Police Brutality

BRUTAL QUESTIONS addresses the fifth incident of the Eugene Police using the department's newly-adopted Taser gun. Was it police brutality as at least ten witnesses stated? Or is it the police giving the more truthful accounting in claiming the multiple shocks were required to force compliance from a dangerous protestor? Now that the case has caused public outcry and formally filed charges of police brutality, a deputy auditor has been assigned. And many people are waiting for her findings.

Consider this a necessary follow-up to Tazing Eugene, which was my video on the very first use of Tasers by police in this same city. In that case, wherein a homeless man was shocked, there was hardly a ripple and the local papers did not report on any witnesses who contradicted the police's report (as this trumpet-blower did). This time, however, it's a student who was left writhing in pain, and this time everyone is watching.

The latest video by Oregon's Official MTV Choose or Lose Street Team 08 Citizen Journalist, Nezua.

Clicking the picture above will take you to the video page.

Crossposted to The Unapologetic Mexican and OpEdNews.

MY LATEST vid for MTV Citizen Journalist Land is introduced here, and viewable here.

Crossposted at The Unapologetic Mexican, Jesus' General, and OpEdNews.

LIMA, Ohio — The air of Southside is foul-smelling and thick, filled with fumes from an oil refinery and diesel smoke from a train yard, with talk of riot and recrimination, and with angry questions: Why is Tarika Wilson dead? Why did the police shoot her baby?

“This thing just stinks to high heaven, and the police know it,” said Jason Upthegrove, president of the Lima chapter of the N.A.A.C.P. “We’re not asking for answers anymore. We’re demanding them.”

Some facts are known. A SWAT team arrived at Ms. Wilson’s rented house in the Southside neighborhood early in the evening of Jan. 4 to arrest her companion, Anthony Terry, on suspicion of drug dealing, said Greg Garlock, Lima’s police chief. Officers bashed in the front door and entered with guns drawn, said neighbors who saw the raid.

Moments later, the police opened fire, killing Ms. Wilson, 26, and wounding her 14-month-old son, Sincere, Chief Garlock said. One officer involved in the raid, Sgt. Joseph Chavalia, a 31-year veteran, has been placed on paid administrative leave.

Beyond these scant certainties, there is mostly rumor and rage. The police refuse to give any account of the raid, pending an investigation by the Ohio attorney general.

—Police Shooting of Mother and Infant Exposes a City’s Racial Tension