Category Archives: US policing

North Carolina police pepper spray protesters at get-out-the-vote march

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  • ‘We are fed up with this kind of treatment in Alamance county’
  • Police claim protesters blocked roadway without authorization

North Carolina police pepper sprayed and arrested attendees at a get-out-the vote rally because participants blocked the roadway without authorization, authorities said on Saturday.

The “I Am Change” march to the polls was organized by the Reverend Greg Drumwright and began as a march from a local church to the courthouse. Drumwright said the group was permitted to stand in the square outside the Alamance county courthouse and was escorted through the streets by the police. He also said that the group had “no intention” of having the rally in the street.

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Philadelphia protesters take to streets after police killing of black man

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  • Walter Wallace, 27, shot ‘several times’ by officers
  • Police in riot gear disperse demonstrators

Hundreds took to the streets of Philadelphia on Monday night, to protest the shooting by police of Walter Wallace, a 27-year-old black man who officers said had a knife.

Related: America's protest crackdown: five months after George Floyd, hundreds face trials and prison

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Illinois officer fired after shooting Black couple inside their vehicle

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Officer who fatally shot Marcellis Stinnette and wounded Tafara Williams committed ‘multiple policy’ violations, said police chief

Attorneys representing a Black woman who was shot and wounded inside a vehicle by a suburban Chicago police officer who also fatally shot her 19-year-old boyfriend called the officer’s firing “a first step in police accountability”, but said they were pressing ahead with their own investigation of the shooting.

The Waukegan police chief, Wayne Walles, announced late on Friday the firing of the officer who killed Marcellis Stinnette, a Black man, and wounded Tafara Williams, 20. Walles said in a brief statement the male officer committed “multiple policy and procedure violations”.

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‘Things have changed’: can Biden overcome the racist legacy of the crime bill he backed?

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The 1994 crime bill paved the way to mass incarceration of Black Americans. Biden says his support was a ‘mistake’

In 1994, Senator Joe Biden of Delaware stood proudly behind Bill Clinton as he signed into law a reform bill that touched nearly every aspect of the US criminal justice system.

Related: Trump trails Biden with two weeks to go – but there could yet be surprises

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Black man led on rope by Texas police on horseback sues for $1m

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  • Donald Neely says officers’ conduct ‘extreme and outrageous’
  • Lawsuit accuses Galveston and city’s police force of negligence

A Black man who was led by a rope by two white officers on horseback has sued a south-east Texas city and its police department for $1m, saying he suffered humiliation and fear during his arrest.

Related: Texas police apologise after officers on horseback led black man by rope

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US police used British anti-riot gear at Black Lives Matter protests

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Revelation contradicts official assurance that no UK-made equipment was used to repress peaceful demonstrations

US law enforcement officers used British anti-riot gear to strike protesters during their controversial policing of Black Lives Matter demonstrations, despite assurances from the Conservative government that no UK-made equipment was used to repress peaceful protest.

Officers deployed at demonstrations in Washington DC hit protesters and in one case a journalist using shields made by the British-based firm DMS Plastics. Video and photographs suggest, and a lawsuit alleges, that officers charged at protesters, rather than acting in self-defence. US forces deny the allegations.

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Breonna Taylor: Kentucky attorney general agrees to release grand jury recordings

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Juror had sued to release transcripts, saying ‘absolute truth of how this matter was handled’ should be published

Kentucky’s attorney general has said he will release a recording of the grand jury proceedings in the Breonna Taylor case, after a judge ordered they be filed in court by noon on Wednesday. It follows an anonymous juror suing for them to be made public.

Attorney general, Daniel Cameron, said in a statement: “The Grand Jury is meant to be a secretive body. It’s apparent that the public interest in this case isn’t going to allow that to happen.”

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‘We are never safe’: Breonna Taylor’s family condemns Louisville police as protests enter third night

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Family expresses anger and disappointment after jury decided not to charge officers directly for killing of 26-year-old medical worker

Breonna Taylor’s family spoke out for the first time since a grand jury in Kentucky announced that it had decided not to charge three police officers directly in the killing of the 26-year-old medical worker in March.

Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, on Friday attended a press conference at a downtown Louisville park that has become a focus for protests and a makeshift memorial to Taylor, who was shot dead in her apartment after police barged in and fired a hail of bullets during a botched investigation.

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‘I hope you never know the pain’: Breonna Taylor’s family condemn Louisville police – video

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The family of Breonna Taylor heavily criticised Daniel Cameron, Kentucky’s attorney general, after a grand jury decided not to charge three police officers directly in the killing of the 26-year-old medical worker.

'I am an angry black woman,' Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, said in a statement read by her sister, Bianca Austin. 'Angry because our black women keep dying at the hands of police officers'.

The family's attorney, Benjamin Crump, called on Cameron to release the transcripts of the grand jury.

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Breonna Taylor decision: fresh protests expected across US

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Demonstrations occurred in several major US cities Wednesday after just one police officer charged with wanton endangerment

Fresh protests were expected in Louisville and elsewhere in America on Thursday as public anger and sadness continued to ripple out from the Kentucky city in the wake of the announcement that no police officers would be charged directly with the shooting death of Breonna Taylor in March.

