Killed by the Cops

QueEx

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Super Moderator
4 Minneapolis cops fired after video shows one kneeling on neck of black man who later died



CNN
By Ray Sanchez,
Joe Sutton and
Artemis Moshtaghian
Tuesday, May 26, 2020


(CNN)Four Minneapolis police officers have been fired for their involvement in the death of a black man who was held down with a knee as he protested that he couldn't breathe, officials said Tuesday.

The FBI is investigating the incident, which drew widespread condemnation of the officers after a video showing part of the encounter circulated on social media.

Mayor Jacob Frey said the technique used to pin George Floyd's head to the ground was against department regulations.
After several minutes of pleading with an officer pressing a knee to the back of his neck, the man appeared motionless, his eyes shut, his head against the pavement.

Officers responding to an alleged forgery in progress Monday evening were initially told that a person later described as the suspect was sitting on a car and appeared to be under the influence, police said.

A pair of officers located the man, who was at that point inside the car and who police said "physically resisted" the officers when ordered to get out. Officers handcuffed the man, who "appeared to be suffering medical distress," according to police. He died at a hospital a short time later, police said.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called the firing of the officers "the right decision for our city."
The four officers were "separated from employment," Officer Garrett Parten, a police spokesman, said Tuesday.
"I support your decisions, one hundred percent," Frey, in a statement, said of police Chief Medaria Arradondo's firing of the officers. "It is the right decision for our city. The right decision for our community, it is the right decision for the Minneapolis Police Department."
Frey, speaking later during a town hall streamed on Facebook, said the officer had no reason to employ the hold on the man's neck.
"The technique that was used is not permitted; is not a technique that our officers get trained in on," he said. "And our chief has been very clear on that piece. There is no reason to apply that kind of pressure with a knee to someone's neck."
The video shows two officers by the man on the ground -- one of them with his knee over the back of the man's neck. The video did not capture what led up to the arrest or what police described as the man resisting arrest.
"Please, I can't breathe," the man said, screaming for several minutes before he became silent. Bystanders urged the officer to release the man from his hold.
Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, in a statement, identified the man as Floyd and said he was representing his family. The mayor also identified him on Twitter.
"We all watched the horrific death of George Floyd on video as witnesses begged the police officer to take him into the police car and get off his neck," Crump said. "This abusive, excessive and inhumane use of force cost the life of a man who was being detained by the police for questioning about a non-violent charge."
Floyd's cause and manner of death remains pending and is being investigated by local, state and federal law enforcement, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office said in a statement.
News footage showed small clusters of protesters waving signs and chanting "No justice, no peace" outside a Minneapolis police precinct Tuesday afternoon. Some motorists honked in support.
Another protest was planned near a makeshift memorial to Floyd at the scene of the incident Tuesday night, CNN affiliate WCCO TV reported. It was being organized by local activists groups, including the Minneapolis NAACP.
Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar via Twitter called the incident "yet another horrifying and gutwrenching instance of an African American man dying."

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Frey on Tuesday offered his condolences to the man's family, adding that "what we saw was horrible, completely and utterly messed up."
"For five minutes, we watched as a white officer pressed his knee to the neck of a black man," Frey told reporters.

"When you hear someone calling for help, you are supposed to help. This officer failed in the most basic human sense. What happened on Chicago and 38th this last night is simply awful. It was traumatic and it serves as a clear reminder of just how far we have to go."

"Being black in America," Frey said, should not be "a death sentence."

The Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis said in a statement the officers were cooperating in the investigation.

"Now is not the time rush to (judgment) and immediately condemn our officers," the statement said. "Officers' actions and training protocol will be carefully examined after the officers have provided their statements."

In a Facebook video posted Monday, bystanders urged the officer to get off the man. Two officers handled the man on the ground while another stood nearby with his eyes on the bystanders as traffic passed in the background.

Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo says the officers involved have been placed on leave.

Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo says the officers involved have been placed on leave.


"My stomach hurts," the man told the officer. "My neck hurts. Everything hurts."

At one point the man said, "Give me some water or something. Please. Please."

"His nose is bleeding," a woman said of the man.

"He's not even resisting arrest," one man said. "He's not responding right now, bro."

Frey said he understood the anger in the community but reminded potential protesters that "there is another danger out there right now which is Covid-19."

"We need to make sure that everyone that is protesting and that is voicing their opinion stays safe and their families are protected as well," he said. "So please, practice safe distancing, please use a mask."

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz tweeted Tuesday, "The lack of humanity in this disturbing video is sickening. We will get answers and seek justice."
St. Paul, Minnesota, Mayor Melvin Carter called the video of the incident "one of the most vile and heartbreaking images I've ever seen."
"The officer who stood guard is just as responsible as his partner; both must be held fully accountable," Carter tweeted. "This must stop now."
Paige Fernandez, policing policy adviser for the ACLU, said the incident recalled the 2014 New York death of Eric Garner, who repeated "I can't breathe" several times after a police officer held him in a chokehold. Garner died during the arrest, the incident also caught on video.

"Even in places like Minneapolis, where chokeholds are technically banned, Black people are targeted by the police for low-level offenses and are subjected to unreasonable, unnecessary violence," Fernandez said in a statement. "Make no mistake: George Floyd should be alive today. The officers responsible must be held accountable."

The Hennepin County Attorney's office said in a statement Tuesday that the Minnesota Department of Public Safety Bureau of Criminal Apprehension was investigating, along with the FBI. There was no immediate response from the FBI.

The county medical examiner will identify the victim once a preliminary autopsy has been done, authorities said.

Body worn cameras were activated during the incident, police said.

CNN's Chris Boyette, Josh Campbell and Brad Parks contributed to this report.





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COINTELPRO

Transnational Member
Registered
Why are people crying about the need to charge the police officers? First you need to distance him from the other police that are still working through time. It is a common tactic that is used in corporate america and the government. I have personally seen this tactic applied to me, and knew shit was going down.

Many police develop strong bonds and will fight back if they see one of their own being attacked. He does not pose a danger to the community since his police powers have been taken away versus the Ahmaud Arbery case. He is losing everything, such as his pension.

They also might be planting undercovers in the department to get incriminating statements, charging people will undermine this investigation.
 
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COINTELPRO

Transnational Member
Registered
There is always some self hating swirling desperate immigrant politician around when something tragic happens to us. After escaping their country, they get the DNC backing and run for office; fuck supporting #ADOS candidates for office, just let a swirling foreigner come in barely naturalized as a citizen.

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Florida

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Georgia

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President Obama is the Anti-Christ, wherever he shows up, we suffer with our necks broken or shot trying to escape the KKK. The same place Trayvon Martin was murdered, he decides to campaign while racially mocking us. He has planted other self hating, swirling immigrants into other congressional districts through his control of the DNC.

What is next, the NY police beheading somebody in AOC district while being filmed?

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Offspring of jewish immigrants from Austria and Russia, the only Democrat representative in the state.
 
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COINTELPRO

Transnational Member
Registered
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Kaepernick is biracial who was abandoned and raised by white foster parents, as you can see from Doja Cat who was in deep convo with white supremacists. I suspected his 'protest' was some sort of racial mockery of us linked to the Dylan Roof mass shootings. Here you can see this same PR tactic that was used by Elon Musk, a foreigner of having #ADOS traitor (Lebron James) validating him first, than he post his tweet message about George Floyd.

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QueEx

Rising Star
Super Moderator
Breonna Taylor Is One of a Shocking Number of Black People to See Armed Police Barge Into Their Homes


No-knock and quick-knock drug searches surged—from
around 3,000 in 1981 to at least 60,000 annually in recent years.

Tens of thousands more could be targeted in drug raids this year.



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Breonna Taylor. Taylor family photo


In mid-March, police officers barged into Breonna Taylor’s home in Louisville, Kentucky, in the middle of the night and discharged a spray of bullets that struck and killed the 26-year-old EMT. More than two months later, leaders in her city are taking steps to make it harder for officers to enter homes without knocking.

On Monday, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer announced that the police chief will now have to sign off on all no-knock warrants, the type of search warrant officers obtained to enter Taylor’s home as part of a drug investigation. But it’s unlikely Taylor will be the last Black woman to lose her life as a result of these warrants: Research shows that Black and Latino people have long been disproportionately affected by these kinds of raids, and tens of thousands more will likely be targeted within the year.

“They don’t do this in other neighborhoods,” Benjamin Crump, a civil rights attorney representing Taylor’s family, said in a press call last week. Crump has also represented the families of other Black shooting victims around the country, including Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, and Ahmaud Arbery. “If this was another household in a more affluent community, lightning would strike and thunder would groan” if such a warrant were issued, Crump said.

Taylor, 26, and her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, were in bed when they heard the officers enter at around 12:40 a.m. on March 13. According to the search warrant, police believed a suspected drug dealer named Jamarcus Glover—who did not live with Taylor and had already been arrested elsewhere—was keeping drugs or money at her house.

Walker, thinking the plain-clothes officers were intruders, called 911. He then pulled out his gun and fired a shot at one officer’s leg. The officers responded with more than 20 rounds of bullets that sailed through the kitchen and living room, fatally striking Taylor eight times. Bullets also flew into an adjacent home, where a pregnant woman and a five-year-old child slept. The officers found no drugs on the premises. They promptly charged Walker with attempted murder.

Walker was a legally registered gun owner, and Kentucky’s Stand Your Ground law allows people to use deadly force against an intruder at home. But the law doesn’t apply when the intruder is a police officer who identifies himself as such. The Louisville officers claim that even with their no-knock warrant, they knocked and announced themselves before forcibly entering Taylor’s home. According to lawyers for her family, neighbors say they heard no knock.

Neither Taylor nor her boyfriend had a criminal record for drugs or violence, the lawyers say. In a lawsuit filed in late April, they accuse the police of negligence, excessive force, and wrongful death. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear last week described reports of the killing as “troubling” and called for an investigation. Responding to Taylor’s death, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul told the Courier-Journal he thought no-knock warrants should be forbidden.

