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56337072

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Dil%20Bahadur%20Limbu

Death of Dil Bahadur Limbu

On 17 March 2009, Dil Bahadur Limbu, a Nepalese man, was shot to death by police constable Hui Ka-ki on a Ho Man Tin hillside in Hong Kong. He was shot two times, one of which struck him in his head and killed him, according to news reports. Police allege that Hui shot Limbu in self-defense after Limbu punched Hui and attacked him with a chair. The march caused significant protest and is viewed as an example of problems facing ethnic minorities in Hong Kong. The authorities determined that the killing was lawful. In response to the killing, the Hong Kong police increased its outreach to ethnic minorities. References People shot dead by law enforcement officers Deaths in Hong Kong Hong Kong murder victims Law enforcement in Hong Kong 2009 deaths

56549299

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Silje%20Rederg%C3%A5rd

Death of Silje Redergård

Silje Marie Redergård (26 June 1989 – 15 October 1994) was a Norwegian girl who allegedly was killed by two boys in the suburb of Rosten at Tiller near Trondheim on 15 October 1994. The boys, aged five and six, were claimed to have beaten, kicked, stoned and stripped Redergård naked, leaving her in the snow to die of hypothermia. The boys were directed to undergo psychological evaluation, as Norwegian law did not allow the punishment of minors under the age of 15. The names of the boys were not publicly released. In 2021, the crime underwent new research. In 1994, police never followed up on the explanations from the 5-year-old and the 6-year-old, that the girl had been killed by rampant teenage boys, although the latter had also been observed by separate witnesses. Police ignored these witness reports matching the children's own explanations. The Kripos-expert Per Angell has explained that the prints of children's boots in the snow could not be connected to the 3 small boys who were found to have caused Redergård's death, and that no technical evidence existed to connect them to her death. Police officer Asbjørn Rachlew points out that police interrogated the small boys in a fashion that made the boys change their explanations under pressure and over time. In addition, no research was undertaken regarding fingerprints, clothes fibres, patterns on bootprints on her body and in the snow, or other technical issues. A TV-production in 4 parts by NRK has gone through the missing research and mistakes in the case, classing it a miscarriage of justice. The crime was initially believed to be of a sexually abusive-parental nature, as Redergård's clothes were removed and her body was found close to her family's home. Redergård's parents were told who the culprits were by the mother of the boys who committed the crime, before the police found out. There is no fully known motive for the killing, although one of the boys told a detective that "We beat her till she stopped crying" during the initial investigation, perhaps explaining a partial reason for why they would beat her to death. On 18 October 1994, pay television channel TV3 suspended airing of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles amid debate regarding the impact of fictionalised violence in television programming aimed at children. Gro Harlem Brundtland, Norway's Prime Minister at the time, commented that "Norwegians should think twice before allowing such 'free market' violence to be broadcast by commercial networks." Both boys were ordered to regularly meet with child protective services and undergo counseling until they turned 18. One of the boys has suffered with drug addiction and homelessness, allegedly due in some part to his role in the killing. The case has been compared to the murder of James Bulger, which took place in the United Kingdom twenty months earlier. See also Child murder § By other children References 1994 crimes in Norway Murder committed by minors October 1994 events in Europe Events in Trondheim 20th century in Trondheim 1994 murders in Europe 1990s murders in Norway Murdered Norwegian children Incidents of violence against girls Female murder victims

56888408

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Elaine%20Herzberg

Death of Elaine Herzberg

The death of Elaine Herzberg (August 2, 1968 – March 18, 2018) was the first recorded case of a pedestrian fatality involving a self-driving car, after a collision that occurred late in the evening of March 18, 2018. Herzberg was pushing a bicycle across a four-lane road in Tempe, Arizona, United States, when she was struck by an Uber test vehicle, which was operating in self-drive mode with a human safety backup driver sitting in the driving seat. Herzberg was taken to the local hospital where she died of her injuries. Following the fatal incident, Uber suspended testing of self-driving vehicles in Arizona, where such testing had been sanctioned since August 2016. Uber chose not to renew its permit for testing self-driving vehicles in California when it expired at the end of March 2018. Herzberg was the first pedestrian killed by a self-driving car; a driver had been killed by a semi-autonomous car almost two years earlier. A reporter for The Washington Post compared Herzberg's fate with that of Bridget Driscoll who, in the United Kingdom in 1896, was the first pedestrian to be killed by an automobile. The Arizona incident has magnified the importance of collision avoidance systems for self-driving vehicles. Collision summary Herzberg was crossing Mill Avenue (North) from west to east, approximately south of the intersection with Curry Road, outside the designated pedestrian crosswalk, close to the Red Mountain Freeway. She was pushing a bicycle laden with shopping bags, and had crossed at least two lanes of traffic when she was struck at approximately 9:58 pm MST (UTC−07:00) by a prototype Uber self-driving car based on a Volvo XC90, which was traveling north on Mill. The vehicle had been operating in autonomous mode since 9:39 pm, nineteen minutes before it struck and killed Herzberg. The car's human safety backup driver, Rafaela Vasquez, did not intervene in time to prevent the collision. Vehicle telemetry obtained after the crash showed that the human operator responded by moving the steering wheel less than a second before impact, and she engaged the brakes less than a second after impact. Cause investigation The county district attorney's office recused itself from the investigation, due to a prior joint partnership with Uber promoting their services as an alternative to driving under the influence of alcohol. Accounts of the crash have been conflicting in terms of the speed limit at the place of the accident. According to Tempe police the car was traveling in a zone, but this is contradicted by a posted speed limit of . The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) sent a team of federal investigators to gather data from vehicle instruments, and to examine vehicle condition along with the actions taken by the safety driver. Their preliminary findings were substantiated by multiple event data recorders and proved the vehicle was traveling when Herzberg was first detected 6 seconds () before impact; during 4.7 seconds the self driving system did not infer that emergency braking was needed. A vehicle traveling can generally stop within once the brakes are applied. The machine needed to be 1.3 seconds () away prior to discerning that emergency braking was required, whereas at least that much distance was required to stop. The system failed to behave properly. A total stopping distance of 76 feet itself would imply a safe speed under . Human intervention was still legally required. Computer perception–reaction time would have been a speed limiting factor had the technology been superior to humans in ambiguous situations; however, the nascent computerized braking technology was disabled the day of the crash, and the machine's apparent 4.7-second perception–reaction (alarm) time allowed the car to travel . Video released by the police on March 21 showed the safety driver was not watching the road moments before the vehicle struck Herzberg. Environment Tempe Police Chief Sylvia Moir was quoted stating the collision was "unavoidable" based on the initial police investigation, which included a review of the video captured by an onboard camera. Moir faulted Herzberg for crossing the road in an unsafe manner: "It is dangerous to cross roadways in the evening hour when well-illuminated, managed crosswalks are available." According to Uber, safety drivers were trained to keep their hands very close to the wheel all the time while driving the vehicle so they were ready to quickly take control if necessary. Tempe police released video on March 21 showing footage recorded by two onboard cameras: one forward-looking, and one capturing the safety driver's actions. The forward-facing video shows that the self-driving car was traveling in the far right lane when it struck Herzberg. The driver-facing video shows the safety driver was looking down prior to the collision. The Uber operator is responsible for intervening and taking manual control when necessary as well as for monitoring diagnostic messages, which are displayed on a screen in the center console. In an interview conducted after the crash with NTSB, the driver stated she was monitoring the center stack at the time of the collision. After the Uber video was released, journalist Carolyn Said noted the police explanation of Herzberg's path meant she had already crossed two lanes of traffic before she was struck by the autonomous vehicle. The Marquee Theatre and Tempe Town Lake are west of Mill Avenue, and pedestrians commonly cross mid-street without detouring north to the crosswalk at Curry. According to reporting by the Phoenix New Times, Mill Avenue contains what appears to be a brick-paved path in the median between the northbound and southbound lanes; however, posted signs prohibit pedestrians from crossing in that location. When the second of the Mill Avenue bridges over the town lake was added in 1994 for northbound traffic, the X-shaped crossover in the median was installed to accommodate the potential closing of one of the two road bridges. The purpose of this brick-paved structure is purely to divert cars from one side to the other if a bridge is closed to traffic, and although it may look like a crosswalk for pedestrians, it is in fact a temporary roadway with vertical curbs and warning signs. Software issues Michael Ramsey, a self-driving car expert with Gartner, characterized the video as showing "a complete failure of the system to recognize an obviously seen person who is visible for quite some distance in the frame. Uber has some serious explaining to do about why this person wasn't seen and why the system didn't engage." James Arrowood, a lawyer specializing in driverless cars in Arizona, speculated that if the sensors were unable to determine it was a person they were detecting due to Herzberg walking her bicycle across the street, with the bicycle's metal parts between her and the sensors and thus the sensors interpreted her presence as that of another vehicle that was moving out of its right of way, the software may have decided to proceed after assuming that [the 'vehicle] Herzberg would yield the right of way. However, the context to his connecting statement in the footnoted article was left out of that article, as evidenced by the singular use of the word 'decided' rather than the entire statement, in the prefatory sentence in the article. Arizona law (ARS 28-793) states that pedestrians crossing the street outside a crosswalk shall yield to cars but it was not Arrowood's intent to suggest that the sensors would presume a person had to move rather than the vehicle needing to brake, rather, the statement's full context was that the driverless vehicle's sensors might not have recognized her as a person due to the interference from the bicycle. Per Arrowood, "The computer makes a decision. It says, 'Hey, there is this object moving 10 or 15 feet to left of me, do I move or not?' It (could be) programmed, I have a right of way, on the assumption that whatever is moving [presumably another vehicle] will yield the right of way." The NTSB preliminary report, however, noted that the software did order the car to brake 1.3 seconds before the collision. A video shot from the vehicle's dashboard camera showed the safety driver looking down, away from the road. It also appeared that the driver's hands were not hovering above the steering wheel, which is what drivers are instructed to do so they can quickly retake control of the car. Uber moved from two employees in every car to one. The paired employees had been splitting duties: one ready to take over if the autonomous system failed, and another to keep an eye on what the computers were detecting. The second person was responsible for keeping track of system performance as well as labeling data on a laptop computer. Mr. Kallman, the Uber spokesman, said the second person was in the car for purely data related tasks, not safety. When Uber moved to a single operator, some employees expressed safety concerns to managers, according to the two people familiar with Uber's operations. They were worried that going solo would make it harder to remain alert during hours of monotonous driving. The recorded telemetry showed the system had detected Herzberg six seconds before the crash, and classified her first as an unknown object, then as a vehicle, and finally as a bicycle, each of which had a different predicted path according to the autonomy logic. 1.3 seconds prior to the impact, the system determined that emergency braking was required, which is normally performed by the vehicle operator. However, the system was not designed to alert the operator, and did not make an emergency stop on its own accord, as "emergency braking maneuvers are not enabled while the vehicle is under computer control, to reduce the potential for erratic vehicle behavior", according to NTSB. Sensor issues Brad Templeton, who provided consulting for autonomous driving competitor Waymo, noted the car was equipped with advanced sensors, including radar and LiDAR, which would not have been affected by the darkness. Templeton stated "I know the [sensor] technology is better than that, so I do feel that it must be Uber's failure." Arrowood also recognized potential sensor issues: "Really what we are going to ask is, at what point should or could those sensors recognize the movement off to the left. Presumably she was somewhere in the darkness." In a press event conducted by Uber in Tempe in 2017, safety drivers touted the sensor technology, saying they were effective at anticipating jaywalkers, especially in the darkness, stopping the autonomous vehicles before the safety driver can even see pedestrians. However, manual intervention by the safety drivers was required to avoid a collision with another vehicle on at least one instance with a reporter from The Arizona Republic riding along. Uber announced they would replace their Ford Fusion-based self-driving fleet with cars based on the Volvo XC90 in August 2016; the XC90s sold to Uber would be prepared to receive Uber's vehicle control hardware and software, but would not include any of Volvo's own advanced driver-assistance systems. Uber characterized the sensor suite attached to the Fusion as the "desktop" model, and the one attached to the XC90 as the "laptop", hoping to develop the "smartphone" soon. According to Uber, the suite for the XC90 was developed in approximately four months. The XC90 as modified by Uber included a single roof-mounted LiDAR sensor and 10 radar sensors, providing 360° coverage around the vehicle. In comparison, the Fusion had seven LiDAR sensors (including one mounted on the roof) and seven radar sensors. According to Velodyne, the supplier of Uber's LiDAR, the single roof-mounted LiDAR sensor has a narrow vertical range that prevents it from detecting obstacles low to the ground, creating a blind spot around the vehicle. Marta Hall, the president of Velodyne commented "If you're going to avoid pedestrians, you're going to need to have a side lidar to see those pedestrians and avoid them, especially at night." However, the augmented radar sensor suite would be able to detect obstacles in the LiDAR blind spot. Distraction On Thursday, June 21, the Tempe Police Department released a detailed report along with media captured after the collision, including an audio recording of the 911 call made by the safety driver, Rafaela Vasquez and an initial on-scene interview with a responding officer, captured by body worn video. After the crash, police obtained search warrants for Vasquez's cellphones as well as records from the video streaming services Netflix, YouTube, and Hulu. The investigation concluded that because the data showed she was streaming The Voice over Hulu at the time of the collision, and the driver-facing camera in the Volvo showed "her face appears to react and show a smirk or laugh at various points during the time she is looking down", Vasquez may have been distracted from her primary job of monitoring road and vehicle conditions. Tempe police concluded the crash was "entirely avoidable" and faulted Vasquez for her "disregard for assigned job function to intervene in a hazardous situation". Records indicate that streaming began at 9:16 pm and ended at 9:59 pm. Based on an examination of the video captured by the driver-facing camera, Vasquez was looking down toward her right knee 166 times for a total of 6 minutes, 47 seconds during the 21 minutes, 48 seconds preceding the crash. Just prior to the crash, Vasquez was looking at her lap for 5.3 seconds; she looked up half a second before the impact. Vasquez stated in her post-crash interview with the NTSB that she had been monitoring system messages on the center console, and that she did not use either one of her cell phones until she called 911. According to an unnamed Uber source, safety drivers are not responsible for monitoring diagnostic messages. Vasquez also told responding police officers she kept her hands near the steering wheel in preparation to take control if required, which contradicted the driver-facing video, which did not show her hands near the wheel. Police concluded that given the same conditions, Herzberg would have been visible to 85% of motorists at a distance of , 5.7 seconds before the car struck Herzberg. According to the police report, Vasquez should have been able to apply the brakes at least 0.57 seconds sooner, which would have provided Herzberg sufficient time to pass safely in front of the car. The police report was turned over to the Yavapai County Attorney's Office for review of possible manslaughter charges. The Maricopa County Attorney's Office recused itself from prosecution over a potential conflict of interest, as it had earlier participated with Uber in a March 2016 campaign against drunk driving. On March 4, 2019 Yavapai County Attorney released a letter indicating there is "no basis for criminal liability" against Uber Corporation; that potential charges against the driver should be further investigated by Maricopa County Attorney; and that the Tempe Police Department should analyze the case to gather additional evidence. Other factors According to the preliminary report of the collision released by the NTSB, Herzberg had tested positive for methamphetamine and marijuana in a toxicology test carried out after the collision. Residual toxicology itself does not establish if or when she was under their influence, and hence an actual factor. Inhibited faculties can hypothetically factor into one's relative ability for last-minute self-preservation. However, her mere presence on the roadway far in the distance ahead of the car was the factor which invoked the machine's duty to brake; the common legal duty to avoid her and other objects being general and preexisting. On May 24, NTSB released a preliminary incident report, the news release saying that Herzberg "was dressed in dark clothing, did not look in the direction of the vehicle... crossed... in a section not directly illuminated by lighting... entered the roadway from a brick median, where signs...warn pedestrians to use a crosswalk... 360 feet north." Six seconds before impact, the vehicle was traveling , and the system identified the woman and bicycle as an unknown object, next as a vehicle, then as a bicycle. At 1.3 seconds before hitting the pedestrian and her bike, the system flagged the need for emergency braking, but it failed to do so, as the car hit Herzberg at . The forward-looking Uber dashcam did not pick up Herzberg until approximately 1.4 seconds before the collision, suggesting (as the sheriff did) that the crash may have been completely unavoidable even if Vasquez hadn't been distracted in the seconds leading up to the crash. However, night-time video shot by other motorists in the days following the crash, plus their comments, suggest that the area may have been better illuminated than the dashcam footage, viewed in isolation would suggest. This raises the possibility that Herzberg's appearing so late in the Uber video could merely be an indication that the camera had insufficient sensitivity or was otherwise poorly calibrated for the environment and setting in which it was operating. If these crowd-sourced re-creations are indeed representative of the visibility conditions on the actual night that the accident occurred, then Herzberg would have been visible to Vasquez as soon as there was a clear sight line had Vasquez only been looking ahead, refuting the assertion that the accident was unavoidable. Complicating things even further, there is evidence that suggests the discrepancies in visibility between the dashcam footage and the civilian re-creation submissions are not at all invented or illusory, but are, instead, real phenomena whose progenitor is purported to be the set of severely under-powered headlights installed on the car Vasquez was monitoring. While all of these potential scenarios will likely affect any charging decisions and/or other legal actions (if they materialize at all), none currently have any objective validation or otherwise meaningful support, especially in relation to one another. Coordination with state government Prior to the fatal incident, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey had encouraged Uber to enter the state. He signed Executive Order 2015-09 on August 25, 2015, entitled "Self-Driving Vehicle Testing and Piloting in the State of Arizona; Self-Driving Vehicle Oversight Committee", establishing a welcoming attitude to autonomous vehicle testing and an oversight committee for self-driving vehicles. According to Ducey's office, the committee, which consists of eight state employees appointed by the governor, has met twice since it was formed. In December 2016, Ducey had released a statement welcoming Uber's autonomous cars: "Arizona welcomes Uber self-driving cars with open arms and wide open roads. While California puts the brakes on innovation and change with more bureaucracy and more regulation, Arizona is paving the way for new technology and new businesses." Emails between Uber and the office of the governor showed that Ducey was informed that the testing of self-driving vehicles would begin in August 2016, several months ahead of the official announcement welcoming Uber in December. On March 1, 2018, Ducey signed Executive Order (XO) 2018-04, outlining regulations for autonomous vehicles. Notably, XO 2018-04 requires the company testing self-driving cars to provide a written statement that "the fully autonomous vehicle will achieve a minimal risk condition" if a failure occurs. Aftermath Uber After the collision that killed Herzberg on March 18, 2018, Uber ceased testing self-driving vehicles in all four cities (Tempe, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, and Toronto) where it had deployed them. On March 26, Governor Ducey sent a letter to Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, suspending Uber's testing of self-driving cars in the state. In the letter, Ducey stated "As governor, my top priority is public safety. Improving public safety has always been the emphasis of Arizona's approach to autonomous vehicle testing, and my expectation is that public safety is also the top priority for all who operate this technology in the state of Arizona." Uber also announced it would not renew its permit to test self-driving cars in California after the California Department of Motor Vehicles wrote to inform Uber that its permit would expire on March 31, and "any follow-up analysis or investigations from the recent crash in Arizona" would have to be addressed before the permit could be renewed. Uber acknowledged that mistakes were made in its brash pursuit to ultimately create a safer driving environment. Later in the year, Uber issued a reflective 70-page safety report in which Uber stated the potential for its self-driving cars to be safer than those driven by humans, however some of their employees worry that Uber is taking shortcuts to hit internal milestones. To be legal in all states for private use, or anywhere at the commercial level, the technology must hard code assured clear distance ahead driving. Uber returned their self-driving cars to the roads in public testing in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on December 20, 2018. Uber said they received authorization from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. Uber said they were also pursuing the same with cars on roads in San Francisco, California and Toronto, Ontario. In December 2020, Uber sold its Advanced Technologies Group, which was researching automated driving systems, to Aurora Innovation. Other companies The incident also caused other companies to temporarily cease road testing of self-driving vehicles. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has stated "We don't know that we would do anything different, but we should give ourselves time to see if we can learn from that incident." Legal actions Legal woes for Uber were among the collision fallout. Herzberg's daughter retained the law firm Bellah Perez, and together with the husband quickly reached an undisclosed settlement on March 28 while local and federal authorities continued their investigation. Herzberg's mother, father, and son also retained legal counsel. While a confidential settlement buried the liability issue, it suggested a sufficient legal cause of action. The abundance of event data recorders left few questions of fact for a jury to decide. Although the Yavapai County Attorney declined to charge Uber with a criminal violation in 2019 for the death of Herzberg, a Maricopa County grand jury indicted the safety driver on one count of negligent homicide in 2020. Her trial was planned for February 2021, but has been delayed because the case was designated "complex" and the discovery process is ongoing. Regulation The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the American Automobile Association had previously identified nighttime driving as an area for safety improvement. This follows similar changes in attitudes against tolerating drunk driving, starting in the late 1970s through the 1990s, and has occurred in concert with a cultural shift towards active lifestyles and multi-modal use of roadways which has been formally adopted by the National Association of City Transportation Officials. See also Mary Ward, the first person known to have been killed by an automobile Bridget Driscoll, the first pedestrian death by automobile in Great Britain Henry H. Bliss, the first automobile death in the Americas Robert Williams, the first person known to be killed by a robot Thomas Selfridge, the first person to die in an airplane crash References External links NTSB investigation of Uber crash, Accident No. HWY18FH010 Dashcam video related to accident, via BBC Video illustrating issue of speed and Sight Distance 2018 deaths 2018 controversies in the United States 2018 in Arizona March 2018 events in the United States Deaths by person in the United States Pedestrian road incident deaths Road incident deaths in Arizona Accidental deaths in Arizona Self-driving cars Tempe, Arizona Uber Volvo Filmed accidental deaths

56955202

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Kevin%20Hjalmarsson

Death of Kevin Hjalmarsson

Four-year-old Kevin Hjalmarsson was found dead in Arvika, Sweden on 16 August 1998. Two brothers, then five and seven years old, were accused of murdering him and were claimed to have confessed. They were never convicted of a crime and from a judicial point of view are innocent. Almost twenty years later, on 27 March 2018, all suspicions against both brothers were dismissed by Swedish police after a lengthy second investigation of the case. Case The theory that police were working from in 1998, was that Kevin Hjalmarsson had been murdered with a stick which had been pressed against his throat ending in his suffocation, and that his body had then been left on the shore of Kyrkviken, part of Glafsfjorden lake in Arvika, from the presumed murder site. How his body was transported there has not been ascertained. There were no drag marks on the ground or on Kevin's body. First responders were called about a drowning at Glafsfjorden; an ambulance was dispatched at 21:22 and took the boy to hospital, where the police first inspected the body. It was initially speculated that a pedophile was the perpetrator. Police at Länskriminalen in Värmland made an analysis of the victim and his life up to his death. Two brothers, five and seven years old, were accused of the murder and allegedly confessed. During further investigations, psychologist Sven Å. Christianson, professor at the psychological institute in Stockholm, was called in. He was later criticized for his handling of the Thomas Quick case which he had also been involved in. Treatment of the children In May 2017, the children came forward and stated that the police threatened and misled them into "confessing" the crime. "They almost threw it at me and would say 'yes this has happened'. It was a lot of pressure that was the thing that made it so scary." and "I remember that I was afraid of the police [but] if I did what they wanted, they would be happy and satisfied", said Robin, who wants an apology. The police had no recording of any confession, despite producing video and audio recordings of several other interrogations, which display serious pressure put on the boys to confess. The boys were never convicted of the murder, so they were legally only regarded as suspects. Both boys were taken by social services for treatment and psychological help at a children's institution. The state imprisoned the children away from their parents and their friends and community for years, and tried several times to make the separation permanent. Years later, because all the state efforts failed, and no foster parents could be found, the children were returned to their parents. Criticism of the investigation and media reports In Linda Kidane's documentary Mordet på Kevin, broadcast on Sveriges Radio on 2 October 2015, the investigation was presented as a complete success and Kidane confirmed that the two brothers had murdered Kevin Hjalmarsson. After Janne Josefsson and other journalists started to look into the case, the documentary was removed from Sveriges Radio's official website. In April 2017, Dagens Nyheter published an article that analysed the investigation of Kevin Hjalmarsson's death. The article highlighted several faults in the initial investigation, such as how interrogations of the two boys were conducted and how the boys were led through the crime scene. The two boys were subjected to extensive interrogations; this was deemed counterproductive by experts on children since it could lead to false confessions. Among those with a critical view were psychology professor Ann-Christin Cederborg, who said that the interrogations of the two boys were conducted against all rules concerning how an interrogation should be conducted. According to Cederborg, the methods used on the boys produced false confessions. The two children were subjected to threats and rewards depending on what they answered during interrogations. Neither the boys nor their parents had any legal representation during the entire investigation and interrogations. The alleged confessions that led to the closing of the investigation were never recorded on audio or video. At the same time that Dagens Nyheter was investigating the case, a documentary by Dan Josefsson, Fallet Kevin, was in production. The documentary showed parts of the video interrogations with the boys. The first episode of the three-part documentary was broadcast on Sveriges Television on the Dokument inifrån show in 2017, a few weeks after Dagens Nyheter published their first article about the case. On 8 May, 2017, the district attorney decided to re-open the investigation into the case. On 27 March, 2018, all suspicions against the two brothers were completely dismissed. Police also indicated that they now believed Kevin died of an accident. See also List of solved missing person cases List of unsolved deaths References External links SVTplay – Dokument inifrån: Fallet Kevin Documentary about the case (can only be viewed in Sweden) 1990s missing person cases 1998 in Sweden Criminal trials that ended in acquittal Deaths by person in Sweden Formerly missing people Legal history of Sweden Missing person cases in Sweden Murder investigation Unsolved deaths

57463492

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Katrien%20De%20Cuyper

Death of Katrien De Cuyper

On the evening of 17 December 1991, Belgian teenager Katrien De Cuyper () disappeared in Antwerp. Six months later, her body was discovered in the port of Antwerp. In 2006, a 35-year-old man from Kessel, who had written to a magazine saying that he was with her on the night she disappeared, was arrested and charged with her kidnapping and murder; he was released after four months due to a lack of evidence. The case remains unsolved. Disappearance and body discovery On Tuesday, 17 December 1991, Katrien De Cuyper, a fifteen-year-old girl from Brasschaat, went to visit a friend in Lange Lobroekstraat in Antwerp. After the visit, her friend stayed behind and let her walk to the bus stop alone as it was raining. De Cuyper telephoned her parents at 21:30 to tell them she would take the bus home. She missed the bus and was last seen at 22:45 at Les Routiers café on the IJzerlaan, where she made a phone call to an unknown person. On 19 June 1992, her naked, buried body was discovered during groundwork in the port of Antwerp. Investigation showed that she had been strangled. Investigation Letters to Blik and Regina Louf confession A month after De Cuyper's body was found, weekly magazine Blik received a letter from an anonymous sender claiming that they had given her a lift after she missed her bus the night she disappeared. The following October, Blik received another letter from the same sender, as did De Cuyper's parents the month after. In February 1997, Regina Louf (also known in Belgium as "Witness X1") wrote a letter to police confessing to killing De Cuyper. Louf said that De Cuyper had been held in a castle north of Antwerp in which children would be raped, tortured and killed by what Louf described as a "paedophile network", and that she had been ordered to kill the teenager during an orgy. No concrete evidence was found to support Louf's testimony. Arrest of Karl V.R. In August 2006, a 35-year-old man from Kessel identified as Karl V.R., who had been arrested for stalking, was charged with the kidnap and murder of De Cuyper. Police searching his house found child pornography on his computer and a box which contained newspaper clippings of articles about De Cuyper's disappearance and murder and copies of the letters sent to Blik and to her parents in 1992. Furthermore, V.R.'s DNA had been found on the stamp on the envelope of one of the letters. In March 2002, his brother had been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of his ex-girlfriend's boyfriend. V.R. admitted that he wrote the letters but said that they were fabricated and that he only wrote them for publicity. In September 2006, De Cuyper's remains were exhumed for further tests. On 19 December 2006, V.R. was released from custody as the investigation had found no evidence against him other than the letters. In 2007, he was sentenced to six months' imprisonment for possession of child pornography. See also References 1990s missing person cases 1990s murders in Belgium 1991 crimes in Belgium 1991 murders in Europe Deaths by person in Europe December 1991 events in Europe Events in Antwerp Missing person cases in Belgium Unsolved murders in Belgium Violence against women in Belgium

57570037

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Alloura%20Wells

Death of Alloura Wells

Alloura Wells ( Alloura Hennessy and Alloura Wheeler) was a Canadian transgender mixed-race woman who died in Toronto in June 2017. Her body was discovered in a ravine the following month, but she was not reported missing until 6 November 2017, and her badly decomposed body was not identified until 23 November. Wells's death brought attention to a marginalized community and brought criticisms against the Toronto Police Service (TPS) and The 519 community centre over mismanagement of information. Internal and external reviews were called by both organizations over their policies and accusations of bias against transgender peoples. The case, along with a series of deaths of missing people in Church and Wellesley, Toronto's gay village, prompted the TPS to create a dedicated missing-persons unit. Biography Wells was the third of four children in a Toronto family, which struggled financially and relied on the income of her mother, Mary, who was employed as a manager at Tim Hortons and her father, Mike, as a labourer. Wells was enrolled in a specialized drama program at Wexford Collegiate School for the Arts and came out to her family when she was 18, who were supportive. As a teenager, Wells would disappear for periods of time, often going downtown, where she was caught trying to sneak into bars in Church and Wellesley, Toronto's gay village. She befriended drag performers and questioned them about dressing up and becoming "glam". Around 2012, Wells signed up for the Ontario Works income-support program and rented an apartment in Scarborough near her sister. In February 2013, her mother died leading to the family to break apart, as her father and older brother became homeless and Wells was evicted. From the time of her eviction, she mainly lived in a tent in the Rosedale Ravine Lands Park. Around 2015, Wells was once found sleeping on her sister's doorstep, disheveled and almost unrecognizable. Wells had many friends according to Monica Forrester, a transgender and sex-work activist, who described Wells as a "staple of the community". According to Forrester, Wells had fallen on hard times, could not afford housing, and lived under a bridge. Wells had served short jail terms at the Vanier Centre for Women, which her father believed were for theft and breaking and entering. Wells's father said that she had been engaged in sex work and had turned down offers to stay at his apartment. Friends of Wells clarified that she would occasionally engage in survival sex work when necessary. Wells and her father had last spoken in March 2017. Wells was in a romantic relationship with Augustinus Balesdent, the only boyfriend Wells had introduced to her father, however, he described their relationship as "tumultuous" and marked with use of intravenous drugs. Her Facebook account, under the name Alloura Hennessy, went dormant after 26 July 2017. Of the last two posts, one expressed pride in her younger brother's military service and the other read: "Is wondering [what] happened to me life love loss its to much to handle right now." Unidentified body On 5 August 2017, a woman named Rebecca Price and a friend discovered a dead woman's body in Rosedale Ravine Lands Park in midtown Toronto. She informed the Toronto Police Service (TPS) and an on-scene investigation was conducted by 53 Division investigators and the coroner. The body was found beside a tent with drug paraphernalia; there was no identification. The body was fully dressed in women's clothing and was found with a blonde wig and a purse; there was no indication of foul play. An autopsy was unable to determine a cause of death or race, though the coroner determined that the woman was transgender. The body had badly decomposed, with the time of death estimated at three to four weeks before its discovery. The TPS did not issue a news release when the body was found, which is standard procedure. According to police spokesperson Meaghan Gray, there were no details that could be released and investigators worked to establish more information so that they could appeal to the public for assistance in an identification. Price spoke with a detective several times but realized little progress was being made. Learning that the woman was transgender from the detective, Price searched on the internet for transgender-advocacy organizations and contacted The 519 community centre in Church and Wellesley on 17 August. On 25 August, The 519 informed Price that staff would investigate and follow up with police. It was later revealed, however, that staff only reviewed police news releases and when they found no mention of an unidentified body, they did not contact the police or any other agency. In mid-August, TPS sent out a bulletin to other police services. The Ontario Provincial Police alerted the TPS to a missing transgender person from Northern Ontario, but the age of that missing person did not correlate with the body discovered in Toronto. Another case from Alberta was closer in age, but was ruled out by DNA testing. Alloura Wells's disappearance At the beginning of August, Maggie's: Toronto Sex Workers Action Project (Maggie's), an advocacy group that Forrester worked with, was in touch with Wells's family. They were concerned that she had stopped posting on Facebook. Forrester contacted the Vanier Centre for Women and learned they had a prisoner named Wheeler, which she thought was Wells's surname, and assumed that Wells was safe. In late October or early November, Forrester checked again with the Vanier Centre and learned that Wells had not been in prison that summer. Forrester informed Wells's father and later his other daughter informed him that Wells was not in a drug rehabilitation centre. Wells's father filed a missing-persons report with police on 6 November 2017, four months after she had disappeared. He reported her missing to 51 Division, which covered Church and Wellesley. On 8 November, TPS issued a news release of Wells's disappearance with two photographs of her. Officers returned to the ravine on 9 and 10 November to search for Wells. Price learned of Wells's disappearance after Maggie's alerted the media, and both were shocked that neither TPS nor The 519 had contacted Maggie's or other social agencies working in the area. Police saw similarities between the missing persons report and the body found in the ravine and obtained a DNA sample from a family member for testing. On 11 November, Maggie's organized a search of the ravine and along Bloor Street East where Wells was often seen. Wells's body was not easily identifiable and required months of forensics work with DNA testing by the Ontario Centre of Forensic Sciences. The body was positively identified as Wells's on 23 November. Continuing investigation Police sought to find Augustinus Balesdent, Wells's transient boyfriend, who was believed to be the last person to see Wells in July and was identified as a person of interest. Balesdent was a transient in his late 20s or early 30s at the time of Wells's death. Controversies TPS handling of missing persons The TPS receives over 4,000 missing-persons reports each year, but it faces staffing shortages of frontline officers, which an anonymous staff sergeant described as "dangerously low". Mark Mendelson, a former TPS homicide detective, stated that the circumstances surrounding a disappearance determine the priority a missing persons case. Whether uniformed officers become involved in a physical search depends on whether police suspect foul play, noting that it is a "big step" to begin a search, especially for an adult. Wells's father has alleged that TPS told them the case was "not high priority" when he reported Wells missing, given her homelessness. TPS Detective Barry Radford noted that homelessness raised concerns of where to begin a search, the reliability of information regarding the person's last known whereabouts, and factors such as weather and the person's mental state, history, and health. On 11 November, Forrester criticized TPS for overlooking Wells's disappearance. At that time, TPS had issued a news release, conducted two searches of the ravine, and initiated testing to determine if the body was Wells's. Friends of Wells also criticized TPS for not publicizing information about the discovery of her body earlier. There has been a growing shift in policy across Canadian police forces to not release details about deaths and murders in response to new privacy laws that require police "to protect the privacy rights of the victims and their families", however, members of the public and other Canadian police forces chastised these policies. TPS Chief Mark Saunders apologized to Wells's father and ordered the professional standards unit to conduct an internal review of how the missing-persons report was handled. Criticism of the TPS's handling of Wells's death came at a time when murders in the Church and Wellesley neighbourhood were being criticized for being mismanaged. The day before the announcement of the identification of Wells's body, Tess Richey was found strangled to death in an alley in Church and Wellesley. The two deaths and a string of unsolved disappearances in the neighbourhood caused an uproar, with some fearing serial killer. While TPS initially stated in December 2017 that there was "no evidence" of this possibility, however, in January 2018 Bruce MacArthur was charged with the murders of five men and later plead guilty to the murders of eight men. In late February 2018, Saunders recommended an external review of how TPS handled missing persons cases in light of allegations of systematic bias and in March established a dedicated missing persons unit. Saunders also pledged to work more closely with the LGBT community in the future and try to rebuild trust with the community. The 519 Wells's death also brought criticism to The 519 community centre, Toronto's leading LGBT advocacy agency, which failed to follow-through with Price's report of a transgender body being discovered. Wells's friends said that this resulted in her body being unidentified for months. Maura Lawless, The 519's executive director, initially said that the centre "made some effort to verify the information with the police". The 519 later stated that they could not verify the information provided by Price and did not want to cause unnecessary panic. An internal review found that staff did not contact police or any other agency and only scanned police news releases for mention of an unidentified body. The 519 posted an apology on its website on 12 December for their "mishandling of information" that 519 board chair David Morris referred to as a "comedy of errors". However, they continued to place the full blame on TPS. Trans people have had a history of being stigmatized within the broader queer community. Forrester, who worked for The 519 for 10 years before moving to Maggie's, expressed outrage at The 519 for failing to advocate for trans women. In December, Forrester, along with former-519 employees Lynda Cheng and Brian De Matos, circulated a petition demanding Lawless's resignation. The petition alleged that under Lawless's direction, The 519 had been systematically "pushing out the most marginalized people in the community" and turning the centre into an exclusive club for wealthy donors in the increasingly gentrified neighbourhood. Their main allegations were that The 519 was prejudiced against transgender women, the poor, and the homeless. They cited The 519's mishandling of the report of Wells's body and redevelopment plans for More Moss Park that would displace low-income and homeless people. The petitioners also alleged that The 519 had contributed to tensions by discouraging sex workers and the homeless from the area, and that The 519 had a "ban list largely made up of mentally ill or developmentally disabled racialized people". Staff disputed these allegations and The 519 board of directors supported Lawless while engaging an independent review of the petition's concerns. Vigils and memorials After Price learned that the unidentified body she found would not receive a memorial service, she laid flowers at the site of the body's discovery. On 19 November, members of Trans Pride Toronto and Maggie's organized a vigil for the then-unidentified transgender woman at Barbara Hall Park in Church and Wellesley. Following the vigil approximately 100 people marched to TPS headquarters to demand accountability. A public memorial for Wells was held in the second week of December. On 12 December 2017, the Ontario legislature enacted into law that 20 November would be observed as an annual Transgender Day of Remembrance, requiring a minute of silence in the legislature. Cheri DiNovo, who introduced the private member's bill in 2016, said that the legislation would be a memorial to Wells. On 27 February, Forrester created a GoFundMe page to raise money toward Wells's burial and tombstone. The City of Toronto covered the cremation expense and surplus funds were planned to help finance a monthly support group to assist homeless transgender women. By mid-March, the effort had raised over $100,000, some of which went toward expenses for members of Wells's family and Wells's funeral service. See also Murder of Tess Richey 2010–2017 Toronto serial homicides Footnotes Notes References 2017 in Canada LGBT history in Canada 2017 deaths

57640074

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Sikhosiphi%20Rhadebe

Death of Sikhosiphi Rhadebe

Sikhosiphi "Bazooka" Rhadebe was the chairperson of the Amadiba Crisis Committee (ACC), an organisation campaigning against mining in Xolobeni in the Pondoland region of the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Death and aftermath He was assassinated on 22 March 2016 The assassination was reported internationally and continues to be discussed in the South Africa media. Perth-based Mineral Commodities Limited (MRC), a mining company planning to min the area, denied any link to the murder. There has been no arrest in connection with the murder. It has been claimed that the police sabotaged the investigation. See also List of unsolved murders Political assassinations in post-apartheid South Africa Political repression in post-apartheid South Africa References 2010s murders in South Africa 2016 crimes in South Africa 2016 murders in Africa Assassinated South African activists Environmental killings People murdered in South Africa South African environmentalists Unsolved murders in South Africa Year of birth unknown

57823060

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20David%20Dragi%C4%8Devi%C4%87

Death of David Dragičević

On 18 March 2018, David Dragičević, a 21-year-old man, went missing in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina. On 24 March, his dead body was found. Police investigation ruled the death as an accident, but Dragičević's parents claimed that their son was brutally murdered and that the police and prosecutor's office are trying to cover-up the case. The result of the police investigation provoked major public uproar, and many mass protests were organized demanding the truth and justice. The public was overwhelmingly convinced that Dragičević was murdered. In May 2018, the National Assembly of Republika Srpska voted to form an Inquiry Board to analyze circumstances surrounding Dragičević's death. The Board found that Dragičević was probably murdered, but its report was rejected by the Assembly. , the Prosecutor's office has not reacted, and the death remains classified as an accident, while the public protests are ongoing. The incident On 18 March 2018, 21-year-old David Dragičević went out with his friends around 7 p.m., but never returned home and was declared missing the same day. On 24 March, his dead body was found small Crkvena creek in suburb of Banja Luka. Dragičević was buried on 7 April at the New Cemetery of Banja Luka. The funeral was attended by the President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik. Police investigation Police investigators claim that on 18 March, Dragičević visited the cafe in central Banja Luka where he had been caught up in a fight with several other young men. After this incident, nothing was heard from him until 24 March when police were informed about a dead body found in the water. According to the police, Dragičević visited another cafe after the fight, left, and then robbed a house on the way home. Police inspector Darko Ilić claims that surveillance cameras confirm that Dragičević committed the robbery on the way home and that several stolen items from the robbed house were found in his pockets. According to the police investigation, after the robbery, on his way home, Dragičević walked across a small bridge over Crkvena creek and fell in the water and drowned. Coroner Željko Karan said that Dragičević had several haematomas on his body, probably caused by strokes during the fight he had, and also several post-mortem injuries on the hands, caused by stones at the bottom of the creek. When journalists asked Karan about the possibility that the haematomas were caused by another attack on the bridge, he answered that it is indeed possible, but that it "could not be determined during the autopsy". Despite this, police officially ruled the death as an "accident". Dragičević family and public response From the start of the investigation, Dragičević's parents claimed that their son was brutally murdered and that they possess evidence of that. According to Davor Dragičević, David's father, the killer is a well-known figure, and police officers, Minister of the Interior Dragan Lukač, and local police chief Darko Ćulum, are trying to cover-up the crime. Dragičević's mother said that he, on the night he disappeared, sent her an SMS that read "if anything happens to me, the perpetrator will be F. Ć." Dragičević's death triggered daily protests in Banja Luka from the day his body was found. Every evening at 6 p.m., a crowd of 200 has been gathering at the Krajina Square in central Banja Luka demanding justice for Dragičević. On 15 May, a large protest was organized in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, where several hundred people demanded justice for Dragičević and Dženan Memić, a young man from Sarajevo whose 2016 death was also ruled an accident, but whose father and friends claim he was murdered. On 16 May, similar protest organized in Zenica was attended by several hundred people. On 20 May, another protest was held in Tuzla under the banner "Justice for David and Dženan". Another protest was organized in Sarajevo on 26 May. Another large protest was organized in Banja Luka on 7 July and attended by 10.000 people. On October 5th another massive protest was organized in Banja Luka with over 40.000 attendees (30.000 people more than in previous gatherings) in this huge event. It also streamed live exclusively on BN Televizija Journalist and blogger Slobodan Vasković analyzed documents and eye-witness accounts and on 2 May claimed that Dragičević was murdered. Chairman of the parliamentary caucus of the Serb Democratic Party (SDS) Vukota Govedarica said on 10 May that he thinks Dragičević was murdered. Parliamentary Inquiry Board Under constant public pressure, on 11 May 2018, the National Assembly of Republika Srpska voted to form an Inquiry Board to analyze circumstances surrounding Dragičević's death. On 5 June, the Inquiry Board adopted a 320-pages long report after hearing members of the police and public prosecutor's office, coroner Karan, and minister Lukač. The report concluded that there is more than enough evidence that Dragičević was murdered and that the public prosecutor should immediately respond to those findings. On 3 July, the National Assembly rejected the Inquiry Board report by a majority vote. The report was supported by the opposition MPs, but rejected by the majority coalition of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), the Democratic People's Alliance (DNS), the Socialist Party (SP) and two independent MPs. The Assembly majority held that the Board did not have competency to characterize the case as a murder. Instead, they suggested the following conclusion: "The National Assembly expects the Prosecution and other law-enforcement agencies to treat the case of David Dragičević in accordance with their legally prescribes competencies and to act in accordance with the regulations of the Criminal Procedure Code, which will oblige other institutions to act accordingly." Although not accepting the report, the Assembly adopted conclusion that "the prosecutors in the case made numerous errors" and demanded that "the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina consider initiation of certain disciplinary procedures against the prosecutors". References 2018 in Bosnia and Herzegovina Civil rights protests Controversies in Bosnia and Herzegovina

58209690

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Vishal%20Mehrotra

Death of Vishal Mehrotra

Vishal Mehrotra (27 September 1972 – probably after or on 29 July 1981) was an eight-year-old boy who was abducted from Putney, London, England, United Kingdom, on 29 July 1981. The child's partial remains were discovered 25 February 1982 on an isolated farm in Sussex. The killers were never identified and no one has ever been charged with the murder. Background Vishal Mehrotra was born in India on 27 September 1972, and emigrated to the United Kingdom with his family in 1978. His father, Vishambar Mehrotra, was a solicitor at the time of the disappearance and is now a retired magistrate. His mother, Aruna Mehrotra, had separated from her husband in 1976 and had moved back to India to manage a jewellery business at the time of the disappearance. The family lived on Holmbush Road, Putney, South London. Vishal had a younger sister, who was named Mamta. The children also had a live-in nanny, Joannita Carvalho. Vishal was described as bright and independent, with an open, friendly personality. He travelled to his school every day on his own. Day of the disappearance On 29 July 1981, the day of the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer, the Mehrotra family took the train into London in order to watch the wedding from the window of Vishambar's workplace. They then took the train back to East Putney, where they arrived around 1:40 PM. Vishambar was tired and went directly home, leaving his son and daughter with Carvalho. He gave each of them 20p to buy sweets. Carvalho took the children to a newsagents, where they remained for about twenty minutes. The children had complained of sore throats, so she decided to go buy cough medicine at Putney High Street. Vishal said he was tired and wanted to walk home by himself. Carvalho consented, feeling he was independent enough to make the journey. She took him across the main road pedestrian crossing and then left him to walk the rest of the way while she took Mamta to buy the cough medicine. Carvalho and Mamta returned home at about 3:00 PM. Vishambar was asleep in bed, but there was no sign of Vishal. Believing he had gone out to play, Carvalho and Mamta took naps until 4:30 PM. When she awoke and found Vishal had still not returned, she explained the situation to his father. The two made enquiries of neighbours to whether they had seen the boy. When they could not find Vishal by 7 PM, he was reported missing to the Metropolitan Police. Initial investigation The initial police investigation involved searching the vicinity of the disappearance from the air with a thermal camera, as well as ground searches of common land and the River Thames. Initially it was thought that Vishal could have tried to travel to India, though his family doubted this, and this line of inquiry was investigated by Interpol. Police additionally investigated the possibility that the boy had been abducted by a racist gang. Between the disappearance and the discovery of the body the police investigated hundreds of sightings and interviewed over 14,000 people. Discovery of the body On 25 February 1982 two men, who were shooting pigeons, discovered a skull, seven rib bones and a section of vertebrae at Alder Copse, Durleigh Marsh Farm, Rogate, near Petersfield. The bones appeared to have been disturbed by foxes and were found buried in a bog at a depth of around two feet. Following the discovery, a large scale excavation and search involving about thirty police officers took place. This uncovered more bones, though no clothing was found. The bones were taken to London for forensic investigation. Initially, police believed that the body had been buried around 29 July 1981. Subsequent investigations Police initially believed that Vishal may have been abducted by someone with local knowledge of the Durleigh Marsh Farm area. In March 2015, the BBC reported that the Metropolitan Police had referred itself to the Independent Police Complaints Commission following allegations of corruption in relation to the case. Two months later, the Daily Mirror newspaper reported that a 2005 Sussex Police review linked Vishal's disappearance to child molester and suspected serial killer Sidney Cooke. The report revealed that there were two fairs in the area when Vishal vanished; Cooke had been employed as a fairground worker. The findings were apparently not acted upon. Roger Stoodley, who retired as the detective leading the Cooke investigation in 1992, stated that the disappearances of Vishal and Martin Allen were in keeping with the modus operandi of Cooke's paedophile gang. Operation Midland A few months after his son's disappearance, Vishambar Mehrotra claimed to have been contacted by an unidentified man thought to be in his twenties. This man suggested that Vishal's abduction had been connected to a group of influential paedophiles associated with Elm Guest House. The man stated that he had informed the Metropolitan Police but they had not followed up his report. Vishambar gave a recording of the telephone conversation to detectives; however, they dismissed it as a prank call and it was not followed up. The location of Vishal's disappearance was less than a mile from Elm Guest House. Vishal's murder was investigated as part of Operation Midland after Carl Beech, a purported abuse survivor, told detectives that he had been abused by a paedophile ring and he had seen them murder three boys. Beech was later determined to have used his work computer access newspaper articles speculating on connections between Vishal's murder and the alleged paedophile ring. In July 2019 he was convicted of charges related to lying to police and he was jailed for eighteen years. See also List of kidnappings List of solved missing person cases List of unsolved murders Murder of Daniel Handley, a similar 1994 murder of a boy References 1980s missing person cases 1981 in London 1981 murders in the United Kingdom 1980s crimes in London British Hindus Formerly missing people Incidents of violence against boys Kidnapped Indian children Missing person cases in England Unsolved murders in England Indian people murdered abroad Murdered Indian children Deaths by person in London

58221224

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Keith%20Lyon

Death of Keith Lyon

Keith Lyon was a British schoolboy who was murdered in 1967 while walking alone on the South Downs. The murderer has never been identified and no charges have ever been made. The murder investigation that took place following the murder has been described as one of the biggest to have ever taken place in Sussex. Background Keith Lyon was 12 years old when he was murdered. Lyon attended Brighton, Hove and Sussex Grammar School and was a gifted classical musician. His parents were Valda and Ken Lyon, the latter of whom was a band leader in Brighton. He had a younger brother, named Peter, who was 7 at the time of the murder. The family lived in the village of Ovingdean. Day of the murder On Saturday 6 May 1967 Lyon left his house after 2 pm to walk to Woodingdean on his own to buy a geometry set. Lyon was walking along a bridleway that links the villages of Ovingdean and Woodingdean, in an area called Happy Valley near Brighton. Keith was wearing his school uniform even though it was a Saturday. At approximately 3 pm (about 45 minutes after leaving his home) Lyon was attacked and stabbed to death. At 4:15pm a 16 year old girl discovered the body while walking her dog. The body was found in a location that overlooks the English Channel and is above the private girls school Roedean. The body was discovered under some bushes on a grassy bank. and it appeared to have been thrown from the bridleway down the hill. The girl ran back to Woodingdean to fetch the police who arrived quickly and cordoned off the area. Lyon had been stabbed 11 times in his front and back. Lyon’s pockets had been turned out and his 4 shilling pocket money and keys were missing. Later that day Ken Lyon was preparing to perform at the Metropole Hotel in Brighton when he was notified of the death of his son. Subsequent events A few days after the murder a steak knife with a white handle was found in the grounds of a school around a mile away. Evidence was also discovered that someone had cleaned blood off themselves at a nearby public toilet. The blood was found to be Lyon’s. Two female witnesses reported seeing four boys fighting near some bushes on the bridleway on the afternoon of the murder at a time prior to the discovery. A bus driver reported that on the day of the murder he noticed that two youths on his bus, that was travelling to Whitehawk, were in a visibly agitated state. The murder investigation that took place following the murder has been described as one of the biggest to have ever taken place in Sussex. 75,000 house-to-house inquiries were made and 2000 school children were interviewed. The police took the fingerprints of over 5000 teenagers in the area. Despite there being a number of suspects no charges were ever made. In 2002 the murder weapon and other items associated with the case were rediscovered in the basement of the Brighton police station. The other items included a cigarette butt, clothes and a blood stained tissue. Following this rediscovery, two men were arrested. However, they were released on bail and after four months the police confirmed that they were no longer suspects. In 2006 it was announced that police were looking for a family that emigrated to Canada with their teenage son shortly after the murder. References External links Photograph of crime scene Photograph of the search 1967 deaths 1967 murders in the United Kingdom Deaths by stabbing in England May 1967 events in the United Kingdom Unsolved murders in England

58303531

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Nicky%20Verstappen

Death of Nicky Verstappen

On the morning of 10 August 1998, 11-year-old Nicky Verstappen disappeared from a summer camp he was attending in Brunssum, Limburg. His body was found on the evening of 11 August, away in Landgraaf, and a murder investigation was subsequently launched. Despite extensive investigation, the case remained unsolved for over twenty years. Joseph Theresia Johannes "Jos" Brech (born 29 October 1962) stood trial for the killing of Verstappen in 2020. He was arrested on 26 August 2018 in Spain after DNA from his belongings and relatives matched samples taken from Verstappen's clothing, following the largest DNA-harvesting operation in Dutch history. On 20 November 2020, Brech was acquitted of manslaughter, but found guilty of the kidnapping and sexual abuse that led to Verstappen's death, as well as of possession of child pornography. He was sentenced to twelve-and-a-half years' imprisonment. On 28 January 2022, an appeal court convicted Brech on a charge of manslaughter and increased his sentence to 16 years. Disappearance and body discovery On Saturday, 8 August 1998, Verstappen and 36 other children took the bus from Heibloem to Brunssum to take part in a children's summer camp being held on the De Heikop camping grounds on the Brunssummerheide. Verstappen was last seen alive around 5:30 a.m. on 10 August by a tentmate; later that morning, he was no longer in his sleeping bag; only his shoes were still in the tent. On 11 August, police and volunteers conducted a search for the boy; at 9 p.m., his body, naked from the waist up, was found in a pine grove on the Schinvelderweg in Landgraaf, from the camp. The body showed signs of possible sexual abuse, but the post-mortem did not determine the cause of death, and an initial examination for foreign DNA yielded nothing. A tissue and cigarette with human DNA were found near where the body was discovered; from this DNA a complete profile was compiled. Investigation Joos Barten, the founder of the camp Verstappen disappeared from, was questioned extensively by police in the days following. A former headmaster of the local primary school in Heibloem, Barten had had convictions for child sexual abuse and admitted to being near the tent Verstappen slept in at 6 a.m. on 10 August. During the search for Verstappen, he pointed several times in the direction where the body was eventually discovered. A 15-year-old girl who had attended the teenagers' camp on De Heikop a few days earlier suspected that she had been sexually abused by Barten in her sleep. None of the camp staff were officially held as suspects. A reward of 25,000 guilders was offered by the Openbaar Ministerie in Maastricht for information on the identity of the perpetrator; this offer was doubled in 1999 with money raised by crime reporter Peter R. de Vries, who became a spokesperson for Verstappen's family. Following a lack of leads, the investigation team was dissolved in November 1998, with a new team of investigators taking over the case between November 2000 and July 2001. Between 2001 and 2007, a sex offender from Kerkrade was in and out of police custody while a number of witnesses claimed to have seen him in and around the camp around 10 August 1998; the sex offender died in August 2007. The case has also been linked to German serial killer Martin Ney, who killed three boys between 1992 and 2001. Seven or eight letters written by an anonymous author suggesting they had killed Verstappen were found on a monument for the boy on the Brunssummerheide between 2005 and July 2006. In January 2007, a 36-year-old man from Landgraaf was arrested on suspicion of having written the letters. He was released two weeks later, before being re-arrested in December for vandalising the monument. One month later, he was sentenced to three months' imprisonment for the vandalism. The monument was vandalised again in April 2008, August 2013 and April 2019. DNA profiling Between December 1999 and January 2000, 35 men took part in a DNA test, but none of the samples matched those found at the crime scene. In 2010, with foreign DNA having been found on Verstappen's body, police took DNA samples from 80 men, but still did not find a matching sample. In November of that year, the remains of Joos Barten, the camp founder, who died in 2003, were exhumed for a DNA test. His DNA also did not match that found on Verstappen's body. In January 2018, it was announced that 21,500 men in the Limburg province would be asked to give samples of their DNA in an attempt to trace Verstappen's killer. The DNA-screening program took place between February and June, with a total of over 15,000 samples collected—the largest number in Dutch history, almost twice the number of samples collected in the program that successfully traced the man who was convicted of Marianne Vaatstra's murder. On 22 August 2018, it was announced that DNA samples from the belongings and relatives of a 55-year-old man originally from Simpelveld, Joseph Theresia Johannes "Jos" Brech, matched DNA found on Verstappen's clothing. Brech, who had been missing from his Vosges home since April of that year, had not responded to requests for a sample of his DNA and his immediate family also refused to cooperate in the DNA-screening program. A police team managed to retrieve a sample of Brech's DNA from his personal items after he was reported missing. Brech has a history of sexually abusing children and is known to have been near the scene of the crime around the time it took place, though he was believed at the time to just be a passer-by. The gendarme who wrote down his name was later killed in action in Iraq. Police located and arrested him in Spain, near Castellterçol, on 26 August, and he was extradited to the Netherlands on 6 September. Trial The trial began on 28 September 2020 and lasted three weeks. Brech denied being guilty of the charges. In a pre-recorded video message played in court, Brech said that on 11 August 1998—hours before Verstappen's body was found by the search party—he was walking close to the edge of a forest when he "saw something in the distance" and went to look out of curiosity, finding the body. He said that his DNA was found on the body because he had checked for signs of life, brushed leaves off the body and then left without any other action because of his previous convictions. In total, 27 traces of Brech's DNA had been found on the body, including on the boy's underwear; Brech said he had "no idea" how his DNA ended up on the underwear. The prosecution contested Brech's assertions, referencing a photograph taken of the location of where the body was found in a pine grove and a screenshot from a video of the location Brech said he was standing when he "saw something". According to the prosecution, it would not have been possible for Brech to have seen Verstappen's body lying behind a chain-link fence and obscured from view by trees. Brech's lawyer argued that Brech had said in his video message that he "saw something"—not clarifying whether it was the body—from where he was standing that drew his attention to the pine grove. A forensic pathologist who had reviewed the post-mortem could not ascertain whether the injury to Verstappen's body was caused by sexual abuse, due to the poor quality of the photographs and the fact that the pathologist who conducted the post-mortem had since died. The prosecution deemed Brech's assertions to be "wafer-thin and unbelievable", saying that they believed him to be guilty of the kidnapping, sexual abuse and aggravated manslaughter of Verstappen, and that although the medical cause of death was not determined, the boy's death could not have been the result of anything other than a criminal act, as he was healthy and had no genetic disorder. According to them, evidence at the crime scene indicated Verstappen died at the same location his body was found. On 8 October, the prosecution requested a sentence of 15 years' imprisonment and compulsory treatment (or 18 years' imprisonment if the court decided not to impose compulsory treatment) for Brech for the kidnapping, sexual abuse and manslaughter of Verstappen, as well as for possession of child pornography. On 20 November, the court found Brech guilty of kidnapping and sexually abusing Verstappen, saying the multiple traces of Brech's DNA found on Verstappen's body, including on the boy's underwear, indicated prolonged physical contact of a sexual nature that Verstappen could not possibly have consented to. The court cited the manner of Brech's previous offences against children, which involved him restraining his victims by placing his hand over their mouths, and while not ruling out the possibility that Brech intentionally suffocated and killed Verstappen, the court took into account the possibility that the boy died accidentally as Brech attempted to restrain him. Brech was therefore acquitted of manslaughter, though the court maintained that Verstappen's death was the result of Brech's actions. Brech was given a 12-year prison sentence for the kidnapping and sexual abuse of Verstappen, as well as a six-month sentence for possession of child pornography found on the laptop he left behind in France during his flight. Brech's lawyer announced that the verdict would be appealed. On 28 January 2022, an appeal court convicted Brech on a charge of manslaughter and increased his sentence to 16 years. Aftermath In 2003, folk band Rowwen Hèze released a song about the case, titled "Vlinder" (). Author published a book about the case titled De mysterieuze dood van Nicky Verstappen () in 2010. Notes 12 years in the Nicky Verstappen case and 6 months for possession of child pornography. Brech denied that his departure to Spain from France was a flight. Both the lower and appeal courts found it was. See also Cold case Killing of Nicole van den Hurk List of solved missing person cases References 1990s missing person cases 1998 crimes in the Netherlands 1998 in the Netherlands August 1998 events in Europe Child sexual abuse in the Netherlands Kidnapping in the Netherlands

58308095

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Lamduan%20Armitage

Death of Lamduan Armitage

Lamduan Armitage (née Seekanya) was a formerly unidentified woman whose body was discovered in 2004 on the mountain Pen-y-ghent in Yorkshire, England, leading her to become known as the Lady of the Hills. The woman was found to have come from somewhere in South-East Asia, but despite an international police investigation, the identity of the woman and how she arrived at the location remained a mystery until 2019. The woman was identified in March 2019 through DNA testing. Discovery On Monday 20 September 2004 at 11:30 am, a man walking in the vicinity of Pen-y-ghent alerted the police to the discovery of the body of a dead woman. The man had discovered the body in a well-trafficked location on the Pennine Way between Pen-y-ghent and Horton in Ribblesdale in a stream called Sell Gill Beck, which flows into a cave called Sell Gill Hole. It was thought that the body had been in the stream for some time, and that the woman could have died up to three weeks before the discovery. The cause of death was not initially apparent, and no signs of violence were reported. Description The woman was believed to be of southeast-Asian origin, had dark, shoulder-length hair, and was about tall. Her age was estimated between 25 and 35 years. The woman had healthy teeth with a noticeable gap at the front. Her body was clothed in green jeans and a green-and-white-striped T-shirt; she also wore a wedding ring. The ring was 22-karat gold and made in Bangkok, Thailand. The woman had pierced ears, but no earrings were found. No shoes, warm outer clothing, or other personal effects were found at the site. The woman weighed but appeared to have gained weight in the years prior to her death. Initial investigation Immediately after the discovery, North Yorkshire Police commenced an extensive investigation. Police questioned walkers using the Pennine Way, conducted house-to-house enquires in the locality, and issued letters to local holiday accommodations that appealed for witnesses in multiple languages. Police investigated every sighting in the Yorkshire Dales of women matching the description of the unidentified body dating back to 1 August 2004. A postmortem was undertaken, which suggested the woman died between 31 August and 13 September, but it did not provide enough information to enable investigators to establish the cause of death. The postmortem indicated that the woman had probably been pregnant at some point during her life. Detective Chief Inspector Pete Martin stated that the death was unexplained rather than suspicious. A search of missing persons databases did not produce any matches. A number of countries were identified as the potential origin of the woman. These countries included Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Analysis of the body indicated that the woman had been in the UK for at least two years prior to her death and that she had probably lived in Cumbria, Lancashire, or the west Yorkshire Dales. Subsequent investigations In December 2004 the police produced an e-fit photograph of the woman, which was issued to the embassies of a number of Asian countries. At this time it was believed that the woman could have originated from the Philippines, China, or Korea. No meaningful response was received from this appeal. In February 2005 an appeal was made on the BBC programme Crimewatch. In May 2007 the inquest heard that the investigation found no evidence of trauma, assault, or drowning, and it recorded an open verdict. In 2011 the police announced that they were reopening the investigation of eight unsolved deaths. The Lady of the Hills was one of these cases along with the Sutton Bank body. In 2018 an appeal was made by the North Yorkshire Police. The appeal was made on Facebook in the Filipino, Thai, and English languages so that the messages could be shared internationally. Identification On 22 January 2019, a family in Thailand came forward in the belief that they knew the identity of the victim. The woman had married a British man in 1991 and moved to north-west England in 1995. The mother of the woman had not heard from her daughter since 2004. On 19 March 2019, North Yorkshire Police revealed that they had identified the body, following DNA testing, as Lamduan Armitage (nee Seekanya). Armitage was married to British lecturer David Armitage (her second husband) in Thailand and moved to Portsmouth in 1991. David Armitage was located in 2019 and denied any involvement in his wife's death. The cause of death remains unknown, but the police have not ruled out murder. See also List of solved missing person cases List of unsolved deaths References External links Lady of the Hills at the Doe Network Google maps location of point were body was found Photograph of Sell Gill Hole Death of Lamduan Armitage Deaths by person in England Formerly missing people Death of Lamduan Armitage Unsolved deaths

58717013

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Eleanor%20de%20Freitas

Death of Eleanor de Freitas

Eleanor Poppy Miranda de Freitas (26 June 1990 – 4 April 2014) was an English woman who committed suicide three days before the commencement of her trial for perverting the course of justice for allegedly making a false accusation of rape. Her death prompted a debate over whether prosecuting people accused of making a false accusation of rape could deter rape victims from reporting the crime, as well as whether it was appropriate to prosecute vulnerable individuals (de Freitas had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and depression and was judged by a psychiatrist to represent a suicide risk). The decision to prosecute de Freitas was ultimately upheld by both the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Attorney General for England and Wales, while the Metropolitan Police Service paid compensation to the accused man, albeit without admitting liability. From a legal perspective, the case was notable due to the use of a private prosecution and, subsequently, the first successful employment of a public interest defence to a charge of defamation. Timeline of events Background Eleanor Poppy Miranda de Freitas was born on 26 June 1990 and grew up in Fulham, London. She attended the independent Putney High School, achieving straight As in her A Level exams. In 2008 she enrolled in Grey College, Durham University to study geography. During her first year, she suffered a mental breakdown. She was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and depression and began seeing a psychiatrist, who prescribed her antidepressants. At the end of the 2008/09 academic year, de Freitas dropped out of Durham University. In February 2012, de Freitas had another mental breakdown. She accused her parents of trying to poison her and her landlord of sexually assaulting her; went on unaffordable shopping sprees; and became delusional. She was involuntarily committed under the Mental Health Act 1983 and spent a month in Ealing Hospital, where she was reportedly mentally and physically abused. After successfully challenging her detention at a Mental Health Review Tribunal and being released, de Freitas began living alone with support from her parents and working part-time in a branch of The Body Shop on King's Road in Chelsea. Unbeknown to her parents, she reportedly also worked as a tantric masseuse and escort. In summer 2013, she began training as an accountant. Rape allegations In 2008 or 2009, de Freitas met Alexander Economou, the sometime company secretary of his family-run shipping agency. They became acquaintances after attending the same party in Chelsea in October 2012. On 23 December 2012, de Freitas and Economou met alone for the first and only time and had sex. The following day, they went shopping together, including a trip to an Ann Summers sex shop. Subsequently, Economou ended the relationship with de Freitas; de Freitas was upset by the ending of the relationship, and made this known to others, including sending a text to one friend saying Economou had "fucked her and chucked her" and to another saying "I don't understand what I have done wrong???". On 4 January 2013, de Freitas alleged to the Metropolitan Police Service that Economou had raped her. In an interview with police, she asserted that she "wasn't in control of my body" due to combining alcohol with her bipolar medicine and was unable to consent; that Economou had "drugged" her; that she had been "frozen with fear"; and that Economou had coerced her into allowing him to tie her up, "waterboard" her, and have unprotected sex with her. Economou was arrested and spent a night in custody. On 20 February 2013, the Police decided to take no further action against Economou; he was never charged. Economou asserted that the sex had been consensual; that he had ended the relationship on 24 December 2012 contending de Freitas was working as a tantric masseuse and after receiving "crazy" text messages from de Freitas; and that de Freitas had fabricated the rape claim "as an act of revenge, because I rejected her". Prosecution In August 2013, Economou launched a private prosecution of de Freitas for perverting the course of justice at a cost of approximately £200,000. Economou amassed witness statements, text messages and closed-circuit television footage that he contended contradicted the account of de Freitas, including footage of de Freitas and himself shopping together for sex toys at an Ann Summers shop on the day following the alleged rape and text messages de Freitas had sent to mutual friends. Upon receiving the summons on 13 August 2013, de Freitas reportedly had a panic attack. She engaged a defence solicitor who invited Keir Starmer, the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Crown Prosecution Service, to use his statutory power to take over the private prosecution and end it. However, in December 2013, the Crown Prosecution Service instead announced that it would instead take over and continue the prosecution. De Freitas subsequently enquired whether there was scope to seek an injunction against reporting on the prosecution. The Metropolitan Police Service officers who had investigated the alleged rape refused to support the Crown Prosecution Service but were overruled. De Freitas was arraigned at Southwark Crown Court on 24 January 2014, pleading not guilty. Rape counselling services were withdrawn from de Freitas upon the commencement of the prosecution (in March 2015, Member of Parliament Valerie Vaz asked Solicitor General for England and Wales Robert Buckland to "review the guidance to ensure that the provision of support and counselling services to vulnerable people is not removed abruptly"). De Freitas became "severely" depressed and her behaviour became erratic, including claiming she was being followed and that her phone was being tapped and wearing a burqa when going out in public. In September 2013, she was found in a branch of Co-op Food on Strand throwing crisp packets and shouting at staff. A psychiatric report prepared for the Crown Prosecution Service stated that de Freitas was fit to stand trial but required constant evaluation as she posed a "chronic and significant" suicide risk. Her doctor did not prescribe lithium for her bipolar disorder as de Freitas suffered from a fear of needles. Suicide On 4 April 2014, de Freitas committed suicide by hanging herself at her family home in Fulham, London. Her trial for perverting the course of justice had been due to commence on 7 April. She left a suicide note in which she stated, "If I were to lose the case I know that I would have brought huge shame on the family. It's entirely my fault for what has happened and there are many other events which make me make this decision." She also expressed fears about potentially having to testify in court in her defence. De Freitas had previously expressed fears about being involuntarily committed once again. At an inquest held in March 2015, coroner Chinyere Inyama recorded a verdict of suicide and noted that the impending trial had been a "significant stressor" on de Freitas. A call by solicitor Harriet Wistrich on behalf of de Freitas' family to widen the scope of the inquest to assess whether the Crown Prosecution Service had breached the right to life enshrined in the Human Rights Act 1998 by prosecuting de Freitas was unsuccessful. The call for a special inquest was supported by Emily Thornberry, the then-Shadow Attorney General for England and Wales. Reaction Following de Freitas' suicide, her father David criticised the decision to prosecute her, stating, "We can see no reason whatsoever why the CPS pursued Eleanor. If the CPS had put a stop to it at the time I would still have a daughter." David de Freitas suggested that de Freitas had feared once again being involuntarily committed and was embarrassed that "extraneous evidence" would emerge during the trial alleging work in the sex industry. De Freitas had been concerned about having to testify in her defence in court; delays by the Crown Prosecution Service in providing a record of her interview with police to her defence solicitor meant they were unable to confirm that she would not be required to testify until the morning of her death (a court order requiring the Crown Prosecution Service to disclose all evidence at least six weeks prior to the trial was not complied with). The Crown Prosecution Service later apologised for the delay in the disclosure of the evidence, whilst still blaming the police for the delay. The decision to prosecute de Freitas was also criticised by the organisation Women Against Rape, which argued that the "aggressive pursuit" of women accused of making false allegations of rape in the United Kingdom was deterring rape victims from reporting the crime to the police. The charity Victim Support released a statement expressing concerns about the use of private prosecutions to "intimidate" people making allegations of rape, while the charity Justice for Women stated "the public interest is always overwhelmingly in favour of not prosecuting a rape complainant" and "it is imperative that the overwhelming public interest in improving the UK's appallingly low conviction rate for rape offences is considered by all prosecutors when deciding whether to charge women for perverting the course of justice". Lisa Avalos, of the Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center, stated that the United Kingdom makes significantly more prosecutions for false rape allegations than the United States, and that these carry a charge of perverting the course of justice (with a maximum sentence of life in prison) rather than false reporting (which carries lighter penalties such as community service, fines, or probation). The charity Inquest cited statistics showing "no country pursues the prosecution of disbelieved rape complainants with the frequency that occurs in Britain". Writing in The Critic in February 2022, Julie Bindel stated that "the CPS is advised to exercise extreme caution when deciding whether to prosecute on suspicion of making a false allegation, especially if the person is vulnerable or if it is unclear whether the accusation was made maliciously". An alternative view was expressed by journalist Radhika Sanghani, who wrote that "false rape allegations can have devastating consequences for the accused" and noted that over a 17 month period in 2011 to 2012 there were only 35 prosecutions for false rape allegations in England and Wales, compared to 5,651 prosecutions for rape. Sarah Green of the End Violence Against Women Coalition opined, "We must prosecute these cases if someone's trying to maliciously get someone into trouble." In the 2019 publication Personal Participation in Criminal Proceedings, Kate Leader wrote that the case "has drawn attention to the issues that can arise from private prosecutions". In mid-2020, the House of Commons Justice Select Committee made a call for evidence on an inquiry into the use of private prosecutions. The Centre for Women's Justice provided written evidence to the inquiry in which it stated "Eleanor, for example, was never interviewed as a suspect; she sat in the dock without having ever been arrested, or her rights explained to her as a defendant, and without having had the opportunity to respond to the allegations against her." Subsequent legal proceedings de Freitas' suicide prompted Director of Public Prosecutions Alison Saunders to review the decision to prosecute. In December 2014, Saunders concluded that it had been correct to do so, stating that there was "sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction" and "a strong public interest in prosecuting". Saunders also stated that medical experts had advised that de Freitas was fit to stand trial. After de Freitas' father David called for a new inquiry or a review to be carried out, in June 2018, Attorney General for England and Wales Jeremy Wright decided not to order an independent inquiry into the decision to prosecute, stating, "I have carefully considered the concerns raised by Mr de Freitas and I am satisfied that this case has already been subject to extensive scrutiny within the CPS, and that it was right for the prosecution to go ahead." In December 2014, Alexander Economou began a libel claim against David de Freitas, asserting that articles critical of the Crown Prosecution Service appearing in The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian and an interview with John Humphrys on the Today programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4 had resulted in his enduring "public rubbishing" and damaged his reputation. The claim was dismissed in July 2016 with the judge ruling that, while Economou's reputation had been damaged, this was justified given de Freitas had considered the articles and broadcast to be in the public interest and that ruling in favour of Economou would represent a disproportionate infringement upon de Freitas' freedom of speech. The judge stated "When a person suffering from mental ill-health kills herself at a time when she is facing public prosecution for making a false allegation of rape there is a clear public interest in considering whether there is a causal link and, if so, whether the decision-making was at fault and there are lessons to be learned." This represented the first time a public interest defence had been successfully mounted under the Defamation Act 2013. An appeal by Economou against the ruling was dismissed by the Court of Appeal in November 2018. Economou subsequently sought permission to appeal to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom which was refused. Whilst David de Freitas's public interest defence was not directly challenged in the Supreme Court, it was examined at some length in the defamation appeal in Serafin v Malkiewicz and others. Lord Wilson, delivering the unanimous judgement of the five-member panel, dismissed this criticism with the words "I can discern no basis for that criticism". The BBC issued a retraction and apology in May 2015 after Lisa Longstaff of Women Against Rape indirectly referred to Economou as a "rapist" while being interviewed on a live episode of Victoria Derbyshire. In December 2015, Economou was charged with harassing David de Freitas. It was alleged that Economou had sent letters and emails to de Freitas and his solicitor, Harriet Wistrich, and "uploaded various recordings and comments onto websites". Economou was found not guilty in June 2016, with the judge stating, "I find that the defendant's actions were calculated to counter the continuing incorrect assertions that the allegation of rape was true". In November 2018, Economou received £10,000 of compensation from the Metropolitan Police Service, albeit without admitting liability, in connection with their investigation of the initial complaint made by de Freitas. References External links Statement from the Attorney General for England and Wales Alexander Economou website 2014 suicides 2014 in London Deaths by person in London False allegations of sex crimes History of mental health in the United Kingdom People with bipolar disorder Suicides by hanging in England

