we saw that...

winnfield, la. taser death starting to get blogosphere play

UPDATE 10 july 2010: scott nugent's trial has been delayed again. it was supposed to start on 14 june 2010. the winn parish clerk of court told wst... that jury selection is set to begin on 30 august 2010 ... we'll see. this trial has been delayed many times.

we have a google news alert set for "edwin edwards" because awhile back a rumor began circulating that the president was about to pardon and release him from prison. so we set a google news alert to his name so we could see how the story broke across the web.

since we set it, hardly a day goes by where edwin edwards isnt mentioned somewhere on the web. its usually just a passing reference to his "dead girl or live boy" quote. that seems to be really popular.

lately though, we've been receiving news alerts that are taking us to blogs that are talking about the winnfield taser death of baron "scooter" pikes. apparently, the current winnfield police chief "is a convicted drug offender who got a pardon from edwin edwards." so thats what sets off googles news alert.

here are a few from the latest we've received so far:

Racial Tensions High After Taser Death
DigitalJournal.com - Toronto,Ontario,Canada
Police Chief Johnny Ray Carpenter, is a convicted drug offender who received a pardon from a former LA governor, Edwin Edwards. ...
See all stories on this topic
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Taser death in troubled town
Los Angeles Times - CA,USA
Edwin Edwards, who is in federal prison for corruption convictions. All that history is wrapped up in the Pikes case because the officer in question, ...
See all stories on this topic
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WINNFIELD, La: Taser death ignites racial tensions
By HumanSpirit
The current police chief is a convicted drug offender who got a pardon from Edwin Edwards, the former Louisiana governor who is serving time in federal prison for corruption convictions. All of that tangled history is now wrapped up in ...
talk | baltimoresun.com - http://www.baltimoresun2.com/talk
====
New Take On Taser Death: Winnfield, LA
By The Old Grey Ent(The Old Grey Ent)
Edwin Edwards, who is in federal prison for corruption convictions. "All that history is wrapped up in the Pikes case because the officer in question, Scott Nugent, is the son of the former chief who killed himself and the protege of ...
The Old Grey Ent - http://oldgreyent.blogspot.com/
====
The Taser Death of Scooter
By Eddie G. Griffin(Eddie G. Griffin)
The current police chief is a convicted drug offender who got a pardon from Edwin Edwards, the former Louisiana governor who is serving time in federal prison for corruption convictions… All of that tangled history is now wrapped up in ...
Eddie G. Griffin (BASG) - http://eddiegriffinbasg.blogspot.com/
====
Mycheal Bell's Cousin Tazered To Death
By Yobachi(Yobachi)
The current police chief is a convicted drug offender who got a pardon from Edwin Edwards, the former Louisiana governor who is serving time in federal prison for corruption convictions. All of that tangled history is now wrapped up in ...
The Jena 6 Blog - http://thejena6blog.blogspot.com/

city of alexandria, la. militarizing police department

interesting resolution on today's alexandria city council agenda - see link for full agenda.

18) RESOLUTION authorizing advertisement for bids for one (1) armored SWAT Bearcat Vehicle for the Alexandria Police department.

Law professor and instapundit.com blogger Glenn Reynolds argues that overagressive tactics and surplus military gear have turned some police units into a dangerous menace. ~ read more

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heart experts warn tasers deadly

Heart experts warn Tasers deadly
Suzanne Fournier, The Province
Published: Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Tasers can cause fatal cardiac arrest and are even more dangerous if the subject is agitated, stressed and experiencing pain from the high-voltage device, two top Vancouver heart specialists said Tuesday.

Dr. Michael Janusz, a heart surgeon at Vancouver General Hospital and UBC told the Braidwood Inquiry into Taser use Tuesday that "Tasers almost certainly can cause cardiac arrest in humans, particularly in people with underlying heart disease."

Janusz told retired judge Tom Braidwood that the risk of dying after being Tasered is similar to the chances of dying after major heart surgery

Janusz quoted San Francisco cardiologist Dr. Zian Tseng's findings of about "1.4 per cent mortality for individuals subdued by police using a Taser.. (which) is similar to the mortality risk of a coronary artery bypass operation."

And Dr. Charles Kerr, a "cardiac electrophysiologist" at St. Paul's and UBC, said that police should routinely carry defibrillators if they plan to employ Tasers and should be trained to initiate resuscitation after using the Taser on someone who is then unresponsive.

