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Five Miami Beach police officers face criminal charges in hotel beating of Black men

August 4, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(MIAMI) — Five Miami Beach police officers are now facing criminal charges after they were seen on body camera and security video kicking a handcuffed Black man in a hotel lobby and tackling and pummeling a Black witness who was recording the incident on his cellphone.

Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle announced the officers have been suspended and charged with first-degree misdemeanor battery.

“Excessive force can never, ever, ever be an acceptable foundation for policing in any community,” Fernandez Rundle said at a news conference on Monday. “Officers who forget that fact do a grave disservice to the people they have sworn to serve.”

Fernandez Rundle, with Miami Beach Police Chief Richard Clements standing behind her, played a four-minute compilation of body camera and security camera footage showing the episode that unfolded in the early hours of July 26 in the lobby of the Royal Palm Hotel in South Beach.

The state attorney went over the footage in detail, stopping and rewinding it several times to point out the individual officers who were charged and even running the video in slow motion to show two officers kicking the handcuffed detainee in the head.

“With my team, when we saw that kick to the head, and then we replayed it and saw all the kicks that preceded it — it was just unfathomable. It was unspeakable. It was just inexcusable,” Fernandez Rundle said.

She said the incident started when a police officer chased 24-year-old Dalonta Crudup into the hotel and stopped him at gunpoint as he tried to take an elevator.

A police report obtained by Miami ABC affiliate WPLG alleged that Crudup was involved in a confrontation with a Miami Beach bicycle police officer over illegally parking a motorized scooter and allegedly struck the officer with the scooter. Fernandez Rundle said the officer’s leg was injured in the encounter with Crudup and that he had to be hospitalized.

Once stopped by a police lieutenant inside the hotel, security camera footage showed Crudup appearing to comply with the officer’s orders to step out of an elevator with his hands up.

“Crudup exits the elevator with his hands raised and drops down to the ground with his arms outstretched in front of him,” Fernandez Rundle said.

After he was handcuffed with his arms behind his back, the security video showed 21 officers rushing into the lobby, swarming around Crudup and assisting in his arrest, Fernandez Rundle said.

“It is at this point the situation begins to change, in our opinion, from a legitimate arrest of a criminal suspect into an ongoing investigation of the use of force by five Miami Beach police officers,” Fernandez Rundle said.

The security video appeared to show Sgt. Jose Perez allegedly kick Crudup in the head while he was face down on the ground with other officers on top of him. At one point, Perez appears to also be seen in the video lifting Crudup and slamming him to the ground.

The video showed Perez walk away briefly twice before returning and appearing to kick Crudup in the head.

The hotel security video allegedly showed Officer Kevin Perez, who Fernandez Rundle said is not related to Jose Perez, kicking Crudup at least four times.

Other officers then turned their attention to 28-year-old Khalid Vaughn, who Fernandez Rundle said was standing 12 to 15 feet away recording Crudup’s arrest.

Body camera video appeared to show officers Robert Sabater allegedly tackling Vaughn, who was backing away. Officers David Rivas and Steven Serrano allegedly helped Sabater pin Vaughn against a concrete pillar. The body camera video appears to show Sabarter, Rivas and Serrano taking turns pummeling Vaughn with body blows.

“Body-worn cameras played a critical role in this case,” Fernandez Rundle said.

She said Vaughn was initially arrested on charges of impeding, provoking and harassing officers. Fernandez Rundle said those charges were dropped as soon after she viewed the videos.

She said the investigation is ongoing and the officers could face more charges.

Fernandez Rundle praised Clements for taking swift action and immediately informing her office of the incident.

“This is by no means at all a reflection of the dedicated men and women of the Miami Beach Police Department,” Clements said at Monday’s news conference. “Moving forward, I can tell you that my staff and I promise you, as individuals and as an agency, that we will learn from this. And we will grow from this.”

