Family of Black girls handcuffed by Colorado police, held at gunpoint reach $1.9 million settlement
A Black woman and a group of four young girls who were wrongfully forced out of their car, held at gunpoint and handcuffed by police in suburban Denver in 2020 have reached a $1.9 million legal settlement.
Prosecutors say Elijah McClain was just walking home as jury urged to convict officers in his death
Prosecutors seeking a conviction of two Colorado police officers in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain have implored a jury during closing arguments to remember that he was just trying to walk home on the night of the fatal encounter.
AP source: MLB moving All-Star Game to Denverโs Coors Field
Major League Baseball plans to relocate the All-Star Game to Coors Field in Denver after pulling this yearโs Midsummer Classic from Atlanta over objections to sweeping changes to Georgiaโs voting laws, according to a person familiar with the decision.
Haunted by mass violence, Colorado confronts painful history
On Wednesday, Reinfeld was reeling from the latest mass shooting even closer to home, after authorities say a 21-year-old gunned down shoppers at a local grocery store. โI could see at some point leaving because of all this,โ said Reinfeld, a gun control activist. But it's also been haunted by shootings that have helped define the nation's decades-long struggle with mass violence. The Aurora shooting brought that terror from schools to a movie theater. After each of Colorado's biggest massacres, the local gun control movement has gained heartbroken new recruits.
Cops fired over photos tied to Elijah McClain not reinstated
The Aurora Civil Service Commission issued a decision Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2021, upholding the firings of officers Marrero, Dittrich and Jason Rosenblatt over this and similar photos. Police Chief Vanessa Wilson fired the three officers last year over two photos taken at a memorial to McClain two months after his death. AdDittrich texted the photos to two officers who stopped McClain โ Rosenblatt and Nathan Woodyard โ to try to cheer up Woodyard, authorities said. Besides the neckhold, McClain was injected with the sedative ketamine. Rosenblatt initially tried to put McClain in the neckhold but couldnโt because of his position, so Woodyard did, authorities said.
Uber, hard-hit by pandemic, sells its robot-vehicle division
SAN RAMON, Calif. โ Uber is selling off its autonomous vehicles development arm as the ride-hailing company slims down after its revenues were pummeled by the coronavirus pandemic. Self-driving vehicle technology company Aurora will acquire the employees and technology behind Uber's Advanced Technologies Group in an stock transaction, the companies said Monday. Uber will also invest $400 million into Aurora, and Uber's CEO Dara Khosrowshahi will join Aurora's board of directors. After the transaction, Aurora will be worth $10 billion and Uber will hold 26% stake in the company, Aurora CEO Chris Urmson said in an interview. San Francisco-based Uber will lose a critical piece of its company after the pandemic cut into its finances by suppressing demand for shared rides.
Voices of Houston: Meet Aurora Garcia, a breast cancer survivor helping spread awareness and advocacy to other patients
HOUSTON โ For 45-year-old wife and mother Aurora Garcia, wearing pink in October is more than just raising awareness. They met a year after Jerryโs first wife Ana lost her battle to breast cancer. Jerry and Aurora Garcia (KPRC)In 2005, Ana was diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer, which was at that time a really rare form of breast cancer and very aggressive. Jerry Garcia and his family were very involved with the organization, helping to fundraise and raise awareness of breast cancer. Breast cancer survivor Aurora Garcia (KPRC)โYour chances of survival are just much greater than they were years ago, but early detection is key,โ said Aurora Garcia.
Prosecutors investigating police who handcuffed Black girls
(AP) Prosecutors are investigating whether suburban Denver police officers should face criminal charges for putting four Black girls on the ground and handcuffing two of them after mistakenly suspecting they were riding in a stolen car, a district attorney said Friday. The incident Sunday attracted national attention after a video of the girls some in tears being detained in a parking lot spread on social media. Aurora police apologized after the video taken by a bystander showed the girls, with the 17-year-old and a 12-year-old lying on their stomachs with their hands cuffed behind their backs. Theres no excuse why you didnt handle it a different type of way, Gilliam told KUSA-TV. The Colorado attorney general is investigating after a county prosecutor said last year there wasnt enough evidence to charge the officers.
Woman dies of COVID-19 after giving birth to her baby while on a ventilator
BROOKLYN CENTER, Minnesota A Minnesota father is in mourning after his wife died of COVID-19 complications on July 19. She had just previously given birth to a healthy baby via C-section, KMSP reported. She is a 35-year-old healthy woman with no pre-existing conditions, Duran told KMSP. I was thinking okay shes going to get through this, a few days at the hospital. But when I received that phone call it just hit me, Duran told KMSP. Just be cautious because you could be healthy just like my wife and still end up in the ICU on the ventilator, Duran told KMSP.
A look at a Colorado Black man's death in police encounter
McClain, a 23-year-old Black man in the Denver suburb of Aurora, died in August after police officers confronted him as he was walking to a store. McClain was a massage therapist who planned to go to college, his younger sister, Samara McClain, told The Denver Post. According to a report by District Attorney Dave Young, Aurora officers responding to the report said McClain was uncooperative when they confronted him. Federal authorities also said they were considering an investigation into photos of Aurora police released last week. WHAT IS THE CONTROVERSY SURROUNDING THE PHOTOS TAKEN AT MCCLAIN'S MEMORIAL?
Police chief defends pepper spray at Elijah McClain vigil
Wilson said in a statement that the suspended officers were "depicted in photographs near the site where Elijah McClain died." Aurora Interim Police Chief Vanessa Wilson said the officers were responding to a small group of agitators among the largely peaceful crowd Saturday. Three white officers stopped McClain as he walked down the street last August after a 911 call reported him as suspicious. The officers who stopped McClain were cleared by prosecutors and returned to the force, but the governor has ordered the state attorney general to reopen the case. A separate internal police investigation is underway into photos of Aurora officers taken near where McClain died.
Officers put on leave over photos tied to Elijah McClain
The interim police chief of the city of Aurora, Vanessa Wilson, said in a statement that the suspended officers were "depicted in photographs near the site where Elijah McClain died." In McClain's case, police body-camera video shows an Aurora officer getting out of his car, approaching McClain and saying, Stop right there. The chief's decision could be appealed by the officers under investigation, which would delay the results being released, he said. The three officers who stopped McClain did not face any criminal charges after an investigation by the district attorney, but Democratic Gov. Who didn't do it the right way were those agitators who were arming themselves, that were putting on helmets and gas masks and throwing rocks at my officers, Wilson told KUSA-TV.
Police: Man told to wear mask shoots Denver Waffle House cook
DENVER โ A man is accused of shooting and wounding a Waffle House employee in suburban Denver the night after being asked to wear a face covering inside the restaurant, authorities said. According to an arrest affidavit, employees told investigators Watson came to the restaurant shortly after midnight Thursday, and a waitress told him he needed to wear a mask to be served. Watson allegedly returned with a mask that he was not wearing and was again told he could not be served. Watson is accused of shooting the cook in the chest or abdomen outside of the restaurant as the cook ran to get away. โWe are deeply saddened and regret that this senseless act of violence occurred,โ Waffle House spokesperson Njeri Boss said.