DECATUR, Ala. -- An armed black business owner who called to report a robbery in his store in Alabama was punched in the face by a responding police officer who mistook him for a suspect, police said.
After the March 15 altercation, Kevin Penn, owner of Star Spirits & Beverages in Decatur, suffered a broken jaw, his teeth were knocked out and he needed to get his mouth wired shut, his lawyer, Carl Cole told AL.com.
Surveillance video of the interaction started circulating on social media over the weekend. Decatur Police Chief Nate Allen held a news conference Monday to show footage of the altercation and to be “transparent” with the public, news outlets reported.
The body camera video shows responding officers coming into the store and the suspect, later identified to be a person involved in an alleged shoplifting at Penn’s store, lying on the ground.
An officer walks past the suspect and tells Penn to put down his weapon. Penn refuses saying, “I have a right to have my gun." Allen said that’s when Penn moved his hand over a gun lying on a counter next to him.
Penn's lawyer said his client previously told police he was holding the suspect at gunpoint and had showed his gun to let them know he was armed. Penn had also removed the clip and ejected the bullets from the weapon, Cole added. The video shows Penn telling officers he’s going to file a complaint as they came close to him.
Police have identified the officer punching Penn as Justin Rippen.
The three officers are still employed by the department. Two are patrolling the streets while the man who is seen punching Penn is at a desk job.
(CNN) Joe Biden is leading President Donald Trump by double-digits among registered voters, according to a new poll by The New York Times and Siena College.
The poll, released Wednesday, shows the former vice president ahead of Trump by 14 points, a margin that mirrors CNN's poll earlier this month that found Trump trailing Biden by 14 points. Fifty percent of registered voters in the New York Times poll said if the 2020 election were held today, they would vote for Biden and 36% said they would vote for Trump. Biden also holds a double-digit lead among Independent voters, with 47% saying he would get their vote and 29% would vote for Trump.
The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee continues to lead in support from Black and Latino registered voters, with 79% of Blacks and 64% of Latinos saying they would vote for Biden. He is also tight with Trump in support among White and male voters, with 44% of Whites saying they would vote for Trump and 43% would vote for Biden. Forty-three percent of men said they would vote for Biden while 40% said they would vote for Trump.
The latest CNN polling and polling from other major news organizations also shows Trump sliding in support with Biden gaining momentum after a chaotic past few months rocked by the coronavirus pandemic, an economic downturn, and nationwide protests over racism and police brutality against Blacks.
Asked about the way Trump has handled his job as President, 47% said they strongly disapprove and 26% said they strongly approve. The poll also shows his struggling on the coronavirus pandemic, with 58% disapprove and 38% approve. Fifty percent approve of the way he is handling the economy and 45% disapprove.
A majority of voters, 61%, also disapprove of how the President has handled race relations and 33% approve. Asked about his handling of protests over the death of George Floyd, 62% disapprove and 29% approve.
The poll was conducted among 1,337 registered voters from June 17 to June 22 and has a margin of error of +/- 3.0 percent.
A U.S. Army soldier has been charged with terrorism-related offenses for allegedly planning to "ambush" his unit by passing along sensitive information to a neo-Nazi occult group, the Department of Justice said Monday. Ethan Melzer, 22, is charged with conspiring and attempting to murder U.S. nationals, conspiring and attempting to murder military service members, providing and attempting to provide material support to terrorists, and conspiring to murder and maim in a foreign country.
The Department of Justice said Melzer confessed to planning the attack "to result in the deaths of as many of his fellow service members as possible."
Melzer, a private, enlisted in the U.S. Army in December 2018, and joined the Order of the Nine Angles (O9A) in 2019, the Justice Department said. The Justice Department described members of the group as espousing "violent, neo-Nazi, anti-Semitic, and Satanic beliefs," and claimed they've "expressed admiration for both Nazis, such as Adolf Hitler, and Islamic jihadists," including Osama bin Laden. Members of the group have participated in acts of violence, including murder.
Audrey Strauss, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, described Melzer, originally from Louisville, Kentucky, as an "enemy within."
"Melzer allegedly attempted to orchestrate a murderous ambush on his own unit by unlawfully revealing its location, strength and armaments to a neo-Nazi, anarchist, white supremacist group," Strauss said in a statement.
The Department of Justice said the FBI and the U.S. Army "thwarted" Melzer's plot in late May and he was arrested on June 10.
According to the Justice Department, Melzer deployed abroad in October 2019. Prior to planning the attack, he allegedly consumed propaganda from multiple extremist groups, including O9A and ISIS.
