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Ahmaud Arbery’s football family made sure his slaying wouldn’t be ignored

admin — Mon, 22 Jun 2020 13:53:26 +0000

For Ahmaud Arbery’s family, it was painful enough that the former high school linebacker had been killed while seemingly doing nothing more than taking a jog on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon.

But as week after week passed following the late February shooting and no arrests were made, the Arberys began to lose faith in the people running their hometown of Brunswick, Georgia.

Then something unusual happened: A movement started. And the primary people behind it were members of Arbery’s football family.

Clearly, Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, had the most influence in helping move the case to the point that three men face charges after months of delays. She kept memories of her son alive with daily interviews on national cable television and other media, and refused to be shut out of the official investigation.

But the public awareness campaign that brought so much attention to Arbery’s death also grew out of his strong relationships in the world of football. Former teammates and coaches started the movement, called I Run With Maud, and high school classmates who now play in the NFL quietly reached out to power brokers to help get a full investigation of his death.

At the heart of I Run With Maud are two of Arbery’s former Brunswick High School teammates and one of his former coaches, along with two others. They organized a 2.23-mile run on Arbery’s birthday in May (Feb. 23 was the day of his death) and created the #IRunWithMaud hashtag and a Facebook page that now has 90,000 followers.

Ahmaud Arbery’s case drew support from high school teammates, his old coach and NFL players.

YOLANDA RICHARDSON/FUZZYRABBITPHOTOS

Their efforts grew out of the pain and frustration knowing that the 25-year-old Arbery was cornered by three white men and shot as he ran in their neighborhood, and what organizers perceived as a lack of transparency in the investigation in the first two months after the shooting.

Others in the football world joined the Arbery cause, including the Players Coalition, a group of current and former NFL players who advocate for social justice and ending racial inequality in America. Nearly 100 pro athletes signed a letter from the coalition calling for a federal investigation into the shooting.

The Arbery case drew support from NFL players who are normally reluctant to involve themselves in social movements. The biggest name who fits this profile is six-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback Tom Brady, now of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who signed the coalition’s letter.

“Tom understands our problems and what’s going on in the black community,” Takeo Spikes, a Players Coalition leader who lives in Georgia, told The Undefeated.

“If the NFL is 70% black, you’re not winning six championships without knowing what’s going on in the black community.”

Spikes said the Arbery case is a horrifying example of the problems the coalition was created to address.

“This falls right up our wheelhouse as the Players Coalition,” he said. “It’s mind-boggling to me that this young man was going out for a jog, no different than what I do all the time and millions of people do. And some vigilantes saw his black skin and decided to follow him and wanted justification for his existence in their area. They hunted him down like an animal and shot him.”

Ahmaud Marquez Arbery was born May 8, 1994, in one of the most passionate football regions in America. From an early age, he dreamed of playing in the NFL. But first, he wanted to play at the University of Miami, the alma mater of his favorite player, Sean Taylor.

Arbery was the youngest of three kids. His sister, Jasmine, was a year older and brother, Marcus Jr., was two years older. Their mom, Cooper-Jones, 47, is an insurance claims adjuster, and their dad, Marcus Arbery Sr., 57, drives a truck and operates his own businesses.

The team behind I Run With Maud started with Ahmaud Arbery’s football family, which includes his best friend, Akeem Baker.

Sam and Gregg Hoerdemann

Affectionately known as Maud or Quez, he had a smile that could light up a classroom or a locker room. He started playing flag football at age 6. He also honed his football skills in a game known locally as “hot ball,” in which each player competes against everyone else. It’s a rough game and Arbery never shied away from hitting or being hit, gaining him mad respect, one friend recalled.

“Ahmaud was the type to be outside with no shoes on his feet,” said Akeem Baker, his best friend and fellow hot ball player.

Growing up, Arbery hung around his older brother as much as he could. By the time he was in middle school, Marcus Jr. was already a big man in town on the football field. Marcus Jr. played running back and patterned his game after the NFL’s Reggie Bush, who was known for his ability to make defenders miss in open space.

“He would ask me like, ‘Bro, how did you see that hole?’ Or, ‘How would you go about making this tackle?’ ” Marcus Jr. recalled in his first media interview since his brother’s death. “He would just ask me things like that, because he really looked up to me like I was a legend. But little did he know, I was just playing the game, that’s all we did.”

Arbery dreamed of making it big in football to help one special person, Marcus Jr. recalled. “My brother said, ‘Man, one of us going to have to go to the NFL. One of us going to make mama rich.’ He really believed that.”

Arbery’s favorite football player, Taylor, was drafted fifth overall by the Washington Redskins when Arbery was 10.

“He was like my brother’s hero, man. It was a big reason why we both wanted to wear No. 21,” Marcus Jr. said. “We looked up to Sean Taylor, just the way he played the game. … Sean Taylor wore a visor on his face mask, [Ahmaud] tried to do that. He wore Nike cleats like Sean Taylor. When Sean Taylor grew his hair out for football, he wanted to grow his hair out. He just wanted to emulate everything Sean Taylor did.”

