SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A video making the rounds on social media– that is raising a lot of questions about the integrity of two Springfield police officers.There’s a video making the rounds on social media– that is raising a lot of questions about the integrity of two Springfield police officers.

You can see two Springfield officers knock on a lady’s door– notice her surveillance camera, then one of them puts a piece of black electrical tape over it.

She says she’s always respected police, until now.

“There is no reason whatsoever for that to have been done,” said Frances Gill. She is upset that a police officer would do that.

“Big no no.”

In a two hour period on the evening of December 16– police were called to Gill’s north Springfield apartment building four times for disturbances. Gill says in her neighborhood, it often gets unruly, and some drink too much.

“With all that commotion going on, we decided to leave and go to a friend’s house so I could calm down. When we came back home, that’s when we noticed the tape on there and I didn’t know what had happened,” said Gill.

Gill says she was shocked, and disturbed to roll back her tape, and see it was a man in uniform who covered it up.

“It disappointed me very much because I expected better of police than that.”

Frances was not the one in trouble during any of the calls, and has no criminal record.

She says she doesn’t know why police knocked at her door, and they never announced who they were. She’s especially disturbed regarding why police would ever cover up a camera– and her peep hole.

Springfield police tell us they first saw the video of their two officers covering up the security camera on Facebook. They say they saw it two days after the incident happened. According to the department, at that time, Chief Paul Williams says he asked his internal affairs team to investigate and to work with Frances on how to go about filing a formal complaint.

So is it criminal what they did?

“It’s not a crime, it’s not illegal for the officer to do that, but it is a violation of her constitutional rights, it’s a civil right that she has,” explained defense attorney Dee Wampler.

Furthermore, he says it exacerbates a culture of distrust among all citizens.

“I don’t think it’s good police practice and it doesn’t lend confidence in police work when you see something like that happen,” Wampler said.

“It seems like they judge me by where I live, not by who I am. And that’s not right, you don’t do that.”

Springfield police would not do an interview with us, but sent this statement.

“We are investigating this situation to determine exactly what occurred, and it would be inappropriate for us to discuss this matter while the investigation is underway.”

The courts have affirmed a citizen’s right to videotape police, as long as you don’t interfere with them.

The Missouri University Police Department (MUPD) sent an email to students Tuesday morning urging them to call them and report any hurtful speech they encounter on the campus.

In an email that was flagged by several Missouri-based journalists, the MUPD asked “individuals who witness incidents of hateful and/or hurtful speech or actions” to call the department’s general phone line “to continue to ensure that the University of Missouri campus remains safe.” They suggest that students provide a detailed description of the offender, their location or license plate number, and even to take a picture if possible.

In the email, MUPD readily admits that hurtful or hateful speech is not against the law. But, they write, “if the individuals identified are students, MU’s Office of Student Conduct can take disciplinary action.”

In a statement to Mediaite, the MUPD confirmed that the email was real. When asked about the potential First Amendment implications, a spokesman responded simply, “We are simply asking them to report what they feel is hurtful and/or hateful speech.”

He added that the police did not consider the hateful speech “a criminal matter.” However, “We also work for the University and uphold the Universities Rules and Regulations.”

The email comes one day after University President Tim Wolfe and Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin resigned under pressure from students and faculty alike for what they considered a lackluster response to racial incidents. The same day, protesters and members of the media clashed, with protesters declaring a “no media safe space.”

Published on mediaite.com

Steelerslounge.com reports that cops say a man shot himself in the face after exchanging gunfire with officers in Normandy on Wednesday afternoon, but that police report contradicts witnesses who claim they saw cops shooting him point blank in the face.

Activists at Normandy Police Department Corporal Tameika Sanders’ press conference pressed her about discrepancies between her account and those provided by alleged eyewitnesses. But when officers arrived on the scene, the teen rebuffed their attempts at dialogue and continued walking into the 7700 block of Ellington Drive.

The man then ran to the 7700 block Paddington. A man who shot himself during an altercation with police Wednesday near Ferguson, Mo., died from his injuries Thursday. Officers lost sight of him and heard a gun shot, police said.

For its part, the city of Ferguson tweeted that their officers were not involved in the shooting. “The male was transported to an area hospital where his condition is listed as critical”.

Looking out her window, the witness said she saw the man-who was wearing a red, orange and yellow jacket-turn to face the officers, who were just six or seven feet away from him, when one of the cops shot him in the face.

