She Was Pregnant, Her Kids Were There, and She Had Called Police About a Burglary - And They Killed Her

This is so disgusting that I can't even comment on it. Two grown man up against a pregnant woman who had, according to some reports, a scissors/knife, and they had to kill her? One yells "Get Back" and 11 seconds later they kill her. I don't give a damn what anybody says, if the two men did not have the badge, they could, and would have bragged about being able to take her down with nothing but their fists, but since they have their "license to kill" pinned to their shirts they do so with impunity!! And The Root is right, NOTHING is going to happen!! Nothing, while children are left motherless, wives are left husbandless, mothers left childless. It's crazy, this world has gotten simply ridiculous!!!

Updated Monday, June 19, 2017, 12:47 p.m. EDT: Seattle police have released audio of the police shooting that ended with Charleena Lyles dead in front of her children. The audio, linked to dashboard cameras in the two patrol cars responding to the initial call, is redacted in certain areas, according to the Seattle Times. 

The officers can be heard discussing Lyles’ previous calls to police and her mental-health issues. One officer says that Lyles began “talking all crazy about how the officers weren’t gonna leave,” while another asks if she had a “mental precaution on her.” The officer responds that she has an officer-safety precaution on file.

The recording reveals that officers were aware of Lyles’ mental-health issues and the fact that children might be in the home before they opened fire in the apartment. One officer asks, “Wait, is this the one with, like, the three kids?”

“Yeah,” the other officer responds. “Yeah, so this gal is the one who was making all the [inaudible] statements about how her and her daughter were gonna turn into wolves.”

The woman, presumably Lyles, allows officers to enter, and she explains the break-in to the cops. The children can be heard in the background as she answers questions. The conversation seems civil as she lists the items missing, and then the officers yell “Get back!” approximately 11 seconds before gunshots are heard.

According to the Seattle Times, one of the officers mentioned scissors in an unreleased portion of the audio.

Earlier:

Two white Seattle law-enforcement officers opened fire on a pregnant, black mother of four Sunday morning, killing the 30-year-old in front of her children after she called police to report a burglary.

Charleena Lyles was living in transitional housing for homeless families in Seattle, according to the Seattle Patch, when she dialed 911 to report an attempted burglary. In a statement, Police Detective Mark Lyles wrote, “Although this was a typical burglary report, two officers were required due to information pertaining to this address that presented an increased risk to officers.”

KIRO7 News reports that the police officers knew Lyles, so they sent two police officers because they were “concerned for their safety”—which is understandable, considering the threat of the undersized, petite woman whom family members called “tiny” and said “weighs, like, nothing, soaking wet.”

However, police officers said that when they arrived at the fourth-floor apartment, Lyles confronted them with a knife, causing them to open fire on her, even though there were several children in the apartment with her.

The police have issued few details, but using The Root’s proprietary algorithm for police shootings of black people, we can predict exactly what will happen next:

1. Seattle police officers will smear the victim with menacing photographs and release her criminal history.
2. The officers will be placed on paid leave, meaning that taxpayers will continue to give them full pay even though they are not working (referred to by many, including some dictionaries, as “vacation”).
3. The officers will meet with police-union officials and create a story that revolves around how they “feared for their life.”
4. There will be a march, a community vigil and a hashtag.
5. The police who shot her will never serve a day in jail.

Family members say that the victim was receiving counseling for mental-health issues. Lyles was also the subject of a 2008 news story about how she had entered a program for at-risk youths, using it to get off welfare and get a full-time job.

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray has promised a full investigation, and Lyles’ family is demanding answers to questions such as:

1. Is it standard procedure to open fire in a home filled with children?
2. What was the relationship between Lyles and police that made police think two cops needed to be sent to her home?
3. How is a cop surprised that a woman reporting a burglary, at home alone with her children, would answer the door with a weapon or some form of protection?
4. Why did two officers feel that pepper spray, a baton or even a Taser wouldn’t be enough to subdue a 30-year-old pregnant mother of four?

The Seattle Police Department has remained mum, but again, our algorithm has already deduced the answer to all of these questions:

Because they can.

The two officers—an 11-year veteran and a “newer” officer—have been placed on paid leave. The Seattle Times, the Seattle Patch and KIRO7 News have all reported on Lyles’ criminal record.

