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A28 u.s. news
Diaranson 21 aPriL 2021

Protesters seeking release of school shooting video arrested

from the April 12 shooting at evidence in this case before Knoxville Mayor Indya Kin-
Knoxville's Austin-East Mag- we have collected all the evi- cannon, police Chief Eve
net High School that killed dence may taint things that Thomas and three of the
Anthony J. Thompson Jr., are still being done,” Allen four officers involved in the
who was 17. said last week. shooting also have called for
the release of the video.
The seven arrested were On Tuesday, the Knoxville
charged with a misdemeanor branch of the NAACP joined The mayor said the video
for interfering with a com- the call to release the foot- was essential to restoring
mission meeting by physical age. Branch president the trust in police. The Tennes-
action or verbal utterance, Rev. Sam Brown said Allen’s see Bureau of Investigation
sheriff’s spokeswoman Kim- refusal to release the footage initially said the student fired
berly Glenn said in a state- “further erodes the already at police before he was killed,
ment. waning trust the community then later said the bullet that
has for law enforcement and wounded an officer did not
District Attorney Charme the criminal justice system.” come from the student’s gun.
(AP) — Seven protesters dozens of demonstrators who Allen has declined to release
demanding the release of filed into a Knox County the video even as pressure “We have to move forward Meanwhile, officials were
police body camera video Commission meeting Mon- mounts, saying it could dam- to a place of healing and love preparing to reopen the
of a student's fatal shoot- day evening and raised their age the Tennessee Bureau of and that only begins with school Wednesday. All stu-
ing at a Tennessee high fists, news outlets reported. Investigation’s probe into the the revelation of the truth,” dents will be screened with a
school have been arrested. Most remained silent, but shooting. Brown said. metal detector wand as they
some were vocal in calling for enter the building, the school
Those charged were among authorities to release video “To release any part of the Other officials, including principal told news outlets.

Out of sight but center stage, jurors weigh Chauvin's fate

(AP) — The jurors who sat self. to what she saw. "That’s how might be on drugs.
off-camera through three The city has also been on simple it was. `Get off of
weeks of draining testi- Chauvin, 45, is charged edge in recent days over the him.' Common sense.” “A reasonable police offi-
mony in Derek Chauvin's with second-degree murder, deadly police shooting of cer understands the inten-
murder trial in George third-degree murder and a 20-year-old Black man, Under the law, police have sity of the struggle,” Nelson
Floyd's death were in the second-degree manslaughter, Daunte Wright, in a nearby certain latitude to use force, said, noting that Chauvin’s
spotlight Tuesday, still out all of which require the jury suburb on April 11. and their actions are sup- body camera and badge were
of sight but now in con- to conclude that his actions posed to be judged according knocked off his chest.
trol of verdicts awaited by were a “substantial causal fac- Prosecutor Jerry Blackwell to what a “reasonable officer” Nelson also showed the jury
a skittish city. tor” in Floyd’s death and that had the final word Monday, in the same situation would pictures of pills found in
his use of force was unrea- offering the state's rebuttal have done. Floyd’s SUV and pill rem-
The jury of six white people sonable. argument. The prosecutor, nants discovered in the squad
and six people who are Black who is Black, said the ques- Nelson noted that officers car. Fentanyl and metham-
or multiracial resumed delib- The most serious charge car- tions about the use of force who first went to the corner phetamine were found in
erations in the morning. ries up to 40 years in prison. and cause of death are “so store where Floyd allegedly Floyd’s system.
simple that a child can un- passed a counterfeit $20 bill
Anonymous by order of the “Use your common sense. derstand it.” were struggling with Floyd The defense attorney said the
judge and sequestered now Believe your eyes. What you when Chauvin arrived as failure of the prosecution to
until they reach a verdict, saw, you saw,” prosecutor “In fact, a child did under- backup. The defense attor- acknowledge that medical
they spent just a few hours Steve Schleicher said in clos- stand it, when the 9-year-old ney also pointed out that the problems or drugs played a
on their task Monday af- ing arguments at the widely girl said, ‘Get off of him,’” first two officers on the scene role “defies medical science
ter the day was mostly con- televised trial, referring to Blackwell said, referring to a were rookies and that po- and it defies common sense
sumed by closing arguments the bystander video of Floyd young witness who objected lice had been told that Floyd and reason.”
in which prosecutors argued pinned to the pavement with
that Chauvin squeezed the Chauvin's knee on or close to
life out of Floyd last May in his neck for up to 9 minutes,
a way that even a child knew 29 seconds, as onlookers
was wrong. yelled at the officer to get off.
The defense contended that
the now-fired white officer Chauvin attorney Eric Nel-
acted reasonably and that the son countered by arguing
46-year-old Floyd died of a that Chauvin did what any
heart condition and illegal reasonable police officer
drug use. would have done after find-
ing himself in a “dynamic”
In Washington, meanwhile, and “fluid” situation involv-
President Joe Biden said ing a large man struggling
Tuesday that he is “praying with three officers.
the verdict is the right ver-
dict” and that he believes the With the case drawing to
case to be “overwhelming.” a close, some stores were
He also said he called Floyd's boarded up in Minneapolis.
family on Monday and "can The courthouse was ringed
only imagine the pressure with concrete barriers and
and anxiety they’re feeling.” razor wire, and National
Guard troops were on patrol.
The president has repeatedly Floyd's death set off protests
denounced Floyd’s death but last spring in the city and
had previously stopped short across the U.S. that some-
of weighing in on the trial it- times turned violent.