Woman, 19, on life support after being shot in the head, dumped on street
A shooting leaves a young woman on life support. A witness spoke to FOX 2 about seeing the girl’s body dumped from a van at Blackmoor and Lappin streets. Driving down Lappin street on Detroit’s east side just before one Monday morning witness Rhamischa Brooks says she saw something terrifying on Blackmoor Street.
After witnesses called 911, Detroit police found a 19-year-old woman laying in the grass believed to be pushed out of a van, shot in the head but still alive. Police have not confirmed her identity but friends and family of 19-year-old Shontannette Turner say it is her.
Turner is a Detroit Denby High School graduate, is on life support at St. John’s Hospital and Medical Center, according to her friends and family. They say she was with her boyfriend. After an argument they say he must have beaten her and described fractures to her face. They believe he then shot her in the head and left her.
Witnesses say they did see a man in possibly a silver or white van, who was “tall and heavy-set.” Police are not naming any suspects and are working on a vehicle description. Many friends and family of Turner remain afraid of who they believe put this teen in the hospital will come back for them.
Detroit police have not made any arrests yet and are continuing to investigate. They also ask anyone with information to call police (313) 586-5300 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-Speak-Up.
3 people killed when car hits tree on Detroit’s east side
Three people were killed Wednesday when a vehicle struck a tree near Charlevoix and Lakewood streets. A witness told Local 4 the car exploded shortly after it hit the tree.
The Mercury Marauder, driven by 26-year-old Ramon Bridges, was traveling west on Charlevoix Street when he lost control at the intersection and crashed into the tree and the porch of a vacant house before the car burst into flames. Three young men were trapped inside the car with no way of getting out.
Members of Bridges’ family said he had just purchased the car three hours before the crash. Bridges was killed, along with two 24-year-old men — his cousin, Raheem Akbar, and his friend, Sedric Whaley. Nago and his workers also used a fire extinguisher, but it was too late. The three men had been close for more than 15 years.
Bridges’ mother, Cynthia Bridges, said the grief is unbearable. It’s the second time she’s lost a son in a traffic accident. The bodies remained inside the car as it was taken to the Medical Examiner’s Office to confirm the identification. Detroit police said the car may have been traveling at more than 100 miles per hour.
Detroit police officers at 11th precinct directed to meet ticket quota
A directive was given to Detroit Police Patrol Officers in the 11th precinct on Tuesday that was clear, “Every Scout car is required to make 3 traffic stops per shift and issue 6 tickets.” The administrative message was put into a binder that communicates procedures and crime bulletins from command officers.
The document was leaked to 7 Investigator Jim Kiertzner. The name at the bottom of the directive is Captain Timothy Leach who says he made a suggestion during a command officers’ meeting that more tickets be written. It was not intended as a directive, although he tells Kiertzner today it could have been interpreted that way. An internal investigation is underway to find out who wrote it.
The President of the Detroit Police Officers Association Union, Mark Diaz, tells 7 Action News they heard about it last night and addressed the message before officers used it on the street. Diaz says it not only violates Detroit department policy, it also violates state law.
Schools warn of phone app that features porn, bullying
There is a warning for parents about a new social media app that allows children to look at pornography and bully classmates. The app After School is quickly becoming enormously popular. Available in the Apple app store for use on iPhones and iPads, it allows students to communicate using sexually explicit videos with inappropriate comments making for a vulgar bully-board. And anyone posting may do so anonymously, you don’t leave your name so it becomes open season.
Parents say they are stunned to see what’s posted on After School. Clarkston, Howell, Pinckney and Flushing school administrators are all warning parents of the after school app.
One category was the most intimidating girl. Another category was who has the biggest body part. Pornographic drawings are included. The app is promoted as an anonymous and private message board for your school. But it’s turned into a bully board loaded with obscenities and student’s phone numbers have been posted on After School.
The Howell teen’s father says many students have been picked on and victimized. The Howell father said a group of parents are putting together a petition for Apple to disassociate from the app.
Eric Garner Grand Jury Update: No Indictment of Officer in Chokehold Death
A grand jury cleared a white New York City police officer Wednesday in the videotaped chokehold death of an unarmed black man who had been stopped on suspicion of selling loose, untaxed cigarettes, a lawyer for the victim’s family said.
The decision in Staten Island not to indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo threatened to add to the tensions that have simmered in the city since the July 17 death of Eric Garner — a case that sparked outrage and drew comparisons to the fatal police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
Jonathan Moore, an attorney for Garner’s family, said he was told of the grand jury’s decision. The Staten Island District Attorney’s office didn’t immediately respond to a call. There was no immediate comment from Pantaleo’s attorney nor the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, a union that has strongly backed the officer. The grand jury could have considered a range of charges, from murder to a lesser offense such as reckless endangerment.
A video shot by an onlooker and widely viewed on the Internet showed the 43-year-old Garner telling a group of police officers to leave him alone as they tried to arrest him.
Pantaleo responded by wrapping his arm around Garner’s neck in an apparent chokehold, which is banned under NYPD policy. The heavyset Garner, who had asthma, was heard repeatedly gasping, “I can’t breathe!” A second video surfaced that showed police and paramedics appearing to make no effort to revive Garner while he lay motionless on the ground. He later died at a hospital.
As with Brown’s death in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, the Garner case sparked protests, accusations of racist policing and calls for federal prosecutors to intervene. But unlike the Missouri protests, the demonstrations in New York remained mostly peaceful. The case also prompted Police Commissioner William Bratton to order officers at the nation’s largest police department to undergo retraining on use of force.
The medical examiner ruled Garner’s death a homicide and found that a chokehold contributed to it. A forensic pathologist hired by Garner’s family, Dr. Michael Baden, agreed with those findings, saying there was hemorrhaging on Garner’s neck indicative of neck compressions.
Police union officials and Pantaleo’s lawyer have argued that the officer used a takedown move taught by the police department, not a chokehold, because he was resisting arrest and that Garner’s poor health was the main reason he died.
While details on the grand jurors were not disclosed, Staten Island is the most politically conservative of the city’s five boroughs and home to many police and firefighters. The panel began hearing evidence in late September, including the video, autopsy results and testimony by Pantaleo.
Pantaleo had been stripped of his gun and badge and placed on desk duty while the case was under investigation. He is likely to remain on modified duty while the NYPD conducts an internal investigation that could result in administrative charges.
In anticipation of the announcement on the grand jury decision, police officials met with community leaders on Staten Island to head off a repeat of the response in Ferguson, where a grand jury decided not to indict the white officer who shot the black teen. Demonstrations there turned violent, resulting in more than 100 arrests and destruction of 12 commercial buildings by fire.
The last officer to be indicted in the death of a civilian was Richard Haste, charged in the February 2012 killing of Ramarley Graham in the Bronx. Graham was shot in a tiny bathroom in the three-family home where he lived with his grandmother. He was chased there by Haste who believed he was selling drugs.
Haste said he fired his weapon because he thought he was going to be shot. But no weapons were found in the apartment.
The officer was indicted on manslaughter charges in the summer of 2012, but the charges were dismissed by a judge who said prosecutors improperly instructed the grand jurors. A second grand jury decided not to re-indict the officer.
Written by LBeasley (Lauren Beasley), Digital Producer of The Morning Heat and Sports Editor of Radio One Detroit
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Trending Topics: Local Schools Warn of Phone App that Features Porn and Bullying was originally published on hothiphopdetroit.com
