Politics and Current
City of Honolulu cancels plan to pay grieving widow of unarmed black man murdered by police $1.5 million settlement after 40 armed officers show up at protest
Honolulu City Council has decided not to pursue a $1.5 million wrongful death lawsuit settlement over the 2021 police killing of a former South African rugby star, after strong opposition from law enforcement and city officials . The civil case will now go to court.
The settlement was approved by town attorney and the council’s legal committee after three years of mediation and negotiations with lawyers representing the widow of Lindani Myeni, an unarmed black man who was shot 4 times during a temporary and violent encounter with Honolulu police responding to a call. a 911 call regarding an alleged burglary attempt.
However, town council unexpectedly delayed a vote to approve the settlement last month after greater than 40 armed and uniformed officers, led by the police chief, showed up in council chambers in protest while Myeni’s widow, Lindsay Myeni, other residents and city leaders expressed emotional testimony for and against the settlement.
City Council President Tommy Waters then canceled last week’s scheduled full council vote on the settlement, saying the matter ought to be decided in court, Hawaii News Now reported.
Waters said discussion of the case at the October board meeting “devolved into what resembled a heated civil trial, with speakers presenting impassioned arguments and facts from both sides. It is clear that the legal framework and procedural safeguards of the judicial system are best placed to deal with this case.”
Honolulu prosecutor Steve Alm, who previously declined to charge the officers and told council members last month that police acted in self-defense once they shot Myeni, in an announcement expressed satisfaction that the plea vote was rejected.
“The resolution of this case would also mean that the officers involved were motivated by racial prejudice,” he said. “There was no evidence of this.”
Bridget Morgan-Bickerton, a lawyer representing the Myeni family, called the overwhelming police presence at the October city council meeting a “bullying and intimidation” tactic intended to influence the council to change its decision on the settlement. Civilbeat reported.
“And it is clear that it did,” Myeni’s attorney Jim Bickerton told Atlanta Black Star, noting that in September the council’s legal committee voted 8-1 to approve the settlement “after a detailed presentation of the facts by their own attorneys in a confidential meeting.” No latest facts have emerged. The only latest thing was the police showing up and making it clear how outraged they were that they couldn’t freely kill an unarmed black man.”
The wrongful death lawsuit alleged that the officers engaged in rash, unreasonable use of deadly force and that their actions were motivated by racial animosity toward Myeni, who’s Black.
Before the meeting, Myeni entered a multifamily Airbnb property and was told to leave by two residents of one of the properties. Myeni can have confused the property with a similar-looking temple round the corner or one other historic constructing, Bickerton said, noting that Myeni had a penchant for visiting historic sites in Hawaii.
The doorbell video shows Myeni casually taking off her shoes before entering the constructing while wearing a conventional Zulu headdress. Conversations between people inside are muffled. After leaving, Myeni said, “Sorry,” and quickly placed on his shoes.
In any event, Myeni left peacefully when asked to achieve this, the suit claims.
Dash camera and body-worn video of the incident show officers arriving as Myeni stood within the driveway and a lady who was a guest at the property shouted: “It’s him! It’s him!”
The lawsuit states that since it was a dark, moonless night and the property was poorly lit, and the officers counting on the element of surprise didn’t use sirens or announce themselves as police officers, they then aimed blindingly vibrant Maglites at his face and ordered him to come down, Myeni probably mistook them for robbers.
“Who are you? Who are you?” Myeni’s words might be heard at the start of the meeting within the bodycam footage.
His subsequent actions – lunging, grappling and punching officers, who burned and shot him – were self-defense, his attorneys argued, noting that between the primary time he punched Myeni and the officer who shot him the primary time.
“That’s an impossibly short time for any officer to assess that Lindani posed a significant risk of serious bodily injury,” Bickerton said, adding that Myeni was unarmed and standing about eight feet from Cpl. Garrick Orosco when Orosco shot Myeni within the stomach.
“And from that point on, as you know, we have maintained that because this was an unlawful use of force against an unarmed person, Lindani was justified in using deadly force in defense. You don’t shoot someone just because he knocked out two officers. You can attack him. You can beat him. You can use pepper spray. You can put three guys on him, but you don’t shoot him. So yes, after this Lindani is now fighting for her life. He realizes, “These guys are going to kill me.” I’m going to die tonight. He had every right to fight as hard as he could.
In court documents, Officer Brent Sylvester said he fired the ultimate three-shot salvo that killed Myeni because he feared for Orosco’s life, who Myeni was lying on top of at the time and punched him within the face. Orosco suffered serious facial fractures and still has not returned to work.
Bickerton said police and the district attorney “created a false narrative” about conditions at the scene and the sequence of events that led Myeni to attack the officers.
“The bottom line is, until he got shot, he didn’t punch anyone in the face or break anyone’s bones,” Bickerton said. “So he got into an argument, in his opinion, with people he couldn’t identify because his lights blinded him and they didn’t tell him who he was.”
