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Boise, ID. Video Shows Family Violently Arrested and Severely Injured for Living in Park

August 23, 2023 by Jonathan Leave a Comment

Shocking body-cam video shows the agents ambushed Timber and grabbed his broken arm, which was visibly in a brace. Hearing his brother shout and thinking he was being robbed, Brooks Roberts grabbed his gun and wheeled his wheelchair outside the RV. Without any warning or identifying themselves as police, agents fired multiple gunshots at Brooks, hitting him in the back and knocking him into the mud. Forest Service police continued to fire on him even as he lay on the ground. Brooks has been hospitalized for more than two months and faces a lifetime of paralysis from the chest down and limited use of his right arm. The agents involved remain on duty.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Video Shows Local Family Violently Arrested and Severely Injured for Living in Park 

Forest Service Police Permanently Paralyze Disabled Family Member  

Boise, ID | August 21, 2023 – Attorneys for Brooks Roberts announced today they have filed a lawsuit against U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management for Brooks’ violent arrest and injury while living in a camper in the Payette National Forest with his family. 

In May of this year, undercover U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management police officers arrested Judy, Timber, and Brooks Roberts, who had been living in the camper after their landlord evicted them and they couldn’t find available space in shelters. A claim filed today by the Roberts’ attorneys at Ferguson Durham, PLLC and the WREST Collective documents how Forest Service agents falsely claimed to need a jump start for their vehicle in order to draw Timber Roberts out of his RV. Shocking body-cam video shows the agents ambushed Timber and grabbed his broken arm, which was visibly in a brace. Hearing his brother shout and thinking he was being robbed, Brooks Roberts grabbed his gun and wheeled his wheelchair outside the RV. Without any warning or identifying themselves as police, agents fired multiple gunshots at Brooks, hitting him in the back and knocking him into the mud. Forest Service police continued to fire on him even as he lay on the ground. Brooks has been hospitalized for more than two months and faces a lifetime of paralysis from the chest down and limited use of his right arm. The agents involved remain on duty.

Violent police interactions among people, particularly Black people, who have lost their housing are on the rise, and make it even harder for people to get back on their feet and into stable housing. This violent act did nothing to end the family’s homelessness and proves that communities cannot solve homelessness through policing. The family is calling on the city of Boise to invest in housing and supportive services instead.  

“I ended up with frostbite on my feet and they were amputated,” said Judy Roberts. “I got social security disability, which they garnished for nonpayment of tickets for staying too long on forest land. We needed that money to get into an RV place. They should be using their resources to help people find a place to live instead of persecuting them.”

“How can we get on our feet when you keep ticketing us to take away our money that we could have used for housing?” Brooks Roberts added. “It just makes the problems amplified. If the person is struggling to find a place and then they get arrested, then they really have trouble, because they don’t have the ability to find a place when they’re in jail.”

Lawyers for the Roberts family urge the U.S. attorney’s office in Boise to drop the charges against the family. The family continues to face homelessness as well as increased medical costs; donations for the family can be made at https://gofund.me/e56466c5

###  

For national context:

Media Contact: Yuderis Verges, info@homelesslaw.org,  202-638-2535 Ext. 110

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Federal Police Use Violent Force Against Family Living in Park – Pattern of Violence Continues

Forest Service Police Injured Disabled Family Members  

Washington, D.C. | August 23, 2023 – The National Coalition for Housing Justice (NCHJ) calls on the Biden-Harris administration to stop using federal police to respond to homelessness.

In May of this year, undercover U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management police officers violently arrested Judy, Timber, and Brooks Roberts for living in a camper in the Payette National Forest north of Boise, Idaho. They were forced to live in the park after their landlord evicted them and they couldn’t find available space in shelters.

Shocking body-cam video shared in a court filing today shows agents making false claims to lure the family outside, firing multiple gunshots at Brooks Roberts while he was in a wheelchair, hitting him in the back and continuing to shoot at him while he lay on the ground. Judy and Brooks are disabled and their disabilities were visible to agents. Due to the gunshot injuries, Brooks has been hospitalized for more than two months, and faces a lifetime of paralysis from the chest down and limited use of his right arm. The agents involved remain on duty.

This case is just one example of an ongoing pattern of increasing violence against unhoused people at the hands of federal agents. In February, NCHJ called on U.S. Park Service police to halt the forcible removal and arrest of unhoused people from McPherson Square in Washington, D.C. before the people in the encampment could be placed in housing. The federal government failed to put policies in place to stop encampment raids, and as a result, residents in McPherson Square were arrested, displaced, and disconnected from service providers who could help connect them to safe and secure homes.

Federal police also set the tone for local law enforcement and vigilantes. And when criminalization of homelessness combines with race, the results can be deadly, more so for Black people experiencing homelessness. In 2020, Orange County sheriff’s deputies supposedly trained for “homeless outreach” shot and killed Kurt Andras Reinhold during a stop for jaywalking. And earlier this year a white former U.S. Marine sergeant strangled Jordan Neely – a young Black man – on a subway car. Neely was a well-known entertainer in New York City who was homeless and expressing need for help when he was murdered.

As communities face rapidly rising rents and a severe shortage of housing, many like the Roberts family, Jordan Neely, and Kurt Andras Reinhold have nowhere to go. At the same time, new laws that criminalize homelessness have increased police interactions with vulnerable people, including arresting them for the basic survival activities such as sitting in public and sleeping in cars and tents. Criminalizing people who are unhoused and using police in response to homelessness opens the door to more brutality and discrimination, particularly in Black and Brown communities. Data clearly show that a police approach  is expensive, diverts community resources that could be used for housing, disproportionately harms Black people and other people of color and is overall ineffective at solving homelessness. The only way to end homelessness is to stop the police contact in the first place.

