Continuing the police madness in the US

[Peter Lemkin]

The police and police-like agencies are increasingly out of control - and have been for a long time. But hey, the 'judicial system' [sic] doesn't do anything about these crimes and hasn't as long as I can remember - maybe getting less so since 911. Ultimately, the entire political, social, economic and ethical system[s] in the USA have eroded. It is IMO now a police state, so it shouldn't surprise anyone that the police do outrageous things....to anyone...sadly more to poor and non-whites..but really to anyone seen as non-elite, non-oligarch, non-cowering sheep.

I, myself, am an American, but live outside. I return infrequently and am always 'on edge' when 'home'. This is not just theoretical fear. I had real horrible incidents that caused me to leave, and I had one on one return trip during which I was arrested in a tent while camping {I thought} legally in a public Federal campground. I came out of my tent and heard a voice say "Mr. Lemkin, freeze, hands in the air!" I turned slightly to see four guns pointed at my head. My dog ran out of the tent and the guns pointed toward her. I said, "shoot me if you want, but don't shoot the dog, she won't hurt you!". I was handcuffed, shackled and driven for seven hours to a FEDERAL detention center - my dog taken to the dog pound. I was NOT told why I was being arrested until three days later when I appeared in front of a Federal Judge. Lucky for me she was quite liberal - or I may not be here or anywhere today. I was arrested under an arcane provision in the unpatriot act [camping on federal lands without a 'domicile' in the USA]. The judge was very angry at the arresting officer and after I told my past history: good upper-middle class upbringing, Yale, Governor's aide, no legal problems in past, problems I had before I left USA, reason for camping, etc. she let me go free (on condition I not camp on Federal Lands for one year) and told the arresting officer NOT to try that again before her. In the Federal Prison my 'cellmate' for those three days was a totally innocent man 'in' for 50 years on a grass sale he was NOT involved in in any way. When he found out I was trained in chemistry and toxicology he begged me to help him find a way to commit suicide. I was roughed up in jail and mistreated - as were all. I think about this every time I am about to return....if such can happen to me, imagine how someone without white skin and my past must feel and fear! Oh, yes, I returned back to the campground to find my expensive tent shredded and contents destroyed - and no, the USG never did repay me...another long battle and story. I'm convinced that my political research and efforts in the past led to the attempt to find any law to 'teach me a lesson'. I was lucky.....it could have been worse, much worse...... and now putting this on the internet for the first time, I've just made any job in the USA that much more remote; and such a repeat incident that much more likely. Veritas vos liberabit!

[Don Jeffries]

Thanks for sharing that, Peter. At this point, I fear any interaction with the police. I'm sure I'm not the only law-abiding American citizen who feels this way now.

The problem of police abuse should be a central issue in our national political dialogue. Instead, the powers-that-be took a case that can be argued both ways, and exploited it to the hilt, in an overt effort to cause racial discord. The fact that all these "journalists" and political representatives can remain silent in the face of all the videos documenting the outrageous behavior of law enforcement tells us all we need to know about our "free" society.

[Peter Lemkin]

Thanks for sharing that, Peter. At this point, I fear any interaction with the police. I'm sure I'm not the only law-abiding American citizen who feels this way now.

The problem of police abuse should be a central issue in our national political dialogue. Instead, the powers-that-be took a case that can be argued both ways, and exploited it to the hilt, in an overt effort to cause racial discord. The fact that all these "journalists" and political representatives can remain silent in the face of all the videos documenting the outrageous behavior of law enforcement tells us all we need to know about our "free" society.

That happened to me ten years ago and had a GREAT effect on how often I return and how I plan and execute a return. For the years of the Bush Admin. here in Europe I was regularly meeting Americans looking around Europe for a new home. Since Obama, not...though very little has changed. Amazing how they somehow found a way to make the horrible appealing enough for most to stay and not do anything much about it.....make one think of slow boiling of frogs.....

