San Francisco faces civil rights lawsuit over woman's arrest based on DNA from her rape kit
A San Francisco woman whose DNA from a sexual assault examination was used by police five years later to arrest her in connection with an unrelated property crime, spurring a backlash and attempts to ban the practice, has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city.
The woman, who is in her 20s and is referred to as Jane Doe in the lawsuit filed Monday, said police assured her when she reported a sexual assault in November 2016 that her DNA wouldn't be used for purposes outside the investigation.
However, according to the lawsuit, San Francisco police kept her DNA in a database until at least February 2022 and "tested it in hundreds, if not thousands of cases" by comparing it with DNA evidence collected from crime scenes.
That month, then-Dist. Atty. Chesa Boudin announced his office had found that the San Francisco Police Department crime lab had been using the database of victims' DNA to connect some of them to crimes. He called for an end to a practice he said was "legally and ethically wrong."
State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) introduced a bill in February that would ban law enforcement from using DNA gathered as part of sexual assault and rape examinations against victims.
The bill, SB 1228, was passed by the Legislature and is at Gov. Gavin Newsom's desk.
Re: COPS behaving badly
Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2022 3:30 am
by Greatgrey
Ms. Breanna Strauss got a 10 hour (1 shift) suspension without pay.
southpaw @nycsouthpaw wrote:
Villanueva apparently thought the best way to fight the growing consensus that LASD is a corrupt, brutal force lousy with gangs was to have the agency execute a search of the homes of members of its own civilian oversight board
Kate Cagle @KateCagle wrote:
Breaking: Sheriff’s deputies are taking boxes from Civilian Oversight Commissioner Patty Giggin’s Los Angeles home, part of a sprawling investigation that includes Metro and Supervisor Sheila Kuehl. The COC has held a series of investigative hearings into alleged gangs in LASD.
Re: COPS behaving badly
Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2022 5:46 am
by pipistrelle
Re: COPS behaving badly
Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2022 9:12 am
by Tiredretiredlawyer
That looks like evidence in the next police brutality case.
Re: COPS behaving badly
Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2022 8:11 pm
by RTH10260
Weld County crash video shows train hitting police car with woman inside
By Matt Moret and Paolo Zialcita
· Today, 12:55 pm
The Fort Lupton Police Department has released body camera footage from the night of a train crash that severely injured a 20-year-old woman last week.
According to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, a Platteville police officer pulled over Maria Rios-Gonzalez in Weld County, near Highway 85 and County Road 38, after an alleged road rage incident involving a gun. Two Fort Lupton police officers later arrived at the scene and placed the suspect in the back of the Platteville officer’s car, which was illegally parked on railroad tracks.
While the three officers were searching Rios-Gonzalez’s pickup truck, a train blowing its horn hit the patrol car she was inside. CBI said Rios-Gonzalez suffered “serious bodily injuries,” including multiple broken ribs and a fractured sternum.
An 8-minute video of the Sept. 17 crash was shared Friday by Jeremy Jojola of 9News. He said Fort Lupton police edited down the recording from 21 hours of footage recorded from multiple perspectives. The clip appears to match the CBI account.
BAY CITY, MI — Officials have confirmed Bay City Public Safety Director Michael J. Cecchini was placed on administrative leave after he had a heated exchange with riders of Bird Scooters, an incident recorded on video.
The director’s conduct, as depicted in the footage, has also resulted in an investigation by Michigan State Police.
The incident in question occurred about 10:20 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 17, in front of Rivers Edge Apartments on Ninth Street in Uptown Bay City. It involved Cecchini and three people — ages 18 and 19 — riding Bird Scooters.
The mother of one of the teens spoke to MLive-The Bay City Times on condition of anonymity due to her professed fear of reprisal.
“They were riding Bird Scooters and went to leave the area,” she said. To avoid hitting one of his friends, a male teen applied his brakes, causing the tires to squeak. The rider also knocked over a construction cone, which the teens put back up, the mother said.
Cecchini “started screaming over the balcony and threatening them,” she said. “Nothing they were doing was in need of that kind of reaction.”
The female teen present recorded video footage when Cecchini came down to the sidewalk to confront them. The teen provided the footage to MLive-The Bay City Times, also on condition of anonymity.
“I’m gonna beat your ass, and then I’m gonna take you to jail,” Cecchini says.
North Carolina sheriff under investigation after racist rants exposed
On Wednesday, WECT reported that the sheriff of Columbus County, North Carolina is under investigation after a subordinate recorded his racist rant against multiple Black officials in a phone call.
"On one end of the phone was Columbus County Sheriff Jody Greene. On the other was then-Captain Jason Soles, who had just been tapped to lead the Sheriff’s Office while elections officials investigated a complaint questioning whether Greene was eligible to serve as sheriff," the report stated. "Greene wanted to know who in the department had communicated with Lewis Hatcher, the former sheriff whom Greene had narrowly defeated in the election, and Melvin Campbell, a recently-fired sergeant, both of whom are African-American. In Greene’s words, they had a 'snitch' in the office, leaking information to his political opponent who had sued to be reinstated until the election protests were resolved."
“I’m sick of it. I’m sick of these black bastards,” Greene said over the call. “I’m going to clean house and be done with it. And we’ll start from there.”
