A 9-year-old girl was handcuffed and pepper sprayed by Rochester Police officers responding to a call of ‘family trouble’
(CNN) — A 9-year-old girl was handcuffed and pepper sprayed by police officers responding to a report of “family trouble” in Rochester, New York, on Wednesday, according to Rochester Deputy Police Chief Andre Anderson.
Two body camera videos of the incident released by the police department on Sunday show officers restraining the child, putting her in handcuffs and attempting to get her inside the back of a police vehicle as she is heard repeatedly crying and calling for her father.
Officers are then seen pepper spraying the girl after she doesn’t follow commands to put her feet inside the car.
The girl was transported to Rochester General Hospital where she was later released, Anderson said.
Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren said during a news conference Sunday that she had spoken with the girl’s mother and that the city’s Person in Crisis mental health team would be reaching out to the family.
“It is clear from the video that we need to do more in supporting our children and families,” Warren said
During the press conference, Rochester Police Chief Cynthia Herriott-Sullivan said that what happened was not acceptable.
“I’m not going to stand here and tell you that for a 9-year-old to have to be pepper-sprayed is OK. It’s not,” Herriott-Sullivan said. “I don’t see that as who we are as a department, and we’re going to do the work we have to do to ensure that these kinds of things don’t happen.”
Police say they were responding to a report of ‘family trouble’
Officers were called to a home on the afternoon of January 29 for a report of “family trouble,” Anderson said Sunday.
The officers were told the girl was “suicidal” and that she had “indicated that she wanted to kill herself and she wanted to kill her mom,” the deputy chief explained.
The girl tried to flee from officers, Anderson said, and video released by police shows an officer chase her and attempt to provide assistance.
Afterward, he said, her mother arrived and the body camera video shows the two arguing.
Anderson said officers then decided to remove the child from the situation and transport her to an area hospital.
But the girl refused to get inside a police vehicle, “thrashed around,” and kicked an officer, knocking his body camera around, according to Anderson.
“It didn’t appear as if she was resisting the officers, she was trying not to be restrained to go to the hospital,” Anderson said. “As the officers made numerous attempts to try to get her in the car, an officer sprayed the young child with OC spray to get her in the car.”
The body camera video shows the girl repeatedly crying out for her father, while being physically restrained by officers. She is seen screaming before her head is held down against the snow-covered ground and is handcuffed. A struggle ensues between the girl and officers as they attempt to get her inside the back of a police vehicle.
At one point, one officer says, “You’re acting like a child,” to which the girl can be heard responding, “I am a child!”
Later in the video, a female officer is seen talking to the girl, eventually saying, “This is your last chance, otherwise pepper spray’s going in your eyeballs.” About a minute later, another officer can be heard saying, “Just spray her at this point.” The female officer is seen shaking a can that appears to be pepper spray and the child continues to scream.
The officers involved in the incident were not identified by police, nor were the child or her mother.
Anderson said Sunday he was “not making any excuses for what transpired” and that the department is “looking at a culture change.” The department is in the process of reviewing many policies and looking to make changes, according to Anderson.
Mayor Warren said she has directed the chief of police to conduct a complete and thorough investigation of the incident and said she welcomes the review of what happened by the city’s police accountability board.
The mayor explained that the video reminded her of her own young daughter.
“I have a 10-year-old daughter. So she’s a child; she’s a baby. And I can tell you that this video, as a mother, is not anything that you want to see. It’s not.,” Warren said. “We have to understand compassion, empathy. When you have a child that is suffering in this way, and calling out for her dad, I saw my baby’s face in her face.”
CNN’s Hollie Silverman and Laura James contributed to this report.
via: https://www.kmov.com/news/a-9-year-old-girl-was-handcuffed-and-pepper-sprayed-by-rochester-police-officers-responding/article_6f3b0b6b-c5ec-590d-9f3f-4538b5e44629.html
Photo Credit: Rochester Police Department/Handout via REUTERS
Video: nypost
Teachers suspended over lesson question, ‘How would you punish a slave?’
SUN PRAIRIE, Wis. (AP/Meredith) — Administrators at a Wisconsin middle school said Monday they have suspended teachers who were involved in an activity for sixth graders that included a question about how the students would punish slaves.
