Tag: george floyd

Who killed Elijah McClain? Mixed verdicts reflect a cascade of ultimately fatal mistakes.

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On a Saturday night in August 2019, Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old massage therapist, was accosted by police officers while walking home from an Aurora, Colorado, convenience store where he had bought three cans of iced tea. The cops were responding to a “suspicious person” call. But McClain, who had committed no crime, did not understand why he was being detained, and his objections were met with swiftly escalating force, culminating in an injection of ketamine that left him unconscious. He never woke up.

That horrifying incident attracted national attention after George Floyd’s May 2020 death in the custody of Minneapolis police officers set off widespread protests against police brutality. There were notable parallels: In both cases, a black man complained that he could not breathe after he was tackled and pinned to the ground by white police officers. Both incidents featured police indifference to those complaints, a failure to render medical aid, the questionable use of “pain compliance” techniques, and the invocation of “excited delerium” as a justification for the use of force. And both resulted in criminal charges, which in McClain’s case have now been resolved by a mixture of verdicts that reflect a cascade of ultimately fatal mistakes.

Last Friday, a jury found Peter Cichuniec and Jeremy Cooper, the two paramedics who injected McClain with an overdose of ketamine, guilty of criminally negligent homicide, a felony punishable by one to three years in prison. Cichuniec, an Aurora Fire Rescue lieutenant who approved the injection, was also convicted of second-degree assault, a felony punishable by two to six years in prison. The paramedics’ trial was the third in connection with McClain’s death. In October, Aurora police officer Randy Roedema was convicted of criminally negligent homicide and third-degree assault, a misdemeanor punishable by up to 18 months in jail. Former Aurora police officer Jason Rosenblatt, who was tried together with Roedema, was acquitted of all charges. So was Nathan Woodyard, an officer who was tried separately in late October and early November.

After McClain’s death, local prosecutors declined to file charges. Criticism of that decision, which was amplified after Floyd was killed in similar circumstances, prompted Colorado Gov. Jared Polis to order a new investigation by Attorney General Phil Weiser. That probe led to a September 2021 indictment, which listed a total of 32 charges, including manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, and assault. While the officers’ lawyers complained that the charges were the result of political pressure, the cursory nature of the first investigation suggests the real scandal was the initial determination that no charges were warranted.

When Woodyard approached McClain that night, he was responding to a 911 call from a teenager who thought McClain “look[ed] sketchy” because he was wearing a ski mask and making “all these kinds of signs” with his hands. The caller added that “he might be a good person or a bad person.” He said no one was in danger and he had not seen any weapons.

Woodyard ordered McClain to stop, but McClain was listening to music through earbuds and apparently did not hear the command. “Prosecutors said Woodyard grabbed McClain within eight seconds of getting out of his patrol car without introducing himself or explaining why he wanted to talk to McClain,” USA Today reported after the officer’s acquittal. “McClain, seemingly caught off guard, tried to keep walking. The encounter quickly escalated.”

At this point, an independent panel of investigators appointed by the Aurora City Council concluded in a February 2021 report, Woodyard did not have grounds to reasonably suspect that McClain was involved in criminal activity, which the Supreme Court has said the Fourth Amendment requires for an investigatory stop. McClain, who was holding his cellphone in one hand and a bag with the cans of iced tea in the other, “had no observable weapon and had not displayed violent or threatening behavior,” the panel noted. “No crime had been reported. The officers later said they stopped Mr. McClain because he was overdressed and wearing a mask, in an area one officer referred to as ‘high crime,’ and a caller had reported his unusual behavior.”

In addition to the ski mask, McClain was wearing sweat pants, a jacket, and a knit cap, which might have seemed strange on a summer night but is understandable in light of his anemia, a symptom of which is cold extremities. Aside from his clothing and the “unusual behavior” reported by the 911 caller, Woodyard had no reason to suspect that McClain was doing anything illegal. The decision to turn what could have been a consensual encounter into an investigatory stop “had ramifications for the rest of the encounter,” the panel’s report noted.

Woodyard was joined by Roedema and Rosenblatt, who were dispatched as backup for the “suspicious person” report. Woodyard decided to frisk McClain, a step that is legally justified only if police reasonably suspect the subject is armed. Yet the 911 caller had not reported any weapons (a point that was noted in the police dispatcher’s message), McClain was plainly holding nothing but his phone and the bag from the convenience store, and Woodyard himself later said he “felt safe making an approach” because McClain “didn’t have any weapons.”

McClain, whose walk home had been forcibly interrupted for no good reason, was understandably dismayed. He repeatedly asked the cops to leave him alone and let him continue on his way. “I have a right to walk to where I’m going,” he told Woodyard. “I have a right to stop you because you’re being suspicious,” Woodyard replied as he grabbed McClain’s arm.

Less than a minute into the encounter, the officers decided they should move McClain to a grassy area in case they needed to “take him down.” At this point, the independent panel noted, Woodyard’s unjustified investigatory stop became an arrest, which is constitutionally permissible only when police have probable cause to believe someone has committed a crime. That is a higher standard than reasonable suspicion, a test the cops had already failed to meet.

While the cops were trying, without any legal justification, to force McClain onto the grassy area, Roedema told Rosenblatt, “He grabbed your gun, dude.” According to Woodyard, that exclamation “changed the situation.” Once he heard Roedema’s warning, Woodyard said, he decided to “take [McClain] down to the ground as hard as I could.” While tackling McClain, Woodyard twice attempted a “carotid control hold,” which aims to induce unconsciousness by applying pressure on both sides of the neck to cut off blood flow to the brain. The second, more successful attempt happened when McClain was restrained on the ground.

After McClain came to, he repeatedly vomited. He was handcuffed and still wearing his ski mask at this point, and an autopsy found that he had aspirated some of the vomit. That, along with the downward pressure the officers were exerting, helps explain why he complained that he was having trouble breathing.

At his trial, Woodyard said he used the carotid control in self-defense. “I intend to take my power back,” McClain had said. Woodyard said that remark, combined with Roedema’s warning about Rosenblatt’s gun, made him fear for his life. But as the prosecutors noted, Rosenblatt later said he had not felt anyone touch his gun, and body camera footage showed no such movement by McClain.

McClain was five feet, seven inches tall and weighed about 140 pounds. Yet the officers claimed he exhibited “crazy,” “incredible,” “superhuman” strength, which they attributed to “excited delerium” caused by “whatever he’s on.” Toxicological tests found that marijuana was the only psychoactive substance that McClain had consumed. In any case, “excited delerium” is a scientifically dubious concept that is not recognized by the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, or the World Health Organization. The label serves mainly to justify what would otherwise seem like excessive force.

Forensic pathologist Roger A. Mitchell Jr., who testified during Roedema and Rosenblatt’s trial, made it clear that he does not view “excited delerium” as a valid diagnosis. But even if it were, he said, McClain’s behavior was not consistent with the way the condition is usually described. “He’s communicating with law enforcement,” Mitchell said. “He’s clear on what’s going on with him. He’s pleading his case.” Mitchell also noted that McClain’s exclamations showed he was responding to the pain inflicted by the officers. “If we believe this notion of excited delirium,” he said, “one of the things with excited delirium is that you’re impervious to pain.”

Cichuniec and Cooper, who arrived 11 minutes after Woodyard first approached McClain, nevertheless agreed with the cops’ diagnosis. According to the indictment, they reached that conclusion “after receiving some information from officers and observing Mr. McClain for about one minute.” Neither paramedic “ascertained Mr. McClain’s vital signs,” the indictment notes. “Nor did either of them talk to or physically touch Mr. McClain before diagnosing him with excited delirium.”

The appropriate treatment, they decided, was an injection of ketamine. No one at the scene questioned that decision. “Yep, sounds good,” Rosenblatt said when Cooper announced that he planned to inject McClain with ketamine. “Perfect, dude, perfect,” Roedema agreed.

Piling error upon error, Cooper administered 500 milligrams of ketamine. The correct dose for a 143-pound man would have been 325 milligrams, so McClain was given about 50 percent more than he should have received. Cooper never asked McClain his weight, instead guessing that it was about 200 pounds. Even if that estimate had been correct, the dosage still would have been about 50 milligrams too high.

At the paramedics’ trial, Colorado Public Radio reported, “Cooper and Cichuniec said they didn’t hear a police supervisor on the scene, Sgt. Dale Leonard, tell them a few details about what happened, including that McClain had received two carotid holds, which cut blood flow off to his brain, and that he had been vomiting repeatedly ever since.” That information was relevant because ketamine can suppress respiration, which is especially problematic for someone whose breathing is already compromised.

Prosecutors argued that the paramedics failed to properly monitor McClain. “After McClain was given a large dose of ketamine by paramedics,” Colorado Public Radio noted, “body worn camera footage shows that they didn’t immediately tend to him, check his airway or otherwise look at his vital signs.” Pulmonologist David Beuther testified that closer attention could have saved McClain’s life. If a patient is “a little too sleepy” and “starting to slip into deep sedation,” he said, you can reposition his head or use “a little plastic tube” to aid breathing.

By the time McClain was lifted onto a gurney, he was unconscious and snoring, which can indicate an overdose. In the ambulance, paramedics found that McClain had no pulse and was not breathing. They revived him with CPR and epinephrine, but he never regained consciousness.

The original autopsy report listed both the cause and manner of death as unknown. Stephen Cina, the pathologist who wrote the report, later revised it in light of information discovered by Weiser’s investigation. The amended report describes the cause of death as “complications of ketamine administration following forcible restraint” but still lists the manner of death as “undetermined.” Mitchell testified that he agreed with Cina about the cause of death but thought it was clear that the manner was homicide.

That characterization, which does not necessarily imply criminal liability, seems hard to deny, since it is clear that McClain would not have died if the cops and paramedics had left him alone. The question of how to allocate the legal responsibility for his death is more complicated, given all the things that went wrong that night. The cops argued that the paramedics were mainly to blame. “Elijah McClain would not have died but for the ketamine,” one of Roedema’s lawyers told the jury. Cooper and Cichuniec argued that the cops were mainly to blame, since they controlled the scene, provided the information on which the paramedics relied, and caused the vomiting that may have contributed to McClain’s death.

Why was Rosenblatt acquitted? He had less experience than the other officers, and his lawyer, Harvey Steinberg, argued that Rosenblatt was just following orders. Roedema, by contrast, was the senior officer on the scene, and his treatment of McClain was more aggressive than Rosenblatt’s.

The indictment notes that Roedema used a “bar hammer lock,” a “physical defensive tactic whereby a subject’s arm is held back behind their back to gain control of the subject.” Roedema “stated that he ‘cranked pretty hard’ on Mr. McClain’s shoulder and heard it pop three times.” Steinberg suggested that Rosenblatt was less violent and therefore less culpable: “Rosenblatt didn’t jerk his arm. It was Roedema. Rosenblatt didn’t have his knee in his back. It was Roedema.” It was also Roedema who claimed, probably inaccurately, that McClain was trying to grab Rosenblatt’s gun, which everyone agreed was a major factor in escalating the violence.

Woodyard’s acquittal is harder to understand. He set the tone for the whole encounter by initiating the use of force, and he not only used a carotid hold but did so twice, which was contrary to department policy. But Woodyard faced a different jury than Roedema did, and this one may have been more inclined to credit the claim that the cops were acting in self-defense.

Woodyard, who had been a police officer for about two years at the time, “tearfully told jurors he was weeping to his supervisor on the scene because he was fearful that he was going to die and needed to step away,” Colorado Public Radio reported. The officer’s lawyer, Andrew Ho, portrayed him as a bystander. “Nathan Woodyard entrusted Elijah McClain to the care and custody of his fellow officers and entrusted Elijah McClain to medically trained professionals,” Ho said. “Nathan Woodyard did not kill Elijah. He’s not responsible for what other people did or did not do.”

Was anyone responsible? “Just because there’s a tragedy does not mean there’s criminality,” one of Roedema’s lawyers said during closing arguments. But prosecutor Duane Lyons emphasized that the officers had not followed their training. “They were told what to do,” he said. “It didn’t have to be this way…They were given instructions, they had opportunities, and they failed to choose to de-escalate violence when they needed to.” He also faulted them for failing to check on McClain’s breathing. “This is not just a tragedy,” he said. “This is a crime.”

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Jacob Sullum

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December 27, 2023
2 paramedics found guilty in death of Elijah McClain, who they injected with an overdose of ketamine

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BRIGHTON, Colo. (AP) — Two Denver-area paramedics were convicted Friday for giving a fatal overdose of the sedative ketamine in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain – a jury verdict that experts said could have a chilling effect on first responders around the country.

The case over the 23-year-old Black man’s death was the first among several recent criminal prosecutions against medical first responders to reach trial, potentially setting the bar for prosecutors in future cases.

It also was the last of three trials against police and paramedics charged in the death of McClain, whose case received little attention until protests over the 2020 killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. An Aurora police officer was convicted of homicide and third degree assault earlier this year while two officers were acquitted.

The jury found Aurora Fire Rescue paramedics Jeremy Cooper and Peter Cichuniec guilty of criminally negligent homicide following a weekslong trial in state district court. The jury also found Cichuniec guilty on one of two second-degree assault charges. Cooper was found not guilty on the assault charges. They could face years in prison at sentencing.

McClain’s mother, Sheneen, raised her first in the air and exclaimed, “We did it! We did it! We did it!” while leaving the courthouse with a friend and the president of the Aurora NAACP.

The outcome could set a precedent going forward for how emergency personnel respond to situations with people in police custody, said University of Miami criminologist Alex Piquero.

“Imagine if you’re a paramedic,” Piquero said. “They could be hesitant. They could say, ‘I’m not going to do anything’ or ‘I’m going to do less. I don’t want to be found guilty.’”

The verdict was announced after two days of deliberations. When jurors told the judge Friday afternoon they were stuck on one of the charges, the judge told them to keep trying to reach a verdict. After the verdict was read, deputies prepared to handcuff Cooper as his wife sobbed in the first row.

Police stopped McClain while he was walking home from a convenience store on Aug. 24, 2019, following a suspicious person complaint. After an officer said McClain reached for an officer’s gun — a claim disputed by prosecutors — another officer put him in a neck hold that rendered him temporarily unconscious. Officers also pinned down McClain before Cooper injected him with an overdose of ketamine. Cichuniec was the senior officer and said it was his decision to use ketamine.

Prosecutors said the paramedics did not conduct basic medical checks of McClain, such as taking his pulse, before giving him the ketamine. The dose was too much for someone of his size — 140 pounds (64 kilograms), experts testified. Prosecutors say they also did not monitor McClain immediately after giving him the sedative but instead left him lying on the ground, making it harder to breathe.

McClain’s pleading words captured on police body camera video, “I’m an introvert and I’m different,” struck a chord with protesters and people around the country.

In a statement released prior to the verdict, McClain’s mother said that everyone present during the police stop of her son displayed a lack of humanity.

“They can not blame their job training for their indifference to evil or their participation in an evil action,” McClain wrote. “That is completely on them. May all of their souls rot in hell when their time comes.”

Defense attorneys argued that the paramedics followed their training in giving ketamine to McClain after diagnosing him with “ excited delirium,” a disputed condition some say is unscientific and has been used to justify excessive force.

The verdicts came after a jury in Washington state cleared three police officers of all criminal charges on Thursday in the 2020 death of Manuel Ellis, a Black man who was shocked, beaten and restrained face-down on a Tacoma sidewalk as he pleaded for breath.

In the Colorado case, the prosecution said Cooper lied to investigators to try to cover up his actions, telling detectives that McClain was actively resisting when he decided to inject McClain with ketamine, even though the body camera showed McClain lying on the ground unconscious. It also disputed Cooper’s claim that McClain tried to get away from police holding him down — and that he took McClain’s pulse as he bent down to give him the shot of ketamine, which others testified they did not see.

“He’s trying to cover up the recklessness of his conduct,” Senior Assistant Attorney General Jason Slothouber told jurors in closing statements.

Cichuniec, who testified along with Cooper this week, said paramedics were trained that they had to work quickly to treat excited delirium with ketamine and said they were told numerous times that it was a safe, effective drug and were not warned about the possibility of it killing anyone.

Colorado now tells paramedics not to give ketamine to people suspected of having the controversial condition known as excited delirium, which has symptoms including increased strength and has been associated with racial bias against Black men.

“We were taught that is a safe drug and it will not kill them,” he testified.

Local authorities in 2019 decided against criminal charges because the coroner’s office could not determine exactly how McClain, a massage therapist, died. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis ordered state Attorney General Phil Weiser’s office to take another look at the case in 2020 and a grand jury indicted the officers and paramedics in 2021.

The killings of McClain, Floyd and others triggered a wave of legislation that put limits on the use of neck holds in more than two dozen states.

When the police stopped McClain he was listening to music and wearing a mask that covered most of his face because he had a blood circulation disorder. The police stop quickly became physical after McClain, seemingly caught off guard, asked to be left alone. He had not been accused of committing any crime.

The officers told investigators that they took McClain down after hearing Officer Randy Roedema say, “He grabbed your gun dude.” Roedema later said Officer Jason Rosenblatt’s gun was the target.

