The man, who has not been officially identified, was taken to a hospital and as of Thursday night was undergoing treatment. Warning: graphic video.
A man standing on a street corner on Chicago's South Side was brutally gunned down Thursday while live streaming video on Facebook.
The shooting took place around 4:45 p.m. in the 5800 block of South Hoyne Avenue, Chicago Police Officer Thomas Sweeney told BuzzFeed News. A suspect approached the 31-year-old man, shot him multiple times, then fled in a vehicle, Sweeney said.
The victim was taken to a hospital, where as of Thursday night, he remained in treatment.
It was one of nine shootings across the city on Thursday that left at least two people dead, the Chicago Tribune reported. The city, which has been plagued by gun violence, is on its way to having its deadliest start to a year in decades.
And while many victims of violence stay faceless, the man on Hoynes Ave, had been streaming video. He stands smiling in front of a corner store, talking into the camera as music plays in the background. Shots fire suddenly, the camera drops, and the shooter can be seen holding a handgun.
Sweeney said police have been made aware of the video, and the shooting is under investigation. Various versions of it were posted on social media Thursday night as people shared their outrage and weariness over gun violence in the city.
After the shots, the video shows the scene briefly silent. Then, a woman can be heard screaming.
The CIA said Thursday it had left "explosive training material" inside the engine compartment of a school bus in Loudoun County, Virginia, after it used the bus in an exercise during spring break.
Officials said the material did not pose a risk to students from Rock Ridge High School, Buffalo Trail Elementary School, and Pinebrook Elementary School, who rode the bus on Monday and Tuesday. Still, the Loudoun County Sheriff's Department said the training program would be suspended pending more review.
According to the CIA, a K9 unit was training local law enforcement and their dogs when it accidentally left behind the material. The training took place March 21-24 at a high school in Ashburn, Virginia.
The missing material wasn't discovered until Wednesday during routine maintenance of the bus.
"The training materials used in the exercises are incredibly stable and according to the CIA and Loudoun County explosive experts the students on the bus were not in any danger from the training material," the sheriff's department said.
Parents were notified Wednesday about the discovery, and local officials met Thursday with the CIA to discuss the mistake.
"To prevent such incidents from happening again, CIA has taken immediate steps to strengthen inventory and control procedures in its K-9 program," the CIA said in a statement. "CIA will also conduct a thorough and independent review of CIA’s K-9 training program."
A check of inventory showed that all explosives training material was now accounted for, the CIA added.
On Wednesday, Shebley posted a message on Facebook alleging that she and her family were asked to leave a United Airlines flight in Chicago that was bound for Washington, D.C., for "no reason other than how we look."
While the message says United Airlines crew members told her they get off the plane for "safety flight issues," Shebley says it was "discrimination."
"My three kids are too young to have experienced this," she added.
In the message, she compared her experience to an incident in May, when another Muslim woman, Tahera Ahmad, alleged racial discrimination while aboard a Untied Airlines flight. Ahmad, who is a Northwestern University chaplain, said she was denied an unopened soda can from a flight attendant who said she "may use it as a weapon."
A family’s civil rights lawsuit against an NYPD officer for shooting a Bronx man in the head while he was on the ground is scheduled to go to trial Monday, making it New York City's first such case to reach this point in more than a decade.
On April 12, 2009, 35-year-old Mauricio Jaquez was home at his apartment with his wife, Ana Martinez, and their three children when he snapped and started “acting crazy,” his family said in court records. He grabbed his wife with one hand and a six-inch fillet knife with the other, while screaming that the police were “going to kill" him.
Martinez broke free and called 911, reporting her husband was wielding a knife. When New York Police Department officers arrived, two of the children raced outside and explained the situation. The officers called the Emergency Services Unit for backup. (All narrative and statements of fact in this article are from depositions and records in federal court filings.)
Two officers went up to the apartment and knocked on the door. Jaquez yelled that police were trying to kill him. They got inside and took Martinez and the third child out.
When the Emergency Services Unit arrived, Sgt. William Flores, the only member of the team who spoke Spanish, spoke with Martinez. She told him that her husband was on drugs and had a knife, but no firearms.
Flores and other officers entered the apartment, and later described the scene as “pretty chaotic” and a “melee,” according to court records.
The officers shot Jaquez with a taser, but they said he continued swinging the knife at them. Jaquez and Detective David McNamee began to struggle with each other.
McNamee fired rubber bullets at Jaquez, who reacted by “growling” and “screaming,” McNamee said in court records. Jaquez kept swinging the knife and lunging forward.
McNamee continued to struggle with Jaquez. He said he felt “the metal of the knife” against the side of his head.
Around the same time, two officers — Morrissey and Flores — fired their 9 mm revolvers at Jaquez. Four bullets struck him, knocking him to the ground.
But as McNamee went to retrieve the knife, Jaquez began to try to get up. Flores later said it looked like he was doing a “one-handed push-up off the ground and started to stab at Det. McNamee again.”
Flores took the final shot. According to the autopsy report, the bullet entered through the back of Jaquez’s head and traveled downward through his spine. He was later pronounced dead at the hospital.
Jaquez and Ana Martinez
Jaquez family
That the case is even going to trial is a rarity. Most civil cases involving deadly police shootings are either dismissed or settled.
“To put it in the larger context, it is rare for any case to go to trial," said Fordham University law professor Jim Cohen. "The settlement rates [for cases involving police shootings] are well above 93 or 94 percent. In these cases, the settlement rate is closer to 97 or 98 percent."
“Trials are unusual generally, because cases where the plaintiffs have a good case usually settle,” said Eugene O’Donnell, a John Jay College criminal justice professor and former NYPD officer.
