San Jose: Man violently arrested in mistaken identity case

[alp227]

Source: San Jose Mercury News

Walking into his neighborhood convenience store for a $1 lottery ticket, Henry Stevens Amador hoped it would be his lucky day. But instead of walking out with three cherry's and a thousand bucks, Amador was violently busted by San Jose police officers.

Afterward, a sergeant reportedly unlocked the handcuffs, helped clean the blood off his face and apologized.

It turns out they busted the wrong guy.

"This is a total abuse of their privileges and rights as cops." the cut and bruised 23-year-old told the Mercury News. He has hired an attorney.

Police confirmed the case of mistaken identity is being investigated by its Internal Affairs unit — they say officers thought he was a drug suspect.

Read more: http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_15508178

---

Great. Just after Johannes Mehserle was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and the USDOJ charged the six New Orleans police officers who killed unarmed civilians a few days after Hurricane Katrina, the local police once again act fools.

[Arctic Dave]

1. SWB? Scratching While Black?

WTF?

[ProudDad]

2. Standard Operating Procedure in the USAmerikan Police State

Amador said that about 1 p.m. Friday he drove to the Shop 'N' Save at Capital Expressway and Silver Creek Road, a traffic light away from his house. His aim was to get a Cherry Double Doubler scratch ticket. The store was all out.

When he began walking out toward his car, Amador said he saw a man running and — about 75 feet away — get tackled by police.

The suspect was yelling "Help! Help!"

Then an officer came up to Amador with his gun pointed at him and yelled and pushed him, he reported. Another officer came from behind and knocked him to the ground, sending his cell phone and car keys flying.

"I guess I was too slow,'' Amador said.

Face down, Amador was not sure how many officers were on him. But it felt like a lot, four or five maybe. He heard them swearing at him and telling him to stop resisting. One of them, he said, kicked him square in the face. He said he blacked out but remembers an officer painfully yanking his handcuffed hands back.

Amador said he was dazed and not resisting."

You're assumed GUILTY until proven innocent...

[tblue37]

3. And they will beat the crap out of you and claim you are

resisting, no matter how docile you are--just because they are hopped up on adrenaline and like to beat the crap out of people they have labbeled as "wrong doers."

[ProudDad]

5. Yep...

for some reason they don't act like this in the more affluent neighborhoods...

Unless you LOOK like this guy:

[EFerrari]

6. Adrenalin, coke, whatever. My friend did six months with the country sheriffs

as a journalist on ride alongs. He told me he couldn't figure out why these guys were sick all the time -- sniffling and taking days off. From a more innocent time.

[tblue37]

8. A lot of them are also on steroids, which tends to fuel

violent outbursts as well.

[clixtox]

37. I am wondering if the urban police are being conditioned...

to be used as the enforcers when the chaos caused by the breakdown of civil society occurs. The uber-wealthy, and their vast corporate and personal assets, will require protection from the downtrodden masses, sooner or later, and our police departments are being militarized, I believe, to terrorize and control the underclasses.

I want to start hearing about the huge salaries being paid to these civil servants being slashed like most other city and county employees. It's happening a little, I am sure, but keeping the police believing in the system is too crucial for maintaining "law and order" to jeopardize.

I will never forget the CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY PATROL cops being used to intimidate and brutalize anti-war, and other, demonstrators in the 1960s and 70s in Berkeley, Oakland, SF and elsewhere. Now with the proliferation of SWAT and other heavily armed police and sheriff's cadres available there is the potential for a lot of violent repression, and this could be very easily implemented.

Really!

[DeSwiss]

4. K&R

And you can this one to the list:

http://www.ajc.com/news/2-officers-out-of-568967.html">2 officers out of jobs in wake of repeated Tasering of woman

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Metro Atlanta / State News 3:27 p.m. Monday, July 12, 2010
By Rhonda Cook

Janice Wells called the Richland Police Department when she feared a prowler was outside her clapboard house in the rural west Georgia town. The third-grade teacher had phoned for help. But within minutes of an officer coming to her backdoor, she was screaming in pain and begging not to be shocked again with a Taser. With each scream and cry, the officer threatened her with more shocks.

