Welcome to the weekly update from the Campaign to End Qualified Immunity! Here, we give you a wrap-up of the latest developments and notable news as we continue our state-focused fight to abolish the unjust rule.
This week, Minneapolis moves forward with police overhaul; California’s attorney general investigates racism in the Antioch Police Department; federal legislators seek to stop civil forfeiture; and more!
FEATURED STORY
NPR: Minneapolis, State of Minnesota Reach Policing Overhaul Agreement
“It’s been nearly three years since the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Earlier this month, the last of the four police officers involved in Floyd’s death was convicted, marking the end of multiple state and federal trials….Now Minneapolis is getting ready to start a complex process it hopes will overhaul the city’s troubled police department.”
Listen here.
NEW YORK
The new NYPD watchdog unit may have to stop investigating racial profiling cases only months after it was formed due to a severe staffing shortage. Twenty of the 33 positions on the team are currently left unfilled; police have also rejected over 100 records requests from the unit.
Read more here.
Between 2000 and 2010, Long Island’s police departments paid $21 million in misconduct claims. Between 2011 and 2013, that number jumped to $144 million. “A major driver to the costs were wrongful convictions where multiple people spent years in prison for crimes they didn’t commit,” an analysis notes.
Read more here.
VERMONT
Last summer, two police use-of-force cases—one in Newfane, the other in Burlington—made headlines across the Green Mountain State. Nearly a year later, the Attorney General’s Office has yet to bring any charges. “It’s bad for the person who got hurt, it’s bad for the [policing] profession and bad for public trust,” said an attorney specializing in police misconduct cases. “You know, it’s not rocket science.”
Read more here.
MARYLAND
West Baltimore residents demand accountability after a police shooting left a teen in critical condition at a local hospital. The community’s “familiar criticism” points to “a city still reeling from its long history of troubled policing practices, despite recent ongoing reform efforts.”
Read more here.
ADDITIONAL NEWS
KQED: ‘We’re Moving in’: California Attorney General Launches Investigation Into Antioch Police Department After Racist Texting Scandal
“‘Our investigation…will look at patterns and practices of conduct within the Antioch Police Department and identify if laws are being broken, rights are being violated, and get them on corrective action if so,’ said [California Attorney General Rob] Bonta. ‘The people of Antioch deserve safety and their civil rights to be protected and defended. That is not a lot to ask. From what we have seen so far, it does not appear that that’s happening.’”
Read more here.
CBS 7: Qualified Immunity: State Troopers Capture Criminal But Shoot His Hostage
“Georgia truck driver [Don Davis] was shot nine times by troopers and deputies who were trying to stop a murder suspect holding Davis hostage in his truck….While the shooting occurred in 2015, in early May the U.S. Supreme Court let stand a federal court ruling that police owe the hostage nothing for his medical bills or the lasting effects of the officer-inflicted gunshot wounds.”
Read more here.
Reason: Congress Tries Again To Reform Civil Asset Forfeiture Abuses
“Years after ‘civil asset forfeiture’ became synonymous in many minds with legalized theft, the practice of seizing money and property merely suspected of a connection to a crime remains a boil on the ass of American jurisprudence. Now, in a rare demonstration of cooperation across political divides, Democratic and Republican lawmakers have joined together to introduce legislation to reform the practice of civil forfeiture at the federal level.”
Read more here.
Huffington Post: Indianapolis Cop Filmed Stomping On Handcuffed Man’s Head Pleads Guilty
“[Eric] Huxley was on patrol on Sept. 24, 2021, when body camera footage captured him intentionally raising his right foot and stomping on the face of Jermaine Vaughn while Vaughn was restrained by two officers and unable to move, prosecutors said. Vaughn was arrested and charged with two misdemeanors of disorderly conduct and resisting law enforcement, but both charges were later dismissed. He filed a lawsuit in February against the city of Indianapolis.”
Read more here.
Voice of San Diego: San Diego’s Police Oversight Commission Is Barely Functioning
“The city of San Diego’s Commission on Police Practices is down to only eight active members, less than a third of the 25 members it’s supposed to have. Not only has this created more work for commissioners, all of whom are citizen volunteers, but it has meant that the commission can’t move forward with implementing [police oversight bill] Measure B.”
Read more here.
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