Family sues Phoenix over unarmed man's killing by police

PHOENIX - The mother of a 29-year-old Phoenix man who was unarmed when he was fatally shot is suing the city and the police officer who killed him.

The lawsuit against the city of Phoenix and Officer Richard Chrisman was filed on Aug. 31 in Maricopa County Superior Court. It seeks unspecified damages but KNXV reported that Elvira Fernandez originally sought $29 million in a notice of claim.

Chrisman has pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder, aggravated assault and animal cruelty. His trial set to begin in November.

On Oct. 5 last year, court records say that Chrisman pulled his pistol, put it against 29-year-old Danny Frank Rodriguez's head and told him he didn't need a warrant when Rodriguez ordered him out of his house.

Chrisman then shocked Rodriguez with a stun gun, fatally shot his pit bull and then fatally shot Rodriguez.

http://ktar.com/category/local-news-articles/20110906/Family-sues-Phoenix-over-unarmed-man%27s-killing/

Hackers expose racism's underbelly: Driving while black, brown or red in Arizona

Driving, and living, while Black, Brown or Red in Arizona
Article and photo by Brenda Norrell
Copyright Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
Photos: Arizona border victims by Brenda Norrell

TUCSON -- When the ACLU released the report, "Driving while Black or Brown," exposing racial profiling by Arizona police, it came as no surprise to Native Americans who live in the state. When hackers exposed the racist e-mails of Arizona police officers last week, it came as no surprise to the Native Americans who are victims of excessive force by Arizona police in bordertowns.

When hackers exposed the fact that off-duty US Marine contract killers are patrolling the Arizona border with assault weapons, stalking migrants, it came as no surprise to human rights organizations in southern Arizona. When hackers exposed the fact that a school cop was reporting the diversity class at a Tucson high school to the Arizona Attorney General, that probably came as a surprise to many students and staff at Santa Rita High School. The district is engaged in an ongoing battle with the State of Arizona to save its ethnic studies programs.

What was a surprise when hackers spilled data from Arizona police files? The surprise was that they got caught. Arizona police, private security officers and white supremacists have carried out their abuse and crimes with impunity in the State of Arizona. The Governor, Arizona State Legislature and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio have fueled the xenophobic attitude towards migrants and all people of color. This trio has attempted to create rule by white supremacists in a state populated by 21 American Indian Nations and diverse peoples and cultures.

"The good old boy" system crashed with the servers of the Fraternal Order of Police websites last week.

While the mainstream media fuels the racism, aiding private prison profiteers to fill their prisons with people of color, the media also paints Sheriff Arpaio as a colorful character, rather than examining the poisonous climate of hate he has injected into the region.

What was in those police e-mails hacked last week? There were racist chain letters forwarded by police about immigrants. There were insulting chain letters about President Obama. There was an e-mail praising torture from the police chief of Springerville, located near the Navajo Nation, Zuni Pueblo and White Mountain Apache Indian Nations.

The data exposed a registered sex offender who is a member of the Fraternal Order of Police, and a stalker who was a potential candidate for police chief in Tucson in 2009. It also exposed that a Navajo police officer from Teec Nos Pos discovered Arizona state police were filing charges in state court, rather than tribal court, for crimes on Indian land. The Navajo officer was then targeted by his superior and discriminated against.

Although a group of the worst e-mails have been published, one e-mail was too vulgar to publish. The e-mail was sent to a member of the Fraternal Order of Police, who is a former employee of the private prison profiteer Corrections Corporations of America. The e-mail was vulgar sarcasm about what was actually down to the body of Osama bin Laden. It was sent by a person working at a lighting company in southern California. The same FPO member had an outgoing e-mail with too much profanity to publish.

The data exposed the fact that Arizona police are well aware of the white supremacists and hate groups in Arizona. There are few eyes to witness the murders and rapes in the Sonoran Desert. The victims who are people of color in Arizona are a low priority for Arizona prosecutors. When US Border Patrol agents have been charged with the murder of migrants in federal court in Tucson, they were not convicted.

