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Cover-ups, lies, violence and corruption in law enforcement: Military-style policing and the "good old boy network" must go!

Police murders, violence, misconduct and deception have become pervasive. Many families and individuals have been affected by flagrant violations of the law by those who are supposed to enforce it.

In St. Petersburg, we see the murders of young black men by heavily armed police and SWAT teams.

Police raid an African home in North Carolina

Here and in cities around the country, African communities are under siege by paramilitary forces. This is often accompanied by helicopters flying overhead, cops intimidating young people on the streets and the use of "no-knock warrants" to break down people's doors by brigades of armed
forces.

In November 2007, 92-year old Kathryn Johnston was shot at 39 times and then left to die after the police blasted into the wrong house in an Atlanta African community. The three cops who killed Johnston had secured a "no-knock" drug warrant based on deliberately false information.

Atlanta police murdered 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston

A cover-up of the brutal murder was carried out on all levels. Before leaving the scene, the mortally wounded elderly Johnston was handcuffed by the police, who then planted drugs in her basement. For weeks, according to one account, the cops "continued to lie to investigators with elaborate details of how they had observed drugs being bought at Ms. Johnston's
house."

The Atlanta police hierarchy denied knowledge of the routine use of lies to get warrants to break down doors and the frequent planting of drugs on the scene to boost arrest and conviction rates. One of the officers was later convicted of lying during an investigation, but not for the murder of Ms. Johnston. (Workers World, "Atlanta cop convicted in Kathryn Johnston's death," May 29, 2008)

According to a recent Cato Institute report, "Overkill: the Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America," there are more than 40,000 such raids in the U.S. each year. The vast majority of these raids target African and Latino communities, using the same violent tactics that we denounce when they are used by the U.S. military against the people
of Iraq.

Such military-style raids were employed by the St. Petersburg police and Pinellas County Sheriff's departments to murder the African teenagers TyRon Lewis, Marquell McCullough, Jarrell Walker and Javon Dawson over the past few years.

The white, racist "good old boy network" is then used to cover up and justify these crimes of law enforcement.

The African community is attacked in the same way the people of the Middle East are assaulted by the U.S. military because, like the Arab people, African people in America are colonized by the government.

Colonialism can be defined as the forced economic, political and military domination of a people by another nation or people.

The reality of two Americas

From the white community we can aspire to peace, prosperity, constitutional rights and full protection under the law. This is quite different from the situation faced by the majority of the black community.

This country is built on an economic foundation of African slavery for more than 200 years and the genocide of the Native population of this land. This is why life for black and oppressed communities bears more similarities to the lives of the peoples of Palestine or Iraq than to middle class white America.

America's legacy is found in white lynch mobs, the injustices of Jim Crow and the forced labor of the system of convict leasing. Out of this history is born the reality that today one in every eight young black men is in prison.

Five thousand African men per every 100,000 are imprisoned in this country, compared to 736 per 100,000 white men. According to a Pew Hispanic Center report, the average African family earns only 60 percent of the average white family income.

"Drugs" are often the excuse for police terror against the black community, but the statistics show that 73% of drug users and sellers in the U.S. are white, while only 15% are black. Yet, we rarely if ever see these tactics of violence, terror and intimidation used against the white communities where the majority of drugs are located.

The U.S. government has over the years often found it more expedient to continue to suppress the African community with brute force rather than infuse it with resources to transform its economic conditions and level the playing field. Thus the war zones of black communities remain enmeshed in a cycle of systemic poverty and oppression.

Tropicana Field redevelopment plan

Today militaristic policing takes the form of an overall containment policy targeting African, Latino and other oppressed communities. Police brutality is rampant in areas tagged for gentrification or white real estate development.

It is no surprise that we see a spike in police violence in St. Petersburg at the time when the elite are planning to move the Tropicana Dome baseball stadium and develop upscale condos and retail stores bordering the most impoverished neighborhood in the city.

Because no one stands against this violation of black rights and the wanton taking of black life, police misconduct spills over into the entire system. No standards of accountable policing are upheld. This leads to the police abuse, misconduct and cover-ups that are becoming more prevalent in white and other communities as well.

