Category: US

CNN
 — 

As investigations continue into the deadly police beating of a 29-year-old Black man in Memphis, public servants involved in Tyre Nichols’ traffic stop and brutal confrontation are facing repercussions – some as severe as murder charges – and more fallout is possible.

“We are looking at everybody who had any kind of involvement in this incident,” Shelby County District Attorney Steven Mulroy told CNN days after release of public body camera and surveillance footage in the January 7 encounter. “We’re looking at everybody.”

Five Black officers are due to be arraigned February 17 after they were fired January 20, then indicted on seven counts each, including second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping with bodily injury, aggravated kidnapping in possession of a deadly weapon, official misconduct and official oppression. Two more officers – one White and one still not publicly identified – who were put on leave January 8 alongside the others remain under internal investigation, police said.

“Potential” charges “of false reporting” on the initial police report remain under scrutiny, as does every other person at the scene, the district attorney’s office spokesperson Erica Williams told CNN on February 1.

All the fired officers and one still on leave were part of the force’s SCORPION unit – created to tackle rising crime in the city and disbanded amid national outcry following Nichols’ death – the department has confirmed. None of the fired officers previously had been disciplined for excessive force, though several had gotten written reprimands or short suspensions for violating department policies, their personnel files show.

Beyond police, three Memphis Fire Department staffers have been terminated, two of whom had their licenses suspended, and two Shelby County Sheriff’s Office deputies were put on leave for their parts in the case, leaders of those agencies have said.

Here’s what we know so far about those involved:

Bean, 24, was released on a $250,000 bond by January 27, Shelby County Jail records show. His attorney did not immediately respond to CNN’s requests for comment.

Bean joined the department as a recruit in August 2020 and was commissioned as an officer in January 2021, personnel records show. He was transferred to the SCORPION unit in August.

No previous disciplinary action involving Bean is in the personnel files reviewed by CNN.

Haley, 30, was released on a $350,000 bond on January 27, jail records show. His defense attorney did not immediately respond to CNN’s requests for comment.

Haley joined the department as a recruit in August 2020 and was commissioned as an officer in January 2021, personnel records show.

He got a written reprimand in November 2021 for failing to document his role in the detention that February of a suspect who said she suffered a dislocated shoulder as she was handcuffed and put in the back of a police car by Haley and another officer. Haley was not charged with excessive force; the other officer got a sustained complaint for “excessive/unnecessary force” and resigned, internal police records show.

A supervisor at the time called Haley “a hard-working officer (who) routinely makes good decisions” and said he was “sure that this was a limited event,” records show.

Before that, Haley had been a defendant in a 2016 federal civil suit in which a Shelby County Correctional Center inmate claimed to have been beaten and had his civil rights violated. The lawsuit was dismissed, which Haley requested, records show. CNN has reached out to Haley’s attorneys in the suit.

In the case, Haley was among three correctional officers said to have accused the plaintiff of trying to flush contraband and taken them to a restroom to be searched, court records show. “Haley and (a co-defendant) hit (plaintiff) in the face with punches,” the complaint states. The inmate then was picked up and slammed face-first into a sink by a third correctional officer, then thrown to the floor, after which the inmate allegedly “blacked out” and woke up in a medical unit, it states.

Haley and another correctional officer acknowledged searching the inmate after they “observed smoke” and the attempted flush, according to their motion to dismiss. Haley denied the other allegations, it shows.

Martin, 30, was released on a $350,000 bond by January 27, jail records show. He will plead not guilty, his attorney William Massey said January 26.

“Justice means following the law, and the law says that no one is guilty until a jury says they’re guilty,” Massey said, adding, “No one out there that night intended for Tyre Nichols to die.”

Martin joined the department in 2018, according to personnel files.

He got a three-day suspension without pay after a loaded revolver was found in the back of his police car in March 2019 following a shift in which he transported prisoners, the records show. And he got a one-day suspension without pay after failing in September 2020 to file a report on a domestic dispute after a complainant requested such a filing.

Martin also earned overall praise on performance evaluations. His 2021 performance “exceeds expectations” in reliability, compatibility, work attitude and dealing with the public, personnel records show. He “uses good judgement” and “is a three-year officer performing on the same level as more mature seasoned officers,” the files said.

