Free Republic

Having gotten a taste for public service while in the U.S. Coast Guard, Jonathan Shoop joined the police force looking for a career he was passionate about after managing delivery teams for Amazon for nearly five years, his brother said. Shoop became the 32nd U.S. law enforcement officer shot to death this year on July 13, marking a 28% jump in felonious officer deaths over the same period in 2019, according to data from the FBI. In the wake of George Floyd's death in late May, tremendous scrutiny was placed on policing with peaceful protests broadly calling for reform. But...

Initial autopsy results say that Brooks died of two gunshot wounds to his back. Before being shot to death by an Atlanta police officer in the parking lot of a fast food restaurant, Rayshard Brooks had a cordial conversation about being in the area to visit his mother's grave and to celebrate one of his young daughter's birthdays, according to a series of videos released by officials. The shooting of Brooks, who is black, on Friday night sparked new protests and an arson fire at the Wendy's where the confrontation started and escalated into the use of lethal force. It...

A former Chicago police officer convicted of second-degree murder in the killing of an African-American teenager he shot 16 times received a dose of prison justice just days after Illinois prosecutors moved to seek a harsher sentence for him, his wife said Thursday. Jason Van Dyke was allegedly beaten by inmates at a federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut, where he was secretly moved to last week, his wife and his attorneys said during a news conference in Chicago.