Category Archives: US policing

Minnesota officer who killed Daunte Wright resigns along with police chief

Posted on by

Police chief had said that officer Kim Potter meant to fire her Taser but fired her service weapon by mistake, killing the 20-year-old

Kim Potter, the white Minnesota police officer who fatally shot the Black resident Daunte Wright during a traffic stop, and her chief of police, Tim Gannon, resigned on Tuesday.

Their resignations come after two nights of protests in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center over Sunday’s killing of Wright, who was unarmed when he was pulled over for a traffic violation on Sunday.

Continue reading...

Daunte Wright’s brother speaks out at vigil as police use teargas against protesters – video report

Posted on by

Dallas Bryant, the brother of the 20-year-old Black man who was shot dead by police in the suburbs of Minneapolis on Sunday, says he could never understand Wright's fear of being pulled over by police because he is white. 

He also questioned the validity of the explanation by police that the officer who shot Daunte accidentally shot him because she confused her Taser electrical weapon for her gun.

Police clashed with protesters for a second night. Law enforcement agencies used teargas and other methods to disperse hundreds of people who had gathered outside police headquarters

Continue reading...

Police chief says Minnesota officer mistakenly fired gun instead of Taser – video

Posted on by

The fatal police shooting of a 20-year-old Black man in a Minneapolis suburb appeared to be an ‘accidental discharge’ by an officer who drew her gun instead of her Taser during a struggle, the city’s police chief said. ‘This appears to me, from what I viewed and the officers’ reaction and distress immediately after, that this was an accidental discharge that resulted in the tragic death of Mr Wright,’ the Brooklyn Center police chief, Tim Gannon, told reporters. Police in the Minneapolis suburb attempted to arrest Daunte Wright following a traffic stop due to an expired vehicle registration. Video footage presented at a news briefing showed a struggle between Wright and officers. Wright then got back into the car and an officer could be heard yelling ‘Taser, Taser, Taser’

Continue reading...

Black army officer pepper-sprayed by police during traffic stop in December 2020 – video

Posted on by

One of two police officers accused of pepper-spraying and pointing their guns at a Black US army officer during a traffic stop has been fired, a Virginia town announced late on Sunday, hours after the governor called for an independent investigation.

In the December 2020 encounter, two officers are accused of drawing their guns, pointing them at army second lieutenant Caron Nazario and using a slang term to suggest he was facing execution.

Nazario, who is Black and Latino, was also pepper-sprayed and knocked to the ground by the officers, Joe Gutierrez and Daniel Crocker, according to the lawsuit he filed earlier this month against them. The two sides in the case dispute what happened but Crocker wrote in a report that he believed Nazario was “eluding police” and he considered it a “high-risk traffic stop”. Attorney Jonathan Arthur said Nazario was trying to stop in a well-lit area

Continue reading...

Police say officer who shot and killed unarmed Daunte Wright intended to fire Taser

Posted on by

Brooklyn Center police chief describes fatal shooting of Black man, 20, as result of ‘accidental discharge’ from handgun

Police in a Minneapolis suburb said an officer accidentally shot and killed a 20-year-old Black man on Sunday afternoon during a traffic stop, releasing graphic body-camera footage they say shows the officer intended to use a Taser not a handgun during the death of unarmed Daunte Wright.

Related: ‘They didn’t have to kill him’: anger and outrage as locals mourn Daunte Wright

Continue reading...

‘Subdual, restraint and compression’ led to Floyd’s death, says forensic pathologist – video

Posted on by

George Floyd died of a lack of oxygen from the way he was held down by police, a retired forensic pathologist testified on Friday at former officer Derek Chauvin's murder trial. The testimony of Lindsey Thomas, who retired in 2017 from the Hennepin county medical examiner's office in Minneapolis, bolstered testimony by other experts on Thursday that rejected the defence theory that Floyd's drug use and underlying health problems killed him

Continue reading...

Derek Chauvin trial: expert witness says George Floyd’s health deteriorated as officer continued using force – live

Posted on by

Prosecutors are asking Anderson about the initial 27 May processing of the Mercedes SUV, and the second search in December 2020.

