New Mexico
Albuquerque group puts chief of police ‘on trial’
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Protesters advocating for drastic changes within a police agency criticized by the U.S. Justice Department over its use of force put the embattled police chief “on trial” during a rally Saturday.
Hundreds of protesters, including some who brought children, marched from Roosevelt Park with signs and a makeshift coffin inscribed with names of people killed by Albuquerque officers in recent years.
The Police Department is under scrutiny for over 40 police shootings — 26 of them fatal — since 2010, and the Justice Department has issued a harsh report over the agency’s use of force.
The protesters marched peacefully Saturday before returning to the park to continue the rally.
The mock trial outlined how police Chief Gorden Eden has failed to stop his officers from using excessive force, said David Correia, one of the protest’s organizers.
“He has to answer to these charges,” Correia said. “They’ll all be read before the public.”
Eden, who took the job four months ago while the Justice Department was wrapping up its investigation into the department, said in a statement that police talked to protest organizers and officers would provide traffic
escorts for the marchers.
escorts for the marchers.
“We acknowledge their First Amendment rights to voice their concerns,” Eden said. “Our job will be to protect public safety during the time they are in Roosevelt Park and while they are marching. Additional officers will be on call in case they are needed.”
Previous demonstrations have roiled New Mexico’s largest city. At one protest, riot police deployed tear gas toward a violent crowd. Another demonstration prompted city councilors to abruptly end a scheduled meeting.
Albuquerque and Justice Department officials are negotiating over reforms that federal authorities are expected to order in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, the Police Department has announced a number of new changes to training and has ordered officers to stop shooting at moving vehicles.
Nevada
Hearing reset for Vegas mom in kids-window case
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A judge reset a court date for a Las Vegas mother facing felony charges after police say she tossed her two young children and herself out a second-story window.
A jail official told Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Bill Kephart on Monday that 34-year-old Luz Robledo Ibarra refused to leave her jail cell for an initial court appearance.
The judge reset the hearing for June 30.
Robledo Ibarra wasn’t represented by a lawyer.
She was hospitalized with a broken pelvis and other injuries after allegedly throwing her 7-month-old son and 1?-year-old daughter from the window early June 12.
Authorities say the girl and boy were critically hurt.
Police say Robledo Ibarra told investigators that she felt depressed and had trouble sleeping since her baby was born in November.
New York
Drone killing memo released after court fight
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal appeals court has released a previously secret memo that provided legal justification for using drones to kill Americans suspected of terrorism overseas.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan released the memo Tuesday. Portions of it are blacked out.
The memo concluded that the killing of an al-Qaida leader who had been born in the United States had legal justification. It said the authority to use lethal force abroad may apply in appropriate circumstances to a U.S. citizen who is part of the forces of an enemy organization. It said the killing was justified as long as it was carried out in accord with applicable laws of war.
The memo was released after the American Civil Liberties Union and The New York Times filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.
New York
Judge upholds NYC public school vaccination policy
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge has upheld a New York City policy that bars unvaccinated students from public school when another student has a vaccine-preventable disease.
Judge William Kuntz II ruled against three families who claimed their right to religious freedom was violated when their children were kept from school due to the city’s immunization policies.
In his ruling, the judge citing a 109-year-old Supreme Court ruling that gives states broad power in public health matters.
The judge said “religious objectors are not constitutionally exempt from vaccinations.”
South Dakota
Man sues in 2013 beating that led to brain trauma
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — A man left unconscious and bleeding on a stranger’s kitchen floor after a pub crawl in Brookings last year is suing the man who punched him, the men who helped drag him into the house and the roommates who failed to call for help.
Neil Hedeen, 24, sustained permanent brain trauma as a result of the attack in March. He is seeking unspecified damages.
Authorities say Hedeen was drunk when he wandered into the rented home of three South Dakota State University students and fell asleep in the entryway on the night of March 23, according to the Sioux Falls Argus Leader says.
Three men visiting the students — Aaron Crips, Mike Mailey and Dustin Welbig — allegedly threw Hedeen out of the house. After a brief altercation in which Hedeen threatened the men with a shovel, Mailey punched the victim, which knocked him out and caused him to hit his head on the concrete.
Instead of calling police, the three men brought Hedeen back into the house and left him on the kitchen floor, where he was bleeding from the ears. The men wrote a note on a pizza box telling Hedeen he had fallen on the ice.
The girlfriend of one of the roommates found Hedeen the following morning and called 911.
The suit said the three roommates — Evan Leeben, Garrett Kommes and Tyler Morris —are liable for failing to call authorities.
Mailey was convicted of aggravated assault and sentenced to two years in prison. Judge Greg Stoltenburg told Mailey he was shocked by the way he and his friends treated Hedeen.
“You left him — you hit him, he dropped to the ground, you dragged him over the roadway, over concrete, snow, up some wooden steps, and threw him on the kitchen floor while he is bleeding out his ear and unconscious,” the judge said. “And then you and your friends sat around for four hours watching him. Four hours, and you did nothing. If it was a dog, you would have called someone or provided treatment.”
