Unfortunately, no one in the black community received a penny from BLM - it was all to enrich themselves, just like politicians do.Black Lives Matter shows US$8.5M deficit in 2022 while execs were paid millions
Author of the articleenette Wilford
Published May 25, 2023 • Last updated 1 day ago • 2 minute read
Black Lives Matter is hemorrhaging cash, according to its 2022 financial records.
BLM’s Global Network Foundation, a non-profit that grew from the 2020 George Floyd protests, plunged US$8,559,748 into the red.
The group saw the value of its investment accounts drop by nearly $10 million, with fundraising down 88% year-over-year.
The filings show the non-profit recorded revenue of $8.5 million — but spent more than $17 million. The group has also been left with $30 million in assets, down nearly $11.75 million from where it started the financial year.
In 2021, the group earned nearly $42 million after expenses.
But financial woes, be damned! The organization still paid out millions to relatives of the founder and a board member.
According to an independent auditors’ review of the previous two years, a company owned by Shalomyah Bowers, who replaced founder Patrisse Cullors when she quit, was paid $1.69 million “for management and consulting services.”
Board member Danielle Edwards also owned a firm “which was paid $1,063,500 for consulting services,” the online review said.
Cullors’ brother, Paul Cullors, was the only salaried employee in 2022, earning nearly $125,000, with $15,000 in “other compensation” for unspecified security.
His security firm Black Ties LLC received an even bigger paycheque of $756,330, in keeping with what it was paid in 2021.
“A sibling of the former Executive Director owned a security and protection company, which was paid $1,602,185 for security services,” the auditors’ review noted, according to the Washington Free Beacon.
“While Patrisse Cullors was forced to resign due to charges of using BLM’s funds for her personal use, it looks like she’s still keeping it all in the family,” Paul Kamenar, an attorney for the watchdog group National Legal and Policy Center, told the Free Beacon.
BLM also agreed to pay $600,000 to an unidentified former board member’s consulting firm “in connection with a contract dispute,” the Free Beacon noted.
Former managing director Kailee Scales earned the only other salary, nearly $115,000, though her payment was listed as “ongoing severance.”
The five listed board members reported receiving no income from the group.
Cicley Gay, the activist group’s chair current chair, was reportedly brought in to get a handle of BLM’s finances — even though she has personally filed for bankruptcy in 2005, 2013 and 2016, the Free Beacon reported.
Cullors resigned from BLMGNF in 2021 after she was outed for spending millions on real estate in Los Angeles and Atlanta, though she denied using the organization’s money.
In its filings, BLM said it was “working inside and outside of the system to heal the past, reimagine the present, and invest in the future of black lives through policy change, investing in our communities, and a commitment to arts.”
It added: “We are building a community of healing and nurturing ecosystems that support black communities impacted by oppressive structures and injustice.”
Black Lives Matter Hemorrhaged Cash in 2022, Tax Documents Show
Black Lives Matter bled cash and suffered blistering investment losses in 2022, according to a copy of its tax return obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.freebeacon.com
Black Lives Matter shows US$8.5M deficit in 2022 while execs were paid millions
Black Lives Matters is hemorrhaging cash, according to its 2022 financial records.torontosun.com
Black Lives Matter-Ugliness of Racism.
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black luxury matters.Black Lives Matter shows US$8.5M deficit in 2022 while execs were paid millions
Author of the article
Published May 25, 2023 • Last updated 1 day ago • 2 minute read
Black Lives Matter is hemorrhaging cash, according to its 2022 financial records.
BLM’s Global Network Foundation, a non-profit that grew from the 2020 George Floyd protests, plunged US$8,559,748 into the red.
The group saw the value of its investment accounts drop by nearly $10 million, with fundraising down 88% year-over-year.
The filings show the non-profit recorded revenue of $8.5 million — but spent more than $17 million. The group has also been left with $30 million in assets, down nearly $11.75 million from where it started the financial year.
In 2021, the group earned nearly $42 million after expenses.
But financial woes, be damned! The organization still paid out millions to relatives of the founder and a board member.
According to an independent auditors’ review of the previous two years, a company owned by Shalomyah Bowers, who replaced founder Patrisse Cullors when she quit, was paid $1.69 million “for management and consulting services.”
Board member Danielle Edwards also owned a firm “which was paid $1,063,500 for consulting services,” the online review said.
Cullors’ brother, Paul Cullors, was the only salaried employee in 2022, earning nearly $125,000, with $15,000 in “other compensation” for unspecified security.
His security firm Black Ties LLC received an even bigger paycheque of $756,330, in keeping with what it was paid in 2021.
“A sibling of the former Executive Director owned a security and protection company, which was paid $1,602,185 for security services,” the auditors’ review noted, according to the Washington Free Beacon.
“While Patrisse Cullors was forced to resign due to charges of using BLM’s funds for her personal use, it looks like she’s still keeping it all in the family,” Paul Kamenar, an attorney for the watchdog group National Legal and Policy Center, told the Free Beacon.
BLM also agreed to pay $600,000 to an unidentified former board member’s consulting firm “in connection with a contract dispute,” the Free Beacon noted.
Former managing director Kailee Scales earned the only other salary, nearly $115,000, though her payment was listed as “ongoing severance.”
The five listed board members reported receiving no income from the group.
Cicley Gay, the activist group’s chair current chair, was reportedly brought in to get a handle of BLM’s finances — even though she has personally filed for bankruptcy in 2005, 2013 and 2016, the Free Beacon reported.
Cullors resigned from BLMGNF in 2021 after she was outed for spending millions on real estate in Los Angeles and Atlanta, though she denied using the organization’s money.
In its filings, BLM said it was “working inside and outside of the system to heal the past, reimagine the present, and invest in the future of black lives through policy change, investing in our communities, and a commitment to arts.”
It added: “We are building a community of healing and nurturing ecosystems that support black communities impacted by oppressive structures and injustice.”
Black Lives Matter Hemorrhaged Cash in 2022, Tax Documents Show
Black Lives Matter bled cash and suffered blistering investment losses in 2022, according to a copy of its tax return obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.Black Lives Matter shows US$8.5M deficit in 2022 while execs were paid millions
Black Lives Matters is hemorrhaging cash, according to its 2022 financial records.
Teen walks weeks after getting shot in head for knocking on wrong door
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Published May 29, 2023 • 1 minute read
Ralph Yarl — a Black teenager who was shot in the head and arm last month after mistakenly ringing the wrong doorbell — walked at a brain injury awareness event Monday in his first major public appearance since the shooting.
The 17-year-old suffered a traumatic brain injury when he was shot while trying to pick up his younger brothers in April, the Kansas City Star reported.
Yarl walked with family, friends and other brain injury survivors Monday at Going the Distance for Brain Injury, a yearly Memorial Day race at Loose Park in Kansas City, Missouri.
“It takes a community. It takes a family. It takes a support group, all of that,” Yarl’s mother, Cleo Nagbe, said ahead of the race, adding: “Let’s raise more awareness to stop the things that cause brain injuries and should not be causing them, especially gun violence.”
As many as 1,000 people raced through the park, including many in neon green T-shirts who registered to be part of “Team Ralph,” said Robin Abramowitz, executive director of the Brain Injury Association of Kansas and Greater Kansas City.
“It’s important for Ralph to see that he is not alone,” Yarl’s aunt, Faith Spoonmore, said. She added that Yarl has debilitating migraines and issues with balance. He is also struggling with his emotions, mood changes and the trauma of the shooting.
Andrew Lester, an 84-year-old white man, is accused of shooting Yarl. The teen had confused Lester’s address with a home about a block away where he was supposed to pick up his siblings.
The shooting drew worldwide attention and prompted rallies and protests in the Kansas City area, with critics saying Lester was given preferential treatment when police released him just two hours after he was arrested.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Published May 29, 2023 • 1 minute read
Ralph Yarl — a Black teenager who was shot in the head and arm last month after mistakenly ringing the wrong doorbell — walked at a brain injury awareness event Monday in his first major public appearance since the shooting.
The 17-year-old suffered a traumatic brain injury when he was shot while trying to pick up his younger brothers in April, the Kansas City Star reported.
Yarl walked with family, friends and other brain injury survivors Monday at Going the Distance for Brain Injury, a yearly Memorial Day race at Loose Park in Kansas City, Missouri.
“It takes a community. It takes a family. It takes a support group, all of that,” Yarl’s mother, Cleo Nagbe, said ahead of the race, adding: “Let’s raise more awareness to stop the things that cause brain injuries and should not be causing them, especially gun violence.”
