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What Is A Historyscope?

Westerners are not only known as history ignoramuses, but double dumbass history ignoramuses when it comes to police brutality history. Since I'm the one-and-only Historyscoper (tm), let me quickly bring you up to speed before you dive into my Master Historyscope.

Police are like junkyard dogs, the only thing worse is the criminals. Most police are loyal trustworthy public servants, but there are always a number of bad apples that spoil the barrel, esp. when the code of silence of the men of blue kicks in, aided by laws that are so 1-sided that it takes a miracle for a police officer to be charged with a speck of dust, and another miracle for a jury to find him guilty.

In 1252 the 1252 Assize of Arms proclaimed by King Henry III to help enforce the 1181 Assize of Arms establishes the system of Watch and Ward, requring the appointment of watchmen and constables, becoming the earliest English police force; all Englishmen with an income of £25/year to own a longbow; churches are required to maintain butts for target practice.

On May 20, 1929 Pres. Hoover establishes the Nat. (Wickersham) Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement, chaired by U.S. atty. gen. #47 (1909-13) George Woodward Wickersham (1858-1936) and incl. Harvard Law School dean Roscoe Pound, Newton D. Baker, and Chicago Crime Commission chmn. Frank J. Loesch to investigate crime due to Prohibition along with policing tactics; in June 1930 it pub. its 14-vol. findings, incl. Report on Lawlessness in Law Enforcement, detailing cases of police brutality; meanwhile in 1929 the Ill. Assoc. for Criminal Justice pub. the Ill. Crime Survey, analyzing the high crime rates in Cook County and Chicago due to Al Capone, noting that African-Ams. constitute 30% of police killings although they are only 5% of the pop.

On Apr. 2, 1963 Martin Luther King Jr. begins his first nonviolent protest campaign in Birmingham, Ala., which he calls "the most segregated city in the United States", with sit-ins and marches, causing over 400 arrests for B.S. charges like loitering; after 17 of 21 white churches refuse to admit black Christians sent by King, he organizes a protest march on Good Friday (Apr. 12), which Dem. police commissioner Theophilus Eugene "Bull" Connor (1897-1973) (born in Dallas County, Ala.) obtains an injunction against, but they march anyway, and his happy pigs use dogs and cattle prods on them, arresting several, incl. King, prompting him to write Letter from a Birmingham Jail; "I am in Birmingham because that's where injustice is... Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere"; JFK later utters the soundbyte: "The Civil Rights movement should thank God for Bull Connor. He's helped it as much as Abraham Lincoln." On Apr. 12 police use cattle prods and dogs on peaceful civil rights demonstrators in Birmingham, Ala., causing bad press nationwide - du, du hasst, du hasst mich? On Apr. 15 after anti-segregation leaders in Birmingham, Ala. are arrested, police club several black protesters while holding back a crowd of 2K.

On July 12, 1967 (9:45 p.m.) black cab driver John Smith is brought into the 4th Precinct Station in the Central Ward of 52% black Newark, N.J. on a petty traffic violation, then severely beaten for allegedly resisting arrest, causing word to be spread on the street that he has been beaten to death, which leads to the 1967 Newark Race Riots (ends July 17), killing 27, injuring 725, and causing $10M in damage, with 1.5K arrests; on July 20-23 a Nat. Conference on Black Power is held in Newark, and the 1K delegates cite Malcolm X's soundbyte: "The day of nonviolent resistance is over", calling for the formation of a black militia and "a national dialogue on the desirability of partitioning the United States into two separate nations, one white and one black", declaring integration dead and adopting anti-white, anti-Christian, and anti-draft resolutions; meanwhile the Nat. Urban Coalition (NUC) is formed to address the civic problems highlighted by the race riots, organizing urban coalitions in 48 metro areas to help minorities, after which U.S. HEW secy. John W. Gardner becomes dir. after resigning as HEW secy. next Mar.; N.Y. NUC member Christian Archibald Herter Jr. (1919-2007) (son of Ike's secy. of state) utters the soundbyte: "If we don't give the Negro of this country some measure of hope, the people at the extreme left of the Negro community will ultimately gain control and we won't have a chance ever to do this job again."

