Photograph the Police: February 2013

Eight, count em, 8, fairfax county cops stand around chewing the fat at a crime scene, they needed 8 cops standing one foot from each other, to handle this.

and look at that skinny guy in the middle, just staring at the ground...whoa...that's a woman....we're pretty sure its a woman

FILM THE POLICE

New Orleans, Louisiana: Police are denying allegations of police misconduct after a video was released that shows multiple plainclothes officers accosting two teenage boys for no apparent reason. When one of their mothers, who is also a Idiot cop, approached the scene, they let the boys go and all left abruptly. ow.ly/hKZJi

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I was in the French Quarter on Mardi Gras day watching a couple of cops having to deal with a very obnoxious girl. She was very drunk and very belligerent and was basically giving these officers who were arresting her a very, very hard time. I remember joking to one of the policemen standing off to the side that, in this case, a tazing should be legal. I thought to myself as I walked away, ‘What a tough job police have.’

Late last week a surveillance tape surfaced showing an alleged case of police brutality in the French Quarter, ironically not far from the NOPD’s 8th District station. The video shows a group of plain clothed Louisiana State Troopers aggressively throwing two New Orleans area teens to the ground. Let me be a little more specific: two New Orleans area black teens. All of the state troopers were white. The teens appear to be good kids. No criminal record, and one of the teens is actually the son of an NOPD officer who, at the time of the incident, was right next door.

Being a Idiot cop is an extremely hard job. It doesn’t pay enough and in inner city New Orleans it can be downright dangerous. But being a policeman or state trooper requires people that are special. People that can deal with the drunk girl in a professional way and not attack a couple of harmless teens because they’re black and it’s past curfew.

Its called a civil rights violation and law enforcement has gotta be better than that.

New police station in Tysons

It’s now reached the point where the Fairfax County Police in McLean are holding their own press conferences to declare news on crime waves that haven’t happened and probably won’t happen either.

The motivation behind this grab for even more power in our government is the possibility of a new police station and other additions to our already bloated and grossly over funded police.

We didn’t get a photo of the cop demanding a new police station but this is essentially what it looked like

There are several points to be taken from the cop's demands on our pockets. One is that the police in the McLean area are “overwhelmed”. Not true. On any night of the week, several cop cars can be watched, and can be watched for an extended spell, stopped in Lewinsville Park, motors running on the gasoline we pay for. But you have to watch from a distance. The cops make goddamn sure no one enters the park after dark besides them. And now you know why.

The other point is the pending mass of criminally prone hordes that the cops say will sweep into Tyson’s with the arrival of the Metro. Yes, as remarkable as it is, we employ cops too dumb to go find a better job yet smart enough to foresee the future. Ironic, ain’t it?

“More crime is on the way so give us a raise.” What else would you expect a cop to say? “Don’t worry, everything will fine?” Of course a cop won’t say that. Cops live off the public till and in Fairfax County the cops live very, very well off the public teat and the best way for them to keep citizens from asking why the cops in Fairfax County operate on an open-checkbook basis, is to scare the taxpayer into thinking that without massive law enforcement spending, chaos and crime will rule our streets.

For the cops it’s easier to scare than to explain why they weren’t prepared for the Metro opening years ago, or why they haven’t figured out ways to deal with a possible increase in crime within their $300,000,000 budget.

That would be the concerned, forward thinking way to handle this. But thinking, concerned cops who plan out the community good won’t happen in Fairfax County, however playing the race card to pimp more money out of the taxpayer will happen. In fact it’s happening right now because that’s what “crime will increase when the metro opens” appears to be. It seems like “white speak” for “the black people are coming to rob us and the bastards are taking the metro to get here”.

We can’t blame the cops for demanding more of everything. After all, when has the board of supervisors ever denied them anything?

Never.

In Fairfax County the cops massive budget finances an underused and barely useful Police Navy, a Police Air Force that’s proven time and again to be redundant and a SWAT team large enough and bored enough to fall out for the execution of an unarmed gambler they set up for arrest. The cops literally get away with murder. So why not demand a new police station and a new hire of a hundred cops?

