police brutality

Read recent police brutality stories and news of police brutality cases on Newser.com

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When 'Nonlethal' Police Tactics Result in Deaths
When 'Nonlethal' Police
Tactics Result in Deaths
investigation
Mar 30, 2024 4:52 PM CDT

When 'Nonlethal' Police Tactics Result in Deaths

The AP finds 1K cases across the US over a decade

(Newser) - Every day, police rely on common tactics that, unlike guns, are meant to stop people without killing them, such as physical holds, Tasers, and body blows. But when misused, these tactics can still end in death—as happened with George Floyd in 2020, sparking a national reckoning over policing. And...

'Worst Example of a Police Officer' Gets 40 Years

Christian Dedmon was 'sickest' of six officers involved in racist torture in Mississippi, victim says

(Newser) - Two more former Mississippi sheriff's deputies were sentenced Wednesday for their parts in the racist torture of two Black men by a group of white officers who called themselves the "Goon Squad." Christian Dedmon, 29, received 40 years in federal prison, the AP reports. At the federal...

'Goon Squad' Ex-Deputies Sentenced Over Racist Torture

Leader of squad that abused Mississippi men gets 17.5 years

(Newser) - This story has been updated wth new developments. Two former Mississippi sheriff's deputies were sentenced Tuesday for torturing two Black men in a racist assault. Hunter Elward, 31, was sentenced to just over 20 years in prison for that assault and his role in a separate episode where a...

Black Mom, 4 Kids Detained After Salon Day Get $1.9M Settlement

Children were handcuffed, made to lie on ground during stolen-vehicle mix-up

(Newser) - The Black mom and four children ordered out of their car by police at gunpoint and forced to lie on the ground (while handcuffed, in the case of two of the kids) have settled with the Colorado city involved in the 2020 incident. Aurora will pay Brittney Gilliam, her daughter,...

Complaints Against Mississippi Sheriffs Often Go Nowhere
In Mississippi, Nobody
Is Policing the Sheriffs
LONGFORM
Jan 1, 2024 2:05 PM CST

In Mississippi, Nobody Is Policing the Sheriffs

A 'New York Times' investigation finds that abuse allegations are ignored, even with evidence

(Newser) - Sheriffs in Mississippi are elected by the people, but after that, who holds them accountable? While the state is responsible for looking into shootings and deaths if a sheriff or deputy is involved, allegations of brutality lobbed against their departments, including beatings, rape, and retaliation, commonly go nowhere, according to...

Jury Acquits Officers in Death of Black Man

Manuel Ellis was beaten, shocked, and restrained facedown on a Tacoma sidewalk

(Newser) - A jury cleared three Washington state police officers of all criminal charges Thursday in the 2020 death of Manuel Ellis, a Black man who was shocked, beaten, and restrained facedown on a Tacoma sidewalk as he pleaded for breath. Two of the officers—Matthew Collins, 40, and Christopher Burbank, 38—...

Cops Accused of Excessive Force in 2020 Protests Hear Their Fate

Indiana's Jonathan Horlock, Nathaniel Schauwecker allegedly struck 2 women with batons

(Newser) - Two Indianapolis police officers were acquitted early Saturday of using excessive force to strike two women with batons during arrests at a May 2020 protest against racial injustice and police brutality. Officers Jonathan Horlock and Nathaniel Schauwecker had been charged with battery and official misconduct in the case. They were...

Former Memphis Cop Pleads Guilty in Tyre Nichols Death

Desmond Mills Jr. was one of five Memphis cops charged after the fatal beating

(Newser) - A former Memphis police officer changed his plea to guilty Thursday in the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols , becoming the first of five officers charged to reverse course. Desmond Mills Jr. entered his plea during a hearing at the Memphis federal courthouse as part of a larger agreement to settle...

More Trouble for Sheriff Whose Officers Formed 'Goon Squad'

Undersheriff in Rankin County, Mississippi, resigns after allegations emerge about Bryan Bailey

(Newser) - The undersheriff of the Mississippi sheriff's department whose former officers pleaded guilty to torturing Black men resigned Monday, days after allegations surfaced about his boss. A joint investigation by Mississippi Today and the New York Times revealed the local district attorney investigated Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey for illegally...

