Crime
Body camera footage shows the fatal shooting of a black airman by a Florida deputy in an apartment doorway
FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. (AP) – A Florida sheriff on Thursday released body camera footage showing a deputy standing outside an apartment door and shooting immediately after it was opened by a black man carrying a gun pointing downward, in what a family called “unjustified ” .”
Okaloosa County Sheriff Eric Aden released the video hours after the family of U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Roger Fortson and his lawyers held a news conference in which they denied that the deputy general had acted in self-defense. Aden rejected claims by civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents Fortson’s family, that the deputy went to the unsuitable apartment, covered the peephole on the door and didn’t report himself.
The video shows a police deputy arriving at a Fort Walton Beach apartment constructing on May 3 and talking to a woman outside who described hearing someone arguing. The deputy then took the elevator and walked through the outside hallway.
The video shows a police deputy banging on the door and moving to the side, seemingly out of sight of the door. He shouted twice, “Sheriff’s office! Open the door!”
Fortson opened the door and may very well be seen holding what gave the impression to be a gun pointed toward the floor. The deputy shouted, “Stand back!” and fired shots. He then shouted, “Drop your weapon! Drop the weapon!”
“It’s there,” Fortson said.
“Drop the weapon!” – the deputy shouted back.
“I don’t have it,” Fortson said as he lay on the ground.
The deputy then radioed for paramedics.
The sheriff’s office declined to supply details about the responding deputy or his race. The deputy has been placed on administrative leave pending the end result of the investigation.
Crump later released a statement noting that the officer didn’t tell Fortson to drop his gun before he fired “several times within a split second of opening the door.”
“We have consistently maintained that police mistook the apartment because Roger had been on the phone with his girlfriend for a significant portion of the time leading up to the shooting and no one else was in the apartment,” the statement read.
Crump also previously told reporters that Fortson was talking to his girlfriend on FaceTime and grabbed his gun because he heard someone leaving his apartment. He said the deputy forced entry into the apartment, citing the report of the girl, who has not yet been identified.
“The girl admits that although she initially thought the police had broken down the door, she stands by her emotional memories of what happened,” Crump’s later statement read.
In a FaceTime video captured on Fortson’s cellphone, the airman could be heard groaning and saying, “I can’t breathe.” The deputy could be heard yelling at him, “Stop moving!” The phone is pointed towards the ceiling and doesn’t show what is occurring in the apartment.
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Aden said he met with the family on Thursday and expressed his sincerest condolences.
“This is the result we can never hope to achieve,” Aden said. “These investigations take time, but I want to assure you that we are not hiding anything or trying to cover up.”
Officials said the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the matter. FDLE spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the agency was unlikely to supply any further comments until the investigation was accomplished.
The sheriff said the investigation is being treated as a criminal investigation and that no decision has yet been made on whether the deputy’s actions were justified or not. However, an initial release from the sheriff’s office describing the shooting said the deputy “reacted in self-defense after encountering a 23-year-old man armed with a gun.”
Fortson’s mother, Chantemekki Fortson, walked into the morning news conference, with Crump holding a framed portrait of her son in his dress uniform. She burst into tears as Crump spoke about her son’s death.
“My baby was shot,” she said.
Crump called the shooting a “justifiable homicide.”
“For some reason they thought he was a bad guy, but he was a good guy. He was a great guy. He was a special guy,” Crump said. “They took our patriot away.”
Crump said Fortson, an Atlanta native, was shot six times.
Crump said Fortson enlisted in the Air Force after graduating from highschool. He was stationed in the Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt Field. As a special mission aviator, one of his roles was to load the gunship’s guns during missions.
Crump, based in Tallahassee, Florida, has been involved in multiple high-profile cases of fatal encounters between black people and law enforcement and vigilantes, including Ahmaud Arbery, Trayvon Martin, Tir Nichols, George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, who also died in her own residence during a police raid no knock that targeted her ex-boyfriend in 2020.
Fortson’s death bears striking similarities to the deaths of other Black people killed by police in their homes in recent years.
In 2018, a white Dallas police officer shot and killed unarmed Botham Jean after mistaking his apartment for his own. Former officer Amber Guyger was sentenced to 10 years in prison for murder.
In 2019, a white officer in Fort Worth, Texas, fatally shot Atatiana Jefferson through the rear window of her home after responding to a non-emergency call reporting that Jefferson’s front door was open. Aaron Dean, a former officer, was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to almost 12 years in prison.
In each cases, Crump represented the families as part of his efforts to force accountability for police killings of black people.
Crime
Founder of an AI Tech startup accused of fraud and combining numbers with investors
Joanna Smith-Griffin, 33, CEO of startup AllHere Education, Inc. dealing with AI education accused of defrauding investors.
The Southern District of New York prosecuted Smith-Griffin securities fraud, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. The grand jury indictment alleged that Smith-Griffin lied concerning the education platform’s funds and posed as a financial consultant to supply false information to investors. While acting as a financial consultant for AllHere Education, Smith-Griffin is accused of falsifying the corporate’s financial records mislead potential investors and inflate the worth of her company and its revenues.
AllHere Education is an AI-powered learning platform utilized in primary and secondary schools. Smith-Griffin has had little success integrating the K-12 platform into individual school districts in California and Georgia. However, the principal didn’t secure long-term contracts with school districts. She used these short-term partnerships to misrepresent to investors the reach and financial success of AllHere Education.
Smith-Griffin told potential AllHere investors that AllHere generated about $3.7 million in revenue in 2020, about $2.5 million in money and has major school district customers similar to New York City Department of Education (“NYC DOE”) and Atlanta Public Schools. In fact, AllHere generated roughly $11,000 in revenue in 2020, had roughly $494,000 in money, and had no contracts with many of the clients it represented, including the NYC DOE and Atlanta Public Schools.