Mills, 32, was released on a $250,000 bond on January 26, according to jail records. He plans to plead not guilty, his attorney Blake Ballin said January 26.

Formerly a jailer in Mississippi and Tennessee, Mills is a “respectful father” who was “devastated” to be accused in Nichols’ killing, Ballin has said, adding videos of Nichols’ traffic stop “produced as many questions as they have answers.”

“Some of the questions that remain will require a focus on Desmond Mills’s individual actions; on what Desmond knew and what he was able to see when he arrived late to the scene; on what Desmond knew and what he was able to see after he was pepper sprayed; and on whether Desmond’s actions crossed the lines that were crossed by other officers during this incident,” Ballin told CNN on January 28 in a statement.

Mills “is remorseful that he is attached to anything like this, that he is involved or connected to the death of somebody who – who’s life should not have been taken. That is devastating to him,” Ballin told “CNN This Morning” on January 27.

“Just because Mr. Mills was a part of that system doesn’t mean that he can’t also be a victim of it, and so it’s my job to protect him and to protect his rights,” he added. “I caution everyone to look at this with an open mind and to treat each of these officers as individuals.”

Mills joined the department as a recruit in March 2017, personnel files show.

He got a reprimand in 2019 for not filing a form after using physical force during an arrest to take a woman “to the ground so that she could be handcuffed,” the records show. Mills was “trying to assist the other officers to gain control of the young lady,” he said at a hearing, a summary states.

At a separate hearing about equipment handling, Mills’ supervisor described him as “energized and a hard worker” who had “learned his lesson” after dropping his personal digital assistant, records show.

Smith, 28, was released on a $250,000 bond on January 26, jail records show. His attorney did not immediately respond to CNN’s requests for comment.

Smith joined the department as a recruit in March 2018, personnel files show.

He got a two-day suspension without pay in July 2021 for a traffic accident that January in which he hit a pickup truck with his unmarked police vehicle, causing it to spin out and hit another car, according to a police report. Smith and other drivers got minor injuries.

Hemphill remains on a “relieved of duty” status – along with an unnamed officer – as an internal investigation continues, Memphis police said January 30 in a news release; whether he’s being paid is unclear because police spokesperson Kimberly Elder declined to say.

“Officer Hemphill and the other officer’s actions and inactions have been and continue to be the subject of this investigation since its inception on January 8, 2023,” the release stated.

Hemphill was part of the now-disbanded SCORPION unit, a source familiar with his assignment confirmed to CNN.

During Nichols’ initial traffic stop, Hemphill fired a stun gun at the driver and, after Nichols ran from that site, said, “One of them prongs hit the bastard,” bodycam footage released by the city shows. Twice to another officer, he says: “I hope they stomp his ass.”

Hemphill “was never present at the second scene,” his attorney Lee Gerald said January 30, adding his client activated his bodycam as required and “is cooperating with officials in this investigation.”

The footage does not show Hemphill at the second site, where the district attorney has said Nichols was beaten and suffered his serious injuries.

Memphis Fire Department personnel terminated over their response to the Nichols encounter are: emergency medical technicians Robert Long and JaMichael Sandridge and Lt. Michelle Whitaker, the agency said Monday. CNN has reached out to all three.

Long had been at the agency since March 2020, while Sandridge was hired in September 2019 and Whitaker’s tenure began in March 1998, it said.

The Tennessee Emergency Medical Services Division suspended the two emergency medical technicians on February 3 after they failed to render emergency care and treatment the night Nichols encountered law enforcement.

Both Long and Sandridge failed to provide any basic emergency care for 19 minutes, despite the patient “exhibiting clear signs of distress such as the inability to remain in a seated posture and laying prone on the ground multiple times,” the decision said.

The board said both first responders failed to perform tasks such as obtaining vital signs and conducting a full head-to-toe examination during the 19-minute period.

“Vital signs play a key role in establishing a baseline for the patient from which deterioration from medical conditions can be measured,” the board said in its reports.

Sandridge had been licensed in the state since November 2015, and Long had been licensed since May 2020.

The board ordered that Long and Sandridge’s licenses were “summarily suspended” immediately and will remain in place until the conclusion of a contested case hearing against both first responders, or until otherwise ordered by the board.

Long, Sandridge and Whitaker responded January 7 to a report of “a person pepper sprayed” and arrived at the scene to find Nichols “handcuffed on the ground leaning against a police vehicle,” Fire Chief Gina Sweat said in a January 30 news release.

