The Washington, D.C. Council just passed an emergency police reform bill
From CNN's Adrienne Winston
The Washington, D.C. Council, the legislature for the United States capitol, unanimously passed an emergency bill to reform policing in the city.
The measure bans police from using chemicals such as tear gas and pepper spray on protestors, as well as “less-lethal projectiles” like rubber bullets and stun grenades. It also makes it unlawful for police to restrain someone by the neck, as in a chokehold.
The bill also prevents the Metropolitan Police Department from hiring law enforcement officers who were fired from a policing job in another jurisdiction, or resigned ahead of pending disciplinary action or termination.
Tuesday’s vote enacts the changes for 90 days, the Washington Post reported, which can be extended to 225 days with a second vote. The council must hold public hearings and vote again in order to make the measures permanent.
Councilmember David Grosso wanted an additional amendment capping the city’s police force at 3,500 members. However, Grosso’s fellow members voted that down. The District currently has 3,863 sworn officers.
11:09 p.m. ET, June 9, 2020
Georgia officials call for investigations into primary day voting issues
From CNN's Dianne Gallagher, Paul P. Murphy and Kelly Mena
A polling place worker holds an "I'm a Georgia Voter" sticker to hand to a voter on June 9, in Atlanta. Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images
Georgia's secretary of state and state House speaker on Tuesday called for investigations into voting delays in Atlanta and across Georgia on the day of the state's primary.
The announcement of the investigations came after a rocky start for the state's primary on Tuesday morning as voters, primarily in the populous Atlanta area, were met with long lines and delays.
"The voting situation today in certain precincts in Fulton and DeKalb counties is unacceptable," Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, said. "My office has opened an investigation to determine what these counties need to do to resolve these issues before November's election." The city of Atlanta is encompassed in the two counties.
Separately, Speaker David Ralston has directed the House Governmental Affairs Committee to investigate irregularities in Tuesday's primary election across Georgia, particularly in Fulton County, where a majority of issues have been reported.
"The sanctity of our elections -- being free and fair -- is the very foundation of our system of government. Our elections must be efficient and voters must be confident that their votes will be properly counted," Ralston, a Republican, said in a statement on Tuesday. "The legislative branch of government has an obligation to go beyond the mutual finger-pointing and get to the truth and the real reasons underlying these frustrations and concerns."
Read more about the voting issues in Georgia here:
The Harris County district attorney is dismissing nearly 800 criminal cases related to protest charges
From CNN's Raja Razek
Following a weeklong review, prosecutors in Texas' Harris County -- which is home to the city of Houston -- are dismissing 796 criminal cases related to protest charges, the district attorney's office said in a statement.
The review divided cases "between those people who sought to do harm others and property vs. those arrested for simple civil disobedience." Nonviolent misdemeanor offenses, mostly obstructing a highway and trespassing, were dismissed, according to the statement.
Of the 654 individuals charged, only 51 adults and one juvenile now face active cases.
District Attorney Kim Ogg called the results of the review "astounding."
“The job of the prosecutor is to seek individualized justice in every case,” Ogg said. “While probable cause existed for the arrests of those people who refused to disperse after being ordered to do so by police, our young prosecutors worked hard to identify the few offenders who came to inflict harm on others and intentional damage to property.”
10:13 p.m. ET, June 9, 2020
At least 11 cities and municipalities banning chokeholds in policing
From CNN’s Janine Mack
At least 11 cities and municipalities in the United States are starting to ban or have banned the use of choke holds in policing, according to information gathered by CNN.
Those include:
Phoenix
Los Angeles
Sacramento
San Diego
Broward County (Florida)
Miami
Chicago
Washington, D.C.
Minneapolis
New York City
Houston.
States moving on chokehold bans: California Gov. Gavin Newsom has directed police in the state to stop training officers to use carotid holds, and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) has said he wants police across the state to restrict the use of chokeholds.
9:53 p.m. ET, June 9, 2020
Woman shoved by NYPD speaks to CNN
Dounya Zayer was shoved to the ground and concussed by NYPD. Jason Lemon
Dounya Zayer, a woman who was shoved to the ground and concussed by police while protesting police brutality in New York City, spoke to CNN's Chris Cuomo about her experience.
Video captured by Zayer and bystanders show an officer pushing her to the ground.
Zayer was in the street when the officer "told her to move," prosecutors said.
"As she asked why, the defendant allegedly smacked her cell phone out of her hand, and violently shoved her to the ground, according the investigation," prosecutors said. "She can be seen rolling on the street and into a curb. Meanwhile, the defendant and fellow officers can be seen to continue walking."
Zayer told Cuomo she "didn't know a concussion felt this awful."
"I haven't been able to hold down food I've been very nauseous. My head hurts and my back. But I'm alive and I'm grateful," Zayer told CNN's Chris Cuomo.
Why she was recording it all: Zayer said she started filming the demonstrations when she "could see that things were getting out of hand" and others were getting hurt.
"I knew that the recording was important, it's always important to record what's going on when these things are going on. I didn't think I would end up recording what happened to me in the process."
