Cartoon titled ‘Officer Choker’ making rounds across social media depicting black Kid getting choked and shot by police
A cartoon video depicting a black kid getting choked and shot by two white officers is heartbreaking even for a cartoon. The video was posted on youtube by #CartoonDavid. The video has been on the YouTube account for over 3 years and now making rounds on social media.
A petition was started to have the account removed but appears to have been closed.
via: https://upnupnews.com/cartoon-titled-officer-choker-making-rounds-across-social-media-depicting-black-kid-getting-choked-and-shot-by-police/
Photo Credit: Youtube
Man shot dead in Bronx while walking with 6-year-old daughter
Harrowing surveillance footage captured the moment a man was fatally shot while crossing a Bronx street — hand-in-hand with his 6-year-old daughter.
The clip, tweeted by Rodney Harrison, the NYPD’s chief of detectives, opens with Anthony Robinson approaching the intersection of Sheridan Avenue and East 170th Street in Mount Eden around 5:50 p.m. Sunday.
Clasping his young daughter’s left hand in his right, Robinson, 29, stops at a crosswalk to eye a dark sedan slowing next to them, appearing to check whether the driver was turning into their path.
But the driver continues to roll along next to father and daughter as they cross Sheridan Avenue, the video shows.
Nearly out of the crosswalk, Robinson turns as though to say something to his daughter — leaving his back to the sedan.
The shooter then sticks a handgun out of the passenger’s window and opens fire, striking Robinson in the chest.
As Robinson crumples to the pavement, his terrified daughter takes off running down Sheridan Avenue, apparently unharmed, the footage shows.
Robinson, a resident of East New York, Brooklyn, was pronounced dead at BronxCare Health System.
His murder was one of eight across the city on a bloody Fourth of July weekend, his shooting one of at least 49.
Authorities have yet to make an arrest in the case, and ask anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/07/06/man-shot-dead-in-bronx-while-walking-with-6-year-old-daughter/
Photo Credit: nypost.com
Want a heated steering wheel in your BMW? You’ll be able to download one via subscription
(CNN) — In the near future, you could get a heated steering wheel in your BMW through a software download. Then, a year or two later, if you decide that you no longer need the feature you can unsubscribe and stop paying for it.
Welcome to the world of “digital personalization,” one in which BMW hopes owners will add or remove options to their vehicles through software updates. This could include tech features, like adaptive cruise control or lane keeping assistance, or comfort items such as a heated steering wheel.
Owners could buy these options for fixed periods of time almost like they were apps. In one example BMW provided, an owner could pay for heated seats for three years, the period of time the owner expected to have the vehicle. The next owner could then decide whether to pay for the seat heaters to work.
Which features will be included among BMW’s new digital personalization offerings will vary from market to market. For instance, heated seats would almost certainly not be included as part of the plan in the US, where they are expected as the norm in any luxury car, a BMW spokesman said. Other features that aren’t routinely expected, such as a heated steering wheel or some advanced driving assistance technologies, might be sold as options that can be engaged or disengaged.
All of these features require built-in hardware which will already be in the cars from the factory — such as sensors and cameras for lane keeping assistance or heating coils for heated seats and steering wheels — but owners could then purchase the software to make them work. The appropriate software changes could be downloaded at any time “over the air” without the owner having to visit a dealer to do it.
This would also allow owners to try out a feature for a period of time at no charge before committing to buying it. This is similar to the way that satellite radio is often offered for free on new cars for a few months then owners can decide whether they should get an ongoing subscription. BMW’s “digital personalization” will enable a host of other car options to be offered in much the same way.
Tesla cars already have similar capabilities and owners can download new features and even get more driving range through over-the-air updates.2020: Simple Method Ends Toenail Fungus – Try It Now!Simple Way To Reduce Toenail Fungus (Watch)Ad By Clear Nail Plus See More
BMW is currently testing this sort of “digital personalization” in the US with “BMW Driver Recorder,” a system that uses cameras built into the car like a dashboard camera. In the event of an accident, this system will keep a video recording of what was happening outside in the 20 seconds leading up to the crash. This can be helpful in proving who was at fault.
Around 500 BMW owners are currently trying out the feature in the US for one month and, if they want to keep it, they have the option of paying $39 a year, $99 for three years or $149 to keep it permanently. Other features will be offered with similar pricing models.
