Tag Archives: Discrimination

Aces’ Becky Hammon denies allegations of pregnancy discrimination toward Dearica Hamby – Yahoo Sports

  1. Aces’ Becky Hammon denies allegations of pregnancy discrimination toward Dearica Hamby Yahoo Sports
  2. Aces’ Becky Hammon denies bullying following WNBA sanctions – ESPN ESPN
  3. Road rage incident; Becky Hammon suspended; Nebraska trans abortion KELOLAND.com
  4. WNBA suspends Las Vegas Aces’ Becky Hammon, rescinds 2025 first-round draft picks following investigation KTNV 13 Action News Las Vegas
  5. Becky Hammon suspended 2 games for comments on Dearica Hamby’s pregnancy; Aces also forfeit draft pick in 2nd investigation Yahoo Sports
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The first known athlete with Down syndrome to play in a college football game is suing his alma mater over alleged discrimination – CNN

  1. The first known athlete with Down syndrome to play in a college football game is suing his alma mater over alleged discrimination CNN
  2. Football player with Down syndrome sues college, alleges discrimination The Washington Post
  3. Football player with Down syndrome sues Ohio community college for disability discrimination 10TV
  4. A history-making college athlete with Down syndrome is suing school staff members for discrimination and assault CBS News
  5. Former College Football Player With Down Syndrome Sues School for Alleged Discrimination The Daily Beast
  6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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The first known athlete with Down syndrome to play in a college football game is suing his alma mater over alleged discrimination – CNN

  1. The first known athlete with Down syndrome to play in a college football game is suing his alma mater over alleged discrimination CNN
  2. Football player with Down syndrome sues college, alleges discrimination The Washington Post
  3. Ohio community college sued by football player with Down syndrome for disability discrimination WJW FOX 8 News Cleveland
  4. A history-making college athlete with Down syndrome is suing school staff members for discrimination and assault CBS News
  5. Former College Football Player With Down Syndrome Sues School for Alleged Discrimination The Daily Beast
  6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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Review After Breonna Taylor’s Death Finds Police Discrimination in Louisville – The New York Times

  1. Review After Breonna Taylor’s Death Finds Police Discrimination in Louisville The New York Times
  2. DOJ issues scathing rebuke of Louisville police in report launched after Breonna Taylor killing CNN
  3. DOJ finds ‘pattern or practice’ of discriminatory policing in Louisville; department agrees to new policies Fox News
  4. Louisville police agree to enter a consent decree with the federal government. What happens next? WDRB
  5. ‘Disrespect for the people’: Merrick Garland issues scathing report into LMPD practices Yahoo News
  6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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AI can lead to employment discrimination. What to do about it is up for debate

AI may be the hiring tool of the future, but it could come with the old relics of discrimination.

With almost all big employers in the United States now using artificial intelligence and automation in their hiring processes, the agency that enforces federal anti-discrimination laws is considering some urgent questions:

How can you prevent discrimination in hiring when the discrimination is being perpetuated by a machine? What kind of guardrails might help?

Some 83% of employers, including 99% of Fortune 500 companies, now use some form of automated tool as part of their hiring process, said the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s chair Charlotte Burrows at a hearing on Tuesday titled “Navigating Employment Discrimination in AI and Automated Systems: A New Civil Rights Frontier,” part of a larger agency initiative examining how technology is used to recruit and hire people.

Everyone needs speak up on the debate over these technologies, she said.

“The stakes are simply too high to leave this topic just to the experts,” Burrows said.

Resume scanners, chatbots and video interviews may introduce bias

Last year, the EEOC issued some guidance around the use of cutting-edge hiring tools, noting many of their shortcomings.

Resume scanners that prioritize keywords, “virtual assistants” or “chatbots” that sort candidates based on a set of pre-defined requirements, and programs that evaluate a candidate’s facial expressions and speech patterns in video interviews can perpetuate bias or create discrimination, the agency found.

Take, for example, a video interview that analyzes an applicant’s speech patterns in order to determine their ability to solve problems. A person with a speech impediment might score low and automatically be screened out.

Or, a chatbot programmed to reject job applicants with gaps in their resume. The bot may automatically turn down a qualified candidate who had to stop working because of treatment for a disability or because they took time off for the birth of a child.

