Tag: police brutality

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News Round-Up: June 17, 2020

Joel Green (via Instagram)
Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: Wise words of the day from fitness guy Joel Green (above) – “It’s not about your reflection, it’s what you see beyond it.” #DreamBigger • Washington Blade: Sara Hegazy, 30, an LGBTQ rights activist from Egypt who was arrested for raising a rainbow flag during a 2017 concert in Cairo died by suicide on Sunday at her home in Canada. She was reportedly tortured for months in prison before an Egyptian court ordered her release on bail in January 2018. • KIT212: Kenneth’s weekly ‘Wrestle Wednesday’ (below) is really worth the click 🙂
(via kenneth-in-the-212)
• CNN: Martin Gugino, the 75-year-old protester who was pushed to the ground by two Buffalo, New York police officers earlier this month, has a fractured skull and is still unable to walk, his lawyer said in a statement provided to CNN. Gugino’s attorney passed along a message from the senior protester: “I think it’s very unnecessary to focus on me. There are plenty of other things to think about besides me.” • NY Daily News: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has issued an order requiring all lawmakers to wear masks in committee hearings after Rep. Tom Rice (R-South Carolina) announced he and several family members have contracted the COVID-19 virus. Rice has refused to wear a mask at House meetings. Pelosi has ordered the Sargeant at Arms to deny entry by any violators. • OMG Blog: RuPaul is so good at ‘Family Feud’ he doesn’t even need to hear the question! Watch below.

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Poll: Large Majorities Of Americans Support Police Reforms

(image via Unsplash/Spenser)
Democratic lawmakers, Republican lawmakers, and the White House are all preparing proposals to address reforms in policing amid the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25. According to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Thursday, large majorities of Americans support the Democratic proposals released this week: • 82% of Americans want to ban police from using chokeholds (including 7 in 10 Republicans) • 83% want to ban racial profiling (including 7 in 10 Republicans) • 92% want federal police to be required to wear body cameras (including 9 in 10 Republicans) • 89% of Americans want to require police to give the people they stop their name, badge number and reason for the stop • 91% support allowing independent investigations of police departments that show patterns of misconduct (including 9 in 10 Republicans) • 75% support allowing victims of police misconduct to sue police departments for damages. (including 6 in 10 Republicans) • 76% support reallocating police budgets into better officer training, local programs for homelessness, mental health assistance and domestic violence Read more at Reuters.

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Trump Spreads Conspiracy Theory About Police-Bashed Buffalo Man

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After watching Russian disinformation network OANN, Donald Trump tweets out false smear against Martin Gugino, the 75-year-old white man pushed to the ground by police in Buffalo, NY, of faking his fall and being a member of ANTIFA. Gugino had to be taken to the hospital after hitting his head on the pavement, passing out and blood oozed from his ear. He is a member of two nonprofits and part of the Catholic Worker Movement. The president cited right-wing One America News Network (OANN) in making the incendiary claim, which comes amid a national debate over police brutality.

CBS journalist David Begnaud reports, “I just checked with the Erie County district attorneys office in New York about the condition of Martin Gugino, 75. The prosecutor’s spokeswoman says Gugino is still listed in critical condition at a local hospital. He’s been there since Saturday due to his head injury.

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Buffalo Police Officers Charged With Assault On 75-Year-Old

L-R Mug shots of suspended Buffalo police officers Aaron Torgalski and Robert McCabe
The two police officers in Buffalo, New York, that were suspended without pay after assaulting a 75-year-old man have been charged with assault in the second degree by the Erie County District Attorney’s Office. From KTNV:

The officers, 32-year-old Robert McCabe and 39-year-old Aaron Torgalski, were suspended without pay on Thursday after 75-year-old Martin Gugino was knocked down by police at a protest in Niagara Square.

Gugino was seriously injured and taken to ECMC, in a statement released through his attorney Friday he was said to be in serious but stable condition and was “alert and oriented.”

The entire force of the Buffalo Police Emergency Response Team resigned as of Friday afternoon. The 57 officers have not resigned from the department and will keep their jobs, they have only resigned from their roles on the Emergency Response Team.

A Buffalo PBA representative tells 7 Eyewitness News anchor Hannah Buehler “these officers were simply following orders given by DPC Joe Gramaglia to clear the Square.”

