Ohio cop who fatally shot Ma’Khia Bryant is military-trained marksman
The Ohio police officer who shot to death a black teenage girl in a disturbing encounter with a knife appears to be a military-trained marksman specializing in firing an assault rifle, according to a report Wednesday.
Columbus Police Officer Nicholas Reardon — who was placed on paid leave after fatally shooting 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant on Tuesday — is a US Air National Guardsman who received an expert marksman badge with an M4 carbine rifle, according to the Daily Beast.
Reardon, who joined the department in 2019, is also the son of Air Force veteran and retired Columbus Division of Police Sgt. Edward “Ted” Reardon, according to the outlet, which cited social media and other reports.
On Wednesday, the Columbus police department released dramatic bodycam footage that appears to show Bryant lunging with a knife at a girl before she was fatally shot by Reardon. Columbus police release bodycam footage of officer’s fatal shooting of teen girl before she was fatally shot by Reardon.
“Get down! Get down!” an officer can be heard shouting before he fires four shots at the teen.
A man can then be heard, yelling, “You shot my baby. Are you f—ing kidding me? Are you f—ing serious?”
The shooting came the same day former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murdering George Floyd — a case that sparked protests and raised questions about police “militarization” and use of force nationwide.
Reardon had been responding to a 911 call about a reported stabbing attempt around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday when he arrived at the scene, according to police. The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is handling the investigation.
The US National Guard didn’t immediately return The Post’s request for comment Wednesday.
via: https://nypost.com/2021/04/21/cop-who-fatally-shot-makhia-bryant-is-military-trained-marksman-report/
Photo Credit: facebook
Bodycam video shows teen struggling for gun before being shot by cops
Dramatic bodycam footage shows police shooting dead a Tennessee teen in his high school bathroom as he grabs a gun while resisting arrest — as officials announced that none of the officers will be charged.
Anthony J. Thompson Jr., 17, was sitting in a bathroom stall in Knoxville’s Austin-East Magnet High School when officers came in to arrest him on April 12 after his ex-girlfriend’s mom lodged a formal complaint of domestic abuse.
As he was told to put his hands behind his back to be cuffed, the teen suddenly struggled as he reached for a handgun in his hoodie — with it discharging during the struggle.
Officer Jonathon Clabough saw the gun “with Anthony Thompson’s hand” on the butt and “thinks, ‘I’m about to die,’” Knox County District Attorney General Charme Allen said while releasing the footage during a two-hour press conference Wednesday.
Clabough can be seen removing his weapon and shooting Thompson in the shoulder, firing again as Thompson fell to the floor with the officers surrounding him.
The teen’s gun fell to the floor during the scuffle, but the officers all said they did not know that at the time — and assumed he had it in his hand ready to fire.
“It wasn’t an easy case; it wasn’t clean-cut,” he said, adding that “at the end of the day, we have found the shooting by Officer Clabough was justified.”
Knoxville Police Chief Eve Thomas said in a statement that she was thankful the investigation determined that her officers’ actions were justified and they were “cleared of any wrongdoing.”
Thompson’s family spent four hours with Allen earlier that day going over every detail of the footage, she said.
Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon said she had reached out to Thompson’s family to express her sympathy but they did not want to meet with her.
“My heart goes out to the family of Anthony Thompson Jr. and also the other families of children who have lost their lives in other circumstances, all in such a short time all from the same school. It’s heartbreaking,” she said.
The family is being represented by Ben Crump, the high-profile civil rights attorney who also helped George Floyd’s family.
“Once again, when a black person is killed, in this case a black child, the police quickly shape a narrative to justify the death,” Crump had said Monday, before the footage was released.
After in-person classes were paused because of the most recent shooting, students will return Thursday.
via: https://nypost.com/2021/04/22/video-shows-teen-struggling-for-gun-before-being-shot-by-cops/
Photo Credit: Knoxville DA
Man allegedly pocketed nearly $650K despite not showing up for work in 15 years
He didn’t just take the day — he took all of them.
A hospital employee in Italy has been accused of pocketing roughly $648,000 in salary over 15 years despite never showing up for work, authorities said.
Dubbed the “king of absentees,” Salvatore Scumace, 66, faces charges of abuse of office, forgery and aggravated extortion over the alleged scheme, Italian news agency Ansa reported Tuesday.
Prosecutors said Scumace stopped showing up to his gig as a safety officer at the Pugliese-Ciaccio Hospital in Catanzaro after he was put on the books in 2005.
The chronic no-show allegedly threatened the hospital director to prevent her from reporting his absences, the Guardian reported.
After her retirement, Scumace continued to cash his paychecks — as his absenteeism went unnoticed by both the new director and the human resources department, the report said.
