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Kim Potter trial: Prosecution tears into Potter’s police training

December 16, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.) — The prosecution wrapped up its arguments in the trial against Kim Potter, who fatally shot 20-year-old Daunte Wright during a traffic stop in April. In its case, the state is zeroing in on Potter’s training as a Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, police officer.

Police officers and use of force experts have been called on the stand one-by-one to analyze Potter’s actions.

She is charged with first- and second-degree manslaughter in his death. Potter has pleaded not guilty to both charges.

Wright was pulled over for an expired registration tab and a hanging air freshener in the rearview mirror, police said.

Potter said she meant to grab her stun gun but accidentally shot her firearm instead when she and other officers were attempting to arrest Wright, who had escaped the officers’ grip and was scuffling with them when he was shot. He then drove away, crashing into another vehicle shortly after.

Prosecutors argued that regardless of her intent, Potter acted recklessly and negligently. She should have known the difference between her handgun and her stun gun, given her more than 20 years of experience on the force, they said.

They are also arguing that Potter should not have used her stun gun in such a situation since it’s against department policy.

Prosecutor Matthew Frank highlighted portions of the training materials that said a stun gun should not be used simply to stop fleeing suspects or on suspects who are operating vehicles. Wright was in the driver’s seat of his car when he was shot.

The defense maintained that Potter’s actions were a mistake but argued that Potter was within her rights to use deadly force on Wright since he could have dragged another officer with his car.

Sgt. Mike Peterson, a special agent for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, took the stand as a state’s witness. He testified that officers should usually take bystanders, nearby officers, and the scene in the background into account when deciding to use a weapon.

Expert: Unreasonable use of force

Use-of-force expert Seth Stoughton, a professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law, testified that Potter’s use of deadly force was inappropriate.

“The evidence suggests a reasonable officer in Officer Potter’s position could not have believed it was proportional to the threat at the time,” Stoughton said on the witness stand.

Stoughton testified that deadly force would have been inappropriate even if Potter believed another officer was in the car — because it could have posed a risk to nearby officers and Wright’s girlfriend.

He said any reasonable officer wouldn’t have decided to use a stun gun instead of a firearm if they thought there was an imminent threat of death or great bodily harm.

In an analysis of the incident, he also said that “a reasonable officer in that situation would not have believed” those threats existed.

How Brooklyn Center officers are trained

Using pages from the manufacturer’s and the department’s training materials as evidence, Frank showed the jury that the dangers of mixing up a stun gun and a handgun are discussed at length in the training and certification process.

Potter was trained to keep her stun gun on the holster of her less-dominant side, performing a cross-draw where the dominant hand reaches across the body for Taser, according to former Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon.

“The policy was: opposite side of your duty firearm,” said Brooklyn Center officer Anthony Luckey, who also testified that Brooklyn Center officers had extensive training on pulling out their firearms and their stun guns. “That way, officers do not get their firearms confused with their Tasers.”

He confirmed that officers practice drawing the stun guns, go through slideshow lessons and perform continuous hands-on training regarding their weapons. In addition, they also go through training as not to confuse their weapons.

Sam McGinnis, a senior special agent with the state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, led the jury through the Brooklyn Center department’s training procedures for using stun guns.

On the witness stand, he showed the jury how “spark tests” are done. He did one with his own device, which generated a loud buzz for five seconds as electricity arced across the electrodes.

Based on department policy, spark tests are supposed to be done at the beginning of every shift to ensure their stun guns are working.

McGinnis testified that Potter didn’t test her stun gun on the day she shot Wright or the day before.

She did run the check six out of her last 10 shifts. McGinnis testified that he was unsure of how compliant the department’s officers were with the policy.

Stun gun versus firearm

McGinnis testified about the differences between stun guns and firearms, as well as how they’re supposed to be used. He said that the holsters on Potter’s duty belt require an officer to make specific, deliberate actions to release the weapons.

For instance, the Taser holster has a lever, while the handgun holster is closed with a snap.

“Once the Taser is inside of the holster, it’s retained there by that security mechanism and can’t be brought out again until that is pushed and the Taser’s released,” McGinnis said.

The Taser is a bright yellow color and weighs just under a pound, McGinnis testified. Potter’s handgun was black and weighed over 2 pounds. The Taser and firearm both have different triggers, grips and safety mechanisms that are necessary before they can be used, McGinnis testified.