Deron Smith told the St. Louis Dispatch that he saw the teenager running from the officers, but that he didn’t appear to be holding a gun because he was using two hands to scale a fence. He told the Post-Dispatch he heard six to eight gunshots behind his home and went outside to investigate.

He saw a man running from police officers. Police were called to the scene at 2 p.m. CDT by concerned family members to tend to a “suicidal subject”, an 18-year-old male whose name was not revealed. They found the 18-year-old on the ground and unresponsive.

She said it’s unclear what sequence of events led the family to call the police, but she urged anyone with knowledge of the incident to call the St. Louis County Police Department at 314-889-2341. Anyone who may have witnessed this incident or may have pertinent information regarding it is asked to contact the St. Louis County Police immediately. The other officer is a 19-year veteran of the department.

It was at that point that officers “returned fire”, but did not apparently strike the subject, according to the statement. All Normady officers are trained in crisis intervention and must take a 40-hour course on how to handle suicidal suspects, Sanders said.

Normandy officers do not have body cameras. Relatives of the man showed up briefly later at the scene and challenged the police version of how he died.

Police stand by the site where Mansur Ball-Bey was shot on August 20.

The family and friends of an unarmed teenager shot by St. Louis police gathered for his funeral Saturday, but closure over the controversial killing is still a long way off.

Police say Mansur Ball-Bey, 18, was running out of a house they were searching for drugs and weapons, then turned and pointed a gun at them. They say police shot him in self-defense, but Ball-Bey kept running — dropping the gun in the back yard and ultimately collapsing in the front yard.

But the police department’s story is starting to fall apart as more medical evidence comes to light.

First, an autopsy showed that Ball-Bey was shot in the back. Police Chief Sam Dotson said this didn’t necessarily prove or disprove the officers’ story. Then last week a medical examiner determined that the bullet severed Ball-Bey’s spine and also punctured his heart, which would have killed him immediately — making it extremely unlikely that he was able to run several yards after being shot.

Police officers frequently defend shootings by claiming that their victims were unstoppable and immune to bullets. Officer Darren Wilson described the unarmed teenager Michael Brown as a “demon” who continued to charge at him through the bullets. In another recent case, an officer fired at Dontre Hamilton, a mentally ill black man, 14 times because he said Hamilton was so unaffected by the gun that he “didn’t flinch” after the first shot.

His family also says Ball-Bey was not at the house the police were searching, but was an innocent bystander at his friend’s house nearby.

Ball-Bey’s shooting occurred on the anniversary of the shooting of Kajieme Powell, also by St. Louis police. Protests over Ball-Bey’s death escalated quickly as police showed up in riot gear, cars were set on fire, and demonstrators were hit with tear gas.

The community commemorated Ball-Bey on Saturday, and a memorial has been set up at the site of his shooting.

The Circuit Attorney’s office has launched an investigation into the incident.

by Aviva Shen, ThinkProgress

Two young men featured in iconic photos taken during the Ferguson, Missouri, protests of August 2014 are among a whole swath of demonstrators and observers whom St. Louis County authorities chose to prosecute nearly a full year later.

Others who were recently charged by the St. Louis County Counselor’s office include a pastor, a “peace poet,” a young student muralist and a legal observer. At least three professional journalists (including one of the authors of this story) also recently found out they would have to appear in St. Louis County Municipal Court.

Authorities have not said precisely how many people have been charged just under the statute of limitations, but court records examined by The Huffington Post indicated that over two dozen individuals had court dates Monday for allegedly “interfering with a police officer in performance of his duties.” An unknown number of other individuals have court dates on Wednesday and next month.

It’s noteworthy that so many have been charged with little more than “interfering.” That’s the type of vaguely defined offense that policing experts say should be closely scrutinized by law enforcement agencies and by prosecutors because of the wide potential for misuse.

A demonstrator throws back a tear gas container after tactical officers worked to break up a group of bystanders on Chambers Road near West Florissant on Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2014. (Robert Cohen/St. Louis Post-Dispatch/MCT) St. Louis Post-Dispatch/ MCT /LANDOV

Edward Crawford — also known as “da man wit the chips” — is one of those now being charged. He was arrested in Ferguson on Aug. 13, 2014. Shortly before that, a St. Louis Post-Dispatch photographer snapped a photo of Crawford, wearing an American flag T-shirt and holding a bag of chips, as he threw a police tear gas canister away from the crowd. The picture went viral.

