ReportWire

Tag: misconduct

  • Police/Fire

    Police/Fire

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    In news taken from the logs of Cape Ann’s police and fire departments:

    GLOUCESTER

    Tuesday, July 2

    8:56 a.m.: A 911 call was made from Wishart Road.

    8:29 a.m.: Peace was restored after a report of a hold-up alarm at Gloucester Healthcare on Washington Street.

    7:42 a.m.: Police located several possible stolen bikes at the Greet Street Playground.

    7:19 a.m.: No action was required for a medical emergency.

    1:25 a.m.: A property check was made at the O’Maley Middle School on Cherry Street.

    Monday, July 1

    10:20 p.m.: A call to 911 was made and police responded to a past hit-and-run crash on Grant Circle.

    Motor vehicle stops: At 10:11 p.m. with a vehicle towed on Western Avenue; and at 2:08 p.m. on Essex Avenue.

    9:13 p.m.: A summons was served on Sunset Point Road.

    7:46 p.m.: A vehicle was towed after a report of a disabled vehicle prior to Exit 55 on Route 129 northbound.

    Medical emergency calls: at 7:29 p.m. on Grove Street, referred to another agency; at 2:32 p.m. at the CVS Pharmacy on Thatcher Road, referred to another agency; at 12:48 p.m. at East Veterans School on Webster Street; at 11:50 a.m. on Nashua Avenue, referred to another agency; at 11:50 a.m. at Andy’s Storage Service on Pearl Street; at 11:49 a.m. on Haskell Street; at 10:32 a.m. at the Harbor View Condominiums on Lexington Avenue; at 9:23 a.m. at Central Grammar Apartments on Dale Avenue; at 4:21 a.m. on Brightside Avenue; at 3:31 a.m. on Bond Street; and at 12:08 a.m. on Souther Road, referred to another agency.

    6:33 p.m. Vandalism was reported at East Gloucester Marina on Norwood Court. Services were rendered.

    6:14 p.m.: Police assisted with a report of an Amazon truck off the road on top of a tight tank on Bennett St. N.

    Crashes with property damage only: At 5:16 p.m., a vehicle versus a motorcycle on Barn Lane and Eastern Avenue; and at Dale Avenue and Middle Street, a call which was under investigation.

    Assist citizens: Service rendered at 5:13 pm. on Wolf Hill Summit.

    911 calls: Services rendered at 4:52 p.m. on Castle Hill Road; at 11:30 a.m., services rendered at Vernon’s Quarry on Hickory Street; and no action required at 1:51 a.m. on Norman Avenue.

    1:40 p.m.: Peace was restored after an assist of the Fire Department at Gloucester Auto Body on Maplewood Avenue.

    Well-being checks: An area search was negative at 1:09 p.m. at the Rose Baker Senior Center on Manuel F. Lewis Street; at 11:35 a.m. on Dublin Lane where peace was restored; and no action was required at 10:40 a.m. on Youngs Road.

    12:57 p.m.: Vandalism was reported at the O’Maley Middle School on Cherry Street.

    12:34 p.m.: Services were rendered for an abandoned vehicle on Laurel Street and Essex Avenue.

    12:32 p.m.: Police checked Jalapeno’s Restaurant, 88 Main St., where peace was restored.

    12:23 p.m.: Services were rendered for a parking complaint at Citizens Bank on Main Street.

    12:18 p.m.: No cruiser was available for a parking complaint on Cedarwood Road.

    11:41 p.m.: Police at the station took a report of harassment.

    9:56 a.m.: A crash involving a car hitting a pole was reported on Wheeler Street and Corliss Avenue. Police arrived to find a 2019 Volkswagen driven by a Gloucester man had struck the utility pole in the vicinity of 38 Wheeler St., snapping a secondary pole off of its base, according to the crash report. The power lines were transferred over to another pole and did not appear to be damaged. The car suffered major front and passenger side damage and had to be towed. National Grid and Verizon crews responded to make repairs. The driver refused medical attention from the Gloucester Fire Department.

    6:08 a.m.: No action was required for a report of a larceny on Youngs Road.

    5:37 a.m.: The West Parish Elementary School on Concord Street was checked and secured after a report of an alarm activation.

    1:18 a.m.: Peace was restored after a report of a suspicious person at Gloucester High on Leslie O. Johnson Road.

    12:31 a.m.: An area search did not turn up a report of a disturbance at Burnham’s Field on Burnham Street.

    Sunday, June 30

    Medical emergency calls: At 11:32 on Flume Road with the call referred to another agency; at 10:35 p.m. on Parsons Street with a patient taken to the hospital; at 2:17 p.m. at McPherson Park on Prospect Street, which was referred to another agency; at 12:38 a.m. on Essex Avenue; at 11:41 a.m. on Hesperus Avenue; at 6:50 a.m. at Addison Gilbert Hospital on Washington Street.

    11:15 p.m.: Police could not locate a report of a fight near the tavern on Western Avenue.

    11:02 p.m.: Police retrieved a hypodermic needle on Main Street.

    11:05 p.m. Peace was restored after suspicious activity on Wells Street and Commonwealth Avenue.

    Vehicle stops: At 9:03 p.m. on Exchange and Washington streets; at 12:49 a.m. on Rogers and Parson streets with a citation/warning issued; and at 12:26 a.m. at the intersection of Route 128 and Concord Street.

    9 p.m.: Debris was reported on Thatcher Road and Witham streets. The incident is under investigation.

    7:18 p.m.: A report of lost/found property was reported at the 7-Eleven on Washington Street.

    Parking complaints: No action was required for a 7:14 p.m. report on Foster and Washington streets; at 6:58 p.m., no cruiser was available for parked cars on Mason Street; at 6:43 p.m. at the Midori Restaurant at 32-36 Washington St.; at 5:09 p.m. on Essex Avenue and Julian Road; at 1:29 p.m. on Hovey Street; at 8 a.m. at the Eastern Point Lighthouse with no action required; at 7:18 a.m. on Prospect Street with services rendered; and at 6:40 a.m. on Granite Court with services rendered.

    Disturbances: At 6:50 p.m.: on Beach Court, was under investigation; at 3:15 p.m. at Wingaersheek Beach on Atlantic Street with peace restored; at 11:04 a.m. at Fisher Auto Parts, 14 Pearl St., with peace restored; and at 12:18 a.m. on Rogers and Main streets.

    6:17 p.m.: A car alarm activation report on Chestnut Street could not be located.

    4:48 p.m.: Traffic control was provided at Witham Street and Eastern Avenue.

    Crashes with property damage only: At 4:03 p.m. on Cross Street involving a 2024 Honda hitting a parked 2020 Subaru with no injuries reported and no tows required; at 1:52 p.m. on Eastern Avenue; at 11:54 a.m. with the crash under investigation; at 11:20 a.m. at the Richdale store at 410 Washington St. with services rendered;

    911 calls: At 3:56 p.m., two hang up calls from Washington Street; at 2:41 p.m. on Witham Street; and at 2:26 p.m. on Kennedy Road, with both calls referred to another agency.

    2:50 p.m.: Police provided assistance on Beach Court.

    1:05 p.m.: A vehicle was towed after police conducted parking enforcement at Wingaersheek Beach on Atlantic Street.

    11:18 a.m.: A false alarm activation was reported at City Hall on Dale Avenue.

    9:03 a.m.: No action was required for a report of gunshots on Washington Street.

    8:58 a.m.: The Drift Café at 3 Main St. was checked.

    6:55 a.m.: A building was checked after a report of a burglar alarm activation at Happy Valley Ventures on Great Republic Drive.

    6:25 a.m.: The Rose Baker Senior Center was checked and secured after an alarm activation.

    3:28 a.m.: A well-being check was made at 127 Eastern Ave., Building 2 (lower level).

    ESSEX

    Tuesday June 2

    7:26 a.m.: Assistance was provided to a citizen at a John Wise Avenue address.

    Monday July 1

    9:02 p.m.: A report was made about alleged theft at a John Wise Avenue address.

    8:28 p.m.: A report was made about suspicious activity at a Martin Street address.

    1:25 p.m.: A police investigation was conducted at a Lufkin Street address.

    10:59 a.m.: The Fire Department was dispatched to a Spring Street address.

    10:01 a.m.: A community policing call was conducted at a Shepard Memorial Drive address.

    9:39 a.m.: Assistance was provided to a citizen at a John Wise Avenue address.

    9:38 a.m.: Assistance was provided to a citizen at a John Wise Avenue address.

    9:21 a.m.: After a fire alarm was reported at a Grove Street address, the reported later proved to be false.

    MANCHESTER-BY-THE-SEA

    Monday July 1

    5:39 p.m.: A report was made about suspicious activity at White Beach.

    4:53 p.m.: After a motor vehicle stop at the intersection of Pine Street and Newport Park Road, a citation was issued.

    3:35 p.m.: A report was made about a motor vehicle crash on Beach Street.

    3:29 p.m.: A report was made about a motor vehicle crash on Beach Street.

    3:13 p.m.: A report was made about a motor vehicle crash on Lincoln Street.

    3:09 p.m.: After a motor vehicle stop on Bridge Street, a verbal warning was issued.

    2:47 p.m.: After a motor vehicle complaint on Tucks Point Road, someone was reportedly spoken to.

    2:14 p.m.: After a motor vehicle stop on Blossom Lane, a verbal warning was issued.

    1:59 p.m.: A report was made about lost and found property at a Central Street address.

    1:10 p.m.: A report was made about lost and found property at a Beach Street address.

    12:14 p.m.: A report was made about lost and found property at a Central Street address.

    10:59 a.m.: Manchester’s Channel Buoy 5 was reportedly checked and secured.

    8:39 a.m.: Assistance was provided to a citizen on Raymond Street.

    8:15 a.m.: Assistance was provided to a citizen at an address on Central Street.

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  • Beverly man charged with trafficking cocaine

    Beverly man charged with trafficking cocaine

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    BEVERLY — The execution of a search warrant Wednesday has resulted in the arrest of a 58-year-old Beverly man on charges of drug trafficking.

    On Wednesday evening, members of the Beverly Police Drug Control Unit, with assistance from Salem police and detectives, executed a search warrant at the Beverly home of David Davis, 58, and charged him with trafficking over 100 grams of cocaine.

    A search of Davis’ home and vehicle located approximately 119 grams of cocaine in baggies of various sizes, a digital scale, and $1,033 in cash.

    A Beverly police detective was bitten by a dog while serving the search warrant. He was taken to Beverly hospital for treatment of injuries to his arm.

    Davis was taken into custody at the scene and pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Thursday in Salem District Court. He is being held on $10,000 bond, and a probable cause hearing has been set for July 24 in Salem District Court.

    The search was a result of an ongoing investigation.

