(NEW YORK) — More than 60,000 law enforcement officers were assaulted in the line of duty in 2020, including more than 40 who were killed, according to the FBI.
The total of 60,105 was an increase of 4,071 from 2019, with FBI drawing on reports from some 9,895 law enforcement agencies.
Among those assaulted, about 31% sustained injuries. In 2020, 46 officers were killed, down from 48 in 2019, FBI data showed.
Most of the assaults on officers happened after they responded to disturbance calls, including family quarrels and bar fights, according to the FBI.
“Police officers across the country are facing an increase in violent crime and violent acts committed against them,” said Laura Cooper, executive director of the Major Cities Chiefs Association. “Facing these dangerous situations is another reason why it has been difficult for police agencies to find recruits who want to put on a uniform and put their lives on the line.”
Vernon Stanforth, president of the National Sheriffs Association, said the staggering numbers weren’t a surprise “after this troubling year for law enforcement.”
Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund President Jason Johnson said the increased assaults on officers come at a time when they’re “seemingly under attack on all fronts.”
In the first nine months of 2021, 54 officers were feloniously killed while on duty compared with 37 over that same time period in 2020, according to the latest FBI data. Among those deaths, 20 were unprovoked attacks.
A new LELDF report showed that from June 1, 2020, to April 30, 2021, in the wake of George Floyd’s killing and the subsequent protests, the percentage of officers quitting or retiring had increased by double digits compared with 2019.
This year, high-profile police killings have already dominated headlines, including the case of Chicago officer Ella French, who was shot during a traffic stop in August.
French, 29, was the first Chicago police officer since 2018 killed in the line of duty and the city’s first female officer killed in the line of duty since 1988.
(NEW YORK) — The United States has been facing a COVID-19 surge as the more contagious delta variant continues to spread.
More than 726,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 while over 4.9 million people have died from the disease worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Just 66.7% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the CDC.
Latest headlines:
-10 states see rise in hospital admissions
-UK records highest daily death toll since March
-‘National emergency’ declared on children’s mental health
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Oct 19, 2:56 pm
Secretary Mayorkas tests positive for COVID-19
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has tested positive for COVID-19, a DHS spokeswoman confirmed to ABC News.
Mayorkas, who is fully vaccinated, “is experiencing only mild congestion,” a statement said.
Mayorkas will work from home, the statement said. Contact tracing is underway.
ABC News’ Luke Barr
Oct 19, 1:00 pm
Pfizer vaccine 93% effective against hospitalizations for 12-18 age group
A new CDC study found that the Pfizer vaccine was 93% effective against hospitalizations for adolescents ages 12 to 18 from July to September.
The researchers also found that nearly all (97%) of adolescents’ ages 12 to 18 who were hospitalized with COVID-19 were unvaccinated.
ABC News’ Sony Salzman
Oct 19, 12:30 pm
10 states see rise in hospital admissions
Ten states — all of which have colder temperatures — have seen upticks in hospital admissions in recent weeks, according to federal data: Alaska, Colorado, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Wyoming.
However, nationwide, just under 58,000 Americans remain hospitalized, a major drop from 104,000 patients at the end of the summer, according to federal data.
Death rates remain high, with more than 1,000 Americans dying each day, according to federal data.
Over the last month, the U.S. has reported approximately 45,000 COVID-19 deaths, including nearly 7,600 deaths in the last week.
ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Oct 19, 11:48 am
UK records highest daily death toll since March
The United Kingdom recorded 233 COVID-19 deaths in the last 24 hours, the highest total since March 5, according to government data.
In a statement confirmed by ABC News, issued before the new figures were published, the prime minister’s office said it was keeping a “very close eye” on the numbers and urged people to get their booster shots.
“We have seen case rates rising, we’ve started to see some indications that hospitalizations and death rates are increasing also,” a spokesman for the prime minister said. “It’s important that the public understand that getting your booster jab is just as important as getting your first and second dose.”
The new era of Christina Aguilera is upon us…or should we say, “la nueva era?” She’ll release a Spanish-language single this Friday.
On Twitter, Christina announced that the song is called “Pa’ Mis Muchachas” — which translates to “For My Girls” — and that it features Latin stars Becky G, Nicki Nicole and and Nathy Peluso.
This will be Christina’s first Spanish-language release since Mi Reflejo more than 20 years ago. The singer, whose father was born in Ecuador, told ABC Audio that it’s “my labor of love for a part of my culture and part of me that’s so important, that isn’t always brought out in my English music.”
Christina also told ABC Audio that in addition to the new music she’s putting out this fall, she’s also planning to release new music “throughout next year, in sort of six-song increments every six moths.”