Anderson, presented with photos of the Mercedes interior during the first processing, said was asked whether there was a pill there.

Prosecutors have now called McKenzie Anderson to testify, a forensic scientist with Minnesota’s criminal apprehension bureau.

Anderson has been a “crime scene team” leader with the bureau of criminal apprehension since 2016. Anderson headed the crime scene investigation in Floyd’s death. Anderson, a technician, and a photographer from her team, arrived at the scene around 1:15 am on 26 May, 2020.

SA Reyerson testimony is now complete. Onto the 2nd BCA witness in the case, McKenzie Anderson. She was the crime scene lead on death of #GeorgeFloyd investigation. Continued #DerekChauvinTrial coverage live right now on @FOX9. pic.twitter.com/s3NxFP8B23

Continue reading...

Chauvin’s use of force on George Floyd was ‘in no way’ policy, says police chief

Posted on by

Medaria Arradondo says on sixth day of trial that ex-officer’s treatment of George Floyd breached regulations

The Minneapolis police chief, Medaria Arradondo, told the Derek Chauvin murder trial on Monday that he “vehemently disagrees” that there was any justification for the former police officer to keep his knee on George Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes.

Arradondo said on the sixth day of the trial that Chauvin’s treatment of the 46-year-old Black man breached regulations and showed a disregard “for the sanctity of life”.

Continue reading...

Minneapolis ‘on edge’ over outcome of Derek Chauvin trial, Ilhan Omar says

Posted on by

As the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd headed into its second week, the Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar said residents remain “on edge” about the outcome.

Related: George Floyd's girlfriend shared his opioids pain – Derek Chauvin refused to see it

Continue reading...

George Floyd’s girlfriend shared his opioids pain – Derek Chauvin refused to see it

Posted on by

Courteney Ross’s testimony showed how police departments fail in their duty to protect those who battle addiction

Of all the accounts of George Floyd’s life and death heard in a Minneapolis courtroom this week, perhaps the least expected was his girlfriend’s description of their shared struggle with opioid addiction.

Courteney Ross’s wrenching testimony gave a very human glimpse into the remorseless search for a fix and a mutual fight to shake off drug dependency.

Continue reading...

Derek Chauvin’s supervisor says officers ‘could have ended restraint’ of George Floyd – video

Posted on by

Derek Chauvin’s police supervisor, Sgt David Pleoger, has said there was no justification for the officer keeping a knee on George Floyd’s neck for nine minutes. Ploeger arrived at the scene shortly after Floyd was taken away by ambulance, said that Chauvin and other officers holding down the 46-year-old Black man should have stopped using force once Floyd stopped resisting. 'When Mr Floyd was no longer offering up any resistance to the officers they could have ended their restraint,' he said

Continue reading...

Chauvin’s supervisor says there was no justification to keep knee on George Floyd’s neck

Posted on by

Sgt David Pleoger tells trial that Chauvin and the other officers should have stopped using force once Floyd stopped resisting

Derek Chauvin’s police supervisor has told his murder trial that there was no justification for the officer to keep his knee on George Floyd’s neck for nine minutes.

Sgt David Pleoger, who arrived at the scene shortly after Floyd was taken away by ambulance, said that Chauvin and other officers holding down the 46-year-old Black man should have stopped using force once Floyd stopped resisting.

Continue reading...

Chauvin trial: cashier tells of guilt over role in events that led to George Floyd’s death

Posted on by

Christopher Martin tells court ‘this could have been avoided’, on third day of testimony in former officer Derek Chauvin’s trial

The cashier who served George Floyd in a Minneapolis store immediately before his arrest and death last May told a court on Wednesday of the “disbelief and guilt” he felt for allowing Floyd to pay with a suspected fake $20 bill when he later saw the police kneeling on him.

Testimony on the third day of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin’s murder trial continued in an atmosphere of tense emotions and harrowing evidence about Floyd’s death.

Continue reading...