Historically, police officers executing a warrant were supposed to knock, announce themselves, and wait before entering a person’s home. But in the 1970s and ’80s, as the war on drugs ramped up, many officers argued that drug dealers would take advantage of the warning to destroy evidence or arm themselves. Judges began approving more no-knock warrants, along with “quick-knock” warrants, another type that requires officers to knock but allows them to barge inside seconds later. Around the country, no-knock and quick-knock drug searches surged—from around 3,000 in 1981 to at least 60,000 annually in recent years, according to Peter Kraska, a professor at Eastern Kentucky University who studies these raids. In many cities, it’s rare for a judge to deny an officer’s request for a no-knock warrant, partly because it’s easy to argue a suspect will be dangerous when you consider that 4 in 10 American adults live in a home with a gun.

As the number of raids increased, so did the toll on Black families. “The war on drugs has always been predominantly prosecuted against minority communities, so the bulk of no-knock raids are executed against those same people,” says Kraska.


Black people and Latinos
accounted for 61 percent
of the people targeted by
SWAT drug raids
The officers who killed Taylor wore plain clothes. Usually, no-knock raids are carried out by trained SWAT or drug tactical teams with military-grade gear. In 2014, researchers at the ACLU studied more than 800 SWAT raids by law enforcement around the country. In total, they found that 42 percent of people affected by search-warrant raids were Black, and 12 percent were Latino. Nearly two-thirds of the raids were drug searches. Taken together, Black people and Latinos accounted for 61 percent of the people targeted by SWAT drug raids. And SWAT teams found contraband in only about a third of these cases, meaning that many innocent people were raided unnecessarily.


Others were killed or injured:
In 2008, SWAT officers opened fire into the home of Tarika Wilson in Lima, Ohio. They were hunting for Wilson’s boyfriend, a suspected drug dealer, but instead they fatally shot Wilson, who was cradling her 14-month-old son. (Bullets hit the baby in the left shoulder and hand, but he survived.)​
In 2014, Georgia police threw a grenade into the crib of a 19-month-old toddler during a SWAT raid, burning the boy so badly he was placed into a medically induced coma; the officers, who said they hadn’t realized there were children in the home, were not charged.​
In 2010, as portrayed in this Mother Jones investigation, Detroit police who entered the wrong apartment during a no-knock raid and killed 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones as she slept on the couch.​
Between 2010 and 2016, at least 81 civilians and 13 officers died in forcible-entry SWAT raids around the country, according to a New York Times report. And Kraska, the professor, has documented about 330 no-knock or quick-knock raids in the past two decades that led to a killing or serious injury. “This is such an extreme, inherently risky, and violent approach,” he says. “It doesn’t make any sense to use this highly militarized approach for potential low-level drug possession or low-level dealing.”​

While the Louisville police department will now require the police chief’s sign-off on no-knock raids, Kraska worries it’s a “pretty meaningless attempt at reform” because it’s contingent on the chief’s sensibilities. “If you have a progressive police chief who is concerned about citizens’ wellbeing, that’s a good idea,” he says, “but if you have a chief who thinks [raids] are the best way to fight the drug war, you could have a complete mess.”

Mayor Fischer acknowledged that the policy change was just a first step. “We know there needs to be more conversation on the use of these warrants,” he said Monday. (Quick-knock warrants will still be allowed without the police chief’s approval.) He added that the police department would expand its use of body cameras, which had not been worn by the officers who killed Taylor.

It may not have been the kind of justice Taylor’s mom, Tamika Palmer, imagined for her daughter. “I want them to say her name,” Palmer said in a recent interview with the Washington Post. Palmer says Taylor was scheduled to work a hospital shift the morning after she was shot. “There’s no reason Breonna should be dead at all.”




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QueEx

Rising Star
Super Moderator
4 Minneapolis cops fired after video shows one kneeling on neck of black man who later died


4 Minneapolis cops CHARGED

Attorney General Keith Ellison upgraded charges against officer who knelt on George Floyd's neck; charged other 3 involved





STAR TRIBUNE
By STEPHEN MONTEMAYOR
AND CHAO XIONG
June 04, 2020 - 8:49 AM

Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office on Wednesday upgraded charges against the former Minneapolis police officer who knelt on George Floyd’s neck and charged the other three officers at the scene with aiding and abetting murder.

The decision came just two days after Ellison took over the prosecution from Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman and followed more than a week of sometimes-violent protests calling for tougher charges against former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who had pinned Floyd to the ground and held him there for nearly nine minutes. Protesters also demanded the arrests of the three other former officers who were present but failed to intervene. All three were booked into the Hennepin County jail on Wednesday.


“To the Floyd family, to our beloved community, and everyone that is watching, I say: George Floyd mattered. He was loved. His life was important. His life had value. We will seek justice for him and for you and we will find it,” Ellison said

However, he said, he doesn’t believe that “one successful prosecution can rectify the hurt and loss that so many people feel. The solution to that pain will be in the slow and difficult work of constructing justice and fairness in our society.”

Chauvin, who was recorded on video kneeling on Floyd’s neck as he begged for air on Memorial Day, now faces the more serious charge of second-degree murder, in addition to the original charges of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter with culpable negligence.

Chauvin was originally charged by the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office last week.

The amended complaint filed against Chauvin stated, “Police are trained that this type of restraint with a subject in a prone position is inherently dangerous. … Officer Chauvin’s restraint of Mr. Floyd in this manner for a prolonged period was a substantial factor in Mr. Floyd losing consciousness, constituting substantial bodily harm, and Mr. Floyd’s death as well.”

Don Lewis, special prosecutor in the case against Jeronimo Yanez, the former St. Anthony police officer who killed Philando Castile in 2016, said the nearly nine-minute recording of the moments before Floyd died showed ample evidence of intent to kill on Chauvin’s part.

“Those are moments to cause reflection on whether or not you’re in the middle of a wrongful death here,” Lewis said. “You have George Floyd begging for his life, right? ‘I can’t breathe.’ This is a moment of potential reflection on Chauvin’s part,” Lewis said. “He had multiple opportunities to change course here and decided not to over the span of almost 10 minutes.”


The other officers at the scene — Tou Thao, J Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane — were each charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder while committing a felony, and with aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter with culpable negligence. Both charges are categorized as “unintentional” felonies.

Thao was recorded watching as Chauvin continued to press on Floyd’s neck with his knee. Kueng was one of the first officers on the scene and helped pin Floyd down. Lane was detailed in earlier charges as pointing a gun at Floyd before handcuffing, and he later asked whether officers should roll Floyd on his side as he was restrained.

The charges come just days after Gov. Tim Walz asked Ellison to take over the prosecution, which until Sunday had been led by the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office. Freeman stood next to Ellison as the attorney general announced the charges Wednesday, but he did not speak and left midway through the news conference.

Despite the quick pace of adding charges to the investigation, Ellison sought to manage expectations, cautioning that the cases could take “months” to see through. He also brushed off the idea that intense public pressure influenced the process.

The charges noted that Floyd was “calm” after he was first arrested and before Chauvin knelt on his neck. The complaint also noted three times that after Floyd was pinned to the pavement by three officers, none of them moved from their positions despite pleas from Floyd. Video of the incident showed that bystanders also pleaded with police.

Floyd had told the first two officers at the scene — Lane and Kueng — that he was not resisting arrest but did not want to get into the back of their squad car because he is claustrophobic, the charges said.

Walz issued a statement after Ellison announced the new charges. “I laid flowers at George Floyd’s memorial this morning. As a former high school history teacher, I looked up at the mural of George’s face painted above and I reflected on what his death will mean for future generations. What will our young people learn about this moment? Will his death be just another blip in a textbook? Or will it go down in history as when our country turned toward justice and change?

“It’s on each of us to determine that answer,” Walz said. “The charges announced by Attorney General Keith Ellison today are a meaningful step toward justice for George Floyd. But we must also recognize that the anguish driving protests around the world is about more than one tragic incident.

“George Floyd’s death is the symptom of a disease. We will not wake up one day and have the disease of systemic racism cured for us. This is on each of us to solve together, and we have hard work ahead,” he said. “We owe that much to George Floyd, and we owe that much to each other.”

One of the attorneys representing Floyd’s family, Benjamin Crump, released a statement Wednesday praising the arrest and charging of the other three officers and the upgrading of murder charges against Chauvin. Crump’s statement came after the Star Tribune first reported the charges and before Ellison’s office made any official announcements.


“This is a bittersweet moment for the family of George Floyd,” said the joint statement by Floyd’s family, Crump and the legal team. “We are deeply gratified that Attorney General Keith Ellison took decisive action in this case, arresting and charging all the officers involved in George Floyd’s death and upgrading the charge against Derek Chauvin to felony second-degree murder.”

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey also released a statement in support of the new charges.

“That George Floyd’s plea — that his struggle to survive — went unrecognized and unaided by not just one but four officers will live forever as the most chilling moments in our city’s history,” Frey said. “Failing to act amounted to a failure to recognize George’s humanity.”

Attorney Eric Nelson, who is representing Chauvin, declined to comment. Chauvin remains in custody at the state prison in Oak Park Heights.

Kueng’s attorney, Thomas Plunkett, released a statement Wednesday stating that his client was asked at 1:20 p.m. to turn himself in; he is being held at the Hennepin County jail. Plunkett, who represented former Minneapolis officer Mohamed Noor when he was tried and convicted in 2019 for fatally shooting Justine Ruszczyk Damond, declined further comment.

Attorney Earl Gray, who is representing Lane, also declined to comment. Gray represented Yanez when he was tried and acquitted in 2017 for fatally shooting Castile.

Thao’s attorney, Robert Paule, could not be reached for comment.


Floyd’s family and Crump, their lawyer, called the new charges “a significant step forward on the road to justice, and we are gratified that this important action was brought before George Floyd’s body was laid to rest … That is a source of peace for George’s family in this painful time.”

They urged Ellison to continue the investigation and upgrade the charges to first-degree murder, which carries a potential life sentence.

First-degree murder requires proof of planning out the crime. Second-degree unintentional murder carries a maximum sentence of 40 years. Murder in the third degree has a maximum 25-year sentence. Charges of aiding and abetting carry the same maximum penalties as the underlying crime.