Prosecutors refuted that McClain ever tried to grab an officer’s gun and no such action is seen in body camera footage.

Paramedic injected McClain with ketamine as Roedema — and another officer, who was not charged — held him on the ground. McClain went into cardiac arrest en route to the hospital and died three days later.

Roedema was convicted earlier this month of the least serious charge in a series of charges he could’ve faced, which could lead to a sentence of anywhere from probation to prison time.

Rosenblatt and officer Nathan Woodyard were acquitted of all charges.

In the first trials against the police officers, the defense sought to pin the blame for McClain’s death on the paramedics.

The city of Aurora in 2021 agreed to pay $15 million to settle a lawsuit brought by McClain’s parents.

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December 22, 2023
Tech companies like Google and Meta made cuts to DEI programs in 2023 after big promises in prior years

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Shortly after the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police in 2020, Google was among many tech companies that set up new programs aimed at supporting Black employees. The goal, CEO Sundar Pichai wrote, was “to build sustainable equity for Google’s Black+ community, and externally, to make our products and programs helpful in the moments that matter most to Black users.”

Google’s vocal commitments included improving representation of underrepresented groups in leadership by 30% by 2025; more than doubling the number of Black workers at nonsenior levels by 2025; addressing representation issues in hiring, retention and promotions; and establishing better support for the mental and physical health for Black employees.

The move was part of a broader trend in the wake of the Floyd killing, which sparked societal unrest and drew attention to the power imbalances in corporate America and the tech industry specifically. Corporations pledged to invest millions of dollars to improve diversity in their ranks and support external groups doing work on diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI.

But in 2023, some of those programs are in retreat.

By mid-2023, DEI-related job postings had declined 44% from the same time a year prior, according to data provided by job site Indeed. In November 2023, the last full month for which data was available, it dropped 23% year over year.

That’s a sharp contrast with the period from 2020 to 2021, when those postings expanded nearly 30%.

In line with this broader trend, both Google and Meta have cut staffers and downsized programs that fell under DEI investment.

The year’s cuts have also impacted smaller, third-party organizations who counted on big tech clients for work, despite the continued growth of those tech giants.

“Whenever there is an economic downturn in tech, some of the first budgets that are cut are in DEI, but I don’t think we’ve seen such stark contrast as this year,” said Melinda Briana Epler, founder and CEO of Empovia, which advises companies and leaders to use a research-based culture of equality.

“When George Floyd began to become the topic of conversations, companies and executives doubled down on their commitments and here we are only a couple years later, and folks are looking for opportunities to cut those teams,” said Devika Brij, CEO of Brij the Gap Consulting, which works with tech companies’ DEI efforts. Brij said some of her clients had cut their DEI budgets by as much as 90% by midyear.

However, more than just broken promises are at stake, experts told CNBC in a series of interviews.

The cuts come at a time when technology companies are forging ahead on the biggest technology shift in a decade: artificial intelligence. If diverse people are not included in AI development, that may result in even greater power imbalances for both corporate workers, as well as consumers who will use their products.

“Our commitment to DEI remains at the center of who we are as a company,” a Meta spokesperson wrote in a statement to CNBC. “We continue to intentionally design equitable and fair practices to drive progress across our people, product, policy and partnerships pillars.”

“Our workforce reductions and company-wide efforts to sharpen our focus span the breadth of our business,” said a Google spokesperson, saying that the company remains committed to underrepresented communities and DEI work. “To be absolutely clear, our commitment to that work has not changed and we invested in many new programs and partnerships this year.”

The Google spokesperson did not dispute any specifics in this story, but pointed to new investments in partnerships this year, including committing more than $5 million to historically Black colleges and universities to help build a stronger pipeline to the tech industry for underrepresented talent, and launching the Google for Startups Women Founders Fund to help women entrepreneurs.

Cuts to internal teams and programs

In 2021, after facing complaints about pay equity in its Engineering Residency program, Google said it would be sunsetting the program and replacing it with a new one called Early Career Immersion, or ECI, which is aimed at helping underrepresented talent develop skills. (Google said sunsetting Engineering Residency was an unrelated business decision.)

But Google decided not to hire a 2023 cohort of ECI software engineers, citing an uncertain hiring outlook, according to correspondence viewed by CNBC. It also laid off some staffers associated with the program.

Participants in a separate Google program called Apprenticeships also lodged complaints about a lack of pathways and pay inequities in the last year, CNBC found.

“Apprentices become part of our mission to build great products for every user, and their different experiences help ensure that our products are as diverse as our users,” Google’s Apprenticeships website states.

But Apprenticeships participants complained they were getting paid less than other engineers during the course of the 20-month program despite doing similar work. They said they were doing “Level 3” work with L3 expectations and contributing significantly to Google’s codebase while earning half of full-time L3 software engineers’ base salary, according to internal correspondence seen by CNBC.

The apprentices even confronted the executive sponsor of the program, Aparna Pappu, vice president of Google Workspace, pointing out the executive’s prior stated goal “to increase representation of underrepresented talent across Google.”

The company said that apprentices are paid a salary for the learning and training they receive as part of the program, and that it reviews compensation annually to ensure alignment with the market.

The Apprenticeships program, which included real-work job training for underrepresented backgrounds, followed other failed efforts to improve diversity. In 2021, for instance, Google said it shut down a long-running program aimed at entry-level engineers from underrepresented backgrounds after participants said it enforced “systemic pay inequities.” That same year, CNBC found the company’s separate program that worked with students from historically Black colleges, suffered extreme disorganization, racism and broken promises to students.

Google and Meta also made cuts to personnel who were in charge of recruiting underrepresented people, according to several sources and documentation.

Nearly every member of Meta’s Sourcer Development Program, more than 60 workers, was let go from the company as part of its layoff of over 11,000 workers, CNBC learned. They claimed to have received inferior severance packages compared with other workers who were laid off in the same time period. Meta’s Sourcer Development Program was intended to help workers from diverse backgrounds obtain careers in corporate technology recruiting.

Google also cut DEI leaders who worked with Chief Diversity Officer Melonie Parker, while Meta made cuts to several DEI managers — some of whom it hired in 2020.

Layoffs at Google and Meta also included employees who held leadership roles in their respective Black employee resource groups, known as ERGs.

“There’s a lowering of physiological safety with layoffs or impending layoffs, and holding ERGs accountable for that is not fair and can lead to even more burnout,” Epler said.

In addition to cutting staff who worked on DEI programs and ERGs, both Meta and Google cut planned learning and development training for underrepresented talent, according to multiple sources who asked not to be named due to fear of retaliation. Meta said that learning and development programs were “merely streamlined to make them more impactful.”

“There’s a consistent amount of folks who have completely failed, mostly because they don’t have the internal teams to keep the mission forward,” said Simone White, who is a senior vice president at Blavity, a media organization that focuses on content for the Black community, and puts on AfroTech, which became a popular tech conference for Black tech talent and companies seeking to hire them.

Cuts impacting external organizations

While internal DEI programs have suffered, the cuts were arguably even harder for external organizations who expected the same amount of corporate sponsorship and support from tech companies in 2023 as they had the prior few years.

In early 2023, big tech leaders, including Google and Meta were among companies that lessened their work with third parties that were counting on projects, according to several organizations and sources who spoke with CNBC.

Brij, CEO of Brij the Gap Consulting, explained how the steep cuts have affected her firm, which consults with companies on building an effective workforce for underrepresented workers and includes workshops and programs.

“Right now with these budgets being entirely limited or cut, we’re just really backpedaling on so much of the work that we’ve done.”

Brij said some companies have even asked her to provide work for free.

“A lot of companies we worked with started to make progress before the cuts,” Epler said. “Now, it’s like some of them are essentially wiping away that work.”

Stefania Pomponi, founder of Hella Social Impact, said executives have blamed cost-cutting as they’ve canceled contracts with the firm, which consults with companies’ leadership to create more inclusive workplaces through programs and training.

“I’ve been telling them, ‘look, your bottom line is also your people and these types of cuts are going to impact your business’” Pomponi said, pointing to various studies on diverse teams producing higher performance outcomes.

“As I talk to my colleagues across the space, some of the monies that were set aside around the time of George Floyd’s murder have not been fully extended, and that says to me that organizations like ours are needed now more than ever,” said Brenda Wilkerson, CEO of AnitaB.org, which puts on Grace Hopper, the largest women’s tech conference, which took place in September.

Some large tech companies, including Meta, pulled back from sponsorship or attendance for employees to attend Grace Hopper 2023, according to sources who asked to remain anonymous because they are not authorized to speak to the media. Some companies, including Microsoft, ended up sending some leaders to attend virtually so they wouldn’t have to pay for travel, according to two sources who wished to remain anonymous.

Microsoft said it still sent some employees physically, and both Microsoft and Meta told CNBC that Grace Hopper’s virtual option allowed more employees to participate.

Other companies such as Google, which still had a presence at the conference, retracted travel for some employees who had previously been approved to attend, according to several sources who asked to remain anonymous. Google is also among companies to reduce their spending with Blavity, the organization that puts on AfroTech, according to sources who asked not to be named due to being unauthorized to speak.

“We do have a significant amount of our existing corporate partners that are telling us ‘Hey, we can’t participate this year because our DEI team doesn’t even exist anymore,’” said Blavity’s Simone White, who declined to name specific companies. “Week to week, we have new contacts at companies, and folks we worked with for years to organize this work are no longer there.”

“To say our progress is not in peril would not be truthful,” AnitaB.org’s Wilkerson said, although she’s optimistic the tide could turn around in 2024. “We’re working with multiple challenges in our society, so we have made a lot of the progress but some of that was erased in the last year. Then you have this backlash against racial reckoning.”

The backlash she referred to includes things like the Supreme Court’s June decision to end affirmative action at colleges, as well as backlash against DEI programs in conservative circles. “You have this ‘wokeism’ drama.” Wilkerson said, pointing to Florida legislation such as banning books and downplaying Black history, as well as laws impacting the LGBTQIA+ community.

Because of that backlash, 2023 will be the last year the organization will hold Grace Hopper in Florida, Wilkerson said. It will be held in Philadelphia next year.

A Meta spokesperson said that it increased its engagement with some third-party organizations such as The Executive Leadership Council, which aims to increase Black leadership in C-suites.

DEI and AI

Wilkerson was among experts who told CNBC that DEI work is more important than ever given the growing work on artificial intelligence, which hit breakneck speed in 2023.

“We’re in a big technology inflection point, and what happens is as AI begins to take off and if organizations are less inclusive, the product is not reflective of the users,” Wilkerson said.

Apple, Google and other tech giants are still grappling with displaying and identifying images accurately. A New York Times investigation this year found Apple and Google’s Android software, which underpins most of the world’s smartphones, turned off the ability to visually search for primates for fear of labeling a person as an animal.

“We know that AI is trained on historic data and that historic data is missing critical segments of the population, and having women and noncentered folks as decision-makers is going to be critical to making sure it doesn’t happen again,” Wilkerson said.

White said companies who made cuts this year may have a difficult time building future relationships with DEI stakeholders, and it may impact their ability to attract and retain talent, should they decide to build up again in the future.

“Younger generations increasingly care who has a seat at the table,” White said. “And they’re going to remember who did what they said they were going to do.”

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December 22, 2023
'Shankgiving' Shenanigans: Derek Chauvin Stuck Like A Pig 22 Times By Inmate Who Picked 'Black Friday' To Symbolize 'BLM'

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Welp, knife comes at you fast! The inmate accused of stabbing Derek Chauvin 22 times planned a “Black Friday” attack to symbolize “Black Lives Matter,” according to federal prosecutors.

Source: Hennepin County Jail / Hennepin County Jail

That certainly gives a new meaning to “reason for the season.” Authorities identified the federal inmate behind the “Shanksgiving” stabbing as John Turscak. He reportedly plotted on the ex-cop convicted of murdering George Floyd for a month.

When the big day finally came, Turscak was allegedly ready for Chauvin with an “improvised knife.” NBC News reports Turscak faces charges of attempted murder, assault with intent to commit murder, assault with a dangerous weapon and assault resulting in serious bodily injury.

Dude in jail stabbed Derek Chauvin 22 times?? I gotta hear his side of the story

— Bearded Shinobi of the South (@_Homer_Pimpson) December 1, 2023

As BOSSIP previously reported, a fellow prisoner tried to carve Chauvin like a turkey on Nov. 24, the day after Thanksgiving. Unlike George Floyd, who suffocated to death for nine minutes, Chauvin received “life-saving measures” from staff at Federal Correctional Institution, Tucson. He was transferred to a nearby hospital in stable condition.

As soon as news of Chauvin’s stabbing made headlines, speculation spread about it helping him overturn his conviction. The attack came only one week after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his appeal.

Source: CHANDAN KHANNA / Getty

Now that prosecutors have identified the inmate who stabbed Chauvin, there are even more questions than answers.

Find out more about John Turscak and his connections to the FBI and the Mexican Mafia after the jump.

Who Is John Turscak, And What Did He Have To Do With The Mexican Mafia And FBI Before Allegedly Stabbing Derek Chauvin?

Source: Peter Dazeley / Getty

Many who wish nothing but the worst for Derek Chauvin celebrated his previously unknown attacker as a vigilante. Now that we know the man behind the “Shanksgiving” stabbing, some say it’s looking funny in the light. Chauvin’s supporters claim it proved his innocence. Meanwhile, several of the killer cop’s critics wonder how his attacker missed 22 times.

In light of the non-fatal stabbing of Derek Chauvin 22 times by another inmate, I have a pressing question involving the inadequacy of anatomy education in school.

— Tim Wise (@timjacobwise) December 1, 2023

Federal prosecutors claimed that John Turscak planned a “Black Friday” assault for the “Black Hand,” a symbol associated with the Mexican Mafia. According to court documents, he joined the Mexican Mafia in 1990.

Per the Los Angeles Times, he greenlit “assaults of individuals for infractions of Mexican Mafia rules.” He also reportedly collected “taxes” from drug dealers and street gangs in “return for Mexican Mafia protection and permission to engage in narcotics trafficking.”

The inmate accused of stabbing Derek Chauvin, the former police officer who killed George Floyd, said he attacked him on Black Friday because it’s “symbolic with the Black Lives Matter movement and the ‘Black Hand symbol’ associated with the Mexican Mafia criminal organization.” pic.twitter.com/lpPcjyE7Zv

— Meghann Cuniff (@meghanncuniff) December 1, 2023

Turscak took credit for the murder of a man in Folsom Prison in 1990. He claimed to authorize another man’s murder in 1998. In 1997, the FBI recruited him as an informant. The investigation led to indictments of more than 40 alleged Mexican mafia members and associates.

However, working for the feds only got him in more trouble. Federal prosecutors dropped him for admitting to “dealing drugs, extorting money, and authorizing assaults” while on their payroll. He pleaded guilty to racketeering and conspiracy to commit murder for a 30-year sentence. Turscak’s time was almost up. His release date was scheduled for June 3, 2026.

John Turscak “denied wanting to kill D.C. However, Turscak stated that he had been thinking about assaulting D.C. for approximately one month because D.C. is a high-profile inmate.”

Turscak, 52, is charged with four crimes, including attempted murder. Here’s the full filing. pic.twitter.com/gqu9ClLR04

— Meghann Cuniff (@meghanncuniff) December 1, 2023

Turscak waived his Miranda rights in his interview with FBI agents on Nov. 26. Although he reportedly claimed responsibility for planning out the assault and stabbing Chauvin 22 times, Turscak “denied wanting to kill” him. So he did all this for shanks and giggles?

lol They’re claiming that the dude who stabbed Derek Chauvin 22 times is a government plant

Its always gotta be some crazy conspiracy versus “the pig who murdered a man in cold blood got stabbed for being a pig who murdered a man in cold blood”

— Lexi Where This Goes, GOAT Arc (@LexiWhereShesAt) December 1, 2023

Some suspect Turscak knew he’d be safer with a life sentence than as a free man who turned on the feds and the Mexican Mafia. After all, he reportedly admitted to choosing Chauvin for his status. He reportedly spent a month thinking about a date and symbolic motive that would guarantee more major headlines. Then he wasted no time telling FBI agents all about it.

You stab a nigga 22 times, you’re a former FBI agent, and the man lived. Oh you wanted him to live with those scars. That was on purpose. We need to start calling Derek Chauvin “22” 🤣

— vintage + fly mf (@DomGiavonni) December 2, 2023

Either way, Chauvin survived his serious injuries and remains in federal custody for the rest of his two decades behind bars. With these new charges against Turscak, he could face just as much additional time or more for the “Shanksgiving” shenanigans. Maybe that’s what Turscak wanted all along.

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December 1, 2023
‘Happy Shanksgiving!’ George Floyd’s Convicted Murderer Derek Chauvin Stuck Like A Pig In Federal Prison Stabbing

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Social media celebrated like Christmas came early because someone stabbed Derek Chauvin, the ex-cop convicted of killing George Floyd.

Source: Hennepin County Jail / Hennepin County Jail

It turns out Black Friday had something even better than leftovers and sales. One of the most infamous murderers in recent history, Derek Chauvin, got a taste of his own cold-blooded medicine. The AP reports Chauvin is “seriously injured” from a stabbing in federal prison.

