3 NYPD detectives cleared in wedding-day shooting

NEW YORK (AP) — Three detectives were acquitted Friday in the 50-shot killing of an unarmed groom-to-be on his wedding day, a case that put the NYPD at the center of another dispute involving allegations of excessive firepower.

What does it take to send thug-cops to jail?

LIMA, Ohio — The air of Southside is foul-smelling and thick, filled with fumes from an oil refinery and diesel smoke from a train yard, with talk of riot and recrimination, and with angry questions: Why is Tarika Wilson dead? Why did the police shoot her baby?

“This thing just stinks to high heaven, and the police know it,” said Jason Upthegrove, president of the Lima chapter of the N.A.A.C.P. “We’re not asking for answers anymore. We’re demanding them.”

Some facts are known. A SWAT team arrived at Ms. Wilson’s rented house in the Southside neighborhood early in the evening of Jan. 4 to arrest her companion, Anthony Terry, on suspicion of drug dealing, said Greg Garlock, Lima’s police chief. Officers bashed in the front door and entered with guns drawn, said neighbors who saw the raid.

Moments later, the police opened fire, killing Ms. Wilson, 26, and wounding her 14-month-old son, Sincere, Chief Garlock said. One officer involved in the raid, Sgt. Joseph Chavalia, a 31-year veteran, has been placed on paid administrative leave.

Beyond these scant certainties, there is mostly rumor and rage. The police refuse to give any account of the raid, pending an investigation by the Ohio attorney general.

—Police Shooting of Mother and Infant Exposes a City’s Racial Tension  Read more 

“He didn’t do anything!” Katherine Smith shouted across a vacant lot, as police drove her 16-year-old brother into an alley.  Read more 

This simply cannot stand.  Read more 

Gosh, this is two days in a row I’ve identified police-misogynists:

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – A woman whose premature baby died the day after she was arrested has sued the Kansas City Police Department and two officers who repeatedly ignored her pleas for medical help while they were arresting her.

A police videotape released Tuesday shows Sofia Salva telling police officers numerous times on Feb. 5, 2006, that she was pregnant, bleeding and needed to go to a hospital.

After the ninth request, a female officer asked: “How is that my problem?”

Salva, a Sudanese native, was held overnight on traffic violations and outstanding city warrants. After being released the next morning, she delivered a premature baby boy who died after one minute, according to a lawsuit Salva filed Friday in Jackson County Circuit Court.

Salva sued officers Melody Spencer and Kevin Schnell and the Police Department for wrongful death, personal injuries and failure to provide medical assistance. Salva is seeking actual damages exceeding $25,000 and punitive damages to punish and deter such conduct in the future.
“The officers went into this with a preconceived idea of who and what they were dealing with, and they were wrong,” said Salva’s attorney, Andrew Protzman. “It’s tragic.”

The videotape was released to the media after The Kansas City Star requested it under Missouri’s open records law.
Police have opened an internal investigation to determine exactly what happened, department spokesman Capt. Rich Lockhart said.
“It’s a matter of trust. … We want to make sure the community trusts us to get to the bottom of this regardless of the way it reflects on the police department,” Lockhart said.

The officers stopped Salva after they saw her affixing a fake temporary tag on the back windshield of her car.
After the officers tell her why she was arrested, Salva is seen telling the officers she is having a miscarriage and is bleeding.
“Do you want to check me?” Salva asks on the tape. “I’m bleeding. I have a 3-month baby inside.”

Schnell, who has worked for the department for less than two years, walks away from the car and tells his partner: “She just gave me a line of excuses. She said she’s bleeding. She said you can check her.”
Salva said: “I’m three months pregnant and I’m bleeding.”
Spencer, a four-year veteran, replied: “OK. Why are you driving to the store and then putting a fake temporary tag in your car?”

“I took it because I want to go to the hospital,” Salva said.  Read more