Teen who filmed killing tells court George Floyd was ‘begging for his life’

Posted on by

Darnella Frazier said Derek Chauvin did not ease up as he pinned Floyd down and that she still loses sleep over the killing

The woman who recorded the shocking video of George Floyd’s death that prompted mass protests for racial justice around the world has told the Derek Chauvin murder trial of her feelings of guilt at being unable to intervene to save his life.

Darnella Frazier, who at times sobbed as she gave evidence on the second day of Chauvin’s trial in Minneapolis, said that she still loses sleep over the killing of the 46-year-old Black man.

Continue reading...

Prosecutors accuse Derek Chauvin of killing George Floyd as trial starts

Posted on by

Jerry Blackwell told jury that ex-officer used excessive and unreasonable force ‘without regard for Floyd’s life’

Prosecutors accused former police officer Derek Chauvin of killing a defenceless George Floyd by “grinding and crushing him until the very breath, the very life, was squeezed out of him”, at the opening on Monday of a murder trial regarded by millions as a litmus test of US police accountability.

Related: ‘It’s for the people’: how George Floyd Square became a symbol of resistance – and healing

Continue reading...

With world watching Derek Chauvin’s trial, focus will be on officer who ‘betrayed’ his badge

Posted on by

Analysis: the trial over the killing of George Floyd may be a bellwether for racial justice, but the prosecution will focus on one man’s actions

For all the many thousands of protests around the world, the global reckoning on racism and policing prompted by the killing of George Floyd last May, prosecutors were clear that their case in the murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin would be centered around a period of time lasting less than 10 minutes.

Nine minutes and 29 seconds. The total time that Chauvin held his knee to George Floyd’s neck, leaving him “pancaked”, in the words of prosecutor Jerry Blackwell, between the ground and Chauvin’s body, gradually asphyxiating him to death.

Continue reading...

‘It’s for the people’: how George Floyd Square became a symbol of resistance – and healing

Posted on by

The semi-autonomous area in Minneapolis has become a service to the community, but the city wants to see it reopened

The sign on a barricade on a once-unassuming street in Minneapolis reads: “You’re now entering the free state of George Floyd.”

A small rectangle of city blocks features murals, flowers, candles and tributes in the place where Floyd, a Black man, died under the knee of a white police officer last May, sparking the biggest US civil rights uprising since the 1960s.

Continue reading...

Maryland police video shows officers threatening, screaming at crying child

Posted on by

The 5-year-old boy was found a block from a Montgomery county school by officers who berated him and said, ‘I’d beat him so bad’

A police department in Maryland has released body camera video that captured two of its officers berating a 5-year-old boy who had walked away from his elementary school, calling him a “little beast” and threatening him with a beating.

The video released by the Montgomery county police department shows one of the officers repeatedly screaming at the crying child, with her face inches from his.

Continue reading...

Miami Beach spring break chaos: more than 1,000 arrests as Covid curfew extended

Posted on by

Miami Beach officials have warned that the unruly spring break crowd gathering by the thousands, fighting in the streets, destroying restaurant property and refusing to wear masks has become a serious threat to public safety, after 1,000 arrests were made.

At a last-minute meeting, city officials voted to extend a highly unusual 8pm curfew for another week along famed South Beach, with the possibility of extending it well into April if needed, and stressed this wasn’t the typical spring break crowd. They said it’s not college students, but adults looking to let loose in one of the few states fully open during the pandemic.

Continue reading...

Surge in gun violence is stress test for Oakland’s defund the police campaign

Posted on by

Homicides in the city have risen 314% and while some back shifting resources to prevention and healing, others want alternatives in place to keep Black and brown people safe

Since the visceral video of George Floyd pinned beneath a police officer’s knee sparked massive uprisings in US cities last summer, movements to defund police departments have grown from siloed local campaigns into a national movement. But in multiple cities, this work is being done amid a disturbing rise in gun violence that is affecting the same Black and Latino communities most affected by police misconduct.

While some crime survivors support shifting resources from police and into prevention and healing services, others who have lost loved ones to shootings and live in high-crime areas worry that depleting police budgets without proven alternatives to fill any gaps will make Black and brown communities less safe.

Continue reading...