Police misconduct and cover-ups rampant

The following are examples of vindictive, violent and dishonest behavior on the part of law enforcement and of the white, racist good old boy network in this state used to cover over the truth. This is the basis for the case for reparations for the families of the four black teens murdered by police or deputies here in St. Petersburg.

Law enforcement personnel allow their personal feelings and vendettas to guide their actions

The Tampa Tribune reported on August 21, 2008, that two St. Petersburg police officers, Courtney Zak and George Lofton, were suspended for violating department rules after they vindictively and subjectively decided to tow a parked truck displaying posters commemorating Javon Dawson ten days after Dawson was killed by Officer Terrence Nemeth.

Although Zak and Lofton initially reported to supervisors that the vehicle was a "community hazard," during his disciplinary hearing Lofton told supervisors that the posters "disturbed him." Zak too told the disciplinary panel that her actions were "motivated by personal feelings about the posters."

The cover-ups of crimes against the people involve all levels of Florida officials

Martin Lee Anderson, 14, murdered by boot camp guards

The racially-motivated beating death of 14-year-old black youth Martin Lee Anderson by Bay County boot camp guards in January 2006 gained worldwide attention both for its shocking brutality and for its blatant cover-up.

Bay County medical examiner Charles Siebert, who falsified the death report and lied that Anderson died because of the Sickle Cell Anemia trait, had been the Pinellas County medical examiner under
Bernie McCabe until 2003.

Charles Siebert

Siebert, who was fired from his $180,000-a-year job as Bay County examiner after the exposure
of the Anderson case, was given his job back in 2007. Prior to that case Siebert was already under investigation for signing off on autopsies he did not conduct, failing to renew his medical license and issuing many dubious autopsy reports.

Siebert was also accused by the family of Michael Niesen of covering up the fact that Niesen was fatally beaten by police officers in 1977. ("Another family claims examiner hid a homicide," May 26, 2006, tampabay.com; "Doctor in boot camp case loses his job," Dec. 30, 2007, tampabay.com; "After boot camp, calm in Bay County," Sept. 18, 2007, tampabay.com)

Guy Tunnell

At the time of the murder of Martin Lee Anderson, Guy Tunnell was the head of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), which investigated Anderson's murder. Tunnell founded the boot camp where Anderson was killed, and hired and trained all the guards who killed him.
Tunnell, who emailed racist remarks during the Anderson case and was fired by the FDLE after the case, was later rehired as an investigator for the Bay County State Attorney's Office. ("After boot camp, calm in Bay County," Sept. 18, 2007, tampabay.com)

Tunnell was also on the advisory board of Drug Free America, formerly known as the Straight Foundation, which has many lawsuits against it for its repeated abuses of young people who were part of the program. (Huffington Report, "Boot camp death connections," Feb. 23, 2006)

Straight was founded by Mel Sembler, the wealthy real estate developer and big Republican Party donor who built and recently sold BayWalk, an upscale movie and restaurant complex in downtown St. Petersburg intended to attract white tourists and North County residents. BayWalk's policies were known for being hostile to the black community, especially teenagers.

In 2003 Uhuru Movement member Mutundu Stewart was arrested for speaking out in defense of another African man who was being beaten by police on BayWalk grounds. The Uhuru Movement led weekly demonstrations outside of BayWalk for more than nine months until all charges against Stewart were dropped.

Mel Sembler

As a major Republican Party donor Mel Sembler was a "pioneer" for the campaign of George W. Bush, meaning Sembler contributed more than $100,000 to Bush's campaign.

For this, Bush rewarded Sembler with the ambassadorship to Italy. Sembler is also a major contributor to the campaigns of Florida Governor Charlie Crist and St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker. After Crist launched his political career in the Florida State Senate in 1993 he introduced the reinstatement of the chain gang using prisoners, thus earning the nickname "Chain-gang Charlie." (http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/7480.html)

Gov. Crist reinstated chain gangs in Florida

As key parts of Florida's "good old boy" network Bernie McCabe, Rick Baker, former sheriff Everett Rice and current sheriff Jim Coats were part of Gov. Charlie Crist's "transition team" as he took over the office of governor in January 2007. (http://blogs.tampabay.com/buzz/2006/12/big_pinellas_pr.html)

Many of the state's prisons are clustered in rural, white North Florida communities. Renown for its culture of violence and corruption, Florida's Department of Corrections is headed up by former Florida drug czar, retired colonel, get-tough drug policy advisor to President Bush and key player in Florida's good old boy network, James McDonough.

