Policing group says officers must change how and when they use physical force on US streets - John Seewer and Reese Dunklin, Associated Press
An influential group of law enforcement leaders is pushing police departments across the U.S. to change how officers use force when they subdue people and to improve training so they avoid "consistent blind spots" that have contributed to civilian deaths.
Calling the use of force "a defining issue in policing today," the Police Executive Research Forum released extensive new guidance it says can reduce the risks of deaths following police restraint. The group credited an ongoing investigation led by The Associated Press for inspiring the reforms.
The AP and its reporting partners created a database of more than 1,000 deaths over a decade after officers used tactics meant to subdue people without killing them — the same category of force that killed George Floyd.
The research forum's recommendations — spanning better coordination with medical responders, de-escalation tactics and adherence to long-standing safety warnings — apply to all incidents officers handle.
But the group focused on a particular type of case that AP's investigation repeatedly documented: People in a medical, mental or drug crisis who die after police use physical blows, restraints or weapons like Tasers. The group's report shifts the focus from blaming those with mental illness and addiction for their own deaths.
"These people are not suspects. They are patients," said Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara, who two years ago took over a department at the center of calls for change after Floyd was killed there in 2020. "This is not just about making it safer for a patient. It's about increasing safety for everyone." O'Hara plans to meet with his staff this week to discuss implementing the recommendations.
Deaths that AP identified happened everywhere, affecting people from all walks of life, though Black people were disproportionately represented. In hundreds of cases, officers weren't taught or didn't follow well-known guidelines for safely restraining people. These kinds of mistakes were part of what pushed the research forum to act.
"Every police chief, sheriff, trainer, officer, and any other person involved in these incidents should take the time to read these principles and put them to use," the recommendations said. "They can save lives."
The Police Executive Research Forum, based in Washington, D.C., and led by police chiefs and administrators, has written policy guidelines on Tasers and body cameras at the request of the Justice Department. While the group largely represents big city departments, its guidelines help inform policy and training standards in many agencies and its work has been cited in court decisions and federal investigations.
In June, the group convened about 20 experts to start hashing out recommendations following the AP-led investigation, done with the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism programs at the University of Maryland and Arizona State University, and FRONTLINE (PBS).
While some states have banned chokeholds and other tactics since Floyd's death, sweeping changes met resistance. A federal package of reforms named in his honor failed to reach President Joe Biden's desk.
"In these situations, police need to know what they can do," said Chuck Wexler, the research forum's executive director. "Because if it doesn't go right, the police are going to be held accountable."
The recommendations sent to hundreds of police leaders Saturday will be used in training programs the research forum operates, Wexler said.
RECOGNIZING A CRISIS
While officers in about 30% of the deaths AP identified from 2012-2021 used force to protect someone, many more incidents weren't imminently dangerous and often involved people suffering a health emergency. Cases like these frequently turned volatile after officers misinterpreted as defiance someone's hesitation or inability to follow commands. Escalating to physical force then exacerbated the medical condition.
In one death AP featured, medics and police in Tennessee treated the body movements of a 23-year-old man suffering a seizure as resistance. The mother of Austin Hunter Turner sued police and other responders after learning from body-camera video AP unearthed that her son was subjected to more force than she realized.
People in these "medical behavior emergencies" appear to be at greater risk of dying when police restrain them, the research forum wrote. It urged departments to improve training so officers can better recognize and respond to these situations.
Repeatedly yelling at someone in medical crisis to "calm down" or "relax," for example, often makes the situation worse, the report said. Police should coordinate with fire, dispatch and medics ahead of time so everyone knows their role.
AVOIDING FORCE MISTAKES
The research forum reiterated and expanded on long-standing safety warnings on physical holds, specifically saying officers should limit when and how long they pin someone face down in what is known as prone position.
Police have been on notice since the 1990s that leaving someone in prone restraint can dangerously restrict their lungs and heart. AP found police often failed to turn over the person once they were handcuffed. In dozens of cases, officers blew off cries of, "I can't breathe."