As many as 1,000 people raced through the park, including many in neon green T-shirts who registered to be part of “Team Ralph,” said Robin Abramowitz, executive director of the Brain Injury Association of Kansas and Greater Kansas City.
“It’s important for Ralph to see that he is not alone,” Yarl’s aunt, Faith Spoonmore, said. She added that Yarl has debilitating migraines and issues with balance. He is also struggling with his emotions, mood changes and the trauma of the shooting.
Andrew Lester, an 84-year-old white man, is accused of shooting Yarl. The teen had confused Lester’s address with a home about a block away where he was supposed to pick up his siblings.
The shooting drew worldwide attention and prompted rallies and protests in the Kansas City area, with critics saying Lester was given preferential treatment when police released him just two hours after he was arrested.
Teen walks weeks after getting shot in head for knocking on wrong door
Ralph Yarl -- a Black teen who was shot in the head after mistakenly ringing the wrong doorbell -- walked at a brain injury awareness event
I thought it was weird & entertaining (or weirdly entertaining?) in the middle of a storm in the middle of the night…
Canuck socialite avoids jail time in slaying of Belize police superintendent
The 34-year-old from eastern Ontario was levied a 30,000-pound fine Tuesday in Belize City
Author of the articleostmedia News
Published May 31, 2023 • Last updated 1 day ago • 1 minute read
Canadian socialite Jasmine Hartin will have to pay for the death of a Belize police official, but only cash.
The 34-year-old from eastern Ontario was levied a $50,000 fine Tuesday at the Supreme Court in Belize City after pleading guilty to manslaughter by negligence at a hearing in April, according to the Daily Mail. She was also ordered to perform 300 hours of community service and film a video warning the public of the dangers of “drinking and making foolish decisions.”
However, the estranged partner of Andrew Ashcroft, whose father is British-Belizean billionaire Lord Michael Ashcroft, avoided jail time in the slaying of police Supt. Henry Jemmott, which she called a “horrible accident.”
Jemmott died after being shot in the head on a pier while doing some late-night drinking with Hartin in 2021, near the Ashcrofts’ luxury hotel on Ambergris Caye. Hartin alleged that Jemmott had offered to teach her how to use his Glock-17 pistol for her protection.
The Toronto Sun also reported this week that if there was no jail time and Hartin gets her passport back, according to sources, there would be an immediate effort to get her out of Belize and to retrieve her two children, who are believed to be in the Turks and Caicos with Hartin’s ex amid a bitter custody battle.
Hartin still faces a civil trial, the Daily Mail reported, which was expected after the conclusion of the criminal proceedings.
dailymail.co.uk
torontosun.com
The 34-year-old from eastern Ontario was levied a 30,000-pound fine Tuesday in Belize City
Author of the article
ostmedia NewsPublished May 31, 2023 • Last updated 1 day ago • 1 minute read
Canadian socialite Jasmine Hartin will have to pay for the death of a Belize police official, but only cash.
The 34-year-old from eastern Ontario was levied a $50,000 fine Tuesday at the Supreme Court in Belize City after pleading guilty to manslaughter by negligence at a hearing in April, according to the Daily Mail. She was also ordered to perform 300 hours of community service and film a video warning the public of the dangers of “drinking and making foolish decisions.”
However, the estranged partner of Andrew Ashcroft, whose father is British-Belizean billionaire Lord Michael Ashcroft, avoided jail time in the slaying of police Supt. Henry Jemmott, which she called a “horrible accident.”
Jemmott died after being shot in the head on a pier while doing some late-night drinking with Hartin in 2021, near the Ashcrofts’ luxury hotel on Ambergris Caye. Hartin alleged that Jemmott had offered to teach her how to use his Glock-17 pistol for her protection.
The Toronto Sun also reported this week that if there was no jail time and Hartin gets her passport back, according to sources, there would be an immediate effort to get her out of Belize and to retrieve her two children, who are believed to be in the Turks and Caicos with Hartin’s ex amid a bitter custody battle.
Hartin still faces a civil trial, the Daily Mail reported, which was expected after the conclusion of the criminal proceedings.
Jasmine Hartin avoids jail after killing a police chief in Belize
Hartin, 33, initially denied responsibility over the death of Superintendent Henry Jemmott but pleaded guilty to manslaughter by negligence at a hearing in April.
Canuck socialite avoids jail time in slaying of Belize police superintendent
The 34-year-old from Ontario was levied a 30,000-pound fine Tuesday in Belize City after pleading guilty to manslaughter by negligence.
Jasmine Hartin's mom makes desperate plea to Pierre Poilievre
Author of the article:Brad Hunter
Published Jun 01, 2023 • Last updated 1 day ago • 3 minute read
Jasmine Hartin has made a plea to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Jasmine Hartin has made a plea to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Embattled Canadian socialite Jasmine Hartin will not be rotting in a rat-infested Central American prison.
But that doesn’t mean the 34-year-old Kingston native’s current predicament is any less harrowing.
Hartin pleaded guilty last month to manslaughter by negligence in the May 2021 shooting death of San Pedro, Belize police chief, Henry Jemmott, 42, and a father of five.
On Wednesday, Hartin was fined $30,000 for her role in what everyone agrees was an accident, a horrific tragedy.
However, her former common-law husband, Andrew Ashcroft, whose daddy happens to be the richest man in Belize and has a seat at the table in Britain’s House of Lords, has whisked her two children off to Turks and Caicos.
She has not seen them in months.
As in many cases involving Canadians abroad, Global Affairs has been largely useless.
Now, Hartin’s mom, Candice Castiglione is asking for help from Tory leader Pierre Polliviere. She explains the background in a letter obtained by the Toronto Sun.
Castiglione — who lives in Kingston — has been by her daughter’s side throughout her ordeal.
“The persecution that ensued for the last two years has been unbelievable,” the mom said. “Even though we have been in communication with the Canadian Embassy all along seeking help, there is nothing that they can do to help us.”
— Castiglione alleges that judges, politicians, police and lawyers have been bribed.
— Both Hartin and her mother are living in terror. Castiglione said: “This entire country knows that our murder is imminent.”
— Castiglione also claims that Jasmine’s two children have been “kidnapped” by Ashcroft, and the kids were allowed to leave Belize without “parental consent.”
“He (Ashcroft) whisked the children away to the Turks and Caicos Islands where he and his family own many businesses and yield great power,” Castiglione wrote.
The frustrated grandmother revealed that even lawyers who were hired to look after Jasmine’s best interests have not had the stomach to do battle and have sabotaged their case.
“Currently, there are standing Supreme Court orders in Belize allowing Jasmine legal visitation rights to the children,” Castiglione said.
Now, Castiglione revealed that she and her daughter are under police surveillance 24/7.
“Recently an officer contacted us through our taxi driver to say he had a journalist with him to meet with us out in the country. We happen to know that journalist, and so we knew it was another trap to kill us,” Castiglione said.
“We have remained in hiding to try our best to survive.”
She added: “We are Canadians, under persecution, with a threat on our lives and the whole world knows it and apparently there is no law to do anything about it.
“In the past we asked Prime Minister Trudeau for help through the Toronto Sun newspaper without any response from him. Would you be willing to stand up and take jurisdiction over this custody case, and my daughter and help us in some way?”
She added: “We are eager to return to Canada, where we can meet with real lawyers and pursue justice. I listen to you and what you stand for. We are imploring you to intervene on our behalf in a way that would expose this gross corruption in the legal system here in a country which is a Commonwealth English-speaking country. I am not naive enough to believe that our own country doesn’t suffer from corruption in the courts, but at least there is an opposition party, knowledgeable lawyers, and a chance to uphold the law, a chance to have justice served. Here, without the power of God in our lives, we have nobody on our side.
“If you find it within your heart to respond to our plea for help, please contact me at candycastiglione@hotmail.com.”
bhunter@postmedia.com
@HunterTOSun
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Brad Hunter
Published Jun 01, 2023 • Last updated 1 day ago • 3 minute read
Jasmine Hartin has made a plea to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Jasmine Hartin has made a plea to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Embattled Canadian socialite Jasmine Hartin will not be rotting in a rat-infested Central American prison.
But that doesn’t mean the 34-year-old Kingston native’s current predicament is any less harrowing.
Hartin pleaded guilty last month to manslaughter by negligence in the May 2021 shooting death of San Pedro, Belize police chief, Henry Jemmott, 42, and a father of five.
On Wednesday, Hartin was fined $30,000 for her role in what everyone agrees was an accident, a horrific tragedy.
However, her former common-law husband, Andrew Ashcroft, whose daddy happens to be the richest man in Belize and has a seat at the table in Britain’s House of Lords, has whisked her two children off to Turks and Caicos.