“These officers knew they could act with impunity, given the Minneapolis Police Department’s widespread and prolonged pattern and practice of violating people’s constitutional rights,” the family’s statement said. “Therefore, we also demand permanent transparent police accountability at all levels and at all times.”

The family thanked the “outpouring” of support it has received, which manifested in days of huge protests across the country and world.

“Our message to them: Find constructive and positive ways to keep the focus and pressure on,” they said. “Don’t let up on your demand for change.”

The former officers’ prosecution is the quickest in Minnesota history against officers on the job who have killed civilians, and is the first time more than one officer involved in such an incident has been criminally charged. Three officers have previously been charged with killing a civilian on the job; Noor was convicted at trial while two were acquitted.




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QueEx

Rising Star
Super Moderator
Another Man Who Said ‘I Can’t Breathe’
Has Died in Custody.
An Autopsy Calls It Homicide.



Manuel Ellis of Tacoma, Wash., died in part as a result of how he was restrained, according to the medical examiner, who concluded that his death was a homicide.


A photo of Manuel Ellis, a black man who called out “I can’t breathe” before dying in police custody in Tacoma, Wash.

A photo of Manuel Ellis, a black man who called out “I can’t breathe” before dying
in police custody in Tacoma, Wash. Credit: Ruth Fremson/The New York Times


The New York Times
By Mike Baker
Published June 3, 2020
Updated June 5, 2020


SEATTLE — A black man who called out “I can’t breathe” before dying in police custody in Tacoma, Wash., was killed as a result of oxygen deprivation and the physical restraint that was used on him, according to details of a medical examiner’s report released on Wednesday.

The Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office concluded that the death of the man, Manuel Ellis, 33, was a homicide. Investigators with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department were in the process of preparing a report about the March death, which occurred shortly after an arrest by officers from the Tacoma Police Department, said the sheriff’s spokesman, Ed Troyer.


“The information is all being put together,” Detective Troyer said. “We expect to present it to the prosecutor at the end of this week or early next week.”

Mr. Ellis’s sister, Monet Carter-Mixon, called for action to bring accountability in the death and further scrutiny of both the Police Department’s practices and how the investigation into his death has been handled.

“There’s a lot of questions that still need to be answered,” Ms. Carter-Mixon said.

Mr. Ellis died from respiratory arrest, hypoxia and physical restraint, according to the medical examiner’s office. The report listed methamphetamine intoxication and heart disease as contributing factors.

Police officers encountered Mr. Ellis, a musician and father of two from Tacoma, on the night of March 3 as they were stopped at an intersection. They saw him banging on the window of another vehicle, Detective Troyer said.

Mr. Ellis approached the officers, Detective Troyer said, and then threw an officer to the ground when the officer got out of the vehicle. The two officers and two backup officers “Mr. Ellis was physically restrained as he continued to be combative,” the Tacoma Police Department said in a statement on Wednesday. who joined — two of them white, one black and one Asian — handcuffed him.

“Mr. Ellis was physically restrained as he continued to be combative,” the Tacoma Police Department said in a statement on Wednesday.

Detective Troyer said he did not know all the details of the restraint the officers used — they were not wearing body cameras — but said he did not believe they used a chokehold or a knee on Mr. Ellis’s neck. They rolled him on his side after he called out, “I can’t breathe.”

“The main reason why he was restrained was so he wouldn’t hurt himself or them,” Detective Troyer said. “As soon as he said he couldn’t breathe, they requested medical aid.”

Detective Troyer said the call for aid came four minutes after the officers encountered Mr. Ellis.

Mr. Ellis was still breathing when medical personnel arrived, Detective Troyer said. He was removed from handcuffs while personnel worked on him for about 40 minutes, Detective Troyer said. He was then pronounced dead.

Family members said Mr. Ellis was the father of an 11-year-old son and 18-month-old daughter. He was a talented musician at his church. Ms. Carter-Mixon said Mr. Ellis was like a father figure to her boys, coaching them on things like how handle themselves to keep safe in a world of racial injustices.

Marcia Carter-Patterson, center, Mr. Ellis’s mother, addressed a vigil for him in Tacoma, Wash., on Wednesday.

Marcia Carter-Patterson, center, Mr. Ellis’s mother, addressed a vigil for him in Tacoma,
Wash., on Wednesday. Credit Ruth Fremson/The New York Times


“My heart literally hurts,” she said. “It’s painful. My brother was my best friend.”

On Wednesday night, she and others held a vigil in Tacoma.

Brian Giordano, a close friend of Mr. Ellis, said that the two usually spoke several times a day and that Mr. Ellis had video-chatted with him two hours before his death. He had been excited about a church service he had attended and proud of how he had played drums during the service, Mr. Giordano recalled.

He said it would be uncharacteristic of Mr. Ellis to act in the violent way described by the police.


He was living in a clean-and-sober house and was getting his life back together, he said. “He was always uplifting,” Mr. Giordano said. “He was always on the up-and-up about taking care of people.”

The death comes as protests have spread around the nation over the case of George Floyd, a black man who died in the custody of Minneapolis police last week. Minnesota officials have charged all four officers in that case, including Derek Chauvin, who kept his knee on Mr. Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes during the arrest.

Forensics experts who conducted a private autopsy for Mr. Floyd’s family concluded that another officer’s knees on Mr. Floyd’s back contributed to making it impossible for his lungs to take in sufficient air.

Mayor Victoria Woodards of Tacoma said on Wednesday that she would take appropriate steps based on the findings of the sheriff’s investigation.

“We will learn the results of that investigation even as our country reels from the recent killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and too many others,” Ms. Woodards said.

Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington said the issue was a top priority for him.

“We will be pushing to make sure there is a full and complete investigation of that incident,” Mr. Inslee said.




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QueEx

Rising Star
Super Moderator
'Deeply reckless': Critics slam leaked police memo about Breonna Taylor

The memo was written several weeks after Taylor’s death and includes details that weren't provided to the judge in the search warrant application.


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NBC
Aug. 30, 2020
By Laura Strickler
and Lisa Riordan Seville


A leaked Louisville Metro Police Department memo shows investigators had more evidence than previously made public showing a connection between Breonna Taylor and the main target of the narcotics probe that led officers to barge into her home the night she was shot dead by police.

But the memo was written several weeks after Taylor’s death and includes
details that weren't provided to the judge in the search warrant application as well as evidence that came to light after her death —prompting critics to slam it as an effort to smear Taylor and justify the deadly police raid.

The leaked memo, obtained by NBC News, addresses why the officers sought a warrant to enter Taylor’s apartment but says nothing about the use of force or other possible violations of Louisville police department policy, such as the blind firing of bullets into neighboring apartments.

“Breonna Taylor’s death was a tragedy. Period,” said Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, who called the leak an effort to “sway opinion and impact the investigation.”

"It is deeply reckless for this information, which presents only a small fraction of the entire investigation, to be shared with the media while the criminal process remains ongoing,” Fischer added.


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Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency room technician, was killed after midnight on March 13 when officers broke down her door while executing a search warrant.

Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired a shot at the front door, striking one officer. He said he believed it was a home invasion. Police opened fire, hitting Taylor five times.

Both the FBI and the Kentucky attorney general are investigating the shooting.

Taylor, who had no criminal record, knew the target of the narcotics probe, Jamarcus Glover, as far back as 2016 when she was in her early 20s, according to the leaked police memo written by a detective.

The 39-page memo contains new information including that Taylor posted Glover’s bond after he was arrested in 2017. When he was arrested again in January 2020, the memo shows, he called Taylor at least three times from jail. In one call, Taylor told Glover that it’s stressful for her when he’s around because of his interactions with the police.

When Glover's car was towed in mid-February, he filed a complaint against a police officer and used Taylor's phone number as his point of contact, according to the memo.

Taylor was killed one month later.

The undated memo, first reported by the Louisville Courier-Journal, includes information from a May news memo, indicating the police document wasn’t finalized until at least two months after the fatal shooting.

“At a time when the public was being assured that the department was doing a thorough and impartial investigation into Breonna’s killing, [the department] was actually preparing a lengthy, one-sided report regarding things that their officers were unaware of at the time they killed Breonna,” said Taylor’s family lawyer Sam Aguiar.

At a press conference last week, Louisville Metro Police Department Interim Chief Robert Schroeder called the leak “simply not helpful” to the investigation and “irrelevant to our goal of obtaining justice, peace and healing for our community.”

The police department did not respond to a question about why the memo was written.

Questions have been raised as to whether or not the warrant used to go to Taylor’s apartment was valid. The memo indicates police had more information tying Taylor and Glover together than police presented to the court.

But legal experts said that the leaked document does not answer key questions that have swirled around the case: whether police announced who they were when they entered the apartment, whether the use of force was appropriate and whether there were other violations of police department policy.

Christopher Slobogin, director of the criminal justice program at Vanderbilt Law School, said those questions are crucial to the investigation.

“You need probable cause to get a warrant to get into a house — that doesn’t mean you’re set,” Slobogin said.

“You still need to execute a warrant properly,” he added. “You still have to knock and announce, or announce and avoid using excessive force.”

Alan Rozenshtein, associate professor at the University of Minnesota Law School, said the police practice of knocking on doors and announcing themselves has a long history dating back to English common law.

“Homes are sacred spaces. We want to give people a measure of dignity. Also it is to give everyone a moment to calm down,” said Rozenshtein, a constitutional law expert.

Rozenshtein said the police may want to maintain an element of surprise in certain cases, if they are looking for evidence that might be destroyed or believe delay could pose risks to safety. But Rozenshtein said they should still announce themselves — for their own safety and that of others.

"Knocking without announcing is not helpful," he said.

New information in the leaked memo includes transcripts of jailhouse phone calls between Glover and the mother of his child that took place after Taylor was killed.

In one call, Glover indicates Taylor may have held money for him.

"Bre got down like $15 (grand), she had the $8 (grand) I gave her the other day and she picked up another $6 grand,” Glover told the mother of his child, according to the transcript in the memo.

The police found no drugs or money inside Taylor’s apartment, according to the search warrant inventory document obtained by NBC News.

In an interview with the Courier-Journal last week, Glover denied that Taylor ever held money for him.

