Police
Lawsuit says South Carolina man was shot 17 times in the back by police, killing him
The sister of a South Carolina man who was killed by police claims in a lawsuit that three officers shot her unarmed brother 17 times in the back.
The sister of Waltki Cermoun Williams, a South Carolina man who was killed by police after a high-speed car chase, claims in a lawsuit that three officers shot her unarmed brother 17 times in the back as he laid on the ground reports, NBC News.
He did not have a weapon
Williams “did not have a weapon” and was struck in total by 19 of the two dozen shots fired at him during the deadly confrontation on Dec. 10, according to a lawsuit filed in Sumter County.
“Sumter Police Department officers had the obligation and opportunity to refrain from utilizing inappropriate and unnecessary deadly force,” the lawsuit states. “However, the officers in question made the conscious decision to use inappropriate and unnecessary force.”
The mysterious case of Waltki Cermoun Williams
What happened to Williams, the suit goes on to state, “is so extreme and outrageous that it shocks the conscience.”
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Williams’ sister, Tomekia Kind, seeks unspecified damages.
Williams, 35, was black. The race of the officers who filed the fatal shots was not specified in the court papers and they have not been identified.
“This incident shows the devastating, far-reaching effects of domestic violence,” he said in a statement.
Williams was no stranger to police. He was twice found guilty of stalking and also had several motor vehicle violations on his record. He had also been accused of trying to sell a stolen car and entering a bank “with intent to steal.” Both those charges were dismissed.
“I think his was a pretty good guy,” one of Kind’s lawyers, C. Carter Elliott, told NBC News. “He had some criminal background there but none of it was crazy.”
Elliott said the chain of events that ended with Williams’ death began with an argument with a girlfriend in a parking lot at the Sumter Mall.
“It ended with a ton of shots, a lot of them in his back,” Elliott said. “It doesn’t make sense to me. There’s two eyewitnesses that saw it. And we are pushing to get the (officers’ bodycam) video that recorded what happened.”
Police, in a news release, said they were responding to reports that “a female was afraid to go outside of the mall after an estranged boyfriend threatened to kill her and was seen outside pointing a firearm at her vehicle.”
The brief chase began when Williams crashed his SUV into a couple of cars.
“Williams got out the vehicle, a short foot chase followed,” the police statement read. “There was a brief struggle and then an exchange of gunfire, the details of which are under investigation by the State Law Enforcement Division.”
The SLED investigation is ongoing, Special Agent Thom Berry told NBC News. “We have not concluded our work on the matter,” he said.
The lawsuit lays out a different scenario — and there is no mention of any exchange of gunfire.
It says that after the crash, Williams escaped his vehicle by smashing through the back window. But he only managed to take about 10 steps before he was tackled by police.
“While on the ground the decedent did not have a weapon and he was not a threat in any way to the police officers on the scene,” the suit states. “One of the officers moved away from the decedent (while he was still laying on the ground and not moving) and at least three (3) Sumter Police officers made the conscious decision to utilize inappropriate and improper use of deadly force by firing their service weapons indiscriminately at least twenty-four (24) times directly at and into the decedent.”
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Crime & Justice
New Jersey detective shot and killed after suspects kicked in front door of her home
Monica Mosley, a revered detective in South New Jersey, was shot and killed during a home invasion at her residence, authorities said.
Monica Mosley, a revered detective in South New Jersey, was shot and killed during a home invasion at her residence, authorities said.
New Jersey detective Monica Mosley killed
Detective Sgt. Monica Mosley, with the Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office, was fatally shot at her home in Bridgeton on Tuesday night, according to police.
The incident
Bridgeton Police responded to the home around 10:30 p.m. for a report of “several subjects kicking in a front door at a residence,” the Bridgeton Police Department said in a press release.
Mosley, 51, died at the scene, police said.
An individual who had been treated for a gunshot wound at a nearby hospital was detained for questioning in connection with the incident, police said. No additional information on the individual was released.
Law enforcement career
Mosley began her career in 2006 at the Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office as a paralegal specialist. She then became a county detective in 2009, “where she served our community with honor, dignity and respect before her untimely passing,” Cumberland County Prosecutor Jennifer Webb-McRae said in a statement.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy expressed he was “outraged and heartbroken by the murder” of Mosley.
“As a detective with the Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office, Sgt. Mosley served her community with distinction, working every day to ensure the safety and well-being of the people of Cumberland County,” he said in a statement. “This act of violence impacts our entire law enforcement community and all of New Jersey.”
No arrests have been made or charges filed in the case, police said.
Multiple agencies are investigating the deadly shooting, including the State Police Major Crime Bureau, the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office and the Bridgeton Police Department Criminal Investigation Bureau.
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Police
Phoenix police officers punch, taser deaf Black man with cerebral palsy under false claims
A Black man, who is deaf and has cerebral palsy, is facing felony aggravated assault and resisting arrest charges after he was repeatedly punched and tasered by a pair of Phoenix police officers.
