Black Cop Shot 28 Times by White Cops Charged With Attempted Murder. Really

[marmar]

http://www.commondreams.org/further/2012/04/04-1


Black Cop Shot 28 Times by White Cops Charged With Attempted Murder. Really.
by Abby Zimet

An incredible - and grossly under-reported - story out of Chicago, where Howard Morgan, a black 60-year-old former police officer working railroad security, was stopped for an alleged traffic violation, shot 28 times (21 in the back) by four white former colleagues, and inexplicably survived, only to be charged - and tried twice by a prosecutor who argued, "Every bullet he got, he earned" - with trying to kill them. His sentencing is Thursday; he faces up to 80 years in prison. Occupy Chicago is involved. And there's a Change.org petition.

[hifiguy]

1. This is NUTS.

???

[Typical NYC Lib]

20. This is 21st-century America

[redqueen]

2. Now, now...

when we focus on race we're just being manipulated, dontcha know. It's true, I learned it on DU.


His sentencing is tomorrow, if I recall correctly. Please sign and share.
http://www.change.org/petitions/please-help-us-free-howard-morgan

[MADem]

3. Amazing that he lived--he was not meant to die.

I would like to see the police DASHCAM video, myself, because they are claiming that he shot first:

According to police, Morgan opened fire with his service weapon when officers tried to arrest him, which caused them to shoot him 28 times. His family, however, very much doubts those claims.

“Four white officers and one black Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad police man with his weapon on him — around the corner from our home — and he just decided to go crazy? No. That’s ludicrous,” Morgan's wife, Rosalind Morgan, told the Sun-Times.

She was not the only person to doubt CPD's side of the story. A Change.org petition signed by more than 2,600 people called for all charges against Morgan to be dropped, and now Occupy Chicago is getting involved.

"After being left for dead, he survived and was then charged with attempted murder of the four white officers who brutalized him," Occupy wrote on their website, adding that Morgan was found not guilty on three counts, including discharging his weapon. The same jury that cleared him of opening fire on the officers, however, deadlocked on a charge of attempted murder -- and another jury found him guilty in January.

What stinks is that the other jury wasn't told that he was acquitted of the other charges. The family calls that double jeopardy, and I agree with them.

This smells like three day old fish. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/03/howard-morgan-ex-cop-shot_n_1399834.html?ref=chicago

It also sounds like a natural plot for "The Good Wife."

[felix_numinous]

4. Rec for visibility.

[Initech]

5. Man that prosecutor has some serious balls

[freshwest]

6. I can't believe this shit! What's really going on here? Are the cops on drugs?

[blackspade]

7. How is he being charged w/ attempted murder if his weapon was not discharged?

The four that shot him should be the ones on trial.

Hey Justice Department, how about a little involvement?

[cyberpj]

24. That was my first question too. nt

[SemperEadem]

8. Chicago again...

what is up with the cops there?

[Cali_Democrat]

9. It's not just Chicago

It's all across the country.

[SemperEadem]

11. I say that because just a little over a week ago:

[blackspade]

26. They charged the survivor w/ aggravated assault?

For what, getting in the way of the cops bullet?

Some major house cleaning needs to be done in the CPD.

[frylock]

10. fuck tha police

[Jack Rabbit]

12. K/R

I don't want to go too far because I don't know the facts of the case, but there's something counter-intuitive here.

[zeemike]

13. I swear to god this is deliberate

They want black people to arm themselves and start shooting back and rioting so they will have an excuse to call in the big guns and have some real fun.

[MrMickeysMom]

28. Isn't that what Charles Manson predicted ?

Maybe the visions of an insane person is golden for instigating a police state.

[my2sense]

14. Kick

[ladywnch]

15. on a related note.

how bad a shot are the CPD? Please understand, I'm not saying I'm disappointed this man lived, I'm simply pointing out 4 'professionals' firing 28 shots and couldn't produce a single kil shot??!?!?!?!?!!! Even the white folk of Chicago should be worried.......these folks don't seem capable of 'protectingdefending' themselves let alone the public at large.

I just hope Morgan has somekind of personal protection cause I'm sure those cops are shitting in their shorts that he lived and will be looking for chances to change that fact.

[EmeraldCityGrl]

16. This can't continue. Cops have become the untouchables.

The worst you can expect is an occasional firing. They are never charged and convicted.

The murders on Danziger bridge in New Orleans and a case out of Oakland where a cop
was filmed by several eye witnesses killing a man in cold blood, I can't think of any other
case where the cops were convicted. In the Oakland case the cop was given something like
a two year sentence including time served.

As a Democrat that supports unions I can no longer support the police and the unions that
protect them in these crimes.

[Dawson Leery]

21. I came to this conclusion some time back.

The FOP needs to be busted up!

[progressoid]

17. 21 in the back

He must have been quite a threat.

[ck4829]

18. So if he was acquitted of discharging a weapon, then how did he try to kill them?

Psychic powers? Super strength? Can he turn his fingers into gun barrels? Can someone clear that up for me?

And he must have been quite the fingergun-gunslinger if he was shot in the back.

K&R.

[noiretextatique]

19. life in "post-racial" america is eerily similar to

life in racial america. but it is probably "racist" to point that out

[WillyT]

22. K & R !!!

[Fla_Democrat]

23. I'm confused... what part of Florida is Chicago in?

[redqueen]

25. Any update yet on sentencing? nt

[The Straight Story]

27. He got 40 years

http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/Judge-Hands-Down-40-Year-Sentence-for-Howard-Morgan-146303455.html

Howard Morgan will spend a considerable amount of time in prison for his role in a police shooting during a traffic stop in 2005.

Morgan, who was convicted last week of trying to kill Chicago police officers, today received two concurrent sentences for his crime: one for 40, another for 35 and two others for 25 years for attempted murder and discharging a firearm at a police officer. He will serve the sentences concurrently, meaning he will serve 40 years of actual time.

"I am in God's hands," Morgan, 61, said after the sentence was handed down by judge Clayton Crane.

Four officers said that on Feb. 21, 2005, Morgan, a Burlington Northern-Santa Fe Railroad detective, pulled his service weapon on them and began firing when they tried to arrest him for driving the wrong way near 19th Street and Lawndale. The officers shot Morgan, who was off-duty at the time, a number of times. Medical testimony said it was unclear if he was shot 28 times or if there were only 28 wounds.

Prosecutors said Morgan is a "sociopath" and asked the judge for consecutive sentences.

[redqueen]

29. Thanks, I read about it earlier.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002521306