The research forum said police could save lives by rolling people onto their side as soon as possible, even if they are flailing, and by having at least one officer monitor their health. The group also warned police not to buy misconceptions about prone restraint, including that if someone is talking, they can breathe adequately.
CALLING FOR SEDATION
The report addressed another finding from AP's investigation by recommending that officers should never seek to influence whether medics give someone an injection to calm them down.
The AP found at least 94 people died after they were given sedatives and restrained. In more than 15 of those cases, police requested or suggested that emergency medical workers inject sedatives, such as ketamine or midazolam, to temporarily immobilize someone for transport. Experts told the AP that requests from police can pressure medics to use treatments that may be high risk — especially if a person is held face down — but not medically necessary.
"Get the shot to calm him down!" a California officer told a paramedic in the 2020 death of a 40-year-old man who received midazolam while restrained.
Some departments such as Minneapolis have barred officers from requesting sedation, as does a state law in Colorado. But many others offer little or no guidance to officers, some of whom embrace sedation when they see it work rapidly on combative people.
Medics should make decisions independently of police, "based on the totality of the circumstances," the report said. It added that medics should feel comfortable intervening when officers are restraining people in dangerous ways.
"We're not trying to interfere with the job they are doing," Eric Jaeger, an EMS educator and paramedic who helped develop the guidelines, said of police. "We are trying to do our job, which is to protect the health of the patient."
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Ryan J. Foley and Martha Bellisle contributed to this report.
This story is part of the ongoing investigation "Lethal Restraint" led by The Associated Press in collaboration with the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism programs and FRONTLINE (PBS). The investigation includes an interactive story, database and the film "Documenting Police Use Of Force."
Drug policy advocate will lead the Aging and Long-term Services Department – KUNM News
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has named Emily Kaltenbach as the new secretary for the Aging and Long-term Services Department.
Kaltenbach most recently was senior director of state advocacy with the Drug Policy Alliance. But she has also held leadership positions before with the department, including director of policy and planning, and served in the New Mexico Office of Health Care Reform.
Kaltenbach holds a master’s in health administration from the University of Washington and has served on multiple boards focused on public health, cannabis regulation, and community safety.
In a release, the governor said Kaltenbach’s skills make her uniquely position to lead the agency as it navigates challenges around New Mexico’s growing aging population.
She will start the job on Nov. 4. The previous secretary, Jen Paul Schroer, stepped down earlier this month after serving a little over a year.
Pac-12 files a federal lawsuit against Mountain West over $43 million in 'poaching' penalties - By Ralph D. Russo AP College Football Writer
The Pac-12 is suing the Mountain West over what it calls an unlawful and unenforceable "poaching penalty" that would cost the rebuilding conference more than $40 million for adding Boise State, Fresno State, Colorado State and San Diego State, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court.
The antitrust complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California and is seeking a declaratory judgment by a judge.
"The action challenges an anticompetitive and unlawful 'Poaching Penalty' that the MWC imposed on the Pac-12 to inhibit competition for member schools in collegiate athletics," the lawsuit said.
The Mountain West did not immediately respond to a request from The Associated Press seeking comment.
The Mountain West has exit fees of upward of $17 million for departing schools. Those fees can increase depending on how much advance notice a school provides. There also are poaching fees that were put in place in the Mountain West's football scheduling agreement with Oregon State and Washington State, the only current Pac-12 members this season.
The fee starts at $10 million and increases by an increment of $500,000 for every additional school the Pac-12 adds from the Mountain West. With four already on board, the total is $43 million.
The Pac-12 also extended invitations on Monday to Mountain West schools Utah State and UNLV.
Utah State was admitted, according to the lawsuit, though neither the school nor the conference has made an official announcement.
Adding Utah State and UNLV would cost the Pac-12 another $24.5 million and leave the Mountain West with only six members, two short of what is required to be recognized by the NCAA and College Football Playoff.
The Pac-12 contends in the lawsuit that the "severe" exit fees the Mountain West has in place already compensate for the loss of departing members.
