Excerpt: In a brief video that circulated over the holidays among officers of the BART police force, the department’s chief pins a badge on a beaming young officer wearing the turban of his Sikh faith. Ominous music plays in the background, and it soon becomes clear why: The chief removes the turban, turns it over and discovers a semiautomatic pistol inside. The newly hired officer is no longer smiling.
In those six seconds, it’s not immediately clear that the video — which depicts a real BART officer and the actual BART chief, Kevin Franklin — is a fake made with generative AI.
The bigoted video, which the Chronicle obtained, has prompted an internal investigation, along with orders from the chief that officers at the agency refrain from harassing colleagues. The union representing rank-and-file officers, meanwhile, reminded them to “exercise sound judgment when communicating digitally,” while recommending they proactively scrub their phones of any potentially offensive content.
Me again: There’s the police union in action: Remember, badge-buddies, to keep your racism off the record!
California: Family devastated after man dies while in ICE custody
Excerpt: His family said Alberto entered the U.S. without proper documentation, but had no criminal record. As he remained in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), his health began to deteriorate and his son said he was reportedly denied medical care.
“He would send them a message that said, ‘I need medical attention,’ and they would ignore it until he passed out last Wednesday,” said Erick Gutierrez, Alberto’s son. “They took him to the emergency room and unfortunately, last Friday, he passed away.”
Excerpt: Lesly Rodriguez Gutierrez and her sons were arrested during their visit to ICE’s Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP), said Alameda County Immigration Legal and Education Partnership (ACILEP). A relative who was waiting outside for Gutierrez and her sons was unable to hand off the assistive devices necessary for the six-year-old, who is deaf and has a cochlear implant.
“No child should be ripped from their home community and hidden in a detention center, especially not a Deaf child who is being deprived of the ability to communicate and understand what is happening to him,” Tony Thurmond, the California superintendent of public instruction, said in a statement on Friday. “I am calling on the federal government to return our student to his school community now. These inhumane and illegal attacks on our families must end.”
Colorado: Aurora ICE inmates are malnourished and forced to work, advocates report
Excerpt: Detainees seeking health care in the GEO facility described receiving devastating misdiagnoses and prescriptions for the wrong medicines.
People suffered from chest pain, body pain, uncontrollable vomiting and headaches, said V Reeves of the housing advocacy group Housekeys Action Network Denver. The response, detainees reported: a single dose of Ibuprofen.
… GEO’s “volunteer work” program, where people earn $1 a day, felt more like forced labor to multiple detainees, who said they would be punished if they did not participate. Advocates likened the program to “sharecropping.”
… Inmates said they were placed in solitary confinement for stretches of time — sometimes when they were a victim of a crime. In solitary, they missed meals and were denied phone calls, commissary use and visits.
Guards treated detainees “like animals,” several people told the investigators.
“I don’t know if they treat us bad because they’re racist or because of the color of our [orange] uniforms,” one inmate said in the report. “The new ones are a little worse, they act like they’re part of ICE, part of the system, like they’ve chosen this job just to mistreat us.”
Florida: Innocent driver killed when stolen truck crashes into her during police chase
Excerpt: The driver in the stolen vehicle, a woman who has been identified as Anna Giza, took law enforcement on a pursuit that began more than 10 miles north of where the crash occurred.
The truck was stolen from Fort Lauderdale. However, authorities said it was equipped with a tracking device.
At some point, according to the Broward County Sheriff’s Office, the truck was stopped but then hit two parked law enforcement cars.
Eventually, a PIT maneuver stopped the stolen truck on the Turnpike, but not before it slammed into a black Nissan Altima and killed the woman behind the wheel.
Excerpt: Former DeKalb police officer Russell Mathis will also be eligible to have his conviction sealed under Georgia’s First Offender Act if he successfully completes his 10-year sentence, after pleading guilty under an Alford plea in the 2022 killing of 37-year-old Marando Salmon inside his Stone Mountain home.
