Dashcam video shows Arizona officer intentionally running over suspect

[ Register or Signin to view external links. ]

Police in Arizona said Tuesday that an officer who intentionally used his car to run into a suspect with a rifle probably saved lives.
Video of the incident has stirred debate about what type of force police should have used to detain a man with a gun.

"Everything in the video seems to point towards an obvious excessive use of force. It is miraculous that my client isn't dead," said attorney Michelle Cohen-Metzger.
The incident was recorded February 19 on the dashcam of two Marana police cars that were following the suspect, 36-year-old Mario Valencia.

In one video, an officer who was tailing Valencia at slow speed reports over the radio that the suspect has fired one round in the air with a rifle he is accused of stealing that morning from a Walmart.
Another patrol car zooms past, runs into the man from behind then hits a short cinder block wall next to a driveway. Video from Officer Michael Rapiejko's camera shows the officer running the man over and the windshield smashing as the car hits the wall.

"Oh Jesus Christ. Man down," the officer in the first car says.
Police in Marana, which is about a half-hour from Tucson, have justified Rapiejko's actions.

"If we're going to choose between maybe we'll let him go a little bit farther and see what happens, or we're going to take him out now and eliminate any opportunity he has to hurt somebody, you're going to err on the side of, in favor of the innocent people," Police Chief Terry Rozema said. "Without a doubt."
The situation warranted deadly force because the suspect was headed to an area where several hundred people were working, Rozema told CNN's Brooke Baldwin.

"This officer made a split-second decision, and in retrospect, when all the dust clears, I think we look at this and say, yeah, there's things we can learn from this," he said, "but the entire community is safe, all the officers are safe, and even the suspect in this case is safe."
Cohen-Metzger said officers didn't make any effort to de-escalate the situation of a man "clearly suicidal, clearly in crisis."

CNN affiliate KOLD reported Valencia was in serious condition when he was taken to the hospital and was released into police custody two days later.

[ Register or Signin to view external links. ]

Video contradicts police claims about black man who died in jail cell after arrest for sagging pants.

[ Register or Signin to view external links. ]

A newly released video which contradicts police reports shows a black Louisiana man lying facedown and unresponsive in a jail cell where he died after officers shocked him with a stun gun.

Sheriffs deputies were called Nov. 26, 2013, to a Port Allen gas station, where 38-year-old Ervin Leon Edwards and his girlfriend were arguing, reported The Advocate.

The couple had calmed down by the time deputies arrived, but they questioned Edwards about his sagging pants which are banned in the city and then arrested him.
Police said Edwards was combative after he was placed in handcuffs and threatened to kill officers, and an officer threatened to use a stun gun to subdue him.

Edwards girlfriend begged officers not to use a stun gun, telling them Edwards suffered from high blood pressure, according to a wrongful death lawsuit filed last year by the mans family.
Family members also said Edwards was partially deaf and mentally disabled.

Officers did not use the stun gun against Edwards at the gas station, but a Port Allen police officer eventually shocked him inside the West Baton Rouge Jail cell.
Officer Dustin McMullan, of Port Arthur police, said he used the stun gun for its full five-second cycle but re-holstered the weapon because it did not appear to have any effect on Edwards, the newspaper reported.

McMullan claimed in an incident report that he helped other officers use empty hand control techniques to remove the restraints from Edwards ankles and hands before leaving the cell.
The incident report also claims a deputy checked on Edwards after he was left alone in the cell and found him breathing and moving his arms.

However, the video directly contradicts the officers claims.

The grainy video footage does not clearly show how many times Edwards was shocked, but it shows McMullan kept the stun gun pressed against the inmates buttocks in stun drive mode for more than a minute.
Edwards stopped moving a short time later and never budged afterward, and the video shows officers left him alone in the cell for about 10 minutes without examining him.

Officers occasionally peeked through a window in the cell door but did not render any medical assistance to Edwards as he lay unconscious on the floor which law enforcement experts said violated corrections standards.
An internal review of the incident found no criminal wrongdoing, but the West Baton Rouge Parish Sheriffs Office has turned over its findings to the U.S. Department of Justice for examination.

Edwards cause of death was classified as undetermined and officially a result of acute cocaine and phencyclidine (PCP) intoxication in association with restraint by law enforcement, according to the autopsy report.
Law enforcement experts said Edwards who was described in the autopsy report as morbidly obese likely died as a result of excited delirium, a controversial diagnosis to describe in-custody deaths involving drug intoxication, struggles with police, and the suspects health.

The drugs didnt kill him, said his mother, Viney Edwards. The police killed him.

[ Register or Signin to view external links. ]

_{Riot erupts after funeral for man hurt in police custody}

---

Rioters looted stores and hurled rocks and bricks at Baltimore police Monday, injuring several officers just hours after thousands mourned the man who died after suffering a severe spinal injury in police custody.
Several hours later, the city remained in chaos: The National Guard was put on alert by the governor, ready to move in rapidly if needed, the Baltimore Orioles postponed their game and seven police officers were hurt.

