Jan
26
The always enjoyable Uniwatch recently did a feature on jersey concepts for defunct teams. The whalers jerseys looked pretty fly, definitely flyer than all these bullshit teams south of the Mason Dixon. I’ve always said, if you can’t play hockey outdoors at any point in the year you probably shouldn’t have a team, but that’s why I’m here and Gary Bettman is making the big bucks driving one of the strongest sports leagues of the ’90s straight into the ground.
Jan
25
Dennis House took the time to compile some images and stories of proposals for Hartford in years past and It is a super interesting read. Go check it out and see how Hartford might have looked if the Cutter Financial Center was actually built in the 90s.
Jan
24
About a year ago we posted an article about the East Haven PD’s abuse of Latinos and it looks like we weren’t the only ones that noticed. The FBI stepped in and arrested four police officers for civil rights violations. Sometimes things are okay.
Four police officers, including the president of the local police union, were arrested Tuesday by the FBI on charges that they assaulted illegal immigrants and covered up abuses in a New Haven suburb where a federal investigation found life was made miserable for Hispanics.
The East Haven officers assaulted individuals while they were handcuffed, unlawfully searched Latino businesses, and harassed and intimidated individuals, including advocates, witnesses and other officers who tried to investigate or report misconduct or abuse the officers committed, according to the federal indictment.
Federal authorities began investigating police in 2009 in East Haven, where the federal probe last month documented a pattern of abuse. The Hispanic population had doubled in the past decade to more than 10 percent of the seaside city’s 28,000 people, but Latino business owners said rough treatment by police drove away many newcomers from Mexico and Ecuador.
Full story and video: here
Jan
09
We’re back from our little holiday hiatus just in time for a new track by our boy Rizzla. Enjoy.
Dec
19
Feds: East Haven Police Discriminate Against LatinosBy DAVE ALTIMARI, daltimar@courant.comMon Dec 19 2011 1:13 PMEast Haven police have engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination against Latinos in violation of federal law, U.S. authorities said Monday in announcing results of an 18-month probe.
Police have intentionally targeted Latinos for traffic enforcement and treated Latino drivers more harshly after traffic stops, the probe concluded.
The investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice addressed long-standing allegations that some East Haven police officers have repeatedly harassed and assaulted Latinos in town.
Federal officials also said Monday they were concerned that Police Chief Leonard Gallo and other town officers created a “hostile and intimidating environment” for people who wanted to cooperate with the investigation.
Sources have said the town was told about a month ago that from 6-15 officers could be arrested on civil rights violations and that it should be making contingency plans for law enforcement coverage of the town. Arrests are not expected to be announced Monday.
Police reached out to State Police and have asked them to be prepared to have troopers come into town. FBI agents recently showed up with a subpoena to search Gallo’s office, which had been locked and unused since he was placed on administrative leave months ago. As recently as two weeks ago, witnesses were still be called before the grand jury sitting in Bridgeport.
At least 24 active town police officers had been subpoenaed to appear before a federal grand jury, according to a source familiar with the proceedings. It is unclear if those officers are targets of the investigation or witnesses who will be asked about the conduct of others. But in a court filing for a related matter, a lawyer for the town and police department said the apparent primary target of the investigation is East Haven Officer Dennis Spaulding.
Spaulding was one of two officers involved in the arrest last year of the Rev. James Manship, a Catholic priest who was videotaping what he said was harassment by officers.
Spaulding also has been accused of beating and threatening suspects, taunting Latino residents and visitors, and trying to drive away Latino-owned businesses.
The criminal probe grew out of a civil complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Justice last March by Manship’s church, St. Rose of Lima in New Haven, many of whose parishioners live or work in East Haven.
“Latinos are pulled over without reasonable suspicion while driving, arrested without probable cause and in some cases severely beaten by law enforcement officials,” the complaint alleges. “As a consequence, Latinos in East Haven now live in the daily fear of harassment and retaliation by East Haven officers.”
The complaint, prepared with the assistance of the Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization at Yale University, cites more than a dozen cases in which Latino motorists allege they were pulled over for no reason, often as they were leaving Latino-owned businesses. The complaint also contains accusations that officers, without justification, have punched, kicked, and used pepper sprays and Tasers against Latino suspects in police cars and at the police station.
The Department of Justice’s civil rights division opened an investigation and collected new information that prompted a referral to criminal investigators and the appointment of the grand jury.
The town, the police department and 20 members of the police force are also named in a federal civil lawsuit filed in October alleging that police in East Haven used excessive force against Latinos and engaged in ethnic profiling. Town and police officials have generally denied any mistreatment, although Gallo was placed on administrative leave in April. He was recently reinstated.
Racial and ethnic tension in East Haven, a predominantly white suburb of New Haven, has been high at least since the 1997 fatal shooting of a 21-year-old black man, Malik Jones, by a white East Haven police officer.
Jones’ family alleged excessive force, and although state and federal authorities declined to prosecute the officer, a federal grand jury awarded Jones’ mother $900,000 after concluding that his civil rights were violated.
The town was back in the spotlight in February 2009 after the arrest of Manship, the Catholic priest. Manship had gone to the My Country Store in East Haven, where patrons had complained of harassment by police, and was videotaping Spaulding and Officer David Cari, who were confiscating license plates displayed on a wall by the owner.
Manship was charged with disorderly conduct and interfering with police. A report written by Cari claimed that Manship was concealing an “unknown shiny silver object” and standing unnervingly close to the officers.
But a widely distributed videotape of the incident showed that police knew he was holding a camera and that he was standing in an adjacent grocery aisle until Cari walked around the aisle to confront him. The charges against Manship were dropped.
