Joseph Hamley

I'll never forget Joseph Hamley, a young man who suffered from cerebral palsy and mental deficiencies. He had never learned to read, and had difficulty communicating with people. Even though his illnesses left him seriously disabled, he still loved to go to his favorite park in Springdale, Arkansas so he could go swinging.

Perhaps on his way to that very park, with several toy balls in his pockets which he hoped to play with later that day, Erin was walking alone along the highway in Tontitown when he was suddenly surrounded by local police officers and state troopers, with sirens blaring, officers screaming and guns drawing. Although young Erin stood 5'10", he had somehow been confused with an 18-year-old from Michigan who was 5'6" and who weighed 15 pounds less than young Erin and who had escaped from a court-appointed boot camp. In fact, about the only similarity between young Erin and the fugitive was the fact that both had a shaved head; young Erin had shaved his head just the previous weekend so that he would look more like his brother who had been sent by the National Guard to Iraq. And although there were so many differences in appearances and ages between the two, police never even bothered to ask young Erin his name, not before they surrounded him, not before they drew their guns and their tasers on him, and not before they forced him to lie on his back. Meanwhile, with the scene more than under control, state trooper Larry Norman of West Fork drove over 100 miles an hour with his radio blaring music so loud he couldn't even hear his police dispatcher or other officers on his police radio in his eagerness to arrive on the scene. Perhaps had trooper Normann been able to hear the police radio, he would have heard the dispatcher raise doubts that the disabled man laying on the ground was the escaped fugitive. The dispatcher told officers that the fugitive was in a tan or brown hooded coat, which young Erin definitely was not wearing at the time. "Don’t have any way of confirming this is the guy they were chasing", the dispatcher told the officers. Police on the scene had radioed trooper Norman to block traffic for them, yet inexplicably he did a U-turn within 25 feet of the young disabled man and jumped from his vehicle with shotgun in his hand.

Due to his disability, young Erin had trouble controlling his hands, and they often would often go to his pockets and back out, especially when he was nervous. It would be obvious to any normal person witnessing the young disabled man in a prone position on his back that he was obviously no threat to anyone, much less to the four (five, counting trooper Norman) trained officers who surrounded him. But for some reason known only to him, trooper Norman thought the young Joseph Erin Hamley was a dangerous criminal that was such a threat to him that he took his shotgun and shot young Erin, killing him. This killing was recorded by multiple dashboard cameras and is available for viewing on YouTube, and it shows the force of that shot would literally cause trooper Norman to be thrown up in the air and back to the ground a few inches from where he originally stood. The fatal shot went into young Joseph Erin Hamley's side. Trooper Norman had been on the scene for exactly one minute prior to his killing the young disabled man who lay on his back. Young Erin's last words were "Why did you shoot me?". The only response he received from the officers was to shut up.

Dashboard cameras show all of the officers quickly running near the injured young disabled man, calling for him to put his hands out where they could see them. But the injury was too much for young Erin and his poor body, weakened by his disabilities, could go on no more. The officers yell that one hand was clear and then the other and they then walk to the body. Trooper Norman is seen slowly walking back to his car, as though he were taking a stroll through the park. No one watching the video would ever imagine they were watching a man who had  just killed another. Without care for the man who lay dying just feet away, trooper Norman can be heard yelling to other officers that young Erin was going for his pocket with his left hand. Yet the dashboard camera shows something different - as trooper Norman is yelling for young Erin to roll over from his back to his stomach, it looks as though young Erin is trying to reach across his body so that he can follow the officer's command, but due to his disability he must grab the ground with his disabled hand for leverage. At no time does the dashboard camera show what trooper Norman uses as justification for killing an young, innocent and unarmed disabled man. Instead of running to his patrol car, instead of calling for medical aid, instead of showing one iota of compassion for a dying man, trooper Norman instead tries to justify his shooting a man that his family would describe as someone who would never hurt anyone, who would go to another who was sad and put his arm around them to give them comfort. Yet in his last few minutes on this Earth, young Erin received no compassion, not from the officer who killed him, and not from any of the other officers who were present.

Despite never finding any weapon on young Hamley (other than the toy balls in his pocket), despite his looking absolutely nothing like the person police were hunting, despite police not even attempting to ascertain the actual identity of the disabled man they had forced to the ground, despite his serious disability which had ravaged his muscles and caused him to not be able in complete control of the muscles in his arms and hands, despite the shooting violated every police regulation and procedure, police said with a straight face that they believed the shooting to be warranted. Thankfully, a grand jury disagreed and recommended charging trooper Norman with manslaughter.