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[TD="width: 84%"]The Game Is Rigged: Why Americans Keep Losing to the Police State

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Being a citizen in the American police state is much likeplaying a game of cards against a stacked deck: you're always going to lose. Thegame is rigged, and "we the people" keep getting dealt the same losing hand.Even so, we stay in the game, against all odds, trusting that our luck willchange.
The problem, of course, is that luck will not save us. Thepeople dealing the cards--the politicians, the corporations, the judges, theprosecutors, the police, the bureaucrats, the military, the media, etc.--haveonly one prevailing concern, and that is to maintain their power and controlover the country and us. As long as they are dealing the cards, the deck willalways be stacked in their favor.
We're in trouble, folks.
We have relinquished control of our government to overlordswho care nothing for our rights, our dignity or our humanity, and now we're saddledwith an authoritarian regime that is deaf to our cries, dumb to our troubles, blindto our needs, and accountable to no one.
Even revelations of wrongdoing amount to little in the wayof changes for the better.
For instance, after sixyears of investigation, 6,000 written pages and $40 million to write areport that will not be released to the public in its entirety, the U.S. Senatehas finally concluded that the CIA lied about itstorture tactics, failed to acquire any life-saving intelligence, and was morebrutal and extensive than previously admitted. This is no revelation. It'sa costly sleight of hand intended to distract us from the fact that nothing haschanged. We're stilla military empire waging endless wars against shadowy enemies, all thewhile fattening the wallets of the defensecontractors for whom war is money.

Same goes for the government's surveillance programs, whichare just as invasive as ever. In fact, at President Obama's urging, the ForeignIntelligence Surveillance Court just quietly reauthorized the National SecurityAgency's surveillance of phone records.
Police misconduct and brutality have been dominating thenews headlines for months now, but don't expect any change for the better. Infact, withObama's blessing, police departments continue to make themselves battleready with weapons and gear created for the military. Police shootings ofunarmed citizens continue with alarming regularity. And grand juries, littlemore than puppets controlled by state prosecutors, continueto legitimize the police state by absolving police of any wrongdoing.
These grandjuries embody everything that's wrong with America today. In an age ofsecret meetings, secret surveillance, secret laws, secret tribunals and secretcourts, the grand jury--which meets secretly, hears secret testimony, and isexposed to only what a prosecutor deems appropriate--has become yet anotherbureaucratic appendage to a government utterly lacking in transparency,accountability and adherence to the rule of law.
It's a sorry lesson in how a well-intentioned law or programcan be perverted, corrupted and used to advance illegitimate purposes. The waron terror, the war on drugs, asset forfeiture schemes, road safety schemes, schoolzero tolerance policies, eminent domain, private prisons: all of these programsstarted out as legitimate responses to pressing concerns. However, once you addmoney and power into the mix, even the most benevolent plans can be put tomalevolent purposes.
In this way, the war on terror has become a convenientruse to justify surveillance of all Americans, create a suspect society,expand the military empire, and allow the president to expand the powers of theExecutive Branch to imperial heights.
Under cover of the war on drugs, the nation's police forceshave been transformedinto extensions of the military, with SWAT team raids carried out onunsuspecting homeowners, and police officers given the green light to shootfirst and ask questions later.
Asset forfeiture schemes, engineered as a way to striporganized crime syndicates of their ill-gotten wealth, have, in the hands oflaw enforcement agencies, become corruptsystems aimed at fleecing the citizenry while padding the pockets of thepolice.
Traffic safety schemes such as automated red light and speedcameras, ostensibly aimed at making the nation's roads safer, have been shownto be thinlydisguised road taxes, levying hefty fines on drivers, most of whom wouldnever have been pulled over, let alone ticketed, by an actual police officer.
School zero tolerance policies, a response to the horrors ofa handful of school shootings, have become exercises in folly, turningthe schools into quasi-prisons, complete with armed police, metal detectorsand lockdowns.
As for grand juries, which were intended to s erveas a check on the powers of the police and prosecutors, they have gone frombeing the citizen'sshield against injustice to a weapon in the hands of government agents. Afar cry from a people's court, today's grand jury system is so blatantly riggedin favor of the government as to be laughable. Unless, that is, you happen tobe one of the growing numbers of Americans betrayed and/or victimized by theirown government, in which case, you'll find nothing amusing about the way inwhich grand juries are used to terrorize the populace all the while coveringup police misconduct.

