DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Palus Politicus Jury awards $4 to family of black man killed by sheriff’s deputies in Fla.

Problem is that from the video, this guy does not appear to be a 23 year old kid in his first altercation.. how many times has he done this before when there wasn't a camera around? How many of his fellow officers failed to say anything about those incidents?

I guess we will have to wait and see how this turns out since it just happened a couple days ago... the officers have been placed on the obligatory "administrative leave" pending an investigation... Hopefully I can remember to track the beating of Kevin Straw to see if anybody is fired or if charges are filed...

I was talking in general not about this particualr case when i was reffering to not knowing how your going to react ... i was talking about shootings not what this appears to be ...

I’m not sure how these guys could be cleared on this one ... but u never know ...

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If they ARE cleared, I'm sure the rationale will be very um- 'creative'...

And I was taking your general statement and applying it to this incident.... and I was talking about all excessive force events, not just shootings.


Well, we've already been told that if the investigation determines no charges need to be filed or if they are filed and a jury finds them not guilty.. then they must not have done anything wrong... because the system couldn't possibly be wrong.

This is a great point DC.

The guy punching, that has nothing to do with training. That is a sick headed individual - no training short of electro shock therapy is going to fix that.

5 bad cops out of a million are 5 too many, do you not agree?

I call it like I see it. you realize you sound like your making the excuse "well the majority of police are good, so the bad ones are just a side effect and its ok?"

I’m not sure who told u the system couldn’t possibly be wrong .... it certainly wasn’t me ....

Just wanted to make sure i was clear on that ... you’ve all ready made it perfectly clear u have no problem putting words in my mouth ...

Well that would be the fact that he sees this as something that's only happened one time, in one place. We both know that's incorrect.

I think that a little logic would go a long way for a lot of people. In every profession you have good and bad, no matter what profession you're dealing with. All people are human and as such the human element exists everywhere in our society.

To try to pretend that one profession is exempt from that, that there are very few isolated incidents like this that exist, to me is avoiding the obvious which would mean that's just not the case.

I do believe that by and large most cops are good and have the best of intentions. But a bigger question I think we must ask is this...... If you're not the cop doing the beating, are you just as guilty by not trying to stop it or refusing to report it? Because IMO, that may be the bigger issue here.

Agreed. a small % of cops are bad, but 100% of the cops in that video look to be....

Rogue Baltimore police unit ringleader Wayne Jenkins sentenced

By Jessica Lussenhop BBC News, Baltimore

28 minutes ago

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44402948

Ex-police sergeant Wayne Earl Jenkins apologised in court for the crimes he committed while heading an elite squad called the Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF).

"I'm wrong, God knows I'm wrong," the 37-year-old said. "I'm so sorry to the citizens of Baltimore."

He was arrested along with almost every member of the unit in March 2017.

When cops become robbers: Read the full story of Baltimore's Gun Trace Task Force

Jenkins must serve three years of supervised release after his custodial sentence.

He was convicted on multiple counts including racketeering, robbery and falsification of records.

Jenkins pleaded guilty in January and admitted taking part in at least 10 robberies of Baltimore citizens, planting drugs on innocent people and re-selling drugs he stole from suspects on an almost daily basis, including heroin, cocaine and prescription painkillers.

He walked into the court wearing a maroon prison uniform. It was his first public appearance since he was arrested along with six other officers last year.

Prosecutors urged the judge to sentence him to the maximum 30 years, adding that the unit's corruption resulted in 1,700 criminal cases being thrown out.

"The largest share of the blame, the largest share of those crimes belongs to him," US attorney Leo Wise told the court.

"He perverted the criminal justice system."

The GTTF was made up of eight officers, all but one of whom were indicted.

Detectives Maurice Ward, Evodio Hendrix, Momodu Gondo and Jemell Rayam all pleaded guilty.

Detectives Daniel Hersl and Marcus Taylor went forward to trial and a jury found them guilty of robbery, extortion and fraud in February.

A former member of the unit, Sergeant Thomas Allers, also pleaded guilty.

Although the indicted officers committed many robberies individually before joining the Gun Trace Task Force, prosecutors charge that they grew bolder and more prolific after Jenkins took over the unit in June 2016.

According to testimony from Ward and Hendrix, Jenkins played an outsized role in the schemes.

They said he prepared an arsenal of weapons and tools to begin carrying out burglaries.

The jury was shown axes, machetes and pry bars, as well as black masks that were found in Jenkins' van after his arrest.

Prosecutors pointed to the fact that Jenkins fabricated evidence, like producing a bogus iPhone video of his officers cracking a drug dealer's safe, when they had in fact already broken into it and stolen $200,000 in cash.

"It shows what a committed, sophisticated, devious person can do," Mr Wise said. "What chance do we have when you have people like Jenkins and his co-defendants fabricating evidence?"

The daughters of 86-year-old Elbert Davis also told the court about the 2010 car crash Jenkins caused while he was pursuing a man named Umar Burley.

Burley's vehicle struck another, killing Mr Davis.

In his plea deal, Jenkins admitted he planted heroin on Burley to try to justify the fatal collision.

Burley was sentenced to 15 years in prison, which he was serving until federal prosecutors uncovered the task force's corruption and freed him.

"He is no more than a common criminal," Davis' daughter, Shirley, said of Jenkins.

"My dad would be alive today would it not be for his actions that day. We'll never be the same again."

The courtroom was also packed with Jenkins' family and friends.

Although she did not address the court, in a letter to Judge Catherine Blake, Jenkins' wife Kristy asked for leniency.

"This is not the man I know," she wrote. "Wayne is truly sorry for his actions. He is very remorseful."

