CHICAGO (AP) — One by one, the men told the same story: A Chicago police officer would demand money from them. And if they didn’t pay, they would find themselves in handcuffs with drugs stuffed in their pockets.
Leonard Gipson, one of 15 convicted men, talks to reporters after a judge in Chicago threw out the convictions Thursday.
A Cook County judge on Thursday threw out the felony drug convictions of 15 black men who all say they were locked up for no other reason except that they refused to pay Ronald Watts.
It was the largest mass exoneration in memory in Chicago.
I've watched a couple of TV shows, Cops and Live P.D. What I see are significant policy changes from when I was young. It used to be that a cop was trained not to pull his gun unless he intended to shoot and then shoot to kill. Now they pull their guns from the start, for their own protections. They also put the cuffs on someone being detained and pat them down for weapons, for their own protection. They might then be arrested or let go without charge. Fleeing on foot has an option of being a misdemeanor but a felony charge always follows now. I know the world has changed and Andy Griffith might not survive those changes. But there's a chicken or egg question as to what kicked off these changes.
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