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Gabby Petito’s family seeks $50 million from Utah police department for inadequate response to Brian Laundrie’s abuse

Gabby Petito's family seeks $50 million from Utah police department for inadequate response to Brian Laundrie's abuse



CNN
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The family of Gabby Petito has submitted a $50 million claim against the Moab, Utah, Police Department, arguing the 22-year-old may not have been killed last year by her fiancé if officers had recognized he was the “true primary aggressor” in a domestic dispute about two weeks before her death.

Petito’s parents are seeking $50 million in damages, claiming Moab officers were negligent in failing to investigate Brian Laundrie, 23, and his “self-evidently false claims” and the department was negligent in failing to train officers to investigate domestic violence incidents, according to their notice of claim sent to the department Monday, the first step in initiating a lawsuit against it.

Additionally, Petito’s family claims her killing was caused by the wrongful acts or neglect of the police department and its officers.

Moab officers “failed to recognize the serious danger (Petito) was in and failed to investigate fully and properly,” Brian Stewart, an attorney for the family said Monday in a news conference, referencing the moment Moab police stopped Petito and Laundrie after a witness said he saw them involved in a domestic incident.

“They did not have the training that they needed to recognize the clear signs that were evident that morning: that Gabby was a victim and that she was in serious need of immediate help,” Stewart said.

A Moab city spokesperson declined to comment, saying, “The City does not comment on pending litigation.”

Petito, an aspiring travel influencer, vanished last summer on a cross-country road trip with Laundrie. As a nationwide search ensued, attention also turned to Laundrie, who returned home to Florida and vanished in a nature reserve.

Days into the search for Laundrie, Petito’s body was found in Grand Teton National Forest, and a coroner ruled she died by strangulation. Ella’s Laundrie’s body was found in mid-October in the nature reserve, along with a notebook in which she claimed responsibility for her death. A medical examiner determined he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The notice of claim against Moab police comes months after Petito’s mother and father, along with their respective spouses, sued Laundrie’s family, alleging his parents knew their son had killed Petito and were aware of “the whereabouts of her body.”

At the heart of Petito’s family’s claim is the traffic stop last August, which officers executed after being informed the witness “had seen Brian assault Gabby.”

Police pulled over their vehicle – a white Ford van – after it exceeded the speed limit, abruptly left its lane and struck a curb, according to a police report.

Footage recorded by police body cameras shows Moab police officers talking to Petito and Laundrie, who admitted to having a fight in which Petito said she struck her fiancé first. Officers noticed Petito had cuts on her face and her arm, and she “demonstrated how Brian had violently grabbed her face during their altercation,” telling police Laundrie “gets frustrated with me a lot.”

But Petito also “displayed the classic hallmarks of an abused partner,” the notice says, taking blame for the incident. The officers “did not press further,” the notice says.

According to the family’s claim, a photo taken at the time, which has not been made public, “shows a close-up view of Gabby’s face where blood is smeared on her cheek and left eye, revealing the violent nature of Brian’s attack.”

Laundry told police the couple had been under increasing stress. He has admitted to pushing Petito away from her when she tried to slap him and also to taking her phone from her, claiming he did not have one from her and was afraid that she would leave him. However, later in the interview, he took out his own phone and gave officers his number, the notice says.

Despite the cuts and Laundrie’s inconsistencies, one of the officers said Petito must be booked into jail since, under the domestic violence statutes of Utah, she was considered the primary aggressor and Laundrie the victim.

Both Petito and Laundrie objected, and the officers eventually agreed not to charge Petito as long as she and Laundrie agreed to spend the night apart.

“Roughly two weeks later, Brian brutally murdered Gabby,” the notice says, “leaving her body in the woods of Grand Teton National Forest.”

A review of the Moab Police Department’s handling of the incident by an independent investigator – a captain with the police department in Price, Utah, about 115 miles away – recommended the two officers who responded be placed on probation, saying they made “several unintentional mistakes ” – namely failing to cite anyone for domestic violence, though there appeared to be only sufficient evidence to charge Petito.

The investigative report, released in January, recommended new policies for the department, including additional domestic violence training and legal training for officers.

The city at the time did not address any potential discipline for the two officers but said it “intends to implement the report’s recommendations” on new policies for the police department, including additional domestic violence training and legal training for officers.

“Based on the report’s findings, the City of Moab believes our officers showed kindness, respect and empathy in their handling of this incident,” the city’s statement said.

Petito’s parents and stepparents did not comment on the litigation during Monday’s virtual news conference at the direction of their lawyers. But her mother de ella acknowledged the footage of the Moab incident was “very painful.”

“I wanted to jump through the screen, rescue her,” Nicole Schmidt said, encouraging victims of domestic violence to reach out for help.

Asked what the family wants the public to remember from Petito’s story, her father Joseph Petito, said people should learn there’s always a way out.

