NY lawmaker wants to criminalize racially biased 911 calls
A black New York state senator who says a woman called 911 on him for campaigning has introduced a bill to punish people for making racially motivated police reports.
Earlier this month, state Sen. Jesse Hamilton was campaigning in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, when a woman who Hamilton said didn’t agree with his criticism of President Donald Trump called 911 when Hamilton refused to leave the public street corner. “I said ‘I’m not leaving.’ She said, ‘I’m going to call the police.’ I thought she was joking,” Hamilton said.
Hamilton hopes to pass legislation making these types of reports a crime in New York. “My civil rights were violated and other peoples’ civil rights are being violated. We have to make sure people understand you can’t call the police on someone who isn’t doing anything wrong,” he said.
Over the past few months, numerous people of color have been victims of 911 calls while going about their everyday lives. Someone called 911 on a student at Smith College while she was eating lunch, a state representative in Oregon while she was canvassing and a girl selling water on a sidewalk.
The proposed bill would require the local district attorney to investigate these incidents as hate crimes. If a report is determined to be racially motivated, the district attorney would then recommend one of a number of consequences, including fines, sensitivity training or jail time.
Sensitivity training has been used by private corporations after similar incidents, such as when Starbucks closed its stores nationwide in May after an employee called the police on two men waiting for a friend.
Hamilton said he doesn’t want to deter people from calling 911. “It’s already a crime to make a false report, we just want to enhance it to send a message that you can’t just look at someone going about their ordinary life and call 911,” he said.
Hamilton said demographics in the areas he represents are changing rapidly. New York University’s Furman Center released a report earlier this month that shows that Crown Heights’ black population decreased from 79% to 66.3% between 2000 and 2016. In the same time the white population more than doubled — from 8.6% to 19.8% — and the median rent jumped from $980 per month to $1,320.
Kristen Clarke, president of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and former head of the Civil Rights Bureau for the New York Attorney General’s Office, said she applauds the senator for what she called a feasible proposal. “I think these calls are intended to marginalize people of color and drive them out of communities. Strong laws and meaningful action on the part of lawmakers can help to curb this conduct,” Clarke said. She added that, if it passes, the bill could inspire other states to take similar measures.
The New York State Legislature is not in session, but Hamilton’s bill is in committee awaiting a spot on the legislative calendar.
via: https://pix11.com/2018/08/20/ny-lawmaker-wants-to-criminalize-racially-biased-911-calls/
Woman says surgeon removed kidney by mistake in botched operation
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Dena Knapp went to Avera McKennan Hospital in Sioux Falls, S.D., to have an adrenal gland and associated mass removed.
Instead, according to a lawsuit, Dr. Scott Baker removed her healthy right kidney, USA Today reports. The suit claims that Baker was told by the hospital pathology department after the Oct. 5, 2016, surgery that he removed the kidney and not the glands.
However, two days later he told Knapp that he hadn’t heard from pathology, the suit alleges. Knapp says that Baker called her on Oct. 11 and said that she would need a second surgery because “he did not get everything.”
Instead of returning to Baker, though, Knapp had the gland and mass removed by a Mayo Clinic surgeon.
According to the suit, Knapp now suffers from incurable, progressive kidney disease in her remaining kidney, as well as pain, fatigue and, depression. Knapp says the whole thing has resulted in expenses of more than $96,000 and lost income of $42,000 and counting, KTIV reports.
Also, according to the suit, Knapp “has been unable to perform many functions and has required replacement services to clean and maintain her home, the past and future cost of which is yet to be determined.
via: https://pix11.com/2018/08/18/woman-says-surgeon-removed-kidney-by-mistake-in-botched-operation/
White US Citizen Arrested in Uganda After Racist Attack on Hotel Workers
It’s comical to me how these racist white boys and girls can go into another Country like Uganda and flex their MIGHTY WHITE PRIVILEGE EXPRESS CARD. And think they can run things in a Country that’s not even theirs. I spit my white folks tears out my mouth when he blamed his racist obnoxious behavior on an illness. That caused him stress.
Imagine being so full of your white American male privilege that you pack it up with you, fly to a continent full of black people who don’t see it for you the way your own country does, and try to force it on the people of Uganda just because they are the same color as the people you disrespect in your own country.
Ugandan police arrested a man they have identified as Jimmy L. Taylor—a U.S. citizen—Thursday after a Facebook video surfaced showing him being verbally and physically abusive to employees at the Grand Imperial Hotel in the capital city of Kampala.