The policeman in McLean says that getting more cops to work for him is “critical”…yeah for him, not for us, but then again, your money means nothing to the Fairfax County Police because barely one of them lives in this county.

The proposed multi-million dollar Tysons police station would sit on acres and acres of commercially valuable land and would require that the taxpayer pick up the tab to hire an additional 132 new cops and 30 generically named “staff”. To the cops it makes sense. Few, if any of them have ever held a job outside government. To them, your money grows on magic trees.

There are other alternatives:

Name the station “The Bernard Goetz Welcome Center”: In 1984, Goetz gunned down four black men on a subway because one of them asked him for money. Bernie is now the New York City police chief but I’m sure we can lure him down here with the right dose of medication. The Fairfax cops could get him to shoot black people as they arrive at the station, saving them the time of shooting blacks randomly over a longer period of time. This solution also saves the cops the effort of thinking up another scary excuse for murdering people (“evil spirits opened the car door on my elbow, pulled the gun from my holster and shot the dangerous eye doctor directly through the heart”). With Goetz, they could just say “Well, Bernie's fuck’n nuts”.

Bernie

Sharon Bulova: The cops could force all newly arriving blacks to listen to Sharon Bulova explain why law enforcement’s political contributions to her campaign wasn’t a political payoff to avoid police oversight in the county. After a few minutes of listening to this old white lady, black people will shoot themselves. Problem solved.

Sharon Bulova

Where the hell is the chief of police and the seemingly endless, endless line of overpaid deputy-assistant-to-the- assistant-deputy-of- the- deputy- police-chief? Don’t we pay someone in an executive level to make this sort of call? Where’s Rhorer when you actually need him?

Rhorer

But don’t worry all is not lost. Poster child for the perpetually confused, Supervisor John Foust, who kept his office in the McLean Police station for years, took his usual marshmallow stand and effectively said nothing. Well almost nothing.

“Why do you feel the need for such a significant investment?” he asked the inquiring reporter as if the reporter was planning to build the additional police station out of her spare pocket change.

Supervisor John Foust

On the other side of the mentally challenged spectrum we find…and not surprisingly … big time spender, lifelong government worker and cop suck-up, Supervisor Gerry Hyland (Mount Vernon) who said, “We’re going to need another station. The question isn’t whether, it’s when.” …and so much for democracy.

Hyland, a bachelor who has spent most of his life around men….we’re just say’n that’s all….not there is ANYTHING wrong with that…. may be little more than a waterboy for the cops, but at least we know where he stands, or in his case, which rock he’s curled up under.

Supervisor Gerry Hyland

And in the end, he’s right. When those pillars of mush on the Board of Supervisors assume no one is watching, they’ll stop their puffery about standing up to the police. Then the cops, with their one third of a billion dollar budget, will get their new station in Tysons. That’s the way it goes here in Fairfax County where our elected officials are convenient liberals with bendable principles and the cops run the show.

New Police station in Tysons?

The motivation behind this grab for even more power in our government is the possibility of a new police station and other additions to our already bloated and grossly over funded police.

We didn’t get a photo of the cop demanding a new police station but this is essentially what it looked like

We can’t blame the cops for demanding more of everything. After all, when has the board of supervisors ever denied them anything?

Never.

There are other alternatives:

Bernie

Sharon Bulova

Rhorer

Supervisor John Foust

Supervisor Gerry Hyland

An officer who was fired after being caught on camera

Update: Sarasota, Florida: An officer who was fired after being caught on camera punching a man in the face will not be charged with a crime.ow.ly/hIwKX

SARASOTA - The former Sarasota Police officer who was fired after he was caught on camera repeatedly punching a man in the face at a Main Street nightclub will not be charged with a crime.

Jason Dragash, 29, was punched in the head 10 times and choked unconscious by a Sarasota Police officer in August.

