Latest news with #PoliceOfficer
Yahoo
17 hours ago
- Yahoo
AJPD Officer Facio dies; Los Angeles protests intensify
From ICE protests in Los Angeles heating up as the National Guard was deployed, to Apache Junction Police officer Gabriel Facio dying from his shooting injuries, here are tonight's top stories.
ABC News
23-05-2025
- ABC News
SA Police internal inquiry into Davenport incident finds allegations of excessive force 'not substantiated'
An internal inquiry overseen by the Office of Public Integrity has found allegations a SA Police officer, who has since resigned, used "excessive force" when dragging a man along concrete during an arrest "were not substantiated". WARNING: This story contains footage of an incident that readers may find distressing. In November, two videos emerged showing a man being shoved into a wall by a police officer before being dragged through a front yard at Davenport, near Port Augusta, in the state's north. The videos, which were shared on Facebook, showed a man talking to police before being pushed to the wall with force, causing him to collapse onto the ground. The second video showed the man being dragged along a concrete path before he was arrested by a police officer. "The complaint related to two allegations that police used excessive force and one allegation about the use of unprofessional language," a statement released by SA Police said. "Subsequently, the two allegations of excessive force were not substantiated, however the allegation about the use of unprofessional language was substantiated." The statement confirmed the police officer subject of the inquiry had since resigned from SAPOL — but for unrelated reasons. "The officer has since resigned from SAPOL to pursue alternative employment, however that decision was unrelated to the incident or this inquiry," it read. "Had the police officer involved not resigned from SAPOL, it is likely they would have been subject to management resolution under the Police Complaints and Discipline Act." SA Police also confirmed the Office of Public Integrity had been overseeing the inquiry. The ABC has contacted Attorney-General and Minister for Aboriginal Affairs Kyam Maher's office for comment.
New York Times
20-05-2025
- Health
- New York Times
A New System Aims to Save Injured Brains and Lives
Dr. Geoffrey Manley, a neurosurgeon at the University of California, San Francisco, wants the medical establishment to change the way it deals with brain injuries. His work is motivated in part by what happened to a police officer he treated in 2002, just after completing his medical training. The man arrived at the emergency room unconscious, in a coma. He had been in a terrible car crash while pursuing a criminal. Two days later, Dr. Manley's mentor said it was time to tell the man's family there was no hope. His life support should be withdrawn. He should be allowed to die. Dr. Manley resisted. The patient's brain oxygen levels were encouraging. Seven days later the policeman was still in a coma. Dr. Manley's mentor again pressed him to talk to the man's family about withdrawing life support. Again, Dr. Manley resisted. Ten days after the accident, the policeman began to come out of his coma. Three years later he was back at work and was named San Francisco Police Officer of the Month. In 2010, he was Police Officer of the Year 'That case, and another like it,' Dr. Manley said, 'changed my practice.' But little has changed in the world of traumatic brain injuries since Dr. Manley's patient woke up. Assessments of who will recover and how severely patients are injured are pretty much the same, which results in patients being told they 'just' have a concussion, who then have trouble getting care for recurring symptoms like memory lapses or headaches. And it results in some patients in the position of that policemen, who have their life support withdrawn when they might have recovered. Now, though, Dr. Manley and 93 others from 14 countries are proposing a new way to evaluate patients. They published their classification system Tuesday in the journal Lancet Neurology. The system is the result of a request made three years ago by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, for experts to reconsider how they characterize traumatic brain injury patients. That led to a group that was put together by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Traumatic brain injuries are typically caused by auto accidents, falls and assaults. They kill more than 69,000 people a year in the United States. More than 5.3 million Americans who have survived a traumatic brain injury live with a lifelong or long-term disability as a result. For decades, doctors used the Glasgow Coma Scale to evaluate patients' consciousness and make prognoses. The test assesses a person's ability to respond to commands, whether their pupils react to light and other factors. Patients' injuries are categorized as mild, moderate, or severe. But that sort of assessment is insufficient today, said Dr. Michael McCrea, a member of the group proposing the new classification and professor of neurosurgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin. It sounds, he said, 'like a cartoon,' to evaluate patients by asking, for example, 'How many fingers am I holding up? What city are we in?' 'We know we can do much better than the age-old mild, moderate, severe categories,' he said. 'It's really just embarrassing.' 'Mild' traumatic brain injuries are often not mild; patients can have continuing problems, Dr. McCrea said. And, he added, some with 'severe' injuries can achieve full recoveries. 'What you call someone dictates their care,' Dr. Manley said. Dr. Manley said that using only the coma scale also made research more difficult. He remembers 'a flurry of clinical trials,' he said, more than 30, that had failed in part because 'the classification system is terrible.' They made it difficult to know if patients in a study had suffered similar injuries and whether a treatment had helped, he said. 'What if I were to go to the F.D.A. and say, 'I am doing a cancer trial for 'severe' cancer'? They would look at me and say, 'What are you talking about?'' Dr. Manly said. The newly proposed standards start with the Glasgow scale, but add other signs, like whether patients have post-traumatic amnesia or headaches or are sensitive to light or noise. But the new system also looks for blood biomarkers of brain injury and includes scans, including CT and M.R.I.'s to look for blood clots, skull fractures and hemorrhaging. Another part of the classification system considers the person's social environment. Two patients might have the same injury, Dr. McCrea said, but one is homeless, a substance abuser and has PTSD. The other has extensive family support, no substance abuse problems and has good mental health. The first patient, he said, will have 'a much tougher road and a significantly greater risk of a poor outcome.' The hope is to end the medical reliance on oversimplified testing. A better classification system will help researchers develop drug treatments and better procedures, Dr. McCrea said. He was especially enthusiastic about adding blood tests to the mix. Suppose, he said, someone was in a car crash in a rural area, and had clear signs of a brain injury. Hours could be wasted waiting for a CT scan at a local hospital before the patient was transported to a regional trauma center. 'Imagine, instead, doing a blood biomarker test in the ambulance,' he said. If the test indicates severe damage the person would be taken to the trauma center immediately. 'Time is brain,' Dr. McCrea said. 'We all grew up with the categories, 'mild, moderate, severe,'' he said. 'We can do better than that.'