She has not seen them in months.
As in many cases involving Canadians abroad, Global Affairs has been largely useless.
Now, Hartin’s mom, Candice Castiglione is asking for help from Tory leader Pierre Polliviere. She explains the background in a letter obtained by the Toronto Sun.
Castiglione — who lives in Kingston — has been by her daughter’s side throughout her ordeal.
“The persecution that ensued for the last two years has been unbelievable,” the mom said. “Even though we have been in communication with the Canadian Embassy all along seeking help, there is nothing that they can do to help us.”
— Castiglione alleges that judges, politicians, police and lawyers have been bribed.
— Both Hartin and her mother are living in terror. Castiglione said: “This entire country knows that our murder is imminent.”
— Castiglione also claims that Jasmine’s two children have been “kidnapped” by Ashcroft, and the kids were allowed to leave Belize without “parental consent.”
“He (Ashcroft) whisked the children away to the Turks and Caicos Islands where he and his family own many businesses and yield great power,” Castiglione wrote.
The frustrated grandmother revealed that even lawyers who were hired to look after Jasmine’s best interests have not had the stomach to do battle and have sabotaged their case.
“Currently, there are standing Supreme Court orders in Belize allowing Jasmine legal visitation rights to the children,” Castiglione said.
Now, Castiglione revealed that she and her daughter are under police surveillance 24/7.
“Recently an officer contacted us through our taxi driver to say he had a journalist with him to meet with us out in the country. We happen to know that journalist, and so we knew it was another trap to kill us,” Castiglione said.
“We have remained in hiding to try our best to survive.”
She added: “We are Canadians, under persecution, with a threat on our lives and the whole world knows it and apparently there is no law to do anything about it.
“In the past we asked Prime Minister Trudeau for help through the Toronto Sun newspaper without any response from him. Would you be willing to stand up and take jurisdiction over this custody case, and my daughter and help us in some way?”
She added: “We are eager to return to Canada, where we can meet with real lawyers and pursue justice. I listen to you and what you stand for. We are imploring you to intervene on our behalf in a way that would expose this gross corruption in the legal system here in a country which is a Commonwealth English-speaking country. I am not naive enough to believe that our own country doesn’t suffer from corruption in the courts, but at least there is an opposition party, knowledgeable lawyers, and a chance to uphold the law, a chance to have justice served. Here, without the power of God in our lives, we have nobody on our side.
“If you find it within your heart to respond to our plea for help, please contact me at candycastiglione@hotmail.com.”
bhunter@postmedia.com
@HunterTOSun
HUNTER: Jasmine Hartin's mom makes desperate plea to Pierre Poilievre
Embattled Canadian socialite Jasmine Hartin will not be rotting in a rat-infested Central American prison.
Fort Bragg drops Confederate namesake for Fort Liberty, part of U.S. Army base rebranding
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Hannah Schoenbaum
Published Jun 02, 2023 • 3 minute read
FORT LIBERTY, N.C. — Fort Bragg shed its Confederate namesake Friday to become Fort Liberty in a ceremony some veterans said was a small but important step in making the U.S. Army more welcoming to current and prospective Black service members.
The change was part of a broad Department of Defense initiative, motivated by the 2020 George Floyd protests, to rename military installations that had been named after confederate soldiers.
The Black Lives Matter demonstrations that erupted nationwide after Floyd’s killing by a white police officer, coupled with ongoing efforts to remove Confederate monuments, turned the spotlight on the Army installations. A naming commission created by Congress visited the bases and met with members of the surrounding communities for input.
While other bases are being renamed for Black soldiers, U.S. presidents and trailblazing women, the North Carolina military installation is the only one not renamed after a person. Retired U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Ty Seidule said at a commission meeting last year that the new name was chosen because “liberty remains the greatest American value.”
“Fayetteville in 1775 signed one of the first accords declaring our willingness to fight for liberty and freedom from Great Britain,” said Lt. Gen. Christopher Donahue, the commanding general of the XVIII Airborne Corps and Fort Liberty, referring to the city adjacent to the base. “Liberty has always been ingrained in this area.”
The cost to rename Fort Bragg — one of the largest military installations in the world by population — will total about $6.37 million, according to a commission report.
“The name changes, the mission does not change,” base spokesperson Cheryle Rivas said Friday morning before the ceremony.
Fort Polk in Louisiana will be the next installation to change its name June 13 to Fort Johnson, in honor of Sgt. William Henry Johnson.
The North Carolina base was originally named in 1918 for Gen. Braxton Bragg, a Confederate general from Warrenton, North Carolina, who was known for owning slaves and losing key Civil War battles that contributed to the Confederacy’s downfall.
Several military bases were named after Confederate soldiers during the First World War and Second World War as part of a “demonstration of reconciliation” with white southerners amid a broader effort to rally the nation to fight as one, said Nina Silber, a historian at Boston University.
“It was kind of a gesture of, ‘Yes, we acknowledge your patriotism,’ which is kind of absurd to acknowledge the patriotism of people who rebelled against a country,” she said.
The original naming process involved members of local communities, although Black residents were left out of the conversations. Bases were named after soldiers born or raised nearby, no matter how effectively they performed their duties. Bragg is widely regarded among historians as a poor leader who did not have the respect of his troops, Silber said.
For Isiah James, senior policy officer at the Black Veterans Project, the base renamings are a “long overdue” change he hopes will lead to more substantial improvements for Black service members.
“America should not have vestiges of slavery and secessionism and celebrate them,” he said. “We should not laud them and hold them up and venerate them to where every time a Black soldier goes onto the base, they get the message that this base Bragg is named after someone who wanted to keep you as human property.”
The secretary of defence is required by law to implement the naming commission’s proposed changes by Jan. 1, 2024.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Hannah Schoenbaum
Published Jun 02, 2023 • 3 minute read
FORT LIBERTY, N.C. — Fort Bragg shed its Confederate namesake Friday to become Fort Liberty in a ceremony some veterans said was a small but important step in making the U.S. Army more welcoming to current and prospective Black service members.
The change was part of a broad Department of Defense initiative, motivated by the 2020 George Floyd protests, to rename military installations that had been named after confederate soldiers.
The Black Lives Matter demonstrations that erupted nationwide after Floyd’s killing by a white police officer, coupled with ongoing efforts to remove Confederate monuments, turned the spotlight on the Army installations. A naming commission created by Congress visited the bases and met with members of the surrounding communities for input.
While other bases are being renamed for Black soldiers, U.S. presidents and trailblazing women, the North Carolina military installation is the only one not renamed after a person. Retired U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Ty Seidule said at a commission meeting last year that the new name was chosen because “liberty remains the greatest American value.”
“Fayetteville in 1775 signed one of the first accords declaring our willingness to fight for liberty and freedom from Great Britain,” said Lt. Gen. Christopher Donahue, the commanding general of the XVIII Airborne Corps and Fort Liberty, referring to the city adjacent to the base. “Liberty has always been ingrained in this area.”
The cost to rename Fort Bragg — one of the largest military installations in the world by population — will total about $6.37 million, according to a commission report.
“The name changes, the mission does not change,” base spokesperson Cheryle Rivas said Friday morning before the ceremony.
Fort Polk in Louisiana will be the next installation to change its name June 13 to Fort Johnson, in honor of Sgt. William Henry Johnson.
The North Carolina base was originally named in 1918 for Gen. Braxton Bragg, a Confederate general from Warrenton, North Carolina, who was known for owning slaves and losing key Civil War battles that contributed to the Confederacy’s downfall.
Several military bases were named after Confederate soldiers during the First World War and Second World War as part of a “demonstration of reconciliation” with white southerners amid a broader effort to rally the nation to fight as one, said Nina Silber, a historian at Boston University.
“It was kind of a gesture of, ‘Yes, we acknowledge your patriotism,’ which is kind of absurd to acknowledge the patriotism of people who rebelled against a country,” she said.
The original naming process involved members of local communities, although Black residents were left out of the conversations. Bases were named after soldiers born or raised nearby, no matter how effectively they performed their duties. Bragg is widely regarded among historians as a poor leader who did not have the respect of his troops, Silber said.
For Isiah James, senior policy officer at the Black Veterans Project, the base renamings are a “long overdue” change he hopes will lead to more substantial improvements for Black service members.
“America should not have vestiges of slavery and secessionism and celebrate them,” he said. “We should not laud them and hold them up and venerate them to where every time a Black soldier goes onto the base, they get the message that this base Bragg is named after someone who wanted to keep you as human property.”
The secretary of defence is required by law to implement the naming commission’s proposed changes by Jan. 1, 2024.
