Plainclothes allegedly police beat up 12-year-old honor student girl then arrest her 3 weeks later
So the three brave officers did the natural thing: they allegedly jumped the girl and beat her up, according to Courthouse News and the Houston Press.
As Dymond headed toward the breaker, a blue van drove up and three men jumped out rushing toward her. One of them grabbed her saying, “You’re a prostitute. You’re coming with me.”I guess the silly family expected an apology from the police. Like I said, silly. Instead, here's what happened.Dymond grabbed onto a tree and started screaming, “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy.” One of the men covered her mouth. Two of the men beat her about the face and throat.
As it turned out, the three men were plain-clothed Galveston police officers who had been called to the area regarding three white prostitutes soliciting a white man and a black drug dealer.
After the incident, Dymond was hospitalized and suffered black eyes as well as throat and ear drum injuries.
Three weeks later, according to the lawsuit, police went to Dymond’s school, where she was an honor student, and arrested her for assaulting a public servant. Griffin says the allegations stem from when Dymond fought back against the three men who were trying to take her from her home. The case went to trial, but the judge declared it a mistrial on the first day, says Griffin. The new trial is set for February.UPDATE: This case was filed on 22nd August 2008, and the alleged attacked occurred in August 2006, according to this court document. Here is the Courthouse News article.
Here's the filing in the Texas Southern District Court.
I emailed Radley Balko about the apparent age discrepancy that some commentator have brought up. On a couple of social networking pages, the girls says she's 17, which would have made her 15 in 2006, not 12, as the article indicates. Radley says:
My guess would be that she exaggerated her age on her profile for those pages (as teen girls will do). This track results page puts her birth year at 1993. If her birthday comes later than August, she'd have been 12 when the incident took place.
The vital records file for Galveston country show that Dymond Milburn was 12 years old when the police allegedly beat her.
Radley Balko posted an update clearing some misconceptions about the story here.
the latest
latest episodes
This is disgusting! The injustice makes me want to puke! Nice work Galveston!
As unfounded as it may be, this sounds like a kidnapping that went wrong, and a rush to cover up it's appearance as such, by arresting her later on a petty charge.
These men should be fired and charged with assault and perverting the course of justice, immediately.
Statement from the officers' lawyer:
"Both the daughter and the father were arrested for assaulting a peace officer. "The father basically attacked police officers as they were trying to take the daughter into custody after she ran off."
"The city has investigated the matter and found that the conduct of the police officers was appropriate under the circumstances," Helfand says. "It's unfortunate that sometimes police officers have to use force against people who are using force against them. And the evidence will show that both these folks violated the law and forcefully resisted arrest."
And people wonder why the police are no longer welcomed as public safety, but feared as some organized intimidation squad. What is wrong with people? Is there something "funny" in the water in Texas? What is wrong with people?!? What has happened to our country?
"...where at least I know I'm free!"
/Head desk.
So she's not be charged with prostitution, right? Good work officers.
Well, we should be grateful the police didn't rape the girl....yet anyway.
Here is the City of Galveston's website, I wonder if they know what their servants are doing?
http://www.cityofgalveston.org/contact/default.cfm
This girl did the unquestionably right thing. She was probably terrified that she was about to be gang raped by 3 adult men ("you're a prostitute, you are coming with me" sure sounds like the beginning to a horrifically non-consensual vagina destroying situation). Good on her that she was brave enough to fight back.
My heart feels like it's blerging :( I really really really hope that the officers are fired and prosecuted. That poor child, she'll be in my thoughts.
Lesson: Let people kidnap you/your daughter because they might turn out to be completely retarded and insane plainclothes cops.
My adrenaline level is through the roof and I had to pace the hall before writing this.
As a father of a 12 y/o and CCW licensee, I cannot figure out how I would not be dead or imprisoned if the same thing occured at my home.
3 guys trying to grab my daughter for who knows what. I keep hoping I would have the presence of mind to order them to the groud first. If they pulled a gun, I would have been forced to shoot.
I want to hear the 911 call.
NEW LAW: If you have NO RIGHT to arrest the person and they RESIST, you forfeit the right to charge them with resisting.
Think of it like this, cops have a warrant. Go to the wrong house (no knock). Arrest the 'people' on the charges that were on the warrant. They find a weapon. Guess what, in most cases weapon is NOT ADMITTED as evidence, since it was the wrong house to begin with.
IANAL but most self defence laws are ALSO applicable to police officers in that if THEY start beating on you, you (or others near you) have the right to defend yourself (or another) up to and INCLUDING taking the officer's life. Of course, you'll never be able to defend your self in court since you'll most likely be killed in the process...
This recently happened in Quebec (I think) where a man was found not guilty of killing a police officer because he was in plainclothes and didn't announce himself when he served the warrant.
I suspect (after a LENGTHY court battle) that the family will come out on top of this. There's too many little things about this that don't add up. The cops supposedly were looking for a WHITE girl, TWO blocks away, and they end up 'arresting' a black girl in 'tight shorts'. I'm certain that the 'smell of pot' is no longer ground for a search, so, how can 'tight shorts' be a cause for arrest for prostitution.
Ths s prtty gd cs fr cp-kllng.
-abs is being deliberately provocative, but he does feel that this is no different from any other kidnapping of a minor, in fact maybe they should be prosecuted for kidnapping a minor and given records as sexual offenders . . . actually that seems much more reasonable than killing them now that -abs is thinking about it
And surprise, surprise, the little girl is black. Way to go justifying stereotypes about you, Texas cops!