It’s also risky for the city: If Jaquez’s family prevails, New York will likely have to pay a sizable sum to the family. “There could be a risk that you find one juror who believes there is no excuse for the officer’s conduct and wants to return a large number,” Cohen said.
If that did happen, Cohen added, the judge could potentially serve as a “safeguard. “It’s not uncommon at all for judges to take a jury’s verdict and undercut it,” he said.
Family attorney Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma did not say what amount the family is looking for.
A spokesperson for the city’s law department told BuzzFeed News, "This trial will start on Monday. We do not try cases in the press and will not comment on a matter so close to jury selection."
The last major civil rights trial in a deadly police shooting in New York City happened more than a decade ago. In 2003, a Brooklyn jury decided the police were justified in the 1999 shooting of Gidone Busch, who was fatally shot while wielding a hammer during a standoff with police.
A year after the trial, a judge overturned the jury’s verdict, but Busch’s mother declined to move forward with a new trial because of health reasons.
After the shooting, Jaquez’s family sued the City of New York and the police in federal court. In a May 2015 ruling, Judge Katherine Forrest said that the first five shots in the incident were justified and the officers would not be tried based on those actions. Only the final shot is on trial, which means Flores stands as the lone defendant.
The case, Forrest notes, is happening “against the backdrop of a country reckoning with a number of of fatal police shootings.”
The judge's decision puts the Jaquez family and their attorney in a difficult position at trial. It’s unclear how much they can discuss the other four bullet wounds and therefore how much of a threat Jaquez posed to Flores when he fired the final bullet.
In his deposition, Flores testified that Jaquez was not threatening anyone with the knife just before he fired the final shot. This contradicts Morrissey’s testimony that Jaquez continued to make stabbing motions with the knife after he was hit with the first round of bullets.
This week, the judge further limited the plaintiff’s case when she ruled that their wrongful death claim be dismissed because they had failed to present evidence for the jury to weigh whether or not the final bullet caused Jaquez’s death.
In her ruling, Forrest cited the autopsy examiner’s report, which called the damage from the final shot to head — as it contributed to Jaquez’s death — “negligible.”
Margulis-Ohnuma, the plaintiff’s attorney, told BuzzFeed News he intends to call Flores, McNamee, and Morrissey to the stand at trial. He said the jury will also hear testimony from an NYPD crime scene investigator, the autopsy examiner, Jaquez’s oldest daughter Nicole, and his widow, Martinez.
“[Flores] is on trial for shooting Mauricio Jaquez in the back of the head as he lay on the floor of his own apartment, bleeding and wounded from four other shots, rubber bullets, and high-voltage Taser fire,” Margulis-Ohnuma said. “Our Constitution and laws don't let police officers shoot people who are not posing an imminent threat.”
Authorities said Thursday that they will not pursue sexual assault charges against the man accused of groping a 15-year-old girl as she protested a Donald Trump rally in Wisconsin. Instead, they said, the girl may face disorderly conduct charges for punching him in the face.
Janesville Police Chief David Moore said during a news conference that investigators viewed several videos of the confrontation that occurred on Tuesday and interviewed 13 witnesses, including the accused man, 59-year-old Daniel Crandall. But they ultimately found no evidence to support allegations that the girl, who has asked to be identified as Alex, was sexually assaulted.
Moore said that during her interview with police, Alex said she had been "touched" and "felt pressure in the breast area."
The police chief played one of the videos Janesville detectives views, and noted several times that the incident occurred in "close quarters."
"Pushing against someone is probably occurring all over in that crowd," he said.
Crandall admitted to engaging in a "verbal altercation" with Alex, and acknowledged that he had "very animated hand gestures" during their exchange, but he denied having touched her, Moore said.
At that point, Moore noted that Crandall "stepped back, put his hands in the air, and looked away" before Alex punched him in the left cheek.
Moore said Alex could have faced an assault charge for the punch, but Crandall declined to pursue it.
Janesville police instead referred the case to authorities for disorderly conduct charges, he added.
Officers have yet to identify or track down the younger man who pepper sprayed Alex's face two seconds after she punched Crandall, but he faces possible charges of battery, disorderly conduct, and illegal use of pepper spray.
The status of the shooter was not immediately clear, but according to reports, the suspect was no longer at large.
At least three people, including law enforcement officers, were shot Thursday at a bus station in Richmond, Virginia, law enforcement officials told a CBS affiliate.
By 3:30 p.m., the shooter was no longer at large, but whether he was dead or under arrest was not immediately clear.
Two state troopers and another person had been taken to a hospital with injuries, the Associated Press reported.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates and follow BuzzFeed News on Twitter.
A Louisiana court is being accused of charging Latinos higher fees and forcing them to attend overpriced English classes, according to a complaint filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The complaint with the Department of Justice was filed Wednesday on behalf of four people facing traffic offenses in the First Parish Court of Jefferson Parish.
The complaint also alleges that the four people were charged without their consent for “inadequate interpretation services in court" and forced to sign forms written only in English. Latinos make up 14% of Jefferson Parish, according to the SPLC.
“Latinos in Jefferson Parish are being discriminated against because of their national origin,” Naomi Tsu, SPLC deputy legal director, said in a statement. “It’s unconstitutional that these individuals are not even hearing the charges against them before being slapped with extra fees and expensive, subpar classes simply because they cannot speak English fluently."
Court administrator Beatrice Parisi could not be immediately reached for comment. `
One of the complainants, 31-year-old Omar Roman-Velasquez, said he was charged $390 for using interpretation services, despite never requesting any. faced charges of failing to yield, driving without a drivers’ license, and driving without insurance,
The judge dropped his driving without insurance charge and amended Roman-Velasquez’s failing to yield citation to a charge of driving with an expired tag. But according to the complaint, the interpreter rushed though the hearing and didn’t accurately interpret what the judge said.
