Tag Archives: police brutality

NPR reports: Five former Memphis police officers have been indicted and jailed in the beating death of Tyre Nichols, who died days after a traffic stop on Jan. 7. Like Nichols, all of the fired officers are Black. Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith each face several charges, including second-degree murder, aggravated assault, …

CNN reports: Three Arkansas law enforcement officers have been removed from duty and are under investigation, their departments confirmed, after bystander video captured them appearing to punch and knee a suspect during an arrest Sunday. Two of the officers in the video are deputies with the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office and the third is an officer with the Mulberry Police …

The Texas Tribune reports: Gov. Greg Abbott has appointed an indicted Austin police officer accused of using excessive force during 2020 protests to Texas’ regulatory law enforcement agency. Justin Berry was among 19 Austin police officers indicted earlier this year in the protests spurred by the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. Berry is charged with two …

The Associated Press reports: Family members of George Floyd say they’re angered at a federal judge’s sentence Thursday of 2 1/2 years for a former Minneapolis police officer convicted of a civil rights violation in Floyd’s killing. U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson sentenced Thomas Lane well below the 5 1/4 years that was the bottom of a range called for …

CNN reports: Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin has asked the state Court of Appeals to overturn his conviction for the 2020 murder of George Floyd. The 82-page filing lists more than a dozen aspects of the case and trial that Chauvin’s attorney argues tainted the proceedings and rendered them “structurally defective,” including extensive pretrial publicity and protests outside the …

The Chattanooga Times Free Press reports: A U.S. District Court judge gave the go-ahead to a lawsuit against a former Hamilton County deputy accused of baptizing a woman against her will after a 2019 traffic stop. In addition to ruling that the suit against Daniel Wilkey, 28, may proceed, Tennessee Eastern District Court Judge Travis R. McDonough ruled that several …

The Associated Press reports: An arbitrator has ruled that two Buffalo police officers didn’t violate the department’s use-of-force guidelines when they pushed a 75-year-old protester to the ground in June 2020 during racial injustice protests following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The episode drew national attention when a news crew captured video of Martin Gugino being shoved by …

The New York Daily News reports: An NYPD sergeant has hit a less than enviable milestone — lawsuits against him have topped the $1 million mark in settlements, the Daily News has learned. Sgt. David Grieco, nicknamed “Bullethead” by his detractors, has been sued 46 times — believed to be near the top of the list for the most-sued cop …

The New York Times reports: Three former Minneapolis police officers were found guilty on Thursday of federal crimes for failing to intervene as another officer killed George Floyd by pressing his knee on his neck for more than nine minutes. The case was an extraordinarily rare example of the Justice Department prosecuting officers for their inaction while another officer used …

The Texas Tribune reports: Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday blasted the indictment of more than a dozen Austin police officers for alleged excessive force during the May 2020 racial justice protests — and dangled the possibility of pardons for them. “Those officers should be praised for their efforts, not prosecuted,” Abbott said in a statement. “Time will tell whether the …

The Associated Press reports: An Arizona House committee on Monday approved a proposed law that would make it illegal to make video recordings of police in many circumstances after the Republican sponsor made changes he said were designed to address constitutional concerns. The original proposal from Rep. John Kavanagh made it illegal to record within 15 feet of an officer …

The Associated Press reports: The federal trial for three former Minneapolis police officers charged with violating George Floyd’s civil rights as Derek Chauvin pinned the Black man’s neck to the street is expected to begin Monday with opening statements, after a jury of 18 people was swiftly picked last week. J. Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao are broadly charged …

Boise’s ABC News affiliate reports: Bingham County Sheriff Craig Rowland appeared in court Wednesday morning on aggravated assault and battery charges. Wednesday’s hearing in front of Judge Faren Eddins was about the conditions of release. The state asked that Rowland’s weapons be surrendered to the Idaho State Police, no contact orders be granted for three minor victims, and for the …

Minneapolis’s NBC News affiliate reports: Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin formally changed his plea from “not guilty” to “guilty” Wednesday on federal charges of depriving George Floyd of his civil rights, related to Floyd’s murder in May 2020. Chauvin, who is currently serving a state prison sentence following his conviction for Floyd’s murder, was charged in May 2021 with …

The Associated Press reports: Former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin appears to be on the verge of pleading guilty to violating George Floyd ’s civil rights, according to a notice sent out Monday by the court’s electronic filing system. The federal docket entry shows a hearing has been scheduled for Wednesday for Chauvin to change his current not guilty plea …

CNN reports: Voters in the city rejected a ballot measure to overhaul policing drafted amid the national fury over George Floyd’s murder by a police officer but that went to voters as rising concerns about gun violence drained energy from the protest movement that had launched it. CNN on Tuesday projected that Minneapolis Question 2 had failed, effectively ending a …

USA Today reports: More than half of police killings in the U.S. are not reported in official government data, and Black Americans are most likely to experience fatal police violence, according to a new study released Thursday. An estimated 55% of deaths from police violence from 1980 to 2018 were misclassified or unreported in official vital statistics reports, according to …

The Associated Press reports: The former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murder in George Floyd’s death intends to appeal his conviction and sentence, saying the judge abused his discretion or erred during several key points in the case, according to documents filed Thursday. Derek Chauvin said he intends to appeal on 14 grounds. Among them, he claims Judge Peter Cahill …

Axios reports: Fewer Americans are trying to get out of jury duty, and legal experts say this may reflect people’s growing desire to combat systemic racism. Jury consultant Jason Bloom tells Axios that, historically, as many as one in four U.S. adults who are called for jury duty seek to be excused, citing hardships. But now, that number has shrunk …

Minneapolis’s CBS News affiliate reports: Sources tell WCCO that, as part of the plea, Chauvin could get a 20- to 25-year sentence, which he would serve at the same time as the state sentence, and that he would serve his time in federal not state prison. If convicted in federal court, Chauvin could face life in prison. Former Hennepin County …