Charlie Himmel | Courthouse News Service RICHMOND, Va. (CN) – A Chesterfield County, Va., police officer Tased a young man at the scene of serious car accident, setting his gasoline-soaked clothing ablaze and nearly killing him, a lawsuit filed by the man’s guardian claims. In a complaint filed in Richmond City Circuit Court, Kim Powell … Read more
Jack Bouboushian | Courthouse News Service CHICAGO (CN) – A black man whose murder conviction was vacated after he spent 24 years in prison sued Chicago and two police detectives this week for the police torture that elicited his false confession. Shawn Whirl filed a federal complaint Wednesday against Chicago and former police detectives James … Read more
Eva Fedderly | Courthouse News Service SAVANNAH, Ga. (CN) – An imprisoned man claims in court he suffered a stroke while in jail and the police officers did nothing to help him, causing paralysis. In a complaint filed in Chatham County Court, Terry Bailey says he was jailed in the county’s detention center on April … Read more
UPDATE (1/5/16) Government Agrees to Pay Reparations to Some of the Victims The government has formally “apologized” to the victims and now it has agreed to throw some money at them — a mere $100k. The Free Thought Project reports as follows: Last spring, the City Council agreed to make Chicago the nation’s first … Read more
Jay Syrmopoulos | The Free Thought Project Rapid City, SD – In August of 2014, Rebecca M. Sotherland, a police officer formerly employed for the Oglala Sioux Tribe, was videotaped tazering a citizen of the Oglala Sioux Tribe 17 times while he laid unresponsive on the ground on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Sotherland was indicted … Read more
A classic case of prisoners’ dilemma has landed two DeKalb County sheriff’s officers in trouble. Fifty-year-old Lieutenant Leonard Dreyer was indicted on federal charges this week for encouraging one of his subordinates to use extreme and unnecessary force against a prison inmate. Not only this, he is also accused of obstructing Justice and making false … Read more
2015/10/17 Max Chantha | An Independent Blog It seems that torture, whether it be used on at-risk teens or compliant prisoners, is an ongoing and regular tactic of police in modern day America. Perhaps the best proof can be found in Mamou, Louisiana, where two consecutive police chiefs have been arrested for torturing inmates with … Read more
2015/10/16 Former Mamou Police Chief Gregory Dupuis probably did not realize that his abuse of jail inmates would eventually catch up with him. The ex-cop has found himself sentenced to a year and a day behind bars for using a Taser on convicts who were complying with his orders. More than five years ago, on … Read more
2015/10/14 Andrew Emett | The Free Thought Project Savannah-Chatham County, GA — During the trial of two former deputies and a contract healthcare worker charged with killing a computer science student in police custody, jurors recently reviewed the surveillance video showing the cops beating the student to death. Although at least nine deputies were fired … Read more
2015/09/27 Latandra Ellington had been in prison for 15 months. With only seven months to go on her sentence she was waiting impatiently to be reunited with her four children. However, something disturbing was playing on the 36-year-old’s mind. In a letter she wrote to her family, she confessed having witnessed a prison guard Patrick Quercioli … Read more
2015/07/20 FLORIDA — A deeply unsettling report has been leaked according to which an officer used his finger to rip out a citizen’s eyeball. The citizen, Kelly Bradley, was in a jail cell at the time, hiding underneath a blanket. He was not trying to fight with the five officers who barged into the cell … Read more
2015/06/27 By Matthew Cooke Today is the UN’s International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. Although the video I made is a satirical one — to hopefully get people to watch who might normally avoid the topic — the issue could not be more serious. The UN describes torture as seeking “to annihilate the victim’s … Read more