As a high school freshman in 2008, Arbery was barely 5-feet-6 and weighed around 140 pounds. But “right after his freshman year, Ahmaud grew 6 inches,” said Victor Floyd, Brunswick’s head football coach at the time. “He went from 5-foot-6 to around 6 feet. That changed the whole dynamic.”

Even after that growth spurt, “He was a smaller, skinnier guy,” said Jason Vaughn, an assistant coach on the team. “He was behind some future NFL players in the defensive backfield. We were literally DBU,” said Vaughn, referring to Darius Slay, now a cornerback with the Philadelphia Eagles, and Justin Coleman and Tracy Walker, defensive backs with the Detroit Lions.

Although Arbery was fast and strong, “he wasn’t always the most elite athlete, but he was the most improved player,” said his teammate and cousin Demetrius Frazier.

Although Ahmaud Arbery was fast and strong, “he wasn’t always the most elite athlete, but he was the most improved player,” said his teammate and cousin Demetrius Frazier.

Sam and Gregg Hoerdemann

Arbery’s turn to start for the Pirates came in his senior year, the 2011-12 season. “He was a good fit at outside linebacker because he was quick,” Vaughn said. “We had teams trying to run that wing-T and he would key in on that motion guy and that motion guy would be a nonfactor. He would completely take care of that dude.”

Frazier recalled one play from a midweek practice in 2011.

“We were doing goal-line drills and it got competitive. If the defense didn’t get that stop, they’d have to run,” said Frazier, who played offense. “I remember we had a running back named Jarvis Small, and he was built like a bowling ball. Jarvis came through the hole and Ahmaud lit him up.”

Several people said in interviews that Floyd was upset with Arbery for hitting a teammate with such force. “If we need that goal-line stop, Ahmaud was there,” Frazier said, laughing.

Arbery played well in his senior year, finishing with 77 tackles. But Coleman and Slay had gone on to college and the team lost six of its 10 games, its first losing season in Floyd’s seven years there. Arbery received an invitation to play in a Georgia-Florida all-star game for under-the-radar players. But he was a 160-pound linebacker and no college offered him a ride.

“At that point, we had to regroup and look at our resources and we decided just to go to a technical college and take up a trade,” said his mother.

Cooper-Jones said her son attended South Georgia Technical College in Americus, Georgia, for a year and a half before returning home. He worked various jobs around town, including one at McDonald’s and another at his father’s car wash.

When Arbery had free time, he liked to hang around family and was a regular babysitter for his brother’s two children, ages 2 and 1. Besides loving football, he was a big NBA fan. “Ahmaud,” Cooper-Jones said, “was a LeBron James fanatic. If you wanted to know any statistic about LeBron, Ahmaud was your go-to guy. When I say he studied LeBron, he studied LeBron.”

He also studied his running routine. He’d put his heel down before toe and often hit the road two or three times a day. He’d start at the family’s home on Boykin Ridge Drive and where he would end up would be anyone’s guess. “He ran everywhere, man,” his brother remembered. “I-95, the interstate. The Sidney Lanier Bridge. He would be behind the Dairy Queen. Numerous times I would be coming home from work and I would see him way back there behind the Winn-Dixie, running. I’d stop and say, ‘Bro, you need a ride home?’ He’d keep running. He’d ignore me. He was working out.”

“I think that Ahmaud did that for some type of therapy,” his mom said. “When he’s running, he’s alone. If he’s stressed about anything, running is how he relieved his mind.”

On Feb. 23, Arbery, dressed in brown khaki shorts, a white T-shirt and gray running shoes, headed out of the door of his home and wound up crossing U.S. Route 17, a four-lane highway, about two miles away.

His mom, Wanda Cooper-Jones (right), said Ahmaud Arbery (left) was a LeBron James fanatic. “If you wanted to know any statistic about LeBron, Ahmaud was your go-to guy. When I say he studied LeBron, he studied LeBron.”

Courtesy Arbery Family

He darted through the community until he got to Satilla Drive, where he entered a house under construction two doors down from the home of Gregory and Travis McMichael. Theories abound about what Arbery was doing in the house. The homeowner speculated he was getting a drink of water. His family has suggested he was looking at the wiring, as he’d talked about following in the path of his uncles and becoming an electrician. “He was looking at electric boxes, trying to look at electric work and stuff like that, because he wanted to be an electrician,” his dad said.

The McMichael men had become fixated on strangers in the neighborhood. Only a few black families live in Satilla Shores. The McMichaels suspected Arbery might have been behind a string of burglaries in the neighborhood, records show.

Arbery left the unfinished house after about three minutes and continued his run. Gregory McMichael, 64, a former cop and prosecutor’s investigator, later told authorities that Arbery seemed to be “hauling a–,” and not just jogging. He got a .357 Magnum and his son, Travis, 34, grabbed a shotgun. They got into their pickup and gave pursuit.

Another resident of Satilla Shores, William Bryan, joined the chase in his pickup truck. Arbery was running from three men in two pickups and no matter where he went, he seemed trapped, say prosecutors from Cobb County who are now handling the case. At one point, Bryan brushed Arbery with his truck. Arbery jumped into a ditch to avoid Bryan’s vehicle at other times, they say.

