Student’s Death in Custody Ruled a Homicide After Nine Deputies Fired

Originally published on June 6, 2015, at NationofChange.org

The death of a 21-year-old computer science student in police custody has been ruled a homicide from blunt force trauma and has resulted in the termination of nine deputies who strapped him to a restraining chair on New Year’s Day and allegedly beat him to death. Although the county attorney’s office initially claimed that the deputies were fired last month for general policy violations, the coroner confirmed on Thursday that the deputies lost their jobs on the same day that he signed the student’s death certificate. The student’s family only became aware of the death certificate’s existence after a photograph of the document was leaked on social media.

Responding to a domestic disturbance at 6:15 p.m. on January 1, Savannah-Chatham police confronted a Savannah Technical College student named Matthew Ajibade and his girlfriend. According to the police report, Ajibade refused several commands to release his girlfriend and began resisting arrest. Officers slammed Ajibade to the ground before handcuffing him.

Ajibade was charged with battery against his girlfriend and resisting arrest. As officers subdued Ajibade, his girlfriend asked them to take Ajibade to the hospital and gave them his Divalproex medication, which treats the manic phase of bipolar disorder and seizures. Ajibade had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder three years earlier.

Instead of taking Ajibade to the hospital, officers transported him to the Chatham County jail at 6:40 p.m. While being booked, Ajibade allegedly became combative with deputies and attacked them. According to the sheriff’s office, a female sergeant suffered a broken nose and a concussion while two male deputies suffered injuries consistent with a fight.

Deputies placed Ajibade in an isolation cell and strapped him to a restraining chair. They reportedly shot Ajibade with a Taser and repeatedly struck him in the head and upper body as he remained strapped to the chair. While performing a welfare check on him the next morning, deputies found Ajibade unresponsive. Medical staff administered CPR and attempted to restart his heart with a defibrillator. A coroner pronounced him dead at 8:45 a.m.

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TSA Director Demoted After Massive Security Failures

In this photo taken Tuesday, March 24, 2015, TSA agents work at a security check-point at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in SeaTac, Wash. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

Originally published on June 4, 2015, at NationofChange.org

The acting head of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was removed from his position on Monday after undercover Homeland Security agents successfully smuggled dozens of fake explosives and banned weapons through airport security checkpoints. With a failure rate of 96%, Acting Administrator Melvin Carraway has been reassigned to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) headquarters while his acting deputy director has been assigned take over his responsibilities. After spending $540 million for equipment and $11 million for training over the last six years, the TSA has failed to make any improvements since 2009.

Posing as passengers, DHS Red Teams regularly conduct internal investigations by attempting to smuggle fake weapons and explosives through TSA security checkpoints in order to test the limits and weaknesses of both their personnel and equipment. According to a recent Homeland Security Inspector General’s report, TSA agents failed 67 out of 70 tests conducted by undercover Red Teams. During one of these tests, an undercover DHS agent with a fake bomb taped to his back set off a magnetometer, but TSA screeners failed to detect the mock explosive device while patting him down.

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Deputies Plead Guilty to Covering Up Assault Against Inmate’s Brother

In this photo taken Thursday, Feb. 20, 2014, carrying his belongings and blanket Derek Martinez, 37, waits to enter a his assigned cell block after his arrival at the Deuel Vocational Institution in Tracy Calif. Martinez, a second strike offender from Shasta County, has been serving a life term with the possibility of parole for first degree murder since 2007. California counties are thwarting the state's efforts to comply with a federal court order to reduce it's inmate population by sending state prisons far more convicts than anticipated including a record number of second-strikers. The state is trying to comply with a landmark restructuring of its criminal justice system through a nearly 3-year-old law pushed by Gov. Jerry Brown that keeps lower-level felons in county jails while reserving scarce state prison cells for serious, violent and sexual offenders.(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

Originally published on June 2, 2015, at NationofChange.org

Two Los Angeles sheriff’s deputies have agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges regarding a brutal assault against an inmate’s brother visiting the Men’s Central Jail (MCJ). After the first deputy pled guilty earlier this year, a second deputy agreed to plead guilty last week to lying to FBI agents during an interview concerning the use force employed against a handcuffed visitor who was not resisting. Both deputies have also agreed to testify against their former colleagues if the prosecution calls on them at trial.

On February 26, 2011, Gabriel Carrillo attempted to visit his brother in MCJ when deputies discovered that Carrillo’s girlfriend, Griselda Torres, had brought a cellphone into the facility. When questioned by deputies, Torres admitted that both she and Carrillo had their cellphones with them. After confirming that he did have a phone, Carrillo asked Deputy Pantamitr Zunggeemoge, “What are you going to do, arrest me?”

According to the initial report, Carrillo was placed in handcuffs and escorted to a nearby break room. After deputies removed the handcuff from Carrillo’s right wrist to fingerprint him, he attacked the deputies and attempted to escape. The deputies claimed that Carrillo was intentionally spitting blood at them as they shot him in the face with pepper spray. They admitted to punching Carrillo several times to subdue him before placing Carrillo in restraints again.