Thank you for your vigilance and sending us a video of an incident that happened at Grand Imperial Hotel. We have arrested the suspect, Jimmy Taylor, an American citizen. He was detained at the Central Police Station, Kampala on charges of assault. #CommunityPolicing pic.twitter.com/zcGFqLd4AP
— Uganda Police Force (@PoliceUg) August 17, 2018
The Kampala Post reports that there was also surveillance video of the incident.
In the 4-minute Facebook video, Taylor can be seen behind the front desk in the hotel, throwing things around. As the employees move into the lobby to get away from him, he follows them, hurling racial slurs, cursing at them, and striking one of the employees several times.
Taylor calls the employees “niggers” and tells them that they have to obey him. He also threatens to kill them.
It is unclear when the video was recorded, but it was posted on Facebook Friday.
The Uganda Police Force charged Taylor—who claims to be a former Marine as well as a missionary—assault and malicious damage. They say that during his arrest, he spat on police, became rowdy and uncontrollable, and tried to disarm the arresting officers.
When he was questioned, Taylor admitted to attacking the hotel employee. He blamed his outburst on an illness which caused him to suffer stress that subsequently caused him to attack the hotel staff unprovoked.
The Post reports that Taylor is currently being detained at Central Police Station Kampala while the investigation into the incident is ongoing.
https://www.facebook.com/dynamq/videos/235779623788630/
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Former doctor guilty of raping heavily sedated patient will serve no prison time
HOUSTON — A former doctor found guilty of raping a heavily sedated patient will not serve prison time, according to the Houston Chronicle.
On Friday, Shafeeq Sheikh was sentenced to 10 months of probation and must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
The judge, Senior District Judge Terry L. Flenniken, was required by law to follow the sentencing recommended by jurors, according to the paper.
In 2013, a woman checked into Ben Taub Hospital after complaining of wheezing and shortness of breath. The woman, who was not one of Sheikh’s patients, was sedated and kept overnight at the hospital.
According to the Houston Chronicle, Sheikh initially entered the woman’s room “after he noticed her breast implants.”
Police said Sheikh entered the victim’s room several times and sexually assaulted her. In court, Sheikh admitted to sexual contact but claimed it was consensual.
The victim reportedly tried to press a nurse’s button to get help but it was unplugged.
Sheikh’s medical license was revoked in 2015, according to KIAH. A rape kit and hospital security cameras led to his arrest and conviction.
Aretha Franklin Deeper Love from the Sister Act 2 Soundtrack
Areatha was coming up with some real jams in the 1990s! I forgot about this one from 1993 sister act 2
Netflix Friday Night documentary Taking Up Space
We also need to remember our HBCU’s. White people are already taking those over. I acknowledge we need more inclusion at these historical white colleges. But to forget and almost dismiss HBCU’s is also denying our black historic accomplishments.
https://www.facebook.com/netflixtakingupspace/videos/498736903881305/
Georgia Police Use Taser on 87-Year-Old Woman Using Knife to Cut Dandelions
An 87-year-old grandmother using a knife to cut dandelions in the woods near her rural Georgia home last week was taken down by a police Taser and arrested, according a police report.
Martha Al-Bishara was arrested for criminal trespass and obstruction of a police officer, according to the report. Chatsworth Police said Al-Bishara did not drop a steak knife despite several commands and a demonstration by officers. At one point, she walked toward officers with the knife, police said.
Police had gone to a wooded area near a Boys and Girls Club last Friday after an employee called 911 to report that an elderly woman was walking around with a knife in the community, around 80 miles north of Atlanta.
“There’s a lady walking on the bike trails, she has a knife and she won’t leave,” the caller told a dispatcher. “She told me she doesn’t speak English, and she’s walking up the trail with a knife towards me.”
“It looks like she’s walking around looking for something, vegetation to cut down or something. She has a bag too,” the caller said.
The Boys and Girls Club employee told the dispatcher that the woman did not seem to be a threat. “But she came at you with a knife, though, right?” the dispatcher asked. “No, she just brought the knife onto the property in her hand, she didn’t try and attack anybody or anything,” the caller said.
Police arrive, order woman to drop knife
Two Chatsworth officers along with Police Chief Josh Etheridge arrived at the scene, and repeatedly asked Al-Bishara, to drop the knife, according to the police report. “Her demeanor was calm, even when we had our guns out,” an officer noted in the police report.
Officers began making hand gestures to indicate dropping a knife, but the woman still did not comply, the report states.