The stun gun has a laser and LED lights that display before it is fired, and he demonstrated the effects before the jury. The handgun does not have these features.

Stoughton also testified that the dangers of “weapons confusion” are well known.

The defense said it plans on introducing testimony about traumatic incidents, police work and action errors, which defense attorney Paul Engh said will be “about how it is that we do one thing while meaning to do another.”

The defense has cited “action errors” as a reason for Potter to reach for her firearm when meaning to grab her stun gun.

“[Testimony] will tell you in times of chaos, acute stress decisions have to be made when there is no time for reflection,” he said during the opening statement. “What happens in these high catastrophic instances is that the habits that are ingrained, the training that’s ingrained takes over. In these chaotic situations, the historic training is applied and the newer training is discounted.”

Engh said that stun guns have only been available in the last 10 years to the department and this is a brand new stun gun, “whereas, by comparison, Potter has 26 years of gun training. And an error can happen.”

Stoughton said he knew of “fewer than 20” cases since stun guns entered law enforcement departments in the ’90s. Stoughton said stun gun manufacturers have taken several steps to prevent errors, and it’s become a vital part of officer training.

Workers of candle factory destroyed in tornadoes file class-action lawsuit against company

December 16, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(MAYFIELD, Ky.) — Workers at the Mayfield Consumer Products candle factory where eight people were killed by tornadoes last weekend filed a class-action lawsuit against their employer late Wednesday night.

The factory was destroyed when tornadoes tore through nine states, leaving 89 people dead.

The lawsuit, filed in the Graves Circuit Court in Kentucky by Elijah Johnson and 109 other “similarly situated employees,” alleges that the candle factory required them to continue working, even with the threat of an expected dangerous tornado.

One employee claimed she was threatened with disciplinary action if she went home early on the night tornadoes were expected.

The candle factory allegedly threatened to fire any employees that left because of the expected tornado, just hours before it destroyed the factory, the lawsuit claims.

The lawsuit claims the factory showed “flagrant indifference to the rights of Plaintiff Johnson and to the other similarly situated Plaintiffs with a subjective awareness that such conduct will result in human death and/or bodily injuries.”

Workers were allegedly not informed of the danger of the incoming tornado nor did supervisors tell them what was “really going on,” according to the court filing.

Mayfield Consumer Products CEO Troy Propes said the company is establishing an emergency fund to assist employees and their families.

The employees are seeking a jury trial, compensation, punitive damages and legal fees, all with interest.

“Management at that factory caused, oversaw, and facilitated a shirking of decency with regard to duties of care, and faithful employees are now injured or dead, two weekends before Christmas,” Attorney William Davis said in a statement released on Tuesday.

Propes told ABC News that the company is conducting an independent review of procedures separate from an investigation by the governor’s office and will review methods and procedures to see that they were properly followed.

In previous news reports, the factory denied that workers were threatened.

“It’s absolutely untrue,” Bob Ferguson, a spokesman for Mayfield Consumer Products told NBC News. “We’ve had a policy in place since COVID began. Employees can leave any time they want to leave and they can come back the next day.”

Ferguson told NBC News that managers and team leaders undergo a series of emergency drills that follow guidelines of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

“Those protocols are in place and were followed,” he said.

He denied that managers told employees that leaving their shifts meant risking their jobs, according to NBC News.

A spokesperson for Mayfield Consumer Products did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

Ghislaine Maxwell’s defense begins after judge denies request for witness’ anonymity

December 16, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Defense attorneys for Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime associate of serial sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, began to present their case on Thursday after a judge denied their request to allow three of their anticipated witnesses to testify under a pseudonym or using only their first names.

In her decision, Judge Alison Nathan of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York wrote that the court, “after significant independent research,” could not identify a single case in which a court has previously granted the use of pseudonyms to defense witnesses, leading her to believe that the request was unprecedented.

Nathan ruled that, unlike the government’s witnesses who were granted anonymity, the defense’s witnesses are expected to deny any sexual misconduct by Epstein and Maxwell, so they would not qualify as victims entitled to such protection.

The defense’s claims regarding the high-profile nature of the case failed to sway the judge.

