Free the Shleby Three Now

Stop The Frame Up

On friday night March 29th, in Shelby Township, Michigan near 25 Mile and Mound Rd., three young men--Eddie McMillan, Ramon Rodriquez and Gus Weed--were brutally beaten by local police. To cover up this act of police brutality, the police have charged the victims of the cops' own savage and senseless crime with serious felonies. The Three are now sitting in the Macomb County jail with bond set at a total of $105,000!

Friday night Eddie McMillan, Ramon Rodriquez, Gus Weed and a group of friends left the viewing service for David Rodriguez, a fifteen year old brother, cousin and friend who, tragicaly, had taken his own life a couple days earlier. They went to a spot behind the strip mall on the East side of Mound just South of 25 Mile. The grop began to talk and hangout--some of them had beer. A police officer showed up and approached the group of youth. The cop immediately began treating one of the youth in a degrading and disrespectful way. Eddie stuck up for his friend and asked the cop why he has being an asshole. The cop shoved Eddie and yelled at him. Eddie put up his hands and the cop shoved him again, grabbed and pulled him to the gound.

Moments later two cops were on Eddie beating him with their fists and night sticks and kneeing him in the back with all their weight. What the police were doing was not necessary to subdue Eddie, they were trying to cause as much pain as they could get away with. Eddie was yelling that he couldn't breath and crying. The cop yelled at Eddie "I'm gonna' fucking shoot you" Ramon walked up to make sure the police were not killing his cousin, Eddie. One of the cops tackled Ramon and began beating him. Gus went over to try and help Ramon. He too was slammed face down on the ground and handcuffed.

These three youth were beaten bloody and black and blue.

After brutally beatiin them and arresting the first three young men, the police shoved a 96-pound young woman and threatened another, holding a night stick over her head saying "If you don't want to get hit, you better shut your face."
A few minutes later the four young women who had just witnessed their friends being beaten and had been shoved and threatened themselves, were stopped in the parking lot as they attempted to leave. The cop who pulled over the four young women who were now crying hysterically yelled at them "Shut the fuck, you stupid bitches! Grow up!" after this abuse, this same cop made it clear his total lack of regard for human life by saying "I don't give a damn about some fifteen year old who hung himself." One of the police shined his flashlight on Eddie's face and said to his girlfriend, "Look at what we did. How does he look now?"
To add racism and more humiliation to the injuries, one of the cops said of the fifteen year old Hispanic boy who had taken his own life, "I heard there was a pinata hanging on the Southfield Street the other day." What callous, vile disregard for young life!

Now these three young men are sitting in Macomb County jail. They are facing serious felony charges and their bond has been set so high that its impossible for them to get out of jail.

What was their "crime"? Grieving the loss of a brother, a cousin, and a friend? Hanging out with a group of friends in their late teens and twenties, some of whom were drinking beer? Objecting to their frineds and relatives being humiliated, threatened and beaten? This is beyond words. There is no justice in this.

The real story is that the police committed an unprovoked series of brutal, degrading and racist crimes against a group of youth. The police are lying now to cover up their own crime.

The police are hoping that justice and truth will not come out from under the weight of these heavy charges.

We must not let these three innocent young men be sent to jail for the "crime" of being victims of police brutality. This incident was an act of terror directed against all of the youth of Shelby Township. It is part of a growing pattern of police harassment and intimidation of youth not only in Shelby Township, but throughout the surrounding communities as well. This was also a racist attack, part of the wave of police racism across the U.S. from the beating of Rodney King to the beatings we all saw on television in Riverside California. In Detroit juries have convicted two cops of beating Malice Green to death ion 1992 and another cop of murdering Freddie Vela, an 11 year old Latino boy, while he was riding his bike near his home.

The Shelby police think they can get away with this attack and cover-up because the three young men come from working class families. Just South of Shelby the Sterling Heights police, backed up by police from throughout the area, have beatenm arrested and framed up up striking newspaper workers in an attempt to break the strike of six unions against the two scab Detroit papers. We must build a movement to bring an end to police persecution of youth, minorities, and workers.

Free Eddie McMillan, Ramon Rodriquez and Gus Weed! Stop the frame-up Drop the bogus charges! Fire cops involved! Stop Police brutality and harassment!