Tag: sheriff
Nichols Family Speaks Out As Disturbing Tape Of Police Beating Shocks America

Nichols Family Speaks Out As Disturbing Tape Of Police Beating Shocks America

As the nation continues to reel over the disturbing footage of Tyre Nichols' deadly beating, his parents are now speaking out to share their reaction as well as their take on the course of action being taken to hold the officers involved accountable.

On Saturday, January 28, Nichols' mother, RowVaughn Wells, and his stepfather Rodney Wells appeared on Good Morning America alongside their attorney Ben Crump. During the interview, GMA anchor Janai Norman asked RowVaughn Wells about the part of the footage where her son could be heard calling her name in agony as he was beaten by police officers.

Reacting to that part of the footage, she said, "It was very difficult. As a mother, you want to always be there when your children need you. So when I heard that my son was calling my name and I wasn't there for him, that just hurt my heart."

She also shared her take on the charges brought against the Memphis police officers involved.

"After the charges were explained to me, I'm actually okay with the charges," she said. "The district attorney and the Chief of police has done an excellent job in getting this done quickly and swiftly, and we still have more to do."

At one point during the interview, Nichols' stepfather also weighed in when he was asked about the other first responders and officers who were also on the scene.

"Mr. Well, what do you think of the other first responders who were there, the sheriff's deputies who have since been relieved of duty?" Norman asked. "Do you think that there are others who should also be charged?"

"When asked whether or not some of them should face charges," Rodney Wells said, "Most definitely. It looks as though it may be maybe five, six other police officers that should be charged in this case."

So far, there are five Black police officers facing charges in connection with Nichols' deadly beating. However, Rodney Wells has also raised about the white officer who was also involved as he wondered why he hasn't been charged.

"There was also at the initial encounter with my son, there was a white officer that was tasing my son," he said. "And we don't understand how come his name was not put out there or mentioned in this whole fiasco. So, yes, I think that there should be quite a few additional charges."

Crump also shed light on the dominant issue that continues to plague communities across the country.

"It's institutionalized police culture that continues to have implicit bias whether the office is black, Hispanic, or white, where the excessive force continues to be exerted against black people and brown people," Crump explained. "We don't see our white brothers and sisters who are unarmed, brutalized like this by police, and we have to finally get police reforms. Rovan continues to pray like so many."

Watch the video below or at this link.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

U.S. Man Accused Of Killing His Five Children

U.S. Man Accused Of Killing His Five Children

Washington (AFP) — An American man is suspected of killing his five children aged between one and eight and burying them along a road in garbage bags, U.S. media reported Wednesday.

The suspect named as 32-year-old Timothy Ray Jones from South Carolina, reportedly led police to the spot where his children lay buried after being held on a driving offence.

Jones was stopped Saturday at a road checkpoint in the southern state of Mississippi. Officers found he appeared to be driving under the influence of drugs, according to The State newspaper.

The suspect, who is divorced from the children’s mother and shares custody with her, was detained after police found his name on a list compiled by the National Crime Information Center.

His ex-wife had reported him and the children missing on September 3 after she failed to get in touch with them, the newspaper said.

Jones later led police to the site where the children were buried, in the neighbouring state of Alabama, the paper said.

“The children were decomposed and were found in individual plastic garbage bags,” Sheriff Charlie Crumpton of Smith County in Mississippi was quoted as saying.

It was not immediately known how the children died.

“I’m a father of two, and I can’t imagine what goes through a man’s head when he does this. It was a horrible, horrible crime,” Crumpton said.

AFP Photo/Mat Hayward

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Allegations In LA School Molestation Case Grow; Number Of Victims Could Reach 100

Allegations In LA School Molestation Case Grow; Number Of Victims Could Reach 100

By Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES — Previously undisclosed accusations against former Miramonte Elementary School teacher Mark Berndt reveal a more widespread pattern of alleged abuse, with more than 100 possible victims, including some children who said Berndt molested them, according to court documents.

The new allegations about Berndt are included in a 512-page report based on a two-year inquiry by the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department. The report is confidential, but was summarized by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge John Shepard Wiley in a ruling during a pretrial hearing this week.

