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(PLEASANTON, Calif.) — The remains of a California dad who vanished more than three weeks ago while on a run outside have been found, authorities said.
A volunteer hiker searching for 37-year-old Philip Kreycik found what police believe to be his remains underneath an area of heavy brush in Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park on Tuesday afternoon, Pleasanton police said.
Kreycik left his home for an 8-mile run on Saturday, July 10, around 11 a.m., according to the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office. Kreycik, a resident of Berkeley, told his wife Jen Yao that he’d be gone for an hour, police said. But the father of a 3-year-old and 10-month old never returned.
Many people, including Yao, were hopeful that he would be found because of his experience as an endurance athlete who was familiar with rural terrain and scorching temperatures, according to police.
On the day he vanished, the region reached a scorching 106 degrees, police said.
Authorities subsequently launched a massive search for Kreycik, which included more than a dozen agencies from across the state, nearly 300 volunteers, dogs, helicopters and thermal imaging technology, according to police. The search scaled down after five full days, and it would take weeks before he was eventually found.
“Once we heard they found Philip, it was devastating, especially for the community because this just doesn’t happen around here,” Justin Fisher, who volunteered in the search during the first week, told ABC San Francisco station KGO.
“We wanted to bring him home alive and safe, so to deliver this news today is hard for all of us,” said Sgt. Ray Kelly of the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department. Authorities say the investigation will remain open as they try to understand what happened to Kreycik while on the run.
Kelly said that Kreycik’s family “deserve those answers.”
(Orangeburg, S.C.) — A Black man who was allegedly assaulted by an Orangeburg, South Carolina, police officer last month spoke out for the first time Tuesday.
Clips of police body camera footage obtained and released by the man’s lawyer allegedly show former officer David Lance Dukes stomping on the neck and head of Clarence Gailyard, 58, during an arrest.
The encounter occurred on July 26, when Dukes responded to a 911 call of a man carrying a firearm, his lawyer, Justin Bamberg, said at a press conference Tuesday. An eight-second video shows Dukes running toward Gailyard, forcing him to the ground, handcuffing him and searching his pockets.
Police did not find a gun at the scene, according to Bamberg.
“When officer David Dukes goes and stomps on the back of Mr. Clarence’s head as he lay on the ground completely defenseless, the attitude that he shows is a reflection of the leadership,” Bamberg said, demanding the release of the full police body camera footage. “And what we see is bad policing and unacceptable policing.”
Dukes was fired from the police department after review from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division’s Use of Force Committee.
He was taken into custody on July 31 and charged with first-degree assault and battery.
Gailyard told reporters that he is still shaken by the incident and is now hoping to see change.
“Every time I look in the mirror and see the scar on my face, it is not OK,” Gailyard said. “I’m still in pain. I hope the pain goes away, but I don’t think the pain is going away right now.”
Gailyard suffered a head injury and bloody knot on his forehead, he said, and was taken to the hospital following the incident.
Gailyard and Bamberg commended a female officer at the scene, who reported Dukes’ alleged actions to the sergeant on duty after witnessing his use of force at the time of the arrest.
“In reality, if a person were to walk up to a defenseless dog and stomp on the dog in that fashion, video of that would go viral — have millions of views and people across the planet would be saying the citizen who stomped on that dog deserves to go to prison. But it wasn’t a dog that got stomped on, it was a living, breathing human being,” Bamberg said.
Demario Julian, Gailyard’s cousin, who spoke at the press conference, told reporters he and Gailyard were walking home as the officers arrived at the scene.
“Dukes jumped out his car with his gun drawn and I’m looking down the barrel of the gun, that’s basically what happened,” Julian said.
Demario said Dukes claimed Gailyard threw a gun into the bushes. Demario denied the claim.
“This is not a David Dukes problem, this is a city of Orangeburg problem,” Bamberg said. “This is an Orangeburg Department of Public Safety problem. Attitude reflects leadership.”
Mike Adams, chief of the Orangeburg Department of Public Safety, spoke at a separate press conference in response to the incident and the release of body camera footage. Adams said Dukes’ actions were “outside the scope of our use of force policy.”