Chauvin was in custody at the Federal Correctional Institution, Tucson, when another inmate attacked the former boy in blue. The Bureau of Prisons confirmed an assault around 12:30 p.m. local time on Friday at FCI Tuscon.

The agency did not identify the victim as Chauvin. It released a statement that employees performed “life-saving measures” on the inmate until transferring him to a hospital.

To the disappointment of many on social media, the killer ex-cop is in stable condition. According to TMZ, “his injuries were not considered life-threatening.” The 47-year-old remains hospitalized for evaluation.

Derek Chauvin’s Multiple Convictions For The Killing Of George Floyd

Chauvin will continue to serve his two decades behind bars because he survived and because the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his appeal last week. He petitioned the highest court in the land to overturn his federal murder conviction despite pleading guilty.

Chauvin suffocated George Floyd to death on camera in May 2020. He kneeled on Floyd’s neck for 9½ agonizing minutes over a suspected counterfeit $20 bill. The horrific public execution sparked global outrage and protests.

Source: Ira L. Black – Corbis / Getty

A jury found Chauvin guilty of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in 2021. The judge sentenced him to 21½ years, one of the longest a U.S. cop ever faced for killing a Black person.

In July 2022, Chauvin pled guilty in federal court to violating Floyd’s civil rights. He received the lower end of the plea sentencing, another 21 years. The next month, he transferred to FCI Tuscon to serve his sentences concurrently.

Chauvin spent most of his time in solitary confinement in Minnesota “largely for his own protection” from retaliation. “Happy Shanksgiving” trended over the news that George Floyd’s killer was nearly carved like a turkey.

Considering the terror, violence, and death that crooked cops like Chauvin regularly inflict on communities with impunity, it’s no surprise many see the stabbing as overdue karma.

Check out some of the reactions below.

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November 25, 2023
Derek Chauvin, Convicted of Murdering George Floyd, Stabbed In Federal Prison: Reports

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Derek Chauvin, the ex-police officer currently serving a 22-year prison sentence for the murder of George Floyd, was stabbed and seriously injured on Friday. The attack was first reported by the Associated Press, which cited “a person familiar with the matter.” The New York Times later published its confirmation of the report, citing two people with knowledge of the incident.

Though it did not name Chauvin explicitly, the Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed Friday that an inmate at a medium-security Tucson federal prison where Chauvin is incarcerated was stabbed at 12:30 p.m. on Friday. Medical technicians “initiated lifesaving measures” before moving the stabbing victim to a local hospital “for further treatment of and evaluation.” No other employees were injured, and sources familiar with the incident told ABC News that Chauvin is expected to survive.

“I am sad to hear that Derek Chauvin was the target of violence,” Keith Ellison, the Minnesota attorney general who prosecuted Chauvin in 2021, said in a statement. “He was duly convicted of his crimes and, like any incarcerated individual, he should be able to serve his sentence without fear of retaliation or violence.”

Chauvin, who was convicted on April 20, 2021 of murdering Floyd, has been held in Tucson since August 2022. He was previously incarcerated in a maximum-security state prison in Minnesota, where he was reportedly held in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day due to fears for his safety.

This is not the first time the Federal Correctional Institution in Tucson has dealt with significant security lapses and experienced widespread staffing shortages. Last year, an inmate in the minimum-security part of the facility was able to secure a firearm and attempted to shoot a visitor.

Chauvin has been attempting to appeal his murder conviction for years, arguing that his state jury trial was biased due to pretrial publicity and fears of violence in the case of a not-guilty verdict. The Supreme Court declined to hear the ex-officer’s appeal last week. Chauvin is also separately appealing his federal conviction on charges of violating Floyd’s civil rights, arguing that new evidence proves that he did not cause Floyd’s death.

The former Minneapolis police officer’s convictions stem from his actions on May 25, 2020, when he pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck for nine-and-a-half minutes. Floyd’s death ignited what became one of the largest protest movements in U.S. history.

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November 25, 2023
Derek Chauvin’s stabbing sparks Jeffrey Epstein-inspired theory

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The stabbing of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in federal prison on Friday has sparked conspiracy theories among various right-wing voices online, citing false claims about the death of George Floyd and comparing the situation to the death of Jeffrey Epstein.

In May 2020, Chauvin killed Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, by kneeling on his neck for nine minutes during a confrontation. The incident sparked mass nationwide protests calling for police reform and racial equality, and later led to Chauvin’s dismissal from the Minneapolis police force. A year later, he was convicted of charges related to Floyd’s death and sentenced to over 22 years in prison.

On Friday, the Associated Press reported that Chauvin had been stabbed by a fellow inmate at the Federal Correctional Institution in Tucson, Arizona. The Bureau of Prisons confirmed only that an inmate had been assaulted at 12:30 p.m. local time and left in serious condition. “Life-saving measures” were performed on the inmate, who was later transported to a hospital for further treatment. The inmate’s current condition remains unknown.

Newsweek reached out to the Bureau of Prisons via email for comment.

Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is seen in his booking photo on April 21, 2021. Jeffrey Epstein is seen in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on September 8, 2004. Right-wing social media users have begun to compare Chauvin to Epstein after the former police officer was stabbed in prison.
Minnesota Department of Corrections/Rick Friedman Photography/Corbis via Getty Images

In reaction to the news, various right-wing voices on X, the platform previously known as Twitter, began circulating a new conspiracy that Chauvin’s reported attack was an intentional move to silence him. In circulating the theory, the users cited a widely debunked claim, once spread by former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, that Chauvin was not responsible for Floyd’s death, but rather he had died from drug-induced conditions. The claim also hinged on the debunked narrative that Floyd’s official autopsy was altered, which it was not.

Newsweek debunked these claims in a fact-check last month. While the autopsy noted that Floyd had some amount of fentanyl and other illicit drugs in his system, they were not found to have contributed to his death. While it also noted that he had not suffered “life threatening injuries,” Floyd’s death was attributed to “cardiopulmonary arrest” from “law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression,” and ultimately deemed a homicide.

“Tucker Carlson on Oct 20th: Derek Chauvin did not murder George Floyd. A month after this newly released toxicology report confirmed Floyd’s overdose death, Derek Chauvin was nearly Epsteined!” an X user going by “Eddie” posted. “Chauvin’s stabbing was also only a few days after [the Supreme Court] denied his appeal request.”

“My God, they gave other prisoners access to Chauvin, after he killed black Jesus? Still think that Epstein didn’t kill himself?” Richard Hanania, president of right-wing think tank Center for Study of Partisanship and Ideology (CPSI), wrote in his own post. “The federal prison system is run by incompetents picked for diversity reasons.”

“They’re trying to Epstein #DerekChauvin because the feds altered the autopsy and they can’t hide it anymore,” user “Salty Texan” wrote. “Derek Chauvin is an innocent man.”

Many of the users spreading the conspiracy have made allusions to the death of Epstein, the convicted sex offender found guilty of running a sex trafficking ring in which he provided underage girls for various high-profile individuals.

Epstein died in prison in July 2019, with the official cause being suicide by hanging. Despite that, numerous conspiracy theories, popular all along the political spectrum, claim that he was actually murdered in an effort to keep him from naming any of his famous clients. While widely accepted as fact by many, the theories have never been proven.

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November 25, 2023
Derek Chauvin, officer convicted of George Floyd’s death, stabbed in prison

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Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted for the 2020 murder of George Floyd, was seriously injured in a stabbing incident at a federal prison in Arizona on Friday.

The assault on Chauvin, occurring at the medium-security Federal Correctional Institution (FCI), Tucson, happened at around 12:30 p.m. local time, a source told The Associated Press. The convicted murderer was stabbed in the prison known for its security lapses and staffing shortages, the AP said, and has become a scene of yet another violent incident involving a notable prisoner.

Newsweek has sought additional information and verification from relevant sources and will update this article as more details become available.

Chauvin’s case drew international attention following the death of Floyd after Chauvin knelt on his neck for over nine minutes. The incident, captured on video, sparked global protests against police brutality and racism.

Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin poses for his booking photo. Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted for the 2020 murder of George Floyd, was seriously injured in a stabbing incident at a federal prison in Arizona on Friday.
Minnesota Department of Corrections via Getty Images

Chauvin, 47, was transferred to FCI Tucson in August 2022 to serve a 21-year federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights, along with a 22 and a half-year state sentence for second-degree murder. His lawyer had previously raised concerns about his safety, resulting in Chauvin being mostly held in solitary confinement in Minnesota for protection.

The Bureau of Prisons confirmed the assault occurred around 12:30 p.m. local time, without revealing the identity of the inmate involved. The statement the AP received detailed that staff performed life-saving measures before the individual was hospitalized for further treatment.

Newsweek has also reached out Chauvin’s lawyer and the FBI for comment and therefore could not verify the severity of the situation.

The stabbing of Chauvin is not an isolated case in the U.S. federal prison system. In July, USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar who was sentenced to decades in prison for abusing his position and sexually assaulting hundreds of young women in his care, was similarly attacked in a federal penitentiary in Florida.

The latest incident at FCI Tucson follows a November 2022 event where an inmate, armed with a firearm that should not have been in his possession, attempted to shoot a visitor, the AP reported Friday. The gun misfired, preventing any injuries.

In addition, the Federal Bureau of Prisons has been under increased scrutiny after a series of high-profile incidents, including Jeffrey Epstein‘s jail suicide in 2019 and Unabomber Ted Kaczynski’s suicide in June, the AP said. The news outlet said an ongoing internal investigation has revealed systemic issues within the Bureau of Prisons, including sexual abuse by staff, chronic violence, and severe staffing shortages affecting emergency responses.

Bureau of Prisons Director Colette Peters, appointed to address the issues, has faced criticism from lawmakers for lack of transparency and slow responses to inquiries, according to the AP. Despite pledges to improve hiring practices and internal investigations, challenges persist within the system.

Uncommon Knowledge

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November 24, 2023
Ex-Officer Derek Chauvin, Convicted In George Floyd’s Killing, Stabbed In Prison, AP Source Says

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Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd, was stabbed by another inmate and seriously injured Friday at a federal prison in Arizona, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.

The attack happened at the Federal Correctional Institution, Tucson, a medium-security prison that has been plagued by security lapses and staffing shortages. The person was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the attack and spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity.

The Bureau of Prisons confirmed that an incarcerated person was assaulted at FCI Tucson at around 12:30 p.m. local time Friday. In a statement, the agency said responding employees contained the incident and performed “life-saving measures” before the inmate, who it did not name, was taken to a hospital for further treatment and evaluation.

No employees were injured and the FBI was notified, the Bureau of Prisons said. Visiting at the facility, which has about 380 inmates, has been suspended.

Messages seeking comment were left with Chauvin’s lawyers and the FBI.

Chauvin’s stabbing is the second high-profile attack on a federal prisoner in the last five months. In July, disgraced sports doctor Larry Nassar was stabbed by a fellow inmate at a federal penitentiary in Florida.

It is also the second major incident at the Tucson federal prison in a little over a year. In November 2022, an inmate at the facility’s low-security prison camp pulled out a gun and attempted to shoot a visitor in the head. The weapon, which the inmate shouldn’t have had, misfired and no one was hurt.

Chauvin, 47, was sent to FCI Tucson from a maximum-security Minnesota state prison in August 2022 to simultaneously serve a 21-year federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights and a 22½-year state sentence for second-degree murder.

Chauvin’s lawyer, Eric Nelson, had advocated for keeping him out of general population and away from other inmates, anticipating he’d be a target. In Minnesota, Chauvin was mainly kept in solitary confinement “largely for his own protection,” Nelson wrote in court papers last year.

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Chauvin’s appeal of his murder conviction. Separately, Chauvin is making a longshot bid to overturn his federal guilty plea, claiming new evidence shows he didn’t cause Floyd’s death.

Floyd, who was Black, died on May 25, 2020, after Chauvin, who is white, pressed a knee on his neck for 9½ minutes on the street outside a convenience store where Floyd was suspected of trying to pass a counterfeit $20 bill.

Bystander video captured Floyd’s fading cries of “I can’t breathe.” His death touched off protests worldwide, some of which turned violent, and forced a national reckoning with police brutality and racism.

Three other former officers who were at the scene received lesser state and federal sentences for their roles in Floyd’s death.

Chauvin’s stabbing comes as the federal Bureau of Prisons has faced increased scrutiny in recent years following wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein’s jail suicide in 2019. It’s another example of the agency’s inability to keep even its highest profile prisoners safe after Nassar’s stabbing and “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski’s suicide at a federal medical center in June.

An ongoing AP investigation has uncovered deep, previously unreported flaws within the Bureau of Prisons, the Justice Department’s largest law enforcement agency with more than 30,000 employees, 158,000 inmates and an annual budget of about $8 billion.

AP reporting has revealed rampant sexual abuse and other criminal conduct by staff, dozens of escapes, chronic violence, deaths and severe staffing shortages that have hampered responses to emergencies, including inmate assaults and suicides.

Bureau of Prisons Director Colette Peters was brought in last year to reform the crisis-plagued agency. She vowed to change archaic hiring practices and bring new transparency, while emphasizing that the agency’s mission is “to make good neighbors, not good inmates.”

Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee in September, Peters touted steps she’d taken to overhaul problematic prisons and beef up internal affairs investigations. This month, she told a House Judiciary subcommittee that hiring had improved and that new hires were outpacing retirements and other departures.

But Peters has also irritated lawmakers who said she reneged on her promise to be candid and open with them. In September, senators scolded her for forcing them to wait more than a year for answers to written questions and for claiming that she couldn’t answer basic questions about agency operations, like how many correctional officers are on staff.

Associated Press writers Amy Forliti in Minneapolis and Michael Balsamo in New York contributed to this report.

Follow Michael Sisak at x.com/mikesisak and send confidential tips by visiting https://www.ap.org/tips/.

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November 24, 2023
Progressive Minnesota US Rep. Ilhan Omar draws prominent primary challenger

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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar got a prominent Democratic primary challenger Sunday when former Minneapolis City Council member Don Samuels announced he’ll try once again to unseat her after coming close in 2022.

Omar, a charter member of “the squad” of progressive House Democrats, won reelection twice despite making comments in her first term that were widely criticized for invoking antisemitic tropes and suggesting Jewish Americans have divided loyalties. But Omar — a Somali American and Muslim — has come under renewed fire for condemning the Israeli government’s handling of its war against Hamas.

“Our congresswoman has a predilection to divisiveness and conflict,” Samuels said in an interview with The Associated Press ahead of his official announcement Sunday morning on WCCO Radio.

The Jamaican-born Samuels still maintains that his narrow primary loss in 2022 showed Omar was beatable, and that he could have won if they had competed later in the general election, where Omar won 74% of the vote over a little-known Republican.

The big issue in 2022 was the future of policing in the city where George Floyd was murdered in 2020 by a former Minneapolis police officer, which touched off protests around the world and riots in Minnesota. Omar was among the progressives who slammed former President Barack Obama for criticizing the “defund the police” movement as just a “snappy slogan.”

“It’s not a slogan but a policy demand,” she posted on Twitter, now known as X.

In contrast, the centrist Samuels helped lead the opposition that defeated a proposal on the city ballot in 2021 that arose from the “defund” movement and would have replaced the police force with a revamped public safety agency. Samuels thinks safety will be a top issue again.

“The long tails of the George Floyd and COVID issues continue, with empty storefronts and empty strip malls because people don’t want to invest anymore. They don’t think it’s safe,” Samuels said.

Jeremy Slevin, a spokesman for Omar, did not immediately return a phone message left Sunday seeking comment on Samuels’ announcement.

The war in the Middle East has already divided Democrats and upended the dynamics of some House primaries. Omar has been critical of Hamas for attacking Israel and taking hostages — but even more so of Israel’s military response. Her focus has been the plight of civilians in the Gaza Strip. She has also condemned the surge of intimidation and violence against both Muslim and Jewish targets in the U.S.

It remains to be seen how potent an issue the war will be in an overwhelmingly Democratic district that includes Minneapolis and some suburbs. The district also has a large Somali Muslim population. And it includes St. Louis Park, which historically has been a center of Jewish life in Minnesota.

Samuels said he believes the war will be a big concern. He criticized Omar for voting against placing sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine but supporting sanctions against Israel, and for boycotting Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s speech to Congress in July.

“She has frightened the Jewish community,” Samuels said, adding that the community “understands that there is a latent and lurking antisemitic sentiment that always needs discouragement, and always in times of national crisis raises its ugly head.”

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee has been actively trying to recruit a credible challenger to Omar. That drew pushback from a strong supporter of Israel, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who issued a public show of support for Omar this summer. A super PAC affiliated with AIPAC spent about $350,000 against Omar in 2022. But Samuels said AIPAC didn’t try to recruit him.

Omar’s fellow House Democrats have portrayed her as a serious legislator who in the past four years has earned admiration for giving voice to marginalized groups often forgotten on Capitol Hill.

But Samuels said people sometimes “mistake her oppositional nature and divisive nature for someone who’s speaking truth to power when in fact she is misusing her power, or not using her power, to make change.”