The Pac-12 argues the poaching penalty had nothing to do with the intent of the deal between Oregon State and Washington State and the Mountain West, which was to provide those schools with six football opponents this year for a $14 million payment to the league.
"It extends beyond the Scheduling Agreement's terms, it does not affect the schedule in any respect, and it does not in any way impact the amount of football played, games scheduled or anything related to the 2024-25 scheduling of games," the lawsuit said.
"Instead, the Poaching Penalty serves only to increase the MWC's profits by locking up its member schools and preventing them from leaving for a competitor (Pac-12)."
The scheduling deal was not renewed for next year.
Oregon State and Washington State are in the first year of a two-year NCAA grace period during which they are operating the Pac-12 as a two-team conference.
By 2026, the Pac-12 needs at least eight members to be recognized as a conference by the NCAA and CFP.
The first phase of Pac-12 expansion began two weeks ago when it announced the additions of Boise State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Colorado State, four of the Mountain West's traditionally most successful football programs.
The Pac-12 then targeted a group of American Athletic Conference schools but was rebuffed by Memphis, UTSA, Tulane and South Florida.
As the Pac-12 pivoted back to Mountain West schools, the Mountain West was trying to lock up its eight remaining members through a grant of rights agreement that binds schools together through the conference via television rights.
Some Mountain West schools signed a memorandum of understanding and returned it to the conference on Monday, but when Utah State did not, it allowed the others to reconsider.
Now, with the Pac-12 suing the Mountain West, it's unclear whether either conference can move forward.
Solomon Peña trial postponed following conflict between defendant and attorney - Lauren Lifke, City Desk ABQ
Jury selection in a high-profile criminal case was postponed Monday due to a conflict between defendant Solomon Peña and his attorney.
Trial had been set to begin Monday for the former Republican candidate, who is accused of coordinating a series of shootings nearly two years ago that targeted Democratic lawmakers.
Peña’s now-former attorney Elizabeth Honce declined to specify the nature of the conflict to City Desk ABQ but said she did not find out there was an issue until she heard “rumblings” of “something happening” from Peña’s friends and family over the weekend.
Peña, whose case gained national attention last year, was described by local authorities as the “mastermind” behind a series of shootings that targeted county commissioners and state legislators starting in December 2022. The shootings happened after Peña lost the 2022 race for New Mexico House District 14. He lobbed accusations on social media that the election was rigged and implied he had been present at the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Honce said she was able to speak with Peña directly about the conflict for the first time on Sunday.
“He confirmed that, yes, he had this conflict. And I said I didn’t feel comfortable continuing either,” Honce said.
The conflict was on the part of both Peña and Honce, she said. Peña didn’t want her to continue, and she didn’t feel she could.
“It came up quite quickly,” Honce said.
After talking to Peña on Sunday, Honce said the judge was notified of the conflict. Honce said she didn’t like that the jury panel had already been called in when the conflict was brought up in court Monday morning, but she said she had no choice but to raise the issue.
In December 2022, then-County Commissioner Debbie O’Malley was one of four politicians whose homes were struck by gunfire following Peña’s unsuccessful campaign.
“It’s important, obviously, that this person is entitled to a fair trial,” O’Malley said. “But also, as someone who underwent the whole experience — including my family — it would be important to get it over with, if you will.”
O’Malley said she was initially scheduled to testify Wednesday. This morning, though, she received a text message from the U.S. Attorney’s Office informing her that Honce was no longer Peña’s attorney and therefore the case would be on hold, O’Malley said.
Sometimes conflicts come up between attorneys and clients, Honce said.
“I’m sure he’ll continue with another attorney,” she said. “Whether he hires one independently or gets a federal public defender — whichever one. There are lots of good attorneys out there to represent him.”
‘Respect tribal sovereignty’: The new Navajo law regulating radioactive material transportation - Shondiin Silversmith, AZ Mirror via Source New Mexico
After uranium ore was transferred across the Navajo Nation in July with little warning, tribal leaders started looking for ways to address the issue that would best benefit their people and community. The solution: strengthen tribal law.