Upon his release from custody, Crudup told WPLG, “I got beat up, I got stitches, went to the hospital.” He denied parking the scooter illegally and striking the officer with it.

Vaughn told WPLG he started video recording the incident after Crudup was already handcuffed and on the ground.

“They beat him, turned around, charged me down, beat me … punched me, elbowed me in the face,” Vaughn told WPLG. “I literally got jumped by officers.”

Paul Ozeata, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, told the Miami Herald that the five charged officers are being represented by the police union’s attorneys. He told the newspaper that he hadn’t viewed the video evidence close enough to comment on the officers’ actions.

“They deserve their day in court, just as everyone else does,” Ozeata said.

In an interview with ABC News Live Prime anchor Linsey Davis, Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber said he viewed the video footage and called the incident “unacceptable in every way.”

“This is not who our department is,” Gelber said, adding, “And what our department did was exactly the right thing they should do, which is relieved the officers of duty immediately, and then within hours refer the entire matter to the state attorney’s office for a review.”

Frontier flight attendants placed on leave after taping unruly passenger to seat

August 4, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Frontier flight attendants, with the help of passengers, had to tape an unruly passenger to his seat Saturday after he allegedly groped two of the attendants and punched a third in the face.

In an initial statement to ABC News, the low-cost carrier said the flight attendants involved had been “suspended pending further investigation” because they did not follow the proper policies for restraining a passenger.

The news of the suspension prompted backlash from the nation’s largest flight attendant union — demanding Frontier reinstate them.

“Management should be supporting the crew at this time, not suspending them,” Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO (AFA) President Sara Nelson said. “We will be fighting this with every contractual and legal tool available, but we would hope there will be no need for that as management comes to their senses and supports the people on the frontline charged with keeping all passengers safe.”

Frontier then issued a revised statement saying the flight attendants were on paid leave which is “in line with an event of this nature pending an investigation.”

“Frontier Airlines maintains the utmost value, respect, concern and support for all of our flight attendants, including those who were assaulted on this flight,” the airline’s statement continued. “We are supporting the needs of these team members and are working with law enforcement to fully support the prosecution of the passenger involved.”

The unruly passenger was identified by authorities as 22-year-old Maxwell Berry. He was arrested after the flight landed in Miami and is now facing three counts of battery.

Saturday’s case is the latest in a surge of unruly passenger incidents onboard planes. The Federal Aviation Administration has received more than 3,700 reports of unruly passengers since January with more than 2,700 of them involving fliers who refuse to wear a mask.

Last week the flight attendants union released a survey that found that 85% of the nearly 5,000 U.S. flight attendants they surveyed said they had dealt with an unruly passenger in 2021.

Almost 60% said they had experienced not one, but at least five incidents this year, and 17% reported that the incident got physical.

Flight attendants recalled incidents in which visibly drunk passengers verbally abused them, “aggressively” challenged them for making sure passengers were in compliance with the federal mask mandate, shoved them, kicked seats, threw trash at them and defiled the restrooms.

More than half of the flight attendants reported that unruly passengers used racist, sexist and/or homophobic slurs.

“I’ve been yelled at, cursed at and threatened countless times in the last year and the most that has come out of it has been a temporary suspension of travel for the passenger,” one flight attendant wrote in the survey. “We need real consequences if flight attendants are ever going to feel safe at work again.”

The AFA is doubling down on its call for the FAA and Department of Justice to “protect passengers and crew from disruptive and verbally and physically abusive travelers.”

A DOJ spokesperson told ABC News that “interference with flight crew members is a serious crime that deserves the attention of federal law enforcement.”

“As with any case, we exercise prosecutorial discretion in deciding which cases to charge federally,” the spokesperson continued. “Factors include egregiousness of the offense, were lives in danger, victim impact, mental health, did the plane have to make an unscheduled landing, is this a repeat offense, are there mitigating factors, etc. This is a serious crime that carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.”