58901271

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Farshid%20Hakki

Death of Farshid Hakki

Farshid Hakki (; born 1974) was a lawyer, lecturer, economist, researcher, human rights activist and environmentalist. Farshid Hakki was also a candidate for the Tehran City Council. He was a member of the "Seda-ye Pa-ye Ab", an environmental campaign in support of Zagros Mountain range and was the author of a number of books including Human Rights for All, and The Political Economy of Human Rights. He went missing on the night of Saturday October 17, 2018 in Tehran. After his deceased body was found, his family was informed that his body had knife wounds and had been burned. Mohammad Moghimi, his family lawyer, called the death "a suspicious murder". State Media in Iran have published conflicting reports stating that the cause of death was suicide and that Hakki had set himself on fire. Iranian opposition parties have accused the Iranian government of being responsible, highlighting the increasing violence against activists in the southern Ahwaz. Reactions According to the Le Monde diplomatique, "Farshid Hakki was reportedly stabbed to death near his house in Tehran and his body then burned. Shortly after the news of his death broke out on social media, on 22 October, Tehran's police authorities claimed that he had committed suicide by self-immolation. Not unlike its Saudi rival, the Islamic Republic has a long history of trying to cover up state-sanctioned attempts to physically eliminate its critics, too." See also Chain murders of Iran Human rights in Iran References 1974 births 2018 deaths 2018 in Iran Murder in Iran 2018 controversies Deaths by person in Iran Deaths from fire October 2018 events in Iran

59006931

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Arkadiusz%20J%C3%B3%C5%BAwik

Death of Arkadiusz Jóźwik

On 27 August 2016, Arkadiusz "Arek" Jóźwik, a 40-year-old Polish immigrant in Harlow, Essex, was punched in the back of the head by a 15-year-old male and died in hospital two days later as a result of injuries caused when he hit the ground. The attacker, who can not be named in the British media due to his age, was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to three years' incarceration in a Young Offender Institution. The attack happened two months after the Brexit referendum and figures in media and politics alleged that the attack was fuelled by xenophobia, which was not found to be the case in a court of law. Some commentators suggested that compared to their interest in the crime when it happened, the media took less interest in the verdict of the trial. Attack The attack took place at 11:30 pm at The Stow, a shopping precinct in Harlow. Jóźwik had two friends accompanying him and had been drinking vodka. The prosecution said that unprovoked, the defendant moved around behind Jóźwik to punch him. The defence said that according to prosecution witnesses Jóźwik and his friends were much older and larger than the defendant and his friends, and made racist remarks then "invited violence" from the youths. The judge accepted that the youth did not intend to kill Jóźwik, and that Jóźwik was intoxicated and had approached the youth. Reaction The Polish government sent two police officers to Harlow in the aftermath of the attack. EU Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said "We Europeans can never accept, never, Polish workers being harassed, beaten up or even murdered in the streets of Essex". Robert Halfon, MP for Harlow, considered Juncker's words to be unreflective of the town: "The vast majority of people are horrified as to the tragedies that have occurred. Harlow residents and the Polish community have rallied together. So what he has said, rather than help the situation has made things much worse". Initial reports in August 2016 alleged that Jóźwik was killed for speaking Polish. James O'Brien, an LBC radio host, said that UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage was responsible for Jóźwik's death, saying "Does a politician like Farage talking about people speaking foreign on a train know that this leads inexorably to young people thinking they have the right to object to people speaking foreign in public?". Separately, the BBC interviewed a friend of Jóźwik, who said that Farage had "blood on his hands". After the trial concluded, Farage said that this interview had been damaging to him and his family. The BBC said that it aired interviews suggesting several motives, including anti-social behaviour. In an article about another crime in April 2017, The New York Times brought up the death of Jóźwik and said he was "repeatedly pummeled and kicked by a group of boys and girls". Harlow-born journalist Jason Cowley wrote that this was inaccurate for several reasons: the group of youths was all male, only one was charged, and he threw only one punch. There was considerably less media interest in the verdict of the trial, which found that there was no xenophobic motive to the attack on Jóźwik. Brendan O'Neill wrote in The Sunday Times that after Jóźwik died "the media couldn't get enough of this terrible incident. The commentary was ceaseless. The killing trended. But they’ve forgotten it [after the verdict]. And the reason they’ve forgotten it, the reason Jozwik’s name has been all but erased from commentary circles, is pretty awful". Legal proceedings Six youths were arrested, and all but one were released because of insufficient evidence. He was charged with manslaughter and his trial began at Chelmsford Youth Court in January 2017. He was found guilty of the manslaughter of Jóźwik and was sentenced to three years in a Young Offender Institution. He was on bail at the time of the attack and had two prior convictions, for possession of a knuckle duster and for threatening behaviour. See also Murder of Shaima Alawadi – 2012 death of Iraqi-American woman that was believed to be a hate crime but was in fact committed by her husband. Murder of Khaled Idris Bahray – 2015 death of Eritrean refugee in Germany that was believed to be a hate crime but a fellow Eritrean confessed to. References 2016 crimes in the United Kingdom Harlow August 2016 events in the United Kingdom August 2016 crimes in Europe Manslaughter in the United Kingdom

59087851

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Ranko%20Pani%C4%87

Death of Ranko Panić

Ranko Panić (; 15 February 1967 – 15 August 2008) was a Serbian warehouse clerk who died due to injuries sustained from police brutality on 29 July 2008 during a protest against the arrest of Radovan Karadžić organized by the Serbian Radical Party and New Serbia. The incident provoked a public outcry and Aleksandar Vučić has repeatedly accused the then ruling Democratic Party under Boris Tadić, both of hiding evidence of Panić's assailant and of under-reporting the incident. On 8 September 2014, an officer of the Niš detachment of the Gendarmery, Nikica Ristić, was arrested on suspicion of inflicting serious bodily injury to Panić leading to his death. Ristić was found not guilty in the first instance by the Higher Court in Belgrade on 10 May 2019. Background Panić was born on 15 February 1967 in Karlovac and grew up in Korenica. He was a veteran of the War in Croatia, and arrived in Serbia after Operation Storm as a refugee. Panić lived in Mladenovac with his mother Smilja and domestic partner Mirjana Vujičić. Although he was educated to be a teacher, he worked mainly as a manual laborer and was working as a warehouse clerk for the Granice dairy farm for the past 9 years at the time of his death. Incident Following the arrest of ICTY fugitive Radovan Karadžić on 21 July 2008, protests by smaller far-right groups including Obraz and the 1389 Movement had been raging for a week. On 29 July the Serbian Radical Party organized a protest attended by around 16,000 people at the Republic Square in Belgrade called the Pan-Serbian Assembly to protest the arrest and extradition of Karadžić. The protest was co-organized by New Serbia, and supported by the Democratic Party of Serbia. After the protest, a riot erupted between members of the Gendarmery heading from Makedonska street and a group of violent protesters, including football hooligans associated with FK Partizan. The Gendarmery responded with tear gas and rubber bullets. On that night, 46 injured from the riot were admitted into the Emergency Center, including Borislav Pelević, who was hit in the head with a rubber bullet, Miloš Đorelijevski, a journalist for Beta who was beaten by the police despite presenting his press ID, and Oscar Martínez Forcada, a journalist for TVE. Aleksandar Vučić received 4 hits with a baton, and he and Tomislav Nikolić condemned the violent protesters, calling them "provocateurs". Panić was part of the crowd heading from Makedonska to the Republic Square, according to a friend accompanying him at the time, trying to get closer to Vučić. He was assaulted by a member of the Gendarmery. The following day, Panić complained to his wife about terrible pain in his stomach and was quickly transferred from a clinic in Mladenovac to the Emergency Center. His large intestine was ruptured, and Panić was immediately operated under a heavy fever. After his second operation on 4 August, Panić fell into a coma and died of sepsis on 15 August. Aftermath Immediate aftermath The following day, protesters led by Vladimir Đukanović held a remembrance walk carrying a banner honoring Panić's death and accused the mainstream media of sidelining the affair. Panić was buried at the Rajkovac Cemetery near Mladenovac on 19 August. The burial was attended by high ranking members of the Serbian Radical Party including Aleksandar Vučić. The Radicals obstructed the National Assembly on 2 September asking for information about the use of force at the protest on 29 July and Panić's death. This postponed the discussion on Serbia's Stabilization and Association Agreement. Radical MP Vjerica Radeta damned President Boris Tadić which was condemned by MPs Nada Kolundžija and Suzana Grubješić calling it an act of hate speech. Interior Minister Ivica Dačić announced that an 8-member team had been formed and was working on the reconstruction of Panić's beating. The autopsy findings were released the next day, and the Radicals stopped their blockade of the National Assembly, saying they would wait for an official report from Dačić's team. Before the report was completed, Dačić tried to put the blame on the medical staff responsible for Panić, and draw attention from the role of police brutality. On 16 September, 6 officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs were suspended for misconduct. On 22 September, the 16-page report was completed, and included video evidence recorded from the Jugoeksport building released by TV Enter and RTS on 30 July. The report concluded that Panić was kicked in the stomach area by a Gendarmery officer after walking in parallel for several seconds and a possible verbal confrontation, and knocked over with a second kick as he tried to move away. Tomislav Nikolić called the report unacceptable, saying its conclusion that the Serbian Radical Party provided insufficient security equated the role of the Radicals and extremist groups attending the meeting including several football hooligan groups and the 1389 Movement. Trial On 8 September 2014, an officer of the Niš detachment of the Gendarmery, Nikica Ristić, was arrested on suspicion of inflicting serious bodily injury to Panić leading to his death. The indictment was filed in December 2015 and the trial opened on 23 December 2016. Ristić announced in November 2016 he plans to remain silent in court. On 10 May 2019 the Higher Court in Belgrade reached a first-instance verdict which found Ristić not guilty. Judge Bojan Mišić concluded that it was impossible to prove without reasonable doubt that Panić was beaten by a police officer, that his injuries are what led to his death and that Nikica Ristić and Ranko Panić are indeed the two men depicted in the footage obtained from the Jugoeksport building. Ristić's lawyer Zora Dobričanin-Nikodinović stated that this was a "great day for justice in Serbia" and that Ristić was "sacrificed not because of justice but politics", i.e. Ristić's close relations with sacked Gendarmery commander Bratislav Dikić. Panić's mother Smilja commented: "He was not killed by the Ustashe, but by Serbia. My thanks to the state and the judiciary". Legacy On 29 July 2009, the first anniversary of Panić's encounter with the police, the SNP 1389, a far-right movement with ties to the Serbian Progressive Party, blanketed Belgrade with "Who killed Ranko Panić?" posters. In 2009, Pravda, a tabloid closely aligned with the Radical and later the Progressive Party, published a book by journalist Predrag Jeremić detailing Panić's life called Uhapšena istina – od Sretenja do Preobraženja (The Truth Under Arrest – from the Presentation to the Transfiguration). The name refers to the dates of the two Orthodox holidays, coinciding with the dates of Panić's birth and burial. The introduction was written by Aleksandar Vučić. Vučić has organized commemorations of Ranko Panić's encounter with the police at Republic Square on the first and second anniversary in 2009 and 2010. In 2009, Vučić promised to honor Panić with a street name. On the fourth anniversary in 2012, he made a public visit to Panić's mother Smilja. In 2013, the commemoration was attended by high ranking Progressive Party member Nebojša Stefanović. Vučić has repeatedly accused the Democratic Party leadership under Boris Tadić, as well as the Cvetković cabinet, both of hiding evidence of Panić's assailant and of under-reporting the incident. Since the Socialist Party of Serbia formed a coalition with the Progressives, Dačić has also accused the Democrats and highlighted their connection to former Gendarmery leader Bratislav Dikić. These accusations were compiled in 2018 by Istinomer, a Serbian project based on PolitiFact. References Further reading 1967 births 2000s murders in Serbia 2008 crimes in Serbia 2008 deaths 2008 murders in Europe Criminal trials that ended in acquittal Deaths by beating in Europe Protests in Serbia Victims of police brutality

59216929

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Elly%20Warren

Death of Elly Warren

Elly Warren was an Australian woman who was murdered near Tofo Beach, Inhambane province, in southeastern Mozambique in 2016. Warren was born and raised in Mordialloc in Melbourne, Australia. Warren attended Parkdale Secondary College. Upon her return from Mozambique, Warren had planned to attend James Cook University to study marine biology. Warren was in Mozambique on a six-week trip where she was volunteering her time and working alongside scientists for Africa Underwater, a research company. She was traveling by herself in Africa. During her time in Mozambique, Warren stayed in a bungalow that was a part of Casa Barry, a popular diving resort, at Tofo Beach. For six weeks, Warren took a boat out to the reefs off the coast of Mozambique with Marine biologists. On Tuesday, November 8, Warren may have checked in at the Wuyani Pari Yango, where she left some of her belongings. One report, however, indicated that she never checked into the Wuyani Pari Yango according to the manager of the hostel. On a Tuesday night, the end of the six week program with Africa Underwater, Warren went out with some friends to celebrate the end of the program. On Wednesday morning, Warren's body was discovered by a fisherman in or near a toilet block near a street market in Tofo. Investigation After her death, there were inconsistent reports as to the cause of and manner of her death. Initially, Inhambane police spokesman Detective Juma Dauto said: "It looks like a sudden death" and "we are in doubt as to what could have happened." He went on: "She didn't have a scratch, didn't have a bruise on her indicating there was violence or rape. I guarantee it. I have total confidence she was not raped. The community here is shocked, this has never happened. Everybody wants to know what happened." Right after her death, Melbourne newspaper The Age reported: “Australian government information — from the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Australian high commission in South Africa — suggests she was found on the beach, raped and murdered.” Six months after her death, the first formal police report in the case handed indicated that Warren died of a drug overdose even though there was no forensic evidence of drugs in her system. Her mother launched a petition on Change.org asking Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison for help in the investigation into the circumstances surrounding her death. The petition read in part: “We ask Scott Morrison as Prime Minister of Australia to intervene in this case to put pressure on the Mozambique government to allow Australia to provide an investigation team to work with the Mozambique police to solve Elly’s murder and give her some justice.” After two weeks, the petition grew to more than thirty-six thousand signatures. Bill Shorten, the then federal Leader of the Opposition called for diplomatic action from the Australian government as it related to Warren's death. Private investigation in 2018 In 2018, Elly's father traveled to Mozambique with a team from 60 Minutes Australia. He was able to trace her last steps, left a notice requesting information and within 24 hours, he was shown a photo of Elly definitely murdered and most probably sexually assaulted. Two witnesses said they saw her later put into a position of a Muslim bowing in prayer. The father accepted the theory that this was done by the investigating police officers in an attempt to cover up the incident and claim that she died from a drug overdose. References 2016 in Mozambique November 2016 events in Africa Warren, Elly Warren, Elly Warren, Elly

59373833

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Helen%20Bailey

Death of Helen Bailey

Helen Bailey was an eight-year-old schoolgirl who was killed near her home in Great Barr, Birmingham, England, on 10 August 1975. Bailey, a pupil at Calshot Junior School, lived in nearby Booths Farm Road. The day after she was reported missing her body was found by her father, after ten hours of a police-coordinated search, in woodland on the site of the former, and eponymous, farm. Her throat had been cut. Because she was wearing blue at the time of her death, media dubbed her "Little Girl Blue". A March 1976 inquest heard from an official pathologist that she may have died as the result of an "accident or practical joke gone wrong" and the jury subsequently returned an open verdict. In 2014, following a cold case review, new evidence came to light, that she had been strangled before her throat was cut. A new pathologist said her death was a "clear case of homicide". As a result, West Midlands Police asked Louise Hunt, Birmingham and Solihull's senior coroner, to seek permission to overturn the original inquest verdict. In 2017, a renewed appeal for witnesses, and for the killer to come forward, was made on the BBC television programme Crimewatch Roadshow. In December 2018 Lord Justice Hickinbottom, sitting with Mrs Justice Whipple, ordered that a new inquest be held. Hickinbottom noted that a confession had been made by a suspect in 1979, that matched the 2014 evidence, but at the time the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had decided not to prosecute him. At a pre-inquest review in May 2019, the Detective Chief Superintendent leading the cold-case investigation said that a serving prisoner, the only suspect arrested (but not charged) in the 1970s, and subsequently convicted of an unrelated offence, was the only suspect in the case. At an inquest on 5 July 2019, the original verdict was overturned and replaced with one of unlawful killing. The coroner, Louise Hunt, expressed an intention to ask the CPS to reconsider their decision not to prosecute the suspect. Notes References 1975 deaths Great Barr History of Birmingham, West Midlands People from Birmingham, West Midlands Unsolved crimes in England

59848455

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Maksim%20Borodin

Death of Maksim Borodin

On 12 April 2018, investigative Russian journalist Maksim Borodin was severely injured after falling from his fifth-floor balcony in Yekaterinburg. He was placed in a coma, but died from his injuries on 15 April. Events In the months leading up to his death, Borodin gained national attention after he wrote about the deaths of several Russian citizens, reported to be Wagner PMCs, in a confrontation with US-backed forces in eastern Syria in early February. Throughout February and March, Borodin interviewed the relatives and commanders of those killed, and attended their funerals in the town of Asbest. Borodin also had a reputation for investigating prisons and corrupt officials in his native Sverdlovsk Oblast. He was also known for his investigation into the activities of ultra-conservative monarchist organizations. After an interview dedicated to them, he was beaten. On the eve of the attack in October 2017, he received threats that "all the punishment of Heavens" would fall upon him. The day before his fall, Borodin told his friend that he had seen armed, camouflaged men near his flat. Following this, he attempted to find a lawyer. Later, however, Borodin called his friend again and said he had made a mistake, and that he thought the men had been taking part in some kind of training exercise. Following Borodin's death, Polina Rumyantseva, the editor of Novy Den (Borodin's employer), said in an interview that reporters from the paper had visited his apartment and had not seen any signs of a struggle. The investigators believed that Borodin had gone on the balcony to smoke and had fallen. Still, Rumyantseva stated "If there's even a hint of something criminal, we will make it public". On 23 April 2018, the official investigation reported that it had found no reason to initiate a criminal case, although representatives of UNESCO and the OSCE earlier demanded a thorough investigation into the death of Maksim Borodin. A journalist from the Novaya Gazeta newspaper who visited the accident site, noted that the police did not make any interviews with neighbors. Mary Ilyushina, the author of a CNN article, drew parallels with the death of entrepreneur Valery Pshenichny, who was raped, tortured and hanged in pretrial detention. The Investigative Committee of Russia ruled this death a suicide. A few months after Borodin’s death, three journalists were killed in the Central African Republic, who investigated the activities of the Wagner group. Discussing this case, Julia Ioffe said: "It sure seems like a hell of a coincidence that all four Russian investigative journalists that turned up dead in the last few months were investigating Wagner". On 14 January 2019, the Justice for Journalists Foundation of Mikhail Khodorkovsky announced its 2019 grant programme. An investigation into the death of Maksim Borodin was mentioned among three possible investigations, dedicated to the crimes against journalists committed in 2017–2018. See also Battle of Khasham Wagner Group Ivan Safronov References Borodin, Maksim Borodin, Maksim Political history of Russia Borodin, Maksim Borodin, Maksim Yekaterinburg 2018 in Russia

60045222

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Caroline%20Mwatha

Death of Caroline Mwatha

On 6 February 2019, 37-year-old Caroline Mwatha Ochieng’, a Kenyan human rights activist and founder of the Dandora Community Center (which investigates and documents cases of police killings in Dandora), went missing. Her body was found in Nairobi's City mortuary on 12 February where it had been registered under a different name. Police reports established that she had died on 7 February. A post-mortem examination determined that she died due to exsanguination. The bleeding was caused by a rupture at the rear of her uterus, reportedly as the result of an unsafe abortion. The remains of a male fetus were still in the womb, minus a hand. Death Her father and husband told reporters that they did not believe police reports, since they were unaware that she had been pregnant. Patrick Gathara of The Washington Post noted skepticism was warranted, since police had been involved with covering up the murders of human rights defenders in the past. A second, independent autopsy confirmed the cause of death. Amnesty International Kenya stated: "If Mwatha was not killed by State execution, she was killed by a system that allows crude abortion clinics to exist for its failure to provide safe abortion services." Aftermath of death Memorial services were held on 21 February at Uhuru Park's Freedom Corner. They were attended by Chief Justice Willy Mutunga, politician Martha Karua and Nairobi Women Representative Esther Passaris. A Requiem Mass was refused by the Catholic Church because of its opposition to abortion. The funeral was on 23 February in Asembo Bay, Siaya County near her family's home. She is survived by her two children and a husband. Eight people have been arrested on suspicion of involvement in the abortion, which is illegal in Kenya unless the mother's life is at risk. The clinic where the procedure was performed was not licensed to operate. See also List of solved missing person cases References 2010s crimes in Nairobi 2010s missing person cases 2019 in Kenya Abortion-rights movement Criminal justice ethics Deaths by person in Africa Deaths from bleeding Deaths in Kenya February 2019 crimes in Africa Formerly missing people Human rights abuses in Kenya Missing person cases in Africa

60046858

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Asunta%20Basterra

Death of Asunta Basterra

Asunta Yong Fang Basterra Porto (born Fang Yong; 30 September 2000 – 21 September 2013) was a Chinese-born Spanish girl whose body was found in Teo, A Coruña, Galicia, Spain, on 22 September 2013, shortly before her thirteenth birthday. The coroner determined she had died by asphyxiation, and had been given at least twenty-seven Lorazepam pills on the day of her death, more than nine times a high dosage amount for an adult. The investigation into the death became known as the Asunta Basterra case (). Asunta's adoptive parents, Alfonso Basterra and Rosario Porto, were found guilty of her murder on 30 October 2015. According to court documents, the couple periodically drugged their daughter with Lorazepam for three months and finally asphyxiated her before disposing of her body. The parents, who maintained their innocence, were sentenced to eighteen years in prison. The case has attracted widespread media interest in Spain and around the world, as well as a "statement of concern" from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A four-part documentary series about the case debuted in 2017 and was made available internationally on Netflix in 2019. Background Asunta Basterra was born Fang Yong in 2000 in Yongzhou, Hunan, China. At nine months old she was adopted by Alfonso Basterra Camporro (b. 1964) and Maria del Rosario Porto Ortega (b. 1969), an affluent Spanish couple from Santiago de Compostela, Galicia. Asunta was the first Chinese child to be adopted in the city of Santiago and one of the first in all of Galicia. Asunta was said to have been a gifted child, being a talented ballet dancer, violinist, and piano player who skipped a year in school. She was also very close to her maternal grandparents, who died the year before her death. Asunta's adoptive mother, Rosario Porto, came from a prominent Galician family. Her father, lawyer Francisco Porto Mella (d. 2012), was an honorary consul of France. Her mother, María del Socorro Ortega (died 2011), was a highly regarded university lecturer of art history. Porto studied law at the University of Santiago de Compostela and practiced at her father's firm after graduation. She also claimed to have attended the London High School of Law in England, which The Guardian confirmed does not exist. In 1997 she was appointed consul of France, inheriting the role from her father. Porto met journalist Alfonso Basterra, a native of Bilbao, in 1990. The two married in 1996 and lived in a large flat that had been given to Porto by her parents. In 2001 they travelled to China and adopted 9-month-old Asunta from the Guiyang Welfare Institute. In January 2013 the couple separated and Basterra moved to an apartment around the corner from the family flat. Asunta split her time between the two homes, walking the short distance between them. Death and investigation Asunta was first reported missing by her parents at 10:17pm on Saturday 21 September, 2013. They had eaten lunch together at her father's home that afternoon. Asunta was seen on a bank's security camera at 2:00pm walking to her father's house, and appeared on that same security camera at 5:21pm returning home to her mother's flat. Porto was seen on the same security camera walking home at 5:28pm. Porto initially told investigators that she had left home at around 7:00pm, leaving Asunta at home doing homework. She said that she had driven alone to the family's country house in Teo, located about twenty minutes outside Santiago, and that when she returned to her apartment at 9:30 Asunta was missing. Porto said that she called Asunta's father and many of her friends, none of whom had seen her. Investigators later recovered CCTV video footage of Porto and Asunta at a gas station on the route toward Teo at 6:20pm, contradicting Porto's timeline and story that she had left Asunta home that afternoon. After being made aware of the video Porto changed her story, this time saying that Asunta had briefly come with her to the country house, but that she quickly took her back to Santiago because the child had wanted to do homework. Porto claimed that after dropping Asunta off at home, she went to a sporting goods store to buy an item for Asunta's ballet class, but did not go in after realizing that she had left her purse in Teo. Porto claimed she then returned to the country house in Teo to retrieve her purse, then went to a gas station but did not fill her tank because she realized she did not have her discount card. Police examined the video footage from thirty-three security cameras around Santiago and found no video of Porto's car on any of the roads she claimed to have driven on that afternoon. The police in charge of the case came to believe that Porto and Asunta arrived at their house in Teo just after 6pm, and that Porto left the house around 9pm. Asunta's body was discovered in the early morning hours of 22 September 2013, at around 1 a.m., on the side of a small mountain road in Teo, a few kilometers away from the country house. Not long after, Porto and investigators went together to the country house, where Porto was told not to touch anything since the house could be a crime scene. Porto told police that she needed to use the bathroom; an officer followed her upstairs, and found her attempting to retrieve the contents of a wastepaper bin in the bedroom. The bin contained a piece of the same type of orange rope that Asunta's limbs had been tied with when her body was found. Forensic scientists were ultimately unable to determine whether or not the discarded piece had come from the same roll used in the murder. The investigation into Asunta's death was named Operación Nenúfar ("Operation Water Lily") by detectives, who noted that in the moonlight, the girl's body in her white shirt appeared to be floating above the ground like a flower. Documentary A four-part documentary about the case, Lo que la verdad esconde: Caso Asunta ("What the Truth Hides: The Asunta Case"), directed by Elías León Siminiani, premiered on Spanish television on 24 May 2017. It was considered a landmark documentary in Spain, which historically has eschewed the true crime genre. It became available internationally on Netflix in February 2019. See also José Bretón case, murder of siblings by their father in Andalusia Anna and Olivia case, murder of siblings by their father in Canary Islands Alcàsser Girls, high-profile murder case of Spanish girls in Valencia Typhaine case, a case of child abuse and murder that occurred in France in 2009 References 2010s murders in Spain 2013 crimes in Spain 2013 murders in Europe 2013 in Galicia (Spain) Deaths from asphyxiation Female murder victims September 2013 crimes in Europe September 2013 events in Europe Child abuse resulting in death Deaths by person in Spain Filicides Incidents of violence against girls Infanticide People murdered in Spain Spanish murder victims

60102873

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Brandon%20Mendoza

Death of Brandon Mendoza

Brandon Mendoza was a Mesa, Arizona, police officer who was killed in 2014 by an undocumented immigrant driving drunk in the wrong lane. Later investigation found that the driver had a lengthy criminal history and was driving without a license. Mendoza was posthumously promoted, and a foundation was set up in his honor. His death became a part of the broader public debate regarding US immigration policy. Death Mendoza died on May 12, 2014, in a head-on collision with Raul Silva-Corona, who had a blood alcohol content of 0.24%, or three-times the legal limit. Silva, 42, had driven more than in the opposite lane; several police officers had tried to stop or ram his vehicle. Silva, an undocumented immigrant to the United States, had a criminal record dating back to 1994, which included charges for burglary and assaulting a police officer. He was convicted of a conspiracy charge, but missed his hearing sentence and lived as a fugitive. He was apprehended by the US Border Patrol in 2012. Following Mendoza's death, as Silva had no driver's license, law enforcement had difficulty determining his criminal record. Silva-Corona also died in the crash. Officer Mendoza, 32, and a 13-year veteran of the police department, was off-duty, having finished his work shift, and was driving his own car when he was hit. Mendoza was one of the first officers to volunteer to wear a body camera. Aftermath Mendoza was posthumously promoted to the rank of sergeant. Following the incident, Mary Ann Mendoza, his mother, wrote a letter to then President Barack Obama requesting that "illegal aliens" not be allowed to register vehicles. Mendoza's mother shared her story with then-candidate Donald Trump and appeared with him in a television panel together with other victims' families and at an August 2016 speech in Phoenix, Arizona, where Trump laid out his administration's immigration proposals. Mendoza's mother is the Founder of the national Angel Families group on her son's behalf. She has appeared at several Angel Families rallies and a range of other public events. Mendoza's mother was a guest speaker at the 2016 Republican National Convention. She worked with the Trump administration to establish the Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement office. In 2020, Arizona congressman Andy Biggs announced she would attend the year's State of the Union address as his guest. She was scheduled to speak at the 2020 Republican National Convention. Her appearance, however, was canceled following social media posts which included anti-semitic conspiracy theories related to the QAnon group. Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh confirmed that Mendoza was dropped. "We have removed the scheduled video from the convention lineup and it will no longer run this week," he said in a statement to ABC News. Mendoza Field In 2014, the City of Mesa honored Mendoza by deciding to rename the baseball field in his name, though at the honoring ceremony at the field, the final name had not yet been selected. In 2015, in a ceremony at the field, it was formally dedicated as "Mendoza Field." References Road incident deaths in Arizona Mesa, Arizona 2014 in Arizona

60280986

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20a%20Poetess

Death of a Poetess

Death of a Poetess is a 2017 Israeli film, directed and written by Efrat Mishori and Dana Goldberg. The lead roles in the film are played by Evgenia Dodina and Samira Saraya. The film premiered at the 2017 Jerusalem Film Festival. Plot summary The film is in black-and-white, proceeding along two timelines that meet at the film's ending. The first timeline follows Leni Sadeh (Evgenia Dodina), a world-renowned researcher, as she completes errand after errand, with a seeming sense of urgency – she goes to the hair salon, picks up a bathrobe she ordered, meets with a publisher at a cafe to give him a manuscript. In parallel, Yasmine Nasser (Samira Saraya) is being interrogated at a police station. Yasmine is facing the camera/audience, and the interrogator is only heard, off-camera, with increasing intensity. Yasmine is a nurse at an elder-care facility, and her story is revealed in the course of the interrogation: She left her home to supposedly go to work the night shift, but ended up at a beach-front bar, where she met Leni in a fraught pickup scene. The two women share their respective despairs – Leni has an unrelenting sense of regret about someone she won't talk about, and Yasmine feels trapped by her role as wife and mother, which is not her desire but rather the societal expectation of her. The encounter between the two women ends in Leni's death, which in hindsight it seems was the point of her entire day of arranging her affairs. However, the interrogator refuses to accept that Yasmine – who does not live up to his expectations as a wife and mother, nor as an Arab woman – is not responsible for the death of the respected academic. He continues to harass and threaten her, until she breaks down and takes responsibility for the death. The film includes poetry by Mishori, and both of the film's main characters are unpublished poets. Reception In Israel, the film received mixed reviews, dealing primarily with the structure of the film and the unconventional filming techniques. Erez Dvora, in a ynet review, praised the film's daring and dramatic peaks, though he thought the plot development towards the end was out of sync with the rest of the film. He had high praise for the performances of both lead actresses, in particular for Saraya's improvisational skills. Uri Klein, however, writing for Ha'aretz, felt that the film had a "strained" quality, and faltered at times. He also had high praise for Saraya and Dodina. In her Hollywood Reporter review, Deborah Young commended the film as "a beautiful example of how a memorable film can be made on a shoestring". She especially approved of the treatment of Saraya's character, as well as her acting and poetry. Awards Saraya won the Best Actress award at the Jerusalem Film Festival for her portrayal of Yasmine Nasser in the film. On January 9, 2018 it was announced that the film was accepted for screening at the Göteborg Film Festival in Sweden, Scandinavia's largest film festival, where the film held its international premier, in the Ingmar Bergman section of the festival. See also List of LGBT-related films directed by women References External links Israeli LGBT-related films Israeli black-and-white films Israeli drama films Israeli films 2017 films 2017 drama films 2017 LGBT-related films

60821634

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Don%20Henry%20and%20Kevin%20Ives

Death of Don Henry and Kevin Ives

On August 23, 1987, the bodies of 16-year-old Don Henry and 17-year-old Kevin Ives were hit by a cargo train in Alexander, Arkansas as they lay on the tracks. The train driver attempted to stop and blew the horn, but the momentum of the train carried it over the bodies. It was later discovered during autopsy that Don Henry had been stabbed in the back and Kevin Ives’ skull had been crushed prior to being run over. The deaths were initially ruled an accident, apparently the result of the boys' sleeping deeply on the tracks while intoxicated by marijuana. The parents of the boys insisted on a second autopsy, and after exhumation it was ruled that homicide was likely. Later, another pathologist ruled that Don Henry's shirt showed evidence of a stab wound. Background About 4:00 a.m. on August 23, 1987, workers on a 75-car, 6,000-ton Union Pacific freight train, more than a mile long and traveling at a rate more than 50 miles per hour, en route to Little Rock, Arkansas, spotted two boys lying motionless across the tracks, about 300 feet ahead. Those on the train also stated that the bodies were partly covered by a green tarpaulin, though police disputed the existence of any such tarp and none was ever recovered from the scene. Nearby were a .22 caliber rifle and a flashlight. The boys did not move, despite the roar of the train, its brakes, and its emergency horn. More than 1,000 feet of the decelerating train crossed the point where the bodies lay before the brakes brought to it a stop. Those on the train reported the incident to railroad and law enforcement authorities. By 4:40 a.m., police arrived on the scene. Police never found a tarp. The boys had reportedly left home about midnight to go hunting. The gun and flashlight near the bodies suggested they were using a hunting technique known as spotlighting, which involves blinding the prey with bright light before shooting it, and is illegal in their area. Autopsies The state medical examiner, Dr. Fahmy Malak, ruled the deaths an accident as a result of marijuana intoxication, saying the boys had smoked the equivalent of 20 marijuana cigarettes and fell asleep on the tracks. The parents did not accept this finding and conducted their own investigation. In March 1988, Dr. James Garriot of San Antonio offered a second opinion and was skeptical of the findings about marijuana. A second autopsy by Georgia medical examiner Dr. Joseph Burton found the equivalent of one or two marijuana cigarettes, not 20. A grand jury ruled the deaths a "probable homicide." When it was found that Don Henry's shirt contained evidence of a stab wound to the back, and Kevin Ives' skull may have been crushed by his own rifle, the ruling was changed to "definite homicide." Don Henry's father also noted that he did not believe his son would have risked his gun getting scratched by laying it on gravel. Suspects and theories One week before the boys died, a man wearing military fatigues was spotted not far from the train tracks. When police officer Danny Allen attempted to stop him, the man opened fire and managed to disappear into the night. On the same night the boys died, a similar-looking man dressed in military fatigues was spotted nearby. The usual theory given about the boys' deaths, believed by Linda Ives, involves drug trafficking. The theory is that the boys came upon a drug drop from an airplane similar to Barry Seal's operations near Mena and were murdered. Dan Harmon, a prosecutor of the case, who was later arrested for dealing drugs, is one person implicated in the murder. Keith McCaskle, also implicated in the murder, was stabbed to death by an unknown attacker on November 10, 1988. The case was profiled on the television program Unsolved Mysteries. See also List of unsolved murders Further reading Leveritt, Mara. The Boys on the Tracks: Death, Denial, and a Mother's Crusade to Bring Her Son's Killers to Justice. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999. . References External links Encyclopedia of Arkansas 1987 deaths 1987 in Arkansas 1987 in rail transport 1987 murders in the United States August 1987 events in the United States August 1987 crimes Deaths by person in the United States Male murder victims Murdered American children People from Bryant, Arkansas Unsolved murders in the United States Deaths by stabbing in the United States Incidents of violence against boys People murdered in Arkansas History of Pulaski County, Arkansas

60959488

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Eren%20B%C3%BClb%C3%BCl

Death of Eren Bülbül

Eren Bülbül (1 January 2002 - 11 August 2017) was a Turkish 15-year-old boy from Maçka, Trabzon who was killed during the clashes between the PKK and the Turkish security forces in part of a Turkish military patrol during the Turkish-PKK conflict. Life The son of Ayşe and Hasan Bülbül, Bülbül was one of 12 children. He spent his entire life in Maçka, Trabzon, as he went to local Çatak Primary School and later Maçka Anatolian Religious High School. He lost his father in 2016. He worked in his family's garden and liked sports, an ambitious fan of Trabzonspor. Death According to the Turkish sources, on August 11, 2017, a group of PKK militants entered a house to obtain supplies after clashes with police. Bülbül saw them and informed the gendarmerie. He accompanied the police, showing them the house which the militants had entered. As a result of an attack by the PKK, both Bülbül and Gendarmerie Sergeant Major Ferhat Gedik were killed. After his death, 41 bullets were taken out from Senior Master Sergeant Ferhat Gedik's body. Reactions Later, Eren's mother Ayşe Bülbül said that his death had become the sorrow of the whole country. Additionally, his mother criticised the Turkish security forces who had taken her son with themselves to show where PKK militants were hiding, saying: ''My son would've liked to be a martyr but a martyr in the military, not in front of his door.''. The party leader of the Republican Peoples' Party (CHP) Kemal Kiliçdaroğlu as well as Serpil Kemalbay of the Peoples Democratic Party (HDP) condemned the death of Bülbül. Legacy On 25 June 2019, Turkish Airlines launched a survey on Twitter to name the new Boeing 787 aircraft. Among the options suggested in the survey were ancient city names such as Perga, Assos, Göbekli Tepe, and Zeugma, but Eren Bülbül's name was not included in the list. When many Twitter users initiated a campaign to put the name Eren Bülbül on the plane, Turkish Airlines responded by naming the plane after Bülbül's hometown Maçka. In August 2021 Turkish manufacturer of special purpose and military vehicles, Katmerciler, presented a new tactical vehicle, Katmerciler Eren, named after Eren Bülbül. References 2017 crimes in Turkey 2017 murders in Asia 2010s murders in Turkey August 2017 events in Turkey August 2017 crimes in Asia History of Trabzon Province People from Maçka Deaths by firearm in Turkey People murdered in Turkey 2017 deaths Murdered Turkish children Incidents of violence against boys 2002 births Kurdish–Turkish conflict (1978–present)

61319139

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Kenneka%20Jenkins

Death of Kenneka Jenkins

19-year-old Kenneka Jenkins was found dead inside a latched freezer of the Crowne Plaza Chicago O'Hare hotel n Rosemont, Illinois, after attending a party there on September 8, 2017. The medical examiner's report found Jenkins' death to be accidental. Alcohol and topiramate found in her system were thought to have hastened the effects of hypothermia sustained by Jenkins remaining inside the freezer. While the Rosemont police department did not suspect foul play, they stated that their investigation was incomplete. Jenkins' family and friends criticized the initial police response, and a lawsuit was subsequently filed against the hotel and others. Incident Kenneka Jenkins was with friends at a party that took place in Room 926 of the Crowne Plaza Chicago O'Hare hotel in Rosemont, a suburb of Chicago. The party started at 11:30 p.m. on Friday, September 8, 2017. An acquaintance who arrived at the party noticed that Jenkins appeared to be swaying back and forth as she embraced him in a hug. Several witnesses reported seeing her drink cognac, but did not see her partake of any marijuana or other drugs. Another witness reported that Jenkins "wasn't acting like her usual self", noting that she would dance a little, but later appeared to be sad and went to go sit down. She was briefly seen with others walking through one of the halls in the hotel. Camera footage later surfaced of Jenkins staggering near the front desk at 3:20 a.m. About one hour later, Jenkins' friends contacted her mother, Teresa Martin, who arrived at the hotel around 5:30 a.m. to assist in the search. She proceeded to knock on many guests' doors from the top floor to the bottom, until a hotel employee called 911 to complain. Hotel management stated that they could not provide access to video footage from the night before until someone reported Jenkins missing to the police, who officially reported her missing to hotel management at 1:15 p.m. Saturday. Family members later characterized the initial police response as lacking in urgency. A first check of camera footage that focused on entrances and exits turned up nothing, but at 10 p.m., police spotted footage of Jenkins stumbling through the hotel. Her whereabouts remained unknown until she was found in the hotel's freezer and pronounced dead at 12:48 a.m. Sunday. She was found lying face down on her side, with one shoe off. There was no sign of trauma other than a small cut on her foot. The temperature inside the freezer was found to be approximately two hours after the doors had been left open. Investigation The freezer, which was on and working, was described as a walk-in freezer within a walk-in cooler, and was part of an unused kitchen. Lights were apparently turned off in both chambers when she entered them. Questions remained as to why the freezer was turned on, although it was reportedly being leased out to a restaurant using space in the hotel. Motion-detecting security cameras showed Jenkins staggering, apparently intoxicated, through the hotel's hallways, eventually arriving at the kitchen, where she rounded a corner towards the freezer. The freezer door itself was out of the camera's sight. On October 6, 2017, the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office ruled Jenkins' death an accident. The autopsy report found no illegal drugs in Jenkins' system, but her blood alcohol level was found to be 0.112. Traces of topiramate, a drug used to treat epilepsy and migraine headaches, were found in her system, although she was never prescribed this medication. Topiramate taken together with alcohol can enhance the effects of both, and hasten the onset of hypothermia, the presence of which was confirmed by lesions found in Jenkins' stomach. Brain swelling was also observed, but this condition was not associated with the cause of death. The Rosemont police department issued a statement the same day, saying that while no foul play was suspected, their investigation had not yet been completed. Jenkins' friends' stories remained inconsistent as to exactly what had happened after the party. After she went missing, one friend texted another about how Jenkins was drunk and missing. The reply came back, "Find Kenneka," and "I can't believe ya'll lost her." They told Martin that Jenkins had gone downstairs with some people, but they left her alone to go and retrieve a cellphone from one of the hotel rooms. Litigation In 2018, the family's attorney, Geoffrey Fieger, filed a $50 million lawsuit against the hotel and others. He displayed photos of a freezer door, showing that it had a lock button from the outside, and suggested someone may have inadvertently locked the freezer door. This was contradicted by the security camera, which recorded no other footage since August 30, nor any after Jenkins' footage. The photo seemed not to be of the actual freezer door, which latched shut but apparently had no lock. A white circular handle on the inside, which would have enabled a person to exit on their own, appeared to be in good working order. The attorney asserted that the hotel had the means to lock off the kitchen area, as it had a pair of plywood doors with a padlock. References External links Kenneka Jenkins at Find a Grave 2017 in Illinois Deaths by person in the United States Deaths from hypothermia Ongoing legal cases

61482523

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Thomas%20Kelly

Death of Thomas Kelly

Thomas Andreae Kelly (January 6, 1994 – July 9, 2012) was an eighteen-year-old male from Sydney, Australia, who was victim to a random one-punch assault as he walked down Victoria Street in Kings Cross, on July 7, 2012. Kelly was taken to St. Vincent's Hospital with serious head injuries and remained in intensive care for two days. He never regained consciousness, and died at 7:59pm on July 9, 2012. His attacker, nineteen year old Kieran Loveridge, was charged and convicted of manslaughter in 2014. Kelly's death caused public outrage and received widespread media coverage. The case helped initiate legal reforms to New South Wales drinking laws, which saw the introduction of mandatory sentencing and lockout laws in 2014. These changes have been criticised by legal experts and members of the public, who believe they will not be effective deterrents and may impact Sydney's nightlife economy. Incident On July 7, 2012, Kelly was on a night out with his girlfriend and another female companion. At 10:03pm the group passed the Mercure Hotel when a drunken Kieran Loveridge stepped out and punched the head of Kelly as he spoke on a mobile phone. Loveridge struck Kelly near the nose area which forced him to fall backwards and collide with the pavement, inducing a state of unconsciousness. The two young men were unknown to one another, and the attack was unprovoked and random. The impact of the concrete on Kelly's skull inflicted a fatal fracture and subsequent brain trauma. Immediately following the assault, Kelly became limp and comatose as a pool of blood formed around him. Shortly after the incident a witness observed Loveridge fleeing in the direction of the Victoria Street and Darlinghurst intersection. A second witness stated that Loveridge appeared "angry and possibly intoxicated". At about 10:10pm, paramedics responded to a call that a young male had been punched and was now unresponsive on Victoria Street in Sydney. They arrived on the scene seven minutes after the attack occurred, with one paramedic describing Kelly's condition as ‘’severe and life threatening’’. He was fixed with a spinal collar and transferred to a stretcher before being taken to St. Vincent's Hospital by ambulance at 10:33pm. Hospital staff intubated and ventilated the heavily unconscious Kelly, where he then underwent emergency surgery after a cranial scan uncovered acute hemorrhaging and a severe skull fracture. Kelly was placed in the Intensive Care Unit for two days until his family consented to switching off his life support. Preceding the attack, Loveridge had been involved in a string of other violent and aggressive altercations. At about 7:30pm, Loveridge and his friends arrived at the Star City Casino, having already consumed a substantial amount of alcohol. The group then traveled to the Cargo Bar in Darling Harbour where security denied them entry. The five males were then admitted to another bar where more alcohol was consumed. Following this, the group took a taxi to Brougham Street in Kings Cross, where they continued to move between nightclubs. At about 9:45pm, Loveridge appeared to become agitated and on edge.The first assault took place at 10:00pm as Marco Compagnoni walked along Victoria Street with other companions. The two males were complete strangers and as they approached one another Loveridge proceeded to elbow Compagnoni on the left eye which lacerated the skin and drew blood. This encounter occurred shortly before and near the area where Kelly was attacked. At 10:15pm, soon after the assault on Kelly, David Nofoaluma arrived on Bayswater Road outside The Club, where he attempted to greet a disgruntled Loveridge. Loveridge commenced to swing at Nofoaluma's head, before being restrained by another companion and then apologising. Loveridge then stated, "I swear I'm going to bash someone tonight". Over the remainder of the evening, Loveridge assaulted three other males: Matthew Serrao, Rhyse Saliba and Aden Gazi. All three victims were unknown to Loveridge prior to the attacks. Loveridge was on conditional bail at the time of the assaults. Court proceedings Loveridge made several comments regarding the death of Kelly in the days following the attack. On July 8, 2012, a news story on Kelly's condition was broadcast on television, to which Loveridge appeared worried, asking "was that one of my fights? I don't know". He also expressed concern over whether he matched the description of the offender's appearance. On July 12, 2012, Loveridge confided in the coach of his rugby league team, making statements such as "I don't remember what happened that night, it could have been me. I was drunk". Arrest On July 18, 2012, police arrested Loveridge at the Belmore Sports Ground at 7:20pm. He was charged with the murder of Kelly at the Campsie police station. In March 2013, representatives of Loveridge offered a guilty plea to manslaughter and four counts of assault if the charge of murder was revoked. After deliberation, the Director of Public Prosecutions accepted the deal and Loveridge was committed to the Central Local Court for sentencing before being submitted to the Supreme Court on September 6, 2013. Trial Loveridge pleaded guilty to all counts he was charged with and the trial went directly to sentencing. The judge considered both aggravating and mitigating factors when deciding on a penalty. Loveridge's previous criminal record, the unprovoked nature of the attacks and drunken conduct were deemed as aggravating the circumstances of the crime. Loveridge's disadvantaged background, remorse and prospects for rehabilitation were considered as a point of leniency. Loveridge received a 25% sentencing discount for pleading guilty. At the conclusion of the hearing, the judge sentenced Loveridge to a total of seven years and two months, with parole eligibility after five years and two months. The sentences for the four other assaults amounted to a fixed term of eighteen months imprisonment. The individual sentence for the death of Thomas Kelly consisted of a non-parole period of four years, with an additional two-year term. Loveridge would be eligible for release on parole on November 18, 2017. The initial sentence was met with frustration from Kelly's parents, who branded the punishment "an absolute joke". Loveridge was remanded in custody up until the lodging of an appeal in 2014 by the Director of Public Prosecutions. Appeal In response to public outcry, the original sentence was appealed in 2014 by the Director of Public Prosecutions on behalf of the Crown. The appeal contended that the original sentence was "manifestly inadequate" and failed to consider the need for general deterrence. Other grounds of the appeal included errors in the examination and classification of Loveridge's crimes. A hearing was held in the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal on May 7, 2014, and was conducted by a three-judge panel lead by Chief Justice Thomas Bathurst. The hearing found several errors in the original sentence imposed by Justice Campbell. The Crown overturned the previous legal ruling to uphold the grounds of the appeal and re-sentenced Loveridge for all five of his offences. He was handed down a seven-year non-parole internment for the death of Kelly, while the overall penalty was increased to a minimum term of ten years and two months. He will be eligible for parole on November 18, 2022. In reasoning the outcomes of the appeal, the judges issued a statement:"The use of lethal force against a vulnerable, unsuspecting and innocent victim on a public street in the course of alcohol-fuelled aggression … called for express and demonstrable application of the element of general deterrence as a powerful factor on sentence in this case". These outcomes were met with relief from Kelly's family. At the conclusion of the appeal, Kathy Kelly stated "at last we can focus on our family and on the memory of our son, rather than on the whole court process". Loveridge is currently serving his sentence in the Silverwater Correctional Complex, where he has since been involved in a brawl with another inmate. He was charged with affray and referred to the Burwood Local Court. Reforms There was widespread community backlash at the death of Kelly and NSW drinking laws came under heavy scrutiny. The death of Daniel Christie in 2014 also contributed to growing demand for law reform. In response to mounting pressure, the NSW government committed to introducing "one-punch" laws to regulate and deter alcohol-fueled violence. On the 5 February 2014, the government passed the Crimes and Other Legislation Amendment (Assault and Intoxication) Bill 2014 (NSW). The legislation introduced a minimum eight-year sentence for alcohol-related assaults causing death, 10:00pm closing times for bottle shops and 1:30am lockouts and 3:00am closing times for all licensed venues within the CBD and Kings Cross. These changes exempted the Star Casino, which has one of the highest violence rates in Sydney. Police were also given the power to search any persons suspected of committing a drug or alcohol-fueled offence. Barry O'Farrell, the NSW Premier at the time, said of the reforms "I'm confident that the package that cabinet approved yesterday will make the difference and start the change that the community seeks to have implemented". Those in support of mandatory sentencing argue that it provides legal consistency, incapacitation and general deterrence. Since 2014, there has been a 26% reduction in alcohol-fueled violence in lockout zones. However this has coincided with a 17% increase in assaults outside these areas. In 2016, the NSW government declared that it would be adjusting lockout laws for live music venues by half an hour. In May 2019, the NSW parliamentary committee announced it would review Sydney's lockout laws. The commission will determine if the laws require maintenance in order to balance both a safe city and the need for a nighttime economy. Premier Gladys Berejiklian said of the review, "after five years of operation, it makes sense for us to now take stock and examine whether any further changes should be made". Opposition to law reform These legislative changes were met with skepticism by some legal experts. Mandatory sentencing was accused of minimising judicial discretion and impacting on the sentencing process. Those in opposition argue that compulsory sentences deny offenders the right to equality by removing proportionate punishment. Phillip Boulten, President of the NSW Bar Association, said of the new laws "it isn't effective, it's not a deterrent, it just leads to more people being locked up for no good purpose". There has been strong opposition to lockout laws, particularly from owners of nightclubs and pubs in Sydney's CBD and Kings Cross.The reforms have been criticised for attempting to reduce violence by restricting the liberties of law-abiding individuals. The Australian Hotels Association claimed that stricter laws will impact on nighttime economy in the Sydney area. Since the introduction of these reforms, several bars and nightclubs have closed with owners blaming lockout laws for damaging the nightlife industry. On September 5, 2015, a collective of 1000 members from Reclaim the Streets protested lockout laws. The group claimed that harsher legislation had not reduced alcohol-fueled violence but rather forced it into neighboring suburbs, such as Newtown. In October 2015, Keep Sydney Open organised a protest attended by 15,000 people in opposition to lockout laws. A second rally was organised in 2016, and was attended by 4,000 people. A third rally was planned for 2017 but was then shut down by police. See also Crime in New South Wales Tourism in Australia References Australian victims of crime 1994 births 2012 deaths 2012 crimes in Australia 2010s in Sydney July 2012 events in Australia Deaths by beating Deaths from bleeding Deaths from head injury Deaths by person in Australia Violence in Sydney

61483646

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Flora%20Prior

Death of Flora Prior

Flora Prior (1921—1947) was an Australian woman who was raped and killed by three men on the banks of the Fitzroy River in Rockhampton, Queensland on 25 February 1947. 18-year-old lad porter Ernest Joseph Davidson, 21-year-old station hand Roy Joseph Howard and 20-year-old labourer Mark Mathieson Dean were convicted of Prior's manslaughter. The case drew attention from the national press due to the sexual and violent nature of Prior's death, but also because of the actions of Judge Frank Brennan during the trial, including his angry response to those sitting in the public gallery and his subsequent ban on members of the public viewing the trial. The sentence Brennan imposed on the three men responsible, which Brennan acknowledged was lenient, also prompted anger from the victim's family, the press, and the public. A successful appeal by the Attorney-General of Queensland more than doubled the original sentence. Investigation A man walking along Quay Street discovered a woman's body on the riverbank between William and Denham Street, less than 150 metres from the Commercial Hotel in the city centre at approximately 8:15am on 26 February 1947. Initial police investigations indicated the woman had been suffocated, possibly by a hand placed over her mouth and fingers closing her nostrils. Police believed she had been murdered on 25 February 1947, just before midnight. Police found the body belonged to 25-year-old Flora Prior, who had been staying at the People's Palace in Denison Street, Rockhampton, and who had been employed as a domestic servant for Alpha cattle station owner Carrie May Everingham. Originally from Cooktown, Prior had arrived in Rockhampton from Alpha six weeks prior for a holiday, but had recommenced working for Everingham upon Everingham's arrival in Rockhampton. Prior's funeral was held on 28 February 1947. Fifty people gathered outside the funeral parlour on the corner of Alma and Archer streets to watch the hearse and mourning coach leave for the funeral, with a group also gathering to watch the vehicles cross the Fitzroy Bridge on their way to the North Rockhampton Cemetery where Prior's body was buried. Court proceedings Davidson, Howard and Dean were arrested and charged with wilful murder. They appeared in the Petty Session Court on 6 March 1947, with 100 people peering through windows and doors of the courthouse attempting to view the proceedings. The three men were remanded in custody until 13 March 1947, despite opposition from the men's defence counsel. In court proceedings at Rockhampton Petty Sessions Court on 13 March 1947, police presented a statement written by Davidson which included confessions to Prior's rape by the three men who had been walking throughout the city, visiting various local hotels, at around 11pm on 25 February 1947. According to testimony, Davidson spoke to Prior and the two went to the riverbank where they "had relations" before being joined by Dean and Howard. Davidson confessed that when Prior had screamed, Dean held a handkerchief over her mouth while Howard and Dean sexually assaulted her. In his statement, Davidson said when Prior collapsed, he believed she had fainted and did not know until the next morning that she had died. A detective alleged that when he saw Davidson, Howard and Dean together, they each admitted to raping Prior and holding a handkerchief over her mouth, while Howard also admitted to hitting Prior after she began pulling his hair. A detective also testified that after locating Dean and Howard in an empty house in Rossmoya, Dean confessed to meeting up with Howard and Davidson after having seen Davidson and Prior "struggle" across Quay Street to the riverbank. Dean also said when he saw the girl stop struggling during the sexual assault, he removed the handkerchief from her mouth to feel for breath, but Davidson told him that she had only "passed out". The detective told the court Dean said the men attempted to revive Prior but were unable to do so and left her body on the riverbank. Several witnesses testified that they had seen the men with Prior, prior to her death. A doctor testified that a great amount of violence would have been necessary to cause Prior's injuries and that the condition of her body was consistent with a woman who had been raped. Following several days of evidence, the three men were committed to stand trial in the Rockhampton Supreme Court for the wilful murder of Flora Prior. The trial of commenced on 12 May 1947 and concluded on 14 May 1947, during which a number of witnesses were called to give evidence in front of a 12-person jury. Public gallery ban During the trial, Judge Frank Brennan lost patience with the large number of people in the courtroom's public gallery, admonishing all those who came to observe the trial. Brennan ordered them to go home to "busy yourselves with some useful and necessary employment or occupation rather than remain in court and steep your minds in low, sexual depravity", banning all members of the public from the court and ordering police officers to admit only those closely associated with the case and members of the press. Brennan later accused the public of having "warped minds" and said they should not be allowed to "satisfy their morbid curiosity". This was the second time in three months Brennan had lost patience with members of the public in his courtroom. Brennan had taken issue with members of the public gallery during a separate non-related rape case the previous February. On a previous occasion, Brennan lectured those in the public gallery stating "this is a filthy case - one of rape. Young girls should be home doing housework and the young men might be better employed cleaning up the backyard." When only a handful of people left, Brennan ordered police to clear the gallery, and those remaining showed reluctance to leave, Brennan angrily exclaimed, "so you won't go? What must morals be coming to. Clear the gallery!". The gallery was eventually cleared of members of the public and the case proceeded. Verdict At the conclusion of the trial, the jury was advised that there was insufficient evidence for a verdict of wilful murder, with only murder, manslaughter or acquittal being permissible. The jury found all three men guilty of manslaughter. After the jury's verdict was read, Brennan said that because the jury had chosen to be lenient, he too must be lenient in his sentencing, and sentenced the men to seven years imprisonment. Sentencing criticism Brennan's decision to pass a lenient sentence despite the violent nature of Prior's death was met with widespread criticism from the victim's family, the community and the press. This included a scathing editorial in Brisbane's Courier-Mail newspaper, which prompted a rebuke from the defence counsel. The ensuing anger at the lenient sentence prompted an appeal by Attorney-General David Gledson, after which the sentences for all three men were increased to 15 years imprisonment following a unanimous Court of Criminal Appeal decision. Chief Justice Neal Macrossan said he agreed with the opinion expressed after the trial, and that it could only be dealt with by sentences which were much more severe than those imposed by Brennan. Brennan left Rockhampton four months later, after having served as a judge in Rockhampton since 1925. References Manslaughter in Australia Rape in Australia

61817702

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Lizzy%20Seeberg

Death of Lizzy Seeberg

Lizzy Seeberg was a 19 year old freshman at St. Mary's College when she committed suicide, after accusing a Notre Dame football player named Prince Shembo of sexual assault. After she filed a complaint with the police she received several frightening texts from a friend of the accused like "Don't do anything you would regret, messing with Notre Dame football is a bad idea." She died by suicide that September, 10 days after making the complaint to the campus police. 13 members of the Seeberg family have attended either Notre Dame or St. Mary's. Prosecutors did not file criminal charges due to Lizzy not being alive to testify and also because of what they described as inconsistencies in witness accounts and cellphone records. The school determined that Lizzy lied because she said the player stopped attacking her after receiving a call or a text, but phone records showed that it was the accused who called his friend. An expert from the police department told The Washington Post that victims often get some details mixed up because of the way the brain processes information in traumatic situations. Prince Shembo During the 2014 NFL Scouting Combine, Prince Shembo admitted that as a Notre Dame student in 2010, he was accused of sexual battery against Seeberg and said that he is innocent of the accusation. Seeberg's father responded that Notre Dame was negligent in investigating Seeberg's accusation because they were protecting Shembo. Complaint and investigation In her statement to the police Lizzy told them "I didn't feel safe in his room....he proceeded to grab my face and started to kiss me. Tears started rolling down my face because I didn't know what to do...I felt so scared, I couldn't move." At that time of her death investigators still had not interviewed the accused, which they did 15 days after she made the complaint. In response to the families complaints about Notre Dame's investigation the university issued a statement saying "we have great sympathy for a grieving family that may believe our investigation was insufficient, but we also respectfully and wholeheartedly disagree with that contention." However, the university had investigated Lizzy herself, including speaking with a former roommate at another school that she had previously had some disagreement with. Media At a closed door hearing held after the story made headlines in the national media the accused football player was found "not responsible" and was not suspended from the team. Seeberg's death or accusations were not publicly known until the story was broken by the Chicago Tribune. See also Vanderbilt rape case References Saint Mary's College (Indiana) Suicides in Indiana Campus sexual assault 2010 suicides History of women in Indiana

61899264

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Darwin%20Dormitorio

Death of Darwin Dormitorio

Darwin Dioso Dormitorio (May 6, 1999 September 18, 2019) died as the result of maltreatment at the Philippine Military Academy (PMA), Baguio, Benguet, Philippines. He was laid to rest on September 25, 2019 in his hometown of Cagayan de Oro and was given full military honors. In 2019, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), along with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), announced plans to investigate his death, and a House of Representatives resolution was filed seeking a congressional inquiry into the incident. In 2020, two PMA cadets were indicted for murder and three PMA doctors were also charged with participation in the crime. Cadet background Cadet 4th class Dormitorio, who would have been a member of PMA Class 2023, was a 20-year old plebe of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA), the military school of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). His father, retired Army Col. William Dormitorio, is a graduate of PMA Marangal Class of 1974. Dormitorio was the youngest of the three children and his parents described him as "very kind" and "just quiet." Before admittance into the PMA, Dormitorio was a freshman Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering student at Xavier University – Ateneo de Cagayan. Hazing incident Initial reports indicated that Dormitorio died from continuous vomiting after complaining of stomach pain while in his barracks in Fort Del Pilar, Baguio City. However, subsequent reports revealed that he was found unconscious in Room 209 at the PMA's Mayo Hall Annex, at around 3:40 AM of September 17, 2019. He was still rushed to the Fort del Pilar Hospital in Baguio City but was declared dead on arrival at around 5:15 AM. According to the PMA report, his cause of death was "blunt force trauma." Dormitorio reportedly wrote a letter in late August 2019 telling his parents that he was confined in the hospital but was doing fine as he was adjusting to life in the PMA. The letter later circulated on social media. He told them that they can visit him but if they weren't available, a visit from his brother or sister would be fine. He asked his parents for extra money to purchase uniforms, and asked that his brother or sister bring him pizza and doughnuts should one of them visit him. He also told his family that he missed them and Brando, their pet Doberman. He gave the letter to another cadet's mother so that it could reach his parents. The letter prompted Dormitorio's brother Dexter to visit him in the hospital on August 25, 2019. Dormitorio also wrote a report of the incident that happened on the night of August 21, 2019, detailing the punishment he got from PMA Cadets 3rd Class Shalimar Imperial and Felix Lumbag after spending half of his allowance. This was taken as an offense by the upperclassman cadets. Consequently, he was made to perform "pumping exercises" and "bridge under bunks." Dormitorio fell down several times during one of these punishments, which prompted Lumbag to punch him in the ribs. On September 17, 2019, he was sent back to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with urinary tract infection and was later discharged the same day. According to Col. Allen Rae Co, Chief of Baguio Police Provincial Office, the victim was beaten up by the three suspects for losing Cadet First Class Axl Rey Sanopao's boots. Sanopao then ordered Imperial and Lumbag to "punish" the victim for not being able to find his boots. He was allegedly maltreated in the evening of September 17, 2019 by the two new suspects, who electrocuted his genitals using a taser flashlight. Suspects On September 26, 2019, the police identified but refused to reveal the names of two more PMA upperclassmen as additional suspects in Dormitorio's death, along with Sanopao, Imperial, and Lumbag. The police are expected to file a case against the suspects for violating Republic Act 1105 or the Anti-Hazing Act of 2018 and murder, as it was established that the suspects had been planning to harm the victim since August 19, 2019. A 2nd Class cadet was also added to the list of suspects on September 27, 2019, and another cadet was added on September 29, bringing the total to seven. The said suspect, who was also not identified, was the one who kicked the victim prior to his hospital confinement on September 1, 2019. The cadets were Cadet Imperial, Cadet Lumbay and Cadet Manalo. In popular culture This story was featured on the docudrama program Imbestigador in its 41st episode, "Dormitorio." Darwin Dormitorio was portrayed by Martin del Rosario, while his brother Dexter Dormitorio was portrayed by Biboy Ramirez. Reactions Government During a press briefing on September 23, 2019, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said that President Rodrigo Duterte was "angry" about the hazing incident, which occurred just a year after he signed the Anti-Hazing Act of 2018 into law. The President then vowed to deliver justice for the victim. However, a year after signing the law, Duterte stated in a press conference that removing hazing in educational institutions is impossible, describing such measure as "permanent insanity". In a statement, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) called for the "total elimination" of hazing "in all schools and non-school-based organisations, including in military and army trainings" as it "curtails the right to life of individuals particularly the youth." Its regional office in the Cordillera Administrative Region will conduct its own investigation into this incident. Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Eduardo Año has also ordered the Philippine National Police (PNP) to be "transparent and not withhold information or whitewash" in investigating the hazing circumstances that led to the victim's death. Police and armed forces As a result of the incident, AFP Chief Lt. Gen. Noel Clement ordered the Inspector General of the Armed Forces to conduct a probe into the incident and to formulate changes in the PMA. Clement also asked all PMA cadets to undergo an orientation "to change their mindset, specifically in all their activities and dealings inside the academy." PMA Superintendent Lt. Gen. Ronnie Evangelista and commandant of the Corps of Cadets Brig. Gen. Bartolome Vicente Bacarro have already tendered their resignation as a matter of "command responsibility." Evangelista was replaced by Rear Admiral Allan Cusi while Bacarro was replaced by Brig. Gen. Romeo Brawner, the former commander of the Marawi-based 103rd Brigade. Meanwhile, Lt. Col. Cesar Candelaria and Capt. Flor Apple Apostol, who were in charge of the PMA station hospital that initially treated the victim, were also replaced by Lt. Col. Nerio Zabala as officer-in-charge. On September 28, PNP chief Gen. Oscar Albayalde condemned the hazing incident, calling it an "'affront' to what the institution stands for." Social media and public In a tweet, Dormitorio's girlfriend Ashley Ravidas honored him by posing with his framed picture. "It's not easy loving a soldier, loving you has a high price to pay. I know my Cadet is watching over me, guiding me always. Continue serving up there, do what you love the most," she tweeted. The hashtag #JusticeForDarwin was used by netizens to share their thoughts about the incident and about hazing as a "form of discipline." Some slammed Senator Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa for "ignoring" anti-hazing laws. The parents of Horacio Castillo III, the 22-year old freshman from University of Santo Tomas (UST) who died as a result of hazing on September 17, 2017, urged legislators in Congress to amend the Anti-Hazing Act of 2018. The Anti-Hazing Act was crafted in response to Castillo's death. The Castillos urged lawmakers to define hazing as a "heinous crime," hoping that it would "deter" those who plan to disregard and violate the said law. Politics Mayor Omaradji Pizarro of Kalilangan, Bukidnon, who is also Domitorio's uncle, called on legislators in Congress to review the implementation of the Anti-Hazing Act of 2018, which prohibits and penalizes hazing and regulates other forms of initiation rites in fraternities, sororities, and other organizations. Similarly, Cagayan de Oro 2nd District Representative Rufus Rodriguez filed a resolution to investigate Dormitorio's death in the Congress. Several senators have also reacted to the incident. Panfilo Lacson, a member of PMA Class 1971, has dismissed calls for an inquiry into the incident, saying that the Anti-Hazing Act of 2018 was "very clear" and that the incident was "a clear violation of the Anti-Hazing Law as amended." Ralph Recto called on the PMA to "relentlessly pursue" delivering justice to the victim while emphasizing that PMA cadets are "people's investments," since producing one PMA graduate costs PHP 2.982 million. Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa lamented the resignation of Evangelista as head of PMA, calling him a "good officer whose career was wasted because of that very unfortunate incident." Former Magdalo Representative Gary Alejano described Dormitorio's death an "isolated incident". Ako Bicol Representative Alfredo Garbin Jr. believed that the hazing can be only prevented if the suspects are arrested, charged, and convicted. See also List of hazing deaths in the Philippines References External links Republic Act No. 11053 Timeline: Darwin Dormitorio's last 24 hours, as told by police Hazing 2019 crimes in the Philippines 2019 in the Philippines Accidental deaths in the Philippines People from Cagayan de Oro 1999 births 2019 deaths Violence against men in Asia