Michael Harriot @michaelharriot

Michael Harriot is a staff writer at The Root, host of "The Black One" podcast and editor-in-chief of the daily digital magazine NegusWhoRead.

The 'Nice Guys' Really Do Finish Last... Unfortunately For These Two Samaritans!

This is the era that we live in now, the era that we've ushered in by putting Trump and his 'clan' into the White House. People have begun to believe that it's okay to spit any kind of hate-filled vitriolic rhetoric at anyone they choose! It's as if they're thinking "Trump is the president, and he hates Muslims and says so, so why can't I?"

The really sad part is that, that is exactly the picture that the White House is showing to the public.

2 Fatally Stabbed On Oregon Train After Trying to Stop Man's Anti-Muslim Rants, Police Say

By Amy B Wang May 27 at 5:12 PM 

Two men were stabbed to death Friday on a light-rail train in Portland, Ore., after they tried to intervene when another passenger began “ranting and raving” and shouting anti-Muslim hate speech at two young women, police said.

According to witnesses, a white male passenger riding an eastbound MAX train early Friday afternoon began yelling what “would best be characterized as hate speech toward a variety of ethnicities and religions,” police said. Some of the slurs were directed at two female passengers, one of whom was wearing a hijab, according to police.

“This suspect was on the train and he was yelling and ranting and raving a lot of different things, including what we characterized at hate speech or biased language,” Portland police spokesman Pete Simpson said at a news conference Friday evening.

At least two men tried to calm the ranting passenger down, but “they were attacked viciously by the suspect” when they did, Simpson said.

“It appears preliminarily that the victims — at least a couple of them — were trying to intervene in his behavior, deescalate him and protect some other people on the train when [the suspect] viciously attacked them,” Simpson said.

About 4:30 p.m. Friday, police responded to calls of a disturbance at the Hollywood Transit Station in east Portland. There, they found three stabbing victims, all adult men. Despite attempted lifesaving measures, one died at the scene, and another was pronounced dead at a hospital, police said.

The third victim is being treated for non-life-threatening injuries and is expected to survive, Simpson said Friday.

Based on witnesses’ statements, officers on Friday were able to locate and arrest the suspect, who had fled the train on foot.

Police identified the suspect early Saturday morning as 35-year-old Jeremy Joseph Christian, of north Portland. Christian is being held without bail on two counts of aggravated murder, one count of attempted murder, two counts of intimidation in the second degree and one count of possession of a restricted weapon as a felon.

The deceased victims’ identities have not yet been released, pending an autopsy by the Oregon State Medical Examiner in Portland late Saturday morning, police said.

The stabbing attack shocked the city.

“It’s horrific. There’s no other word to describe what happened today,” Simpson said Friday. “It is simply horrible.”

The attack shut down the Hollywood Transit Station and Portland MAX trains in both directions for several hours Friday evening.

Simpson noted then that several passengers, including the two young women thought to be the target of the man’s anti-Muslim slurs, had left the train after the stabbings. He urged any witnesses to come forward to give statements to police. Simpson added that it did not appear that the suspect or the victims had any relationship with one another.

“We don’t know if (the suspect) has mental-health issues or was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or all of the above,” Simpson said. “With this incident, we’re obviously in early stages of the investigation.”

The attacks occurred just as Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, was set to commence at sunset Friday. Simpson said that Portland police had already reached out to Muslim organizations, mosques and imams in the community to talk about extra patrols during Ramadan — and that those extra patrols would continue.

“Our thoughts are with the Muslim community,” Simpson said Friday. “As something like this happens, this only instills fear in that community.”

The attack prompted a slew of outraged responses Friday from Oregon residents and lawmakers, as well as nationally.

Portland City Commissioner Chloe Eudaly called the incident “especially sad and disturbing” in a statement on behalf of Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, who was traveling Friday night, and the City Council, according to KGW News.

“People lost their lives or were injured because they stood up to hate,” Eudaly said in the statement. “We need to offer our heartfelt support to the women and others who were targeted. The courage of the people who stood up for them is a reminder that we as a city need to stand together to denounce the hate.”

Multnomah County officials announced that its mental-health call center would be available 24 hours a day for those affected by the MAX train stabbing.

For the complete story from The Washington Post, click HERE.