A disgrace to the badge, all three of them. No, make that four, if the mealy-mouthed spokesman for the department has one too, and isn't merely some hired shill. They should all be fired, and the three "peace officers" (my, how Orwellian can you get?) should be brought up on charges.
#9, they'll just clear each other of wrongdoing. This is America.
If you were a 13 year old girl and three random men (not dressed as police officers) called you dirty names and tried to abduct you, what would you do?
Shame on Galveston, both the policed for their misdeeds, and the citizens for their lack of protest.
Why isn't this in the news? I can't find this story anywhere else.
I can't find any links to this story anywhere except for blogs.it seems to originate on the Hair Balls blog in reference to an incident that happened 2 years ago. With what I have experienced in my life the story sounds believable and outrageous. I want to believe that it isn't true. Can anyone offer a link that gives it a little more credibility?
think how much better this would have all turned out if everyone had been carrying a gun.
Actually I take back my take back about calling for cop-killing.
When it's this fucked-up all over America, and it is, it seems to indicate a systemic fault rather than any individualized errors on the officer's parts.
In that circumstance a "V" (as in the character from "V for Vendetta") going around quietly killing every one of these bastards might just get them to stop out of fear.
Not that I'm volunteering, I'm old and fat rather than superhuman and mutated with a cool mask.
-abs is getting pretty disgusted at the police here in the States, as can be surmised by his willingness to hope someone else inflicts violence upon them
Fck th Plc!
I can't wait for the army of people trying to expertly explain away the cops' behavior and that our outrage is over the top.
These cops should be glad they weren't shot acting the way they did. If I was her father, they'd all would have been.
What do we even need plainclothes cops for any way? What kinda gestapo tactic is that anyway?
Galveston, Texas... The cops should be glad they weren't shot repeatedly in the face.
One thing nobody has really mentioned - the only reason we heard about this is because it's a 12 year old girl who is apparently entirely innocent. The fact that their behavior was deemed appropriate implies they do this to real prostitutes all the time.
@#10: I respectfully disagree.
This story doesn't tell us whether the plainclothes officers identified themselves as police, before and/or after the first attempt at arresting the child, before and/or after the father became involved.
The police seem to have conducted an IA investigation and concluded that the officers did nothing wrong. In actuality, according to what is presented here, they're very much in the wrong: They had no probable cause whatsoever to detain this person in the first place, and everything that follows from that unjustifiable action is the fruit of the poisonous tree. This makes her initial detention and subsequent arrest at school unjustifiable as well. If they had no probable cause, I do not see how they are legally justified in any of their subsequent legal proceedings.
But we don't know. There are several questions of fact and of law that are not apparent in this story.
IANAL.
If this had been a 30 year old prostitute it would still be fucked up.
But at least then the cops would have reported that she was intoxicated and belligerent.
If anyone, police or not, tried to take my minor child from me, you'd better believe there would be "resistance" from me.
I've had enough of police departments validating the inappropriate actions of the asshole cops. And there are always a couple of them around, using their guns and their supposed legal status as a substitute for penis size.
I knew of them because my father was a Detroit cop, and he was always telling us about the stupidity in the department. And he was not an asshole, amazingly enough.
@red leatherman
The hairballs blog is on the site of the Houston Press, which is apparently a paper-and-ink news weekly. I don't think there's any reason to doubt that this actually happened. If you really wanted proof, you could always get a copy of the lawsuit filing...
Brilliant move doing this plainclothes, a snatch and grab from a van.
t's rlly shm thy wrn't sot dwn.
Maybe then some of the other police would learn people don't view this sort of behavior as acceptable. Hard way to learn, but clearly the lesson needs to be taught.
When does the rioting start?
This is one of the few things where I find myself agreeing with G. Gordon Liddy.
If it had been my daughter calling "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy" while three adult men were beating her while dragging her to their van, the families of those three men would be weeping at their gravesides come this Christmas.
Cop or not, you grab my daughter in front of her home and proceed to beat her, either you die or I die trying to kill you.
Man am I pissed today.
In all fairness though, she probably was going to become a prostitute sooner or later, so this is just the cops being proactive.
Nice job, heroes!
I find the way that they use the 'honor-student' to describe the student worrisome. As if this attack on a less successful student would be any more justified.
There is a lot of sketchiness here - the fact that this story has not been reported elsewhere. Non the less believable and horrific! If true, not only should the the three "peace" officers do 10 to 20 for kidnapping, the entire management of Galveston's police department should be fired as well as the city manager. People need to pay for such abuses and when they do, the abuses have a way of going away. People in charge will learn from this if the perps are held accountable.
Grimc, I can't see it listed on the Housten Press' main site though, only on the blog section. If it was newsworthy (in HP's eyes) they would probably have it listed.
who or what will fill this vacuum? No one trusts police, judges or politicians anymore. There is no respect for lawyers, doctors, accountants and business tycoons. Religion is in disrepute. A depression looms and war continues.
Human nature hasn't changed. The cheerful readiness here to hang these cops proves people haven't lost their sense of right and wrong.
Obama has an opportunity here to wield enormous, radical power. Think he could reap all this unfocused energy by making an example of these thugs?
m wrng fr hpng ths thr cps nd p gttng kdnppd nd gng rpd? nd tht t gts flmd, nd pldd t YTb? Whr w cn ll lgh t thm?
g, n mr rsn t nvr stp ft n Txs.
The Agitator is some pundit in DC, writing about a Texas story that should have made the national news, considering how over the top it all is...
except it's most likely fake. Sounds like all that recovered memories crap that was so popular a few years ago.