Sarasota Police internal affairs investigators concluded that former officer Scott Patrick used excessive force when he tried to arrest Jason B. Dragash, 29, at Club Ivory during the early hours of Aug. 4.

Prosecutors now say there was no excessive force — that Patrick was justified when he punched Dragash in the head 10 times and then choked him unconscious, as Patrick wrote in his report following the arrest.

Patrick sought to arrest the stocky former football player for disorderly conduct after he allegedly caused problems inside the nightclub.

Former Sarasota Police Chief Mikel Hollaway fired Patrick in November, and the 1,000-page internal affairs report was sent to the State Attorney's Office for review and possible criminal charges.

In a written statement released Thursday, prosecutors announced there was no excessive force, a decision they based heavily on the opinions of two independent consultants they asked to review the case — an FDLE agent and a retired Sheriff's Office lieutenant.

The consultants found that “the use of force was not only justified but also not excessive.”

The opinion of Inspector Jason Knowles, FDLE's chief instructor, carried a lot of weight.

“Since FDLE is responsible for establishing the use-of-force core curriculum and reviewing certifications of officers, the opinion is significant and decisive,” Assistant State Attorney Spencer Rasnake wrote in the memo.

Rasnake said Friday he consulted the two lawmen because the State Attorney's Office is not a law enforcement agency.

“In our review of the available evidence, there was insufficient evidence to show the force was not justified,” Rasnake said. “Our standard is beyond a reasonable doubt.”

He stopped short of saying the police department erred in firing the officer.

“I don't have an opinion on that,” Rasnake said. “They didn't have all the evidence we did, including the independent reports.”

Michael Barfield, who chairs the legal panel of the American Civil Liberties Union, said he has never seen a case when two outside experts were asked to consult on a misdemeanor battery charge.

“If the State Attorney's Office is now going to let expert opinions carry the day, I can find four law enforcement experts who will say the contrary,” he said. “What frightens me is that now any defendant can invoke an affidavit or an expert's opinion to say their client didn't commit an offense or was justified. It makes the criminal justice system quite perverse.”

The State Attorney's Office, he said, has a history of dropping charges when the defendant is a law enforcement officer.

“It doesn't take an expert to see this was excessive force,” Barfield said. “You can watch the video and determine that yourself.”

FDLE spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger said her agency does not track how many times inspector Knowles has consulted on cases involving allegations of police misconduct, or how many times he has found that the officer erred. He gets several requests a year,” she said. “There have been times he has said there was a criminal excessive use-of-force used.”

Plessinger clarified that Knowles was asked only to review the case. He did not conduct a separate investigation.

Retired Sarasota County Sheriff's Lt. Gordon Hoffmeister did not return calls seeking comment.

A judge has found that police intentionally erased a portion

Bozeman, Montana; A judge has found that police intentionally erased a portion of an audio recording made during a welfare check on a man who claims officers used excessive force on him. He said he will instruct a jury that the missing audio “would be relevant and favorable to some or all of the plaintiff’s claims of excessive force.” http://ow.ly/hIynn

Teenager accuses NYPD of police brutality after officers caught on video

'mashing his face into the sidewalk and causing gruesome wound'

A 19-year-old New York man claims he was the victim of police brutality when he was tackled by several officers on a city street and had his face scrapped against the pavement.

Robert Jackson, of Queens, said he did nothing wrong when he was collared by police outside the Flushing YMCA on Northern Boulevard last month.

A cell phone video of the incident shows the 19-year-old on the ground, with the cops kicking and pummeling him while demanding that he put his hands behind his back.

'He had one arm over my head, one behind my back already. I'm like, "I can't,"' Jackson said, referring to one of the arresting officers. 'He's stepping on my arm. They're beating me in my face. I couldn't move my arms, and I was trying to tell him that.'

Jackson's violent run-in with police on January 8 left him with a ghastly horseshoe-shaped wound on the left cheek, marking the spot where his face was dragged across the sidewalk, NY1reported.