The other declared candidates are relatively unknown. One Democrat is Sarah Gad, a Minneapolis attorney and daughter of Egyptian immigrants who is Muslim. The other is military veteran Tim Peterson. The only Republican currently running is Dalia Al-Aqidi, an Iraqi American journalist and self-described secular Muslim who calls Omar pro-Hamas and a terrorist sympathizer.

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November 12, 2023
Controversial Police Encounters Fast Facts | CNN

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CNN
—

Here’s a look at controversial police encounters that have prompted protests over the past three decades. This select list includes cases in which police officers were charged or a grand jury was convened.

March 3, 1991 – LAPD officers beat motorist Rodney King after he leads police on a high-speed chase through Los Angeles County. George Holliday videotapes the beating from his apartment balcony. The video shows police hitting King more than 50 times with their batons. Over 20 officers are present at the scene, mostly from the LAPD. King suffers 11 fractures and other injuries.

March 15, 1991 – A Los Angeles grand jury indicts Sergeant Stacey Koon and Officers Laurence Michael Powell, Timothy Wind and Theodore Briseno in connection with the beating.

May 10, 1991 – A grand jury refuses to indict 17 officers who stood by at the King beating and did nothing.

April 29, 1992 – The four LAPD officers are acquitted. Riots break out at the intersection of Florence and Normandie in South Central Los Angeles. Governor Pete Wilson declares a state of emergency and calls in the National Guard. Riots in the next few days leave more than 50 people dead and cause nearly $1 billion in property damage.

May 1, 1992 – King makes an emotional plea for calm, “People, I just want to say, can we all get along? Can we get along? Can we stop making it horrible for the older people and the kids?”

August 4, 1992 – A federal grand jury returns indictments against Koon, Powell, Wind, and Briseno on the charge of violating King’s civil rights.

April 17, 1993 – Koon and Powell are convicted for violating King’s civil rights. Wind and Briseno are found not guilty. No disturbances follow the verdict. On August 4, both Koon and Powell are sentenced to 30 months in prison. Powell is found guilty of violating King’s constitutional right to be free from an arrest made with “unreasonable force.” Koon, the ranking officer, is convicted of permitting the civil rights violation to occur.

April 19, 1994 – King is awarded $3.8 million in compensatory damages in a civil lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles. King had demanded $56 million, or $1 million for every blow struck by the officers.

June 1, 1994 – In a civil trial against the police officers, a jury awards King $0 in punitive damages. He had asked for $15 million.

June 17, 2012 – King is found dead in his swimming pool.

November 5, 1992 – Two white police officers approach Malice Wayne Green, a 35-year-old black motorist, after he parks outside a suspected drug den. Witnesses say the police strike the unarmed man in the head repeatedly with heavy flashlights. The officers claim they feared Green was trying to reach for one of their weapons. Green dies of his injuries later that night.

November 16, 1992 – Two officers, Larry Nevers and Walter Budzyn, are charged with second-degree murder. Sgt. Freddie Douglas, a supervisor who arrived on the scene after a call for backup, is charged with involuntary manslaughter and willful neglect of duty. These charges are later dismissed. Another officer, Robert Lessnau, is charged with assault with intent to do great bodily harm.

November 18, 1992 – The Detroit Free Press reports that toxicology tests revealed alcohol and a small amount of cocaine in Green’s system. A medical examiner later states that Green’s head injuries, combined with the cocaine and alcohol in his system, led to his death.

December 1992 – The Detroit police chief fires the four officers.

August 23, 1993 – Nevers and Budzyn are convicted of murder after a 45-day trial. Lessnau is acquitted. Nevers sentence is 12-25 years, while Budzyn’s sentence is 8-18 years.

1997-1998 – The Michigan Supreme Court orders a retrial for Budzyn due to possible jury bias. During the second trial, a jury convicts Budzyn of a less serious charge, involuntary manslaughter, and he is released with time served.

2000-2001 – A jury finds Nevers guilty of involuntary manslaughter after a second trial. He is released from prison in 2001.

August 9, 1997 – Abner Louima, a 33-year-old Haitian immigrant, is arrested for interfering with officers trying to break up a fight in front of the Club Rendez-vous nightclub in Brooklyn. Louima alleges, while handcuffed, police officers lead him to the precinct bathroom and sodomized him with a plunger or broomstick.

August 15, 1997 – Police officers Justin Volpe and Charles Schwarz are charged with aggravated sexual abuse and first-degree assault.

August 16, 1997 – Thousands of angry protesters gather outside Brooklyn’s 70th Precinct to demonstrate against what they say is a long-standing problem of police brutality against minorities.

August 18, 1997 – Two more officers, Thomas Wiese and Thomas Bruder, are charged with assault and criminal possession of a weapon.

February 26, 1998 – Volpe, Bruder, Schwarz and Wiese are indicted on federal civil rights charges. A fifth officer, Michael Bellomo, is accused of helping the others cover up the alleged beating, as well as an alleged assault on another Haitian immigrant, Patrick Antoine, the same night.

May 1999 – Volpe pleads guilty to beating and sodomizing Louima. He is later sentenced to 30 years in prison.

June 8, 1999 – Schwarz is convicted of beating Louima, then holding him down while he was being tortured. Wiese, Bruder, and Bellomo are acquitted. Schwarz is later sentenced to 15 and a half years in prison for perjury.

March 6, 2000 – In a second trial, Schwarz, Wiese, and Bruder are convicted of conspiring to obstruct justice by covering up the attack. On February 28, 2002, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals overturns their convictions.

July 12, 2001 – Louima receives $8.75 million in a settlement agreement with the City of New York and the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association.

September 2002 – Schwarz pleads guilty to perjury and is sentenced to five years in prison. He had been scheduled to face a new trial for civil rights violations but agreed to a deal.

February 4, 1999 – Amadou Diallo, 22, a street vendor from West Africa, is confronted outside his home in the Bronx by four NYPD officers who are searching the neighborhood for a rapist. When Diallo reaches for his wallet, the officers open fire, reportedly fearing he was pulling out a gun. They fire 41 times and hit him 19 times, killing him.

March 24, 1999 – More than 200 protestors are arrested outside NYPD headquarters. For weeks, activists have gathered to protest the use of force by NYPD officers.

March 25, 1999 – A Bronx grand jury votes to indict the four officers – Sean Carroll, Edward McMellon, Kenneth Boss and Richard Murphy – for second-degree murder. On February 25, 2000, they are acquitted.

January 2001 – The US Justice Department announces it will not pursue federal civil rights charges against the officers.

January 2004 – Diallo’s family receives $3 million in a wrongful death lawsuit.

September 4, 2005 – Six days after Hurricane Katrina devastates the area, New Orleans police officers receive a radio call that two officers are down under the Danziger vertical-lift bridge. According to the officers, people are shooting at them and they have returned fire.

– Brothers Ronald and Lance Madison, along with four members of the Bartholomew family, are shot by police officers. Ronald Madison, 40, who is intellectually disabled, and James Brisette, 17 (some sources say 19), are fatally wounded.

December 28, 2006 – Police Sgts. Kenneth Bowen and Robert Gisevius and officers Robert Faulcon and Anthony Villavaso are charged with first-degree murder. Officers Robert Barrios, Michael Hunter and Ignatius Hills are charged with attempted murder.

August 2008 – State charges against the officers are thrown out.

July 12, 2010 – Four officers are indicted on federal charges of murdering Brissette: Bowen, Gisevius, Faulcon and Villavaso. Faulcon is also charged with Madison’s murder. Bowen, Gisevius, Faulcon and Villavaso, along with Arthur Kaufman and Gerard Dugue are charged with covering up the shooting.

April 8, 2010 – Hunter pleads guilty in federal court of covering up the police shooting. In December, he is sentenced to eight years in prison.

August 5, 2011 – The jury finds five officers guilty of civil rights and obstruction charges: Bowen, Gisevius, Faulcon, Villavaso and Kaufman.

October 5, 2011 – Hills receives a six and a half year sentence for his role in the shooting.

April 4, 2012 – A federal judge sentences five officers to prison terms ranging from six to 65 years for the shootings of unarmed civilians. Faulcon receives 65 years. Bowen and Gisevius both receive 40 years. Villavaso receives 38 years. Kaufman, who was involved in the cover up, receives six years.

March 2013 – After a January 2012 mistrial, Dugue’s trial is delayed indefinitely.

September 17, 2013 – Bowen, Gisevius, Faulcon, Villavaso and Kaufman are awarded a new trial.

April 20, 2016 – Bowen, Gisevius, Faulcon, Villavaso and Kaufman plead guilty in exchange for reduced sentences.

November 25, 2006 – Sean Bell, 23, is fatally shot by NYPD officers outside a Queens bar the night before his wedding. Two of his companions, Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield, are wounded. Officers reportedly fired 50 times at the men.

March 2007 – Three of the five officers involved in the shooting are indicted: Detectives Gescard F. Isnora and Michael Oliver are charged with manslaughter, and Michael Oliver is charged with reckless endangerment. On April 25, 2008, the three officers are acquitted of all charges.

July 27, 2010 – New York City settles a lawsuit for more than $7 million filed by Bell’s family and two of his friends.

2009 – Oakland, California – Oscar Grant

January 1, 2009 – San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) officer Johannes Mehserle shoots Oscar Grant, an unarmed 22-year-old, in the back while he is lying face down on a platform at the Fruitvale BART station in Oakland.

January 7, 2009 – Footage from station KTVU shows demonstrators vandalizing businesses and assaulting police in Oakland during a protest. About 105 people are arrested. Some protesters lie on their stomachs, saying they are showing solidarity with Grant, who was shot in the back.

January 27, 2010 – The mother of Grant’s young daughter receives a $1.5 million settlement from her lawsuit against BART.

July 8, 2010 – A jury finds Mehserle guilty of involuntary manslaughter. At the trial, Mehserle says that he intended to draw and fire his Taser rather than his gun. On November 5, 2010, Mehserle is sentenced to two years in prison. Outrage over the light sentence leads to a night of violent protests.

June 2011 – Mehserle is released from prison.

July 12, 2013 – The movie, “Fruitvale Station” opens in limited release. It dramatizes the final hours of Grant’s life.

July 5, 2011 – Fullerton police officers respond to a call about a homeless man looking into car windows and pulling on car handles. Surveillance camera footage shows Kelly Thomas being beaten and stunned with a Taser by police. Thomas, who was mentally ill, dies five days later in the hospital. When the surveillance video of Thomas’s beating is released in May 2012, it sparks a nationwide outcry.

May 9, 2012 – Officer Manuel Ramos is charged with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter, and Cpl. Jay Patrick Cicinelli is charged with involuntary manslaughter and felony use of excessive force. On January 13, 2014, a jury acquits Ramos and Cicinelli.

May 16, 2012 – The City of Fullerton awards $1 million to Thomas’ mother, Cathy Thomas.

September 28, 2012 – A third police officer, Joseph Wolfe, is charged with involuntary manslaughter and excessive force in connection with Thomas’ death. The charges are later dropped.

July 17, 2014 – Eric Garner, 43, dies after Officer Daniel Pantaleo uses a department-banned chokehold on him during an arrest for allegedly selling cigarettes illegally. Garner dies later that day.

August 1, 2014 – The New York City Medical Examiner rules Garner’s death a homicide.

December 3, 2014 – A grand jury decides not to indict Pantaleo. Protests are held in New York, Washington, Philadelphia and Oakland, California. Demonstrators chant Garner’s last words, “I can’t breathe!”

July 14, 2015 – New York settles with Garner’s estate for $5.9 million.

August 19, 2019 – The NYPD announces Pantaleo has been fired and will not receive his pension.

August 21, 2019 – Pantaleo’s supervisor, Sgt. Kizzy Adonis, pleads no contest to a disciplinary charge of failure to supervise, and must forfeit the monetary value of 20 vacation days.

August 9, 2014 – During a struggle, a police officer fatally shoots Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old.

August 9-10, 2014 – Approximately 1,000 demonstrators protest Brown’s death. The Ferguson-area protest turns violent and police begin using tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd. Black Lives Matter, a protest movement that grew out of the Trayvon Martin shooting in 2012, grows in visibility during the Ferguson demonstrations.

August 15, 2014 – Police identify the officer as 28-year-old Darren Wilson. Wilson is put on paid administrative leave after the incident.

August 18, 2014 – Governor Jay Nixon calls in the Missouri National Guard to protect the police command center.

November 24, 2014 – A grand jury does not indict Wilson for Brown’s shooting. Documents show that Wilson fired his gun 12 times. Protests erupt nationwide after the hearing.

November 29, 2014 – Wilson resigns from the Ferguson police force.

March 11, 2015 – Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson resigns a week after a scathing Justice Department report slams his department.

August 9-10, 2015 – The anniversary observations of Brown’s death are largely peaceful during the day. After dark, shots are fired, businesses are vandalized and there are tense standoffs between officers and protestors, according to police. The next day, a state of emergency is declared and fifty-six people are arrested during a demonstration at a St. Louis courthouse.

June 20, 2017 – A settlement is reached in the Brown family wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Ferguson. While the details of the settlement are not disclosed to the public, US Federal Judge Richard Webber calls the settlement, “fair and reasonable compensation.”

October 20, 2014 – Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke shoots and kills Laquan McDonald, 17. Van Dyke says he fired in self-defense after McDonald lunged at him with a knife, but dashcam video shows McDonald walking away from police. Later, an autopsy shows McDonald was shot 16 times.

April 15, 2015 – The city agrees to pay $5 million to McDonald’s family.

November 19, 2015 – A judge in Chicago orders the city to release the police dashcam video that shows the shooting. For months, the city had fought attempts to have the video released to the public, saying it could jeopardize any ongoing investigation. The decision is the result of a Freedom of Information Act request by freelance journalist, Brandon Smith.

November 24, 2015 – Van Dyke is charged with first-degree murder.

December 1, 2015 – Mayor Rahm Emanuel announces he has asked for the resignation of Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy.

August 30, 2016 – Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson files administrative charges against six officers involved in the shooting. Five officers will have their cases heard by the Chicago Police Board, which will rule if the officers will be terminated. The sixth officer charged has resigned.

March 2017 – Van Dyke is indicted on 16 additional counts of aggravated battery with a firearm.

June 27, 2017 – Three officers are indicted on felony conspiracy, official misconduct and obstruction of justice charges for allegedly lying to investigators.

October 5, 2018 – Van Dyke is found guilty of second-degree murder and of 16 counts of aggravated battery with a firearm, but not guilty of official misconduct. Though he was originally charged with first-degree murder, jurors were instructed on October 4 that they could consider second-degree murder. He is sentenced to six years and nine months in prison. On February 3, 2022, Van Dyke is released early from prison.

January 17, 2019 – Cook County Associate Judge Domenica Stephenson finds three Chicago police officers not guilty of covering up details in the 2014 killing of McDonald. Stephenson’s ruling came more than a month after the officers’ five-day bench trial ended.

July 18, 2019 – The Chicago Police Board announces that four Chicago police officers, Sgt. Stephen Franko, Officer Janet Mondragon, Officer Daphne Sebastian and Officer Ricardo Viramontes, have been fired for covering up the fatal shooting of McDonald.

October 9, 2019 – Inspector General Joseph Ferguson releases a report detailing a cover-up involving 16 officers and supervisors.

April 4, 2015 – North Charleston police officer Michael Slager fatally shoots Walter Scott, 50, an unarmed motorist stopped for a broken brake light. Slager says he feared for his life after Scott grabbed his Taser.

April 7, 2015 – Cellphone video of the incident is released. It shows Scott running away and Slager shooting him in the back. Slager is charged with first-degree murder.

October 8, 2015 – The North Charleston City Council approves a $6.5 million settlement with the family of Walter Scott.

May 11, 2016 – A federal grand jury indicts Slager for misleading investigators and violating the civil rights of Walter Scott.

December 5, 2016 – After three days of deliberations, the jury is unable to reach a verdict and the judge declares a mistrial in the case. The prosecutor says that the state will try Slager again.

May 2, 2017 – Slager pleads guilty to a federal charge of using excessive force. State murder charges against Slager – as well as two other federal charges – will be dismissed as part of a plea deal. On December 7, 2017, Slager is sentenced to 20 years in federal prison.

April 12, 2015 – Police arrest 25-year-old Freddie Gray on a weapons charge after he is found with a knife in his pocket. Witness video contains audio of Gray screaming as officers carry him to the prisoner transport van. After arriving at the police station, Gray is transferred to a trauma clinic with a severe spinal injury. He falls into a coma and dies one week later.

April 21, 2015 – The names of six officers involved in the arrest are released. Lt. Brian Rice, 41, Officer Caesar Goodson, 45, Sgt. Alicia White, 30, Officer William Porter, 25, Officer Garrett Miller, 26, and Officer Edward Nero, 29, are all suspended.

April 24, 2015 – Baltimore police acknowledge Gray did not get timely medical care after his arrest and was not buckled into a seat belt while being transported in the police van.