They "Scared Him To Death"... LITERALLY!!

Article should have been posted May 24, but due to a technical glitch it was not. Sorry!

This is a long article, if you want to read it in its entirety, you can do so here.

It's my personal belief that training for police officers has pretty much not kept up with the changing times, except in the matters of what weapons to use, and quicker tactics to bring a perp down. (My own words.) Their training needs to be updated. In days gone by, back when police officers walked the beat and knew everyone by name, officers knew how to talk to a child; they knew which to threaten and which to coddle to get the results they wanted. We need to go back to that, train officers (if there's a way to get them to understand) to recognize which children are strong enough for you to bluster and browbeat, and which are not. I'm not saying it would work 100% of the time, mistakes can be made, they're human. I think though that if the training saves one Corey Walgren, it will be worth it. These are our children, our future, and we can't afford to make but so many mistakes.


Corey Walgren, age 16, no police record, never been in trouble before, dead from suicide. If the police and school officials had handled it a little differently, perhaps kept someone with him while they waited for his mother, or perhaps contacted her before they 'interviewed' (interrogated) him, as the law says they have to do, could there have perhaps been a different, better outcome to this story?  Perhaps.... See what you think.

School disciplinary incident ends with a Naperville teen's suicide: 'They scared him to death'

Stacy St. Clair - to Contact ReporterChicago Tribune

On the last night of his life, Corey Walgren sat with his parents in the kitchen and talked about the colleges they would visit over spring break. At 16, Corey didn't know what he wanted to study — maybe business, maybe astronomy — but he liked the idea of attending a Big Ten school. He wanted a big, bustling campus with different kinds of people, a place that could match his energy and varied interests. His parents, Doug and Maureen Walgren, described it as an exciting but bittersweet discussion with their eldest child, a rite-of-passage conversation that occurs in kitchens all across the country. It ended with the family deciding to visit the University of Iowa and the University of Minnesota, both of which seemed realistic options given Corey's solid grade point average and extra-curricular activities.

With his future before him and a high school hockey tournament that weekend, Corey went to bed that night as he had for much of his life: Happy. Healthy. Home.

"There was no concern for anything," Maureen Walgren said. "Everything was fine. Everything was normal."

Life for the Walgren family would never be normal again, at least as they knew it on that January evening.

Corey Walgren, a 16-year-old Naperville North High School junior, committed suicide;
mother says "they scared him to death."  (Family photo)

The following day, Naperville police suspected that Corey — who had no criminal history and had never been in serious trouble at school — had video on his phone of a consensual sexual encounter with a 16-year-old classmate and possibly played it for friends.

At lunchtime, he was called into the dean's office.

There, with a police officer and campus dean, Corey was questioned about possessing and possibly sharing "child pornography," allegedly threatened that he'd be put on the state's sex offender registry, then was left alone to wait for his mother.

It does not appear any pornographic images were found on the teen's phone, but it did contain a file with audio of the sexual encounter. Police did not intend to pursue charges, records show, and they indicated they wanted to handle the matter in a way that ensured Corey understood the seriousness of his actions and how it affected his classmate.

Yet Corey left school after the confrontation, walked nearly a mile to downtown Naperville and committed suicide by falling from the top of a parking deck.

"I think they wanted to scare him straight," Maureen Walgren said. "Instead, they scared him to death."

Paralyzing grief

A young man whose life seemed so full of promise to those who knew him, Corey Walgren now serves as the subject of a cautionary tale in Naperville, the affluent west suburban community where many have whispered about his final day but few talk about it openly. In many ways, Corey's story represents a dangerous melding of teenage sex, modern technology, a 16-year-old boy's poor judgment and a response from school officials and local police that legal experts say may have violated the law.

And with its many uncomfortable and heartbreaking turns, it's a difficult story for his parents to share publicly. They still struggle with an often paralyzing grief, and they have two other children they want to protect. But Corey's parents also believe their son's death could have been prevented. They say they feel an obligation to speak out.

"This could happen to anyone's child," Maureen Walgren said.

A junior at Naperville North High School, Corey Walgren had caused his parents little worry growing up. He was the oldest of three children, a lanky teen with strawberry-blond hair that leaned toward red and a background that would make a strong foundation for a college application: He routinely made the honor roll, earned a varsity letter in hockey his freshman year and worked part time busing tables at a local Italian restaurant.