Dukes has not responded to ABC News’ request for comment. Duke’s attorney, John Louden Furse, told ABC News he did not want comment on the case.
(IRVINE, Calif.) — The president of Blizzard Entertainment is departing the company after accusations that a “frat boy” workplace culture fostered gender discrimination and sexual harassment.
In a letter to staff posted on its website, the chief operating officer of Blizzard’s parent company, Activision Blizzard, announced Tuesday that J. Allen Brack was leaving “to pursue new opportunities.”
COO Daniel Alegre also said that Jen Oneal and Mike Ybarra have been appointed as the new “co-leaders of Blizzard.”
The leadership shakeup at the maker of popular video games including “Overwatch” and “World of Warcraft” comes after a lawsuit that alleges rampant discrimination and sexual harassment at the company.
California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing filed the suit late last month, which accuses the company of fostering a sexist culture and paying women less than men for similar work. Moreover, it states that women were promoted at slower rates than men and fired or forced to quit at higher frequencies than men.
The agency also said that women were subject to constant sexual harassment and the company failed to take reasonable steps to prevent the conduct even when it was known.
The complaint states the company “fostered a pervasive ‘frat boy’ workplace culture” that is “a breeding ground for harassment and discrimination against women.” It also mentioned a “particularly tragic example,” stating that “a female employee committed suicide during a business trip with a male supervisor.”
“Numerous complaints” were made to human resources, according to the lawsuit, but the company did not address them and female employees who went to HR were subject to retaliation.
Blizzard Entertainment did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for further comment on the allegations raised in the lawsuit, but Activision Blizzard’s CEO Bobby Kotick sent a letter to staff shortly after it was filed promising sweeping workplace reforms and announcing the law firm WilmerHale had been tapped to conduct a review of policies and procedures.
His full letter was shared with investors on the company’s website.
“This has been a difficult and upsetting week,” Kotick said in the July 27 letter to employees. “I want to recognize and thank all those who have come forward in the past and in recent days. I so appreciate your courage.”
In a statement to IGN, the company said the “DFEH includes distorted, and in many cases false, descriptions of Blizzard’s past.”
Kotick promised the company was taking “swift action to be the compassionate, caring company you came to work for and to ensure a safe environment.”
“There is no place anywhere at our Company for discrimination, harassment, or unequal treatment of any kind,” Kotick wrote. “We will do everything possible to make sure that together, we improve and build the kind of inclusive workplace that is essential to foster creativity and inspiration.”
He also acknowledged that initial responses to concerns “were, quite frankly, tone deaf.” He encouraged employees to contact WilmerHale’s team to voice any concerns.
The overhaul at the video game giant comes years after much of the entertainment sector was hit with a #MeToo revolution that toppled prominent male executives across multiple industries.
Some critics have said the tech sector’s gender equity efforts still lag behind.
Kevin Kish, the director of California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing, called for all employers to ensure equal pay and take steps to prevent discrimination and harassment in a statement announcing the Blizzard suit.
“This is especially important for employers in male-dominated industries, such as technology and gaming,” Kish added.
(NEW YORK) — People who got a flu shot earlier this year may be less likely to suffer a severe COVID-19 infection down the road, according to new research.
The study, published in the journal Plos One on Wednesday, analyzed the electronic medical records of more than 74,700 people from the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Israel and Singapore, who tested positive for COVID-19. Researchers found that those who had gotten the flu vaccine during the previous six months were less likely to have had health complications related to their COVID-19 infection.
Specifically, researchers found that those who didn’t get flu shots were up to 20% more likely to be admitted to the ICU; up to 58% more likely to visit the emergency room; up to 45% more likely to develop sepsis; up to 58% more likely to have a stroke; and 40% more likely to develop deep vein thrombosis, compared with those vaccinated against the flu.
Researchers didn’t find any connection between receiving a flu shot and being less likely to die from COVID-19.
The new research is in line with several previous studies that found links between better COVID-19 outcomes and flu shots. That prior research similarly didn’t find the flu vaccine offered any protection against COVID-19 death.