Glover’s attorney Scott Barton told NBC News that his client has long maintained that “Breonna Taylor had nothing to do with any drug transactions.”



.
 

thoughtone

Rising Star
BGOL Investor
'Deeply reckless': Critics slam leaked police memo about Breonna Taylor

The memo was written several weeks after Taylor’s death and includes details that weren't provided to the judge in the search warrant application.

.


xw2ascec9vy01.jpg
 

QueEx

Rising Star
Super Moderator
D.C. Police Fatally Shoot 18-Year-Old In Southeast


Image-from-iOS-2-1500x1125.jpg
1599149945387.png
The shooting occurred on the 200 block of Orange Street in Southeast.


September 3, 2020

D.C. police shot and killed a teenager in Congress Heights on Wednesday afternoon, Metropolitan Police Chief Peter Newsham said.

Two relatives and police identified the victim as 18-year-old Deon Kay, who is Black.

“He was a good child,” said Earline Black, who identified herself as Kay’s aunt, at a protest outside the 7D police station on Alabama Avenue in Southeast Wednesday night. “I want justice.”

The shooting happened shortly before 4 p.m. in the 200 block of Orange Street SE.

Officers responded to the scene to “investigate a man with a gun” and found a group of people around a vehicle, according to a police statement. Two people fled on foot, and one “brandished a gun,” police said. According to that account, an officer fired once and hit Kay. The second person escaped.

D.C. police shared an image of a gun and said it belonged to Kay.

Police said they arrested two other people: Marcyelle Smith, 19, was charged with carrying a firearm without a license and Deonte Brown, 19, was charged with “no permit,” which appears to refer to operating a vehicle without a license.

The Metropolitan Police Department said in a statement the officers involved in the shooting have been placed on administrative leave, which is standard under the department’s policy.

D.C. Councilmember Trayon White said Wednesday afternoon that he spoke to Kay’s family and said the teenager lives about two blocks from where the shooting occurred.

“Some people say he was shot in the front, some people say he was shot in the back,” White said. “We’ve got to figure out what the truth is and what happened with that situation.”
 

QueEx

Rising Star
Super Moderator
A White officer is charged in the fatal shooting of a Black man under California's tougher deadly-force law

1599176042217.png


CNN
By Topher Gauk-Roger
September 3, 2020


(CNN)A White officer has been charged with felony manslaughter in the fatal shooting in April of a Black man in a Walmart store, a crime alleged under a newly strengthened California law that requires police to use deadly force only when needed to defend human life, the county prosecutor said.

San Leandro Police Officer Jason Fletcher, 49, was charged Wednesday with voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of Steven Taylor, 33, after the pair scuffled over a baseball bat inside the store in the Northern California city, according to officials and court documents.

The charge comes amid intense nationwide scrutiny of police conduct following the death and severe injury of a string of Black men while in custody. California lawmakers last year enacted one of the strictest police deadly force measures in the country after a Sacramento prosecutor declined to charge two officers who killed Stephon Clark, an unarmed Black man, in his grandmother's backyard.
During the San Leandro confrontation, Taylor did not pose an immediate threat to police when Fletcher shot him to death, prosecutors determined, said Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley.

"The decision to file the criminal complaint was made after an intensive investigation and thorough analysis of the evidence and the current law," O'Malley said in a statement. "The work of Police Officers is critical to the health, safety, and well-being of our communities. Their job is one of the most demanding in our society, especially in these current challenging times. They are sworn to uphold and enforce the laws."

O'Malley cited the state legal standard that became effective January 1, noting its "intent is that peace officers use deadly force only when necessary in defense of human life. The legislature declared officers shall use other available resources and techniques if reasonably safe and feasible to an objectively reasonable officer."

Fletcher "was placed on leave after the incident and has been the entire time," San Leandro Police Chief Jeff Tudor told CNN on Thursday.
Fletcher's arraignment is set for September 15, she said. The officer's attorney and the San Leandro Police Officers Association did not immediately respond to CNN's requests for comment.

"As the Police Chief of San Leandro, I know the loss of Steven Taylor has deeply affected this community," reads a statement posted Wednesday from Tudor. "It is important that we allow the judicial process to take its course. I will refer all questions to the District Attorney's Office."

A deadly encounter of less than 40 seconds
Fletcher and another officer initially responded on the afternoon of April 18 to a report of an alleged shoplifter holding a baseball bat at the Walmart, according to a probable cause declaration cited by the district attorney's office. Taylor had been stopped by store security when he tried to leave without paying for the bat and a tent.

Fletcher didn't wait for his cover officer before heading over to Taylor in the shopping cart area, the police document reads. Fletcher tried to grab the bat from Taylor, it states, while pulling out his service pistol.


View attachment 3335
A gun points toward Steven Taylor in this image, taken from police bodycam video.
Taylor pulled the bat away, and the officer backed up.
Then, from about 17 feet away, Fletcher drew his stun gun and pointed it at Taylor, the document reads.​
"Officer Fletcher told Mr. Taylor to 'drop the bat man, drop the bat,'" the probable cause declaration states.​
"Officer Fletcher shot Mr. Taylor with his taser as he advanced towards Mr. Taylor.
Officer Fletcher tased Mr. Taylor again, and Mr. Taylor clearly experienced the shock of the taser as he was leaning forward over his feet and stumbling forward.​
"Mr. Taylor was struggling to remain standing as he pointed the bat at the ground," it continues.​
"Defendant Fletcher shot Mr. Taylor in the chest just as (a) backup Officer ... arrived in the store."
Taylor dropped the bat,
turned away from Fletcher
and fell to the ground, the police document says.​
Less than 40 seconds elapsed from the moment Fletcher entered the store to when Taylor hit the floor, it reads.​
The cause of Taylor's death was a single gunshot wound to his chest, the Alameda County Coroner's Bureau confirmed.

Officer body-camera video released from the incident shows a confrontation, beginning with Taylor holding a bat near the store's entrance. In the video, Fletcher asks Taylor to put the bat down. When he refuses, Fletcher shoots Taylor with his stun gun. Taylor, still standing, stumbles closer to the officer, who then fires his pistol. Taylor falls to the floor.

A review of statements from witnesses and the officers involved, as well as a review of multiple videos shows that at the time of the shooting, "it was not reasonable to conclude Mr. Taylor posed an imminent threat of death or great bodily injury to Officer Fletcher or to anyone else in the store," a DA's statement reads.

"Mr. Taylor posed no threat of imminent deadly force or serious bodily injury to defendant Fletcher or anyone else in the store,"
it states.

Citing limited resources, California's attorney general declined the city's request to launch an independent investigation into the case, AG Xavier Becerra wrote to San Leandro City Manager Jeff Kay in a July 9 letter.

The city's request included references to ongoing internal investigations by the San Leandro Police Department, including an administrative investigation into compliance with internal department policies, procedures and tactics, plus an investigation into whether any crimes were committed and the district attorney's office's independent criminal investigation into potential charges for the officers, Becerra wrote.

CNN's Jon Passantino, Cheri Mossburg and Michelle Krupa contributed to this report.



 

camdion1

Rising Star
BGOL Investor
A White officer is charged in the fatal shooting of a Black man under California's tougher deadly-force law

View attachment 3336


CNN
By Topher Gauk-Roger
September 3, 2020


(CNN)A White officer has been charged with felony manslaughter in the fatal shooting in April of a Black man in a Walmart store, a crime alleged under a newly strengthened California law that requires police to use deadly force only when needed to defend human life, the county prosecutor said.

San Leandro Police Officer Jason Fletcher, 49, was charged Wednesday with voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of Steven Taylor, 33, after the pair scuffled over a baseball bat inside the store in the Northern California city, according to officials and court documents.

The charge comes amid intense nationwide scrutiny of police conduct following the death and severe injury of a string of Black men while in custody. California lawmakers last year enacted one of the strictest police deadly force measures in the country after a Sacramento prosecutor declined to charge two officers who killed Stephon Clark, an unarmed Black man, in his grandmother's backyard.
During the San Leandro confrontation, Taylor did not pose an immediate threat to police when Fletcher shot him to death, prosecutors determined, said Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley.

"The decision to file the criminal complaint was made after an intensive investigation and thorough analysis of the evidence and the current law," O'Malley said in a statement. "The work of Police Officers is critical to the health, safety, and well-being of our communities. Their job is one of the most demanding in our society, especially in these current challenging times. They are sworn to uphold and enforce the laws."

O'Malley cited the state legal standard that became effective January 1, noting its "intent is that peace officers use deadly force only when necessary in defense of human life. The legislature declared officers shall use other available resources and techniques if reasonably safe and feasible to an objectively reasonable officer."

Fletcher "was placed on leave after the incident and has been the entire time," San Leandro Police Chief Jeff Tudor told CNN on Thursday.
Fletcher's arraignment is set for September 15, she said. The officer's attorney and the San Leandro Police Officers Association did not immediately respond to CNN's requests for comment.

"As the Police Chief of San Leandro, I know the loss of Steven Taylor has deeply affected this community," reads a statement posted Wednesday from Tudor. "It is important that we allow the judicial process to take its course. I will refer all questions to the District Attorney's Office."

A deadly encounter of less than 40 seconds
Fletcher and another officer initially responded on the afternoon of April 18 to a report of an alleged shoplifter holding a baseball bat at the Walmart, according to a probable cause declaration cited by the district attorney's office. Taylor had been stopped by store security when he tried to leave without paying for the bat and a tent.

Fletcher didn't wait for his cover officer before heading over to Taylor in the shopping cart area, the police document reads. Fletcher tried to grab the bat from Taylor, it states, while pulling out his service pistol.