62016356

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Harry%20Dunn

Death of Harry Dunn

Harry Dunn was a 19-year-old British man who died following a road traffic collision, on 27 August 2019. He was riding his motorcycle near Croughton, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom, near the exit to RAF Croughton, when a car travelling in the opposite direction and on the wrong side of the road collided with him. The car was driven by Anne Sacoolas, the wife of CIA employee Jonathan Sacoolas, stationed at the time at USAF listening station RAF Croughton, Sacoolas admitted that she had been driving the car on the wrong side of the road, and the police said that, based on CCTV footage, they believed that to be true. Dunn was pronounced dead at the Major Trauma Centre of John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford. The collision caused diplomatic tension between UK and US officials. The US assisted Sacoolas' flight from England and voiced support for her claims to diplomatic immunity. On 20 December 2019, the Crown Prosecution Service said that Sacoolas was to be charged with causing death by dangerous driving. Collision Harry Dunn, a resident of Charlton near Banbury, was riding his motorcycle on the B4031 road about from the exit of RAF Croughton on the evening of 27 August 2019, when he was struck by a car. The car was driven by Anne Sacoolas, the wife of a CIA operative working at the United States Air Force listening station at RAF Croughton. Police said they believed the car, a Volvo XC90, had been driven on the wrong side of the road from the base exit, which Sacoolas later admitted. Sacoolas had a previous driving infraction in the US state of Virginia in 2006 for "failing to pay full time and attention". The BBC reported that the Sacoolas family had only been in the UK for three weeks. Call handlers for the emergency telephone call categorised Dunn's injuries as category 2, requiring ambulance attention within 40 minutes; the ambulance arrived 43 minutes after the collision. The chief executive of East Midlands Ambulance Service later said that because of a shortage of ambulance crews, the categorisation did not make a difference, because the nearest doctor was far away. Dunn was pronounced dead at the Major Trauma Centre of John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford. A funeral took place on 17 September followed by cremation at an Oxfordshire crematorium. Investigation An investigation into the collision led by Nick Adderley, the chief constable of Northamptonshire Police, determined, from CCTV records, that a car had been travelling on the wrong side of the road. Sacoolas had cooperated with police at the scene of the crash and was breathalysed. She was interviewed the next day at home and the police said she had cooperated with them. She had said she was driving on the wrong side of the road when she collided with Dunn. Diplomatic immunity was mentioned during the interview, and Northamptonshire Police applied for an immunity waiver later that day. On 14 September, Foreign Office diplomat Neil Holland texted a U.S. official that "It's obviously not us approving of their departure", but that, since the U.S. was not waiving immunity, "I think you should feel able to put them on the next flight out". On 16 September, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) informed the police that the waiver had been declined and that Sacoolas had left the UK on a US Air Force aircraft. The Telegraph reported that Sacoolas left the country on a 'private' flight which likely took off from the U.S. airbase at Mildenhall. Adderley later confirmed that the suspect was to be interviewed under caution in the United States, at her own request, explaining: "A file of evidence has been handed to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) but... that file is incomplete - you can't complete the file until you have an account from the suspect." On 31 October, police confirmed they had interviewed the suspect and passed the information to the CPS. Following the police interview with Sacoolas, Dunn's mother told Sky News that the family felt they were "no further forward" and were still "left in limbo"; she also criticised the decision to fly British police to the US. On 1 November the police submitted a file to the CPS, who would evaluate it for a charging decision. Diplomatic issues The collision became the subject of a diplomatic dispute when Sacoolas left the country shortly after the incident and the US embassy said she had diplomatic immunity as the wife of a US agent working in the UK. According to Sky News someone at the US embassy told Sacoolas to leave the UK. The Washington Examiner reported that Jonathan Sacoolas did not work for the National Security Agency, and that the Sacoolas family lived in Northern Virginia in the area of the Central Intelligence Agency Langley headquarters. Dunn's parents were advised by two leading specialist lawyers on diplomatic immunity, Mark Stephens and Geoffrey Robertson. They advised that Anne Sacoolas was not entitled to diplomatic immunity, as her husband was not listed as a diplomat. Furthermore, they contended, diplomatic immunity no longer applied upon Sacoolas's return to her home country; therefore, it would be possible to take civil action in the US courts. The Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, also stated that diplomatic immunity no longer applied. Dunn's parents decided to travel to the US to "fight for change" and seek the return of Sacoolas to the UK. A photograph, taken at a 10 October press conference, showed President Donald Trump's briefing notes. If asked, the US line on the notes indicated that Anne Sacoolas would not return to the UK, despite the previous intervention of Raab and the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, including a call to the president. In response, Dunn's mother said that the position of the US was, "beyond any realm of human thinking", adding "I'm just disgusted. I don't see the point in Boris Johnson talking to President Trump, or President Trump even taking a call from Boris Johnson. If he'd already made his decision that if it were to be asked and if it were to be raised, the answer was already going to be no." Parents meeting with Trump When Dunn's parents visited the White House on 15 October 2019 to meet with "a senior official", Trump told them that Sacoolas was waiting "in the next room" to meet them, an option they and their lawyer rejected as being too soon, and something that should take place on British soil. Trump called his meeting with the Dunn family "beautiful in a certain way." He also said driving on the wrong side "happens to a lot of people" because they "go to Europe and the roads are opposite." It was later alleged that Trump had intended to pay the family compensation, but they refused it: the Dunn family's spokesman reported that the White House meeting ended with the president saying the Secretary of the Treasury, Steven Mnuchin, was "standing by ready to write a cheque", adding: "It was almost as if he let it slip out. When he said: 'We've got the driver [Sacoolas] here', he basically meant we're all going to have a big hug and a kiss and I'll get my treasury guy to write a cheque. That's how it was. On the day it just didn't register with me, but the more I think about those words, the more shocking it is." Responses by parents and others On 15 October 2019, the Dunn family announced their intention to start a judicial review action into the advice given by the FCO to Northamptonshire Police regarding the diplomatic immunity of Anne Sacoolas and set up a CrowdJustice web page. Three days later, Dunn's parents said that they expected UK police to charge Sacoolas in connection with their son's death. On the same day it was reported that the UK government had asked Northamptonshire Police to delay informing Dunn's family that the woman involved in the crash had left the country. Dominic Raab stated that the FCO had asked the force to withhold the information "for a day or two". The Dunn family became aware that Anne Sacoolas had left the UK one week later, on 23 September. Subsequently, a review of the diplomatic immunity arrangements at RAF Croughton was commissioned. Nigel Farage discussed the case with Trump by telephone, on his 1 November LBC evening talk-show. Trump said that Sacoolas had a "compelling story to tell" when he met her at the White House. Asked if there were circumstances where Sacoolas could return to the UK to face charges, Trump said: "Well, I would have to see what the final facts are... And, I'll take a look at the final facts. She's represented by a lawyer." On 21 November, Dunn's parents expressed their disgust with Raab, who had defended the government's decision to seek legal costs. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said there was not "any reasonably arguable ground of legal challenge" in a legal case Dunn's parents were bringing against them. On 25 November Dunn's father, together with a group of more than 50 others, were, for fire safety reasons, prevented by staff from entering a hustings attended by Raab in East Molesey Methodist Church. Dunn's parents submitted a judicial review on 25 November, detailing the Foreign Secretary's actions over the extension of diplomatic immunity to intelligence staff and families at RAF Croughton. They stated that UK-US "secret treaties" had been disclosed but the documents did not cover immunity for family members. A FCO spokesman commented "As the Foreign Secretary set out in Parliament, the individual involved had diplomatic immunity whilst in the country under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations." The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby wrote to the US ambassador in London early in October, asking that the extradition of Anne Sacoolas should not be blocked, but had at the time not received a reply. In December, Dunn's parents announced they were to file a civil lawsuit in Virginia, where Sacoolas lived, in the hope of compelling her to return to England, turn herself in and face charges. The family's lawyer planned to rely on English common law dating back to 1774, which states that, even though the offence may have been committed in one country, the accused can face charge in another. In January 2020, groups of protesters, holding signs saying "Justice 4 Harry", gathered outside RAF Croughton. In a strongly-worded statement released by the family, they vowed not to stop demonstrating until "common sense prevails and the US government agrees not to abuse their power again". Charges In December of that year, the Crown Prosecution Service announced that Sacoolas was to be charged with causing death by dangerous driving and that it was starting extradition proceedings against her. Sacoolas's lawyer Amy Jeffress said: "Anne will not return voluntarily to the UK to face a potential jail sentence for what was a terrible but unintentional accident," adding, "the potential 14-year sentence was not proportionate." The Dunn family later met with the Home Secretary, Priti Patel, and their MP, Andrea Leadsom, at their home. Their family spokesman said they were now "incredibly reassured this whole saga will be dealt with under the rule of law". The following January, the Home Office formally requested the extradition of Sacoolas to face charges in the United Kingdom. The US State Department's initial response was "The use of an extradition treaty to attempt to return the spouse of a former diplomat by force would establish an extraordinarily troubling precedent" and that the request was "highly inappropriate". On 23 January US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo formally rejected the request for extradition. The family spokesman said they had taken the news "in our stride". The Home Office said the decision appeared "to be a denial of justice". Andrea Leadsom was planning to meet the US ambassador, Woody Johnson, in London on 24 January to discuss the case. Later developments In January 2020, Northamptonshire Chief Constable Nick Adderley requested an urgent meeting with the commander of the military base after footage emerged of another vehicle on the wrong side of the road near RAF Croughton. Officers gave details of a separate crash, in October, in which a police vehicle had been struck by a car being driven on the wrong side of the road. The Mail on Sunday disclosed the following month that Sacoolas was previously involved in espionage with the US CIA. Following the disclosure, which was subsequently confirmed by Sky News, and widely reported by other news outlets, Dunn's mother expressed her family's suspicions that the British government were not fully sharing their knowledge of Sacoolas's past role with them. The Times speculated that the UK's prime minister would come under more pressure to meet the Dunn family. The Times also suggested that the disclosure could lead to allegations that the US were giving Sacoolas special protection because of her past activities with the CIA. The New York Post reported that former foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt had said that the disclosure might explain why the US had declined to authorise Sacoolas's extradition. The family spokesman called for a public inquiry into the matter. The Dunn family urged the UK government to refuse the US government's extradition request of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange until they returned Sacoolas to the UK. They accused the US government of hypocrisy and said that the US had launched an attack on the Special Relationship between both countries. On 18 June 2020, a preliminary hearing of the judicial review brought by the Dunn family took place at the High Court of Justice. In a submission to the court Tony Baldry, former Foreign and Commonwealth Office minister and signatory to the diplomatic immunity agreement covering the base at which Sacoolas' husband worked, stated that the agreement was "limited" and did not cover dependants. In a further submission Sir Ivor Roberts, a former longstanding diplomat, called the claim that Sacoolas was covered by diplomatic immunity "a palpable absurdity". An adjournment debate on RAF Croughton, in the House of Commons, was led by local Member of Parliament Andrea Leadsom, who focused on Dunn's death and called for the government to intervene and block plans to modify the airbase. As of August, the Attorney General for England and Wales is considering trying Sacoolas in absentia on a charge of causing death by dangerous driving. The prospect of a virtual trial, an option being considered by the attorney general, received support from the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson. On 9 September, a lawsuit for wrongful death was filed against Sacoolas and her husband in a Virginia federal court. A legal representative of the Dunn family stated: “Given Ms Sacoolas’ refusal to return to the UK, we look forward to bringing this case to a jury of Anne Sacoolas’ peers here in the United States.” The lawsuit alleges that Sacoolas did not notify the emergency services or police after the accident. On the same day, the Dunn family met with the Director of Public Prosecutions, Max Hill QC, after which it was reported that Hill had concluded that Sacoolas did not have diplomatic immunity and should not have been permitted to leave the country. However, a High Court ruling on 24 November 2020 concluded Sacoolas did have diplomatic immunity at the time of Dunn's death. The Virginia court held a hearing for the case against Sacoolas in February 2021. It was revealed in the court that Sacoolas was an employee of the CIA. This raised doubts about her claim for diplomatic immunity, because, under an agreement between the UK and the US in 1995, it would not apply to any US administrative or technical staff. When asked why she had refused to return to the UK, Sacoolas' lawyer told the court: "Her fear is that with the tremendous media attention she will receive, she’s concerned she will not receive fair treatment with the press and the local community. She is fearful upon her return and concerned and she’s certainly apologetic and accepts full responsibility for causing this accident." The presiding judge T. S. Ellis III replied: "Accepting full responsibility doesn’t mean you run away, it means you stay there and face it. You shouldn’t overplay the full responsibility card." On 16 February 2021 Ellis ruled that Dunn's family would be able to sue Sacoolas for damages, dismissing her argument that holding the proceedings in the UK would be "more convenient". Handing down his judgment, Ellis said: "While it is commendable that defendant Anne Sacoolas admits that she was negligent and that her negligence caused Harry Dunn’s death, this does not equate acceptance of responsibility. ... Full acceptance of responsibility entails facing those harmed by her negligence and taking responsibility for her acts where they occurred, in the United Kingdom." Ellis said he also took into account the "firm support" of Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who had submitted a letter to the court which read: "I strongly support [the Dunn family's] right to bring the case. Other motions, submitted by Sacoolas’ legal team to dismiss the case, would be heard in Virginia on 3 March. In March 2021, Sacoolas' lawyer Amy Jeffress said that, since the charge pending in Britain against her would not usually result in a prison sentence in the US, her client was not inclined to return to the UK to face trial. Jeffress also said that her client would be willing to undertake community service in the US and make a "contribution" in his memory, as well as meet his family. In reply, Dunn's mother said that Sacoolas must face "the UK justice system". Jeffress claimed reports that Sacoolas had not called for help were untrue, stating she flagged down a motorist who called the ambulance service while she notified police at the military base. On 8 August 2021 the BBC reported that the Dunn family lawyer had submitted documents to the US court alleging that Sacoolas may have been distracted by her mobile phone at the time of the crash, stating that there were call and text records for the day before and the day after, but no call records or text messages for that day. As the collision happened at approximately 20:25 GMT, this would suggest that either call/text messages were deleted from the phone, or that Sacoolas had used it the day before and the day afterwards, but not used it for the entire day of the collision. On 13 December 2021 the CPS announced that Sacoolas would appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court, on 18 January 2022, by video link from the US. Her lawyers, however, denied reports that she would attend and said no such agreement had been made. Diplomatic immunity for RAF Croughton staff and families On 21 October 2019 the UK Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, claimed that according to "arrangements" agreed between the US and the UK in 1995, the spouses and children of US intelligence officers at RAF Croughton were considered part of the US embassy and thus eligible for diplomatic immunity under the terms of the Vienna Convention, even though the officers themselves were deemed ineligible to claim diplomatic immunity for criminal behaviour outside the base. The accuracy and legal validity of this claim has been strongly challenged by others. On 22 July 2020 it was widely reported that the UK and US governments had agreed to close the "loophole" in the arrangement that allegedly provided immunity from criminal prosecution for the family of US staff (though not retrospectively.) The precise legal nature of those arrangements, however, remains unexplained. The US State Department said the amendment was a "reflection of our especially close relationship" with the UK. The Shadow Foreign Secretary, Lisa Nandy, said that Labour would "push for a full inquiry" into the case. Civil case resolution In September 2021 the family's spokesman announced that Dunn's parents had reached a "resolution" in their civil claim for damages. Radd Seiger said the outcome was "a real milestone". Details of the agreement reached between the parties involved were not disclosed. Seiger said the family would now turn its "attention to the criminal case and the long-awaited inquest into Harry's death which will follow the criminal case". See also Death of Teo Peter Killing of Jennifer Laude Left- and right-hand traffic Raymond Allen Davis incident Yangju highway incident References 2019 in England 2019 in international relations 2010s in Northamptonshire August 2019 events in the United Kingdom Deaths by person in England Diplomatic immunity and protection Diplomatic incidents Road incident deaths in England West Northamptonshire District Traffic collisions Trump administration controversies United Kingdom–United States relations

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Mason%20Pendrous

Death of Mason Pendrous

Mason Drake Pendrous (2000–2019) was a New Zealand student who died at a hall of residence owned by Campus Living Villages whilst studying at the University of Canterbury. His death raised concerns about the welfare of young students staying at student accommodation in New Zealand after his body laid undiscovered in his room for between two and four weeks, although the exact timeframe remains unclear. Pendrous' death made headlines in New Zealand and garnered international media attention, resulting in a number of investigations including by police, and a response from the New Zealand education minister ultimately leading to law reform. The incident also prompted other universities to review the pastoral care at their halls of residence, and prompted discussion about the decline in the quality of care provided by companies managing student accommodation. Investigations into the incident were unable to determine a cause of death. An independent investigation conducted on behalf of the University of Canterbury found that Campus Living Villages had failed to adequately follow processes to monitor student welfare. Coroner Sue Johnson, who handled the case, concluded that there was no evidence to show Pendrous' death was avoidable, and was likely due to natural causes. In 2020, a cherry tree was dedicated to the memory of Pendrous in the surrounding gardens of the historic Ilam homestead. In 2021, Campus Living Villages sold their property assets in Christchurch to Cedar Pacific, with management of the properties handed to UniLodge in October that year. Background Pendrous, then 19 years old, was in his first year of a bachelor's degree in e-commerce. He occupied room 209 in the Hinoki building at the Sonoda student hall of residence, one of several facilities owned and run by Campus Living Villages (CLV). Pendrous was from Wellington and had formerly attended Scots College. He was a member of the school rowing team. Pendrous' family and friends described him as a "good and confident guy", outgoing, and a busy student who enjoyed computer gaming and would sometimes spend several days alone presumably engaged in the hobby. Pendrous had a close relationship to his step-father, Anthony Holland, who raised Pendrous from a young age alongside his mother who had died of breast cancer in 2014. Holland claimed Pendrous was in "good spirits", had been excited about university and seemed to be enjoying university life, and appeared to have no mental health issues. However, it has been claimed that Pendrous was "struggling" academically, and staff at Sonoda had been concerned after he became difficult to contact earlier in the year. Cause of death Pendrous was in an advanced state of decomposition when he was found, complicating efforts to identify him and establish the exact cause of death which remains unknown following the conclusion of the coroner's investigation. However, there is no evidence that drug use or self-harm was involved, or that Pendrous' body was moved, and the case has not been treated as suspicious. In November 2019, Holland told media that he had been advised his son likely died of natural causes. Forensic pathologist Dr Christopher Lawrence, who performed a full autopsy, stated there were no obvious injuries to Pendrous' body. However, Pendrous was found close to a heating unit which had been turned on to a high setting, and he was in possession of medicine for gastrointestinal discomfort. Lawrence noted this could indicate Pendrous had a fever and may have been unwell, but it would not be possible to assess if Pendrous had died as the result of an infection. Timeline of incident The exact circumstances leading up to Pendrous' death are unclear, due to his semi-seclusive behaviour, however it is alleged that concerns were raised as early as May 2019. May Campus Living Villages claims that during this period, Pendrous had been slow to collect a replacement access key card for the Sonoda complex he stayed at. Staff discuss the need to check on Pendrous regularly. It is unclear if this was followed up. Friday, 21 June Pendrous last bank transaction occurred on this day at a Countdown supermarket located on Church Corner, an area of Upper Riccarton. Friday, 19 July Holland speaks to Pendrous for the last time at approximately 11pm. Holland described him as sounding "very happy." Monday, 12 August Pendrous is photographically recorded leaving and entering the Hinoki building where he lived. This is the last time he is confirmed to have left the building. Monday, 19 August Holland had been unable to reach Pendrous despite sending him emails and text messages, but assumed it was due to his busy lifestyle. Around this time, Holland claims he attempted to contact Campus Living Villages. Saturday, 24 August At the beginning of the mid-semester break (a two-week break from lectures) Pendrous logs into university-provided Internet for the last time. He allegedly messaged online friends with whom he played multiplayer games with, joking about the results of a game they had played together. This is the last time Pendrous was heard from. After discovering Pendrous' phone number had been deactivated, Holland becomes suspicious and emails the University of Canterbury to enquire. He alleges that neither Campus Living Villages or the University of Canterbury were able to determine when they had last seen Pendrous. Monday, 23 September Pendrous' body is found at approximately 10:50pm by a Campus Living Villages duty manager. Other students claim they had noticed a strange smell in the complex in September. It is purported that alarm was raised when a student scaled the roof to peer into Pendrous' room, which was above ground level. Pendrous' body was heavily decomposed. Police required assistance from the Disaster Identification Team which use specialist methods (typically fingerprints and dental records) to identify bodies. It was initially reported that Pendrous had been deceased for eight weeks, but this was later revised to approximately four. Reaction Reaction to the death of Pendrous swiftly spread around New Zealand media and was picked up by a number of outlets for weeks following the initial story, broadly criticising the circumstances that allowed Pendrous to lay unnoticed for weeks after his death, and raising concerns about the quality of pastoral care provided by companies offering accommodation services. Student unions also demanded changes to better protect students. In October, it was reported that fraudsters had created a fake fundraising campaign on the crowdfunding website GoGetFunding, using the memory of Pendrous to solicit donations. The page was taken down after several days. Criticism of Campus Living Villages Campus Living Villages, which is headquartered in Australia, came under scrutiny following Pendrous' death, in large due to the perception that the company had failed to provide the pastoral care it had promised. Former students who had stayed at Sonoda and other facilities owned by the company penned articles that were critical of the quality of care the company offered and alleged they were left unnoticed during their stay. One former residential assistant, who left the role in 2011, claimed that the company was intentionally under-staffing to cut costs, putting strain on staff and making it difficult for them to provide appropriate care, and ignoring their warnings. Holland also alleged that John Schroder, then the managing director of Campus Living Villages, had told him that there were twelve deaths across their global facilities in the last thirteen months. Schroder would later state that there had not been an incident (to his knowledge) where a student had died and gone unnoticed for an extended period of time. Schroder held a press conference in response to Pendrous' death, announcing the company would begin its own investigation into how Pendrous went unnoticed for several weeks, and would consider changing how it operates. The Sonoda campus was removed from the company's website and the facility was made unavailable to first year students in 2020 following the incident. Other New Zealand halls of residence operated by Campus Living Villages made adjustments to their processes, including Te Pa Taiura Student Village at the Otago Polytechnic. University of Canterbury Vice-Chancellor Cheryl de la Rey apologised to Pendrous' family and fronted press to address his death, stating "it is inconceivable to imagine how these circumstances could have occurred." Following Pendrous’ death, questions were raised about the relationship the University of Canterbury has with Campus Living Villages to provide accommodation, which first signed its contract in 2005 and has renegotiated several times since. The university announced it would be starting its own investigation into the case but would not comment on if it was considering terminating its contract with Campus Living Villages. In January 2020, the university collaborated with Lincoln University to develop a "student health initiative" to further support student wellbeing. In December 2019, following the conclusion of coroner, the University of Canterbury released a press statement stating it would implement a variety of new programmes to support first-year students during their transition to university life, as well as a system to allow staff to monitor student engagement and progress to help detect if students are struggling. The university also dropped their support for semi-independent accommodation packages for first-year students, and is requiring a 1:25 ratio of residential assistants to students at apartment-style facilities. The university formally reached out to Campus Living Villages on the issues. Reviews by other universities In response to Pendrous' death, other universities in New Zealand began reviewing their student accommodation services, including the Southern Institute of Technology. Tim Fowler, the chief executive of the Tertiary Education Commission, contacted every tertiary provider in New Zealand requesting they review the accommodation services provided to their students. Ashley Day, the former head of several halls of residences for the University of Otago, publicly called for a compulsory ratio of 1:20 residential assistants to students. Day criticised the reduction in the number of residential assistants at student accommodation providers in New Zealand, as well as the increased responsibilities, stating "young people with no experience are being put in managerial positions." Details also emerged about the unrelated death of a 30-year-old student at Victoria University of Wellington in 2018 following investigations into student accommodation, however the student was discovered shortly after death; the university was happy with its staff response. This case, in conjunction with Pendrous' death, prompted education minister Chris Hipkins to investigate regulatory rules for accommodation providers, which would lead to law reform. Investigations The New Zealand Police and coroner conducted their own investigation into the death. It was treated as non-suspicious. The investigation focused mainly on the timeframe in which Pendrous died, and was dubbed Operation Hinoki. Coroner Sue Johnson concluded her investigation in December 2019, stating the exact cause of Pendrous' death was indeterminable due to the state of decomposition his body was found in. In 2021, Jonhson made her final comments on the case, stating Pendrous likely died of "unascertained natural causes" such as a "sudden medical event or a more slowly developing illness." Jonhson concluded that there was no evidence to show Pendrous' death was avoidable. Both Campus Living Villages and the University of Canterbury announced their own internal investigations into the incident shortly after Pendrous' death. The latter was to be independently conducted over six weeks by former High Court judge Kit Toogood QC, however the release of the report was delayed twice; first until late November 2019, then again when Toogood stated the coroner's investigation "takes precedence." Outcome of UC investigation Toogood released the findings of his investigation in January 2020. The report concluded that the primary reason that Pendrous was not found in a timely manner was because of his preference to spend time alone in his room, such that students and CLV staff were not alarmed by his absence. However, the report also noted that Campus Living Villages failed to adequately follow-up with Pendrous after concerns were raised, a move Toogood labelled "inconsistent with accepted practice." The report also stated there was a shortage of staff at Sonoda and processes to monitor student welfare were loosely adhered to. Toogood made several recommendations in the report, including increasing minimum staffing numbers, introducing new processes to monitor student wellbeing, and restricting first year students from living at Sonoda. An article published by Stuff claimed that a more robust 127-page report (intended to be confidential and allegedly withheld from media) stated that the University of Canterbury had disclosed student grades to the Campus Living Villages regional manager expecting students of concern to be checked upon. The company did not follow-up on this information for over a month despite being sent reminder emails. It is likely that Pendrous would have been found sooner had the information been acted upon. CLV claimed that historically staff would have followed-up in a matter of days. In September 2021, Campus Living Villages sold its property assets in Christchurch to Cedar Pacific, who handed the operations to UniLodge. A CLV spokesperson confirmed the handover would be in effect by October that year. Government response Following news of the death, the Education Minister Chris Hipkins released a statement: “My thoughts are with the family and friends of the victim. This must be an incredibly distressing time for them." He expressed his expectation that the university would investigate. Hipkins would later vow to look into reforming the law at the time, in which student accommodation codes were adopted on a voluntary basis by providers. This decision was prompted both by the Pendrous case and new details of a student death at the Victoria University of Wellington in 2018. Changes to Education Act On Monday 14 October, Hipkins announced an "urgent" law change in response to the death of Mason Pendrous, dubbed the Education (Pastoral Care) Amendment Bill. An interim code was developed and is to be put in effect for the start of the 2020 academic year, pending a permanent code for 2021 that would be mandatory for universities to adhere to. It is set to replace the existing voluntary code, making it an offence under the Education Act if a student is harmed as the result of a failure to provide adequate pastoral care. It is proposed institutions will be liable for fines of up to $100,000 (NZD). Holland reportedly said in a statement that he was "pleased and grateful" and described the governments reaction as "swift". The bill passed its first reading on 17 October. Hipkins labelled the former voluntary code, as having failed to "maintain adequate standards of student wellbeing". Response by Ardern Following announcements of law change, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was questioned on the reforms, with allegations the response was a "knee-jerk reaction" to the Pendrous case. Ardern refused to comment specifically on Pendrous' death, instead stating she was waiting for the coroners investigation to conclude. References 2000 births 2019 deaths Deaths by person in Oceania Deaths in New Zealand Education in New Zealand 2019 in New Zealand law University of Canterbury

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Abu%20Bakr%20al-Baghdadi

Death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

On October 26–27, 2019, the United States conducted a military operation code named Operation Kayla Mueller that resulted in the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the then-leader and self-proclaimed caliph of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist organization. The operation took place in the outskirts of Barisha, Idlib Governorate, Syria. According to General Kenneth "Frank" McKenzie, the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) commander who oversaw the operation, Baghdadi killed himself along with two children when he detonated a suicide belt while seeking to evade U.S. forces during the raid. The U.S. operation was named after Kayla Mueller, an American aid worker who had been captured and killed in captivity by the Islamic State. Background The raid was launched based on an intelligence effort to locate the leader of ISIL by the CIA's Special Activities Center. The New York Times reported that, according to two U.S. officials, the CIA obtained the original intelligence on Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi following the arrests of one of his wives and a courier, after which the CIA worked closely with Iraqi and Kurdish intelligence officials in Iraq and Syria. The Guardian, however, reported Iraqi officials as saying that the break came after a smuggler (who had smuggled the wives of two brothers of Baghdadi and Baghdadi's children in the past), a woman thought to be his wife, and Baghdadi's nephew provided information on the routes and destinations. Iraqi officials also stated that the arrest of Muhammad Ali Sajid al-Zobaie, Baghdadi's brother-in-law, helped them in finding a desert tunnel leading to two hideouts, filled with items, near Al-Qaim, Iraq, and thereby penetrate a smuggling ring to find Baghdadi. A U.S. official disputed the Iraqi account that Iraq had provided the exact location of Baghdadi, and stated that the operation was triggered when he appeared in a location where they already had established intelligence collection. Location Reuters reported Iraqi intelligence officials as stating that the arrest of several Islamic State leaders was the key behind learning about Baghdadi's movements and hiding places. They said that Ismael al-Ethawi, believed to be a top aide to Baghdadi, was found and followed by informants in Syria, apprehended by Turkish authorities, and handed over to Iraqi intelligence agents to whom he provided information in February 2018. The Iraqis then gave the information to the CIA, who kept surveillance on the discovered location through a satellite and drones. They also said that in 2019 the United States, Turkish and Iraqi intelligence conducted a joint operation in which they captured several high-ranking ISIL leaders, including four Iraqis and a Syrian, who provided the locations where they met with Baghdadi inside Syria, after which they decided to coordinate with the CIA to deploy more sources inside these areas. One of the Iraqi officials remarked that Baghdadi's "last moment to live" was when he and his family left the location that they were in for the first time in five months. Ethawi and the other aides in an interview to The New York Times stated that they were blindfolded before being taken to meet their leader, in order to keep his whereabouts secret, they were then kept at the location for hours before being blindfolded again and driven away from the site. Baghdadi's compound was located near GPS coordinates 36.1660, 36.6274, in Syria's Idlib Governorate. Although Idlib is dominated by the Islamic State's rival jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which had connections to al-Qaeda, the Institute for the Study of War warned that Idlib is nevertheless the focus of an ISIL strategy to have it serve as an incubator for the next iteration of ISIL and al-Qaeda recruits. In July 2019, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford explained that there were around 20,000–⁠30,000 rebels in Idlib by that time in the ongoing Syrian civil war, many of which were jihadists. U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East Michael P. Mulroy said that "Idlib is essentially the largest collection of al-Qaeda affiliates in the world." In regards to Baghdadi's possible rationale for choosing the location, "We assess that he was hiding in Idlib province to avoid the intense pressure that had been put on ISIS in other areas of Syria," operational commander General Kenneth McKenzie later stated. Documents later obtained by Al Aan TV's Jenan Moussa reportedly revealed that, from 1 February 2019 until the day of the U.S. raid, Baghdadi's compound had internet access and that the owner of the site paid the equivalent of an $8 monthly fee in cash to the regional ISP for service. According to Moussa, the username Baghdadi used was "mhrab." Baghdadi's compound was destroyed after the successful operation to be sure it would not become a memorial. SDF role The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) reported that they provided direct and extensive support to the operation. Prior to the raid, the SDF, working with the U.S. government, had spent five months gathering intelligence on Baghdadi's location. A senior U.S. State Department official said that the Kurdish-led SDF "played a key role" in the raid on Baghdadi's compound and that the United States was in close communication with SDF commander General Mazloum Abdi about every aspect of their operation, and Abdi's statements about the raid, in reference to the joint intelligence cooperation on the ground, were accurate. Abdi said the operation had been delayed by a month due to Turkey's military build-up at the Syrian border and the Turkish incursion into northeastern Syria that followed. The New York Times reported that unnamed U.S. intelligence, military, and counter-terrorism officials said that the abrupt withdrawal of U.S. forces from northern Syria by President Donald Trump had complicated the plans for the operation against Baghdadi, but the Syrian Kurds continued to provide information to the CIA amidst the Turkish offensive. One of the officials remarked that both the Syrian and Iraqi Kurds had provided more intelligence for the raid than any single country. CENTCOM commander General Frank McKenzie later confirmed the SDF had provided intelligence to American forces prior to the raid in Idlib, but denied reports that President Trump's prior order to withdraw forces from north Syria had any impact on the timing or execution of the mission. Embedded informant The Washington Post reported that, according to a U.S. official, an ISIL militant-turned informant for the Kurds had provided critical intelligence about Baghdadi's location. The SDF commander, General Abdi, said that their informant was deep inside Baghdadi's inner circle as a security adviser and had provided a detailed layout of the complex, and was on-site during the operation, after which he left with the U.S. forces. SDF officials said that the informant had stolen Baghdadi's underwear and a sample of Baghdadi's blood, which was provided to the U.S. intelligence for DNA analysis and resulted in a positive match. U.S. and Middle East–based officials stated that the informant was a Sunni Arab ISIL operative, who served as a trusted facilitator and logistics aide to Baghdadi, but defected because ISIL killed his relative, after which he was cultivated as an intelligence asset by the SDF. They said that, after the SDF leadership handed control over the informant to U.S. intelligence, he was carefully vetted for several weeks by them and that the effort to begin exploiting this intelligence asset began in the summer of 2019. The informant was subsequently extracted from the region with his family two days after the raid and will likely receive at least some of the $25 million bounty. Prelude Two U.S. officials stated that Baghdadi had been staying at the compound in Barisha since July 2019 and that it had been under surveillance since, but U.S. forces avoided assaulting it due to the presence of al-Qaeda affiliates and the airspace being controlled by Russia and the Syrian government. Some U.S. officials claimed that the Pentagon decided to carry out the mission after President Donald Trump ordered the withdrawal of U.S. forces from northern Syria in early October, as to not lose track of Baghdadi. However, CENTCOM commander Frank McKenzie stated that the north Syria pullout had "absolutely" no effect on the timing or execution of the operation. "We chose the time based on a variety of factors: weather, certainty, lunar data ... We struck because the time was about right to do it then given the totality of the intelligence and the other factors that would affect the raid force going in and coming out," General McKenzie added. The Turkish Defense Ministry said that Turkish and U.S. military authorities exchanged and coordinated information ahead of the attack in Idlib. A U.S. official stated that Turkey was informed prior to the operation to avoid an unintended clash between their forces, but was not notified about the target due to concerns that the information would become compromised and did not provide any assistance to the operation. Turkish officials also informed Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which controls much of the area where the raid took place, not to open fire on the helicopters that would be used in the operation; despite being informed, anti-aircraft fire by HTS was used, however, the operators were detained by HTS commanders afterward for not following orders. General McKenzie briefed Defense Department leaders on the intelligence and the plan on October 25 and received the approval of Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley for the operation. President Trump was then briefed "on all aspects of the plan and the risks involved in its execution" and that Russia and Turkey were contacted ahead of the mission to avoid unintended clashes. With Trump's approval, McKenzie, as operational commander, gave the order for the mission to start October 26 around 9 a.m. EST. Operational name The operation was named after Kayla Mueller, an American aid worker that was abducted by ISIL in Syria in August 2013. During her captivity, she was reportedly forced into marriage with al-Baghdadi, during which time she was repeatedly raped, tortured, and physically abused. She was confirmed dead in early February 2015, reportedly murdered by al-Baghdadi himself. The special forces that were to carry out the operation named their task force "Task Force 8-14", based on Mueller's birthday. Raid On October 26, 2019, shortly after U.S. president Donald Trump and a small team of key civilian and military leaders gathered in the White House Situation Room at around 5 p.m. EST (00:00 Syria time), U.S. Joint Special Operations Command's 1st SFOD-D (Delta Force) operators, along with U.S. Army Rangers from the 75th Ranger Regiment, departed Al Asad Airbase in Iraq in eight U.S. military helicopters, including Boeing MH-47 Chinooks and Sikorsky MH-60L/M Black Hawks, to conduct an air assault on an "isolated compound" 300 meters outside of Barisha village—located five kilometers (three miles) south of the border with Turkey in hostile rebel-held territory in Syria's Idlib Governorate—to kill or capture Baghdadi; the assault force reportedly flew through Turkish-controlled and Russian-monitored airspace towards the objective and landed after 70 minutes. According to General McKenzie, who oversaw the operation, air cover for the assault included armed helicopters, multiple drones, and fighter aircraft providing close air support; they planned for multiple children/non-militants at the compound and tried to minimize casualties. As the heli-borne assault force approached Baghdadi's compound, the helicopters reportedly came under gunfire from two locations from non-ISIL militant groups that were outside the target building but in the area of operations; according to McKenzie, they were neutralized with two airstrikes from supporting helicopters. The Delta Force operators, supported by military working dogs and military robots, landed outside the compound and surrounded it, repeatedly calling on its occupants to come out peacefully in Arabic. "Those who came out of the building were checked for weapons and explosives and moved away," McKenzie said. "U.S. forces detained and later released the noncombatants. The group was treated humanely at all times, and included 11 children." Five ISIL members inside the compound—four women and one man—"presented a threat to the force" and were killed when they did not respond to commands to surrender, as they were suspected of wearing suicide vests. Believing the main entrance to be booby trapped, operators breached the compound's walls with explosives. Once Delta was inside the target building, Baghdadi fled into a tunnel network under the premises wearing a suicide vest and carrying two children with him; by the time he reached a dead end, an explosive ordinance disposal military robot and a dog (later identified as a male Belgian Malinois named "Conan") had been dispatched to subdue him. He detonated his vest, killing himself and two children, and causing the tunnel to collapse. The children killed were believed to be younger than 12 years old. U.S. soldiers dug through the debris to retrieve some of Baghdadi's remains and lab technicians successfully conducted DNA profiling and biometrics tests within 15 minutes of his death via Defense Intelligence Agency analysis, confirming Baghdadi's identity. According to the White House, "a combination of visual evidence and DNA tests confirmed Baghdadi's identity." The quick DNA confirmation is attributed to special forces already possessing samples of Baghdadi's tissue, reportedly voluntarily provided by one of his daughters, according to a U.S. official. McKenzie, however, stated that they were obtained from his time in Camp Bucca. Two adult male captives and a "substantial" amount of documents and electronic items were seized from the compound during the raid which, per U.S. officials, was a primary goal so they could understand the current leadership structure of ISIL. Items included 5-6 cellphones, 2-4 laptops and some USB flash drives. Just before 3:30 am Syrian time, U.S. helicopters departed the area for Iraq and the compound was then destroyed by airstrikes from overhead F-15 jets and MQ-9 Reaper drones, reportedly to prevent the site from becoming a "shrine" for sympathizers. According to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, a wide variety of munitions, including AGM-158 JASSM cruise missiles, unspecified precision-guided bombs, and AGM-114 Hellfire guided missiles were responsible for leveling Baghdadi's compound. McKenzie, who called the operation "exquisitely planned and executed," stated that the special forces who took part in the operation were based in Syria and that only U.S. personnel were involved in the raid on the compound itself. The entire operation lasted roughly two hours. Aftermath General McKenzie called in and announced the mission's success to the team in the White House Situation Room, saying "Got him, 100 percent confidence, jackpot, over," according to National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien. Trump press conference At 9:23 p.m. EST, President Trump tweeted "Something very big has just happened!" with the White House subsequently announcing a planned press conference at 9 a.m. the next morning. At the press conference, Trump announced Baghdadi's death and went on to describe the successful operation against him in detail, reporting that U.S. forces used helicopters, jets, and drones through airspace controlled by Russia and Turkey. He also said that they had Baghdadi "under surveillance for 'a couple of weeks' and 'two or three' raids had been canceled because of his movements". He continued: "The forces targeted the compound using eight helicopters, which were met with hostile fire. The commandos entered the building by blowing holes in the wall, avoiding the main door which was booby-trapped." Trump announced that Baghdadi died by detonating a suicide vest after he was chased by U.S. military dogs and was cornered inside a tunnel. He and other officials initially stated that the explosion killed three of his children alongside him, however General McKenzie later said it had been confirmed only two were killed. Trump said Baghdadi died "like a dog and a coward" and "whimpering and crying and screaming", but JCS Chairman Milley and various Pentagon and administration officials either could not confirm, or outright denied, the "whimpering and crying" detail as Trump reportedly had only seen drone surveillance without live audio. Reportedly, some U.S. officials said that Trump's press conference contained several pieces of information that were inaccurate, highly classified, or tactically sensitive. Trump reportedly met with troops involved in the raid during a visit to Fort Bragg, North Carolina on October 29, 2020. According to White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, Trump presented the operators with a Presidential Unit Citation and visited a Special Forces memorial at the base. Casualties JCS Chairman Milley said during a Pentagon briefing that the disposal of Baghdadi's corpse was "handled appropriately", initially adding that Washington had no plans to release images of his death, but later showed footage of the raid during a briefing on October 30. Baghdadi was buried at sea and afforded Islamic rites, three anonymous U.S. officials told Reuters and a Pentagon source told AFP. An aide of Baghdadi, who handled logistics, was the other man killed according to Iraqi officials. United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that two wives of al-Baghdadi were also killed in the raid. Trump said no U.S. soldiers were injured, but Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said two had been lightly injured during the raid. An American Special Operations Military Working Dog (SOMWD), a male Belgian Malinois named Conan, who chased Baghdadi, was treated for his injuries and returned to work on October 28. During a news conference that day, Esper and Milley declined to identify him for security reasons; Trump released a declassified photograph of him later in the day. The dog was injured due to live electrical cables that were exposed, according to McKenzie. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) war monitor, Delta Force killed nine people, including one child, two women and some high-ranking ISIL leaders. Baghdadi's suicide vest killed two more children, reportedly his own. The Americans captured two militants and rescued eleven children. General McKenzie said six ISIL members, which included four women and another man aside from Baghdadi, were killed in the operation. The raid also killed about 10 to 15 members of other groups who engaged American forces. Delta also killed a local Guardians of Religion Organization commander, identified as Abu Muhammad al-Halabi, the owner of the house Baghdadi was staying at. An Iraqi intelligence official and Hisham al-Hashimi have stated to The Independent that Halabi was also a smuggler, which is why the ISIL head and his family utilized his services. The inhabitants of the village stated that he was a sheep seller, but rarely interacted with his neighbors. His other alias is believed to be Abu Mohammed Salama and his corpse was flown away by Delta Force after the raid according to Barisha's inhabitants. He, along with some other Hurras al-Din, members is also suspected to have been part of a pro-ISIL faction. Based on a receipt book of ISIL found by associates of former American intelligence official Asaad Almohammad, analysts have stated that Baghdadi was paying the members of the group in exchange for hiding him. According to the receipt book, ISIL paid at least $67,000 to them from early 2017 to mid-2018, including $7,000 in summer 2018 to prepare bases for ISIL fighters from "al-Khair province", hinting that they helped in smuggling ISIL members. Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi pointed to the fact that the two groups were enemies, citing a warning by Hurras al-Din to its members in February 2019 to avoid contact with ISIL and the latter issuing the similar statement about the former in July. However, Tamimi also said that some of the receipts might be fabrications, except the ones from March to July 2018 that he was shown. Civilian casualties Besides the two children killed by Baghdadi's suicide detonation, the U.S. military initially reported no civilian casualties during the operation. A report by NPR released on December 3, 2019, cited a local farmer, Barakat Ahmad Barakat, as saying that his right hand and forearm were blown off and his two friends were killed by U.S. helicopter fire during the operation. According to Barakat's account, Khaled Mustafa Qurmo and Khaled Abdel Majid Qurmo, two cousins, were driving him home in Barisha on October 26 when helicopters fired on their white van. All three exited the vehicle, but one fell, his legs filled with shrapnel. A follow-up strike targeted the group again, killing the two cousins and blowing off a chunk of Barakat's right arm. The cousins died of shrapnel wounds to the chest, according to autopsy reports by a Syrian doctor with the Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations, an international medical group. Several relatives said the cousins operated a van service and had no connection to ISIL or any armed group; Barakat said the van carried no weapons. Relatives provided video and photos of the scene and the destroyed van to NPR. An unidentified U.S. defense official told NPR by email that it was the first civilian casualty report they received related to the raid, and that initial reports suggested that a white van in the vicinity had fired on U.S. helicopters. "Surveillance footage will be reviewed to determine if an investigation needs to be opened based upon this additional information," the official said. Former Pentagon intelligence analyst Marc Garlasco suggested the shrapnel damage at the scene resembled that caused by Hydra 70 rockets, a type used by U.S. military helicopters. Garlasco also suggested the secondary strikes on the men fleeing the van was consistent with a U.S. military practice of targeting "squirters"—people perceived to be hostiles running away from an attack. In February 2020, U.S. Central Command launched a formal investigation, called a credibility assessment, into the allegations of possible civilian casualties. In July 2020, Central Command concluded that U.S. forces reacted appropriately to "actions against U.S. forces, which turned lethal after warnings were not heeded." According to CENTCOM, a helicopter fired a warning shot at the approaching van, but the van accelerated towards the helicopter until it was shot upon again, in which the men fled towards Baghdadi's compound without appearing to surrender, leading U.S. forces to perceive the men as hostile "enemy combatants". The men would not have been considered hostile if they did not run towards the compound, a spokesman said. CENTCOM investigators did not contact Barakat during the assessment and said they will not compensate the victims' families. Retired U.S. Major General Dana Pittard commented that U.S. personnel were justified in protecting themselves against a Syrian vehicle approaching the area with unknown intentions, but said the cousins' response to the warning shot was also understandable, saying "I assume it was dark...What is your inclination? Just put your foot on the pedal and keep going." NPR questioned the military's account, saying it offered no evidence the men intended to threaten troops and speculated whether the military was deliberately portraying confused, fleeing civilians as retreating hostiles. On December 8, 2021, NPR filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of New York against the U.S. Department of Defense, alleging that the Pentagon failed its legal obligation to provide documents of the investigation and respond to Freedom of Information Act requests in a timely manner. Analysis An analysis by the Brookings Institution released on November 6, 2019 framed the raid's success as a reminder of the United States' "power and resolve" in the War on Terror, remarking on three particular aspects of the operation: intelligence collection, international cooperation, and operational capability. Brookings asserted that it was a combination of U.S. hard power and soft power that secured cooperation with Turkey, Russia, Iraq and the Kurds and noted that a synergized combination of HUMINT, SIGINT, and visual intelligence gathering was the key to translating the ISIL informant's information into actionable operational intelligence, such as how the deployment of military dogs indicated U.S. forces were expecting close-quarters obstacles thanks to intelligence reports. The analysis stated that despite Baghdadi's eight years of experience evading capture or death, the operation succeeded due to the U.S. professionally utilizing the "Find, Fix, Finish" intelligence cycle standard: narrow down Baghdadi's suspected location (the Find), verify his identity and location and translate the intelligence into a feasible action plan (the Fix), and subdue the target (the Finish). A Department of Defense Inspector General report on November 19, 2019, citing Defense Intelligence Agency assessments, stated that Baghdadi's death was "a significant blow to ISIS but would not likely end the ISIS threat" and that his demise "would likely have little effect on the ability of ISIS to reconstitute" itself as a potent transnational threat, according to open-source analysis. A report from the DIA in 2020 concluded that Baghdadi's death did not have an immediate impact on ISIL's abilities to operate, as the group's command structure was fairly decentralized by the time of the raid. Reactions The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said the raid was the outcome of intelligence sharing between parties on the ground and thanked those involved in the operation. ISIL response and subsequent operations News of the death of Baghdadi was ignored by official ISIL channels for days and the group did not immediately confirm his death. Many ISIL supporters refused to believe he was dead, while some others accepted it. Supporters of ISIL's rival jihadist groups like Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and al-Qaeda praised his death because of his group's noted record for cruelty. Salafi cleric Abdullah al-Muhaysini celebrated Baghdadi's demise and called on ISIL members to defect. The activity of jihadist supporters in general temporarily decreased online as well. ISIL's Amaq News Agency confirmed Baghdadi's death on October 31 and announced Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi as his successor. Abu Hamza al-Qurayshi became their new spokesman after its prior spokesperson, Abul-Hasan al-Muhajir, was killed in an October 27 U.S. strike in northwest Syria following the Barisha raid. In an audio message, Hamza al-Qurayshi described U.S. president Donald Trump as "a crazy old man" and warned the U.S. to "not rejoice" and that ISIL supporters would avenge Baghdadi's death. Since Baghdadi's death several of the leaders operating under him have been killed or captured, along with some of his family members: On November 4, Turkish communications director Fahrettin Altun stated that Rasmiya Awad, Baghdadi's lesser-known older sister, had been captured. According to Reuters, citing Turkish officials, Awad was captured in a raid on a shipping container in the Turkish-controlled Syrian border town of Azaz and that Turkish authorities were interrogating her husband and daughter-in-law who were also detained. When captured, she was also accompanied by five children. "We hope to gather a trove of intelligence from Baghdadi's sister on the inner workings of ISIS," Altun stated. Little independent information is available on Baghdadi's sister and Reuters was not immediately able to verify if the captured individual was her. On December 3, Iraqi security forces announced the capture of Baghdadi's "deputy" who operated under the name "Abu Khaldoun". According to security officials, a police unit in Hawija, Kirkuk Governorate, Iraq, tracked down Khaldoun to an apartment in the March 1 area where he was hiding; he possessed a fake I.D. under the name of Shaalan Obeid when apprehended. Khaldoun was previously ISIL's "military prince" of Iraq's Saladin Governorate. On December 26, Boko Haram, the West African branch of ISIL, killed 11 captives in what the group called a "message for Christians" and a retaliation for the killing of Baghdadi and Abul-Hasan al-Muhajir. International Representatives of several countries, including Australia, France, Israel, and the United Kingdom, congratulated the United States and said that the death of Baghdadi marked a turning point in the fight against ISIL. - The Foreign Secretary said that the death of al-Baghdadi was a "significant milestone"; however, it wasn't the end of the threat with the UK Secretary of State for Defence welcoming the death of al-Baghdadi. - The French government said that it was a hard blow to the Islamic State however, saying, that this was also just a stage and that the fight must continue. - The State of Israel too welcomed the death of al-Baghdadi, congratulating President Trump and reaffirming their stand on international terrorism and stating that the fight must continue on. – Russian spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the raid's result, if confirmed, represented a serious contribution by the United States toward combating terrorism. – Iran, on the other hand, stated that Baghdadi's death was not significant and that the actions of the United States are responsible for the rise of ISIL. Iran said that the killing of Baghdadi did not mean the group's end, as sectarianism and terrorism still very much exist and are being exploited by countries like the U.S. – In an interview with the French magazine Paris Match published on November 27, 2019, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad dismissed any suggestion the Syrian government had anything to do with the raid and affirmed his skepticism of the operation's success, calling it a "fantastic play staged by the Americans" and quipping "...was al-Baghdadi really killed or not?" Assad made similar remarks to Syria TV weeks prior, calling the operation "little more than a trick" and likening U.S. politics to Hollywood. – Mohammed bin Salman commended Trump on the killing of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, describing the event as a turning point in the fight against extremism. Saudi Arabia said Baghdadi had perverted the reputation of Islam and welcomed his death at the hands of US commandos. The kingdom said it is thankful to the US for its efforts to track members of this terrorist organization. – Egypt said the death marked a significant achievement in the efforts to combat extremism. The country also advocated for a comprehensive approach that acknowledged the security, developmental, and theoretical dimensions in the battle against armed actors. – President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said al-Baghdadi's killing was a turning point in the fight against terrorism. – Afghanistan praised al-Baghdadi's killing as a significant blow and anticipated it would weaken ISIL's activities in Afghanistan. – Jordan characterized al-Baghdadi's death as a major step in the battle against terrorists and their principles of hate. The country also said it will remain on the frontlines to eradicate extremism in partnership with its allies. – Bahrain lauded the raid and said it was a "fatal blow to the group." – Japan said the death of al-Baghdadi was a crucial turning point towards serenity and stability in the Middle East. However, the country also cautioned that the war against terrorism had not ended. – The Philippines said Baghdadi's death was only a temporary setback for the group because of ISIL's comprehensiveness and reach worldwide. – Iraq noted its part in locating Baghdadi and said it would continue to track and prosecute the organization. – The prime minister of Sri Lanka, Ranil Wickremesinghe congratulated President Donald Trump after the raid. He said that IS has been fomenting horror and dismay across the globe and that the operation makes the world a more secure place. – The German government took the time to reflect on the victims of IS after the raid. Government spokesman Steffen Seibert said Baghdadi can't order any more killings, but added that the fight against the organization will continue. – U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said the death of Baghdadi was a good time to remember the casualties of terrorism. U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said that IS had perpetrated wicked human rights violations and ushered in disaster and death to thousands of men, women, and children. Lastly, he added the world has made visible progress against Daesh. – The European Union said the death of Baghdadi was a major blow to the organization but warned that it still remains a major threat. – NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg stated the raid was a great accomplishment in the efforts against global terrorism. See also Death of Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi (2022) Killing of Osama bin Laden, similar raid that targeted al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden in 2011. List of United States special forces raids during the Syrian civil war Battle of Baghuz Fawqani Turkey–IS conflict Rojava–Islamist conflict Assassination of Qasem Soleimani, targeted killing of Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani in 2020. References External links Statement from the President on the Death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, October 27, 2019. 2019 in Syria 2019 in military history 2019 murders in Asia 2010s murders in Syria Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi Articles containing video clips CIA activities in Asia Baghdadi, Abu Bakr al- Harem District Idlib Governorate in the Syrian civil war Military operations of the Syrian civil war in 2019 Military operations of the Syrian civil war involving the United States October 2019 crimes in Asia October 2019 events in Syria Operation Inherent Resolve Operations involving American special forces Presidency of Donald Trump Suicide bombings in 2019 Suicide bombings in Syria American involvement in the Syrian civil war War on terror

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Chan%20Yin-lam

Death of Chan Yin-lam

The death of Chan Yin-lam occurred during the 2019 Hong Kong protests, and gave rise to speculations by protesters about its cause. Lam was a 15-year-old student who died on or shortly after 19 September 2019. Her naked corpse was found floating in the sea near Yau Tong, Hong Kong on 22 September 2019. Following a preliminary autopsy, police asserted that no foul play was suspected and that Chan had killed herself, while there were allegations that she was murdered by Hong Kong authorities in connection with her participation in the 2019 Hong Kong protests. The coroner's inquest concluded with the jury unanimously returning an open verdict, after Magistrate Ko Wai-hung ruled out both homicide and suicide as possible causes due to insufficient evidence to support this. Background Chan Yin-lam, also known as Christy Chan, was 15 years old. Her parents were separated. She had a "complicated" family background and a history of running away from home. Prior to her disappearance, she had been staying at a girls' home. She attended the Pok Oi Hospital Tang Pui King Memorial College, Hong Kong, and had, just a few days prior to her disappearance, started a course at the Youth College attached to the Vocational Training Council (VTC). She also worked a part-time job in the restaurant trade. Media reports indicate that Chan had won awards in inter-school swimming competitions. Chan had received regular diving training and was once a member of the diving team. According to her friends, she had attended protests, while police confirmed that Chan had not been arrested during the 2019 protests. Disappearance and death On 19 September at 14:15, Chan left a group of friends at Mei Foo and sent a message to some friends stating she was going back home. It was her last message before her disappearance. Friends put out a missing person's brief after she failed to reappear; her family called the police on 21 September. According to surveillance footage from Youth College she attended, she left the campus barefoot and walked towards the waterfront near Tseung Kwan O on 19 September. She was reported missing two days later. MTR confirmed that station cleaners had found a mobile phone and some stationery belonging to Chan on the ground near an exit of Tiu Keng Leng station, while the station staff contacted Chan's family members as confirmed by the call log of the mobile phone. Her family member picked up the lost property two days later. At 11 am on 22 September, a man who was fishing saw a floating object with a human form 100m off the coast from Devil's Peak. Police boats were dispatched, and it was found to be the naked corpse of a human female. Police initially reported that the victim was a female suspected of being between 25 and 30 years of age, 1.5m in height, medium build, with long blond hair. On 9 October, responding to media inquiries, police confirmed that the naked corpse belonged to the 15-year-old Chan. According to a preliminary autopsy, there were no lacerations or contusions on her body, and no sign of sexual assault. Although her death was later considered "not suspicious" by the police, the police originally requested a court warrant on 27 September on the grounds that the case was a murder, but changed the categorisation to "dead body found" several days later. Her body was cremated on 10 October, the day after police had confirmed the corpse as Chan's. Conspiracy theories and reactions Following her death, conspiracy theories emerged on social media that alleged that the police and government officials murdered her for participating in the 2019 Hong Kong protests and then covered-up her death. The Hong Kong police and government have denied these allegations. HKDI footage Fueled by these conspiracy theories, students from Youth College and Hong Kong Design Institute (HKDI) Tiu King Leng campus where she was a student gathered to demand the release of the CCTV footage taken on the evening of 19 September, where Chan was last seen before her death. On 15 October, after a sit-in, campus management agreed to accede to the demands and released some relevant footage. Dissatisfied with partial footage, disgruntled students demanded complete and unedited footage, giving a 30-minute deadline. Upon expiry of the deadline, the students vandalised school premises, damaged surveillance cameras and set off a fire alarm. The VTC later suspended all classes on the Tiu Keng Leng campus of the HKDI, Youth College and other institutions between 15 and 17 October. The VTC has since released additional CCTV clips after 200 students, amid class suspension, rallied inside the campus to support an online appeal for an indefinite class boycott. The 16 clips released showed Chan wandering around campus for more than an hour. After the Design Institute had disclosed surveillance videos and the girl's mother had appealed for an end to the speculation of Chan's death, students continued to demand the release of integral footage from surveillance cameras for 29 and 30 October. Masked protesters accused the school of downplaying the situation; they continued to damage facilities and equipment on campus for two days, with the police ended up having to be called. It has been suggested that the girl in the footage was an imposter and not Chan. Some also accused the girl on the footage to be an actress involved in some cover-up by authorities. For the coroner's inquest, Chan's family members, social workers, and friends all identified the girl on the footage as Chan. Ho Yun-loi, her grandfather, added that he saw Chan in the same clothing on the morning of 19 September. The Coroner's Court jury accepted in the verdict that the girl in the footage was Chan. Cremation Former forensic pathologist Philip Beh Swan-lip commented that the circumstances of the discovery and cremation of Chan's body were suspicious: discoveries of fully naked bodies in the sea are generally treated as suspect and would require thorough investigations, yet Beh's opinion is that Chan's body was hastily cremated after a preliminary autopsy. Beh opined that police should release further information about the autopsy and a coroner's inquest should be undertaken to allay suspicions of police misconduct. People accused the police for allowing the cremation of Chan's body soon after the death, but the police countered that it was the cremation order granted by the coroner that authorised the process. Interview and harassment of Chan's mother In an interview with TVB News on 17 October, Chan's mother, Ho Pui-yee, said that after looking at all the relevant CCTV footage, she believed that her daughter's death was a suicide. She said that although she was initially suspicious of the death of Chan, she said that her daughter was not emotionally stable, and may well have had psychosis as repeated auditory hallucinations had prevented her from sleeping. She said that her daughter once participated in distributing the leaflet of the protests in June, but had become disillusioned by July. She added that she had been doxxed since her daughter's death, resulting in her being harassed at work and telephoned at all hours. Ho pleaded to the general public to end the speculation and for her to be left alone. Ho's interview and the police's assertion that Chan had killed herself were met with some scepticism: a political activist who knows Chan's brother doubted that Chan had killed herself by drowning, citing the fact that she was an award-winning swimmer. Some disputed Ho's identity in the early days following Chan's death. She had long hair and wore a surgical mask in her TV interview, but some people online pointed to Facebook photos of Chan's mother with shorter hair in July 2019 to question the identity of Ho as Chan's mother. In response to the rumours by anti-government activists and sceptics about the identity of Chan's mother, a DNA test was conducted for the Coroner's Court inquest. The test was performed on 9 July 2020 and verified Ho's identity as Chan's mother. On 24 August 2020, a gathered crowd started harassing Chan's mother, calling her things like "fake mum" and "actress", as she left the Coroner's Court hearing; two people including a known anti-government protester were arrested for public order offences. Cultural references In the self-penned Cantonese composition "Explicit Comment" (人話) released in late 2019, singer-songwriter Charmaine Fong made reference to the public's scepticism of the official narrative of Chan's death with the lyric "The truth has long since disappeared, write your ridiculous plots". In the associated music video, the last-known footage of Chan and of police press conferences are juxtaposed. Coroner's Court inquest A coroner's inquest took place in late August and early September 2020 to investigate the cause and circumstances of Chan Yin-lam's death. Mental state Social worker Wong Yin-lai stated that, in March 2019, Chan tried to suffocate herself with a plastic bag, for which she was sent to the Tuen Mun Hospital, but Wong did not believe that Chan had suicidal tendencies and viewed it as an attempt to escape from her girls' home. Doctor Lam Chi-pang of Tuen Mun Hospital said that Chan had self-harm intentions and was diagnosed with acute stress disorder and defiant disorder. Psychiatrist Yeung Yu-hang of Castle Peak Hospital, who visited Chan in the Tuen Mun Hospital after she damaged facilities in the girls' home on 19 August 2019, said that Chan revealed to him that she was hearing two voices in her head that were blaming her and thus started harming herself, but that she did not want to kill herself. Lam Chi-pang and psychiatrist Sarah Theresa Chung also repeated the same observation that Chan did not want to kill herself. Wong recalled that, after Chan's discharge from the hospital on 22 August, Chan told her that she heard voices inside her head when she did not sleep well. Wong also said that Chan appeared normal after taking sedatives prescribed by the hospital, but that she was unsure if Chan had stopped taking them before her death. As expert witness, the forensic psychiatrist Robyn Ho (Ho Mei-yee) said that Chan appeared to show symptoms of multiple mental illnesses and that her symptoms (such as her confused state of mind, capricious behaviour, and complaints about hearing non-existent voices) suggested that she suffered from an early stage of psychosis, a condition that brings a higher risk of suicide and may result in difficulty with body coordination during an episode. She also pointed to Chan's increased risk for mental illness due to her family history as her father had been hospitalised several times for several months at a time due to his psychosis. According to Ho, Chan's behaviour demonstrated signs of a potential psychotic break in the period leading to the death. In the verdict, the jury said that they could not ascertain whether Chan exhibited psychotic symptoms on 19 September 2019. They noted the failure of the Hospital Authority to effectively follow up on cases of teenagers with mental health issues, especially after the inquest heard that Chan might have developed psychotic symptoms a month before her death. The jurors made the recommendation that the institution should review how juvenile patients are followed up after psychiatric consultations. Course of action Chiu Kwan-yi, a classmate of Chan, said that Chan showed odd behaviour on the final day before her disappearance. Chan had returned to school at 11 am and used a classmate's schoolbag as pillow to sleep on a classroom floor, but got up 10 minutes later after the teacher and other classmates repeatedly urged her, and explained her lateness to Chiu in a WhatsApp message that "It's so scary. I spent the whole night awake and packing stuff. Crazy." After her class ended at 1 pm, Chan was clearing her school locker for half an hour and said to Chiu that she would return to the Tseung Kwan O campus that night but did not give a reason for it. Then, Chan and Chiu together went to Tiu Keng Leng MTR station and took a train, but Chan refused to take a seat and sat on the floor instead. Chan did not change trains at Mei Foo station, as she usually would do with Chiu, and said that she would not return home that afternoon. In WhatsApp, Chan wrote that she went to Prince Edward station and arrived at a shopping centre in Tsim Sha Tsui. Chan's last message, sent at 5.18 pm, was a cryptic "That's very bad of you guys," but Chiu said that she did not understand what it meant. Ho Yun-loi, Chan's grandfather, said that Chan was packing her room overnight and complained about hearing voices that made it difficult for her to sleep. The court heard that Chan, as seen in security footage, returned to Tiu Keng Leng MTR station at 5.40 pm and left some of her personal possessions including a mobile phone outside the station's exit A before she walked away. Chong Lam-kin, the station's control officer, said that he learned that Chan's mother was outside Hong Kong and did not know her daughter's whereabouts when he used the phone to call the mother one hour later. The police showed a compilation of footage showing Chan, initially wearing shoes and later barefooted, walking throughout the Hong Kong Design Institute (HKDI) for 70 minutes from 5.50 to 7 pm when she left the premise without footwear towards a nearby housing estate. Detective Constable Lee Ho-kit said that they concluded from the footage that Chan had safely departed from HKDI that night. In the footage, Chan is seen leaving behind some of her belongings; the court heard that some were found on a bench in the podium floor of block B. Leung Po-yi, the HKDI administrative officer, said that Chan's belongings—including an identity card, a student ID, a mobile phone, and an Octopus card—were turned in later that night. The police said that the Octopus card belonged to another person who lost the card one year before Chan's death and did not know Chan. Lee said that Chan's shoes could not be found. Chan Ka-chun, a HKDI graduate, stated that he saw Chan, looking sane but seemingly absent-mindedly searching for someone, wandering without wearing shoes at Tiu Keng Leng MTR station around 7.20 pm. Chow Tai-lai, a taxi driver, claimed that Chan got into his car and asked to be driven to a construction site next to LOHAS Park MTR station, a few hundred metres from a promenade, on that night. Detective Constable Lee Ho-kit said that his team followed up on Chow's tip and investigated the area, but could not locate any relevant footage. He added that another team was tasked with locating Chan's clothes along the shore, but also made no relevant findings. The jury could not verify the veracity of Chow's statement. The jury concluded that Chan last appeared inside Tiu Keng Leng MTR station after 7 pm on 19 September 2019. Examination of the body Lau Yin-kai, the man who discovered the body, said that he and his son went fishing on a boat at 10 am on 22 September 2019 near Devil's Peak, after which they saw the body floating in the water. Marine Police Superintendent Man Wai-cheung, who examined the body after it was airlifted to a marine police base in Sai Wan Ho on 22 September 2019, said that he did not find significant injuries on the body that could have caused death. Police Constable Chan Kwok-wing said that his superior, Man Wai-cheung, ruled the case as suspicious as the body was stark naked, but Man denied that he made such a classification as he could not give a preliminary finding on the circumstances of death due to the body's decomposed state and lack of apparent fatal injuries. When asked by the jury if Chan's clothes could have been washed away, Man answered that it was possible as summer clothes are lighter. The forensic pathologists Lai Sai-chak and Garrick Li (Li Yuk-wah), who both performed the autopsy, stated that there was a distinct possibility that Chan had drowned, given the lack of apparent fatal injuries on the body and indications that the body was in the water for a substantial period, but concluded that the cause of death could not be confirmed due to the decomposition of the body. They determined that Chan died within 24 hours after her disappearance on 19 September 2019. They believed that the body was in the water for a substantial period, as there was widespread shedding and bleaching of the skin on the limbs. They also found that the body was relatively intact despite the decay, suggesting that Chan was not subjected to violence or sexual assault before her death. Li stated that there was no fatal injuries or self-defense injuries on the body, and that there was no drugs or poison in the body but that a blood test for alcohol could not be conducted due to the body's decay. Wai Wing-kong, a chemist, found no conclusive evidence that Chan was sexually assaulted, as there was no DNA from another person in the vagina or under the fingernails. Lee Wing-man, a laboratory technologist, said that she found no fabrics inside Chan's fingernails, which could have indicated a dispute prior to death, but noted that it also could have been washed away by the sea current if it was present. Hong Yau-hin, a forensic toxicologist, stated that he concluded that Chan had not taken any medicine or drugs in the days before her death. As expert witness, medical professor and forensic pathologist Philip Beh (Beh Swan-lip) challenged the suggestion that Chan had drowned herself. Beh said that it was very unsettling that the body was stark naked when discovered in the water, since loose clothing could wash away but tight-fitting clothing such as underwear was unlikely to come off naturally. He agreed that it was difficult to determine the manner of death due to the body's decomposition, but pointed out that the volume of fluids found in Chan's lungs was much less and unusually uneven compared to typical cases of drowning. In response, Li said that he could not explain the findings, but could only guess that one side of the lungs bore more fluid due to faster decomposition at the other side. Beh also said that DNA evidence for sexual abuse could have been diluted in the water. He further criticised the pathologists' decision to not undertake a diatom test on the body, as diatoms of the nearby water would be found in the body to determine if a person had drowned. The jury concluded that Chan died between the night of 19 September and the following day. They also concluded that she was found naked because she entered the water without clothes on rather than that strong waves had washed the clothes away. They recommended that the Department of Health should conduct a diatom test in cases where the cause of death could not be determined due to decomposition of a body. Verdict Magistrate Ko Wai-hung ruled out suicide and homicide as possible causes for Chan's death due to insufficient evidence to support this. He stated that there was no evidence that Chan had been assaulted, bore grudges or had disputed with anyone, was under the threat of personal injury, or was under the influence of medicine or drugs, as well as that intoxication by an unidentified drug had no basis in established facts. He further stated that the evidence was incompatible with suicide, citing the standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. The inquest resulted in an open verdict, as the jury was unable to determine the cause and circumstances of Chan's death. This verdict was made unanimously by the five-person jury. After the inquest ruling, the Hong Kong Police Force said that it was prepared to take further action in the case and made a public appeal for those with knowledge of the case to come forward. Ko ordered the police to retain one of Chan's mobile phones, an iPhone, for a year and investigate further if new evidence was obtained from the device; the phone was found locked, so data could not be retrieved from it. See also Death of Chow Tsz-lok Death of Luo Changqing List of unsolved deaths References 2004 births 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests Chan, Yin-lam 2019 in Hong Kong Conspiracy theories in China Chan, Yin-lam Chan, Yin-lam Chan, Yin-lam Formerly missing people Missing person cases in China Chan, Yin-lam

