1. Denver, Colorado police officer Charles Porter was acquitted last Thursday on charges of second-degree assault for allegedly stomping on the back of a 16-year-old boy with both feet, causing life-threatening injuries.
Juan Vasquez's crime? Running from Porter after being caught drinking alcohol. He certainly deserved the punishment he got, didn't he?
Porter's conduct was so egregious that two other officers actually crossed the "blue wall of silence" and testified against him in open court (and sincere kudos to them for doing so), yet he still managed to duck any responsibility whatsoever for his crimes:
"'Officer Porter grabs hold of the fence with both hands,' Officer Luis Rivera, who was partnered with Porter that night, testified. 'He jumps up, raises his knees and lands with both feet on the kid's back.'"
Rivera then details just how much of an absolute psychopath "Officer" Porter really is:
"Back in their squad car, Rivera said he questioned Porter as to why he jumped on the kid. 'Officer Porter said, "I don't know why I do that. It's just something I do lately. I guess I just like the way they sound."'" (Emphasis mine)
Despite the above unbelievably damning testimony from his incredulous and sickened peers, and despite his causing the city of Denver to pay close to 1 million dollars in settlements to Vasquez, "Officer" Porter is still prowling the streets as a member of the Denver Police Department.
2. Tony Arambula, a resident of Phoenix, Arizona, is filing suit against the city and Phoenix police officer Brian Lilly, seeking close to 6 million dollars in damages, after Lilly shot Arambula six times in the back while Arambula held a home invader (who was hiding under his 12-year-old son's bed at the time) at gunpoint in his home.
A tragic, yet innocent case of mistaken identity?
One could certainly be led to think so, except for:
the fact that Arambula had called 911 and reported that he indeed had the burglar in custody at gunpoint;
and the fact that Arambula's wife was in the yard when police arrived and "'told them my husband was inside, he was the one with the gun,''';
and the fact that Officer Lilly admitted in an Internal Affairs investigation to "firing at Arambula without any verbal warning";
and the fact that Lilly is on tape minutes after the incident telling his boss that "We (expletive) up".
Is the picture getting any clearer?
Special mention in this incident has to go to Sergeant Sean Coutts, Lilly's supervisor, for the following exchange:
"Sgt. Sean Coutts asked Lilly where Arambula's gun was when he fired.
'I don't know,' Lilly responded, according to the claim. 'I heard screaming and I fired.'"
Coutts reportedly responded, 'That's all right. Don't worry about it. I got your back….We clear?' according to a transcript reproduced in the claim."
No crossing of that "blue wall" for Sgt. Coutts, apparently.
Despite the many facts outlined above, Officer Lilly has not been departmentally sanctioned, was not charged with criminal wrongdoing and remains a member in good standing of the Phoenix Police Department.
Had any one of us peasants done something anywhere similar to the two above examples, we'd be (rightly) looking at years in prison. These two "special people" didn't even lose a day's pay because of their criminally incompetent (Lilly's) and just plain outrageously criminal (Porter's) conduct, and despite costing (Porter) and potentially costing (Lilly) their taxpayer employers millions of dollars in damage awards.
Are the residents of Denver and Phoenix safer with these two on the job?
One doesn't need a Magic 8-ball to plainly see that "All signs point to No".
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