Georgia
City to pay $3.8M to family of church deacon who died in struggle with police officer
ATLANTA (AP) — The Atlanta City Council has agreed to pay $3.8 million to settle a lawsuit by the family of a church deacon who died in a struggle with a city police officer following a minor car crash.
Deacon Johnny Hollman’s family sued the the city, Officer Kiran Kimbrough and Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum in January, alleging Kimbrough used excessive force after the 62-year-old refused to sign a citation finding him at fault for the crash.
An attorney for Kimbrough has said Hollman resisted arrest and Kimbrough acted lawfully when he deployed his stun gun and used force.
The city council, without comment, unanimously approved the settlement at its regular meeting on Monday.
An attorney for Hollman’s family, Mawuli Davis, issued a statement saying the settlement allows the family to “focus on healing from the devastating and senseless loss of their beloved father.”
Hollman’s daughter, Arnitra, expressed gratitude to Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and the city council.
“On behalf of my siblings and our entire family, we want to thank all the people across Atlanta who have supported us in our fight for justice for our father,” she said in the statement.
Body camera video of Hollman’s Aug. 10 arrest shows Kimbrough shocked him with a stun gun after the deacon repeatedly said he could not breathe. An autopsy determined Hollman’s death was a homicide, with heart disease also a contributing factor.
Relatives say Hollman was driving home from Bible study at his daughter’s house and taking dinner to his wife when he collided with another vehicle while turning across a busy street just west of downtown.
In the body camera video released in November, Kimbrough repeatedly demands that Hollman sign the citation, but Hollman insists he did nothing wrong. The two men begin to tussle.
Hollman ends up face down on the ground with Kimbrough over him, pressing him down. He repeatedly says “I can’t breathe,” and Kimbrough uses a Taser to shock him. Hollman becomes unresponsive.
He was later declared dead at a hospital.
Tennessee
Former officer hit with federal charges in on-duty kidnapping, killing
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A former Memphis police officer has been charged with federal civil rights violations in the fatal shooting of a man while the officer was on duty, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Patric J. Ferguson, 32, was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of kidnapping and destroying evidence in the January 2021 killing, the U.S. attorney’s office said in a news release.
Another man who is not an officer, Joshua M. Rogers, was indicted on charges of conspiring to cover up the shooting and destroying evidence.
Prosecutors said Ferguson was on duty when he kidnapped a man and shot him in the head in his patrol car. Ferguson then worked with Rogers to dispose of the man’s body in the Wolf River in Memphis, prosecutors said. Rogers got rid of the car used to transport the man’s body by selling the car at a scrap metal dealership, prosecutors said.
The U.S. attorney’s office identified the man who was shot only as R.H. However, Ferguson already has been charged in state court with first-degree murder, kidnapping, abuse of a corpse, official misconduct and other charges in the death of Robert Howard. The circumstances of both cases are the same.
Rogers also has been charged in state court with evidence tampering, abuse of a corpse and being an accessory after the killing.
Ferguson and Rogers have been out of custody on bond on the state charges, but it was not immediately clear late Wednesday if they had been arrested on the federal charges.
Ferguson’s lawyer, William Massey, said the federal indictment was expected, but he did not comment further.
Washington
Three men sentenced to life in prison for killing family
PORT ORCHARD, Wash. (AP) — Three men found guilty of killing a family in Washington state in 2017 over alleged drugs and money were sentenced to life in prison without without the possibility of parole.
Superior Court Judge Kevin Hull on Tuesday sentenced Danie Kelly Jr., 45, Robert Watson III, 52, and Watson’s brother Johnny Watson, 50, after the victims’ family members spoke in court, the Kitsap Sun reported.
Each man was sentenced to four life sentences, one for each count of first-degree murder. They were each sentenced to additional time for attempted murder convictions and firearm enhancements. A jury in April found them guilty.
Christale Careaga, 37, Hunter Schaap and Johnathon Higgins, both 16, were found dead in their burned home west of Seattle on the Kitsap Peninsula on Jan. 27, 2017. The remains of John Careaga, 43, were found inside a scorched truck at a tree farm.
The Careagas owned a successful Mexican restaurant in Bremerton. In court documents, detectives said John Careaga also brought cocaine from California every couple months to sell locally.
A close friend of his began selling the cocaine to Robert Watson, whom detectives identified as a leader in a local chapter of the Bandidos motorcycle club, authorities said. Investigators have said the killings weren’t related to the club.
Careaga’s friend eventually stopped selling, and the next time Careaga went to California to get the drugs, Robert Watson traveled there “on John’s heels,” and dialogue between the two intensified until the day of the homicides, according to investigators.