Older workers may be disadvantaged by AI-based tools in multiple ways, AARP senior advisor Heather Tinsley-Fix said in her testimony during the hearing.

Companies that use algorithms to scrape data from social media and professional digital profiles in searching for “ideal candidates” may overlook those who have smaller digital footprints.

Also, there’s machine learning, which could create a feedback loop that then hurts future applicants, she said.

“If an older candidate makes it past the resume screening process but gets confused by or interacts poorly with the chatbot, that data could teach the algorithm that candidates with similar profiles should be ranked lower,” she said.

Knowing you’ve been discriminated against may be hard

The problem will be for the EEOC to root out discrimination – or stop it from taking place – when it may be buried deep inside an algorithm. Those who have been denied employment may not connect the dots to discrimination based on their age, race or disability status.

In a lawsuit filed by the EEOC, a woman who applied for a job with a tutoring company only realized the company had set an age cutoff after she re-applied for the same job, and supplied a different birth date.

The EEOC is considering the most appropriate ways to handle the problem.

Tuesday’s panelists, a group that included computer scientists, civil rights advocates, and employment attorneys, agreed that audits are necessary to ensure that the software used by companies avoids intentional or unintentional biases. But who would conduct those audits — the government, the companies themselves, or a third party — is a thornier question.

Each option presents risks, Burrows pointed out. A third-party may be coopted into treating their clients leniently, while a government-led audit could potentially stifle innovation.

Setting standards for vendors and requiring companies to disclose what hiring tools they’re using were also discussed. What those would look like in practice remains to be seen.

In previous remarks, Burrows has noted the great potential that AI and algorithmic decision-making tools have to to improve the lives of Americans, when used properly.

“We must work to ensure that these new technologies do not become a high-tech pathway to discrimination,” she said.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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Jerusalem: Two wounded in shooting, police say, after synagogue attack leaves seven dead



CNN
 — 

Two people were wounded in a shooting attack in Jerusalem on Saturday, emergency services say, the day after a gunman killed at least seven people near a synagogue in the city.

The two men injured in the City of David area of Jerusalem on Saturday, one aged 22 and one in his 40s, are father and son, according to police. A 13-year-old who police say shot and wounded the pair was “neutralized and injured” by “two passers-by carrying licensed weapons.”

Tensions in Israel and the Palestinian territories remain high after Friday’s shooting, which police chief Yaakov Shabtai described as “one of the worst terror attacks in the past few years.” The shooter in that attack was also later killed by police forces, according to police.

“As a result of the shooting attack, the death of 7 civilians was determined and 3 others were injured with additional degrees of injury,” police said.

Five of the shooting victims were pronounced dead at the scene, Israel’s Magen David Adom (MDA) emergency rescue service said: four men and a woman. Five people were transported to hospitals, where another man and woman were declared dead. Among the wounded is a 15-year-old boy, the MDA said.

The attack occurred around 8:15 p.m. local time on Friday, near a synagogue on Neve Yaakov Street, according to a police statement.

Shabtai said the gunman “started shooting at anyone that was in his way. He got in his car and started a killing spree with a pistol at short range.” He then fled the scene in a vehicle and was killed after a shootout with police forces, police said.

Police identified the gunman as a 21-year-old resident of East Jerusalem, saying in a statement that he appeared to have acted alone. East Jerusalem is a predominantly Palestinian area of the city, which was captured by Israel in 1967.

Referring to Saturday’s attack, a community leader said the 13-year-old suspected shooter knew a 16-year-old Palestinian who died of gunshot wounds a day earlier. Jawad Siam, director of the Silwanic non-profilt organization in East Jerusalem, told CNN the suspect’s family denied their 13-year-old son was responsible for the Saturday attack, which happened close to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Silwan, East Jerusalem.

According to Siam, the 13-year-old suspect was a neighbor of a 16-year-old Palestinian who died of gunshot wounds in hospital overnight Friday. The 16-year-old was shot Wednesday by Israeli police.

Of the two wounded Saturday, the 22-year-old man is now in a serious but stable condition, anesthetized and ventilated in the intensive care unit, while his 47-year-old father is in a moderate and stable condition.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged people against revenge attacks on Friday night. “I call on the people not to take the law into their own hands. For that purpose we have an army, police and security forces. They act and will act according to the cabinet instructions,” he said.

