Black Lives Matter-Ugliness of Racism.

spaminator

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Police 'executed' Black man in North Carolina shooting, say lawyers
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
Peter Szekely and Nathan Layne
Publishing date:Apr 26, 2021 • 10 hours ago • 2 minute read • Join the conversation
A demonstrator holds a sign during a protest march calling for the release of police body camera footage from the shooting death of Andrew Brown Jr. on April 24, 2021 in Elizabeth City, North Carolina.
A demonstrator holds a sign during a protest march calling for the release of police body camera footage from the shooting death of Andrew Brown Jr. on April 24, 2021 in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. PHOTO BY SEAN RAYFORD /Getty Images
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Attorneys for the family of Andrew Brown Jr., a Black man shot by sheriff’s deputies in North Carolina last week, said body cam video showed Brown had been “executed” and accused officials of showing them only a small portion of the video evidence.

Lawyers for the family said the 42-year-old Brown had his hands on the steering wheel of his car and was complying with police orders when he was gunned down, leaving a trail of shell casings in the driveway of his home in Elizabeth City.

“They were shooting and saying ‘Let me see your hands!’ at the same time,” Channel Cherry-Lassiter, one of a team of attorneys for the family, told a press briefing on Monday.

“Let’s be clear: this was an execution.”


The shooting has rattled Elizabeth City, a riverfront community of about 18,000 residents, half of whom are African Americans. The city, the county seat of Pasquotank County, had declared a state of emergency before the video was released.

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Sheriff Tommy Wooten and Chief Deputy Daniel Fogg, in a video posted on social media last week, said the shooting occurred as deputies were trying to serve an arrest warrant and search warrant on Brown stemming from a felony drug charge.

Ben Crump, a lawyer for the family, said there was evidence from at least 9 cameras, including police body cam and dash cam videos, but that the victim’s lawyers were shown only a 20-second portion from a single body cam video after Pasquotank County Attorney Michael Cox decided against showing more.

“We do not feel we got transparency. We only saw a snippet of the video,” Crump said. “They were going to show the whole video, then decided at the last minute they were going to redact it.”

Wooten and Cox did not respond to requests for comment.

Cox had issued a statement earlier on Monday to explain why it was taking so long to release video evidenc. Cox said state law allowed officials to blur faces if needed to protect an active internal investigation, and the process took time.


Wooten said last week that the investigation of the shooting has been turned over to the State Bureau of Investigation, and he said it has the body camera video.

The shooting last Wednesday, a day after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murdering George Floyd after a highly publicized trial, has so far led to small, peaceful protests in Elizabeth City.

Wooten’s office said on Friday that seven sheriff’s deputies were placed on administrative leave after the shooting, and that three additional deputies had resigned, though the resignations were not related to the shooting.
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petros

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Nov 21, 2008
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Low Earth Orbit
Police 'executed' Black man in North Carolina shooting, say lawyers
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
Peter Szekely and Nathan Layne
Publishing date:Apr 26, 2021 • 10 hours ago • 2 minute read • Join the conversation
A demonstrator holds a sign during a protest march calling for the release of police body camera footage from the shooting death of Andrew Brown Jr. on April 24, 2021 in Elizabeth City, North Carolina.
A demonstrator holds a sign during a protest march calling for the release of police body camera footage from the shooting death of Andrew Brown Jr. on April 24, 2021 in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. PHOTO BY SEAN RAYFORD /Getty Images
Article content
Attorneys for the family of Andrew Brown Jr., a Black man shot by sheriff’s deputies in North Carolina last week, said body cam video showed Brown had been “executed” and accused officials of showing them only a small portion of the video evidence.

Lawyers for the family said the 42-year-old Brown had his hands on the steering wheel of his car and was complying with police orders when he was gunned down, leaving a trail of shell casings in the driveway of his home in Elizabeth City.

“They were shooting and saying ‘Let me see your hands!’ at the same time,” Channel Cherry-Lassiter, one of a team of attorneys for the family, told a press briefing on Monday.

“Let’s be clear: this was an execution.”


The shooting has rattled Elizabeth City, a riverfront community of about 18,000 residents, half of whom are African Americans. The city, the county seat of Pasquotank County, had declared a state of emergency before the video was released.

