So far in July the media has reported on a number of police-involved fatalities that occurred under questionable, or even criminal, circumstances. For example, here are a few of those cases:
Crafton PA – A Crafton police officer is charged with involuntary manslaughter for a fatal 2007 hit & run accident. He fled the accident after telling friends that he couldn’t go to jail because he’s a cop and later had a friend fix his SUV to cover-up the incident.
Santa Clara County CA – The family of one of two cyclists killed by a Santa Clara County deputy who fell asleep at the wheel will receive $2.3 million in a wrongful death settlement deal.
Houston TX – A Houston police officer is under investigation after his use of a choke hold on a bar patron in a parking lot while off-duty resulted in that patron’s death.
Winnfield LA – The Winnfield police department is accused of fatally tasering a handcuffed man 9 times while he pleaded for them to stop. His death has been ruled a homicide.
Portland OR – Police officers in Portland are still the subject of a lawsuit that the county had already settled over the beating death of a man who had died from a punctured lung and 26 different fractures to 16 of his ribs.
Chattanooga TN – A Chattanooga police officer who said he shot a 15-yr old to death because the teen threatened him with a gun is contradicted by witnesses who say the teen tossed the gun before he tried to run away & autopsy results which indicate the teen was shot in the back.
While these are only part of a partial list of all the fatal officer-involved fatalities, it’s not part of a new trend.
In fact, among the statistics reported in The National Police Misconduct Statistics and Reporting Project’s 2009 Q2 report, released on Monday, is that there were 142 police misconduct incidents reported in the media that involved fatalities.
The number of deaths tracked include both on and off-duty incidents where neglegence, questionable tactics, or outright criminal activities are alleged to have caused fatalities at the hands of a law enforcement officer. But maybe a closer look at the fatality-related cases is needed…
In the second quarter of 2009…
157 Law Enforcement Officers were reportedly involved in fatal incidents that were questionable or criminal in nature.
40 Were the result of questionable shooting incidents.
32 Were the tied to excessive force complaints.
20 Were the result of automobile accidents or incidents.
18 Were taser-related or had some component of taser use involved.
18 Were classified as off-duty murders.
12 Were DUI related.
Of the officers involved:
6 Were convicted and received criminal sentences.
3 Were convicted but are pending sentencing.
1 Plead guilty and is awaiting sentencing.
7 Are currently on trial.
16 Have been criminally charged and are awaiting trial.
2 Have resigned.
1 Was terminated from employment.
1 Received a disciplinary action less than termination.
There are currently 28 wrongful death lawsuits pending and there have been:
4 Judgments made against the localities or officers involved.
14 Settlements made by the localities to the injured parties.
7 Lawsuits that were active in court at the time.
$19,616,000 or more has been awarded through judgments and settlements as a result of wrongful death actions. (some settlement amounts are not made public).
While the nearly $20,000,000 spent by governments on wrongful death cases may seem like a lot, the US government, local governments, corporate sponsors, and private donors have all given over a hundred million dollars to a memorial and museum to honor police officers who have fallen in the line of duty… and that’s just the national one, not all the local ones sprouting up all the time all over the nation.
The last confirmed statistical information we had available to us indicates that 165 police officers died in 2007 and, of those, only 61 were ruled homicides. If the trend continued apace in the tracking project, 2009 will end with 568 questionable civilian fatalities at the hands of police officers.
As lopsided as that seems, not even a fraction of either of those amounts have been dedicated to track deaths caused by law enforcement officials or determine just how many of them were unnecessary or even downright criminal in nature. Which only ensures that there will continue to be more and more unnecessary deaths each year.
Sure, there is this effort… but how much do you think we receive in donations? How much does the government grant us to do our work? And how many sponsors do you think we have?
Answer that, and you’ll know how much your life is probably worth to the next police officer you meet.
How much is a non-police life worth?
The message from the supervising sergeant via mobile computer to the involved officers in the Portland Oregon in-custody death incident provides an answer.
“Nice work boys. Glad U R OK N HE ISN’T.”
Some police have either forgotten or never learned what it means to protect and serve.
There’s got to be a way to get some sort of grant for this. Who has been asked?
Michael,
I’ve been trying to figure out the grant processes with the Open Society Institute but, for now at least, it doesn’t appear like they are accepting applications for the fellowships and grants that we might, barely, qualify for.
Sadly, it really does seem as though nobody out there really wants something like this to be done… at least as far as I can tell by the dearth of potential grants for doing this kind of research and the overabundance of money available out there to support officer safety issues and “tough on crime” legislation.
But, we’ll keep trying to do what we can while unfunded, hopefully it will lead to something.
Thanks!
Karl,
Good point, and good observation about the message cited in that one article… goes to show just how little the concept of public safety comes into the minds of those sworn to protect the public sometimes.
You know, though, it’s always hard replying to your comments since you have everything so spot-on that I can’t add anything of value to it… that’s why you’re the expert I guess!
Thanks!
Expert nothing! Unless one uses the silly definition of an “ex-pert” being one whose opinion is no longer pertinent.
Sorry, I can’t help it with the corny jokes. It is a character trait which often makes my wife and kids grimace.
Now getting back to reality, what continues to be so troubling to me, and obviously to others, is the never ending flow of reports of misconduct. It makes my head spin. The recently reported incident in Idaho with the Taser being applied to a persons anus and the threats of further Taser applications was especially disturbing.
The issue in Cambridge with professor Gates was another troubling matter because the media and officials who can do something about the issue are not focusing on the real problems as Carlos noted on his site and as you further clarified over there. Lack of focus on the real problem only results in an incorrect remedy. It is frustrating to the point that I want to pack up and move to the middle of nowhere.
So many of the incidents which are in the news stir up personal memories of things I witnessed. It’s like on almost every reported incident of police abuse I want to raise my hand and say, “I know, I know, it happened over here too and here is why it keeps on happening!!! Please stop!”
I know that you have similar thoughts and feelings.
I’m glad to see that you have some assistance now with this blog!
I hope plenty of income generating work is coming your way. Hang in there!
Karl,
Corny? Yeah, I’ve been accused of putting out more than my share of groaners.
As for the never-ending flow of stories, I’ve said it many times, I never expected there to be so many each day when I started this project, and it truly saddens me that there are so many stories out there that really truly deserve so much more attention than they get…
But then media attention, and even the president, is devoted… pages and pages worth, to a story about a guy who can afford to buy his own lawyers to press his criminal and civil cases if need be and whose charges were dropped right after arrest, who wasn’t physically abused, or even run through the full force of horrors the justice system in the US is capable of dragging it’s subjects through for years.
It’s frustrating… seeing all these oppressive cases that get cursory mention and then seeing everyone devote so much energy towards something like the Gates case. I guess the problem is that, unless you have experience of what the true problems are like and the true depths of those problems, a case like the Gates case seems like the worst of it… even though it’s really the least of it.
As for the assistance, it’s definitely been great to have someone helping me out and they’ve been a big help!
Though…. as for the income… I wish I didn’t have to beg for donations, but that’s the nature of life I guess. This is more than a hobby now and takes up 8 or more hours a day. Wish I didn’t have to worry about where my family gets food and I could do this for free, but I can’t… and so I have to hope that people value this information enough to support it.
I truly wish I didn’t… all of this info should be free and should have been made available a long time ago. But, as they say to most victims of police misconduct… sorry kid, that’s life.
Thanks Karl.