“Her legacy is to help people that don’t see a way out, and there are,” he said.

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Grand jury declines to indict Carolyn Bryant Donham in connection with kidnapping of Emmett Till

Grand jury declines to indict Carolyn Bryant Donham in connection with kidnapping of Emmett Till



CNN
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A grand jury in Mississippi has declined to indict the White woman who accused 14-year-old Emmett Till of making advances toward her nearly 70 years ago, allegations that led to the Black teen’s brutal death.

A Leflore County grand jury last week heard seven hours of testimony from investigators and witnesses but said there was insufficient evidence to indict Carolyn Bryant Donham on charges of kidnapping and manslaughter, according to a statement from District Attorney Dewayne Richardson.

The grand jury heard the testimony from witnesses detailing the investigation of the case from 2004 to the present day and considered both charges, according to the statement.

“After hearing every aspect of the investigation and evidence collected regarding Donham’s involvement, the Grand Jury returned a ‘No Bill’ to the charges of both Kidnapping and Manslaughter,” the statement said. “The murder of Emmett Till remains an unforgettable tragedy in this country and the thoughts and prayers of this nation continue to be with the family of Emmett Till.”

Carolyn Bryant, shown in September 1955 sitting in the office of her husbands' lawyer.

Family members of Emmett, whose killing in the Jim Crow-era South spurred the civil rights movement in America, said earlier this summer that they had unearthed an unserved arrest warrant for Bryant Donham, her late husband and his brother.

The warrant is dated August 29, 1955, and signed by the Leflore County clerk. The image of the warrant shows the current clerk certified the document as authentic on June 21.

A note on the back of the warrant says Bryant Donham was not arrested because she could not be located at the time, according to the New York Times, which cited filmmaker Keith A. Beauchamp, who was part of the team that discovered the warrant. CNN reached out to Bryant Donham at the time but didn’t hear back.

Emmett’s family had hoped the warrant would lead to charges and, ultimately, justice.

“Justice has to be served,” Emmett’s cousin Deborah Watts told CNN in late June, adding, “Emmett led us to it. I know that in my heart.”

CNN reached out Tuesday to Emmett’s family for comment but did not hear back.

While Emmett’s killing remains a touchstone moment in the United States’ long struggle with racial injustice and inequality, to this day, no one has been held criminally responsible.

Emmett, who lived in Chicago, was visiting relatives in Mississippi when he had his fateful encounter with then-20-year-old Carolyn Bryant in the summer of 1955. Accounts from that day differ, but witnesses alleged Emmett whistled at the woman at the market she owned with her husband in the town of Money.

Four days later, Roy Bryant and JW Milam later took Emmett from his bed in the middle of the night, ordered him into the back of a pickup and beat him before shooting him in the head and tossing his body into the Tallahatchie River.

But they were both acquitted of murder by an all-White jury following a trial in which Carolyn Bryant testified that Emmett grabbed and verbally threatened her. The jury deliberated for barely an hour.

The men later admitted to the killing in a 1956 interview with Look magazine.

Emmett’s death captured attention far beyond Mississippi after a photo of his mutilated body was published in Jet Magazine and spread around the world. Her mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, had demanded he have an open-casket funeral so the entire world could see her son’s injuries and the results of racial terrorism – a decision that helped fuel the civil rights movement.

Milam died in 1980 and Bryant died in 1994. Bryant Donham is in her late 80s.

In 2007, a Mississippi grand jury declined to indict Bryant Donham on charges. And according to archived FBI documents, Milam and Roy Bryant were arrested on a kidnapping charge in 1955, but a grand jury failed to indict them. “The original court, District Attorney, and investigative records related to the 1955 investigation have apparently been lost,” the FBI said in a 2006 report.

Bryant Donham testified in 1955 that Emmett grabbed her hand, her waist and propositioned her, saying he had been with “White women before.” But years later, when professor Timothy Tyson raised that trial testimony in a 2008 interview with Bryant Donham, he claimed she told him, “That part’s not true.”

The prospect that the woman at the center of Emmett’s case had recanted her testimony – which the US Justice Department said in a memo would contradict statements she made during the state trial in 1955 and later to the FBI – sparked calls for authorities to investigate the case anew.

The DOJ, which had already re-examined and closed the case in 2007, reopened the probe into Emmett’s killing in 2018. But the case was closed in December after the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division concluded it could not prove Bryant Donham had lied. When questioned directly, Bryant Donham adamantly denied to investigators that she had recanted her testimony from her.

Emmett’s legacy, however, lives on: In March, President Joe Biden signed into law the landmark Emmett Till Antilynching Act, which made lynching a federal hate crime.

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Four Muslim men were killed in Albuquerque. Here’s what we know about them

The recent killings of four Muslim men in Albuquerque have shaken the city. Here's what we know



CNN
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After ambush-style shootings of three Muslim men and the recent killing of a fourth in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the Muslim community in the city is on edge and fearful.