View attachment 3335
A gun points toward Steven Taylor in this image, taken from police bodycam video.
Taylor pulled the bat away, and the officer backed up.
Then, from about 17 feet away, Fletcher drew his stun gun and pointed it at Taylor, the document reads.​
"Officer Fletcher told Mr. Taylor to 'drop the bat man, drop the bat,'" the probable cause declaration states.​
"Officer Fletcher shot Mr. Taylor with his taser as he advanced towards Mr. Taylor.
Officer Fletcher tased Mr. Taylor again, and Mr. Taylor clearly experienced the shock of the taser as he was leaning forward over his feet and stumbling forward.​
"Mr. Taylor was struggling to remain standing as he pointed the bat at the ground," it continues.​
"Defendant Fletcher shot Mr. Taylor in the chest just as (a) backup Officer ... arrived in the store."
Taylor dropped the bat,
turned away from Fletcher
and fell to the ground, the police document says.​
Less than 40 seconds elapsed from the moment Fletcher entered the store to when Taylor hit the floor, it reads.​
The cause of Taylor's death was a single gunshot wound to his chest, the Alameda County Coroner's Bureau confirmed.

Officer body-camera video released from the incident shows a confrontation, beginning with Taylor holding a bat near the store's entrance. In the video, Fletcher asks Taylor to put the bat down. When he refuses, Fletcher shoots Taylor with his stun gun. Taylor, still standing, stumbles closer to the officer, who then fires his pistol. Taylor falls to the floor.

A review of statements from witnesses and the officers involved, as well as a review of multiple videos shows that at the time of the shooting, "it was not reasonable to conclude Mr. Taylor posed an imminent threat of death or great bodily injury to Officer Fletcher or to anyone else in the store," a DA's statement reads.

"Mr. Taylor posed no threat of imminent deadly force or serious bodily injury to defendant Fletcher or anyone else in the store,"
it states.

Citing limited resources, California's attorney general declined the city's request to launch an independent investigation into the case, AG Xavier Becerra wrote to San Leandro City Manager Jeff Kay in a July 9 letter.

The city's request included references to ongoing internal investigations by the San Leandro Police Department, including an administrative investigation into compliance with internal department policies, procedures and tactics, plus an investigation into whether any crimes were committed and the district attorney's office's independent criminal investigation into potential charges for the officers, Becerra wrote.

CNN's Jon Passantino, Cheri Mossburg and Michelle Krupa contributed to this report.



Video show him with a gun drawn. He didn't try to give up.

 

QueEx

Rising Star
Super Moderator
An Illinois police officer was fired after fatally shooting a Black teen
insider@.com (Taylor Ardrey)


October 24 2020



1603592122601.png
a group of people walking down the street: Demonstrators protest the October 20 police shooting that led to the death of 19-year-old Marcellis Stinnette and left his girlfriend, 20-year-old Tafara Williams, with serious injuries on October 22, 2020 in Waukegan, Illinois. Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images

© Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images Demonstrators protest the October 20 police shooting that led to the death of 19-year-old Marcellis Stinnette and left his girlfriend, 20-year-old Tafara Williams, with serious injuries on October 22, 2020 in Waukegan, Illinois. Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images
  • An unidentified Illinois police office was terminated on Friday for his role in an incident where he discharged his firearm at a young Black couple who were sitting in their vehicle, according to ABC News.
  • On the night of October 20, 19-year-old Marcellis Stinnette, and 20-year-old Tafara Williams, were reversing their vehicle as the officer approached them.
  • The officer fired at the vehicle while the couple was inside "in fear for his safety," according to the police report published by WLS-TV.
  • Stinnette died from his injuries, while Williams is recovering from wounds to her hand and stomach.
  • Protests broke out in Waukegan, Illinois as demonstrators demanded answers from authorities, the Chicago-Sun Times reported.
  • Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
An Illinois police officer was terminated for shooting at a Black couple while they were in their car on Tuesday— killing the teenage boy who occupied the passenger's seat, reports say.

ABC News reported that the unidentified officer of Waukegan, Illinois Police Department was terminated on Friday for the incident concerning 19-year-old Marcellis Stinnette, and 20-year-old Tafara Williams.

"In the evening hours of October 23, 2020 the City of Waukegan terminated the officer that discharged his firearm during that incident, for multiple policy and procedure violations," Waukegan Chief of Police Wayne Walles said, according to the report.

According to WLS-TV, when an officer went to inspect a "suspicious vehicle" on Tuesday at around 11:55 pm that was inhabited by Williams and Stinnette, the "car drove off."

A second officer who saw their car moments later and approached them, fired at the vehicle "in fear for his safety" as the duo reversed their car, according to the police department's statement published by WLS-TV. The officer who struck the couple is Hispanic, according to the report.

An eyewitness Darrell Mosier told WLS-TV, that the police officer got out of his vehicle and told Stinnette and Williams to stop moving their car. "He told her to stop. She was scared," he said.

He added: "She put her up hands, she started yelling, 'Why you got a gun?' She started screaming. He just started shooting."

Williams, who was the driver, and Stinnette, who was in the passenger's seat, were both transported to a local hospital after being shot, the news station reported. Stinnette died in the hospital while Williams—who was reportedly shot in the stomach and hand— is recovering from her injuries, authorities said.

"Why did you shoot? I didn't do nothing wrong. I have a license," Williams said while in the hospital, according to WLS-TV." You didn't tell me I was under arrest. Why did you just flame up my car like that? Why did you shoot?"

The incident is under "independent investigation" by Illinois State Police, Walles said in a statement, according to ABC News.

"Once that investigation has been completed, it will be turned over to the Lake County Illinois State's Attorney's Office for review," he said.

a close up of a person wearing a hat and glasses: Sherrellis Stinnette, the grandmother of 19-year-old Marcellis Stinnette, joins demonstrators protesting the October 20 police shooting that left her grandson dead and his girlfriend, 20-year-old Tafara Williams, with serious injuries on October 22, 2020 in Waukegan, Illinois. Scott Olson/Getty Images

© Scott Olson/Getty Images Sherrellis Stinnette, the grandmother of 19-year-old Marcellis Stinnette, joins demonstrators protesting
the October 20 police shooting that left her grandson dead and his girlfriend, 20-year-old Tafara Williams, with serious injuries on
October 22, 2020 in Waukegan, Illinois. Scott Olson/Getty Images

Demonstraters demand answers from local authorities
Ben Crump, a civil rights lawyer who has been representing families affected by police brutality, is one of the attornies representing Williams.

"Mrs. Williams' legal team will begin our own investigation into what happened during that incident, because we do not trust the police narrative in this case," Crump said in a news release on Friday. "We have seen over and over that the 'official' report when police kill Black people is far too often missing or misrepresenting details. We will share our findings with the public when we have uncovered the truth."

The Chicago Sun-Times reported that dozens of demonstrators gathered for protests in Waukegan—including members of Jacob Blake's family—calling for more answers on Thursday at the city's police station. Loved ones and protesters are skeptical about what really occurred during the night of the incident and don't "trust" authorities to spearhead the investigstion according to the newspaper.

"We would like justice, but we also would like police reform," Zhanellis Banks, who is Stinnette's sister, said according to WLS-TV.

Read the original article on Insider


 

QueEx

Rising Star
Super Moderator
2 teens killed in Brevard deputy shooting; few details about what led to gunfire
18-year-old Sincere Pierce, 16- year-old Anthony Crooms fatally shot on Nov. 13

Emilee Speck, Digital journalist

November 16, 2020,
Updated: November 18, 2020




COCOA, Fla. – Three days after a Brevard County deputy-involved shooting in Cocoa, the sheriff’s office has confirmed two teenagers were killed during the incident.

Few details were released by the Sheriff’s Office, Cocoa police or the Florida Department of Law Enforcement on Nov. 13 after gunfire erupted in a Cocoa neighborhood around 10:30 a.m. The sheriff’s office didn’t confirm the deaths of 18-year-old Sincere Pierce and 16-year-old Angelo “AJ” Crooms until Monday.

According to the Sheriff’s Office, deputies were investigating an earlier incident near U.S. 1 and State Road 528 when deputies tried to make contact with two people in a car near Stetson Drive and Ivy Drive.

No information about what happened in the moments before the shooting was provided.

“At that time a deputy involved shooting incident occurred,” a news release from the sheriff’s office reads.

Crooms and Pierce, both of Cocoa, were taken to the hospital where they were pronounced dead.


 

QueEx

Rising Star
Super Moderator
2 teens killed in Brevard deputy shooting
18-year-old Sincere Pierce,
16- year-old Anthony Crooms, fatally shot


Mother of slain Cocoa teen, Sincere Pierce,
shot during burial service
Sincere Pierce, 18, and Angelo Crooms, 16, had been shot
to death Nov. 13 by a Brevard County Sheriff’s deputy.



COCOA — An unknown gunman fired into a crowd gathered at a Saturday afternoon burial service of a teenager who was fatally shot by a Florida sheriff’s deputy earlier this month, officials said.

The deceased teen’s mother was wounded by the bullet, Florida Today reported.

The shooting happened as guests gathered at Riverview
Memorial Gardens to pay their respects to 18-year-old Sincere Pierce. Pierce and 16-year-old Angelo Crooms were killed Nov. 13 by a Brevard County Sheriff’s deputy.

The shot rang out as the pastor had just finished his prayers and the teen’s friends and loved ones were placing flowers on the casket, the newspaper reported. The loud popping sound was followed by stunned silence before Quasheda Pierce screamed that she’d been hit.

The newspaper reported that mourners were at first slow to react before realizing what had occurred. They began rushing to nearby cars and leaving the funeral quickly.

Friends and family members helped Quasheda Pierce into a minivan before ambulances arrived. Deputies carrying rifles arrived a short time later in response to multiple 911 calls.

The mother was taken to a hospital, but the severity of her injury was not immediately known.

Detectives and crime scene investigators remained at the cemetery throughout the afternoon Saturday, the newspaper reported.

The teens were killed when Deputy Jafet Santiago-Miranda fired multiple shots into their car when the teens didn’t pull over. Sheriff Wayne Ivey had said the deputies thought the vehicle might have been stolen, but the teens’ families and lawyer, Natalie Jackson, said they had permission to use the car and called it a case of mistaken identity.

Their deaths captured national interest, with well-known civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump working on behalf of the families in what he called a bid for justice.

Ivey has released dashcam footage from the Nov. 13 shooting that showed the teens pulling into a driveway after being followed by two sheriff’s cars without lights. Crooms, who was driving, then backed out of the driveway and drove forward in the direction of a deputy, who, gun drawn, repeatedly shouted at the teen to stop the car.


