The meeting was held in the wake of the trial and acquittals of four Prince George's County cops on charges ranging from involuntary manslaughter to violation of civil rights. In one case Officer Brian Catlett was tried and acquitted by a circuit court judge of charges of involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment for the November 1999 fatal shooting of 19-year-old Gary Hopkins Jr.

"I don't speak for my son tonight," said Marion Hopkins, mother of the slain youth. "Nothing I can say will bring him back. I am speaking out so that no other mother will have to go through what I went through," she said.

Prosecutors initially argued that Catlett and officer Devin White singled out Hopkins because of a run-in with the cops a year earlier. During that confrontation Hopkins objected to the officers striking a friend. Catlett told Hopkins to "shut up or you'll get some of the same." The judge barred the prosecution from presenting testimony about that incident.

On the night Catlett killed Hopkins, White was the first back-up cop on the scene and used his cruiser to block the car in which Hopkins was riding. The cops claimed they were acting on an "anonymous" tip that someone in the car had a gun. In spite of that "tip" witnesses testified that one man got out of the car and was allowed to walk away. When Hopkins stepped out, White quickly stuck a gun to his head.

Catlett and defense witnesses claimed that Hopkins attempted to take White's gun and that Catlett fired to protect his partner. They presented an FBI crime lab's claim of finding traces of Hopkins's DNA on the gun sight of White's weapon to support their case.

The prosecution countered that White's gun was not taken by the FBI until four months after the shooting leaving time for tampering. Witnesses testified that Hopkins repeatedly attempted to brush the gun away from his head, but had his arms up at the time he was shot.

Three other county cops, one of them now an FBI agent, were also tried and acquitted by a jury of charges of unleashing an attack dog upon two homeless, immigrant workers.

On Sept. 21, 1995, Ricardo Mendez, a Mexican immigrant worker, and Jorge Herrera-Cruz from El Salvador, were sleeping on the roof of a printing shop in Takoma Park. They were ordered off the roof by officers Stephanie Mohr and Anthony Delozier. While Mendez and Herrera-Cruz stood with their hands raised, Delozier reportedly shouted to another cop, "Hey sarge, got a new dog here. Mind if it gets a bite?"

The States Attorney's office brought charges against the cops in response to protests against a string of police brutality cases. But the prosecution of the cops was less than aggressive. Thomas Ruffin, a board member of the National Conference of Black Lawyers, summed up the prosecution of Catlett by saying, "They tried. They didn't try hard, but they tried."

In the past 13 months Prince George's County cops shot 12 people, killing five. The most recent, that of Howard University student Prince Jones, sparked protests by students at the campus. Jones was shot and killed by an undercover cop who followed him from Maryland, through Washington, D.C., and into Virginia. Two others died of injuries sustained while in police custody.

Early last year, two federal juries found cops violated Freddie McCollum's civil rights after three police officers beat him severely during a traffic stop in 1997. McCollum was awarded $4 million. Salvadoran immigrant Nelson Robles won $650,000 in damages after Prince George's County cops handcuffed him to a pole and left him there to await pickup by Montgomery County cops.

Sam Manuel is a member of the United Food and Commercial Workers union.  
 
 
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