Meanwhile, the European Union on Saturday urged Israel to only use lethal force as a “last resort.”

“The European Union fully recognises Israel’s legitimate security concerns, as evidenced by the latest terrorist attacks, but it has to be stressed that lethal force must only be used as a last resort when it is strictly unavoidable in order to protect life,” the EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell said Saturday in a press release.

Borrell also stressed that the bloc is “very concerned by the heightened tensions in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory.”

“We call on both parties to do everything possible to de-escalate the situation and to restart security coordination, which is vital to prevent further acts of violence,” he concluded.

Friday’s incident came one day after the deadliest day for Palestinians in the West Bank in over a year, according to CNN records.

On Thursday, Israeli forces killed nine Palestinians and wounded several others in the West Bank city of Jenin, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, prompting the Palestinian Authority to suspend security coordination with Israel. A tenth Palestinian was killed that day in what Israel Police called a “violent disturbance” near Jerusalem.

Overnight, on Friday morning local time, Israel launched air strikes on the Gaza strip after rockets were fired towards Israel.

Israel’s controversial National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir visited the scene of the attack on Friday evening, telling people who were chanting angrily that “it cannot continue like this.”

“I can tell you, [the people chanting] you are right. The burden is on us. It cannot continue like this,” Ben Gvir, who also leads the far-right Jewish Power party, said.

Some people on the scene were chanting support for Ben Gvir, saying “You are our voice, we support you.”

CNN’s Hadas Gold and team, who were also at the scene of Friday night’s shooting, heard what sounded like celebratory gunfire and car horns honking from the nearby predominantly Palestinian neighborhood of Beit Hanina.

The White House condemned the “heinous terror attack” at a synagogue in Jerusalem on Friday and said the United States government has extended its “full support” to Israel, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.

The US State Department also condemned the “apparent terrorist attack” in Jerusalem “in the strongest terms.”

“This is absolutely horrific,” said State Department Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel. “Our thoughts, prayers and condolences go out to those killed and injured in this heinous act of violence.”

Patel said no change to the schedule of Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s upcoming trip to Egypt, Israel and the West Bank was expected.

US second gentleman Doug Emhoff joined the Biden administration in denouncing the mass shooting on Friday that killed at least seven people. “This is a terror attack. This is murder,” Emhoff said to reporters after touring the Oskar Schindler Enamel Factory in Krakow, Poland.

“This is something that is horrible. These were people who were just praying in a temple, living their everyday lives, and were murdered in cold blood and it’s not acceptable.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky added his voice to those condemning the deadly shooting near a synagogue in Jerusalem on Friday, saying that one of those killed in the attack was a Ukrainian national.

“We share (Israel’s) pain after the terrorist attacks in Jerusalem. Among the victims is a (Ukrainian) woman. Sincere condolences to the victims’ families. The crimes were cynically committed on the Intl Holocaust Remembrance Day. Terror must have no place in today’s world. Neither in (Israel) nor in (Ukraine),” Zelensky said in a tweet.

Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates called for an end to escalation in tensions.

In a statement released on Saturday, Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned “the situation between Palestinians and Israelis will slide into further serious escalation,” and the “Kingdom condemns all targeting of civilians, stressing the need to de-escalate, revive the peace process and end the occupation.”

Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also warned of the “severe risks of the ongoing escalation” between Israel and Palestine, calling for “provocative measures in order to avoid falling into a vicious circle of violence that worsens the political and humanitarian situations and undermines de-escalation efforts and all chances of reviving the peace process.”

The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation condemned and rejected “all forms of violence and terrorism aimed at undermining security and stability in contravention of human values and principles.”

Egypt and the UAE have normalized ties with Israel. Saudi Arabia has not.

France, Germany and the UK also condemned the shooting. “I am appalled by reports of the terrible attack in Neve Yaakov tonight. Attacking worshippers at a synagogue on Erev Shabat is a particularly horrific act of terrorism. The UK stands with Israel,” Neil Wigan, the British ambassador in Israel wrote on Twitter.

The French embassy in Israel tweeted that the incident was “all the more despicable as it was committed on this day of international remembrance of the Holocaust.”