A well-liked city worker who had aspirations of a future in politics and a proud new US citizen are among the victims of a spree of police shootings say they may be related.

The killings of Mohammad Ahmadi, Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, Aftab Hussein and Naeem Hussain have one obvious commonality though: They were all South Asian Muslims, according to Albuquerque police.

The three most recent killings happened within the span of two weeks, with local and national Muslim groups warning residents to remain vigilant. They’ve also put a spotlight on an unsolved homicide from November 2021.

Here’s what we know about the lives lost. CNN will continue to update this story with more details as we learn them:

Mohammed Ahmadi.

Mohammad Ahmadi was shot and killed outside of a business he and his brother ran together in November 2021, according to CNN affiliate KOAT.

Ahmadi was from Afghanistan, police said.

Muhammad Afzaal Hussain.

Muhammad Imtiaz Hussain had been living with his brother, Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, in the same apartment complex for almost five years and had never had any problems.

The brothers came to the US on student visas, studying at the University of New Mexico, and they would often take early morning or late night walks to the university library without any fear for their safety – until now.

Afzaal Hussain was shot, killed and found on a sidewalk on August 1, his face distorted from gunshot wounds, Imtiaz Hussain said.

“This is not a random killing,” said Imtiaz Hussain, who had to witness his brother’s wounds himself. “This is extremely motivated and extreme hatred.”

Afzaal Hussain was loved by everyone and a student leader excited for a future in politics once he gained US citizenship.

“We are in extreme fear,” Imtiaz Hussain said. “Living in this place is very painful.”

Hussain worked on the planning team for the city of Española. He had studied law and human resource management at the University of Punjab in Pakistan before receiving both master’s and bachelor’s degrees in community and regional planning from the University of New Mexico, according to a news release from Española Mayor John Ramon Vigil.

“Muhammad was soft-spoken and kind, and quick to laugh,” Vigil said in a news release last Wednesday. “He was well-respected and well-liked by his coworkers and members of the community.”

Naem Hussain.

Naeem Hussain, 25, had been a US citizen for less than a month when he became the latest shooting victim found by Albuquerque police officers just before midnight Friday.

His brother-in-law Ehsan Shahalami identified Hussian to CNN Sunday and said he had migrated as a refugee from Pakistan in 2016 – fleeing persecution as a Shia Muslim.

“He had a lot of dreams and he accomplished some of them,” Shahalami said. “His others of him were cut short by this heinous act.”

Hours before his own death, Hussain attended a funeral for two of the recent victims and expressed concern about the shootings, said Tahir Gauba, spokesperson for the Islamic Center of New Mexico.

Hussain worked as a truck driver for several years from Albuquerque, a job he took immense pride in, according to Shahalami.

“He was not even a citizen at the time but he would say, ‘This is our country, these people need us more than any other time,’ so he drove extra shifts to keep things rolling,” Shahalami said.

After becoming a US citizen, Hussain opened his own trucking business, had plans to bring over his wife from Pakistan and was interested in buying property in Virginia, according to Shahalami.

“He was the most generous, kind, giving, patient, and down-to-earth person that I could ever meet,” he said. “He was very hard working.”

Hussain wasn’t just working to support himself – he would share his earnings with family back home, Shahalami said.

After the funerals Friday, Gauba said, Hussain attended a lunch at the mosque and approached him asking if he had more information on the shootings.

“We (The Islamic Center of New Mexico) thought after burial of these two young men (on Friday), we would have closure and move on and let law enforcement investigate,” Gauba said. “Waking up Saturday morning to his (Naeem Hussain) death, the whole community just feels helpless. There’s a lot of fear.”

About 700 to 800 Muslims on Fridays attend the Islamic Center of New Mexico, the largest mosque in Albuquerque founded in the mid-1970s, according to Gauba.

Aftab Hussein.

Aftab Hussein was a Muslim man from Pakistan, police said.

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The recent killings of four Muslim men in Albuquerque have shaken the city. Here’s what we know

The recent killings of four Muslim men in Albuquerque have shaken the city. Here's what we know



CNN
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The ambush-style shootings of three Muslim men and the recent killing of a fourth in Albuquerque have alarmed the city’s Muslim community and triggered warnings for mosque-goers as police investigate how the shootings may be linked.

The killings of Mohammad Ahmadi, 62, Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, 27, Aftab Hussein, 41, and Naeem Hussain, 25, all have one commonality: the victims were all Muslim and of South Asian descent, according to Albuquerque police.

The three most recent killings happened within the span of two weeks, putting the city on edge as police probed for potential links between the attacks, and put a spotlight on an unsolved homicide from November 2021.

“While we are still sifting through all the evidence to look for more connections, it is deeply troubling that these three men were Muslim and of similar descent,” deputy commander of Albuquerque Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division, Kyle Hartsock, said.

