And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Incident raises question of racism
Witnesses ask why focus was on Indian youth
http://www.indiancountry.com/NP32.html
Editor's note: Names were eliminated from this story to
avoid possible
reprisals.
By Jean Roach
Today correspondent
RAPID CITY, S.D. � A Lakota Homes youth alleges he was
attacked by
racially driven teen-agers which escalated into racial clash
which triggered
what area residents perceive as a stereotypical police
investigation of the
Indian families involved.
In mid-January, a 17-year-old Lakota youth was inches away
from being hit
by a car driven by non-Indian teens who were yelling racial
slurs. In response
to the racial attack, the victim and his neighbors chased
the car to a local
convenience store.
Two fleeing teens ran into the store where they told clerks
shots were fired at
them by "the victim" or his neighbors. No one else reported
hearing any
gunshots in the area.
Family members claim the Rapid City Police Department
targeted its
investigation on the Indian victims instead of the white
teens by avoiding the
attempted hit and run issue and focusing on a possible
attempted murder.
The victim's mother said her son and his friends were
treated like the
criminals by the police. "They searched my son, put him in
the back of a
police car and then a male police officer searched me and
put me in back of a
police car," she said. "My son is the one who was almost hit
by the car and
then they try to say he had a gun."
The victim's mother said there was no evidence of any weapon
or one being
fired and it was the white boys' word over the victim's. At
the police
station, the mother said detectives told her they were
interviewing the victims.
It was after the white boys' stories conflicted that they
realized her son was
the victim she said.
"I told them I wanted to press charges on the boys who tried
to run my son
over, and the detectives just ignored me." She has contacted
an attorney in
her effort to resolve what she views as an attack on her son.
Police Capt. Craig Tieszen said the case is under
investigation, but added,
"the (white) kids were basically picking a fight." He said
that during any
early investigation everyone is a suspect and treated as
such until things are
sorted out. "At the time, both sides were pointing at each
other."
Tieszen said he never heard any reports of females being
searched by male
officers. He said generally officers try to do same-sex
searches, but he added
officers are authorized to perform any search to promote
safety.
An aunt of the victim was called at work by Rapid City
Police Officer Fred
Eisenbraun, the Cop on the Block for the Lakota Homes
Community. He
asked her to return home because there had been an incident
at her house.
When she got home an officer told her stop and stand by her
car.
"They (officers) entered my home with their weapons drawn."
No search
warrant was presented and she said the police never asked
her permission to
enter her home.
Tieszen said there was no search warrant, but added he
thought "a woman
gave the officers permission to enter the home" though he
wasn't there at
the time.
Her 18-year-old daughter said she and a male friend were in
the basement
when police came down with their guns pulled out on them and
asked
"where the gun was." Officers continued to search for
suspects or guns after
they searched her companion who was taken to the police
department for
questioning.
As mother and daughter stood by the door waiting for the
officers to
complete the search, they shared a cigarette. An
unidentified officer snatched
the cigarette from the daughter's hand and threw it to the
ground. He
threatened the mother with contributing to the delinquency
of a minor charges,
but the mother explained that her daughter was 18. She said
another officer
tried to justify the allegation by stating, "tensions are
high, tensions are high."
EXCERPT PAGE 2
Official says officers went above and beyond the call of
duty
By Karen L. Testerman
Today staff
Northen Plains Bureau
PINE RIDGE, S.D. - Witnesses allege that two tribal police
officers
repeatedly kicked, clubbed and maced a Pine Ridge man -
without
provocation. When he tried to file a complaint, he found
himself facing federal
charges because the officers allege he physically and
verbally assaulted them. END EXCERPT
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