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Sheriff Tommy Wooten and Chief Deputy Daniel Fogg, in a video posted on social media last week, said the shooting occurred as deputies were trying to serve an arrest warrant and search warrant on Brown stemming from a felony drug charge.

Ben Crump, a lawyer for the family, said there was evidence from at least 9 cameras, including police body cam and dash cam videos, but that the victim’s lawyers were shown only a 20-second portion from a single body cam video after Pasquotank County Attorney Michael Cox decided against showing more.

“We do not feel we got transparency. We only saw a snippet of the video,” Crump said. “They were going to show the whole video, then decided at the last minute they were going to redact it.”

Wooten and Cox did not respond to requests for comment.

Cox had issued a statement earlier on Monday to explain why it was taking so long to release video evidenc. Cox said state law allowed officials to blur faces if needed to protect an active internal investigation, and the process took time.


Wooten said last week that the investigation of the shooting has been turned over to the State Bureau of Investigation, and he said it has the body camera video.

The shooting last Wednesday, a day after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murdering George Floyd after a highly publicized trial, has so far led to small, peaceful protests in Elizabeth City.

Wooten’s office said on Friday that seven sheriff’s deputies were placed on administrative leave after the shooting, and that three additional deputies had resigned, though the resignations were not related to the shooting.
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I hope he enjoyed some KFC and a bowl of crack as a last request before they put the blindfold on.
 
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spaminator

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'HE'S FAKING': N.Y.C. corrections officer charged after watching prisoner hang for 15 minutes
"The death of Ryan Wilson wasn't just a tragedy -- it was a crime," Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr., said

Author of the article:Washington Post
Washington Post
Jaclyn Peiser
Publishing date:Apr 27, 2021 • 1 day ago • 4 minute read • 6 Comments
Jail Capt. Rebecca Hillman is charged with criminally negligent homicide in the death of a detainee who hanged himself on her watch in November 2020.
Jail Capt. Rebecca Hillman is charged with criminally negligent homicide in the death of a detainee who hanged himself on her watch in November 2020. PHOTO BY SCREENGRAB /CBS News
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As Ryan Wilson hanged from a noose fashioned from a bedsheet and tethered to his jail cell’s light fixture last November, a corrections officer at the Manhattan Detention Complex implored his boss to open the door, court documents said.

But Capt. Rebecca Hillman stalled and claimed Wilson, 29, was “playing” and faking it, according to prosecutors. Wilson, who battled depression and anxiety, had warned Hillman of his plans to kill himself, but she didn’t take him seriously.

Fifteen minutes passed before Hillman allowed officers to cut Wilson down. By then he barely had a pulse, court documents said. Moments later, he was dead.

On Monday, a Manhattan grand jury indicted Hillman, 38, with criminally negligent homicide and filing a false report of the incident.

“The death of Ryan Wilson wasn’t just a tragedy — it was a crime,” Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr., said in a news release. “This callous disregard for Mr. Wilson’s safety resulted in an irreversible loss to his family and friends, and must be held criminally accountable.”

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Hillman pleaded not guilty. In a statement to The Washington Post, Hillman’s lawyer Kenneth Montgomery said his client is “a hard-working mother and employee who did her best in a very difficult job that is defined by trauma and tragedy.”

“We look forward to defending the serious charges against her,” Montgomery added.

The charges against Hillman highlight pervasive issues within New York City’s jail system, including a pattern of corrections officers who lied or provided incomplete accounts of altercations with inmates, the New York Times found in a report earlier this month. More than half of 270 corrections officers who were disciplined during a 20-month period filed such reports, the Times reported.

Ryan Wilson hanged himself in his jail cell in November 2020. Screengrab from CBS News
Ryan Wilson hanged himself in his jail cell in November 2020. Screengrab from CBS News PHOTO BY SCREENGRAB /CBS News
Wilson’s death also echoes that of Nicholas Feliciano, an 18-year-old inmate held on Rikers Island who tried to hang himself for seven minutes as a captain and five corrections officers stood by and watched. They were later suspended but did not face charges, according to the Times.

Wilson had struggled with his mental health for months before his arrest, his lawyer, Benjamin Pinczewski, told The Post, adding that he had a history of bipolar disorder.

Wilson was released from prison last June after serving seven years for attempted robbery, but struggled to find a job, Pinczewski said. He got involved in a church and was “on a good path,” Pinczewski said, but with no income, soon landed in a shelter.

