst way. He was dead, and they all knew that.
And then do you know what they said? “He was shooting at us.”
The family got an autopsy nine and a half months later. It took them so long to give it to Ms. Pollard because they were hiding things. They knew public outcry was going to be so bad that we were going to tear the city up. But we’re not a family like that.
We just want to find out what really happened here, and we want justice. We want justice for Gus, who is no longer here.
I told y’all that it took nine and a half months to give my family the autopsy report. But let’s go back: It took almost three weeks for them to release his body – that was another cover-up.
The autopsy report stated that there was no gunpowder residue on the fronts or the backs of this young man’s hands and none on his clothing. So who the hell was shooting at who?
I think that this is an injustice in the worse way. Gustavus had 36 bullets – not 32, not 31 – but 36 bullets in him, with six being in his head. He had a temple shot at close range and was shot from front to back, back to front, right to left and left to right.
That’s an execution! You shouldn’t be able to justify shooting someone like that.
They say during the chase Gus hit four of their police cars. Even I know that if you bump a police car, they’re going to shoot you dead on the first bump. We’re talking about four cars hit by the end of the chase – I don’t think so.
There was no airbag deployed, not in the police cars or in Gus’ truck. So that is another story that they webbed, and it’s another lie. Police will lie, lie, lie, lie. This is a web of lies.
We’re still finding out facts, and here’s another one: The young man that Gus is accused of killing – Gus didn’t kill him. And even the police knew Gus didn’t kill him. But they made him a suspect, got a $1 million warrant and came and hunted him down like a wild piece of meat.
When Mr. Rugley was walking on the streets, before he got to his truck, not one officer tried to apprehend him and say, “You’re under arrest.” They baited him to get him into his truck.
They were in unmarked cars – all the officers were in plain clothes. No lights, no sirens. Now what kind of high speed chase goes on with no lights and no sirens and at the end the suspect is dead? You tell me.
It was all about an execution, and at the end Gustavus Rugley was executed.
We want to encourage people to get Gus Rugley’s autopsy report from the Coroner’s Office, Hall of Justice, 850 Bryant St. San Francisco. For more information, email Justice4Gus at justice4gus@yahoo.com.
Idriss Stelley
For months Idriss Stelley had been acting strangely. His family and friends were worried. Stelley went to a psychiatrist a number of times but then decided the doctor was conspiring against him. He stopped going to his appointments. Then, Stelley started believing that the faculty of the college he attended was filling the air with poisonous chemicals to make him sick. He also thought the school was a secret military recruitment center. On June 13, 2001 he went to a movie with his girlfriend. In the theater, Stelley took three shots of tequila and lit a cigarette. The ushers came in to talk to Stelley and he got upset. His girlfriend called Stelley's mother. His mother had a plan: call the police and tell them he's having a mental breakdown, thinking they could help. A gang of San Francisco police officers came in, clearing everyone out of the theater. The pigs shot and killed the 23-year-old Black man, knowing he was mentally disturbed. Their bullets left holes in his head, chest, abdomen, buttocks, right leg, right foot, left arm, right shoulder, and right arm.
Xianqing Cao
On May 2, 2001, Xianqing Cao was murdered in his own home by Portage, Michigan police officers. Soon afterward, the Kalamazoo County prosecuting attorney James J. Gregart dismissed the matter, before an autopsy report was even issued and without a full and proper investigation first.
Kalamazoo Police surrounded Cao’s family with six police cars in S.W.A.T. team gear on May 2, 2001, after a third grade Portage, Michigan school teacher gave a "bad touch-good touch" exercise to Elena, eight years old, where upon her father was made a suspect. Only after a few hours, without due process (no warning, no investigation, no warrant), Xianqing Cao, thirty-seven years old, was shot in cold blood in his own home when he refused to give custody of his four children, Margaret Cao (eleven years old), Elena Cao (eight years old), Annabelle Cao (two years old) and Alexander (nine months old), to twenty-nine year old police officer Gregory Burke.
This unjustified event took place without warning, questioning, orrequest for a search warrant. Cao, a well-educated member of society, respected among his peers, an honorable father and a beloved husband, died several hours after he was shot three times by the police inside of his home: once in the leg, once in his stomach, and once in his head (perforating gunshot wound to the head, entrance on right frontal-temporal scalp, range of fire: contact to close range). Grave violations of our justice system in collusion with various departments and State agencies have occurred. These violations not only must be brought to light, but there must be a full trial in order that all the details be put under scrutiny. And restitution must be made.
Nicholas Naquan Heyward, Jr.
The above mural is a picture of Nicholas Heyward by the spot that he was shot. It was a collaboration between the Heyward Family, Gowanus Community and Groundswell Community Mural Project. It is located at Hoyt & Baltic St., Brooklyn NY
Nicholas Heyward Jr.was born in Brooklyn on August 27, 1981. Nicholas attended local public schools and was an honor student. He was also a member of the I.S. 293 basketball team and regularly attended services at the Church of Garden Christ in Brooklyn.
On September 24, 1994, Nicholas was playing cops and robbers with his friends in a dimly lit hallway in the Gowanus Houses. At the same time, a housing police officer was pursuing a suspect in the Houses. Tragically, the officer mistook Nicholas's toy gun for a deadly weapon and opened fire, fatally shooting him. Even though Nicholas' gun had bright orange marking on it indicating it was a toy.
Nicholas was a young man with a bright future whose life was sadly and accidentally cut short. The officer has never been charged with any wrongdoing.
Amadou Diallo
Amadou Diallo
By Pam Parker
Washington
Demonstrations have erupted on campuses, in workplaces and in the streets. Young, old, workers, students, those in the lesbian/gay/bi/trans community and other oppressed people have expressed righteous anger at the brutal murder of Amadou Diallo.
This unprecedented show of unity has rocked the U. S. criminal "justice" system to its core. The protests against Diallo's brutal murder at the hands of New York City police grew more frequent and militant in the week after the Feb. 25 verdict acquitting his killers. Demonstrators have answered police threats with outrage at injustice.
Diallo was the 22-year-old West African immigrant mercilessly gunned down while he stood in the vestibule of his own Bronx apartment building on Feb. 4, 1999. Since the police were acquitted, protests have taken place in New York, Albany, N.Y., Washington, Atlanta, San Francisco and other cities throughout the country.
The protests have consistently tied the murder to police abuses throughout the oppressed communities and to the racist use of the death penalty.
Just days after the verdict another unarmed African American man, Malcolm Ferguson, was gunned down by police just blocks from where Diallo had been slain. This young man had actually been arrested for protesting the police murder of Diallo just days before.
Many in the left and progressive communities have joined together to denounce the Diallo verdict and subsequent murder of Ferguson. The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force has issued a strong statement expressing outrage at the verdict.
Kerry Lobel, the Task Force's director, explained her group's stand, saying that "the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community in both New York and across the country has been affected by police brutality and racism."
In Washington, African American civil rights leaders and activists the Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton led a militant march on the Justice Department March 2 to demand an investigation into the matter.
Well-known hip-hop deejay Donnie Simpson launched an angry on-air attack against the station management of Washington-based WPGC-FM for tying the tragic death of a little Michigan schoolgirl to the police murder of Diallo. The station had made a general call to "stop the violence and increase the peace."
Simpson said that the station staff had had to fight management to get them to issue a statement of outrage against the Diallo verdict and to support a planned rally and civil disobedience at the Justice Department. The attempt to tie together the incidents, said Simpson, was an insult to the station's employees and listeners, who are mostly people of color.
Big business politicians have been forced to make statements against the verdict.
What is special about the Diallo case that has inspired the movement to unite and organize? This is not the first time the police have appointed themselves judge, jury and executioner of an innocent oppressed person. This is not the first time they have gotten away with murder.