In Oct. 1971 New York City hero cop Francesco Vincent "Frank" Serpico (1936-) breaks the infamous code of silence of the men of blue and testifies at the Knapp Commission hearings about rampant stinking police corruption in the Big Apple after his brothers in blue begin treating him like manure, setting him up on Feb. 3, 1971 to be shot in the face with a .22 handgun by a drug suspect, which he survives with disabilities; on May 14 the police commissioner gives him a medal and promotes him to detective, and he goes on to rat out the prof. criminals in blue, then wisely retires on June 15, 1972, so that biz can go back to usual in copland? In 1972 Peter Maas (1929-2001) pub. Serpico: The Cop Who Defied the System; filmed in 1973. On Dec. 5, 1973 Sidney Lumet's Serpico (Paramount Pictures) debuts, based on the 1973 Peter Maas book, starring Al Pacino as honest New York City cop Frank Serpico, whose comrades turn on him and get him shot point-blank in the face; does $29.8M box office on a $3M budget.

In 1972 South Side, Chicago, Ill. police detective (later cmdr.) Jon Graham Burge (1947-2018) begins a career of torturing 200+ suspects in order to force confessions until being suspended in 1991 and fired in 1993; on June 28, 2010 he is convicted of obstruction of justice regarding a 1989 civil suit, and sentenced to 4-1/2 years in federal prison, getting released in Oct. 2014.

On Apr. 1, 1979 18-y-o. Andreas Mihavecz (1961-) is taken into custody by Austrian police for being a passenger in a crashed car, then thrown in jail sans food and water and forgotten about until Apr. 18, when he is found barely alive, setting a world record for survival; the three pigs who did it get off with a 4K DM fine, but are later ordered to pay 250K Schillings (19K Euros).

On Mar. 3, 1991 (shortly after midnight) after a 117 mph car chase, black motorist Rodney Glen King (1965-2017) is arrested by Los Angeles, Calif. police, who severely beat him when he's down while bystander George Holliday videotapes it all from a distance, shocking the U.S. with the appearance of Third World police brutality in the Land of the Free. On Apr. 2 black Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley calls for the resignation of white police chief (1978-92) Daryl (Darrel Francis) Gates (1926-2010) (known for telling the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee that casual drug users are guilty of "treason" and "ought to be taken out and shot") 1 mo. after the Mar. 3 Rodney King incident, saying "I simply will not stand by as our city is being torn apart"; one hour earlier the ACLU announces it has 20K signatures calling for it; councilmen Zev Yaroslavsky and Michael Woo had already called for it; trouble is, Bradley doesn't have the power to fire him, and the Police Commission must do it; Gates replies that he will resign if the two blue ribbon citizen's panels in L.A. find him derelict in his duty, and calls the mayor's actions "kind of sneaky". On Apr. 29, 1992 the 1992 Los Angeles Riots begin after a jury acquits four police officers (three white, one Hispanic) accused of the Mar. 3, 1991 beating of suspect Rodney King (1965-2017), with mobs shouting "black justice" and "no justice, no peace"; at 6:46 p.m. white 18-wheel construction truck driver Reginald Oliver Denny (1953-) (carrying 27 tons of sand) is attacked by the "L.A. Bad Four", a gang of pissed-off black rioters, starting with Antoine Eugene "Twan" Miller (1972-2004), opening the door of his truck at Florence Ave. and Normandie, after which the others pull him out, then Henry Keith "Kiki" Watson (1965-) (who apologizes on the Phil Donahue show in 1993), holds his head down with his foot, then an unknown man throws a 5-lb. piece of medical equipment at him then hits him in the head 3x with a claw hammer, then Damian Monroe "Football" Williams (1973-) hits him in the head with a concrete slab, knocking him unconscious, then does a victory dance over his body and flips-off news helis, while Marika Tur and Bob Tur film the whole sequence from their heli, and later spend years suing everybody who play their video without paying them; finally Anthony Brown spits on him and leaves with Williams, and bystanders throw beer bottles at him and attempt to set his truck on fire, while Gary Williams (1958-) rifles Denny's pocket and steals his wallet, and Lance Parker (1966-) tries to shoot the gas tank of Denny's truck but misses; enter the "L.A. Good Four" (all black), Bobby Green (truck driver), Titus Murphy and Terri Barnett (boyfriend-girlfriend), and Lei Yuille (dietician), who come to Denny's aid, and Green drives Denny to the hospital in Denny's truck, where he is found to have 91 skull fractures and a dislocated left eye, and suffers a seizure and comes close to death, ending up with a permanent crater in his head; on Aug. 6 after it took a riot to get U.S. prosecutors to do their job on sacred cow cops, a federal jury indicts the four officers for violating Rodney King's civil rights, and this time two of them, Laurence Powell and Stacey Koon are kapow convicted next Apr. and sentenced to 30 mo., while Theodore Brisene and Timothy Wind breeze away; meanwhile non-cops Gary Williams and Football Williams get 3 and 10 years.