But according to the recent plea agreements, Carrillo did not assault the deputies and was unable to resist arrest because his hands were cuffed while they were beating and pepper-spraying him on the floor. Carrillo filed a lawsuit against the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, and the district attorney later dropped the charges against him. The county paid Carrillo $1.2 million to settle the civil suit.

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Former House Speaker Charged with Concealing Blackmail Payments

Originally published on May 30, 2015, at NationofChange.org

Former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert was indicted on Thursday for lying to the FBI and attempting to conceal approximately $1.7 million in blackmail payments. After bank employees questioned Hastert about his large cash withdrawals, he began structuring his withdrawals in increments of less than $10,000 to evade filing required federal bank reports. Concerned about Hastert’s excessive cash withdrawals, the FBI and IRS discovered that the former House Speaker was being blackmailed to cover up past misconduct.

First elected to Congress in 1987, Hastert went on to replace Newt Gingrich as House Speaker in 1999. After the Democrats took control of the House in 2006, Hastert resigned his seat the following year. He later joined the law firm Dickstein Shapiro LLP as a lobbyist and has recently resigned from the firm.

According to the indictment, Hastert agreed to provide someone referred to as “Individual A” $3.5 million in order to compensate for and conceal his prior misconduct against Individual A. From 2010 to 2014, Hastert withdrew a total of roughly $1.7 million in cash from various bank accounts and provided the money to Individual A. But in April 2012, bank representatives began questioning Hastert regarding his routine $50,000 cash withdrawals.

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FIFA Executives Indicted on International Corruption Charges

Originally published on May 29, 2015, at NationofChange.org

Fourteen people, including nine FIFA officials and five corporate executives, were indicted this week on corruption charges involving the World Cup and multiple bribery scandals spanning over two decades. On Wednesday, Swiss law enforcement officers arrested seven top FIFA officials staying at a five-star hotel in Zurich. Although the Justice Department has not filed charges against FIFA President Sepp Blatter, the FBI and IRS continue to investigate the myriad allegations leveled against him.

Top officials within the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) have been charged with soliciting and accepting bribes from countries petitioning to host the World Cup in 1998 and 2010. Through the systematic payment of bribes and kickbacks, FIFA executives allegedly forged alliances with sports marketing executives who shut out competitors and kept highly lucrative contracts for themselves. Included in the conspiracy are the current and former presidents CONCACAF, the continental confederation under FIFA headquartered in the United States.

“The indictment alleges corruption that is rampant, systemic, and deep-rooted both abroad and here in the United States,” stated Attorney General Loretta Lynch. “It spans at least two generations of soccer officials who, as alleged, have abused their positions of trust.”

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DOJ Reaches Agreement to Reform Cleveland Police Brutality

Originally published on May 28, 2015, at NationofChange.org

The Justice Department and the city of Cleveland announced on Tuesday that they have entered into a court enforceable agreement to reduce systemic police abuse and repeated violations of the Fourth Amendment. Although the Cleveland Police Department (CPD) has not admitted any wrongdoing, the Department of Justice found that a significant amount of CPD officers utilize deadly and excessive force. With a lack of proper training and transparency, CPD officers now face a myriad of reforms and independent auditors in order to reinstate the broken trust between the police and their community.

At the request of Mayor Frank Jackson on March 14, 2013, the Justice Department began investigating allegations of excessive force and violations of the Fourth Amendment being committed by the CPD. The investigation included a comprehensive assessment of officers’ use of force, and CPD’s policies, procedures, training, systems of accountability, and community engagement. On December 4, 2014, the Justice Department announced that a significant amount of CPD officers used excessive force and constituted an ongoing risk to the public and their fellow officers.

“The Department of Justice is committed to ensuring that every American benefits from a police force that protects and serves all members of the community,” stated Attorney General Loretta Lynch. “The agreement we have reached with the city of Cleveland is the result of the hard work and dedication of the entire Cleveland community, and looks to address serious concerns, rebuild trust, and maintain the highest standards of professionalism and integrity. I am pleased to have the full cooperation of law enforcement and city officials in this effort. And I look forward to working with the entire community to build a stronger, safer Cleveland for residents and officers alike.”

According to the agreement, the CPD expects its officers to treat all members of the Cleveland community with courtesy, professionalism, and respect, and not to use harassing, intimidating, or derogatory language. CPD officers will no longer employ neck holds, assault handcuffed suspects, strike individuals in the head with their Taser or service weapon, use force against people verbally confronting them, pepper-spray compliant persons, or engage in retaliatory force. Officers will also use de-escalation techniques and allow suspects the opportunity to submit to arrest before using force against them.

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DC Gyrocopter Pilot Remains Defiant After Indicted on Federal Charges

Originally published on May 23, 2015, at NationofChange.org

The Florida postal worker who landed his gyrocopter on Capitol Hill last month pled not guilty on Thursday to two felony counts and four misdemeanors. Although the defiant pilot intended to spread public awareness regarding campaign finance reform and dark money influencing politics, lawmakers in Washington have focused instead on the security lapses that allowed him to fly over restricted airspace. Refusing to be ignored, 61-year-old Doug Hughes now faces a maximum sentence of nine and a half years in prison for his nonviolent protest against rampant political greed.

