Fort Lauderdale Cop Scoffs at the Law.

Bob Norman's Pulp blog brings us the story of a Fort Lauderdale cop who is basically a threat to law and order, and an affront to our justice system.  Officer Jeff Overcash arrested a man for having the temerity to ask Overcash for his name and badge number. 

According to Attorney Brad Cohen, who is representing that man, this is what happened up to the moment caught on video:

"We have several witnesses for the incident prior to the arrest.  The facts are essentially the train was going past the intersection, on SW 2nd Avenue, Fort Lauderdale.  My client,  Brennen Hamilton, was waiting with his wife and friends for the train to pass.  My client leaned up against the rear of the police car.

Officer Overcash approached my client and took him by the arm and said "Get your ass off the car.  How would you like it if I leaned my ass on your car?"  My client remained silent and rolled his eyes.  The Officer said "Really tough guy, you have something to say to me?"  My client remained silent.  Officer Overcash then said "Yeah, that's right tough guy, you've got nothing to say."  The train passed and my client and his wife went to his car and called Fort Lauderdale Police, to complain about the treatment he just received.  There wasn't a Lt. or a Sgt. working at that time, so he left his number.  During the call he was asked for the Officer's name and badge number.  He did not know that information.

After getting off the phone he went back to Officer Overcash and asked him if he could please give him his badge number and name.  That is where the video is recorded .  You can see my client approach calmly and request his badge and name.  Without hesitation Officer Overcash immediately puts my client in cuffs, and ultimately charges him with resisting without violence and disorderly intoxication."
- JAA Blog

Here's the video:

Here's the thing; this crooked cop claims that he's arresting law-abiding Brendan Hamilton for "a previous incident."  But if there was such an incident, Overcash would have been compelled by law to arrest Hamilton at the time of the incident.  So either Overcash broke the law by not arresting Hamilton in the first place, or he broke it when he arrested him on camera.  One way or the other, Overcash was clearly derelict in his duty.

But it seems pretty obvious that there was no "previous incident."  Overcash and two other officers are slouching against the patrol care, looking in a completely different direction.  There is no sign that just moments before there was any kind of scuffle that might have warranted arrest.  They're leaning against the police care (just as Hamilton had done) watching the crowd go by.  They almost look bored.

No, Overcash abused his power simply to punish a citizen for lawfully exercising his civic duty. And it should cost him his career.

We can't tolerate officers who abuse their power in this manner.  Every day that thugs like Overstreet - who don't give a shit about the law - remain on the job, we're all in danger.

Let's all remind Chief Adderly that this city belongs to the citizens, not a few
jack-booted thugs.  You can reach him at:
franka@fortlauderdale.gov
954-828-5590

No Justice In Oklahoma

There's no justice in Oklahoma while Daniel Martin is allowed to continue as a state trooper.

You might have seen the story on CBS News. Martin pulled over an ambulance transporting a patient, then beat up one of the paramedics in front of witnesses.

And Daniel Martin still hasn't been fired.

The entire incident was captured by the dashboard cam of his own cruiser.



And Daniel Martin still hasn't been fired.

A member of the patient's family videotaped the trooper as he assaulted the paramedic.



And Daniel Martin still hasn't been fired.

Martin's lawyer maintains that Martin was fully justified in keeping a woman from receiving medical care. He maintains that Martin didn't know that there was a patient in the ambulance even though it was one of the first things he was told when he approached the driver - as shown by his dashboard camera.

Martin is a bully, a thug, and a menace to society. The people of Oklahoma are not safe with him patrolling the streets, free to harass emergency personnel at his whim.

What kind of idiots must be running the Oklahoma State Troopers that they didn't fire him 30 seconds after his own dashboard camera revealed that everything he claimed about the case was a lie? That after an eyewitness videotape clearly shows that he attacked the paramedic, and not the other way around, Martin wasn't charged with assault and stripped of his badge?

There's no justice in Oklahoma.