John Careaga’s attorney told authorities that Careaga had hidden hundreds of thousands of dollars underneath his home, but that money was never found.
According to the court records, detectives said more than $300,000 had been deposited into Robert Watson’s accounts in 2017 and that there were “numerous cash deposits that the source could not be identified.”
Kelly was associated with the Bandidos as a “hang-around,” and had been a good friend of Careaga before a falling out, detectives said.
A neighbor of the Careagas heard gunshots at the house the day of the murders and reported seeing John Careaga’s truck speeding away, with Kelly at the wheel and another car following close behind.
Defense attorneys during the trial worked to cast doubt on the timeline and cellphone towers used to track the trio’s movements and argued that no evidence existed of anything being taken from the Careaga home.
Relatives of the victims in court described the pain that has been inflicted on the blended family since their deaths.
John Careaga was described as a loving father and uncle who would entertain the nine children who relied on him. Crystal Careaga was described as a personable and contagious “bright light;” Johnathon Higgins was a “big teddy bear;” and Hunter Schaap, was noted for his courage, particularly the night of the murders when he called 911 to report intruders at the family home.
Kelly and the Watson brothers declined the opportunity to speak in court.
Iowa
Civil rights groups sue over law that allows police to deport migrants
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Civil rights and immigrant rights groups filed a lawsuit on Thursday alleging that Iowa’s new law making it a crime to be in the state if previously denied admission to the U.S. is unconstitutional.
It’s the first legal action taken against Iowa in response to the law, though the U.S. Department of Justice warned the state’s top officials last week that the agency would sue unless they agreed not to enforce it.
The complaint filed Thursday alleges that the new statute steps on the federal government’s authority to enforce immigration law. The case is similar to a more expansive Texas law that has been challenged by both the Justice Department and civil rights groups.
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird said Friday that the state would not back down.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa and the American Immigration Council filed the suit Thursday on behalf of the Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice and two individual Iowans.
The Iowa law has increased fear among immigrant communities in the state that enforcement would lead to racial and ethnic profiling, complicate interactions with police or dissuade community members from reporting crime. Activist and advocacy groups, including one named in the suit, have hosted gatherings to try to answer people’s questions and organized protests in response.
Texas was allowed to enforce the law for only a few confusing hours in March before it was put on hold by a federal appeals court’s three-judge panel. The panel heard arguments by both supporters and opponents in April, and will next issue a decision on the law’s constitutionality.
Some law enforcement officials and legal experts have said unanswered questions remain about how the laws in Iowa and Texas would be implemented, since enforcement of immigration law has historically fallen to the federal government and is a binational process.
The Iowa law, which goes into effect on July 1, would allow criminal charges to be brought against people who have outstanding deportation orders or who previously have been removed from or denied admission to the U.S. Once in custody, migrants could either agree to a judge’s order to leave the U.S. or be prosecuted.
In Iowa and across the country, Republican leaders accuse Democratic President Joe Biden of failing to manage the influx of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“The only reason we had to pass this law is because the Biden Administration refuses to enforce the laws already on the books,” Reynolds said in a statement Friday.
New York
Urologist convicted of patient sex abuse, including minors
NEW YORK (AP) — A New York-area doctor was convicted Wednesday in the yearslong sexual abuse of multiple patients, including four children.
Darius A. Paduch of North Bergen, New Jersey, was convicted by a jury in Manhattan federal court of all 11 counts pertaining to seven patients.
According to the charges on the verdict sheet, his victims included four males initially attacked before becoming adults as he sexually abused multiple male patients from at least 2015 through 2019. The indictment said Paduch had worked in New York from 2003 through 2023 as a practicing urologist specializing in male reproductive health.
The doctor had claimed some of his methods of touching patients were medically necessary, though the indictment said they were intended for his own sexual gratification.
Sentencing was scheduled for Aug. 22 after he was convicted of charges including enticing or coercing individuals to travel in interstate commerce to engage in sexual activity and using an interstate facility to induce or coerce children to engage in sexual activity.
Following the conviction, Paduch’s lawyers said in a statement: “Dr. Darius Paduch has maintained his innocence since the start of this case. He maintains it to this day and we will continue to fight for him. We will be filing post trial motions and an appeal and will seek all available relief.”
In a statement, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams praised the verdict, saying “Paduch leveraged his position of trust as a medical doctor for his own perverse gratification.”
He added: “For years, patients seeking needed medical care, many of them children, left his office as victims.”