On Mar. 18, 1997 the LAPD Rampart CRASH Scandal of the Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums (CRASH) anti-gang unit of the LAPD Rampart Div. begins when CRASH officer Kevin Gaines goes into a road rage against undercover police officer Frank Lyga, who shoots and kills him, leading to 70+ CRASH officers being implicated in police misconduct, becoming the largest police misconduct case in U.S. history, resulting in 106 criminal convictions being overturned, and 140 civil lawsuits against the city costing it $125M in settlements, leading to the downfall of police chief Bernard Parks in 2001, and the defeat of mayor James K. Hahn in 2005.

On Aug. 9, 1997 Haitian immigrant Abner Louima (1966-) is arrested arrested outside Brooklyn nightclub Club Rendez-Vous and then roughed up, taken to the 70th Precinct station and brutally sodomized with a plunger in his mouth and anus, severely injuring him, after which officer Justin Volpe walks through the station holding the plunger in his hand and bragging that he "broke a man down"; in 2001 the N.Y.P.D. is ordered to pay him $8.75M (tax-free), of which $3M goes to his attys., incl. Johnnie Cochran; Volpe and four other cops are indicted on federal charges, and after trying every trick in the book such as bring up his gay past and claiming it was gay sex that sent him to the hospital, Volpe finally pleads guilty and receives 30 years; Charles Schwarz gets 15 years, gets the sentence overturned, and ends up with 5 years; the other sacred cow cops slime out of it.

On Nov. 12, 1997 Denver, Colo. police officer Bruce VanderJagt (b. 1950) is killed after a break-in at the apt. of Matthaus Jaehnig, the boyfriend of Lisl Auman (1976-), who kills himself; although she is handcuffed in a police car at the time, the powerful Denver Police Dept. gets more than enough justice for itself by getting her charged by the puppet Denver DA and convicted of the class 1 felony of felony murder by a jury of Denver dopes, then sentenced to life without parole by a puppet Denver machine judge; after Hollywood A-list actors and prominent attys. (incl. Hunter S. Thompson) hammer the system for her, it still takes until Mar. 2005 to get her conviction overturned by the Colo. Supreme Court, after which she pleads guilty anyway on July 11 to avoid a retrial and is sentenced to 20 years in prison - I'm kidnapped in Tokyo and am on a Japanese game show?

On July 16, 2009 African-Am. leftist academic Henry Louis "Skip" Gates Jr. (1950-) is harassed by the pigs in front of his own home in Cambridge, Mass. and arrested for mouthing off to them, causing the PC police to come out bigtime, after which the charges are dropped and Obama declares that the police "acted stupidly", and invites Gates and the white pig Sgt. James Crowley to a "Beer Summit" at the White House.

On July 13, 2013 a 6-person jury acquits white (German-Peruvian with some black descent) neighborhood watch volunteer George Michael Zimmerman (1983-) in the Feb. 26, 2012 shooting death of 17-y.-o. African-Am. Trayvon Benjamin Martin (1995-2012) in Sanford, Fla., causing nationwide riots and protests and launching the Black Lives Matter movement to be founded on Twitter with the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter.

On Jan. 13, 2014 retired Tampa, Fla. police capt. Curtis Reeves (1942-) gets pissed-off at Chad Oulson texting in a movie theater in Wesley Chapel, Fla., and pulls out his gun and shoots him.

On Aug. 9, 2014 (12:00 p.m.) in Ferguson, Mo. (near St. Louis) a police officer shoots and kills unarmed 6'4" 290 lb. black teenie (strongarm robbery suspect of a handful of Swisher Sweets cigars at a convenience store) Michael "Mike" Brown (b. 1996) after a scuffle, shooting him 6x from the front incl. two to the head, pissing-off the mainly black town pop., who begin rioting, bringing in massive police power incl. military equipment; only 3 of 53 police officers are black; on Aug. 11 the FBI opens an investigation; on Aug. 12 Pres. Obama offers his condolences; on Aug. 14 Pres. Obama gives a press conference, expressing concern over the "violent turn", urging calm and saying that people need to "come together", lamenting excessive police force, and calling on police to be "open and transparent" in the investigation, saying that he will work with federal and local authorities to ensure that "justice is done", uttering the soundbyte: "Police should not be bullying or arresting journalists who are just trying to do their job; meanwhile police chief Thomas Jackson refuses to reveal the name of the shooter until Aug. 15, and it turns out to be 6-year white vet Darren Wilson (1986-), sparking more protests and rioting, causing the Nat. Guard to be called in (until ?); on Aug. 18 Pres. Obama holds another press conference, calling for calm, and announcing that he's sending U.S. atty. gen. Eric Holder to personally take over the big investigation; on Nov. 24 a grand jury refuses to indict Wilson, sparking protests and riots.

