Law Enforcement
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6 Months After Kneeling on a Black Woman’s Neck and Tasing Her Belly, Miami-Area Officer Faces Battery Charges
A former Miami Gardens police officer has been charged with four counts of official misconduct and two counts of battery stemming from a January incident where he knelt on a Black woman’s neck and stunned her twice with a Taser during an unlawful arrest. As NBC News reports, Jordy Yanes Martel turned himself in on…
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Colorado Governor Pledges to Look Into Elijah McClain’s 2019 In-Custody Death After Nationwide Outcry
When 23-year-old Elijah McClain died after police put him in a chokehold last year, the news of his killing—and the subsequent decision to not press criminal charges against the Aurora, Colo., officers who apprehended him—didn’t reach far beyond the state. But, in the wake of the extrajudicial killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis last month,…
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Tennessee Prosecutor Calls for Officers to Be Investigated for Beating Black Man While He Was Handcuffed
How many videos need to surface showing police officers brutalizing black people before America realizes these incidents aren’t so isolated after all? Video footage of George Floyd set off the largest Black Lives Matter movement since the BLM hashtag was created. What most people don’t know is that just two days before that incident, five…
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NYPD Officer Suspended Without Pay for Using Banned Chokehold During Arrest
An officer with the New York Police Department has been suspended after a video surfaced showing him placing a man he was detaining in a chokehold and resting his weight on him. The officer, who has not been named by the NYPD, is identified by the New York Daily News as David Afanador. Afanador is…
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Tim Scott Won’t Acknowledge Systemic Racism and Defunding Police Because He Actually Wants to Stop Systemic Racism…By Defunding the Police
I believe words matter…sometimes. But sometimes, words are stupid. For instance, remember when Republicans were upset because President Barack Obama wouldn’t say the words “radical Islamic terrorism” because Obama was kinda busy hunting down Osama Bin Laden and killing him? That was stupid. Then again, I am a writer and words are the foundation of…
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'Karen McMuffin' Just Had a Human Moment Under Stress…Which Is Why No Human Should Have the Legal Right to Kill
In 2018, after a long and hard day of writing blogs about white privilege and gluten-free pancakes, I drove to the Wendy’s a few blocks from my house to get a Baconater, a frosty, and some fries. When I pulled up to the drive-thru window, the cashier said it might be a while because they…
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When a Bad Apple Spoils a New Barrel: New Study Unpacks the Dangers of Hiring Previously Fired Cops
One of the most confounding distortions of language centers around the colloquialism of “bad apples” with regard to policing. The phrase is frequently used to minimize the severity of the policing problem in this country: Why say policing itself is the problem when we can focus on throwing out the few “bad apples” of the…
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Tyler Perry Reportedly Funding Rayshard Brooks' Funeral
Atlanta resident Rayshard Brooks was killed by a white police officer over the weekend, and writer-director-producer-actor Tyler Perry is reportedly funding the 27-year-old’s funeral. The attorney for the Brooks’ family, L. Chris Stewart, confirmed the news during a conference on June 15. “We want to thank and acknowledge Tyler Perry, who we spoke with, who…
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No More Cop-aganda: Paramount Network Cuts the Cord on Cops, America's Longest-Running Reality TV Show
This is the kind of “cancel culture” you can get behind. Paramount Network has decided to can Cops, which was scheduled to premiere its 33rd season on Monday, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “Cops is not on the Paramount Network and we don’t have any current or future plans for it to return,” a spokesperson…
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Louisiana Family Wants Answers After Father Dies in Police Custody
Tommie McGlothen’s family were suspicious when Shreveport, La., police told them that he had died of a heart attack while in police custody. Cellphone video released earlier this week proved that, unfortunately, their suspicions were right. KSLA reports that cellphone video shows the 44- year- old McGlothen being beaten and tased by four Shreveport police…