Social Justice
Father and Son Who Chased Black Fedex Driver Indicted On Attempted Murder Charges
A father and son have been indicted by a grand jury on multiple charges, including attempted murder, nearly 10 months after a Black FedEx driver alleged he was chased and shot at after delivering packages in a Mississippi city.
Father and son indicted on multiple charges for chasing Black FedEx driver
Gregory Case and his son Brandon were indicted last week by a Lincoln County grand jury on charges of attempted murder, conspiracy to commit the crime of murder and shooting into a motor vehicle in connection with the alleged attack on D’Monterrio Gibson in Brookhaven, about 55 miles south of Jackson.
Both men were initially only charged with conspiracy and aggravated assault in the case, sparking outrage on the type of charges they received.
After battling to be heard, Gibson is happy they have made more progress in the case, resulting in stiffer charges.
“It was an extremely long process to get this far into the case,” Gibson told WLBT-TV. “I feel like most of the time, I was treated like a suspect rather than a victim.”
What happened?
On Jan. 24th, Gibson was delivering packages when he alleges the father and son duo aggressively pursued him.
He told news outlets he believed he was targeted because he is Black and because they thought he didn’t belong in their neighborhood.
Gibson said he was wearing a FedEx uniform when he dropped off a package at a house in Brookhaven. However, he was not in a FedEx truck but in a Hertz van that FedEx had rented, with the rental company’s markings on the sides. As he was leaving, he said, a man in a white pickup truck began following him closely while honking his horn. Gibson said he drove past a couple of houses and encountered a man standing in the middle of the road with a gun pointed at him. The man was mouthing the word “stop,” Gibson said.
“As I’m leaving the driveway, he starts driving in the grass trying to cut me off. My instincts kick in, I swerve around him, and I start hitting the gas trying to get out of the neighborhood because I don’t know what his intentions are,” Gibson told the Mississippi Free Press earlier this year.
Gibson said he swerved to get around the man, who started shooting toward the rear of the Hertz vehicle, damaging the van and the packages inside. He said that he called his manager, who told him to immediately return to the FedEx station.
As he was leaving, Gibson said the truck chased him to an interstate near Brookhaven before ending the pursuit. Gibson was unharmed.
The following day he went to the Brookhaven Police Department with one of his managers to file a police report.
The Cases were initially arrested in February and released after paying bonds on lesser charges. They are currently being held on $500,000 bonds.
No trial date has been set.
Social Justice
Former high school athletic director arrested and charged with using AI to frame principal
A former athletic director of a high school was arrested by Baltimore County Police after allegedly using new technology to impersonate a principal.
A former athletic director of a high school was arrested by police in Maryland after allegedly using new technology to impersonate a principal.
Maryland principal incident
In January of this year, we reported that an audio was circulating on social media accusing Pikesville High School principal Eric Eisworth of making racist and antisemitic comments.
After an investigation, authorities concluded the audio was artificial intelligence.
Suspect arrested
Dazhon Darien, 31, was charged with disrupting school activities, after investigators determined Darien faked Eiswert’s voice and circulated the audio on social media in January, according to the Baltimore County State’s Attorney’s Office. Darien’s nickname, DJ, was among the names mentioned in the audio clips he allegedly faked.
Maryland principal accused audio
In the audio, Eisworth allegedly claimed Black students were unable to “test their way out of a paper bag” and made “disparaging comments” about Jewish individuals and two teachers, the charging document said
“The audio clip … had profound repercussions,” police wrote in charging documents. “It not only led to Eiswert’s temporary removal from the school but also triggered a wave of hate-filled messages on social media and numerous calls to the school. The recording also caused significant disruptions for the PHS staff and students.”
Retaliation
Police say Darien made the recording in retaliation after Eisworth initiated an investigation into improper payments he made to a school athletics coach who was also his roommate. Darien is also charged with theft and retaliating against a witness.
Darien was released on $5,000 bond and waived an attorney at an initial court appearance, according to court records.
Crime & Justice
Exonerated man on a mission to rebuild his life
C.J. Rice, a man who served more than 12 years behind bars for an attempted murder he was falsely convicted of, was officially exonerated on March 18, 2024. He is now on a mission to rebuild his life.