Christina’s last album was Liberation, back in 2018. It reached the top 10 on the Billboard 200 and earned her two Grammy nominations.
(NEW YORK) — A freshman at the University of Kentucky died from alcohol toxicity Monday night after he was found unresponsive at his fraternity house, officials said.
University police officers were called to FarmHouse Fraternity at about 6:22 p.m. Monday where Thomas Lofton Hazlewood, an 18-year-old fraternity member, was unresponsive, the university said.
The agricultural economics major was taken to a hospital where he died, the university said.
Hazlewood’s cause of death was “presumed alcohol toxicity” pending investigation, and the manner of death was ruled an accident, the Fayette County Coroner’s Office said.
“Foul play is not suspected, but police are investigating the circumstances of his death,” the university said in a statement Tuesday.
FarmHouse Fraternity CEO Christian Wiggins said in a statement, “We are deeply saddened to learn of the loss of Thomas ‘Lofton’ Hazelwood, a new member of the University of Kentucky chapter of FarmHouse Fraternity. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends, and loved ones as well as the entire community. We have encouraged all members and new members to cooperate with any investigation prompted by Mr. Hazelwood’s death.”
“The thoughts of the entire UK community are with his family and all those who knew him,” the university said.
Blair Underwood has joined his next major project.
According to Variety, Underwood, along with Lola Kirke, have been added to the cast of Showtime’s Three Women. They join DeWanda Wise, Shailene Woodley, Betty Gilpin and Ravi Patel, who were previously announced. Based on Lisa Taddeo‘s book of the same name, the series centers on “three women completely overturning their lives.” Underwood will play Richard, a well-known chef who is “blindsided when his wife enters a sexual relationship with another man.” A release date has yet to be set for Three Women.
In other news, Netflix has rounded out the cast for the George C. Wolfe-directed film Rustin. Deadline has learned that Aml Ameen, CCH Pounder, Michael Potts, Bill Irwin, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Gus Halper, Johnny Ramey, Carra Patterson and Adrienne Warren have all been added to the upcoming feature. They join Colman Domingo, Chris Rock, Glynn Turman and Audra McDonald, who were previously announced. The film follows Domingo as Bayard Rustin, a gay civil-rights activist who “overcame an onslaught of obstacles, and altered the course of American history by organizing the 1963 March on Washington.” A release date for Rustin has not been scheduled.
Finally, ABFF Ventures has announced that the 2021 American Black Film Festival will open its milestone 25th year with Warner Bros. Pictures’ highly anticipated film King Richard. As previously noted, the film follows Will Smith as Richard Williams, the ambitious father of tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams. Unlike previous years, ABFF will be available as a worldwide digital experience from November 3 to November 28 via its online platform ABFF PLAY. King Richard will be available by special invitation to a limited audience. To register for ABFF, visit ABFF.com.
ABC News/Stephen Iervolino — Universal History Archive/ Universal Images Group via Getty Images
(NOTE LANGUAGE)While most movie fans would instantly recognize the murderous Michael Myers from the Halloween movies, they might not know that iconic blank face actually belongs to another icon: William Shatner.
For the record, Shatner knows about it and he’s still not pleased. In a recent interview with YouTube entertainment reporter Jake Hamilton, Shatner explained, “I thought, ‘Is that a joke? Are they kidding?'” when he was first heard his face was borrowed.
“I recognized it as the death mask they had made for me,” Shatner explained. “They made a mask of my face on Star Trek out of clay so I would not have to be available for the prosthetics they would have to put on my face…So somewhere along the line, someone got that mask and made a mask for Halloween [the holiday].”
Decades ago, that mask was grabbed off the shelf by Halloween‘s production designer and editor Tommy Lee Wallace for the 1978 horror classic when director John Carpenter needed a scary baddie. According to Netflix’s The Movies That Made Us, which takes a deep dive Halloween, the choices were a “sad sack” clown mask, or Captain Kirk.
Carpenter went with Kirk. But there’s a “but.”
Wallace explained in Movies That Made Us that he shaved the mask’s triangular Trek sideburns, cut its eyeholes wider, darkened its blonde hair, and painted it “appliance white” to result in its trademark deathly pallor.
“As soon as the second mask came out of the dressing room, we’re all, ‘Oh, f*** me!” Wallace said of his handiwork. “We knew we had a movie.”
David Gordon Green, who directed Halloween‘s 2018 reboot, tells Movies the resulting mask “is just pure evil.”
Halloween Kills, the latest franchise installment, is now in theaters and streaming on Peacock.
