Category Archives: crime news

crime news

How does a police officer do this?

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By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

With much of the nation riveted on the trial of a former cop who suffocated a man by pressing his knee on the back of his neck, I am utterly astonished at the conduct of another police officer who decided to roust a uniformed Army lieutenant.

Derek Chauvin, a white former Minneapolis police officer, is on trial for killing George Floyd, a black man arrested for passing a fake piece of currency.

Now we have former white cop Joe Gutierrez pepper-spraying 2nd Lt. Caron Nazario after stopping him because Nazario, who also is black, didn’t have a license plate displayed on his brand new vehicle.

Perhaps you have seen the video of Gutierrez ordering Nazario to get out of his car. Nazario was trying to talk the officer down. Gutierrez responds by spraying Nazario in the face while he was sitting behind the steering wheel of his car! The more recent incident occurred in Windsor, Va.; the city manager has fired Gutierrez.

Yes, the incident involving Lt. Nazario occurred in December, prior to the start of the Chauvin trial. Still, intense public scrutiny of George Floyd’s death garnered tremendous attention. It called attention to police conduct throughout the nation.

Yet we now have video showing an officer overreacting in the extreme on a traffic stop that never, ever should have escalated to the level that it did.

It is fair to ask: Did the ex-officer choose to drop the hammer on the young Army officer only because he is a black man?

Joe Gutierrez: Windsor, Virginia police officer who pepper-sprayed an Army officer during a traffic stop, has been fired (msn.com)

This national conversation must continue. There must be some resolution to what is becoming what looks to be an all-too-frequent occurrence.

I have long stated my belief and support of police officers. I recognize the life-threatening danger to which they expose themselves every day they report for work. I have known many fine officers over my years covering their activities while working in the media; I live next door to a fine young man who patrols our highways for the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Still, what we now have seen unfold in Windsor, Va., simply boggles my noggin.

crime news

Waiting for end to this trial

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

I try not to let my fear consume me, but I do have a particular fear about how this trial under way in Minneapolis might play out.

A former police officer, Derek Chauvin, is on trial in the death of George Floyd, whose life was snuffed out when Chauvin pressed his knee on the back of Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes.

The prosecution is about to wrap up its case against Chauvin, who is charged with second-degree manslaughter and third-degree murder.

My fear? It’s that the defense is going to persuade one juror that there is “reasonable doubt” that Chauvin’s actions resulted in Floyd’s death.

I haven’t heard every single word of the testimony so far, but I remain convinced that Chauvin’s brutal restraint tactic resulted in the death of a man as he was being arrested — for passing a counterfeit $20 bill. Talk about the punishment not fitting the crime.

I am sitting far away from the trial. I fear what the reaction might be if jurors cannot reach a unanimous verdict that Chauvin is guilty of murdering George Floyd.

crime news

No, Matt Gaetz, they’re coming for ‘you’

(Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

What in the world of blustery bloviating is Matt Gaetz suggesting?

The embattled Republican congressman from Florida is trying to suggest that investigations into whether he engaged in sex with an underage girl and got involved with a sex trafficking ring is an attack on his supporters.

The loudmouth Donald Trump acolyte tore a page out of the ex-POTUS’s playbook and said over the weekend that the probe into his alleged activity is aimed at others.

“They’re aren’t coming after me,” he bellowed to a crowd. “They’re coming after you.”

No, Matt. The feds are coming after you, as in they want to know what Matt Gaetz is doing when no one is looking.

This investigation might not be turning in Gaetz’s favor. A guy with whom he is friends, Joel Greenberg, is thought to be preparing to cop some sort of plea deal with the feds on a sex-trafficking rap. If he pleads, works out a lesser-sentence agreement and then rats out his buddy, Matt Gaetz … hmm. What happens then?

Meanwhile, Gaetz continues to bluster, bellow, blather his way deeper into the crapper.

I probably should just give way to the “presumption of innocence” principle to which all Americans are entitled. I am sorry to acknowledge that I just cannot go there. Not with this clown.

crime news

It’s Biden vs. demagogues

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

President Biden is waging a mounting conflict with those who exhibit acute paranoia over the issue of gun violence and whether the federal government can control it.

Biden today introduced some executive action he is taking that seeks to curb the influx of something called “ghost guns.”