Importantly, the flu shot’s link to better COVID-19 outcomes doesn’t necessarily mean it’s protective against the novel coronavirus. While it’s possible that the flu shot boosts immunity, it’s also possible that people who opt to get the flu shot tend to be healthier overall than people who skip it, meaning they’re already at lower risk for COVID-19 complications.
Additionally, the flu shot changes every flu season, so it’s unclear whether the vaccine developed for the 2020-2021 flu season would have the same link to less severe COVID-19 that the 2019-2020 vaccine did.
Another key limitation with electronic medical records is that different countries may report symptoms differently and use different diagnostic tests to confirm SARS-CoV-2 diagnoses, which could skew the data.
While more research is needed, the study authors noted, “Even patients who have already received SARS-CoV-2 vaccination may stand to benefit given that the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine does not convey complete immunity.”
(WASHINGTON) — The police officer stabbed and then fatally shot during an attack at the Pentagon’s bus terminal on Tuesday has been identified as George Gonzalez, a Brooklyn native and Iraq War veteran who joined the Pentagon police force in 2018.
Gonzalez was killed Tuesday after being stabbed by a man identified by the FBI on Wednesday as Austin William Lanz, 27, of Acworth, Georgia.
In a series of tweets, the FBI said the assailant exited a bus at the transit center in Arlington, Virginia, and — without provocation — attacked Gonzalez with a knife, severely wounding him.
Two law enforcement sources told ABC News Tuesday that Gonzalez was stabbed in the head from behind and then disarmed.
A struggle ensued and the assailant mortally wounded Gonzalez with his own service weapon and then shot himself. The FBI also said there were other Pentagon Force Protection Agency officers who engaged with the subject, but he died at the scene.
A civilian bystander was also hurt during the incident and was taken to the hospital with injuries that were not considered life threatening.
In addition to the Pentagon police officers, the Metro Transit Police Department, Arlington County Police Department and the FBI Washington Field Office responded to the incident. The FBI’s investigation continues.
The Pentagon Force Protection Agency confirmed their officer’s death Tuesday night and identified him Wednesday.
“Last night, the Pentagon Force Protection Agency observed End of Watch for Pentagon Police Officer George Gonzalez who was tragically killed yesterday during the incident at the Pentagon bus platform,” the Pentagon Force Protection Agency said in a statement Wednesday.
“A native of Brooklyn, New York, he was a die-hard Yankees fan. He was a graduate of New York City’s Canarsie High School,” the statement continued.
“George Gonzalez joined the Pentagon Force Protection Agency (PFPA) as a police officer on July 22, 2018. As a Pentagon Police officer, he took our mission of “protecting those who protect our nation” to heart,” it added. “He was promoted twice and attained the rank of Senior Officer in 2020. A gregarious officer, he was well-liked and respected by his fellow officers.”
A U.S. Army veteran who had been awarded the Army Commendation Medal for his service in Iraq Gonzalez had previously served with the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the Transportation Security Administration.
“Officer Gonzalez embodied our values of integrity and service to others,” said the agency statement. “As we mourn the loss of Officer Gonzalez, our commitment to serve and protect is stronger. Officer Gonzalez’s family is in our thoughts and prayers. May he rest in peace.”
In a statement shared by the agency in a series of tweets, the officer’s family said they were heartbroken over the death of their son and brother, but were proud of the life he had lived.
“George devoted his life to serving his country; first in the military, and then, as a law enforcement officer, he continued to serve by protecting service members and citizens of this country,” statement from the Gonzalez/Rubert family said. “He had an infectious personality and was fiercely loved by his family and friends. He loved his country, his family, and the Yankees. He was one of the good guys with a big heart and we will miss him always.”
Tuesday evening Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin expressed his condolences to the family of the slain officer and ordered that flags at the Pentagon be flown at half-staff in his honor.
“This fallen officer died in the line of duty, helping protect the tens of thousands of people who work in — and who visit — the Pentagon on a daily basis,” Austin said in a statement.
“He and his fellow officers are members of the Pentagon family, and known to us all as professional, skilled and brave,” he said. “This tragic death today is a stark reminder of the dangers they face and the sacrifices they make. We are forever grateful for that service and the courage with which it is rendered.
