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The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department has the worst luck when it comes to cameras. Time after time, key evidence caught on video somehow, someway ends up disappearing.

Sometimes, the camera that would have recorded the relevant moments just happened to be malfunctioning that day, as was the case while Metro officers were murdering Erik Scott outside of a Costco back in 2010. The one camera that had a perfect view of the shooting wasn’t working. Even after it was sent out to be processed by forensic video experts, only 96% of the digital information on it could be recovered. By chance, that 4% which couldn’t be restored (due to physical damage to the hard drive) was the portion in which Scott was being killed.

Other times, Las Vegas Police officers are just forgetful, as was the case when one of the LVMPD’s Heroes held a gun to NFL player Michael Bennett’s head and told him he was going to “blow his fucking head off.” Unfortunately, that officer who could clearly be seen (from a distance) on another officer’s body cam footage holding a gun to Bennett’s head, didn’t remember to turn his body camera on during the one portion of the incident that is in dispute.

Of course, when all else fails and video is actually recorded at the time of the abuse, it sometimes mysteriously becomes “corrupted” after the fact. Such was the case for LVMPD K-9 Officer Jeffrey Lynn Harper, who was facing charges of arson and fraud after he was caught intentionally burning a four-wheeler and a trailer used to haul it in an attempt to collect money from the insurance policies covering the vehicles.

The NHP dash cam video, in which he made incriminating statements about the fire and being behind on payments for them, somehow became corrupted during the “investigation.” This forced the case to be dismissed after a mistrial was declared over the missing video evidence. By some amazing coincidence, his case was handled by a lead investigator, Denell Hoggard, who was due for retirement immediately afterwards.

Note: If you have videos, stories, upcoming events/protests, or personal interactions with the police (and/or “justice” system) that you would like to share, send them to us and we will do everything we can to bring it to the attention of the world. In addition, you can visit the Nevada Cop Block resources section for information and links to the rights of citizens when dealing with police, during which you should always be filming.

Degraded, Humiliated, and Physically Assaulted

In April of 2017, Vera Anderson was arrested as part of an anti-war protest just north of Las Vegas. Creech Air Force Base, where the protest took place, is where most of the drones being used to murder people in foreign countries by the U.S. military are remotely controlled. Various protests organized by numerous different groups take place there throughout the year.

This particular protest, was organized by a local faith-based organization named “Nevada Desert Experience,” many of whom are pacifists. Like most other protests held at Creech, it included a mass act of civil disobedience, in which participants are arrested after walking past the official property line of the base. For the most part, it’s a symbolic event that often results in a “cite-and-release” situation, rather than a trip to jail.

During recent protests, there has been an increase in instances in which those arrested are transported back to Las Vegas to where the Clark County Detention Center is located. However, even in almost all of those cases the procedure generally only involves being booked and then released within a short period of time.

When Anderson was arrested, things went a little differently, though. While she was being processed for booking, a female corrections officer insisted that beads Anderson was wearing in her hair had to be removed. She then began forcibly pulling them out. Ultimately, this resulted in a chunk of her hair being ripped out, creating a bald spot.

In the process, she was also grabbed by the neck, told to “stop acting like an animal,” and accused of “wanting to play games” after she indicated that she was being hurt. Eventually, she ended up being confined in a restraint chair, which is intended for use in cases in which inmates are behaving violently, not for someone complaining about being in pain because their hair is being yanked out.

The Latest “Corrupted” Video

Recently, surveillance footage of the incident (embedded below) was released after a public records request was filed by local ABC news affiliate “8 News Now.” However, Anderson and the guard are mostly out of the frame of the camera and there’s also a counter obstructing the view during the time her hair was being pulled out. As a result, very little of what happened during those moments is visible on the video that was released.

What’s very much visible within that video is that one of the other guards is also filming the entire scene with an additional hand-held camera. That camera should have had no problem depicting exactly what happened. It also would include audio, unlike the surveillance footage, which would confirm or refute what was said to Anderson.

Of course, the key word there is “should.” In keeping with Metro’s history of bad luck with video evidence, there just happened to be a “glitch” that caused a technical failure. As a result, all of footage of the incident taken by the one camera that would have most clearly depicted it was somehow corrupted.

Without that video, the “investigation” prompted by an internal affairs complaint Anderson filed was inconclusive. A further complaint to the Citizen Review Board did result in a finding that the corrections officers had violated department policy. That violation, however, wasn’t for pulling Anderson’s hair out by the roots.

It was for not returning the beads attached to the clump of hair they left lying on the floor afterwards (which is actually visible in the surveillance video). The board also determined, due to the fact Anderson wasn’t going to be in jail very long, that the beads should have never had to be removed in the first place.

Obviously and not surprisingly, the video recorded that day isn’t the only corrupted thing within that jail or the LVMPD in general.

Local News Report of the Incident/Missing Video



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