The FBI is assisting with the investigation, and an online portal was set up for residents to upload videos and images which might help authorities investigating the killings. The local Crime Stoppers Board has also voted to increase a reward for information leading to an arrest to $20,000.

Police have not come out with any descriptions of a suspect or suspects in the killings. They have, however, said they are seeking “a vehicle of interest,” which may be connected to the four killings. The vehicle is a dark silver sedan-style Volkswagen Jetta or Passat with tinted windows.

Here’s what we know about the killings and the investigation so far:

The most recent of the killings was reported Friday, when Naeem Hussain was found dead by Albuquerque police officers who responded to reports of a shooting just before midnight in the area of ​​Truman Street and Grand Avenue.

After the discovery, Albuquerque police said the homicide “may be connected” to three previous killings of Muslim men from South Asia.

Those three men – Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, Aftab Hussein and Mohammad Ahmadi – were all “ambushed with no warning, fired on and killed,” Hartsock previously said.

Two of them, Muhammad Afzaal Hussain and Aftab Hussein, were both Pakistani men and were killed in Southeast Albuquerque near Central Avenue. Police said they “determined there is a connection” between those two deaths.

Muhammad Afzaal Hussain was shot and killed on Aug. 1. He was found on a sidewalk in the area of ​​Cornell Street and Lead Avenue.

Just days before, on July 26, Aftab Hussein was found with apparent gunshot wounds in the 400 block of Rhode Island. He later died as a result of his injuries, police said.

As investigators probed the recent killings, they turned their attention to the Nov. 7, 2021, homicide of Mohammad Ahmadi, a Muslim man from Afghanistan who was killed outside a business he ran with his brother on San Mateo Boulevard.

Naeem Hussain migrated as a refugee from Pakistan in 2016 – fleeing persecution as a Shia Muslim – and had just become a US citizen last month, according to his brother-in-law, Ehsan Shahalami.

He opened his own trucking business this year and was described as being a kind, generous and hardworking person.

The day he was killed, he had attended a funeral for the two recent victims and expressed fear about the shootings, according to a spokesman with a mosque in Albuquerque.

Muhammad Afzaal Hussain worked on the planning team for the city of Española. He had studied law and human resource management at the University of Punjab in Pakistan before receiving both master’s and bachelor degrees in community and regional planning from the University of New Mexico, according to a news release from the mayor.

“Muhammad was soft-spoken and kind, and quick to laugh,” Major John Ramon Vigil said in a news release last Wednesday. “He was well-respected and well-liked by his coworkers and members of the community.”

Few details have been released about the two other victims. Police said Mohammad Ahmadi was a Muslim man from Afghanistan and Aftab Hussein was a Muslim man from Pakistan.

So far, police have released a flyer showing a “vehicle of interest” in all four killings. But it remains unclear who the car belongs to, or how they are potentially connected to the attacks.

Police said the vehicle “is suspected as being used as a conveyance in recent homicides of 4 Muslim men.”

“We have a very, very strong lead. We have a vehicle of interest … we have got to find this vehicle,” Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller said. “We don’t know at this point what it is associated with, or who owns it.”

While police have not definitively said all four attacks are connected, they have said they are looking into whether it is the case.

“There is one strong commonality in all the victims; the race and religion,” Hartsock said in a Thursday briefing.

Authorities are asking the public to come forward with any information which might help in the investigation. Tips may be submitted to the Albuquerque Metro CrimeStoppers website.

After Friday’s killing, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced Saturday she will send additional state police to Albuquerque.

“I am angered and saddened that this is happening in New Mexico, a place that prides itself on diversity of culture and thought. This is not who we are,” Grisham said in a statement. “We will not stop in our pursuit of justice for the victims and their families and are bringing every resource to bear to apprehend the killer or killers – and we WILL find them.”

The attacks have also drawn condemnation from President Joe Biden, who said he was “angered and saddened” by the attacks.

“While we await a full investigation, my prayers are with the victims’ families, and my Administration stands strongly with the Muslim community,” Biden wrote on Twitter.

The city is now increasing police presence at mosques, Muslim-affiliated schools and the University of New Mexico.

“Albuquerque is on edge right now, and I want to be clear that we, and our partners across law enforcement, are directing every possible resource to these cases. We will protect our community and bring the perpetrator of these crimes to justice. We unequivocally denounce these senseless killings and stand with our Muslim community against intolerance and violence in every form,” said Keller.

“We have heard from the community that the fear is so strong, there is a concern about even things like groceries and getting meals for certain folks in certain areas of town,” Keller said in a weekend briefing. “Our senior affairs department and our community safety department is going to be providing meals as long as we need, to anyone who needs a meal who is affected by this tragedy.”

Meanwhile, local and national Muslim groups have been warning residents to be cautious.

