Source: BRAD BLOG



Video Evidence Suggests Oakland PD Violated CA State Law, Federal Consent Decree in Violent Confrontation With Occupy Oakland Demonstrators
Law enforcement intended to use tear gas from outset, not in response to 'pelting of bottles and rocks', as alleged by Interim Police Chief...

In the wake of a violent, night-time confrontation with Occupy Oakland demonstrators last week by the Oakland Police Department (OPD) and some 15 other law enforcement agencies, questions have arisen about the legality of the tactics used by the agency during mass arrests which led to serious injuries, including the fractured skull of a two-tour Iraq vet.

Oakland's Interim Police Chief Howard Jordan has maintained that the use of chemical agents and other so-called "less than lethal" weapons were required in order to defend law enforcement officials from demonstrators.

However, a forensic analysis by The BRAD BLOG of video taken immediately prior to and during last week's raid and confrontation with Occupy Oakland demonstrators, creates doubt about the legality of the OPD decision to declare the demonstration to be an "unlawful assembly," and, in particular, raises serious questions about the veracity of the Interim Oakland Police Chief's claim that gas was deployed "to stop the crowd and people from pelting us with bottles and rocks".

Moreover, evidence in several of the videos suggests that the multi-agency task force may have violated both CA Penal Code Section 407 and an OPD Training Manual that had been adopted pursuant to a federal consent decree signed by the Oakland PD after another confrontation with protestors some years ago…

FULL STORY: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=8878

Read more: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=8878