Officers' force at jail found excessive
BOSTON -- Officers at a Dartmouth detention center used excessive force when they deployed pepper spray, police dogs and a flash bang device against inmates who refused to be tested for covid-19, according to a state report released Tuesday.
In the report, the Massachusetts attorney general's office determined that the Bristol County sheriff's office violated the civil rights of federal immigration detainees after some became destructive in a May altercation.
The report acknowledged that some inmates had thrown plastic chairs at officers and damaged property, but it says the scene had been calm for an hour when a sheriff's team entered and used force.
Attorney General Maura Healey urged the Department of Homeland Security to terminate its contract with the sheriff's office and threatened to sue the sheriff's office if it fails to implement changes.
The sheriff's office said it stands by its response and is awaiting results of a "truly independent investigation" by federal immigration officials. It called Healey's report a "politically motivated stunt" meant to demonize law enforcement officers.
Convictions of 6 framed men tossed
CHICAGO -- A judge Tuesday threw out the felony drug convictions of six men framed by a former Chicago police sergeant's team, bringing to 100 the number of overturned convictions linked to a years-long scheme targeting residents of one of the city's poorest communities.
The Cook County court hearing marked the latest chapter in a story of corruption that has been breathtaking in its scope in the four years since judges in Chicago started overturning drug cases of Black drug dealers and residents of the Ida B. Wells public housing project on the city's South Side. They were convicted after they refused to pay then-Sgt. Ronald Watts and his tactical unit.
In a statement, Cook County state's attorney Kim Foxx suggested that it was impossible to overstate the damage that officers like Watts has done to Chicago and its Police Department. They have long struggled to win the trust of residents, particularly those in predominantly Black neighborhoods.
Foxx's office declined to comment on other cases still under review, but Joshua Tepfer, an attorney who has handled many of the cases, said at least 100 people who were convicted in drug cases that Watts was involved with are being reviewed by Foxx's office.
FBI agent injures rider on subway train
BETHESDA, Md. -- An FBI agent shot and wounded someone aboard a subway train in a suburb of Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, the agency said.
The shooting happened around 7 a.m. aboard a Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority train near the Medical Center station in Bethesda, Md.
The person who was shot was taken to the hospital for treatment, the FBI said. It was unclear exactly what prompted the agent to open fire.
Metro spokesman Ian Jannetta said the agency's transit police force was also investigating the circumstances surrounding the shooting.
In a statement, the FBI said it "takes all shooting incidents involving our agents seriously" and that an internal investigation has been launched, in line with standard bureau policy.
Metro said trains were sharing a track and bypassing the Medical Center station while the shooting is investigated. The station serves the National Institutes of Health and Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
Stabber of 4 relatives sent to institution
WAUKESHA, Wis. -- A Wisconsin man who was obsessively concerned about the coronavirus pandemic has been ordered to spend the rest of his life in a mental health institution for stabbing four of his family members, two of them fatally.
Adam Roth, 36, of Waukesha, was found innocent by reason of mental disease or defect in the attack, which authorities said was linked to his concerns about the coronavirus. He told a detective the day after the stabbings that coronavirus "was coming and I had to save them."
In March, Roth and his wife, Dominique Roth, were in the kitchen eating when Adam began stabbing Dominique, according to a criminal complaint. When Dominique's mother, Gilane Popanda, and Popanda's other daughters, Desiree and Deidre, told him to stop, he "turned on everybody," the complaint said.
Dominique Roth, 34, her sister, Deidre Popanda, 26, and a family dog died from their injuries. Desiree Popanda, 36, and Gilane Popanda, 62, suffered significant injuries in the stabbing, the Journal Sentinel reported.
Waukesha County Deputy District Attorney Ted Szczupakiewicz asked for a lifetime commitment for Roth during Monday's sentencing hearing, requesting institutional care as opposed to conditional release.
Roth's attorney, Cameron Weitzner, did not challenge the prosecution's requested sentence.
-- Compiled by Democrat-Gazette staff from wire reports