(h/t to Carlos Miller)

Charges dropped against beating victim.

Originally, Fort Lauderdale Police charged Joshua Ortiz attacked and provoked them on an elevator back in December.

The police were responding to a complaint that several men were arguing in the lobby of 201 SW First Avenue. Ortiz wasn't one of those men, but yelled at the officers to leave the men alone from the elevator in the lobby.

Officer Derek Lade wrote a police report describing what he claims happened:

"I turned to Ortiz, and instructed him to get back in the elevator and return to his vehicle.I advised him to leave because he was not part of the incident. Ortiz continued to yell at me and walked right up to me, hitting his nose to my nose. A that point I struck Ortiz in the chest with a double handed palm heal strike, sending him to the rear of the elevator facing away from me. As I approached Ortiz to take him into custody, Ortiz spun around to face me and assumed a fighting stance (both left and right hand clenched into fists and body bladed.),"

Unfortunately for Officer Lade, there was a security camera in the elevator, and it showed something very different;



In the tape, we see one of Ortiz's companions standing in the door of the elevator: he moves aside as Lade walks up, Ortiz moves to the door, both hands tucked in his belt, and Lade indeed "struck Ortiz in the chest with a double handed palm heal strike, sending him to the rear of the elevator," But Ortiz hit the back wall hard with his back, facing Lade the entire time, while Lade was on Ortiz the entire time beating the crap out of him, two other cops right next to him, and third joining in.

Officer Derek Lade lied. And so did the cops who corroborated his story.

Even viewing the tape from the lobby end fails to substantiate Lade's story. We can see Ortiz yelling at the cops, but we can see the cops beating on the two guys who were arguing in the first place. From the tape, it's apparent that the first thing the cops did was to increase the level of violence, tackling the arguing men, hitting them, and throwing them to the floor. Ortiz and other members of his party appear to be trying to get the cops to calm down and use less violence.

After the cops beat the shit out of Ortiz, everyone exits the elevator, and a woman can be seen screaming at the cops. One of the cops throws her to the floor before arresting her.

It's a sickening display. But that's not the worst part of this utterly disgusting tale of police brutality and falsified reports.

This is what should have every citizen demanding an accounting:

Internal affairs investigators with the Fort Lauderdale Police Department reviewed the incident over a month ago and found no violations of agency policy or procedures, said Sgt. Frank Sousa, the department's spokesperson.

"It was not a beating," Sousa said. "The video clearly shows that [Ortiz] made a movement toward the officer."

Fortunately, the prosecuting attorney upheld justice and dismissed the charges. Kudos to Assistant State Attorney Lee Cohen.

Officers Lade, Smith (who can be seen delivering a roundhouse blow into Ortiz's face from behind Lade) and whoever watched that tape and concluded the cops were justified need to be removed from public service.

We can't tolerate cops who step over line, or internal affairs officers who can't tell where the line is.

Dictionary Fun with the Miami-Dade Police

According the the Miami Herald, a woman died last night when a Miami-Dade Police car collided with her Nissan.

WSVN reported that the police were trying to pull over the driver:

According to a news release... Police followed the car and tried to pull over the driver, but instead collided with the Nissan Altima that the woman was driving.

The Herald spoke with Det. Bobby Williams:

''They were not chasing the vehicle, they were following it,'' he said. ``There was no reason for their [sirens and lights] to be on because they were not in a pursuit and were not initiating a traffic stop.''

Det. Williams said much the same thing to CBS4:

"He was not in 'pursuit' of anyone," Williams said. "He was following this vehicle when the accident occurred."