One abuse too many
People in the working class and oppressed communities don't have to be told the police are not there to "protect and serve" but to vilify and repress. It's known throughout the oppressed communities that police consistently use excessive force and discriminatory patterns of arrest, physically and verbally abuse people, and systematically deny the First Amendment rights of those they claim to protect.
So why now? Maybe because this was one abuse too many. The brazen attacks and the flippant attitude of those running the police department have simply been too much for the community to bear.
Have the police been apologetic or remorseful in the wake of the verdict? No, they have become more vicious. Has the leadership of the department apologized to the masses of people affected by this verdict? No, on the contrary, they have moved forward with their collusive tactics.
The Police Benevolent Association met with the Justice Department on March 6 to argue against federal civil rights charges being filed in the Diallo case.
Steven Worth, general counsel for the PBA, was also the defense attorney for Edward McMellon, one of the four police officers acquitted in the Diallo case.
Joseph C. Teresi, the judge in the Diallo case, had earlier been the defense attorney for four white officers who gunned down a mentally disturbed Black man "armed" with a fork and knife. It's also been reported that Teresi visited the cops' defense attorneys at their bed and breakfast after the Diallo case verdict.
People were angered because, in the face of all the evidence, officers Edward McMellon, Kenneth Boss, Richard Murphy and Sean Carroll were acquitted of all charges in the shooting death of young Diallo.
That Diallo was gunned down in the vestibule of his own home galvanized the community. It could have been anybody. He reached for his wallet, possibly in an attempt to prove who he was and to show that he lived in that building. What would you have done? What more could he have done?
The movement is organized and galvanized through participation in many diverse struggles. The fight to return Elián González to his father in Cuba; the protest against the World Trade Organization; the struggle against the unjust detainment of Mumia Abu-Jamal; outrage over the torture of Abner Louima and the death of Malcolm Ferguson have brought many youth into the movement, adding to its energy and vitality. They have all added to the momentum of this struggle for justice.
Enough is enough. This movement against repression is growing and thriving and shows no signs of running out of steam
source:officerjellynutz.com
Charles Vaughn
Charles Vaughn Sr. was a highly respected member of his community and a well-loved teacher who was gunned down by police one year ago in Seaside, a town just outside Monterey, California.
After completing his military service, Charles Vaughn, Sr. obtained a Bachelor's Degree from UC Santa Cruz and a Master's Degree from the Monterey Institute of Foreign Studies where he later became a doctoral candidate. Mr. Vaughn taught school for over 20 years in Seaside. Throughout his life of dedication to education and his community, he successfully battled mental illness.
But on May 19, 1998, police responding to the dubious concerns of a mental health worker who wanted Mr. Vaughn taken in for a mental health evaluation, chased Charles Vaughn Sr., 60-years old and retired, onto the roof of his Seaside home. Frightened and covered with pepper spray, Mr. Vaughn got into a prone position on the roof and asked to be left alone. Police officers on an adjacent structure beneath the roof drew their weapons and ordered Mr. Vaughn off the roof. Mr. Vaughn repeated his request to be left alone. One of the officers, stating that he was going to climb up and remove Mr. Vaughn from the roof, climbed onto the roof and shot off more pepper spray at Mr. Vaughn.
Responding to the repeated pepper-spray attack, Mr. Vaughn began to stand up. The advancing officer retreated to the adjacent structure. Another officer, claiming that Mr. Vaughn lunged toward an officer with a corkscrew in his hand, opened fire striking Mr. Vaughn four times killing him.
source:officerjellynutz.com
After completing his military service, Charles Vaughn, Sr. obtained a Bachelor's Degree from UC Santa Cruz and a Master's Degree from the Monterey Institute of Foreign Studies where he later became a doctoral candidate. Mr. Vaughn taught school for over 20 years in Seaside. Throughout his life of dedication to education and his community, he successfully battled mental illness.
But on May 19, 1998, police responding to the dubious concerns of a mental health worker who wanted Mr. Vaughn taken in for a mental health evaluation, chased Charles Vaughn Sr., 60-years old and retired, onto the roof of his Seaside home. Frightened and covered with pepper spray, Mr. Vaughn got into a prone position on the roof and asked to be left alone. Police officers on an adjacent structure beneath the roof drew their weapons and ordered Mr. Vaughn off the roof. Mr. Vaughn repeated his request to be left alone. One of the officers, stating that he was going to climb up and remove Mr. Vaughn from the roof, climbed onto the roof and shot off more pepper spray at Mr. Vaughn.
Responding to the repeated pepper-spray attack, Mr. Vaughn began to stand up. The advancing officer retreated to the adjacent structure. Another officer, claiming that Mr. Vaughn lunged toward an officer with a corkscrew in his hand, opened fire striking Mr. Vaughn four times killing him.
source:officerjellynutz.com
My sister died expressing her injustices as a woman
A year ago my sister Lucilla "Chila" Amaya found herself in the midst of a crisis. In this portrayal of self expression she payed the ultimate price, her life.
Chila Amaya, a young 35-year-old woman and mother of two, reached a point in her life in which she felt overwhelmed by society's holds, restrictions and judgements. She will forever be remembered as an everlasting victim.
In a bout of pain she acted out in a way to often misunderstood and easily judged. Chila was killed by a man who forcefully enforced his authority on her. She was in the middle of a crisis with one man and was sentenced to death with no trial by another, simply for being overwhelmed with emotion.
Moments before she was shot to death she had screamed "I'm tired of men using me!" and "I'm tired of men taking advantage of me!" she was holding two steak knives as her world caved in around her. Again finding herself in the midst of a relationship that had reached a state of uncertainty.
During her life, Chila had been a victim of battering and physical abuse, deceit and lack of commitment. She wore bruises and black eyes as proof of her love for the men that would eventually cease to be part of her life. Once those elationships ended she would find that these men would effortlessly disappear. Their Child Support obligations were too often replaced with emotional stress.
Chila was a prizefighter in her own right. Probably like most women in her position. She made the best she could for her children and herself. She often tried to tackle much more than she could handle. At times she relied on substance to help her through her trying times. She would take her falls and slowly rise to be herself again. She found success working as a receptionist, cosmetologist, and a floral designer using her artistic talents.
Chila was a small, fiesty, pretty, loving, caring, helpful, fun and friendly person. She was at times depressed, angry, wounded and struggling to find the peace she knew as a child. Always seeking to mirror her relationships to Mom and Dad's. They had laid the form for a solid foundation.
Chila became overwhelmed with emotional sadness in her existing relationship, She yelled, "I'm tired of men telling me what to do", as family members recognized and acknowledged her pain. A call was placed to the Police and the life and well being of our loved one was entrusted to another.
In less than ten minutes Chila lay dying in her own living room. She did not take her own life in her cry for help. Instead another man, this time a Policeman decided that she was a threat to others and sentenced her to death, as he shot 5 bullets into my tiny 4'11" sister. The Police blame his actions on the traces of drugs found in her system. She had told the officers, "You're here to hurt me – please stay back".
In a split second this Officer made all of her concerns during this crisis a reality. He forced himself upon her; he took advantage of her emotional state of mind not recognizing her pain, then used it against her. Now the actions of this man, leaves the pain of his sentencing with her children, my Mom and Dad, my brother and me.
The call to the Police was a non-emergency call for aid. My father and niece were safely locked in a bedroom and my brother was outside trying to assist with a peaceful end when the shots were fired. Chila was shot through a locked wrought iron security screen door 5 times because Cpl. Richard Tod Woodward believed she was going to kill everyone in the house. He had been on duty almost 13 hours and on the scene less than ten minutes. The Police had declined several suggestions made by my brother.
