A WEB SITE WAS ESTABLISHED BY THE WILLIAMS' FAMILY'S AND THEIR ATTORNEY,TO DOCUMENT THE INJURIES SUFFERED BY JESSIE
LEE WILLIAMS, JR., AND TO ASK ALL WITNESSES TO COME FORWARD. JESSIE'S FAMILY WISHES TO SHOW THE WORLD WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM.
Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us
not into temptation. But deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom. The power and the glory. Forever. Amen.
> STATEMENT OF TERRY WILLIAMS 2-14-06 -JESSIE'S BROTHER
GULFPORT - Former Harrison County jailer Ryan Teel and his attorney entered the federal courthouse in Gulfport this morning
ahead of a hearing where four indictments were expected to be presented in the ongoing probe of inmate-abuse allegations at
the jail and the fatal beating of Jessie Lee Williams Jr.
The hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge John M. Roper was scheduled to begin at 10 a.m., according to Assistant District
Attorney Charlie Wood. Accusations
Six former deputies from the Harrison County jail had been ordered into federal
court since August 2006, when the first of five entered plea agreements in the Williams beating or a related conspiracy to
deprive inmates of their civil rights.
Williams, 40, of Gulfport, died Feb. 6, 2006, two days after a beating in the
jail booking room.
Ryan Michael Teel, who was the officer in charge of the booking room the night of the beating, has pleaded not guilty to
criminal accusations involving Williams' death and an alleged cover-up. He awaits trial, set for May 28. Teel, arrested by
the FBI on Aug. 28, 2006, was released from jail March 6 to home confinement and a $250,000 unsecured bond. Unsecured bonds,
typical in federal court, don't have to be paid unless a defendant fails to appear in court when called.
The five who have pleaded guilty await sentencing. Regina Lynn Rhodes has admitted she helped beat Williams. Morgan Lee
Thompson has admitted he restrained Williams for part of the assault.
In the other plea agreements, Dedri Yulon Caldwell, Thomas Preston Wills and William Jeffery Priest have confirmed the
other defendants' statements that hundreds of inmates have been victims of excessive, unnecessary force and intimidation by
certain jailers for a period of at least five years.
The five who await sentencing have unsecured bonds of $25,000 each.
A related wrongful-death lawsuit filed as a
civil case names as defendants several other jail employees at higher ranks, including Sheriff George H. Payne Jr. The civil
lawsuit has been put on hold pending resolution of the criminal investigation.
--------------------------------
MORE INDICTMENTS HANDED DOWN MARCH 23, 2007
GULFPORT - Former Harrison County jailer Ryan Michael Teel learned of indictments on four new counts in the ongoing probe
of inmate-abuse allegations at the jail and the fatal beating of Jessie Lee Williams Jr., and James Ricky Gaston, a sheriff's
department captain on leave of absence, learned of indictments on three counts at a hearing in federal court this morning. Former
deputies Daniel Evans and Karl W. Stolze learned of their indictment before U.S. Magistrate Judge John M. Roper. They all
are officially detained pending a bond hearing later today. All face trial set for May 29.
The amended indictment against Teel includes one count of conspiring against the rights of citizens, two of depriving persons
of their civil rights and one of obstruction, alteration or falsification of federal records. Gaston, the highest ranking
member of the department charged to date, faces a count of conspiring against the rights of citizens and two counts of depriving
persons of their civil rights. Evans and Stolze are charged with one count each of conspiring against the rights of citizens.
Both face possible life sentences in prison and fines of up to $250,000. Teel and Gaston face life sentences and fines
up to $250,000 for conspiring against the rights of citizens, and sentences up to 10 years and fines of up to $250,000 for
depriving persons of their civil rights. Teel's charge of obstruction could be penalized by a 20-year prison sentence and
$250,000 fines. With Friday's indictments, nine people have been charged or pleaded guilty to criminal information.
Before Friday, six former deputies from the Harrison County jail had been ordered into federal court since August 2006,
when the first of five entered plea agreements in the Williams beating or a related conspiracy to deprive inmates of their
civil rights. Williams, 40, of Gulfport, died Feb. 6, 2006, two days after a beating in the jail booking room. Teel,
who was the officer in charge of the booking room the night of the beating, has pleaded not guilty to criminal accusations
involving Williams' death and an alleged cover-up. He awaits trial, set for May 28. Teel, arrested by the FBI on Aug. 28,
2006, was released from jail March 6 to home confinement and a $250,000 unsecured bond. Unsecured bonds, typical in federal
court, don't have to be paid unless a defendant fails to appear in court when called.
The five who have pleaded guilty
await sentencing. Regina Lynn Rhodes has admitted she helped beat Williams. Morgan Lee Thompson has admitted he restrained
Williams for part of the assault. In the other plea agreements, Dedri Yulon Caldwell, Thomas Preston Wills and William
Jeffery Priest have confirmed the other defendants' statements that hundreds of inmates have been victims of excessive, unnecessary
force and intimidation by certain jailers for a period of at least five years. The five who await sentencing have unsecured
bonds of $25,000 each. A related wrongful-death lawsuit filed as a civil case names as defendants several other jail employees
at higher ranks, including Sheriff George H. Payne Jr. The civil lawsuit has been put on hold pending resolution of the criminal
investigation.
======================
Williams anniversary will be solemn
A year ago today, Jessie Lee Williams Jr. died. The one-year anniversary of his death will pass without fanfare.
His
family wants it that way. They want to remember his life and mourn his death in private without doing or saying anything to
harm the federal investigation involving his death, his brother Terry said Saturday.
A year ago tonight, Williams was
taken to the Harrison County jail on misdemeanor charges. Relatives have said he was arrested after he argued with a teenager
who took his radio at a barbecue. He was beaten while restrained in the jail booking room. Williams slipped into a coma and
died when taken off life-support two days later.
"The family is calling for quiet, solemn prayer in remembrance of what happened," said Michael W. Crosby, lead attorney
for Williams' estate.
"We're closely monitoring the federal prosecution and don't want to jeopardize the proceedings
because we are convinced that they are taking their proper course. We have been kept apprised of the developments by the U.S.
Attorney's Office."
Williams, 40, lived in Gulfport. His survivors include seven children.
Investigation into
Williams' death has gone beyond his beating. A fired jailer in August 2006 admitted her role in the beating with a guilty
plea in federal court. She broke the code of silence involving a several-year conspiracy to deprive rights of inmates under
color of law.
Since then four other former jailers have pleaded guilty. A sixth jailer, Ryan Teel, awaits trial behind
bars. He is accused of being the one who tried to kill Williams.
The Sun Herald on Friday filed a related lawsuit alleging
violations of the Mississippi Public Records Act. The lawsuit claims the newspaper has been wrongfully denied access to public
records of state agencies because of the federal investigation. The lawsuit seeks information and correspondence involving
county jail prisoners' grievances against jailers and other inmates. It also seeks a copy of the videotape that recorded Williams'
beating.
Named as defendants are the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, the Harrison County Sheriff's Department
and Harrison County Sheriff George H. Payne Jr.