An email to parents at Patrick Marsh Middle School in Sun Prairie, about 15 miles (24.14 kilometers) from Madison, apologized for a “grave error in judgment” during the social studies class and said an unnamed number of teachers have been placed on administrative leave.
The lesson was meant to show the politics of ancient Mesopotamia and included one scenario that stated, ”A slave stands before you. This slave has disrespected his master by telling him ‘You are not my master’ How will you punish this slave?” It further explained that under Hammurabi’s Code the slave would be put to death.
Principal Rebecca Zahn and Associate Principal Amy Schernecker said the assignment was upsetting to parents and students. They said they will be following up with students about the event and offering services to those who need additional support.
Michael Johnson, president and CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of Dane County, said the assignment was “insensitive” and “totally inappropriate,” especially on the first day of Black History Month.
via: https://www.kmov.com/news/teachers-suspended-over-lesson-question-how-would-you-punish-a-slave/article_d591ad7f-410a-536f-b684-22b38415b324.html
Photo Credit: nypost.com
Father seen in shocking video punching a child and grabbing the other by his hair at a Bronx subway station has been arrested
Joshua Gilead, 35, was charged Friday night with two counts of aggravated family offense and two counts of acting in a manner injurious to a child less than 17 years of age.
Community advocate Tony Herbert posted the five-minute video on Tuesday in an effort to identify the man who he said should be behind bars. (Warning, some may find the video disturbing.)
Herbert said it took place at the Fordham Road train station. Police later said it happened on Jan. 22 around 9 p.m. The NYPD’s investigation was centered around the video.
In the chilling video, the man is seen closed-fist punching one child several times in the chest and pulling the other child by their hair as he jerks them around several times.
The children, ages 7 and 9, live with their mother in the Bronx, according to police. The NYPD’s Domestic Violence Unit and Rapid Response spent Wednesday shopping for the boys in hopes of restoring their sense of confidence and security.
The man in the video was later identified as their father, Gilead. PIX11 News spoke exclusively by phone with Gilead on Wednesday; he didn’t deny his actions.
”I punched him in the face, I punched him in the arm and I grabbed his hair because he doesn’t like it,” Gilead said.
Gilead said he was stressed out, that he struggles with mental illness and, at one point, he broke down, admitting he needs help.
On the day he turned on his two boys, Gilead said he had been drinking and his sons were first going at each other.
”I punched him in the arm because they both were going back and forth. I just was not in my best state of mind,” Gilead said. “I love my kids every single day.”
Police arrested the father last Saturday in connection with a separate domestic abuse allegation, claiming he hit one of boys with a belt. Gilead was released on his own recognizance Wednesday. At the time, authorities did not have the controversial video or knowledge of the subway station attack on the boys.
Gilead’s rap sheet shows a troubling past — at least 37 arrests since 2003 — including for domestic violence.
PIX11 News’ Andrew Ramos, Nicole Johnson and Anthony DiLorenzo contributed to this story.
via: https://www.pix11.com/news/local-news/bronx/dad-seen-hitting-children-in-bronx-subway-station-is-arrested-police
Photo Credit: Tony Herbert
California deputy arrested for faking his own shooting during a drive-by
A California deputy was arrested Friday for faking his own shooting and claiming he’d been injured by a stranger’s gun, prosecutors said.
Sukhdeep Gill, a deputy with the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, reported he was struck and injured during a drive-by shooting on Uvas Road in rural Morgan Hill last January, Santa Clara prosecutors said in a statement.
Gill, who has been with the department since 2016, claimed his body camera saved him from the bullet.
The deputy called for help and told an arriving officer that as he was walking back to his patrol car after urinating on the side of the road, a silver sedan approached him, prosecutors said.
Gill, 27, recalled that shots came from the vehicle’s passenger side, and said he returned fire before the car drove away.
However, a police investigation found that there were serious discrepancies in the deputy’s account.
“This case is bewildering and deeply disappointing,” said District Attorney Jeff Rosen.
“Deputy Gill’s actions abused the trust of his fellow officers and diverted public safety resources away from protecting the community to investigate a made-up crime.”