Eventually, Arbery ran out of room. Bryan was behind him and the McMichaels were in front of him. Finally, Arbery tried to run around the right side of the McMichaels’ truck, according to video of the incident. He was met by Travis McMichael pointing the shotgun at him, prosecutor Jesse Evans said in a court hearing.

So Arbery engaged Travis McMichael in a fight in an attempt to save his own life, Evans said. Travis McMichael then shot Arbery three times. Gregory McMichael watched while holding the .357 Magnum and talking to 911. According to investigators, as Arbery lay bleeding to death, Travis McMichael called him a “f—ing n—–.”

“Ahmaud Arbery was chased, hunted down and ultimately executed at the hands of these men,” Evans said. “He was on a run on a public road in a subdivision. He was defenseless and unarmed.”

Floyd, Arbery’s former head coach, now lives and works in South Carolina, and that’s where he was when he found out Arbery was dead. “When I first heard what happened, I said something about that isn’t right because Ahmaud wouldn’t want anyone shooting him,” said Floyd. “Kids change but I didn’t see him doing anything detrimental enough for anyone to shoot him.”

“I just remember getting a text from my mom that my brother was killed and just saying to myself, ‘This can’t be true. Is this a dream? They got the wrong person,’ ” Marcus Jr. said. “And it just didn’t seem real. Still, to this day, I’m just waiting to see my brother walk up to me and give me a hug.”

From the beginning, the case has been awkward for authorities in southeast Georgia. The reason: Gregory McMichael’s connections to law enforcement.

The Glynn County district attorney recused herself because Gregory McMichael used to work in her office. George Barnhill, the prosecutor in the next jurisdiction over, Ware County, also recused himself several weeks after he learned that his son and Gregory McMichael had worked together in the Brunswick district attorney’s office. But before he stepped aside, Barnhill wrote a letter to the Glynn County police saying there were no grounds to arrest the McMichaels or Bryan. Barnhill wrote they had a legal right to pursue Arbery and make a citizen’s arrest because they thought he was “a burglary suspect” in “their neighborhood.”

“He was a smaller, skinnier guy,” said Jason Vaughn, an assistant football coach at Brunswick High School. “He was behind some future NFL players in the defensive backfield. We were literally DBU,” said Vaughn, referring to Darius Slay, now a cornerback with the Philadelphia Eagles, and Justin Coleman and Tracy Walker, defensive backs with the Detroit Lions.

Sam and Gregg Hoerdemann

“It appears their intent was to stop and hold this criminal suspect until law enforcement arrived,” Barnhill wrote. “Under Georgia law this is perfectly legal.”

The McMichaels were only arrested after a third prosecutor was assigned to the case and the video emerged in early May, more than 10 weeks after the shooting. Eventually, the case was reassigned to prosecutors hundreds of miles away in Cobb County in northern Georgia.

A month after the killing, The Brunswick News obtained the police report of the shooting. The report only included Gregory McMichael’s version of events: that Travis McMichael shot Arbery in self-defense. Arbery’s supporters were especially angry that the newspaper mentioned an old legal case in which Arbery had been cited for carrying a weapon at a high school basketball game when he was 19.

“That article was absolutely so disrespectful,” said Vaughn. “To be honest with you, it sparked anger in me.”

The day after The Brunswick News article, Vaughn’s brother, John Richards, a lawyer and pastor in Little Rock, Arkansas, moderated a Facebook livestream to bring attention to the case and develop a strategy to pressure authorities to investigate the case with more rigor. The livestream was also designed to get The Brunswick News to publish a more complete version of who Arbery was.

At one point early in the livestream, the brothers appeared on the screen side by side: Richards in Little Rock and Vaughn in Brunswick. The coach, 39, talked about Arbery’s smile. About what a leader he was on the field. About how Arbery would make fun of him if that would help lighten the mood in the huddle or in Vaughn’s U.S. history or black studies classes.

Then he talked about the last time he saw Arbery. It was a Friday in November 2019. He saw his former player’s 5-foot-11, 165-pound body running the streets of Brunswick. Vaughn, who liked to run on game days, gave chase, but there was no catching Arbery.

“Maud was running like a deer,” he said.

Vaughn got emotional as he was wrapping up. “I want Maud to know, I run with Maud. That same strength, that same endurance he used to run these sidewalks with, ‘Maud, man, I run with you!’ I run with Maud. I run with Maud.”

“That’s a great hashtag: ‘Run With Maud,’ ” Richards said. “I love it.” A slogan had been born.

In New York, Baker, 25, was watching the livestream. Arbery’s best friend and former teammate was still struggling with the circumstances of his death. The next day, April 4, Baker created the I Run With Maud Facebook page to reclaim the narrative of Arbery’s life.

The team behind I Run With Maud started with Baker, Vaughn and Richards. They were joined by Frazier and another one of Arbery’s cousins, Josiah Watts. They were five black men doing this work for Arbery, but also for themselves and their own children or future children.

“We have to set ourselves up and encourage the younger generation, and even people that’s older than us to these action steps,” Frazier said. Over the next month, they rallied other supporters, including the three NFL defensive backs who played at Brunswick High with either Arbery or Marcus Jr. — Coleman, Walker and Slay.