Unfortunately, as I make clear in my book A Government of Wolves: The EmergingAmerican Police State, we're long past the point of simple fixes. Thesystem has grown too large, too corrupt, and too unaccountable. If there's tobe any hope of reform, it has to start at the local level, where Americansstill have a chance to make their voices heard. Stop buying into the schemes ofthe elite, stop being distracted by their sleight-of-hands, stop beingmanipulated into believing that an election will change anything, and stopplaying a rigged game where you'll always be the loser.
It's time to change the rules of the game. For that matter,it's time to change the game.

[David Guyatt]

Hope you got your dog back okay, Pete.

[Paul Rigby]

Exactly. Why did a local hospital announce, ahead of time, that they were reserving three floors for riot casualties? Why does the media always, in these carefully selected cases, prime the pubic for expected riots?

And why do the rioters always remain safely ensconced in their own lower-income neighborhoods? Why burn their own homes and businesses? Wouldn't it make a more effective political statement to walk into an upper-class neighborhood and terrorize them? Loot their Starbucks? They didn't even bull-rush a police station. If their beef was with police, why not take their hostility out on them? I'm not saying they should be violent against anyone, but their actions simply make no sense.

And what about the New York Times reporter who published the address of the police officer? What kind of "journalist"
does something like that? How is such a biased call to violence consistent with her role as "reporter?"

Undercover Cops Outed and Pull Gun on Crowd

https://storify.com/CourtneyPFB/undercov...n-on-crowd

During the ongoing protests in Berkeley and Oakland, on Dec 10th 2014, two undercover police were outed by the crowd, and proceeded to pull out a gun, and make arrests while still wearing their masks.

[Peter Lemkin]

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NYPD Union's "Don't Attend My Funeral" Letter for Mayor De Blasio-- Another Sign Of Police Culture Pathology

By Rob Kall [/TD]
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Eric Garner Protest 4th December 2014, Manhattan, NYC
(image by The All-Nite Images)

The problem with cops killing goes deep. We have prosecutors who, by protecting cops who kill, betray the public's trust. But we are also facing a deeply pathological cop culture that makes bad cops more dangerous and provides the opposite of support for good cops to stand up and speak out when they say bad cops who should not be police officers.

Mediaite reports,

"The New York City Patrolmen's Benevolent Association (PBA), one of the city's main police unions, is urging its members to sign a letter requesting that Mayor Bill de Blasio and City Council SpeakerMelissa Mark-Viverito do not attend their funeral services should they be killed in the line of duty."

NYC Patrolmen's Benevolent Association president Patrick Lynch said, at a press conference, that the police felt that De Blasio had, "thrown them under the bus." The letter the police were being encouraged to sign said it was because De Blasio wasn't supporting or respecting them.

Screenshot of Letter on NY PBA website

Lynch is a former cop, who has become an unflinching attack dog, advocating for police regardless of their actions or behavior. Police deserve strong advocates, but they also need leaders who set the right examples. Lynch fails at that job, as two commenters on a Newsweek article stated:

"I am sure that Patrick was a good cop. I am sure that Patrick was a great cop. And it is very sad that not all cops were nor are like Patrick once was. However, your friend needs to stop defending all cops, and limit his defense to the good ones. He is hurting his cause, the police department, The City of New York, The State of New York, The USA, Earth, and the Infinite Universe, by defending a scum bag."

