Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights

November 12, 2011

Alameda Sheriff's officers beat women, deny ACLU records

Alameda Sheriff's officers beat women at Berkeley in stomachs with nightsticks and were present when two veterans were critically injured in Oakland. Alameda Sheriff's Department is denying records requests to the ACLU.By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

BERKELEY, Calif. -- Alameda Sheriff’s officers, which coordinated police the night Marine Scott Olsen was shot in the head, were caught on video on Wednesday beating students at the University of California at Berkeley, including young women, in the stomachs with their nightsticks.
Officers from the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department who beat Berkeley students have already been identified by way of photos and videos. The students were engaged in a peaceful protest and stood before officers with arms linked when officers began beating them in the stomachs with their nightsticks, as shows in videos of Occupy Cal, part of the Occupy Wall Street movement. (See video link below.)
The Alameda Sheriff’s Department officers were also present the night Scott Olsen, Marine and member of Iraq Veterans against the War, was shot in the head by a police projectile at Occupy Oakland. Videos reveal unidentified police officers firing riot shotguns at head level into the crowd in the area where Olsen was standing. A second projectile, a flash grenade, was thrown at Olsen after he was hit and was being carried away by bystanders.
Alameda Sheriff’s officers were also present on Nov. 2, when a second war veteran was critically injured. A police officer from Union City said on his blog that Alameda Sheriff’s officers and Oakland police did the “dirty work” that night.
The night Scott Olsen was shot
On the night Scott Olsen was shot, the Alameda Sheriff’s Department brought in officers from San Francisco and Santa Clara counties. However, Alameda was the department supplying the tear gas.
“We brought plenty of CS (tear gas) canisters,” Alameda County Sheriff’s Department spokesperson J. D. Nelson told Fog City Journal. “But they didn’t have a flash bang.”
Now, the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department, headquartered in Oakland, is refusing to turn over records of what happened that night.
The ACLU said Oakland refused to turn over documents concerning the use of excessive force on the night Olsen was shot. Oakland was prohibited from the use of projectiles on crowds, following an earlier court case of excessive force.
ACLU’s Linda Lye in Northern California wrote, “Police officers actually do not have ‘unfettered’ discretion in using force against political protesters. It's constrained by, among other things, the constitutional prohibition against excessive force and OPD's own Crowd Control Policy , which as we've previously noted , was repeatedly breached that night,” Lye wrote in the ACLU Blog.
Police officer blogs about the night second veteran was beaten
Union City Police Officer Freddy Camacho blogged about who was responsible on the night a second war veteran was critically injured on Nov. 2 in Oakland.
Officer Camacho, blogging at the One World Self Defense and Fitness website in Union City, describes being on duty at Occupy Oakland on the night of November 2.
“I give kudos to Oakland PD and the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office. Their officers and deputies had to do all the dirty work. All of us neighboring agencies were just moved around like pawns and formed protective lines to watch their back and flanks while they took care of business," Camacho wrote.
That was the night that a second war veteran, Kayvan Sabehgi, 32, was critically injured by police. Sabehgi is a local business owner who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan. The U.S. Army Ranger was brutally beaten by police officers, denied medical treatment in jail and suffered a ruptured spleen and internal bleeding.
The ACLU sent a letter to the Alameda Sheriff Department on Nov. 3, requesting the names of all officers present, their training, weapons used and all notes and correspondences. It also asked for a report of injuries.
In his blog, Officer Camacho points out that the Oakland Police Department and Alameda County Sheriff officers did “all the dirty work” and "took care of business" at Occupy Oakland the night of Nov. 2, the day of the Oakland Strike.
Officer Camacho said in his blog post at the fitness website, “I apologize for not getting WORKOUT 11/3/2011 up yesterday. I had no plans of spending the entire night in Oakland standing around in riot gear getting lectured, heckled, and entertained by the people of Occupy Oakland,” he wrote.
“I give kudos to Oakland PD and the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office. Their officers and deputies had to do all the dirty work. All of us neighboring agencies were just moved around like pawns and formed protective lines to watch their back and flanks while they took care of business.”
Officer Camacho, in his blog entry, doesn’t identify which police department he works for. A Crossfit news article in 2010, states that he runs CrossFit One World and works as traffic officer and SWAT operator for the Union City Police Department.
Officer Camacho’s blog post about Occupy Oakland is dated Nov. 3, 2011. Union City is located between Oakland and San Jose.
References:
Police Officer Freddy Camacho’s blog entry:
http://crossfitoneworld.typepad.com/crossfit_one_world/2011/11/occupy-this.html
Alameda Sheriff Dept. refuses to turn over records the night Olsen was shot:
http://www.aclu.org/blog/free-speech/aclu-oakland-police-no-seriously-hand-over-info
ACLU letter to Alameda Sheriff Department on Nov. 3, 2011, concerning records when second veteran, Sabehgi, was brutally beaten by police:
http://aclunc.org/issues/freedom_of_press_and_speech/asset_upload_file490_10542.pdf
Fog City Journal: Alameda Sheriff concerning tear gas when Olsen was injured:
http://www.fogcityjournal.com/wordpress/3126/alameda-county-sheriffs-deputy-suspected-in-lobbing-tear-gas-at-protesters-rendering-aid-to-scott-olsen
Photos and videos of Alameda Sheriff Department officers beating Berkeley students, including young women, in the stomachs:
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2011/11/video-police-beating-berkeley-students.html
Photos of officers standing in front of Scott Olsen when he was shot in the head and flash grenade was thrown at him:
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2011/10/video-who-shot-scott-olsen-at-occupy.html
Photos and videos of officers shooting riot shotguns into the crowd, at head level, where Olsen was standing, minutes after Olsen was shot:
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2011/11/update-who-shot-scott-olsen-in-oakland.html
Also see:
Daily blog of police misconduct in US:
http://www.injusticeeverywhere.com/?p=4880
UC Berkeley teachers condemn police violence:
http://www.dailycal.org/2011/11/12/uc-berkeley-teachers-condemn-police-violence


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