Cops Who Slap Homeless Women, Rape Prisoners, Assault Children, and Keep their Jobs … and Other Unseen News from The World’s Most Carceral State

We live a deeply problematic era in American history. As I type this, the nation is reeling from yet another mass shooting in which 26 people were shot and killed in a rural Texas church. Federal prosecutors are currently investigating and indicting members of Donald Trump’s campaign team for various levels of corruption. And while all of this, and so much more, goes on, police brutality, prosecutorial misconduct, and other problems within America’s criminal justice system continue with less and less scrutiny.

Here, we cover many incidents of injustice from the past week that you likely have not heard about, but deserve our time and attention.

A Washington D.C. Police Lieutenant Arrested for Child Abuse

Lieutenant David Hutchinson, 55, a longtime veteran of the Washington D.C. Police Department, was arrested and charged with cruelty to a child. According to the Washington Post,

“Police said Hutchinson’s abuse on Oct. 30 left the child’s face, ears, eyes, neck and mouth bruised and swollen. Hutchinson told police he didn’t assault the child and didn’t know how the child was injured, according to the charging document. The child initially reported being injured from falling down the stairs but later said it was from Hutchinson, according to the charging documents.”

This should come as no surprise. Police officers have a rate of domestic violence 400% higher than the average American.

This Georgia officer was also just charged with cruelty to children.

A Bakersfield, California Police Officer Caught with Stolen Guns and Steroids

Officer Kevin Schindler, of the troubled Bakersfield Police Department, was caught with injectable steroids and guns he had stolen from the police department. How were these things discovered? Police were called to his house for a domestic disturbance. That makes sense — because, as we established above, police officers have a disturbing rate of domestic violence. Not only that, but steroid abuse is regularly linked to police officers and domestic violence. I bet he keeps his job.

Cop Suddenly Retires after News Investigation Reveals His History of Sexual Harassment

Lieutenant Jimmy Cunningham had been an officer in Middletown, Ohio for 28 years. As it turns out, throughout his tenure, seven different fellow officers, both men and women, regularly took the brave step of reporting him for sexual harassment, but the city and his supervisors went out of their way to sweep it under the rug. This is clearly a trend that cuts across all industries.

According to the local investigation, “The Middletown officers claimed they were regularly the target of Cunningham’s crude sexual comments. Male officers were praised for their size of their penises. Female officers were invited to wear a bikini to an upcoming training class or send Cunningham a picture of their breasts.”

While investigating these claims, it was also revealed that Cunningham had previously been cited for slapping a homeless woman across the face.

Minnesota Police Officer Under Investigation Abruptly Resigns Due to “Work Related Injury”

Mike Shephard, a veteran police officer in Mendota Heights, Minnesota has been disciplined for misconduct at least five times since 2010. This last time, though, was particularly troubling. Shephard was illegally using police department databases to get personal information on at least a dozen different people including his girlfriend, a local female firefighter, local city council members, and other members of local law enforcement and their families. He was suspended this past March for 30 days after it was discovered that he was using the databases. Then, this past August, he was placed on leave again for yet another internal investigation.

All of this gets to one essential challenge in American policing — bad apples are rarely fired — even when investigations determine, over and over again, that they have poor character or have broken the law.

Then, when a bad police officer is finally fired, like Charles Foley in Tucson, who committed a felony when he forged his ex-wife’s signature on a large check that did not belong to him, he finds a way to win an appeal to miraculously get his job back. People are in jail for this right now.

New Jersey Police Officer Indicted on Multiple Sexual Assault Charges

Wilfredo Guzman, a 40 year old veteran police officer in Rockaway Township in New Jersey was just indicted on over a dozen felony charges of sexual assault against several different teenage girls as young as 15 years old. According to the report,

“The first indictment charges Guzman with two counts of Sexual Assault, four counts of Endangering the Welfare of a Child, and eight counts of Official Misconduct. The second indictment charges Guzman with two counts of Official Misconduct and Possession of Child Pornography.

The Sexual Assault and Endangering the Welfare of a Child charges relate to alleged conduct between Guzman and two minor females, one of whom was between the ages of 16–17, and another who was 15 years-old during the time in question.

It is alleged that Mr. Guzman engaged in acts of sexual penetration with the two females on various dates in 2014 and 2015, and that Mr. Guzman provided both females alcohol and prescription medication during the same time frame.”

This incident is not unique. A Wisconsin officer was just arrested for sending sexually explicit text messages to a 15 year old girl.

Two NYPD cops are facing charges for raping a teenage girl they had in police custody.

A Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy has now been charged with sexually assaulting at least three different women in custody.