Chronicle briefs for Feb. 3

family sues Minneapolis over ‘no-knock’ warrant killing

MINNEAPOLIS – The family of Amir Locke, the 22-year-old Black man shot and killed by Minneapolis police during a predawn raid last February, is suing the city and the SWAT officer who pulled the trigger, alleging that the no-knock warrant that resulted in his death is consistent with the city’s “custom, pattern and practice of racial discrimination in policing.”

The 35-page civil lawsuit filed on behalf of his parents, Karen Wells and Andre Locke, came ahead of a news conference with Locke’s family, along with civil rights attorneys Ben Crump, Antonio Romanucci and Jeff Storms. It was filed on the one -year anniversary of Locke’s death, observed Thursday with a gathering at the Minnesota State Capitol that included Locke’s relatives and more than 100 supporters.

On the morning of Feb. 2, 2022, members of the Minneapolis SWAT team stormed into the downtown apartment building in search of evidence related to a St. Paul homicide investigation. Footage from one of the officers’ body cameras showed police quietly unlocking the apartment door with a key before barging inside, yelling “Search warrant!” as Locke lay under a blanket on the couch. An officer kicked the couch, Locke stirred and was shot by officer Mark Hanneman within seconds as he emerged holding a firearm in his right hand.

Locke, a DoorDash delivery driver and aspiring rapper who legally possessed the gun, was not the subject of the search warrant and had no known criminal record.

USDA announces rigorous new school nutrition standards

The Biden administration on Friday announced more stringent nutrition standards for school meals, reviving efforts to improve the health of millions of public school students in the face of a staggering rise in childhood obesity and other diet-related diseases.

The new rules, which will be rolled out gradually over the next few years, will limit added sugars, including in flavored milks. Previously, there was no federal standard for how much sugar could be included in school meals. The rules will also further reduce the allowable amounts of sodium and emphasize whole grains.

The new guidelines are part of a broader campaign by the U.S. Agriculture Department to address the persistent and worsening problem of childhood obesity.

poll: Confidence in police drops after Nichols beating

Public confidence in police dropped after Tyre Nichols was fiercely beaten by officers in Memphis last month, with Americans increasingly doubtful that law enforcement officers are properly trained in using appropriate force or that they treat white and Black people equally, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll.

The increased skepticism about police appears to be fueled by declining trust on the part of white and Hispanic Americans, compared with just a few years ago. For the first time since the Post-ABC poll began asking about the issue in 2014, just under half of white Americans say they are confident about police avoiding excessive force or racial bias. About two-thirds of Hispanic Americans lack confidence in police on both fronts.

The poll was conducted after police stopped Nichols, a 29-year-old FedEx employee, on Jan. 7 in Memphis and then brutally beat him. Nichols died three days later. The beating spawned local, state and federal investigations, and five officers involved were fired and charged with second-degree murder. Video footage of the beating was made public on Friday, showing officers repeatedly hitting and kicking Nichols, leading to nationwide outrage.

The Post-ABC poll suggests that the Memphis case – the latest in a long line of law enforcement uses of force, many captured on video, that ignited protests – has depressed Americans’ view of police officers.

Overall, 39% of Americans say they are “very” or “somewhat” confident police are adequately trained to avoid using excessive force, and 60% believe police are not, according to the Post-ABC poll.

That level of confidence in police is even lower than it was shortly after George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer in May 2020. Floyd’s death, along with the shooting death of Breonna Taylor by Louisville police earlier that year, prompted protests across the country and drove calls for police reform. A Post-ABC poll conducted that summer found that 47 percent of Americans were confident police were adequately trained to use excessive force.

The drops in confidence are partly driven by changing views among Republicans and older Americans, both groups that have, historically, expressed greater faith in police than others. Among Republicans, 60 percent are confident police are adequately trained to avoid using excessive force. While that is a majority, it is down considerably from the 77 percent who felt that way in 2020. The level of confidence in police on this front remains lower among independents (39 percent) and Democrats (20 percent), also down over the past decade.

Man charged in theft of rare monkeys from Dallas zoo

DALLAS – Dallas police said Friday that they had arrested a 24-year-old man in connection with the theft of two emperor tamarin monkeys from the Dallas Zoo. The theft was one of a series of bizarre incursions that unnerved the zoo and attracted international attention.

The police identified the man as Davion Irvin and said that he was spotted Thursday near the animal exhibits at the Dallas aquarium, about 3 miles north of the zoo. He was arrested a short time later and charged with six counts of animal cruelty in connection with the monkey thefts. A police spokeswoman said more charges were possible.

The police said Irvin was the man they were seeking to speak to last month when they released an image of a man walking through the zoo with a bag of Doritos. According to neighbors, Irvin had been squatting in an abandoned house in the city of Lancaster, about 15 miles south of the zoo, where the tamarin monkeys were found earlier this week.

Skydiver survives after parachute malfunctions

LOS ANGELES – A skydiver plummeted to Earth in Oceanside, California, after his parachute malfunctioned, caroming off the roof of a house before hitting the ground – and he still survived the fall, authorities said.

The unidentified man is believed to be in his 30s or 40s, according to the Oceanside Fire Department, which responded to a distress call shortly after 5 p.m. Friday near Oceanside Municipal Airport.

Firefighters found the man lying on the ground between two homes in a residential area.

They treated him before he was loaded into a Carlsbad Fire Department ambulance and transported to the airport. He was then airlifted to a hospital.

According to Oceanside fire officials, the skydiver was recovering from serious but non-life-threatening injuries.