The Brodsky Organization, which owns the building at 360 W. 43rd St. in Manhattan, said in a statement Tuesday that it had completed an inquiry into the doormen’s response to the March 29 attack.
“The full lobby video shows that once the assailant had departed, the doormen emerged to assist the victim and flag down an NYPD vehicle, it is clear that required emergency and safety protocols were not followed,” the company said.
“We are extremely distraught and shocked by this incident, and our hearts go out to the victim,” it added.
The doormen were suspended after the attack, pending the outcome of the investigation. Building residents had defended the men in an open letter to the organization, saying surveillance footage “most certainly mischaracterizes” their actions and that they did not believe the staff members had “failed us as residents, our Midtown Manhattan community, nor our fellow AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islander) New Yorkers.”
Brandon Elliot, the alleged attacker, was arrested Wednesday and charged with two counts of second-degree assault as a hate crime and one count of first-degree attempted assault as a hate crime, according to the New York Police Department.
Elliot, 38, allegedly made anti-Asian statements toward the woman during the physical assault. The woman had serious injuries, including contusions and a fractured pelvis, and was treated at a Manhattan hospital, according to the NYPD.
The midmorning assault took place against a backdrop of attacks against Asians and Asian-Americans, including the Atlanta-area spa shootings that killed eight people, six of whom were Asian women.
The NYPD recorded 31 anti-Asian hate crimes in the city so far this year, compared to zero this time last year.
Local union SEIU 32BJ identified the two fired employees as a doorman and a concierge who are members of the union. President Kyle Bragg noted in a statement that the union is “comprised of majority immigrant, Black and brown workers.”
“Under their collective bargaining agreement, both employees have the right to file grievances. There is a contractual process to challenge terminations. The employees have initiated that process, but the process is just beginning and can take weeks or months,” Bragg said. “We take anti-Asian hatred, and all forms of discrimination, seriously.”
TEO: HAS COVID CASES LEVEL OFF IN CALIFORNIA, MORE COUNTIES ARE MOVING TO LESS RESTRICTIVE TEARS. SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY MOVING FROM THE MOST RESTRICTED PURPLE TEAR TO THE RED TIER. DINING AND MOVIE THEATERS CAN REOPEN A 25% CAPACITY, OR UP TO 1500 PEOPLE. GYMS CAN OPEN INDOORS AT 10%. CONTRA COSTA COUNTY IS MOVING TO THE ORANGE TIER. THAT IS THE ONLY MOVEMENT IN THE AREA. THERE ARE SEVERAL COUNTIES AND OTHER PARTS OF
San Joaquin County moves into California’s red tier; El Dorado joins more counties in orange
Updated: 2:45 PM PDT Apr 6, 2021
San Joaquin County is moving out of the state’s most restrictive COVID-19 purple tier into red, clearing the way for indoor operations to resume, with modifications, for businesses that include restaurants, gyms, museums, and movie theaters.The move will also expand maximum capacity for things like retail and shopping malls from 25% to 50% and open up food courts.California officials also announced Tuesday that Contra Costa, El Dorado, Humboldt, Imperial, Mendocino, Monterey, Riverside, Napa, San Benito, San Bernardino, San Diego, Siskiyou, Sonoma, Tulare and Ventura counties are moving into the orange, or moderate, tier of COVID-19 restrictions, which will increase the numbers of those allowed indoors at museums, places of worship, gyms and other places. Retail will no longer have capacity restrictions.The new tier assignments take effect on Wednesday. | Related| What’s allowed under California’s tier systemSierra and Alpine counties remain in the state’s lesser yellow tier for minimal COVID-19 restrictions. Merced and Inyo counties are the only counties stuck in the purple tier for widespread COVID-19 cases. Now that 4 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in 400-plus ZIP codes considered most vulnerable, California is making it easier for counties to move through the tiers by altering the case rate range for the tiers.The purple tier threshold will remain at greater than 10 cases per 100,000. The red (substantial) tier case rate range will narrow to 6 to 10 cases per 100,000 and the orange tier case rate range will shift to 2 to 5.9 cases per 100,0000. The yellow tier case rate range will shift to less than 2 cases per 100,000. The latest announcement comes as California on Tuesday announced a target date for fully reopening the economy under a new system as more Californians get COVID-19 vaccines and hospitalization rates continue to decline.The entire state will move into this phase June 15 if two criteria are met: If vaccine supply is sufficient for Californians 16 years and older who want the vaccine, and if hospitalization rates are stable and low.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
San Joaquin County is moving out of the state’s most restrictive COVID-19 purple tier into red, clearing the way for indoor operations to resume, with modifications, for businesses that include restaurants, gyms, museums, and movie theaters.