Mathis was sentenced to two years of house arrest, followed by eight years of probation after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter on February 11. He was also ordered to pay $4,700 to Salmon’s family for funeral expenses, but he will not be required to wear an ankle monitor while on house arrest.
Excerpt: Prosecutions for non-immigration crimes tied to Operation Midway Blitz have disintegrated at an alarming rate at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse since October. Cases against 17 of 32 known defendants have already collapsed, including the ones against Collins and Robledo.
But they still come at a cost. A federal prosecution is intimidating. It carries the threat of prison time. Damaging news stories spread online. Freedoms are often restricted, even in minor cases. Lawyers are needed, though federal defenders have saved people from big legal bills.
Then there’s jail.
The 17 cleared defendants spent a combined 150 days in federal custody, records show. That doesn’t include 35 days, and counting, that Juan Espinoza Martinez has been held by immigration authorities since he was acquitted for allegedly placing a hit on Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol official who became the face of the deportation operation.
Louisiana police chief says he’s “beyond pissed off” about officer accused of trying to lure child
Excerpt: Slidell Police Chief Daniel Seuzeneau says a corrections officer in his department has “tarnished this badge, this uniform” of the Slidell Police Department.
His comments come the day after the FBI arrested 31-year-old Slidell Police Corrections Officer Nicholas Engolia on charges of sending obscene material to a minor and coercion and enticement of a minor.
Maryland: Justice Dept. employee charged in child pornography case
Excerpt: A Justice Department spokesperson said in a statement, “The employee is on leave and appropriate disciplinary action will be taken in accordance with standard procedure. While we cannot comment on personnel matters, we hold all of our employees to the highest standards of ethical conduct at all times.”
Maryland cop finds man asleep behind the wheel at intersection, kills him
Excerpt: The video begins without audio as the sound buffers. Baltimore County police officer Derek Hadel, a nine-year department veteran, walks up to Brown’s car. Brown gets out and says something to Hadel.
Video then shows Hadel extend his arm and push Brown away from him. Brown swipes at the officer’s hand twice. Hadel then punches Brown multiple times.
Brown then falls to the ground and hits his head on the street, video shows.
“You can see at the time of the attack, Big Sam was obviously drunk. He was defenseless because he was standing still with his arms at his side when he got hit,” said Billy Murphy, the family’s attorney.
An autistic man called police for a wellness check. Cops killed him.
Excerpt: On the morning of Feb. 28, just as he always did, LaMorie texted his mom an inspirational quote, Neiberger said.
“Life is too short to be mad at everyone, so I’m nice to almost everyone instead,” the text read.
Hours later, his mother received a frightening phone call from her son. He told her he was in suicidal crisis and had called the police for a wellness check, part of a safety plan he had in place, Neiberger said. His mother called a suicide hotline and was patched through to Howard County police, telling them he was autistic and at risk of harming himself.
Officers who responded to LaMorie’s call early on March 1 found him outside the apartment building holding a knife, police said. Two of the officers at the scene had undergone crisis intervention training for handling such incidents, Howard County police said. When LaMorie didn’t drop the knife after repeated commands, state officials said, three officers shot him as he approached them. He died at the scene.
Detroit police officer suspended, arrested after woman says he stole intimate images from her phone
Excerpt: Samantha Thomason says the officer sent intimate videos and a nude photo from her phone to himself while she was detained following a traffic stop. Detroit police confirm the officer is under investigation and was arrested earlier this week.
Minnesota: Chisago County settles lawsuit over sheriff sex assault case for $7.5M
Excerpt: Duncan was initially charged with two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct and three counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct but pleaded down to one of the charges to serve six months in jail and 15 years of probation.
Excerpt: Former Minnesota state Sen. Matt Little was lawfully observing federal immigration agents in a Dakota County neighborhood last month when the drive took an unexpected turn.
As he followed their vehicles, they led him down a rural road that grew increasingly familiar during the 20-minute drive. Soon, Little told The Intercept, he realized where the federal agents were headed: his house.
