VOICE OF DETROIT: The city's independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

Duggan has no right under state law to order Brush Park Plan

State and city bureaucrats destroyed BLACK Brush Park:

Historic homes and enterprises demolished, set on fire

At least 800 residents left homeless, with no relocation funds

By Ron Seigel

June 25, 2015

A few weeks ago Detroit Mayor Mike  Duggan held a well-publicized press conference about  an urban renewal project he claims will restore the historic Detroit area of Brush Park. That project is dominated by multi-billionaire Dan Gilbert’s Bedrock Real Estate.

The problem is that it is against the law for the Mayor or any  city department to approve such a plan.  Any city council member who votes for the plan or for that matter any urban  renewal plans in any  area whatsoever will  be breaking the law.

State Act 344 Section (a)(6) states “A local commission,  public agency, [such as a city]] or legislative body of any municipality shall not approve any development unless there has been consultation between…the officials responsible for the development” and the citizens district council  (CDC) representing residents and  businesses in the area where the development is taking place.

This is impossible, because in his closing days as Detroit’s emergency manager Kevyn Orr, appointed by Governor Rick Snyder, abolished all CDCs.

Neither Orr nor the Snyder Administration had any legal right to do so.

It may be  arguable that under the  recent legislation rammed through by Snyder’s Republican Party,  Orr did have the authority to repeal every law in the  City of Detroit whenever he wanted to.   However, citizen district councils were established under state law.  Orr, as a creature of state government, had no more legal power to interfere with state laws than his boss Governor Snyder has to shut down the state legislature. One might ponder whether the former emergency manager and the governor behind him need a lesson in high school civics.

A more compelling question is whether they have something they are desperately trying to hide.

Orr’s spokesperson, Bill Nowling, justified Orr’s actions by saying “It was felt CDCs represented an unnecessary level of bureaucracy that was hindering future development by revitalization efforts.”

Actually citizen district councils had no power to stop or even delay any development whatsoever.  The law set them up as an advisory body so those in the area have a chance to voice their concerns about what the government was doing to their area.

They could in no way be considered a bureaucracy.

What probably frightened Orr and Snyder was that CDC’s could occasionally try to use  the influence of private  citizens with their elected representatives to prevent the real bureaucrats, the ones in government, from doing whatever they wanted whenever  they wanted.  Perhaps most frightening of all, under state law the private citizens had the right to know what the bureaucrats were doing.

Historically in past urban renewal projects it was the state and city bureaucrats which ruined Brush Park. As Father Norman Thomas, Pastor of the nearby Sacred Heart Church, said,  “It’s the most terrible thing I’ve ever seen.”

The government bureaucrats committed illegalities all along the way.  The Brush Park CDC’s asked for an investigation by a federal grand jury.  It seems clear why the bureaucrats may not want them around.  Looking at the  record:

STATE OFFICIALS DESTROYED THE AREA’S BUSINESSES

Several decades ago Brush Park had a prosperous business district  on Hastings Street and a popular entertainment district called Paradise Valley.  The owners just happened to be Black.

“It was a high period of Black culture,” Dorothy Robinson, a playwright and the owner of a theatrical  group, said regarding the area’s entertainment district. “There would always be excitement and a variety  of things going on. ”

She added, “When we had anything, white people came to see it.  They were not so prejudiced that they did not enjoy Black entertainment.” State officials just  happened to build the Chrysler Expressway (I-75) right in the middle of the Black business area.

In an interview 10 years ago William Worden, then Director of the Detroit Historic Advisory Board, stated, “The  common view is that  this was not done inadvertently.”

Douglas Fuller,  a lifelong Brush Park resident,  said, “The kids don’t know the pride we had or how it felt.  There is no more evidence of where we came from or what we did here.”

The businessmen authorized to  “revitalize” Brush Park are not the ones who were displaced, but a new group of outsiders.

The Orr-Snyder Machine may call this free enterprise,  but it seems more like free loading.

BUREAUCRATS ILLEGALLY DESTROYED HISTORIC BUILDINGS

While city bureaucrats may talk of restoring city buildings, it was the bureaucrats who were responsible for illegally destroying them.  Some were private houses. Some had significance in Black history, like the original stand for the first African-American taxi cab company in Detroit, and buildings  in the entertainment district.   They also destroyed one building that once belonged to the infamous Purple Gang.

On hearing about this, one man quipped,”They don’t even have respect for fellow gangsters.”

In 2003  state bureaucrats joined in the demolition with funds from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality  (MDEQ) under the pretext of its Clean Energy  Program.

The  Brush Park CDC  wrote to  MDEQ, “It is criminal, outrageous, and an abomination to demolish these  properties.”

At a time when so many neighborhoods were pleading in vain for the demolition of vacant houses that they considered eyesores or positively dangerous, why were taxpayer  dollars being used to demolish houses in the one area where residents wanted them to stay?

When spokespersons for state  and city officials were asked about this, they promptly passed responsibility to those on other  levels.  Liz Boyd,  spokesperson for former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, said this was a matter for  the MDEQ.

MDEQ spokesperson Patricia  Spetzley stated, “The City of  Detroit prioritizes what is torn down with state tax dollars.  The residents should go to the Mayor. ” Ironically, professed  concern from the Granholm administration  about  cities setting priorities did not prevent Granholm a few years  later from advocating that state appointed managers of local  governmental bodies be given powers  beyond financial issues and control all policies  — paving the way for the  reign of Kevyn Orr.

Just as ironically the spokesperson for Detroit’s mayor, then Kwame Kilpatrick, indicated that it might not be any use for residents to go to his boss.  Kilpatrick’s spokesperson Howard Hughey said the Mayor did not care to know where state environmental funds were going, but was leaving these things up to the city’s  Planning and Development Department (P&DD).

Hughey declared,  “It’s not a mayoral issue, but a P&DD issue.  The P&DD submits their plan for making the city cleaner.  The Mayor has perfect confidence in those he put in leadership positions.  It doesn’t go from the top down, but from the bottom up.”

This left voters who put Kilpatrick in office below  the bottom level with no place to  go.

When P&DD press secretary Lona Reeves was interviewed,  she promised  to look up the position of her department,  but  failed to call  back.  Actually appropriate officials substantiated the Brush Park CDC statement that the demolition of historically designated houses was  criminal.

Worden from  the Historic District Commission, said before  a historic building can be torn down, the commission had to hold a  hearing and grant a permit. The city’s own Historic District Ordinance said a private owner who did not follow such procedures would be subject to fines and imprisonment.

The  Detroit City Planning  Commission under the Detroit City Council said this violated federal law, Section 100 of the National Historic Preservation Act.

The Brush Park  CDC sent resolutions charging the  city with “perpetrating fraud for failing to carry out objectives listed in its own urban renewal plan to preserve historic buildings.”  It called for a criminal investigation over their use of funds.

In its 2003 letter to the MDEQ, the CDC speculated on  the reason for this historic vandalism of Detroit’s history. It said that if the historic buildings were preserved, as the law specified, developers could not take the land. With the buildings out of the way, the developers could  get the land “at low cost or no cost.”  In short, the taxes paid for such illegal  demolition  was assisting “rich developers” in “destroying a historic district.”

