XPost: taos.reviews, alt.politics.economics, alt.connecticut   
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   From: msnbchomo@espn.com   
      
   In the last three years, Albuquerque police department officers   
   have shot and killed 23 people -- one of the highest per capita   
   fatal police shooting rates in the country. One of the most   
   recent was James Boyd, a mentally ill homeless man. The incident   
   was captured on video, and shows Boyd, armed with two knives,   
   standing several feet away from officers. He is turning away   
   from them when he is shot. As he lay on the ground, officers   
   fired beanbags at him and set a police dog on him. He died the   
   next day.   
      
   Albuquerque PD chief Gordon Eden said the shooting was justified   
   because Boyd "directed a threat" at one of the officers and   
   they'd already used non-lethal force to no effect. As we know,   
   if police officers think they are being threatened -- whether   
   that threat turns out to be real or just a 70-year-old man   
   reaching for his cane -- they are allowed to shoot people.   
      
   About 1,000 people took to the streets on March 25 to protest   
   Boyd's killing. Even a retired APD officer participated, telling   
   KRQE: "The methods they used were not methods I'd ever been   
   taught."   
      
   A few hours later, another officer shot and killed Alfred   
   Redwine, though he was armed with a gun and may have fired at   
   officers before they shot him (officers say he did, neighbors   
   say he didn't).   
      
   On March 28, the FBI announced that it was investigating Boyd's   
   shooting. The Department of Justice has been investigating the   
   APD for years.   
      
   Today, following Anonymous' call to action, hundreds of   
   protestors marched to the APD headquarters, then took to other   
   streets, blocking traffic. Officers donned riot gear, but so far   
   (and somewhat surprisingly) no one has been shot. There were   
   reports of tear gas being fired. The protest has been going on   
   for hours now.   
      
   Meanwhile, APD's website was hacked. The site was down for   
   hours, according to the AP, and officer's personal information   
   (for example, Eden's) was obtained and tweeted. Anonymous has   
   taken credit for the hack.   
      
   The Albuquerque Journal (which has a good liveblog of the   
   protest) estimates that the the city has spent more than $24   
   million on police misconduct lawsuits, including a $7.95 million   
   lawsuit to the family of a man killed while holding a gun to his   
   own head.   
      
           
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)