The hacked e-mails show that Arizona police are well aware that their own data was used when the ACLU prepared the report, "Driving while Black or Brown." The report showed that Native Americans stopped by Arizona police are 3.25 times more likely to be searched than whites. The report says that these targeted searches were uncalled for, since whites are far more likely to be carrying contraband than Native Americans.

Here's a recap of stories from the e-mails and reports exposed by hackers during June, who sail under the names of Antisec, Anonymous and Lulzsec.

Hackers slam Arizona police a third time
Hackers slammed the Arizona Department of Police for a third time on Thursday night, exposing police e-mails with more racism directed at Arabs, anti-immigrant chain e-mails, and crude jokes about President Obama. The release, Chinga La Migra Comminque III, "Fraternal Ownage of Police," targets Arizona's Fraternal Order of Police. The Antisec movement said they are defacing and taking down their websites, on behalf of the rights of immigrants and working people. Read the worst e-mails:
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2011/06/hackers-slam-arizona-police-for-third.html

Tucson: Hackers reveal data targeting ethnic studies
TUCSON -- Hackers have once again slammed Arizona police, exposing racism and corruption.
In the second release of data on Wednesday, June 29, in the Chinga La Migra Dos files, Tucson schools public safety officer Robert 'Bob' Barry of Tucson, sent a letter to Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne urging an investigation of studies at Santa Rita High School in May.
Barry tells the Attorney General that students at Santa Rita High are being "indoctrinated" because they are being told about the genocide of Native Americans. Barry calls a diversity speech "hate speech."

Read more:
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2011/06/tucson-hackers-reveal-data-targeting.html

Hacked data reveals US Marines as contract killers, hunting migrants on the border
The hunting and murder of migrants by US Marines along the Arizona border was among the first facts revealed, after LulzSec hacked the Arizona Department of Public Safety on Thursday. The data exposes the fact that Arizona law enforcement officers were aware that migrants were being hunted by off-duty Marines patrolling the border with assault weapons. The information was in a report for the month of October, 2008, by Arizona's HIDTA (High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area) Investigative Support Center.

"In other incidents reported in October, U.S. Border Patrol agents encountered two subjects who claimed to be members of the Border Watch Group the Blue Lights based on the Caballo Loco Ranch. The subjects, armed with pistols and at least one M4 rifle, were dressed in full desert camouflage uniforms, similar to those of the United States military. They stated they were not members of the Minutemen, but paid contract employees who ‘get the job done’ and ‘were not just volunteers.’ They possessed valid United States Marine Corps identification cards."

Read more about this ranch near Sasabe, Arizona, south of Three Points, and alongside the Tohono O'odham Nation. The Caballo Loco is where Minutemen, Patriots, off-duty Marines and other white supremacists camp and stalk migrants:
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2011/06/hacked-data-reveals-us-marines-contract.html

Also see:
ACLU Arizona Racial Profiling "Driving while Black or Brown"
http://www.scribd.com/doc/59087728/Arizona-Racial-Profiling-Report-Driving-Black-or-Brown
Columbus, Ohio Police Target Native American Long Walkers, on Friday, July 3, 2011, and in 2008:
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2011/07/columbus-ohio-police-target-native.html

About the photos
At El Tiradito Shrine in Tucson, the organization "No More Deaths," remembered "Descondido" and thousands of other migrants who have died along the border of the United States and Mexico. Descondido was found hanged near the village of Cowlic in 2005 and is among the migrants meeting with violent death after crossing the border.

At El Tiradito Shrine in Tucson, volunteers with "No More Deaths," remembered migrants who have died along the border during a prayer vigil at a shrine in Tucson. When each migrants' name was read, those present said, "Presente" (Present) to show that they had not been forgotten. Thousands of names of migrants, who died from dehydration, assaults and other causes, were placed at the shrine.

Shrine outside federal courthouse in Tucson for Francisco Javier Dominguez Rivera, 22, from Morelia, Mexico, murdered by US Border Patrol agent. Agent was found not guilty.