April 27, 2015 – Protests turn into riots on the day of Gray’s funeral. At least 20 officers are injured as police and protesters clash on the streets. Gov. Larry Hogan’s office declares a state of emergency and activates the National Guard to address the unrest.

May 21, 2015 – A Baltimore grand jury indicts the six officers involved in the arrest of Freddie Gray. The officers face a range of charges from involuntary manslaughter to reckless endangerment. Goodson, the driver of the transport van, will face the most severe charge: second-degree depraved-heart murder.

September 10, 2015 – Judge Barry Williams denies the defendants’ motion to move their trials out of Baltimore, a day after officials approve a $6.4 million deal to settle all civil claims tied to Gray’s death.

December 16, 2015 – The judge declares a mistrial in Porter’s case after jurors say they are deadlocked.

May 23, 2016 – Nero is found not guilty.

June 23, 2016 – Goodson is acquitted of all charges.

July 18, 2016 – Rice, the highest-ranking officer to stand trial, is found not guilty on all charges.

July 27, 2016 – Prosecutors drop charges against the three remaining officers awaiting trial in connection with Gray’s death.

August 10, 2016 – A Justice Department investigation finds that the Baltimore Police Department engages in unconstitutional practices that lead to disproportionate rates of stops, searches and arrests of African-Americans. The report also finds excessive use of force against juveniles and people with mental health disabilities.

January 12, 2017 – The city of Baltimore agrees to a consent decree with sweeping reforms proposed by the Justice Department.

2016 – Falcon Heights, Minnesota – Philando Castile

July 6, 2016 – Police officer Jeronimo Yanez shoots and kills Philando Castile during a traffic stop in Falcon Heights. Castile’s girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, live-streams the aftermath of the confrontation, and says Castile was reaching for his identification when he was shot.

November 16, 2016 – Yanez is charged with second-degree manslaughter and two felony counts of dangerous discharge of a firearm.

December 15, 2016 – The Justice Department announces it will conduct a review of the St. Anthony Police Department, which services Falcon heights and two other towns.

February 27, 2017 – Yanez pleads not guilty.

June 16, 2017 – A jury finds Yanez not guilty on all counts. The city says it will offer Yanez a voluntary separation agreement from the police department.

June 26, 2017 – It is announced that the family of Castile has reached a $3 million settlement with the city of St. Anthony, Minnesota.

November 29, 2017 – The city of St. Anthony announces that Reynolds has settled with two cities for $800,000. St. Anthony will pay $675,000 of the settlement, while an insurance trust will pay $125,000 on behalf of Roseville.

September 16, 2016 – Tulsa Police Officer Betty Shelby fatally shoots Terence Crutcher, a 40-year-old unarmed black man, after his car is found abandoned in the middle of the road.

September 19, 2016 – The Tulsa Police Department releases video of the incident captured by a police helicopter, showing Shelby and other officers at the scene. At a news conference, the police chief tells reporters Crutcher was unarmed. Both the US Department of Justice and state authorities launch investigations into the officer-involved shooting.

September 22, 2016 – Officer Shelby is charged with felony first-degree manslaughter.

April 2, 2017 – During an interview on “60 Minutes,” Shelby says race was not a factor in her decision to open fire, and Crutcher “caused” his death when he ignored her commands, reaching into his vehicle to retrieve what she believed was a gun. “I saw a threat and I used the force I felt necessary to stop a threat.”

May 17, 2017 – Shelby is acquitted.

July 14, 2017 – Shelby announces she will resign from the Tulsa Police Department in August. On August 10, she joins the Rogers County, Oklahoma, Sheriff’s Office as a reserve deputy.

October 25, 2017 – A Tulsa County District Court judge grants Shelby’s petition to have her record expunged.

June 19, 2018 – Antwon Rose II, an unarmed 17-year-old, is shot and killed by police officer Michael Rosfeld in East Pittsburgh. Rose had been a passenger in a car that was stopped by police because it matched the description of a car that was involved in an earlier shooting. Rose and another passenger ran from the vehicle, and Rosfeld opened fire, striking Rose three times, Allegheny County police says.

June 27, 2018 – The Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, district attorney charges Rosfeld with criminal homicide.

March 22, 2019 – A jury finds Rosfeld not guilty on all counts.

October 28, 2019 – A $2 million settlement is finalized in a wrongful death lawsuit filed against Rosfeld and East Pittsburgh.

September 1, 2018 – During a traffic stop, O’Shae Terry is gunned down by an Arlington police officer. Terry, 24, was pulled over for having an expired temporary tag on his car. During the stop, officers reportedly smelled marijuana in the vehicle. Police video from the scene shows officer Bau Tran firing into the car as Terry tries to drive away. Investigators later locate a concealed firearm, marijuana and ecstasy pills in the vehicle.

October 19, 2018 – The Arlington Police Department releases information about a criminal investigation into the incident. According to the release, Tran declined to provide detectives with a statement and the matter is pending with the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office. Tran is still employed by the police department but is working on restricted duty status, according to the news release.

May 1, 2019 – A grand jury issues an indictment charging Tran with criminally negligent homicide. On May 17, 2019, the Arlington Police Department announces Tran has been fired.

March 13, 2020 – Louisville Metro Police officers fatally shoot Taylor, a 26-year-old EMT, after they forcibly enter her apartment while executing a late-night, no-knock warrant in a narcotics investigation. Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker III, is also in the apartment and fires one shot at who he believes are intruders. Taylor is shot at least eight times and Walker is charged with attempted murder of a police officer and first-degree assault. The charges are later dismissed.

April 27, 2020 – Taylor’s family files a wrongful death lawsuit. In the lawsuit, Taylor’s mother says the officers should have called off their search because the suspect they sought had already been arrested.

May 21, 2020 – The FBI opens an investigation into Taylor’s death.

June 11, 2020 – The Louisville, Kentucky, metro council unanimously votes to pass an ordinance called “Breonna’s Law,” banning no-knock search warrants.

August 27, 2020 – Jamarcus Glover, Taylor’s ex-boyfriend and the focus of the Louisville police narcotics investigation that led officers to execute the warrant on Taylor’s home, is arrested on drug charges. The day before his arrest, Glover told a local Kentucky newspaper Taylor was not involved in any alleged drug trade.

September 1, 2020 – Walker files a $10.5 million lawsuit against the Louisville Metro Police Department. Walker claims he was maliciously prosecuted for firing a single bullet with his licensed firearm at “assailants” who “violently broke down the door.” In December 2022, Walker reaches a $2 million settlement with the city of Louisville.

September 15, 2020 – The city of Louisville agrees to pay $12 million to Taylor’s family and institute sweeping police reforms in a settlement of the family’s wrongful death lawsuit.

September 23, 2020 – Det. Brett Hankison is indicted by a grand jury on three counts of wanton endangerment in the first degree. The other two officers involved in the shooting are not indicted. On March 3, 2022, Hankison is acquitted.

April 26, 2021 – Attorney General Merrick Garland announces a Justice Department investigation into the practices of the Louisville Police Department.

August 4, 2022 – Garland announces four current and former Louisville police officers involved in the raid on Taylor’s home were arrested and charged with civil rights violations, unlawful conspiracies, unconstitutional use of force and obstruction. On August 23, one of the officers, Kelly Goodlett, pleads guilty.

May 25, 2020 – George Floyd, 46, dies after pleading for help as Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneels on Floyd’s neck to pin him – unarmed and handcuffed – to the ground. Floyd had been arrested for allegedly using a counterfeit bill at a convenience store.

May 26, 2020 – It is announced that four Minneapolis police officers have been fired for their involvement in the death of Floyd.

May 27, 2020 – Gov. Tim Walz signs an executive order activating the Minnesota National Guard after protests and demonstrations erupt throughout Minneapolis and St. Paul.

May 27, 2020 – Surveillance video from outside a Minneapolis restaurant is released and appears to contradict police claims that Floyd resisted arrest before an officer knelt on his neck.

May 28-29, 2020 – Several buildings are damaged and the Minneapolis police department’s Third Precinct is set ablaze during protests.

May 29, 2020 – Chauvin is arrested and charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter, according to Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman.

June 3, 2020 – Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announces charges of aiding and abetting second-degree murder for the three previously uncharged officers at the scene of the incident. According to court documents, Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng helped restrain Floyd, while officer Tou Thao stood near the others. Chauvin’s charge is upgraded from third- to second-degree murder.

October 21, 2020 – Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill drops the third-degree murder charge against Chauvin, but he still faces the higher charge of second-degree unintentional murder and second-degree manslaughter. On March 11, 2021, Judge Cahill reinstates the third-degree murder charge due to an appeals court ruling.

March 12, 2021 – The Minneapolis city council unanimously votes to approve a $27 million settlement with Floyd’s family.

April 20, 2021 – The jury finds Chauvin guilty on all three counts. He is sentenced to 22 and a half years.

May 7, 2021 – A federal grand jury indicts the four former Minneapolis police officers in connection with Floyd’s death, alleging the officers violated Floyd’s constitutional rights.

December 15, 2021 – Chauvin pleads guilty in federal court to two civil rights violations, one related to Floyd’s death, plus another case. Prosecutors request that he be sentenced to 25 years in prison to be served concurrently with his current sentence.

February 24, 2022 – Lane, Kueng and Thao are found guilty of depriving Floyd of his civil rights by showing deliberate indifference to his medical needs. The jurors also find Thao and Kueng guilty of an additional charge for failing to intervene to stop Chauvin. Lane, who did not face the extra charge, had testified that he asked Chauvin twice to reposition Floyd while restraining him but was denied both times.

May 4, 2022 – A federal judge accepts Chauvin’s plea deal and will sentence him to 20 to 25 years in prison. Based on the plea filed, the sentence will be served concurrently with the 22.5-year sentence tied to his murder conviction at the state level. On July 7, Chauvin is sentenced to 21 years in prison.

May 18, 2022 – Thomas Lane pleads guilty to second-degree manslaughter as part of a plea deal dismissing his murder charge. State and defense attorneys jointly recommend to the court Lane be sentenced to 36 months.

July 27, 2022 – Kueng and Thao are sentenced to three years and three and a half years in federal prison, respectively.

September 21, 2022 – Lane is sentenced to three years in prison on a state charge of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter in Floyd’s death.

October 24, 2022 – On the day his state trial is set to begin on charges of aiding and abetting in George Floyd’s killing, Kueng pleads guilty.

December 3, 2022 – Kueng is sentenced to 3.5 years in prison for his role in the killing of Floyd.

May 1, 2023 – A Minnesota judge finds Thao guilty of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter, according to court documents. He is sentenced to four years and nine months in prison.

June 12, 2020 – Rayshard Brooks, 27, is shot and killed by Atlanta police officer Garrett Rolfe outside a Wendy’s restaurant after failing a sobriety test, fighting with two officers, taking a Taser from one and running away.

June 13, 2020 – Rolfe is terminated from the Atlanta Police Department, according to an Atlanta police spokesperson. A second officer involved is placed on administrative leave.

June 14, 2020 – According to a release from the Fulton County, Georgia, Medical Examiner’s Office, Brooks died from a gunshot wound to the back. The manner of death is listed as homicide.

June 17, 2020 – Fulton County’s district attorney announces felony murder charges against Rolfe. Another officer, Devin Brosnan, is facing an aggravated assault charge for standing or stepping on Brooks’ shoulder while he was lying on the ground. On August 23, 2022, a Georgia special prosecutor announces the charges will be dismissed, saying the officers acted reasonably in response to a deadly threat. Both officers remain on administrative leave with the Atlanta Police Department and will undergo recertification and training, the department said in a statement.

May 5, 2021 – The Atlanta Civil Service Board rules that Rolfe was wrongfully terminated.

November 21, 2022 – The family of Brooks reaches a $1 million settlement with the city of Atlanta, according to Ryan Julison, a spokesperson for Stewart Miller Simmons Trial Attorneys, the law firm representing Brooks’ family.

April 11, 2021 – Daunte Wright, 20, is shot and killed by Brooklyn Center police officer Kimberly Potter following a routine traffic stop for an expired tag.

April 12, 2021 – During a press conference, Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon announces Potter accidentally drew a handgun instead of a Taser. According to Gannon, “this was an accidental discharge, that resulted in a tragic death of Mr. Wright.” Potter is placed on administrative leave. According to the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office, Wright’s death has been ruled a homicide.

April 13, 2021 – Gannon submits his resignation. CNN is told Potter has also submitted a letter of resignation.

April 14, 2021 – Potter is arrested and charged with second degree manslaughter. Washington County Attorney Pete Orput issues a news release which includes a summary of the criminal complaint filed against Potter. According to the release, Potter shot Wright with a Glock handgun holstered on her right side, after saying she would tase Wright. Later, the state amends the complaint against Potter, adding an additional charge of manslaughter in the first degree.

December 23, 2021 – Potter is found guilty of first and second-degree manslaughter. On February 18, 2022, she is sentenced to two years in prison. In April 2023, Potter is released from prison after serving 16 months.

June 21, 2022 – The city of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, agrees to pay $3.25 million to the family of Wright. The sum is part of a settlement deal the family struck with the city, which also agreed to make changes in its policing policies and training, the Wright family legal team said in a news release.

2022 – Grand Rapids, Michigan – Patrick Lyoya

April 4, 2022 – Patrick Lyoya, 26-year-old Black man, is shot and killed by a police officer following a traffic stop.

April 13, 2022 – Grand Rapids police release video from police body camera, the police unit’s dashcam, a cell phone and a home surveillance system, which show the police officer’s encounter with Lyoya, including two clips showing the fatal shot. Lyoya was pulled over for an allegedly unregistered license plate when he got out of the car and ran. He resisted the officer’s attempt to arrest him and was shot while struggling with the officer on the ground.

April 19, 2022 – An autopsy commissioned by Lyoya’s family shows the 26-year-old was shot in the back of the head following the April 4 encounter with a Grand Rapids police officer, attorneys representing the family announce. The officer has not been publicly identified.

April 21, 2022 – Michigan state officials ask the US Department of Justice to launch a “pattern-or-practice” investigation into the Grand Rapids Police Department after the death of Lyoya.

April 25, 2022 – The chief of Grand Rapids police identifies Christopher Schurr as the officer who fatally shot Lyoya.

June 9 ,2022 – Schurr is charged with one count of second-degree murder in the death of Lyoya. Benjamin Crump. the Lyoya family attorney says in a statement, “we are encouraged by attorney Christopher Becker’s decision to charge Schurr for the brutal killing of Patrick Lyoya, which we all witnessed when the video footage was released to the public.” On June 10, 2022, Schurr pleads not guilty.

January 7, 2023 – Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, is hospitalized following a traffic stop that lead to a violent arrest. Nichols dies three days later from injuries sustained, according to police.

January 15, 2023 – The Memphis Police Department announces they immediately launched an investigation into the action of officers involved in the arrest of Nichols.

January 18, 2023 – The Department of Justice says a civil rights investigation has been opened into the death of Nichols.

January 20, 2023 – The five officers are named and fired: Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith.

January 23, 2023 – Nichols’ family and their attorneys view police video of the arrest.

January 26, 2023 – A grand jury indicts the five police officers. They are each charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, two charges of aggravated kidnapping, two charges of official misconduct and one charge of official oppression, according to both Shelby County criminal court and Shelby County jail records.

January 27, 2023 – The city of Memphis releases body camera and surveillance video of the the traffic stop and beating that led to the Nichols’ death.

January 30, 2023 – Memphis police say two additional officers have been placed on leave. Only one officer is identified, Preston Hemphill. Additionally, the Memphis Fire Department announces three employees have been fired over their response to the incident: emergency medical technicians Robert Long and JaMichael Sandridge and Lt. Michelle Whitaker.

May 4, 2023 – The Shelby County medical examiner’s report shows that Nichols died from blunt force trauma to the head. His death has been ruled a homicide.

September 12, 2023 – The five police officers involved are indicted by a federal grand jury on several charges including deprivation of rights.

November 2, 2023 – Desmond Mills Jr., one of the five former Memphis police officers accused in the death of Nichols, pleads guilty to federal charges and agrees to plead guilty to related state charges as part of a plea deal with prosecutors.

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November 8, 2023
‘Liberty, equality, fraternity’ for all? New riots make France confront an old problem

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PARIS (AP) — “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity”: The lofty ideals to which France has long aspired are embossed on coins and carved above school doors across the land. Yet they are the polar opposite of what some French people who are Black or brown saw in a shocking video of a police officer shooting and killing a 17-year-old delivery driver of north African descent during a traffic stop.

That kid, some said to themselves, could have been me — or my children, or my friends. Within hours, the first fires of anger and revenge were lighting up the night skies of Nanterre, the Paris suburb where the teenager, Nahel, was declared dead at 9:15 a.m. last Tuesday. His left arm and chest had been pierced from left to right by a single shot fired before the yellow Mercedes he was driving then slammed into barriers on Nelson Mandela Square.

From the town on the fringe of the French capital’s high-rise business district, with its disadvantaged housing projects, glaring wealth gaps, and melting-pot mix of races and cultural influences imported from France’s former colonies, the flames of fury quickly spread.

Maritime nations have been finalizing a plan Thursday to slash emissions from the shipping industry to net zero by close to 2050 but experts warn the deal falls well short of what’s needed to prevent climate catastrophe.