The FAA is still enforcing its zero-tolerance policy for in-flight disruptions which could lead to fines as high as $52,500 and up to 20 years in prison. The agency has looked into more than 628 potential violations of federal law so far this year — the highest number since the agency began keeping records in 1995.

Newly released body cam footage shows chaos, shock minutes after Surfside building collapse

August 4, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(SURFSIDE, Fla.) — The screams of people shouting for help can be heard in newly released body cam footage from police officers responding to the collapse of Champlain Towers South in the minutes after the Surfside, Florida, building fell to the ground.

Ninety-eight people were killed when the 12-story condominium building collapsed in the early morning of June 24. Investigators are still trying to determine the cause of the collapse.

The three videos released by the Town of Surfside on Tuesday show the chaos and shock as first responders and bystanders try to grasp what had just happened.

The footage begins at around 1:24 am, minutes after the collapse of the building.

The videos show Surfside Police officers arriving at the scene, speaking for the first time with survivors and witnesses, and working with other first responders to secure the area.

In one video, Officer Craig Lovellete is seen arriving at the site of the collapse at around 1:27 a.m. He walks up to other officers and asks if there was a fire.

“No,” one officer replies. “The building collapsed.”

Lovellete peeks over a concrete wall and sees the fallen garage with debris everywhere. Screaming can be heard in the background.

Back in his car, he says, “Oh my god” and sighs heavily.

Later Lovellete encounters Champlain Towers South security guard Shamoka Furman, who was in the building when it came down. Furman describes explosion-type noises she says she heard right before the collapse of the building. In another video clip, Officer Kemuel Gambirazio joins parts of the conversation.

“I hear a boom-boom but I’m thinking it’s the elevator … no beeps or nothing goes off … another boom-boom,'” Furman says. She makes hand motions to show Lovellete that after she heard the noises, the building came down.

After seeing two residents exit the building after the loud noise, Furman said she called 911.

“This never happens, I didn’t even know we had earthquakes — I don’t even know what this was,” Furman says. “I don’t even know how I made it out of there … through the grace of God.”

Asked if the building had any work done lately, Furman says she only works overnight.

Officer Ariol Lage’s body cam footage also shows him encountering Furman earlier, while she was still covered in debris.

“What collapsed?” Lage asks.

“I don’t know, I don’t know,” Furman says. “All I heard was boom. The garage, the pool — if they don’t get out…”

“It’s OK, fire rescue is here,” Lage replies.

Lage’s bodycam footage also shows him at the garage, which was the area of the building that collapsed first.

“There’s a lot of dust, I can barely see anything,” Lage says into his radio. He then hears a woman scream so he calls out for survivors, shining a flash light toward the noise. A woman is seen next to an overturned car, but cars and debris block Lage from getting to her.

“Are you OK?” Lage asks.

“No,” the woman replies.

Footage then shows Lage leaving the garage and making his way to a colleague, and the two walk around the building trying to determine how to get closer as screams can be heard from people in the area. It’s unclear what happened to them.

Lage and his colleagues are also seen trying to move bystanders away from the scene, fearing that the rest of the building could fall. They encounter a woman who appears to be in shock, standing in front of the building.

When told to move back, the woman replies slowly, “I’m just standing here cause I’m the building president and if you need something…”

Lage interrupts the woman and tells her the rest of the building might collapse, then ushers her away.

Another clip shows Officer Gambirazio talking with a someone who says he just made his way down from the 12th floor penthouse.

The man, who appears to be in shock and out of breath, says he was on his phone watching YouTube when he heard something falling.

He says he initially thought it wasn’t a big deal, but then “all of a sudden, I hear, like, it was a jet right through the front of my balcony. So I get up, and was like, ‘Was that a plane?'”

The video shows another person running toward Gambirazio from the direction of the collapse. The man, appearing distressed and shocked, keeps pointing and shouting toward the direction of the building.