6 Mississippi Ex-Cops Plead Guilty to Torturing Black Men

Some of them face life sentences

(Newser) - Six former Mississippi law enforcement officers pleaded guilty Thursday to what the local sheriff called "the most horrible incident of police brutality I've learned of over my whole career," and two of them face sentences of up to life in prison. The other four face sentences that...

Memphis Police Face Federal Investigation

Justice Department will examine allegations of racial bias after death of Tyre Nichols

(Newser) - The US Department of Justice said Thursday it is investigating the patterns or practices of police in Memphis, Tennessee, nearly seven months after the violent beating of Tyre Nichols by five officers after a traffic stop. Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Civil Rights Division made the announcement in...

Videos Contradict Police Report on Tyre Nichols Arrest

Report claimed officer was the victim of assault

(Newser) - As with the initial police report after the death of George Floyd, the police report filed after the brutal beating of Tyre Nichols in Memphis paints a very different picture from what is seen in videos. The report written by a police officer claims Nichols was angry, "started to...

Tyre Nichols' Mother Warns About Children Seeing Video

Memphis police chief says she hasn't seen evidence of why driver was pulled over

(Newser) - The mother of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old man who was killed after being pulled over by Memphis police, has asked people to keep children from watching the video of the confrontation after its release Friday evening. "Any of you who have children, please don't let them see it,...

Memphis on Edge as Video in Cop Beating Set for Release
Biden Speaks
Ahead of Release
of Tyre Nichols Video
THE RUNDOWN
Jan 27, 2023 7:31 AM CST

Biden Speaks Ahead of Release of Tyre Nichols Video

Biden urges calm ahead of footage being made public that shows cops beating man during traffic stop

(Newser) - Friday evening is likely to be a tense one in Memphis, Tennessee, as authorities are set to release video that shows the violent arrest of Tyre Nichols , a 29-year-old Black man who died three days after the Jan. 7 confrontation during a traffic stop. Police have said Nichols experienced shortness...

Lawyers: Cops Beat Black Man Like a 'Human Piñata'

Attorneys for family of late Tyre Nichols, 29, are comparing his beating to Rodney King incident

(Newser) - Memphis police officers beat motorist Tyre Nichols for three minutes, treating him like "a human piñata" in a "savage" encounter reminiscent of the infamous 1991 police beating of Los Angeles motorist Rodney King, attorneys for the family said Monday. Attorney Ben Crump said police video viewed by...

An Arrest Got Brutal. One Witness Started Recording

Justice Department launches civil rights investigation

(Newser) - Update: This file has been updated with the announcement of a federal investigation. Three law enforcement officers in Arkansas have been suspended and are at the center of federal and state investigations following accusations they severely beat a suspect outside a Crawford County eatery, an incident recorded by a witness...

Man 'Cooked Alive' After Police Tased Him at a Gas Pump

Deputy involved has now been charged

(Newser) - Update: The Florida deputy accused of accidentally setting a motorcycle rider on fire when he tased him at a Florida gas station in February has been charged with culpable negligence, a misdemeanor, the Orlando Sentinel reports. The biker, too, is being charged with reckless driving, fleeing law enforcement and resisting...

Troopers Charged in 2020 Beating of Black Driver

White officers sent texts boasting about the 'whoopin''

(Newser) - State prosecutors have charged three Louisiana State Police troopers accused of beating a Black motorist, hoisting him to his feet by his hair braids, and bragging in text messages that the "whoopin'" would give him "nightmares for a long time." The misdemeanor simple battery charges in...

Ex-Cop Who Joked About Rough Arrest Gets 5 Years

Family says Austin Hopp broke 73-year-old Karen Garner's arm during 2020 arrest

(Newser) - Update: "We cannot allow him to get a slap on the wrist for breaking an arm," Karen Garner's daughter-in-law said at a sentencing hearing for Austin Hopp Thursday. The former Loveland, Colorado, cop was sentenced to five years in prison for assaulting Garner, who has dementia, during...

Cops Who Dragged Man Out of Car by Hair Exonerated

Dayton police officers did not violate policy, internal probe finds

(Newser) - Update: The two Dayton, Ohio, police officers who pulled a paraplegic man out of his car by his dreadlocks last year did not violate department policies in doing so, an internal probe found. Officers Wayne Hammock and Vincent Carter were exonerated in the Dayton Police Department’s Professional Standards Bureau'...

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