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Chow%20Tsz-lok

Death of Chow Tsz-lok

On 8 November 2019, Chow Tsz-lok, a 22-year-old student of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, died after falling from the third floor inside a car park in Tseung Kwan O, Hong Kong, on 4 November, during anti-government protests in the territory. Chow, who was clad in black clothing that had become an unofficial uniform for protesters, had been wandering alone inside the building in the moments preceding the fall. The car park was close to an area of confrontation between protesters and police. Chow sustained multiple injuries, including a severe brain injury as a result of his fall. He died due to a cardiac arrest four days later. Protesters blamed the police and the government for his death, while the police strenuously denied responsibility for his death, and the government failed to conduct an independent investigation. This triggered an escalation of violence of the ongoing protests. The Coroner's inquest found no evidence to suggest that Chow had taken part in the protest at the time. As the jury was unable to make a determination about the cause of death, the coroner pronounced an open verdict. Personal background Chow Tsz-lok, also known as Alex Chow, was born on 13 August 1997. He was a second-year computer science undergraduate student at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). His political views were not known, as friends said they rarely discussed politics. Incident Prelude Continuing and accumulated grievances against police brutality since the start of the anti-ELAB protests led to doxing of police officers and calls for revenge. Private details of a police officer's wedding in Tseung Kwan O on 3 November 2019 were thus leaked, and calls were made to crash it. Around 16:00 on that day, the police dispersed protesters who were disrupting the wedding held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. Riot police arrived near the hotel about two hours later. Then, around 00:20 on 4 November, around 100 protesters gathered at the junction of Tong Ming and Tong Chun streets, with some creating roadblocks. Circumstances Early 4 November, Chow sustained severe head injuries due to a fall from the third to the second storey of the Sheung Tak car park in Tseung Kwan O, near an area of confrontation between protesters and police. CCTV footage showed that Chow was wandering alone, backwards and forwards between the inside the car park and on a connecting footbridge from 0:26 until 01:02 – the last moment he was captured on camera. The fall itself was not captured in the footage due to the operational camera rotations and parked vehicles blocking the view. The police said that they fired tear gas in the area near the car park from 00:41 to 00:57. As reported in the Time magazine, it was initially unclear whether or not the tear gas, fired near the car park where protesters and officers clashed, had played a role in Chow's fall. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer said that television footage showed police had fired tear gas at the building in which Chow fell "minutes earlier". Tear gas was reported at the junction of Tong Ming Street and Tong Chun Street, to the western side of the car park, on the opposite side of the building and about 120 metres (parallel to the building) to 160 metres (from the junction) away from the spot where Chow fell. Security footage released by the building owner Link REIT showed that there was no police presence nor significant amounts of tear gas inside the car park in the moments before Chow fell. The police stated that officers conducted a dispersal operation in the building late Sunday, from 23:06 until 23:20, before Chow had arrived there. A second operation, to disperse protesters who had allegedly been throwing objects at officers on the street from above, took place at 01:05 after Chow had been found unconscious. Police denied that there were any police officers inside the building when Chow was walking around there, nor did they chase after him before he fell. The police concluded their dispersal operation in the car park at 01:25 and in the nearby area around the Sheung Tak car park at 01:45. At 01:05, police were informed by a civilian that a person had fallen. Firefighters attending to the injured requested an ambulance at 01:11. At 01:15, as seen in CCTV footage, over 20 police officers arrived at the spot where Chow had fallen and left about a minute later. Suzette Foo, the Senior Superintendent (Operations) of Kowloon East, said that their officers learned about Chow's injuries when they reached the second floor as they swept the building from the ground floor. She said that the firefighters told the police that they had the situation under control and did not require their presence. The police then dispersed the people at the scene with weapons, and left the first-aiders alone to provide care. Emergency services The Hong Kong Fire Services Department said ambulance A344 from the Po Lam district received an emergency call from firefighters and was redirected at 01:11 to the second floor of the Sheung Tak car park to attend to an urgent case. The ambulance was obstructed by other vehicles including double-decker buses and private cars at the junction of Po Shun Road at Tong Ming Street. At 01:20, finding their way blocked by private cars and fire engines near the Kwong Ying House of the Kwong Ming Court, the ambulance personnel abandoned their vehicle and walked to the scene with their equipment, arriving at their destination at 01:30. The ambulance left with Chow at 01:41 and arrived at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital at 01:59. Leung Kwok-lai, the Fire Services Department Assistant Chief Ambulance Officer (Kowloon East), said that the ambulance assigned to Chow did not come in contact with any police on duty. He also stated that there were five ambulances deployed for various incidents in the area around that time: ambulance A344 assigned to Chow, two other ambulances handling other cases, while the remaining two ambulances did not handle any patients. The Fire Services Department said that it took 19 minutes for paramedics to arrive at the scene due to traffic congestion near the car park, seven minutes more than the 12-minute service pledge for emergencies. The police and protesters each blamed the other side for blocking the ambulance from reaching Chow; police vehemently denied responsibility. In an email to HKUST staff and students pledging to take up the matter with police and demand clarification, HKUST president Wei Shyy said: "We saw the footage of ambulances being blocked by police cars and the paramedics walking to the scene, causing a delay of 20 minutes in the rescue operation of our student." However, it was ascertained that the disseminated footage actually depicted ambulance A346, assigned to a person with shortness of breath and back pain. Chow remained in a critical condition with severe brain injury at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital until his death from cardiac arrest at 08:09 on 8 November 2019. The hospital referred the case to the Coroner's Court. Investigation Police investigation The police promised an in-depth investigation, to recommend an inquest into the death, and submit a report to the coroner. Footage from over 30 cameras was provided by the building owner Link REIT from which investigators asserted that police entered the car park after the estimated time frame of his fall, and thus Chow could not have been pushed by police officers. They said Chow could not have been hit by beanbags or rubber bullets shot by the police as the distance was too great to reach him, and could not have fallen due to tear gas as no person in the area was affected and no smoke filled the area. However, the cause for the fall could not be determined from the footage. Injuries It was reported that Chow had a fractured right pelvis from likely a lateral compression, a torn internal iliac artery, a fractured skull base, bleeding in mainly the right half of the brain, and an intra-abdominal hemorrhage. He had no obvious injuries to his hands and feet, nor had he been shot with bullets or was he bruised from a beating. The toxicology results only showed drugs administered after his admission to the hospital. Coroner's Court As reported on 16 May 2020, Kwok Ka-chuen, Chief Superintendent of the Police Public Relations Branch, said that investigators had submitted a progress report to the Coroner's Court, which would open an inquest and make the documents public. The Coroner's Court held a pre-inquest review on 16 September 2020. The Coroner's Court inquest began on 16 November 2020 and lasted for over a month. For the inquest, 48 witness testimonies and 142 pieces of evidence had been submitted to the court and used for deliberation by the jury. Inquiry Home situation Chow Tak-ming said that his son left their flat at around 23:40 on 3 November 2019, wearing a black top, deep-grey shorts, black running shoes, a black cap, and a dark backpack. Tak-ming asked Alex why he was going out without getting a reply, and asked Alex to "be careful". Around 2 am, his parents hurried to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital upon being told about Chow's fall by his friends. Inside the car park The court heard that the second floor had four pavements separated by short concrete walls from the parking spaces, but that the third floor had a different layout as the walls were taller and there was no pavement behind the walls. Chow Tak-ming, the father, showed the route that they usually used inside the building on a model. He remarked that Chow fell in a location that was seldom used by their family. Senior Detective Constable Lam Chi-keung said that anyone who was unfamiliar with the car park's design could easily be misled into thinking that the upper floor was structured like the lower floor, especially if they accessed the higher floor via the vehicle lane, which Chow did. He suggested that Chow could have leapt over the concrete wall on the third floor under the misconception that he would land on a path behind the wall rather than fall four metres down to the level below. Telegram and WhatsApp messages Chow made posts in online group chats on Telegram saying that he was merely at the car park to watch the protest. His final message was "[I] also went down to give something to others." Constable Chau Cho-yiu, from the Cyber Security and Technology Crime Bureau, testified that he discovered the login credentials of Chow's iPad after inspecting browser records in Chow's desktop computer, which was not password-protected. He stated that he could not extract information from the iPhone with which Chow communicated with others that night, because the device had disabled itself following unsuccessful attempts at unlocking. Senior Detective Constable Lam Chi-keung stated that they were unable to identify the other Telegram users involved, because they could not contact the users via Chow's iPad due to concerns over data loss if the device was connected to the internet. Magistrate Ko Wai-hung urged the people who communicated with Chow on Telegram that night to come forward and provide information to the inquiry. Chow's father said that he messaged Chow via WhatsApp at 00:46 to say that police had fired tear gas, after which Chow replied two minutes later to tell his father to close the windows. This was the last message that Chow sent to his family, but Chow was last seen online at 01:00 on WhatsApp. Protesters and police The Coroner's Court heard that protesters assembled near the Sheung Tak Estate car park and barricaded roads overnight between 3 and 4 November 2019, following online calls to gather outside a nearby hotel where a police officer was holding a wedding banquet. Senior Inspector Wong Ka-lun said he and his team were tasked with conducting a sweep inside the car park, because black-clad protesters were hurling glass bottles and traffic cones at officers. The barrister representing Chow's family pressed the inspector that he should have realised the need to remove obstacles on the road when he found out that Chow had been injured to facilitate his rapid transfer to the hospital quickly. Wong responded that he judged that it was a higher priority to clear the threat posed by violent protesters so that the paramedics could continue treating the injured person, failing which firefighters and paramedics could have been assaulted. He said his team members had already enquired what had happened and whether rescuers needed help, but were informed their help was not needed. He said that they did not obstruct or harass firefighters or paramedics or get in touch with the injured person during the sweep. Senior Inspector Kwok Chun-hei, who led the other police team, said that they had not been informed of Chow's fall whilst dispersing protesters outside the car park. Both police Wong and Kwok stated that no officers had come in contact with Chow or had given chase to anybody during the incident. Station Sergeant Lam Wah-ping, who led the police reinforcement, said that he and about 30 colleagues went to offer emergency support to two other teams of officers during the protest in Tseung Kwan O, but had not entered the car park or any other building. He stated that the East Kowloon District police command post had not received information about the incident involving Chow. He said that officers passed by the Sheung Tak Estate car park's ground entrance and reached the T-junction, about 80 metres north of the junction between Tong Ming Street and Tong Chun Street, at 00:58, and that protesters had reoccupied the roads and were throwing objects at officers by the time police were about to retreat at 01:27. Fire Services Department Lai Wai-kit, a firefighter who administered first aid to Chow, revealed that anti-government protesters had unintentionally delayed their arrival by blocking a road leading to Chow's location. News footage played in court showed that two fire engines could not reach the car park due to a roadblock at the junction of Tong Ming Street and Tong Chun Street. Lai declared that his fire engine had to make a U-turn because the road to the car park was obstructed with various objects. A large number of protesters had gathered at that position, but that there had been unintentional obstruction to firefighters. Cheng Kwun-ming, a senior ambulanceman and the team leader for ambulance A344 assigned to Chow, said that he had asked the team to drive another route to the parking lot due to a traffic jam on Tong Ming Street and that they were blocked by an illegally-parked vehicle at the Kwong Ying House, so they walked over 100 metres into the parking lot with the stretcher. He estimated that they could have reached the scene 10 minutes earlier if there had been no obstructions and if extra protective equipment had not been necessary. He noted the absence of tear gas and police near Kwong Ying House, and said that the surroundings did not appear dangerous. Senior ambulanceman Cheng explained that his ambulance (A344) was parked for seven minutes and 56 seconds before the paramedics pushed the stretcher to the parking lot because they needed time to assess the situation at the scene, liaise with firefighters, find the best way to the parking lot, and get the equipment. Local residents and volunteers Mung Wai-kit (Ricky Mung), the member of the public who found Chow at around 01:03 described the scene of the fall, and that Chow looked like he had fallen flat on the ground with his knees slightly bent, with his hands beneath his waist and thighs in a position that gave him the impression that Chow tried to stand up. He stated that he did not see anyone chasing others, hear strange sounds, nor notice the pungent smell of tear gas. Photographs and videos by Mung showed that Chow was first tended by two firefighters shortly after the discovery and that several first aid volunteers offered assistance about 10 minutes later. Mung said that over 20 riot police officers subsequently walked past during their sweep of the car park. He added that some of the officers came forward and yelled at the crowd surrounding Chow, but then shortly left thereafter. One of Mung's videos, as indicated by the timestamp, showed that paramedics from the Fire Services Department arrived at 01:29. Tsui Ka-long, a Tseung Kwan O resident, said that he looked down from the third floor to see Chow lying in a pool of blood, so he ran and shouted for first aid. He said that in Chow's place, he himself would not have lost his balance as most parts of his body would have been below the concrete wall even if he stood on tiptoes. Mok Hon-pan, another Tseung Kwan O resident, said that he did not see any tear gas smoke nor detect any irritating smell around the area. He stated that police officers were shining flashlights at the building from the adjacent street during the time shortly before Chow was found. A 17-year-old certified first aider who checked on the injured and accompanied him to hospital in the ambulance said that riot police spoke to the firefighters and ambulancemen at the scene. He added that neighbors were asking the police to leave, while the police did not move forward and did not obstruct the first aid. Medical assessment Mak Hoi-kwan (Calvin Mak), the Queen Elizabeth Hospital neurosurgeon who operated on Chow, estimated from CAT scans that Chow had a 85 percent probability of dying within two weeks at the time of admission, and a 90 percent chance of going into vegetative state or remaining in a permanent deep coma if he did survive. He judged that Chow's prognosis was not dependent on if he had arrived sooner in the hospital. He believes that all the injuries were consistent with a fall from a height of 4.3 metres. He said that he could not determine that Chow was harmed or unconscious before the fall. Leung Tsz-hang (Ray Leung), a medical doctor who treated Chow, said that he could not rule out the possibility that Chow was thrown off the car park while unconscious, based on the lack of bruises on the hands expected from a person reacting to a fall by placing his hands against the ground, but that the reason for the possible unconsciousness was unclear. However, Beh Swan-lip (Philip Beh), a forensic doctor who observed the autopsy, said that Chow did have palm bruises, even though the hospital report did not state any injuries to the palm, but that the ICU doctors may not have looked at it as the injuries were small, non-fatal, and non-important. The expert witness Kong Kam-fu (James Kong), an orthopedic doctor, commented about the bruises on both palms, surmising that it may have been caused by Chow lifting himself up with his left or both hands on the edge, rather than with his right hand alone, and falling to the side if he jumped with his left hand on the edge. Leung said that Chow had no arm fractures, which suggested that Chow was unable to reflexively extend his arms for protection during the fall. He said that the injuries were likely caused by a collision of great force such as falling from height, but also deemed that the injuries could either be from that or an assault. He added that there was no signs indicating that Chow inhaled tear gas or was hit by bullets. He found the scenario that Chow lost his balance and could not react in time by using his hands unlikely. Wong stated that Chow most probably fell from a height by accident, rather than being attacked and thrown off the wall. He said that Chow landed with the right side of his head first and that his left brain was bruised by the counter-impact force, similar to what happened with the chest and pelvic injuries. He said that the injuries did not look like that from an attack, there was no DNA from other people under his fingernails, and there was no evidence that Chow had been attacked. He also explained that Chow was unlikely to have been thrown based on the horizontal distance of 1.3 metres between Chow and the wall. He further explained that Chow's fall from the height of 4.3 meters took around 0.93 seconds based on his calculations and that people's perception reaction time is about 0.5 to 0.7 seconds, meaning that Chow did not have sufficient time to react to the fall. He added that the 0.7-second perception reaction time is based on results from laboratory experiments, but that this is in reality more than one second for the average person. The expert witness Tse Man-li, a clinical toxicologist, concluded that Chow's death is not related to intoxication by tear gas fired by police. He stated that Chow's medical report did not record any signs of exposure to tear gas, such as at the nose or eyes. He noted that medical workers would have been affected as well if Chow was tear gassed, but no medical workers had noticed this during the rescue and thus the odds of Chow being tear gassed is slim. He said there was no trace of pepper spray or cyanide, a chemical found in tear gas, found in the blood and body fluid samples taken during the hospitalization and autopsy. A juror asked whether tear gas could have reach the destination due to the wind or could have filled out the third floor within one minute, but Tse responded that the tear gas was not affected by wind based on the footage showing the smoke rising upwards and that it is unlikely to diffuse at such a speed. Security footage Detective Senior Constable Ngai Kwun-kit, who was tasked with reviewing security footage, said that the fall might have occurred at 01:01:47 due to an abnormal change in the light around the area where Chow was found. He posited that a sudden flash, seen in the footage, was caused by light reflected from Chow as he fell down, but Magistrate Ko Wai-hung remarked that it was too early to confirm whether the flash could indicate the exact timing of Chow's fall. Ngai stated that Chow was alone and not followed by anyone in the footage. Later, newly unearthed footage from a security camera installed at the Kwong Ming Court, a residential complex near the car park, showed a shadow identified as belonging to Chow as it descended. The moment was timestamped at 00:51:37 in the video, but Ko remarked that this was not the real time. He added that forensic experts had to ascertain the precise time and landing point of the fall based on the footage. The forensic experts, as revealed by coroner officer Yip Chi-hong (Timmy Yip), determined the time of the fall as 01:01:48 based on the new footage, similar to the conclusion of the investigators into the footage at the car park. Ko later stated that he indeed believes that the flash captured in the footage indicated the moment when Chow fell and that the time of the footage matched the other evidence. Forensic assessment Kwok Ka-kei, a forensic doctor who performed the autopsy, stated that she found no signs that Chow was shot, burnt, or assaulted on the body. She also found no traces of tear gas or pepper spray. She believes that the cause of death was the head injury. She explained that Chow had a brain coup injury on the right side and a brain contrecoup injury on the left side, determined to be caused by a moving head hitting on a hard and non-deformed surface, such as by falling from a height and hitting the right side of the head against the ground. She stated that the injuries to the chest and pelvis could have occurred under the same circumstances, and that they were consistent with injuries caused by falling from the third floor to the second floor of the parking lot. She further explained that there was no injury that pointed to an attack, whereas cases of killings would have shown a skull recess caused by the weapon and no contrecoup injury. She stated that the injuries would have to be serious for Chow to be beaten unconscious, which would have left traces of the murder weapon, but there was no sight of injuries caused by an attack. Beh Swan-lip (Philip Beh), a forensic doctor who was appointed by Chow's parents and watched the autopsy, agreed that Chow's injuries could not be caused by anything other than falling. He believes that the fatal injuries were located at the head and brain. He stated that the injuries were concentrated at the right side of the body, adding that the right side of the head and pelvic bone was severely hit. He reported that the injuries do not appear to be caused by a murder weapon. He added that the skull would be broken if the head was attacked by a hammer or stick. He also added that an indistinguishable lineair fracture could have formed if the flat part of a brick was used to hit the head, but that this would have needed planning to get these injuries to overlap with the fall injuries. He deemed the possibility of overlapping injuries by an attack and fall to be low. Cheng Yuk-ki, a senior government chemist in charge of forensic analysis, believes that Chow's fall was accidental, rather than that Chow was attacked and thrown off the wall. He was involved in mapping out the interior of the car park for stereoscopic animation in virtual reality for the court, as jury visits to the site was avoided due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He explained that the layout of the second and third floor is similar, which may have caused the confusion that the wall on the third floor was the same as the wall on the second floor, that is, connected to a sidewalk. He remarked that the surveillance footage showed that other people also had tried to cross the same wall in other locations, but that they found that there was no pedestrian path behind the wall and that nothing had happened. Cheng said that he conducted an on-site experiment to test the hypothesis that the flash on the footage at 1:01:47 indicated the moment of Chow's fall, an experiment that resulted in a similar flash in live footage when a dummy was being thrown from the third to the second floor. He concluded that the flash on the footage was indeed caused by Chow's fall. He stated that the footage of the flash and the footage of the shadow falling appeared to show the same moment. Cheng stated that Chow was last captured on footage at 01:01:39 while walking from the second floor to the third floor along the ramp. He said that it is possible, based on Chow's walking pace, that Chow had walked 15 metres from the place where he was last captured on camera at 01:01:39 to the 1.2-metre-high wall where he fell eight seconds later. He added that no one else had been captured by cameras on the third floor for seven seconds before the incident. When asked whether Chow could have been attacked within the eight seconds, Cheng stated that there is no evidence that supports such a hypothesis. He explained that it is difficult for someone who wants to ambush Chow to hide from being captured by the cameras as the cameras rotate randomly, adding that the culprit would have to calculate the exact time of Chow walking up to the third floor and complete the whole attack within eight seconds, which is difficult to accomplish. He believes that it is impossible that someone could have attacked, lifted, and thrown Chow over the wall within the eight seconds. Summary and verdict The Coroner's Court inquest concluded with an open verdict, as the jury was unable to make a determination about the death in the case. This was reached by a four to one majority. In addition, they agreed that the cause of death was the head injury due to a fall from a height. Magistrate Ko Wai-hung remarked that they almost arrived at the truth, which would have surfaced if the security camera had moved up or moved at a slower speed. During his summary statement, Ko reminded the jury to determine the cause of death based on the evidence presented during the inquest and not be influenced by reports in the media. He said that there was no evidence to suggest that Chow had taken part in the protest that night, that there was no evidence to suggest that Chow was affected by tear gas fired by police over 130 metres away from the fall, that the security footage at the car park showed Chow acting alone, and that there was no sign that police officers had come into contact with Chow. Ko instructed that, if the jury ruled that Chow was unlawfully killed, it must be proven without reasonable doubt and with no other reasonable way to explain Chow's fall. He stated that the jury could exclude the possibility that Chow was pushed over the wall, as Chow would have fallen with the top of the head landing first if he was pushed, but the medical findings showed that Chow's injuries was centred on the right parts of the body and thus does not support that theory. He said that Chow did not have injuries consistent with a fall from an upside-down position due to a push. He also said that Chow could not have been easily pushed, based on his height, over the 1.2-metre-high wall. Instead, he pointed to the testimony by the forensic doctor Beh that the only possible scenario for an unlawful killing was that Chow's head must be struck by a brick or another hard object and that Chow was then thrown from the third floor, while the location of the injuries from the attack had to overlap with the injuries caused by the right side of Chow's head hitting the ground. However, he remarked that there was a lack of blood stains on the third floor. He stated that the jury could consider whether an assailant could have acted within the limited time and could have avoided capture by CCTV cameras. He also referred to the testimony by the orthopedic doctor Kong that Chow had a time of only 0.23 seconds to respond to the fall and said that they could think about what response could be made by Chow within 0.23 seconds. Secondly, he instructed that the jury could rule that Chow fell to his death by accident if they found it to be relatively likely. Finally, he stated that the jury should consider delivering an open verdict if they failed to arrive at one of these two conclusions. Ko had asked the jury to think about whether it was enough that the relevant management agency had posted warning signs to dissuade people from climbing on the third floor. The jury recommended that, in the car park, the revolving security cameras should be replaced with stationary cameras and that railings should be installed on the edge of the third floor to minimize the risk of an accident. Responses in Hong Kong Official responses On 8 November 2019, the Hong Kong government expressed "great sorrow and regret" over Chow's death and extended sympathies to his family, and added that a "comprehensive investigation to find out what happened" was already under way. Protesters The death of Chow sparked heightened anger among protesters, repeated calls for revenge by protesters, and the escalation of protester violence. As part of the ongoing polarising misinformation, unsubstantiated claims about the police's role in the death of Chow began spreading widely among protesters and subsequently the public – in particular, allegations that Chow had been chased and even pushed by an undercover officer, and that police blocked an ambulance from reaching him. During a 6 November forum at HKUST to discuss Chow's incident, a student from the Chinese mainland was assaulted, including repeatedly hit on the head, by a crowd of protesters. HKUST president Wei Shyy denounced those responsible for the violence and those who aided or abetted the attack. On 8 November, many people queued at the place where Chow had fallen to participate in a memorial, placing offerings of flowers, candles, and paper cranes. About a thousand protesters marched in the central business district; they chanted anti-police slogans and shouted at the police, including calling them "murderers". In several locations around Hong Kong, protesters blocked roads, lit fires, and vandalised Mass Transit Railway stations, while the police responded with tear gas. A graduation ceremony at HKUST on that day was cut short when masked students dressed in black took the stage and turned it into a memorial service for Chow. A vigil was held the next day in Tamar Park, with organisers claiming an attendance of 100,000, while police put that figure at 7,500. On 11 November, sparked by Chow's death, student protesters marched to the residence of HKUST president Shyy and called on him to "condemn police violence"; they daubed graffiti and vandalised the residence and also vandalised a Starbucks café and Bank of China branch on campus; classes at HKUST were cancelled for repairs after mass vandalism on the campus. Shyy demanded a "thorough and independent investigation" into Chow's death. The death of Chow ignited an escalation of violent protests, initiating the so-called "Blossom Everywhere" campaign from 11 November onward in which protesters established roadblocks, disrupted train services, and vandalised public spaces across the city that would ultimately lead to conflicts where a protester was shot in Sai Wan Ho, a man was doused and set on fire in Ma On Shan, and an elderly man was killed after he was hit with a brick in Sheung Shui, eventually culminating into large-scale police sieges on university campuses, such as at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, where the protesters had retreated to serve as their bases of operation. In a "citizen's press conference" held by protesters following the news of Chow's death, demonstrators said: "In this tragic moment, we plead to all to bear in heart and mind who the real culprits behind Tsz-lok’s death were. His fall was not an unfortunate accident. It was an intentional manslaughter executed by tyranny and the police force." Others Man-Kei Tam, the director of Amnesty International Hong Kong, called for an independent and urgent investigation into the events leading to Chow's fall, including into the allegations that the police delayed the ambulance. The activist Joshua Wong said that Chow's death made the demand for an independent investigation into police conduct even more crucial, stating that "Reforming the Hong Kong police force has become a big demand in the society," and asserted that "Obviously, the Hong Kong police force has to be accountable for Chow's death." The Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor observed the absence of trust between police and the public and thus urged the coroner to "proactively investigate, and take additional measures to ensure the credibility of the investigation." In an open letter, HKUST president Wei Shyy called for a thorough and independent investigation into Chow's death, and a clarification from all parties and especially the police to the cause of the ambulance delay. The provisional president of the HKUST student union, Lai Wai-chun, said that he hoped that the university authorities could investigate the reasons for Chow's death and the alleged delay in emergency medical personnel reaching Chow. The police responded to Shyy's open letter, stating the following points: the Regional Crime Unit of Kowloon East was investigating the case and would do so in depth; the police had recommended a death inquest and would submit a death investigation report to the coroner; the Fire Services Department clarified that the ambulance had no interaction with police officers at the scene, but was obstructed by buses and private cars and not by police vehicles. Funeral and public tribute An article published by Next Magazine alleged that Po Fook Memorial Hall, which supposedly had been approached by Chow's mother to organise her son's funeral arrangements, had declined to hold Chow's funeral ceremony and said that the entire funeral services sector would not help her. The Po Fook Memorial Hall denied the report and said that they were working with Chow's family to provide services. The public service was held there on the evening of 12 December 2019, and thousands of mourners attended. Members of the public, including many who did not know Chow personally, queued until late that evening to pay their respects. On 25 February 2020, the Sai Kung District Council, whose responsibility covers the area where Chow died, announced a meeting on 3 March for which eight members of the Council hqd submitted for discussion a motion to rename two resting places in the Tseung Kwan O district "Chow Tsz-lok Memorial Park" and "Chan Yin-lam Memorial Park". This motion was controversial, with some members of the public condemning the disrespect to the deceased and their families, who had not been consulted; two of the proposers reportedly received abusive messages on their social media pages. See also Death of Chan Yin-lam Death of Luo Changqing References 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests November 2019 events in China Chow Tsz-lok Chow Tsz-lok Chow Tsz-lok Scandals of Hong Kong Police Deaths in Hong Kong 1997 births

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Michael%20Rosenblum

Death of Michael Rosenblum

In 1992, a skull fragment found in a wooded area of Baldwin, Pennsylvania, United States, was determined to be that of Michael Rosenblum, who had last been seen alive driving away from a nearby gas station on February 14, 1980. While the discovery put to rest the question of his fate, how he died could not be determined. This left unsettled allegations his father had made in the years since his son's disappearance that the local police had not only caused his death but had actively covered up their role in it. One allegation, that the police department's clerk had forged another officer's signature on a backdated letter, was proven when the clerk confessed during an official inquiry. No other employee was ever disciplined; after the borough council fired the chief over his purported role in the alleged misconduct, he was later reinstated by the borough's civil service commission, a majority of whom were close friends of the chief. An investigation by the state's Attorney General's office that seemed promising later stalled. Michael's father, Maurice Rosenblum, spent a lot of his own money and made use of his political connections to keep the case alive; he also received some anonymous tips pointing to police misconduct, one of which led to the Baldwin council's inquiry. An extensive investigation by Pittsburgh Magazine led to a 1988 article over which two Baldwin officers sued for libel, claiming it unfairly suggested that they were responsible for Rosenblum's death and disappearance; they settled before trial. Unsolved Mysteries also ran a segment about the case despite the Baldwin police's refusal to cooperate with them. Background Michael Rosenblum Michael Rosenblum was born in 1954, the only son of Barbara and Maurice Rosenblum of Pittsburgh's Shadyside neighborhood, where he grew up. By his late teens he began using drugs and alcohol heavily, which led to trouble with the law and a reciprocal fear of the police on his part; he often fled, at one point leading police on a car chase, and sometimes violently resisted arrest. Between 1974 and 1980 Pittsburgh Police had arrested him three times on traffic violations, including driving while intoxicated, and drug possession; Maurice confiscated his son's Datsun 240Z as a result. The Rosenblums took action to help Michael get clean. Maurice determined that his son's problems had begun in earnest after Michael had made the acquaintance of a doctor near the family's Jersey Shore summer home in Beach Haven who wrote the boy hundreds of prescriptions for drugs he abused such as Percodan, Valium, and Tussionex whenever he called. After Maurice threatened New Jersey governor Brendan Byrne that he would take the story to The New York Times if the state took no action, the New Jersey Attorney General's office opened an investigation; the doctor eventually surrendered his license to avoid criminal charges. Michael also went to several different rehabilitation clinics, including the nearby Western Psychiatric Institute. On a 28-day stay between 1979 and 1980, he met Lisa Sharer, 30, a former Playboy bunny from Baldwin who also had an arrest record in her hometown. Michael, who friends recalled had always easily attracted women due to his charm and intelligence, became romantically involved with Sharer, then estranged from her second husband, by the time both were released. According to his father, Michael had been too impatient to enjoy "the good life" to finish college. So Maurice gave him a job selling insurance at his brokerage. He told Michael that if he really wanted to live well and drive a 240Z, he would have to work for it. Baldwin police Upon his retirement in 2014, outgoing Baldwin mayor Alexander Bennett, a lifelong resident of the borough who had served as a police officer for 22 years before retiring from that position in 1992 and entering politics shortly thereafter, reflected on how friendly and safe the community had been at the middle of the 20th century. "We never knew what a house key was", he recalled. "You left your key in the car from the day you bought it to the day you sold it". At the beginning of 1980 Aldo Gaburri had been chief of the Baldwin police for the last six of his 37 years on the force. He owned four properties in the borough and a lot in rural Gilmore Township, south of the Pittsburgh area near the West Virginia state line. He had a close relationship with the borough's mayor, Samuel McPherson, that reportedly extended to him dismissing traffic tickets at McPherson's request, and even covering up a traffic accident involving McPherson's son. The department's 22 officers were divided in their opinion of Gaburri. Those who did not approve of him considered him corrupt and incompetent. They saw him as refusing to admit mistakes and most concerned with keeping his job. "When you cross the boundary from Pittsburgh into Baldwin", one sergeant told Pittsburgh Magazine in 1988, "you leave the real world of law enforcement far behind you". Disappearance Michael finished the program at Western on January 10, 1980, and returned to his parents' house. Later in the month, he got a speeding ticket in Pittsburgh, which he decided to retain a lawyer to deal with. On February 13, suspecting her son was using drugs again since he appeared to be under the influence, Barbara Rosenblum searched his room and found a container of pills. The two began arguing, and she told him to leave the house. Michael left and went to see Sharer; he took her out to a local nightclub so she could apply for a waitressing job, then returned with her to her adoptive mother's house in Whitehall, southeast of the city. He woke up with some residual effects from the drugs he had taken the night before, and Sharer took him to a local hospital at 10 a.m., frantically urging him to check himself in as his eyes appeared to be regularly rolling back in his head. Michael steadfastly refused; staff at the hospital recalled that he did not seem impaired at this time although they did strongly suggest he check in. He ended the argument by walking out. The couple, along with Sharer's three-year-old daughter, left together in Sharer's Pontiac Sunbird heading north on Pennsylvania Route 885, intending to take the Homestead Grays Bridge towards the Rosenblum home, where Michael had decided to return. He had also scheduled a 12:30 p.m. meeting in downtown Pittsburgh with the lawyer he had hired to represent him in the speeding-ticket case. After Sharer drove over a curb when she turned to enter Homestead, she pulled into a gas station on Main Street in West Homestead to get out and see if she had gotten a flat tire in the process. Michael got out as well, apparently angered by her careless driving. The two argued loudly, enough to prompt the gas station owner to call the police, but then Michael decided he would drive, and got into the driver's seat. After taking control of the vehicle, he backed it into a telephone pole's guy wire. Before Sharer could resume the argument, he ordered her and her daughter out of the car. The two did not try to re-enter the Sunbird. Michael told them to meet him at his mother's house; they instead hitchhiked back to Oakland in the city, where Sharer checked herself back in to Western. Michael drove off at 11:35 a.m. There were no confirmed sightings of him alive after that. Initial investigation Within an hour Sharer's Sunbird was reported as abandoned in the westbound lane of East Carson Street, also known as River Road, a stretch of Pennsylvania Route 837 between two sets of railroad tracks along the south bank of the Monongahela River below a wooded bluff in a discontinuous, uninhabited section of Baldwin a quarter-mile (400 m) west of the Glenwood Bridge. At 12:24 p.m. two borough police officers, Chester Lombardi and Robert Weber, arrived on the scene. Lombardi and Weber noted that the vehicle's engine was cold and its keys were missing. Both left side tires were shredded beyond repair; the vehicle had apparently been operated on its rims after the tires were damaged since the rims were also severely damaged. The interior of the car was filled with assorted items, including hundreds of photographs, to the extent that Weber gave up searching its contents shortly after he started. Weber radioed in the car's license plate number and Sharer was identified as the owner. Weber then requested a tow. While he and Lombardi waited another Baldwin officer, Sgt. Thomas Morse, drove by and inquired what they were doing. The tow truck arrived shortly afterwards and took the Sunbird to a nearby garage where the Baldwin police kept impounded vehicles. Pittsburgh police The following day Sharer called Barbara Rosenblum and told her that Michael had not returned; as far she knew, he still had the Sunbird. While Maurice believed he would return within a day or two or call within that time, Barbara immediately feared Michael had been harmed, noting that it was uncharacteristic of him to not notify them of his plans beforehand. She called the Pittsburgh police and reported him missing. Capt. Theresa Rocco, head of the department's missing persons unit, immediately began a search, focusing on finding the Sunbird first. Eventually she would reach out to police in every state and major city. Maurice began his own search, calling old friends of his son's as far away as California to see if Michael had gone there. He offered a reward for information and took time off from his business to distribute flyers. Rediscovery of vehicle The search for the vehicle ended in late May, when the owner of the shop where it had been parked sought a salvage permit from the state. When he learned the car had been reported stolen, he called the police. Morse called Sharer, who in turn passed the news to Rocco. She went with two city detectives and Maurice Rosenblum to see Gaburri. Baldwin police records showed that the Sunbird had been there since the day Michael had disappeared. Rocco demanded to know why Sharer had not been told this even though the car had been traced to her. Gaburri told them he personally had not known the car was there until that day, but said his department had indeed sent her a letter the following day, but that it had "probably burned in a mailbox fire", an explanation at which Maurice Rosenblum in particular was incredulous. A week later they pulled from their files a letter to Sharer dated February 15; she maintained she had never received it. The police record of the car's towing has a notation scrawled on it: "Gallagher notified ant", referring to Patrick Gallagher, the dispatcher on duty that day; the handwriting was later found to be Gaburri's. Sharer did not have an aunt. A late June story in the Pittsburgh Press about the case, with extensive information about the troubled pasts of both Michael Rosenblum and Sharer, was illustrated in part with a photograph of her that, she testified in a deposition the following year, was taken from one of the albums in her car. It had not been in her car when it was returned to her. Noreen Heckmann, the reporter who wrote the story, said later she had received most of the information in the story, including the photograph, from Gaburri. An interdepartmental memo also said that Baldwin officer Warren Cooley gave her additional information. Both he and the chief later testified that they had had no knowledge that Sharer's Sunbird was in the police impound lot, much less visited it, during the three months it was there. Search of area The following day, Gaburri ordered a search of the area around where the vehicle had been found on River Road back in February. Searchers, largely drawn from the borough's volunteer fire department and the county police, spent three hours looking over a very small area in the immediate vicinity, between the road and the river. They were assisted by scuba divers that Maurice Rosenblum had hired to look in the river, and a helicopter a client had loaned Maurice which searched from the air. One of Baldwin's police officers, Skippy Dobson, was also a firefighter and on the team that day; he had been working the dispatch console the day Michael Rosenblum disappeared. He and other searchers asked more than once, he recalled several years later, if they could search either further downstream or on the south side of the road, a wooded area with several ravines known as the Forty Acres (now known as Hays Woods). Gaburri refused to allow them to do so, saying that Maurice Rosenblum had wanted only the smaller area searched. Claim of robbery involvement A week later Gaburri called Rocco with news that at first convinced her that the search for Michael might be coming to an end. Witnesses in the robbery of a Baldwin drugstore had identified Michael as the suspect. But on closer examination, she found that identification implausible. Records stated that Baldwin officer Warren Cooley had created a facial composite of the suspect the day after the crime. The image closely resembled the one of Michael Rosenblum on the many flyers his father had handed out and posted all over the Pittsburgh area. There was no information on the composite itself to indicate when it was made, or by whom. Also, the witnesses had described the robber as wearing out-sized mirrored sunglasses, but the composite did not depict them. Rocco and Maurice Rosenblum went to the drugstore and showed the witnesses photos of Michael; they did not recognize him. They also learned that Cooley had not spoken with a witness who had seen the getaway car. After learning of Rocco and Rosenblum's investigation, Cooley went to talk to both of the witnesses again with a full book of mug shots, but showed only one of them a picture of Michael. In mid-July, Heckmann called Barbara Rosenblum one morning to let her know that the Baldwin police were issuing an arrest warrant for Michael for the robbery and she would be writing a story about that aspect of the case. She talked to Rocco, who called Gaburri; Maurice Rosenblum called the Press. The story was canceled and the warrant withdrawn, which Gaburri later said he did out of respect for the Rosenblums. Rocco was able to find a suspect who more accurately fit the description and had a similar car in the Butler jail north of Pittsburgh; he eventually confessed to the robbery. Records showed later that the Baldwin police had done nothing else to investigate the robbery between April and July. 1980s developments No further leads on the case emerged after July. Developments to that point had convinced Maurice Rosenblum that the Baldwin police knew more than they were saying about what had happened between February and May. He increased the size of the reward and bought billboard space near the site where the Sunbird was found. For the next two years Maurice largely neglected his business to focus on the search, later saying that if he had not owned it, he probably would have been fired. Sometimes he flew to other parts of the country on short notice to follow up leads as far away as California. He consulted mediums and psychics, and got permission to have a trap placed on Sharer's phone. On the next two anniversaries of Michael's disappearance, Maurice received phone calls at home. Both callers told him that Michael had been arrested by the Baldwin police, then hung up without identifying themselves. Maurice followed up with classified ads in the newspapers urging them to take their information to the proper authorities and claim the reward money, but that never happened. In the seven years following the disappearance and the Baldwin police's investigation, three of the officers involved died of heart attacks: Lombardi, who had responded to the abandoned car; Patrick Gallagher, the dispatcher who had been recorded as notifying Sharer's nonexistent aunt the day afterwards that the car had been towed; and Morse. The latter, a bodybuilder and former Mr. Pittsburgh who was nicknamed "Thumper" and described by fellow officers as "the departmental enforcer", had reportedly attempted suicide twice in the years before his death. Sharer finalized her divorce from her husband and married for a third time. She left the Pittsburgh area with her husband and daughter a few years later in response to a bomb threat. Her family did not know where she had gone, saying she was "off the map", possibly having returned to her former home in Florida, or in Baltimore. Rosenblum's investigators were unable to find her. County and state investigations Maurice Rosenblum lobbied for other law enforcement agencies at higher levels of government to look into both his son's disappearance (and, he had come to believe, death) and the Baldwin police's handling of it. He eventually got the county police to start an investigation. After some minimal early efforts, they lost their files. "I distinctly remembered being embarrassed by the whole situation", one detective said. The Community Advocate Section of the state attorney general's office was next. Rosenblum later described their effort as "a tap dance". Their investigators did not interview most of the Baldwin police department's officers or employees. They did talk to Chief Gaburri, whom they quoted characterizing Rosenblum as "looking for a fall guy ... I don't know what his problem is, and I don't really care". State police investigation In December 1986, the Rosenblums received another anonymous tip that yielded information which confirmed Maurice's view that the Baldwin police had been actively obstructing the investigation of their son's disappearance. A letter signed by "A Concerned Friend" sent to their home told them this, and suggested they would find proof if they spoke to Margaret Haslett, a former state trooper who had worked as a dispatcher for the Baldwin police after retiring. Maurice drove straight to Lakeville, Massachusetts, where she had moved, to talk with her. Haslett told him that on the day the Sunbird had been found to have been in Baldwin's impound lot, Gaburri had been in a rage. She had been at work, and saw the chief order Fred Cappelli, the department's clerk, to type up a letter to Sharer saying that her car had been recovered, backdate it to February 15, and put it in the file to allow the police to claim it had been sent. She had not told either of the other investigations because she was afraid that she and Cappelli would get fired, and because they had never asked about the letter. As soon as he returned to Pittsburgh, Maurice contacted a longtime friend, state Rep. K. Leroy Irvis, Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and told him what he had learned. He and Irvis brought it to state Attorney General LeRoy Zimmerman, who referred it to the state police's Bureau of Criminal Investigation, an agency seen as beyond the reach of political influence. They talked to Cappelli, who not only confirmed Haslett's account but added that Gaburri had told him to forge Lombardi's signature on the letter after Lombardi refused to sign it. Maurice recalled later that the investigation seemed at first to be making progress. An investigator told him early on that it seemed to him that Gaburri had lied; later it seemed that there were other criminal activities related to the Baldwin police and that a grand jury would be hearing testimony. But then things changed; the investigator told Maurice that it might be better if they allowed Gaburri to retire rather than face any charges. Later in the year the Attorney General's office dropped the case without saying why. Borough council investigation and disciplinary hearing In July 1987, before the state investigation had been dropped, Maurice wrote to Baldwin's borough council, outlining what he knew and what he suspected about Gaburri's role in his son's disappearance and likely death. He specifically asked that they ask Cappelli about Haslett's allegations. Maurice told the Post-Gazette he was not interested in litigation or criminal charges. If Gaburri told the council what had really happened, Maurice promised to personally pay for him to retire. Councilman Ken Guerra, chairman of the council's Public Safety Committee and the borough's volunteer fire chief, in which capacity he had participated in the 1980 search, read the letter and persuaded the council to open the investigation. He asked Cappelli, who confirmed Haslett's account. Guerra doubted that Cappelli would have been falsely implicating Gaburri, since he was easily pressured and not the type to initiate such actions. He asked the village solicitor, John Luke, a law partner of Mayor McPherson, a close Gaburri ally, to open an independent investigation. The council, in turn, retained the law firm of Robert J. Cindrich, a previous U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Both sides gathered evidence in advance of a hearing before the council. Luke took depositions from Cappelli, who admitted everything he had been accused of but denied Gaburri's role under the lawyer's badgering questioning, and George Galovich, another Baldwin officer who had been suspected of writing the letter to the Rosenblums. Private investigator Stephen Tercsak, a retired veteran of the Pittsburgh police who had worked for Rocco during the 1980 investigation, worked for the council at Cindrich's recommendation. Because of his past involvement, Tercsak felt he had a personal stake in the case. He began focusing on two officers still with Baldwin, Warren Cooley and Donald Miscenik. Tercsak came to believe that Michael Rosenblum had, as he had done on other occasions, fled when police attempted to pull him over, to the point that they might have responded by running the Sunbird off the road. Michael in turn might have attempted to fight the officers, and they beat him to death in retaliation and then disposed of the body. At a hearing before the council at the end of September, Cindrich presented the council's witnesses, testifying under oath, while Luke cross-examined them. The proceeding was limited to the charge that Gaburri had ordered Cappelli to not only type the backdated letter but forge Lombardi's signature on it. Haslett repeated her account; Cappelli's testimony departed from his deposition by returning to what he had originally told Guerra, that he had done only what he admitted doing because the chief had ordered him to. Galovich, as he had previously, denied that he had written the letter to the Rosenblums. But in his deposition he told Luke about corruption in the department. Galovich identified several officers whom he said were actively involved in an illegal gambling operation, and gave details of that operation. He also said Cooley had been actively involved in taking payoffs to fix traffic tickets, as well as extorting those payments. A majority of the council believed the charge against Gaburri had been proven and voted 5–2 to fire him in early October, informing him by letter that they believed his actions had impeded the search for Michael Rosenblum. He appealed to the borough's civil service commission, three of whose five members were close personal friends. At the end of the year, the commission voted to overturn the firing and reinstate Gaburri. In its review of the case against the chief, it found Haslett's testimony to be hearsay at best and cited the differences between Cappelli's deposition and hearing testimony. The commission's secretary added personal remarks disparaging Rocco's search efforts, saying "she couldn't find a lost dog". The police department fired Cappelli for the falsification of documents he had admitted to. The only officer to face any departmental discipline for the events of 1980 was Robert Weber, Lombardi's partner when the two came across Sharer's abandoned car that day. He was given a reprimand. Disciplinary action against cooperating officer Luke gave Gaburri a copy of Galovich's deposition in September 1987 after the officer testified. After the chief finished it, he called Galovich into his office and warned him that "[his] days [were] numbered". In April 1988 a producer for Unsolved Mysteries called Galovich about a segment the show was considering doing on the Rosenblum case. He was out, so she left a message on the answering machine belonging to his roommate, another Baldwin officer who was loyal to Gaburri. The producer said her call was returned 15 minutes later by a man claiming to be Galovich who attempted to talk her and the program out of doing the segment (Galovich was later ruled out as having made the call; he suspected his roommate). Almost immediately afterwards, Galovich was suspended on the grounds that he had lied to Luke during his deposition when he said he had no knowledge of Haslett's role in the case. Specifically, he had initially said he had no idea how Haslett got to the Pittsburgh area, but shortly thereafter admitted he had picked her up at the airport for the hearing. A concurrent 60-day suspension addressed an issue unrelated to the Rosenblum case, Galovich's alleged failure to follow up on a report of stolen checks that had been assigned to him. In April the borough council formally fired him. After the civil service commission sustained the firing Galovich sued and was reinstated in 1992, in addition to receiving a substantial settlement. Media investigations The coverage in Pittsburgh-area newspapers was augmented in the late 1980s by a lengthy article on the case in Pittsburgh Magazine and a segment on the nationally syndicated Unsolved Mysteries television show. Both would increase the amount of information publicly known about the case, and met with adverse reaction from the Baldwin police. Pittsburgh Magazine article Pittsburgh Magazine ran a cover story and editorial about the case in its May 1988 issue, recounting everything that had happened up to Gaburri's reinstatement. Terscak and Dobson shared with the author, James Harger, what led them to suspect Cooley and Miscenik in the case. Dobson, who had been working dispatch on February 14, 1980, said that in addition to Morse, Lombardi, and Weber, all known to have been on River Road at midday, his radio logs showed that Cooley and Miscenik probably were as well. At 11:53 a.m., they called in to say they were leaving a magistrate's office on Pittsburgh's South Side, an area 5 miles (8 km) northwest along the river from where the Sunbird was found, to serve a warrant in McKeesport, to the southeast along the Monongahela. The only way to go there was along Route 837, River Road, Dobson told the magazine. "Nobody said anything, but they drove right past where that car was sitting", Dobson noted. He had also found that records at McKeesport showed Cooley and Miscenik had never served the warrant. The logs did not show any radio activity involving the two until 2:30 p.m. "So where the hell were they at?" he asked. Terscak said that other Baldwin officers believed the scenario he had developed during the investigation was likely as well, since Cooley "like[d] to beat a guy". Cooley, at the time facing a civil suit from two residents alleging he had attempted to extort money from them, refused to talk to Pittsburgh Magazine on the advice of his lawyers. Miscenik, whom Tercsak had said responded: "Is that right?" when told his fellow officers suspected he shared responsibility for Michael Rosenblum's death, told the magazine he was not responsible for Dobson's remarks, and no more. The month after the story was published, Cooley and Miscenik sued the magazine's publisher, Harger, Galovich, and Tercsak for libel. They alleged the story contained false statements and recklessly implicated them in Rosenblum's disappearance, and that Harger personally had defamed them in a radio interview about it. The magazine defended the story and Harge called the allegations "ludicrous". In 1990 Cooley and Miscenik settled on the day the case was to go to trial for an amount agreed to be between $50,000 and $75,000. A year after his September 1988 retirement, Gaburri sued the magazine and Harger as well; he dropped Maurice Rosenblum as a defendant shortly after filing the suit although he expected to consider calling him as a witness. At the time Cooley and Miscenik settled their suit Gaburri's was still pending. Unsolved Mysteries segment The NBC television network went ahead with filming its segment, which included interviews with both Maurice and Barbara Rosenblum, Tercsak, Haslett, Cappelli, and Thomas McFall of the borough's civil service commission, and re-enactments of events such as the discovery of the Sunbird on the stretch of River Road. The Pittsburgh police were able to provide some limited assistance since the Pittsburgh Marathon was the next day, and the sheriff's office did traffic control on River Road, but the Baldwin police refused to cooperate, with Gaburri ordering officers not to provide any traffic control or security and not to give interviews to the crew. The segment aired in January 1989. After the program ended, a man who did not identify himself called the program's hotline from somewhere in the state of Washington and said that he had been held in the Baldwin police lock-up on the night of Michael Rosenblum's disappearance after he himself had been arrested that day for driving while intoxicated. He recalled that Michael had also been held in lock-up and had a gunshot wound to his leg and other injuries suggesting a beating; later officers came and took him to what the caller presumed would be a hospital. Maurice Rosenblum, who by then had raised the reward to $25,000 and come to believe that Michael was dead, told the media he would attempt to find the caller. The Baldwin police said that there were no detainees in the lock-up that day, and reiterated that they had no knowledge of Michael's whereabouts. Discovery of bone fragments In April 1988 a bone fragment and some scraps of clothing were found in the woods along the Monongahela near where the Sunbird had been recovered eight years earlier. At first the bones were thought to be human; they were later positively identified as those of an animal. The corduroy and shoe sole with them were consistent with the clothing Michael Rosenblum was wearing when Sharer saw him drive off. As a result of this discovery, in late 1989 Maurice Rosenblum filed a petition to have his son declared legally dead. "If he were alive I would have expected to hear from him", he told the court. The petition was granted in early 1990, almost ten years after Michael had last been seen. Two years later, in April 1992, a hiker in the woods further down the Monongahela, in the Forty Acres that Gaburri had kept the searchers from looking in, found a fragment of a human skull. In June the county coroner's office confirmed it was Michael Rosenblum's, after finding it matched the unique sinus print of head X-rays taken during his lifetime. Maurice noted that it was found on the same day he received the headstone he had ordered for what was to be an empty grave; a psychic he had once consulted, who had never been to Pittsburgh, drew a map that located Michael's body near where the skull was found, he added. The cause of Michael's death could not be determined, but the family vowed to continue investigating. "I knew what the answer was for many years", Maurice said. "Who knows where it will go tomorrow?" See also Crime in Pennsylvania Police misconduct in the United States List of unsolved deaths List of solved missing person cases List of Unsolved Mysteries episodes Cold case Notes References 1980 in Pennsylvania 1980s missing person cases Deaths by person in the United States February 1980 events in the United States Formerly missing people History of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania Missing person cases in Pennsylvania People declared dead in absentia Police misconduct in the United States Unsolved deaths

62913481

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Luo%20Changqing

Death of Luo Changqing

Luo Changqing, a 70-year-old cleaner, died from head injuries sustained after he was hit by a brick thrown by a Hong Kong protester during a violent confrontation between two groups in Sheung Shui, Hong Kong on 13 November 2019. Following his injuries, he was taken to Prince of Wales Hospital, Sha Tin, where he died the next day. This incident was described as the first fatality directly attributed to the Hong Kong protests that began in 2019. Victim The victim was identified as Luo Changqing, a 70-year-old man, who worked as a government-contracted cleaner. He was an outsourced worker of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department. The police found that Luo had no political background or inclination and was not a member of an organisation. The Federation of Hong Kong Shenzhen Associations said that he was born and raised in Hong Kong. Incident On 13 November 2019, a conflict between opposing groups took place on Lung Wan Street, outside the North District Town Hall, in Sheung Shui. Around noon, several people were trying to clear bricks left by protesters on the street. They were described by media outlets as residents of Sheung Shui or government supporters. However, a group of protesters appeared and argued with the group who were clearing bricks, after which the violent confrontation between the two sides erupted. During this encounter, the protesters had left after a few minutes of arguing and then came back with a group of about 30 protesters. The fight between the two groups broke out at 11.52 am. It involved both parties hurling bricks at each other. The protesters were dressed in black, wore masks over their faces, and carried umbrellas used as protection for the fight. The incident lasted for about a minute, after which the protesters retreated under the shelter of their umbrellas. Luo was part of the group who were clearing the street. He was also helping to clear the street, while he was taking his lunch break. The location was about 300 metres away from his workplace. During the confrontation, he was using his mobile phone to record the conflict. He did not participate in the brick throwing. Luo was hit by a brick thrown by one of the black-clad protesters. He lost consciousness after he was hit and did not regain it before he died. He was transported to the North District Hospital and then transferred to the Prince of Wales Hospital, where he was admitted to the neurosurgery high-dependency unit. Luo's family arrived from mainland China, after which the Hong Kong Police Force escorted them to Luo who was then still unconscious at the Prince of Wales Hospital. Luo died in the Prince of Wales Hospital at 10:51 pm on 14 November 2019. His death is described as the first fatality directly attributed to the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests. Aftermath The area near the location where Luo Changqing was killed, outside the North District Town Hall, became a memorial to him. On 15 November 2019, a public vigil for Luo was held at the site. However, a few days later, the on-site memorial was vandalised by unknown perpetrators. On 22 November, members of Luo's family themselves went to the site to mourn for their deceased family member. They previously wanted to remain anonymous, citing concerns about their personal safety, but eventually went public with the support of the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (HKFTU). Luo's funeral was held on the same day. His relatives said that he would be buried on a family plot in mainland China. The HKFTU stated that, upon the family's request, Luo would be buried next to his father in Hunan. Over hundred thousand people from mainland China, including the Chinese actor Huang Xiaoming, donated to funds set up in support of the families of Luo and a 57-year-old man named Lee Chi-cheung who was set on fire during an argument with protesters. Hong Kong businessman and former legislator Kennedy Wong (Wong Ying-ho), who co-founded a fund in support of citizens and small and medium-sized enterprises affected by the unrest, announced that they would look at how their fund could be used to help Luo's family. Investigation The case was initially classified as a wounding after Luo sustained the life-threatening injuries. The investigation was assigned to the New Territories North Regional Crime Unit. The case was later upgraded to a murder following his death, as the police believed that the attacker had "maliciously" and "deliberately" hit Luo with the brick. The case was referred to the Coroner's Court for follow-up. The police offered an HK$800,000 reward for information on the killer. Senior Superintendent Chan Tin-chu said that the police collected footage from nearby CCTV cameras to assist with their investigation, but that they also found that some of the cameras had been damaged by protesters. He told reporters that "Those in black first threw metal rods and bricks at the residents while Luo was believed to have used a mobile phone to film the scene. Then someone in black darted forward and threw a brick at his head." On 13 December 2019, five suspects—three men and two women, aged 15 to 18—were arrested in Sheung Shui and Tai Po in connection with murder, wounding, and participation in a riot. They were detained at the New Territories North Regional Headquarters in Tai Po for further inquiries. The police learned about these suspects after examination of online and CCTV footage of the area. They stated that some of the five suspects threw bricks and wounded people, but that no footage had shown that they threw bricks directly at the now-deceased man. They remarked that the five could have acted as accomplices in a joint enterprise when it comes to the murder case, but that further legal advice would be sought. They also said that one of them, a 16-year-old boy, had hurled bricks at a 61-year-old man whose left retina was damaged. The suspects were released on bail pending further inquiries and were required to report back to the police. Two male teenagers have been criminally charged with murder. During investigations, the case was forwarded to the Department of Justice for consideration of the evidence after which prosecutors formally charged the two men. On 22 April 2020, Chan Yin-ting (aged 16) and Lau Tsz-lung (Kelvin Lau, aged 17) appeared at the Tuen Mun Magistrates' Court to face charges for the murder of Luo Changqing, rioting, and wounding with intent. Court documents said that Chan and Lau, along with others who currently remain unidentified, were responsible for the killing of Luo. They were remanded in custody, while the case was adjourned to 1 June at the Eastern Magistrates' Court where the case will be transferred to the High Court. The police said that the two were among six people—three male and three female, aged 15 to 18—arrested in December in connection with Luo's killing. On 17 June 2020, the police released the photographs of 14 other suspects wanted in connection with Luo's death. Senior Inspector Wong Yiu-ming of the New Territories North Regional Crime Unit stated that "We have reasons to believe the 14 suspects are involved in the case," but did not give further details about the suspects or their roles, citing the ongoing legal proceedings. Responses The Hong Kong Government said in a statement that they were saddened by the incident and that the police will work to bring the offenders to justice. The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department released a statement, expressing profound sadness at the passing of its service worker and saying it was providing assistance to his family. The Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan (Chan Siu-chee) said in a statement that "I am deeply saddened and extend my condolences to the family." The Citizens' Press Conference representing the protesters released a statement expressing their "extreme condolences" at the death of the old man and said that citizens should not wind up as sacrifices of political struggles regardless of their political viewpoints. "Only by solving the political issue through political means", the conference continued in the statement, "could the Hong Kong communist regime settle the conflicts and uncertainties, and end the needless sacrifices and tragedies." The Hong Kong Liaison Office expressed its "deep condolences" and urged the Hong Kong people to "denounce violence and protect the rule of law and stability of society together." They reiterated their support for the Hong Kong government and police force, urging them to punish the culprits sternly in accordance to the law. The office characterised the attack as "an atrocity against humanity that was totally inhumane and unforgivable." In a commentary in the Chinese state-owned news agency Xinhua, this fatal incident was cited as one of the examples highlighting the violence perpetrated by "black-clad rioters" besetting Hong Kong's society. See also Death of Chow Tsz-lok Death of Chan Yin-lam References Luo Changqing 2019 in Hong Kong 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests 2010s crimes in Hong Kong Luo Changqing Sheung Shui November 2019 crimes in Asia

63031540

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Maria%20Fuertes

Death of Maria Fuertes

Maria Eusebia Fuertes (August 14, 1927 – January 6, 2020) was a 92-year-old immigrant from the Dominican Republic living in New York City when she was raped and killed. A Guyanese illegal immigrant has been charged with her murder. Political impact The case is part of what the Associated Press describes as "an escalating conflict between the Trump administration and the nation’s largest city over its so-called sanctuary policies." Victim Fuertes, elderly and impoverished, kept 10 cats and made a living by collecting discarded cans and bottles, returning them for the recycling fee. She was in the United States as a legal immigrant. Fuertez granddaughter, Daria Ortiz, blames New York's sanctuary city policy for her grandmother's death. Fuertez son, Louis, stated that he agreed with sanctuary city policies but was critical of the police for allowing "criminals" to walk the streets. Events On November 27, 2019, Reeaz Khan, 21, an illegal immigrant from Guyana, was accused of attacking his father with a broken ceramic mug; Kahn's 41-year-old father was hospitalized for injuries he received. Khan was charged with harassment, criminal possession of a weapon, and misdemeanor assault. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement claims to have lodged a detainer request for Kahn with the New York City Police Department on November 27, 2019, but declined to release its content or evidence of sending it that day. In a statement, the NYPD said it did not receive an ICE detainer. On November 27, 2019, Khan was released without bail. On January 6, 2020, Khan allegedly raped and strangled Maria Fuertes. She was discovered lying in the street in freezing weather. She was taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where she died. Her injuries included a broken spine and fractured ribs. On January 10, 2020, Khan was charged with murder. On January 17, 2020, Acting Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Matthew Albence asserted that New York's sanctuary city policy was responsible for the killing of Maria Fuertes. On February 4, 2020, in his State of the Union address, President Donald Trump said that "Just 29 days ago, a criminal alien freed by the sanctuary city of New York was charged with the brutal rape and murder of a 92-year-old woman. The killer had been previously arrested for assault, but under New York’s sanctuary policies, he was set free. If the city had honored ICE’s detainer request, his victim would be alive today.” References January 2020 crimes in the United States January 2020 events in the United States 2020 in New York City Deaths by person in New York City Deaths by strangulation in the United States Illegal immigration to the United States

63717846

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Dr.%20Michael%20Meenaghan

Death of Dr. Michael Meenaghan

Dr. Michael "Spike" Meenaghan was a forensic scientist at Oxford University who was shot dead through his kitchen window on 10 December 1994. He was a lecturer at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology. Background He was originally from Stirling and lived in Monks Close, on the Blackbird Leys estate in Oxford. He had spent the previous four years researching molecular biology of proteins involved in cell adhesion. He was married but had separated from his wife. Neighbours said that he had increased security at his house, drawing curtains all day and keeping his doors locked. He had also made his phone number ex-directory in the twelve months before his death. Day of Shooting On 10 December 1994 around 4:30pm a 999 phone call was received. The caller didn't speak but could be heard struggling to breath. When police arrived at the house it looked secure, but they could see a man's body in the kitchen. They broke in and found the body of Dr. Meenaghan on the floor with the phone off the hook. His then-girlfriend arrived shortly afterwards, shocked to find the police there. Aftermath Police followed several leads, including the possibilities of a hired hitman, or of mistaken identity, but no leads were found. His work was uncontroversial and despite speculation the work had nothing to do with DNA fingerprinting. On the twentieth anniversary of his murder a reward of £20,000 was offered jointly by Crime Stoppers and Thames Valley Police, which was valid for three months. His mother Pat said, "His death is always with me and there is not a day goes by when I don't miss him. We still don't know why someone would be so callous as to take his life and rob the world of a lovely man and a gifted scientist." Police said there was no clear motive for the shooting. References Scientists from Glasgow Academics of the University of Oxford 1994 in England 1994 murders in the United Kingdom Crime in Oxfordshire Unsolved murders in England December 1994 events

63889443

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Carlos%20Ernesto%20Escobar%20Mej%C3%ADa

Death of Carlos Ernesto Escobar Mejía

Carlos Ernesto Escobar Mejía was a 57-year-old man from El Salvador who had immigrated to the United States in 1980 and lived in Los Angeles for over 20 years. He had left the country after the Salvadoran Civil War, a US-backed military conflict, broke out. In an article on Escobar Mejía's death, Graig Graziosi of The Independent reported on the tragic web of violence that surrounded his life, after "US-backed death squads terrorized civilians and were accused of raping and murdering American missionaries" while using "scorched earth" tactics contributed to the scattering of civilian populations. Carlos and his sister Rosa Escobedo Mejía fled to the US to live with their older sister Maribel. His status in the US was undocumented. On May 6, 2020, he was reportedly the first immigrant to die from COVID-19 in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the 11th immigrant to die in government custody in the fiscal year. He died at the Paradise Valley Hospital in National City. Detention In January 2020, Escobar Mejía was detained by ICE during an arrest of someone who he had been in a car with. ICE stated he was subject to pending removal proceedings. He was then taken to the Otay Mesa prison run by ICE and CoreCivic, a private prison corporation that operates the facility. People who had been detained in the facility had "complained about a lack of masks, cleaning supplies, and gloves to guard against the coronavirus" as well as being "confined to close quarters and unable to distance themselves from other detainees or guards who moved throughout the jail." A group of women at the immigration jail who had demanded masks "were threatened with pepper spray." Escobar Mejía spent days vomiting, complained of being in pain, and even stopped eating entirely at a point as part of a hunger strike in protest of the facility's inhumane conditions. Fellow detainee Erik Mercado who knew Escobar Mejía stated, "It was all about his sister. He wanted to get home and help her out." Mercado's sisters stated he was a "one-of-a-kind person" and lamented his loss while asking "why is there so much injustice in this world?" Despite the rising concerns over the coronavirus pandemic in the United States, Escobar Mejía was denied bond on April 15 by immigration judge Lee O'Connor. He had been living with hypertension, diabetes, and had undergone multiple surgeries, including an operation which had resulted in the loss of his right foot, before being detained. He was reported as "still well" at the time of being denied bond. His former lawyer Joan Del Valle stated, "On April 15, he had the opportunity to have many more years of life. On April 15, when they denied him every possibility to be released in the middle of a pandemic, knowing how frail he was, they sentenced him to die." Escobar Mejía had health conditions that were known, yet was still denied release. Anne Rios, supervising attorney at Al Otro Lodo, a group working to release detainees from the Otay Mesa prison, emphasized "this was 100% avoidable. Immigration detention is civil detention — it is discretionary. ICE could've determined that this person who had underlying conditions could and should've been released. They had the discretion to do so and yet they chose not to." Death On April 24, he was taken to the Paradise Valley Hospital in National City after showing symptoms of the virus and tested positive. He was taken to the hospital's intensive care unit and placed on a ventilator three days later. He reportedly died from acute respiratory failure due to pneumonia resulting from COVID-19 on May 6. On the day of his death, at least 132 ICE detainees at the Otay Mesa prison had tested positive for coronavirus, the most of any detention center used by the agency. At least 705 immigrants in ICE custody have tested positive for the coronavirus total. More than 48% of the 1,460 people who have been screened for the virus tested positive. Reactions Advocacy groups including Pueblo Sin Fronteras and Otay Mesa Detention Resistance decried the conditions leading to Escobar Mejía's death sent a letter to politicians. Senator Kamala Harris stated that Escobar Mejía's death was "likely preventable and there needs to be an investigation, and accountability for any wrongdoing." Representative Juan Vargas stated that there was no way ICE was adhering to proper social distancing measures. Senator Dianne Feinstein called for a federal investigation into the conditions at Otay Mesa. Jesse Melgar, a press secretary for California Governor Gavin Newsom, commented that a thorough investigation into Escobar Mejía's death should take place. He also stated that it's necessary for public health officials need to protect people in federal custody. On May 14, 2020, U.S. Representatives Carolyn Maloney and Jamie Raskin wrote a letter addressing ICE and the United States Department of Homeland Security criticizing their actions and requesting a briefing and documents regarding the death. In June 2020, people detained in the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center in Bakersfield, California held a hunger strike in protest of the murder of George Floyd, the police shootings of Breonna Taylor, Oscar Grant, and Tony McDade, and the deaths of "Carlos Mejia, who died in ICE custody at Otay Mesa, and Choung Woong Ahn, our friend who died in ICE custody at this detention center", and the harmful conditions presented by the COVID-19 pandemic in US immigration detention. See also Deaths of Jakelin Caal and Felipe Gómez Alonzo References Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in California U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Deaths from pneumonia in California Prisoners who died in California detention Salvadoran emigrants to the United States

63897862

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Giorgiana%20Masi

Death of Giorgiana Masi

Giorgiana Masi (August 6, 1958 – May 12, 1977) was an Italian student and activist who was killed during a protest in Rome on May 12, 1977. The circumstances of her death are unclear. Background The political climate The violent political climate which characterized Italy in the 1970s was greatly noticeable in Rome. On February 17, 1977, clashes erupted at Sapienza University, when the student movement (including members of Indiani Metropolitani and Autonomia Operaia) violently opposed a speech by CGIL (Italian General Confederation of Labour) secretary Luciano Lama. On March 12, 1977, during a widely attended protest march, a gunfight between police officers and demonstrators was narrowly averted. On April 21, 1977, autonomist students tried once again to occupy Sapienza University. When police came to clear them, they responded with Molotov cocktails and gunfire. In the confrontation that followed, police officer Settimio Passamonti was killed and three other officers were injured. The following day, Minister of the Interior Francesco Cossiga announced a city-wide ban on all public demonstrations, which lasted until the end of the month. The victim Born on August 6, 1958, Giorgiana Masi lived with her parents and older sister on Via Trionfale, Roma, near the San Filippo Neri hospital. In 1977, she was attending her fifth and last year at Liceo scientifico "L. Pasteur." A member of the Radical Party and feminist activist, Masi was attending the radical sit-in together with boyfriend Gianfranco Papini on May 12, 1977, when she was killed. Incident On May 12, 1977, the Radical Party and the far-left organization Lotta Continua held a sit-in in Piazza Navona, Rome. The demonstration was aimed at protesting against recent measures banning public demonstrations celebrating the third anniversary of the divorce referendum and the collection of signatures supporting the upcoming referendums on party financing and public order. Activists were joined by students from the Movement of 1977 and members of Autonomia Operaia, some of which were armed. About 5,000 law enforcement agents gathered as well, supported by plainclothes officers hidden within the protesters' ranks. Several incidents broke out during the afternoon. Around 2:00 p.m., Piazza Navona was closed to traffic by police and incendiary bombs, tear gas and gunshots were fired. By 7:00 p.m., mediation efforts by some members of Parliament appeared to have made a safe evacuation of the demonstrators possible, towards the rione of Trastevere through Garibaldi Bridge. As the evacuation began, incidents got more serious. Gunshots and smoke bombs were fired. Police were lined up on the northern part of the bridge, on the side of Via Arenula, while protesters were running away southwards toward Piazza Belli. At 7:55 p.m., during the turmoil, bystanders saw Giorgiana Masi fall to the ground as if tripping over, and put in a car which took her to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead. She had been shot in the back with a .22 caliber gun. Though her assailant is unknown to this day, Marco Pannella and his Radical Party, on several occasions, made accusations against the Minister of the Interior, Francesco Cossiga, holding him to be morally responsible for Masi's death, stressing the presence of armed undercover agents among the protesters. Cossiga returned the accusation, claiming that Pannella was guilty of organizing the demonstration despite the well-known related risks. See also List of unsolved murders References 1977 in Italy 1977 in politics 1977 deaths Deaths by firearm in Italy Deaths related to the Years of Lead (Italy) Female murder victims Italian activists Italian murder victims People murdered in Italy Unsolved murders in Italy

63936257

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Scott%20Johnson

Death of Scott Johnson

Scott Johnson (born 1961) was an American university student who was killed in Australia in 1988. Initially treated by police as a suicide, a coroner's inquest in 2017 resulted in a finding he "… died as a result of a gay-hate attack". In May 2020, a man was arrested and charged with the murder of Johnson. Background Johnson was born in 1961 in the United States. In 1983, he moved to England to study mathematics at the University of Cambridge. At Cambridge, he met Michael Noone, a musicologist from Australia who he fell in love with. In 1986, Johnson left his doctoral program at the University of California, Berkeley and moved to Canberra on a student visa to complete his PhD at the Australian National University and be with Noone. Death Johnson's naked body was found on rocks at the foot of cliffs at Blue Fish Point in North Head near Manly, New South Wales, on 10 December 1988. His clothes and belongings were found on top of the cliff. Police initially claimed that his death was a case of suicide, which his brother, Steve Johnson, disputed. Aftermath Steve Johnson campaigned for decades for his brother's death to be re-investigated. Family campaigning had led to coroners investigations in 2012 and 2015 that recommended that police reopen the case. No action was taken until 2017 when a coroner found that Johnson had died as a result of a hate crime. Police offered an A$1 million reward in 2018 for information. His family raised the reward to A$2 million in March 2020. The conclusion that Johnson's death was the result of a hate crime drew attention to other homophobic killings around Sydney beaches in the 1980s. It is now estimated that as many as 80 gay men were murdered in Sydney in the late 1980s, many pushed off cliffs. The New South Wales Police Force has since apologised for not investigating the murder of Johnson properly and failing to protect the gay community. On 12 May 2020, a 49-year-old man was arrested ln Lane Cove and charged with the murder of Johnson. After being contacted about the arrest, Steve Johnson said: "This is a very emotional day, he was my best friend and he really needed me to do this." Steve Johnson also hopes that the arrest will open the doors for others to receive justice. He said, "I hope the family and friends of the other dozens of gay men who lost their lives find solace in what's happened today." On 13 January 2022, Scott White was found guilty of murdering Scott Johnson in 1988 after changing his plea to guilty. He originally pleaded not-guilty but changed it on 10 January 2022 to guilty. His lawyer tried to have it withdrawn the next day under the guise of White being unfit to make the admission but the Supreme Court rejected the motion. White will remain in custody and be sentenced on 2 May 2022. See also Gay Gang Murders References 1988 deaths American people murdered abroad Deaths by person in Australia December 1988 events in Australia Gay academics Male murder victims 1980s murders in Australia 1988 crimes in Australia Violence against gay men

64121900

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Regis%20Korchinski-Paquet

Death of Regis Korchinski-Paquet

The death of Regis Korchinski-Paquet, a 29-year-old Indigenous-Ukrainian-Black Canadian woman, occurred in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on May 27, 2020. Responding to multiple 911 calls from Korchinski-Paquet, her mother, and her brother, for a domestic disturbance involving punches, thrown bottles, and knives, police attended her apartment. Subsequent to the arrival of police, Korchinski-Paquet fell to the ground 24 storeys below, and died at the scene. Her family accused the Toronto Police Service of having played a role in her death, which led to a Special Investigations Unit (SIU) investigation. The SIU announced in late August 2020 it had cleared all police officers of wrongdoing and found no evidence of police involvement in her death. Korchinski-Paquet's death inspired a number of protests in Canada against police involvement in her death and other issues of anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism. These protests occurred at the same time as the George Floyd protests. Background Five years prior to the incident, Korchinski-Paquet was diagnosed with epilepsy and mental health concerns that had sometimes resulted in calls to the police for assistance. Incident Around 5:15 pm, Korchinski-Paquet's mother called police to their 24th story apartment in High Park North after a domestic conflict. Her mother wanted officers to take Korchinski-Paquet to CAMH, in an effort to deescalate the situation so it would not become unsafe. Six officers attended the scene. However, officers were confused as to whether epilepsy was justifiable reasoning for taking her into custody under the Mental Health Act. In a call to 911 by Korchinski-Paquet herself, she claimed that both her mother and brother had been drinking since 10am that morning. The Toronto Police Service's Chief at the time, Mark Saunders, clarified that the call was for an assault, stating that three separate people had called in and that knives were being drawn at the scene, limiting the responding teams that could be sent to assist the situation. When police arrived at the apartment, they were met by Korchinski-Paquet, her mother, Claudette Beals-Clayton, and brother, Reece Korchinski-Beals, in the hallway and exchanged a few words with the officers as they walked down the hall. Shortly after, Korchinski-Paquet told officers she needed to use the bathroom and was followed into the apartment by multiple officers, who would not allow entry by other family members. Korchinski-Paquet proceeded to walk out onto the 24th-floor balcony and prevented officers from joining her by holding the door closed. She began to scale the balcony in an attempt to cross to the adjacent balcony, which was blocked off by netting. She lost her balance on the railing and fell to her death. One officer congruently knocked on the neighbour's door to attend to the second balcony, only to find it was blocked off by netting. He looked down and noticed Korchinski-Paquet's body on the ground, immediately calling for an ambulance. Korchinski-Paquet's mother was then heard telling a neighbour that her daughter jumped. Korchinski-Paquet was pronounced dead at the scene. Investigation An investigation was conducted by the Special Investigations Unit. On June 1, investigators announced that they had conducted interviews with six officers and four civilian witnesses and obtained video surveillance footage from the apartment complex. On June 3, the Toronto Sun reported that Korchinski-Paquet blockaded the balcony door before falling to her death, citing unnamed sources. In response to the Sun reporting an apparent leak by police sources, the family of Korchinski-Paquet cancelled their scheduled police interviews with the Special Investigations Unit. On August 26, the SIU cleared all officers of wrongdoing. Findings in the SIU report declared no indication of "overt racism", and that "There were allegations in the wake of Miss Korchinski-Paquet's death that she was pushed off the balcony by police..." further adding "The evidence establishes that this did not occur." The family, unhappy with the result of the investigation, are continuing their own private investigation. On March 30, 2021, the Office of the Independent Police Review Director announced it had opened a new investigation on the police's conduct. Aftermath Shortly after Korchinski-Paquet's death, her mother Beals-Clayton was recorded in a video stating that responding officers had shoved her daughter off the apartment balcony. Her cousin claimed that it was not possible that she decided to kill herself, stating "Exactly, my cousin's not jumping. She's a Christian woman, she’s not doing suicide, that ain't what we do, we don't do that, we ain't killing ourselves, that's number one, 100 per cent." The Toronto Police Services Board announced that they agree that "everyone wants and deserves answers" and that they investigate the matter "as expeditiously as possible". The head of the union representing Toronto police stated that everyone should withhold judgement until all facts and evidence are available. A protest organized by the group Not Another Black Life occurred on May 30. Thousands of people gathered to protest Korchinski-Paquet's death and other issues of anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism. Police officers estimated the protest was attended by 3,500 to 4,000 people at the Toronto rally, with a few hundred at a separate rally in Halifax. Due to the size of the crowd, many protesters were unable to maintain of physical distance, which had been mandated by the province in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. A further protest in Toronto occurred on June 5. The rallies took place at the same time as rallies, protests and riots in the United States and elsewhere in reaction to the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. Further reading References 2020 in Toronto Law enforcement controversies Toronto Police Service Protests in Canada 2020 deaths History of Black people in Canada First Nations history in Ontario May 2020 events in Canada

