Category Archives: US policing

Atlanta shootings: Democrats warn violence against Asian Americans at ‘crisis point’ – live

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The Georgia sheriff’s captain who said Robert Aaron Long was “having a really bad day” when he allegedly killed eight people has been removed as a spokesperson on the case, according to the WSB-TV news channel.

Nicole Carr, a journalist at WSB-TV, reported that Capt Jay Baker “will no longer be spokesperson” on the shootings case. According to Carr, the Cherokee County Sheriff department is also “evaluating what [Baker’s] future at the Sheriff’s Office looks like”.

NEW:Confirmed w Cherokee Sheriff that Cpt.Baker will no longer be spokesperson on spa shootings case,they’re evaluating what his future at the Sheriff’s Office looks like and consulting the D.A.’s office to see if they should hand their portion of case to GBI See you at 6 @wsbtv https://t.co/cI1sQHcrRV

Charles Hampton, deputy chief of Atlanta police, said officers are “working diligently to ascertain all the facts” in the spa shootings.

“We had four Asian females that were killed, and so we are looking at everything to make sure we discover and determine what the motive of our homicides were,” Hampton said during a press conference.

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Georgia officer says Atlanta shooter was ‘having a bad day’ – video

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A Georgia sheriff’s captain was criticised for appearing to characterise the actions of the suspect in a mass shooting in Atlanta as him having had 'a really bad day'.

Robert Aaron Long, 21, was charged with killing eight people in Atlanta, six of them women of Asian descent, on Wednesday.

Atlanta police said Long had declared Tuesday’s attack was not racially motivated. He claimed to have a 'sex addiction' and authorities have said he apparently lashed out at what he saw as sources of 'temptation'

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Atlanta spa shootings: suspect charged with eight counts of murder

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  • Eight killed, including six women of Asian descent
  • Police say suspect may have planned more attacks

The suspect behind shooting attacks that killed eight people in Atlanta was charged with eight counts of murder on Wednesday, with officials saying he may have planned further attacks.

Police and city leaders also indicated they believe Robert Aaron Long, 21, who did not resist arrest when he was apprehended, was on his way to Florida after Tuesday evening’s attack, where they suspect he may have planned to “carry out additional shootings”.

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Georgia officer condemned for saying Atlanta shooter was ‘having a bad day’

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Capt Jay Baker also reportedly posted images on Facebook of T-shirts with racist slogan on China and coronavirus

A Georgia sheriff’s captain has faced widespread criticism for appearing to characterise the actions of Robert Aaron Long, the 21-year-old charged with killing eight people in Atlanta, six of them women of Asian descent, as “having a really bad day”.

Speaking at a news conference on Wednesday, Capt Jay Baker of the Cherokee county sheriff’s office said investigators had interviewed Long that morning.

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Andrea Jenkins: the first Black openly transgender woman to hold US public office

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As the George Floyd murder trial opens in Minneapolis, the city councillor talks about coming out as trans, the prejudices she has had to overcome – and how policing must change

Andrea Jenkins lives just a few blocks away from 38th and Chicago, the crossroads in Minneapolis where George Floyd was killed on 25 May last year. She spent two decades of her life working to revitalise the community there, and kicked off her 2017 campaign for the city council’s Eighth ward in an arts centre a few yards away.

After Floyd’s death, when the crossroads became a space for collective mourning, Jenkins visited every day. But in the midst of a bitter Minneapolis winter and with the neighbourhood reeling from the long-term effects of Floyd’s death, Jenkins hasn’t been in months.

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These US cities defunded police: ‘We’re transferring money to the community’

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More than 20 major cities have reduced police budgets in some form, and activists are fighting to ensure that is only the start

After “defund the police” became the rallying cry of protests last summer, Democratic leaders spent months criticizing the slogan and worrying about its impact on elections. While party infighting was dominating headlines, local activists were campaigning to make the catchphrase a reality in cities across the US.

Since the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor prompted unprecedented uprisings, some racial justice groups have successfully pressured municipal lawmakers to cut police funds and reinvest the money in services. And with reformed 2021 budgets coming into effect, cities are slowly beginning to redistribute law enforcement money to housing, mental health programs, food access and other programs.

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Dallas police officer faces capital murder charges for 2017 killings

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Police say a man told investigators that he kidnapped and killed two people at officer Bryan Riser’s instruction

A Dallas police officer was arrested Thursday on two counts of capital murder, more than a year and a half after a man told investigators that he kidnapped and killed two people at the officer’s instruction in 2017, authorities said.

Bryan Riser, a 13-year veteran of the force, was arrested Thursday morning and taken to the Dallas county Jail for processing, according to a statement from the police department. Riser was not listed in online jail records Thursday evening and a lawyer for him couldn’t immediately be identified.

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US House passes George Floyd Justice in Policing Act – video

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The US House of Representatives passed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, the most ambitious police reform effort in decades. The legislation changes would ban chokeholds and 'qualified immunity' for law enforcement and create national standards for policing in a bid to bolster accountability. California congresswoman Karen Bass, who authored the bill, cited the beating of Rodney King in 1991 and Floyd's death as the catalyst for the ambitious reform while House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, said the bill was 'legislation which will fundamentally transform the culture'

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‘Simply horrible’: Rochester mayor laments police pepper-spraying girl

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Two officers have been placed on administrative leave and another suspended after video footage emerged

The mother of a nine-year-old girl has accused police of “excessive use of force” after her daughter was handcuffed and pepper-sprayed in Rochester, New York.