Chila's rights as a woman and a human being were completely violated on the morning of March 7, 1998. Chila was in her own way, screaming out that she was tired of being violated by men. She was in her own home and the family feared she may intentionally harm herself. She cried and screamed as she was overwhelmed with emotion. Not recognizing this as a human emotion or a human right, Cpl. Woodward shot and killed Lucilla "Chila" Amaya.
The Police Department supported his decision even though the evidence in the case will never support the Police Department's version. Their explanation is she left the front door and advanced towards the room family members were ordered to. Yet, She was found by my father only a few feet from the front door. The bedroom they were in was at the back of the house.
Chila was sentenced to death by a man who will probably never understand what it is like to be battered, abused and humiliated by a man. Here she was again trying to deal with being a victim, only to find herself dealing with someone who would be far more forceful than any of those she was trying to escape from.
Chila paid the ultimate price. She will always be a victim, She will always be remembered as a Mother, A daughter, A sister, and A friend.
We miss you and we love you Chila,
The Amaya Family
March 13, 1999
Union City, California
Chila Amaya, a young 35-year-old woman and mother of two, reached a point in her life in which she felt overwhelmed by society's holds, restrictions and judgements. She will forever be remembered as an everlasting victim.
In a bout of pain she acted out in a way to often misunderstood and easily judged. Chila was killed by a man who forcefully enforced his authority on her. She was in the middle of a crisis with one man and was sentenced to death with no trial by another, simply for being overwhelmed with emotion.
Moments before she was shot to death she had screamed "I'm tired of men using me!" and "I'm tired of men taking advantage of me!" she was holding two steak knives as her world caved in around her. Again finding herself in the midst of a relationship that had reached a state of uncertainty.
During her life, Chila had been a victim of battering and physical abuse, deceit and lack of commitment. She wore bruises and black eyes as proof of her love for the men that would eventually cease to be part of her life. Once those elationships ended she would find that these men would effortlessly disappear. Their Child Support obligations were too often replaced with emotional stress.
Chila was a prizefighter in her own right. Probably like most women in her position. She made the best she could for her children and herself. She often tried to tackle much more than she could handle. At times she relied on substance to help her through her trying times. She would take her falls and slowly rise to be herself again. She found success working as a receptionist, cosmetologist, and a floral designer using her artistic talents.
Chila was a small, fiesty, pretty, loving, caring, helpful, fun and friendly person. She was at times depressed, angry, wounded and struggling to find the peace she knew as a child. Always seeking to mirror her relationships to Mom and Dad's. They had laid the form for a solid foundation.
Chila became overwhelmed with emotional sadness in her existing relationship, She yelled, "I'm tired of men telling me what to do", as family members recognized and acknowledged her pain. A call was placed to the Police and the life and well being of our loved one was entrusted to another.
In less than ten minutes Chila lay dying in her own living room. She did not take her own life in her cry for help. Instead another man, this time a Policeman decided that she was a threat to others and sentenced her to death, as he shot 5 bullets into my tiny 4'11" sister. The Police blame his actions on the traces of drugs found in her system. She had told the officers, "You're here to hurt me – please stay back".
In a split second this Officer made all of her concerns during this crisis a reality. He forced himself upon her; he took advantage of her emotional state of mind not recognizing her pain, then used it against her. Now the actions of this man, leaves the pain of his sentencing with her children, my Mom and Dad, my brother and me.
The call to the Police was a non-emergency call for aid. My father and niece were safely locked in a bedroom and my brother was outside trying to assist with a peaceful end when the shots were fired. Chila was shot through a locked wrought iron security screen door 5 times because Cpl. Richard Tod Woodward believed she was going to kill everyone in the house. He had been on duty almost 13 hours and on the scene less than ten minutes. The Police had declined several suggestions made by my brother.
Chila's rights as a woman and a human being were completely violated on the morning of March 7, 1998. Chila was in her own way, screaming out that she was tired of being violated by men. She was in her own home and the family feared she may intentionally harm herself. She cried and screamed as she was overwhelmed with emotion. Not recognizing this as a human emotion or a human right, Cpl. Woodward shot and killed Lucilla "Chila" Amaya.
The Police Department supported his decision even though the evidence in the case will never support the Police Department's version. Their explanation is she left the front door and advanced towards the room family members were ordered to. Yet, She was found by my father only a few feet from the front door. The bedroom they were in was at the back of the house.
Chila was sentenced to death by a man who will probably never understand what it is like to be battered, abused and humiliated by a man. Here she was again trying to deal with being a victim, only to find herself dealing with someone who would be far more forceful than any of those she was trying to escape from.
Chila paid the ultimate price. She will always be a victim, She will always be remembered as a Mother, A daughter, A sister, and A friend.
We miss you and we love you Chila,
The Amaya Family
March 13, 1999
Union City, California
Cammerin Boyd: Shot down by S.F. police
by Adam Wolf
SAN FRANCISCO—Cammerin Boyd, a young Black man, emerged from his car—shirtless and with only one prosthetic leg—yelling, "They [the cops] are going to kill me, they’re going to kill me!" He was right.
On May 5, Boyd stood in a parking lot of a residential community in San Francisco after being chased in his car by San Francisco Police Department officers. With the cops’ guns drawn, Boyd emerged from the car with his hands above his head, saying, "I surrender. Please don’t shoot."
Standing on his one leg and supporting the weight of his body with a hand on his vehicle, Boyd showed no sign of a weapon and there was no indication that he was going to resist arrest.
Nonetheless, the cops insisted that Boyd get on the ground. He started explaining to the cops that he had two prosthetic legs in his possession and therefore could not bend down to the ground, but the cops demanded that Boyd comply with their order. Left with no choice, Boyd reached into his car to grab his other prosthetic leg, simultaneously pleading with the cops not to shoot him.
Then, according to the dozens of witnesses who had gathered in or around the parking lot, the cops shot Boyd. One shot, and Boyd fell to the ground. The cops continued to shoot Boyd, who died at the scene.
Chanel Hawkins was a witness to the shooting. She said, "He [Boyd] put his hands up, and police killed him." Another witness to the killing said that Boyd" was holding his hands up and surrendering" when he was shot.
The cops, who released Boyd’s criminal record to the media well before bowing to public pressure to release the names of the officers involved in the shooting, tell a different story. They claim that Boyd was holding and firing a gun at the time. Their version of the incident, however, is repudiated by a host of the non-officer witnesses.
Another bystander, who was frequently quoted in the local press immediately after the shooting, stated bluntly: "He said, ‘I ain’t got no gun.’ They were still shooting him. He didn’t have any weapons in his hand, and they were still shooting him."
Some say the incident is evidence of the cops’ disregard for the lives of Black men. Others say that the episode is indicative of the cops’ "shoot first, lie later" policy.
One further popular interpretation is that it evinces the cops’ bloodthirsty attitude in the aftermath of the killing of a fellow officer, Isaac Espinoza. Espinoza was shot to death on April 10, while on duty in the Bayview district of San Francisco. (California’s two Democratic U.S. Senators, Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, have called for the death penalty for Espinoza’s alleged killer, over the objections of S.F. District Attorney Kamala Harris.)
Since then, the San Francisco Police Department has ordered a substantial police presence in the Bayview district, a predominantly Black neighborhood. The beefed-up police presence has angered many in the community, who see the new policy as retaliation for the death of Espinoza.
Although the cops insist that neighborhood residents have welcomed the cops with open arms, many residents disagree, comparing the situation to a form of martial law.
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has denied allegations that police officers are trigger-happy after Espinoza’s death. Newsom admitted, however, in a rare moment of candor, that he "understands why people would say that." On May 12, a rally took place on the steps of City Hall, demanding a fair and independent investigation into Boyd’s killing.
The article above first appeared in the June 2005 issue of Socialist Action newspaper.
