Court decision reopens sledding death lawsuit
GRAND HAVEN (AP) — A commission that oversees a western Michigan park isn’t immune to a lawsuit by the family of a boy who died while sledding.
Chance Nash, 11, of Nunica hit an obstruction at Duncan Park in Grand Haven and died in 2009. The Michigan appeals court said recently the Duncan Park Commission is not an arm of local government and isn’t immune to a lawsuit.
The court overturned a decision by an Ottawa County judge. The appeals court says a 100-year-old document created a trust to convey the park to trustees, not to the city of Grand Haven.
The court says the park actually is private land, and Grand Haven doesn’t make rules for it or maintain it.
Indictment issued against gang members
DETROIT (AP) — A crackdown on crime in Detroit by a coalition of local, state and federal police agencies has led to charges against members of street and motorcycle gangs.
U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade said last Friday that members of the Bounty Hunter Bloods and Almighty Vice Lord Nation street gangs and the Phantom Outlaw Motorcycle Club are among those charged.
An indictment unsealed last Thursday details the connection between the Bounty Hunter Bloods and murders, shootings, carjackings, drug trafficking and other crimes. Nine men have been indicted in that case.
The indictment says members bragged about their gang affiliation and activities on social media websites.
Appeals court to hear case over prison visits
EDDYVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A federal appeals court is set to hear a case brought by Kentucky death row inmates challenging the rules governing how and when pastors may visit them at the Kentucky State Penitentiary.
The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati has scheduled oral arguments in the case for May 9 in Cincinnati.
Five death row inmates sued the Department of Corrections in 2011 accusing the Corrections Department and prison of violating their First Amendment rights to free exercise of religion. The prison system changed its policy in 2010 requiring inmates to place pastors on one of three slots on an inmate’s visitation list to meet with them one-on-one.
U.S. District Judge Thomas B. Russell dismissed the inmate’s lawsuit a year ago.
Bystander sues over cellphone photo arrest
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A bystander who was filming police officers making an arrest on an Orlando street has filed a lawsuit claiming his constitutional rights were violated when he was arrested for refusing to turn over his cellphone camera to an officer.
Alberto Troche filed the lawsuit against the officer and the City of Orlando last week in federal court.
Troche says he was standing more than 10 feet away from the arrest scene. He says he started recording on his cell phone because he felt officers were using excessive force.
He says the officer attempted to grab the phone away from him but Troche refused to turn it over, believing he was doing nothing wrong. Troche was then arrested on a charge of resisting arrest without violence.
Prosecutors later dropped the charge.
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