Bickerton claims the officers’ “aggressive and disrespectful” behavior towards Myeni was based on racial animosity. “It was very contrary to the way our officers usually conduct themselves with the word ‘Aloha.’ Knowing the culture as well as I do, if it had been a Japanese, Hawaiian, or Caucasian man, Officer Orosco would not have addressed him that way. There was no “Sir, this is the police, show your hands.” It was, “Get on the ground!” And “F-you,” after which just saying, “Shoot him.”
Giving evidence at the City Council hearing, prosecutor Alm disputed the plaintiffs’ claims that Myeni didn’t know his attackers were police officers.
“I don’t see the police doing anything wrong,” he said. “I was told they were being criticized for not saying, ‘Police, police.’ They are wearing uniforms that everyone can see,” he said.
Bickerton, frustrated that the district attorney was “meddling in a civil matter,” responded last week: by publishing video from a police body camera showing Cpl. Orosco repeatedly said within the moments after the fatal shooting that he “didn’t see” the suspect.
If police officers cannot see well, which means Myeni cannot either, Bickerton said, adding that police have a legal obligation to report on themselves and their goal in such unclear circumstances.
The lawsuit seeks damages and compensation for Lindsay Myeni and her two children, who’re currently 3 and 5 years old. Her lawyers initially asked for $5 million at the beginning of the settlement process, then agreed to accept $1.5 million after lengthy negotiations with town, managed by a former judge and mediator.
Now that the settlement has been invalidated, Bickerton said: “It is for the jurisdiction to decide whether to award damages and, if so, how much. However, in proposing this award, I am certainly guided by the many large awards I have seen across the country. Because this is the only way to reduce the risk to everyone’s safety from a police force that feels irresponsible and can simply wield weapons willy-nilly. An award of significant damages would discourage this type of conduct, so we will certainly ask for it.”
There will probably be a hearing Thursday to set a trial date, which is able to likely happen inside a number of weeks within the second half of next 12 months, Bickerton said.
Politics and Current
The White House responds to the rumors of the pardon of Trump Derek Chauvin among the renovated connection Marjorie Taylor Greene
Despite the earlier releases of President Donald Trump and the White Federal House of Pardoning for Derek Chaubin, a former police officer in Minneapolis sentenced to the murder of George Floyd, rumors with potential pardon were renovated.
When this month this month is approaching the fifth anniversary of Floyd’s murder, Governor of Minnesota Tim Walz and Minneapolis officials indicated that they were preparing for the possibility of presidential pardon for Chauvin and later anxieties in the city.
“I think we are prepared for it. Thanks to this presidency, it looks like it could be something they would do” – according to reporters, the Governor Walz recently told journalists Minnesota Star Tribune.
Walz, who was against Trump as the vp of Kamali Harris in the 2024 election, said that his office received “without an indication” whether the White House would give a pardon to Chauvin, who was convicted Up to 21 years after admitting federal allegations for violating Floyd and a youngster in a separate incident. Chauvin was too convicted Up to 22.5 years in prison for the second -cycle murder at the state level.
“If Donald Trump exercises his constitutional law, whether I agree-and I definitely disagree with him-if it seems pardon, we will simply transfer Derek Chauvin to take his 22 and a half years in prison in Minnesota,” Walz said.
Commissioner for the Security of the Community Minneapolis Todick Barnette admitted that city officials heard rumors about potential pardon; Similarly, nonetheless, he emphasized: “Derek Chauvin would remain behind bars, having a state sentence, even if his federal allegations are pardoned.”
He said in an announcement that “there is no reliable intelligence about any pardon or planned interference here in Minneapolis.”
Discussions about Trump potentially pardoning chauvins have been consistent since he returned to the White House in January. Conservatives are continually calling the president to pardon the disgraced officer. Republican US representative Marjorie Taylor Greene renovated the public campaign to pardon Chauvin on Wednesday, writing On X: “I definitely support the pardon of Derek Chauvin and release from prison.”
The conservative fire brand also falsely claimed that Floyd “died of drug overdose”, despite two medical examinations, determining that he died by murder. Chauvin especially held his knee around Floyd’s neck for over 9 minutes until Floyd’s death, despite the multiple black man “I can’t breathe”.
In March, the press secretary of the White House Karoline Leavitt told journalists about the possible forgiveness: “The president was asked and answered this question. He said that he was not considering it at that time.”
The president undertaking such an motion could be in the position he took in 2020 as a president when Floyd was murdered.
“It’s a terrible thing,” Trump he said In the White House in 2020, “we all saw what we saw. It’s hard to come up with something other than what we saw. It should never happen.”
The Prosecutor General in Minnesota Keith Ellison, who managed the prosecution of the State Criminal Case Chauvin, said in an announcement that President Trump has no right to forgive the state belief of Chauvin, “and” the only possible goal could be to express even greater disrespect for George Floyd.
