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MCAO admits protest case flaws, Phoenix reassigns nine officers
In a pair of major developments following an ABC15 investigation, the Phoenix Police Department has reassigned nine officers and the Maricopa County Attorneyâs Office is admitting prosecutors failed to properly vet a controversial case that resulted in a group of protesters being charged as a criminal street gang.
and last updated 2021-02-16 06:44:14-05
PHOENIX â In a pair of major developments following an ABC15 investigation, the Phoenix Police Department has reassigned nine officers and the Maricopa County Attorneyâs Office is admitting prosecutors failed to properly vet a controversial case that resulted in a group of protesters being charged as a criminal street gang.
Three members of the Phoenix Police Department made disparaging comments about Black Lives Matter protesters in October 2020, according to body-camera audio obtained by local station ABC15.
The officers, allegedly unaware that the camera was recording, made inappropriate comments about demonstrators who gathered for a Black Lives Matter protest on Oct. 17 in downtown Phoenix before being arrested.
In the audio, officers called the protesters “d-ckheads” and “a–hole kids.”
One questioned why officers didn’t “stomp on them right away.”
Another responded, “Gas em. I don’t give a sh-t if we just gas them and let them run like crazy…(inaudible) the sh-t out of them, who gives a sh-t?”
Police knew 2019 protest arrest was a mistake, MCAO brought charges anyway
For the first 15 minutes on the stand, a Phoenix police officer laid out a damning account against Jamaar Williams. Except, thereâs a problem: It wasnât true.
and last updated 2021-02-18 21:19:50-05
PHOENIX â For the first 15 minutes on the stand, a Phoenix police officer laid out a damning account against Jamaar Williams.
He âhammerstruckâ officers in the chest, resisted arrest twice, and broke free from their grip before he fled into the crowd during a protest and demonstration on July 12, 2019.
The officer,
Except, thereâs a problem: It wasnât true.
Tempe police responded to a 911 call on Jan. 15, 2019, about a suspected burglary in an alley. Officer Joseph Jaen arrived to find Antonio Arce, sitting in a truck with a handgun.
Jaen called to Arce, 14, who turned and ran. âLet me see your hands!â Jaen yelled, but Arce continued running, and Jaen shot and killed him.
In body camera footage taken minutes after the shots, Jaen can be heard saying âItâs a (expletive deleted) toy gun.â It was, indeed, an airsoft replica of a Colt 1911 pistol, with its orange tip still intact.
âThatâs supposed to alert the public, as well as the police, to the fact that this is not a real gun,â said Daniel Ortega Jr., a lawyer for Arceâs family. Airsoft guns use springs or compressed air to fire nonlethal plastic projectiles.