Police
Appeal alleges Harassment, Intimidation and Torture by Denver police in '05 Arrest
Submitted by Anonymous on November 24, 2009 - 1:24amIt seems that the only thing Cecil Bynum and the police agree about is that after he was arrested for a small amount of 'crack' cocaine on Colfax Avenue in Denver (in January of '05) his thumb had to be amputated.
Bynum, now 40 years old and serving a 24-year sentence as a habitual offendor, was a passenger in a car pulled over by Denver police, who arrested him on an outstanding warrant for failure to appear in court on a summons for trespassing. Police allege that during the course of that arrest, Bynum gagged while trying to swallow a piece of "crack" cocaine that resulted in his being sentenced to 24 years in prison. They deny any knowledge of, or responsibility for, the fact that 2 days later his thumb, badly mutilated and by then seriously infected with staph, had to be amputated.
Predictably perhaps, Bynum, whose case is now on appeal, tells a different story. According to Bynum, who was last released from prison in 2004 and has an extensive record of drug-related offenses, police had had seized his ID and social security card after detaining him in early 2004 as a suspected drug dealer. Despite the fact that no drugs were found on Bynum, who insists he was working as a day laborer through a temporary service at the time, police refused to return his identification. As a result, Bynum says that the same officer who seized his ID and social security card then singled him out for harassment, intimidation and persecution, citing him no less than 3 subsequent occasions for "trespassing" for not having his ID after he was stopped and searched. When Bynum attempted to retrieve his ID from police however, he alleges that he was told the documents were the subject of a "personal hold" placed on them by Officer Heart, the same officer responsible for both confiscating the documents, and for repeatedly citing Bynum for not having them.
Grand Junction Police's Spanish-English Phrase Book
Submitted by Anonymous on October 27, 2009 - 10:43pmEDITOR’S NOTE—This document recently fell in our laps. It’s the Spanish-English phrase book for Grand Junction’s finest. Notice there is nothing about rights translated. Its also insightful on how the police view their interactions with the community both hispanic and otherwise.
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- 5 points
Grand Junction Police- more selective enforcement!
Submitted by Anonymous on October 21, 2009 - 4:29pmSteven Kilcrease a local activist was arrested during critical mass and his board was confiscated for over 3 months.
On october 13th 2009 he was sentenced to 10 days in work release (road crew) and over 1,100 dollars in fines. This is what petty skating where prohibited and petty disregarding police charges get you in Backwards Grand Junction Colorado? No! Others with the same charges walked away with fines, and nothing else. Steven kilcrease has been targeted by the GJPD because if his affiliation with and participation in local grass roots organizing activities. The Grand Junction Police department needs to LAYOFF of grand junction activists. WE (A)RE TIRED OF YOUR BULLSHIT GJPD!
Demand Public Hearings and Oversight of the Grand Junction Police
Submitted by Anonymous on October 15, 2009 - 2:05pmThe Police here in Grand Junction have for a long time been able to do whatever they want with little or no oversight by the community. Skateboarders, Latinos, poor people, and political activists have long known that the police have grudges they settle with force or through the justice system.
Recent arrests and firings of two GJPD officers for beating a woman and raping a woman, Coutrney Crooks and Glenn Coyne, respectively, is just the tip of the iceberg.
Former Police Chief Bill Gardner resigned this fall, because of another case that was successfully kept off the pages of the newspapers. It involved nine GJPD officers beating a woman in her own house, and then charging her with felony assault on an officer, she threatened to sue the PD and an agreement was reached which dropped the lawsuit and the chargers. The victim is still too traumatized by the incident, she just wants to put it behind her, but we as citizens need to know what happened in that incident.
The GJPD is notoriously secretive and non-transparent. Multiple open records request have been denied, or simply ignored. The process for people to make complaints about the department is not open or accessible. No hotline, No form, No advocate outside of the Police Department. To make a complaint you have to go to the station and into a locked corridor and into a locked room and make a complaint to an uniformed officer.
The Police also have a long history of selectively enforcing petty laws against the poor and homeless of this town. Smoking in the Park Tickets are only issued to homeless people. Forty-nine percent of ‘walking-violations’ are issued to homeless people. While houseless people represent maybe two percent of the city’s population.