Lanz enlisted in the Marine Corps on Oct. 9, 2012 but was administratively separated on Nov. 2, 2012 and never earned the title Marine, according to the Marine Corps.
He was arrested in Cobb County, Georgia, in April on several charges — including aggravated battery against police, rioting in a penal institution and making terrorist threats or acts, according to county online court records. The judge in that case ordered Lanz have a mental health and substance abuse evaluation and he was released on a $30,000 bond.
The FBI Atlanta office is also conducting an investigation into Lanz, law enforcement sources told ABC News on Tuesday.
ABC News’ Cindy Smith and Lauren King contributed to this report.
(CALIFORNIA) — For her 40th birthday, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, launched a mentorship initiative for women re-entering the workforce after losing their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The campaign — from the duchess’ nonprofit foundation, Archewell, which she founded with husband Prince Harry — is named 40×40 and is meant to encourage people around the world to give 40 minutes of their time to support women going back to work.
“In reflecting on my 40th birthday and the many things I am grateful for, I’m struck that time is among our greatest and most essential gifts: Time with our loved ones, time doing the things we love, time spent learning, laughing, growing, and the sacred time we have on this earth,” Meghan wrote. “Amongst the most valuable gifts of time is also time spent in service to others knowing that it can contribute to incredible change.”
“To that last point, and with my 40th lap around the sun in mind, it made me wonder: What would happen if we all committed 40 minutes to helping someone else or to mentoring someone in need?” she continued. “And then what would happen if we asked our friends to do the same?”
The duchess went on to note that “tens of millions of women around the world have left the workforce” due to COVID-19, “including over 2 million in the U.S.” She also noted that “the latest research shows that fewer women than men will regain work” as society rebounds from the pandemic.
“I believe mentorship is one way to help women regain confidence and rebuild their economic strength,” Meghan added.
“The time that you donate can contribute to a global wave of service and set in motion meaningful impact in our own communities, and across the world,” she concluded.
Meghan asked 40 activists, athletes, artists and world leaders to join her in donating 40 minutes of mentorship. Among those who have agreed to participating include Adele, Amanda Gorman, Amanda Nguyen, Deepak Chopra, Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, Gloria Steinem, José Andrés, Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau and Stella McCartney.
For more information on 40×40, including how you can get involved, visit the Archewell site.
(LONDON) — The British government recorded a drop in COVID-19 cases for the fifth day in a row Tuesday. Daily deaths rose slightly to 138, but for almost a week had been under 100.
It’s a far cry from public warnings earlier in summer, when the country’s newly minted Health Secretary Sajid Javid warned the nation of the possibility of 100,000 daily cases.
Despite those warnings, the government lifted all remaining restrictions on social distancing and mandated mask-wearing in England on July 19. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s “Freedom Day” was criticized as an irresponsible move in the midst of a third wave driven by the highly transmissible delta variant. “A murderous policy,” said Dr. Gabriel Scally, a leading public health expert at the University of Bristol. “Epidemiological stupidity,” a World Health Organization official said.
But then, cases dropped by around 40%, and deaths and hospitalizations have stayed low, despite the ending of all restrictions — and the world has been baffled as to why.
Many are pointing to the high vaccination rate in the U.K. More than 72% of all adults have received their full dose of vaccination, and the Office for National Statistics recently announced it estimated that 92% of the population in England has antibodies, either through vaccination or through previous infection of COVID-19.
Some experts, such as King’s College London professor of genetic epidemiology Tim Spector, have called foul on the data. Spector suggested in an interview with Sky News that the sudden drop in cases — “unheard of in pandemics” — was likely due to a lack of young people getting tested and asymptomatic cases not being counted in the official reported figures.
But that’s just not true, said John Edmunds, an epidemiologist and member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies committee that advises the British government on COVID-19 policy.
Edmunds told ABC News that several key circumstances appear to explain the sudden drop in cases.
End of Euro 2020 championships
A surge largely triggered by a return to normal, non-pandemic behavior during the Euro 2020 soccer championships has now mostly dissipated.
“The Euros was a glimpse of what would happen if we started to go back to much more normal behavior and went back to the pubs to watch football and so on,” Edmunds said. “Suddenly cases surge.”