The wrongful-death lawsuit for Williams' estate was placed on hold
July 23, 2006, because of the federal investigation.
U.S. Attorney Dunn Lampton said last week he believes the investigation
is nearing its end.
__________________________
Sun Herald sues over jail records Public Records Act violations alleged
GULFPORT -
Named as defendants are the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, the Harrison County Sheriff's Department
and Harrison County Sheriff George H. Payne Jr.
The lawsuit claims the defendants are in violation of the Mississippi
Public Records Act by denying access to complaints made by prisoners reporting abuse by officers and by other inmates.
The
lawsuit also claims the newspaper has been wrongly denied access to a copy of the videotape that recorded the fatal beating
of inmate Jessie Lee Williams Jr. The newspaper has filed several public-records requests for information, including the videotape,
since the Feb. 4, 2006, beating at the jail. Most of the requests have been denied, with the respective agencies basing their
denial on a related investigation.
"These issues have been hidden from the public, the public has been misled and we
need to open up to the public how the jail is run because of the abuses that have happened there," said Henry Laird, attorney
for the Sun Herald.
Since August 2006, five former Harrison County corrections officers have pleaded guilty to conspiring,
under color of law, to deprive inmates of their rights with the use of excessive and unnecessary force. A sixth former jailer
remains in custody awaiting trial and could be prosecuted under the federal death penalty.The Sun Herald on Friday filed a
lawsuit for access to public records and correspondence involving prisoner-abuse complaints at the Harrison County jail. "We're
doing this because law enforcement has attempted to convert records that are normally not used in a criminal investigation
into records they say now are being used in a criminal investigation," Laird said.
"Once it's a public record, we say
it doesn't lose that characteristic simply because another law enforcement agency needs those records to investigate crimes.
We're not interfering with investigation of a crime. We just want to see what the records show in this important public issue."
The
lawsuit was filed in the name of Gulf Publishing Co., Inc., which publishes the Sun Herald and is a subsidiary of The McClatchy
Company.
The newspaper is asking that a Chancery Court judge order the documents be brought into chambers for a private
review. If the judge agrees with the newspaper, the judge could order the documents produced or copied.
The Sun Herald
also asked the Department of Public Safety for copies of correspondence between its agency and the Sheriff's Department involving
inmate grievances.
The sheriff, through his attorney, Cy Faneca, at first agreed to allow the newspaper to inspect
and copy inmate grievances, according to the lawsuit. However, the lawsuit alleges the sheriff changed his mind after the
Department of Justice said the correspondence should not be disclosed because of the ongoing federal investigation into Williams'
death.
"Law enforcement agencies in our state often take the erroneous position in saying many of its records are not
public records," Laird said, "and very often we don't get access to many public records a law enforcement agency maintains,
and that is not right. Just because a record is held within a law enforcement agency does not mean it is exempt from disclosure
under the Public Records Act."
Faneca said he has not seen the lawsuit and could not comment.
The sheriff did
provide access to some of the documents requested. The Sun Herald will be reporting from those documents in the near future.
"ALL WE WANT IS ANSWERS" "IT'S LIKE OUR DADDY WAS A NOBODY."
PICTURED: 6 OF HIS 7 KIDS.Jessie Lee Williams Jr.'s children Cornelius McCall, 16, from left, Jessie 'Day Day' Williams
III, 13, Alexis Williams, 13, Jessie 'Man Man' McCall II, 18, Quamaine Williams, 14, and Ashlae Ratcliff, 10, want to know
what happened to their father the night of Feb. 4, 2006, in the Harrison County Detention Center
NOT A NOBODY Williams loved life, his kids, laughter and music
GULFPORT - He wasn't much for having
his picture taken. But one afternoon in February, with family photos destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, Jessie Lee Williams Jr.
began making phone calls to gather his children for their first family portrait.
The next night, before plans were
finalized, a disturbance at a barbecue set in motion a chain of events that led to his fatal beating in the booking room at
the Harrison County jail.
Three months later, no one has been arrested and the only official word is a death certificate
ruling it a homicide. Relatives, including his seven children, say they share growing frustrations and confusion. According
to a civil lawsuit and witnesses' interviews with the Sun Herald, Williams was beaten by jailers and tortured while restrained.
Relatives wonder why authorities remain silent and why they can't see jail surveillance tapes from Feb. 4, the night
the 40-year-old from Gulfport was taken in on misdemeanor charges. Reports show he left the jail by ambulance, comatose, in
less than 90 minutes, with his features so swollen and distorted relatives didn't recognize him at the hospital.
The
Jessie Williams relatives remember was fun-loving and witty. A country boy at heart. A ladies' man. A mechanic. A "neat fanatic"
who liked to clean house and fish, but loved spending time with his children and livening up "a yard party" - a barbecue -
with blues music and lots of laughter, said his brother, Terry, 37.
"He could make you laugh and he wouldn't even
have to say anything to do it," said Jessie Williams III, one of two sons whose mothers named them after their father.
"It's
re-al," the 13-year-old said in a dramatic tone with head and hand motions that set his siblings to laughing as he demonstrated
his resemblance to his father during a recent interview.
The family asked attorneys to organize a vigil for May 15,
the 100th day of the beating.
"The children loved him so much," said attorney Michael W. Crosby. "They're confused
over how authorities view the value of the life of a man. Jessie wasn't a policeman, but if he had killed a policeman, he
would have been charged quickly. By authorities' failure to hold anyone accountable for their daddy's death, the children
fear he is considered a nobody. But his life mattered. The vigil will show the children their daddy
was somebody and
their love for him was not misplaced."
Children's memories
Williams drew a disability check based on a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia. His children
said he did what he could to help them but, best of all, he spent time with them.
Among the five sons' memories are
how Williams "liked to kick it," to hang out while driving around with them. It wasn't the destination that mattered, they
said, but the time together.
"But he'd have us go home when it was time for him to party," said Quamaine Williams,
14.
Jessie III recalled a trip to buy them a go-cart. They couldn't find one, so Williams took them out to eat shrimp.
The two girls enjoyed their father taking them shopping. Alexis Williams, 11, said he bought her the clothes and shoes
she wanted. Ashlae Ratcliff, 10, remembers shopping for candy.
The eldest, Jessie McCall, 18, smiled recalling how
his father remodeled a bedroom just for him before he was born. "He could fix anything you put in front of him," said
Jermaine Ratcliff, 17.
Cornelius McCall, 16, said his father advised the children to make wise choices.
"He
wanted me to stay out of trouble and not throw my life away," Cornelius said.
Terry Williams said his brother "wished
he'd taken a different path on certain matters that he chose."