Looking at what the city and state bureaucrats have done to historic buildings, how much faith can we have  that the ones under Duggan and Snyder will preserve anything?

BUREACRATS TOOK BRUSH PARK RESIDENTS’ HOMES

Even more compelling, state and city bureaucrats took  people’s homes away.

Gwen Mingo, former head of  the Brush Park CDC, said,   “They tried to kill you from the inside just like they tried to destroy the  buildings . They threw the people out, smashing them to the ground like a piece of trash.”

Originally the stated legal purpose of urban renewal was to clear away slums and to “provide a decent home for every American family.”   It expanded to allow government to seize the property of the poor and middle class in order to bring in big  business and richer folks under a sociological process called  “gentrification. ”  This moved people into slums and created greater homelessness for many American families.

Jackie  Green  declared, “We became homeless for  a long time.  You had to sleep here and there in vacant houses.”

In this case too there have been violations of the law. Urban renewal programs have received federal funding from  the U.S. Department of  Housing and Urban Development (HUD ).  Part of the legal mission of HUD is to “address the challenge of homelessness,” and that would mean not creating homelessness. Another part of the legal purpose is   “to move people from renting to home ownership.” HUD-funded urban renewal  has moved people out of the homes they own into a place they can rent, if they can find one.

BLATANT RACIAL DISCRIMINATION

There have been other  violations. Continue reading →

 LABOR HERO DEVOTED HIS LIFE TO THE PEOPLE’S STRUGGLE, TO THE WORKERS AND RESIDENTS OF THE CITY OF DETROIT

HE WILL BE SORELY MISSED, BUT HIS LEGACY LIVES ON

Release from:

American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO

AFSCME Local 207, Public Utility Employees of The City of Detroit, Michigan District Council 25

#BeatBackthebullies;  #afscme207; #DETROIT; #DetroitWater;

#RealFighter; #WorkingPeople; #AFSCME; #SaveDetroit!;

#‎StandUpNow;

June 22, 2015

John Riehl, president of AFSCME Local 207 from 2000-2012 has died. Detroit and the labor movement has lost a great and uncommon leader.

John worked at the Detroit Wastewater Treatment Plant for 34 years under difficult and dangerous conditions. During most of that time he served as an elected union steward for AFSCME Local 207 which represented Detroit Water& Sewerage Department workers.

He headed the rank & file militant caucus City Workers for Justice (CWJ). He helped lead countless fights both inside and outside the union for the rights of workers, Detroiters and the oppressed in our society. He helped make Local 207 a symbol of labor’s fight for civil rights.

He served as the elected President of AFSCME Local 207 from 2001 through 2012.

During that time John steadfastly stood against the tide of concessions being demanded of Detroit’s public workers, even if it meant being the only union president to do so. City workers always knew that John could be trusted to defend them when no one else would. John laughed when the press sometimes referred to him as a “union boss.” His members knew him as their elected and accountable leader who administered their union democratically and with integrity. Based on this reputation he was later elected to represent all city employees on the Detroit General Pension Board.

Facing an imminent takeover of Detroit by the Emergency Manager, John led a strike of Local 207 in the fall of 2012, openly defying a federal court order and threats of arrest. When no one else would fight, John would.

John was a supporter of the civil rights organization Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Immigrant Rights and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary (BAMN).  Below is a Face Book posting by a leader of BAMN.

“RIP John Riehl: socialist, champion of working class and oppressed people, former proud “union boss” and president of Detroit sewage workers, head of City Workers for Justice, loved and admired by so many people for your courage, strengths, and very human weaknesses. You taught us that the measure of a person isn’t only what side they’re on, but the actions they take on behalf of their side to win. Never to be mistaken for a liberal, you were a true militant who stood by and acted on your principles. You made a huge impression on everyone who ever met you and for those fortunate enough to call you friend. Your light went out too soon. I am honored to have called you comrade and one of my personal inspirations and heroes. You will be dearly missed.”

Funeral Arrangements for John Riehl, former president AFSCME Local 207

Desmond & Sons Funeral Home 32515 Woodward Ave. Royal Oak, MI 48073

VIEWING: Tuesday, June 23  10m – 8pm  

SERVICES: Wed., June 24 10am

Expressions of Condolences can be mailed to:

C/O Mrs. Pattie Riehl @ above funeral home address.

 

Please keep the Riehl family in your prayers.

The excellent video above, published on Youtube by Detroit talk show host Cynthia Johnson, gives the lie to people touting the benefits of Detroit’s bankruptcy, such as Citicorp, which published the commercial at bottom.

In reality, the banks have left Detroit in a total of $3 billion in debt through 2034 since the conclusion of the bankruptcy trial. The bankruptcy Plan of Adjustment specifies that the debt is priority #1; it must be paid first before anything else is spent on city services. Before bankruptcy was declared, Detroit was $1 billion in debt through 2034.

Detroit’s Public Lighting Department has been deliberately decimated over the past two decades through privatization and deliberate sabotage, including mass lay-offs and refusal to purchase needed equipment as simple as street light bulbs. The Public Lighting Authority is part of that privatization and regionalization.

VOD wrote an article last November, titled PLANTATION DETROIT: PUBLIC ASSETS ON AUCTION BLOCK THIS WEEK –  http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/11/03/plantation-detroit-public-assets-on-auction-block-this-week/#sthash.OCzwpCi7.dpuf .

Excerpt:

“EM Kevyn Orr told DTE the entire Public Lighting Department (PLD), including its revenue-generating provision of lighting to public buildings, will be phased out over the next five years to DTE, which has already taken over PLD’s electricity grid.

The newly-founded regional Public Lighting Authority plans to dismantle 46,000 of the city’s 88,000 streetlights, in areas targeted for “blight (i.e. Black) removal,” according to Orr’s May 12, 2013 Financial and Operating Plan.  

PLD was founded in the 1920’s and was originally meant to provide electricity to the entire city, including its residences. The city’s former Auditor General reported several years ago that those service lines could have been revamped to provide revenue-generating, public cable TV service to city residents at lower costs.  

PLD has been one of few opportunities for Black and women skilled trades workers such as electricians to get long-term employment.

Profit from the auctions is to be used to “pay down debt,” with some allegedly restored to the departments, according to an Oct. 30 article in the Monitor. Considering there will be no DPW or PLD, it is clear only the banks will profit from these auctions.

Look at the Citicorp commercial below, and decide which of the videos most accurately represents YOUR experience in the streets of Detroit.