“We urge everyone to take precautions and be aware of your surroundings including making sure that you are not being followed home and avoid walking alone at night,” Islamic Center of New Mexico posted on Facebook. “This is especially true for our members living in the southeast part of the city where these killings have taken place.”

The center said while there is no evidence its mosque is being targeted, it is still taking steps to provide additional security measures.

“The lives of Albuquerque Muslims are in danger. Whoever is responsible for this horrific, hateful shooting spree must be identified and stopped – now,” stressed Council on American-Islamic Relations National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell.

The Council is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction of those responsible, the organization announced, calling the series of killings a “horrific, hateful shooting spree.”

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Lake Mead: More human remains found in receding waters

Lake Mead: More human remains found in receding waters



CNN
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More human remains have been found in the receding waters of Lake Mead, authorities announced Saturday.

This is the fourth time human remains have been found at Lake Mead National Recreation Area since May.

In the latest incident, park rangers got a call Saturday morning about skeletal remains at Swim Beach area, National Park Service officials said in a statement.

Rangers set up a perimeter at the beach to recover the remains with help from divers from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, according to the Park Service. A coroner was also called to determine the cause of death.

At least three different sets have previously been found at the lake, where water levels have plunged to unprecedented lows amid an unrelenting water crisis in the West.

The previous remains discovered, including a body that was found in a corroding barrel with a gunshot wound, were in advanced stages of decomposition and thus difficult to extract DNA from, officials said.

It’s unclear how long the latest remains found have been in the lake. The homicide division of Las Vegas Metropolitan Police is not currently handling the investigation, Lt. Jason Johansson told CNN.

The police department is, however, leading the investigation into a different body, one found in the barrel on the lake’s Hemenway Harbor on May 1. The body had an obvious gunshot wound and investigators immediately treated it as a homicide investigation, Johansson previously told CNN .

“Anytime you have a body in a barrel, clearly there was somebody else involved,” he said.

Since then, Clark County Coroner Melanie Rouse has preliminarily ruled the cause and manner of death a homicide by gunshot. The remains, dubbed Hemenway Harbor Doe by the coroner’s office, belonged to someone who died in the mid-’70s to early ’80s, according to police.

A second set of remains – found on May 7 at Calville Bay – are believed to belong to someone who was approximately between ages 23 and 37, according to Rouse.

It’s unclear how that person died. The Calville Bay remains are more skeletal than the other two sets, which both still have organ tissue available for examination, Rouse said.

A third set of remains – found at the lake’s Swim Beach on July 25 – are only partial and are still at early stages of examination, according to Rouse.

The lake straddles the border of Nevada and Arizona.

While the grim discoveries in the shrinking lake quickly generated theories of mob involvement, Johansson said those ideas are “mere speculation” at this point in the investigation.

A National Park Service spokesperson told CNN one possible explanation for the remains could be that they belong to people who previously drowned at the lake when water levels used to be high.

At its height in ’80s, Lake Mead – the largest manmade reservoir in the country – was 1,225 feet above sea level. But as the mega-drought persists, water levels have plunged this year to the lowest level since the reservoir was filled in the 1930s.

Lake Mead was filled to just 27% of capacity as of July 18, 2022, according to NASA.

Water levels have plummeted so much that, in addition to several bodies, they have exposed a sunken World War II-era vessel, the Park Service announced in early July.

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Kentucky Flooding: Officials call for critical recovery supplies as dozens are found dead in flooding and death toll is expected to rise

Kentucky Flooding: Officials call for critical recovery supplies as dozens are found dead in flooding and death toll is expected to rise



CNN
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As the death toll in flood-stricken areas of Kentucky continues to rise, rescue workers and officials are focused on recovering missing people in several counties and coordinating vital aid for thousands of displaced residents.

At least 28 people, including four children, have died due to severe flooding that struck parts of Kentucky last week, Gov. Andy Beshear announced Sunday. The governor told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he believes recovery crews are “going to be finding bodies for weeks, many of them swept hundreds of yards, maybe a quarter-mile plus from where they were last.”

While reading a breakdown of those killed in each county during a news conference Sunday, Beshear became visibly emotional when he reached the four children dead in Knott County, where 15 people have been found dead.

“It says ‘minor,’” the governor said looking at the list. “They are children. The oldest one is in second grade,” Beshear said.

The flooding – which swelled onto roads, destroyed bridges and swept away entire homes – displaced thousands of Kentuckians, according to the governor. It also knocked out vital power, water and roadway infrastructure, some of which has yet to be restored.

There was risk of flash flooding Sunday night into Monday morning, according to the National Weather Service. A slight chance of excessive rainfall is possible throughout the affected region on Monday and Tuesday. Conditions are expected to begin improving Monday, but the region could receive two-day totals of up to two inches of rain. Some areas could see more.

In Perry County, as many as 50 bridges are damaged and inaccessible, according to county Judge Executive Scott Alexander.