Crawford, a 26-year-old waiter and father of three, told HuffPost that he recently received a summons in connection with the year-old incident. At the time, he was arrested on an officer interference charge, and a court official said he is also facing an assault charge. His court date is next month.

Earlier this month, Crawford came to the aid of Robert Cohen, the photographer who took the famous shot, after St. Louis County police hit Cohen with pepper spray. Crawford hopes to take classes to become an emergency medical technician, according to the Post-Dispatch, and is considering getting a tattoo of that picture of himself.

He recently told HuffPost that he thinks all the videos and social media furor have helped ensure that the police abuse of the past year hasn’t been ignored.

“In some parts of the world, this is unfamiliar,” Crawford said. “The police crimes are very low, police officers are respectable in a lot of places. Every police officer isn’t bad. There’s a lot of good police officers out there who protect and serve. But you also have some who seem to not.”

Another protester whose image became famous, Rashaad Davis, was arrested on Aug. 11, 2014. Photographer Whitney Curtis captured a stunning picture (above) of Davis with his hands in the air being confronted by heavily armed police officers in riot gear and gas masks. The photo gathered attention after it ran in The New York Times, and Curtis eventually won a 1st place award from the National Press Photographers Association.

Another angle on that confrontation (below) was caught by Scott Olson, a Getty photographer and former Marine who was later arrested in Ferguson simply for leaving a designated “media zone.” Olson does not appear to be facing charges in connection with that arrest.

But Davis, 24, has been charged with “interfering” with a police officer in performance of his duties.

FERGUSON, MO – AUGUST 11: Police force protestors from the business district into nearby neighborhoods on August 11, 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri. Police responded with tear gas and rubber bullets as residents and their supporters protested the shooting by police of an unarmed black teenager named Michael Brown who was killed Saturday in this suburban St. Louis community. Yesterday 32 arrests were made after protests turned into rioting and looting in Ferguson. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Luke Nephew, a member of a group called the Peace Poets, is also facing an “interfering” charge, according to court records. Nephew previously wrote that he and others had been “talking, praying, listening, chanting” last August. Then “police broke into the crowd and started grabbing people,” he said, and everyone started to run.

“I was tackled to the ground,” he recalled. “Multiple cops jumped on me. One grabbed my face and smashed it into the concrete. I felt one of them slam his knee onto the back of my neck. All around, the police were doing the same thing to innocent people. My brothers were laid flat on the ground with automatic weapons pointed at their heads.”

Nephew wrote the lyrics to the song “I Can’t Breathe,” which has become popular in protest circles and was sung by road-blocking demonstrators in New York following the decision not to indict the officer who used a chokehold on Eric Garner. The Peace Poets did not respond to a request for comment.

Dennis Black, a legal observer originally arrested on a “failure to disperse” charge last year, has now been charged with “interfering” with a police officer as well. Rev. Melissa Bennett, who is often seen playing the drums during St. Louis area protests, was charged with “interfering” in connection with her October 2014 arrest, but that case was dismissed on Monday. A high school student who helped paint a mural on the Ferguson movement is facing an “interfering” charge.

And they are not the only ones whom St. Louis County authorities decided to prosecute for “interfering.” The number of people so charged is troubling. Christie Lopez, the Justice Department official overseeing the Civil Rights Division investigation into the unconstitutional practices of the Ferguson Police Department, noted in a 2010 paper on “contempt of cop” arrests that many federal settlement agreements require local law enforcement to track disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and other such charges that are frequently misused.

“There is widespread misunderstanding of police authority to arrest individuals who passively or verbally defy them. There is abundant evidence that police overuse disorderly conduct and similar statutes to arrest people who ‘disrespect’ them or express disagreement with their actions. These abusive arrests cause direct and significant harm to those arrested and, more generally, undermine the appropriate balance between police authority and individual prerogative to question the exercise of that authority,” Lopez wrote.

Ryan Reilly, one of the authors of this story, is facing charges, along with Wesley Lowery of The Washington Post, in connection with their arrests inside a McDonald’s in Ferguson on Aug. 13, 2014. Other journalists who recently received summonses from the St. Louis County Counselor include Tom Walters of the Canadian network CTV and Matty Giles, a New York Universityjournalism student. (Videographer Mary Moore still faces charges in Ferguson Municipal Court brought by a different set of prosecutors.)