In fact, this gem from the Hair Balls story:
sounds EXACTLY like the whole satanic cult scam. Scumbag lawyers would swindle parents of troubled children into letting a hypnotist "recover" (as in implant) false memories, which really DID cause psychological harm.And every single person here who starts gnashing teeth and chanting "Kill Cops" puts money in those pockets.
I found Dymond's HighSchoolSports profile page, like facebook..
But I'm not sure it's appropriate to post it here. It probably isn't, so you can find it yourselves.
It is standard procedure in very many precincts, taught to rookie officers on their fist day, to charge you with "assaulting an officer" following *any* incident in which you may have been injured.
Oh, and incident reports are all templates. The reporting officer selects the template that most closely fits the situation, fills in your name and address, and files it.
Disclaimer: I come from a family of firefighters, several of whom have told me that they have observed this themselves.
..and her Bebo.
Lots of sports results for her in the Glaveston Daily News.. no mention of anything cop-related, yet.
Compose yourselves. I know that everyone is enraged, but carrying on about murdering the police isn't helping.
32: It helps to bolster the girl's character. What easier metric is there to view children on?
Anway, what I meant to say:
If there has EVER been grounds for a hefty lawsuit, this is it.
Nothing under the officers lawyer either, William Helfand.
[quote]In that circumstance a "V" (as in the character from "V for Vendetta") going around quietly killing every one of these bastards might just get them to stop out of fear.[/quote]
I'm sure the officers who use violence against prostitutes believe they are serving the public good. Violence is rarely the solution, and never unilaterally.
Also, I just looked at her bebo page, and she is now 17.
So this either happened 5 years ago, or something fishy is afoot.
Texas sucks.
No surprises there.
I think it's okay to fantasize murdering police officers.
Don't think they're not doing the same about you.
"I'm sure the officers who use violence against prostitutes believe they are serving the public good."
Why would you presume to project reason upon power? I'm not so sure.
If someone's taking donations to fund the countersuit, I'm good for a few bucks.
(No need to kill the cops in question. Just get 'em kicked out of the police force, where they clearly don't belong.)
#30 Jewbacca, I just want to clarify what your point is. So what exactly is the lesson to be extracted from a networking site that just so happens to bear the same name of the girl in the case? What does "linguistic liberalism" have anything to do with "salvageable mind and a caring human heart"?
Yes, 12-year-olds can be honor students. I was one myself.
What do you mean "a beefier cheerleader"? I don't seem any pictures on the site showing that image. And so she's black. Why is that "juicy"? How does that explain why she's named "Dymond" without actually being born into prostitution"? You aren't trying to incite anything racist, are you? Sure hope not.
And your very last sentence just plain didn't make sense to me.
Maybe you could rephrase your comment?
It took three "men" to beat up a child?
What happens when they have a rowdy twenty-something? Sniper teams? Aerial bombardment?
The sad irony of course is that these incidents only serve to make police less safe in carrying out their duties. Efforts to reach out to the community and engage them in fighting criminal activity are pointless when this kind of savagery is going on. If someone slaps you in the face then asks you if you'd like to have a rational discussion about preventing face-slapping you would be well advised to RUN AWAY.
I sent Charles Wiley (Galveston Police Chief) an email thanking him for his efforts to save us from vicious little girls in tight shorts. If you'd like to give him a shout:
cwiley@cityofgalveston.org
With three officers, and her visibly unarmed, there was no need to start with violence. Use your words! Jeeeeeeeeeeeeeez
Interested in contacting the mayor or city manager?
Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas
Phone Number: 797-3510
lydaannthomas@cityofgalveston.org
lydaannthomas@aol.com
City Manager Steve LeBlanc
leblancste@cityofgalveston.org
@ Abismiliard you said
but I say, what better disguise! we look like everybody else, next time on the bus, that old fat guy in the fourth row ???????
Apparently this police department has a history of brutality.
Lets all tell the Galveston PD what we think of them:
http://www.galvestonpd.com/
Fred Rated @32, I don't for a moment believe you actually meant that, but if you're going to use irony in that gauge, you have to make it clearer.
WeightedCompanionCube @38, you're making up stories. You have no idea what's actually going on there, and you certainly have no evidence. You're speaking straight from your own prejudices.
Knock it off.
Arkizzle:
Cops' attorney William Helfand seems real enough, but he isn't they type of lawyer I'd expect the police to need for this kind of lawsuit.
So is Anthony griffin:
First Amendment hero Anthony Griffin an African-American attorney from Galveston, Texas, gained acclaim when he defended the First Amendment rights of Michael Lowe, “grand dragon†of the Texas Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.
Something very odd is going on here.
OK, really.
I dunno if any of you noticed my post above but:
SHE IS NOW 17.
So either there are crossed wires, or this happened 5 years ago. Either way, there is probably no counter-suit going on, or appeals to be made to the Govenor or Mayor.
Requests-for-info, general-protests and registering-disgust-with-the-whole-thing, yes:
lydaannthomas@cityofgalveston.org
Alleged to have happened on 22nd August 2006, according to this - www.courthousenews.com/2008/08/26/GalvestonCops.pdf
You really want to start an insurrection, don't you.
Teresa - My only prejudice is towards seeing extremely dubious stories appear on Boing Boing. Do you or Mark know what's "actually going on there?"
I think that gives me the freedom to speculate just as much as everyone else has.
A blog of a blog is not a good source, and it's not like a fake story would ever appear on the internet to get people spun up.
