vox--2020-06-09--New coronavirus cases reported at reopened Tesla factory. This doesn’t look great for Elon Musk.

In news that should surprise no one , workers at the Tesla factory reportedly have the coronavirus .
Two anonymous workers told the Washington Post that “ several cases ” of Covid-19 had been confirmed at both the company ’ s Fremont , California , production plant and nearby at its smaller seat-assembly factory .
Musk very publicly defied local officials when reopening his factories a few weeks ago .
Tesla has not yet confirmed the report , and the company did not respond to Recode ’ s request for comment .
The Washington Post also did not say how @ @ @ @ @ @ @ how many workers contracted the virus or when .
Still , it ’ s a bad look for Tesla and for Musk , the company ’ s founder and CEO .
The company closed its factories in March after disagreements with the local Alameda County Sheriff and the Fremont Police Department .
There was then a fight to reopen the factories in May , when Musk defied local health officials , Tesla sued Alameda County , and then the factories just reopened before being given the blessing to resume operations in defiance of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The lawsuit was later dropped .
The Alameda County Public Health Department eventually allowed the reopening of the Fremont facilities as long as Tesla agreed to certain safety measures , including having fewer workers per shift and requiring them to wear masks .
The agency told the Washington Post that it didn ’ t know of any reported cases from the Tesla factories but did not respond to Recode ’ s requests for further information .
Musk has been an outspoken Twitter critic of shelter-in-place orders , calling them “ de facto house @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the response to the coronavirus in general .
On March 6 , he tweeted that the “ coronavirus panic ” was “ dumb , ” following that up two days later with a tweet claiming that coronavirus ’ s danger had been “ overstated.
” A week after that , he said the panic over the virus “ exceeds ” the danger of the virus itself .
He also openly defied shelter-in-place orders in March , telling Tesla employees that while they shouldn ’ t “ feel obligated to come to work , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reportedly felt pressured to continue to show up despite Musk ’ s assertions that it was “ totally ok ” if they stayed home .
Though he did eventually close the factory and appeared to take the virus more seriously on Twitter for a while , by May he was clearly itching to get Tesla back to work , tweeting photos of ice cream sundaes and saying “ life should be lived.
” Musk is likely feeling external pressure to get production up and running on Tesla ’ s new Model Y as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which have been open since March 2019 .
The factory ’ s shutdown has only delayed its ability to get the new crossover SUV on the market , and in emails leaked this week , Musk said that he would be “ walking the lines ” himself in order to get Model Y production up to speed .
The billionaire is known to be a demanding boss who doesn ’ t , according to reports , seem particularly concerned with worker safety .
In 2015 , the injury rate at Tesla ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the industrial average .
Tesla has denied these reports and called them the work of union activists .
The company was also sued in 2018 by a former safety director who claimed that he was fired after he reported unsafe conditions and inaccurate safety reporting practices to the company .
( Tesla said the man was fired for “ harassing workplace behavior.
” ) Additionally , Musk has gotten in trouble for violating labor law in tweets and other actions that discouraged employees from forming unions .
Tesla remains the only large US @ @ @ @ @ @ @ them less protection against the whims of management and little recourse against unsafe working conditions .
In the absence of confirmation from Tesla or Alameda County , it ’ s hard to say the extent of the virus ’ s spread in the factories or when and how the infected workers contracted it .
But even one sick worker shows that Musk ’ s strong-arming the county to get his factories back online has come with a price — even if Musk himself doesn ’ t have to pay it .
Every day @ @ @ @ @ @ @ your most important questions and provide you , and our audience around the world , with information that has the power to save lives .
Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment : to empower you through understanding .
Vox ’ s work is reaching more people than ever , but our distinctive brand of explanatory journalism takes resources — particularly during a pandemic and an economic downturn .
Your financial contribution will not constitute a donation , but it will enable our staff to continue to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ podcasts at the quality and volume that this moment requires .
Please consider making a contribution to Vox today .

In news that should surprise no one, several workers at a Tesla factory have the coronavirus. The Alameda County Public Health Department (ACPHD), where the Fremont, California, plant is based, confirmed to Recode that Tesla reported “some” of its employees there tested positive for the virus. For privacy reasons, the number of employees and when they tested positive would not be disclosed. Musk very publicly defied local officials when reopening his factories a few weeks ago.
On Tuesday, the Washington Post reported that two anonymous workers told the paper that “several cases” of Covid-19 had been confirmed at both the company’s Fremont production plant and nearby at its smaller seat-assembly factory. The electric transportation site Electrek later reported that four Tesla workers tested positive for the coronavirus on Tuesday alone. Tesla did not confirm either of those reports and did not respond to Recode’s request for comment.
It’s a bad look for Tesla and for Musk, the company’s founder and CEO. The company closed its factories in March after disagreements with the Alameda County sheriff and the Fremont Police Department. There was then a fight to reopen the factories in May, when Musk defied local health officials, Tesla sued Alameda County, and then the factories just reopened before being given the blessing to resume operations in defiance of Alameda County health orders last month. The lawsuit was later dropped.
The ACPHD eventually allowed the reopening of the Fremont facilities as long as Tesla agreed to certain safety measures, including having fewer workers per shift and requiring them to wear masks.
An anonymous worker told Electrek that Tesla’s attempts at worker safety and virus prevention fall short.
“We’re still working on top of each other,” the worker told Electrek. “All they do is make us wear a mask in a hot factory. They take our temperature and have us use hand sanitizer when we walk in. But obviously, that isn’t working.”
Musk has been an outspoken Twitter critic of shelter-in-place orders, calling them “de facto house arrest.” He’s also criticized the response to the coronavirus in general. On March 6, he tweeted that the “coronavirus panic” was “dumb,” following that up two days later with a tweet claiming that coronavirus’s danger had been “overstated.” A week after that, he said the panic over the virus “exceeds” the danger of the virus itself. He also openly defied shelter-in-place orders in March, telling Tesla employees that while they shouldn’t “feel obligated to come to work,” he would be there. Workers reportedly felt pressured to continue to show up despite Musk’s assertions that it was “totally ok” if they stayed home.
Though Musk did eventually close the factory and appeared to take the virus more seriously on Twitter for a while, by May he was clearly itching to get Tesla back to work, tweeting photos of ice cream sundaes and saying “life should be lived.”
Musk is likely feeling external pressure to get production up and running on Tesla’s new Model Y as quickly as possible to fulfill preorders, which have been open since March 2019. The factory’s shutdown has only delayed its ability to get the new crossover SUV on the market, and in emails leaked this week, Musk said that he would be “walking the lines” himself in order to get Model Y production up to speed.
The billionaire is known to be a demanding boss who doesn’t, according to reports, seem particularly concerned with worker safety. In 2015, the injury rate at Tesla’s Fremont factory was 30 percent higher than the industrial average. Tesla has denied these reports and called them the work of union activists. The company was also sued in 2018 by a former safety director who claimed that he was fired after he reported unsafe conditions and inaccurate safety reporting practices to the company. (Tesla said the man was fired for “harassing workplace behavior.”)
Additionally, Musk has gotten in trouble for violating labor law in tweets and other actions that discouraged employees from forming unions. Tesla remains the only large US automaker without a unionized workforce, giving them less protection against the whims of management and little recourse against unsafe working conditions.
Without an exact number of new cases, it’s hard to say the extent of the virus’s spread in the factories or when and how the infected workers contracted it. But even one sick worker shows that Musk’s strong-arming the county to get his factories back online has come with a price — even if Musk himself doesn’t have to pay it.
Update, June 10, 3:15 pm ET: Added new information from Electrek and confirmation from the Alameda County Public Health Department.


vox--2020-06-09--Some voters are waiting hours to cast their ballots in Georgia. Here’s what we know.

