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ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) Local advocates are demanding justice for Anthony Hall Friday a well-known community leader who was arrested by Rochester police officers during a crime scene investigation last weekend.

Officers with the RPD said Hall refused to leave a shooting crime scene at S&T Lounge on June 18 and was arrested for obstruction.

Hall, who leads the group Pathways to Peace, is called upon frequently to act as a bridge between police officers and the community.

Halls supporters returned to the scene of last weekends shooting to say that Halls presence at the investigation was no different.

People are familiar with Mr. Hall in law enforcement, said community activist Antonia Wynter. He wasnt there to obstruct justice sticking his nose in someone elses business.

Activists said they want a formal apology from RPD, as well as the release of the body-cam footage from the crime scene.

This was racist targeting and the fact that Anthony Hall, for many years, has acted as a bridge between law enforcement and community, said Melanie Funchess, a member of the Greater Rochester Black Agenda Group.

In a press statement, RPD officials acknowledge Hall made a complaint of the conduct of the officer who approached him and an investigation is underway.

Hall nor the RPD are offering further information at this time.

Read more:
Rochester community reacts to arrest of Anthony Hall - RochesterFirst

Cambridge Middle School students had the opportunity to experience what being a police officer was like when they participated in the inauguralCambridge Youth Citizens Police Academy.

The goal of the academy was to strengthen relationships between us and the kids," saidRyan Oliver, the school resource officer with the Cambridge Police Department.

Jazlynne Loy,Jasper Payton, both 11, and Gunner Goodman, 13, along with 10 other students spent four days a week for nearly three weeks bonding with and learning from officers from the CPD and the Ohio Highway Patrol.

Students received hands-on experience in a variety of law enforcement tasks. During the first week, students went through a leadership course withLt. Melanie Appleman of the Highway Patrol, learning to march in formation, defense tactics, handcuffing and restraints,use of force and what it means, and crime scene investigation with the FBI.

With the FBI, students went through a mock crime scene and completed shoe casting, lifted finger prints and were shown how to investigate the scene.

Gunner, who wanted to participate because he wants to be a police officer, saidhandcuffing and restraints along with learning to talk someone down when entering a building were his favorite activities.

During week two, students toured the police department with Capt. Dave Peoples and saw the day-to-day operations of the department. While there they participated in a building search and learned the procedures followed by the officers for clearing a room .

Jazlynne said her favorite thing was thetour of the police station.

"They take calls and stuff and go out andto save people," Jazlynne said, adding she didn't realize the officers did so much.

Also during the second week, students were introduced to department's SWAT teams and K9s, received CPR, first aid and stop the bleed training.

"God forbid there is ever an active shooter at the school, the kids will be trained withthe same training the staff has," Oliver said. "So if we ever have that at the schools, the kids will know how to apply tourniquets, how to package wounds stuff like that."

During the final two days, students went to the firing range where they received instruction on gun safety. They were able to fire 22 caliber rifles the assistance of officers and troopers and use a shooting simulator.

Jasper liked the defense tactics and learning to talk to people who have a weapon.

The final day was just a day for the officers to hang out with the youths and have fun with them. They spent the day at Deerassic Park doing archery tag, canoeing, kayaking, water safety and fishing, according to Oliver, who described it a bonding day.

"We want the kids to realize we are not these intimidating people, but that we are everyday people just like them and that there is no reason for them to be scared or intimidated of us when we are here to help them," Oliver said. "We want to strengthen the relationship between us and the kids.

Jazlynne, Jasper and Gunner said they really enjoyed hanging out with the officers and they had a lot of fun with them. Each of them also said they would do the academy again if they could.

The idea for the youth academy came from Police ChiefMark DeLancey who thought if they could do an adult academy then why couldn't they do a youth version.

The youth academy, which Oliver hopes will become a yearly thing, is designed for students in sixth through eighth grades.

Oliver believes that middle school is the time when students are easily influenced and he is hoping developing relationships with them at this age will help them stay on the right path through life.