Six managers or staffers at the hospital are also being investigated on suspicion of having played a role in enabling Scumace to skip work.
via: https://nypost.com/2021/04/21/man-made-nearly-650k-despite-not-showing-up-for-work-in-15-years/
Photo Credit: nypost.com
Mom says she tried to cut 10-year-old son’s tongue off before shooting him dead
A Kentucky mother tried to cut off her 10-year-old son’s tongue before shooting him dead.
Kaitlin Higgins, 28, was arrested for the unfathomable crime after police found the boy’s body in the trunk of her vehicle Tuesday night, Louisville police said.
A neighbor had reportedly called the cops after witnessing Higgins carrying a gun near the dead child, who was wrapped in a blanket.
Responding officers found the mother on the porch, with blood on the steps.
The arrest report states that she admitted trying to cut out her son’s tongue before shooting him dead.
It was not clear if there was any motive for the crime.
With AP
via: https://nypost.com/2021/04/21/mom-tried-to-cut-10-year-old-sons-tongue-off-before-fatally-shooting-him/
Photo Credit: Louisville Metro Corrections
Man fatally shoots pregnant wife, 23, and toddler son in murder-suicide
An Arkansas man shot and killed his 23-year-old pregnant wife and her toddler son before turning the gun on himself in a horrific murder-suicide, authorities said.
Police believe David Wayne Priest, 24, opened fire inside the family’s Van Buren apartment early Sunday during an argument, local outlet 40/29 News reported.
A neighbor living in the other half of their duplex called 911 around 12:40 a.m., and said that bullets had torn through his wall, with one even striking his headboard, right above where he and his wife had been sleeping.
Officers with the Van Buren Police Department arrived to find Paiden Nicole Priest and her 2-year-old son, Grayson Alexander Beckham, dead of gunshot wounds.
According to cops, David was still alive — though he later succumbed to his injuries at a hospital.
“This is one of the worst cases that we’ve had to ever deal with,” Sgt. Jonathan Wear said. “But we do believe that this was done by David Priest.”
Neighbors heard arguing coming from the couple’s apartment shortly before the bloodbath, he added.
Cops said that Paiden had been in the third trimester of her pregnancy. David was her tot’s stepfather.
“A couple weeks back they were all playing outside,” neighbor Sarah Beals recalled to the outlet, adding that the family had always been “nice” and “sweet.”
“The wife’s beautiful and she was so pretty and the child was so sweet, so kind,” Beals said. “No innocent life should be taken and a child not even born yet and a toddler — no life should be taken.”
via: https://nypost.com/2021/04/22/arkansas-man-fatally-shoots-pregnant-wife-son-in-murder-suicide/
Photo Credit: facebook
North Carolina police fatally shoot Andrew Brown during search
A North Carolina man was killed by police who had been called to search his property early Wednesday, police said.
The man, identified by relatives as Andrew Brown, 40, was driving away from officers in Elizabeth City when they shot him around 8:30 a.m., according to police and local TV station WAVY.
“During the execution of the search warrant, a citizen who was subject to the search warrant was shot and fatally wounded,” the Pasquotank County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement.
The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation will take over the probe, according to the sheriff, and the city council has called an emergency meeting for Wednesday evening. The sheriff’s department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
At an afternoon press briefing, Pasquotank County Sheriff Tommy Wooten said the deputy was equipped with a bodycam and that it was on at the time — but would not say when it might be released.
The sheriff did confirm that Brown was the victim.
“The sheriff’s office has complete trust in the North Carolina Bureau of Investigation and its ability to complete this investigation,” Wooten said.
“The sheriff’s office will be transparent and take the proper actions based on the findings of the SBI’s investigation.”
Wooten would not say what type of search warrant deputies were executing when Brown was shot, nor identify the deputy involved.
He added that a “team of local law enforcement” had been called in “to ensure the safety and protection of the citizens of our community.”
The sheriff did not provide additional details on that decision.
SBI Special Agent Masha Rogers and Pasquotank County District Attorney Andrew Womble also refused to provide more information on the fatal shooting, saying they would await the outcome of the probe.
The police shooting death comes amid heightened anxieties a day after former Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin was found guilty of murdering George Floyd. Also Tuesday, police in Columbus, Ohio, shot and killed a black 16-year-old, Ma’Khia Bryant, who was allegedly wielding a knife.
Keith Rivers, president of the Pasquotank County NAACP, said police had not spoken to family members until he arrived and put pressure on authorities to release information.
“The sheriff needs to address these people,” he told WAVY, gesturing at a crowd that had gathered on Brown’s street. “In light of everything that’s going in America with the shooting of unarmed black men, I came down to make sure that the facts are clearly disseminated.”