The 2020 Election Day disasters keep rolling in .
After long lines in the Wisconsin primary two months ago , Georgia voters , who are trying to cast their ballots in the state ’ s primary elections , are being forced to wait hours in line as some polling places have closed and others have experienced malfunctioning voting equipment .
The problems appear to be centered in four counties : Cobb , DeKalb , Fulton , and Gwinnett , according to civil rights attorneys and local reports .
The city of Atlanta sits in Fulton County ; Cobb , DeKalb @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the city ’ s suburban areas .
“ Voters have been disenfranchised across the state .
We believe a high proportion of them are African American , ” Kristen Clarke , president for the Lawyers ’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law , told Vox .
These counties have political significance ; with Atlanta ’ s suburbs trending blue in recent years , they could well make Georgia a true battleground state in the 2020 presidential and US Senate elections .
There are two US Senates in Georgia up this year ; voters @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to challenge Sen. David Perdue ( R ) among other races .
Because the other Senate election is a special election , there will be an all-party primary on November 3 , meaning no party nominees will be chosen on Tuesday .
The delays are also raising concerns about the systemic disenfranchisement of black Americans — a longstanding issue that ’ s exacerbated by some state governments ’ policy decisions but one that ’ s particularly salient this year , as Covid-19 has complicated voting procedures .
Basketball star LeBron James tweeted his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ brutality continue in the US , barriers to voting and suppression for black Americans must also be closely examined .
The New York Times used a drone to capture how long some precinct lines in Atlanta stretched .
There ’ s no estimate of how many voters are being impacted , but Clarke told Vox her group ’ s Election Day hotline has received “ thousands ” of calls .
Some people left the voting line after waiting for hours .
Although polls are scheduled to close at 7 pm Eastern , Clarke @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to court to keep polls open later if elections officials in these four counties don ’ t extend polling hours to ensure voters have a chance to cast their ballots .
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms first reported problems in some Atlanta precincts , including voting machines not working as early as 7:30 Tuesday morning .
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger ’ s office has said it would launch an investigation , and Raffensperger called the lines and delays “ unacceptable ” in a statement .
Georgia House Speaker David Ralston has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ My office has opened an investigation to determine what these counties need to do to resolve these issues before November ’ s election , ” Raffensberger said .
The 2018 midterms and highly contested governor ’ s race ( where former Secretary of State and current Gov .
Brian Kemp was on the ballot ) saw allegations of voter suppression after voting machines in some precincts failed and nearly 50,000 voter registrations were put on hold .
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams refused to concede the race to Kemp after losing by just @ @ @ @ @ @ @ work on voting access issues in the state .
Clarke said launching an investigation in the middle of an ongoing election isn ’ t the message voters need to hear in order to be confident in an election ’ s integrity .
“ State officials failed voters today , ” Clarke said .
“ Georgia has been ground zero when it comes to voter suppression in our county and sadly that remains the case today.
” Every day at Vox , we aim to answer your most important questions and provide you , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with information that has the power to save lives .
Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment : to empower you through understanding .
Vox ’ s work is reaching more people than ever , but our distinctive brand of explanatory journalism takes resources — particularly during a pandemic and an economic downturn .
Your financial contribution will not constitute a donation , but it will enable our staff to continue to offer free articles , videos , and podcasts at the quality and volume that this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ contribution to Vox today .

The 2020 Election Day disasters keep rolling in.
After long lines in the Wisconsin primary two months ago, Georgia voters, who are trying to cast their ballots in the state’s primary elections, are being forced to wait hours in line as some polling places have closed and others have experienced malfunctioning voting equipment.
The problems appear to be centered in four counties: Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton, and Gwinnett, according to civil rights attorneys and local reports. The city of Atlanta sits in Fulton County; Cobb, DeKalb, and Gwinnett counties comprise some of the city’s suburban areas.
“Voters have been disenfranchised across the state. We believe a high proportion of them are African American,” Kristen Clarke, president for the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, told Vox.
These counties have political significance; with Atlanta’s suburbs trending blue in recent years, they could well make Georgia a true battleground state in the 2020 presidential and US Senate elections. There are two US Senates in Georgia up this year; voters are set to choose the Democratic nominee to challenge Sen. David Perdue (R) among other races. Because the other Senate election is a special election, there will be an all-party primary on November 3, meaning no party nominees will be chosen on Tuesday.
The delays are also raising concerns about the systemic disenfranchisement of black Americans — a longstanding issue that’s exacerbated by some state governments’ policy decisions but one that’s particularly salient this year, as Covid-19 has complicated voting procedures. Basketball star LeBron James tweeted his point out that as protests over police brutality continue in the US, barriers to voting and suppression for black Americans must also be closely examined.
Everyone talking about “how do we fix this?” They say “go out and vote?” What about asking if how we vote is also structurally racist? https://t.co/GFtq12eKKt — LeBron James (@KingJames) June 9, 2020
The New York Times used a drone to capture how long some precinct lines in Atlanta stretched.
This drone footage shows a long line of voters waiting to cast ballots in Atlanta on Tuesday. Georgia election officials, poll workers and voters have reported major trouble with voting in Atlanta and elsewhere.
Read the latest. https://t.co/wRnW8f5tng pic.twitter.com/BVU9J9CF79 — The New York Times (@nytimes) June 9, 2020
There’s no estimate of how many voters are being impacted, but Clarke told Vox her group’s Election Day hotline has received “thousands” of calls. Some people left the voting line after waiting for hours. Although polls are scheduled to close at 7 pm Eastern, Clarke’s organization is preparing to go to court to keep polls open later if elections officials in these four counties don’t extend polling hours to ensure voters have a chance to cast their ballots.
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms first reported problems in some Atlanta precincts, including voting machines not working as early as 7:30 Tuesday morning.
This seems to be happening throughout Atlanta and perhaps throughout the county. People have been in line since before 7:00 am this morning. https://t.co/l28JvxhZxi — Keisha Lance Bottoms (@KeishaBottoms) June 9, 2020
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office has said it would launch an investigation, and Raffensperger called the lines and delays “unacceptable” in a statement. Georgia House Speaker David Ralston has also called for an investigation.
“My office has opened an investigation to determine what these counties need to do to resolve these issues before November’s election,” Raffensberger said.
The 2018 midterms and highly contested governor’s race (where former Secretary of State and current Gov. Brian Kemp was on the ballot) saw allegations of voter suppression after voting machines in some precincts failed and nearly 50,000 voter registrations were put on hold. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams refused to concede the race to Kemp after losing by just 1.4 points. Abrams has continued to work on voting access issues in the state.
Clarke said launching an investigation in the middle of an ongoing election isn’t the message voters need to hear in order to be confident in an election’s integrity.
“State officials failed voters today,” Clarke said. “Georgia has been ground zero when it comes to voter suppression in our county and sadly that remains the case today.”


vox--2020-06-09--George Floyd was remembered by family, activists, and politicians at his funeral in Houston

Two weeks after George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis , Minnesota — sparking nationwide protests against racism and police brutality — he is being laid to rest in Houston , Texas , on Tuesday .
Floyd ’ s family , clad in white , and friends gathered with elected officials and civil rights leaders at the Fountain of Praise church to remember Floyd for his third and final funeral service before the burial .
They were joined by the families of other Black people killed at the hands of police , such as Breonna Taylor , Michael Brown @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Eric Garner .
Even though the service was limited to 500 people , hundreds of mourners traveled to the church , not expecting to make it inside .
They gathered instead outside the church to show support and solidarity .
Through video , former Vice President Joe Biden addressed Floyd ’ s family at the service .
“ Unlike most , you must grieve in public and it ’ s a burden .
A burden that is now your purpose to change the world for the better , in the name of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ He also spoke directly to Floyd ’ s daughter , Gianna .
“ You are so brave , I know you have a lot of questions , honey , ” he said .
“ No child should have to ask questions that too many black children have to ask for generations , ‘ Why is Daddy gone ?
’ ” Biden earlier this week endorsed police reforms but shied away from endorsing “ defunding the police , ” one of the key policy positions that has emerged from several weeks of near-constant protests @ @ @ @ @ @ @ attended the service .
Rep. Al Green ( D-TX ) called for recognizing and accepting our differences during a speech .
“ We have got to reconcile , ” he said .
“ This country has not reconciled its differences with us .
We survived slavery but we didn ’ t reconcile .
We survived segregation but we didn ’ t reconcile.
” Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee ( D-TX ) also addressed the gathering .
“ Let me heal the wound of the majority of African American men who have suffered at the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ she said .
“ A warrior mindset instead of a guardian of peace mindset in the practice of law enforcement.
” Rev .
Al Sharpton , who spoke at an earlier service in Minneapolis for Floyd , and called for a march on Washington at that time , gave the eulogy Tuesday .
“ Equal justice , equal fairness , we ’ re not anti-anybody , ” Sharpton said Tuesday .
“ We ’ re trying to stop people from being anti-us.
” Floyd , who grew up in Houston , was also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ North Carolina on Saturday .
Tuesday ’ s funeral in Houston will be his third and final memorial .
Floyd was born in Raeford , North Carolina , but he grew up in Houston ’ s Third Ward .
He attended Yates High School and played tight end for the Yates football team , playing the state championship game at the Astrodome in 1992 .
He lived in Houston until four or five years ago , when he moved to Minneapolis to try to get a fresh start .
A horse-drawn carriage will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ gravesite after the funeral .
He ’ ll be buried next to his mom , whom he called out for in his final moments .
It was a day devoted to Floyd , but one that also acknowledged the national uprising his death helped spark .
Houston mayor Sylvester Turner announced during a speech that he will sign an executive order banning police chokeholds and other reforms .
Every day at Vox , we aim to answer your most important questions and provide you , and our audience around the world , with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lives .
Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment : to empower you through understanding .
Vox ’ s work is reaching more people than ever , but our distinctive brand of explanatory journalism takes resources — particularly during a pandemic and an economic downturn .
Your financial contribution will not constitute a donation , but it will enable our staff to continue to offer free articles , videos , and podcasts at the quality and volume that this moment requires .
Please consider making a contribution @ @ @ @

