Crime
Police reforms enacted after Tire Nichols’ death will end if Tenn. Gov. will sign the bill
“While I empathize with the Wells family and the Tire Nichols family,” said Sen. Brent Taylor, the bill’s Republican sponsor, “we cannot allow that empathy to cloud our judgment in protecting 7 million Tennesseans.”
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Legislation to roll back police traffic stop reforms enacted after the fatal beating of Tire Nichols by officers last yr now heads to Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee, despite emotional pleas for an end to the measure from Nichols’ family and accusations that this proposal constitutes “an extreme overreach by the government.”
For weeks, the Republican-controlled Tennessee Statehouse has been steadfast in rescinding an ordinance passed by the Memphis City Council that included a ban on so-called pretextual traffic stops for minor offenses similar to a broken taillight. The bill would apply statewide and prohibit any local restrictions on traffic stops when an officer observes or reasonably suspects that somebody in a automobile has violated a neighborhood ordinance or state or federal law.
House Republicans approved the measure last week, and Senate Republicans passed the proposal on Thursday with just six Democrats in the chamber voting against it.
“I begged the sponsor not to do it,” said Sen. London Lamar, a Memphis Democrat whose district includes where Nichols was killed. “Because it’s a slap in the face. Not only for our city council, but for all local governing bodies in this state, because we are telling them that you are not smart enough to decide the policies that will help run your own city.”
“This is extreme government overreach,” Lamar added.
Nichols’ death in January 2023 sparked outrage and calls for reform at the national and native levels. Video footage shows an almost three-minute series of blows with fists, feet and a baton to Nichols’ face, head, back and front as the 29-year-old black man screamed at his mother a block from the home.
The five officers, who’re also black, were charged in state court with federal civil rights violations, second-degree murder and other crimes. One pleaded guilty in federal court. The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating how Memphis Police Department officers use force and make arrests and whether the department in the majority-Black city engages in racially discriminatory policing.
Even though many members of Tennessee’s majority-white House of Representatives expressed shock and outrage at Nichols’ death at the time, a lot of those self same lawmakers largely criticized the way Memphis – a majority-black city – handled crime rates and expressed distrust of the response from black city leaders.
“If we don’t do this, we will put our community at even greater risk,” said Sen. Brent Taylor, the bill’s Republican sponsor from Memphis.
Governor Lee has not publicly commented on the laws, but since taking office, a Republican has not once issued a veto.
The Memphis City Council implemented the changes with the support of activists and Nichols’ family. The changes were made after many individuals cited an officer’s report that Nichols had been stopped for driving into oncoming traffic, but this was later denied by Police Chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis, who said there was no evidence of that that Nichols was driving recklessly.
“Memphis is, so to speak, an independent city. It’s like no other town in Tennessee. They’re mostly black,” Rodney Wells, Nichols’ stepfather, told reporters. “Fair is fair. We worked too hard to get this passed for it to be overturned like this.
Taylor defended moving forward with legislation over the Nichols’ concerns, arguing that “shutdown” was in everyone’s “best interest.”
“As a funeral director and someone who has seen death every day for 35 years, I understand better than most the pain and suffering this family is going through,” Taylor said. “While I sympathize with the Wells family and the Tire Nichols family and the loss of Tire, we cannot allow that empathy to cloud our judgment in protecting 7 million Tennesseans.”
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Police reforms enacted after Tire Nichols’ death will come to an end if the bill is signed by Tenn.’s governor. will appear first on TheGrio.
Crime
Sean “Diddy” Combs faces five new sexual assault trials
Several more plaintiffs got here forward this week accusing rap mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs of sexual abuse. On November 19, three men and two women filed separate complaints against the Bad Boy Records founder through Tony Buzbee, a lawyer who previously said he would represent greater than 100 clients accusing Combs of misconduct.
“For years, Combs and his companies have engaged in a persistent and pervasive pattern of violence against women, men and minors,” the entire complaints read: in keeping with People magazine. “This abuse was at times verbal, emotional, physical and sexual. As part of his pattern of molestation, Combs manipulated both men and women into participating in highly orchestrated performances of sexual activity, with both prostitutes and unsuspecting partygoers.”
The new plaintiffs include an unidentified man who claims the rapper sexually assaulted him when he was 39 years old. At a house party in New York in 2022, the plaintiff alleged that he was given a drink that left him feeling disoriented and uncontrolled. his body, which ultimately caused him to lose consciousness.
When he regained consciousness, he recalls being in a “dark bedroom with black walls, on a bed with black sheets”, where he realized that Combs was “sodomizing him”. The plaintiff claims he fought with the rapper before leaving the party.
Other male plaintiffs, including an unnamed former actor, remember feeling disoriented, passing out and waking up as Combs sexually assaulted them. With allegations dating back to 2001, all five complaints said Combs’ alleged abuse was “shockingly typical” since the star believed he was “above the law.”
“That said, Mr. Combs vehemently and categorically denies as false and defamatory any claim that he sexually abused anyone, including minors,” attorney Erica Wolff added in a press release. “He looks forward to proving his innocence and defending himself in court where the truth will be determined by evidence, not speculation.”
Combs is currently in federal custody awaiting trial on criminal charges including sex trafficking and racketeering. The star’s trial is scheduled to happen in May 2025.
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.
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