Etheridge told CNN affiliate WTVC that he took a knife from his pocket, showed it to Al-Bishara, and “threw my knife down on the ground, trying to make her understand what we wanted her to do.”
At that point, Al-Bishara began to walk toward the group and did not react when one of the officers turned on his Taser, according to the police report.
“The female did not react to the Taser being on, or the white light coming from the end of the Taser,” the reporting officer noted.
When Al-Bishara was approximately five yards away, still holding the knife in her hand, the officer fired his Taser and struck her in the chest, according to police. Officers then helped her to her feet, and placed her in handcuffs.
Officers tased Al-Bishara just across the street from her house while she was on property belonging to the Boys and Girls Club, according to WTVC.
Another woman who then arrived on the scene identified herself as Al-Bishara’s daughter-in-law. She said that the older woman typically wanders into the woods looking for dandelions and collects them using a knife, according to the police report.
The daughter-in-law also said Al-Bishara has dementia and speaks Arabic.
Etheridge told WTVC police used the least possible force, and he believes his officers’ actions were justified.
The Taser pointed at Etheridge and unholstered firearm should have been indication of what wanted Al-Bishara to do, according to the police chief.
“Most people, that’s kind of the universal command for ‘stop,’ ” Etheridge said.
‘My grandma did not look violent’
Al-Bishara, a Syrian native, usually puts the dandelions in a salad she often makes for her husband, according to WTVC. Family members said the recipe is common in her culture, the station reported.
But the dandelions were not blooming in her yard and they couldn’t find any in the store, her granddaugther, Martha Douhne, told the station.
So, Al-Bishara crossed the street, headed for the vacant lot, where she had picked dandelions before, according to WTVC.
Douhne said her grandmother didn’t understand what police wanted her to do, and police shouldn’t have used a Taser on her.
“Obviously, my grandma did not look violent,” Douhne told WTVC. “With the three, four officers that were here, I think they could have controlled her in other ways.”
Al-Bishara’s court appearance is scheduled for September 19.
via: https://ktla.com/2018/08/17/georgia-police-use-taser-on-87-year-old-woman-cutting-dandelions/
Rapper Juelz Santana pleads guilty to gun charge, faces up to 20 years in prison
Rapper Juelz Santana admitted in court Thursday that he tried to get a gun onto a plane at a New York-area airport earlier this year.
Santana, whose real name is LaRon James, pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and carrying a weapon on an aircraft. The 36-year-old Totowa resident faces up to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced Dec. 12.
Santana was arrested in March after security staff at New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport found a loaded .38-caliber handgun and nonprescription oxycodone pills in a carry-on bag containing his identification on March 9.
Santana left the area, leaving two bags behind, but turned himself in three days later. He has been free on bail while awaiting trial.
In June, a judge modified his bail so that he could perform concerts in New Hampshire, Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina. Among the conditions were that Santana’s mother accompany him on the trips, that he drive instead of fly and that he not travel with other members of the tour.
While on bail, Santana also was allowed by the court to tape an episode of the VH-1 show “Love and Hip Hop” in Hoboken and New York.
This month, a judge postponed Santana’s original trial date of Sept. 4 so the rapper and his attorneys could continue negotiations on a plea deal.
Article via: Rapper Juelz Santana pleads guilty to gun charge, faces up to 20 years in prison
Argument over Aretha Franklin reportedly leads to Virginia shooting
An argument over whether Halle Berry played Aretha Franklin in a movie reportedly led to a person being shot in Virginia.
The Suffolk Police Department is investigating the shooting which occurred around 10:43 a.m. at the intersection of East Washington Street and Liberty Street on Thursday, Aug. 16.
Witnesses told WTKR in Norfolk that the shooting was between two people who were arguing whether the Academy Award-winning actress ever played the Detroit icon in a movie. Police have not confirmed or denied that detail.
Franklin, The Queen of Soul, died in Detroit at the age of 76 on Thursday.
According to the Suffolk Police Department, the verbal altercation between two adult males turned physical. One of the subjects produced a firearm, shooting the other involved subject at least once.
Both subjects received emergency medical assessment and treatment by Suffolk Fire & Rescue personnel before being transported to local hospitals for further treatment.
The gunshot victim is in serious condition, police said. The investigation is ongoing.
Just in case you were wondering, Aretha Franklin said in a 2011 interview that she would want Halle Berry to play her in a biopic.
Article via: Argument over Aretha Franklin reportedly leads to Virginia shooting