According to the SPLC, the Department of Justice has told courts to make interpretation services available for free and inform defendants of all charges pending against them.
Roman-Velasquez said he wasn’t given the opportunity to present evidence that his brake tag was still good because the interpreter didn’t accurately explain what the judge said. He was ultimately charged $780 in total.
He and two other complainants were also enrolled in 10 weeks of English classes that cost nearly $300, far above market rate, according to the complaint.
The photographer says Jeanie Ditty asked him to photoshop her daughter Macy Grace into graveside pictures of herself, just a month after allegedly killing the girl.
A mom in North Carolina, who had photos created featuring her 2-year-old daughter after she died, has now been charged with killing the girl.
Authorities charged Jeanie Ditty, an active duty soldier at Fort Bragg, and her boyfriend Zachary Earl Keefer with first-degree murder in the death of Macy Grace Ditty on March 25, the Fayetteville Observer reported.
The suit reportedly argues that the women’s team has brought in more revenue for the U.S. Soccer Federation, despite the pay gap.
Rhona Wise / Getty Images
Five prominent members of the U.S. Women's National Team on Thursday filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation for wage discrimination. The suit alleges that despite the team's accomplishments, they are still paid significantly less than their less-successful counterparts on the men's national team.
USWNT co-captains Carli Lloyd and Becky Sauerbrunn, Alex Morgan, Hope Solo, and Megan Rapinoe — who all played key roles in the team's 2015 World Cup championship — are filing the lawsuit with Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the New York Times first reported.
The players' affidavit obtained by BuzzFeed News highlights the disparity between the team's accomplishments and economic contributions to the federation, and the gap in pay compared to the men's national team.
It notes, for example, that despite U.S. Soccer's projection of a $429,999 loss for the national teams between April 2015 and March 2016, the federation now expects a profit of $17.7 million, "thanks almost exclusively to the WNT."
However, the federation continues to pay its female athletes significantly less than their male counterparts for friendlies (international matches outside of tournaments), the World Cup, and other forms of compensation like public appearances.
In another example, the affidavit notes that while both teams are required to play 20 friendlies each year, the women earn $1,350 bonus if they win, and no compensation for a loss or tie.
The men's national team, by comparison, earns a minimum of $5,000 per played game, regardless of the outcome. If they tie or defeat their opponent, they can earn anywhere between $6,250 and $17,625 per game, depending on the other team's rank.
Megan Rapinoe holds the World Cup 2015 trophy on her head during the ticker tape parade in New York on July 10, 2015.
Jewel Samad / Getty Images
The players' attorney, Jeff Kesler, told BuzzFeed News that previous efforts to negotiate with the USSF have been largely unsuccessful.
"The USSF has said the women are asking for much too much of an increase, and that they've devoted money to other needs of the federation," he said, noting that players do not feel this is an adequate reason not to pay them more going forward.
But, Kessler said, they are also seeking retroactive pay in their lawsuit.
"I think the timing is right,'' Lloyd said. "I think that we've proven our worth over the years. Just coming off of a World Cup win, the pay disparity between the men and women is just too large. And we want to continue to fight."
The players filed the lawsuit the day after the men's national soccer team failed to qualify for a spot in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio for the second consecutive time.
Solo added that the several collective bargaining agreements players have been through have proven ineffective.
"We believe now the time is right because we believe it's a responsibility for women's sports, specifically women's soccer, to really do whatever it takes for equal pay and equal rights and to be treated with respect," the goalkeeper said.
The lawsuit comes amid a contested year between the women's national team and the national governing soccer body.
On Dec. 7, the team cancelled a game in Hawaii on their post-World Cup victory tour because of the unsafe field conditions. Rapinoe suffered a serious injury a few days prior on another practice field there.
BuzzFeed News has reached out to the USSF for comment.
At least seven people were injured Wednesday after at least one tornado touched down near Tulsa. Numerous buildings were destroyed or suffered damage.
A tornado touches down in Tulsa on Wednesday.
Larry Papke / AP
Tulsa city spokesperson Kim MacLeod told BuzzFeed News seven people were transported to area hospitals with weather-related injuries, one of them in critical condition.
MacLeod said all of the city's emergency responders, including police and firefighters, were activated to deal with the destruction and were en route to affected areas.
The storm formed a few miles north of downtown Tulsa, then moved northeast, National Weather Service meteorologist Karen Hatfield told BuzzFeed News.
“They had bombs on the floor,” Trump said. “Many people saw this, many, many people. Muslims living with them, in the same area, they saw that house. They saw that.”
Darren Hauck / Getty Images
Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump said Tuesday that Muslims knew a radicalized couple planned to launch the December terrorist attack on a county workers' holiday party in San Bernardino, California, but refused to notify authorities.
Trump has repeated the claim to thousands of supporters at campaign rallies and, most recently, on live television during a presidential town hall interview on CNN.
"In San Bernardino people knew what was going on," Trump told Anderson Cooper on Tuesday. "They had bombs on the floor. Many people saw this, many, many people. Muslims living with them, in the same area, they saw that house. They saw that."
There is, however, no evidence to suggest this claim is true.
Reports that neighbors saw suspicious activity at the Redlands home of Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik, the radicalized couple behind the attack, but did nothing to stop it has been repeated in conservative media since the December assault, often arguing that political correctness and fear of racial profiling allowed the attack to happen.
Those news reports all appear to stem from local media interviews with an unnamed man who said he was working in the neighborhood, and another man who was visiting the area and relaying, second-hand, a story from a neighbor. Neither mentioned "bombs" or any objects "on the floor."
FBI agents investigate the Redlands, California, town home belonging to the attackers.
Robyn Beck / AFP / Getty Images
On Tuesday, Trump claimed a person "saw bombs all over the apartment," but didn't report the couple to police because they didn't "want to be accused of racial profiling."
His comments came in response to a question from an audience-member about what he would do as president to protect the rights of minorities. Trump's answer, however, was more of an explanation as to why he would support "monitoring" Muslim communities and mosques,
The candidate also appeared to go further than he previously had with the claim, suggesting it was not just neighbors who feared being accused of racial profiling, but other Muslims who decided to keep quiet about the pending attack.
"He saw bombs all over the apartment, OK?" Trump told Cooper. "It's just an excuse. it's an illegal excuse."
The Trump campaign did not respond to questions from BuzzFeed News about his claims and it is unclear where his assertion originated.
A spearfisher was diving in the waters off Hawaii when he says a shark became entangled in his diveline and he had to straddle the shark in order to free it.
Dave Freeman of California said he was spearfishing off the south shores of Oahu when he accidentally lassoed the shark.
Freeman said in a video of the incident that he didn't realize at first that the shark was attached to him through his diveline, recalling how as he swam toward shore, he couldn't understand why he kept getting "towed back."
Eventually, he got to a safe place in the water, where he untied his line and was able to see the "shark had lassoed himself."
Freeman said he decided that "instead of shooting the shark in the head," he wanted to figure out a way to untangle it.
Eventually the shark came to a rest on the reef, "and that's when I dove down on top of him and kinda straddled him." While on top of the shark, Freeman was able to unclip the it from the line.
"It was quite the experience," Freeman said. "Can't say I ever want to do it again."
California almost got as much snow as average this winter — but that’s a drop in the bucket toward making up for years of extreme drought.
Forecasters had hoped an unprecedentedly strong El Niño would bring heavy rain and snow to the state. In much of California though, the big rains never materialized, and on Wednesday, the Department of Water and Resources said the snowpack was measured at just below average.
Rich Pedroncelli / AP
The readings mark what is typically the peak of snow depth and water content for the state’s mountains, which through the rest of the year feed reservoirs as the snow melts.
Statewide, mountain snowpack measured up to 87% of the historical average. In the Sierra Nevadas, east of Sacramento, a snow survey on Wednesday measured 97% of the average.
The measurements were disappointing, and mean Californians will continue to feel the effects of multiple years of drought, said Frank Gehrke, chief of the California Cooperative Snow Surveys Program.
Still, it was a dramatic increase from the same time last year, when Gov. Jerry Brown stood on bare, dusty ground to declare new water conservation measures. The snowpack was effectively zero then, and previous years were also strikingly low.
Rich Pedroncelli / AP
“If you look over the last five years, relatively speaking, this has been spectacular,” Bill Patzert, a long-term forecaster with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told BuzzFeed News.
Patzert had earlier said this year’s El Niño would be a "Godzilla" that would soak Southern California. Previous El Niño-driven systems had left the L.A. area overwhelmed with rain.
This year’s system was a Godzilla across the globe — just not in Southern California, where it was more of a gecko, Patzert said. But even if the storms had left the snowpack at double its average, California would still be plagued by drought.
“It still wouldn’t have been a drought buster,” he said.
California Department of Water Resources
Ultimately, California has seen low water levels — with only a few outliers — for the last 15 years, Patzert said. Some of that is due to nature, and some of that is due to skyrocketing demand as California’s population has swelled alongside agriculture and industry, he said.
“It’s a wakeup call for a new lifestyle that we should have done a few decades ago,” he said.
At this point, he added, it’s not clear what the type of weather systems are in store for the state. Typically, an El Niño is followed by La Niña, which drives drier conditions in the West.
Brian Melley / AP
That could happen, Patzert said. Or, El Niño could do a “double bounce,” bringing more moisture to the region.
“At this point,” he said, “even if you have your receipt, you might want to save your galoshes and raincoat.”
To state snow surveyors, it's entirely uncertain whether this year's snowfall could signal snowier winters to come or not.
"There are no reliable indicators of what next season could bring," Gehrke said. "The message is still very strong the conservation measures are still going to be important, because again, we don't know what next year will bring."
Alabama Governor Robert Bentley’s top aide resigned Wednesday, a week after he admitted to making inappropriate and sexual comments to her.
Rebekah Mason said she was resigning as Bentley’s senior political advisor.
“I have resigned as Senior Political Advisor to Gov. Bentley and will no longer be paid from his campaign fund,” WAFF-TV reported. “I have also ended my work with the Alabama Council For Excellent Government. My only plans are to focus my full attention on my precious children and my husband who I love dearly.”
Mason’s resignation comes on the same day Representative Ed Henry said he would start the impeachment process against Bentley next week.
At a news conference at the capital on March 23, Bentley apologized for saying “some inappropriate things,” but denied having a physical relationship with Mason.
“Today I want to apologize to the people of the state of Alabama and once again, I want to apologize to my family. I am truly sorry and I accept full responsibility,” Bentley said.
Bentley had been accused by Spencer Collier, the state’s former law enforcement secretary, of making sexually charged comments and having an improper relationship with Mason.
The accusations came after Collier was fired Tuesday for “a number of issues,” including the possible misuse of state funds, the governor’s office said in a statement.
The night of November 15, 2015, was unseasonably warm in Minneapolis. A group of friends gathered at a modest apartment building on the city’s north side to throw a birthday party. Among those in attendance were RayAnn Hayes, 41, and her 24-year-old boyfriend, Jamar Clark.
By the following morning, a police officer had shot Clark in the head while another pinned him to the ground. By the following week, activists had occupied the local police station in protest, their anger fueled by the perception that Clark had been shot while handcuffed. Within a month, four people were charged for shooting at protesters, and the Twin Cities seemed on the verge of becoming the latest American metropolis to burn after yet another police shooting of an unarmed black man.