But since the tournament is over, Brits aren’t going to the pubs and nightclubs as much, according to Edmunds’ behavioral surveys.
“People’s behavior at the moment is nowhere near normal behavior,” he said, even though there are no more restrictions in place.
The ‘pingdemic’
Shortly after the Euros, in mid-July, the British government’s contact tracing app also became embroiled in a situation that became known as the “pingdemic.”
Hundreds of thousands of people across the U.K. were suddenly ordered to self-isolate at home, after being notified by the app that they had come into contact with someone who had tested positive for the virus.
Businesses were faced with staffing shortages, and there were chaotic scenes at Heathrow Airport in London when suddenly hundreds of security staff were told to go home and isolate.
School vacations
Another key factor is the closure of schools during summer vacations. During the school year, schoolchildren and teachers are regularly tested, but they aren’t tested while on summer vacation. The break seems to account not just for a dip in daily tests but also in the virus spreading between children, parents and teachers, Edmunds said.
“School closure has been very important, and we’ve seen the effect of it throughout the pandemic, with schools opening and closing,” he said. “But it’s so important now because we’ve concentrated so much infection into the younger age groups because they are not vaccinated.”
The government has opened vaccination eligibility to young people within three months of turning 18. Health advisers say there is little benefit to vaccinating children because so few become seriously ill or die from the virus. There is currently no vaccine authorized for use in children younger than 12 years old, though some children deemed to be of particular risk to COVID-19 are allowed to be vaccinated under current rules.
It is the return of schools and businesses that worries Edmunds.
“My fear has always been September when schools open again, and I think at that point, businesses, companies, organizations will start to assess employees to come back in to the office,” he said. “I hope they don’t, but if they do I think we will see another surge in cases in the autumn.”
(WASHINGTON) — Thousands of Spirit Airlines passengers are still facing canceled flights on Wednesday as the airline’s operational meltdown stretches into a third day.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Spirit cancelled 418 flights, or 60% of its daily operations.
So far this week, Spirit has had to cancel around half of its flights each day: 42% of its Monday flights and 61% of its Tuesday flights.
“What’s this been like for you?” ABC News’ Correspondent Victor Oquendo asked a traveler who has been trying to get to Washington, D.C., from Miami.
“Nothing to eat, nothing to drink, nothing,” Natasha Baptiste responded.
Other Spirit customers told ABC News that they were stranded and forced to spend the night at Spirit bases such as Fort-Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport in Florida.
The airline initially said cancelations would slow down by Tuesday, but a spokesperson explained that the cancelations were the result of a “perfect storm,” blaming weather, staffing shortages and crews reaching the hour limits in which they are legally able to fly.
In its latest statement issued on Wednesday, Spirit vowed that the cancelations will finally start dropping on Thursday.
“We’ve dealt with overlapping operational challenges including weather, system outages and staffing shortages that caused widespread irregularities in our operation and impacted crew scheduling,” Spirit said in a statement. “These issues were exacerbated by the fact that we are in peak summer travel season with very high industry load factors and more limited options for Guest re-accommodations.”
After being hit with an IT issue Tuesday that affected crew scheduling, the airline said they have “implemented a more thorough reboot of the network” which allows them to get crews where they need to be to restore normal operations.
The airline will now provide double pay to flight attendants who pick up extra shifts.
The low-cost carrier said that they’ve taken an “in-depth” look at the challenges they are currently facing and have “identified opportunities for improvement.”
“We continue to work around the clock to get our Guests where they need to be,” Spirit insisted.
Spirit recommends customers affected by the cancelations use its online chat feature for assistance.
The cancelations come as air travel continues to break pandemic records.
Transportation Security Administration officers screened more than 2.2 million people at U.S. airports nationwide Sunday — the highest checkpoint volume since the start of the pandemic.
ABC News’ Sam Sweeney and Amanda Maile contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — For the first time in 50 years, a Senate committee has voted to repeal decades-old war powers measures that twice launched the U.S. into war with Iraq, giving a green light to then-President George W. Bush’s ill-fated plan to invade that country to topple its despotic president, Saddam Hussein, under the later-discredited justification of ridding that country of weapons of mass destruction never found.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee Wednesday voted 18-14 to repeal both the 1991 and 2002 Authorizations for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) with supporters saying it was long past time for Congress to reassert its constitutional authority to declare war.