64153707

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Nina%20Pop

Death of Nina Pop

On May 3, 2020, a 28-year-old black transgender woman named Nina Pop was found dead with multiple stab wounds after being stabbed with a knife inside her apartment on South New Madrid Street in Sikeston, Missouri. Nina Pop Pop was a black transgender woman who worked at a fast-food restaurant and was fondly known in the area. She lived 145 miles south of St. Louis in Sikeston, Missouri, a small town of 16,000 people. Aftermath On May 15, 2020 in Dexter, Missouri, Joseph B. Cannon, a 40-year-old man from Poplar Bluff, Missouri, was accused of Pop's murder and arrested for second-degree murder and armed criminal action. He pleaded not guilty, requested a public defender, and awaits trial. 11 crime labs, anti-violence organizations, and police departments contributed to the investigation. Sikeston Department of Public Safety and a local TV network initially misgendered Pop during their investigation and reporting, respectively. The Human Rights Campaign stated that her death is at least the 10th violent death of an American transgender person or gender non-conforming person in 2020. Community response The Okra Project, a grassroots organization initially focused on addressing food insecurity in the black transgender community, dedicated $15,000 to form the Nina Pop Mental Health Recovery Fund and the Tony McDade Mental Health Recovery Fund in to raise money for free one-time mental health therapy sessions for black transgender individuals. On June 2, 2020 thousands of people came together for a vigil and protest at the Stonewall Inn in New York City to honor the lives of Nina Pop and Tony McDade and protest police violence and transphobic violence against the black transgender community. References 2020 controversies in the United States Black Lives Matter Violence against trans women Deaths by person in the United States LGBT African Americans LGBT people from Missouri 2020 deaths Deaths by stabbing in Missouri May 2020 crimes in the United States May 2020 events in the United States 2020 in Missouri Violence against LGBT people in the United States 21st-century LGBT people History of women in Missouri

64158240

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Adama%20Traor%C3%A9

Death of Adama Traoré

Adama Traoré (; 19 July 1992 – 19 July 2016) was a Black French man who died in custody after being restrained and apprehended by police. His death triggered riots and protests against police brutality in France, with new resurgence and resonance since the murder of George Floyd that some perceived as being under similar circumstances in 2020. Of Malian descent, Traoré was born in Val-d'Oise. Arrest and death On 19 July 2016, Adama Traoré's 24th birthday, Traoré was out with his older brother Bagui in the Paris suburb of Beaumont-sur-Oise. Police approached the pair, seeking to arrest Bagui for extortion with violence against a disabled woman. The officers requested to check their IDs, but Adama did not have his and fled. He was caught by officers, but fled again and was caught a second time. The officers locked a handcuff around one of his wrists, but Adama was having hard time catching his breath and requested a few minutes to rest, which they granted to him. At that point, one of the arresting officers was attacked and knocked to the ground by an unknown third party who fled the scene, allowing Traoré to escape again to hide in a nearby house. Three officers of the National Gendarmerie found him hiding under a sheet without the handcuffs and pinned him down to arrest him. Following his arrest, Traoré stood up on his own but officers claim he seemed to be in some physical distress. He was taken to a police vehicle and then to the nearby police station, a journey that took 3-4 minutes. On arrival at the station, the officers noticed Traoré had urinated on himself and was unconscious but they stated that he was still breathing. The officers placed Traoré on the ground and called the emergency services. At that moment, Bagui, who had been handled by other officers, arrived at the station and upon seeing his brother on the ground he shouted: "Be careful with my brother, he has a health condition!". When fire service paramedics arrived and saw Traoré was no longer breathing, they called an emergency medical team from the SAMU who tried to resuscitate him. After an hour, Traoré was declared dead at the scene. After his death Traoré was found to have been in possession of €1,330 in cash and a bag of cannabis. Traoré had previously been convicted of various offenses–including rebellion and violence against the police, extortion, drug related offenses, and stealing–and had been incarcerated twice. He had been released from prison in May 2016, two months before his death. He has also been accused of repeatedly raping his cellmate while incarcerated, whom the French penal authority subsequently compensated. Post-mortem reports A total of four autopsy reports were issued for Traoré. Initially, experts failed to agree whether the cause of death was suffocation after the police pinned him to the ground, or other underlying medical conditions (such as sickle cell disease) or hyperthermia caused by the chase in a heat wave. Others suggested the possibility of presence of drugs in his body contributing to his death, but an initial toxicology report on his vomit was negative for marijuana and alcohol. An additional toxicology report showed a high concentration of THC in his system, demonstrating that he had consumed cannabis at most up to 12 hours, and likely within two to three hours, before his death. A French legal report in 2020 also maintained there was THC in his blood. The official medical report eventually listed heart failure as cause of death. A second autopsy commissioned by the Traoré family, however, listed asphyxiation from sustained pressure as the cause of death. Two hours after his death his body temperature was measured at 39.2°C (102.6°F) which the arresting officers' defense attorneys claim to be proof of hyperthermia. Aftermath A lawyer specialized in police violence suggested that state medical examiners will tend to try to protect the system and lack independence. A subsequent internal police investigation exonerated the officers. In interviews Traoré's sister has stated that she believes that his death was the direct result of excessive use of force by the police whereas the two autopsies and four medical reports ordered by the magistrates conclude that the police officers were not responsible for his death. On July 10, 2020, the magistrates in charge of investigating the death of Traoré ordered a new medical report but this time to be carried out by doctors in Belgium. His death sparked major protests in Paris, Lyon, and Toulouse under the slogan Justice pour Adama (Justice for Adama). The protests styled themselves after the American Black Lives Matter movement, and similarly focused on the grievance voiced that Black and Arab communities in France suffer disproportionately at the hands of the police. Legacy Traoré became a major symbol for anti-police brutality activists. His older sister, Assa Traoré, became an anti-racism activist as a result of his death. Assa herself was sued for defamation by three police officers she accused of obstructing justice, with the trial commencing in May 2021. On 29 May 2020, French legal authorities released a final report clearing the three officers involved of wrongdoing and triggering renewed protests. Protesters also expressed solidarity with the George Floyd protests, which erupted in the United States and elsewhere in late May. Demonstrations in Paris, Marseille, Lyon, and Lille honoured both Floyd and Traoré. On 2 June, over 20,000 protesters marched again in Paris, along with 2,500 in Lille, 1,800 in Marseille, and 1,200 in Lyon. References 2010s in Île-de-France Black Lives Matter Deaths by person in France History of Val-d'Oise July 2016 events in France

64216554

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Giovanni%20L%C3%B3pez

Death of Giovanni López

The death of Giovanni López Ramírez occurred on May 4, 2020 in the municipality of Ixtlahuacán de los Membrillos, Jalisco, Mexico as a result of his arrest by police officers. He was allegedly arrested for not wearing a face mask during the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico. He died at a hospital with traumatic brain injury and with a gunshot wound to his leg. Public outcry over his death erupted one month later, due to a video of his arrest going viral on social media and inspired by the George Floyd protests. Protests against police brutality began in Jalisco on June 4, 2020, and have also spread to other areas in Mexico. The Attorney General of Jalisco has announced that three police officers from Ixtlahuacán de los Membrillos were arrested on June 5, 2020 for the murder of Giovanni López. Giovanni López Giovanni López Ramírez (1990-2020) was a thirty-year-old bricklayer who lived in Ixtlahuacán de los Membrillos. Arrest and death Giovanni's brother, Christian Daniel López Ramírez, recorded the moment when police arrested his brother on May 4, 2020. He was arrested in front of the López family home, allegedly for not wearing a face mask. After his brother's arrest, Christian has stated that he and his neighbors called the mayor, who told them that they could pick up their brother the next day at approximately 10:00 a.m. The next day, on May 5, 2020, López's family went to the municipal jail to get Giovanni, when they were told he was at the Civil Hospital of Guadalajara. Giovanni's aunt has said that the police at the jail told her that Giovanni was at the hospital because "se les había pasado la mano" (roughly meaning "they went heavy handed"), an expression in Spanish suggesting that the police had used excessive force. At the hospital, they were told that Giovanni had died of traumatic brain injury. He also had lesions and a gunshot wound to his left leg. Aftermath Giovanni's brother did not release the video of his brother's arrest until one month later. He has accused the mayor of Ixtlahuacán, Eduardo Cervantes Aguilar, of offering his family $200,000 pesos (approximately US$9,300) to not release the video of Giovanni's arrest and also claims that the mayor threatened to have his family killed if the video was released. The mayor has denied the accusations. In the following days of the arrest video being released, hundreds of young people gathered in downtown Guadalajara, painting graffiti, breaking windows, and trying to force their way into the government palace. The police responded with tear gas, and two patrol cars were burned. Police officer Rodolfo Essaú was set on fire; his condition was later reported as stable.At least 28 people were detained for protesting. Reactions The governor of Jalisco, Enrique Alfaro Ramírez, stated that López's arrest had nothing to do with a face mask. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador spoken about the incident, stating that he will "not interfere with the case to avoid partisan conflicts." Mexican actress Salma Hayek posted a photograph on Instagram protesting against the murder of López. Mexican director Guillermo del Toro has also condemned the killing of Giovanni López on social media. Other celebrities decrying the death of López included the Mexican band Molotov and Mexican actress Zuria Vega. The Mexican branch of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights condemned López's death and called for an independent investigation. People called for justice for Giovanni using the hashtag #JusticiaParaGiovanni (#JusticeForGiovanni). References 2020 crimes in Mexico 2020 deaths 2020 in Mexico People who died in police custody Victims of police brutality Police brutality in North America Police brutality in the 2020s

64233519

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Samson%20Chukwu

Death of Samson Chukwu

Samson Chukwu (also spelled Samsson) (died May 1, 2001) was a 27-year-old Nigerian asylum seeker detained in the Swiss canton of Valais in an attempt to deport him to Lagos, Nigeria via Kloten, Switzerland. While detained in Granges, Valais at Crêtelongue Prison, he was handcuffed lying on his stomach. A police officer rested his weight onto Chukwu's back leading to Chukwu's death by "postural asphyxiation". Before authorities were able to complete an autopsy, State Councilor Jean-René Fournier, responsible for security and institutions claimed that the cause of death was a heart attack. The final autopsy results released in July 2001 confirmed asphyxiation as the cause of death. Chukwu's family filed a lawsuit against local police officials. However, a Valais court later dismissed the lawsuit citing officer ignorance of the detainment method's danger. Amnesty International used the case to urge Switzerland to reduce their program of forced deportations. The organization has also used Chukwu's death as evidence of a larger pattern of excessive force used by Swiss police, and the event lead to police reform in the country. Chukwu's death was the second case in two years of an asylum seeker being suffocated to death by Swiss authorities. While large scale public protests did not occur at the time, Chukwu's name has often been cited in subsequent Black Lives Matter protests in Switzerland. References 2001 deaths 1974 births People who died in police custody

64234109

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Herv%C3%A9%20Bondembe%20Mandundu

Death of Hervé Bondembe Mandundu

Hervé Bondembe Mandundu (died November 6, 2016) was a 27-year-old Congolese-born Swiss resident who was shot and killed by Chablais police in Bex, Switzerland. The police allege that Mandundu rushed towards the five officers with a kitchen knife although this account is disputed by witnesses. The officer who killed Mandundu was later tried for murder. The killing led to widespread criticism of excessive force from Swiss police. As a result of Mandundu's death, additional training courses were required for Lausanne police officers. Protests against police brutality occurred in Lausanne at the time, and Mandundu's name has been invoked in later Swiss protests against police brutality and systemic racism. Mandundu was the only one of his immediate family to not be born in Switzerland and was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. While not a Swiss citizen, Mandundu had lived in Switzerland since the age of 5. References People shot dead by law enforcement officers in Switzerland Democratic Republic of the Congo people 2016 in Switzerland 2016 deaths 1989 births

64268443

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Robert%20Fuller

Death of Robert Fuller

Robert L. Fuller was a 24-year-old African-American man who was found hanging from a tree in front of the City Hall in Palmdale, California. His death was ruled a suicide by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. City officials announced that they supported an independent investigation into his death. On July 9, 2020, the LA County Sheriff's office held a news conference announcing that the death was correctly determined a suicide and provided more supporting details from the investigation, including evidence that Fuller had purchased the rope used to hang himself on May 14, almost a month prior. There is video evidence of Fuller using the same EBT card for other purchases subsequent to the purchase of the rope. There is also evidence that Fuller suffered from mental illness and had been hospitalized in Arizona in 2017 and diagnosed with auditory hallucinations after saying he wanted "to put a gun to his head." In February 2019 he admitted himself to a hospital in California saying he was hearing voices telling him to kill himself. He was later hospitalized in November 2019 in Nevada after saying he planned to hurt himself. History Fuller's body was spotted by a passerby at 3:39 am on June 10. Emergency personnel responded to the scene and subsequently identified him as dead. His death was reported initially as an apparent suicide though a decision on the cause of his death was pending and an autopsy was planned. The manner of his death garnered significant attention in the wake of the murder of George Floyd and subsequent protests. Members of Fuller's local community spoke to Palmdale city officials at a news briefing on June 12 asking as to why his death was described as a suicide and querying whether it was homicide. Members of the crowd at the press briefing shouted "Hell no!" in response to City Manager J.J. Murphy's request that "we stop talking about lynchings". Kim Kardashian urged her followers on Twitter to sign a petition demanding an investigation into Fuller's death. As of June 15, the FBI, U.S. attorney's office in the Central District of California and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division were monitoring the investigations into Fuller's death and the hanging death of Malcolm Harsch, another African-American man also found hanging from a tree in nearby Victorville just 10 days earlier. Harsch's death was later confirmed a suicide. A fundraiser for Robert Fuller was launched on GoFundMe shortly after the family announced their belief that Fuller had been lynched, earning the family $237,012. It was later discovered that Fuller had a well known history of depression and mental illness had been hospitalized three times since 2017 with suicidal thoughts. Fuller had previously attempted to commit suicide as recently as February 2020. On Wednesday, June 18th, it was confirmed that Fuller's half-brother was killed in what police called a "gunfight" in Kern County. Several questions arose surrounding the killing. References 2020 deaths 2020 controversies in the United States Deaths by person in the United States History of Los Angeles County, California Suicides by hanging in California

64280367

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Oluwatoyin%20Salau

Death of Oluwatoyin Salau

Oluwatoyin Ruth "Toyin" Salau (August 27, 2000 – June 2020) was an American woman activist who disappeared on Saturday, June 6, 2020, shortly after tweeting about being sexually assaulted. Salau was found murdered in Tallahassee, Florida, on Saturday, June 13, 2020, and her death was confirmed on Monday, June 15, 2020. Salau was an active participant in the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests in Tallahassee, Florida, described as an "emerging leader" and "prominent voice" in the movement. She had advocated on behalf of Tony McDade in particular. Early life Salau was born on August 27, 2000, in Tallahassee, Florida. She was a Nigerian-American, with Yoruba being her native tongue. A devout Christian, she was the youngest member of her church choir whilst growing up. Salau attended Buck Lake Elementary School and Swift Creek Middle School in Tallahassee, and graduated from Lincoln High School in 2018. Following graduation, she studied cosmetology at Lively Technical College, simultaneously starting her business in hairdressing and modeling. In 2019, Salau enrolled at Tallahassee Community College while still at Lively, intending to study law at Florida A&M University thereafter. Disappearance and death Shortly before her disappearance, on June 6, 2020, she tweeted that she was sexually assaulted by a black man after he offered to give her a ride back to a church where she sought "refuge" because of "unjust living conditions". She was last seen alive on June 10, 2020. After a search by community residents, the Tallahassee Community Action Committee, and Tallahassee Police Department, her body was found on June 14, 2020 around 9:15 pm local time near Monday Road in southeastern Tallahassee. Salau's body was discovered with that of Victoria Sims, a 75-year-old who had been active in local politics. Salau was buried at Oakland Cemetery in Tallahassee. Suspect The suspect in Salau's death, Aaron Glee Jr., was arrested in Orlando, Florida during the early hours of June 14 and charged with murder and kidnapping. Glee later confessed to the murder and rape of Salau. The bodies of Salau and Sims were found near his rental home in Tallahassee the night before. He had been arrested previously, less than a month prior, for aggravated battery after a police officer saw him kicking a woman in the stomach when she refused his sexual advances. Reaction ''RIP Toyin'' and ''Toyin'' trended on Twitter alongside the hashtag #JusticeForToyin after the news went out that Salau's body had been found. Abike Dabiri, chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission called on the U.S. Government to ensure a thorough investigation of Salau's murder. References George Floyd protests in the United States American people of Yoruba descent Yoruba people History of Tallahassee, Florida Death of women Female murder victims Violence against women in the United States Sexual assaults in the United States

64283116

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Elijah%20McClain

Death of Elijah McClain

Elijah Jovan McClain (February 25, 1996 – August 30, 2019) was a 23-year-old Black American massage therapist from Aurora, Colorado, who died after a violent police encounter. On August 24, 2019, three Aurora Police officers confronted McClain after responding to a call by an Aurora civilian about an unarmed person wearing a ski mask that looked "sketchy". The three police officers who were involved in the incident, Nathan Woodyard, Jason Rosenblatt and Randy Roedema, all said that their body cameras were knocked off during a struggle with McClain. McClain was forcibly held to the ground with his hands cuffed behind his back, after which paramedics Jeremy Cooper and Peter Cichuniec administered ketamine to McClain to sedate him. While on scene McClain went into cardiac arrest. Three days after arriving at the hospital, he was declared brain dead, and was removed from life support on August 30. McClain's autopsy was inconclusive and the cause of death was listed as undetermined by the coroner. Aurora Police officers met with the coroner before his announcement, and police investigators were also present during the autopsy. On June 24, 2020, after a social media outcry and Aurora lawmakers' requests for a new, third-party investigation into McClain's death, Colorado Governor Jared Polis announced his administration would reexamine the case. Five days later, photos that were taken in October 2019 which showed officers posing inappropriately and reenacting the carotid restraint used on McClain, taken at the site he was detained, were discovered. One officer resigned and three were fired. In February 2021, an investigative report ordered by the City Council was released. The report said that the police officers involved in McClain's death did not have the legal basis to stop, restrain, or frisk him. The report questioned the police officers' statements, criticized the medical responders' decision to inject McClain with a sedative, and admonished the police department for failing to do a serious questioning of the officers following McClain's death. In September 2021, the three police officers (Woodyard, Rosenblatt and Roedema) and two paramedics (Cooper and Cichuniec) were charged through a Colorado grand jury with manslaughter and other lesser charges for the death of Elijah McClain. Background At the time of his death, Elijah McClain had been a massage therapist for about four years. He shared an apartment with his cousin close to the site where he was taken into police custody and subsequently died. He had never been arrested or charged with a crime. Friends and family described him as a "spiritual seeker, pacifist, oddball, vegetarian, athlete, and peacemaker who was exceedingly gentle." McClain's mother Sheneen moved her family of six from Denver to Aurora to avoid gang violence. She said Elijah was home-schooled and she could see at an early age that he was "intellectually gifted, but fiercely independent". While still a teenager, he taught himself to play violin and guitar. During lunch breaks, he brought his instruments to animal shelters and played for the abandoned animals, believing that music put them at ease. Friends said that his gentleness with animals extended to humans as well. One of his clients recalled him as "the sweetest, purest person I have ever met. He was definitely a light in a whole lot of darkness". An acquaintance said, "I don't even think he would set a mousetrap if there was a rodent problem." Death On the evening of August 24, 2019, an Aurora civilian called 9-1-1 after seeing a male around Billings Street and Evergreen Avenue walking south on Billings Street wearing a ski mask and flailing his arms. The caller affirmed during the call that he did not believe the person was armed and that he did not believe that anyone was in immediate danger. Friends of McClain interviewed after the incident speculated that this arm-flailing was most likely just dancing, as he is believed to have been listening to music at the time of the call. According to the police report, McClain resisted when confronted by the responding police officers, and Officers Woodyard and Rosenblatt heard Officer Roedema shout "he is going for your gun". An attorney representing McClain's family said the officers involved slammed McClain into a wall immediately after apprehending him. Roedema said that McClain "reached for and grabbed the grip of Rosenblatt's gun that was holstered". There are conflicting accounts about the officer's report that McClain had tried to grab his gun. Later accounts offered differing reports on whose gun McClain had tried to grab. There was no visual body-camera footage of McClain's alleged reach for the gun, which the officers explained by stating that all of their cameras had fallen off. However, a news source states, "But if you watch the video from about the 15-minute mark (warning: It contains violent and upsetting content), you’ll see someone pick up the body camera and point it toward McClain and one of the officers before dropping it back into the grass. Around 15:34, one of the officers seems to say, 'Leave your camera there.'" The three police officers held McClain on the ground for 15 minutes. McClain was clearly in distress while restrained, sobbing and repeatedly saying "I can't breathe". He vomited several times, for which he apologized, saying: "I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to do that, I can't breathe correctly." While McClain's arms were handcuffed behind his back, Woodyard applied a carotid control hold, which intentionally cuts off blood flow to the brain by compressing the carotid arteries in the neck, rendering McClain briefly unconscious. One officer threatened he would have his police dog bite McClain as he lay handcuffed and pinned to the ground. After McClain was restrained, more officers arrived and audio of the conversation records them saying that McClain was "acting crazy", that he was "definitely on something", and that he had attacked them with "incredible, crazy strength" when they tried to restrain him. They also said that, at one point, three officers were on top of McClain, who was tall and weighed . Paramedics injected him with 500 mg of ketamine as a sedative allowable in Colorado for a condition called excited delirium. McClain was then transferred to the ambulance. The medic who had administered ketamine noticed McClain's chest "was not rising on its own, and he did not have a pulse." He was pronounced brain dead on August 27 and died three days later, on August 30, 2019. The body cameras became unattached from the police officer's uniforms during the encounter, but the audio can still be heard. During the recording, when one of the body cameras was still attached to an officer, another officer can be heard telling him to move his camera. The attorney representing McClain's family accused the officers of purposely taking off their body cameras to support a false allegation that McClain reached for a gun, though evidence for this wasn't found during the subsequent investigation. According to the Adams County Coroner's Office, McClain's exact cause of death could not be determined and was therefore was listed as undetermined. The county coroner Dr. Stephen Cina stated that it may have been an accident resulting from an idiosyncratic drug reaction, could have been homicide if the officers' use of the carotid hold contributed to his death, or could have been natural “if (McClain) had an undiagnosed mental illness that led to excited delirium, if his intense physical exertion combined with a narrow coronary artery led to an arrhythmia, if he had an asthma attack, or if he aspirated vomit while restrained.” The Coroner stated that McClain's "physical exertion" likely contributed to his death,” but it "is unclear if the officer's actions contributed as well" and described McClain as being given a “therapeutic level” of ketamine. Aurora Police Department officers met with the coroner Dr. Stephen Cina before his final decision that the cause of death could not be determined was announced, and Aurora police investigators were also present during the autopsy. Last words According to body cam audio, these were McClain's last words as he was restrained by police officers:I can't breathe. I have my ID right here. My name is Elijah McClain. That's my house. I was just going home. I'm an introvert. I'm just different. That's all. I'm so sorry. I have no gun. I don't do that stuff. I don't do any fighting. Why are you attacking me? I don't even kill flies! I don't eat meat! But I don't judge people, I don't judge people who do eat meat. Forgive me. All I was trying to do was become better. I will do it. I will do anything. Sacrifice my identity, I'll do it. You all are phenomenal. You are beautiful and I love you. Try to forgive me. I'm a mood Gemini. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Ow, that really hurt! You are all very strong. Teamwork makes the dream work. Oh, I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to do that. I just can't breathe correctly. Investigation On August 28, 2019, all three Aurora Police officers involved at the scene were put on paid administrative leave. Adams County District Attorney Dave Young later determined that none of the three officers—Nathan Woodyard, Jason Rosenblatt and Randy Roedema—committed any criminal acts, and no charges were filed against them. The police body camera footage and audio of the initial 9-1-1 call were released publicly by the Aurora Police Department on November 22, 2019. In February 2020, Aurora City Manager Jim Twombly announced that he would begin a Critical Incident Review on the case to investigate how police and fire departments reacted during the incident. He also announced an audit on the body cameras of the Aurora Police Department to further investigate how well Aurora police officers comply with body-camera policies. At that time he said that a review of the incident determined that the force applied during the encounter was consistent with training as determined by the Force Review Board. Petitions and investigation requests On June 6, an online petition called for a reopening of the investigation into the death of McClain, and a request that the officers involved be removed from duty had been signed by more than 820,000 people. Members of the Aurora City Council's safety committee also requested an independent, third-party investigation into the death. County District Attorney Dave Young said he was aware of the petition and commented, "I don't open up investigations based on petitions." On June 10, three members of the city public safety policy committee sent City Manager Jim Twombly a letter asking for a new "neutral, third-party" look at McClain's death. Twombly responded saying that the city had already initiated an independent review of his death under the direction of Eric Daigle, a former Connecticut state police officer and attorney who now consults on the use of force and related policies. Council members replied saying they were not satisfied with the city's choice of a former police officer: "[We] don't consider Eric Daigle to be independent and neutral due to his long career in law enforcement. We need a truly independent review." On June 26, a spokesperson for the city of Aurora announced that all three officers involved in the incident had been reassigned to working in a non-enforcement capacity in an attempt to protect their safety. Woodyard and Rosenblatt were moved on June 13, while Roedema was moved on June 20. By June 25, more than three million people had signed the petition demanding an independent investigation into McClain's death, and on that date, Governor Jared Polis appointed a special prosecutor to investigate McClain's death. He also signed an executive order directing the Attorney General, Phil Weiser, to investigate and possibly prosecute the officers involved. Polis said in a statement, "Elijah McClain should be alive today, and we owe it to his family to take this step and elevate the pursuit of justice in his name to a statewide concern." Mari Newman, the family's attorney, commented, "Finally a responsible adult has stepped in and thank goodness that the governor has shown some leadership." Inappropriate photos investigated On June 29, the interim police chief announced that multiple officers had been placed on administrative leave and were under investigation after photos of them surfaced that had been taken near the site where McClain died. The photos, taken in October 2019, show police officers posing inappropriately and reenacting the carotid restraint used on McClain before his death. In July, three officers were fired from the department in relation to the photos, while one officer resigned. At a news conference, acting police chief Vanessa Wilson said, "While the allegations of this internal affairs case are not criminal, they are a crime against humanity and decency. To even think about doing such a thing is beyond comprehension and it is reprehensible." In response to a question from the floor, she addressed aspects of future officer training, and noted: "I shouldn't have to teach this. There is no training that should [have to] teach human decency." Use of ketamine questioned In Colorado, EMS providers are allowed to use ketamine to treat a syndrome known as excited delirium. When the EMS arrived on the scene of the encounter, McClain was already cuffed and restrained on the ground. One of the officers can be heard telling the EMS that McClain was "acting crazy", that he was "definitely on something", and that he had attacked them with "incredible, crazy strength" when they tried to restrain him. Estimating that McClain weighed , the medic gave him an injection of 500 mg of ketamine. According to information provided to NBC by Aurora Fire Rescue, the standard dose of ketamine is 5 milligrams per each kilogram of a person's weight. The coroner's report states that McClain was tall and weighed . That would mean that the correct dosage for a person of McClain's size would have been 320 milligrams. The attorney for McClain's family, Mari Newman, said that medics had no right or reason to inject Elijah with ketamine and has asked for an investigation. Neuroscientist Carl Hart, chair of Columbia University's psychology department, commented, "Why anyone would be giving ketamine in that circumstance is beyond me." The American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, and the World Health Organization do not recognize the condition. Paul Appelbaum, who oversees changes to psychiatry's main diagnostic manual, has commented, "excited delirium is bad science, based on faulty studies that grew out of the 1980s cocaine epidemic." Carl Takei, a senior staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union who focuses on police practices, said "ascribing a person's actions to excited delirium can create a shield for officers who use excessive force". In December 2020, John Dickerson, working for the television program 60 Minutes, investigated the use of ketamine in McClain's death. Dickerson said that the medical community is highly skeptical about whether "excited delirium" is a real medical condition and voiced concerns about the use of excited delirium as "a shield to protect police from charges of misconduct." Dickerson spoke with County District Attorney Dave Young, whose jurisdiction covers Aurora. Young justified the use of ketamine. He also felt that because the diagnosis of excited delirium was not ruled out as a cause of death, he was convinced that he could not win a homicide case against the officers because "you can't file a homicide charge without cause of death." February 2021 investigation findings Findings from an independent investigation commissioned by the City Council were released on February 22, 2021. The report concluded that "Aurora police and paramedics made substantial errors at nearly every stage of their interaction with Elijah McClain and the detectives tasked with investigating the incident that led to the 23-year-old’s death stretched the truth to exonerate the officers involved." The report said that the police had no legal basis to make McClain stop walking, to frisk him, or to use a chokehold and the paramedics failed to properly evaluate him or even to attempt to speak with him before injecting him with ketamine. The report also said that the detectives assigned to investigate the incident failed to do a meaningful investigation after his death. According to the report: The body worn camera audio, limited video, and Major Crimes’ interviews with the officers tell two contrasting stories. The officers’ statements on the scene and in subsequent recorded interviews suggest a violent and relentless struggle. The limited video, and the audio from the body worn cameras, reveal Mr. McClain surrounded by officers, all larger than he, crying out in pain, apologizing, explaining himself, and pleading with the officers." In 2020, McClain's family filed a lawsuit naming the city, several police officers and paramedics, and a fire department medical director for allegedly violating McClain's civil rights. Family attorney Mari Newman said the report supports the plaintiff allegations. "This is a broadside on the city of Aurora from top to bottom, beginning with the illegal stop that set the wheels in motion and the illegal conduct every step of the way." McClain's mother said she was happy that the report showed that her son was no longer labeled a suspect but rather seen as a victim of a crime. She has called for the paramedics and the officers to be fired and criminally prosecuted. In a statement his father said, "This report confirms what we have been saying from the start." September 2021 grand jury In September 2021, a Colorado grand jury indicted Aurora officers Roedema, Rosenblatt and Woodyard and also Aurora Fire Rescue paramedics Cooper and Cichuniec on 32 total counts of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. In addition, Roedema and Rosenblatt were each indicted on one count of assault and one count of crime of violence, Cooper and Cichuniec were each indicted on three counts of assault and six counts of crime of violence. Protests and memorials A very small protest was held in November 2019 in response to the District Attorney's decision not to file charges. McClain's mother Sheneen was scheduled to take part but was in too much grief to appear and speak. A second event for McClain was held on June 6, 2020, after the murder of George Floyd led to the formation of a nationwide protest movement in the United States. One of the event organizers remarked that the McClain family must have felt that the death of their loved one had been in vain when they saw the streets of Denver filled with protesters showing support for George Floyd while their loved one seemed to have been all but forgotten. One speaker said, "Today, I see all of your faces. And although it happened because of George Floyd, if we're not dealing with the atrocities, with the murders, with the brutality inside of Aurora, we have no business shouting another person's name." In June 2020, a memorial mural was painted in honor of McClain in Denver, Colorado, alongside murals of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Violin Protest On June 27, 2020, thousands of people gathered for a day of protests, speaker presentations, and an evening violin concert at Aurora City Center Park. Before the protest began, Aurora police issued a statement in support of a peaceful protest but warned of "outsiders" whose goal, they said, is to be destructive. Government buildings were boarded up, and police sat atop City Hall and the library observing the protest. No arrests were reported during the day, although both directions of Interstate 225 highway were shut down around 3 p.m. by thousands of marching protesters. In the evening people, including families with children, began to gather in City Center Park and musicians formed a circle and began to play a violin concert in honor of McClain, who was known to be an accomplished player. At that time the police announced that the protest was now an "illegal gathering", and ordered people to leave the park or they would use pepper spray to disperse them. Shortly thereafter the police, dressed in riot gear, moved into the crowd. Several attendees reported smoke and gas canisters were used. A police statement later reported that "pepper spray was used after a small group of people gathered rocks [and] sticks, knocked over a fence, & ignored orders to move back". Various videos showed attendees seated on the public lawn without any such actions. Five attendees of the protest have sued the Aurora Police Department and its interim chief, accusing them of unconstitutional treatment. Their lawsuit also demands that the Aurora Police Department stop using chemical agents, stop shooting projectiles indiscriminately into crowds, allow crowd dispersal only when there is an urgent danger to other people, and require all police to have their body cameras on at all times. On June 29, 2020, there was an event in honor of Elijah McClain in California. It was organized by Black Women Lead, took place at The Laugh Factory Hollywood, and was called "Violin Candlelight Vigil for Elijah". The small concert was held in the open air, the visitors formed a circle around the stage, watching performing musicians. Among the performers were the violinist Lindsey Stirling, who played her arrangement of the song "Hallelujah", and the violinist and singer Sudan Archives. Arrest of protest organizers Following the summer protests, Aurora Police Department arrested organizers involved with the Party for Socialism and Liberation and local groups on charges ranging from "inciting a riot" to "kidnapping". This was in response to a protest on July 3 where the Aurora police precinct was surrounded by protesters calling for the officers responsible for McClain's death to be fired and charged. On September 17, 6 organizers, Russel Ruch, Joel Northam, Lillian House, Eliza Lucero, Trey Quinn, and Terrance Roberts, were arrested. Northam was arrested with the aid of a SWAT team and armored vehicle, while Roberts was apprehended while on a jog. Others were arrested at home or at work. The charges could have resulted in up to 48 years in prison for House, Northam, and Lucero. On March 12, 2021, Judge Leroy Kirby dismissed the kidnapping charges against House, Lucero, and Northam, noting that if the warrants for their arrest had been presented to him, he would not have signed them. On April 4, 2021, Arapahoe County District Attorney John Keller dismissed all felony charges and major misdemeanor charges against the protesters. On May 6, 2021, Adams County District Attorney Brian Mason dismissed all charges in Adams County against the protesters, stating that he has "an ethical obligation to only proceed on charges [his] office can prove and to dismiss charges that [they] cannot prove." On September 13, 2021, all remaining charges against House, Lucero, and Northam were dropped. Change.org petition After McClain's death, a petition was started on the public benefit corporation website, change.org asking for "Justice for Elijah McClain." The petition quickly gathered enough signatures to become one of the top three most signed petitions on the site, among others such as those petitions for George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Civil rights lawsuit McClain's family subsequently filed a civil rights lawsuit against the city of Aurora, Colorado. A preliminary settlement agreement was announced on October 18, 2021. The agreement was finalized following a mediation hearing in U.S. District Court on November 19, 2021, with the city of Aurora agreeing to pay $15 million to McClain's family. See also List of killings by law enforcement officers in the United States, August 2019 Killing of Daniel Prude References External links ABC News video "What happened to Elijah McClain? Case draws new attention amid nationwide protests"—July 1, 2020 Police report. 1996 births 2019 controversies in the United States 2019 deaths 2019 in Colorado African-American-related controversies Asphyxia-related deaths by law enforcement in the United States August 2019 events in the United States Black Lives Matter Deaths by person in the United States Deaths from asphyxiation Deaths in police custody in the United States Law enforcement controversies in the United States Law enforcement in Colorado March 2020 events in the United States Police brutality in the United States Political scandals in the United States Aurora, Colorado

64293416

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Adre-Anna%20Jackson

Death of Adre-Anna Jackson

Adre-Anna Anita Jackson, also spelled Adreanna or Adre'Anna was a missing person of Native American descent from Lakewood, Washington. She disappeared at age 10 while walking to school in December 2005 in "a high-crime area with a large number of registered sex offenders". Her mother had sent her out on a three-block walk not knowing school had been canceled because of snow and didn't report her missing until late in the day. Search, death investigation and suspects In April 2006, her skeletonized body was found by children in a thicket near 7500 block of 146th Street Southwest in Tillicum in an abandoned lot that was "a popular passageway for school-aged children and a hangout for transients and drug users", identified as Jackson by use of her dental records. The finding followed a highly publicized search by bloodhounds and 120 personnel from the Lakewood police and fire departments, search-and-rescue teams from Pierce County and nearby Joint Base Lewis-McChord, and sonar scans of American Lake off Silcox Island organized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Investigators determined the death was suspicious but had not determined the exact cause of death as of 2017. Child murderer Terapon Adhahn was a person of interest in the case and his former home was searched for evidence in 2007. Her death appeared on the FBI's most wanted list from 2005 through 2019. As of 2020, there is a $60,000 cash reward – contributed by the FBI, local authorities, and individuals – for information leading to her killer or killers. The case remains unsolved as of 2020. See also Missing and murdered Indigenous women List of solved missing person cases List of unsolved murders References Further reading Unsolved homicides: Adreanna Jackson at City of Lakewood, case #053360891 (accessed June 16, 2020) Unsolved for 12 years, search for Adre'anna Jackson's killer continues video at Miami Herald (April 3, 2018) 1995 births 2000s deaths 2000s missing person cases American people of Native American descent Crimes in Washington (state) December 2005 events in the United States Female murder victims Formerly missing people Missing person cases in Washington (state) People from Lakewood, Washington Unsolved murders in the United States

64323333

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Tamla%20Horsford

Death of Tamla Horsford

On November 4, 2018, Tamla Horsford was discovered dead in the backyard of the Cumming, Georgia, home where she had been attending a slumber party with other "football moms" the night before. The 40-year-old was a mother of five. The Forsyth County Sheriff department initially ruled the death an accident, stating that the "multiple blunt force injuries" were related to Horsford likely falling from the balcony due to "acute ethanol intoxication". A second autopsy requested by her family revealed further abrasions to her body. The family's attorney also stated that lack of evidence, types of injuries discovered, and mismatched witness accounts strongly suggested homicide. On February 20, 2019, Major Joe Perkins of the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office announced that the case would be closed and that there was no evidence of foul play. The case did not receive public recognition until two months after her death, when one of the witnesses was fired from his county court officer job for internally accessing the incident report. The case, along with the hashtag #tamlahorsford, quickly spread around the internet, along with suspicion of foul play. In the summer of 2020, the nationwide protests against racism and police brutality sparked by the murder of George Floyd renewed public interest and advocacy of the case. Under the pressure of public outcry, including posts from celebrities such as T.I. and 50 Cent, the Forsyth County Sheriff requested that the case be reopened and investigated by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Death Horsford arrived at the slumber party at 10p.m. on November 3, 2018. Attendees drank, watched football, and played Cards Against Humanity. There were also three men at the house. According to witnesses, Horsford got up at 2a.m. to smoke a cigarette on the back porch. The next morning at 7:30a.m., the homeowner's aunt found Horsford lying facedown and motionless under the porch. At 8:59a.m., Jose Barrera, the homeowner's boyfriend, called 9-1-1. In the 9-1-1 call, Barrera described Horsford as lying facedown and not breathing. He brought attention to a small cut on her wrist, suggesting that it may be self-inflicted. A woman's voice can also be heard on the call speculating that Horsford might have fallen from the balcony. The police arrived at 9:07 am. Initial investigation The initial autopsy ordered by the Forsyth Sheriff's Office discovered "multiple blunt force injuries" and a high blood alcohol level. Officials speculated that the latter caused her to fall from the porch and that the injuries were just a result of the 14 foot fall. Horsford's family and friends, however, were not convinced and called for a second independent autopsy; this was then carried out by the Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI). According to the GBI medical examiners report, Horsford sustained severe injuries to her head, neck, and torso. They discovered cuts on her face, wrist, hand, and lower legs as well as a "laceration to the right ventricle" of her heart. The GBI toxicology screening found a blood alcohol level of .238 and traces of THC and Alprazolam (an anxiety drug) at the time of her death. Even before the results of the autopsy, speculation of foul play had begun to spread online. This was prompted, two months after Horsford's death, by Forsyth County Court firing Barrera, then a court officer, for accessing the incident report internally on multiple occasions. Hundreds of people shared the hashtag #tamlahorsford, questioning different angles of the case and calling for justice. The case was officially closed on February 20, 2019, ruled as an accidental death. Major Joe Perkins of the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office stated that none of Horsford's injuries aligned with foul play, saying: "It was a party. They were drinking. She was drinking. Most of the partygoers had gone to bed at that time, and she was on the deck alone." He had interviewed 30 people, including family, friends, and other partygoers. Renewed public interest After fading from the public eye, Horsford's death became a topic of advocacy again during the George Floyd anti-police brutality protests of 2020. On June 5, 2020, Ralph E. Fernandez, the Horsford family attorney, wrote a letter to Horsford's husband, Leander Horsford, claiming that his team's investigation into the details of the case strongly suggested homicide. It said, in part: "Witness statements are in conflict. A potential subject handled the body as well as the evidence prior to law enforcement arriving. Evidence was disposed of and no inquiry followed. The scene was not preserved." He also stated that Horsford's injuries were "consistent" with those of a physical struggle, but that the absence of photos from the initial autopsy prevented a definite conclusion. An Atlanta journalist published the letter a few days later. Horsford's name and case spread across the internet, starting with protestors in Cumming, Georgia, who included her name on their signs alongside the names of Black Americans killed by the police in recent years. A Change.org petition calling for the case to be reopened amassed more than 586,000 signatures and rappers T.I. and 50 Cent shared posts about the case, asking for a second investigation. Second investigation On June 12, 2020, Forsyth County Sheriff Ron Freeman sent a letter requesting that the case be re-opened and investigated by the GBI. He stated that the investigation was best undertaken by an independent law enforcement agency. The GBI agreed to reopen the case on June 18, 2020, but did not specify when the investigation would begin. On July 28, 2021, the GBI concluded their re-investigation, ultimately deciding not to pursue criminal charges. References Further reading 2018 controversies in the United States African-American-related controversies Black Lives Matter Deaths by person in the United States Law enforcement controversies in the United States

64324623

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Abhimanyu

Death of Abhimanyu

Abhimanyu was a student activist stabbed to death in Maharajas College, Ernakulam on July 2, 2018. He was a student of BSc Chemistry. He was murdered by Campus Front of India, the students wing of Popular Front of India. Abhimanyu was the youngest son of Manoharan and Bhoopathy, two Tamil peasants from an Adivasi community, in Vattavada. He was born on 6 May 1997. Parijith and Kowsalya are his siblings. His sister Kowsalya married Madhusudanan in a wedding attended by hundreds of students from Maharajas College. Abhimanyu was the Idukki District Committee member of the Students' Federation of India. Death Abhimanyu was murdered by a 16-member gang involving the activists of the Campus Front of India (CFI), Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) and the Popular Front of India (PFI). He was just 20 years old at the time of his killing. According to the police reports, the murder was triggered after an argument between Students' Federation of India activists and Campus Front of India (CFI) over sticking posters within the Maharajas campus. The space for painting the college walls was first booked by SFI activists. This led to the issues with CFI members. Abhimanyu painted graffiti on the campus walls to welcome the new batch of students and he wrote "down with communalism". This slogan provoked the Campus Front of India (CFI) members. After the verbal argument CFI members returned to campus in the wee hours of July 2, 2018 with SDPI and PFI members and barged into the college hostel. Abhimanyu was held in position from behind and while another person stabbed him to death on the spot. A 19-year-old Arjun, a student of BA Philosophy also sustained severe injuries. He was admitted to the Ernakukulam Medical Trust Hospital and did undergo an emergency surgery. SFI observed a statewide strike protesting against the killing of their activist on July 2, 2018. Aftermath In his memory, the Abhimanyu Maharajas Library was set up in Vattavada panchayat. Students across India contributed books over courier. Students mobilised around 10,000 books and enough funds for the construction of library. Simon Britto, another student leader who was paralysed after getting stabbed by the members of KSU activists at Maharaja's College on October 14, 1983 wrote a book named "Maharaja's Abhimanyu". The book was published by handing over a copy of it to writer M K Sanu on October 14, 2019. Prominent civil society activists and writers like Sunil P Ilayidom, Balachandran Chullikkad and M K Sanu paid tributes to Abhimanyu's memory in a function organised at Maharajas college on September 19, 2018. Writer M.K Sanu drew a parallel between Abhimanyu's murder and the chopping of Professor T J Joseph's hand by religious extremists at Thodupuzha Newman College. Balachandran Chullikad remarked that he was murdered for raising voice against communalism. CPI(M) build house for his family. The CPI (M) collected Rs 3.10 crore as ‘Abhimanyu martyr fund’ to help Abhimanyu's family. A student training centre in his name was also initiated in Ernamkulam. The college magazine of Sri Vivekananda Patana Kendram (SVPK) Arts and Science College, Nilambur was named as "Abhimanyu". It included a poem dedicated to him and an article on his murder. On July 31, 2018, a group of Campus Front of India (CFI) and Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) activists entered the college and forcefully burned the College Magazine. Later Edakkara police filed FIR against seven SFI and SDPI activists. Kerala Students Union (KSU) opposed the building of Abhimanyu Memorial inside Maharajas College. However, the memorial was built by Students Federation of India activists and was unveiled on July 2, 2019. This stirred controversy. Kochi Corporation ordered a probe to enquire whether the college had taken permission from the civic body before building the memorial. Arrests The Special Investigation Team of Kerala Police charge sheeted against 16 persons at the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-II in Ernakulam on September 24, 2018. The case was registered under Sections 142, 148, 323, 324, 307 and 302 read with 149 of the IPC at the Central police station, Ernakulam. Though 30 people are accused in the murder the chargesheet was filed only against those who directly participated in the crime. The following were named in the charge sheet: JI Muhammed (CFI state secretary), Arif Bin Salim (CFI district president), Mohammed Rifa, Jeffrey, Fazaluddin, Anas, Rajeeb, Abdul Rashid Saneesh, Adil Bin Salim, Bilal, Riyaz Hussain, Saneesh, Sharukh Amani, Abdul Nasser and Anup. After the murder police arrested around 20 people in the immediate days. However, the main accused Sahal Hamsa went into hiding for more than 2 years. Sahal who was staying at a hideout in Karnataka surrendered on 18 June 2020. According to Kerala Police, Sahal was alleged to have stabbed Abhimanyu and Mohammed Shahim was the man who stabbed Arjun. Muhammad Shaheem, the second accused was also absconding, but surrendered in the court in November 2019. Shajahan was the one who planned the attack and Shiraz gave all necessary training to CFI workers. Rifa, a state level leader of CFI was arrested when hiding in Bangalore. Manaf, a man who was one of the accused in a case related to chopping the hands of Professor T J Joseph in 2010 was the 13th accused in Abhimanyu Murder case. The police found that the culprits arrived at college hostel armed with lethal weapons to attack maximum student activists. The trial of the Abhimanyu case is ongoing in the Ernakulam Principal Sessions Court. References 2018 deaths Indian Marxists Deaths by blade weapons 1997 births History of Kerala (1947–present) Political killings in Kerala

64324730

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Olaseni%20Lewis

Death of Olaseni Lewis

Olaseni Lewis, a 23-year-old British man, died on 3 September 2010 at Bethlem Royal Hospital in London, United Kingdom, after police subjected him to prolonged physical restraint. Lewis had voluntarily sought care following the onset of acute mental health issues and died from cerebral hypoxia (lack of oxygen to the brain) soon after, following actions that involved eleven officers of London's Metropolitan Police. After seven years of campaigning by Lewis' family and two inquiries by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), a second coroners' inquiry was raised. The inquiry ruled the restraint was disproportionate and found the officers had failed to follow training on both the restraint of people with medical conditions and treatment of non-responsive people. Bethlem was also judged to have had several failures in Lewis's assessment, treatment and care. The IPCC recommended a review of six police officers for gross misconduct in relation to the incident, but all were later cleared by the Metropolitan Police in closed hearings. South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, the body managing Bethlem, received no charges, though it made changes to its internal processes as a result. The Mental Health Units (Use of Force) Bill 2018, known as "Seni's Law", was passed into British law in November 2018, making several provisions to limit the use of force on mental health patients and to require police officers working in mental health units to wear police body cameras where reasonable. It also required that hospitals record data and release reports on incidents involving physical force, including data on age, gender and ethnicity of those restrained. All reports covering patient deaths must be reviewed by the Secretary of State in an annual review. The law is not in force yet. Lewis's death returned to national attention in 2020 following the George Floyd protests in the United Kingdom, in relation to the disproportionate number of black, Asian and minority ethnic people killed by UK law enforcement officers. Background Born to Ajibola Lewis (a Nigerian-born lawyer) and Conrad Lewis (an engineer), Olaseni Lewis (known as Seni) was a Black British man from South Norwood in south-east London. He grew up there with his two older sisters and was well known in his neighbourhood, having given neighbours lifts in his car. He attended Kingston University in south London and, regarded as a bright student, went on to study a master's degree in business and information technology there. Lewis had no history of violence, nor mental health issues prior to the events leading to his death. A tall man, evidence in his case described him as a "gentle giant", who protected his friends against bullies. Events leading to death Following the UK summer bank holiday weekend, Lewis suffered an acute psychotic illness over a period of 48 hours in late August 2010. He returned home from an evening out on 30 August and was agitated, telling his mother that his friends had given him a bad substance. After discussion, Lewis told his mother that he would go to bed and try to sleep off the effects. He continued to be in a state of agitation the following day and his mother called NHS Direct. Responding to his deteriorating mental condition, his family took him to nearby Mayday University Hospital in Croydon. CCTV during his time at Mayday showed him struggling to remain still, asking for help, and hugging staff and security. Lewis's state caused accident and emergency doctors there to ask his family to agree that he be taken to a place of safety, under section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983. He was transferred and admitted to a safety suite at Maudsley Hospital soon after, where he was medicated. His father Conrad and friend Omari Faria arrived during this time. That afternoon he left the hospital and walked to nearby Denmark Hill railway station. His father, Faria and hospital staff pursued him to encourage him to return to the hospital and Lewis went back to Maudsley after police were called. Upon returning to Maudsley, Lewis was voluntarily readmitted but managers stated that due to his home address he would have to be transferred to Bethlem Royal Hospital, a well-known psychiatric hospital in London also known as Bedlam. Ajibola Lewis reflected that a nurse at Maudsley advised her not to send her son there, saying "as a young black man in London, it’s very easy to be picked on" and a doctor suggested she treat the issue as a "one-off". Lewis was briefly discharged to his mother's care, but feeling unable to cope she then agreed that Lewis go to Bethlem on a voluntary basis. Police restraint and death Lewis and his parents travelled to Bethlem on the evening of 31 August and on their arrival his mother described a chaotic scene. Lewis voluntarily admitted himself to the hospital on the basis that he could leave if he desired and that his family would be contacted in the event of any problem. At 8:30pm his parents were told to leave as visiting hours had finished. Lewis's state deteriorated after his parents had left and he decided to leave the hospital. However, staff prevented him from leaving and, frustrated as he understood he was a voluntary patient, Lewis damaged a door. Staff did not contact his parents but instead called the police to report Lewis for criminal damage. Police arrived soon after and placed Lewis in handcuffs and moved him to a padded room at the hospital. Over a period of 30–40 minutes eleven police officers subjected him to restraint in the room for a period of ten minutes. After Lewis tried to leave the room, officers restrained him for a second time for a period of 20 minutes. They placed him in two sets of handcuffs, which left Lewis with his left arm locked in front of his head and his right arm locked behind his back. They also placed him in leg restraints, one set around his ankles and one set around his legs. The method of restraint was against police practice and was later judged as dangerous. Lewis was held down face first on a bed, then the floor. The police struck him three times with a police baton during this period. Lewis was confused during the restraint, calling for police to take their dogs off him. The police asserted that for his safety they continued to restrain him until he stopped resisting. Lewis fell unconscious after 20 minutes due to restricted breathing and police chose to leave him in the room, believing him to be faking unconsciousness. Medical staff then injected Lewis with an antipsychotic medication. Nurses logged the incident as having involved "violent restraint" which indicated that unnecessary force had been used. Staff at the hospital reported they had been outraged at the level of force used. When it was noticed that Lewis had stopped breathing, officers attempted cardiopulmonary resuscitation. An ambulance was called and Lewis was transferred back to Mayday Hospital. Lewis again began to breathe independently in the ambulance. Subsequent hospital assessments on late 3 September and early 4 September showed he had suffered brainstem death and his life-support system was turned off. Aftermath Initial coroner's investigation Coroner Dr Roy Palmer began investigations into Lewis's death on 13 September. He concluded the cause of death was cerebral hypoxia (lack of oxygen to the brain) brought on by restraint. Palmer noted a lack of communication between police and medical staff, that police had not administered basic life support per standard training, and that medical staff did not respond to Lewis's critical condition. Calls for inquiry Given that there was no statutory requirement for a formal investigation of deaths in police custody, Lewis's family petitioned for an investigation and worked with organisations including police death charity Inquest and mental health charity Mind. Lewis died the same day as Colin Holt, another black man with mental health issues who was restrained by police. In 2011, Lewis's family attended an annual march on Downing Street to protest the deaths of Black Britons in police custody. Despite a reduction in overall deaths in police custody, the number of deaths of Black British people had not fallen. The families of others who died in police custody, including Jimmy Mubenga, Kingsley Burrell, Jacob Michael, Smiley Culture and Mark Duggan, attended the march. Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn questioned the Home Secretary in Parliament on what would be done to address the issue. Delays to the inquiry led Lewis's family to continued to campaign for its proper conclusion, with his mother attending the United Friends and Families Campaign march in London in October 2012. In January 2015 Theresa May, then Home Secretary, met with Lewis's family to discuss the case. The death of Lewis, among others, contributed to the creation of a Commons Select Committee review of Policing and Mental Health in 2015. Police investigation An initial inquiry in 2011 by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) first cleared officers over the death and noted that no disciplinary measures were required. After a new inquiry opened into the death of Sean Rigg, another Black British man with mental health issues who died in police custody, the IPCC announced it would also review its original investigation of the Lewis case. The family of Lewis took their case to the High Court of Justice to challenge the inquiry. In an unusual series of events, the IPCC paid their legal fees and backed their move to quash its own inquiry, which had failed to test officers' version of events and made no investigation into whether officers had committed a criminal offence. The High Court ruled in the families favour in September 2013 Following the conclusion of a second IPCC inquiry and a review by a Queen's Counsel in early 2013, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) noted that there was insufficient evidence to bring a conviction against the officers who restrained Lewis. The CPS referred the case back to the IPCC in order to adjudge if internal disciplinary measures were required. Raju Bhatt, the solicitor for the Lewis family, said he was not surprised by this outcome but would continued to push for full investigation of the incident in the face of "four-and-a-half years of prevarication and worse". In May 2016 a senior coroner raised concerns about the standard of statements provided by staff at Bethlem, as their impartiality would be affected by the fact that their legal representation was being paid for by their employer, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, which was involved in the case for corporate manslaughter. A disciplinary hearing conducted by the Metropolitan Police found the six officers (PC Simon Smith, PC Michael Aldridge, PC Stephen Boyle, DC Laura Curran, PC Ian Simpson and PC James Smith) had not committed misconduct and no disciplinary action was taken. The hearing was criticised by the family, because it was held behind closed doors with neither press nor public scrutiny. Coroners inquiry A coroners inquest by the South London Coroners Court was completed on 28 June 2017. It noted several concerns during his investigation. He noted that the police officers had used excessive force, had poor training on restraint, were not clear on the definition of "prolonged restraint", and had no guidance on how to react if efforts to restrain had not been successful for a long period. Officers also did not properly recognise that Lewis was having an "acute behavioural disturbance" (ABD) and may be at risk of death. The inquiry remarked on the fact that ABD is a police definition with no medical basis and that officers may be better served by general guidance on risks when restraining mentally ill people. The division of duties and responsibilities between police and medical staff were unclear. It was also noted that police were called as a result of a lack of available and trained medical staff. At coroner's inquest the jury found many failures by both police and medical staff which played a part in Lewis's death. They said "The excessive force, pain compliance techniques and multiple mechanical restraints were disproportionate and unreasonable. On the balance of probability, this contributed to the cause of death." However, the jury did not record a verdict of unlawful killing. Police were trained to view Lewis's behaviour as a medical emergency but the jury found police failed to act on this. The jury found that "The police failed to follow their training, which requires them to place an unresponsive person into the recovery position and if necessary administer life support. On the balance of probability this also contributed to the cause of death." A doctor did not act when Lewis became unresponsive while his heart rate dramatically slowed. Deborah Coles of the charity Inquest said the jury had reached the most damning possible conclusions on the actions of police and medics. "This was a most horrific death. Eleven police officers were involved in holding down a terrified young man until his complete collapse, legs and hands bound in limb restraints, while mental health staff stood by. Officers knew the dangers of this restraint but chose to go against clear, unequivocal training. Evidence heard at this inquest begs the question of how racial stereotyping informed Seni's brutal treatment." Seni's Law Lewis's family worked with their solicitor, Raju Bhatt, to draft a proposed change to UK law in order to prevent unnecessary and excessive restraint in mental health units and require psychiatric hospitals to give more detailed information about how and when restraints are used. This gained the support of Steve Reed, the Labour Member of Parliament for Croydon North, who took it to the House of Commons as a private member's bill. This included increased gathering and transparency of data in hospitals on incidents involving physical force, including data on age, gender and ethnicity of those restrained. All reports covering patient deaths must be reviewed by the Secretary of State in an annual review. The law also mandated the use of police body cameras when officers were engaging with vulnerable people. In November 2017 the bill, referred to as "Seni's law", was debated. On its second reading it failed to pass in June 2018, despite the support of the Conservative government, due to a two-and-a-half-hour filibuster by Philip Davies, MP for Shipley, who had a history of filibustering private members bills. The bill passed the commons on its third reading in July 2018. In November 2018, the bill received Royal Assent as the Mental Health Units (Use of Force) Act 2018. In 2018, the Metropolitan Police and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, announced the introduction of the "Seni Lewis Award", which would be awarded to people nationally at the annual Positive Practice Mental Health Awards in recognition of efforts to improve collaboration between health services and police. Black Lives Matter protests The case of Lewis returned to national attention in June 2020 in connection with the George Floyd protests in the United Kingdom and other protests associated with the Black Lives Matter movement. Lewis's death was highlighted as an example of the disproportionate number of black, Asian and minority ethnic people killed in police custody. See also Death of Christopher Alder Death of Colin Roach Death of Oluwashijibomi Lapite Death of Roger Sylvester Death of Sean Rigg References External links Mental Health Units (Use of Force) Act 2018 2010 in London Lewis, Olaseni Deaths from asphyxiation Lewis, Olaseni History of the London Borough of Bromley Metropolitan Police operations Law enforcement controversies Police misconduct in England August 2010 events in the United Kingdom

64358036

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Sheku%20Bayoh

Death of Sheku Bayoh

Sheku Ahmed Tejan Bayoh (30 September 1983 – 3 May 2015) died after being restrained by police in Kirkcaldy, Scotland. His death sparked controversy, and an independent government inquiry following a police investigation. Life Bayoh was born in Sierra Leone. In 1995 he fled to the United Kingdom as an unaccompanied child to escape civil war in Sierra Leone. After living in London for five years, he moved to Fife, Scotland at the invitation of his sister, who had lived there since the 1990s. At the time of his death, Bayoh was training to be a gas engineer. He was a father to two sons. Death On the morning of 3 May 2015, Bayoh visited a friend's house to watch a boxing match on TV. His friends noticed he was acting out of character, which he acknowledged before volunteering to leave the gathering. Bayoh then went to his home, where he got a knife and went into the street with it. Concerned neighbours called emergency services to report a black man with a knife acting erratically, and police were dispatched. A number of Police Scotland Constables arrived at the scene where they confronted Bayoh, who was now unarmed, with shouts, pepper spray, and batons before taking him to the ground and cuffing his wrists and ankles. Bayoh lost consciousness soon after being restrained and police were unable to resuscitate him at the scene; he was pronounced dead in hospital later that morning. A post-mortem report revealed injuries to Bayoh's face, bruising across his body, a fractured rib, and the presence of the street drugs MDMA and Flakka. His cause of death was recorded as 'sudden death in a man intoxicated…[drugs] whilst under restraint. Investigations Police investigation In the hours following his hospitalisation, the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC) began an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Bayoh's death. After 16 months, the PIRC submitted its investigation report to the Lord Advocate James Wolffe for review. In October 2018, the Lord Advocate gave his decision that no criminal, corporate or health and safety charges would be brought against the police involved. In December 2018, Bayoh's family requested a review of the decision after CCTV and mobile phone footage emerged of his encounter with police, which the family felt contradicted police accounts of events. The Lord Advocate upheld his previous decision stating that based on the evidence available, there would be no criminal proceedings against the police. Independent public inquiry In November 2019, the Scottish Government's Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf established an independent public inquiry into Sheku Bayoh's death. Judge Lord Bracadale was appointed as the Inquiry Chairman in January 2020. In May 2020, Yousaf announced the Terms of Reference of the Public Inquiry include establishing the circumstances of Bayoh's death; recommendations that might prevent similar deaths in the future; examination of investigation procedures excluding the Lord Advocate's investigation; whether events surrounding Bayoh's death and actions of the police were influenced by his 'actual or perceived race.' References Deaths in police custody in the United Kingdom

64362886

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Jessie%20Earl

Death of Jessie Earl

The death of Jessie Earl occurred in May 1980, after she disappeared in Eastbourne, on the south coast of England. She was 22 at the time. Her body was discovered in scrubland near the top of Beachy Head in 1989. The coroner recorded an open verdict at the inquest as there was a lack of evidence to indicate her cause of death, although her parents have always maintained that she was murdered and in 2000 Sussex Police opened a murder investigation, saying that they believed she was murdered. In 2020 her parents requested that the Attorney General open a new inquest into her death so as to formally re-classify her death as murder. In December 2021 the request for a new inquest was approved. Serial killer and sex offender Peter Tobin, who lived in the area at the time, has been a suspect in Earl's murder and the case was investigated as part of Operation Anagram, which had been set up in the late 2000s to investigate links between Tobin and unsolved murders. Apparently related to Earl's disappearance and murder is the disappearance of another young woman from Beachy Head in 1988. 18-year-old Louise Kay vanished after saying she was going to sleep in her car on Beachy Head in June 1988 and neither she nor her car have ever been found again. Earl's body was found on Beachy Head less than a year later. Tobin is also the prime suspect in Kay's presumed murder. Earl's parents believe Peter Tobin could be responsible for her murder. Background Jessie Earl was born to Valerie and John Earl, and was described as "strong and independent". She became an art student, studying at the Eastbourne College of Art and Design (now East Sussex College). She enjoyed writing about and being amongst nature, and liked walking on the Sussex coast. Her favourite place to walk was on Beachy Head and she would enjoy reading there. Disappearance On Wednesday 15 May 1980, Earl rang home from a phone box on the seafront at Eastbourne. She wanted to tell her mother that she would see her on the Friday. When Earl failed to arrive on the Friday, her parents were not overly concerned. They were simply worried that she had not phoned them to tell them that she had changed her plans. She always notified them when she did. The next day, 18 May, Jessie's mother Valerie caught the train to Eastbourne to find out what had happened. Upon opening the door to Jessie's bedsit in Upperton Gardens, she immediately felt there was something wrong. There were dirty dishes on the table, a book and Jessie's reading glasses on the floor, and her purse on the bed. It appeared that the room had been abandoned, as if she had briefly left for a short while but not returned. Friends said that they hadn't seen her since the Wednesday. There was nothing in Earl's diary which gave any indication of why she had gone missing. Earl was 22 at the time. Police sniffer dogs searched the area and Jessie's bedsit was searched for clues, while missing person posters were distributed. After three weeks, Sussex police flew a helicopter over the South Downs, using a thermal scanner in the hope of finding something. After police found no trace of her, the investigation was scaled down. Jessie's parents continued to campaign and made appearances on the BBC's Wogan chat show and on Crimewatch to appeal for information. Discovery of body Earl's body was located in 1989. An 8-year-old girl had been flying a kite on Beachy Head before losing control in the wind. The kite got caught in an overgrown thicket, and when the child's father waded into the shrubland to retrieve it, he discovered a skeleton, which was Earl's remains. The only piece of clothing police found was a bra, tied around Earl's wrists. Apart from this, she was found naked. Her silver ring, watch, leather bag and her asthma inhaler were missing. Forensics were only able to establish that Earl had died at the scene. Officers cleared an area of twenty square yards around where she had been found, and this was then excavated and the soil minutely examined for evidence. A volunteer team of metal detectors led by an archaeologist searched the cliffs and found items such as jewellery and belt buckles, although they didn't help the investigation. Four months after the discovery of the body, a coroner recorded an open verdict at the inquest. The reason cited for the open verdict was that there was a lack of evidence that might have proved a cause of death. 2000 murder inquiry In 2000, the police launched a new murder inquiry. The Detective Chief Inspector leading the investigation commented "We believe that Jessie was murdered." However, because Earl's death was never officially classed as a murder, the key forensic evidence had been destroyed by police in 1997. This included Earl's bra and the earth that Earl had been found on, which had been stored after she was found. This meant that when the murder inquiry was opened in the year 2000, the evidence could not be analysed using modern forensic techniques. The lead investigator of the 2000 inquiry, DCI Steve Dennis, has stated that this was a significant mistake. Peter Tobin as a suspect A new suspect emerged in the late 2000s, serial killer and sex offender Peter Tobin. Tobin had killed 23-year-old Angelika Kluk in Glasgow in 2006, but was subsequently linked to two missing persons cases from 1991 after police suspected he was responsible for numerous other murders. The two young women's bodies were later found buried at his former home in Margate. Police set up Operation Anagram after his 2006 murder, with the aim of tracing Tobin's past movements and investigating whether he could be linked to unsolved murders. The case of Jessie Earl was one of the main cases that Operation Anagram reinvestigated. Tobin had lived in the area at the time of her murder, and Earl fitted in with the kind of victims Tobin attacked. Earl was known to have been nervous about a man she had met while previously out walking, and had reportedly described meeting a middle-aged Scottish man near the same spot her body was found. Tobin could also be specifically placed in Eastbourne at the time, as he was discovered to have had links to Holy Trinity Church in Eastbourne, and it is believed he worked as a handyman at the church as a Scottish man named Peter was known to be working there in 1980. Shortly after the discovery of Earl's body became public knowledge in 1989, Tobin hurriedly moved with his wife and child a great distance to Bathgate, Scotland, without prior informing his wife of these plans, which suggested he had an underlying reason to suddenly leave the area. This was notably similar to how Tobin had suddenly moved a great distance from Bathgate to Margate in 1991, shortly after he had murdered 15-year-old Vicky Hamilton in Bathgate, which showed how Tobin had a habit of moving across the country to avoid being detected for crimes he had committed. This was further suggested to be the case in Earl's murder as Tobin was found to have checked into a hospital in Glasgow a few days after she was killed, which again fitted his habit of moving as far away as possible after committing a murder. When Earl was found, her bra had also been used to tie her hands, and Tobin was known to have tied Vicky Hamilton's hands with her bra when he murdered her. As part of Operation Anagram, police took DNA samples from Jessie's parents and from Jessie's clothing, hoping to find a match with Tobin's clothes or possessions. However, police were unable to find enough evidence to charge Tobin with Earl's murder. A DNA link between Tobin and Earl's body could not be established through modern forensic techniques due to the key forensic evidence being destroyed by police in 1997. Louise Kay links Apparently linked to Earl's murder and a similar case Operation Anagram investigated was the disappearance of 18-year-old Louise Kay from the same town of Eastbourne in 1988, a case which bore notable similarities to Earl's murder. Not only had both young women last been seen in Eastbourne, but Kay's last known location was also at Beachy Head, where Earl's remains would be found only a year later. Kay had been out with friends the evening she disappeared and ended the night by dropping her friend off by car at her house in Eastbourne, saying she was going to spend the night sleeping in her car on Beachy Head as she often did. Earl's body was found on Beachy Head less than a year later. Kay has never been found. As with Earl, Operation Anagram established that Tobin was also living in the area at the time of Kay's disappearance, and it was discovered that he was working in a hotel in Eastbourne. Kay's distinctive gold Ford Fiesta with a white door that she was driving that night disappeared with her and has never been found, and Anagram established that Tobin was selling a small hand-painted car after Kay's disappearance. Kay had also met an unknown Scottish man in Eastbourne a few days before she vanished, who had given her money to buy petrol. Some of Tobin's former homes in Brighton were searched in 2010 in the belief that Kay may have been buried there, although she wasn't found. In 2018, investigative reporter Mark Williams-Thomas released a documentary as part of his The Investigator: A British Crime Story series, in which he asserted that the cases of Earl and Kay were likely linked and that both women were victims of Tobin. In criminologist David Wilson's 2012 episode of Killers Behind Bars: The Untold Story that centred on Tobin's involvement in Earl's murder, Kay was also briefly brought up. The lead DSI of Operation Anagram, DSI David Swindle, told Williams-Thomas in the 2018 The Investigator documentary that he believes Tobin murdered Kay. Subsequent developments In 2018, Sussex Police stated that they had "no evidence implicating Tobin or any other named or known individual" in Earl's murder. By this point they had no open lines of enquiry, but they were reviewing the case every two years. Earl's parents asked the Attorney General to open a new inquest in June 2020. They stated that her body had been found naked and that they had "always known it was murder." In November 2020, the Solicitor General gave permission to appeal the verdict for a fresh inquest. The Rt Hon Michael Ellis QC MP said "I have concluded the initial investigation was insufficient and further lines of inquiry should have been pursued. It is in the interest of justice the application for a new inquest be heard by the High Court." In December 2021, the request for a new inquest was approved by the High Court. Earl's parents believe that Peter Tobin could be responsible for her murder. Television Jessie Earl's death is investigated in a 2012 episode of criminologist David Wilson's Killers Behind Bars: The Untold Story. Wilson concluded that Tobin was likely responsible for Earl's murder. Earl's case also features as part of a 2018 episode of investigative journalist Mark Williams-Thomas's documentary series The Investigator: A British Crime Story. Williams-Thomas concluded that Earl's death could be linked to Tobin and that it was linked to the disappearance of Louise Kay from Eastbourne in 1988. See also Murder of Patsy Morris List of solved missing person cases John Bodkin Adams, another serial killer who was living in Eastbourne at the time Sources References External links 1980 in England 1980 murders in the United Kingdom 1980s missing person cases May 1980 events in the United Kingdom May 1980 crimes 20th century in East Sussex Deaths by person in England Female murder victims Formerly missing people History of Eastbourne Missing person cases in England People educated at East Sussex College Unsolved murders in England Violence against women in England

64400326

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Shukri%20Abdi

Death of Shukri Abdi

Shukri Yahye-Abdi drowned in the River Irwell, England, on 27 June 2019. Aged 12, she was a refugee from Somalia who had lived in a refugee camp in Kenya until moving to England in 2017. She was with pupils from her school, Broad Oak High School, at the time of her death. Subsequent to her death, police reported there were no suspicious circumstances; however, Abdi's mother reported conflicting information and said that she had been complaining to her daughter's school about incidents of bullying for over a year. An inquest initiated in 2019 and completed in December 2020 concluded that Abdi's death was an accident. Broad Oak High School launched an internal investigation into the subject of bullying. Abdi's family have been dissatisfied by responses by the police and the school. An investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) over whether they were poorly treated for racially motivated reasons did not find evidence that they were. In January 2021, the family launched a civil suit against police. Protests and a petition for a criminal investigation began with the Justice4Shukri campaign in July 2019, the petition garnering a million signatures by June 2020. Black Lives Matter protests across the United Kingdom marked the first anniversary of Abdi's death. Background Shukri Yahye-Abdi's family originate from Somalia. They lived in a refugee camp in Kenya from 2000 to 2017. The family moved to Bury under the UK's vulnerable person's resettlement scheme in January 2017. They had to be vetted by the United Nations to be accepted to the scheme. Initial reports by media outlets including The Telegraph and Manchester Evening News incorrectly claimed that Abdi arrived in the UK around 2018. Abdi had four younger siblings. She attended Broad Oak High School. Death Shukri Abdi drowned in the River Irwell on 27 June. Two individuals reportedly noticed the incident and entered the river to attempt to rescue Abdi. Police were called to the River Irwell at 8 p.m. An underwater search team recovered Abdi's body shortly before midnight. Her mother, who had begun searching for her at 4 p.m., was informed of her death at 1 a.m. Reports at the time in The Telegraph and The Times stated that Abdi was playing with two friends at the time, despite her mother believing the girls to have not been friends of hers. Two children at the scene had seen Abdi disappear in the river. Her mother reported that Abdi was being bullied in the weeks prior to her death. Over the past year, she had made complaints to her daughter's school, which she believed the school did not take seriously. The Guardian reported that there were other accounts of bullying being poorly dealt with by the school. An inquest found that one child told her carer that she threatened to kill Abdi, in a "laughing and joking manner", if she didn't enter the water. Another child reported that the same child had been bullying Abdi earlier that day. A carer of one of the children present reported that Abdi came to their house for dinner, along with another child. The children all left together afterwards. They may have attempted to shoplift. The family believed Abdi to have been wearing "full Islamic dress" at the time of her death, according to HuffPost. Abdi's mother expressed initial confusion over how Abdi had ended up in the river. Her uncle reported that as she couldn't swim, she "wouldn't even go near the edge" of bodies of water, calling the incident "out of character". Investigations In June 2019, the Greater Manchester Police reported that the event was a "tragic incident". Detective Inspector Andrew Naismith said that "We have a team of detectives working on this, but there are not believed to be any suspicious circumstances at this time." The investigation was reportedly still active in August, according to HuffPost. An inquest was raised by Rochdale Coroner's Court and opened on 9 July 2019. It heard that CCTV had been recovered of Abdi with some other children together earlier in the evening, but none from the river itself or the path that leads to it. Four children were interviewed in connection with the death, their parents present for the interview. In July 2019, the inquest was adjourned to December 2019. Critical of the police response, her mother said in July (via a translator) that "If the rights we came to the country for exist, I want something done". A lawyer for the family said that because the police's statements were published within hours of Abdi's death, insufficient time had been dedicated to the investigation. The family reported that they were treated improperly by police because of their race. An internal investigation by Broad Oak High School concluded in August 2019. Abdi's family were dissatisfied by the report, believing it to be insufficiently detailed. They criticised the manner in which they were treated when going to the police station to receive the report. In August 2019, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) launched an investigation into police conduct following Abdi's death, after a complaint in July. The investigation was to determine if the family's ethnicity was a factor in how they were treated by police. The inquest resumed in February 2020. It did not consider bullying accusations. It was adjourned around the end of the month. The inquest resumed in November 2020, with a verdict on 4 December 2020 that the death was an accident. The coroner said there was no evidence of racist bullying by other children and recommended a commendation for two of the children who tried to save Abdi’s life. The IOPC's report, published when the inquest concluded, found that there was not evidence that the police's response was racially motivated, and the complaints against the police were not upheld. In January 2021, Abdi's family began civil action against the police. Public reaction Protests later developed after the police's and school's initial response to Abdi's death. The campaign Justice4Shukri was founded. A petition calling for a criminal investigation to be launched had garnered either 32,000 signatures by July, according to the Bury Times, or 5,000 signatures by August 2019, according to HuffPost. It had garnered 100,000 signatures by May 2020. By mid-June, this number had risen to 850,000, reaching one million by the end of the month. A separate petition about both Abdi's death and that of Christopher Kapessa reached 5,000 signatures by March 2020. In June 2020, for the first anniversary of Abdi's death, eight protests in association with Black Lives Matter took place in the UK, locations including Birmingham, Cardiff, Manchester, London and Sheffield. Additional protests occurred in Los Angeles and Toronto. The BBC reported that thousands of people attended the protests. Justice4Shukri member Maz Saleem commented that "People are angry that a young black refugee child was neglected by the very institutions that were there to protect her". He believed that "systemic and institutional racism played a huge role" in the incidents. References Further reading 2019 deaths Child deaths Death of women Deaths by drowning Deaths by person in England