The move will also expand maximum capacity for things like retail and shopping malls from 25% to 50% and open up food courts.
California officials also announced Tuesday that Contra Costa, El Dorado, Humboldt, Imperial, Mendocino, Monterey, Riverside, Napa, San Benito, San Bernardino, San Diego, Siskiyou, Sonoma, Tulare and Ventura counties are moving into the orange, or moderate, tier of COVID-19 restrictions, which will increase the numbers of those allowed indoors at museums, places of worship, gyms and other places. Retail will no longer have capacity restrictions.
The new tier assignments take effect on Wednesday.
| Related| What’s allowed under California’s tier system
Sierra and Alpine counties remain in the state’s lesser yellow tier for minimal COVID-19 restrictions.
Merced and Inyo counties are the only counties stuck in the purple tier for widespread COVID-19 cases.
Now that 4 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in 400-plus ZIP codes considered most vulnerable, California is making it easier for counties to move through the tiers by altering the case rate range for the tiers.
The purple tier threshold will remain at greater than 10 cases per 100,000. The red (substantial) tier case rate range will narrow to 6 to 10 cases per 100,000 and the orange tier case rate range will shift to 2 to 5.9 cases per 100,0000. The yellow tier case rate range will shift to less than 2 cases per 100,000.
The latest announcement comes as California on Tuesday announced a target date for fully reopening the economy under a new system as more Californians get COVID-19 vaccines and hospitalization rates continue to decline.
The entire state will move into this phase June 15 if two criteria are met: If vaccine supply is sufficient for Californians 16 years and older who want the vaccine, and if hospitalization rates are stable and low.
California on Tuesday announced a target date for fully reopening the economy as more Californians get COVID-19 vaccines and hospitalization rates continue to decline. The entire state will move into this phase June 15 if two criteria are met: If vaccine supply is sufficient for Californians 16 years and older who want the vaccine, and if hospitalization rates are stable and low. California’s mask mandate will also remain in effect, said California Health and Human Services Secretary Mark Ghaly. Businesses and sectors listed in the state’s current “Blueprint for a Safer Economy,” which includes the color-coded county tier system, will be able to resume normal operations “in compliance with Cal/OSHA requirements and with common-sense public health policies in place, such as required masking, testing and with vaccinations encouraged,” according to a statement from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office. Most capacity limits will be lifted, although large-scale indoor events, such as conventions, will be allowed only with testing or vaccination verification requirements, Ghaly said.Tuesday’s announcement comes as more than 20 million vaccines have been administered across the state. “With more than 20 million vaccines administered across the state, it is time to turn the page on our tier system and begin looking to fully reopen California’s economy. We can now begin planning for our lives post-pandemic,” Newsom said in a prepared statement. “We will need to remain vigilant, and continue the practices that got us here – wearing masks and getting vaccinated – but the light at the end of this tunnel has never been brighter.”More than 4 million vaccines have been administered in 400-plus ZIP codes considered most vulnerable, based on metrics such as household income, education level, housing status and access to transportation.Vaccine eligibility will expand to people in California 16 and older starting April 15, although some counties, including Stanislaus, have already started vaccinating young adults. The two-month advance notice of the planned reopening should give people enough time to schedule their first dose, wait the recommended three to four weeks for a second shot and get through the two-week period for the vaccines to fully kick in, Ghaly said. It also gives businesses and others time to prepare.”We anticipate 30 million people will have been vaccinated at least one dose by the end of the calendar month,” Newsom said Tuesday at a news conference in San Francisco. “With the expectation of an abundance of doses coming in from the federal government through the end of this month and into May, we can confidently say by June 15 that we can start to open up as business as usual — subject to ongoing mask-wearing and ongoing vigilance.” In the near future, Newsom said he anticipated a “modest” but not “substantial” vaccine supply by April 15, when Californians as young as 16 become eligible for the vaccine. He said it was “going to take some time” for everyone to get the vaccine who is eligible.Newsom encouraged those 50 and older, a group currently eligible statewide for doses, to seek out vaccine appointments. “We are in a race against these variants,” Newsom said. The pandemic has taken its toll in California, with more than 58,000 people dead, businesses closed and students who have been out of classrooms for much of the year.Newsom, who has pushed for in-person instruction to resume, said he expects no barriers to getting students back into classrooms safely by June 15, including college students.— The Associated Press contributed reporting.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. —
California on Tuesday announced a target date for fully reopening the economy as more Californians get COVID-19 vaccines and hospitalization rates continue to decline.