More:
Police Academy allowed students to see how officers respond to situations - The Daily Jeffersonian

A 19-year-old from New Jersey is facing multiple charges in connection to a pontoon boat accident that took place last year in Barnegat Bay in Toms River and ended in the death of one of the passengers on the vessel, prosecutors say.

Juan Fernandez II, of Towaco, was indicted on charges of death by vessel, strict liability vehicular homicide, and assault by vessel, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer announced Thursday.

A group of around six people, including Corey Molinari, 19, of Whippany, were in a pontoon boat in the Barnegat Bay near the Route 37 Bridge in the early morning of June 13, 2021 when it crashed into a channel marker.

Two of the five people were thrown into the water but made it back to the boat. Molinari was seriously injured in the crash.

When the boat made it back to a home in Toms River, New Jersey, around 1 a.m., the father of one of the victims called 911 to report Molinaris injuries.

"They seem to have had an accident and one of the kids that is on the boat is like out and he's like bleeding," the father says in a call obtained by NBC10.

Officers responded to Antiqua Avenue and found that Molinari had been ejected from a pontoon boat and suffered serious bodily injury including severe head trauma, according to prosecutors.

Molinari was treated on scene and subsequently airlifted to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune where he died from his injuries, according to the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office. At least six other occupants of the boat were identified and treated on scene for various injuries.

A probe into the crash by the New Jersey State Police Troop C Criminal Investigation Office, New Jersey State Police Crime Scene Investigation Unit and Ocean County Prosecutors Office Vehicular Homicide Unit allegedly determined that Fernandez was the operator of the pontoon boat when it struck a cement channel marker. Allegedly, he had been consuming alcohol while operating the pontoon boat.

Fernandez was subsequently taken to Community Medical Center in Toms River where he consented to a draw of his blood at approximately 9:32 a.m and was allegedly found to have a blood alcohol content (BAC) of .037%. However, according to prosecutors, they retained the services of Robert Pandina, a forensic psycho-pharmacologist, who analyzed findings and concluded through extrapolation analysis that Fernandez's BAC at the time of the crash was between .13% and .15%. The legal limit to operate a vehicle is 0.08% for those 21 and older.

Fernandez was arrested at his residence on Sept. 9, 2021, but was later released.

We would like people to know there are limitations on the water, New Jersey State Police Sgt. Robert Frake previously said following the deadly crash. Weve been pushing really hard for the wearing of life jackets, PFDs and make sure theyre properly fitted.

Sgt. Frake also spoke about the difficulty of seeing obstructions in the water while boating at night.

Not everything is lit up out there at night so we want people to be conscious of their restricted visibility, he said. If there is alcohol consumption involved obviously, that could create more problems.

Additionally, during the investigation, Fernandez's father, Juan A. Fernandez, Sr., 59, was questioned by law enforcement in connection with this investigation. It was determined that the father provided false information to detectives during the course of the investigation and has also been indicted for hindering apprehension or prosecution.

See the rest here:
19-Year-Old Indicted in Connection to Deadly 2021 NJ Pontoon Boat Crash - NBC New York

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First Amendment to the Constitution | Community | hometownsource.com - ECM Publishers

A federal judge ruled today that four people at a George Floyd vigil on the Common on May 31, 2020 can try to convince a jury that Boston Police officers violated their First Amendment rights by attacking them with pepper spray, fists and a bicycle afterwards and that the city created a culture where such a thing could happen.

Among other reasons to seek dismissal, the cops alleged they did not violate the protesters' First Amendment rights because they did not know the four were on Tremont Street because of the Common protest and so did not know they had a First Amendment right to be there.

That assertion "strains credulity," US District Court Judge Alison Burroughs wrote in a decision today that rejected requests by the cops and the city to reject the First Amendment and civil-rights allegations by the four protesters for what happened after police broke up the vigil and ordered nearby T stops shut, on a night that ended with violence and looting across downtown, the Back Bay and the South End.

Here, the chronology of events, the location of each incident, and all other surrounding circumstances, plainly allow for a reasonable inference that each of the Officer Defendants would have known the Plaintiffs were protestors and that they used force against them for that reason. ... Nothing in the record thus far, which includes photos of the Plaintiffs with their arms up and backing away from officers, provides a plausible non-retaliatory motive for the Officer Defendants use of physical force against the Plaintiffs. Further, because the uses of force against Ackers, Hall, and Chambers-Maher occurred while the officers were being openly recorded, it would be reasonable to infer that the civilians filming of the officers formed an unlawful retaliatory motive for the use of force. ... Put simply, the Officer Defendants argument that they could not have known that the Plaintiffs participated in the protest is untenable. Based on the record currently before the Court, it is evident that each one of these incidents occurred while the BPD was seeking to disperse protesters.

Burroughs added, however, that the officers will be able to better rebut the allegation than they have to date during pre-trial discovery and then at trial;

The point of discovery and then trial will be to sort out whether these particular uses of force did or did not implicate the First Amendment.

But, she continued:

Courts around the country, flooded with First Amendments claims pleaded on similar facts following the May 2020 protests, have agreed that the use of force against non-violent protestors can support the inference that officers meant to intimidate protestors and deter antipolice messaging.

Burroughs also allowed the four to continue their lawsuit against the city itself for allegedly creating an atmosphere that allowed and even encouraged misbehavior by police, in large part by ignoring complaints against officers in the past, but also through "a custom of using excessive force." But as she did with the police on the First Amendment issue, she cautioned the four protesters haven't really made a good, detailed case of this to date - something they will have to do at trial to win against the city.

To be sure, Plaintiffs support for this claim is presently thin, particularly since Plaintiffs have done little to link their allegations together to present a systemic pattern of persistent failure to discipline or investigate, but more is not required at the pleading stage. Plaintiffs have specifically articulated that the City knew constitutional violations occurred and either chose not to investigate or otherwise delayed or discouraged investigation. Taking Plaintiffs factual allegations as true and viewing the Amended Complaint in the light most favorable to Plaintiffs, the allegations allow for a reasonable inference that the City has a custom of failing to discipline police misconduct.

Burroughs continued:

The Amended Complaint contains numerous allegations that officers used OC spray, batons, and other physical force against the four Plaintiffs during the May 31 protest. Plaintiffs sufficiently allege, though just barely, that similar constitutional violations occurred on May 29, giving decisionmakers sufficient notice that officers would continue to use unreasonable force against peaceful protestors in the demonstrations to come. The City's argument that the allegations are not enough to support a Monell claim because they rest only on "one night of civil unrest" is unavailing. In addition to the fact that Plaintiffs have suggested that similar conduct occurred during demonstrations on surrounding days, "egregious instances of misconduct" even when "relatively few in number but following a common design, may support an inference that the instances would not occur but for municipal tolerance of the practice in question." Foley v. City of Lowell, 948 F.2d 10, 14 (1st Cir. 1991). ... Here, Plaintiffs describe four similar incidents of excessive force used against peaceful protesters. Further, Plaintiffs may not know, or cannot know, without discovery the full extent of the unreasonable force used by the City against protesters during the May 2020 protests. This Court, in line with several other district courts presented with similar facts, finds that Plaintiffs have sufficiently pleaded that the City had notice of the unlawful use of force against protestors and was deliberately indifferent to those constitutional violations.

She also pointed to a decision by Police Commissioner William Gross to have riot batons distributed to officers beforehand and to have nearby T stations shut as the vigil was dispersed as legitimate acts for a jury to consider whether BPD had a policy that led to the incidents:

Because three of the four Plaintiffs injuries occurred while they were trying to leave the protest area and some of the alleged injuries were caused by blows from riot batons, it can be reasonably inferred that Commissioner Grosss policy decisions led to the constitutional deprivations. ...

Plaintiffs will have to overcome significant issues of proof if they are to prevail at trial. Nonetheless, the Court finds that, at this stage, Plaintiffs have adequately pleaded municipal liability based on the role that City customs and policies allegedly played in the constitutional violations.

Original post:
Judge rejects request by Boston cops to dismiss First Amendment action over the way they pepper sprayed and hit George Floyd protesters in 2020 -...