Aurora Police traumatize black family – demand action

5 August, 2020 – Aurora, Colorado – after a visit to a nail bar, children and women were surrounded by guns, police barking orders to get on the ground and be handcuffed face down.  Their crime?  Having the licence plate number they had.

Police want us to think that they mistook a SUV filled with innocent people for a stolen motorcycle – from a different state – that allegedly had the same plate number.  Few people are actually buying this flimsy excuse; it is appalling police would even admit to a blunder a schoolchild would not have  made.

This as we know is not the first time Aurora Police have targeted black people;  with their guns drawn, someone could have lost their life.

There is an apology offered.  Police Chief Vanessa Wilson made it; but do the police actually mean it?

The victims of this police brutality and the community have had enough apologies: they deserve justice.

Negating the value of any apology, the Aurora Police Association have a Facebook page which has not a word of remorse except from outside people making protests about the event on the page’s other posts.  One post marks the anniversary of the infamous cinema shooting.  Another post is a complaint that some of the police force were actually disciplined – over what appears to have been a racism incident.

This is also the police force that were responsible for the death of Elijah McLean.

ACTION:

Please contact Governor Jared Polis of Colorado through one of the channels below and give them the following message, personalized to your liking:

 

Governor, as I see it the amount of incompetence and racism shown by Aurora police shows no signs of remotely abating, and you have to act.  I am sure Police Chief Wilson meant her apology – but the rank and file need to be disciplined.

There is a culture on display of arrogance and self-preservation displayed in the force’s facebook page, which lacks any kind of regret over traumatizing little children – by police would could not tell a motorcycle from an SUV or the plate of one state over another. On the Police Association’s facebook page they seem far more concerned with how one of their number was disciplined over what looks like a racist incident concerning the Elijah McClain memorial.  The police demand their rights, and want Vanessa Wilson fired – but when it comes to the rights of others – especially black members of the community – they are silent.

If you can’t get this force in order, I feel it might be time for the FBI to investigate it for racism, which to me looks like a huge part of the problem, and racism on such a scale as seems to exist here would fall under its remit.  in any event, there has to be more than an  ‘I’m sorry’ over racism and terrifying obviously innocent little girls and honest women.  Take action – and tell me what you are doing.

Phone:  (303) 866-2471

Email:  Governorpolis@state.co.us

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/jaredpolis/

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/GovofCO

 

Once you have made contact, fill out the three fields below and click the orange banner to report taking action!

No Trump, you cannot threaten to shoot people

29 May 2020 – Following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, peaceful protests as well as riots have broken out.  Trump subsequently tweeted he wants to shoot looters.  So much for upholding the constitution as his oath binds him to do.

Police knelt on Mr Floyd’s neck, asphyxiating him.  The white officers at the scene gave him no help and did nothing stop their colleague’s fatal, illegal assault.  They lost their jobs – but no arrests were made and no charges brought.  Understandably this has caused outrage and protest.

Peaceful protests turned ugly – with vandalism, arson and allegedly looting.  In some video footage purporting to be from the scene, heavily-disguised white men are seen breaking windows and assembling materials that may have been used in arson.  There does not seem to be any record of police looking for, or arresting them.  It certainly looks at the moment as if they sought to discredit the peaceful protest and further inflame racial tensions:  they need to be found, identified, charged.

Police have today shockingly arrested CNN personnel who were legally, safely covering the scene.  In a video CNN’s crew repeatedly ask the police where they should stand.  Police say nothing to the reporters until for no discernible, legal reason they start arresting the team.  This was wholly illegal and is all embarrassingly for them caught on camera.

Our action concerns the president of the country calling for looters to be shot.

As much as Trump might like the country to become a rights-free dictatorship, we will not allow this to happen.

His hate speech has been proven to have inflamed racial tensions and led to violence since even before he took office.

We are drawing a line.

