Activist Al Flowers sues Minneapolis police for alleged force used in arrest

[Valin]

MPLS (Red) Star Tribune:

Nicole Norfleet

July 9, 2015

 

Community activist Al Flowers has filed a lawsuit against Minneapolis police department and specifically two officers whom he alleges used excessive force during an arrest a year ago at his home. The lawsuit was filed in federal court Wednesday after it was moved from Hennepin County District Court.

 

Flowers was arrested July 25, 2014, after police went to check on his daughter for an electronic home-monitoring violation. According to the complaint, officers Christopher Reiter and Jon Schliesing told Flowers several times when asked during the incident that they did not have a warrant.

 

One of the officers reportedly grabbed Flowers by his throat and threw him to the ground. After Flowers was handcuffed, he was punched repeatedly and kicked by additional officers before being dragged outside and thrown inside the squad car.

 

(Snip)

 

The independent investigation has been completed and the Office of Police Conduct Review has reviewed the case as well, and no discipline has been issued in the case, said Minneapolis police spokesman Scott Seroka.

 

“My position on this case has never wavered. I fully support the actions of my officers,” Harteau said in a statement.

 

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NY Post: Even the anti-frisk NYPD monitor worries about the War on Cops

[Valin]

Why Crime Is Up in Los Angeles
The bad guys are taking risks while the good guys feel at-risk.

Jack Dunphy
July 10, 2015

 

The Los Angeles Times reported this week that crime is on the rise in the City of Angels after a 12-year decline. “Crime surged across Los Angeles in the first six months of this year,” the story begins, “despite a campaign by the Los Angeles Police Department to place more officers on the streets and target certain types of offenses.” The only mystery about L.A.’s recent crime spike is why anyone finds it a mystery.

 

Civic leaders have been at pains to explain the reversal. Mayor Eric Garcetti and Police Chief Charlie Beck have blamed a rise in gang violence and homelessness, along with voter approval in November of Proposition 47, which made many “nonviolent” felonies into misdemeanors. All of these have contributed to the increase, but conspicuously missing from their list is a factor both Mayor Garcetti and Chief Beck are surely aware of but are unlikely to address, at least publicly: officer morale in the LAPD is abysmal.

 

(Snip)

 

And not only do L.A.’s criminals face lesser penalties if they are arrested, they know that the city’s police officers are less inclined to arrest them in the first place. For the police officers’ part, they’ve seen only an increase in the risks they face. And in this I’m not referring to the risks to their mortal hides posed by some knife- or gun-wielding thug. Police officers, at least those who choose to work the streets, prepare themselves physically and mentally for these challenges. But while a police officer may keep himself physically fit and practice his marksmanship, there is no amount of training that can prepare him for the dangers that emanate from City Hall, the district attorney’s office, or the Justice Department if he should become involved in some controversial incident that has the mob calling for his head on a pike.

 

(Snip)