By Charlton S. Stanley, Weekend writer
We should have seen this coming. I believe it is going to get worse before it gets better, if ever. At some point there is going to be a “pitchforks and torches” backlash.
It may be starting in Ferguson, MO. Take a look at one of the latest stories to come out of there. It’s sad that we have to look overseas to get reliable and up to date news about what is happening in the good ol’ US of A. Because of the great sucking sound that is the US corporate mainstream media, people who want to get a more balanced read on the news check sites such as Al Jazerra, The Guardian, RT, The Epoch Times, and Der Spiegel.
This is a brief clip from a story posted yesterday on RT (Russia Today). Emphasis is mine:
Nearly four years to the day before Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson opened fire and killed Brown, 18, a complaint filed in federal court accused the same law enforcement agency of violating the civil rights of a man who says he was badly beaten after being wrongly arrested, then later charged with “destruction of property” for bleeding on the uniforms of the cops alleged to have injured him.
It gets better. Reading the court filings, we learn that on September 20, 2010, Henry Davis missed his exit and found himself in the the St. Louis County community of Ferguson at 3:00 AM. As it happened, there was a warrant was out for a Henry Davis, but the wanted man has a different middle initial, different birth date, and different Social Security number.
However, Davis, a 54 year old African-American welder was assaulted by four officers (one of them female). The records show that he was thrown forcefully into a one-person cell, but the one-person cell already had an occupant. He would have had to sleep on the concrete floor, because the one bunk was already occupied. There was a pile of sleeping mats near the cell, so Davis asked for a sleeping mat. Because he asked for something to sleep on, he was called disobedient. At that point, Davis was thrown to the floor, and put in restraints. During this assault in the jail, one of the officers kicked Davis in the head.
After being restrained and kicked in the jail cell, paramedics took Henry Davis to the hospital where he insisted that his picture be taken before he was treated (photo and story at the link). The Emergency Room doctor diagnosed him with a concussion and stitched him up before releasing Davis back to custody of the Ferguson PD.
He was released 3 days later on a $1500 bond for “destruction of public property.” If they kick and beat you, you better not dare bleed on their uniforms.
Davis sued. When the four officers were deposed, all four denied that they had blood on their uniforms as they had signed on their affidavit of complaints. What does this mean? They either perjured themselves at trial or had falsified affidavit. That level of perjury is a felony. The county prosecutor declined to prosecute because he claimed Davis’, injuries were de minimus.
Let’s take a look at the prosecutor. The St. Louis County Prosecutor is a man named Bob McCulloch. He has a reputation of being extremely harsh in his prosecution of offenders. However, McCulloch has some personal baggage which calls both his judgement and racial neutrality into question. You see, Bob McCulloch is the son of St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department officer Paul McCullouch. Officer Paul McCullough was killed in the line of duty on July 2, 1964. Officer McCullouch was 37 years old at the time. His son, current prosecutor Bob McCulloch was 12 years old in 1964. I remember that cop killing, because we lived in St. Louis, and it happened not far from where I was working at the time. Officer McCullouch was responding to a kidnapping call at the infamous Pruett-Igoe Housing Project when he was shot in the head by the fleeing kidnapper. His killer was a black man.
Bob McCullouch wanted to become a police officer like his father, but lost a leg as a teenager. That eliminated him from joining the police force, so he went to law school and became a prosecutor, a position he has held for the past twenty years. His tenure as a prosecuting attorney has been marked by controversy. He has a reputation as being almost fanatical about prosecuting alleged perpetrators, but turns a blind eye to even the grossest misconduct by law enforcement officers. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has a story about him.
Mr. Davis’ injuries were de minimus, and according to McCullouch, not worth pursuing, yet Davis’ spattered blood on the officer’s uniforms did warrant charges. Maybe somebody smarter than me can explain that logic.
Henry Davis sued the city for civil rights violations, but late last year Magistrate Judge Nannette A. Baker ruled in favor the city. His attorneys filed a notice of appeal in March, and the case is currently slated to be considered later this year by the Eight Circuit Court of Appeals.