A joint statement from the American Civil Liberties Union and several other organizations called the sudden flood of charges nearly a year after the Ferguson protests “a blatant violation of constitutional rights and an appalling misuse of our already overburdened court system.” The St. Louis County Counselor is mostly responsible for defending county officials from lawsuits. The office recently agreed to a settlement with reporter Trey Yingst, who wasunlawfully arrested by the St. Louis County Police Department in November.

A county spokesman told HuffPost that most of the new cases are “probably not even that serious.” The charges, however, could lead to arrest warrants for individuals who are unaware they’ve been charged or unable to make their court date — a very likely scenario given the length of time between the incidents and the prosecutor’s response.

“No matter what we do as lawyers, there are going to be … young people who end up with warrants or end up locked up because of this,” said Brendan Roediger, a law professor at St. Louis University.

Ryan Reilly reported from Washington; Mariah Stewart reported from St. Louis County.

A new municipal judge in Ferguson, Missouri, on Monday ordered sweeping changes to court practices in response to a scathing Justice Department report following the police shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown a year ago.

Municipal Court Judge Donald McCullin, appointed in June, ordered the withdrawal of all arrest warrants issued in the city before Dec. 31, 2014.

The changes come five months after the U.S. Department of Justice strongly criticized city leaders in its report, saying the police force and court worked together to exploit people in order to raise revenue.

The Justice Department specifically said Ferguson’s municipal court practices caused significant harm to many people with cases pending as minor municipal code violations turned into multiple arrests, jail time and payments that exceeded the cost of the original ticket many times over.

McCullin ordered that if an arrest warrant is issued for a minor traffic violation, the defendant will not be incarcerated, but will be released on their own recognizance and given another court date, the city said.

“These changes should continue the process of restoring confidence in the Court … and giving many residents a fresh start,” McCullin said in a news release.

He added that many people who have had driver’s licenses suspended will be able to obtain them and start driving again. In the past, the city’s director of revenue would suspend a defendant’s driver’s license solely for failing to appear in court or failing to pay a fine.

McCullin replaced Judge Ronald Brockmeyer, who resigned after being criticized in the Justice Department report.

The Justice Department launched its investigation into Ferguson’s police department and municipal court after the shooting death of 18-year-old Brown by white police officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9, 2014.

Wilson was not charged in the shooting, and the incident triggered nationwide protests and widespread complaints of police mistreatment of black Americans.

A black teenager shot and killed by white St. Louis cops this week died from a single gunshot that entered his back and struck his heart, a medical examiner said on Friday, which appears to contradict the police account of the shooting.

News of the preliminary results of an autopsy escalated tensions that had flared after Wednesday’s killing of Mansur Ball-Bey, as protesters and family of the slain 18-year-old questioned police accounts that he pointed a gun at officers.

In angry clashes Wednesday night, officers in riot gear fired tear gas and more protests followed on Thursday night.

Fresh protests are planned for Friday night in the area of the shooting, according to social media posts by activists.

St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson said additional officers would be available for the weekend in anticipation of further protests. He said he met with Gov. Jay Nixon and the Missouri Highway Patrol Friday to arrange for state assistance if needed.

Less than two weeks ago the St. Louis area was flooded with protesters from across the country marking the anniversary of the Aug. 9, 2014, killing of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown by a white police officer in nearby Ferguson, Missouri.

Brown’s death was one of a series of police killings of unarmed black men and teens across the United States that sparked a newly energized civil rights movement under the banner “Black Lives Matter”.

Autopsy results show a bullet struck Ball-Bey in the upper right of his back, hitting his heart and an artery next to it, said St. Louis Chief Medical Examiner Michael Graham.

The autopsy findings appear to contradict the version of the shooting given by police, who said two officers shot at Ball-Bey when he pointed a gun at them as he fled a home where police were serving a search warrant. Police said Ball-Bey dropped his weapon and continued running after he was shot.

The position and track of the bullet, which did not exit Ball-Bey’s body, show that he was not turned toward officers when he was shot, Graham said. The shot would have killed him nearly instantly, making it difficult if not impossible for him to keep running, though if he was running there would have been some forward momentum, Graham said.

Graham said it was impossible to tell from the autopsy whether Ball-Bey was slightly turned, or was twisting his torso toward officers when he was shot.

“There are so many variables,” said Graham. “But he certainly wasn’t facing, his chest wasn’t facing the officers.”

The results of the autopsy are preliminary and evidence was still being gathered, Dotson said, but he said one witness had corroborated officer accounts that Ball-Bey had a gun.

“The complete truth takes time to put together,” he told a press conference. “We must let the physical evidence lead us to our conclusions.”

