An unarmed, unidentified man “acting ‘erratically’ near a strip mall” Tuesday in El Cajon, California, was fatally shot by local cops after “raising his arms in in a manner that looked as if he was holding a gun,” the Los Angeles Times reports. One officer fired a Taser but the other unloaded his shotgun at the same time. The cops were not wearing body cameras, and a witness voluntarily turned over cellphone footage of the shooting which police now refuse to release.
- Reps. Paul Ryan and Nancy Pelosi reached a deal regarding federal aid to Flint, Michigan, which should help us avoid the dreaded (and yet somehow always narrowly thwarted) Government Shutdown.
- RIP culture wars?
- Maryland and Washignton police have been using a service that monitors, maps, and stores residents’ social-media posts.
- The father of “Clock Kid” Ahmed Mohamed has filed a defamation lawsuit against conservative commentator Glenn Beck and Irving, Texas, Mayor Beth Van Duyne.
- Activist Laura Lee has won the right to challenge a North Irish law that criminalizes prostitution clients.
- Police misuse of criminal-justice databases to scope out spouses, crushes, journalists, neighbors, etc. is likely widespread in the U.S., according to a new AP investigation. Just looking at law-enforcement officers and staff disciplined for such transgressions, AP found 575 cases departments between 2013 and 2015, with 325 of these serious enough to warrant a firing, resignation, or suspension. “The misuse represents only a tiny fraction of the millions of daily database queries run legitimately,” AP volunteers, although the tally, “based on records requested from 50 states and about three dozen of the nation’s largest police departments, is unquestionably an undercount. Some departments produced no records at all. Some states refused to disclose the information.”
Follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and don’t forget to sign up for Reason’s daily updates for more content.
from Hit & Run http://ift.tt/2d421bN
via IFTTT