New York
Diocese files for bankruptcy amid sexual abuse lawsuits
OGDENSBURG, N.Y. (AP) — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Ogdensburg in northern New York said Monday that it was filing for bankruptcy protection as it faces more than 100 lawsuits alleging sexual abuse.
The diocese, like others in the state, is dealing with lawsuits dating to when New York temporarily suspended the statute of limitations to give victims of childhood abuse the ability to pursue even decades-old allegations against clergy members, teachers, Boy Scout leaders and others.
Bishop of Ogdensburg Terry R. LaValley said there were 124 cases pending against the diocese, with claims dating from the 1940s through the 1990s.
Ogdensburg is the sixth of New York’s eight dioceses to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a list that also includes those based in Buffalo, Rochester and Rockville Centre on Long Island.
Ogdensburg serves a big but largely rural area, and its 81 parishes are the fewest of any diocese in the state.
Diocese officials said the goal of the filing was to resolve the legal cases fairly and equitably while maintaining their mission of service.
“Filing for reorganization does not hinder claims filed by survivors,” LaValley said in a prepared statement. “Instead, it establishes a process for all claims to be treated fairly.”
Attorneys for survivors said the diocese was putting its self-interest above accountability.
“In declaring bankruptcy, the diocese knowingly obstructs survivors’ long-awaited opportunity to say their piece; to be heard, to be acknowledged,” attorney Cynthia LaFave said.
Georgia
Man faces murder charge in ex-girlfriend’s death
CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. (AP) — A Georgia man has been arrested in connection with the kidnapping and killing of his 19-year-old ex-girlfriend, a woman he also is accused of having kidnapped a year earlier.
Police identified the suspect in the Sunday night abduction and shooting as Cameron Ja’Michael Hopkins, 20, of Albany.
News outlets report that the victim was working at a Fayetteville restaurant when she was kidnapped at gunpoint and driven away. She was shot in a school parking lot where police had stopped the car. WAGA-TV reports that Hopkins had been arrested a year earlier and accused of kidnapping the same victim, identified as Khaliyah Jones.
Fayetteville police said Monday that Hopkins faces kidnapping and assault charges there. Online Clayton County booking records show Hopkins faces charges there of murder with malice and aggravated assault.
Police said that once the car driven by the suspect was stopped in the parking lot of a Clayton County school, gunshots were fired at police and inside the car. Hopkins was arrested after police used an irritant chemical to flush him out of the car. The victim was found dead in the car, with multiple gunshot wounds.
California
FBI opens investigations into violent LA county deputy encounters
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The FBI has opened criminal investigations into violent encounters involving Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies, including one in which a deputy punched a woman in the face as she held her baby.
Federal authorities visited the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department headquarters to take documents related to the probes, according to an email obtained by the newspaper, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.
Department officials confirmed the visit and told the newspaper they planned to cooperate with investigators.
The second case being scrutinized by the FBI involves a deputy who threw a woman to the ground by her neck last month in a grocery store parking lot after she started recording an arrest with her cellphone.
In addition to the federal investigations, the California Department of Justice has agreed to review the case of 18-year-old Andres Guardado, who was shot in the back three years ago by a sheriff’s deputy in the city of Gardena, south of Los Angeles, the email said.
The internal county email obtained by the newspaper said that “federal criminal investigations have been opened concerning the recent incidents” in Palmdale and Lancaster, north of Los Angeles.
The Palmdale case involved a July 2022 traffic stop but did not become public until this week, when Sheriff Robert Luna called a news conference to release body camera footage and announce that the deputy involved had been relieved of duty.
The eight-minute video was taken during the traffic stop after Palmdale deputies spotted a vehicle being driven at night without any headlights. When they pulled it over, the deputies smelled alcohol and saw four women inside, three of them with babies in their arms rather than in car seats, authorities said.
The deputies began to arrest the women on suspicion of felony child endangerment, and used force on two of the women when they resisted giving up their babies. The bulk of the video shows a tense conversation between a group of deputies and one woman who clutches her baby while sitting cross-legged on the ground. The deputies are heard saying that the woman was riding in a car driven by someone without a valid license, and that her baby was not in a car seat.
After several minutes of back-and-forth, deputies pry the woman’s hands apart, and she begins screaming as the child is removed from her arms. Nearby, another woman holding a baby begins screaming and cursing at officers before deputies announce they plan to arrest her too.
As at least two deputies hold the woman by her wrists and arms, a third male deputy can be seen throwing two punches toward her head while she is still holding her baby. It is unclear in the video whether the punches connected with the woman’s head, but she howls in pain.
The FBI is also investigating a June 24 case when deputies responded to 911 calls reporting a robbery in progress at a grocery store in Lancaster. They encountered a man and a woman who they said matched the descriptions of the suspects given to 911, according to authorities.
As the deputies handcuffed the man in the parking lot, the woman began taking video with her phone. Within seconds, one of the deputies rushes toward her and reaches for her arm, seemingly in an attempt to take the phone.
“You can’t touch me,” she screams. The deputy throws her on the ground, and video shows him arguing with her, and at one point threatening to punch her. He then pepper-sprays her in the face and handcuffs her.
The man who was handcuffed was ultimately cited on suspicion of resisting an officer, attempted petty theft and interfering with a business. The woman was hospitalized for the effects of the pepper spray and for abrasions to her arm. She was released but cited on suspicion of assaulting an officer, as well as battery on allegations that she had assaulted store loss prevention personnel, the newspaper said.
