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Tuesday, January 03, 2012

"Culture of Predation upon African-Americans in the City of Utica " Caught on Tape

As Kathy Griffin would say "--allegedly!" By which she means to say: "Obviously!"



Cassandra Harris-Lockwood reporting in the Utica Phoenix:
The Utica Phoenix is in possession of a Utica Police Department video recording of a traffic stop which occurred on February 11, 2011. In this silent video, an African-American couple have been pulled over in their SUV… It is clear the officers are not aware that the video tape feed was rolling… The occupants, a woman and a man, are out of the car when frisked by the officers… The woman, who is clearly distraught and pleading, is also frisked by the male officer, at one point exposing her underwear… after the search… she too is hand cuffed behind her back… [O]ne of the officers, gestures for the woman to be taken from view… This same officer… returns to the passenger side of the car and is clearly seen reaching for and then removing a pouched plastic bag from his back pocket… It seems he then drops the bag, bends down to retrieve it, then returns with it to the interior of the car. After a few seconds, this officer then exits the car again, this time with a another plastic bag, fuller and larger, that he holds out as evidence as he walks to the driver side of the car.

It has been reported to the Utica Phoenix that the chairman of the Legal Redress Committee of the NAACP, Venice Ervin, brought this video to the attention of Utica Police Chief Williams… It was also learned by the Phoenix, that a copy of this video was recently delivered to the FBI for review... [T]his video has been widely distributed through the Black community, being shown in barbershops, and other public places. Its viewing has fueled the renewal of complaints long charged against the Utica Police of the planting of evidence and other abuses by the local force… Neither the NAACP nor the UPD would comment on other cases with similar disturbing circumstances currently in various stages of litigation. But at the start of 2012 there appears to be cause for great concern over apparent patterns of abuse of power by the UPD and a culture of predation upon African-Americans in the City of Utica.
Follow the link for more detail on official reaction to the tape as well as documentation of comparable abuses. Post-Racial America… Smell It.

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