Stupid people of the week

New York City man breaks neck jumping turnstile, dies: report

A man in Queens, New York, died Sunday after police say he tried to jump a turnstile and somehow hit his head on the floor, according to a report.

The New York Post reported that the incident occurred at the Forest Hills-71st Avenue station at about 6:45 a.m. A police official told the paper that the 28-year-old man was trying to evade the fare and broke his neck.

He was found unconscious by officers and pronounced dead at the scene, according to NBC New York.

Authorities said a video showed the man attempting to jump the turnstile.

In 2018, the penalty for jumping a turnstile is a civil citation, similar to a traffic ticket, the accused can either pay a $100 fine or fight the case in the Transit Adjudication Bureau. In 2017, of 33,000 turnstile jumpers in Manhattan, 25,000 got summonses and 8,000 were arrested.

Source; Fox News

Wife of man shot, killed by Canton police officer says husband was put in unsafe situation

The wife of a Canton man shot and killed by a police officer on New Years Day is demanding justice, saying her husband was the one placed in an unsafe situation by police.

According to Canton police, officers went to the 2300 block of 10th Street SW on Saturday after getting a call about shots being fired.

Police said an officer confronted a man on scene and that the man started shooting.

Canton Police Chief Jack Angelo said the officer feared for his safety and shot the man.

The man was taken to the hospital where he later died.

He’s been identified by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation as 46-year-old James Williams.

Williams’ wife Marquetta told 19 News that they were in their backyard ringing in the new year when the shooting happened.

“My husband and I both went out there to shoot guns in the air, like everybody does to celebrate,” Williams said.

She said James, known by friends and family as Roe, was behind a 6-foot high wooden privacy fence

“You can’t see in. You can’t see out,” she said.

Marquetta said her husband wasn’t firing at an officer, rather still shooting into the air and even more, didn’t know police were on the other side of their fence.

“We didn’t know who it was when it happened because nobody said anything. They didn’t say: ‘Stop, freeze, police!’ Nothing, they just shot him,” she told 19 News.

Williams said her husband was the one put in the unsafe situation, not the police officer.

“His life was in danger, because you didn’t announce yourself,” Williams said. “That’s cold-blooded and I’m not going to rest until he does get justice, period.”

She told 19 News plans for protests are in the works, along with a vigil for her husband.

A spokesperson for the Ohio BCI said no officers were injured in the shooting.

The officer is on administrative leave, which Canton police said is a common procedure.

Ohio BCI will investigate the shooting, and the spokesperson said their investigation is active and ongoing.

A request for body camera footage has been made by 19 News.

The body cam is now out there if you want to go looking for it. Dude was popping off rifle rounds at near automatic fire rate right in the middle of a residential area.

Source; Cleveland 19

Woman claims she was virtually ‘groped’ in Meta’s VR metaverse

A beta tester has claimed she was virtually “groped” in the metaverse VR platform Horizon Worlds from Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook.

Meta revealed the incident on Dec. 1, saying it occurred on Nov. 26. The woman had reported the assault on the Horizon Worlds beta testing Facebook group.

“Sexual harassment is no joke on the regular internet, but being in VR adds another layer that makes the event more intense,” she wrote, according to the Verge. “Not only was I groped last night, but there were other people there who supported this behavior, which made me feel isolated in the Plaza,” the virtual environment’s central gathering space.

“Severe” encounters of online harassment — including physical threats, stalking and “repeated” harassment — are on the rise, according to a 2020 Pew Research poll, with the percentage of users reporting such incidents jumping from 15% in 2014 to 25% today. While much of it takes place on social media, VR is still nascent and already an apparent venue for harassment.

Horizon Worlds, operated by VR company Oculus — which is also owned by Meta — is billed as a pleasant, productive digital escape, a place to “create in extraordinary ways” and “find experiences that matter” with your avatar friends. The platform currently supports up to 20 people during one virtual session.

In its statement about the incident, Meta pointed to its “Safe Zone” feature, which allows users to place a block against interaction with other users. However, the company admitted that it needs to work on making the feature “trivially easy and findable,” said Vivek Sharma, the vice president of Horizon, in a statement to the Verge.

Meta spokesperson Kristina Milian also told MIT Technology Review that users are required to complete training that covers safeguarding tools before joining Horizon Worlds, while reminders are also prompted during users’ experiences.

Sexual harassment in virtual reality is sexual harassment in real life, full stop, experts have said.

“At the end of the day, the nature of virtual-reality spaces is such that it is designed to trick the user into thinking they are physically in a certain space, that their every bodily action is occurring in a 3-D environment,” Katherine Cross, a Ph.D. student researcher of online harassment at the University of Washington, told Technology Review.

