A Chicago PD officer charged at a protester, shoved him to the ground and started attempting to pummel him ... and it was all caught on video.
The attack went down Thursday night as demonstrators took to the streets again to protest the killing of George Floyd and police brutality ... the latter of which was on full display.
Take a look -- as cops appear to be trying to clear protesters from the area, one of them snaps and bum-rushes a guy and throws him down ... then starts delivering violent left hooks to his head.
The officer's so unhinged, he even strikes his own guy as he turns around to go at more protesters, before seeking out his original target for more action.
Chicago PD tells us they've opened an investigation into the incident. CPD adds it "strives to treat all individuals our officers encounter with respect. We do not tolerate misconduct of any kind and if any wrongdoing is discovered, officers will be held accountable."
This incident came just hours after one in Buffalo, where cops pushed an elderly man to the ground, causing him to hit his head and bleed -- and the day after NYPD officers assaulted a man they said was violating curfew.
2 Chainz and special guest Tyga visit the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas to check out the facility's high tech features. This $14M institute is the world's first Mixed Martial arts research, innovation and performance center and fighters like Conor McGregor have trained at it. And most recently 2 Chainz and Tyga took part in an intensive pull-up regiment at it.
George Floyd's killing is impacting the world in a way we've never seen before ... and it's also inspiring more people than ever to donate to a cause.
Launched just a little more than a week ago, the Official George Floyd Memorial Fund has already received the highest number of individual donations for a GoFundMe page ... a spokesperson for the site tells TMZ.
With nearly 500k donations and counting, the fundraiser's amassed nearly $13 million. We're told the campaign has gone global, getting donations from 125 countries.
George's brother, Philonise, says the money will cover funeral and burial expenses, provide counseling, pay for lodging and travel for all court proceedings, and assist the family going forward as they seek justice for George. A portion of the funds will also go to George's estate to take care of his kids and provide for their education.
As we reported ... the first of 4 memorials for George was held Thursday in Minneapolis. There will be another in North Carolina on Saturday, and 2 in Houston next week.
Interestingly, number 2 on the GoFundMe donations list launched in December 2018 to raise money to build the wall at America's southern border. That has 300k donations, but it's raised more than $25 million.
Third place is a coronavirus campaign raising funds for intensive care beds in pandemic-ravaged Italy. That got more than 206k individual donations in less than 3 months.
Two Buffalo police officers were suspended without pay Thursday after a video showed authorities knocking down a 75-year-old man during a protest, Mayor Byron Brown said.
In a statement, Brown said the suspension came after the city’s police commissioner launched an investigation into the incident. Brown did not identify the officers.
Brown said he was "deeply disturbed" by the video, which was published by the local National Public Radio affiliate, WBFO.
The man, who has not been publicly identified, is in serious but stable condition at a local hospital, Brown said.
In the video, the man can be seen approaching a large group of officers in tactical gear and saying something. The officers yell for him to move back before one appears to push him.
The man stumbles backward and falls. Seconds later, a pool of blood can be seen near his head.
The incident occurred shortly after the city's 8 p.m. curfew, NBC affiliate WGRZ reported.
A Buffalo Police Department spokesman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. WGRZ initially reported that the department said that the man, who has not been identified, was injured after he tripped and fell.
Officials condemned the incident. Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said the video "sickens me," while Gov. Andrew Cuomo called it "wholly unjustified and utterly disgraceful."
"Police Officers must enforce — NOT ABUSE — the law," he said.
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Prosecutors on Thursday charged Brandon E. McCormick, who is seen on video driving his car to Saturday’s downtown protest and aiming a bow and arrow at demonstrators, with two felony weapons counts and one count of aggravated assault.
All three counts are Utah’s lowest grade of felony. Each is punishable by up to five years in prison. The 57-year-old McCormick, who has served nearly two decades in California prisons, was also charged with a misdemeanor count of threatening or using a weapon in a fight. That count carries up to a year in jail.
The Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office, which filed the charges, also asked that a warrant be issued for McCormick’s arrest with bail set at $100,000. There was no record of McCormick being booked into the county jail as of 4 p.m.
McCormick created one of the most-talked-about scenes on a day when hundreds of protesters gathered near Salt Lake City Hall and the downtown library to protest the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and against racism and police violence. He parked his car in front of the library — on a corner where many demonstrators had gathered — and exited the vehicle.
