Wisconsin chief treading carefully after fatal shooting | The Associated Press Within hours of a white officer shooting an unarmed black man, the police chief of Wisconsin's capital city was praying with the man's grandmother, hoping to strike a conciliatory tone and avoid the riots that last year rocked Ferguson, Missouri. Chief Mike Koval said he knows Madison is being watched across the nation since 19-year-old Tony Robinson's death Friday evening, and he has gone out of his way to avoid what he once called Ferguson's "missteps." "Folks are angry, resentful, mistrustful, disappointed, shocked, chagrined. I get that," Koval said Saturday. "People need to tell me squarely how upset they are with the Madison Police Department." The contrasts with Ferguson are many. While Ferguson police initially gave little information about the shooting of Michael Brown, an 18-year-old, unarmed black man, Koval rushed to the home of Robinson's mother. She didn't want to meet with him, he said, but he talked and prayed with Robinson's grandmother in the driveway for 45 minutes. It took a week for Ferguson to release the name of the officer who shot Brown. Koval announced the name of the officer involved in Madison, Matt Kenny, the day after the shooting. He volunteered to reporters that the officer had been in a previous fatal shooting in 2007, and that he had been cleared of wrongdoing. On the day that Ferguson police named the officer who shot Brown, they also released video showing what they said was Brown robbing a store. When Koval was asked about Robinson's past criminal record Saturday, he declined to comment, saying it would be inappropriate to do so a day after the man died. "We have a police chief who genuinely feels for a family's loss. It should be abundantly clear to anyone following this incident that Madison, Wisconsin, is not Ferguson, Missouri," said Jim Palmer, executive director of the Wisconsin Professional Police Association, the state's largest police union. Continued here: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/9fe6...chief-treading-carefully-after-fatal-shooting Madison police shooting offers stark reminder that city's race issues run deep | The Guardian We’ve been warning Madison that this could happen, and we were laughed at,’ activist says as community grapples with Tony Robinson’s death http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/08/madison-police-shooting-tony-robinson-race https://twitter.com/search?f=realtime&q=TonyRobinson https://twitter.com/search?f=realtime&q=MattKenny
Erik Ljung @erikljungphoto · 4 minutes ago BREAKING: Dane County D.A. announces no charges against Officer Matt Kenny in shooting death of unarmed #TonyRobinson in Madison, WI DA: Officer will not be charged in shooting death of Tony Robinson | WKOW 27 Madison We've just learned the Dane County District Attorney's decision in the officer-involved shooting death of Tony Robinson. DA Ismael Ozanne announcing this afternoon Officer Matt Kenny will not be charged for shooting and killing Robinson on March 6. WATCH his announcement right now live on WKOW and wkow.com/live. Stay with WKOW for the latest on the decision and the reaction in Madison tonight on 27 News at 5 & 6. http://www.wkow.com/story/29044595/2015/05/12/da-makes-decision-on-shooting-death-of-tony-robinson
Boy, 10, pepper-sprayed by Minneapolis police: 'At least I got Maced and not shot' By Joanna Walters, The Guardian Authorities in Minneapolis have launched an investigation into reports that police pepper-sprayed a 10-year-old boy who was with his mother at a demonstration to protest against police shootings. Speaking to reporters on Thursday the boy, Taye Montgomery, asked protesters to remain peaceful and said: “At least I got Maced and not shot.” City police chief Janeé Harteau and Mayor Betsy Hodges called for the public’s help, meanwhile, appealing for witnesses who had seen what happened or recorded video of the incident, which is alleged to have occurred on Wednesday night. “We need to speak with the public who marched, and motorists. We must have a full set of facts,” Harteau said at a press conference. Montgomery, 10, took part in a demonstration in downtown Minneapolis on Wednesday, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported. The demonstration was organized principally to protest against the decision the previous day not to charge the police officer who shot dead teenager Tony Robinson in Madison, Wisconsin, in March. Police said the protest became unruly, with demonstrators stopping traffic and harassing motorists. When officers pushed back one group of protesters, an officer used pepper spray on the crowd. The chemical reportedly hit Montgomery. A cellphone video shot by a bystander picked up the sound of high-pitched screaming that the boy’s mother, Susan Montgomery, said was the sound of her son in pain, according to the Star Tribune. Susan Montgomery said police had given no warning that they were going to spray people. Taye Montgomery told reporters on Thursday: “It hurt. I couldn’t see where I was going, I couldn’t find my mom.” A police report said some protesters on Wednesday night “engaged motorists, jumping on cars and trying to pull open doors. Officers pushed back the crowds to get the motorists out of harm’s way … Chemical aerosol was used to drive back the hostile crowds.” Continued here: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...lice-pepper-spray-10-year-old-taye-montgomery
