Sunday, September 7, 2014

Slow Saturday Special: Putting the Stamp on the Police State

This is my 22,000 post on this site.

FLASHBACK:

"A retired 68-year-old bus MBTA mechanic was fatally shot by police early yesterday during a drug sweep at his Framingham home. Authorities have released few details about the shooting, though they identified the victim as Eurie Stamps and said he was not a suspect in the raid."  

Related: Drug War Making a Killing in Boston 

This kind of stuff happens all the time but is underreported by the state-serving, agenda-pushing, war-promoting paper.

"Judge is urged to dismiss claims in fatal Framingham police shooting" Associated Press   September 06, 2014

FRAMINGHAM — The town of Framingham is asking a federal judge to dismiss all but one of the claims in a lawsuit filed by the family of a 68-year-old grandfather who was accidentally shot and killed by an officer during a police raid.

Eurie Stamps was killed in January 2011 as a SWAT team executed a drug-related search warrant at his home. Stamps’ stepson was the target of the raid.

They could't find a better way to just nab him with an arrest?

An investigation found that the officer pulled the trigger accidentally when he tripped in a dark hallway as Stamps was obeying orders to get on the floor.

The family filed the lawsuit in 2012, claiming wrongful death and constitutional civil rights violations.

Attorneys are scheduled to present the motion for summary judgment in US District Court on Oct. 27, arguing it was an accidentnot a constitutional violation — when Officer Paul Duncan shot Stamps.

It's always an accident, or he had a gun, knife, charged at us, whatever. Amerika's security forces don't kill you without a damn good reason. Or an oopsie. Get over it.

‘‘Mr. Stamps’ death was a tragic accident,’’ Thomas Donohue, a lawyer for the town, told The MetroWest Daily News. ‘‘Our sincere condolences go out to his family. However, accidents, even tragic ones, are not civil rights violations.’’

Yeah, the whole attitude that led to the situation that has been fostered by shits like this guy has no culpability. The arming of the cops and all that, the whole war-profiteering structure of self-serving corruption and oppression of the domestic population is not to be questioned because of the terrorists -- even thought the only thing they are doing is spying on themselves and us because they know the terror-threat, whoever they may be, is a government created, funded, and directed enterprise.

The motion seeks dismissal of all but one of the counts, stating that the defendants ‘‘concede that Officer Duncan’s unintentional firearm discharge establishes a claim for negligence against the town.’’

I think he should be the one to pay, not taxpayers of the city of Framingham.

Attorneys for the family said Duncan violated police training and protocols when he intentionally pointed the rifle, with the safety off and his finger on the trigger, at Stamps’ head.

‘‘When Duncan pulled the trigger he intentionally killed Mr. Stamps by shooting him in the face,’’ attorneys Joseph Musacchio and Anthony Fugate wrote.

Oh, what a public relations mess for the police. 

So what color was the cop and victim anyway?

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What is next, martial law?

Related: Ferguson: All Forgiven and Forgotten

Another agenda-pushing attempt to gin up race hatred fails.

"Civil service exams not discriminatory, judge says" by Travis Andersen | Globe Staff   September 05, 2014

A federal judge ruled on Friday that civil service promotional exams used by Boston police and several other departments in the Commonwealth between 2005 and 2008 did not discriminate against minority officers, sparking condemnation from the plaintiffs and a vow to appeal.

The decision from US District Court Judge George A. O’Toole Jr. means that departments are not required to change their testing procedures. Boston police in recent years have earmarked more than $2 million in an effort to make the exams more equitable.

The ruling stated that in all the police departments named in the suit, except Boston, the sample sizes of officers taking the tests, cited by the plaintiffs who filed the suit, were too small to show an “adverse impact” on minorities’ success rates.

But in Boston, O’Toole wrote, the use of multiple-choice exams did show “a significant adverse impact on black and Hispanic test-takers,” which the city conceded.

Industrial psychologists widely recognize that minority candidates tend to perform less well on such tests, O’Toole said.

However, he sided with the city, which had argued at trial that the testing was “job-related” and that the plaintiffs had been “unable to demonstrate an adequate alternative’’ to assess candidates for promotion, according to the 47-page ruling.

The ruling drew swift criticism from Harold Lichten, lead lawyer for the plaintiffs, who included officers from the Boston, Worcester, Springfield, Lowell, Lawrence, and Methuen police departments, along with the MBTA Transit Police.

“The decision is entirely wrong, particularly with respect to the city of Boston,” Lichten said, adding that his clients plan to appeal....

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So what color cop do you like apply the club or depositing a bullet in you, Boston?

And down in Florida: 

"Man arrested in 4 Fla. deaths; missing boy found safe" Associated Press   September 06, 2014

HUDSON, Fla. — A man suspected in the deaths of four people and the disappearance of a 4-year-old autistic boy was arrested as SWAT teams swarmed a downtown Tampa hotel Friday, ending an intense manhunt since the bodies were found a day earlier stacked on top of each other.

Adam Matos, 28, had checked into the Floridan Palace Hotel, and police said they tricked him out of his room on the 18th floor to get him away from the child....

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Btw, did you know that a report from the Cato Institute reveals Americans are 8 times more likely to be killed by police than by a terrorist, and other studies suggest U.S. citizens are 800 times more likely to be killed by a cop than citizens of Japan, Britain or Germany?

NEXT DAY UPDATE: 

I'm sorry I forgot to to look for more Ferguson pieces.

Ferguson looks to improve community relations with police

Training due for NYC officers after choke-hold death

Police short of Hispanic officers

Worcester should push ahead with police body cameras