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres also condemned Friday’s deadly attack, his spokesman said.

“It is particularly abhorrent that the attack occurred at a place of worship, and on the very day we commemorated International Holocaust Remembrance Day,” he said.

Guterres also expressed worry “about the current escalation of violence in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory,” urging all “to exercise utmost restraint.”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz offered their condolences to the victims’ families following the two attacks. Scholz said Saturday that he was “deeply shocked” by the “terrible” attacks in Jerusalem in the past 24 hours.

Russia on Saturday urged all parties to show “maximum restraint” after the wave of deadly violence. “We perceive this development of events with deep concern. We call on all parties to exercise maximum restraint and prevent further escalation of tension,” the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

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Jerusalem synagogue attack leaves at least seven dead, Israeli police say



CNN
 — 

Israeli police say at least seven people were killed and three were injured in a shooting near a synagogue in Jerusalem on Friday amid high tensions in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Friday’s shooter was also later killed by police forces, according to police, in what police chief Yaakov Shabtai described as “one of the worst terror attacks in the past few years.”

“As a result of the shooting attack, the death of 7 civilians was determined and 3 others were injured with additional degrees of injury,” police said.

Five of the shooting victims were pronounced dead at the scene, Israel’s Magen David Adom (MDA) emergency rescue service said: four men and a woman. Five people were transported to hospitals, where another man and woman were declared dead.

Among the wounded is a 15-year-old boy, the MDA said.

The attack occurred around 8:15 p.m. local time, near a synagogue on Neve Yaakov Street, according to a police statement.

Shabtai said the gunman “started shooting at anyone that was in his way. He got in his car and started a killing spree with a pistol at short range.” He then fled the scene in a vehicle and was killed after a shootout with police forces, police said.

Police identified the gunman as a 21-year-old resident of East Jerusalem, saying in a statement that he appeared to have acted alone. East Jerusalem is a predominantly Palestinian area of the city, which was captured by Israel in 1967.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged people against revenge attacks on Friday night. “I call on the people not to take the law into their own hands. For that purpose we have an army, police and security forces. They act and will act according to the cabinet instructions,” he said.

The incident comes one day after the deadliest day for Palestinians in the West Bank in over a year, according to CNN records.

On Thursday, Israeli forces killed nine Palestinians and wounded several others in the West Bank city of Jenin, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, prompting the Palestinian Authority to suspend security coordination with Israel. A tenth Palestinian was killed that day in what Israel Police called a “violent disturbance” near Jerusalem.

Overnight, on Friday morning local time, Israel launched air strikes on the Gaza strip after rockets were fired towards Israel.

Israel’s controversial National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir visited the scene of the attack on Friday evening, telling people who were chanting angrily that “it cannot continue like this.”

“I can tell you, [the people chanting] you are right. The burden is on us. It cannot continue like this,” Ben Gvir, who also leads the far-right Jewish Power party, said.

Some people on the scene were chanting support for Ben Gvir, saying “You are our voice, we support you.”

CNN’s Hadas Gold and team, who were also at the scene of Friday night’s shooting, heard what sounded like celebratory gunfire and car horns honking from the nearby predominantly Palestinian neighborhood of Beit Hanina.

The White House condemned the “heinous terror attack” at a synagogue in Jerusalem on Friday and said the United States government has extended its “full support” to Israel, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.

The US State Department also condemned the “apparent terrorist attack” in Jerusalem “in the strongest terms.”

“This is absolutely horrific,” said State Department Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel. “Our thoughts, prayers and condolences go out to those killed and injured in this heinous act of violence.”

Patel said no change to the schedule of Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s upcoming trip to Egypt, Israel and the West Bank was expected.

The European Union, France and the UK also condemned the shooting.

“I am appalled by reports of the terrible attack in Neve Yaakov tonight. Attacking worshippers at a synagogue on Erev Shabat is a particularly horrific act of terrorism. The UK stands with Israel,” Neil Wigan, the British ambassador in Israel wrote on Twitter.

The EU ambassador to Israel, Dimiter Tzantchev, also condemned the “senseless violence,” saying in his tweet, “Terror is never the answer.”

And the French embassy in Israel tweeted that the incident was “all the more despicable as it was committed on this day of international remembrance of the Holocaust.”

