What Is That Glowing Light Coming From Canada?
Before we do that, Jer updates you on a few things to know around town.
00:34 There’s a pandemic update, including vaccination rates in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties.
01:33 A number of well-known Detroit restaurants were cited for allowing indoor dining by the city.
02:00 238 Black Lives Matter protestors had their charges dropped, but the Detroit City Council also authorized $200,000 to fund lawyers for a countersuit against Detroit Will Breathe, who organized the protests.
02:49 There’s a new candidate in the race for mayor of Detroit, Anthony Adams. For voter information purposes, here is his campaign website: https://anthonyadamsformayor.com/
Detroit drops cases against BLM protesters, aid arrives for beaten minister, another Detroit mayoral candidate
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WEDNESDAY NEWS HIT - The city of Detroit is
dropping most of its cases against protesters that joined mass demonstrations over the summer, dismissing charges against 238 of the 245 who had been ticketed during the confrontations.
A Detroit city attorney said that prosecutors studied videotape and because not every demonstrator who violated the curfew that was set during the early days of June were ticketed, and because many of the citations were never submitted to a court, most are being thrown out.
However, seven people are still expected to be prosecuted for their involvement, including Nakia Wallace, a member of the Detroit Will Breathe activist group.
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Demonstrators protest against police brutality on May 30, 2020, in Detroit. (Matthew Hatcher/Getty Images)
DETROIT The city of Detroit is dismissing dozens of citations issued to anti-police brutality protesters who were ticketed for violating temporary city curfews months ago, but has approved a large allotment of money to defend itself in lawsuits filed by protesters and protest organizers.
The Detroit Law Department announced Tuesday it was dismissing the majority of citations issued between May 31 and June 2 to demonstrators who protested police brutality in the city, violating citywide curfews issued during that time, according to Detroit Corporation Counsel Lawrence Garcia. In the many months since those tickets were issued, the City Law Department and Police Department have worked to study videotape and other evidence from the events in question, Garcia said in a statement. The departments have also considered the discretion that was exercised during that week
The Detroit City Council on Tuesday narrowly approved a controversial contract increase for a law firm helping the city counter-sue anti-police brutality protesters.
By a 5-4 vote, the council voted in favor of a $200,000 bump for law firm Clark Hill. That increase was requested by Mayor Mike Duggan’s administration and the city’s top lawyer, Lawrence Garcia.
Detroit police responded with force to some protests during the summer of 2020.
Credit Lester Graham
The group Detroit Will Breathe sued the city first in federal court, saying that Detroit police officers used brutal measures including rubber bullets, batons, and mace to remove protesters from downtown city streets last summer.
Image credit: Russ McNamara
The public body voted 5-4 to approve a $200,000 contract for the city’s federal litigation against the Detroit Will Breathe movement.
Detroit City Council approved a $200,000 expenditure that will fund a counter-lawsuit against the city’s Black Lives Matter protesters in a 5-4 vote. City attorneys are suing demonstrators associated with the Detroit Will Breathe movement, claiming they engaged in a civil conspiracy during last summer’s marches. But the protestors sued the city first. Their federal complaint alleges the Detroit Police Department used excessive force to stop demonstrators from exercising their First Amendment rights. A federal judge issued a restraining order against DPD’s use of rubber bullets, chokehold and tear gas against peaceful protesters following the protester lawsuit.