 

ACTION

Either add your name and home city to the Facebook post about this action alert and your details will be added to the message One Pulse sends to Trump and Governor Walz – or send your own message:

Please contact Donald Trump, cc Governor Walz   through one of the channels below and give them the following message, personalized to your liking:

 

The police in Minneapolis are out of control, witness the death of George Floyd.  We at One Pulse for America demand the arrest, charging and trial of all involved in this killing, and a comprehensive, independent investigation of what certainly looks like institutionalized racism in the force.  We expect to see resignations of those at the top too.

We understand why people are furious; we are too.  We have watched peaceful protests – and have seen proof that these have been hijacked by a tiny number of people who turned them violent:  people who are caught on video, some of whom are white males.  We demand that police find, arrest and charge these suspects. 

We believe that Trump’s tweet ‘when the looting starts the shooting starts’ violates his oath to uphold the constitution and is an attack on all our rights.  The shooting threat is designed to cow those who want to exercise their right to peaceful protest.  If white men can take automatic rifles into state capitals to protest life-saving measures, then those who want to protest peacefully  against injustice must see their rights upheld too.  By tweeting that it is OK to shoot looting suspects Trump is also by implication giving his permission for police to shoot/kill other crime suspects.  Of all the disgraceful things Trump has done or said in office, this is among the worst.

One Pulse for America campaigns on any and all gun-related issues.  As such, we are outraged that a sitting president of our country should take to Twitter to say ‘when the looting starts the shooting starts’.  This is still a democracy, despite the best efforts of Trump to inflame via hate speech, which has resulted in violence. We will not tolerate any threat of ex-judicial execution just as we will not tolerate the ex-judicial execution of George Floyd.  We will not tolerate the continuing epidemic of police executions across the country.  We will not tolerate the arrest of journalists who have a constitutionally-protected right  to report. 

No feeble excuses on any of these issues that have been offered will be entertained.  There is no excuse whatsoever for Mr Floyd’s death, for the president threatening to shoot any citizens whether breaking law or not, or for arresting news crews.

We expect to hear from Governor with  news that arrests are being made on the killing of Mr Floyd, confirmation the journalists have been released without charge, an independent investigation into the entire force is launched, and the police who arrested them to be charged with false arrest.  An apology from Trump is the least he should do, but we expect very little from him.

AND/OR Suggested tweet:
@GovTimWalz @realDonaldTrump Walz I demand arrest of those involved in #GeorgeFloydMurder : death demands action. Trump how dare u threaten to shoot any1 – your threats will not intimidate legal, just protests but they show you violated your oath to uphold constitution. Resign.

President Donald Trump
Phone:  202-456-1111
Email: (form) https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/POTUS/
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump

Governor Tim Walz
Phone:  651-201-3400

Email:  HSEM.PPP@state.mn.us

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/GovTimWalz/

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/GovTimWalz 

 

Once you have made contact, fill out the three fields below and click the orange banner to report taking action!

 

 

Shooting death of Atatiana Jefferson: officer must be charged

12 October 2019, Ft Worth, Texas– a twenty-eight-year-old woman is dead.  Atatiana Jefferson was shot in her own home by an officer standing outside of it who had been called to check a non-emergency situation.  He is suspended – not charged with any crime.  She was caring for a young nephew when she was gunned down.

As Television News team WSB reported:  “Police bodycam video shows officers with flashlights and guns drawn scanning the perimeter of the home. The front door appears to be open although the screen door is closed. As officers continue to walk through the property, one of them sees a person standing at a dark window and yells: “Put your hands up. Show me your hands,” before firing a single shot.

In the video, he does not identify himself as a police officer”

The man who called the police, concerned for his neighbour because a door to her home was opened, told reporters:   “I’m shaken. I’m mad. I’m upset. And I feel it’s partly my fault.” Mr Smith told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “If I had never dialed the police department, she’d still be alive.”

“I called my police department for a welfare check,” Smith told WFAA. “No domestic violence, no arguing, nothing that they should have been concerned about as far as them coming with guns drawn to my neighbor’s house.”