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    By Buck Anderson | Staff Writer

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  • Killer in 1987 Salem murder granted parole

    Killer in 1987 Salem murder granted parole

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    BEVERLY — A man who was serving a life sentence for a 1987 execution-style murder in Salem has been granted parole, despite the objections of the victim’s family and the Essex District Attorney’s office.

    Charles “Chucky” Doucette, who pleaded guilty to the second-degree murder of Raymond Bufalino, was granted parole by the state parole board on May 13.

    Doucette, who is now 64, shot Bufalino twice in the head as they were sitting in Bufalino’s car near Harmony Grove Cemetery on the Salem-Peabody line in 1987. He was also convicted of two violent home invasions while on bail awaiting trial, and was arrested when he was out on parole on two previous occasions.

    In its unanimous decision, the parole board said Doucette “has demonstrated a level of rehabilitation that would make his release compatible with the welfare of society.”

    In testimony before the parole board in March, Bufalino’s wife, Shauna O’Sullivan, pleaded with the board not to release Doucette.

    “With his tendency for violence I fear that he will reoffend,” she said in a video of the hearing. “I would hate to hear of another person having to live through the anguish and emotional turmoil that I went through. I believe he made his choice all those years ago and that he should be held accountable for his crimes.”

    O’Sullivan said her son was 9½ months old at the time his father was murdered.

    “I’m not angry or bitter,” she told the board. “I’m past that now, some 38 years later.

    “I feel I owe it to my husband’s memory to say something.”

    Bufalino’s sister and brother also spoke against giving Doucette parole. In a statement read by a victim service advocate at the parole hearing, Suzanne Maynard and Anthony Bufalino called Doucette a “menace to society and a true threat to society.

    “Look at what happened the first time he got paroled,” they said. “Nothing but trouble. So tell me, since being back in prison has he changed? I doubt it.”

    Essex County Assistant District Attorney Kayla Burns also spoke against parole, saying Doucette has continued to minimize his culpability and deflect blame.

    “He puts the blame on other people being in his life,” Burns said.

    During the hearing, Doucette, who has lived in Beverly and Peabody, said he has changed in his years in prison thanks to counseling and programs on subjects such as domestic violence and anger management.

    “I’ve always been bigger and stronger than most people. I always got my way through intimidation and being a total ass,” he told the parole board. “I’m not that person today. I have children. I have grandchildren. I have great-grandchildren. I don’t want them to make the mistakes I made. I want them to learn from the mistakes I made.”

    Doucette’s mother and sister spoke in favor of his release. His sister, Kim Malick, said Doucette has remained close to her children, who are now in their 20s.

    “He met my oldest daughter when she fit into the palm of his hand in prison,” Malik said. “I would love for him to have the opportunity to come home and see her.”

    Doucette had been granted parole twice previously and was arrested both times — once on a rape charge that was later dropped, and another on a domestic assault charge of which he was acquitted — and sent back to prison.

    In total, Doucette was serving seven life sentences for the murder, two counts of home invasion, two counts of armed robbery, and two counts of stealing by confining or putting a person in fear.

    He was denied parole in his last three attempts before the board granted parole in May.

    According to the board’s decision, Doucette has invested in his rehabilitation, including participating in domestic violence programs and counseling, and working and volunteering in the prison law library. “He has strong vocational skills and work ethic,” the board said.

    Doucette has maintained stable relationships with his family and has been sober since 1990, according to the board.

    He told the board he wanted to get his commercial driving license and move to Texas to be near his family.

    Bufalino, of Salem, worked for Doucette’s father at a Salem gas station and was considering a lawsuit after getting injured while working. Doucette was also angry that Bufalino owed him money, according to the parole board’s statement of the case.

    While seated together in Bufalino’s car, Doucette shot him once behind the right ear and once in the mouth. Bufalino’s body was found by his wife, who had gone to search for him. He was 30 years old.

    At the hearing, Doucette apologized to Bufalino’s family. At one point he broke down crying when he said that his own daughter no longer talks to him.

    “I know how bad it hurt me with my own daughter not being part of my life,” Doucette said. “I can’t put into words what I must have cost Ray’s family and his son especially.”

    After gaining parole, Doucette was scheduled to be released to a long-term residential program. Conditions included a 10 p.m. curfew, electronic monitoring at the parole officer’s discretion, a substance abuse treatment plan, domestic violence counseling, counseling for intimate partner/co-dependence relations, and no contact with the victim’s family.

    Staff Writer Paul Leighton can be reached at 978-338-2535, by email at pleighton@salemnews.com, or on Twitter at @heardinbeverly.

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    By Paul Leighton | Staff Writer

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  • Ethics Committee To Review Allegations Of Sexual Misconduct, Drug Use Against Matt Gaetz

    Ethics Committee To Review Allegations Of Sexual Misconduct, Drug Use Against Matt Gaetz

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    The House Ethics Committee, which has a long-running investigation into the conduct of Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), announced it is now also considering allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use in addition to previous claims that he accepted improper gifts and sought to obstruct government investigations. What do you think?

    “I’m appalled that my tax dollars are being used to pay the salaries of an Ethics committee.”

    Gloria Dupree, Brakes Cutter

    Nation’s White Liberals Announce They Have Successfully Completed Listening

    “I’m sure this was caused by peer pressure from all his teenage friends.”

    Najeem Wolff, Bedding Critic

    “At least give him a chance to pay off the committee members.”

    Theo Castine, Vitamin Pusher

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  • Authorities: Car meetup gatherings can be difficult to control

    Authorities: Car meetup gatherings can be difficult to control

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    Spontaneous “meetup” and “pop-up” gatherings in outdoor commercial areas and parking lots have dogged area police for the past several years.

    Seven people were shot at a pop-up gathering at 100 Lindberg Ave. in Methuen early Sunday. An eighth person suffered a head injury after falling while trying to flee. Authorities said two of the people injured were listed in critical condition.

    It’s not the first time a local car meetup has ended in violence. Earlier this spring, a person who went to a similar party on Glen Street in Lawrence was shot. Police learned about the shooting after the victim was taken to an area hospital for treatment.

    Fueled by social media posts and indicators, including Snapchat notifications, the meet-ups are attended by young people between roughly 16 and 20 years old. These people are too young to get into clubs, so they meet at outdoor locations to listen to music, dance, drink, vape and smoke marijuana, police said.

    Methuen Police Chief Scott McNamara said during a press conference Sunday morning that officers have been monitoring “hot spots” for these “spontaneous meetups.”

    Those attending are coming from all over Essex County “and beyond,” District Attorney Paul Tucker said during the press conference.

    Police sources said the meetups are primarily fueled through the Snapchat application, which allows messages and photos to be posted and later automatically deleted and locations to be “pinned” or illuminated on maps.

    Those who attend often drive souped-up or lowrider vehicles with powerful stereo speakers installed. Others are driving dirt bikes and all-terrain vehicles that are illegal to operate on streets and roads. These drivers often congregate in large groups, hoping it gives them anonymity despite the chaos these events often create, police said.

    In September, local police and state troopers seized 19 bikes and issued more than 50 citations in a crackdown prompted by complaints about reckless and dangerous operation of motorcycles, dirt bikes and off-road vehicles on public ways.

    Local police regularly collaborate with the Massachusetts State Police airwing to pinpoint the meetup gatherings and errant drivers, officers said.

    Loud music from pop-up gatherings triggers noise complaints from the immediate area and also from surrounding communities, police said. McNamara said he wanted to stress in the wake of Sunday morning’s incident “that there is no ongoing threat to the larger community.”

    “The threat is compartmentalized to the smaller population of people who continue to engage in this type of high-risk behavior,” the chief said.

    Staff Writer Jill Harmacinski may be contacted at jharmacinski@northofboston.com and followed on X/Twitter @EagleTribJill.

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    By Jill Harmacinski | Staff Writer

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  • Timeline of the case

    Timeline of the case

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    1990

    Newlywed Pam Smart, then a 22-year-old media coordinator at Winnacunnet High School in Hampton, New Hampshire, plots with her teenage students to have her husband, Gregg Smart, murdered. She has an affair with a student, William “Billy” Flynn of Seabrook, then 15, who shoots Gregg Smart in their Derry condominium.

    1991

    Pam Smart is convicted as an accomplice to first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole after a trial in Exeter, New Hampshire. The case gained international attention and was one of America’s first major cases involving a sexual affair between a school staff member and student. Flynn is later convicted of second-degree murder.

    1992

    Notable author Joyce Maynard writes the novel “To Die For” drawing from the Smart case.

    1994

    Pam Smart is transferred to Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in New York to serve her life sentence.

    1995

    “To Die For” inspires a film of the same name, starring Nicole Kidman and Joaquin Phoenix.

    2005

    Pam Smart is denied her first request at a commutation hearing that year.

    2010

    In interviews, Smart says she never wanted Gregg killed and never asked anyone to do it.

    2015

    Flynn is freed after serving a 25-year prison sentence.

    2019

    N.H. Governor’s Council votes 4-0 against Smart’s request for a commutation hearing.

    2022

    Smart appeals to N.H. Supreme Court, which dismisses her petition a year later.

    2024

    In a video sent to WMUR TV, for the first time at age 56, Smart says she accepts responsibility for Gregg’s murder and asks to have an “honest conversation” with Gov. Chris Sununu and the Executive Council.

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  • Police/Fire: Gloucester woman held, accused of driving stolen Audi while drugged

    Police/Fire: Gloucester woman held, accused of driving stolen Audi while drugged

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    After a report of an Audi SUV driving erratically in the vicinity of the Bass Avenue traffic lights and East Main Street just after 5 a.m.last Monday, police arrested a 43-year-old Gloucester woman on charges of larceny of a motor vehicle; driving under the influence of drugs, a third offense; driving with a suspended license; negligent driving; a marked lanes violation; and receiving a stolen motor vehicle.

    Kimberly A. Ahearn, of 11 Chestnut St., Apt. 4, was ordered held without bail during her arraignment last Monday in Gloucester District Court. She was scheduled for a detention hearing this Monday, May 20, according to the district court’s clerk’s office.

    The person reporting the blue Audi SUV being driven erratically said it was “flying,” and believed it to be going in excess of 100 mph. The following driver said the Audi appeared to attempt to evade him, driving so fast and erratically he was no longer able to safely follow it.

    Earlier that morning, at 4:15, police had gone to Edgemoor Road for a report of a woman ringing a homeowner’s doorbell, with the resident reporting the woman appeared “hammered.” This caller said the woman came from what appeared to be a dark-colored Audi SUV.

    The Audi was reported to have gone down East Main Street toward Zeke’s Restaurant. Officers spotted the vehicle and dispatch informed them the vehicle came back to an address on Eastern Point Boulevard. Police followed the Audi as it weaved down the road and nearly struck the curb. Police stopped the car just before the stop sign heading toward Bass Avenue.