Fire officials’ investigation concluded “the two EMT’s responded based on the initial nature of the call … and information they were told on the scene and failed to conduct an adequate patient assessment of Mr. Nichols,” the chief said.

Whitaker had stayed in the fire truck, the statement said.

After the EMTs arrived and before an ambulance arrived, first responders repeatedly walked away from Nichols, with Nichols intermittently falling onto his side, pole-camera video released Friday shows.

Two Fire Department staffers had been put on administrative leave pending an investigation before they were terminated, spokesperson Officer Qwanesha Ward told CNN at the time.

Two deputies with the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office were put on leave pending an investigation after the sheriff watched the video in the Nichols case on January 27.

“Having watched the videotape for the first time tonight, I have concerns about two deputies who appeared on scene following the physical confrontation between police and Tyre Nichols,” Sheriff Floyd Bonner Jr. said in a statement that day.

CNN
 — 

As Lisa Marie Presley’s three daughters stand to inherit her estate and their grandmother is contesting the validity of her late daughter’s will, some close to the family say the legal dispute now in a California court reflects a Presley family history of conflict over money.

Four days after Lisa Marie Presley’s Graceland memorial service, Priscilla Presley filed a petition challenging a 2016 amendment in her daughter’s will. The change removed Priscilla Presley and former business manager, Barry Siegel, as co-trustees and replaced them with her children, Riley and Benjamin Keough. Benjamin Keough later died in 2020.

Priscilla Presley’s petition alleges that she did not receive notice of the amendment while her daughter was alive as was required by her Trust. The petition also notes that Priscilla’s name is misspelled in the document, alleges the amendment was not witnessed or notarized and questions the authenticity of Lisa Marie’s signature.

Keough has not yet responded to the petition. CNN has contacted her representatives for comment.

Two individuals who were longtime friends of Lisa Marie Presley spoke to CNN about the estate dispute. CNN is not naming the friends as they were not authorized to speak publicly on behalf of the family.

One friend alleged Priscilla Presley’s petition is a “money grab.”

“This is about Graceland and the memorabilia that Elvis left to Lisa Marie,” the source said. “Lisa was the sole heir to his estate. She and her mother were estranged for the last several years. Lisa did not want her mother overseeing the estate. I believe Priscilla is after money and what’s inside Graceland.”

Priscilla and Lisa Marie Presley’s relationship was strained over the years, the friends said, by their respective marriages and divorces, financial mismanagement, and personal trauma that has played out in the public eye as the former wife and the only child of the “King of Rock and Roll,” respectively.

CNN made multiple attempts to reach Priscilla Presley’s attorney for comment but has not heard back.

In a statement to CNN, sent Friday by a publicist after this story was first published, Priscilla Presley defended her efforts to protect her family’s legacy.

“I loved Elvis very much as he loved me. Lisa is a result of our love. For anyone to think anything differently would be a travesty of the family legacy and would be disrespectful of what Elvis left behind in his life,” Priscilla Presley said in part. “Please allow us the time we need to work together and sort this out. Please ignore ‘the noise.’ As I have always been there for Elvis’ legacy, our family and the fans, I will continue to forge a pathway forward with respect, honesty, dignity, integrity and love.”

Priscilla and Elvis Presley divorced in 1973. Lisa Marie Presley was the sole inheritor of Graceland and her father’s estate when he died in 1977. Priscilla Presley transformed the property into a lucrative tourist attraction and museum, held in a trust for Lisa Marie Presley until she turned 25.

In 2004, Lisa Marie sold 85% of Elvis Presley Enterprises’ assets in a deal reportedly worth more than $100 million. She retained 15% ownership of Elvis Presley Enterprises, which manages operations for Graceland, its related properties and the Graceland Archives. Lisa Marie also maintained complete ownership of the Graceland mansion itself and her late father’s personal items housed in its museum, including costumes and cars on display, according to the Graceland website.

A trust with the Graceland property and its contents will now pass on to her daughter, Riley Keough, an accomplished actress and model, along with her twin 14-year-old sisters, a representative for Graceland confirmed to CNN.

Keough has made several films and starred in the first season of the Starz anthology series, “The Girlfriend Experience.”

