police brutality

250 Hmong community members and anti-police brutality activists rallied in St. Paul on Saturday afternoon, less than 24 hours after a rural, all-white jury found that "excessive force" was not used in the 2006 shooting of unarmed Hmong-American Fong Lee.  Lee was shot eight times in the back by Minneapolis police officer Jason Anderson. Allegations that a gun was planted by Lee's body were ruled irrelevant to the case.  Judge Paul Magnuson instructed the jury to “use their everyday life experiences” in their decision, noted several court witnesses.  The judge also read the verdict while Lee's family were at lunch, so that the family heard the verdict from a reporter.

“On June 26, 2006 Lee was a victim, on June 28, 2008 he was still a victim, and he will remain a victim,” said rally organizer Tou Ger Xiong. Speaking about conflicting police testimony during the trial, he produced a Q-tip several feet long: “I brought this today to clean out all the crap I have been hearing in the last week.” Speaking to the crowd, Michelle Gross of CUAPB said that Fong’s murder was “the most blatant, disgusting case of police brutality” she has ever seen in her 25 years of advocacy against police brutality. Pablo Tapa, spoke of the common experiences of racial profiling practices by police who detain and often brutalize Latino people in order to “check their documents.”

Communities United Against Police Brutality
May 29, 2009
**********************************************
JUSTICE FOR FONG LEE!
EMERGENCY COMMUNITY RALLY
Tomorrow (Saturday, May 30)
4:00 p.m.
Lao Family Alliance
320 University Ave W, St. Paul

As you have probably heard by now, the all-white, rural jury in the 
Fong Lee civil case simply refused to recognize that police kill 
unarmed people and engage in illegal coverups.  Therefore, they ruled 
against justice for Fong Lee's family.  The family is, of course, 
devastated.

Read the original story and see links to the Strib and PiPress coverage of the police killing of Fong Lee at the Twin Cities Daily Planet: http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/article/2009/04/15/whos-lying-chief-dolan-v...

From TCIMC: The Two Sides of the 2008 Murder of Fong Lee by Minneapolis Police
 

Last week the Minneapolis Police Department announced a new, easier way for community members to submit feedback about their officers online. Users can now submit both complaints and compliments via the internet. However, many are questioning the positive aspects of this change.

 The MPD fails to clearly inform users of what can be done with the information they choose to submit. For example, the so-called False-Reporting Law is not mentioned on the online form.

TCIMC Update 3/20: Sean McCoy, a street medic from Montana, was found not guilty today on the charge of fleeing a police officer but guilty on assembly without a permit (the St. Paul ordinance mandating a permit for political events of 25 or more).  St. Paul City Attorney John Choi's big win? A $50 fine plus court costs (for a total of about $130).  Two other charges against McCoy were dismissed earlier in the week by the judge for lack of evidence.
 

from the open publishing newswire: Early on Thursday, February 5, Minneapolis police killed Ahmed Guled, 23, as he drove down Morgan Avenue in the area where police were arresting three other people. One of the arrestees witnessed the incident and states that reports by police that they were somehow "in danger" and had to shoot were lies. He states that Guled was driving no more than 20 miles an hour and was just trying to get through the narrow lane police created by blocking the road with their vehicles when police opened fire, shooting at least 20 times. He referred to the killing as "an execution."

Related: Demonstration @ North Commons Park Wednesday | Call to Action | CUAPB Sues MPLS Civilian Review Authority | Court Watch Thurs. for Eduardo Cardenas, Attacked by MPD

see www.indybay.org for more

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/01/08/18559668.php

On January 7th at 11am, a memorial service was held for Oscar Grant at Palma Ceia Baptist Church in Oakland.

In the early afternoon of January 7th, it was announced that officer Johannes Mehserle had resigned from the BART police force so he would not be forced to testify at an internal hearing.