Smith, who has lived in the neighborhood 50 years, is sorry he called the NON-EMERGENCY POLICE NUMBER about the doors.  The police were NOT led to believe there was a situation or emergency – but the officer who took this woman’s life has neither been arrested nor charged.

The  Ft Worth Police issued a statement – without a single word of accountability or apology in it – no doubt on the advice of their legal team.  It outlines what happened omitting the fatal errors of procedure and judgment the police made.  The police have told the press that there was a gun on the premises but no evidence she held it, let alone threatened anyone with it.  Mentioning this irrelevant weapon seems to many to be an attempt to smear the deceased’s reputation.  By all accounts, she was simply a woman at home looking after a nephew, and rather than the police ringing her doorbell, they in a blind and unjustified, training-ignoring move, snuck around her house, shouted once, and killed her.

Rights activist Shaun King tweeted:  “I need you to show up in a major way for this fund to support the family of #AtatianaJefferson. She was the provider and caregiver for her entire family and they need our help IMMEDIATELY. Make your best donation today, please. LINK: gofundme.com/f/1s5tcouu9c

ACTION:

1.   We would like members to send financial support to the family if they are able to – all amounts will help:  That link again is:  https://gofundme.com/f/1s5tcouu9c

 

2.  We will contact the Ft Worth Police;

Please contact Ft Worth Police through one of the channels below and give them the following message, personalized to your liking:

 

 The sickening murder of  Atatiana Jefferson is going unpunished tonight, why haven’t  you arrested and charged the officer who killed her?   

 

If your training is so appalling that a non-emergency call to check on welfare ends up with the shooting murder of the woman you were supposed to ensure was safe, it is time for you to fire everyone responsible for putting this person on the street with a badge and a gun.  You have cost lives before, but this is unthinkable.

 

I cannot help but wonder whether racism is playing a part here.  If you can’t understand why it looks that way, kindly explain to me why an officer skulks around Ms Jefferson’s home and shoots her dead after yelling a command she possibly did not hear, and could never have imagined was directed to her in her own home.  It looks like your video ends just as the shot rings out – and it looks like that shot immediately followed the ridiculous yelling of your untrained, dangerous officer.  It is a disgrace.  It also looks like he didn’t even identify himself as being in the police.  Further, the only clear and present danger in the video is not the woman walking in her home, but your armed, lethal, over-reacting, law-breaking officers.  There are many questions, but one question I want you to reply to me on in particular – and I do expect  a reply from you.  If your officer was so terrified for his life to the point he decided to use lethal force and shot the 28-year-old woman within seconds of yelling at her window: how was it that he immediately decided no one else was in her home and  it was safe to rush inside and try to give her CPR?  I want to know more of what the video record shows and will be watching for more of it to be released.

I am absolutely furious at this turn of events and will follow closely the proceedings.  I am going to send aid to the family if I can, and if they choose to sue, which I hope they do, I will do my best to support them.

If there were any honor in your force, senior officers would have resigned in disgrace with huge remorse over something like this.  Your force is not fit for purpose as things stand, and if you don’t arrest and charge the officer now, you are sending the message that black people, women, anyone – can be shot dead in their Ft Worth home by you.  Protect and Serve?  Not in Ft Worth. 

Suggested tweet:   

 

Arrest officer NOW 4 manslaughter-min. Ur video conveniently ends as what sounds like shot heard: there’s zero time for any1 in house 2 respond: if u were safe in ur own house- even if you heard put ur hands up- u wd not remotely think u were about 2 b shot. This is disgusting.

 

Phone:  817-392-422

Email: via website – currently not responding https://police.fortworthtexas.gov/

and email:  CPD_ProfessionalStandardsCaptain@fortworthtexas.gov

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/InsideFWPD/

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/fortworthpd

 

Once you have made contact, fill out the three fields below and click the orange banner to report taking action!

Illinois mayor: cut militarized police raids after 12 year old shot

A woman whose 12 year-old child was shot by police in a dawn raid is suing.

