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A28 u.s. news
Dialuna 31 Januari 2022

2nd trial in Floyd killing centers on clash of duty, code

(AP) — A federal trial vene when a fellow officer
against three former Min- puts someone in danger.
neapolis police officers
seeks to hold them re- Since mid-2020, 21 of the
sponsible for not stopping country’s 100 largest police
George Floyd’s murder — departments adopted policies
and perhaps strike a blow on officers’ duty to intervene
against long-standing po- and lawmakers in 12 states
lice culture that breeds re- have approved similar laws,
luctance to rein in fellow according to the Council on
officers. Criminal Justice’s Task Force
on Policing.
The circumstances of Floyd’s
death — pinned under Offi- Minneapolis added a “duty
cer Derek Chauvin’s knee for to intervene” policy in 2016.
more than nine minutes, re- Days after Floyd’s mur-
corded from multiple camera der, city officials agreed to
angles — may help prosecu- strengthen it. The state Hu-
tors clear the bar for convic- man Rights Department now
tion on a charge that’s rarely can take the Minneapolis Po-
brought, in part because it lice Department to court for
can be difficult to prove. any violations.
Regardless, several former
federal prosecutors and le- Joseph Giacalone, a professor
gal experts see a message in at John Jay College of Crimi-
the Department of Justice’s ing was wrong and still went In Chicago, a key police wit- Officer Cariol Horne was nal Justice and a retired New
pursuit of charges accusing ahead. ness against three Chicago fired in 2008 after an arbitra- York police sergeant, said of-
J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas officers charged with trying tion process ruled that she ficers know the consequenc-
Lane and Tou Thao of violat- Chauvin was convicted of to cover up the 2014 shoot- had put other officers at risk es of federal prosecution far
ing Floyd’s civil rights. state murder and manslaugh- ing of Laquan McDonald tes- when she stopped a fellow of- outweigh those of internal
ter charges last year and tified that she was taunted as ficer whose arm was around a sanctions.
“This sends a real message pleaded guilty to a federal a “rat” by fellow officers who handcuffed suspect’s neck.
to counterbalance that very civil rights charge. Kueng, said her calls for assistance “Police know there’s no limit
strong cultural set of influ- Lane and Thao also face a while on duty should be ig- The Florida officer drew the to what the federal govern-
ences in policing that often separate state trial on charges nored. support of her chief for step- ment can do,” Giacalone said.
prevent an officer from step- they aided and abetted mur- ping in, though his public “I definitely think now the
ping forward and reporting der and manslaughter. In Florida late last year, an comments came only after a risk of a federal charge is in
or stopping misconduct,” officer with less than three Miami TV station published the back of the mind.”
said Jonathan Smith, former Police departments and lo- years experience pulled a ser- video of the conflict. Horne,
chief of the department divi- cal prosecutors have their geant by his belt away from the Buffalo officer, was ulti- Federal civil rights violations
sion that oversees police civil own means to punish officers a handcuffed suspect, appar- mately granted a pension — that result in death are pun-
rights inquiries. who don’t intervene. But ently afraid he was about to but only after a lengthy court ishable by up to life in pris-
high-profile examples show pepper spray the man. The battle and a push to change on or even death, but those
The federal charges require how risky it is, both person- sergeant, a 21-year veteran, state law. sentences are extremely rare.
prosecutors to prove the ex- ally and professionally, for grabbed the officer — at one Federal sentencing guidelines
officers willfully deprived officers who do intervene or point placing his hand against Floyd’s May 2020 killing rely on complicated formu-
Floyd of his constitutional who cooperate with investi- her throat. prompted many police lead- las that indicate the officers
rights — meaning that they gations of fellow officers. ers to boost their own train- in Floyd’s killing would get
knew what they were do- And in Buffalo, New York, ing on officers’ duty to inter- much less if convicted.

Feds: Kansas woman led all-female Islamic State battalion

(AP) — A woman who before Saturday’s announce- many years, having traveled In early 2016, her husband
once lived in Kansas has ment. In all, the affidavit cites ob- to Syria to commit or support was killed in the Syrian city
been arrested after federal servations from six different violent jihad. Fluke-Ekren of Tell Abyad while trying
prosecutors charged her Prosecutors say Fluke-Ekren witnesses, including some translated her extremist be- to carry out a terrorist at-
with joining the Islamic wanted to recruit operatives who have been charged with liefs into action by serving tack, prosecutors said. Later
State group and leading to attack a college campus in terrorism offenses and some as the appointed leader and that year, prosecutors say she
an all-female battalion of the U.S. and discussed a ter- who were held at prison organizer of an ISIS military married a Bangladeshi ISIS
AK-47 wielding militants. rorist attack on a shopping camps for former Islamic battalion, directly training member who specialized in
mall. She told one witness state members. women and children in the drones, but he died in late
The U.S. Attorney in Alex- that “she considered any at- use of AK-47 assault rifles, 2016 or early 2017.
andria, Virginia, announced tack that did not kill a large A detention memo filed Fri- grenades, and suicide belts
Saturday that Allison Fluke- number of individuals to be day by First Assistant U.S. to support the Islamic State’s Four months after that man’s
Ekren, 42, has been charged a waste of resources,” accord- Attorney Raj Parekh states murderous aims,” Parekh death, she again remarried
with providing material sup- ing to an FBI affidavit. that Fluke-Ekren even wrote. a prominent Islamic state
port to a terrorist organiza- trained children how to use leader who was responsible
tion. That affidavit from FBI Spe- assault rifles, and that at According to court papers, for the Islamic State group’s
cial Agent David Robins also least one witness saw one of Fluke-Ekren moved to Egypt defense of Raqqa.
The criminal complaint was alleges that Fluke-Ekren be- Fluke-Ekren’s children, ap- in 2008 and traveled fre-
filed under seal back in 2019 came leader of an Islamic proximately 5 or 6 years old, quently between Egypt and She told one witness in 2018
but made public Saturday af- State unit called “Khatiba holding a machine gun in the the U.S. over the next three that she instructed a person
ter Fluke-Ekren was brought Nusaybah” in the Syrian city family’s home in Syria. years. She has not been in the in Syria to tell Fluke-Ekren’s
back to the U.S. Friday to of Raqqa in late 2016. The U.S. since 2011. Family she was dead so the
face charges. Her alleged par- all-female unit was trained in “Fluke-Ekren has been a fer- U.S. government would not
ticipation in the Islamic State the use of AK-47 rifles, gre- vent believer in the radical Prosecutors believe she try to find her, according to
had not been publicly known nades and suicide belts. terrorist ideology of ISIS for moved to Syria around 2012. Parekh’s memo.