Debris surrounds a badly damaged home near Jackson, Kentucky, on July 31, 2022.

“What that means is there’s somebody living on the other side or multiple families living up our holler on the other side that we’re still not able to have road access to,” Alexander said.

Kentucky State Police are still actively searching for missing residents in several counties and ask that families inform law enforcement if their loved one is missing.

Search and recovery efforts could face yet another obstacle as temperatures are expected to soar Tuesday and through the rest of the week, placing crews, volunteers, displaced people and the area’s homeless population under pressing heat.

As the climate crisis fuels more extreme and frequent weather events, several areas of the US are currently experiencing flash flood risk, including swathes of the desert Southwest, Knoxville, Tennessee, and Tucson, Arizona.

State officials are immediately focused on getting food, water and shelter to the people who were forced to flee their homes.

Power outages and storm damage left 22 water systems operating in a limited capacity, a Sunday news release from the governor’s office said. More than 60,000 water service connections are either without water or under a boil advisory, it said.

Nearly 10,000 customers in the eastern region of the state were still without power as of early Monday, according to PowerOutage.us.

Officials overseeing the recovery efforts say bottled water, cleaning supplies and relief fund donations are among the most needed resources as the region works toward short and long term recovery. FEMA is providing tractor trailers full of water to several counties.

Volunteers work at a distribution center of donated goods in Buckhorn, Kentucky.

“A lot of these places have never flooded. So if they’ve never flooded, these people will not have flood insurance,” the mayor of Hazard, Kentucky, Donald Mobelini told CNN Saturday. “If they lose their home, it’s a total loss. There’s not going to be an insurance check coming to help that. We need cash donations,” he said, referring to a relief fund set up by the state.

Beshear established a Team Eastern Kentucky Flood Relief Fund to pay the funeral expenses of flood victims and raise money for those impacted by the damage. As of Sunday morning, the fund had received more than $1 million in donations, according to the governor.

The federal government has approved relief funding for several counties. FEMA is also accepting individual disaster assistance applications from impacted renters and homeowners in Breathitt, Clay, Knott, Letcher and Perry counties, the governor said, noting he thinks more counties will be added to the list as damage assessments continue.

Though the recovery effort was still in the search-and-rescue phase over the weekend, Beshear said in a news conference Saturday that he believes the losses will be “in the tens if not the hundreds of millions of dollars.”

“This is one of the most devastating, deadly floods that we have seen in our history,” Beshear told NBC Sunday. “It wiped out areas where people didn’t have that much to begin with.”

And it wasn’t just personal possessions washed away by the floodwaters. A building housing archival film and other materials in Whitesburg, was impacted, with water submerging an irreplaceable collection of historic film, videotape and audio records that documented Appalachia.

Appalachian filmmaker Mimi Pickering told CNN that the beloved media, arts and education center, Appalshop, held archival footage and film strips dating as far back as the 1940s, holding the stories and voices of the region’s people. Employees and volunteers were racing to preserve as much material as they could.

“We’re working as hard and fast as we can to try to save all that material… The full impact, I don’t think you have totally hit me yet. I think I don’t really want to think about it,” Pickering said. She noted the Smithsonian and other institutions have reached out offering assistance.

The extensive loss Kentuckians are suffering will likely also take a mental toll, Frances Everage, a therapist and 44-year resident of the city of Hazard told CNN. While her home de ella was spared, she said some of her friends de ella have damaged homes or lost their entire farms.

“When you put your blood, sweat and tears into something and then see it ripped away in front of your eyes, there’s going to be a grieving process,” Everage said. “This community will rebuild and we will be okay, but the impact on mental health is going to be significant.”

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Republican nominee for Maryland attorney general hosted 9/11 conspiracy radio shows

Republican nominee for Maryland attorney general hosted 9/11 conspiracy radio shows



CNN
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The Republican Party’s nominee for Maryland attorney general hosted a series of five radio shows in 2006 devoted to arguing in support of 9/11 conspiracy theories questioning if the terror attack was the work of an “elite bureaucrat” who had demolition charges in every building in New York City and even suggesting if those who died after a hijacked plane hit the Pentagon were killed elsewhere.

Michael Peroutka, a candidate best known for his ties to neo-Confederate organizations, made the remarks on The American View, a radio show he co-hosted, in October 2006 while discussing the fifth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack.

“What happened on 9-1-1, I told you that I had been doing some research and watching some videos,” Peroutka said during one of the episodes reviewed by CNN’s KFile. “And I said that if the buildings in New York City, the World Trade Center buildings, came down by demolition charges – that is to say – if there was this evidence that there was that something was preset there, then the implications of that are massive,” said Peroutka.

“I’ve been doing some reading and doing some studying, and I believe that to be very, very true,” he added, before further suggesting the work was done by controlled explosives.

