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Bodycam video reveals chaotic scene of deputy fatally shooting Sonya Massey, who called 911 for help
Read full article: Bodycam video reveals chaotic scene of deputy fatally shooting Sonya Massey, who called 911 for helpOfficials have released body camera video that reveals a chaotic scene in which a Black woman in Springfield, Illinois, who called 911 for help was shot in the face in her home by a white sheriff’s deputy.
Van Dyke avoids federal charges in Laquan McDonald's death
Read full article: Van Dyke avoids federal charges in Laquan McDonald's deathFederal authorities say they will not criminally charge Jason Van Dyke, the Chicago police officer convicted of murder in the 2014 shooting death of Black teenager Laquan McDonald.
Jussie Smollett to learn fate after staged attack conviction
Read full article: Jussie Smollett to learn fate after staged attack convictionJussie Smollett is returning to a Chicago courtroom for sentencing with just two questions hanging over his head: Will he admit that he lied about a racist homophobic attack and will a judge send him to jail.
Van Dyke protesters fined $200 each, ordered to stay away
Read full article: Van Dyke protesters fined $200 each, ordered to stay awayNine people arrested inside the federal courthouse in downtown Chicago demanding federal charges against former Chicago cop Jason Van Dyke have ben ordered by a federal judge to stay away from the building for 60 days and pay $200 fines.
Ex-Chicago officer who killed Laquan McDonald leaves prison
Read full article: Ex-Chicago officer who killed Laquan McDonald leaves prisonThe former Chicago police officer who was convicted in the shooting death of Black teenager Laquan McDonald has been released from prison after serving less than half of his sentence.
Anger, questions as ex-cop who killed Black teen is set free
Read full article: Anger, questions as ex-cop who killed Black teen is set freeThe imminent release from prison of the former Chicago police officer who shot Laquan McDonald 16 times in 2014, killing the Black teenager, is a reminder for some of what they say is an unfair criminal justice system.
NAACP urges federal charges in Laquan McDonald's killing
Read full article: NAACP urges federal charges in Laquan McDonald's killingThe NAACP is urging Attorney General Merrick Garland to bring federal civil rights charges against the white Chicago police officer who fatally shot Black teenager Laquan McDonald.
Ex-Chicago officer who killed Laquan McDonald to be released
Read full article: Ex-Chicago officer who killed Laquan McDonald to be releasedThe white Chicago police officer convicted in the 2014 shooting death of Black teenager Laquan McDonald is days away from walking out of prison after just over three years behind bars.
A look at high-profile cases over killings by US police
Read full article: A look at high-profile cases over killings by US policeA suburban Minneapolis police officer who said she confused her handgun for a Taser was led away in handcuffs Thursday after a jury found her guilty of manslaughter in the death of Black motorist Daunte Wright.
Police shooting looms over Emanuel in confirmation battle
Read full article: Police shooting looms over Emanuel in confirmation battleThe fatal police shooting of a Black teen in Chicago seven years ago is looming large over former Mayor Rahm Emanuel as he hopes to win Senate confirmation as ambassador to Japan.
Japan envoy pick Emanuel: Chicago teen shooting weighs heavy
Read full article: Japan envoy pick Emanuel: Chicago teen shooting weighs heavyFormer Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel says he did nothing improper but still fell short in his handling of the fatal police shooting of a Black teenage seven years ago in the city.
Biden picks Burns for China ambassador; Emanuel for Japan
Read full article: Biden picks Burns for China ambassador; Emanuel for JapanPresident Joe Biden is nominating former senior State Department official Nicholas Burns to serve as his ambassador to China and former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to serve as his envoy to Japan.
Evidence in Chauvin case contradicted first police statement
Read full article: Evidence in Chauvin case contradicted first police statementMoments after former officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murder in George Floyd’s death, copies of the original Minneapolis police statement began recirculating on social media.
Floyd verdict gives hope, if only fleeting, to Black America
Read full article: Floyd verdict gives hope, if only fleeting, to Black AmericaThe conviction of ex-cop Derek Chauvin for murdering George Floyd nearly a year ago allowed many Black Americans across Minnesota and the nation to exhale pent-up anxiety and inhale a sense of hope.
