‘A talented, goofy kid’: family of Ryan Gainer, autistic teen killed by police, speak out

Shooting of 15-year-old ‘beautiful soul’ in California revives scrutiny on law enforcement abuse of youth with disabilities

When Ryan Gainer was diagnosed with autism as a toddler, he was nonverbal, and his family all learned sign language to communicate with him. But after the southern California boy learned how to speak at around age four, he was a “ball of energy” who never stopped talking, his older sister Rachel said.

He loved saying “hi” to neighbors and strangers alike, and as a young teen was known as the student who greeted everyone with a “good morning” and a smile.

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California sheriff releases bodycam video of killing of boy, 15, holding gardening tool

Outrage over killing of Ryan Gainer, shot three times on Saturday, as sheriff denounced for defending deputies’ use of lethal force

The San Bernardino, California sheriff released new body-camera footage of the fatal police shooting of 15-year-old Ryan Gainer, who was holding a gardening tool.

The Saturday killing of Gainer, who was autistic and having a mental health crisis, sparked national outrage and escalating criticisms, prompting the head of the department, sheriff Shannon Dicus, to show reporters additional footage during a Wednesday press conference. The sheriff also revealed that it appeared two deputies on the scene had fired three rounds at Gainer.

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California officer shoots and kills boy, 15, holding gardening tool

Civil rights advocates call for release of police bodycam video after Ryan Gainer killed on Saturday by deputy responding to 911 call

A sheriff’s deputy in southern California shot and killed a 15-year-old boy who was holding a gardening tool, officials said.

The San Bernardino county sheriff’s department was responding to a 911 call on Saturday from a family reporting that a boy, identified as Ryan Gainer, was attacking his family at their home in Apple Valley, east of Los Angeles. The department said he was holding a 5ft gardening tool and approaching the first deputy who arrived at the scene when the deputy shot him. Gainer was later taken to a hospital where he died.

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Atlanta Police Foundation ignored records requests about role in Cop City, lawsuit claims

University of Georgia filed complaint on behalf of news outlet and transparency research organization, saying queries unanswered

A law clinic at the University of Georgia has sued the Atlanta Police Foundation, after the non-profit organization repeatedly ignored records requests from journalists and researchers about its role in backing the controversial police-training center opponents have dubbed Cop City.

The complaint, filed on behalf of the digital news outlet Atlanta Community Press Collective and the Chicago-based digital transparency research organization Lucy Parsons Labs, details how numerous queries to the foundation under Georgia’s Open Records Act have not been answered.

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‘They felt no need to stop the brutality’: Colorado paramedic gets five-year prison term for killing Elijah McClain

Peter Cichuniec one of two paramedics convicted of criminally negligent homicide for role in 23-year-old’s death after police stop

A former Colorado paramedic has been sentenced to five years in prison in the 2019 killing of Elijah McClain after he was stopped by Aurora police.

Peter Cichuniec was one of two paramedics convicted of criminally negligent homicide for their roles in the 23-year-old’s death, which sparked years of protests and changes in the law. A jury also found Cichuniec guilty of second-degree assault. The outcome marks an extremely rare instance of a paramedic being found criminally liable and facing a prison sentence for a death in police custody.

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Ferguson, Missouri, to pay out $4.5m to settle debtors’ jail lawsuit

City where police killed Mike Brown in 2015 was defendant in class-action suit by plaintiffs detained over inability to pay city fines

The city of Ferguson, Missouri, will pay out $4.5m to thousands of plaintiffs who allege that the city jailed them because of their inability to pay fines, fees and other municipal costs.

The multimillion-dollar settlement is in response to a class-action lawsuit filed against Ferguson in 2015, the legal advocacy non-profit ArchCity Defenders announced on Tuesday. Ferguson officials were accused of “jailing [plaintiffs] in deplorable conditions for an inability to pay and without the necessary legal process”, read the press release.

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Speeding Seattle officer who struck and killed student will not face charges

Death of Jaahnavi Kandula, 23, from India, ignited outrage after fellow officer was recorded making ‘appalling’ remarks about case

Prosecutors in Washington state said on Wednesday they will not file felony charges against a Seattle police officer who struck and killed a graduate student from India while responding to an overdose call – a case that attracted widespread attention after another officer was recorded making callous remarks about it.