“The other thing that just is so striking to me, I can’t get it out of my brain, and that is the vision of Building 7 falling faster than the speed of gravity, right? Building 7, which no plane hit,” said Peroutka. “And all of a sudden Building 7 falls, very consistent with what they call controlled demolitions or controlled charges because that building from the top down falls faster than if you had thrown a hammer off the top of the building.”

Peroutka’s comments echo the widely debunked conspiracy theory that the Twin Towers and 7 World Trade Center, the smaller building within the vicinity of the towers, were wired with explosives and detonated in a series of controlled demolitions.

The Twin Towers collapsed after terrorist-hijacked plans intentionally crashed into the North Tower and then the South Tower, killing 2,753 people. Nearby “Building 7” suffered intense and uncontrollable fires after debris from the North Tower hit the building, causing a chain reaction that led to the building’s collapse, according to a study published in 2008 by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Peroutka went even further with his conspiratorial logic, speculating that every building in New York City could have preset charges awaiting detonation by some “elite bureaucrat.”

“That begs the question that if there are preset charges in Building Seven, what’s to stop there for being preset charges in Buildings 1, 2, 8, 9, and 27?” said Peroutka. “Are there charges in every building in New York City? Is everyone ready to be brought down whenever some elite bureaucrat decides that he’s gonna pull it?”

Peroutka also called the 9/11 terrorist attacks an “inside job,” saying “you can’t have an explosion in the basement that’s done by the hijacker on the airplane” and claimed that the official account of the 9/11 attack was the actual “conspiracy theory.”

The campaign did not address Peroutka’s previous conspiracy theories when asked for comment, but Macky Stafford, Petroutka’s campaign coordinator, told CNN in a statement that the “primary election results demonstrate that Maryland Republicans are dissatisfied with their current leadership.”

But outgoing Maryland GOP Gov. Larry Hogan called out Peroutka on Sunday, saying, “These disgusting lies don’t belong in our party.”

“We know who was responsible for 9/11. Blaming our country for Al-Qaeda’s atrocities is an insult to the memory of the thousands of innocent Americans and brave first responders who died that day,” Hogan tweeted.

Peroutka previously ran for president in 2004 as the nominee of the Constitution Party. During that campaign, Peroutka posted on his website an endorsement from the League of the South – a new-Confederate organization that advocates southern secession. He’s homepage for his campaign prominently featured a Confederate flag linking to “Southerners for Peroutka” whose homepage had a large Confederate flag displayed over the Capitol saying, “We have a dream.” He also promoted his candidacy to the Council of Conservative Citizens, according to copies of their newsletter obtained by CNN. The CCC is a self-described White-rights group that opposes non-White immigration and advances White nationalist ideology.

Peroutka will face Democratic Rep. Anthony Brown in the general election this November. If elected, Brown would be the first Black attorney general in the state. Maryland has not had a Republican attorney general since 1952, when one was appointed; the last Republican attorney general elected in the state was in 1919.

In other episodes of Peroutka’s radio show reviewed by CNN’s KFile, Peroutka also cast doubt that the Pentagon was hit by American Airlines Flight 77, asking where the video is showing this “incoming attack, plane or missile,” later saying that it is “very plausible that a missile that looked like a plane hit the Pentagon.”

Peroutka even questioned whether remains of the deceased were found at the Pentagon, suggesting they were killed elsewhere. He said he had seen “no evidence” of any bodies or luggage to his late co-host and former presidential campaign adviser, John Lofton.

Lofton said, “Ah, but see the missile thing. Then you gotta count for the remains and the body parts and show how all those people got inside the missile. How all those passengers–”

“I saw the pictures. There was, there was nothing that looked like a body or luggage or anything in there,” Peroutka interrupted. “And the pictures that I saw – if there are pictures, John – that show body parts or luggage or even a seat of an airplane that’s consistent with Flight 77, that particular airplane. If there’s anything that’s consistent with that, I haven’t seen a picture of it.”

Shortly after, Lofton said, “If I can produce for you a person who was a friend or loved one of one of the passengers that perished on that plane that hit the Pentagon, that says, ‘Yes, we got remains back from our loved one or friend.’ Will that impress you?”

“No, absolutely not,” replied Peroutka. “Where did the remains come from? I’m not disputing that the people died.”

“Unless a plane hit the Pentagon, how would the remains of anybody on that flight get into the Pentagon?” asked Lofton.

“I didn’t say they got into the Pentagon. I couldn’t see them in the Pentagon. There wasn’t any – I’ve never seen any evidence that anything like a body or a passenger or passenger’s luggage or anything that’s consistent with the Flight 77 is in the Pentagon. If there are such pictures, I’d like to see them. Now, you could clearly understand that somebody whose loved one was lost on that plane, very possibly, could have gotten some piece of forensic evidence that indicated that their loved one was in fact deceased. But who says that came from the Pentagon?”