McDonough was selected for the position in 2006 after former Florida prison chief James Crosby was convicted following a sweeping federal probe of corruption inside the state's prisons and is now serving an eight year sentence.

African people make up 54 percent of Florida's prison population of 92,000 inmates, despite being only 14 percent of the population of the state. With North Florida's citrus and agriculture economy in decline, prisons exploiting African people are an important source of economic stimulus for the depressed area. Florida's prison system, including the notoriously brutal juvenile system, has numerous lawsuits against it for murder and violence by guards against inmates. (Time/CNN, "What's wrong with Florida's prisons?" October 17, 2007)

State Attorney Bernie McCabe

Cover-ups and false "justified" rulings by police and State Attorney McCabe

The police murders of teenagers TyRon Lewis, Marquell McCullough, Jarrell Walker and Javon Dawson are part of a policy targeting the African community with violence and cover-ups

TyRon Lewis

TyRon Lewis was shot to death during a traffic stop on 16th Street South in St. Petersburg on October 24,1996 by Officers James Knight and Sandra Minor.

Knight killed Lewis with three shots of five that he fired within 55 seconds of stopping Lewis in his car. Knight violated police policy that a gun cannot be fired until all other means have been exhausted.

In his report of the murder Knight lied, saying he was "bumped" by Lewis' car. This was contradicted by both witnesses and evidence, which showed that the car being driven by Lewis posed no threat. Witnesses also said that Lewis had his hands up.

Major Cedric Gordon, Knight's supervisor, said that Knight could have backed away from the car and Gordon recommended that Knight be fired. However, Judge Horace A. Andrews did not allow lawyers to question Major Gordon in the civil suit filed by the family.

James Knight

Knight is a member of the St. Petersburg police SWAT team. In 2001, Knight was suspended for three days when he once again lied in his reports to his superiors, after "he placed himself in danger by pulling his police cruiser in front of an allegedly stolen car."

Knight falsely stated he was "rammed" by the car and used this to justify a police chase of the vehicle. ("Trial may open old wounds," May 10, 2004, St. Petersburg Times)

Because of a powerful movement in the African community led by the Uhuru Movement protesting the police murder of TyRon Lewis, there was an eight year span before another African teen was killed by law enforcement. Marquell McCullough, 17, was murdered by Pinellas County sheriff's deputies on May 2, 2004.

Marquell McCullough

It is therefore chilling to find an article that ran in the St. Petersburg Times in 1994 about Officer James Knight who was registering the Christmas bike of Marquell McCullough who was only seven years old at the time. This was two years before Knight shot TyRon Lewis to death and ten years before little Marquell himself would be murdered by cops also.

The St. Petersburg Times article from Dec. 28, 1994 read:

"Marquell McCullough, 7, watches as St. Petersburg police Officer Jim Knight registers the boy's new Christmas bike and Sgt. Bill Proffitt pumps air into the tires...The city police and fire departments held a free bike clinic at the Enoch Davis Center..." ("Presents need protecting," St. Petersburg Times, Dec. 28, 1994)

The city police and fire department held a free bike clinic at Enoch Davis Center in the heart of the African community in order to fill their database with the names and addresses of young African people they would be arresting, brutalizing and murdering a few years down the line.

Pinellas County sheriff's deputies David Antolini and Nelson DeLeon killed Marquell in a hail of 15 bullets. Marquell, unarmed, was hit by nine of those bullets through his car window.

