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Some states act to protect residents from extreme heat — with a new focus on young people

MoInd 📰
2 years 7 months ago

After two years of record-breaking heat that brought a surge of deaths and health emergencies, several states have enacted or are considering measures designed to protect residents — with a new focus on younger people whose vulnerability is rising with the temperatures. Nationally, heat-related deaths rose from about 1,000 in 2018 to 1,722 in 2022 […]

The post Some states act to protect residents from extreme heat — with a new focus on young people appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Tim Henderson

Louisiana Sheriff’s Department Settles Two Use-of-Force Cases, Including One in Which an Autistic Teen Died

ProPublica
2 years 7 months ago

by Richard A. Webster, Verite News

This article was produced for Verite News by Richard A. Webster, who covered Jefferson Parish as part of ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network in 2021-22. Sign up for Dispatches to get stories like this one as soon as they are published.

Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, has agreed to pay settlements to two families who accused its sheriff’s deputies of using excessive force against teenagers.

The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office agreed to contribute to a $1.25 million settlement with the family of Eric Parsa, a 16-year-old boy with severe autism who died nearly four years ago after deputies pinned him to the pavement and then sat on his back for more than nine minutes. The September settlement, the cost of which will be shared by the shopping center where the boy died, is one of the largest in the department’s history.

The Parsa settlement also requires that an outside expert develop a program to train JPSO deputies on how to deal with people with autism. Parsa’s parents, Donna Lou and Daren Parsa, told Verite News they hope it will prevent other families from enduring the same pain they have suffered.

JPSO also will pay an undisclosed sum to the family of Tre’mall McGee, who was shot in the shoulder by a deputy while he was facedown on the ground, about two months after Parsa’s death. The sheriff’s office was accused of concealing its role in the shooting of the 14-year-old from both the public and McGee’s mother for months. McGee’s attorney, Ron Haley, said neither he nor McGee’s mother, Tiffany, could discuss terms.

Both Parsa’s death and McGee’s shooting were covered as part of a yearlong investigation by ProPublica and WWNO/WRKF, which found that JPSO rarely upholds complaints against its deputies. Over a three-year period, from 2017 to mid-2020, JPSO’s internal affairs division upheld only one misconduct complaint against a deputy, according to the investigation by the news organizations. During that same time, the New Orleans Police Department upheld 247.

The sheriff’s office did not respond to requests for comment, but in a recent interview with WWL-TV, Sheriff Joe Lopinto said his deputies didn’t do anything wrong in the Parsa case and were not deserving of discipline. He has previously denied any wrongdoing in the McGee case as well.

“This is not a scenario where any of our deputies are trying to hurt a kid, trying to use force or even justified using deadly force,” he told WWL-TV about the Parsa case. “They’re encountering a situation that happens … and in the course, a death occurs.”

The two recent settlements have led the ACLU of Louisiana to renew its calls for federal prosecutors to investigate the sheriff’s office and put the agency under a consent decree. Relying on lawsuits filed by the victims of police brutality is not enough to force JPSO to reform its practices and stop violating the civil rights of people with disabilities and Black and Hispanic residents, said Nora Ahmed, legal director of the ACLU of Louisiana.

“It cannot be the case that people continue to be killed, maimed and violated, and the only recourse that they have is yet another lawsuit that will be fought to the bones, and, if they’re lucky, settled,” Ahmed said.

Handcuffed and Shackled

Parsa died in January 2020 in the parking lot of the Westgate Shopping Center in Metairie. Surveillance footage shows the boy repeatedly slapping his own head, then slapping and wrestling with his father for several minutes before law enforcement was called.

A nearby business manager contacted a JPSO deputy who was working a security detail for the shopping center and informed him that a child with special needs was having a violent episode. In total, at least six deputies arrived in four patrol cars and two unmarked vehicles. They handcuffed and shackled the teen as deputies took turns sitting on his back, with one putting him in a chokehold. After nearly 10 minutes, deputies noticed Parsa had gone “limp” and urinated, according to the lawsuit.

“When I saw Eric’s dead body in the emergency room, I broke out into tears saying: ‘Sorry. I’m sorry, I’m sorry,’” said Daren Parsa, who told the business manager to call the police when his son began suffering a disability-related “meltdown.” “And I’m still sorry. I wish I’d known that when you say ‘yes to law enforcement being involved, there’s a risk of mortality.”

