Page 20 - Florida Sentinel 10-9-18

National
James Van Dyke Found Guilty
White Mom Says Maryland
Of Second Degree Murder In
Clinic Refused To
Laquan McDonald Shooting
Treat Her Black Daughter
A Chicago jury has found Jason Van Dyke guilty of second-degree murder in the 2014 shooting death of 17-year-old Laquan Mc- Donald.
The ruling happened Fri- day (Oct. 5) as demonstra- tor,waited outside and McDonald’s family lis- tened in the courtroom. Van Dyke was also found guilty of 16 counts of aggravated battery but found not guilty of offi- cial misconduct. The shoot- ing drew public attention in 2016 after it was discovered that the Chicago Police De- partment along with embat- tled Mayor Rham Emanuel kept footage of the graphic shooting from the public. Emanuel re- leased a statement about re- form shortly after the verdict.
McDonald was accused of breaking into vehicles while holding a three-inch blade. While there were many officers at the scene, Van Dyke was the only offi- cer who fired 16 shots at the teenager. USA Today notes he continued to fire his gun after the teen was laying on
LAQUAN MCDONALD the ground. Van Dyke
claimed he was fearful of his life while in contact with the teen, but footage of the shooting never showed Mc- Donald approaching the of- ficer in a threatening manner.
“None of that hap- pened!” prosecutor Jody Gleason said during the trial. “You’ve seen the videos. He made it up to jus- tify his use of force.”
Van Dyke’s lead de- fense attorney Daniel Her- bert claimed the victim was
JAMES VAN DYKE
the “author and choreogra- pher of this story” while painting him as a drugged teen with a checkered past.
Despite the verdict, Laquan’s family has asked for peace from the pub- lic. “We don’t want any vio- lence before, during or after ... the verdict in this trial,” Rev. Martin Hunter said on behalf of the family be- fore the verdict was an- nounced. “Give the judge a chance to do his job, give a jury a chance to do their job.”
A White mom is enraged and speaking out after a Mary- land clinic refused to treat her adoptive, 12-year-old Black daughter for a suspected bro- ken finger.
Karen Dresser, 51, says when she and her daughter, Amelia, showed up to the Pa- tient First urgent care facility in Waldorf, Md., outside of Wash- ington, employees told her she needed to produce paperwork to prove the girl was her daugh- ter. When she could not, she was told to find them or seek treatment elsewhere, according to WJLA.
Dresser, a fourth-grade school teacher in White Plains, MD., adopted her daughter, Amelia, in 2007, but they have lived as a family since she was an infant, Yahoo! Lifestyle reported.
Patient First has treated Amelia on multiple occasions, Dresser told Yahoo!
“When we arrived, a recep- tionist asked if I were her guardian and I interpreted that as ‘parent’ so I said yes,” Dresser told Yahoo!.
“But it became clear that she didn’t believe me,” Dresser said, adding that she was told, “You should have brought guardianship documentation, which we need in order to treat your daughter.”
“At first I was just numb,” Dresser told WJLA. “I was in disbelief, actually.”
Karen Dresser and her daughter Amelia.
She said, “We are a family in every sense of the word ... and for somebody just to make the assumption is hurtful.”
Ultimately, a Patient First staffer took a quick look at Amelia’s finger in the recep- tion area and advised Dresser to buy a splint for her at a retail pharmacy.
Patient First, which is based in Richmond, Va., sent a re- sponse to WJLA:
“During registration, if a minor patient is accompanied by an adult who states that they are the patient’s parent, we take them at their word,” the statement read. “If the adult states that they are the child’s guardian, we required (sic) documentation to confirm that before the patient can be regis- tered.”
The Patient First corporate office has apologized to Dresser, WJLA reported.
Officer Who Killed Tamir Rice Hired By Rural Ohio Police Department
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A small town in southern Ohio hired Timothy Loehmann, the police offi- cer who shot and killed 12- year-old Tamir Rice, to serve as a part-time officer on its police department.
The Intelligencer, a Wheeling, West Virginia newspaper, reported that the city of Bellaire hired Loehmann along with an- other part-time police officer.
Bellaire Police Chief Richard "Dick" Flanagan told The Intelligencer: "(Loehmann) was cleared of any and all wrongdoing. He was never charged. It's over and done with."
Attempts to reach Flana- gan Friday night were not
to Tamir's mother, Samaria Rice, who issued a statement Friday through at- torney Subodh Chandra.
"Ms. Rice believes that Timothy Loehmann does not belong on any police force, anywhere, period," he said. "Someone with his record should not be sub- jected upon the citizenry. But she does hope that this means that he will not ever return to Cleveland."
Loehmann shot and killed Tamir Nov. 14, 2014 outside the Cudell Recreation Center on the city's West Side. Loehmann was a rookie officer, and a passen- ger in a car driving by veteran training officer Frank Garmback.
Denis Mukwege And Nadia
TIMOTHY LOEHMANN
successful.
Bellaire is a small town
of about 4,000 people that borders the Ohio River at the West Virginia border directly across from Wheeling.
The news came as a shock
A Congolese doctor and Yazidi activist were thrown into the spotlight Friday when they were awarded the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize.
Denis Mukwege, a gyne- cologist and surgeon who helps victims of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Nadia Murad, a Yazidi rights activist and survivor of sexual slavery by Islamic State, were recognized for their un- failing work to try to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war, according to the Nobel Committee.
For almost two decades, Mukwege has headed Panzi Hospital, a haven for Congolese women who have been raped as a result of the war. Located in the eastern Congolese city of Bukavu, the hospital offers life- saving surgery from sexual vio-
The two winners have been recognized for their work to try to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war, the Nobel committee said.
lence.
“For almost 20 years I have
witnessed war crimes commit- ted against women, girls and even baby girls not only in my country, the Democratic Re- public of Congo but also in many other countries,” he said, admitting that he had been in surgery when he heard the news of his win.
Murad Win Nobel Peace
Prize For Their Work Against
Sexual Violence
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