An ombudsman office in Haiti has denounced what it called the “unacceptable slowness” of the investigation into the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse nearly two years after he was killed.

Pope Francis will travel to the periphery of Roman Catholicism this summer becoming the first pontiff to visit Mongolia.

Scientists say global heat that inched into worrisome new territory this week is a clear example of how pollutants released by humans are warming their environment.

More than 200 cities and towns reported arson attacks on public buildings, vehicle fires, clashes with police, looting and other mayhem in six nights of unrest. The violence was nationwide — from blue-collar ports on France’s northern coast to southern towns overlooking the Pyrenees, from de-industrialized former mining basins to Nantes and La Rochelle on the western Atlantic coast, once hearts of the French slave trade.

After more than 3,400 arrests and signs that the violence is now abating, France is once again facing a reckoning — as it did after previous riots in mixed-race, disadvantaged neighborhoods in the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2010s.

And the uncomfortable central question remains the same: What is France doing wrong that prevents chunks of its population, particularly among non-whites, from being able to buy into its promise of equality and fraternity for all?

THE PROBLEMS ARE BOTH OLD AND NEW

Among the factors being blamed and hotly disputed are problems both old and new: racism in police ranks and French society more broadly, poverty made more desperate by rising costs related to the war in Ukraine, decades of urban neglect, breakdowns in marriages and parental authority, and the ripples of the COVID-19 pandemic. Young teenagers whose schooling was interrupted by virus curfews and teaching shutdowns were among those smashing, burning, stealing and fighting with police — and reveling in the mayhem on social media.

For Yazid Kherfi, who spends his time driving from one housing project to the next, speaking to young people about how to avoid the route that he took into crime and prison, the violence was a cry of distress from a generation he says feels unloved and left by the wayside.

The minivan Kherfi uses has a quote from Martin Luther King painted on the back: “We must learn to live together as brothers or we will all perish together as fools.” But on his rounds, Kherfi says he frequently hears young people complain that police single them out because of their color.

“The police aren’t well trained to work in difficult neighborhoods. Some police are racist. There are violent police. They exist. I’m not saying all the police but it’s still a certain number,” he says. “Blacks and Arabs are stopped far more frequently than whites.”

“We are a long way from liberty, equality, fraternity,” he adds. “The reality is that people find all these situations very, very hard. It’s been like this for more than 40 years. So of course, every time there are riots in France, it’s linked to a young person’s death related to a policing operation. And the police rarely blames itself.”

From French President Emmanuel Macron down, government officials were quick to condemn the actions of the officer now incarcerated on a preliminary charge of voluntary homicide. Macron called the shooting “inexplicable and inexcusable.” The officer’s lawyer says his client feared, when the vehicle they’d stopped started moving again, that he and his colleague would be dragged along with it and crushed.

HOW TO TACKLE RACISM WHEN IT CAN’T BE MEASURED?

Measuring the scale of racism and racial inequality in France is complicated by its official policy of color blindness, with strict limits on data that can be collected. For critics, that guiding philosophy has made the state oblivious to discrimination. France’s census has no questions about race or ethnicity.

Still, inequalities are too glaring to be ignored. The government’s statistics agency found in 2020 that death rates among immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa doubled in France and tripled in the Paris region at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic — an acknowledgement of the virus’s punishing and disproportionate impact on Black immigrants and members of other systemically overlooked minority groups. Other research has also exposed racism in workplaces and hiring.

“For 40, 45 years there have been warning signs about discrimination,” says Abel Boyi, head of a group called “All Unique, All United” that aims to reconcile young people with France and its republican values.

Boyi, who is Black, decries the state’s colorblindness as “a French hypocrisy.” He says he regularly encounters young people of color and also white people from disadvantaged neighborhoods who apply for dozens of jobs but aren’t hired “because the family name sounds foreign, because the address isn’t a good one.”

“Unfortunately, when there’s an injustice, there’s always a radical fringe that tips into violence. We saw these young people, aged 12 to 19 … at 1, 2, 3 o’clock in the morning burning cars, stoning police officers, stoning buses. It’s terrible,” Boyi says. “The anger is righteous but the method is wrong.”

THE VISUALS ADDED FUEL TO THE FLAMES

The video of Nahel’s death also helps explains the rapid spread and sudden intensity of the violence. As was also the case with the footage of George Floyd’s killing in the United States, the images left some people wondering whether police abuses sometimes go unpunished because they aren’t captured on camera. Spray-painted graffiti in Nanterre read: “Without video, Nahel would be a statistic.”

Police officer Walid Hrar says, however, that the relationship between France’s forces of law and order and disadvantaged neighborhoods he works in isn’t as broken as the rioting made it seem.

He runs a volunteer group of officers, The Guardians of Fraternity, who meet with neighborhood kids to try to build understanding and help them see that behind their uniforms, they are people, too. “Sometimes, the talks are very hard, very stormy,” he acknowledges.

But Hrar, who is of Moroccan descent and Muslim, says the police force has “changed enormously” and become more diverse since he joined up.

That was in 2004. France was swept by rioting the following year. He has spent his career in Paris’ northern suburbs where that violence first erupted, when 15-year-old Bouna Traoré and 17-year-old Zyed Benna were electrocuted while hiding from police in a power substation in Clichy-sous-Bois.

One difference between then and now, Hrar says, is that the new generation of rioters seems to know no limits, trashing schools, town halls, police stations and other symbols of authority.

“With some, the breakdown is total, that is true,” Hrar says. “There is real groundwork that needs to be done.”

Another key difference: social networks. This generation weaned on TikTok and Snapchat not only celebrated mayhem in short videos but, the government says, sometimes organized on their networks, too. Memes and hashtags about looting quickly swamped references about justice for Nahel. Macron said some rioters seemed to be acting out “the video games that have intoxicated them.”

It all adds up to something toxic and dangerous, with deep cracks in the foundations of a country still unreconciled with its often violent colonial past and with engrained discrimination and inequalities that defy quick fixes.

“How do we bring together the multitude of histories into one common history that concerns us all, regardless of skin color and origin?” said Boyi. “That is France’s great challenge for the 21st century.”

—-

Paris chief correspondent John Leicester has reported from France for The Associated Press since 2002.

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July 4, 2023
Shooting in France shows US is not alone in struggles with racism, police brutality

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A police killing caught on video. Protests and rioting fueled by long-simmering tensions over law enforcement treatment of minorities. Demands for accountability.

The events in France following the death of a 17-year-old shot by police in a Paris suburb are drawing parallels to the racial reckoning in the U.S. spurred by the killings of George Floyd and other people of color at the hands of law enforcement.

Despite the differences between the two countries’ cultures, police forces and communities, the shooting in France and the outcry that erupted there this week laid bare how the U.S. is not alone in its struggles with systemic racism and police brutality.

The grandmother of a French teenager shot dead by police during a traffic stop has urged rioters to stop as the nation braced for a sixth straight night of unrest.

Hushed and visibly anguished, hundreds of mourners from France’s Islamic community formed a solemn procession from a mosque to a hillside cemetery on Saturday.

Police say a man accused of attacking a Connecticut lawmaker outside a Muslim prayer service this week made lewd comments to the woman and tried to kiss her.

French protesters erected barricades, lit fires and clashed with police in the streets of some French cities as tensions mounted over the deadly police shooting of a 17-year-old.

“These are things that happen when you’re French but with foreign roots. We’re not considered French, and they only look at the color of our skin, where we come from, even if we were born in France,” said Tracy Ladji, an activist with SOS Racisme. “Racism within the police kills, and way too many of them embrace far-right ideas so … this has to stop.”

In an editorial published this week, the French newspaper Le Monde wrote that the recent events “are reminiscent” of Floyd’s 2020 killing by a white Minneapolis police officer that spurred months of unrest in the U.S. and internationally, including in Paris.

“This act was committed by a law enforcement officer, was filmed and broadcast almost live and involved an emblematic representative of a socially discriminated category,” the newspaper wrote.

The French teen, identified only as Nahel, was shot during a traffic stop Tuesday in the Paris suburb of Nanterre. Video showed two officers at the window of the car, one with his gun pointed at the driver. As the teenager pulled forward, the officer fired once through the windshield.

Nahel’s grandmother, who was not identified by name, told Algerian television Ennahar TV that her family has roots in Algeria.

Preliminary charges of voluntary homicide were filed against the officer accused of pulling the trigger, though that has done little to quell the rioting that has spread across the country and led to hundreds of arrests. The officer said he feared he and his colleague or someone else could be hit by the car as Nahel attempted to flee, a prosecutor has said.

Officials have not disclosed the race of the officer. His lawyer said he did what he thought was necessary in the moment. Speaking on French TV channel BFMTV, the lawyer said the officer is “devastated,” adding that “he really didn’t want to kill.”

Nahel’s mother, identified only as Mounia M., told France 5 television she’s not angry at the police in general. She’s angry at the officer who killed her only child.

“He saw an Arab-looking little kid. He wanted to take his life,” she said.

Police shootings in France are significantly less common than in the U.S. but have been on the rise since 2017. Several experts believe that correlates with a law loosening restrictions on when officers can use lethal force against drivers after a series of terrorist attacks using vehicles.

Officers can shoot at a vehicle when a driver fails to comply with an order and when a driver’s actions are likely to endanger their lives or those of others. French police have also been regularly criticized for their violent tactics.

Unlike the U.S., France does not keep any data on race and ethnicity as part of its doctrine of colorblind universalism — an approach purporting to see everyone as equal citizens. Critics say that doctrine has masked generations of systemic racism.

“I can’t think of a country in Europe that has more longstanding or pernicious problems of police racism, brutality and impunity,” Paul Hirschfield, director of the criminal justice program at Rutgers University, said of France. Hirschfield has published multiple papers comparing policing practices and killings in America to those in other countries.

Experts said the video of the shooting — which appeared to contradict initial statements from police that the teen was driving toward the officer — pushed leaders to quickly condemn the killing. French President Emmanuel Macron called the shooting “inexcusable” even before charges were filed against the officer.

That’s nothing new for Americans, who even before the excruciating footage of George Floyd’s death under a Minneapolis police officer’s knee had seen many videos of violent police encounters that were often taken by witnesses and at times contradicted the initial statements of police.

“I’ve never seen a case where the interior minister was so quick to condemn a shooting. In previous killings, there was unrest, but there was no video. It changes everything,” Hirschfield said.

Police in France typically go through training that runs for about 10 months, which is long compared with many U.S. cities, but one of the shortest training requirements in Europe.

However, experts said they did not believe French police receive training that is equivalent to the implicit bias training required of many U.S. police officers as an effort to improve policing in diverse communities, though many U.S. critics have questioned the training’s effectiveness.

France and other European countries have growing African, Arab and Asian populations.

“If you are in a country with a colonial past, it carries a stigma. And if that is painful enough that you can’t handle having that conversation about race, of course you aren’t going to have relevant training for officers,” Stacie Keesee, co-founder of the Center for Policing Equity, who serves on the United Nations’ International Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in Law Enforcement.

Bertrand Cavallier, the former commander of France’s national gendarmerie training school, said French law enforcement should not be judged by the actions of one officer.

“This is the case of a police officer who made a mistake and didn’t have to do it. But he was arrested, and that, I think, should be a clear message concerning the will of the government,” he said.

___

Associated Press writers Alex Turnbull and Jeffrey Schaeffer in Nanterre, France, contributed to this report.

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July 2, 2023
Shooting In France Shows US Is Not Alone In Struggles With Racism, Police Brutality

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A police killing caught on video. Protests and rioting fueled by long-simmering tensions over law enforcement treatment of minorities. Demands for accountability.

The events in France following the death of a 17-year-old shot by police in a Paris suburb are drawing parallels to the racial reckoning in the U.S. spurred by the killings of George Floyd and other people of color at the hands of law enforcement.

Despite the differences between the two countries’ cultures, police forces and communities, the shooting in France and the outcry that erupted there this week laid bare how the U.S. is not alone in its struggles with systemic racism and police brutality.

“These are things that happen when you’re French but with foreign roots. We’re not considered French, and they only look at the color of our skin, where we come from, even if we were born in France,” said Tracy Ladji, an activist with SOS Racisme. “Racism within the police kills, and way too many of them embrace far-right ideas so … this has to stop.”

In an editorial published this week, the French newspaper Le Monde wrote that the recent events “are reminiscent” of Floyd’s 2020 killing by a white Minneapolis police officer that spurred months of unrest in the U.S. and internationally, including in Paris.

“This act was committed by a law enforcement officer, was filmed and broadcast almost live and involved an emblematic representative of a socially discriminated category,” the newspaper wrote.

The French teen, identified only as Nahel, was shot during a traffic stop Tuesday in the Paris suburb of Nanterre. Video showed two officers at the window of the car, one with his gun pointed at the driver. As the teenager pulled forward, the officer fired once through the windshield.

NANTERRE, FRANCE – JULY 1: A woman pays her respects at the site where Nahel M. died, shortly after his funeral, on July 1, 2023 in Nanterre, France. Nahel M., a French teenager of North African origin was shot dead by police on June 27th, the third fatal traffic stop shooting this year in France – causing nationwide unrest and clashes with police forces. (Photo by Sam Tarling/Getty Images)

Sam Tarling via Getty Images

Nahel’s grandmother, who was not identified by name, told Algerian television Ennahar TV that her family has roots in Algeria.

Preliminary charges of voluntary homicide were filed against the officer accused of pulling the trigger, though that has done little to quell the rioting that has spread across the country and led to hundreds of arrests. The officer said he feared he and his colleague or someone else could be hit by the car as Nahel attempted to flee, a prosecutor has said.

Officials have not disclosed the race of the officer. His lawyer said he did what he thought was necessary in the moment. Speaking on French TV channel BFMTV, the lawyer said the officer is “devastated,” adding that “he really didn’t want to kill.”

Nahel’s mother, identified only as Mounia M., told France 5 television she’s not angry at the police in general. She’s angry at the officer who killed her only child.

“He saw an Arab-looking little kid. He wanted to take his life,” she said.

Police shootings in France are significantly less common than in the U.S. but have been on the rise since 2017. Several experts believe that correlates with a law loosening restrictions on when officers can use lethal force against drivers after a series of terrorist attacks using vehicles.

Officers can shoot at a vehicle when a driver fails to comply with an order and when a driver’s actions are likely to endanger their lives or those of others. French police have also been regularly criticized for their violent tactics.

Unlike the U.S., France does not keep any data on race and ethnicity as part of its doctrine of colorblind universalism — an approach purporting to see everyone as equal citizens. Critics say that doctrine has masked generations of systemic racism.

“I can’t think of a country in Europe that has more longstanding or pernicious problems of police racism, brutality and impunity,” Paul Hirschfield, director of the criminal justice program at Rutgers University, said of France. Hirschfield has published multiple papers comparing policing practices and killings in America to those in other countries.

Experts said the video of the shooting — which appeared to contradict initial statements from police that the teen was driving toward the officer — pushed leaders to quickly condemn the killing. French President Emmanuel Macron called the shooting “inexcusable” even before charges were filed against the officer.

That’s nothing new for Americans, who even before the excruciating footage of George Floyd’s death under a Minneapolis police officer’s knee had seen many videos of violent police encounters that were often taken by witnesses and at times contradicted the initial statements of police.

“I’ve never seen a case where the interior minister was so quick to condemn a shooting. In previous killings, there was unrest, but there was no video. It changes everything,” Hirschfield said.

Police in France typically go through training that runs for about 10 months, which is long compared with many U.S. cities, but one of the shortest training requirements in Europe.

However, experts said they did not believe French police receive training that is equivalent to the implicit bias training required of many U.S. police officers as an effort to improve policing in diverse communities, though many U.S. critics have questioned the training’s effectiveness.

France and other European countries have growing African, Arab and Asian populations.

“If you are in a country with a colonial past, it carries a stigma. And if that is painful enough that you can’t handle having that conversation about race, of course you aren’t going to have relevant training for officers,” Stacie Keesee, co-founder of the Center for Policing Equity, who serves on the United Nations’ International Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in Law Enforcement.

Bertrand Cavallier, the former commander of France’s national gendarmerie training school, said French law enforcement should not be judged by the actions of one officer.

“This is the case of a police officer who made a mistake and didn’t have to do it. But he was arrested, and that, I think, should be a clear message concerning the will of the government,” he said.

Associated Press writers Alex Turnbull and Jeffrey Schaeffer in Nanterre, France, contributed to this report.

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July 1, 2023
The Evolution of DEI

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By J. Brian Charles

How the vision of a gathering of Black college administrators created a movement that is now under attack.

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J. Brian Charles

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June 23, 2023
Minneapolis Police Department Engaged in Systemic Racism and Excessive Force: DOJ

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The Department of Justice excoriated the Minneapolis Police Department in an 89-page report released Friday, accusing the department of systemic racial and behavioral discrimination—years before the death of George Floyd in 2020.

The two-year investigation was prompted by the April 2021 conviction of Derek Chauvin, a Minneapolis police officer who murdered Floyd the previous May by pinning his knee onto Floyd’s neck for nearly 10 minutes as three other officers looked on. The report found that before Chauvin murdered Floyd, the officer had used excessive force in other incidents in which “multiple other M.P.D. officers stood by.”