"All of it's just unreal to me. I was scared to death," Wells said in an interview with the AJC. "He kept tasing me and tasing me. My fingernails are still burned. My leg, back and my butt had a long scar on it for days."

The officer in question is Ryan Smith of the Lumpkin Police Department. Smith was called to back up an officer from the Richland Police Department because the sheriff's office in the county, Stewart, had no deputies to send. Smith resigned as a result of the incident. The other officer involved, Tim Murphy of Richland PD, was fired for using pepper spray while trying to arrest Wells.

Wells is considering filing a lawsuit, according to her attorney.

[mackerel]

9. Obviously there is serious lack of training for most of these

officers. They are not taught how to keep cool under pressure.

[DeSwiss]

11. "...a lack of training" is just one among many other deficiencies......

...such as a lack of intelligence, a lack of empathy, a lack of humanity." And a whole lot of FEAR.

It's not new, it's just worse.....

[pattmarty]

22. Totally agree.

[The Magistrate]

12. A Damn Shame No One Shot The Son Of A Bitch, Sir

This sort of thing can only be cured by airing out the diseased brain....

[DeSwiss]

39. What is worse....

...the bastard who tasered this woman and who later quit, got himself another sheriffing job the next day. So his ass is still legally armed. But your point is well said. Because I believe that if we remain on the present trajectory and rate of devolution on the misuse of these damned tasers, others will conclude similarly as you have.

They are being used as torture devices. Period. And no one seems to give a damn.

[HillbillyBob]

42. I have been the guest of metro dade for 8 months

while very ill as in the day i finally got out I was in total solid organ shutdown.

I had a roomie who stole money for drugs, then clobbered me for saying no.
I put his ass out and said you can get your stuff and take it to your friend Larrys when you calm down.

A couple weeks later needing to get out of the apt as I was connected to an iv pump for 5 hrs a day. I had about 3 drinks over 2 hrs and former roomie was there agitating trying to pick a fight. I told Larry to take him home, and left I went into the apartment got my iv ready. I heard something in the kitchen I went out and the light came on then stars then two cops kicking me and pepper spraying me on my living room/foyer floor. Charging me with attempted murder, resisting with violence..I was having a fucking seizure after former roomie slammed me in the face with a cast aluminum pan one of those 4 5 pound ones from the 40s or 50s. He had called the cops and said I had tried to kill him.
My face was a mess, my nose was mash sideways flat, broke teeth, cracked eye socket plus I was full blown AIDS and needed to be on meds..I got 2 azt and 2 one a day womens vitamins..and green baloney sandwiches. While i was in jail the sob cleaned out bank account cashed my ss checks this was in 94 and I did not have direct deposit yet. Wrecked my car and was gone when I got out. ..I think I would have killed him. Now I have a felony record was told to stfu in court and I cannot get a passport or visa even to visit Canada. My partner and I were in Vermont and on a wild hair decided to go to Montreal for dinner..not get stopped at the border and held and questioned, why are you coming into Canada. We were on vacation and wanted to get some pictures and find a nice place to eat. They were polite, but firm. I was so embarrassed and the American border prick coming back was such an asshole. Most of my interactions with cops have mostly been bad, and I was not the one out of line..in the future do not expect any respect from so called leos.

[Heywood J]

7. The man deserves at least $10,000,000.

Partly for his troubles and partly to deter the police department from ever treating a person like that again. All officers involved should be immediately suspended without pay until the inquiry can be completed regarding criminal charges and dismissal.

[Socal31]

13. Yes, bankrupting the city/county which educates the youth will ensure that

no idiot police ever make this mistake again.

[pattmarty]

24. Well next time you go to the 7-11 I fucking hope you run into one...........

.......of the "city finest" and he kicks the shit out of you, by accident of course. Then you can come on this board and tell all of us how you are NOT suing the city because it was just an accident and you don't want to bankrupt the city.