In October, Wilson was picked up on a robbery charge. He had been trying to get money for food, Pinczewski said. Given his probation status, Wilson was held in the Manhattan Detention Complex, a jail nicknamed “The Tombs,” until his next hearing, causing his depression and anxiety to worsen. His lawyer said that the jail staff knew of his history with mental illness.

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After a November fight with inmates who threatened violent retaliation, Wilson reported the incident and asked Hillman to move him to a different unit. But as the transfer delayed, Wilson’s depression deepened.

On Nov. 22, he told an officer that if Hillman did not move him immediately, he would kill himself. Then he stood on a stool and put the makeshift noose around his neck, court documents said. Alarmed, a corrections officer informed Hillman of Wilson’s threats.

“This particular officer … took him seriously. As did the other inmates in the cells … They wanted to help Ryan,” Pinczewski said. “Unfortunately, the captain didn’t care that much.”

Instead of responding to Wilson’s threats, Hillman went into the control room and filled out paperwork, prosecutors said. After ten minutes, Wilson moved onto his bed, fastened the noose around his neck and began a countdown. He then jumped off the bed.


Soon after, Hillman allegedly went to Wilson’s cell and claimed he was fine. The other officer, who was not able to open the cell without Hillman’s approval, asked her to take action. She then instructed an officer in the control room to open the cell but ordered the officer not to intervene.

“Rebecca Hillman went to the cell and said look … he’s faking, he’s pretending, it’s not real,” Pinczewski said.

The officers watched as Wilson hanged from the light fixture for 15 minutes, until Hillman instructed officers to cut him down and called for a medical team. Officers then began chest compressions.

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“He barely had a pulse, which means if they had taken any action at all, or cut him down, he would have been alive today,” Pinczewski said.

Following Wilson’s death, Hillman filed an official report of what happened, where she falsely stated that she instructed officers to “immediately” cut Wilson down once she opened the cell door, prosecutors said.

The New York City Department of Investigations obtained surveillance footage from inside the jail that contradicted Hillman’s report, Pinczewski said.

“The charges resulting from this investigation reveal a stunning disregard for life,” DOI Commissioner Margaret Garnett said in a news release. “Despite Captain Hillman’s alleged efforts to cover up the circumstances of inmate Ryan Wilson’s death, the investigation by DOI and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office uncovered the truth and held this defendant accountable.”

Hillman was placed on leave during the DOI’s investigation and it is unclear if she will retain her job. The New York Department of Corrections did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Pinczewski said he didn’t expect the district attorney’s office to invest time and resources into Wilson’s case, but added that their efforts gives him hope that prosecutors will look seriously at other cases involving law enforcement.

“I’m beginning to think maybe with George Floyd, and actions like this, that prosecutors are taking these offenses committed by law enforcement, by prison officials, seriously and looking for justice,” he said.

For Wilson’s family, the charges on Monday gave them a “sense of relief,” Pinczewski said.

“We know that this doesn’t bring Ryan back, but it’s the beginning of justice for us,” Wilson’s sister, Elayna Manson, said a news conference on Monday.
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spaminator

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Lawyers say Black man killed by North Carolina cops hit with 'kill shot' to back of head
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
Jonathan Drake
Publishing date:Apr 27, 2021 • 18 hours ago • 3 minute read • 27 Comments
Protesters march in the evening after family members were shown body camera footage of a deputy sheriff shooting and killing Black suspect Andrew Brown Jr. last week, in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, U.S. April 26, 2021.
Protesters march in the evening after family members were shown body camera footage of a deputy sheriff shooting and killing Black suspect Andrew Brown Jr. last week, in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, U.S. April 26, 2021. PHOTO BY JONATHAN DRAKE /REUTERS
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ELIZABETH CITY — Lawyers for the family of Andrew Brown Jr., a Black man killed by law enforcement last week in North Carolina, said an independent autopsy showed he died from a “kill shot” to the back of his head, as the FBI on Tuesday opened a civil rights probe of the shooting.

Governor Roy Cooper later called for appointment of a special prosecutor to take over the state’s investigation of last Wednesday’s shooting.


Brown, 42, was struck with four bullets to his right arm before the fatal shot penetrated the rear of his skull as he tried to drive away, the lawyers for his family told a news conference in Elizabeth City, a riverfront community near the Virginia border where the shooting took place.

