Month: May 2021

In January 2021, Patrick Lynn Warren, 52, who suffers from mental health problems, call the police as his condition began to deteriorate. However, officers of the Belton, Texas, police department arrived at the scene and shot an unarmed man, as he allegedly refused to follow their orders.

The officers who arrived at the scene tried to calm the man down. Warren raised his hands in the air and took a few steps forward. The police officer ordered him to show his hands and lie down on the ground. In the video taken by the officer’s body camera, Warren’s family members can be heard asking officers not to shoot him. However, after Warren did not follow the orders of the police, one of them tased him. However, it seemed to him that this was not enough, and after a few minutes he discharged his weapon at him. Warren died on the spot, in front of his family.

In January 2021, the man’s family demanded the arrest of the police officer who killed the man, however, despite the fact that the proceedings in this case are in full swing, in April 2021, the Belton Police Department re-hired the officer, who had been on administrative leave since January. In May 2021, the US Department of Justice launched an investigation of this case.

On May 19, 2021, the Bell County Grand Jury ruled that there will be no state charges a Texas police officer who shot and killed a man experiencing a mental health crisis.

In September 2019, officers of the police department from Henry County, Georgia, used excessive force in the arrest of a Fernando Octavio Rodriguez, 24-year-old Hispanic man, as a result the man died.

On September 21, 2019, Rodriguez was returning home after attending a music festival when he was approached by officers who arrived at a report of a naked man. As you can see in the video from the surveillance camera, the officer ordered Rodriguez to lie down on the ground about ten times, but the man ignored his commands and tried to leave. The disgruntled officer shot tased the man few times, causing him to fall to the ground. In the video, the officer can be heard threatening Rodriguez, trying to turn him over and handcuff him. After about six minutes he pinned him to the ground with his knees. Soon the police officer noticed that the man did not show signs of life. Even after he realized that Rodriguez was not breathing, he did not stop to provide assistance as he should have. Paramedics arrived at the scene and pronounced Rodriguez dead.

In May 2021, Rodriguez’s family filed a lawsuit against the Henry County Police Department, alleging that the officers violated Rodriguez’s constitutional rights by stunning him and pinning him to the ground when he did not resist or try to avoid arrest.

In May 2021, Berlynn Matthews, 21, was hit by Baltimore City Police Department police officer. The officer was in a state of alcoholic intoxication and could barely speak.

According to the Baltimore County Police Department, Matthews saw a man on the roadway that needed help. She parked, got out of the car, and walked over to him. At this time, a drunken police officer lost control of his car and hit the girl. She died on the spot. As it turned out later, the officer had already been arrested several years ago for driving under the influence. However, after that, was he not jailed, but he was also allowed to remain sheriff. According to the report, the police officer could barely speak, his eyes were bloodshot, and it was difficult for him to stand on his feet. He had “slurred speech”, was “unsteady on his feet” and had a “strong smell of alcohol”.

The officer has been suspended. The girl’s death shocked her family and friends. Her family said they want to hear the truth about what happened that day and intend to seek justice in court.

In May 2018, police officers from Cottonwood Heights, Utah, shot Zane James, 19, after he robbed a store. The terrified young man allegedly disobeyed the officer’s orders, and when he started to run away, the police officer shot him in the back about four times.

On May 29, 2018, the police received a report that a young man had robbed a local store. Police said that 19-year-old used an airsoft gun. Officers who arrived at the scene repeatedly ordered James to lie down on the ground, but, according to them, he did not obey commands and continued to rummage in his pockets. As the terrified youth began to run away, the police officer opened the door of his car and shot James in the back, seriously wounding him. He fired four shots, two of which hit the teenager’s back. The bullet severed James ‘ spinal cord, causing him to die 3 days later.

It was later revealed that James did not have a gun in his hand. The officer who shot Green has been placed on administrative leave. Despite the fact that the district attorney justified the actions of the police officer, the James family still intends to seek justice and in May 2021 they hired a lawyer.

In April 2021, 20-year-old Stephen Ryan Watson was found dead in his prison cell. He was in custody on charges of alleged phone theft. Prison officials did not give a cause of death, only saying it was not a suicide.

On April 27, 2021, employees of the Blanchardstown Correctional Facility, Ireland, conducted another round of prisoners. When the turn came to the cell where Watson was held, the officers found that the young man did not show signs of life. The authorities did not comment on the death of the young man, only said that it was not a suicide. The grieving mum revealed that her son had been hard to handle and she had initially refused to post the €500 bail because she was so angry at him and the alleged offence in relation to a stolen iPhone.

In May 2021, Watson’s mother is still waiting for the results of an autopsy to determine the true cause of her son’s death. In a statement, the Irish Prisons Service said it does not comment on individual prisoner cases, adding: “All deaths in custody are investigated by the Irish Prison Service, the Inspector of Prisons and An Garda Síochána, where circumstances warrant. The cause of death is determined by the Coroner office.”