RFP Staff
♦According to U.S. District Court records in Greensboro, NC pretrial motions will be heard on April the 29th, barring a continuation, for former Salisbury police officer Kareem Puranda in his federal civil rights violations case. Mr. Puranda was involved in a melee at La Bamba Club in Salisbury back in 2009. The former officer is charged with a federal crime whose penalties range from a fine and court costs to up to 10 years in a federal penitentiary.
United States Attorney Ripley Rand has assigned prosecutor Mr. Graham T. Greene of Winston-Salem to the Puranda civil rights case. Judge Thomas D. Shroeder heard the pretrial motions and entered the jury instructions proposed for use in the upcoming trial. Judge Shroeder is likely to hear the case. Mr. Puranda’s defense attorney will be Chris Fialko from Winston-Salem.
Puranda was previously charged with two crimes, but one charge was dropped against the former Salisbury policeman. On April the 5th of this year, the FBI intensively interviewed several police witnesses in Salisbury concerning the case. Persons undergoing FBI interviews can face federal prosecution for violating the “False Statements Act”. Various civil rights activist groups, in Salisbury and across the state, are watching this case closely. A video containing the La Bamba melee and officer Puranda’s involvement can be found below.
Civil Rights abuses, explained by the FBI:
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/civilrights/color_of_law
More Civil Rights crimes explained by the FBI:
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/civilrights/federal-statutes
What follows is a recording of the La Bamba beatings and civil rights violations.
View the witness list here.
View documents related to Puranda’s case here.