Pasquotank County Sheriff Tommy Wooten has said his deputies were trying to serve Brown with search and arrest warrants stemming from a felony drug charge and that the incident was over in fewer than 30 seconds.

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He has urged the public to reserve judgment until all evidence is reviewed by the State Bureau of Investigation, which opened an inquiry on the shooting at Wooten’s request. Seven sheriff’s deputies involved in the incident have been placed on administrative leave, Wooten’s office said last week.

An official autopsy has yet to be released, though the death certificate had indicated Brown died of a gunshot to the head.

“It was a ‘kill’ shot to the back of the head,” said attorney Ben Crump, citing the private autopsy conducted by Brent Hall, a former medical examiner in Boone, North Carolina. “It went into the base of the neck, bottom of the skull and got lost in his brain. That was the cause of death.”

Shortly after the news conference, the FBI’s Charlotte Field Office announced that it has opened a federal civil rights investigation, saying in a statement it would work with federal prosecutors in the U.S. Department of Justice to “determine whether federal laws were violated.”


Brown’s death has led to six nights of protests in Elizabeth City and came one day after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murdering George Floyd in a trial that put a spotlight on police violence against Black people.

There were signs of lingering tension on a hot, sunny Tuesday afternoon in Elizabeth City, where about 20 demonstrators blocked off an intersection near the Pasquotank County Sheriff’s Office, forcing motorists to take a detour.

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One driver, a middle-aged white man, was seen taking a gun off the dashboard of his pickup truck after approaching protesters and complaining about the blockage, according to Reosha Christian, a 35-year-old city resident taking part in the demonstration.

Christian, who said the man never pointed his weapon and pulled away after he was confronted by law enforcement officers, expressed hopes that protests would lead to greater transparency over the shooting, including naming the officers involved.

“We are going to shut it down,” Christian said. “We want them to tell us who the officers are who shot this man.”

Elizabeth City officials on Tuesday amended their emergency declaration to include a curfew from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. The city has a population of roughly 18,000, half of which is Black.

The Brown family’s lawyers have denounced his killing as an “execution,” saying sheriff’s deputies continued firing their weapons at him after Brown drove his vehicle away from them. The lawyers have also accused officials of withholding evidence after being shown only 20 seconds of footage from one police body camera on Monday.

Crump said on Monday there was footage from at least nine cameras, including multiple police body-cam and dash-cam videos, but that Pasquotank County Attorney Michael Cox had decided against showing more evidence to the family.

Cox did not respond to a request for comment.

Wooten has said his office is seeking court approval to release the video to the public, a necessary step under state law. A court hearing was scheduled for Wednesday on whether the body-cam footage can be disclosed to media organizations.

Khalil Ferebee, Brown’s son, said the independent autopsy and video evidence confirmed that his father was trying to “get away” when the officers shot him. A family lawyer said on Monday there were seven to eight officers at the scene.

“Yesterday, I said he was executed. This autopsy report shows me that was correct.”
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spaminator

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Family of Black man shot and killed by Delaware police sues the force
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
Tim Reid and Hannah Beier
Publishing date:Apr 28, 2021 • 2 hours ago • 4 minute read • 7 Comments
Lashonnah Nix, sister of Lymond Moses, who was shot and killed by police, poses for a portrait with a photo she embraces daily in Wilmington, Delaware, U.S., April 23, 2021. Picture taken April 23, 2021.
Lashonnah Nix, sister of Lymond Moses, who was shot and killed by police, poses for a portrait with a photo she embraces daily in Wilmington, Delaware, U.S., April 23, 2021. Picture taken April 23, 2021. PHOTO BY HANNAH BEIER /REUTERS
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WILMINGTON — The sister of a Black man shot to death by Delaware police in January sued the officers on Wednesday, saying her brother’s death was not justified and another example of unnecessary deadly force by white police against Black citizens.

Lymond Moses, 30, was killed around 1 a.m. on Jan. 13 in Wilmington during an encounter with three New Castle County police officers, two of whom fired into his car nine times, with the fatal shot striking his head, according to the death certificate.


Several hours after the shooting, the police department issued a press release which stated that Moses fled the officers in his car, hit a dead end, made a U-turn “and drove at a high rate of speed directly at the officers. The officers subsequently discharged their firearms and struck the driver.”

After pressure from the family and civil rights groups, the police department was ordered in March by Matt Meyer, the New Castle County Executive, to release video footage from all three officers’ body cameras.