Police said they had recovered a gun, which they determined was stolen, though they do not know if Ball-Bey’s finger prints were on it, Dotson said.

Jermaine Wooten, an attorney representing Ball-Bey’s family, told CNN Friday no witnesses had seen the teenager with a gun.

Wooten said Ball-Bey did not live in the community and was visiting relatives but not at the house where police were serving the warrant, he said.

“He never had a gun. He did not point back toward the officers,” Wooten told CNN. He said Ball-Bey could not have run more than a few feet after being shot, which contradicts police statements.

A report containing evidence gathered in Ball-Bey’s shooting will be turned over to the city attorney and the U.S. Attorney in St. Louis for review, police officials said.

Antonio French, a St. Louis Alderman and prominent voice in the black community, called for the circuit attorney of St. Louis to conduct a simultaneous investigation of the shooting.

ST. LOUIS — A police officer is being sued in a federal civil rights suit filed Tuesday that alleges the officer handcuffed and forcefully dragged a blind woman and her assistance dog out of a St. Louis bar without just cause.

Marvelena Quesada, 40, filed a lawsuit that says she left a bar at closing time on October 28, 2013, and returned shortly after to help a friend pay her tab. William Clinton, an off-duty St. Louis police officer, was moonlighting as a security guard at the bar.

When Quesada went to pay the bill, Clinton ordered her to “get out and get out now,” without giving Quesada and opportunity to put her debit card back in her purse. When she did not respond quickly enough, Clinton shouted “You’re going to jail!” pulled the blind woman from her hair, causing her head to hit the floor, then put her in handcuffs. The suit then alleges Clinton dragged Quesada down the sidewalk on her back, while her guide dog, Dani, was leashed to her arm, dragging the animal forcefully through tables and chairs.

Quesada says she was injured by her rough treatment and confined to bed for weeks after suffering a back injury, as well as cuts and bruises. Quesada also says she has since suffered from depression and a loss of sleep due to nightmares caused from the stress of her encounter. The amount of damages sought in Quesada’s lawsuit has not been specified.

Officer Clinton was named Officer of the Year in 2012 by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, according to their website. TruthVoice tried to contact the SLMPD with questions regarding criminal complaints against Officer Clinton and the status of his employment, but could not reach anyone willing to comment.

An image illustrating poor “trigger discipline,” with the gun operator placing his index finger inside the trigger guard before acquiring a target

EDEN PRARIE, Minn. — Police say an officer who shot a motorcyclist early Saturday morning may have done so negligently.

The Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the shooting, where police say an Eden Prairie officer pursued a man on a motorcycle a short distance and accidentally shot him when the chase ended.

Police say the man was struck in the arm by the officer’s gunfire. Police have not said why the officer drew his gun and fired, or what started the chase. There have been no reports that the motorcyclist, whose name has not been released, was armed.

The sheriff’s office says the man is in their custody for fleeing from police, and is receiving treatment a local area hospital.

The sheriff’s office has not released the name of the officer suspected of negligently shooting the man, but are expected to release a statement Monday. The officer has not been charged with a crime.

Calverton Park police vehicles

CALVERTON PARK, Mo. — A Missouri man says a police officer threatened him and made racist comments while arresting him at a traffic stop.

Eric Foster of Calverton Park says he was pulled over on May 22 and eventually taken to jail for unlicensed plates, but had an encounter while being booked that left him fearing for his life.

“I’m doing my paperwork and Officer Moore’s partner said, ‘How do you feel about racist white guy cleaning his gun in front of you?’ And he disarmed his gun and he started shuffling the bullets back,” he said.

Foster says he and the two officers were the only ones in the building when the threat occurred. “I wasn’t racist, I didn’t have an attitude, I didn’t give them any type of reason to even act like that,” Foster said.

KMOV in St. Louis says they contacted Calverton Park Police Chief Vince Delia, who at first said he didn’t know anything about the incident, but after speaking to one of the officers Foster mentioned, claimed the officer had a problem with his weapon and took it apart to in an effort to resolve the issue.

Delia says jail policy prohibits officers from having their weapons in the booking area, but insists his officer wasn’t deliberately trying to scare Foster. Delia said the officers would be disciplined for the incident, but declined to say what discipline they would receive.

Foster says the incident scared him, and hasn’t been able to forget what happened.

“I just want the world to know that this is just not right,” he said.

Foster contacted the NAACP over the incident, who say they plan to file a complaint with justice department.