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- 5 points
Denver Pig Gets Let Off The Hook On Assault Charge!!
Submitted by Anonymous on September 22, 2009 - 2:45pmDENVER - A jury of three men and three women reached a verdict on the fate of a Denver Police officer who was videotaped slamming a man's head into the ground during an arrest outside of Coors Field last year on the Opening Day of the Colorado Rockies.
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Cpl. Michael Cordova was found not guilty of the third-degree misdemeanor. Cordova, who was hired in 2001, will be able to continue working in law enforcement.
John Heaney, who was riding his bike past Coors Field on the way to see his mother in a nearby hospice, claims the under officers taunted and challenged him. Not knowing they were cops, Heaney says he tipped off Cordova's hat. After that, the 58-year-old man claims the officers pulled him off his bike, kicked, punched and beat him.
When he was lying on his stomach about to be handcuffed, video shows Cordova pulling Heaney's head up with his ponytail, then slamming his face into the ground.
The arrest was caught on videotape by a local sports production crew.
The jury began deliberating around 11 a.m. Tuesday morning, after hearing closing arguments. Cpl. Cordova did not take the stand in his own defense.
"We feel like we established enough facts to prove our case," Cordova's defense attorney Marc Colin said.
During the trial, Colin argued to jurors that the sound on the videotape and that witnesses say they heard was not the sound of Heaney's two front teeth breaking on the cement, but rather it was the sound of a baseball hitting a bat during batting practice outside of Coors Field.
The defense also called expert witnesses who said it looked like Heaney was resisting arrest on the videotape, and as a result, Cordova and other police officers were legally authorized to use force to take Heaney into custody.
"Cordova acted within the duties of a police officer and within the scope of his training," Colin told jurors.
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Grand Junction Police Caught Spying
Submitted by Anonymous on July 22, 2009 - 5:53pmMembers of Housing First! No More Deaths! were able to confirm that two undercover Grand Junction police officers had joined their organization. The two undercover officers participated in meetings, trainings, and had signed the membership list joining the organization. HF! NMD!
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- 6 points
Pigs on a Rampage in Denver Area
Submitted by Anonymous on June 1, 2009 - 8:20pmby the Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist Movement- Denver
http://raimd.wordpress.com
Over the past few months three men have been shot by the police in the Denver Metro area. The events behind the multiple shootings are sketchy.
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- 2 points
Athens: A Greek Tragedy or Perhaps Not and the Killing by Police of a Young Oakland Father By: Phillip Reynes
Submitted by phil on March 17, 2009 - 2:37amWe have seen the pictures. The fire and the rain of Molotov cocktails in the night (see the pictures at the end of the article). Police and protesters battle each other on the streets of Athens while the Greek national Christmas tree burns like a beckon of discontent at the peoples anger at capitalism and the state.
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Recreate 68 collecting pre-lawsuit information, photos, videos
Submitted by richardmyers on September 8, 2008 - 8:19pmFrom: info@recreate68.org
Subject: E-News Flash, Please read ASAP!
Date: Mon, 08 Sep 2008 23:25:22 +0000
Two important announcements:
1. Meeting to plan post convention party and other agenda items
2. Lawsuit information and request for assistance
1. R-68 will be hosting a short meeting to plan a post cenvention party for radicals in addition to checking in on how the community is doing and what our next steps will be to continue the momentum created during the DNC.
Post columnist notes accusation against protesters unfounded
Submitted by richardmyers on September 8, 2008 - 11:21amThe innuendo and slander against protesters have been piled deep as the trash left by the Dems at Invesco. To date, few of the lies have been publicly challenged. There are a few exceptions, however; Denver Post Columnist Susan Greene has attempted to set the record straight concerning one false accusation. She also comments about the police state impression left on a youngster visiting Denver during the DNC.
[excerpt] "[Denver Police spokesman Sonny] Jackson — the man paid to provide accurate information — told me Tuesday that officers were getting 'spit on' by protesters. Three days later he acknowledged he 'couldn't verify' any spit 'for certain.'
"'It may have been just a rumor,' he admits."
Follow link for Greene's column:


