Latest Law Enforcement Headlines
All the headlines from our Law Enforcement Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Fire at Indian Firecracker Factory Kills at Least 12, Police Report
Feb 16 2021 // At least 12 people were killed in a fire at a firecracker factory in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu last Friday, police said. Raja Narayanan, a regional police official, said an investigation was under way into...
Mother of Virginia Police Informant Seeks $13M in Lawsuit
Feb 10 2021 // The mother of a dead Virginia police informant is alleging in a pair of lawsuits that authorities are responsible for her son’s fatal overdose on opiates that he was coerced to purchase while undercover. Donna...
New Mexico Lawmakers Propose Cap on Damages in Police Accountability Bill
Feb 9 2021 // A bill that would strip police officers of immunity from civil rights lawsuits in state court is being rewritten to cap potential damage awards at $2 million, in a concession to critics who warned of dire financial...
Vermont Police Say Snowmobile Fire Ignites Covered Bridge
Feb 9 2021 // A fire that started in a snowmobile spread to a 111-year-old covered bridge, collapsing the structure into the Missisquoi River in the town of Troy, police said. The fire was reported around 11 a.m. Saturday after a group...
Colorado Law on Police Officer Liability Being Tested by Notorious Video Incident
Feb 1 2021 // A new Colorado law allowing individual police officers to be sued will soon get a big test. Four Black girls who were mistakenly detained by Colorado police at gunpoint over a suspected stolen car filed a civil lawsuit...
Mayor Calls for ‘Transformation’ of Louisville Police Dept. After Sweeping Report
Feb 1 2021 // The Louisville Metro Police Department needs more diversity among its leadership and must work to improve trust with the community, especially among Black residents, a consulting firm said in a sweeping report of the...
Lawsuit Holds Police in Oregon City Negligent in Man’s Death
Feb 1 2021 // The sister of an Oregon man who died of asphyxiation in a Eugene police car after wrapping a seatbelt around his neck has filed a $9 million wrongful death suit against the city and police department. The federal civil...
Former Washington Police Chief Getting $125K Settlement
Jan 13 2021 // A former Washington state police chief who was fired last year is expected to collect a $125,000 settlement. Michael Campos was fired in May as Wapato police chief with cause after an internal investigation found evidence...
Kentucky Police Officer Fights Termination Over Breonna Taylor Killing
Jan 4 2021 // At least one Kentucky police officer connected to the fatal shooting of a Black woman, Breonna Taylor, is fighting a police move to terminate his employment. An attorney for Louisville Metro Police detective Joshua Jaynes...
Iowa Police Chief Sues Law Enforcement Academy Over Toxic Gas Leak in 2018
Dec 17 2020 // A police chief is suing the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy for injuries he suffered from a 2018 carbon monoxide leak that exposed dozens of recruits to unsafe levels of the toxic gas. Justin Lyman, police chief in the...
Louisville Approves Police Oversight Board to Investigate Complaints, Killings
Dec 7 2020 // Officials in Kentucky’s largest city have approved the formation of a police oversight board. The Louisville Metro Council voted last month on the ordinance that will create the 11-member Civilian Review and...
Road Rage Lawsuit Has Implications for Police Shootings: Opinion
Nov 25 2020 // Can you be fired from a government job for using a firearm in self-defense? That question arose in a recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. The answer was … equivocal. Let’s first...
Oregon Man Arrested After Tesla Crashes, Sends Batteries Flying
Nov 23 2020 // An Oregon man crashed a Tesla while going about 100 mph, destroying the vehicle, a power pole and starting a fire when some of the hundreds of batteries from the vehicle broke windows and landed in residences, police said....
Vallejo $750K to End Lawsuit Over Police Beating
Nov 23 2020 // A handyman who was left bloodied after he was beaten and choked by Vallejo police will receive $750,000 from the city, it was announced Friday. The San Francisco Bay Area city agreed Thursday to settle a civil rights...
Connecticut Town Officials Charged in Probe of Hazardous Waste Dumping
Nov 23 2020 // Five former or current officials of Fairfield, Connecticut, are among several people who have been arrested in connection with the illegal dumping of hazardous materials next to the town’s public works garage and...
Texas Officer, City Sued by Family of Black Woman Shot Through Window
Nov 18 2020 // Family members of a Black woman who was killed when a white police officer fired through a window of her mother’s Texas home have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the officer and the city. The federal lawsuit...
Baton Rouge Council Nixes $5M Settlement in Police Killing of Alton Sterling
Nov 9 2020 // The governing council in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, has again rejected a proposed $5 million settlement in a lawsuit over the death of Alton Sterling, a Black man fatally shot by a white police officer in 2016. Baton Rouge...
Lawsuit Against Police Department in Hawaii Settled for $1.84M
Nov 6 2020 // An assistant chief of police in Kauai settled a lawsuit against his department and Kauai County for $1.84 million. Mark Begley sued the county and the Kauai Police Department in 2016, alleging he was harassed and...
Nigerian Insurers Expect Record Claims from Police Brutality Protests
Nov 3 2020 // Nigerian insurers are facing their biggest claims on record after protests against police brutality turned violent, leading to large-scale looting and destruction. Risk underwriters all over the country are inspecting...
Reporter Tear Gassed at Oregon Protest Settles Lawsuit
Nov 2 2020 // A Eugene Weekly reporter who was hit with a tear gas canister while he filmed police breaking up a protest in late May in Oregon has settled a lawsuit against the city of Eugene. Henry Houston said he and the Civil...