And another commenter described Lynch as a racist,

"...who has NEVER found a victim of police violence that he could manage to muster up even the smallest amount of sympathy for."

This tells us a lot. It tells us that the police union leadership, leadership elected by the nations biggest police union, is engendering a dangerous, attitude that does not respect the law or the hierarchy the police are a part of. Lynch fails to respect the need for accountability and for respect of the citizenry. Such arrogance is a big part of the problem.
The attitude expressed in the letter uninviting De Blasio is a tell-- a potential warning sign of a bad cop. Every cop who signs it should be flagged as suspect"
Suspect of what? They should be suspected of having attitudes that they are above the law, attitudes that they are entitled to engage in violence and abuse of citizens. They should be suspected of disrespecting rules and authority, perhaps even of past police brutality, or at the least, failing to hold fellow officers accountable for obeying the law and the rules.
Believe me, I am anything but an authoritarian. But police are, by definition, in positions of power. They are part of a hierarchy. They work within a set of rules and structures that give them power but which also regulate that power. Such blatant disrespect for those higher in the hierarchy is a a clear sign that those who sign the letter do not fit in the hierarchy, are not fit to be police.
So let them sign those documents and hand them in, and hopefully, out themselves. Mayor De Blasio should track every one of them, and also review the history of those police to see their past track record dealing with blacks and civilians.
The fact that the union leadership is suggesting and encouraging this behavior makes it clear that the police culture is pathological. it makes it clear that police are not only unwilling to police their own ranks to identify the bad cops. It's probably worse than that. These police don't even see cops who kill unarmed, defenseless people as bad or even a problem.
Sadly, the police have learned from the example set by recent US presidents-- take power and hold onto it and fight for it.
Also, police recruiting practices have changed. More and more, people are recruited using the lure of excitement, the ability to use guns, to exert power. This attracts psychopaths, sociopaths and narcissists. These are the kinds of people who never respect the rules, who abuse the power they have as police.
Most police are good, but the cop culture, as exemplified by people like Patrick Lynch, is deeply pathological. We need to see good cops refusing to tolerate bad cops. Until that happens, we need protests. We need street actions and strong challenges to the current status quo.

[Albert Doyle]

Prosecutor McCulloch admits he forgot to include Dorian Johnson's testimony. It's pretty clear that the reason Brown stopped and turned around to put his hands up is because of the first round of shots heard on the audio recording of the incident. This is different than what Officer Wilson told the Grand Jury:



http://www.vocativ.com/usa/race/dorian-j...ael-brown/

[Peter Lemkin]

Yet another unarmed Black man is dead....this time just outside of Fergison, MO. It is just endless.... Most Police most of the time don't even try to avoid killing whoever they feel might be a threat to them.....they just kill first, and ask questions later.....

This man was 18, his body lay on the ground for two hours and was denied [!] first aide!

[Peter Lemkin]

Who Police Killed In 2014

by Carimah Townes & Dylan Petrohilos Posted on December 12, 2014 at 11:40 am Updated: December 13, 2014
"Who Police Killed In 2014"




In the months since Michael Brown was shot and killed by Officer Darren Wilson on August 9, demonstrators have marched, set up street blockades, shut down highways, and faced off against the very police officers they want brought to justice. Grand jury decisions not to indict Wilson, or the NYPD officer who choked Eric Garner to death on film, have sparked what may be a tipping point for people exhausted with the number of deaths at the hands of law enforcement.
Sadly, we know Brown and Garner were just one of many people who died at the hands of police this year. But a dearth of national data on fatalities caused by police makes it difficult to pinpoint the exact number of deaths. One site put the total at 1,039.
What we do know is that police-related deaths follow certain patterns. A 2012 study found that about half of those killed by the police each year are mentally ill, a problem that the Supreme Court will consider 2015. Young black men are also 21 times more likely to be killed by cops than young white men, according to one ProPublica analysis of the data we have. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also compiled data which shows that people of color are most likely to be killed by cops overall. In short, people who belong to marginalized communities are at a higher risk of being shot than those who are not.








