A local police chief and a Florida state prosecutor overseeing the case of an unarmed black teenager shot dead by a neighborhood watch captain stepped down on Thursday following withering criticism and national outrage that police have declined to arrest the shooter.
Sanford police chief Bill Lee’s resignation — which he called “temporary” — failed to appease civil rights and community leaders who are calling for the arrest of watch captain George Zimmerman, 28, who shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin and claimed self-defense.
Lee was under mounting pressure for days and suffered a “no confidence” vote from the city commission on Wednesday.
The shakeup at the state level was more surprising as Florida Governor Rick Scott replaced Tallahassee’s lead investigator and formed a task force to review Florida’s controversial “Stand Your Ground” law.
Police have said this law, which allows people to use deadly force when they perceive danger in any public place, prevented them from arresting Zimmerman, a white Hispanic who has disappeared from public view.
Zimmerman’s father has said his son has been unfairly vilified.
He called him a friend of minorities whose true nature was being distorted by national calls for his arrest and allegations that he pursued Martin just because he was black.
Coupled with at least two prior cases that stoked black anger toward the police, the response to the Martin episode had grown so intense Lee said that he had no option but to step aside as “my involvement in the matter is overshadowing the process.”
Similarly, Florida State Attorney Norman Wolfinger said he was stepping down “with the intent of toning down the rhetoric.”
Criticism of the investigation came on top of a history of racial tension in Sanford, a town of about 50,000 just north of Orlando.
Last year, a previous Sanford police chief was forced out of the job after a white police officer’s son was captured on video sucker-punching a black homeless man outside a bar.
Sanford police did not immediately arrest the officer’s son, Justin Collison.
However, after video of the attack surfaced on local TV and the Internet and provoked an outcry from Sanford civil rights leaders, Collison was charged weeks later with aggravated battery and disorderly conduct. He eventually pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge.
The incident came five years after two white private security guards with ties to the police department shot and killed a black teenager.
The guards — one the son of a Sanford police officer and the other a department volunteer — said they opened fire in self-defense, claiming the teenager attempted to run them over. Evidence showed the teenager died from a gunshot to the back. The case was eventually dismissed due to lack of evidence.
The Martin case generated mostly local interest in the days following the Feb. 26 shooting. However, the case has steadily drawn the national spotlight, which has only grown in recent days since the state of Florida and US Department of Justice announced their own investigations and the city commission voted three to two in favor of a “no confidence” motion against Lee on Wednesday night.
A string of rape and assault allegations against the son of Norway’s future queen have plunged the royal family into its “biggest scandal” ever, wrapping up an annus horribilis for the monarchy. The legal troubles surrounding Marius Borg Hoiby, the 27-year-old son born of a relationship before Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s marriage to Norwegian Crown Prince Haakon, have dominated the Scandinavian country’s headlines since August. The tall strapping blond with a “bad boy” look — often photographed in tuxedos, slicked back hair, earrings and tattoos — was arrested in Oslo on Aug. 4 suspected of assaulting his girlfriend the previous night. A photograph
‘GOOD POLITICS’: He is a ‘pragmatic radical’ and has moderated his rhetoric since the height of his radicalism in 2014, a lecturer in contemporary Islam said Abu Mohammed al-Jolani is the leader of the Islamist alliance that spearheaded an offensive that rebels say brought down Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and ended five decades of Baath Party rule in Syria. Al-Jolani heads Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is rooted in Syria’s branch of al-Qaeda. He is a former extremist who adopted a more moderate posture in order to achieve his goals. Yesterday, as the rebels entered Damascus, he ordered all military forces in the capital not to approach public institutions. Last week, he said the objective of his offensive, which saw city after city fall from government control, was to
The US deployed a reconnaissance aircraft while Japan and the Philippines sent navy ships in a joint patrol in the disputed South China Sea yesterday, two days after the allied forces condemned actions by China Coast Guard vessels against Philippine patrol ships. The US Indo-Pacific Command said the joint patrol was conducted in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone by allies and partners to “uphold the right to freedom of navigation and overflight “ and “other lawful uses of the sea and international airspace.” Those phrases are used by the US, Japan and the Philippines to oppose China’s increasingly aggressive actions in the
‘KAMPAI’: It is said that people in Japan began brewing rice about 2,000 years ago, with a third-century Chinese chronicle describing the Japanese as fond of alcohol Traditional Japanese knowledge and skills used in the production of sake and shochu distilled spirits were approved on Wednesday for addition to UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list, a committee of the UN cultural body said It is believed people in the archipelago began brewing rice in a simple way about two millennia ago, with a third-century Chinese chronicle describing the Japanese as fond of alcohol. By about 1000 AD, the imperial palace had a department to supervise the manufacturing of sake and its use in rituals, the Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association said. The multi-staged brewing techniques still used today are
RSS