Violent clashes in Kenya turn deadly as police fire on youth protesters
Kenyan security forces shot and killed multiple demonstrators in Nairobi on Tuesday, June 25, as anti-tax protests turned violent. Police fired live rounds on protesters outside of Kenya’s parliament building, reportedly killing at least 10 and injuring dozens. Amid the chaos, a section of the parliament building was set on fire.
The demonstrators, rallying against new tax hikes amid a severe cost-of-living crisis, were met with water cannons and tear gas as they stormed the assembly.
Inside parliament, lawmakers approved the contentious tax hikes despite the unrest. Lawmakers evacuated to a nearby government building through an underground tunnel as police clashed with protesters.
The bill now goes to President William Ruto, who had been expected to sign it this week, though he has signaled a willingness to hold talks with protesters and negotiate changes to the tax bill.
The bill aims to raise $2.7 billion in taxes to address the national debt, which consumes about 40% of the nation’s total revenue in interest payments alone.
Frustrated Kenyan youth launched the current “7 Days of Rage” movement to protest the nation’s fiscal policies they see as unfairly burdensome.
Amnesty International has expressed concern over the government’s response. The organization said at least 12 key figures in the movement were abducted in the days leading up to the protests in what appears to be an attempt to suppress the demonstrations.
On Monday, President Ruto sent 400 police officers to Haiti for a U.N.-backed security mission. This deployment, expected to total 1,000 officers, has ignited controversy within Kenya. Critics question the legality and morality of the move, while human rights groups fear the Kenyan police might replicate the tactics used during domestic protests in their operations abroad.
Police: Minneapolis officer killed in deadly ambush
Three individuals, including Minneapolis police officer Jamal Mitchell, were killed in a shooting Thursday, May 30, in the Whittier neighborhood of southern Minneapolis. As officers responded to the scene of a shooting, they were immediately met with gunfire, according to the Minneapolis Police Department.
During the incident, police said a Officer Mitchell was providing medical aid those injured, including the suspected gunman who ambushed the officer.
“When officers arrived, they received gunfire immediately and they exchanged gunfire,” Assistant Police Chief Katie Blackwell of the Minneapolis Police Department said. “Two officers were injured and they were immediately brought to HCMC. Officer Jamal Mitchell died at the hospital despite all life-saving measures by Hennepin Healthcare. The second officer received non-life-threatening injuries. The suspect on scene was injured, and even though he was injured in that gunfire, officers still rendered first aid and he was pronounced deceased at the scene.”
Mitchell had previously been recognized for his heroism after rescuing an elderly couple from a fire early in his career, earning high praise for his bravery and character. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is currently investigating the shooting.
Donald Trump becomes first former US president to be convicted of a crime
Donald Trump is found guilty of 34 felonies in New York. What comes next? And what does the historic verdict mean for the former president? A police officer was killed during a deadly ambush in Minnesota. These stories and more highlight The Morning Rundown for Friday, May 31, 2024.
Donald Trump found guilty on 34 felony counts in NY criminal trial
However, Trump was not tried on the campaign finance violation itself.
The case against Trump relied heavily on testimony from his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, who admitted to lying to Congress in 2018 and stealing from the Trump organization. The defense attempted to undermine Cohen’s credibility by labeling him the “GLOAT,” or the greatest liar of all time.
Trump is expected to appeal the verdict. He also faces ongoing legal challenges including the classified documents case, the Georgia election case, and special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into attempts to overturn the 2020 election results.
Trump is scheduled to be sentenced on July 11.
Donald Trump, Manhattan D.A. speak after verdict
The verdict was delivered unexpectedly late Thursday, May 30, just after Judge Juan Merchan had informed the defense and prosecution at approximately 4:15 p.m. that deliberations would continue into a third day.
However, at 4:36 p.m., the judge announced that the jury had reached its decision, cautioning those in the courtroom against any outbursts.
Trump responded to the verdict while speaking to reporters outside the courthouse.