So, Det. Bobby Williams would have us believe that "pursuit" is a completely different word from "following." Perhaps he's right. As you know, when people use words in a manner that seems contrary to common sense, I like to turn to the dictionary:

pur·sue
Pronunciation: \pər-ˈsü, -ˈsyü\
Function:verb
Inflected Form(s)pur·sued; pur·su·ing
transitive verb
1: to follow in order to overtake, capture, kill, or defeat
2: to find or employ measures to obtain or accomplish : seek <pursue a goal>
3: to proceed along <pursues a northern course>

synonyms; see chase

OK, no surprises there. Now let's see what it says about 'follow:'

fol·low
Pronunciation: fä- lō\
Function: verb
1: to go, proceed, or come after <followed the guide>
2 a: to engage in as a calling or way of life : pursue <wheat-growing is generally followed here>
2 b: to walk or proceed along <follow a path>
3 a: to be or act in accordance with <follow directions>
3 b: to accept as authority : obey <followed his conscience>
4 a: to pursue in an effort to overtake

synonyms; follow , succeed , ensue , supervene
see in addition chase

All right, you might notice that both words have "chase" as a synonym. But let's look at these definitions again, and this time I'm going to emphasize some crucial bits:

pur·sue
1: to follow in order to overtake, capture, kill, or defeat
2: to find or employ measures to obtain or accomplish : seek<>

synonyms see chase

fol·low
1: to go, proceed, or come after
2 a: to engage in as a calling or way of life : pursue
2 b: to walk or proceed along
3 a: to be or act in accordance with
3 b: to accept as authority : obey
4 a: to pursue in an effort to overtake

synonyms follow , succeed , ensue , supervene
see in addition chase

Well, it appears that Detective Bobby Williams is full of crap. Or he's illiterate.

The police were obviously not "following" the speeder as a vocation, nor were they "following" the speeder as a code to be in accordance with. The only way "follow" works in this case is that they were chasing a speeding car to apprehend a law breaker, and that means that "follow" and "pursue" are exactly the same thing in this context. It was a chase.

The reality is that the police cruiser absolutely should have had its lights and sirens on. In fact, the only reason those cars HAVE lights and sirens is so that the taxpaying and largely law-abiding public will be alerted to the fact that they are to get to an emergency and we need to get out of their way.

The officers in question showed a total disregard for public safety and a flagrant disregard for the law. Det. Williams demonstrates a lack of candor that we should not tolerate from those whom we entrust with our safety.

Clearwater Police Clearly Abusive

You pull into McD's for fries and a coffee. The cashier tells you to pull forward and wait; next thing you know, you're in handcuffs and on your way to jail.

It sounds farfetched, but this is just what happened to Jean Merola, a 75 year old grandmother.

According to WFTV, the police officer was behind Merola in line at the drive-through. When she didn't move after he honked his horn, the officer got out and demanded to see her license. When she refused, he pulled her out of her car and put her in handcuffs. She was then taken to the police station, photographed, fingerprinted, and booked. She was later released on her own recognizance.

Key facts:
She was on private property at the time.
She was instructed by an agent of the owner to park where she did.

What is it with the cops in that part of the state? Are they recruiting from some redneck goon squad? This is why people don't trust cops. This jackass should be booted ASAP.

And I hope that Merola sues the hell out of them.

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Wiensier Fights Back

Sorry for the gap in posts: I've been very busy at work, so the blogging has slipped.

News this week: Jeff Weinsier is suing the Miami-Dade School Board and the 3 cops who arrested him on false charges.

Weinsier was covering a story outside an area high school last year when police arrested him on a sidewalk in front of the school ON VIDEOTAPE. The cops maintained he was trespassing on school property, but the tape clearly shows that he wasn't on school property when he was arrested, or in the 20 minutes prior to the arrest.

As I predicted back in October, the charges were found to lack merit and were dropped:

"...due to the fact that the defendant was not on school property, it cannot be said that the defendant was trespassing. Since the defendant was not trespassing, anything that was found after he was arrested will be suppressed as a matter of law." - Assistant State Attorney Maggie Gerson

These three cops are the reason police do not get respect from teens; we expect law enforcement to lead by example, and these three jackasses have demonstrated that 1. they don't understand the laws they are paid to enforce, 2. they lack respect for the citizens they are paid to protect, and 3. they have no regard for the civil rights of that same citizenry.