“The Defense argues that anonymity is necessary to protect its witnesses from scrutiny and harassment because of the significant publicity this case has garnered,” Nathan wrote. “But these generalized concerns are present in every high-profile criminal case. They do not present the rare circumstances that prior courts have found justify the use of pseudonyms.”

The defense appears to be centered on downplaying Maxwell’s role in Epstein’s life and highlighting the fallibility of human memory following two weeks of testimony from multiple women who say Maxwell frequently facilitated, and sometimes participated in, their sexual abuse by Epstein when they were underage.

Thursday’s first witness, Maxwell’s former personal assistant Cimberly Espinosa, described Maxwell as Epstein’s “estate manager,” and said that while Maxwell and Epstein “behaved like a couple,” they never lived together, and that their relationship changed when they both began to date other people.

Espinosa described Epstein as “a giver” and “a kind person,” and testified that during her six years of employment, she never saw either Epstein or Maxwell behave inappropriately with underage girls.

During cross-examination, however, she acknowledged that she worked in Epstein’s office and never at his homes, where Maxwell’s accusers allege their abuse took place.

A subsequent witness, University of California-Irvine psychology professor Elizabeth Loftus, testified that sometimes people “remember things differently than they actually were.” Loftus, an expert on human memory, is not permitted to testify directly about any of Maxwell’s accusers, many of whom provided gut-wrenching tales of abuse — but she said that “emotion is no guarantee you’re dealing with an authentic memory.”

Human memory “doesn’t work like a recording device,” Loftus said, and people can “fall sway to misinformation and their memory becomes inaccurate.”

Maxwell faces a six-count indictment for allegedly conspiring with and aiding Epstein in his sexual abuse of underage girls between 1994 and 2004. She has been held without bail since her arrest in July 2020 and has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

It’s unclear whether Maxwell will take the stand during her trial. If convicted, she could spend decades in prison.

Rare tornadoes strike America’s heartland, destroying homes and knocking out power

December 16, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — A storm system that spawned possibly multiple tornadoes across America’s heartland on Wednesday night — rare for December — has left a trail of destruction and hundreds of thousands without power.

At least five people were killed in the storms, according to The Associated Press, including three in Kansas killed in car crashes caused by blinding dirt kicked up by the strong winds.

At least 23 tornadoes were reported across four states — Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota and Wisconsin — between Wednesday and Thursday, with at least six so far confirmed by the National Weather Service.

As of 6 p.m. ET on Thursday, more than 332,000 customers were without power across the Midwest, with Michigan and Wisconsin accounting for the highest volume of outages, according to data collected by PowerOutage.US.

A twister touched down in Plainview, Minnesota, just outside Rochester, on Wednesday evening, after tornado threats were issued for Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin, according to the National Weather Service. It was the first time Minnesota recorded a tornado in December, and the first-ever tornado watch and tornado warning to be issued for the state in December.

Wisconsin saw its first December tornado since 1970, with two so far confirmed, including an EF-2 in Neillsville.

The nearby Rochester Fire Department said in a statement on Facebook that its officers had a “busy night” responding to 35 calls for help during the “record storm and wind gusts.” Incidents included multiple small fires, gas leaks, downed power lines and other hazards caused by falling trees. The most significant event was a burning transformer on a power pole that spread to a nearby detached garage, setting the structure ablaze. There were no injuries and the nearby home was not impacted by the fire, Rochester police said.

A tornado was confirmed in Hartland, Minnesota, about 65 miles southwest of Rochester. About 35 to 40 houses in the surrounding Freeborn County were damaged, mostly minor, with Hartland being the worst-hit city. Commercial buildings in the area suffered “substantial damage” and several power lines were knocked down, according to the Freeborn County Emergency Management. There were no storm-related injuries.

Meanwhile, extensive storm damage was reported in Stanley, Wisconsin, where a tornado was confirmed. The Stanley Police Department said in a statement on Facebook that the storm resulted in property damage throughout the city but no injuries.

“Daybreak will reveal the true extent of damages within the city,” Stanley police said, “but we are certain this storm will bring out the true definition of community as we begin to recover and move forward.”

The storm system, along with a cold front, will stall over the Mid-South and Ohio Valley regions over the next few days, bringing heavy rain to some states in the Midwest and South that were hit hard by deadly tornadoes last weekend, according to the latest forecast from the National Weather Service.