He had a tight-knit group of friends and was the one who made sure everyone in their circle knew the weekend's social plans. Though only an occasional fisherman as a child, he surprised his parents by joining the high school's competitive fishing team his freshman year; he later persuaded several of his hockey teammates to do the same.

There was nothing that made him happier than his dog, a Chihuahua-dachshund mix he called Buppy, and McChicken sandwiches from McDonald's dollar menu — in that order, friends say.

"He wasn't afraid to branch out and be friends with everyone," said Zach Rang, a hockey and fishing teammate. "He was a hilarious kid who always made sure that everyone felt included."

Like many boys and girls in his neighborhood, Corey started playing hockey after the Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup in 2010. He quickly mastered skating, which led to a club team and a childhood filled with predawn practices and weekend tournaments. In a sport where most young players want to be forwards, he agreed to be a defenseman because he was one of the few who could skate well backward.

"He was the kid who did whatever you told him to do and never complained," said Chris Hall, the parent who serves as president of the Naperville North Hockey Club. "He was a dependable kid from an involved family. You could count on him to be at every practice and every game."

During his final season, Corey was the only player on the Naperville North team who didn't earn a single penalty. It's an unusual statistic for someone playing his rough-and-tumble position, and one made even more surprising given that Naperville North led the conference in penalties at one point.

"It says everything about Corey," Hall said. "He wasn't taking runs at people or throwing elbows. He played the game his way and was very good at it."

Child pornography

The Tribune pieced together what happened to Corey through documents from police and the DuPage County coroner, obtained under the state Freedom of Information Act, as well as interviews with his parents, friends and others.

The police reports were heavily redacted and withheld all information about the confrontation at the high school less than two hours before Corey killed himself. The Tribune, though, obtained from other sources a less redacted copy of the police reports, including the report written by the officer who questioned the teen.

The DuPage County coroner released its report, which shows police described the case as a "child pornography" investigation.

The DuPage County coroner released its report, which shows police described the case as a "child pornography" investigation.

Article continued here.

This Is Why Everyone Should Film Police Confrontations When You See Them!! Walter Scott Shooting Death By Police Officer - UPDATE!

The person involved in the confrontation may not always be able to record what happens, and the officer's body cam might not be working, IF he's even wearing one. There has to be accountability for all the people who are killed by police officers, regardless of their skin color, their sexual/gender identity, or their country of origin.

50 year old Walter Scott was shot to death by a police officer on April 4, 2015, in North Charleston, South Carolina, after he was stopped for a non-functioning brake light. (The third brake light, usually on top of the trunk, not one of the ones that most people look at to see if the car has brake lights!). Scott, a black man who was unarmed, was fatally shot by Michael Slager, a white North Charleston police officer.

Initially, Slager claimed that Scott had grabbed his Taser and he was in fear for his life, and that was why he fired at him 8 times, hitting him with 5 out of the 8 bullets. For two days everyone defended Slager's actions, until a video surfaced that had been filmed by an unseen, anonymous, bystander <applause>. The video showed Walter Scott running away from Slager with nothing in his hands (no Taser), running at top speed in an attempt to get away, NOT threatening the life of the officer.

Slager was arrested and charged with murder by the state of South Carolina, and fired from the police department. His trial in October of 2016 ended in a hung jury, with 11 voting guilty, and 1 holdout voting not guilty. His federal trial is set to start May 15, 2017.

Michael Slager, officer who shot Walter Scott in South Carolina, to plead guilty in federal case

A former South Carolina police officer, charged in the 2015 videotaped fatal shooting of a fleeing man pleaded guilty Tuesday on the eve of his federal civil rights trial.

Michael Slager, 35, who was charged last year in a three-count indictment in connection with the shooting of Walter Scott, 50, entered a guilty plea in a Charleston federal court to one count of using excessive force.

"The Department of Justice will hold accountable any law enforcement officer who violates the civil rights of our citizens by using excessive force,'' Attorney General Jeff Sessions said. "Such failures of duty not only harm the individual victims of these crimes, they harm our country by eroding trust in law enforcement and undermining the good work of the vast majority of honorable and honest police officers.''

