Assorted police misconduct issues ...

Assorted police misconduct issues ...


N.Y. officer faces charges after unlawful chokehold
NEW YORK — A New York City police officer who was suspended after putting a man in what authorities said was a banned chokehold now faces criminal charges.

The NYPD said officer David Afanador was arrested Thursday on charges of strangulation and attempted strangulation over an altercation last weekend on the Rockaway Beach boardwalk. The confrontation on the boardwalk came after weeks of protests following the death of George Floyd in Minnesota.

Afanador, 39, was expected to be arraigned at a criminal court in Queens.

“It’s become fashionable for prosecutors to make summary arrests of police officers without a full and thorough investigation,’’ defense attorney Stephen Worth said. ‘‘The concept of due process seems to go out the window.”

There was no immediate comment from the officer’s union.

In Sunday’s encounter, a video shot by one of the men involved in the altercation showed officers tackling Ricky Bellevue, a Black man. The footage showed that Afanador crooked his arm around Bellevue’s neck for several seconds as he lay face down on the boardwalk.

Body camera footage released by the department shows that the maneuver came after Bellevue and two other men hurled insults at the officers for at least 10 minutes. But Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said Monday that Afanador was suspended because “the hand around the neck is the hand around the neck.’’

It was at least the second time Afanador has faced criminal charges over the alleged use of excessive force. He was acquitted in 2016 for a previous case stemming from allegations he pistol-whipped a teenage suspect and broke two of his teeth in 2014.

Associated Press

3 officers fired in N.C. after racist, violent remarks
WILMINGTON, N.C.— Three police officers in Wilmington were fired after a supervisor found recorded conversations that included racist remarks, slurs, and one officer saying he “can’t wait” to start “slaughtering” Black people, the department announced Wednesday.

Chief Donny Williams of the Wilmington Police Department said in a news conference that the officers were fired for misconduct after an internal investigation.

“The conversations included disrespectful language, hate-filled speech, and referred to Black people as the N-word,” he said. “They also criticized me within this video, several Black officers within the agency, and made negative comments about individuals outside of the agency. They made negative comments about our Black Lives Matter protests and were critical of our response.”

The firings of the officers came as protests over racism and police mistreatment of Black people are resounding across the country, along with calls for greater accountability in law enforcement.

The department identified the officers as James B. Gilmore, 48; Jesse E. Moore II, 50; and Michael K. Piner, 44. Williams said the investigation began after a supervisor’s routine inspection found the accidental activation of a patrol car camera, a device fixed in the back of the vehicles to monitor people in custody.

In an exchange detailed in the report, Moore referred to a Black woman he had arrested the day before, using a racial slur and saying she “needed a bullet in her head right then and move on.”

Later in the conversation, Piner told Moore that he felt a civil war was coming and that he was “ready” and going to buy a new assault rifle.

“We are just going to go out and start slaughtering them,” the report quotes Piner, referring to Black people with an expletive and racial slur.

“I can’t wait. God, I can’t wait,” he said.

Moore responded that he would not do that. Piner is quoted as saying that society needed a civil war to “wipe ’em off” the map, to which Moore responded, “You’re crazy.”

New York Times

Chicago Board of Education divided over police funding
CHICAGO — A deeply divided Chicago Board of Education rejected a motion Wednesday to end its $33 million contract with the Chicago Police Department in a move that simultaneously disappointed and galvanized the youth-led coalitions looking to harness the nationwide momentum around calls to remove police from schools.

The bid to end the contract fell short by a single vote — an uncharacteristically narrow margin for the appointed school board that has historically casts unanimous votes that reflect the mayoral agenda. Chicago’s youth activists who have long pushed city officials to prioritize funding schools over police viewed Wednesday’s 4-3 vote through a hopeful lens.

The students aren’t alone in their push: They’re joined by local labor groups including the Service Employees International Union Local 73 and the powerful Chicago Teachers Union. And they’re drawing support of aldermen, principals — and at least three school board members.

Washington Post

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