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NYPD Uses Military-Grade Sonic Weapon on Eric Garner Protesters
Long
range acoustic devices (LRADs) have been previously implemented by
police at protests throughout the world.
5
November, 2014
Last
night at about 1am, at the intersection of 57 East and Madison Avenue
in Manhattan—a populated area about four blocks from Columbus
Circle—the NYPD used a Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD) to
disperse about 100 protesters who were on the streets.
Footage
captured by YouTube user James C shows the weapon in use beginning at
the 1:58 mark. Protesters scattered in response to the sound, and
either a live officer over a PA system or an automated voice
intermittently told protesters between sound blasts that they could
not interfere with “vehicular traffic” without risking arrest.
The LRAD is deployed multiple times throughout the 5:00 minute video
clip.
Shay
Horse, an independent photojournalist who was on the scene, posted on
the internet that “The NYPD began using it after glass bottles were
thrown at them when they made several violent arrests when a march
tried to cross Madison Ave.”
One
person who was present at the scene, Moth Dust, a photographer, said
people became aggravated after the LRAD was used and began throwing
trash and rocks in the direction of police. She said she was affected
by the sound waves.
“I
thought I was fine until I realized I was getting dizzy and migraine
was spreading to all over my face,” she said.
LRADs
were used in the first days of unrest in Ferguson Missouri, and have
been used by police at protests throughout the world. They were
developed by the US military after an insurgent attack on the US.S.
Cole in Yemen in 2000, and were used by the NYPD against Occupy Wall
Street protesters.
"The
LRAD can reach decibel levels as high as 162. For comparison, a
normal conversation is usually 60 decibels, while a lawn mower can
reach to 90 decibels. A level of 130 decibels is typically considered
the average pain threshold for most humans.”
Furthermore,
Informed Health Online notes that
a jet engine registers at about 140 decibels. Anything at or above
this range, IHO explains, “is called acoustic trauma. Depending on
how long the ears are exposed to the sound and how intense it is, it
may damage the eardrum, the middle ear and/or the inner ear. Damage
like this is usually temporary, but some hearing loss may remain.”
The
head investor and media relations for the LRAD Corporation in San
Diego, California, told Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty that the
weapon is so precise that those “standing behind or next to” the
device can hardly hear it. However, the YouTube footage shows dozens
of people scurrying away from the sound blasts, which can be heard
clearly on film.
No
coverage of the LRAD use was reported in the mainstream media.
Earlier in the night, around11 PM , CNN correspondent Brooke
Baldwin praised the behavior of protesters and the NYPD's response to
the protests, remarking on live television, “This is exactly how
it's supposed to be.”
Noel
Leader, a former 20 year sergeant of the NYPD and co-founder of 100
Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, was incredulous about the
possibility that an LRAD had been used.
"I
haven't heard anything about that,” he told AlterNet. “I'd
be surprised if that was the case, because most of the protesters
have been nonviolent and peaceful, even though they have been
disruptive.
In
total, police arrested 219 people at the protests last
night, according
to Capital New York
‘Govt created a monster’: 1000s protest police violence across US for 3rd night
6
November, 2014
Thousands
of people in New York and other US cities protested for a third night
against the use of lethal force by police against minorities, as
prosecutors pledged to consider charges against an officer in the
killing of an unarmed black man last month.
The
killing of 28-year-old Akai Gurley, who was gunned down in November
by a police officer in a darkened public housing stairwell in
Brooklyn, is the latest in an avalanche of deadly police actions
across the country which many deem racially-biased.
Brooklyn
District Attorney Kenneth Thompson said Friday he will convene a
grand jury to consider possible charges against Peter Liang, who shot
Gurley. Police there have said Liang may have accidentally discharged
his gun. At a news conference Friday, the president of the advocacy
group BK Nation, Kevin Powell, called the shooting the latest in a
"series
of modern-day lynchings."
This
week's outbreak of angry but mostly peaceful protests began Wednesday
when a New York grand jury refused to bring charges against white
officer Daniel Pantaleo in the death of a 43-year-old black father of
six, Eric Garner, who was being arrested on suspicion of selling
cigarettes illegally.
A
video of his confrontation with police on Staten Island in July
featured Pantaleo's arm across Garner's neck as he is subdued by four
officers. Then Garner, who had no weapon, was knocked face down to
the pavement as he repeatedly said, "I
can't breathe." The grand
jury sat for nine weeks and eventually decided to take no action
against Officer Pantaleo.
Last
month a Missouri grand jury also chose not to indict Darren Wilson, a
white policeman, for the killing of an 18-year-old unarmed black man
Michael Brown in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson in August,
provoking several nights of unrest. The grand jury in Ferguson heard
over 70 hours of testimony deciding whether to indict, USA Today
reported.
Activists on Friday concluded a protest march to the Missouri governor's mansion. More than 100 protesters shouted, "Hands up, don't shoot," and other slogans as they rallied in the rotunda of the state capitol in Jefferson City.
On
Thursday in Phoenix, Arizona, another unarmed black man was shot dead
by a white police officer during a scuffle, leading to protests in
that city.
"The
government has created a monster and the monster is now loose,"
Soraya Soi Free, 45, a nurse from the Bronx who has been protesting
in New York, told Reuters.
The
decisions by grand juries in Ferguson and New York not to indict
white police officers have angered ordinary Americans and human
rights experts alike.
"I
am concerned by the grand juries' decisions and the apparent
conflicting evidence that exists relating to both incidents," UN
Special Rapporteur on minority issues, Rita Izsak, said in a
statement.
"The
decisions leave many with legitimate concerns relating to a pattern
of impunity when the victims of excessive use of force come from
African-American or other minority communities."
On
Friday over a hundred demonstrators stormed into an Apple Store in
New York to stage a brief "die-in," sprawling on the floor
as shoppers and employees watched. They shortly left the store
without incident.
Similar
mini-demonstrations were staged at Macy's flagship department store
in Herald Square and at Grand Central Terminal. Police calmly stood
by, letting the protesters briefly occupy the locations.
Meanwhile,
up to 100 people gathered near the site of Garner's death for a
candlelight vigil on Staten Island. A group of marchers who pressed
on through the rain were confronted by police on Manhattan's lower
East Side before midnight. Several protesters were arrested, Reuters
reported.
Protests
also unfolded in Chicago, Boston and Washington, DC, with
demonstrators chanting "Black lives matter," and "I
can't breathe."
NYPD cop who killed unarmed Brooklyn man texted union instead of calling help
:
6
November, 2014
The
New York Police Department officer who recently shot and killed an
unarmed African American man in Brooklyn did not immediately call for
help or report the incident, choosing instead to text a police union
representative as the victim died.
Meanwhile,
Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson announced a grand jury will
consider charges against the officer responsible for the November
shooting.
According
to a report by the New York Daily News, these details were revealed
by unnamed law enforcement sources, and paint a clearer picture of
what happened the night 28-year-old Akai Gurley was killed by rookie
police officer Peter Liang in the stairwell of an apartment complex.
The
report states that Liang, as well as his partner Shaun Landau, did
not respond to calls from their commanding officer or the emergency
operator, both of whom were trying to reach them for more than six
and a half minutes after a neighbor called 911 to report a shooting.
Since neither Liang nor Landau reported the incident immediately,
police found out about the incident through the neighbor’s call.
Instead,
Liang reportedly decided to text a union representative during that
time. His text messages allegedly reveal that the officers did not
even know the precise address of the building they were in.
“That’s
showing negligence,” an anonymous police source told the Daily
News, referring to texting decision. “The guy is dying and you
still haven’t called it in?”
Akai
Gurley, in a photograph that was posted to his profile on
ExploreTalent, a casting website for actors and models.Akai Gurley,
in a photograph that was posted to his profile on ExploreTalent, a
casting website for actors and models.
In
a statement to Buzzfeed, however, the police union denied the report:
“The
Daily News story about the officer texting a union delegate does not
appear to be true. We have over 400 delegates but the ones that serve
the area he was working in did not receive any texts from him.”
Notably,
the officer was not even supposed to be inside of the Pink Houses
project when the shooting occurred, the Daily News reported. Deputy
Inspector Miguel Iglesias had ordered them to maintain a street
presence and only go as far as the lobby if they were to enter the
buildings, sources told the newspaper. Despite this, the officers
were allegedly performing inspections of the stairways.
With
the news coming in the wake of grand juries deciding not to indict
officers for the deaths of Staten Island man Eric Garner – who died
via chokehold by police – and teenager Michael Brown from Missouri,
criticism of the NYPD is sure to grow.
Gurley,
who was accompanied by his girlfriend Melissa Butler, was shot once
by Liang after the couple entered the staircase. The officers
allegedly gave no warning before shooting Gurley in the chest,
causing Butler to run to a neighbor on the fourth floor to make a 911
call.
“They
didn’t present themselves or nothing and shot him,” Butler said
to DNAinfo New York. “As soon as he came in, the police opened the
[door to the] eighth-floor staircase. They didn’t identify
themselves at all. They just shot.”
Butler
also claims the police did not call the ambulance or come down the
staircase to help.
A
grand jury will now take up the case and consider charges against
Liang, though no timetable for a decision has been set.
“I
pledge to conduct a full and fair investigation and to give the grand
jury all of the information necessary to do its job,” District
Attorney Thompson said in a statement.
The
NYPD is also conducting an investigation into the killing.
Commissioner Bill Bratton previously called Gurley innocent.
"What
happened last night was a very unfortunate tragedy,'' he said last
month. “The deceased is totally innocent. He just happened to be in
the hallway. He was not engaged in any criminal activity.''
From
Jenna Orkin , via Facebook
As
a friend and I were sitting in a coffee shop this evening, a crowd of
protesters passed outside, chanting their outrage on the Eric Garner
and Michael Brown verdicts. It took a moment to make out the words of
the spondaic chant but then all at once, the meaning hit with the
force of three punches: "I can't breathe! I can't breathe!"
Mike
Ruppert once said that the Rodney King protests and the official
response, or lack thereof, were a trial run for more widespread riots
when the sh*t hit the fan. Are the events of the past few weeks a
still more refined rehearsal? Between Garner, Brown and
twelve-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland, it would seem that on the
contrary, we're being goaded towards all hell breaking loose..
Philip
Agee echoes Mike's view:
"Can
anyone doubt that the events of Los Angeles will recur? Those
struggling in the 1990s for change would do well to remember the
repression visited on progressive movements following both World Wars
and during the Vietnam War. The government has no more Red Menace to
whip up hysteria, but the 'war on drugs' seems to be quite adequate
for justifying law enforcement practices that have political
applications as well. The hunt for aliens and their deportation, and
the use of ...sophisticated methods of repression following the Los
Angeles uprising, reveal what has been quietly continuing below the
surface for years. We should be on notice that in the current
political climate, with clamor for change everywhere, the guardians
of traditional power will not give up without a fight. They will find
their 'threats' and 'enemies' in Black youths, undocumented
immigrants, environmentalists, feminists, gays and lesbians, and go
on to more 'mainstream' opponents in attempts, including domestic
covert operations, to divide and discredit the larger movement for
reform."
-- CovertAction Quarterly, Tracking Covert Actions into
the Future by Philip Agee
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