Police to scrutinize use of deadly force in DC car chase
Police to scrutinize use of deadly force in DC car chase
WASHINGTON — Police in
Washington are reviewing the
use of officers’ deadly force in
the killing of a woman who tried
to ram her car through a White
House barrier, a shooting her
family says was unjustified.
The investigation will reconstruct
the car chase and
shooting, which briefly put the
U.S. Capitol on lockdown, and
explore how officers dealt with
the driver and whether protocols
were followed.
Senate Sergeant at Arms
Terrance Gainer said he was
confident the officers “did the
best they could under the situation.”
Police guarding national
landmarks must make fast
decisions without the luxury of
all the facts, especially when
a threat is perceived, he said.
“This is not a routine highway
or city traffic stop. It is
simply not that,” Gainer said
Saturday. “The milieu under
which we’re operating at the
United States Capitol and I
suspect at the White House
and at icons up in New York
is an anti-terrorism approach,
and that is a difference with a
huge, huge distinction.”
Capitol Police Chief Kim
Dine maintained that his officers
acted “heroically” to protect
the community.
NY undercover cop
present at motorcycle
rally, may have seen
brawl and didn’t report
NEW YORK — Authorities are
investigating whether an undercover
police officer present at a
motorcycle rally witnessed a
violent confrontation between
an SUV driver and a swarm of
bikers and didn’t immediately
report it, a law enforcement
official said Saturday.
The officer came forward
several days after the Sept.
29 rally to say he was present,
according to the official,
who was not authorized
to speak publicly about the
investigation and spoke to The
Associated Press on condition
of anonymity. The officer
has an attorney, and internal
affairs detectives are trying
to determine whether he witnessed
the assault on the SUV
driver, the official said.
New York Police Department
spokesman John McCarthy
said a detective had been
stripped of his gun and badge
pending the outcome of an
internal affairs investigation.
McCarthy said internal
affairs was investigating the
case and looking into whether
any off-duty officers may have
been present.
Undercover officers are
required to immediately
report being a witness to a
crime. Uniformed officers are
required to take police action
if they see a crime occurring,
but the rules are murkier for
undercover officers who face
blowing their cover, confusing
civilians who don’t realize
the undercover is really a cop
and ruining yearslong investigations.
NYC police arrest
another man in biker-SUV
brawl caught on video
Also on Saturday, the
department arrested another
man in connection with the
incident. Reginald Chance was
charged with first-degree gang
assault, first-degree assault
and criminal mischief.
The 37-year-old Chance
was in custody Saturday and
unable to comment. There is
no phone number listed for
Chance at the address provided
by police.
Police have arrested four
people in connection with
the attack, though the case
against one of those motorcyclists
was subsequently
dismissed when prosecutors
said they needed more time to
investigate.
Iran leader hints
at disapproval
over Obama call
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s top
leader hinted Saturday that he
disapproved of the phone call
between Presidents Hassan
Rouhani and Barack Obama
during the Iranian leader’s trip
to New York last month, but he
reiterated his crucial support
for the president’s policy of
outreach to the West.
The comments by Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei reflect the difficulties
facing Iran’s leadership
to pursue groundbreaking outreach
to Washington without
risking a major backlash from
hard-line groups uneasy about
the pace of the contacts.
In separate remarks, Iran’s
Foreign Minister Mohammad
Javad Zarif said the exchanges
with Washington already have
paid dividends by opening
opportunities to negotiate a
“win-win” nuclear deal that
would allow Tehran to maintain
its uranium enrichment
but provide greater assurances
the program remain peaceful.
But Iran has not yet given
specifics on what it would offer
in exchange for possible lifting
of Western sanctions when
nuclear talks with world powers
resume later this month in
Geneva.
Zarif also disputed Obama’s
claim in an Associated Press
interview that Iran was more
than year from reaching the
capacity to build a nuclear
weapon. Zarif repeated Iran’s
claims that it does not seek
nuclear arms, and urged
the U.S. and its allies not to
allow Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu to
“blackmail the world” and
block potential progress in
nuclear talks. Netanyahu has
said Iran could reach the ability
to make a nuclear warhead
on an even shorter timeframe
than suggested by Obama.
Caskets of African
migrants lined up in
Italian airport hangar;
survivors pay respects
LAMPEDUSA, Italy — The
coffins of African migrants
killed in a shipwreck off the
Italian island of Lampedusa
were lined up in long rows
inside an airport hangar where
survivors of the tragedy paid
their respects Saturday. All of
the caskets had a single white
rose on top except for the four
of the youngest victims, which
had stuffed animals.
The 111 coffins were numbered
— a teddy bear wearing
a smile and a blue shirt with a
heart was placed above casket
No. 92.
The ceremony took place
hours after Italian fishermen
threw a bouquet of yellow flowers
near the exact spot where
the migrant boat sank, honking
their foghorns in tribute to the
dead and up to 250 migrants
who may still be missing.
The search to recover more
bodies, meanwhile, was called
off for a second day because
of choppy waters and strong
currents.
A parliamentary delegation
visited the survivors amid
reports that a boat may have
violated the “law of the sea” by
failing to help the migrant ship
packed with 500 migrants,
nearly all from Eritrea, about
650 yards from shore.
Calif. brush fire
forces evacuation
at Marine base
LOS ANGELES — Fierce
winds stoked several small
fires across Southern
California on Saturday, forcing
260 residents and hospital
patients to evacuate at
a military base, causing a
key freeway junction to shut
down and damaging cars and
homes.
A fire at the Marine Corps’
Camp Pendleton forced 230
residents to evacuate from a
housing unit near Lake O’Neil
and caused minor damage to
four buildings, base officials
said. Naval Hospital Camp
Pendleton was not threatened
by the fire, but a power
outage prompted officials to
evacuate about 30 patients
to other hospitals in the
area and stop accepting new
patients.
The blaze charred about
250 acres.
By wire sources