NYPD Unveils Sweeping Use-Of-Force Reforms

Police Commissioner Bill Bratton

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New York police officers will now be required to report any and all use-of-force incidents involving civilians and will face potential discipline if they fail to intervene when one of their colleagues uses excessive force, Police Commissioner Bill Bratton announced Thursday.

"Beginning with my appointment, one of the first things we focused on in the re-engineering process was use-of-force policies," Bratton told reporters at police headquarters. "It quickly became apparent that the deficiencies were significant. So we began, 20 months ago, to very aggressively change that."

The NYPD's new use-of-force policies, which Bratton said are the most comprehensive of any police department in the U.S., include potential penalties for officers who do not intervene when they witness excessive use of force and specific protocols on how to de-escalate potentially violent situations.

The new directives for officers will be codified in a specific section of the patrol guide, Bratton said. For example, officers will now be required to warn people before using their battons or Tasers.

Officers with the NYPD anti-terrorism unit guard a military recruiting station in Times Square in July.

Bebeto Matthews / AP

The new policies also include data collection efforts that will allow the department to put out comprehensive periodic reports for all kinds of force. Previously, the NYPD only produced reports on shooting incidents. The new data collection effort will also record instances of what Bratton called "use of force" against police when suspects resist arrest.

The new policies were announced on the same day as the Office of the Inspector General — a new regulatory agency which oversees the NYPD — released its first report on use-of-force in the department. The OIG report found that, between 2010 and 2014, 36% of all officers who were found to have used excessive force faced no discipline whatsoever.

Responding to the report, Bratton told reporters that the department has been working to fix many of the issues highlighted by the Inspector General for 20 months — before the new agency even existed. He added that the report only took into consideration 179 cases filed with the Civilian Complaint and Review Board, the independent agency that investigates police misconduct, and that most of those cases took place before he assumed office.

“The inspector general looked at 179 cases out of 10,000 allegations in that period," Bratton said. "And they draw wide-ranging statistical conclusions from that sample.”

However, not all CCRB complaints pertain to use of force, and not all of the ones that do are found to be substantiated. Of those that are, not all of them result in recommended sanctions.

When asked about Inspector General Philip Eure's comment that the "NYPD was living a bit in the Dark Ages," Bratton became furious.

“This department is nothing close to being on the Dark Ages," Bratton said. "And if that Inspector General report says we are in the Dark Ages, well, shame on him."

Bratton went on to say that he expects an apology from Eure.

The OIG did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Bratton's statements.

LINK: Inspector General: NYPD Routinely Doesn’t Discipline Officers Who Use Excess Force

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Rikers Guard Pleads Not Guilty To Beating Inmate To Death

Court sketch of Brian Coll (L)

Shirley Shepard

Rikers Island corrections officer Brian Coll pleaded not guilty Thursday in federal court to charges that he killed inmate Ronald Spear during a 2012 jailhouse beating in 2012. Coll faces life in prison if convicted.

On Dec. 19, 2012, Spear, 52, was found dead in jail after suffering blunt force trauma to the head, according to his death certificate. His death was ruled a homicide.

At the time of his death, Spear was being held on suspicion of robbery at Rikers while awaiting a hearing.

Coll, 45, is accused of attacking Spear after a verbal altercation erupted over the inmate's medical treatment for severe kidney problems. Coll allegedly punched Spear, then kicked him repeatedly while he was restrained by other guards.

According to prosecutors, as Coll continued kicking a restrained Spear, another officer, Anthony Torres, pleaded with him to stop. That's when Coll allegedly bent down, picked up Spear’s head, and told him: "That’s what you get for fucking with me," adding, "Remember I’m the one who did this to you."

Spear died minutes later on the ground.

Coll and fellow corrections officer Byron Taylor were charged in January with obstructing justice, falsifying reports, and conspiring with other corrections officers to cover up the beating. Torres is charged with obstructing justice and falsifying reports.

A superseding indictment filed this week against Coll alleges that his assault on Spear was the cause of the inmate's death. Coll was arrested on June 10 and has been in federal custody ever since.

The federal investigation that led to the charges against the Rikers officers ran in conjunction with another criminal investigation by the Bronx District Attorney’s office, which was prompted by a letter from Spear’s family and their lawyers.

Ronald Spear

Zoe Salzman

In August 2013, Spear’s family and the Legal Aid Society filed a lawsuit against the New York City and called for a federal investigation into his death.