On Wednesday, Michael Freeman, the Hennepin County Attorney, said he would not bring criminal charges against the two officers. In an unorthodox move, Freeman did not bring the case before a grand jury, but decided to make the call himself.
Schwarze
And in another unusual move, Freeman released a trove of documents and videos detailing his investigation into Clark’s death. Although some activists have disputed aspects of Freeman’s version of the story, the prosecutor’s narrative of the case remains the most complete account yet of the events that led to the shooting. (All statements of fact in this article are drawn from the prosecutor’s words or documents released by his office.)
The first of those events, according to a 24-page report released, was an argument between Nekelia Sharp, the birthday party’s guest of honor, and her husband. Hayes tried to intervene, but Clark “grabbed her.” The couple, both of whom were drinking, got into a physical fight and hurt each other.
Hayes called 911 and requested an ambulance, the report says. Minutes later, two paramedics responded and tried to carry her to an ambulance. When they walked out of the building, they passed Clark who, according to one of the paramedics, was “acting kind of odd.”
“That’s the guy who did this to me,” Hayes said to the paramedics, according to the report.
EMS bring Hayes into the ambulance. Clark can be seen in the left corner.
The paramedics called the police “because the apparent assailant was on the scene,” the report states. Clark walked to the ambulance and told paramedics he was his girlfriend’s son, which Hayes denied. Clark then became angry, the prosecutor’s report says, calling one of the paramedics a “pussy.” He also allegedly told Hayes that he would “come see her.”
The paramedics loaded Hayes into the back of the ambulance and locked themselves in with her, which meant they could not move to the front of the ambulance to drive her to the hospital. According to the prosecutor’s report,Clark stayed behind the ambulance for several minutes, knocking on the glass and attempting to get in.
Meanwhile, Michael Trullinger, the deputy chief of the city’s emergency medical services, arrived. According to the prosecutor’s report, he told investigators that Clark “was crying” and “alternated between throwing his hands up in the air and putting them in his pockets.”
Around that time, shortly before 1 a.m., Minneapolis Police Department officers Dustin Schwarze and Mark Ringgenberg arrived.
The officers approached Clark and asked him to take his hands out of his pockets, the report states. Ringgenberg, who had been with the MPD for 13 months after transferring from the San Diego Police Department, took out his gun and pointed it to the ground.
“What’s the pistol for?” Clark asked, according to the prosecutor’s report.
The cops again asked Clark to show his hands — he didn’t. Ringgenberg put his gun back in its holster, according to the report. The two officers grabbed each of Clark’s hands and tried to handcuff him, and he resisted.
Whether the cops were able to put handcuffs on Clark at that point is a matter of contention. Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Freeman conceded that there were conflicting eyewitness accounts, but insisted that all the physical and forensic evidence — Clark’s DNA wasn’t found on the inside of the cuffs, for example — suggested that Clark wasn’t restrained.
The two officers can be seen approaching Clark, tackling him, and struggling with him.
Ringgenberg then “reached his arm around Clark’s neck and took him to the ground,” the report states. Less than 15 seconds passed between the officers’ first verbal command and their tackling Clark.
“Ringgenberg had been trained in his prior work as a police officer in San Diego to take a suspect to the ground when he or she resisted being handcuffed because it was believed to be safer,” Freeman said during his announcement.
Ringgenberg fell on top of Clark and tried to handcuff him. Then, according to the prosecutor, the officer “felt his gun go from his right hip to the small of his back.”
“He’s got my gun!” Ringgenberg told his partner, according to Freeman’s report.
Schwarze then “put [his] gun to the edge of Clark’s mouth,” according to the prosecutor.
“Let go or I’m going to shoot you,” Schwarze said, according to Freeman.
“I’m ready to die,” Clark replied, according to the prosecutor’s review on the officer’s statements. (Activists dispute Clark said that, noting that the only reports of those statements come from the police officers involved).
Schwarze tried to fire, but his gun jammed.
“Shoot him!” Ringgenberg yelled, according to Freeman.
Schwarze pulled the trigger again. This time, the gun fired. Cell phone video taken by a bystander shows that the scene turned to chaos, with people screaming.
More police officers arrived and took Schwarze and Ringgenberg to the local station, four blocks away. An ambulance took Clarkto a local hospital, where he died less than 24 hours later.
An official autopsy found that Clark died from a single point-blank gunshot that entered his skull near the left eye, and that he had alcohol and marijuana in his system. The corner did not find and bruises on his wrists that would suggest he’d been handcuffed shortly before his death. Forensic analysis later found Clark’s DNA on Ringgenberg’s gun handle.
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Freeman said his office had concluded that “the evidence does not support the filing of criminal charges” against the officers. He noted that the legal standard for charging an on-duty police officer with homicide or manslaughter is very high, requiring the state to consider the case not from the perspective of a civilian with 20-2o hindsight, but of a “reasonable police officer” in the heat of the moment.
“Ringgenberg reasonably believed that if Clark had succeeded in removing his firearm from his holster, Clark would have shot both officers,” Freeman said.
Towards the end of the press conference, several members of the public began confronting the prosecutor. One of them asked why the two officers had been allowed to sit in a car together for several minutes before they were separated. Another asked warned the prosecutor that his decision could incite violence.
“If the city burns,” a woman could be heard saying, “it’s on your hands.”
As the questions became more and more aggressive, Freeman thanked everyone for coming and abruptly left.
The parents claim surveillance video captured people stealing the eggs off their front yard, ruining a planned Easter hunt for their son.
Fox 5
Fox 5
Michael and Janet Ford told Fox 5 that they had been working with their 2-year-old son, Gabriel, to teach him how to pick up Easter eggs so they could treat him to a hunt for the holiday.