In a country with a population of around 300 million, screwed up things like this are going to happen. The thing to do is to take steps to make sure it doesn't happen again.
When a police officer is so blind that he's unable to tell the difference between an innocent 12 year old and prostitute - And doesn't make absolutely sure he has the correct suspect - he needs to be fired. Then the entire department needs to go through remedial classes on how to tell the difference between an innocent little girl and a hardened whore.
It bums me that this is here, because it is not a Wonderful Thing....however, I'm glad that incidents like these do get publicity. Shine the spotlight on the bastards.
hardened whore. You know Tom, sometimes I worry about you.
I find it hard to believe that this is real. IF it is real, there is no defense. Those men belong behind bars. However the whole blog of a blog things strikes me as more of an urban legend.
WeightedCompanionCube, according to Martindale, Helfand practices Municipal Liability law. Sounds like exactly the sort of lawyer they'd want
WCC, I know the lawyer is real, I just couldn't find any articles related to this case.
@33: I was going to make the same point. If she failed English, does this mean she somehow deserved this?
Takuan - I've met quite a few whores - talking about street whores here - hardened is an appropriate word to describe them - at least the part of their personality that most people see.
Here is the Courthouse News article.
Cubie: of course you have a right and even duty to call bullshit if you suspect it. But you also have to the legwork. Do the research needed to debunk this then. Report back to us. Everyone looking at this post has the resources of the entire web at their hands.
Chief Wiley did reply to me, suggesting I didn't quite know what I was talking about (which I'll admit), but declined to give the P.D.'s side of the story due to my sarcasm and preconceived notions about the incident. He did thank me for my comments. It might be interesting to see what he had to say to a more restrained inquiry if anyone is interested in making one.
Daminit Sammich, That pdf looks real.
and to think previously I just laughed inside at people that cried for a unicorn chaser.
Until it gets posted, I just found the jjill_bounce gif at the bottom of the page so I'm gonna play with that until My mental state gets past the KILL mode.
The names and badge numbers of the offending officers:
SERGEANT GILBERT GOMEZ [BADGE #987],
OFFICERS DAVID ROARK [BADGE #332],
JUSTIN POPOVICH [BADGE #336), AND
SEAN STEWART [BADGE #392],
Simon Cameron #33:
I took it as an attempt to highlight the irony. Not only was she certainly not a prostitute, etc.
Just think what would have happened if this had occurred in Greece!
I've met quite a few people that deserve the label of "whore" too. Mostly in suits and uniforms. You use it derisively and dismissively. Yeah. I've known people who had to sell their bodies to live. They are understandably scarred by the process - made hard by it to keep from dying from it.
This is how lynch mobs form. Not enough of you are trying to get the story, track it down. Instead of firing off e-mails to Galveston city officials, try the newspapers, TV stations, radio, etc. It's a big story if true, and an object lesson if false, Don't just blow off steam to hear your head whistle; calm down, take it easy. Don't play the fool.
Open a cold one and, above all, follow the thread, RTFP.
Tom Hale said
Uh Tom? yano your tellin on yourself doncha?
Aug 26 /08 (Mark's article)
"the officer hit Plaintiff in the back of head with a flashlight, hit her neck, throat, slapped her across the face, and told her to get off the tree. ... The family's five month old puppy grabbed the officer's leg. The officer threatened if they did not grab the dog, he would shoot it."
every prostitute takes her dog to work.
Red, street prostitutes tend to get injured and sick a lot more often than your average citizen. AND - A stunningly handsome man like myself of course doesn't have to pay for that type of service.
Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas
personal office number is
I left a message holding her responsible for this horrible miscarriage of justice and that this case has continued through out her term in office with out her stepping in and giving the family a formal apology and making sure these thugs masquerading as police officers are punished for essentially kidnapping a 12 yr old girl from her home. This goes against everything America stands for Texas has a special responsibility to uphold personal freedoms of it's citizens.
ok the last part I have no justification for I live in California but I was appealing to her sense of civic pride.
If someone attempted to take my daughter ... God forbid. Neighbours, prepare yourselves to help defend our children.
I agree with an early comment, this sounds like some kind of botched kidnapping. Please clarify to me that the Galveston police would not be able to so easily arrest a minor?
No phone numbers in comments, please.
Re: #47
Bad things are going to continue to happen for the foreseeable future. They're going to happen in places.
Can we please--For the love of God--knock off the comments that follow the poopooing-of-entire-regions-and-their-inhabitants-because-something-bad-happened-there Logic?
I'm not from Texas and I don't have anything emotional invested in it. But that tactic is shitty, pointless, and utterly without value.
"street prostitute"; better, now can you say :"sex trade worker"?
#72 Mark,
thanks for that article.
I notice it doesn't name Dymond, or the Milburn family in it. I wonder if the names were mixed up (probably not), or if Dymond is lying about her age on her Bebo page.. (probably)
Weird.
I prefer "Lady of the night."
When a charge of assaulting a police officer is made the safest assumption to make, is that the police officer was in fact the one making an assault.
It's standard operating procedure among officers to file assault charges - because then their actions were in "self-defence". Only when it happens to a 12 year old girl is it this obvious, however.
And why, in the name of (insert deity) is it OK to kidnap and assault real prostitutes? Legalization is needed, to keep them safe from both criminals and police.
yeah, but what about the "Gentlemen of the Night"?
Just remember this the next time someone tells you "if you aren't doing anything wrong you don't have anything to worry about"
yeah, but what about the "Gentlemen of the Night"?
I can hook you up if you're interested.
naw, season's over for another century or so anyways.
