Incidents

Ben Frazer assaulted Jazzman Levert Daniel after forcing his way into his home; Officers Jacob Deboard and Joseph Ronan assisted, breaking Daniel's ribs. Officers claimed qualified immunity.

Portsmouth Police violently arrest a man sitting in his car.

"So viewed, the evidence established that on the afternoon of April 5, 2016, Detectives Hunter and Whitson of the Portsmouth Police Department were 'investigating some narcotics complaints' in the 600 block of Newport Avenue in the City of Portsmouth. Detective Hunter had been assigned to a unit specializing in narcotics transactions for two-and-a-half years of his seven years on the police force. Detective Whitson, a twenty-one-year employee of the police department, had been with the narcotics unit for four years.

The detectives observed the appellant sitting alone in a black Lexus, leaning back in the driver's seat and '[not] moving around.' The vehicle was parked in front of a fence that bordered a 'shop of some sort.' The detectives drove their unmarked police car past the Lexus and executed a U-turn, without activating their lights or siren. As the detectives again approached the Lexus in their car, the appellant looked in their direction. The detectives parked approximately twenty-five feet away and watched the appellant's car for 'a minute or so.'

....The detectives, who were wearing police vests and patches, exited their car and started walking toward the Lexus. The appellant again looked in their direction...

[T]he detectives verbally identified themselves as police officers and demanded that Hill show his hands. After shouting at appellant... to show his hands, the detectives grabbed his left forearm, physically removed him from the vehicle, and placed him in handcuffs."

Officer Salino runs into a 26-year-old pedestrian while driving a police cruiser. The victim died.

Virginia Animal Owners Alliance v. Welch

Complaint — Document #1

District Court, E.D. Virginia

Docket Number: 1:23-cv-00628

Citation: Virginia Animal Owners Alliance v. Welch, 1:23-cv-00628, (E.D. Va. May 11, 2023) ECF No. 1

Date Filed: May 11th, 2023

Jamie Acree and Brandon Bartley shot 33-year-old Loratio Lorenzo Dantzler, who they said physically resembled a wanted person.

Officer James Babor shot and killed Corey Jason Achstein, 28.

A mother signed her autistic son up for an after-school tennis program with the Richmond Police Athletic League to give her son experience interacting with police. She returned to find him handcuffed, then learned he had been assaulted. At the hospital, they learned an officer had given him a concussion. The story was reported on WTVR News.

An Internal Affairs investigation (Case # 201508040006) was launched on August 4, 2015 after a complaint of excessive force was filed against Feazell. Captain Oliver oversaw the "investigation," and one day later on August 5 he ruled the complaint unfounded.

On Nov. 7, 2016, Jamar Antwaun Gladden filed a complaint under the Civil Rights Act against Charlottesville Police officers R.A. Oberholzer, J. Seitz, and T.A. Lucas (also naming the JADE Task Force) for attacking, brutalizing, and nearly asphyxiating him on July 29, 2015.

Gladden's complaint alleges excessive force, unreasonable aggression, the use of a chokehold, unlawful seizure, and violation of his Fourth Amendment rights.

Gladden describes the incident in his own words (from "Gladden v. Charlottesville Va. Police Dept"):

"Officer Oberholzer put me in a chokehold with his arm around my neck/throat, never reaching for my hands or arms making a[n] attempt to arrest or detain me. Just a[n] immediate instinct reaction to put his arm around my throat and to throw his body weight against me and we immediately went crashing to the ground (his stomach to my back).

Officer Oberholzer layed on top of me while still continuing to squeeze his arm tighter around my throat, in which at this time it was extremely hard for me to breathe.

"I was beginning to lose consciousness when a number of 'Jon Doe' detectives of JADE Task Force also appeared on the scene and begun to physically and maliciously plant knees and feet on my body while still on my stomach with Officer Oberholzer's arm around my throat. Along with said 'John Doe' detectives of JADE Task Force, Detectives McCall, Seitz, and Lucas begun to become overly aggressive when 'John Doe Detective' of JADE Task Force started to holler 'Knife, knife[!]' Again, I was on my stomach. [I] believed I blacked out slightly at some point[] so I wasn't able to see the above named JADE Task Force members or the John Doe Detectives' faces at the time when a foot, knee or whatever force that came down on the back of my head to make my face make contact with the ground...

"Before being sat up, Officer Oberholzer kicked me after I was already being handled by JADE Task Force Detectives John Does and cuffed... At no time did I offer a reason for this inhumane attack on me..."