Taken from http://www.geocities.com/mnsocialist/policekilling.html
Thursday, December 29, 2005
15 Black men killed by Cincinatti police since 1995
Stories of 15 black men killed by police since 1995
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By Dan Klepal and Cindi Andrews
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Harvey Price
Feb. 1, 1995
Harvey Price
Harvey Price killed 15-year-old Tesha Beasley with an axe and kept police at bay for four hours before he was shot by a SWAT team officer on Feb. 1, 1995.
Mr. Price, 34, struck Ms. Beasley — his girlfriend's daughter — multiple times before dragging her body to the basement of her North Avondale apartment.
A neighbor discovered blood in a hallway and called the landlord. Police found Ms. Beasley's body, but no one inside the apartment.
With police still inside, Mr. Price sneaked back into the apartment just after midnight by crawling through a kitchen window. Hamilton County Coroner Dr. Carl Parrott, part of a team searching the apartment for evidence, opened a bathroom door and found Mr. Price inside with a steak knife.
Mr. Price was sprayed with a chemical irritant and shocked twice with a stun gun, but refused to drop his weapon. Police say he became increasingly suicidal as the hours wore on.
At 4:27 a.m., four SWAT team members entered the bathroom with shields raised and sprayed Mr. Price with another round of irritant. Mr. Price began advancing on the officers, the knife raised over his head, police said.
Sgt. Randy Rengering shot Mr. Price five times. He was exonerated after an internal investigation.
Dorothy Anderson, Tesha's aunt, said she doesn't think police needed to shoot Mr. Price that morning. He should have lived a long life behind bars, she said.
“This comes after years of reflection, but even he deserved a day in court,” Ms. Anderson, of Madisonville, said. “We may not like what some people do, but they're still human beings.
“It just seems like when white men commit a crime, they still end up with their day in court. All 15 of those men killed by police were black, and that's the problem that has caused all of this.”
Darryll C. Price
April 4, 1996
Darryll C. Price
Darryll C. Price was jumping on the hood of a car stuck in traffic, shouting that he was going to “shoot someone,” just before he died in a struggle with police on April 4, 1996.
Mr. Price struck his head on the ground and suffered other minor injuries when police sprayed a chemical irritant in his face, tackled him and placed shackles on his wrists and ankles.
An autopsy revealed that Mr. Price's death was caused by “agitated delirium with restraint,” a sudden death syndrome usually seen in mentally ill people or drug abusers. Mr. Price had been using cocaine prior to the incident. The syndrome begins when a disturbed person can't get enough oxygen, bringing on an irregular heartbeat or respiratory arrest.
Once restrained, police called for medical help because they saw that Mr. Price — 42 years old and unarmed — was bleeding from the head.
He kept struggling as officers put him on a stretcher, took off the handcuffs and refastened them above his head so that rescue workers could better administer first aid, police reports say.
While officers were putting a belt across Mr. Price's chest, he stopped moving and rescue workers began CPR. He was pronounced dead less than an hour after police took him into custody.
The coroner said Mr. Price's death was largely caused by the syndrome and was unrelated to the cuts and bruises sustained in his struggle with police. The police officers were cleared of any wrongdoing.
Lorenzo Collins
Feb. 23, 1997
Lorenzo Collins
Lorenzo Collins had a brick. Fifteen police officers, surrounding Mr. Collins, had guns.
A 25-year-old Avondale man with a history of mental illness, Mr. Collins died five days after two of those officers shot him on Feb. 23, 1997. He had refused to drop the brick he was using to threaten police.
The shooting ignited public anger. Protests went on for weeks, all peaceful. The city responded by creating a citizens' review panel that would examine police shootings and make a recommendation to the city manager on whether disciplinary action was warranted.
Attorney Ken Lawson, who recently filed a lawsuit against the city alleging that police engage in racial profiling, represented the Collins family in a wrongful death lawsuit. The family was awarded $200,000.
Mr. Lawson said the citizens' panel has no real power because it can only make recommendations. “After the Lorenzo Collins shooting, getting the panel was enough to make everyone go home. And now there's been 15 black men, so the pattern has continued.”
An FBI and Justice Department investigation found no criminal wrongdoing by Officer Douglas Depodesta and a University of Cincinnati officer, both of whom fired twice. Mr. Collins was struck three times. Officer Depodesta did receive counseling.
Daniel Williams
Feb. 2, 1998
Daniel Williams
Daniel Williams flagged down Kathleen Conway's police cruiser on Feb. 2, 1998. When she stopped, he hit her in the face and fired four shots from a .357 Magnum into her legs and abdomen before seizing the steering wheel and shoving her into the passenger seat.
Officer Conway, 23, survived the attack by shooting Mr. Williams in the head with two shots from her service revolver. It was a justifiable shooting, investigators ruled.
No one will ever know why Mr. Williams did it. The 41-year-old, who had been living in a downtown boarding room, had convictions for domestic violence and felonious assault. His sister called police two days earlier to report Mr. Williams had threatened the family.
His death caused no protests, yet shocked the community's senses. It came just three months after Officer Daniel Pope and Spc. Ronald Jeter were gunned down in a Clifton Heights apartment while serving a domestic violence warrant.
The attacks on police came as the city was considering a citizens' review panel, which would critically examine police shootings.
That sounded like an insult to Fraternal Order of Police President Keith Fangman. After all, the force had lost three officers in as many months.
“The timing was horrible,” Mr. Fangman said. “There was then and still is now a feeling among many police officers that we need a separate review panel to investigate why so many officers in this city are being physically assaulted and killed.
“You don't hear the mayor or council talking about that. It's hypocritical.”
Teri Hoehn, the first female officer on the force who left in 1979, said all police shootings are not created equal. Ms. Conway, she said, is a true hero.
“That was courage under fire,” she said.
Ms. Conway retired from the force last year after a long medical separation from her job.
Jermaine Lowe
June 3, 1998
Jermaine Lowe
Jermaine Lowe saw the police lights in the rearview mirror and hit the gas.
He sped up Vine Street in a stolen car, through Over-the-Rhine and into Corryville — an eight-minute chase on June 3, 1998 that ended when Mr. Lowe crashed into another car.
A convicted felon who had broken parole and was sought for an armed robbery, Mr. Lowe leaned out the driver's door and unloaded his handgun in the direction of three Cincinnati police officers.
The officers responded with a hail of gunfire that sent dozens of spent casings into the street. Mr. Lowe was pronounced dead at the scene; a passenger in his car, who was not charged with a crime, was unharmed.
The shootout happened on the same block where Officers Pope and Jeter were gunned down in an apartment building.
Partners Scott Bode and Scott Krauser, known as “the two Scotts,” along with Officer Michael Ammann, were cleared of any wrongdoing.
John Foster Jr., owner of Highland Deli in Corryville, was robbed at gunpoint by Mr. Lowe two months before the shootout. Mr. Lowe was wanted in connection to that robbery.
Mr. Foster said he doesn't like to see anyone lose his life, but police have a right to protect themselves.
Randy Black
July 17, 1998
Randy Black was an education student at the University of Cincinnati when he decided to rob the Cinco Credit Union, where he was a member, on the morning of July 17, 1998.
A short time later, he was dead.
Mr. Black, 23, of Evanston, threatened credit union employees and demanded money. But that's not what got him killed.
Cincinnati Police chased Mr. Black down Clifton Avenue, where he threw a brick at an officer.
Officer Joseph Eichhorn tried to arrest Mr. Black, but the young man picked up a two-by-four dotted with jutting rusted nails. With board in hand, he lunged at the officer. Mr. Black was shot twice in the abdomen and died.
An investigation found that Mr. Black had been armed with a handgun during the robbery, but ditched the gun during the police chase.
Standard investigations found no wrongdoing on the officer's part.