The entire state will move into this phase June 15 if two criteria are met: If vaccine supply is sufficient for Californians 16 years and older who want the vaccine, and if hospitalization rates are stable and low.
California’s mask mandate will also remain in effect, said California Health and Human Services Secretary Mark Ghaly.
Businesses and sectors listed in the state’s current “Blueprint for a Safer Economy,” which includes the color-coded county tier system, will be able to resume normal operations “in compliance with Cal/OSHA requirements and with common-sense public health policies in place, such as required masking, testing and with vaccinations encouraged,” according to a statement from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office.
Most capacity limits will be lifted, although large-scale indoor events, such as conventions, will be allowed only with testing or vaccination verification requirements, Ghaly said.
Tuesday’s announcement comes as more than 20 million vaccines have been administered across the state.
“With more than 20 million vaccines administered across the state, it is time to turn the page on our tier system and begin looking to fully reopen California’s economy. We can now begin planning for our lives post-pandemic,” Newsom said in a prepared statement. “We will need to remain vigilant, and continue the practices that got us here – wearing masks and getting vaccinated – but the light at the end of this tunnel has never been brighter.”
More than 4 million vaccines have been administered in 400-plus ZIP codes considered most vulnerable, based on metrics such as household income, education level, housing status and access to transportation.
Vaccine eligibility will expand to people in California 16 and older starting April 15, although some counties, including Stanislaus, have already started vaccinating young adults.
The two-month advance notice of the planned reopening should give people enough time to schedule their first dose, wait the recommended three to four weeks for a second shot and get through the two-week period for the vaccines to fully kick in, Ghaly said. It also gives businesses and others time to prepare.
“We anticipate 30 million people will have been vaccinated at least one dose by the end of the calendar month,” Newsom said Tuesday at a news conference in San Francisco. “With the expectation of an abundance of doses coming in from the federal government through the end of this month and into May, we can confidently say by June 15 that we can start to open up as business as usual — subject to ongoing mask-wearing and ongoing vigilance.”
In the near future, Newsom said he anticipated a “modest” but not “substantial” vaccine supply by April 15, when Californians as young as 16 become eligible for the vaccine. He said it was “going to take some time” for everyone to get the vaccine who is eligible.
Newsom encouraged those 50 and older, a group currently eligible statewide for doses, to seek out vaccine appointments.
“We are in a race against these variants,” Newsom said.
The pandemic has taken its toll in California, with more than 58,000 people dead, businesses closed and students who have been out of classrooms for much of the year.
Newsom, who has pushed for in-person instruction to resume, said he expects no barriers to getting students back into classrooms safely by June 15, including college students.
Investigators are still trying to determine whether a fatal crash involving a San Francisco Bay-area mother and daughter was accidental or intentional after their vehicle was spotted by dozens of onlookers driving through a parking lot without braking before plummeting off the side of a cliff at a popular northern California coastal lookout over the weekend.
Speaking with media on Monday, California Highway Patrol Officer David de Rutte said the cause of the crash that happened Saturday morning at the Bodega Bay’s Head Trail was still under investigation. It’s unclear why Maria Teixeira, 64, kept driving her Toyota SUV through a wooden barrier in a large parking area at the trail before plummeting off the side of the cliff.
“Witnesses saw the vehicle driving through the parking lot — and it just kept driving,” de Rutte said. “It didn’t stop. There was no accelerating but also no braking.”
US MARSHALS SECURE INTERNATIONAL WARRANT FOR QINXUAN PAN, 2 MONTHS AFTER YALE STUDENT’S MURDER
The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office identified a woman in the passenger’s seat as Teixeira’s daughter, 41-year-old Elizabeth Correia.
