All the more evidence that what we really need is more citizen oversight of *************** - on-the-job oversight.
This guy's a brave soul for exposing this ****, but still, I'd recommend he move out of town, and maybe change his name...
http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2010-09-02/news/miami-dade-cop-frank-adams-colleagues-lie/
Excerpt:
Miami-Dade Police officer Frank Adams calls it the "Rodney King beatdown." When the burly, soft-spoken 15-year department veteran watched four fellow cops kick, *****, and punch an unarmed subject eight years ago, he says, it was every bit as vicious as the infamous Los Angeles incident. The only difference: There wasn't a video camera to catch it.
"I thought he was dead," Adams says of 42-year-old Henry Lee Gaines, who was arrested around 4 a.m. September 22, 2002, in front of his tiny banana-colored Brownsville home. "I saw him go into convulsions and thought, Oh my God, they ****** this guy."
But what really floored Adams is the way Officer Gregorio Perez, who wrote the report, spun the incident. Five-foot-nine-inch Gaines was described as an incredibly powerful aggressor. He had allegedly lifted one officer onto his shoulder, climbed a set of stairs, and hurled the cop to the ground. He had supposedly even grabbed Adams by the shirt and repeatedly punched him, knocking him to the ground and injuring his hand.
It's a lie, Adams says. He claims Gaines never resisted: The hand injury had occurred when another cop knocked Adams over while trying to kick Gaines. No criminal charges have been filed, but the claim was validated last month by the department's Professional Compliance Bureau (PCB).
Adams is an exemplary cop if his personnel record is any indication. He has been decorated with 12 commendations for good police work, and his ******** is also a Miami-Dade officer. But he says the state's largest police department has become a menace, regularly ******* and humiliating the people it's sworn to protect — and then lying about it. He's risking his career by speaking with New Times to expose its failings.
"They're supposed to be my brothers in blue," he says, struggling to keep his voice audible as his eyes become soggy. "But they're not my brothers — not when they're treating people like this."
Miami-Dade Police spokesperson Treanese Louissaint declined to answer a lengthy list of questions detailing Adams's claims about the alleged beatdown and other incidents. She said the department "will be able to make a comment" only upon receipt of information from the PCB. As of press time, that had not happened.
This guy's a brave soul for exposing this ****, but still, I'd recommend he move out of town, and maybe change his name...
http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2010-09-02/news/miami-dade-cop-frank-adams-colleagues-lie/
Excerpt:
Miami-Dade Police officer Frank Adams calls it the "Rodney King beatdown." When the burly, soft-spoken 15-year department veteran watched four fellow cops kick, *****, and punch an unarmed subject eight years ago, he says, it was every bit as vicious as the infamous Los Angeles incident. The only difference: There wasn't a video camera to catch it.
"I thought he was dead," Adams says of 42-year-old Henry Lee Gaines, who was arrested around 4 a.m. September 22, 2002, in front of his tiny banana-colored Brownsville home. "I saw him go into convulsions and thought, Oh my God, they ****** this guy."
But what really floored Adams is the way Officer Gregorio Perez, who wrote the report, spun the incident. Five-foot-nine-inch Gaines was described as an incredibly powerful aggressor. He had allegedly lifted one officer onto his shoulder, climbed a set of stairs, and hurled the cop to the ground. He had supposedly even grabbed Adams by the shirt and repeatedly punched him, knocking him to the ground and injuring his hand.
It's a lie, Adams says. He claims Gaines never resisted: The hand injury had occurred when another cop knocked Adams over while trying to kick Gaines. No criminal charges have been filed, but the claim was validated last month by the department's Professional Compliance Bureau (PCB).
Adams is an exemplary cop if his personnel record is any indication. He has been decorated with 12 commendations for good police work, and his ******** is also a Miami-Dade officer. But he says the state's largest police department has become a menace, regularly ******* and humiliating the people it's sworn to protect — and then lying about it. He's risking his career by speaking with New Times to expose its failings.
"They're supposed to be my brothers in blue," he says, struggling to keep his voice audible as his eyes become soggy. "But they're not my brothers — not when they're treating people like this."
Miami-Dade Police spokesperson Treanese Louissaint declined to answer a lengthy list of questions detailing Adams's claims about the alleged beatdown and other incidents. She said the department "will be able to make a comment" only upon receipt of information from the PCB. As of press time, that had not happened.
