Page 20 - Florida Sentinel 11-16-18

National
Lawsuit Claims Morehouse College Ignored Student's Complaints Of Sexual Harassment
Security Guard Killed By Police After Apprehending Alleged Shooter, Lawsuit Says
A suburban Chicago police officer responding Sunday to a shooting at a bar killed a secu- rity guard who was just "doing his job," an attorney for the victim's family said.
An officer from Midlothian, a Chicago suburb, fatally shot Jemel Roberson, a 26-year- old security guard working at the bar, Cook County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Sophia Ansari told CNN.
Several law enforcement agencies responded to the shooting around 4 a.m. at Manny's Blue Room Lounge in Robbins, about 20 miles south of Chicago, Ansari said. Three people and an alleged shooter were injured, she added.
Then, after Roberson had apprehended an alleged gun- man, the Midlothian officer shot Roberson outside the bar, according to a federal law- suit filed Monday that calls the fatal shooting "excessive and unreasonable" and claims it violated Roberson's civil rights.
Witnesses said security had asked several drunk men to leave the bar, and at least one person returned to the bar
JEMEL ROBERSON
and opened fire, CNN affiliate WGN reported. A bartender was among the victims of that shooting, according to the law- suit.
After the shooting, Rober- son "had somebody on the ground ... with his knee in back, with his gun in his back like, 'Don't move,'" Adam Harris, a witness, told WGN.
"We all yelled. 'He's a secu- rity. He's a security,' and with- out ... giving any thought, they shot him," Harris told the station. "The vest said security as well, ... and they shot him in the side."
Morehouse College is fac- ing accusations that it did nothing to come to the aid of a student who was allegedly being sexually harassed by a faculty member.
According to a new law- suit, the victim was a first- year student at the school when he participated in a study-abroad trip to Brazil in May 2015, at which time the alleged harassment began, the Atlanta Journal- Constitution reports.
The student, who was a minor at the time, claims that assistant professor Robert Peterson ordered him alco- holic drinks on the flight to Brazil and then groped his genitals on the flight. Peter- son allegedly ordered alco- holic beverages for other underage students at a pool party during the trip and also allegedly sent sexual images to the students.
“Peterson was known as a professor that exchanged good grades for sex,” the
Morehouse assistant professor Robert Peterson is accused of buying underage students alcoholic drinks, as well as groping one student's genitals during a study abroad trip.
complaint claims.
Despite multiple reports
on the professor’s behavior, little was done.
The AJC reports:
One faculty member re-
ported the alleged harass- ment to a department chair, but it wasn’t forwarded to the office assigned to handle such complaints. The student said he filed a formal complaint in December 2017, but More- house said it didn’t receive the complaint. The student resubmitted the complaint in
January.
The student said his grades
suffered and he left the school in the fall of 2017. He claimed that officials did lit- tle to assist him when he tried to return to school at the start of this semester. The student is now seeking unspecified monetary and punitive dam- ages, per the lawsuit that was filed last week.
Meanwhile, Peterson, the professor in question, has “vehemently denied” all alle- gations, according to AJC.
Detroit Lawmaker Introduces Bill To Rename Portion Of M-10 ‘Aretha Franklin Memorial Highway’
A bill was introduced to the House that would desig- nate a portion of a freeway in Detroit as the “Aretha Franklin Memorial High- way.”
As reported by the Detroit Free Press, State Rep. Fred Durhal III, D-Detroit, in- troduced the bill this week that calls on the Michigan Department of Transporta- tion to designate a portion of
ARETHA FRANKLIN
M-10 — from 8 Mile to I-94 as a memorial to Franklin.
“The Lodge Freeway was close to her stomping grounds,” he said. “Her fa- ther’s church is in my district and so she was a staple in the community. We just wanted to make sure we paid the proper tribute to her.”
Franklin died in August after a battle with pancreatic cancer.
Death Toll In California Wildfires Climbs To 48
Firefighters battle a fire along the Ronald Reagan Freeway in Simi Valley, Calif.
Wildfires continued to tear through Northern and South- ern California on Monday, where firefighters were at the mercy of dry air and whipping winds fanning the deadly blazes. At least 48 people have died statewide; many people remain unaccounted for.
In a year of record-breaking fires, Cal Fire Chief Ken Pim- lott told NPR's All Things Con- sidered the Camp fire in the north and Woolsey fire in the south may be "the most de- structive and the deadliest" on record for the state.
In Northern California, the Camp Fire, which ripped through the town of Paradise, 90 miles north of Sacramento, has killed 48 people, authori-
ties said.
Butte County Sheriff Kory
Honea indicated that more human remains from that fire could be found. He said that the county will receive two portable morgue units and ca- daver dogs.
He said his department had received more than 1,500 calls from friends and relatives try- ing to locate people in the area. He said investigators had de- termined that 231 of those peo- ple were safe but since an unknown number of the calls were duplicates, he couldn't tell how many people remain unac- counted for.
President Trump tweeted Monday night that he had signed a major disaster decla- ration for California.
PAGE 8-B FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2018