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According to the footage, the officers, who were out on patrol looking for stolen vehicles, found Moses asleep in his car with the engine running, woke him up and asked him to exit the vehicle.


When they told him they were looking for stolen cars, Moses replied that his car was not stolen, the video showed. After finding marijuana in his car, and telling him the marijuana was not a problem, they asked him several times to “hop out.” Moses instead drove off. As he did, an officer shouted “motherfucker.”

The subsequent footage contradicts the press release, the family and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Delaware say. They say it is clear from the video that Moses drove around the officers as he was trying to flee, and was fired on as he passed and then drove away from them.

“It’s just wrong, how they killed my son,” Moses’s mother, Rozzlie Moses, 50, told Reuters. She said the police “over murdered my son,” who was himself the father of three children, aged 10 years, 9 years, and six months.

At least one expert on police use of force interviewed by Reuters said the footage itself didn’t prove the allegations that the police shooting was not justified, however.

According to the lawsuit, which also targets the police department and New Castle County for the officers’ “excessive and unjustified” use of deadly force, none of the three “ever had a reasonable fear of imminent bodily harm.”

When the video was released, Lieutenant Brian Faulkner of the New Castle County Police Department, said: “Based upon this video, we cannot draw any conclusions as to whether the officers acted within policy and the law, until all the facts are known, and the investigation is complete.”

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The county executive did not respond to requests for comment.

The two officers, who have not been named, are 10-year and 3-year veterans of the force and have been placed on administrative leave.

A spokesman for the Delaware Attorney General, who is conducting an investigation into the shooting, said their names will not be released until the probe is complete.

The executive director of ACLU Delaware, Mike Brickner, who has reviewed the bodycam footage, said: “As he was driving away he was very clearly avoiding the police officers. If you look at the two officers who fired, it appears they shot at him to stop him getting away.”

Brickner added: “It’s very different from what we were told in the original press release.”

Mike Leonesio, a former police officer and expert on the use of force by police, said the footage alone does not provide a clear-cut case for Moses’s family because it does not account for what the officers may have “reasonably” believed about the threat at the time.


Having reviewed the bodycam footage, it is possible officers believed their colleagues were in danger, which would justify the use of force, said Leonesio, who has no connection to the case.

“The videos, while sensational, don’t answer whether the shooting was objectively reasonable – the legal standard and ultimate question – without more information,” he said in the interview with Reuters.

He cited a 1989 U.S. Supreme Court decision, which says: “The calculus of reasonableness must embody allowance for the fact that police officers are often forced to make split-second judgments, in circumstances that are tense, uncertain, and rapidly evolving, about the amount of force that is necessary in a particular situation.”

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The ACLU’s Brickner said the release of bodycam footage was extremely rare in Delaware, pointing to state law which allows police forces to not publicly release evidence when officers shoot and kill a member of the public.

Brickner said the disconnect between the initial press release by the New Castle County police department and what the bodycam footage showed is similar to what happened in the case of George Floyd, who died last May at the hands of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. The original police press release in that case said Floyd died after a “medical incident.” Chauvin was convicted last week of Floyd’s murder.
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spaminator

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MANDEL: Mentally-ill killer wants transfer to lower security hospital
Author of the article:Michele Mandel
Publishing date:Apr 28, 2021 • 12 hours ago • 3 minute read • 12 Comments
Yvonne Bachelor-Vassell, 61, died of stab wounds and smoke inhalation after her Rexdale house was set ablaze by her son, Joel Vassell, in 2019.
Yvonne Bachelor-Vassell, 61, died of stab wounds and smoke inhalation after her Rexdale house was set ablaze by her son, Joel Vassell, in 2019. (memorials.albion.bernardofuneralhomes.com)
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How quickly the system is willing to gamble on a very sick young man.

Haven’t they learned anything?


In 2015, after he attacked his mom and tried to kill his grandmother, Joel Vassell was found not criminally responsible due to his untreated schizophrenia. He was sent to Waypoint Centre for Mental Health in Penetanguishene and then to Whitby’s Ontario Shores.

After the Ontario Review Board released him into the community three years later, Vassell stopped taking his medication. The day after he unsuccessfully tried to get himself readmitted to Ontario Shores, he stabbed his mother, Yvonne Bachelor-Vassell, and set fire to her Etobicoke townhouse.

