Lockport Racial issues

[Dr Funky]

I couldn't find a Lockport section, and I don't really think that a lot of people here are from Lockport, but I go through there once in a while and tend to forget about that city sometimes...

Sorry...

http://www.wivb.com/Global/story.asp?S=5107651

Police, Rioters Clash at Lockport Park

(Lockport, NY, July 3, 2006) - - There was a wild riot in Lockport late Sunday night. The apparent clash between police and residents took place following Fourth of July celebrations at a popular park. News 4's Melissa Holmes reports.

A crowd of people and police apparently clashed after teenagers were setting off illegal fireworks.

Police officers were called to Outwater Park in Lockport at around 11:30 Sunday night.

Witnesses say things quickly got out of control, and more officers from surrounding agencies came in, including state police and even Orleans County Sheriff's deputies.

We're told as many as 70 law enforcement officers were there at one point.

Several citizens told News 4 that police were looking for a teenager lighting fireworks.

Witnesses described officers grabbing the teenager and using a stick to subdue him.

Then, witnesses say police took even more measures to gain control of the situation.

Samuel Richardson said, "After that, I went up to them saying, 'He's only 15 years old; leave him alone.' The crowd got around the crowd of cops, and the cops just started macing everybody."

Richard Williams said, "I got maced. My cousin's fiance, she got maced, and she's pregnant. Everybody got maced. You had kids that was in the house, six years old, five years old, babies that were in the house, that got maced."

We have not been told that anyone was actually injured during the melee.

Lockport City Police did not comment at the scene.

We hope to bring you their side of the story on News 4 at 5 & 6.

[Dr Funky]

http://www.wivb.com/Global/story.asp?S=5108515

Police Comment On Clash with Rioters at Lockport Park

(Lockport, NY, July 3, 2006) - - Police are telling their side of the story in a late-night brawl near a Lockport park. Officers clashed with several partiers when a pre-Independence Day celebration turned violent. News 4's Melissa Holmes has an update to the story she brought you first Monday morning on Wake Up!.

There are two very different sides to this story.

Lockport police say they were attacked by residents, and residents say they were attacked by police.

In the aftermath, four people were arrested, and one officer is recovering from injuries.

Lockport City Police Captain Ronald Vogt said, "Oh, it was very dangerous."

Lockport police say they responded to a call for illegal fireworks at a home near Outwater Park.

They arrived to find hundreds of Independence Day revellers at the scene.

They say that's when they were attacked.

Vogt said, "When we got over there, rocks and bottles started flying. One of our officers got hit with a bottle and had to be taken to the hospital."

Police K-9 units, ATVs, and officers from as far away as Orleans County were called in to help control the chaotic scene.

But witnesses claim police used excessive force on the crowd, and on one teenager in particular.

Witness Samuel Richardson said, "They grabbed the 15-year-old boy up, and I don't know what happened then, because the cops all surrounded him. The next thing I know, they started beating him with a stick."

Witness Richard Williams said, "They rushed him, beat him with clubs. Other officers continued to join in and throw him to the ground."

Richardson said, "After that, everyone was saying, 'he's only 15 years old; leave him alone'. The crowd got around the crowd of cops, and the cops started macing everybody. Even other officers got maced. They were just macing everybody."

Police admit they did use pepper spray, but they say they don't know anything about a teenager being beaten.

Vogt said, "I have no knowledge of that. Like I said, the only injury I know that we had was a police officer getting hit with a bottle. ... I think the officers used great restraint, in order to bring the situation under control. And pepper spray is definitely a tool that we use to control something like this."

Four people were taken into custody.

Charges include disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

Police say they are now investigating the incident to verify that officers acted appropriately.

[Dr Funky]

http://www.wivb.com/Global/story.asp?S=5109871

Mother Alleges Lockport Police Singled Out & Mistreated Her Son

(Lockport, NY, July 3, 2006) - - Police in Lockport are coming under fire after a party took a violent turn near a city park. Several witnesses say officers crossed the line while trying to track down teenagers setting off illegal fireworks. News 4's Barbara Pinson has the story you'll see Only On News 4.

Kathleen Horton said, "I would like to see the Lockport Police Department disciplined for their actions."

Kathleen Horton is outraged after her son, 15-year-old Dylan Lewis, was allegedly singled out of a large crowd that had gathered Sunday night to watch illegal fireworks following the City of Lockport's display.

The teenager says he was standing outside of his grandmother's house with family when he was grabbed by police.

Lewis said, "Next thing I knew, a whole bunch of other cops came over and grabbed me, and then they put me on the hood."

Shannon Richardson, Dylan's brother, said, "Everyone was saying, 'He's only 15 years old; leave him alone'."

Others in the crowd say they were mistreated by police as well.

Richard Williams said, "I got maced. My cousin's fiancee, she got maced. She's pregnant. Everybody got maced."

Lockport police admit using pepper spray, and say it was the officers who were in danger.

That's why they called for backup from various departments after the initial call of illegal fireworks got out of control.

Lockport Police Captain Ronald Vogt said, "And when we got over there, rocks and bottles started flying, and one of our officers got hit with a bottle and had to be taken to the hospital."

The officer was treated and released.

So was Dylan, but only after his mother says he was taken into police custody for two hours.

Horton said, "I called the police station, and I asked him if they had my son, who was 15. He said, 'I'm not sure.' I said, 'What do you mean you're not sure; he's 15.' He said, 'Well, I'm not sure who's down there. Call me back in a half-hour.' I said, 'In a half-hour? I'll be there in five minutes.' "

Kathleen says though her son was released, she never got an explanation.

Horton said, "For a 15-year-old boy in handcuffs, pepper-sprayed, beaten in the ribs, I have nothing."