64443582

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Christopher%20Kapessa

Death of Christopher Kapessa

Christopher Kapessa (6 January 2006 – 1 July 2019) was a Welsh boy who died at the age of 13 in the River Cynon on 1 July 2019. According to Kapessa's family and their representatives, the police investigation into the incident lasted around two days, the event declared "an accident" within 24 hours. A fortnight later, the anti-racist charity The Monitoring Group submitted a complaint to South Wales Police on behalf of Kapessa's mother Alina Joseph, alleging racial discrimination in the police response. In February 2020, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) reported that there was "sufficient evidence" but not "public interest" for a manslaughter case against a child suspected to have pushed Kapessa into the river. Joseph has criticised the South Wales Police as "institutionally racist". The local community in Wales and internet crowdfunding have provided money to the family, which supports their legal fees. In June 2020, the subject received attention as part of the Black Lives Matter movement. Background According to The Times, Kapessa's mother Alina Joseph was born in the Congo and moved to the UK in the 1990s. Born on 16 January 2006, Christopher Kapessa had six siblings and was raised by his single mother, who worked as a bus driver. Kapessa was born in London, with the family moving to Wales in 2011. Joseph reported that the family had been called "the only blacks in the village" in Wales and were subject to racist bullying and harassment, one incident leaving Christopher alone "in a pool of his own blood". Her lawyer reported that her home had been vandalised with graffiti. Christopher Kapessa attended Mountain Ash Comprehensive School. He was a member of the local Mountain Ash junior football team and also enjoyed dancing. In 2018, he and his siblings survived a fire at their house in Hirwaun, Wales. Death Aged 13, Christopher Kapessa died on 1 July 2019 in the River Cynon in Fernhill, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. Kapessa was unable to swim. On the day of his death, Kapessa had told Joseph he was going to play football with his friends after school. Later evidence, according to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), made it clear that Kapessa was pushed into the river in an action that was "not in an effort to harm someone". The CPS said that the suspect was aged 14 at the time of the incident, had a "good school record" and had never previously come to the attention of the police. The suspect has been reported to be white and male. Alina Joseph was informed that he had "jumped off a bridge" around 5p.m. by a sports coach. Emergency services were notified of the incident around 5:40p.m. A South Wales Police search team, firefighters, paramedics and a helicopter were dispatched; Kapessa's body was recovered from the river and he was pronounced dead at the scene. Police investigations According to the director of the anti-racist charity The Monitoring Group, police ruled the incident "an accident" within 24 hours. The family claimed that the investigation had stopped around a day after the incident was declared an accident, by which time four of the 14 people present at the scene had been contacted by police. Joseph reported that on multiple occasions, police presented her with glasses that did not belong to her son and tried to convince her that they did. On 17 July 2019, The Monitoring Group filed a complaint to South Wales Police on behalf of Joseph, alleging racial discrimination in the police's treatment of the incident. Joseph later said that the police were "insensitive" and had been "unable to answer many of the most basic of our questions". Joseph was also in contact with Race Alliance Wales, who urged a "full investigation" into both the death of Kapessa and the police conduct in response to the incident. It was reported on 26 July 2019 that, according to Hilary Brown of Race Alliance Wales, the investigation was pursuing possible manslaughter. Chief superintendent Dorian Lloyd said that the investigation had now been passed to "the major crime investigation team". A teenage boy was reported to be in cooperation with the police over their inquiries. The police said that a family liaison officer was in contact with Kapessa's family. By February 2020, the team had taken 170 statements and conducted 54 child interviews. In February 2020, the Crown Prosecution Service commented that there was "sufficient evidence" for a manslaughter prosecution case. However, they reported that no such case would go ahead as there was not "public interest" for it. The family's lawyer called the response "disappointing" but said that "we are not looking for retribution". Joseph criticised the response and called the South Wales Police "institutionally racist". Joseph has taken legal action against the Director of Public Prosecutions for the failure to prosecute the boy who allegedly pushed Christopher Kapessa into the river. Her application for judicial review was heard in court on 13 January 2022. Judgment will be given at later date. Public reaction In July 2019, the local community raised in excess of £9,000 to go to Kapessa's family across various fundraisers, according to WalesOnline. By February 2020, Kapessa's family had launched a crowdfunding campaign to pay for their legal fees. A petition calling for further investigation into the cases of Kapessa's death and the death of Shukri Abdi had reached 5,000 signatures by March 2020. Organisations who have expressed concern over the police handling of case include Racism Alliance Wales, Cardiff Stand Up To Racism, Women Connect First and Black Association of Women Stepping Out. In June 2020, campaigners in the Black Lives Matter movement compared the police handling of the case to that of the murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993. Kapessa's mother said that members of the movement had made her feel "like you have the world behind you". References Further reading Deaths in Wales 2006 births 2019 deaths 2019 in Wales July 2019 events in the United Kingdom Deaths by drowning History of Rhondda Cynon Taf Immigration to Wales Deaths by person in the United Kingdom Child deaths

64478922

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Rey%20Rivera

Death of Rey Rivera

On May 24, 2006, the body of Rey Rivera was found inside the historic Belvedere Hotel in the Mount Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland. Although the event was ruled a probable suicide by the Baltimore Police Department, the circumstances of Rivera's death are mysterious and disputed. Background Rey Omar Rivera was born on June 10, 1973, to Angel and Maria Rivera. At the time of his disappearance, Rivera was a 32-year-old finance writer for The Oxford Club as a video contractor. Rivera and his wife Allison had relocated from California to Baltimore to work for his longtime friend Porter Stansberry as a writer and videographer for Stansberry's investment company, Stansberry & Associates Investment Research, a subsidiary of Agora Publishing. Rivera had stopped working for the company six months prior to his death in May 2006, but according to Stansberry, did freelance work for another subsidiary of Agora Publishing. Disappearance Rivera went missing from his residence on May 16, 2006, after receiving a phone call from the Agora Publishing switchboard, according to a guest staying at the Rivera home at the time. After several days of searching for clues on Rivera's whereabouts, his wife's parents found his car located in a parking lot off of Saint Paul Street in Mount Vernon near his workplace. Rivera's coworkers went to the top of a parking structure near where the car was discovered, and noticed a hole in the roof of the south wing of the Belvedere Hotel. Police soon discovered Rivera's partially decomposed body inside the conference room under the roof's hole. Investigation As police began to analyze the case, numerous aspects seemed odd about Rivera jumping off the main roof of the Belvedere Hotel. Partly due to the hotel's mansard roof, there was a considerable horizontal distance between the hotel tower and the location of the hole in the lower roof. The vertical fall of approximately 177 feet (building height 188 ft = 57 metres) would have taken approximately 3.3 seconds. This suggests if he did come from the roof, and travelled a horizontal distance of 43 feet (13 metres) before impact, he would have had to have a horizontal speed of 10 miles per hour which is between a fast jog and a sprint for an average fit male wearing sports shoes. Rey was wearing flip flops or barefoot and would have had a maximum run up of just over 15 feet or 5 metres (2.5 seconds). An additional theory is that Rivera may have jumped from a ledge several floors below the roof, but it would have been difficult for Rivera to access the ledge from the privately owned condominiums and offices that had windows onto the ledge. Rivera's eyeglasses and phone were found relatively intact on the lower roof near the hole. Because circumstances surrounding the incident are unclear, the medical examiner marked Rivera's manner of death as "undetermined". According to Stansberry's publicist, "There was no gag order or direction given to employees to not speak to the press, law enforcement or any other party." After searching the house for evidence, Allison found a note behind Rivera's computer. The confusing note included the names of prominent figures in Hollywood, movie titles, Freemasonry quotations, and additional ramblings. The Federal Bureau of Investigation analyzed the note and ruled it not to be suicidal in nature. Police would soon step back from their investigation into the case after ruling Rivera's death as a probable suicide. Media Rivera's death was featured in the first episode of the Netflix reboot of Unsolved Mysteries in July 2020. Miryam Moya, a forensic expert in Europe, conducted an investigation into the case, using the best tecnology applied to science. This investigation with surprising results was published in her book: REY RIVERA, SUICIDE OR HOMICIDE?: There is only one truth and science holds the key. See also List of solved missing person cases List of unsolved deaths References Footnotes Citations Rivera, Rey Rivera, Rey 2006 controversies in the United States Rivera, Rey 2006 in Maryland Rivera, Rey Conspiracy theories in the United States Rivera, Rey Rivera, Rey Rivera, Rey May 2006 events in the United States Rivera, Rey Rivera, Rey

64593929

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Darren%20Ng%20Wei%20Jie

Death of Darren Ng Wei Jie

On 30 October 2010, 19-year-old Darren Ng Wei Jie (黄伟杰; huáng wěijié), a Singaporean student from Republic Polytechnic, was slashed by 12 youths from a rival gang after a staring incident between one of Ng's friends and one of these youths attacking him. Ng suffered from 28 knife wounds and died in Changi General Hospital five hours after the incident. The case was classified as murder, and the police arrested all the suspects. Six of them were charged with murder, but all except one were sentenced to serve lengthy jail terms with caning for culpable homicide (the sixth was instead found guilty of rioting), while the others were sentenced to varied jail terms and caning for rioting. The crime The fatal gang fight On 30 October 2010, a previous conflict between the leaders of two rival gangs, 21-year-old Dickson Ng Teck Seng of Fong Hong San (Phoenix Hill) and 18-year-old Stilwell Ong Keat Pin (王吉宾；wáng jíbīn) of Salakau (or gang 369), led to the two deciding to meet at Downtown East for a 1-on-1 fight. Ong brought along 11 other youths to meet up with Dickson Ng and armed themselves with knives and other weapons; however, the gang leader did not show up. Instead, a few of Dickson Ng's fellow gang members showed up. One of them was 19-year-old student Darren Ng Wei Jie (unrelated to Dickson Ng), a second-year industrial and operations management student from Republic Polytechnic. One of them had a tense conversation with Ong, and somehow, at some point, one of Ng's friends was involved in a staring incident with one of Ong's friends. This escalated the situation when Ong brandished a chilli sauce bottle but accidentally dropped it. Ng perceived it as a hostile move and whipped out a baton for self-defence. It only made matters worse and Ong and his gang, out of agitation, made their attack on Ng and his friends. Outnumbered, Ng and his friends fled the scene and Ong's gang gave chase, passing by many witnesses and some crowded shops in Downtown East Mall. One of the youths among those running away was seen falling down outside Popeyes, a fast food restaurant, but another helped him up and continued to run. After running some distance, Ng accidentally crashed into a glass door outside Sakura International Buffet Restaurant and before he could recover, Ong's gang caught up and together, they used screwdrivers, choppers and knives to callously slash and hack at Ng, right in front of many witnesses (including some young children), who were horrified at the violence presented in front of them. After they ended their attack, the gang left, leaving Ng in a pool of blood outside Sakura, with a total of 28 slash wounds on his body, mostly at his left limbs and below his right rib cage. One of Ng's friends returned to tend his injured friend while an ambulance was contacted; Ng was soon brought to Changi General Hospital for immediate treatment, accompanied by his friend. Five hours after the incident, Darren Ng, the only son of his family and the youngest of two children, was pronounced dead at about 10:55 pm on the night of 30 October 2010. The cause of Ng's death was a fatal stab wound to his neck, which caused massive bleeding and thus killed him. Funeral of Darren Ng: Reactions to Darren Ng's death Given the fact that the incident occurred in a Saturday evening, in front of a large crowd consisting of people of all ages, the feelings of the public had run high and the pro-death penalty advocates voiced out for the hanging of the main culprits for their part in the murder of the young student. This fact had also reinforced the blatant disregard the offenders had for the law. The government had also stepped in to implement guidance programmes to reach out for those at-risk young people and teenagers who were vulnerable to joining gangs. The violence by the gang killing also sent ripples among the emotions of the public. On 3 November 2010, Darren Ng's funeral was held. It was attended by hundreds of family members and friends, which included Ng's parents and elder sister. In an article reporting Ng's funeral and memorial service, Ng was described as a "cheerful" young man with "a heart of gold" by those who know him. It was reported that during his secondary school years, there would be weekly phone calls made by Ng's teachers to his parents, indicating Ng as a rebellious student. Ng's father, Francis Ng, however, said that when his son was dismissed from the polytechnic three weeks prior to his death, Ng wrote an appeal letter by himself; knowing this, the bereaved father knew that his son has grown up and wanted to quit his rebellious ways. He said at the memorial service that his son died because of his "love for his friends". Darren Ng's elder sister, Debbie, described her brother as a "little older brother" to her, saying that although he always made his family worry about him, they knew that he dearly loved them. She said, "Jie Jie (a Chinese term for "elder sister") misses you". Ng's then girlfriend said that her boyfriend, whom she dated for seven months prior to his death, always talk about his friends and family, and a "joker" who would always make those around him laugh. One of Ng's childhood friends said of his friend as one who always wanted "the best for his friends". In addition, Ng's friends from the secret society gang which Ng associated with also attended the funeral. When seeing reporters at the scene, some of them turned aggressive and confronted them for not giving any peace to Ng's bereaved family, threatening them with fists, covering their cameras or raising their voices, which disrupted the originally peaceful and quiet funeral. In 2011, Marvin Ng (unrelated to Darren Ng or Dickson Ng), a childhood friend and next-door neighbour of Darren Ng, revealed in an interview that he knew Ng since five years old and studied in the same primary school (Rosyth School) as him. Marvin stated that at the time of Ng's death, he was in preparation for his GCE A-levels, which was a week away. He said that he was sad to hear that Ng died from the grievous assault at Downtown East and when he attended Ng's funeral, he could not bring himself to continue to study for his national exams. However, the then-19-year-old Millennia Institute student said that despite his grief, he was grateful for his family and Ng's parents, who supported him throughout the tragic period and his exam period and finally, he attained three "A"s for his A-level results. Arrests and charges After the incident, the police first arrested four of the youths involved; one of them resisted arrest and while making his escape, he accidentally suffered from a head injury and had to be hospitalised. Three of these arrested youths—Tang Jia Min, 21; Ho Wui Ming (何为民；hé weìmín), 20; and Chen Wei Zhen (陈伟振；chén weǐzhèn), 19—were charged with murder. The fourth youth who resisted arrest and was hospitalised, 18-year-old Edward Tay Wei Loong (郑伟龙；zhèng weǐlóng), was placed under arrest in the hospital and charged with murder. The other eight youths were also eventually arrested and charged—two with murder and six with rioting—for their part in the attack on Darren Ng. Stilwell Ong was one of those two people facing the murder charge, the other was 16-year-old Louis Tong Qing Yao (董清耀；dǒng qīngyào), a bespectacled secondary school student who also faced charges of loanshark harassment. Tang Jia Min, one of those youths charged with murder, eventually had his charge reduced to rioting, while the other five accused of murder, identified to be the main attackers of Ng, still had their charges of murder against them. As the offence of murder under Singapore law warrants a mandatory death sentence, if they were found guilty, these people, except for 16-year-old Louis Tong, will be sentenced to death. Should he be found guilty and convicted of murder, Louis Tong will instead be sentenced to life imprisonment, since he was under 18 years old at the time of the crime and thus he cannot be hanged (under Singapore law, offenders convicted of murder, drug trafficking or other capital offences will not be sentenced to death if they were under 18 years old at the time of the offences. Instead, they would be sentenced to life imprisonment or indefinite detention). Sentences of those charged with rioting The first gang member to be sentenced was 19-year-old Jason Chew Wei Beng. He was brought to court nearly a year and a half after the incident, where he pleaded guilty to rioting, and another offence of causing hurt to a 20-year-old man at Bishan Bus Interchange in April 2010. On 7 March 2012, Chew was sentenced to 4 years' imprisonment, and given 6 strokes of the cane. Two months later, Chew's fellow gang member Puay De Feng was sentenced to a total of 5 years' imprisonment after pleading guilty to rioting and an unrelated crime of voluntarily causing hurt to a Korean national named Yoon Sang-jun at St James Power Station, in which his sentences are ordered to run consecutively (4 years and 9 months for rioting and 3 months for voluntarily causing hurt). Puay, who was 19 at the time of the Downtown East incident, was also given 6 strokes of the cane. On 19 July 2012, four more youths were convicted of rioting and sentenced on the same date. Tang Jia Min, who initially faced a murder charge like the five main culprits, received the heaviest sentence of 6 years and 3 months' imprisonment and 6 strokes of the cane for playing a more instrumental role in the crime. Nineteen-year-old Ho Wei Quan was sentenced to 5 years' imprisonment and 6 strokes of the cane. Twenty-two-year-old Lewis Wee Jun Jie was sentenced to 4 years and 10 months' imprisonment and 6 strokes of the cane. Twenty-year-old Chong Rui Hong received the lightest sentence out of the four—4 years' imprisonment and 3 strokes of the cane. On 24 September 2012, the seventh youth Ng Wei Lun (unrelated to Darren Ng, Marvin Ng or Dickson Ng), aged 20, was sentenced to 3 years and 3 months' imprisonment and 3 strokes of the cane, a sentence comparatively lighter than that of Chong Rui Hong. Ng Wei Lun was the last gang member to be dealt with after all his friends, as his date of sentencing was more than two weeks after the sentencing of the five main culprits for their major roles in the death of Darren Ng Wei Jie. The trial of the five main culprits Eventually, on 30 July 2012, the five youths—Stilwell Ong Keat Pin, Chen Wei Zhen, Ho Wui Ming, Louis Tong Qing Yao, and Edward Tay Wei Loong—saw their charges reduced to a lesser charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, which meant that they would not face the death sentence, but either life imprisonment or up to 20 years in jail with caning. All five youths, who were represented by veteran lawyer Subhas Anandan, pleaded guilty to the reduced charges as they stood trial before Justice Tay Yong Kwang of the High Court of Singapore. Additionally, Tong admitted to a few charges of loanshark harassment and Ho also submitted a plea of guilty to two unrelated charges of theft and mischief. The mitigation plea and sentencing was postponed due to Subhas having to go on medical leave in midst of the closing submissions due to poor health. In their closing submissions, the prosecution had urged for a sentence of at least 15 years' imprisonment and 12 strokes of the cane for Ong, who was not the oldest but the leader of the gang and mastermind of the attack on Darren Ng. The prosecution also asked for a sentence of between 12 and 15 years' imprisonment and 10 strokes of the cane each for the other four. In mitigation, Subhas Anandan, who returned from his sick leave, argued that the courts should show some leniency to the boys in view of their young age and give them a chance of rehabilitation. He acknowledged that the boys deserved whatever consequences they have to face for such a heinous and violent act, given that a life had been lost as a result. However, he argued that the tragedy will only be augmented if young offenders like the five young defendants were being sentenced to long periods of incarceration behind bars, which will also destroy their lives like how Ng's life had been destroyed by the boys themselves, and doing so will not be able to bring back the life that has already been lost. On 8 September 2012, nearly two years after the untimely death of 19-year-old Darren Ng, Stilwell Ong, who used a chopper to slash the victim, was sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment and 12 strokes of the cane, the heaviest sentence meted out among the five. Ho Wui Ming, who used a screwdriver to cause hurt to Ng, was sentenced to a total of 11 years and 3 months' imprisonment with 10 strokes of the cane. Both Chen Wei Zhen and Edward Tay each received a sentence of 10 years' imprisonment and 10 strokes of the cane for using a fruit knife and chopper, respectively. As for Louis Tong, who was armed with a fruit knife at the time of the attack, he was sentenced to 8 years' imprisonment and 11 strokes of the cane for the crimes he committed. During sentencing, Justice Tay reportedly said that it was as heartbreaking for the court as it must have been for the parents watching the proceedings. He said in court as he passed the sentences on the five youths, "I can only implore especially on behalf of all parents, young persons in secret societies and street gangs to open their eyes to the tragic truth that violence begets violence and vicious acts only breed more vicious reactions." The five youths decided to not appeal against their sentences. Aftermath Fates of Darren Ng's family and friends Slowly, the struggle and pain of losing their son and brother began to heal as time passed by. Ng's father Francis Ng (aged 53 in 2014) and mother Joyce Tan (aged 51 in 2014), began to slowly open up to Ng's friends from the gang, with whom they were originally angry at and partially blamed for their son's death. After they opened up and shared their grief, they began to slowly understand Ng's friends and stopped their judgemental attitude towards these delinquent youths. As for Ng's friends, they began to regard Ng's parents as their godparents, as to them, the couple gave them the parental attention they craved, and was willing to listen to their thoughts, which they did not share with even their own parents. After moving into a new apartment, Ng's family converted a room, originally meant for Ng before his untimely death, into an entertainment centre for Ng's friends to gather and enjoy some activities. They also occasionally give advice to, or bring these young people out for meals or a movie. Gradually, from seven of Ng's friends, the group eventually consisted of more than 30 troubled youths, including the friends of Ng's acquaintances. Some were from broken families, while others are from good families, but they got along very well. One of Ng's close friends, who asked not to be named, reportedly said, "They filled the need for us to be loved and be cared for. They are very generous and kind. Godpa even paid for a degree course for one of my friends." Ng's death also became a wake-up call for some of the youths especially, "It could have happened to me or any one of my friends," said another unnamed youth. "I saw how his family struggled with the crisis. Me and the other boys, we tried our best to be with Godma. She sees Darren in us. That really allowed the beginning of the healing process." Ng's mother, who slowly come to love the youths like how she loved her son and treat them as her own, additionally said that it is hard to not have expectations on these youths, for one instance, when some of them promised her to stop smoking, it was disheartening when they did not fulfill that promise and continue to smoke. Ng's father also reportedly hosted a golf tournament together with a friend to raise funds for the troubled youth; he stated that he had lost his son and did not want to let other parents losing theirs. An unnamed friend of Darren Ng, who happened to be one of those together with Ng prior to the attack and witnessed the attack, stated that the death of his best friend changed his life drastically, leading him to turn over a new leaf and work hard to live a normal life and support his family, whom he cherished and would spend more time with. He stated that till this day, he had not gotten over the death of Ng, and still kept photos of him in his phone. The friend expressed his wish to help Ng's family to cope with their grief and take care of them but he did not want them to feel sad as seeing them will remind them of what happened that day. Fates of Darren Ng's twelve killers As for the 12 youths who attacked Ng at Downtown East, one of these youths, Chong Rui Hong, whose 4-year imprisonment sentence was backdated to the time of his remand in November 2010, was released in July 2013 after serving at least two-thirds of his sentence (2 years and 8 months) with good behaviour. Chong, who was 18 at the time of the incident, and now working as a popcorn seller, told the newspaper The Sunday Times in a phone interview in February 2014 that he was determined to start his life afresh. The incident made him reflect on his past while in prison and he decided to turn over a new leaf and strive for a future he wanted for himself. Chong was also studying part-time and planning to retake his GCE O-levels and get into a polytechnic for a brighter future. Another of these youths, Ng Wei Lun, who grew up in a single-parent family with a few other siblings and joined the gang at age 14, stated that he felt remorse over the death of Darren Ng, regretting his decision to follow his gang into Downtown East that fateful day and making his single father disappointed in him. Ng, who spent 10 months in remand and was on bail when he was interviewed by the paper before he started to serve his prison sentence of 3 years and 3 months (which he received for rioting, along with 3 strokes of the cane), stated that seeing his lorry driver father (who had to work seven days a week to pay the legal fees of his son's lawyer Josephus Tan) coping with his foolish acts, he could feel the pain Darren Ng's parents felt at the loss of their son, which made him realising his father's suffering. He even tried to do some housework to lighten his father's burden while spending his last days of freedom before serving his sentence. Ng Wei Lun's then-18-year-old girlfriend noted her boyfriend's change in behaviour and him increasingly caring over his family. In early 2020, the mastermind of the attack and gang leader, Stilwell Ong, then 28 years old, once again had run afoul with the law, this time on a charge of cheating by impersonation, which he committed on 11 October 2019, when he allegedly impersonated someone else in order to have a car delivered to him. He also faced charges of traffic and drug-related offences. He is out on $10,000 bail as of March 2020. If convicted of cheating by impersonation, Ong will be sentenced to a term of imprisonment up to five years or a fine or both. Re-enactment The case of Darren Ng was re-enacted into a real-life crime documentary by Channel NewsAsia. The facts of the case was narrated by David Artlett. Subhas Anandan, the lawyer who represented the main five accused of the case, appeared on screen to be interviewed. The documentary was available on YouTube since 2019. Preferential treatment controversy of the Orchard Towers murder case The case of Darren Ng was recalled in a controversy that involved another murder case. The facts of the case were that on the fateful day of 2 July 2019, a group of seven people in their twenties were involved in an physical brawl with 31-year-old Satheesh Noel Gobidass at Orchard Towers, and Satheesh was killed during the fight. The group of seven people were all arrested and charged with murder. However, by November 2020, six of the members saw their murder charges reduced while the seventh and last member, 28-year-old Tan Sen Yang, was the sole attacker left shouldering the murder charge and was set to stand trial in the High Court of Singapore on a later date. Tan Sen Yang was said to be armed with a karambit knife and used it to stab at the victim's head and neck multiple times resulting in the man's death. The case was dubbed the "Orchard Towers murder" in local media. As for the other six members, one of them - 27-year-old Chan Jia Xing - who was investigated to be trying to stop the fight and was not involved in the fight and fully cooperated with the police after his arrest, was set free after he received a 12-month conditional warning for a lesser charge of consorting with a person carrying an offensive weapon in a public place, which meant no conviction or sentence, but if Chan ever re-offend within the next 12-month period, he would return to court. The rest of the five - Joel Tan Yun Sheng, Ang Da Yuan, Natalie Siow Yu Zhen, Loo Boon Chong and Tan Hong Sheng - were sentenced to jail terms between one month and four years and nine months for charges of consorting Tan Sen Yang, as well as rioting, assault, obstruction of justice and other unrelated offences; both Ang and Tan Hong Sheng were caned six and 12 strokes of the cane respectively. As a result of the reduction of the murder charges against all except Tan Sen Yang, two female netizens in social media made up and circulated posts containing allegations of preferential treatment in sentencing on account of race of alleged criminals, saying that minority people are given harsher sentences while the majority races escaped with lighter charges and penalties. The women were immediately arrested days after the controversy. In response to such allegations, the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) said such media posts have the "potential to disrupt racial harmony in Singapore, and cause irreversible divisions in our communities" and amount to contempt of court, in addition to refuting these allegatory claims. Three days after the arrest of the two women for the preferential treatment allegations, Minister of State for Home Affairs Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim called these claims baseless and irresponsible while in a Parliament session. He said everyone are entitled to fair and equal treatment under the law. Faishal told the House that where there are several suspects allegedly involved in the same capital case (like murder or kidnapping), all of them will face the same charge together initially, and these people will be detained in remand pending further investigations and after looking through the facts of the case, it will be decided whether to proceed with the capital charge or reduce it or withdraw it. Faishal said that the positions made against the people involved in the case would differ based on the evidence available and his/her role in the matter. To support his case, Faishal cited the 2010 murder of 19-year-old Darren Ng Wei Jie and the 12-member gang attack from 10 years ago, in which all the 12 gang members initially faced the murder charges before it ultimately ended into seven people convicted of rioting while the other five convicted of the most serious charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. Once again, before ending off, Faishal reiterated that everyone, regardless of race, religion, socio-economic status or educational achievements, are not subject to any preferential treatment by the criminal justice system of Singapore. In the aftermath of the controversy, Tan Sen Yang is still pending trial for murder as of August 2021. The two women who first started the controversy were also pending trial as of August 2021. See also Murder of Sulaiman bin Hashim Capital punishment in Singapore References 2010 deaths 2010 in Singapore 2010 crimes in Singapore Deaths by person in Singapore People murdered in Singapore Murder in Singapore 2010s murders in Singapore 2010 murders in Asia Gang-related killings in Singapore People convicted of culpable homicide People convicted of manslaughter Caning in Singapore

64621598

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Vikram%20Joshi

Death of Vikram Joshi

Vikram Joshi () was an Indian journalist who was shot by unknown assailants and he later died in the hospital. The incident caused widespread criticism of the Uttar Pradesh government among opposition parties as well as media. Joshi had filed a police complaint on 16 July 2020 against some people who were accused of harassing his niece. On 20 July 2020, while he was on his motorcycle with his daughters, aged 5 and 11, the assailants forcibly stopped his motorcycle and started beating him. Then, one of the suspects shot at his head from close range and the assailants fled the scene. The entire incident was caught in CCTV footage and created outrage across the country. Vikram Joshi succumbed to his injuries on 22 July 2020. 9 men have been arrested in connection with the incident and 1 policeman has been suspended. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced 10 lakh ex gratia for Vikram Joshi's family. Reactions Former Chief Ministers, Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati questioned the poor state of law and order in Uttar Pradesh. Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi raised questions about the safety of common people in "Jungle Raj". West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee took to social media to express her shock on media's voice being muzzled. Press Association and Indian Women's Press Corps condemned the killing and demanded probe into the incident as well as other similar incidents of attacks on journalists. References 2020 deaths Deaths by firearm in India Assassinated Indian journalists

64642101

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Angira%20Pasi

Death of Angira Pasi

On 23 May 2020, the dead body of 13-year-old girl Angira Pasi was found hanging from a tree in Devdaha, Nepal. The day before that, she was reportedly raped by 25-year-old Birendra Bhar, after which the local residents and ward member Amar Bahadur Chaudhary held a discussion and decided that Pasi was to be married to Bhar. After her death, the police initially refused to register the case; police only registered it after public outrage. The incident On 22 May 2020, 13-year-old Dalit girl Angira Pasi was reportedly raped by 25-year-old Birendra Bhar. Pasi's mother learned of the incident, and local residents and ward member Amar Bahadur Chaudhary held a discussion in which it was decided that Pasi was to be married to Bhar. Chaudhary later stated that he told the local residents that the marriage would be illegal, while the community members told the media that it was his idea that the two should marry. Bhar's mother refused to let Pasi enter her home and reportedly beat her. On 23 May 2020, Bhar took Pasi to a stream, where her dead body was found hanging from a tree in Devdaha, Rupandehi District, with "her shoes off her feet, her clothes torn, her hair dishevelled". The local residents believe that Pasi was murdered by Birendra Bhar's family. One resident noted that the tree was too tall for her to climb and hang herself, and "circumstantial evidence suggested other foul play". According to journalist Binod Pariyar, Bhar's family offered to suppress the case and prevent the involvement of police or human rights organisations. Pasi's family claimed that Bhar's family "beat her to death and framed the girl's suicide". Reaction Human Rights Watch called the Government of Nepal to investigate the case; they said "the government should ensure prompt and rigorous investigations by the police, free from political interference". Human rights watch group Nepal Monitor had recorded almost two dozen cases of caste-based violence and discrimination post-COVID-19 pandemic lock-down in Nepal. Angira Pasi's mother filed a complaint against Bhar's family. Initially, the Area Police Office refused to register the complaint on her behalf, claiming that it was a suicide. Bhar's family was only arrested after public outrage. According to NGO INSEC, there have been more than 187 rapes and 75 sexual abuses against girls in the first three months of Nepal's lockdown. In June 2020, Rupandehi District Court remanded Birendra Bhar, Akali Devi, and Bhar's aunt Shitali. See also Soti incident, which happened the same day Rape and murder of Nirmala Panta References External links (in Nepali) 2020 deaths Deaths by person in Nepal Murder in Nepal People murdered in Nepal Rape in Nepal Child sexual abuse in Nepal Violence against women in Nepal Dalit women People from Rupandehi District 2020 in Nepal 2010s murders in Nepal

64666213

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Belly%20Mujinga

Death of Belly Mujinga

The death of Belly Mujinga, a 47-year-old Congolese-born woman, occurred in Barnet, North London, United Kingdom on 5 April 2020 from COVID-19 related complications. Mujinga was selling tickets for Govia Thameslink Railway at London Victoria station when she and a coworker, Motolani Sunmola, neither of whom had PPE, were allegedly spat and coughed on by a 57-year-old man who claimed to have the virus at 11:22 a.m. on 21 March 2020. Mujinga was later taken to Barnet Hospital with COVID-19, put on a ventilator, and later died. According to a worker at the station, Mujinga had requested that she work in the enclosure due to her respiratory issues, but all were forced to work on the concourse without even a mask. Mujinga's death inspired a number of protests after her case was closed in May 2020 in the United Kingdom demanding justice, as well as better treatment of frontline workers, particularly black and minority workers. A petition garnered over 2 million signatures. These protests overlapped with the George Floyd protests and were joined by Mujinga's husband, Lusamba Katalay. Mujinga is considered by many to be a face of the Black Lives Matter movement in the UK. Background Belly Mujinga was born in Kinshasa, Zaire (now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo). She graduated from the University of Kinshasa with a degree in journalism. She worked for RTNC, the Congolese national broadcaster; she was the network's first woman sports reporter. Due to the unrest following the assassination of President Laurent-Désiré Kabila in 2001, she relocated to the UK for security reasons where she got a job at a post office in Edgware. She married Lusamba Katalay (whom she met at a church in Hackney) in 2011 and had a daughter. Mujinga had a rare form of sarcoidosis. Investigation and legal action The case began with Govia Thameslink Railway conducting an internal investigation in April 2020 before the police got involved as pushed by Mujinga's union TSSA, who supported Mujinga and Sunmola's claims. TSSA issued a press release describing the incident on 12 May, opening the case to the police. Police reviewed CCTV footage, which lacked details but indicated with "no doubt that something has happened there". However on 29 May, they announced following an interview with the man that a test had shown he did not have the virus, and that he had confessed to coughing but they could not prove it was deliberate, thus they would not do anything. Following a series of protests, the case was reopened on 5 June. After the British Transport Police reported no further evidence, the Crown Prosecution Service did not press charges. On 17 October 2020, a BBC Panorama documentary on Mujinga's case aired. Barrister Christopher Williams advised pursuing an inquest as an option for the family seeking justice and peace. Martin Forde QC agreed that there was "sufficient doubts and conflicts around the facts" to justify it. As of the anniversary of her death, the family's lawyer Lawrence Davies was seeking a private prosecution, but to no avail as the suspect remained anonymous. Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps told Davies he was awaiting a decision from Senior Coroner Andrew Walker to hold an inquest. In May 2021, Walker confirmed the inquest is set to be held, suggesting her death may have indeed been "unnatural". Emphasis has been placed on concerns regarding the provision of PPE and endangerment of an at-risk employee during a pandemic, especially in light of other employees at the station falling ill. In January 2022, the date for an inquest had still not been set, and a coroner apologised to Mujinga's family for the delay at a hearing. Funeral and memorial Mujinga's funeral took place on 29 April. Only 10 people, including her husband and daughter, could attend due to lockdown restrictions. A GoFundMe organised by TSSA to cover the funeral costs raised over £200,000. On the anniversary of her death, a vigil attended by Katalay was held outside Victoria station at 11:22 a.m. Vigils were also held outside other Govia Thameslink stations such as Bedford, Brighton, Harlington, East Croydon, and Tooting. References 2020 deaths Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in England George Floyd protests in the United Kingdom Ongoing legal cases Protests in the United Kingdom

64676825

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Sushant%20Singh%20Rajput

Death of Sushant Singh Rajput

On 14 June 2020, Indian actor Sushant Singh Rajput was found dead, hanging from the ceiling fan at his home in Bandra, Mumbai. The cause of death was ruled to have been suicide and the official postmortem reports concluded Rajput died of asphyxia due to hanging. The Mumbai Police launched an investigation into the death, which was the subject of widespread speculation and rumours. Timeline A week prior to his suicide, Rajput had searched on the Internet three subjects multiple times: Disha Salian, his former manager who had died about a week before him; news reports containing his own name; and information about a mental illness. On 13 June 2020, the night before his death, Rajput retired to his bedroom after dinner. At around 2 a.m. on Sunday, 14 June he made two phone calls, one to Bollywood actress Rhea Chakraborty and another to television actor Mahesh Shetty. Neither call was answered. Rajput then woke up early that morning. Some time after, he Googled information about "schizophrenia", "bipolar disorder" and "painless death". Two of Rajput's friends were living with him. In the morning of 14 June, he spoke to his sister over the telephone at around 9 a.m. and an hour later he had a glass of juice and his tablets. At around 11:30 a.m., his cook knocked several times on the door of his room, to confirm the menu for the day. He and Rajput's friends received no response. They then called a key-maker to open the door, following which they called Rajput's sister and the police. He was found hanging from the ceiling fan. No suicide note was recovered. The Indian Express reported that the Mumbai Police said the actor had shown symptoms of clinical depression and was consulting a psychiatrist. Times Now reported that medical papers and anti-depressant pills were found in his house. Investigation The Mumbai Police commenced an investigation, stating the death was being treated as a suicide. A team of three doctors conducted an autopsy and submitted their provisional postmortem report at Bandra Police Station. On 22 June, the Mumbai deputy commissioner of police said "The provisional cause of death is asphyxia due to hanging." The final postmortem report, received on 25 June, confirmed the cause of the death as asphyxia due to hanging and said it was a "clear case of suicide." The autopsy doctors placed the time of death at 10 to 12 hours before postmortem examination on 14 June at 11:30 p.m.—meaning between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. (Indian Standard Time). The report added that no foul play was found. On 27 July, Mumbai Police received the viscera report, which likewise ruled out any foul play. On 15 June, Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh stated the police would also probe the "professional rivalry" in the film industry as the cause of Rajput's depression. The police revealed Rajput was upset with being linked to the death of Disha Salian, his previous manager. Salian had died five days before him, and a case of accidental death was registered. She died after falling from the fourteenth floor of her building. On 3 August, Police Commissioner of Mumbai Param Bir Singh said investigators had found no link between the deaths of Rajput and Salian. Interrogation of three psychiatrists and one psychotherapist confirmed Rajput had consulted them and was on medication prescribed by them. The police also revealed that Rajput had initially tried to hang himself with the belt of a bathrobe, but it could not sustain his weight. Following this, he used a green kurta. His clothes were strewn over the floor of his bedroom; the police concluded they had fallen out when he had pulled the kurta from his cupboard. Due to a discrepancy between his height and the distance between his bed and the ceiling fan, the police concluded he had hanged himself in an inclined position. No sign of struggle was found. On 25 July, Rajput's father, K. K. Singh, filed an FIR at Patna, where he lives, against Rhea Chakraborty and six others, including her family members, for abetment of suicide. He also accused them of wrongful restraint, wrongful confinement, theft, criminal breach of trust, and cheating. He alleged in his complaint that Chakraborty cheated Rajput financially and mentally harassed him. On 28 July, India Today reported that Chakraborty had been booked in the case. In a petition filed at the Supreme Court, Chakraborty claimed she had no role in the actor's death and was falsely implicated by Rajput's father. She also sought transfer of the probe in the FIR to Mumbai, saying that there cannot be an impartial investigation in Bihar. Acting on the FIR filed in Patna, an investigative team was formed by Bihar Police and was sent to Mumbai to probe the case. Although the investigation continued only for a brief period as the case was later transferred to CBI. The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which investigates financial crimes, also registered a money laundering case over transactions worth 15 crores rupees based on the complaint registered by Rajput's father. Multiple reports stated that Sushant had hosted a party at his house on 13 June, the night before his death. This was denied by Mumbai Police and his house help, who was interrogated by Bihar Police. Mumbai Police initially reported that the CCTV in Rajput's house was not working, but on 3 August said they had assessed CCTV footage that ruled out any party at Rajput's Bandra apartment on 13 June. On 3 August, Mumbai's police commissioner said there was no misappropriation of funds from Rajput's bank accounts and no money had been transferred to Rhea Chakraborty's accounts. On 4 August, Mumbai Police appointed Grant Thornton as the financial forensic auditor in the case. During the investigation, reported Hindustan Times, the Mumbai Police revealed the actor's family had informally complained to the Mumbai Police in February 2020 about Rajput's life is in danger. On 6 August, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Indian national government's top investigating agency, re-registered the Patna Police FIR accusing Chakraborty and others of wrongdoing, thus taking over the case. On 19 August, the Supreme Court allowed the CBI to take control of the investigation and ordered the CBI to look into any future cases registered in relation to Rajput's death. On 21 August, Sudhir Gupta, head of the Department of Forensic Medicine at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi (AIIMS) and leader of a forensic medical team tasked by CBI for assistance, told the Press Trust of India, "We will look into the possibility of murder. However, all probable angles will be thoroughly examined." Gupta told Asian News International (ANI), "We will also examine other trace evidence preserved at the time of autopsy to differentiate between hanging and murder allegations." On 26 August, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), India's national drug law enforcement agency, registered an FIR against Rhea, her brother Showik, and three others. The ED had requested the NCB to join the investigation after its financial probe found that drugs were supplied to Rhea and Sushant. Specifically, the FIR invoked sections of India's Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS Act) dealing with cannabis. On 4 September, the NCB arrested Showik Chakraborty and Sushant Singh Rajput's house manager, charging them under provisions of the NDPS Act. The NCB arrested Rhea Chakraborty on 9 September for allegedly procuring drugs for Rajput; she was one of 20 persons arrested by the NCB in connection with the drugs angle being probed in the actor's death. On 6 October, Mumbai Sessions Court extended Chakraborty's judicial remand until 20 October, but a day later she was granted bail by the Bombay High Court. The high court rejected the NCB's theory that Chakraborty had harboured and financed Rajput's drug addiction, finding instead that she was not part of the chain of drug dealers involved in the case. "She has not forwarded the drugs allegedly procured by her to somebody else to earn monetary or other benefits," wrote Justice Sarang Kotwal. On 5 March, the NCB submitted a chargesheet against 33 persons including Chakraborty and her brother. On 28 May, Singh's flatmate Siddarth Pithani was arrested by NCB. On 3 October, Dr. Sudhir Gupta of AIIMS, leader of the CBI-designated forensic medical team, said, "Sushant death is a case of suicide. Murder completely ruled out." Gupta told ANI, "There were no injuries over the body other than hanging. There were no marks of struggle/scuffle in the body and clothes of the deceased." On 5 October, ANI reported that the AIIMS medical board had submitted its report to CBI confirming that Rajput died by suicide and ruling out the murder angle. On 15 October, the CBI said it "continues to investigate the death of Rajput. There are certain speculative reports in the media that the CBI has reached a conclusion. It may be reiterated that these reports are speculative and erroneous." Public reactions Rajput's death was generally perceived as being unexpected and shocking and sparked debates over mental health. Several prominent leaders and actors responded on social media. On Twitter, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Rajput "a bright young actor gone too soon". Former Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli too expressed their shock on Twitter. A few hours after Rajput's death, Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam claimed that Rajput had signed seven films after his 2019 box office hit Chhichhore and had lost them all within a span of six months. On 15 June, Maharashtra Cyber Police tweeted that some pictures of Rajput being circulated online were "disturbing and in bad taste", warning people that posting such pictures on social media would invite legal action. , at least three fans had reportedly committed copycat suicide, including a 30-year-old television actor and a 13-year-old girl using the same method as Rajput. Following allegations that Rhea Chakraborty was responsible for his death, some Bhojpuri songs, which abused and threatened her, became popular in his home state of Bihar. Rajput's sister Shweta Singh Kirti initiated a 'Global Prayers for SSR' campaign to urge all to collectively pray for the departed soul on 15 August at 10:00 am local time. Along with family members and fans, many celebrities include Kriti Sanon, Ankita Lokhande and Ekta Kapoor also joined in this movement. During the course of ongoing investigations, the case received widespread and continuous media coverage and attention. On 3 September 2020, considering two public interest litigation petitions alleging an "unfair, malicious and false media campaign" against Mumbai Police, the Bombay High Court advised, "We urge and expect the media to exercise restraint in reporting of the investigation with respect to the death, [such that it] would not hamper investigation in any manner." On 5 October 2020, Mumbai Police stated that its cyber unit had identified more than 80,000 fake accounts on social media platforms from various countries in Asia and Europe seeking to discredit their ongoing official investigation. Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh termed this as "a motivated campaign with vested interests" to malign Mumbai Police. He added that those found to have violated the law would be prosecuted under the Information Technology Act. On 23 October, the nongovernmental News Broadcasting Standards Authority directed news channels Aaj Tak, Zee News, News 24 and India TV to air an apology for insensitive reporting and sensationalizing Rajput's death. Several people were arrested by Mumbai Police and were booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code. They were accused by Mumbai Police for concocting conspiracy theories and making sensational and defamatory allegations against the Maharashtra government and Mumbai Police. A road in New Delhi was renamed "Sushant Singh Rajput Marg" in memory of the actor. Request for CBI probe Rajput's maternal uncle, alleging that his nephew was murdered, had demanded a CBI probe on the day of the actor's death. Several political leaders, mostly from Bihar also demanded a CBI investigation into the case. Bollywood actor Shekhar Suman created a forum called #justiceforSushantforum demanding a CBI probe into the death. Actress and BJP Rajya Sabha MP Roopa Ganguly, in a series of tweets with hashtag #cbiforsushant, questioned the actor's death and called for an "independent unbiased CBI investigation". Rajput's fans demanded an inquiry on various social platforms. On 16 July 2020, Hindustan Times reported that in the wake of Rajput's suicide, "a massive online campaign fuelled by conspiracy theories has been demanding a CBI investigation into the matter." Actress Rhea Chakraborty, who "identified herself as Sushant's girlfriend," wrote the Hindustan Times, asked for the aid of Amit Shah, India's Minister of Home Affairs, in launching a CBI probe. Former union minister Subramanian Swamy wrote a letter to PM Modi requesting a CBI probe, which was acknowledged by the PM's office on 25 July. Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh questioned the necessity of a CBI probe into the death. "The Mumbai Police is competent enough to handle such cases," he said on 17 July. On 22 July, the Twitter hashtag #Candle4SSR trended with two million tweets from Rajput's fans around the world, as part of their online campaigns demanding a CBI investigation since the actor's death. On 29 July, Home Minister Deshmukh reiterated that the investigation would not be transferred to the CBI. On 5 August, however, Tushar Mehta, Solicitor General of India, told the Supreme Court that the executive branch of India's national government had accepted the recommendation by Bihar's state government for a CBI inquiry into Rajput's death. On that basis, officials said, CBI had decided to start the probe. On 8 August, the Maharashtra government told the Supreme Court that the CBI had shown "indecent haste" and should not have registered the case while proceedings were still pending before the court. Nepotism debate Rajput's death sparked a debate in India about nepotism and related malpractices in the Bollywood film industry. A day after Rajput's death, actress and filmmaker Kangana Ranaut speculated that the actor was a victim of the Hindi film industry's nepotistic nature and it didn't acknowledge Rajput's work which led to his mental suffering. A case was registered against Karan Johar, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Salman Khan, Ekta Kapoor and four others in the Patna High Court by a lawyer, Sudhir Kumar Ojha, alleging that Rajput had been denied opportunities due to nepotism, leading to his suicide, but the case was later dismissed on 8 July. Johar and Alia Bhatt were then bullied on social media. Following this, Simi Garewal and A. R. Rahman spoke about nepotism that they faced in Bollywood. Sonu Nigam referred to the nepotism in the music industry as "music mafia". Amid the debate over nepotism, vote brigading by Rajput's fans led to the trailer of Sadak 2, released on 12 August 2020, to become the most disliked trailer on YouTube within 24 hours of its release. Speculating that Rajput had despaired of being shut out of the film industry due to favoritism, his fans blamed Bollywood insiders, including Mahesh Bhatt, director of Sadak 2, and his daughter Alia Bhatt, one of the film's stars, who had spoken dismissively of Rajput in a talk show. Funeral and immersion Rajput was cremated by his father at Pawan Hans Crematorium, Vile Parle on 15 June 2020. Actors Kriti Sanon, Shraddha Kapoor, Vivek Oberoi, Ranvir Shorey amongst others were present at his funeral proceedings. After cremation, Rajput's ashes were immersed by his family members in Ganges River, Patna on 18 June 2020. References Further reading Rajput Rajput Rajput Rajput

65069922

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Alexander%20Taraikovsky

Death of Alexander Taraikovsky

Alexander Taraikovsky (; 26 March 1986 – 10 August 2020) was a demonstrator who died in Minsk, Belarus, during the 2020 Belarusian protests in which the police used tear gas, rubber bullets, and stun grenades against peaceful protestors. He was the first victim whose death was officially confirmed. Death Taraikovsky died on 10 August 2020, in the capital of Belarus, Minsk, near Pushkinskaya metro station during the 2020 Belarusian protests against President Alexander Lukashenko. Taraikovsky's death was recorded as the first death since the beginning of the 2020 Belarusian protests. The police reported that Taraikovsky died due to an explosive device detonated in his hand that he intended to throw at the officers. However, demonstrators said that he was shot by the police. A video that was published on 15 August 2020, showed Taraikovsky empty-handed being shot by the police. On 14 August 2020, Tut.By, an independent Belarusian media outlet, reported that Taraikovsky's death certificate stated massive bleeding from an open wound in the chest as the cause of death. On a leaked audio later on, it was said by the chief of GUBOPiK (a special police unit in Belarus) Nikolai Karpenkov that he was shot by the police. On February 2, 2021, Tut.By got the results of the phonoscopic analysis of the record made public by BYPOL. Talks on the killing of Alexander Taraikovsky and more are on the record. The expert test made it clear that Nikolai Karpenkov's voice is on the record and there are no signs of changes made to it. On 19 February 2021, the Investigative Committee of Belarus acknowledged that Taraikovsky had died due to a penetrating wound (as opposed to the earlier claims of an explosive device) but claimed that the security forces had used non-lethal weapons against him in accordance with the law and refused to bring a criminal case in connection with his death. Calls for Investigation Taraikovsky's partner, Elena German, was able to visit the morgue and see his body four days after he died. German said that she did not believe in the official version of Taraikovsky death provided by the police. German declared that the only Taraikovsky's injury was to his chest and that his hands and feet were "completely intact." She told the Associated Press that she was sure that he was shot by the police and denied the official version that he died from an explosive device. German stated that the chest wound resembled a seam with a hole sewn up around a black bruise. German asked the Belarusian Human Rights organization for help to facilitate an independent investigation by the international experts of Taraikovsky's death. German stated that she saw no exit wound on Taraikovsky's back. She requested to see the bullet, believing that the bullet was stuck inside Taraikovsky's body, but the police refused her request. This raised more suspicion that Taraikovsky was killed by live ammunition. After Taraikovsky's death, video footage was published where Taraikovsky is shown standing with his hand by his body, as blood poured from his chest. He collapsed in front of a line of riot officers and remained to lay motionless. Elena German declared that there is new video footage showing Taraikovsky being shot by the police. Public investigation On December 21, 2020, the representative of the public initiative "Belarusian People's Tribunal" Igor Makar published the materials of the preliminary investigation. They claim that Aleksandr Taraikovsky was deliberately and cynically killed by an employee of the Special Anti-Terrorist Unit "Almaz" Korovin Nikita Yuryevich(born in 1993), with the complicity of other unidentified employees of this special forces unit. Funeral and memory On 11 August 2020, a grassroots memorial appeared on the place of Taraikovsky's death. During the night it was destroyed by the municipal workers but reappeared the next morning. It was destroyed again and reappeared again. On 13 August, ambassadors of European Union countries, representatives of the US embassy and other countries laid flowers to the memorial. On 15 August, thousands of Belarusians gathered on Pushkin Square, where Taraikovsky died, to pay a tribute to him, lay flowers to the monument, and observe a moment of silence. They chanted "Tribunal” while the cars passing by were beeping in support. Pavel Latushko, director-general of Yanka Kupala National Academic Theatre, musician Lavon Volski, poet Vladimir Neklyaev, singer Max Korzh and Maria Kolesnikova, representative of former presidential candidate Viktor Babariko's headquarters, came to pay tribute to the victim. Taraikovsky's funeral ceremony was held at the same day and was attended by around 800 people, although only relatives and friends were initially invited. When the coffin with Taraikovsky was taken out of the ceremony hall, people knelt down, clapped, showed a sign of victory and shouted 'Glory to the hero!', 'Long live Belarus!', and then sang Magutny Bozha (Mighty God, a hymn used by the Belarusian opposition). On the same day, Alexander Taraikovsky was buried in the Western cemetery. On 2 September, an inscription “We will not forget!” on the sidewalk near the makeshift memorial to Taraikovsky was covered with salt which prompted a spontaneous protest act. People started to swipe the salt away and put it into garbage bags disregarding the police. Vadim Zamirovski, a Tut.by photojournalist, was detained for taking pictures of what was going on. Men in civilian clothing approached him from behind, knocked him down, twisted his arms behind his back, and shoved him in a white minibus without license plates and identification signs. Half an hour later they dropped him off in the Sukharevo neighborhood. He was beaten and searched. All the memory cards were taken away. The memorial was covered with salt once more on 4 September, but people removed it again. On the night of 6 September, masked men painted over "We will not forget!". On 9 September, two Minsk residents were detained when they were trying to restore the inscription near the memorial: a 25-year-old woman, who wrote the first word of the phrase, and a 42-year-old man. Criminal proceedings were initiated against them for hooliganism. Later, they were accused of property damage to the sum of more than 10 thousand Belarusian rubles. Still later, the charges were reclassified again as malicious hooliganism and "intentional destruction or damage to property committed in a generally dangerous manner or causing damage on a large scale”. As of October 28, both of them remained in custody in the pre-trial detention center in Zhodzina. On December 8, the woman was sentenced to one and a half years of restriction of freedom, while the man received a sentence of two years in a colony. On the same day, three more authors of the inscription in memory of Taraikovsky were sentenced; one of them received a two-year sentence in a strict regime colony. On 17 September, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s Telegram channel announced that she was preparing "Taraikovsky's List", a separate list of officials and law enforcement officers who had participated and continue to participate in lawless actions. In May 2021, the state utility company installed a dustbin on the former site of the makeshift memorial. In May and August 2021, a number of people were apprehended and later fined or jailed for laying flowers near the place of Taraikovsky's death. Reactions Journalist Vadim Shundalov left the state-run newspaper Sovetskaya Belorussiya – Belarus' Segodnya after Taraikovsky's death, saying that journalists were not allowed to report about a video contradicting the official police version of Taraikovsky death. On 16 August 2020, then-Interior Minister Yury Karayeu renounced the initial official version, acknowledging Taraikovsky might have been killed by a rubber bullet. On September 17, 2020, the European Parliament, in a resolution approved by an absolute majority of MPs, called for an "independent and effective investigation" into the death of Alexander Taraikovsky. On 19 November 2020, Jim Gilmore, United States Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, spoke on a three-month suspension of the investigation into the death of Alexander Taraikovsky that it is another sign of “the impunity with which Belarusian security forces pursue their violent crackdown on peaceful protesters.” On 26 November 2020, the European Parliament, in its resolution adopted by an absolute majority of MPs, called for a "prompt, thorough, impartial, and independent investigation" of the killings during protests in Belarus, including Alexander Taraikovsky. Mass culture Documentary footage of Taraikovsky's murder by law enforcement officers was used in the "Silence of the Lambs" video by Russian band Nogu Svelo! The play Insulted. Belarus(sia) (2020) by Andrei Kureichik features the prototypes of Alexander Lukashenko and his youngest son Nikolai, Svetlana Tikhonovskaya, Alexander Taraikovsky, Maria Kolesnikova, and other real-life personalities. See also 2020 Belarusian protests List of deaths related to the 2020 Belarusian protests Raman Bandarenka Hienadz Shutau Аляксандар Віхор References External links Taraikovsky's death: Video showing Taraikovsky being shot in the chest_1 Taraikovsky's death: Video showing Taraikovsky being shot_2 Bélarus : les images de la mort d'un manifestant contredisent la version de Minsk, euronews (en français) - YouTube People pay tribute for protester killed during clashes, AP Archive - YouTube 1986 births 2020 deaths 2020–2021 Belarusian protests Mechanics (people) Deaths by firearm in Belarus People murdered in Belarus Filmed killings by law enforcement 2020 murders in Europe

65213293

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Loretta%20Saunders

Death of Loretta Saunders

Loretta Saunders (August 25, 1987 – c. February 13, 2014) was an Inuk woman who lived in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She was a St. Mary's University criminology student writing an honors thesis on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women in Canada. Saunders was last seen on February 13, 2014. She was originally thought a missing person. Saunders' body was found on February 26, 2014, near Salisbury, New Brunswick. After the discovery of Saunders' body, as well as Saunders' car in their possession, her roommates were quickly charged and pled guilty to her murder. In the aftermath of Saunders' and Tina Fontaine's high-profile murders, advocate groups, including the #AmINext campaign, pushed for an inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG). The inquiry into MMIWG was announced in 2015 and officially launched in 2017, by the Trudeau government. Biography Loretta Saunders was born in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Newfoundland to Inuk parents Miriam Terriak and Clayton Saunders. Saunders' was the fifth born biological child in a blended family. Her parents had children from previous relationships and frequently fostered Aboriginal children in their community. After an alleged sexual assault at her school, Saunders' left school and moved to Montreal. There she became involved in street living and struggled with substance abuse. Saunders returned to Newfoundland some years later to work and finish high school. After she completed high school, Saunders was accepted into St. Mary's University in Halifax. Saunders' family has shared that Loretta wanted to continue her schooling and attend Law School after graduation. Saunders' was working on her graduate thesis on MMIWG. Her graduate funding for this project was not approved. To cover expenses, Saunders rented her home to Blake Leggette and Victoria Henneberry. At the time of her murder, Saunders was expecting her first child with her boyfriend of 2.5 years, Yalcin Surkultay. Disappearance and murder After not speaking to Saunders for a few days and receiving odd text messages from her cell phone number, Saunders' family reported her missing to police on February 17, 2014. Her 2000 Toyota Celica was found the next day, in the possession of her roommates, Blake Leggette and Victoria Henneberry, in Harrow, Ontario. After this discovery, Saunders' roommates were charged with Saunders' murder. On February 26, 2014, Saunders' body was found in a hockey bag, on the side of the Trans-Canada Highway near Salisbury, New Brunswick, Canada. Saunders is thought to have been killed on February 13, 2014, at her home in Halifax. Both Henneberry and Leggette confessed to Saunders' murder. Leggette admitted that he attacked Saunders, choking her, attempting to suffocate her by putting plastic bags over her head, then hit her head against the floor. Henneberry and Leggette then placed Saunders’ body in a hockey bag and put her in the trunk of her own car, the couple then stole her car. To cover their crime, the couple texted her family and boyfriend pretending to be Saunders, attempting to cover their crime. Henneberry and Leggette also attempted to gain information from Saunders' family via these text messages to access Saunders' bank accounts. Trial Henneberry and Leggette both pled guilty to the murder of Saunders. Henneberry pled guilty to second degree murder and Leggette to first-degree murder. Henneberry received life imprisonment with no eligibility for parole for 10 years and Leggette was sentenced to life in prison with no eligibility of parole for 25 years. At trial Henneberry and Leggette stated they murdered Saunders over $430 in rent they owed to Saunders. Media Coverage Media coverage of Loretta Saunders' murder was markedly different from the media coverage of other murdered of Indigenous women and girls. After the discovery of her body, media and political sources argued that due to Saunders' features, Loretta Saunders was 'white-passing', with blue eyes, fair hair and light skin, her death did not have to do with her Indigenous identity or the MMIWG Inquiry. Multiple news sources reported that Saunders' was originally thought to be white by police, only to be corrected by Saunders' family. Comparison to Tina Fontaine Tina Fontaine was an Anishinaabe teenager from Sagkeeng First Nation who was reported missing and died in August 2014. Though both Fontaine and Saunders had a history of substance abuse, this was only heavily covered in the media about Fontaine. The media also created 'victim blaming' narratives about the substances in Fontaine's body at the time of her death. Unlike in Saunders' case, Tina Fontaine's accused murderer, Raymond Joseph Cormier, was acquitted in 2018. #AmINext campaign The #AmINext campaign was started by Saunders cousin, Holly Jarrett. Jarrett started the campaign in response to the murder of her cousin Loretta and of Tina Fontaine. The #AmINext campaign was active during 2014–2015, and successfully advocated for the then in power Stephen Harper conservative party government to begin an internal investigation into the Royal Canadian Mounted Police's handling of MMIWG cases. Up to that point the Harper government was hesitant to call a national inquiry, with Harper stating: “I think we should not view this [the murder of Tina Fontaine] as sociological phenomenon”. After the election of Justin Trudeau's liberal government in 2015, a national inquiry into MMIWG was announced. The inquiry officially began in 2017 and the final report was published in 2019 MMIWG inquiry Loretta Saunders' parents and sisters provided testimony on first day of the MMIWG inquiry hearing at Membertou First Nation in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. In their testimony, Saunders' family alleged that their relationship with the police changed for the worse after their revelation that Saunders' was Inuk. Saunders' sister, Delilah Terriak, also alleged that the court appointed grief counsellor made unwanted sexual advances towards her during their sessions. The MMIWG National Inquiry went on to interview more than 2,380 persons for the report on MMIWG in Canada. The final report was released in 2019 and contains "231 Calls for Justice directed at governments, institutions, social service providers, industries and all Canadians." Aftermath Memorials and vigils Saunders' alma mater, Saint Mary's University, held a memorial service for Saunders' on their campus in March 2014. Vigils for Loretta Saunders were held in many cities across Canada after her death. The Loretta Saunders Community Scholarship Fund was set up in 2014 in memory of Loretta Saunders, in part by Dr. Darryl Leroux (Saunders' thesis supervisor) and the Community Foundation of Nova Scotia. Saunders family Saunders' sister, Delilah Terriak, has committed to carrying on her sister's legacy. She began a blog titled "A Homicide Survivor's Journey Through Grief", became an active social justice activist, which included testifying at National Inquiry into Murdered and Missing Women and Girls in October 2017. Terriak has also shared her story of the loss of her sister in schools, wrote an opera about MMIWG, and writes for various news sources Controversy surrounding Shannon Webb-Campbell's Who Took My Sister? In 2018, Mi'kmaq poet Shannon Webb-Campbell published a collection of poetry that included a poem about the murder of Loretta Saunders. Saunders' family spoke out against the book and revealed that Webb-Campbell did not seek permission from them prior to the publication of the book. Following this, it was revealed that Webb-Campbell had not spoken to any of the families of those who were depicted in her book. In response Book*hug, the publisher of Who Took My Sister?, removed the book from sale and stopped distribution. Book*hug also donated the revenues from the book to the Loretta Saunders Community Scholarship Fund. Webb-Campbell apologized to all of the families personally and republished the heavily edited book in collaboration with Lee Maracle. Appeals Victoria Henneberry sought to withdraw her guilty plea in 2017. Her appeal was denied by the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal in April 2017. Controversy regarding Victoria Henneberry's claim to Indigenous heritage It is unclear as to when Henneberry began claiming Indigenous ancestry, but has begun to identify as 'American Cherokee' during her incarceration. Community members, including Loretta Saunders' family, oppose this claim to Indigenous ancestry as well as Henneberry's access to Aboriginal supports. In 2019, Victoria Henneberry attempted to gain release from prison with the assistance of an Indigenous women's support centre, but the centre denied her application. In 2020, Victoria Henneberry sought an escorted pass to attend an Indigenous women's sharing and drumming circle. A parole board that included Indigenous Elders granted Henneberry a pass to attend the Indigenous women's sharing and drumming circle in February 2020. This pass was rescinded shortly after due to public outcry and Henneberry is now prohibited from accessing Indigenous services. See also #AmINext List of solved missing person cases Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women References 2010s missing person cases Canadian people of Indigenous peoples descent Female murder victims Formerly missing people Incidents of violence against women Missing person cases in Canada Violence against Indigenous women in Canada

65224835

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Milica%20Kosti%C4%87

Death of Milica Kostić

Milica Kostić (; 24 April 1956 – 4 September 1974) was a high school student from Serbia (then part of Yugoslavia) who at age 18 committed suicide to avoid being raped. She was lured to a 12th floor apartment in Kruševac by a group of young men who then tried to rape her. To avoid shame, she jumped from the window of the apartment and fell onto the street. She died from the injures two days later, but gave the police full description of the incident before death. This event sparked an outrage across Yugoslavia and demonstrations against perpetrators were held in Kruševac. Media outlets gave large publicity to the case and public was unanimous in condemnation. Most commentators praised Kostić's bravery and heroic death. Five perpetrators (one of whom was a minor) were sentenced to prison. It is not known for sure how much time each of them spent in prison. It was reported that one of them, Tomislav Ž. Nikolić, was sentenced to 13 years and was released after 9½. Early life Milica Kostić was born on 24 April 1956 in Strojinci near Brus, Serbia (then part of SFR Yugoslavia) as the fourth child in the family of Milen and Slavka Kostić. After finishing elementary school, she enrolled in the Medical High School in Kruševac in 1971. While attending the high school, she was living in Kruševac with a roommate. Suicide On Monday, 2 September 1974 (first day of school), Kostić left her village and arrived in Kruševac around 7:15 AM. Since it was too early for school, she decided to take a walk. A group of five men (Miroslav Mađarac, Tomislav Ž. Nikolić, Zvonko Ivanović, Slavoljub Trifunović and a minor S.V.) assembled that day and decided to lure a girl into an apartment and rape her. On the Main street, they saw Kostić walking and decided to approach her. Nikolić then approached her and asked her for help. He told Kostić that he wants to call his girlfriend to come out from her apartment with him, but that her parents are very rigid and would not let her go with him. So, he asked Kostić if she would come with him to his girlfriend's apartment pretending to be his girlfriend's colleague and ask her parents if she can come out. This was just a bait to lure her to the apartment. Nikolić took the girl to the apartment belonging to S.V. on the 12th floor of the nearby "Rubin" building. Other perpetrators waited nearby, and when they saw Nikolić coming with a girl, they rushed to the apartment before the two came in. One of the perpetrators disabled the doorbell and turned on loud music so that the neighbors would not hear anything. When Nikolić and Kostić appeared on the door, one of the perpetrators opened the door and let her in. As soon as she stepped into the apartment, Nikolić locked the door behind her. They took her to the bedroom by force while she was screaming and resisting. Inside the bedroom, the five men told Kostić that they want to have sex with her and asked her to consent to their demands. When she refused, they tried, one by one, to persuade her. One of the men began to hesitate when he suspected she was still a virgin. Still, they continued to pressure her, but she continued refusing. At one moment, she was left alone in the room. She took the moment and jumped out from an open window. After falling for about 40m, she landed on an awning of a cafe, The awning then broke, and she fell onto a chair. The cafe guests took her to the hospital. She was admitted to the city hospital unconscious. In the hospital, she briefly regained consciousness and was questioned by the police inspector. She told him all the details of the incident and said that she jumped because she thought it was the only way for her to keep her honor. Soon she fell into a coma and died on Thursday, 4 September 1974. Aftermath Milica Kostić was buried on 5 September in Strojinci. Thousands of people, including 400 of her fellow students, came to the funeral. All major newspapers in Yugoslavia including Politika and Večernje Novosti reported widely on this incident. The public was outraged. On Wednesday, 4 September, the police had to protect the five perpetrators from a lynching attempt. The public interest about the event was enormous. On 5 September, the high school students silently demonstrated in Kruševac against violence, wearing a large photo of Kostić at the head of the column. As the public unanimously condemned the violence, the death of Milica Kostić had a lasting impact on the both public and police reaction to violence. Police began to intensify preventive measures against youth violence. All five men were sentenced to prison, although it is not known for sure what were their sentences and how much time each of them spent in prison. According to some reports, Tomislav Ž. Nikolić was sentenced to 13 years and was released after 9½. The act of Milica Kostić was praised by many as brave and heroic. Glas Koncila, a Roman Catholic journal from Zagreb called her "Maria Goretti of Šumadija". An initiative was made in the Serbian Orthodox Church to canonize Kostić as a martyr. Although she has not been canonized yet, she appears on a fresco in the parish church in Ub as "Saint Milica of Kruševac". According to some reports, famous singer Zdravko Čolić dedicated his song "Ona spava" ("She's Asleep") to Kostić. In 2013, a controversy erupted when Nikolić, the main perpetrator of crime was elected member of the "Lazarica" local council in Kruševac. He is an activist of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS). When asked about the eligibility of Nikolić, then Minister of Defense and high-ranking member of SNS, Bratislav Gašić told the press that Nikolić "has served his sentence and has all the rights to be elected as any other citizen". References Suicides by jumping in Serbia 1956 births People from Brus 1974 suicides Kruševac

