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Busy Week for Community Courtwatch |
Current rating: 0 |
by Brian Dolinar
Email: briandolinar (nospam) gmail.com (unverified!) |
28 Aug 2006
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Courtwatchers have been busy this last week keeping an eye on the criminal justice system in Champaign County. Again it is volunteers, individuals doing their duty as citizens, that have done more work than paid staff in the mainstream media or salaried public officials. Though we have been labeled “activists” and summarily dismissed, it is due to our efforts that the system will be held accountable. |
Racial Profiling Numbers “Extreme”
Early this last week on Monday, August 21, we addressed the Urbana City Council about the recently released numbers indicating the widespread practice of racial profiling in Urbana and Champaign. These numbers are important because traffic stops are often the first point of contact between police and those being run through the justice system. Traffic stops often lead to background checks and illegal searches, all done with no probable cause.
For a second year, the Illinois Department of Transportation released the numbers of all traffic stops and the racial background of drivers. Courtwatcher Randall Cotton told the Urbana city council that the “minority disparity index” of 1.44 in Urbana, a number indicating that minorities are 44% more likely to be pulled over than whites, hides the more alarming rates of racial profiling against specifically African Americans in the community. While African Americans represent only 12% of the population in Urbana, they make up 33% of all traffic stops. This means that Blacks are 270% more likely to be pulled over than whites, a number that is absolutely appalling.
Paid professionals at the News-Gazette had failed to crunch these numbers and were forced to back track on their reporting. An earlier headline that read “Minority Traffic Stops Decline in Urbana,” was followed by one reading “Activist Says Black Traffic Stops in Urbana Are Extreme.” Interestingly, Randall Cotton’s connections with C-U Citizens for Peace and Justice, Community Courtwatch, or AWARE was not mentioned in the newspaper. The label “activist” (one that may be flattering to Randall), is a clear attempt to discredit our efforts in the eyes of the largely conservative readership of the News-Gazette.
Recommendation for Sheriff Dan Walsh
Also this week was the coroner’s inquest for Quentin Larry, a 36 year-old resident of Champaign who died in the Champaign County jail over Memorial Day weekend. Larry’s death was the fifth in the County jail over a two year period, another alarming number. This fosters the perception that if you go into the Champaign County jail, you might not come out alive! At the inquest, Champaign County coroner Duane Northrup questioned Champaign police officer Mark Huckstep who conducted the investigation. In these deaths an “independent” investigation involves the Champaign police investigating Champaign County. We do not find this practice to be independent, when the local law enforcement is a relatively small, tight-knit community of people who know one another on a first name basis, who know one another’s children, and who regularly have lunch together.
The conclusion of the coroner’s inquest was that Larry’s death was accidental, a heart attack that resulted from a high level of cocaine toxicity in his bloodstream. But the question remains as to how Larry was able to get drugs in the jail.
Officer Huckstep testified that Quentin Larry was arrested in Urbana at 3:20 am on May 27, 2006. Northrup, who has been very forthcoming with questions from the public over the deaths in the jails, asked Huckstep to detail the steps of Larry’s processing in the jail. Huckstep said that a “standard pat down” was done by Sheriff’s deputy Heather Gill, who found no contraband. He also said that it was standard procedure for a female guard to process a male inmate.
A 20-minute mental health evaluation was conducted on Larry at 12:45 the afternoon of May 27. The nurse found that he had high blood pressure and was acting paranoid and delusional. Yet at that time, there was no indication that Larry was under the influence of drugs.
Huckstep claimed that because of Larry’s actions, he was not “dressed out” in processing – he remained in his street clothes rather than being given the usual jail garb. Larry was taken from a holding cell where he was with other inmates and put into an individual holding cell.
At approximately 9:00 pm, over 17 hours after Larry arrived in the jail, he was found collapsed on the floor of his cell. At 9:04, Sergeant Johnson had checked up on Larry. At 9:09, Johnson found Larry down and not breathing. When there was an attempt to administer CPR, a bag was found in Larry’s mouth and removed. He was revived and sent to Carle Hospital, where he arrived at 9:29 pm. The next morning, May 28, at 6:10 am the doctors pronounced him dead.