    Police approached the driver and noted a strong odor of heavy brake use coming from the SUV. The officer reported recognizing the driver as she had several run-ins with police recently and in the past, the report said. She reportedly laughed hysterically when the officer tried to speak with her and eventually the officer was able to confirm her identity. When asked if the Audi belonged to her, she said she came out of her apartment on Chestnut Street, saw the vehicle with its keys in the cup holder, and took it, the report said. Police informed her this was a crime, which she denied and said she needed the vehicle to get around to do errands. Ahearn said she did not have her license on her and it was confirmed her license was suspended.

    When she got out to take field sobriety tests, police noticed she was not wearing shoes. Police said she showed signs of impairment while taking the tests. Police contacted the Audi’s owner who told police she did not give anyone permission to use her car. The owner was given a ride to the scene where she saw damage to the Audi’s front driver’s side bumper that had not been there before. Police subsequently arrested Ahearn.

    — Ethan Forman

    In other news taken from the logs of Cape Ann’s police and fire departments:

    GLOUCESTER

    Tuesday, May 14

    9:08 p.m.: Debris in the roadway was located on Rockland Street.

    6:40 p.m.: Police responded to a report from a Viking Street homeowner who said someone in a maroon sedan pulled in her driveway and started taking pictures of her house. She told police she came out from behind her vehicle and approached the man who told her he was taking pictures for FEMA. The man did not show any ID and left abruptly. She was unable to get the plate number of the sedan. Police were given a description of a man who was large in stature wearing a black shirt with the letters “OSI” on it. Police advised the woman to lock her doors and call if the vehicle returned.

    3:23 p.m.: Police responded to a disturbance at Good Harbor Beach on Thatcher Road.

    Crashes with property damage only were reported at East Main and Wall streets at 11:17 a.m., and on Grant Circle on Route 128 north at 2:40 p.m.

    12:14 p.m.: Peace was restored after a caller reported juveniles drinking on Good Harbor Beach on Thatcher Road.

    11:06 a.m.: Fraud was reported on Elizabeth Road.

    Monday, May 13

    10:42 p.m.: Police responded to a report of a disabled vehicle in the roadway on Concord Street.

    6:20 p.m.: A 27-year-old Gloucester resident was arrested on charges of possession of a Class B drug, larceny under $1,200, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest after police responded to Oak and Warner streets for report of a person hitting another person with a bat.  Police also filed a complaint against a 53-year-old on a charge of assault with a dangerous weapon.

    5:29 p.m.: Police planned to file a criminal complaint against a Gloucester resident in relation to a report of past harassment/domestic assault and battery.

    4:24 p.m.: Police assisted the Fire Department with an active fire on East Main Street. The road was closed at Chapel Street. Officers arrived to find an outside structure fire. Traffic was detoured around the fire site and the Fire Department responded to extinguish it.

    3:35 p.m.: A caller from Staten Street reported his neighbor has a camera intentionally facing his backyard.

    Crashes with property damage only were reported on Grant Circle at 11:23 a.m., Prospect Street at 12:03 p.m., and Route 128 northbound at 3:19 p.m..

    10:57 a.m.: Police took a report of credit card fraud.

    10:26 a.m.: Police responded to a disturbance at the 1-4, C-2 lot on Rogers Street.

    4:16 a.m.: A disturbance was reported on Edgemoor Road.

    ESSEX

    Thursday May 16

    10:46 p.m.: Suspicious activity was reported at a Centennial Grove Road address.

    7:51 p.m.: A police investigation was conducted at an Essex Avenue address.

    Individuals were assisted on Western Avenue at 8:44 a.m., John Wise Avenue at 4:31 p.m. and Harry Homans Drive at 5:17 p.m.

    11:51 a.m.: A call was made for a community policing event at a Martin Street address.

    MANCHESTER

    Thursday, May 16

    6:23 p.m.: After a motor vehicle stop on School Street, a written warning was issued.

    2:25 p.m.: A report was made about lost and found property at a Beach Street address.

    1:49 p.m.: A disturbance was reported at a School Street address.

    Individuals were assisted on Highland Avenue at 11:53 a.m., and Central Street at 8:18 a.m. and 1:10 p.m.

    Police investigations were conducted on Crooked Lane at 9:41 a.m. and Federal Street at 11:40 a.m.

    9:40 a.m.: A fire alarm, reported at a Bridge Street address, was later determined to be a false alarm.

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  • LAPD officer from scandal-plagued gang unit is charged with thefts of brass knuckles, knives

    LAPD officer from scandal-plagued gang unit is charged with thefts of brass knuckles, knives

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    A Los Angeles police officer was charged Thursday with stealing brass knuckles and other weapons and tampering with evidence during enforcement stops carried out by an scandal-plagued gang unit, prosecutors said.

    The officer, Alan Carrillo, has been charged with two counts of altering, planting or concealing evidence as a peace office and three counts of petty theft, according to a news release from the office of Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón.

    Carrillo was previously a member of the Mission Division Gang Enforcement Detail, which came under suspicion last year for a range of misconduct, including unlawful traffic stops in which items were taken from motorists.

    Carrillo, 32, is being held on $100,000 bond; an arraignment date has not yet been set. It is unclear whether he had retained an attorney.

    LAPD Chief Dominic Choi said that he was “disappointed” by the allegations against Carrillo, who he said has been relieved of duty.

    “If these allegations are supported and are true, it’s absolutely not tolerated,” Choi said in a phone interview. “This type of behavior is where the public complains about and we lose public trust.”

    In the meantime, he said, the department would continue cooperating with the D.A.’s office.

    Carrillo is the first of several Mission gang unit members expected to be charged in connection with the still-unfolding investigation, according to a source who requested anonymity to discuss cases that remain open.

    Prosecutors allege the misconduct by Carrillo occurred between April and June of 2023 — after the onset of an internal affairs investigation into the gang unit over officers turning off their body-worn cameras. The LAPD has said the FBI is also investigating for potential constitutional violations.

    “The public’s trust and the integrity of law enforcement are undermined when officers tamper with evidence and steal items from the public,” Gascón said in the news release. “Police officers are entrusted with upholding justice and protecting our communities, and any breach of that trust is unacceptable.”

    According to prosecutors, Carrillo stole personal items, including brass knuckles and knives, from people he detained in a series of pedestrian and traffic stops on April 19 and June 15, 2023.

    “Carrillo was allegedly inconsistent while documenting these items in his reports, and the taken items were never accounted for,” the news release said.

    Law enforcement sources who requested anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation previously detailed a similar incident to The Times, in which an officer allegedly drew a gun on a person who had been stopped and took the person’s property. One source described the item as a knife with brass knuckles on the handle.

    Prosecutors have debated, the sources said, about whether to charge the officer with robbery, which is defined as as the taking of property with the use or threat of force, rather than theft.

    Authorities have identified as many as 350 criminal cases that are potentially compromised because they relied on the testimony of or evidence gathered by two Mission gang officers — one of whom is now believed to be Carrillo, the sources said.

    It’s not clear whether the pair are the same two Mission gang officers who have been sent to face a disciplinary panel called a board of rights, indicating the department is seeking to terminate them for misconduct. A department spokeswoman, when previously contacted by The Times, denied that Carrillo was one of the officers.

    The gang unit’s alleged misconduct came to light after a traffic stop in December 2022, when a motorist filed a complaint with a neighboring division, claiming the officers were rude to her and had illegally searched her vehicle. An internal affairs detective assigned to the case later noticed discrepancies in the involved officers’ account of the stop.

    The department’s inquiry widened to include stops carried out by others in the unit, uncovering numerous instances in which officers were late to activate their body cameras or otherwise failed to document the encounter, in violation of department policy, officials have said.

    Then-Chief Michel Moore ordered the unit disbanded temporarily last August, with its remaining officers assigned home or placed on restrictive duties that take them off the streets, according to the department. The unit has since resumed its operations with new officers.

    LAPD officials publicly denied that the problem of officers flouting the body camera policy went beyond the Mission unit, despite an internal report that suggested the practice was far more common. The department has since tightened its policy, increasing random reviews of footage to check for compliance and misconduct.

    Carrillo is a six-year veteran of the LAPD. Like several other members of the Mission gang unit, he transferred to Mission from the neighboring Foothill Division.

    Last December, prosecutors dismissed a gun possession charge against Raphael DeLeon, who was stopped by Carrillo and other Mission gang officers on May 28 in the area of Woodman Avenue and Roscoe Boulevard.

    DeLeon’s attorney, Ninaz Saffari, said Carrillo wrote in his report that he and his partners pulled DeLeon over for swerving. The officers discovered DeLeon’s license was invalid and that he had a prior misdemeanor conviction for firearm possession, Saffari said. But without obtaining a warrant, Saffari said, the officers ordered DeLeon and a female passenger out of the car while they performed a “protective sweep” of the vehicle.

    The search uncovered a ghost gun, which was later destroyed, police said.

    In an interview Thursday, Saffari told The Times that the officers’ actions seemed coordinated, as they turned on their body cameras simultaneously, but only after asking for DeLeon’s license several minutes after the stop began — despite a department policy that says officers should record the entirety of all public encounters. None of those details were mentioned in Carrillo’s report, she said.

    “He lied all over the report, and not in a smart way, either. Basically he contradicted himself in his own report and claimed they had the body-worn video on the entire time,” Saffari said.

    The Mission scandal has brought renewed attention to the department’s oversight of its specialized units, which have been plagued with issues over the years. In 2020, the reputation of the vaunted Metropolitan Division was tarnished after some officers were accused of deliberately misidentifying people as gang members in department records of field interviews. The fallout led to several being criminally charged, although most of those cases were later dismissed.

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  • A timeline of Elijah McClain's death and the trials of the officers and paramedics accused of wrongdoing | CNN

    A timeline of Elijah McClain's death and the trials of the officers and paramedics accused of wrongdoing | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Three police officers and two paramedics have faced juries on charges of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide stemming from the 2019 death of Elijah McClain in Aurora, Colorado.

    But the path to court was anything but straightforward.

    McClain, a 23-year-old massage therapist, was confronted by police officers on August 24, 2019, after someone reported seeing a person wearing a ski mask who “looks sketchy.” After officers wrestled him to the ground and paramedics injected him with a potent sedative, McClain suffered a heart attack on the way to a hospital and died days later, authorities said.

    Prosecutors initially declined to bring charges in his death, but the case received renewed scrutiny following the nationwide Black Lives Matter protests in spring 2020. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis appointed a special prosecutor to reexamine the case, and in 2021 a grand jury indicted three officers and two paramedics in McClain’s death.

    The defendants have now faced juries in three separate trials in 2023, to different results. Officer Randy Roedema was found guilty of criminally negligent homicide and assault, while officers Jason Rosenblatt and Nathan Woodyard were acquitted of all charges. Paramedics Jeremy Cooper and Peter Cichuniec will soon learn their fate.