In a posted video, McCormick, responded to a stranger who asked him if he calls himself an American with: “Yes, I’m American. All lives matter.”
The charging documents say McCormick brandished a knife at demonstrators. He then went to the back seat of his car, the documents say, retrieved a bow and aimed an arrow at those around him. The knife and archery set appear to be the basis for two of the charges against McCormick, accusing him of being a felon in possession of a dangerous weapon.
The crowd responded by attacking McCormick and flipping his car. The vehicle was burned. Police pulled McCormick out of the melee.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A judge set bail at $750,000 apiece Thursday for three fired Minneapolis police officers charged with aiding and abetting in the killing of George Floyd, as a memorial service took place just blocks away.
Tou Thao, Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng made their first appearances in Hennepin County District Court as friends, relatives and celebrities gathered to memorialize Floyd at a nearby Bible college.
The Minneapolis Police Department fired them last week, along with Derek Chauvin, who is charged with second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in Floyd’s May 25 death. Widely seen bystander video shows the white police officer pressing his knee into Floyd’s neck, ignoring the African American man’s pleas that he can’t breathe, until he stops moving.
Defense attorneys argued for lower bail. Attorney Earl Gray, representing Lane, told the court that Chauvin was the senior officer on the scene and that when Floyd died it was only Lane’s fourth day on the job. It was also Kueng’s fourth day as an officer.
Gray said all Lane did was to hold Floyd’s feet so he couldn’t kick. He also pointed out that the complaint says Lane asked Chauvin twice if they should roll Floyd over and expressed concern that Gray might be in delirium. The attorney said Lane performed CPR in the ambulance.
“What was my client supposed to do but follow what his training officer said? Is that aiding and abetting a crime?” Gray asked.
Attorneys for Kueng and Thao did not address the merits of the charges in court and told reporters afterward that they declined to comment on the case for now out of respect for Floyd’s family on the day of his first memorial service.
Defendants don’t normally enter pleas during their first appearances in Minnesota courts, which tend to be brief proceedings. Judge Paul Scoggin set their next court dates for June 29. Gray said he plans to renew his arguments for lower bail then, saying it could take more than a year for Lane’s case to go to trial.
If convicted, Chauvin faces a maximum of 40 years in prison on the murder count and 10 years for manslaughter. Under Minnesota law, aiding and abetting second-degree murder is tantamount a second-degree murder charge, so Thao, Lane and Kueng face the same potential penalties as Chauvin if convicted.
A teenager was injured Wednesday night while on the set of a music video being filmed in Atlanta.
The city's police said shots were fired but thankfully no one was critically hurt.
Rapper YFN Lucci, whose real name is Rayshawn Bennett, was filming the music video in an apartment complex in the southeastern part of the city, Atlanta police told WGCL-TV.
Police said the 15-year-old boy's thumb was grazed after some 21 bullets were fired, with at least one striking YFN Lucci’s Bentley. The teen was not identified and it was not immediately known if he has been hospitalized.
YFN Lucci left the apartment complex without his luxury car before authorities arrived at the scene, police said.
Police are searching for suspects in the shooting.
Kanye West's giving a huge assist to the families and legal teams fighting for Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd ... and helping in other ways too.
Kanye's donated $2 million, so far, to the cause and set up a 529 college savings fund to fully cover tuition for Floyd's 6-year-old daughter, Gianna. He's also made a separate donation to cover the legal costs for the Arbery and Taylor families.
Along with that, a rep confirms Kanye's donating to several black-owned businesses in his hometown of Chicago and nationwide that have been in crisis and impacted by the unrest in the U.S.
As you know ... widespread protests and riots have broken out since Floyd was killed in police custody on May 25. The demonstrations are a demand for an end to systematic racism and police brutality ... of which the killings of Arbery and Taylor are also prime examples.
Arbery was shot and killed in Georgia in February after being chased by 3 men who allegedly believed he fit the description of a burglary suspect in the area.
Taylor -- who was an emergency medical worker -- was shot and killed by Louisville cops in her own home in a "no-knock warrant" case, in which cops allegedly busted in without warning.
A shut-down city reminds Amanda Nunes and her wife of their early days in MMA. Felicia Spencer sees herself on a billboard. Teammates Cory Sandhagen and Neil Magny step into the UFC Apex Octagon. Nunes and Aljamain Sterling do interviews from their rooms.