STOP THE KILLING OF UNARMED AMERICANS! BY OUR “RESPONSIBLE” POLICE!

https://youtu.be/oi9gTq2aYZ4

Published June 19, 2015

A No Struggle, No Development Production! By Kenny Snodgrass                         * * A No Struggle, No Development Production! By Kenny Snodgrass, Activist, Photographer, Videographer, Author of

1} From Victimization to Empowerment… www.trafford.com/07-0913 – – eBook available at www.ebookstore.sony.com

2} The World as I’ve Seen It! My Greatest Experience! {Photo Book}

YouTube: I have over 660 Video’s, 582 Subscribers, over 368,035 hits. Now averaging 10,000 monthly on my YouTube channel @ www.YouTube.com/KennySnod

Great Lakes Water Authority contract with city a SALE, not a lease

Means higher water/sewerage rates for population of six counties 

Detroit water shut-offs, attachment of unpaid water bills to property taxes, to be continued 

Contract subject to referendum vote of people of the city of Detroit; DAREA votes to begin petition collection process in coalition with others

DAREA also files new challenge to bankruptcy plan citing Illinois Supreme Court decision striking down pension cuts as unconstitutional

By Diane Bukowski  

June 15, 2015

DETROIT – “We’ve been waiting for this for 40 years,” a beaming Gary Brown, co-chair of the Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA), an entity organized under the Detroit bankruptcy plan, boasted June 12.

Brown is also COO of the City of Detroit under “Mayor” Mike Duggan. During its meeting that day, the six-member GLWA board voted 5-1 to approve a contract with the City of Detroit that is an irrevocable sale, not a lease, of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD).

The GLWA will pay only a total of $1.4 billion for the $6 billion system. It is expected to approve skyrocketing rate increases, and will continue water shut-offs and the attachment of unpaid water bills to property taxes for Detroiters. (See link for entire contract at end of story.)

Six major items still need to be completed before the contract actually takes effect, no later than Jan. 1, 2016. These include agreements with customer communities to have the GLWA assume their contracts, the Detroit General Retirement System to provide information on pension obligations, 51 percent of bondholders to agree to have the GLWA assume $5.2 billion in DWSD debt, bond rating agency confirmation that ratings will be no lower than current DWSD bond ratings, legal opinions that bonds are still non-taxable, and adoption of a bond ordinance.

Crain’s Detroit Business quoted Doug Scott of Fitch Ratings Ltd., who said the current DWSD debt load is a problem.

“The limit on their revenue-generating ability would be a factor. It could be a credit negative, depending on the situation — it’s certainly not a credit positive,” Scott said. “But I can’t say it’s a definite negative in this situation, since we have other factors to look at, like how affordable rates are right now. That could be an offset.”

Scott also cited the alleged four percent cap on rate increases, which has already been removed in the plan, likely at Wall Street’s direction.

During bankruptcy negotiations, the “City” as represented by Jones Day had proposed that DWSD bondholders take a $2.3 billion cut. Bankruptcy protesters had pointed to at least one illegal DWSD interest swap agreement amounting to $537 million. However, provisions creating the Great Lakes Water Authority restored the full debt load.

Another hurdle to enactment of the Authority is the state law authorizing the contract.  Public Act 233 of 1955, “Municipal Water and Sewer Supply Systems,” allows the affected municipality a people’s referendum vote on the contract.

The Detroit Active and Retired Employees Association (DAREA) voted unanimously at its meeting June 15 to begin that process, drafting petition language and reaching out to other organizations, especially those concerned about the people’s water rights, to join in collecting the 15,000 petition signatures needed according to PA 233. Members said they were outraged at what they called the theft of Detroit’s six-county system, and provisions in the contract, some of which are noted below.

“We have to continue fighting,” DAREA President Bill Davis said. “If not, they’ll think we have given up.” Yvonne Williams Jones encouraged members to take up the battle any way they can, including in the streets.

Davis also announced that DAREA had just filed a supplemental brief to its appeal of the Detroit Bankruptcy Plan of Adjustment, which authorized the creation of the GLWA.

The brief cites the resounding decision of the Illinois State Supreme Court which struck down all cuts to state employee pensions enacted in 2013 by the State Legislature, saying they violated state constitutional protections that prohibit “diminishing or impairing” such benefits. The language is virtually identical to that in Michigan’s Constitution.

“You do not have the authority to take this vote,” a City of Detroit retiree told the GLWA board at the outset of their meeting June 12. “Under the City Charter, DWSD assets can only be sold or transferred after a vote of the people. This action will destroy Detroit, the largest and poorest Black-majority city in the country. Detroit has the highest unemployment rate in the U.S., but this agreement takes away thousands of jobs from city workers. Fifty-nine percent of Detroit’s children, and 39 percent of its population, live in poverty.”

Another retiree, Cindy Darrah, said, “This is illegal. People can’t afford to pay their water bills now. It’s hard to pay when you don’t have a job. You are voting for something that 99.9 percent of the public has never seen, while their public taxes are paying for a new hockey arena and the M-1 rail system.”

Darrah also raised the issue of the Toledo water crisis, noting that residents of Toledo don’t have the right to weigh in on the agreement.

Retirees earlier said it was a “near catastrophic failure” of DWSD sewage pumps after massive lay-offs in the Wastewater Treatment Plant last year that led to pollution of Lake Erie, from which Toledo draws 80 percent of its water supply. They said the failure also caused great flooding of Detroit sewers, streets and homes at the same time. The WWTP is currently under the management of private contractor EMA, which recommended the elimination of 81 percent of the DWSD workforce.

Whether the condition of DWSD’s infrastructure will improve under the GLWA is questionable. They have hired global water privatizer Veolia as an advisor.

Veolia has recommended the cancellation of $600 million in Capital Improvement Program funds that were to finance 14 major plant upgrades.

The Raging Grannies presented the GLWA with a song decrying water shut-offs during the meeting.

Earlier, both the Sierra Club and the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization resigned from the Water Residents Assistance Program created by the GLWA, because it did not stop water shut-offs and did not constitute a true water affordability program.

DWSD is the third largest public municipal facility in the U.S, owned and controlled by Detroit since 1836. It has revenues of $6 billion annually, and provides service to almost one million people in Detroit and three million in 127 Michigan communities throughout Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, St. Clair, Lapeer, Genesee, Washtenaw and Monroe counties.

According to terms of the contract, the GLWA will pay $50 million annually to the city of Detroit for 40 years, subject to numerous conditions, which amounts to about $1.4 billion. Conditions include payment by the city itself of $14.4 million of the annual amount, and availability of sufficient revenues after the payment of bond debt. Under the plan, the Authority will assume $5.2 billion in DWSD bond debt, and immediately borrow $300 million again.

The GLWA will control and collect customer rates and payments, incorporating approved increases of 20.1 percent for Detroiters and 12.4 percent for suburbanites set for July 1.

Despite Detroit bankruptcy plan promises that GLWA rate increases would be limited to 4 percent a year, the contract says, “The Authority shall for each Fiscal Year fix and approve rates and charges to its customers in an amount that is expected to produce Revenues sufficient to satisfy the Authority Revenue Requirement.”

The “Revenue Requirement” prioritizes the payment of bond debt. The GLWA has the exclusive authority to issue bonds and plans to do so abundantly, beginning with a $300 million bond to finance the transition from DWSD to GLWA. Under the plan, the Authority will also assume $5.2 billion in DWSD bond debt.

GLWA’s Macomb County board member Brian Baker, the sole “No” vote on the contract, said that he expects rate increases to run at least 10 percent a year.

