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An attorney says the Florida officers who fatally shot a black American airman entered the wrong apartment

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MIAMI (AP) – Deputies responding to a call about a disturbance at a Florida apartment complex burst into the wrong apartment and fatally shot a Black U.S. Air Force airman who was home alone once they saw him armed with a gun, a lawyer for the man’s family said Wednesday.

Senior Airman Roger Fortson, 23, who worked in the Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt Field, was in his off-base apartment at Fort Walton Beach when the May 3 shooting occurred.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump said in a statement that Fortson spoke on Facetime with the woman during the meeting.

According to Crump, the woman, whom Crump didn’t discover, said Fortson was alone in his apartment when he heard a knock on the door. He asked who was there, but received no answer. Just a few minutes later, Fortson heard a louder knock, but when he looked through the peephole, he saw nobody, Crump said, citing the woman’s account.

The woman stated that Fortson was concerned and went to retrieve the gun, which Crump said was her legal property.

Crump’s testimony states that as Fortson was returning to his lounge, deputies burst through the door and saw that Fortson was armed and shot him six times. The woman said Fortson was on the ground saying, “I can’t breathe” after he was shot, Crump said.

Authorities said Fortson died at the hospital. The deputy involved in the shooting has been placed on administrative leave pending the consequence of the investigation.

The woman stated that Fortson didn’t interfere with the Facetime call and believes deputies should have confused the apartment, Crump’s statement said.

“The circumstances of Roger’s death raise serious questions that require an immediate response from authorities, especially given disturbing witness testimony that police entered the wrong apartment,” Crump said.

“We call for transparency in the investigation into Roger’s death and the immediate release of body camera footage to the family,” Crump said. “His family and the public deserve to know what happened in the moments leading up to this tragedy.”

Crump is a nationally known attorney based in Tallahassee, Florida. He has been involved in quite a few high-profile cases involving law enforcement shootings of Black people, including those of Ahmaud Arbery, Trayvon Martin, Breonna Taylor, Tire Nichols and George Floyd.

Crump and Fortson’s family plans to talk at a news conference in Fort Walton Beach on Thursday morning.

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The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office didn’t immediately reply to an email and voicemail from The Associated Press in search of comment on Crump’s claims. But on Wednesday afternoon, Sheriff Eric Aden posted a statement on Facebook expressing sadness over the shooting.

“At this time, we humbly ask our community for patience as we work to understand the facts that led to this tragic event,” Aden said.

The sheriff’s office said in a statement last week that a sheriff’s deputy responding to a disturbance call at an apartment complex responded in self-defense after encountering an armed man. The office didn’t provide details about what disturbances deputies were responding to or who called them.

The sheriff’s office also declined to right away discover the responding deputies or their race. Authorities said earlier this week that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the local state’s attorney’s office would investigate the case.

FDLE spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the agency was highly unlikely to offer any further comments until the investigation was accomplished.

Fortson was assigned to the 4th Special Operations Squadron as a special mission airman, where considered one of his roles as a crew member of the squadron’s AC-130J Ghostrider aircraft was to load the gunship’s 30mm and 105mm guns during a mission.

Fortson’s death bears striking similarities to the deaths of other Black people killed lately by police of their homes, in circumstances through which officers responded to the wrong address or responded to a service call with reckless use of deadly force.

In 2018, a white former Dallas police officer proposed fatally shooting Botham Jean, an unarmed black man, after mistaking his apartment for her own. Former officer Amber Guyger was found guilty of murder the following 12 months and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

In 2019, a white former Fort Worth, Texas, officer 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 found guilty of manslaughter in 2022 and sentenced to almost 12 years in prison.

Crump represented the families in each cases as a part of his ongoing efforts to force accountability for police killings of black people.

“What I’m trying to do as much as I can, even sometimes on my own, is to increase the value of Black lives,” Crump told The Associated Press in 2021 after a former Minneapolis officer was convicted of George Floyd’s murder.

Fort Walton Beach is positioned between Panama City Beach and Pensacola in the Florida Panhandle.

This article was originally published on : thegrio.com
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Founder of an AI Tech startup accused of fraud and combining numbers with investors

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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.


This article was originally published on : www.blackenterprise.com
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Prosecutors say Sean “Diddy” Combs is trying to obstruct justice by heading to prison

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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.

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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.

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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.

This article was originally published on : thegrio.com
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Celebrity chef and former NFL player Tobias Dorzon is recovering from a shooting attack

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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.”

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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.

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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.”


This article was originally published on : thegrio.com
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