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres also condemned Friday’s deadly attack, his spokesman said.

“It is particularly abhorrent that the attack occurred at a place of worship, and on the very day we commemorated International Holocaust Remembrance Day,” he said.

Guterres also expressed worry “about the current escalation of violence in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory,” urging all “to exercise utmost restraint.”

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Tyre Nichols death: Multiple former Memphis polilce officers to be charged with murder, court records show



CNN
 — 

[Breaking news update, published at 1:22 p.m. ET]

Multiple former Memphis police officers are facing charges, including second-degree murder, in the death of Tyre Nichols, according to Shelby County criminal court records.

[Original story, published at 12:40 p.m. ET]

Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy is set to provide an update on the investigation into the Memphis Police arrest of Tyre Nichols and his ensuing death at 2 p.m. CT Thursday that will include an announcement of criminal charges, a source close to the investigation told CNN’s Don Lemon.

The source also said authorities expect to release police video of the stop on Friday.

One of the five officers fired after Nichols’ death has been indicted and has surrendered, attorney William Massey said. Massey represents former officer Emmitt Martin III. The attorney said he does not yet know the nature of the charges.

Live updates on the Tyre Nichols case

The anticipated announcement of criminal charges comes about three weeks after Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, was hospitalized after a traffic stop and “confrontation” with Memphis police that family attorneys have called a savage beating.

Nichols died from his injuries on January 10, three days after the arrest, authorities said.

The five Memphis police officers, who are also Black, were fired for violating policies on excessive use of force, duty to intervene and duty to render aid, the department said. Other Memphis police officers are still under investigation for department policy violations related to the incident, the chief said.

Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis condemned the actions of the arresting officers as “a failing of basic humanity” and called for peaceful protests ahead of the release of video of the arrest.

“This is not just a professional failing. This is a failing of basic humanity toward another individual,” Davis said in a YouTube video Wednesday, her first on-camera comments about the arrest. “This incident was heinous, reckless, and inhumane, and in the vein of transparency, when the video is released in the coming days, you will see this for yourselves.”

The prosecutor has said a decision on whether to file charges is forthcoming. An attorney representing one of the officers will hold a news briefing after the district attorney’s update Thursday.

Authorities have not publicly released video of the arrest, but Nichols’ family and attorneys were shown the video on Monday. They said the footage shows officers severely beating Nichols and compared it to the Los Angeles police beating of Rodney King in 1991.

Nichols had “extensive bleeding caused by a severe beating,” according to the attorneys, citing preliminary results of an autopsy they commissioned.

Nichols’ arrest and ensuing death comes amid heightened scrutiny of how police treat Black people, particularly since the Minneapolis police murder of George Floyd in May 2020 and the mass protest movement known as Black Lives Matter.

Davis, the first Black woman to serve as Memphis police chief, said she anticipated the release of the video in the coming days would cause public reaction and urged citizens to be nonviolent amid “our outrage and frustration.”

“I expect our citizens to exercise their First Amendment right to protest to demand action and results. But we need to ensure our community is safe in this process,” Davis said. “None of this is a calling card for inciting violence or destruction on our community or against our citizens.”

Law enforcement agencies nationwide are bracing for protests and potential unrest following the release of video, multiple sources told CNN. The Major Cities Chiefs Association, one of the leading professional law enforcement organizations, has convened several calls with member agencies, according to the group’s executive director, Laura Cooper.

A law enforcement source familiar with the national coordination told CNN that in at least one of those calls Memphis police told participants to be on alert for unrest. The source added there was an additional call among Washington, DC, law enforcement agencies to coordinate responses and share information.

Nichols, the father of a 4-year-old, had worked with his stepfather at FedEx for about nine months, his family said. He was fond of skateboarding in Shelby Farms Park, Starbucks with friends and photographing sunsets, and he had his mother’s name tattooed on his arm, the family said. He also had the digestive issue known as Crohn’s disease and so was a slim 140 to 145 pounds despite his 6-foot-3-inch height, his mother said.

On January 7, he was pulled over by Memphis officers on suspicion of reckless driving, police said in their initial statement on the incident. As officers approached the vehicle, a “confrontation” occurred and Nichols fled on foot, police said. The officers pursued him and they had another “confrontation” before he was taken into custody, police said.

