5 September 201217 December 2022 4WardEverUK

Cops snuff out young lives

originally by: Workers World
published: 2 September 2012

Nicholas Naquan Heyward Jr. was just 13 years old when he was killed by “Robocop” Brian George on Sept. 27, 1994. Nicholas, an honor student at Nathan Hale Middle School, was playing in a stairwell at the Gowanus Houses where he lived in Brooklyn, N.Y.

The 18th annual Nicholas Heyward Jr. Day of Remembrance was held on Aug. 25. The next day Nicholas would have been 31.

People gathered in Nicholas Naquan Heyward Jr. Park, next to the Gowanus Houses. Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hines refused to even present a case to the grand jury against the shooter cop. But the people in the neighborhood forced the Parks Department to rename their park after their young hero.

17 August 201217 December 2022 4WardEverUK

‘Lessons Will Be Learned’ after the death of Sean Rigg, say police

originally by: The Platform
published: 11 August 2012

The mealy-mouthed phrase ‘lessons will be learned’ seems to be the last refuge of all senior police officers when caught out with no one else to blame and no other way to explain away a public scandal.

We heard it again on Newsnight (BBC2) on 1 August as Assistant Commissioner Simon Byrne, the second most senior officer at Scotland Yard, squirmed in his seat and comprehensively failed to convince anyone that his force had behaved ethically or honourably in relation to the squalid and eminently preventable death of Sean Rigg at Brixton Police Station in August 2008.

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8 August 201217 December 2022 4WardEverUK

Outrage in US as man is shot in head while handcuffed in police car

originally by: The Telegraph
published: 8 August 2012

Hundreds of people have taken to the streets to protest an official explanation of suicide in the death of Chavis Carter, 21, in Jonesboro, Arkansas. Mr Carter was pulled over by police late last month and searched twice by officers who discovered a small $10 bag of marijuana.

He was also wanted for skipping probation on another drugs charge. He had his hands cuffed behind his back and put into a police car.

Michael Yates, the police chief, has conceded that a “very unusual” chain of events led up to the later discovery of Mr Carter was found slumped in the back of the police car with a bullet wound in his head.