He called for bodycam footage of the incident to be released immediately, though it was not yet clear if video of the incident had been taken.
via: https://nypost.com/2021/04/21/north-carolina-police-fatally-shoot-man-during-search/
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White lecturer tells students she’s ‘sick’ of talking about Black Lives Matter
A white lecturer at a college in upstate New York is under probe by the school — because she told students she was “sick” of talking about the Black Lives Matter movement.
A video posted to Instagram on Monday was recorded in the fall during a video conference call for a writing course at SUNY Buffalo State College, the Buffalo News reported Tuesday.
“This is me, but speaking honestly, and you guys have to respond honestly with what you think, with what you feel about this,” said the part-time lecturer, identified by a student as Erica Cope. “So am I sick about talking about Black Lives Matter. All right? I said it.”
Student Jahnay Morehead told the newspaper she recorded Cope’s comments during a writing course in the fourth week of the fall semester. She said she contacted the college’s diversity committee weeks later, but didn’t take part in a subsequent Zoom call to address the matter, according to the report.
The remark to a class of predominantly black students was “insensitive” and came as an example of an opinion that would lead Cope to get “canceled,” Morehead said.
“She asked us to share an opinion that might be considered controversial and I guess that was her example,” Morehead told WGRZ. “After she said that, she was kind of trying to change the topic very swiftly. A lot of students was like, ‘Why? Why do you feel this way?’ And she really didn’t want to go into it.”
Cope, who is listed as a lecturer on the college’s website, referred a Post reporter’s inquiry on Wednesday to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), a nonprofit group that focuses on free speech rights on college campuses.
FIRE attorney Adam Steinbaugh told The Post Cope was trying to stress the importance of “having difficult conversations” while sharing an opinion that might be unpopular during the freshman writing class in September.
“She was trying to speak provocatively and, out of context, it’s being interpreted as her saying I’m tired of talking about Black Lives Matter,” Steinbaugh said.
The full 26-minute video, however, made clear that Cope was saying she was “tired of having superficial conversations” about the social movement, according to Steinbaugh.
The attorney accused the college of being misguided in condemning Cope’s comments, saying an investigation into the video would have a “chilling effect” on future class discussions about BLM.
“It seems to be a condemn first, ask questions later sort of approach,” Steinbaugh said. “It does not take long to figure out that the full context of this video is not someone who is tired of talking about Black Lives Matter.”
The college learned of Cope’s comments on Monday, a spokesman told the Buffalo News.
The college’s president, Kate Conway-Turner, acknowledged the video in a statement late Monday, saying the school’s chief diversity officer was gathering “all pertinent details” in the incident.
“Let me be absolutely clear — Black Lives Matter at Buffalo State College,” the statement read. “The viewpoint expressed in a video circulating online by a part-time instructor clearly runs counter to all that we stand for at Buffalo State.”
Conway-Turner noted that the full context of the comment remains unclear, but said the sentiment expressed “lays bare an insensitivity to the historic and current lived experiences” of people of color.
“Her message as presented is unacceptable,” Conway-Turner said. “We must and we will strive for better.”
In a follow-up statement Tuesday, Conway-Turner said students had concerns about the class last fall, but a formal complaint wasn’t filed.
“This news is unsettling,” the statement continued. “All members of the campus community should feel comfortable coming forward to the Equity and Campus Diversity Office with any complaints of this nature without fear of retaliation. We will rededicate our efforts to making this clear to students, faculty, and staff.”
via: https://nypost.com/2021/04/21/white-professor-tells-students-shes-sick-of-talking-about-blm/
Photo Credit: nypost.com
Woman shackled while giving birth wins $750K settlement against NYC, NYPD officers
A pregnant woman who was shackled to a hospital bed for hours while in labor settled a lawsuit Wednesday against the city and several NYPD officers.
The unnamed mother of two — who was arrested on assault charges that were later dismissed — received $750,000 for a suit in which she alleged emotional distress and violations of her civil rights, according to CNN.
“That was not my birth plan. I felt like a failure to my unborn because that wasn’t something that was planned for [either] of us,” the woman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told the outlet. “And still I’m in pain.”
The woman was arrested at her home on Dec. 17, 2018, for a misdemeanor assault that allegedly happened the week before, and went into labor the same day, the lawsuit states.
Her wrists and ankles were then shackled by police for hours while she was giving birth — without the presence of the baby’s father, according to the lawsuit, which she filed anonymously in Eastern District of New York court in October.
“My only support was the nurse that was helping me,” the woman said. “Nobody — not my family, not my friends — just complete strangers.”
During the ordeal, an officer allegedly claimed he could not remove the restraints because of an unspecified policy, according to the suit.
The officer finally agreed to remove them after nurses told him she “needed to begin pushing and that the handcuffs were preventing her from receiving an epidural,” the lawsuit states.
The woman’s assault charge was later dismissed and sealed, according to her lawyers.
“The first breath that this baby had on this earth was one born out of violence. That was violence, what the NYPD did to her,” said her attorney, Anne Oredeko.