Some of the officers had broken bones, and one was unresponsive, said Capt. Eric Kowalczyk. Television footage showed a police cruiser in flames and stores being overrun by small groups of people. A CVS store was set ablaze. Officers using shields and wearing helmets used pepper-spray in an effort to keep the rioters back.

A helicopter circled overhead as groups of rioters moved through the city. One group piled onto and rode a car as it drove down the street. Officers for the most part formed lines to keep protesters at bay.

Monday's riot was the latest flare-up over the mysterious death of Freddie Gray, whose fatal encounter with officers came amid the national debate over police use of force, especially when black suspects are involved. Gray was African-American.

The smell of burned rubber wafted in the air in one neighborhood where youths were looting a liquor store. Glass and trash littered the streets, and small fires were scattered about. One person from a church tried to shout something from a megaphone as two cars burned.
[ Register or Signin to view external links. ]
Gray's family was shocked by the violence and was lying low; instead, they hoped to organize a peace march later in the week, said family attorney Billy Murphy. He said they did not know the riot was going to happen and urged calm.

"They don't want this movement nationally to be marred by violence," he said. "It makes no sense."

Police urged parents to locate their children and bring them home. Many of those on the streets appeared to be African-American youths, wearing backpacks and khaki pants that are a part of many public school uniforms.

The riot broke out just as high school let out, and at a key city bus depot for student commuters.

Many who had never met Gray gathered earlier in the day in a Baltimore church to bid him farewell and press for more accountability among law enforcement.
[ Register or Signin to view external links. ]
The 2,500-capacity New Shiloh Baptist church was filled with mourners. But even the funeral could not ease mounting tensions.

Police said in a news release sent while the funeral was underway that the department had received a "credible threat" that three notoriously violent gangs are now working together to "take out" law enforcement officers.

A small group of mourners started lining up about two hours ahead of Monday's funeral. Placed atop Gray's body was a white pillow with a screened picture of him. A projector aimed at two screens on the walls showed the words "Black Lives Matter & All Lives Matter."

The service lasted nearly two hours, with dignitaries in attendance including former Maryland representative and NAACP leader Kweisi Mfume and current Maryland Rep. John Sarbanes.

Erica Garner, 24, the daughter of Eric Garner, attended Gray's funeral. She said she came after seeing video of Gray's arrest, which she said reminded her of her father's shouts that he could not breathe when he was being arrested on a New York City street. Garner died during the confrontation.
"It's like there is no accountability, no justice," she said. "It's like we're back in the '50s, back in the Martin Luther King days. When is our day to be free going to come?"

With the Rev. Jesse Jackson sitting behind him, the Rev. Jamal Bryant gave a rousing and spirited eulogy for Freddie Gray, a message that received a standing ovation from the crowded church.

Bryant said Gray's death would spur further protests, and he urged those in the audience to join.

"Freddie's death is not in vain," Bryant said. "After this day, we're going to keep on marching. After this day, we're going to keep demanding justice."

Gray was arrested one week before he died when officers chased him through a West Baltimore neighborhood and dragged him into a police van.
Police said Gray was arrested after he made eye contact with officers and ran away. Officers held him down, handcuffed him and loaded him into the van. While inside, he became irate and leg cuffs were put on him, police have said.

Gray asked for medical help several times, beginning before he was placed in the van. After a 30-minute ride that included three stops, paramedics were called.

Authorities have not explained how or when Gray's spine was injured.

Police acknowledged Friday that Gray should have received medical attention on the spot where he was arrested before he was put inside a police transport van handcuffed and without a seat belt, a violation of the police department's policy.
[ Register or Signin to view external links. ]

_{Baltimore on edge: National Guardsmen take up positions}

---

National Guardsmen took up positions across the city and hundreds of volunteers swept broken glass and other debris from the streets Tuesday, the morning after riots erupted following the funeral of a black man who died in police custody.
The streets were largely calm in the morning and into the afternoon, but authorities remained on edge against the possibility of another outbreak of looting, vandalism and arson.

The city was under a 10 p.m.-to-5 a.m. curfew, all public schools were closed, and the Baltimore Orioles canceled their Tuesday night game at Camden Yards. National Guardsmen in helmets with face shields surrounded City Hall, standing behind bicycle-rack barriers.

"We're not going to have another repeat of what happened last night," Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan vowed after a visit to a West Baltimore neighborhood where cars were burned and windows smashed. "We're going to make sure we get Baltimore back on track."

Hogan said there are "a couple of thousand" National Guardsmen and police officers in Baltimore, with more on the way.

The rioting was the worst such violence in the U.S. since the turbulent protests that broke out over the death of Michael Brown, the unarmed black 18-year-old who was shot by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, last summer.
This is also the first time the National Guard has been called out to quell unrest in Baltimore since 1968, when some of the same neighborhoods burned for days after the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

At the White House, President Barack Obama called the deaths of several black men around the country at the hands of police "a slow rolling crisis." But he added that there was "no excuse" for the violence in Baltimore, and said the rioters should be treated as criminals.