Nichols then complained of shortness of breath, was taken to a local hospital in critical condition and died three days later, police said.

In Memphis police scanner audio, a person says there was “one male Black running” and called to “set up a perimeter.” Another message says “he’s fighting at this time.”

Attorneys for Nichols’ family who watched video of the arrest on Monday described it as a heinous police beating that lasted three long minutes. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump said Nichols was tased, pepper-sprayed and restrained, and family attorney Antonio Romanucci said he was kicked.

“He was defenseless the entire time. He was a human piñata for those police officers. It was an unadulterated, unabashed, nonstop beating of this young boy for three minutes. That is what we saw in that video,” Romanucci said. “Not only was it violent, it was savage.”

The five officers who were terminated were identified by police as Martin, Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., and Justin Smith. All joined the department in the last six years, police said.

In addition, two members of the city’s fire department who were part of Nichols’ “initial patient care” were relieved of duty, a fire spokesperson said. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation announced an investigation into Nichols’ death and the US Department of Justice and FBI have opened a civil rights investigation.

Video of the incident could be released this week or next week, Mulroy told CNN’s Laura Coates on Tuesday night, but he wants to make sure his office has interviewed everyone involved before releasing the video so it doesn’t have an impact on their statements.

Prosecutors are trying to expedite the investigation and may be able to make a determination on possible charges “around the same time frame in which we contemplate release of the video,” Mulroy said.

Nichols’ family wants the officers charged with murder, Romanucci told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Wednesday evening.



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Indiana University student stabbing suspect says attack was motivated by race, records show



CNN
 — 

The suspect in an unprovoked attack allegedly said she was motivated by race when she repeatedly stabbed the victim – a student of Asian descent at Indiana University – last week on a city bus, according to court documents and a student group.

In what appears to be the latest example of a swell in anti-Asian discrimination nationwide, Billie Davis, 56, who is White, has been charged with attempted murder, aggravated battery and battery by means of a deadly weapon in the January 11 attack in Bloomington, court records obtained by CNN affiliate WTHR show. It was not immediately clear if she had an attorney.

Davis and the victim had been riding separately on the bus, and when the victim tried to exit, Davis got up from her nearby seat and allegedly stabbed the victim in the head with a folding knife, leaving puncture wounds, a probable cause affidavit says.

Davis later allegedly told investigators she used a knife to stab the victim because she was Chinese, saying “it would be one less person to blow up our country,” the affidavit says.

After the stabbing, Davis got off the bus, walked away and discarded the knife before authorities got to her, it states. The victim was rushed to a hospital, according to the documents; her condition isn’t known.

Surveillance footage from the bus showed no confrontation between Davis and the victim before the attack, the document states.

City and university officials have condemned the attack, which comes amid a rising tide of reported harassment and attacks against Asian Americans in the Covid-19 pandemic. In the first quarter of 2021 alone, reported hate crimes against Asians in 16 of the nation’s largest cities and counties rose 164% over the prior year, according to a study from the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino.

The most prominent example may be the fatal 2021 shooting of eight people, mostly Asian women, at Atlanta-area spas in which prosecutors are pursuing hate crimes charges based on the victims’ sex and race. Last week in New York City, a man pleaded guilty to manslaughter as a hate crime and agreed to serve 22 years in prison in the April 2021 assault of a Chinese-American man, while another man pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter and got 20 years in prison for striking a Chinese woman in 2021 with a rock.

Following last week’s bus attack, Bloomington’s mayor denounced hate-based violence, acknowledging a “racially motivated incident like this … can leave us feeling less safe.”

“We stand with the Asian community and all who feel threatened by this event,” John Hamilton said Saturday in a statement.

The attack reminded the city “that anti-Asian hate is real and can have painful impacts on individuals and our community,” said Indiana University’s vice president for diversity, equity, and multicultural affairs, James Wimbush.

“No one should face harassment or violence due to their background, ethnicity or heritage,” Wimbush said in a statement, adding, “To our Asian and Asian American friends, colleagues, students, and neighbors, we stand firmly with you.”

The Indiana University Asian Culture Center is “outraged and heartbroken by this unprovoked act of violence,” according to a statement that identified the victim as an 18-year-old Asian student. “We should not be fearing for our lives on public transportation. Taking the bus should not feel dangerous.”

