August 20, 2020 • No Comments • National News

CGinspiration/iStockBy MEREDITH DELISO, ABC News

(ATLANTA) — Georgia has one of the highest COVID-19 infection rates in the United States, according to recent reports on per capita cases — a data point Gov. Brian Kemp pushed back against on Wednesday.

According to the Harvard Global Health Institute’s current model on COVID-19 risk, as of Monday, Georgia had the highest number of daily new cases per 100,000 people in the country. The institute’s recommendation at the state’s risk level is to implement stay-at-home orders.

An Aug. 16 White House Coronavirus Task Force report obtained by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution also found that Georgia had the highest rate of new COVID-19 cases. The number — 216 cases per 100,000 people in the week ending Friday — indicated that the state is in the “red zone” for cases, the report said, and recommended that Georgia do more to limit the spread of the virus, such as issue a mask mandate in counties with 50 or more active cases and limit gatherings to 10 people.

Georgia does not have a statewide mask mandate, and social gatherings are currently limited to 50 people.

By most metrics, numbers are improving in the state. An ABC News analysis of state coronavirus trends found that as of Wednesday, daily new cases, daily current hospitalizations and the daily positivity rate in Georgia were all decreasing.

Kemp focused on those figures Wednesday during a press briefing in which he lashed out at the leaked White House report.

“Right now, our hospitalizations are down 18.8% since our peak on July 30,” the Republican governor said. “That’s the lowest level since July 13. Our seven-day average of new cases reported are down 26% since our peak on July 24, and they’re the lowest since July 8.”

The test positivity rate was down to 9.7% on Tuesday from 14% on July 17, he added.

“If we’re the highest percent per capita in the state right now, that’s because Texas and Florida and Arizona and some of the other states that were peaking a week or two ago are on the downclimb, just like we are,” Kemp said. “But that is not the only number that Georgians need to look at.”

Kemp said that the per capita rate is going up because the state has been focused on testing areas where there is high spread.

“We’re contact tracing where we have outbreaks, and when you do that, your percent positive is going to be higher than if you just test everybody everywhere,” he said.

In an update on COVID-19 trends released last week, the state health department noted several “emerging hot spots” where there was growing or high transmission. One of the areas was northwest Georgia, where the increase was “driven partially by many outbreaks in manufacturing facilities,” it said. Rural areas in the middle of the state, including Bleckley and Appling Counties, also were seeing increased community transmission.

Appling County has the highest infection rate among Georgia counties, based on the Harvard Global Health Institute rankings. The testing positivity rate in Appling is 26.7%, according to the state health department — more than double the statewide rate.

The per capita data comes as Georgia has been a flashpoint in the national debate on reopening schools. In recent weeks, schools starting with in-person learning have had to quarantine students and staff, or have even had to temporarily close their doors again amid new outbreaks of COVID-19. In Cherokee County, over 2,000 students have been quarantined.

Still, some schools in areas with high levels of transmission are continuing to reopen. In Appling County, schools reopened with in-person learning this week.

When asked about Cherokee County, Kemp said that the cases “didn’t happen in the schools for the most part.”

“It happened because people came back to school and they already had the coronavirus,” he said. “So is that the government’s fault? Is that the school’s fault? No, it is not.”

The White House report recommended that the state expand testing, particularly in schools.

“Georgia’s small gains are fragile and statewide progress will require continued, expanded and stronger mitigation efforts, including in all open schools,” it stated.

Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

August 20, 2020 • No Comments • National News

Los Angeles Police Dept.By KARMA ALLEN, ABC News

(LOS ANGELES) — Police are looking to the public to help identify a man who was captured on video during an apparent assault of three transgender women on Los Angeles’ Hollywood Boulevard this week.

Detectives with the Los Angeles Police Department are using video shared on social media by one of the victims to help locate the man who allegedly targeted the women at around 2:15 a.m. Monday, yelling derogatory slurs at them and attacking one woman with a bottle.

Multiple people were implicated in the attack, but police said they are only seeking one man as a suspect in the case, which is being investigated as a hate crime.

The department posted video of the incident that showed the face of the man, but later removed the video due to its disturbing nature. Instead, officials posted screenshots from the video, highlighting the suspect in the hope of tracking him down.

Sources with knowledge of the investigation told ABC News that the department believes it knows the identity of the suspect, and that social media users on Instagram and Twitter have also shared tips on the man’s identity.

The victims said the man first approached them inside a store and offered to buy them some items, but then he refused to pay.

They said the same man later returned and approached one of them.

“He held a crow bar to my face and threatened to kill me unless I stripped my shoes off and gave him my jewelry and all my processions,” Joslyn Allen, one of the three transgender women targeted, wrote in an Instagram post.

“He said if i was trans he would kill me,” Allen wrote. “He then forced me to hold his hand while he looks for my friends to kill them for being trans.”

Police said the suspect led Allen away and they walked together for a short distance before she managed to break free.

Once she escaped, Allen said the suspect stuck her friend, Jaslene Busanet, with a bottle, knocking her to the ground, and then made derogatory remarks about her. The other victims said their purses, cellphones and money were stolen.

“I just collapsed to the floor,” Busanet told Los Angeles ABC station KABC-TV. “There were men saying ‘Oh, she’s dead,’ laughing at me.”

Allen said others gathered around and shouted anti-transgender slurs.

“Meanwhile men and WOMEN screaming that I’m a man and telling him to beat me,” she posted to Instagram. “Please help us find them. PLEASE.”

The group said bystanders watched and recorded for more than five minutes as they pleaded for someone to call 911.

The attack comes amid rising concerns from LGBTQ rights advocates who have accused U.S. law enforcement agencies of being far too lax when it comes to crimes involving transgender victims.

At least 26 transgender or gender non-conforming people have been killed in the U.S. so far in 2020, with transgender women of color making up the bulk of those victims, according to data provided by the Human Rights Campaign.

The group reported 25 killings in 2019 and 29 in 2018, the most it had ever recorded in a year.

The suspect in the Hollywood attack is described as a 25-year-old Black man, about 6 feet tall and weighing 180 pounds. Police said anyone with information should contact the LAPD’s Hollywood station at (213) 972-2934.

Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

August 20, 2020 • No Comments • National News

Orange County Sheriff’s OfficeBy IVAN PEREIRA, ABC News

(NEW YORK) — A sheriff’s office released body camera footage Tuesday night from an arrest outside a Florida mall on Aug. 7, when deputies shot and killed a suspect who they say was running away and drew a gun.

The attorney representing the family of the slain man, Salaythis Melvin, 22, however, told ABC News the footage doesn’t entirely fit the police’s story and the officer’s use of force was unjustified.

Melvin was part of a group that was stopped by police outside the Florida Mall in Orange County. The Orange County Sheriff’s Office said one of the four suspects, who was not Melvin, had an arrest warrant and was wanted in connection for a shooting.

As authorities were attempting to arrest Melvin, he took off on foot and was pursued by Orange County Sheriff’s Office Agent James Montiel, according to a police affidavit. The deputy said he saw Melvin had a handgun in his waistband, according to a police affidavit.

Montiel allegedly told Melvin to drop his weapon, but Melvin kept running, according to the affidavit.

Montiel said Melvin turned his head and started to face him while holding the gun, which prompted the officer to shoot Melvin, the affidavit said. Melvin was struck in the back and later died in the hospital, police said.

One of the six videos released Tuesday shows another deputy drive toward the chase and Melvin is seen in the distance running before falling to the ground. At least four officers surround Melvin who is groaning in pain and they handcuff him before administering first aid.

During this time, one of the deputies is heard calling Melvin a racial slur. An ambulance doesn’t arrive on the scene until eight minutes after the shooting.

Bradley Laurent, an attorney representing Melvin’s family, told ABC News that the footage shows that he wasn’t a threat to the officers. Laurent, who has called for the release of the video for days, contended there is no indication that Melvin had his hand on the gun or was aiming at officers.

“When you look at the video, he was in a full sprint. He posed no threat to anyone,” he told ABC News.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Office acknowledged the allegations that one of its officers made “inappropriate comments” in a statement released on social media.

“OCSO is aware of allegations related to the body worn camera video that was released yesterday,” the sheriff’s office wrote. “It is alleged that a deputy on the video made inappropriate comments. At this time, we have initiated an inquiry into this matter. Once complete, we will make the results public.”

The entire shooting is under investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the sheriff’s office would not provide further comment. Orange County Sheriff John Mina addressed the body camera videos during a news conference Tuesday night after he won reelection for his seat.

“We want to let [the FDLE] handle their investigation, but because of the public interest in this case, we made a decision in this agency that we would release bodycam video,” he said.

Mina added that once the investigation is complete, they will turn over the findings to the Florida Attorney General’s Office.

Laurent said Melvin’s family is calling for Montiel to be fired and they are mulling civil charges.

Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

August 20, 2020 • No Comments • National News

amphotora/iStockBy HALEY YAMADA, ABC News

(MINNEAPOLIS) — Audio recordings of an investigator interview with one of the former Minneapolis police officers involved in George Floyd’s death were released Tuesday.

The interview with Thomas Lane was conducted by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension shortly after Floyd died on May 25. The audio contains a statement by Lane as to his perspective regarding Floyd’s arrest and eventual death.

“Once [Floyd] kind of stopped fighting us, I think I had said again, ‘I think we should roll him onto his side,” Lane told agents during the interview.

Lane said that he believed former officer Derek Chauvin, who was seen in video footage with his knee on Floyd’s neck, had told him and the other two officers to continue to hold Floyd on the ground and that there was an ambulance on the way.

“That made sense to me, just because I’ve had experiences with people who are [overdosing] and they’ll be out one minute and they’ll come back and really, you know, be aggressive with me,” said Lane in the interview.

“I would say I felt like it maybe could have been handled differently or we should be reassessing what we’re doing,” Lane added.

All four officers involved in Floyd’s death were fired from the Minneapolis Police Department and charged with his death. Chauvin is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter. Lane, as well as J. Alexander Keung and Tou Thao, have been charged with aiding and abetting both second-degree murder and manslaughter.

The officers have not yet formally entered pleas. Their trials are scheduled for March 2021.

The release of Lane’s interview audio comes a little over a month after Lane’s attorney, Earl Gray, released audio transcripts from Lane and Kueng’s body camera videos, which provided the most detailed account yet of the events that took place as police took Floyd into custody.

The new transcripts were made public as part of Lane’s request to have the case against him dismissed.

Thao’s attorney, Robert Paule, had also filed Thao’s body camera video with the court to support a motion to dismiss criminal charges against him, the Star-Tribune reported on Aug. 13.

Paule had argued in court filings that Thao’s video proved he was focused on crowd control and that he never physically laid hands on Floyd or had a full view of what was happening as the three other officers restrained Floyd on the ground.

Floyd’s death sparked nationwide outcry and massive protests around the world against racial injustice and police brutality. During his arrest, Floyd repeatedly told the officers that he could not breathe and called out for his mother before passing out. He was pronounced dead at a hospital that evening.

Keith Ellison, the Minnesota attorney general, has asked the judge presiding over the officers’ cases to have all four tried jointly. Defense attorneys have until Sept. 8 to respond. The next court hearing for the four is scheduled for Sept. 11.

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