Officer Huckstep testified at the time of the inquest that the results of the contents of the bag found in Larry’s mouth had still not come in. He stated the bag was 2 inches long and Northrup said that it appeared to be a Cling Wrap plastic tied at the top. Larry’s death was presumably caused by the contents escaping the bag. The autopsy found high toxicity levels of cocaine in Larry’s bloodstream. Northrup stated that when cocaine is administered orally, it is more powerful than smoking or snorting it. How much cocaine is not known, although it was probably crack cocaine. How the bag was ripped was not explained.
Officer Huckstep concluded by saying “I believe they did everything they could to try to save him.”
After hearing the testimony of Officer Huckstep, the six member jury deliberated and came back with a ruling that found Larry’s death to be accidental. They also entered a recommendation that Sheriff Dan Walsh review the procedure for processing individuals and conduct more thorough searches.
This leaves the Larry family and the public wondering: How did he get the bag in the first place after being in the jail for 17 hours? How did he get it through booking, past several guards, and a nurse? Did he bring it in himself? Did he get it from another inmate? Did he cop it off a guard? Why would Larry knowingly put an open bag of crack in his mouth, surely aware that it could cause an overdose? If he was trying to hide the bag from Sgt. Johnson, why not flush it down the toilet? Should a man who has not been found guilty of a crime die in police custody? Did this have to happen five times in Champaign County?
These questions and others are not ridiculous given the abuses by another prison guard that has recently come to light.
They are ultimately questions that must be answered by Sheriff Dan Walsh.
Sergeant Myers Caught Lying About Spit Hoods
Courtwatchers were in court Friday, August 25, to see Sergeant William Alan Myers enter a plea of not guilty to accusations that he tased inmate Ray Hsieh in 2005 and lied about it to his superiors. In addition to the two counts of aggravated battery and obstruction of justice, prosecutors filed the charge of disorderly conduct, a Class 4 felony that carries a minimum of one year in prison.
The police report on Myers reveals a long list of abuses, actions that could be considered torture (05-CF-2105). I have personally contacted news sources, told the News-Gazette several times to read the report on Myers, and still important information about Myers has been kept from the public.
In the report, it reveals that investigators interviewed several other individuals who were tased by Myers. One of the most disturbing is the story of Michael Rich, a 21 year-old white male, who says that Myers put him in a restraint chair, put a spit hood over his head, and punched him in the head repeatedly. Myers then used a Taser on him. Rich filed a formal complaint and spoke personally to Dan Walsh months before Myers had the incident with Ray Hsieh.
This looks bad for both Walsh, who knew about these abuses, and Myers who has shown a pattern of behavior.
Ray Hsieh, like Michael Rich, also had a spit hood placed over his head, a hood designed to keep inmates from spitting on officers. Myers received the additional third charge of disorderly conduct because he had also lied about the need for the spit hood. Apparently, Hsieh had not been spitting on officers. These stories suggest that Myers is a sadistic individual who is following examples set by the U.S. military in their prosecution of the “War on Terror.”
It appears that Myers was placing hoods over individuals and then beating them, a scene similar to the instances of torture exposed in the infamous Abu Ghraib scandal. Additionally, Myers was using a Taser to torture inmates, a tool which although called a “non-lethal” weapon has caused over 150 deaths in the U.S. according to Amnesty International. Myers tased Ray Hsieh a total of four times, each shot carrying 50,000 volts of electricity.
Statistics have shown that in Champaign County, 64% of those shot with Tasers are African American. In 2004, C-U Citizens for Peace and Justice successfully stopped the purchase of Tasers by the city of Champaign. Community Courtwatch calls for the abolition of all Tasers in Champaign County (communitycourtwatch.org). The case of Sgt. Myers reveals how easily these high-tech cattle prods can be abused.
Myers remains on paid leave. He will be in court again on October 3.
Lastly, we were in court Wednesday for the arraignment of Ryan Garrett, another one of Sheriff Walsh’s deputies who is charged with four counts of official misconduct. Garrett allegedly called another officer to conduct a DUI on his estranged wife, who tested negative. In another act of harassment, he also stalked his wife’s boyfriend, approached him, and told him “I’m a cop. Watch your back.” Garrett pleaded not guilty and will be in court again on October 17. |
This work is in the public domain. |
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Re: Busy Week for Community Courtwatch |
by BD
BD (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
13 Sep 2006
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To read more about the criminal justice system in Champaign County, see the new issue of the Public i out on stands NOW!
BD |