In October, the sheriff’s department said it had not found the shooter or the vehicle and placed Gill on administrative leave, CBS San Francisco reported.
Gill has been charged with felony vandalism and falsely reporting a crime, a misdemeanor.
via: https://nypost.com/2021/01/30/california-deputy-arrested-for-faking-his-own-shooting/
Photo Credit: AP
Daughter arrested for allegedly keeping dead mom in apartment freezer
A Japanese woman has been arrested after a cleaner found her mother’s body in the freezer of her Tokyo apartment.
The body had been bent to the fit in the freezer, police said.
Yumi Yoshino, now 48, said she hid the body 10 years ago after coming home and finding her 60-year-old mother dead because she “didn’t want to move out” of their home, local media reported.
There were no visible wounds on the frozen body, police said.
Officials couldn’t determine the time and cause of the woman’s death.
The body was reportedly discovered after Yoshino had been evicted from the apartment due to missing rent payments. Yoshino was arrested in a hotel in the city of Chiba, near Tokyo, on Friday.
via: https://nypost.com/2021/01/30/daughter-arrested-for-keeping-dead-mom-in-apartment-freezer-cops/
Photo Credit: nypost.com
MO father dies in hospital parking lot after family says hospital refused treatment
Sadie Bell says her husband David died in the parking lot of the Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Peters during his third time at the hospital seeking medical treatment.
“I felt like what he was going through was urgent and I thought that’s what emergency rooms are for,” Bell said. She told News 4 the week of January 8 she took her husband to the ER twice, after he’d been complaining about severe chest pain.
Both times, Bell said medical staff refused to admit him, only prescribing him with Ibuprofen. Then David, who was also the Director for Central County Fire, was rushed back to the same hospital after having difficulty breathing at work for a third time.
“I called his fireman, because one of his firemen took him, I said, ‘Which hospital did you take him to?’ he said, ‘I went on and took him back to Barnes-Jewish because I know that’s where you all had been going.’ I said, ‘Oh, I just wish you wouldn’t have took him there.’ He said, ‘Why not?’ and I said, ‘Every time that we have taken him, all they did was give him Ibuprofen and sent him home, and I’m really thinking they missing something,’” Bell recalled.
When Bell got to the hospital she said her husband was sitting outside in a wheelchair. After begging doctors to run tests and admit him, she said they refused.
“He said, ‘ma’am he’s already been here twice for the same thing and we’ve already diagnosed him,’” Bell said. From there she said she was preparing to take him to another hospital but it was too late.
“We got halfway to the car and he said, ‘Oh Sadie.’ And I said, ‘Baby what’s wrong?’” she said. Bell said her husband took his last breath in the parking lot and a good Samaritan tried giving David CPR.
Bell believes her husband received a lack of treatment because doctors and staff dismissed him. National medical reports state African Americans often have higher mortality rates because they don’t receive the same health care as their white counterparts.
“I don’t know what they thought and I just don’t understand why they wouldn’t help him,” she said.
Numbers from the American Medical Association (AMA) show Black Americans’ mortality rate is 24% higher than white Americans. One of the main contributing factors the AMA points out is that doctors are not addressing pain levels from black patients.
“I don’t want any family to feel what we’re feeling right now,” she said.
News 4 reached out to Barnes Jewish for a comment. They told us due to privacy laws they cannot share details on David’s case. They sent a statement saying: “Our thoughts are with the family after this loss, as well as with the entire Central County Fire & Rescue team.”
Central County Fire & Rescue posted the following statement to Facebook:
It is with profound sadness and the heaviest of hearts that we announce the passing of Central County Fire & Rescue Board Director David Bell. David leaves behind a wife, three young children, and a host of family and friends who will miss him dearly, including the entire CCFR family.
David and his wife moved to the St. Peters community more than a decade ago to raise their three children. He was elected to the Board of Directors in 2018 and quickly became part of the CCFR family.
As a member of the Board, David always kept the best interests and the safety of the community and our professional firefighter/paramedics at the forefront of every decision. He was passionate about ensuring that the residents of CCFR received nothing less than the best from every member of the fire district. Above and beyond merely attending regular board meetings, David spent many hours a week serving alongside us to accomplish that goal.