The capability to do this will come in a new version of BMW’s in-car software that will begin rolling out this month, the company said. All of the features will not be enabled in all markets, a spokesman for BMW North America said.
In some markets, BMW owners may also be able to pay for “authentic” BMW engine sounds that will come through the car stereo. In many BMW cars today, the engine sound is augmented inside the cabin with pre-recorded sounds from the stereo. These are tuned to match the engine speed and performance so they sound like actual sounds coming directly from the engine. This is done so that the cabin can be quiet during normal driving but occupants can still experience engine sound when it’s wanted, BMW executives have said.
Adaptive suspension, which can automatically adjust suspension stiffness depending on the road surface and how aggressively the car is being driven, is another feature that could be offered later through the “digital personalization” system, according to BMW.
The software update also includes a number of other new features, such as improved cloud-based navigation, better voice command systems and the iPhone digital key recently announced by Apple.
Photo Credit: kmov.com/Adrian Dennis/AFP
Cleveland Indians look into changing name amid pressure
CLEVELAND (AP) — They’ve been known as the Cleveland Indians since 1915. Those days could be over.
Amid new pressure sparked by a national movement to correct racial wrongdoings, the Indians said Friday night they will review their long-debated nickname which has been in place for 105 years.
“We are committed to making a positive impact in our community and embrace our responsibility to advance social justice and equality,” the team said in a statement that came just hours after the NFL’s Washington Redskins announced a similar move. “Our organization fully recognizes our team name is among the most visible ways in which we connect with the community.”
The move mirrors the one made by the Redskins, who are embarking on a “thorough review” of their name, which has been deemed as offensive by Native American groups for decades. The Redskins’ decision came in the wake of FedEx, which paid $205 million for naming rights to the team’s stadium, and other corporate partners calling for the team to change its nickname.
There have been previous efforts to get the Indians to rename themselves. But following the death of George Floyd in Minnesota and other examples of police brutality against Black people in the U.S., there has been a major move nationwide to eradicate racially insensitive material.
In 2018, the Indians removed the contentious Chief Wahoo logo from their game jerseys and caps. The grinning, red-faced mascot, however, is still present on merchandise that can be purchased at Progressive Field and other team shops in Northeast Ohio.A total approach to your healthAetna Medicare Advantage plans are designed for the whole you – — body, mind and spirit. Age actively and live the life you love.Ad By Aetna See More
Nothing has been decided, but the Indians’ decision to at least discuss the possibility of a name change is new. There will certainly be backlash from some Cleveland fans, but the team is sensitive to doing the right thing in these changing times.
“We have had ongoing discussions organizationally on these issues,” the Indians said. “The recent social unrest in our community and our country has only underscored the need for us to keep improving as an organization on issues of social justice. With that in mind, we are committed to engaging our community and appropriate stakeholders to determine the best path forward with regard to our team name.”
“While the focus of the baseball world shifts to the excitement of an unprecedented 2020 season, we recognize our unique place in the community and are committed to listening, learning, and acting in the manner that can best unite and inspire our city and all those who support our team,” the club said.
Before their named was changed in 1915 to Indians — a nickname picked after sports writers solicited readers — Cleveland’s baseball team was called the Forest Citys, the Spiders, Blues, Bronchos and Naps, a name to honor Hall of Famer Nap Lajoie.
Photo Credit: AP/Tony Dejak
41 shot overnight in NYC with at least 4 dead in citywide explosion of gun violence
New York City turned into the Wild West as a series of shootings claiming at least six lives and wounding 41 others — including a Bronx teenager — erupted amid Fourth of July celebrations.
The shocking wave of violence came as the city was reeling from ongoing anti-police brutality protests, weeks of lockdown orders prompted by the coronavirus outbreak and soaring summer temperatures. Adding to the chaotic atmosphere, illegal fireworks exploded throughout the five boroughs all night long.
In the first fatal shooting of the night, Jose Cepeda, a young father, was blasted in the chest a little after midnight Sunday in East New York, Brooklyn.
Cepeda, 20, and a friend had a “little disagreement” in front of the victim’s home on Atkins Ave. near Pitkin Ave. that turned deadly, neighbor Natasha Ramsay told the Daily News.
“The first one shot got him dead,” Ramsay, 42, said. “It’s so sad.”
Medics rushed Cepeda to Brookdale University Hospital but he couldn’t be saved.
