Trial set to begin for Black soldier suing police over violent stop

Thank you so much for sharing this good information.

This is troubling and unfortunate! Also, the wearing of an uniform does ot seem to arrive any weight?

1.) THEY BRUTALIZED ME': DISABLED NORTH CAROLINA VETERAN CALLS ON POLICE TO RELEASE VIDEO OF HIS ARREST

Monday, July 11, 2022

GASTONIA, N.C. (WTVD) -- Charges have been dropped against a disabled veteran arrested in 2021 in Gastonia.

The veteran, Joshua Rohrer, said he now wants body camera footage from the incident released and the officers involved fired.

“Rohrer was with his service dog, Sunshine, near a shopping center in Gastonia last October when the arrest happened.

"I re-live it everyday in my head, so yes it seems like it was yesterday," Rohrer said in an interview with a local news station in Charlotte.

Someone called the police on Rohrer, who was homeless at the time and living out of a tent. When officers arrived, they asked him for some identification and he gave them his military ID.

He said that's when the situation escalated.

"(They) grabbed me by my wrist and slammed me forward on the hood of the car. They brutalized me. I'm screaming for help," Rohrer recalled.

According to Rohrer, Sunshine then jumped on the hood of the police cruiser and an officer shot her with a stun gun.

"I screamed. Sunshine yelped and started crying and took off around the cruiser," Rohrer said.

While Rohrer was behind bars, Sunshine was hit by a car and died.”

SOURCE : https://abc11.com/amp/disabled-veteran-police-brutality-body-cam-nc/12043399/



2.) Veteran Beaten by Police in Unprovoked Assault at VA Hospital Appeals Case to U.S. Supreme Court

John Kramer · February 1, 2021

“It was three against one, and they had guns. I knew better than to resist.”

5th Circuit Rules Federal Officers Can’t Be Sued, Even If Qualified Immunity Doesn’t Apply to Them

“Arlington, Virginia—José Oliva survived the bloodiest year in Vietnam, but he most feared for his life when he was brutally beaten in an unprovoked attack by federal officers in a Veterans Affairs hospital in his hometown of El Paso, Texas that left him with several injuries, two of which required surgery. On January 29, 2021, the Institute for Justice filed an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court asking it to reverse the 5th Circuit decision that ruled federal officers—such as those in a VA hospital—may act with impunity and not be held accountable for their actions, no matter how unconstitutional.”

SOURCE : https://ij.org/press-release/veteran-beaten-by-police-in-unprovoked-assault-at-va-hospital-appeals-case-to-u-s-supreme-court/


3.) Everybody We Deal With Is Trained to Kill”—Why Don’t We See Widespread Police Brutality in the Military?

November 6, 2020

* Military police deal with many of the same calls civilian cops do—domestic disturbances, DUIs, suicide attempts—but their days look different.

* The Goal Was Always De-escalation

* Service members answer to the laws of the Uniform Code of Military Justice system, or UCMJ, which can sometimes bring harsher penalties to service members than civilian penalties might. Poor decisions can be detrimental to more than just a service member’s job—but their whole life, not to mention the possibility of marks on a federal record.  

SOURCE : https://thewarhorse.org/everybody-we-deal-with-is-trained-to-kill-why-dont-we-see-widespread-police-brutality-in-the-military/


4.) Police mistreatment of Black service members common even before Virginia case
By Ben Finley, The Associated Press and Tom Foreman Jr., The Associated Press

{{ * Officer Gutierrez has also been fired. *}}

* The episode was a grim reminder to many Black Americans that even being in military uniform doesn’t necessarily protect them from mistreatment by police. Further, there’s a long history of violence against veterans and service members of color, whose military status was seen by some as a provocation

* Thousands of Black men who served in the Civil War, World War I, and World War II were targeted because of their service and threatened, assaulted or lynched, according to a 2017 Equal Justice Initiative report.

* In 1962, Cpl. Roman Ducksworth was killed by police while riding a bus from Maryland to his home in Mississippi. The bus driver called a white police officer to awaken Ducksworth, who had fallen asleep, according to Jerry Mitchell, founder of the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting. The two struggled, and the officer shot and killed Ducksworth.

* “His skin color trumped his status as a military officer,” Mitchell said. “It goes throughout history.”

SOURCE : https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2021/04/18/police-mistreatment-of-black-service-members-common-even-before-virginia-case/



5.) Veterans of color say video of police pepper-spraying a Black Army officer shows that not even a military uniform is protection from police violence

* Police officers in Virginia held a uniformed Black Army officer at gunpoint and pepper-sprayed him.

* The soldier was not charged with a crime or ticketed over the incident, which was captured on video.

* Veterans of color said the video showed that not even a uniform is protection from police violence.

“Nazario's attorney writes in the lawsuit that the video footage was "consistent with a disgusting nationwide trend of law enforcement officers, who, believing they can operate with complete impunity, engage in unprofessional, discourteous, racially biased, dangerous, and sometimes deadly abuses of authority," stressing that Nazario, while in uniform, was a victim of this trend.”

SOURCE : https://www.businessinsider.com/veterans-of-color-response-video-soldier-military-uniform-police-brutality-2021-4?amp