Outside of his Board of Director duties, David was an active supporter of the Fire District, our community, and the Central County Community Outreach program. David was right there with us at every CCFR Community Outreach event with his bright smile and welcoming personality, lending a hand and taking photos for all of us to remember the good times we shared.
David once said being elected to the CCFR Board of Directors was a defining moment in his life. But his life left a defining mark on our District and our CCFR family. In 2018, we interviewed David for a news release shortly after his election to the CCFR Board of Directors, where he said, “CCFR is not only where I live, it is my life. Within this district my children learn, play and thrive. A safe future for my children is dependent on the effectiveness of CCFR. As director, I will be able to provide support for the brave men who put themselves in harm’s way. We are all CCFR. We stand together. Together we survive. Together we thrive. The best is yet to come.”
David, you led our CCFR family through some very challenging and difficult times these past three years, and you certainly succeeded in supporting us…in more ways than we could ever begin to list out here. We are all better for having known and worked with you to support and protect our community. We overcame some tremendous challenges and accomplished some amazing things under your leadership. The legacy you’ve left behind has undoubtedly made our community safer and better for having you at the helm for the past three years.
David, we will miss your smile and the positive presence you brought to any room. We know that your faith in God was an integral part of your life. Rest in peace, friend.
In lieu of flowers, the family has asked for donations via this GoFundMe link.
via: https://www.kmov.com/news/st-peters-father-dies-in-hospital-parking-lot-after-family-says-hospital-refused-treatment/article_877c7a4a-61cf-11eb-b4f8-23406ce38421.html?block_id=990844
Photo Credit: the family
Heartbreaking video shows teen dancing moments before she was shot dead
Heartbreaking footage shows a Georgia teen seemingly interrupted as she films herself twerking — just moments before she was shot to death, according to her family.
Kalecia “Pinky” Williams, 16, was filming herself dancing in an Atlanta hotel room late on Christmas Day, while she was supposed to be at a chaperoned party, her family told Fox 5.
But in her final clip, filmed just after midnight, the teen appears to be startled, quickly turning off the camera as someone comes into the room.
“What happened after she made that last TikTok video at 12:02 a.m. and she was dead at 12:23 a.m.?” asked her grieving mother, April Smith.
“I need answers,” she told Fox 5.
A teenage boy — not identified because of his age — has since been charged with her felony murder, as well as aggravated assault, reckless conduct and possession of a pistol by someone younger than 18, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
Investigators described the two teens as “acquaintances” and said they were the only people inside the Hyatt Regency room at the time of the shooting, the paper said.
Williams’ family, however, say they want more charges in the case — including against the parent who booked the hotel room when the murdered teen’s family assumed she was at a party at an Airbnb instead.
“She was responsible for getting the hotel room for these minors. The hotel room was in her name, so I feel like she should be held accountable for my daughter’s death as well,” Smith told Fox 5.
It is unclear who the parent was who booked the hotel room and her relationship to Williams.
Smith also complained that it took eight hours for her to be told about her daughter’s death — saying it came in a call from the morgue, not police.
The grieving mom insisted there was “a lot of foul play” in her daughter’s case, saying, “I’m just trying to put all the pieces together.”
via: https://nypost.com/2021/01/28/video-shows-atlanta-teen-dancing-moments-before-she-was-shot-dead/
Photo Credit: TikTok
Widow denied burial plot for husband in ‘white’s only’ cemetery
A Louisiana widow says she was stunned when a cemetery denied a burial plot for her husband, a black sheriff’s deputy — claiming it was for “whites only.”
Karla Semien said she tried to make arrangements at Oaklin Springs Cemetery for her spouse, Allen Parish Sheriff’s Deputy Darrell Semien, after he died Sunday from cancer, news station KPLC reported.
“It was in their by-laws that the cemetery was ‘whites only,’” Karla told the outlet. “I just kinda looked at her and she said, ‘There’s no coloreds allowed.’”
Darrell’s daughter, Shayla, said the woman at the cemetery showed them a contract, which outlined “the right of burial of the remains of white human beings.”
“She had this paperwork in her hand that she said was drawn up 70-plus years ago,” Shayla told news station KATC.