“The purpose of this legislation is to provide for the protection, health, and safety of the Navajo people, their guests and visitors, and the Navajo Nation environment, including its water resources,” the legislation states.
In a special session held in late August, the Navajo Nation Council unanimously passed emergency legislation amending the Radioactive and Related Substances, Equipment, Vehicles, Persons and Materials Transportation Act of 2012 to strengthen the Navajo Nation’s regulatory authority over the transportation of uranium and other radioactive materials across their tribal lands.
Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency Executive Director Stephen Etsitty said the most significant change to the act requires advance notification from any company that plans to transport radioactive materials across the Navajo Nation.
Other changes to the law include implementing regulations requiring any person or entity seeking to transport uranium ore, yellowcake, radioactive waste or other radioactive products on or across Navajo Nation lands would need to first enter into an agreement with the Navajo Nation.
That agreement must provide the terms and conditions for such transport, including routes, emergency plans, financial assurances, curfews and other travel restrictions, containment requirements and fees.
And now companies only had to notify the Navajo Nation seven days before transportation instead of four.
“It doesn’t seem like it’s a big change, but it’s an important thing,” he said. “We didn’t get advanced notification for the first hauling action that occurred.”
The amendment comes after Energy Fuels Resources, Inc. (EFRI) transported uranium ore across the Navajo Nation without making prior arrangements with the tribe or notifying it in advance to make safety arrangements.
EFRI, the owner of Pinyon Plain Mine near the Grand Canyon, started transporting uranium ore from the mine to the White Mesa Mill in Blanding, Utah, on July 30.
The transportation routes to move the uranium from the Pinyon Plain Mine pass through several tribal communities, including the lands of the Navajo, Hopi, Havasupai and Ute Mountain Ute.
Amendments to the tribal law include interim regulations that will serve as the initial framework for the Navajo Nation when negotiating with companies involved in uranium transport.
They will be in effect for a year until the regulations are further developed through a comprehensive rulemaking process, ensuring that the Navajo Nation has the necessary tools to effectively manage and oversee the transport of radioactive materials.
Etsitty helped draft the new law, and said the old law did not have transport regulations because there was no active uranium mining near the Navajo Nation — until January.
“This legislation provides the Navajo Nation with the statutory strength and regulatory framework needed to protect our lands and people from the hazards associated with uranium transport,” Etsitty said. “We will continue to engage with all stakeholders to ensure that our regulations are enforced and our communities are safeguarded.”
Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren signed the amendments to the Radioactive and Related Substances, Equipment, Vehicles, Persons and Materials Transportation Act of 2012 into law on Aug. 29.
“Respect tribal sovereignty and work with us,” Nygren said, adding that having discussions with corporations to work with the Navajo Nation will benefit Arizona and the United States.
“We are able to speak in English in this day and time,” he added. “We’ve got our own attorneys, our own lawyers, and they are more than capable to come up with deals and solutions.”
Negotiations started in August between the Navajo Nation and Energy Fuels Resources, Inc., about transporting uranium ore through Navajo lands to a processing facility in Utah.
As of Sept. 19, negotiations are ongoing between the Navajo Nation EPA, the tribe’s Department of Justice and EFRI, according to Geroge Hardeen, a spokesman for Nygren.
“They haven’t reached the agreement they wanted to reach, which is how do you transport this material safely across the Navajo Nation,” Hardeen said.
EFRI’s actions resulted in several tribal members, environmental groups and leaders calling on the state and the mining company to respect tribal sovereignty because the Navajo Nation banned the transportation of radioactive material on tribal land over a decade ago.
The National Congress of American Indians describes tribal sovereignty as a tribal nation’s ability to govern, protect and enhance the health, safety, and welfare of its citizens within its tribal territory. This includes the ability to create and pass laws.
“Tribal sovereignty ensures that any decisions about the tribes with regard to their property and citizens are made with their participation and consent,” the Bureau of Indian Affairs states on its website.
The Navajo Nation became a sovereign nation when it signed the Treaty of 1868 with the United States, establishing it as a federally recognized tribe in the U.S., acknowledging its sovereignty and the federal government’s responsibilities to the tribe.