In April 2020, Melzer was informed of another deployment by his unit, and then allegedly sought to "facilitate a deadly attack on his fellow service members," the Justice Department said. After he was notified of his deployment, he allegedly used encrypted communications to share with O9A and a related group called "RapeWaffen Division" his unit's planned location, movements and security. Melzer and his co-conspirators allegedly planned what they called a "jihadi attack" with the objective of creating a "mass casualty" event.
Around May 17, Melzer allegedly exchanged electronic communications about passing along information to a person he believed was a member of al Qaeda. Between May 24 and 25, he allegedly shared information about his unit's planned deployment and promised to share more.
The Order of the Nine Angles is based in the United Kingdom, where anti-racism campaigners and lawmaker Yvette Clark have sought to have it outlawed as a terrorist organization, BBC News reported.
"The combination of Nazi-Satanism, extreme violence and sexual abuse makes it particularly troubling and action needs to be taken to prevent them grooming and radicalizing other people," Clark said in March.
British group Hope Not Hate says the group was founded in the 1960s.
RJ Payne is building a lyrical army with his Educated Ignorance Music Group (EIMG) label.
One of the most talented artists on the roster is Sunnie Blac. Check out the official music video from Sunnie featuring EzzyMoneyLayup titled "Losin Weight" over the classic Cam'Ron instrumental.
The FBI says the noose found in Bubba Wallace's garage stall at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama had been there since 2019 -- and they've determined "no crime was committed."
In fact, NASCAR says the item in question is a "garage door pull rope fashioned like a noose" that had been positioned in the garage since last Fall.
NASCAR adds, "Bubba Wallace was not the target of a hate crime."
The FBI -- along with U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town -- just explained the situation.
"On Monday, fifteen FBI special agents conducted numerous interviews regarding the situation at Talladega Superspeedway. After a thorough review of the facts and evidence surrounding this event, we have concluded that no federal crime was committed."
According to the FBI, Garage #4 -- where the noose was found -- was assigned to Bubba Wallace last week.
"Although the noose is now known to have been in Garage #4 in 2019, nobody could have known Mr. Wallace would be assigned to Garage #4 last week."
The FBI and the U.S. prosecutors say the decision not to pursue federal charges is proper "after reviewing all available facts and all applicable federal laws."
"We offer our thanks to NASCAR, Mr. Wallace, and everyone who cooperated with this investigation."
As we previously reported, Bubba didn't find the rope himself -- it was a member of his crew who discovered it on Sunday and immediately reported to NASCAR.
NASCAR launched an investigation and looped in law enforcement, including the FBI.
In the previous days, Bubba -- the only Black driver in NASCAR's top series -- had been very outspoken about removing the Confederate flag from all NASCAR events.
Buffalo, New York native and WiiUsTheMovent member, Superstar Buck, and Moné Moét have a new project titled "WiiUS" dropping right after Buck's forthcoming debut album, "UNAPPERCIATED."
Peep the official music video for the first single called "GOODBYE."
Bill Cosby has won the right to appeal his 2018 sexual assault conviction.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has agreed to review two aspects of the case that Cosby is challenging — the judge’s decision to allow prosecutors to call five other accusers and to introduce evidence that he’d given women Quaaludes in the past.
The 82-year-old is serving a three- to 10-year sentence after a jury found him guilty of drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand in 2004 during a second trial.
Constand’s testimony was bolstered the second time around by the five accusers, including supermodel Janice Dickinson, who each recalled how Cosby plied them with pills before sexually assaulting them.
Jurors also heard evidence that Cosby doled out the powerful sedative known as Quaaludes to women before having sex with them. He made the admissions in depositions taken in 2005 and 2006 as part of Constand’s civil lawsuit.
The jury in Cosby’s first trial in 2017 deadlocked after six days of deliberations.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court will also examine an agreement from a decade ago that Cosby had with former Philadelphia District Attorney Bruce Castor. The deal granted Cosby immunity from prosecution. The fallen funnyman said he relied on that promise before agreeing to the deposition.
ATLANTA (AP) — Scores of mourners, some dressed all in white and others wearing Black Lives Matter shirts, gathered at the historic Atlanta church that was the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s pulpit for a funeral Tuesday for the Black man whose killing by police in a fast-food parking lot stoked protests across the U.S. against racial injustice.
“We are here because individuals continue to hide behind badges and trainings and policies and procedures rather than regarding the humanity of others in general and Black lives specifically,” the Rev. Bernice King, the civil rights leader’s daughter, said at the private service at Ebenezer Baptist Church.
She noted ruefully that the killing took place in Atlanta, the “Black mecca” and “the city that is supposed to be `too busy to hate.’”