“If we really wanted to have him buried here, we would have to get board approval because he was a colored man.”
His family said they were shocked not only that the discriminatory rule was part of the cemetery’s contract, but also by how the woman handled the situation.
“[She said] just blatantly, with no remorse, ‘I can’t sell you a plot for your husband,’” another one of Darrell’s daughters, Kimberly Curly, told the news station.
“Everybody dies. They bleed the same. You die. You’re the same color. Death has no color, so why should he be refused?” she added.
His widow said she had only gone to the cemetery per her husband’s wishes since he wanted to be laid to rest close to home.
“And to be told this is like we were nothing. He was nothing? He put his life on the line for them,” Karla said.
Creig Vizena, president of the Oaklin Springs Cemetery Association, said he was “very ashamed” to learn of the racist practice, which has been in the contract since the 1950s, when the burial place opened.
“I promise you, it will be fixed,” Vizena told KATC.
He said he takes “full responsibility” for not previously reading the contract.
“It never came up. I take full responsibility for that. I’ve been the president of this board for several years now,” he said.
The cemetery said it fired the employee who turned away the deputy’s family, KATC reported.
The Semien family said they’ve been offered a plot, but they will be burying Darrell elsewhere.
“My dad wasn’t any man, he was a phenomenal man,” Shalya told KATC. “He was a police officer in this same community for 15 years. He was denied a place to lay because of the color of his skin.”
via: https://nypost.com/2021/01/28/widow-denied-plot-for-husband-in-whites-only-cemetery/
Photo Credit: Allen Parish Sheriff’s Office
8-year-old in Oklahoma expelled after telling another girl she had a crush on her
An 8-year-old Oklahoma girl was expelled from her Christian school after telling a classmate she had a crush on her, her mother told local media.
“My daughter was crying, saying, ‘Does God still love me?” Delanie Shelton, of Owasso, Okla., told Tulsa-based KOKI.
Shelton’s daughter, Chloe, was a student at Rejoice Christian Schools, according to the outlet – at least until recently.
School policy prohibits boyfriend and girlfriend relationships in general and administrators told the station they were following the student handbook.
Shelton told KOKI that her daughter Chloe’s vice principal sat her down and said “the Bible says you can only marry a man and have children with a man.”
Shelton said she later the told the vice principal that she thought it would be “OK for girls to like girls” and that the administrator then “looked shocked and appalled.”
Rejoice did not immediately respond to a Fox News request for comment.
The school was founded in 1992 on faith-based principles, according to its website. It is one of the largest Christian schools in the greater Tulsa area.
“Rejoice Christian Schools exist for the purpose of partnering with parents in training students in Bible-based Christian principles and in the establishment of a high-quality academic foundation,” the school’s mission statement reads.
Its statement on philosophy cites Deuteronomy 6:5-7 and argues that parents are responsible for their children’s education.
Shelton said she is raising her children not to judge others and to love whoever they want.
“They ripped my kids out of the only school they’ve ever really known away from their teachers and friends they’ve had over the past four years over something my daughter probably doesn’t know or fully understand,” she told the station.
via: https://nypost.com/2021/01/28/8-year-old-in-oklahoma-expelled-after-telling-another-girl-she-had-a-crush-on-her/
Photo Credit: nypost.com
Ohio Republicans propose that June 14 is Donald Trump Day
The proposal from two Republican state legislators would make June 14 every year President Donald Trump Day in the Buckeye State, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Representatives Jon Cross and Reggie Stoltzfus made the request to their fellow lawmakers via an email on Friday, asking them to co-sponsor a bill “to celebrate one of the greatest presidents in American history.”
“Let’s show the 3,154,834 Ohio voters who cast their ballot to re-elect Donald J. Trump that we as a legislature recognize the accomplishments of his administration,” the email read, according to the newspaper.
June 14 is Trump’s birthday, and it’s not uncommon for states to honor former leaders.
California and 39 other states celebrate President Regan’s birthday on Feb. 6
Illinois unofficially celebrates Barack Obama Day on Aug. 4.
via: https://nypost.com/2021/01/29/ohio-republicans-propose-state-holiday-honoring-trump/
Photo Credit: AP Photo/ Jacquelyn Martin