He also blasted what he claimed was Detroit’s “lack of responsibility” for collecting bad debts from its customers. The DWSD began water-shuts again last month.

Unlike Brown, also a former City Councilman and Detroit police officer, city officials have fought a regional takeover of the system for decades. DWSD’s six-county infrastructure was built with bonds paid for by Detroiters.

“This is nothing but a takeover, a power grab for the largest asset the city holds,” former Detroit City Councilwoman JoAnn Watson said at a council meeting in Nov. 2012. “It would be malfeasance for any elected official to advocate breaking it up, divvying it up. There is no drinking water in the country better than ours. DWSD is a magnificent asset, paid for by the citizens, owned by the citizens, and run by the citizens. This is a disgrace before God!”

Watson was responding to a revelation that Brown and former Council President Charles Pugh had signed a secret “Roots Cause” committee agreement to separate DWSD from the city, in front of U.S. District Court Judge Sean Cox.

Pugh is now in disgrace after being exposed as an alleged child molester. He abdicated his post after voting to allow the state takeover of Detroit under a Consent Agreement, and has been working as a waiter in New York City according to local media reports.

Unlike his predecessors, particularly Mayor Coleman A. Young, who opposed a regional takeover of DWSD, Detroit’s new “Mayor” Mike Duggan, allegedly elected on write-in ballots after a court ruled he had not been a resident of Detroit long enough, issued the following statement.

“This is an historic step forward in resolving decades of conflict between Detroit and our suburban neighbors. Detroit will have the resources we need to rebuild our city’s crumbling water and sewer pipes. County leaders will have a true voice in running the part of the system that serves the suburbs. Each community will be responsible for its own water and sewer bills. And, we have created a new $4.5 million assistance fund to help low income families afford their water bills.”

GLWA board members credited Duggan with breaking an impasse in negotiations when he agreed to have lease payments to the city remain within the GLWA system.

At last report, about 500 of more than 1,400 current DWSD workers will remain with the city, while about 900 more will become authority employees. DWSD workers have all been asked to re-apply for their jobs.

Although the authority claimed it is honoring all labor contracts in effects, an attachment to the plan left out AFSCME Local 207, which used to represent 1200 DWSD workers. It was the most militant water department local, supporting a wildcat strike by Wastewater Treatment Plant workers in Sept. 2012. Local 207 members warned that the future of the entire City of Detroit was at stake, but representatives of AFSCME Council 25 sabotaged the strike. Other unions have now carved up most of the local’s membership, leaving it with only a little over 100 workers.

TO CONTACT DAREA REGARDING THE REFERENDUM CAMPAIGN TO STOP THE DWSD TAKEOVER , call 313-649-7018, or reach Communications Committee Chair Diane Bukowski at 313-825-6126;       email detroit2700plus@gmail.com or diane_bukowski@hotmail.com ASAP.

• All organizations and individuals are invited to endorse the campaign and collect signatures for the referendum petitions, speakers available.
• Next DAREA membership meeting Wed. July 1, 2015 @ 5:30 pm. Sts. Matthew and Joseph Episcopal Church, Woodward at Holbrook; complete financial report at every meeting.
• DAREA Prayer Breakfast-Fundraiser DAREA prayer breakfast.

Related documents:

Link to entire GLWA-Detroit Contract: http://glwater.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Executed_Package-REVISED-6-12-15.pdf 

PUBLIC ACT 233 of 1955: mcl-Act-233-of-1955 DAREA supplemental appeal brief 6 5 2015.compressed

Some of many related stories: 

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/09/10/detroit-bankruptcy-great-lakes-water-authority-to-steal-largest-asset-of-largest-u-s-black-city-4/ 

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2015/05/31/illinois-supreme-court-constitution-nixes-pension-cuts-ruling-invigorates-detroit-retiree-appeals/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/08/21/near-catastrophic-failure-of-detroit-sewage-pumps-caused-detroit-floods-toledo-water-crisis-city-retirees-say/ 

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/09/27/detroit-dwsd-debt-shows-wall-street-never-loses-on-bad-swaps/  

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/09/30/city-water-workers-strike-for-detroits-future-call-for-picket-line-support-beginning-oct-1/

‘I can’t breathe’—Young man died March 30 during Detroit police stop

 Autopsy report, police statement to father, say Clark Reed died from asthma attack, contradicting other police statements alleging he ingested drugs

Detroit officer Brian Gadwell, at scene according to his website comments, made those allegations, has record of previous brutality lawsuits 

Grieving family still has not received police reports, dashcam and store videotapes, son’s possessions 

By Diane Bukowski 

June 11, 2015

DETROIT – “He wasn’t just my son, he was my best friend,” Leda Reed, the grieving mother of Anthony Clark Reed, said. “He had a smile on every day, and was always doing something silly. He was my first-born. He never cried even when he was a baby. He worked in Wixom for four years, went to Henry Ford College, and had just been hired at Chrysler.”

Reed said her son, who was 6 feet, two inches and often drove his girlfriend’s new red Charger, was frequently stopped by police.

“He would always call me or his girlfriend on his cellphone right away and leave it on so we could hear what was happening, and he would always call me by 9 p.m. to let me know he was home.”

On the night of March 30 of this year, however, Reed received no such calls. After an unwarranted delay, she and Pastor Kevin Clark, the young man’s father, were told that their son was dead, after a Detroit police stop outside a store on W. Vernor and Lawndale, just around the corner from his father’s Springwells Avenue Baptist Church.

“They said they put [my son’s] hands behind his back [to handcuff him], which would have restricted the air flowing into his lungs, causing an asthma attack,” Reed said. “They didn’t have a reason to pull him over, they stereotyped him.”

Pastor Clark said, “I’m not claiming they did anything unless the videotapes show differently, but what occurred says they did not attend to his request that he could not breathe. Why were they so neglectful?”

The Wayne County Medical Examiner’s autopsy report says Clark Reed died of “natural causes,” an asthma attack.

But during his funeral, one of Clark Reed’s twin sisters left crying, “They killed him.”

Both parents said police and the Wayne County Prosecutor’s office continue to tell them the case is still “under investigation.”

“Why is this still going on, 45 days after his death?” Pastor Clark asked.

Police have given the parents conflicting stories about the reason their son was stopped. They have not given the family or their attorney written police reports, dashcam videos from at least six cars witnesses saw at the scene, and videos confiscated from cameras on nearby buildings. Witnesses said all the Charger’s doors and trunk were open after the stop.  Their son’s possessions, including two cell phones and cash, have also not been returned.

Pastor Clark said a police lieutenant told him that his son was pulled over because he was reaching under his seat. His father he was likely looking for his inhaler if that was the case. Police have told various media outlets that Clark Reed was stopped because he had tinted windows, and that he had an asthma attack after the stop. They said they went inside the car to get his inhaler, then called EMS, but those efforts failed to revive him.

Detroit police officer Brian Gadwell reported a third version in comments on WXYZ TV’s website after Pastor Clark was interviewed by that station.

“He was pulled over and started eating his dope he had in the car ……. No one’s fault but his,” Gadwell said on the site. In response to another commenter critical of that remark, Gadwell said, “Where u there at the scene nope that’s right or I would of seen u, but go ahead and try blaming the police for some one else’s stupidity.”