@'Cube
Helfand has expertise in labor, employment and "has served as an adjunct instructor for Sam Houston State University's law enforcement and corrections management professional development programs."
He was also a New Orleans cop before he became a lawyer.
As far as Griffin, his practice is divided as "General Litigation (50%), Civil Rights/First Amendment (25%), Employment & Labor (25%)"
So what 'kind' of lawyers should we expect?
Grimc
a bent one?
Here's the filing in the Texas Southern District Court
I can only hope these Galveston police officers have now been registered as sex offenders.
@arkizzle
Aren't they all at least a little?
things kids will do to get in the honor roll theses days?
Am I to late?
Here is their scumbag lawyer. Take a look at his case records, real sleaze bag.
http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2008/12/galveston_false_arrest.php
Trying to find court record to get the cops names and numbers. They should hear personally about what their actions have done to the public at large's increasing distrust for the "boys in blue".
"The police seem to have conducted an IA investigation and concluded that the officers did nothing wrong."
...Internal Affairs is as effective as a HR department in only one area: taking actions that benefit only those in charge. Neither are expected to do the right thing under any circumstances.
"This is how lynch mobs form"
...Yeah, but just because it's a mob doesn't mean these cops don't deserve to get lynched.
Whoa! My post was deleted. Teresa, care to explain?
I emailed Radley Balko about the apparent age discrepancy that some commentator have brought up. Dymond says she's 17, which would have made her 15 in 2006, not 12, as the article indicates. Radley says:
"My guess would be that she exaggerated her age on her profile for those pages (as teen girls will do).
"This track results page puts her birth year at 1993. If her birthday comes later than August, she'd have been 12 when the incident took place."
#38, I am a police brutality survivor. And yes, it can cause recurring nightmares, even waking nightmares, of being tortured or killed by cops.
If 3 guys in street clothes, jump out of an unmarked van, and start dragging my screaming daughter toward the van while beating her with a flashlight...
Plummer v. State, 136 Ind. 306.
“Citizens may resist unlawful arrest to the point of taking an arresting officer's life if necessary.â€
John Bad Elk v. U.S., 177 U.S. 529.
“Where the officer is killed in the course of the disorder which naturally accompanies an attempted arrest that is resisted, the law looks with very different eyes upon the transaction, when the officer had the right to make the arrest, from what it does if the officer had no right. What may be murder in the first case might be nothing more than manslaughter in the other, or the facts might show that no offense had been committed.â€
@ Mark-
As a youth worker who has seen many an underage myspace page in her time, that kind of age inflation is par for the course. If it didn't exist I can guarantee you the myspace user population would be much, much smaller than it is today.
I mean I got tackled by undercover SWAT for jay-walking and looking suspicious as a teenager. Doesn't everyone live in fear of police brutality and get nervous every time they see a cruiser in their dashboard mirror ?
The real problem is the authority of police goes unchecked in our society along with their state granted monopoly on violence. This combined with the imperative to enforce all laws no matter how ridiculous they are combined with the tendency to utilize police vs. communication to resolve any level of conflict within our society. It sucks to be a cop and it sucks to have a police state.
We need to resolve conflicts outside of the state and promote concepts such as restorative justice, because as long as we have such a armed bureaucracy with a violent mandate to control the poor stuff like this is going to keep happening.
Good update Mark, thanks for the legwork.
Galveston's vice department, which Gilbert Gomez leads, has plenty of problems. From Sept. 2007:
http://www.khou.com/topstories/stories/khou070920_jj_galvestoncopprostitution.f10447e2.html
"A former Port of Galveston police officer was in jail Wednesday for the second time in a week.
One week ago, city police arrested James R. Chapman, 53, in his Ferry Road home on three charges of solicitation of prostitution. Vice-narcotics officers returned to Chapman’s home Wednesday to arrest him again on an identical trio of charges.
The new charges involve three different women, none of whom was involved in the first three cases."
Galveston is still pretty fucked up after taking Hurricane Ike on the chin; this case is likely well under the radar there.
@36 Takuan: So you're saying that the void filled by a disgraced system of "police, judges, politicians, lawyers, doctors, accountants, business tycoons, and Religion" can all be filled by...Obama? Whatever you may think of the man, that's kind of a scary thought, isn't it?
"So you're saying". Have a care sir, I am armed.
Nthng bts th ntrnt fr ffcnt lynch-mb rgnztn.
Wy t g, drks.
goodbye nerdler
@ Arkizzle, #60:
Have you never heard of the common custom among the youth on the internet of LYING ABOUT THEIR AGES?? Of course her online profiles are going to say she's older (and therefore cooler) than she really is.
Geez, I'm surprised I have to explain this to someone plugged-in enough to be on BoingBoing. =p
MARJA - First of all, skeptic that I am, I believe you: comment history says a lot.
Abuse by the police is traumatizing, no doubt about it. Lawyers know it too. Just like there are evil cops, there are evil lawyers, and if they can fabricate or exaggerate something into a lawsuit where they pocket most of the settlement, they will.
FWIW, you might want to be careful about sharing personal experience here. You'll get more credibility if you make (the right kind of) generalizations. It has been mentioned that personal anecdotes and opinions are mere ego-stroking and don't really contribute to the discussion.
Buddy66 brought up the number one thing about this story that makes me wonder if it ever really happened. The "lynch mob" factor. Sure, we've got one brewing here, but all we're going to do is rant in the comments and fire off a few angry emails or phone calls. If something this heinous happened to a perfectly innocent little girl in well-armed, take-no-shit Texas, the community would have formed a REAL lynch mob, and that would have made some national noise.
nerdler,
Drop Teresa a note if you want your account reinstated.
