National Roundup

California
City paying $1M to family of man killed by police
FONTANA, Calif. (AP) — The Southern California city of Fontana has agreed to pay $1 million to the parents of an unarmed man who police shot to death in February, according to a newspaper report.

The agreement comes after Kenisha Kinard and Amond Hawkins filed a claim against the city following the death of their son Daverion Deauntre Kinard, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reported Tuesday.

Officers investigating a burglary report encountered Kinard inside a home on Feb. 13. Kinard refused to surrender and fled onto a nearby construction site, police said.

“While officers were attempting to establish a perimeter, a single officer confronted Kinard hiding in a portable restroom. Within seconds, an officer-involved shooting occurred in which the officer fired one round and Kinard was struck in the front of his torso,” a police news release said.

Kinard died at the scene. No weapon was recovered.

The settlement prohibits the city and the parents from commenting on the agreement beyond its terms. Also, neither side is allowed to make “disparaging” comments about the other.

The City Council approved the settlement in June. The money is being paid from an insurance fund.

The city has declined to make the video from officers’ uniform-worn cameras public, the Press-Enterprise reported.

Iowa
Ex-football player charged in hoops star’s assault
A former Iowa State University football player has been arrested in connection with an assault of a University of Iowa basketball star in May.

Nicholas Kron, 29, of Nashville, Tennessee, faces an assault causing bodily injury charge for allegedly attacking Jordan Bohannon, a Hawkeye guard, outside a downtown Iowa City bar. Bohannon suffered a serious head injury. Kron turned himself in Saturday, was booked into the Johnson County Jail and was released about 20 minutes later, a jail official said.

Bohannon filed a lawsuit against Kron a few days earlier, alleging that the former Cyclone defensive end “brutally, unlawfully and intentionally” assaulted him.

Bohannon and Kron were both at DC’s Bar in Iowa City on May 23, according to police records. After the bar closed, police said Kron and another person got into an argument outside. Police say Kron walked over to Bohannon, turned him around and punched him three times in the back of the head, knocking him to the ground and causing a cut on his head.

Police say Bohannon’s friends escorted him away, but Bohannon later needed to be taken to a hospital for treatment of his head injury.

Online court records did not list an attorney for Kron. Bohannon’s attorney didn’t immediately respond to phone and email messages.

An Iowa athletic department spokesman declined to comment, saying the matter wasn’t connected to the university.

In a statement shortly after the incident, Iowa basketball coach Fran McCaffery said Bohannon was attacked by a person he didn’t see coming at him.

“We were made aware of the incident immediately,” McCaffery said. “We are grateful that friends who were with Jordan at the time kept the incident from escalating. His health is our No. 1 concern.”

Bohannon announced in April he would return to the Hawkeyes for his sixth season in 2021-22. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NCAA granted eligibility relief to winter sport athletes in 2020-21.

Bohannon is Iowa’s career leader in assists (639), 3-pointers made (364), free-throw percentage (.887) and games played (143). He ranks ninth in career scoring with 1,638 points.

Bohannon led the Hawkeyes last season with 80 3-pointers and 135 assists, and he was third in scoring at 10.6 points per game.

Kron played in 12 games in 2012 and tallied five tackles, two tackles for a loss and a sack. In 2013, he earned Academic All-Big 12 Second Team honors, made 14 tackles, 1.5 tackles of a loss and two fumble recoveries.

Minnesota
Permit-to-carry law upheld by state high court
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a state law requiring individuals to have a permit to carry a handgun in public is constitutional and does not violate the Second Amendment.

The ruling comes in the case of a man who was charged with carrying a pistol without a permit. Nathan Hatch was arrested in 2018 after Metropolitan Airport Commission police stopped to help him after his truck broke down. He told officers he had a gun in the back seat and did not have a permit, and officers found a loaded pistol.

Hatch was convicted of a gross misdemeanor. On appeal, he tried to strike down the state’s permit-to-carry statute, arguing it violated his right to bear arms and failed to survive strict scrutiny because it was not narrowly tailored to advance the state’s interests.

The Supreme Court disagreed.

“Considering the undisputed compelling governmental interest in ensuring public safety and the narrowly tailored provisions of the statute to achieve that interest, we conclude that the permit-to-carry statute withstands strict scrutiny,” the justices ruled. “We therefore hold that the permit-to-carry statute does not violate the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution.”

The Supreme Court said that to survive strict scrutiny, a law must be justified by a compelling government interest and be narrowly tailored, meaning that it must achieve the government’s interest in the “least restrictive means.”

The Supreme Court found that the law explicitly says when a permit is required, and also allows for circumstances when a permit is not required, such as at home or when hunting.

A message left with Hatch’s attorney was not immediately returned.

The justices said it is not difficult to get a permit to carry in Minnesota, as long as certain criteria are met. The court found that the statute also leans in favor of the person applying for the permit, showing it’s easy for someone to exercise his or her Second Amendment rights.

“Indeed, it is hard to imagine a less restrictive firearm permitting scheme than the one provided by the permit-to-carry statute and its related provisions. Law-abiding citizens over the age of 21 need only show that they have passed a gun safety course and that they are not a danger to themselves or others to receive a permit to carry a handgun in public,” the justices wrote.