Multiple tornadoes are unusual for December in the United States. While twisters can happen any time of year, the greatest threat is typically in spring and summer with the peak season on the earlier side for more southern states, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

ABC News’ Alexandra Faul, Max Golembo, Will Gretsky and Ahmad Hemingway contributed to this report.

Education secretary urges schools use federal funding to combat teacher shortages

December 16, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Education on Thursday urged districts to combat pandemic-fueled teacher shortages by offering them more money from the pot of federal COVID-relief aid, in a letter sent to schools nationwide.

Schools are facing dire staffing losses as droves of teachers leave their posts, exhausted by the stresses of the pandemic. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said federal money could be used to hire more substitute teachers and give permanent teachers much-needed time-off, or to offer teachers better salaries through hiring or retention bonuses.

“Let us be clear: [The American Rescue Plan] provides vital resources to hire additional educators and school staff and to improve compensation to recruit and retain educators and school staff,” Cardona wrote in the letter to educators, obtained exclusively by ABC News.

“School districts should act with urgency to keep schools open for in-person learning and ensure they do not waste this opportunity to make critical investments,” he said.

The American Rescue Plan, signed into law last March by President Joe Biden, provided over $122 billion to schools.

Cardona listed various ways schools could use this pot of money to improve the situation for teachers, custodians, bus drivers, school nurses and other educators, and cited schools that have already done so.

“The most common reason educators have cited for leaving school employment in the last year is stress, followed by insufficient pay,” Cardona wrote.

“Many school leaders are increasing wages by offering hiring and retention bonuses, working towards permanent salary increases, or providing premium pay that help educators receive the compensation they deserve and keep them in the profession, and we encourage others to continue to work towards increasing compensation,” he wrote.

Cardona cited reports of schools offering signing bonuses of up to $6,000 in California, and other financial incentives offered to new teachers in Oklahoma, North Carolina and New Jersey.

“Now, more than ever, supporting educator well-being is critical for retaining our current educators and staff,” Cardona wrote.

Still, some schools have noted that short-term pay increases aren’t enough to solve their staff shortages.

Some principals have found that there are simply not enough trained professionals in the pipeline for them to recruit, and it takes time for teachers or counselors to get certified. Others have found that the temporary pay increases from federal relief are unsustainable.

And other schools have reported that nearby districts have been able to poach teachers with higher salaries funded by federal aid, leaving schools in lower-income areas with less teachers.

On the other hand, the National Education Association, a powerful teachers’ union, has thrown its weight behind the policy of using federal aid to retain teachers, saying it’s been effective with educational support professionals, or ESPs, when paired with other solutions.

“ESP leaders have found that increasing pay and benefits is the top strategy,” the NEA said in a post on its website.

“But what also helps is providing flexibility for retirees to return to work while still receiving pension payments, revisiting licensure challenges, providing incentives, creating cross-state collaborations to make it easier to work in other states and localities, and looking at the well-being of current staff and ways to improve it to keep them on board,” the union wrote.

The NEA noted that the average salary of ESPs in 22 states is $30,000 or below, “which is not a livable wage or an attractive career proposition.”

Without addressing the educator shortages, schools are facing interruptions in all facets of the school day, from longer bus routes due to less bus drivers, larger class sizes or substitute teachers who aren’t qualified for the subjects they’re assigned to, and even school closures.

Schools in 11 states — Idaho, California, Colorado, Illinois, Missouri, Michigan, New Mexico, New York, Tennessee, Vermont, and West Virginia — have had to close temporarily because of staffing shortages, according to an October report in Ed Week.

For his part, Cardona acknowledged that the short-term solutions were just the beginning, but called on schools to take advantage of what was available.

“[The Department of Education] strongly encourages you to use funding under ARP to respond to the urgent needs resulting from the pandemic while beginning to plan for the investments needed to ensure that every student has access to the qualified educators and staff they need,” Cardona wrote.

COVID-19 live updates: Omicron will be dominant variant in US ‘very soon,’ Fauci says

December 16, 2021 by WDNY Radio

As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.3 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 802,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.

About 61% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

Dec 16, 8:04 am
Omicron will be dominant variant in US ‘very soon,’ Fauci says

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading expert on infectious diseases, warned Thursday that omicron will become the dominant variant of the novel coronavirus in the United States “very soon.”

