• Locations

  • Tags

Tag: police officer

Former Police Officer Jason Stockley

Perpetrator

Victim

Date:

December 20, 2011

Location:

St. Louis, Missouri


What happened:

Officer Jason Stockley shot 24-year-old Anthony Lamar Smith five times while Smith tried to flee from Stockley on Dec. 20, 2011, following an alleged drug deal. During the pursuit, Stockley could be heard saying on an internal police car video he was going to kill Smith, prosecutors said. At Stockley’s direction, the driver of the police car slammed into Smith’s vehicle and they came to a stop, court documents said. Stockley then approached Smith’s car and shot him five times with his service weapon. Stockley’s lawyers said he fired in self-defense, believing Smith was reaching for a gun. Stockly later stated he saw Smith holding a gun and felt he was in imminent danger. But prosecutors said the only gun recovered from the scene had only Stockley’s DNA on it. Prosecutors stated Stockley planted a gun in Smith’s car after he shot him. Stockley waived his right to a jury trial, allowing the circuit judge Timothy Wilson to decide. Stockley, 36 at the time, could have been sentenced to up to life in prison without parole. Stockley left the St Louis Police Department in 2013, after a suspension for carrying his own AK-47 pistol, and moved to Houston, Texas. Stockley was not charged with Smith’s death until 2016 after new evidence emerged from the St. Louis city police and the FBI. According to the circuit attorney’s office, the St. Louis police’s internal affairs investigators contacted them in March 2016 with this new evidence that ultimately made the prosecutor pursue charges.


About The Perpetrator:

A West Point graduate who served with the Army in Iraq, Stockley said that his job as a St. Louis cop grew so dangerous, he began carrying unauthorized weapons with extra rounds.


About The Victim:

Anthony Lamar Smith was a 24 year old African American male at the time of his murder.


Outcome:

On 9/11/2017, the city’s black police organization, the Ethical Society of Police, issued a letter calling for Stockley’s conviction based on the “physical evidence, circumstantial evidence, questionable tactics, and numerous violations of SLMPD policies/procedures”. Despite their call for justice, Missouri judge Timothy Wilson ruled on Friday (9/15/2017) that former St. Louis police officer Jason Stockley was not guilty of murder in the 2011 shooting of a black man, which sent hundreds of protesters to the city’s streets to voice their anger. Jason Stockley, 36, was acquitted of first-degree murder for killing Anthony Lamar Smith, 24. The former policeman, who was arrested in May 2016, was accused of planting a gun in Smith’s car but testified he acted in self-defense. The attorney for Smith’s fiance, Christina Wilson, said his client was appalled by the decision. Al Watkins said the ruling showed prejudice, pointing to a line where the judge wrote that an “urban heroin dealer” without a weapon would be an anomaly. Thomas Harvey of Arch City Defenders, a St Louis civil rights law firm, said: “If police can announce they are going to murder, carry personal AK-47s, plant weapons and shoot unarmed people five times at close range with no consequences, no black man in America is safe.” Jeffrey A. Mittman, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri, said Smith “died unnecessarily” in 2011. Mittman stated further, “This region — and our country as a whole — have seen too many deaths caused by police, with little accountability for the officers or department involved.” Smith’s family settled a lawsuit filed against the city for $900,000 in 2013, according to the family’s lawyer, Albert Watkins. Ever mindful about the alarming trend where grand juries decline to charge officers involved in fatal shootings such as the 2014 fatal shooting of Michael Brown, 18, in Ferguson, near St. Louis, and the choking death of Eric Garner, 43, in New York. Baltimore police officers also were not convicted in the case of Freddie Gray, who died from a broken neck suffered in a police van in 2015. Brown’s father, Michael Brown Sr., voiced his frustration after Stockley’s verdict, saying to a St. Louis Fox tv station, “You all know this ain’t right and you all continue to do this to us…Like we don’t mean nothing, like we’re rats, trash, dogs in the streets. Right now, I’m praying for my city because my people are tired of this.”

Sources:


Officer Sean Williams

Perpetrator

Victim

Date:

August 5 2014

Location:

Beavercreek, Ohio


What happened:

A white Ohio police officer fatally shot a black man, John Crawford III, in a Walmart store on August 5 2014 after Crawford took a bb/pellet gun off a Walmart store shelf. Williams and his partner were called to the store after someone made a 911 call claiming someone was waving a rifle in the air of the store. Officer Williams later claimed he believed he faced an “imminent threat”, although he acknowledges he and his partner didn’t observe anyone running, screaming or in pain and didn’t hear or smell gunfire ever. Moreover, he never saw Crawford point (what turned out to be a pellet gun) or threaten anyone. Additionally, Ohio is an “open carry state”. Crawford was only 22 years of age when murdered and left behind two sons- nearly 2-year-old John Henry IV and 5-month-old Jayden. Another Walmart shopper Angela Williams, 37, who worked at a Springfield nursing home, died of a heart condition after Officer Williams fired his weapon and she tried to flee the store. Williams, a nine-year veteran on the force, was involved in Beavercreek’s first fatal police-involved shooting on June 27, 2010. In that shooting, Williams shot and killed retired Air Force Master Sgt. Scott A. Brogli, 45, after the man allegedly charged him and another officer while carrying a large kitchen knife. Brogli died from a single gunshot wound to the chest, as his 17-year-old son watched the incident unfold.


About The Perpetrator:

Sean Williams is a white male.


About The Victim:

John Crawford III, an African American male, was only 22 years of age when murdered and left behind two sons- nearly 2-year-old John Henry IV and 5-month-old Jayden.