On April 15, Doug Hughes flew from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and landed on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol. Instead of carrying weapons, his gyrocopter was equipped with 535 letters that he intended to deliver to the members of Congress. In his letters and subsequent opinion pieces, Hughes has called for a constitutional amendment to nullify Citizens United v. FEC and reforms to systemic political corruption.

“The reason I did it,” Hughes explained during an NPR interview, “although I brought 535 letters to Congress, the reason was to get a message to the American people — not that there’s a problem with Congress but that there are solutions to the problem. Ninety-one percent of Americans know that Congress isn’t working for them. That they’re responding to special interests and lobbyists.”

“Many people don’t know that almost half the Congress, when they retire goes to work as lobbyists, oftentimes making 14 times what they made while they were in Congress as special advisers, and lobbyists, and none of them is worth $2 million a year. They’re getting paid off for voting the way the lobbyist firm that they got hired to wanted them to vote while they were in office. Anybody who looks at this can see that it’s bribery made legal by a delayed payment.”

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Rogue Cop Indicted for Excessive Force and Cover-Ups

Originally published on May 21, 2015, at NationofChange.org

A decorated Minneapolis police officer with a history of brutality complaints was charged on Wednesday with viciously assaulting at least four people while off-duty. After falsifying police reports, Officer Michael Griffin allegedly committed perjury multiple times to cover up his crimes. The city has already paid over $410,000 to settle two lawsuits filed by Officer Griffin’s victims.

The first incident began outside the Aqua Nightclub and Lounge in downtown Minneapolis after closing time on May 29, 2010. An argument between a married couple outside the bar led to a confrontation between Griffin and Ibrahim Regai. Griffin, who was off-duty and friends with the husband, flashed his badge and threatened to arrest Regai, who was friends with the wife.

Instead of fighting Griffin, Regai retreated to the nearby Envy Nightclub where he worked part-time. Regai approached the employee’s entrance and rang the doorbell, but Griffin followed Regai and sucker-punched him in the face before anyone could open the door. According to the indictment, Griffin repeatedly struck him in the face until Regai was unconscious.

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Fox News Anchor Bill O’Reilly Reportedly Abused His Wife in Front of His Daughter

Originally published on May 21, 2015, at NationofChange.org

During a recent custody battle between Fox News anchor Bill O’Reilly and his ex-wife, a forensic examiner reportedly testified that their young daughter witnessed O’Reilly physically abusing his wife. Although O’Reilly denies the allegations, the judge granted his ex-wife full custody of their children last month. While O’Reilly has denounced domestic abuse on his show “The O’Reilly Factor,” he has neglected to inform his audience of the accusations against him.

On November 2, 1996, Bill O’Reilly married Maureen McPhilmy and together they had two children, Madeline and Spencer. The couple separated in 2010 and finalized their divorce a year later. They initially agreed to share custody of their children, but McPhilmy returned to court in February 2012 seeking full custody of her children after O’Reilly allegedly violated conditions of the agreement.

According to a recent article in Gawker, a court-appointed forensic examiner testified at a closed hearing about an incident that O’Reilly’s daughter, Madeline, claimed to have witnessed. Roughly a year before her parent’s separation, Madeline reportedly saw her father grab her mother by the throat and drag her down a staircase while tightly gripping her neck. Madeline was nine years old at the time and believes her father did not know she was watching.

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Undersheriff and Captain Indicted on Federal Obstruction Charges

Originally published on May 16, 2015, at NationofChange.org

A former Los Angeles undersheriff and sheriff’s captain surrendered to authorities on Thursday after a federal grand jury indicted them on obstruction and conspiracy charges. Accused of corruptly influencing and impeding an FBI investigation into abuse and bribery within the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department (LASD), former Undersheriff Paul Tanaka and retired Captain William “Tom” Carey allegedly ordered deputies to secretly transfer an FBI informant under false names and engage in witness tampering. Former Capt. Carey has also been accused of providing false testimony in two separate trials.

In September 2011, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) released a report documenting over 70 instances of excessive force, misconduct, and sexual assault committed by deputies. A few months later, the ACLU sued the Sheriff’s Department accusing then-Sheriff Lee Baca and Undersheriff Tanaka of covering up and condoning violence against prisoners. After attempting several times to notify Baca and his staff about the abuses, corruption, and misconduct committed by deputies at Men’s Central Jail (MCJ) in Downtown Los Angeles, former sheriff’s commander Bob Olmsted contacted the FBI.

“I knew I had to act, and as a result, I notified the FBI of the department’s culture and acceptance of excessive force, inmate abuse, sheriff’s gangs, and corruption,” admitted retired Cmdr. Olmsted.

According to the indictment, a former deputy, an ACLU employee, numerous inmates, and a chaplain all reported witnessing deputies using excessive force against inmates. In May 2010, a former LASD deputy trainee reported to Carey that the trainee, his training officer, and several other deputies participated in a premeditated beating of an inmate with mental disabilities.

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