12 Shocking Examples of Police Brutality...Just This Month

Decades of the drug war have warped the priorities of many police departments. The results can be tragic.

June 7, 2013 |

American law enforcement has undergone a dramatic transformation in the past few decades. The war on drugs, the world's most effective way to fill prisons with minorities while doing nothing to curtail drug use, has warped the priorities and practices of police departments around the country. As Kristen Gwynne has reported on AlterNet, federal funding incentivizes police to go after low-level drug use while neglecting more serious crimes like rape. In city after city, the crackdown on drug crime has expanded police power and pointed it straight at minorities and the poor. It's the reason we're number one when it comes to rates of incarceration. With 5 percent of the population, America has a quarter of the world's prisoners, according to the New York Times.

Meanwhile, the decade-long war on terror has stocked local police departments with weapons from the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan—do local police really need drones and tanks? (Journalist Radley Balko has extensively documented the militarization of police by way of the wars on drugs and terror.) The shift toward more aggressive, violent policing has had tragic results on the ground. AlterNet has assembled an incomplete list of brutal and unnecessary police actions, from this month alone.

1. Black 14-year-old Carrying a Puppy Tackled and Choked by Police for Giving Them a "Dehumanizing Stare"

2. Cops Go Undercover at High School to Bust Special-Needs Kid for Pot: Why Are Police So Desperate to Throw Kids in Jail?

3. Police Beat Man to Death With Batons, Confiscate Witness Video

4. Texas Police Forced Man to Set Up Drug Deal So They Could Take a Kilo of Coke for Themselves

5. Texas Police Tase Overweight Asthmatic to Death in Drug Raid That Uncovers No Drugs

6. Woman Calls 911 for Help As Police Punch Her in the Face Repeatedly

7. St. Louis Police Shoot Black Honor Student 25 Times

8. Police Tase Foreclosed Upon Homeowners Protesting Criminal Bankers, Criminal Bankers Continue Facing No Repercussions

9. Diabetic High School Girl Beaten by Police Officer and Arrested, For Falling Asleep in Class

10. Cops Beat Woman Holding Toddler After Friend Videotapes Them

11. Cops Taser Then Shoot Man to Death After Family Calls 911 for Help for His Depression

12. Cops Beat Woman For Filming Another Beating