Thursday, December 19, 2024 | 11:02 PM ISTEN Hindi

Black Lives Matter

Judge allows testing tissue from George Floyd as convict seeks new trial

A judge has granted permission to lawyers for Derek Chauvin to have samples from George Floyd examined as part of the former Minneapolis police officer's efforts to challenge his conviction on a federal civil rights charge stemming from Floyd's death in 2020. US District Judge Paul Magnuson agreed in an order Monday to let the defence examine Floyd's heart tissue and fluid samples to test a theory that Floyd died of a heart condition aggravated by a rare tumour, not as prosecutors contend from asphyxiation caused by the white officer pressing his knee on the Black man's neck for 9 1/2 minutes despite Floyd's dying cries of, I can't breathe. Floyd's death touched off protests worldwide, some of which turned violent, and forced a national reckoning with police brutality and racism. Chauvin was convicted in state court on murder charges in 2021 and pleaded guilty later that year in federal court to violating Floyd's civil rights. His federal defender for his appeal attempt, Robert ..

Updated On : 18 Dec 2024 | 7:12 AM IST

Kentucky ex-officer convicted for using excessive force on Breonna Taylor

A federal jury on Friday convicted a former Kentucky police detective of using excessive force on Breonna Taylor during a botched 2020 drug raid that left her dead. The 12-member jury returned the late night verdict after clearing Brett Hankison earlier in the evening on a charge that he used excessive force on Taylor's neighbors. Some members of the jury were in tears as the verdict was read around 9:30 p.m. Friday. Hankison fired 10 shots into Taylor's glass door and windows during the raid, but didn't hit anyone. Some shots flew into a next-door neighbor's adjoining apartment. The death of the 26-year-old Black woman, along with the May 2020 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, sparked racial injustice protests nationwide. It's the first conviction of a Louisville police officer who was involved in the deadly raid. A separate jury deadlocked on federal charges against Hankison last year, while in 2022, a jury acquitted Hankison on state charges of wanton endangerment

Updated On : 02 Nov 2024 | 9:01 AM IST

Black Americans express concerns about racist depictions in news media

In a new study, Black Americans expressed broad concerns about how they are depicted in the news media, with majorities saying they see racist or negative depictions and a lack of effort to cover broad segments of their community. Four in five Black adults say they see racist or racially insensitive depictions of their race in the news either often or sometimes, according to the Pew Research Centre. Three years after George Floyd's killing triggered a racial reckoning in the news media, Pew took its first broad-based look at Black attitudes toward the media with a survey of nearly 5,000 Black adults this past winter and follow-up focus groups. The survey found 63 per cent of respondents saying news about Black people is often more negative than it is toward other racial or ethnic groups, with 28 per cent saying it is about equal. It's not surprising at all, said Charles Whitaker, dean of the Medill journalism school at Northwestern University. "We've known both anecdotally, and ..

Updated On : 27 Sep 2023 | 12:11 PM IST

Black kids are 6 times more likely to be strip-searched, says UK report

Black children in England and Wales were six times more likely to be strip-searched by police, according to a report being released Monday that found children were failed by those sworn to protect them. Children's Commissioner Rachel de Souza found nearly 3,000 children were strip-searched between 2018 and mid-2022 and more than half the searches were conducted without an appropriate adult present. The investigation was launched after a Black 15-year-old girl suspected of having marijuana was strip-searched at a London school in 2020 by two female officers without another adult present. The girl, identified as Child Q, was menstruating and no drugs were found. A previous report said racism was a likely factor for the humiliating search. The bravery of a girl to speak up about a traumatic thing that happened to her led to the report that found widespread noncompliance of safeguards and evidence of a "deeply concerning practice, de Souza said. The findings follow a scathing report la

Updated On : 27 Mar 2023 | 8:31 AM IST

Fate of last ex-cop charged in George Floyd murder lies with judge

The attorney for a former Minneapolis police officer who held back bystanders while his colleagues restrained a dying George Floyd said in court filings Tuesday that his client is innocent of criminal wrongdoing and should be acquitted on state charges of aiding and abetting murder and manslaughter. But prosecutors argued in their filings that Tou Thao acted without courage and displayed no compassion despite his nearly nine years of experience and that he disregarded his training even though he could see Floyd's life slowly ebbing away. Tuesday was the deadline for prosecutors and defence attorneys to file final written arguments in the case of Thao, the last of the four former officers facing judgement in Floyd's killing. The state and federal cases against Derek Chauvin and the two other officers involved have largely been resolved, except for Chauvin's appeal of his murder conviction. But Thao asked Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill to decide, based on stipulated evidence, ...

Updated On : 01 Feb 2023 | 10:35 AM IST

Minneapolis ex-cop who kneeled on George Floyd's back gets 3.5-year term

The former Minneapolis police officer who kneeled on George Floyd's back while another officer kneeled on the Black man's neck was sentenced Friday to 3 1/2 years in prison. J. Alexander Kueng pleaded guilty in October to a state count of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. In exchange, a charge of aiding and abetting murder was dropped. Kueng is already serving a federal sentence for violating Floyd's civil rights, and the state and federal sentence will be served at the same time. Kueng, who is already serving a federal sentence for violating Floyd's civil rights, appeared at his sentencing hearing via video from a federal prison in Ohio. When given the chance to address the court, he declined. Floyd's family members had the right to make victim impact statements, but none did. Floyd died on May 25, 2020, after former Officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on Floyd's neck for 9 1/2 minutes as Floyd repeatedly said he couldn't breathe and eventually went limp. The killing, whi

Updated On : 10 Dec 2022 | 8:41 AM IST

5 officers in Connecticut charged after Black man paralysed in police van

Five Connecticut police officers were charged Monday with cruelly neglecting a Black man after he was partially paralyzed in the back of a police van, despite his repeated and desperate pleas for help. Randy Cox, 36, was being driven to a New Haven police station June 19 for processing on a weapons charge when the driver braked hard at an intersection to avoid a collision, causing Cox to fly headfirst into a metal partition in the van. I can't move. I'm going to die like this. Please, please, please help me, Cox said minutes after the crash. As Cox pleaded for help, some of the officers at the detention center mocked him and accused him of being drunk and faking his injuries, according to dialogue captured by surveillance and body-worn camera footage. Officers dragged Cox by his feet from the van and placed him in a holding cell prior to his eventual transfer to a hospital. I think I cracked my neck, Cox said after the van arrived at the detention center. You didn't crack it, no,