Kerr said that although the Taser may be "better than a bullet" and may have its place in policing, he is also concerned about the potential effect Tasering could have on the approximately 35,000 British Columbians who have either a pacemaker or an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD).

Outside the inquiry, Janusz said he had viewed the bystander video of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski being Tasered at the Vancouver airport and dropping to the floor seconds later, jerking his legs spasmodically and then falling motionless.

"That was really awful, a tragedy," said Janusz.

The inquiry continues Tuesday afternoon with the evidence of a New Westminster police sergeant.

Braidwood is inquiring into Taser use by municipal police, sheriffs and corrections officers and in the fall, will hold a further inquiry into Dziekanski's death, once the RCMP investigations are complete.

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city of alexandria, la. getting set to tase your black ass

we noticed the following item on the city of alexandria, la. council agenda for 20 may 2008:

3) Introduction of an ordinance for Taser X26E series electronic control devices and accessories for the Alexandria Police department. Bids to be opened 5/20.

click here or the shocking apd video label in the footer of this post and find out how the alexandria police department uses tasers as a means to "electronic[ally] control" people.

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OUTRAGEOUS: apd taser thug reinstated to police force by civil service board!

on easter sunday 2007 multiple units of the alexandria, louisiana police department descended upon the home of robert and doris moses located on lisa street in alexandria.

neither mr. or mrs. moses where the target of the police departments attention but rather a man who mr. moses had employed and who resided in an outbuilding on the moses' property. this person was in jail on a burglary charge and the police wanted to search the outbuilding that he had been residing in for stolen things. ms. moses readily consented for the police to search the outbuilding.

during the course of their 'investigation' the police checked the license plates of all the vehicles parked in the moses driveway and discovered that mr. robert moses had several minor misdemeanor warrants outstanding. by minor, we mean for instance, one warrant was for fishing without a license.

the apd then asked mrs. moses for permission to enter the family home to search for mr. moses and she denied that request. the police then called the duty rapides parish assistant district attorney who instructed the police department not to enter the family home.

during the course of all this, ms. moses got into her car and left to attend easter sunday services at her church. a police car that had been blocking her driveway was moved by a policeman to allow her to exit.

the video tells the story of what happened next. officer rachal had no reason (probable cause) to pull ms. moses over the first place much less drag her from her car and taser her. even if officer rachal did have probable cause why did he just moments earlier allow her to leave her home?

the judge and the city attorney agreed and threw all the charges against ms. moses out. according to ms. moses, before her court date she went to the police station to file a complaint against officer rachal but was intimidated into not doing so. she said that the police officer she talked to insinuated that an investigation into the incident could result in even more charges being filed against her. (see how they operate?)

click here to listen to a four minutes streaming audio clip from ms. moses lawyer, gregory r.aymond, esq., who explains the incident.



in what could pass for a case of road rage is the 1999 incident involving a sixteen year old kid who made the mistake of pulling out in front of officer rachal (who was off duty and in his civilian vehicle) who was then chased around town by officer rachal. when the kid who was scared because this strange automobile was chasing him around, finally pulled over - because an alexandria police car finally intervened - the kid, like ms. moses almost eight years later, was pulled from his car by a civilian clad officer rachal and thrown to the ground.

link

in the moses incident and after three civil service board hearings the board votes 3 - 2 to reinstate officer rachal. notice how neither the gannett/town talk in their report or the media general/kalb in theirs bother to name the three board members who voted to reinstate officer rachal or whether the vote was public or not. this is more of the main stream media's habit of leaving out important information in their stories.

in the officer.com forums, a forum only for police officers these police officers miss the point that officer rachal had no probable cause to pull ms. moses over in the first place. their only concern is the act of tasering someone and getting away with it and not in the validity of the legality of their actions leading up to it. ~ link
this is another indication of the need for a citizens review board for the police department as explained here.

the city of alexandria has thirty days to appeal the civil service board ruling and for the sake of alexandrians safety we sure hope they do so.

for more information click the 'shocking apd video' label in the footer of this post.

is the alexandria police department refusing to answer citizens public records requests?

the town talk has an article today "fired officer had been suspended two times" (see link) about the kenny rachal/shocking apd video/taser scandal looming large over the alexandria, la. police department.