65628934

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20River%20Nasino

Death of River Nasino

River Nasino (July 1, 2020 – October 9, 2020) was a Filipino infant who died in a Manila hospital after suffering from acute respiratory distress syndrome while her mother Reina Mae Nasino was detained for illegal possession of firearms and explosives. The baby's death sparked condemnation from progressive groups due to the police handling involved during the baby's funeral and burial. Background 23-year-old human rights worker Reina Mae Nasino and two other activists were arrested at Tondo, Manila on November 5, 2019 and detained at the Manila City Jail for illegal possession of firearms and explosives, a non-bailable offense. However, the detainees' lawyers asserted that the firearms and other weapons were planted. During the custody, River Nasino was born prematurely on July 1, 2020 at the Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital and was later diagnosed with acute gastroenteritis. Reina pleaded that the baby should be allowed stay on her side until at least six months old. Despite this, the baby was forcibly separated on August 13, 2020, despite the pleas that the baby is not healthy to separate a breastfeeding infant from her mother. A month later, River was brought to the hospital after she had shown signs of COVID-19; she tested negative for the virus. She died on October 9, 2020. At the day of the baby's death, her mother asked to the court to let her see her daughter. Funeral The Manila Regional Trial Court only gave Nasino a six-hour furlough (three hours for the wake and another three hours for the burial), which was reduced from three days, to allow her to visit her daughter's funeral. The funeral of River was held on October 14, 2020 at the La Funeraria Rey in Pandacan, where police had deployed 20 personnel there, as well as SWAT members. Reina Nasino visited wake of her daughter, wearing full personal protective equipment (PPE) while handcuffed. Only the family members were allowed inside the wake. Nasino was also caught in the video begging on her knees on the police to allow the procession to start at 11:30am, an hour before Nasino's three-hour furlough would start. In addition, the police barred progressive groups from holding protest placards outside the funeral home. However, tension arose when the police escorts prevented her from interviewing the media. A video from CNN Philippines showing the hearse carrying River's remains sped up during the procession, leaving the relatives behind. The police denied the allegations of maltreatment, saying that the deployment of personnel was to ensure the safety of the detainee. It was reported that 43 police personnel were deployed for the burial of the baby. During the burial of the baby at the Manila North Cemetery, Nasino's parents and lawyers pleaded the police to remove her handcuffs so she can hug the coffin for the last time but the police refused. The mother of the detainee, Marites Asis, expressed her displeasure over what happened to the burial as they were forced to run after the hearse after it had sped up. In the aftermath, the Nasino family planned to file a case against the personnel of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology and the Philippine National Police (PNP) for the "grotesque and barbaric" act against the detainee. Reactions On October 15, 2020, The College Editors Guild of the Philippines denounced the treatment of Reina Nasino and held the Duterte government liable for depriving her of her "right to free expression". Hashtags #JusticeForBabyRiver and #FreeReinaMaeNasino, as well as #OustDuterteNOW trended on Twitter on October 16, 2020 in response to the police handling of the burial. Militant mass organizations Anakbayan and Gabriela strongly condemned the police handling of River's funeral, the latter calling it a "brutal takeover", while activist group Karapatan blamed the Duterte administration for the baby's death and slammed the reduction of her furlough, calling it "gross injustice and heartless". Carlos Conde of the Human Rights Watch also condemned the baby's death, denouncing it as a "new, unconscionable low" for the Philippine government. Vice President Leni Robredo also expressed sympathy over the death of the baby, noting that the police presence at the funeral was "overkill". Local celebrities Anne Curtis, her sister Jasmine Curtis-Smith, Bianca Gonzalez, and director Antoinette Jadaone also condemned the police handling at the burial. Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said that the case against the detained activist will proceed, adding that the department "sympathize with the accused for her personal loss". Migrante International called for the justice of the baby and the release of the detainee. Human rights lawyer Chel Diokno on his Twitter account also denounced the actions of the police, noting that despite the law, what had transpired to both Reina and River was "cruel". Renato Reyes Jr. of Bayan reacted on the burial, stating that "we will never forget this." In October 18, 2020, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) spokesperson Celine Pialago, through her Facebook account, said that Nasino's supporters "should scrutinize who the detained activist is" and added that the public support for grieving activist a "drama serye" (transl. "drama series"). However, Pialago's statement sparked outrage from social media for "disrespect" and "zero empathy" towards the grieving mother and her baby. References 2020 in the Philippines 2020 controversies Controversies in the Philippines Nasino, River Duterte administration controversies

65839239

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Quawan%20Charles

Death of Quawan Charles

On November 3, 2020, Quawan "Bobby" Charles, a 15-year-old African American boy, was found dead in a sugar cane field in Iberia Parish, Louisiana. He had been reported missing on October 30, 2020, after leaving his house in Baldwin, Louisiana with a friend, 17-year-old Gavin Irvin, and Irvin's mother, Janet, both white. After Charles's parents reported their son's disappearance to police, the department "gave no indication" that they were investigating it, according to attorneys. After his body was discovered, a preliminary autopsy by the coroner's office determined that the cause of death was "likely drowning". The death gained national attention following the release of a graphic photo of Charles's mutilated body posted to the internet by his family. It is being investigated as a homicide. Disappearance Charles was first reported as missing from his father's home in Baldwin, Louisiana on October 30, 2020. Prior to going missing, he had started attending a new school. His last known whereabouts before his disappearance, according to his father, were with his friend, 17-year-old Gavin Irvin, and Irvin's mother, Janet, both white, who picked him up from his father's house at around 3 pm while his father was out shopping. Janet's boyfriend, Tyler LeGros, was allegedly also with the Irvins when Charles was picked up. According to Charles's father, Kenneth Jacko, neither he nor Charles's mother, Roxanne Charles Nelson, were familiar with Irvin and had not given the Irvins permission to pick Charles up. Irvin would later state that both boys wanted to spend time together that day, but Charles left the Irvins on his own. According to attorney Ron Haley, one of three civil rights attorneys representing Charles's family, Charles's mother was scheduled to pick him up from his father's house to get a haircut at around the same time he was picked up by the Irvins. By 7 pm, his father had forced open Charles's locked bedroom door to find that he was not there, prompting him to contact the Baldwin police department. Haley stated that when the family reported the incident to the police, the department responded by suggesting to them that Charles may have gone to a football game and asking whether he had a troubled past, also waiting until three days after the initial report to ping his cell phone. Haley also stated that the Baldwin Police Department "gave no indication over the next few days that they were searching for the teen or actively investigating his disappearance." The department neither alerted local news nor contacted Louisiana State Police requesting an Amber alert in regards to Charles's disappearance. In a recorded interview with Janet Irvin by a private investigator hired by Celina Charles, Charles's cousin, she stated that her son and Charles "smoked some weed" together before Charles ran away from the Irvins' residence, and that she did not report his running away that night. Witnesses said they later saw the Irvins packing their belongings and moving out of their mobile home following Charles's disappearance. The Iberia Parish Sheriff's Office stated that it was not informed about Charles's disappearance until November 3 after one of his parents contacted them. According to the Iberia Parish Bureau of Investigation, Charles's body was discovered on November 3 in a sugar cane field about 20 miles away from Baldwin, near the village of Loreauville. Case Haley suggested that officers did not show a "sense of urgency" in responding to the disappearance report, and that he believes his death and the slow response time by police were both racially motivated. The ACLU of Louisiana demanded a full, independent investigation into Charles's death. In a news release from November 5, 2020, the Iberia Parish Sheriff's Office stated that it was investigating the "suspicious circumstances" surrounding Charles's death, adding, "Investigators have interviewed multiple individuals and collected physical evidence which is being processed." The office later published another statement, sharing that they were "actively tracking" the whereabouts of those who were with Charles prior to his death and that they obtained video evidence from an unnamed individual which indicated that Charles was alone in the field where he died both before and after the video was taken. Police stated that they never requested an Amber alert because footage from his departure showed him voluntarily leaving his home with two people and there was no evidence which suggested that Charles had been abducted. The death is being investigated as a homicide. A preliminary autopsy report by the coroner's office stated that the cause of death was "likely drowning" due to findings that Charles had hyperinflated lungs and muddy water in his airways but no injuries, adding that the cause of his facial condition was likely "aquatic animals" and that there was "no evidence of antemortem trauma". Charles's family's lawyers said that they had not authorized the public release of the preliminary autopsy report. Charles's family also denied the claims of drowning put forth in the report based on the nature of Charles's remains. In a picture posted online alongside a GoFundMe campaign by Charles's family requesting an independent autopsy, he appeared disfigured. The taking of the photo by Charles's mother was inspired by the decision of 14-year-old lynching victim Emmett Till's mother to hold an open-casket funeral in 1955, and the two incidents were compared across social media. A preliminary report from an independent autopsy by local forensics company American Forensics suggested that the state of his remains was "consistent with drowning" with "no evidence of trauma or natural disease". An autopsy report prepared by the Louisiana Forensic Center and released by Charles's family on February 8, 2021 revealed that, after taking drugs at the Irvins' home, Charles was seen crawling in culverts alone near a school, acting combative, and threatening to kill himself, indicating that he may have been experiencing a psychotic episode. According to investigators for Haley's law office, members of the Irvin family and their "inner circle" stated that Charles had been high on a hallucinogen. A toxicology report conducted by NMS Labs stated that he had a blood alcohol content of 0.014% with 4.7 ng/mL of blood of THC present in his system, which lawyers for the family said proved that he was not high on hallucinogens and that his death was therefore not accidental. On February 9, 2021, Janet Irvin was arrested on charges of failure to report a missing child and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and was arraigned in the 16th Judicial District Court, where her bond was set at $400,000. In November 2021, Charles's mother sued the Baldwin Police Department and the St. Mary Parish Sheriff's Office for failing to notify the Louisiana State Police about her son's disappearance, also suing Janet and Gavin Irwin and Tyler LeGros for taking Charles 25 miles away from his home and not reporting his disappearance or attempting to find him. Responses and protests A funeral service for Charles was held on November 21, 2020. Charles's relatives as well as local activists held a march of about 100 people in Baldwin, which called for the removal of the Baldwin police chief and mayor as well as the Iberia Parish sheriff and coroner. American singer Beyoncé put a picture of Charles above a message reading "Rest in peace Quawan 'Bobby' Charles 2005-2020" on the homepage of her website in the wake of his death. References Death in Louisiana 2020 deaths Incidents of violence against boys 2020 in Louisiana

65924391

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Raman%20Bandarenka

Death of Raman Bandarenka

Raman Bandarenka () (August 1, 1989, Minsk – November 12, 2020, Minsk) was an aspiring Belarusian designer, and shop manager. His death is associated with the protests against the 2020 Belarusian presidential election. Raman Bandarenka died after reportedly being beaten by security forces. Police forces said they found him uncounscious and called an ambulance. According to sources, masked assailants in civilian clothing beat him up, in the yard of his apartment building, in the evening of November 11, 2020, in Minsk. Locally, this apartment complex is known as "Square of Changes" (Ploscha Peramen). Later, a minibus took him away. An ambulance brigade brought from the Central District Department of Internal Affairs (Police Station) to a local hospital. At the time he ambulance took him, he was unconscious. At the hospital, he was diagnosed with different injuries to the head and brain, bruises, and abrasions. Banderenka was operated in an attempt to save his life and fell into a coma. He never recovered and died on November 12, 2020, in the hospital in Minsk. United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights spoke on the death. Biography Raman Bandarenka born on August 1, 1989 in Minsk. After school, he entered the Minsk State College of Architecture and Construction, and then the Belarusian State Academy of Arts, graduating from the Faculty of Design in 2012. In 2014, he was conscripted into the 3rd Separate Special-Purpose Brigade of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus (military unit 3214), and subsequently stayed in contact with his colleagues. Later, he worked as an administrator and then director of one of the retail stores of the "Ostrov Chistoty" in Minsk. Circumstances of his death During the protests, the yard next to the house in which Raman lived became widely known as the "Square of Changes (Rus: PloschaPeramen)". This name arose after residents of the residential complex in the quarter between Chervyakova, Kakhovskaya and Smorgovsky tract streets painted a mural with "DJs of Change," two DJs who played the Russian pop song called "Khochu peremen" at an event and were subsequently arrested, on one of the walls of a transformer booth. This mural was repeatedly destroyed, but then restored again by the local residents. The yard was often covered with red and white ribbons, symbolising the flag of the Belarusian Democratic Republic, which has become a symbol for the freedom movement in Belarus. On November 11, 2020, at about 22:00, six men and 3 women in civilian clothes and in masks arrived at the "Square of Changes" and began to cut off the red and white ribbons placed by local residents. Raman Bandarenka found out about this in a local text chat in the popular app Telegram. He posted his final message in the group, "I'm going out!" before going out to the street to see what was happening. Outside, he stood watching what was happening. According to reports, he may have made a remark to which one of the masked people replied to him harshly before pushing Raman to the ground. At this time, Raman hit his head on a children's slide as he fell. The masked assailants proceeded to pin Raman to the ground and command him to "Lie down!" The main initiator of the fight left, and three others continued to beat him. Following the assault, Raman was dragged off to a silver minibus. This is the last known time he was seen conscious. The events of this evening were filmed by eyewitnesses from different angles and then posted on the net. He was taken to the Central District Department of Internal Affairs (Police Station), from which he was admitted to the Emergency Department of the Minsk City Clinical Emergency Hospital on November 12 at 0:05. He was diagnosed with multiple injuries. He underwent an operation in an attempt to save his life. Raman Bandarenka died on November 12, 2020. As of January, 14, 2021, no criminal case was opened on his killing. Suspects and independent investigation On November 16, 2020 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia imposed a travel ban against the kickboxer Dmitry Shakuta and the president of the Belarusian hockey federation Dzmitry Baskau ‘for an unspecified period’ because of their alleged involvement in the killing of Raman Bandarenka. A number of sportspeople have previously identified them in photos and videos of the masked persons who attacked Bandarenka. Baskau and Shakuta did not comment on the suspicions. In the same month Estonia also imposed a travel ban against Shakuta and Baskau. In January 2021 the International Ice Hockey Federation declared that it opened an independent investigation concerning the involvement of Dzmitry Baskau in this incident. Reactions to his death Public reaction On the evening of November 12, several thousand Belarusians came to the “Square of Change” to pay tribute to Raman Bandarenka. The next day, in various districts of Minsk, other cities and villages of Belarus, people came out to express their sympathy. On November 15, 2020, at 12:00 in Minsk and other cities of the country the protest march "I'm going out!" in memory of Raman Bandarenka and all the victims of the protests took place. The Minsk event was ended by the cruel attack of the Militsiya on the people stood at the “Square of Change” to support the dead one. Katsyaryna Andreeva and Darya Chultsova of Belsat TV showed the event live. They were arrested at the “Square of Change” that day. On November 24 ten organizations (the Viasna Human Rights Centre, the Belarusian Association of Journalists, the Belarusian Helsinki Committee and others) made a joint statement. It said that they are political prisoners. On February 18, 2021, the journalists were sentenced to serve two years in prison for pushing 2020 Belarusian protests. The funeral of Raman Bandarenka took place on November 20, 2020, after the body was released to the family after an extended wait. The family invited everyone to the ceremony, which was attended by several thousands. Many chanted popular slogans, such as "Long live Belarus!", "We will not forget, we will not forgive!”, “Roma, you are a hero”, and “I'm going out” – Raman's final words. Reaction of Alexander Lukashenko On November 13, during a meeting with Belarusian and international journalists, Alexander Lukashenko expressed his condolences to the parents of Raman Bandarenka. At the conference, he said that he instructed the chairman of the Investigative Committee to investigate the incident and instructed the Prosecutor General to take it under "the most serious control." Lukashenko told reporters: "But in this case, as I was told, a fight broke out, moreover, a serious fight. And someone from the protesters called the "police." A reinforced police squad was sent. When they arrived, as usual, everyone fled. And this one was either injured or something ... inebriated. This is a fact. The conclusion was presented today by the Investigative Committee. They posted it all. He was drunk. Of course, he was taken and taken by this department. He felt ill on the way, as I was told. They called an ambulance and sent him to the hospital." Other reactions Chairman of the Council of the Republic Natalya Kochanova stated: "Now there is a radicalization [of the protests]. ...This is the case with this Bondarenko. He himself went out [into the yard]. The fact that he was drunk is one hundred percent fact. Now there is an investigation, and have already established that false information was put on the Internet, that he was sober (we are talking about information and documents from the doctors of the emergency room). But the investigation will go further. But did you see how he [Bondarenko] was honored? A memorial! And how many drunks [in the whole country] are fighting? Every day they die. And they [the protesters] are arranging memorial services. The President said it right: we need to clean up the city!" As of November 27, 2020, no criminal case has been instituted on Bandarenka's death, while TUT.BY journalist Katsiaryna Barysevich and doctor Artsyom Sorokin, who reported medical information that the murdered man was completely sober, refuting the words of Alexander Lukashenko and Natalya Kochanova that Bandarenka was drunk, had been detained in connection with the criminal case upon them. On November 24, the human rights organization Amnesty International named them prisoners of conscience in the Bandarenka matter. On the same day, ten organizations (the Viasna Human Rights Centre, the Belarusian Association of Journalists, the Belarusian Helsinki Committee and others) made a joint statement. It said that Katsyaryna Barysevich is a political prisoner. Boris Haretski, deputy chairman of the Belarusian Association of Journalists, said that the authorities were not fighting the problem, but the media, “They think that if the press does not write about Bandarenka, people will not find out about it. Of course, they will know everything, but the media is still under attack." On March 2, 2021, Barysevich was sentenced to serve a half-year in prison and to pay a fine for damages in 100 units of base amount for writing on the late Raman Bandarenka, doctor Artsyom Sorokin got two years in prison and a fine in 50 units of base amount. The chairman of the Viasna Human Rights Centre Ales Bialiatski accused the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Belarus) of the death of Raman Bandarenka. In a statement dated 13 November 2020, the EU condemned the brutality. The diplomatic missions of Great Britain, Germany, and the EU in Belarus honored the victim with a minute of silence. Many foreign media outlets wrote or released stories about the death of Raman Bandarenka (Belsat, U.S. News & World Report, Meduza, RIA Novosti, BBC, Current Time TV, Associated Press, Libération, TVP Info, Washington Post, bne IntelliNews, ČT24, and others). On November 19, 2020, Jim Gilmore, U.S. Representative to United States Mission to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, spoke on the killing of Bandarenka that became a sign of “the impunity of Belarusian security forces.” On November 26, 2020, European Parliament discussed the situation in Belarus. The discussion resulted in the adoption of a resolution "on the continuation of human rights violations in Belarus, in particular the murder of Raman Bandarenka", supported by an absolute majority of deputies, calling for a "prompt, thorough, impartial and independent investigation into the death." On August 9, 2021, Dmitry Shakuta was put in the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List of the USA. He got a punishment for "violent attack on Bandarenka" and his transfer to the police. References External links Teacher from the Belarusian State Art Academy speakes painfully about his student Roma Bandarenka , Nasha Niva, 14 November 2020 How the authorities hide their crimes. VIDEO // Current Time TV, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 22 March 2021 1989 births 2020 deaths People from Minsk Belarusian people Deaths by beating Violent deaths in Belarus People killed by law enforcement officers

66171790

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Eishia%20Hudson

Death of Eishia Hudson

Eishia Loretta Hudson (June 2, 2003 – April 8, 2020) was an Indigenous Canadian teenage girl who was shot by the Winnipeg Police Service following a robbery, car chase and collision. She later died due to the wound. After her death, there was public outrage and rallies against police brutality towards indigenous peoples. Biography Eishia Loletta Hudson was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba on June 2, 2003, to parents Christie Zebrasky and William Hudson. She was raised by her paternal grandmother in Berens River, Manitoba, until moving to Winnipeg at the age of eight to live with her mother. Background On April 8, 2020, Winnipeg Police were called to a liquor store after it was reported that multiple suspects allegedly stole alcohol from the store, and took off in a stolen vehicle. An officer recognized the stolen vehicle and began following it down Lagimodiere Boulevard. The vehicle which was an SUV then rammed into a police cruiser and a car chase ensued. While in pursuit, the stolen vehicle collided with multiple other vehicles, inflicting costly damage on and possibly injuring the unsuspecting people of Winnipeg. Hudson was driving the vehicle with four other suspects inside. After the vehicle Hudson was driving crashed, police attempted to arrest them, she then tried to reverse the vehicle and at that point she was shot. Hudson was transported to hospital in critical condition and later died. The four other occupants in the vehicle were charged with robbery and other offences. Aftermath In response to Hudson's death, the Indigenous Bar Association pushed the Manitoba government for an independent inquiry into her death. On June 19, 2020, more than a thousand people gathered at the Manitoba Legislative Building for a rally to honour Hudson. Wab Kinew and Leah Gazan attended the rally. On January 28, 2021, the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba revealed that the unnamed officer who fatally shot Hudson would not be facing any charges. Later that day at a press conference, Hudson’s father called for a public inquiry into police related deaths of Indigenous peoples. In December 2021, Hudson’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Winnipeg. See also List of killings by law enforcement officers in Canada References Deaths by firearm in Manitoba People shot dead by law enforcement officers in Canada 2003 births Canadian people of Indigenous peoples descent 2020 deaths

66312568

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Christine%20Dacera

Death of Christine Dacera

The death of Christine Dacera occurred in the early hours of New Year's Day of 2021, when Dacera was found unconscious in a bathtub in a hotel in Makati, Metro Manila, Philippines. Dacera was a flight attendant for PAL Express who was based in Manila, Philippines. She was declared "dead on arrival" at around 12:25 p.m. (PHT) after she was rushed to Makati Medical Center. Initially reported as rape and homicide case, Dacera's death certificate listed the cause of death as an aortic aneurysm, a form of aortic dissection; however, the Dacera family believed that Dacera was raped and disputed the medico-legal report. In an investigation, eleven men who were with Dacera before her death have been described by authorities as "persons of interest". The rape and homicide charges filed against the men were later dismissed due to lack of evidence, as well as all other cases filed against the Dacera's mother, the lawyers of both parties, and the Philippine National Police medico-legal officer, respectively. Dacera's death gained widespread media attention as a result of suspicious circumstances which appeared to contradict the findings of the Philippine National Police. Christine Dacera Christine Angelica Faba Dacera (April 13, 1997 – January 1, 2021) was a Filipina flight attendant for the Philippine Airlines subsidiary PAL Express. The second of the four siblings, she graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in media arts from the University of the Philippines Mindanao in Davao City. Although hailing from General Santos, Dacera was based in Manila due to career exigencies at PAL Express. Investigation On December 31, 2020 at 11:37 pm, Dacera had asked her mother for her blessing to celebrate the New Year with her co-workers at the City Garden Grand Hotel in Makati. She was taken to Makati Medical Center on January 1, 2021 and was declared dead on arrival. According to officials from Makati Police Station, timestamped CCTV footage recovered from the morning of Dacera's death indicates that the woman and several suspects were together, celebrating the New Year, several hours before the incident took place. Two of Dacera's friends who appeared in the footage have since stated that they are gay and "would not do any harm to her". At roughly noon on January 1, Dacera's body was found in a bathtub in room 2207 of the City Garden Grand Hotel. According to police, several bruises were found on Christine's body and there were indications that Dacera was abused. In an autopsy, no signs of being choked or beaten on the head were found. The police initially reported her case as a "rape-slay" but according to the autopsy report conducted by the coroner, Police Major Michael Nick Sarmiento, Dacera died from ruptured aortic aneurysm. Police stated that the cause of death could have been natural; however, lacerations on her thighs, contusions on her knees, and scratches were found on Dacera's body. Lacerations and sperm were also found in her genitalia, indicating that there was sexual contact prior to Dacera's death. On January 5, 2021, following the identification of several suspects the Philippine National Police (PNP) declared Dacera's case "solved", despite widespread claims of a lack of evidence and a "botched" investigation. On the same day, Philippine National Police chief Gen. Debold Sinas threatened to hunt down the suspects of Dacera's death if they did not surrender themselves for three days. A second autopsy has since been conducted on Dacera's body but the results remain confidential. On January 7, 2021, the PNP admitted that they had presently not collected sufficient evidence to adequately investigate the circumstances and possible perpetrators of Dacera's death. On January 10, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) obtained bodily fluid from Dacera's remains from the second autopsy, conducted on January 9. The samples are yet to be subjected to a DNA test. On the same day, the PNP said that they identified the eight participants in the room 2207, where the death and the events of the evening transpired. On January 27, 2021, the Philippine National Police released a medico-legal report indicating that Dacera died of natural causes, particularly aortic aneurysm, ruling out homicide; however, Dacera's family disputed the results. In response, on January 29, Salvador Panelo chastised the Dacera camp, saying, "You don't go on a crusade for justice for a crime that hadn't even taken place, punishing innocent people along the way. That's wrong. My goodness!" On April 23, 2021, the Makati Prosecutor's Office dismissed the rape and homicide cases filed against the 11 respondents due to lack of evidence. On February 7, 2022, all related cases against the respondents, Dacera's mother Sharon, the lawyers of both parties, and Philippine National Police medico-legal officer PMaj. Michael Nick Sarmiento, respectively, were dismissed. Investigation of City Garden Grand Hotel The City Garden Grand Hotel was investigated for possible violations of the regulations related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, specifically regarding a provision that only two people are permitted to check into a room. The Department of Tourism subsequently revoked the hotel's permit to operate, suspended the hotel's accreditation for six months, and fined the hotel on January 14. Reactions and aftermath PAL Express expressed sympathy in a press release for the death of Dacera. Human rights lawyer Chel Diokno said that the death penalty for heinous crimes, such as the presumed rape and murder, is not the solution, but nonetheless pressed for justice for Dacera and her family. On January 6, Dacera's wake was first held privately in Pasay and later in Camp Crame, Quezon City. Her remains aboard a Philippine Airlines Airbus A330 operating as flight PR453, arrived in General Santos at 10:00 am on January 7. Dacera was laid to rest in General Santos on January 10. Dacera's death sparked not only online calls for justice but also condemnation both of what had been automatically assumed to be rape—based on the all-male composition of Dacera's group—and of victim blaming. In response to netizens criticizing Dacera for the clothes she had worn that night and for her binge drinking, on January 4 the hashtags #JusticeforChristineDacera, #StopVictimBlaming, #ProtectDrunkGirls, #MenAreTrash and #DeathPenalty trended on Twitter. Several public figures and celebrities, including television personality Bianca Gonzales, singer Kakie Pangilinan, and activist Francis Baraan, would apologize the next day for having spread inaccurate and misleading information regarding the case on Twitter on January 4. One of the PNP's persons of interest, who had been forced out of the closet by the accusations and was subsequently disowned by his father, retorted to #StopVictimBlaming by posting on one of his social-media accounts footage of Dacera's behavior toward him. Some sexual-assault survivors have decried the weaponization of not only Dacera's death but also the sexual-assault allegations made against her male friends for political leverage, leaving intact a system that enables the mentality that sexual assault is wrong but only if one is caught. The case has been compared to the Vizconde and Chiong murder cases, as well criticized for having been a diversionary tactic meant to distract the public from issues plaguing law-enforcement. On March 25, complaints of "perjury, libel, cyber libel, slander, malicious prosecution, incriminating innocent persons, and intriguing against honor", as well as of "unlawful arrest, illegal detention, unjust vexation and grave coercion", were lodged against a number of the accusers. Notes See also Vizconde murders Chiong murder case References 2021 in law 2021 in the Philippines Deaths by person in the Philippines Deaths from aortic aneurysm LGBT in the Philippines False allegations of sex crimes Law enforcement scandals

66322251

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Brian%20Sicknick

Death of Brian Sicknick

Brian Sicknick, a United States Capitol Police (USCP) officer, died on January 7, 2021, after having two strokes the day after he responded to an . The District of Columbia chief medical examiner found that Sicknick had died from stroke, classifying his death as natural and additionally commented that "all that transpired played a role in his condition." His cremated remains were lain in honor in the Capitol Rotunda on February 2, 2021, before they were buried with full honors at Arlington National Cemetery. The cause of Sicknick's death was first thought to be from injuries, but months later the medical examiner reported there were none. Within a day after his death, the U.S. Capitol Police and the U.S. Justice Department each said that his death was due to injuries from the riot. Meanwhile media, citing two unnamed law enforcement officials, incorrectly reported for weeks that Sicknick had died after being struck in the head with a fire extinguisher during the unrest. Brian Sicknick's death was investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department's Homicide Branch, the USCP, and the FBI. On March 14, two men were arrested for assaulting Sicknick with a chemical spray and for other charges. The medical examiner found no evidence that Sicknick had an allergic reaction to the chemical spray. Prosecutors later said on April 27 that the chemical spray was pepper spray. Neither of the two men have been charged with causing Sicknick's death. Brian Sicknick Brian David Sicknick (July 30, 1978 – January 7, 2021) was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, to Gladys and Charles Sicknick. He grew up in South River, New Jersey, as the youngest of three sons. Sicknick attended East Brunswick Technical High School to study electronics but later aspired to become a police officer. He graduated from the high school in 1997.After struggling to find a job as a police officer, Sicknick joined the New Jersey Air National Guard in 1997, toward that end. He served on the 108th Wing at Joint Base McGuire–Dix–Lakehurst, as a fire team member and leader with the security force squadron. In 1998, he wrote a letter to Home News Tribune, his local newspaper, expressing his skepticism towards America's soft stance against Saddam Hussein. He was deployed to Saudi Arabia to support Operation Southern Watch in 1999, and to Kyrgyzstan to support Operation Enduring Freedom in 2003. Sicknick later criticized U.S. motivations for the War in Afghanistan and the government's strategy in the Iraq War. In 2003, he wrote again to Home News Tribune, noting a decline in morale among troops. He was honorably discharged in the same year as a staff sergeant. Sicknick also worked as a school custodian in Cranbury, New Jersey. He later moved to Springfield, Virginia, and joined the United States Capitol Police in July 2008. One of his first assignments occurred during the first inauguration of Barack Obama. On December 31, 2013, he earned a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice degree from the University of Phoenix. Sicknick was an outspoken supporter of Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential election, but those who had met him "said his political views did not align neatly with one political party": he opposed Trump's impeachment, supported gun control, opposed animal cruelty and was concerned about the national debt. He was remembered by Caroline Behringer, a staffer for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, for comforting her as she returned to work at the Capitol following Trump's 2016 victory. Events of January 6 During the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, Sicknick was on duty with the Capitol Police outside the Capitol's west side, on the front line facing protesters. At 2:23 p.m., rioters attempted to breach the police line formed by barricades of bicycle racks. Sicknick and some other officers there were pepper sprayed and became unable to perform their duties for about 20 minutes. Sicknick retreated, bent over, and used water to wash out his face. Within five minutes of the pepper spray attack, rioters breached the police line and seized control of the west side of the building. There was no evidence that Sicknick had any injuries or an allergic reaction to the chemical spray, according to a statement by the medical examiner months later. Sicknick texted his brother on Wednesday night after the riot, reporting that he had been twice attacked with pepper spray and was in good shape. However, Sicknick later collapsed around 10 p.m. at the Capitol and was taken to a local hospital. Death After being in the hospital for almost a day, Brian Sicknick died around 9:30 p.m. on January 7, 2021. Earlier that day, he had two strokes. The strokes were due to a basilar artery blood clot, which caused damage to his brainstem and cerebellum. Sicknick's family had been informed that he was treated for a stroke caused by a blood clot, and had been surviving on a ventilator. Family members drove from New Jersey and had not yet arrived at the hospital when he died. The Sicknick family urged the public and press not to politicize his death. On the night of his passing, the Capitol Police announced Sicknick's death in a press release stating that "Sicknick passed away due to injuries sustained while on-duty". Months later, the medical examiner reported that Sicknick had no injuries. Medical examiner report On April 19, 2021, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of the District of Columbia issued a press release about the death of Brian Sicknick. It said that the manner of death was natural and the cause of death was "acute brainstem and cerebellar infarcts due to acute basilar artery thrombosis" (two strokes at the base of the brain stem caused by an artery clot). The term "natural" was used to indicate a death caused by a disease alone; and if an injury contributed to the manner of death, it would not be considered natural. It took more than 100 days to release these results from the January autopsy. The full autopsy report was not released to the public. The Chief Medical Examiner, Dr. Francisco J. Diaz, told the Washington Post that there was no evidence that Sicknick was injured or had an allergic reaction to chemical irritants. Due to privacy laws, he declined to say whether Sicknick had a preexisting medical condition. Diaz noted that Sicknick had engaged the rioters and said “all that transpired played a role in his condition.” According to CNN, some neurologists did not think that the strokes were natural. Stress and traumatic events can lead to a stroke. Based on media accounts, a forensic pathologist thought that Sicknick's manner of death could have been classified better as homicide, accident, or undetermined. The Capitol Police said it accepted the medical examiner's findings "but this does not change the fact Officer Brian Sicknick died in the line of duty, courageously defending Congress and the Capitol." Confusion and controversy about cause of death Accounts of Sicknick's death changed over time, amid an atmosphere of confusion. At first there were erroneous rumors and then there was incorrect information from the authorities and news media that lasted for months. As his condition deteriorated in the hospital on January 7, rumors had begun to circulate of an officer's death. In the afternoon, the U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) issued a statement rebutting such reports. Sicknick's family was told he was on a ventilator with a blood clot on his brain and his situation did not look good. He died later that night. Within hours of Sicknick's death, the Capitol Police released a statement late January 7 that Sicknick died "due to injuries sustained while on-duty" while "physically engaging with protesters" at the Capitol. On January 8, the United States Department of Justice published a statement by Acting Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen, which attributed Sicknick's death "to injuries he suffered defending the U.S. Capitol, against the violent mob who stormed it". Months later on April 19, the medical examiner reported that there was no evidence that Sicknick had any injuries. Some initial media reports regarding Sicknick's cause of death were incorrect. On January 8, the Associated Press, the Wall Street Journal, and separate stories in The New York Times cited two anonymous law enforcement officials as saying that Sicknick was struck in the head by a fire extinguisher. Similar reports followed on January 9. Meanwhile, Sicknick's father said Sicknick was pepper-sprayed and hit in the head, reported Reuters on January 10. On February 2, the U.S. House of Representatives made a reference to the New York Times article about Sicknick's death. In their memorandum for the second impeachment trial of Donald Trump was, "The insurrectionists killed a Capitol Police officer by striking him in the head with a fire extinguisher." On the same day, CNN reported that according to a law enforcement official, medical examiners had not found evidence of blunt force trauma on Sicknick's body. Investigators then thought the reports were false that Sicknick was injured by being struck with a fire extinguisher. On February 11, The New York Times reported that "police sources and investigators are at odds" over whether Sicknick had been hit with a fire extinguisher. On February 2, it was reported that investigators were considering a chemical irritant as a possible cause of death. There were false implications by prosecutors that the chemical irritant was bear spray, until April 27 when they said it was pepper spray. On April 19, the medical examiner said that there was no evidence that Sicknick had an allergic reaction to a chemical spray. In April and May 2021, Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) sent letters to the acting U.S. Capitol Police chief requesting information on the handling of Sicknick's death. USCP General Counsel Thomas DiBiase replied that the department did not put out a release that Sicknick was assaulted with a fire extinguisher, and that DiBiase was unaware of any communication between the USCP and House Impeachment Managers about Sicknick's death. Investigation and charges In a January 7 press release, the U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) said that Sicknick's death would be investigated. The next day, the USCP opened a homicide investigation into Sicknick's death, joined by the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department and other federal agencies. On February 2, CNN reported that investigators were having trouble finding evidence of homicide. One law enforcement official said that medical examiners found no evidence of any blunt force trauma. So investigators concluded that early reports of Sicknick being hit with a fire extinguisher were false. They considered the possibility that Sicknick became ill from a chemical irritant spray and were reviewing videos for evidence. On March 14, two men were arrested by federal authorities and charged with crimes that included assault of Officer Sicknick with a chemical spray. There could not be a charge of homicide because the cause of death had not been determined. Autopsy results were still pending almost 10 weeks after Sicknick's death. In an April 19 press release, the medical examiner's office said that Sicknick's death was by natural causes. The ruling made it difficult for prosecutors to pursue homicide charges. A week later, prosecutors said that the chemical sprayed on Sicknick was pepper spray. Memorials and funeral On January 8, 2021, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ordered flags at the Capitol to be lowered to half-staff in honor of Sicknick. Vice President Mike Pence called Sicknick's family to offer his condolences, and a deputy press secretary for the Trump administration issued a written statement. The following weekend, Trump ordered flags to be flown at half-staff at all federal buildings, grounds, and vessels for three days. The governors of New Jersey and Virginia also ordered flags to be flown at half-staff in their respective states. On January 12, 2021, a memorial service was held in Sicknick's hometown of South River, New Jersey. His family, New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez, and local officials were in attendance. Menendez presented to Sicknick's family the flag that had flown over the Capitol in his honor. Sicknick's high school, East Brunswick Technical High School, announced plans to plant an oak tree on campus in his honor. On January 29, Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced that Sicknick would lie in honor at the Capitol rotunda. The arrival ceremony began on the evening of February 2, 2021, at the Capitol's east front, followed by a viewing period attended by President Joe Biden, who had taken office on January 20, and First Lady Jill Biden. Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff paid their respects on February 3, along with several legislators and police officers. Later that day, Sicknick's cremated remains, accompanied by a procession, departed the Capitol for Arlington National Cemetery, where burial took place. Members of Sicknick's family attended Super Bowl LV in February 2021 as honored guests of the National Football League, along with three officers of the Metropolitan Police Department. On August 5, 2021, Brian Sicknick, along with Capitol Police officers Howard Liebengood and Billy Evans, and Metropolitan Police officer Jeffrey L. Smith, was posthumously honored in a signing ceremony for a bill to award Congressional Gold Medals to Capitol Police and other January 6 responders. His name is noted in the text of the bill, and Biden remarked on his death. See also Jacob Chestnut and John Gibson, Capitol Police officers killed during the 1998 United States Capitol shooting Notes References External links Deaths by person in the United States Deaths related to the 2021 United States Capitol attack fr:Brian D. Sicknick

66369784

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Mohamud%20Mohammed%20Hassan

Death of Mohamud Mohammed Hassan

Mohamud Mohammed Hassan ( – 9 January 2021), a 24-year old British-Somali man, died on 9 January at his home in Cardiff after being released from police custody earlier that day. Hassan was allegedly assaulted while in the custody of South Wales Police. He was arrested on the evening of 8 January after a disturbance was reported at his home. He was released without charge the following morning. Hassan was arrested at his home on Newport Road in the Roath district of Cardiff on suspicion of a breach of the peace on Friday 8 January and taken to Cardiff Bay police station. He was released at 8:30 am the following morning, on Saturday 9 January, and officers returned to his home at 22:30 that evening. Hassan's aunt, Zainab Hassan, said that he was released by police "with lots of wounds on his body and lots of bruises...He didn't have these wounds when he was arrested and when he came out of Cardiff Bay police station, he had them". South Wales Police said that there were no indications that excessive force had been used or indications of misconduct by officers. Police described his death as "sudden and unexplained". The police referred his death to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IPOC). The report from Hassan's post mortem is awaiting completion and toxicology test results are awaited. The police said that as part of their investigation "CCTV and body-worn video has already been, and will continue to be, examined...Early findings by the force indicate no misconduct issues and no excessive force". Hassan came into contact with 52 police officers in the hours before his death. IOPC investigation The Independent Office for Police Conduct investigation will focus on Hassan's arrest, his subsequent journey to custody in a police van and his time spent at Cardiff Bay police station. It will be investigated "whether relevant assessments were made" before his release from custody. The IOPC will interview officers involved in his case and witnesses to his arrest and subsequent movements after his release from custody. The IOPC director for Wales, Catrin Evans, said that "Preliminary indications are that there is no physical trauma injury to explain a cause of death". Reactions The First Minister of Wales Mark Drakeford said that reports of Hassan's death were "deeply concerning and that the circumstances of his death "must be properly investigated" and that "Our thoughts must be with the family of a young man who was... a fit and healthy individual". Referring to the IOPC, Drakeford said that "The first step in any inquiry will have to be to allow them to carry out their work. I absolutely expect that to be done rigorously, and with full and visible independence". The leader of Plaid Cymru, Adam Price, said that "Every effort should be made to seek the truth of what happened". Hundreds of protestors gathered at Cardiff Bay Police Station to protest his death on 12 January. Signs were held by protestors that read "Black Lives Matter" and the crowd chanted "no justice, no peace". Smokebombs and fireworks were thrown at police by protestors. The protestors demanded the release of CCTV footage of Hassan in custody. More than 150 protestors remained at Cardiff Bay Police Station on successive days. The lawyers Hillary Brown and Lee Jasper are assisting the Hassan family. The pair had previously helped the family of Christopher Kapessa; his death had failed to be properly investigated by South Wales Police in July 2019. Dylan Moore wrote in a post for the Institute for Welsh Affairs that the media reporting of Hassan's death represented "the truly alarming weakness of the media...when considering a case like this" as the initial statement from South Wales Police was "regurgitated" and reported by media "unchallenged and without qualification" with "the testimony of eyewitnesses...given secondary or no importance". Bianca Ali was summoned by court for breaching COVID lockdown rules after allegedly organising a protest against Hassan's death that had more than 30 attendees. Ali is due to pay either a 500 fixed penalty fine or request a court hearing. Ali is one of the founders of Black Lives Matter Cardiff and Vale. 30,000 people had signed a petition in the month that called the IOPC to release documents and CCTV footage detailing Hasan's death. References 2021 in Wales 2021 deaths 21st century in Cardiff Deaths by person in the United Kingdom Year of birth uncertain Law enforcement in Wales Welsh people of Somali descent

66371535

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Cl%C3%A9ment%20M%C3%A9ric

Death of Clément Méric

On 5 June 2013, a fight between far-left and far-right activists in Paris resulted in the death of 18-year-old left-winger Clément Méric. Two right-wing skinheads, Esteban Morillo and Samuel Dufour, were indicted for his death. In September 2018, they were convicted of manslaughter and weapon supply respectively, and sentenced to 11 and 5 years in prison respectively. Morillo was freed on licence that November after an appeal, Dufour in January 2019, and a second trial began in December 2019. In June 2021, they were sentenced to 8 and 5 years respectively. The lengthy judicial process centred around contentious points: Méric's own responsibility in the violence, and whether or not the accused had brass knuckles, an illegal weapon regardless of context. Clément Méric Clément Méric was from Brest, Brittany. He was a student at Sciences Po in Paris. Méric was known to the police as a member of a far-left group that actively sought out violent confrontation with the far-right. Méric was in remission for leukaemia at the time of his death. Esteban Morillo and Samuel Dufour Morillo was born in December 1992 in Cádiz, Spain and grew up in Neuilly-Saint-Front in the department of Aisne. The village's mayor, André Rigaud, described his parents as normal people, but in 2010 opened a police investigation into Morillo and his neo-Nazi gang. In May 2011 he received a criminal record for knife and brass knuckle possession. Eighteen months before the fight, he had moved to Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine in the Parisian region, to live with his girlfriend and work as a security guard. Both were members of Troisième Voie, a far-right organisation. Dufour was born in Dieppe and was an apprentice baker. He was also a member of Troisième Voie and had neo-Nazi tattoos. Death A sale of Ben Sherman and Fred Perry apparel – popular with both extreme groups – was taking place on the Rue de Caumartin in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The far-left group verbally provoked the far-right group, and physical violence spilt onto the street, resulting in Méric's death. Later in June 2013, security footage from Paris's RATP Group public transit agency showed Méric hitting Morillo in the back. Morillo then turned around and punched him in the face. The video however did not make it clear whether Morillo was armed with brass knuckles, which would have been illegal regardless of context. Legal process The Paris prosecutor wanted to charge Morillo with murder, but the investigating judge rejected this and instead charged him with manslaughter. In September 2018, Morillo was found guilty of manslaughter and Dufour of supplying brass knuckles, while a third man was acquitted of violence to other people. Morillo was sentenced to 11 years in prison and Dufour to seven. Morillo was imprisoned for only 55 days before he appealed and was released on licence. Dufour was also released on appeal in January 2019, ahead of an appeals trial in Évry in December of that year. The appeals trial was postponed due to a public transport strike, and then the COVID-19 pandemic. In June 2021, Morillo was sentenced to 8 years and Dufour to 5. Reactions President François Hollande and prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault condemned the death of Méric and pledged to stop the far right. Marine Le Pen, leader of the Front National, condemned the death and distanced her party from it. Three far-right groups linked to those who killed Méric, including two headed by Serge Ayoub, were proscribed by the French government. Government minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem criticised national media for granting interviews with Ayoub after the death. Rallies in memory of Méric took place across France, and on subsequent anniversaries of his death. References June 2013 events in France 2013 in Paris Deaths by person in Paris Deaths by beating in Europe 9th arrondissement of Paris

66455257

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Mark%20Saunders

Death of Mark Saunders

Mark Saunders was a British barrister who was shot dead by police on 6 May 2008 after a five-hour siege at his home in Markham Square in Chelsea, London. Saunders was a successful divorce lawyer who struggled with depression and alcoholism. He had been behaving erratically and drinking heavily in the hours before the incident. Neighbours called the police after Saunders repeatedly fired a shotgun from a window shortly before 17:00 (BST, UTC+1). When armed police officers arrived, Saunders fired at their vehicle and the siege began. More armed officers arrived and took up positions in surrounding buildings and on the street. Saunders fired on two more occasions and the police returned fire, slightly wounding him. Around 20 minutes after the previous round of shooting, just after 21:30, Saunders waved the shotgun out of a window. As he lowered it in the direction of a group of police officers, seven officers fired eleven shots, of which at least five struck him. Police entered his flat minutes later and Saunders was taken to a waiting ambulance where he was pronounced dead. The Independent Police Complaints Commission investigated the shooting as a matter of course. During the investigation, the Saunders family applied for judicial review of the investigation, claiming that the practice of conferring between the police officers involved made it inadequate; the practice was found lawful and the case dismissed, though it prompted a review of the practice. An inquest held in September 2010 heard that Saunders repeatedly asked during the siege to speak with his wife and a friend (both of whom were at the scene) but that the police refused the requests. It also learnt that Saunders' shotgun was in the open position and not capable of being fired when the police recovered it. The police officers who fired testified that they acted out of fear for their lives and the lives of their colleagues, and felt that they had no choice. The jury returned a verdict of lawful killing, but found several flaws in the police handling of the incident, including the lack of consideration to allowing him to speak to his wife, confusion in the chain of command, and a failure to take account of Saunders' drunken state. The jury did not consider that any of these factors significantly contributed to the outcome of the incident. They could not decide whether Saunders had intentionally aimed his weapon to provoke a lethal response from the police ("suicide by cop"). Some journalists criticised the shooting, contrasting it with incidents where the police waited longer before resorting to force. Retired police officers and academics responded that the police had previously been criticised for not acting quickly enough, and observed that the police faced a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" dilemma. The shooting was one of two by the Metropolitan Police in 2008; in the other, deemed to be a "suicide by cop", a man pointed a replica firearm at police officers. In the same year, the inquest into the death of Jean Charles de Menezes—shot by police in a case of mistaken identity in 2005—concluded, resulting in renewed public interest in police shootings. In 2010, the Metropolitan Police created a unit of senior officers to manage similar incidents. Background Mark Saunders (born 1975/1976) was a 32-year-old barrister specialising in family law, particularly divorce proceedings, and was well-regarded within the field. He was raised in Alderley Edge, Cheshire, and educated at the private King's School in nearby Macclesfield. He earned a law degree from Christ Church, Oxford, in 1998 then undertook his pupillage at QEB chambers, a leading London set. He was called to the bar the following year, and joined QEB as a barrister. He worked on several high-profile and complex cases as well as writing and lecturing on his area of expertise. Almost a decade into his career, he was widely regarded as a future Queen's Counsel and potential judge. Saunders lived with his wife in a rented flat in Markham Square, a quiet, upmarket street in Chelsea, West London. He spent three years as a reservist in the Territorial Army. He had long suffered with alcoholism and largely refrained from drinking but had had several relapses, at least one of which had resulted in his requiring hospital treatment for injuries sustained while drunk. He was also being treated for depression, for which he had been prescribed Prozac and attended therapy. On one occasion he received a police caution for being drunk and disorderly and on another neighbours found him sitting outside his flat in a distressed state; in May 2008 he had been teetotal for three months. The day of his death, Saunders left work early, before his wife—a barrister at the same chambers. He arrived home in a taxi at around 16:30, telling the taxi driver, "I'm going to die". Saunders began drinking large quantities of red wine and sent a text message to a friend which read "this is the end, my only friend, the end"—a quote from the song "The End" by The Doors used in the soundtrack to the film Apocalypse Now. The friend travelled to Saunders' house, as did Mrs. Saunders, but the police had already arrived and cordoned off the street by the time they reached the area. Shooting On 6 May 2008, shortly before 17:00 (British Summer Time, UTC+1), Saunders fired several shots from his shotgun (a Beretta Silver Pigeon, for which he held a licence for clay pigeon shooting) through a first-floor window and into the square. Several pellets struck buildings opposite, causing neighbours to flee and call the police. An armed response vehicle from the Metropolitan Police, crewed by specially trained officers carrying firearms, arrived shortly afterwards. Saunders fired at the vehicle and a stand-off began. The police called in further armed officers, who surrounded the area, and trained negotiators. At the peak of the incident, 59 armed officers were at the scene, mostly armed with Heckler & Koch MP5 carbines and Glock 17 pistols, though some were armed with longer-range rifles. Armed police officers took up positions in surrounding buildings. Saunders opened fire in the direction of one officer stationed in a nearby house, and the officer responded by firing three shots at Saunders; neither was hit. Police attempted to contact Saunders on his mobile phone. When negotiators got through, shortly after 19:00, Saunders was obviously heavily intoxicated and was heard vomiting shortly afterwards. Around half an hour into the phone call, Saunders was seen re-loading the shotgun despite the negotiator's request to put it down. An hour into the call, around 20:00, he stopped talking to the police and several minutes after that the phone went dead. Saunders was seen holding the shotgun and a phone while he was out of contact and was continuing to drink heavily. Shortly after 20:30, contact was re-established when Saunders called 999 and asked to be connected with the negotiators. A negotiator, Superintendent John Sutherland, attempted to calm Saunders, who warned that he intended to "end it all" and that he planned to fire more shots. Saunders told Sutherland he was "resigned" to killing himself and asked to speak to his wife. At 21:09, Saunders fired his shotgun through a window into a building opposite. A police officer returned fire with two shots, wounding Saunders in the arm. Saunders did not resume telephone contact with the negotiators, instead shouting out of an open kitchen window. He demanded to speak to his wife and friend who were at the police command post in a nearby bank, but the police negotiators refused to allow them to speak to Saunders, fearing that he planned to say goodbye before killing himself. Further shouts from Saunders were inaudible over the background noise, including a police helicopter which was providing aerial surveillance and transmitting video to officers on the ground. As darkness fell and the police prepared for a protracted siege, powerful spotlights were installed shortly before 21:30. At 21:32, Saunders began waving the shotgun out of the kitchen window, pointing the barrel up and down. A police officer with a megaphone shouted at Saunders to put the gun down. Saunders continued to wave the shotgun, then lowered it, pointing the barrel in the direction of police officers. Seven police officers fired eleven shots and Saunders collapsed. Minutes after the last round of shooting, armed police forced entry into Saunders' flat, using CS gas and stun grenades to incapacitate him in case he resisted. Officers found Saunders severely injured and carried him downstairs to a waiting ambulance, where he was pronounced dead. Over 200 live shotgun cartridges were found in the flat, along with eight spent shell casings. Investigation As with most police shootings in England and Wales, the case was referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), who launched an investigation which was expected to take around six months to complete. Three days after the shooting, on 9 May 2008, an inquest was opened at Westminster Coroner's Court under Paul Knapman. Opening statements from the Metropolitan Police and the IPCC revealed that Saunders was hit by at least five police bullets, which struck him in the head, heart, liver, and lower body. The inquest was adjourned until September to allow the IPCC investigation to progress. The Saunders family applied for judicial review of the IPCC investigation in July 2008, claiming that the inquiry was inadequate because the police officers involved in the shooting had been allowed to confer before giving their statements. The case was dismissed in October 2008 on the grounds that the IPCC was following established practice in line with national guidelines. Nonetheless, the Association of Chief Police Officers announced that it would be revising the guidelines after the judge expressed concern about the practice of officers conferring. A year after the shooting, in May 2009, the IPCC announced that its investigation was complete and that it was passing its files to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for consideration of criminal charges. The following September, the CPS announced that it had considered charges including murder and manslaughter, but would not be bringing charges as there was no evidence that the police officers acted other than in self-defence. In a statement, the CPS recognised that "Saunders was in a distressed state but the police have a duty to protect the public and the right to defend themselves". Inquest The inquest did not resume fully until September 2010, presided over by Knapman. Among the witnesses were 12 police firearms officers who were at the scene (they were granted anonymity and identified by their call signs), Saunders' wife, his doctor, and IPCC investigators. Commander Ali Dizaei, who was in charge of the police operation, gave evidence in writing because he was serving a prison sentence for corruption in an unrelated case. The inquest heard that Saunders held several messages up to the window during the siege, including "I can't hear" and "I want to say goodbye and kill myself". Mrs Saunders and a friend testified that they asked the police to be allowed to speak to Saunders, but the police denied their requests and instructed them to switch off their mobile phones to keep Saunders focused on talking to the police negotiators. Patrick Gibbs, representing Mrs Saunders, criticised the police operation and described their handling of the incident as "chaotic", suggesting that it was led principally by a plain-clothed negotiator and a junior uniformed officer rather than by Dizaei, the gold commander. The jury visited the scene of the shooting and were shown video footage of the siege taken from the police helicopter. The police negotiators defended their decision not to allow Saunders to speak to his wife because they worried that he would endanger her or that he planned to kill himself in front of her. Mrs Saunders told the inquest she believed she could have defused the situation had she been allowed to intervene. The police officers who fired shots gave evidence on 23 September, identified by their call signs instead of their names. The inquest heard that the decision to fire rests with each individual officer. AZ6, who fired at Saunders at 21:09, was stationed in a bedroom window in 1 Bywater Street, overlooking the rear of Markham Square. He testified that he feared for his life and that of the householder when Saunders pointed the shotgun in AZ6's direction and fired. Officer AZ12, one of the seven who fired on Saunders at the conclusion of the siege, told the inquest he fired because he believed Saunders was aiming his shotgun towards officers who were stood on a ledge on an adjacent building. AZ14, who was near AZ12, stated that he decided not to fire because he could not be certain that Saunders presented a threat to other officers. AZ4, who did fire, witnessed the same movement but believed Saunders was bringing the shotgun into a firing position. AZ7, one of the officers on the ledge, said he initially hoped Saunders was moving to drop the shotgun out of the kitchen window and into the garden below. He broke down as he described seeing Saunders apparently pointing the shotgun towards him, and the fear that he was about to be shot which motivated him to fire at Saunders. Pressed on why he did not wait to see if Saunders intended to lower the barrel further, AZ7 replied "In my mind, if he wanted to pull the trigger at that point I would have been too late. I would be dead". During the firearms officers' testimony, the inquest learnt that Saunders' shotgun was in the open position when police broke into the flat, meaning it could not have been fired, though it was unclear whether it was open or closed when Saunders was shot. Testimony at the inquest revealed that the senior police officers on the scene disagreed on the effect that the spotlights (switched on shortly before the fatal shooting) would have. Some felt that illuminating Saunders was likely to provoke an adverse reaction, while others felt it might prompt him to re-engage with the negotiators. Ultimately, the lights were introduced after complaints from the firearms officers that they could not adequately see Saunders. At the inquest, the tactical firearms advisor (an inspector) denied that the lights were intended to provoke a reaction, and told the court they were intended to minimise the need for overt police action. The inspector also rejected the suggestion that the police could have tried less-lethal methods to incapacitate Saunders—especially a baton round, which he described as "an exceptionally high-risk strategy" which could have provoked a reaction from Saunders. It could also have caused Saunders to step or fall further into the property, requiring police officers to provide assistance and putting them at risk. The inspector and the silver commander (a superintendent) both testified that they had considered the possibility that Saunders was attempting "suicide by cop", though the silver commander was unaware of significant developments, including Saunders' 999 call and the switching on of the lights. He defended the police tactics and stated that he aimed to "achieve a peaceful resolution to extremely demanding and difficult circumstances when, at that time, shots had been fired again at my officers". The IPCC commissioned experts from other police forces to review the Metropolitan Police's handling of the siege, two of whom gave evidence at the inquest. Superintendent Liz Watson from South Yorkshire Police agreed with Saunders' widow that there was confusion over the command structure—she testified that it was unclear whether the bronze commander was the tactical advisor or a sergeant identified as SE (the silver commander believed the inspector to be the bronze commander, while the inspector and SE believed that SE was the bronze commander). She observed that the roles of bronze commander and tactical advisor should have been clearly separated, and criticised SE for spending most of his time at the command post rather than with front-line officers. Watson found that the lack of clarity hampered communication between commanders and the firearms officers, and led to a risk of "key decisions being made in isolation". Neither expert believed the problems contributed to the outcome. Watson found the police actions "reasonable and proportionate", and the other expert believed that Saunders was intent on forcing the police to shoot him. Conclusion Knapman summed up the evidence for the jury on 5 October 2010 and instructed them to consider seven points: whether the fatal shots were fired in reasonable self-defence or the defence of another whether Saunders "deliberately and consciously" provoked the police with the intention of being shot ("suicide by cop") whether the police should have given greater consideration to allowing Saunders to talk to his wife if they considered that he should have been allowed contact with his wife, whether the police refusal contributed to the outcome whether there was confusion over which police officer was the bronze commander (responsible for instructing and supervising the officers at the scene) if there was such confusion, whether it contributed to Saunders' death whether the police gave due consideration to Saunders' vulnerability caused by his intoxication. Knapman instructed the jurors to "put emotion to one side to decide the issues dispassionately" and "beware also of the advantage of hindsight". He reminded them that for a killing to be lawful, it must be in self-defence or the defence of another, and that the force used must be "reasonable and proportionate". The jury returned a verdict of lawful killing after two days of deliberations. They could not decide whether Saunders had intended to provoke the police into shooting him, but concluded that the fatal shots were fired lawfully in self-defence. On the other questions, the jury believed that the police should have given more consideration to allowing Saunders to speak to his wife early on in the incident, that the police did not adequately consider Saunders' vulnerability in his drunken state, and that there was confusion over which officer was the bronze commander. The jury did not consider that any of these factors significantly contributed to the outcome of the incident. Saunders' widow announced after the inquest that she accepted and respected the verdict, and that her aim had been to ensure her husband's death was properly investigated and to hear the explanations of those involved as to why the shooting was necessary. Senior police officers with experience of managing similar incidents felt that the role of the police in containing armed offenders was not widely appreciated, and that the public did not understand the dangers faced by firearms officers. Knapman wrote to the Home Secretary, Theresa May, to express his concern that the police manuals for firearms incidents were excessively long and not widely understood, having devoted several days of the inquest to experts explaining the guidelines. He also wrote to the Metropolitan Police commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, setting out the jury's conclusions on the conduct of the operation. Impact and analysis The incident was compared in the media to several other police shootings. In particular, journalists from The Guardian and The Independent compared it to the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes (2005) and the Hackney siege (2002–2003). De Menezes was shot dead in a case of mistaken identity; similar criticisms were made of the Metropolitan Police's control of that incident and the post-incident management, including the practice of officers conferring. In the Hackney incident, police laid siege to a block of flats in East London after a known criminal brandished a firearm at police officers on the street below. The stand-off lasted 15 days and ended with the apparent suicide of the suspect. Some journalists suggested that the police showed a lack of patience in dealing with Saunders when compared to the Hackney siege. Multiple senior police officers with experience of commanding firearms operations pointed out that protracted confrontations involving armed suspects were extremely rare in the United Kingdom. Bob Quick, a former police officer who was gold commander at the Hackney siege, pointed out that media coverage of that incident criticised the police for taking too long to resolve the situation, and that the police allowed the subject of that siege to speak to his family, with poor results. Quick explained that the police objective in such cases is always to contain the threat and negotiate a resolution, but that the police had a duty to protect public safety. Maurice Punch, a criminologist who researched police use of firearms, described the situation as a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" dilemma. In a BBC interview after the inquest, John O'Connor, a former senior police officer with experience of firearms operations, said "it is about time every senior officer who may be in charge at one of these incidents had specific training". He believed that confusion around the chain of command was common, but "it took an incident involving an upper-middle class lawyer for these issues to come to light", whereas previous incidents involved low-status individuals, particularly career criminals. At the time of Saunders' death, De Menezes' shooting was still under investigation. An inquest jury returned an open verdict on the latter case in December 2008, prompting a renewed interest in police shootings. According to statistics from the Metropolitan Police, it deployed armed officers to 2,352 incidents in the twelve months to October 2008. Only two of those incidents resulted in police officers opening fire. Besides Saunders, the other person shot was Andrew Hammond, whose death was ruled to be an instance of "suicide by cop". Hammond was shot when he pointed a replica AK-47 at the crew of an armed response vehicle who had been dispatched to a report of a man brandishing a firearm in the street in Harold Hill, north-east London. In 2010, taking into account the findings of the inquest as well as other incidents, the Metropolitan Police established the Firearms Command Unit, a specialist unit of ranking officers trained as tactical (silver) commanders. The unit was initially responsible for pre-planned operations but was expanded to be on call at all times to take over command of spontaneous firearms incidents where previously local inspectors or superintendents controlled such operations. See also Police use of firearms in the United Kingdom List of killings by law enforcement officers in the United Kingdom References Bibliography Citations 2008 deaths 2008 in London May 2008 events in the United Kingdom Deaths by firearm in London Deaths by person in London Chelsea, London People shot dead by law enforcement officers in the United Kingdom Metropolitan Police operations 21st century in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea 1976 births

66913642

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Francisco%20Mart%C3%ADnez

Death of Francisco Martínez

The death of Francisco Martínez was a Chilean police incident in which the 27-year old street-juggler Francisco Martínez was shot to death by Chilean police forces in the southern city of Panguipulli. Various events of street demonstrations and episodes of violent rioting spread across the country of Chile after the event. Biography Francisco Andrés Martínez Romero (August 7, 1993 – February 5, 2021) was 27 years old at the time of his death. His family lived in the Puente Alto commune, in Santiago, a city which he left at 18 years of age in order to live in various Latin American countries. In 2015, he settled in Panguipulli, living on the streets and working as a street artist, juggler and craftsman. In that city he was known as "Franco" or "Tibet", and participated in the mobilizations of the 2019 social outbreak. According to the testimony of his sister, Francisco suffered from schizophrenia. He was the uncle of a minor who was also involved in an episode of police brutality caused by the Carabineros on the Pío Nono Bridge in Santiago, also within the context of the social outburst. Death After 3:00 p.m. on Friday, February 5, 2021, in the city of Panguipulli, southern Chile, Francisco Martínez was juggling with machetes at the busy intersection of Martínez de Rozas and Pedro de Valdivia streets. At the scene, he was intercepted by a group of three Carabineros officials to carry out an identity check. The situation in which the events occurred, which triggered an argument between Martínez and the police, is not yet clear. In an act, still under investigation, Second Sergeant Juan Guillermo González Iturriaga fired several shots at the floor and at point-blank range at the body of Francisco, ending his life. During the altercation, Martínez had thrown himself against the policeman with the machetes. A nursing technician who was at the scene gave Martinez first aid and unsuccessfully performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Reaction Martinez's death was recorded by a passerby and the video was broadcast through social media. The event generated several spontaneous protests in the main streets of Panguipulli during the afternoon of February 5. The demonstrations led to incidents during the night, with the Municipality of Panguipulli being completely burned down. Other buildings affected were the Chilean Post Office, the Local Police Court, the Civil Registry, and the ESSAL office. The protests ended with five people arrested. Rioting plagued the main streets of other cities as the manifestations entered its second day, with clashes with police becoming a frequent occurrence in Santiago. On February 6, Martínez's body left the Panguipulli Medical Legal Service for Santiago, being honored by the local community. During that day, protests also took place in other cities of Chile, such as Antofagasta, Santiago, Concepción, Temuco and Valdivia. On the morning of February 7, Martínez's remains arrived in Bajos de Mena, Puente Alto commune, for his wake, which was attended by the singer Roberto Márquez, 16. His funeral was held the next day in the Parque El Prado cemetery. On February 8, protests over Martínez's death were also held in various cities in Chile, including Santiago, Valparaíso, and La Serena. See also 2019–2021 Chilean protests References 2019–2020 Chilean protests 2021 in Chile February 2021 events in Chile Deaths by person in South America History of Los Ríos Region Law enforcement controversies in Chile

67018617

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Kyal%20Sin

Death of Kyal Sin

Kyal Sin (), also known as Angel or by her Chinese name, Deng Jiaxi (), was a 19-year-old woman from Mandalay who was killed on 3 March 2021 during the 2021 Burmese protests. Kyal Sin emerged as an early martyr and symbol of resistance against the military junta's use of violence to suppress the protest movement. She was one of several teenagers and young adults who gave up their lives in the protests. As of 13 March, around 60 civilians had lost their lives; more than a third of the dead are teenagers. Personal background Kyal Sin was born to a Kokang Chinese mother and a Yunnanese father. She voted for the first time in November 2020. Kyal Sin was a taekwondo instructor and champion, and worked as a dancer. Protest and death During the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, Kyal Sin began to express her support online for arrested civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the ruling National League for Democracy. On 3 March 2021, she participated in a protest in Mandalay wearing a black T-shirt emblazoned with Everything will be OK. A photograph of her wearing the T-shirt has become iconic. During the protest, she is reported to have broken open a water pipe to allow protestors to wash tear gas from their eyes, thrown a tear gas cannister back at police, and encouraged protestors to take cover when live rounds were fired. While she was on the front line of the protest she was shot dead. Prior to the event, she had made a Facebook post stating her blood type in case she was injured and her wish for her organs to be donated should she die during the protest. Her funeral on 4 March 2021 was attended by several thousands of protesters. The next day, authorities went to the cemetery where her remains were buried and exhumed the body for autopsy. References 2021 deaths Burmese democracy activists People from Mandalay Region Burmese people of Chinese descent

67022033

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Mya%20Thwe%20Thwe%20Khine

Death of Mya Thwe Thwe Khine

Mya Thwe Thwe Khine (; February 11, 2001 – February 19, 2021; variously romanised as Mya Thwe Thwe Khaing or Mya Thwate Thwate Khaing) was a young Burmese woman who became the first known casualty of the 2021 Myanmar protests, which formed in the aftermath of the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état. Pro-democracy protesters and international groups alike have rallied around her shooting. She has become a focal point for demonstrators, with her image often displayed by people resisting the coup. Her funeral on the 21st of February 2021 was attended by several thousand protesters. Shooting On 9 February, 19-year-old Mya Thwe Thwe Khaing had joined a protest rally on Taungnyo Road, near the Thabyegon roundabout in the Burmese capital Naypyidaw. Riot police quelled the rally, injuring several protesters in the process. She was standing under a bus shelter, taking cover from water cannons, while she was shot. Mya had been wearing a motorcycle helmet at the time of the shooting. Recorded video from bystanders captured the exact moment she was shot in the head. Subsequent analysis of images from the protest conducted by Amnesty International showed police carrying Myanmar-made BA-94 or BA-93 clones of the Uzi sub-machine gun, contradicting the Myanmar military's statement that security forces had only deployed non-lethal weapons. Forensic analysis also indicated the shooting had occurred in the early afternoon, between noon and 1:30 pm. Mya was admitted to Naypyidaw's 1,000-bed general hospital in critical condition. On the morning of 12 February, doctors unsuccessfully attempted to surgically dislodge the bullet from her head. Doctors declared her medically brain dead, due to the complete loss of brain function, and advised her family to remove ventilation. As of 14 February, her family had decided to take her off life support, but had not finalised the timing. Prayer services for Mya were held at the Mandalay University of Foreign Languages and Yangon City Hall on 14 February. Significance Video of the shooting and a photo of an unconscious and blood-stained Mya were widely circulated on Burmese language social media, with supporters dubbing her a protest martyr. Citizens criticized and attacked two officers purportedly involved in the shooting on social media, although the identities of the shooters remain unconfirmed. The violent use of force in Mya Thwe Thwe Khaing's shooting sparked national outrage, with celebrities and public figures such as Thandar Hlaing criticizing her treatment. Nyi Nyi Tun, the chair of the Myanmar Motion Picture Organisation, stated "We cannot witness any more Mya Thwe Thwe Khaings" and urged the public to join the civil disobedience movement. On 11 February, Mya's sister, Mya Thado Nwe, publicly addressed media outlets, and urged the public to "uproot the military dictatorship" for the sake of future generations. Thomas Andrews, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, mentioned her on Twitter. On 11 February, UN Women expressed its condolences to Mya's family and called "on the military and police to refrain from using disproportionate force against demonstrators." On 12 February, Progressive Voice, a coalition of 177 local civil society organisations, published an open letter to the United Nations Security Council, and cited the shooting of Mya as an example of escalating violence by authorities against protesters. On 17 February, a long billboard depicting Mya's shooting was unfurled off of a pedestrian bridge in Downtown Yangon. Protesters have also used her photos compared with ones of Win Maw Oo on protest signs, and given worldwide coverage such as huge crowds mourn woman killed in protests. On 19 February, the hospital in the city confirmed her death at 11:00 local time (04:30 GMT). Her funeral was a major occasion attended by about 100,000 people. References Deaths by firearm in Myanmar Protest-related deaths

67065779

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Jeong-In

Death of Jeong-In

Jeong-In (Korean: 정인; June 10, 2019 — October 13, 2020) was a 16-month-old baby girl from Seoul, South Korea who was abused and tortured by her adoptive parents for 271 days (8 months) and ultimately died on October 13, 2020 due to severe abdominal injuries. Her adoptive full name was Ahn Yul-Ha (Korean: 안율하). Her adoptive mother, Jang Hayeong, was charged with murder and child abuse. Her adoptive father, Ahn Sungeun, was only been charged with child abuse and neglect as he claimed he was unaware of the abusive acts of his wife. On May 14, 2021, Jang was sentenced to life imprisonment while Ahn was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment. The death of Jeong-In sparked national outrage and international awareness. Much of the outrage was also focused on the perceived failure of the police to press charges against her adoptive parents even though three suspicious child abuse reports were filed by Jeong-In's day-care teachers, a family friend, and a pediatrician. The pediatrician had examined Jeong-In and found multiple bruises on her body and such a significant weight loss that it was perceived as evidence of abuse and malnutrition. Workers from Holt International Children's Services also failed in follow-ups after the abuse was reported to them. On October 13, 2020, Jeong-In was brought to the hospital by her adoptive mother by taxi and died a few hours after due to cardiac arrest. The CT scan and autopsy revealed: that her abdomen was full of blood (80% of her blood); that she had multiple bone fractures in her collarbone, ribs, and arms, with some of the bones having been broken again after self-healing 2-4 months prior; and that she had suffered countless bruises on her face, neck, ears, and legs. The cause of death was ruled as amputation of her pancreas and traumatic damage to her internal organs, including severe intestinal rupture caused by heavy external forces. The forensic doctor testified in the 4th trial that he suspected that there was at least another fatal beating around three to five days before Jeong-In died, which fell on a public holiday in South Korea, indicating that both adoptive parents were at home. On January 2, 2021, an episode of the investigative show Unanswered Questions (Korean: 그것이 알고 싶다) analyzed what may have happened to Jeong-In, and was aired by the South Korean broadcaster SBS; the show went viral and sparked national outrage in South Korea. Thousands of protesters and children's rights activists demanded the government reform laws to better protect children from abuse and implement the maximum penalty for the adoptive parents Jang and Ahn. The #SorryJeongIn online campaign was also created to raise awareness of child abuse, especially that of Jeong-In's case. On November 26, Jang's sentence was commuted to 35 years in prison. Birth Jeong-In was born on June 10th, 2019 at full-term and as a healthy baby weighed 3.43kg (7lbs 9oz). Her birth mother was incapable of taking care of her and therefore gave her up to a church when Jeong-In was just 8 days old. Jeong-In then spent 8 months in a foster home until she was adopted. According to her foster mom, Jeong-In was a very happy and cheerful baby who loved music and always smiled. Adoptive parents Adoptive Mother - Jang Hayeong (born November 4, 1986) attended Handong University. Her father Jang Young-Gil is a Pastor in Yangdeok Pohang Disciples Church while her mother Jang Eunhee owns the Big Circle day-care Center which belongs to Pu Gang Disciples Church. Adoptive Father - Ahn Sungeun (born June 18, 1984) attended Handong University and worked at CBS. His father Ahn Hee-Gil is also a Pastor in Andong Baptist Church, Gyeonbuk. Adoption process In August 2019, Jeong-In was matched with Jang and Ahn after they applied to adopt a baby girl. Jang and Ahn have a 4-year-old biological daughter and said that they wanted a baby sister for their biological daughter. The adoptive parents passed the adoption screening process including the psychological test and qualified for adoption. Jeong-In moved in with them in February 2020. She weighed 8.5kg (18.8 lbs) when she was officially adopted by Jang and Ahn. Abuse While in the same household with Jang Hayeong and Ahn Sungeun, for 8 months (271 days), Jeong-In was systematically abused and tortured in many brutal ways. The abuse included being regularly beaten which caused multiple bone fractures, starvation because they didn't like the smell of her feces. She was served hot food right after it was taken out from the microwave which caused blisters and wounds in the mouth. Her adoptive parents left her alone at home for over 3 hours a day for a minimum of 15 times during the 2 months she was absent from daycare (July 2020 to September 2020). She was locked in a dark room every day after 7 pm. Jang and Ahn slapped her and tore at her mouth when she was crying. They overturned her stroller whilst she was inside it to scare her when she was crying. They deliberately tripped her while she was walking and then laughed loudly. They also left her alone alongside the swimming pool for a whole day without a guardian and hung her up by her arms to hit her armpit area as it was a very sensitive area and so would cause tremendous pain. Death On October 12, 2020, Jeong-In was sent to day-care in bad condition. According to the daycare teachers, she couldn't walk, stand, drink nor eat all day. Her belly seemed swollen and big but she didn't fuss nor cry at all. Her diaper was also dry for hours without any urine passing. The teachers called her adoptive mother and she came to check Jeong-In's condition for a few minutes but then left saying there was nothing to worry about. However, Jeong-In was not OK, she had no energy and seemed very weak. After being so dehydrated, she finally took a few sips of milk that the teacher tried to feed her, but she immediately panted after drinking the liquid and her whole body began to shiver. When her adoptive father picked her up in the afternoon, the teacher expressed her concern about Jeong-In's health and how she didn't walk all day; at that moment, her adoptive father forced Jeong-In to take a few steps towards him, trying to prove that she was fine. The teachers asked the adoptive father to take Jeong-In to the hospital immediately, but he decided not to. The next day on October 13, 2020, Jeong-In's adoptive mother recorded with her phone to force Jeong-In to walk between 8:46 am and 9:01 am. In the video, Jeong-In seemed to be in huge pain, constantly crying, but her adoptive mother was yelling loudly and screaming at Jeong-In demanding that she walk. At around 9:40 am the neighbors downstairs heard some extremely loud noises from above as if dumbbells were falling on the ground about 4-5 times. The neighbor went upstairs to check if everything was fine, but only Jang answered the door while her biological daughter peeked out. Jang apologized for the noise and said everything was OK. Then Jang called the daycare stating that Jeong-In would be absent from day-care on that day. Around 10:19 am, the adoptive mother took her biological daughter to the daycare and then to a lingerie store on the way home. In the surveillance footage, Jeong-In was not with her adoptive mother and so she was alone at home again. Once returning home, Jang finally called a taxi to bring Jeong-In to the hospital. The taxi driver saw that Jeong-In was turning blue and unconscious so he asked Jang to call the ambulance instead but she refused. After several rounds of cardiac arrest and resuscitation in the ER, Jeong-In passed away on October 13, 2020, at the age of 16 months old. While Jeong-In was fighting for her life in the ER, her adoptive mother was perusing online shopping malls and looking for a fish cake to buy outside of the ER room. Autopsy During the trial, the autopsy came out and the doctor testified that Jeong-In's case was the worst child abuse case he had ever seen in his 20 years of experience. Out of the 3,800 bodies he has examined, from a pediatric perspective, Jeong-In had the worst injuries and her entire body was severely damaged from head to toe. The forensic doctor had never seen a ruptured pancreas in a pediatric case and he concluded that Jeong-In was probably stepped on multiple times on her stomach by adults. Only extremely strong force applied to her abdomen would cause such rupture of her internal organs. Additionally, based on some recovered tissue found in Jeong-In's organs, the doctors also believed that there was another severe beating that happened 3-5 days prior to her death. The last few days in Jeong-In's life were in extreme pain, with even breathing being painful which explained why she could not cry in the day-care when she was last seen alive. Dismissal of police reports 2 months after the adoption, the daycare teachers started to observe unusual bruises on Jeong-In's face and ears. When they found more bruises on her thighs, abdomen, neck, and collar bone fractures, the teachers reported a suspected child abuse case to the police on May 25, 2020. The police and the child protection institution started to investigate but closed the case with the conclusion that no apparent abuse founded. On June 29, 2020, a family friend of Jang's saw Jeong-In was left alone in Jang's car for over an hour on a hot summer day and reported it to the police. The investigation was not initiated by the police until one month later and therefore all CCTV footage from the street had been erased, so the case was closed again. Jeong-In was absent from her day-care for 2 months from July 2020 to September 2020, but when she returned to the day-care in September, the teachers were shocked to see her condition. Jeong-In had lost a significant amount of weight and was covered in bruises all over her body. The teachers immediately took her to a clinic where the pediatrician examined Jeong-In and reported to the police that Jeong-In was suffering from malnutrition and obvious child abuse. The pediatrician strongly advised the police to immediately separate Jeong-In from her parents. However, the police and child protection institution took Jeong-In to another clinic where her adoptive parents had a relationship with the doctor and as such, the doctor diagnosed Jeong-In with a mouth infection, hence the case was closed again and Jeong-In was sent back home to her abusive parents. 20 days after the third case was closed, Jeong-In died at the age of 16 months old. References 2020 in South Korea Murder in South Korea Female murder victims Murdered South Korean children Child abuse resulting in death Adoption in South Korea Incidents of violence against girls

