Originally published at: College student violated by Harris County deputies for 11 minutes | Boing Boing
…
10 Likes
that activist is right. since virtually all financial settlements against police are paid by the taxpayers of the city and almost never come out of police budgets this is not even going to make the houston police blink. from 2010 to 2014 they shelled out $3.2 million in settlements without a single firing.
44 Likes
The correct term is criminal cops. 
23 Likes
I would love to say I am shocked, but actually, my response was 1) again? and 2) of course she is Black. We keep hearing “not all cops,” but as long as this shit is tolerated and defended by, as far as I can tell, pretty much all cops, whether they participate or not is semantics.
39 Likes
What it boils down to is that those cops whom aren’t at least complicit rarely last on the force, perpetuating a corrupting selection pressure.
26 Likes
I have three daughters…
Mark that one on your “sexual assault bingo” cards folks. Once again, authorities imply that women are not worth treating as people unless they are your child or mother.
I think that the fact that there was a settlement should clearly send out a signal that that type of behavior is not acceptable
How exactly would they get this impression?! They still have their jobs after they raped a woman while on duty. This would not be the case in any other job. This is insane. “Oh, well, you know, they violated somebody’s sexual autonomy and violently forced themselves on the person’s most private personal areas, but since they might tangentially be affected by an accounting difficulty…”
28 Likes
“No one in this office stands by the search the way it was conducted. No one condones that. No one thinks it’s appropriate. It should not have happened.
However bad decisions, bad judgment may not rise the level of a criminal offense,” said Sinclair.
Emphasis mine. Bad judgment my ass.
20 Likes
NO WAY SHOULD THE VOTERS OF HARRIS COUNTY RE-ELECT THIS SHERIFF IF THESE DEPUTIES ARE NOT IMMEDIATELY FIRED.
The continuing enormity of payouts by taxpayers for egregious acts of police and sheriff office employees needs to stop by the best means available, that being the vote.
15 Likes
This word comes up so often in these cases, and it just seems so telling. Fortune has nothing to do with it really, because if it wasn’t Charneisha Corley, it would have been another black woman. She was targeted, and when you have a target on your back fortune doesn’t play into it. People need to start using the right language to describe these crimes.
As others have pointed out this pittance of a fine won’t deter the same behaviour again, but even if it did we’d just see the systemic racism manifest itself some other way.
23 Likes
wouldn’t you think that “bad judgement” at that level ought to result in firings? if not for all of them then surely the senior officer on the scene who made the decision to digitally rape the “suspect” should get the boot if no one else did.
17 Likes
12 Likes
Personally, I’m in favor of firing and blackballing these cops so hard they’ll never work in law enforcement again.
25 Likes
She needs a better lawyer.
5 Likes
Side note: Local Gov, budget for this type of BS. Yes, they actually set it in there yearly budget that some asshole cop will cause irreparable damage to a citizen, and then the local Gov. has to pay out.
Down ballot is where we all need to focus our attention, get these f’ers out!
16 Likes
Perhaps light a fire under his ass by prompting a recall.
13 Likes
Can rapists in criminal cases now use this defense?
“I’m sorry, your honor, this was admittedly a bad decision, bad judgement on my part, but it may not rise to the level of a criminal offense. After all, the injured party was a woman. Hardly a real human at all. Thank you, your honor.”
Sadly, in multiple cases, this does, actually, seem to be the case,
20 Likes
Houston Police have lots of awfulness and should be held accountable for it, but this particular dehumanizing violation comes from Sherriff Gonzalez’s deputies which are independent of HPD. He can fire these 3 deputies anytime and should be pressured to do so.
Agreed. Sherriff Gonzalez is succesful in Houston politics because he is pro-immigrant and anti-Black. He’s the same guy that made a point of taking (then AG) Jeff Sessions to restaurants that were worked almost exclusively by undocumented immigrants to make the point they help the community. He also has deputies that are your typical over-aggressive, violent, asshole cop as seen by this story. We need to elect someone that will do better
14 Likes
i realized after i had typed it that i was conflating all harris county law enforcement under the houston police banner. they are definitely notable for their history of abusive behavior. in a way, it’s even worse that it’s the sheriff’s department. in texas there’s almost no limits on what they can do other than at election time.
5 Likes
Are you angry and exhausted yet? No? Read this:
We asked Harris County prosecutor Natasha Sinclair if “cavity searching” suspects in public constitutes a criminal offense.
"No one in this office stands by the search the way it was conducted. No one condones that. No one thinks it’s appropriate. It should not have happened.
However bad decisions, bad judgment may not rise the level of a criminal offense," said Sinclair.
Fox 26 has learned charges were dismissed against the deputies on August 4th, the very day the case was set for trial and within minutes rapidly re-presented to a grand jury, with what the DA’s office calls “new evidence” which must remain “secret”.
7 Likes
