Open Media Boston

metro news from the ground up

Home / News

Civil Rights

Grandmother Assaulted and Wrongfully Arrested at Own Home by Worcester PD, Lawsuit Alleges

10 February 2014 - 5:31pm | jadams
by Jonathan Adams

Worcester, Mass. – A grandmother is suing a member of the City of Worcester’s Police Department, alleging that she was assaulted and falsely arrested at her home in February last year. 

Daisy Morales filed the lawsuit against Officer James Powers at the US District Court in Worcester, Mass. on Friday, after what her court complaint alleges was a “vicious beating and unwarranted arrest” by the defendant as a lesson for “questioning his police authority.”

Brockton Cops Illegally Entered Cape Verdean Family’s Home, Used Excessive Force in Arrests, US Court Finds

30 January 2014 - 12:06pm | jadams
by Jonathan Adams

Brockton, Mass. - A judge has ruled that members of the Brockton Police Department illegally entered the home of a Cape Verdean family in 2008, and used excessive force while arresting family members.

Officers Thomas Hyland and Brian Donahue were found liable of illegally entering the Barbosa family home on November 15, 2008, following a noise complaint to police.

Officers Hyland, Jesse Drane, Steven Johnson, and Frank Baez were also found liable of using excessive force while arresting members of the family.

One Saint Patrick, Two Parades

11 March 2013 - 8:17pm | jadams
by Jonathan Adams

For the third year in a row there will be two St. Patrick's Day parades in the city this March 17th. The celebration of Ireland's patron saint has for over a decade been a divisive issue over who gets to march across South Boston. Veterans for Peace and other groups have taken it upon themselves again to organize an alternative parade, which they say is inclusive of all groups. Organizers of the official Patty's Day parade the Allied War Veterans Council have previously refused peace groups and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) groups from taking part in their event.

AUDIO: T Station Bag Searches Prompt Public Protest

13 February 2013 - 11:46am | jadams
by Jonathan Adams

BOSTON/Boston Common - Demonstrators converged on Boston Common on Saturday, February 2nd to protest what they see as a violation of their constitutional rights. A group calling itself Defend the 4th organized the protest calling for an end to bag searches conducted by Transit Police and Transportation Security Administration officals at T stations throughout Boston and surrounding cities. This report features interviews organizers of the demonstration, a high-ranking official with the Transit Police, and the opinions of T users.

Mass. Officials Remember Rosa Parks; Honor Nine African-American Women Transit Advocates

13 February 2013 - 5:35pm | Andrew Jeromski
by Andrew Jeromski

BOSTON/Beacon Hill—State and transportation officials marked the memory of Rosa Parks at the State House Tuesday by honoring nine African-American women who advocate for more equitable transportation opportunities throughout the Bay State’s public transit system.

February is Black History Month. Parks would have turned 100 years old on February 4th.

Pages

User login