Colorado
Parents of man shot and killed by Aurora police officer after scuffle sue
DENVER (AP) — The parents of a man who was shot and killed by an officer after the two had scuffled are suing the officer and accusing police in the Denver suburb of Aurora failing to end a pattern of racially discriminatory policing.
The lawsuit, announced Tuesday, said Officer Brandon Mills shot Rashaud Johnson, 32, twice in the chest on May 12 when he posed no threat. Mills held him at gunpoint as Johnson bled on the ground, waiting about five minutes for another officer to arrive without trying to help, the lawsuit said.
When the other officer arrived, Mills told him Johnson did not have a gun but said Johnson had tried to disarm him several times, according to police body camera footage. Mills put a single hand on one of Johnson’s wounds after the officers handcuffed him, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit said Johnson, who was Black and a standup comedian, was having a mental health crisis when he was killed at a vast remote airport parking lot near where he lived. Employees had called 911 five times over about two hours asking for police to check on Johnson as he walked barefoot on the lot’s hot pavement, according to the lawsuit and information previously released by police. Mills responded alone after the employees reported that Johnson was “trying to fight them.”
Johnson did not respond to Mills’ questions and rushed toward the officer, according to body camera footage. Mills swung his baton and then fired his Taser before they ended up on the ground in a struggle, the footage showed.
Johnson pulled one of Mills’ spare ammunition magazines from his belt, the lawsuit said. After Mills pushed Johnson off him and ordered him to move back, Mills pulled out his gun and said he would shoot Johnson if he didn’t get on the ground. Johnson stood still, not far from the lot’s fence, before he slowly began walking toward Mills, according to the footage. Mills then shot him from about 15 feet (5 meters) away.
District Attorney Brian Mason has not yet decided whether the shooting was justified or criminal charges should be filed following an investigation by other area law enforcement agencies, his spokesperson, Christopher Hopper, said.
The Aurora Police Department is reviewing the shooting, city attorney Pete Schulte said.
“Like any critical incident, there are important facts that will be revealed by these investigations that are not depicted in a single body camera video. Now that this lawsuit has been filed my office will defend the city and the officer in this case,” Schulte said.
Mills could not be located for comment. An email message sent to the union representing Aurora police officers was not immediately returned.
At a May 29 press conference on the shooting, Aurora police Chief Todd Chamberlain said that “the absence of a weapon does not mean there is an absence of danger.”
Johnson’s mother, Taushica Carter, said that as a military veteran, she has trouble understanding how someone who took an oath to uphold the law killed her only child.
“Someone who thought they were God, basically, took my baby’s life,” she said at a news conference with her lawyers, tears running down her face.
His father, Christopher Johnson, said he wanted people to know that his son was not a troublemaker and had parents who loved him.
“We want his memory to be positive and the community to understand the loss that did not have to happen,” he said.
Washington
Justice Department releases new list of so-called sanctuary jurisdictions
The Justice Department identified some three dozen states, cities and counties as so-called sanctuary jurisdictions on Tuesday, two months after the federal government quietly removed a much longer list that included many localities that support the Trump administration’s hard-line immigration policies.
The earlier, typo-riddled list was met with pushback from across the political spectrum, with officials often saying it wasn’t clear why their jurisdictions were included.
The new announcement doesn’t appear to threaten consequences beyond what the federal government is already doing.
Attorney General Pamela Bondi warned in the announcement that the department would “continue bringing litigation against sanctuary jurisdictions and work closely with the Department of Homeland Security to eradicate these harmful policies around the country.”
“Sanctuary policies impede law enforcement and put American citizens at risk by design,” she said.
The new list is composed overwhelmingly of Democratic jurisdictions, including states like New York, California and Connecticut, cities like Boston and New York City and a handful of counties, including Baltimore County, Maryland, and Cook County, Illinois.
There’s no clear definition of sanctuary jurisdictions, but the term is generally applied to state and local governments that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
The administration never fully explained the errors in the first announcement, which included hundreds of jurisdictions, including places that had voted overwhelmingly for Trump and at least one that had declared itself a “non-sanctuary city.” The list was published in late May on the Department of Homeland Security’s website but within three days was replaced with a “Page Not Found” error message.
Trump officials have long warned that the federal government would go after jurisdictions that resist the president’s plans for mass deportations. In April, Trump signed an executive order requiring Homeland Security and the attorney general to publish a list of jurisdictions they believe are obstructing federal immigration laws.
The administration has filed a series of lawsuits targeting state or city policies it says are interfering with immigration enforcement, including those in Los Angeles, New York City, Denver and Rochester, New York. It sued four New Jersey cities in May.
In late July, a judge in Illinois dismissed a Trump administration lawsuit that sought to disrupt limits Chicago imposes on cooperation between federal immigration agents and local police.
In Connecticut, Democratic officials pushed back, arguing there’s no reference to sanctuary jurisdictions in state law.
Attorney General William Tong called the description of sanctuary states in the Department of Justice announcement “a concocted fiction” of the Trump administration.
Connecticut’s Trust Act law has limited how police in the state can work with federal immigration since 2013.