67159545

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Stuart%20Lubbock

Death of Stuart Lubbock

Stuart Lubbock (1 October 196931 March 2001) was a meat factory worker from Essex, England, who died under suspicious circumstances at the home of television personality Michael Barrymore. Lubbock was pronounced dead at the Princess Alexandra Hospital, Harlow at 8:23a.m., on 31 March 2001. Michael Barrymore and two others presentJames Futers and Simon Shawreported finding Lubbock unconscious in the swimming pool of Barrymore's home in Roydon, Essex on the morning of 31 March 2001. He was wearing only boxer shorts. He was discovered by the pathologist at the hospital to have "serious" anal injuries, with traces of ecstasy, cocaine and alcohol in his blood. Background Lubbock, a wholesale butcher's supervisor from Harlow, Essex, had visited the home of Barrymore after meeting him in The Millennium nightclub. A party followed. According to BBC News, neighbours described the deceased as a "pleasant, sociable" man who lived with his father Terry and brother Kevin in a terraced house in Harlow. At the time of Lubbock's death, he had two daughters, aged four and one, who were being brought up by his former partner, Claire Wicks, whom he had left months earlier. Inquest A September 2002 inquest reached an open verdict: Coroner Caroline Beasley-Murray said, "None of these witnesses who were party guests for three hours have given to this court an explanation about how Stuart Lubbock, a previously fit 31-year old, should be found floating in a swimming pool at the premises with a significant level of alcohol and drugs in his system and have serious anal injuries." Essex Police failed to call a witness from Princess Alexandra Hospital, a member of the medical team who attempted resuscitation for an hour, and who was responsible for monitoring Lubbock's temperature with a rectal thermometer. The medical professional provided a sworn statement that there were no injuries to Lubbock's anus at the time of admission. This has been taken as evidence that the injuries were inflicted to Lubbock's unguarded body in the seven hours between being declared dead and the post mortem being carried out. Initial investigation dropped Detective Chief Superintendent Ian McNeil said that as the cause of death had been "unascertainable" and there was no witness evidence, he had decided to suspend the criminal investigation. During the course of the police investigation, both Justin Merritt and Jonathan Kenney had been arrested on suspicion of murder by police but later were released without charge. Dr. Heath concluded that he had drowned accidentally. Three other pathologists who examined the body said that the marks on Lubbock's forehead suggested that he might have been asphyxiated. However, none claimed that this was the cause of death. It was admitted that these marks could have been caused by the extensive attempts to resuscitate Lubbock. It had been confirmed that Dr. Heath has volunteered to stop working for the police, having found faulty evidence of foul play in previous deaths where there was none. 2006 developments Private prosecution launched, later dismissed by judge On 11 January 2006, Tony Bennett, the Lubbock family's solicitor, issued an application in the Harlow Magistrates Court for Michael Barrymore to be charged with six offences, relating to his actions on the morning Lubbock's death. Bennett & Co. attempted to serve the papers on Barrymore whilst he was appearing on Channel 4's Celebrity Big Brother UK, generating more headlines. This was later thrown out of court by a district judge who ruled that Barrymore had no case to answer. Police review case On 1 February 2006, Essex Police reviewed the death of Stuart Lubbock. Inquest witness arrested, charges later dropped On 10 May 2006, Kylie Merritt, a witness at the coroner's inquest, was arrested on suspicion of perjury. On 14 June 2006, the charges against Merritt were dropped. Merritt was a witness on the night of Lubbock's death. Merritt told the inquest, "I saw Mr. Parker (Barrymore's real name) put some cocaine on his finger and rub it on Mr. Lubbock's gums." She later admitted that she could not be certain that her allegation was true during a lie detector test conducted by tabloid newspaper the News of the World. Pathologist discredited On 19 June 2006, Michael Heath, the pathologist at the autopsy of Lubbock, was called before a disciplinary tribunal at the Old Bailey. The following day, Dr. Heath's testimony was discredited. At the hearing, Charles Miskin QC for the Home Office said: "It is the belief of The Home Office that Dr. Heath has fallen short of the high standards required by the Secretary of State of forensic pathologists." Case re-opened Lubbock's father Terry set up the Lubbock Trust to campaign for further investigation into the case and to generate as much publicity as possible. On 2 December 2006, police announced they were reopening the investigation into Lubbock's death. Investigation by Independent Police Complaints Commission Following a dossier on the case presented to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (I.P.C.C.) by Terry Lubbock's lawyer Tony Bennett on 1 December 2006, the IPCC approved an investigation by an outside police force into over 30 separate allegations of incompetence and possible corruption by Essex Police. The allegations pertain to their initial £8million investigation into Stuart Lubbock's death. In April 2007, the IPCC elevated this investigation, internally managed and run, and appointed former Hertfordshire Police Officer Adrian Tapp to head the investigation. In May 2007, the IPCC agreed with Bennett that a total of 38 separate complaints about Essex Police would be investigated. Terry Lubbock died in 2021. His friend Harry Cichy said, “He’s died sad, because he’s died knowing people never knew the truth about what happened. But no one could have fought harder for their son. A new inquest was what really mattered to him. He had lost faith in the police. Sadly, he’s died not knowing whether there will be another inquest.” 2007 arrests On 14 June 2007, three men were arrested in connection with Lubbock's death. Michael Barrymore was one arrested on a charge of murder. On 15 June, Barrymore was released without charge after being questioned. 2015–17 civil action by Barrymore against Essex Police In July 2015, Barrymore began the process of suing Essex Police over his arrest. In October 2016, it was reported that High Court papers showed police had admitted that Barrymore was wrongfully arrested and detained. This was because "the arresting officer, PC Cootes, was not fully aware of the grounds for arrest ... and not by reason of a lack of reasonable grounds to suspect the claimant." On 18 August 2017, the High Court in London ruled that Barrymore would be entitled to "more than nominal" damages against Essex Police after being wrongly arrested 10 years previously. The judge did not decide on the sum to be awarded, as his ruling dealt only with the preliminary issue of the level of damages to be awarded. Barrymore was not present for the decision but valued his claim at more than £2.4million. Essex Police released a statement on 1 July 2019 to announce that the claim for damages had been dropped, and that no payment had been made to Barrymore, following an appeal; the Court of Appeals judges determined instead that Barrymore was entitled only to “nominal” damages. 2020–21 renewed appeal and arrest On 4 February 2020, Essex Police offered a £20,000 reward for information leading to a conviction. The cash reward, funded by Essex Police and the charity Crimestoppers, was in response to a new Channel 4 documentary on the incident, Barrymore: The Body in the Pool, that aired on 6 February 2020. On 17 March 2021, Essex Police confirmed that they had arrested a 50-year-old man from Cheshire in connection with the indecent assault and murder of Stuart Lubbock, as a result of the appeal. Police are preparing to submit a file to the Crown Prosecution Service. Lucy Morris of Essex Police stated, "Nine people were at that party. We know that not everyone was responsible for what happened but someone was. Now is the time to come forward, if you haven’t done so already, to set this matter to rest by providing us with any information you have." She emphasised Essex police had, "never given up on this case" and investigations were complex. Following Terry Lubbock's death Det Ch Insp Jennings said, "Terry's devotion to his son and to his pursuit of justice knew no bounds. He was an example to many of us in his relentless quest for truth and justice. Our investigation into Stuart's death will not end with Terry's - as long as the case remains open, we will do all we can to deliver justice for him and his family. To this end we urge anyone who has information about Stuart's death to please now, more than ever, do the right thing and come forward." Channel 4 documentary In February 2020, Channel 4 broadcast a documentary, The Body in the Pool. During this programme, Detective Chief Inspector Stephen Jennings said police secured the pool area, “Not to the standard we would expect,” including the removal of evidence from the scene, DCI Jennings maintained. Evidence notably included a door handle and the pool thermometer, which the police later believed were used to rape Lubbock; coroner Michael Heath corroborated. Jennings said, “I believe very much that Stuart Lubbock was raped and murdered that night. Someone that was there knows what happened.” Joe Sommerlad of The Independent wrote, “I was shown a photograph at the police headquarters and it shows on the wall of the Jacuzzi a pool thermometer that would have four cutting edges.” Heath says, “An object like this or even this object could have produced the injuries I identified on Stuart’s anus if this had been passed into the anal canal a number of times.” References External links The Lubbock Trust website 1969 births 2001 deaths Deaths by person in England People from Harlow

67235772

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Marvin%20Scott

Death of Marvin Scott

Marvin David Scott III (1994/1995 – March 14, 2021) was an African American man who died on March 14, 2021, in police custody at a correctional facility in McKinney, Texas United States. The Texas Ranger Division is conducting an independent criminal investigation of the incident. Seven law enforcement officers were placed on administrative leave. On April 29, 2021, the Collin County Medical Examiner ruled that the manner of death in Scott's case was homicide. According to the examiner, the cause of death was "fatal acute stress response in an individual with previously diagnosed schizophrenia during restraint struggle with law enforcement." References 2021 deaths 2020–2021 United States racial unrest Accidental deaths in Texas Asphyxia-related deaths by law enforcement in the United States Deaths by person in the United States March 2021 events in the United States McKinney, Texas

67520132

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Mario%20Gonzalez

Death of Mario Gonzalez

On April 19, 2021, Mario Gonzalez, an unarmed 26-year-old Latino man, died while under police custody by the Alameda, California Police Department. In their initial report of the incident, the department reported that Gonzalez died after a "scuffle" and "physical altercation" resulting in a "medical emergency." The Gonzalez family's attorney called the police's descriptions of his death "misinformation." In body cam footage released on April 27, Gonzalez could be seen being pinned to the ground for more than five minutes while officers stated, "Please stop resisting us." At one point, Gonzalez told the officers, "Please don't do this to me," before eventually becoming unresponsive. He was later pronounced dead at a hospital. His death was ruled a homicide. People involved Mario Arenales Gonzalez (December 24, 1994 – April 19, 2021) was a 26-year-old man from Oakland, California. He was a father and was the primary caretaker of his mother and brother, who has autism. He worked as a chef and construction worker. The officers involved with Gonzalez's death were identified as Eric McKinley, who has been on the force for three years, Cameron Leahy, who has been on the force for three years, and James Fisher, who has been on the force for 10 years. The three men have been placed on paid administrative leave. Incident Officer McKinley approached Gonzalez at a park after police said they were responding to reports of a man who was believed to be intoxicated and suspected of theft. Audio from the 9-1-1 call showed the complaint stated Gonzalez was "not doing anything wrong" but "just scaring my wife." Gonzalez was in the park with two Walgreens baskets and two open alcohol bottles. He spoke with the officers calmly before they requested his identification, which he did not or could not produce. An officer said, "Please put your hand behind your back... please stop resisting us." The officers pushed Gonzalez facedown into mulch, placing a knee on his back and holding him down with their arms for four minutes as Gonzalez gasped for air and said, "I didn't do nothing" and "Please don't do this." One officer said they "have no weight on his chest." Gonzalez lost consciousness, at which point the officers rolled him over, performed CPR, and delivered Narcan. He was pronounced dead later in hospital. Investigation and legal proceedings The incident is under investigation by the Alameda County Sheriff's Department, the Alameda County district attorney's office, and Louise Renne, a former San Francisco city attorney, who was hired to conduct an independent investigation. City officials stated they are "committed to full transparency and accountability in the aftermath of Mr. Gonzalez's death." Alameda's interim police chief stated it was unclear whether officers used justifiable action, or excessive force and that the investigation was ongoing. Both the Gonzalez family's attorney and the department stated they were waiting for the autopsy and toxicology reports. Autopsy On May 7, the Alameda County Sheriff’s office requested outside agencies to assist in reviewing Gonzalez autopsy, citing the need for "public trust." An autopsy report was issued on December 10, 2021, naming Gonzalez's death a homicide, with methamphetamine toxicity as the leading cause. Attorneys for his family dispute this, stating that Gonzalez would not have died were it not for being restrained in a prone position, with multiple officers on his back, for over five minutes. Civil rights lawsuit On April 30, the Gonzalez family's lawyer announced the family would be filing a civil rights lawsuit against the Alameda Police Department. The family stated Gonzalez complied with the officers, and the actions of the police violated his rights. Calls for FBI investigation On April 30, the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland asking for an FBI investigation. LULAC president Domingo Garcia wrote, "We understand that the Alameda County Sheriff, the Alameda County District Attorney, and the City of Alameda are conducting independent investigations. We expect that those investigations will focus on the Use of Force by those officers in a criminal context. This is a request for an investigation into whether Mr. Gonzalez’ Civil Rights were violated by these officers. In the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder and in consideration of the Georgia Sheriff who was recently indicted April 27, 2021 on use of unreasonable force found in an FBI Civil Rights Violation investigation. We urge you to complete an investigation into the matter of Mario Gonzalez as soon as practicable.” Reactions Family Gonzalez's brother stated, "Everything we saw in that video was unnecessary and unprofessional. The police killed my brother in the same manner that they killed George Floyd." Gonzalez's mother said, "He's a lovely guy. He's respectful, all the time. They broke my family for no reason." The family also blamed the police for Gonzalez's death, saying the "police escalated what should have been a minor, peaceful encounter" with an unarmed man. Julia Sherwin, a lawyer representing the Gonzalez family, stated, "His death was completely avoidable and unnecessary. Drunk guy in a park doesn't equal a capital sentence." Protests Protests occurred in Alameda, where activists marched in the same neighborhood where Gonzalez died. The group of activists hoped to “wake up” the neighborhood and demand "white people stop calling the police on Black and brown people." Activists released a statement saying, "Your irrational fear — which is truly about power, control, and domination — stole Mario’s life from his son, his brothers, his mother." On May 3, around a hundred students from Oakland Technical High School marched in honor of Gonzalez; the students began at Oscar Grant Plaza and ended at the Alameda Police Department. Experts Geoffrey Alpert, a professor of criminology at the University of South Carolina criticized the officers' actions as "the worst thing that could have happened," he stated, "Once they're controlling him, as we learned from the Floyd trial with all those medical experts, this position or compression is deadly. Obviously he's in some sort of mental crisis, and what's the goal? What are they trying to do with him? Was he a danger?" Ed Obayashi, a Northern California sheriff's deputy and police trainer, stated, "There is going to be a very intensive inquiry on this. It is rare that a non-threatening, non-belligerent person ends up dying like this. What was the officers' justification for detaining him? This individual was not a threat to the officers. This is another tragic incident of compression asphyxia." Seth Stoughton, a former-Florida police officer and a USC professor of law, stated "the dangers of positional asphyxia" were well-known with policemen, and compared the tactic to a "boa constrictor killing its prey by depriving it of oxygen." John Burris, an Oakland lawyer who specializes in police abuse cases and represented Rodney King in his civil rights lawsuit, stated it is "common knowledge" within law enforcement departments that pinning people down has "inherent" risk. He stated, "But they still do it. Why do they still do it? It's the rush of business. People get caught up." Institutions CURYJ Executive Director George Galvis stated, "We have seen this play out time and time again. Police come up with a false narrative until footage is revealed and the truth comes out. They did this to 13-year-old Adam Toledo, and they would have done it to George Floyd if there wasn't community recording." Jennifer Stark, an attorney with Disability Rights California, stated, "This was a tragic and avoidable incident that once again demonstrates the danger of involving law enforcement and interactions with people experiencing mental health crises and substance-use issues. This is not a violent person. There were no safety issues raised. There were some concerns potentially about mental health issues. And this is one of those cases where it would have been perfectly appropriate to involve mental health professionals to come in to speak with Mario and to de-escalate the situation. There was no crisis, until the law enforcement got involved." Public officials Alameda mayor Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft stated, "I'm just heartsick. This is a young man. This shouldn't have happened." On Twitter, former-Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro wrote, "Police in Alameda, CA wrote in a report that Mario Gonzalez was violent before his arrest and died in the hospital after a 'medical emergency.' Body cam footage shows he was calm and peaceful. He died on-site after they knelt on his back for 5 minutes." U.S. House Representative Pramila Jayapal wrote, "This makes me sick, heartbroken, disgusted, frustrated. Everything. Mario Arenales Gonzalez goes from living to dead at the hands of police. He was afraid of being handcuffed for nothing — afraid he would be killed. And he was. There must be justice." Former-Congresswoman Debbie Mucarsel-Powell wrote, "Something is wrong when you're a person of color & as a parent you have to worry literally every time they step out the door. There's no freedom in American when you are murdered bc of the color of your skin. #NoMas." Aftermath The footage of Gonzalez's death has been compared to the murder of George Floyd by Derek Chauvin, who was convicted of murder on the day after Gonzalez's death. Proposed reforms In the aftermath of Gonzalez' death, the Alameda City Council planned a special session to discuss immediate police reforms, including the creation of a civilian police oversight board, a revision of the department's use of force policies, and new requirement for a "non-police response" to certain types of 9-1-1 calls. In March 2021, Alameda voted to pursue a long-term program to send mental health professionals to some 9-1-1 calls, rather than police. Michael Lawlor, an associate professor of criminal justice at the University of New Haven, suggested that a program such as Oregon's CAHOOTS would connect people to health services rather than simply incarcerating them. On the state level, some have called for the passage of Democratic Assemblyman Mike Gipson's Assembly Bill 490 which would outlaw "positional asphyxia," a form of apprehension that compresses an individuals' airways and reduces their ability to breathe regularly. Assemblyman Gibson stated, "This does not mean that a police officer can no longer restrain anyone when they need to for public safety, but it would mean that they cannot keep anyone from breathing/losing oxygen when restraining them." References 1994 births 2021 deaths 2021 in California Deaths by person in the United States Filmed killings by law enforcement People killed by law enforcement officers in the United States Alameda, California 2021 controversies in the United States

67713744

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Ronald%20Greene

Death of Ronald Greene

On May 10, 2019, Ronald Hardin Greene, an unarmed 49-year-old Black man, died after being arrested by Louisiana State Police following a high-speed chase outside Monroe, Louisiana. During the arrest, he was stunned, punched, and placed in a chokehold. He was also dragged face down while handcuffed and shackled, and he was left face down for at least nine minutes. At least six white troopers were involved in the arrest. When Greene's corpse was brought to the hospital, police told doctors that his car had run into a tree, a story a doctor said "does not add up", given the nature of Greene's injuries and the fact that there were two stun-gun probes lodged in his body; police later acknowledged that Greene had died during a struggle, though without mentioning any use of force by officers. Although authorities refused to release body camera footage for two years, the Associated Press obtained and published a portion of it in May 2021. , the exact cause of Greene's death remained unclear. One trooper involved in the death, Dakota DeMoss, was given letters of reprimand and counseling for violating the department's rules about courtesy and recordings. DeMoss was later arrested for using excessive force while handcuffing a motorist in a separate incident; he was subsequently fired in June 2021. A second trooper, Chris Hollingsworth, died in a single-vehicle car accident in September 2020, hours after learning he would be fired for his role in Greene's death. A third trooper, Kory York, was suspended for 50 hours for dragging Greene and improperly turning off his body camera, and has since returned to duty. , a federal wrongful death lawsuit and a federal civil rights investigation remain pending. Death Shortly after midnight on May 10, 2019, State Trooper Dakota DeMoss attempted to pull over Ronald Greene, a 49-year-old African-American barber, for an unspecified traffic violation near Monroe, Louisiana. Greene did not stop, and troopers chased him on rural highways at over . During the chase, DeMoss radioed that "We got to do something. He's going to kill somebody." When Greene finally did stop, DeMoss and Master Trooper Chris Hollingsworth rushed to Greene's vehicle as Greene said repeatedly, "OK, OK. I'm sorry" and appeared to raise his hands. Within seconds, Hollingsworth shot Greene with a stun gun through the driver's window while commanding Greene to get out of the car. After Greene, who was unarmed, got out through the car's passenger side, one trooper wrestled him to the ground, put him in a chokehold, and punched him in the face. Hollingsworth struck Greene multiple times. While they tried to handcuff Greene, one of the troopers said "He's grabbing me", and another said "Put your hands behind your back, bitch." Greene cried "I'm sorry!" and "I'm your brother! I'm scared!" Another trooper stunned Greene a second time, and said he would shoot again "if you don't put your fucking hands behind your back". After handcuffing Greene and shackling his legs, Trooper Kory York briefly dragged Greene facedown along the ground. Before York dragged Greene, Greene had tried to prop himself up on his side, leading York to shout at Greene: "Don't you turn over! Lay on your belly!" After dragging Greene, York told him: "You better lay on your fucking belly like I told you to! You understand?" Instead of rendering aid, the troopers left Greene unattended, facedown and moaning, for at least nine minutes while they cleaned blood off themselves with sanitizer wipes. One trooper said, "I hope this guy ain't got fucking AIDS." Another trooper referred to Greene as a "stupid motherfucker". At some point during the arrest, the troopers said that they did not want to have Greene sit up because they feared he would spit blood on them, to which Lieutenant John Clary told them not to sit Greene up. At another point, according to an investigator's report filed around early April 2021, "Greene's eyes are squeezed shut as he shakes his head back and forth moaning in pain, movements consistent with having been sprayed in the face with (pepper) spray", and about this time an officer "asked Greene if he has his attention now" and another said, "Yeah, that shit hurts, doesn’t it?" After several minutes, Greene, unresponsive and bleeding from the head, was put in an ambulance, handcuffed to the stretcher. He was dead on arrival at the hospital. Cause of death and false statements by police , the exact cause of Greene's death remained unclear. A medical report states he was bruised, bloodied, and had two stun-gun prongs in his back; the emergency room physician wrote that the troopers' initial claim that Greene had been killed in a collision with a tree "does not add up." An autopsy commissioned by Greene's family found severe injuries to his head and several wounds to his face. Authorities repeatedly refused to release body camera footage, or details about Greene's death, for two years. Troopers initially told Greene's family that he died by crashing into a tree. Later, troopers released a statement that said Greene "became unresponsive" and died on his way to the hospital after a struggle with the troopers. The troopers' report made no mention of use of force by the troopers. In 2020, the Union Parish Coroner's office told the Associated Press that Greene's death was attributed to cardiac arrest and ruled accidental. The coroner's file attributed Greene's death to a car crash and does not mention a struggle with police. The full coroner's report, released in 2021, indicated that Greene had high blood levels of cocaine and alcohol, but also had a fractured breastbone and a ruptured aorta. On the day of Greene's death, the highest-ranked officer at the arrest, Lieutenant John Clary, falsely told investigators that he had no body camera video of the arrest. In fact, Clary's body camera recorded 30 minutes of footage of the arrest. According to state police documents, during the arrest, Clary "immediately" switched off his body camera when another trooper indicated that it was recording. Clary also falsely told investigators that Greene had been "still resisting, even though he was handcuffed. He was still trying to get away and was not cooperating"; this was contradicted by Clary's own body camera footage, according to state police documents. A third false statement from Clary to investigators was his claim that troopers sat Greene up and "immediately held his head up so he could get a clear airway". Lawsuit and investigation Greene's family filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit against the state police in May 2020, which remains pending . The family released graphic images of Greene's injuries, and images of Greene's car showing minor damage; the images were circulated online in September 2020. Initially, the Louisiana State Police said the troopers' use of force was justified, describing it as "awful but lawful". State police did not open an administrative investigation until August 2020. A federal civil rights investigation into the death was opened by September 2020. The state police's internal investigation determined that Hollingsworth should be fired; in September 2020, hours after being informed that he would indeed be fired, he died in a single-car collision. In October 2020, the Associated Press published audio of Hollingsworth apparently telling a colleague that he had "beat the ever-living fuck out of" Greene and "choked him and everything else trying to get him under control", and that Greene "was spitting blood everywhere, and all of a sudden he just went limp." The internal investigation also resulted in York being suspended without pay for 50 hours for dragging Greene and improperly turning off his body camera. York told investigators that he deactivated the device because it was beeping loudly and his "mind was on other things". After the suspension, York returned to duty, where he remains . DeMoss received a "letter of counseling" and "letter of reprimand" for violating rules about courtesy and recording equipment in the arrest of Greene. Clary was not disciplined by the department with regard to Greene's death. Greene's family was allowed in October 2020 to watch around 30 minutes of body-camera video of Greene's arrest. At this time, Greene's family also met with Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards. The governor said that prosecutors did not allow the video to be released to the public, as investigations were still active. DeMoss was arrested in February 2021 for using excessive force in a May 2020 arrest of another motorist. An internal investigation concluded that when the motorist had surrendered face-down on the ground, DeMoss attacked him with a knee strike and a slap, and then DeMoss turned off his own body camera. The investigation also determined that the motorist never resisted arrest, despite the troopers' report that he was resisting and trying to flee. The motorist's arrest "bears a strong resemblance" to Greene's, described the Associated Press. In late May 2021, the department made public their plans to fire DeMoss. In June 2021, DeMoss was fired. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Justice Department Civil Rights Division, and the US Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana have opened a criminal investigation into Greene's death. Marc Morial of the National Urban League and Judy Reese Morse of the Urban League of Louisiana sent a letter to the Justice Department, requesting that the investigation be broadened to examine the Louisiana State Police as a whole. In late June 2021, the Lafayette Daily Advertiser reported that investigators from the Louisiana State Police were prevented from recommending prosecution of any of the involved officers by the senior state police leadership, including the superintendent, Col. Kevin Reeves. Federal investigations were unaffected. Release of body camera footage On May 18, 2021, the Associated Press obtained 46 minutes of body camera footage and released an edited clip. One trooper apparently deactivated the body camera's audio about halfway through the video. At least six troopers, who were white, were on the scene, but not all had their body cameras activated; some did not have their audio activated. On July 7, 2021, the FBI ordered a re-examination of Greene's autopsy taking into account the body camera footage which had not been available during the first autopsy. References External links (Video) "Civil rights investigation underway into death of Ronald Greene" (May 19, 2021). NBC News. 2019 controversies in the United States 2019 in Louisiana 2021 controversies in the United States African-American-related controversies Deaths by person in the United States Deaths in police custody in the United States Filmed deaths in the United States Filmed killings by law enforcement Law enforcement controversies in the United States May 2019 events in the United States Monroe, Louisiana Victims of police brutality in the United States

68040872

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Stanislav%20Tom%C3%A1%C5%A1

Death of Stanislav Tomáš

On 19 June 2021, Stanislav Tomáš, a Romani man in Teplice, Czech Republic, died after several police officers pinned him to the ground and knelt on his neck for several minutes. The death was filmed and the video went viral, leading to comparisons with the murder of George Floyd in the United States and led to protests against antiziganism. Background Romani people () are an ethnic minority in the Czech Republic, currently making up 2–3% of the population. Since the creation of Czechoslovakia in 1918, the Romani population have experienced considerable hardship, having been a main target of Nazi extermination programs during World War II, and the subject of forced relocation, the building of Roma walls to enforce segregation, and other discriminatory social policies during the Communist era. Romani people continue to be targeted by far-right groups in the Czech Republic, which spread anti-Romanyism. Among highly publicized cases was the Vítkov arson attack of 2009. A 2010 survey found that 83% of Czechs consider Roma asocial and 45% of Czechs would like to expel them from the Czech Republic, and a 2019 Pew Research poll poll found that 66% of Czechs held unfavorable views of Roma. Death On 19 June 2021, Tomáš, a 46-year-old Romani man, was arrested by Czech police in Teplice. Multiple eyewitnesses stated that he was arrested while attempting to prevent the vandalism of a car. Video footage of the arrest that was captured by witnesses showed several police officers pinning him to the ground and kneeling on his neck and back. During the arrest, Tomáš cried out repeatedly in distress and several onlookers attempted to warn the police that he couldn't breathe. Tomáš died shortly afterwards in an ambulance. Police denied any involvement in the death. An official police statement claimed that a court-ordered autopsy had found no connection between Tomáš' death and the actions of the police and that he had instead died of an amphetamine overdose. The Czech police later posted a video on Twitter titled "No Czech Floyd" showing an unidentified half-naked man fighting with another next to a car. On 30 June 2021, Tomáš' family announced that they would be filing a criminal complaint against Czech police with the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC). ERRC president Đorđe Jovanović stated that "police harassment, ethnic profiling, brutality, torture, and sometimes even death is the experience for many Roma in Europe when they interact with law enforcement." Reactions Jan Hamacek, the Czech Minister of the Interior, stated that the police had his full support and that "anybody under the influence of addictive substances who breaks the law has to count on the police intervening." The Council of Europe called for "an urgent, thorough, and independent investigation" into the death. Amnesty International also called for an investigation into the death, stating that kneeling on the neck as a form of restraint was "reckless, unnecessary and disproportionate, and therefore unlawful" and that the Czech government's statements defending the police "can only be understood as giving carte blanche for law enforcement officials to resort to unnecessary or excessive use of force when handling with any person under the influence of drugs, providing a dangerous sense of impunity and being above the law." The Czech Government Council for Romani Minority Affairs stated that "the obvious similarity between this case and the death of the African-American George Floyd after a police intervention in the USA in June 2020 using very similar techniques raises a subject of basic interest to all of society about whether police are using force proportionately during their interventions." Sebijan Fejzula of the University of Coimbra stated that "the death of Stanislav Tomáš is not an isolated case" and that "Roma are victims of permanent state terror, yet, there is little discussion around the issue of police brutality as a result of structural racism." Protests After growing criticism on Police brutality against Romani people, on June 26 people in Teplice commemorated his death, with some coming from as far away as Hungary and Slovakia. Commemorations organised by Romani NGOs were held in several European cities: On June 25 in Berlin, organised by RomaTrial e.V. On June 27 in Vienna, organised by the Hochschüler*innenschaft Österreichischer Roma und Romnja (HÖR). On 6 July Kosovo Romani people demonstrated in Pristina and in front of the Czech embassy to Kosovo. References June 2021 events in Europe 2021 deaths Czech Romani people Deaths by person in Europe Deaths in the Czech Republic People who died in police custody Teplice Antiziganism in the Czech Republic Police brutality in Europe

68277058

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Khant%20Nyar%20Hein

Death of Khant Nyar Hein

Khant Nyar Hein (; 2003/2004 — 14 March 2021), also known by his Chinese name Lin Yaozong, was a Burmese medical student activist. He was killed during the 2021 Myanmar protests. Khant Nyar Hein became an icon of the anti-coup protest movement after his death. He is remembered as a martyr of Myanmar's Democracy. Early life Khant Nyar Hein was born in 2003 in Latha Township, Yangon, Myanmar into the Burmese-Chinese family. He finished his primary and secondary education at Basic Education High School No. 1 Dagon. He was a first year student of University of Medicine 1, Yangon. Protest and death During anti-coup protests in Tamwe Township, he was shot in the head by Junta forces on 14 March 2021, the bloodiest day until that date during the protests. Citizen video shows police approaching his body, beating up and arresting a young girl who was trying to help him, then later dragging his body away. "Please don’t hate Chinese in Myanmar. We were born here", Khant Nyar Hein's mother appealed to the people of Myanmar shortly after her son was shot dead by police. Speaking in fluent Mandarin, she called on the Chinese government to hear their pleas. Hundreds of young mourners spilled out on to the street at the funeral of Khant Nyar Hein. Members of the medical community hold up the three finger salute at the funeral. References 2021 deaths Burmese democracy activists Deaths by firearm in Myanmar Protests in Myanmar

68321636

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Steven%20Crawford

Death of Steven Crawford

Steven Alexander "Stevie" Crawford (October 2, 1960 – July 11, 1963) was a formerly unidentified toddler whose body was found in a reservoir in Ashland, Oregon, on July 11, 1963. He was identified in 2021 using GEDmatch. Discovery On July 11, 1963, an Oregon man reeled in the remains of a toddler while fishing in Ashland's Keene Creek Reservoir. He initially thought he had discovered a blanket roll, not realizing what he found until after he removed it from the water. The man then reported his findings to the police. Initial investigation Investigators discovered that the blankets, along with a quilt, were bound with wire and filled with heavy iron molds to keep the toddler's body from reaching the surface of the creek. The coroner performed an autopsy the next day, and estimated that the boy had died sometime after October 1962. The coroner labeled the cause of the toddler's death as unknown but probably suspicious. After a month of attempting to identify the child's remains and countless tips, investigators gave up and shelved his case. The child was buried at Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery in a $114 plastic casket with a gravestone that read "Baby Doe, Known only to God." The case was not investigated again for another 45 years. Renewed interest In 2007, Detective Sergeant Colin Fagan asked Jackson County investigator Jim Tattersall to look through boxes in the Jackson County courthouse's basement for old files on cold cases. Doing this, he came across the unidentified young boy's case and informed Fagan. The two then committed to identifying the toddler. In 2008, the child's remains were exhumed, and his DNA was sent to the Combined DNA Index System. However, no profiles in the database matched the child. In 2010, investigators took the boy's skull to a dentist's office equipped with a 360-degree X-ray machine and photographed it. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children then took these images and created a facial reconstruction of the child. The dentists also told the investigators that the boy might have had Down syndrome. The skull was then sent to a forensic odontologist, who could not match any dental records in a database to the child. The case went cold again, and the child was reburied. Identification In December 2020, the Jackson County Sheriffs Office submitted the boy's DNA to Parabon NanoLabs and GEDmatch for phenotyping and genealogical analysis with the help of GEDmatch's chief genealogist, CeCe Moore. She identified a half-brother living in Ohio and interviewed him. This led to her finding that the boy was two-year-old Steven "Stevie" Crawford, a boy who was born with Down syndrome. Crawford's family in New Mexico told detectives that he went missing after his mother took him on a trip with her. When she returned without Stevie, she told the rest of her family that they "would not have to worry about him anymore." She has since died. After the identification, the boy’s remains were again exhumed, and were reburied in a family plot in New Mexico. See also List of solved missing person cases List of unsolved murders References 1960 births 1960s missing person cases 1963 deaths 1963 in Oregon 1963 murders in the United States Deaths by person in the United States Formerly missing people Incidents of violence against boys Jackson County, Oregon Male murder victims Missing person cases in New Mexico Murdered American children Unsolved murders in the United States

68350179

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Orville%20Blackwood

Death of Orville Blackwood

Orville Blackwood (June 1960 – 28 August 1991) was a Jamaican-born British man, whose death at Broadmoor Hospital on 28 August 1991, following the administration of large doses of antipsychotic medications, resulted in wide media coverage after an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding his death. The inquiry published a report in 1993 titled 'Report of the committee of inquiry into the death in Broadmoor Hospital of Orville Blackwood, and a review of the deaths of two other Afro-Caribbean patients: "big, black and dangerous?". Blackwood moved to England with his mother when he was a child. In his 20s, he found it hard to hold down employment, became involved in petty crime and served brief prison sentences. He became known to mental health services in January 1982, following which a series of brief admissions became the pattern over subsequent years, with states of highs and agitation, sexual disinhibition and aggression. In January 1986, using a toy gun, he attempted to rob a betting shop, for which he received a three-year sentence and was sent to HM Prison Grendon, before being transferred to Broadmoor, a combination of a high security prison and a psychiatric hospital. There, several times he was restrained, placed in seclusion and administered large doses of medications in response to his behaviour. In September 1991, an independent inquiry, chaired by Herschel Prins, was set up by the Special Hospitals Service Authority. It also looked at two other deaths at the same hospital. The report was highly critical of the care received by Blackwood and it made 47 recommendations. The report identified how hospital admissions of black people were more likely to have police involvement, and include detainment and secure care. They were more likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia and to be given higher doses of medication, and were less likely to receive psychotherapy. Background High-security psychiatric hospitals In 2010, The Black Manifesto found that 40% of patients at England's three high-security psychiatric hospitals Ashworth Hospital Rampton Secure Hospital and Broadmoor, were of African-Caribbean origin. These units are for those who pose a “grave and immediate danger to the general public”. Most have been convicted of serious crimes such as murders or sexual offences. Around 10% of black patients in such settings had not committed any crime. Orville Blackwood Orville Blackwood was born in Jamaica in June 1960. His mother was Clara Buckley, and he had at least one sister. He moved to England with his mother when he was a child, was brought up in South London and was later naturalised British citizen. At school, he had difficulties learning to read and write. In the early 1980s, when in his 20s, he found it hard to hold down employment, became involved in small crimes and served brief prison sentences. At the same time his mental health began to decline and in January 1982, he became known to the mental health services and was admitted to hospital. At the time he was described as "acutely disturbed, dishevelled, angry and suspicious". That year he began to hear voices and behave "in a bizarre manner" and at his admission in August of that year, he bit a nurse. A series of brief admissions became the pattern over the subsequent four years, with states of highs and agitation, sexual disinhibition, aggression and according to the hospital authorities he "lacked any insight". In January 1986, using a toy gun, he attempted to rob a betting shop and was subsequently arrested and examined in HM Prison Brixton. No mental illness had been diagnosed at that time. He received a three-year sentence and while being moved to HM Prison Grendon, he was noted to be in a state of paranoia and aggression, and at one time tried to hang himself. In October 1987, he was moved to Broadmoor Hospital, a combination of a high security prison and a mental hospital, catering for people who had committed serious crime such murders, manslaughter and sexual offences. There, several times he was restrained, placed in seclusion and administered large doses of medications in response to his behaviour. On the morning of 28 August 1991, he voluntarily made his way to "seclusion" after refusing to attend his occupational therapy session. When a group of health professionals entered his room several hours later, he became aggressive. Under the instruction of his physicians, he was held down and injected with promazine, a major tranquilliser, at three times the maximum dose as stated in the British National Formulary, and with twice the recommended dose of fluphenazine. Blackwood died almost immediately, the third black patient, after Michael Martin and Joseph Watts, to die at the hospital within seven years, under similar circumstances. The inquiry The cause of death, as given by the pathologist was “cardiac failure associated with the administration of phenothiazine drugs". The inquest verdict was “accidental death”. An independent inquiry was set up by the Special Hospitals Service Authority in September 1991, with Herschel Prins as the principal investigator. Prins was, in addition, asked to look into the two other deaths at the same hospital; Michael Martin and Joseph Watts. The objective was to investigate the circumstances that led to Blackwood's death and to assess the previous Martins and Watts' inquiry reports, with the aim to reveal any common factors and patterns to all three deaths. Unlike some of the other inquiries of the time, it was not seeking out blame and as a result encouraged staff to engage. The report Titled Report of the committee of inquiry into the death in Broadmoor Hospital of Orville Blackwood, and a review of the deaths of two other Afro-Caribbean patients: "big, black and dangerous?" (1993), it was authored by Prins, T. Backer-Holst, E. Francis and I. Keitch, and was highly critical of how the Criminal Justice System and mental health services treated Blackwood. Blackwood's history is given in the first part of the report. He was described as a man born in Jamaica and of large stature. It described his encounters with police and the several convictions for minor crimes. The inquiry noted, that in his early 20s his diagnosis varied; acute paranoid state, drug induced psychosis, acute situational psychosis, and psychotic reaction in an inadequate personality. The inquiry also gathered information from Blackwood's family, who held support in the diagnosis made by Aggrey Burke, a black psychiatrist. Noted in the inquiry was an alternative view of Blackwood by Burke, whose experience with mental illness in African and Caribbean young men led him to agree that he had a psychosis but disagreed that Blackwood had schizophrenia and posed that Blackwood was "not without insight, rather he was a man with profound insight". The report noted that apparently no-one thought to ask him why he did not wish to attend his occupational therapy session that morning. On the issue of Blackwood's exact diagnosis, although it did not directly cause his death, the report stated "diagnosis did...play a very significant role in his admission to secure psychiatric facilities and eventually to Broadmoor". Blackwood believed he should not have been detained at Broadmoor; his crime was "small" and he had completed his sentence. The report noted that this caused him frustration, anger and feelings of unfairness, sometimes shown "though aggression and violence". The inquiry investigators felt that the service delivered to Blackwood took little account of the stresses from Blackwood's background, and relied more on the preconceptions and expectations of him through racist labelling. This triggered a series of events leading to his death. It stated: Patients are aware that racism exists, but because the staff and management at the hospital do not recognise the subtle way in which racism can operate they do not see it as a problem and there is a dissonance of viewpoint. Broadmoor Hospital is a white, middle-class institution in rural Berkshire. African-Caribbean patients from poor inner city areas therefore find themselves in an alien environment. The closed, in-bred community of nurses some from a military-type background, has little understanding of the needs and cultural differences of ethnic minority patients. It is not good enough to maintain that all patients are treated the same, regardless of colour or ethnic background. Management and staff alike need to recognise that there are differences, and these differences need to be catered for. The investigators heard hospital staff use the term 'big, black and dangerous' so often in their inquiry that they incorporated it, with a question mark, as the sub-title of their report. The term reflected the racist stereotyping that allowed young black men to be restrained rather than receive treatment. The report took the view that how dangerous Blackwood really was, was "over-estimated". It included criticism of how Blackwood's family were informed of his death. The report identified that the hospital had an "almost exclusively white workforce", and how hospital admissions of black people were more likely to have police involvement, and include detainment and secure care. They were more likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia and to be given higher doses of medication, and were less likely to receive psychotherapy. Similarities between the three deaths The deaths of Orville Blackwood, Michael Martin and Joseph Watts had some similarities. All three were black, diagnosed with schizophrenia and died after being placed in seclusion following disagreements or violence with either staff or other patients. None had healthy diets and were as a result overweight. All were likeable when well and feared when violent. Recommendations Forty seven recommendations were made. Several addressed issues relating to ethnicity, including appointing black staff in senior management posts. The committee suggested further research into administering anti-psychotic medication in emergency settings. Follow-up The report received wide media coverage. According to Prins, Broadmoor initially declined a follow-up visit. However, he reported that in 1998, he was invited to revisit, and he noted: I was asked to return to Broadmoor to participate in a seminar examining how successful the hospital had been in developing its anti-racist policies and practices! I learnt that there were still no black members of senior management, neither was there any black representation on the managing health authority. It also appeared that there were even fewer black staff working on the wards than at the time of our inquiry. Prins (1998) It was one inquiry that brought to the attention of psychiatrists a need to consider cultural differences. References Further reading (No longer available) 1960 births 1991 deaths 1991 in London British people convicted of robbery British prisoners and detainees Deaths by person in England English people who died in prison custody Jamaican emigrants to the United Kingdom Jamaican prisoners and detainees People detained at Broadmoor Hospital Prisoners who died in England and Wales detention

68405059

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Khat%20Thi

Death of Khat Thi

Khat Thi (; born Zaw Tun, 1976 — 8 March 2021), was a Burmese engineer and poet who was killed during the 2021 Myanmar protests in Myanmar (Burma). Khet Thi was at least the third poet to die during protests since the coup (February 1). He became an icon of the anti-coup protest movement after he was dead. He is considered one of the most prominent heroes of Burma's pro-democracy movement and is remembered as a hero of Myanmar's Democracy. Personal background From 2004 to 2012, Khat Thi worked as a Junior Engineer (S.A.E.) on the Development Affairs Committee in Shwebo and Monywa Townships. He had been an engineer before quitting his job in 2012 to focus on his poetry and to support himself by making and selling ice cream and cakes. He had been married to Chaw Su, a worker for the Telecommunications Department who was active in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) of work stoppages in opposition to military rule, had also been interrogated, but was released on 9 May 2021 and allowed to return home, only two years. They have made a living in Pale by making and selling cakes and ice cream. He wrote a Facebook post two weeks after the coup; "I don't want to be a hero, I don't want to be a martyr, I don't want to be a weakling, I don't want to be a fool". "I don't want to support injustice. If I have only a minute to live, I want my conscience to be clean for that minute". His poems were widely renowned among protesters. One of his most well known lines was, "They shoot in the head, but they don't know the revolution is in the heart." It was a poem that reminded him. Protest and death Khat Thi was taken into custody on the night (at around 9PM) of May 8 for questioning at a detention center in the town of Shwebo in central Myanmar that has been the scene of heavy protests against military rule. Although his wife Chaw Su was detained at the Shwebo police station. He was taken to an undisclosed location and died during his interrogation by the military. His body returned to his family hours later with his internal organs removed and had bruising on the chest, along the ribs, and on his wrists. But, authorities said that he had died of a heart attack. The junta forces did not disclose any information regarding Khet Thi’s arrest or his cause of death. His family has brought his body to Pale on the evening of May 10. References 2021 deaths Burmese democracy activists People from Sagaing Region 1976 births

68423290

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Jeffrey%20L.%20Smith

Death of Jeffrey L. Smith

Jeffrey L. Smith, a Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police officer, shot himself on January 15, 2021, after he assisted the United States Capitol Police on January 6, during the response to the . A psychiatrist hired by Officer Smith's widow found that drastic changes in Smith's behavior after January 6 are evidence that the attack on the Capitol was the precipitating event leading to his suicide. Some have included him as a casualty of the Capitol attack. On October 13, 2021, two United States Senators and several members of the House of Representatives called for the Mayor to award Line of Duty benefits to Officer Smith and his widow Erin Smith. Suicide and lawsuit Smith, 35, shot himself in the head on the George Washington Memorial Parkway the day he was supposed to return to duty. Smith's was the second of two reported police suicides to occur in the immediate aftermath of the insurrection, the other being that of the U.S. Capitol Police officer Howard Liebengood. In the months after the civil disturbance at the Capitol, it was generally reported that the deaths of five people who were present have, to a varying degree, been related to the event. Some members of Congress and press reports included these two suicides in the number of casualties, for a total of seven deaths. Dr. Jonathan Arden, the former Chief Medical Examiner of the District of Columbia was hired by Smith's widow as part of her lawsuit to have her husband's suicide ruled "in the line of duty". His report stated that the "acute, precipitating event that caused the death of Officer Smith was his occupational exposure to the traumatic events he suffered on January 6, 2021". On July 30, his attorney David P. Weber filed the opening brief in the attempt, on behalf of Smith's widow, to have his death ruled line of duty. Submitting this report as evidence, on August 13, Smith's widow sued two of his alleged assailants, claiming they caused a traumatic brain injury with a crowbar or a heavy walking stick, leading to his death. According to media reports, Smith's alleged attackers, named in the federal lawsuit were identified by an internet vigilante group that analyzed publicly available videos from the Capitol attack. On October 17, 2021, NBC News reported that the Virginia Congressional delegation had written to the Washington, DC Mayor noting that Smith's death was causally related to the Capitol Riot, and urged her to grant line of duty death benefits to Officer Smith's widow Erin Smith. Honors On August 5, 2021, Jeffrey L. Smith, along with Capitol Police officers Brian Sicknick, Howard Liebengood and Billy Evans, was posthumously honored in a signing ceremony for a bill to award Congressional Gold Medals to Capitol Police and other January 6 responders. His name is noted in the text of the bill, and President Biden remarked on his death. See also Police officer safety and health References 2021 deaths American police officers Deaths related to the 2021 United States Capitol attack Suicides by firearm in Virginia

68430109

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Howard%20Liebengood

Death of Howard Liebengood

Howard Charles Liebengood, a United States Capitol Police officer, died by suicide on January 9, 2021, three days after he participated in the law enforcement response to the . He was the first of what were reported as two police suicides in the immediate aftermath of the attack, though Metropolitan Police (MPD) officer Jeffrey L. Smith's widow disputes the manner of death. In the months after the civil disturbance at the Capitol, it was generally reported that the deaths of five people who were present have, to a varying degree, been related to the event. Some members of Congress and press reports included these two in the number of fatalities, for a total of seven. Prior to his death by suicide, Liebengood, 51, worked three 24-hour shifts without sleep. Liebengood was survived by his wife Serena, and his two siblings. Liebengood's father was well known to many U.S. Senators, due to his service as the United States Senate Sergeant at Arms. On August 5, 2021, Howard Liebengood, along with Capitol Police officers Brian Sicknick and Billy Evans, and Metropolitan Police officer Jeffrey L. Smith, was posthumously honored in a signing ceremony for a bill to award Congressional Gold Medals to Capitol Police and other January 6 responders. His name is noted in the text of the bill, and President Biden remarked on his death. On May 14, 2021, the US Capitol Police named their new counseling center after Liebengood. See also Police officer safety and health References Deaths by person in the United States Deaths related to the 2021 United States Capitol attack

68480587

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Amber%20Tuccaro

Death of Amber Tuccaro

Amber Alyssa Tuccaro (3 January 1990 – disappeared 18 August 2010) was a Canadian First Nations woman from Fort McMurray, Alberta who went missing in 2010. Tuccaro was last seen near Edmonton, hitchhiking with an unidentified man. Her remains were found in 2012. , her case is still unsolved. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police investigation of her disappearance was sharply criticized by the Tuccaro family, who alleged that police downplayed their concerns. A federal review released in 2018 found that the RCMP's investigation was "deficient" and "did not comply with procedures and guidelines". Her case is among the high number of missing and murdered Indigenous women of Canada. Background Amber Tuccaro was born in 1990 in Alberta, Canada. She was a member of the Mikisew Cree First Nation. At the time of her disappearance, she was living in Fort McMurray, Alberta with her mother and 14-month-old son. Disappearance In August 2010, Tuccaro flew from her home in Fort McMurray to Edmonton with her infant son and a female friend for a short vacation. The group booked into a hotel in nearby Nisku. Tuccaro was last seen the following day, 18 August at about 8 pm, when she accepted a ride into Edmonton from an unknown man. She received a phone call during the ride in which the male driver can be heard in the background assuring Tuccaro that they are heading east on a back road toward Edmonton. Police believe the man actually drove south into rural Leduc County. Police released a recording of the phone call in 2012. Tuccaro can be heard in the recording telling the driver, "You'd better not be taking me anywhere I don’t want to go." Investigators continue to seek the assistance of the public to identify the voice of the driver. Tuccaro's remains were discovered by horseback riders on 1 September 2012 in a field in Leduc County. Her remains were positively identified by dental records. Investigation The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) did not immediately list Tuccaro as a missing person, explaining to family members that she might be out partying and that they would need to wait 24 hours. She was eventually listed as a missing person, but was removed from the list based on unconfirmed sightings. On 4 September 2010, the RCMP publicly stated that they did not believe Tuccaro was in danger. The RCMP waited until one month after Tuccaro's disappearance to begin its investigation. The police service waited four months to begin conducting interviews. Tuccaro's travel companion – the last person known to have seen her alive – was never considered a person of interest by the RCMP, and she was never located or interviewed. In 2014, Tuccaro's family filed a complaint with the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The RCMP issued a report in 2018 which concluded that its investigation was "deficient in that various members were either not properly trained or did not adhere to their training and that various members did not comply with procedures and guidelines." Deputy Commissioner Curtis Zablocki apologized to the family, stating that the investigation "was not our best work." The family rejected Zablocki's apology. See also List of solved missing person cases References External links 2010 in Alberta 2010s missing person cases 2010s murders in Canada Deaths by person in Canada Female murder victims Formerly missing people Missing person cases in Canada Murder in Alberta Unsolved murders in Canada Violence against Indigenous women in Canada Women in Alberta Edmonton 1990 births Living people

68715934

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Jezebel

Death of Jezebel

Death of Jezebel is a 1948 mystery crime novel by the British author Christianna Brand. It is the fourth entry in the series featuring the fictional police detective Inspector Cockerill, and sees him working alongside Inspector Charlesworth a character from Brand's debut novel Death in High Heels. Synopsis Isabel Drew, a beautiful and arrogant actress, has widely been known as Jezebel since she drove her best friend's fiancée to kill himself. While performing in a medieval extravaganza in London she and other cast members receive letters threatening to kill them. References Bibliography Bargainnier, Earl F. & Dove George N. Cops and Constables: American and British Fictional Policemen. Popular Press, 1986. Gaines, Janet Howe . Music in the Old Bones: Jezebel Through the Ages. SIU Press, 1999. Reilly, John M. Twentieth Century Crime & Mystery Writers. Springer, 2015. 1948 British novels Novels by Christianna Brand British crime novels Novels set in London British detective novels The Bodley Head books

69098151

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Achidi%20John

Death of Achidi John

Achidi John died while being in police custody on December 12, 2001, in Hamburg, Germany, due to a combination of a serious heart defect, cocaine use, and the stress caused by emetics. Four days earlier, Achidi John had been forcibly administered an emetic to secure evidence of suspected drug trafficking against him. At the political level, the case led to a stop of emetics in Berlin and Lower Saxony. In Bremen, the Greens applied to end the practice of using emetics. The application was rejected. Bremen stopped the use of emetics in 2005 after the similar death of Laye-Alama Condé. In commemoration of the case, the place in front of the Rote Flora has unofficially been named Achidi John Square by left-wing groups. Prehistory In July 2000, in the town of Jena, the Nigerian Michael Paul Nwabuisi applied for asylum in the Federal Republic of Germany. He pretended to be a Cameroonian citizen with the name "Achidi John", born on January 6, 1982. The authorities assigned Achidi John to shared accommodation in Ellrich in September 2000. In the asylum procedure, Achidi John stated, among other things, that he had been threatened with death as a human sacrifice in Cameroon and that he had come directly to Hamburg on a ship when he escaped. In January 2001, the asylum application was rejected as unfounded because the alleged information from Achidi John could not be confirmed. In the following months, Achidi John was arrested five times by the Hamburg police for suspected drug trafficking; but since the trafficking could not be proven, he was released each time. Use of emetics against Achidi John On the morning of December 8, 2001, the 19-year-old was picked up by civil investigators in the St. Georg district on suspicion of drug trafficking and immediately taken to the forensic medicine department at Eppendorf University Hospital(UKE). He fiercely opposed the insertion of a nasogastric tube to introduce the emetic ipecac, upon which he was restrained. A doctor then forcibly injected John with the emetic through a tube into his nose. An anesthesiologist was not present to help John in case of an emergency. Then he fell to the ground. The color of his face had changed, breathing and pulse had stopped. After three minutes, two teams of emergency doctors tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate John. John died on December 12, 2001. In the intensive care unit, Achidi John had 41 pellets of crack and cocaine removed from his gastrointestinal tract. After his death, during the autopsy, four more drug pellets were found in his intestines. Achidi John's autopsy was carried out on December 13, 2001, by the Forensic Medicine Institute of the Free University of Berlin. According to the autopsy report, a combination of a serious heart defect, the use of cocaine, and the stress of administering emetics led to the death of Achidi John. Judicial responses The public prosecutor closed a preliminary investigation against those involved in the use of emetics in June 2002. A subsequent enforcement procedure by Achidi John's father was rejected by the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court in July 2003, The case was listed in the 2002 Amnesty International report for Germany. The Federal Constitutional Court issued a press release the day after Achidi John's death. It pointed out that up to this point in time there had been no decision on whether the administration of so-called emetics was compatible with the constitution. The issue was only brought up once, in 1999, in a constitutional complaint which was not accepted for decision because of the principle of subsidiarity. The court stated that with regard to human dignity and freedom from self-incriminations the use of emetics did not meet any fundamental constitutional concerns. However, an assessment with regard to the protection of physical integrity and the proportionality of the intervention was not made. The compulsory use of emetics to secure evidence in case of ingested drugs was introduced in 2001 by the then red-green senate in Hamburg. A few days before John's death, the coalition of the CDU, FDP and the Party for a Rule of Law Offensive significantly lowered the requirements for the use of emetics. After his death, Frank Ulrich Montgomery, then chair of the Hamburg Medical Association, called on the Senate of Hamburg to end using emetics. In 2006, Germany was sentenced by the European Court of Human Rights to compensation of 10,000 euros for the use of emetics for violating the prohibition of torture and inhumane treatment. References Law enforcement 21st century in Hamburg 2001 deaths Deaths in police custody in Germany Nigerian emigrants to Germany

69269831

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Lam%20Yuen-yee

Death of Lam Yuen-yee

Lam Yuen-yee (; 1984-2021) was a posthumous Chief Inspector of Hong Kong Police Marine Small Boat Division, who died in action on 25th September 2021 near Sha Chau Island in the northwest waters of Hong Kong after a smuggling speedboat slammed into her police interceptor, causing it to capsize. Lam and three other police officers on board fell into the sea. While three officers were rescued shortly after, Lam was found missing and her body was retrieved two days after near the coast of Yi O on Lantau Island. A ceremony with the highest honours and a funeral procession was held for Lam on 2nd November 2021. Lam was laid to rest in the Gallant Garden, a plot at Wo Hop Shek Public Cemetery reserved for civil servants who died on duty. Major Government officers including Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor attended the ceremony. A weekly press meeting with the Chief Executive and the meeting of the Executive Council was cancelled to make way for Lam’s funeral. On 15 November 2021, Lam was posthumously awarded the Medal for Bravery (Gold) by the Chief Executive in recognition of her gallantry and selflessness displayed during the operation. Career and legacy in Marine Police Lam joined the Hong Kong Police Force in 2007, starting her career as a police constable in Tuen Mun Police District. Lam rose quickly through the ranks to become an inspector in three years with her excellent abilities and renowned diligence. Lam joined the Marine Police in 2015 and later became the first female supervisor of Small Boat Division in 2020, leading this elite maritime unit of the Marine Police. During her tenure, Lam earned her good reputation as “Kryptonite of smuggling”, where she busted smuggling cases over the years, intercepting more than 70 speedboats and arrested more than 100 people. In a major anti-smuggling operation led by Lam in August 2020, Lam seized HK$37 million worth of animals and smuggled goods. Death and aftermaths On 25 September 2021 at around 8 a.m., Lam was leading her team of four on a marine multi-mission interceptor to conduct a regular anti-smuggling operation in northwest waters of Hong Kong, near Chek Lap Kok International Airport. Lam noticed a number of suspected smuggling speedboats at Sha Chau and decided to chase one of them. During the pursuit, a speedboat ignored repeated police warnings and crashed to the right stern of LAM’s boat, causing the interceptor to sink and the four officers, including LAM, to fall into the sea. The officers were trapped underneath the speedboat after the collision. Rescuers later found the three other officers but Lam was missing. On 27th September 2021, the body of LAM was finally discovered near the shore at Yi O on Lantau Island two days after she fell into the sea. An initial autopsy confirmed that Lam drowned to death. Her death triggered both Hong Kong and Guangdong Police’s crackdown on smuggling operations across the border with mainland China. The Police Commissioner of Hong Kong Police Raymond Siu vowed to make the best endeavours to track down the culprit and ramp up crackdowns on smugglers. Until 11th October 2021, a joint operation - among Police, Customs and Excise Department, Food and Environmental Health Department, Health Department, Lands Department and the Government Flying Service, had so far led to the arrests of 365 people, in which 35 were believed to be part of the triad smuggling ring. On 1st October 2021 and 2nd October, the Guangdong authorities arrested two mainland Chinese men who are believed to have been on the speedboat that rammed the Hong Kong marine police vessel, causing the death of Lam. The two suspects could be tried in the mainland as they were arrested there, and Hong Kong police said the crash took place in mainland waters about 300 to 500 meters away from Hong Kong's waters. Lam’s death also triggered derision from some members of the public. Speaking in a Legislative Council meeting, Secretary of Security Chris Tang Ping-keung said there were eight members from the Hong Kong Disciplined Services who have been being suspended from their duties after they had mocked the death of Lam. Tang said taunts at Lam were cold-blooded and no one should make sarcastic remarks or gloat over casualties, regardless of their political stance. On 12th November 2021, a former Hong Kong police officer was arrested and charged with seditious intent over the online comments he allegedly made about Lam. Online production group HKGolden Music released a parody song entitled “Do not look for what fell into the sea” (Chinese: 墮海唔好搵) during the search for Lam. The song, now removed by the group, contained lyrics including "they will float back up once you stop looking for them," and “a few people falling into the sea is no big deal." Lawmaker Priscilla Leung Mei-fan slammed the group for releasing the song, saying "the practice is chilling. The whole city must condemn and hold [them] accountable." References 1986 births 2021 deaths Hong Kong police officers Women police officers

69552330

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20an%20Author

Death of an Author

Death of an Author is a 1935 detective novel by E.C.R. Lorac, the pen name of the British writer Edith Caroline Rivett. It is a rare standalone book by Lorac, not featuring Chief Inspector MacDonald of Scotland Yard who appeared in a lengthy series of novels during the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. It was her final novel published by Sampson Low before she switched to the more prestigious Collins Crime Club with whom she remained for the rest of her career. Synopsis Vivian Lestrange, a successful but reclusive crime fiction writer, is reported missing by his secretary Eleanor Clarke. Soon afterwards Lestrange's housekeeper also disappears. Inspector Bond of the local police and War of Scotland Yard join forces to try and solve the mystery, including the possibility that Clarke is herself Lestrange trying to drum up publicity. Before long it becomes clear that this is a case of murder. References Bibliography Cooper, John & Pike, B.A. Artists in Crime: An Illustrated Survey of Crime Fiction First Edition Dustwrappers, 1920-1970. Scolar Press, 1995. Hubin, Allen J. Crime Fiction, 1749-1980: A Comprehensive Bibliography. Garland Publishing, 1984. Nichols, Victoria & Thompson, Susan. Silk Stalkings: More Women Write of Murder. Scarecrow Press, 1998. Reilly, John M. Twentieth Century Crime & Mystery Writers. Springer, 2015. 1935 British novels British mystery novels Novels by E.C.R. Lorac Novels set in London British detective novels

69673922

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Christy%20Schwundeck

Death of Christy Schwundeck

Christy Schwundeck was a German citizen of Nigerian descent. On 19 May 2011, she went to a job centre in Frankfurt-am-Main and asked for money because her benefits had stopped and she was hungry. She refused to leave the centre and when the police arrived, a situation developed in which she stabbed one police officer and another officer shot her in the stomach, killing her. Her death provoked outrage internationally. The police officer was cleared of all charges on the grounds of self-defence. Early life In 1995, Christy Schwundeck left Benin City in Nigeria and claimed asylum in Germany. She worked as a cleaner and gained a residence permit, becoming a German citizen. She married a German man, taking his last name. She lived in Aschaffenburg in Bavaria, where she experienced everyday racism because she was a black woman. Her marriage broke down in early 2011, although she remained friends with her ex-husband and in the spring she moved to Frankfurt. Incident Early on the morning of 19 May 2011, Schwundeck called her ex-husband in distress because the previous week she had applied to the job centre for financial assistance and received no reply. He advised her to go to the centre to ask for an advance. At 08:30, she went to the job centre on Mainzer Landstraße. She received benefits under the Hartz IV system but she had not received the latest installment on 1 May and had no money. She had previously received emergency cash at job centres in Aschaffenburg and Wiesbaden, as was legally mandated. In order to get to the centre, she was forced to travel on the train without a ticket. At the centre, she entered room 22 and asked for 10 euros in cash so she could buy food. The advisor refused to give her money and she decided to stay seated, leading to the security being called. The deputy team leader also became involved; he offered Schwundeck a food voucher which would be equivalent to her benefits in June, which she did not want to take. She continued to sit in her seat. At 08:50, Frankfurt police received a call from the job centre saying that a woman was making trouble and refusing to leave. Two officers (one male, one female) parked outside the centre at 09:01 and went inside, finding four people in room 22, namely the advisor, the deputy team leader, a security guard and Christy Schwundeck. Schwundeck was still sitting on her seat with her bag on the table beside her. One officer asked her for identification and she put her hand inside the bag, but did not produce any identification. When the male police officer went to pick up her bag, Schwundeck stabbed him with a knife. The female officer retreated to the door of the room and pulled her gun. She shouted, "" ('Drop the knife, or else I'll shoot!') When Schwundeck did not comply, she shot her. Schwundeck was shot in the stomach and died from her injuries. It was later recorded that she tested negative for drugs and had nothing in her stomach except a greenish-brownish liquid, with nine eurocents in her wallet. At the time of her death, she was 39. Juridical process In January 2012, the public prosecutor dropped the case against the female police officer, on the grounds that she had acted in self-defence. The prosecutor said that Schwundeck had run towards the female police officer, putting her in fear of her life. He said that use of pepper spray or a warning shot was impracticable in a small room. In March 2012, Der Spiegel reported that Schwundeck's brother and her ex-husband had made a legal complaint to the Public Prosecutor General which demanded a trial of the officer. Legacy The death of Schwundeck shocked the African diaspora. Claudia Czernohorsky-Grüneberg, head of Frankfurt's job centres, told the Hessenschau television programme that the request for 10 euros was legitimate. In an interview with T-Online, Siraad Wiedenroth (director of Initiative Schwarze Menschen) noted that the time between the police being called and the death of Schwundeck was less than an hour. In 2019, demonstrators commemorated the deaths of people as a result of the Hartz IV system outside the Federal Constitutional Court, where the sanctions made under Hartz IV were challenged. Black Lives Matter protestors in Germany drew links between the death of Schwundeck and other deaths in police custody such as those of Ousman Sey, Dominique Koumadio, Slieman Hamade and N'deye Mareame Sarr. Connections were also drawn with the death of Oury Jalloh. At a memorial event in Frankfurt in 2021 which marked ten years since the death of Schwundeck, a representative of the Initiative Christy Schwundeck blamed the events on "deadly institutional racism". See also Death of Achidi John References 2011 deaths 21st century in Frankfurt People shot dead by law enforcement officers in Germany

69760381

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Laye-Alama%20Cond%C3%A9

Death of Laye-Alama Condé

Laye-Alama Condé (also known as Laye-Alma Condé) was an asylum seeker from Sierra Leone living in Bremen, Germany. On 27 December 2004, he was arrested by the police on suspicion of being a drug dealer. At the station, a doctor forcibly inserted a tube through Condé's nose and fed him syrup of ipecac (an emetic). This occurred several times until Condé collapsed and was taken to hospital. He died on 7 January 2005. The case immediately caused controversy in Germany and the doctor was taken to court three times, resulting in a punishment of a fine of 20,000 euros paid to Condé's family. Meanwhile, the practice of induced vomiting was deemed torture by the European Court of Human Rights in 2006 and the practice was discontinued in Bremen shortly afterwards. The Initiative in Memory of Laya Alama Condé (German: Initiative in Gedenken an Laya Alama Condé) has pressed for a permanent monument to people who died in police custody to be erected in Bremen. Incident Laye-Alama Condé was an asylum seeker from Sierra Leone living in Bremen, Germany. On 27 December 2004, the police arrested Condé on suspicion of dealing drugs. He allegedly had hazelnut-sized pellets of cocaine in his mouth, which he swallowed. Condé was in police custody when a doctor forced syrup of ipecac (an emetic) into his stomach though his nose with a 70 mm tube, aiming to make him vomit and therefore produce the drugs as evidence of crime. Condé swallowed back the vomit that had been induced, washing liquid into his lungs. The process was forcefully repeated several times until Condé had foam coming out of his mouth and nose. He then collapsed and was resuscitated by paramedics before being taken to the hospital. Condé fell into a coma and died over a week later, on 7 January 2005. The Federal Court of Justice declared in 2010 that he had died from "cerebral hypoxia as a result of drowning after aspiration during forced vomiting". Later events The death immediately caused controversy since it was caused by the practice of forcefully administering emetics. In Bremen there were over 1,000 such incidents between 1991 and 2004, and it was supported by the ruling coalition. Achidi John had died in Hamburg in 2001 in the same way as Condé. There, Olaf Scholz had said the practice was "without an alternative". It was then deemed to be torture by the European Court of Human Rights in 2006 and the practice was discontinued in Bremen soon afterwards. The doctor who had administered the emetic was put under investigation. He was also a foreigner, working for a private institution contracted to the Senate of Bremen. His qualifications were called into question, but charges against him were dropped. On appeal, the Federal Court overturned the decision on legal grounds in 2010. Another investigation cleared the doctor and this verdict was also overturned by the higher court. In 2013, a third investigation ended by telling the doctor to pay a fine of 20,000 euros to the family of Condé. The doctor had fallen seriously ill by this point and the family said they were less concerned with punishing him and more concerned with having a ruling on the legality of induced vomiting. The Initiative in Memory of Laya Alama Condé (German: Initiative in Gedenken an Laya Alama Condé) was set up to remember his death, holding a memorial every 7 January. It also pressured the city to make a permanent memorial to Condé, which generated more controversy. In 2019, it created a mobile artwork which stood outside different places in central Bremen and was dedicated to all people who died in police custody. A representative termed Condé's demise as "death by drowning". References 2005 deaths History of Bremen (city) Deaths in police custody in Germany Sierra Leonean emigrants to Germany Sierra Leonean people who died in prison custody

69802650

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%20of%20Ousman%20Sey

Death of Ousman Sey

Ousman Sey was a 45 year old man from Gambia living in the Nordstadt district of Dortmund in Germany. On 7 July 2012, Ousman Sey began to feel pains in his chest at his house in Dortmund, Germany. He called the emergency services and they told him he did not need to go to hospital. Becoming agitated, he broke a window in his apartment, causing a neighbour to call the police. When the police arrived, he complained about his chest pains; paramedics again said he did not need to go to hospital. He was then arrested and detained. He later died in police custody. Sey's death caused controversy since questions were immediately raised about why a man complaining of chest pain was not taken more seriously. A demonstration was organised in Dortmund and his family suggested there were racist motives for not helping Sey. The police denied racism was part of their decision-making but links were drawn by protestors to other deaths in police custody suspected to be racially motivated such as those of Laya-Alama Condé, Oury Jalloh and Achidi John. Nine months after the incident, the public prosecutor announced the files on the case were closed and no action would be taken against anyone involved. References 2012 deaths History of Dortmund Deaths by person in Germany Deaths in police custody in Germany