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When Police Caught Lying, the Spin Begins

Loaded on Sept. 15, 2020 by Edward Lyon published in Criminal Legal News October, 2020, page 45
Filed under: Police Misconduct, False Statements, Testimony or Documents. Location: New York.

by Ed Lyon

Traditionally, police have been the ones to call when a common citizen has been assaulted, robbed, had his home burgled, or a car stolen. They were called noble, even honorable names like Blue Knights or New Centurions with the motto “To Protect and Serve” on their four-wheeled chariots. However, something has gone terribly wrong.

Many police officers have become the opposite of what they were meant to be. Even when caught on video committing atrocities against the citizens they swore to protect, they downplay and even get away with the evil they have done by lying and spinning the facts.

Take for example Buffalo, New York, on June 4, 2020. In clear daylight, the city’s Emergency Response Team (“ERT”) marched toward peaceful protesters. Two ERT cops shoved an elderly man down with such force that when the victim’s head hit the ground an audible “thunk” is heard as blood runs from one ear. The ERT leaves him.

The cops tell the press he “tripped and fell.” The Lie.

Then a video of what happened appears on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. Uh oh: The Truth.

A Buffalo police captain explains the cops’ perspective was based on a camera behind the 59 member ERT, so it appeared “the subject [victim] had tripped and fallen.” The Spin.

In Minneapolis, when journalists, medical staff, and others returned to their cars after demonstrations, they found their tires had been slashed.

Cops attributed the destruction to rioters. The Lie.

Bystander video shows the cops slashing those tires with knives. The Truth.

Press Release: Police only “deflated” those tires to prevent “vehicles [from] driving dangerously and at high speeds in and around protesters and around law enforcement.” The Spin.

Did you hear the one about New York City cops claiming that $2.4 million in Rolex watches were stolen from a jewelry store in the city? The Lie.

A store spokesman later stated no watches of any kind were stolen. They had been removed from the display cases. The Truth.

Well, how do the cops spin that one? Matter dropped, subject ignored. Same Difference.

If a tree falls in a forest and there is no one around to hear it, did it make a sound?

If cops kill a citizen on a Minneapolis street and there are no bystanders to video-record it, did the cops really kill him? 

 

Sources: slate.com, gizmodo.com

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More from this issue:

  1. SCOTUS ‘Shadow Docket’ Secretly Pushes Agendas, Issues Major Rulings Without Argument or Public Knowledge, by Dale Chappell
  2. The Junk Science Cops Use to Decide You’re Lying, by Jordan Smith
  3. From the Editors
  4. California Court of Appeal Grants Habeas Relief Over Failure to Instruct Jury on ‘Heat of Passion’, by Dale Chappell
  5. Attacking the Guilty Plea: The Art of Withdrawing a Guilty Plea, by Dale Chappell
  6. Fourth Circuit: Releasee Under First Step Act Can’t ‘Bank’ Extra Time Spent in Prison Toward Future Supervised Release Violation, by Dale Chappell
  7. New Hampshire Supreme Court Announces Defendant Not Required to Identify Evidentiary Support for Noticed Defense, by Douglas Ankney
  8. Sixth Circuit Reverses District Court’s Grant of Summary Judgment to Defendants in § 1983 Suit Against City and Police Officers, by Douglas Ankney
  9. Ninth Circuit Clarifies Use of Rule 60(b) for Changes in Law, by Dale Chappell
  10. Nebraska Supreme Court Announces Remand for New Sentencing Hearing Appropriate Remedy for Enhanced Vehicular Homicide Sentence Without Evidence of Prior Convictions, by Douglas Ankney
  11. Study Exposes Public Defender Plea Negotiation Practices and Suggests New Negotiation Theory, by David Reutter
  12. Colorado Supreme Court Announces New Rules for Awarding Presentencing Credit, by Anthony Accurso
  13. Government Agencies Expand Use of Private Companies to Bypass Constitution, by Casey Bastian
  14. California Supreme Court Announces New Time Limit for Habeas ‘Appeal’ Stages, Clarifying Tolling for Federal Habeas Petitioners, by Dale Chappell
  15. Defense Officials: Law Enforcement in Military Garb not Appropriate, by Casey Bastian
  16. South Carolina Supreme Court: Failure to Give Logan Instruction Not Harmless Error Where Evidence Almost Entirely Circumstantial, by Douglas Ankney
  17. Justice Sotomayor Raises Due Process Concerns Over Eleventh Circuit’s Use of Published Successive Habeas Denial Orders, by Dale Chappell
  18. Colorado Supreme Court: Prosecution Prohibited From Arguing Defendant’s Failure to Retreat Showed Lack of Fear, Undermining Claim of Self-Defense, by Douglas Ankney
  19. Seventh Circuit: District Court Abused Discretion by Denying Relief Without First Considering Recalculations Under First Step Act, by Douglas Ankney
  20. California Supreme Court Vacates LWOP Sentence After Its Recent Cases Clarifying ‘Special Circumstance’ Murder, by Dale Chappell
  21. Arizona Supreme Court Announces Cumulative Error Framework for Reviewing Multiple Instances of Prosecutorial Misconduct, by Douglas Ankney
  22. Indiana Supreme Court: Must Be Immediate Causal Connection Between Confrontation and Other Crime by Defendant to Negate Self-Defense, by Douglas Ankney
  23. Seventh Circuit: Sentences for ‘Non-Covered’ Offenses Can Also Be Reduced Under First Step Act, by Dale Chappell
  24. Ninth Circuit: Police Violate Fourth Amendment Executing Administrative Warrant Where Primary Purpose Is Gathering Evidence for Criminal Investigation, by Douglas Ankney
  25. Interactions Between Diabetics and Law Enforcement Can Become Life-Threatening, by Casey Bastian
  26. Fourth Circuit Grants ‘SOS’ § 2254 Petition Attacking Three-Decade-Old Murder Conviction Based on New Evidence, by Dale Chappell
  27. Washington Federal Court: Looking at Lock Phone Screen Requires Warrant, by Anthony Accurso
  28. North Carolina Supreme Court: Defendant Can’t Be Convicted of Both Habitual Misdemeanor Assault and Felony Assault for Same Act, by Douglas Ankney
  29. Michigan Supreme Court: Probation Compliance Check During Unlawfully Extended Probation Was Unauthorized Warrantless Search, by Matthew Clarke
  30. Medical Experts Publish Guidelines on SUDC, by Douglas Ankney
  31. Successful Alternatives to Armed Police Response, by Edward Lyon
  32. Tenth Circuit: District Court Plainly Erred in Giving Erroneous Constructive Possession of Firearm Instruction, Conviction Reversed, by Douglas Ankney
  33. Second Circuit: District Court’s Failure to Offer Explanation for Its Sentence Constitutes Plain Error, by Douglas Ankney
  34. SCOTUS Goes Live on Camera, by Jayson Hawkins
  35. Maryland Court of Appeals Announces Reasonableness Standard in Providing Advice of Rights to Non-English Speaking Drivers, by David Reutter
  36. Seventh Circuit: Rehaif Creates Defense and Invalidates Defendant’s Guilty Plea, by David Reutter
  37. Chicago’s Police Torture Reparations, by Jayson Hawkins
  38. New Jersey Supreme Court: Juror Excused After Partial Verdict Requires Mistrial on Remaining Counts, by Dale Chappell
  39. Policing and Racial Bias, by Kevin Bliss
  40. How COVID-19 Forces New Releasees Into ‘Survival Mode’, by Dale Chappell
  41. From Detroit: How Not to Use Facial Recognition in Policing, by Anthony Accurso
  42. New Colorado Law Kills Qualified Immunity for Cops, by Dale Chappell
  43. Minnesota Cops Use Contact Tracing to Track Protestor Networks, by Anthony Accurso
  44. When Police Caught Lying, the Spin Begins, by Edward Lyon
  45. Minneapolis: Use of Force Against Blacks 7 Times Higher Than That for Whites, by Kevin Bliss
  46. Risk Assessment Tools Perpetuate Inherent Biases and Prejudices, by Kevin Bliss
  47. New York Police Act With Impunity During Protests, by Kevin Bliss
  48. New ‘Barcode’ System Puts DNA Sample to the Authenticity Test, by Anthony Accurso
  49. Police Violence and the 14th Amendment, by Jayson Hawkins
  50. Police Unions Buy Their Way Out of Reform, by Kevin Bliss
  51. News in Brief
  52. Protecting Your Phone at Protests, by Douglas Ankney

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