Two weeks after George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota — sparking nationwide protests against racism and police brutality — he is being laid to rest in Houston, Texas, on Tuesday.
Floyd’s family, clad in white, and friends gathered with elected officials and civil rights leaders at the Fountain of Praise church to remember Floyd for his third and final funeral service before the burial. They were joined by the families of other Black people killed at the hands of police, such as Breonna Taylor, Michael Brown, Ahmaud Arbery, Botham Jean, and Eric Garner. Even though the service was limited to 500 people, hundreds of mourners traveled to the church, not expecting to make it inside. They gathered instead outside the church to show support and solidarity.
Through video, former Vice President Joe Biden addressed Floyd’s family at the service. “Unlike most, you must grieve in public and it’s a burden. A burden that is now your purpose to change the world for the better, in the name of George Floyd,” he said.
He also spoke directly to Floyd’s daughter, Gianna. “You are so brave, I know you have a lot of questions, honey,” he said. “No child should have to ask questions that too many black children have to ask for generations, ‘Why is Daddy gone?’”
Joe Biden’s remarks at the funeral service of George Floyd:
"We cannot leave this moment thinking we can once again turn away from racism that stings at our very soul, from systemic abuse that still plagues American life."
-@JoeBiden
pic.twitter.com/7OoFmbadcm — Kamau M. Marshall (@KamauMandela) June 9, 2020
Biden earlier this week endorsed police reforms but shied away from endorsing “defunding the police,” one of the key policy positions that has emerged from several weeks of near-constant protests.
Several Texas Democratic elected officials also attended the service. Rep. Al Green (D-TX) called for recognizing and accepting our differences during a speech. “We have got to reconcile,” he said. “This country has not reconciled its differences with us. We survived slavery but we didn’t reconcile. We survived segregation but we didn’t reconcile.”
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) also addressed the gathering. “Let me heal the wound of the majority of African American men who have suffered at the hands of a wrong mindset,” she said. “A warrior mindset instead of a guardian of peace mindset in the practice of law enforcement.”
Rev. Al Sharpton, who spoke at an earlier service in Minneapolis for Floyd, and called for a march on Washington at that time, gave the eulogy Tuesday. “Equal justice, equal fairness, we’re not anti-anybody,” Sharpton said Tuesday. “We’re trying to stop people from being anti-us.”
Floyd, who grew up in Houston, was also memorialized in Minneapolis last Thursday and in North Carolina on Saturday. Tuesday’s funeral in Houston will be his third and final memorial.
Floyd was born in Raeford, North Carolina, but he grew up in Houston’s Third Ward. He attended Yates High School and played tight end for the Yates football team, playing the state championship game at the Astrodome in 1992. He lived in Houston until four or five years ago, when he moved to Minneapolis to try to get a fresh start.
A horse-drawn carriage will bring Floyd’s remains to his gravesite after the funeral. He’ll be buried next to his mom, whom he called out for in his final moments.
It was a day devoted to Floyd, but one that also acknowledged the national uprising his death helped spark. Houston mayor Sylvester Turner announced during a speech that he will sign an executive order banning police chokeholds and other reforms.


vox--2020-06-09--The police shooting of Maurice Gordon, a black man killed during a traffic stop, explained

As people around the world continue to protest racism and police violence , a new case of an officer-involved killing of a black man has come to light .
On the morning of May 23 , 28-year-old Maurice Gordon was shot and killed by a white New Jersey state trooper during a traffic stop on the Garden State Parkway in Bass River , according to the New York Times .
On Monday , New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal released a collection of audio and video files related to Gordon ’ s death , including police dash cam video @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the officer and a 911 call from Gordon ’ s friend the day before .
The video shows a lengthy encounter between Gordon and the officer .
After having trouble with his car , Gordon , who had been stopped for allegedly speeding , opts to sit in the back of the police car as he awaits a tow truck .
But it isn ’ t until he exits the cruiser that he gets into an altercation with the officer , who shoots him six times .
The phone call from Gordon ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , as he calls police worried about his friend ’ s whereabouts around 27 hours before his death .
In the backdrop , worldwide protests for black lives have been ongoing since the Memorial Day police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis , Minnesota , which was captured on video and shared widely on social media .
This comes after the killing of Ahmaud Arbery , an unarmed black man who was jogging in Georgia , by a former officer , and the Louisville , Kentucky , police shooting of Breonna Taylor , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
These killings , coupled with the momentum of the anti-racism protests , are now bringing the national spotlight to overlooked police killings of black people , underscoring the urgency of calls to abolish America ’ s current public safety framework .
The details leading up to the police shooting of Maurice Gordon At 6:26 am on May 23 , New Jersey state police trooper Sgt .
Randall Wetzel stopped Gordon on the Garden State Parkway for allegedly driving 110 miles per hour , according to a statement from the attorney general ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ front-facing camera of the police cruiser , Gordon ’ s vehicle became disabled on the side of the road during the encounter , prompting Wetzel to call a tow truck .
As they waited for the truck to arrive , Wetzel asked Gordon if he would prefer to sit in the back of his police car .
Gordon agreed .
After sitting in the back seat of Wetzel ’ s vehicle for more than 20 minutes , Gordon exited the vehicle upon Wetzel offering him a mask , according to distant rear-facing camera @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vehicle as Gordon tried to enter the driver ’ s seat of the police car two different times .
During the first attempt , Wetzel pepper-sprayed Gordon .
During Gordon ’ s second attempt at entering the driver ’ s seat , Wetzel removed him from the police car , at which point a struggle between the two mounted , ending with Wetzel shooting Gordon six times and killing him , according to backward-facing camera footage .
Wetzel handcuffed Gordon after shooting him and can be heard in the video recording saying that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ am , Gordon had no pulse , according to the attorney general ’ s report .
EMS arrived on the scene a few minutes later and pronounced Gordon dead .
The attorney general ’ s office says the shooting remains under investigation .
As part of the investigation , the office released a total of five recordings captured in 12 files of various incidents involving Gordon across about 30 hours leading up to his death .
Two audio recordings are of a May 22 911 call from Gordon ’ s friend who called @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been living for the past 10 years , concerned about his safety and well-being .
The friend said Gordon was “ very panicked ” and told him he had a “ paranormal experience , ” and was a “ law-abiding citizen ” who was “ doing really well.
” Additional video recordings show non-confrontational interactions between Gordon and state police in Brick , New Jersey , where Gordon apparently ran out of gas on the Garden State Parkway at 3:13 am , hours before the deadly encounter in Bass River .
The troopers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ eventually arrived .
Later , at 4:54 am , dash cam footage shows another state trooper pulling up behind Gordon ’ s car , which was stopped in Waretown , New Jersey , in the left lane of the Garden State Parkway .
The state trooper called a tow truck for Gordon and left .
Surveillance footage from a Wawa in Barnegat , New Jersey , shows that Gordon was offered a ride to Wawa by people who picked him up off the side of the road , according to the attorney general @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Wawa , Gordon returned to his vehicle , continued driving southbound , and was pulled over by an officer at 6:13 am and given a ticket for allegedly driving 101 miles per hour .
Thirteen minutes later , Wetzel would pull him over .
Wetzel has been placed on administrative leave , and New Jersey Gov .
Phil Murphy said on Monday that a grand jury would investigate Gordon ’ s death to determine if Wetzel should face criminal charges , according to the Times report .
Gordon ’ s family has said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ before it was released publicly .
The family ’ s lawyer , William O. Wagstaff , said he believes there is still more footage that has not been released and has requested an independent prosecutor for when the case goes before a grand jury .
The attorney general ’ s office said that the office of the chief medical examiner has not yet completed its medical examination report .
Gordon came to America from Spanish Town , Jamaica , and worked as an Uber driver while studying chemistry at Dutchess Community College in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The video recordings were released on Monday amid a tense international atmosphere marked by the repeated killings of black people by law enforcement .
George Floyd died when a police officer pinned him by his neck with his knee for nearly nine minutes , echoing earlier cases like that of Eric Garner from 2014 , with Floyd telling officers , “ I can ’ t breathe.
” Eerily , on the 911 call Gordon ’ s concerned friend placed before Gordon ’ s death , the friend can be heard asking , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to him ?
” Every day at Vox , we aim to answer your most important questions and provide you , and our audience around the world , with information that has the power to save lives .
Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment : to empower you through understanding .
Vox ’ s work is reaching more people than ever , but our distinctive brand of explanatory journalism takes resources — particularly during a pandemic and an economic downturn .
Your financial contribution will not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ enable our staff to continue to offer free articles , videos , and podcasts at the quality and volume that this moment requires .
Please consider making a contribution to Vox today .