Resignation questions
Jailer's departure unexplained By ROBIN FITZGERALD
rfitzgerald@sunherald.com GULFPORT - The attorney for a former jailer accused in the wrongful death of an inmate won't say
why the jailer resigned. Ryan Teel, 29, is among five jailers identified in a civil lawsuit as participating in or failing
to stop the alleged beating and torture of Jessie Lee Williams Jr. at the Harrison County jail booking room. No charges
have been filed, but Teel is accused of delivering the majority of the blows Feb. 4 that left Williams beaten beyond recognition,
his skull crushed, and injuries inflicted on even the most private areas of his body, according to medical records and the
civil lawsuit. Teel's attorney maintains he is innocent. The attorney for Williams' estate claims the death, ruled
a homicide, is the result of "malicious and sadistic acts" performed by officers sworn to protect those awaiting their day
in court. He also says he's perplexed and outraged over the lack of official response. Teel's identity was officially
confirmed only after he was named in the civil lawsuit, said Michael W. Crosby, attorney for Williams' estate. Teel is the
only jailer placed on leave after Williams' beating. The only public record of his resignation March 8 is on a list of resignations
accepted by the Harrison County Board of Supervisors earlier this week. "I'm not going to say anything whatsoever about
(Teel's) resignation or if it was related to the incident," said Jim Davis, Teel's attorney.
In the meantime, Teel
will find another job, Davis said. "People change jobs all the time. He has always maintained a job and he always will."
The case remains under state and federal investigation. U.S. Attorney Dunn Lampton this week confirmed he has advised
Sheriff George H. Payne Jr. to remain silent while he cooperates with the multi-agency investigation. "There is no official
stance, either verbal or by action, which tells the Williams family that our law enforcement believes that what happened to
Jessie was a crime or that it was wrong," Crosby said. "I know that our leaders will not comment, but can't any of them
tell us what their position is with respect to what an officer under their charge is to do when he/she is standing by when
another officer is abusing, torturing, and killing a human being? Haven't they taken an oath to uphold the law and enforce
the law? Isn't their motto 'to protect and serve?' "In Jessie's case, the 'protect' part was forgotten."
Justice
moving slowly U.S. attorney won't rush Williams case By ROBIN FITZGERALD rfitzgerald@sunherald.com GULFPORT - Federal court will likely take action in April on criminal charges in an inmate's death,
said an attorney for the estate of Jessie Lee Williams Jr.
"Based on what I've been told, I've been led to believe
that action in the federal case would take place at the end of April, but whether it means it will go to a grand jury then
or a decision made by then, I don't know," Michael W. Crosby said Tuesday.
U.S. Attorney Dunn Lampton would not confirm
a time frame for federal action in the case, but said the case is a priority and he is "not letting public sentiment cause
someone to make a mistake in the investigation by trying to hurry it along to satisfy the public interest."
It's been
53 days since Williams was beaten in the Harrison County jail booking room and taken to the hospital, where he was removed
from life-support two days later. No charges have been filed since the Feb. 4 incident.
A federal grand jury convenes
the first and third week of each month, but a special grand jury can be convened if requested.
"It is a joint state
and federal investigation," said Lampton, "and we are pursuing it just as rapidly as we can. As soon as we've got everything
as far as the investigation, we will sit down with the district attorney and decide what is appropriate, and if it's charges,
we'll decide which venue. At this point in time, everyone is considered to be absolutely not guilty."
If the tables
were turned, charges would have already been filed, said Crosby, pointing to a quick arrest in the Dec. 3 slaying of Wiggins
police officers Odell Fite and Brandon Breland.
"There was no video in that case but the police had no trouble arresting
a suspect," Crosby said. "This is about simply doing what is right."
Videotapes from the jail booking room have not
been released to Crosby, who seeks $150 million in the civil lawsuit for the estate of Williams, a father of six. The sheriff's
attorney on Monday told county supervisors he asked for permission to show them the videotapes but was told he couldn't do
it.
Lampton confirmed he has told Payne to not comment on the case to anyone and said the secrecy involves federal
statutes that apply to grand jury matters and ongoing investigations. The videotapes, Lampton said, likely will be released
at a later time, "but probably not as quickly as you would like."
Arrests don't have to wait on indictments, said
Crosby, adding he is concerned about Lampton giving legal advice to the sheriff when Lampton is investigating a homicide that
happened "within the confines of the jail which is under the control of the sheriff."
"The public is demanding justice,"
Crosby said. "The lack of official comment is grinding on the nerves of the Williams family and the community."
The
case would move more quickly, said Lampton, if it was only a state investigation.
"If we arrest someone, we have to
be prepared to take it to a grand jury in 30 days. It is more important to worry about the end result, to be fair and have
sufficient evidence."
Sheriff
silent on jail death Can't discuss it, he tells supervisors By ROBIN FITZGERALD rfitzgerald@sunherald.com GULFPORT - A federal investigation into the homicide of a Harrison County jail inmate prevents Sheriff
George H. Payne Jr. from discussing the case, even in executive session, he told county supervisors Monday.
The Board
of Supervisors had asked Payne to appear before them to discuss the confrontation with Jessie Lee Williams Jr., who was beaten,
allegedly by jailers, in the booking room on Feb. 4. Without details, supervisors say they are ill-prepared to respond to
a wrongful death lawsuit that names them as co-defendants.
"I just got off the phone with U.S. Attorney Dunn Lampton,"
Payne told them. "We recused ourselves from the investigation, and he said we are not to comment in any shape, form or fashion
on the case or the investigation."
The expected executive session did not happen.
Cy Faneca, Payne's attorney,
told supervisors he tried to get permission from the U.S. Justice Department to show them the booking room videotapes, but
was denied.
The outcome of a related wrongful death lawsuit, which seeks $150 million, will have to wait, Faneca said.
"It's a very frustrating position to be in," Faneca said.
The original videotapes are in federal possession,
an issue of concern to attorneys for Williams' estate. They haven't been able to get copies, either.
"This is not
going to stop the civil lawsuit," said attorney Michael W. Crosby, "If we can't get copies, we'll try this case the old-fashioned
way, with eyewitness testimony, the way cases have been won for over 200 years, before videotapes were available."
Crosby
said, however, he is not giving up on gaining access to the tapes.
Board President Connie Rockco said it is frustrating
for supervisors to be named as co-defendants and "know nothing about what happened."
County attorney Joe Meadows said
he will write the Justice Department for official confirmation of Payne's inability to speak about the case and for advice
on what the county can say about it.
Also Monday, supervisors approved fees to pay a translator to help communicate
with inmates who don't speak English.
They also accepted the resignation of former corrections officer Ryan Teel,
effective March 8. The wrongful death lawsuit alleges Teel, 29, is the jailer who continued to beat, punch, choke and torture
Williams while he was restrained and hog-tied.
Williams, 40, was in custody on misdemeanor charges of public drunk,
simple assault on a minor and pointing and aiming a gun.
Teel was on administrative leave with pay for more than a
month. Four other booking room officers are named in the lawsuit, but they apparently are still employed at the jail.
SUN
HERALD EXCLUSIVE Defendants added to inmate death lawsuit By ROBIN FITZGERALD rfitzgerald@sunherald.com GULFPORT - Attorneys for the estate of a slain Harrison County jail inmate amended a wrongful death
lawsuit today, adding names including a national agency hired by the county to make improvements at the jail.