City to pay $3.8M to family of church deacon who died in struggle with police officer
ATLANTA (AP) — The Atlanta City Council has agreed to pay $3.8 million to settle a lawsuit by the family of a church deacon who died in a struggle with a city police officer following a minor car crash.
Deacon Johnny Hollman’s family sued the the city, Officer Kiran Kimbrough and Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum in January, alleging Kimbrough used excessive force after the 62-year-old refused to sign a citation finding him at fault for the crash.
An attorney for Kimbrough has said Hollman resisted arrest and Kimbrough acted lawfully when he deployed his stun gun and used force.
The city council, without comment, unanimously approved the settlement at its regular meeting on Monday.
An attorney for Hollman’s family, Mawuli Davis, issued a statement saying the settlement allows the family to “focus on healing from the devastating and senseless loss of their beloved father.”
Hollman’s daughter, Arnitra, expressed gratitude to Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and the city council.
“On behalf of my siblings and our entire family, we want to thank all the people across Atlanta who have supported us in our fight for justice for our father,” she said in the statement.
Body camera video of Hollman’s Aug. 10 arrest shows Kimbrough shocked him with a stun gun after the deacon repeatedly said he could not breathe. An autopsy determined Hollman’s death was a homicide, with heart disease also a contributing factor.
Relatives say Hollman was driving home from Bible study at his daughter’s house and taking dinner to his wife when he collided with another vehicle while turning across a busy street just west of downtown.
In the body camera video released in November, Kimbrough repeatedly demands that Hollman sign the citation, but Hollman insists he did nothing wrong. The two men begin to tussle.
Hollman ends up face down on the ground with Kimbrough over him, pressing him down. He repeatedly says “I can’t breathe,” and Kimbrough uses a Taser to shock him. Hollman becomes unresponsive.
He was later declared dead at a hospital.
Tennessee
Former officer hit with federal charges in on-duty kidnapping, killing
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A former Memphis police officer has been charged with federal civil rights violations in the fatal shooting of a man while the officer was on duty, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Patric J. Ferguson, 32, was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of kidnapping and destroying evidence in the January 2021 killing, the U.S. attorney’s office said in a news release.
Another man who is not an officer, Joshua M. Rogers, was indicted on charges of conspiring to cover up the shooting and destroying evidence.
Prosecutors said Ferguson was on duty when he kidnapped a man and shot him in the head in his patrol car. Ferguson then worked with Rogers to dispose of the man’s body in the Wolf River in Memphis, prosecutors said. Rogers got rid of the car used to transport the man’s body by selling the car at a scrap metal dealership, prosecutors said.
The U.S. attorney’s office identified the man who was shot only as R.H. However, Ferguson already has been charged in state court with first-degree murder, kidnapping, abuse of a corpse, official misconduct and other charges in the death of Robert Howard. The circumstances of both cases are the same.
Rogers also has been charged in state court with evidence tampering, abuse of a corpse and being an accessory after the killing.
Ferguson and Rogers have been out of custody on bond on the state charges, but it was not immediately clear late Wednesday if they had been arrested on the federal charges.
Ferguson’s lawyer, William Massey, said the federal indictment was expected, but he did not comment further.
Washington
Three men sentenced to life in prison for killing family
PORT ORCHARD, Wash. (AP) — Three men found guilty of killing a family in Washington state in 2017 over alleged drugs and money were sentenced to life in prison without without the possibility of parole.
Superior Court Judge Kevin Hull on Tuesday sentenced Danie Kelly Jr., 45, Robert Watson III, 52, and Watson’s brother Johnny Watson, 50, after the victims’ family members spoke in court, the Kitsap Sun reported.
Each man was sentenced to four life sentences, one for each count of first-degree murder. They were each sentenced to additional time for attempted murder convictions and firearm enhancements. A jury in April found them guilty.
Christale Careaga, 37, Hunter Schaap and Johnathon Higgins, both 16, were found dead in their burned home west of Seattle on the Kitsap Peninsula on Jan. 27, 2017. The remains of John Careaga, 43, were found inside a scorched truck at a tree farm.
The Careagas owned a successful Mexican restaurant in Bremerton. In court documents, detectives said John Careaga also brought cocaine from California every couple months to sell locally.
A close friend of his began selling the cocaine to Robert Watson, whom detectives identified as a leader in a local chapter of the Bandidos motorcycle club, authorities said. Investigators have said the killings weren’t related to the club.
Careaga’s friend eventually stopped selling, and the next time Careaga went to California to get the drugs, Robert Watson traveled there “on John’s heels,” and dialogue between the two intensified until the day of the homicides, according to investigators.