As another officer tries to calm him down, Gambirazio tells him, “Listen, right now, we were told by Rescue not even we can help right now. … They’re coordinating something to help get everybody out.”

“Please” the man says, pointing toward the collapsed structure, but Gambirazio interrupts him and says, “I understand, but we have to do whatever they say.”

The man asks the officers if he can make a call to the building, and Gambirazio responds that he can, but adds that he can’t let him back into the area.

Hugh Jackman urges fans to wear sunscreen after undergoing skin biopsy

August 4, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Hugh Jackman urged fans to wear sunscreen when revealing Monday he recently underwent a skin biopsy after his doctor noticed something “a little irregular” on his skin.

The Australian actor shared a video to social media in which he pulled down his mask and showed his bandaged nose. While assuring fans that he’ll be OK, Jackman stressed the importance of wearing sunscreen on a daily basis.

“I just want to let you know, I just went to see … my amazing dermatologists and doctors, and they saw something that was a little irregular,” the Greatest Showman star explained while indicating to his bandaged nose. “So they took a biopsy, and they’re getting it checked.”

Jackman, 52, thanked fans for their concern and assured them they need not “freak out,” promising to keep everyone updated.

“They think it’s probably fine,” he continued. “But remember: Go and get a check and wear sunscreen. Don’t be like me as a kid, just wear sunscreen.”

The actor revealed in a 2015 interview with ABC News that he spent most of his childhood playing in the hot Australian sun and neglected to wear sunscreen. He was diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma, a form of skin cancer, in 2013.

In the years since, Jackman continued to remind fans of the importance of sunscreen and revealed in 2016 that he had to undergo another biopsy.

“An example of what happens when you don’t wear sunscreen. Basal Cell. The mildest form of cancer but serious, nonetheless. PLEASE USE SUNSCREEN and get regular check-ups,” he wrote at the time.

In 2017, he shared a similar message about his ongoing battle with skin cancer and credited his “frequent checks” for catching it early.

The Mayo Clinic says basal cell carcinoma is believed to be caused by long-term exposure to UV sunlight and says the best way to prevent it is to wear sunscreen.

Sean “Love” Combs reveals why he keeps changing his name: “I put periods on those eras”

August 4, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Music mogul Sean Combs has reinvented himself and his name numerous times since the 1990s. The artist went from Puff Daddy to P. Diddy and now he’s embracing his new middle name “Love.”

In the September cover story for Vanity Fair, Combs describes the Puff Daddy era as “this young, brash, bold hip-hop, unapologetic swagger on a million and just fearlessness and really doing it for the art and rooted.” He adds, “When I changed names, I put periods on those eras.”

The 51-year-old is predominately known for launching his legendary label Bad Boy Records and signing artists such as The Notorius B.I.G., Junior M.A.F.I.A., Lil’ Kim, Faith Evans and 112, among others. Although the Bad Boy era brought him Grammys and plenty of hit records, it also led to a beef between Biggie and Tupac and the latter’s L.A.-based label, Death Row Records.

“Puff Daddy had just got through East-West war,” Combs says. “Nobody wanted to get in the room with me. They thought they was going to get shot.”

After that period, Combs notes about how his Diddy era began, “I wanted to get into other businesses. And so Biggie had called me Diddy because of my bop, the way I walk, my swagger, and they got something called the diddy bop that…was something before me. That’s the diddy bop. It’s the way a brother would walk around, walk down the street.”

Since those days, Combs has expanded his empire and influence over music and culture with his Sean John fashion brand, branding partnerships with liquor companies, and his “all R&B label.”

“I am the happiest I’ve ever been in life,” Combs says. “I laugh the most, I smile the most, I breathe the most.”

Rise Against refuses to be defined with number-one single “Nowhere Generation”

August 4, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Rise Against‘s “Nowhere Generation” has found a home at the top of the charts.