The
amended lawsuit, filed this afternoon, adds as defendants the American Correctional Association, Sheriff's Deputy Jeremy Mooneyham,
Gulfport Police Officer Kelly Knight, jail Medical Administrator Pat Olsen and the City of Gulfport.
The lawsuit,
which represents only one side of a complaint, alleges a pattern of abuse existed at the jail before Feb. 4, when Jessie Lee
Williams Jr. was beaten and tortured in the jail booking room without interruption. It claims the violation of his civil rights
also was avoidable. Williams' death was ruled a homicide.
The lawsuit also claims those who witnessed the beating
and failed to stop it and those tasked with safeguarding inmates at the jail through oversight and training should be held
accountable.
ACA is liable, according to the lawsuit, because the national crediting agency was paid a fee by county
supervisors to assess conditions at the jail and recommend improvements.
"If the Harrison County jail was living up
to the so-called standards that they touted and promoted, Jessie would still be alive today or the board of supervisors would
be in a worse position than what they are now," said Biloxi attorney John Whitfield, co-counsel in the lawsuit.
The
tale of the county jail From early scandals to the distinction of accreditation, time tells By ROBIN FITZGERALD rfitzgerald@sunherald.com
GULFPORT - The intimidating razor-wire coils and ankle-buster rocks around the Harrison County
jail symbolize the adult detention center's milestones and millstones. The history of the county jail system is a tumultuous
one, at times rocked by scandals, at times a source of pride. The pendulum of public perception in recent developments swings
from praise of the jail's reaccreditation in August to concerns over a wrongful-death lawsuit alleging an inmate was beaten
and tortured in the jail booking room in February. But by all accounts, the county jail system is undeniably in better
shape than in the past 25 years, considering antiquated conditions at its former locations and scandals in previous administrations.
The jail system has come a long way since November 1982, when 29 inmates died in a fire at the old Biloxi jail because
jailers couldn't see their keys through the smoke to unlock cells. The fire, set by an inmate in a padded cell, also injured
59 others, including jailers and firefighters. The fire, the nation's worst prison blaze since 1977, resulted in lawsuits
against the county totaling more than $200 million. Building a new jail The old three-story jail in Gulfport, overcrowded
like the Biloxi jail, was a source of concern for other reasons. Inmates in the aging downtown building passed the time hanging
out of windows, whistling and yelling at pedestrians and motorists. Concerns of safety, overcrowding, escapes, general
conditions and legal liabilities led to plans for construction of the detention center off Seaway Road. The old jails housed
up to 500 inmates with fewer than 200 beds, and had an annual budget of $1.9 million. The Seaway Road center, opened in 1990,
was built to house 762 inmates. Its current budget is $6.7 million for staff and costs to house an average of 900 or more
prisoners. The $20 million building was constructed after the Legislature in 1987 authorized the creation of the Harrison
County Jail Authority to borrow money and oversee construction and upkeep. The Jail Authority disbanded in 2002 after the
bond issue was paid off early with two low-interest loans. The jail, however, was in disrepair by the time Sheriff George
H. Payne Jr. took office in 2000. Locks, alarms, security cameras and panels that control cell doors were broken. Fire and
smoke detectors didn't work. And at least six prisoners, including serial killer Donald Leroy Evans, had escaped by walking
out the front door. Payne asked county supervisors for money to improve security. Federal scrutiny of problems in the
county jail system prompted a federal court order in 1993 requiring the county to improve jail security, management and medical
services. The jail is in better financial shape today because its budget has doubled in the past decade, according to
Connie Rockco, president of the Board of Supervisors. The county also has borrowed a total of $6.5 million for jail repairs
and upgrades since Payne took office, she said. Payne also inherited the stigma of scandals that occurred during former
Sheriff Joe Price's administration. Several jail officials and deputies were caught running a bogus vocational-training program
for inmates. And lawsuits were settled in the pregnancy of a female trusty coerced into having sex with a male deputy, and
the death of a 13-year-old beaten by another teen at the youth detention center. In 2001, Harrison County became the second
county in the state to hire a private company to run its youth detention center. Reducing medical costs Early in Payne's
first term of office, inmate medical costs had reached $1.8 million a year. Payne pushed for a privatized medical center at
the jail, claiming it would save taxpayers at least $300,000 a year and put the burden of malpractice liability on the private
company in the event of a lawsuit. Supervisors agreed and hired NaphCare, a Birmingham, Ala., corrections health-care
service. In January, supervisors awarded the health-care bid to Health Assurances LLC, a Jackson-based firm that offered
a lower bid. Health Assurances manages inmate health care at the jail for $108,770 a month, compared to NaphCare's bid of
$115,822 a month. Payne said he is proud of numerous improvements at the jail, the only county one in the state to receive
accreditation from the American Correctional Association, which sets minimum standards for corrections facilities. "All
the consultants we've had who come in and look at our organization think it's one of the best there is in the South," said
Payne, "and we have not paid a dollar out on a lawsuit in six years. We went through Hurricane Katrina without water, electricity
and low on food and while other jails were having problems, we didn't have a single issue. "I'm just as proud as I can
be of the staff that's still with us and I think they're doing an excellent job." They run the jail State law puts
a county's sheriff in charge of its jail. But a team of officials handles day-to-day operations at the Harrison County Adult
Detention Center. About the sheriff and his jail officials: • Sheriff George H. Payne Jr.: The former chief of the
Gulfport Police Department, he has 35 years of experience in law enforcement and is serving his second four-year term. He
has 88 corrections officers at the jail and 165 sworn officers to serve the county's unincorporated areas. He serves on numerous
boards, including the national Pegasus project on homeland security and the Mississippi Joint Terrorism Task Force. •
Maj. Dianne Gatson-Riley: Became the jail's first female warden when she joined Payne's staff in 2000 as director of corrections.
As warden, she oversees administrative aspects of running the jail. She previously was director of detention services for
the Hinds County Sheriff's Department. • Capt. Rick Gaston: Supervisor of booking and inmate records. Served as
a captain and a warden at the jail from 1984 to 1995, and left to serve as warden of the Mobile County Metro Jail in Alabama
before returning to the Harrison County jail in 2000. • Capt. Phil Taylor: Supervisor of security. Began his career
in corrections as a jailer with the Sheriff's Department in 1994. Placed in charge of security in 2000. • Medical
Administrator Pat Olsen: Joined Health Assurances LLC in January after retiring with 20 years of experience with Professional
Home Health. She owned the agency, sold it to Gulf Coast Medical Center in 1995 and worked for the hospital for five years.
She handles administration of the medical center and oversees a director of nursing and the nursing staff.
Agencies
vary in officer-involved incidents Some name those involved, others keep quiet By ROBIN FITZGERALD rfitzgerald@sunherald.com GULFPORT - Jail abuse cases
A Sun Herald analysis shows recent developments in jail beatings
and deaths nationwide. The cases, by county or city:
• Tallahatchie County: A privately run jail in Charleston
fired three officers for excessive use of force after the beating of an inmate Feb. 23 was videotaped by members of a Special
Operations Response Team. The officers' names were not released.
