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Bild på Olsens krossade skalle.
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Promotion Given To Cops Who Shot Occupy Activist Scott Olsen
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As if there was any doubt that police departments all across America are rewarding their officers for egregious acts of violence, the Oakland police department has recently promoted two of the police officers involved in the shooting of Occupy activist Scott Olsen.
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Olsen, readers may remember, was an Occupy activist and Iraq war veteran who was shot in the head with beanbag bullets by Oakland police in 2011. Olsen was only about fifteen feet away from the officer who shot him, fracturing his skull and sending him to the hospital in critical condition.
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Olsen, readers may remember, was an Occupy activist and Iraq war veteran who was shot in the head with beanbag bullets by Oakland police in 2011. Olsen was only about fifteen feet away from the officer who shot him, fracturing his skull and sending him to the hospital in critical condition.
Police also fired flash grenades at activists who rushed to Olsen’s aid and continued to assault the demonstrators as they attempted to drag Olsen to safety and provide him with medical attention. Olsen temporarily lost his ability to speak, perform basic motor functions, and concentrate adequately.
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- While he has recovered the ability to speak, his speech is still slurred and his memory and concentration are still significantly impaired.
- Yet despite the fact that the City of Oakland was forced to pay out $4.5 million to Olsen in a settlement, the Oakland Police Department has now promoted two of the cops involved in the shooting.
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Even more concerning is the fact that one of the officers, Paul Figueroa, has been promoted to the position of Assistant Police Chief and is now the second in command of the Oakland Police Department.
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Roland Holmgren, a Sergeant with a “Tango Team,” a type of Oakland tactical squad consisting of five officers and one sergeant each, was also involved in Olsen’s shooting. Like Figueroa, he was also promoted. Holmgren was awarded the title of Lieutenant earlier in 2014.
As Ali Winston of East Bay Press writes,
At the time of the shooting, Figueroa had no business being the incident commander or accepting the position: He was the head of the department's internal affairs division. As such, he would be responsible for investigating any misconduct stemming from that incident. It was a clear conflict of interest. As it turned out, OPD botched both the administrative and criminal investigations into the Olsen shooting. To this day, the department has yet to identify the officer responsible.
Still, Interim Police Chief Sean Whent, who had himself been head of the department’s Internal Affairs division (which speaks volumes as to the worth and credibility of that agency), went forward with promotions for both Figueroa and Holmgren.
East Bay Press also points out that Holmgren has quite the history of violence. As Ali Winston writes,
Holmgren also had been involved in the illegal use of force against anti-war protesters at the Port of Oakland in 2003. And he was involved in a drunken brawl with prison guards at a charity boxing event in 2010. He also was disciplined for turning off his chest-mounted camera during clashes with Occupy Oakland demonstrators on January 28, 2012.
Although the OPD conveniently “botched” the investigation of the shooting, Winston and other investigators were able to identify Officer Robert Roche as the individual who actually shot Olsen. However, while Roche was fired, the Alameda County District Attorney never filed charges against him. Neither did they file charges against the officers in charge, Holmgren and Figueroa.
- An Iraq war veteran, Olsen apparently believed that when he returned to the United States the war was over and he no longer had reason to be in fear for his life. Olsen mistakenly believed that he was returning to a free country.
Unfortunately, Olsen did not fully grasp the concept that he was now in a new kind of war zone, one in which he now faced an enemy that was much more dangerous to American citizens than the “insurgents” he encountered in Iraq.
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Even more concerning is the fact that one of the officers, Paul Figueroa, has been promoted to the position of Assistant Police Chief and is now the second in command of the Oakland Police Department.
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Roland Holmgren, a Sergeant with a “Tango Team,” a type of Oakland tactical squad consisting of five officers and one sergeant each, was also involved in Olsen’s shooting. Like Figueroa, he was also promoted. Holmgren was awarded the title of Lieutenant earlier in 2014.
As Ali Winston of East Bay Press writes,
At the time of the shooting, Figueroa had no business being the incident commander or accepting the position: He was the head of the department's internal affairs division. As such, he would be responsible for investigating any misconduct stemming from that incident. It was a clear conflict of interest. As it turned out, OPD botched both the administrative and criminal investigations into the Olsen shooting. To this day, the department has yet to identify the officer responsible.
Still, Interim Police Chief Sean Whent, who had himself been head of the department’s Internal Affairs division (which speaks volumes as to the worth and credibility of that agency), went forward with promotions for both Figueroa and Holmgren.
East Bay Press also points out that Holmgren has quite the history of violence. As Ali Winston writes,
Holmgren also had been involved in the illegal use of force against anti-war protesters at the Port of Oakland in 2003. And he was involved in a drunken brawl with prison guards at a charity boxing event in 2010. He also was disciplined for turning off his chest-mounted camera during clashes with Occupy Oakland demonstrators on January 28, 2012.
Although the OPD conveniently “botched” the investigation of the shooting, Winston and other investigators were able to identify Officer Robert Roche as the individual who actually shot Olsen. However, while Roche was fired, the Alameda County District Attorney never filed charges against him. Neither did they file charges against the officers in charge, Holmgren and Figueroa.
- An Iraq war veteran, Olsen apparently believed that when he returned to the United States the war was over and he no longer had reason to be in fear for his life. Olsen mistakenly believed that he was returning to a free country.
Unfortunately, Olsen did not fully grasp the concept that he was now in a new kind of war zone, one in which he now faced an enemy that was much more dangerous to American citizens than the “insurgents” he encountered in Iraq.
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Publicerad den 21 mar 2014 av: WeCopwatch
$4.5 Million Tentative Settlement Reached In Scott Olsen's Lawsuit for "Less Lethal" Shooting by Oakland Police
The City of Oakland has agreed to pay Scott Olsen $4.5 million to compensate him for devastating brain injuries he suffered when an Oakland Police officer shot him in the head with a "less lethal" munition on October 25, 2011, during a demonstration in support of Occupy Oakland.
The City of Oakland has agreed to pay Scott Olsen $4.5 million to compensate him for devastating brain injuries he suffered when an Oakland Police officer shot him in the head with a "less lethal" munition on October 25, 2011, during a demonstration in support of Occupy Oakland.
The lead filled "bean bag" round, fired from a 12 gauge
shotgun, shattered Mr. Olsen's skull and permanently destroyed part of
his brain. The settlement in Olsen v. City of Oakland, 3:12-cv-06333,
is pending final approval by the Oakland City Council. Mr. Olsen was
represented by attorneys Jim Chanin, Rachel Lederman, and Julie Houk.
A United States military veteran who was critically injured by the police during an Occupy Wall Street protest in October 2011 will be awarded $4.5 million by the city of Oakland, California.
Attorneys for the man, 26-year-old Scott Olsen, said on Friday this week that city officials have agreed on a multi-million dollar settlement that will resolve a federal lawsuit filed after the Oct. 25, 2011 incident.
Olsen was with around 1,000 other demonstrators that evening who had decided to protest the local police department’s recent clearing of Occupy activists from an encampment they established in a city park. During a march through downtown, Olsen was hit in the head with a non-lethal projectile fired by an unknown police officer and quickly admitted to an area hospital in critical condition where he was diagnosed with a fractured skill, broken neck vertebrae and swelling of the brain.
The marine served two tours in Iraq between 2006 and 2010, and then joined the group Iraq Veterans Against the War. He was employed as a systems administrator in the San Francisco Bay area at the time of the 2011 protest.
The incident occurred less than five weeks after the Occupy movement started on the other side of the country in New York City’s Zuccotti Park, and was among several similar incidents that solidified focus on one of many issues the group for the most part rallied against: the excessive use of force by ever increasingly militarized police forces across the country.
“It’s heartbreaking, especially to think that this young man went overseas twice and came back in one piece to a country in shambles,” fellow vet and anti-war activist Matthis Chiroux told RT in 2011. “He goes out into the streets, he’s got a job he’s got a house, but he goes out to stand with the 99 percent and he’s the first one brutalized.”
One of Olsen’s attorneys, Jim Chanin, told the San Francisco Chronicle on Friday that it’s "a very sad day, not only for Scott, who's going to have to start his life all over, but for the city of Oakland, which has been hit with yet another unnecessary lawsuit with a very large settlement that could have been used for the public good while Scott went on with his life, without his injury."
Speaking to Democracy Now! this week, Olsen said, “It has been a very stressful experience having to deal with it. So, for that reason alone, I’m happy that it’s over.”
Olsen said legal proceedings were close to approaching the two-and-a-half year mark, and he expected his case would have taken upwards of another 24 months if lawyers for Oakland attempted to fight in court.
“And yeah, part of me does wish we had gone to trial, but this is what’s going to work out for me better, I think, and hopefully for pushing forward for change in Oakland police policy,” Olsen said.
City attorney Barbara Parker added to the Chronicle that Oakland will spend $1.4 million to fulfill the terms of the settlement, while the addition three-million-plus will be provided by the city’s insurance policy.
“Mr. Olsen suffered a tragic injury that will affect him for the rest of his life,” Parker said. “This settlement will save the city the far greater costs of a trial and potentially much higher judgment. This is a fair settlement given the facts of the case and the significant injuries Mr. Olsen sustained.”
http://rt.com/usa/occupy-scott-olsen-settlement-433/
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Uppladdad den 28 okt 2011
Matthis Chiroux, a US veteran and anti-war activist, tells us how he felt when he heard about Olsen. Many US vets are furious that that Olsen being a US vet was attacked in his homeland. After serving two tours in Iraq many believe it is a shame this happened to him at a peaceful protest. Chiroux tells us about another US vet that was hurt at a peaceful protest.