“Riley is a sophisticated, 33-year-old woman who is more than capable of running the estate smoothly,” the second close friend of Lisa Marie Presley told CNN.

In 2020, a Presley executive told Rolling Stone that the estate was worth between $400 and $500 million. Lisa Marie Presley annually earned seven figures from her interest in the estate, based on a court filing in her 2022 divorce.

So, now in the petition by Priscilla Presley challenging Lisa Marie’s will, she has begun a legal fight against her granddaughter.

“This is about gaining control of what’s left of Elvis’ estate,” one close friend alleged of Priscilla Presley’s petition. “It’s sad.”

Brigitte Kruse, a memorabilia auctioneer, is listed as an attorney-in-fact for Priscilla on her petition.

Benny Roshan, Chair of the Trust and Probate Litigation Group at Greenberg Glusker with estate law expertise, told CNN an attorney-in-fact might be designated in situations where an individual is either “unable, unwilling, [or] unavailable” to act.

“This kind of raises the question of which of those three scenarios necessitates Priscilla filing a lawsuit [with an] attorney-in-fact,” Roshan said.

Kruse and her husband started Kruse GWS Auctions Inc. in 2009, according to the company’s website. They have collaborated with Priscilla Presley on Elvis memorabilia auctions in the past, though it’s unclear what the terms of their financial partnership may be.

“My relationship with Ms. Presley was established years ago,” Kruse said in a statement to CNN. “My entire adult career has been devoted to validating and protecting the legacy of Elvis Presley. It has been an honor to be one of the many conservators of the Presley family.”

In August, CNN reported that Kruse arranged an auction of “lost” jewelry belonging to Elvis Presley.

“It was … a collection that we (had) all heard about,” Kruse told CNN in an email at the time. “It truly was a myth and a legend until we put our hands on it.”

Priscilla Presley helped curate the sale and expressed in an interview with Reuters that she hoped her involvement would help combat the proliferation of fake Elvis memorabilia, adding: “I want to know for sure that that is going to go to someone who is going to care for it, love it.”

“Elvis deserved for this collection to be found and displayed in order to preserve his legacy,” Kruse said in a press release. “The fans also needed to know about this collection after 50 years, and all of the stories attached to each piece.”

Dozens more Elvis Presley memorabilia items were listed as part of an “artifacts of Hollywood and music” auction that began in December 2022.

Kruse told Reuters that the items, such as an address book that belonged to the “It’s Now or Never” singer, had increased in value since Lisa Marie Presley’s death in an interview published last week.

According to a press release, “The telephone address book is well documented by a personal recollection by Priscilla Presley adding to its unique provenance.” It sold for $10,000, based on information on the auction site.

Elvis Presley’s life and career returned to the spotlight in a big way last summer with the Warner Bros. film “Elvis,” starring actor Austin Butler in the title role. Priscilla and Lisa Marie Presley collaborated in support of the project. They appeared together at the Golden Globe Awards for the film in January, just days before Lisa Marie’s death. (CNN and Warner Bros. are both part of Warner Bros. Discovery).

Away from the spotlight, however, one of Lisa Marie Presley’s friends told CNN there was tension between the mother and daughter.

“They put on a united front for the film. It’s a family business and they knew that if they began publicly battling it could hurt the bottom line,” the friend said. “It was a complicated relationship.”

Washington
CNN
 — 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has postponed his upcoming trip to China in response to the flying of a suspected Chinese spy balloon over the United States, in what marks a significant new phase in the tensions between Washington and Beijing.

Blinken, who was due to depart Friday night for Beijing, said at a press conference Friday that the high-altitude surveillance balloon flying over the continental United States “created the conditions that undermine the purpose of the trip.” He informed China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, in a call Friday morning that he was postponing.

“In my call today with Director Wang Yi, I made clear that the presence of this surveillance balloon in US airspace is a clear violation of US sovereignty and international law, that it’s an irresponsible act, and that the (People’s Republic of China) decision to take this action on the eve of my planned visit is detrimental to the substantive discussions that we were prepared to have,” Blinken told reporters Friday.

Blinken said that the US is confident the balloon over the US is a Chinese surveillance balloon, and the Pentagon said Friday evening that there is another Chinese spy balloon that is currently transiting Latin America.

“We are seeing reports of a balloon transiting Latin America. We now assess it is another Chinese surveillance balloon,” Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said in a statement to CNN.