GIMME A FUCKING BREAK!!

[Tsiyu]

32. That's why they carry insurance

and if the cops in a particular locality don't realize that their brutality is going to eventually cause that insurance to be cancelled or to become too expensive for their town - and then the town goes bankrupt - it SURE AS HELL is not the fault of the people who were brutalized.

Free market and all that dontcha know?

[Ignis]

61. Maybe the city/county will be more careful with LEO hiring/training.

[atreides1]

34. Okay

Even if he wins a the lawsuit, and it looks like he can, it doesn't teach the police anything because that money is paid by insurance that the city already has.

What needs to happen is that when police actions result in a lawsuit, the officers involved should pay a percentage of the final judgement.

[pattmarty]

36. I don't think that is workable. But, going along with your thinking.........

......I think that if a a suit is won, then the offending officer/officers should be automatically fired or indicted. That would end this nazi authoritarian bullshit.

[Heywood J]

41. "the offending officer/officers should be automatically fired or indicted."

I'm on board with that as well, once it's been proven that brutality was committed and a civil remedy is reached. There's no reason why an officer proven to have brutalized a suspect should ever keep his/her job.

[Heywood J]

40. "the officers involved should pay a percentage of the final judgement."

I'm totally on board with that - it was a given! ;)

It would teach the police department something when their insurance rates went through the roof or the money to cover it was taken from their budget. They'll have a fun time trying to justify to city managers/councilors and the public why they need budget increase because of a brutality settlement.

[Dawson Leery]

64. Giving personal liability to cops would

put a stop to these blatant violations of the constitution.

[howaboutme]

65. I agree

LEO should face personal liability as well as taxpayers. Additionally their pension fund should face liability and taxpayers should not be backstopping it. Every leo needs to balance personal risk in their operational decisions just as should corporate CEOs. It can't always be other people's money that is at risk.

The results of incompetence, training, and hiring decisions should be directly shared between individuals, the police institution and the taxpayers. Currently it is all placed on the shoulders of taxpayers who really have no decision making ability.

[Proletariatprincess]

10. Im afraid we will see more of this....

veterans returning from Iraq and Afganistan are natural recruits for law enforcement and they bring with them all the violence they learned in war. This is what they know how to do...what they have been trained to do. The subtle nuances of civil society and the law will carry very little sway on soldiers pumped up on adrenaline and taught to believe that they are the good guys and everyone else is a potential bad guy.
I can't imagine ever calling a cop to protect me....I fear for my own safety when they are around.

[HEyHEY]

16. A bit dramatic, aren't ya?

If you fear for your own safety when cops are around you need some help. There are lots of great cops out there who do a fabulous job.

[EFerrari]

17. I don't think that fear is unreasonable at all.

Guys armed to the teeth who have been increasingly militarized? In this atmosphere where our civil rights have been steadily eroded? Are you kidding?

Yeah, there are fine people in uniform. But you no have way of knowing if the individual before you is one of those fine people, do you?

I can't think of anything that would make me call the police, either.

[HEyHEY]

18. So we can't allow the terrorist to make us scared or they win, but we can be afraid of cops?

Come on, life is too short to hide under the covers. I live in a country with a massively corrupt police force. Even I'm not afraid of them. No point, deal with them when you need to.

[EFerrari]

19. Corruption is one thing. It's a lot easier to grease a palm

than it is to deal with a force that uses their weapons first and sorts it out later. There's 'way too much impunity here any more.

When did the American police start throwing people to the ground on their faces, for example? I don't think that has been widely used for very long. But all of a sudden, it's everywhere. They did that to Amy Goodman's producer at the RNC, remember? She had a press pass around her neck and a camera in her hands. You can hear her screaming in pain in the clip she managed to save.

From that kind of help, I'm not needing.

