While we’ve heard government representatives and bureaucrats want more police body cameras
There are two recent examples of this highlighted by Matt Agorist at The Free Thought Project.
One of those is out of Chicago where a police team stormed the wrong house, pointing guns at a mother and her children, including a baby.
The other story is out of Arizona, where police tell us that a woman escaped handcuffs and shackles only to throw herself from a moving vehicle driven by an officer she accused of raping her. She later died due to injuries sustained.
In both cases, the officers turned their body cameras off.
First, from Chicago, Agorist reports:
Chicago, IL — Over the past few years, the residents of Chicago have been subjected to a militarized police state occupation. Innocent family after innocent family each waking up in the middle of the night as heavily armed storm troopers throw flash bangs into their homes, haul them outside in the cold, point guns at their heads, and even handcuff small children. These families are being terrorized in their own homes, many of them left with PTSD, and no one is being held accountable—because the state is the one behind the terror. As the following case illustrates, cops can be seen on their own body cameras breaking the law and they face no consequences.
Thanks to the tireless efforts by the folks at CBS 2 in Chicago, the rest of America is getting a glimpse into the horror that is the Chicago police department’s inability to raid the correct home. In only three years, CBS 2 has documented over 50 innocent families who have been raided by Chicago’s finest based on faulty information.
Hardly an isolated incident, we’ve reported on cops raiding a four-year-old’s birthday party, smashing his cake and other raids where they held small children at gunpoint. One of these families has even been raided — mistakenly — three times. It is an utter disaster.
Toni Tate and her family are the latest victims in this never-ending attack on the innocent carried out by the Chicago police. In raid after raid, body camera footage is conveniently lacking and now we have evidence as to why that may be. Cops recorded themselves turning off their body cameras as they terrorized this innocent family.
“And they just came in flying, guns drawn,” said Tate.
Tate told CBS 2 that she feared cops were going to kill her because she was holding a spoon. That part was caught on body camera footage.
“I got a spoon in my hand,” said Tate as heavily armed cops pointed guns at her and her children.
For two and a half minutes, cops are seen on the body camera footage terrorizing this family. Guns are pointed at Tate’s two daughters as one of them holds a baby. Tate’s son is forced to the ground with his hands cuffed behind his back as a cop points an AR-15 at his head.
Tate is also seen being humiliated in her nightgown with her hands cuffed behind her back as cops further violate the rights of this innocent family. The scene is like something out of Afghanistan as soldiers conduct raids of suspected Al-Qaeda members. Sadly, however, it is taking place smack in the middle of the land of the free.
Just as soon as the abuse started, video of it ended.
“Kill cameras!”
That order reportedly came from Sgt. Anthony Bruno who was recorded on his own body camera giving the order to fellow cops to halt the documentation of their abuse — which went on according to Tate, for another hour.
“We were both handcuffed for about almost an hour,” said Tate.
During the raid, cops even admitted to raiding innocent families all the time. Toni Tate’s brother showed up and reminded officers that people are fed up with their wrong raids, saying: “Police always kick in doors with search warrants and they don’t even be the crib they looking for, bro! It happens.”
The officer can then be heard saying, “It do. You’re right.”
It was that brazen.
As CBS 2 reports, Bruno gave the “kill cameras” order after recording only two and half minutes of the raid inside the house. It appears to be a complete violation of the Chicago Police Department’s body camera policy.
Sheila Bedi, a law professor at Northwestern University, told CBS 2 that this is a clear violation.
“Policy cannot be more clear,” said Bedi in regard to the department’s body camera policy. “They had to have their cameras on during these raids.”
Despite this blatant violation captured on camera, no one will likely be held accountable as this is not the first time incidents like this have happened.
As CBS 2 reports:
Just four months earlier, Bruno and a team of officers were caught doing the same thing during another wrong raid. Three innocent children had guns pointed at them as they were forced to the ground. Police body camera video shows one of the siblings face down on the floor crying, “Please do not shoot me, please.”
After terrifying that 14-year-old, her 7-year-old brother, and her 11-year old-sister, police interrogated them without a parent present.
One officer can be heard on the body camera saying, “Just tell us, do you know where the stuff is at? Because if you can tell us that, then we are out of here.”
Interrogating children without a parent present is illegal yet no action was taken against Bruno and his team of terrorizing cops who can cover up their crimes and face no accountability.
“The only reason, the only justification, for cutting off cameras in this type of situation is some sort of cover-up,” said Bedi, “or it’s some recognition that they made a bad call they don’t need documentation of it.”
The Chicago police department appears to be entirely unconcerned with officers violating the law and the abuse shows that these laws and policies are essentially meaningless.
“It’s critically important that Chicago police officers who violate policy, like the body cam policy, are held accountable. Or else the policies are meaningless – not worth the paper they are written on,” said Bedi.
Then, out of Arizona, Agorist reported:
Safford, AZ — A bombshell revelation has come to light this month in the case of Jorden Simms who died in police custody after being hurled from the back seat of a police cruiser while handcuffed, shackled, and belt-chained. The officer who stands accused of raping Simms admitted to turning off his body camera at the time of the alleged assault. Now, the claims of a cover up by the victim’s family hold even more water.
As KVOA reports, the case started with a shoplifting call. Documents from the Safford Police Department obtained by 12 News say Simms had been previously arrested for shoplifting. However, when Safford Police officer Jeremiah French arrived, there was no evidence of shoplifting. French arrested Simms anyway, based on a warrant from a neighboring county.
