MEDIA UPDATE & CLARIFICATION*: September 13, 2011

Jury Seated and First Testimony Heard in Civil Trial About Fatal Police Beating of Martin Cotton

Oakland, CA:   On the morning of September 12, 2011 in U.S. District Court, Northern District in Oakland, CA, a seven person jury was sworn in to hear the civil trial brought by the family of Martin Frederick Cotton II, who was killed by a fatal police beating in Eureka, California four years ago.  Supporters and members of Redwood Curtain CopWatch and the Oscar Grant Committee Against Police Brutality rallied outside the courthouse early in the morning, spreading the word about the trial about to occur, speaking out against state brutality, and holding signs "Cops Beat Martin To Death.  Justice For Martin Cotton!" 

When We Gonna Wake Up…..Americans are Oppressed, Too

http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts02042011.html

 By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS

Police in the US now rival criminals, and exceed terrorists, as the greatest threat to the American public. Rogelio Serrato is the latest case to be in the news of an innocent person murdered by the police. Serrato was the wrong man, but the Monterey County, California, SWAT team killed the 31-year old father of four and left the family home a charred ruin.

Please begin or continue to

*organize in the Bay area for the trial,

*send donations so Humboldt residents can attend the trial in Oakland,

*invite CopWatch to do a presentation regarding Martin's death,

*and fight police brutality in your region!

Contact us at (707) 633-4493 or
through email at copwatchrwc@riseup.net

 In the December 17, 2010 Santa Rosa Press Democrat there was a very predictable story titled: JUDGE: SANTA ROSA POLICE JUSTIFIED IN 2008 KILLING. Wish we had a nickel everytime some version of that headline has been printed in our local press. Below is a statement (also sent as a letter to the Editor) from Jesse’s mom Valerie Barber. I’ve worked with Val for the past two years since her son’s death and she has been very generous with her time and energy reaching out to other families in similar situations. She went through the laborious process of finding an attorney and putting in the hundreds of hours it takes to build a case—a process that the local Leday and Sullivan families are now going through. Even getting the names of the officers who commit these killings is difficult and the deck is stacked big time against any sort of justice... for families left suddenly and unnecessarily without a loved one.

The civil trial in Oakland: Siehna Cotton et al. v. Eureka Police Dept. and Humboldt County Sheriff's Dept. has been POSTPONED.  Please keep your eyes and ears out for the new date, some time after February!

A couple of us from Redwood Curtain CopWatch want to travel to the Bay Area (and points between and around here and there) to talk to groups of people about what happened to Martin Cotton, to invite people to the trial, and to help connect the conversations and struggles that our communities are engaged in regarding police brutality. [See below for links about events planned so far] We are looking for ideas, suggestions, and help in our organizing to make presentations and participate in gatherings and conversations regarding state violence, in these days leading up to the trial. Beginning on December 13th and probably running for two or three weeks, we want to have a full schedule in the Bay Area and thereabouts.  Can you help?  Perhaps, for instance, you could book us to make a presentation where you live, publicize our visit and the upcoming trial, and/or inform us of events and discussions already planned in your area.

The federal civil trial regarding the deadly beating by police of Eureka homeless resident, Martin Cotton, was postponed (We learned mid-December) .  The new date was set for September 12th. 

Now there is more time to organize.

We have been getting together with groups and individuals in the Bay area to spread the word about Martin Cotton and the trial.  Also, we've been connecting to strategize and talk about how our communities are struggling against police violence.  And how we can strengthen our efforts.  So far, while the situations we are dealing with are so intense, our encounters in the Bay area have been enriching experiences! 

Martin and his daughter Siehna

Police must have reasonable grounds for using Tasers, 9th Circuit rules

The court found that a Coronado police officer used excessive force when he used a stun gun on an unarmed motorist in 2005. The ruling could have implications for use-of-force policies across the West.

State trooper faces charges [BUT NO JAIL] after dashboard camera shows brutal attack on female motorist

By Daily Mail Reporter
October 7, 2010

Shocking video has emerged of a police officer slamming a handcuffed woman face first into a concrete wall, leaving her with a deep gash to her chin.

The horrific images were captured on a Dallas Tollway by Trooper Arturo Perez’s dashboard camera as he tried to arrest the female motorist on suspicion of drink-driving.

The grainy pictures clearly show the officer dragging 22-year-old Whitney Fox towards his police car then body-slamming her into a highway’s concrete dividing wall when she tried to pull away from him.

l spoke to Daniel (tasered man)'s Mom.  She said when the cops arrived Daniel was outside, calm at the time... The cops said something and Daniel said "Leave me alone," and backed away from the cops saying "Leave me alone, I am scared."

On August 9, 2007, Martin Frederick Cotton II was brutally beat to death- and then refused medical treatment -by Eureka Police and Humboldt County Sheriff "Correctional Officers" (in the jail).

Since September of 2008, there has been a federal civil rights lawsuit brought on behalf of Siehna Cotton (Martin's baby daughter) and by his father, Marty Cotton.

http://www.redwoodcurtaincopwatch.net/node/201 

This one was published in the Eureka Times- Standard on Tuesday, July 25, 2006. This is exactly how it looked in the paper:

Excessive force used in arrest?

I am writing in concern of the brute force I witnessed on July 17.  I observed a swarm of Eureka PD pulling up to the front part of our apartment building.  I proceeded to take a closer look outside.  I was standing on the sidewalk observing the ruckus.  Then, seconds later, an officer in his patrol car raced onto the sidewalk while I was standing there and gave no warning (e.g., did not honk, nothing) and I was forced to run onto the front grass area.  There was mass confusion within our building we tried to communicate with the officers but they proceeded to be extrememly abrasive and disrespectful toward us bystanders.

Christopher Arrion Burgess, 16 year-old Native American boy. He was
pepper sprayed by a probation officer who stormed into a house where
Christopher was watching a movie with friends. EPD officer Terry Liles,
who had pulled Christopher out of sleep about 3 years earlier (13 years
old) and beat him until the boy's skull was fractured, chased Christopher
on October 23, 2006, and shot him in the heart. Killed him. And this,
after years of Christopher being systematically criminalized, and still