5 policemen torture drug suspect for hours

[Torsten]

More news from the world model of democracy.

Not for the faint hearted.

wanna have a look at the superior race:

here

use this link for more info about the case:

http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&q=%2...le+Search&meta=

and tomorrow you get yourself a 5 hours tape recorder....

==============================

Campbell County, Tennessee:

Waging war against the illegal drug trade is no mere cliche in Campbell County. It is a mission trumpeted from the office of this county's top lawman — Sheriff Ron McClellan — and carried out by his troops on an almost daily basis.

Hardly a week goes by without a press release from McClellan's office detailing the latest raid, the fruits of the newest undercover operation or the next roundup of drug purveyors. Since taking office, McClellan has invested both money and manpower in the fight.

[...]

They arrived in unmarked vehicles, dressed in plainclothes. But they were cloaked with the authority to serve Siler with a warrant for his arrest. Siler, the document alleged, had been breaking the rules set for him a year ago by a Campbell County judge.

[...]

With lawmen at her door, Jenny Siler turns on a tape recorder in her kitchen and sighs as she heads to the door to greet them. The recorder would continue to roll long after the lawmen send away Jenny Siler, 27, and her 8-year-old, leaving them alone with Eugene Siler.

It would produce a recording that spanned 40 to 45 minutes of what authorities contend was a two-hour ordeal.

The FBI transcript of the recording indicates that it not only captured what the officers said but what they did. It is replete with references to sounds of Siler being slapped and struck. It details Siler's moans, his pleas, his piercing screams.

The lawmen indicate in the transcript that Siler had fled out the door when they arrived. They've caught him and handcuffed him. He is brought into the house and placed in a chair, his hands cuffed behind his back.

He is already moaning.

[...]

It's not clear if these former lawmen were on official business. Webber claims in the transcript that no one else in authority knew they were there. It's also not clear if their goal was a drug arrest or a shakedown of a drug dealer.

What is clear from the transcript is that these lawmen would stop at nothing to achieve it.

"We'll have to call a (expletive) ambulance to haul your ass out of here," Webber taunts in the transcript.

It is also apparent from the transcript that the former deputies were confident they could carry out a violent attack on Siler with no fear of reprisals. After all, it would be his word against theirs. They were Campbell County's finest. Siler was a drug dealer.

[...]

Webber is heard first, telling Siler his "dope dealing's over." Franklin chimes in, telling Siler the lawmen are shutting down his drug business. Monday speaks next.

"It's (expletive) over, son," Monday says.

The beating begins then.

There is no way to tell from the transcript how long the first assault lasts. At some point, Franklin instructs Carroll to hold off.

"Wait a minute, Will, before you start," Franklin says.

"10-4," Carroll responds.

Franklin then speaks to Siler, saying, "I tell you what we're gonna do. Let me tell you what we're gonna do. We're gonna put them handcuffs in front of ya. Cut you a little slack. But if don't start operating (sic), we're gonna put the (expletive) behind your back, and I'm gonna take this slapjack, and I'm gonna start working that head over, you understand?"

The lawmen demand information from Siler, why he hasn't been in touch with them, who supplies him drugs and where he has stashed his cash. Webber reminds Siler that he is alone and outnumbered.

"There's nobody knows we're (expletive) here," Webber says. "We're doing this on our own."

The transcript indicates that Webber produces a form that, once signed, will state that Siler gave his consent for the officers to search his home. Siler apparently refuses to sign it. The beating resumes.

Moaning, Siler apparently tries to say something to the lawmen, but Webber is not in the mood for conversation.

"You're not (expletive) listening," Webber says. "You hear what I told you? I told you not to be talking. ? This (expletive) right here, he loves seeing blood. He loves it. He loves seeing blood. You're talking too much. ? He loves (expletive) seeing blood. He'll beat your ass and lick it off of you."

[...]

Slaps and blows are again documented on the transcript, with Monday continuing to order Siler to sign.

By now, Siler is crying.

Threats come next. The lawmen tell Siler they will jail his wife and have his children taken away from him. The transcript details more beating sounds, more moaning from Siler, who repeatedly asks to talk to Webber.

"You ain't talking to nobody," Green responds. "You're gonna sign this (expletive) paper."

Siler screams. More blows are heard. The lawmen continue to order Siler to sign. He responds with moans and more screams. But there would be no reprieve.

"Eugene, it's just beginning, buddy," Webber says.

Siler is going to die, the officers tell him.

[...]

Siler is next threatened with electrocution. Webber tells him that they could take a battery charger, hook some wires to it and attach it to Siler's testicles. The federal informations allege that the lawmen later rigged up such a device and used clamps to attach it to Siler's body.

Monday is accused in the informations with pointing a gun at Siler, threatening to shoot him.

The transcript backs up the allegation.

"Shoot his (expletive) ass," Green says.

Amid the threats, Siler is again beaten, but he still refuses to sign. Siler pleads with the officers as Franklin threatens to burn him with a lighter after giving him a cigarette.

[...]