Bodega Bay firefighters work to secure the scene of a crash after a vehicle plummeted from the Bodega Head parking lot in Bodega Bay, Calif., through a wood barrier, left, landing upside down 100 feet to the rocky shoreline, killing two people in the SUV, Saturday, April 3, 2021. (Kent Porter/The Press Democrat via AP)
Both women were found dead when rescuers made it down the side of the cliff and reached the vehicle, which landed on its roof on the rocks about 100 feet below, the Bodega Bay Fire Protection District said. Dozens of people witnessed the crash, as beachgoers and hikers had flocked to the scenic Pacific Ocean overlook to enjoy clear weather over the Easter holiday weekend.
De Rutte said a vehicle inspection would be conducted and an autopsy will be conducted to determine whether Teixeira was experiencing a medical condition at the time of the incident.
Bodega Bay firefighters work to secure the scene of a crash after a vehicle plummeted from the Bodega Head parking lot in Bodega Bay, Calif., through a wood barrier, left, landing upside down 100 feet to the rocky shoreline, killing two people in the SUV, Saturday, April 3, 2021. (Kent Porter/The Press Democrat via AP)
The mother and daughter lived in the San Francisco Bay Area city of Dublin, about 100 miles south of the crash site. Both were employees of public schools in the Bay Area, The Mercury News reported, citing relatives and sheriff’s officials. Teixeira was lead custodian at Montevideo Elementary in nearby San Ramon, and Correia was a first-grade teacher at Lydiksen Elementary in Pleasanton.
Teixeira “was just a warm, good person, she was so smiley and happy. She helped everybody,” Erin Aitken, a teacher and former colleague told the newspaper, remembering how proud Teixeira was when her daughter became a teacher. “She was a big cheerleader for her kids. And she clearly loved being around children.”
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Correia’s bio on the school’s website said she taught in Pleasanton, where she grew up, since 2005.
The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office is handling the death investigation, which is expected to take between two to three months and will include conducting the autopsies, spokeswoman, Misti Wood, told Fox News when reached by phone Tuesday. California Highway Patrol is handling the investigation into the crash site and will determine whether it was intentional or accidental, she said.
A 9-year-old girl called 911 after her father shot and killed three people, including her mother, in an apparent murder-suicide in Brooklyn on Monday evening, police said.
Officers responded to the call about 11:30 p.m. at an apartment building in the 360 block of Sutter Avenue, according to the New York City Police Department. The officers found two people in the hallway and another person in the living room. All were pronounced dead at the scene, the department said.
The NYPD identified the victims Tuesday as Rasheeda Barzey, 45, Solei Spears, 20, and Chloe Spears, 16.
A man in Brooklyn fatally shot three people in their New York City apartment on Monday, April 5, 2021, before turning the gun on himself, leaving a 9-year-old girl to call the police, authorities said.via NBC New York
Officials found the body of the gunman, Joseph McCrimon, 46, with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head in a walkway near the apartment, police said. Two firearms were recovered near his body, according to authorities.
The girl was unharmed in the shooting, police said.
Officials did not offer details on a motive.
The incident occurred less than 12 hours after police in suburban Dallas discovered six family members dead in an apparent murder-suicide. Allen police said two brothers made a suicide pact that included the deaths of the other relatives.
If you or someone you know is at risk of suicide please call the U.S. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255, text TALK to 741741 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional resources.
Wilson Wong
Wilson Wong is a breaking news reporter with NBC News.
“We don’t train leg-neck restraints with officers in service, and as far as I know, we never have,” Lt. Johnny Mercil said.
While neck restraints may be allowed on suspects actively resisting, they are not to be done with the knee and they would not be authorized on a suspect who is handcuffed and under control, he said. Officers are taught to only use force that is proportional to the threat.
“You want to use the least amount of force necessary to meet your goals,” Mercil said. “If you can use a lower level of force to meet your objectives, it’s safer and better for everyone involved.”
The testimony comes as a series of police supervisors and high-level officials have taken the stand to say that Chauvin violated department policies while restraining Floyd on May 25, 2020. Foremost among them was Chief Medaria Arradondo, who on Monday thoroughly rejected Chauvin’s decision to kneel on the neck of Floyd — who was handcuffed and in a prone position — for over 9 minutes.
“That in no way shape or form is anything that is by policy. It is not part of our training, and it is certainly not part of our ethics or our values,” Arradondo said.