It is unclear exactly where over Latin America the balloon is, but a US official told CNN that as of Friday evening, it did not appear that balloon was currently heading to the United States.

The Chinese foreign ministry claimed Friday that the balloon spotted over the US was a “civilian airship” used mainly for weather research that deviated from its planned course. The statement from a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry was the first admission that the airship originated in China.

“It is a civilian airship used for research, mainly meteorological, purposes. Affected by the Westerlies and with limited self-steering capability, the airship deviated far from its planned course. The Chinese side regrets the unintended entry of the airship into US airspace due to force majeure,” the Chinese foreign ministry said.

“The Chinese side will continue communicating with the US side and properly handle this unexpected situation caused by force majeure,” the statement added, using a legalistic term to mean circumstances beyond China’s control.

A senior State Department official said that the US has acknowledged China’s “statement of regret” but that the presence of the balloon in US airspace was “a clear violation of our sovereignty as well as international law, and it is unacceptable that this has occurred.”

“In this current environment, I think it would have significantly narrowed the agenda that we would have been able to address,” the official added.

A US military official said the incident is serious because of the “audacity” of the Chinese government, rather than any intelligence gain. While existing satellites are able to gather similar amounts of information, the timing of the spy balloon – right before the planned Blinken trip – and the fact that it is flying right over the continental US contribute to the seriousness of this moment, this official said.

The Pentagon assesses that the balloon will be remain over the US for a few days, a spokesman said Friday. The balloon was spotted in Missouri on Friday and is moving toward the East Coast.

It could exit the East Coast as early as Saturday morning, based off of a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration weather model.

Two US defense officials also told CNN that the balloon is expected to reach the East Coast and then pass out to sea in the southeast, near the Carolinas. One of the officials said it could exit the East Coast on Saturday.

“Once we detected the balloon, the US government acted immediately to protect against the collection of sensitive information,” Blinken said Friday. “We communicated with the PRC government directly through multiple channels about this issue. Members of my team consulted with our partners in other agencies, and in Congress. We also engaged our close allies and partners to inform them of the presence of the surveillance balloon in our airspace.”

The decision to postpone Blinken’s trip was made after high-level conversations between Blinken, President Joe Biden and other top national security officials, according to people familiar with the matter.

White House officials had viewed US-China relations as improving in the weeks following Biden’s meeting in November with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Blinken’s trip was to be the culmination of more robust talks between Washington and Beijing in the two months since the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia.

In the lead-up to Blinken’s trip, officials said it was possible that Biden and Xi could speak again at some point in the next several months.

But Biden has been sensitive to criticism from Republicans and others that he is too soft on China. And while he agreed with Pentagon recommendations not to shoot down the balloon because it posed a threat to people on the ground, he did want to demonstrate some type of response.

Officials also believed the timing of the balloon could throw off Blinken’s agenda in Beijing and did not necessarily want his visit to become solely about the incident.

Blinken still intends to travel to China “at the earliest opportunity when conditions allow,” the State Department official said, though the official did not elaborate on what conditions the US is watching for.

Blinken said at his press conference Friday that he would visit Beijing “when conditions allow.”

Earlier this week, the State Department summoned China’s charge d’affaires in Washington, Xu Xueyuan, “to deliver a very clear and stark message” regarding the discovery of the spy balloon, a second US official told CNN. That message was conveyed directly by Blinken and Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, according to the senior State Department official, who said “that same message was delivered at senior levels in Beijing.”

The balloon was spotted over Montana where 100 intercontinental ballistic missiles are buried in missile silos at Malmstrom Air Force Base.

Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said the US government has been tracking the balloon for several days as it made its way over the northern United States, adding it was “traveling at an altitude well above commercial air traffic and does not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground.”

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Friday that Biden was advised by military leaders not to shoot down the balloon because of the risk to safety and security of the people on the ground.

Officials told CNN that the US hasn’t ruled out shooting down the balloon, once it is deemed safe to do so. However, no decisions have been made yet, the officials said.

According to a defense official, US Northern Command is coordinating with NASA to determine the debris field if the balloon were to be shot down.

While the balloon’s current flight path carries it over “a number of sensitive sites,” a senior US defense official said it does not present a significant intelligence gathering risk. The balloon is assessed to have “limited additive value” from an intelligence collection perspective, the official added.