Angie Ramon, Tohono O'odham, mother of Bennett Patricio, Jr, 18, stands where her son was run over and killed by the US Border Patrol on Tohono O'odham land. Ramon sued the officers in federal court, alleging her son was murdered by officers when he walked up on Border Patrol agents transferring a load of drugs in the remote desert at 3 am. Ramon carried the case to the Ninth Circuit and found no justice.
================================================================
Brenda Norrell has been a news reporter in Indian country for 29 years, living on the Navajo Nation for 18 years and in Tucson for a decade.
Copyright Censored News. To request permission to repost, please contact the publisher Brenda Norrell, brendanorrell@gmail.com

Maricopa County Sheriff deputies faulted in ID-theft case

Maricopa County sheriff's deputies violated the constitutional rights of two Hispanic men when they stopped and detained the men as part of a 2009 identity-theft investigation at a landscaping company, according to a federal judge's ruling Monday.

U.S. District Judge David G. Campbell ruled that Sheriff Joe Arpaio's deputies had no reason to stop Julian and Julio Mora before dawn on Feb. 11, 2009, nor any reason to make a warrantless arrest when deputies detained the Moras for nearly three hours.

The only reason the arresting deputies had to detain the men, according to Campbell's ruling, was because Julian Mora told deputies that he worked at Handyman Maintenance Inc., where sheriff's deputies were searching for suspected identity thieves.

Sheriff's deputies arrested 60 employees during the raid on the business, out of 109 employees at the site, on suspicion of a variety of crimes, ranging from fraud and identity theft to immigration violations.

Julian Mora's admission that he worked someplace where deputies suspected wrongdoing was not enough for the deputies to believe Julian Mora committed a crime, Campbell wrote.

"Any mistakes on the part of the John Doe deputies, even if made in good faith, were not 'those of reasonable men, acting on facts leading sensibly to their conclusions of probability,' " Campbell wrote.

Tim Casey, an attorney representing the Sheriffs Office, said the sheriff's defense was hampered because sheriff's officials were never able to identify the deputies who stopped the Moras.

More than 100 deputies were on scene that day, but without those who stopped the Moras, the judge was left to rule on the Moras version of events, Casey said.

"Without that, there was no testimony on why they were stopped," Casey said. "It was lack of evidence. They won because there's no evidence on that."

As important as Campbell's ruling is to the Moras, it bears more significance for the future of Arpaio's work-site enforcement operations, said Dan Pochoda, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union in Arizona, which represented the Moras.

Campbell also ruled that the arrests were the result of Arpaio's enforcement policies and that Maricopa County is liable for how those policies are enforced.

"It's the first test of their workplace raid policy, a plan they repeated many times," said Pochoda, who added that the ruling could serve as a deterrent. "It's a very important win."

http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/2011/04/25/20110425arpaio-deputies-ruling-id-theft.html

Cottonwood police shoot, kill suicidal woman

Cottonwood police shot and killed an armed 60-year-old woman who was threatening suicide on the sidewalk of a main thoroughfare Saturday.

Police spokesman Sgt. Gareth Braxton said that around 3:45 p.m., authorities responded to the Camelot RV Park near Main and 10th streets to calls of a woman threatening to commit suicide.

A witness said they saw a woman voicing such threats while carrying a handgun.

They located the woman, who lived in the RV park, armed with two handguns and threatening suicide.

Police made contact with the woman as she walked down Main Street and failed twice to apprehend her with Tasers, Braxton said.

An officer then used a rifle to shoot the woman as she drew her weapon. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Arizona Department of Public Safety Shooting Reconstruction Team assisted the criminal investigation and the officer has been placed on administrative leave, which is a common practice following an officer-involved shooting, Braxton said.

A criminal investigation of the officer's actions will be followed by a second investigation to look into whether his actions were within the bounds of the department's policies.

"Obviously, we need to gather all of the facts and make sure we have a complete story as to how the events unfolded, in order to avoid speculation," Braxton said in a written statement. "You can expect a meticulous investigation to occur as you would with any situation such as this."