The sheriff said in a Facebook post that the deputy “was then forced to fire his service weapon in an attempt to stop the deadly threat of the car from crashing into him.”



Mother of slain Cocoa teen shot during burial service (tampabay.com)
 

QueEx

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Super Moderator
Georgia AG requests DOJ investigate handling of Ahmaud Arbery case
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr has requested the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) launch an investigation into the handling of the case surrounding Ahmaud Arbery's death.



Ex-prosecutor charged in Ahmaud Arbery case booked at jail
By RUSS BYNUM, Associated Press 2 hrs ago

1631123030030.png
© Provided by Associated Press This jail booking photo provided by Glynn County Sheriff’s Office, shows Jackie
Johnson, the former district attorney for Georgia’s Brunswick Judicial Circuit, after she turned herself in to the Glynn
County jail in Brunswick, Ga, on Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2021. A grand jury indicted Johnson on charges of violating her
oath of office and obstructing police in her handling of the February 2020 killing of Ahmaud Arbery. The indictment
accuses Johnson of using her position to try to shield Arbery’s killers from prosecution. She has denied any wrongdoing.
(Glynn County Sheriff’s Office via AP)


Former Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney Jackie Johnson turned herself in Wednesday morning at the Glynn County jail, county Undersheriff Ron Corbett said. Jail records show she was released on her own recognizance, meaning she did not have to pay a cash bond.

A grand jury indicted Johnson, 49, last week on a felony charge of violating her oath of office and a misdemeanor count of obstructing police. Johnson was the area's top prosecutor when three white men chased and fatally shot Arbery last year. The indictment alleges she used her position to shield the 25-year-old Black man's killers from prosecution.


Johnson did not immediately return a phone message Thursday. Officials at the jail and the Glynn County Superior Court clerk's office said their records did not list an attorney for her.

Greg McMichael and his grown son, Travis McMichael, armed themselves and pursued Arbery in a pickup truck on Feb. 23, 2020, after they spotted Arbery running in their neighborhood just outside the port city of Brunswick, about 70 miles (112 kilometers) south of Savannah.

A neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, joined the chase and took cellphone video of Travis McMichael shooting Arbery at close range with a shotgun. Greg McMichael told police they suspected Arbery was a burglar and Travis McMichael shot him in self-defense.

Prosecutors have said Arbery was unarmed and was carrying no stolen items when he was slain.

The McMichaels and Bryan weren't charged in the killing until more than two months later, after the video was leaked online and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation took over the case. Now all three men are scheduled to stand trial this fall on murder charges.

Greg McMichael worked for Johnson as an investigator in the district attorney's office before retiring in 2019. Phone records introduced in court show he called Johnson and left her a voicemail soon after the shooting.

Johnson has previously denied any wrongdoing, saying she recused her office from the case immediately because of its relationship with Greg McMichael.

Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr's office is prosecuting Johnson. Carr sought the misconduct investigation last year, saying the first outside prosecutor he appointed to handle the case had been recommended by Johnson, who never disclosed that she had already asked that prosecutor to advise police in the immediate aftermath of Arbery’s killing.

That outside prosecutor, Waycross Judicial Circuit District Attorney George Barnhill, later recused himself — but not before sending a letter to Glynn police advising that he believed the shooting of Arbery was justified.

Johnson lost reelection last year and blamed controversy over Arbery's death for her defeat.


Ex-prosecutor charged in Ahmaud Arbery case booked at jail (msn.com)
 

QueEx

Rising Star
Super Moderator
Former police officer and his son chased subject down

And
By Angela Barajas,
Amir Vera and
Steve Almasy,
CNN
May 6, 2020


Brunswick, Georgia (CNN)The fatal shooting of a black man -- apparently recorded on video in February and posted online Tuesday by a local radio station host -- will go to a grand jury in coastal Georgia, according to a district attorney.

Elements of the disturbing video are consistent with a description of the shooting given to police by one of those involved in the incident.

Ahmaud Arbery, 25, was jogging in a neighborhood outside Brunswick on February 23 when a former police officer and his son chased him down, authorities said. According to a Glynn County Police report, Gregory McMichael later told officers that he thought Arbery looked like a person suspected in a series of recent break-ins in the area.

BLACK LIVES MATTER
Ahmaud Arbery's father bursts out in a cheer after jury finds 3 men guilty of murder
SUMMER MEZA

NOVEMBER 24, 2021

Ahmaud Arbery trial

SEAN RAYFORD/GETTY IMAGES


THE THREE WHITE MEN ON TRIAL FOR THE KILLING OF AHMAUD ARBERY WERE ALL FOUND GUILTY OF FELONY MURDER

ON WEDNESDAY, REPORTS BUZZFEED NEWS.
ARBERY, A 25-YEAR-OLD BLACK MAN, DIED IN 2020 WHEN GREG MCMICHAEL, HIS SON TRAVIS MCMICHAEL, AND THEIR NEIGHBOR WILLIAM "RODDIE" BRYAN CHASED AND CONFRONTED ARBERY WHILE HE WAS ON A RUN. THE THREE MEN CHASED HIM IN A TRUCK, AND TRAVIS MCMICHAEL FATALLY SHOT HIM. THE YOUNGER MCMICHAEL WAS CONVICTED ON ALL NINE COUNTS HE WAS FACING, INCLUDING MALICE MURDER, FELONY MURDER, AND AGGRAVATED ASSAULT.



.
 

Politic Negro

Rising Star
BGOL Investor
$4M settlement deal reached in police death of Manuel Ellis
The family of Manuel Ellis, a 33-year-old Black man killed by police two years ago as he pleaded for breath, has reached a $4 million proposed settlement with one of the two government agencies it named in a wrongful death lawsuit
ByThe Associated Press
March 21, 2022, 8:37 PM
• 3 min read

TACOMA, Wash. -- The family of Manuel Ellis, a Black man killed by police two years ago as he pleaded for breath, has reached a $4 million proposed settlement with one of the two government agencies it named in a wrongful death lawsuit.
The Pierce County Council is scheduled to vote Tuesday on whether to approve the settlement, The News Tribune reported.

“We are happy to have reached this agreement with the County,” the family's attorney, Matthew A. Ericksen Sr., said in an email. “By reaching this resolution Pierce County has established a foundation upon which the Ellis family and the community can begin the process of moving forward.”
Ellis’ sister, Monet Carter-Mixon, and mother, Marcia Carter, continue to pursue their federal civil rights and wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Tacoma and against several individual officers, some of whom have been charged criminally.
Ellis, 33, died March 3, 2020, just weeks before George Floyd’s death triggered a nationwide reckoning on race and policing. Police stopped him while he was walking home from a convenience store with a box of doughnuts and a bottle of water.
Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson charged Tacoma police officers Christopher Burbank and Matthew Collins, who are white, with second-degree murder after witnesses reported that they attacked Ellis without provocation.
Officer Timothy Rankine, who is Asian, faces a charge of first-degree manslaughter. He is accused of kneeling on Ellis’ back and shoulder as Ellis repeatedly told them he couldn’t breathe, according to a probable cause statement filed in Pierce County Superior Court.
The officers have pleaded not guilty.

Two Pierce County Sheriff deputies also responded to the scene, including Deputy Gary Sanders, who grabbed Ellis’ leg and assisted in restraining him while Tacoma police handcuffed and hogtied him. The family's lawsuit faulted the deputies for not helping Ellis despite his distress.
Burbank and Collins reported that the encounter happened after they saw Ellis trying to get into occupied cars at a stoplight; they said Ellis punched the window of their cruiser and attacked them as they got out, according to statements from other officers cited in the charging documents.
The Pierce County medical examiner called Ellis’ death a homicide because of a lack of oxygen caused by restraint, with an enlarged heart and methamphetamine intoxication as contributing factors.
The death made Ellis’ name synonymous with pleas for justice at protests in the Pacific Northwest. His final words — “I can’t breathe, sir!” — were captured by a home security camera, as was the retort from one of the officers: “Shut the (expletive) up, man.”




 

QueEx

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Super Moderator
U.S. NEWS

Police shoot 'hero' after he disarms gunman, is mistaken for suspect, lawyer says

K’aun Green, 20, was shot after an argument escalated into a fight at a restaurant in San Jose, California.

March 31, 2022, 10:56 PM EDT
By Tim Stelloh

A former high school football champion whose lawyer said he disarmed a gunman during a fight at a California restaurant and was shot by police remained hospitalized Thursday.

Attorney Adante Pointer called K’aun Green, 20, a “hero” who prevented a shooting inside the La Victoria restaurant early Sunday before a San Jose police officer opened fire, striking Green.


"The police yelled 'drop the gun,' and without giving my client a second to understand it was the police, or turn around and see what was going on, or even to drop the gun, he was shot multiple times," Pointer told NBC Bay Area.

Green was shot in the abdomen and leg and twice in the arm, Pointer said.

K'aun Green.
K'aun Green.Courtesy Adante Pointer
San Jose Police Chief Anthony Mata on Tuesday said that Green did not respond to repeated orders to drop the weapon, which he described as a “ghost gun,” as he backed out of the restaurant’s front door.

Mata said the shooting occurred roughly one block from a homicide scene that involved a gun. Fleeing customers told officers that a fight with a firearm was happening inside the restaurant, and police believed an "active shooter scenario [was] unfolding or about to unfold," Mata said.


Surveillance video from the restaurant that was shown by police captured a chaotic situation, with multiple people throwing punches and wrestling on the floor. During the fight, the gun "changed possession more than once," Mata said.

Pointer said Green had been "minding his own business" and didn't know the people involved in the fight. As the restaurant cleared out, the surveillance video captured Green trying to wrestle the gun away from others.

K'aun Green.
K'aun Green.Courtesy Adante Pointer
Disturbing bystander video that Pointer said captured the shooting showed several officers walking up a short stairway in front of La Victoria.

The door can be seen opening, and Green appears to back out of it. A still photo from police body camera video released by authorities showed Green holding the weapon in his left hand.

In the video, roughly four seconds pass between when Green opens the door and the officer fires. The video is shot from a distance, and police cannot be heard ordering Green to drop the gun.