Ryder said the suspected surveillance balloon is currently moving eastward and is over the central United States. He added that the US military will not get into “hour-by-hour” updates on the location, but said the public can look up and see it.

“The public certainly has the ability to look up into the sky and see where the balloon is,” Ryder said.

The balloon has a “large payload underneath the surveillance component,” he added, comparing it to a basket under a blimp. He also said that what makes this surveillance balloon different from other similar balloon activity in the past is the “duration and the length of which it has been over US territory.”

The substructure beneath the balloon, believed by officials to be the steering and surveillance apparatus, is roughly 90 feet, according to a defense official – about the length of three city buses.

The balloon carrying that substructure is significantly larger and taller, the official said.

Biden was first briefed on the incident on Tuesday and has continued to receive updates, Jean-Pierre said.

Staff for the congressional intelligence leaders were briefed Thursday afternoon, and Pentagon State Department officials briefed leadership staff and national security staff on Friday, the official added. The administration has “also provided additional detail in writing.”

There are also efforts to brief lawmakers behind closed doors next week when Congress returns.

Congress has been briefed on China’s “surveillance balloon activities” in the past, the official said, including a briefing for “key committees” that took place “last August,” per the official.

Ryder reaffirmed on Friday that the Defense Department knows the surveillance balloon floating over the northern US is Chinese and said that it “has the ability to maneuver.”

“The balloon is maneuverable, clearly its violated US air space, and again we’ve communicated that fact to the (People’s Republic of China),” Ryder said. He did not indicate any details on how it can be maneuvered.

Sources familiar with the matter previously told CNN that the balloon’s movement relies primarily on the jet stream. Ryder added on Friday that the balloon “has changed its course which, again, is why we’re monitoring it.”

China can control the surveillance balloon to an extent, for example, by turning on and off the surveillance gear inside of it, the sources said.

Pentagon officials said they did not believe the balloon had surveillance or intelligence-gathering capabilities above and beyond Chinese spy satellites in low earth orbit, but unlike satellites that pass rapidly over a location every 90 minutes, a spy balloon can loiter over a spot and gather more of a “pattern of life” of a particular site, the official said.

In the past, the US has simply allowed balloons like this to waft away, without taking any action or publicizing their presence over the US, the sources said. It is also not the first time a surveillance balloon has appeared over the United States.

The US official said there were similar incidents with suspected Chinese surveillance balloons over Hawaii and Guam in recent years. On Thursday, a senior defense official said, “Instances of this activity have been observed over the past several years, including prior to this administration.”

This story has been updated with additional developments.

CNN
 — 

No charges will be filed against the Ohio police officers who shot and killed a man who had been suspected of burglary while cleaning out his dead grandmother’s home, Hamilton County Prosecutor Melissa Powers announced Friday.

Police alleged the man, 28-year-old Joe Frasure Jr., drove a minivan toward them during the incident, which took place early Monday in the Cincinnati suburb of Wyoming. That account has been disputed by his relatives, who say he didn’t drive at them but that he was just there to clean out his dead grandmother’s apartment.

Body camera footage of the incident was released on Friday, but it is not conclusive. It shows the moment three officers arrived at an apartment complex in Wyoming, responding to a 911 call of suspected burglary.

“Whether he was driving intentionally to run the officers over or whether he was trying to flee, we will never know for sure,” Powers said at the Friday news conference.

Powers said Friday that officers administered care until paramedics arrived, and Frasure Jr. was taken to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.

Family members told CNN on Thursday that Frasure Jr. was at the building cleaning out the apartment of his recently deceased grandmother. But at the news conference, Powers said that the building was vacant and people were only permitted to be in the building to clean stuff out during the daytime.

All three officers who responded to the call are on paid administrative leave, Powers said. The officers’ names have not been released. The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the shooting.

The half-brother of Frasure Jr., Joseph L. Frasure Jr., told CNN on Friday that the family is “extremely angry” after seeing the bodycam videos. “I want justice,” he said, “I’m going to keep protesting, I do not want this swept underneath the rug,”

Law enforcement officers responded to a 911 call shortly after 12:30 a.m. on Monday that reported two or three people were trying to break into an apartment in the city, police in that city said in an earlier news release.

When officers arrived, they “encountered possible suspects” at the rear of the building who they say “disregarded repeated commands from the officers,” according to the release.