But in a powerful echo of her father’s “I Have a Dream” speech, she declared: “Rayshard Brooks’ death will not be in vain because justice will roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Brooks’ widow, Tomika Miller, sat surrounded by family and friends dressed in white. Former state lawmaker Stacey Abrams and Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, both of whom have been mentioned as potential running mates for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, were there.
Some mourners wore T-shirts with Brooks’ picture. Nearly everyone wore masks against the coronavirus.
“We would be dishonest if we did not discuss what got us here in the first place,” said the Rev. Raphael Warnock, senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist. “Rayshard Brooks is the latest high-profile casualty in the struggle for justice and a battle for the soul of America. This is about him, but it is so much bigger than him.”
He recited a long list of names of Black people to die at the hands of police in recent years, including Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Philando Castile and George Floyd, lamenting in front of the congregation: “Sadly we’ve gotten too much practice at this.”
Brooks, 27, was shot twice in the back June 12 by Officer Garrett Rolfe after a struggle that erupted when police tried to handcuff him for being intoxicated behind the wheel of his car at a Wendy’s drive-thru. Video showed Brooks snatching a police Taser and firing it at the white officer while running away.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Adult film star Ron Jeremy was charged with raping three women and sexually assaulting a fourth, Los Angeles County prosecutors said Tuesday.
Jeremy, 67, whose real name is Ron Jeremy Hyatt, was charged with three counts each of forcible rape and forcible penetration by a foreign object and one count each of forcible oral copulation and sexual battery.
If Jeremy is convicted, the charges could lead to a sentence of 90 years in prison.
He is scheduled to be arraigned later Tuesday. Prosecutors say they will ask for bail of $6.6 million. Emails seeking comment from Jeremy sent to several of his representatives were not immediately returned.
Prosecutors allege Jeremy raped a 25-year-old woman at a West Hollywood home in May 2014, sexually assaulted a 33-year-old woman and a 46-year-old woman in separate incidents at a West Hollywood bar in 2017, and raped a 30-year-old woman at the same bar in July of last year.
Another allegation from 2016, was declined by prosecutors because of insufficient evidence.
Jeremy, nicknamed “The Hedgehog,” is among the best known and most prolific actors in the industry’s history, with thousands of credits to his name.
In recent years he has made a career of appearing in more mainstream entertainment, including music videos and reality television shows like “The Surreal Life.”
An Oakland college professor has been placed on administrative leave after asking an Asian student to “Anglicize” her name, saying the pronunciation “sounds like an insult.”
Matthew Hubbard was unwilling to call on student Phuc Bui Diem Nguyen, a Vietnamese American freshman, by her given name, claiming that it too closely resembled a profanity in English.
Growing up, Nguyen had gone by the nickname “May.” But as a freshman at Laney College, she was excited to use her birth name, which means “happiness blessing.”
But on the second day of trigonometry class last week during the summer semester, Nguyen said she received an unsolicited email from her professor.
“Could you Anglicize your name? Phuc Bui sounds like an insult in English,” the professor wrote on Wednesday.
Offended but composed, Nguyen began to type.
“Hello Professor Hubbard,” she wrote. “Your request for me to ‘Anglicize’ my name feels discriminatory and I will move forward with filing a complaint with the Title IX Office if you can not refer to me by my given birth name. Best, Phuc Bui Diem Nguyen.”
Laney College has more than 17,000 students, nearly 30% of whom identify as Asian. Classes are being conducted online and via Zoom sessions, while the campus remains closed amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a statement, the school’s president, Tammeil Gilkerson, said the college has been “discussing and working to combat structural racism, xenophobia, and violence in both the Black and Asian Pacific Islander community” for decades.
But when Hubbard received Nguyen’s email, he did not relent. Nine minutes later, the professor fired back.
“Your name in English sounds like F— boy.” If I lived in Vietnam and my name in your language sounded like Eat a D— , I would change it to avoid embarrassment,” he wrote. “I repeat my request.”
A Twitter user caught word of the incident and posted a screenshot of the emails on Thursday. The post has been retweeted nearly 50,000 times and received more than 125,000 likes.
Nguyen’s sister later posted a screenshot of the emails to Instagram, stressing the professor’s “ignorance and audacity.”
“As a professor, he should be trying to learn her name and culture and not try to whitewash her name. My sister graduated high school thinking she can finally be able to use her name,” she wrote. “I love that my parents want to keep my culture alive by keeping our Vietnamese name.”