(NEW YORK) — The second day of jury selection in the high-profile murder case of Ahmaud Arbery commenced Tuesday, with prosecutors and lawyers finding it tough to impanel an impartial jury.
“I guess I would call it murder,” one potential juror vented on the three white Georgia men accused of chasing down and killing Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man.
Another would-be panelist put it bluntly when asked in court about his opinions of the case that has dominated headlines nationwide, but particularly in south Georgia, saying, “I’m sick of it.” Several potential candidates said they were worried about their safety if selected to serve.
In the first day and a half of the courtroom proceedings, no jurors have been selected and at least 14 of the first 40 questioned under oath so far have been dismissed, while others have yet to be individually questioned or told they may be called back. At least three of the potential panelists let go are Black and one is Hispanic, causing attorneys for Arbery’s family to be concerned.
“We certainly believe that there should be Black and brown voices, as well as white voices on the jury,” one of the family’s attorneys, Lee Merritt, said in an interview with ABC News’ Linsey Davis on Monday evening.
About 1,000 residents of Glynn County received a jury summons and questionnaire, or about 1 out of 85 eligible people living in a county that, according to U.S. Census data, is 69% white, 26% Black and 7% Hispanic.
The three defendants are Gregory McMichael, 65, a retired police officer, his son, Travis McMichael, 35, and their neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, 52. They have all pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment stemming from the Feb. 23, 2020, fatal shooting of Arbery in the unincorporated Satilla Shores neighborhood near Brunswick.
The McMichaels claim they thought Arbery was a burglar and were exercising their rights under the state’s citizens’ arrest law, which has since been repealed. Travis McMichael is also claiming self-defense after allegedly shooting Arbery three times with a shotgun during a fight, according to his attorney.
Bryan made a cellphone video of part of the fatal confrontation, which is now being used as evidence against him and the McMichaels. Bryan’s attorney said he was only a witness to the crime, but prosecutors counter that he was an active participant in the pursuit of Arbery.
On Tuesday, the second batch of 20 potential jurors was sworn in by Chatham County Superior Court Judge Timothy R. Walmsley, who was appointed to preside over the Glynn County trial. Under general questioning from Walmsley, nine of the candidates raised their hands affirmatively when asked, “Have you for any reason formed or expressed an opinion in regard to the guilt or innocence of the accused?”
When asked by lead prosecutor Linda Dunikowski if there was anyone in the room who wanted to serve on the jury, no one raised their hand.
In an indication of how small Glynn County is, at least five jurors said they knew one or more of the defendants or some of the witnesses Dunikowski said could be called to testify.
One potential juror said she knew Jackie Johnson, the former Brunswick District Attorney. Johnson, the first prosecutor to get the case, was indicted in September on a felony count of violating her oath of office by allegedly “showing favor and affection” to Gregory McMichael, with whom she once had a working relationship, and a misdemeanor count of hindering a law enforcement officer.
During the questioning of individuals on Monday, some of the would-be panelists did not shy away from sharing their opinions.
“I think Mr. Arbery was probably in terror. I’m trying to be honest here,” a woman referred to as Juror No. 4, a retired accountant and auditor, said under questioning by defense lawyers.
After acknowledging her negative feelings toward Travis McMichael, she said, “He shot a man who had been running through his neighborhood who didn’t appear to have done anything wrong. What would I call that? I guess I would call it murder.”
A man referred to as Juror No. 2 said during questioning that he has shared the video of Arbery’s slaying on social media and discussed the case with his brothers — one of whom is also among the potential jurors summoned.
“I’m sick of it,” Juror No. 2 said of news of the case. “It’s everywhere. It’s around my job. Everywhere I look, it’s there.”
ABC News’ Janice McDonald contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — The family of Elijah McClain has reached a settlement with the city of Aurora over his violent arrest and subsequent death, city officials said.
“The city of Aurora and the family of Elijah McClain reached a settlement agreement in principle over the summer to resolve the lawsuit filed after his tragic death in August 2019,” Ryan Luby, the deputy director of Communications and Marketing for Aurora, told ABC News.
He said city leaders will sign the agreement as soon as the family completes a separate process to determine how any settlement proceeds will be divided among themselves. Until then, “the parties cannot disclose the settlement terms,” but so far, no amount was discussed in the most recent hearing on Oct. 8, Luby said.
“The court will now determine allocation of the proceeds between Ms. McClain, the parent who raised Elijah McClain by herself, and LaWayne Mosley,” attorneys for Elijah McClain’s mother, Sheneen McClain, told ABC Denver affiliate, KMGH-TV.