The jail, which houses state prisoners, is managed
by Corrections Corporation of America, which said the team responded after the inmate allegedly assaulted two corrections
officers. CCA reported other members of the response team were suspended.
• Wilson County, Tenn.: A former jailer
was sentenced Friday to 12 months in prison for violating the civil rights of an inmate who died after a beating in 2003.
Federal prosecutors said the jailer was part of a sadistic group that abused prisoners for 18 months before the death,
falsified reports and withheld medical care from those they beat. One ex-jailer is serving 41 months; another is on probation;
a fourth will be sentenced in June. A fifth was acquitted.
The inmate was brain dead eight hours after he arrived
in booking. Prosecutors said the jailers were involved in at least 11 beatings, often leaving the victims unconscious.
•
Craighead County, Ark.: A jailer was found guilty in January of violating inmates' rights in beating two handcuffed inmates
in 2004 and of covering up one of the attacks. Sentencing is pending.
The jailer and three others were fired during
investigation. One inmate was punched and kicked; the other was stomped. Two of the jailers pleaded guilty to lesser charges.
Charges against the other jailer were dismissed in exchange for testimony.
The sheriff didn't name the jailers when
they were first suspended, but gave details of allegations and publicly promised he would resolve any problems.
•
Baltimore, Md.: An inmate's family in January filed a $130 million lawsuit in his death, ruled a homicide.
The lawsuit
alleges the inmate in May 2005 was fatally beaten.
The three officers accused in his death face trial in May on state
charges of murder.
• Westchester County, N.Y.: A jailer who spent three months in prison for kicking an inmate
was indicted in February on federal civil rights charges after the inmate died.
The inmate, kicked in the head in
2000, was in a coma 14 months and died in December 2001, shortly after the jailer was released from prison on a state assault
conviction.
Police Sgt. DeLacy Davis recalls the trauma of shooting a suspect in 1989, his third year on the job.
The incident was reported the next day in his city's newspaper. It identified him by name and gave an account of how it happened.
The release of his name, provided by his police department, didn't bother him.
"It was a factual account.
It was the truth. What bothered me was the trauma of the incident," said Davis, founder of Black Cops Against Police Brutality,
or B-CAP, and a 20-year police officer in New Jersey.
What bothers Davis these days, he said, is incidents such as
a fatal jailhouse beating in Gulfport on Feb. 4 and authorities' refusal to identify involved officers or to release details.
The case involves the homicide of Gulfport native Jessie Lee Williams Jr. According to medical reports, Williams left the
jail booking room in a coma and died of his injuries.
"In most cases, when an officer's name is withheld, it gives
the appearance that there is a cover-up," said Davis, 43.
Davis, who travels and makes public appearances in response
to high-profile cases of alleged abuse and police misconduct, said the protocol in releasing officer names and details varies
around the nation.
Naming names isn't standard procedure in South Mississippi, where authorities typically withhold
names in officer-involved incidents and allow their release only after a grand jury review.
One exception came in
April 2000, when a Gulfport police officer fatally shot a 20-year-old during Black Spring Break. District Attorney Cono Caranna
released names and details within days, saying it was because the shooting prompted public outrage as racial tension mounted.
The police officer was white. The young Columbia man who died was black. A grand jury cleared the officer.
Since 2002,
the Sun Herald has used other sources to obtain names of officers in at least two shooting incidents. In both cases, Harrison
County deputies were injured and authorities confirmed names when asked.
In the Northeast, officer names generally are released promptly, as well as in Cincinnati and St. Louis, but
in San Francisco, police often defer to the district attorney, Davis said.
While serving as a public information officer
for the East Orange (N.J.) Police Department, Davis released details and officer names, but if investigation was taken over
at a higher level, the decision was up to the investigating agency, he said.
Long Beach Police Chief Harley Schinker
said he noticed a "night and day" difference in police-media relations when he left his Chicago police commander post for
his current post in 2002.
"Chicago police are more open to the public through the media," said Schinker. "The more
open police are with the public, the more people trust you."
Pat Camden, Chicago Police Department's deputy director
of media affairs, said the police union contract sets the policy for release of names in officer-involved incidents. The agency
of about 13,500 officers releases details in officer-involved incidents and identifies officers arrested on off-duty charges
such as driving under the influence.
But Chicago doesn't identify officers under criminal investigation unless they
are arrested or found guilty of wrongdoing.
A recent high-profile case in Chicago in which an officer was accused
of pulling a gun on a state senator and cursing at him resulted in a written reprimand for the officer. But the officer was
not publicly identified, Camden said.
Public outrage over officials' silence about Williams' beating at the Harrison County jail brought Davis
to Gulfport on March 23 for the NAACP's "And Justice For All" summit. More than 7000 people - most black, but some white and
Hispanic - attended.
"The interesting dichotomy here is that some policies in Gulfport appear so antiquated and outdated,"
said Davis, "but the people responded to the call in a manner that I think is much more progressive than we would think would
occur in more progressive areas."
Williams' death is believed to be the county jail's first officer-involved death
to be ruled a homicide at the hands of jail employees.
Neither Sheriff George H. Payne Jr. nor state or federal agencies
investigating the case have divulged information about it. Ryan Teel, a jailer who resigned a month later, was identified
Feb. 14 in a wrongful death lawsuit as the jailer who allegedly delivered most of the alleged abuse. The lawsuit alleges a
long-term pattern of abuse at the jail.
Officers who live by their oath to protect and serve should not be ashamed
to be identified publicly, Davis said.
"At the end of the day, it is the public that pays the freight, that foots
the bills, that pays government salaries. It is the public who gets the perception that government is not transparent. There
is a need for more transparency as it relates to government and service delivery."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COMPILED BY ROBIN FITZGERALD
Deputy named in inmate death lawsuit fired By ROBIN FITZGERALD rfitzgerald@sunherald.com GULFPORT - A female corrections officer named as a defendant in the wrongful death lawsuit of an
inmate at the Harrison County jail has been fired.
The termination of former Sheriff's Deputy Regina Rhodes was effective
April 11, according to the proposed agenda released today for the county supervisors' meeting on Tuesday.
Rhodes is
the second jailer whose departure from the Sheriff's Department is associated with the Feb. 4 beating of Jessie Lee Williams
Jr. in the jail booking room. Ryan Teel, the key jailer accused of beating and torturing Williams, resigned March 8.
Family Wants Justice In 21-Year-Old’s Taser death
Winn Parish, La., Police
say that race had nothing to do with the way they handled the suspect
Louisiana coroner said Tuesday that a policeman shocked a 21-year-old Black man so many times with his Taser that the suspect
was likely dead when the officer gave him two more 50,000-volt jolts. “After he was given that drive stun to the chest,
he was pulled out of the car onto the concrete,” Randolph Williams, the Winn Parish coroner, told CNN. Find out what
else he said, and what the parents think at BET.com/News.
THE NOOSE!
HARMLESS PRANK OR A HATE CRIME?
DISCUSS THIS IN MORE DETAIL ON OUR FORUM/MESSAGE BOARD, IN OUR "POWER TO THE PEOPLE [WHO DESERVE
IT], SECTION!