As people around the world continue to protest racism and police violence, a new case of an officer-involved killing of a black man has come to light. On the morning of May 23, 28-year-old Maurice Gordon was shot and killed by a white New Jersey state trooper during a traffic stop on the Garden State Parkway in Bass River, according to the New York Times.
On Monday, New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal released a collection of audio and video files related to Gordon’s death, including police dash cam video of the deadly tussle between Gordon and the officer and a 911 call from Gordon’s friend the day before.
The video shows a lengthy encounter between Gordon and the officer. After having trouble with his car, Gordon, who had been stopped for allegedly speeding, opts to sit in the back of the police car as he awaits a tow truck. But it isn’t until he exits the cruiser that he gets into an altercation with the officer, who shoots him six times. The phone call from Gordon’s friend almost foreshadows the fatal incident, as he calls police worried about his friend’s whereabouts around 27 hours before his death.
In the backdrop, worldwide protests for black lives have been ongoing since the Memorial Day police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which was captured on video and shared widely on social media. This comes after the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed black man who was jogging in Georgia, by a former officer, and the Louisville, Kentucky, police shooting of Breonna Taylor, a black woman sleeping in her home. These killings, coupled with the momentum of the anti-racism protests, are now bringing the national spotlight to overlooked police killings of black people, underscoring the urgency of calls to abolish America’s current public safety framework.
The details leading up to the police shooting of Maurice Gordon
At 6:26 am on May 23, New Jersey state police trooper Sgt. Randall Wetzel stopped Gordon on the Garden State Parkway for allegedly driving 110 miles per hour, according to a statement from the attorney general’s office.
As recorded by the front-facing camera of the police cruiser, Gordon’s vehicle became disabled on the side of the road during the encounter, prompting Wetzel to call a tow truck. As they waited for the truck to arrive, Wetzel asked Gordon if he would prefer to sit in the back of his police car. Gordon agreed. After sitting in the back seat of Wetzel’s vehicle for more than 20 minutes, Gordon exited the vehicle upon Wetzel offering him a mask, according to distant rear-facing camera footage. A confrontation ensued outside the vehicle as Gordon tried to enter the driver’s seat of the police car two different times.
During the first attempt, Wetzel pepper-sprayed Gordon. During Gordon’s second attempt at entering the driver’s seat, Wetzel removed him from the police car, at which point a struggle between the two mounted, ending with Wetzel shooting Gordon six times and killing him, according to backward-facing camera footage. Wetzel handcuffed Gordon after shooting him and can be heard in the video recording saying that Gordon grabbed his gun. By 7:25 am, Gordon had no pulse, according to the attorney general’s report. EMS arrived on the scene a few minutes later and pronounced Gordon dead.
The attorney general’s office says the shooting remains under investigation. As part of the investigation, the office released a total of five recordings captured in 12 files of various incidents involving Gordon across about 30 hours leading up to his death.
Two audio recordings are of a May 22 911 call from Gordon’s friend who called police from Poughkeepsie, where Gordon had been living for the past 10 years, concerned about his safety and well-being. The friend said Gordon was “very panicked” and told him he had a “paranormal experience,” and was a “law-abiding citizen” who was “doing really well.”
Additional video recordings show non-confrontational interactions between Gordon and state police in Brick, New Jersey, where Gordon apparently ran out of gas on the Garden State Parkway at 3:13 am, hours before the deadly encounter in Bass River. The troopers called a tow truck for Gordon that eventually arrived.
Later, at 4:54 am, dash cam footage shows another state trooper pulling up behind Gordon’s car, which was stopped in Waretown, New Jersey, in the left lane of the Garden State Parkway. The state trooper called a tow truck for Gordon and left. Surveillance footage from a Wawa in Barnegat, New Jersey, shows that Gordon was offered a ride to Wawa by people who picked him up off the side of the road, according to the attorney general’s office. After going to Wawa, Gordon returned to his vehicle, continued driving southbound, and was pulled over by an officer at 6:13 am and given a ticket for allegedly driving 101 miles per hour. Thirteen minutes later, Wetzel would pull him over.
Gordon’s family wants answers and #JusticeForMauriceGordon
Wetzel has been placed on administrative leave, and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said on Monday that a grand jury would investigate Gordon’s death to determine if Wetzel should face criminal charges, according to the Times report.
Gordon’s family has said they were unable to watch the footage before it was released publicly. The family’s lawyer, William O. Wagstaff, said he believes there is still more footage that has not been released and has requested an independent prosecutor for when the case goes before a grand jury. The attorney general’s office said that the office of the chief medical examiner has not yet completed its medical examination report.
Gordon came to America from Spanish Town, Jamaica, and worked as an Uber driver while studying chemistry at Dutchess Community College in Poughkeepsie, according to the Washington Post.
The video recordings were released on Monday amid a tense international atmosphere marked by the repeated killings of black people by law enforcement. George Floyd died when a police officer pinned him by his neck with his knee for nearly nine minutes, echoing earlier cases like that of Eric Garner from 2014, with Floyd telling officers, “I can’t breathe.” Eerily, on the 911 call Gordon’s concerned friend placed before Gordon’s death, the friend can be heard asking, “What’s going to happen to him?”


vox--2020-06-09--Social distancing and shutdowns have been astonishingly effective at blunting the pandemic

