Friday, February 18 top stories
It is Friday, February 18. Here are today’s top stories.
Cop who killed Daunte Wright sentenced to 2 years
Kim Potter, the police officer who shot and killed Daunte Wright after she mistakenly pulled out her firearm instead of a taser during an arrest in 2021, was today sentenced to two years on her manslaughter conviction from December. 16 months will be served in prison and the remaining 8 will be on supervised release. The judge said this was a case of a cop who made a tragic mistake. Wright’s family criticized the 2-year sentence, saying it was like the justice system murdered him all over again. Wright was 20 years old when he died.
Mall brawl shows potential bias in officers
A viral video of an incident at a mall in New Jersey shows two teenage boys, one white and one Black, getting into a verbal confrontation that escalated into a fight. Two police officers are seen breaking up the fight, but how the officers acted has raised questions whether the officers acted on racial bias. Look at this clip.
[Video clip]
As you can see, the Black teenager, who is a 14-year-old eighth grader, had two officers kneel on his back and was handcuffed. His name is Kye. The white teenager was left sitting on a couch.
The video reached New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, who said he is “deeply disturbed.” The officers were from the Bridgewater Police Department. The department said they are investigating.
Judge: NY AG can question Trump, children
A New York judge said the NY AG Letitia James’ office can interview Donald Trump and his two adult children, Donald Jr. and Ivanka, under oath as a part of the office’s civil fraud investigation on Trump’s taxes.
Trump sought to block the deposition out of concerns that they would negatively expose themselves to a separate but related criminal investigation on his taxes. Trump also accused the AG of being politically biased against him.
The judge said the AG showed evidence of possible financial fraud and ordered that all three Trumps are to appear for a deposition within 21 days. However an attorney for Trump said they would appeal the ruling.
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Gallup poll says more Americans identify as LGBTQ
A Gallup poll of 12,416 adults in the U.S. taken place through 2021 found that 7.1% of Americans identify as LGBTQ. This number is double from the same poll ten years ago, as only 3.5% of adults identified as LGBTQ. The author of the poll, Jeff Jones said LGBTQ young adults are much more likely today to acknowledge that and accept that compared with people in the past because it’s a different environment.
Eileen Gu wins second gold medal
Olympic skier Eileen Gu won her second gold medal of the Beijing games in the freeski halfpipe. She previously won gold in the big air freestyle and nabbed a silver in the women’s freestyle skiing slopestyle. Gu is getting a lot of attention because she was born in the U.S. but plays for Team China. Her father is American, while her mother is Chinese. Gu said her reasoning is that when she is in the U.S., she is an American, but when she is in China, she is Chinese. What is not clear is how Gu made the arrangement with China to compete for them because Chinese law prohibits dual citizenship and it doesn’t seem like Gu gave up her U.S. citizenship. Gu has avoided answering this question, instead saying she is just happy to help bridge the gap between the two countries.
Cargo ship with thousands of cars catches fire
A cargo ship carrying thousands of popular cars caught on fire in the Atlantic Ocean. The ship had 22 crew members and they were evacuated. The ship was left adrift. The ship had about 4,000 Volkswagen cars, including 100 Volkswagen cars headed for a Houston port with many of them being GTI, Golf R, and ID.4 models. The ship had about 1,100 Porsches and a number of Lamborghinis. The ship will eventually be towed.
That is all the top stories for this week. Have a nice weekend and stay with the light.
https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2022/02/18/kim-potter-sentenced-daunte-wright/
https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2022/02/16/bridgewater-commons-mall-fight-video/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-ivanka-testify-fraud-investigation-new-york/
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/17/nyregion/trump-investigation-letitia-james.html
https://www.axios.com/lgbtq-generation-z-gallup-24551003-3bfa-414a-bbef-ff663368c4b5.html
https://www.si.com/olympics/2022/02/08/eileen-gu-big-air-gold-medal-china-citizenship-status