    Here’s a timeline of McClain’s death, the resulting investigation, the protests that brought renewed attention to the case and the criminal trials.

    Three White officers stopped McClain in Aurora on August 24, 2019, while he was walking home from a convenience store in the Denver suburb after 10:30 p.m., according to a police overview of the incident.

    Carrying iced tea in a plastic bag, McClain eventually was in a physical struggle with the officers after, police say, he resisted arrest.

    Early in the encounter, an officer told McClain to stop, and when McClain kept walking, two officers grabbed his arms, the overview reads. McClain says, “Let me go … I’m an introvert, please respect the boundaries that I am speaking,” according to body camera footage from one of the officers.

    After an officer asked him to cooperate so they could talk, McClain tells officers he had been trying to pause his music so he could hear them, and tells them to let him go, the overview reads.

    Eventually, one officer is heard telling another that McClain tried to grab his gun.

    All three officers tackled McClain to the ground, and Woodyard placed him in a carotid hold – in which an officer uses their biceps and forearm to cut off blood flow to a subject’s brain – police said in the overview document. McClain briefly became unconscious, and Woodyard released the hold, the document reads, citing the officers.

    Body camera video of the encounter shows McClain at some point saying he couldn’t breathe.

    Because the hold was used, department policy compelled the officers to call the fire department for help, authorities said. Aurora Fire Rescue paramedics arrived and saw McClain on the ground and resisting officers, the overview says.

    Paramedic Cooper diagnosed McClain with “excited delirium” and decided to inject him with the powerful sedative ketamine, the overview says.

    McClain suffered a heart attack on the way to a hospital, authorities said. Three days later, he was declared brain-dead and taken off life support.

    The Adams County coroner’s office submitted an autopsy report on November 7, stating the cause and manner of death were “undetermined.” The report cited the scene investigation and examination findings as factors leading to that conclusion.

    Roughly two weeks later, the Adams County district attorney, Dave Young, declined to file criminal charges against any of the first responders. In a letter to the Aurora police chief on November 22, Young referred to the undetermined cause of death as one of the factors.

    “The evidence does not support a conclusion that Mr. McClain’s death was the direct result of any particular action of any particular individual,” Young wrote. “Under the circumstances of this investigation, it is improbable for the prosecution to prove cause of death beyond a reasonable doubt to a jury of twelve. Consequently, the evidence does not support the prosecution of a homicide.”

    Also on November 22, after the district attorney’s decision, Aurora police released the officers’ body camera videos.

    “We certainly recognize and understand that this has been an incredibly devastating and difficult process for them over these last several weeks,” then-Police Chief Nick Metz said.

    A police review board concluded that the use of force against McClain, including the carotid hold, “was within policy and consistent with training.”

    City officials announced on February 6 they would hire an independent expert to review the case.

    George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, was fatally restrained by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25. Bystander video of the encounter sets off outrage and leads to widespread protests, including in Aurora, under the Black Lives Matter movement.

    In early June, the three officers who confronted McClain were assigned to administrative duties, primarily due to safety concerns because police and city employees were receiving threats, a police spokesperson said.

    On June 9, Aurora police and city officials announced changes to police policies, including a ban on carotid holds.

    Ten days later, Gov. Polis signed police accountability legislation into law, requiring all officers to use activated body cameras or dashboard cameras during service calls or officer-initiated public interactions. The measure also barred officers from using chokeholds.

    Polis also signed an executive order appointing Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser to investigate McClain’s case, the governor announced on June 25. More than 2 million people had signed a petition urging officials to conduct a new investigation.

    Demonstrators carried a giant placard during protests on June 27, 2020, outside the police department in Aurora.

    On June 27, protesters in the Aurora area gathered on Highway 225, temporarily shutting it down in a demonstration calling for justice in McClain’s death.

    On June 30, the US attorney’s office for Colorado, the US Department of Justice’s civil rights division and the FBI’s Denver division announced they have been reviewing the case since 2019 for potential federal civil rights violations.

    Aurora police on July 3 fired two officers who they say snapped selfie photographs at McClain’s memorial site, located where he was killed, while they were on duty.

    Officer Rosenblatt also was fired, with police saying he received the photo in a text and replied, “ha ha,” and did not notify supervisors. The photos were taken on October 20, 2019.

    A third officer seen in the photos resigned days before a pre-disciplinary hearing, police said.

    On July 20, the Aurora City Council approved a resolution for an independent investigation of McClain’s death to proceed.

    A mural of Elijah McClain, painted by Thomas

    The McClain family filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city of Aurora on August 11.

    “Aurora’s unconstitutional conduct on the night of August 24, 2019, is part of a larger custom, policy, and practice of racism and brutality, as reflected by its conduct both before and after its murder of Elijah McClain, a young Black man,” the lawsuit stated.

    On the same day, Aurora city officials announced the police department would undergo a “comprehensive review” by external experts on civil rights and public safety.

    Aurora city officials released a 157-page report on February 22, detailing the findings of the independent investigation it commissioned into McClain’s death.

    The report asserted that officers did not have the legal basis to stop, frisk or restrain McClain. It also criticized emergency medical responders’ decision to inject him with ketamine and rebuked the police department for failing to seriously question the officers after the death.

    01 elijah mcclain

    Elijah McClain’s mom has watched the bodycam video ‘over and over’

    Sheneen McClain, Elijah’s mother, cried while reading the report.

    “It was overwhelming knowing my son was innocent the entire time and just waiting on the facts and proof of it,” Sheneen McClain told CNN at the time. “My son’s name is cleared now. He’s no longer labeled a suspect. He is actually a victim.”

    Elijah McClain’s father said the report only confirmed what the family already knew. “The Aurora police and medics who murdered my son must be held accountable,” LaWayne Mosley said after the report’s release.

    In response to the report, city officials began work on establishing an independent monitor to scrutinize police discipline, Aurora City Manager Jim Twombly said.

    “I believe the investigative team has identified the issue that is at the root of the case: the failure of a system of accountability,” Twombly said after the report’s release.

    On September 1, the state attorney general announced a grand jury indicted officers Roedema, Rosenblatt and Woodyard and paramedics Cichuniec and Cooper.

    Each was charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide as part of a 32-count indictment.

    The five people charged in the case are (clockwise, from top left): Randy Roedema, Nathan Woodyard, Jeremy Cooper, Peter Cichuniec and Jason Rosenblatt.

    Roedema and Rosenblatt also were indicted on one count of assault and one count of crime of violence. Cooper and Cichuniec were further indicted on three counts of assault and six counts of crime of violence.

    “Our goal is to seek justice for Elijah McClain, for his family and friends and for our state,” Weiser, the state attorney general, said. “In so doing, we advance the rule of law and our commitment that everyone is accountable and equal under the law.”

    The charges brought McClain’s parents to tears. “I started crying because it’s been two years,” Sheneen McClain said. “It’s been a long journey.”

    “Nothing will bring back my son, but I am thankful that his killers will finally be held accountable,” Mosley, his father, said through the attorney’s release.

    On September 15, the Colorado attorney general’s office released a 112-page report that found the Aurora police had a pattern of practicing racially biased policing, excessive force, and had failed to record legally required information when interacting with the community. The report also found the police department used force against people of color almost 2.5 times more than against White people.

    The state investigation also revealed the fire department had a pattern and practice of administering ketamine illegally, the attorney general’s office said.

    The state attorney general’s office and the city of Aurora agreed November 16 on terms of a consent decree to address the issues raised in the office’s report two months earlier.

    On November 19, the city finalized an agreement to pay $15 million to McClain’s family to settle the federal civil rights lawsuit.

    The cause of death in McClain’s case was changed in light of evidence from the grand jury’s investigation, according to an amended autopsy report publicly released September 23.

    The initial autopsy report had said the cause of death was undetermined. But the amended report listed “complications of ketamine administration following forcible restraint” as the cause of death.

    The manner of death remained undetermined in the amended report.

    “Simply put, this dosage of ketamine was too much for this individual and it resulted in an overdose, even though the blood ketamine level was consistent with a ‘therapeutic’ concentration,” pathologist Dr. Stephen Cina wrote in the amended autopsy report. “I believe that Mr. McClain would most likely be alive but for the administration of ketamine.”

    Cina could not determine whether the carotid hold contributed to the death, but “I have seen no evidence that injuries inflicted by the police contributed,” he wrote.

    On September 20, Roedema and Rosenblatt, two of the officers who arrested McClain, stood trial on charges of manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and assault.

    Prosecutors said they used excessive force on McClain, failed to follow their training and misled paramedics about his health status. In contrast, defense attorneys placed blame on McClain for resisting arrest and on the paramedics who treated him.

    Roedema was found guilty of criminally negligent homicide and assault. Rosenblatt was acquitted of all charges.

    On October 16, the third officer, Woodyard, stood trial on charges of reckless manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. Like in the earlier trial, prosecutors argued he used excessive force on McClain, while defense attorneys argued the force was necessary and blamed the paramedics.

    Woodyard was found not guilty on all charges.

    McClain’s mother Sheneen told CNN affiliate KUSA she no longer has faith in the justice system after Woodyard’s acquittal.

    “It lets us down, not just people of color, it lets down everybody,” she said. “They don’t do the right thing, they always do the bare minimum.”

    Cooper and Cichuniec, the paramedics who treated McClain, stood trial on charges of reckless manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.

    Both paramedics testified they believed McClain was experiencing “excited delirium” during his confrontation with Aurora police officers, and their treatment protocol was to administer a ketamine dose they believed was safe and would not kill a person.

    Prosecutors said the paramedics “didn’t take any accountability for any single one of their actions” while testifying at their trial.

    “They both stood there while Elijah got worse and worse and did nothing,” Colorado Solicitor General Shannon Stevenson said. “They are both responsible.”

    Cooper and Cichuniec were found guilty of criminally negligent homicide Friday.

    Cichuniec was also found guilty of a second-degree unlawful administration of drugs assault charge.

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  • Controversial Police Encounters Fast Facts | CNN

    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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  • Jury begins deliberations in trial of officers charged in Elijah McClain’s death | CNN

    Jury begins deliberations in trial of officers charged in Elijah McClain’s death | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A jury began deliberations Tuesday in the trial of two Aurora, Colorado, police officers who arrested Elijah McClain, an unarmed 23-year-old Black man, who died after he was subdued by police and injected with ketamine by paramedics in 2019.

    The two officers, Randy Roedema and Jason Rosenblatt, each face charges including reckless manslaughter and have pleaded not guilty.

    Jurors were given the cases at around 4:30 p.m. local time and spent about half an hour in the jury room before being dismissed for the day. The 12 jurors will return at 8:30 a.m. local time Wednesday to resume deliberations.

    During closing arguments of the trial on Tuesday, prosecutors said the two officers used excessive force, failed to follow their training and misled paramedics about his health status.

