In the last 10 years the police departments have learned nothing, at least about what not to do. If anything, instead of learning how to make things better, smoother between themselves and the citizenry, they've actually made things worse, as much worse as they can. How much worse can they get than this incident though? This happened more than 10 years ago.
This is a long post, but please read to the end, and then let me know in the comments if you agree or not; have relations between the police and the citizenry gotten better or worse?
Cops Beat & Kidnap 12-yo Girl in Front of Her Home, Claiming She Was a Prostitute
When her mother and father came outside after hearing her cries for help she was desperately holding a tree with one arm while plainclothes officers were beating her in the head, neck and throat.
Dymond Milburn, now 20-years-old, was an honor student attending advanced classes at Austin Middle School, when her life would be forever scarred by Galveston police.
On the night of August 22, 2006 at 7:45 PM, Emily Milburn was preparing her children for school the next day, when a breaker broke, cutting off electricity to the family’s home. Emily asked her daughter, Dymond, to go outside and hit the switch, located downstairs and outside the house.
When Dymond went outside the house toward the breaker box, a blue van drove up to the house and three men jumped out and start attacking her. One of the men grabbed Dymond and said “You’re a prostitute. You’re coming with me.”
Like anyone in their right mind would, Dymond resisted being pulled into a van with complete strangers. Dymond grabbed a tree and started yelling “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy.”
Officer David Roark had his hand over the mouth of Milburn when her father came out on the balcony after hearing his daughter’s cries for help. The other officers, Justin Popovich and Sean Stewart, beat Dymond’s face, head and throat while their supervisor, Sgt. Gilbert Gomez, watched on in approval.
Dymond’s parents approached the cops and said “That’s our daughter. She’s twelve.” Roark responded “I don’t care if she’s twenty-two, thirty-two, or forty-six.”
The cops dragged Dymond into the van. Obviously they were now well aware that the kidnapping they had intended had gone wrong, so they decided to drop Dymond off at a hospital.
The examining physician found that the girl had injuries from multiple blows to the head, face, neck, lower back, left shoulder, and left hip/waist area. She suffered a contusion to the back of the head (where she was struck with a flashlight). There were abrasions on her arm and wrist. Dymond’s throat was swollen; she had difficulty swallowing, nausea and vomiting, and hoarseness of voice due to being struck in the throat. She had black eyes, scalp lacerations, tenderness of the vertebrae. She was experiencing double vision and loss of hearing. Dymond’s ear drum and nose were also injured (blood in ear, bruised nasal septum, and nose bleed).
After the attack, Dymond suffered from PTSD, nightmares, and an inability to concentrate in school.
When she finally healed enough (physically) to return to school a horrible surprise was waiting for her. Police showed up to Austin Middle School and arrested Dymond for resisting and assaulting a peace officer. A twelve year old girl!
In a blatant disregard of logic and common sense, the court system in Galveston felt these charges were justified and Milburn was actually charged with assault on an officer and tried, twice! After three years and two mistrials, the DA finally dropped her case.
Immediately after her criminal trials, the family filed a civil suit, naming the four officers as plaintiffs. After multiple appeals by officers, including asking the court to dismiss the case based upon qualified immunity, meaning that the officers were just doing their job and are thereby shielded from civil liability, a settlement has yet to have been reached.
None of the officers were fired. In fact Gomez went on to work for the department up until 2012 when he started his own private detective services. 2 years after he beat a 12 year-old girl to the point of hospitalization, Officer Sean Stewart was named Galveston “Officer of the year”!
This story is one of the most brutal examples of a failed justice system. Unfortunately, the state has learned nothing from it.
Just this past Thursday, Danièle Watts, star of Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained, wrote on her Facebook page that she was handcuffed and thrown into the back of a police cruiser after failing to provide officers with ID.
The reason for the kidnapping….cops assumed she was a prostitute. She had done absolutely nothing wrong.
Even though it is as old as it is, I posted this because it brought back a very old memory for me, one I had thought long buried.
I don't even remember how old I was, it's been that long ago; had to be somewhere between 18 and 22. I was walking down a short street on my way to a specific destination when I saw a friend of mine drive by in his van. I called his name and waved my arms vigorously, hoping he'd look in his side mirror and see me. Fortunately he did, but I've never been much of a runner so it took me a minute to get to where he was sitting at the stop sign. We chatted for a moment, and I asked him for a ride home (I didn't want him to know where I was going, but home was close) and he said yes. I got in, we went to the light at the end of the next block which was red. When it turned green we made a right, then went 6 or 7 blocks, and he dropped me off. I went and did what I'd planned, then went in the house. About 6 hours later (this had happened around noon) I caught the bus down to People's Drugstore (yes, it was that long ago!! LOL) made a purchase and came out. I saw a very close friend of mine, and we were walking up the street joking and laughing and playfully holding hands. We went two blocks to the bus stop that would take me home, and I sat on his lap on the bench, continuing to play around. When the bus pulled up I rose and was moving toward it when suddenly two men in plain clothes ran up and grabbed me. I of course started screaming and fighting, as I had no idea who these men were. They forcibly shoved my friend away when he tried to help me, and at the same time the bus driver was standing and about to come down the steps toward us. That was when one of them fished in his pocket and pulled out his wallet, and began flashing his badge! I calmed down, and asked what the heck was going on, and they told me that I was under arrest for prostitution! That they had seen me that afternoon (6 hours earlier) but when I got in the van I had "managed to lose" them during the straight up the street 6 block ride!! (What a crock, right?) The guy I was with and I both told them I had just come from the store, but when they threatened him with arrest for obstruction (trying to help me when they grabbed me) he left. They took me in, and I was in jail for a few hours then released on personal bond. Fast forward to my court date. I had gotten the gentleman who'd given me the ride to be a witness for me, and he was someone who knew the court well, as he was the head of several juvenile homes where delinquents were usually sent from court. When one of the cops got on the stand and testified, my lawyer got him to admit the span of time between them seeing me and them picking me up, along with the fact that they didn't know where I was coming from, couldn't I have been coming from the drugstore? They were furious!! Then my friend got on the stand, and told them yes he picked me up and took me home! It ended with me being acquitted, which I'd be willing to bet was a first in these guys record!! LOL They were so furious that when it was over, and I was leaving, one of them muttered that they "better not catch me out there again"!! I knew what that meant, they'd get me for something if they had to stick it on me themselves!! I found another drug store to shop in!! LOL
It's really not funny that I had to do that, but it goes to show how long this stuff has been going on, and all it's done is gotten worse.
