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CBP officer agrees to resign after admitting to using 'unreasonable force'

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:42:34 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to using unreasonable force on an individual who applied for admission to the U.S. from Mexico.According to U.S. attorney Tara McGrath's office, 41-year-old Andre Maurice Chevalier admitted in his plea agreement that he encountered a woman at an inspection booth on April 23, 2022. More than 14K pounds of drugs seized at border in November: CBP The CBP officer said he pulled the woman, identified in court documents by the initials Y.F., out of her vehicle and slung her into the booth. She sustained injuries to her face and fell to the ground.Chevalier also admitted to then picking up the woman and shoving her against her vehicle before handcuffing her. The CBP officer said that he acted "willfully and intentionally," depriving the woman of her right to be free from an unreasonable use of force.As part of his plea agreement, Chevalier will resign from his position and will not seek futu...

VIDEO: Orphaned mountain lion cubs rescued in San Diego

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:42:34 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A San Diego search party determined to rescue a trio of mountain lion cubs ended their mission successfully this week. The San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance (SDZWA), the University of California, Davis (UC Davis) Karen C. Drayer Wildlife Health Center, and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife teamed up to find the cubs after they were orphaned at just 6 weeks old. A team of professionals leveraged data from the GPS collar of the mother, designated F307 by the UC Davis mountain lion research team, to determine the search area. 52-foot whale washes up on Pacific Beach in San Diego On the very first day of recovery efforts, one cub was discovered hiding in a hole and another was found wedged tightly between two rocks, SDZWA explained. Three days later, a third cub was found crouching in chaparral. All three were reported to be within 250 feet of each other. The siblings were reunited at the Paul Harter Veterinary Medical Center and nursed back to full health. Acc...

Washington state college student dies and two others are sickened in apparent carbon monoxide leak

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:42:34 GMT

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Authorities brought in outside experts on Wednesday to find the source of carbon monoxide believed to have killed one student and sickened two others at a college in Washington state.The experts, from a forensic engineering firm that specializes in carbon monoxide investigations, were at the housing unit at The Evergreen State College in Olympia to conduct the analysis, Washington State Patrol spokesman Chris Loftis said.A student residence manager called campus police Monday evening to report being unable to contact the students inside a modular home. An Evergreen police officer who broke down the door to help reach those inside was hospitalized overnight, according to police Chief David Brunckhurst.The Thurston County Coroner’s Office identified the dead student as Jonathan Rodriguez, 21, of nearby DuPont. His autopsy was set for Thursday.Two students were also hospitalized. Evergreen spokesperson Farra Layne Hayes said Wednesday that she did not have further...

New Hampshire attorney general files second complaint against white nationalist group

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:42:34 GMT

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — The New Hampshire attorney general is again accusing a white nationalist group of civil rights violations, this time in response to a demonstration outside a Concord café hosting a drag story hour event.Attorney General John Formella said Wednesday he has filed a civil complaint saying that the Nationalist Social Club-131 and one of its leaders violated the state’s anti-discrimination law.The complaint says that Christopher Hood, of Newburyport, Massachusetts, led a group of NSC-131 members stood outside the Teatotaller Café for more than an hour on June 18 shouting homophobic slurs, chanting loudly and saluting in a fashion reminiscent of Nazi Germany. Group members also are accused of banging on the café’s windows and making intimidating gestures and comments directed at the performer and others in the café. Such actions, the complaint alleges, amount to an attempt to coerce the business into refusing access to its venue based on their sexual orientation or ge...

After mistrial, feds move to retry ex-Louisville cop who fired shots in Breonna Taylor raid

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:42:34 GMT

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Federal prosecutors told a judge Wednesday they intend to retry former Louisville officer Brett Hankison after a jury deadlocked last month over charges he used excessive force the night Breonna Taylor was killed by police in 2020.A judge declared a mistrial Nov. 16 after the jury deliberated for several days but could not reach a unanimous decision. Hankison fired 10 shots the night of the deadly raid but did not strike anyone. His shots went into Taylor’s apartment and into a neighboring unit, where a child was sleeping.Federal prosecutor Michael Songer said during a status conference that “the government intends to retry the case.”A new trial would be the third attempt to prosecute Hankison for his actions the night of the March 13, 2020, botched raid that left Taylor dead. He was acquitted last year on state charges of wanton endangerment for shooting into Taylor’s windows and a glass patio door.U.S. District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings set a ...

