Your Monday Morning Bummer

Radley Balko | March 17, 2008

A roundup of criminal justice abuses from recent headlines...

• Albany woman stopped for what appears to be no reason, then subjected to a drug search with no apparent probable cause (she says they told her "you're a white woman driving a rental car," and "you fit the profile"). During the public search, she says one officer inserted two fingers into her vagina. The offending officers have yet to be disciplined. And during the investigation, an internal affairs officer tells the woman not to take her complaint to the civilian review board, and to let the department handle things "internally." Now, others are coming forward with similar stories.

• The OC Weekly follows up on an absolutely outrageous case in which a carjacking suspect took a plea under a direct threat from the trial judge that he'd put the man in prison for life if he continued to maintain his innocence and was still convicted. This, after DNA evidence excluded the man. The crime lab expert says when she showed the test results to the prosecutor, she said she "didn't care" about the findings, "I want him not excluded." More disturbingly, she added, “About every week, we ask the crime lab to reconsider findings. Sometimes, they make changes.” The suspect was later exonerated when the crime lab was able to match the DNA to a career criminal.

• A bailiff in Arkansas mistakenly locked a woman in a holding cell over a four-day weekend without food, water, or a toilet. She drank her own urine to prevent dying of thirst. He'll get to keep his job.

• The latest way to show you're "getting tough" on drunk driving: Forcibly shove a catheter into the penis of a DWI suspect.

• Another isolated incident.

• Finally, just so this post isn't too much of a bummer, here's one of the more entertaining police blotter blurbs I've seen in awhile.

Comments

Elemenope|3.17.08 @ 8:15AM|#

I woke up like *ten minutes ago* and my day is already ruined.

Fuck you, Balko...

...um, good work. :)

|3.17.08 @ 8:17AM|#

• The latest way to show you're "getting tough" on drunk driving: Forcibly shove a catheter into the penis of a DWI suspect.

I think this is the worst thing I've ever heard.

|3.17.08 @ 8:31AM|#

"I think this is the worst thing I've ever heard."

Sexist. What about the poor girl who suffered the two digit lip spreader?

|3.17.08 @ 8:37AM|#

Sexist. What about the poor girl who suffered the two digit lip spreader?

That was the worst thing I'd ever heard also, but that was when the story broke back on March 2nd. Besides, I can relate to a catheter...

Episiarch|3.17.08 @ 8:40AM|#

Yeah, Radley, that "weird" blotter sure made up for the rest. (sarcasm)

Look, if you're going to try to cushion the blow, do it with some good news, not goofy news.

|3.17.08 @ 8:40AM|#

stopped for what appears to be no reason, then subjected to a drug search with no apparent probable cause (she says they told her "you're a white woman driving a rental car," and "you fit the profile").

There is something fishy about this story, but I can't quite put my finger on it... Oh yeah, now I see it. A profile of "white" women. That is total bull. We all know that only brown people are profiled.

Suzanne|3.17.08 @ 8:43AM|#

I like fingers inside of mine. I might feel bad but it wouldn't physically hurt. I can't imagine the catheter

Taktix®|3.17.08 @ 8:53AM|#

Look, if you're going to try to cushion the blow, do it with some good news,

And they're supposed to find this where exactly?

Episiarch|3.17.08 @ 8:55AM|#

"you fit the profile"

Example of police profiles:

The suspect is...black
The suspect is male, hispanic
The suspect is a white female, mid-twenties to mid thirties
The suspect is anyone we feel like stopping and harrassing

The last one is the real one.

|3.17.08 @ 9:09AM|#

Well, I'm sorry the dog died, but it wasn't my fault, because I've fed those mushrooms to my own dog plenty of times, and he loves them! I guess it was some sort of rare allergic reaction.

Rev Jeremiah Wright|3.17.08 @ 9:12AM|#

"During the public search, she says one officer inserted two fingers into her vagina. "

The white ho had it coming!

|3.17.08 @ 9:13AM|#

And the local libertarian groups in these towns and states are raising hell right?