Peroutka then said this was the first time he had heard that the remains of the deceased were found at the Pentagon.

American Airlines Flight 77 was hijacked by five terrorists on September 11, 2001, and deliberately crashed into the Pentagon, killing all 64 people on board and another 125 people in the building.

This story has been updated with additional reaction.

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Categories
US

Georgia authorities release body camera footage after woman dies following fall from patrol car

Georgia authorities release body camera footage after woman dies following fall from patrol car



CNN
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Georgia authorities released body camera footage Friday of an incident from earlier this month where a mother experiencing what her family called a mental health crisis died due to a fatal injury while in police custody.

Brianna Grier, 28, was experiencing a mental health episode on July 15 when her mother called police to assist with the matter, civil rights attorney Ben Crump said at a news conference Friday.

Crump, who is representing the Grier family, said Grier had a history of mental health crises and the family had called police several times in the past.

“When they used to come out to the house they’d call an ambulance service,” Grier’s father Marvin Grier said. “The ambulance service would come out and they would take her to the hospital to get some help.”

“But this time they only called the police, and the police didn’t bring the ambulance with them, even though, Ms. Mary (Brianna’s mom) clearly stated she was having an episode,” Crump explained.

Crump said Hancock County Sheriff’s deputies came into the home, handcuffed Grier and placed her in the back of a patrol car to take her into custody for allegedly resisting arrest.

In body camera video released by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Grier asks deputies to give her a breathalyzer test and repeatedly tells officers she is not drunk. According to a time stamp on the video, Grier was placed in the patrol car shortly before 1 am on July 15.

Grier then yells to officers saying she’s going to hang herself if she is placed in the car. They proceed to place her in handcuffs and attempt to place her in a squad car but when she resists further, an officer is seen unholstering his taser from her.

When Grier sees this, she yells at officers saying they can rate her, and that she doesn’t care. The officer replies, saying he’s not going to rate her.

The video shows the officer putting the Taser away and then walking away from the rear driver’s side door. When the officer returns, he is seen lifting Grier off the ground and putting her in the back seat of the patrol car.

The body camera video fails to show if officers opened, closed or had any interaction with the rear passenger side door, but an officer is heard asking another officer if the door is closed.

GBI investigators concluded Wednesday that “the rear passenger side door of the patrol car, near where Grier was sitting, was never closed,” according to a news release.

Less than a minute later, after the officers drive away from the Grier family home, the video shows an officer suddenly stop his vehicle and get out.

Once out of the car, the officer locates Grier laying on the side of the road, face down. Grier does n’t respond to the officer, who is tapping her side of her and saying her name of her. The officer then radios to an oncoming patrol car that is behind him that they’re going to need an ambulance.

The footage does not show the moment Grier falls out of the vehicle but does show her laying face first on the ground and the rear passenger car door open.

The second officer says that Grier is still breathing. Grier never responds to the officers calling her name de ella after falling out of the patrol vehicle. The video ends with Grier on the ground while police wait for paramedics.

Attorney Ben Crump speaks at a news conference Friday regarding the death of Brianna Grier.

Crump alleges that police didn’t secure Grier in a seatbelt while she was handcuffed in the back of the police car and as a result, when the vehicle started moving, she somehow fell out of the car, landed on her head, cracked her skull and then went into a coma for six days before dying because of her injuries.

Investigators reviewed multiple body camera videos, conducted numerous interviews and conducted “mechanical tests on the patrol car” to determine “if there were possible mechanical malfunctions” to the vehicle, the GBI statement reads.

The GBI news release notes that two deputies were trying to get her into the back of the patrol car after she was arrested and put in handcuffs.

Grier told the deputies she was going to hurt herself and was on the ground refusing to get into the patrol car, according to the release.

The GBI statement said the two deputies and Grier, who was on the ground, “were at the rear driver’s side door of the patrol car” when “one of the deputies walked around and opened the rear passenger side door.” The same deputy quickly returned to the rear driver’s side door, the GBI statement says, and both deputies put Grier into the back of the patrol car.

Deputies closed the rear driver’s side door and, according to the GBI statement, “The investigation shows that the deputy thought he closed the rear passenger side door.”

In the video, an officer can be seen picking Grier up and placing her in the car through the driver’s side rear door.

Off camera, one of the officers is heard asking if the door on the other side is closed, to which the other officer replies yes.

Deputies left the scene of the incident and drove a short distance before Grier fell out of the moving car, according to the statement.

CNN has reached out to the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department for comment but did not immediately hear back.

“I just don’t understand why they couldn’t put her in a seat belt why they violated so many policies to prevent anything like this from happening,” Crump said.

“We loved her regardless, unconditionally. Now we got to raise these kids and tell them a story, and I’m not planning on telling no lie,” Marvin Greer told reporters Friday. “I want to tell the truth, so it won’t happen to anyone else.”

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