    “They were trained. They were told what to do. They were given instructions. They had opportunities, and they failed to choose to de-esclate violence when they needed to, they failed to listen to Mr. McClain when they needed to, and they failed Mr. McClain,” prosecutor Duane Lyons said in court.

    Rosenblatt was fired by the police department in 2020 and Roedema remains suspended. Roedema and Rosenblatt have pleaded not guilty to charges of reckless manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and assault causing serious bodily injury in connection with McClain’s death.

    The case stems from the events of August 24, 2019, when officers responded to a call about a “suspicious person” wearing a ski mask, according to the indictment. The officers confronted McClain, a 23-year-old  massage therapist, musician and animal lover who was walking home from a convenience store carrying a plastic bag with iced tea.

    In an interaction captured on body camera footage, police wrestled McClain to the ground and placed him in a carotid hold, and paramedics later injected him with the powerful sedative ketamine. He suffered a heart attack on the way to the hospital and was pronounced dead three days later.

    Prosecutors initially declined to bring charges, but the case received renewed scrutiny following the nationwide Black Lives Matter protests in spring 2020. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis appointed a special prosecutor to reexamine the case, and in 2021 a grand jury indicted three officers and two paramedics in McClain’s death.

    In closing arguments, the prosecution played body-camera footage of the arrest and said the footage showed officers used excessive force for no reason. McClain also repeatedly said he couldn’t breathe, yet the officers did not tell that to anyone on the scene.

    Roedema and Rosenblatt’s joint trial began last month and featured testimony from Aurora law enforcement officers who responded to the scene as well as from doctors who analyzed how McClain died. The defense did not call any witnesses.

    In opening statements, prosecutors argued the officers used excessive force against McClain in the form of two carotid holds. The officers then failed to check his vital signs, even as he threw up in his ski mask and repeatedly said “I can’t breathe,” according to the prosecution.

    Dr. Robert Mitchell Jr., a forensic pathologist who reviewed McClain’s autopsy, testified the cause of death was “complications following acute ketamine administration during violent subdual and restraint by law enforcement, emergency response personnel.” He testified there was a “direct causal link” between the officers’ actions and McClain’s death.

    The defense argued the carotid holds were appropriate because McClain was physically resisting. Defense attorneys also argued there was no evidence the officers’ actions led to his death, and instead placed the blame on the paramedics’ decision to inject McClain with a dose of ketamine too large for his size.

    Dr. David Beuther, a pulmonary critical care physician, testified on cross-examination he believed McClain would not have died if the paramedics had recognized his issues and intervened.

    A third officer and two paramedics who responded to the scene are set to go on trial in the coming weeks. They have also pleaded not guilty.

    In 2021, the city of Aurora settled a civil rights lawsuit with the McClain family for $15 million, and the Aurora police and fire departments  agreed to a consent decree to address a pattern of racial bias found by a state investigation.

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  • Ohio police release video of fatal police shooting of pregnant 21-year-old Ta’Kiya Young | CNN

    Ohio police release video of fatal police shooting of pregnant 21-year-old Ta’Kiya Young | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Newly released police body camera footage shows an officer firing through the windshield of a pregnant woman’s car after she was accused of shoplifting at a grocery store in a Columbus, Ohio, suburb last week.

    Ta’kiya Young, 21, was later pronounced dead at a hospital.

    The video shows a Blendon Township police officer approaching Young’s driver’s side window outside a Kroger in Westerville and repeatedly telling her to get out of the car.

    A second officer, who is also wearing a body camera, then steps in front of the vehicle.

    “They said you stole something….get out of the car,” the officer at the window says, telling Young not to leave.

    “I didn’t steal sh*t,” Young can be heard saying as the two argue back and forth with her window slightly ajar.

    Police previously said a grocery store employee had notified police officers a woman who had stolen bottles of alcohol was in a car parked outside the store.

    “Get out of the f**king car,” the officer standing in front of the car says, with his gun drawn and his left hand braced on the hood of the car, the video shows.

    Young can then be seen turning the wheel of the car as the officer next to her window continues to urge her to exit the vehicle.

    “Get out of the f**king car,” the officer in front of the car repeats as the vehicle begins to move slowly forward, the video shows.

    A few seconds elapse and then the officer standing in front of the hood fires into the vehicle.

    After the shot is fired, the officers run alongside the car yelling at the driver to stop.

    The car rolls onto a sidewalk between two brick columns and into a building.

    Police then call for backup and work to break the window to get to the driver, who appears to be slumped over to one side.

    The body camera footage released by the Blendon Township Police Department blurred the faces of the officers. The footage is also edited and spliced together.

    Young was pregnant at the time of her death and the fetus did not survive, the Franklin County Coroner’s Office previously said. Her cause of death is pending.

    Police say the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is conducting an independent investigation of the incident.

    The BCI probe could take “several weeks or months,” according to Steve Irwin, the press secretary for the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, which includes BCI. After investigators finish the examination, their findings will be forwarded to the county prosecutor who will make a decision on pursuing any potential charges, he said.

    “Having viewed the footage in its entirety, it is undeniable that Ta’Kiya’s death was not only avoidable, but also a gross misuse of power and authority,” lawyers representing Young’s family said in a news release.

    “After seeing the video footage of her death, this is clearly a criminal act and the family demands a swift indictment of this officer for the killings of both Ta’Kiyah and her unborn daughter,” they said.

    Police say the officers haven’t “waived their rights as victims” in this incident and are withholding their identities, according to a news release from Blendon Township police.

    “When Ms. Young drove her car directly at Officer #1, striking him, Officer #1 became a victim of attempted vehicular assault,” police said in a news release.

    “When Ms. Young pulled away from Officer #2 while his hand and part of his arm was still in the driver’s side window, Officer #2 became a victim of misdemeanor assault,” they said in the news release.

    Authorities said the officers worked quickly to help Young after the shooting, saying EMS was called 10 seconds after she was taken out of the car. The officer who fired the shot also grabbed a trauma kit and applied a chest seal to her wound in under two minutes after she was removed from the vehicle.

    The officer who fired his weapon is still on administrative leave, but the second officer who was at the window is back at work. Chief John Belford said after he reviewed the videos, he didn’t see a reason to keep the second officer on leave.

    “I returned him to duty, as our staffing is already very limited,” he said, noting both officers would still be subject to a “full administrative review” after the BCI investigation.

    “Last week, there was a tragedy in our community,” Belford said in a statement. Due to potential pending litigation, he says the department is “very limited in what we can say.”

    “We’re being as transparent and forthcoming as we can, given these significant legal constraints.” He cited an ongoing BCI investigation and potential “personnel actions” regarding the officer who opened fire.

    The local police union said others would make any decisions regarding whether either officer is charged in the incident. But, Brian Steel, executive vice president of Fraternal Order of Police Capital City Lodge #9, noted “a weapon is not just a firearm. A weapon is also a 2000-pound vehicle that somebody puts in gear and is driving at you.”

    “I understand why it could be justified but, again, I don’t make that decision,” Steel said at a news conference Friday, adding he was assuming the officer believed he could not get out of the way of the vehicle quickly enough.

    The Blendon Township Police Department’s use of force policy says when it’s “feasible,” officers should take “reasonable steps” to get out of the way of an approaching vehicle instead of firing a weapon.

    “An officer should only discharge a firearm at a moving vehicle or its occupants when the officer reasonably believes there are no other reasonable means available to avert the imminent threat of the vehicle, or if deadly force other than the vehicle is directed at the officer or others,” the policy says.

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  • 'Change is necessary': Coast Guard pledges reforms after mishandling reports of sexual assault | CNN Politics

    'Change is necessary': Coast Guard pledges reforms after mishandling reports of sexual assault | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    The US Coast Guard, rocked by allegations that its leaders for years concealed damning information about sexual assaults and other serious misconduct, released a highly critical report Wednesday acknowledging it had “failed to keep our people safe,” while vowing to make reforms that would better protect them.

    After spending 90 days speaking with hundreds of service members, reading through more than 170 written comments and “sifting through a mountain of data,” an internal review team said it had heard a resounding message from the workforce that “these failures and lack of accountability are entirely unacceptable” and that leaders “must do something about it.”

    “Too many Coast Guard members are not experiencing the safe, empowering workplace they expect and deserve (and) trust in Coast Guard leadership is eroding,” the authors wrote in the roughly 100-page report, noting that they had heard from victims of sexual assault and harassment stretching from the 1960s to the current day who “expressed deep rooted feelings of pain and a loss of trust in the organization.”

    The scathing internal review was launched after CNN exposed a secret criminal investigation, dubbed Operation Fouled Anchor, which found that serious misconduct had been ignored and, at times, covered up by high-ranking officials. It wasn’t until CNN started asking questions about Fouled Anchor this spring that Coast Guard leaders rushed to officially brief Congress on the scandal — leading to outrage on both sides of the aisle, multiple government investigations and proposed legislation.

    CNN’s coverage of Fouled Anchor and subsequent reporting revealing that Coast Guard leaders declined to prosecute a retired officer for sexual misconduct “have led people to experience feelings ranging from disappointment to outrage,” the report said.

    “For so many victims, there are even deeper levels of broken trust: in leaders who failed them in preventing and responding to sexual violence; in a military justice system with antiquated legal definitions of rape; in non-existent support programs for those impacted prior to 2000,” it stated. While the report outlined a number of changes made in the last two decades, it also acknowledged that reforms to date have not been enough to prevent assaults and properly support victims.

    The review did not seek to hold past perpetrators or officials involved with the Fouled Anchor cover-up accountable, saying multiple government investigations launched by Congress remained ongoing.

    Instead, it looked to the future and focused on preventing future assaults and other misconduct, describing the report as a “road map aimed at improving” the agency’s culture.

    Along with the report’s findings, the Coast Guard announced a series of actions directed by the agency’s leader, Commandant Linda Fagan, through recommended changes to everything from training and victim support services to strengthening processes for holding perpetrators accountable.

    “This report acknowledges the Coast Guard’s failures and uses them to inform a way ahead, rebuild trust, and set the baseline for organizational growth,” the document states, noting that many of the actions require additional funding and authority to implement.

    Among the reforms are the creation of a mentorship program for victims to help them navigate the aftermath of a sexual assault, the development of a “safe to report” policy so that victims are not penalized for collateral minor misconduct (such as alcohol use at the time of an incident), more secure locks on Coast Guard Academy bedrooms and improved oversight of the school and its cadets – including a new chain of command for the academy head.

    Fagan also directed officials to better keep tabs on the academy’s hallmark “Swab Summer” training program, which is run by upperclassmen at the academy, and to consider strengthening policies that allow the agency to reduce pension payments for those found to have committed misconduct.

    The report was the Coast Guard’s most expansive response to the growing criticism of its handling of misconduct. And while it was being released publicly, and members of Congress had been briefed on its contents earlier, the report was specifically addressed to “U.S. Coast Guard workforce, past and present.”