Victim identified, teen charged following fatal stabbing in Toronto’s east end

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:42:34 GMT

A teen is facing a second-degree murder charge in connection to a stabbing in Toronto’s east end.Police and paramedics were called to Lockwood Road, near Kingston Road and Queen Street East, just after 6 a.m. on Tuesday.Officers found a 20-year-old man lying on the ground with stab wounds. The victim, Nathan Samuel, of Toronto, was pronounced dead at the scene.At the time, police confirmed one person was arrested. Investigators have identified the suspect as Jared Shokoff, 18, of Toronto.Investigators are trying to determine what led up to the stabbing and if there was any relationship between the victim and suspect.With files from Michael Ranger

Wisconsin schools superintendent wants UW regents to delay vote on deal to limit diversity positions

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:42:34 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin’s state school superintendent on Wednesday called for Universities of Wisconsin regents to delay a second vote on a deal with Republican legislators that would limit campus diversity positions in exchange for employee raises and money for construction projects.The regents rejected the deal on a 9-8 vote on Saturday amid complaints from Democrats that the deal sells out minority and LGBTQ+ students and faculty. But after a closed-door meeting Tuesday led by Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman, the regents called for another vote Wednesday evening. The agenda indicated that Regent Amy Blumenfeld Bogost, who voted against the proposal on Saturday, had switched positions and now supported it. State Superintendent Jill Underly automatically doubles as a regent by virtue of her position. She did not vote Saturday because she was out of the country. She issued a statement Wednesday asking regents to reschedule the second vote because she was...

Woman who Montana police say drove repeatedly through religious group pleads not guilty

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:42:34 GMT

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A Montana woman who police say drove her vehicle repeatedly through a group of religious demonstrators, wounding one person, pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to multiple felony charges.Genevienne Marlene Rancuret, 55, was arraigned in state district court and ordered held on $250,000 bond in the alleged weekend assault in Billings against members of Israel United in Christ. About 10 men from the group were assembled along a busy road in front of a grocery store where they were holding signs and reading the Bible through an an amplifier, when Rancuret drove at or through them several times, according to court documents and a witness.Moments earlier Rancuret had allegedly told an employee at a nearby convenience store that she thought the group was being racist against white people and suggested she was going to run them over. Rancuret later told police that the group had directed a derogatory term toward her and she felt threatened so she intentionally drove at ...

Execution date set for Missouri man who killed his cousin and her husband in 2006

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:42:34 GMT

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The Missouri Supreme Court on Wednesday set an April execution date for Brian Dorsey, a central Missouri man convicted of killing his cousin and her husband in 2006.The execution is scheduled for 6 p.m. April 9 at the state prison in Bonne Terre. It would be the first in 2024 in Missouri. Four of the 24 executions in the U.S. this year were in Missouri.Dorsey, formerly of Jefferson City, was convicted of killing his cousin, Sarah Bonnie, and her husband, Ben, on Dec. 23, 2006, at their home near New Bloomfield. Prosecutors said that earlier that day, Dorsey had called Sarah Bonnie seeking to borrow money to pay two drug dealers who were at his apartment.Dorsey went to the Bonnies’ home that night. After they went to bed, Dorsey took a shotgun from the garage and killed both of them before sexually assaulting Sarah Bonnie’s body, prosecutors said.Sarah Bonnie’s parents found the bodies the next day. The couple’s 4-year-old daughter was unhurt....

Family of Hinsdale teenager killed in crash outside car wash files lawsuit against car wash and employees

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:42:34 GMT

HINSDALE, Ill. — The family of a Hinsdale teenager killed in a horrific crash over the summer has filed a lawsuit against a well-known Chicagoland car wash.Clifford Law Offices filed the lawsuit Wednesday morning on behalf of Brian and Kristine Richards, the parents of Sean Richards, "against the entities who own and manage the car wash and other employees."On July 17, Sean Richards, 14, was struck by a jeep that was driven by an employee of the Fuller's Car Wash location in Hinsdale, which has been in operation for about 70 years."We have three objectives in pursuing this litigation: the truth, accountability and, third, public safety," Brian Richards said in a news conference Wednesday morning. Sean RichardsA joint investigation by the DuPage County State's Attorney's Office and the Hinsdale Police Department determined that a 16-year-old worker at the car wash was inside a jeep and accidentally hit the gas instead of the brake. That sent the vehicle forward, where it struck ...