On Oct. 20, 2014 (9:57 p.m.) African-Am. Laquan McDonald is shot 16x and killed by white police officer Jason Van Dyke (1978-) in Chicago, Ill. while walking down the street carrying an unopened 3 in. folding knife, after which the officers lie about the incident, claiming that McDonald lunged at them, and end up charged with first-degree murder after a public outcry and protests; in Jan. 2017 the U.S. Dept. of Justice releases a report describing the Chicago police as having a culture of "excessive violence" esp. against blacks, plus poor training and supervision; on June 27, 2017 three officers are indicted for their attempted coverup; on Jan. 18 after they are declared not guilty, Jason Van Dyke is sentenced to 81 mo. for 2nd degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery.

On Nov. 22, 2014 (3:30 p.m.) after reports that a black male "keeps pulling a gun out of his pants and pointing it at people", 12-y.-o. Tamir Rice (b. 2002) is gunned down by police officers Timothy Loehmann (1988-) and Frank Garmback (1968-) at the Cudell Recreation Center in Cleveland, Ohio; the gun is later found to be a toy lacking the usual orange markings, causing a public outcry and protests, which whip-up after a grand jury decision on Nov. 24 not to indict the shooter; on Dec. 28 a grand jury decides to not indict either officer; on Dec. 5 Rice's family files a wrongful death suit, which is settled on Apr. 25, 2016 for $6M.

On Dec. 3, 2014 a grand jury clears white NYPD cop Daniel Pantaleo for his July 17 chokehold murder of 6'3" 350 lb. African-Am. illegal cig seller Eric Garner (b. 1970), sparking massive protests; U.S. atty. gen. Eric Holder announces a civil rights investigation.

On Apr. 4, 2015 unarmed running black man Walter Lamar Scott (b. 1965) is shot in the back and killed in North Charleston, N.C. by white police officer Michael Thomas Slager (1981-), who lies in his police report and gets caught with his own video, causing a public outcry and a grand jury indictment for murder in June; too bad, after a 5-week trial a hung jury results in a mistrial, and in May 2016 Slager is indicted on federal charges, pleading guilty in May 2017 and drawing a 20-year prison sentence; his family settles a wrongful death lawsuit for $6.5M.

On Apr. 12, 2015 25-y.-o. African-Am. career criminal Freddie Carlos Gray Jr. (b. 1990) is arrested by the Baltimore, Md. police dept. for allegedly possessing an illegal knife, after which he falls into a coma in a police van and dies on Apr. 19 of spinal cord injuries, pissing-off the local pop. who demand justice, causing the six police officers involved (Caesar R. Goodson Jr., William G. Porter, Brian W. Rice, Edward M. Nero, Garrett Miller, Alicia D. White) to be suspended with pay on Apr. 21; on Apr. 25 a major protest in downtown Balimore results in 34 arrests and injures to 15 police officers; on Apr. 27 Gray's funeral causes rioting, looting, and burning, causing Md. Gov. Larry Hogan to declare a state of emergency and call out the Md. Nat. Guard, establishing a curfew, which is lifted on May 3; on Apr. 27 "Baltimore Riot Mom" Toya Graham becomes a nat. hero for bitch-slapping her 16-y.-o. son for throwing rocks at cops; on Apr. 29 the rioting spreads to New York City; on May 1 after he medical examiner's office rules the death a homicide, Baltimore city atty. Marilyn Mosby announces the filing of charges of 2nd deg. "depraved-heart" murder and lesser crimes from illegal arrest to manslaughter "through acts of omission" for failure to secure him during transport; on May 21 a grand jury indicts them, dropping false arrest and illegal imprisonment and adding reckless endangerment; in Sept. 2015 it is decided to try the defendants separately, after which officer William Porter's trial ends in a mistrial, officers Nero, Goodson, and Rice are found not guilty, and the remaining charges are dropped on July 27, 2016; on Sept. 12, 2017 the U.S. Dept. of Justice announces that it will not bring federal charges; on Oct. 5, 2017 internal disciplinary trials are announced; city of Baltimore settles with Gray's family for $6.4M.

