Cops made fun out of dying prisoner

originally published by: Bexley Times 24
4th February 2010

Police officers laughed and joked about a young man they saw die on the floor of a cell, an inquest heard.

Paul Coker, 32, died at Plumstead Police Station, two hours after he was arrested at the house of Lucy Chadwick, on suspicion of breaching the peace, in the early hours of August 6, 2005.

The jury at his inquest at Southwark Coroners Court this week, heard how he struggled with several police officers and tried to jump out of a first floor window.

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Federal Judge disagrees with Miranda Rights violation

Debra Milke
Debra Milke

originally published by: Phoenix New Times
2nd February 2010

A U.S. District Court Judge has dealt Debra Milke a big legal setback, ruling that the death-row inmate did validly waive her Miranda rights against self-incrimination before she allegedly confessed to having her son murdered in 1989.

Judge Robert C. Broomfield’s 21-page ruling comes two weeks after hearing from both Milke and former Phoenix homicide Detective Armando Saldate during an evidentiary hearing in his courtroom. The hearing had been ordered by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals after it ruled that it could find no evidence that Milke had waived her rights.

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Man paralysed after arrest demands a full public inquiry

originally published by: The Independent
31st January 2010

A man left brain damaged is demanding a public inquiry into “systemic failings” of police and private security staff which almost killed him.

Gary Reynolds, 41, an accomplished marathon runner and self-employed painter and decorator, was found in a coma in his cell a few hours after he was arrested for being drunk and disorderly in Brighton city centre in 2008.

His lawyers believe the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) failed to investigate properly the circumstances surrounding his arrest and subsequent treatment in the police station, which has resulted in a “deeply flawed report” that “fails to hold those implicated to account”.

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