The lead single and title track off the punk outfit’s new album has hit number one on Billboard‘s Mainstream Rock Airplay tally, the first Rise Against tune to ever achieve that feat. In addition to boasting a rousing, instantly singalong-able chorus, “Nowhere Generation” the single gives Nowhere Generation the album one of its central themes with the line, “We are not the names that we’ve been given.”

“They were talking about resisting the urge to let somebody else define you, and define who you are,” frontman Tim McIlrath tells ABC Audio of the “Nowhere Generation” lyrics.

“Where you fit into the world, what the world looks like, what the world’s going to look like, whether you like it or not, the rules you have to play by to be a part of it,” he continues. “You know, ‘These are the things that we’ve done, so therefore these are the things you have to do to get where we are.'”

McIlrath wanted the song to reflect the real-world “rejection” of the idea of “letting previous generations define you, to name you.”

“When you take back your own definition and your own route to success, you kind of rename yourself, in a way,” he says. “You don’t let somebody else name you.”

Interestingly, the word “name” pops up in four other Nowhere Generation songs. Specifically with the song “Nowhere Generation,” McIlrath wanted the message to feel “a little more dangerous.”

“Like, ‘You keep calling me that, but that’s not who I am,'” he says.

Nowhere Generation the album is out now.

Dee Snider says new solo album ‘Leave a Scar’ was “inspired by what’s going on in the world”

August 4, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Dee Snider released his latest solo album this past week, Leave a Scar, which the Twisted Sister frontman says is a true follow-up to his 2018 studio effort, For the Love of Metal.

Like For the Love of Metal, Leave a Scar finds Snider collaborating with Hatebreed‘s Jamey Jasta and exploring heavier, contemporary metal sounds.

Snider notes that while he left songwriting duties to Jasta and other collaborators for his previous album, with Leave a Scar, he felt motivated to co-write the new tunes, inspired by the state of the world during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It was very much driven by ‘I need to say something,'” Snider tells ABC Audio. “This record is of the time. Every song is inspired by what’s going on in the world, and what [we’re]…all going through.”

He adds, “It was the pandemic. It was the social unrest, the political unrest in the world. I mean, our country was a mess, but it was going on in England and Brazil and all around the globe.”

While the songs on Leave a Scar tackle some heavy subjects, Snider says he also wanted the tunes to offer messages of hope for people dealing with the frustration of life during the pandemic.

The album kicks off with “I Gotta Rock (Again),” a song in the tradition of Twisted Sister’s “I Wanna Rock,” only much heavier, that also serves as an anthem for rock fans itching to go to live concerts again.

“By the middle of COVID, ‘I Gotta Rock (Again)’ popped in my head and I said, ‘Boy, if there was ever a Dee Snider title, that’s [one] right there,” he explains. “[I]t was supposed to be an anthem. It was supposed to be a sledgehammer. And I’m hoping it achieves its goal.”

The Spinners to release first new studio album in decades, ”Round the Block and Back Again,’ this month

August 4, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Legendary soul vocal group The Spinners will release their first new studio album in over 30 years, ‘Round the Block and Back Again, on August 27.

In advance of the album, which you can pre-order now, the band has released a pair of singles, “Cliché” and “In Holy Matrimony,” as digital downloads and via streaming services.

The Spinners’ current lineup is led by the group’s sole surviving original member, Henry Fambrough, and also features Jessie Peck, Marvin Taylor, Ronnie Moss and C.J. Jefferson.

‘Round the Block and Back Again was produced by Preston Glass, who started his music career as a staff writer for legendary Philly soul producer Thom Bell. Bell was The Spinners’ producer during the group’s 1970s heyday and co-wrote a number of their big hits, including “I’ll Be Around” and “Rubberband Man.”

“I wanted to emphasize to the listener that these guys are the real deal — still, today, with a virtually new lineup,” says Glass. “And the phrase ‘Round the Block and Back Again’ came to my mind when describing this project and these gentlemen.”