The warrant was reportedly over failure to appear for a drug charge. After her arrest, according to the documents, Simms complained of stomach pain and was taken to the hospital. Despite the hospital visit lasting nearly two hours, French made little mention of it in his report.
According to the report, French met with staff, Simms refused medication, and was then released back into his custody. However, a few days later, Simms told authorities something far more sinister happened at the hospital — French raped her.
An easy way to prove French’s innocence in the matter would be to review his body camera footage from his interaction with Simms, so investigators went straight to it. However, during the time Simms told police she was left alone with French, the cop turned off his body camera.
French would tell investigators that he turned the camera off while in the hospital, allegedly because the hospital had concerns over patient privacy. However, there was no mention of hospital staff telling French to turn off the camera in the report. Nurses only reported that Simms was at the hospital for two hours with French.
As TFTP reported in January, Simms mother, Deborah Sanchez began speaking out, telling anyone who will listen that she doesn’t believe the official story from police on how her daughter died in police custody. Sanchez claims police silenced her daughter to keep her from ousting officers who raped and attacked her.
“They silenced my daughter, they wanted to make sure she never came forward,” Sanchez said.
Days before police claim Simms broke free from her handcuffs, chain-belt and shackles and jumped out of the backseat of a moving police cruiser, as mentioned above, Simms claimed French raped her.
“I know 100% she was telling the truth,” Sanchez said of her daughter. “When you speak to someone who has been violated, trust me, broken is all in their voice.”
Now, Sanchez is fighting to find out the truth of what really happened to her daughter on that fateful day.
As TFTP reported at the time, the Graham County Sheriff’s Office had one job to do: transport Simms from their county to Mt. Graham Regional Hospital and then back to jail. But instead of arriving safely at the hospital, Simms allegedly removed her handcuffs, opened the door to the police Ford Explorer and jumped out of the vehicle while it was going down the road.
The impact left Simms with closed head injuries to her brain, leaving her brain dead. She later died.
“She was a ray of sunshine when she wanted to be…Her life meant something,” Simms’ aunt said. “We want to know how this happened. We want to know what she suffered prior to this event…It’s been incredibly challenging. We are just waiting for the process to get started. We want answers, we know that something is not right with the whole scenario. Jorden was in the grips of addiction, but under that addiction was a kind, loving, funny woman.”
Addiction or no drug problem at all, what Simms alleged before her death has the family as well as media asking questions.
Arizona’s Department of Highway Safety (DPS) is now investigating not only how a handcuffed, shackled, and escorted inmate could slip out of her shackles and jump to her death from a moving police vehicle, but also the inmate’s claim officer French raped her. According to ABC 15:
DPS officials tell ABC15 that at the request of the sheriffs’ office, detectives from the Special Investigations Unit are looking into allegations of sexual assault and the in-custody death of Simms.
Simms also alleged while she was in jail, a female officer sexually assaulted her with an unknown object. According to numerous reports, Simms reported her alleged sexual assaults to the Graham County Sheriff’s Office and both were supposedly investigated by trained forensics nurses. As 12 News reports, after the initial examination and rape kit, police claim a medical professional told them to go to another hospital because they lacked a piece of equipment. Simms would never make it to the next hospital.
On December 24, GCSO said Simms returned to the Graham County jail and on that night, she made a report alleging she had been sexually assaulted by a Graham County Detention Officer when she was initially brought back in the building that morning.
On December 26, Simms was transported to an advocacy center located in Sierra Vista for a specialized examination, GCSO said. A deputy and detention sergeant drove Simms in a Ford Explorer patrol vehicle.
According to GCSO, after the initial exam at the advocacy center, a medical professional said Simms’ required equipment that wasn’t available there. She was then transported to Mt. Graham Regional Hospital, but before arriving, GCSO said Simms opened the rear driver’s side door and “exited the vehicle.”
The Sheriff’s Office issued the following statement about Simms’ allegations once the department became aware of the sexual assault allegations:
It was arranged to have Jorden Simms transported to an advocacy center in Sierra Vista for a specialized examination. The transport was done by a deputy and detention sergeant from the Graham County Sheriff’s Office. The initial exam was completed and based on a recommendation by a medical professional at the Center, that would require utilizing equipment not available at the advocacy center, arrangements were made to send Jorden Simms to Mt. Graham Regional Hospital before returning to the Graham County Adult Detention Facility.
On the way to the hospital Simms managed to carry out an act that would impress even the great Harry Houdini, broke free from multiple point restraints, and jumped out of the SUV according to police.
Sanchez said her daughter’s brain was “crushed” and she also suffered a broken arm, broken leg, and numerous other injuries before passing away in the hospital.
At a vigil for her daughter in January, Sanchez said there was still blood on the roadside where her daughter died.
“Seeing the blood still on the road and knowing that she was just right down the road from the hospital, there was no reason my daughter had to die.”
Adding to the suspicious nature of Simms’ death is the fact that the results of the rape kit have yet to be made public despite the exam taking place two months ago.
“Give me the damn truth because my daughter deserves it,” Sanchez said. “I want justice. I don’t give a crap about anything else, I want justice for my daughter.”
The only way body cameras will ever be truly effective is if they are turned on when a shift begins and run the entire time and submitted when the shift is over with multiple people confirming the submission. As long as officers have the ability to shut them off, they are prone for abuse so that corrupt and criminal cops can get away with their crimes.