FOP President Fangman echoed that finding, saying a two-by-four is a deadly weapon and could have killed Officer Eichhorn.
“If anyone in this community thinks or expects our officers to take a two-by-four in the head, they are sadly mistaken,” Mr. Fangman said.
Michael Carpenter
March 19, 1999
Michael Carpenter
Michael Carpenter's death is the only one so far to result in a Cincinnati Police officer being reprimanded.
The 30-year-old Mount Airy man attracted officers' attention about 1:20 a.m. March 19, 1999, at a Northside convenience store. Officers Brent McCurley and Michael Miller ran the plates of the blue Pontiac he was driving — which would turn out to be a friend's — and found them expired.
Within two minutes of the computer check, the officers radioed for help. One of the officers had fired his gun and Mr. Carpenter was dead.
That is pretty much all that police, witnesses and family members agree on.
The police said that Officer Miller approached the Pontiac after it pulled over on narrow Pitts Avenue. Mr. Carpenter refused to get out and instead reached for the glove box. Officer Miller reached through the driver's window and tried to pull him out.
Mr. Carpenter drove about 15 feet, dragging Officer Miller and hitting a parked van. Officer McCurley, standing behind Mr. Carpenter's car, said he saw the backup lights come on. He shot nine times.
Neighbors, however, said the van was not damaged and the Pontiac seemed to be neatly parallel-parked.
“There were a lot of things that didn't go with what I saw,” nearby resident Jewell Day now says. “Maybe it wasn't handled right.”
Investigations indicated similarly mixed feelings among officials. Officer McCurley was exonerated by the U.S. Department of Justice, the county prosecutor and an internal police division investigation.
The city's Office of Municipal Investigation (OMI) and the independent Citizens Police Review Panel called the shooting unjustified.
Ultimately, Officer McCurley received a written reprimand and was ordered to receive 40 hours of retraining because of several tactical errors leading to the shooting.
Officer Miller resigned from the force.
James King
Aug. 20, 1999
James King
James King fired a shot in Fifth Third Bank to show that he meant business.
The shot didn't hurt anyone, but it came just after Mr. King handed a note threatening to take hostages and kill people if he didn't get a bag full of cash on Aug. 20, 1999.
Mr. King, 44, got his money and took off in a gray Chevrolet Celebrity with three Cincinnati police cruisers and a university police car close behind.
Five blocks later, Mr. King turned into the open gates of a construction site, scattering workers.
He led police on a winding course around several 15-foot-tall dirt mounds inside the site, just off Martin Luther King Drive. The construction area, about the size of a football field, is separated from UC's Morgens, Scioto and Sawyer residence halls by a chain-link fence.
The end came when Mr. King found himself trapped by dirt piles in front and police cars behind. He jumped out of the car, gun in hand. Officers ordered him to drop his weapon. He refused.
Kitty Choi, a junior in special education at the University of Cincinnati, heard the sirens and watched the scene unfold from her apartment window.
She saw Mr. King and his gun.
“Everyone came to a stop, the police jumped out, the robber jumped out, they fired, and that man just fell to the ground instantly,” Ms. Choi said.
Officers Randy Webb, Rachel Folk, Jason Drach and Adrian Gibson were cleared in subsequent investigations.
Carey Tompkins
Oct. 16, 1999
Carey Tompkins
Carey Tompkins lost a life-and-death struggle over his 9mm handgun with a Cincinnati Police officer in the narrow hallway of a West End apartment building on Oct. 16, 1999.
Mr. Tompkins' death, the third at the hands of police that year, escalated tensions in the West End for days. Graffiti — such as “Police we can go to war” - appeared on several storefronts. But violence or protests didn't erupt.
Known as “C-Murda” to friends, Mr. Tompkins was a new father whom neighbors remembered as quiet and respectful. However, police responded to a 911 call from his girlfriend's home that night.
In the recorded call, Mr. Tompkins is heard shouting obscenities at a woman who is crying. An older man, identified as the girlfriend's father, is attempting to calm Mr. Tompkins, who then shouts: “If she ever got something to say about me, say it to my face.”
The older man asks him why he would put a gun to the woman, then says: “You brought a gun out here. What'd you do with the gun?”
As officers opened the door to the York Street apartment stairway at about 2:30 a.m., Officer Craig Ball came face to face with Mr. Tompkins, 28.
The officer put his hand out to stop him and felt the handgun in his waistband. The struggle for the gun began.
Janet Little, 52, has lived on York Street in the West End for about 45 years. Her kids grew up with Mr. Tompkins. She was upset by the shooting, although she thinks it was justified.
“I felt the officers could have handled it better,” Ms. Little said. “But he had a gun and I don't know exactly what I would have done if I were those officers. Police handled it better than with this last shooting (of Mr. Thomas).”
Mr. Tompkins shouldn't have had a gun, she said: “They're not to be carried around like it's the Wild West.”
Alfred Pope
March 14, 2000
Alfred Pope
Alfred Pope was hit by 10 of 26 bullets fired at him by Cincinnati police during the early morning of March 14, 2000.
At 23 years old, the Bond Hill man already had 18 felony charges and five convictions, including weapons and assault charges.
His final run-in with police started when he and another man robbed and pistol-whipped three people in the hallway of an Avondale apartment building. Shots were heard.
Police arrived and chased Mr. Pope, who pulled out a 9mm handgun after a struggle. He pointed the gun at himself and then at the officers.
The officers opened fire. Kenneth J. Grubbs shot three times; Daniel Carder, seven; and Jason K. Lamb, 16. Officers Grubbs and Lamb each had just more than two years' experience, and Officer Carder had nearly eight.
Friends and neighbors questioned the number of shots fired, but internal investigations exonerated the officers.
Courtney Mathis
Sept. 1, 2000
Courtney Mathis
Courtney Mathis was a boy trying to be a man.
On the night of Sept. 1, 2000, the 12-year-old sneaked out of his parents' Bahama Terrace apartment and into the driver's seat of a relative's car. He drove to a Mount Airy convenience store on Colerain Avenue.
Cincinnati Police Officer Kevin Crayon saw the boy at the store and asked to see his driver's license. Courtney put the car in reverse. Officer Crayon reached into the car, apparently trying to grab the keys or shift the car into park.
Courtney sped off with the officer tangled in the steering wheel. Eight hundred feet later, as the car weaved down Colerain and approached a busy intersection, Officer Crayon managed to pull out his gun and shoot Courtney point-blank in the chest.
The shot dislodged the 40-year-old officer, who died when his head hit the exhaust pipe of a car waiting to turn left at the intersection. He was the fourth policeman killed in three years.
Courtney managed to drive home. He collapsed in the living room and died four hours later.
Both the Mathis and Crayon families came together after the incident and urged forgiveness. Willie Watts of the West End said Saturday that what happened to his grandson wasn't the officer's fault.
The officer's death ended the investigation.
Roger Owensby Jr.
Nov. 7, 2000
Roger Owensby Jr.
Roger Owensby Jr. died of suffocation on Nov. 7, 2000, as police tried to arrest him for outstanding warrants.
Police spotted Mr. Owensby at a Roselawn gas station where he'd just bought an energy drink. He cooperated with the officers until he saw the handcuffs. The 29-year-old College Hill man broke free and ran, but was tackled almost immediately.
Police officers sprayed Mr. Owensby with a chemical irritant, handcuffed him and placed him in the rear of a cruiser. He was found unconscious a short time later.
Two of the police officers involved in the Owensby arrest were indicted. The FOP's Mr. Fangman said that should be proof that there is no investigative coverup when it comes to alleged police misconduct.
Mr. Fangman said he can understand the public anger in the Owensby and Thomas cases. They are upset because the grand jury process doesn't allow questions to be answered right now.
“I can understand the frustration,” Mr. Fangman said. “But two officers have been indicted. That's hardly a coverup.”