    “You made it clear that you want and expect our Service to confront this issue and make it better. You want our Service to deliver meaningful change,” the report stated. “Whether you’re a member who has a story to share — or the shipmate standing beside them — this is our time. Let’s get it right.”

    While the Coast Guard is focused on the future, members of Congress are still determined to get answers about past failures as well.

    “This new report still does not hold anyone accountable for past failures—particularly those at the Coast Guard Academy,” said Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, where the Coast Guard Academy is located. Murphy and other lawmakers have continued to slam the agency for its failure to be transparent about sexual assault and other misconduct. “It does lay out a modest plan to improve oversight, training, and support for survivors, but a report is nothing more than paper until concrete steps are taken.”

    Democratic Senators Maria Cantwell and Richard Blumenthal also criticized how, despite calling this effort an “accountability” review, the Coast Guard still failed to hold anyone to task for the mishandling of sexual assault cases. Cantwell reiterated the importance of an independent investigation, saying she is looking forward to seeing the results of the probe currently being conducted by the Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General.

    Earlier this year, CNN reported how former Commandant Karl Schultz and his second-in-command, Vice Commandant Charles Ray, failed to act on plans to share the findings of Fouled Anchor with Congress and the public. Ray resigned from his position at a Coast Guard Academy leadership institute soon after, but no other current or former Coast Guard officials have publicly faced any consequences.

    “Current Coast Guard personnel are being told to trust their leadership, but their leaders aren’t holding predecessors accountable,” K. Denise Rucker Krepp, a former Coast Guard officer and former chief counsel of the Maritime Administration wrote in a recent letter to Congress, describing how she had attended a “community healing” event sponsored by the Coast Guard Academy Alumni Association last month.

    “Before my first cup of coffee I learned about a woman who was raped shortly after joining the service. She never told her parents about the crime,” she wrote. “While washing my hands in the bathroom, another woman shared that she was raped while attending the Coast Guard Academy in the late 1990s. Another woman shared that she was gang-raped by three students at the school and had spent two-thirds of her life on medication because of the crimes that occurred almost 40 years ago.”

    Next week, more survivors of sexual assault and harassment at the Coast Guard Academy are slated to share their experiences publicly in a Congressional hearing. The hearing, announced just yesterday, is part of an ongoing Senate probe launched in reaction to the Fouled Anchor cover-up.

    Do you have information or a story to share about the Coast Guard past or present? Email melanie.hicken@cnn.com and Blake.Ellis@cnn.com.

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  • House Oversight Committee launches investigation into Coast Guard after CNN report | CNN Politics

    House Oversight Committee launches investigation into Coast Guard after CNN report | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    The House Oversight Committee has launched an investigation into the US Coast Guard’s “mishandling of serious misconduct” — including sexual assault, racism and hazing — after CNN exposed that its leaders concealed reports documenting those problems from its workforce, the public and Congress.

    The inquiry is the latest in a string of government probes announced in the wake of CNN’s reporting, which revealed the existence of a yearslong investigation that found rapes and other sexual abuse at the Coast Guard Academy had been ignored and, at times, covered up by high-ranking officials. Dubbed “Operation Fouled Anchor,” the internal probe was kept confidential by Coast Guard leaders for years until CNN started making inquiries into the report earlier this year.

    Last week, CNN exposed that Coast Guard leaders suppressed yet another report, this time a “Culture of Respect” review from April 2015, that documented racial and gender discrimination and assault across the service.

    In a letter sent Friday to the Coast Guard’s leader, Commandant Linda Fagan, House lawmakers lambasted the agency, saying that the Coast Guard “may have obstructed the ability of Congress to carry out constitutionally mandated oversight authority and legislation to address these issues,” “prevented actionable change within the agency” and “likely put more people at risk.”

    “[The Coast Guard] only notified Congress about Operation Fouled Anchor and its April 2015 Report when existence of these reports was going to be in the press,” wrote committee Chairman Rep. James Comer and Rep. Glenn Grothman, chairman of the Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs. “The Committee has serious concerns that congressional committees would not have been notified of these reports, and the serious allegations contained within them, if it had not been for the threat of public reporting.”

    The announcement comes on the heels of the Coast Guard’s own acknowledgment of past failures in a rare and highly critical internal report issued this week that also orders a series of changes to how the agency handles sexual assault. A number of congressional lawmakers and assault survivors were not satisfied, however, saying the agency still needs to hold past perpetrators and the leaders who covered up their dangerous and criminal behavior accountable – rather than only looking to the future.

    The committee requested a litany of documents and information “to assist the Committee in investigating these reports, the withholding of information from Congress, and the inaction of senior leadership to combat misconduct,” including a list of Coast Guard officials involved in the handling of sexual misconduct cases from the time of Fouled Anchor to present.

    CNN’s reporting showed that, over the years, alleged perpetrators weren’t being held accountable for misconduct. Many of the problems documented in the Coast Guard’s reports continue to plague the agency, according to interviews with current and former service members.

    Meanwhile, a probe by the Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General remains ongoing, as does a Senate inquiry – with a hearing scheduled next week where multiple whistleblowers and survivors of sexual assault and harassment will testify.

    Do you have information or a story to share about the Coast Guard past or present? Email melanie.hicken@cnn.com and Blake.Ellis@cnn.com.

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  • US Coast Guard leaders long concealed a critical report about racism, hazing and sexual misconduct | CNN Politics

    US Coast Guard leaders long concealed a critical report about racism, hazing and sexual misconduct | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    For nearly a decade, US Coast Guard leaders have concealed a critical report that exposed racism, hazing, discrimination and sexual assault across the agency.

    The 2015 “Culture of Respect” study, a copy of which was obtained by CNN, documented how employees complained of a “boys will be boys” and “I got through it so can you” culture. Many said they feared they would be ostracized and retaliated against for reporting abuse and that those who did come forward often had their complaints dismissed by supervisors.

    Some of the report’s core findings mirrored those of another secret investigation into rapes and sexual assaults at the Coast Guard’s academy. The existence of that probe, which was dubbed Operation Fouled Anchor and completed in 2019, was revealed by CNN earlier this year. That investigation found that serious misconduct had been ignored and, at times, covered up by high-ranking officials, allowing alleged offenders to rise within the ranks of the Coast Guard and other military branches.

    Following CNN’s stories on the Fouled Anchor investigation and subsequent Congressional outrage, the Coast Guard’s commandant, Linda Fagan, apologized to cadets and the workforce, and acknowledged that the Coast Guard needed to be more transparent to service members, Congress and the public about such matters.

    “Trust and respect thrive in transparency but are shattered by silence,” she wrote.

    But under her watch, the Coast Guard continued to keep the report hidden from the public even though she had been asked to release it long before the Fouled Anchor controversy unfolded this summer. And although the Culture of Respect study is more than eight years old, more than a dozen current and recent Coast Guard employees and academy cadets told CNN many of the problems that were identified continue to plague the agency.

    In response to questions from CNN this week, a spokesman for Fagan said the commandant plans to make the report public next week as part of her “commitment to transparency,” alongside the findings from a 90-day internal study of sexual assault and harassment within the agency, prompted by the Fouled Anchor reporting.

    Coast Guard officials further said in a statement that the Culture of Respect report was not originally intended to be released widely to the workforce, but rather was to be used by senior leaders to inform policy decisions. Officials, however, did not explain why Fagan had not found a way to release the report sooner, particularly since alleged victims or perpetrators were not named in the report.

    The document has long been shrouded in secrecy. The copy of the report obtained by CNN states that it was to be stored in “a locked container or area offering sufficient protection against theft, compromise, inadvertent access and unauthorized disclosure.” It was to be distributed only to people on a “need to know basis” and should not be released to the public under the Freedom of Information Act, the report stated.

    The study, which was conducted internally and included interviews from nearly 300 people from across the organization, highlighted concerns that “blatant sexual harassment of women” and hazing were regularly accepted as just part of the culture. Those accused of discrimination, assault and other misconduct, were allowed to “escape accountability and instead resign, retire, or transfer,” the report found, with some offenders getting rehired by the Coast Guard in civil service positions even after being forced to retire or otherwise leave military service. “We are allowing potentially dangerous members back into society with no punishment,” stated one employee. Others said leaders brushed serious problems ‘under the rug,” and that “senior leaders care about themselves and their careers” instead of “the folks that work for them.”

    Authors of the report also noted a common concern among victims of misconduct, who said they believed coming forward would mean putting their careers on the line with little hope of their alleged perpetrators facing serious consequences. “Victims are ostracized, there is a stigma,” one person told interviewers. “No one believes them, no one helps them.”

    Even seeking mental health treatment could prove risky, they said, with one interviewee bringing up how the Coast Guard could “involuntarily discharge” employees diagnosed with a mental health condition in the wake of an assault or other traumatic experience on the job.

    Examples cited in the report reveal a culture in which service members faced pervasive assault, harassment, sexism, racism and other discrimination. In one case, multiple witnesses saw a supervisor striking a subordinate but nobody came forward to report it because of fear of retaliation.

    Improving the Coast Guard’s culture would in some cases require “fundamentally different approaches,” the report concluded. The Coast Guard said this week it had enacted or partially enacted 60 of 129 recommendations, including additional training and additional support services for victims. Nine more are in the works, according to the Coast Guard’s statement agency, and the it “found better ways to achieve the desired result” for 20 others.

    The original report had also recommended that a new review be conducted every four years, but that did not happen. The Coast Guard said other studies of the workforce culture have been conducted instead.

    Recent government data and records, meanwhile, show that dangerous and discriminatory behavior is still rarely punished at the agency.

    Almost half of female service members who reported a case of sexual harassment said the person they complained to took no action, according to a 2021 military survey. Nearly a third said they were punished for bringing up the harassment. Meanwhile, the vast majority of women who allegedly experienced “unwanted sexual contact” said they chose not to report it, often citing concerns about negative consequences or that the process wouldn’t be fair and that nothing would end up coming of their allegations.

    Instead, records show how employees found to have committed serious wrongdoing have escaped court martial proceedings or military discharge. As a result, alleged perpetrators avoided criminal records and their retirement benefits were not affected.

    A cadet at the Coast Guard Academy accused of sexual assault by two different classmates in the 2019-20 school year, for example, was kicked out of the academy but allowed to enlist in the Coast Guard to pay back the cost of the schooling he had received. Around the same time, a lieutenant commander was allowed to resign in lieu of going to trial for military crimes including sexual assault and drunk and disorderly conduct. Even when another officer was found guilty at a court martial of abusing his seniority to “obtain sexual favors with a subordinate,” he received only a letter of reprimand.

    The Coast Guard did not comment on concerns that problems remain at the agency, or the statistics or examples cited by CNN.

    The limited access to the Culture of Respect has been a topic of contention for years within the workforce and even Congress.

