Tulsa Police Officers Beat Up a Juvenile??

[JessnT]

Say this isn't so?  I just found out about this:  

www.courthousenews.com/2008/09/19/TulsaCops.pdf

I'm wondering why none of the media outlets have reported about it.  
They always report about any time the cops tussle with someone, even if it is bogus!!  Could it be because it involves a juvenile?

It's a petition filed in September on 3 Tulsa cops for allegedly beating up a juvenile and causing possible, permanent damage to him.  

[sgrizzle]

Probably because it isn't necessarily legitimate. They include that the Mayor hiring Ron Palmer as one of the things that led to this incident. They jump to a lot of conclusions like "The officers talked amongst themselves, obviously ridiculing the child" adn that the incident has to be racially motivated, because the cops are white.

I would tend to assume that if there are three cops in an apartment complex late at night, there was a complaint they were investigating so it would be no surprise they would ask questions of someone wandering around. None of that information is in this lawsuit, of course.

I don't know what happened, but the wording in this lawsuit makes me NOT want to believe it. You can also lookup the lawyer on OSCN. Looks like every case he's ever been on has been dismissed, most due to settlements. I'm a bit confused on the one where someone who works on transmissions sued sam's, best buy, and UPS for blocking the client's ability to do business.

[patric]

I think "pedestrian check" is the euphemism for these type of violent encounters.

[ARGUS]

Yawn! I now have even less respect for the atty who filed this. zzzzzzzzzzz.
Go TPD! Clean it all up plz.

[Hometown]

We need a Police Review Board outside of the DA's office and the Tulsa Police Department that includes a cross-section of citizens to review police shootings, "suicides" while in police custody and incidents like this.

[MH2010]

quote:Originally posted by Hometown

We need a Police Review Board outside of the DA's office and the Tulsa Police Department that includes a cross-section of citizens to review police shootings, "suicides" while in police custody and incidents like this.

and while we are at it, lets have a citizen review board for Doctors and Nurses to review surgeries and "accidential or unusual" deaths while in their care.

[jne]

quote:Originally posted by MH2010

quote:Originally posted by Hometown

We need a Police Review Board outside of the DA's office and the Tulsa Police Department that includes a cross-section of citizens to review police shootings, "suicides" while in police custody and incidents like this.

and while we are at it, lets have a citizen review board for Doctors and Nurses to review surgeries and "accidential or unusual" deaths while in their care.

Apple, meet Orange.

[GG]

Chris Rock - How not to get your donkey kicked by the police!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj0mtxXEGE8

[Wilbur]

quote:Originally posted by unreliablesource

Chris Rock - How not to get your donkey kicked by the police!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj0mtxXEGE8

Now, that's funny!

[TUalum0982]

quote:Originally posted by Hometown

We need a Police Review Board outside of the DA's office and the Tulsa Police Department that includes a cross-section of citizens to review police shootings, "suicides" while in police custody and incidents like this.

if you are referring to suicide by cop...majority of the time, the person has not been detained, arrested or in custody of the police.  Definition of suicide by cop is "is a suicide method in which a person deliberately acts in a threatening way, with the goal of provoking a lethal response from a law enforcement officer, such as being shot to death."

I totally disagree with some citizens review board to investigate shootings by cops.  Why would we have misinformed people who probably know nothing about law enforcement try to determine whether a police shooting was "justified" or not.

[JessnT]

quote:Originally posted by sgrizzle

Probably because it isn't necessarily legitimate. They include that the Mayor hiring Ron Palmer as one of the things that led to this incident. They jump to a lot of conclusions like "The officers talked amongst themselves, obviously ridiculing the child" adn that the incident has to be racially motivated, because the cops are white.

I would tend to assume that if there are three cops in an apartment complex late at night, there was a complaint they were investigating so it would be no surprise they would ask questions of someone wandering around. None of that information is in this lawsuit, of course.

I don't know what happened, but the wording in this lawsuit makes me NOT want to believe it. You can also lookup the lawyer on OSCN. Looks like every case he's ever been on has been dismissed, most due to settlements. I'm a bit confused on the one where someone who works on transmissions sued sam's, best buy, and UPS for blocking the client's ability to do business.

Now I'm confused.  I don't see where the mayor hiring Palmer could have anything to do with an officer's motivation for becoming physical with anyone.  I guess I missed that part.
The officers were on an extra assignment, bicycle patrol, so they were already in and around the complex when the kid was walking home.

If the attorney's have a history of filing frivilous lawsuits, fine.  They state in their petition that this kid has no history of violence or discipline issues and has always been well behaved.  They should be able to back that up with school documents, teacher testimony and no juvenile records.  They state that they have CT scans and X-rays as proof of the kid's injuries and a doctor to confirm that his partial loss of hearing and vision are permanent.  If not, they will look like fools!

If you look at the Tulsa Police Consent Decree Database you can see that these officers have quite a few complaints on file and some use of force reports as well.  That's not to say they are guilty.  Sometimes, I feel over-use of "use of force" complaints goes with the job.  

So you see, it can go both ways.  The attorney's get a bad rap and these cops can be made into bad guys if you dig into their files.

I was only wondering why the news didn't jump on the story because they usually do when someone accuses the cops of beating them up.
The fact remains that this kid was beaten up pretty bad.  If these cops didn't do it, I'm interested to know who did because that is one big accusation this mother and son will have to live with!

[patric]

quote:Originally posted by TUalum0982

I totally disagree with some citizens review board to investigate shootings by cops.  Why would we have misinformed people who probably no nothing about law enforcement try to determine whether a police shooting was "justified" or not.

You would want people on the board who have no conflict of interests.  As for being misinformed, that's going to be determined by the quality of the information presented to the board.  If a shooting or other violent act cant be justified in a way that an average person can understand, chances are it isnt justified.

If we dont do it, the federal government will step in and do it.  As it stands now the DOJ has to babysit too many departments as is.

[TUalum0982]

quote:Originally posted by patric

quote:Originally posted by TUalum0982

I totally disagree with some citizens review board to investigate shootings by cops.  Why would we have misinformed people who probably no nothing about law enforcement try to determine whether a police shooting was "justified" or not.

You would want people on the board who have no conflict of interests.  As for being misinformed, that's going to be determined by the quality of the information presented to the board.  If a shooting or other violent act cant be justified in a way that an average person can understand, chances are it isnt justified.

If we dont do it, the federal government will step in and do it.  As it stands now the DOJ has to babysit too many departments as is.

I would not want the average person determining whether or not a shooting was justified.  They have no knowledge of the situation's our officers are put in, so therefore can't possibly understand or ascertain what is going through an officer's mind, and what the circumstances are.  Just my two cents, but I think that is absolutely absurd

[patric]

quote:Originally posted by TUalum0982

I would not want the average person determining whether or not a shooting was justified.  They have no knowledge of the situation's our officers are put in, so therefore can't possibly understand or ascertain what is going through an officer's mind, and what the circumstances are.

How is that any different than a jury trial?

If you cant make a case, maybe you dont have a case.

[TUalum0982]

quote:Originally posted by patric

quote:Originally posted by TUalum0982

I would not want the average person determining whether or not a shooting was justified.  They have no knowledge of the situation's our officers are put in, so therefore can't possibly understand or ascertain what is going through an officer's mind, and what the circumstances are.

How is that any different than a jury trial?

If you cant make a case, maybe you dont have a case.

A jury trial is totally different then a hearing to determine on whether or not an officer involved shooting was justified.  You are comparing two different things.