Despite growing chorus, DOJ is limited in police probes
Read full article: Despite growing chorus, DOJ is limited in police probesCalls have grown for federal investigations into police killings across the nation since President Joe Biden took office and said he believes racial disparities in policing must change.
Despite growing chorus, DOJ is limited in police probes
Read full article: Despite growing chorus, DOJ is limited in police probesCalls have grown for federal investigations into police killings across the nation since President Joe Biden took office and said he believes racial disparities in policing must change.
Video: Chicago boy wasn’t holding gun when shot by officer
Read full article: Video: Chicago boy wasn’t holding gun when shot by officerViewers reacted with a mix of outrage and grief to newly released bodycam video that shows a Chicago police officer fatally shoot a 13-year-old less than a second after the boy dropped a handgun, turned toward the officer and began raising his hands.
Video: Chicago boy wasn't holding gun when shot by officer
Read full article: Video: Chicago boy wasn't holding gun when shot by officerDisturbing bodycam video shows a 13-year-old boy appearing to drop a handgun and begin raising his hands less than a second before a Chicago police officer shoots and kills him.
Jurors in ex-officer's high-profile trial face heavy burden
Read full article: Jurors in ex-officer's high-profile trial face heavy burdenThe huge task for jurors at the trial of Chauvin showed during jury selection as some would-be jurors said they were unnerved by the very thought of being on the panel. A high fence installed around the courthouse for the trial is a daily reminder for jurors of security concerns. Numerous people expressed unease about serving on the panel for Chauvin's trial during the more than two weeks of jury selection. All the Chauvin jurors were asked before being impaneled if they could set aside outside influences and decide the case only on evidence presented at trial. AdAlan Tuerkheimer, a Chicago-based jury consultant, said he believed the Chauvin jurors would become increasingly calm as the trial proceeds and would be able to block out the hubbub.
Diverse jury raises activists' hopes for ex-cop's trial
Read full article: Diverse jury raises activists' hopes for ex-cop's trialAfrican Americans bring “an institutional memory of the police” to jury rooms that whites and even other people of color don’t share, he said. AdDerek Chauvin is charged with murder and manslaughter in Floyd's death May 25. When they do, recent history suggests a more diverse jury increases the odds for conviction, although the record is mixed. During questioning for Chauvin's jury, some people in the pool were strikingly direct about how the color of their skin affected their view of Floyd's death. A Black man in his 30s who immigrated to America more than 14 years ago said he talked with his wife about the case.
Biden taps Buttigieg for transportation, Granholm for energy
Read full article: Biden taps Buttigieg for transportation, Granholm for energyFILE - In this April 29, 2019 file photo, then Democratic presidential candidate Mayor Pete Buttigieg, from South Bend, Indiana, listens during a lunch meeting with civil rights leader Rev. President-elect Joe Biden is expected to pick former South Bend, Indiana, mayor Pete Buttigieg to head the transportation department. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, Pool)President-elect Joe Biden nominated his former rival Pete Buttigieg as secretary of transportation on Tuesday and intends to choose former Michigan Gov. All three will be central to Biden’s plan to remake the country’s automobiles and transportation systems to quickly cut climate-damaging petroleum emissions. Biden’s plan includes overhauling the nation’s transportation and power sectors and buildings to eliminate fossil fuel emissions by 2050.
Obama reunion? Biden fills Cabinet with former WH leaders
Read full article: Obama reunion? Biden fills Cabinet with former WH leadersIncreasingly deep into the process of selecting Cabinet members and other senior staff, the incoming Biden administration has a distinctly Obama feel. There's Denis McDonough, former President Barack Obama's chief of staff who Biden announced on Thursday would be nominated as the secretary of veterans affairs. Susan Rice, Obama's former national security adviser, was named the director of Biden's White House Domestic Policy Council. Jeff Zients, who did stints as acting Office of Management and Budget director and a top economic adviser in the Obama White House, will return as Biden’s coronavirus response coordinator. They're pressing Biden to focus in particular on the diversity of his Cabinet after several early picks were white men.
