The first 5 people to respond with the correct answers
to the following questions will win a genuine African -
American wallet - guaranteed not to be mistaken for a gun
(guarantee not valid in NYC). Just send your answers
to dontshoot@@unitedtv.com:
After being beaten, abused with racial epithets and told by Chicago police officers
that he would be killed if he did not move, this 15 - year - old's family moved. Later,
he returned to the neighborhood for a friend's birthday party. After leaving the
party, a police car rammed him as he rode his bike. As he tried to get on his
knees, the police shot and killed him. What was the victim's name?
Name the Brooklyn 13 - year - old shot & killed by NY police in 1994
and the officer who was not charged.
HINT: He was playing with a toy gun when the officer arrived
at the scene. The small child dropped the gun and said, "We're
only playing...we're only pl..." and was shot in mid-sentence.
Three part question: Name the Puerto - Rican man who went to retrieve the football that glanced off an officer's car
and was killed by the officer (who used an illegal choke hold). Why was the case against the officer dismissed? How many
trials did it take before the officer was convicted.
The ACLU provides this card, which can be printed and carried with you.
It outlines your basic rights as well as what to do if confronted by
police on the street, in your car, or in your home.
It's also available in Spanish.
Click here for card
October 22nd Coalition
Cop Crimes
ACLU
Amnesty Int'l
Police Complaint Ctr.
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If you would like to help police officers around the country keep themselves from shooting, Hell, almost everyone,
you can help by giving them this handy card. It eases the occasional difficulty in determining the difference between a wallet and a gun.
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In February of 1999, Amadou Diallo, 22, was standing in the vestibule of
his apartment complex when he was approached by 4 white plainclothes officers -
Edward McMellon, Sean Carroll, Richard Murphy and Kenneth Boss -
from the NYPD's Street Crimes Unit. The officers were looking for a rape
suspect and, according to reports in the Village Voice, had already shaken down several
Black men in the area. They officers claim that they yelled "freeze!" at Diallo,
who didn't respond. As the officers moved in closer, the police say Diallo
reached in his pockets ... and that is when they started firing while advancing on Diallo. 41 shots. 19
of those 41 hit Diallo in the spinal cord, lungs, liver, spleen, kidney, intestines, and heart.
Diallo was struck 11 times in the legs. Two of the officers emptied their weapons.
The trial of the four officers who shot Diallo was moved upstate from the Bronx to Albany,
due to complaints from the officers that they would not receive a fair trial in NYC. The move
was incredibly controversial as Albany has a different ethnic makeup and an almost 100%
acquittal rate for police officers.
The officers were found "not guilty" on all charges.
Less than one month after their acquittal, Patrick Dorismond was shot and killed outside a
nightclub by an undercover NYPD officer. Dorismond, a security guard, was unarmed. The officer
approached him, and asked him if he had any drugs. Dorismond, an African - American, took offense,
a scuffle broke out, and he was killed.
More info:
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In August of 1997, Brooklyn resident Abner Louima was arrested by officers
from the 70th precinct after he broke up a fight between two women. Louima
claims that the arresting officers, Thomas Bruder & Thomas Wiese, stopped twice on the way to the station to beat him
with nightsticks and police radios. Once there,
Louima was sodomized with a toilet plunger by officer Justin Volpe, puncturing
Louima's colon and bladder, causing severe and
permanent intestinal trauma. Volpe then shoved the plunger in Louima's
mouth breaking several teeth. Louima was placed back in the holding cell for
several hours before his fellow inmates demanded the police call an ambulance.
The police who escorted Louima to the hospital claimed to have found him in the street
after he had been injured in a gay bar having rough sex.
Four New York City police officers, including Volpe who is serving 30 years, have been convicted.
The commanding and executive officers of the 70th Precinct were reassigned. Another
fourteen officers reportedly were placed on modified assignment or suspended. Of the
fourteen, eleven had prior unsubstantiated excessive force complaints and five had
misconduct complaints that had been ruled inconclusive or resolved through conciliation.
More info:
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"The atrocities that were committed by myself and those who stand accused are
unforgivable acts. The City of Los Angeles had and has a right, among other things,
to a fair and just system of policing. Those rights in so many ways were violated." -- Officer Rafael Perez
In August of 1998, Officer Rafael Perez was arrested for stealing 8 pounds of cocaine
from an evidence room. As part of a plea bargain for a lighter sentence, Perez
agreed to tell investigators about the corruption in his department, and specifically
within his unit -- a special anti-gang unit called CRASH in L.A.'s Rampart division. The special task force investigating
Perez's claims has, at last count, put 70 officers under investigation, released
several wrongly-convicted prisoners and overturned 84 convictions. Murder,
beatings, drug dealing, witness intimidation, planting of evidence, false
arrest and perjury were all common in the California CRASH programs that Perez has called 90% corrupt.
Shootings were celebrated and plaques awarded by CRASH officials to officers who had shot and/or killed citizens.
CRASH officers often delayed medical help for their victims while they devised a cover story and planted drugs
and weapons on them. They also worked with the INS to deport illegal immigrants who had witnessed police brutality so they
couldn't testify in court.
At least 20 LAPD officers have been relieved of duty, quit or were fired in connection
with the probe.
More info:
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The original idea for the African-American Wallet Exchange came from the Greenwich Village Gazette.
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