We call on the Biden-Harris administration to issue an executive order eliminating all federal police activities in their response to homelessness, and instead to mandate a housing- and services-only approach that is rooted in choice, healing, and racial justice.  Connecting individuals and families to housing and optional supportive services is the only effective way to solve homelessness.

The Roberts family continues to face homelessness as well as increased medical costs; donations for the family can be made at https://gofund.me/e56466c5

###

NCHJ Press ReleaseDownload
Boise Local ReleaseDownload

Filed Under: Uncategorized

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Urgent Help Needed Grants Pass is facing over 100 Urgent Help Needed 
Grants Pass is facing over 100F temperatures for the next 4 days Our homeless neighbors have no shelter, no shade & no water. Please help by donating bottled water or funds - we'll put every drop to good use! 
Venmo | Helen Cruz 
https://account.venmo.com/u/Helen-Cruz-30

Let's come together for those left in the heat, every bottle & dollar makes a difference
Community spirit and perspective and a cool organi Community spirit and perspective and a cool organizing training!
With sweeps and fascist policing/immigration tactics ramping up all over the country, we must make sure our initiatives to fight them are informed by, come from and are supported by the people who are directly impacted!!! Street outreach is how we do this!
https://conta.cc/46GwXKG
Join WRAP on Tuesday, July 22 on zoom at 3pm pt | Join WRAP on Tuesday, July 22 on zoom at 3pm pt | 4 pm mt | 6 pm et for a training on the different methodologies, context and implementation of street outreach! There will be examples from WRAP members who represent organizations in different states who have been fighting back against criminalization and sweeps in their communities.
Accountable organizing through street outreach! 

With sweeps and fascist policing/immigration tactics ramping up all over the country, we must make sure our initiatives to fight them are informed by, come from and are supported by the people who are directly impacted!!! 

Street outreach is how we do this! 

📣 WRAP : STREET OUTREACH TRAINING 
🗓️ Tuesday, July 22 | 🕒 3pm PT | 4pm MT | 6pm ET
🎟️ RSVP : bit.ly/wrapoutreach 
✉️ Contact joemae@wraphome.org for any questions

Read More: https://conta.cc/3ZXkCxS
Last year, on April 22nd, I stood with over 700 pe Last year, on April 22nd, I stood with over 700 people from around the country in front of the US Supreme Court demanding that the court focus on proven solutions to homelessness like housing, and not on things like handcuffs and jails that make homelessness worse. Months later, SCOTUS shamefully decided that homeless people are not included in the Constitution’s protections against cruel and unusual punishment and could be ticketed or arrested for simply sleeping outside. https://conta.cc/44m9rjl
The city continues to sneak in their sweeps of our The city continues to sneak in their sweeps of our friends and neighbors to nowhere. They sneak their sweeps in and hope those that care and give a sh&! against this violence won’t show up. We will do all we can to challenge this and won’t let the city block us from the community care they are afraid of.

Join us for a virtual gathering to learn how to show up, how to build community care. July 10th from 7-8:30pm. DM us for more info.

#sweepskill #fucksweeps #stopthesweeps #stoptheharrellhorrorshow #communitycare #showup
🏠Housing is a human right, and it is about time 🏠Housing is a human right, and it is about time our communities actually accept this!

On June 28th 2024, Grants Pass v Johnson was overturned (a case that had required cities to not criminalize the unhoused if adequate shelter was not provided by the city). On June 28th from 10am-12pm, we are asking our community to gather on the Missoula Courthouse lawn to show our city that we don’t support the ways they are criminalizing unhoused Missoulians. 📣

After the rally, from 12-2pm we will hear from various local organizations that are impacted and addressing this issue in our community. 🫂 From those working in the legal system to renters to mutual aid groups, our entire community is impacted by the overturning of Grants Pass v Johnson, the closure of the Johnson Street shelter, and the criminalization of unhoused Missoulians. Municipal elections are coming up this year and it is critical that we show city council where our priorities lie.
The Sovereign Roses Virtual Alumni Chapter invites The Sovereign Roses Virtual Alumni Chapter invites you to WRAP with the Roses! Learn more about the Western Regional Advocacy Project (WRAP) and a potential Project I.M.P.A.C.T area we’re exploring. WRAP is dedicated to ending homelessness and poverty by uplifting the voices of those directly impacted and advocating for systemic change rooted in justice and equity.
Discover why WEE believe that partnering with WRAP is a powerful step toward making a real, sustainable difference in our communities.

📅 Date: June 30

🕔 Time: 5:52 PM CST

📍 Zoom:
Meeting ID: 98812438845
Code: 567524

🌐 Learn more about WRAP: www.wraphome.org (http://www.wraphome.org/)

Together, we can push for change, challenge injustice, and build impact that lasts. Don’t miss this opportunity to get informed and get involved!

#GammaSigmaSigma #ServiceSorority #SRVAC #WRAP #Projectimpact #GSS #SFE #ServiceFriendshipEquailty
June 28th marks the One Year Anniversary of the Su June 28th marks the One Year Anniversary of the Supreme Court making it illegal to be homeless. Join me in the fight to push back! Helen Cruz
June 28 4-7pm | Echo Park Lake, LA for more inform June 28 4-7pm | Echo Park Lake, LA
for more information: @lacanetwork_official
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