“This was a disgrace,” Trump said. “This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who was corrupt as a rigged trial, a disgrace. They wouldn’t give us a venue change. We were at 5% or 6% in this district, in this area. This was a rigged, disgraceful trial. The real verdict is going to be Nov. 5 by the people. And they know what happened here. And everybody knows what happened here.”
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg — whose office prosecuted the case — later spoke to the media, emphasizing his commitment to following the facts and the law. Bragg stated, “The only voice that matters is the voice of the jury. And the jury has spoken.”
The reaction to the verdict has been polarized. President Joe Biden’s campaign remarked that voting in November is the only way to ensure Trump does not return to office, while the White House expressed its respect for the rule of law. Conversely, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., labeled the guilty verdict “a shameful day in American history.”
What to expect following guilty verdict in Trump criminal trial
As stated above, sentencing is scheduled for July 11. However, Trump is likely to appeal the conviction, as he has asserted that the charges were politically motivated and legally flawed.
Trump was convicted of falsifying business records and a Class E felony in New York — the lowest tier of felony in the state which could result in up to four years in prison for each count. However, it is uncommon for someone with no prior criminal history to receive a prison sentence for this type of crime.
The judge may opt for alternative punishments such as a fine, probation, or house arrest. The Manhattan District Attorney has not indicated whether his office will seek prison time.
The judge might also allow Trump to avoid any punishment until after the appeal process is complete.
As for the upcoming November election, Trump is still eligible to run for president. Legal experts note that there is nothing in the U.S. Constitution that prevents someone convicted of a crime from running for the presidency.
Minneapolis shooting claims life of police officer and two others
Three individuals, including Minneapolis police officer Jamal Mitchell, were killed in a shooting Thursday, May 30, in the Whittier neighborhood of southern Minneapolis. As officers responded to the scene, they were immediately met with gunfire, according to the Minneapolis Police Department.
During the incident, a suspect ambushed Officer Mitchell while he was providing medical aid to two injured men two blocks from the original scene. One of the men succumbed to his injuries at the scene, while the other sustained serious injuries.
“When officers arrived, they received gunfire immediately and they exchanged gunfire,” Assistant Police Chief Katie Blackwell of the Minneapolis Police Department said. “Two officers were injured and they were immediately brought to HCMC. Officer Jamal Mitchell died at the hospital despite all life-saving measures by Hennepin Healthcare. The second officer received non-life-threatening injuries. The suspect on scene was injured, and even though he was injured in that gunfire, officers still rendered first aid and he was pronounced deceased at the scene.”
Mitchell had previously been recognized for his heroism after rescuing an elderly couple from a fire early in his career, earning high praise for his bravery and character. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is currently investigating the shooting.
During his appearance, De Niro made heated remarks, including a claim that Trump could “destroy the whole world” if elected again. The NAB stated that De Niro’s comments “create a distraction” from the organization’s bipartisan philanthropic work.
National Spelling Bee comes to exciting end with tiebreaker
The finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee turned intense on Thursday, May 30.
Seventh-grader Bruhat Soma clinched the win and a $50,000 prize by correctly spelling 29 words in 90 seconds during a lightning round tie-breaker. It was nine more correct words than his competitor.
Black family held at gunpoint by officers receives $1.9 million from Aurora, Colo.
The city of Aurora, Colorado, has awarded a Black family held at gunpoint by Aurora police officers $1.9 million. The money is part of a settlement between the the city and Brittney Gilliam.
Gilliam’s lawyer, David Lane, said the settlement was agreed upon because a trial would make Gilliam and the four girls relive the traumatic moment.
Gilliam said the incident caused a mix of emotions.
“I was livid,” Gilliam said. “It was more scary than anything because all I could hear was their crying and screams.”
In August 2021, Aurora police initiated a traffic stop of Gilliam’s SUV. After scanning her license plate, police said the officers believed Gilliam’s license plate matched that of one reported stolen. The officers were wrong, and the department later admitted the license plate Gilliam had had similar numbers to a license plate reported stolen. However, the license plate that had been reported stolen was on a motorcycle with Montana plates.
Thinking the license plate was stolen, the officers ordered Gilliam and the four girls in the SUV to get out of the vehicle.
