More reports of police brutality and racism in America

[Fambo Number Mive]

Graphic body camera video kept secret for more than two years shows a state police trooper from the US state of Louisiana pummelling a Black motorist 18 times with a flashlight – an attack the trooper defended as "pain compliance".

"I'm not resisting! I'm not resisting!" Aaron Larry Bowman can be heard screaming between blows on the footage obtained by The Associated Press.

The May 2019 beating following a traffic stop left him with a broken jaw, three broken ribs, a broken wrist and a gash to his head that required six staples to close.

Bowman's encounter near his Monroe home came less than three weeks after troopers from the same embattled agency punched, stunned and dragged another Black motorist, Ronald Greene, before he died in police custody on a rural roadside in northeast Louisiana.

Video of Greene's death similarly remained under wraps before AP obtained and published it earlier this year.

Federal prosecutors are examining both cases in a widening investigation into police brutality and potential cover-ups involving both troopers and state police brass.

State police didn't investigate the attack on Bowman until 536 days after it occurred – even though it was captured on body camera – and only did so weeks after Bowman brought a civil lawsuit...

Bowman's beating was carried out by Jacob Brown, a white trooper who, before resigning in March, tallied 23 use-of-force incidents dating to 2015 – 19 of them targeting Black people, according to state police records.

Aside from the federal investigation, Brown faces state charges of second-degree battery and malfeasance in Bowman's beating.

He also faces state charges in two other violent arrests of Black motorists, including one he boasted about last year in a group chat with other troopers, saying the suspect is "gonna be sore" and "it warms my heart knowing we could educate that young man".

Louisiana State Police officers sound like a bunch of racist thugs. This should be a national scandal.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/8/25/pain-compliance-video-shows-trooper-pummeling-black-man

...The same Louisiana State Police unit whose troopers stunned, punched and dragged Ronald Greene on video during a deadly 2019 arrest is now under internal investigation by a secret panel over whether its officers are systematically targeting Black motorists for abuse.

The panel, whose existence was confirmed to The Associated Press by four people familiar with it, was set up in response to Greene's death as well as three other violent stops of Black men: one who was punched, stunned and hoisted to his feet by his hair braids in a body-camera video obtained by the AP, another who was beaten after he was handcuffed, and yet another who was slammed 18 times with a flashlight...

https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/crime_police/article_b51d40a2-c94d-11eb-98b4-431268eb7a00.html

[Fambo Number Mive]

I know about the "blue wall of silence" but you'd think at least one of those troopers in the chat would have thought "this is really wrong, treating people like this." It's really difficult to speak up in most workplaces but when your work involves carrying weapons and being given the power to stop and arrest people you'd think that some officers would have thought "I don't want to be part of an organisation that treats people like this and I want to speak out about it."

[bgmnts]

I know about the "blue wall of silence" but you'd think at least one of those troopers in the chat would have thought "this is really wrong, treating people like this." It's really difficult to speak up in most workplaces but when your work involves carrying weapons and being given the power to stop and arrest people you'd think that some officers would have thought "I don't want to be part of an organisation that treats people like this and I want to speak out about it."

Pretty much exactly what they mean when they say ACAB.

[Flouncer]

Louisiana State Police officers sound like a bunch of racist thugs.

[Fambo Number Mive]

A public records request sent to the Louisiana State Police has uncovered something disturbing. Although the LSP continues to refuse to release the document in question, it appears this law enforcement agency has been using a bogus list of supposed Antifa members compiled by 8chan users to keep tabs on Americans opposed to Trump...

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20180902/08580340566/louisiana-police-appear-to-be-using-hoax-antifa-list-created-8chan-to-open-criminal-investigations.shtml

Such a charming organisation.