Earlier this year, he was found not criminally responsible for her murder. And once again, Vassell, 25, is under the jurisdiction of the Ontario Review Board.

Now just a month after Vassell began taking injectable anti-psychotic medication at Waypoint, his psychiatrists have told his ORB hearing that he’s ready to be transferred to the medium secure unit at Ontario Shores.

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And within the next year, when his team feels he’s ready, they believe he should have six-hour accompanied passes into Whitby.

It’s all too soon, says Crown attorney Nenad Trbojevic.

“What we have today are signs of very early progress. These are very early days,” he told the hearing.

Everybody agrees caution must be exercised with Vassell, the Crown reminded the board. “The transfer doesn’t reflect that caution.”

When he was initially detained at Ontario Shores earlier this year, the board heard Vassell was involved in two violent episodes. On Feb. 11, he suddenly attacked a fellow patient, claiming the man was from a rival neighbourhood.

The following day, he punched a security guard and head-butted a nurse because he was frustrated with waiting 30 minutes for his turn to shower.


He was shipped off to the high secure forensic mental health program at Waypoint where Dr. Andrea Bunker said he’s been doing “very, very well” and since the beginning of April, has received his first two injected doses of anti-psychotic meds.

Vassell continues to claim his mother persecuted him, and he doesn’t have a mental illness, the psychiatrist admitted. He also told her he’d stopped taking his oral medication before the murder because it sedated him and “it was impossible to continue on with his life.”

She’s encouraged by his positive response to the injections, Bunker said, but admitted she’s initially kept the dose lower than he needs because she’s wary of spooking him with the side effects.

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The board challenged her upbeat prognosis, reminding her that after years in the mental health system, Vassell has learned how to mask his psychotic symptoms. So perhaps he’s not ready to be transferred just yet?

“I think he is a high-risk individual who needs to be managed with caution with a slow increase in freedom,” the psychiatrist maintained.

His new treating psychiatrist at Ontario Shores agreed, but stressed they must “move very slowly.” Accompanied passes aren’t in his near future.

“I do not foresee that will be something he will be utilizing for a very long period of time,” Dr. Claire Harrigan assured the board.

“Within the next year, is it possible? I think it’s possible but any team would move slowly.”

Vassall’s lawyer, Peter Murdy, urged the ORB to transfer his client to Ontario Shores because he poses little risk when he’s medicated. He also pushed back on claims Vassall masks his psychotic symptoms — in fact, he tried to do the “right thing” by calling the Ontario Shores crisis line on the day before the Dec. 11, 2019 murder to report that he’d been poisoned and was feeling paranoid.

“A readmission would have been most appropriate,” Murdy said. “An answer that ‘You need to be on medication’ would have been reasonable.”

Neither happened. And the following day, he killed his mom.

MORE ON THIS TOPIC

Yvonne Bachelor-Vassell, 61, died of stab wounds and smoke inhalation after her Rexdale house was set ablaze by her son, Joel Vassell, in 2019.
MANDEL: Warning signs ignored before mentally ill man killed mom
Toronto fire crews attend the scene of a fatal house fire in Rexdale on Thursday, Dec. 12 2019
Son charged with murder after mom found in burned home

But the board also heard that while Vassell did call the crisis line, he downplayed his symptoms when he met Dr. Derek Pallandi later that morning.

All that is certain is that with his frightening history, surely he shouldn’t be on anyone’s fast track to freedom.

The ORB has reserved its decision.

mmandel@postmedia.com
 

Twin_Moose

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Tecumsehsbones

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And the narrative continues. Yep, when cops kill a White person it's "self-defense" or excited delirium. But when cops kill a Black person the ONLY possible reason is racism. Yep, that's the narrative these days,
Funny, I didn't hear that narrative once when Mitch Brailsford killed Daniel Shavers.

"All lies and jest
Still a man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest"
--Paul Simon
 

spaminator

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Four deputies involved in fatal shooting of Andrew Brown return to duty
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
Steve Gorman
Publishing date:Apr 29, 2021 • 14 hours ago • 2 minute read • Join the conversation
A protester stands guard as demonstrators occupy a busy intersection a week after Andrew Brown Jr. was killed by sheriff’s deputies in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, April 28, 2021.
A protester stands guard as demonstrators occupy a busy intersection a week after Andrew Brown Jr. was killed by sheriff’s deputies in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, April 28, 2021. PHOTO BY JONATHAN DRAKE /REUTERS
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Four North Carolina deputies suspended over the fatal shooting of a Black man while trying to serve him with a search warrant have returned to duty after investigators found they never fired their guns, but three others who did will remain on leave, their sheriff said on Thursday.