Slager's attorney, Andrew Savage III, issued a brief statement, expressing "hope that Michael’s acceptance of responsibility will help the Scott family as they continue to grieve their loss.

"As a sentencing date has not yet been determined, we will refrain from further comment at this time,'' Savage continued.

Slager, a former North Charleston officer, faces a maximum punishment of life in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The April 4, 2015 incident, which began with a simple traffic stop for a faulty brake light, was captured on video and ultimately showed Slager, a white officer, shooting Scott, a black man, as he attempted to flee from the scene on foot. Five of the eight shots fired by Slager struck Scott from behind.

Images of the shooting immediately went viral, escalating already-simmering tensions between minority communities and local law enforcement agencies around the country following a succession of fatal incidents involving police and black suspects.

In the days after the shooting, federal prosecutors alleged that Slager "knowingly and intentionally misled'' state investigators in his account of the shooting.

The state's murder case against the officer ended in a mistrial last December. Jury selection in the federal case was scheduled to begin next week.

South Carolina Solicitor Scarlett Wilson said the federal plea agreement, which includes Slager's waiver of an appeal, effectively ends the federal and state prosecutions of the officer.

"Now that Slager has pleaded guilty to a willful violation, admitted the facts we set out to prove and waived the right to appeal his conviction, a successive prosecution by the state is not necessary,'' Wilson said. "Soon, a federal judge will decide what name and label to give the killing of Walter Scott.''

This Has Got To Be a Dream!!

Or Perhaps It's "Fake News"??

I should have been in bed HOURS ago, but when I stumbled across this headline, I just had to see what it was about... Now I know why I couldn't stand him all these years, not on talk shows, not on game shows, and not on the radio. He might have looked like a human on the surface, but underneath was a smarmy, oily, orange is his favorite color, Trumper. I'm going to be watching him though; I want to see just what Steve Harvey means by "working with HUD", and "going to get some housing for some underprivileged people".  In my opinion, in exchange for him appearing with #notmypresident Donald Trump just for appearances (just like the black ministers) Steve Harvey is going to get some perks, like getting housing for distant members of his family. <sigh> What a shame...

Steve Harvey Says Donald Trump Is Keeping His Promises

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Steve Harvey is still drinking Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Largo Kool-Aid and says Trump is keeping his promises about affordable housing.

“Well, I mean as far as doing he promised me to do, he’s doing it. I’m working with HUD. I’m going to get some housing for underprivileged people,” Harvey said when TMZ caught up with him.

When the TMZ cameraman asked if he’s happy with Trump’s work, Harvey laughed.

“I didn’t say that. All I said was he’s keeping his word to what he said he would so,” Harvey replied.

So, let me get this straight. A comedian-actor-game show host is working with the Department of Housing and Urban Development to get housing. And a former surgeon with no housing background is working at HUD.

Welcome to Trump’s America.

By Yesha Callahan @yeshacallahan

Senior Editor. I am not one of your little school friends.

DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed in this post are those of the blog owner. They do not in any way represent the opinions of Blogger, Chrome, Yesha Callahan, or any friends, relatives, employees, or representatives of those entities. 

Destroying the Stereotypes

There ARE Young Black Men Who Are Not Incarcerated and Who Are Not DEADBEATS...

Coming out of the grocery store the other day I saw something that made me actually stop for a moment. It's embarrassing now to think about it, but it hit me so hard that as I walked away I felt the burn of unshed tears. It wasn't anything big, or grand; it was something that I'm sure people see every day of the week and never think twice about. This time though, with all the depressive things going on in the world, for me this was like a tiny little flame burning against a strong wind, burning steady and burning bright, despite all the mud being thrown at it.

There was a young man standing outside; there wasn't anything remarkable about him, (other than the fact that I couldn't see his undershorts, which with most young men today you can because their jeans sag so low!) or maybe I just didn't notice because of what he was doing. In one hand he held a small bottle, and he seemed to be crooning very softly, not to himself, but to the young baby he was feeding. Now, it's been quite some time since I held a newborn, so I'm not sure I could be accurate in judging one's age, but if pressed, I would say the child was between 3 and 6 months old. Not an age where they lie quietly most of the time! When I came out he was feeding her;  I had several heavy bags so I set them down and just stood watching him. 