Smith-Griffin continued to boost capital to support the startup, raising one other $10 million in funding. When the corporate collapsed financially, Smith-Griffin allegedly used the money injection to pay for an extravagant three-day wedding in Florida and a residence in North Carolina.
FBI Deputy Director James E. Dennehy commented on Smith-Griffin’s decision to prioritize her personal aspirations over the needs of an educational platform.
“Her alleged actions impacted the potential to improve the learning environment in core school districts by selfishly prioritizing personal expenses,” he said.
Smith-Griffin faces a compulsory two years in prison for the identity theft charge and a maximum of 20 years for every fraud charge. AllHere Education is currently in Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
Crime
Prosecutors say Sean “Diddy” Combs is trying to obstruct justice by heading to prison
NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy” Combs was trying to reach potential witnesses and influence public opinion while in prison in a bid to influence potential jurors in an upcoming sex trafficking trial, prosecutors said in a court filing during which they urged a judge to deny his latest bail request.
The government charges were filed Friday evening in federal court in Manhattan, which opposed the music mogul’s latest offer of $50 million bail. A bail hearing is scheduled for next week.
Prosecutors wrote that a review of recorded phone calls Combs made while in prison shows that he asked relations to contact potential victims and witnesses and urged them to create a “narrative” to influence the jury pool. They say he also encouraged the use of promoting strategies to influence public opinion.
“The defendant has demonstrated time and time again – even while in custody – that he’ll flagrantly and repeatedly disregard the foundations so as to improperly influence the consequence of his case. In other words, the defendant has demonstrated that he can’t be trusted to abide by the terms and conditions,” prosecutors wrote in a press release containing redactions.
Prosecutors wrote that from his behavior it might be inferred that Combs wanted to blackmail victims and witnesses into remaining silent or providing testimony helpful to his defense.
Combs’ lawyers didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Prosecutors said Combs, 55, began breaking the foundations almost immediately after being taken into custody Metropolitan Prison Center in Brooklyn after his September arrest.
He pleaded not guilty to the costs brought against him he abused and molested women for years with the assistance of a network of collaborators and employees, while silencing victims through blackmail and violence, including kidnapping, arson and physical beatings.
Two judges found he was a danger to the community and a flight risk.
His lawyers recently filed a 3rd bail application after rejecting two previous attempts, including a $50 million bail offer.
In their motion, they cited modified circumstances, including latest evidence, that they believed justified Combs’ release so he could higher prepare for his May 5 trial.
However, prosecutors said defense lawyers created the most recent bail proposal based on evidence provided to them by prosecutors, and the brand new material was already known to defense lawyers after they submitted previous bail applications.
In their presentation to the judge, prosecutors said Combs’ behavior in prison shows he must remain locked up.
For example, they said, Combs asked relations to plan and execute a social media campaign around his birthday “with the intent of influencing a potential jury in this criminal proceeding.”
He encouraged his children to post a video on their social media accounts of them gathering to have a good time his birthday, he added.
He then monitored statistics on the jail, including audience engagement, and “explicitly discussed with the family how to ensure the film would have the desired impact on potential jury members in this case,” they said.
The government also alleged that Combs made clear in other conversations that he intended to anonymously publish information that he believed would help him defend against the costs.
“Defendant’s efforts to impede the fairness of these proceedings also include his persistent efforts to contact potential witnesses, including victims of violence, who could provide strong testimony against him,” prosecutors wrote.
Crime
Celebrity chef and former NFL player Tobias Dorzon is recovering from a shooting attack
Celebrity chef and former NFL player Tobias Dorzon is recovering after being shot during an alleged robbery.
The shooting occurred on the evening of Tuesday, November 5 in Hyattsville, Maryland, when multiple suspects attempted to rob a man and woman who had just returned from dinner, based on statement from the Hyattsville Police Department.
Police said the victims were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Although authorities didn’t initially discover the victims, local council member Wanika Fisher revealed that Dorzon was amongst those attacked.
“I am disheartened and saddened by the news that Prince George’s County restaurant owner Tobias Dorzon was one of two people shot during an attempted robbery Tuesday evening in my neighborhood,” Fisher began in a news release.
She added that Dorzon, a Riverdale native, owns two “amazing” restaurants in Hyattsville and is considered a “dear” friend of hers.
“Such a terrible act could not have happened to a better person,” Fisher continued within the statement. “I offer my sincere condolences to him and the other victim, as well as their families and friends, and wish them both a speedy recovery. This type of senseless violence has no place in our county and county.”
According to Fisher, Dorzon is an “extremely talented” chef who has represented Prince George’s County on the national stage and appeared on several Food Network shows. Most recently, the 39-year-old chef participated within the Food Network’s “Last Bite Hotel,” where he made it to the ultimate 4. He also hosts “Time Out with Tobias” on ESPN.
Off-screen, Dorzon currently owns and manages a company Huncho’s house and exclusive 1123 By Chef Tobias. This spring, he was named Maryland Chef of the Year, the primary honor for somebody from Prince George’s County. In 2021 helped James Harden open his restaurant Thirteen in Houston.
Before becoming a master chef, the Maryland native played within the NFL for each the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Tennessee Titans. He also had a stint playing for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League.
Every week after the shooting, Dorzon updated followers Instagram on his progress.
“I’m still here, thank you all for your prayers. See you soon…. Huncho,” he wrote within the caption of a post that included a screenshot of a tweet during which he admitted that, all things considered, he should be “God’s favorite.”
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