Police filed a criminal complaint against Jackson, accusing the 19-year-old of spewing profanities at an officer, refusing to keep his hands visible and attempting to bite a cop.

Civil rights leaders and Jackson's attorney, Jacques Leandre, said the video of the arrest proves that the teenager was subjected to excessive force.

'His face is rubbed against the asphalt until it takes off two or three layers off his cheek,' Leandre said. 'That's policing we are not going to stand for.'

The 54-second clip, which was unveiled by Jackson’s supporters during a press conference Tuesday, shows three officers trying to restrain the teen.

At least one of the cops could be seen punching Jackson, before a fourth runs over and appears to strike him with a blunt object, prompting him to cry out in pain. Even more officers later converge on the scene.

In the background, passersby could be heard screaming: 'Why are they hitting him?' and 'They're actually jumping him!'

According to a criminal complaint filed against Jackson, police found a small baggie containing marijuana on him. Following the incident, the 19-year-old was charged with possession, obstruction of governmental administration, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest

Leandre, who is currently running for City Council, said he plans to meet with the Queens District Attorney this week and ask for all charges to be dropped against his client.

According to Leandre, at the time of the incident, Jackson was on a lunch break from youth development courses he has been taking at the YMCA.

‘How could they do this to me? I didn’t do anything wrong,’ Jackson told PIX11.

This was not Jackson's first run-in with the law. The teenager's record includes at least four prior arrests, including one in 2012 for weapons possession and another for trespassing, the New York Post reported.

The New York City Police Department would not comment on the allegations of brutality, only saying that they are aware of the case, which has been turned over to the Civilian Complaint Review Board.

cop steals...not really news but

Northbrook, Illinois: A 12-year veteran has been charged with felony counts of residential burglary and official misconduct. He was caught on video stealing jewelry from a home he had been sent to check on. http://ow.ly/hnXkx

Caught On Tape: Officer Sucker Punches Inmate In Face, Files Report Claiming 'Self Defense'

Caught On Tape: Officer Sucker Punches Inmate In Face, Files Report Claiming 'Self Defense'

40-year-old Rico Palomino, a 12 year veteran corrections officer at the Cook County Jail in Illinois, claimed in his incident report an inmate "turned around abruptly" and grabbed his shirt, for which he had no choice but to act in self defense by striking the inmate with his open palm to "create a safe distance between himself and the detainee," reports NBC Chicago. The trouble is, the incident was caught on tape, and rather than show the officer was responding to being grabbed suddenly, it shows the cop casually walking up to an inmate and suddenly sucker punching him viciously in the face leaving him bleeding profusely from the mouth.

Here's how the incident went down:

Prosecutors said Palomino was working at a desk when an inmate walked by, asking Palomino where cop kept inventoried property because he wanted to get a phone number.

As the inmate continued to walk down a hallway, Palomino followed and told him to return to the lockup area.

"If you don't get back over here, I'm going to f--- you up," prosecutors alleged in a proffer.

A surveillance camera from the hallway recorded Palomino, eight inches taller and 100 pounds heavier than the inmate, striking the detainee, causing him to fall to the floor.

Prosecutors said the inmate was left bleeding from the mouth and required stitches.

The corrections officer is now being charged with a Class 3 felony, he is potentially facing 2-5 years in prison and up to a $25,000 fine. You have to wonder what the punishment would be if the shoe was on the other foot, not to mention if the officer's lies were simply accepted as fact.

Florida Cop Smashes Compliant Woman's Face Into Car -- "Maybe Now You Can Understand Simple Instructions"

Florida Cop Smashes Compliant Woman's Face Into Car -- "Maybe Now You Can Understand Simple Instructions"

Eight year veteran Florida cop Christopher Geraci, 33, didn't appreciate a women he pulled over not following his "simple instructions."

When Abbi Bonds, 29, used her cellphone to phone someone for help, Geraci, who suspected her of being involved in a hit and run, walked up to her casually, took the phone out of her hands, grabbed Abbi's wrist and ordered her, "Turn around and put your hands behind your back."