AP source: Emanuel's Cabinet prospects increasingly unlikely
Read full article: AP source: Emanuel's Cabinet prospects increasingly unlikelyWASHINGTON – Rahm Emanuel’s chances of landing a top Cabinet post in Joe Biden's administration appear increasingly unlikely after the former Chicago mayor emerged as a source of controversy for the president-elect, who had been considering Emanuel for transportation secretary, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. Al Sharpton raised similar concerns during a meeting with Biden and other civil rights leaders, the person said. The person was not authorized to publicly discuss private deliberations and spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity. An announcement on transportation secretary is not believed to be imminent. Two other high profile Obama-era alumni were announced Thursday as joining the Biden administration — Denis McDonough as veterans' affairs secretary and Susan Rice to head the Domestic Policy Council.
AP sources: Biden to pick Katherine Tai as top trade envoy
Read full article: AP sources: Biden to pick Katherine Tai as top trade envoy(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)WASHINGTON – President-elect Joe Biden is set to nominate Katherine Tai to be the top U.S. trade envoy, according to two people familiar with his plans. Biden's selection of Tai, who is Asian American, reflects his promise to choose a diverse Cabinet that reflects the makeup of the country. Fluent in Mandarin Chinese, Tai earlier oversaw China trade enforcement for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, setting U.S. strategy in trade disputes with China. Biden’s trade representative will inherit a trade war with China, put on pause by an interim trade pact in January that left many of the hardest issues unresolved and U.S. taxes remaining on $360 billion in Chinese imports. As the top trade staffer at Ways and Means, Tai handled negotiations last year with the Trump administration over a revamped North American trade deal.
Joe Biden weighs Rahm Emanuel for transportation secretary
Read full article: Joe Biden weighs Rahm Emanuel for transportation secretaryCHICAGO – President-elect Joe Biden is considering former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a substantial and somewhat divisive figure in Democratic Party politics, to serve as his transportation secretary. Progressive leaders, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, have been especially vocal in criticizing the prospect of Emanuel joining the Cabinet. “The administration needs people like Rahm who know how to get things done.”Some of the city’s Black elected officials are also vouching for him. Emanuel said he did not see the grisly video until it was set to be made public in November 2015. During his time as mayor, Chicago saw $11 billion in airfield, terminal and infrastructure investments at the city's airports.
Absent details, police shooting narratives seek to distract
Read full article: Absent details, police shooting narratives seek to distractAuthorities have been reluctant to release even the most basic information about the incident or details about the white officer who shot Blake seven times in the back. They shot my son seven times seven times, like he didnt matter, Blakes father, Jacob Blake Sr., said. In 2014, for example, a union spokesman rushed to the scene where a white Chicago officer fatally shot 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. As for the shooting itself, authorities, citing the need to protect the integrity of the investigation, have raised far more questions than they've answered. Instead, he said a knife was found after the shooting on the drivers side floorboard of the SUV.
Lack of body cameras fuels suspicion in Chicago shooting
Read full article: Lack of body cameras fuels suspicion in Chicago shootingAuthorities have said they found a gun at the scene, but they acknowledge that the officers who shot him were not wearing cameras. After Allen was shot on Sunday, activists immediately seized on the news that the officers were not wearing body cameras. These details are uncorroborated, partially because CPD also claims there is no body camera footage available for this interaction, the group said. Questions about the lack of body cameras extend beyond activist groups. Chicago police have also used body camera footage to show that officers acted properly, possibly heading off the kind of rampage that unfolded this week.