Two were placed on administrative leave and another suspended on Tuesday, after police released video footage of the incident, which showed the nine-year-old being pepper-sprayed as she sat in the back of a squad car.

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‘I yelled out that I have kids’: police officer describes attack by Capitol rioters – video

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A Washington DC police officer who tried to stop rioting Trump supporters from entering the Capitol building on 6 January has revealed that some shouted 'kill him with his own gun' as he lay injured on the ground. Michael Fanone told CNN he considered using his weapon as he was overwhelmed by the mob, but decided against it out of fear for his own life. 'I tried to appeal to their humanity,' Fanone said. 'I just remember yelling out that I have kids, and it seemed to work.'

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US police three times as likely to use force against leftwing protesters, data finds

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Law enforcement responses to more than 13,000 protests show a clear disparity in responses, new statistics show

Police in the United States are three times more likely to use force against leftwing protesters than rightwing protesters, according to new data from a nonprofit that monitors political violence around the world.

In the past 10 months, US law enforcement agencies have used teargas, pepper spray, rubber bullets, and beatings at a much higher percentage at Black Lives Matter demonstrations than at pro-Trump or other rightwing protests.

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Capitol invader’s organic food request should be the least of our worries | Poppy Noor

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Jacob Chansley, who wore furs and a horned hat, highlights America’s alarming double standard

Since the attack on Capitol Hill on Wednesday night, we can safely assume two things: in the US, white supremacy is treated with nowhere near the same force as peaceful protest. And as a result, white supremacists behave with complete entitlement.

How else can we describe how teargas, batons and horses were used on peaceful protesters demanding justice for Black Lives this summer; and yet, when an angry white mob stormed the Capitol in an attempt to overturn a legitimate election, some managed to make it all the way to Nancy Pelosi’s office unharmed and undeterred?

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Denver police officers who detained four black girls will not be charged

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  • Lawyer says he will sue city and Aurora PD officers
  • Colorado attorney general opens Elijah McCain investigation

Suburban Denver police officers will not be charged after detaining four black girls at gunpoint this summer and handcuffing two after wrongly suspecting they were riding in a stolen car, prosecutors said on Friday.

Related: 'He was inspired by everything': friends and family pay tribute to Elijah McClain

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Jacob Blake: officers will not be charged in shooting that left Black man paralyzed

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Prosecutor says white officer who shot Blake several times in the back would not be charged due to Wisconsin self-defense law

A Wisconsin prosecutor announced Tuesday that he will not bring criminal charges against the white police officer who shot Jacob Blake in the back from close range last August, which left the Black Kenosha father paralyzed from the waist down.

Michael Gravely, Kenosha county district attorney, said during a press conference that his office determined that the officer, Rusten Sheskey, would not be charged based on the state’s law relating to self-defense.

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Louisville officer could face firing over Breonna Taylor raid

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Investigation finds officer violated procedures for preparation of search warrant that led detectives to Taylor’s apartment

Louisville police have taken steps that could result in the firing of an officer who sought the no-knock search warrant that led detectives to the apartment where Breonna Taylor was fatally shot.

Detective Joshua Jaynes has received a pre-termination letter, media outlets reported Tuesday. It came after a professional standards unit investigation found he had violated department procedures for preparation of a search warrant and truthfulness, his attorney said.

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Andre Hill: white officer involved in fatal shooting fired amid investigation

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Authorities call killing ‘a tragedy’ after Hill, 47, was shot while holding a cellphone and then denied aid

A white Ohio police officer was fired Monday after bodycam footage showed him fatally shooting Andre Hill, a Black man who was holding a cellphone, then refusing to aid him for several minutes.

Columbus police officer Adam Coy was fired hours after a hearing. His firing was announced in a statement from Ned Pettus Jr, the director of Columbus public safety.

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Covid used as pretext to curtail civil rights around the world, finds report

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Free speech, LBGT+ rights and freedoms to peacefully assemble have deteriorated during the pandemic

The state of civil liberties around the world is bleak, according to a new study which found that 87% of the global population were living in nations deemed “closed”, “repressed” or “obstructed”.

The figure is a 4% increase on last year’s, as civil rights were found to have deteriorated in almost every country in the world during Covid-19. A number of governments have used the pandemic as an excuse to curtail rights such as free speech, peaceful assembly and freedom of association, according to Civicus Monitor, an alliance of civil society groups which assessed 196 countries.

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‘A nightmare’: why were an elderly black couple targeted in a shocking Texas police raid?

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Forth Worth police have still not said why Nelda Price and her husband John, who died weeks later, were restrained in their pajamas

While the police in Fort Worth, Texas, ransacked Nelda Price’s home, an officer directed her to put her hands together – as if she were praying – so he could restrain her with zip ties.

“I told him, ‘I am praying. Because I don’t understand why you’re here, and I don’t know what this is about,’” Nelda told the Guardian.

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‘Defund the police’ slogan risks turning voters away, says Obama – video

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Former US president Barack Obama has criticised Democratic political candidates for using 'snappy' slogans such as 'defund the police', arguing they could turn voters away and defeat the original objective. In an interview with Good Luck America, a political show on social media platform Snapchat, Obama said the slogans can isolate potential voters. 'You lost a big audience the minute you say it, which makes it a lot less likely that you’re actually going to get the changes you want done,' he said. 'The key is deciding, do you want to actually get something done, or do you want to feel good among the people you already agree with?'

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