That comment, said Clark Reed’s mother, obviously implies Gadwell was present during her son’s death.

WXYZ has since changed the name of the commenter to John E BGood, whose Facebook page displays a photo of Good. It is identical to a photo of Gadwell published in a 2012 news report by Amy Lange on Channel 2. That report identified Gadwell as a Detroit police officer who had “thwarted a fence theft” in his Delray neighborhood while off-duty. See

Henry Sawicki commented on the John E Bgood Facebook page, “Damn john e bgood u look just like John E Bgood lol,” and “Lol just like brian gadwell I mean lol.”

Clark Reed’s aunt Yolanda Delgado preserved the original comments with Gadwell’s name on her Facebook page.

On that page, and on the WXYZ website, she said, “Officer Brian Gadwell is making false, unfounded allegations about a pending investigation into the death of Anthony Clark-Reed. He is inciting racial bias and prejudice and his comments are insensitive and unnecessary. Apparently he is attempting to create an alibi for the senseless death of this young man. He does not honor the badge or uniform of the US Law enforcement bureau and he needs to be removed from service. Our country will never mend their racial divide wounds as long as people like him serve in office.”

Numerous other commenters also castigated Gadwell’s comments. None supported him.

Barbara Reed Bolden said, “The last thing Detroit needs is Bad Cops PROFILING Men/Women shaking them down for their valuables and using a gun and badge to do so. This family lost a love[d] on. You are on Social Media Boasting about a case you personally had something to do with. You show no sensitivity nor respect, for this alone that badge and gun should be removed from you. Who are you serving and protecting?”

Click on Gadwell comments Yolanda Delgado for full list of comments.

Along with the medical examiner’s autopsy report, VOD obtained the ME’s “Case Registration Summary.”

It says “ER Dr. called to report the death of a 25yr male, who was stopped by police while driving swallowed a unknown substance and collapsed. Conveyed from Lawndale and Vernor in Detroit by EMS arriving asystole with no signs of trauma or foul play. Package of drugs found on person.”

The summary adds, “No labs, no film, hx (history) unknown.”

“It is my opinion that the cause of death is asthma,” Wayne County Assistant Medical Examiner Chantel Nijawi reported May 4. “The contributory factor is morbid obesity. Mr. Clark-Reed complained of feeling short of breath during a traffic stop. An inhaler which Mr. Clark-Reed instructed the police to remove from his car was administered multiple times; however the inhaler failed to work. An emergency medical unit was immediately called and police began cardiopulmonary resuscitative efforts. Upon arrival of the emergency medical unit to the scene, cardiopulmonary resuscitative efforts were continued and he was conveyed to the hospital where despite continued medical intervention he died. There were no signs of injury and no evidence of foul play.”

A good portion of Nijawi’s remarks are taken at face value from what he was told by police, a not uncommon occurrence at the medical examiner’s office.

But Nijawi reported further, “The stomach is devoid of gastric contents.”

In other words, he found no evidence in the young man’s stomach that he had ingested anything, let alone drugs, as Gadwell alleged online.

The toxicology findings in the report do indicate the presence of 1.9 nannograms per millimeter (ng/ml) of Delta-9 THC, and under 5.0 ng/ml of Delta-9 Carboxy THC, components of marijuana, in Clark-Reed’s blood.

A scientific report by the California chapter of NORML says, “. . . high levels of THC may be correlated with impairment, though low levels less than 3-5 ng/ml are not.” In other words, the tests showed only low levels present in Clark-Reed’s blood.

Several lawsuits at the state and federal levels have been filed against Gadwell, although he was given a “Top Cop” award by the National Association of Police Officers in 2005.

Two were filed by Jerry Ashley, who said in a sworn deposition that he grew up with Gadwell, who lived in the Delray area. He said Gadwell belonged to a gang called the Delray Mafia, while he himself belonged to a competing gang called the Counts. He said his brother “stole” Gadwell’s girlfriend Melissa, which caused subsequent animosity from Gadwell toward the Ashleys.

Later, Gadwell joined the Detroit Police Department, working variously on the gang squad and in special operations.

In 2007, according to a lawsuit filed by attorney Daniel G. Romano, Gadwell arrested Ashley, handcuffed him, then kicked him in the face, breaking the orbital bone around his eye and scarring his face. The lawsuit was later settled for $50,000, according to a City Council agenda for June 16, 2010.

Two other Detroit officers pulled Ashley over on April 9, 2010, telling him that Gadwell “wanted to see him.” Romano said in the lawsuit that the officers falsely arrested Ashley for non-existent child support warrants, then took him to the Second Precinct on Grand River and Schaefer, where one placed a “baton-like object” between Ashley’s arms while he was handcuffed, then twisted it, fracturing his elbow.

Ashley said that Gadwell later told him he heard he “got arrested and got f-cked up again.” The case evaluation in that lawsuit recommended payment of another $50,000.

In another lawsuit, Javier Pointer vs. Gadwell, adjudicated in both state and federal courts, attorney Romano alleged that Gadwell trespassed into Pointer’s yard without a warrant, and told him to stop selling drugs, which Pointer denied doing.

Romano said Gadwell “showed him his badge and punched him in his face, plaintiff fell to ground and defendant kicked him. . . .The defendant fractured plaintiff’s nose, jaw, and wrist, and he humiliated him . . . . as the plaintiff lay on the ground,  the defendant continued to beat him.”

U.S. District Court Judge Robert Cleland remanded state-appropriate claims to Wayne County Circuit Court. On the federal civil rights violations claims, he found Gadwell not responsible because he was not “operating under color of law,” although he did not deny that Gadwell had beaten Pointer. He ignored the lawsuit’s contention that Gadwell showed Pointer his police badge.

The Detroit City Council later authorized legal representation for Gadwell on the state claims. An unknown settlement was reached in December, 2011.

Luis and Paricia Perales sued Gadwell, U.S. Homeland Security Officer Antonio Galvan, and two other individuals who were the target of a high-speed chase after they allegedly shot into a crowd during Cinco de Mayo festivities on May 6, 2012.

The lawsuit, again filed by Daniel Romano, alleged that Gadwell and Galvan negligently engaged in a “high-speed chase through the crowded streets of Southwest Detroit during the Cinco de Mayor Parade . . . continued the chase the wrong way down the one-way Morell Street, and hit or otherwise physically forced the vehicle operated by Defendants Gonzales and Garcia into Plaintiff Luis Pareles, thereby striking him violently and with great force.”

The lawsuit said Perales suffered “serious injuries to his face/head, brain, neck and other parts of his body . . .” that would likely cause lifelong impairment.

That case was administratively closed due to the Detroit bankruptcy filing, and later re-filed in 2014, with an unknown outcome.

Related:

http://www.wxyz.com/news/region/detroit/family-demands-answers-after-24-year-old-dies-during-detroit-police-traffic-stop

http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/story/19478763/off-duty-officer-thwarts-fence-theft-in-delray.