Police contracts can stand in the way of accountability
Read full article: Police contracts can stand in the way of accountabilityA police officer engages with a protester Wednesday, July 1, 2020, in Seattle, where streets had been blocked off in an area demonstrators had occupied for weeks. Seattle police showed up in force earlier in the day at the "occupied" protest zone, tore down demonstrators' tents and used bicycles to herd the protesters after the mayor ordered the area cleared following two fatal shootings in less than two weeks. The "Capitol Hill Occupied Protest" zone was set up near downtown following the death of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Police contracts can stand in the way of accountability
Read full article: Police contracts can stand in the way of accountabilityCollective bargaining agreements for officers provide protections that stand in the way of accountability, even when the federal government is overseeing an agency through a consent decree, experts said. Contracts designed to ensure officers receive fair wages and benefits have spilled over into public policy. These examples bolster the hypothesis that some union contract provisions may impede effective investigations of police misconduct and shield problematic officers from discipline, Rushin said. The city entered into a settlement agreement, or consent decree, the following year and passed an accountability measure for additional oversight. One Seattle officer who benefited from the union contract in recent years was Cynthia Whitlach.
The Latest: Warren won't prosecute peaceful protesters
Read full article: The Latest: Warren won't prosecute peaceful protestersHillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren, right, speaks during a news conference Monday, June 15, 2020, in Tampa, Fla. Warren announced his decision not to prosecute dozens of protesters arrested on charges of unlawful assembly during a Black Lives Matter march on June 2. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)TOP OF THE HOUR: Florida state attorney won't prosecute peaceful protesters. State Attorney Andrew Warren in Tampa said that his office wont be filing charges against 67 protesters who were arrested two weeks ago in downtown Tampa. The prosecutors office will also work to expunge the arrest records of the protesters who were taken into custody, he said. In these unlawful assembly cases, there is no value in filing charges, Warren said at a news conference.
Video evidence increasingly disproves police narratives
Read full article: Video evidence increasingly disproves police narrativesCellphone video showed him pleading for air as other officers stood by and bystanders urged the police to help him. The department realized the statement was inaccurate hours later when the bystander video surfaced, and immediately requested an FBI investigation, he said. But more than a year later, video was released showing that McDonald was veering away when he was shot by officer Jason Van Dyke, who was later convicted of second-degree murder. False public statements made by police departments and their leaders are more of a political issue" than a legal one, he said. The availability of video and a fast-moving news cycle accelerated by social media have put extra pressure on police department public information officers.
Protesters invoke different names to decry police treatment
Read full article: Protesters invoke different names to decry police treatmentIn Tulsa, Oklahoma, people gathered in a spot where white mobs killed hundreds of blacks a century ago and chanted the name of Terence Crutcher. Terence Crutcher was fatally shot in 2016 by a white police officer, Betty Shelby, who was later acquitted of manslaughter. The shooting remains under investigation, and Ramos' mom, Brenda Ramos, questioned why the officer who shot him hasn't been arrested or at least suspended. Now I am in this terrible heartbreaking club," Ramos' mom, Brenda Ramos, told reporters over the weekend. Andrew Cuomo posted a slide with the names of many black men killed or abused by police in cities around the nation.
Report: 16 officers participated in Laquan McDonald cover-up
Read full article: Report: 16 officers participated in Laquan McDonald cover-upVan Dyke was sentenced to six years and nine months in prison in January following his conviction of second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery with a firearm. Van Dyke fired seconds after arriving on scene and took 15 seconds to fire 16 shots. Van Dyke continued to fire, unloading every round from his 9-mm Smith & Wesson handgun. They included police claims that McDonald pointed his knife at Van Dyke, who was forced to backpedal and fired to stop an imminent threat. The deputy chief also falsely said in Van Dyke's tactical response report that McDonald "continued to approach" the officer.
4 Chicago officers fired over cover up' in Laquan McDonald shooting
Read full article: 4 Chicago officers fired over cover up' in Laquan McDonald shootingFour Chicago police officers have been fired for covering up the 2014 fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald, a black teenager, the Chicago Police Board said Thursday. Stephen Franko, Officer Janet Mondragon, Officer Daphne Sebastian and Officer Ricardo Viramontes to be "discharged from the Chicago Police Department." "Indeed, taken on their face, the officers' accounts depict a scene in which Mr. McDonald was the aggressor and Officer Van Dyke the victima depiction squarely contradicted by reality. Police initially said McDonald lunged toward officers with a knife, prompting Van Dyke to open fire six seconds after getting out of his squad car. Last year, Van Dyke was convicted of second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery.