Page 12 - Florida Sentinel 4-23-19

National
Judge Allows Flint Residents
Disturbing Video Shows Florida Police Officers Brutally Assaulting A Black Teenager
To Sue Federal Government
For Water Crisis
Recently uploaded cell phone video shows Broward County, Florida officers using excessive force, including spraying mace, on an allegedly 15-year-old teen named Delucca.
The shocking video shows the unarmed teen not physically threatening the officers while bending down to pick up a cell phone. Subsequently, one of the officers pushes his head and, ac- cording to a change.org petition, when Delucca asked why he pushed his head, the officer pep- per sprayed him and threw him to the ground.
Bystanders are seen scream- ing and bolting from the scene. “What are you doing?! He’s bleeding!” a witness could be heard yelling in the footage.
Delucca was restrained while officers handcuffed him and punched him in the face. His face was also slammed into the concrete twice by the officers. The teen has reportedly been charged with resisting arrest.
The petition is not only calling
should be fired and charged with battery,” the petition states.
The eye-opening incident happened outside of a McDon- ald’s in Tamarac, Florida near JP Taravella High School, ac- cording to WSVN 7 news in Miami. Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies reportedly responded to a disturbance outside of the fast food restaurant just before 3 p.m. on Thursday (April 18).
The teen who recorded the video says students from the high school congregated to see a planned fight.
Law enforcement officials say two juveniles were taken into custody late Thursday. A third teen was transported to a nearby health clinic for evaluation after the pepper spray was used.
According to Mayor Mark Bogen’s Twitter account, Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony has begun an investigation of the incident. Bogen himself be- lieves the force used by officers was “outrageous & unaccept- able.”
Federal Judge Linda Parker of the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan told Flint residents that they can sue the federal government over the city’s on- going water crisis.
On Thursday, Parker told residents that the government is not immune from being sued. Flint’s water contamina- tion began way back in 2014, and has gone on for years as residents were provided inac- curacies regarding the safety of the city’s water.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials were made aware that residents had not been properly warned about the city’s contamination, causing residents to blame the EPA for waiting far too long to
intervene in treating the lead contaminated water.
Flint residents were made aware of the issue five years ago when Virginia Tech Uni- versity researchers and Hurley Medical Center in Flint showed high lead levels in both water and children’s blood.
A screenshot of the video that shows sheriff’s deputies pepper-spraying and punching a teenager in Tamarac, Florida.
for Delucca (whose full name was not revealed) to be freed, but also the firing of the two of- ficers in the video. “Since the force utilized by the Officers against Delucca was excessive, unreasonable, and in violation of Federal and State laws, as well as accepted police practices within the United States, the officers
Police Seek Public's Help
Identifying Man Who Pretended
Black Woman Business Owner
To Be Ride-Share Driver
To Open First Luxury Cannabis
Police in Maryland have re- leased surveillance footage in hopes that the public will help them identify a man seen on video attempting to steal a woman's purse after pretend- ing to be a ride-share driver.
It was around 4:46 a.m. on March 30 when the victim, who was returning from a night out, called a ride-sharing service to get her back home, according to the Montgomery County De- partment of Police.
The man seen in footage re- leased by police Tuesday ar- rived to the woman's location and the woman, believing that he was her ride-share driver, got into his car, police said.
After the man drove her home to Bethesda, Maryland, he then "demanded" to be paid, officials said. The woman told the driver that she'd already paid him via the ride-share app and that she was not paying him additional money, accord- ing to police. In the video, the man wearing a dark hoodie, dark jeans and dark shoes can be seen walking up and talking to the woman as she's entering her building with a key.
"I panicked because my 24/7 concierge was not there, and there was no one outside, there was no one in the lobby," the woman, who spoke to ABC News on the condition of not being named, said. "So I was pretty scared. He proceeded to tell me that I owed him money. I said you can call the police on me but you need to get away, you need to stop."
"The suspect followed the victim into her apartment building and then followed her
Lounge In Southern California
The surveillance video screenshot of the alledged sus- pect.
into an elevator," police said in a statement posted with sur- veillance video on its YouTube page. "While in the elevator, the suspect unsuccessfully at- tempted to steal the victim's purse."
Footage from cameras inside the elevator captured the man showing the woman his cell- phone repeatedly before finally trying to grab her purse from her. The woman holds on to her purse as she exits the eleva- tor with the suspect still follow- ing her and gesturing toward his cellphone.
Though the video footage ended in the elevator, police said the man entered the woman's apartment and "stole property" before leaving.
"I beat myself up everyday," the woman told ABC News. "Why didn't I scream, why did- n't I do this? Why didn't I do that? But maybe in the end it was actually to my benefit, which is why he didn't hurt me."
In a booming marijuana in- dustry where the majority of people calling the shots are White and male, Tarsha S., is setting out to change the game. She runs The Green Dragon, a marijuana dispensary she co- founded with her husband in 2007 in Northern California. It’s a one-stop shop, where her team grows cannabis plants in the back of the facility and sells products in the front.
“It’s an organic process. We grow everything in-house and we sell everything in-house,” she told theGrio in an exclusive interview at her dispensary. “It’s a farm-to-table approach.”
As a native of Prince Georges County and former writer, Tarsha says she grew up in a fairly conservative com- munity and never thought she would end up in the business.
Her husband, Glenn, a music producer, introduced her to the idea and got her on- board by explaining the med- ical benefits.
“Definitely when we started this business, my views were very conservative. But it’s changed knowing the patients that are benefiting from the use of cannabis,” she says.
“Cannabis can heal and help people cope with pain,” she continues.
Now they’re planning to open up a high-end luxury cannabis lounge in Palm Springs, California, expected to
Tarsha S. (left) being interviewed about the cannabis company.
be the first of its kind in South- ern California.
“It’s definitely going to be a tourist attraction. And our sell- ing point for the business is we’re offering you an experi- ence,” says Tarsha, who has named the business Coachella Valley Green Lounge.
“So you’re not just coming to consume cannabis but you’re coming into our world of the arts as well. So we’ll have live musicians playing, there will be a jazz night. There will be cannabis yoga on the rooftop.”
Tarsha runs her business in a state where marijuana is legal both recreationally and medically. But she has to meet a lot of legal standards to keep the business open and in com- pliance.
“Every month we have to get tested to make sure that our
plants don’t have pesticides,” she said.
“There’s a lot of maybe triv- ial thoughts that go on about being the cannabis owner. ‘Oh people are just getting high.’ Not necessarily. There’s so much that we have to do day in and day out just to stay in com- pliance,” explained Tarsha.
In addition to having their plants tested, Tarsha has at- torneys on payroll, pays taxes, and files regular paperwork.
The high cost of entry is one of the things that makes it dif- ficult for Black owners to break into the marijuana economy. It’s now a $10.4 billion dollar legal industry in the United States, where an estimated 4.3 percent of owners are Black.
“I think that the compliance laws are so rigid that there are so many hoops that you have to jump through,” said Tarsha.
PAGE 12 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2019