Fort Bragg drops Confederate namesake for Fort Liberty, part of U.S. Army base rebranding
Fort Bragg shed its Confederate namesake Friday to become Fort Liberty in a ceremony some veterans said was a small but important step.
Man shocked with Taser by LAPD died from enlarged heart and cocaine use
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Published Jun 02, 2023 • 2 minute read
LOS ANGELES — A teacher who was repeatedly shocked with a Taser by Los Angeles police died from an enlarged heart and cocaine use, according to an autopsy report released Friday.
The Jan. 3 death of Keenan Darnell Anderson, 31, prompted an outcry over the Los Angeles Police Department’s use of force. It was one of three fatal LAPD confrontations, including two shootings, that took place only days into the new year.
The specific manner of Anderson’s death was undetermined but the cause was listed as “effects of cardiomyopathy and cocaine use” and his death was “determined hours after restraint and conducted energy device use,” the coroner’s report said.
The family’s attorney, Carl Douglas, did not immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press Friday evening seeking comment on the report.
Anderson was a high school English teacher in Washington, D.C., and a cousin of Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors.
He was visiting family members in Los Angeles when he was stopped on suspicion of causing a hit-and-run traffic accident in the Venice area, police said.
An officer found Anderson “running in the middle of the street and exhibiting erratic behavior,” according to a police account.
Anderson initially complied with officers as they investigated whether he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, but then he bolted, Police Chief Michel Moore said.
Police chased Anderson and he was shocked with a Taser at least six times during a struggle when he resisted arrest, police said.
“They’re trying to George Floyd me,” Anderson said as an officer threatened to use a stun gun, which was repeatedly deployed seconds later as Anderson was face down on the pavement and begged for help, saying, “I’m not resisting.”
Anderson screamed for help after he was pinned to the street by officers and repeatedly shocked, according to police body camera footage released by the LAPD. Footage also showed an officer pressing his forearm on Anderson’s chest and an elbow in his neck.
“They’re trying to kill me,” Anderson yelled.
After being subdued, Anderson went into cardiac arrest and died at a hospital about four hours later.
His relatives have filed a $50 million claim with the city, which is a legal requirement before filing a lawsuit. The claim alleges officers unreasonably used deadly force, failed to follow training and filed false police reports.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Published Jun 02, 2023 • 2 minute read
LOS ANGELES — A teacher who was repeatedly shocked with a Taser by Los Angeles police died from an enlarged heart and cocaine use, according to an autopsy report released Friday.
The Jan. 3 death of Keenan Darnell Anderson, 31, prompted an outcry over the Los Angeles Police Department’s use of force. It was one of three fatal LAPD confrontations, including two shootings, that took place only days into the new year.
The specific manner of Anderson’s death was undetermined but the cause was listed as “effects of cardiomyopathy and cocaine use” and his death was “determined hours after restraint and conducted energy device use,” the coroner’s report said.
The family’s attorney, Carl Douglas, did not immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press Friday evening seeking comment on the report.
Anderson was a high school English teacher in Washington, D.C., and a cousin of Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors.
He was visiting family members in Los Angeles when he was stopped on suspicion of causing a hit-and-run traffic accident in the Venice area, police said.
An officer found Anderson “running in the middle of the street and exhibiting erratic behavior,” according to a police account.
Anderson initially complied with officers as they investigated whether he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, but then he bolted, Police Chief Michel Moore said.
Police chased Anderson and he was shocked with a Taser at least six times during a struggle when he resisted arrest, police said.
“They’re trying to George Floyd me,” Anderson said as an officer threatened to use a stun gun, which was repeatedly deployed seconds later as Anderson was face down on the pavement and begged for help, saying, “I’m not resisting.”
Anderson screamed for help after he was pinned to the street by officers and repeatedly shocked, according to police body camera footage released by the LAPD. Footage also showed an officer pressing his forearm on Anderson’s chest and an elbow in his neck.
“They’re trying to kill me,” Anderson yelled.
After being subdued, Anderson went into cardiac arrest and died at a hospital about four hours later.
His relatives have filed a $50 million claim with the city, which is a legal requirement before filing a lawsuit. The claim alleges officers unreasonably used deadly force, failed to follow training and filed false police reports.
Man shocked with Taser by LAPD died from enlarged heart and cocaine use
A teacher who was repeatedly shocked with a Taser by Los Angeles police died from an enlarged heart and cocaine use, according to an autopsy
Mother fatally shot by neighbor after dispute over playing children
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Published Jun 05, 2023 • Last updated 1 day ago • 2 minute read
OCALA, Fla. — A Florida mother was fatally shot through the front door of her neighbor’s home while her 9-year-old son stood next to her, a violent culmination of what police said was a 2 1/2-year feud.
Ajike Owens, 35, was fatally shot after going to the Ocala apartment of her neighbor, who earlier had yelled at Owens’ children as they played nearby and threw a pair of skates that hit one of them, Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods said at a news conference Monday.
Deputies responding to a trespassing call at the apartment Friday night found Owens suffering from gunshot wounds. The mother of four was taken to a nearby hospital, where she died. Ocala is about 70 miles (110 kilometres) northwest of Orlando.
“I wish our shooter would have called us instead of taking actions into her own hands,” Woods said. “I wish Ms. Owens would have called us in the hopes we could have never gotten to the point at which we are here today.”
Since January 2021, Woods said, deputies responded at least a half-dozen times in connection with the feuding between Owens and the woman who shot her. The sheriff’s office hasn’t arrested or identified the shooter.
Woods said detectives are working with the State Attorney’s Office and must investigate possible self-defense claims before they can move forward with any possible criminal charges.
The sheriff pointed out that because of Florida’s “stand your ground” law, he can’t legally make an arrest unless he can prove the shooter did not act in self-defense.
Before the shooting, Owens’ children had been playing in a field near the shooter’s apartment. When Owens later confronted the woman at her apartment, an argument ensued, and the woman shot Owens through the front door, according to police.
Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who is representing Owens’ family, said in a statement that the shooter had been yelling racial slurs at the children before the confrontation with their mother. Owens and her children are Black.
The sheriff’s office hasn’t confirmed there were slurs uttered or said whether race was a factor in the shooting.
Woods also said they haven’t interviewed Owens’ children, who witnessed the shooting, because investigators first want child therapists to work with them. Most of the information the deputies have is coming from the shooter, Woods said.
“There was a lot of aggressiveness from both of them, back and forth,” Wood said the shooter told investigators. “Whether it be banging on the doors, banging on the walls and threats being made. And then at that moment is when Ms. Owens was shot through the door.”
Woods was joined at his news conference by community leaders and a local attorney retained by the family, Anthony Thomas. Their singular message was a call for patience while the sheriff’s office conducted its investigation.
During a vigil with the family later Monday, Thomas said the sheriff had promised him the most professional service that he and his deputies could provide, and Thomas plans to hold the agency to that.
During the same gathering, Owens’ mother, Pamela Dias, said that she was seeking justice for her daughter and her grandchildren.
“My daughter, my grandchildren’s mother, was shot and killed with her 9-year-old son standing next to her,” Dias said. “She had no weapon. She posed no imminent threat to anyone.”
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Published Jun 05, 2023 • Last updated 1 day ago • 2 minute read
OCALA, Fla. — A Florida mother was fatally shot through the front door of her neighbor’s home while her 9-year-old son stood next to her, a violent culmination of what police said was a 2 1/2-year feud.
Ajike Owens, 35, was fatally shot after going to the Ocala apartment of her neighbor, who earlier had yelled at Owens’ children as they played nearby and threw a pair of skates that hit one of them, Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods said at a news conference Monday.
Deputies responding to a trespassing call at the apartment Friday night found Owens suffering from gunshot wounds. The mother of four was taken to a nearby hospital, where she died. Ocala is about 70 miles (110 kilometres) northwest of Orlando.
“I wish our shooter would have called us instead of taking actions into her own hands,” Woods said. “I wish Ms. Owens would have called us in the hopes we could have never gotten to the point at which we are here today.”
Since January 2021, Woods said, deputies responded at least a half-dozen times in connection with the feuding between Owens and the woman who shot her. The sheriff’s office hasn’t arrested or identified the shooter.
Woods said detectives are working with the State Attorney’s Office and must investigate possible self-defense claims before they can move forward with any possible criminal charges.
The sheriff pointed out that because of Florida’s “stand your ground” law, he can’t legally make an arrest unless he can prove the shooter did not act in self-defense.
Before the shooting, Owens’ children had been playing in a field near the shooter’s apartment. When Owens later confronted the woman at her apartment, an argument ensued, and the woman shot Owens through the front door, according to police.
Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who is representing Owens’ family, said in a statement that the shooter had been yelling racial slurs at the children before the confrontation with their mother. Owens and her children are Black.
The sheriff’s office hasn’t confirmed there were slurs uttered or said whether race was a factor in the shooting.
Woods also said they haven’t interviewed Owens’ children, who witnessed the shooting, because investigators first want child therapists to work with them. Most of the information the deputies have is coming from the shooter, Woods said.
“There was a lot of aggressiveness from both of them, back and forth,” Wood said the shooter told investigators. “Whether it be banging on the doors, banging on the walls and threats being made. And then at that moment is when Ms. Owens was shot through the door.”
Woods was joined at his news conference by community leaders and a local attorney retained by the family, Anthony Thomas. Their singular message was a call for patience while the sheriff’s office conducted its investigation.
During a vigil with the family later Monday, Thomas said the sheriff had promised him the most professional service that he and his deputies could provide, and Thomas plans to hold the agency to that.
During the same gathering, Owens’ mother, Pamela Dias, said that she was seeking justice for her daughter and her grandchildren.
“My daughter, my grandchildren’s mother, was shot and killed with her 9-year-old son standing next to her,” Dias said. “She had no weapon. She posed no imminent threat to anyone.”
Mother fatally shot by neighbor after dispute over playing children
A two-and-a-half-year neighborhood feud over playing children has ended in a Florida mother's fatal shooting
This is why domestic calls are so dangerous for police but having said that, it should have been dealt with 2-1/2 years ago!!Mother fatally shot by neighbor after dispute over playing children
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Published Jun 05, 2023 • Last updated 1 day ago • 2 minute read
OCALA, Fla. — A Florida mother was fatally shot through the front door of her neighbor’s home while her 9-year-old son stood next to her, a violent culmination of what police said was a 2 1/2-year feud.
Ajike Owens, 35, was fatally shot after going to the Ocala apartment of her neighbor, who earlier had yelled at Owens’ children as they played nearby and threw a pair of skates that hit one of them, Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods said at a news conference Monday.
Deputies responding to a trespassing call at the apartment Friday night found Owens suffering from gunshot wounds. The mother of four was taken to a nearby hospital, where she died. Ocala is about 70 miles (110 kilometres) northwest of Orlando.
“I wish our shooter would have called us instead of taking actions into her own hands,” Woods said. “I wish Ms. Owens would have called us in the hopes we could have never gotten to the point at which we are here today.”
Since January 2021, Woods said, deputies responded at least a half-dozen times in connection with the feuding between Owens and the woman who shot her. The sheriff’s office hasn’t arrested or identified the shooter.
Woods said detectives are working with the State Attorney’s Office and must investigate possible self-defense claims before they can move forward with any possible criminal charges.
The sheriff pointed out that because of Florida’s “stand your ground” law, he can’t legally make an arrest unless he can prove the shooter did not act in self-defense.
Before the shooting, Owens’ children had been playing in a field near the shooter’s apartment. When Owens later confronted the woman at her apartment, an argument ensued, and the woman shot Owens through the front door, according to police.
Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who is representing Owens’ family, said in a statement that the shooter had been yelling racial slurs at the children before the confrontation with their mother. Owens and her children are Black.
The sheriff’s office hasn’t confirmed there were slurs uttered or said whether race was a factor in the shooting.
Woods also said they haven’t interviewed Owens’ children, who witnessed the shooting, because investigators first want child therapists to work with them. Most of the information the deputies have is coming from the shooter, Woods said.
“There was a lot of aggressiveness from both of them, back and forth,” Wood said the shooter told investigators. “Whether it be banging on the doors, banging on the walls and threats being made. And then at that moment is when Ms. Owens was shot through the door.”
Woods was joined at his news conference by community leaders and a local attorney retained by the family, Anthony Thomas. Their singular message was a call for patience while the sheriff’s office conducted its investigation.
During a vigil with the family later Monday, Thomas said the sheriff had promised him the most professional service that he and his deputies could provide, and Thomas plans to hold the agency to that.
During the same gathering, Owens’ mother, Pamela Dias, said that she was seeking justice for her daughter and her grandchildren.
“My daughter, my grandchildren’s mother, was shot and killed with her 9-year-old son standing next to her,” Dias said. “She had no weapon. She posed no imminent threat to anyone.”
Mother fatally shot by neighbor after dispute over playing children
A two-and-a-half-year neighborhood feud over playing children has ended in a Florida mother's fatal shooting
White Florida woman who fatally shot Black mom-of-four neighbour arrested
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Curt Anderson and Freida Frisaro
Published Jun 07, 2023 • Last updated 2 days ago • 5 minute read
OCALA, Fla. — A Florida woman accused of fatally shooting her neighbour last week in the violent culmination of what the sheriff described as a 2 1/2-year feud was arrested Tuesday, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office said.
Susan Louise Lorincz, 58, who is white, was arrested on charges of manslaughter with a firearm, culpable negligence, battery and two counts of assault in the death of Ajike Owens, a Black mother of four, Sheriff Billy Woods said in a statement.
Authorities came under pressure Tuesday to arrest and charge Lorincz, who fired the gun and killed Owens in a case that has put Florida’s divisive stand your ground law back into the spotlight.
In a video posted on Facebook late Tuesday night, the sheriff said this was not a stand your ground case but “simply a killing.”
“Now many of you were struggling to understand why there was not an immediate arrest,” the sheriff said. “The laws here in the state of Florida are clear. Now I may not like them. I may not agree with them. But however, those laws I will follow.”
The video shared by the sheriff’s office shows two detectives and a deputy leading Lorincz down a hallway with her hands behind her back.
Jail records show she was booked, but did not list a lawyer who could speak on her behalf. It wasn’t immediately clear when she would make her first court appearance.
During a news conference at New St. John Missionary Baptist Church on Wednesday afternoon, the victim’s family, friends and community leaders joined civil rights attorney Ben Crump in thanking the sheriff for making the arrest, while calling for justice for Owens.
“This is not a difficult case,” Crump said. He called on the state attorney’s office to “zealously prosecute” the shooter.
Crump, along with Owens’s mother and multiple neighbours noted during the news conference that the “feud” the sheriff spoke of was between Lorincz and neighbourhood children, who often played in a lot outside her home. Neighbours said Lorincz frequently called the children vile names and antagonized them.
That was the case on Friday night, they said. Sheriff’s deputies responded to a trespassing call and found Owens with gunshot wounds.
The neighbourhood of single-story duplexes and quadruplexes is in the rolling hills outside of Ocala. The area is known for its thoroughbred horse farms, which surround the working-class neighbourhood.
Lorincz told investigators that she acted in self-defence, and that Owens, 35, had been trying to break down her door before she fired the gun, the sheriff said. She also told them that Owens had come after her in the past, and had previously attacked her.
Sheriff Woods said the investigation, which included eyewitness statements, established that Lorincz’s actions were not justifiable under Florida law.
Earlier the sheriff had said that because of the stand your ground law he couldn’t make an arrest unless he could prove the shooter did not act in self-defence.
According to the sheriff’s account, Owens was shot moments after going to Lorincz’s apartment because she had yelled had at Owens’ children as they played outside. He said Lorincz had thrown a pair of skates that hit one of the children.
The sheriff’s office hasn’t confirmed there were slurs uttered or said whether race was a factor in the shooting.
Owens’ mother, Pamela Dias, said Wednesday that her two young grandsons, ages 12 and 9, are dealing with feelings of guilt — because they were with their mom outside Lorincz’s house that evening, and saw her get shot.
“Our 12-year-old blames himself for the death of his mother because he couldn’t save her. He couldn’t give her CPR,” Dias said.
Hours before the arrest on Tuesday, some three dozen protesters, most of them Black, gathered outside the Marion County Judicial Center, demanding the shooter’s arrest. The chief prosecutor, State Attorney William Gladson, met with them and urged patience while the investigation continued.
“If we are going to make a case we need as much time and as much evidence as possible,” Gladson said. “I don’t want to compromise any criminal investigation.”
In a statement late Tuesday, Crump said while Owens’ family is “relieved” that an arrest has been made, they remain concerned it has taken this long because “archaic laws like Stand Your Ground exist” Crump also represented the family of Trayvon Martin who was fatally shot by George Zimmerman in central Florida in 2012.
Lauren Smith, 40, lives across the street from where the shooting happened. She was on her porch that day and saw one of Owens’ young sons pacing, and yelling, “They shot my mama, they shot my mama.”
She ran toward the house, and started chest compressions until a rescue crew arrived. She said there wasn’t an altercation and that Owens didn’t have a weapon.