A lawyer for Elijah McClain’s father also confirmed a settlement has been reached.
“Nothing will bring back his son Elijah, who he loved dearly, but he is hopeful that this settlement with Aurora, and the criminal charges against the officers and medics … will allow his family and the community to begin to heal,” attorney Mari Newman, on LaWayne Mosley’s behalf, told ABC News.
The settlement comes over a year after the family filed a 106-page federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Colorado, accusing several officers and paramedics of violating Elijah McClain’s civil rights and negligently causing his death.
Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old massage therapist from Aurora, Colorado, was confronted by police on Aug. 24 while walking home from a convenience store, after a 911 caller said they saw someone “sketchy.” He was unarmed.
He was wearing a ski mask at the time because, according to his family, he had anemia, a blood condition that can make people feel cold more easily.
Body camera video shows that the officers told Elijah McClain he was “being suspicious,” to which he replied, “I have a right to go where I am going.”
Officers placed him in a carotid chokehold, which restricts the carotid artery, cutting off blood to the brain, according to an independent review of his death released in February. Elijah had earlier pleaded with them, saying he is non-violent and at one point was heard on the body camera footage saying that he can’t breathe.
When EMTs arrived at the scene, he was administered a shot of 500 milligrams of ketamine and was then loaded on an ambulance, where he had a heart attack, officials said.
Elijah McClain went into cardiac arrest. The incident led to his death on Aug. 30, three days after doctors pronounced him brain dead and he was removed from life support, officials said. The Adams County coroner ruled the cause of McClain’s death to be undetermined.
Initially, no charges were brought against the officers involved in the incident.
However, in January, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser launched a grand jury probe into Elijah McClain’s death. In September, a state grand jury returned a 32-count indictment against the three officers — Nathan Woodyard, Jason Rosenblatt and Randy Roedema — and two paramedics — Jeremy Cooper and Peter Cichuniec — in the case, charging them with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide, among other charges.
Sheneen McClain called the charges “a step toward justice” at the time.
“I’m still praying for them to be in prison. My son’s murderers and their accomplices all need to be in prison for what they did to him,” she told ABC News. “They had no right to stop him. They had no right to handcuff him, brutalize and terrorize him, or inject him with ketamine.”
The Aurora Police Association Board of Directors defended the officers following the indictment, saying in a statement, “There is no evidence that APD officers caused his death. The hysterical overreaction to this case has severely damaged the police department.”
Aurora Police Chief Vanessa Wilson and Aurora Fire Rescue Chief Fernando Gray both said that each of their departments will continue to cooperate as the judicial process moves forward.
Last month, the Colorado attorney general issued a report following a 14-month probe into the actions of the Aurora Police Department in the wake of Elijah McClain’s death and found the department had a pattern of racial bias, as well as excessive force.
The report also found Aurora Police arrested people of color “1.3 times more than whites based on population percentage alone.”
The AG office recommended changes to policies, training, record-keeping and hiring as a result of the report.
ABC News’ Ivan Pereira, Sabina Ghebremedhin, Deena Zaru and Courtney Condron contributed to this report.
Leave it to Lil Nas X to break the rules. Instead of thanking fans on social media for making his song “Industry Baby” number one, he took to the streets to thank them live and in person.
LNX posted footage of himself riding around Hollywood in one of those hop-on hop-off open-topped tourist buses, armed with a microphone, a film crew and dancers wearing pink “prison jumpsuits.”
“I appreciate you! I’m so thankful for you! ‘Industry Baby’ is number one because of you!” LNX yelled to random people on the street, who cheered, danced, took pictures and even twerked.
“wow! here were are, 3 number 1 songs! when i was writing industry baby i hadn’t released any new music in over a year,” Nas wrote on Instagram. “It became my manifestation song, because i knew that no matter what people thought would happen to me (post 2019), i would have an amazing 2021! industry baby is my fight song, my motivation song, my ‘i’ll show you’ song, and much more!”
“Thank you to my brother jack harlow who inspires me to this day,” he went on to say of his “Industry Baby” collaborator, adding, “thank u to the fans who made industry baby your song of the summer! love u guys!”
Meanwhile, Jack Harlow has some news of his own: He’s returning home to Louisville, KY this December for five “No Place Like Home” shows in five iconic Kentucky venues: The Palace Theatre, Headlners, Zanzabar, Mercury Ballroom and Old Forester’s Paristown Hall.
Tickets for the shows, which run December 14-18, go on sale to the general public Friday at 10 a.m. ET via JackHarlos.tix.to. A dollar from each ticket sold will go to five Louisville charities that benefit causes close to the “Whats Poppin” rapper’s heart.