The family quoted other inmates in their lawsuit who claimed to witness the beating:

Two of the inmates — Jesse James and Shawn Fraser — said in statements that Mr. Spear often complained about his medical care. He had a disagreement with an officer about his treatment, they said, and after he asked to see a captain, the officer grabbed his arm and hit him several times, knocking him down.

The officer then repeatedly kicked him in the face and chest while two other officers restrained him, the inmates said.

A third inmate, Julius Newton, said in his statement that he was awakened by the sounds of officers shouting and another inmate saying “something like, ‘They’re stomping him!’ ” Mr. Newton looked and saw an officer “kicking Ronald, who was lying on the ground” and not moving, according to his statement.

In July 2014, New York agreed to pay Spear’s family $2.75 million to settle the lawsuit.

Spear family attorney Zoe Salzman sent BuzzFeed News the following statement Thursday:

Ronald’s family is grateful that the Department of Justice is vigorously prosecuting this case. They are hopeful it will bring some justice for what happened to Ronald and that it will help reform and change Rikers, so that this does not happen to another inmate and his family.

A trial date has been set for May 31, 2016.

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Active Shooter Reported At Oregon Community College

Umpqua Community College

A spokesman for the Douglas County Sheriff's Office told NBC News law enforcement officials were responding to the reports of an active shooter on the Umpqua Community College campus, which is reportedly on lockdown.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates and follow BuzzFeed News on Twitter.

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The Last 10 Hours Of A Man Who Died Of Untreated Drug Withdrawal In Jail

David Stojcevski died from drug withdrawal while serving a 2014 jail sentence in Michigan for not showing up to traffic court. A video obtained by BuzzFeed News captured the last day of his life. WARNING: This post contains pictures and video of Stojcevski naked and dying in his cell that some readers may consider graphic.

David Stojcevksi, 32, was a Michigan resident undergoing drug addiction treatment when he was sentenced to 30 days in the Macomb County Jail in June 2014 for not showing up to a traffic court hearing for $772 in unpaid fines.

He had been ticketed for careless driving, according to a federal lawsuit filed by his family in March against the jail and its healthcare contractor, Correct Care Solutions. On Tuesday, the FBI announced they are conducting a civil review of Macomb County Sheriff Anthony Wickersham's investigation of Stojcevksi's death.

During his 16 days in jail, Stojcevski suffered from serious drug withdrawals that resulted in his death, according to an autopsy report. Corrections and medical staff failed to continue his drug treatment, according to the complaint, while Stojcevski was held in a mental health unit cell where he had to be naked under a smock at all times. While he was jailed, he lost 50 pounds, hallucinated, and at times apparently writhed in agony on the floor.

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The 230 hours of footage of Stojcevski leading up to his death show a man slowly succumbing to withdrawals, experts said.

During his first day in the mental health cell, he got plate of food around 4:19 p.m. in a styrofoam takeout container. He doesn't eat it.

He fiddles with his smock and eventually uses as a blanket. He lays on the mat that is placed on the floor and closes his eyes. That evening, a corrections officer with two people dressed in nurse smocks come in to check his blood pressure and then leave the cell after 10 minutes.

The rest of the days he spends laying still on the floor or curled on the bottom bunk of the cell. He seems to barely eat and at times the video does not show a styrofoam container of food at all.

By the 25th of July he is breathing heavily and twitching. He stares at the ceiling in a seemingly catatonic state.

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View Entire List ›

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Inspector General: NYPD Routinely Declines To Discipline Officers That Use Excessive Force

Kena Betancur / Getty Images

The New York City Police Department routinely fails to discipline officers who have been proven to have used excessive force, does not adequately track instances of abuse of power, and does not properly instruct officers on how to de-escalate tense situations, according to a report released Thursday by the department's Inspector General

The scathing report, the first of its kind prepared by the new regulatory agency, was based on an analysis of 179 cases from 2010 through 2014 in which the Civilian Complaint and Review Board, the independent agency that investigates police misconduct, found that officers had used excessive force. The report also examined internal NYPD records for over 100 of those cases.

Among the Inspector General's most troubling findings was the fact that top department brass declined to discipline a large portion of officers who were found to have abused their power. In 36% of the cases where independent investigators found evidence of misconduct, the police commissioner, who ultimately decides the fate of police officers accused of wrongdoing, "refused to impose any form of discipline."

Since Police Commissioner Bill Bratton took control of the department in January 2014, the percentage of officers who received no punishment despite having used excessive force decreased to 11%. For those cases reviewed under Police Commissioner Ray Kelly's tenure, 44% of the officers went unpunished.