ROBBT - The only thing I do when I see a cop in my rearview is double check my speed.
Ticketing racket? Oh yeah.
Brutality? No.
...and I'm damn good at spotting a Crown Vic's headlight pattern at night! Too bad they are moving on to other vehicles.
Damnhait,
Have you never blah blah bla my comment above?
"Dymond is lying about her age on her Bebo page.. (probably)"
Cube,
We encourage people to share personal experiences. It's a welcome change from the armchair philosophizing that dominates the internet.
What disgusts me most is the fact that they're being arrested for fighting back against three idiots who were using excessive force against a 12 year old girl.
I don't believe we live in a just society if you are being wrongfully beaten by a 'public servant' and you are not allowed, whatsoever, to fight back. Otherwise you're breaking the law and deserve jail time.
At what point did police officers move from peace keepers to untouchable quasi-military goons? You're not even allowed to disagree with police anymore without them attempting to taze you.
Thanks for implying that I'mplugged-in though..
WCC,
Clarify: It didn't happen at all, or it didn't happen the way it's posted?
http://dockets.justia.com/docket/court-txsdce/case_no-3:2008cv00193/case_id-603449/
"If something this heinous happened to a perfectly innocent little girl in well-armed, take-no-shit Texas, the community would have formed a REAL lynch mob, and that would have made some national noise."
The girl is black. Texas lynch mobs are traditonally white.
@122 Mosh "I don't believe we live in a just society"
When did you figure that out?
The vital records file for Galveston country show that Dymond Milburn was 12 years old when the police allegedly beat her.
Radley Balko posted an update clearing some misconceptions about the story here.
slowly it gels. If it finally emerges that these police did indeed outrage this child, what should the rest of the local police do?
'cube, FWW, t snds s thgh yr ccptl rgn hs bcm prmnntly ldgd n yr lwr bwl. marja, make as many personal observations as you feel comfortable doing. as a victim of police brutality myself (twice, once involving 12 stitchs) i understand where u are coming from. every time i see a cruiser in my rear-view, i can feel the broken glass being raked across my shoulder blades.
MINTPHRESH - I was replying to someone and it wasn't you. Be polite, or someone else here will tell you the same thing. And if you're telling the truth about being assaulted by the cops, you should know that PTSD means seeing things differently than unmolested individuals, who are the majority.
Before you tell me my head is up my ass, you might want to review your own comment history. Your ramblings are incomprehensible.
There HAVE been comments here that basically told people to STFU about their personal opinions, because "talking about yourself on someone else's blog is stroking your own ego". They didn't get moderated or corrected, so they must have said something acceptable.
"There HAVE been comments here that basically told people to STFU.."
Sources.
Oh wait, that wasn't to me, how rude.
Mark, Arkizzle, etc
You can try to find Galveston TX arrest records here
I couldn't find anything exactly matching the dates/times of the August or September incidents from the PDF, but juvenile arrests might not be public.
' cube, if you cant understand my "ramblings" i can't help u out. english is my one and only language. perhaps one day i will teach myself to be polite, unfortunately, that day has yet to arrive. whether you were replying to me or not is pretty much inconsequential, you were being a dick. i just called you on it. no biggie. it's what i do. trust me when i tell you, i have been through your comment history as well, and what goes on in your head is gawd's own mystery.
anyone who wishes may stand before the fireplace, make their toast and hurl their glass. That has NEVER been in question. Reveal as much about yourself as you will. Personal OPINIONS on the other hand, are held to some community standard. An OPINION is not an EXPERIENCE.
Who we are is respected. What we think is debated.
tak, u rude bastard! he wasn't talking to YOU!
This is just wrong. If three guys jumped out of a van, called me a prostitute, and then tried to take me away then hell yes I would fight back. Even if they identified themselves as police officers hell yes I would fight back. I mean come on, when three guys jump out of a van and try to "arrest" you and call you a prostitute the only logical explanation for that would be rape... or kidnapping. I'd be an idiot not to fight back. Those cops were lucky that the girl's father did not have a gun on him. I would very much want my dad to shoot the guys that are beating the hell out of my face and covering my mouth while screaming for help...
who? You?
http://www.barbneal.com/wav/uncat/whoon1st.wav
Let's all chill, find out what we can, and respect each others' opinions.
WCC, but really: Didn't happen at all OR Not the way it's reported?
no. YOU!
Who's on first? Yes.
Arkizzle - I'm thinking of the epic Little Brother Launch Thread... where people were moderated for politely expressing the opinion that all the LB news was boring to them. They were told their opinions and criticism, although constructive, was welcome on their own blog, and not here.
Mintphresh, if you can't teach yourself to be polite (and I agree, so far you haven't... even so far as outright calling someone a dick is verboten here) you should be getting moderated, and often. But as far as I can tell, you haven't been.
Personal friend of a Mod or Boinger? Satus Quo? Maybe so!
Hmmm. I have not children, and when reading stories like this I am glad I don't. I can't imagine what I might have done to these pigs.
But, if three men dressed in "plain clothes" jumped my wife outside our home, called her a whore, and tried to drag her off - I would have shot them until I ran out of bullets.
What has happened to our nation? These so called police probably ought to be tarred and feathered.
hey, so long as minT keeps those cheques coming, he can say what he wants. (speaking of, that last one bounced!)
Calm yourselves.
MinT,
No anatomical allusions, please.
Cube,
Please don't drag old grudges into this conversation.