one item that caught our attention was a "story chat" comment by someone who goes by the story chat nickname of "City Watch"

It takes more effort than necessary in this City but again I thank The Town Talk for trying to wake people up. Soon I hope they will report on a story of a police unit being totaled by an officer, his statement and the penalty he paid. It is simply out of hand. I also hope they will report on the dead human body found on an early Sunday morning 11/12/2006 approximately 7:00 AM in the back of a limo that thusfar they have refused to furinsh me public record. Can't say they didn't get it, Certified #7001 1140 0001 7666 3377 May 17, 2007 and #7006 3450 0001 4180 8171 dated 1/04/08 with photo. This does not count the telephone conversations and emails during this period and they wonder why the lack of respect.

Posted by: City Watch on Tue Feb 05, 2008 10:02 am

if you go to the website of the united states post office you can enter the number of the certified mail in their track and confirm feature.

entering the first certified mail number there shows that there was a certified mail delivered in alexandria, la corresponding to the dates given by 'city watch':


same with the second certified mail piece that 'city watch' mentions. one thing that we noticed is that the may 2007 certified piece says that it was delivered to an address in alexandria, la. within the zip code 71301 and the post office says that the january 2008 certified mail piece was delivered to an address in alexandria, la. within the zip code 71309.

EXTERNAL LINK

fired apd taser cop civil service appeal date set

according to today's town talk, an appeal date has been set for 5 p.m. wednesday, 30 january 2008, by the alexandria fire and police civil service board. this is according to brian d. cespiva, esq. attorney for the board. kenneth rachal an alexandria police officer was fired following an investigation regarding his use of a taser stun gun and physical force during an easter sunday, 08 april 2007, arrest of ms. doris moses.

EXTERNAL LINK

KALB: apd taser cop fired

alexandria police department officer kenny rachel fired for easter sunday 2007 taser incident. mr. rachel tasered doris moses without cause. mr. rachel's actions ultimately cost city of alexandria, la. citizens a lot of international embarrassment and taxpayers $20,000 in cold hard cash. this incident was first broken by the blogosphere - although of coz the blogosphere gets no credit from the main stream media for having done so, but thats okay, coz us netizens know the deal.

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kalb: apd taser case settles for $20,000

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alexandria police department taser update

EXTERNAL LINK

apd taser update

.mp3 here

the alexandria, louisiana mayor was on ksyl radio this morning and addressed the status of the apd taser investigation. the mayor said:

"there will be information about how we're going to handle that coming out immediately. we have concluded the investigation. if the caller remembers the press conference that i gave, after reviewing everything we've seen since then, i stand behind those statements and it will go through a process unfortunately i cant talk about yet - because its civil service" when asked by a ksyl talking head what those earlier statements were the mayor reiterated his statements from his afore mentioned press conference that "given everything that we had seen and given the initial reports and the investigation we had done i had very serious problems with the way in which the incident occurred and i would stand by that statement. i think i will be a little more explicit..." in the upcoming statement.

wst... spoke telephonically to gregory aymond the apd taser victim ms. doris moses' attorney who informed wst... that no settlement had been reached with the city of alexandria and that it looks like a lawsuit will be filed taking the entire matter to court.

stay tuned....

EXTERNAL LINK

schwing! kalb acquiesces to the blogosphere...again; finally airs apd taser abuse story

well, well, well, only about thirty hours after the town talk was the first msm outlet to break this important story which was first posted by the blogosphere eight days before even the town talk got around to reporting it... kalb tonight at six o'clock follows suit. nevermind that kalb had about an hour of film in the can on the story since last thursday 04 october 2007. wst... understands that kalb was originally set to air the story tuesday 09 october 2007 but was delayed because the news director didnt want to seem to be 'slamming' the alexandria police department.

however, after the town talk quoted alexandria mayor jacques roy (we'll leave out the 'baggy pants' bit...this time) that "it's intolerable to me that we're just finding out" and alexandria police chief daren coutee stating "the video is disturbing," they must have took that as their que that it is alright to air the story.

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so who's this guy?