Yahoo Answerer|3.17.08 @ 9:19AM|#

Was the 38 year old Cole Avenue man also eating mushrooms?

|3.17.08 @ 9:27AM|#

I like fingers inside of mine. I might feel bad but it wouldn't physically hurt. I can't imagine the catheter

I like fingers.
Inside of me, I might feel.
Bad? But it wouldn't.


Physically hurt
I cannot imagine the
Catheter pain hurt.

|3.17.08 @ 9:30AM|#

"About every week, we ask the crime lab to reconsider findings. Sometimes, they make changes."

Sorry, what? Are you fucking kidding me?

|3.17.08 @ 9:44AM|#

Oy! I agree with the first comment. What a thing to find first thing on a Monday. Kryste this is so depressing I might have to crawl back in bed and hide under the covers.

Keep it up Radley, you're doing a greater service for your country than anyone since Mencken.

Russ 2000|3.17.08 @ 9:51AM|#

He'll get to keep his job.

I'm fine with that, as long as he first gets locked in a cell for 4 days without a toilet, food, nor water.

Taktix®|3.17.08 @ 10:05AM|#

I'm fine with that, as long as he first gets locked in a cell for 4 days without a toilet, food, nor water.

Russ, don't be foolish. People who belong to the the Safety Caste are not subject to such action. Only those of us in the Serf Caste are eligible for such lovely treatment.

You know, I watched the first two episodes of John Addams last night, and I almost wept, for we have taken a gift from those people and...

I can't even conjure the words to describe how terribly we've mangled this republic.

LarryA|3.17.08 @ 10:05AM|#

There is something fishy about this story, but I can't quite put my finger on it...

Perhaps because they left one word out of the profile and added several as a distraction. "a white woman driving a rental car" should be "a cute white woman driving a rental car."

Actually it was the cop who put his finger on it.

A female officer was called to the scene and informed Shutter she was there to search her body, Shutter said. The female officer patted her down, lifted Shutter's sweater and felt along her bra strap, and made Shutter open her mouth and lift her tongue.

After the male cop sticks his finger in her. Sensitivity in action.

When it was over, "I pulled off down the road and I just cried for probably a half hour," Shutter said. "I called my dad. ... I felt like I had been basically raped."

I don't know about New York, but under Texas law this is sexual assault. Given they were cops, and therefore armed, I'd go for aggravated sexual assault. If the father had hunted down the cops, I'd vote for acquittal.

PS, The link in the Reason story brings up the second page of this article.

Taktix®|3.17.08 @ 10:14AM|#

If the father had hunted down the cops, I'd vote for acquittal.

If the father didn't hunt them down, I'd press charge for child negligence. I miss my pre-Reason day, when I was oblivious to all this...

|3.17.08 @ 10:15AM|#

Taktix®,

I liked John Adams too, but I spent most of the time wondering if HBO would have the balls to make a lavish mini-series about the Whiskey-Tax Rebellion and watch all the same characters piss away their convictions.

Elemenope|3.17.08 @ 10:17AM|#

You know, I watched the first two episodes of John Addams [sic] last night, and I almost wept, for we have taken a gift from those people and...

Even *John Adams* shat all over the "gift" when he was in power with the Alien and Sedition Acts. Just goes to show: nobody can be trusted. Nobody.

And also, what saccharine said.

|3.17.08 @ 10:18AM|#

Why should Balko have all the fun? Part one: How to wreck a boy's life.

If you can stomach it, the videotaped interrogation of a 13 year old boy with Asperger's syndrome.

robc|3.17.08 @ 10:25AM|#

Despite the A&S Acts, Adams is still my favorite of the FFs. Just an interesting guy. And he got to say "I told you so" to Jefferson over the French Revolution.

How is the HBO show? I know longer get HBO, was wondering if it would be worth buying the DVDs that I assume will be soon coming out.

Taktix®|3.17.08 @ 10:25AM|#

Even *John Adams* shat all over the "gift" when he was in power with the Alien and Sedition Acts.

For clarification, it was not Addams that concerned me, but the ideas they had pre-revolution, and the opportunity they had to make a new, free world, and how we and they have shat upon it.

If HBO wasn't so, well, progressive (see: Ingrid Newkirk: I am an Animal), they would have based the show around Thomas Jefferson.