The report also found that the NYPD "has no centralized form for reporting use of force and no department-wide system for tracking use of force in order to monitor the problem" and that the department "has insufficient training on de-escalation tactics necessary to prevent excessive force in the first instance."

“As promised by our Constitution, the use of force against a member of the public must be reasonable under the circumstances of that encounter," Philip Eure, the NYPD Inspector General, said in a statement. "As shown in our report, however, NYPD can greatly enhance police accountability by establishing clear policies regarding the use of force, training officers on those policies, ensuring that police use of force is properly reported, and holding officers accountable when they resort to excessive force.”

In a letter responding to the report, Lawrence Byrne, the NYPD's deputy commissioner for legal matters, said that the department "has been in dialogue with the Office of the Inspector General" to design policies to improve its use of force practices.

"For almost a year, the NYPD conducted an exhaustive review of use of force policies and related issues," Byrne wrote in the letter. "The result of this review is significantly enhanced policies, procedures, and training along with standardization of investigative tactics and reporting."

Commissioner Bratton is expected to hold a press conference Thursday afternoon detailing the department's new use-of-force policies. The New York Times published a preview of those news policies, reporting that the policies are expected to track "virtually all instances of force" used against civilians.

PBA President Patrick Lynch spoke out against the implementation of additional training and paperwork, saying that "more paperwork coupled with a serious shortage of police officers and the continual second-guessing of their actions is a formula for disaster."

"We’ve lived through the era of reactive policing where cops could do nothing but respond to 911 calls, causing crime and disorderly behavior to run rampant in our neighborhoods," he said.

LINK: New York Police Will Now Hand Out Stop-And-Frisk “Receipts”

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South Dakota High School Back In Session After Student Shot Principal In The Arm

District superintendent Jim Holbeck told BuzzFeed News that police are currently investigating Wednesday morning’s incident. The principal sustained minor injuries.

Rob Kim / Getty Images

A student at Harrisburg High School in South Dakota shot his principal in the arm during an altercation, authorities told BuzzFeed News.

The student allegedly entered the office of Harrisburg High School principal Kevin Lein just before 10 a.m. on Wednesday.

The two began to argue, and eventually the student, who has yet to be identified by authorities, allegedly pulled out a gun and shot Lein in the arm, Lincoln County Sheriff Dennis Johnson said.

An assistant principal tackled the student, and the school's athletic director arrived shortly after to help subdue him.

Johnson said there was a "massive law enforcement response," which included officers transporting students to other schools to reunite with their parents. The incident also initiated a campus lockdown.

Principal Lein sustained a minor injury to his arm, and walked students through the lockdown on the intercom before being taken to the hospital, Johnson said.

The sheriff added that the shooter is in juvenile custody in Sioux Falls, and awaits a formal charge by the state department, which will likely happen Thursday.

Harrisburg superintendent Jim Holbeck told BuzzFeed News that school was back in session Thursday, and additional officers had been called to campus for increased security.

Holbeck said the investigation into the incident was ongoing, and that he was "not privy to the motivation" of the suspect.

He added that the principal, assistant principal, and athletic director involved in the incident arrived at school Thursday.

Holbeck said the principal would address yesterday's incident at a school-wide assembly.

"We're going to try to get our kids back to normalcy now," he said.

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Mexico Extradites Drug Lords Including "La Barbie" To The U.S.

Edgar "La Barbie" Valdez Villarreal was arrested in 2010.

Daniel Aguilar / Getty Images

Thirteen people, including three high-level cartel members, Edgar “La Barbie” Valdez Villarreal and Jorge Costilla, were extradited from Mexico to the United States to face chargers on a number of crimes such as drug trafficking and murder, including the killing of a U.S. Consulate employee.

Valdez Villarreal, a former leader of the Beltran Leyva cartel, was arrested in August 2010. He got his nickname from his fair complexion, according to Reuters. He became a powerful member of the Beltran Leyva cartel after Mexican soldiers killed Arturo Beltran Leyva in 2009.

Mexican authorities captured Costilla, known as “El Cos,” a leader of Mexico’s Gulf Cartel, in 2010. Until his capture, Costilla was among the FBI’s most wanted, authorities said.

The Department of Justice announced the extraditions on Wednesday, following a June agreement between U.S. Attorney general Loretta Lynch and Attorney General Arely Gomez Gonzalez of Mexico to fight international organized crime.

"I am grateful to our Mexican counterparts not only for their assistance with this important matter, but also for their extraordinary efforts and unwavering partnership in our ongoing fight against international organized crime," Lynch said In a statement. .

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