There’s more at the source. God forbid anyone point out you can just take off the glasses when it’s getting uncomfortable.

Source; NY Post

Man arrested after breaking into Knoxville officer’s home, putting on uniform

A man was arrested after reportedly breaking into the home of a Knoxville Police Department officer, putting on their police uniform and using equipment, according to a police report obtained by WVLT News.

At approximately 11:25 p.m. on Dec. 23, officers reportedly responded to the home of a KPD officer in Powell because an unknown man was operating an issued radio from the residence when no one was supposed to be home.

Once on the scene and inside the home, 51-year-old Dewayne Miller was found wearing the officer’s KPD uniform, tactical vest, law enforcement gear and was armed with a fully loaded pistol, officials said. He was also found with over $1,500 cash from the officer’s wallet.

Miller was taken into custody and told officers that he was also law enforcement and preparing to leave for work.

Later, the man confessed and told officers that an Uber had dropped him off at the residence. Once on the property, he allegedly entered the KPD cruiser and took the police gear and a garage door opener to access the home.

“It was clear he had planned on leaving the house in possession of all the listed items, totaling an approximate value of $9,796,” officials said.

The police report said that based on Miller’s actions, it was likely that he would have taken all of the gear from the home and left the property in the cruiser. All items were recovered and accounted for.

Miller was charged with aggravated burglary, burglary, criminal impersonation of law enforcement, possession of firearm intent to go armed and theft.

Source; NBC 12

Manhattan DA to stop seeking prison sentences in slew of criminal cases

Manhattan’s about to get a lot, lot worse. If only the residents could arm themselves for self-defense.

Who needs soft-on-crime judges when the district attorney doesn’t even want to lock up the bad guys?

Manhattan’s new DA has ordered his prosecutors to stop seeking prison sentences for hordes of criminals and to downgrade felony charges in cases including armed robberies and drug dealing, according to a set of progressive policies made public Tuesday.

In his first memo to staff on Monday, Alvin Bragg said his office “will not seek a carceral sentence” except with homicides and a handful of other cases, including domestic violence felonies, some sex crimes and public corruption.

“This rule may be excepted only in extraordinary circumstances based on a holistic
analysis of the facts, criminal history, victim’s input (particularly in cases of
violence or trauma), and any other information available,” the memo reads.

Assistant district attorneys must also now keep in mind the “impacts of incarceration,” including whether it really does increase public safety, potential future barriers to convicts involving housing and employment, the financial cost of prison and the racial disparities over who gets time, Bragg instructed.

In cases where prosecutors do seek to put a convict behind bars, the request can be for no more than 20 years for a determinate sentence, meaning one that can’t be reviewed or changed by a parole board.

“The Office shall not seek a sentence of life without parole,” the memo states.

Under state law, that punishment is reserved for the most heinous of murderers, including terrorists, serial killers, cop killers and fiends who kill children younger than 14 during in connection with sex crimes or torture.

Bragg’s memo also detailed the following instructions for prosecutors to reduce charges filed by cops in various cases:

• Armed robbers who use guns or other deadly weapons to stick up stores and other businesses will be prosecuted only for petty larceny, a misdemeanor, provided no victims were seriously injured and there’s no “genuine risk of physical harm” to anyone. Armed robbery, a class B felony, would typically be punishable by a maximum of 25 years in prison, while petty larceny subjects offenders to up to 364 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.
• Convicted criminals caught with weapons other than guns will have those felony charges downgraded to misdemeanors unless they’re also charged with more serious offenses. Criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, a class D felony, is punishable by up to 7 years behind bars.
• Burglars who steal from residential storage areas, parts of homes that aren’t “accessible to a living area” and businesses located in mixed-use buildings will be prosecuted for a low-level class D felony that only covers break-ins instead of for more serious crimes. Those more serious crimes, class B and class C felonies, would be punishable by up to 25 and up to 15 years in prison respectively.
• Drug dealers believed to be “acting as a low-level agent of a seller” will be prosecuted only for misdemeanor possession. Also, suspected dealers will only be prosecuted on felony charges if they’re also accused of more serious crimes or are actually caught in the act of selling drugs. That felony would mean facing up to seven years behind bars.

“ADAs should use their judgment and experience to evaluate the person arrested, and identify people: who suffer from mental illness; who are unhoused; who commit crimes of poverty; or who suffer from substance use disorders,” Bragg added.

“Charges should be brought consistent with the goal of providing services to such individuals, and leverage during plea negotiations should not be a factor in this decision,” he wrote.

There’s more at the source. Also, here’s a link to the whole memo if you want to read the details. More George Soros-backed erosion of the criminal justice system through prosecutorial discretion.

Source; NY Post

Category: "Teh Stoopid", Crime, Stupid Criminals