Officer Kevin Dave was driving 74mph (119km/h) on a street with a 25mph (40km/h) speed limit in a police SUV before he hit 23-year-old Jaahnavi Kandula in a crosswalk on 23 January 2023.

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US officer fired at handcuffed man in SUV after mistaking acorn for gunshot

Florida deputy Jesse Hernandez resigned after opening fire when he thought sound of acorn hitting police cruiser was shot from gun

A Florida sheriff’s deputy mistook the sound of an acorn hitting his patrol cruiser for a gunshot and fired multiple times at the SUV where a handcuffed Black man was sitting in the backseat, officials said.

The man, who was being questioned about stealing his girlfriend’s car, was not injured during the 12 November shooting. He was taken into custody but released without being charged. The officer who initiated the shooting resigned.

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‘A gift to Moscow’: dismay as NYPD takes part in UAE Swat games with Chechnya and Belarus

Event has already been widely used as PR opportunity for notorious Chechen unit accused of war crimes in Ukraine

Led out by a beaming Adam Kadyrov, the son of the Chechen leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, a group of muscular men sporting black beards strode on to the brightly illuminated stage in Dubai last week to receive gold medals and a $5,000 (£3,960) cheque.

The men were members of the notorious Chechen Akhmat Kadyrov special police regiment, a group that Ukrainian officials have said was responsible for some of the worst atrocities in the war with Russia. The unit had just won one of the contests at the international Swat Challenge games, which are held each year in the United Arab Emirates.

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Central Park Five exoneree says police pulled him over without explanation

NYPD body camera footage shows city council member Yusef Salaam being stopped, renewing light on police transparency bill

New York city council member Yusef Salaam, a member of the exonerated group of men known as the Central Park Five, says he was stopped and pulled over by police without being given an explanation.

The police stop in New York City on Friday casts a renewed light on a police transparency bill, called the How Many Stops Act, that city council members are set to vote on Tuesday to override mayor Eric Adams’ veto. It would require officers to publicly report on all investigative stops, including relatively low-level encounters with civilians.

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Zebras and camels, oh my! Animals rescued after fire on Indiana highway

A truck and trailer en route to Fort Wayne for a Shriner’s event caught fire, prompting a rescue by local law enforcement

A truck hauling zebras and camels for a series of weekend circus performances caught fire early on Saturday on a north-eastern Indiana highway, prompting a police rescue of the animals, which roamed along the freeway, some munching on grass.

The tractor-trailer caught fire at about 2am along Interstate 69 in Grant county, and a state trooper, a Grant county sheriff’s deputy and a third person rescued the five zebras, four camels and a miniature horse by leading them off the smoked-filled trailer, said Sgt Steven Glass with the Indiana state police.

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Minnesota family sues jail over son’s death in custody

Lucas Bellamy, 40, died from a perforated bowel after repeatedly being denied medical treatment by jail staff

A Minnesota family is suing a county jail alleging their son died in prison after staff refused to provide him with medical attention.

Lucas Bellamy, 40, died in July 2022 three days after he had been arrested by the Hennepin county sheriff’s department. Bellamy’s family says that jail staff ignored their son’s desperate pleas for medical attention and signs that he was in agonizing pain.

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Former LA sheriff’s deputy gets 30 days in jail for 2019 killing of Ryan Twyman

Andrew Lyons and another sheriff’s deputy shot at Twyman 34 times while he was inside his car in south Los Angeles

A former Los Angeles sheriff’s deputy who fatally shot an unarmed 24-year-old man in his car in 2019 was sentenced to 30 days in jail on Friday.

Andrew Lyons, one of two deputies who fired a barrage of bullets at Ryan Twyman in a parking lot in south Los Angeles, pleaded no contest to assault with a firearm and assault under color of authority, said the district attorney, George Gascón.

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Ex-police officer sentenced to 14 months in jail for killing Elijah McClain in 2019

Randy Roedema, found guilty of criminally negligent homicide, is the first official to be sentenced in the 23-year-old’s killing

A former Colorado police officer convicted in the 2019 killing of Elijah McClain was sentenced to 14 months in county jail on Friday.

Randy Roedema, an ex-Aurora police department (APD) officer, was found guilty of criminally negligent homicide and third-degree assault in October. He is the first official to face jail time for the killing of McClain, a 23-year-old whose death led to years of protests and calls for reforms.

