Track-a-Trick: In Tenn, 1 in 5 Blacks are Barred from Voting [Racists Make it Hard to Vote to Promote the Illusion that Voting is Power. Your Vote Only Matters If the Election is decided by 1 Vote]

According to FUNKTIONARY

Track-a-Trick – the political version of trick-or-treat where the big-pimping elected ghoul turns a trick on the voting fool—and covers its tracks by robbing directly from you whatever it lacks! Addicted to the political process you abuse—and every single time you vote, you still seem to lose. (See: VOTE, Elections, Pollworkers, Taxtortion & Politicians)

Two-party System – Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-dumb—working together systematically to keep you down, confused, and passively subservient to a system that is relegated to solving life’s problems and conflicts through the iron rule of political power. The real two-party system is the tail-gate and the after-party. Don’t vote—Act! Delete the Elite! Secret Ballots beget secret “government.” In order to bring in a new dawn of civilization, an advancing one, we must educate ourselves on the liberating power of symbioacracy and its four noble pillars: individuality, spirituality, noble law and knowledge—which restructure the dynamics of human relationships through the Golden Rule of serving others without being subservient to anyone while beneting all. We can invoke and activate (unleash) this dormant aspect of the Kingdom of heaven on Earth as soon as enough people have seen enough and realize that political power happens only through coercion and deception. Political structure and process has been a failing experiment for aeons. It’s not to late to join the afterparty of Reality and begin to see what the promises of infinity hold for everyone—including you and me. (See: Big Brother, Golden Rule, Contract, Kingdom of Heaven, Political Power, Authoritarianism, Iron Rule, The Representative System, Politics, VoteScam, Creativity, ChoicePoint, Republican, Tyrannolaw, Voting, Campaign Elections, VOTE, Electionomics, VOTERS, Freedom, Plutocracy & Electoral College)

From [HERE] One in five Black residents of Tennessee are prohibited by state law from voting. In combination with numerous other election barriers, advocates say, people of color have been broadly disenfranchised by white lawmakers maintaining their grip on power in the state. 

Tennessee has one of the most draconian laws in the country stripping voting rights from people convicted of felonies. More than 450,000 citizens in the state, disproportionately Black and Latino, are affected.

“We are not going to have a fully functional electorate unless more people have access to voting,” said Kathy Sinback, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee. “All of these policies have a disproportionate effect on our marginalized communities, our Black and brown communities. It truly is a remnant of what happened after the Civil War, when mass incarceration began and there was a concerted effort to disenfranchise, to police Black people to the point where they did not have full citizenship rights.”

Since the 2020 presidential election, access to voting and political representation has become even less equal.

In 2020, amid concerns about COVID-19 exposure, a court blocked the state’s requirement that first-time voters appear in person at a polling place. That ruling has since been overturned. 

Voters must qualify under a specific set of circumstances to cast absentee ballots in Tennessee. Fear of COVID-19 exposure or transmission is not one of them. When casting a ballot in person, Tennessee voters face one of the strictest voter ID laws in the country. They’re required to present a photo ID issued by the state or federal government, and student IDs, even from state colleges and universities, are specifically prohibited. [MORE]

6 in 10 Whites want Race out of College admissions [Most whites also believe in white supremacy] and Believe Black Kids are Excluded Due to their Inferiority Not the Racist Public Fool System

From [HERE] More than 6 in 10 Americans support a ban on the consideration of race in college admissions, according to a Washington Post-Schar School poll, but an equally robust majority endorses programs to boost racial diversity on campuses.

The findings illuminate the turbulent crosscurrents of public opinion on affirmative action as the Supreme Court revisits the fraught subject barely six years after it upheld the limited use of race in admissions at the University of Texas. On Oct. 31, the justices will hear arguments in cases challenging race-conscious admissions at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

If the court’s conservative majority reverses decades of precedent and prohibits the consideration of race and ethnicity, the Post-Schar School poll conducted this month finds 63 percent of adults would support the change. At the same time, 64 percent say programs designed to increase racial diversity of students are a good thing. Support for boosting diversity is high across racial and ethnic groups, while Black Americans are less supportive of banning race as a factor in admissions than people of other backgrounds.

Americans appear torn over policies meant to remedy historic inequities in educational opportunity and uphold the principle that students learn a great deal through encounters with classmates who don’t look like them. [MORE]

Amos Wilson: Is Black America Dying of Natural Causes or Strangulation by White Supremacy/Racism?

The bane of the African community is the exploitative White American community which projects a so-called civilized, fraternal, egalitarian, liberal face while concurrently seeking to maintain White supremacy. This means that the White American community must maintain African subordination while not appearing to do so. It must cannibalistically sacrifice the vitality, autonomy, and if need be, the life of the African American community while posing as its benefactor and savior. It pleads innocence while washing its hands of the blood of African people. This duplicitous task can only be accomplished by making it appear that the African community is dying of natural causes, not of an ingenious attempt on the part of the White American community to strangle it to death. This means that African American hands must be used to plunge White American-manufactured daggers into the hearts of African American citizens. This is the assigned role of the Black-on-Black violent criminal. How this role is played out will be delineated in the chapters that follow.

To explain the problem of African subordination in terms of racism, racial hatred, and the like, is to misdirect and mislead the African community down the irrational and destructive path of seeking to overcome "racism" (as if "racism" could exist without some race of people being empowered to practice it) while leaving the power (and need) to practice this behavior in White hands. The African American and worldwide African communities have chased phantom explanations and solutions to their detriment. While the explanations and solutions expressed in this book may or may not be accepted by the reader, he or she must accept the fact that new explanations and solutions must be found and applied full speed ahead!. [MORE] and [MORE]

North Carolina’s Use of Death Qualification Disenfranchises Black People From Serving on Death Penalty Juries

From [HERE] The process of death qualification, which excludes people who oppose the death penalty from serving on capital juries, is racially discriminatory, civil rights advocate Reverend Dr. William J. Barber II wrote in an October 10, 2022 op-ed.

Rev. Barber and his co-authors, pastor Dumas Harshaw Jr. and preacher Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, introduce their article with a recognition of J.W. Hood, a Black man and AME Zion pastor, who fought to abolish slavery and co-authored North Carolina’s modern constitution. “Today, he’s exactly the kind of person who’s most likely to be denied the right to serve on a jury,” they write. “A century and a half after Hood spoke of the importance of jury service, a Wake County death penalty case is exposing the reality that Black people’s right to be represented in the jury box is still under threat in North Carolina.” 