He said clearly: “Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd in front of the whole world.”
(Tagstranslate) Donald Trump (T) Trump administration (T) George Floyd
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore It takes the state to latest heights After signing 170 bills in state law, it informs CBS News Baltimore.
Bills, signed on May 13, relate to various topics, from the range of abortion to reckless driving.
The subsidy program for public health abortion (HB 930) concerns the financing of reproductive healthcare, establishing a fund coping with improving access to abortion take care of the inhabitants of Maryland, specializing in people without advanced financial resources.
The first black state governor also signed the Chesapeake Bay Legacy Act (HB 506), which is targeted on ways to improve popular water so as to increase economic growth in the region.
After the Chesapeake Bay Foundation announced concern about Trump’s administration plans for exceeding budget cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), Moore signed provisions that can support farmers in the development of more efficient methods of agriculture as well as to improving oyster aquaculture.
Senate Bill 590, Sergeant Patrick KEPP, corrects the regulations regarding Maryland motorized vehicles to strengthen penalties for a reckless and aggressive driving. Named in honor of a police officer of Montgomery, who was paralyzed from impact by a reckless driver, the Act adapts the system of status of the driver’s points, increasing to two points for neglected driving of the vehicle and 6 points for the transition by 30 km / h or greater than limiting speed.
According to the latest law, aggressive driving might be marked as behaviors, comparable to not compliance with traffic control devices, a dangerous passage and never being lifted by pedestrians.
The state account 901 is directed to the environment by increasing the recycling speed, reduced waste and emphasize the use of a sustainable packaging. Manufacturers will now be obliged to submit a five -year plan by July 2028, which identifies the recycling and recycling content goals.
Other bills are intended for such issues as real estate, public security, medical debt and wild nature.
Viewers consider that signing bills increases the light of Moore’s headlights in the Democratic Party as a possible presidential candidate in 2028.
The democratic strategist of Jon Reinish called Moore “one of the most fresh faces of the party, the most dynamic leaders”, but according to Moore, whose name He was once mentioned As a possible colleague from the former vice chairman of Kamali Harris on a democratic ticket in 2024, he told co -hosts ABC that there have been no plans to search for an oval office.
“I’m not running,” said Moore. “I am now very excited about work that is now happening in the state of Maryland.”
However, some democratic analysts feel movements that he does in another way.
“He does not do much to discourage this speculation at 2028 … his schedule was contrary to his message,” said the democratic strategist with Maryland Len Foxwell.
Moore recently provided the start address of the Lincoln University, HBCU in Pennsylvania, in addition to the major address of democracy at the Brennan Center Awards in New York.
Reinish said people should give attention to Moore.
“It happens in well-known television programs. It goes to the early states,” said Reinish. “I think that most people at this stage would be a cursory denial. But again look at what they do, not what they say.”
(Tagstranslat) gov. There was moore
In the Hurricane season for lower than two weeks, the Federal US FEMA FEMA disaster limited training for state and native rescue managers.
Sources acquainted with this case informed Reuters that a reduction or Cutting training can leave communities vulnerable to a storm less prepared to handle the consequences of hurricanes.
The forecasts predict the intensive season of hurricanes in 2025 and claim that the forecasts already indicate the amazing similarities to the destructive season 2024. One of the key indicators of this 12 months’s forecast are warm waters in the Persian Gulf and the Caribbean, which drive the development of the storm.
reports that AccuWeather provides 13-18 named storms in 2025.including seven to 10 hurricanes, three to five fundamental hurricanes and three to six direct effects on the United States.
Another disturbing AccuWeather forecast is that the season is to start out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out quickly. Forecasts predict that the season, which could start on June 1, will then have a stake, after which pickup from September to November, like last 12 months’s pattern.
“Don’t get my way,” warns the acting director of FEMA
FEM’s decision to limit training couldn’t is vulnerable to be present in a worse time.
Season 2024 was one amongst the costliest record -breaking. AccuWeather estimates it Storms in 2024 caused about $ 500 billion in total compensation and economic losses.
President Donald Trump was recently released by the head of FEM, Cameron Hamilton, the day after Hamilton told the legislators that the agency must be preserved. His sentiments appear amongst unprecedented dismissals in federal agencies, because the administration prioritizes the federal workforce.
Hamilton’s successor, David Richardson, reportedly told FEMA employees that he would “escape”, every staff against his implementation of Trump’s vision for a smaller agency. On the phone, tHee Associated Press reportsHe warned that 20% of the employees he estimated may resist the changes.
“Don’t bother me if you are 20% of people,” said Richardson, in accordance with AP. “I know all the tricks. I am just as inclined to achieve the President’s intention as I made sure that I performed my duties when I took maritime infantry to Iraq.”
(Tagstranslate) fema
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