In May 2009, a mentally disturbed man, James Bayliss, then 21, was beaten at a traffic stop in Warren County, New Jersey. While the family and other demanded answers, the police said little. Now, a long withheld police video has surfaced that shows troopers severely beating Bayliss who was thrown to the ground and pummeled by multiple officers. Critics are now demanding to know why the film was withheld and why the actions taken by the police was also withheld from the public.
The scoop in this story goes to The Sunday Star-Ledger which first disclosed the State Police video. It was only after the Star-Ledger told the police that it was going public that the police department acknowledged publicly that the officer used excessive force.
The troopers were reportedly Staff Sgt. Richard Wambold Jr. and Trooper Keith Juckett who are shown stopping Bayliss at a blockade set up to catch burglary suspects. Bayliss is seen standing against the car as Wambold frisks him. A few seconds later, Wambold throws him to the ground and starts to pummel him. Witnesses say that the officers then dragged Bayliss across the ground, handcuffed him, and then rammed his head against a tire.
Notably, there has yet to be any disciplinary action taken against the officers. Indeed, absent the newspaper’s action, it is doubtful that anything would have happened at all.
Wamnbold insists that Bayliss attacked him which did not appear in this film. There is only the slight movement shown by Bayliss before he is beaten.
The withholding of such evidence can have a significant impact on families litigating such cases. There is a relatively short statute of limitations in most states — often no more than two years. It is often hard to secure contingency lawyers in such cases, particularly when the officers are unified in their testimony. It also diminishes the public backlash and pressure for action.
Most videos from police dashcams are released in the course of litigation or when demanded through state FOIA laws or other means sued by the media. However, there is no reason why the police should withhold such evidence or why it should withhold information on the discipline (or lack there of) for the officers.
My greatest concern is the lack of action by the police when they have had this video in their possession for over three years. This is the first time that the police have even acknowledged that the troopers used excessive force.
Source: NJ
Check this out http://www.copblock.org/13268/who-is-richard-l-koenig/
Crimes Cops Commit
Eternalu: “By the way, let’s not drag Zimmerman into this discussion – but let’s remember that the mass media isn’t spreading the real news very far that Zimmerman was having his head bashed into the ashphalt by Martin and fired his gun in real self-defense. No, you only believe what you think it is politically correct to believe.”
See, I do drag Zimmerman into discussions because the incident on 2/26/2012 has great explanatory power, showing how some police departments can function under certain circumstances. You say that the news has not been spread that “Z was having his head bashed into the asphalt etc.” and then opine that I believe what I think it is politically correct to believe. That begs the question twice.
I believe what I actually BELIEVE.
I do not believe your belief about self-defense.
I do believe that the Zimmerman case is germane to the NJ Cops case because cover-up is a standard operating procedure in many police departments, and with good reason: It is easy, it is usually effective, and whistle blowers are few, far between, and endangered.
As to the fact that there has not yet been a judicial determination of guilt or innocence in Zimmerman, that’s not what I am referring to: I am referring to police cover-up technology. There has ALREADY been real evidence of police misconduct in the Zimmerman case, even in the absence of asphalt.
The reason that the police behave in such a manner is because the people haven’t given them a compelling enough reason not to act as such. Solution: People’s Courts=street justice. No appeals, no paid vacations; suspension with pay, no probation. Justice.
Judge Thomas D. Raffaele is waiting to see if the Queens, New York, District Attorney is going to file criminal charges against the NYPD policeman who ‘lost it’ and gave the judge a karate chop in the neck last week which could have killed him. Read about it in the New York Times. Justice Raffaele is also wondering about how difficult it was for him to find a police officer to take his complaint at the scene. So when a big shot is victimized, people listen. By the way, let’s not drag Zimmerman into this discussion – but let’s remember that the mass media isn’t spreading the real news very far that Zimmerman was having his head bashed into the ashphalt by Martin and fired his gun in real self-defense. No, you only believe what you think it is politically correct to believe. And whether these cops are on ‘performance drugs’ or just plain ornery — They are all a danger to the continued existence of our Democracy. Call a posse! Roman or Western justice, whatever.
With recent court decisions to allow law enforcement to do just about anything they want too, I am not surprised that this happened.
Thanks for getting this bit of news out to be a warning to others that this does happen and more often than we suspect. Great article.
I think it’s time for me to say that whereas I am aware of probably 20, 30 cases of extreme police brutality, police corruption, and police crimes against society, I’m not ready to go Roman on them.
Whom do we encourage to become police? Think of George Zimmerman — crazy for power, angry at the world, concentrated on his own inner life, sure he has been undervalued, ready to tell the whole world how to be and what’s wrong with them, disdainful and contemptuous. Had he not run into and killed Trayvon Martin on 2/26/2012 he would be ready for police work within a year or two and would probably have been hired — after which anybody he killed would have been blamed FOR SURE for their own death.
We have a distorted SOCIETY here and the distortion is most concentrated in the police, the judges, the folks who have the greatest individual unchallengeable power over individuals, with the least accountability for their actions, over all. So that’s where the greatest harm is done. Although I feel free to hate those monsters who misuse their power to do harm to the whole society, piece by piece, I still would not crucify them.
Give them a fair trial and then take them out back and shoot them! Damn, be humane about it!
All cops caught during the coming revolution are to be crucified. Event this is not enought punishment for their crimes againts society.
WHY wouldn’t they!?!? Do you think they want people to KNOW what kind of Police State they actually live in??
No reason to wonder WHY the “Land of the Free” has the HIGHEST incarceration rate IN THE WORLD!!
Does anyone out there get it?
HIGHEST incarceration rate IN THE WORLD!!
Does this sound like the Land of the Free!?!?!?
Fine, fine officers…. Caught at least this time on camera…. Now if they could all wear cameras….
When you live in an Military and Police worshiping society where the population has been brainwashed from birth that the police can do no wrong, this is the end result, enjoy your new militarized fascistic police state, you deserve it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJL1LqX9Uao
wait for 4:01 he hits the high C perfectly
They just hold it for the hell of it. It’s a game to see how long they can keep everyone guessing.
“There is no reason why police should withhold such evidence…” HA HA HA Ha HA! Best laugh I’ve had all day!
Lock the the scum bag in the general prison population for a few years. IF he survives then put him on probation for the rest of his life.
If we were ever to do anything like this, it would be labeled assault or attempted murder. When the nazis do it, they call it excessive force.
Like I keep saying, these drones with guns and badges are the most dangerous elements in our society today. They are the most brainwashed and indoctrinated too.
An OT but pertinent question:
Are police officers ever with some frequency tested for substance useage? These hair trigger attacks seem odd. They can be explained by their inability to handle the peculiar stress of the job and seek release, although not consciously. Or it can have a sollution based on drug abuse. The list is long. OS can tell us, perhaps. But anabolistic doping is one I suspect.
On the one hand the cops argue that it is okay for them to use GPS tracking and ANPR/ALPR cameras on the road to trace you 24×7 because anything that happens on the road is in public.
On the other hand the cops refuse to release dashcam video of what takes place on the road because somehow it is private.
That is one contemptuous police department.
Kudos to the papert and the reporters, 2 local Woodward and Bernstein.
Seems just another example of power corrupts and seeing that way too many cops (sadly and lately) get away with this behavior. It seems it is becoming the commonplace.