Pasquotank County Sheriff Tommy Wooten released the names of all seven deputies placed on administrative leave after the April 21 shooting death of Andrew Brown Jr., 42, in Elizabeth City, a riverfront town near the Virginia border.


Brown’s family and their lawyers have accused the officers involved in the deadly confrontation of using unnecessary lethal force against someone who posed no threat and was attempting to flee, characterizing the shooting as an “execution.”

They cited conclusions of a private autopsy showing Brown was shot in the arm four times through the front windshield of his car before he spun the vehicle around and was killed by a fifth gunshot to the head as he tried to get away.

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The shooting, which sparked a week of protests, came a day after a Minneapolis jury returned a murder conviction in the closely watched trial of the white former police officer who killed George Floyd, a Black man, by kneeling on Floyd’s neck for nearly 10 minutes.

At a court hearing on Wednesday in Elizabeth City, District Attorney Andrew Womble disputed the Brown family’s account of the shooting.

Womble said police video shows officers surrounding Brown’s car and the vehicle backing up twice after a deputy tried opening a car door while others shouted at Brown to halt. Womble said deputies opened fire when Brown’s car lurched forward and made “contact” with them.

Lawyers for Brown’s family, along with Wooten and news outlets, have urged state investigators to release video footage captured by deputies’ body-worn cameras and dashboard cameras.

But a judge on Wednesday denied petitions for immediate public disclosure of the video, while ordering investigators to allow Brown’s son, Khalil Ferebee, to view the footage within 10 days. Relatives were previously shown only a 20-second clip.


Wooten said Wednesday he was “disappointed” by the ruling. But on Thursday he issued a new statement saying investigators’ review of the video showed that “four of the deputies never fired their weapons and deserve to be reinstated to active duty.”

“More investigation is necessary into the three deputies who did fire their weapons and they will remain on administrative leave pending completion” of a criminal probe underway by the State Bureau of Investigation, Wooten said.

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The three officers who remain suspended are deputy Robert Morgan, Corporal Aaron Levelly, and sheriff’s investigator Daniel Meads, who signed the affidavit accompanying the search warrant that led to Brown’s death.

According to that affidavit, posted online by the sheriff, Brown was known to local law enforcement as a drug dealer suspected of being a source of crack cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine in and around Elizabeth City.

Narcotics investigators had carried out two “controlled” purchases of drugs from Brown by a confidential informant in March and obtained a search warrant for his home and cars seeking additional evidence of drug-dealing operations, according to the affidavit.
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Jinentonix

Hall of Fame Member
Sep 6, 2015
10,607
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Olympus Mons
Funny, I didn't hear that narrative once when Mitch Brailsford killed Daniel Shavers.

"All lies and jest
Still a man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest"
--Paul Simon
Because that narrative didn't begin until an unarmed, autistic Tony Timpa was murdered by cops in Dallas. Tony Timpa was killed in the EXACT same manner as George Floyd. Timpa's murder was passed off as "excited delirium". Whereas racism was the only possible reason why Floyd was murdered. The pathetic thing is, the likes of BLM and the MSM like to pretend that cops always receive justice when they murder a White person but get away with murder when it's a Black person. David Kessick was murdered by a cop who shot him TWICE in the back as he lay face down in the snow while she was tasering him. A grand jury acquitted her of any wrong doing. David "crime"? Driving with stickers that were one month out of date and running on foot when he got pulled over. But hey, it's only White people who get justice when a White person is killed by a cop, right?
 

Tecumsehsbones

Hall of Fame Member
Mar 18, 2013
55,435
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Because that narrative didn't begin until an unarmed, autistic Tony Timpa was murdered by cops in Dallas. Tony Timpa was killed in the EXACT same manner as George Floyd. Timpa's murder was passed off as "excited delirium". Whereas racism was the only possible reason why Floyd was murdered. The pathetic thing is, the likes of BLM and the MSM like to pretend that cops always receive justice when they murder a White person but get away with murder when it's a Black person. David Kessick was murdered by a cop who shot him TWICE in the back as he lay face down in the snow while she was tasering him. A grand jury acquitted her of any wrong doing. David "crime"? Driving with stickers that were one month out of date and running on foot when he got pulled over. But hey, it's only White people who get justice when a White person is killed by a cop, right?
It is pretty funny the way you pick what lets you feel hard done by the most, and deny that anything else is going on.