"The officer knew that less than a block away from the homicide, a man with a gun inside a crowded restaurant engaged in a fight," Mata said, adding: "The officer knew the individual holding the gun did not drop it when commands were clearly given to him. The officer did not know who brought the gun to the restaurant."

Investigators later discovered that the gun was someone else's, Mata said. The person who originally brandished the weapon was arrested on suspicion of being a felon in possession of a firearm, he said.

K'aun Green wears his Contra Costa college football uniform.
K'aun Green wears his Contra Costa college football uniform.Courtesy Adante Pointer
Mata said the officer, a four-year veteran of the department, was placed on routine administrative leave while the shooting is investigated. A “community briefing” with body camera video and other footage will be released in the coming weeks, he said.

Pointer said that authorities kept Green handcuffed to his hospital bed and denied him access to his family until he was cleared as a suspect "days" after the shooting.


 

QueEx

Rising Star
Super Moderator
In Laquan McDonald case, was justice served ?



Laquan McDonald’s Killer, Already Released Early, Won’t Face Federal Charges Either

Former Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke is a perfect example of how convicted killer cops can still evade criminal justice

 

QueEx

Rising Star
Super Moderator
After a Black man is killed by
police, City of Akron, OHi0
cancels July Fourth celebration

1656701239807.png

Jayland Walker, a 25-year-old DoorDash driver

Days after a Black man was killed by police officers who reportedly fired almost 100 rounds during a chase that started as a traffic stop, officials in Akron, Ohio, announced that the Fourth of July celebration was canceled in response to a fatal shooting that has rocked the city this week.

Police tried to pull over Jayland Walker, a 25-year-old DoorDash driver, for a traffic infraction early Monday, authorities said. The Akron Police Department said that during the pursuit, Walker fired a gun from outside the vehicle — a claim that Walker’s family has refuted. As he kept driving away from police, Walker jumped out of his vehicle and was chased by officers on foot, according to authorities. It’s unclear why Walker fled police, as he had no criminal record, Bobby DiCello, one of the family’s attorneys, told The Washington Post.

“Actions by the suspect caused the officers to perceive he posed a deadly threat to them,” police said in a news release. “In response to this threat, officers discharged their firearms, striking the suspect.”

Walker was pronounced dead at the parking lot where he was shot.

Autopsy records show that eight officers fired more than 90 rounds at Walker, with more than 60 striking his body, DiCello told The Post. The account was corroborated by WKYC, the first to report on the number of gunshots fired.​

“There are wounds on all sides and parts of his body,” DiCello said.

Officers involved in the shooting have been placed on paid administrative leave pending the conclusion of the investigation from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, according to Akron police. The number of officers involved in the shooting, as well as the number of shots fired, have not been released by police.

A weapon was recovered from inside Walker’s car, according to police. DiCello said there is no evidence showing that the firearm was in the car -- or that the firearm was discharged at an officer.

The killing has sparked protests and calls for accountability from Walker’s family and residents angry over the third fatal police shooting in the northeast Ohio city since late December. Akron police announced Friday that body-camera footage of the shooting would be released on Sunday afternoon.

The blowback led Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan (D), who called the killing “a dark day for our city,” to announce that the city’s Fourth of July celebration was canceled. The Rib, White, & Blue Festival was scheduled to begin Friday in downtown Akron and conclude Monday on Independence Day. The part of downtown where the festival would have taken place will have no activities or entertainment over the holiday weekend, according to the city.

“I completely understand that some residents and guests will be disappointed by the decision to cancel the festival this holiday weekend. Independence Day is meant to be a celebration and a time of gathering with friends and family,” Horrigan said in a news release on Thursday. “Unfortunately, I feel strongly that this is not the time for a city-led celebration.”

The Summit County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed to The Post that Walker’s death has been classified as a homicide. Walker died of multiple gunshot wounds to the face, abdomen and the upper part of his legs, according to the Akron Beacon Journal. Denice DiNapoli, a spokesperson for the medical examiner, told The Post that the homicide classification “refers to the medical term indicating death at the hands of another and is not a legal conclusion.”

“As it is with every investigation, the goal of the Summit County Medical Examiner’s Office is to be able to provide an accurate assessment of the injuries sustained by Mr. Walker,” DiNapoli said.

The autopsy report is expected to be released next week.

More than 1,040 people have been shot and killed by police in the last year, according to a data tracked by The Post. Although half of those people were White. Black Americans are shot at a disproportionate rate. They account for less than 13 percent of the U.S. population but are killed by police at more than twice the rate of Whites. Hispanics are also killed by police at a disproportionate rate.


1,042 people have been shot and killed by police in the past year

Before working for DoorDash, Walker had worked for Amazon, DiCello said at a Thursday news conference. The Akron native’s high school sweetheart died in a car crash last month, local media reported.

Authorities said the incident began at around 12:30 a.m. Monday. When Walker got out of the moving car during a pursuit that lasted several minutes, he ended up in the parking lot for Bridgestone Americas Center for Research and Technology, police said.

After Walker was shot, police said, officers “immediately summonsed for EMS to as they began administering first aid until the arrival of paramedics.”

Once the state’s investigation is complete, the case will be handed over to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office for further review before being presented to the Summit County grand jury for evaluation, police said.

Protesters gathered outside the Akron Police Department’s office on Thursday and blocked traffic to demand “Justice for Jayland.” DiCello told The Post that the family has urged protesters to be peaceful over the holiday weekend, including when the body-cam footage is released Sunday.

“We are very concerned that this video is going to cause Akron to burn, and we don’t want that. Nobody wants that,” the attorney said. “It’s all about peace, dignity and justice for Jayland.”

His family has said Walker was a sweet man who never caused trouble. Relatives expressed their grief in news conferences and interviews with local media, saying they are “angry” and “sick” over a killing they say didn’t have to happen.

His mother, Pamela Walker, was left with one question to WKYC: “Why?”

“Why did this happen in such a manner, such a terrible, terrible way?” she asked.


After a Black man is killed by police, a city cancels its July Fourth celebration (msn.com)
 

QueEx

Rising Star
Super Moderator
Akron police release body cam footage of fatal police shooting of Jayland Walker
Megan Sims, cleveland.com - Yesterday 2:44 PM

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AKRON, Ohio - Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan and the Akron police today are holding a news conference Firestone Park Community center in Akron, not far from the parking lot where police fatally shot 25-year-old Jayland Walker early Monday.
The city released body cam footage that showed police firing a seconds-long barrage of bullets at Walker, who was unarmed after fleeing his vehicle. He died at the scene, after police provided first aid, said police Chief Steve Mylett.
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At 12:30 a.m. Monday, police say they attempted to pull Walker over for traffic and equipment violations. Officers said they saw and heard gunshots as Walker headed southbound on Route 8. After slowing his vehicle near the Firestone Park neighborhood, minutes from the University of Akron main campus, Walker took off on foot toward a nearby parking lot, where he was fatally shot by police.
The city released body cam video from officers, as well as a timeline of the shooting and information on the eight officers involved.The city is streaming the news conference on its YouTube page.
“I’ve talked about being beyond outraged and beyond shocked,” Horrigan said. “The video you’re about to watch is heartbreaking.”
The city released two videos, the first narrated with notes and still photos. In the video, police reported a shot fired from Walker’s car, with led police on a chase of speeds up to 70 mph on Route 8. It shows the officer using tasers and a handgun, ammunition and what appears to be a gold wedding ring found in the front seat of Walker’s Buick.
 

QueEx

Rising Star
Super Moderator
Gruesome videos, Jayland Walker's motions intensify debate; attorney disputes city's claims

Doug Livingston
Akron Beacon Journal
July 3, 2022

Jayland Walker was unarmed, wearing a ski mask and running from his car
when bullets instantly dropped him in a parking lot at Wilbeth Avenue and Main Street.​

In the next "six seconds" while laying on the asphalt,
Walker’s body twitched and rolled as eight Akron police officers fired 90 or more rounds that Hit the 25-year-old Black man 60 or more times, according to a preliminary coroner’s investigation that has yet to match all the bullets and holes. Tasers also were deployed, according to police.​

These grisly and critical details were confirmed Sunday in the city’s partial release of body-worn camera footage during a press conference at the Firestone Park Community Center, located less than a half-mile from the fatal June 27 shooting.

Graphic content warning:Body camera videos show shooting death of Jayland Walker

*At the meeting for journalists, who were given the location just two hours prior as protests continued for a fifth day downtown, Akron Police Chief Steve Mylett detailed — for the first time — why officers mistakenly??? suspected that Walker was armed, as well as the motion Walker made that led officers to fear for their lives.

He released information, but not names, on the eight officers involved. Their service ranges from 1½ to six years, with five at the 2½-year mark. Seven are white. One is Black. And one is female.

None has prior discipline, a substantiated complaint or a fatal shooting on his or her record, though the city of Akron has yet to provide their full personnel files per a records request made by the Beacon Journal on Tuesday, June 28.

1656956978196.png
This still photo image from police body camera footage shows a police officer pointing gun at
Jayland Walker


Akron police detail Jayland Walker firing shot after footage released (usatoday.com)
 

QueEx

Rising Star
Super Moderator
What Jayland Walker Footage Reveals About Shooting of Black Man in Ohio

BY GERRARD KAONGA
7/4/22 AT 4:23 AM EDT


More details have emerged following the shooting of an un-armed Black man by police in Akron, Ohio.

Protests erupted on Sunday after the release of police body-cam footage showing the events that followed an attempted traffic stop of Jayland Walker on June 27.

Police have said that they attempted to stop Walker for a traffic violation but a chase ensued when he failed to pull over.

In a statement on the incident, police have said officers "reported a firearm being discharged from the suspect vehicle."

After several minutes, Walker allegedly attempted to flee his vehicle while wearing a ski mask. Police began a foot chase before officers discharged their firearms, fatally shooting him, after perceiving Walker to be a threat.
WHEN, EXACTLY, --> DID POLICE PERCEIVE WALKER TO BE A THREAT??
WHAT --> ARE THE FACTS LEADING TO THE "THREAT" CONCLUSION??
Following the incident, Akron Police Chief Stephen Mylett held a press conference and confirmed Walker was unarmed at the time of the shooting but police have said they found a gun in his car with a loaded magazine, according to a CBS News report.