Floyd’s death, along with the killings of Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor, ignited a summer of nationwide protests over policing and racial injustice.

The DOJ report alleges a pattern of “excessive force, including unjustified deadly force” concentrated on the city’s Black and Native American residents. Between 2016 and mid-2022, the report uncovered nearly 200 instances of Minneapolis officers using neck restraints like the one Chauvin used on Floyd; some officers continued the practice even after the city banned them in June 2020.

Police, the report said, “used dangerous techniques and weapons against people who committed at most a petty offense and sometimes no offense at all” and “used force to punish people who made officers angry or criticized the police.”

At a Friday news conference at a Minneapolis courthouse, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said, “The patterns and practices we observed made what happened to George Floyd possible.” Garland added that the report found numerous examples of officers responding to residents’ complaints that they could not breathe with “some version of, ‘You can breathe, you’re talking right now’”—similar to comments made by the officers involved in Floyd’s arrest.

“As I told George Floyd’s family this morning, his death has had an irrevocable impact on the Minneapolis community, on our country and on the world,” Garland said. “His loss is still felt deeply by those who loved and knew him and by many who did not. George Floyd should be alive today.”

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called the DOJ report “objective” and “thorough.” “We understand that change is non-negotiable,” he said.

The city will likely soon start negotiations with the federal government on the terms of a court-enforced consent decree, which would put the Minneapolis police under federal supervision. “Consent decrees have been a useful tool for making progress on police reform in other cities,” Frey said Saturday morning. In recent years, several other cities have put their police departments under consent decrees, but critics argue that the oversights are a waste of taxpayer money and don’t provide meaningful reform.

On Friday, President Joe Biden called the report’s findings “disturbing” and said they “underscore the urgent need for common sense reforms that increase public trust and thereby strengthen public safety.” He called on Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. Negotiations on the bill, which passed in the House and would have cracked down on certain police tactics and made it easier to prosecute officers accused of misconduct, stalled in the Senate in 2021.

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Jack McCordick

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June 17, 2023
‘Systemic problems’ at Minneapolis Police Dept. led to George Floyd’s murder, Justice Department says | CNN Politics

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CNN
—

Three years after George Floyd was murdered by then-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, the Justice Department issued a blistering report Friday of the city’s police department, detailing racial discrimination, excessive and unlawful use of force, First Amendment violations and a lack of accountability for officers.

“Our investigation found that the systemic problems in MPD made what happened to George Floyd possible,” the report states.

The Minneapolis Police Department has, for years, used dangerous “techniques and weapons” against people who had committed a petty offense or no offense at all, “including unjustified deadly force,” it adds.

“MPD used force to punish people who made officers angry or criticized the police,” the report says, and “patrolled neighborhoods differently based on their racial composition and discriminated based on race when searching, handcuffing, or using force against people during stops.”

In its investigation, the Justice Department reviewed hundreds of police body-worn camera videos, incident and police reports, hundreds of complaints filed against officers and dozens of interviews with city leaders, community leaders and police officials.

“As I told George Floyd’s family this morning, his death has had an irrevocable impact on the Minneapolis community, on our country and on the world,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said at a news conference Friday.

“George Floyd should be alive today,” Garland added.

Chauvin was convicted in Floyd’s death and pleaded guilty for violating Floyd’s civil rights.

In a review of the 19 police shootings that took place between 2016 and the summer of 2022, the investigation found that “a significant portion of them were unconstitutional uses of deadly force” including officers shooting at individuals without determining any immediate threat and MPD officers using deadly force against “people who are a threat only to themselves,” the report says.

In one example cited by the report, a woman had been shot by an officer after she reportedly “spooked” him as she came to his police car.

On May 25, 2020, Chauvin kneeled on Floyd’s neck and back for over nine minutes while Floyd was handcuffed and gasping for air. According to the DOJ’s report, at the time, neck restraints were used by Minneapolis police officers 197 times between 2016 and 2020. Nearly a fourth of those were used in cases where no arrest was made.

Three years on: reflections on the legacy of George Floyd

Officers would “frequently used neck restraints without warning” and used the restraints against individuals – including teenagers – accused of low-level offenses, passively resisted arrest, posed no threat or “had merely angered the officer.”

MPD officers, the investigation found, also used takedowns, strikes, tasers, chemical spray and other methods of force in ways that violated individuals’ rights.

The department now prohibits neck restraints, “no-knock” raids and requires approval for officers to use certain crowd control weapons without approval from the chief of police.

The investigation also found that MPD officers disproportionately stop and use force against Black and Native American people.

“During stops involving Black and Native American people, MPD conducts searches and uses force more often than it does during stops involving white people engaged in similar behavior,” the report, which reviewed data of roughly 187,000 pedestrian and traffic stops says.

“We estimate that MPD stops Black people at 6.5 times the rate at which it stops White people, given their shares of the population. Similarly, we estimate MPD stops Native American people at 7.9 times the rate at which it stops white people, given population shares.”

During these stops, the DOJ found that MPD officers unlawfully discriminated against Black and Native American people in both searches and use of force.

After Floyd’s murder in 2020, many police officers in the department stopped listing the race or gender of individuals in their reports in violation of the department’s policy, according to the investigation.

The report also found evidence of some officers, including those in leadership positions, have made racist or discriminatory comments to other officers.

During one of the protests following Floyd’s murder, an MPD lieutenant said a group of protesters were likely mostly White because “there’s not looting and fires.”

Other MPD employees told the Justice Department about similar discriminatory comments made by their colleagues, including comments about how “you don’t have to worry about Black people during the day ‘cuz they haven’t woken up—crime starts at night.”

The investigation found that officers were often only held accountable for biased conduct after public calls of outrage.

How the fatal arrest of George Floyd unfolded

Garland outlined several incidents where MPD officers were not held accountable for racist conduct until public outrage surfaced.

“For example,” Garland said Friday, “after MPD officers stopped a car carrying four Somalian-American teens, one officer told the teens, ‘Do you remember what happened in Black Hawk Down. When we killed a bunch of your folk? I’m proud of that. We didn’t finish the job over there. If we had, you guys wouldn’t be over here right now.’”

According to the Justice Department’s report, MPD officers also violated people’s First Amendment rights, including journalists, and found that officers “regularly retaliate against people for their speech or presence at protests – particularly when they criticize police.”

“MPD officers frequently use indiscriminate force, failing to distinguish between peaceful protesters and those committing crimes,” the report says. “For example, MPD officers regularly use 40 mm launchers – firearms that shoot impact projectiles, like rubber bullets – against protesters who are committing no crime or who are dispersing.”

The investigation found that in the protests following Floyd’s murder, officers had pepper sprayed a journalist in the face after pushing the reporter’s head to the pavement.

Other incidents cited in the report include police officers retaliating against individuals who were recording the officers by illegally grabbing phones, destroying recording equipment or using force – including pepper spray – against them.

This story has been updated with additional developments.

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June 16, 2023
‘More Cowardly Than Cautious’: Faculty Decry College Leaders’ Silence on DEI Attacks

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When George Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer, in May 2020, dozens of college leaders issued carefully crafted statements decrying racism and pledging to double down on efforts to make sure everyone on their campuses felt valued and included. The statements were followed by focus groups and task forces and promises to work for systemic change.

Three years later, those commitments are being tested as lawmakers in 20 states try to chip away at or, in some cases, take a sledgehammer to diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. This time, most of those leaders have stayed silent. Required diversity statements are being quietly dropped, a few DEI offices rebranded as offices of belonging or community engagement. As the clock ticks on legislative sessions that will expire soon, it’s hard to know how many college leaders who support diversity efforts are trying to influence lawmakers behind the scenes and how many are holding their breath, afraid to risk a political backlash by speaking out.

In either case, faculty, staff, and students who have been fighting to preserve diversity programs are getting increasingly frustrated by the silence.

Nowhere has that tension been more apparent than in Florida, where anti-DEI legislation has been signed into law, and Texas, where legislation that’s working its way toward final approval would ban such offices in public colleges and eliminate DEI training and statements used for hiring and promotion.

In February the University of Texas system issued its only public reaction to the proposed law. The statement, by Kevin P. Eltife, chairman of the Board of Regents, said he welcomed the lawmakers’ scrutiny and all new DEI efforts would be paused. He added that the system was asking all of its campuses to report on their DEI activities so the board could review them.

“To be clear, we welcome, celebrate, and strive for diversity on our campuses in our student and our faculty population,” his statement said. “I also think it’s fair to say that in recent times certain DEI efforts have strayed from the original intent to now imposing requirements and actions that, rightfully so, has raised the concerns of our policymakers about those efforts on campuses across our entire state.”

When DEI activities were suspended, “I was deeply disappointed,” said Karma R. Chávez, a professor of Mexican American and Latina/o studies at UT’s flagship campus, in Austin, and a leader in the university’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors. “Caving before you’re asked to cave is a bad strategy.” Chávez added that “as a faculty member of color who teaches in ethnic and gender studies, every colleague I’ve spoken to has expressed dismay that they don’t feel the upper administration has their backs.”

College presidents may feel they’re in a no-win situation, where silence is interpreted as complicity and speaking out risks firing or funding cuts, said Michael S. Harris, a professor of education policy and leadership at Southern Methodist University.

Even if they’ve kept their lips sealed publicly, UT administrators have probably been communicating privately with lawmakers, “to either mitigate some of the problems the bills have caused or to stop them altogether,” he said. Still, “it’s problematic that university leaders haven’t pushed back” against two separate bills that would ban diversity offices and would eliminate or restrict tenure for newly hired professors, depending on which versions of the bills survive, Harris said. In order for either to become law, House and Senate members would first have to agree on which versions of the bills they can live with, or come up with a compromise. The legislative session ends on Monday, but a special session could be called.

“It really feels like there’s been a calculation that if we say something, it’ll be worse, so we won’t say anything,” Harris said. “That may be smart in the sense of getting the least-damaging legislation, but gosh, if I were a student or faculty out there protesting, I’d want someone backing me up.”

‘Hyper-Scrutiny’

As of Thursday, 35 bills that would dismantle campus DEI efforts had been introduced in 20 states. Three of those bills had been signed into law, and four have received final legislative approval. Twelve others were considered but failed to pass before the end of the session, leaving 16 that could be considered in the coming weeks.

Some campus leaders, of course, have spoken out, especially at private colleges and in states where diversity efforts aren’t under attack. Christina H. Paxson, president of Brown University, wrote in an opinion essay in The New York Times that state laws that limit the teaching of certain subjects are as dangerous and misguided as the blacklisting campaigns of McCarthyism or efforts to outlaw the teaching of evolution.

One reason other college leaders may have kept quiet is that DEI elicits strong reactions among alumni, politicians, and their own students and faculty members during these highly polarized times. A Chronicle survey and interviews of college presidents found that many censor themselves even on topics they consider central to their mission and values, including DEI, racial justice, and gender and sexual identity.

Sameeha Rizvi, a senior who’s been active in student government and multicultural programs on the Austin campus, understands the political pressures. “UT-Austin faces hyper-scrutiny from the Texas GOP. We’re relentlessly targeted from politicians trying to impose certain ideological agendas on our campus,” she said. “However, our administration’s silence feels like a punch in the gut to those of us who are organizing against this anti-DEI, anti-truth legislation. Whatever the university might be doing behind closed doors — I’m not seeing the impact.”

Our administration’s silence feels like a punch in the gut to those of us who are organizing against this anti-DEI, anti-truth legislation.

As someone who lives with Type 1 diabetes, she appreciates the support of the university’s Disability Cultural Center and the efforts of the DEI staff, especially at the height of the pandemic, to promote flexible attendance policies for students struggling with health complications.

Izabella De La Garza, who graduated this month, said that as a Latina from San Antonio, she felt culture shock at first on the Austin campus. The Multicultural Engagement Center, a physical place that offers support services, cultural-immersion activities, and a spot for students and employees to hang out, always felt like home, she said. Now, with bills approved by both the House and the Senate that would ban diversity centers, its fate is uncertain.

“I found so much solace and support in the MEC, and the idea of other students’ not having that is very scary,” she said. “I can’t grasp in my mind why someone would be scared of it.”

Erin McElroy, a tenure-track assistant professor of American studies who’s been teaching on the Austin campus for two years, said the attacks on diversity and tenure in Texas had made it easier to accept a new job at a “Research 1 public university on the West Coast where tenure isn’t threatened.”

As a feminist scholar who integrates issues of race and gender into teaching American history, McElroy had hoped that the talk of eliminating DEI was just “political posturing” by conservative politicians. But as the bills inched closer to passage, the public silence of university administrators was disappointing, McElroy said. Texas, it appeared, might soon be going the way of another Southern state that has targeted DEI.

Taking a Stand

In Florida, legislation that Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, signed into law this month bans public colleges from spending state or federal funding on DEI unless it’s required by federal law. The colleges will also be banned from offering general-education courses that “distort significant historical events,” teach “identity politics,” or are “based on theories that systemic racism, sexism, oppression, or privilege are inherent in the institutions of the United States.”

The AAUP issued a preliminary report on Wednesday that accused college leaders of complicity in the avalanche of attacks on higher education in Florida. “Academic administrators throughout Florida’s public university and college systems, from the highest to the lowest levels, not only have failed to contest these attacks but have too frequently been complicit in and, in some cases, explicitly supported them,” the report said. “While some individuals are leaving as a matter of conscience, those who remain face the prospect of serving as pawns in DeSantis’s corrupt patronage system.”

Caving before you’re asked to cave is a bad strategy.

While some may genuinely fear retaliatory budget cuts, “the approach of many of the administrators appears more cowardly than cautious,” the AAUP said.

In January the 28 state- and community-college presidents who make up the Florida College System Council of Presidents released a statement that many read as an endorsement of the governor’s conservative agenda. It vowed “to ensure that all initiatives, instruction, and activities do not promote any ideology that suppresses intellectual and academic freedom, freedom of expression, viewpoint diversity, and the pursuit of truth in teaching and learning.”

The statement said the presidents would not fund or support “any practice, policy, or academic requirement that compels belief in critical race theory or related concepts such as intersectionality, or the idea that systems of oppression should be the primary lens through which teaching and learning are analyzed and/or improved upon.” Documents obtained by The Chronicle suggest that much of the wording came from a top administrator in the Florida Department of Education, not the presidents.

Elsewhere in Florida, students who support diversity efforts demanded that university leaders back them up. In March, Florida State University students shouting “FSU — take a stand!” protested outside an administration building after they were locked out.

Alex C. Lange, an assistant professor of higher education at Colorado State University at Fort Collins, said college leaders in Florida had missed an opportunity to alert their alumni about the possible impact of the anti-DEI legislation. As a graduate of Florida Atlantic University, Lange would be concerned to learn that future students might not have the support and guidance of a staff member in a fledgling LGBT center who had made such a difference in Lange’s own college experience.

Calling Out the Problems

In a few cases, college leaders did in fact take a stand, and did so publicly. Ohio State University’s Board of Trustees released a statement on May 16 forcefully objecting to Ohio’s Senate Bill 83, which has been approved by the Senate and was pending in the House as of Thursday. Along with banning many diversity initiatives, it would require annual faculty performance reviews, create new graduation requirements, and mandate the specific language colleges must use in their mission statements.

“We acknowledge the issues raised by this proposal but believe there are alternative solutions that will not undermine the shared-governance model of universities, risk weakened academic rigor, or impose extensive and expensive new reporting mandates,” the statement said.

“We share the General Assembly’s commitment to free speech, open dialogue, and the importance of diverse views,” it continued. “The university is already taking steps to again emphasize that all viewpoints are welcome and respected on our campuses.” In an apparent spirit of compromise, the university updated its hiring practices to stop requiring diversity statements, “except when mandated by federal law, research contracts, and licensure or accreditation.”

Ohio State faculty leaders, who have met frequently with trustees to stress the importance of shared governance, welcomed the board’s willingness to call out the problems in the bill, given that all of the members were appointed by a Republican governor. “We appreciated the fairly robust defense of some of our rights and know that there are political risks involved,” said Caroline T. Clark, chair of the University Senate and a professor of teaching and learning.

In Utah, where the state’s top higher-education leaders spoke out against a bill that would ban diversity offices, a conservative lawmaker quickly withdrew the measure, saying he realized it was too harsh. It’s not clear whether pushback from the state’s higher-education leaders, including Dave R. Woolstenhulme, commissioner of the Utah System of Higher Education, had played any role in that decision.

As diversity, equity, and inclusion officers’ work, and the progress they’ve made in recent years, are under attack, higher-education leaders aren’t speaking out to defend “their espoused values and mission,” Paulette Granberry Russell, president of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education, wrote in an email.

“As the recent spate of legislative attacks has shown,” she wrote, “their efforts are having their intended chilling effect — silencing the voices of leaders who, just three years ago, were acknowledging the necessity of higher-education institutions to address racial inequities during the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd.”

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Katherine Mangan

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May 25, 2023
Colleges Acted to Rein In Their Police. Then They Backtracked.

