A federal judge has upheld a $15.1 million jury verdict against the city of Lakewood in Pierce County, Police Chief Mike Zaro and two other Lakewood officers for killing Leonard Thomas during a 2013 SWAT operation, taking the opportunity to scold the defense for suggesting the jury was motivated by fear of racial backlash if … Read more
Veteran Chicago police Sgt. Donald Markham was shot by someone else at point-blank range in his home in 2015 before the scene was staged to appear to be a suicide, a forensic pathologist hired by the FBI concluded in a report obtained Thursday by the Chicago Tribune. The five-page report contradicts Cook County officials’ ruling … Read more
Two Chicago police officers should be fired for shooting at a moving vehicle without justification during a chase that ended with the killing of an unarmed black teen in 2016, disciplinary officials ruled in a report obtained Friday by the Chicago Tribune. Officers Michael Coughlin Jr. and Jose Torres endangered the public and the lives … Read more
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Fired Cleveland police officer Timothy Loehmann, who fatally shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice, will begin fighting Wednesday to get his job back. The embattled rookie police officer, fired not for shooting Tamir but for lying on his police application, will begin arbitration proceedings on Wednesday, according to four sources familiar with the proceedings. … Read more
Indiana – A Porter County jury stared at graphic photos Wednesday showing how a Portage woman was found shot dead with blood pooled in the carpet around her in 2015. “So, how do we get to this place where she dies so violently?” asked prosecuting attorney Matthew Frost. Frost turned and pointed to Kevin Campbell, … Read more
Former Farmers Branch police officer Ken Johnson was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Tuesday in the killing of a teen in March 2016. The judge in the case initially said Johnson was sentenced to 20 years but then clarified that half of that sentence will be probation. Johnson, 37, was convicted of murder … Read more
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Bernalillo County sheriff’s deputy Charles Coggins is facing another lawsuit in connection with a fatal on-duty shooting in July, this time for alleged civil rights violations. The latest case involving the death of 28-year-old Miguel Gonzalez was filed by the mother of his children against Coggins and seven unnamed deputies. In the … Read more
A judge refused for a second time Thursday to lower the $1 million cash bond for a former Michigan State Police trooper charged with causing the death of a 15-year-old Detroiter while the boy was riding his ATV in August. Judge William McConico of 36th District Court, called defense attorney Richard Convertino’s request to reduce … Read more
WALKER COUNTY, Ga. — Agents with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation are investigating an officer-involved shooting in Walker County in which a deputy shot and killed a man in his Rossville home. The incident began in the early-morning hours of New Year’s Day when a woman called 911 and said her estranged daughter-in-law threatened to … Read more
NEW YORK — Federal prosecutors have decided not to bring criminal charges against a white police officer who fatally shot a mentally ill black man who had accidentally set off his emergency medical alert device. Acting U.S. Attorney Joon Kim said in a statement Thursday that he’d found insufficient evidence for charges against any of … Read more
It has been three years since the NYPD announced it would train its police force on implicit bias—a decision the department came to after one of its officers killed Eric Garner with a chokehold, a technique the department had banned—but not one officer has received such training to date. Mayor Bill de Blasio and the … Read more
A Los Angeles man who called in a fatal “swatting” prank on a man he didn’t know is facing felony charges — but the cop who pulled the trigger may not face any at all. A 25-year-old gamer from LA named Tyler Barriss allegedly called Wichita, Kansas police and told them there was a hostage … Read more