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Is There More Where This Came From?

As the City gets ready to meet next week with a group of local pastors to talk about building better relations between police and certain segments of the community, they may want to look at addressing false allegations of excessive force.

Already in the wake of the Brandon Johnson case word of false accusations have started to surface.  One of the most recent ones was on June 28.  An officer was called to the 8100 block of Siear Terrace to investigate a disturbance involving a group of teenagers at a playground.

The officer told the teens to leave because the teens were there after hours.   One teen refused to leave after being told two times to do so.  The officer told the teen that if he did not leave he would be arrested.  The teen refused, used profanity and the officer placed him under arrest.  As the  cuffs were put on him the teen reportedly pulled away.  The officer grabbed the young man’s hand and ordered him to the ground.  Although the teen went to the ground he continued to resist arrest.  The officer was forced to pepper spray him twice.  He also called for back up as a crowd was gathered.

Shortly after the teen was placed in the car, my sources tell me, his guardian who appeared upset over the altercation came over yelling threatening to sue by saying “Oh look, IMPD has money, I am going to get some.”  The teen later admitted to police that his family members told him to resist by not listening to police so they could later file a lawsuit.  He was later taken to Wishard to be treated for the pepper spray.  He was later charged with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.

Posted: 07|16|10 at 3:04 pm by Abdul Hakim-Shabazz
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  • guest

    I am afraid atleast short term, there will be more cases like this. I'm a big brother through big bros big sis, and my little brother (12yrs old) has suddenly started talking very negatively about cops and how they beat up everyone they arrest, and that they arrest people for no reason. I find it sad.

  • Wilson46201

    He'll have fun trying to find any lawyer anywhere who'd take this case on a fee-contingency basis.

  • Rmoney

    Abdul -

    Come on. Are you serious. I am by no means excusing the actions of this teenager or his handlers, I will repeat this and capitalize it I AM BY NO MEANS EXCUSING THE ACTIONS OF THIS TEENAGER OR HIS HANDLERS, but has anyone actually brought a claim against the city for this arrest? Or was it just hearsay from someone in the crowd. At least let them file the frivilous lawsuit before you start talking about watch out for false accusations of excessive force.

    It doesn't change the fact that Brandon was beat while in handcuffs excessively.

    Yes Yes Abdul I know – blacks lead in crime rate, high school dropout rate, unemployment, single parent housholds.

  • Abdul

    Rmoney, Listen Monday at 7:38 a.m. I'm working on getting a copy of the report. I'll read it on the air.

  • Rmoney

    will try to do.

  • Rico

    Brandon was NOT beat while in handcuffs. Are you sure this isn't Andre Carson?? Did the cop call him the N-word too?

  • Wilson46201

    According to the police, Brandon Johnson was assaulted by the third officer while two others already had subdued the teenager pinned to the ground

  • indyernie

    I've talked to LEO's who said the accused officer responded as instructed in training. According to them Brandon was still resisting while on the ground and NOT CUFFED.
    Something stinks in this whole affair and I don't believe it is the IMPD officers who were at the scene.

  • indyernie

    Wilson I'm trying to be a smart ass here. This is important to our city and to the officers involved.
    I was told that three officers responded and a forth who was off duty was called because he was close by and the crowd was acting in a threatening manner.

  • indyernie

    Sorry Wilson …I meant to state that I’m NOT trying to be a smart ass.

  • Rmoney

    My apologies the cops say 'while' being handcuffed.

  • pascal

    Put your faith in the grievance procedure that will be used. Mayors lie. Prosecutors lie. Newspapers would be very thin if they did not lie. The truth of the matter will come out. I doubt very much if anyone we know is in possession of the complete truth.

  • Ramon

    feeling a little bitter and lonely tonight, Pascal???

  • Think Again

    I'm sure, given the hour, Ramon, that some alcohol is involved. I kinda like this Pascal. The other one is a bigoted grump.

  • Think Again

    Alas, you already are, BUT: I've talked to LEOs, too, Ernie, who say exactly the opposite.

  • Think Again

    Ok, you want examples of extreme nonsense? It exists in every group:

    Sarah Palin. Pat Bauer.

    Among media types, Amos Brown.

    Let's hope this kid is just such an example, and the screaming parent/guardian is likewise. They don't represent any group of parents I know–of any race, economic standing or neighborhood.

    But here's the tough stuff: LEOs have such small windows of “leeway.” Their jobs are front-page. They're among us 24/7. The margin of error is slimmer than any profession I know, except, maybe, a brain surgeon.

    Among the 1000 or so LEOs in this county, there are likely a dozen really bad apples. Law of averages. LEOs know it.

    I'm grateful for the 988 great LEOs. I pray the dozen don't get mixed up in situations like this, because it can turn ugly, and, potentially, expensive for the taxpayers.

  • IndyErnie

    Maybe so TA but as Grandma always said …”it takes one to know one”.
    Your so-called informed sources on IMPD have been wrong more than once… I'll stick with those I trust.

  • IndyErnie

    Fricken snob!