At some point, one of the officers shows Siler a pellet gun apparently found in the house. Siler tells the officers it belongs to his son. Monday sees the find as another way to convince Siler his life is hanging in the balance.

"Eugene, you're gonna sign this right here or I'm gonna (expletive) put a bullet in your damn head, and we're gonna (expletive) plant this BB gun," Monday says.

Webber later adds, "Hey, Eugene, what loss do you think it's gonna be to us if you die, buddy? It's going to be no loss to us."

[...]

he FBI transcript details an unrelenting assault that authorities contend did not end when the tape recorder suddenly stopped. The informations allege the attack on Siler included having his head forced underwater in both a fish tank and a toilet.

By day's end, Siler would wind up not in a hospital but a Campbell County jail cell, charged with running from the officers and tossing drugs to avoid an arrest. His wife, too, would be charged.

Siler has a criminal history, all of it nonviolent and drug-related. He's also illiterate. He asked the officers several times to read to him what they were asking to sign. They refused.

Makes the Caballes decision all the more troubling. The last thing cops like these need is another arrow in the quiver.

[ 16. February 2005, 21:10: Message edited by: Torsten ]

[Salvi]

Wow, I become more ashamed of this country everyday.

Those officers should be shot in the face. :mad:

[devils_cactus]

disgusting

[Torsten]

hey salvi (and other US friends) - we know that media manipulate what people in any country know and don't know. When I googled this issue I was surprised to find relatively little about it other than some local newspapers.

I wonder if these sorts of things actually make it into the major US media or if such negative self portraits are hushed up? I would have thought that with the whole torture issue looming large in terms of Guantanamo Bay and Abu Graib, these kind of things would cause a media frenzy.

Can you guys shed a bit of light on whether this stuff made it into your national news etc?

[Salvi]

Well, I don't watch the news on a daily basis (I really can't stand it). However, this is the only place I've heard of this incident, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if I don't see it covered on television.

[Hagakure]

that shit is so fucked up. who is meant to be the criminal?

praise the internet though - freedom of speech has never been this good.

[Pisgah]

These sorts of things happen with some frequency. Often times events like the one described happen in areas where local news coverage will give a positive slant to any actions taken by local law enforcement. Unless there is some other reason to publicize abuse of power (video tapes, higher ranking officials that actually have moral scruples and report it) then the actions of the offending officers will only be reported as another positive step in the war on drugs.

The above mentioned actions take place in an area where local law enforcement have invested interests in methamphetamine production and distribution. Western North Carolina has a similar heirarchy of methamphetamine control (where I live).

I remeber one instance when I was living in Texas where nearly the entire African American community of a small town was arrested in a drug sting based upon an informant who lied about drug deals he had made. Later nearly everone was acquitted, but only after national news media picked up the story. Even with the massive ineptitude of the town's sherrif dept, and the racially motivated violation of human rights by said dept, the story only received marginal coverage on a national scale.

It's just a drop in the bucket...

[gomaos]

moo

moo

moo

[ 02. March 2005, 05:57: Message edited by: gomaos ]

[2b]

Maybe they wore there pants so low the officers could see there underpants , at least that would explain their actions.......

[Torsten]

Ex-Narcotics Chief Behind Bars

Pubdate: Wed, 23 Feb 2005

Source: Knoxville News-Sentinel (TN)

Website: http://www.knoxnews.com/

Author: Jamie Satterfield

EX-NARCOTICS CHIEF BEHIND BARS

Webber Admits Being Ringleader of Attack

The man who once headed the Campbell County Sheriff's Department's narcotics squad is behind bars, ordered there Tuesday by a federal judge after he admitted torturing a drug dealer.

David Webber Jr., 40, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to conspiring with four other Campbell County lawmen to violate Lester Eugene Siler's civil rights through the use of force and intimidation.

=09 Webber admitted in a plea agreement that he was the ringleader of the two-hour attack on Siler, who was beaten while handcuffed, threatened, had his head pushed underwater and had a gun pointed at him.

Judge Tom Varlan turned aside a request from Webber's attorney, Lee Asbury, that he be allowed to go free pending his May 23 sentencing.

Varlan said he agreed with Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Atchley, who argued Webber confessed to a "crime of violation" and was required under federal law to be locked up pending sentencing.

"I have carefully reviewed the statutes, and they lead me to agree with the government's position," Varlan said.

Asbury had argued that Webber had cooperated with the FBI in its probe of the July 8 attack on Siler at Siler's White Oak community home, but Varlan said that cooperation was "expected" from a former lawman and not exceptional.

Webber's plea agreement reveals that the former narcotics chief is being granted immunity from other crimes, although those misdeeds are not detailed in the court documents.

"If the defendant complies with the terms of this plea agreement, he will not be further prosecuted in the Eastern District of Tennessee by the United States for any offenses committed by the defendant about which the United States presently has knowledge," Atchley wrote.

Siler, his wife and a handful of supporters appeared at the hearing, sitting in the back of the courtroom while Webber admitted his guilt. Webber said little during the hearing, answering Varlan's questions with "yes, sir" or "no, sir."

