Category Archives: US policing

Kim Potter found guilty over killing of Daunte Wright

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Ex-officer maintained during trial that she made a mistake when she grabbed her gun instead of her Taser

The jury in the manslaughter trial of former Minnesota police officer Kim Potter, who shot dead 20-year-old Daunte Wright during a traffic stop in April 2021, has found her guilty.

The former police officer, who is white, had maintained that she made a tragic mistake when she grabbed her gun, instead of her Taser, and shot Wright, who was Black, when he was pulled over while driving in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center.

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Defense rests after Kim Potter describes ‘chaotic’ traffic stop that killed Wright

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The police officer who said she mistook her gun for Taser is charged with manslaughter for fatally shooting Daunte Wright

The defense has rested in the trial of a Minnesota police officer charged in the fatal shooting of Black motorist Daunte Wright.

Kim Potter, 49, is charged with manslaughter in Wright’s death during a traffic stop on 11 April in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center.

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Derek Chauvin pleads guilty to civil rights charges in killing of George Floyd

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Ex-Minneapolis police officer has already been convicted of state murder and manslaughter charges and sentenced to 22 1/2 years

Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin has pleaded guilty to violating George Floyd’s civil rights during the arrest that killed Floyd in May 2020, sparking mass racial justice protests across the US and beyond.

Chauvin appeared in federal court in person on Wednesday morning to change his plea to guilty. It means he will not face a federal trial in January, though he could end up spending more years behind bars when a judge sentences him at a later date.

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Derek Chauvin expected to plead guilty to violating George Floyd’s civil rights

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Federal docket entry shows hearing scheduled for Wednesday for Chauvin to change his current not guilty plea in the case

Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer, appears to be on the verge of pleading guilty to violating George Floyd’s civil rights, according to a notice sent out Monday by the court’s electronic filing system.

The federal docket entry shows a hearing has been scheduled for Wednesday for Chauvin to change his current not guilty plea in the case. These types of notices indicate a defendant is planning to plead guilty.

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San Francisco restaurant apologizes for denying service to armed police

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Owners of Hilda and Jesse Restaurant say they ‘made a mistake’ after saying weapons made people uncomfortable

The owners of a San Francisco restaurant have apologized for denying service to three police officers over the weekend because their weapons made their staff “uncomfortable”.

The owners of Hilda and Jesse Restaurant apologized in a social media post published on Sunday following an outcry and calls to boycott the eatery because the officers were asked to leave shortly after they sat down Friday.

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As Kyle Rittenhouse walks free, Kenosha is left to pick up the pieces

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Reactions to the verdict show a city as divided and beset by inequality as on the night of the killings in August 2020

Kyle Rittenhouse is now a free man after fatally shooting two men and wounding a third during anti-racism protests last year, but his trial has left behind a divided America – and done little to ease tensions in the city of Kenosha, Wisconsin, where the killings took place.

Rittenhouse, 18, who faced charges of homicide, was acquitted in full on the grounds of self-defence. But the jury’s decision did not calm the people outside the Kenosha county courthouse in the hours after news of the verdict rippled across the city, and the rest of the United States.

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Kyle Rittenhouse found not guilty after fatally shooting two in Kenosha unrest

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Rittenhouse killed two people and injured a third at protests last year after a white officer shot a Black man, Jacob Blake, in the back

A jury on Friday found Kyle Rittenhouse not guilty on charges related to his shooting dead two people at an anti-racism protest and injuring a third in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last year, after a tumultuous trial that gripped America.

Rittenhouse killed Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and wounded Gaige Grosskreutz, 27, when he shot them with an assault rifle as he roamed the streets of Kenosha with other armed men acting as a self-described militia during protests in August 2020, after a white police officer shot a Black man, Jacob Blake, in the back.

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Kenosha police accused of ‘deputizing’ militia vigilantes during Jacob Blake protests

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Lawsuit brought by Gaige Grosskreutz, who was wounded by Kyle Rittenhouse during anti-police brutality protests in August 2020

The police department in the Wisconsin city of Kenosha is facing new legal action after being accused of “deputizing” a group of militia vigilantes during anti-police brutality protests last year in which 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse killed two people.

The action, brought by Gaige Grosskreutz, who was wounded during the incident, alleges that local police effectively deputized a “band of white nationalist vigilantes” during protests sparked by the shooting of Jacob Blake, who is now paralyzed from the waist down, by a white police officer.

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Chicago mayor files complaint against police union for defying vaccine mandate

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The city’s Fraternal Order of Police encouraged members to ignore the city’s vaccine requirement

The Chicago mayor, Lori Lightfoot, has filed a complaint in court against Chicago’s largest police union and its president after the union issued a directive for officers to ignore a citywide mandate to report their vaccination status, the latest in a battle between government officials and first responders over vaccine mandates.

In a statement issued Friday morning, Lightfoot announced that she had instructed the city’s law department to file a complaint for injunctive relief against the Chicago chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police union and its president, John Catanzara, for actions the mayor regarded as encouraging an illegal strike.

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A microcosm of segregated America: Michael von Graffenried’s best photograph

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‘The people of New Bern liked the fact my ancestor founded their town. But the atmosphere changed when they realised I was there to show reality, not promote a touristy vision’

The guy on the left is Frank Palombo, the former chief of police of New Bern in North Carolina, a town I have spent the last 15 years photographing. In 2006, an organisation called Swiss Roots invited me to document New Bern as part of their mission to promote a positive image of Switzerland – my country – in the US.

