Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed new police accountability legislation into law on Friday that would create new officer requirements including body cameras and limits on deadly force.
The move – coinciding with the June 19 holiday Juneteenth, which commemorates the end of slavery in the United States – makes Colorado the first state to codify broad policing reform since the start of nationwide protests decrying police brutality, the Democratic governor said.
What the bill says: The bill requires that all police officers use activated body cameras or dashboard cameras during service calls or officer-initiated public interactions. It also bars officers from using deadly force against those suspected of minor or non-violent offenses, requires officers to intervene should they witness another officer using excessive physical force and establishes new data reporting on the use of force.
The measure specifically bans officers from using chokeholds, a long-controversial technique, particularly following the death of Eric Garner in 2014 when a police officer was accused of choking him. The death of George Floyd, who died after a Minneapolis police officer restrained him by pressing a knee on his neck for nearly nine minutes, has prompted nationwide protests.
The bill also designates qualified immunity – a legal doctrine that critics say shields law enforcement from accountability and has garnered recent attention – as an unacceptable defense against liability for violating a person’s rights.
Colorado joins several other states and localities that have moved to reassess their police rules and regulations following widespread protests across the US.
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Protesters have pulled down two statues at a Confederate monument at the North Carolina State Capitol.
After one protester tried unsuccessfully to push a statue off the monument, another climbed up and wrapped a strap around the statue’s neck and successfully pulled it down, according to footage taken by CNN affiliate WRAL.
A second statue on the other side of the monument was then pulled down.
According to WRAL, earlier in the day protesters tied ropes around the statues – but those ropes were cut by police.
Protesters then marched down the street and hung both statues from a light post.
As the second statue was being hung, protesters put up umbrellas and physically tried to block WRAL’s reporter and crew. The strap holding the statue broke, and protesters dragged the statue down the street to the Wake County Courthouse.
J. Alexander Kueng, one of the officers who helped restrain George Floyd, was released from custody Friday evening on “bond and conditional release.”
Hennepin County Jail records indicate Kueng was released from custody at 7:27 p.m Friday. Reasons for release were listed as “bond and conditional release.”
According to jail records, Kueng posted a $750,000 bond.
The background: Prosecutors charged four officers involved in the arrest that ended in Floyd’s death last month.
Derek Chauvin, the former officer who kept his knee on Floyd’s neck for almost nine minutes, has been charged with second-degree murder.
No injuries were recorded in a shooting at a protest in Atlanta on Friday evening, a police spokesperson said.
According to the Atlanta Police Department, a male was shot at while inside his vehicle at an intersection.
“The victim was not injured during the incident but his vehicle was damaged by gunfire,” the department said. “Preliminary investigation indicates a confrontation ensued between the victim and protesters.”
The suspect has been detained.
Prosecutors in central Texas are investigating whether there was evidence tampering in the death of Javier Ambler, a Black man who died last year while being arrested.
The Williamson County District Attorney’s office announced Friday it was investigating “the possible tampering with evidence ‘by personnel from Williamson County Agencies who have had contact or communications with the television show, Live PD.’”
What’s the background? Ambler died last year after he told Williamson County sheriff’s deputies that he could not breathe during an arrest.
Earlier this month, authorities released body camera footage of the March 2019 incident, following months of records requests by Austin TV station KVUE and the Austin American-Statesman.
A production crew from the A&E show “Live PD” was at the arrest scene, having ridden with some of the officers. The footage never aired and neither the network “nor the producers of ‘Live PD’ were asked for the footage or an interview by investigators from law enforcement or the district attorney’s office,” A&E has said.
A search for truth: On Friday, the district attorneys of Williamson and Travis counties released a statement saying they have been conducting a joint investigation into Ambler’s death.
“This is a search for the truth and is necessary because even now we have not obtained the information we seek from Williamson County Sheriff Robert Chody, despite his public statements pledging cooperation,” the prosecutors said in a statement.
Travis County District Attorney Margaret Moore has previously said that she had requested body cam videos from the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office and the television show, but was unable to obtain them.