GERNARLOW WILSON-HIS STRUGGLE WILL BE ADDED SOON!
TOO SILENT ABOUT HIS DEATH
A month and a half has passed since
a 19-year-old Black suspect was found murdered in his cell at a southern Maryland jail, and NAACP officials are angry over
the pace of the investigation.
On June 29, Ronnie
L. White, was found strangled in his cell, less than two days after he was charged with killing a veteran Prince George’s
County, Md., police officer by hitting him with his car.
"While this investigation is taking
so long, people are losing the trust that they had in the county government, and it is a very big, heavy cloud not only on
the correctional officers . . . but on the county," June White Dillard, president of the Prince George’s County
chapter of the NAACP, told The Washington Post. "The longer it takes, people will begin to suspect that . .
. the county government is trying to do a coverup, and that is not what we want to happen."
But
Vernon R. Herron, county public safety director, said the investigation is now under the jurisdiction of state and federal
authorities.
"We're awaiting the results of the investigation like everyone else," Herron
said. "I think it's unfair for Ms. Dillard to criticize and to indicate that the county government is involved in
any coverup. Nothing could be further from the truth."
The Maryland Office of the Chief Medical
Examiner has ruled White’s death a homicide by asphyxiation and strangulation.
The Maryland
State Police and the civil rights division of the FBI took over the investigation at the request of county officials. Corrections
officers immediately came under scrutiny for White’s death, a notion that was fueled in large part when County Executive
Jack B. Johnson (D) said that only a few guards, and no inmates, had access to White's maximum-security cell. The refusal
by some corrections officers to cooperate with the investigation also made it seem that they had something to hide. A lawyer
representing the correctional officers rebutted charges that officers were involved and said an investigation would prove
that White had committed suicide.
‘Vigilante’ Inmate Murder Probe Widens
FBI
and Maryland officials join forces to determine how the Maryland inmate died.
The “vigilante
justice” case of a Maryland cop-killer suspect who was found strangled to death in his cell has expanded to include
everybody working at the D.C.-area jail. Initially, authorities announced that seven corrections officers who had access to
Ronnie White were under investigation for the 19-year-old inmate’s death. White, who was held in solitary confinement,
was discovered in his cell Sunday with two broken bones in his neck; he died from asphyxiation and strangulation, according
to a Maryland medical examiner. Two days prior, White had been arrested and charged in the hit-and-run death of Prince George’s
County police Cpl. Richard Findley. According to police, White, who was driving a stolen truck, struck the officer, who tried
to flag the vehicle down. Prince George’s County Chief Executive Jack Johnson, who described White’s death as
a case of “vigilante justice,” said that the suspect’s apparent payback killing is inexcusable. “The
killing of the officer is absolutely abhorrent, but also, Mr. White was presumed innocent and deserved his day in court just
like any other citizens,” Johnson said. “We live in a constitutional democracy, and no one has the right to be
judge and jury.” The FBI, which is working with Maryland State Police, said Tuesday that all 630 staffers at the Prince
George’s County Correctional Center will be part of the investigation. Several guards have said they will not talk to
investigators, according to Ramon Korionoff, a spokesman for Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Glenn Ivey.
“The family of Ronnie White is absolutely, unequivocally outraged, incensed and deeply saddened that the life of their
loved one could be taken so cold[ly], so callously,” attorney Bobby Henry told reporters Tuesday. “Something is
dreadfully wrong with the system.”
Sean Bell Cops Found In Violation, Jobs In Jeopardy
The three New York cops cleared of all charges after opening fire on an unarmed Sean Bell the
day of his wedding, may face a firing themselves.
After a trial which could have led to 25 years in jail, Detectives Marc Cooper, Gescard Isnora and Michael Oliver went home free
men April 25, acquitted of all wrongdoing in a court of law. But the three faced internal charges back at work yesterday, according to New York's Daily News. Each man was
accused of firing his weapon outside of NYPD departmental guidelines - a serious offense that could result in an ousting from
the force. In addition, Isnora was charged with violating NYPD vice protocols by taking action as an undercover.
The
cops infamously fired 50 bullets, killing Bell and injuring two of his friends on Nov. 25, 2006 right outside a Queens strip
club, the Kalua Cabaret, where the guys had been celebrating.
The barrage of bullets began after Isnora followed the
three men to their car in the parking lot. The officers were doing an undercover sting operation at the business.
It's
not just the three cops who are taking the bullet. Seven law officials in all have been charged, though earlier reports put
the number at eight.
Lt. Gary Napoli, the detectives' former commanding officer whom prosecutors
have called incompetent, is also under fire. Though not charged in court, he was charged by the NYPD for not preparing an
adequate tactical plan before he sent his undercover officers into action.
Officer Michael Carey actually
shot at Bell but wasn't indicted and was charged by the NYPD with violating departmental rules in discharging a weapon.
Two crime scene detectives, Sgt. Huey McNeil and Detective Robin Knapp, were accused
of compromising the crime scene. Knapp was hit with failure to process the scene correctly and McNeil with failing to supervise
the processing of the scene correctly.
Another cop, Paul Headley, also shot at Bell but escaped both
criminal and departmental charges. Earlier reports said Headley was charged by the NYPD, but according to his lawyer Bruce
Wenger, he was not.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, who has been vocal about the verdict - leading a citywide march earlier this week - issued a statement saying, he feels the charges are "a step in right direction," but he wants the officers involved
axed without a drawn out internal procedure. Sharpton cited a recent incident in Philadelphia in which there were no fatalities,
but four officers were fired and others disciplined for their actions.
"I strongly believe that the Police Commissioner should fire the officers in the Sean Bell
case pursuant to civil service laws," Sharpton said.
For now, Oliver, Isnora and Cooper remain without guns or
badges - relegated to modified duty. According to Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, the department is waiting
until the feds complete their investigation before moving forward with internal action.
=============================
Congressman Conyers Holds Forum On Police Action
Lawmakers are holding a forum
in Manhattan today on law enforcement accountability and police relations in the community in the wake of the Sean Bell verdict.
Sean Bell's fiancée, Nicole Paultre-Bell, and his friend Joseph Guzman, and his parents are among those
attending the forum, which began just after 12:30 p.m. at the U.S. Customs House downtown.
The nearly two-dozen
lawmakers and civil rights leaders at the forum said they hope to make meaningful legislative changes that would restore the
trust and faith of New Yorkers in the city's police department.
"You don't have to be an expert to
know that when a community loses confidence in its police department, that police department cannot effectively do its job,"
said Congressman Charles Rangel.
"Judge Cooperman's decision must not be the end of the quest for justice,"
said Congressman Gregory Meeks of Queens. "We who are members of the United States Congress must realize and utilize
our legislative powers and the moral authorities of our offices, to help the victims of unwarranted and excessive use of force
seek and redress grievances at a federal level."
House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, who organized
the meeting, visited Queens last month to meet with Bell's family shortly after the not-guilty verdicts for the officers
who shot him in November 2006 as he was leaving his bachelor party in Queens.
