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SEATTLE -- A Seattle police officer has been caught on tape talking about "making up" evidence while two wrongly arrested men sit in jail. It's the latest shocker uncovered by a KOMO 4 Problem Solver investigation into the Seattle Police Department's vanishing dashcam videos.
Josh Lawson and Christopher Franklin filed a claim against the city Monday for excessive force and wrongful arrest.
The two were arrested at gunpoint on November 16, 2010 and said the incident changed their lives forever.
"I thought I was gonna die," Lawson said about that night.
Franklin said it was "the most terrifying thing I've ever experienced."
Both men said they suffered facial bruises and swelling after one was kicked and the other man-handled into the pavement while being arrested. But then listen to what an officer says on an audio recording after he takes the two to holding cells: "Well, you're going to jail for robbery that's all."
You then hear Franklin ask, "for robbery?" And the officer responds, "Yeah, I'm gonna make stuff up."
Franklin believed him.
"He showed me that he has the power to do whatever he wanted that night," he said. "He has a badge, and all we can do is nothing."
We watched the partial video of their arrest together with Lawson and Franklin. Neither man has a criminal record and they were not charged with anything after the arrest. They both work full-time and go to school. But the night of their arrest they were in the neighborhood near Seattle Center, several blocks away from where an assault was reported.
In a 911 call, a witness described those assailants: "It was two tall, skinny African Americans."
Lawson is six feet tall, and Franklin is just five feet nine inches tall.
The person who called 911 to report the attack told a dispatcher the assailants "were both wearing jeans."
But in police booking photos Lawson is wearing white sweat pants.
"It wasn't really until I was able to communicate with you and your knowledge of what's out there and what the videos mean and your investigation that it was like 'oh, wait, there's not just one video that we don't get - there's more.'"
We discovered at least three other dash cam videos exist of the Lawson/Franklin arrest. But none show Officer Richardson during the critical time period, when he had Lawson and Franklin at gunpoint and later kicked Lawson.
We asked Whitcomb if the department was going to hold officers accountable when dashboard cameras aren't turned on.
"We do, we actually do, look at our OPA reports," Whitcomb said. But when we reminded him it didn't happen in this case, he said, "well maybe not in that case, but there's other cases."
Attorney Padula's take on the lack of dash cam video? "I think it's reprehensible, to me there's no excuse for that."
We've learned that the arrest video could have been salvaged from the hard drive in Officer Richardson's dash cam system, but wasn't - 13 February 2012

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Whitney Houston's Death To Earn Dolly Parton A Fortune - After the untimely death of Michael Jackson, his estate made a fortune due to a sudden renewed interest in his catalogue. According to insiders, however, the same will not happen withWhitney Houston.

"She was broke -- her label gave her advances," a record company insider told me. "And unlike Michael, you have to remember that Whitney didn't write any of those massive hits. They were songs that Clive Davis told her to sing and she did."

One of Houston's biggest hits, "I Will Always Love You," was actually written by Dolly Parton, who will receive the writer's and publisher's rates when the song undoubtedly gets a boost in radio and television performances.

"On records, the typical mechanical royalty paid to the writer/publisher is about 8 cents per radio performance," a successful songwriter told me. "That would all go to Dolly. Whitney is only the singer. She receives an advance from the record company based upon anticipated album sales. Figure that's around $2.00 per album. But all of the costs to record the album, promote the album, videos, etc. are all recouped from the artist's share."

As in Houston's case, it is very possible for artists to sell millions of records and end up owing the record label money. In fact, most artists don't make money from record sales, but rather from ticket sales -- a revenue stream that will no longer be a source of income for Whitney's estate.

"Whitney was living off of advances -- loans from the record company -- and had been [for] quite some time," the insider said. "Most likely the estate owes the record company a ton and future sales will be used to pay back that loan before any money goes to the estate. The songwriters, however, will make a bundle."

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Whitney Houston’s ex-husband, Bobby Brown, has received some disappointing news: He is not welcome to Whitney’s funeral.