In the days that followed, the family of Joseph Erin Hamley would call out asking why was he killed. The response from the Arkansas State Troopers was that an investigation was underway, and deflected questions from the family as to the length of time trooper Norman was at the scene and whether trooper Norman ever even asked for Erin's name. The Arkansas State Troopers were supposed to answer many questions that arose that fateful day: "Why didn't officers just ask for his name, because as soon as young Erin would have talked they would immediately have known this was a young disabled man and not the fugitive they were hunting", "Why would police officers think a fugitive on the run would be walking along one of the busiest roads in Northwest Arkansas", "Why did it take so long for an ambulance to be called and for it to arrive on the scene", "How long did the police give the young disabled man to follow their orders before they killed him", "Why was trooper Norman using a shotgun", "Why were officers so convinced the young disabled man was the escaped fugitive given the concerns of the dispatcher and the disparity in physical characteristics" and "Why didn't trooper Norman follow his orders to block traffic rather than joining the other officers in surrounding the young disabled man." To date, the Arkansas State Troopers have never answered those questions. I wouldn't hold my breath waiting on answers, either.

The Arkansas State Troopers would also say that the fact that trooper Norman's brother Rick had killed Larry Norman's other brother Greg and had been sentenced to life in prison only weeks earlier had no bearing on the current killing of Erin by the third brother, Larry Norman. Apparently killing is in the blood of the Norman family. The Arkansas State Trooper's lead investigator into the killing of Erin sent an email to all other troopers asking for donations for trooper Larry Norman's defense fund; amazingly, neither the lead investigator nor the Arkansas State Trooper's organization saw a conflict of interest in this. The head of the Arkansas State Troopers, Col. Steve Dozier, would later step down in disgrace. He would immediately take a job as vice president of corporate services for Wal-Mart. Some disgrace.

Trooper Norman's wife would say that he was grieving the killing of the innocent, disabled Erin, but the other comments she made sounded more like they blamed the deceased Erin for the trouble that her husband found himself. "I wish the public knew the Larry I do," his wife said. "He takes pride when he puts his trooper's uniform on. He stands a little taller. He wears his badge with pride. The way he feels right now, he feels like he's disgraced that honor in some way." Killing an unarmed, innocent, disabled man should have caused him to feel like he had disgraced that honor.

Trooper Norman was sentenced to 90 days in jail and 30 days of community service for his killing of young Joseph Hamley. He was later allowed to retire from the Arkansas State Troopers on early medical retirement. The tax dollars the good people of Washington County and the state of Arkansas, and even those of the family of poor Joseph Erin Hamley, are still going today towards paying for the retirement this scum receives. The Arkansas State Troopers settled with the family of Joseph Erin Hamley for $1 million for the killing; though money will never bring back Erin.
March 7th will mark the 6th anniversary of the killing of Joseph Hamley. He would have been 27 had he not been killed, and probably would still be swinging in the park that he loved so, Grove Street Park, the park which had been proposed to be named in his honor, yet was not due to the strong objections of the Arkansas State Troopers. I suppose they would prefer the park to be named in honor of Trooper Norman.

Kathryn Johnson

Kathryn Johnson was a 92 year old grandmother who lived in a tough Atlanta neighborhood. She had lived in the neighborhood for 17 years and couldn't afford to move anywhere else. An elderly friend had been raped recently and drugs were rampant in the neighborhood, so Kathryn had purchased an old revolver and installed extra locks and "burglar bars" on the windows for added protection.

On the 21st... day of November, 2006, just 2 days before Thanksgiving, Kathryn heard something at the door. In her rough-and-tumble neighborhood, noises like that could mean trouble, so she went to get her gun for safety reasons. Meanwhile, three undercover police officers were at her front door with a "no-knock" warrant. Officers were able to obtain the rare "no-knock" warrant by providing evidence that an informant had purchased drugs at the home and that the home had surveillance equipment at the front door, which would give the alleged criminals time to destroy evidence. The officers were in plainsclothes and did not announce themselves before opening the door.

As soon as Kathryn saw the strange men at her door, and having no way to know they were police officers, she shot at them in panic. The shot was simply for warning, and went well above the heads of all the officers. In return, the officers shot 39 times at the 92 year old grandmother, hitting her 6 times throughout her body. Though the officers were not hurt by Kathryn's shot, the barrage of bullets released left injuries in one officer's arm, another's thigh and and the third's shoulder.

As Kathryn lie dying, one of the officers handcuffed her. She was pronounced dead at the scene. After officers thoroughly searched the home, they were unable to locate any drugs in the home; however, to justify their actions, one of the officers planted three bags of marijuana, which the officer later admitted was from a previous drug raid. The informant alleged to have bought drugs earlier from the home in justification for the "no-knock" warrant would later admit that he was compelled by officers to lie about purchasing the drugs.

Investigations following Kathryn's murder revealed that Atlanta police routinely lied to obtain search warrants. Further, evidence came forward that planting drugs was also rampant in the police department. The 3 police officers who killed Kathryn were charged with murder. They eventually pleaded guilty to various civil rights violations, and 2 of the officers pled guilty to manslaughter. Over 100 cases in which the 3 officers were involved are being reviewed for similar misconduct. One person has already been released from prison resulting from the review after it was discovered that evidence used to gain the conviction was planted by officers at the scene.