Tuesday 20 May 2014

Tommy Yancy: Veteran Beaten To Death By Cops As He Pleaded For Ambulance - Pulled Over For Routine Traffic Stop,





Tommy Yancy: Veteran Beaten To Death By Cops As He Pleaded For Ambulance - Pulled Over For Routine Traffic Stop




Tommy Yancy, 32, father of two, was savagely beaten to death by five law enforcement officers during a routine traffic stop near the city of Imperial last Sunday, on Mother's Day. Yancy, a veteran who suffered from PTSD, served in Afghanistan and Iraq in the 259th Field Service Unit following the 9/11 attacks.



Yancy was stopped on his way to the store after a highway patrol officer spotted a missing front license plate on his vehicle. He was subsequently pulled from his car and attacked by a police K-9 unit, hit by a taser, and attacked by five officers until he succumbed to the beating and died. A witnessed, who filmed the incident, can be heard screaming on the recording: "How long before you guys call an ambulance? Call an ambulance!" According to the source of the video, who asked not to be named, his family has not been permitted to see his body, nor have they been given a cause of death.


A close friend of Yancy described him as "shy, and a comedian" and told me, he was an "excellent dad, who kept in contact with his army buddies every week." He also enjoyed basketball and loved hip-hop music. His sister-in-law, Jaqueline Hernandez, described him to me as "a very loving guy, loved his kids to death... they were his everything. Very funny down to earth guy, and loved by all".




Officers claim Yancy swung at an officer and attacked the K-9, however, near the end of the video, posted to YouTube on May 12 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoqvX...), police are seen attempting to revive Yancy while a witness states, "All of this for one guy who wasn't even resisting arrest,". The officer is said to have received no serious injuries.




Deputies with the Imperial County sheriff's department were involved in another shooting last month, which took place on April 18. A teenager, Adrian Parra, was killed by multiple gunshot wounds. An honor roll student from Coachella Valley High School, Parra was described by loved ones as "a good person with great goals in mind." The Sheriff's department has refused to reveal whether or not the shooting was captured by one of their patrol car's dashboard cameras. Two officers involved in the shooting were placed on administrative leave, but have since returned to their duties.

Do we have another Albuquerque on our hands, or is this just a systematic wide spread problem that is under reported in most instances? Hint- its the latter.



Its time to demand the demilitarization of police and for them to be held accountable for their actions. We have become complacent and conditioned to accept brutality as normal mode of operation. "They are just doing their jobs", "They need to get home to their families", "Its dangerous!", yet a report put out by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund highlights that 2013 has had the "Lowest Level of Law Enforcement Fatalities in Six Decades

So why is police violence escalating?

We read stories about a teenager with down syndrome being beaten in front of a crowd, a man who called the police to report his sons suicide being brutalized by the same police he turned to for help, and watch the video of Kelly Thomas being horrifically murdered while pleading for his life... But what do we do? We hit share, maybe retweet, shake our heads at the sad state of affairs and move on with our days. We are allowing this.

Friday 16 May 2014

Transcript of President Obama Speaks at 9/11 Museum Dedication





10:12 A.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Mayor Bloomberg, Governor Cuomo, honored guests, families of the fallen.

In those awful moments after the South Tower was hit, some of the injured huddled in the wreckage of the 78th floor.  The fires were spreading.  The air was filled with smoke.  It was dark, and they could barely see.  It seemed as if there was no way out.

And then there came a voice -- clear, calm, saying he had found the stairs.  A young man in his 20s, strong, emerged from the smoke, and over his nose and his mouth he wore a red handkerchief.

He called for fire extinguishers to fight back the flames.  He tended to the wounded.  He led those survivors down the stairs to safety, and carried a woman on his shoulders down 17 flights. Then he went back.  Back up all those flights.  Then back down again, bringing more wounded to safety.  Until that moment when the tower fell.

They didn’t know his name.  They didn’t know where he came from.  But they knew their lives had been saved by the man in the red bandana.             

Again, Mayor Bloomberg; distinguished guests; Mayor de Blasio; Governors Christie and Cuomo; to the families and survivors of that day; to all those who responded with such courage -- on behalf of Michelle and myself and the American people, it is an honor for us to join in your memories.  To remember and to reflect.  But above all, to reaffirm the true spirit of 9/11 -- love, compassion, sacrifice -- and to enshrine it forever in the heart of our nation.

Michelle and I just had the opportunity to join with others on a visit with some of the survivors and families -- men and women who inspire us all.  And we had a chance to visit some of the exhibits.  And I think all who come here will find it to be a profound and moving experience. 

I want to express our deep gratitude to everybody who was involved in this great undertaking -- for bringing us to this day, for giving us this sacred place of healing and of hope.

Here, at this memorial, this museum, we come together.  We stand in the footprints of two mighty towers, graced by the rush of eternal waters.  We look into the faces of nearly 3,000 innocent souls -- men and women and children of every race, every creed, and every corner of the world.  We can touch their names and hear their voices and glimpse the small items that speak to the beauty of their lives.  A wedding ring.  A dusty helmet.  A shining badge.       

Here we tell their story, so that generations yet unborn will never forget.  Of coworkers who led others to safety.  Passengers who stormed a cockpit.  Our men and women in uniform who rushed into an inferno.  Our first responders who charged up those stairs.  A generation of servicemembers -- our 9/11 Generation -- who have served with honor in more than a decade of war.  A nation that stands tall and united and unafraid -- because no act of terror can match the strength or the character of our country.  Like the great wall and bedrock that embrace us today, nothing can ever break us; nothing can change who we are as Americans.

On that September morning, Alison Crowther lost her son Welles.  Months later, she was reading the newspaper -- an article about those final minutes in the towers.  Survivors recounted how a young man wearing a red handkerchief had led them to safety.  And in that moment, Alison knew.  Ever since he was a boy, her son had always carried a red handkerchief.  Her son Welles was the man in the red bandana. 

Welles was just 24 years old, with a broad smile and a bright future.  He worked in the South Tower, on the 104th floor. He had a big laugh, a joy of life, and dreams of seeing the world.  He worked in finance, but he had also been a volunteer firefighter.  And after the planes hit, he put on that bandana and spent his final moments saving others.

Three years ago this month, after our SEALs made sure that justice was done, I came to Ground Zero.  And among the families here that day was Alison Crowther.  And she told me about Welles and his fearless spirit, and she showed me a handkerchief like the one he wore that morning. 

And today, as we saw on our tour, one of his red handkerchiefs is on display in this museum.  And from this day forward, all those who come here will have a chance to know the sacrifice of a young man who -- like so many -- gave his life so others might live.

Those we lost live on in us.  In the families who love them still.  In the friends who remember them always.  And in a nation that will honor them, now and forever. 

And today it is my honor to introduce two women forever bound by that day, united in their determination to keep alive the true spirit of 9/11 -- Welles Crowther’s mother Alison, and one of those he saved, Ling Young.  (Applause.)

END          
10:21 A.M. EDT

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