Matthew Spurlock Of Modesto Police Is A Rapist

A Stanislaus County judge today said a Modesto police officer must stand trial for allegedly assaulting and injuring his wife.

Matthew Spurlock, 39, of Modesto faces charges of spousal abuse, assault with a semiautomatic weapon and assault with the intent to commit rape.

He was arrested July 15 and put on paid administrative leave pending an internal investigation, Modesto police Sgt. Rick Armendariz said.

According to testimony, Spurlock pointed a Glock .45-caliber gun at his wife's torso. Spurlock's wife suffered visible injuries but was not hospitalized.

Nathan Davis, Baton Rouge Police Brutality

Nathan Davis a Baton Rouge Cop Fired for Police Brutality


BATON ROUGE, LA. The Baton Rouge police chief has fired an officer accused of forcing a handcuffed man to the floor, kicking him hard enough to burst an internal organ, then using pepper spray on him.

Nathan Davis was fired Friday, after an internal investigation found that he used excessive force against Brian Townsend, 29, who has filed a lawsuit claiming that one of the officer’s kicks ruptured his bladder.

Told that Davis had been fired, Townsend said, “No way! No way! I can’t even describe how I feel right now!”

Chief Jeff LeDuff made Davis’ dismissal effective immediately, and the police department will forward the case to the FBI for review, police spokesman Sgt. Don Kelly said Friday.

“I have never been more proud of a police chief and officers in internal affairs in my lifetime,” Townsend’s lawyer, Aidan Reynolds, said Friday.

Townsend said four operations have left him with a 10-inch scar from his navel to his groin.

Police were sent to Townsend’s house about 3 a.m. March 4, during a going-away party he was giving for a friend.

“Apparently someone decided there were too many cars in front of his house. Then he got handcuffed, pepper sprayed and brutalized for hours,” Reynolds said.

Davis and Officer Nicholas Batiste were “very aggressive and confrontational” when they arrived, according to the suit, which names Davis and East Baton Rouge city-parish government as defendants. The suit, filed in March, says Townsend was calm and curteous but Davis tackled him to the ground.

After handcuffing Townsend, the lawsuit says, Davis kneed him in the back so forcefully that he defecated. It says Davis used pepper spray on Townsend when he asked why he was being arrested, and again at the Highland Road substation, where he was made to lie on the floor and ridiculed by other police officers, the lawsuit says.
It says Townsend’s pleas for medical help were ignored for 30 minutes.
“My client cares more about this officer being not allowed to brutalize other human beings more than this lawsuit,” Reynolds said. “He’s been terrified that this cop’s still running around on the street with a badge and a gun.”

Davis, 29, had spent four years with the Police Department as a member of the uniformed patrol division, Kelly said. He declined to elaborate on the investigation further, saying it was a personnel issue.

Townsend, a manager at Chili’s, spent 108 days on medical leave due to his injuries. His first day back at work was Friday.

“For both of these huge events to happen in the same day just kind of seems like karma,” Townsend said.

Modesto Police shooting of Sammy Galvan goes to court

Sammy Galvan, 22, was shot eight times before he had a chance to comply with the officers' commands, posing no threat as he leaped out of bed and grabbed a knife to protect himself from intruders. The Galvan family's attorney is seeking $3 million for Galvan's parents and points out that Galvan's wounds show that he could not have been taking aim.

Twelve jurors will decide after they hear from all involved when the wrongful death case comes to trial today in U.S. District Court in Fresno. An attorney representing the Galvans said a trial is the only way to get justice for a young man who died at police hands but committed no crime.

"These cases are hard," said Oakland-based attorney Walter Riley, who declined to discuss the case in detail. "But they have to be tried sometimes."

Senior Deputy City Attorney James Wilson, who represents the officers, could not be reached for comment.

New Sex Crime Charges Against Officer Aaron Montoya

A Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Primary teacher already charged with fondling four young Syracuse girls is now charged in the abuse of four additional girls.

Aaron Montoya, 33, is now charged with nine counts of aggravated child sexual abuse and another possible victim will be interviewed Tuesday.

Police say the new abuse allegations occurred in Montoya's home, his car, and at Pineview Reservoir.

The newly discovered alleged victims range in age from 3 to 11.

None of the allegations are connected to Montoya's job as a bailiff at the Matheson Courthouse in Salt Lake City. The Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office has placed Montoya on administrative leave.

Stanislaus County Sheriff's Deputy Michael Galvin Charged With Rape and Embezzlement

Michael Galvan, 29, was arrested on suspicion of felony counts of embezzlement by a public officer, misappropriation of lost property and grand theft. Galvan worked for the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department for five years. Police said the arrest came after the sheriff's department was notified that money turned over by a citizen to Galvan was allegedly never properly booked into the department's property and evidence room. Galvan has been placed on administrative leave.

Roast A Pig

Roast A Pig

Handcuffs

Los Angeles Police corruption investigated

In 1996 Javier Ovando was shot in the head and paralyzed after he fired upon three Los Angeles police officers. He went to prison, sentenced to 23 years for his crime.

After officer Rafael Perez, who was present at the shooting, was allegedly caught stealing about 600,000 pounds of seized cocaine from a police locker, a new story of the Ovando shooting was revealed.

Perez has traded testimony against his fellow officers for a lighter sentence, and now claims that Ovando was unarmed and shot in the head while he was lying on the floor in handcuffs.

This incident and other corroborated stories have touched off the largest corruption scandal and subsequent investigation in the history of the Los Angeles Police Department.

Investigators are probing at least seven other 'unjustified' shootings. At least 13 officers have been relieved of duty, with more incidents likely to surface as the internal scrutiny continues. Another 50 officers are known to be under suspicion, and almost 200 criminal prosecutions could be overturned.

