Crime reporting

by

Ousted chief accuses border agency of shooting cover-ups, corruption

 

 

James F. Tomsheck, seen in 2009, was chief of internal affairs with U.S. Customs and Border Protection for eight years. He was removed in June.


Credit: Alex Brandon/Associated Press

 

More than two dozen people have died in violent clashes with U.S. Customs and Border Protection since 2010. Despite public outrage over some of the killings, no agent or officer has faced criminal charges – or public reprimand – to date.

Yet at least a quarter of the 28 deaths were “highly suspect,” said James F. Tomsheck, the agency’s recently removed head of internal affairs. In a sweeping and unauthorized interview with The Center for Investigative Reporting, he said the deaths raised serious questions about whether the use of lethal force was appropriate.

Instead, Tomsheck said, Border Patrol officials have consistently tried to change or distort facts to make fatal shootings by agents appear to be “a good shoot” and cover up any wrongdoing.

“In nearly every instance, there was an effort by Border Patrol leadership to make a case to justify the shooting versus doing a genuine, appropriate review of the information and the facts at hand,” he said.

Those comments and others represent the most scathing public criticism ever lodged against Customs and Border Protection from a high-ranking official at the nation’s largest law enforcement agency. Although Tomsheck was removed from the internal affairs office, he is assigned to the Border Patrol as its executive director for national programs.

 

Source: beta.cironline.org

by

Witness To Michael Brown’s Shooting Opens Up: He Was ‘Shot Like An Animal’ [VIDEO]

 

Just days before he was supposed to head to college, 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot by a police officer in his hometown of Ferguson, Missouri.

 

– Click through for more –

 

Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

by

Witness to shooting of unarmed Michael Brown speaks [VIDEO]

Friend was with unarmed Michael Brown when the 18-year-old was fatally shot multiple times by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri
– Click through for video –
Source: www.cbc.ca

by

NC parents charged after infant dies in hot car

STATESVILLE, N.C. — The parents of a 4-week-old child that died after being left in a hot car are now facing charges, according to the Statesville Police Department. WSOC-TV reported that the famil…

Source: myfox8.com

 

This is how the US criminal justice system works. If you are black you are assumed guilty – as if they did this on purpose. It’s bad enough that they lost their baby, now their other children have been taken away.

 

When you hear that laws are made to oppress, here is the example. How often do white people lose their other children when they accidentally leave their newborn in the car?

 

PS – Why does WSOC-TV use the word ‘its’ in the first paragraph when they should have used the word ‘they’???

“…the family returned to its home…”

 

– CLICK THROUGH TO CHECK IT –

  and [VIDEO]

 

by

Lives in limbo: A guide to who’s waiting for immigration reform

 

Immigration policy is leading to broken families, children in crisis and border deaths.

 

Since border security has increased, deaths of (im)migrants and refugees has escalated.

 

The data: This year, an average of 31,410 captives were held daily in U.S. detention facilities. In 2012, 478,000 foreign nationals were detained — an all-time high. Officially, 2013 saw the second-highest number of migrant remains found on the U.S.-Mexico border.

 

Click through to read more.

 

Source: www.washingtonpost.com

by

Border Agency Chief Opens Up About Deadly Force Cases

Gil Kerlikowske, head of Customs and Border Protection, tells NPR that he is reviewing scores of incidents. “We need to be better at admitting when we’re wrong or where we’ve made a mistake,” he says.

Source: www.npr.org

by

Autopsy Report Alleges Clayton Lockett Execution Doomed By Staff Error

See on Scoop.it – Community Village Daily

 

Comments by an attorney from the Death Penalty Clinic at the U.C. Berkeley School of Law lay out the details of the team’s handling of the execution, which led to the heart attack that eventually killed him:

“The improper placement of the IV used in Mr. Lockett’s execution is just one factor that caused his prolonged and painful death,” said Megan McCracken, an attorney with the Death Penalty Clinic at U.C. Berkeley School of Law. “The three-drug protocol that was used exacerbated the pain and suffering that Mr. Lockett faced by needlessly paralyzing him and subjecting him to the pain of potassium chloride. Moreover, the state had no plan for contingencies in the event that the execution did not go as planned, as clearly happened here.”

There are also concerns of how properly trained personnel were regarding the execution. The Department of Corrections timeline revealed that the IV was applied by a phlebotomist and later confirmed by the state. When a local news outlet questioned the matter, the state reversed their statement and said that an unnamed EMT was the person to apply the femoral vein IV. According to the state’s execution protocol, a physician should have set the IV, and not a phlebotomist.

 

Click through to read more.

 

 

Community Village‘s insight:

 

I thought that physicians took the Hippocratic Oath and were not allowed to harm people?

 

@getgln

See on thoughtprovokingperspectives.wordpress.com

by

Border agency ousts head of internal affairs, will investigate unit

 

The head of internal affairs for U.S. Customs and Border Protection was removed from his post Monday amid criticism that he failed to investigate hundreds of allegations of abuse and use of force by armed border agents, officials said.

 
See on www.latimes.com

by

At Last, US Border Agency Releases Critical Report of Deadly Force Practices

See on Scoop.it – Community Village Daily

 

“…some agents had intentionally stepped in front of moving vehicles to justify shooting at them. Other agents appeared to have fired their weapons at rock-throwers, when simply moving away from the projectiles was an option.”

 
See on www.thenation.com