Police will release the name of the woman on Monday once her family has been notified.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/04/02/20110402arizona-cottonwood-officer-involved-shooting.html

Elderly couple in turmoil since botched police raid

Nearly six months have passed since a Gilbert SWAT team raided the house of an elderly Phoenix couple and started a fire that destroyed the family's home and killed their dog.

Salvador Celaya, 73, and Carlota Celaya, 69, said everything they spent their life working for was destroyed in the Dec. 20 fire.

The couple said they live in constant fear of police since the raid and wonder if they will ever own a home again.

Gilbert and Scottsdale police obtained a search warrant for the Celayas' house after an investigation led them to believe they would find suspected carjacker and thief Erasmo Ruiz Villarreal, 23, at the residence. At the onset of the raid, Gilbert police threw a flash-bang diversion device into the Celayas' adult grandson's bedroom window. A flash-bang device is a form of non-lethal hand grenade that is meant to disorient temporarily.

A Phoenix Fire Department investigation revealed that the flash-bang landed on a bed and ignited the fire. The Fire Department's report stated that Gilbert police did not use the device in accordance with the manufacturer's safety precautions, which included checking and clearing the area before deployment.

Gilbert police said that Salvador's decision to arm himself with a gun forced them to implement safety precautions that prevented them from putting the fire out.

Police did not find their suspect or any of the items listed on the search warrant, and Gilbert police have yet to release an internal investigation of their SWAT operation.

The Celayas said they hired Phoenix attorney Daniel Ortega after they had not heard from police about whether they would be reimbursed for their destroyed house and belongings.

Salvador and Carlota said they came to the United States as Mexican immigrants about 45 years ago and raised their family on meager but hard-earned wages as a mechanic and seamstress.

Since retiring, they have lived on Social Security and could not afford to insure their house.

"I guess we felt safe. We'd lived there 40 years. We never thought anything like this could happen to us," Carlota said in Spanish.

Salvador said that in Mexico where he grew up, he could understand police doing something like this, but he never imagined American police would use such force raiding a citizen's house.

The actions of the police during the raid, Carlota said, have caused vivid nightmares and depression for the couple and their daughter Sonia, who lives with her parents as their caretaker.

Crying, Carlota recalled police handcuffing them and sitting them in a parking lot behind their house until about 2 a.m. Carlota said police never told them they had a right to an attorney and asked them repeatedly about Villarreal.

"I told them over and over I didn't know who they were talking about," she said.

Carlota said they saw a lifetime of memories go up in flames as they watched their house burn. The family and the two dogs that survived the fire are living in a south Phoenix house that their sons had planned to renovate and sell.

"We miss everything from our home - my flowers, my trees, neighbors - everything," Carlota said. "Our whole life was there."

Sonia, also crying, said she feels terrible for her parents, desperately misses her dog and blames herself for not being home early enough the night of the raid to protect her family.

"I don't leave the house at night any more. I will never leave them alone again," said Sonia, who is being treated by a therapist for trauma she said is related to the raid. "I told police my dog was in there. They did nothing. I don't have children. Bino, he was my baby."

Sonia said she worries about the effect the raid has had on her parents' health. Salvador's Alzheimer's disease has worsened, she said. And her mother, she said, who is in remission from breast cancer, cannot sleep and has stomach pains.

Carlota, speaking through tears, said she recalled mistaking police for thieves and running to warn her husband.

"It was already night. I woke him to tell him they were robbing us," she said. "Why didn't they just knock? We would have let them search the whole house. They would have seen that what they were looking for wasn't there. We would still have our home."

Turning to his wife, Salvador said in Spanish that he only grabbed a gun to protect her and their grandson.

"I see on the news every night, murderers and kidnappers," he said. "Why did they do this to us? We never did anything."

Salvador said he knows that from every bad there comes good, and he remains grateful for the kindness of his neighbors.

"Everything we have now, this furniture, they donated to us," he said. "I am afraid we will have to live in a trailer. All this is in the hands of God now."

Carlota said she prays that Gilbert will right its mistake.

"Just reimburse us for our house, for the things we lost," she said.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/gilbert/articles/0613celayas0613.html