That was just the first in a series of horrifying incidents that cop unions blamed on Mayor de Blasio and Council Speaker Corey Johnson, who last week passed an annual budget that shifted about $1 billion in NYPD funding, a move aimed at meeting activists’ demands for police reform.
Last year, nine people were shot, one fatally, and two men were slashed in the hours after Fourth of July fireworks.
“Criminals with guns fear no consequences,” the Police Benevolent Association, the NYPD’s largest union, tweeted Sunday, adding that the mayor, speaker “and all electeds” “owe their constituents an explanation.”
“The health and safety of New Yorkers is our top priority, which is why we are drilling down on problem spots with the NYPD,” a City Hall spokesperson stated.
“We all want a safe city, and we believe it can be done while bringing real transformational change,” Johnson said in a statement. “Let’s get at the root causes of violence and move away from a model that sees policing as the only answer to every problem we face.”
This year’s spike in mayhem continued a worrisome surge in crime since coronavirus prompted authorities to shut down the city in mid-March.
June was especially violent, with 250 people shot in the first 28 days of the month, according to NYPD stats. That’s a massive spike compared to the 97 people shot in the same time period last year, and is the city’s most violent June on record since 1996, NYPD stats show.
So far, murders are up by 23% this year citywide, with 176 slayings as of June 28 compared to 143 during the same period last year.
Even so, the city’s homicide rate remains far lower than the mid 1990s and even the mid-2000s. In 2006, the city saw 255 murders between Jan. 1 and June 28.
In Harlem Sunday, a 23-year-old was fatally shot on W. 116th St. near Morningside Park around 2:40 a.m. Police were notified of the shooting after the victim checked himself into a hospital and died minutes later, sources said.
“We were having a barbecue out here. Everybody was just having fun,” recounted a witness who declined to give her name. “I went inside and I came back down and everyone was running into the building saying, ‘They shooting, they shooting.‘”
“He just always wanted everyone to have fun and enjoy themselves,” she said of the victim, whose identity could not immediately be confirmed. “Everyone here knows him and looks at him like a little brother.”
A 19-year-old man was fatally shot in the chest and a 27-year-old man was blasted in the left shoulder around 4:20 a.m. after a large dispute erupted on E. 39th St. near Avenue D in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, sources said.
“This block has a lot of love but what happened last night wasn’t love,” a resident remarked to The News.
Both victims of that incident were rushed to King’s County Hospital but the teenager couldn’t be saved. The older man was in stable condition, police said.
Just 40 minutes later, a 40-year-old man was fatally shot in the chest on Sutter Ave. near Mother Gaston Blvd. outside the Hughes Houses in Brownsville, Brooklyn, police said.
The victim was rushed to Brookdale University Hospital, where he died, they added.
Just half a mile away from the night’s first fatal shooting, a 22-year-old man and 23-year-old woman were shot on Euclid Ave. near Sutter Ave., police said. The man was shot in the chest and the woman was wounded in the right leg around 2:30 a.m. Both victims were taken to Brookdale University Hospital and were expected to survive, cops said.
In Harlem, a 26-year-old man was clinging to life after six people were wounded in a shootout that erupted at a party on 131St. and Lenox Ave. just before 1 a.m., police said.
Medics rushed four of the victims to Harlem Hospital, while two of the victims walked into the hospital later in the evening with gunshot wounds, according to authorities.
There were no arrests in any of the incidents and investigations were ongoing, police said.
On Sunday night, a fresh wave of violence erupted, leaving two men dead — a 21-year-old man in Brownsville, Brooklyn and a 29-year-old man in Mt. Eden, the Bronx — and four others wounded, including a 15-year-old boy.
The teen, shot in the chest on Madison Ave. at E. 110th St. in East Harlem just before 6:45 p.m., was rushed to to Mt. Sinai-St. Luke’s Hospital and was in stable condition. The other three wounded gunshot victims were in critical condition after gunfire erupted on E. 171st St. by College Ave. in the Bronx.
NYPD Assistant Chief Kathleen O’Reilly, the commanding officer of Patrol Borough Manhattan North, called the violence “disgraceful.”
“Where are the elected officials and violence interupter(s)!!” she tweeted Sunday. “The community is suffering!!”