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2015/04/01/anthony-clark-reed-24-black-dies-during-detroit-police-traffic-stop-i-cant-breathe/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2015/05/10/mothers-march-in-dc-vs-police-killings-vod-honors-local-mothers-who-lost-fight-for-children/

‘Detroit homes haven’t been reassessed in 20 yrs.—THAT’S ILLEGAL

Detroit taxes 3 times higher than suburbs—THAT’S UNJUST

State mandates 18% interest on unpaid taxes—THAT’S CRAZY

80% of Detroit ‘blight’ caused by foreclosures—THAT’S DISGRACEFUL

Gilbert, Illitch receive huge tax breaks—so should Detroit—WHY NOT?’

DETROIT—After hundreds of protesters took the street outside Wayne County Treasurer Raymond Wojtowicz’ offices on Monroe in downtown Detroit, police threatened to arrest them, saying their action was “illegal.”

“We are not doing anything illegal,” chant leaders declared. “What is illegal is that we are being forced into tax foreclosures. Mike Illitch got $450 million of our taxes for his new stadium—I don’t think we’re going to let you put us out in the streets. Illegal water foreclosures mean—SHUT IT DOWN!”

Many protesters demanded immediate re-assessments of property values in Detroit, which have not been done for 20 years during which neighborhood conditions drastically deteriorated. State law requires annual re-assessments, so protesters said taxes people have already paid are illegal and should be paid back. They also said water bills attached to Detroiters’ tax bills should not force foreclosures either.

“Re-assess all taxes now!” they chanted.

Tijuana Morris pointed to a sign held by Bob Day of Detroit Eviction Defense, which graphically displayed the huge disparities between property taxes charged in Detroit, the poorest city in the country, and those paid by homeowners in Grosse Pointe Farms, Dearborn, Ferndale, and Hazel Park.

Abiyomi Azikiwe of Moratorium NOW! called out, “While Wayne County faces the possibility of an emergency manager like Detroit, it makes no sense to drive any more people out of their homes. Stop tax foreclosures NOW!”

Protesters carried banners declaring, “Black Homes Matter,”

After blocking Monroe for an hour, the crowd marched to the Detroit Water Board building on Randolph to demand a halt to re-instituted water shut-offs and related foreclosures. They swore to return to the treasurer’s office soon, saying that next time they would not leave.

Protesters timed the action to coincide with Wojtowicz’ arbitrary deadline for homeowners to apply for interest reductions on unpaid taxes, allowed under a new state law. Groups including Detroit Eviction Defense, Moratorium NOW!, the Detroit Active and Retired Employees Association (DAREA), National Action Network, the Russell Woods-Sullivan Neighborhood Association, and many more took part.

The protest also coincided with a battle between Wayne County Executive Warren Evans and the Wayne County Commission over how a $49 million debt to the county’s pension fund, mandated for immediate payment by the Michigan Supreme Court, will be paid.

Evans wants a one-time property tax increase, while a majority of Commissioners voted  June 5 to take the debt out of the Delinquent Tax Revolving Fund (DTRF). Evans vetoed their decision the same day. Commission Chairman Gary Woronchak wrote back that the body will likely take a vote to override the veto in several weeks.

“I have called for shared sacrifice from County employees, retirees, vendors and residents,” Evans said in his veto letter. “I had hoped to avoid any general tax increases as a solution, but in this circumstance the law mandates a tax levy to remedy those decisions made prior to my tenure.”

Either way, homeowners lose, because the revolving fund is there to help delinquent taxpayers avoid foreclosures.

The County builds the fund by borrowing money from the banks, based on delinquent taxes owing in all its municipalities. Thus it can actually pay the taxes of foreclosed homeowners directly. However, the funds are disbursed at the Treasurer’s sole discretion, according to the attached document from the Michigan Association of County Treasurers.

Evans claims the DTRF must be used to pay off the county’s structural debt instead, although Wojtowicz earlier used it to pay off $4.5 million for the expansion of the first floor at 400 Monroe, where the Treasurer has offices on several floors. The County does not even own the building.

“Dedicating any DTRF funds to satisfy the judgment is simply deficit spending,” Evans wrote. “It is spending money we don’t have and it will leave the county in deficit at the end of the current fiscal year and in future fiscal years.”

Under Public Act 436, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder could institute a takeover of Wayne County, as he has done to Detroit and other majority-Black cities,  if it does not produce a deficit reduction plan acceptable to the state. Wayne County is 39.6 percent African-American, contrasting with the state’s 14.3 percent Black residents, according to recent census figures.

Just as it did during the Detroit takeover and ensuing bankruptcy, Wall Street has been campaigning to get their debts paid first, before the needs of the people. Such a provision is actually part of the Detroit bankruptcy Plan of Adjustment.

In February, Wall Street ratings agencies Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s downgraded the county’s general obligation limited tax (GOLT) debt by three levels to junk, meaning it will be forced to pay higher interest rates on any new debt.

“We expect the county’s current liquidity position will remain sufficient to meet all obligations in the coming year, but will continue to degrade absent significant operating adjustments, the implementation of which could be challenging,” Moody’s said.

Fitch Ratings changed the county’s outlook to “negative.”

The County cited decreased property tax revenues, “unsustainable” defined benefit pension plans, health care inflation, and overspending in the Wayne County Prosecutor and Sheriff’s offices as responsible for an expected deficit this year. For the last three years, the County has run annual deficits of $50 million. Its total long-term debt is $5 billion.

In a move fraught with danger for County residents and workers, the County has hired the accounting firm of Ernst & Young to assess what can be done to cut the deficit.

Ernst & Young met with Detroit’s City Council in a closed session in November, 2011, after which it claimed, falsely as it turned out, that the city would run out of cash by June, 2012. That marked the beginning of the city’s slide into a state takeover under the EM law and a bankruptcy that has stripped Detroit of most of its major assets including the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, and impoverished its workers and retirees.

Meanwhile, Wall Street got the city’s long-term debt load increased from $1.1 billion in 2013 to over $3 billion post-bankruptcy, increasing profits for the banks.

The states of New York and New Jersey have sued Ernst & Young for losses they incurred during the crash of 2008, which began with the downfall of the global Lehman Brothers bank. Ernst & Young was the accounting firm for Lehman Brothers and cooked its books, according to the lawsuits.

 

Organizational contacts:

Detroit Eviction Defense, www.detroitevictiondefense.org; 313-740-1073 Click on DED fliers for facts on illegal taxes and foreclosures, City Council proposal, etc.

Moratorium NOW! http://detroitdebtmoratorium.org/; 313-319-0870

DAREA: http://dareafights.blogspot.com/; P.O. Box 3724 Highland Park, MI 48203 313-649-7018;  detroit2700plus@gmail.com;

https://www.facebook.com/StopTheGrandTheftofDetroitsPension

People’s Water Board: www.peopleswaterboard.org/

Detroit People’s Platform: http://www.unitingdetroiters.org/

Detroiters Resisting Emergency Management: www.d-rem.org/

Recent related articles:

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2015/03/29/unprecedented-katrina-of-tax-foreclosures-to-hit-detroit-wayne-county-march-31/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2015/01/01/stop-tax-evictions-drop-charges-vs-alonzo-long-jr-come-to-hearing-fri-jan-2-1-pm/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/10/26/we-charge-genocide-detroit-water-shut-offs-foreclosures-focus-of-un-visit/

Video above by Brandon Brooks, YouTube, has been viewed over 7 M times; thousands marched in McKinney June 8 to protest cop assault on teens. 