He adds, “It was so inspiring for me to produce and write songs for this new album and I was honored that original member, Henry Fambrough, still leading the group through its vocal paces, gave the stamp of approval to do so.”

The Spinners have dozens of concerts on their schedule, including a show this Friday, August 6, in South Park Township, Pennsylvania. Visit TheSpinners.com to check out their full itinerary.

Here’s the album’s track list:

“I’m in My Prime”
“Cliché”
“Bedroom Butta”
“Missing Your Embrace”
“Down for the Count”
“So Much In Love”
“Show Me Your Heart”
“Vivid Memories”
“Love Never Changes”
“Leftover Tears”
“I’m Looking for My Baby”
“Only Want You”
“In Holy Matrimony”

Jennifer Aniston reveals she cut ties with “a few people” who refused to get vaccinated

August 4, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Jennifer Aniston revealed that she cut ties with “a few people” who refused to get the COVID-19 shot.

Speaking to InStyle for their September cover issue, the Morning Show star expressed disbelief that some people choose to believe in hoaxes rather than research from accredited scientists and health experts.

“There’s still a large group of people who are anti-vaxxers or just don’t listen to the facts. It’s a real shame,” she remarked. “It’s tricky because everyone is entitled to their own opinion — but a lot of opinions don’t feel based in anything except fear or propaganda.”

Aniston, 52, then revealed she “lost a few people in my weekly routine who have refused or did not disclose [whether or not they had been vaccinated].”

“It was unfortunate,” the Golden Globe winner admitted before making a case why people should be comfortable with revealing whether or not they were vaccinated, adding, “I feel it’s your moral and professional obligation to inform, since we’re not all podded up and being tested every single day.”

Earlier in the interview, Aniston spoke about how she came to reset herself during the pandemic and revealed, “My level of anxiety has gone down by eliminating the unnecessary sort of fat in life that I had thought was necessary. Also realizing that you can’t please everybody.”

Aniston also expressed sympathy for Britney Spears and reflected on how she was mistreated by the media.

Saying the paparazzi was “feeding on young, impressionable girls,” the actress explained how the “Toxic” singer was manipulated because she was still figuring out who she was.

“They were being defined by this outside source,” she said. “The media took advantage of that, capitalized on them, and it ultimately cost them their sanity. It’s so heartbreaking.”

Governor pardons St. Louis couple who pointed guns at Black Lives Matter protesters

August 3, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Laurie Skrivan/St. Louis Post-Dispatch/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

(ST. LOUIS, Mo.) — Missouri Gov. Mike Parson announced Tuesday that he had pardoned Mark and Patricia McCloskey, the St. Louis couple who were charged with waving guns at a group of Black Lives Matter protesters outside their home last year.

Mark McCloskey was seen holding a semi-automatic rifle while his wife was holding a handgun on their property on June 28, 2020, as a group of protesters passed by their house, prosecutors said. The couple were filmed shouting “Get out” to the crowd, but there was no physical confrontation between them and the protesters.

They contended they were protecting their property during the protests.

Several prominent conservative leaders, including President Donald Trump, defended the couple. The McCloskeys were guest speakers at the 2020 Republican National Convention.

A grand jury indicted the couple in October and Pearson told reporters he would consider pardoning them.

The couple pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault and harassment charges in June. They surrendered their weapons and Patricia McCloskey was fined $2,000 while her husband was fined $750.

When Judge David Mason asked Mark McCloskey if he acknowledged that his actions put people at risk of personal injury, McCloskey replied, “I sure did, your honor.”

Mark McCloskey, who announced in May he was running for U.S. Senate, told reporters outside the courthouse after the hearing that he’d do it again.

“Any time the mob approaches me, I’ll do what I can to put them in imminent threat of physical injury because that’s what kept them from destroying my house and my family,” he said.

The couple and the governor didn’t immediately provide statements about the pardons.

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