The officers involved in the Ovando case may have been given orders to plant the weapon. A sergeant with the department's anti-gang unit allegedly instructed officers under his command to plant guns on unarmed suspects to back up a shooting or questionable arrest.

Brazen officers from the elite anti-gang unit known as CRASH (Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums) consistently imitated the street gangs they were supposed to be eliminating. Sporting gang tattoos, it has been alleged that 'death parties' were held to celebrate fatal shootings of suspects. They are accused of dealing drugs, robbing banks, framing innocent citizens, shooting unarmed civilians and lying under oath.

Other corruption cases under public scrutiny include: police officers supposedly rented an apartment for on-duty sexual liaisons with prostitutes also enlisted to sell drugs officers had stolen from dealers; a 35-year veteran Los Angeles police officer was arrested for possession of heroin he stole during a sting operation; another officer was allegedly caught stealing $600,000 worth of seized cocaine from a police locker; two Pasadena deputy city marshals, one reserve deputy, one police officer and two former police officers are charged with theft, burglary and manufacture/delivery of a controlled substance.

Amnesty International has sent representatives to Los Angeles to investigate these incidents, similar to others covered in its new report, "United States of America: Race, Rights and Police Brutality."

Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan and LA Police Chief Bernard C. Parks have publicly expressed their disgust at their officers' flagrant disregard for the law.

Even though Javier Ovando has been released from prison and is free now, he will be bound to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. A day of reckoning is due this victim. Ending the Drug War would restrain the police violence and corruption of which Javier Ovando and countless other victims have greatly suffered.

Medical marijuana protest in Modesto

The corrupt Modesto Police Department tried for months to have this Marijuana Dispensary closed down. There were many city council meetings where the community made it clear that they did not want that to happen. Once the MPD realized that the citizen's in this area were not going to let them violate there rights under California Law, the MPD decided to whine to federal agencies. Unfortunately this crybaby tactic worked. The FBI and DEA came in to steal all of the Medical Marijuana and all of the people's money that where involved with dispensary.

Helpful Links

• Copwatch
• Police misconduct
• Political corruption
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• False arrest
• Edwin Atherton
• Wickersham report
• Intimidation
• Political repression
• Surveillance abuse
• Falsification of Evidence
• 1992 Los Angeles riots
• ICAC
• Knapp Commission
• Frank Serpico
• Rampart Scandal

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

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If a picture is worth a thousand words, then how much is a picture with words on it worth?

Click the picture to enlarge.

Click the picture to enlarge.

Speak Out Against Police Corruption

Modesto to pay family $2.55 million for botched drug raid that killed 11-year-old

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MODESTO, Calif. (AP) -- The city of Modesto announced Wednesday it will pay $2.55 million to settle a suit brought by the parents of an 11-year-old boy killed during a drug raid two years ago.

Alberto Sepulveda was accidentally shot and killed by a member of the Modesto Police Department's SWAT Team in September of 2000. Modesto's city attorney, Michael Milich, said most of the $2.55 million will be covered by insurance. The parents of Sepulveda had filed a wrongful death suit against the city following the boy's killing.

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Modesto Police Coerce Teen Into A False Confession

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In the case of Somnguen Michael Amphavannasouk. Using coercive methods, police extracted a false confession. As a result, Michael, still a juvenile, ended up spending a year in an adult jail charged with a crime he did not commit.

It started on February 20, 1997. Two Modesto police officers yanked Michael, then a 16-year old junior, from his second period class for questioning in a gang-related shooting. School officials cooperated fully with the police and did nothing to intercede on Michael’s behalf. Michael was subjected to hours of threats from the police right at his school. What took place at the school sent Michael to jail for a year.

Officers Al Brocchini and Detective Nick Chilles arrived at the high school and took Michael down to the attendance office where they interrogated him relentlessly. They wanted information on a burglary and subsequent shooting. Michael didn’t have any information for them; he claims he wasn’t there. But police kept after him, threatening and making promises throughout the entire morning.

Michael wanted the session to end. The police told him repeatedly that he would not be prosecuted as long as he cooperated with them and provided information about other gang members who were involved in the burglary and shooting. They told him that even if he was the shooter, he would not be booked. And they said that if he didn’t tell them what they wanted to hear, he would be sent to jail.

Worn down and confused, Michael told them what they wanted to hear. He made a false confession. The police put words into his mouth. In reviewing the 169-page transcript, an expert on police interrogations called the statement "grossly" coercive.

Then, true to their word, the cops took him home. When he got there, Michael explained the false confession to his father. The father called the police and said that his son had lied. The police responded by returning with a warrant and arresting Michael. He was then charged with 11 counts of attempted murder and remained incarcerated for the next year.

During that time Michael recanted his confession. The police, using their coercive methods once again, were able to extract statements from two other youths who claimed that Michael was involved. Michael ultimately took a lie detector test which showed that he was not involved in the burglary and shooting.

When Michael was first arrested, he was placed in juvenile hall. Inmates cannot post bail to get released from juvenile hall. When it was later determined that he would be tried as an adult, he was transferred to the men’s jail and bail was posted at $250,000. This amount was too high for Michael’s family to pay. So Michael remained in jail. In order to do his best for his client, Michael’s attorney had to request a number of delays of court appearances and Michael remained in jail.

Finally after Michael had passed two polygraph tests and repeatedly denied that he was involved, a deputy district attorney asked the Superior Court to dismiss the charges for lack of evidence.

Michael is now free. But I cannot imagine what spending a year in an adult jail for a crime he did not commit has done to someone so young. Not only was Michael unfairly punished, police focus on the wrong boy let the real perpetrator to go free.

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