But I'll take what I can get, I suppose...

Ramsey|3.17.08 @ 10:36AM|#

You guys suck. Here it is spring break, I have been working 12s all weekend in the lab, and you bastards have to bring this stuff up.

Worst offense: 30 day suspension for torturing a suspect. If I did that to someone consensually, with a signed statement, and the DA found out they would charge me with something. The whole freaking chain of custody involved with that prisoner should be fined, fired and jailed. Now the taxpayers are going to be out millions and the shit-stains responsible don't even get fired.

The most troubling for liberty: The drunk driver catheter. How is this any different than torturing a confession out of someone?

I am going to take a break from the bad news, ignorance, bliss, all that garbage.

Suzanne: Thanks, your comment really helped ease the anger.

|3.17.08 @ 10:39AM|#

During the public search, she says one officer inserted two fingers into her vagina.

That's a shocker.

Well, almost.

|3.17.08 @ 10:45AM|#

I don't know about New York, but under Texas law this is sexual assault.

It's definitely assault in NY; just sticking your finger in someone's ear is assault according to state law. But as you may have noticed, most of the things that are illegal for lowly civilians are promotion material for LEOs.

|3.17.08 @ 11:16AM|#

As if Monday Mornings weren't bad enough!



Threadjack: It's St. Patrick's Day and I'm wearing orange as my way of observing it.

Dave W.|3.17.08 @ 11:20AM|#

More bad Monday news. Probably innocent accused cop killer Troy Davis denied a new trial today, despite many recanting witnesses:

http://www.wtvm.com/Global/story.asp?S=8026193&nav=menu91_2

Rhywun|3.17.08 @ 11:25AM|#

Corruption in Albany? Unbelievable.

Taktix®|3.17.08 @ 12:15PM|#

It's St. Patrick's Day and I'm wearing orange as my way of observing it.

Aresen,

I hope you spill your protestant-swill Bushmill's all over that faggy orange shirt.

(Happy St. Patty's)

|3.17.08 @ 12:24PM|#

"The most troubling for liberty: The drunk driver catheter. How is this any different than torturing a confession out of someone?"

Kind of like telling a highly qualified job applicant, you can have this job that you really need, but you're going to have to pee in this here cup.

Oh, by the way you will be automatically disregarded if you smoked a cannabis cigarette the weekend before the job offer.

/latest hotness for your genetic material, testing for genetic anomalies, so you can be denied insurance coverage or jobs because you have a "risk" or predisposition for a disease / behavior.

//keep pissing away your rights and all you'll have left is an empty bladder, an empty wallet and less liberty than the average Russian during the 1930's.

|3.17.08 @ 12:40PM|#

J sub D - Jeezus, the videos are horrifying... I'm disgusted by the saccharine "I'm tryin' ta' help ya" bullshit coming from Brousseau and my god, the child's composure and eloquence is astonishing.

To deliberately destroy a child's confidence in his parents is an unforgivable sin.

|3.17.08 @ 12:53PM|#

...civilian review board...

...

Every time I hear that, I want to scream, "hey, asshole, my beef is with a cop not someone in the Army, Navy, Air Force or Marines!!"

Guy Montag|3.17.08 @ 1:04PM|#

The Albany Woman situation has been around for a while.

2600 Magazine brought several of those stories to their reader comments pages around 1995/96 and it was discussed on WBAI's Off the Hook (the 2600 weekly radio show) around that time too.

The story, at the time, was that drug dealers were coopting attractive, mostly white, women into transporting contraband across the USA and the police based a profile on several that had been caught nationally and internationally.

Actually, the 2600 story was that white women traveling alone were being pulled over and searched, 2600 was getting quite a few letters from them.

Not too long after the 2600 story (maybe a couple of years?) MSM had some stories of women meeting the same general description being "tricked" into transporting illegal drugs with the story that they were illegally tramsporting gold or otherwise legal items.

Wish I could remember more details, but others might and it could make a good story to look into, especially since it has gone on for quite a while.

The Wine Commonsewer|3.17.08 @ 1:11PM|#

J Sub, after reading the article there is no way in hell I'm watching the video.