He is acting in response to the spasm of violence that erupted in Atlanta and then in Boulder, Colo. More lives got snuffed out in massacres. More waste was laid to families who never imagined their loved ones would die in such a horrific manner.

And yet the president is trying to find solutions that remain faithful to the Second Amendment to the Constitution. The gun lobby is arguing that any effort to make it harder for crackpots to obtain firearms is an infringement on their constitutional right to bear arms. It isn’t. Biden assured the nation again today that he has no intention of taking law abiding citizens’ guns away from them.

The demagogues on the right aren’t having it. They ignore those assurances and continue to preach the mantra that the “liberals are trying to disarm you.”

Good grief, man. President Biden is searching for a legislative solution that keeps faith with what the founders wrote all those years ago.

Joe Biden knows better than most of us that talking sense to demagogues is an exercise in futility.

Don’t give up the fight, Mr. President.

crime news

POTUS cuts his losses

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By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Believe this or not, but it appears that President Biden is taking the path of least resistance as he issues executive orders aimed at reducing gun violence in this country.

Biden signed off on orders today that ban what they call “ghost guns” and employ stricter background checks for those wishing to purchase a firearm.

What are ghost guns? Take a look at this link:

Ghost guns: Here’s what they are – CNNPolitics

The least resistance part? The gun lobby already detests Biden. The lobbyists detest even more any effort to enact legislative remedies to gun violence, contending that the Second Amendment is sacrosanct and cannot be monkeyed with in any form or fashion.

Indeed, nimrods such as 13th Texas Congressional District Rep. Ronny Jackson, tweet things like this: It’s your Constitutional RIGHT to own a firearm! We can’t allow Democrats to take that away! No one is talking about taking guns away from those who won’t use ’em to kill other human beings.

Meanwhile, general public opinion happens to be on the president’s side. Most Americans favor some stricter rules while also supporting the Constitution’s Second Amendment.

Is this executive action legal? My gut tells me that a president with extensive legislative and federal executive government experience already has done his homework. He knows the lines he cannot cross. President Biden isn’t about to be derailed because he made a mistake in performing his duties to protect us.

crime news

Rep. Gaetz sought a ‘pre-emptive pardon’? But … he’s ‘innocent!’

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, the congressman under investigation for having sex with an underage girl, reportedly sought a pre-emptive pardon from Donald Trump before the president left office.

Trump, not surprisingly, denies ever getting the request.

Hmm. Let’s see. Who do you believe? The president who told more than 30,000 lies during his term in office and couldn’t tell the truth if it meant he would miss a Happy Meal if he lied? Or the congressman whose sole mission in Congress was to protect Donald Trump’s backside?

I’ll go with Gaetz on this one. The Washington Post reporting of Gaetz’s request for a blanket pre-emptive pardon has a certain ring of truth. Don’t you think?

Yes. Even though he insists he didn’t do anything “illegal.”

Which begs the question: Does an innocent man seek a pardon?

crime news

Gun violence action on tap?

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By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

President Biden wouldn’t seem to need any lectures on the limits of executive power. So it makes sense to me that a planned executive order that seeks to stem gun violence is being done with all due diligence on its legality.

Let’s all stay tuned for Biden’s announcement set for Thursday in which he will invoke an executive order that sets stricter regulations on something called “ghost guns” and implements more stringent background checks on those who want to purchase a firearm.

Congress, to no one’s surprise, is dawdling on legislative remedies in the wake of recent Atlanta and Boulder massacres that left 20 people dead. Republicans are resisting any effort to tighten the rules for purchase. Democrats need 10 GOP senators to help them end an expected Republican filibuster.

The Hill newspaper reports: Advocacy groups, including Brady, Giffords, Everytown and parents of victims of the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, have met with Domestic Policy Council Director Susan Rice and Biden adviser Cedric Richmond in recent weeks.

Anti-gun violence advocates, including some who attended meetings with Biden officials, told The Hill in February that, through executive order, Biden could eliminate ghost guns by defining what constitutes a gun.

The term ghost guns refers to guns available for purchase, typically without a background check or a serial number, that are not fully finished or may have a missing part.