The family was then held at gunpoint and forced to lay face down on the pavement.
“Brittney Gilliam and her family, including four kids, ages 6 through 17, were out looking to get their nails done and have a fun girl’s day out,” Lane said. “They had stopped at a parking lot to figure out where they wanted to go.”
At that moment, the encounter with police began as a patrol vehicle made its way toward Gilliam’s SUV.
“They pulled up the plate. The plate came back stolen on the first hit,” Lane said. “They stopped. They drew their guns. They ordered everyone out of the car at gunpoint. Brittney got out of the car on the driver’s side, and they ordered all these kids out on the passenger side. And one by one they put these kids face down on hot pavement in August, including a 6-year-old little girl.”
Now, more than three years after the police encounter, a settlement for Gilliam and the four girls involved has been reached.
The money will be divided up evenly among Gilliam and the four girls. The girls will receive the funds in annuities and have acess once they turn 18. Receiving the settlement in annuities will likely mean a bigger return of money, according to The Guardian.
The initial lawsuit in the case sued the city of Aurora on the grounds of “profound and systemic racism.” The city confirmed the settlement announced Monday, Feb. 5, in a statement.
“The Aurora Police Department remains committed to strengthening the relationship with the community through accountability and continuously improving how it serves the public,” the statement said.
An investigation by prosecutors found no evidence that the officers committed any crimes, in part because they were following their training for a high-risk stop as they suspected the car to be stolen. However, the family’s attorney said there is no excuse for what happened considering the history of policing in the city.
“It was absolutely appalling that these ‘robocops’ from the same agency, I might add, that killed Elijah McClain, would put little children on the ground for any reason at all,” Lane said.
In 2021, the city reached a settlement with the family of Elijah McClain for $15 million.
McClain, a 23-year-old Black man, was stopped by Aurora police while walking down the street in 2019. An officer placed McClain in a neck hold, and he was injected with a sedative, which eventually led to his death. One officer was convicted in his death, two officers were acquitted, and paramedics were also convicted in connection with his death.
McClain’s settlement is not the first one involving allegations of police brutality in Aurora. The New York Times found that the city settled at least 11 police brutality cases from 2003 to 2018 for a total of $4.6 million.
Following McClain’s death, a state civil rights investigation launched in response to protests revealed “a deeply engrained culture of racially biased policing in the department.”
Regarding the settlement involving Gilliam and the four girls, Lane told The New York Times that the agreement had been reached months ago but remained confidential until this week because children were involved.
One of the officers involved in the stop was suspended for 160 hours. Both of the officers involved in the incident remain on the Aurora Police force as of early February 2024.
While prosecutors did not find the officers committed a crime, they did acknowledge the way things unfolded should have never happened. Prosecutors said that standards and practices should be reviewed by the police department.
In 2016, a U.S. Department of Justice investigation revealed the Baltimore Police Department likely made thousands of unconstitutional arrests from 2010 to 2015, often under the guise of “officer safety.” This led to a federal consent decree mandating court-ordered changes to policies, training, oversight and accountability.
Baltimore police leaders hope to prove that police reform and crime reduction are not mutually exclusive.
This is showing not just here in Baltimore, but across these United States of America. You can reduce crime and violence in a city, but you don’t have to overly criminalize the community and you can police in the right way, a constitutional way.
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott
“This is showing not just here in Baltimore, but across these United States of America,” Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott told CNN. “You can reduce crime and violence in a city, but you don’t have to overly criminalize the community and you can police in the right way, a constitutional way.”
Data shows crime in Baltimore trending downward, with violent crime and property crime decreasing and homicide rates down by 17%. The latest oversight assessment indicated a significant reduction in civil liberties being violated in 2022 and showed improvements since revising policies and training.
With the rise of bodycams and cell phones, police are under increased pressure to remain calm in potentially triggering situations. Officers are now trained to regulate emotions by understanding the connections between thoughts, feelings and actions.
This training acknowledges that police experience repeated trauma, leading to hypervigilant behavior, and aims to improve self-regulation and gain public trust.
Scott has emphasized the importance of community policing and investments in recreation and parks to address challenges and offer opportunities for positive change.