On 26 May 2019, according to the lawsuit filed by Crystal Worship, the mother, some two dozen Country Club Hills and Richton Park, Illinois SWAT officers entered her home in May with exploding flash-grenades and automatic rifles to execute a search warrant intended for her boyfriend. During the raid, her  son, Amir, was allegedly shot by a white officer as he sat on his bed with his hands in the air and suffered a shattered kneecap.

Blasting News reported “As Amir started screaming, Ms Worship asked officers in the next room if they were “shooting” the children, the lawsuit says. Officers allegedly refused to tell her what happened and “lied to her and told her they shot someone walking past outside.” (-as if that were somehow acceptable or reassuring).

One child was cuffed and left in a police car according to the mother, and flash  grenades were used at 5am, terrorizing the household.

Were the police looking for dangerous terrorists, a cache of guns?  They were looking for Ms Worship’s boyfriend who had been accused of drug possession.  Those charges were since dropped.  And in the meantime, “According to an orthopedic doctor, Amir will not be able to play any sports again, will have difficulty in physical education, will walk with a limp, and will have difficulty walking and running for the rest of his life,” the lawsuit states.

The increasingly militarization of civil police forces is an issue – and people are being shot, killed, harmed.  Should someone sought for drug possession lead to 24 gun-toting police to break into a house?  It seems rights are a thing of the past.

ACTION

Please contact Illinois Governor  J B Pritzker through one of the channels below and give him the following message, personalized to your liking:

 

I am pleased to know you are looking after citizens’ rights and will not allow ICE to operate private facilities in the state.  I agree ICE is out of control and denying people their basic rights:  but so are your increasingly-militarized police force.

I read about the lawsuit filed by Crystal Worship after bungling, dangerously inept police raided her home, terrorised her family with flash grenades at 5am, had some 2 dozen masked, camouflaged, gun-brandishing men round her and her children up. The reason?  Her boyfriend was wanted on some sort of drug charge that was later dropped.  And in case you didn’t know:  they shot her 12-year-old child in the knee, and he will never play sports again.

Who is paying for all this military hardware, police time and planning over a drugs possession charge?  How many such raids are taking place?  How are they getting authorized?  With financial pressures on the state, is it really appropriate to continue like this?  What about rights?  Who will pay for this family’s suffering and their medical bills?

The situation is a disgrace and it needs sorting out at the gubernatorial level – clearly the police have lost all sense of perspective.  I expect to see you take action to help this specific family and to ensure that this kind of senseless, rights-destroying, terrifying raid is a rarity used only in the most extreme cases.  I expect to hear from you by reply.

Phone:  217-782-6830 or 217-782-6831

Email: (form) https://www2.illinois.gov/sites/gov/contactus/Pages/AssistanceRequest.aspx

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/GovPritzker/

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/JBPritzker

 

Once you have made contact, fill out the three fields below and click the orange banner to report taking action!

 

 

Texas: Stop your gun-happy police from killing more of us

1 August, Arlington, Texas – a homeless woman lying on the grass prompted people to call the police.  Sent to check on her welfare, police shot her while they were trying to shoot her dog.

Apparently the homeless woman was passed out; she may simply have been sleeping.  Her dog, said to be a small, young pitbull cross allegedly ‘charged’ at the police – so  they decided to take out a gun and shoot it multiple times.

Only they missed, and the woman, Margarita Victoria Brooks, was hit, later to be pronounced dead in hospital.

 

We have not seen the officers’ bodycam footage yet; it will be shown to a court.  This is neither protecting nor serving.

ACTION

Please contact Arlington police through one of the channels below and give them the following message, personalized to your liking:

 

A woman lies dead after one of your officers decided to try to shoot her dog and missed:  I want such a person immediately relieved of any duty without pay, and I want your guarantee such a trigger-happy person will not kill again.  Get them out of policing now.