“It has an extraordinary ability to transmit efficiently and spread,” Fauci, the chief medical advisor to U.S. President Joe Biden, told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos in an interview on Good Morning America.

“It has what we call a doubling time of about three days and if you do the math on that, if you have just a couple of percentage of the isolates being omicron, very soon it’s going to be the dominant variant,” he explained. “We’ve seen that in South Africa, we’re seeing it in the U.K. and I’m absolutely certain that’s what we’re going to be seeing here relatively soon.”

Fauci, who is also the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, urged Americans to “absolutely” get vaccinated against COVID-19, if they haven’t already, and to also receive a booster shot when they become eligible.

“At this point, we don’t believe you need an omicron-specific boost,” he added. “We just need to get the boost with what you got originally for the primary vaccination.”

Dec 16, 6:14 am
France to ban non-essential travel with UK over omicron surge

France announced Thursday that it will ban non-essential travel to and from the United Kingdom due to the country’s surge in cases of the omicron variant.

Starting Saturday, France will require people to have “a compelling reason” to travel between the two countries. Travel for tourism or work will not be allowed. French citizens, however, can return to France, according to a statement from the French prime minister’s office.

All travelers from the U.K. will be required to show proof of a negative COVID-19 test taken less than 24 hours before departure. Upon arrival in France, they must self-isolate for a week, but that period can be ended after 48 hours if they test negative for COVID-19 again.

The new rules apply to people regardless of their vaccination status.

“Faced with the extremely rapid spread of the Omicron variant in the United Kingdom, the Government has chosen to reinstate the need for an essential reason for travel from and to the United Kingdom, and to strengthen the requirement for tests on departure and arrival,” the French prime minister’s office said in the statement Thursday. “The Government is also calling on travelers who had planned to visit the United Kingdom to postpone their trip.”

Dec 16, 4:24 am
Indonesia confirms 1st case of omicron variant

Indonesia announced Thursday its first confirmed case of the omicron variant.

The case was detected in a janitor who works at the COVID-19 Emergency Hospital of Kemayoran Athletes Village in Jakarta, according to a statement from Indonesian Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin.

The hospital’s cleaning staff are routinely tested and the results for three people were positive for COVID-19 on Dec. 10. Those samples were then sent to a genome sequencing lab, which identified the omicron variant in one of the samples on Wednesday, according to the statement.

Indonesia’s Ministry of Health has also identified probable cases of omicron among five travelers who were in quarantine — two Indonesian citizens who had just returned from the United Kingdom and the United States, and three foreigners from China. Their test samples are being sequenced and the results will be known in a few days, according to the statement.

The health minister urged Indonesians “not to panic and to remain calm,” and to get vaccinated against COVID-19 if they haven’t already.

“The arrival of new variants from abroad, which we identified in quarantine, shows that our defense system against the arrival of new variants is quite good, we need to strengthen it,” Sadikin said. “So it’s normal to stay 10 days in quarantine. The goal is not to make it difficult for people who came, but to protect the people of Indonesia.”

Dec 15, 4:46 pm
Forecast: US could see up to 845,000 deaths by early January

Forecast models used by the CDC suggest weekly death totals and hospital admissions will rise over the next four weeks.

The U.S. could reach a total of 845,000 deaths by Jan. 8, according to the forecasts from the COVID-19 Forecast Hub at UMass Amherst.

The COVID-19 Forecast Hub team monitors and combines forecasting models from the nation’s top researchers. They then create an ensemble, usually with a wide cone of uncertainty. Nicholas Reich, a biostatistician who runs the forecasting model, told ABC News Wednesday that he doesn’t think the forecasts included omicron in their predictions because the majority of data isn’t publicly available yet in a format that can be easily incorporated into a model.

-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos

Dec 15, 4:20 pm
US cases up 45% in the last month

The U.S. is now reporting nearly 118,000 new cases each day — up by 45% in the last month, according to federal data.

Daily COVID-19-related hospital admissions have leapt by 46% in the last month.

Maine and New Hampshire are now averaging more new cases than at any other point in the pandemic, according to federal data.

New Hampshire currently holds the nation’s highest case rate, followed by Rhode Island, Maine, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos

COVID-19 live updates: More universities cancel events, move exams online

December 16, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.3 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 801,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.