At UFC 250, the GOAT of women’s MMA, Amanda Nunes, defends her featherweight title against Felicia Spencer. Plus, Raphael Assuncao and Cody Garbrandt look to get back to their winning ways. See these athletes train and prepare ahead of their bouts.
The NBA's board of governors has voted to approve the league's 22-team format to restart the 2019-20 season in Orlando, Florida, a source told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.
Under the plan from commissioner Adam Silver and the league's advisory/finance committee, 13 Western Conference teams and nine Eastern Conference teams would play eight regular-season games, a possible play-in tournament for the eighth seed and playoffs at the Walt Disney World Resort, sources previously said.
The source said the plan was approved by a 29-1 vote.
Sources told Wojnarowski that the NBA has set the draft for Oct. 15, with the draft lottery to be held Aug. 25.
TACOMA -- Three months after Manuel "Manny" Ellis died on the streets of Tacoma during an encounter with police, the case of George Floyd and the worldwide fury that followed is raising questions about his death.
Ellis, 33, was walking in the intersection of 96th Street and South Ainsworth Avenue about 11:30 p.m. on March 3, when four officers noticed him "struggling" in the intersection, Pierce County Sheriff's detective Ed Troyer said.
“He was having distress in the intersection, they asked him if he was alright and needed help," Troyer told Q13 News. "He walked up to the Tacoma Police Officers and said, 'I have warrants, I need to talk.' As soon as the police officer got out of the car, he assaulted one of them and slam dunked him into the ground.”
There were four officers at the scene who handcuffed and restrained him. They said paramedics arrived minutes later. Ellis, however, died while handcuffed on the ground.
As The Tacoma News-Tribune first reported, the Pierce County Medical Examiner's Office noted intoxication from methamphetamine and an existing heart condition as contributing factors, but Ellis' death was ultimately ruled a homicide - respiratory arrest due to hypoxia caused by physical restraint.
Ellis' family is calling for justice. They've been open about Ellis' struggle with drugs, but argue that's no reason he had to die at the hands of police and leave behind two children.
"What they heard was a man on the radio saying, 'I can't breathe. I can't breathe,'" James Bible, the Ellis family's attorney, said. "He ended up dead, and that was at the hands of officers."
Investigators with the Pierce County Sheriff's Office, the agency tasked with conducting an independent investigation into Ellis' death, insist it was not like the death of Floyd. They said officers did not pin him down with a knee on his neck for minutes on end.
“There was no heads on knees. There was no cutting off of circulation, none of that," Troyer said. "He was handcuffed. He was talking. He was breathing. Then throughout the process, he had trouble breathing and he told people, 'I can’t breathe.' They put him on his side and called for medical aid.”
Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards, speaking at a news conference Wednesday afternoon, said she learned about the autopsy report Tuesday, three months after Ellis died. The four officers involved have since been placed on administrative leave. Two are white, one is black and one is Asian.
"I cannot imagine the pain that continues with the Ellis family's loss," a visibly emotional Woodards said. "I do know that the community wants both answers and justice. So do I, so does this entire council and administration. We are devastated to have the death of Manuel Ellis become part of the national conversation."
Troyer said the only video investigators have found is from a nearby home security camera. It's dark and offers little clarity on the confrontation. On the police radio you can hear Ellis saying "I can't breathe."
The next step will be for the sheriff's office to complete its investigation, which will then be turned over to the prosecutor's office for a decision on whether to pursue criminal charges.
A vigil for Ellis took place at 8 p.m. at the intersection where he died.
Woodards said she feels the family's and community's pain, but implored Tacoma residents to remain peaceful if they continued to protest.
"We protest, but we protest peacefully," she said. "We want to keep our city safe and peaceful so the voices can be heard and not overshadowed. We want to prevent further loss of life."
(CNN) Before Ahmaud Arbery was fatally shot, the three men charged in his murder engaged in an elaborate chase, hitting the unarmed black man with a truck before the killing, a Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent testified Thursday during preliminary hearings.
As Travis and Greg McMichael attempted to head him off, Arbery turned and ran past the truck of William Bryan, who filmed the killing, and Bryan struck Arbery with the side of his truck, Assistant Special Agent in Charge Richard Dial said.
Investigators found a swipe from a palm print on the rear door of Bryan's truck, cotton fibers near the truck bed that "we attribute to contact with Mr. Arbery" and a dent below the fibers, he said.