By Kieran Corcoran and Lydia Warren For Dailymail.com

June 8, 2015

‘He shoved me and started pulling my braids’: Bikini-clad girl, 15, tells how veteran cop pulled his gun and slammed her to the ground as he is blasted as racist over pool party raid 

• A video shows the moment Dajerria Becton was thrown to the ground by Corporal Eric Casebolt in McKinney, Texas on Friday evening
• He was one of 12 officers called to shut down a pool party after a fight broke out between teens and residents who said they should not be there
• Footage shows the cop pulling his gun and wrestling the girl to ground 
• One witness said racist comments sparked the fight between pool-goers 
• Witnesses said the cops only targeted black or Hispanic guests, saying: ‘It was about race because they did nothing about the Caucasian people’
• Casebolt, who is now on administrative leave, is under investigation

McKinney, Texas — A 15-year-old girl has recounted the terrifying moment a veteran police officer grabbed her and body-slammed her to the ground as she attended a pool party in Texas with friends.

Dajerria Becton was only wearing a bikini when McKinney Police Corporal Eric Casebolt grabbed her and pinned her down on Friday evening – in a startling incident caught on camera.

Casebolt had arrived at the pool following reports of an argument and the teen, who said she was an invited guest, recalled how he told her and her friends to keep walking.

‘I’m guessing he thought we were saying rude stuff to him,’ she told Fox4.

‘He grabbed me, twisted my arm on my back and shoved me in the grass and started pulling the back of my braids. I was telling him to get off me because my back was hurting bad.’

Her aunt added, ‘It wasn’t right, I think his force was excessive.’

The teenager, who said she had not been involved in the fight reported to police, said she hopes officials take the incident seriously.

‘Him getting fired is not enough,’ she said.

Corporal Casebolt, who has served ten years on the force, was named on Sunday as the officer seen in the video. He has now been placed on administrative leave while an investigation is carried out, officials said.

The video, which was posted online shortly after the incident, shows him pushing Dajerria to the ground and pinning her down by leaning on her with both of his knees.

The unarmed teenager is heard on the video screaming: ‘Call my momma! Call my momma! Oh God.’

As Casebolt struggles to maintain control, he is also seen pulling out his gun at two boys.

‘I felt like he was actually getting ready to hurt someone,’ one witness, 13-year-old Jahda Bakari, added to KTVT.

‘They were trying to make us leave, but if we ran, they’d chase after us, and if we stayed, then they’d arrest us.’

The fight at the Craig Ranch North Community Pool started when one woman insulted black people who were there and told them to go back to public housing, one witness said.

Most of the residents in the town, a suburb of Dallas, are white but many of the partygoers were black, CBS noted.

Emma Stone, 14, told BuzzFeed that adults who lived in the neighborhood starting telling the black youngsters to leave and go back to ‘Section 8 housing’, implying that they rely on the government.

Stone said this sparked a physical fight, which led to a total of 12 police officers, including Casebolt, being dispatched to the area.

The teen who filmed the encounter, which was sparked by the party at McKinney’s Craig Ranch North Community Pool, said he felt that Casebolt chose his targets based on race.

Brandon Brooks, 15, told BuzzFeed: ‘Everyone who was getting put on the ground was black, Mexican, Arabic. [The cop] didn’t even look at me. It was kind of like I was invisible.’

Bakari, who lives nearby and has a pool pass, added in her interview with KVTV: ‘I honestly believe it was about race because mostly they did nothing to the Caucasians.”

‘They were acting like we were criminals. We were just there for a pool party.’

But not everyone agreed with the teenagers. Homeowners told Fox4 that they believed the officer’s actions were justified because the youngsters were not listening to orders.

‘[Officers] were completely outnumbered and they were just doing the right thing when these kids were fleeing and using profanity,’ one local woman said.

Photographs also showed that somebody had put up a sign at the pool over the weekend, saying: ‘Thank you McKinney PD for keeping us safe.’

In a statement released on Sunday, the McKinney Police Department said they had responded to a disturbance involving youngsters ‘who do not live in the area or have permission to be there, refusing to leave’.

‘McKinney Police received several additional calls related to this incident advising that juveniles were now actively fighting,’ it continued.

‘First responding officers encountered a large crowd that refused to comply with police commands. Nine additional units responded to the scene. Officers were eventually able to gain control of the situation.’

Although several people can be seen being detained in the video, only one 14-year-old boy was formally arrested, police said.

He was charged with interfering with police duties and evading arrest.

Mayor Brian Loughmiller said in a statement that he was ‘disturbed and concerned’ by the video.

‘Our expectation as a City Council is that our police department and other departments will act professionally and with appropriate restraint relative to the situation they are faced with,’ he said.

‘Our City Management and Police Chief are investigating the situation as required, and I have faith that they will conclude the investigation expeditiously and take appropriate action.

‘We will continue to monitor the situation through our City Manager’s office and will continue to work with community leaders as we follow this investigative process.’

Read more:

• McKinney police officer on administrative leave after video of d – Fox4News.com | Dallas-Fort Worth News, Weather, Sports

• COPS CRASH POOL PARTY – YouTube

• Texas Police Officer “On Administrative Leave” After Pulling Weapon On Teens During Pool Party – BuzzFeed News

• McKinney police officer on leave after pulling gun on teens at p – Fox4News.com | Dallas-Fort Worth News, Weather, Sports

• Texas police’s clash with teens at pool party was “about race” says girl who recorded video – CBS News

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3115231/Dajerria-Becton-15-recalls-moment-McKinney-Police-Corporal-Eric-Casebolt-bodyslammed-ground-Texas-pool-party.html#ixzz3cTrxeTHw Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

MORE PHOTOS OF RALLY MONDAY JUNE 8 IN MCKINNEY TEXAS:

 

 

 

Video above: McKinney police chief responds

McKinney police officer on leave after video shows him pushing teen to the ground Friday night

Crime Blog

June 7, 2015

By TASHA TSIAPERAS and CLAIRE Z. CARDONA Staff Writers

(Photos, videos added by VOD)

McKINNEY — A police call about unwelcome teenagers at a community pool thrust this affluent suburb into the national spotlight on race and police relations Sunday.

Police Cpl. Eric Casebolt was placed on administrative leave after a video surfaced showing him pulling a 15-year-old girl to the ground and pinning her down outside a pool party Friday night in the expansive Craig Ranch subdivision. Seconds later, he pulled his gun and pointed it at two teens who appear to try to come to her aid.

The profanity-laced seven-minute video, posted to YouTube on Saturday, had been viewed more than 1 million times Sunday. It shows white police officers trying to control black teens who had scattered as officers arrived at the pool.