These are the first public allegations that the veteran elementary teacher sexually abused students. Wiley indicated that Berndt touched them in a sexual manner and exposed himself. According to the sheriff’s report, he also urged students to touch him, Wiley said.

Berndt’s attorney Manny Medrano said his client is not guilty of the broader abuse alleged in the sheriff’s investigation.

The Miramonte scandal was the biggest child abuse case in the history of the Los Angeles Unified School District. Following Berndt’s arrest on lewd conduct charges in 2012, Superintendent John Deasy closed the campus for two days and reopened it with an entirely new faculty and staff. The district already has paid about $30 million in settlements to 63 children and their families along with millions in legal fees and other costs.

Berndt, 63, was accused of spoon-feeding his semen to blindfolded students as part of what he is said to have called a tasting game. The evidence included photos of students apparently engaged in these acts. He pleaded no contest in November to 23 counts of lewd conduct and received a sentence of 25 years. Berndt’s plea aborted a criminal trial.

Deputy District Attorney Alison Meyers, who handled the Berndt case, said prosecutors were satisfied with achieving a 25-year prison term, which she said virtually is a life sentence. Although additional allegations emerged after the initial charges, prosecutors focused instead on plea bargain negotiations.

Still, 60 former students and about 40 parents are seeking damages in civil cases; the first trial is scheduled for July.

Plaintiffs’ lawyers have been battling L.A. Unified and the Sheriff’s Department for access to the law enforcement inquiry and other materials. The litigation prompted another disclosure this week: The school system in 2008 destroyed about 2,000 reports containing abuse allegations.

The documents are copies of the Suspected Child Abuse Report, which describe alleged incidents in which a child may have been harmed. District employees are required to report suspected abuse, and these forms are submitted confidentially to the police or the L.A. County Department of Children and Family Services. From the late 1980s through 2008, employees were asked to provide copies to the district as well, said L.A. Unified spokesman Sean Rossall.

But in 2008, officials determined that state law banned them from possessing these forms because of privacy rules; they ordered them destroyed, Rossall said. He added that essential information should have been fully duplicated within internal district reports.

Plaintiffs’ attorneys challenged this explanation.

“This revelation deserves a serious inquiry by an outside agency to get to the facts of how this happened and why the destruction was kept a secret,” said attorney John Manly, who represents some of the alleged victims. “LAUSD’s unapologetic and transparently ridiculous justification for the shredding is shocking.”

In the months after Berndt’s arrest, Deasy decried poor past recordkeeping on the part of L.A. Unified and vowed changes. These efforts included requiring administrators to scour old files and assemble the information into a central database. He said no internal reports could be found regarding Berndt.

Police had investigated Berndt in the past but never filed charges.

In the civil case, L.A. Unified is liable for damages if it could have or should have known about abuse.

The reports were collected by the district’s Child Abuse Prevention Office, which shut down in 2002 when its director retired. The purpose of that office was staff awareness training, not investigation, Rossall said. The office used the reports to compile data for the county. The reports covered all forms of mistreatment, not just sexual misconduct. On the Sheriff’s Department documents, Wiley ruled that he would hand over substantial portions to attorneys suing L.A. Unified. The Sheriff’s Department indicated that it would not challenge the release of the reports.

Such investigations typically are confidential to protect children and witnesses. The ruling allows children and families not involved in the lawsuits to request that their identities remain confidential. Wiley said he would honor their wishes because “the main purpose of this ruling is to protect children. … They, and their parents, have a constitutional privacy right to decide whether to involve themselves in this case,” he wrote.

The judge reached a different conclusion regarding adult witnesses outside of affected families. Their names will be provided to attorneys. Wiley’s summary included the most specific details released about the Berndt investigation.

“Berndt touched students in many ways, ranging from highly assaulting” their genitals and breasts “to other contacts with less obviously abusive implications,” Wiley wrote in the summary of the sheriff’s findings. “Berndt exposed his genitalia to students and others, by sitting in short shorts without underwear and spreading his legs in front of students.”

Wiley said the sheriff’s investigation found that Berndt induced children to touch his genitalia in addition to his arms and legs.

Photo: Amy The Nurse via Flickr