That's the picture I should have captured, the way he crooned (or talked, I saw lips moving but couldn't hear him) to her and gently rocked her with a happy smile. I could only imagine how she must have been looking up at him to make him beam at her the way he was. He must have felt someone looking at him because he suddenly looked up and around; when he saw me I was kind of embarrassed to have been caught staring at him like that, so I hurriedly grabbed my bags and went to the car. Once inside though, I couldn't forget what an awesome picture that was, a picture of one of the good black men out here, one that is completely different from the stereotypical brush that brothers have been painted with. I began to get angry, thinking to myself  "Why do we never see this on the evening news, or in the newspaper, instead of the reports we always see of a brother lying on the ground with handcuffs on, his pants down around his thighs, and a cop's foot in his back?" Why are people always posting on Facebook when someone gets busted (not knowing or caring what effect that could have on that young man's life!) When people hear those reports they act like it's normal, it's expected! To see someone like this young man,  and his child is so unexpected that it catches us off guard (and God help me, I'm guilty of it too!) . 

I realized that there was a way that I could show a little piece of the reality, rather than more of the stereotype. I went back with my phone in my hand, and I must have had a strange look on my face, because as he watched me approach he began to be concerned. I could tell by the way his arm tightened imperceptibly around the baby, and by the fact that his smile seemed to be forced.

As I got closer I began to speak quickly,  to let him know that I wasn't some crazy. I explained to him that I have a blog, and I wanted to post about him, and his baby, to combat the stereotyped picture the world has of black men, especially young ones. I told him that I wanted to take a couple of pictures of him and the baby, to put in the post. He still looked a bit puzzled, but he agreed. I didn't ask his name, or the baby's, (and if I knew them I wouldn't post them) and I told him that I'd blot their faces out if he wanted me to; fortunately for me he said no, that was okay.

I think I was truly blessed that day to see something beautiful, something that shouldn't be so rare that we feel compelled to remark on it when we see it.

However, since society has determined that 'black male' is synonymous with 'deadbeat dad', since 'they' paint black men with the wide brush of stereotypical negatives instead of admitting that there are spaces in that brush, here's a glimpse at one of those spaces. One of those spaces where black men have sole custody of small children, know how to braid a 7 year old girl's hair for school, men that are home for dinner at night (or at least before the children go to bed because  they worked late), and this space, a space where on a Sunday afternoon a black man takes the hungry baby outside to feed and quiet her, while Mommy finishes the shopping with their older child, after which they all walk home, together.

Just When I Thought I Could Change the Subject

Here They Come Again With This Mess!!

I'm not saying that I thought police were not still 'killing/beating up/lying about their actions with' black people; I'm not that naive! I did think I was through writing about it though. It was getting so regular, and the stories were all the same, especially the ending when there is no punishment (or even reprimand) for the officers involved. This case though.... what they did to this young man was so blatant and vicious, and what happened to them was so surprising, that I just had to write this down! 

This should also open the eyes of some of the more intelligent of the 'Trumpettes' ; the 'good ole boy' types who believe that whatever the police say is right, that they are 'only doing their jobs', and that black men 'always fight the officer, resist being arrested, run from the police', and if they didn't the police wouldn't have to use force to 'subdue' them. These videos, and the outcome of this case, should show some of you at least that there are times when the 'victim' (because that's what this young man was, a victim of police brutality) is not lying. Two separate people, from two different directions (cars) saw injustice happening and did what they could to show the world.  Despite what the victim told the police, if it had not been for those videos surfacing which backed up his version, the world would have seen him as just another 'black criminal trying to lie on the white man.' 

Not this time.

Two police officers fired after video shows handcuffed man being kicked in the head

By Peter Holley and Lindsey Bever April 14


Two Georgia police officers have been fired after videos surfaced on social media showing them punching and then kicking a man in the head, authorities said.

Gwinnett County police said late Thursday that Sgt. Michael Bongiovanni was fired after authorities discovered a video showing Bongiovanni punching the man in the face as the man stepped from a vehicle with his hands up. Earlier, authorities had fired Officer Robert McDonald, who was captured in a different video kicking the man in the head as he lay handcuffed on the ground.