McKinney Mayor Brian Loughmiller said that he expects city staff and police officials to quickly conduct an investigation into the officer’s actions.

“I am disturbed and concerned by the incident and actions depicted in the video,” Loughmiller said in a written statement. “Our expectation as a City Council is that our police department and other departments will act professionally and with appropriate restraint relative to the situation they are faced with.”

McKinney Police Chief Greg Conley, who declined to say what specific behavior in the video led to the investigation, said Sunday that the officer was immediately placed on leave.

“Any time you confront a large group of people, it’s a very dynamic situation and tensions can rise very quickly,” he said.

He said three officers responded after residents and a private security officer called police to complain that several teenagers did not have permission to use the pool and had refused to leave. The homeowners association limits pool use to Craig Ranch residents and two guests per household. Several people complained that the teenagers had started fighting.

Pointing, yelling

The department dispatched an additional nine officers because of the size of the crowd, he said.

The girl who was restrained in the video, Dajerria Becton, told KDFW-TV (Channel 4) that she followed police orders. “He told me to walk away and I did. Next thing I know I’m on the ground,” she said.

“Him getting fired isn’t enough.”

Toward the beginning of the video, one officer can be heard calmly speaking to several teenagers. He says, “Don’t take off running as soon as cops get here.”

Seconds later, Casebolt can be seen grabbing one teenager’s arm and pulling him to the ground. He then points to other teenagers, all black, and says, “Get your asses on the ground.”

Someone in the background can be heard saying, “Sir, sir. We just came here for a birthday party.”

“Don’t make me [expletive] run around here with 30 [expletive] pounds of gear on in the sun ’cause you want to screw around out here,” Casebolt says to two teenagers he orders to sit on the grass.

Moments later he grabs Dajerria after she starts to walk away from the scene. Two black teens run up toward Casebolt and the girl. The officer turns and pulls out his gun, pointing it at them. Two other officers intervene before the officer turns back to the teenage girl.

In the video, Casebolt can be heard yelling, “On your face,” as he pushes the girl to the ground. As he leans on the girl, he points to others standing nearby and yells, “Get out of here or you’re going, too.”

The video also shows several teenagers sitting on the grass with their hands cuffed behind their backs. Conley said Dajerria was released to her parents. No teenagers were arrested. One adult, who was not identified, was arrested for interfering in the police investigation, Conley said. No injuries were reported.

‘Fairly and equally’

At a news conference Sunday at the McKinney Police Department, about a dozen people expressed frustration that the officers in the video seemed to target only the black youths at the pool party. Many said that it’s another example of racism in the suburb.

“We’re not here to cause a riot or be Baltimore all over again,” McKinney resident La’Shadion Anthony said. “We’re just here to be treated fairly and equally.”

McKinney found itself in the national spotlight in 2004 after the Police Department’s tactics were called into question by the U.S. Department of Justice. Racial tensions between police and residents in an east-side neighborhood escalated following four execution-style slayings earlier in the year. VOD: To read local man’s account of numerous brutality cases, click on:

http://welcome2nicksplace.blogspot.com/2007/06/mckinney-police-hall-of-shame.html

About 75 percent of McKinney residents are white, and about 10 percent are black, according to 2010 census data.

But some say the incident Sunday wasn’t racially motivated.

“This is not a racist neighborhood,” said Benét Embry, a local radio personality who witnessed the incident. “There are a lot of good people in this community. It’s unfortunate that an event like this brings the spotlight.”

Embry, who is black, said he appreciated the police officers’ speedy response in calming a rowdy situation.

“That’s what they are supposed to do, protect us. I don’t know any other way he could have taken her down or established order,” he said.

Embry said that the teenagers started jumping over the fence into the party and causing a disturbance. He said the teenage girl seen in the video was talking back to Casebolt.

“She’s bringing more stress into an already volatile situation,” Embry said. “Out of a hundred kids, you probably had seven who are acting the fool. They totally spoiled it for everybody else.”

But others, in McKinney and online, said the officers appeared to unfairly target black teens.

Lincoln Turner, who is white, attended Sunday’s news conference at the police station to show support for the teenagers at the pool party. He and his children frequently use the pools at Craig Ranch, though they don’t live in the subdivision. He said he doesn’t want this incident to be what people remember about McKinney.

“Everyone should come to McKinney and have fun in our pools. That’s the message that we want to send to the world,” Turner said. “Not that they’re going to get harassed and patrolled and beaten down. Not get a gun drawn on them. That’s ridiculous.”

Pastor’s appeal

Derrick Golden, pastor at The New Covenant Fellowship Church, urged people to not jump to conclusions until the incident has been fully investigated. Golden, who is black, said that though it seems like the police were targeting black youths, people shouldn’t rush to call it racially motivated.

“I know that he responded too strongly, but I don’t know the whole story,” Golden said.

Dallas criminal defense lawyer Peter Schulte, who was not involved in the incident, said that after viewing the video he was most bothered by the actions Casebolt took in his role as a supervisor.

“This is a classic example of how something can escalate out of control very quickly by the actions of the officers, not by what was going on,” said Schulte, a former McKinney officer.

Schulte said that almost every time he pulled up to a party as an officer, people scattered. He said it is difficult to control a situation by making everybody get on the ground instead of calmly asking people to stand still.

Casebolt has been with the department since August 2005, according to his LinkedIn account, which had been deleted Sunday afternoon.

Prior to that, he was listed as a highway patrol trooper with the Texas Department of Public Safety from March 2003 to August 2005. He also served in the U.S. Navy as a member of the military police from 2000 to 2003 and an operations specialist from 1993 until 2000.

He also is an instructor trainee at Executive Self-defense and Fitness in McKinney, where his online biography that had also been removed listed him as having received in-depth training on handcuffing, pressure point compliance and armed and unarmed self-defense.

The biography also stated that Casebolt has “a strong working knowledge of human behavior, indicators of deception, criminal behavior, the development of situational awareness and experience in the use of all levels of force.”

Calls for firing

Local activist Dominique Alexander, said the incident was “definitely a racially motivated thing” and said Casebolt “acted like he was a wild animal, just running around.”

His group, Next Generation Action Network, plans to hold a march at 6:30 p.m. Monday at Comstock Elementary in McKinney.

No male officer “should ever touch a young girl, half naked, 95 pounds and slam her,” Alexander said. “That was out of line. He should be fired.”

Mothers Against Police Brutality, a local group, called for Casebolt to be permanently removed from his position.

The ACLU of Texas said in a statement Sunday that the incident “appears to be a textbook case of overuse of force.”

“A well-trained police department would have responded more cautiously, with less hostility, and using sophisticated crowd control methods that favor de-escalation not escalation,” the statement says. “Without question, guns were not needed and in fact risked turning a group of partying teenagers into a violent encounter that could have turned deadly.”

The group called on McKinney police to release the incident report and 911 call recording, along with the disciplinary history of the officer.

“Police departments are intended to be organizations that protect and serve their constituents,” the statement says. “But increasingly in this country we have two kinds of policing and we saw both in this incident: protecting and serving white communities and criminalizing and controlling black communities.”

Staff writer Joe Simnacher contributed to this report.