“The friends and teammates I grew up with contacted me and said, ‘Hey, man, we got to get this truth out. It didn’t go down the way they said and these guys [the McMichaels] were part of law enforcement,’ ” Coleman told The Undefeated. “They’re trying to kick it under the rug.”

Coleman, Walker and Slay began raising awareness through their social media feeds, including promoting the #IRunWithMaud hashtag.

“And I know a lot of people in Brunswick wanted justice,” Coleman said. “And they put together that march to get the word out. That’s amazing for my city. I’ve never ever seen anything like that. I don’t want to say the [shooting incident] was positive, but what the city did was positive. They actually came together and said we have to get justice for Ahmaud.”

In an interview, Slay added: “It’s sad that it took a death to make it happen. It is sad that it had to be that way, but it’s a change happening. You can feel it. Some losses you have to take to have successes in the future. Our ancestors, they all had to take certain things so we can have it better. But this is for his nephews and younger people can have a better future.”

“Without those football guys working to bring attention to this case, none of this would have happened,” said S. Lee Merritt, Cooper-Jones’ attorney. “They were fighting for him first, long before anyone else.”

Arbery’s high school teammates got The Brunswick News to print additional information on Arbery and to acknowledge the paper had mishandled that all-important April 2 article. “I’m more than willing to admit we didn’t handle that story the best,” Buddy Hughes, the managing editor of The Brunswick News, told The Undefeated.

National attention came on April 26 in an in-depth piece in The New York Times. But it wasn’t the result of NFL players pulling strings. The story came about after Watts, Arbery’s cousin, sent an “anguished email” to a food reporter he knew at The New York Times. That reporter tipped off the paper’s Atlanta bureau chief, Richard Fausset, Watts said.

Ahmaud Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, kept memories of her son alive with daily interviews on national cable television and other media, and refused to be shut out of the official investigation.

I run with Maud/Facebook

“He asked me what I think happened,” Watts said. “I said it was murder in broad daylight.”

“The first person I saw retweet the article was Bernice King,” Watts said, referring to the daughter of Martin Luther King Jr. and CEO of the King Center. “Now it’s becoming something bigger. We get messages from all over the world, from France to Germany. We hope that this will change the consensus and lead to accountability and somehow this will [lead to] political reforms.”

Two weeks later came another break in the case. A radio station obtained video of the shooting that had been shot by Bryan. Two days later, the McMichaels were both arrested. Two weeks later, Bryan was arrested, too. All three are charged with murder and aggravated assault and are being held in the Glynn County jail without bond. A judge has ruled that there is enough evidence for the case to proceed to the trial court. And the U.S. Department of Justice is reviewing whether it should bring federal hate crime charges.

In television interviews, at protests and in court hearings, Cooper-Jones is the picture of solemnity, an unflappable woman fighting for justice for the son she lost. She has long braids and her face shows little sign of aging. When she smiles, she looks like Arbery. “The time to grieve is not now,” she said. “I have to keep pushing because I knew if it was me or anybody that he loved, he would do the same.”

She is happier with the direction of the case now. Cobb County prosecutors, aided by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, have made it clear that they think Arbery was murdered in cold blood and that race was a motivating factor in the killing.

“Ahmaud would just be so proud to have Ms. Wanda as a mother,” if he saw how she has fought for justice, said his friend Baker. “He already was proud of Ms. Wanda as a mother when he was alive. But you know, he would just be so, so proud, man, just to see all the love and support and how hard his mom is fighting to get justice for him.”

Two weeks after Arbery’s death, Cooper-Jones put the home she bought when Arbery was 12 up for sale. “Each time I go into my home, I go into his room and I look into the direction where he was lying in the bed when I saw him last.”

That was the day before his death. She was headed to Dallas on a work trip. “I left on a Saturday morning to go off for some training. It was before dawn,” she said. “Ahmaud was still in bed. I went to Ahmaud’s room door like I always do when I’m leaving. I said, ‘Quez, I’m leaving. I’ll be back in a couple days, and I love you.’

“His last words to me was, ‘I love you, too.’ ”

Others try to be there for her. Because she doesn’t get emotional, it’s sometimes hard for them to figure out what she’s thinking. “My lowest point is when I have reflections on how the local authorities handled me, how they handled my family,” she related. “They took my calls of pain knowing they had no interest of helping me.”

Cooper-Jones refuses to watch the video of her son being shot. She just wants what she says is a corrupt government in Glynn County to be cleaned up.

“Justice, to me, would be having all hands involved in jail, in prison, and not just one, two, three people, everybody,” she said.

Her other son misses his brother. He notes that Arbery died young, just like his hero, Taylor, who was shot and killed at age 24 when his house was robbed.

“I know they’re both up there in heaven,” Marcus Jr. said wistfully. “I know they’re telling jokes and throwing a football around a little bit up there. “

And even though Arbery never made it to the NFL, he’s changing the world because he fought for his life against all odds, his brother said.