  • IndyErnie

    IMPD alone has 1500 LEO's. Not sure about the incorporated Towns such as Beech Grove, Speedway and Cumberland within Marion County but I would guess with MCSD the number of LEO's should be closer to 2500.

    Come on TA, get your facts right.

  • guest

    Among the rank and file, Mr. Again, about 99.99% would agree with Ernie's statements. My guess is by coincidence you happen to be friends with someone who isn't very well versed with the department's disciplinary history, policies and procedure, etc. Either way people are entitled to their own opinion, but the Chief goofed in the press conference because he failed to articulate any reason to justify firing the guy in the eyes of the cops who have some familiarity with use of force. That's why the overwhelming majority of the rank and file disagree with the way the investigation was handled. He was citing factors that SCOTUS has stated cannot play a role in use of force criminal proceedings. Obviously this is an admin issue, but in the past officers have always been given the benefit of the doubt. There are numerous procedural, case law, psychological, and biological factors that at the very least render this guy the benefit of the doubt.

    One officer has already come forward and stated he did the exact same thing, applied the same level of force to the same part of the body stopping at the same time, but yet he was told he acted “honorably.” He told IA as much but neither they nor the Administration have been able to explain why he's not being fired.

    In any encounter involving this level of force, lacerations, abrasions, contusions, etc. are to be EXPECTED, not likely, EXPECTED. The injury on the suspect's face certainly looks to be more consistent with landing on concrete than a result of palm strikes. Same thing with the chipped tooth. Hands don't chip teeth, concrete does. Hands knock teeth out or move them around. Even if one of the officers had managed to chip his tooth, there would have been trauma to the officer's hand that did it. There wasn't.

    The hardest thing I'm having trouble getting is why the Concerned Clergy is intent on cleaning up the thugs in the police department, but yet when an Officer steals several thousand dollars from a prisoner and admits as much under an advisement of rights, they are quoted in the Star as saying they didn't think he should lose his job over it. There was another more significant issue a few months that, once again, the Clergy came down on the side of the officer despite overwhelming evidence that major felonies were being committed. Yet, under these circumstances, with so much gray area, they're calling for people to be fired who never even put a hand on the kid. Confusing, huh?

  • pascal

    Here's a fact! The North Indy Star of 11/26/09 Headline read, “Lawrence to begin bus fee”. The article by Kevin O'Neal did not say that Lawrence Township School Board would begin charging African America kids for transporting them to schools. Instead, the Township School Board decided to discriminate on the basis of religion against Catholic kids who attended St. Lawrence and St. Simon Catholic schools. Of course, the politically correct Indy Star did not say that in so many words.
    I'm looking forward to Kevin O'Neal's follow up story on just what the Township School Board of Bigots is going to do given the AG opinion that they have no authority to charge anyone bus fees.
    As to all the bloviation coming about concerning the accused officer who is looking more and more like a Judas Goat, I'm content to await the grievance procedure and the findings of fact by interested parties in an adversary position. It would be a good bet to bet that the fired officer will be reinstated with full back pay.

  • http://www.hoosiersforfairtaxation.blogspot.com Melyssa

    The People are desperate and they need healed. We have a great opportunity to do just that right before us. The God Lot is coming back and there will be gardens everywhere there once was violence. I have more tell, but just not yet.

  • http://www.hoosiersforfairtaxation.blogspot.com Melyssa

    I think newspapers would be thick and successful if they told the truth.

  • http://www.hoosiersforfairtaxation.blogspot.com Melyssa

    I forgot to mention that the people need loved above all. I can't state it strongly enough that this is our greatest opportunity.

  • pascal

    Not at all. I have experienced many cover ups in my day and this smells like another one. Have you ever uncovered liars and exposed them? Hell, you can't even point out TA's many, many misrepresentations.

  • pascal

    On your say so we should completely write off Pat Bauer and Sarah? How about a little evidence of your thought process that led you to such a conclusion? Try being original, that is, using your own noodle, if any.

  • indyernie

    pascal for the record… my comment above was directed at TA.

  • John Howard

    If IMPD was smart, they'd buy every officer one of these:

    http://www.vievu.com/

    ASAP.

  • Taxpayer 834512

    In a country where we can no longer have diving boards, private plane manufacturing had to be seriously curtailed at one point, and a public school would rather let a kid get beat-up on the playground that face a higher likelihood of litigation from the other child's parent- what do you expect?

    The good news is we're theoretically a land of laws. The bad news is even a land of laws is subject to the same golden rule as the rest of the world (and I don't mean, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”)

    I think the police have an impossible job. But, if they can adapt and do so relatively uniformly, this too may pass.

    It might be easier with robots, but we've decided not to let them call balls and strikes either. Yet.

  • Buzzy Whitlow

    And cameras in the cars, too!

  • SPT

    From the number of baby mommas and dozen of children without a daddy…there is LOTS of lovin' going on…..

  • Guest

    Abdul,

    Do you have a tx I can reach you at regarding a story with documentation?

  • Indiana_Barrister

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