Siler's attorneys, Kristie Anderson and Michael Farley, said they intended to file a civil lawsuit in the case within the next 30 days. Siler declined comment.

"We're pleased that this is moving forward," Anderson said.

Farley said Siler was "relieved" that Webber has been jailed.

An audiotape is a key piece of evidence in the government's case. The tape was made by Siler's wife, who secretly stashed a tape recorder in the kitchen before she was ordered to take her son and leave when the lawmen arrived in July.

"There had been other visits to their home by ( deputies )," Anderson said when asked why Siler's wife decided to leave a recorder running.

An FBI transcript of that tape revealed the ordeal suffered by Siler at the hands of Webber and co-defendants Samuel Franklin, Shayne Green, Joshua Monday and William Carroll.

The transcript shows that Siler was repeatedly beaten and also reveals that Monday pointed a gun at Siler and threatened to shoot him. Court records state that the lawmen also threatened to electrocute him and hooked to his body clips wired to a battery.

Atchley said Siler was beaten with a plastic baseball bat and threatened with a slapjack.

Siler repeatedly begged for mercy, but the beatings and threats continued, the transcript showed. Atchley said at Tuesday's hearing that the lawmen insist they tortured Siler in an attempt to get him to sign a form giving them permission to search his house.

In the plea agreement, Webber also acknowledges lying to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation on July 19 in that agency's probe of Siler's complaint. He lied, Atchley wrote, "to cover up this incident and obstruct any investigation, state or federal, into it."

Webber, Franklin, Monday and Green are all charged in Campbell County Criminal Court with perjury for allegedly lying to TBI agents and official oppression for the attack on Siler. A grand jury declined to indict Carroll in the state case. However, District Attorney General Paul Phillips has said he will drop those state charges if the men receive prison terms.

Atchley said Webber, Franklin, Carroll and Green all face a maximum prison term of 10 years if convicted in the conspiracy. Monday is charged in a separate information with brandishing a firearm and faces a mandatory minimum sentence of seven years.

Franklin is set to plead guilty today. Monday and Green are scheduled to plead guilty Thursday. A court date for Carroll has not been set.

[mescalito]

It makes me wonder how much the cop's actually did have to do with the riots here lately

Sure the kid's shouldn't have stolen a car and shoud have known the risks of doing so...but how much shit have they been subjected to from these pumped-up trolley-boys and for how long?

No-one deserves to be shot in the face but I'd like to see these cops deal with poverty and unfair discrimination.

Not that there's any other type.

[Talby]

Russia's media is a lot more free than ours is these days. I haven't heard a thing about this. I'm sure it's on page 14 of some Tennessee paper. Pisgah is right, this shit happens all the time here especially in the south or sw (texas) but it happens everywhere.

You'd think with the love of sadism on TV shows this tape will probably show up somewhere without any reference to the war on drugs, no reference to what this guy was accused of. Exploitative non-sexual pornography can be seen any night on the tube and it's apparently OK with the powers that be, but no questioning of the war on drugs.

[ 02. March 2005, 02:15: Message edited by: Talby ]

[alucinare]

I want to be surprised that this type of stuff happens more often then reported but i'm not, its disappointing that officers like this exist in the force and most of the time are able to get away with this type of stuff. But i suppose the job attracts a certain type of person with that type of person, the violent pathological male type, being more frequently attracted to the force.

The recent riots, namely Macquarie Fields (i live just two suburbs away from), is, i think, a combination of a number of factors. First the area is high in government housing (almost entirely) so there is alot of people supported by the government so lower income earners (or legal income anyway). This leads to the increase in illegal activity; MacFields is notorious for its drug dealers and various other criminal activities though i am not saying each and everyone person that lives in these places will turn to illegal activity (though that is the sterotype) but that with such a high number of people that have one major factor in common (low-income earners) in an area there is going to be a focus on a certain type of crime such as in high-income area's there is more "white-collar" crimes. But it just so happens that the crimes committed by lower-income earners are more obvious. These type of activities increase the focus of law enforement and over time, this type of activity has been occuring for a LONG time, there is going to be some abuses. Ofcourse this is going to cause somewhat negative relationship between the police and locals.

So i guess since the criminal activity in MacFields is maybe higher than normal and the relations with police/locals is not very healthy combined with the previous redfern riot example another riot is the end sum of this equation. Or maybe there is vast amounts of discrimination being dished out though i am sure there is a little dished out.

I wonder if any organisation has decided to investigation the underlying cause of these problems. It would be interesting to see if there is any corelation between the causes of the two riots, i would dare say there would be.

[apothecary]

The problem with areas like Macquarie Fields is like you said, the government housing. Not that it's a bad thing, just that people who can afford it are simply moving out, leaving only the worst off out of all the people.

This drags the standard of living in the area further down and only makes things worse.

[Tryptameanie]

The problem is housing?

Then we get can just get the bulldozers to drop in on their way to Redfern, no worries!