who thePOLICE BEAT

  ... in New York City, Abner Louima ws arrested, beaten, and a toilet-plunger handle was jammed into his anus, as police screamed at him: "take this, nigger!"  Louima suffered serious injuries from the assault which also included police subsequently bashing him in the mouth with the soiled and bloody handle, breaking some of his teeth ... prisoners at the Brazoria County Detention Center (Texas) underwent kinking and prodding by jailers.  The practice came to light when jailers accidentally released a videotape of themselves assaulting the men.  Jailers also used stun guns and made dogs bite the prisoners ... (Dennis Walker, security supervisor for the private prison, Capital Correctional Resources, Inc., told the AP (Associated Press): ' I would agree that some of the things on the tape are unprofessional, but there's a great difference between unprofessionalism and brutality, as officers are being accused of."  Yeah, too bad they didn't film their brutality as well ...) ... Cops who happened to be in the Marine Corps shot and killed a west Texas teenager near the Mexican border; Esequiel Hernandez jr. was tending goats at the time ... Anthoy Baez, of New York, was choked to death by cops after his football hit a squad car ... Dwayne Johnson, in jail in Sacramento, was beaten to death by officers.  One, calling Johnson a nigger, refused to administer resuscitation as the man lay dying.  Mock executions are said to have occurred at the same jail ... Jonny Gammage, a 31-year-old black man, was pulled over in his car; then beaten to death by police ... Jose Guillen, Anthony Luna, Tony Reyes and Carlos Rodriquez were shot to death by San Antonio, Texas cops, and reports of the actions were hidden for the better part of a year.  The District Attorney said failure to submit reports could be a misdemeanor with a penalty of up to one year in jail and a $4,000. fine ... Tombstone, Arizona cops pulled a handiapped man from a car and strung tight wire handcuffs around his wrists, causing him excruciating pain.  When his companion intervened, she was picked up and thrown to the pavement.  Both persons, Jan standish and John Rule, wre then arrested for assaulting officers ... in a videotaped beating James Wilson of Hartford, Connecticut was punched and kicked as he lay on the ground beside his car.  He had fled from police in a neighborhood where cops had a reputation for violent behavior and attempted to seek refuge at another district's police station ... Philadelphia police beat confessions out of two men on charges of raping and strangling a jogger.  Herert Haak and Richard Wise were finally acquitted in the killing after they testified they were beaten and tortured for six hours until they signed a "confession" that contained blank pages ... an Austin, Texas "peace officer" was approached by a man who couldn't find his car.  The cop didn't like his looks and threw him to the ground, grabbed him by the throat, and held him.  The cop, Walter Harrison, was suspended for 10 days in the assault on the unnamed victim ... 56 year old James Beasley suffered broken bones and severe injuries to his face at the hands of Mesquite, Texas police who thought he was his brother, wanted in connection with a bank robbery ... Veteran cop Stephen bosshard of San frnacisco sprayed a woman and her asthmatic baby daughter with mace.  In subsequent legal actions by the victims, Lorinda Gonzales and Franchesca Medina were able to reveal that in Bosshard's years as a cop he had broken people's ribs, one man's finger, put guns to people's heads, hit a man in the eye with a flashlight and then sprayed mace in his eyes, kicked several men in the genitals, and lifted a person's skirt with a riot club ... Timmie Sinclair, 27 and black, of Atlanta, was beaten by five oficers as a passer by hurriedly aimed a camera at the attack scene.  the tape shows a number of blows with clubs and fists, then othe cops terrorized the passer-by and stopped the filming ... Malik Jones, 21 of New Haven, Connecticut, was chased by car for a traffic violation; and when he didn't stop, the unarmed man was shot to death by officer Robert Flodquist ... Israeli police may practie torture on suspects, fourts in that country declared.  The official ruling came after years of lawsuits and accsations by arrested persons that they had yyn deprived of sleep for long periods, shackled in painful positions, and shaken and eaten ... Brent McCall, an accused bank robber in  Bristol Massachusetts, says police not only shot him, but subsequently beat him as he lay wunded on the ground ... Dwight Thomas Stiggons, 18 years old and being screamed at by a cop for jaywalking, ran.  The cop opened fire.  Stiggons will never cross another Los angeles area street ... Matthew Pyers, 19, was shot and wounded in Wethersfield, Connecticut after he got out of his car aolding a large bottle and screaming at officers who'd chased him ... Lebert folkes, of Queens NY was dragged form a car gy cops and shot in the face.  Police apologized for the shooting after it turned out the car wa not stolen after all ... Kuanchung kao of Rohnert Park calif. was shot to death by cops after he allegedly brandished a stick ... Cop Paolo Colecchia shot unarmed Nathaniel Levi Gains jr, a Navy veteran who  had no criminal record  in the back and killed him as he fled down a Bronx NY subway platform.  Why on earth do people run from police?  What have they got to fear?  Carolyn Sue Botticher, of Charloltte, NC, a black woman, was shot and killed by cops.  She was unarmed. She was a passenger in a car later determined to be stolen, that passed through a police roadblock.  Police fired 22 rounds in the assault on the  fleeing car; cop spokesmen say it was in self-defence (?!) ... in Brazil, a home video from a camera hidden near an intersection of Sao Paolo shows police systematically seizing people for no apparent reason, beating them, and in some cases even shooting them to death.  The apparent senselessness puzzled many viewers, who have not yet understood that police ENJOY hurting people; it is a profession that attracts sadists and abusers, and they find a welcome refuge there, in Brazil or any other country ... Nicholas P. Calvo, of the LA area, had his face smashed in to the back window of a police cruiser while he was handcuffed.  The blow was hard enough to break the window.  Calvo testifies that cop's answers were to Shut up and be quiet ... "It is virtually impossible to convict a cop," said an official of Anmesty International ... sometiomes there's a weird kind of justice, though: Fairfield Carlifornia homeouwners Hugh Kidd and his wife Jackie, following a loud argument with each other, went to the front door to answer a knock.  Cops, ordered them to come out.   On the Kidds' front porch they were knocked to the ground, shocked by taser discharges, and held at gunpoint.  What's just about that?  Mr. and Mrs. Kidd are themselves cops ... James Parkenson, Fairfield CA, died when police repeatedly doused him with pepper spray and tasered him.  'complaints of excessive force have not been sustained," said police chief Doug Milender.  Tina McCormick, of the same communitty, has also filed foral complaints and alleges the police are "running wild" --- her sons and some friends were pinned down at gunpoint  by town police as the boys headed to a local park to play baseball.  "They taunted us and called us niggers, and said we couldn't read," said Richard McCormick jr., 17.  His 12-year-old sister, Nickie, worries that her brothers will be beaten to death or shot whenever they go out.  "The police want to run a dictatorship," she laments ...

S. Wagner; R. L. Williams, sr; C. Sohaskey; J. Rush; D. Holland; M. Jackman; I. Lane: contributors