Lockdowns , stay-at-home orders , closed schools , and canceled public events prevented millions of Covid-19 coronavirus cases and deaths , according to two new peer-reviewed studies in the journal Nature .
One of the studies estimated the number of Covid-19 cases with and without these tough interventions .
They found that in six countries , including China and the US , pandemic control policies had a huge effect .
In the United States alone , the measures stopped 4.8 million more confirmed cases of Covid-19 and up to 60 million infections in total .
In China , they prevented @ @ @ @ @ @ @ study , researchers looked at the number of deaths from Covid-19 in 11 countries in Europe .
They found that 3.1 million deaths in these countries were avoided with pandemic control measures .
It ’ s good news , and yet the pandemic continues to rage .
There have now been more than 7 million confirmed cases of the disease worldwide , with many more lurking undetected .
Some countries , cities , and state governments in the US have begun to relax restrictions , even before meeting the criteria for reopening .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the US has grown more uncertain with tens of thousands of protesters gathering to rally against police violence .
But these studies show yet again that no matter how painful they are , shutdowns do work at saving lives and reducing the burden on the health care system .
The questions now are how much more of these restrictions will the world continue to tolerate , whether they ’ ll have to resume once lifted to counter new waves of the disease , and what strategies may emerge to replace them .
Closing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ millions of infections and deaths In one of the studies , led by Solomon Hsiang , director of the Global Policy Laboratory at the University of California Berkeley , researchers looked at policies in China , France , Iran , Italy , South Korea , and the US to control the virus .
The researchers examined 1,717 “ non-pharmaceutical interventions ” across these countries with real-world data and used econometric methods to trace the effects induced by these changes .
Interventions included things like closing schools , declaring a state of emergency , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ paid sick leave .
They found that in the early stages of the pandemic , cases grew by about 38 percent per day without any interventions .
But measures to control the pandemic like canceling large gatherings “ significantly and substantially slowed this growth.
” Taken together , such tactics prevented 62 million confirmed Covid-19 cases around the world .
And since tests only find a small fraction of the total cases of the disease , researchers say that this estimate corresponds to about 530 million total infections around the world that were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , however , changed depending on the country , as you can see in this table : However , it ’ s difficult to tease out what specific policies proved most effective , and under what circumstances .
It appears that home isolation , lockdowns , and business closures were among the more effective tactics , but the authors noted that there is uncertainty around the scale of their impacts .
And it ’ s clear that there can be a lot of variation even within a country , as you can see @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the United States to expected cases without policies over time : Part of the variation is due to the timing of when these measures took effect .
Researchers wrote that “ seemingly small delays in policy deployment likely produced dramatically different health outcomes.
” The earlier shutdown measures were implemented , the more Covid-19 cases were avoided .
South Korea and the US , for instance , reported their first confirmed cases of the virus on the same day , January 21 .
But South Korea quickly started closing down public places and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ States lagged far behind .
And because the disease spreads at an exponential rate in its early stages , a difference of a few days has a large ripple effect .
It echoes an earlier finding that the US could have avoided 36,000 deaths from Covid-19 if the country implemented pandemic control measures just one week earlier .
Those findings , however , were reported in a pre-print study , meaning they hadn ’ t undergone peer review .
The second Nature study , led by Seth Flaxman , Swapnil Mishra , Axel @ @ @ @ @ @ @ College London , took a different modeling approach to examine whether shutdowns saved lives .
They examined 11 countries in Europe — Austria , Belgium , Denmark , France , Germany , Italy , Norway , Spain , Sweden , Switzerland , the United Kingdom — and calculated how far the disease had spread , extrapolating backward from the number of observed deaths from the virus .
The logic here is that deaths from the virus are the most incontrovertible data available about the impact of the disease .
By May 4 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had been infected by the coronavirus in these countries , researchers found .
The researchers went on to estimate how tactics like closing shops , schools , and public spaces affected the spread of the virus , simulating what would have happened if illness continued to spread unchecked .
In the 11 countries studied , the interventions drove the transmission rate of the virus down within the population such that each infected person subsequently infected less than one other person on average .
“ This reduction likely prevented the exponential growth of infections @ @ @ @ @ @ @ scenes we saw in Lombardy [ Italy ] in March , ” said co-author Bhatt during a call with reporters .
Such measures averted 3.1 million deaths in these countries up to May 5 .
“ When looking at simplistic counterfactuals over the whole epidemic the number of potential deaths averted is substantial , ” researchers wrote .
“ We can not say for certain that the current measures will continue to control the epidemic in Europe ; however , if current trends continue , there is reason for optimism.
” Both of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ last month in Health Affairs that reported the spread of Covid-19 would have been 35 times greater in the United States without policies like shelter-in-place orders .
Together , these findings show that public health measures to limit the spread of the pandemic worked .
Beyond limiting the number of people infected and killed by the virus , the point of these social interventions was to buy time .
With drastic restrictions on movement and activities to slow the spread of the virus , health officials could build up capacity for testing , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , a viable treatment or vaccine would emerge and gradually immunity would rise in the population until the virus can no longer spread easily .
The problem is that these measures can ’ t continue indefinitely .
The social and economic costs have been immense , which in turn have their own health costs .
And some countries and many US states have begun to lift their restrictions .
Yet it may still be too soon for many parts of the world to relax , as herd immunity remains far off and new @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Arizona lifted its stay-at-home order in May , but infections are on the rise .
Several countries are also seeing an alarming rise in cases even as they relax .
“ The virus is very much with us , and arguably we are only at the end of the beginning , ” Bhatt said .
“ Care must be exercised until such time as a vaccine or treatment becomes available.
” A different , more measured strategy will be needed to contain the pandemic in the days ahead , as Vox ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be much harder to reimpose pandemic interventions if cases spike again , but it ’ s not clear what strategy will ultimately prove successful .
With so many different parts of the world pursuing their own paths , scientists will have a massive natural experiment to gauge what works , but some of these lessons will be learned the hard way .
Every day at Vox , we aim to answer your most important questions and provide you , and our audience around the world , with information that has the power to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been more vital than it is in this moment : to empower you through understanding .
Vox ’ s work is reaching more people than ever , but our distinctive brand of explanatory journalism takes resources — particularly during a pandemic and an economic downturn .
Your financial contribution will not constitute a donation , but it will enable our staff to continue to offer free articles , videos , and podcasts at the quality and volume that this moment requires .
Please consider making a contribution to Vox today .