This is not the first time Conyers
has put the spotlight on police community relations in New York City. He held a hearing on the NYPD in 1983 at a Harlem armory
after the beating of a Black minister by police.
NY governor vows to examine undercover police procedures
NEW YORK
--
Gov. David Paterson pledged to examine undercover police conduct on Thursday, a day after more than 200 people were
arrested protesting the acquittal of three detectives involved in the shooting death of an unarmed man.
Paterson
said he understood the activists' frustrations as he stood with the slain man's fiancee and the Rev. Al Sharpton,
who were among the demonstrators arrested while disrupting evening rush hour traffic. But the governor stopped short of endorsing
their actions.
"No civil servant can condone civil disobedience," Paterson said, but he added: "They
felt that they had no other choice but to take the action that they took, and I respect the decision that they made to take
that action."
The governor's involvement was a measure of the emotion and unrelenting attention surrounding
the shooting of Sean Bell, who was gunned down hours before he was to be married in November 2006.
The gunfire stirred
complaints about police tactics, and the acquittals on April 25 in state court prompted some activists to question the prospects
of justice for minorities. Bell was black as were two of his friends wounded in the shooting; the officers are black, Hispanic
and white.
Paterson, New York's first black governor, said Thursday he would explore undercover officer procedures,
saying the advocates had suggested plainclothes officers should not suddenly "change the script" and act as police.
He
also said he would consider potential statewide legislation compelling officers to take sobriety tests after some shootings,
such as those in which police fire at people who prove to be unarmed. The New York Police Department last year began requiring
such tests when officers kill or wound someone.
Sharpton and Bell's supporters are pressing for federal civil rights
charges in the case. Sharpton - who orchestrated Wednesday's protests at the Brooklyn Bridge, the Holland Tunnel and other
major transportation arteries - promised Thursday to stage another mass demonstration if progress wasn't made toward their
goals.
The next protest would be somewhere in New York City within seven to 10 days, said Charlie King, acting national
director of Sharpton's National Action Network.
Federal prosecutors are reviewing the case but declined comment
Thursday.
Bell and his friends were shot as they left his bachelor party at a Queens strip club. The officers said they
believed Bell and his friends were about to get a gun; no firearm was found. Bell's friends said the police shot without
warning, which the officers denied.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly has said his department is considering disciplinary
action against the detectives.
Sharpton, shooting survivors Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman and Bell's fiancee,
Nicole Paultre Bell, were released Wednesday about four hours after their arrests on disorderly conduct charges. Paultre Bell
legally took her fiance's name after his death.
Sharpton arrested as hundreds protest NYC police shooting
The
Rev. Al Sharpton was among dozens
arrested Wednesday as demonstrators blocked traffic at the height of the evening rush hour to protest the acquittal of three
detectives in the 50-bullet shooting of an unarmed black man on his wedding day. Police said 216 people were arrested,
including Sharpton, two survivors of the shooting and the slain man's fiancee. They lined up and put their hands behind
their backs as police arrested them on disorderly conduct charges.
Sharpton, the two survivors and
the fiancee were released about four hours later, said Sharpton spokeswoman Rachel Noerdlinger.
The
demonstrators prayed, sang and chanted slogans including "no justice, no peace" as they converged on six heavily
used bridges and tunnels that carry traffic to and from Manhattan island. The protests were part of a coordinated campaign
to urge federal authorities to investigate the shooting of Sean Bell in November 2006.
The three officers
were acquitted of state charges last month in a case that from the start ignited protests and spurred criticism of police
tactics. One of the officers fired 31 shots, emptying his clip two times in a few short seconds.
Sharpton
has said Wednesday's "pray-in" protest was a preview of potential future demonstrations designed to paralyze
the city.
"We're going to keep coming until we get federal indictments. It's wrong,"
said Frank Rodriguez, a military veteran who brought a homemade model of the shooting scene to the Brooklyn Bridge rally, which began outside police headquarters
in downtown Manhattan.
U.S. attorney spokesman Robert Nardoza said the case was under review, but he
declined to comment further about a possible federal case.
Sharpton, shooting survivors Joseph Guzman
and Trent Benefield, and Bell's fiancee, Nicole Paultre Bell — who legally took his name after his death —
linked arms as they blocked a street at the Brooklyn Bridge's base.
They were trailed by at least
200 demonstrators who kneeled in prayer in the road and counted to 50 in a reference to the barrage of gunfire that killed
Bell.
The arrested protesters were expected to be issued tickets for misdemeanor offenses.
On
the opposite side of lower Manhattan, an ethnically diverse crowd of about 80 demonstrators chanted, "We're fired
up; we won't take it no more," and held hands as the Rev. James E. Booker Jr. blessed the crowd.
"Don't
let Sean Bell's death be in vain," said Booker, pastor of St. John A.M.E. Church in Harlem.
After
marching to the Holland Tunnel behind a "Stop the Brutality" banner, the protesters blocked two entrances to the
tunnel as some sang the civil rights anthem "We Shall Overcome." Demonstrators who
moved to the sidewalk applauded each time one of their fellow protesters was arrested.
Drivers mostly
waited patiently. "I disagree with doing anything illegal, but, hey, this is what makes America great," said Aaron
Hanson, a passenger in a car waiting to get into the tunnel. "If this is what people really need to do to make a statement,
it's what they should do."
A few miles uptown, some protesters were arrested after blocking
traffic into midtown Manhattan on the Queensboro Bridge, while about 200 people rallied near the entrance to the Triborough
Bridge in Harlem.
A heavy police presence initially stood by during the demonstrations, allowing the
protesters to march unimpeded to the bridges and tunnels where they stopped traffic. Mayor Michael Bloomberg had pledged to "make sure that everybody's rights
are protected and that the law is obeyed."
The racially polarizing case has raised questions about
police use of deadly force in minority communities. Bell was black, as are two of his friends who were wounded in the shooting;
the officers were black, Hispanic and white.
Bell crossed paths with the undercover detectives as
he was leaving his bachelor party with friends.
The officers testified they feared for their lives
after Bell and his friends got into a testy exchange with another patron and appeared to be going to retrieve a gun; Bell's
friends testified the detectives fired wildly and without warning at Bell's car. No gun was ever found.
Police
Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Wednesday that the police department was continuing to examine the possibility of punishing
the detectives. ========================================================
NY Police Shooting Sparks Debate
Date: Nov 18, 2007 6:02 PM
A
Candy Bar, a Wallet, Even a Hairbrush in Hand Can Make Police Shoot in Tense Confrontations
11-18-2007 5:36 PM By
MARCUS FRANKLIN, Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK (Associated Press) -- A candy bar, a wallet, even a pair of baggy
pants can draw deadly police gunfire.
The killing of a hairbrush-brandishing teenager last week was the latest instance
of police shootings in which officers reacted to what they erroneously feared was a weapon. It has revived debate over the
use of force, perceptions of threats and police training.
"We have cases like that all over the country where it can
be a wallet, a cell phone, a can of Coca-Cola and officers have fired the weapon," said Scott Greenwood, a Cincinnati attorney
who has worked on police use-of-force cases across the country and who is a general counsel for the American Civil Liberties
Union.