Three Republicans — Todd Young of Indiana, Ohio’s Rob Portman, and Rand Paul of Kentucky — voted with all the panel’s Democrats for repeal, with some Republicans who opposed the move Wednesday arguing that though they support scrapping both AUMFs, the time is not right amid rising tensions with neighboring Iran.
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., who along with Young has worked for years to gain the support of their colleagues, noted that no current action by the U.S. is using either AUMF “as the legal basis for any current U.S. military activity, nor are they needed to justify the detention of even a single detainee now in U.S. custody.”
“I ask this committee to send a clear and bipartisan message that a Congress that initiated military action against Iraq can also recognize the end of hostilities against Iraq,” Kaine said.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who has also fought for years to repeal the costly war, applauded the impending, bipartisan congressional action.
“It’s much easier to start a war than to end a war,” Paul said. “I think the vote today is not meaningless and symbolic. It is to say that we do not give any president, Republican or Democrat, permission for a large land scale war in Iraq. We’re taking away that permission. If you want to go back, come before the people with a big important vote – we all say it’s the most important vote — well, let’s take it back and make it part of the Senate.”
The panel’s chairman, Bob Menendez of New Jersey, in encouraging support for repeal, told members, “I believe it would be a grave mistake if we do not act now to repeal the 1991 and 2002 AUMFs. As we heard very clearly from the administration yesterday in testimony from the deputy secretary of state and two senior lawyers on this matter, repeal of these will have no impact whatsoever on our operations or detention activities.”
Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman had told lawmakers on Tuesday, “I want to state clearly that the Biden-Harris administration believes the 2002 authorization for use of military force against Iraq has outlived its usefulness and should be repealed, and the administration has made clear that we have no ongoing military activities that rely solely on the 2002 AUMF.”
Menendez argued that any U.S. personnel on the ground in Iraq now would not be affected “because they are there at the invitation of the Iraqi government,” so, he said, no related mission in the Middle East would be affected.
And President Joe Biden and Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Kadhimi announced after meeting last week in Washington that the U.S. mission in Iraq would transition by year’s end from one of combat to an assist and advisory role.
Nevertheless, the top Republican on the committee, Jim Risch of Idaho, argued against repeal, saying that though rescinding these Congressional approvals now would have no practical effect, doing so risks sending a dangerous message in a volatile part of the world, particularly with regard to Iran.
“I would disagree that this has no useful purpose, and I think that the purpose of this is to communicate our resolve in the region and particularly as it affects Iran,” Risch said.
“There are people that are going to look at this and say, ‘Aha, the U.S. is getting weak in the region. The U.S. is not committed. They’re not keeping the same commitment it’s had to the region,'” Risch claimed, adding that it would do no harm to allow the authorization to merely “sit on the shelf” so as not to risk “sending a message that we are not committed to the region and committed to protecting our troops and American interests.”
“I understand what the vote is here and where this thing is going to go, but I really believe that it would be a bad message to send as far as repealing this AUMF that gives even the slightest inclination … that we’re backing away from this,” said Risch.
But Young, a Navy and Marine Corps veteran, countered that though he, too, shares his colleagues’ concerns about Iran, these two Iraq-specific AUMFs are not relevant to that consternation.
“I believe that the threat from Iran is so significant and so different from the wars since 9/11 or Saddam Hussain’s Iraq, that we must pass a new AUMF should the situation require it,” he contended. “Those advocating for leaving the 2002 AUMF in place as a means of deterring Iran, when that was in no way the intention of this authorization, would be building on past abuses and advocating for precisely the kind of expansion of war power authorities that ultimately makes Congress and this committee irrelevant.”
The repeal action now moves to the full Senate for its expected approval, a decided change in sentiment from decades since the twin military campaigns in Iraq. But it does follow overwhelming public sentiment in recent years that has turned against America’s long wars in the Middle East.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who announced earlier this year that he now supports the repeal of both AUMFs, reiterated Wednesday that a vote by the full chamber would happen later this year.