“The funny thing is, my brother always said that he was going to be a legend, and he just always believed that, man,” Marcus Jr. said. “And I hate that it had to be in this situation, but if I had to tell him, ‘Bro, your dream came true.’ “

Dwayne Bray is a journalist at ESPN. When he’s not using his free time to play baseball with his son, he’s coaching a grassroots basketball team, the New Haven Heat North.

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The post Ahmaud Arbery’s football family made sure his slaying wouldn’t be ignored first appeared on Bad Sporters.

The Latest: Trump says he spoke with Floyd's family members

admin — Fri, 29 May 2020 22:57:56 +0000

MINNEAPOLIS – The Latest on the death of George Floyd, a handcuffed black man who pleaded for air as a white police officer knelt on his neck (all times local):

5:25 p.m.

President Donald Trump says he talked to members of George Floyd’s family on Friday and “expressed my sorrow.”

Trump spoke about his conversation with members of the Floyd family during a White House meeting with businesses executives. He says of the encounter with police captured on video that “it was just a horrible thing to witness and to watch. It certainly looked like there was no excuse for it.”

Trump says the family grieved during the call and that “I could see very much that they loved their brother.”

Trump was also asked about his tweet saying “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” He says he had heard that phrase for a long time, but didn’t know where it originated.

He says the phrase is “very accurate in the sense that, when you do have looting like you had last night, people often get shot and they die. And that’s not good and we don’t want that to happen.”

Trump also spoke about the looters, saying they did a great disservice to their state, city and the country. He said “we can never let that happen again.”

The president also says of the city and its mayor “I don’t think they were very well prepared. But we brought in the National Guard. They will be very prepared tonight.”

___

4:45 p.m.

Police in Memphis, Tennessee, are investigating whether an officer broke any rules after a video surfaced of a woman being knocked to the ground during a protest related to the death of George Floyd.

The handcuffed black man pleaded for air as a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck. That officer was arrested and charged Friday with third-degree murder and manslaughter.

Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said on social media Friday that he’s asked Police Director Michael Rallings to investigate “an event that occurred Wednesday night with one of our officers and a female protester.”

A video has been shared on television and social media that appears to show an officer shoving a woman to the ground. It’s not clear whether she was injured.

___

4:15 p.m.

NBA veteran Stephen Jackson says he’ll use his platform and “everything I have to get a conviction” for the four Minneapolis police officers who were fired after George Floyd’s death.

Jackson, like Floyd, is from Houston and they were friends. The handcuffed black man died after pleading for air as a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck.

That officer, Derek Chauvin, was arrested Friday and charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter. The charges were announced shortly after Jackson spoke at a news conference organized by activists at Minneapolis City Hall. Actor Jamie Foxx and Minnesota Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns were among those in attendance.

Jackson is 42. He played for eight NBA teams from 2000-2013 and won a championship in 2003 with the San Antonio Spurs.

He and Floyd called each other “twin” because of their resemblance.

Both were star high school athletes in the Houston area in the 1990s. Floyd had moved to Minneapolis two years ago for a fresh start.

___

4 p.m.

A white Minneapolis police officer who is charged with murder for kneeling on George Floyd’s neck as he pleaded for air is accused of ignoring another officer who was worried that the handcuffed black man should be rolled onto his side.

Derek Chauvin, 44, was charged Friday with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

The criminal complaint also says that an autopsy revealed nothing to support strangulation. It says the medical examiner concluded that the combined effects of being restrained, potential intoxicants in Floyd’s system, and his underlying health issues likely contributed to his death.

The complaint says Floyd was struggling with officers who tried to put him in a squad car and at one point he went to the ground face down. The complaint says one officer held Floyd’s back and another held his legs, while Chauvin put his knee on Floyd’s head and neck area. When one officer said he was getting worried and asked if Floyd should be rolled onto his side, Chauvin said no.

In all, Chauvin had his knee on Floyd’s neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds. The complaint says that includes nearly three minutes after Floyd stopped moving and talking.

Chauvin’s attorney had no comment when reached by The Associated Press.

___

3:45 p.m.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has declared a nighttime curfew running from 8 p.m. Friday to 6 a.m. Saturday and again from 8 p.m. Saturday through 6 a.m. Sunday.

His order comes after sometimes violent protests over the death of George Floyd. The handcuffed black man pleaded for air as a white police officer knelt on his neck.

Frey’s order said nobody may venture out in public during those times, except for emergency responders, or people seeking medical care, fleeing dangerous circumstances or experiencing homelessness. Violators can be fined up to $1,000 and jailed up to 90 days.

___

2:20 p.m.

U.S. Attorney General William Barr says he’s “confident justice will be served” after the restraint death of a black man in Minneapolis police custody.

Barr said in a statement Friday that the videos of George Floyd’s death were “harrowing to watch and deeply disturbing.”

The Justice Department and FBI are conducting an investigation to determine whether federal civil rights laws were broken.

Barr’s comments come as the white police officer who was seen on video kneeling on Floyd’s neck was arrested. Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said Derek Chauvin was charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter.

Barr says a decision whether to pursue federal charges “must be, and will be, based on the law and facts” and that the process is “proceeding quickly.”