“She was angry all the time that the children were playing out there,” Smith said. “She would say nasty things to them. Just nasty.” Smith, who is white, described the neighbourhood is family friendly.
The sheriff said that since January 2021, deputies responded at least a half-dozen calls in connection with what police described as feuding between Owens and Lorincz.
“There was a lot of aggressiveness from both of them, back and forth,” the sheriff said Lorincz told investigators. “Whether it be banging on the doors, banging on the walls and threats being made. And then at that moment is when Ms. Owens was shot through the door.”
Stand your ground cases are deemed justifiable five times more frequently when a white shooter kills a Black victim, according to Angela Ferrell-Zabala, executive director of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.
In 2017, Florida lawmakers shifted the burden of proof from a person claiming self-defence to prosecutors. Before the change in law, prosecutors could charge someone with a shooting, and then defence attorneys would have to present an affirmative defence for why their client shouldn’t be convicted. Now authorities must rule out self-defence before bringing charges.
Stand your ground and “castle doctrine” cases — which allow residents to defend themselves either by law or court precedent when threatened — have sparked outrage amid a spate of shootings across the country.
In April, 84-year-old Andrew Lester, a white man, shot and injured 16-year-old Ralph Yarl, a Black teenager who rang his doorbell in Kansas City. Yarl mistakenly went to the wrong house to pick up his younger siblings. Lester faces criminal charges. At trial, he may argue that he thought someone was trying to break into his house.
Missouri and Florida are among about 30 states that have stand your ground laws.
The most well-known examples of the stand your ground argument came up in the trial of George Zimmerman, who fatally shot Trayvon Martin in 2012.
Owens’ mother said she will now raise her four young grandchildren.
“I pray that God gives me the strength, the wisdom and the ability to raise these children as our daughter would have us to do,” Dias said, of receiving childcare help from family and friends. “I thank God that I don’t have to do it alone.”
— Frisaro reported from Fort Lauderdale.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Curt Anderson and Freida Frisaro
Published Jun 07, 2023 • Last updated 2 days ago • 5 minute read
OCALA, Fla. — A Florida woman accused of fatally shooting her neighbour last week in the violent culmination of what the sheriff described as a 2 1/2-year feud was arrested Tuesday, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office said.
Susan Louise Lorincz, 58, who is white, was arrested on charges of manslaughter with a firearm, culpable negligence, battery and two counts of assault in the death of Ajike Owens, a Black mother of four, Sheriff Billy Woods said in a statement.
Authorities came under pressure Tuesday to arrest and charge Lorincz, who fired the gun and killed Owens in a case that has put Florida’s divisive stand your ground law back into the spotlight.
In a video posted on Facebook late Tuesday night, the sheriff said this was not a stand your ground case but “simply a killing.”
“Now many of you were struggling to understand why there was not an immediate arrest,” the sheriff said. “The laws here in the state of Florida are clear. Now I may not like them. I may not agree with them. But however, those laws I will follow.”
The video shared by the sheriff’s office shows two detectives and a deputy leading Lorincz down a hallway with her hands behind her back.
Jail records show she was booked, but did not list a lawyer who could speak on her behalf. It wasn’t immediately clear when she would make her first court appearance.
During a news conference at New St. John Missionary Baptist Church on Wednesday afternoon, the victim’s family, friends and community leaders joined civil rights attorney Ben Crump in thanking the sheriff for making the arrest, while calling for justice for Owens.
“This is not a difficult case,” Crump said. He called on the state attorney’s office to “zealously prosecute” the shooter.
Crump, along with Owens’s mother and multiple neighbours noted during the news conference that the “feud” the sheriff spoke of was between Lorincz and neighbourhood children, who often played in a lot outside her home. Neighbours said Lorincz frequently called the children vile names and antagonized them.
That was the case on Friday night, they said. Sheriff’s deputies responded to a trespassing call and found Owens with gunshot wounds.
The neighbourhood of single-story duplexes and quadruplexes is in the rolling hills outside of Ocala. The area is known for its thoroughbred horse farms, which surround the working-class neighbourhood.
Lorincz told investigators that she acted in self-defence, and that Owens, 35, had been trying to break down her door before she fired the gun, the sheriff said. She also told them that Owens had come after her in the past, and had previously attacked her.
Sheriff Woods said the investigation, which included eyewitness statements, established that Lorincz’s actions were not justifiable under Florida law.
Earlier the sheriff had said that because of the stand your ground law he couldn’t make an arrest unless he could prove the shooter did not act in self-defence.
According to the sheriff’s account, Owens was shot moments after going to Lorincz’s apartment because she had yelled had at Owens’ children as they played outside. He said Lorincz had thrown a pair of skates that hit one of the children.
The sheriff’s office hasn’t confirmed there were slurs uttered or said whether race was a factor in the shooting.
Owens’ mother, Pamela Dias, said Wednesday that her two young grandsons, ages 12 and 9, are dealing with feelings of guilt — because they were with their mom outside Lorincz’s house that evening, and saw her get shot.
“Our 12-year-old blames himself for the death of his mother because he couldn’t save her. He couldn’t give her CPR,” Dias said.
Hours before the arrest on Tuesday, some three dozen protesters, most of them Black, gathered outside the Marion County Judicial Center, demanding the shooter’s arrest. The chief prosecutor, State Attorney William Gladson, met with them and urged patience while the investigation continued.
“If we are going to make a case we need as much time and as much evidence as possible,” Gladson said. “I don’t want to compromise any criminal investigation.”
In a statement late Tuesday, Crump said while Owens’ family is “relieved” that an arrest has been made, they remain concerned it has taken this long because “archaic laws like Stand Your Ground exist” Crump also represented the family of Trayvon Martin who was fatally shot by George Zimmerman in central Florida in 2012.
Lauren Smith, 40, lives across the street from where the shooting happened. She was on her porch that day and saw one of Owens’ young sons pacing, and yelling, “They shot my mama, they shot my mama.”
She ran toward the house, and started chest compressions until a rescue crew arrived. She said there wasn’t an altercation and that Owens didn’t have a weapon.
“She was angry all the time that the children were playing out there,” Smith said. “She would say nasty things to them. Just nasty.” Smith, who is white, described the neighbourhood is family friendly.
The sheriff said that since January 2021, deputies responded at least a half-dozen calls in connection with what police described as feuding between Owens and Lorincz.
“There was a lot of aggressiveness from both of them, back and forth,” the sheriff said Lorincz told investigators. “Whether it be banging on the doors, banging on the walls and threats being made. And then at that moment is when Ms. Owens was shot through the door.”
Stand your ground cases are deemed justifiable five times more frequently when a white shooter kills a Black victim, according to Angela Ferrell-Zabala, executive director of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.
In 2017, Florida lawmakers shifted the burden of proof from a person claiming self-defence to prosecutors. Before the change in law, prosecutors could charge someone with a shooting, and then defence attorneys would have to present an affirmative defence for why their client shouldn’t be convicted. Now authorities must rule out self-defence before bringing charges.
Stand your ground and “castle doctrine” cases — which allow residents to defend themselves either by law or court precedent when threatened — have sparked outrage amid a spate of shootings across the country.
In April, 84-year-old Andrew Lester, a white man, shot and injured 16-year-old Ralph Yarl, a Black teenager who rang his doorbell in Kansas City. Yarl mistakenly went to the wrong house to pick up his younger siblings. Lester faces criminal charges. At trial, he may argue that he thought someone was trying to break into his house.
Missouri and Florida are among about 30 states that have stand your ground laws.
The most well-known examples of the stand your ground argument came up in the trial of George Zimmerman, who fatally shot Trayvon Martin in 2012.
Owens’ mother said she will now raise her four young grandchildren.
“I pray that God gives me the strength, the wisdom and the ability to raise these children as our daughter would have us to do,” Dias said, of receiving childcare help from family and friends. “I thank God that I don’t have to do it alone.”
— Frisaro reported from Fort Lauderdale.
White Florida woman who fatally shot Black mom-of-four neighbour arrested
Susan Louise Lorincz, 58, fired through her front her door and killed Ajike Owens
Canadian Jasmine Hartin barred from leaving Belize in shock twist
Author of the article:Brad Hunter
Published Jun 07, 2023 • Last updated 2 days ago • 3 minute read
The 24/7 melodrama starring Canadian socialite Jasmine Hartin appeared to be drawing to a conclusion.
Not the end, maybe, but at least the “end of the beginning,” as war leader Sir Winston Churchill famously quipped.
For Hartin, that all changed on Tuesday.