                    
“The revelations uncovered in this entire investigation are shocking,” police said in a statement after Bongiovanni’s termination. “ … We acknowledge that the actions of these two officers have implications that will be felt for some time. However, we also believe that our decisive action in terminating both officers speaks volumes about what is expected of each officer that wears a Gwinnett County Police badge.”

Former Gwinnett County police sergeant Michael Bongiovanni, left, and former police officer Robert McDonald. 

(Courtesy of Gwinnett County Police Department)

The incident, which quickly went viral on social media, occurred about 4 p.m. Wednesday. One video, which was shot from across the street, shows a man getting out of a vehicle with his hands raised before the arresting officer punches him in the face.

The other video, shot from a different angle, begins as that officer is struggling with the man as he gets out of the vehicle and raises his hands. Shortly after the man is subdued by the officer and handcuffed, a second officer arrives on the scene and kicks the man in the head.

A struggle ensues before the officers search the man’s pockets. Both officers are white; the man, who is black, was identified as 21-year-old Demetrius Bryan Hollins of Lawrenceville, Ga., according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

 The nonprofit community group Black Lives Matter of Greater Atlanta condemned the officers Thursday evening in a Facebook post.

                   

Hollins told NBC News that he was trying to get to the camera app on his own cellphone Wednesday to record the encounter. He said one officer started “shoving me in my car and telling me that I was never going to have a video, that I was never going to make the phone call to my mom. When I had my hands up, that’s when he punched me in the face.”

Hollins told the news station that when he was handcuffed and lying on the ground, “another cop came out of nowhere and stomped me in the face.”

He was charged with multiple traffic citations, obstruction of a police officer and possession of less than an ounce of marijuana.

Hollins’s {sic} attorney, Justin Miller, told NBC News that had the moment not been captured on video, it may have been overlooked.

“The fact that these guys felt so brazen as to … assault him in public in broad daylight in front of hundreds of onlookers and hundreds of cars is indicative of what they think is okay,” Miller told the news station. Without the videos, he added, “they would have painted him as the bad guy, arrested him, brushed it under the rug and probably did it to them again the next time they saw him.”

Gwinnett County Police Chief Butch Ayers said at a news conference Thursday that McDonald, a three-year veteran on the force, was responding to assist Bongiovanni during a traffic stop when he “got tunnel vision.”

Police said Hollins was pulled over for having a broken taillight and then resisted Bongiovanni. But by the time McDonald arrived, Hollis was on the ground and no longer resisting, Ayers said, noting that no use of force was necessary.

“This incident — this type of force and this action — was uncalled for,” the police chief said Thursday. “It shouldn’t have happened. There is no excuse for it. We have taken appropriate and swift action to deal with this. This officer and his actions do not represent the men and women of this police department who put their lives on the line every single day to protect this county.”


 The chief said that the officer apologized for his actions but that the footage still made him angry. “I was upset and it felt like I had been gut-punched,” Ayers said.

During an internal investigation, authorities discovered a second video Thursday, filmed by a witness and posted online, that was “contrary to what was reported by Michael Bongiovanni,” police said in the statement. That video showed Bongiovanni strike the man in the face before the other officer had arrived, police said.

Black Lives Matter of Greater Atlanta also referred to the second video on its Facebook page. (This video is from ABC News.)

Bongiovanni was hired in 1998 and graduated from the police academy in 1999, according to the police department.

The police chief said during the news conference that a plan is in place to outfit uniformed officers with body cameras by the end of the year.

Asked what message the incident sends, Ayers told reporters: “We have standards, we have policies, and we’re going to hold ourselves to those standards and to those policies. And if you violate those, there will be a swift investigation. And if those complaints are found to be sustained, action will be taken.”

This story has been updated.

Kentucky Student’s Portrait Comparing KKK To Police Shakes School District

So I wonder just what the school district was so shaken up about? Because the police were being compared to the Klan, who in their heyday were routinely responsible for lynchings, beatings, castrations, etc? Or was it that the Klan was being compared to the police today, who routinely shoot young, unarmed black men and women? Either way, it seems like no one comes out of the comparison very well....


Kentucky Student’s Portrait Comparing KKK To Police Shakes School District: An English student’s comparison of a Ku Klux Klan member to a police officer in a school assignment rocked a Kentucky high school and brought about a contentious discussion regarding social i…