He said federal officials were working with local law enforcement to ensure relevant evidence is collected as quickly as possible.

___

1:45 p.m.

An uncle of a black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis said he will be attending peaceful demonstrations, but that violent protests are “absolutely outlandish.”

Selwyn Jones’ nephew George Floyd died Monday after a white officer knelt on his neck as Floyd pleaded for air. Floyd’s death has set off days of protests in the Minneapolis area and communities across the U.S.

“I think that is absolutely outlandish for them to destroy their own city, their own home, to make a point,” Jones told the Rapid City Journal in South Dakota. “I don’t think the point that they’re trying to make is the point that we’re trying to make.”

Jones is planning to attend a walk in memory of Floyd on Saturday in Rapid City. He said people who have reacted with violent protest and looting are “taking advantage of a bad situation to express anger.”

___

1:30 p.m.

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden says he has spoken with the family of George Floyd and is calling for justice.

Biden’s comments came as a Minnesota prosecutor announced charges against a police officer seen kneeling on Floyd’s neck. Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman says Derek Chauvin is charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter in the restraint death of Floyd.

In a brief online appearance Friday, the former vice president blamed systemic racism, which he called “an open wound” on American society, for Floyd’s death. He says it’s time for deep and lasting police reform.

Biden also took an indirect swipe at President Donald Trump without naming him, saying it was, “No time for incendiary tweets. No time to incite violence.”

___

1:15 p.m.

A Minnesota prosecutor has charged a police officer with third-degree murder and manslaughter in the restraint death of George Floyd.

Floyd is the handcuffed black man whose cries of “I can’t breathe” in a widely seen cellphone video set off days of violent protest in Minneapolis and around the country.

Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said Friday that he may yet bring more charges against the officer, Derek Chauvin.

The white officer knelt on Floyd’s neck for at least eight minutes in the video. Floyd can be seen gradually becoming motionless as Chauvin and three other officers ignored bystanders’ shouts to get off him.

Floyd was pronounced dead at a Minneapolis hospital in an incident that began when police responded to a report of a man passing a counterfeit bill in a grocery store on Memorial Day.

The charges came after Minneapolis has been rocked by three days of protests, including looting, scores of fires and the burning of a police precinct station on Thursday even after the governor called out the National Guard.

___

12:45 p.m.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry is responding to the death of George Floyd.

The ministry says in a lengthy statement that the death underlines frequent violence by police in the United States.

Floyd pleaded for air as a white police officer knelt on the handcuffed black man’s neck. The officer, Derek Chauvin, was arrested Friday.

The statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry says, “This incident is far from the first in a series of manifestations of lawlessness and unjustified violence by the ‘law enforcement officers’ in the United States.”

The ministry called on the U.S. to “to take real and effective measures to rectify the situation, return to the conscientious fulfillment of international obligations, and bring national legislation in line with the basic UN principles on the use of force and firearms by law enforcement agencies.”

___

12:25 p.m.

Minnesota authorities say the police officer who knelt on George Floyd has been arrested.

Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington said Friday that state investigators arrested Derek Chauvin.

Chauvin is the white officer who was seen on video kneeling on the neck of Floyd, a handcuffed black man.

The arrest comes after three days of protests, which escalated in violence as demonstrators torched a police precinct that had been abandoned by officers.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Friday acknowledged the “abject failure” of the response to this week’s violent protests. Walz said the state would take over the response and that it’s time to show respect and dignity to those who are suffering.

___

12:05 p.m.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is acknowledging the “abject failure” of the response to this week’s protests over the death of George Floyd.

During a news conference on Friday, Walz said the state would take over the response. He says it’s time to show respect and dignity to those who are suffering. He also called for swift justice for officers involved in Floyd’s death. The handcuffed black man pleaded for air as a white officer knelt on his neck.

Walz’s comments came after protesters torched a police station that officers abandoned during a third night of violence.

Livestream video showed protesters entering the building, where intentionally set fires activated smoke alarms and sprinklers.

___

11:30 a.m.

Attorneys for the families of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor are calling for an independent investigation of the actions leading to Floyd’s death.

They also want national reforms in response to the three deaths.

Attorney Benjamin Crump said during a news conference Friday that he’s asked to take custody of Floyd’s body for an independent autopsy. He and attorney Lee Merritt said they want murder charges brought against the four Minneapolis police officers involved in Floyd’s arrest. And they want the Minnesota attorney general to take over the investigation.

Crump says the families from Georgia, Kentucky and now Minnesota have all had to dispel narratives from law enforcement that their loved ones “brought this upon themselves.” They cited an initial report in Floyd’s case that said he threatened police and died of a medical condition.

Videos show an officer kneeling on the back of Floyd’s neck as the handcuffed black man pleads for air.

The attorneys said they’ll seek national legislation seeking better training and to lower the burden to charge officers for excessive force.

___

11 a.m.

A now-fired police officer and a black man who died in his custody both worked as security guards at a popular Latin nightclub as recently as the end of last year. But the club’s former owner says it’s not clear whether they knew each other.

Officer Derek Chauvin worked at the El Nuevo Rodeo club as off-duty security for nearly two decades. Maya Santamaria told The Associated Press that George Floyd had worked there only more recently for about a dozen events that featured African American music.