I cannot believe that your officers saw fit to try to shoot a dog as a first resort, even if it was ‘charging’.  Is this really what your training says?  If so, you need to reassess before more animals and people are senselessly killed.  I would like to hear why your officers, upon seeing this allegedly dangerous dog, continued to approach and call out without first getting any protective clothing, tasers, an animal handler unit.  If the woman was unconscious and had a dangerous unrestrained dog – they should have got an animal specialist.  If she was awake and moving, then you had no further business with her.  Which was it?  Your officer fired multiple shots, clearly in the woman’s direction:  this is unacceptable.  How many times has this officer used his gun?  What were the outcomes?  We need to find this out as soon as disclosure is legally possible.

If the footage 100% confirms your officer’s version of events, you still need to do some serious re-thinking of how you deal with unresponsive people especially if they have dogs, even if dogs are running at you.  There are alternatives to guns.

If the footage does not 100% confirm that a clearly dangerous dog made your trained officers fear for their lives so much so that they had to shoot, then you and your organisation are deeply flawed and deeply responsible for this avoidable death.  Many of us are working hard to teach that guns are only ever a last resort:  if as it seems guns are Arlington Police’s first resort, perhaps you should resign en masse.  The message you send out about immediately escalating to lethal force is one with dangerous repercussions all around us, and this has to stop.   I will be watching this situation, and demand justice for this woman (and what have you done with the dog?).

Arlington Police:
Phone:  817-459-5700

Email:  (their website is conveniently down at present)

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/ArlingtonPolice/

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/ArlingtonPD

 

Please copy Governor Abbott on your correspondence to the police:

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/TexasGovernor/
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/GovAbbott

Once you have made contact, fill out the three fields below and click the orange banner to report taking action!

 

 

 

Demand NJ Police suspended after shooting unarmed men

1 July 2019 – Celebrating America’s Independence from Tyranny seems premature in New Jersey after several police shot unarmed Fourth of July revellers who had fireworks.

The Hudson County prosecutor’s office said a lieutenant and two officers were on patrol around 10:15 p.m. near the Arlington Gardens Housing Complex on Ralph Avenue.

The details of the case have not all been released, but according to ABC News, none of the men shot at were armed.

nj.com image from scene of shooting 1 july 19

ABC reported: “Thomas Ashley, who represents 21-year-old Devante Moore and 19-year-old Shyquan Rush, says his clients were unarmed when the officers opened fire Monday night. He’s alleging excessive force after he said the officers began firing without warning.”

The police said  “There are no indications of any violations of the attorney general guidelines on the officers’ part.”

If that is true, the police shooting unarmed people, apparently without warning and apparently from behind is perfectly legal.

ACTION:

Please contact Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office and/or Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop through one of the channels below and give them the following message, personalized to your liking:


I am disgusted at the behavior of the police who, responding to reports of fireworks, shot young men who were unarmed, and that the police insist there are no violations of the attorney general guidelines on the officers’ part.”


I  denounce the shooting of 21-year-old Devante Moore and 19-year-old Shyquan Rush on 1 July in Jersey City, and want the officers involved to be suspended pending an investigation.  If they cannot tell the difference between fireworks noise – close to the 4th of July –  and gunshots, and if they would shoot young people from behind, I do not want them anywhere near a gun, and I do not want them on the police force at all.  In fact, I want to see them prosecuted for illegally discharging weapons, endangering lives, and using excessive force.

It is disgraceful that the first statements coming from the police is that they acted lawfully – we shall see – but it is true the young men were unarmed.  It is understood the police did not issue any warning, and shot the men from behind:  is that really how you want New Jersey run, and is that really compliant with state and federal law?

Suspend these officers now.  I will be watching this case and your actions carefully.  The current situation of allowing them to work and saying this was somehow legal is unacceptable.  

Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office
Phone:  (201) 795 6400
Email:  hcpo@hcpo.org
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/HCProsecutor/

Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop

Phone:  (201) 547-5200

Email:  Email: c/o Laura Varsalona, Division of Communications lvarsalona@jcnj.org 

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/steven.fulop/

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/StevenFulop