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This spring, amid a spate of mass shootings and rising concern about gun crime, two universities made plans to fortify their campus-police forces.

George Washington University’s police department will begin arming some officers this fall for the first time. Portland State University quietly moved away from a 2021 policy change that had restricted its officers’ ability to patrol with weapons.

The backlash was swift. George Washington students marched to the interim president’s on-campus residence; more than 200 faculty members signed a letter chastising the university’s board for failing to gather enough community input. Portland State students and faculty said the move felt like an invalidation of what activists had fought for and, in 2021, got closer to achieving: a campus without armed law enforcement.

Three years ago this week, the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer galvanized a national conversation about law enforcement and systemic racism. Students and others on campuses became increasingly adamant that higher education needed to rethink its approach to policing. Many college leaders were receptive: They acknowledged that a significant police presence could make people of color feel unsafe and agreed to make certain changes.

But even though some college leaders gestured toward broader plans to reform their police departments, sweeping changes haven’t occurred — and in fact, George Washington and Portland State have moved in the opposite direction.

The leaders of these two universities have focused their rhetoric on concerns over increased crime and gun violence. To the activists who have, for years, pushed their institutions to imagine campuses without police, those arguments are misguided.

These developments highlight a persistent tension in the policing debate: College administrators aren’t going to eliminate law enforcement. Activists aren’t going to give up the fight to abolish the campus police. What does that mean for future conversations about campus safety?

When Floyd was murdered, colleges were put in the hot seat. Some activists demanded their colleges abolish their police departments altogether. (Experts told The Chronicle they weren’t aware of any institution that actually did that.)

From the jump, campus officials resisted the most far-reaching of activists’ demands. At the University of Louisville, the Black Student Union demanded the institution cut all ties with the Louisville Metro Police Department, whose officers had shot and killed Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman, in March 2020. Neeli Bendapudi, the president at the time, explained to the Black Student Union’s president that the university could not agree to sever ties, because of overlapping jurisdictions and a reliance on the Louisville police for support.

Still, institutions quickly made smaller changes to demonstrate a commitment to racial justice and progressive policing. They restricted the kinds of force police officers could use and distanced themselves from municipal departments that were accused of brutality.

The Johns Hopkins University, for example, paused its plans to create an armed police force. The University of Minnesota-Twin Cities severed some of its ties with the Minneapolis Police Department. And the University of Michigan, like many institutions, assembled a task force to reconceptualize campus safety.

A lot can change in three years.

Hopkins is preparing to roll out its police department in the fall. Minnesota has rekindled its relationship with the Minneapolis police. And the Michigan task force disbanded with little to show for its work.

Charles H.F. Davis III, an assistant professor in the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education at the University of Michigan, said the backpedaling on reform efforts “communicates a lack of political commitment” to the racial-justice priorities colleges identified in 2020. Davis served on the aforementioned Michigan task force.

Universities decided to wait it out until activism died out.

To be sure, many of the changes colleges made to their police departments in 2020 are still in effect, such as a ban at all California State University campuses on the carotid hold, which restricts the flow of blood to the brain. Colleges emphasize their continued commitment to racial justice in campus communications.

George Washington rolled out a new training program for officers, including lessons on de-escalation and identifying unconscious bias. The department added body-worn cameras and increased student participation in the officer-hiring process.

But colleges today can increase policing with less fanfare than they might have faced in 2020, Davis said. Most of the undergraduates who led protests against the police in 2020 have since graduated, taking with them that institutional memory.

“Universities decided to wait it out until activism died out,” Davis said.

Even if some of campus policing’s largest critics are gone, though, there are plenty of students, and faculty and staff members who have taken on the issue of armed officers.

“My goal right now is to make sure that Portland State University is able to hear the student voice,” said Hannah Alzgal, a senior and organizer with Disarm PSU, an activist group. “It’s unmistakable that this is not a decision that students have been vying for, and that we’re not being included in it.”

Kristen Roman, police chief at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and the director at large of the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators, said activism on her campus has been more prominent in the last three years she has been on the job than in her first three years.

“That’s one of the wonderful things about higher-education communities is that mobilization and activism is not uncommon for these communities — it’s encouraged,” Roman said. “It’s in terms of the relationship between police and communities, and some of those trust issues we’ve seen with greater visibility over the last three years — that has certainly prompted an increase in activism on our campuses.”

The leaders of George Washington and Portland State say they’re acting now because they have no choice.

They’re concerned about crime near campus, for one. But also, they don’t want to be the next Virginia Tech, the next Umpqua Community College, the next Michigan State — institutions whose academic reputations are entangled with their legacies as the sites of massacres. If a shooter does come to campus, they want to be prepared.

At George Washington, “specially trained” officers will be given 9-millimeter handguns with which they can respond to emergencies, The GW Hatchet reported. Currently, the police department defers to other police agencies — and there are a number flanking the downtown Washington campus — when an emergency requires an armed response.

“Immediacy of response to life-threatening incidents is critical, but whenever weapons are involved, unarmed officers cannot respond and must rely instead on other armed law enforcement,” Mark Wrighton, interim president of George Washington University, explained in an email to the campus community.

Meanwhile, Portland State made the decision to increase armed patrols because officers were seeing more weapons on campus. In 2020, Portland State police officers seized three weapons on campus, said Willie Halliburton, the director of public safety. In 2021, they seized six. Last year, officers seized 13.

“I’m not talking just knives — I’m talking guns, semiautomatic pistols, long guns, rifles,” Halliburton told The Chronicle. “These are serious weapons that we were beginning to encounter pretty commonly. We are trying to do our job in a respectful manner and respect people’s liberties out there. But also we have to respect our officers, and their livelihood, and our campus.”

Portland State first created an armed police department in 2014. Campus activists protested the decision. Then the 2018 police killing of a 45-year-old Black man, Jason Washington, at a bar off campus further galvanized them. Washington, a Navy veteran, was armed as he tried to break up a fight.

The university’s move to disarm police patrols in 2021 appeared at first to be a step toward curtailing campus law enforcement. Yet the university never fully disarmed its patrols. Officers just had to receive permission from senior campus-safety leaders in order to carry weapons.

While the primary purpose of arming more patrols is to protect officers who encounter weapons, Halliburton said the number of mass shootings also factored into the decision.

“One way to be prepared is to have our officers have the appropriate tools to respond in an expedient manner to a situation like that,” Halliburton said. “We just keep our fingers crossed that it doesn’t happen, but we wouldn’t want to be unprepared if it does happen.”

There have been 237 mass shootings in the U.S. so far in 2023, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as four or more people shot or killed, excluding the shooter. There were 647 mass shootings in all of 2022.

It is unclear how many of those occurred on college campuses, but experts say such tragedies remain relatively rare. As for whether crime is on the rise in general, a complicated picture emerges.

In Washington, D.C., violent crime — which the Federal Bureau of Investigation considers to include forcible rape, aggravated assault, robbery, and murder or nonnegligent manslaughter — is up 15 percent over the same time period last year. Property crime is up 31 percent.

In Portland, Ore., violent crime was down 5.8 percent in the first four months of the year compared with the same time period in 2022. Property crime was down 9.7 percent.

Data collected under the federal Clery Act does not reveal significant patterns in on-campus crime at either George Washington or Portland State Universities. The numbers for both violent and property offenses have fluctuated since 2014, the first year for which the current methodology was used.

William Pelfrey Jr., a professor in Virginia Commonwealth University’s L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs who studies policing and public safety, said it is unusual for institutions of George Washington University’s size — 26,457 students and 6,030 staff members — not to have armed police departments. Portland State, which employs nine armed police officers, has 22,858 students and 3,047 staff members.

“It would be very difficult for a large college or university to claim that they have an orientation toward the safety of their faculty, staff, and students without an armed police department,” Pelfrey said. “If you have 40,000, 50,000, 60,000 people on your campus — there’s very few cities of that size that don’t have an armed police department.”

Relying on the local police to respond when incidents require armed officers can delay response times, Pelfrey said.

“We determined it is critical to equip our highly trained police supervisors who know our campuses best with the ability to quickly respond to such emergencies in situations where seconds matter most,” Joshua Grossman, a spokesperson for George Washington, said in a statement.

Relatedly, many municipal police departments are understaffed, including the Portland Police Bureau and Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department, and therefore can’t respond to all the calls they get.

“That’s what led us back to armed patrols,” Halliburton said. “We can’t depend on Portland to take those calls which were previously agreed upon.”

Those who oppose arming campus police are also afraid of gun violence. But they don’t believe that giving police officers firearms will protect their campuses.

“That argument is short-sighted,” said Emily Ford, the president of Portland State’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors. “There is a plethora of evidence that when cops carry weapons, it doesn’t do anything to stop crime or violence.”

Ford, a librarian, cited the AAUP’s 2021 report on campus police forces, which asserted that there is “little evidence to justify such a large outlay of the campus budget.” Research on shootings in K-12 schools has found that armed police officers are not effective at preventing school shootings.

Instead, Ford and others argue, armed officers make campuses less safe, especially for members of marginalized groups.

Research has shown that people of color are disproportionately stopped by police, on and off campuses. A 2021 report by the University of Southern California found that 31.7 percent of stops by USC police officers in the 2019-2020 academic year involved Black people, who made up only 5.5 percent of the student body and 8.8 percent of its staff. Latino people were also disproportionately stopped by police.

Brendan Hornbostel, a Ph.D. student at George Washington who studies the histories of U.S. policing, characterized the university’s decision to arm some officers as extending a “velvet glove” to tuition-paying students and an “iron fist” to the homeless population around the urban campus.

Like the activists at Portland State, Hornbostel is skeptical of the mass-shootings argument.

“It’s a hell of a gotcha tactic on their part,” Hornbostel said. “Who is going to argue with, ‘What are you going to do with a mass shooting?’ Maybe the better question is, for all of the days that there is not a mass shooting on campus, there will be armed cops. That to me is just as terrifying.”

At Portland State, one of activists’ main complaints is that the campus community was not sufficiently consulted before the university decided to increase armed patrols.

Stephen Percy, president of the university, knows that many people on his campus are frustrated. “As often as I heard, ‘We didn’t like the decision,’ I more often heard, ‘We didn’t know it was coming. It’s kind of a surprise. Why didn’t we know that?’”

He added: “I had to make the decision as president, given the safety of our officers and the situation we face, that on this limited period, to move forward.” Percy is retiring in July.

He said he assembled an ad-hoc committee to come up with a communication plan for public safety. He also changed the charge of the university’s public-safety oversight committee so that it is consulted not just on policy changes, but also changes in practice, such as the decision to increase armed patrols.

“If we do something like this again, we’ll actually consult with [the oversight committee] prior to making the decision,” Percy said.

The goal, Percy said, is still to fully disarm patrols. But that’s just not feasible at the moment.

Activists say they will keep the pressure on.

“Our demands remain the same, but we’re not focused on the continued disappointments,” said Katie Cagle, a staff member at Portland State and organizer with Disarm PSU. “We’re instead focused on having conversations with people about, ‘What does safety mean for you?’”

Ford, the campus AAUP president, said that Portland State’s chapter is strongly supportive of de-escalation teams patrolling campus, instead of armed police officers. Cagle added that community members would like more de-escalation training to help them respond to people in crisis.

Activists have had a few wins, Cagle said. One was getting the campus police department to publish its policy manual online, for anyone to view.

Still, she said, “That feels like feeling grateful for crumbs.”

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Kate Hidalgo Bellows

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May 23, 2023
Former Minnesota police officer Kim Potter released from prison after serving time for deadly shooting of Daunte Wright | CNN

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CNN
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Former Minnesota officer Kimberly Potter has been released from prison after serving 16 months of a two-year sentence in the fatal shooting of Daunte Wright, whom she shot after mistaking her gun for a Taser during a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center, according to the Minnesota Department of Corrections.

Potter was released from the Minnesota Correctional Facility-Shakopee at 4 a.m. on Monday, the department said, noting the early hour was due to safety concerns and the potential for violent protests outside the facility.

Potter was convicted of two counts of manslaughter in the killing of 20-year-old Wright, an unarmed Black man, during a 2021 traffic stop near Minneapolis. Wright was pulled over for having expired tags and for a hanging air freshener.

Potter will be on supervised release for the remaining third of her sentence, in accordance with Minnesota law, which doesn’t provide time off for good behavior, the corrections department said. Potter’s supervised release expires in December.

Potter’s attorney, Earl Gray, told CNN the former officer with 26 years of experience has no plans to return to Minnesota and will live in Wisconsin.

Wright’s mother, Katie, said she was “dreading” Potter’s release and is struggling to find peace. She said she suffered a stroke that left her temporarily with blurred vision following the stress of Potter’s trial and conviction.

“Some say I should forgive to be at peace but how can I? I am so angry. She is going to be able to watch her kids have kids and be able to touch them,” Katie Wright told CNN. “I am always scared I am going to forget my son’s voice. It gave us some sense of peace knowing she would not be able to hold her sons. She has two. I can’t hold my son.”

She said Potter not being able to serve as a police officer again, due in part to her conviction, has given her “a sense of peace.”

“She will never be able to hurt anybody as a police officer again,” Katie Wright said. “That is the only sense of peace we get as a family.”

Potter wept when she testified during her 2021 trial, apologizing and insisting she “didn’t want to hurt anybody.”

“I was very distraught. I just shot somebody. I’m sorry it happened,” Potter cried as a prosecutor asked her about her behavior moments after the fatal shooting. Potter testified she had been trained with a Taser since 2002 and testified she received a new model days before the April 11, 2021 shooting.

The city of Brooklyn Center agreed to pay a $3.25 million settlement to the family of Daunte Wright in June 2022. The Wright family said the payment still has not been distributed due to other unrelated legal disputes but they are “hopeful” to receive payment in the next 90 days.

Part of the settlement agreement requires Brooklyn Center Police officers undergo implicit bias training. The city’s newly elected mayor, April Graves, confirmed that training still hasn’t happened, though, she says, it’s in the works.

Wright was killed just as the high-profile trial of Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer who was ultimately convicted of murdering George Floyd, was underway only about 10 miles away. Floyd’s death spurred outrage across the country with protests in many major cities – as well as some international locales – to decry police brutality and racial injustice.

Soon after Wright’s death, the Brooklyn Center City Council approved “The Daunte Wright and Kobe Dimock-Heisler Community Safety and Violence Prevention Resolution,” which said the city would create an unarmed department to handle “all incidents where a city resident is primarily experiencing a medical, mental health, disability-related, or other behavioral or social need.”

The resolution, which passed in 2021, was also named after Kobe Dimock-Heisler, a 21-year-old man living with autism, was also killed by Brooklyn Center Police after his family called 911 for help in 2019.

The measure also said officers would not be able to make arrests or conduct searches for many lower-level offenses, including stops for non-moving traffic infractions.

It was introduced by the city’s former mayor, Mike Elliott.

“It was easy to get it passed but we still haven’t implemented anything and here we are two years later,” Katie Wright said. “It is roadblock after roadblock.”

Mayor Graves told CNN the city is moving forward but “not as fast” as some in the community would like. She said the resolution “was crafted and written by the former mayor without the input of any staff or council members.”

Graves, who was a city council member when the resolution passed in 2021, said the city council, which now has two new members since the killing of Wright, will vote on new recommendations for the policy changes in May. She added that last year the city held two town halls on policy recommendations. Another town hall was held Saturday.

“There were some things within that resolution that just weren’t feasible,” Graves said, noting they only have about 35,000 residents and while they have “big city problems,” the council is working with a “small city budget.”

“Creating three new departments was just not conceivable,” Graves added. “One of those departments that he called for was around a department of violence prevention or something along those lines. Our new office of community prevention, health and safety is aligned with those things.”

Meanwhile, Graves said if the proposed traffic stop changes and consent searches are approved by the city council, officers would not be allowed to pull people over solely for minor traffic offenses, like invalid or expired registration, excessive window tints, and broken headlights or tail lights. She also said the current recommendations allow officers to pull someone over if a minor traffic offense could lead to serious damage.

“I think if we’re able to actually vote on and approve these recommendations around consent searches and pre-emptive stops … it would bring down the likelihood of having these issues come up again,” Graves said, adding “community feedback is important.”

In the last 18 months, Graves said the city has seen turnover in the police department and other city offices. The department, now led by its first Black chief, Kellace McDaniel, has 42 sworn police officers on patrol. Graves said the department is fully staffed at 49 officers. The city also “lost six out of seven department directors” but was able to rehire for those roles, including an equity and human resources director, Graves said.

“When I first started, it was difficult to even have a resolution around racial equity but now, we have funding and staff trying to do that work internally and externally with the community,” Graves said. “I see definite changes. Government is slow. There’s definitely still a lot of obstacles, people’s fear and misunderstanding and, yes, bias getting in the way, but I think we have the right people in place to keep it moving forward.”

Katie Wright and her husband, Aubrey, say they will continue to push for change. A red urn holding their son’s ashes sits above a fireplace in their living room.

“Changing traffic stops is the only thing that is going to keep people safe. We need it in every city,” Katie Wright said. “I am not going to be quiet.”

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April 24, 2023

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