They explain that “studies show that Black people are more likely to oppose the death penalty and question evidence presented by law enforcement,” and are therefore more likely to be excluded from capital juries during the death qualification process. This ignores the fact that the views of Black jurors are shaped by racial discrimination in the legal system. The authors write, “this perspective is the result of the African-American experience in the United States, which is shaped by the racist history of policing and the death penalty. Rules that do not recognize this fact make it impossible for us to work together toward a multiracial democracy.”

EU Elite Josep Borrell Expresses the Delusion that Whites Must Dominate Non-Whites to Survive and Avoid Replacement: saying, ‘Most of the World is a Jungle that Could Invade Europe, which is a Garden’

NON-WHITE PEOPLE, PARTICULARLY BLACKS AND LATINOS MUST UNDERSTAND THAT SOME RACISTS PRACTICE RACISM TO SURVIVE. THEY BELIEVE THEY LITERALLY MUST DOMINATE AND CONTROL NON-WHITES IN ORDER TO SURVIVE AND NON-WHITES THREATEN THEIR ACTUAL SURVIVAL. RACISM IS A POWERFUL MOTIVATING FORCE. And persons who are classified as white are indeed replaceable. Most white people consciously or subconsciously understand the following;

White plus Black equals Colored.

White plus Brown equals Colored.

White plus Yellow equals Colored.

It is scientific fact that white people are genetic recessive. In general, this means they cannot reproduce a white child when they have sexual relations with non-whites. In reality, 90% of the world's population of 7 billion people are non-white, PERSONS CLASSIFIED AS White make up less than 10% of the world's population AND ARE IN CONTINUAL DECLINE. NEVERTHELESS, EVERYWHERE NON-WHITES AND WHITES LIVE TOGETHER, THE WHITES ARE IN CONTROL OF NON-WHITES. THE ONLY PERSONS CONCERNED ABOUT THE DECLINING HUMAN TRAIT OF WHITE SKIN, A MEANINGLESS HUMAN CHARACTERISTIC, ARE RACISTS (DELUSIONAL persons WHO believE in the granfalloon of “RACE.”). [MORE] and [MORE]

DR. WELSING’S “Color-Confrontation theory” postulates that whites are vulnerable to their sense of numerical inadequacy. This inadequacy is apparent in their drive to divide the vast majority of non-whites into fractional, as well as frictional, minorities. RACISTS HAVE structured and manipulated their own thought processes and conceptual patterns, as well as those of the entire non-white world majority, so that the real numerical minority (whites) illusionally feels and represents itself as the world's majority, while the true numerical majority (non-whites) illusionally feels and views itself as the minority.’ [MORE]

IF BLACK AND LATINO INDIVIDUALS CAN UNDERSTAND RACISM AS A BEHAVIORAL SYSTEM OF WHITE SURVIVAL AND THEREFORE THAT RACISTS “are playing a White survival game [which] has to inferiorize the functioning of Black and other people of color,” THEN THEY CAN LOGICALLY SEE THAT NON-WHITES CAN NEVER BE INTEGRATED WITH RACISTS. TO SOME RACISTS, INTEGRATION IS WHITE SUICIDE OR GENOCIDE. WITH SUCH AN UNDERSTANDING NON-WHITES COULD ALSO ONCE AND FOR ALL DROP MORAL SUASION AS A STRATEGY TO SOMEHOW TRANSFORM RACISTS AND BECOME EQUAL PARTNERS WITH THEM. SUCH GUILLIBLE THINKING HAVE CAUSED BLACK PEOPLE’S CENTURIES LONG LOSING STREAK WITH RACISM WHITE SUPREMACY. NON-WHITES WHO UNDERSTAND THE COLOR CONFRONTATION THEORY KNOW THAT RACISTS ARE THE PERMANENT ENEMIES OF BLACK PEOPLE AND THERBY UNDERSTAND THAT YOU CAN NEVER BE ALLIES WITH PERSONS WHO SEEK TO BE YOUR MASTER.

From [HERE] The European Union’s top foreign-policy official showed how the colonialist mentality is still very much alive on the continent.

EU foreign-policy chief Josep Borrell said “Europe is a garden,” which is “beautiful” and superior to the vast majority of the countries on Earth. On the other hand, he claimed, “Most of the rest of the world is a jungle, and the jungle could invade the garden.”

Borrell argued that “the world needs Europe,” because it is a “beacon” that must civilize the rest of the world.

The enlightened Western “gardeners have to go to the jungle,” he insisted, because if the supposed barbarians are not tamed, “the rest of the world will invade us.”

Borrell delivered this overtly racist rant at the inauguration of the European Diplomatic Academy in Brussels on October 13.

According to the official transcript, published at the EU website, Borrell said the following:

Europe is a garden. We have built a garden. Everything works. It is the best combination of political freedom, economic prosperity and social cohesion that the humankind has been able to build – the three things together. And here, Bruges is maybe a good representation of beautiful things, intellectual life, wellbeing.

The rest of the world – and you know this very well, Federica – is not exactly a garden. Most of the rest of the world is a jungle, and the jungle could invade the garden. The gardeners should take care of it, but they will not protect the garden by building walls. A nice small garden surrounded by high walls in order to prevent the jungle from coming in is not going to be a solution. Because the jungle has a strong growth capacity, and the wall will never be high enough in order to protect the garden.

The gardeners have to go to the jungle. Europeans have to be much more engaged with the rest of the world. Otherwise, the rest of the world will invade us, by different ways and means.

Yes, this is my most important message: we have to be much more engaged with the rest of the world.

Dr. Amos Wilson states, "[Blacks] must question how is it that a minority people [whites], a very small percentage of mankind, a people who are essentially resourceless in terms of their natural resources, maintain the power they have. Why is it that the peoples whose lands contain the wealth of the earth are the poorest people? Why is it that Afrika with some twenty (20) or thirty (30) strategic metals that make the space age possible — why is it that the image of Afrika is projected at us time and time again as that of starving children, as societies in disorder, as societies on the verge of disaster? This implies that there must exist a political, social situation wherein the mental orientation of our people must be so structured that the power and the ability of the Europeans to rule this earth are continually maintained.' [MORE]

FUNKTIONARY STATES

Europe – northwest Asia—a geographic lie—continentally speaking, a continent is land surrounded by water. Europe is surrounded by land-grabbers. Europe—so little history and so much crime. Europe is a thawed-out ice-box. It is a section of contiguous land mass named after “Europa,” an African woman, the daughter of Belus, and the sister of Phineus, the Nubian. The oldest extant record of European history is titled “The Ethipians.” Contrary to popular belief, so-called Europe is not a continent—go look on any map. The inaccurate official version of the etymology for the name “Europe” comes from that of the Greek moon goddess Europa, which means white face or pale face. At first she rode her luna bull over the seas and through the world. Then with the Patriarchal revolt, he raped her and became instead her abductor. Europeans (the so-called white race) as a distinct ethnicity, have no factually certain or known historical origin so they adapted the Roman mythological story of Romulus and Remus as their biological ancestry. The more probable history is being the offspring of the Cave-Man and Homo-Sapien Sapiens. So few controlling the rest of the view—to the history, the mystery, and the vast ancient past. So, Afrikan folk, what is there left to do? History changes its view when you fight back. Don’t be frightened, the fight will be spiritual—not physical. Melanin strives in stress but shuts down with fear. (See: Caucasian, Melanin, Racism White Supremacy, His-Story, Self-Determination, Manifest Destiny, Empire, Imperialism, Fascism, Mutual Aid, Violence, Conflict, War & Yurugu)

The EU foreign-policy chief failed to mention that, for more than 500 years, European colonialist powers have run the most violent empires in human history, overseeing mass genocides, racialized chattel slavery, ethnic cleansing, and constant wars.

Instead, Borrell continued later in his remarks portraying Europe as a superior “beacon” of civilization:

Believe me, Europe is a good example for many things. The world needs Europe. My experience of travelling around the world is that people look at us as a beacon.

Why [do] so many people come to Europe? Are there flows of illegal or irregular migrants going to Russia? Not many. No, they are coming to Europe but for good reasons.

Keep the garden, be good gardeners. But your duty will not be to take care of the garden itself but [of] the jungle outside.

In the same speech, Borrell claimed Europe is superior because of its “institutions”:

There is a big difference between Europe and the rest of the world – well, the rest of the world, understand me what I mean, no? – is that we have strong institutions. … The big difference between developed and not developed is not the economy, it is institutions.

Here, we have a judiciary – a neutral, independent judiciary. Here, we have systems of distributing the revenue. Here, we have elections that provide a free for the citizens. Here, we have the red lights controlling the traffic, people taking the garbage.

…

The big difference between us and an important part of the rest of the world is that we have institutions.

Despite his implications, countries across the Global South do indeed have independent judiciaries, tax services, free elections, traffic lights, and garbage collectors. But the EU’s top foreign-policy official apparently believes that the majority of the world’s population consists of illiterate knuckle-dragging cavemen.

Borrell evidently could see that his comments were racist, so he cautiously added, “I cannot go to emerging countries and build institutions for them – they have to be built by them. Otherwise, it would be a kind of neo-colonialism.”

But while he superficially rejected neocolonialism, Borrell’s remarks reflected a blatant neocolonialist mentality.

And the EU foreign-policy chief’s use of the term “emerging countries” made it clear that his rant was aimed specifically at the formerly colonized nations in the Global South.

EU is waging a new cold war to integrate ‘post-Putin Russia’ into West-led hegemonic system

In the same October 13 speech, Josep Borrell obliquely acknowledged that the West is fighting a new cold war against Russia and China.

“Now, we are definitely out of the Cold War and the post-Cold War. The post-Cold War has ended with the Ukrainian war,” he said. [MORE]

Is it Reasonable to Shoot Someone to Death if They Threw Rocks at Your Car? Phoenix Cops Think So. Ali Osman's Family Sues For $85 Million after Police Murdered Black Man

From [HERE] The family of Ali Osman, a man who was fatally shot by Phoenix police after he allegedly threw rocks at one of their patrol units, is suing for $85 million. Last month, two police vehicles were driving through the intersection of 19th Avenue and Tuckey Lane. According to a news release from law enforcement “their cars were struck by unknown items causing damage.”

One of the officers say they saw Osman “throwing rocks towards his patrol car,” the release continued. He claimed Osman refused to stop and “that’s when the officer-involved shooting occurred striking the man.” Osman, who was only 34, died later at a hospital from his injuries.

Quacy Smith, who is part of the legal team for Ali Osman’s family, filed a notice of claim on Friday. The claim, which comes before a lawsuit, lists Phoenix, its police department, two officers and Chief Michael Sullivan as defendants.

The claim states: “The Claimants seek an award of damages reasonably calculated to compensate for the injuries they suffered in connection with the wrongful death of Ali Osman on September 24, 2022.” Smith insists that this wasn’t an accident but murder.

“This is not just homicide. This was murder. He should be in jail, not in a graveyard,” Smith said at a news conference. Smith, who is a former police officer, has previously stated that he said couldn’t “fathom a set of circumstances described to us that would warrant this young Black man being shot down by police in the streets of our city for throwing rocks.”

The notice of claim also explains that Osman was “neither a threat of death nor of great bodily harm to the officers.” Furthermore, he was not “engaging in conduct that justified the extent of force used by the officers.”

The shooting is under a criminal and internal investigation.

Chicago Officer Might Lose His Job After Murdering Adam Toldeo. Cop Shot 13 yr Old Latino Boy While His Hands Were Up but faced No Charges b/c Police are Exempt from Normal Human Morality and Laws

From [HERE] The president of the Chicago Police Board ruled on Thursday that Chicago police officer Eric Stillman will face an evidentiary hearing for the fatal March 2021 shooting of 13-year-old Adam Toledo on the city’s Southwest Side. The trial-like process will be used by the other seven members of the Chicago Police board to determine whether or not Stillman will face disciplinary measures — up to, and including, termination — for the shooting.

The Civilian Office of Police Accountability, the agency that investigates use-of-force incidents by CPD officers — concluded its report on the shooting last April and recommended to CPD Supt. David Brown that Stillman be fired from the department.

Brown disagreed, instead saying that Stillman should face lesser discipline, the extent of which was not immediately known. That disagreement triggered a process that mandated a single member of the CPD board — in this case, Board President Ghian Foreman, who was selected at random — decide whether or not Stillman would face administrative charges as part of a trial-like procedure known as an evidentiary hearing.

“Based on a thorough review of the material, the parties and the public will benefit from a full evidentiary hearing on this matter, and so referring this matter for a hearing before the full police will be the appropriate next step,” Foreman said during the board’s monthly meeting, which was held via video conference.

“Let me be clear: with this ruling, I am not saying that the chief administrator’s recommendation is right and that the superintendent is wrong, nor am I saying that Officer Stillman should be suspended while this case is pending before the police board,” Foreman continued. “Rather, I am saying that a police board hearing that provides due process for all parties is necessary to determine whether Officer Stillman violated any of the Chicago Police Department’s rules of conduct and, if so, the proper disciplinary action.”

Earlier this year, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx announced her office would not bring criminal charges against Stillman. The Toledo family, meanwhile, filed a still-pending wrongful death lawsuit against Stillman in Chicago’s federal court.

Stillman shot and killed the 13-year-old Adam around 2:30 a.m. on March 29, 2021 in the 2300 block of South Spaulding Avenue in the Little Village neighborhood.

Adam was shot after he and another man allegedly ran away from police who were responding to the area for a report of gunfire.

COPA last year released 17 bodyworn camera videos, four third-party videos and several audio transmissions and police reports related to the shooting. 

Stillman’s own bodyworn camera footage showed he and his partner briefly chasing Adam and the other man — identified as Ruben Roman — through an alley near Farragut Career Academy High School. Stillman’s partner quickly tackles Roman, while Stillman goes after Adam.

While chasing the teen, Stillman repeatedly tells him to “stop right f—— now” and to “show me your f—— hands.” The officer also tells Adam to “drop it.”

Adam can be seen briefly ducking behind a break in a fence near Farragut, then quickly reemerging. Stillman was standing about 10 feet away, pointing his gun and a flashlight at the teen. Moments later, Adam turns toward Stillman with both his hands raised, and the officer fires a single shot, striking Adam in the upper left side of his chest, near his heart.

After he’s shot, the teen stumbles backward and collapses to the pavement. Officers immediately run to him, and Stillman is the first to start rendering CPR while calling for more medical aid. More than a dozen additional CPD officers soon arrive at the scene.

As other officers and Chicago Fire Department personnel continue to perform life-saving procedures, the officer who fired the shot soon finds a gun near the break in fence where the boy was shot.

Stillman joined the CPD in 2015 after having served in Afghanistan in the United States Marine Corps.

The process that played out Thursday night is known as a “request for review.”

After a police shooting occurs, COPA investigates the shooting and submits a report of findings to the superintendent of the CPD. The superintendent then must decide whether to agree or disagree with the findings and any disciplinary recommendations.

If the superintendent disagrees with COPA, a single member of the nine-person Chicago police board is selected at random to review the case and decide whether or not the officer will face an evidentiary hearing — the police board’s version of a trial.

Evidentiary hearings — which are overseen by a hearing officer and video-recorded so they may be reviewed by police board members at a later date — typically last one to four days. The hearings feature attorneys for the superintendent — acting as de facto prosecutors — and attorneys for the accused officer arguing the officer’s guilty or innocence, calling witnesses and presenting evidence.

The remaining seven members of the police board — there is currently a vacancy — then review the proceedings and vote on whether or not the superintendent’s attorneys proved the officer’s guilt of the administrative charges brought against them. If the board finds that superintendent’s attorneys met their burden, they will order discipline on the officer, including possible termination.

Cook County prosecutors later charged Ruben Roman — the 21-year-old arrested after the shooting — with three counts of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and one count of reckless discharge of a firearm, according to court records. The case is still in the pre-trial phase, and, earlier this month, Roman’s attorney filed a motion that seeks to “bar any lay witness, including police officers and detectives from identifying Mr. Roman in any surveillance video, except for the body worn camera that was captured when he was arrested.”

“The videos speak for themselves and it is a matter for the finder of fact to decide whether any unidentified person in the video is or is not Mr. Roman,” his attorneys wrote. “Any opinion testimony about who the video depicts would improperly intrude on the province if the finder of fact.”

The next hearing in the case is scheduled for later this month.

Missouri Ct Upholds Dismissal of St Louis Cop's Suit to Get His Job Back. For Over a Minute Cop Put His Knee on a Black Inmate's Neck while he was Unconscious, Tried to Kill Him. No Charges Filed

From [HERE] Before George Floyd, a St. Louis Justice Center inmate had a similar experience you haven’t heard about. It happened in 2018, but the case has been held up in the courts until just this week.

Former corrections officer Victor Cooper was fired after the incident. He then sued to get his job back. It went all the way to the Missouri Court of Appeals, which ruled Tuesday and upheld Cooper’s dismissal.

Court records describe the incident in detail – an incident which was also captured on video. The court records indicate an inmate said they were transgender and would not go into a cell with men. The handcuffed inmate then reportedly yelled and turned to try to kick then-Lt. Cooper.

What happened next led to Cooper’s termination by the St. Louis Corrections Department.

Court records reflect video in which you can see Cooper putting his knee on the defendant’s neck for a minute and 18 seconds, even while the person appears unconscious. The guard then drags them and drops them on the floor. At one point, it appears the guard is trying to revive the inmate, by slapping them in the face. The court documents say the defendant, only identified by the initials D.B., did eventually wake up.

Cooper was fired for using excessive force in 2018. He sued to get his job back and lost. He then appealed, with his attorney telling the courts his “…(termination) was not supported by competent and substantial evidence to support the commission’s finding that his conduct violated the department of corrections policy and procedure.”

The appeals court disagreed, affirming St. Louis’ termination of Cooper for what happened on the jail video.

Neither Cooper nor Cooper’s attorney would respond to FOX 2’s requests for comment.

Cooper was never prosecuted criminally for what the corrections department called “excessive force,” and there’s no sign the inmate involved ever filed a lawsuit.

Excessive Force Lawsuit Quickly Filed after LA Cops were Caught on Video Ambushing a Black Man for No Valid Reason, Tried to Kill Him

From [HERE] The family of Blake Anderson, whose violent arrest at an Inglewood hookah bar over the weekend was captured on cell phone video, will hold a news conference tomorrow with attorneys to announce an excessive force claim against Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department deputies.

The arrest occurred Sunday while Anderson was working as a security guard at the Good Batch hookah lounge at 5006 W. Century Blvd. near the San Diego (405) Freeway. The LASD did not explain why deputies were initially called to the scene and noted only that ``deputies were involved in a use-of-force incident with an armed suspect'' at the scene.

The family retained attorneys Ben Crump, Jasmine Mines and Jim DeSimone, and planned a news conference Friday at 1:30 p.m.

Anderson's family claimed in a GoFundMe account that the man was approached by the deputies, who did not identify themselves before attempting to apprehend him.

"According to multiple witnesses, Blake was conversing with an establishment customer when the officers got out of their vehicle and proceeded to ambush him with no probable cause,'' according to the GoFundMe. "No name, source of identification or justification for arrest was asked for before immediately slamming his head into a glass window.''

The LASD claimed Anderson "sustained minor injuries during the use of force'' and was taken to a hospital, where he was "medically cleared for booking.'' Anderson's family, however, reported the man suffered "a dislocated shoulder'' and "several hematomas around his head.''

Additionally, the family's GoFundMe account said Anderson had previously suffered from a ruptured right eye that was unrelated to the arrest and was "finally showing signs of his sight returning,'' but the injuries he sustained during the use of force caused the improvement in his right eye to deteriorate.

Feds Indict White Indianapolis Police Sergeant for "Deprivation of Rights" for Stomping a Homeless Black Man's Head While he was Handcuffed and Held Down on Sidewalk. Also faces State Charges

From [HERE] A white Indianapolis police sergeant faces federal charges after shocking bodycam video captured him stomping on a handcuffed homeless Black man’s face as he lay on the ground.

Sgt. Eric Huxley, 44, a 15-year veteran, has been indicted by a federal grand jury for violating the black man’s civil rights by using excessive force during the caught-on-video incident Sept. 24, 2021.

Huxley, who is white, was charged with one count of deprivation of rights under color of law while using a dangerous weapon, resulting in bodily injury.

The sergeant and two other officers — Sgt. Christopher Kibbey and officer Matthew Shores — were trying to arrest Jermaine Vaughn for disorderly conduct and forced him to the ground as he argued, Fox 59 reported.

“[The man] is on his backside on the ground, looking up at Ofc. Shores with his hands cuffed behind his back,” stated the probable cause affidavit, the news outlet reported.

Sgt. Huxley then walks over to [the man], lifts his left leg and drives his left foot down into [the man’s] face. Within seconds, blood is visible in [the man’s] mouth,” it stated.

“Stop! You’re done! You’re done! You’re done!” Huxley yells at Vaughn after kicking him in the face, the video shows.

“There you go. Police brutality!” the bloodied suspect responds.

The federal grand jury indictment alleges Huxley used his foot to hit the man without lawful justification.

Huxley, who has been suspended without pay, also faces termination along with local felony charges of battery and official misconduct, according to Fox 59.

The city, police department and Police Chief Randal Taylor also face a separate federal lawsuit claiming the two other officers who reported Huxley faced retaliation, the station added.

The two cops have alleged the department accused them of not making a timely report and placed them on administrative leave — adding that they were forced to turn in their patrol cars for older models that were “determined to be unsafe,” WTHR reported.

“This incident was unnecessary and should have never occurred,” Taylor said after the indictment was handed down Tuesday.

Black Woman who escaped abductor’s basement in Kansas City Affirms Problem that Cops Don’t take Reports of Missing Black Women Seriously or Protect Black People and Media Parrots Whatever Police Say

From [HERE] On Oct. 7, a terrified 22-year-old Black woman escaped from a home in Excelsior Springs. She told police she had been locked up there for about a month, after being abducted from Prospect Avenue in Kansas City by a man who lives in the home.

The man, Timothy M. Haslett Jr., 39, is in custody facing charges of rape, kidnapping and assault in Clay County. The woman told neighbors and police that she was restrained in a small room in Haslett’s basement, where he repeatedly raped, beat and tortured her. She managed to escape when he took his elementary-age son to school. 

The woman told a neighbor and police something else: There were other victims, she said. Women who “didn’t make it out.” 

The woman’s escape and Haslett’s arrest occurred a month after The Kansas City Defender, a Black-owned news publication, republished a video of Bishop Tony Caldwell, a community and church leader, alerting the public of assertions that at least several Black girls and women are missing from the Prospect Avenue corridor. 

“We got four young ladies that have been murdered within the last week off of here at 85th and Prospect,” Caldwell said in the video. “We got a serial killer again.”

After the video went viral on social media, the Kansas City Police Department released a statement calling Caldwell’s assertions “completely unfounded.” The department makes the public aware of every homicide it investigates, the statement said. It said police had responded to one homicide of a woman in six weeks, at a location not close to Prospect Avenue.  Several local news outlets, which had not reported on Caldwell’s allegations, did report the police rebuttal. 

Authorities in Kansas City and Excelsior Springs have told news outlets they have not found a link connecting the woman imprisoned in Haslett’s home with any other reported missing or murdered women. A police investigative squad in Clay County is working the case and searching for any other victims. 

But the woman’s emergence, and her story of being abducted in Kansas City, has roiled Black leaders and residents. They contend that the events are proof that police don’t take reports of missing Black women seriously and that mainstream news outlets are too quick to accept the police version of events. 

“I’m tired of hearing these excuses. I’m tired of hearing people thinking what people know, instead of going to the people and seeing who they are,” said Gloria Ellington, the founder of GYRL, a nonprofit she started in 2000 with the mission of empowering women, especially victims and survivors of domestic violence. Ellington is part of the group searching for missing women and girls along the Prospect corridor.

Justice Dept Claims the Orange County DA and Sheriff Conspired to Violate People's Right to Attorney by Using Jailhouse Snitches to Elicit Incriminating Statements and Hiding Information from Defense

From [HERE] A jailhouse informant program in Orange County, California, violated the constitutional rights of criminal defendants because of jailers’ involvement, according to a long-awaited report by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ press release available here(link is external)).

The federal agency, which began investigating(link is external) in 2016, issued a lengthy report(link is external) detailing Orange County authorities' use of the informants from 2007 to 2016 and their failure to release information, as required by law, about incriminating statements gathered by the snitches to lawyers for the accused.

The report said there is “reasonable cause to believe” the sheriff’s department and district attorney’s office in Orange County, California, systematically violated defendants’ Sixth Amendment right to counsel and their 14th Amendment right to due process.

The Orange County program, which focused on defendants charged with homicide and gang crimes, operated from 2007 through 2016. Jailers placed informants next to targeted defendants after those defendants were charged with a crime and while they were represented by counsel, according to the report.

Informants were rewarded with leniency in the form of reduced charges or sentencing requests and were provided benefits that made their jail time easier. Those benefits could include special food, visits, phone calls and preferred housing assignments. Providing rewards to informants “further illuminates” the close relationship with law enforcement.

Prosecutors failed to seek out and disclose to the defense evidence that the defendants were questioned by informants in violation of their Sixth Amendment rights. Prosecutors also failed to disclose that the informants had a motive to lie or were unreliable people.

According to ACLU Lawsuit Racist Suspect Orange County DA is Ignoring the Racial Justice Act to Hide Racist Charging Decisions

From [HERE] The American Civil Liberties teamed up with a local activist organization to sue Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer Wednesday for allegedly failing to comply with public records act requests for data regarding its handling of the new Racial Justice Act law.

The lawsuit was filed in Orange County Superior Court by the ACLU and Chicanxs Unidxs de Orange County.

The organizations filed five public records act requests to Spitzer’s office in 2021 and 2022 “seeking prosecutorial data and other information relevant to the implementation of the Racial Justice Act,” according to the lawsuit. “Four of these requests sought data reflecting prosecutorial actions and case outcomes, and one request sought prosecutorial policies, practices and training materials.”

The District’s Attorney’s Office “has refused to produce any data, asserted overbroad and unsupported exemptions, withheld key policy documents, and rebuffed efforts to provide statutorily required information,” the suit alleges.

District Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Kimberly Edds said the office has “absolutely complied with the law in connection with the ACLU’s numerous PRA requests, including resending previous responses when the ACLU claimed technical difficulties on its end which prevented it from receiving our responses.”

Edds said the office has “sent 19 responses to the ACLU since their initial request in July 2021, including 14 monthly updates by email since August 2021. California law does not require government agencies to create new records for public records requests if the records do not already exist. We cannot produce records we do not have.

“The law safeguards taxpayers from being forced to respond to overly burdensome fishing expeditions. The ACLU’s requests  that were denied were denied as a result of being either overly burdensome or records not in possession of the Orange County District Attorney’s Office as allowed under the law.”

The new law aims to eliminate systemic racism in criminal justice.

The lawsuit claims that the failure to respond to the public records request “is apparently standard practice.”

Spitzer “is now refusing to produce the exact same data that the OCDA previously produced in 2019,” the suit alleges. “Further, OCDA has also refused requests from public defenders who have sought data necessary to pursue Racial Justice Act claims in criminal court on behalf of people facing criminal charges, whether that information requested pursuant to the PRA or the Racial Justice Act.”

The lawsuit notes that now-retired Orange County Superior Court Judge Gregg Prickett found that Spitzer had violated the Racial Justice Act when mulling whether to pursue the death penalty against a double-murder defendant in Newport Beach.

In the case of Jamon Buggs, Spitzer said, during a discussion on the death penalty with prosecutors, that he knew Black men in college who dated white women to increase their social status. Buggs, who is Black, was convicted of killing a man who had just made friends with the defendant’s ex-girlfriend, who is white, as well as a woman, who was sleeping overnight with the man.

Edds disputed the ACLU’s characterization of Prickett’s ruling.

When one of Buggs’ attorneys asked Prickett at the sentencing hearing if he had found that Spitzer violated the Racial Justice Act Prickett replied that he had made that finding.

The ACLU had used data provided by Spitzer’s office from 2017 and 2018 — when his predecessor Tony Rackauckas was the county’s top prosecutor — to issue a report claiming “racial disparities in charging decisions,” according to the lawsuit.

“For example, 2.1% of people in Orange County are Black, but Black people represented 5.8% of those criminally charged in the county,” according to the lawsuit’s citation of the report issued in February.

The Orange County District Attorney’s Office “is also more likely to charge Black and Latinx people with felonies and sentencing enhancements than white people, and less likely to offer Black and Latinx people diversion as an alternative to incarceration,” the lawsuit alleged.

Liberal Minneapolis to Pay more than $700k to Settle Claims that Cops Attacked Demonstrators who Protested the Police Murders of Black People

From [HERE] The Minneapolis City Council approved four separate settlements Thursday totaling more than $700,000 to resolve claims of unreasonable and excessive force by police in response to demonstrations following the deaths of George Floyd and Winston Smith.

The largest award was issued to a group of 11 Minnesotans and one former Iowa resident who filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court accusing the Minneapolis Police Department of targeting them with tear gas, rubber bullets and pepper spray as they peacefully protested in the immediate aftermath of Floyd's murder.

Most of the plaintiffs were marching along the Interstate 35W bridge on May 31, 2020, when an oil tanker barreled toward the large crowd at high speed, forcing protesters to scatter in every direction. When MPD and other law enforcement arrived, they did not seek to discover whether anyone was injured, the suit alleges, instead focusing on the safety of the truck driver.

"In other blatant displays of excessive force, captured on video, MPD officers can be seen spraying tear gas and pepper spray indiscriminately out of their squad car windows while driving through peaceful protests," according to a 60-page civil suit.

After a closed-door session Thursday, 12 City Council members unanimously voted to award $50,000 to each named plaintiff in the case, which included civil rights attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong, her husband, Marques Armstrong, and Hennepin Healthcare's Dr. Max Fraden. (Council Member Andrew Johnson was absent for the vote.)

The city also agreed to an injunction that, subject to court approval, would bar MPD from unlawfully using rubber bullets, Mace and tear gas as a crowd control measure against those exercising their First Amendment rights, said Minneapolis-based attorney Joshua J. Rissman, a partner with Gustafson Gluek PLLC. [MORE]

“Detroit Will Breathe” Wins $1M from Detroit Police’s Handling of Demonstrations and the Government’s Violent Efforts to Silence Speech Critical of Cops in 2020

From [HERE] A racial justice group said it has settled a lawsuit with Detroit for the city police’s handling of demonstrations in 2020.

said 14 people who were injured by the police during the three months of protests will receive $1 million from the city.

The lawsuit, filed in 2020, charged that excessive force by the police resulted in concussions, broken bones, broken ribs and a fractured skull.

“This judgment is a victory for the movement,” Detroit Will Breathe said in a prepared statement.

City officials could not be reached for comment.

The racial justice group organized demonstrations in the city as part of the national furor over the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.

In July, the Detroit City Council responded to the lawsuit by approving an offer of $1,035,000.

The 14 plaintiffs will receive anywhere from $15,000 to $250,000, depending on the severity of their injuries. Detroit Will Breathe will receive $5,000.

In its statement, the group said the quest for justice isn’t finished and will continue in different forms. It said it will continue to fight against police brutality and other forms of harm to people.

It lauded the increase in strikes against businesses for better wages, and walkouts by students protesting school rules.

“The militancy of these new actions is a spark that can light a fire,” said the group. “We encourage everyone to join the fight in any way they can. See y’all in the streets.”

Deeply Rooted: DPIC Report Connects Oklahoma’s History of Racists Lynching Black People to Present Day Racists Using Government Authority to Murder Black People [the death penalty]

From [HERE] New Report Places Oklahoma’s Death Penalty in its Historical Context of Lynchings and Mass Violence Against Black Oklahomans and the Forced Migration of Native Americans

“Systemic issues in the state’s use of the death penalty affect all capital defendants. However, the impact is skewed based on the race of defendant and victim, and the effects are particularly harsh on defendants of color.”