Combined, their testimony cuts at the heart of the defense’s argument that Chauvin “did exactly what he had been trained to do” when he restrained Floyd last May. Further testimony from police experts is expected on Tuesday as prosecutors seek to show he used excessive and unreasonable force on Floyd.
Chauvin, 45, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, third-degree murder and third-degree manslaughter. Defense attorney Eric Nelson has not indicated whether Chauvin will testify in his own defense.
Testimony in the trial began last Monday and is expected to last about a month.
The focus on police policy is a shift from the first week of the trial, which centered on what happened to Floyd on his last day. The testimony featured video from a bevy of cellphones, surveillance cameras and police body cameras; testimony from distressed bystanders; descriptions from paramedics and police supervisors who responded to the scene; and Chauvin’s own statements about what happened.
Training coordinator emphasizes de-escalation
The training coordinator for the Minneapolis Police Department’s crisis intervention program testified Tuesday about the importance of recognizing when someone is in crisis and de-escalating the situation.
“Policy requires that when it’s safe and feasible, we should de-escalate,” said Sgt. Ker Yang, who has been with the department for 24 years.
Officers are trained in a critical decision-making model to address people in crisis that calls on them to continually assess and reassess what is needed in the situation, he said. Chauvin took a 40-hour course on crisis intervention training in 2016 in which actors portrayed people in crisis and officers had to de-escalate the situation, Yang testified.
In cross-examination, Yang said that the crisis intervention model can potentially apply to the suspect as well as nearby observers. The training advises officers to appear confident, stay calm, maintain space, speak slowly and softly and avoid staring or eye contact, he said.
Yang’s testimony comes after Arradondo and other officials criticized Chauvin’s actions. Arradondo said Monday the kneeling violated policies around de-escalation, reasonable use of force and the requirement to render aid.
“That action is not de-escalation, and when we talk about the framework of our sanctity of life and when we talk about the principles and values we have, that action goes contrary to what we’re talking about,” Arradondo said.
Minneapolis use-of-force training was to use one-arm or two-arm neck restraints, according to police Inspector Katie Blackwell, who was in charge of the department’s training program last year.
“I don’t know what kind of improvised position this is,” she testified of Chauvin’s kneeling. “That’s not what we train.”
Last week, Chauvin’s direct supervisor said his use of force should have ended earlier, and the department’s top homicide detective testified that kneeling on Floyd’s neck after he had been handcuffed was “totally unnecessary.”
Passenger in Floyd’s vehicle plans to plead Fifth
Morries Hall, who was in the car with Floyd when police first confronted them last May, appeared in court via Zoom on Tuesday prior to the jury arriving to discuss his intention to plead the Fifth if he is called to testify in the trial.
Both the prosecution and defense have called Hall as a witness. Nelson said he planned to ask Hall about his interactions with Floyd that day, their suspected use of a counterfeit bill, whether he gave Floyd drugs and his statements to police about Floyd’s behavior in the vehicle.
Hall’s attorney, Adrienne Cousins, argued that he planned to use the Fifth Amendment’s right against self-incrimination, and she asked Judge Peter Cahill to quash his subpoena to testify. Cousins said she was concerned Hall’s testimony could be used in a drug or third-degree murder charge against him.
“This leaves Mr. Hall potentially incriminating himself into a future prosecution for third-degree murder,” Cousins told Cahill, noting the murder statute allows for prosecution of someone who provided drugs leading to an overdose.
Judge Cahill said that any questions about potential wrongdoing would not be allowed, yet he said he would be open to allowing specific questions about Floyd’s behavior in the vehicle that day. He asked Nelson to draft specific questions on that point, which will be passed to Hall and his attorneys and discussed in a future hearing.
Hall’s testimony could be key for the defense, who has argued that Floyd’s cause of death was a mix of drug use and preexisting health issues.
Hall is currently in custody on unrelated charges of domestic abuse, domestic assault by strangulation and the violation of a protective order.
The suspected gunman — a 38-year-old man — entered a business at Riverside Tech Park in the northeast of the city, and opened fire in or near it, striking two men, Frederick Police Chief Jason Lando told reporters.
The suspect then drove to Fort Detrick, about 10 minutes away, where “personnel on the base” fatally shot him, Lando said.
The men injured at the technology park were in critical condition, and were flown by helicopter to a hospital, Lando said
Lando said he didn’t know why the suspect opened fire at the business or subsequently went to Fort Detrick, or what led base personnel to shoot him.