Roger Owensby Sr. said Saturday the lack of answers in his son's death has been difficult to deal with. The Thomas shooting has made his son's death fresh again, he said. He blames police for both deaths.
“I still to this day don't even know why they stopped him,” Mr. Owensby said. “It's old wounds. This brought it back.
“The police are out of hand. They don't give anybody a chance.”
Investigations into the incident continue.
Jeffrey Irons
Nov. 8, 2000
Jeffrey Irons had been staying in an Over-the-Rhine homeless shelter when he went into the Pleasant Ridge IGA supermarket on Nov. 8, 2000, and allegedly stole deodorant and shaving cream.
Rather than surrender to officers who caught up with him, the 30-year-old Mr. Irons struggled, police say.
Mr. Irons grabbed a sergeant's gun and shot Officer Tim Pappas in the hand. Another officer, Frederick Gilmer, shot and killed Mr. Irons.
Mr. Irons' death received more and less attention than usual because it happened a day after Roger Owensby died in police custody.
The shooting led to several African-American leaders calling for federal intervention into police department practices.
The U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney's Office and FBI are still investigating the shooting.
Adam Wheeler
Jan. 31, 2001
Adam Wheeler
Adam Wheeler was wanted on three open felony warrants when he slammed his Donahoe Avenue apartment door in the face of a police officer investigating a drug complaint on Jan. 31, 2001.
The incident touched off a shootout with Cincinnati police that ended in Mr. Wheeler's death.
Mr. Wheeler allegedly screamed, “You want a war? You got a war.” He then fired all six shots from his gun.
Officer Craig Gregoire, the 26-year-old son of a police captain, retreated into a bathroom during the shooting and noticed he was bleeding. He was treated at University Hospital and released.
Mr. Wheeler had just been released from prison, after being sentenced to seven months in August for possession of drugs. He'd gotten the same sentence for the same crime in 1999, and served some time then.
Rev. Steven Keith Wheeler, Adam Wheeler's uncle who lives in the West End, said his nephew wasn't trying to start a war. But he was fighting one on the inside — a war against drug addiction.
“Adam was not stupid,” Rev. Wheeler said. “He was not trying to start a war. If he was trying to do that, he would have had more ammunition. He was intent on ending one, one that raged heavy inside his soul.”
Timothy Thomas
April 7, 2001
Timothy Thomas
Timothy Thomas ran from police twice before. Both times, he got away.
Mr. Thomas, 19, knew he had more than a dozen misdemeanor warrants out for his arrest and he knew police were looking for him. On April 7, he knew he'd been spotted by two off-duty officers working outside The Warehouse nightclub on Vine Street.
Mr. Thomas took off, and the chase was on. The officers called in backups. Twelve officers joined in. Police said Mr. Thomas jumped fences and darted behind buildings, finally turning down an alley off Republic Street, one of the city's most dangerous.
Officer Steve Roach was joining the pursuit from the other direction. He saw Mr. Thomas emerge from behind a building at the end of the alley and told authorities that Mr. Thomas was reaching for something in his waistband. He thought his life was in danger.
Officer Roach fired one fatal shot, hitting Mr. Thomas in the chest. No weapon was found on Mr. Thomas.
All evidence in the case is under seal. Hamilton County prosecutors say they will present the case to a grand jury this week.
The shooting touched off a week of protests and violence unlike any seen since the 1968 Avondale riots that followed the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King. That riot, on April 8, 1968, ended with two dead, 220 arrested and $3 million in property damage.
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By Dan Klepal and Cindi Andrews
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Harvey Price
Feb. 1, 1995
Harvey Price
Harvey Price killed 15-year-old Tesha Beasley with an axe and kept police at bay for four hours before he was shot by a SWAT team officer on Feb. 1, 1995.
Mr. Price, 34, struck Ms. Beasley — his girlfriend's daughter — multiple times before dragging her body to the basement of her North Avondale apartment.
A neighbor discovered blood in a hallway and called the landlord. Police found Ms. Beasley's body, but no one inside the apartment.
With police still inside, Mr. Price sneaked back into the apartment just after midnight by crawling through a kitchen window. Hamilton County Coroner Dr. Carl Parrott, part of a team searching the apartment for evidence, opened a bathroom door and found Mr. Price inside with a steak knife.
Mr. Price was sprayed with a chemical irritant and shocked twice with a stun gun, but refused to drop his weapon. Police say he became increasingly suicidal as the hours wore on.
At 4:27 a.m., four SWAT team members entered the bathroom with shields raised and sprayed Mr. Price with another round of irritant. Mr. Price began advancing on the officers, the knife raised over his head, police said.
Sgt. Randy Rengering shot Mr. Price five times. He was exonerated after an internal investigation.
Dorothy Anderson, Tesha's aunt, said she doesn't think police needed to shoot Mr. Price that morning. He should have lived a long life behind bars, she said.
“This comes after years of reflection, but even he deserved a day in court,” Ms. Anderson, of Madisonville, said. “We may not like what some people do, but they're still human beings.
“It just seems like when white men commit a crime, they still end up with their day in court. All 15 of those men killed by police were black, and that's the problem that has caused all of this.”
Darryll C. Price
April 4, 1996
Darryll C. Price
Darryll C. Price was jumping on the hood of a car stuck in traffic, shouting that he was going to “shoot someone,” just before he died in a struggle with police on April 4, 1996.
Mr. Price struck his head on the ground and suffered other minor injuries when police sprayed a chemical irritant in his face, tackled him and placed shackles on his wrists and ankles.
An autopsy revealed that Mr. Price's death was caused by “agitated delirium with restraint,” a sudden death syndrome usually seen in mentally ill people or drug abusers. Mr. Price had been using cocaine prior to the incident. The syndrome begins when a disturbed person can't get enough oxygen, bringing on an irregular heartbeat or respiratory arrest.
Once restrained, police called for medical help because they saw that Mr. Price — 42 years old and unarmed — was bleeding from the head.
He kept struggling as officers put him on a stretcher, took off the handcuffs and refastened them above his head so that rescue workers could better administer first aid, police reports say.
While officers were putting a belt across Mr. Price's chest, he stopped moving and rescue workers began CPR. He was pronounced dead less than an hour after police took him into custody.
The coroner said Mr. Price's death was largely caused by the syndrome and was unrelated to the cuts and bruises sustained in his struggle with police. The police officers were cleared of any wrongdoing.
Lorenzo Collins
Feb. 23, 1997
Lorenzo Collins
Lorenzo Collins had a brick. Fifteen police officers, surrounding Mr. Collins, had guns.
A 25-year-old Avondale man with a history of mental illness, Mr. Collins died five days after two of those officers shot him on Feb. 23, 1997. He had refused to drop the brick he was using to threaten police.
The shooting ignited public anger. Protests went on for weeks, all peaceful. The city responded by creating a citizens' review panel that would examine police shootings and make a recommendation to the city manager on whether disciplinary action was warranted.
Attorney Ken Lawson, who recently filed a lawsuit against the city alleging that police engage in racial profiling, represented the Collins family in a wrongful death lawsuit. The family was awarded $200,000.
Mr. Lawson said the citizens' panel has no real power because it can only make recommendations. “After the Lorenzo Collins shooting, getting the panel was enough to make everyone go home. And now there's been 15 black men, so the pattern has continued.”
An FBI and Justice Department investigation found no criminal wrongdoing by Officer Douglas Depodesta and a University of Cincinnati officer, both of whom fired twice. Mr. Collins was struck three times. Officer Depodesta did receive counseling.
Daniel Williams
Feb. 2, 1998
Daniel Williams
Daniel Williams flagged down Kathleen Conway's police cruiser on Feb. 2, 1998. When she stopped, he hit her in the face and fired four shots from a .357 Magnum into her legs and abdomen before seizing the steering wheel and shoving her into the passenger seat.