On October 20, 2022, Oklahoma is scheduled to conduct the second in a series of 25 executions over a two-year period, or one execution nearly every month through 2024. As this protracted spree begins, the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) today released a report that documents the historical role that race has played in Oklahoma’s death penalty and details the pervasive impact that racial discrimination continues to have in the administration of capital punishment.

The report, “Deeply Rooted: How Racial History Informs Oklahoma’s Death Penalty,” and related graphics are available at https://tinyurl.com/bdddu6ex.

“Ten Facts You Should Know About Oklahoma’s Death Penalty” is available at

https://tinyurl.com/2p8reph3

The report ties Oklahoma’s use of the death penalty to its troubled history of racial violence and segregation. “To move towards true justice, Oklahoma must reckon with the harm that has already been inflicted by a criminal legal system in which race can determine who lives or dies,” Dr. Tiffany Crutcher, Founder and Executive Director of the Terence Crutcher Foundation, said. “To understand this history, we must recognize the generational trauma inflicted on so many in Black communities, those who have been victims of racialized violence, those who have lost family members to murder with no redress, and those who have had to stand by as the legal system takes the lives of their loved ones.”

The report observes that Oklahoma is at an inflection point in its administration of the death penalty and argues that if the state is to establish a fair and humane system of justice, it is crucial to acknowledge and redress the effects of Jim Crow and racial violence that persist into the present day.

“A bipartisan commission concluded that Oklahoma’s death penalty was broken, discriminatory, and inhumane. After extensive study, the commission recommended a moratorium until reforms were made. Five years later, nothing has changed. A frenzy of 25 executions is not conservative, not limited government, and not pro-life,” said Brett Farley, state coordinator for Oklahoma Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty.

The report notes that death sentences and executions are in decline nationally, making Oklahoma an outlier state. In 2021, 18 people were sentenced to death nationwide and 11 people were executed, the fewest since 1988. Oklahoma has executed more people per capita than any other state in the country. Oklahoma County and Tulsa County rank fourth and sixth, respectively, for the most executions by any county in the past fifty years. No county outside of Texas is responsible for more executions than either Oklahoma County or Tulsa County.

Racial discrimination, especially the race of the victim, continues to infect all aspects of the death penalty in Oklahoma. A study of homicides in the state between 1990 and 2012 found that the odds a person charged with killing a white female victim would be sentenced to death were 10 times greater than if the victim was a minority male. Of the 25 executions scheduled between August 2022 and December 2024, 68% involve white victims. Data throughout the report suggest that valuing white victims more than others has resulted in disproportionate punishment for Black defendants who murder white people.

An examination of the age and race of the men scheduled for execution reflects the bias that Black youth are perceived as older and less innocent than white youth. Seven of the 10 Black men set for execution were 25 years old or younger at the time of the crime. By contrast, only one of the 13 white men set for execution was 25 or younger at the time of his crime. Three of the Black men were 20 or younger and one of them, Alfred Mitchell, was only two weeks past his 18th birthday.

Of the 142 people in the U.S. who have been removed from death row because of intellectual disability (because of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that their executions are barred), the majority (83%) have been people of color. This suggests that people of color, especially Black people, with intellectual disability are at a greater risk of being subjected to capital punishment. Oklahoma has limited the ability for people on death row to seek relief based on intellectual disability. As the report notes, Michael Smith, a Black man scheduled for execution on July 6, 2023 has a documented, lifelong intellectual disability. Despite his medical diagnosis, Oklahoma has denied Mr. Smith a hearing on his intellectual disability.

At least five cases of those scheduled for execution in Oklahoma may have involved official misconduct, including Clarence Goode, a Black and Muscogee man set to be executed on August 8, 2024, who was convicted after the testimony of a detective who later served time in federal prison for misconduct in other cases. Nationwide, nearly 80% of wrongful capital convictions of Black people involve official misconduct by police, prosecutors, or other government officials.

The report states that Oklahoma has a history of defying U.S. Supreme Court decisions that would provide some measure of racial justice. For example, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals refused to apply McGirt v. Oklahoma (holding that the state lacked jurisdiction to prosecute crimes committed by or against Native American people on tribal lands)

retroactively to four death-row prisoners even after the Supreme Court had retroactively applied it in the case of Patrick Murphy, a Muscogee man, who challenged Oklahoma’s jurisdiction because his crime was committed on tribal land. Thirty-seven Native American men and women have been sentenced to death in Oklahoma, more than in any other state. Two people currently scheduled for execution, Clarence Goode, Jr. and Alfred Mitchell, are Native American.

Today’s report builds upon DPIC’s 2020 report, “Enduring Injustice: the Persistence of Racial Discrimination in the U.S. Death Penalty.” It is the first in a series of reports detailing how individual state histories of racial injustice inform the current use of capital punishment in those states. The next in the series will be Tennessee.

###

The Death Penalty Information Center (www.deathpenaltyinfo.org) is a non-profit organization serving the media and the public with analysis and information on issues concerning capital punishment. DPIC was founded in 1990 and prepares in-depth reports, issues press releases, conducts briefings for the media, and serves as a resource to those working on this issue. DPIC does not take a position on the death penalty but has been critical of how it is administered.

Philadelphia Authorities Apologize for Experimenting on Black Inmates at Holmesburg Prison [apology here means ‘to lay the foundation for future offenses or affronts’ and ‘to reform its own image’]

From [HERE] The city of Philadelphia issued an apology Thursday for the unethical medical experiments performed on mostly Black inmates at its Holmesburg Prison from the 1950s through the 1970s (article available here(link is external)).

The move comes after community activists and families of some of those inmates raised the need for a formal apology. It also follows a string of apologies from various U.S. cities over historically racist policies or wrongdoing in the wake of the nationwide racial reckoning after the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer.

The city allowed University of Pennsylvania researcher Dr. Albert Kligman to conduct the dermatological, biochemical and pharmaceutical experiments that intentionally exposed about 300 inmates to viruses, fungus, asbestos and chemical agents including dioxin — a component of Agent Orange.

The vast majority of Kligman's experiments were performed on Black men, many of whom were awaiting trial and trying to save money for bail, and many of whom were illiterate, the city said.

Many of the former inmates would have lifelong scars and health issues from the experiments. A group of the inmates filed a lawsuit against the university and Kligman in 2000 that was ultimately thrown out because of a statute of limitations.

"Without excuse, we formally and officially extend a sincere apology to those who were subjected to this inhumane and horrific abuse. We are also sorry it took far too long to hear these words," Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney wrote.