The Navajo Nation officially established the Navajo Nation Council as the tribe’s governing body in 1923 in response to managing the extraction of natural resources on the tribe’s lands.
“The discovery of oil on Navajoland in the early 1920s promoted the need for a more systematic form of government,” according to historical information on the tribe’s official website. “A tribal government was established to help meet the increasing desires of American oil companies to lease Navajoland for exploration.”
The legacy of uranium mining has harmed the Navajo Nation for decades, from abandoned mines to contaminated waste disposal.
From 1944 to 1986, nearly 30 million tons of uranium ore were extracted from Navajo lands, according to the federal government, and hundreds of Navajo people worked in the mines, often living and raising families near the mines and mills.
“The adverse impacts of radiation and uranium toxicity on the Navajo people and the environment are well known and must be guarded against by strict regulations to prevent exposures due to the transportation of uranium ore across the Navajo Nation,” the legislation reads.
During the Navajo Nation Council’s emergency session, many delegates voiced their concerns about the renewed interest in uranium mining, noting how it means that transportation of uranium ore across the Navajo Nation is imminent.
Navajo Nation Council Delegate Casey Allen Johnson, who represents the Cameron Chapter, sponsored the legislation. He said the amendments strengthen Navajo law to ensure Navajo people are protected from exposure to radioactive materials.
Johnson said that he lost his father to stomach cancer in August, and he attributed his father’s illness to uranium exposure. His mother passed away from the same disease 25 years earlier.
“This is something that is dear to my heart, this legislation, all these uranium legislations,” Johnson said. “This legislation is my tears and arrows.”
The legislation strengthened the Navajo Nation’s regulatory authority over transportation of uranium and other radioactive materials across its lands.
“This legislation was a necessary step to ensure that our sovereignty is respected and that our people are protected from the potential dangers of uranium transport,” said Navajo Nation Council Delegate Danny Simpson, a cosponsor of the bill. “The events of July 30th were a clear violation of our laws.”
Volunteers help seedlings take root as New Mexico attempts to recover from historic wildfire - By Susan Montoya Bryan, Associated Press
A small team of volunteers spent a few hours scrambling across fire-ravaged mountainsides, planting hundreds of seedlings as part of a monumental recovery effort that has been ongoing following the largest wildfire in New Mexico's recorded history.
The Hermit's Peak/Calf Canyon blaze was spawned in 2022 by a pair of botched prescribed burns that federal forest managers intended to lessen the threat of catastrophic fire in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Instead, large swaths of northern New Mexico were reduced to ash and rural communities were upended.
It rained overnight, making for perfect conditions for the volunteers in the mountains near the community of Mora. It was just enough to soften the ground for the group's shovels on Saturday.
"The planting was so easy that we got done a little early and ran out of trees to plant that day. So it was a good day," said David Hernandez, a stewardship ecologist with The Nature Conservancy, which is partnering with the Hermit's Peak Watershed Alliance on the project.
Nearly 400 ponderosa pine seedlings were placed in spots identified by the U.S. Forest Service as high priorities, given the severity of the burn. Those locations are mostly areas where not a single live tree was left standing.
It's here where land managers, researchers and volunteers hope the seedlings will form islands of trees that can help regenerate more trees by producing their own seeds over time.
The Nature Conservancy used donations to purchase a total of 5,000 seedlings. New Mexico Highlands University is contributing another 3,500 seedlings.
The trees will be monitored to gauge success.
Researchers at New Mexico State University's Forestry Research Center in Mora are experimenting with drought-hardening some seedlings to prepare them for the warmer and drier conditions they could face when they put down roots in burn scars. That means the plants are watered less frequently to make them more drought tolerant.
Owen Burney, the center's director, said his team has yet to scale up the number of drought-conditioned seedlings, but more will be ready to plant in the spring.
The Hermit's Peak Watershed Alliance team was on its way up the mountain again Monday to do more work. They will continue daily through early October, with a couple more weekend planting sessions for interested volunteers.
The goal is to get the seedlings in the ground before the first freeze.