Parents of man shot and killed by Aurora police officer after scuffle sue
DENVER (AP) — The parents of a man who was shot and killed by an officer after the two had scuffled are suing the officer and accusing police in the Denver suburb of Aurora failing to end a pattern of racially discriminatory policing.
The lawsuit, announced Tuesday, said Officer Brandon Mills shot Rashaud Johnson, 32, twice in the chest on May 12 when he posed no threat. Mills held him at gunpoint as Johnson bled on the ground, waiting about five minutes for another officer to arrive without trying to help, the lawsuit said.
When the other officer arrived, Mills told him Johnson did not have a gun but said Johnson had tried to disarm him several times, according to police body camera footage. Mills put a single hand on one of Johnson’s wounds after the officers handcuffed him, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit said Johnson, who was Black and a standup comedian, was having a mental health crisis when he was killed at a vast remote airport parking lot near where he lived. Employees had called 911 five times over about two hours asking for police to check on Johnson as he walked barefoot on the lot’s hot pavement, according to the lawsuit and information previously released by police. Mills responded alone after the employees reported that Johnson was “trying to fight them.”
Johnson did not respond to Mills’ questions and rushed toward the officer, according to body camera footage. Mills swung his baton and then fired his Taser before they ended up on the ground in a struggle, the footage showed.
Johnson pulled one of Mills’ spare ammunition magazines from his belt, the lawsuit said. After Mills pushed Johnson off him and ordered him to move back, Mills pulled out his gun and said he would shoot Johnson if he didn’t get on the ground. Johnson stood still, not far from the lot’s fence, before he slowly began walking toward Mills, according to the footage. Mills then shot him from about 15 feet (5 meters) away.
District Attorney Brian Mason has not yet decided whether the shooting was justified or criminal charges should be filed following an investigation by other area law enforcement agencies, his spokesperson, Christopher Hopper, said.
The Aurora Police Department is reviewing the shooting, city attorney Pete Schulte said.
“Like any critical incident, there are important facts that will be revealed by these investigations that are not depicted in a single body camera video. Now that this lawsuit has been filed my office will defend the city and the officer in this case,” Schulte said.
Mills could not be located for comment. An email message sent to the union representing Aurora police officers was not immediately returned.
At a May 29 press conference on the shooting, Aurora police Chief Todd Chamberlain said that “the absence of a weapon does not mean there is an absence of danger.”
Johnson’s mother, Taushica Carter, said that as a military veteran, she has trouble understanding how someone who took an oath to uphold the law killed her only child.
“Someone who thought they were God, basically, took my baby’s life,” she said at a news conference with her lawyers, tears running down her face.
His father, Christopher Johnson, said he wanted people to know that his son was not a troublemaker and had parents who loved him.
“We want his memory to be positive and the community to understand the loss that did not have to happen,” he said.
Washington
Justice Department releases new list of so-called sanctuary jurisdictions
The Justice Department identified some three dozen states, cities and counties as so-called sanctuary jurisdictions on Tuesday, two months after the federal government quietly removed a much longer list that included many localities that support the Trump administration’s hard-line immigration policies.
The earlier, typo-riddled list was met with pushback from across the political spectrum, with officials often saying it wasn’t clear why their jurisdictions were included.
The new announcement doesn’t appear to threaten consequences beyond what the federal government is already doing.
Attorney General Pamela Bondi warned in the announcement that the department would “continue bringing litigation against sanctuary jurisdictions and work closely with the Department of Homeland Security to eradicate these harmful policies around the country.”
“Sanctuary policies impede law enforcement and put American citizens at risk by design,” she said.
The new list is composed overwhelmingly of Democratic jurisdictions, including states like New York, California and Connecticut, cities like Boston and New York City and a handful of counties, including Baltimore County, Maryland, and Cook County, Illinois.
There’s no clear definition of sanctuary jurisdictions, but the term is generally applied to state and local governments that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
The administration never fully explained the errors in the first announcement, which included hundreds of jurisdictions, including places that had voted overwhelmingly for Trump and at least one that had declared itself a “non-sanctuary city.” The list was published in late May on the Department of Homeland Security’s website but within three days was replaced with a “Page Not Found” error message.
Trump officials have long warned that the federal government would go after jurisdictions that resist the president’s plans for mass deportations. In April, Trump signed an executive order requiring Homeland Security and the attorney general to publish a list of jurisdictions they believe are obstructing federal immigration laws.
The administration has filed a series of lawsuits targeting state or city policies it says are interfering with immigration enforcement, including those in Los Angeles, New York City, Denver and Rochester, New York. It sued four New Jersey cities in May.
In late July, a judge in Illinois dismissed a Trump administration lawsuit that sought to disrupt limits Chicago imposes on cooperation between federal immigration agents and local police.
In Connecticut, Democratic officials pushed back, arguing there’s no reference to sanctuary jurisdictions in state law.
Attorney General William Tong called the description of sanctuary states in the Department of Justice announcement “a concocted fiction” of the Trump administration.
Connecticut’s Trust Act law has limited how police in the state can work with federal immigration since 2013.