Family of deaf woman settles lawsuit with North Las Vegas police for $1.2 million
Excerpt: Hollingsworth and her daughters were sitting in a vehicle and waiting for a friend when they were approached by police who were investigating a report of harassment. According to the lawsuit, an officer “proceeded to demand Ms. Hollingsworth respond to his inquiries without providing her with any means to communicate, despite Ms. Hollingsworth and her children repeatedly informing him that she is deaf and Ms. Hollingsworth requesting the use of written notes.”
The lawsuit states the officer was also wearing a neck gaiter and she couldn’t recognize that he was speaking or read his lips. It also states he refused to let her use pen and paper to communicate and the officer didn’t attempt to locate or use a qualified interpreter.
By the time another officer arrived on the scene, the lawsuit states the situation had turned into an “unnecessary physical confrontation.” Hollingsworth was “violently forced from her car for her so-called non-compliance, shoved to the ground, and twisted and cuffed her hands — her primary means of communication — behind her back while her daughters watched in horror.” She was arrested but not cited for any crimes.
This incident is leading to changes for the department. According to the City of North Las Vegas, all officers now receive annual mandatory deaf sensitivity training.
NYPD arrests a second person over snowball fight where cops got pelted
Former New York DARE officer admits to selling drugs while in uniform in squad car
Ohio: Afroman to stand trial this month over music video made from deputies’ raid footage
Excerpt: In August 2022, Adams County deputies raided the home of Joseph Foreman, better known as Afroman, with a search warrant tied to an investigation into possible drugs and kidnapping victims. No charges were filed after the raid.
… Afroman said the raid left damage throughout his home, and that the Adams County Sheriff’s Office told him it was not responsible for paying for repairs.
“The guy started laughing and waddling his head, and said we’re not required to do that. They were unapologetic,” Afroman said.
Afroman said he turned the experience into music, using his own security footage from the raid in a music video to help pay for the repairs.
“I use my personal life to write my music,” he said. “Will you help me repair my gate, will you help me repair my door. I’m singing about what actually happened to me.”
Deputies who appear in the video are now suing the rapper for damages caused by their likenesses being used in the video.
Me again: Here’s the video — it’s beautiful.
Oregon: ICE arrested an Oregon shop owner who had her green card in her pocket: ‘They didn’t care’
Excerpt: The moment 19-year-old Emely Agustin spotted the group of masked immigration agents tackling a woman facedown on the pavement, her heart dropped.
She saw the woman’s red jacket. “Oh my fucking God. That’s my mom!” she screamed.
Tennessee: ICE abducts journalist who was covering them
Excerpt: Immigration and Customs Enforcement are trying to deport a journalist covering immigration, in one of the most egregious attacks on freedom of speech under Donald Trump’s administration so far, Migrant Insider reported Friday.
Estefany Maria Rodríguez Flores, a reporter who’d been covering a series of immigration raids in Nashville, Tennessee, was headed to the gym with her husband Wednesday when her vehicle was swarmed by federal agents. Her car bore the name of her newsroom, Nashville Noticias.
The agents did not produce a warrant for her arrest, her attorney told Migrant Insider. They simply presented her with a Notice to Appear—the first of many steps toward deportation.
Rodríguez Flores, who entered the country legally in 2021 and later married a U.S. citizen, was in the process of applying for permanent residency. When her recent appointment with Immigration and Customs Enforcement was canceled and an agent was unable to find her name in the system, she got a handwritten note rescheduling her for a meeting March 17—in less than two weeks.
It wasn’t immediately clear where Rodríguez was taken. “We don’t know where she is,” her husband, Alejandro, who is still in Tennessee with their child, told Migrant Insider. He hasn’t been able to speak to her since Wednesday.
Texas: At largest ICE jail, staff bet on inmate suicides, AP reports
Excerpt: In January, staff at Camp East Montana called 911 to request emergency help for Geraldo Lunas Campos, a 55-year-old from Cuba. DHS described his death as an attempted suicide. A medical examiner later ruled it a homicide. That same month, staff at the detention facility called 911 to report that a 36-year-old Nicaraguan man died by suicide. The AP reports that “detainees attempted to harm themselves while expressing suicidal ideations on at least six other occasions that resulted in 911 calls.”