-The Corruption Files: Camden's Dirty Cops-
SvaraRaderaApr 08 2014 Information Liberation - by Clarence Walker
A Day in the Life in Camden
August 2, 2008 was a typical summer day in Camden, New Jersey, a gritty, impoverished, mostly black community across the Delaware River from Philadelphia.
A bright sun beamed down on the sweltering city as Joel Barnes, 26, prepared to attend a family barbecue at his grandmother's house -- a regular event for the Barnes family, where they relaxed and reminisced about days gone by.
He had hurried over to a friend's house to get his help situating the barbecue pit and sprucing up Barnes's grandmother's back yard before the festivities.
But as he arrived at his friend's house, Barnes encountered heavily-armed Camden police officers rushing into the house with guns drawn shouting "Police! Police! Police!" and demanding "Where's the drugs?"
Barnes and the other occupants of the house were herded into the kitchen, where Officer Robert Bayard handcuffed him. Bayard pulled a cell phone, cash and keys from Barnes's pocket. They found no drugs or contraband on him, so he figured he would be released once everything was settled.
It didn't work out that way.
Another Camden cop, Officer Antonio Figueroa, led Barnes out of the house and threw him into a van, then left. When Figueroa returned to the van, he again demanded of Barnes "Where's the shit at?"
"I don't know if there's drugs in that house. I don't live here," an increasingly scared and nervous Barnes replied, explaining that he was only there to ask his friend for help with the barbecue pit. Barnes said in a nervous tone voice.
Figueroa then showed Barnes a bag containing PCP-laced marijuana and made him an ominous offer: "Tell us where the shit's at, and we'll make this disappear," Figueroa said, echoing the famous line in Training Day when the crooked cop played by Denzel Washington asks a suspect in a similar situation, "Do you want to go home… or go to jail?"
With Barnes continuing his denials, Officer Figueroa grew angry, telling him "The drugs in the bag carried more serious charges than any drugs that might be found in the house." Figueroa then told Barnes he could get a lesser prison sentence if just told police where in his friend's house the drugs were.
"I don't know nothing about drugs in the house," Barnes responded, pleading to be let go.
Officers Figueroa and Bayard continued to tag-team the young man, with Bayard repeatedly demanding "Where's the shit?" and Figueroa waving the mysteriously appearing bag of dope and telling Barnes "This is yours!"
"That bag's not mine," a desperate Barnes repeatedly protested.
Then, Officer Figueroa again returned to the van, yelling, "We found the shit! You're going to jail!"[...]
http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=47093
--Pierre Omidyar co-funded Ukraine revolution groups with US government, documents show--
SvaraRadera""Just hours after last weekend’s ouster of Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, one of Pierre Omidyar’s newest hires at national security blog “The Intercept,” was already digging for the truth.
Marcy Wheeler, who is the new site’s “senior policy analyst,” speculated that the Ukraine revolution was likely a “coup” engineered by “deep” forces on behalf of “Pax Americana”:
“There’s quite a bit of evidence of coup-ness. Q is how many levels deep interference from both sides is.”
These are serious claims. So serious that I decided to investigate them. And what I found was shocking......................
http://pando.com/2014/02/28/pierre-omidyar-co-funded-ukraine-revolution-groups-with-us-government-documents-show/
http://www.scribd.com/doc/209847085/09-09-2013-Chesno-2012-Finance-Campain-Final
--Meet The Americans Who Put Together The Coup In Kiev—Chapter and Verse
SvaraRaderaby Contributor--
April 7, 2014
If the US State Department’s Victoria Nuland had not said “Fuck the EU,” few outsiders at the time would have heard of Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt, the man on the other end of her famously bugged telephone call.
But now Washington’s man in Kiev is gaining fame as the face of the CIA-style “destabilization campaign” that brought down Ukraine’s monumentally corrupt but legitimately elected President Viktor Yanukovych.
Ray McGovern, who worked for 27 years as an intelligence analyst for the agency, mocks -
“Geoffrey Pyatt is one of these State Department high officials who does what he’s told and fancies himself as a kind of a CIA operator.
He tells Democracy Now that -
It used to be the CIA doing these things. I know that for a fact.“
Now it’s the State Department, with its coat-and-tie diplomats, twitter and facebook accounts, and a trick bag of goodies to build support for American policy.[...]
http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/2014/04/07/meet-the-americans-who-put-together-the-coup-in-kiev-chapter-and-verse/