The 34-year-old Kingston, Ont. native’s luxe life was turned upside down in 2021 when she accidentally shot her friend, San Pedro police chief Henry Jemmott, 42, in the head. The bullet killed him instantly.
Fast forward two years and Hartin pleaded guilty to manslaughter by negligence. No one believed her actions were anything but a tragic accident.
She avoided prison but was ordered to pay $75,000 Belize dollars (C$49,700) in fines.
Sources told the Toronto Sun that Hartin was planning to retrieve her children, who were whisked out of the country to the Turks and Caicos by her former common-law husband, Andrew Ashcroft.
Ashcroft is the son of Lord Michael Ashcroft, the richest man in Belize, a member of the House of Lords in London, power player in Tory politics.
Get the picture?
“Jasmine is being detained at the Belize border while trying to enter Mexico with documents provided to her by the Canadian Embassy, they are emergency travel documents because Belize won’t release her passport,” a source with knowledge of the situation told the Sun.
“That’s even though she paid the fine in full. And so the Canadian government gave her an emergency travel document.”
The source said border officials got on the phone with immigration officials who “verified everything” and “sent additional documentation.”
“And now they are arresting her for forging travel documents that they were just presented with — directly from the Canadian Embassy.”
On the weekend, her Toronto-based lawyer Seth Weinstein released a statement on behalf of Hartin, expressing her sorrow on Jemmott’s death.
“Ms. Hartin accepts Justice Sandcroft’s ruling and with the assistance of a friend, has paid the fine in full,” Weinstein said.
“Ms. Hartin is anxious to now move forward and restore her reputation that has been unfairly tarnished by the disparaging rumours and misrepresentations that have swirled since the tragic accident on May 28, 2021. Her primary focus, however, is to ensure that she can again be a loving and comforting mother.”
But once her fine was sent to the lawyer, court officials refused to return her passport. The mother-of-two tried to cross into Mexico on Tuesday afternoon.
Hartin was then taken to an interrogation room where she was accused of falsifying the document.
According to The Times of London, the country’s police commissioner, Chester Williams, stepped in to stop Hartin from “absconding.”
At the crossing into Mexico, the insider said: “[They] had the border agent coming up with story after story as to why she didn’t have the proper things to cross. Every time she produced what [the agent said] was needed, she would come up with another thing.”
On Wednesday morning, Jasmine Hartin was still locked away in the cells in Corozal on the coast of Belize.
For those of you keeping score, Corozal is the speck on the map where Keswick realtor Francesca Matus and her American boyfriend were strangled to death in a sugar cane field in 2017.
Matus, also a mother of two, was slated to fly home the next morning.
The double murder remains unsolved. Like a lot of others in Belize.
Take from that what you will.
bhunter@postmedia.com
@HunterTOSun
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Brad Hunter
Published Jun 07, 2023 • Last updated 2 days ago • 3 minute read
The 24/7 melodrama starring Canadian socialite Jasmine Hartin appeared to be drawing to a conclusion.
Not the end, maybe, but at least the “end of the beginning,” as war leader Sir Winston Churchill famously quipped.
For Hartin, that all changed on Tuesday.
The 34-year-old Kingston, Ont. native’s luxe life was turned upside down in 2021 when she accidentally shot her friend, San Pedro police chief Henry Jemmott, 42, in the head. The bullet killed him instantly.
Fast forward two years and Hartin pleaded guilty to manslaughter by negligence. No one believed her actions were anything but a tragic accident.
She avoided prison but was ordered to pay $75,000 Belize dollars (C$49,700) in fines.
Sources told the Toronto Sun that Hartin was planning to retrieve her children, who were whisked out of the country to the Turks and Caicos by her former common-law husband, Andrew Ashcroft.
Ashcroft is the son of Lord Michael Ashcroft, the richest man in Belize, a member of the House of Lords in London, power player in Tory politics.
Get the picture?
“Jasmine is being detained at the Belize border while trying to enter Mexico with documents provided to her by the Canadian Embassy, they are emergency travel documents because Belize won’t release her passport,” a source with knowledge of the situation told the Sun.
“That’s even though she paid the fine in full. And so the Canadian government gave her an emergency travel document.”
The source said border officials got on the phone with immigration officials who “verified everything” and “sent additional documentation.”
“And now they are arresting her for forging travel documents that they were just presented with — directly from the Canadian Embassy.”
On the weekend, her Toronto-based lawyer Seth Weinstein released a statement on behalf of Hartin, expressing her sorrow on Jemmott’s death.
“Ms. Hartin accepts Justice Sandcroft’s ruling and with the assistance of a friend, has paid the fine in full,” Weinstein said.
“Ms. Hartin is anxious to now move forward and restore her reputation that has been unfairly tarnished by the disparaging rumours and misrepresentations that have swirled since the tragic accident on May 28, 2021. Her primary focus, however, is to ensure that she can again be a loving and comforting mother.”
But once her fine was sent to the lawyer, court officials refused to return her passport. The mother-of-two tried to cross into Mexico on Tuesday afternoon.
Hartin was then taken to an interrogation room where she was accused of falsifying the document.
According to The Times of London, the country’s police commissioner, Chester Williams, stepped in to stop Hartin from “absconding.”
At the crossing into Mexico, the insider said: “[They] had the border agent coming up with story after story as to why she didn’t have the proper things to cross. Every time she produced what [the agent said] was needed, she would come up with another thing.”
On Wednesday morning, Jasmine Hartin was still locked away in the cells in Corozal on the coast of Belize.
For those of you keeping score, Corozal is the speck on the map where Keswick realtor Francesca Matus and her American boyfriend were strangled to death in a sugar cane field in 2017.
Matus, also a mother of two, was slated to fly home the next morning.
The double murder remains unsolved. Like a lot of others in Belize.
Take from that what you will.
bhunter@postmedia.com
@HunterTOSun
HUNTER: Canadian Jasmine Hartin barred from leaving Belize in shock twist
The 24/7 melodrama starring Canadian socialite Jasmine Hartin appeared to be drawing to a conclusion.
Autopsy finds N.C. man died of 'sudden cardiac arrest' during police confrontation
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Published Jun 07, 2023 • 2 minute read
RALEIGH, N.C. — A man who died after police officers in North Carolina’s capital city repeatedly used stun guns on him died from “sudden cardiac arrest” related to cocaine intoxication and the police confrontation, according to the state’s autopsy report released Wednesday.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner also labeled the Jan. 17 death of 32-year-old Darryl Tyree Williams a homicide.
The autopsy report listed the cause of Williams’ death “as sudden cardiac arrest in the setting of cocaine intoxication, physical exertion, conducted energy weapon use, and physical restraint.” A toxicology analysis in part detected cocaine and a chemical that’s contained in marijuana in his blood, the report said.
The Raleigh Police Department said its officers were trying to arrest Williams around 2 a.m. for possession of a controlled substance.
Several officers were placed on administrative leave, and the State Bureau of Investigation conducted a probe into what happened. The SBI has submitted its case file to Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman, who will determine whether criminal charges are appropriate, SBI spokesperson Angie Grube said.
Williams’ family has called on officials to fire officers and charge them in his death. In a news release, attorneys for the family said that the autopsy confirms that “Darryl’s death was a direct result of excessive and unreasonable police force.”
“We will work tirelessly to ensure that those responsible for this senseless loss of life are held accountable” and that there are “meaningful changes” implemented to prevent similar future deaths, the release said.
An email to Raleigh police spokespersons seeking comment on Wednesday and the status of the officers placed on leave wasn’t immediately returned.
Police have said they were trying to arrest Williams after they found a folded dollar bill with white powder in his pocket.
Police said two officers stunned Williams with a Taser a total of three times as they tried to take him into custody. The autopsy found injuries on his back consistent with stun gun use.
Williams, a Black man, can be heard in body and dashboard camera videos released by police in February protesting that he didn’t do anything and warning that he had a heart problem. Medical records showed he had a history of an unspecified irregular heartbeat, Wednesday’s report said.
Obesity and “hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease” also contributed to his death, the report said, adding that Williams also had a “known medical history of obesity and substance (tobacco, marijuana, and cocaine) abuse.”
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Published Jun 07, 2023 • 2 minute read
RALEIGH, N.C. — A man who died after police officers in North Carolina’s capital city repeatedly used stun guns on him died from “sudden cardiac arrest” related to cocaine intoxication and the police confrontation, according to the state’s autopsy report released Wednesday.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner also labeled the Jan. 17 death of 32-year-old Darryl Tyree Williams a homicide.
The autopsy report listed the cause of Williams’ death “as sudden cardiac arrest in the setting of cocaine intoxication, physical exertion, conducted energy weapon use, and physical restraint.” A toxicology analysis in part detected cocaine and a chemical that’s contained in marijuana in his blood, the report said.