"It does not necessarily mean it was excessive use of force," he added. "However, those types of incidents do
give rise to greater suspicion on the part of the public about how police use force and they call into question the training
departments are using to train officers to perceive and respond to threats."
The New York Police Department says the
officers who fired 20 shots at 18-year-old Khiel Coppin on Nov. 12 were justified in their use of force. The mentally ill
teenager approached officers outside his mother's home with a black object in his hand _ the hairbrush _ and repeatedly ignored
orders to stop.
The officers were responding to a 911 call in which Coppin could be heard in the background saying
he had a gun. But in a second 911 call Coppin's mother told the operator her son wasn't armed, and after officers arrived
she repeated that to them.
Last year, New York officers fired 50 bullets at three unarmed men in a car, killing Sean
Bell on his wedding day and seriously wounding his two friends. Three officers are scheduled for trial in February.
In
1999, four New York City undercover officers fired 41 shots at Amadou Diallo, striking him 19 times, when the 22-year-old
man reached for his wallet while standing in an apartment building vestibule. The officers said they thought Diallo was reaching
for a gun.
The 2001 Cincinnati police killing of Timothy Thomas _ the 15th black resident to die at police hands since
1995 _ led to the city's worst civil unrest since the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Thomas was unarmed, but was
reaching to pull up his baggy pants while he was being chased.
In that case, as in other police shootings, the officer
who fired said his actions were triggered by fear for his own safety.
At least 64 U.S. law enforcement officers have
been killed by gunshots this year, according to the National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund.
Andre Burgess was walking
down a New York street in 1997 when an undercover federal agent shot him in the thigh, saying he thought the foil-wrapped
Three Musketeers candy bar in his hand was a gun.
Violent confrontations between police and crime suspects occur daily
in big cities, and officers are often called upon to make snap judgments on the use of force.
Early Sunday, officers
in Brooklyn shot two people who they believed were dangerous; one was a suspect in a stabbing who police said advanced on
officers with a broken bottle.
"Just because a subject has something unidentifiable in his or her hands, that's never
an automatic justification for the use of deadly force," Greenwood said.
However, "If someone is carrying around a
toy pistol we don't expect the police to know it's a toy," he said.
Critics of police shootings have said racial stereotypes
factor into officers' perceptions of threats. Some studies, for example, have shown that police use less force on white suspects
than on nonwhite suspects. Thomas, Bell, Diallo, Burgess and Coppin were black.
NYPD instructors say recruits are repeatedly
cautioned to be aware of their surroundings and to try to take cover and assess a situation before opening fire. But once
shooting starts, officers are trained to "shoot to stop" by firing at a target's "center mass" or torso.
Despite the
Bell and Coppin deaths, police officials argue that statistics show the NYPD has become more restrained: Officers fired 540
shots last year, down 13 percent from 616 in 2005. In 1996, the total was 1,292. So far this year, members of the 36,000-officer
department have killed nine people. Last year, the total was 13 people, up from nine in 2005, and in 1996 it was 30.
JENA,
La. -- It will be weeks before there is a ruling on whether Louisiana district Judge J.P. Mauffray Jr. can continue to preside
over the case of the "Jena Six."
After
a hearing in Jena on Friday, Judge Thomas Yeager set a July 18 deadline for filing more documents. A ruling would come some
time after that.
Defense lawyers for five teens
still facing charges in the case have questioned Mauffray's fairness in the case.
The Jena Six, who are black, drew headlines after civil rights leaders said they were unfairly charged with
attempted murder in the 2006 beating of a white classmate. The charges were later reduced.
TIMELINE VIDEO BELOW. THIS IS ONLY WHAT'S BEEN REPORTED THUS FAR. IF YOU WANT TO KNOW AND FEEL THE REAL RACISM
OF JENA, LA, MOVE HERE!
BELOW:MOS DEF AND DR. CORNELL WEST DISCUSS THE JENA 6 ON BILL MAUER, PRIOR TO THE RALLY.
ON THIS PAGE WE WOULD LIKE TO COVER ALL INJUSTICE, WORLDWIDE. HOWEVER, THAT IS AN IMPOSSIBLE TASK, FOR
INJUSTICE HAPPENS EVERY 3 SECONDS, WORLDWIDE.
WE WILL COVER THE HEART OF IT. WE WILL BRING YOU BOTH THE MEDIA GRABBING SITUATIONS LIKE 9-11[WHAT REALLY
HAPPENED], THE JENA 6, SEAN BELL, MUMIA AND GENARLOW WILSON. PLUS THE OTHER INJUSTICES LIKE THE ANGOLA 3, SAN QUENTIN
6, THE SAN FRANCISCO 8, OLLIE NORTH/IRAN-CONTRA, ETC.
ON THE FORUM WE WILL DICUSS THESE AND OTHER ISSUES OF INJUSTICE AND TRY TO FIND A SPEEDY AND PEACEFUL
SOLUTION TO THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS;
1-WHY ARE BLACKS PRESUMED GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT?
2-WHY AREN'T THE KKK ON AMERICA'S TERRORIST LIST?
3-WHY WHEN BLACKS ARE LOOKING FOR JUSTICE, ALL WE FIND IS JUST US?
JOIN US. WE'D LIKE THE HEAR YOUR VIEWS AND OPINIONS.
MURDERER RYAN TEEL'S MUG SHOT
TEEL OUTSIDE COURTHOUSE
MURDERER TEEL- LOOKING THE SERIAL KILLER PART
Former Jailer Ryan Teel Sentenced To Life In Prison
Former jailer Ryan Teel has been sentenced to life in prison. Teel, a former Harrison County jailer,
was found guilty of abusing inmates at the jail, including Jesse Lee Williams.
Two of Willams' family members and the family minister testified this morning as did Teel's wife and father.
Rev. Kenneth Davis offered strong comments to the court about what Williams' death has done to the community.
"A lot of people don't trust law enforcers now. It's time to move forward. This was murder," Davis said.
Two of Jesse Williams' cousins called him a kind and good man.
Ryan Teel's wife, Serena, apologized to the Williams family. She pleaded with Federal Judge Louis Guirola for
leniency for her husband.
"It would be a shame to lose two lives here. Ryan is a good man from a loving father," Serena Teel said.
She told the Williams family, "I'm sorry. If I could take away your pain, I'm sorry."
Wes Teel begged the judge to have mercy on his son.
"I believe that Ryan, I know, did not intentionally mean to kill Mr. Williams. I'm begging you to do
something less than life," he said.
Teel faces up to life in prison. The deciding factor will be whether the judge determines the underlying crime
in Jesse Williams' death was murder or manslaughter. The prosecution argued at minimum, Teel committed second degree murder,
a crime for which they would have to prove Tell showed malice of forethought.
Federal prosecutor Lisa Krigsten, reminded the court of other inmates that Teel had abused.
She told the judge, "The hallmark of his career at the jail was malice."
Defense attorney Jim Davis argued the incident was, "nothing more than a fist fight, and fights are bad, people
sometimes get hurt." </