Despite the fact that State Attorney Bernie McCabe ruled the murder of McCullough "justified," McCabe later revealed that it was a case of "mistaken identity." McCullough was "probably" not the person the deputies were after that night, McCabe admitted, a revelation that did not affect McCabe's justified ruling. Conveniently, the video cameras mounted in the deputies' patrol cars that would have captured the murder "weren't working" that night. ("Suit blames deputies for death of grandson," May 19, 2006, Tampa Tribune)

Nevertheless, deputies Antolini and DeLeon were given exceptional service awards almost a year to the day after the murder. ("Deputies honored for courage under fire," St. Petersburg Times, May 6, 2005)

In 1993, eleven years before he murdered Marquell, David Antolini was a cop in Indian Rocks Beach. He was involved in a fatal, high-speed car chase about which he lied and falsified reports. During the chase 21-year-old Michelle Elstro was instantly killed. ("Officer led about car chase, report says," St. Petersburg Times, Dec. 2, 1993)

Despite being fired by Indian Rocks police department for lying about his illegal car chase that resulted in the death of an innocent person, Antolini was then hired as a deputy by Pinellas County Sheriff Everett Rice a few weeks later. Antolini was engaged to another deputy's daughter from the same Pinellas County department. ("Sheriff hires officer involved in fatal chase," St. Petersburg Times, Dec. 28, 1993)

In 2007 Antolini was again cleared by McCabe in a third fatal case. In Clearwater, Antolini tasered and beat to death Daniel Bradley Young, a 33-year-old mentally disturbed man. ("Deputies cleared in death of suspect," Jul. 10, 2007, Tampa Tribune)

Jarrell Walker

Jarrell Walker, 19, was murdered on April 12, 2005 by members of a Pinellas County sheriffs SWAT team. Jarrell was shot in the back as he lay sleeping on the couch after a flash bang grenade was used by deputies to break down his door and enter his house.

Jarrell's 3-year-old son was sleeping in the other room. The child was taken in by authorities and fingerprinted, given a mug shot and was not released to his mother until she was made to take a drug test.

Walker was murdered by Deputy Christopher Taylor. The murder was ruled justified by Bernie McCabe, even though Taylor was involved in two previous non-lethal shootings and his supervisor stated that "Taylor sometimes becomes excitable and confrontational." Taylor said that Walker had a gun under the couch where he slept but other officers found no gun or weapon. (www.elmerfudd.us/darkwind/nohate25.htm, www.theempirejournal.com/530051_pinellas_county_fbi_probe.htm)

McCabe ruled Taylor's murder of Jarrell Walker "justified," even though McCabe stated that the sheriff's department needed to review its policy on deadly force. The case was so blatant that it was investigated by the FBI to determine if Walker's civil rights were violated. (Bay News 9, "Walker case now a national investigation," May 25, 2005) Another person in the house with Jarrell at the time he was killed testified at a community meeting at the Uhuru House that he was ordered onto the floor by the sheriffs as they tried to clean up the scene immediately following the murder of Jarrell. This young personm stated that he was threatened with having a "foot put in my face" if he looked up. (WorldNetDaily, "Black community under siege," by Omali Yeshitela)

Javon Dawson

Javon Dawson, 17, was murdered on June 7, 2008 by St Petersburg Police and Iraq war veteran Terrence Nemeth. Dawson was killed by two shots in the back as he was allegedly running away. Again, the murder of a young black man was ruled justified by State Attorney Bernie McCabe. McCabe's report produced no evidence: no bullets, no residue on Javon's hands, no witnesses, no fingerprints, no ID of gun registration. ("Crist orders unusual review," St. Petersburg Times, Aug. 14, 2008)

The DNA testing of the weapon that police claim Javon was holding was contracted out by McCabe to Bode Technology. The CEO of Bode is Howard Safir who was the police commissioner of New York City under Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

Howard Safir

During Safir's tenure as police commissioner he oversaw the shooting of Amadou Diallo, who was murdered by police with 41 bullets, and the brutalization of Abner Louima, who was tortured by police when they rammed the handle of a toilet plunger into his rectum. This was the city where in November 2006, 23-year-old Sean Bell was killed in a hail of 50 bullets on his wedding day by three New York Police Department officers who were later acquitted.

In 2000, Safir as police commissioner shot and killed an unarmed black homeless man as he and Mayor Giuliani left a press conference. (www.gothamgazette.com/article/crime/20000401/4/197)

Next: Justice for Javon Dawson, TyRon Lewis, Marquell McCullough and Jarrell Walker!