“Allowing an authorization for military force to just lie around forever, is an invitation to a future administration to use it for any military adventurism in the region,” Schumer said in a floor speech. “Americans frankly are sick of endless wars in the Middle East. Congress simply has to exert more authority over matters of war and peace, as we all know the Constitution prescribes.”
The House in mid-June passed by an overwhelming bipartisan vote a repeal of both outdated authorizations, so once the full Senate acts, the repeal effort would then move to President Biden who has signaled support.
The last repeal of a military authorization came in January of 1971 when Congress voted to end the then-deeply unpopular 1964 Gulf of Tonkin resolution that led to the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.
One AUMF — issued in 2001 to allow then-President Bush to order the invasion of Afghanistan in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks — is still in effect. Some lawmakers are targeting that for repeal potentially later this year, but there is not the same bipartisan support for that move at this time, particularly as the situation in Afghanistan, where the U.S. has withdrawn its forces, spirals increasingly into chaos at the hands of the Taliban.
(MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.) — Three former Minneapolis police officers facing federal charges of violating George Floyd’s civil rights have filed motions asking that their cases be severed from Derek Chauvin’s, arguing they won’t get a fair trial if they have to go to court with the convicted murderer of the 46-year-old Black man.
Attorneys for J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao filed separate requests in U.S. District Court in Minnesota. Thomas Lane’s attorney filed a motion to join his two former colleagues in their requests to be tried separately from Chauvin.
“There is a conflict of interest between the defendants. The conflict flows from Mr. Chauvin’s level of culpability,” Kueng’s attorney, Thomas C. Plunkett, argued in court papers filed on Monday. “Due to this conflict, the jurors will not be able to follow the Court’s instructions and compartmentalize the evidence as it related to Mr. Kueng.”
Thao’s lawyer, Robert M. Paule, made a similar argument in a motion he filed on Tuesday, but added that he wants Thou to be tried separately not from just Chavin but also Kueng and Lane.
“Mr. Thao will obtain a fair and more impartial trial [if] he is tried separately from his co-defendants,” Paule wrote, arguing that a jury “will have insurmountable difficulty distinguishing evidence presented on one count from that evidence presented on the other counts, and will inevitably consider the evidence cumulatively.”
In May, a federal grand jury indicted Chauvin, 45, Thao, 35, Kueng, 27, and Lane, 38, of federal civil rights crimes for their roles in Floyd’s May 25, 2020, death as they attempted to place him under arrest on suspicion of using a counterfeit $20 bill to buy cigarettes at a convenience store.
The three-count indictment alleges Chauvin, Thao, Kueng and Lane deprived Floyd his rights when they saw him lying on the ground “in clear need” of medical care but “willfully failed to aid Floyd, thereby acting with deliberate indifference to a substantial risk of harm.”
All four former officers are scheduled to be arraigned on Sept. 14 on the federal charges. A trial date has yet to be set.
During the encounter, Chauvin held his knee on the back of Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes. Floyd, who was handcuffed and in a prone position on the pavement, repeatedly said he couldn’t breathe before falling unconscious and losing a pulse, according to evidence presented at Chauvin’s state trial. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Video footage — from police body cameras, security cameras and civilian witnesses — played at the trial showed Kueng and Lane helping Chauvin hold Floyd down, and Thao keeping away witnesses who were expressing concerns for Floyd.
Floyd’s death triggered massive protests and prompted police agencies across the nation to promise reforms.
On April 20, a state court jury found Chauvin guilty of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. He was sentenced on June 25 to 22 1/2 years in prison by Judge Peter Cahill.
Cahill cited four aggravating factors in the case that allowed him to give Chauvin a longer sentence than the 12 1/2 years recommended under state sentencing guidelines. The aggravating factors included Chauvin abusing a position of trust and authority as a police officer, his treatment of Floyd with “particular cruelty” and that he committed the crime as part of a group with at least three other people in front of children.
Chauvin was tried separately from his co-defendants in the state case due to COVID-19 restrictions that limited the number of people allowed in the courtroom.
Thao, Kueng and Lane are awaiting a joint trial in state court scheduled for March 2022 on charges of aiding and abetting second-degree murder, and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter.