[Mopar151]

23. Dramatic?

Open your eyes - look at the next 10 cops you see. How many are wearing military haircuts? How many are wearing their uniforms in a military (or SWAT) style? Pants cuffed tight above boots, most/all insignia missing, black uniforms, nonreflective coating on guns, flashlights, cuffs.
Yes, there are a lot of good cops - but there are FAR too many who think that the public is the enemy, and must immediately to them - especially when they seem to be in the midst of a psychotic episode.

[HEyHEY]

29. live in fear then, it's not my problem

[Mopar151]

43. I ain't the one scared....

I'm a big galoot (6'7") and turned wrenches for a living 'til lately. Bikers call me "brotha" without prompting. I set short cops off like fireworks!

[izquierdista]

30. There are FEW good cops around

I would say MOST are indoctrinated to think that the public is the enemy.

[HEyHEY]

56. I disagree

I have to put myself in check because I often feel the way you do. But then when I think about how many times I've seen cops do good things and be good people I realize the bad stands out more.

[pattmarty]

25. See "Columbia Mo police video" that is going around. It isn't when....

...........you need help that I worry about (cops are usually not around in THOSE instances), it's when I DON'T need help that worries me. They should just do their fucking jobs and quit worrying about how cool they look in their shades and stupid gloves and armour. The "good" cops I have met in my 63 yrs I can fucking count on one hand. Go sell your shit somewhere else.

[EstimatedProphet]

59. I just watched that

To think I grew up in that town, and went to school there. It didn't used to be like that.

[pattmarty]

60. Hey, I'm 63 yo and the whole country "didn't used to be like that"............

.....But here we are in our very own infant police state. Seriously, I am very careful what I say on the telephone these days and I am not one for paranoia or conspiracy theories.

[Demeter]

33. Hey, buddy. How About that Toronto Gig Last Month?

That was a good example of Canada's finest in action.

[HEyHEY]

45. That was a different situation

I'm talking in day to day life.

[Exultant Democracy]

38. If you fear for your own safety when cops are around... you are probably not white

I don't see how you can make your argument considering the racial aspect of America's criminal justice system. We jail a higher percentage of our population then anyone even the Chinese, if you aren't worried about the behavior of cops in America then you are the one that needs some help, to open your eyes to the truth.

[HEyHEY]

46. Canada has had an amazing amount of police murdering people

Ian Bush, shot in the back of the head, Robert Dzeikanski tasered to death, Frank Paul hauled into an alley and frozen to death, Paul Boyd gunned down on a public street cause he was armed with a bike chain, a mentally ill man shot while brandishing a knife and surrounded by dozens of cops, a drunk tasered in a police attempt to wake him up, one guy shot eleven times by one cop (Meaning the cop had to reload).

All that in one province alone. Yet, I do not fear the police. Because I know the chances of something like this happening to me are limited. And, as a reporter, I've had my tilts with the fuzz. I've been in yelling matches with cops, defended my rights to take photos when they lie and say I can't. All this shit, yet I do not get nervous and jittery when the cops are around.

Why? Life's too short. If they fuck with me, I'll fuck with them right back. So I don't fear them.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

50. I approve of that attitude.

:thumbsup:

[HEyHEY]

53. Thanks!

I remember the one time where the guy was gunned down by the cops for having the bike chain. I asked the cop, "This man was only armed with a bike chain, why did your officers feel the need to shoot him?"

After the conference the cop pulled me aside and was saying, "Why would you ask a question like that?"

I couldn't believe it. I just said, "What did you expect me to ask?"

He walked off all pissy.

[Proletariatprincess]

62. I am a chubby little Irish Grandma and should have little to fear from the cops.

I have lots of cops in my Irish family....all but one scare the hell out of me and the good one even admits that good cops are the exception.
How much worse it is for people of color and minority groups.
Like the old song, "Lost in the rain in Juarez"
.....the cops they don't need you and, man, they expect the same.....

[Jackpine Radical]

44. In Canuckistan, maybe.

You folks still have some civilized instincts.

[Magrittes Pipe]

48. Ha ha, you live in China.

You're going to die.

