Police shot girl, 7, during TV show filming

originally published by: The Daily Telegraph
18th May 2010

An attorney representing the family of a seven-year-old girl who was shot to death during a raid in Detroit said the police operation was flawed and was influenced by TV production concerns.

Aiyana Jones was shot and killed as she slept on a living room sofa after an officer’s gun went off as police searched the house for a suspect.

Attorney Karri Mitchell told The Detroit News that the police “were excited; they were on TV”. “They didn’t have to throw a grenade through the front window when they knew there were children in there,” the attorney said.

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12 May 201016 December 2022 4WardEverUK

Arrest history allowed in transit shooting case

originally by: Associated Press
published: 8th May 2010

Jurors in the upcoming trial of a former transit officer charged with murdering an unarmed man can hear about an incident in which police reported the man ran from officers and resisted arrest, a judge ruled Friday.

Superior Court Judge Robert Perry granted a defense motion to allow some details about the arrest history of Oscar Grant, who was shot in the back and killed at an Oakland transit station on New Year’s Day 2009.

Ex-Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer Jonannes Mehserle, 28, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Grant. The trial was moved from Alameda County to Los Angeles due to widespread media coverage and racial tensions sparked by the case.

4 May 201016 December 2022 4WardEverUK

Blair Peach report: What the investigation has uncovered

originally published by: BBC News
27th April 2010

It is rare that an internal police document is exposed to the light of day – and so the publication of the investigation into the death of Blair Peach in 1979 makes extraordinary reading.

But from the very outset, the report by Metropolitan Police Commander John Cass makes it clear that there was no chance of any officer being prosecuted over the New Zealand teacher’s death. Some 31,000 man hours were spent trying to get to the bottom of what had happened – and in the end detectives reached the dead end of insufficient evidence.

The death came during the 1979 general election campaign when the National Front was meeting on St George’s Day at Southall, west London. The area was then emerging as one of the capital’s centres of Asian culture.

Anti-racism campaigners turned out in numbers to face down the National Front. And things quickly spiralled out of control. Some 3,000 people were on the streets and some 345 of them were arrested. Almost 100 police officers were injured, along with 65 protesters and members of the public.

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