During the President's final Easter Prayer Breakfast at the White House Wednesday, he spoke about the recent rash of terror attacks across the world and took aim at Republican's anti-refugee response.
“In light of recent events. This gathering takes on more meaning,” Obama said, after acknowledging the "bittersweet" feeling he attached to giving his final prayer breakfast.
The recent attacks – in Brussels, Turkey, and Pakistan, – "can foment fear and division," the president remarked.
"They can tempt us to cast out the stranger, strike out against those that don’t look like us, or don’t pray exactly like we do. And they can lead us to turn our backs on those who are in most need and help and refuge," Obama said.
"That’s the intent of the terrorists, is to weaken our faith. To weaken our best impulses, our better angels.”
With these statements, the President was implicitly responding to anti-immigrant and anti-refugee statements made by Republican presidential candidates Ted Cruz and Donald Trump throughout their campaigns.
Trump has consistently supported a ban on letting Muslims into America, and Cruz recently suggested that the U.S. should greatly limit its acceptance of refugees and that law enforcement should implement extra surveillance in Muslim neighborhoods.
“If Easter means anything, it’s that you don’t have to be afraid," said the president to murmurs of approval from guests at the breakfast.
"We drown out darkness with light, and we heal hatred with love. We hold on to hope and we think about all that Jesus suffered.”
In recent speeches Obama has repeatedly censured the Republican presidential candidates for their anti-Muslim rhetoric and policy proposals, sometimes directly naming Cruz and Trump, sometimes more subtly targeting the tendency for candidates to turn into xenophobia. In Argentina last week, Obama called Cruz's ideas "wrong and un-American ... and counterproductive."
Concluding his speech, Obama said he was struck by the images he saw of Pope Francis washing the feet of Muslim refugees during Holy Week.
“Different faiths, different countries, and what a powerful reminder of our obligations," he said, remarking on the beauty of the scene. "If in fact we are not afraid, if in fact we have hope, and if in fact we believe there’s something that we have to give.”
The president ended his last-ever prayer breakfast on a light note, joking that when his term in office is officially over he will take "three or four months to sleep," but said the U.S. will never be "rid of" him, "even after the presidency."
"I hope y'all don't mind that," Obama said with a smile.
The Marlborough School apologized to alumni on Tuesday for using what it called "disturbing language" in a contentious ongoing lawsuit brought against the school by a graduate who was sexually abused by a former teacher. Marlborough, an elite private all-girls high school in Los Angeles, also fired the law firm and will amend the filing, its board of trustees wrote in a letter to alumni.
BuzzFeed News reported last week that Marlborough's legal defense had claimed the woman suing the school is responsible for the emotional and psychological suffering she’s experienced because she did not speak up sooner. For the same reason, the school argued, she was at fault for having “exposed” other students to potential sexual abuse.
The former teacher, Joseph Koetters, is currently serving a jail sentence for sexually abusing the plaintiff and another 16-year-old student in the early 2000s.
Following the BuzzFeed News article, outraged alumni launched a Change.org petition urging the community to stop giving financial support to Marlborough until the school changed its defense.
Marlborough alumni received an apologetic email Tuesday evening from the Board of Trustees.
The legal language "violated the guidelines and procedures the Board put in place," the board wrote. "We have since terminated our relationship with that firm and amended the filing ... On behalf of the trustees, we apologize to the Marlborough community, including the plaintiff, for any sorrow this has caused."
In a statement to BuzzFeed News, Marlborough's board of trustees confirmed that it had amended the filing and said the language their former law firm used was not "reviewed or approved" by the board.
The plaintiff's lawyer, David M. Ring, said that the retraction was "not enough" because the school is still claiming that the victims waited too long to file suit.
The law firm, Mckool Smith Hennigan, did not respond to requests for comment.
Obama will also meet with people whose sentences were previously commuted to discuss their experiences re-entering society.
Pool / Getty Images
President Barack Obama commuted the federal prison sentences of 61 drug offenders Wednesday underscoring his efforts to reform the criminal justice system.
The latest commutations bring the total number of inmates who've had their sentences shortened by Obama to 248 – more than the past six presidents combined, the White House said in a blog post.
The inmates were charged with drug possession, intent to sell, or related crimes. Most of the inmates will be released on July 28. The president has repeatedly called for reducing strict sentences for drug offenses that critics say have led to high incarceration rates.
In a letter to the inmates, Obama said the presidential power to grant pardons and commutations "embodies the basic belief in our democracy that people deserve a second chance after having made a mistake in their lives that led to a conviction under our laws."
Of the 61 inmates receiving commutations, about one-third are serving life sentences, including Robert Anthony Anderson of Louisville, Kentucky, who in 1994 was convicted of possession and intent to distribute cocaine as well as aiding and abetting.
Most are non-violent offenders, though some faced firearms charges, such as Bernard Beard of Compton, California who in addition to drug possession, was convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition.
Obama also plans to meet Wednesday with people whose sentences were previously commuted by him, Bill Clinton or George W. Bush. In a blog post, the White House said the inmates will share their experiences re-entering society after being released.
Wisconsin police are searching for two suspects who allegedly sexually assaulted and pepper-sprayed a 15-year-old girl during a clash at a Trump rally yesterday.
The incident was captured on videos shot from multiple angles. The girl was protesting the rally, and holding a sign that read, "Damn Donald. Back at it again with the white supremacy."
In the footage, she can be heard accusing an older man of touching her breast during an argument.
One video shows the moments immediately that followed the alleged assault, including when she was hit with pepper spray.
Prosecutors in Minneapolis are expected to announce on Wednesday whether they will press criminal charges against two police officers involved in the fatal shooting death of Jamar Clark, an incident that sparked widespread protests.
Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman decided to forgo the grand jury process in the case of the two officers, Mark Ringgenberg and Dustin Schwarze.