Arkizzle - well, I mean "didn't happen the way it was reported", if you can call that reported.
the "chain of custody" so far has been
Hair Balls -> agitator -> BB...
So considering this is all about a blog of a blog of a blog, means didn't happen as far as professional sources. Can I has an AP, UPI, or CNN plz?
I can accept the girl was arrested at school for something, and there should be a record somewhere of that. Is there an arrest record the night the alleged beating happened, on the girl or the father? She was taken to a hospital.... records?
Antinous - Sorry. I know it was offtopic. I just wanted to answer Arkizzle. (I didn't even comment in the LB thread.)
When it comes to dragging old grudges into a convo, what about everyone who has an old grudge against cops?
Cubie: collect your evidence. Quit asking others to prove your position for you. The "cops are guilty" camp have presented a case with some documents. What you got?
When it comes to dragging old grudges into a convo, what about everyone who has an old grudge against cops?
Old grudges due to being physically beaten trump old grudges due to being disemvowelled by a factor of infinity. Generic cop grudges, however, are as tiresome as any other meme.
' cube, please, disenbunch the old panties there kemosabe. my assholishness has not escaped the disenvowelling hand. i am not personally involved with any mods (lots of rockers, tho!) nor anyone having anything to do with the Boing. i must admit that over the last 12 years i have grown very fond of them, and have come to think of them as kindred spirits of mischief. however, if your thinking that helps ya get thru the night, who am i to argue? unfortunately, sometimes my filters don't seem to work, and i just calls 'em as i sees 'em. my only real hope with the mods on this site is that one of my comments might occasionally give them a chuckle. if i can give them a belly laugh, i get all warm and fuzzy inside.
Takuan - the document is a filing of a civil suit against the officers.
Anyone can file suit, even a baseless one.
That proves nothing.
Has it gone before a judge and jury? That's when you'll see your evidence.
That's what the entire legal profession does.
sorry 'bout that Takuan! try putting it thru tomorrow. i was out tonight being a "hardened whore" and made 15 bucks! the HARD way!
Antinous - I'd never argue that someone who was personally been assaulted by the cops shouldn't be afraid of them.
Just argued with the one that told me I had my head up my ass because I wasn't.
you wasn't had your head up your ass?
disemvowel me if you must, but i could not resist.
"If something this heinous happened to a perfectly innocent little girl"
I get where you're coming from now, 'cube. Maybe it happened, but maybe she was asking for it.
I really like your main argument, though: If the AP and CNN didn't pick up the story, it didn't happen.
Right!
My turn: Good Night
nice
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=LZqupv4WDYw&feature=related
love, love, love http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=HsqchpnrTcY
http://www.wordjazz.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=51&Itemid=32
Nice version Tak
Guys, I'm never gonna get to bed..
really good night all
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=tTIs-TBwcbk
the key word in this article is GALVESTON which is in TX BUSH country, I am really surprised she was not sent to Guantanamo as a terrorist. But of course she had to be mentally retarded to face the death penalty!
This is the reason that cops should not be allowed to run around armed. This was standard in the UK, although firearm cops are much more common due to "terrorism".
There would be a fear that commiting a thuggish action like this could lead to them getting shot by a civilian protecting themselves or their family.
The hyper agressive cop should be eliminated, them perhaps those who really want to help people and not abuse them could actually survive. Removing permission to run about armed, gun in hand, breaking down doors without warning, and commiting high speed chases needs to be revoked by society.
BTW I dropped out after a time from a fire paramedic crossover program for a police SERT entry team, no knock was regular and destroying lives was the job.
The war on drugs is evil. The American military police state is crushing your human rights. Now that police/military state is on world tour. Dont worry it will come home though.
That'll do nicely :)
I love the cop posts on BoingBoing. My first comment here was for a similar story, makes me cockles glow or whatever. Giving voice to the growing consensus that there's something really, really wrong with the Police is very, very important. The more of these posted, the more we discuss them, the harder it is for the apologists to pretend that these are isolated incidents.
In that first comment I mentioned I referanced a brilliant print-only zine called The Match by a cranky old luddite Anarchist who runs his own letter press and refuses to let anyone digitize his work. Ever. It has a regular column called Who The Police Beat, collecting every story like this from around the country for a given period. It runs for pages. And pages. And pages. It's infuriating, horrific reading. Track it down if you can.
I didn't read every word of this thread, but I didn't see anyone mention the beautiful possibilities of _independent_ Civilian Review Boards to do the job that Internal Review is designed not to do. Getting oversight of the cops away from the cops is a crucial step towards... well, I'm for getting rid of them entirely, but then I am full of naivete and idealism and other dismissals. So a step towards making the insitution of armed thugs throwing people (sometimes honor students!) into dehumanizing concrete cages for commiting vicimless crimes somehow less sociopathic.
Anyway, doubleplus hopechange to you all, and good night.
I think it's funny that someone here is railing about being attacked on a comment thread. Maybe he feels like he was out front of his house and a group of strangers jumped out a van and was going to try to take him hostage.
Really folks, it's important to get out and protest on the 20th of Dec to raise awareness of police brutality! Organise something in your local area. We need to stand together internationally against state violence!
Where is The Foolkiller when you need him.
The songs cop killer and fuck the police may not inspire one to snuf out law enforcement officers, but stories like this certainly should.
It is a shame that we dont adopt some of the better ideas in china, like executing officials whom fail us.
If she *were* a 12-yr old with a MySpace page, she would have to lie about her age in order to get the page. Not just to be cool, either, but because it's the law. Thought a few more people would know that.
