Page 20 - Florida Sentinel 9-17-19

National
Black Man Dies In Police
New Study Reveals White Court
Custody After Arrest For
Reporters Inaccurately Transcribe
Riding A Bike Without Lights
Black People’s Testimonies
Another unarmed Black man died in police custody after being stopped for a minor of- fense. The incident occurred in Las Vegas when Byron Lee Williams, 50, was riding his bi- cycle at 6 a.m., according to Las Vegas Sun.
According to body cam video, Williams told the offi- cers that he could not breathe as one officer put his knee on his back while attempting to place him in handcuffs. Williams eventually passed out when the cops took him to the squad car. Williams later died while at the hospital. Police officers Ben- jamin Vazquez, 27, and Patrick Campbell, 28, at- tempted to stop Williams for a moving violation. Williams continued to ride his bike and later ditched it in an apartment complex and ran. The officers eventually caught up with Williams and pinned him to the ground.
BYRON LEE WILLIAMS
Police claimed that they re- covered methamphetamine and a bottle of prescription opioid pills from Williams at the scene.
However, Williams’ family was allowed to view the body cam videos and noticed that the cops turned the cameras off when they hauled him away. The cops’ actions and Williams’ death are currently being investigated by the Force Investigation Team and Critical Incident Review.
Both officers are currently on paid leave until the investiga- tion is complete.
According to a Vice report, a new study shows that court re- porters frequently fail at cor- rectly transcribing the testimony of Black folks, which can have a devastating impact on individu- als during a trial.
The new study, which will be published in the journal Lan- guage next month, highlights and expands on previous re- search that found court re- porters find it quite challenging trying to decipher and transcribe testimonies of Black Americans who speak slang or broken Eng- lish and Ebonics.
For the study, called “Testify- ing while black: An experimen- tal study of court reporter accuracy in transcription of African American English,” re- searchers tested already-certi-
fied court reporters based in Philadelphia by asking them each to transcribe 83 sentences in everyday AAE. The recordings featured nine different native AAE speakers recruited from West Philadelphia, North
Philadelphia, Jersey City, and Harlem, who each have had con- tact with the criminal justice sys- tem. On average, the 27 court reporters who took part were only able to record AAE speak- ers with 82.9 percent accuracy.
New York AG Uncovers $1
Memphis Police Charge 3 Mississippi
Billion In Wire Transfers, Says
Men With Civil Rights Intimidation
Purdue Pharma Owners
In Parking Garage Attack
‘Lowballing’ Opioid Victims
Three Mississippi men have been charged with civil rights in- timidation and attempted rob- bery after allegedly attacking two black men in a downtown Memphis, Tenn., parking garage earlier this month.
According to the Associated Press, citing court documents, Christopher Elder, Joshua Matheny, and Michael Math- eny confronted both victims on Sept. 2.
One of the victims, Shane Smith, told a local ABC affiliate the men yelled racial slurs at him as they attacked him.
“They called me ‘ni**er,’ they had taken one ni**er’s shoes. They said they were going to take another one’s. They tried to take my stuff from me, but luck- ily they weren’t able to take any- thing,” Smith said.
Smith needed 10 stitches to
WASHINGTON -- The New York attorney general's office said in a Friday court filing that it had found at least $1 billion in wire transfers by the Sackler family, fueling claims the owners of OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma were trying to hide as- sets as they faced a growing number of lawsuits over their role in the opioid crisis.
New York Attorney General Letitia James has subpoenaed 33 financial institutions for in- formation about the Sackler family's wealth, and Friday's fil- ing represents the response of just one unnamed institution.
“While the Sacklers continue to lowball victims and skirt a re- sponsible settlement, we refuse to allow the family to misuse the courts in an effort to shield their financial misconduct," James said in a statement. "The limited number of documents provided to us so far underscore the ne- cessity for compliance with every subpoena."
Some of the Sackler family money transfers were routed through Swiss bank accounts, in- cluding one worth $64 million
Bottles
painkiller OxyContin made by Purdue Pharma LP.
wired to Purdue Pharma co- owner Mortimer Sackler through an account “located in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, in the Channel Islands,” according to the court filing.
More than 50 states and ter- ritories are suing Purdue, and this week 27 announced that they were in favor of a proposed deal with Purdue and the Sack- lers worth as much as $12 bil- lion. Lawyers for nearly 2,300 cities and counties suing Purdue also expressed support.
But 25 states and the District of Columbia oppose the deal, in part because they believe it will not yield as much as projected, and because some feel the Sack- ler family is not contributing enough of its personal wealth to the total.
of prescription
Christopher Elder, Joshua Matheny, and Michael Matheny
sew up his lip after the attack. Memphis police confirmed Smith wasn’t the only victim that night, saying the same three men robbed another man for his $200 sneakers earlier that evening, LocalMemphis.com
writes.
One woman who regularly
uses the parking garage said
she’d be using extra caution going forward. Smith, mean- while, says he feels lucky just to be alive.
“Just thankful,” he said about walking away from the attack with minor injuries. “I didn’t know really what was going on or how to comprehend the situ- ation.”
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