    Fagan was asked about the report last year by Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman in a list of questions submitted as part of Congressional testimony. She criticized the agency for not releasing it publicly, saying this was “limiting the workforce and the public’s visibility into the problems that were identified and the recommended solutions.”

    Watson Coleman also pushed Fagan, who took the helm of the Coast Guard in June of 2022, to commit to completing a new study and releasing it to the public this time, but Fagan did not directly answer the question – instead citing other recent studies.

    More recently, Fagan was asked about releasing the report while attending a faculty meeting at the Coast Guard Academy. She was there following the Fouled Anchor debacle, promising more transparency when a captain who taught at the school called upon her to release the Culture of Respect report, according to multiple people who attended the meeting.

    Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman questioned US Coast Guard Commandant Linda Fagan shortly after she became the first female head of the agency in June 2022.

    Retired Coast Guard Commander Kimberly Young-McLear, who is a Black lesbian woman, has been perhaps the most vocal in requesting that the report be released.

    Her efforts to get the report disseminated stem from her own complaints about “severe and pervasive bullying, harassing, and discriminating behavior” based on her race, gender, sexual orientation and advocacy for equal opportunity in the Coast Guard.

    After filing a whistleblower complaint in 2017, the Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General found that she had indeed faced unlawful retaliation. Yet to this day, none of the accused service members from her case have faced any consequences. Young-McLear said she has never received a written apology from Coast Guard leaders despite requests from Congress, and that the years of harassment and lack of accountability have taken a significant mental toll on her.

    She said she learned about the existence of the Culture of Respect report while she worked at the Coast Guard’s academy and that she was able to read it when she attended a small summit discussing its findings in 2019. She was outraged when she saw that it exposed the same issues she had reported.

    “Had the Coast Guard actually taken the 2015 Culture of Respect report results seriously… then perhaps the years of bullying, harassment, intimidation, and retaliation I endured could have been prevented altogether,” Young-McLear said in Congressional testimony at 2021 hearing on diversity and accountability within the Coast Guard, questioning why the report still hadn’t been made public.

    In the last four years, Young-McLear said she has asked for the report to be released more than two dozen times, to various admirals and to the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Coast Guard. A handful of other academy employees have made similar pleas at faculty meetings with the school’s superintendent, she said. “We’ve been saying it until we’ve been blue in the face.”

    The Coast Guard’s secrecy and inaction, she says, speak to the very same issues the Culture of Respect report and other examinations have repeatedly raised and show that the agency has failed to hold itself to task in the same way perpetrators have been let off the hook.

    “If we don’t hold individuals and institutions accountable,” said Young-McLear, “it is providing a safe haven for abusers and allowing them to rise through the ranks.”

    Do you have information or a story to share about the Coast Guard past or present? Email melanie.hicken@cnn.com and Blake.Ellis@cnn.com.

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  • Minnesota officials investigating fatal officer-involved shooting of a man during a traffic stop in Minneapolis | CNN

    Minnesota officials investigating fatal officer-involved shooting of a man during a traffic stop in Minneapolis | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Three Minnesota State Patrol troopers are on leave after one of them fatally shot a man during a traffic stop early Monday in Minneapolis, and the state is investigating the shooting, authorities say.

    “This is just a tremendously sad situation,” the state patrol’s chief, Col. Matt Langer, said in a news conference Tuesday. The names of the troopers have not been released.

    Law enforcement has also not named the driver who was killed, but his family has identified him as Ricky Cobb II. The man’s face is blurred in body-worn camera footage released by the state patrol on Tuesday.

    “I am so hurt. I’m confused. I’m speechless,” Cobb’s mother, Nyra Fields-Miller, said during a news conference Tuesday.

    The fatal interaction began when troopers pulled over a car that was traveling on Interstate 94 without its taillights turned on, according to Langer.

    “Troopers learned that the driver was actually wanted by law enforcement in Ramsey County in connection with a felony Order for Protection violation,” Langer said.

    The body camera footage shows a trooper speaking to Cobb through the driver’s side window. The trooper asks him to step out of the car and says, “We just have some stuff to talk about.”

    The driver – who is Black – asks for a more detailed explanation. When Cobb asks whether the stop is related to a warrant, the trooper replies, “No, it’s not a warrant.” Cobb then refuses to get out of the car.

    A second trooper opens the front passenger-side door, and then the first trooper opens the front driver-side door and attempts to remove Cobb physically, body camera and dashboard camera footage shows. The car appears to move forward, and then shots are heard, the dashboard camera footage shows.

    “A state patrol trooper discharged their firearm during the course of this incident,” Langer said. The trooper who fired was the one standing at the front passenger-side door, Langer said.

    Both troopers are seen falling to the ground as Cobb drives away, the footage shows. A third trooper is also seen standing next to the car.

    The troopers then pursue the man’s car in their patrol vehicles and eventually catch up to it as it is slowly moving next to a guardrail, the video shows. The troopers use their vehicles to pin the car to the guardrail.

    The video shows the troopers attempting to administer first aid to Cobb. “I don’t have a pulse. I’m going to start CPR,” one trooper says.

    CNN has sought comment from the Minnesota State Patrol Troopers Association.

    Langer said he could not immediately explain why the trooper thought deadly force was required.

    “I simply don’t know what they were thinking,” he said.

    The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension – a separate state law enforcement agency – is investigating the shooting. The case will then be turned over to the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, which will determine whether any charges will be filed, a spokesperson for the office told CNN.

    “This is an important decision that impacts everyone in our community, including the family and friends of Ricky Cobb, the troopers who were involved, and our broader community,” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said in a written statement. “I take both police accountability and the integrity of the legal process very seriously.”

    Cobb’s mother said his death has had a “devastating” impact on his children and siblings.

    “I’m hurting so incredibly bad from my heart, my soul and my body,” Fields-Miller said. “I want justice for my son.”

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  • 3 San Antonio officers charged with murder in fatal shooting of woman at her apartment | CNN

    3 San Antonio officers charged with murder in fatal shooting of woman at her apartment | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Three San Antonio police officers were charged with murder on Friday, less than 24 hours after they fatally shot a woman during a police call, their chief announced.

    Officer Eleazar Alejandro, 28; Sgt. Alfred Flores, 45; and Officer Nathaniel Villalobos, 27, are suspended from the force without pay as the investigation continues. All were released on $100,000 bond, Bexar County jail records show, and none has commented to CNN.

    “The shooting officers’ actions were not consistent with SAPD policies and training, and they placed themselves in a situation where they used deadly force which was not reasonable given all the circumstances as we now understand them,” Chief William McManus said in a news conference Friday night.

    Police were responding to a call that a woman later identified as Melissa Ann Perez, 46, was cutting wires to a fire alarm system at her apartment complex, McManus said.

    “It appeared that Ms. Perez was having a mental health crisis,” said the chief.

    After initially speaking with officers outside, Perez went back inside her apartment and locked the door, according to McManus.

    Officers continued to talk to Perez through a rear patio window, urging her to come out, edited and blurred body camera video released by the police department shows.

    “You ain’t got no warrant!” she says twice, according to the body camera video.

    One officer tried to open the window, and McManus said Perez threw a glass candleholder at him, McManus said. She later swung a hammer at an officer but hit the window instead, breaking it, police said.

    According to McManus, one officer opened fire, but Perez was not hit and could be heard still speaking on the body camera video.

    But seconds later, Perez “advanced toward the window again while still holding the hammer, and all three officers opened fire,” McManus said.

    More than a dozen shots are heard on the body camera video. Perez was struck at least twice, McManus said. Officers “attempted life-saving measures,” the arrest warrant said, but Perez died at the scene.

    Although she was allegedly approaching the officers with a hammer when they opened fire, the arrest warrant said Perez “did not pose an imminent threat of serious bodily injury or death when she was shot because the defendants had a wall, a window blocked by a television, and a locked door between them.”

    CNN has requested the unedited body camera videos in the case.

    Perez’s children, who range in age from 9 to 24 years old, are have been struck with “incomprehensible grief” following their mothers’ death, the family’s attorney, Dan Packard, told CNN Monday.

    “There’s no words to explain to a 9-year-old how three police officers all thought it was okay to gun this woman down in unison while she was in her own house behind a wall,” Packard said.

    The San Antonio Police Officers’ Association expressed its condolences for Perez’s family in a statement Monday. Citing the active investigation, the association said it “cannot speak to the matter further until the investigation is complete and judicial process is underway.”

    “Following the tragic incident, Chief McManus followed all necessary protocols. All three officers have been suspended indefinitely,” the police association said.

    The swiftness of the charges against the officers reflects a trend as communities reckon with police accountability in the wake of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

    Five officers in Memphis, Tennessee, were quickly charged in the death of Tyre Nichols, in contrast to earlier cases, such as the police shooting of Jacob Blake, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in which officials decided not to charge the officer five months later.

    Officer use of force also has been under scrutiny nationwide, especially against people facing mental health crises. The City of Rochester, New York, reached a settlement with the family of Daniel Prude, who died following an encounter with police. In Virginia, Irvo Otieno died after being pinned to the floor by security officers at a state mental health facility. And in California, Miles Hall was shot by police during what his family called a mental health episode.

    Melissa Ann Perez

    Perez’ family is “heartbroken,” it said, and plans to file a lawsuit against the city, according to reports and information from family attorney, Dan Packard.

    “We are not talking about a rogue officer who just lost his mind or got mad,” Packard said in an on-camera interview with CNN affiliate KENS 5. “We’re talking about three officers who thought it was OK to gun this woman down in her own house.”

    “We believe that there are systemic problems in the department that allowed this to happen,” Packard added.

    CNN has reached out to Packard for a copy of the suit, once it’s filed.

    Packard told CNN Perez had schizophrenia and may have had prior interactions with police. The attorney said he’s not sure how easily accessible that information would have been to the officers who responded to her home last week.

    “I think that’s an important component that (Perez’s family) are not angry people who are overly suspicious of the police, but this has shattered their trust in the police force and in the system,” Packard said.

    Perez’s family has requested prayers as they grapple with her sudden death.

    “They do not know how these children are going to cope and deal with this and so they take it one day at a time,” the attorney said. “We’re getting them the professional help that they need. But they’re asking for your prayers.”

    The police department will conduct an internal review and turn it over to prosecutors once it is completed. Court records indicate their preliminary hearing is set for July 25.

    CNN left messages with Alejandro and Villalobos requesting comment Saturday. CNN was unable to find contact information for Flores.

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  • 3 Tips to Ensure Your HR Department is Properly Empowered to Protect Your Employees and Business | Entrepreneur

    3 Tips to Ensure Your HR Department is Properly Empowered to Protect Your Employees and Business | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Too many founders have learned the hard way that weak people practices can expose their employees to risk, their company to costly legal jeopardy and leave their reputations indelibly stained.