Relatives of Frasure Jr. previously said they want more details from authorities about what happened during the incident.

“I want answers,” Frasure Jr.’s mother, Lisa Fisher, told CNN affiliate WLWT earlier this week. “I want the body cam and everything.”

Officers initially saw Frasure Jr. at the complex with his father, 52-year-old Joseph Frasure Sr., Powers said on Friday.

When officers arrived at the scene, Frasure Jr. was in a vehicle and did not obey commands to get out, Powers said, echoing a statement made by Wyoming Police Chief Brooke Brady earlier this week.

Roughly three minutes after arriving on-scene, officers can be seen in the body camera footage near the minivan and heard shouting at the two men to “put your hands in the air,” and “stop.”

The bodycam videos show multiple angles of Frasure Jr.’s father initially putting the car in reverse, away from the direction of the officers, crashing into a tree and then putting the car in drive and accelerating as officers ran.

Brady said in her video statement that Frasure Jr. was in a minivan that reversed at high speed, hit a tree, and then “accelerated rapidly at our officers.”

One officer can be heard on the body camera footage shouting to Frasure Jr. to “get out of the car” as it was reversing.

Four gunshots can then be heard, the video shows, as the minivan crashes into the side of a building.

Officers shot the minivan in three places, and shot Frasure Jr. once in the head, Powers said.

Two of the three Wyoming officers on scene fired shots toward the minivan, striking Frasure Jr., according to a statement from the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office.

Frasure Jr. was transported to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where he died on Tuesday, the Hamilton County prosecutor’s office told CNN.

“Our officers answer calls like this every day to protect the public and to stop crime,” Brady said in her video statement, urging patience as the investigation moves forward. “The work they do is hard and it requires them to make split-second decisions, just as they did in this case.”

But family members insist Frasure Jr. did not mean to harm the officers – and had a valid reason to be at the complex.

He was with his father and sister to clean out the apartment of his deceased grandmother, his half-brother, Joseph, told CNN.

Joe Frasure Sr., his father, told WLWT that his son was not driving toward the officers.

“I don’t care what they say – it was not pointed at them,” Frasure Sr. said.

CNN
 — 

House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan on Friday subpoenaed the Department of Justice, the FBI and the Department of Education for documents as part of its investigation into whether a Justice Department strategy to address threats against teachers and school officials was abused to target conservative parents.

The flurry of subpoenas are the first from the Judiciary’s subcommittee dedicated to investigating the alleged weaponization of the federal government and are an early indication that the newly minted chairman intends to aggressively pursue its probe into the Biden administration’s response to rising tensions and threats of violence surrounding school board meetings.

The subpoenas set a document deadline of March 1. The panel sent the subpoenas after initially sending letters to the agencies for voluntary cooperation on January 17.

The allegations being investigated date to 2021, when protests and some violence erupted at school board meetings across the country. Most of the anger came from conservative parents who wanted to repeal mask mandates, opposed anti-racism courses and had concerns about LGBTQ policies.

With that backdrop, the National School Boards Association wrote to President Joe Biden asking for federal help to address the violence and threats against school administrators. The group said that “these heinous actions could be the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism” and encouraged the Justice Department to explore which laws, possibly including the Patriot Act, could be applied.

The group soon apologized for “some of the language” in its letter. But it quickly drew backlash, particularly among conservatives.

Attorney General Merrick Garland had issued a memo in response – which didn’t cite the letter, compare parents to “terrorists” nor invoke the Patriot Act. It merely told the FBI and federal prosecutors to step up collaboration with state and local law enforcement on the issue.

According to a report Jordan released last year, emails show that the Biden White House consulted with the NSBA on the letter before the group made its letter public. An independent review by NSBA concluded, however, that there was no “direct or indirect evidence suggesting the Administration requested the Letter” or reviewed the contents before the letter was sent.

Other emails also show that the Justice Department sent an advance copy of Garland’s memo to the NSBA.

The FBI later established a “threat tag” to internally track cases about school board threats under the same categorization. Republicans have seized on the “threat tag” to accuse the FBI of carrying out Biden’s desire to stomp out conservative speech at school boards. But the creation of an internal database does not mean the FBI initiated any sort of crackdown against parents.