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A police sergeant in Pennsylvania has been fired after sending an email with racially insensitive language to the mayor and local media, including CNN affiliate WJET.
According to Erie Mayor Joe Schember, the email from Sergeant Jeff Annunziata contained “racist and derogatory statements and assertions.”
Police Chief Dan Spizarny said once he discovered the email, he directed his internal affairs inspector to perform an internal investigation.
That investigation confirmed Annunziata sent the email from his City of Erie account, and that within his email he identified himself as a City of Erie police officer, according to the chief. Annunziata was immediately suspended.
Here’s what Spizarny said:
The mayor has since fired Annunziata from his job as an Erie police officer.
CNN has attempted to reach Annunziata for comment.
An investigation has been launched after video footage emerged Friday showing a Black man shouting “I can’t breathe” while being arrested in Britain last year.
What happened? Simeon Francis was arrested in July 2019 in the British seaside town of Torquay and later released. He died 10 months later while in police custody after he was arrested again in May 2020.
On Friday, his family provided CNN with a 19-minute video of last year’s arrest, which shows Francis being handled by at least 10 police officers – with several of them pinning him to the ground. He is heard shouting “Get them off me, you racists!”
After about 13 minutes, still yelling, he is lifted by the officers and carried into a police van.
Francis also tells them he “can’t breathe,” a plea that echoes the one made by George Floyd during his death in the United States in May, and which has become a slogan of demonstrators protesting against police brutality around the world.
It is unclear if Francis needed medical attention, why he was being arrested, or what led up to the incident, said Desmond Jaddoo, a community activist and representative for the family. Devon and Cornwall police have not responded to CNN’s requests for comment, citing an ongoing investigation.
Family claims excessive force: The family believes the video shows police used excessive force during the incident, Jaddoo said.
Investigation: The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), the UK’s police watchdog, is investigating the case of Francis’ death in police custody. A preliminary post-mortem examination did not identify a cause of death, the IOPC said in a statement.
Read the full story here.
Professor Cornel West said Vice President Mike Pence is living “in a state of denial,” following his remarks about why he will not say the words “Black lives matter.”
“I wish they would go back to the great Frederick Douglas’ powerful speech, what the July 4th means to the American slave,” West told CNN’s Anderson Cooper. “Listen, Pence, listen, Trump, when he says July 4th your celebration is a sham. National greatness is nothing but swelling vanity. That your boasted liberty is an unholy license and America has no rival when it comes to revolting and shameless hypocrisy.”
Backstory: Pence declined to say the words “Black lives matter” during an interview with an ABC affiliate in Pennsylvania on Friday, instead saying “all lives matter.”
“Let me just say that what happened to George Floyd was a tragedy,” Pence told 6ABC Action News in Philadelphia when asked directly if he would say that Black lives matter.
“And in this nation, especially on Juneteenth, we celebrate the fact that from the founding of this nation we’ve cherished the ideal that all, all of us are created equal, and endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights. And so all lives matter in a very real sense.”
West said the history of the United States should not be rewritten – however, symbols like those of Confederate statues should no longer be celebrated.
“It is true that Pence and Trump, when they say they are preserving American heritage, they are, but they are reserving the worst of it,” West said. “The confederacy lost the war, white supremacy won the peace. And we’ve be wrestling with it ever since.”
A suspect is in custody after shooting a driver who became argumentative with protesters that were blocking a road in Atlanta, three law enforcement sources told CNN.
The incident took place shortly after 8 p.m. local time, near Piedmont Park.
The outdoor equipment company REI said Friday evening that it would temporarily remove all advertising from Facebook and its subsidiary, Instagram.
“For 82 years, we have put people over profits,” it said in a tweet.
Minutes later, the talent search company Upwork also declared that it would be “hitting pause on hate” by not paying for Facebook ads for the month of July.
The companies are the latest to join an advertising boycott campaign, known as #StopHateForProfit. The campaign, which was launched earlier this week by groups including the NAACP and the Anti-Defamation League, calls for advertisers to pull their ad dollars from Facebook for the month of July.