WKBW spoke with two of the officers who resigned from the Response Team who said the resignations weren’t a “show of support” for the two suspended officers. “I don’t understand why the union said it’s a thing of solidarity,” said one of the officers. “I think it sends the wrong message that ‘we’re backing our own’ and that’s not the case.” “We quit because our union said [they] aren’t legally backing us anymore,” said another. “So why would we stand on a line for the City with no legal backing if something [were to] happen? Has nothing to do with us supporting.”

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News Round-Up: June 5, 2020

(image via sadanduseless)
Some news items you might have missed: • Summer Fashion: So, I don’t know if it’s a ‘thing’ but someone is apparently trying to make lace shorts for guys (above) a ‘thing’ this summer? #ThingsThatMakeYouGoHmm • Washington Blade: In yet another attack by the Trump administration to enable legal discrimination against LGBTQ people, the Justice Department is calling on the U.S. Supreme Court to allow religious-affiliated adoption agencies that receive tax-payer dollars to refuse child placement into LGBTQ homes. • Out Music: 80s pop icon Limahl (“Neverending Story”, “Only For Love”, “Too Shy” with Kajagoogoo) returns with “Still in Love,” his first foray into the mainstream in over eight years. American Songwriter calls the new track “a soulful and sultry pop ode to the darker side of love, that recurrent backfire of amore, and finding oneself after being crushed by it.”

• Buzzfeed News: A police officer in Salem, Oregon, was caught on video warning a group of white supremacists to seek shelter before the police were planning to tear gas the area and  avoid being arrested for violating a curfew so officers “don’t look like [they’re] playing favorites.” • Newsweek: Donald Trump finally got his wall/fence. But instead of being a barrier on the U.S. southern border, it’s a barricade around the White House. I’m sure you can parse the irony on your own. • The Advocate: Police fired bang shots at a queer bar owner in North Carolina after he’d set up a first aid station in his parking lot to treat peaceful protestors who had gotten injured.

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Senior Hospitalized After Being Shoved By Cops, 57 Cops Resign From Response Team After 2 Suspended

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  UPDATE – The local NBC News affiliate in Buffalo reports:

The entire Buffalo Police Department Emergency Response Team has resigned from the team. That’s a total of 57 officers.

We’re told this is a show of support for the officers who are suspended without pay after shoving 75-year-old Martin Gugino. They are still employed, but no longer on ERT. Mayor Byron Brown responded saying the city is aware of these resignations.

Buffalo Police Commissioner Byron Lockwood issued this announcement: “As a longstanding member of the City of Buffalo Police Department, I know that our officers are fully committed to serving and protecting our community. While some officers have chosen to remove themselves from a voluntary assignment with the ERT, it is important to note that no officers have actually resigned from the police force. “I want to reassure our citizens that they will be protected in any peaceful gatherings that ensue and that our department remains focused on the security of our community.”

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For those who wonder why people protest about police brutality… A man identified as Martin Gugino was shoved to the ground and eventually hospitalized as police in Buffalo, New York, last night as police were attempting to clear protesters in front of City Hall. From Buffalo News:

A 75-year-old protester was injured Thursday night after being pushed to the ground by police as officers clearing Niagara Square as the citywide curfew went into effect.

Following the incident, which drew swift national attention and mass condemnation after video of it was viewed millions of times, the Buffalo Police Department suspended two officers without pay and began an Internal Affairs investigation, according to a police official and a department spokesman.

As seen in the video, as police advance, Gugino approaches the officers with what appears to be a phone in his right hand and a helmet in his left. He appears to point to the baton of one of the officers as the word “Move” can be heard amid shouts in the background.

The officer Gugino pointed to then pushes Gugino with his right hand and Gugino falls backward to the ground, where his head hits the sidewalk. One officer appears to reach down to check on him, but another officer pulls him back and the first officer continues walking. Other officers walk by and do not immediately come to Gugino’s aid.

You can see blood dripping out of Gugino’s ear as he lay unconscious (screen capture)
Initially, the Buffalo Police Department issued a statement that claimed Gugino “tripped and fell,” a description at direct odds with the video. Gugino is reportedly in serious but stable condition at Erie County Medical Center. At this writing, the video has been viewed over 65 million times.

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News Round-Up: June 2, 2020

The number of senior LGBTQs is expected to double in the next 10 years
Some news items you might have missed: • LGBTQ Nation: Experts say there are 2.4 million LGBTQ seniors in the U.S. and that number is projected to reach seven million by 2030. Check out this list of organizations that offer valuable resources for aging LGBTQ people. • Instinct: The British government has announced that strangers (or couples living apart from each other) are no longer legally allowed to have sex for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic. The text of the legislation outlaws indoor gatherings “when two or more people are present together in the same place in order to engage in any form of social interaction with each other or to undertake any other activity with each other.” • Pink News: Levi’s has released a pair of denim chaps for Pride Month which are apparently “inspired by the resilience and beauty” of the LGBT+ community. The Pride offering is described as a “classic Levi’s silhouette, reimagined as a pair of unapologetically bold chaps.” #ThingsThatMakeYouGoHmm
(image via Levi’s)
• The Advocate: The state of Minnesota has filed a human rights complaint against the Minneapolis Police Department following the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man who died last week while being pinned him to the ground by a white police officer. The Minnesota Department of Human Rights will begin an investigation into the MPD’s conduct over the past decade to determine if officers “engaged in systemic discriminatory practices.” • New York Times: The ongoing protests across the country have spurred political campaign donations to Democrats via their ActBlue website. Between Friday and Monday, the online donor platform processed over $60 million in donations. • NowThis News: Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, the bishop who oversees St. John’s Episcopalian Church in Washington DC, was outraged over the use of force on peaceful protesters and church clergy by Donald Trump. Bible in hand, Trump posed awkwardly for a photo and then walked away from the chaos, but many are calling this an abuse of power and a dangerous stifling of the 1st Amendment right to peaceful protest.

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Independent Autopsy Shows George Floyd Died Of Asphyxiation

L-R George Floyd (screen capture), Derek Chauvin (mug shot)
An independent autopsy found George Floyd died of asphyxiation diverging from the official report released last week. From the LA Times:

An autopsy commissioned for George Floyd’s family found that he died of asphyxiation due to neck and back compression when a Minneapolis police officer held his knee on Floyd’s neck for several minutes and ignored his cries of distress, the family’s attorneys said Monday.

The autopsy by a doctor who also examined Eric Garner’s body found the compression cut off blood to Floyd’s brain, and weight on his back made it hard to breathe, attorney Ben Crump said at a news conference.

The family’s autopsy differs from the official autopsy as described in a criminal complaint against the officer. That autopsy included the effects of being restrained, along with underlying health issues and potential intoxicants in Floyd’s system, but also said it found nothing “to support a diagnosis of traumatic asphyxia or strangulation.”

Floyd, a black man who was in handcuffs at the time, died after the white officer ignored bystander shouts to get off him and Floyd’s cries that he couldn’t breathe.

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NYPD Vehicles Drive Through Crowd Of Protesters

From CBS News:

A large protest in Brooklyn on Saturday sent a shock through social media when video emerged of two New York Police Department vehicles driving through a group of protesters. The protest was one of dozens nationwide over the death of George Floyd.

The videos show dozens of protesters gathered in a street holding up a small barricade, appearing to stop an NYPD SUV from continuing to drive. A bag is seen to be thrown on the car as protesters throw objects at the vehicle.

Seconds later, a second NYPD vehicle approaches, and drives through part of the crowd, directly hitting at least half a dozen people. As it drove through, the initial vehicle hit the gas and rammed through the people who were standing in front of it, causing several people to collapse on the ground.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio addressed the incident at a late-night press conference saying that although it was “upsetting,” it’s also “inappropriate for protesters to surround a police vehicle and threaten police officers.” “That’s wrong on its face,” de Blasio said. “I’m not going to blame officers who are trying to deal with absolutely impossible situation … If a police officer is in that situation, they have to get out of that situation. The video was upsetting, and I wish the officers hadn’t done that, but I also understood that they didn’t start the situation.”

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Wife Of Charged Minneapolis Officer Files For Divorce

Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin (screen capture)
Kellie Chauvin, the wife of fired Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, has issued a statement through her attorney that she sends her condolences to the family of George Floyd and she has filed for divorce. “This evening, I spoke with Kellie Chauvin and her family. She is devastated by Mr. Floyd’s death and her utmost sympathy lies with his family, with his loved ones and with everyone who is grieving this tragedy. She has filed for dissolution of her marriage to Derek Chauvin,” the Sekula Law Offices said in a released statement. “While Ms. Chauvin has no children from her current marriage, she respectfully requests that her children, her elder parents, and her extended family be given safety and privacy during this difficult time,” the statement continued. The announcement spurs several questions. Is Ms. Chauvin leaving her husband because she has an opinion about his actions? Were there previous domestic issues at home? Many commenters on Twitter believe the divorce would be a way to protect the couple’s assets in case he were to be sued in a civil case, which I hadn’t thought of. Things that make you go ‘hmm…’