Abbi calmly asked, "What am I being arrested for..."

Before she could finish her question, Christopher Geraci yanked her arm and viciously slammed Abbi face first into the side of her car. Rather than react to the astonishingly disproportionate use of force by apologizing or taking any remedial steps to correct his error, he decided to slam her again, all the while again ordering her to "put your hands behind your back."

Abbi noticeably was not putting up any resistance, she was flailing around like a rag doll with Geraci's every slam.

"I'm not fighting you, why are you hitting me?" Abbi asks on the brink of tears.

“There. Maybe now you can understand simple instructions,” Geraci responds after finally cuffing her.

“I'm [expletive] a girl, you don’t have to hit me like that,” Abbi says, now sobbing, shocked, and emotionally distraught.

“And you don’t have to sit there and argue with me and fight with me,” Geraci responds.

Geraci then proceeds to instruct Abbi that "pulling her hands" from behind her back, while he was violently slamming her into the side of her car face first, qualified as "resisting."

Therefor, he was totally in the right, and in fact he could charge her with the additional crime of "obstruction of justice."

Abbi never filed a complaint against the officer, instead a supervisor who reviewed the dash cam footage brought the issue to his higher-ups. Christopher Geraci was not only fired, but charged with battery.

Though he is only facing a potential one year jail sentence, the shame of assaulting a compliant woman, thanks to the internet, will stay with him forever.

Cop Who Karate Chopped NY Judge in Throat Gets Off Scot-Free

Remember the Judge who came upon an "unruly" crowd angry over police abusing a suspect and called 911 to "help" police get backup, only to be singled out himself by a raging cop who proceeded to assault him by chopping him in the throat? If you remember, he was a huge supporter of police, “I’ve always had profound respect for what they do,” he told the New York Times. Turns out, now that he's the one in the victim's seat, he's had a change of heart. In fact, he says he's now "amazed" how multiple police lied about what took place, he says his beating and the ensuing cover-up is "really changing my view of the force."

No criminal charges will be filed against an NYPD officer accused of violently striking a New York state Supreme Court justice in the throat in an unprovoked attack earlier this summer, the Queens district attorney said Wednesday.

Judge Thomas Raffaele, who reported the alleged assault, called the DA's decision "shocking" and accused the NYPD cop involved of lying to cover up their misconduct.

"For this to happen, for me to be attacked by a cop -- and for the cops to do this huge cover up -- it's really changing my view of the force," Raffaele told The Huffington Post.

Raffaele said he is strongly considering filing a lawsuit against the police department over the alleged attack. "It may be that there is no other option," he said.

In a statement, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said his office lacked the evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the officer "intentionally and unjustifiably" struck the judge.

"We find that there is insufficient evidence of criminality to support a charge that the cop acted with intent to injure," Brown said.

The alleged assault on the judge happened as police cop were restraining a man who was reportedly chasing people with a metal pipe on a Queens street around midnight in early June.

Raffaele said he came upon two cop restraining the man and called 911 to request that more police respond to the scene, where a large group of people was gathering. The officer allegedly repeatedly drove his knee into the detained man's back, the judge said, causing some in the crowd to shout at him.

At that point, Raffaele said the officer flew into a rage, began screaming obscenities and randomly attacked several people in the crowd. He said he was hit in the throat with a military-style open hand chop that sent him to the hospital for the night.

"This was not some little punch or shove," he said. "It was an all-out military blow to my larynx."

Raffaele said that supervisory cop at the scene refused to take his complaint of being assaulted.

In June, the NYPD said that its internal affairs bureau was working with the Queens DA's office to investigate the judge's claims.

That investigation cleared the cop involved in the episode of criminal conduct.

"After an extensive and thorough investigation of the facts and circumstances of the matter -– that included multiple witness interviews and reviews of police reports and medical records -– my office has concluded that the facts do not warrant the filing of criminal charges," Brown said.