Below is a list of 21 people of color and/or mentally ill persons who were killed by cops in 2014. Some cases are more clear-cut than others, but all of them raise questions about the use of force like shooting to kill in policing. They also prompt scrutiny of how cops confront people with mental illnesses:
1. Darrien Hunt; Saratoga Springs, UT: Hunt was shot six times and killed after someone reported a man with a suspicious sword. Hunt, who had a fascination with Japanese anime characters, was carrying a toy sword. A recent autopsy report found the shots hit him in the back, suggesting he was running away from police on the scene.
2. Ezell Ford; Los Angeles, CA: In what was described as "an execution" by family members, Ford was unarmed when LAPD shot him last August. Officers stopped him on the street, in response to a possible officer-involved shooting. One witness contends that officers beat the 25-year-old disabled man while saying "shoot him." Others maintain that Ford was laying on the ground when he was shot.
3. Omar Abrego; Los Angeles, CA: Abrego died a mere four blocks from where Ezell Ford was shot. A father of three, Abrego was beaten to death by LAPD after a car chase last August. Witnesses allege that officers punched Abrego in the face continuously, and also hit him with a baton.
4. Tamir E. Rice; Cleveland, OH: Police responded to a 911 call about a boy with a gun in the park. Within seconds of arriving at the park, police opened fire, killing the 12-year-old who had been holding a toy gun. Officers on the scene refused to administer first aid for four minutes, and left him laying on the ground. They allegedly handcuffed his 14-year-old sister.
5. Tanesha Anderson; Cleveland, OH: Anderson, a schizophrenic and bipolar women, died after police allegedly slammed her onto the pavement outside her family's home. Officers had approached Anderson after a caller reported her for "disturbing the peace." Police claim that they planned to take her to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation, and that she went limp in an officer's arms. But Anderson's brother and daughter deny the cops' story and contend that the 37-year-old was slammed to the ground.
6. Rumain Brisbon; Phoenix, AZ: Brisbon was killed earlier this month, after an officer mistook a pill bottle for a gun. The officer approached Brisbon's car after someone reported a drug deal happening near the vehicle. When asked to raise his hands, Brisbon put them in his pockets. A quick chase on foot ensued after the officer pulled out a weapon. There was a brief scuffle when the cop caught up to Brisbon, during which the latter reached into his pocket. The officer shot him, and explained later that he thought he felt a gun in the pocket. The perceived gun was actually a pill bottle.
7. John Crawford III; Beavercreek, OH: Crawford was shot by police officers in a Walmart, who were responding to a 911 call about an armed man. The caller, who originally stated that Crawford was pointing the gun at people, changed his statement later on. In a video released after the incident, Crawford was walking down a store aisle while holding a BB gun that he was buying for his children, and then swung it over his shoulder. All the while, he was talking on a phone and looking at the shelves. Officers descended upon him and fired two shots.
8. Keith Vidal; Southport, NC: Police responded to a 911 call for assistance from the parents of Vidal, a schizophrenic 18-year-old, who was in the middle of an episode. Although Vidal picked up a screwdriver, two officers were able to calm him down. But the situation turned deadly when a third cop tased the teenager shortly thereafter. That officer allegedly said "we don't have time for this" before shooting and killing Vidal on the spot.
9. Kajieme Powell; St. Louis, MO: Just days later and a few miles away from where Mike Brown was shot, officers gunned down Kajieme Powell, who had stolen energy drinks and pastries from a convenience store. Officers said they shot Powell after he approached them wielding a knife with an "overhand grip," and that he was within three or four feet of them. But video from a cell phone showed the 25-year-old standing farther away and with his hands by his sides.
10. Akai Gurley; Brooklyn, NY: A police officer accidentally shot Gurley, who was walking down a dark flight of stairs. The officer fired his gun while he was performing a vertical patrol, and texted a union rep as Gurley was dying. Police Chief Bill Bratton confirmed that Gurley was a "total innocent."
11. Eric Garner; Staten Island, NY: NYPD officers stopped Garner, who was selling untaxed cigarettes, on the sidewalk. The encounter turned deadly when Officer Daniel Pantaleo put Garner, an asthmatic, in an illegal chokehold. Garner repeatedly said I can't breathe' before dying on the scene. The entire incident was caught on camera, but a grand jury decision refused to indict the officer.
12. Mike Brown; Ferguson, MO: Brown was shot by Officer Darren Wilson, after the police stopped him and friend Dorian Johnson, who were walking in the street. After he stopped them, Wilson realized that Brown matched the description of a suspected thief who the officer was trying to find. Wilson claimed there was a physical altercation, and that Brown tried to grab his gun and charged at him. Witnesses say Brown was running away with his hands up when the officer shot him. Police kept the body in the street for 4.5 hours. A grand jury chose not to indict Wilson.