The coroner ruled the teen’s death an accident as a result of excited delirium, with “prone positioning” as a contributing factor.

Up to half of all people killed during encounters with police are disabled, according to a 2016 study by the Ruderman Family Foundation, a Boston-based philanthropic organization.

The inability of those with autism to effectively communicate their feelings can often cause them to express themselves and their frustrations through more negative behaviors, such as aggression and self-injuring, Lou, Parsa’s mother, said. This can lead to deadly results when they encounter police officers who haven’t been trained on how to appropriately handle people with developmental disabilities. “They’re not trying to be malicious. They’re really asking for help,” Lou said. “They’re in distress, and they don’t know how to express it.”

The sheriff’s office stated in court documents that the show of force that day was necessary to deal with a violent and out-of-control teenager, but Daren Parsa said there was minimal risk of danger. His son would often have meltdowns when he felt overwhelmed, but they would fade if he was given space to calm down. Lou said she tried to explain to the officers that one of her son’s triggers while he was in an excited state was being crowded by a lot of unfamiliar people.

“They said, ‘Let us do our job.’ And we all know the outcome of that,” Lou said, “It just doesn’t make sense. We assumed they were trained, that they knew what to do.”

“What’s heartbreaking is that he was calming down,” Daren Parsa said, “and we almost got him inside of the car, and then they showed up.”

by Richard A. Webster, Verite News

The Sleigh Shed

Explore STL
2 years 7 months ago

The Train Shed at St. Louis Union Station has been transformed into a glittering holiday retreat. With wall-to-wall bling, The Sleigh Shed puts the excess of the holidays on full […]

The post The Sleigh Shed appeared first on Explore St. Louis.

Rachel Huffman

Shells' Twins Tandem Laynie and Abby Gehrs Provide Energy To Team - Are Midwest Members Credit Union Athletes Of The Month

Riverbender 🕸
2 years 7 months ago
ROXANA - Roxana’s girls basketball team has a pair of twins - Laynie and Abby Gehrs - who are providing what new head coach Addaya Moore said is “unbelievable energy” to the squad. Laynie and Abby are exceptional athletes and are keys so far to the Shells’ 3-0 overall mark. The girls recently captured the Dupo Tournament to open the season. Laynie had seven points in the Shells' 48-20 win in the final of the Dupo Cat Classic. Abby added four points in that encounter. Laynie and Abby are seniors on the squad. Both are also volleyball and soccer players. Both girls are strong on defense and always help move the ball in the Shells’ powerful offense so far in the 2023-2024 campaign. The two girls are Midwest Members Credit Union Athletes of the Month for the Shells. In a recent win over East Alton-Wood River, Coach Moore said the twin sisters finished off what the bench had started to seal the game when Roxana had some foul trouble and had to sit out some

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Two charged with murder in Hazelwood hotel shooting

FOX 2 📺
2 years 7 months ago
HAZELWOOD, Mo. - Two men are accused of killing a hotel manager after an argument on Saturday. Jaylin Mcelroy, 20, and Marshaun Brinkley, 18, both of Florissant, face murder and assault charges. Victor Fooks is identified as the victim. Mcelroy and Brinkley were asked to leave the InTown Suites Extended Stay Hotel in Hazelwood Saturday [...]
Joe Millitzer

Brantley Nearly Averaging Double-Double For Piasa Birds - Is An Altonized Federal Credit Union Athlete Of The Month

Riverbender 🕸
2 years 7 months ago
PIASA - The Southwestern High School boys basketball team finds itself sitting at 2-2 after the 2023 Roxana Hoopsgiving Classic. The Piasa Birds have won their last two games over Jerseyville and Staunton. A large part of that is junior Ian Brantley. The three-sport athlete also plays football and baseball for the Piasa Birds but is so far having a breakout season on the hard court. Last season, the Piasa Birds broke even, finishing with a 16-16 record. Brantley averaged 9.9 points per game and 6.6 rebounds. Just four games into this season and he is nearly averaging a double-double. Brantley has scored 85 points so far, averaging 21.3 PPG and 8.8 rebounds per contest. For his efforts so far this basketball season, Ian Brantley is an Altonized Community Federal Credit Union Athlete of the Month for Southwestern High School. Brantley earned a spot on the 2023 Hoopsgiving Classic All-Tournament team as the Piasa Birds finished in ninth place overall.

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