Lockdowns, stay-at-home orders, closed schools, and canceled public events prevented millions of Covid-19 coronavirus cases and deaths, according to two new peer-reviewed studies in the journal Nature.
One of the studies estimated the number of Covid-19 cases with and without these tough interventions. They found that in six countries, including China and the US, pandemic control policies had a huge effect. In the United States alone, the measures stopped 4.8 million more confirmed cases of Covid-19 and up to 60 million infections in total. In China, they prevented 285 million infections.
In the second study, researchers looked at the number of deaths from Covid-19 in 11 countries in Europe. They found that 3.1 million deaths in these countries were avoided with pandemic control measures.
It’s good news, and yet the pandemic continues to rage. There have now been more than 7 million confirmed cases of the disease worldwide, with many more lurking undetected.
Some countries, cities, and state governments in the US have begun to relax restrictions, even before meeting the criteria for reopening. And the course of the pandemic in the US has grown more uncertain with tens of thousands of protesters gathering to rally against police violence.
But these studies show yet again that no matter how painful they are, shutdowns do work at saving lives and reducing the burden on the health care system. The questions now are how much more of these restrictions will the world continue to tolerate, whether they’ll have to resume once lifted to counter new waves of the disease, and what strategies may emerge to replace them.
Closing economies and shutting down public life prevented millions of infections and deaths
In one of the studies, led by Solomon Hsiang, director of the Global Policy Laboratory at the University of California Berkeley, researchers looked at policies in China, France, Iran, Italy, South Korea, and the US to control the virus. The researchers examined 1,717 “non-pharmaceutical interventions” across these countries with real-world data and used econometric methods to trace the effects induced by these changes. Interventions included things like closing schools, declaring a state of emergency, banning travel, home isolation, and paid sick leave.
They found that in the early stages of the pandemic, cases grew by about 38 percent per day without any interventions. But measures to control the pandemic like canceling large gatherings “significantly and substantially slowed this growth.”
Taken together, such tactics prevented 62 million confirmed Covid-19 cases around the world. And since tests only find a small fraction of the total cases of the disease, researchers say that this estimate corresponds to about 530 million total infections around the world that were avoided.
The scale of the effect, however, changed depending on the country, as you can see in this table:
Shutdowns prevented millions of Covid-19 infections Country Confirmed Covid-19 Cases Averted Total Covid-19 Cases Averted Country Confirmed Covid-19 Cases Averted Total Covid-19 Cases Averted China 37 million 285 million South Korea 11.5 million 38 million Iran 5 million 54 million US 4.8 million 60 million Italy 2.1 million 49 million France 1.4 million 45 million
However, it’s difficult to tease out what specific policies proved most effective, and under what circumstances. It appears that home isolation, lockdowns, and business closures were among the more effective tactics, but the authors noted that there is uncertainty around the scale of their impacts. You can see how some of these tactics fared in the chart below (the watermark indicates the chart is from an accelerated preview version of the paper):
And it’s clear that there can be a lot of variation even within a country, as you can see in this animation comparing confirmed cases in the United States to expected cases without policies over time:
Part of the variation is due to the timing of when these measures took effect. Researchers wrote that “seemingly small delays in policy deployment likely produced dramatically different health outcomes.” The earlier shutdown measures were implemented, the more Covid-19 cases were avoided. South Korea and the US, for instance, reported their first confirmed cases of the virus on the same day, January 21. But South Korea quickly started closing down public places and ramping up testing, while the United States lagged far behind.
And because the disease spreads at an exponential rate in its early stages, a difference of a few days has a large ripple effect.
It echoes an earlier finding that the US could have avoided 36,000 deaths from Covid-19 if the country implemented pandemic control measures just one week earlier. Those findings, however, were reported in a pre-print study, meaning they hadn’t undergone peer review.
The second Nature study, led by Seth Flaxman, Swapnil Mishra, Axel Gandy, and Samir Bhatt at Imperial College London, took a different modeling approach to examine whether shutdowns saved lives. They examined 11 countries in Europe — Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom — and calculated how far the disease had spread, extrapolating backward from the number of observed deaths from the virus. The logic here is that deaths from the virus are the most incontrovertible data available about the impact of the disease.
By May 4, between 12 million and 15 million people had been infected by the coronavirus in these countries, researchers found. The researchers went on to estimate how tactics like closing shops, schools, and public spaces affected the spread of the virus, simulating what would have happened if illness continued to spread unchecked.
In the 11 countries studied, the interventions drove the transmission rate of the virus down within the population such that each infected person subsequently infected less than one other person on average.
“This reduction likely prevented the exponential growth of infections that would have resulted in the horrible scenes we saw in Lombardy [Italy] in March,” said co-author Bhatt during a call with reporters. Such measures averted 3.1 million deaths in these countries up to May 5.
“When looking at simplistic counterfactuals over the whole epidemic the number of potential deaths averted is substantial,” researchers wrote. “We cannot say for certain that the current measures will continue to control the epidemic in Europe; however, if current trends continue, there is reason for optimism.”
Both of these papers align with another study published last month in Health Affairs that reported the spread of Covid-19 would have been 35 times greater in the United States without policies like shelter-in-place orders.
Together, these findings show that public health measures to limit the spread of the pandemic worked.
Shutdowns worked. Now what?
Beyond limiting the number of people infected and killed by the virus, the point of these social interventions was to buy time. With drastic restrictions on movement and activities to slow the spread of the virus, health officials could build up capacity for testing, contact tracing, and treatment. Eventually, a viable treatment or vaccine would emerge and gradually immunity would rise in the population until the virus can no longer spread easily.
The problem is that these measures can’t continue indefinitely. The social and economic costs have been immense, which in turn have their own health costs. And some countries and many US states have begun to lift their restrictions.
Yet it may still be too soon for many parts of the world to relax, as herd immunity remains far off and new cases of Covid-19 continue to mount. Arizona lifted its stay-at-home order in May, but infections are on the rise. Several countries are also seeing an alarming rise in cases even as they relax.
“The virus is very much with us, and arguably we are only at the end of the beginning,” Bhatt said. “Care must be exercised until such time as a vaccine or treatment becomes available.”
A different, more measured strategy will be needed to contain the pandemic in the days ahead, as Vox’s Dylan Scott explained:
We have to seek a middle ground between maintaining the social distancing policies that have worked to slow the spread and the natural need for social interaction and the urgency of relieving the economic crisis. But all of these discussions are undergirded by one important reality. Many people, the vast majority of us, are still susceptible to Covid-19. A sloppy end to social distancing could mean a rapid rebound in the virus’s spread.
It will likely be much harder to reimpose pandemic interventions if cases spike again, but it’s not clear what strategy will ultimately prove successful. With so many different parts of the world pursuing their own paths, scientists will have a massive natural experiment to gauge what works, but some of these lessons will be learned the hard way.


vox--2020-06-09--Body cams show police killing Javier Ambler while filming an A&E television show

A disturbing new video released Monday by the Austin Police Department shows Javier Ambler pleading for his life as officers restrained him in Austin , Texas .
This comes as massive protests have sprung up around the country in response to police brutality — and the clip in question raises alarms because Ambler ’ s arrest was being filmed for an A & E police-themed reality television show Live PD .
Ambler , whose March 2019 death was ruled a homicide , was black , appeared sober , and was unarmed , according to public records .
In the body @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his stomach and attempt to handcuff him .
As they threaten to tase him , Amblers struggles to breathe and repeats , “ I have congestive heart failure , ” and , “ I can ’ t breathe.
” Ambler refers to the officers as “ sir ” throughout and tells them , “ I am not resisting.
” He pleads “ save me ” and gasps for air before officers tase him in the back .
“ I ’ m pretty sure I just broke his finger , ” an officer says @ @ @ @ @ @ @ him .
After being cuffed , Ambler falls limp .
In the clip , deputies attempt to revive Ambler and call EMS , though he remains unresponsive .
The medical examiner later found Ambler died of “ forcible restraint ” along with congestive heart failure and hypertensive cardiovascular disease , according to documents reviewed by KVUE-TV .
According to reporting from the Associated Press , police initially pursued Ambler because he failed to dim his lights on his Honda Pilot and led officers on a 20-minute chase .
State documents from the Texas @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Honda Pilot but did not immediately comply with the Deputy ’ s verbal commands , ” and that during the arrest , “ two Deputies each deployed their individual tasers ” to gain compliance and place Ambler in custody .
“ Once in custody , Deputies noticed the driver was unresponsive .
Deputies were unable to locate a pulse and began chest compressions until EMS arrived and took over life saving interventions , ” the report reads .
The video and additional information concerning Ambler ’ s death comes now after multiple @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The Austin American-Statesman ’ s Tony Plohetski reports the new materials raise concerns among local residents who are concerned about police brutality and “ worry that the presence of TV cameras leads deputies to forsake prudent policing for dramatic television.
” Plohetski ’ s story also notes “ some 15 months after Ambler ’ s death , ” the Williamson County District Attorney ’ s civil rights investigation into the incident is still ongoing , and explains that local officials plan to present the case to a grand jury .
Citing a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ department internal affairs , Plohetski reports that “ there is no indication ” that “ the deputies faced any action against them or were forced to take time off because of the incident.
” The dangers of driving while black persist nationwide A black man on his stomach , hands pulled behind his back , officers pressing on his head : the video of Javier Ambler bears a striking similarity to the George Floyd clip that has circulated the globe and sparked worldwide protests .
Far from an isolated incident , the video @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from New Jersey shows the police killing a black man after a minor traffic incident .
Both killings come after years of high-profile police-related deaths of black motorists .
Philando Castile ’ s death started with a “ traffic stop ” ; Sandra Bland ’ s death began with a “ failure to signal ” ; Walter Scott ’ s death began with a “ faulty brake light ” ; Samuel DuBose ’ s death began with a “ missing front license plate.
” Far beyond cases that end fatally , investigations have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to be both punitive and frivolous .
According to a New York Times investigation , in Greensboro , North Carolina , police “ used their discretion to search black drivers or their cars more than twice as often as white motorists , ” and the police “ were more likely to use force if the driver was black , even when they did not encounter physical resistance.
” A similar Justice Department investigation following the death of Mike Brown found that , among motorists in Ferguson , Missouri , “ African Americans are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ drivers to be searched during vehicle stops even after controlling for non-race based variables.
” Recent videos , previous cases , and longstanding investigations undergird activists ’ concerns that “ driving while black ” is unnecessarily dangerous .
The footage of Ambler ’ s killing fuels the policy debate about defunding the police and imagining new , less violent forms of civil service emergency response for public services , including traffic control .
Every day at Vox , we aim to answer your most important questions and provide you , and our audience @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has the power to save lives .
Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment : to empower you through understanding .
Vox ’ s work is reaching more people than ever , but our distinctive brand of explanatory journalism takes resources — particularly during a pandemic and an economic downturn .
Your financial contribution will not constitute a donation , but it will enable our staff to continue to offer free articles , videos , and podcasts at the quality and volume that this moment requires .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ today .