The mayhem came as the city has been on edge following weeks of Black Lives Matter protests sparked by the May 25 death of black Minneapolis man George Floyd under the knee of a white police officer.
Sunday’s shooters took advantage of an ongoing atmosphere of crisis, said Councilman Donovan Richards, who chairs the Council’s Public Safety Committee.
“The people exploiting this moment are sensing the division on the ground and they’re totally taking advantage of the streets, without a doubt,” the Queens Dem told The News.
“They sense division and therefore they understand they can take out their retribution on each other in ways they weren’t doing years ago because there was much more unity between the department and what was going on on the ground.”
The carnage drew the attention of President Trump, who’s been on a rampage of divisive statements as his re-election odds are threatened by his ham-fisted handling of coronavirus and nationwide protests.
“Chicago and New York City crime numbers are way up,” he tweeted Sunday evening. “Shootings up significantly in NYC where people are demanding that @NYGovCuomo & @NYCMayor act now. Federal Government ready, willing and able to help, if asked!”
The statement evoked last month’s calls from Trump for the National Guard to be deployed at the height of chaotic protests in the Big Apple, though local leaders staved him off.
Photo Credit: nydailynews.com
French woman thrown from roller coaster dies as husband tries to grab her feet
A woman was thrown to her death from a roller coaster in France — as her husband desperately tried to catch her feet, according to reports.
The unidentified 32-year-old mother was celebrating her 2-year-old child’s birthday at Saint-Paul Park in Oise on Saturday when tragedy struck on a Formula 1 ride, the Courrier Picard said.
“She went over the [safety] bar and her husband tried to catch her by the foot,” a witness named Farida told the paper.
It is the same ride where a 35-year-old woman died after getting thrown out in 2009, the paper said.
Park officials confirmed to FR24 News that a woman died at the scene Saturday after falling while the ride was “in operation.”
“The park area has been completely cut off for visitors,” Parc Saint-Paul director Gilles Campion said in a press release, FR24 said.
“All the teams join the family to express their deep sadness following this event.”
Police are still investigating the cause of the deadly accident at the park that attracts nearly 380,000 visitors per year, the reports said.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/07/05/husband-cant-save-french-woman-thrown-from-roller-coaster/
Photo Credit: nypost.com
Man attacks two-year-old being pushed in stroller in Manhattan
A two-year-old boy was hospitalized Wednesday after a man apparently attacked him at random in Morningside Heights, police sources said.
The boy was being pushed in a stroller by his nanny near the intersection of 110th Street and Morningside Drive around 9:35 a.m. when the assailant ran up and struck the boy in the face before fleeing, sources said.
The victim was taken to Mount Sinai Morningside Hospital where he needed six stitches for a cut over his right eye, according to sources.
The man took off on 110th Street.
An investigation is ongoing and no arrests have been made.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/07/01/man-attacks-two-year-old-being-pushed-in-stroller-in-manhattan/
Photo Credit: nypost.com
NY man charged with raping 14-year-old girl days after his prison release
An upstate New York man raped a 14-year-old girl just nine days after being released from prison, police said.
Luis Torres, 21, was arrested while on parole late last month after the teen victim told investigators he raped her at a Syracuse home in February — just nine days after he was sprung from prison for stabbing a mall employee in 2017, Syracuse.com reports.
Police said in court documents cited by the outlet that Torres, of Syracuse, then had sex with the girl on two other occasions between late February and early April.
Torres, who was taken into custody on June 26, remained held without bail Friday at the Onondaga County Justice Center on charges of second-degree rape, endangering the welfare of a child and violating his parole, online records show.
Torres had been on parole after being convicted of second-degree assault in a December 2017 attack at Destiny USA, a mall where police said he stabbed an employee at Syracuse’s Original Caramel Corn Shoppe after stealing a bag of chips. He was later sentenced to two years in prison, Syracuse.com reports.
After being initially released from custody with conditions in August 2019, Torres later returned to prison in January prior to being set free again on Feb. 20, according to the report.
Torres is due back in court on July 30, online records show. It’s unclear if he’s hired an attorney who could speak on his behalf.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/07/03/ny-man-charged-with-raping-teen-9-days-after-prison-release/
Photo Credit: Syracuse Police Department
Phaedra Parks says it was an ‘honor’ to direct Rayshard Brooks’ funeral
Phaedra Parks says it was an honor to direct Rayshard Brooks’ funeral.