Officer Conway, 23, survived the attack by shooting Mr. Williams in the head with two shots from her service revolver. It was a justifiable shooting, investigators ruled.
No one will ever know why Mr. Williams did it. The 41-year-old, who had been living in a downtown boarding room, had convictions for domestic violence and felonious assault. His sister called police two days earlier to report Mr. Williams had threatened the family.
His death caused no protests, yet shocked the community's senses. It came just three months after Officer Daniel Pope and Spc. Ronald Jeter were gunned down in a Clifton Heights apartment while serving a domestic violence warrant.
The attacks on police came as the city was considering a citizens' review panel, which would critically examine police shootings.
That sounded like an insult to Fraternal Order of Police President Keith Fangman. After all, the force had lost three officers in as many months.
“The timing was horrible,” Mr. Fangman said. “There was then and still is now a feeling among many police officers that we need a separate review panel to investigate why so many officers in this city are being physically assaulted and killed.
“You don't hear the mayor or council talking about that. It's hypocritical.”
Teri Hoehn, the first female officer on the force who left in 1979, said all police shootings are not created equal. Ms. Conway, she said, is a true hero.
“That was courage under fire,” she said.
Ms. Conway retired from the force last year after a long medical separation from her job.
Jermaine Lowe
June 3, 1998
Jermaine Lowe
Jermaine Lowe saw the police lights in the rearview mirror and hit the gas.
He sped up Vine Street in a stolen car, through Over-the-Rhine and into Corryville — an eight-minute chase on June 3, 1998 that ended when Mr. Lowe crashed into another car.
A convicted felon who had broken parole and was sought for an armed robbery, Mr. Lowe leaned out the driver's door and unloaded his handgun in the direction of three Cincinnati police officers.
The officers responded with a hail of gunfire that sent dozens of spent casings into the street. Mr. Lowe was pronounced dead at the scene; a passenger in his car, who was not charged with a crime, was unharmed.
The shootout happened on the same block where Officers Pope and Jeter were gunned down in an apartment building.
Partners Scott Bode and Scott Krauser, known as “the two Scotts,” along with Officer Michael Ammann, were cleared of any wrongdoing.
John Foster Jr., owner of Highland Deli in Corryville, was robbed at gunpoint by Mr. Lowe two months before the shootout. Mr. Lowe was wanted in connection to that robbery.
Mr. Foster said he doesn't like to see anyone lose his life, but police have a right to protect themselves.
Randy Black
July 17, 1998
Randy Black was an education student at the University of Cincinnati when he decided to rob the Cinco Credit Union, where he was a member, on the morning of July 17, 1998.
A short time later, he was dead.
Mr. Black, 23, of Evanston, threatened credit union employees and demanded money. But that's not what got him killed.
Cincinnati Police chased Mr. Black down Clifton Avenue, where he threw a brick at an officer.
Officer Joseph Eichhorn tried to arrest Mr. Black, but the young man picked up a two-by-four dotted with jutting rusted nails. With board in hand, he lunged at the officer. Mr. Black was shot twice in the abdomen and died.
An investigation found that Mr. Black had been armed with a handgun during the robbery, but ditched the gun during the police chase.
Standard investigations found no wrongdoing on the officer's part.
FOP President Fangman echoed that finding, saying a two-by-four is a deadly weapon and could have killed Officer Eichhorn.
“If anyone in this community thinks or expects our officers to take a two-by-four in the head, they are sadly mistaken,” Mr. Fangman said.
Michael Carpenter
March 19, 1999
Michael Carpenter
Michael Carpenter's death is the only one so far to result in a Cincinnati Police officer being reprimanded.
The 30-year-old Mount Airy man attracted officers' attention about 1:20 a.m. March 19, 1999, at a Northside convenience store. Officers Brent McCurley and Michael Miller ran the plates of the blue Pontiac he was driving — which would turn out to be a friend's — and found them expired.
Within two minutes of the computer check, the officers radioed for help. One of the officers had fired his gun and Mr. Carpenter was dead.
That is pretty much all that police, witnesses and family members agree on.
The police said that Officer Miller approached the Pontiac after it pulled over on narrow Pitts Avenue. Mr. Carpenter refused to get out and instead reached for the glove box. Officer Miller reached through the driver's window and tried to pull him out.
Mr. Carpenter drove about 15 feet, dragging Officer Miller and hitting a parked van. Officer McCurley, standing behind Mr. Carpenter's car, said he saw the backup lights come on. He shot nine times.
Neighbors, however, said the van was not damaged and the Pontiac seemed to be neatly parallel-parked.
“There were a lot of things that didn't go with what I saw,” nearby resident Jewell Day now says. “Maybe it wasn't handled right.”
Investigations indicated similarly mixed feelings among officials. Officer McCurley was exonerated by the U.S. Department of Justice, the county prosecutor and an internal police division investigation.
The city's Office of Municipal Investigation (OMI) and the independent Citizens Police Review Panel called the shooting unjustified.
Ultimately, Officer McCurley received a written reprimand and was ordered to receive 40 hours of retraining because of several tactical errors leading to the shooting.
Officer Miller resigned from the force.
James King
Aug. 20, 1999
James King
James King fired a shot in Fifth Third Bank to show that he meant business.
The shot didn't hurt anyone, but it came just after Mr. King handed a note threatening to take hostages and kill people if he didn't get a bag full of cash on Aug. 20, 1999.
Mr. King, 44, got his money and took off in a gray Chevrolet Celebrity with three Cincinnati police cruisers and a university police car close behind.
Five blocks later, Mr. King turned into the open gates of a construction site, scattering workers.
He led police on a winding course around several 15-foot-tall dirt mounds inside the site, just off Martin Luther King Drive. The construction area, about the size of a football field, is separated from UC's Morgens, Scioto and Sawyer residence halls by a chain-link fence.
The end came when Mr. King found himself trapped by dirt piles in front and police cars behind. He jumped out of the car, gun in hand. Officers ordered him to drop his weapon. He refused.
Kitty Choi, a junior in special education at the University of Cincinnati, heard the sirens and watched the scene unfold from her apartment window.
She saw Mr. King and his gun.
“Everyone came to a stop, the police jumped out, the robber jumped out, they fired, and that man just fell to the ground instantly,” Ms. Choi said.
Officers Randy Webb, Rachel Folk, Jason Drach and Adrian Gibson were cleared in subsequent investigations.
Carey Tompkins
Oct. 16, 1999
Carey Tompkins
Carey Tompkins lost a life-and-death struggle over his 9mm handgun with a Cincinnati Police officer in the narrow hallway of a West End apartment building on Oct. 16, 1999.
Mr. Tompkins' death, the third at the hands of police that year, escalated tensions in the West End for days. Graffiti — such as “Police we can go to war” - appeared on several storefronts. But violence or protests didn't erupt.
Known as “C-Murda” to friends, Mr. Tompkins was a new father whom neighbors remembered as quiet and respectful. However, police responded to a 911 call from his girlfriend's home that night.
In the recorded call, Mr. Tompkins is heard shouting obscenities at a woman who is crying. An older man, identified as the girlfriend's father, is attempting to calm Mr. Tompkins, who then shouts: “If she ever got something to say about me, say it to my face.”
The older man asks him why he would put a gun to the woman, then says: “You brought a gun out here. What'd you do with the gun?”
As officers opened the door to the York Street apartment stairway at about 2:30 a.m., Officer Craig Ball came face to face with Mr. Tompkins, 28.
The officer put his hand out to stop him and felt the handgun in his waistband. The struggle for the gun began.
Janet Little, 52, has lived on York Street in the West End for about 45 years. Her kids grew up with Mr. Tompkins. She was upset by the shooting, although she thinks it was justified.