Jenkins' lawyer mentioned that he has been a target in prison, and has been assaulted at least once by another inmate who was targeting him for being a former police officer.

When Jenkins was allowed to speak, he turned first to face the Davis family and apologised repeatedly.

"I'm so sorry for what you're going through. I wish I would never have stopped that vehicle," he said.

He also apologised to Burley, who was not in the court, to his wife and to his father, and begged the judge for the opportunity to get out in time to be a grandfather.

"I've tarnished the badge," he said through tears. "I deserve to be punished. I deserve to go to jail."

Judge Blake ultimately decided to sentence him to 25 years, saying she was taking into consideration the fact that he pleaded guilty and co-operated to some extent with the prosecutors.

"This was a great abuse of the public trust," said Judge Blake. "It strikes at the foundation of our entire criminal justice system."

Jenkins winced as the handcuffs were placed on his wrists, and US Marshals led him out of a back door of the courtroom.

Detective Marcus Taylor is scheduled to be sentenced later on Thursday.

Detectives Evodio Hendrix and Maurice Ward will be sentenced on Friday.

But the saga is far from over.

In January, Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh fired her police commissioner and replaced him with former Deputy Commissioner Darryl De Sousa, who promised sweeping reforms to the department.

Last month, Mr De Sousa was indicted for failure to pay his taxes by the same prosecutors who brought the GTTF case.

He resigned and the top spot at the Baltimore Police Department remains vacant.

The FBI investigation remains open.

and just imagine how many more cops have gotten away with those very things throughout history.

YES, Five too many! I have NO problem with these guys being fired/disciplined. My point is not all cops are bad as you have strongly inferred.

First, in every group of people there are good and bad people. Good priests and bad priests. Good lawyers and bad ones. Good cops and bad ones. This is symptom of people who aren't perfect. So, statistically, yes, there are going to be bad cops.

Second, I fully support those who abuse their powers to get the book thrown at them by the justice system. But you're 'These Thugs' is such an unfair characterization it isn't funny, it's just misleading, inaccurate and an inexcusably false statement.

My only problem with the video of the guy getting punched by the cop is that it seems a bit staged. It's almost like the victim baited them into doing it where he knew a camera would be rolling. I mean even while he is getting hit like that he is very loudly saying things you know are meant to be said to get the cops in trouble.

Don't get me wrong what the cops did was wrong and I don't condone it at all. It just seems forced or contrived like a set up.

No idea what happened before or the actual facts, but I kind of thought he might be a really smart liberal guy who was high off his butt. Just my first impression, nothing at all to back it up.

So I have no real opinion on the cops actions because I have no clue what he did before the video started and they were already surrounding him. He had a couple of knives and might have brandished one, who knows.

I'm sure it's going on right now in more places than we would all care to admit... which only reinforces my other statement that if cops aren't going to watch either other and call foul when they see it, then how is the system ever going to work?

Don't disagree with you but society has forced this. There is an extreme defence of one side over the other which makes the accused side MORE defensive rather than transparent.

YES, his compadres in this video should have spoken up!!!!

I read in another post, maybe this one, that lawsuits should be able to go after pensions. Maybe this accountability is a good measure?

This issue about sides over truth is the downfall and will be the downfall of our country.

The loudest seem to always have their respective agenda then the average seem to be caught in the middle. When I grew up (I'm 40), I felt (and maybe mis-perceived) that the middle drove the narrative while the loudest sat on the outside. Seems somehow to have turned.

Amen brother... we were having a conversation about this last weekend at church.. you are exactly right. The problem is the loudest 10% on each side shout at each other and the 80% in the middle just go silent because they aren't going to fight to be heard and don't want to get down in the mud and fight with the tactics of the extreme...

The only thing that can get us back on the right track is for the rational people to start to speak up.

But the middle can't be the loudest because they aren't the most desperate.

Really hope the middle gets the voice and the extremes go away or become muted somehow.

I agree with both of U while at the same time wonder if it wasn’t 60 million voters from the “middle” that didn’t just elect Mr. President ... it wasn’t just 60 million racists voting for him ...

How so? I didn't say these thugs as in all police, I said these thugs as in the police in the video. I am confused. So now we cant call thugs thugs?

Here is where I disagree. Lets say he had a knife, ok. Hit him, get him down, get on top, disarm, cuff. Over. No issue. To continue to hit someone when they are ABSOLUTELY detained already, and helpless, with 5 guys on top of him....there is no excuse. Don't matter what he did before. He was detained, and not of any more harm.

I can tell you for certain right in our own city this type of stuff has went on . Like I have said , my ex father in law was a 30 year vet of Cleveland PD.My sis in law was a dispatcher and her husband was Cleveland PD. My first wife had 4 dudes she called uncle that were no relation to her except for serving on the force with her father. I had to go to a lot of cop cookouts, retirement parties, graduations etc., and I sat and listened to all the stories.

This story may be an extreme case, but it doesnt really surprise me, especially in a city like Baltimore

I don't know what percentage of that 60 million are just card carrying racists, but there are some.. That 60 million is made up of a wide variety of people.. some are just angry racists.. some are just pure capitalists who care about nothing but making money and not paying taxes and to hell with everybody else.. some are reasonable right leaning people who viewed Trump as the lesser of two evils.. some are reasonable right leaning people who thought Trump would calm down on the rhetoric if elected.. maybe even some left leaning folks who didn't like Hillary and thought Trump would not bow to the hardcore right base if elected and would govern based on a lifetime of more liberal social stances he has taken... I'm probably missing some...

I'd say you got enough of them to paint a pretty clear picture.