Some bystanders claimed Clark, a 24-year-old black man, was handcuffed when the officers, who are white, opened fire during a confrontation in the street. Officials however said that had yet to be determined.
While there is footage of the confrontation on the Nov. 15, 2015, authorities have said "no video shows the entire incident."
Officers were responding to a report of assault when, according to police, they observed Clark interfering with the victim, who was being attended to by paramedics. They tried to calm Clark down, but authorities said a scuffle started and at some point an officer shot him.
The candidate defended actions taken by his campaign manager against reporter Michelle Fields, claiming she could have been carrying a weapon.
Donald Trump on Tuesday defended the actions of his campaign manager, who was charged hours earlier with battery for allegedly grabbing a reporter's arm, claiming the journalist could have been carrying a "little bomb."
Charles Rex Arbogast / AP
Michelle Fields, a former Breitbart reporter, said earlier this month she was manhandled by Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski as she attempted to ask the candidate a question at an event in Florida. Lewandowski was charged Tuesday with simple battery after Jupiter, Florida, police released surveillance video showing the encounter.
During a televised town hall Tuesday night, Trump challenged Fields' statements to CNN's Anderson Cooper, accusing her of changing her story after the video was released — an assertion Cooper said was untrue.
While Trump's campaign initially said Lewandowski did not touch Fields, much less grab her, it later acknowledged he had attempted to block Fields from asking the candidate a question. But the video, Trump said on Tuesday, exonerated the campaign manager of any criminal wrongdoing.
"Touch, I don't know what touch means," he said.
The Republican frontrunner added he would stand by Lewandowski, who will remain his campaign manager. Trump insisted Fields was "off base" for asking him a question as he was leaving the event.
"She had a pen in her hand, which Secret Service is not liking because they don't know what it is," he said. "It could be a little bomb."
Trump also suggested that it could have been a knife, and that even if it was only a pen, it was still "dangerous."
"She shouldn't have been touching me," Trump said. "She was grabbing me twice."
A Texas man fatally shot by an Arizona police officer in January begged for his life moments before he was killed, according to a newly-released police report.
Maricopa County Sheriff's Office
"Please don't shoot me," Daniel Shaver begged police.
Moments later, an officer shot and killed the 26-year-old Texas man.
The officer, identified as Philip Brailsford of the Mesa, Arizona, Police Department has since been charged with second-degree murder and fired.
In a newly-released police report detailing body camera footage of the Jan. 18 shooting, Shaver is described as sobbing and complying with commands as police ordered him to crawl toward them. Officers repeatedly threatened to shoot him if he did not comply.
"Alright, if you make a mistake, another mistake, there is a very severe possibility you are both going to get shot. Do you understand?" one officer is described as telling him.
According to the county attorney's office, police were called on Jan. 18 about reports of a man pointing a rifle outside the fifth floor window of a hotel.
Officers stood outside one of the rooms on the fifth floor and commanded everyone to come out. After Shaver and a woman exited, they were told to get on the ground, according to the police report.
Shaver was ordered to crawl toward the officers, and the woman that was with him said he appeared to be pleading with police.
After crawling on all fours toward the officers, the man was told to get on his knees. Shaver complied, but then made a motion with his right hand toward his waist, prompting Brailsford to fire his gun five times.
According to the police report, the movement was similar to someone reaching for a weapon on their waist, as well as someone trying to pull up their sagging shorts.
"It appeared his shorts had fallen partially down his legs at that point," the report read.
Janice Dickinson's defamation lawsuit against Bill Cosby can proceed to trial, a judge ruled Tuesday.
Dickinson came forward in 2014 during an interview with Entertainment Tonight and accused Cosby of raping her in 1982. During the interview, she alleged Cosby had flown her to Lake Tahoe with the promise that he would help her career. Instead, she alleges, he gave her wine and a pill, and then sexually assaulted her.
Dickinson said she was subsequently defamed when Cosby’s then attorney Marty Singer sent a letter on Nov. 18, 2014, to multiple media outlets — including BuzzFeed News — calling her claims "false and outlandish."
Mel Evans / AP
Dickinson’s attorney, Lisa Bloom, said a statement Tuesday that they were "delighted" with the judge's decision to deny Cosby's request to have the lawsuit dismissed.
"For nine months, Mr. Cosby has sought to have her case thrown out. Today, Judge Debre Weintraub found that Ms. Dickinson had offered sufficient evidence (from her own declaration and those of multiple corroborating witnesses) and that a trial is appropriate in this case," Bloom said. "Mr. Cosby did not submit a declaration denying her claims. I look forward to our day in court to prove Ms. Dickinson’s case. Ms. Dickinson and I are committed to this fight until the end."
In the letter published in its entirety here, Singer said Dickinson had "completely fabricated the story of alleged rape." He also accused Dickinson of lying about not including the rape accusations in her memoir for fear of being sued.
Singer has since argued in court filings that his letter was only a pre-litigation demand letter and was not meant to be disseminated. Dickinson contends the letter was a press statement that was meant to be published.
While Weintraub agreed with Cosby's legal team in that the letter Singer sent to two media outlets is protected by litigation privilege and cannot be part of the defamation case, but also ruled that a press statement made the following day may be actionable and can be used.
In a statement, Cosby’s legal team claimed a partial victory, noting that the judge also "struck half the bases" upon which Dickerson filed her lawsuit.
"We believe the remainder of the lawsuit should be dismissed as well and will be considering Mr. Cosby’s options on appeal," the statement added.
Cosby is also fighting a separate criminal case in which he was charged in Pennsylvania with three counts of aggravated indecent assault. That case involves Andrea Constand, who accuses the comedian of drugging and sexually assaulting her in 2004 at his suburban mansion after meeting him at Temple University.