Outcome:

The DOJ Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Southern Ohio conducted an investigation and informed the public on July 11, 2017 that evidence from their investigation was “insufficient to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Officer Williams violated [Crawford’s] federal civil rights. As a result, a grand jury in Greene County declined to indict Officer Williams on charges of reckless homicide or negligent homicide. Officer Williams was placed on desk duty after the shooting but was immediately placed back on full active duty at the conclusion of the DOJ investigation per the Beavercreek Police Chief’s orders.

John Crawford III’s family has filed a civil suit which is ongoing. The initial civil lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Dayton by members of Crawford’s family, listed 17 counts against the defendants, ranging from assault and battery against the officers directly involved in the shooting, to negligent training and supervision against Evers and the city of Beavercreek, to negligence against Wal-Mart, as well as other charges. In the lawsuit documents, the family asked for a jury trial and compensatory damages in excess of $75,000.


Sources:

Ohio Police Officer Who Shot and Killed Black 22yo Says He Faced 'Iminent Threat';  Beavercreek Officer Who Shot John Crawford III back on 'Full Duty';  Officer Who Killed Walmart Shopper Carrying Air Rifle Won't Face Federal Charges;  Beavercreek Police Officer Darkow Back on Job;  Beavercreek Officers Granted Third Lawsuit Delay; 

Officer Justin D’Amico

Perpetrator

Victim

Date:

2014-07-17

Location:

Staten Island, New York

 


What happened:

On July 17, 2014, Eric Garner died in Staten Island, New York City, after a New York City Police Department (NYPD) officer Pantaleo put him in a headlock or chokehold for about 15 to 19 seconds while arresting him. Placing suspects in a chokehold is a tactic banned by the department since 1993. Officer Pantaleo denied choking Garner, but the New York City Medical Examiner’s Office report stated “Cause of Death: Compression of neck (choke hold), compression of chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by police” and “Contributing Conditions: Acute and chronic bronchial asthma; Obesity; Hypertensive cardiovascular disease”. The medical examiner ruled Garner’s death a homicide–“a death caused by the intentional actions of another person or persons, which is not necessarily an intentional death or a criminal death.”

NYPD officers approached Garner on suspicion of selling single cigarettes from packs without tax stamps. After Garner told the police that he was tired of being harassed and that he was not selling cigarettes, the officers went to arrest Garner. When officer Daniel Pantaleo tried to take Garner’s wrist behind his back, Garner pulled his arms away. Pantaleo then put his arm around Garner’s neck and took him down onto the ground. After Pantaleo removed his arm from Garner’s neck, he pushed the side of Garner’s face into the ground while four officers moved to restrain Garner, who repeated “I can’t breathe” eleven times while lying facedown on the sidewalk. After Garner lost consciousness, officers turned him onto his side to ease his breathing. Garner remained lying on the sidewalk for seven minutes while the officers waited for an ambulance to arrive.

The officers and emergency medical technicians did not perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on Garner at the scene; according to a spokesman for the PBA, this was because they believed that Garner was breathing and that it would be improper to perform CPR on someone who was still breathing. He was pronounced dead at the hospital approximately one hour later.


About The Perpetrator:


About The Victim:


Outcome:

After the shooting, Justin D’Amico, was assigned to desk work, but did not have his gun and badge taken away. D’Amico also testified before the panel and was given immunity from prosecution. 

On December 3, 2014, the Richmond County grand jury decided not to indict Pantaleo. On that day, the United States Department of Justice announced it would conduct an independent investigation. The event stirred public protests and rallies, with charges of police brutality made by protesters. By December 28, 2014, at least 50 demonstrations had been held nationwide specifically for Garner while hundreds of demonstrations against general police brutality counted Garner as a focal point.

On July 13, 2015, an out-of-court settlement was announced in which the City of New York would pay the Garner family $5.9 million.

Sources:


Officer Justin D’Amico is a white male. He wason the force four years prior to the murder of Eric Garner.

Officer Stephen Roach

Perpetrator

Victim

Date:

2001-04-07

Location:

Cincinnati, Ohio


What happened:

In April of 2001, Thomas- an unarmed black 19-year-old- was shot by a white officer, Stephen Roach, in Cincinnati. Was wanted for traffic violations and was fleeing.  Mr. Thomas had been wanted on 14 warrants, including traffic charges and fleeing the police. On the night of the shooting, he ran from three other officers and scaled fences in a neighborhood plagued by drugs and violence according to Roach’s lawyer.


About The Perpetrator:


About The Victim:


Outcome:

The officer, Stephen Roach, had been charged with negligent homicide and obstructing official business in the death of Timothy Thomas, 19, whom he shot in a dark alley early on April 7. Judge Ralph E. Winkler of Hamilton County Municipal Court pronounced sentence after hearing the trial without a jury. Officer Roach did not testify. ”This shooting was a split-second reaction to a very dangerous situation created by Timothy Thomas,” Judge Winkler said. ”Police Officer Roach’s action was reasonable.” The judge said Officer Roach had an unblemished record, while Mr. Thomas had been wanted on a variety of warrants and did not respond to an order to show his hands. Roach was acquitted. Eight hundred arrests were made in the ensuing riots.

The City of Cincinnati, Fraternal Order of Police and Black United Front were among groups in 2002 that signed the Collaborative Agreement, which brought sweeping reforms to the police department. It would change how it tracked and recorded its use of force, modify foot-pursuit policies and add computers to cruisers. The emphasis would now be community-oriented policing.

 

Sources:


Stephen Roach, was a 27 year old city policeman at the time of Thomas’s death. 

He had been a city police officer since 1997.