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Alien Boy, documentary about peaceful schizophrenic man beaten to death by police, now on Amazon Instant Video


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James Chasse was beaten to death by police in 2006.  He was standing on the street, a cop yelled at him because he was behaving a little bit strangely and appeared to be urinating in public (although other witnesses said he wasn't even doing that).  He had been afraid of police for a long time, and on top of that he had recently gone off his meds, it must have been terrifying to be accosted by the cops.  He ran away in fear, and they chased him, tackled him, beat him, kicked him, and tasered him, until he was unconscious and bleeding on the ground.  He received no medical care and died shortly thereafter in police custody.

http://www.amazon.com/Alien-Boy-Death-James-Chasse/dp/B00J8CGUQ4

See the film, or at least check out the preview.  It is sad, so be prepared for that.  But it is not all about the event and the police cover-up, it is also about James Chasse's life, and who he was as a human being.

Edited by tamagotchi
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Thanks for sharing this. I hope one day I feel strong enough to watch it, because I feel he and those who've suffered similar fates at the hand of the evil, vile, disgusting police force deserve to have their stories shown. I hope all those "officers" suffer greatly in their lives, honestly. 

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Thanks for sharing this. I hope one day I feel strong enough to watch it, because I feel he and those who've suffered similar fates at the hand of the evil, vile, disgusting police force deserve to have their stories shown. I hope all those "officers" suffer greatly in their lives, honestly. 

 

The officers weren't even officially reprimanded.

 

It did turn into a high profile case, there were several investigations, the family sued the city and received a significant settlement etc.  There's a lot about these investigations in the film.  I don't know how much that actually affected day to day police behavior though.

Edited by tamagotchi
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Where did this happen?

Portland, according to Wikipedia (hope someone will correct me if I'm wrong).

 

That is correct.  I grew up in Portland, we went to the same high school and were friends.  He was a sweet wonderful person, and it's just horrifying that his life had to end in terror and pain.

Edited by tamagotchi
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Where did this happen?

Portland, according to Wikipedia (hope someone will correct me if I'm wrong).

 

 

I grew up in Portland, and the joke was that Portland police would shout "Stop or I'll reload!" They had that reputation for a reason.

 

There are way too many stories like this. 

 

Tamagotchi, I am sorry. Losing a good friend is hard. 

Edited by Bellatrix
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