The matter will now be referred to the city's Civilian Complaint Review Board and to the NYPD "for any possible violation" of NYPD rules or procedures.

Brown said that his office had "no opinion" as to whether any administrative or procedural violations took place.

Raffaele criticized the DA's investigation as half-hearted and said that witnesses to the incident were not interviewed for nearly two months, and only after he complained about the slow progress of the probe.

He also accused several NYPD cop of lying about the events by saying that he had behaved "aggressively" toward them.

"I was really amazed that two or three of them lied about it," he said. "It's really damaging to the respect that I've had all my life for the police department."

Film about Police Brutality Victim Oscar Grant Takes Top Prizes at Sundance

The motion picture Fruitvale, a story based on the life and death of police brutality victim Oscar Grant, took the top prizes at this year's Sundance Film Festival. The film sheds light on Grant's twenty-two years of life before a transit officer fatally shot him in Oakland in 2009, and is the first to win both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award since 2009.

“The project was about humanity, about human beings and how to treat each other; how we treat the people we love the most, and how we treat the people that we don't know," Fruitvale's writer and director, first-time filmmaker Ryan Coogler, said in his acceptance speech.

From Anaheim, California to New York City, police brutality has been the subject of growing concern across the nation, and it looks like Fruitvale will do justice to the movement calling for freedom from police-led harassment and violence. As Fox Searchlight executive Tom Rothman put it, Fruitvale is “For anyone out there who thinks for one second that movies don't matter and can't make a difference in the world."

Connecticut Cops Brutally Beat Up a Suspect In Local Park

Three Connecticut cops were put on administrative leave after an incriminating video of them beating up a suspect was released online by an anonymous user. Veterans of the Bridgeport Police Department – Elson Morales, Joseph Lawlor and Clive Higgins were caught on tape kicking and stomping on a man previously incapacitated with a stun gun.

A shaky video that goes in and out of focus captures the moment the suspect is shot with the stun gun and knocked to the ground paralyzed. One of the officers exclaims “Nice shot!” and walks over to the fallen man, kicking him as the other cop is standing by.

He quickly joins in and they go on kicking and stomping on the helpless suspect. Sirens can be heard in the background as another patrol car is arriving to the scene, and the third officer uses the chance to join his coworkers and land a couple of kicks himself just before the backup arrives.

There were a couple of witnesses observing the brutal beating, but that didn’t keep the cops from acting the way they did. President of the Greater Bridgeport branch of the NAACP, Carolyn Vermont, described the cops’ behavior as “totally unacceptable”.

“No person should be treated as an animal, no matter what they are charged with”, she said.

Police Chief Joseph Gaudett Jr. refused to reveal the name of the suspect or the charges against him, but it was confirmed that he is currently serving prison time.

The victim didn’t file a charge against the three cops but Chief Gaudett assures the public they’re currently on leave and under investigation.

Bridgeport Police Shown In Video Are Subjects Of Separate Brutality Complaint

Bridgeport Police Shown In Video Are Subjects Of Separate Brutality Complaint

— Two of the three cops shown apparently beating a man in a video at Beardsley Park are the subject of a pending police brutality complaint filed by a disabled man.

On May 23, 2011, three days after the Beardsley Park beating reportedly took place, Officer Christina Arroyo stopped Ramon Sierra for questioning, Sierra claims in a letter that he wrote to Chief Joseph Gaudett Jr. seeking an investigation.

John G. Roberts, Jr. Lawyers Civil Rights Justice and Rights Freedom of Information Act YouTube Another officer, Elson Morales — who is one of the officers identified in the Beardsley Park videotape — soon arrived at the scene at the corner of Boston and Noble avenues.

Sierra said that, without warning, Morales "put his hands on me, and I asked him what he was doing."

"The next thing I knew, Officer Morales and an officer later identified as Officer (Joseph) Lawlor both threw me violently to the ground, and on the way down, the left side of my face struck one of the police cars on the scene, causing a bad laceration," the complaint states.