But I feel for you. The centuries of oppression and suffering White men have faced in North America is truly heartbreaking.
 

spaminator

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Oct 26, 2009
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Ticketing of Black man for jaywalking was racial discrimination: Human rights board
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Publishing date:May 05, 2021 • 4 hours ago • 3 minute read • Join the conversation
Police car with focus on siren lights. Beautiful siren lights activated in full mission activity. Policemen with patrol car in intervention operation at crime place. Emergency lights flashing on patrol car.
PHOTO BY VMARGINEANU /iStock / Getty Images
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HALIFAX — A human rights board of inquiry has found that a Black man was discriminated against by Halifax police when he was ticketed for jaywalking.

Board chairman Benjamin Perryman released a decision Wednesday that finds Gyasi Symonds faced discrimination based on his race when he was stopped by two officers and later received a $410 ticket in the lobby of the downtown building where he works.


In his ruling, the board chairman describes two encounters between Symonds and constables Paul Cadieux and Steve Logan that started when the provincial civil servant was observed crossing Gottingen Street on Jan. 24, 2017 to get a coffee.

The decision says the officers first stopped Symonds as he headed for the Nook Espresso Bar across from his office without using a crosswalk at the corner. They warned him about jaywalking and told him he was free to go.

Perryman said that first encounter was “brief and cordial.”

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The decision says the facts of what happened next were disputed, with Symonds telling the board he crossed at the intersection when he returned to his office and the two police officers saying they observed him again crossing in the middle of the block and that he didn’t yield to a bus. The officers followed him into his office building and gave him a ticket.

Under the province’s Motor Vehicle Act, it’s an offence if someone crosses a road at a place where there’s not a regular crossing for pedestrians and doesn’t “yield the right of way to vehicles on the roadway.”

However, Perryman found in his ruling that it was “more likely than not” that Symonds didn’t jaywalk on his return trip and concluded the officers’ decision to wait and observe the man was based in part on race.


Perryman has ordered the Halifax Regional Police to pay Symonds $15,232 and give him a written apology. He also suggests all new hires complete training in policing without bias.

The board of inquiry chairman noted inconsistencies in the constables’ recollection of what they saw when they testified that Symonds crossed in front of a bus on his return to the office, while finding the complainant’s recollections to be more credible.

“I do not go so far as to find that the Halifax Regional Police officers constructed their evidence …. However, on the evidence before me, I am not satisfied that there was a good basis for issuing such a ticket and there was certainly no basis whatsoever to be targeting the complainant in the first place,” he wrote.

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Perryman noted that he was concerned about the decision of the officers to remain and observe Symonds after the first encounter, as the man exited the coffee shop to return to work.

His decision says the officers told the board of inquiry they kept watching Symonds because they had some time available and that it was a so-called “de-escalating tactic,” where they believed police presence would deter law-breaking.

Perryman said he found those explanations inadequate.

“It subjected the complainant to policing that was different from other Nova Scotians going about their day. It was disproportionate to the circumstances of an individual crossing in the middle of the road to get a coffee and receiving informal education about jaywalking” he concluded.

“I find that race was a factor in the police officers’ decision to target the complainant for surveillance and investigation.”

Perryman said the encounter between the officers and Symonds in the lobby of the office building was “not a cordial interaction.” However, he concluded the treatment of Symonds at that point may have been rude, but it wasn’t racial discrimination.

He noted the two officers were relatively new on the job, and Cadieux had only been on patrol for a few weeks. The ruling also finds the training provided to Cadieux and Logan was inadequate and contributed to their discriminatory behaviour.

The ruling notes a Halifax police course on “legitimate and bias-free policing” was offered in 2009 but was not offered again until 2018, some time after the incident.

Perryman suggests that all new police hires “successfully complete training in legitimate and bias-free policing before they commence active duty, and all current police officers should be required to retake and successfully complete such training periodically.”

The decision dated April 29 also says this training should be well-documented and access to statistics should be publicly available.
 
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