[HEyHEY]

52. In China? Nah, Chinese cops are pussycats

Corrupt little pricks, but in general they are more lazy than anything.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

49. To be fair, that may vary wildly according to location, finances, albedo, accent etc. -nt

[HEyHEY]

51. Of course, but I mean in their location

[EstimatedProphet]

58. I wish it were too dramatic, but it seems less so all the time

Far too many stories lately of cops becoming abusive, especially with tasers, simply to show their authority.

[lib2DaBone]

14. The Marines at Pendelton and the L.A.P.D. are now training together..

so that they can, "Better understand Urban warfare here and abroad".

Not long until we have tanks in the streets in good 'ol USA.

[HEyHEY]

15. Happened in Canada, only in the guy's house

Knocked on the door, just jumped the guy and gave him an old school police beating, all the while not listening to him telling them he wasn't the man they wanted and they had the wrong address.

[pattmarty]

26. You better hope that Canada doesn't "copy" our health system like.........

.........(according to you) they might be copying our "police methods".

[Hubert Flottz]

20. The GESTAPO is out there terrorizing someone as I type...

An "honest mistake"? They probably thought the guy had a WMD in his sock.

[pattmarty]

21. Goddamn right he hired an attorney. I would own that fucking town...........

.......and have those motherfucking cops out sweeping dog shit off the sidewalks. Until there is some kind of accountability for cops this shit is going to keep increasing, especially in "these" times.

[Javaman]

27. Is it just me or does it seem like this is happening weekly now?

I'm waiting for the usual apologists to come out of the wood work any moment now.

[Blue_Tires]

28. off-topic, but five or six years ago,

the Mercury-News was one of about 40 major daily newspapers nationwide too good to offer me a reporting job interview...To see them and many others regularly crank out THIS type of amateurish newswriting makes me want to stab something...

[senseandsensibility]

47. They were not hiring twenty years ago when I was

a journalism grad from SJSU either. I didn't notice the bad writing, but I'll go back and read it again. I've noticed many errors in their hard copy newspaper over the years, though. The errors are often on the front page and "above the fold."

[bc3000]

31. Wait... It would have been ok if he was a drug suspect?

This is a case of abuse, not mistaken identity.

[EFerrari]

55. I know! "Sorry, we usually only suspects like this!"

[Blackhatjack]

35. The Public Fails to Understand Higher Standards For Law Enforcement Lead to Higher % Convictions

Ever since the SCOTUS began issuing opinions that give law enforcement officers a pass for egregious conduct if they use the magic words "we acted in good faith", the quality of police work has suffered, and the percentage of 'bad cases' being thrown out of court has increased.

Higher police standards lead to excellent police work, and more cases tend to be resolved with guilty pleas and plea bargains because there are fewer police errors committed in the investigation and evidence gathering and criminal procedures they follow.

Sloppy police work does the exact opposite. It results in a waste of criminal justice resources, and infringes on the Constitutional rights of citizens.

Good police officers who go directly by the book are most feared by criminals, and that is how it should be.

[HEyHEY]

54. Absolutely correct

We're in a crisis back home where the RCMP lowered their standards to make up for the loss of older cops. Now there's not a week that goes by without some kind of scandal.

By contrast, in my hometown, we have private police (Meaning the city runs its own force).
That department will not even look at an applicant without a University Degree in a field related to policing. And they won't take a candidate without security guard experience. The result is the police there are highly respected, do a great job and have only shot one suspect in the last 30 years, a man running full tilt towards and officer while brandishing a machete.

Good cops doing good police work.

[Dawson Leery]

57. This is why 'qualified immunity' is nonsense.

Make these coppers personally liable for this nonsense and it won't happen that often.

[Odin2005]

63. More piggish behavior from the pigs.

[KamaAina]

66. We just got a new DA

he barely edged out the old one, who never lifted a finger to prosecute pigs even in far more egregious cases than this, like the one where a college student was beaten while on the ground looking for his glasses, or the one where a man known to SJPD to have a history of mental illness was gunned down in his home. So this might be Jeff Rosen's first test. We'll see.