I believe that there should be no settlement that does not include termination and de-certification of the three officers. Their presence in law enforcement degrades our legal system.

King Mango on 2007: Andrew Meyer

Andrew Meyer's brutalization lives on. I wrote about it earlier, and now King Mango reminds us that yes, sometimes the police go too far.

Andrew eventually plead out, and I don't blame him. He'd a kid who wants to graduate college, and justice in that part of the state is neither blind, nor just. It's backwards, backwoods part of Florida, where cops can beat up suspects, and even kill children in their custody.

Miami Herald Drops the Ball; Police Department Caught LYING. UPDATED Nov 16

Well, the Miami Herald screwed the pooch, big time.

Jeff Weinsier was arrested Tuesday outside an area High School. And that's about the only fact that the Herald got right.

It starts with the sensationalistic headline:

"TV reporter carrying gun at school is arrested"

I have a couple of problems with this headline: first, Weinsier was in front of the school, not AT it. Second, it implies that the gun was a factor in the arrest; and it was not.

How can I know this? I've seen the video tape; the raw, unedited tape that shows the entire incident right up to Weinsier's arrest.

Go and watch the tape, then continue reading.

All right? Up to speed? Let's dissect the article:

WPLG-ABC 10 reporter Jeffrey Weinsier, a loaded .38 revolver tucked in his waistband, was arrested Tuesday at Miami Central High after he was repeatedly warned against trespassing on school property, police said.

First, he wasn't warned about trespassing, because he wasn't trespassing. He was on a sidewalk. He was ordered to move across the street. No reason given. After he was taken into custody, it was revealed that he was indeed carrying a concealed weapon - and a concealed weapon permit. More on the gun later.

Weinsier, 40, was charged with trespassing on school property with a weapon, possession of a firearm on school grounds and resisting officers without violence.

Other reporters had been at the school to report the story of a Central High School math teacher who was arrested for attacking Homestead Air Reserve Base in a failed ''suicide-by-cop'' attempt.

All this is true. Of course, he wasn't on school grounds at the time, so that charge is bogus, but that's what he was charged with. Moving on.

Schools police say Weinsier -- an investigative reporter -- repeatedly ignored warnings to not step on the school's grass, said Detective Ed Torrens, a spokesman.

and further down:

Torrens said he believed other TV stations' cameramen only filmed Weinsier being arrested on the sidewalk, but failed to show footage of him stepping on the grass.

As we see in the video, at no time was Weinsier on the grass: in fact, it would be impossible for him to get on the grass without climbing a pretty thick hedge, first. He wasn't on the grass when the cops approached him, and he wasn't on the grass when they finally arrested him.

And if, as the Police Department claims, he was standing on the grass, why didn't the police tell him that's why he was being asked to move across the street? Weinsier asked for a reason; the cops refused to give one. At no time did they cops say "we saw you on the grass, that's trespassing." Not once did they say that; all they would repeat is "We kindly ask that you move across the street!"

Weinsier was clearly on a public sidewalk, he clearly wasn't on the grass when the police asked him to leave, and he clearly wasn't on the grass when they arrested him.

No, he was on a sidewalk. And in fact, he was on a side walk full of PEOPLE. Hundreds of people, and only one person was arrested: the TV reporter.

And do you know what? Weinsier DID cross the street. It was after the cops demanded that his camera man turn off the camera. The cops are filmed grabbing the camera, and taking Weinsier's microphone away. The camerman starts moving across the street, and Weinsier points to the mic and says "You need to give that back. The cop does so, and Weinsier and his crew move across the street. We can hear Weinsier call the station while the camera rolls tape of the school letting out.

A few minutes later, Weinsier and the camera head back across the street, having been in contact with their station and the school's Public Information Officer. Again, the cops intercept him and tell him he must go across the street. Weinsier reports that his station manager just confirmed with Police Information Officer Ed Torrans that the crew could be on the sidewalk.