"The officers have not been able to provide a statement yet. I am reserving any sort of judgment until we hear from them," he said.


What Jayland Walker Footage Reveals About Shooting of Black Man in Ohio (newsweek.com)
 

MCP

International
International Member

Jayland Walker: Autopsy shows black man 'shot or grazed' 46 times
_125930057_gettyimages-1241787682.jpg

The city of Akron has seen near-daily protests since police body camera footage showed Jayland Walker being killed in a hail of gunfire


A 25-year-old black man killed by Ohio police last month had 46 gunshot wounds or graze injuries on his body, an autopsy report has found.
The medical examiner said it was impossible to know which bullet killed Jayland Walker, or how many shots were fired in total.

The report comes two days after hundreds mourned his death in the city of Akron, which remains on edge.
Officials have announced a curfew on Friday night amid near-daily protests.

According to the medical examiner, Walker sustained serious injuries to his heart, lungs and arteries in the 27 June shooting in the city of Akron.
He was killed at the end of an attempted traffic stop that began over minor equipment violations and quickly devolved into a roughly six-minute pursuit.
Authorities have said he fired a single shot 40 seconds into the chase.

Police body camera footage shows Walker, in a ski mask, jumping out of the moving vehicle from its passenger side and ducking into a parking lot where police opened fire on him from multiple directions.

The footage is too blurry to accurately determine what authorities called a "threatening gesture" he made before he was shot.
However, Walker was unarmed at the time and his family, through lawyers, have said there was no need to kill him.
Police found an unloaded handgun, one clip of ammunition and a wedding band in the driver's seat of his vehicle.
Initial findings showed more than 60 wounds on Walker's body. Summit County medical examiner Dr Lisa Kohler said it was "very possible" one bullet may have caused multiple entrance wounds.
The eight officers involved in the shooting - seven of whom are white, and one of whom is black - are on paid leave as the state of Ohio investigates.
Their local police union has said it believes the officers thought they were at immediate risk of serious harm and acted in line with their training.
On Thursday, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, a civil rights organisation, made a direct plea to US Attorney General Merrick Garland, the country's top prosecutor, to open a federal investigation into the incident and hold the officers accountable "to the fullest extent of the law".
The prosecution rate for US police officers in fatal shootings remains low, but recent cases have recast the conversation.
The Minnesota officer who fatally shot 20-year-old Daunte Wright last April was charged with manslaughter, and the Michigan officer who shot 26-year-old Patrick Lyoya in the head this April is facing murder charges. Both incidents began as traffic stops.
 

blackbull1970

The Black Bastard
Platinum Member
The Secret Service spokesperson defending the agency’s deleted Jan 6. texts previously misled reporters about the police cover-up on Laquan McDonald’s killing

Critics have challenged the veracity of U.S. Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi’s statements amid the congressional probe into the January 6, 2021, insurrection, particularly over his effort to shield his agency from accountability over deleted texts from that period that are being sought by the committee.

This is not the first time Guglielmi has argued that the suspicious disappearance of crucial evidence whose emergence could have hurt the credibility of his employer was simply due to a technical snafu. In a similar role with the Chicago Police Department, he previously claimed that missing audio from five different police dashcam videos that recorded the notorious 2014 police killing of Laquan McDonald was due to “software issues or operator error.”



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QueEx

Rising Star
Super Moderator
New police body camera footage following Jayland Walker's death sparks outrage
42m ago


Jayland Walker's family is outraged, according to the family's attorneys, after newly released body camera footage of Walker's death shows the moments following the fatal police shooting.

"After they shoot and end the life of Pam Walker's son, they turn off their mics. They turn off their cameras. What did they say? What did they do?" Walker family attorney Bobby DiCello said at a press conference on Tuesday. "They'll come up with a reason why they could turn off the cameras. But probe, ask those questions. In the face of this insult, we're still here."

According to the body camera footage acquired by the Akron Beacon Journal and reviewed by ABC News, an officer can be heard yelling, "Did anyone see the gun?" as officers continued to point their lights on Walker's body on the ground. Other officers chime in, saying they "can't see it," or "don't know" where the gun is.

MORE: Jayland Walker's mother speaks out on son's fatal shooting by police
Police approach Walker as he's on the ground, examining the body and calling for medical attention, according to the footage.

Jayland Walker is pictured in an undated family photo.
Jayland Walker is pictured in an undated family photo.© Walker Family

One officer orders all the officers who shot at Walker to separate themselves from the scene. Several officers then tell each other to "go blue," prompting officers to shut off the audio being recorded from the officers' body cameras, the footage showed.

The officers can be seen standing in a circle, but their discussion cannot be heard because the audio was shut off, according to the footage.


In this July 8, 2022, file photo, a demonstrator holds a sign during a vigil in honor of Jayland Walker in Akron, Ohio. Walker was shot and killed by members of the Akron Police Department on July 3, 2022.







In this July 2, 2022, file photo, Akron police officers watch a group protesting the death of Jayland Walker outside the Harold K. Stubbs Justice Center, in Akron, Ohio.




New police body camera footage following Jayland Walker's death sparks outrage (msn.com)
 

MCP

International
International Member

Chris Kaba: Family of man shot dead to see police bodycam footage

_126683549_59766014-1a38-4f42-b9e2-f425c8a9aaa6.jpg.webp

The family of Chris Kaba will be able to view some of the bodycam footage recorded the night he was shot, the police watchdog has said.

The 24-year-old was killed in Streatham Hill, south London, on 5 September.

Concerns over the decision to suspend the officer who shot him have been raised by the Met Police Federation.
Family spokesman Jefferson Bosela said: "We're going to be able to see some form of footage but they [the IOPC] didn't tell us what footage."
Mr Bosela, who is Mr Kaba's cousin, told Newsnight that the family would be able to view the footage next week but "wanted more clarity" from the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) on the type of footage they will see.

The rapper, who was due to become a father, was stopped by police following a pursuit. His car had been flagged by a number plate recognition camera, the Met said.

_126605664_streatham.jpg.webp

The 24-year-old was shot in Kirkstall Gardens

Mr Kaba, who was unarmed, was shot once and died in hospital about two hours later.

The IOPC began a homicide investigation on 9 September, while on Monday the Met said the officer who shot the 24-year-old had been suspended.
Mr Bosela said the fact that family had been told the investigation would take between six and nine months showed it "lacks urgency".

He added: "The IOPC have been really vague so we've asked some very basic questions, such as 'Was the car registered to him?' Was the car searched?'

"They've either delayed the answer or they haven't given us any answers at all and it's been quite frustrating for us and the family as we're mourning, but also we're not really getting any clarity around the actual situation."



On Wednesday, the Met Police Federation's chair Ken Marsh told BBC Radio 4's World at One he had "no issue with the investigation", but believed the suspension of the officer was "based purely on public perception".

"My colleagues are very concerned around the suspension," he said - Mr Kaba's family have said the officer should have been suspended sooner.

The Met Police Federation also said it would have "no issue" with the release of bodycam footage of the shooting.
An IOPC spokesperson said: "We've been in contact with Chris Kaba's family's legal representatives this week and have provided them with answers to a number of questions, including how we can facilitate their viewing of video footage.
"We are keeping in regular contact with his family and will update them as our investigation progresses."
 

QueEx

Rising Star
Super Moderator
Elijah McClain’s death caused by complications from ketamine injection following restraint, coroner says in amended autopsy report




By Steve Almasy, CNN
Updated 11:57 AM EDT, Sat September 24, 2022


A photograph of Elijah McClain is part of the "Say Their Names" memorial on Boston Common in Boston on November 16, 2020.


CNN - The autopsy report for Elijah McClain, an unarmed Black man who died while in police custody in Colorado three years ago, has been changed to update the cause of death from “undetermined” to “complications of ketamine administration following forcible restraint,” Adams County Chief Coroner Monica Broncucia-Jordan said Friday.

In August 2019, McClain, a 23-year-old massage therapist, was walking home from a store when he was apprehended by Aurora police officers responding to a “suspicious person” call. Police said McClain had resisted and he was placed into a carotid hold.

Paramedics diagnosed McClain with “excited delirium” and administered the powerful sedative ketamine. He suffered a heart attack on the way to the hospital. Three days later, he was declared brain dead.

The original autopsy report listed the cause of McClain’s death as “undetermined.”

The coroner’s office received body camera footage, witness statements and additional records that were part of a grand jury investigation and not available before the autopsy was performed, pathologist Dr. Stephen Cina wrote in the amended autopsy report.

“Simply put, this dosage of ketamine was too much for this individual and it resulted in an overdose, even though the blood ketamine level was consistent with a ‘therapeutic’ concentration,” CIna wrote. “I believe that Mr. McClain would most likely be alive but for the administration of ketamine.”

Cina, who was assisted at the autopsy by Broncucia-Jordan, wrote that based on his training and experience, he still believes the manner of death is “Undetermined.”

“I acknowledge that other reasonable forensic pathologists who have trained in other places may have their philosophy regarding deaths in custody and that they may consider the manner of death in this type of case to be either HOMICIDE or ACCIDENT,” the pathologist added.

CIna could not determine whether the carotid hold contributed to McClain’s death, he added.

But “I have seen no evidence that injuries inflicted by the police contributed to death,” he wrote.

The amended autopsy report was signed in July 2021. It was released Friday after a Denver District Court judge approved the coroner’s emergency motion.

McClain’s death days after his interactions with police brought renewed scrutiny of the use of carotid holds and ketamine during law enforcement stops. His case gained renewed attention during Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.

Last year a grand jury indicted three police officers and two paramedics involved in the McClain case. They face charges of manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and other charges.

In 2021, the city settled a civil rights lawsuit with the McClain family for $15 million, and the Aurora police and fire departments agreed to a consent decree to address a pattern of racial bias found by a state investigation.


Elijah McClain's death caused by complications from ketamine injection following restraint, coroner says in amended autopsy report | CNN


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