Earlier on Friday, outdoor apparel brand The North Face became the first major company to commit to an advertising boycott of Facebook.
Why are companies boycotting Facebook ads? The campaign is in response to the social media platform’s handling of misinformation and hate speech.
For weeks, Facebook’s executive team has confronted a sustained backlash over its handling of President Donald Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric. The company’s inaction on Trump’s online posts has been met by employee protests, criticism from former staff and even concerns from scientists funded by CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s philanthropic initiative.
High-ranking politicians, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have called on advertisers to use their “tremendous leverage” over social media companies to force them to change their ways.
Rep. Doug Collins has called on the attorney general to appoint an independent district attorney in the Rayshard Brooks case, according to a statement from his office.
Collins said that charging former Atlanta police officer Garrett Rolfe “with felony murder before the completion of the GBI’s investigation was a political decision, not a legal one.”
The Georgia lawmaker lawmaker has called on Attorney General Chris Carr to appoint an independent district attorney in the case “to ensure Georgians have complete confidence that this case is devoid of any and all political influence.”
“If a special prosecutor was warranted in the Ahmaud Arbery case, then it certainly warrants the appointment of one here,” Collins said in a statement.
In response, Carr’s office sent out the official Georgia code relating to the appointment of a substitute district attorney on a case.
At a “Together We Stand” march in Washington, DC, both Bradley Beal of the NBA’s Washington Wizards and Natasha Cloud of the WNBA’s Washington Mystics shared their own negative experiences with police.
Beal shared a time he was pulled over by police when driving through a White neighborhood, he said.
“I’ve been pulled over with four hoopers in the car before and we’ve all been taken out and searched because we were Black riding in a White neighborhood,” he said. “It happened here, two years ago. … I would just be waking up on Monday morning with an ESPN headline: ‘Bradley Beal arrested because of interaction with police.’ But it happens. It doesn’t just happen to me. It’s everywhere. We just have to stop being ignorant to that fact that it exists.”
Vice President Mike Pence declined to say the words “Black lives matter” during an interview with an ABC affiliate in Pennsylvania, instead saying that “all lives matter.”
“Forgive me for pressing you on this, sir,” ABC6 reporter Brian Taff said to Pence. “But I will note you did not say those words, ‘Black lives matter,’ and there is an important distinction. People are saying, of course all lives matter, but to say the words is an acknowledgement that Black lives also matter at a time in this country when it appears that there’s a segment of our society that doesn’t agree. So why will you not say those words?”
“Well, I don’t accept the fact that there’s a segment of American society that disagrees, in the preciousness and importance of every human life,” Pence responded. “And it’s one of the reasons why as we advance important reforms in law enforcement, as we look for ways to strengthen and improve our inner cities, that we’re not going to stop there.”
Pence touted the Black unemployment rate pre-pandemic and the development of economic “opportunity zones,” adding that the administration is “absolutely determined to improve” the lives of African Americans.
“And yet, one final time, you won’t say the words and we understand your explanation,” Taff responded.
Pence was also asked about a video that President Trump posted to Twitter on Thursday that was labeled “manipulated media” by the social network.
“When you watch much of the national news media,” Pence responded, “it seems like they focus more every day on what divides us in this country. And I think the President saw an opportunity with a good sense of humor to once again challenge the media narrative.”
Earlier today, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said during a White House briefing that Trump was making a “satirical point that was quite funny” when he tweeted the video.
Rev. Al Sharpton, speaking to reporters at a Juneteenth event in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Friday, said that people should use the holiday to both celebrate and commemorate the independence of enslaved Black Americans.
“We must understand the litany of things that Black Americans are suffering and Juneteenth is both a celebration and a reminder of commemoration,” he said.
“It reminds us that it took almost three years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation for people in Texas to even know that slavery was over. And even after that, we went through 100 years of Jim Crow. And … after that, where we couldn’t vote,” Sharpton said. “And now we’re in the era where we are treated differently, even in a pandemic, the health disparities, the disparities in criminal justice and policing. And all of this. So the proper place for me to be is to remind us how far we’ve come. And how far we’re yet to go.”
