RE: RAT Anthony Lee News

[Laura Winton <fluffysingler@prodigy.net>]

All the cops have to do anymore is whine that they thought someone was armed
and that justifies them pumping the person full of bullets.

Here in Minneapolis they've murdered two or three mentally ill people this
year.  Whatever happened to "shoot to wound" if they thought they were in
danger?  I'm so sick of cops being able to come up--with or without
identifying themselves and with or without provocation--and then get trigger
happy when they're startled.  HOW exactly is that supposed to make me feel
safer?

Grrrrrr.

Here's a poem I wrote after the Diallo cop acquittal:  (not to be
self-serving, but because this is the only way I have to cope with all this
shit)

the line breaks will probably be weird, but you'll get the gist of it
anyway.


41


(after the Diallo verdict in which four police officers were acquitted of
excessive force in shooting an unarmed man 41 times)


Someone must have mistaken you for the Devil,
the monster outside the door that could not be killed with mortal means.

I bathed in the river of dead fish;
beside the park a cacophony:
children pointing fingers in a chanting circle.
Beneath my feet the dusty bones of ancestors murdered
in my own myths vanquished
to make me whole.

Although we live like children, these are not games we play.
Absent fathers do not sweep under the bed for monsters after dark.
41 holes in a trembling effigy now tucks us in at night the undertakers
will wax a smile upon your lips as you leave behind an island nation of
inmates to sit upon your throne of honor.

I walked through the skeletal hallway, my joints disconnected my bones
falling away beside me my seams unraveling.

Who brings you into the light at this moment? The flashlight in your face,
the steam off your
skin, El Diablo, someone must have thought.

-- -- -- -- --

41 tasks I gave you and the stables remain unclean.
41 days from the deluge/first drop and already you forget how to swim.
41 winks - you will not wake from this sleep.


I bathed in the river of dead fish to rinse you from my skin.

These are not games that we play we run home
dusty and sunburnt expecting someone to tuck us in.


------Original Message------
From: Audie McCall <audiemccall@yahoo.com>
To: Rat List <rat-list@ratconference.com>
Sent: December 5, 2000 8:21:45 PM GMT
Subject: RAT Anthony Lee News


Thought this might be of interest to the list since
Anthony was a colleague, comrade and compatriot.

If you live in LA, you probably already know about
this.  If you don't, maybe you should.

The bottom line now, as you'll see, is they lied.
They just fucking lied.  Surprise, surprise.

******************************************************

Tuesday, December 5, 2000

News from Los Angeles in the Los Angeles Times

Officer's Bullets Hit Actor in Back, Autopsy Finds
Investigation: The coroner's report appears to
contradict police accounts of the shooting of Anthony
Dwain Lee at a Benedict Canyon Halloween party.

By JEFFREY L. RABIN, KURT STREETER, Times Staff
Writers

The television actor killed by a Los Angeles
police officer responding to a noise complaint at a
Halloween party was shot once in the back of the head
and three times in the back, wounds that appear to
contradict police accounts, according to an autopsy
report released Monday.
Police said Anthony Dwain Lee was killed Oct. 28
at a Benedict Canyon mansion after pointing a replica
handgun at an officer standing outside a glass door.
Lee, 39, who was in a back bedroom with two other men,
turned suddenly toward an officer who was shining a
flashlight through the glass, police said.
The coroner's report, signed by Deputy Medical
Examiner Jeffrey P. Gutstadt, found that Lee had been
struck from behind by four bullets, with two in the
back causing his death as they tore through vital
organs.
"He could not have withdrawn a gun from his waist
and pointed a gun at the officer and then have been
shot four times in the back. It's impossible," said
Cameron Stewart, an attorney with the law firm of
Johnnie L. Cochran Jr., who was retained by Lee's
family.
Stewart said she will file a claim soon with the
city of Los Angeles, the first step in a
wrongful-death action.
Calling the incident "a senseless, unprovoked
tragedy," Stewart said she hopes city officials "will
recognize the tragedy that has occurred and will step
up to the plate and do the right thing."
Lee, an up-and-coming actor who had years ago
turned from gangs and become a Buddhist, was a friend
of one of the hosts and a guest at the costume party.
Residents of the house had hired a security guard and
talked to neighbors in advance about the party.
Someone called police shortly after midnight to
complain about noise. Los Angeles Police Officers
Tarriel Hopper and Natalie Humpherys were dispatched
to investigate. A security guard met them in an entry
area and asked them to wait while he found one of the
hosts.
But Hopper, 27, went outside. He made his his way
along a narrow outdoor walkway and came to the back
bedroom where Lee, Jeff Denton--one of the hosts--and
a third man were chatting. Hopper said he shined his
flashlight through the glass door. He fired when Lee
allegedly reached into his waistband and pulled out
what appeared to be a .357 Magnum semiautomatic
handgun and waved it in his direction, according to
police. The gun was a rubber replica.
Nine shots were fired, according to police, who
are conducting an investigation. The district
attorney's office and Cochran's firm are conducting
their own separate inquiries.
Cocaine and alcohol were found in Lee's system,
the coroner's autopsy report said.
LAPD spokesman Lt. Horace Frank said Monday he
could not comment on the report because the department
had not had a chance to read it. Regarding the four
shots in the back, he said: "They can be explained."
The coroner's report, he said, will be a key
component of the investigation.
"It should be noted there were reports early on
in this investigation that Mr. Lee was struck in the
back," Frank said.
Lee's sister, Tina Lee-Vogt, reached in
Sacramento, said the coroner's findings are a
vindication of her brother.
She bristled at Chief Bernard C. Parks, who had
said at a news conference that her brother was to
blame for the shooting.
Lee-Vogt, who works as an assistant to the police
chief of Sacramento, said the LAPD had tried to hold
her brother responsible for his own death before all
the facts were known.
"It was really irresponsible for Chief Parks to
come out and try to sway public opinion like he did,"
said Lee-Vogt.
"This whole thing makes me concerned about the
truthfulness of the department. The whole press
conference they put on, the displaying of the weapon,
saying that my brother pointed the gun at that
officer, a view I never supported . . . trying to sway
public opinion, they showed a callous indifference to
the taking of a life."
* * *
Times staff writer Jean Merl contributed to this
story


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Laura Winton
fluffysingler@prodigy.net
http://pages.prodigy.net/fluffysingler