Update October 19: All charges have been dismissed against Tyron McAlpin.
Original story
Tyron McAlpin, a Black man, who is deaf and has cerebral palsy, is facing felony aggravated assault and resisting arrest charges after he was repeatedly punched and tasered by a pair of Phoenix police officers.
Tyron McAlpin Phoenix deaf Black man police incident
Acting on false claims from a white man under investigation, body camera video recently released to the public shows officers unexpectedly go after McAlpin, punch him in the head at least 10 times, Taser him four times, and wrap their arms around his neck.
Internal investigation
Despite the incident August 19 being the subject of an internal investigation, Phoenix police and Maricopa County prosecutors continue to pursue a criminal case against McAlpin.
Body camera video of Tyron McAlpin police incident
According to ABC15, Maricopa County Superior Court Commissioner Nick Saccone found there was probable cause for his Aug. 19, 2024, arrest, stating McAlpin fought officers and didn’t comply.
Video of the incident shows officers immediately getting out of their vehicle and attacking McAlpin as he was walking.
McAlpin allegedly attempted to defend himself and fight back against the officers as he was being attacked. As a result, he was arrested and charged with felony aggravated assault and resisting arrest, according to ABC15 Arizona.
According to the police report, McAlpin was arrested by Officers Benjamin Harris and Kyle Sue.
Claims are false says attorneys
McAlpin’s attorneys said body camera video and surveillance footage show the officers’ claims are false and said there’s an obvious explanation for why he couldn’t comply.
“The answer is easy. He’s deaf. He couldn’t understand what they were doing. And he had done nothing wrong,” Showalter told ABC15 Arizona.
“Everything I see in that video is Tyron just trying to avoid being harmed by these officers and that only makes them increase the escalation and the violence that they’re using.”
Tyron McAlpin’s arrest
The arrest stems from a morning call from Circle K convenience store employees who reported that a white man was causing problems and wouldn’t leave the store, records show.
While being trespassed, the man claimed he was assaulted by a Black man and pointed across the street at McAlpin.
Officers Harris and Sue never confirmed the validity of the man’s claims and left him to go after McAlpin.
ABC15 Arizona reports the man’s assault claim was later refuted by store employees and surveillance video, records show.
After reportedly handcuffing McAlpin, his wife arrived at the arrest and told the officers that he was deaf and had cerebral palsy, according to body camera footage. None of the officers at the scene included any information about McAplin’s disabilities.
McAlpin’s initial pretrial conference is scheduled for November 13, and his trial is scheduled for late February.
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Police
Judge rules Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend caused her death, dismisses major charges against former Louisville officers
U.S. District Judge Charles Simpson’s ruling declared that the actions of Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker, who fired a shot at police the night of the raid, were the legal cause of her death, not a warrant.
A federal judge has ruled that Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend was responsible for the beloved EMT’s death.
From the case, the judge also dismissed major felony charges against two former Louisville officers accused of falsifying a warrant that led police to Breonna Taylor’s door before they fatally shot her.
Judge rules Breonna Taylor’s death was not from warrant
U.S. District Judge Charles Simpson’s ruling declared that the actions of Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker, who fired a shot at police the night of the raid, were the legal cause of her death, not a warrant.
Charges dismissed
Federal charges against former Louisville Police Detective Joshua Jaynes and former Sgt. Kyle Meany were filed by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2022. Garland accused Jaynes and Meany, who were not present at the botched raid, of knowing they had falsified part of the warrant and put Taylor in a precarious situation by sending armed officers to her apartment.
But Simpson wrote in the Aug 27 Tuesday ruling that “there is no direct link between the warrantless entry and Taylor’s death.” Simpson’s ruling effectively reduced the civil rights violation charges against Jaynes and Meany, which had carried a maximum sentence of life in prison, to misdemeanors.
The judge did not dismiss the conspiracy charge against Jaynes and another charge against Meany, who is accused of making false statements to investigators.
Botched raid
When police executed a drug warrant and broke down Taylor’s door in March 2020, Walker fired a shot that struck an officer in the leg. Walker said he believed an intruder was bursting in. Officers returned fire, striking and killing 26-year-old Taylor in her hallway.
Simpson resolved that Walker’s “conduct became the proximate, or legal, cause of Taylor’s death.”
“While the indictment alleges that Jaynes and Meany set off a series of events that ended in Taylor’s death, it also alleges that (Walker) disrupted those events when he decided to open fire” on the police, Simpson wrote.
Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend lawsuit
Walker was initially arrested and charged with attempted murder of a police officer.
The charge was later dismissed after his attorneys successfully argued Walker didn’t know he was firing at police.
He later filed a federal lawsuit against the city and police and received a $2 million settlement.
CBS reports a U.S. Justice Department spokesperson confirmed to the news outlet that the department is reviewing the judge’s decision and assessing next steps.
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