John Careaga’s attorney told authorities that Careaga had hidden hundreds of thousands of dollars underneath his home, but that money was never found.
According to the court records, detectives said more than $300,000 had been deposited into Robert Watson’s accounts in 2017 and that there were “numerous cash deposits that the source could not be identified.”
Kelly was associated with the Bandidos as a “hang-around,” and had been a good friend of Careaga before a falling out, detectives said.
A neighbor of the Careagas heard gunshots at the house the day of the murders and reported seeing John Careaga’s truck speeding away, with Kelly at the wheel and another car following close behind.
Defense attorneys during the trial worked to cast doubt on the timeline and cellphone towers used to track the trio’s movements and argued that no evidence existed of anything being taken from the Careaga home.
Relatives of the victims in court described the pain that has been inflicted on the blended family since their deaths.
John Careaga was described as a loving father and uncle who would entertain the nine children who relied on him. Crystal Careaga was described as a personable and contagious “bright light;” Johnathon Higgins was a “big teddy bear;” and Hunter Schaap, was noted for his courage, particularly the night of the murders when he called 911 to report intruders at the family home.
Kelly and the Watson brothers declined the opportunity to speak in court.
Iowa
Civil rights groups sue over law that allows police to deport migrants
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Civil rights and immigrant rights groups filed a lawsuit on Thursday alleging that Iowa’s new law making it a crime to be in the state if previously denied admission to the U.S. is unconstitutional.
It’s the first legal action taken against Iowa in response to the law, though the U.S. Department of Justice warned the state’s top officials last week that the agency would sue unless they agreed not to enforce it.
The complaint filed Thursday alleges that the new statute steps on the federal government’s authority to enforce immigration law. The case is similar to a more expansive Texas law that has been challenged by both the Justice Department and civil rights groups.
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird said Friday that the state would not back down.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa and the American Immigration Council filed the suit Thursday on behalf of the Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice and two individual Iowans.
The Iowa law has increased fear among immigrant communities in the state that enforcement would lead to racial and ethnic profiling, complicate interactions with police or dissuade community members from reporting crime. Activist and advocacy groups, including one named in the suit, have hosted gatherings to try to answer people’s questions and organized protests in response.
Texas was allowed to enforce the law for only a few confusing hours in March before it was put on hold by a federal appeals court’s three-judge panel. The panel heard arguments by both supporters and opponents in April, and will next issue a decision on the law’s constitutionality.
Some law enforcement officials and legal experts have said unanswered questions remain about how the laws in Iowa and Texas would be implemented, since enforcement of immigration law has historically fallen to the federal government and is a binational process.
The Iowa law, which goes into effect on July 1, would allow criminal charges to be brought against people who have outstanding deportation orders or who previously have been removed from or denied admission to the U.S. Once in custody, migrants could either agree to a judge’s order to leave the U.S. or be prosecuted.
In Iowa and across the country, Republican leaders accuse Democratic President Joe Biden of failing to manage the influx of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“The only reason we had to pass this law is because the Biden Administration refuses to enforce the laws already on the books,” Reynolds said in a statement Friday.
New York
Urologist convicted of patient sex abuse, including minors
NEW YORK (AP) — A New York-area doctor was convicted Wednesday in the yearslong sexual abuse of multiple patients, including four children.
Darius A. Paduch of North Bergen, New Jersey, was convicted by a jury in Manhattan federal court of all 11 counts pertaining to seven patients.
According to the charges on the verdict sheet, his victims included four males initially attacked before becoming adults as he sexually abused multiple male patients from at least 2015 through 2019. The indictment said Paduch had worked in New York from 2003 through 2023 as a practicing urologist specializing in male reproductive health.
The doctor had claimed some of his methods of touching patients were medically necessary, though the indictment said they were intended for his own sexual gratification.
Sentencing was scheduled for Aug. 22 after he was convicted of charges including enticing or coercing individuals to travel in interstate commerce to engage in sexual activity and using an interstate facility to induce or coerce children to engage in sexual activity.
Following the conviction, Paduch’s lawyers said in a statement: “Dr. Darius Paduch has maintained his innocence since the start of this case. He maintains it to this day and we will continue to fight for him. We will be filing post trial motions and an appeal and will seek all available relief.”
In a statement, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams praised the verdict, saying “Paduch leveraged his position of trust as a medical doctor for his own perverse gratification.”
He added: “For years, patients seeking needed medical care, many of them children, left his office as victims.”
