Gainesville University cops shoot African grad student

[Communist]

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Gainesville University cops shoot
African grad student (http://www.fightbacknews.org/2010/3/9/gainesville-university-cops-shoot-african-grad-student)

Students, community groups demand justice

By Justin Wooten
March 2010


Gainesville, FL - Graduate student and teaching assistant Kofi Adu-Brempong was shot in the face with an assault rifle by officers of the University Police Department, March 2. Adu-Brempong was mentally distressed, and the police had been called in response to reports of a scream coming from his on campus apartment.

The police report released immediately after the incident alleged that Kofi attacked the officers with a pipe and knife when they kicked in the apartment’s door. A judge asked for a more complete report within 72 hours. The second police report has revealed that he didn’t have a knife in his hands and that the pipe was his walking cane.

Information later revealed that Adu-Brempong is 5’5’’, less than 150 pounds, severely disabled from a childhood case of polio, and that the shooting occurred less than a minute after the officers entered the apartment. Student and community groups are calling for an independent investigation and questioning the veracity of a police report that has changed multiple times.

When evidence emerged that the shooter was Officer Keith Smith, who had previously been dismissed from the Gainesville Police Department for throwing eggs at African-Americans while off duty, student groups began organizing for a rally to demand justice. A rigorous investigation needs to be conducted in regards to the shooting of an unarmed disabled man in his own on campus apartment.

The Coalition for Justice Against Police Brutality, formed out of groups including Students for a Democratic Society, the Student Labor Action Project, the NAACP, the African Student Union, and the Alachua County Democratic Black Caucus, called for a rally of students and community members on March 16. The rally took place 10:50 AM, Turlington Square on Newell Dr, Gainesville, FL.

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[bcbm]

the shooter was Officer Keith Smith, who had previously been dismissed from the Gainesville Police Department for throwing eggs at African-Americans while off duty

the university police didn't think this was a good enough reason to not hire him? wow.

[black magick hustla]

man i dont politically condone actions like this but i hope he gets a bat across his skull from an unruly mob

[The Red Next Door]

Why do people let idiots run everything, now days?

[Communist]

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Justice for Kofi!
Gainesville students protest police shooting (http://www.fightbacknews.org/2010/3/17/gainesville-students-protest-police-shooting?utm_source=Fight%20Back%21%20News%20Servi ce&utm_campaign=736fadd379-UA-743468-8&utm_medium=email)

By Jared Hamill
March 17, 2010

Gainesville, FL - Over 400 angry protesters - a coalition of students, local residents and university professors - rallied and marched to protest the racist police shooting of Kofi Adu-Brempong.

Adu-Brempong is an international graduate student from Ghana who was shot in the face by a University of Florida policeman. After receiving a call from a neighbor concerned that Adu-Brempong was screaming, due to stress over his studies and his immigration status, campus police stormed his apartment, tased him three times and then shot him in the face with an assault rifle.

Adu-Brempong is hospitalized in critical condition, having lost his tongue and jaw. Incredibly, the police action took less than 30 seconds. Having suffered a case of childhood polio, Adu-Brempong was unable to walk without a cane. To add to the outrage, the University of Florida police charged him with a felony for ‘resisting arrest with violence.’

Gainesville Area Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) led the campus action. Beginning with a rally and speakers at Turlington Plaza, the mass of protesters marched through campus to the Board of Trustees in the Emerson Hall Alumni Building. The Board of Trustees governs the entire university. Since the building was closed to the public, the protesters pulled the doors open, pushed past security and took over the building.

They presented the board with a list of demands, including dropping all charges against Kofi Adu-Brempong. The other important demand is the firing of Keith Smith, the officer who shot Kofi in the face. In 2008, Keith Smith was given a verbal warning by the Gainesville city police department where he previously worked. Smith and three other police officers were throwing eggs and harassing African Americans in the local community. The university police ignored this warning and hired Keith Smith.

As the students settled in, waiting to see how the Board of Trustees would respond, tension rose inside the boardroom. After a half hour, a trustee came out to speak to the protesters. Following his lead, the students proceeded to give speeches about stopping police brutality and continuing the fight for Adu-Brempong. An hour later, the protesters decided the demands of the coalition were clearly received by the board and left the building.

Then the protesters marched to the Tigert Hall Administration Building for another rally, targeting University President Bernie Machen. Unfortunately President Machen was “out of town.” The students chanted, “Justice for Kofi!” and “No justice, no peace! No racist police!”