No criminal charges will be filed in the case of Berkeley, California, apartment balcony collapse that killed six students and injured seven more, the district attorney announced Tuesday.
Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley said in a statement that there was not enough evidence that any person or company had acted negligently to cause the balcony collapse. Her decision came after a nine-month investigation.
"This is not a decision that I came to lightly,” O’Malley said. “It is the culmination of months of consultation with my team of attorneys. It follows extensive review of reports, both legal and factual, and numerous meetings with investigators and experts."
The collapse on June 16 killed six college students, five of whom were from Ireland. They were celebrating a 21st birthday at the apartment when the fourth-story balcony gave way. Seven other people who were on the balcony at the time of the collapse were injured.
Jeff Chiu / AP
In the days following their deaths, local officials pointed to water damage that caused rot of the wooden beams supporting the balcony. On Tuesday, the district attorney's office confirmed water had become trapped in the structure, causing the rot, because of the materials used in construction as well as wet weather during the time of construction.
Jeff Chiu / AP
Though a number of individuals contributed to these circumstances, the district attorney's office said there was not enough evidence to show the deadly collapse was foreseeable, or that anyone had acted with extreme negligence or disregard to human life.
Another investigation by the California Contractors State License Board is continuing to see if any of the companies involved in construction acted in a way that their license should be revoked.
Already, local officials have toughened building codes, requiring inspections every three years of existing balconies. New buildings must use rot-proof materials in construction.
The district attorney told reporters her office had reached out to the victims' families before publicly discussing the decision not to file charges.
"I am keenly aware of the devastation and injuries each victim and each family suffered and continues to confront," O'Malley said. "Friends, families, and entire communities both in California and in Ireland have been affected by the horror of that day."
Five employees filed lawsuits against CVS Pharmacy on Monday, accusing their managers of racial profiling and discrimination, including directing employees to frame minority customers in order to increase the number of shoplifters caught.
The claims bring the tally of former employees taking action against CVS to nine since June 2015. Each of the claims, which includes a class action lawsuit, were filed on behalf of former store detectives — called "Market Investigators" — whose job it was to go undercover as shoppers in various CVS locations around New York City to catch shoplifters, and sometimes work with local law enforcement to have them arrested.
A federal lawsuit filed in Eastern New York District Court by former store detective Sheldon Thomas summarizes many of the complaints included in the many court filings.
Thomas alleges that he and other detectives were constantly directed to engage in racial profiling of black and Latino customers, and were constantly required to endure the use of racial slurs by their superiors and store managers.
"Make sure to watch the Spanish because they are thieves and crooks," Thomas alleges he was told repeatedly by one of the regional loss managers. He and another manager also called black customers "n*****s" and made statements such as, "Our numbers [of caught shoplifters] should be up there because lots of n*****s and Hispanics can't afford anything," and, "Watch the black n*****s that come in the store," the lawsuit states.
Thomas and his fellow plaintiffs also recounted cases of being encouraged to arrest shoplifters of color but let white suspects go.
The lawsuit also alleges that detectives were told to falsify reasons for apprehending CVS customers to increase the number of stops and detentions within a given region.
In an email to BuzzFeed News, CVS Senior Director of Communications Mike DeAngelis said the claims made in the lawsuits had so far not been backed up by deposition testimony.
"This lawsuit appears to be little more than rehashes allegations," DeAngelis told BuzzFeed News in an email regarding Thomas' suit.
In the nine months since the initial lawsuits were filed, DeAngelis said CVS deposed three of the plaintiffs.
"They all testified under oath that they were aware of, and followed, the company's anti-discrimination policies," DeAngelis said. "Moreover, they could not identify a single instance of a CVS customer being racially profiled."
He continued:
CVS Health has firm nondiscrimination policies that are rigorously enforced throughout the company. We do not tolerate any practices that discriminate against any of our customers or employees and our Market Investigator training explicitly prohibits the profiling of customers. In addition, our policy is to fully compensate colleagues for all of the hours they work.
We intend to continue defending against this complaint, which we believe will prove as baseless as the previous filings.
However, Michael Willemin, a senior associate with the law firm representing the plaintiffs, told BuzzFeed News that CVS' claim that the deposed plaintiffs could not identify any instances of a customer being racially profiled was "disingenuous."
"I was present during those depositions," Willemin said. "They gave many, many, many examples of direction that they and others engage in racial profiling."
Despite being told to engage in racial profiling and discriminatory behavior, Willemin said his clients refused to do so.
"To draw from their depositions that somehow CVS does not have a discrimination or racial profiling problem in New York City is incredibly disingenuous," Willemin said.
The family of a South Carolina teen killed by a Seneca police officer last year has settled a lawsuit against the city for $2,150,000, according to their attorneys.
"Rather than endure a lengthy litigation process, both parties agree that an early resolution will allow a platform for healing for the Hammond family and the City of Seneca," the family's attorney, Eric S. Bland, said in statement to BuzzFeed News. "There will be no further legal proceedings between the parties."
Seneca Police Lt. Mark Tiller was cleared of any wrongdoing in the fatal shooting, but the city settled the civil lawsuit against the family before the case went to trial.
Zachary Hammond, 19, was shot and killed in the parking lot of a Hardee's restaurant on July 26 during an undercover drug sting.
Dashcam video of the shooting shows Tiller running toward Hammond's car during the sting. Hammond is seen backing out of a parking spot and trying to drive away from the officer as Tiller stands near the driver's side window with his gun drawn.
Tiller said he opened fire because he feared for his life. The state prosecutor decided in late October that no criminal charges would be filed.
The multi-million dollar settlement announced Tuesday marks the end of the Hammond family's legal battle with the city.
Although both Hammond and Tiller were white, the case drew national attention in part by Black Lives Matter activists who highlighted the incident on social media.