13. Michelle Cusseaux; Phoenix, AZ: Frances Garrett called Southwest Behavioral Health Services to transport her 50-year-old daughter, Michelle Cusseaux, to an in-patient facility. Cusseaux, who was schizophrenic, bipolar, and had depression, was showing signs of threatening behavior. But when officers came to take her away, the incident escalated. Cusseaux threatened them with a hammer, and was shot in her home when she wouldn't put it down. Later Garrett said, "They knew (who) they were going to work with a person with a mental illness. You don't come with guns drawn, guns at her door. I'm sure it frightened her."
14. Jack Jacquez; Rocky Ford, CO: When Jacquez returned home after babysitting with a friend, officers showed up unexpectedly and burst into the home. According to his sister in law, Jacquez was standing next to his mom with his back to the cops, when Officer James Ashby shot him two times. His fiance was woken up by gun shots. Details haven't emerged about why officers were at the house.
15. Jason Harrison; Dallas, TX: When Harrison's mother dialed 911, she was seeking help for her son who had bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. But the officers who responded to the call shot and killed Harrison on the front porch of his mother's home, when he didn't obey orders to put a screwdriver down. Police claimed Harrison was acting aggressively, but the victim's family filed a lawsuit stating that excessive force was used. Harrison's father also alleges that cops were previously called to subdue the victim. Video of the shooting, recorded by a body cam, has not been released to the public.
16. Yvette Smith; Bastrop County, TX: Police were called to a house where a disturbance call was placed, although a dispatcher misinformed them that the disturbance was about a gun. Officers allege that people inside the house ignored demands to step out of the home. The Sheriff's Department originally said that Smith eventually opened the door with a gun in her hand and refused to listen to orders, which is when Deputy Daniel Willis shot her in her abdomen and hip. But the department backtracked on the gun claim hours later. Witnesses say the disturbance call was about money and not a gun, and that Smith was compliant. The 47-year-old woman died at the hospital, and Willis was indicted for murder.
17. Louis Rodriguez; Oklahoma City, OK: Police were called about a domestic dispute between a mother and daughter, but wound up killing the father outside of a movie theater. Rodriguez was trying to calm his wife down when he was approached by police and security guards from the theater. Officers began to beat him when, in an attempt to stop his wife from driving away, Rodriguez bypassed the officers. Although an autopsy conducted by the Oklahoma State Medical Examiner's Office concluded that the victim died from "cardiac arrhythymia due to physical constraint," a private autopsy concluded that he died of asphyxia as a result of a maneuver that restricted his breathing. The daughter, Lunahi Rodriguez, recorded the incident.
18. Matthew Pollow; Palm Beach, FL: Police were called to investigate an "armed disturbance," when they approached Matthew Pollow standing next to a car. Pollow complied when he was ordered to remove everything from his pockets. Then Deputy Evan Rosenthal drew his weapon, alleging that the victim looked "very disturbed." Pollow, who had a history of mental illness, grabbed a screwdriver and charged at the officer. Rosenthal shot Pollow, who died at the scene.
19. Dontre D. Hamilton; Milwaukee, WI: Hamilton, a 31-year-old schizophrenic man, was sleeping in a park when Officer Christopher Manney approached him for a standard welfare check. After assessing that Hamilton was mentally ill, Manney approached him from the back and started to pat him down. The two exchanged punches before, Manney eventually used his baton to hit the victim in the neck. Manney then shot Hamilton 14 times. Chief Edward Flynn of Milwaukee said that Manney disregarded police policy after correctly determining that Hamilton was mentally unstable. "You don't go hands-on and start frisking somebody only because they appear to be mentally ill," said Flynn.
20. David Latham; Northfolk, VA: According to Latham's family, his mother and sister called 911 when he threatened his brother with a knife. Latham had stopped taking his medication for schizophrenia, which explained his behavior. When he didn't immediately put down his knife, an officer shot Latham, who was standing in a doorway, nine times.
21. Maria Godinez; Orlando, FL: Officer Eduardo Sanguino accidentally shot and killed Godinez, a 22-year-old college student. The officer was shooting at Kody Roach, who was a caller reported for waiving a gun outside of a bar. Police attempted to tase Roach, but that didn't work. And when Roach turned around, Sanguino shot his firearm nine times. Godinez was inside when she was hit by a stray bullet.