He said while the country is divided, “I think we’ve got unity.” Sharpton said he’s glad to see people marching together to end racial inequity and injustice.
Sharpton went on to talk about President’s Trump executive order on policing saying he was not impressed by it because it doesn’t change anything.
“He said maybe we should stop chokeholds and those that do will get rewarded with some federal money…so what did he order?” Sharpton said.
The Georgia Sheriffs’ Association issued a statement condemning the actions of Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard, Jr. and how he has handled the investigation into the death of Rayshard Brooks.
Jarrard went on to “condemn these actions of District Attorney Paul Howard and urge the public to allow time for justice to be served through close examination of the facts of this tragic incident.”
CNN has reached out to the Howard’s office for comment.
Some context: Rolfe was terminated as an Atlanta police officer following the shooting at a Wendy’s drive-thru. He faces felony murder and 10 other charges in Brooks’ death, which reignited a wave of protests nationwide against police brutality.
Brosnan faces an aggravated assault charge for allegedly standing on Brooks’ shoulders as he lay dying in the parking lot.
Attorney General William Barr criticized the way charges were brought by a Georgia district attorney this week against the officers involved in the killing of Rayshard Brooks.
Barr told Fox Business in an interview that aired Friday that the state law enforcement agency, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, should have completed its investigation of the shooting before the charges were levied.
He also said that a grand jury should have been used as the prosecution was being built.
Some context: Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard on Wednesday announced 11 charges against Garrett Rolfe, a former Atlanta police officer, who shot Brooks to death earlier this month in the parking lot of a Wendy’s.
After the charges against Rolfe and another officer were announced, GBI said that they were still in the process of investigating the shooting for Howard’s office, and had not been consulted ahead of the charges being brought.
In the interview, Barr said that there were “fundamental differences obviously” between Brook’s death and the killing of George Floyd last month in Minneapolis by a police officer there.
Juneteenth is the oldest known US celebration of the end of slavery.
African-Americans and others mark the anniversary much like the Fourth of July, with parties, picnics and gatherings with family and friends.
Here’s a look at how people around the US are commemorating Juneteenth today:
Atlanta, Georgia
Washington, DC
St. Louis, Missouri
After the phrase “hands up, don’t shoot,” and red paint handprints were found covering the stairs, pillars, and walls of the Ohio statehouse on Friday morning, Gov. Mike DeWine issued a statement expressing his “anger and disgust at the vandalism that occurred.”
DeWine said he had spoken with Ohio State Highway Patrol Col. Richard Fambro about security at the statehouse, and said Highway Patrol would be conducting a criminal investigation into yesterday’s acts. Highway Patrol will then send their findings to the appropriate authorities for potential prosecution, according to the governor.
Some context: This is the second time the statehouse has been vandalized by protesters. Demonstrators also stormed the Ohio statehouse in late May, smashing windows and leaving an undetermined amount of damage to the building, according to the statehouse.
Opal Lee, 93, is pushing to officially make June 19 a federal holiday.
Lee, who led a walk today in her hometown of Fort Worth to commemorate Juneteenth, believes it’s possible.
“We need a million signatures to give to Congress, to let them know it’s not just one little old lady in tennis shoes walking the country, across the country, and that our group, the National Juneteenth Observance Foundation, that’s working just as hard. We want the millions of people to let Congress know they agree that Juneteenth should be a national holiday,” she said.
Lee said she’s hopeful that real change can happen in America. She went on to describe why Juneteenth is more than a festival:
Watch here:
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Sen. Dick Durbin and Sen. Tammy Duckworth joined hundreds of people to march through downtown Chicago today.
Prior to the march, Pritzker told CNN that he wants to make Juneteenth a state holiday to give people the day off in the city.
The march is expected to end in Grant Park.
CNN’s Omar Jimenez reports from Juneteenth march in Chicago:
