The family of an elderly Melbourne with dementia man says they plan on suing the police department -- all over a violent confrontation that was caught on camera.
The dash camera video shows 66-year-old Albert Flowers being kicked by Melbourne officer Derek Middendorf back in October. Flowers was also punched repeatedly, and another officer used a stun gun to shoot him in the face.
Police reports said the officer was investigating a call about an argument at the time. Officer Middendorf said Flowers was acting aggressively and refused to stop at a safe distance.
But the man's family said they're horrified and that the officer went too far.
"I know he has a job to do, but when you take it above and beyond after being warned that he has dementia when you are warning that he has dementia and be brutal like that it's criminal," said Flowers' son Carlos.
News 13 contacted Melbourne Police. They referred us to a spokesperson for the city who said because no complaint has been filed yet, they have nothing to respond to.
They do say though the officer turned off his camera before the incident - but the video was still able to be retrieved from a hard drive.
A hearing is set for Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the city says Officer Middendorf is still employed with the police department, but is currently off the job after an unrelated injury.
Society's Child
Because of the San Antonio-based media giant's enormous influence - it is the largest owner of radio stations in the United States, and experts point out that it essentially owns what has come to be known as the conservative talk-radio industry - Romney critics, supporters of Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich, Tea Party groups, and elections commentators are all raising the alarm. Some analysts are even calling for the firm to disclose the fact that Romney's Bain Capital owns a station or syndicates a show whenever a media personality is reporting on the Republican presidential campaign.
© AFP/Louisa Gouliamaki
In a move bound to leave many Greeks and scholars aghast, Greece's culture ministry said Tuesday it will open up some of the debt-stricken country's most-cherished archaeological sites to advertising firms and other ventures.
The ministry says the move is a common-sense way of helping "facilitate" access to the country's ancient Greek ruins, and money generated would fund the upkeep and monitoring of sites. The first site to be opened would be the Acropolis.
Archaeologists, however, have for decades slammed such an initiative as sacrilege.
The culture ministry said any renting of ancient Greek sites would be subject to strict conditions.
© thedailysheeple.com
As you know, the so-called Super Committee recently tried to come up with a plan to cut the deficit by $1.5 trillion and failed completely. To anyone who understands the nature of the political process, the failure was, of course, as predictable as it was shameful. What's even more shameful, though, is that the sought-after $1.5 trillion cut wasn't meant to apply to the annual budget but to the total budget of the next 10 years - a fact that is rarely mentioned.
Now whenever the chattering classes talk about cuts, it's always about cuts over the course of 10 years. Which is a dodge, partly because most of the supposed cuts will be scheduled for the end of the period, but also because new programs, new emergencies and hidden contingencies will creep in to offset any announced cuts. So the numbers below aren't a worst case; they're the rosiest possible scenario. People have thought I was joking when, asked how bad the Greater Depression was going to be, I answered that it would be worse than even I thought it would be. But I haven't been joking.
© ABC13
HPD investigators at the scene of the murder of Gelareh Bagherzadeh, found in her car in the Memorial area early Monday morning.
HPD investigators at the scene of the murder of Gelareh Bagherzadeh, found in her car in the Memorial area early Monday morning.
Gelareh Bagherzadeh, 30, was shot to death around midnight Monday in the parking area behind the townhome at 894 Augusta Drive where she lived with her parents. She was a student in molecular genetics technology at MD Anderson Cancer Center and was an organizer of Sabz-Houston, an organization calling for political change in Iran.
Born in Mashhad, Iran, she was prominent for her activism in demanding a regime change in Iran in 2010 and rights for women in her native country. Websites devoted to that cause ran accounts of her death Monday and Tuesday.
The mystery of Bagherzadeh's death deepened Tuesday, when Houston police revealed they first responded to a shots-fired call in that block about 11:45 p.m. Sunday but found no evidence of a shooting and left the scene.
Frightening statistics from Delhi's police have revealed that 13 children go missing in the city each day. Many end up as slaves or are forced to work in the sex industry in a city which is now India's undisputed kidnapping capital.
With almost 17 million people packed into its crowded city streets, New Delhi is the perfect place for people to get lost. But some are never found again. They simply disappear.
That is what happened to Rao Kumar's 12 year old son, Ravi. He went missing one year ago when he left the house to get his bicycle, and never returned.
"I don't know who took my son away. I looked for him everywhere but did not find him," says Rao Kumar, the father of the missing child.
And Ravi is far from the only one.
In Delhi alone, anywhere from 2-5,000 children go missing every year, while in India as a whole, a staggering 800,000 disappear.
Having a loved one disappear takes a dreadful toll on families. Kumar has not been able to hold down a steady job or stay healthy. His only focus is finding out what happened to his son. But the answer is likely a grim one - most children who disappear in Delhi end up as sex workers or slaves.
"The kids are kept in places where no one will be able to find them. They're also kidnapped for the organ trade business, adoption and also for begging," says R.S. Chaurasia, chairperson of the Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA), a non-governmental organization in India which campaigns against child labor, child trafficking and child servitude.
© Andrew Harrer / Bloomberg
According to a recent Gallup poll, Congress's approval rating has reached an all-time low of 11 percent. Here are some surprising things from recent history that were more popular than the current Congress.
According to a recent Gallup poll, Congress's approval rating has reached an all-time low of 11 percent. Here are some surprising things from recent history that were more popular than the current Congress.
A new Washington Post/ABC News poll shows a new high - 84 percent of Americans - disapproving of the job Congress is doing, with almost two-thirds saying they "disapprove strongly." Just 13 percent of Americans approve of how things are going after the 112th Congress's first year of action, solidifying an unprecedented level of public disgust that has both sides worried about their positions less than 10 months before voters decide their fates.
It has been nearly four years since even 30 percent expressed approval of Congress, according to the Post/ABC survey, and support hasn't recovered from the historic low it reached last fall.
On Monday French President Nicolas Sarkozy openly stated the Standard & Poor's of France's downgrade "changes nothing." Eight other countries in the Eurozone, which is the world's second largest economy, received the same fate and many feel the downgrade could stump Sarkozy's effort to lead the Eurozone out of its economic crisis. Jim Rogers, investor and author, joins us to discuss the credit downgrade and what this means for the Eurozone.
© Getty
Doda of Poland arrives for the MTV Europe Music Awards.
Doda of Poland arrives for the MTV Europe Music Awards.
Dorota Rabczewska, a singer who uses the stage name Doda, said in a 2009 interview that she doubted the Bible "because it's hard to believe in something that was written by someone drunk on wine and smoking some herbs."
A Warsaw court ordered her Monday to pay a fine of 5,000 zlotys ($1,450) for offending religious feelings.
The case comes months after another Polish court let off a death metal performer, Adam Darski, who tore a Bible during a 2007 performance. It deemed his act artistic expression.
© AP Photo/Evan Vucci
People arrive at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington, Monday, Jan. 16, 2012, for a ceremony honoring his legacy.
People arrive at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington, Monday, Jan. 16, 2012, for a ceremony honoring his legacy.
While rallies in previous years have often been focused on protesting the Confederate flag that flies outside the Statehouse near a memorial for Confederate soldiers, the attention this year has turned to the voter ID law.
The U.S. Justice Department has rejected the law. The Obama administration said it didn't pass muster under the 1965 voting rights act, which outlawed discriminatory practices that prevented blacks from voting. On Monday, marchers carried signs that read: "Voter ID(equals)Poll Tax."
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder was among those slated to speak.