Weinsier:
We just spoke to your public information officer, he says that we can be here. It's all right for us to be here..

Fat Cop:
My sargent is going to be here in a moment...you just

Weinsier:
your officer, Ed Goren, said that we could...

Fat Cop:
I don't know any Ed Goran, Ed Goran's not the public information officer..

Weinsier:
Yes, he is

Fat Cop:
...our p.i.o. is Ed TORRAN-

Weinsier:
yeah, THAT guy.

The cops start pushing Weinsier, telling him that he has to go across the street. The reporter told the cops to stop touching him, that they didn't have the right to touch him and push him around.

Weinsier:
You do realize, the camera's getting all of this.

Fat Cop:
do you know what Custodial touch is? I don't care about cameras, custodial custody, I can get you off my block if I want. ....I am telling you, ON THAT CAMERA, YOU are within 500 feet of a school, and I am giving you a lawful order to get off this sidewalk.

After FatCop blathers on for a few more minutes, Weinsier flatly states "I am not going." And the cops arrest him at that point.

Again, I must point out that at no time did the cop mention grass, or standing on it. He said a lot of other stuff; why not "Hey, you were on the grass, and that's trespassing!"

The only reason I can think of is that it was because Weinsier was never on the grass at all. Makes sense, doesn't it? None of the evidence puts him on the grass, so he wasn't on it. So much for the 'grass story.'

Now, about the gun: Weinsier had a carry permit. He got it after getting death threats in the aftermath of a story he covered earlier this year.

So what does the Herald say about it?

Weinsier holds a concealed weapons permit, but state law prohibits anyone from carrying a gun on school grounds, Torrens said.

''Miami-Dade Schools Police is a very effective force and they take any incident of anyone bringing a weapon to campus seriously,'' said Miami-Dade schools spokesman John Schuster.

Let's get back to the tape, because this is a serious charge: hmm, no, Weinsier was never on School Property at any time. Funny, the Herald doesn't point that out. You know what else we never see? The gun. We never see it, and the cops never once mention it.

No, instead of addressing the facts, they quote Schuster. And THAT quote makes it look like the School Cops caught Weinsier bringing a gun onto school grounds; neither of which is true: he wasn't on school grounds, and they didn't take him into custody because of the gun. The FACT is that they only found the gun AFTER they arrested him.

The Herald has been unforgivably sloppy with their work on this story. Frankly, I think it borders on slander.

And the cops? Wayyyy out of line.

*******************************************************************
A late update; all charges agains Weinsier were dismissed. Assistant State AttorneyMaggie Gerson reached the same conclusion as I did, upon viewing the tape.

"...due to the fact that the defendant was not on school property, it cannot be said that the defendant was trespassing. Since the defendant was not trespassing, anything that was found after he was arrested will be suppressed as a matter of law."

She also waved off a bunch of lesser charges the school cops had laid on Weinsier; since the orders he was given to go across the street were not lawful, he can't be charged with failure to obey a lawful order. The sidewalk isn't school property, and even though it's in the 500 foot safety zone, Weinsier had a legitimate reason to be inside of it. And even if the school police HAD a reason to keep him across the street (which they didn't), the fact that they weren't keeping EVERYONE across the street negates their action. Most damning: school had been dismissed by the time the cop illegally arrested Weinsier.

No mention in the Herald's coverage of this action about the "facts" they reported earlier.

Andrew Meyer, John Kerry and Campus Security: Clusterfuck Royale.

I've seen the video. The audio quality is poor, but you can make out what's being said. Then there's all the hullabaloo: Critical Miami is horrified, Stuck on the Palmetto is torn: Alex goes one way, Rick the other.

First, it was a forum for students to ask questions of Kerry.

Andrew Meyer was standing at the microphone, and asking Kerry a question. Well, two or three questions, really. But all he was doing is what the event was specifically set up to do: allow students to ask a US Senator and major US political figure direct questions. Andrew Meyer might have been doing it badly, but he absolutely wasn't breaking any law.