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town talk first msm outlet to break easter sunday alexandria police brutality; taser abuse incident

9:21 am easter sunday 08 april 2007

9:21:40 am [full version begins at 9:21:37]
within twenty seconds ms. moses stopped at 9:22:00
9:22:26 ms. moses opens her door...
9:22:35 ms. moses is dragged from her car...and told not to be a smart-ass.
9:23:10 tasered and tackled...
9:23:10 till 9:24:23 [1m13s] roughed up; cuffed and made to lie face down in the pavement and likely taunted...
9:24:23 removed from pavement and placed in apd squad car at 9:25:03.
3m23s elapsed
other videos: 'policemen joking about a taser attack'
youtube short video: 'alexandria, la. police brutality'

only eight days after being reported to you first out here in the blogosphere, the alexandria daily town talk reported today on the developing story you read and saw out here first...

EXTERNAL LINK

kalb 'indefinetly delays' apd taser police brutality story!

wst... has learned that kalb-tv news director michele godard has indefinitly delayed this important story that was scheduled to air tonight during the six pm news.

yesterday, wst... contacted gregory r. aymond, esq., attorney for mr. and mrs. robert (doris) moses for a followup inquiry to the status of this story. wst... was told by mr. aymond that on on thursday 04 october 2007 a reporter from kalb (mike magnoli) spent about an hour at mr. aymond's law office interviewing mr. robert moses, his wife doris and mr. aymond regarding the unseemly events that unfolded on easter sunday 2007 on lisa street in alexandria, louisiana.

mr. aymond told wst... that the story was scheduled to air tonight, and forwarded to us the following email he received from mike magnoli

Dear Greg,

I know YOU know what happened on Thursday-- remember those emergency cell phone calls from my station-- but I just wanted to touch base with you, to give you a synopsis of whats in the works:

I am out of the state- returning to Alexandria on Tuesday morning. I intend to air the interview with Ms. Moses on Tuesday evening! After my story, there will be a piece with police reaction, the mayor's reaction and likely the city council's reaction. Whoa! Yes indeed, your case is THAT big.
Thanks,
Mike Magnoli

after the six pm news aired tonight wst... again contacted mr. aymond to ask why the story didnt air. after mr. aymond reminded wst... that it was kalb who contacted him last thursday about the story, he said that he had been informed today by kalb, that michele godard said that after the tragic events of last week, she didnt feel the 'timing was right to slam the police.'

mr aymond sent us the demand letter he sent today to the city of alexandria, mr. aymond tells wst... that if no settlement with the city is reached, he will seek relief for his clients in a court of law and not in the media.

mr aymond says that his clients would like to see this incident publicized so that it will spark an investigation by the alexandria police department so that this type of outrage wont happen to other citizens.

according to the below witness statement from that day, the police on the scene were partially blocking the street, stopping, frisking and even handcuffing black drivers, while allowing white drivers to pass unmolested.

this intense easter sunday man hunt was to arrest the dangerous criminal mr. robert moses for not paying his fine for fishing without a license. this was after the rapides district attorneys office told the alexandria police department not to mess with him. one hopes that no other serious crimes were going on elsewhere in alexandria whilst this intense manhunt was ongoing in martin park. in a side note according to the louisiana secretary of state's website everett c. hobbs the president of the alexandria city councilman lives only a few doors down on lisa street from mr. and mrs. moses. we wonder how councilman hobbs can possibly know whats going on in all of alexandria when he doesnt seem to know or care whats taking place right under his nose.


one also has to wonder just what kalb news director and unsuccessful blogger, michele godard considers to be real news. we noticed that tonight in both the five and six pm news casts how kalb featured a non-news fluff piece passed off as an interview with apd chief daren coutee about the tragic events of last week, to which chief coutee replied, that "i dont want to make any premature comments about whats going on right now, since we're still not in a phase where we can distinguish anything in particular without going over the facts and making sure we're correct." he really couldnt offer any answers -- however an important news story that involves real people gets effectively killed.

one also has to wonder how many other important news stories are killed by kalb for political reasons when they could possibly upset politicians. one also has to wonder just how many other fluff pieces are produced and held out to be real news but are designed and timed to be nothing more than as the british say to 'sex up' various politicians and advertisers. speaking of advertisers we noticed via c.b. forgotston's blog see economic development la style that alexandria was bragging how much money they made off of the jena 6 protesters, well perhaps they will make that much or more off of the alexandria 1 march.

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shocking apd video

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