A disturbing new video released Monday by the Austin Police Department shows Javier Ambler pleading for his life as officers restrained him in Austin, Texas. This comes as massive protests have sprung up around the country in response to police brutality — and the clip in question raises alarms because Ambler’s arrest was being filmed for an A&E police-themed reality television show Live PD.
Ambler, whose March 2019 death was ruled a homicide, was black, appeared sober, and was unarmed, according to public records. In the body camera footage, officers restrain Ambler on his stomach and attempt to handcuff him. As they threaten to tase him, Amblers struggles to breathe and repeats, “I have congestive heart failure,” and, “I can’t breathe.” Ambler refers to the officers as “sir” throughout and tells them, “I am not resisting.” He pleads “save me” and gasps for air before officers tase him in the back. “I’m pretty sure I just broke his finger,” an officer says, pulling Ambler’s arm behind him. After being cuffed, Ambler falls limp.
In the clip, deputies attempt to revive Ambler and call EMS, though he remains unresponsive. The medical examiner later found Ambler died of “forcible restraint” along with congestive heart failure and hypertensive cardiovascular disease, according to documents reviewed by KVUE-TV.
According to reporting from the Associated Press, police initially pursued Ambler because he failed to dim his lights on his Honda Pilot and led officers on a 20-minute chase. State documents from the Texas attorney general say that Ambler “exited the Honda Pilot but did not immediately comply with the Deputy’s verbal commands,” and that during the arrest, “two Deputies each deployed their individual tasers” to gain compliance and place Ambler in custody. “Once in custody, Deputies noticed the driver was unresponsive. Deputies were unable to locate a pulse and began chest compressions until EMS arrived and took over life saving interventions,” the report reads.
The video and additional information concerning Ambler’s death comes now after multiple document requests from Austin American-Statesman and KVUE-TV. The Austin American-Statesman’s Tony Plohetski reports the new materials raise concerns among local residents who are concerned about police brutality and “worry that the presence of TV cameras leads deputies to forsake prudent policing for dramatic television.”
Plohetski’s story also notes “some 15 months after Ambler’s death,” the Williamson County District Attorney’s civil rights investigation into the incident is still ongoing, and explains that local officials plan to present the case to a grand jury. Citing a report from Williamson County sheriff’s department internal affairs, Plohetski reports that “there is no indication” that “the deputies faced any action against them or were forced to take time off because of the incident.”
The dangers of driving while black persist nationwide
A black man on his stomach, hands pulled behind his back, officers pressing on his head: the video of Javier Ambler bears a striking similarity to the George Floyd clip that has circulated the globe and sparked worldwide protests. Far from an isolated incident, the video comes the same day as another clip from New Jersey shows the police killing a black man after a minor traffic incident.
Both killings come after years of high-profile police-related deaths of black motorists. Philando Castile’s death started with a “traffic stop”; Sandra Bland’s death began with a “failure to signal”; Walter Scott’s death began with a “faulty brake light”; Samuel DuBose’s death began with a “missing front license plate.” Far beyond cases that end fatally, investigations have often shown police interactions with black drivers to be both punitive and frivolous. According to a New York Times investigation, in Greensboro, North Carolina, police “used their discretion to search black drivers or their cars more than twice as often as white motorists,” and the police “were more likely to use force if the driver was black, even when they did not encounter physical resistance.”
A similar Justice Department investigation following the death of Mike Brown found that, among motorists in Ferguson, Missouri, “African Americans are more than twice as likely as white drivers to be searched during vehicle stops even after controlling for non-race based variables.”
Recent videos, previous cases, and longstanding investigations undergird activists’ concerns that “driving while black” is unnecessarily dangerous. The footage of Ambler’s killing fuels the policy debate about defunding the police and imagining new, less violent forms of civil service emergency response for public services, including traffic control.


vox--2020-06-09--Trump tweeted a conspiracy theory that an elderly man knocked over by police is “antifa provocateur”