Biden expected to announce executive action on guns | TheHill

Does any of this violate the Second Amendment constitutional provision that allows Americans to “keep and bear arms?” Hardly.

crime news

Chief stands for justice

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Medaria Arradondo stood tall today for the rule of law, for following policy and against the phony notion that police officers routinely cover for each other’s grievous misconduct.

Arradondo is the chief of the Minneapolis, Minn., Police Department. He is the same chief who fired Derek Chauvin in the wake of the hideous arrest — and death — of George Floyd this past year. Chauvin is now on trial on charges of second- and third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

I’ll be honest. I was waiting for Chief Arradondo to drop the hammer on Chauvin. He did when he said that in no way, shape or form did Chauvin follow MPD policy when he pressed his knee on the back of George Floyd’s neck for 9 minutes 29 seconds, squeezing the life out of a suspect who was being arrested for passing a counterfeit bill in a convenience store.

He said Chauvin should have delivered first aid after the “first few seconds” of arresting him. Chauvin not only didn’t follow MPD policy on that matter, he killed a man who had been handcuffed and who was begging for his life.

I thought that Medaria Arradondo was the prosecution’s most compelling witness to date.

Yep. This trial has me hooked, man.

crime news

Frantic moment turns out OK

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Our retired life had a moment of frantic activity this afternoon.

It involved a stolen vehicle and a seemingly endless line of police cruisers in hot pursuit. It played out, if only briefly, along our normally quiet street in Princeton, Texas.

It is good, therefore, to offer a word of thanks and gratitude that it didn’t end up tragically.

Someone had stolen an ambulance in Dallas and, thus, launched a lengthy high-speed chase through Dallas and Collin counties. The ambulance — with its motor vehicle thief at the wheel — drove north along U.S. 75, then turned west on U.S. 380. It bore down on Princeton.

We heard the sirens. And then the helicopter. I stuck my head out the door and noticed the ‘copter was hovering over us.

Then I looked east along our street and watched an ambulance make a high-speed turn and head west along our street. It zoomed past our front yard. Right behind it came the cops. Lights flashing and sirens blaring. They ripped along our street at a speed I could not calculate; I’ll just say they were exceeding the posted 30 mph speed limit … by a whole lot!

I am guessing about a dozen cruisers roared along our peaceful street.

Later, I learned they caught the dimwit in McKinney, near the airport.

As I have tried to process what we witnessed this afternoon, I find myself transfixed by a couple of realities. One is that our particular street in Princeton often is bustling with children. They play in their front yards; they ride their bikes; they toss balls around, often into the street. And ours wasn’t the only residential neighborhood to undergo this moment of fright.

The other is that our street runs adjacent to an elementary school, which at the time of the chase was still in session, meaning that the grounds might have been filled with youngsters.

Therefore, we avoided a serious tragedy. How in the world that happened is beyond me. I won’t spend another moment worrying about what might have been. I will give thanks that the incident ended without injury … or worse.

crime news

Trial has me hooked

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By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Someone called it the “trial of the century.” I fear it is such only because the 21st century is still in its relatively early stages.

Derek Chauvin is on trial for the death of George Floyd, who Chauvin pinned to the ground by pressing his knee into the back of Floyd’s neck until Floyd stopped breathing. Floyd likely died while lying on the ground after Chauvin and his Minneapolis police colleagues stopped him — get this — for passing a counterfeit $20 bill.

The trial has captured the nation’s attention. It has grabbed us by the throat. It won’t let go until the Hennepin County, Minn., jury delivers its verdict. Chauvin is charged with third-degree murder.

I am sitting out here in the peanut gallery. However, I believe Chauvin deserves to serve time in prison for what looks to me like unreasonable force in restraining a man who wasn’t even resisting. 

How might I react if the jury decides otherwise? Oh, my.  I cannot yet even process that outcome. I won’t go marching on the streets of my community; civil protest is not how I roll. I likely would be angry and I’ll likely have to settle on using this blog as a forum to register my outrage.

I do respect the American jury system of justice. I acknowledge that criminal defendants deserve the best defense they can get. To that extent, Derek Chauvin should not be denied that right as a U.S. citizen.

Still, I haven’t been this transfixed by a criminal trial since, oh, the time O.J. Simpson got away with killing his ex-wife and her friend.

I hope this jury delivers the correct verdict.