Last year, the University of Pennsylvania issued a formal apology and took Kligman's name off some honorifics like an annual lecture series and professorship. The university also directed research funds to fellows focused on dermatological issues in people of color.

MD Authorities Order the reinvestigation of 100 Deaths in Police Custody. Examinations by Racist Suspect Examiner who Testified for Cop in George Floyd Trial Lacked Integrity

From [HERE] After George Floyd was killed by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in 2020, Maryland's former Chief Medical Examiner Dr. David Fowler was called in as a defense witness for the 2021 trial.

On the stand, Fowler testified that, based on his study of the forensic evidence, Floyd's death should be classified as "undetermined" and not a homicide, due to a medley of factors including heart disease, drug use and carbon monoxide exposure.

Chauvin was later convicted of murder and manslaughter for kneeling on Floyd's neck for more than nine minutes. But Fowler's testimony — which contradicted the Hennepin medical examiner's determination that Floyd's death was a homicide — sparked immediate concern among hundreds of his peers around the country, who suggested he might be motivated by racial or pro-law enforcement bias.

As a result, officials in Maryland launched a review last year of similar "in-custody" death reports that were performed during Fowler's tenure at the helm of the state medical examiner's office.

Now, that probe has spurred further scrutiny.

After reviewing the work by Fowler and his team on over 1,300 cases in which people died in police custody, an independent audit design team is recommending that the state reinvestigate about 100 of those. The cases share key similarities, including the absence of an "obvious medical cause of death," and they each involved physical restraint.

"We embarked on this process with the goal of overseeing a professional and independent audit that adheres to the highest standards of impartiality and integrity," Attorney General Brian Frosh said in a statement on Wednesday.

What will the new audit be looking for?

The new investigations will be led by an independent group of experts in forensic pathology, Frosh announced. As they reopen reports and comb through the records, they'll be tasked with deciding whether they agree or disagree with the original medical examiner's conclusions on the cause and manner of death. They'll also judge if those involved followed existing protocols.

Among their many questions, the new panel will explore the role of physical restraint in each death, and whether the person would have lived but for the application of restraint. They will also recommend the need for changes in training, policy or procedure regarding the application of physical restraint that might reduce the risk of death in such cases.

Fowler, who has been considered one of the foremost medical examiners in the country and served on the National Board of Medical Examiners, has defended his record, noting that he did not work alone when preparing autopsy conclusions.

Fowler did not respond to NPR's requests for comment.

"There's a large team of forensic pathologists, with layers of supervision, and those medical examiners always did tremendous work," Fowler told the Baltimore Sun.

Closer scrutiny could reopen cases for families who have long-doubted the medical examiner's findings

The findings of the audit could have a significant impact on several cases involving the deaths of other men in police custody, including the 2018 death of Anton Black. [MORE]

DC Taxpayers are Spending Millions to Rehire Bad Cops to Surveil, Arrest and Place Blacks in Greater Confinement

From [HERE] Late last year, a trove of records was obtained by transparency activists Distributed Denial of Secret (DDoS). Those records showed what the Washington DC Metro PD hoped to hide: that the internal disciplinary process was apparently irreparably broken.

The joint report by DCist and The Reveal made sense of the DDoS-liberated data. What it showed was that officers with sustained complaints were often given nothing more than tiny hand slaps (suspensions, write-ups) for severe misconduct, including drunk driving, indecent exposure, sexual solicitation, and theft.

Welcome to Impunityville, USA. Not only were Metro PD officers assured they wouldn’t face criminal charges for criminal acts, they were assured they wouldn’t even need to worry where their next paycheck would come from.

Now there’s more bad news. Every so often, the DC Metro PD actually finds officers worth firing. A report from the DC auditor shows taxpayers are shelling out millions to keep the worst of the PD’s officers on the job, as Mitch Ryals reports for the Washington City Paper. 

The full scope of this problem and what it has cost D.C. taxpayers, is detailed in an explosive report released this week from D.C. Auditor Kathy Patterson.

From October 2015 to March 2021, the Office of the D.C. Auditor found that MPD fired 49 officers and was forced to rehire 37 officers. The department paid out $14.3 million in back wages to 36 of those officers after their appeals crawled toward a resolution.

Three of the reinstated officers have been determined by the Auditor’s office to be a “threat to safety.” One of those is Jay Hong, who collided with another vehicle while drunk. In his vehicle, investigators found one (1) loaded handgun and one (1) unconscious, partially-nude woman. Hong pleaded guilty to DUI charges and was fired. The woman later accused Hong of sexual assault, but PD investigators cleared Hong of these accusations. Hong re-secured his job through a third-party arbitrator who suggested a 35-day suspension was a more appropriate punishment for driving drunk with a loaded gun and a loaded woman in his car. He received nearly $300,000 in back pay.

He’s not the only fully employed “threat to safety.” There are more:

The other two officers tagged as safety threats, who are still employed with MPD, are Wilberto Flores and Richard Mazloom, according to ODCA.

Flores was convicted in a criminal court of exposing his genitals to women in the parking lot of a grocery store in 2010, according to the report, which cites information from MPD and the Office of Employee Appeals. 

[…]

Mazloom was the subject of three complaints submitted to the Office of Police Complaints before he went out drinking with friends while off duty and with his service weapon on him in August of 2011…

That night, Mazloom got into a fight on H Street NE, the auditor’s report says. He was later fired, but an arbitrator overturned his termination, in part because they “thought the evidence showed Mazloom was not the aggressor and the other party instigated the fight.”

Both officers were reinstated, taking home more than a half-million in back pay between the two of them. Officer Mazloom has since racked up two more complaints and one sustained instance of misconduct.

According to the City Paper report, nearly 40% of these reinstatements are due to the Metro PD missing administrative deadlines in the disciplinary process. This either means the Metro PD has so many bad cops it can’t keep up with the paperwork or it’s more than willing to slow walk investigations to ensure officers it actually decides to fire can get their jobs back. Neither alternative should be considered acceptable.

This happens frequently enough that even other MPD officers are getting sick of it. Statements made to the Auditor’s office during the preparation of this report show many officers are “demoralized” by the rehiring of bad cops and fully cognizant of the fact that overturned firings emboldens the worst officers in their ranks.

The Auditor’s report closes by recommending the Metro PD (duh) start meeting administrative deadlines to help assure bad cops can’t get their jobs back on a technicality. But the city seems powerless to actually enforce this, which means the PD can pick and choose which officers it will efficiently discipline. And that means taxpayers will still keep paying good money for cops even the Metro PD feels are too terrible to stay employed.