President Donald Trump spread an unfounded conspiracy theory Tuesday , suggesting that a 75-year-old man who is in critical condition after he was shoved to the ground at a protest by Buffalo , New York , police on June 4 is actually an “ antifa provocateur.
” “ Buffalo protester shoved by Police could be an ANTIFA provocateur .
75 year old Martin Gugino was pushed away after appearing to scan police communications in order to black out the equipment , ” Trump tweeted Tuesday morning .
The president was referring to a viral video of an incident showing police @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to control protests against police violence in the western New York city .
After being pushed by an officer , Gugino fell , appearing to hit his head on a sidewalk , and was ignored by dozens of officers as he bled from his ear , motionless .
Video of the incident has set off yet another controversy over police conduct amid anti-racism and anti-police brutality protests .
A number of the protests have been marred by police violence that has led to the firing or arrests of officers in Atlanta and Louisville @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Gugino — Aaron Torgalski and Robert McCabe — were arrested Saturday and charged with second-degree assault but were released without bail .
Torgalski and McCabe have received a great deal of support from their colleagues : 57 officers from the department ’ s Emergency Response Team have since resigned to protest their arrest .
Meanwhile , Gugino remains in serious condition .
As Vox ’ s Rebecca Jennings has explained , Gugino is a community organizer — Trump ’ s claim that Gugino may be an anti-fascist seems to have come from a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Network Tuesday morning , which cited an unfounded blog post on Conservative Treehouse ( CTH ) claiming Gugino was employing what OANN described as “ an old trick used by antifa ” to track police movements when he was pushed to the ground .
The work of CTH ’ s original report appears to depend entirely on conjecture , inferring that Gugino was attempting to use an app on his phone to capture police communications on behalf of antifa because he has expressed “ far-left views ” on social media .
“ In @ @ @ @ @ @ @ see Gugino using a phone as a capture scanner , ” wrote Conservative Treehouse blogger “ sundancecracker.
” “ You might have heard the term ‘ skimming ’ ; it ’ s essentially the same .
Watch him use his right hand to first scan the mic of officer one ( top left of chest ) .
Then Gugino moves his hand to the communications belt of the second officer.
” However , the CTH story doesn ’ t make any sense .
Anyone with a police scanner app on their phone or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can listen in on police communications , which would be much more easily done from the safety of one ’ s home than through the complicated scheme floated by conservative conspiracy theorists .
It ’ s concerning that the president would be so eager to run with a conspiracy theory that originated with an unnamed blogger , but this is not the first time Trump — or OANN — has done such a thing .
Briefly , how OANN became one of Trump ’ s favorite news networks OANN is a conservative news @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s Fios , and has pledged to loyally cover ( and cover for ) the president since he was a candidate in 2016 .
According to the Washington Post , Robert Herring , the owner of OANN corporate parent Herring Broadcasting , banned the network from broadcasting any campaign polls that showed Trump trailing in the presidential race in 2016 .
The network ’ s coverage has only grown more pro-Trump since his election , and has enjoyed plenty of promotion from the president ’ s Twitter account , where he has cited @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Tuesday is far from the first time Trump has promoted an unfounded conspiracy theory that he saw on OANN , as explained by Vox ’ s Aaron Rupar : One of the five times Trump has promoted OANN on Twitter over the past month was in reference to a segment featuring a discredited conspiracy theorist named Larry Johnson who reiterated an unfounded idea first pushed two years ago about the Obama administration “ spying ” on Trump ’ s campaign .
That tweet wasn ’ t the first time Trump spread fake @ @ @ @ @ @ @ October 2017 , Trump — alluding to an OANN piece — tweeted , “ Just out report : ‘ United Kingdom crime rises 13 % annually amid spread of Radical Islamic terror.
’ Not good , we must keep America safe !
” But the UK Office for National Statistics made clear that the crime data they compiled and released drew no connection between a rise in crime and “ Radical Islamic terror , ” other than to note that the murder rate was slightly higher because of deaths related to terror attacks @ @ @ @ @ @ @ simple answer is that our statistical release bulletin yesterday made no link between terrorism and violent crime , ” a UK Office for National Statistics spokesperson said about Trump ’ s tweet , in a statement .
Around that same time , OANN repeatedly attacked the credibility of women who came forward to accuse Republican US Senate candidate Roy Moore of sexual misconduct .
More recently , OANN has come under scrutiny for pushing conspiracy theories about Planned Parenthood and uncritically spreading Russian disinformation about humanitarian workers in Syria .
Trump has never @ @ @ @ @ @ @ promoting — conspiracy theories that boost his own political narrative .
In late May , he promoted a false accusation against MSNBC host Joe Scarborough , claiming he was involved in the death of a former staffer .
And , of course , his pursuit of the Crowdstrike conspiracy theory that a Ukrainian company — not Russia — hacked the Democratic National Committee servers in 2016 played a role in his impeachment in 2019 .
Beyond his tweets referencing incorrect OANN stories , Trump retweets supporters of the QAnon conspiracy theory ( which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ child sex trafficking ring ) — some of whom have even begun running for federal office as Republicans .
It shouldn ’ t come as a surprise that a president who began his political career as the leader of the racist birther movement , which falsely claimed that former President Barack Obama was not born in the US and was thus ineligible for office , would deal so frequently in conspiracy theories .
But it does mean the playbook Trump is now running against protesters is a familiar one .
Americans don ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the protests Trump ’ s promotion of such theories seems to animate his base .
But his impulse to latch onto them instead of focusing on governing seems as if it may have begun to affect his standing with voters — at least with regard to the latest wave of protests against police violence .
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The poll has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points .
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These latest polls should be concerning to the president and his reelection campaign , but he is unlikely to see them on OANN .
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President Donald Trump spread an unfounded conspiracy theory Tuesday, suggesting that a 75-year-old man who is in critical condition after he was shoved to the ground at a protest by Buffalo, New York, police on June 4 is actually an “antifa provocateur.”
“Buffalo protester shoved by Police could be an ANTIFA provocateur. 75 year old Martin Gugino was pushed away after appearing to scan police communications in order to black out the equipment,” Trump tweeted Tuesday morning.
Buffalo protester shoved by Police could be an ANTIFA provocateur. 75 year old Martin Gugino was pushed away after appearing to scan police communications in order to black out the equipment. @OANN I watched, he fell harder than was pushed. Was aiming scanner. Could be a set up? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 9, 2020
The president was referring to a viral video of an incident showing police knocking over 75-year-old Martin Gugino while attempting to control protests against police violence in the western New York city. After being pushed by an officer, Gugino fell, appearing to hit his head on a sidewalk, and was ignored by dozens of officers as he bled from his ear, motionless.
Video of the incident has set off yet another controversy over police conduct amid anti-racism and anti-police brutality protests. A number of the protests have been marred by police violence that has led to the firing or arrests of officers in Atlanta and Louisville. The two officers who allegedly pushed Gugino — Aaron Torgalski and Robert McCabe — were arrested Saturday and charged with second-degree assault but were released without bail. Torgalski and McCabe have received a great deal of support from their colleagues: 57 officers from the department’s Emergency Response Team have since resigned to protest their arrest. Meanwhile, Gugino remains in serious condition.
As Vox’s Rebecca Jennings has explained, Gugino is a community organizer — Trump’s claim that Gugino may be an anti-fascist seems to have come from a broadcast from the right-wing One America News Network Tuesday morning, which cited an unfounded blog post on Conservative Treehouse (CTH) claiming Gugino was employing what OANN described as “an old trick used by antifa” to track police movements when he was pushed to the ground.
Here's the first half of the batshit OANN segment Trump just tweeted. It alleges the 75 year old man assaulted by Buffalo police officers was an antifa operative, based on a report from Conservative Treehouse. pic.twitter.com/CeMVyJcoh8 — Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) June 9, 2020
The work of CTH’s original report appears to depend entirely on conjecture, inferring that Gugino was attempting to use an app on his phone to capture police communications on behalf of antifa because he has expressed “far-left views” on social media.
“In this slow motion video, you will see Gugino using a phone as a capture scanner,” wrote Conservative Treehouse blogger “sundancecracker.” “You might have heard the term ‘skimming’; it’s essentially the same. Watch him use his right hand to first scan the mic of officer one (top left of chest). Then Gugino moves his hand to the communications belt of the second officer.”
However, the CTH story doesn’t make any sense. Anyone with a police scanner app on their phone or access to a radio receiving police frequencies can listen in on police communications, which would be much more easily done from the safety of one’s home than through the complicated scheme floated by conservative conspiracy theorists.
It’s concerning that the president would be so eager to run with a conspiracy theory that originated with an unnamed blogger, but this is not the first time Trump — or OANN — has done such a thing.
Briefly, how OANN became one of Trump’s favorite news networks
OANN is a conservative news network available on DirecTV and Verizon’s Fios, and has pledged to loyally cover (and cover for) the president since he was a candidate in 2016. According to the Washington Post, Robert Herring, the owner of OANN corporate parent Herring Broadcasting, banned the network from broadcasting any campaign polls that showed Trump trailing in the presidential race in 2016.
The network’s coverage has only grown more pro-Trump since his election, and has enjoyed plenty of promotion from the president’s Twitter account, where he has cited it more than 20 times this year. Tuesday is far from the first time Trump has promoted an unfounded conspiracy theory that he saw on OANN, as explained by Vox’s Aaron Rupar:
One of the five times Trump has promoted OANN on Twitter over the past month was in reference to a segment featuring a discredited conspiracy theorist named Larry Johnson who reiterated an unfounded idea first pushed two years ago about the Obama administration “spying” on Trump’s campaign. ... That tweet wasn’t the first time Trump spread fake news that originated with OANN. In October 2017, Trump — alluding to an OANN piece — tweeted, “Just out report: ‘United Kingdom crime rises 13% annually amid spread of Radical Islamic terror.’ Not good, we must keep America safe!” But the UK Office for National Statistics made clear that the crime data they compiled and released drew no connection between a rise in crime and “Radical Islamic terror,” other than to note that the murder rate was slightly higher because of deaths related to terror attacks in London and Manchester. “The simple answer is that our statistical release bulletin yesterday made no link between terrorism and violent crime,” a UK Office for National Statistics spokesperson said about Trump’s tweet, in a statement. Around that same time, OANN repeatedly attacked the credibility of women who came forward to accuse Republican US Senate candidate Roy Moore of sexual misconduct. More recently, OANN has come under scrutiny for pushing conspiracy theories about Planned Parenthood and uncritically spreading Russian disinformation about humanitarian workers in Syria.
Trump has never been shy about seizing on — and promoting — conspiracy theories that boost his own political narrative. In late May, he promoted a false accusation against MSNBC host Joe Scarborough, claiming he was involved in the death of a former staffer.
And, of course, his pursuit of the Crowdstrike conspiracy theory that a publicly-owned American company — not Russia — hacked the Democratic National Committee servers in 2016 played a role in his impeachment in 2019. Beyond his tweets referencing incorrect OANN stories, Trump retweets supporters of the QAnon conspiracy theory (which posits prominent Democrats are part of a child sex trafficking ring) — some of whom have even begun running for federal office as Republicans.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that a president who began his political career as the leader of the racist birther movement, which falsely claimed that former President Barack Obama was not born in the US and was thus ineligible for office, would deal so frequently in conspiracy theories. But it does mean the playbook Trump is now running against protesters is a familiar one.
Americans don’t approve of how Trump has handled the protests
Trump’s promotion of such theories seems to animate his base. But his impulse to latch onto them instead of focusing on governing seems as if it may have begun to affect his standing with voters — at least with regard to the latest wave of protests against police violence.
According to a Washington Post-Schar School survey of 1,006 adults taken June 2 to 6, 61 percent of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of the protests; only 35 percent say they approve. Additionally, 47 percent of Americans say they strongly disapprove of Trump’s response to the protests. The poll has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.
Other polls have had similar results, and they come as Trump has seen a recent dip in national electoral polls compared to his opponent, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden. These latest polls should be concerning to the president and his reelection campaign, but he is unlikely to see them on OANN.
Trump has already tried to discredit them, hiring McLaughlin & Associates — which has made some notable errors in performing GOP polling — to incorrectly claim they’re just a false flag operation.
...Crooked Hillary Clinton in 2016. They are called SUPPRESSION POLLS, and are put out to dampen enthusiasm. Despite 3 ½ years of phony Witch Hunts, we are winning, and will close it out on November 3rd! pic.twitter.com/4IhuLUZjsv — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 8, 2020
Correction: This article has been updated to clarify that CrowdStrike is a publicly-owned American company.