Page 21 - Florida Sentinel 5-31-19

National
Former Miss Black Texas Is Suing The City Of Dallas And Its Former Police Chief For Wrongful Arrest
New FBI Report Reveals Significant Rise In White Supremacist Domestic Terrorism Cases
In Recent Months
Carmen Ponder says her civil rights were violated when she was arrested during a traffic stop and on Monday filed a federal lawsuit in court stemming from a May 2017 arrest in Commerce, The Dal- las Morning News reports.
Ponder is suing the city and a former police chief Kerry Crews over the evad- ing arrest charge. According to the lawsuit, Crews was off-duty and arrested Pon- der without reason during an incident with another driver.
Ponder says she encoun- tered an “erratic” motorist in a black truck on her way to a Walmart on May 20, 2017 who she assumed was a drunk driver.
The then-Texas A&M Uni- versity-Commerce pre-law student passed the driver and proceeded to the store when she saw the black truck pull up. Michael Beane, a Com- merce school district trustee, reportedly got out of truck and proceeded to use vulgar language and said he was try- ing to teach his teenage daughter to drive, according to the lawsuit.
Ponder then told him that the 14-year-old was too young to drive legally and in response, Beane allegedly called her a “black [exple-
A former Miss Black Texas competition winner is suing the city of Dallas over a road rage incident two years ago that landed her in jail.
On May 23, a senior FBI counterterrorism official told CNN the agency has seen a sig- nificant rise in the number of white supremacist domestic terrorism cases in the recent months.
The unnamed official ex- plained how the FBI has tack- led the rise of domestic threats while also investigating inter- national terror threats, which have remained constant de- spite the fall of ISIS in Syria.
Although the FBI wouldn’t provide specific numbers to il- lustrate the increase of domes- tic terror, the official said the cases generally include violent suspects with “anti-govern- ment views, racial or religious bias, environmental extrem- ism, and abortion-related views.”
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, at least 40 people in the U.S. and Canada were killed in 2018 by people with far-right ideologies.
When it comes to handling cases of domestic terrorism, the FBI faces more challenges because of First Amendment protections. At the moment, the U. S. doesn't have a domes- tic terrorism law, and domestic hate groups, such as the KKK or other white supremacist groups, are not classified as ter- rorist organizations by the gov- ernment.
In April 2019, a federal judge in Maryland agreed to re- lease Christopher Hasson, the Coast Guard lieutenant who was accused of plotting a domestic terror attack on prominent political figures.
tive],” the lawsuit says. Ponder continued to the store and after shopping she was approached by Crews outside of the store. By this time he had already heard
Beane’s side of the story. According to the suit, Crews, who was in plain clothes, “aggressively de- manded that she apologize to the man who accosted her earlier using racial slurs,” the
lawsuit says.
Crews then grabbed her
“by the arm with enough force to cause bruising and told her she was being de- tained,” according to the law- suit.
Ponder was arrested by
another responding officer and charged with evading ar- rest and she was handcuffed. The charges were later dropped by the Hunt County district attorney later because of lack of evidence.
Crews resigned from his post the next month and now works as a justice of the peace.
Crews issued an emo- tional resignation letter.
“It had nothing to do with her race or gender, or any- thing other than what I felt was her disrespect of my po- sition as an officer and as the police chief,” wrote Crews.
Ponder is seeking $450,000 in damages.
Texas Cop Who Fatally Shot Black Grandmother Is Back At Work
Shocking video of a Bay- town, Texas police officer shooting and killing a 44-year- old Black grandmother sur- faced last week and sparked outrage nationwide.
Now, the cop who killed 44- year-old Pamela Turner is reportedly back on the job after only three days of paid admin- istrative leave. On May 13, 2019, Turner, who suffers from mental illness, was
This undated photo pro- vided by the Turner family shows Pamela Turner, right, with her daughter Chelsie Rubin in Baytown, Texas.
rounding Pamela’s death is the autopsy, which determined she was not in fact pregnant, but did identify the location of the gunshot entry wounds (cheek, chest and abdomen).
Crump also stated during a news conference that Turner’s wounds had no pow- der burns, which essentially means that the officer was a safe distance away when he shot her multiple times. The Texas Rangers and the Harris County District Attorney’s Of- fice are continuing to investi- gate the shooting.
gunned down
Delacruz.
by Juan
What’s even more tragic and disturbing is that the offi- cer and the local police depart- ment reportedly knew Turner suffered from mental issues, as she’s had run ins with officers before.
Pamela Turner famously shouted “I’m pregnant” during a struggle with Delacruz be- fore she was shot at five times with three bullets hitting her. Her family though is continu- ing to fight to raise awareness surrounding the death. The Turner family hired social jus- tice advocate and attorney Ben Crump to represent their con- cerns to the public.
Part of the awareness sur-
Black Man Released From Prison After Serving More Than 40 Years On Death Row For Wrongful Conviction
A North Carolina man who once was on death row and then served more than 40 years in prison for a shop- keeper’s slaying in a failed robbery attempt was headed home Thursday.
Attorney Theresa New- man, co-director of the Duke Wrongful Convictions Clinic, said 81-year-old Charles Ray Finch was re- leased Thursday from Greene Correctional Institution. He was picked up by relatives and the clinic’s other co-di- rector, attorney Jim Cole- man, who were taking him to Wilson, Newman said.
CHARLES RAY FINCH
Video from WRAL-TV showed Finch, dressed all in white and wearing sun- glasses, leaving the prison in a wheelchair.
U. S. District Court Judge Terrence Boyle had or-
dered Finch’s release earlier Thursday. In January, an ap- peals court ruled that evi- dence casts doubt on Finch’s murder conviction. Newman said Finch’s con- viction was overturned and that prosecutors have 30 days to decide whether to retry him.
The Wilson Times reports that Finch’s daughter, Kay Jones Bailey, said after the hearing Thursday that she “knew the miracle was going to happen just didn’t know when. It’s been worth the wait. It’s been worth the fight.”
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