Page 25 - Florida Sentinel 12-9-16 Online Edition

National
Army Corps Deny Permit For Pipeline To Continue In The Dakotas
Missing College Student’s Death Ruled A Homicide
USA Today Investigative Report:
Blacks 3 Times More Likely To Die In Police Chases
‘Standing Rock’ protester AND, members of the reservation show signs of relief after long protest to stop the pipeline.
STANDING ROCK INDIAN RESERVATION, N. DAKOTA --- On Sunday afternoon, re- ports began to trickle in that the Army Corps of Engineers has denied a permit for the Dakota Access Pipeline to continue construction.
Spontaneous celebrations are erupting in the protest camps and on the Sioux reservation.
The Salem News reported that the Secretary of the Army contacted tribal leaders and informed them that the DAPL will not proceed according to its current plan.
“We will not fight tonight, we will dance!” said Rami Bald Eagle, Cheyenne River Lakota Tribal Leader as he
shared the news with sup- porters.
Pipeline protesters, said the News’ Bonnie King, came prepared to dig in for the win- ter. They were joined by thou- sands of veterans.
“The bitter cold has not chilled the passion behind stopping the pipeline. The many members of ‘Veterans Stand for Standing Rock,’ brought supplies such as gas masks, earplugs and body armor, to stand firm as a unit to protect protesters from the police and their rubber bul- lets,” wrote King. “But in- stead, tonight they dance. It looks like the Americans have won, after all.”
Louisiana Man Who Shot Ex-NFL Player In Road Rage Charged With Manslaughter
Sarah Butler was found in the Eagle Rock Reservation in W. Orange, N.J.
NATIONWIDE ---- In a first of its kind investigation, USA Today found that Black people in the U. S. have been killed in police chases at a rate nearly three times higher than anyone else.
This includes both those flee- ing law enforcement and inno- cent bystanders. The outlet was able to thoroughly and meticu- lously illustrate yet another ex- ample of long-standing and deadly inequality in U.S. polic- ing.
Pursuits are among the most dangerous police activities. They have killed more than 6,200 people since 1999. Black people make up 13 percent of the U.S. population but are 28 percent of those killed in pur- suits whose race was known.
Among the findings (which strongly confirm a disparity and a likely bias in policing):
* Blacks have been killed at a disproportionate rate in pur- suits every year since 1999. On average, 90 Black people were killed each year in police chases, nearly double what would be expected based on
their percentage of the popula- tion.
* Deadly pursuits of Black drivers were twice as likely to start over minor offenses or non-violent crimes. In 2013 and 2014, nearly every deadly pursuit triggered by an illegally tinted window, a seat-belt vio- lation or the smell of marijuana involved a black driver.
* Black people were more likely than whites to be chased in more crowded urban areas, during peak traffic hours and with passengers in their cars, all factors that can increase the danger to innocent bystanders. Chases of black motorists were about 70 percent more likely to wind up killing a bystander.
USA Today examined fed- eral records for 5,300 fatal pur- suits since 1999, when the government started tracking the races of people killed in car crashes.
USA TODAY also took a deeper delve into 702 chases in 2013 and 2014, reviewing thou- sands of pages of police docu- ments and hours of video of pursuits across the nation.
JERSEY CITY, NJ --- The death of a 20-year-old Mont- clair, N.J., college student whose parents reported her missing days before Thanks- giving has been ruled a homi- cide, according to NJ.com.
Family members reported Butler, a freshman at New Jersey City University in Jer- sey City, N.J., missing Nov. 23. She was last seen the night be- fore and the car she was driv- ing, a 2007 Dodge Caravan, was discovered abandoned in Orange, N.J.
Police found Sarah But- ler’s remains in the Eagle Rock Reservation in West Or- ange, N.J., on Thursday, more than a week after she disap- peared and before a scheduled family trip to Jamaica.
Butler was remembered as a volleyball player and accom- plished trained dancer. She lived with her parents and two sisters.
Mistrial Declared For S. C. Officer Who Fatally Shot Unarmed Black Man In The Back
CHARLESTON, S.C. — The trial of Michael T. Slager, the police officer whose videotaped killing of an un- armed Black man staggered a nation already embroiled in a debate about police miscon- duct and racial bias in law en- forcement, ended in a mistrial on Monday.
Judge Clifton B. New- man’s decision to halt the proceedings came three days after jurors signaled that they were within one vote of re- turning a guilty verdict against Mr. Slager, who could have been convicted of murder or voluntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of Walter L. Scott. But on Monday, in a final note to Judge New- man, jurors said that “de-
Michael Slager in the court- room on Friday when the ju- rors first announced one juror could not agree.
spite the best efforts of all members, we are unable to come to a unanimous deci- sion.”
In a statement, Gov.
Nikki R. Haley said: “Jus- tice is not always immediate, but we must all have faith that it will be served — I cer- tainly do.”
Prosecutors said they would seek a new trial for Mr. Slager, who was fired after the shooting, and the Scott family expressed con- fidence that he would ulti- mately be convicted. Mr. Slager’s lawyer, Andrew J. Savage III, did not com- ment as he left the court- room, where jurors had heard testimony for about four weeks.
No piece of evidence was more central than a cell- phone video, which a passer- by, Feidin Santana, recorded as he walked to work on April 4, 2015.
Ron Gasser was charged 4 days after fatally shooting Joe Mc- Knight after road rage incident.
Ronald Gasser, 54, who reportedly fatally shot former NFL running back Joe Mc- Knight during a traffic dis- pute in Terrytown, La., on Thursday, was arrested Mon- day and charged with manslaughter, USA Today re- ports.
Mc-Knight’s shooting and the subsequent release of Gasser less than 24 hours after the former NFL running back was gunned down drew national attention and raised the issue of race and the treat- ment of suspects.
Jefferson Parish, La., Sheriff
Newell Normand said dur- ing a press conference Friday that the shooting was “the cul- mination of a road rage inci- dent,” USA Today reports. According to the newspaper, Gasser fired three shots— each one hitting Mc-Knight. Mc-Knight was pronounced dead on the scene. Gasser re- portedly waited for police and handed over his semi-auto- matic weapon to officers, who cuffed him and placed him on the ground. After being ques- tioned by police, Gasser was released later that evening.
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