[Paul Rigby]

Michael Brown: Horrific Racist Song at Charity Event

'And He's Dead, Dead Michael Brown'
12/23/2014 1:00 AM PST BY TMZ STAFF


http://www.tmz.com/2014/12/23/michael-br...roy-brown/

The Glendale, CA Elks Lodge is investigating a shocking incident that went down in the club a week ago Monday, when a performer sang a song celebrating the death of Michael Brown ... for an audience that included a number of retired and current cops ... and TMZ has the video.

The song was a parody of "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown." Gary Fishell, the performer and a member of the Lodge, changed the lyrics, which include:

Michael Brown learned a lesson about a messin'
With a badass policeman

And he's bad, bad Michael Brown
Baddest thug in the whole damn town
Badder than old King Kong
Meaner than a junkyard dog

Two men took to fightin'
And Michael punched in through the door
And Michael looked like some old Swiss cheese
His brain was splattered on the floor

And he's dead, dead Michael Brown
Deadest man in the whole damn town
His whole life's long gone
Deader than a roadkill dog

The event was the capper for a charity golf event, thrown by retired LAPD Officer Joe Myers, a 32 year veteran who left the force in 2007. We're told 50-60 people attended the dinner, and about half were cops, most of whom were retired. The others were civilians.

Singer Gary Fishell is a P.I. who once worked as an investigator for the Federal Government. His lawyer tells TMZ, Fishell now realizes the song was "off color and in poor taste." The lawyer adds, "He's a goofball who writes funny songs." We asked why Fishell would sing this in a room full of cops, and the lawyer replied, "He thought the room would get a kick out of it."

Joe Myers tells TMZ, "How can I dictate what he [Fishell] says in a song?" Myers goes on, "This is America. We can say what we want. This is a free America." Myers adds ... he's done this as an annual event for decades and has raised a lot of money for charity.

Someone who was at the event videotaped it because they were offended by the song and upset no one was objecting.

A trustee for the Lodge tells TMZ, the dinner was not an Elks Club event ... it was a golf tournament run by Myers and since he was a member he had a right to hold a dinner there.

The trustee tells TMZ many of the hundreds of members of the Glendale Elks Lodge are upset about the song, saying, "It's deplorable and inappropriate and the Lodge will take disciplinary action against [Fishell] and possibly the people who organized this event."

The trustee added, "We don't stand for any racist things like this."

[video=youtube_share;aEHVJCl1_2Y]http://youtu.be/aEHVJCl1_2Y[/video]