“We have two different scenes. … We have confirmed there (was) only one (assailant), (and) the public is no longer at risk,” Lando said.
The names of the suspect and the injured men weren’t immediately released.
The suspect was a Navy hospital corpsman, the US Navy said on Twitter. “The U.S. Navy can confirm there was an active shooter incident at Fort Detrick, MD involving U.S. Navy Sailors. The shooter, a Navy Hospital Corpsman, is deceased. We will continue to update with additional details as the situation evolves,” the tweet reads.
Police had been called to the first scene, about a 4-mile drive east of Fort Detrick, around 8:20 a.m., Lando said.
Special agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are responding to assist, the ATF’s office in Baltimore said on Twitter.
Frederick is about a 50-mile drive northwest of Washington, DC.
Active shooter investigation in Frederick, Maryland
Authorities are on the scene in Frederick for an active shooter emergency. At least two victims have been located and the shooter is said to be down.
DRONE FOOTAGE: Active shooter investigation in Frederick, MD
Drone footage shows the aftermath of an active shooter situation in Frederick, Maryland with 2 victims and 1 suspect.
FREDERICK, Md. – An active shooter has been taken down at Ft. Detrick in Frederick, Maryland after an incident Tuesday morning, authorities say.
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The incident was initially reported around 8:30 a.m. in the 8400 block of Progress Drive. Images from the scene show law enforcement activity near the gates of the military installation.
Officials say two people have been hurt but did not elaborate on their injuries.
All schools in Frederick are on lockdown at this time.
Maryland State Police are assisting in the investigation and Gov. Hogan has been brief on the situation.
This is a developing story. Stay with us for updates.
A national online network of thousands of rightwing, self-described “Oath Enforcers” is threatening to unleash harassment tactics on elected officials and government workers around the country, the Guardian can reveal.
While the network’s founder insists that the group is neither violent nor a militia, internal chats indicate that some members are planning for confrontations with law enforcement and their perceived political enemies.
The chats also indicate that white supremacists and others connected with the militia movement are aiming to leverage the group’s success in recruiting disillusioned supporters of Donald Trump and the “QAnon” conspiracy movement, who are being exposed to a wide range of conspiracy theories, white nationalist material, and rightwing legal theories inside the groups.
The group’s founder, who makes videos and organizes under the name Vince Edwards, lives off-grid in a remote corner of Costilla county, in Colorado’s high desert region. Arrest records from 2016 indicate that he has also used the name Christian Picolo, and other public records associate him with the name Vincent Edward Deluca.
Experts say that Edwards’ personal history reflects the potential danger in the spread of “sovereign citizen” ideology – along with voluminous online propaganda, that history includes an armed standoff with Costilla county sheriff’s deputies in 2016.
Edwards initially published videos and a printable flyer promoting the formation of “oath enforcement teams” of at least 30 people in every county in the nation during late January 2021, just weeks after his own self-documented attendance at a rally at the national Capitol on 6 January.
Supporters of Donald Trump fly a US flag with a symbol from the group QAnon as they gather outside the Capitol on 6 January. Photograph: Win McNamee/Getty Images
His initial videos explicitly appealed to QAnon supporters, pointing out that “Q”, the supposed Trump administration insider whose gnomic forum posts animated the conspiracy-minded social movement, had not communicated with the movement since December, and that rather than “trusting the plan”, as adherents are enjoined to do, they should begin taking action.
In the wake of the Capitol attack, his efforts seem to have resonated with a growing pool of grassroots rightwingers. The Guardian found over 3,100 members in 50 state-based Telegram chats and a national chat. Some state-based groups – in Texas, Washington and Alabama – were very active and had hundreds of members.
The stated aims of the group include posting flyers designed by Edwards, the formation of “constitutional enforcement groups”, for every person to hand out 1,000 of Edwards’s flyers, and the creation of local hotlines to help “enforce the contract we made with our public servants” by live-streaming interactions with them, or lodging spurious legal claims against them.
In an introductory video entitled “OE training”, Edwards encourages new recruits to the network to emulate so-called “first amendment auditors” (FAAs).
Professor Brian Levin, the director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism (CSHE) at California State University in San Bernardino, said in a telephone conversation that FAAs are a social-media driven movement of libertarian provocateurs who “go to sensitive locations to see if law enforcement, security guards, or property owners will interfere with their activities, which are annoying, but not usually illegal”.