The Raleigh Police Department said its officers were trying to arrest Williams around 2 a.m. for possession of a controlled substance.
Several officers were placed on administrative leave, and the State Bureau of Investigation conducted a probe into what happened. The SBI has submitted its case file to Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman, who will determine whether criminal charges are appropriate, SBI spokesperson Angie Grube said.
Williams’ family has called on officials to fire officers and charge them in his death. In a news release, attorneys for the family said that the autopsy confirms that “Darryl’s death was a direct result of excessive and unreasonable police force.”
“We will work tirelessly to ensure that those responsible for this senseless loss of life are held accountable” and that there are “meaningful changes” implemented to prevent similar future deaths, the release said.
An email to Raleigh police spokespersons seeking comment on Wednesday and the status of the officers placed on leave wasn’t immediately returned.
Police have said they were trying to arrest Williams after they found a folded dollar bill with white powder in his pocket.
Police said two officers stunned Williams with a Taser a total of three times as they tried to take him into custody. The autopsy found injuries on his back consistent with stun gun use.
Williams, a Black man, can be heard in body and dashboard camera videos released by police in February protesting that he didn’t do anything and warning that he had a heart problem. Medical records showed he had a history of an unspecified irregular heartbeat, Wednesday’s report said.
Obesity and “hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease” also contributed to his death, the report said, adding that Williams also had a “known medical history of obesity and substance (tobacco, marijuana, and cocaine) abuse.”
Autopsy finds N.C. man died of 'sudden cardiac arrest' during police confrontation
A man who died after police officers in North Carolina's capital city repeatedly used stun guns on him died from "sudden cardiac arrest"
Connecticut cops fired over treatment of man paralyzed in van after 2022 arrest
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Dave Collins
Published Jun 07, 2023 • 3 minute read
The City of New Haven, Connecticut, fired two police officers Wednesday for what authorities called their reckless actions and lack of compassion toward Richard “Randy” Cox, who was injured and became paralyzed in the back of a police van after his arrest last year.
City police commissioners voted to dismiss Jocelyn Lavandier and Luis Rivera for violating officer conduct rules on following the law, integrity, trustworthiness, courtesy and respect. The two officers and three others also face criminal charges.
Four of the six commissioners voted in favor of the terminations while two abstained, which Commission Chair Evelise Ribeiro said was likely because they didn’t attend hearings on the matter. The body also postponed a vote on whether to fire two other officers involved in Cox’s detention.
A message seeking comment was left with a lawyer for Lavandier and Rivera.
Cox injured his neck on June 19, 2022, when the police van braked hard to avoid a collision with another vehicle that pulled out from a side street, according to police. Cox’s hands were cuffed behind his back and there were no seat belts, and he flew head-first into the metal divider between the driver’s section and the prisoners’ area.
“I can’t move. I’m going to die like this. Please, please, please help me,” Cox said, according to police video.
Internal affairs investigators said Lavandier and Rivera were among several officers at the police station who recklessly dragged him out of the van and around the detention area while he was paralyzed, mocked him for not being able to move and falsely accused him of being drunk.
Cox had been arrested on allegations he threatened a woman with a gun, charges that later were dismissed.
Five officers, including Lavandier and Rivera, were criminally charged on allegations they cruelly mistreated and neglected Cox, who was left paralyzed from the chest down and is suing the officers and the city for $100 million. The criminal cases remain pending.
All five officers — Lavandier, Rivera, Oscar Diaz and Betsy Segui be fired. The fifth officer criminally charged, Ronald Pressley — have pleaded not guilty.
Police Chief Karl Jacobson recommended to police commissioners in March that Lavandier, Rivera, Diaz and Segui be fired.
Their lawyers have said they should not be fired. Gregory Cerritelli, who represents Segui, has called them “scapegoats” for the department’s “inadequate training and policies.”
Pressley retired in January, so he does not face internal discipline by the department.
The case has drawn outrage from civil rights advocates like the NAACP, along with comparisons to the Freddie Gray case in Baltimore. Cox is Black, while all five officers who were arrested are Black or Hispanic.
Gray, who also was Black, died in 2015 after he suffered a spinal injury while handcuffed and shackled in a city police van.
New Haven police said Diaz was driving the van when Cox was injured. He pulled over several minutes after Cox began pleading for help and called an ambulance, but told paramedics to meet him at the police station, officials said. Diaz violated policy by not waiting for the ambulance where he had pulled over, Jacobson said.
At the station, officials say Lavandier and other officers dragged Cox out of the van and tried to stand him up, but Cox collapsed to the floor as officers held him. Officers then put him in a wheelchair and brought him to a cell, where they put him on the floor and waited for the ambulance.
During the interactions, officers kept ordering Cox to get up or move, accused him of being drunk and didn’t believe he was injured, investigators said. Some of the officers told investigators that they wouldn’t have moved Cox from the van if they knew the severity of his injuries.
City police subsequently announced reforms including making sure all prisoners wear seat belts. The state Senate on Monday gave final legislative approval to a bill spurred by the Cox case that would require seat belts for all prisoners being transported.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Dave Collins
Published Jun 07, 2023 • 3 minute read
The City of New Haven, Connecticut, fired two police officers Wednesday for what authorities called their reckless actions and lack of compassion toward Richard “Randy” Cox, who was injured and became paralyzed in the back of a police van after his arrest last year.
City police commissioners voted to dismiss Jocelyn Lavandier and Luis Rivera for violating officer conduct rules on following the law, integrity, trustworthiness, courtesy and respect. The two officers and three others also face criminal charges.
Four of the six commissioners voted in favor of the terminations while two abstained, which Commission Chair Evelise Ribeiro said was likely because they didn’t attend hearings on the matter. The body also postponed a vote on whether to fire two other officers involved in Cox’s detention.
A message seeking comment was left with a lawyer for Lavandier and Rivera.
Cox injured his neck on June 19, 2022, when the police van braked hard to avoid a collision with another vehicle that pulled out from a side street, according to police. Cox’s hands were cuffed behind his back and there were no seat belts, and he flew head-first into the metal divider between the driver’s section and the prisoners’ area.
“I can’t move. I’m going to die like this. Please, please, please help me,” Cox said, according to police video.
Internal affairs investigators said Lavandier and Rivera were among several officers at the police station who recklessly dragged him out of the van and around the detention area while he was paralyzed, mocked him for not being able to move and falsely accused him of being drunk.
Cox had been arrested on allegations he threatened a woman with a gun, charges that later were dismissed.
Five officers, including Lavandier and Rivera, were criminally charged on allegations they cruelly mistreated and neglected Cox, who was left paralyzed from the chest down and is suing the officers and the city for $100 million. The criminal cases remain pending.
All five officers — Lavandier, Rivera, Oscar Diaz and Betsy Segui be fired. The fifth officer criminally charged, Ronald Pressley — have pleaded not guilty.
Police Chief Karl Jacobson recommended to police commissioners in March that Lavandier, Rivera, Diaz and Segui be fired.
Their lawyers have said they should not be fired. Gregory Cerritelli, who represents Segui, has called them “scapegoats” for the department’s “inadequate training and policies.”
Pressley retired in January, so he does not face internal discipline by the department.
The case has drawn outrage from civil rights advocates like the NAACP, along with comparisons to the Freddie Gray case in Baltimore. Cox is Black, while all five officers who were arrested are Black or Hispanic.
Gray, who also was Black, died in 2015 after he suffered a spinal injury while handcuffed and shackled in a city police van.
New Haven police said Diaz was driving the van when Cox was injured. He pulled over several minutes after Cox began pleading for help and called an ambulance, but told paramedics to meet him at the police station, officials said. Diaz violated policy by not waiting for the ambulance where he had pulled over, Jacobson said.
At the station, officials say Lavandier and other officers dragged Cox out of the van and tried to stand him up, but Cox collapsed to the floor as officers held him. Officers then put him in a wheelchair and brought him to a cell, where they put him on the floor and waited for the ambulance.
During the interactions, officers kept ordering Cox to get up or move, accused him of being drunk and didn’t believe he was injured, investigators said. Some of the officers told investigators that they wouldn’t have moved Cox from the van if they knew the severity of his injuries.
City police subsequently announced reforms including making sure all prisoners wear seat belts. The state Senate on Monday gave final legislative approval to a bill spurred by the Cox case that would require seat belts for all prisoners being transported.
Connecticut cops fired over treatment of man paralyzed in van after 2022 arrest
Two cops were fired for what authorities called reckless actions and lack of compassion toward a man who was paralyzed in a police van