Fernando Figueroa, of Gainesville SDS spoke: “We will not let up until we gain justice for Kofi. We are taking a stand against police brutality and racism on our campus and throughout the country.” Figueroa continued, “It is astounding to see so few reporters covering the point blank shooting of an African man in the face here. This is the same campus where you could not walk ten feet without bumping into a reporter or TV crew following a white student’s famous ‘Don’t tase me bro!’ incident.”

Late in the afternoon, the student protesters attended a student government meeting to demand a resolution calling for a grand jury investigation of the racist cop. With some persuasion, the resolution passed. With protests heating up in Gainesville, the Coalition for Justice Against Police Brutality vows to continue the fight for Kofi Adu-Brempong.

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[Crusade]

the university police didn't think this was a good enough reason to not hire him? wow.

They probably gave him a paid suspension(vacation) for it.

[gorillafuck]

When evidence emerged that the shooter was Officer Keith Smith, who had previously been dismissed from the Gainesville Police Department for throwing eggs at African-Americans while off duty
And they let him back out on duty.....

That's mind boggling.

[entfaltend]

Sounds familiar... A "mentally distressed" (his brother had just died of a terminal illness and he was understandably grief stricken) black man in Portland was shot in the back outside his apartment by an officer with a history of violence, not too long ago.

Hopefully the citizen response in Gainesville will be at least as vigorous as Portland's has been, or better yet, many times more.

[Astinilats]

http://www.fightbacknews.org/2010/4/7/gainesville-students-demand-justice-kofi-adu-brempong

Gainesville students demand justice for Kofi Adu-Brempong

Administration building occupied
By Jared Hamil |
April 7, 2010
http://www.fightbacknews.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/article-lead-photo/protest2.jpg (http://www.fightbacknews.org/sites/default/files/protest2.jpg)


Gainesville, FL - 250 people rallied here, April 6, to support Kofi Adu-Brempong, the University of Florida student who was shot in the face by police (http://www.fightbacknews.org/2010/3/17/gainesville-students-protest-police-shooting). This rally follows two meetings with the University of Florida administration as well as the chief of the University Police Department. Both meetings proved to be a stalling tactic against both the Coalition for Justice Against Police Brutality and Students for a Democratic Society. During the rally, the anger at administration's stalling was expressed many times.

The protest began with a rally in Turlington Plaza with speakers including Kofi Adu-Brempong’s niece, leaders of Students for a Democratic Society, a law professor and community members. From there the angry protesters marched to the administrative building at Tigert Hall. A second rally heard speakers from the United Faculty of Florida and a co-president of the Graduate Assistants United. The students talked to a spokesperson for the administration and presented him with a list of demands. After a few minutes, the anger at the administration's stalling caused the crowd to occupy the building. The occupation finally ended after a future meeting was set between the Coalition for Justice Against Police Brutality and the University of Florida President, Bernie Machen.

Next the people marched in the streets to the university police department, chanting “No justice, no peace, no racist police!” and carrying signs that said “Justice for Kofi!” Then over 100 people signed complaint forms against the police.
The day ended with a rally where people chanted, “Campus cops it's not your place, to shoot a student in the face,” and “Same thing every time, being black is not a crime.” More than one speaker pointed out how Keith Smith, the officer who shot Adu-Brempong, was involved with throwing eggs and harassing Black people in the local community in the recent past. The rally ended that afternoon with the coalition vowing to keep pressuring the University of Florida administration and talk of going after the district attorney.

[cska]

Is this the same University of Florida whose students stood around while Andrew Meyer was being tasered?

[x371322]

man i dont politically condone actions like this but i hope he gets a bat across his skull from an unruly mob

No joke. Whatever this pig of a man gets is too good for him as far as I'm concerned. This is police brutality at it's loudest. Fucking disgraceful. "Protect and Serve" my ass.

[Communist]

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Video of the shooting of Kofi Adu-Brempong (http://www.fightbacknews.org/2010/4/20/video-kofi-shooting-finally-released?utm_source=Fight%20Back%21%20News%20Servi ce&utm_campaign=381ffcc6d4-UA-743468-8&utm_medium=email) has been released.
It reportedly was on youtube earlier but now seems to be gone.
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[Communist]

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The video is back up, added by Justice4Kofi (http://www.youtube.com/user/Justice4Kofi).

It's not very graphic but thought against posting it in this thread, so watch it on youtube here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkEccNZDzOE).

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