The NYPD declined to comment. The city’s law department didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
The settlement states that the agreement is not an admission by the defendants that they violated the woman’s rights.
via: https://nypost.com/2021/04/22/woman-shackled-while-giving-birth-wins-750k-settlement-against-nyc-nypd/
Photo Credit: Bloomberg
Father outraged after teacher and student cut daughter’s hair without permission on two separate occasions
(AP) — A Michigan father has moved his 7-year-old biracial daughter from one school to another after the child’s hair was cut on separate occasions by a classmate and a teacher.
Jimmy Hoffmeyer said Monday he also is considering taking his daughter, Jurnee, out of Mount Pleasant Public Schools and enrolling her in a private school.
On March 24, Jurnee arrived home from Ganiard Elementary with much of the hair on one side cut. She said a classmate used scissors to cut her hair on the school bus, Hoffmeyer told The Associated Press.
Two days later — after complaining to the principal and having Jurnee’s hair styled at a salon with an asymmetrical cut to make the differing lengths less obvious — Jurnee arrived home with the hair on the other side cut.
“She was crying,” Hoffmeyer said. “She was afraid of getting in trouble for getting her hair cut.”
“I asked what happened and said ‘I thought I told you no child should ever cut your hair,’” he continued. “She said ‘but dad, it was the teacher.’ The teacher cut her hair to even it out.”
Hoffmeyer said the explanations he has received from the principal and the district have done little to appease him.
The school called after the bus incident and “said the little girl stole the scissors off the teacher’s desk, and they were going to talk to the parents and deal with it accordingly,” he said.
Later, the school’s principal told him the most that could happen to the library teacher was a note in her work file, Hoffmeyer said.
“She said she didn’t have the authority to do anything,” he added. “She kept asking me what she could do to make it go away.”
Hoffmeyer said he filed an incident report with the Mount Pleasant police, but as of Monday no officer had contacted him to follow up on the complaint.
Hoffmeyer said he received a call from the district’s superintendent about a week later after the school’s spring break. She offered to have “I’m sorry” cards mailed to the family, he said.
“I got mad and hung up,” said Hoffmeyer who is Black and white. Jurnee’s mother is white.
“I’m not one to try to make things about race,” he said. “I’ve pretty much grown up with only white people, myself.”
The girl who cut Jurnee’s hair is white. The teacher who cut it also is white, said Hoffmeyer who has two other daughters, ages 8 and 4.
Mount Pleasant is about 150 miles (241 kilometers) northwest of Detroit. About 4% of Mount Pleasant’s 25,000 residents are Black, according to the U.S. Census.
Hoffmeyer is working with the National Parents Union, a national network of parent organizations and activists that advocate to improve the quality of life for children.
In a statement released late Tuesday, District Superintendent Jennifer Verleger confirmed Hoffmeyer’s story, adding the child’s teacher was aware of the library employee’s plan to cut the student’s hair. The haircutting was done without permission from the student’s parents or consulting with school administrators.
“Regardless of their good intentions, these actions were unacceptable and show a lack of judgment on the part of our two employees,” Verleger said in a statement. ”Both are being reviewed for further disciplinary actions in accordance without school policies and procedures.”
Verleger added that she has personally apologized to the student’s family.
Williams reported from West Bloomfield, Michigan.
via: https://www.kmov.com/news/video-father-outraged-after-teacher-student-cut-daughters-hair-without-permission/article_e604ac21-c4ea-58ff-a27f-edf171919295.html
Photo Credit: kmov
12-year-old CEO signs deal with grocery chain in MO
ST. LOUIS (KMOV.com) — A St. Louis boy has signed a major deal with Schnucks supermarkets to shelve his products.
Joshua Danrich, 12, is the CEO and owner of his own company Mr. Fresh. His company aims to make St. Louisans fresh with his variety of car and home air freshners. He currently has six fragrances.
“I got to them and tell them what types of scents I want,” he said in 2019. “Yellow rose, black ice, cool breeze, jasmine, baby powder and vanilla. I really love my business and I want to inspire other people that they can do what I can do.”
When asked what makes his business stand out from the rest, Josh said he puts his heart and sound in his company and ensures his scents has a lingering aroma for days.
In a Facebook announcement, the young entrepreneur signed with Schnucks and his scents will be sold in stores across the area. Last year, Joshua switched gears and began making comfortable ear savers for doctors and nurses who had to wear protective masks for hours.
If you can’t find Mr. Fresh’s fragrances inside the supermarket, you can purchase them here.
via: https://www.kmov.com/news/mr-fresh-12-year-old-ceo-signs-deal-with-schnucks/article_eea6da7e-a290-11eb-9843-7fa8f3fbd228.html
Photo Credit: Shay Danrich / Facebook