On July 13, 2015 28-y.-o. black woman Sandra Annette Bland (1987-) from Naperville (near Chicago), Ill. known for posting videos protesting police brutality against blacks and joining the Black Lives Matter movement is found hanged in a jail cell in Waller County, Tex. after alleged misconduct state trooper Brian Encinia at a traffic stop on July 10; the death is ruled a suicide by the county coroner; despite an outcry the pigs are never charged with a speck of dust, er, Encina is indicted for perjury and fired, then gets the charge dropped in June 2017 in return for not seeking to be rehired; in Sept. 2016 Bland's mother settles a wrongful death lawsuit agains the police dept. and county jail for $1.9M.

On Oct. 28, 2015 (3:15 a.m.) African-Am. property mgr. Corey Lamar Jones (b. 1984) (brother of ex-NFL player C.J. Jones) is shot by plainclothes officer Nouman K. Raja (of South Asian descent) while waiting by his disabled Hyundai Santa Fe SUV at an exit ramp of I-95 in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. after pulling up in an unmarked white van and failing to identify himself as a police officer, causing Jones (who has a concealed weapons permit) to pull a handgun, resulting in Raja firing 6x; on June 1, 2016 a grand jury charges Raja with manslaughter and attempted 1st degree murder, causing him to be fired; on Jan. 17, 2017 the Fla. state atty.'s office released a reporting stated that Raja lied to investigators; on Aug. 23, 2018 the Fla. state appeals court rejects Raja's stand your ground defense.

On July 5, 2016 (12:35 a.m.) after being reported threatening somebody with a gun outside a convenience store, 37-y.-o. black man Alton Sterling (b. 1979), known as CD Man for selling illegal CDs is tackled by two white Baton Route, La. police officers then fatally shot several times at point-black, er, point-blank range, triggering nationwide protests, resulting in a U.S. Dept. of Justice investigation next May, which results in no criminal charges, after which in Mar. 2018 La. atty. gen. Jeff Landry does ditto.

On July 6, 2016 32-y.-o. black high school nutrition services supervisor Philando Divall Castile (b. 1983) is shot and killed in Falcon Heights (near Saint Paul), Minn. police officer Jeronimo Yanez after being pulled over and asked to produce his license and registration and informing the officer that he had a firearm, shooting 7x first and asking questions later, after which his girlfriend Diamond Reynolds live-streams video of him slumping and moaning on Facebook while the officer does nothing to aid him, after which he dies in Hennepin County Medical Center at 9:37 CDT; after a public outcry that adds to those over Alton Sterling, Yanez is charged with 2nd deg. manslaughter, and acquitted on June 16, 2017.

On Sept. 16, 2016 40-y.-o. black family man with a clean record Terence Tafford Crutcher Sr. (b. 1976) is shot and killed by two white police officers in Tulsa, Okla. while standing beside his stalled SUV and holding his unarmed hands high, becoming yet another case of White Is Right police in Ooooo-kla-homa; Kansas City police officer Donald Ebert makes a post on Facebook about the shooting, saying that Crutcher "should have dropped the entitlement card and listened the first time. Good shoot"; on Sept. 22 white police officer Betty Shelby is charged with first-degree manslaughter for killing him, only to see the jury acquit her on May 17, 2017; too bad, PCP was found in Crutcher's body.

On Apr. 29, 2017 (11:00 p.m.) unarmed 15-y.-o. black teenie Jordan Edwards (b. 2001) is shot in the back of the head by white police officer Roy Oliver in Balch Springs, Tex. with an AR-15 rifle while riding in the front passenger's seat of a vehicle driving away from a party, lying that the vehicle was backing into the officers, then admitting it was driving away from them; on May 5 after being fired, Oliver is arrested, and charged with murder; on Aug. 28, 2018 he is found guilty, and sentenced to 15 years in prison, becoming the 33rd police officer convicted of a crime resulting from an on-duty fatal shooting since 2005, and the 2nd convicted of murder out of a total of 93 arrested for on-duty murder or manslaughter.