Meanwhile, some local groups show that well-known extremists are seeing opportunities in the group’s fast growth.
The Oregon Oath Enforcers group, for example, was joined on 5 February by Chester Doles of Dahlonega, Georgia. Doles, a long-time former member of the Ku Klux Klan and the neo-Nazi National Alliance, who was imprisoned in 1993 for beating a black man, and later marched in the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in 2017.
Doles received media attention recently as he and other members of the organization he currently leads, American Patriots USA, were among an armed crowd which protested outside the Georgia capitol on 6 January, an action which led Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, who had been demonized by the far right for his role in Georgia’s election count, to flee the building.
In recent months, Doles has reportedly been seeking to build alliances with Three Percenters and other militia organizations in Georgia.
A former member of far-right group Patriot Prayer, Tusitala “Tiny” Toese, joined the Oregon Oath Enforcers chat on 9 February. Toese, a Proud Boy, was a prominent and frequently violent participant in a long string of brawling, contentious street protests in Portland throughout the Trump era. He was jailed in Clark county, Washington, last October after violating the condition of his probation after earlier being convicted for assault over an unprovoked daylight attack on a man in Portland.
In a video message to the Oath Enforcers group, Toese said: “You guys organizing? Me and my people will be there to take a stand with you.”
Tusitala ‘Tiny’ Toese (front) at a rally in Portland in 2018. Photograph: Alex Milan Tracy/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Elsewhere in the Oath Enforcers’ instructional Telegram channel, Edwards and others have shared documents from a range of organizations around the country which promote false legal and constitutional doctrines associated with the so-called sovereign citizen movement.
One document is presented as a judgment by a self-styled human rights tribunal, with an arrest order for a range of officials and philanthropists, including Anthony Fauci and Bill and Melinda Gates, for the crime of genocide.
The sovereign citizen movement does not hold a universally consistent set of beliefs, but most adherents believe in a false alternative history of the US, and that the present, and especially the law, reflects a conspiracy ordered by esoteric rules. Many treat all legal and governmental authority as illegitimate.
In the Oath Enforcers’s chats, sovereign doctrine is presented side by side with false beliefs about vaccinations and masks, assertions that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump, and conspiracy theories about links between anti-fascist activists and powerful figures such as the billionaire George Soros.
Vince Edwards and Chester Doles did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In intelligence assessments and public statements, federal agencies have advised that sovereign citizens pose an ongoing and specific threat to law enforcement officers.
Levin, the extremism researcher, said of the apparent synergies between sovereign citizens and white supremacists that “there has been a realignment on the far-right extremist fringe”, wherein “law enforcement is viewed as an arm of a tyrannical government in much the same way that sovereign citizens viewed them decades prior”.
Levin adds that “not only is the ideology getting a rebranding, so too are many far-right figures like former Klan Leader Chester Doles”.
In a 28 March post on the Oregon Oath Enforcers page, a user reposted white nationalist broadcaster, Vincent James’s commentary on a clash between antifa and far-right street protesters in Salem the previous day.
In part, the post read: “Cops never were and never will be your friend. They’re also the American regime. Not allies.”
A federal civil rights lawsuit was filed Monday against city and police officials in Rochester, New York, alleging decades of “inhumane” and racist police violence against demonstrators and residents. The lawsuit comes more than a year after Daniel Prude died in police custody, which led to national condemnation of police use of force in the city.
“Simply put, a stunning historical record spanning more than four decades demonstrates that the Rochester Police Department’s use-of-force practices continue to be inhumane, racist, and antithetical to the functioning of a civilized society,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit, filed by a group of lawyers, activists and people who attended protests in the city, alleges that police in Rochester routinely deploy excessive force against minorities, especially during protests, and that department and city officials have let such conduct go largely unpunished. The nearly 100-page document details more than 50 instances of alleged police abuse against people of color, for which the vast majority of officers were never formally disciplined.
As an example of the pattern of alleged conduct, the lawsuit focuses heavily on the use of force against demonstrators, medics, journalists and legal observers who took to the streets in September 2020 to protest Prude’s death.
Prude, a Black man, died last March after he suffered a mental health episode and his family called police for help. At approximately 3:15 a.m. on March 23, Rochester police said they found Prude lying naked in the middle of the street.