The civil rights lawyer Ben Crump, speaking on behalf of Taylor’s relatives, said the family was “outraged, they were insulted and they were, mostly, offended” by the conclusion of a grand jury in Kentucky on Wednesday.

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Breonna Taylor killing: attorney general calls for calm as no officers directly charged – video

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The Kentucky attorney general, Daniel Cameron, urged protesters to make their voices heard peacefully after only one police officer involved in the shooting death of Breonna Taylor, Brett Hankison, was indicted by a grand jury. Hankinson faces three charges of wanton endangerment for endangering people living in nearby apartments, but he was not charged for shooting Taylor. The other two officers present, who also fired multiple times at Taylor in her apartment, were not charged

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Breonna Taylor decision: two officers shot in Louisville as protests erupt across US – live

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A few moments ago, a driver drove into a group of protestors. There were no serious injuries, Denver police have confirmed, and a man has been detained.

#DPD Officers are at Colfax & Broadway in response to a vehicle that drove into a protest occurring at that location. No injuries are reported. One male has been detained. #Denver. pic.twitter.com/Ge8zDLZTju

JUST IN: Video from a @denverpost reporter shows the moment a driver ran their car over a protester outside the Colorado State Capitol.

The protester, Kate, told @ShellyBradbury she was not badly hurt.

Denver police say a man has been detained. https://t.co/LNPZVmAiTO

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing the family of Breonna Taylor, has told CNN the indictment is, “like killing Breonna all over again.”

He called her death, “Legalized genocide of people of color, because no matter how much evidence we have, they always find a way to try to legally justify it.”

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NYPD officer charged with spying on Tibetan immigrants for China

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Baimadajie Angwang’s job was to ‘locate potential intelligence sources’ and ‘identify potential threats’, court papers say

A New York City police officer has been charged with spying on Tibetan immigrants in the United States as an “intelligence asset” for the Chinese government.

A criminal complaint filed on Monday in Brooklyn federal court accuses Baimadajie Angwang of working as an agent for the People’s Republic of China (PRC). It says he was secretly supervised by handlers from the Chinese consulate in New York.

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Breonna Taylor family receive $12m settlement – video

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The family of Breonna Taylor has reached a $12m settlement with the city of Louisville, Kentucky, in a civil suit stemming from the fatal shooting by police of the 26-year-old inside her apartment in March.

The civil rights lawyer Ben Crumps called it a ‘landmark step on the journey to justice’ but called for charges to be brought immediately against the police officers who killed Breonna Taylor.

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Georgia deputy filmed punching Black man in front of children is fired

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  • Video of incident after stop for broken taillight went viral
  • Victim Roderick Walker held over outstanding warrants

A sheriff’s deputy in Georgia has been fired after being captured on video repeatedly punching a Black man during a traffic stop, authorities said on Sunday.

Related: Two Los Angeles sheriff's deputies wounded in Compton attack

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Two Los Angeles sheriff’s deputies wounded in Compton attack

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  • Sheriff expresses dismay as protesters gather at hospital
  • Donald Trump tweet says ‘animals must be hit hard’

The shooting of two Los Angeles county sheriff’s deputies in an apparent ambush prompted a manhunt, reaction from the president and protests outside the hospital where the wounded deputies were being treated on Saturday night.

The deputies were shot while sitting in their patrol car at a Metro rail station, around 7pm and not far from the the Compton sheriff’s station. They were able to radio for help, Sheriff Alex Villanueva said. The department shared video of the shooting, showing a person open fire through the passenger-side window.

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Officers charged in George Floyd killing seek to place blame on one another

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  • Former police quartet appear in court for special hearing
  • Floyd died after Derek Chauvin held his knee on his neck

Attorneys for four former Minneapolis officers charged in the killing of George Floyd say each should get his own trial, as the officers point fingers at one another.

Related: 9/11 remembered amid raging wildfires and coronavirus recriminations – live

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‘Nothing but pain’: Jacob Blake speaks for first time since he was shot by police

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  • Father of six was shot in back by police officer last month
  • Shooting sparked wave of protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin

Jacob Blake has spoken publicly for the first time since a police officer shot him seven times in the back. The 29-year-old says he is in constant pain from the shooting, which doctors fear will leave him paralyzed from the waist down.

In a video posted on Saturday evening on Twitter by his family’s lawyer, Ben Crump, Blake said from his hospital bed that “every 24 hours it’s pain, nothing but pain. It hurts to breathe, it hurts to sleep, it hurts to move from side-to-side, it hurts to eat.”

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Joe Biden praises Jacob Blake’s resilience after meeting family – video

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Joe Biden spoke about his meeting with the family of Jacob Blake, a Black man who was gravely wounded after a white police officer shot him in the back, on his way to visiting Kenosha, Wisconsin. 'He talked about how nothing was going to defeat him,' Biden said. 'How, whether he walked again or not, he was not going to give up.'

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