Page 33 - Florida Sentinel 6-11-21

Local/National
Hillsborough High 17-Year-Old Breaks Track Record Previously Held By Usain Bolt; He Now Qualifies For The Olympic Trials
O.J. Simpson Slams Bill Cosby
Tampa teenager from Hills- brough High broke the 200- meter record of track phenomenon Usain Bolt at the American Track League meet on last Monday.
In Jacksonville, Erriyon Knighton won the U18 race with a time of 20.1, beating Bolt’s 2003 record by just 0.02 seconds, NBC Sports reports. The super fast student now ranks seventh among Ameri- cans in the 200m of this year and 13th since the start of 2019.
This is Legendary. At 17 years old, Knighton outran 25-year-old Olympic 100m fa- vorite, Trayvon Bromell, who had the fastest 100-meter with a time of 9.88 this year.
and 2019 Worlds match, ac- cording to NBC Sports.
Knighton is now qualified to race at the U. S. Olympic Trials which will begin in just two weeks along with the two other runners who came in be- hind him. He'll be the youngest Olympic male runner in track and field since 1964 when Jim Ryun represented the U. S.
The teen also owns the record for the fastest 100m with a time of 10.16 -- only .01 seconds off the previous U18 record. To be eligible for the under 18 matches, World Ath- letics requires runners to not turn 18 within the same calen- dar year, The Washington Post reports. Knighton only turned 17 in January.
Spokesperson Claps Back
ERRIYON KNIGHTON
Others on the field included two Zharnel Hughes and Adam Gemili of Britain. Hughes broke Jamaican High School sprint records seven years ago and Gemili ranked fourth at the 2016 Olympics
O.J. Simpson has his own thoughts on embattled come- dian Bill Cosby’s refusal to take the steps that could have earned him parole from his sexual assault sentence.
Last week, the Pennsylvania Parole Board rejected Cosby’s request for parole after he de- clined to participate in a ther- apy program for sexually violent predators, according to Reuters. Officials with the board said the 83-year-old would not be reconsidered for parole until the program is completed.
But O.J. Simpson, the NFL record holder who has gained infamy for his acquittal in a 1995 murder trial, and being convicted of armed robbery and felony in 2008, has some thoughts on Cosby’s decision. In a Twitter video, Simpson, 73, let loose on the one-time TV superstar.
"Bill Cosby decided not to take a court-ordered sexual course in prison and it proba- bly cost him his parole so he's not getting out,” Simpson said, turning to recall the nine
O.J. SIMPSON
years he spent in jail. "When I was in camp [prison], I took anything! [I took] all the courses. I wanted to get home to my kids.
"I got up and said, 'Guys, I'm sorry I caught you trying to sell my stolen property,” he con- tinued. “I'm sorry I yelled at you and I'm sorry that the state of California ruled it was my property, gave it back to me, and you didn't make any money off my stolen property. I would have taken anything to get home and get out of prison."
For Refusing To Take Sex
Offender Courses, Now His
Black Army Veteran Faces Murder Charges After Shooting, Killing White Intruder
At His Oklahoma Business
The family of an Oklahoma Army veteran LaRue Bratcher, 34, is increasingly speaking out against the Bratcher’s upcoming trial on a list of charges connected to the shooting and killing of a man who was allegedly trying to break into Bratcher’s busi- ness.
Bratcher, who is Black, is charged with pulling the trigger and killing Daniel Hardwick, 42, who is white. According to Yahoo! News, video shows that on May 27, 2020, Hardwick parked his car at the rear of Bratcher’s business around 1:00 a.m. and “jostled” with the door handle, attempting to gain entry.” Bratcher’s business grew medical marijuana, and May 27 was the second night in a row that Hardwick had shown up, the report said.
Oklahoma City CBS affiliate KWTV reported that the defen- dant himself called the police after the shooting.
“Hardwick was trying to break in when the business owner, who was inside the busi-
LARUE BRATCHER
ness at the time, apparently opened fire with a handgun, striking and killing the man who was breaking in,” Okla- homa City Police Department Master Sgt. Gary Knight told NBC affiliate KFOR.
Bratcher’s business license had lapsed. His wife told Yahoo! News that officials or- dered him to make “nearly $100,000 worth of renova- tions” to his medical marijuana facility — so he wasn’t able to
obtain the necessary paperwork to continue operations. That lapse would prove to be fateful.
“It was about 480 plants, which comes out to approxi- mately $1,500,000 of mari- juana,” Knight told KFOR. “Ultimately, he ended up being booked in to the Oklahoma County Jail on unlawful cultiva- tion of marijuana.”
The charge is a felony. Prosecutors filed second-de- gree murder charges shortly thereafter. When Bratcher didn’t accept a plea deal, his family told Yahoo! News that the prosecutor upped the charges again — this time to
first-degree murder.
A trial is scheduled for Octo-
ber 11.
Bratcher’s family is dis-
pleased with the prosecutor’s choice to pursue those charges. “Someone broke into his place,” said Derrick Neighbors, Bratcher’s uncle, according to Yahoo! News. “He didn’t go out looking for trouble. He was in his own place of business.”
Bratcher is a father of five.
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