Judiciary Republicans are requesting Garland provide a paper trail of the DOJ’s communications with the White House, intelligence agencies and members of the National School Boards Association about alleged violence at school board meetings.

The subpoena also calls for a number of documents relating to Garland’s directive for FBI and US attorneys’ offices to meet with federal, state and local law enforcement partners to discuss strategies for addressing the issue, focusing specifically on what meetings took place and what recommendations were made.

A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment. Three days after Jordan’s voluntary request to DOJ, a department official responded to the Ohio Republican that “we share your belief that congressional oversight is vital to our functioning democracy” and encouraged the committee to prioritize its document requests to elicit efficient responses, according to a letter obtained by CNN.

The FBI subpoena specifically demands that Director Chris Wray produce a variety of documents, including communications related to meeting with US attorneys’ offices and “establishment of the Department of Justice’s task force.”

Wray is also told to hand over all documents related to formal and informal recommendations created or relied upon by FBI employees in accordance with Garland’s October 2021 memo.

The FBI said in a statement that the bureau “has never been in the business of investigating speech or policing speech at school board meetings or anywhere else, and we never will be,” adding that “attempts to further any political narrative will not change those facts.”

“The FBI recognizes the importance of congressional oversight and remains fully committed to cooperating with Congress’s oversight requests consistent with its constitutional and statutory responsibilities. The FBI is actively working to respond to congressional requests for information – including voluntary production of documents,” the FBI statement read.

Jordan’s subpoena to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona called on the Education Department to hand over any documents or communications related to a letter the National School Boards Association sent in September 2021.

Jordan’s subpoena also called for any files related to Viola Garcia’s appointment to the National Assessment Government Board. Garcia was the president of the National School Boards Association and was one of two individuals who signed the September 2021 letter to Biden.

An Education Department spokesperson told CNN that “the Department responded to Chairman Jordan’s letter earlier this week. The Department remains committed to responding to the House Judiciary Committee’s requests in a manner consistent with longstanding Executive Branch policy.”

CNN has reached out to Garcia for comment.

On Thursday, a day before the subpoena, the Education Department told Jordan’s team that the department played no role in crafting the letter from the National School Boards Association.

“I would also like to reiterate – as the Department has repeatedly made clear – that the Secretary did not request, direct any action, or play any role in the development of the September 29, 2021, letter from the NSBA to President Biden,” Gwen Graham, assistant secretary for legislation and congressional affairs at the Education Department wrote in a letter obtained by CNN. Graham added that an independent review for counsel retained by the NSBA did not find any connection between the letter and Garcia’s appointment.

Republicans gave Democrats on the committee a heads up that these subpoenas were coming, a source familiar told CNN. Democratic Del. Stacey Plaskett of the US Virgin Islands, the highest-ranking Democrat on the subcommittee on the weaponization of the federal government, said the subpoenas were underpinned by “conspiracy theories” and said she is confident that what the Republicans have asked for “will once again disprove this tired right-wing theory.”

White House spokesperson for Congressional Oversight Ian Sams said in a statement to CNN, “Chairman Jordan is rushing to fire off subpoenas only two days after the Judiciary Committee organized, even though agencies already responded in good faith seeking to accommodate requests he made. These subpoenas make crystal clear that extreme House Republicans have no interest in working together with the Biden Administration on behalf of the American people and every interest in staging political stunts.”

Since the uproar at school boards became a major political issue in late 2021, Republicans have pushed the baseless narrative that Biden, Garland and Wray have weaponized federal law enforcement to attack innocent parents who care about education.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy falsely claimed that “Biden used the FBI to target parents as domestic terrorists.” Jordan has said Garland tried “to use federal law enforcement tools to silence parents.” This claim even came up in the GOP response to last year’s State of the Union. These claims have been repeatedly debunked by fact-checkers from CNN and other outlets.

For his part, Garland has aggressively pushed back against Republicans’ accusations. He previously testified to Congress that the Justice Department isn’t using counterterrorism resources against parents and said it was ridiculous to equate “angry” parents to “terrorists.”

When GOP senators grilled Wray about the “threat tag” matter at an August hearing, he defended the FBI.

“The FBI is not going to be in the business of investigating speech or policing speech at school board meetings,” Wray said. “We’re not about to start now. Threats of violence, that’s a different matter altogether. And there, we will work with our state local partners, as we always have.”