A PDF of the filing to the Eighth Circuit is embedded in the RT article.
–ooOoo–
The wrangling over the eye injury is stupid. Either the cop has a fractured orbital bone or he doesn’t. You can’t fake it like a back injury. X-Rays will not lie.
“Mr. Brown’s body remained in the street for several hours, a delay that Chief Jackson said last week made him “uncomfortable.” Antonio French, a St. Louis alderman who has been active in this case, said on ABC on Sunday that the body had remained in the street for nearly five hours.
At one point, a woman can be heard shouting, “Where is the ambulance? Where is the ambulance?” The man taking the video, who remained off-camera, said, “God rest his soul. He’s gone.”’ NYT Very bothersome that the officer did not call an ambulance.
RWL, Do SLMPD officers carry tazers? The answer is “No”. They are not standard issue.
Max, Does the article say the image is of Officer Wilson? No. It just reports the injury.
I posted information about the injury before that article was released. I found out about it last week when speaking to a friend on the City of St. Louis PD. At the time, Officer Wilson was still in the hospital.
Craig,
I am watching the local news, here in STL, and according to family members and neighbors, the deceased/gunned down individual has (had) a mental illness. Police asked him several times to drop the knife. He wouldn’t. You know what happened next…….
Why not use a taser gun on him? Or is a taser gun not a good choice of weapon on the mentally incompetent, but a gun is?
Is there still an MKR in kick boxing?
Samantha, I always strike a raw nerve when I call these lily white liberals out. They attack me because they have no defense. They’re not limousine liberals, Prius liberals.
Squeeky, You have become our best poet. You remember the bad old days. A select few pine for those echoes.
Ferguson, Fer gu son!
Greatest city in Ala bam
Clear across this great big land
There aint no place like Ferguson.
–Randy Newman
@samantha
Yes, I know. I love a good fight, too. Here, you just have to keep it civil, so I get my zings in the best I can without crossing the line.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Squeeky, I wasn’t around, but I know what you mean from other blogs I’ve been on. Somehow, when there’s name calling, I operate at a higher level. Probably a carryover from kickboxing, which isn’t any fun without an opponent. You know, the prospect for conquest.
Breaking news… A few miles from Ferguson in St. Louis, Mo. Police shoot and kill 23 old black male with knife. Could be suicide…Death by cop.
http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-st-louis-police-shooting-20140819-story.html
@samantha
Thank you! Somebody else was complaining about how they missed the “good old days” on this blog, so I wrote it. Which, I remember a lot of name calling back then. Whatever.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
http://www.allthetests.com/quiz31/picture/pic_1407273401_7.jpg
The Manson girls.
Squeeky, I must have missed your poem yesterday. I like it.
Elaine, almost like….. Cultists!
@elaine
Oh, you just said the magic words! I know you like poetry, and I wrote a poem yesterday for those people who miss the:
The Echo Chambers of Yesteryear
A Poem by Squeeky Fromm
The Echo Chambers of Yesteryear
Are calling to me now.
The comforting sounds of my own voice
To soothe my weary brow.
Voices echoing my own thoughts
Reverberate around.
I lay my head upon my hands
And listen to the sound.
And nary one dischordant note
Is plucked within this womb.
No flats, no sharps, unless in key
Are heard within this room.
And here, my mind in safe repose
In silken threads is twirled
As Echo Chambers of Yesteryear
Cocoon me from the World.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Here comes the echo chamber and pats on the back for the fella who is the country’s foremost authority on everything.
Oh, I am sooo happy someone besides me prefers to look at the tape of something rather than just take someone’s word for a thing. Like that clerk at the store saying he wasn’t robbed, when the tape clearly shows the Gentle Giant pushing him around.
Oh Happy Day!
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Videos show officer Wilson pacing around the body for an extended period of time. Not once can he been seen attending to an injured eye or even indicating an injury to his face.