“We also have to constantly be doing more community policing, being out in the community, investing on the front end,” Scott added. “This is why we’re putting historic levels of investment into recreation and parks and programming for our young people, so that we’re doing the both ends — that we’re offering opportunities for people to change their life through our group force reduction strategy.”
As reform continues under the consent decree, challenges persist for Baltimore’s police department and its citizens. Homicide rates remain among the nation’s highest despite a downward trend, while gun violence against children and teens has risen in 2023.
Philadelphia to pay George Floyd protesters $9.25M in settlement
The city of Philadelphia will pay more than $9 million in a record-breaking settlement with protesters. Those protesters were pepper sprayed and hit with tear gas in protests following George Floyd’s death in the spring of 2020. The money will be split among 350 people who participated in protests for racial justice.
Police used tear gas, shot rubber bullets and pepper sprayed people blocking a major interstate in Philadelphia. Some of those protestors claimed they had to be hospitalized from the tear gas fumes, have physical scars from rubber bullets, and suffer from mental trauma following the confrontations with authorities.
Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said the city’s police department is a learning organization and will continue to work toward improving policing in the city.
Philadelphia protestors aren’t the first in the country to get compensated following confrontations with police in 2020. New York City just agreed to pay around $7 million to more than 300 protestors.
Congress members call for police reform legislation following Tyre Nichols’ death
The body camera footage of Tyre Nichols’ death has restarted conversation regarding police reform. Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, died three days after police pulled him over for reckless driving and beat him when he tried to flee the scene.
“First, it’s about making sure that the president knows that this is an important enough issue for him to talk about at the State of the Union,” Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev., said. “I’ve invited the Nichols family as the guests of the Congressional Black Caucus so they will be there on that day to hear from the president and members of Congress on both sides of the aisle how we will finally take action.”
Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., tweeted, “I’ll never stop working to create the coalition necessary to pass policing reform and to help end this.”
While some are calling for legislative change, House Oversight Chair Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, doesn’t think that’s the solution.
“Well, I don’t know that there’s any law that can stop that evil that we saw—that is just difficult to watch,” Jordan said. “What strikes me is just the lack of respect for human life.”
The most recent effort to advance police reform legislation in Congress came in 2021 after Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of second and third-degree murder charges for the death of George Floyd. Sen. Booker worked across the aisle with Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., to negotiate the legislation, but they ultimately failed to come to an agreement. The sticking points reportedly included qualified immunity and disagreement from police unions.
Here’s why ‘record’ police violence reports are imperfect
Reports indicate that, in 2022, police killings reached a record high in the U.S. The context matters, though. The record used only dates back to 2013, as it is from a nonprofit called Mapping Police Violence. Media reports rely on this source because the U.S. does not have a federal database tracking cases of police violence nationwide.
“The FBI has been trying for years,” Justin Nix, an associate professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of Nebraska Omaha, said. “And in fact, in 2019, they revamped their efforts and launched a new data collection effort. And to date, they still haven’t seen enough participation, to release the data. When they launched their new efforts, there was this arbitrary threshold of 60% of agencies participating before any data can be publicly released. And, you know, three plus years later, we’ve still not met that threshold.”
However, these databases don’t paint the full picture.
“They don’t track when officers shoot, but don’t kill citizens, which I argue is the same as you know, but for the outcome of death, right,” Nix said. “It still represents a use of force that could kill a person.”
Additionally, the databases likely do not find every case.
Mapping Police Violence says, “estimates suggest that our database captures 92% of the police killings that have occurred since 2013.”
The cases it misses are likely unreported by the media, as Mapping Police Violence depends on local news stories and agency information. The nonprofit has also collaborated with other databases.
“They’ve done a lot of, you know, grunt work to basically reach out to agencies and request those data,” Nix said. “So it’s a tall task, right, and a country with upwards of 18,000 police departments.”
Yet, Nix says, there is still a need for a more complete source of data to inform policy changes.
“I truly believe we can do better when we have that data, because if we don’t now we’re just guessing we’re just playing darts in the dark and hoping that we get lucky,” Nix said.