Officer Geller, Officer Michael Sinclair, and Detective Gibson shot and killed Kawanza Jamal Beaty.

Officer Shaun Jergens reportedly used his Taser and pepper spray on a man police said was involved in a hit-and-run on May 4.

Fredericksburg Police said a 911 call came in about a hit-and-run collision at approximately 5 p.m. from the driver of a Jeep whose vehicle had just been struck by a silver Hyundai traveling southbound in the northbound lanes of Route 1 near the University of Mary Washington pedestrian bridge.

The Hyundai had previously run over the median on Route 1 and knocked down a city road sign, according to police.

The Hyundai eventually ended up stationary in the intersection of Cowan Boulevard and Powhatan Street.

Two Fredericksburg officers who were the first to arrive on scene, Corporal Matt Deschenes and Sergeant Crystal Hill, held the Hyundai driver at gunpoint and ordered him out of his car. The driver, identified as David Washington, 34, of Fredericksburg, did not comply.

Jurgens arrived on scene a few minutes later. Police said Jurgens used his Taser on the man to get him to comply with the order to exit the vehicle. One of the Taser prongs apparently did not make a proper connection and the Taser was ineffective.

Jurgens then used his pepper spray on Washington and then Deschenes and Jurgens both removed Washington from the car.

An ambulance was called to treat Washington for the pepper spray exposure and remove the Taser prong attached to his skin. Washington was transported to a local hospital where doctors discovered that he was experiencing a medical emergency in the preceding hours.

After reviewing the incident in accordance with department policy, Command Staff determined that the force used by the officers involved in the incidence was “not appropriate."

Jurgens resigned from the department on May 14.

Virginia State Police and Portsmouth Police officers R. Agular, M. Hunter, J. Whitson, G. Smith, N. Hawes, T. Thursby, S. Daugherty, and M. Rotolo shot and killed Walter J. Brown III on March 24, 2015.

“After Billings asked [Cromartie] to roll down her car window, she told him to leave her alone as she complained to someone on her cellphone about the traffic stop,” Lavoie reported. “Seconds later, she said, he pulled her out of her car, forced her onto the ground and placed his weight on her back, injuring her forehead, lip, teeth, right eyebrow and both knees before she was handcuffed and put in leg shackles.”

Billings was allowed to resign and admitted he was never disciplined for the incident.

Natasha McKenna was a 37-year-old mother living in Alexandria, Virginia. On February 8, 2015, Natasha was being held at a detention center in Fairfax County, Virginia. She had been diagnosed with mental health problems and was scheduled to be transferred to Alexandria.

During the transfer, over the course of 45 minutes, members of the Sheriff’s Emergency Response Team pulled her from her cell while wearing SWAT gear, tackled her, kneeled on her as she repeatedly claimed she could not breathe, then restrained her before tasering her at least four times while she appeared barely conscious and unresisting.

Natasha suffered cardiac arrest, lost consciousness, and was hospitalized; she died four days later.

The deputies and officers who participated in her killing were Paul Miller, Jonathan Perryman, Lucas Salzman, Adam Henry, Kenneth Krstulovic, and Patrick D. McPartlin.

A lawsuit was filed claiming Newport News Police officers Wilson & Graham surrounded Thomas T. Simmons, Jr.'s vehicle at a traffic stop, banged on his windows, and unlawfully arrested him.

Officer Randy Hager grabbed and harassed Charles Lamaar Sharp, who sued to appeal a case Hager initiated against him.

A federal lawsuit (Moody v. City of Newport News) sparked by the December 2012 shooting of Corey Moody found that the Newport News Police Department had failed to appropriately investigate incidents of excessive force and failed to train its officer appropriately.

Ryan Norris, Randy Gibson, Russel Tinsley, Richard W. Myers, Danielle Hollandsworth, James D. Fox, and the City of Newport News were named in the lawsuit. All officers were dismissed from the case as defendants except for Hollandsworth and Gibson, whom the court ruled had qualified immunity.

Bedford Deputy Juette Renalds shot and killed David Mendoza-Alvarez, who was unarmed.

While few details are known publicly, it was reported that Officers Craig Ozment and Brandon Scott Austin, then employed as police officers at Christopher Newport University, allegedly used racial slurs and threatened fellow employees in the department.

According to the Daily Press, "A federal civil rights agency concluded... that Christopher Newport University police officers subjected two co-workers to death threats and a hostile work environment last year, in violation of federal law. CNU President Paul Trible said the agency’s findings weren’t valid, and said he plans to take no action in response to the finding except fighting the case in court if necessary."