Category Archives: US policing

‘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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Daniel Prude: police officers suspended after death of Black man in spit hood

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Prude died seven days after officers in upstate New York put a hood over his head then pressed his face into the pavement

The Rochester mayor has suspended seven officers involved in the suffocation death of a Black man earlier this year.

Daniel Prude died on 30 March after he was taken off life support, seven days after the encounter with police in Rochester.

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Daughter of Daniel Prude says death was caused by ‘police brutality and racism’ – video

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The daughter of Daniel Prude, a Black man who died of asphyxiation in March after police put a ‘spit hood’ on his head and held his face into the ground, said his death was caused by racism in the police force.

‘A racist police officer saw a black man in need and decided that he just didn’t deserve to live,’ Tashyra Prude, an 18-year-old college student in Tennessee, said.

Daniel Prude died on 30 March after he was taken off life support, seven days after the encounter in Rochester.

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Trump is trying to pin Kenosha on Biden – but he created the chaos and violence | Richard Wolffe

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Make no mistake: this is Trump’s America, where protesters are shot by vigilantes as police look on

Donald Trump took a trip to a place called Biden’s America on Tuesday. It is a strange land where the president of the United States is a helpless guest, a doomed corner of his own country that is somehow ruled by a former vice president.

It is a topsy-turvy place, this Biden’s America. Occasionally, the president can regain his magical ruling powers by summoning assorted minions in uniforms and incanting a spell with his thumbs to tweet the words LAW AND ORDER.

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Trump compares police shootings to golfing and defends teenager who shot protesters

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Before his visit to Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Tuesday, Donald Trump defended a teenager who shot two anti-racism protesters dead in the city last week. The president also compared the actions of a white Kenosha police officer who fired seven shots at a black man, hitting him four times in the back to a golfer choking on a putt.

Related: Jacob Blake: father refuses to ‘play politics with my son’s life’ amid furor over Trump visit

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Kenosha marches on as protesters describe ‘kidnap’ by federal agents

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  • Residents take to streets to patch up damage
  • Activists report being held for hours without charge

For many Kenosha residents, Saturday morning was starting like the five mornings before them since Jacob Blake’s shooting by the police last Sunday, after a night of large, peaceful protests demanding justice and equality.

Hundreds took to the streets, some working to patch damage and doll up the blistered city, 40 miles south of Milwaukee in Wisconsin, on the shore of Lake Michigan, by painting rainbows and hearts on boarded-up businesses.

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‘We’re not taking it any more’: Jacob Blake’s family lead Washington rally – video

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The family of Wisconsin shooting victim Jacob Blake condemned racism and demanded criminal justice reform as they spoke in front of thousands at the Commitment March in Washington DC. Earlier this week Blake was shot multiple times in the back by police, leaving him paralysed. The protest, announced in early June following the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota, marked the anniversary of the demonstration at which Martin Luther King gave his historic 'I Have a Dream' speech.

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‘We’ve all had enough’: Kenosha in anguish over Jacob Blake shooting

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Communities have been left to come to terms with the setback for race relations, a frayed relationship with police and the damage that has upended daily life

Antwainnetta Edwards is a new mom. Just weeks ago she had a baby girl and worked hard preparing herself to raise a child during a coronavirus pandemic and the related economic crisis.

Now, as she stood on the porch of her home in Kenosha, rocking her newborn back and forth, she reflected on the last four days and nights that have shaken the small Wisconsin city since, once again in America, a white police officer shot a Black man during an interaction that went out of control, severely wounding Jacob Blake on Sunday.

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Kenosha police officer who shot Jacob Blake named as Rusten Sheskey

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Officer was caught on video firing seven times into Blake’s back at almost point-blank range

Police in Kenosha, the Wisconsin city rocked by protests and deadly violence since the shooting of Jacob Blake, have named the officer who fired multiple bullets into Blake’s back.

Rusten Sheskey, who has been employed by the Kenosha police department for seven years, was named as the officer caught on video firing seven times into Blake’s back at almost point-blank range as he held him by his shirt.

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