“The fact that the perpetrator announced that race was the motivation for her attack sends a jolt through our Asian community,” the center said. “But it is becoming a familiar jolt.”



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Keenan Anderson, cousin of Black Lives Matter co-founder, dies from cardiac arrest after being tased by Los Angeles police



CNN
 — 

A 31-year-old father and English teacher died from cardiac arrest last week after he was repeatedly tased by police, according to the Los Angeles Police Department, marking the third officer-involved death in the city this year.

Police encountered Keenan Anderson, who is the cousin of Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors, on January 3 at the site of a traffic collision in Los Angeles’ Venice neighborhood, police said in a news release last week.

As police struggled to arrest Anderson, they tased him repeatedly, edited body-worn camera footage released by police shows. After being arrested, Anderson was brought to a local hospital, where he went into cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead, according to police.

Cullors said in an Instagram tribute post that her cousin was “killed by LAPD.”

“Keenan deserves to be alive right now, his child deserves to be raised by his father,” Cullors wrote in the post. “Keenan we will fight for you and for all of our loved ones impacted by state violence. I love you.”

Anderson taught tenth-grade English at Digital Pioneers Academy in Washington, DC, according to a statement from the school’s founder, Mashea Ashton. Anderson was visiting family in Los Angeles over winter break, Ashton said.

“The details of his death are as disturbing as they are tragic,” Ashton said in the statement, adding, “Keenan was a deeply committed educator and father of a six-year-old son. … He was beloved by all.”

“Our community is grieving. But we’re also angry. Angry that, once again, a known, loved, and respected member of our community is no longer with us. Angry that another talented, beautiful black soul is gone too soon,” Ashton said.

Detectives from the police department’s Force Investigation Division responded to the scene where Anderson was taken into custody and are investigating the use of force, police said, explaining in the video that the department’s policy defines any death of a person in their custody as a “categorical” use of force.

So far this year, Los Angeles police are also investigating the police shooting deaths of Takar Smith, 45, and Oscar Sanchez, 35, and has released footage of those incidents.

Police said they responded to a traffic collision the afternoon of January 3 and saw Anderson “running in the middle of the street and exhibiting erratic behavior.” On one officer’s body-worn camera, released and edited by police, a woman at the traffic collision site tells police, “I think that guy up there needs help though, because the guy’s trying to run away.”

Body-worn camera video shows Anderson initially stopped and spoke to an officer before the video cuts to a text screen that says Anderson “attempted to run away.”

When the video resumes, Anderson is seen jogging into the street as the officer pursues him and stops him in a busy intersection, commanding Anderson to lay down on his stomach.

Anderson does not appear to comply immediately, and two other officers arrive and move him to lie prone on his stomach on the street, telling Anderson to “relax.” As officers struggle on top of him, Anderson can be heard screaming, “Help, they’re trying to kill me” and “Please, don’t do this.”

In footage from another responding officer, an officer can be heard repeatedly warning Anderson to stop resisting and turn over, and threatening several times to tase Anderson.

“They’re trying to George Floyd me,” says Anderson, as officers try to roll him onto his stomach.

Then, an officer deploys a taser multiple times on Anderson, who says, “I’m not resisting.”

Officers eventually handcuff and place ankle hobbles on Anderson, the video shows.

Later in the video, the Los Angeles Fire Department places Anderson, who appears conscious, onto a gurney near an ambulance. Police say in the news release that Anderson was given medical care at the scene by fire department personnel before being transported to a local hospital.

“While at the hospital, Anderson went into cardiac arrest and was pronounced deceased,” the release says.

Los Angeles police captain Kelly Muñiz said in the video that Anderson died approximately four-and-a-half hours after the use of force.

A preliminary toxicology-blood screen of Anderson’s blood samples tested positive for cocaine and marijuana, police said, adding the Los Angeles County coroner’s office is expected to conduct their own independent toxicology tests.

LAPD Chief Michel Moore said the videos were published in response to calls for their release from families.

“This is not, again, to do anything other than to demonstrate our commitment to full transparency and to judge this on the merits of what the investigation shows us and to ask for the public’s patience as we go about this engagement,” he said at a news conference Wednesday.



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