6 August 201116 December 2022 4WardEverUK

Police convicted of post-Katrina shootings

originally by: ABC News
published: 6th August 2011

A jury has convicted five New Orleans police officers of shooting dead two African-Americans during the chaos unleashed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and trying to cover-up the killings. The police officers were found guilty on 25 counts and could now face life imprisonment after being convicted of the deaths of two unarmed African-American civilians in the days after Katrina devastated the southern town.

“This shows that law enforcement officers will be held accountable for their actions,” US attorney Jim Letten said after the guilty verdict was handed down.

“The culture that fostered this code of silence is being shattered every day.”

3 August 201116 December 2022 4WardEverUK

Fatal Fullerton police beating of homeless man sparks outcry

originally by: Los Angeles Times
published: 2nd August 2011

An arrest that ended in the death of a mentally ill homeless man in Fullerton has many residents outraged and city officials looking for answers. At about 8:30 p.m. on the night of July 5, Fullerton police officers responded to reports that a man was trying to get into cars parked near a bus depot.

The suspect was described as a homeless man with long hair and no shirt carrying a backpack, police said. When officers arrived at the scene, they found 37-year-old Kelly Thomas, a schizophrenic homeless man who had become a fixture in downtown Fullerton and surrounding cities.

What happened next has Thomas’ family, acquaintances and much of the city outraged. Police said Thomas tried to run after officers searched his backpack and found items that weren’t his.

31 July 201116 December 2022 4WardEverUK

Anger erupts over police shootings

by: San Francisco Bay Guardian
27th July 2011

As the murky details of two recent police shootings emerge, a palpable anger surging through targeted communities points to a deeper issue than the particular circumstances surrounding each of these deaths. Simply put, many Bay Area communities are fed up with police violence.

For many activists who descended on transit stations to protest the fatal BART police shooting of Oscar Grant III, the 20-year-old unarmed Hayward man who was killed on New Year’s Day 2009, an upwelling of rage was rekindled after BART cops shot and killed a homeless man named Charles Blair Hill on July 3 in Civic Center Station.