On June 8, 2017 30-y.-o. African-Am. man David Jones (b. 1987) stopping for reckless riding of a dirt bike then shot twice in the back killed as he flees in Philly by white police officer Ryan Pownall, who is charged with murder after a year-long coverup, er, investigation.

On July 15, 2017 pampered (affirmative action?) Muslim Minneapolis, Minn. police officer Mohamed Noor shoots bride-to-be Justine Diamond (Ruszczyk) (who called about an assault) as she sits in her car near her home for making a "loud noise", after which the corrupt authorities cover for him like all sacred cow pigs, er, cut him loose and let him go in Mar. 2018, after which he is charged with murder and pleads self-defense before being convicted of 3rd-degree murder on May 6, 2019.

On Oct. 20, 2017 Avoyelles Parish sheriff's deputies Brandon Spillman and Alexander Daniel, along with police officer Kenneth Parnell confront Armando Frank (b. 1974) on his tractor in front of a WalMart in Marksville, La. to service a trespassing warrant, and when he asks to see the warrant and refuses to dismount they attack, putting him in a choke hold that kills him, causing a civil suit.

On Mar. 18 2018 (9:30 p.m. local time) Madowview, Sacramento police officers Terrance Mercadal (black) and Jared Robinet (white) shoot 20x and kill unarmed black man Stephon Clark (Alonzo-Clark) (b. 1995) in the backyard of his grandmother's home, claiming that he had a gun when he only had a cellphone, sparking nationwide protests, which escalate when prosecutors announce on Mar. 2, 2019 that they won't file charges.

In June 2018 Murray, Utah police sgt. Luis Argueta-Salazar punches a sleeping boy in the face behind on the sidewalk behind a tire shop, capturing the incident on his body camera, resulting in charges, a conviction, and a slap on the wrist $1K fine despite prosecutor requests to jail him.

On Aug. 6, 2018 (eve.) 11-y.-o. 4'11" 90 lb. African-Am. girl Donesha Gowdy (2007-) is tased by police officer Kevin Brown (1963-) in Spring Grove, Cincinnati, Ohio after shoplifting $50 worth of groceries from a Kroger store, causing a public outcry, which is increased when the police dept. claims a 50K-volt taser can be used on anybody aged 7-70; too bad, the officer utters the non-PC soundbyte "You know, sweetheart, this is why there's no grocery stores in the black community", letting the PC police loose on him, after which Brown doubles down on his statement, saying it is supported by statistics, and the police dept. says the statement constitutes prejudice, he didn't turn on his body camera before tasering her, did not warn her first, and was unnecessary since the incident wasn't serious enough.

On Sept. 6, 2018 off-duty white police officer Amber Renee Guyer shoots and kills black man Botham Shem Jean (b. 1992) in his own 4th floor apt. in Dallas, Tex. after mistaking it for her own on the 3rd floor, causing a public outcry resulting in her arrest on Sept. 9 for manslaughter and a grand jury to decide if she should be charged with murder after her story is seen to be full of holes.

On Jan. 15, 2019 (2:30 p.m. local time) 14-y.-o. Antonio Arce is shot in the back and killed in an alley in Tempe, Ariz. by police officer ? Jaen, causing protests.

In Feb. 2019 the FBI announces an inestigation into Houston, Tex. police officers Gerald Goines and Steven Bryant for raiding the home of innocent couple Dennis and Rhogena Tuttle and murdering them, throwing 1.4K-2.2K of their cases into review by prosecutors.

On Mar. 13, 2020 (12:40 a.m.) 26-y.-o. black emergency room technician Breonna Taylor (1993-) is shot 6x and killed by three police officers in Louisville, Ky. in her apt. wiith her suspected drug dealer boyfriend Kenneth Walker after they break in on a no-knock warrant (after knocking anyway but not identifying themselves?) and Walker starts shooting, thinking they're intruders; no surprise, the Black Lives Matter movement takes up Breonna's cause, sparking riots, after which officer Brett Hankison is fired on June 23, and the city agrees to pay Taylor's family $12M and reform police practices on Sept. 15; too bad, on Sept. 23 a state grand jury indicts officer Brett Hankison for firing into a neighboring apt., and fails to indict the other two officers Jonathan Mattingly and Myles Cosgrove , reigniting outrage and protests.