With respect to the catheter let me go on record here and state clearly that I believe that mandatory fingerprinting upon arrest is unconstitutional. Guess how I feel about Breathalyzers and mandatory DNA swabs?

|3.17.08 @ 1:36PM|#

TWC, Bronwyn -

One nice thing about H&R, there is always an appropriate thread to post the local horror stories. Facilitated communication has been falsified for more than a decade. Let's use it to destroy a family that is already been dealt a shitty hand.

I'm from the government, and I'm here to help.

|3.17.08 @ 2:15PM|#

Taktix

I come from a long line of Orangemen, but as an atheist, I wouldn't give a damn about St. Patrick's Day if it weren't for all of the obnoxious "Wearin' o' the Green" crap that goes on.

St. George's Day (Patron Saint of Horsemen) I observe by going for a ride. Nothing to do with Blighty or any one of the dozen other places which claims him as their patron.

|3.17.08 @ 3:17PM|#

I am the son of an engineer and have been an engineer since the mid 90's. But I had to come to Rolla MO (Home of the MS&T (formally UMR) Miners) to find out Saint Patrick is the patron saint of engineers. This year we celebrated Rollas 100th St Pats parade.

Erin, go fetch more bragh!

|3.17.08 @ 3:50PM|#

Hey Erin! Go bra-less!

|3.17.08 @ 4:16PM|#

We could use St. Patrick to get rid of these snakes in uniform.

|3.17.08 @ 4:19PM|#

The Albany woman should have peed on his hand. What would the cop have said? I had to rough her up or arrested her for peeing on my hand. It would be interesting how he would explain it to a judge.

RayRay|3.17.08 @ 4:34PM|#

Welcome to my neighborhood:

http://www.4thwardcaretaskforce.org/article/read/4th_precinct_highlights_week_528_march_4_10_2008

|3.18.08 @ 1:06AM|#

"Threadjack: It's St. Patrick's Day and I'm wearing orange as my way of observing it."

All, I brought was this dead rabbit.

|3.18.08 @ 3:48AM|#

LIMA - A white police officer has been charged in the shooting death of a black woman during a January drug raid, an altercation that touched off protests and discussions about race relations. A grand jury charged Sergeant Joseph Chavalia with negligent homicide in the case of Tarika Wilson, 26, who was killed in a SWAT raid at her house while looking for her boyfriend, the special prosecutor said yesterday. When she was shot, Wilson was holding her 1-year-old son, who was also wounded. Chavalia was charged with negligent assault for the injuries to the boy, who required his finger to be amputated. (AP)
Officer charged in death of woman

|3.18.08 @ 8:47AM|#

Hey wow! Some good news here at the end of the thread!

|3.18.08 @ 11:53AM|#

A report commissioned by police Chief William Bratton found that SWAT training should be eased to let in more women and criticized SWAT officers for relying too much on force over negotiations, it was reported today.

Those conclusions have deeply angered several Special Weapons and Tactics Team members, who told the Los Angeles Times the changes -- some already imposed -- are misguided and will probably weaken the high-risk operations unit.

The report by law enforcement experts was submitted to Bratton more than a year ago, but he has not shared it with the Los Angeles Police Commission or made its findings public, according to The Times, which obtained a draft.

One of the most pressing issues is SWAT's "insular" culture, the experts concluded, noting there has never been a woman in the unit, The Times reported.

They criticized the rigorous tests every officer have to pass to gain entry into the unit's multi-week training school and complained that selection criteria "under-emphasize negotiating skills, patience, empathy and flexibility while over-emphasizing physical prowess and tactical acumen," The Times reported

The board members recommended Bratton do away with the SWAT policy of selecting applicants only from the department's specialized Metro Division, instead opening tryouts to the entire department, according to The Times.

Several SWAT officers' wives wrote e-mails to top police and city officials, asking them to
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do away with the new criteria, The Times reported.

"...This is an attempt to be politically correct and allow a female officer on the team," one wrote in an e-mail obtained by The Times. "We will not sit quietly by and allow you to compromise our husbands' safety."
Report says SWAT should have more women