Excerpt: In an internal report released by a nonprofit watchdog group last month, ICE said Martinez “accelerated forward” and struck an agent during the March 2025 incident. The Department of Homeland Security claimed in a statement that an ICE agent had fired “defensive shots” into Martinez’s vehicle after Martinez “intentionally ran over” another agent.
But body camera video, which has not been previously reported, shows that Martinez’s vehicle, a blue Ford Fusion, was stationary or going at a very low rate of speed when he was fatally shot. When gunshots are heard in the video, the brake lights of Martinez’ vehicle appear to be on.
After he’s shot three times, Martinez is seen being pulled from his vehicle, thrown to the ground by an ICE agent, face down, and then handcuffed. Personnel on the scene are not seen in the video providing medical care until after he is handcuffed.
Excerpt: The family of a man who reportedly died last year after an injury in prison is suing the Vermont Department of Corrections and its health care provider, claiming that prison and medical staff didn’t properly treat the man’s diabetes, leading to his death at 40 years old.
Jason Colebaugh died last April from injuries he sustained on March 2, 2025, when he fell from his top bunk onto his cell floor in Northern Correctional Facility in Newport during a seizure prompted by low blood sugar, according to his family’s lawsuit.
Colebaugh fell “head first onto the concrete floor” while he seized, said Lisa Steadman, Colebaugh’s mother, at a press conference Monday in downtown Burlington. The impact fractured his skull and nicked an artery, causing a brain bleed that led to his death, she said.
… Steadman, on behalf of her son’s estate, is suing the Vermont Department of Corrections, a handful of individual employees and the for-profit health care company Wellpath, which the department contracts to provide medical services.
Wisconsin: Monroe County transport officer charged after allegedly grabbing genitals of inmate
Excerpt: The inmate alleges that Griffin grabbed his genitals and slammed his head into the van floor on the transport from the facility, knocking him unconscious. Griffin told investigators the inmate was not being cooperative and was trying to harm himself.
In body camera footage of the incident reviewed by Detective Matthew Sutton, Griffin could be heard saying, “It’s time to start playing big boy games with him. He don’t like you touching his balls, so if he does something stupid, grab his nuts.” Footage indicated Griffin had repeated the suggestion to grab the inmate’s genitalia a second time.
The inmate also reported that Griffin said he was going to kill the inmate and told the other transport officer how much he hated the inmate. The other transport officer agreed that Griffin hated the inmate but never heard him say Griffin wanted to kill him.
You are there
∙ Illinois > Wisconsin
∙ Minnesota
∙ Minnesota
∙ Oregon
∙ Washington
99.9999% of police brutality, corruption, and misconduct is never investigated, never punished, never makes the news, so it’s not on this page.
When cops are caught breaking the law, they’re investigated by other cops. Details are kept quiet, the officers’ names are withheld from public knowledge, and what info is eventually released is only what police choose to release — often nothing at all.
When police are fired — which is all too rare — they leave with ‘law enforcement experience’ and can easily find work in another police department nearby. It’s called “Wandering Cops.”
When police testify under oath, they lie so frequently that cops themselves have a joking term for it: “testilying.” Yet it’s almost unheard of for police to be punished or prosecuted for perjury.
Cops can and do get away with lawlessness, because cops protect other cops. If they don’t, they aren’t cops for long.
The legal doctrine of “qualified immunity” renders police officers invulnerable to lawsuits for almost anything they do. In practice, getting past ‘qualified immunity’ is so unlikely, it makes headlines when it happens.
All this is a path to a police state.
In a free society, police must always be under serious and skeptical public oversight, with non-cops and non-cronies in charge, issuing genuine punishment when warranted.
Police who break the law must be prosecuted like anyone else, promptly fired if guilty, and barred from ever working in law-enforcement again.
That’s the solution.
Previous police brutality,
misconduct, and perversions
3/8/2026
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