This story was amended on 6 January 2024 to clarify that Peter Cichuniec and Jeremy Cooper are paramedics, not EMTs.

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California police show severe racial bias in stops and searches, data finds

Black residents were stopped the most, while Native Americans were searched most frequently compared to all racial groups

Law enforcement in California handcuffed and detained Black and Indigenous residents during traffic stops at significantly higher rates than white people in 2022, according to data released on Wednesday.

The annual racial profiling report from a state board analyzed 4.5m vehicle and pedestrian stops conducted by 535 law enforcement agencies, the first time departments from across the state contributed data.

Black residents were stopped the most, making up 5.4% of the state’s population, but 12.5% of stops.

Latinos were also disproportionately stopped, making up 32.4% of the population, but 42.9% of stops.

White and Asian American residents were stopped at lower rates than their proportion of the population.

Native Americans were searched most frequently compared to all racial groups, in 22.4% of stops, nearly twice the rate of white people, who were searched in 12.4% of stops. Native Americans were also handcuffed at the highest rate of all groups at 17.8% of stops, compared with less than 10% for white people.

Black residents were detained on the curb or in a patrol car at the highest rate, at 20.2% of stops, and also ordered to exit their cars more frequently than all other groups, at 7.1% of stops. Black residents were also issued a sole charge of resisting arrest at a rate more than three times the state average, making up 19.2% of those cases.

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Police killed Niani Finlayson seconds after responding to her 911 call, video shows

Body camera reveals Los Angeles deputy fired at woman who sought help for domestic violence as nine-year-old daughter watched

The Los Angeles sheriff’s department (LASD) released body-camera footage on Friday of an officer fatally shooting Niani Finlayson, 27, who had called 911 for help during a domestic violence incident.

The footage from the 4 December encounter showed that deputy Ty Shelton shot Finlayson four times within roughly three seconds of entering her home.

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Florida senator Rick Scott’s house ‘swatted’ by police

Prank call to police claimed a shooting occurred at Scott’s Naples home, prompting a Swat team to deploy before standing down

The Republican Florida senator Rick Scott has said that his home was “swatted” on Wednesday night.

While he was dining with his wife, Ann, local Naples authorities responded to what was revealed to be a prank call intentionally made to lure resources like a Swat team to a location to respond to a false threat of danger, otherwise known as a “swatting call”.

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Officers acquitted in death of Manuel Ellis, bringing scrutiny to police accountability law

Three officers were first to be tried under five-year-old Washington law, which removes need to prove officer acted with actual malice

A Washington state law aimed at improving police accountability is under scrutiny after three Tacoma officers were acquitted in the 2020 death of Manuel Ellis, a Black man who was shocked, beaten and restrained facedown on a sidewalk as he pleaded for breath.

The measure approved by voters in 2018 was designed to make it easier to prosecute police accused of wrongfully using deadly force. Initiative 940, referred to as I-940, removed a requirement that prosecutors prove an officer acted with actual malice in order to bring a case – a requirement no other state had – and established that an independent investigation should be conducted after use of force results in death or great bodily harm, among other things.

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Elijah McClain: two Colorado paramedics convicted of criminally negligent homicide in 2019 killing

EMTs Peter Cichuniec and Jeremy Cooper injected 23-year-old with high dose of ketamine in a case that sparked mass protests

Two Colorado paramedics have been convicted of criminally negligent homicide in the death of Elijah McClain after he was stopped by police in 2019.

The jury’s guilty verdicts on Friday for Aurora EMTs Peter Cichuniec and Jeremy Cooper mark an extraordinarily rare case of paramedics being found criminally liable for a civilian’s death in police custody and follow years of protests. Cichuniec was also found guilty of second-degree assault. Cooper was acquitted on the assault charges.

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LAPD helicopters cost $50m a year, more than 14 city offices’ entire budget

City audit says police flights cost $3,000 an hour with unclear benefit, but police chief disputes findings

Los Angeles spends nearly $50m a year on its police helicopter program, or roughly $3,000 for every hour of flight, according to a new audit that raises questions about the financial and environmental impacts of the city’s aerial surveillance.

The LA controller’s report released on Monday suggests the use of LA police department (LAPD) helicopters is nearly constant across the city, and the majority of flight time is not in response to reports of major crimes, but instead for transportation, ceremonial trips or patrols. The flights are a major source of pollution and appear to disproportionately affect some communities of color, the audit said.

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