By Thursday, Hubbard had thought of an alternative. Another student in his 30-person trig class had changed his online name, Hubbard told the New York Times. Why couldn’t Nguyen do the same?
He asked all of the students to rename themselves by their last name and first initial during the Zoom class.
“P. Nguyen,” he said, calling on the freshman.
Later that day, Gilkerson announced that Hubbard, who has taught at Laney for 15 years, had been placed on administrative leave.
“While our mission has been bold and unrelenting, we also recognize that our college and its community is a reflection of broader society and we must actively fight ignorance with education. We do not tolerate racism, discrimination or oppression of any kind,” Gilkerson wrote.
In an email Monday, Hubbard declined to comment.
The Peralta Community College District, a collaboration of community colleges in Oakland, issued a statement Saturday.
“We understand the need to challenge and eliminate racism and white supremacy in all of its insidious forms, including the suppression of native cultures and languages and its demands that people of color conform to norms of ‘whiteness,’” board President Julina Bonilla and Secretary Regina Stanback Stroud wrote.
The college district recently announced it would work to “expand racial literacy” among the faculty, staff and administrators in response to racial injustice and the death of George Floyd.
Stewart Kwoh, the founder of Asian Americans Advancing Justice-L.A., says learning names and the background of names should be part of the education process for professors and students alike.
“Your name is who you are,” he said. If people refuse to call you by that name, “you’re getting a message that your name and yourself are not acceptable. You feel devalued. It’s an insult because your real name is considered off-bounds or considered a curse word.”
A Bay Area woman took out her social distancing frustration on a baby -- coughing and spitting into the kid's stroller ... all because she felt the mother and child were too close.
This sickening incident went down in San Jose, CA -- where an older white woman was seen entering a Yogurtland shop last Friday ... and was soon followed by a mother and her 1-year-old boy, who was in his stroller.
At one point, and seemingly out of nowhere, the older lady approached the mother and and started coughing right onto the kid. The mother immediately tried to cover up her son.
Goes without saying ... this is straight-up not safe, and about as mean as you can get.
The woman walked out of the building as if nothing happened at all, but something criminal definitely DID happen ... so say cops. San Jose PD says it's on the lookout for the cougher, and are asking for the public's help to identify her.
According to the victim, the woman became upset that the mother was apparently not practicing proper social distancing, in her eyes. The mom also says the coughing lady seemed to get upset because she heard mom speaking Spanish ... insinuating this might have been a racially motivated.
BALTIMORE (WJZ) — The Atlas Restaurant Group on Monday apologized to an African American boy and his mother who were denied service at Ouzo Bay over the weekend due to an alleged dress code violation despite a similarly-dressed white boy being allowed to dine at the restaurant.
A video of the encounter posted on Instagram shows a restaurant employee telling the woman her son’s outfit violates the restaurant’s policy banning athletic shorts. The woman points out the white child’s similar clothing and repeatedly asks the employee why her son can’t dine at the restaurant when the other child could.
In a statement, Atlas Restaurant Group said they were “sickened” by the incident and said it should never have happened.
“This difficult situation does not represent who or what Atlas Restaurant Group stands for,” the statement reads. “While dress codes across Atlas properties are the result of ongoing input from customers, in no way are they intended to be discriminatory. That said, this past weekend’s incident at Ouzo Bay clearly serves as a moment we will learn from and create change.”
The manager in the video has been placed on “indefinite leave,” the statement said.
Black child denied entry to Atlas Restaurant in Baltimore, Ouzo Bay location.
Child was denied entry for “dress code” while mother points out other child with same attire on.. pic.twitter.com/FPrlYoYast
After the great success of Struggle Mike's "The Great Escape" album, the Buffalo, New York entrepreneur comes through with the follow up album called "Da Wall," which drops June 26.
Guest appearances on the project include Benny the Butcher, Che Noir, RJ Payne, Hus KingPin, Rick Hyde, Fred the Godson, Big Body Ben, Duffel Bag Hottie, Smoke Bulga and more!
On that note check out the official music video for "Cali Dreamin" featuring 80 Empire, Speedie Da Icon, SDOT and Moody.
NYPD brass reportedly cooked up a story about officers getting poisoned at Shake Shack ... because the trio of cops who complained about a funny taste in their milkshakes never even got sick.
The cops in the middle of the "poisoned" milkshake conspiracy were not targeted by rogue, police-hating Shake Shack workers as the NYC Detectives' Endowment Association would have you believe.
According to the NY Post ... the 3 officers from the Bronx were on protest duty in Lower Manhattan when they ordered the shakes. Mind you, the cops used a MOBILE APP to order the drinks, which were packaged and awaiting pickup -- so employees wouldn't even have known the shakes were for cops.