CTV News
19-05-2025
- CTV News
Indiana man set for execution in state's second since 2009
This undated photo provided by the Indiana Department of Correction shows Benjamin Ritchie, who was convicted in the 2000 killing of Beech Grove Police Officer Bill Toney. (Indiana Department of Correction via AP) MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. — An Indiana man convicted in the 2000 killing of a police officer is set to receive a lethal injection early Tuesday in the state's second execution in 15 years. Benjamin Ritchie, 45, has been on death row for more than 20 years after being convicted in the fatal shooting of Beech Grove Police Officer Bill Toney during a foot chase. Unless there's last-minute court action, Ritchie is scheduled to be executed 'before the hour of sunrise' at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, according to state officials. Indiana resumed executions in December after a yearslong hiatus due to scarcity of lethal injection drugs nationwide. Prison officials provided photos of the execution chamber in advance of Joseph Corcoran's execution, showing a space that looks like a sparse operating room with a gurney, fluorescent lighting, a floor drain and an adjacent viewing room. They have offered few other details about the process, including the time the executions take place. Among 27 states with death penalty laws, Indiana is one of two that bars media witnesses. The other, Wyoming, has conducted one execution in the last half-century. The Associated Press and other media organizations have filed a federal lawsuit in Indiana seeking media access. The execution Tuesday in Indiana is among 12 scheduled in eight states this year. Ritchie's execution and two others in Texas and Tennessee will be carried out this week. The 2000 fatal shooting of a police officer Ritchie was 20 when he and others stole a van in Beech Grove, near Indianapolis. He then fired four shots at Toney during a foot chase, killing him. At the time Ritchie was on probation from a 1998 burglary conviction. Toney, 31, had worked at the Beech Grove Police Department for two years. He was the first officer of the police department of roughly 30 officers to be killed by gunfire in the line of duty. The community of 14,000 people mourned the married father of two as a neighborly person who showed up to help others. When Toney died, 'Everyone of us involved, including Bill, had something stolen from them that they'll never get back,' said Deputy Police Chief Tom Hurrle, who worked with him. Relatives spoke at a clemency hearing last week, urging for the execution to move forward. 'It's time. We're all tired,' said Dee Dee Horen, who was Toney's wife. 'It is time for this chapter of my story, our story, to be closed. It's time for us to remember Bill, to remember Bill's life, and not his death.' Appealing a death sentence Ritchie's attorneys have fought the death penalty sentence, arguing his legal counsel at trial was ineffective because his lawyers failed to fully investigate and present evidence on his fetal alcohol spectrum disorders and childhood lead exposure. Current defense attorneys say Ritchie suffered 'severe brain damage' because his mother abused alcohol and drugs during pregnancy and has struggled with decision-making. He was also diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2005. 'He's finally come to have some coping skills. He's a different man,' said defense attorney Steven Schutte. Republican Gov. Mike Braun rejected Ritchie's clemency bid last week as the parole board recommended. Braun didn't explain his decision, but board members said Ritchie's case didn't meet the bar for commuting a sentence and cited a dozen violations during Ritchie's time in prison, including threatening others with violence. The Indiana Supreme Court denied a request to stop the execution, but two justices noted the jury didn't get accurate information about Ritchie's brain damage. Ritchie's attorneys are challenging that decision in federal court and have also filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court. Disability rights advocates say Ritchie's brain damage should exclude him from the death penalty. Ritchie's 'capacity to fully appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct' was 'impaired at the time of his crime,' Dr. Megan Carter, who also testified before the parole board, said in a statement. Expressing regret and awaiting execution Attorneys say Ritchie has changed during his more than two decades behind bars and shown remorse. In court as a young man, Ritchie smiled at Horen and laughed as the verdict was read. He told a parole board he deeply regrets his actions, especially how he acted with Toney's widow. 'I wish I could go back to the day in court, because that man's wife deserved to say everything she needed to say to me, and that punk kid should have just kept his mouth shut and let her say whatever she needed to say,' Ritchie said. 'That was her right. That was his family's right.' Ritchie has spent his last days getting visits from friends and family. Under state law, he's allowed up to five witnesses at his execution, which will include attorneys and friends. 'I've ruined my life and other people's lives, and I'm so sorry for that night,' he told the parole board earlier this month. 'You can't take back what you did.' Sophia Tareen And Ed White, The Associated Press Tareen reported from Chicago. Associated Press writer John O'Connor contributed from Springfield, Illinois.
CTV News
16-05-2025
- CTV News
Regina resident distraught after dog shot by police
Regina Watch WATCH: A Regina woman is searching for answers after her dog was shot in front of her home by a police officer. Jacob Carr has more.