Despite complaints, the police say they used great restraint to bring things under control.

They also made four arrests for disorderly conduct, but say 15-year-old Dylan Lewis was not one of them.


(Kathleen Horton, Mother of Alleged Victim)


(Captain Ronald Vogt, Lockport Police)

[Dr Funky]

This is interesting because it seems like Lockport is always in the news for problems between the citizens and police.

[Northshore]

Seems the entire deal started when some auxilluray police officers decided to play Rambo.

There is NO REASON WHATSOEVER to allow a civilian to wear a police uniform and do any kind of police work. And that includes the Buffalo Special Police.
Seems that the LPD got dragged into a no win situation.

[buffy]

I just read that the "front door, the back door, and the bedroom doors were damaged" by police trying to gain entrance to the home...you'd think it was drug raid the way it came down; I thought it a tad excessive for a 4th of July Party.

[Dr Funky]

The strange thing is, that kid claims that he was arrested, yet the police department says that they did not arrest him....

[joe d.]

I guess what they are saying is if your AFRICAN -AMERICAN and you live in LOCKPORT ..it's OK to own and shoot off ILLEGAL FIREWORKS!!Hmmmm..LET'S SEE NOW what if there was an accident and someone was seriously burned a house caught on fire due to the ILLEGAL FIREWORKS..WHAT WOULD THESE SAME INDIVIDUALS OR NEIGHBORS at this house be complaininG THEN??? NO POLICE ENFORCEMENT BECAUSE WE ARE BLACK???

[NoCtUrNaL]

I guess there were no white folks blowing off fireworks in Lockport that night.

[Dr Funky]

I guess what they are saying is if your AFRICAN -AMERICAN and you live in LOCKPORT ..it's OK to own and shoot off ILLEGAL FIREWORKS!!Hmmmm..LET'S SEE NOW what if there was an accident and someone was seriously burned a house caught on fire due to the ILLEGAL FIREWORKS..WHAT WOULD THESE SAME INDIVIDUALS OR NEIGHBORS at this house be complaininG THEN??? NO POLICE ENFORCEMENT BECAUSE WE ARE BLACK???

Racial tensions with the police and citizens is not new in Lockport.

There was an incident a while back involving a fight and when the cops showed up everyone claimed that the officer beat up and old woman.

When in reality the officer sparked his taser to warm everyone and the woman acted like she was hurt.

I still can't figure out why Lockport seems to be the only city making the news for this.

Why not Buffalo or Niagara Falls?

[Dr Funky]

http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial...11/1013259.asp

Forum airs criticism of police

LOCKPORT - It was billed as a forum on race relations in Lockport with citizens addressing a panel of public officials, but for the most part it was simply open season on the Lockport Police Department.
Most of the speakers at the two-hour, 10-minute session in the Lockport High School auditorium were black and complaining about the police.

Police Chief Neil B. Merritt made it clear from his first remarks that he is tired of it.

"I'm only here out of respect to the mayor," Merritt told the audience of about 75. "I don't feel every time we enforce the law in our community, we should explain ourselves to the community."

Merritt said he doesn't believe anybody in his all-white department is guilty of racist acts, but he said, "You can't help what's in a person's heart."

The chief said his policy is to investigate every complaint, but if someone alleges racism, "I want proof."

When Merritt demanded the names of allegedly racist officers, Lenny Thomas of Washington Street, who is black man and organized the meeting, gave him four names.

"You're impolite. You came down here with a chip on your shoulder," Jacob Kern Jr., a white resident and longtime city gadfly, told Merritt.

"Are you sure you're not just here to give the government the business?" Merritt shot back.

When speakers said they don't trust Merritt to conduct fair internal investigations and wanted outside probes, Victor Rizzo, a representative of the U.S. attorney's office in Buffalo, said residents should refer matters to Niagara County District Attorney Matthew J. Murphy III before going to federal authorities. Murphy said he would be willing to examine such cases.

Mayor Michael W. Tucker reminded the audience that the FBI and U.S. Justice Department declined to investigate last year's allegations of police brutality on Washington Street, an incident that ended with the acquittal of a black woman and three guilty pleas, two of them from whites.

This year, there were similar complaints voiced after five black residents were arrested in a July 2 fireworks incident on Trowbridge Street. Relatives of four black teenagers accused last month of May's broomstick rape of a mentally disabled white girl also asserted the arrests were racist. Neither incident, however, was raised during the meeting.

Some black speakers said African-Americans need to take responsibility. "There's nobody on this panel who can help us with our problems. It's our issues," said the Rev. Mark Sanders, pastor of Refuge Temple. But he also said of Lockport, "It's a tight community that we're not part of."

"The wrong people are on the panel. I think we need to address absentee parents, single mothers and drugs," said Kathy McQueen, a black resident of the Town of Lockport. "I hate to see all of you attacked like this, because it's not fair."

E. Earl Key, the black attorney whose successful defense of Priscilla McDowell in the Washington Street case made him the first-call attorney in cases alleging police brutality, said his firm receives two or three calls a week complaining about the Lockport police.

"The majority don't have merit, but some of them do," said Key, a former Niagara County prosecutor.

"Over the years, there's been complaint after complaint after complaint," said Joe Walker, a black resident. "There's been a whitewash of everything. . . . The matter is not being solved."

[SundayNiagara]

Now here's a thread that's right up your alley.

[Dr Funky]

Now here's a thread that's right up your alley.

How so?

[SundayNiagara]

Keep looking at it, you'll eventually figure it out.

[granpabob]

white resident , black man black this white that. when reporting facts don't bring race into it state the facts . I don't know if you are trying to show how bad blacks are or that whites are evil. crime is crime,quit with the racist reporting and report the facts or learn to take criticism