(NEW YORK) — The death of former Secretary of State Colin Powell due to COVID-19 complications has sparked conversations about breakthrough deaths among vaccinated individuals.
It would be inaccurate, however, to jump to any conclusions about vaccine effectiveness from a single breakthrough death such as Powell’s, who was 84 years old, immunocompromised and being treated for multiple myeloma, a blood-borne cancer that “in and of itself can lead to compromised immunity,” Dr. Todd Ellerin, director of infectious diseases at the South Shore Medical Center in Massachusetts, told ABC News.
In a statement, Dr. Paul Richardson, the director of clinical research at the Jerome Lipper Multiple Myeloma Center at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, said myeloma patients are “not only vulnerable to infection but once infected, they are more prone to serious complications including vascular effects and profound immune dysfunction.”
Dr. Craig Devoe, chief of medical oncology and hematology at Northwell Health in New York, said that myeloma doesn’t just put patients at a higher risk of severe illness but could have also put their immune system at a disadvantage for fighting off COVID-19 even when fully vaccinated “because both the disease and the treatment itself are highly immunosuppressive.”
According to his spokesperson, Powell was fully vaccinated and was being treated for myeloma, which is not curable. He had also recently been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, which can itself be debilitating depending on the stage.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there have been roughly 7,000 breakthrough deaths among the 187 million vaccinated Americans, with more than 6,000 over the age of 65 in contrast to the more than 700,000 COVID-19 deaths among the unvaccinated.
“Without question, we can expect deaths,” Ellerin said. “It is much more common in those unvaccinated than vaccinated. But we are seeing breakthrough vaccine deaths, especially in the elderly — patients in their 80s and older — or those who are immunocompromised.”
No one who receives a COVID-19 vaccine is 100% protected from death, but the vaccines have shown to be extremely effective at lowering the risk of getting the disease.
The CDC recently updated its website with data illustrating the fact that vaccines are still dramatically reducing the risk of testing positive or dying of COVID-19 amid the latest delta surge. While there has been a slight uptick in COVID-19 cases and deaths since July 2021, the increase is more pronounced among unvaccinated individuals.
In August, unvaccinated people were 6.1 times more at risk of testing positive for COVID-19 and 11.3 times more likely to die from COVID-19 compared to vaccinated individuals, according to federal data pulled from 16 states and jurisdictions.
“[A breakthrough vaccine death] is not an argument for ‘don’t get your vaccine,'” Ellerin said. “That is an argument for ‘get your vaccine because that’s the best way of reducing your likelihood of death.'”
Additionally, when broken down by age, death rates in every age group were higher among the unvaccinated populations. Older Americans (80+) had the highest rate of deaths among fully vaccinated people per capita, though their risk of death was about 5.7 times lower than their unvaccinated counterparts in the same age group.
Among the breakthrough deaths, the U.S. is currently seeing what Ellerin labels “a precarious triangle” of risk factors — old age, underlying diseases that lead to immunocompromisation and treatments for those diseases — which make individuals more susceptible to severe COVID-19 infection.
Vaccinated people who fall into the intersection of these risk areas should also prioritize non-pharmaceutical interventions, such as masking when indoors and optimizing ventilation, experts say.
Dr. Edward Stadtmauer, director of the myeloma program at the University of Pennsylvania, told ABC News that the best way for cancer patients to prevent COVID-19 infection or limit its severity is to get vaccinated.
“If you have abnormal plasma cells to begin with or are getting therapy that might suppress or damage plasma cells, you can see why that this group of patients may have the most difficulty responding to a COVID infection and responding to vaccines,” he said.
Stadtmauer said he is seeing about 70% of patients with myeloma generate COVID-19 neutralizing antibodies after vaccination.
“If there is any group of patients who should be vaccinated and get a booster, it is this group of patients,” he said.
The Food and Drug Administration on Sept. 22 authorized Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine boosters for people 65 years and older and those at risk. Powell himself was due for the booster shot the same week he fell ill with COVID-19, his spokesperson said.
“None of these are perfect strategies, but you have the best chance of survival,” Ellerin said.
The misuse of the news of Powell’s death to spread misinformation about vaccine failure and discourage individuals from getting vaccinated can be harmful to those immunocompromised, according to experts, who say that in order to protect those with underlying diseases, it is imperative that everyone around them gets vaccinated to curb the spread of COVID-19.
“Hopefully his life and the fact that he believed in vaccination can be a catalyst for many others to get it,” Ellerin said.