No charges for police in Daniel Prude’s death…
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While Prude complied with their orders to lay in his stomach and allowed himself to be handcuffed, he then sat up and started yelling at officers, according to body camera footage of the interaction. Police then put a spit hood over his head and pressed his face into the ground for more than three minutes. Prude eventually became unresponsive, and later died at a hospital.
The medical examiner ruled his death a homicide, attributing it to “complications of asphyxia in the setting of physical restraint,” as well as “excited delirium” and PCP intoxication. A grand jury declined to charge the officers involved in Prude’s death in February.
The circumstances surrounding Prude’s death did not become public until September 2020, when Prude’s family released body camera footage of the incident at a press conference on September 2. The news sparked immediate outrage and the first protest occurred later that night.
During that protest and the demonstrations in the weeks that followed, the lawsuit alleges that Rochester police used “extreme and unnecessary force” including tear gas, pepper spray, blunt-impact projectiles, pepper balls and other “less-than-lethal” weapons. Over the first three nights of protests, authorities deployed 77 tear gas canisters and 6,100 pepper bullets, the lawsuit says.
“To be blunt, what I’ve witnessed has been nothing short of abject terror, carnage and unwarranted brutalization,” Rochester photojournalist Reynaldo DeGuzman, who attended the protests, said at a press conference announcing the lawsuit, according to CBS affiliate WROC.
Rochester Police use Pepper spray and tear gas as protesters gather in Rochester, New York, on September 5, 2020, on the fourth night of protest following the release of video showing the death of Daniel Prude.
MARANIE R. STAAB/AFP via Getty Images
The lawsuit details dozens of instances of alleged police violence at the protests, including a September 3 incident in which an officer allegedly shot a man in the eye with a pepper ball at “close range,” leaving him permanently blind. Officers are accused of then “intentionally” firing at the medics who attempted to provide aid — despite the medics allegedly wearing bright red jackets identifying who they were.
On September 4, Rochester resembled “a war zone,” with officers “unleashing flash grenades, tear gas, and thousands of pepper balls on the crowd,” the lawsuit said.
That night, police allegedly trapped a group of protesters on a bridge — a tactic commonly known as “kettling” — before attacking them with a number of weapons. “Videos from that night show heavily armored phalanxes of police using pepper balls, 40mm kinetic bullets, tear gas, and batons to assault diverse groups of protesters outfitted only with umbrellas, cardboard boxes, and plastic children’s sleds against the RPD’s military grade arsenal,” the lawsuit says.
“In New York City, for example, which saw thousands of demonstrators take to the streets, NYPD officers fired not one pepper ball,” the lawsuit added. “By contrast, one RPD officer the night of September 4, 2020, fired 148 pepper balls in the span of just twenty minutes.”
Protestors use umbrellas as protection against tear gas launched by Rochester police during a Daniel Prude protest in Rochester, New York, United States on September 5, 2020.
Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
The lawsuit also accuses city officials of running a “sham internal disciplinary system” and refusing to hold officers who used excessive force either during the protests or in their daily work accountable.
Out of 923 civilian allegations of excessive force between 2001 and 2016, the police chief only sustained 1.7%, the lawsuit says. The strictest penalty administered in those 16 sustained cases “were 6 suspensions, most ranging from 1 to 20 days.”
“By failing to meaningfully train, supervise, and discipline officers who use excessive force and instead suppressing evidence of officer misconduct and attacking critics of the department, the City has fostered a culture of violence and impunity in its ranks,” the lawsuit says.
In a statement to CBS News, the city said Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren “welcomes” a Department of Justice investigation into the police department, and cited recent reforms the city has implemented, including requiring new officers to live in the city and allowing the mayor to fire officers for cause.
The lawsuit names Rochester city and police officials, as well as hundreds of police officers, as defendants, and seeks monetary damages and the appointment of an independent monitor for the police department, among other requests.
“Absent external enforcement, the system will not change itself: to date, the Department has not fired or disciplined any of the officers known to have engaged in the use of excessive force against Daniel Prude or any of the officers who engaged in blatant displays of force during the September 2020 protests, including those captured on video,” the lawsuit says, adding, “Plaintiffs bring this suit to end the RPD’s decades-long use of violent, unconstitutional force—before more lives, more Black and brown lives, are lost.”
Neither the Rochester Police Department nor the union representing the officers immediately responded to CBS News’ request for comment.
