World News: Spike Lee claps back on cops

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Is Spike Lee too pro-cop? After critique, he claps back

Filmmaker Spike Lee responded to criticism of his latest movie "BlacKkKlansman" in a way that might surprise cops. He stated that "we need police" and he also took up for the profession by stating that "I'm never going to say that all cops are corrupt."

Those statements came after fellow filmmaker Boots Riley implied that Lee made his movie as an extension of a consulting job for the New York Police Department, called parts of the story — which is based on the work of a real black police officer who infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan — "false" and criticized it for portraying a cop as someone who would fight racist oppression.

Arizona cops justified? That's what investigation found

Five Mesa, Arizona, officers repeatedly punched 33-year-old Robert Johnson in the face and kneed him multiple times until he fell to the floor. But their use of force against the unarmed man, who was standing in an apartment building hallway, was justified according to a report released Monday, months after the Scottsdale Police Department began an independent review of the incident.

The Mesa Police Department requested that Scottsdale police investigate. And the department reviewed hours of footage (from the apartment complex's surveillance video and officer body cameras), to determine that "no criminal charges are warranted."

Officers confronted Johnson in May as he stood next to an apartment complex elevator and appeared to be using his cellphone. According to the Mesa Police Department, officers felt as if Johnson — who was with a friend accused of trying to break into his ex-girlfriend's apartment — was not cooperating.

Johnson's attorney plans to file a civil suit.

Beating another officer is not OK

Fellow officers failed to recognize the unarmed man's authority when he was out of uniform. But the treatment the father got at his daughter's birthday party almost pales in comparison to the financial beating facing New York City — a $5 million payout.

A Brooklyn judge decided this week to lower the original payout awarded to Officer Larry Jackson by about $10 million, but she also acknowledged that the officer was "the victim of an unjustified and brutal beating ... in the presence of his extended family and friends" and that he "went through an undeniably traumatic experience that has scarred him both physically and emotionally for life."

Jackson was at his Queens home in August 2010, when the officers arrived. They showed up at his daughter's 21st birthday party after a 911 call reported a possibly armed man outside the house.

The officer, who is black, says race played a role in the way cops perceived and treated him.

For more on police and policing nationwide, visit policing.usatoday.com.

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