Though Bryan's attorney has contested allegations his client took part in the killing, Dial said Bryan first became involved by yelling to the McMichaels, "Do you got him?" when he saw them chasing the 25-year-old jogger. The McMichaels and Bryan have not entered pleas, but lawyers for all three men have proclaimed their innocence.
The new details of the final moments of Arbery's life emerged amid a week of nationwide protests over another killing -- that of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis -- and demonstrators have also called for justice in Arbery's case.
After yelling out to the McMichaels about Arbery, Bryan joined the chase, and at this point, none of the three had called 911, Dial said.
The McMichaels had already tried to head off Arbery once when Bryan joined the pursuit, the GBI agent said. Bryan tried to block in Arbery as Travis McMichael drove around the block with his father in the bed of the truck.
Bryan "made several statements about trying to block him in and using his vehicle to try to stop him," Dial said. "His statement was that Mr. Arbery kept jumping out of the way and moving around the bumper and actually running down into the ditch in an attempt to avoid his truck."
At one point, Arbery was heading out of the Satilla Shores neighborhood where the defendants live, but the McMichaels forced him to turn back into the neighborhood and run past Bryan, the agent said. That is when he struck Arbery, Dial said, and Arbery kept running with the McMichaels in pursuit.
Bryan turned around, and that is where the widely disseminated video of Arbery's killing begins, he said.
Here it is.
The GBI agent testified that William Roddie Bryan admitted under oath, that after shooting and killing Ahmaud Arbery, that Travis McMichael stood over Ahmaud and said “fucking nigger.”
We are calling for immediate hate crime charges to be filed.
(CNN) A Florida police department has launched an internal investigation after a video surfaced on social media showing a Sarasota police officer kneeling on a black man's neck during an arrest.
In the nearly 90-second cellphone video taken by a bystander during the May 18 incident, three officers can be seen attempting to take a male individual into custody. One of the two officers is then seen kneeling on the head and neck of the man.
The man, who was arrested on a domestic violence/battery charge, is heard yelling, "Why am I being arrested?" as the officer kneels on him.
"As I'm yelling, and asking, 'Why am I being detained,' he started putting his knee on my neck," Patrick Carroll said in an interview with CNN affiliate WFTS.
The video surfaced as protests are underway across the nation seeking justice and reform in the wake of George Floyd's death, which an independent autopsy attributed to officers kneeling on him during his arrest. Video showed an officer with a knee on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes.
In the police incident report obtained by CNN, one of the officers involved says that after they placed Carroll in handcuffs, the "defendant attempted to pull away from officers and refused to get into the rear of the patrol vehicle. Minor force was used to escort subject to the ground and secure him long enough for him to calm down."
The Sarasota Police Department said in a statement released Tuesday it didn't learn about the video until Monday when the department was tagged in a social media post showing a portion of the arrest. After a review of several videos, Chief Bernadette DiPino immediately initiated a formal internal affairs investigation, the department said.
The officer, who had not been identified, has been placed on administrative leave.
SPD did not address whether the other two officers on scene, and shown in the video, would face any disciplinary action.
George Floyd's funeral will feature a guest who knows all too well the pain of losing a son to racial violence -- because Ahmaud Arbery's mom, Wanda Cooper, will be in attendance.
Wanda's attorney, Lee Merritt, tells TMZ ... she will be among those there in person Monday for George's funeral procession in his hometown of Houston. She'll be attending with Lee, although it doesn't sound like she's set to speak at this point in time.
We're told the program is still being worked out, so it's possible she may share a few words -- but for now ... she's simply attending and paying her respects. Merritt tells us Wanda got connected to George's fam through their own family attorney, Ben Crump.
Of course, Wanda herself is in her own battle for justice over the killing of her 25-year-old son, Ahmaud, who was chased and gunned down by Travis McMichael, with the help of his father, Gregory. Both have been arrested and charged with murder/aggravated assault.
We already knew Wanda had recently sought to connect with Trayvon Martin's family -- now, it looks like she's connected with a family who's dealing with an even more recent tragedy.
No doubt ... Wanda's appearance Monday should prove to be a powerful moment in what's been an historic past few months on the issue of police brutality against African-Americans.
The Musalini and G4 Jag have teamed up for a new album titled "Scriptures in the Sky." It features Planet Asia, Izzy Hott, Q Stilla, Blass 89 and Emilio Craig.
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