Second, Andrew Meyer really sucks at asking questions.

To be fair, Andrew did have to set up some background to give his question absolute relevance. Unfortunately, in the process he got so wound up that he seemed to forget which question he actually wanted to ask. And then he kept repeating it, cutting off Kerry several times. Andrew, Andrew, Andrew; once you've ASKED a question, you have to let the guy actually ANSWER, or at least respond. Your interview technicque sucks ASS. But you didn't deserve to be manhandled by thugs and tasered.

Third, the audio engineer was asleep at the desk.

I've worked this kind of event. It's boring to run the board. There is supposed to be someone in control of the mic. The Audi Engineer should have cut Andrew's microphone the third or fourth time he cut off Kerry's response.

Fourth, who was running this event?

Where was the moderator? The moderator should have sent a monitor out to explain to Meyer that part of asking a question is letting the man answer. And there is supposed to be someone there to do just that; keep order at the microphone. That person was not evident in any of the video, and they ought to have been. Whoever was supposed to be running this event wasn't doing it. They should be fired.

Fifth, WTF was campus security thinking?

Meyers was participating in the event in the manner the event was designed for. He was passionate, and a little disorganized. The campus cops were completely out of line. The shouldn't have tried to get him away from the mic, they should not have grabbed him, and they absolutely should not have tasered him. They were out of line. WAY out of line.

Conservative detractors have wasted no time to bash Kerry for not jumping in. In fact, Kerry can be heard trying to tell the police to stop. "Please - I'm going to answer his question. Hey! Let me finish!" I think Kerry did the right thing; if he'd gotten emotionally involved in the police brutality, the crowd would have grown agitated, and then we'd have been watching video of "the ensuing riot" instead of "redneck cracker cops beating up a student for no defensible reason."

Rick at SotP felt that Meyer should have capitulated when the jackbooted thugs ordered him to "stop resisting." Rick is wrong, plain as that. While I know that law enforcement has a tough job, and that keeping the peace is a difficult task in a crowd, the public should not capitulate to illegal actions by rogue officers. These "officers" were not arresting a criminal, they were haranguing a citizen engaging in a spirited exercise of his first amendment rights. What was Meyer's crime? Being passionate? Failing to resolve all his questions down to one?

Why did Meyer resist? Because he wasn't doing anything wrong. He was fully within his rights to be there, and to be asking his questions, and he absolutely had the right to stand there and listen to Kerry's response. And Kerry wanted to answer Meyer; and he told the stormtroopers that even as they were assaulting Meyer. Meyer did what a journalist should do: make everyone pay attention.

It's this kind of lack of self control on behalf of law enforcement that lead me to think that giving all patrol officers assault weapons is A Very Bad Idea. A taser is supposed to be used against violent offenders, not students shocked that their rights are being trampled. Give these same bozos the ability to lay suppressing fire? Fuck that. I'd rather they take cover and wait for SWAT to show up, given the propensity for undue escalation.

It is chilling that anyone could defend the UF campus hoodlums. This is the worst violation of free speech and the civil rights of students since Kent State. Law enforcement needs to expel these thugs and condemn their behavior; it's "cops" like these that make the jobs of real cops that much harder.

Hot Springs: Police Brutality Hot Spot

While it's entirely possible - even likely- that the office had a reason to stop these kids, it's obvious that he lost control of himself and the situation. I grew up around cops, and with cops. I usually side with them; they have a tough job, and sometimes the laws they must enforce - and they way they must be enforced - chafe. But choke holds are not legal in any police department in the US, and beating up children is unacceptable.

An argument might be made about the kid who ran; but remember, he had a picture of the cop breaking the law, the cop was beating up his friend, and then started screaming at him. He had every reason to believe that the cop was simply going to beat him up, too.

Finally, and the thing that turns me against this cop, he apprehends the witness taking the video. He accuses this witness of "getting in the middle of it," but the fact is all the camera man did was try to tell the cop to calm down. Something that is obviously warranted in this case.

These weren't armed thugs, they weren't criminals on a spree, these were 13 and 14 year old kids skateboarding as part of a pro-skateboard movement. Whatever crime they committed (and I will guess it was skateboarding on the sidewalks), it didn't warrant a beating from a 240 pound gorilla.

The video gives an email link to the Chief of Police; the mailbox has been shut down. Which means that he's a coward. I suspect that he's been flooded with well-deserved criticisms. And I suspect that he decided to shut down the mailbox rather than deal with thousands of people excercising their first amendment rights.

So you'll have to complain to the city commission:

Peggy Brunner- Maruthur (term expires 12/31/2008) Home:624-1965 E-mail: pege1947@aol.com

Elaine Jones (term expires 12/31/2010) Home:321-1839 E-mail: direlainejon1@sbcglobal.net

Steve Smith (term expires 12/31/2008) Bus:624-4699 Cell:627-8127 E-mail: srsmith12003@yahoo.com

Carroll Weatherford (term expires 12/31/2010) Home:276-7945 Cell:545-3153 E-mail: sable@hsnp.com

Bill Edwards (term expires 12/31/2010) Home:321-2291 E-mail: N/A

Tom Daniel (term expires 12/31/2008) Home:623-0682 Cell:627-8641 E-mail: td7965@aol.com

Interestingly, the mayor doesn't have an email address. Says a lot about the city. In this day and age, a city official without an email address is proclaiming "YES, I AM A HICK!!" Even the AMISH have a website, with email, fer goshsake.

Law Enforcement or Gang of Thugs?

First, you should read this story in the Miami Herald: THE FTAA TAPES

Basically, way back during the Free Trade Area of the Americas summit, Broward Deputies open fire on unarmed protesters and reporters. There are videotapes (linked above) that show beyond any doubt that the deputies had no cause at all to fire their weapons. The only defense they can offer is that they used rubber bullets.

The footage shows an attorney walking along the street carrying a sign, followed by a massive wall of deputies in riot gear. Suddenly, one of them shoots her in the back. When she turns to complain to them, pointing out that they have been following her for half an hour, and that they have observered that she has been peaceful, they open fire on her, forcing her to hide behind her sign. Other protestors - and a news camera crew - are also fired upon. At no time do any of the protestors threaten the phalanx of shock troop deputies.

Another tape, shot the next day, shows the deputies being addressed by Captiain John Brooks, who congratulates them on the shooting, and laughs about the attorney specifically when Sgt. Michael Kallman asks about "the woman hiding behind that sign."

`The good news about being able to watch you guys live on TV is that the lady with the red dress, I don't know who got her, but it went right through the sign and hit her smack dab in the middle of the head!''

Yes, the commanding officer watched his deputies shoot an unarmed and harmless woman on LIVE TV and COMMENDED HIS MEN for doing it.

''How about yesterday, huh? I would go to war with everyone here.''


Not only should this officer be fired - along with every single deputy on that detail that day - they should be prosecuted for assault with a weapon.

Think about it - if you or I shot rubber bullets into a crowd of people, we'd be arrested, tried, and thrown in jail. THESE guys were commended and promoted!

As these tapes clearly show, there was absolutely no threat of any kind to the armed and armored troops. The protestors - completely unarmed - were in fact walking AWAY from the officers.

This is the kind of behavior we expect in third world country; CASTRO does this kind of thing. It is completely unacceptable here. These actions were clearly criminal, and we are a nation of laws. And our laws dictate how criminals are handled. Promoting them, giving them raises, and heaping praise on them isn't. These men are criminals, period. They give good cops a bad name. They denigrate every law enforcement officer who risks their lives to maintain law and order.

So email your elected officials and demand that Major John Brooks, Sgt. Michael Kallman, and every officer on the FTAA detail on Nov. 20, 2003 be brought up on charges in court. If this is America, they are criminals, and if they are NOT criminals, then this isn't the United States of America anymore.