On May 25, 2020 after being arrested for passing a counterfeit $20 bill and resisting arrest, 46-y.-o. black man (longtime drug user and petty criminal) George Floyd (b. 1973) is executed on the streets of Minneapolis, Minn. by slow strangulation by four police white officers while brave bystanders film it, screaming "I can't breathe" in vain before going silent as officer Derek Chauvin (1976-) stands with his knee on his neck for 8 min. 46 sec., sparking worldwide outrage and street protests, starting in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn. (ends ?), resulting in all four being fired and charged with 2nd deg. murder, and giving power to the left to lobby for massive changes in U.S. society to eliminate systemic racism; on June 4 despite being a criminal, George Floyd is elevated into a new black saint with a globally-televised memorial that features Al Sharpton comparing Floyd's plight to all black Americans, who forever live with whitey's knee on their necks; too bad, on Aug. 4 new bodycam footage is released, showing Floyd resisting arrest and complaining he's claustrophobic and can't breathe even in a police car, although he was originally pulled out of his own car free of claustro symptoms, then gets out of the police car and requests to be laid on the ground; a blood test reveals meth and fentanyl, and he could have died of excited delibrium; police find a crack pipe on Floyd; the police training manual teaches them to put a knee on his neck, causing the police attys. to file a motion to dismiss all charges?

On June 8, 2020 after kneeling for 8 min. and guess how many sec. in memory of George Floyd, U.S. House and Sen. Dems. introduce the U.S. Justice in Policing Act that would ban chokeholds and create a nat. reporting database for police misconduct.

On Aug. 23, 2020 29-y.-o. black man Jacob S. Blake (1990-) is shot 7x in the back by white police officer Susten Sheskey in Kenosha, Wisc. as he tries to enter his SUV where three of his sons were in the backseat, triggering massive Black Lives Matter protests across the U.S.; the police later claim he had a knife; on Aug. 24 rioters set fires that destroy blocks of businesses; on Aug. 25 17-y.-o. Trump supporter Kyle Rittenhouse (2003-), who came from Ill. to Kenosha to join white vigilantes to protect businesses shoots and kills two protesters and injures another, walking unmolested past police before being arrested 30 mi. away in Antioch, Ill., claiming self-defense, which Pres. Trump later backs up; on Aug. 26 Joe Biden addresses the Blake shooting, condemning violence, with the soundbyte: "As I said after George Floyd's murder, protesting brutality is a right and absolutely necessary. But burning down communities is not protest. It's needless violence, violence that endangers lives, violence that guts businesses, and shutters businesses, that shutters communities. That's wrong"; quoting Blake's mother Julia Jackson, Biden utters the soundbyte: "She looked at the damage done in her community, and she said this: 'This doesn't reflect my son or my family.' So, let's unite and heal, do justice, end the violence, and end systemic racism in this country now"; on Aug. 27 Biden uses the Rittenhouse incident to blame the violence on the sprinkling of white right wing militias trying to stop the mass violence by Biden-supporting Dems., with the soundbyte: " I have made it clear. There is no place for violence, looting, or burning. None. Zero. All it does it hurt the communities reeling from injustice, and it destroys the businesses that serve them, many of them run by people of color who for the first time in their lives have begun to build wealth for their family. But while I have condemned all forms of violence - police violence, lawless violence, and violence perpetrated by extreme, right-wing militia groups - like the groups the 17-year-old just arrested in Illinois for murdering two people in Wisconsin is reputed to have been aligned with. Trump doesn't speak out against these extreme right-wing groups. Instead , as he did about Charlottesville he embraces them. If you're worried about the violence you're witnessing, you better be worried about the armed militias, often aligned with white supremacists and white nationalists and Neo-Nazis and the KKK, who are often the source of the biggest trouble"; on Sept. 24 a video is released showing that Rittenhouse was violently attacked and was just defending himself.

On Jan. 7 (8:24 p.m. local time) the defund the police movement is thrown a bone when 29-y.-o. handsome tall black clean-rapsheet FedEx worker Tyre (pr. TYREE) Deandre Nichols (b. 1993) is stopped by the abusive Scorpion Squad in his car in Memphis, Tenn., pulled out, and savagely beaten on the ground while he calls for his mother 200 yards away, dying of blood loss three days later and causing massive nat. protests leading to quick justice, with body cam and street sky cam footage quickly released after five black officers are charged with multiple charges capped by 2nd degree murder; the fact that all the officers and victim were black doesn't stop the leftist Dems. from calling this an example of white supremacy.