“I felt the officers could have handled it better,” Ms. Little said. “But he had a gun and I don't know exactly what I would have done if I were those officers. Police handled it better than with this last shooting (of Mr. Thomas).”
Mr. Tompkins shouldn't have had a gun, she said: “They're not to be carried around like it's the Wild West.”
Alfred Pope
March 14, 2000
Alfred Pope
Alfred Pope was hit by 10 of 26 bullets fired at him by Cincinnati police during the early morning of March 14, 2000.
At 23 years old, the Bond Hill man already had 18 felony charges and five convictions, including weapons and assault charges.
His final run-in with police started when he and another man robbed and pistol-whipped three people in the hallway of an Avondale apartment building. Shots were heard.
Police arrived and chased Mr. Pope, who pulled out a 9mm handgun after a struggle. He pointed the gun at himself and then at the officers.
The officers opened fire. Kenneth J. Grubbs shot three times; Daniel Carder, seven; and Jason K. Lamb, 16. Officers Grubbs and Lamb each had just more than two years' experience, and Officer Carder had nearly eight.
Friends and neighbors questioned the number of shots fired, but internal investigations exonerated the officers.
Courtney Mathis
Sept. 1, 2000
Courtney Mathis
Courtney Mathis was a boy trying to be a man.
On the night of Sept. 1, 2000, the 12-year-old sneaked out of his parents' Bahama Terrace apartment and into the driver's seat of a relative's car. He drove to a Mount Airy convenience store on Colerain Avenue.
Cincinnati Police Officer Kevin Crayon saw the boy at the store and asked to see his driver's license. Courtney put the car in reverse. Officer Crayon reached into the car, apparently trying to grab the keys or shift the car into park.
Courtney sped off with the officer tangled in the steering wheel. Eight hundred feet later, as the car weaved down Colerain and approached a busy intersection, Officer Crayon managed to pull out his gun and shoot Courtney point-blank in the chest.
The shot dislodged the 40-year-old officer, who died when his head hit the exhaust pipe of a car waiting to turn left at the intersection. He was the fourth policeman killed in three years.
Courtney managed to drive home. He collapsed in the living room and died four hours later.
Both the Mathis and Crayon families came together after the incident and urged forgiveness. Willie Watts of the West End said Saturday that what happened to his grandson wasn't the officer's fault.
The officer's death ended the investigation.
Roger Owensby Jr.
Nov. 7, 2000
Roger Owensby Jr.
Roger Owensby Jr. died of suffocation on Nov. 7, 2000, as police tried to arrest him for outstanding warrants.
Police spotted Mr. Owensby at a Roselawn gas station where he'd just bought an energy drink. He cooperated with the officers until he saw the handcuffs. The 29-year-old College Hill man broke free and ran, but was tackled almost immediately.
Police officers sprayed Mr. Owensby with a chemical irritant, handcuffed him and placed him in the rear of a cruiser. He was found unconscious a short time later.
Two of the police officers involved in the Owensby arrest were indicted. The FOP's Mr. Fangman said that should be proof that there is no investigative coverup when it comes to alleged police misconduct.
Mr. Fangman said he can understand the public anger in the Owensby and Thomas cases. They are upset because the grand jury process doesn't allow questions to be answered right now.
“I can understand the frustration,” Mr. Fangman said. “But two officers have been indicted. That's hardly a coverup.”
Roger Owensby Sr. said Saturday the lack of answers in his son's death has been difficult to deal with. The Thomas shooting has made his son's death fresh again, he said. He blames police for both deaths.
“I still to this day don't even know why they stopped him,” Mr. Owensby said. “It's old wounds. This brought it back.
“The police are out of hand. They don't give anybody a chance.”
Investigations into the incident continue.
Jeffrey Irons
Nov. 8, 2000
Jeffrey Irons had been staying in an Over-the-Rhine homeless shelter when he went into the Pleasant Ridge IGA supermarket on Nov. 8, 2000, and allegedly stole deodorant and shaving cream.
Rather than surrender to officers who caught up with him, the 30-year-old Mr. Irons struggled, police say.
Mr. Irons grabbed a sergeant's gun and shot Officer Tim Pappas in the hand. Another officer, Frederick Gilmer, shot and killed Mr. Irons.
Mr. Irons' death received more and less attention than usual because it happened a day after Roger Owensby died in police custody.
The shooting led to several African-American leaders calling for federal intervention into police department practices.
The U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney's Office and FBI are still investigating the shooting.
Adam Wheeler
Jan. 31, 2001
Adam Wheeler
Adam Wheeler was wanted on three open felony warrants when he slammed his Donahoe Avenue apartment door in the face of a police officer investigating a drug complaint on Jan. 31, 2001.
The incident touched off a shootout with Cincinnati police that ended in Mr. Wheeler's death.
Mr. Wheeler allegedly screamed, “You want a war? You got a war.” He then fired all six shots from his gun.
Officer Craig Gregoire, the 26-year-old son of a police captain, retreated into a bathroom during the shooting and noticed he was bleeding. He was treated at University Hospital and released.
Mr. Wheeler had just been released from prison, after being sentenced to seven months in August for possession of drugs. He'd gotten the same sentence for the same crime in 1999, and served some time then.
Rev. Steven Keith Wheeler, Adam Wheeler's uncle who lives in the West End, said his nephew wasn't trying to start a war. But he was fighting one on the inside — a war against drug addiction.
“Adam was not stupid,” Rev. Wheeler said. “He was not trying to start a war. If he was trying to do that, he would have had more ammunition. He was intent on ending one, one that raged heavy inside his soul.”
Timothy Thomas
April 7, 2001
Timothy Thomas
Timothy Thomas ran from police twice before. Both times, he got away.
Mr. Thomas, 19, knew he had more than a dozen misdemeanor warrants out for his arrest and he knew police were looking for him. On April 7, he knew he'd been spotted by two off-duty officers working outside The Warehouse nightclub on Vine Street.
Mr. Thomas took off, and the chase was on. The officers called in backups. Twelve officers joined in. Police said Mr. Thomas jumped fences and darted behind buildings, finally turning down an alley off Republic Street, one of the city's most dangerous.
Officer Steve Roach was joining the pursuit from the other direction. He saw Mr. Thomas emerge from behind a building at the end of the alley and told authorities that Mr. Thomas was reaching for something in his waistband. He thought his life was in danger.
Officer Roach fired one fatal shot, hitting Mr. Thomas in the chest. No weapon was found on Mr. Thomas.
All evidence in the case is under seal. Hamilton County prosecutors say they will present the case to a grand jury this week.
The shooting touched off a week of protests and violence unlike any seen since the 1968 Avondale riots that followed the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King. That riot, on April 8, 1968, ended with two dead, 220 arrested and $3 million in property damage.
Anthony Hayes
Anthony Hayes, 38, was shot to death by New Orleans police after lunging at police with a 3-inch blade. The incident began when Hayes' credit card was rejected at a drug store. Hayes punched a clerk or manager. The first two officers on the scene tried to calm Hayes, who became aggressive and pulled a knife, and 16 more officers came to help, the chief said. Now, he’s up against 18 officers. 18 officers! One Black man with a 3 inch knife against 18 mutha f----- police officers. They fired nine shots after Hayes tried to stab a lieutenant..
Hayes' relatives told television stations that he was schizophrenic. Sell-out Police Chief Riley said the officers would have went against their police training if they had aimed to fire a non-lethal shot, like somewhere in the leg or arm.The officers are trained to treat knife attacks as deadly force and are have no training in disarming suspects with knives.
(Well don’t you think they should be?!) Riley went on to say "The vast majority of police departments — state, local and federal — are trained to shoot-to-kill ... either the head or the chest area,".
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