    Today’s employees are seeking values-driven companies and come with a deeper understanding of their rights. If your HR shop isn’t screening applicants with an eye toward culture or speaking frankly with you about the impacts of key hires, your ability to shepherd your organization toward future success will be impaired.

    Worse, if your HR head has not been trained to act impartially or empowered to intercede quickly, it can result in systemic problems that prevent victims from finding justice. This pushes victims to seek other remedies, which show up daily in viral callouts and highly publicized court cases.

    Beyond unflattering headlines, many startups can see their financial value decimated just as they were taking off. If it’s not attorneys’ fees and settlement costs, it’s lost customers and potential partners due to the negative coverage. Even if a lawsuit exonerates your company, the mere accusation can come at a price, and extended court battles can expose sensitive internal company dealings.

    Related: This Entrepreneur Has Solutions for HR Problems You Didn’t Know You Had

    To prevent this, you must focus on how to set up a respected and experienced HR team that is empowered to handle misconduct allegations from the start, even if it involves someone from your executive team. It is on you to create a culture that supports calling out, investigating, and punishing workplace misconduct — be it harassment or discrimination, bullying or any other unlawful action.

    When setting up your HR department, here are three steps to help you avoid misconduct from arising in the first place — or, if it does arise, to ensure it is dealt with quickly and consistently.

    1: Hire experienced HR leaders who share your company’s values

    It can be difficult for HR staff to discern which aspects of a grievance are true and which ones aren’t. Add in a power imbalance like those that occurs between a manager and a subordinate, and HR may find itself not only caught between two employees but between higher-ranking staff who want the problem to simply go away. If you have not hired HR professionals with the experience to navigate the necessary conversations and evenly enforce the rules, you may be held liable for any wrongful acts that follow.

    As a founder, you must prioritize hiring HR executives who are strong and principled leaders. When interviewing potential candidates, ask them how they would handle tough allegations and what processes they would utilize to ensure fair outcomes for all parties. Based on their answers, you want to ensure they see eye to eye with your company’s values. You may also want to seek out experienced HR chiefs who have handled tough employee accusations before.

    After hiring the right talent, you need to make clear that they have the authority and the responsibility to handle all misconduct allegations equally, no matter who is accused — even if it’s someone on your executive team.

    Related: Here’s How Companies Are Ensuring Women’s Workplace Safety

    2. Create protocols that protect victims and your company, not the accused

    A National Women’s Law Center study found that as many as 70% of those who report harassment face some form of retaliation. And 37% noted that nothing happened to the harasser after the complaint. But even when the company is engaged, many will still farm out the process to outside investigators and attorneys. This, too, lends itself to a predictable pattern and usually concludes with a benign acknowledgment of the complaint followed by language indicating that the company took all steps required by law to resolve the complaint. What this really means is that they took as little action as possible to avoid liability.

    Unfortunately for these companies, there are many experienced attorneys watching and waiting for this. They know that there is likely to be damaging information in investigative reports and will use the discovery process to gain leverage for their client. This can be prevented if the company takes appropriate action from the beginning.

    This requires, first, conducting a fair and neutral investigation. This doesn’t require hiring an outside firm. A victim’s claims can often be verified by interviewing key staff and reviewing written communications and other records.

    Second, if the accusations are deemed to be true and serious, take swift action to hold the offender accountable. In many instances, that means terminating his or her employment.

    To ensure your process of investigating and ruling on a case is respected by all parties, it should be based on protocols that treat all accusations equally. This will ensure everyone involved — from the HR team to the executives, to the accuser, to the accused — has the same rights and responsibilities.

    3: Empower HR to let go of toxic employees, even if they are high-performing

    Proper handling of an allegation is rarely an issue when a low-level employee commits an offense. If an hourly worker engages in misconduct, companies can often be counted on to take appropriate action. But when it’s a highly-valued officer, decisions may be weighed against the perceived value the employee brings to the company. This reflects a misunderstanding of the true costs of these individuals.

    An abusive person in a management position can cost more than many realize through high employee turnover and productivity problems. Half of employees who leave their jobs do so, at least in part, because of bad managers, and replacing employees costs a company as much as 50% of the person’s salary. In terms of productivity, one study found that teams with toxic managers yielded 27% less revenue per employee than well-managed teams.

    A similar effect can be measured for public companies. When a high-level official of a publicly traded company gets called out for wrongdoing, the hit to the company’s stock price can cause the rapid loss of millions or even billions of dollars in market cap.

    Protecting these abusive employees isn’t just wrong. It’s costly and potentially fatal to your business. This is why it’s important to make clear to your HR department that it has the power to terminate employment for any employee based on the results of a fair investigation, even if they are high-ranking or high-performing.

    You may think none of this applies to you or that accusations will never occur in your company, but the numbers tell a different story. 60% of U.S. workers have experienced or witnessed workplace discrimination and, unfortunately, 40% reported being retaliated against after speaking up.

    In every one of these cases, the company has exposed itself to potential liability. Increasingly, law firms are looking out for opportunities to step in on behalf of these victims. You can protect your company and your employees by doing exactly that — protecting them, not the accused.

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    Kim Williams

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  • NBCUniversal CEO Resigns Following ‘Inappropriate Relationship’ | Entrepreneur

    NBCUniversal CEO Resigns Following ‘Inappropriate Relationship’ | Entrepreneur

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    Jeff Shell is stepping down as CEO of NBCUniversal following an investigation into an “inappropriate relationship” he had with “a woman in the company.”

    Shell expressed “regret” for his actions in a memo he and NBCUniversal’s parent company Comcast shared with staff on Sunday.

    “Today is my last day as CEO of NBCUniversal,” Shell wrote. “I had an inappropriate relationship with a woman in the company, which I deeply regret.”

    The investigation into Shell’s alleged misconduct was prompted by a complaint made by the employee who was involved in the relationship, a person familiar with the matter told CNN. Shell continued his normal responsibilities at the company throughout the three-week investigation.

    “I’m truly sorry I let my Comcast and NBCUniversal colleagues down, they are the most talented people in the business and the opportunity to work with them the last 19 years has been a privilege,” Shell added in the memo.

    There has been no further information released regarding the extent of the relationship or the identity of the woman involved.

    Comcast has yet to announce a replacement for Shell, but since his resignation is effective immediately, Comcast president Mike Cavanagh will take over in the interlude, CNN reported.

    Related: Victoria’s Secret and Pink Brands CEO Suddenly Resigns After Less Than One Year

    “We are disappointed to share this news with you. We built this company on a culture of integrity. Nothing is more important than how we treat each other,” Cavanagh and Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts, wrote in a separate memo to staff.

    Shell is the second executive in three years to depart the company due to inappropriate conduct. In 2020 (the same year Shell stepped in as CEO), Ron Meyer stepped down as vice chairman of NBCUniversal following an extramarital affair.

    Related: Amazon CEO of Worldwide Consumer Business Resigns After 23 Years: ‘It’s Time For Me To Build Again.’

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    Madeline Garfinkle

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  • Minneapolis reaches settlements in 2 suits alleging then-officer Derek Chauvin used excessive force years before George Floyd’s killing | CNN

    Minneapolis reaches settlements in 2 suits alleging then-officer Derek Chauvin used excessive force years before George Floyd’s killing | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    The city of Minneapolis has reached settlements totaling more than $8.8 million in two civil lawsuits that accuse former police officer Derek Chauvin of using excessive force in two incidents that happened nearly three years before he killed George Floyd during an arrest.

    The plaintiffs, John Pope and Zoya Code – both Black – said Chauvin restrained them on the ground with his knee on their necks, a move similar to the one he would later deploy on Floyd and which was determined be a contributing factor in his death.

    Chauvin was sentenced to more than 20 years in prison for Floyd’s 2020 murder, during which the former officer knelt on the 46-year-old Black man’s neck for more than nine minutes as he cried out, “I can’t breathe.”

    The Minneapolis City Council unanimously voted Thursday to approve a $7.5 million settlement in Pope’s case and a $1.375 million in Code’s case, the city said in a release.

    Their lawsuits alleged that the Minneapolis Police Department’s failure to intervene in Chauvin’s pattern of excessive force ultimately led to Floyd’s killing. The two suits collectively named seven other Minneapolis police officers who were present during the arrests as defendants.

    “Derek Chauvin is exactly where he should be, which is in federal prison,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said during a media conference on Thursday. “He should have been fired in 2017. He should have been held accountable in 2017. … If the supervisors had done the right thing, George Floyd would not have been murdered.”

    Frey went on to apologize to Pope, Code and any others who have “experienced this kind of egregious conduct at the hands of Derek Chauvin.”

    The attorney who represented Pope and Code, Bob Bennett, said Thursday that problem far exceeds Chauvin.

    “Beware the ease of blaming Chauvin alone. While he is a blunt instrument of police brutality and racism, he could never flourish in a police agency that lived up to its mission statement,” Bennett said in a statement.

    They urged people to “focus instead on the MPD rank and file who supported Chauvin with their unquestioning obedience, failure to intervene to stop his heinous acts, and their failure to report them per policy and human conscience.”

    Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara apologized Thursday to Pope and Code and called Chauvin “a national embarrassment to the policing profession.”

    “This is an example of the cancer that has infected this department,” O’Hara said. “Today is not a day for excuses or attempts at justification. The notion that we are dealing with the bad actions of one employee is false. We are dealing with the ugly consequences stemming from a systemic failure within the Minneapolis Police Department that has allowed for, and at times encouraged, unjust and brutal policing.”

    The US Department of Justice launched a federal civil investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department’s practices in April 2021.

    CNN has attempted to reach out to Chauvin’s attorney for comment.

    Code encountered Chauvin on June 25, 2017, when he and another officer responded to a call in which Code’s mother reported her daughter assaulted her, the lawsuit states.

    While in the home, the officers forced Code to the ground and handcuffed her “without incident,” according to the lawsuit. Chauvin then carried her out of the house by her arms, which were handcuffed behind her back, it says.

    “Outside the residence, Defendant Chauvin gratuitously slammed Zoya’s unprotected head on the ground. Then he immediately took his signature pose, kneeing on the back of Zoya’s neck,” the lawsuit states. The city said in its Thursday release that Chauvin knelt on her for several minutes, even after she had been restrained by a hobble.

    Chauvin later lied about the encounter in his police report and “left out critical information about the interaction,” the city said.

    Code’s experience was “strikingly similar” to that of Pope, who was 14 years old at the time of his September 4, 2017 arrest, their attorneys said.

    While responding to a domestic dispute call, Chauvin repeatedly struck Pope in the head with a metal flashlight and pinned him to the floor with his knee on Pope’s upper back and neck for more than 15 minutes, the lawsuit states.

    “Many significant details in the officers’ reports are not consistent with what happened,” during their interaction with Pope that day, the city said.

    That encounter led to a federal civil rights indictment against Chauvin, who pleaded guilty to all charges in December 2021, admitting to using “unreasonable and excessive force.”

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