The worst thing that happened to the cops was reportedly a bad taste in their mouths after gorging on the shakes. So, they tossed 'em and alerted a Shake Shack manager, who said sorry and made good with vouchers for free food and drink, which the officers accepted.
Would you accept free food and drink from a burger joint you thought "poisoned" your order on purpose?!? Didn't think so.
According to the report, things got hairy when the cops told their sergeant about the shakes, and the sergeant sent the Emergency Service Unit to set up a crime scene at Shake Shake for an evidence search, some 2 hours after the cops' first sip.
Meanwhile, the cops were rushed to Bellevue Hospital, where they were reportedly examined and sent on their merry way without ever showing the slightest of symptoms.
At the same time, a lieutenant from the Bronx fired off an email to the police unions falsely claiming 6 officers "started throwing up after drinking beverages they got from shake shack on 200 Broadway."
Detectives were put on the case, but it was apparently pretty easy to solve after reviewing surveillance footage and interviewing 5 employees. The report says video showed the shakes were normally made. No poison or funny business.
The reason for the bad taste seems to have been from a commonly used cleaning solution that wasn't thoroughly rinsed off the milkshake machine.
But, for some reason, the mounting evidence of a big nothing-burger didn't stop the NYC Detectives' Endowment Association from declaring cops were "intentionally poisoned by one or more workers at the Shake Shack" and fell "ill."
And, the evidence, or lack thereof, didn't stop Police Benevolent Association president Pat Lynch from making a show of visiting the cops in the hospital at the same time his union claimed police were "under attack" from a "toxic substance, believed to be bleach."
The since-deleted social media messages initially spread like wildfire, causing the burger joint to trend overnight and birthing the #BoycottShakeShack hashtag, which is still being tweeted by accounts.
After a thorough investigation by the NYPD’s Manhattan South investigators, it has been determined that there was no criminality by shake shack’s employees.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison finally tweeted 8 hours after the alleged incident there was "no criminality" and it was all much ado about nothing. Literally nothing. Zip. Nada.
With egg on their face, the police unions eventually deleted their tweets and put out statements walking back their claims.
The city council has since demanded a probe into alleged "inflammatory" behavior by the police unions, and the NYPD says its still reviewing the incident.
Mega-producer Mustard just came up with one helluva remix ... not only delivering free meals to those in need, but making sure they're healthy meals.
The hitmaker hopped on "TMZ Live" Monday to talk about his latest venture ... teaming up with his pal, YG, to buy up 7 L.A.-based Fishbone Seafood restaurants. But, the partnership doesn't end there. The L.A.-native ballers also partnered with Postmates to give back to their community ... delivering $100k worth of free food to L.A. residents and community organizations.
Check out the video and the pics ... Mustard said he wanted to lead by example and give back to his community, never forgetting his roots. The producer says he's not doing this for the praise. Far from it. It's about showing kids that those who make it out have a responsibility to give back.
Mustard -- who BTW, earned the stage name because his first name is Dijon (as in Dijon mustard, get it?) -- is also looking much different these days. Dude tells us being locked up in quarantine is what triggered the transformation ... with an assist from one of his camera guys.
Mustard says he hates to see pics of himself from back in the day 'cause he doesn't recognize that person. But, gotta say ... it's one helluva transformation.
BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Police in Baltimore have arrested a 24-year-old man in connection with the shooting death of 23-year-old Shiand Miller and three-year-old Shaniya Gilmore who were found in the car Friday.
Devon Sample, of the 4800 block of Melbourne Road, is charged with first-degree murder in the case. Police said Sample is the father of Miller’s unborn child.
Investigators said Sample was taken into custody shortly after the pregnant mother and her daughter were discovered shot to death in the 200 block of Boswell Road on Friday.
Family members of the victims told WJZ Friday that Miller was eight months pregnant.
In a statement Saturday morning, Baltimore City Police Commissioner Michael Harrison called the murder “tragic.”
“This is a tragic situation where family and friends are left suffering and mourning over the loss of loved ones. I want to commend the hard work of our dedicated Homicide detectives for quickly apprehending the suspect for this despicable act of violence. I can only pray that family and friends of the victims and our city can begin the healing process,” he said.
On the road where Miller and Gilmore were found, messages of support were spray-painted on the concrete.
Police are still investigating the case and have not released a possible motive, though Gilmore’s great grandfather said Miller and Sample were not getting along.
“Her and her new baby’s father had been arguing,” Milton Johnson said.
Family members have set up a GoFundMe page to raise money to cover funeral expenses.
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