Embed America: Wide open spaces but reservation residents don't feel free
By Lisa Desjardins and Emma Lacey-Bordeaux, CNN
Listen: Native Americans confront police brutality on reservation
Rosebud, South Dakota (CNN) – They are watchwords of both parties: freedom and liberty.
But when Embed America went to South Dakota we found a place where many say that both are threatened and the problem is ignored. The Rosebud Sioux Reservation includes one of the poorest counties in the nation, but residents talked with us more about their concerns that the tribal police force is part of a broken justice system.
We spoke with Calvin “Hawkeye” Waln, a recently fired police officer who made some serious charges.
[3:14] “You're talking violations of civil rights, excessive use of force is one. You’re talking spraying handcuffed suspects with pepper spray to physical police brutality where the officers end up injuring or breaking bones from assaulting somebody.”
Waln says his reporting these problems led to his ouster. The police department would not comment on why he was fired.
This comes after years of upheaval in the Rosebud police force. Two chiefs of police were fired in the past four years amidst corruption allegations, then the second chief was reinstated in the past few weeks.
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