Three members of the Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, who also worked for the Florida Department of Corrections, have been charged for allegedly conspiring to kill a Black inmate after his prison release because they believed the man is infected with HIV and hepatitis and he bit one of them during a fight, according to the Associated Press. Thomas Jordan Driver, 25, David Elliot Moran, 47, and Charles Thomas Newcomb, 42 were arrested last Thursday and each faced one state count of conspiracy to commit murder Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi’s office. The case will be prosecuted in Columbia County in northern Florida. An unnamed source inside the Klan initially alerted the FBI to the murder plot. The informant recorded the three men arranging how they will murder the inmate including shooting him to injecting with a lethal dose of insulin.
-Racist emails sent between Ferguson’s former court clerk and two ex-police leaders were made public last week. The unredacted versions showed for the first time which employee sent which emails, as reported by Reuters. They were sent and received by Mary Ann Twitty, Ferguson’s court clerk, as well as former Ferguson police Captain Rick Henke and former police Sergeant William Mudd. Twitty, Henke and Mudd were removed from their positions upon the discovery. The emails, primarily email forwards, were sent between 2008 and 2011 contained insensitive and offensive jokes including President Obama. In an email sent on Tuesday, April 19, 2011, Twitty forwarded a message titled “Very Rare Photo” that compared Obama to a monkey.
–Faysal Mohamed, 17, and three other friends had just left a YMCA in south Minneapolis they were pulled over and threatened by a police officer. On March 18, Mohamed’s 30-second cell phone video showed a Minneapolis officer talking to his friend after they were pulled over and in handcuffs. The alleged officer is not seen on the video, but a voice is heard saying, “Plain and simple, if you f— with me I’m going to break your leg before you even get a chance to run. Be honest. I don’t screw around.” When Mohamed’s friend asked the officer why he was arrested, the officer replied, “Because I feel like arresting you.” Mohamed and his friends were held for 45 minutes while officers searched their car and completed background checks. Officers later told them they were suspects of stealing a car, but all four were let go without being arrested, according to CBS Minnesota. The Minneapolis Police Department is investigating the incident.
-A 31-year-old Los Angeles resident, was shot and killed by officers early Saturday morning. Paul Anthony Anderson and 24-year-old Mayra Frausto were in a Toyota Prius being driven by someone else when Anaheim officers stopped them. Anaheim police received information early Saturday that the California Highway Patrol at her home in Anaheim sought Frausto on an arrest warrant, police said. Officers then observed the couple get into the Prius. According to police, Anderson got out of the car holding a gun when he was shot and killed. Frausto was taken into custody on a $30,000 traffic warrant. No officers were injured. The shooting is being investigated by the Orange County district attorney’s office and the Orange Police Department. Anaheim police, who are also conducting an internal review, say that both officers involved in the incident were wearing body cameras.
-On Monday, April 6, Cleveland Police Officer Michael Brelo, 31, went to trial for two counts of voluntary manslaughter in the November 2012 deaths of Timothy Russell, 43, and Malissa Williams, 30, following a high-speed chase. More than 20 rounds struck Russell and Williams, respectively. The car chase began when Russell failed to follow a traffic stop near a homeless shelter. Russell sped off and drove past Cleveland police headquarters. An officer’s radio call to dispatch about shots were fired prompted more than 104 officers in more than 60 police cars to pursue Russell and Williams at least 100 mph. The chase ended in the parking lot of a middle school in East Cleveland where they blocked Russell and Williams. Prosecutors contend that Brelo then jumped on final 15 shots he fired during a 137-shot barrage. Neither Russell nor Williams had a gun.
-Earlier this week, it was reported that Walter Scott, 50, died after a North Charleston officer fired shot at him when Scott gained a hold of the officer’s Taser. According to The New York Times, the officer, Michael T. Slager was charged with murder on Tuesday evening after a video surfaced demonstrating him shooting Scott and ultimately killing him. Scott was unarmed. The 33-year-old officer said that he feared for his life because Scott managed to possess his stun gun during an altercation with the officer. However, the video showed which a bystander captured on video Officer Slager firing eight shots at Scott as he was 15 to 20 feet away and fled after what looks like the officer’s Taser was knocked on the ground behind Officer Slager and Scott. Scott fell to the ground after the eighth shot. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division began to investigate the shooting. The F.B.I. and the Justice Department is reviewing the case.