Will she protest again: When asked if she'd go out and protest when she healed, Zayer responded emotionally that she wants to, but part of her is afraid.
"I kind of ashamed to say I'm a little afraid now," she said, fighting back tears. "It gets me very angry that they successfully made me quiet, that they successfully made me afraid to protests. I should not be afraid to protest," she said. "I'm too afraid to leave my house. I'm too afraid to drive, cause I'm afraid I'm going to get pulled over and they're going recognize me." "Going to a protest? I want to so bad, but I don't know how I'm going to get to that point."
Watch:
9:27 p.m. ET, June 9, 2020
Spike Lee says he believes real change can come from this movement
Spike Lee stands backstage during the 92nd Annual Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre on February 9 in Hollywood. Richard Harbaugh/A.M.P.A.S./Getty Images
Filmmaker Spike Lee said he believes that the current racial injustice protests in the United States and around the world have the possibility to bring about real change.
Lee said he feels like this moment is similar to 1967, when he was 10 years old, when the antiwar, women's liberation and black power movements were in full swing.
"What gives me hope is a young generation of my white brothers and sisters out in the streets. Not just in United States of America, all over the world. They're protesting in South Korea, Spain, tearing down slave owner statues in England," he said. "This is for real."
However, the Academy Award-winner said it's crucial that people go out and vote. Lee, perhaps the best-known fan of the New York Knicks, used a sports metaphor to explain the situation:
"We cannot let this moment slide by. We have to mobilize, we've got to register to vote and we have to vote. We have to come out and vote. You know I'm a sports fan, and I've seen too many sporting events where one team is way up, they think they're going to win, and they give up, and the other team takes advantage of it, and wins at the buzzer. We don't want no buzzer beaters on November 13th.
Gugino fell backwards and was hospitalized following the incident.
Giles described Gugino, who he said he's known for the past 13 years, as a very kind and funny person -- and one not technically savvy enough to use his phone to "scan police communications in order to black out the equipment," as Trump said in his tweet.
"I promise you, he does not know how to turn his cell phone into some sort of high tech James Bond device," Giles said.
Trump's tweet cited a segment from a television report on a network that is openly pro-Trump and whose journalists don't exactly live up to credo of being neutral and independent.
The person who did this segment on Gugino is named Kristian Brunovich Rouz, a man who, according to the Daily Beast, has worked both for OAN and Sputnik, a Russian government-controlled news wire service. (The intelligence community concluded that Sputnik played a role in the Russian meddling in the 2016 election.)
Read more from CNN's Chris Cillizza about Trump's tweet here:
Barr sends DC mayor a letter, saying federal law enforcement was necessary because of unrest
From CNN's David Shortell
Attorney General William Barr speaks during in a roundtable with law enforcement officials in the State Dining Room of the White House on June 8, in Washington. Doug Mills-Pool/Getty Images
Attorney General William Barr jabbed back at the mayor of Washington, DC, in a letter Tuesday saying that the use of federal law enforcement and national guard troops in the nation's capital was necessary because the unrest there had hit unprecedented and dangerous levels.
“The television footage of these events — viewed by people across the Nation and around the world — conveyed the impression that the United States was on the brink of losing control of its capital city,” Barr wrote of the weekend of protests in DC that followed the death of George Floyd late last month.
The missive was a response to a letter from Mayor Muriel Bowser sent on Friday to President Trump and other administration officials requesting the withdrawal of federal law enforcement and military personnel from the city.
On Sunday, Trump said that he had ordered the National Guard to begin withdrawing from Washington after days of peaceful protests.
In the letter, Barr said that certain federal law enforcement agencies — including the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Prisons and some officials from the Department of Homeland Security — had been granted additional policing powers amid the protests, and defended the move to deploy the federal and military forces in DC as a “temporary response to an escalating security crisis.”
“Surely you understand that the President could not stand idly by when unrest at the seat of the federal government threatened the safety of federal law enforcement officers and the operations of the United States government,” Barr wrote.
“Let me assure you that the President shares your interest in returning to a situation where such additional forces are unnecessary to maintain law and order in the District,” he added.
7:32 p.m. ET, June 9, 2020
DC Council passes emergency police reform bill
From CNN's Adrienne Winston
The DC Council today unanimously passed an emergency bill to reform policing in the district, including measures that ban the use of tear gas and rubber bullets, and prohibit the hiring of officers who were fired from another police department.
The legislation prohibits DC police from using chemicals such as tear gas and pepper spray on protesters, as well as “less-lethal projectiles” like rubber bullets and stun grenades.
The bill also prevents the Metropolitan Police Department from hiring law enforcement officers who were fired from a policing job in another jurisdiction, or resigned ahead of pending disciplinary action or termination.
Tuesday’s vote enacts the changes for 90 days, the Washington Post reported, which can be extended to 225 days with a second vote. The council must hold public hearings and vote again in order to make the measures permanent.
Council member David Grosso wanted an additional amendment capping the city’s police force at 3,500 members. However, Grosso’s fellow members voted that down. The district currently has 3,863 sworn officers.