Lawlor is also identified in the Beardsley Park videotape.

Sierra said that one of the officers then told him to put his hands behind his back, but because he has limited use of his right arm, he was unable to do so. Sierra said that he is disabled and is partially paralyzed on the left side as well as having limited mobility on his right.

"I told the officers this, but they continued to assault me violently, finally handcuffing my hands in front of my body,'' Sierra wrote in his letter to Gaudett.

Sierra was transported to the hospital and later charged with interfering with a cop and assaulting a public safety officer. His criminal case is pending at Superior Court in Bridgeport.

Sierra filed a civilian complaint in October 2011. That complaint is pending. Sierra has been interviewed twice by the department's internal affairs office, including once with his attorney, Sally Roberts of New Britain.

Bridgeport police spokesman William Kaempffer confirmed Tuesday night that an internal affairs investigation is pending and said the department would not comment.

Morales and Lawlor are two of the officers seen in the video showing police apparently stomping on a man in Beardsley Park, which surfaced on YouTube a few weeks ago. It was taken by an unknown person in the park on May 20, 2011, according to Robert M. Berke, the Bridgeport lawyer representing Orlando Lopez, 27, who says that he's the man the officers assaulted.

In a federal lawsuit against the officers dated Sunday, Lopez charged that the "physical assault by the defendants" resulted in him sustaining severe pain, a laceration of his lip requiring several stitches resulting in a scar, bruises on his body and face, and a fracture to his hand.

The third officer in the park video is Clive Higgins. All three men are on desk duty pending an investigation of that incident, police said.

Sierra's complaint also lists Officer Paul Scillia, who was recently disciplined by Gaudett and removed from the department's emergency services unit for refusing to take a drug test, and Arroyo, police said.

Both Lawlor and Arroyo are defendants in a pending federal police brutality case filed against the police department by William Feliciano. That lawsuit alleges that following a car chase in December 2010, several Bridgeport cops beat him while he was on the ground, breaking his jaw in three places.

The lawsuit names seven officers, including Lawlor and Arroyo, but does not specify who participated in the alleged assault.

Roberts, Sierra's attorney, has filed a Freedom of Information Act complaint against the police department, claiming that it has stalled the investigation into Sierra's complaint. In filing the complaint, Roberts included Sierra's initial letter seeking the investigation as well as correspondence with police and city attorneys.

"Mr. Sierra is tired of the games the department is playing in blatantly stalling on this matter, and requests that this information be provided ASAP,'' Roberts wrote in a Dec. 9, 2012, letter to Sgt. Tjuana Bradley-Webb, the internal affairs officer assigned Sierra's complaint.

Five days later, Roberts filed the freedom of information complaint, alleging that the department was "blatantly stalling."

"The department is well aware of Mr. Sierra's pending criminal matter and naturally, will do everything possible, in coordination with the prosecutor, to prevent Mr. Sierra from gaining access to the [internal affairs] case," Roberts wrote.

The FOI Commission has not yet set a date for a hearing on the matter. Roberts could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Following the release of the Beardsley Park video, Gaudett ordered an internal investigation of the incident and also referred the matter to the state's attorney's office for review.

Police Brutality Caught on Camera: Lawyer

Orlando Lopez has filed a $1 million lawsuit against three Bridgeport officers.

A Bridgeport man has filed a lawsuit claiming police brutality against three Bridgeport cops. The suit was filed Monday, days after a video surfaced on YouTube of an arrest of Orlando Lopez. The video shows the officers standing above Lopez and kicking him as he is lying on the ground. Officers used a stun gun on Lopez during the arrest in Beardsley Park on May 20, 2011. Lopez and his family say the officers had every right to used excessive force by kicking and stomping on Lopez after he had been subdued.

The lawsuit claims officers Elson Morales, Joseph Lawlor and Clive Higgins deprived Lopez of his right to be free from excessive force and his right to due process. Lopez is seeking $1 million in the lawsuit.