"'This one particular phone call that received, he made the comment that he hated Democrats," explained Soles, who is now running for Columbus County Sheriff against Greene. "And then he said, ‘I take that back. I hate a black f***ing Democrat.’ And, and I knew right then, I was like, ‘Wow, this is coming from the sheriff.’ And, I had to start recording those conversations."
COPS behaving badly
Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2022 11:28 am
by RTH10260
$100 Million Lawsuit Filed In Case Of Man Paralyzed While In New Haven Police Custody Officers failed to safely restrain Randy Cox while he was handcuffed in the back of a police van in June, the suit alleges.
Lawyers representing a Black man who became paralyzed while in police custody over the summer sued the New Haven Police Department for $100 million on Tuesday.
The suit alleges that an officer failed to safely restrain Randy Cox while he was handcuffed in the back of a police van in June, and that four other officers contributed to injuries while transporting Cox at a police detention center. Cox suffered permanent paralysis below his neck, cervical spine injuries, contusions and injury to his muscle, spinal cord injury, permanent scarring and several other bodily injuries.
“Can you imagine what it is like trying to get him here and to the hospital now? Can you imagine what they have to go through?” civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who is representing Cox’s family, said Tuesday during a news conference in New Haven. “He is a human being. Look at the humanity in him. We have a tradition in America of discounting people of color, marginalizing their value.”
Cox, 36, has been in and out of the hospital since the incident, and his family has taken care of him. Crump said he was seeking such a high sum because Cox would need $20 million to $30 million just to ensure his “basic quality of life.”
“I want justice for my son,” Cox’s mother, Doreen Coleman, said at the press conference. “He cannot do anything for himself, and I am the one that is here most of the time helping him drink and helping eat food.”
Rebecca Kavanagh @DrRJKavanagh wrote:
LAPD officer Houston Tipping died after a training exercise during which he was beaten & slammed to the ground by other cops. Now his lawyer says at the time he died he was investigating a gang rape by 4 cops, at least one of whom was part of the exercise.
The officer's death had been ruled accidental by the coroner.
COPS behaving badly
Posted: Wed Oct 05, 2022 1:51 pm
by RTH10260
Cops drive head-on into car with mom and kids, she says. They thought it was someone else
Alison Cutler
Tue, October 4, 2022 at 11:17 PM·
Jamee Kimble was driving in on Oct. 1 when she and her kids were struck head-on by a police car going around 10 mph in Virginia. It wasn’t an accident.
“They had me hold both of my hands out the car window while they pointed a gun at me screaming that I could become a threat if I moved, in front of my kids,” Kimble said in an Instagram post documenting the confrontation in Fairfax County.
Kimble was then handcuffed and put into the back of the police vehicle, she said.
Kimble had been at the hospital having her Cesarean section birth just days before the encounter with police, which she said was her alibi for the questions they had asked her.
In the end, police publicly confirmed it: Kimble was not who they were looking for.
Officials confirmed that the vehicle Kimble was inside was involved in an incident in Arlington County, prompting the traffic stop, the release said. However, when officers realized that neither Kimble, nor any other occupants of the car, were involved in the incident and did not own the car, they were released.
COPS behaving badly
Posted: Wed Oct 05, 2022 4:51 pm
by Phoenix520
“ …similar to one…” are good words to insert.
COPS behaving badly
Posted: Wed Oct 05, 2022 6:42 pm
by RTH10260
Parole officers behaving badly
COPS behaving badly
Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2022 4:37 pm
by raison de arizona
I dunno what all is going on here, I've never heard of impounding in anticipation of a future search warrant (is that a thing?) But that dude is definitely not stoned.
ChudsOfTikTok @ChudsOfTikTok wrote:
Wow, watch these police officers harass a black man for "the odor of marijuana" even after a police dog checked & found nothing. Impounding his vehicle for a “FUTURE SEARCH WARRANT”
The San Antonio Current article has the following disclaimer:
Editor's Note: This story was edited to reflect that it's unclear from the body-cam video whether the driver put his car in reverse or it rolled backward because his foot left the brake pedal. The word "suspect" has also been removed and other details have been edited to more accurately reflect what can be seen in the video.
Watching the video, the driver clearly shifts the car into reverse, moves his hand to the steering wheel and starts turning the wheel as the car starts moving. While it isn't clear from the body cam, it does seem possible that the open door hit the officer (although it couldn't have done much more than clip him a little). Since a modern car cannot be shifted from PARK to REVERSE without the brake being pressed, along with the turning of the wheel, the driver's intent to back away seems clear. Obviously this does not justify even the first five shots, but accurately describing and interpreting the facts seems like it's important in an officer-involved shooting.
COPS behaving badly
Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2022 9:23 pm
by Volkonski
COPS behaving badly
Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2022 10:05 pm
by raison de arizona
So nice to see a swift reaction as opposed to paid leave.
COPS behaving badly
Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2022 10:23 pm
by Slarti the White
raison de arizona wrote: ↑Tue Oct 11, 2022 10:05 pm
So nice to see a swift reaction as opposed to paid leave.
Given the video showing how egregious the shooting was, I'm not surprised that they aren't wasting any time.