There have been days when 20 volunteers have been able to plant around 1,000 trees, said Joseph Casedy, who works with alliance.
"It's strength in numbers," he said, acknowledging that repeatedly bending down to drop the trees into their holes before compacting the surrounding soil can be fatiguing work.
Burney, Hernandez and others say there's a need to bolster the infrastructure required to develop seed banks, grow seedlings and do post-fire planting as wildfires have decimated large swaths of the U.S.
This year alone, more than 11,460 square miles (29,681 square kilometers) have been charred, outpacing the 10-year average. The National Interagency Fire Center also notes that there have been delays in reporting actual acreage burned given the "very high tempo and scale" of fire activity across the nation over recent months.
In northern New Mexico, reseeding started soon after the flames were dying down in 2022 as crews began working on mitigating erosion and flood damage within a burn scar that spanned more than 534 square miles (1,383 square kilometers) across three counties. In the first phase, federal agencies were able to seed about 36 square miles (93 square kilometers) and spread mulch over thousands of acres more.
In the last two years, tens of thousands of more acres have been seeded and mulched, and sediment catchments, earthen diversions and other flood control structures have been built at countless sites. Still, runoff from heavy storms the last two summers have resulted in damage.
There are certainly patches of ground that aren't taking seed because they were burned so severely, and Casedy said it will take more time and funding to address problems in those areas. But he said other spots are bouncing back, providing some hope.
"Ground cover is looking a lot better this year," he said. "At the place I'm standing right now, there's 10-foot-tall aspens coming in."
Boyfriend of a Navajo woman is sentenced to life in prison in her killing - By Anita Snow, Associated Press
After family members of a slain Navajo woman described their grief in a federal courtroom, the judge on Monday sentenced her boyfriend to life imprisonment for first-degree murder in a case that became emblematic of what officials call an epidemic of missing and slain Indigenous women.
Five years after Jaime Yazzie was killed, her relatives and friends cheered as they streamed out of the downtown Phoenix courthouse after U.S. District Court Judge Douglas L. Rayas handed down the sentence for Tre C. James.
Yazzie was 32 and the mother of three sons when she went missing in the summer of 2019 from her community of Pinon on the Navajo Nation. Despite a high-profile search, her remains were not found until November 2021 on the neighboring Hopi reservation in northeastern Arizona.
James was convicted last fall in Yazzie's fatal shooting. The jury also found James guilty of several acts of domestic violence committed against three former dating partners.
Yazzie's three sons, now ages 18, 14, 10, and other relatives attended Monday's sentencing, along with several dozen supporters. Another dozen or so supporters stayed outside to demonstrate on the sidewalk, chanting and beating drums.
"There is no sentence you can impose that will balance the scale," Yazzie's mother, Ethelene Denny, told the judge before the announcement. Denny detailed the pain the family has suffered from the moment Yazzie disappeared, through a desperate 2 1/2-year search and the ultimate shock and heartbreak when her remains were found.
Federal prosecutors also played an earlier recorded video statement from Yazzie's father, James Yazzie, who has since died.
"It's not right," the elder Yazzie said in the video, who was clearly ailing and had trouble speaking. "Taking my daughter away and taking my grandkids' mom. It hits me right in the heart."
"Today's sentence underscores the fact that Jamie Yazzie was not forgotten by the FBI or our federal and tribal partners," FBI Phoenix Special Agent in Charge Jose A. Perez said in a statement. "Our office is committed to addressing the violence that Native American communities in Arizona face every day and we will continue our efforts to protect families, help victims and ensure that justice is served in each case we pursue."
Yazzie's case gained attention through the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women grassroots movement that draws attention to widespread violence against Indigenous women and girls in the United States and Canada.
The U.S. Interior Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs characterizes the violence against Indigenous women as a crisis.
Women from Native American and Alaska Native communities have long suffered from high rates of assault, abduction and murder. A 2016 study by the National Institute of Justice found that more than four in five American Indian and Alaska Native women — 84% — have experienced violence in their lifetimes, including 56% who have been victimized by sexual violence.