Notwithstanding all the outrage, I can't get over the fact that four Texan cops would actually go on record as being assaulted by a single 12 year old girl.
If no one in the police department has any sense of justice, decency, upholding the law, or proportionality of response, you'd think they'd at least be TOO DAMN EMBARRASSED to admit that four of their 'finest' couldn't arrest a little girl without beaten up.
I'll never be able to look at an American cop again without sniggering. Quietly, of course, since he'll be carrying a big gun ;(
how the Vancouver airport police taser murder unsurprisingly turned out:
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=e1d3ed30-7816-4ddd-b914-3b4da729ba9a
Some info on day of solidarity against police brutality tomorrow:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/12/17/18555313.php
Here's another interesting case. Young Egyptian doctoral candidate goes bad and creates terrorist how-to-video. He is placed in solitary confinement and "constantly taunted" by the jailers until he loses 40 lbs. and comes unscrewed. Half crazy and pissed off he writes and says some anti-American stuff. Can you guess the prosecutors' reason for seeking the maximum sentence.
Federal prosecutors have accused him of "a virulent anti-American attitude" in a memorandum and asked for the maximum sentence.
USF Student Faces Sentencing On Terror Charges Thursday
By Meg Laughlin, Times Staff Writer
In print: Monday, December 15, 2008
For 11 months, Ahmed Mohamed was held in a small, windowless isolation cell in the Hillsborough County Jail on Falkenburg Road, allowed out in shackles for an hour a day. He lost 40 pounds and became severely depressed.
"Forget about me. Solitary confinement has made me dead," he wrote his parents in December 2007.
Capt. Tom Bliss, the facilities commander at Falkenburg, said he remembers when Mohamed arrived at the jail: "He'd go from being very sad and withdrawn to being very obstinate and argumentative," said Bliss, who describes solitary at Falkenburg as "a very hard place."
Bliss said he thinks the staff could have been "much more sensitive" to Mohamed. "We did things to Mr. Mohamed that flew in the face of his dignity and he reacted," Bliss said.
Goudie, who along with Tampa attorney Linda Moreno replaced Fitzgibbons, said it was not only "the harsh conditions of solitary" that had Mohamed on an emotional roller coaster: "He was constantly taunted by some of the guards," she said.
I, for one, am glad that our diligent law enforcement officers are protecting us from these Godless honor student prostitutes.
hey foetus, gotta love those tampa cops! they just exude sunshine and goodness, don't they? they are the same cops who dumped the paraplegic woman from her wheelchair and kicked her around on the floor for a while 'cuz they thought she "was faking it". good times!
for the zine RIDL refers to, the one w the cop brutality column:
The Match: A Journal of Ethical Anarchism, #96, $2.75, 88pp. Fred Woodworth, PO Box 3012, Tucson, AZ 85702
(pulled from lcrw.net)
Thanks, Kael
Open post to Galveston's police chief:
I've read about you and your brave power-crazed plain-clothed 'officers'. Are they specially trained in the kidnapping of little girls, or is it only black little girls? Or are they just moronic perverted thugs who can take whatever liberties they like knowing the City will protect them.
Are tight shorts cause for arrest? Who says? And I can't make out; do you like little girls in tight shorts or do you think the public needs protection from them?
Should I have said 'alleged' somewhere? I dont like to break the law, so if you think a few allegeds are missing just put them in and send this back to me for editing. Here are a few allegeds I can spare: allegedly perverted, alleged morons, allegedly power crazed, alleged thugs, alleged kidnappers, alleged psychopathic killers with guns, alleged sick shits who allegedly need culling.
What is all this alleged stuff? I've read so many internet comments on this case and its plain US citizens are very cautious about criticising the police. Do you have specially trained goon-squads to eliminate those who are publicly disgusted by your reportedly despicable behaviour?
The thought has crossed my mind that mass suicide or public stoning to death is the thing for all police who behave as you allegedly do and as your alleged thugs allegedly do. I've spent time in Texas and have some knowledge of how the 'Protect and Serve' ethic is interpreted there by many of the police.
You know what you did, so if the shoe fits, wear it in shame to your dying day.
We have a good curse in Ireland, remember it: 'MAY YOU DIE ROARING!'
If they wear "Serve and Protect" T -shirts, can everyone else wear "Aim for the Head" T-shirts?
Plain-clothes officers and unmarked police cars need to be illegal themselves.
It's code for "secret police".
'tater, hear, hear!
MinT:
'tater
Now that's just racist.. zing!
How is this any different then the way we've all been treated by the government for the past eight years?
Agree with #184. The benefit of having undercover officers does not outweigh the harm they cause. Many of the unjustified shootings by police that have been in the news have been by undercover officers. Undercover officers themselves have been shot by police because they could not identify themselves and explain why they had a gun quickly enough. If you are stopped by a marked policecar or a uniformed officer, you know what you are dealing with and can react appropriately- pulling over, having empty hands, not fighting back or running away. But if you are followed or stopped by an unmarked car or non-uniformed person, you have no way to quickly know that they are not just criminals harassing you.
Most criminals can be easily caught by uniformed officers. Drug dealing and prostitution may be harder to catch, but that is because they are victimless crimes (anyone who buys drugs voluntarily is not a victim). Cells of terrorists may be hard to catch without secret police, but conspiring to commit a crime is a ridiculous thing to arrest someone for. Everyone has the right to plan to commit a crime, to punish people for thoughtcrime is un-American. Punish them after they commit or are in the act of committing the crime, that will not require secret police or taking away basic human rights.