National Roundup

Mississippi
High court: Suit against Google can continue

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi’s Supreme Court says a state lawsuit against Google alleging violations of student privacy should stay in a northeast Mississippi court.

The court voted 6-2 on Thursday to deny an appeal by the unit of California-based Alphabet Inc. Google wanted the Lowndes County lawsuit dismissed, saying Mississipi Attorney General Jim Hood filed it in the wrong place.

A three-justice panel denied the appeal earlier, but Google asked the full court to reconsider.

Hood, a Democrat, says Google violates Mississippi consumer protection law by selling ads using data from school services.

Hood wants a judge to order Google to stop the practice. The suit says Google could be fined $10,000 for every student account in Mississippi. With half of Mississippi districts using Google services, that amount could top $2.5 billion.

California
High court sides with police in case over chases

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The California Supreme Court on Monday unanimously rejected a lawsuit that sought to make it easier to hold police liable for crashes that occur during pursuits.

A state law says police agencies are immune from liability if they have a written pursuit policy, provide annual training about chases, and require that all officers certify in writing that they have read and understood the policy.

However, the state Supreme Court said it would be almost impossible for large agencies with thousands of officers to show that every officer has met the certification provision.

“A requirement may exist even if not every peace officer complies with it,” Associate Justice Ming Chin wrote for the court.

The decision came in a lawsuit filed against the Southern California city of Gardena by Irma Ramirez, whose son was killed in 2015 after an officer bumped the pickup truck he was in during a chase and sent it crashing into a light pole. He was a suspect in an armed robbery.

Ramirez’s attorney, Abdalla Innabi, said the decision makes people less safe by protecting departments no matter “how negligent, how egregious, how reckless” the pursuit.

“The standard is now so low that any department will be immune,” he said. “All they have to say is, ‘We have a requirement,’ and that’s good enough.”

Chin said opening up agencies to liability for a single officer’s failure to complete the written certification would reduce the incentive for agencies to craft a pursuit policy and provide training.


Ohio
Court upholds trafficked girl’s murder conviction

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The Ohio Supreme Court has upheld the murder conviction of a woman whose forced prostitution as a girl was cited as a factor leading to her involvement in a fatal robbery.

At issue was the 2013 slaying of the girl’s Akron pimp and the wounding of another person in a robbery prosecutors say the girl planned.

The girl was charged in juvenile court and eventually had her case transferred to adult court.

The girl’s lawyer said a judge should have determined the girl was covered by a 2012 Ohio law that protects children whose crimes are related to their status as trafficking victims.

The court ruled 6-1 Tuesday to uphold the conviction, saying the judge’s decision stands because his failure to consider the law wasn’t objected to at the time.

Alabama
Judge orders release of video of pepper-sprayed students in 2016

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama city’s police department will be required to release body camera video of when high school students were pepper-sprayed in 2016 by an officer while painting a cannon after a football game.

WALA-TV reports a Mobile County Circuit Court judge signed an order Monday that says the city of Mobile has 14 days to release the video. Meredith Corporation owns the news station and it won the lawsuit in which the judge made the order.

WALA-TV News Director Scott Flannigan says it’s a win for the public. He says the station argued to city officials that the video of McGill-Toolen High School students was a public document, but they wouldn’t release it.

Mobile still has the option to appeal the ruling. City Public Safety Director James Barber wouldn’t comment Monday.

Georgia
Police chief defends Taser use on woman, 87, holding knife

CHATSWORTH, Ga. (AP) — A Georgia police chief said an officer was justified in using a Taser to stun an 87-year-old woman after she didn’t obey commands to drop a knife in her hand.

Martha Al-Bishara was charged with criminal trespass and obstructing an officer Friday, when police held her at gunpoint before bringing her to the ground with a jolt from the electrified prongs of a stun gun.

Relatives said Al-Bishara doesn’t speak English and was merely out cutting dandelions with a kitchen knife near her home in Chatsworth, about 85 miles (136 kilometers) north of Atlanta.

“An 87-year-old woman with a knife still has the ability to hurt an officer,” Chatsworth Police Chief Josh Etheridge told the Daily Citizen-News of Dalton.

Etheridge responded along with two other officers Friday after an employee of a local Boys and Girls Club called 911 to report a woman with a knife was walking outside and would not leave.

“She’s old so she can’t get around too well, but,” the employee said on the 911 recording. “Looks like she’s walking around looking for something, like, vegetation to cut down or something. There’s a bag, too.”

When Al-Bishara didn’t follow commands to drop her knife, Etheridge said, he tried to communicate with her by taking his own pocket knife and throwing it on the ground.

But Al-Bishara’s relatives said the officers should have shown more patience.

“If three police officers couldn’t handle an 87-year-old woman, you might want to reconsider hanging up your badge,” said Solomon Douhne, the woman’s great-nephew.

Family members said Al-Bishara spent about two hours at the Murray County jail before being released Friday and that she still has trouble sleeping and is nervous about going outside.

Etheridge said the police department is conducting an internal use-of-force review.