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Tuesday, August 22, 2006

POLICE BRUTALITY & COVER UP

I pasted this article from the "Communities United Against Police Brutality" news letter you can find a link to cuapb in the link section of this blog.

PHILANDER JENKINS BACK IN COURT
FALSE REPORTING CHARGE ON TRIAL
Philander Jenkins heads back to court this week for trial on charges that he falsely reported being brutalized by jail guards. Regular readers of this newsletter know that Philander was caught up on an MPD raid on a house just five minutes after arriving there. He was beaten and had his face stomped so badly that his jaw was fractured in multiple places. He was then taken to the Hennepin County jail and held for 10 days with no medical care. When his mother was able to raise the funds to bail him out, he was taken straight to the hospital and straight into surgery to have plates implanted in his jaw.

What followed after was a series of arrests and trials on false charges in order to dirty up Philander and prevent a lawsuit for his injuries and lack of medical care. While in jail awaiting one of the trials, Philander was assaulted by deputies, who smashed his head into the wall then pulled his pants down and inserted a hard object into his rectum. One of the deputies commented that they were getting him ready for prison life.

Philander was able to get word out to his mother of the assault and we swung into immediate action to get him a medical exam. He was seen at Hennepin County Medical Center and although they indicated that Philander had been sexually assaulted, we did not feel that the exam was thorough enough and his attorney petitioned the courts for an independent exam, which was initially granted. Deputies had other ideas though, and Philander was whisked away from Fairview Riverside Hospital just before a doctor could see him. Judge Katherian Roe, who granted the initial order, turned icy and refused a second order for an exam. Because of all of the delays, the opportunity for a real exam was lost.

A bogus BCA investigation followed, in which the inmate witnesses were never interviewed, Philander was given a hostile and limited interview and other key pieces of evidence were ignored. After the BCA predictably reported its findings of no wrongdoing by the deputies, Philander was charged with falsely reporting the attack.

There's two things wrong with this scenario: Philander never reported the attack to law enforcement officials (it was jail officials who reported it) and the attack actually happened. The county's case is all wet but they feel an obligation to go through the motions in yet another effort to avoid legal responsibility for the actions of their people.

Come to court this week to see dynamic duo super-attorneys Jill Clark and Jill Waite in action. Jury selection should conclude today and the trial should start in earnest tomorrow.

Philander Jenkins
Hennepin County Government Center
300 S 6th Street, Minneapolis
Hearing convenes daily at 9:00 a.m.
Check with the court information booth for courtroom number.
Check with our hotline 612-874-7867 for status of the trial.

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1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

If they did not keep mentioning Hennipen County, you would swear they were talking about St. Paul.

1:38 AM  

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