Santamaria says she doesn’t believe the two knew each other before their encounter Monday night when the officer was seen on cellphone video kneeling on Floyd’s neck. Santamaria says that if the officer had recognized Floyd, “He might have given him a little more mercy.”

Santamaria sold the venue within the past two months. She says Chauvin got along well with the regular Latino customers, but didn’t like to work the African American nights. When he did, and there was a fight, he would spray people with mace and call for police backup. She says a half dozen squad cars would soon show up, something she felt was unjustified “overkill.

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Family: College student’s alleged crime spree ‘came out of nowhere’

admin — Wed, 27 May 2020 00:40:31 +0000

Peter Manfredonia, when he was a sophomore at Newtown High School, throws the javelin at the O’Grady Relays track meet at Danbury High School on Saturday, April 27, 2013

Peter Manfredonia, when he was a sophomore at Newtown High School, throws the javelin at the O’Grady Relays track meet at Danbury High School on Saturday, April 27, 2013

Photo: Hearst Connecticut Media File Photo

Photo: Hearst Connecticut Media File Photo

Peter Manfredonia, when he was a sophomore at Newtown High School, throws the javelin at the O’Grady Relays track meet at Danbury High School on Saturday, April 27, 2013

Photo: Hearst Connecticut Media File Photo

NEWTOWN — The attorney representing the family of a University of Connecticut student wanted in connection with two homicides says he’s suffered from mental health issues for years, but the deadly crime spree “came out of nowhere.”

On Tuesday, Peter Manfredonia remained on the run — believed to be in the Poconos area of eastern Pennsylvania — after police say he killed two people in Connecticut, including shooting his former Newtown High School classmate in the head, according to the state’s chief medical examiner.

In an interview with Hearst Connecticut Media, attorney Michael Dolan said Manfredonia’s parents had been in regular contact with him until the series of events began on Friday.

His father, Robert Manfredonia, is facing charges of his own, according to Lt. Aaron Bahamonde, a spokesman for the Newtown Police Department. Robert Manfredonia, 54, of Newtown, is free on $50,000 bond after being charged in April with second-degree sexual assault, two counts of risk of injury to a minor and two counts of providing alcohol to a minor.

According to his warrant, Robert Manfredonia provided alcohol to two underage teen girls in Newtown on April 10. One of the girls also told investigators they “smoked a little weed,” the warrant stated. After one of the girls left, Manfredonia groped the other teen, the warrant stated.

When confronted the next day by the girl’s mother, Manfredonia did not “deny or dispel the allegations,” the warrant stated.

Dolan said he was not aware of the charges against Robert Manfredonia.

Robert Manfredonia declined to comment when reached Tuesday. Efforts to reach Peter Manfredonia’s mother, Jeanette, were unsuccessful.

Dolan did not know when the last time Manfredonia spoke to his parents, but said they had a heightened concern about his history of mental health issues when they heard about the alleged crime spree.

“He certainly did have mental health issues, but he had no history of violence,” Dolan said. “This really came out of nowhere.”

His parents, who are divorced, are cooperating with the investigation, Dolan said.

Peter Manfredonia grew up in his family’s former home on the same Sandy Hook street as Adam Lanza, according to property records. According to posts on his social media feeds, Peter Manfredonia supported Sandy Hook charitable organizations that formed to end gun violence after Lanza killed 20 students and six educators in 2012.

“Our heartfelt condolences go out to all of the families and people impacted by the shootings and attacks linked to UConn student Peter Manfredonia,” a statement reads from Sandy Hook Promise. “We can confirm that he participated in an athletic event in 2019 and chose Sandy Hook Promise as one of his fundraising recipients. We hope he surrenders peacefully to the authorities and that no one else is hurt or killed.”

Peter Manfredona was recently living in an off-campus apartment in Storrs, according to Dolan, who did not know if he had any roommates.

Dolan said he’s trying to use the media to reach out to Peter Manfredonia, who was last seen in Pennsylvania Sunday afternoon and is considered “armed and dangerous,” according to police.

“On behalf of the family, I’m pursuing every avenue to reach their child, including cooperation with police,” Dolan said.

Manfredonia, an accomplished football player and track athlete at Newtown High School where he graduated in 2015, is a senior at the University of Connecticut, where he is a finance and mechanical engineering student.

Stephanie Reitz, a UConn spokeswoman, declined to comment whether Manfredonia had a disciplinary record at the school.

UConn President Tom Katsouleas said in a statement that the university has been working with Connecticut state police and other agencies to help in the search for Manfredonia.

“The horrific and incomprehensible loss of life is reminiscent of so many other tragedies at so many other places around the country and the world,” Katsouleas said. “Though rare, we have been sadly reminded that none are immune from such random acts, and that they don’t always happen somewhere else.”

Lt. John Aiello, commanding officer of the Connecticut state police Eastern District Major Crimes Squad, addressed Manfredonia during a press conference Tuesday afternoon at the agency’s Middletown headquarters.