They approached me partly because my ancestor is the settler Christopher von Graffenried, who founded New Bern in 1710 after conflict with a Native American tribe known as the Tuscarora. I knew nothing about him and, initially, neither the project nor my family history interested me. But a month later, I changed my mind – it was a chance to find out whether Swiss-held prejudices about George Bush’s America were true.

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More than half of police killings are mislabelled or not reported, study finds

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Review of 40 years of data shows many fatal police encounters are misclassified, most often when the victim is Black or Hispanic

More than half of all police-involved killings go unreported with the majority of victims being Black, according to a new study published in the Lancet, a peer reviewed journal.

Research at the University of Washington School of Medicine’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation found that in the US between 1980 and 2018, more than 55% of deaths, over 17,000 in total, from police violence were either misclassified or went unreported.

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Washington rally in support of 6 January rioters falls short of expectations

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Police prepared for trouble at event near Capitol but only a few hundred attended as politicians and pro-Trump groups did not

Any passing American might have been forgiven for thinking they had stumbled on one of the great human rights struggles of our time.

Related: Peril review: Bob Woodward Trump trilogy ends on note of dire warning

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LA officers sue over vaccine mandate as police across California threaten to resign

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Police department employees claim ‘hostile work environment’ for the unvaccinated and say mandate violates civil rights

Los Angeles police department (LAPD) employees have sued over requirements they get vaccinated for Covid-19, alleging that the department has created a “hostile work environment” for the unvaccinated and that the mandate violates employees’ privacy and civil rights.

The suit is one of several aggressive challenges to vaccine mandates by police unions and officers across California, some of whom have threatened mass resignations in response to new rules. It comes as staff at law enforcement agencies remain unvaccinated at disproportionately high rates.

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‘Blinded by police’: my search for fellow survivors of an alarming trend

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As the rubber bullets and teargas flew during last year’s protests, an epidemic of ‘less lethal’ shootings inspired a network of survivors

My mind raced in the seconds after I was shot.

I heard the gun go off and turned my head toward the sound, just in time to watch the spinning aluminum canister slam into my brow. Everything went black. I stumbled. When I regained my balance and opened my eyes, the sight in my right eye was gone. Something in my head told me the teargas canister was the last thing I’d ever see clearly.

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Capitol police officers sue Trump and far-right groups over 6 January attack

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• Roger Stone also named in suit by six officers in federal court

• Ex-president worked with others to ‘commit acts of … terrorism’

Capitol police officers who were attacked and beaten during the insurrection at the US Congress on 6 January by extremist supporters of Donald Trump filed a lawsuit on Thursday against the former Republican president, his ally Roger Stone and members of far-right extremist groups.

The officers accused them of intentionally sending a violent mob to disrupt the congressional certification of Joe Biden’s victory in the November 2020 election.

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US Capitol police didn’t properly respond to officers’ calls for help in attack – report

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Inspector general’s report offers new details into shortcomings by law enforcement during 6 January insurrection

US Capitol police (USCP) didn’t adequately respond to frantic calls for help from officers when they pressed panic buttons on their radios seeking immediate backup as scores of pro-Trump rioters beat officers with bats, poles and other weapons, an inspector general’s report found.

Related: US Capitol police clear officer who shot dead 6 January rioter Ashli Babbitt

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US Capitol police clear officer who shot dead 6 January rioter Ashli Babbitt

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Capitol police issue result of investigation into how and why Babbitt was shot as she and others tried to break through door

The police officer who shot dead Ashli Babbitt during the attack on the US Capitol on 6 January acted lawfully and will not face internal discipline, Capitol police said on Monday.

Related: Trump booed after telling supporters to get Covid vaccine

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Police officer who shot Breonna Taylor has pulled out of book deal

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Jonathan Mattingly is seeking a new publisher for his account of the shooting after Simon & Schuster refused to distribute it for Post Hill Press

One of the police officers involved in the shooting of Breonna Taylor has pulled out of his book deal with a conservative press four months after Simon & Schuster refused to distribute the title.

Jonathan Mattingly is one of the Louisville, Kentucky officers who shot Taylor in the raid in her home in March 2020, and was shot in the leg by Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker. A grand jury brought no charges against Louisville police last September for the killing.

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Cybersleuths find men who allegedly attacked officer during US Capitol riot

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David Walls-Kaufman and Taylor F Taranto appeared to target Jeffrey Smith because his eyes and face were vulnerable, suit says

A group of cybersleuths have tracked down two men who allegedly attacked police officer Jeffrey Smith at the US Capitol during the 6 January insurrection, leaving him with injuries that have been linked to his death days later.

In a new complaint, attorney David P Weber – who represents Smith’s widow, Erin – wrote that David Walls-Kaufman and and Taylor F Taranto appeared to specifically target Smith because his eyes and face were vulnerable.

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Fourth officer who responded to US Capitol attack dies by suicide

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Kyle DeFreytag, who was deployed to protect Capitol after police cleared building of rioters, died earlier in July

A fourth police officer who defended the US Capitol during the 6 January insurrection by extremist supporters of Donald Trump is now confirmed to have taken his own life.

Washington DC’s Metropolitan police department (MPD) confirmed late Monday that another of their officers, Kyle DeFreytag, died by suicide earlier in July, just hours after declaring that MPD officer Gunther Hashida killed himself on 29 July.

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