According to TMZ, Brown learned that several members of Whitney’s family have do not want him attending the funeral in New Jersey.

Although Bobby has yet to hear an official word from the family, sources claim that Whitney’s family has made it clear that they do not want him there. Bobby, on the other hand, wants to be there to support their daughter Bobbi Kristina.

The New York Times confirms that funeral for the 48 year-old singer, who died Saturday from uncertain causes, will be held in Newark, NJ on Saturday at noon. Also, the Timesnotes that no public service has been scheduled despite rumors that a public service would be held in the Prudential Center, but the family has ruled that option out.

Whitney will be remembered in the New Hope Baptist Church, which will seat 1,500 people. Carolyn Wigwam, owner of Whigwam Funeral Home states, “They have shared her for 30-some years with the city, with the state, with the world. This is their time now for their farewell.”

She adds, “The family thanks all the fans, the friends and the media, but this time is their private time.”

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By Sowmya Krishnamurthy

Beyonce is working on not one, but two albums this year. According to Ryan Tedder, singer/songwriter and frontman of OneRepublic, he was working with the superstar that never sleeps and “the conversations about her next album literally just happened.” The "Secrets" singer added that Beyonce, “steers the ship," so we can only anticipate what the two are cooking up in the studio.

Jay-Z, Beyonce Attempt To Trademark Blue Ivy's Name

Tedder revealed news of the new music, while speaking with press at the 2012 Grammy Awards then he later told TheBoomBox, "The conversations about her next album literally just started and there [are] two projects happening. All I can say is you kind of feed her the best that you have and she's this phenomenal filter and she takes it all in." One of those albums may be the soundtrack for the upcoming Clint Eastwood film "A Star Is Born." The multi-talented hyphenate picked up accolades for contributing to Adele’s Album of the Year, 21, and his nomination for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical.

Beyonce continues to keep fans guessing. Last Friday (February 10), the Super Mom and husband Jay-Z released the highly-anticipated first photos of daughter Blue Ivy Carter on their own Tumblr.

The aww-inducing photos show the couple holding the newborn in a series of five photos. In the first photo, we see the adorable Blue swathed in a polka-dot wrap sleeping. In the remaining, she has her eyes wide open and is being held by her beaming mom, and in another, her back is to us while she's being held by her doting daddy.

On the Tumblr, a simple note read: "We welcome you to share in our joy. Thank you for respecting our privacy during this beautiful time in our lives. The Carter family."

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Many hardcore hip hop fans waited for the big break, which never came, from Big L. At the time of his death, the Harlem emcee had held several discussions with Jay-Z. It appeared as if Big L would soon sign a deal with the emerging Roc-A-Fella Records. 

For years, many considered Big L just as good, if not better, than Jay-Z, on a lyrical level.The two most-known rappers from Harlem are Cam’ron and Mase. Long before their runs of Roc-A-Fella and Bad Boy, respectively, they rapped with Big L in his Children of the Corn group. It was the name they built with this group, which led to their eventual commercial success. 

Big L was primarily known as a street legend, but he had appearances on MTV and in The Source before the age of twenty.By 1995, Big L signed with Columbia Records and his debut album, Lifestylez ov da Poor & Dangerous was released to critical acclaim. Despite the critical response, the album only sold 200,000 copies and a dispute between Big L and Columbia Records, over his style, led to him leaving the label.

 At the time of his death, Big L was negotiating a deal with Damon Dash and Jay-Z to include his crew, The Wolfpack, signing to the Roc.

However, on this day, thirteen years ago, Big L was shot nine times, including shots to the face and in the chest. All of a sudden, the next rapper to take over the game was gone. 

Now, Big L’s peers in the game, along with his hardcore fans, often wonder what could have been. What happened in the past cannot be changed, so everyone takes a moment of their time on February 15 to remember the fallen star. Rest in peace Mr. Lamont “Big L” Coleman.