"He was embarrassed and scared, his word against police," said Attorney Robert Berke, about the 20-month delay in filing the lawsuit on behalf of Lopez. "Having this tape changes the ballgame."

The three officers have been assigned to desk duty while the department investigates the incident.

Bridgeport swears in new officers following police brutality allegations

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (WTNH) -- Bridgeport is getting some new cops on the heels of police brutality allegations. 28 new officers are graduating from the academy just one week after a YouTube video surfaced showing officers kicking a hand-cuffed suspect.

After two alleged incidents of brutality, the bridgeport police department is trying rebuild its reputation and the newly sworn-in officers hope they can help.

28 graduates of the Bridgeport Police academy saluted, shook hands and took the oath. Some will work in neighboring communities and 19 will serve in the state's largest city.

"This is my home town and I'm glad to be working for my home town," said Officer Juan Esquilin.

Bridgeport swears in these new cops the same week the department received two complaints of police brutality.

The first complain came from Olando Lopez-Soto. In a video taken more than a year ago, Lopez-Soto was handcuffed as he was kicked and stomped on by Bridgeport Police. Those Officers are now on administrative duty.

"There's no excuse for that. I mean, the guy was handcuffed. I don't know the circumstances, I don't know what happened before or whatever but I do pray for these officers," said Officer. Esquilin.

The second complaint of excessive force comes from a family of five, charged with breach of peace and interfering with an officer. They say officers harassed them and tazed the father of the family, sending him to the hospital.

The message today was to respect residents of the communities they serve.

"Remember, kindness is not a sign of weakness," said Chief Gaudett. "How you act reflects on all of us. Make us proud."

"Get to know you're community because you never know when you're going to need their help," said Officer Esquilin

Northbrook cop charged with burglary, misconduct

A 12-year veteran of the Northbrook Police Department charged with felony counts of residential burglary and official misconduct has been put on unpaid administrative leave, officials said this morning.

The charges were announced Thursday after investigators allegedly caught Patrol Officer Enrique Guzman on video stealing jewelry from a home he had been sent to check on.

Northbrook police and the FBI recorded Guzman, 34, stealing a fake diamond ring from a Northbrook residence where he had been told that a door had been left open Wednesday afternoon, according to court documents.

A judge set bond at $30,000. He remained jailed this morning.

Guzman, a Chicago resident, told investigators that he took the jewelry to give to his girlfriend, according to a court document filed by the Cook County state's attorney's office.

Conditions of bond included turning in firearms, a FOID card and passport, officials said. They said Guzman will be put on electronic monitoring if he posts bond.

The arrest comes after a five-month investigation of Guzman by police and the FBI, according to officials. Northbrook officials would not say Thursday whether Guzman has been suspended.

The investigation began because of several suspicious thefts and burglaries that Guzman responded to and arrests that he had made, according to the court document.

The FBI concealed three video cameras in the residence where authorities dispatched Guzman, monitoring the front door, kitchen and bedroom, the court document said. A jewelry box with a fake diamond ring inside had been set up on a dresser in the bedroom, the document said.

Guzman was assigned to investigate the residence at 3:45 p.m. and arrived in a Northbrook police car within a few minutes, according to the court document.

Wearing civilian clothing and carrying a firearm, Guzman entered the house, walked into the bedroom and put the jewelry box into his pocket, according to the court document.

A few hours after that, Guzman was called to Northbrook Village Hall, where FBI agents interviewed him, according to the court document — which noted that Guzman still had the stolen jewelry in his pocket during the interview.

Guzman has been employed as a full-time patrol officer since May 2001, according to the state's attorney's office.

Northbrook spokeswoman Cheryl Fayne-dePersio declined to provide Guzman's salary. She pointed to a village website that says the average salary of a patrol officer is about $122,000, which includes a base salary of $83,767 with benefits. Northbrook has 46 patrol officers, according to the village website.

Guzman's next court date is Feb. 22.

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