“Peter, we’ve talked to your family. We’ve talked to your friends and your roommates. All of them have said the same thing that this behavior is out of the ordinary for you,” Aiello said. “We know this is not who you are.”

While Aiello urged for Manfredonia to surrender, Pennsylvania state police said the fugitive has continued to elude authorities.

Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Anthony Petroski said a black Hyundai Santa Fe with Pennsylvania license plate KYW-1650 was stolen around 9 p.m. Monday from the area where Manfredonia was last seen. However, he said police have not confirmed whether Manfredonia stole the vehicle.

Bahamonde said Newtown police have increased their manpower for each shift and have taken “a defensive standpoint” in case Manfredonia returns to Connecticut.

Bahamonde said Newtown police have assisted state troopers in conducting “some searches” in town, including at Robert Manfredonia’s Queen Street residence.

Manfredonia was last seen Sunday afternoon in eastern Pennsylvania near the Poconos. The Pennsylvania state police said Manfredonia used an Uber to flee into East Stroudsburg Sunday afternoon after ditching a woman he kidnapped in Connecticut and her car at the New Jersey border.

Pennsylvania state police have released an image of Manfredonia walking along railroad tracks carrying what appeared to be a large duffel bag shortly after he was dropped off by the Uber. Pennsylvania state police said they believe the bag is filled with guns Manfredonia is accused of stealing during a Connecticut home invasion over the weekend.

It remains unknown what sparked the alleged crime spree that began Friday when police say Manfredonia attacked two men with a type of machete in upstate Connecticut. However, a source close to the investigation said Manfredonia was on his way to meet a former girlfriend when his motorcycle broke down in Willington.

Theodore DeMers offered Manfredonia a ride on his ATV when police say the 62-year-old man was attacked with an “edged” weapon. A second man who came to the aid of DeMers was critically injured, police said. By Tuesday, officials said he was in stable condition.

Chief Medical Examiner James Gill said DeMers’ death was caused by “sharp force and chop injuries of head with sharp force injuries of torso and extremities.” The manner of death was classified as homicide, Gill said.

On Sunday, a Willington man reported being held captive by Manfredonia, who stole his guns, food, supplies and his truck during a home invasion, according to police.

A few hours later, police recovered the stolen truck in Derby, setting off an extensive search that led authorities to a Roosevelt Drive home about a mile away. Police said video surveillance showed Manfredonia walking “directly” toward Nicholas Eisele’s home between 5 and 6 a.m. Sunday. Eisele also graduated Newtown High in 2015 and was described by police as an “acquaintance” of Manfredonia.

Gill said Eisele’s cause of death was “gunshot wounds of head.” Gill said Eisele’s manner of death was ruled homicide.

By the time police arrived, Manfredonia had fled and kidnapped Eisele’s girlfriend in her 2016 Volkswagen Jetta. The woman and the car were recovered later Sunday in New Jersey. Police said the woman was unharmed and returned to Connecticut where she was interviewed by investigators.

Staff writers Ben Lambert, Rob Ryser and Kendra Baker contributed to this story.

Anyone with any information is asked to call Derby police at 203-735-7811, state police at 860-896-3200 or the FBI at 1-800-CALLFBI. Any sightings of Manfredonia should be called in to 911.

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The post Family: College student’s alleged crime spree ‘came out of nowhere’ first appeared on Bad Sporters.

Family: College student’s alleged crime spree ‘came out of nowhere’

admin — Wed, 27 May 2020 00:26:05 +0000

Peter Manfredonia, when he was a sophomore at Newtown High School, throws the javelin at the O’Grady Relays track meet at Danbury High School on Saturday, April 27, 2013

Peter Manfredonia, when he was a sophomore at Newtown High School, throws the javelin at the O’Grady Relays track meet at Danbury High School on Saturday, April 27, 2013

Photo: Hearst Connecticut Media File Photo

Photo: Hearst Connecticut Media File Photo

Peter Manfredonia, when he was a sophomore at Newtown High School, throws the javelin at the O’Grady Relays track meet at Danbury High School on Saturday, April 27, 2013

Photo: Hearst Connecticut Media File Photo

In an interview with Hearst Connecticut Media, attorney Michael Dolan said Manfredonia’s parents had been in regular contact with him until the series of events began on Friday.

When confronted the next day by the girl’s mother, Manfredonia did not “deny or dispel the allegations,” the warrant stated.

Dolan said he was not aware of the charges against Robert Manfredonia.

Robert Manfredonia declined to comment when reached Tuesday. Efforts to reach Peter Manfredonia’s mother, Jeanette, were unsuccessful.

Dolan did not know when the last time Manfredonia spoke to his parents, but said they had a heightened concern about his history of mental health issues when they heard about the alleged crime spree.

“He certainly did have mental health issues, but he had no history of violence,” Dolan said. “This really came out of nowhere.”

His parents, who are divorced, are cooperating with the investigation, Dolan said.

Peter Manfredona grew up in his family’s former home on the same Sandy Hook street as Adam Lanza, according to property records. According to posts on his social media feeds, Peter Manfredonia supported Sandy Hook charitable organizations that formed to end gun violence after Lanza killed 20 students and six educators in 2012.