Charles “CJ” Rice was just 17 years old when he was convicted of a crime he did not commit.
CJ Rice Exonerated
Now 30 year old Rice is using the injustice of the last 13 years to galvanize the life he almost spent behind bars after being exonerated and declared legally innocent of the crime he was convicted of in 2013 on March 18, 2024.
According to the GoFundMe, CJ wants to “embrace this opportunity” and become a paralegal.
With the help of Dream.org, the GoFundMe aims to help CJ start a new life with everything from a place to stay to clothes to wear as he builds a new future.
The CJ Rice case
CJ Rice, formally known Charles J. Rice, was convicted in a September 2011 shooting for attempted murder and sentenced to 30-60 years behind bars in 2013.
According to the Pennsylvania Innocence Project, the South Philadelphia shooting left a woman identified as Latrice Johnson, a 6-year-old girl and two others injured.
Johnson called 911 after the shooting and described the suspects as two men running away in hoodies and black sweatpants but couldn’t fully identify them.
Through an initial investigation with victims in the hospital, Rice’s co-defendant, Tyler Linder, was identified as one of the shooters. Detectives interviewed Johnson while she was in the hospital and she identified 17-year-old Rice as one of the shooters running away although she hadn’t seen the teen in a few years. Rice had been friends with Johnson’s son when he was younger, according to the Pennsylvania Innocence Project.
In her description, Johnson said Rice was wearing a hoodie and claimed that she was able to see his full face and long braids poking out the side of the hood. However, Rice’s arrest photo depicted him with shorter cornrows flushed against his head. Despite this, a case against Rice and Linder was built.
According to the Pennsylvania Innocence Project, among the evidence was a theory that the shooting was retaliatory, which wasn’t proven. That’s because Rice was shot and injured a few days prior. It’s alleged the suspects ran from the scene, and Rice’s counsel never used his medical records as evidence to help Rice’s case.
Rice’s case received national attention after CNN anchor Jake Tapper began reporting on it. His father, Dr. Theodore Tapper, is Rice’s former doctor and treated his injuries.
Although it was alleged that the shooters ran from the 2011 crime scene, this is something that Dr. Tapper believed Rice just physically couldn’t do at the time.
Officials believed the 2011 shooting involved gang affiliations, leading the DA’s Gun Violence Task Force to begin their investigation to see whether or not Rice could be re-tried for the shooting or to dismiss the charges in full.
This suggestion of motive and the sole faulty eyewitness identification of CJ led to his conviction on four counts for attempted murder.
A free man
Rice’s defense counsel filed a habeas petition to get CJ out of prison and have his conviction overturned.
On March 18, 2024, the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas granted the Commonwealth’s motion to dismiss all charges against Rice, officially making CJ a free man.
Social Justice
After more than 60 years, a championship HBCU men’s basketball team visits White House
An all-Black Tennessee A&I men’s basketball team won three back-to-back national championships at the height of the Jim Crow era, but were never recognized or invited to the White House. That changed on Friday.
This past weekend, the Tennessee A&I men’s basketball team, an HBCU squad that won a title more than 60 years ago, got a White House visit.
Tennessee A&I made history
The living members of the Tennessee A&I Tigers basketball team were honored by Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House.
“This is the greatest day of my life,” said George Finley, a player on the Tigers team, said to CBS News.
The Tennessee A&I Tigers men’s basketball team was the first HBCU team to win a national championship in 1957, and made history again by becoming the first college team to win three back-to-back national titles from 1957-1959.
“I thought this would never take place,” said Finley, who was part of the 1959 championship team, told the network. “[Winning] the championship was big, but it wasn’t as big as being here with [Vice President] Harris today.”
The challenges
In a time of segregation and the Jim Crow era, Black teams were often not recognized for their achievements but the team finally got their just due.
Harris hosted six members of the team in a meeting along with their family, friends, and those close to the group of former athletes. Henry Carlton, Robert Clark, Ron Hamilton, Ernie Jones, George Finley, and Dick Barnett joined Finley in the Roosevelt Room at the White House.
Tennessee A&I is now known as Tennessee State University.
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