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Rodney King – the first famous police brutality case
This is probably the incident of police brutality that skyrocketed police brutality from something only people commonly targeted knew about into a scandal that most Americans denounced. Before Rodney King, there wasn’t much CCTV footage, punishments weren’t common, and there was little awareness among the general public. In 1991, King was tasered and beaten by LAPD officers, and the media picked up on the incident and heavily publicized it. Riots resulted, two of the four police officers were fo -
Timothy Thomas
Timothy Thomas was tragically shot and killed by a Cincinnati police officer, who followed the young man down a dark alley and opened fire because he thought Thomas had a gun. The 19-year-old man had 14 open warrants at the time of the shooting, and, according to Officer Roach, he was given verbal commands to stop running but he did not comply. When Thomas began lowering his arms without instruction, Officer Roach opened fire and shot Thomas in the heart with a single bullet. There was no gun ev -
Deaf man shot with beanbag shotguns
In 2006, a pizza man heading home after a nice evening at a nightclub in Modesto was pulled over because they thought he might have been a suspect in another incident that had just occurred downtown. The officers yelled at him in English and Spanish to get out of the car, but because the man was deaf, he did not hear these orders. Not even a minute later, they fired with beanbag shotguns, breaking the back window of the truck, hitting the man in the stomach, torso, and legs as he ducked for cove -
Sean Bell was killed by NYPD detectives
On the night of the shooting, a group of undercover officers were investigating a Queens, New York, strip club that was allegedly allowing prostitution. Bell was having his bachelor party at that club the same night. Following a confrontation that happened inside the club, one of the officers overheard Bell’s friend talk about getting his gun. In order to stop a shooting from happening, the officer confronted Bell and his friends while they were in the car and ordered them to stop. Bell started -
Oscar Grant III was fatally shot by BART Police officer
Oscar Grant III was fatally shot by BART Police officer Johannes Mehserle in Oakland, California, United States, in the early morning hours of New Year's Day 2009.[1][2] Responding to reports of a fight on a crowded Bay Area Rapid Transit train returning from San Francisco,[3] BART Police officers detained Grant and several other passengers on the platform at the Fruitvale BART Station. Officer Johannes Mehserle and another officer were restraining Grant, who was lying face down and allegedly re -
Surveillance video of Cassandra Feuerstein’s arrest
A Chicago woman is suing the Village of Skokie and one of its police officers, alleging she was seriously injured after being shoved headfirst into a concrete jail cell bench last spring. Part of the incident was recorded on a jailhouse video camera -
The shooting of Michael Brown
The incident began when Brown and Dorian Johnson were walking down the middle of the street when Wilson drove up and ordered them to move to the sidewalk. Brown and Wilson struggled through the window of the police car until Wilson's gun was fired, either intentionally or as a result of the struggle. Brown and Johnson then fled in different directions, with Wilson in pursuit of Brown. Wilson shot Brown six times, killing him. Witness reports differ as to whether and when Brown had his hands rais