"They aren't protesting. They aren't making a statement. They're stealing," Obama said.

As firefighters doused smoldering fires, political leaders and residents called the violence a tragedy for the city and lamented the damage done by the rioters to their own neighborhoods.

The uprising started in West Baltimore on Monday afternoon, hours after the funeral for 25-year-old Freddie Gray, whose death has become the latest flashpoint in the national debate over the police use of deadly force against black men. By midnight, the rioting had spread to East Baltimore and neighborhoods close to downtown and near the baseball stadium.
Rioters set police cars and buildings on fire, looted a mall and liquor stores and hurled rocks, bottles and cinderblocks at police in riot gear. Police responded occasionally with pepper spray or cleared the streets by moving in tight formation, shoulder to shoulder.

At least 20 officers were hurt, one person was critically injured in a fire, more than 200 adults and 34 juveniles were arrested, and nearly 150 cars were burned, police said.

"They just outnumbered us and outflanked us," Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts said. "We needed to have more resources out there."

The governor had no immediate estimate of the damage.

"I understand anger, but what we're seeing isn't anger," Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake lamented. "It's disruption of a community. The same community they say they care about, they're destroying. You can't have it both ways."
On Tuesday morning, hundreds of volunteers helped shopkeepers clean up as helmeted officers blocked a stretch of North Avenue in the neighborhood where Gray was arrested. Hardware stores donated trash bags and brooms.

With schools closed, Blanca Tapahuasco brought her three sons, ages 2 to 8, from another part of the city to help sweep the brick-and-pavement courtyard outside a looted CVS pharmacy.

"We're helping the neighborhood build back up," she said. "This is an encouragement to them to know the rest of the city is not just looking on and wondering what to do."

CVS store manager Haywood McMorris said the destruction didn't make sense: "We work here, man. This is where we stand, and this is where people actually make a living."

The violence set off soul-searching among community leaders and others, with some suggesting the uprising was about more than race or the police department it was about high unemployment, high crime, poor housing, broken-down schools, and lack of opportunity in Baltimore's inner-city neighborhoods.
The city of 622,000 is 63 percent black. The mayor, state's attorney, police chief and City Council president are black, as is 48 percent of the police force.

"You look around and see unemployment. Filling out job applications and being turned down because of where you live and your demographic. It's so much bigger than the police department," said Robert Stokes, 36, holding a broom and a dustpan on a corner where some of the looting and vandalism took place.

He added: "This place is a powder keg waiting to explode."

The Rev. Jesse Jackson visited the burned-out CVS and similarly said the violence, while inexcusable, reflected the alienation of unemployed people in neighborhoods full of empty homes and vacant lots.

He urged Obama to set up a committee from the departments of Housing, Health, Labor and Education to create a jobs program to revive the neighborhood and turn it into an example for the rest of the country.
In the aftermath of the riots, state and local authorities found themselves responding to questions about whether their initial response had been adequate.

Rawlings-Blake waited hours to ask the governor to declare a state of emergency, and the governor hinted she should have come to him earlier.

"We were trying to get in touch with the mayor for quite some time," Hogan said Monday evening. "She finally made that call, and we immediately took action."

Asked if the mayor should have called for help sooner, however, Hogan replied that he didn't want to question what Baltimore officials were doing: "They're all under tremendous stress. We're all on one team."

Rawlings-Blake said officials initially thought they had gotten the unrest under control.

Maryland National Guard spokesman Lt. Charles Kohler said that about 2,000 members would be deployed through the day and that the force could build to 5,000.

Also, State Police said they were putting out a call for up to 500 additional law enforcement officers from Maryland and as many as 5,000 from around the mid-Atlantic region.

With the city bracing for more trouble, several area colleges closed early Tuesday including Loyola University Maryland, Johns Hopkins University and Towson University.

Gray was arrested April 12 after running away at the sight of police, authorities said. He was held down, handcuffed and loaded into a police van. Leg cuffs were put on him when he became irate inside. He died of a spinal cord injury a week later.

Authorities said they are still investigating how and when he suffered the injury during the arrest or while he was in the van, where authorities say he was riding without being belted in, a violation of department policy. Six officers have been suspended with pay while the investigation continues.

While they are angry about what happened to Gray, his family said riots are not the answer.

"I think the violence is wrong," Gray's twin sister, Fredericka Gray, said late Monday. "I don't like it at all."

In 1968, when Baltimore and many other U.S. cities erupted in flames over the assassination of King, the state of Maryland called up 6,000 Guardsmen to restore order in the city, and 2,000 active-duty federal troops were sent in, too. At least six people died in the chaos, and some neighborhoods still bear the scars.
[ Register or Signin to view external links. ]