Teacher arrested for allegedly putting 5-year-old boy in headlock
amphotora/Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — A teacher in New York City has been arrested and charged after police say he allegedly put a 5-year-old boy in a headlock on Monday, police said.
The incident occurred at approximately 1:30 p.m. inside of PS 153 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Elementary School in the Hamilton Heights area of Manhattan in New York City, according to ABC News’ New York station WABC-TV.
“46-year-old Anthony Wicks was charged with assault and acting in a manner injurious to a child under 17, according to police,” WABC confirmed.
The 5-year-old child was subsequently taken to NewYork-Presbyterian / Columbia University Irving Medical Center and is expected to survive, WABC said, though no details were given about what injuries the child may have suffered or how severe they might have been.
It is not immediately known what instigated the alleged assault and the investigation remains open.
(ATLANTA) — Vice President Kamala Harris will campaign with former President Barack Obama for the first time Thursday night in must-win Georgia at a star-studded rally near Atlanta to kick off her “When We Vote We Win” concert series to turn out voters in the election’s closing stretch.
Bruce Springsteen, whose music has peppered many Democratic presidential candidates’ set lists, is set to perform at the get-out-the-vote concert, with stars with Georgia ties joining Harris as well, including Spike Lee, Samuel L. Jackson, Tyler Perry and Mix Master David, according to the campaign.
A senior campaign official said they view these large events as ways to draw in large crowds of voters and to encourage them to cast their ballots early, and to sign up to volunteer for phone banking and door-knocking shifts.
Harris is set to appear with former first lady Michelle Obama in Michigan on Saturday, campaign officials said.
The Obamas endorsed Harris in July and both spoke at the Democratic National Convention in August.
As of Monday, more than 1.5 million Georgians voted early, surpassing the similar first eight days of early voting in 2022, 2020 and 2018, according to the office of the Georgia Secretary of State.
Georgia is a prime target for the Harris campaign as they look to hold on to a state President Joe Biden won by only 11,779 votes. And it’s bound to be close again. Former President Donald Trump is currently leading Harris in Georgia by 1.5%, according to 538’s polling average.
In the final days of the race, Harris’ team has enlisted celebrities to help share her message and get voters out during early voting periods across the country. On Saturday, Harris was joined by Lizzo in Detroit and Usher in Atlanta, while on Tuesday, Eminem introduced Obama at a Detroit rally.
Also, megastar Beyoncé is set to join the vice president at a rally in the singer’s hometown of Houston on Friday.
(WASHINGTON) — The judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s federal election interference case on Tuesday granted special counsel Jack Smith’s request to file a 180-page brief on presidential immunity, including potential new evidence in the case.
Smith faces a Thursday deadline to file his opening brief about how the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity applies to the former president’s criminal case.
Smith had sought the judge’s permission to file an oversized brief, including more than 30 pages of exhibits. Filings are normally limited to 45 pages.
While U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan is allowing the lengthy filing, the materials will likely be filed under seal — with a public version likely to be released, with redactions, at a later date.
Trump’s lawyers had opposed the request, calling the proposed filing a “monstrosity” and a “biased list of grievances” and arguing that the filing would allow prosecutors to unfairly publicize evidence.
Trump last year pleaded not guilty to federal charges of undertaking a “criminal scheme” to overturn the results of the 2020 election in order to remain in power.
In July, the Supreme Court ruled in blockbuster decision that Trump is entitled to immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts undertaken while in office — effectively sending the case back to Chutkan to sort out which charges against Trump can stand.
Chutkan subsequently ruled that Smith can file a comprehensive brief supporting his presidential immunity arguments by this Thursday.
The judge, in granting the government’s request for an oversized brief, said that the unique challenge of applying the Supreme Court’s ruling justifies the unusually long document.
“The length and breadth of the Government’s proposed brief reflects the uniquely ‘challenging’ and factbound nature of those determinations,” Judge Chutkan wrote.
In the same order, Judge Chutkan denied Trump’s request to reconsider her schedule addressing the immunity issue.
(UVALDE, Texas) — U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel who responded to the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, did not violate policy or the law, according to an internal CBP report released on Thursday.
However, the report found responding agents weren’t properly trained for a school shooting event and there were no clear instructions from local agencies on the ground.
CBP personnel including a tactical team from the agency responded to the shooting at the school in 2022, and they ultimately killed the shooter, but not until after a lengthy delay in the response, according to the report.
The fault of the slow response was ultimately placed on local officials who were at the school but didn’t take command of the scene, according to the report.
Nineteen students and two teachers were killed in the Robb Elementary School mass shooting.
“None of the first responders or CBP personnel who were in a position to take action against the assailant had access to an accurate school layout or understanding of where to locate the necessary keys for entry to critical areas of the school, which may have been mitigated by a functioning command and control system,” CBP said in a statement about the report.
Ahead of the report, CBP has taken more than half a dozen steps to address issues with its response to mass casualty events — and the lack of training before the shooting hindered the CBP response, it said.
“The training did not prepare CBP personnel for incidents in which they would be responding to a situation at a school, where an active shooter would be engaged behind a locked door, and where local authorities had not established a command and control framework. It also insufficiently covered using a ballistic shield, legal authorities, leadership responsibilities, and agency interoperability,” according to a press release from the agency.
As a result of the shooting, CBP said it has also corrected several policies. Use-of-force training materials have been distributed to agency personnel across the country, the agency is looking at acquiring more tools to respond to active shooters, and it’s also working on a plan for Congress to clarify federal authorities for responding to mass-casualty situations, according to CBP.
The inability of law enforcement to establish an “identifiable incident management or command and control protocols led to a disorganized response to the Robb Elementary School shooting,” the report found.
“No law enforcement official ever clearly established command at the school during the incident, leading to delays, inaction, and potentially further loss of life,” according to the report.
One Border Patrol agent told internal investigators they “never knew who was in command” of the scene.
At least 188 members of CBP responded to the incident, with 19% being members of the BORTAC team — the equivalent of a CBP SWAT team.
There was also no diagram of the school that was useful for the BORTAC agents to use, according to the report..
The report points to a 40-year-old Border Patrol training manual that had not been updated to accurately reflect the post-9/11 federal law enforcement apparatus under the Department of Homeland Security.
“… CBP training on active shooter response procedures did not adequately prepare responding personnel to deal with this situation,” the report states.