“The Real Housewives of Atlanta” alum, who is also a licensed funeral director and mortician, was asked by the Brooks family to direct the funeral for the 27-year-old black man, who was fatally shot by Atlanta police on June 12.
“It was an honor to serve the family, to help them at that very hard moment,” Parks, 46, told Page Six on Monday.
“They have four children,” she continued. “I’m a mother of two beautiful African American boys and I can only imagine having to bury a spouse and knowing you’ve got these beautiful children and you have this expectation of raising in a two-parent household.”
In the wake of recent Black Lives Matter protests, Parks, who shares sons Ayden, 10, and Dylan, 7, with her ex-husband Apollo Nida, noted that she has had to have some difficult discussions with her boys.
“I’m very honest with them about what’s going on right now,” she said. “They’re very aware, but it’s very scary for me as a mother of two African American boys to know the injustices that happen every day because you hear the stories.”
Parks added: “I have always raised them up to be very aware of the African American culture, but to understand even though we live a very affluent lifestyle there is definitely racism, unfortunately, and they cannot do what their white counterparts can do, even though they attend the same schools, they live right next door to one another.”
In addition to her services as a funeral director, Parks has kept up her reality show bona fides, currently starring on We TV’s “Marriage Bootcamp: Hip Hop Edition” alongside her boyfriend, Medina Islam.
Parks said doing the show was “transformative” and helped both her and Islam improve their relationship.
“It gave us both a lot of insight and knowledge on what marriage would look like for us,” she revealed. “I don’t want to give the show away, but it was definitely extremely helpful. We came out knowing we had both grown individually and as a couple.”
Photo Credit: nypost.com
White man confronts black woman driving in her own neighborhood
A black Massachusetts woman shared a disturbing video of a white man following her in his BMW as she drove in her own neighborhood — accosting her to ask what she was doing in the area.
“I just got Karen’d? This man followed me home because I went to pick up DOG FOOD at somebody’s house!” Julia Santos, 21, tweeted, using the term for entitled white women in social media, after the man stopped her while she was driving home in Groveland on Monday.
The driver of the convertible Beemer cornered her on a side street and began peppering her with questions about what she was doing in her neighborhood, where she has lived her entire life, about 35 miles north of Boston, the Boston Globe reported.
“So what are you driving up Juniper Terrace for?” the creep asks.
Santos explained that she had just picked up the dog food after seeing a post online offering free chow.
“I don’t feel safe right now,” she then says.
“You don’t feel safe? I don’t feel safe with you driving around in my neighborhood,” he replies.
“Why?” Santos asks.
“Too many people,” he says.
“Or is it because I’m black? Is that why?” Santos asks.
“No,” he says. “I don’t know what color you are. What color are you?”
After a couple of minutes, a neighbor watching the conversation from her car chides the man for harassing Santos.
“I don’t like the fact that this poor girl is being harassed,” the neighbor is heard saying.
“I don’t like the fact that she’s in my neighborhood,” the man says.
Santos told the Boston Globe that she was still “a little shaken up” by the incident, which has gone viral on social media.
“But I am so happy and relieved about the amount of support I’ve received inside and outside my community,” she said, adding that while she has experienced her “fair share of racism” in her life, it was “nothing as scary as this.”
“I honestly wasn’t sure what was going to happen,” she told the newspaper. “I am so relieved my neighbor was there and I have no idea what could’ve happened to me if she wasn’t.”
She said the incident “represents where we are right now as a country.”
“I just think especially in this racial climate, some people are walking on eggshells,” she added. “Meanwhile, some people … have just gone full racist mode.”
Groveland Police Chief Jeffrey Gillen said he was “deeply disturbed” by the incident, which is being investigated.
Police said they have identified and spoken with the man who accosted Santos, but did not release his name.
“The fact that a resident of our town could face accusation and be followed around like a criminal should make everyone stop in their tracks and consider how we treat one another,” Gillen told the Globe.
“On a personal note, I have lived in this area for my entire life and have been a police officer here for more than 30 years,” he added.
“I have met many of the families in Groveland, including the victim’s family, and watched families grow here. … Our job as police officers is to not only keep people safe but also feel safe in Groveland.”
via: https://nypost.com/2020/07/01/white-man-confronts-black-woman-driving-in-her-neighborhood-video/
Photo Credit: nypost.com