(BOSTON) — The newly appointed commissioner of the Boston Police Department has been placed on administrative leave over allegations of domestic violence.
Shortly after Dennis White was sworn in as commissioner on Monday, an allegation of domestic violence from 1999 surfaced in which White’s wife accused him of pushing and hitting her, the Boston Globe reported, citing court records.
White was accused of saying he “wanted to shoot” his wife and an acquaintance after an incident at a friend’s home, ABC Boston affiliate WCVB reported.
A restraining order was issued against White on May 5, 1999, that required White to vacate his home, surrender his service weapon and stay away from his wife and family, according to WCVB. He denied the allegations at the time, according to court filings. It does not appear he was charged with a crime.
Two days after White was sworn in by Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, he was placed on administrative leave.
White was asked “to quickly step into the role” in an attempt to “create a smooth transition” and honor former Boston Police Commissioner William Gross’ desire to spend time with his family, Walsh said in a statement.
“These disturbing issues were not known to me or my staff, but should have been at the forefront,” Walsh, who is currently in Washington, D.C., for his Senate confirmation hearing for his Labor Secretary nomination, said in the statement. “Upon learning of these serious allegations, I immediately acted, placing the Commissioner on administrative leave, while corporation counsel engages outside counsel to conduct a full and impartial investigation.”
Boston mayors have the sole authority to appoint the police commissioner but often take their time in the selection, the Globe reported. Typically, a national search is conducted, as is an effort to involve the public, according to the newspaper.
Gross, who served as commissioner for more than two years and was with the department for 37 years, retired Friday, WCVB reported. White has been with the department for 32 years, previously serving as chief of staff to Gross and deputy superintendent in the Bureau of Field Services Night Command.
Superintendent-in-Chief Gregory Long will serve as acting commissioner in the meantime, Walsh said.
ABC News could not immediately reach White for comment. It is unclear whether he has retained an attorney.
ABC News’ Darren Reynolds contributed to this report.
Ovidiu Dugulan/iStockBy MORGAN WINSOR, ERIN SCHUMAKER, IVAN PEREIRA and EMILY SHAPIRO, ABC News
(NEW YORK) — A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now infected more than 104.4 million people worldwide and killed over 2.27 million of them, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Here’s how the news is developing Thursday. All times Eastern:
Feb 04, 9:45 am Doses secured to vaccinate all Capitol police personnel
Enough vaccine doses have been secured to inoculate all Capitol Police personnel, Acting Chief Yogananda Pittman said in a statement, crediting “efforts of the Congressional Leadership, especially House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Administration.”
The Capitol Police Department has been hit hard by COVID-19 infections since the Jan. 6 siege at the Capitol.
“The Department expects delivery of the vaccines to occur shortly, and is already working with the Office of Attending Physician on logistics to administer them to our employees as quickly and safely as possible,” Pittman said.
Feb 04, 8:54 am Another 779,000 Americans filed for unemployment insurance last week
Another 779,000 workers lost their jobs and filed for unemployment insurance in the United States last week, the U.S. Department of Labor said Thursday, as the pandemic-induced economic crisis continues to upend the labor market.
This is a decrease of some 33,000 compared to the previous week’s figure, though the latest tally remains highly elevated by historical standards.
Moreover, the Labor Department said that some 17.8 million people were still claiming some form of unemployment benefits through all programs as of the week ending Jan. 16. For the comparable week last year, that figure hovered just above two million.
Thursday’s jobless claims tally comes ahead of Friday’s highly-anticipated jobs report — the first to be released since U.S. President Joe Biden took office. The report is expected to paint a more complete picture of the state of the U.S. labor market and the pace of the recovery.
Feb 04, 8:51 am Israel expands vaccination drive to anyone over 16
Israel is now offering COVID-19 vaccines to anyone over the age of 16.
“From this morning, anyone over the age of 16 can get vaccinated,” Israeli Health Minister Yuli Edelstein announced via Twitter on Thursday. “Take advantage of the opportunity that almost no country in the world has.”
The Israeli government aims to vaccinate the country’s entire population of nine million people against COVID-19 by the end of March. So far, more than 3.3 million individuals have received their first dose of the vaccine, including over 1.9 million who have also gotten their second dose, according to Edelstein.
Israel has confirmed more than 672,000 cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, including just under 5,000 deaths, according to data complied by Johns Hopkins University.
Feb 04, 7:25 am COVAX unveils plan to distribute over 330 million vaccine doses to poorer nations
The COVAX Facility has announced its plan to distribute more than 330 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to developing nations in the first half of 2021.
In an interim distribution forecast published Wednesday, the vaccine-sharing facility said distribution would cover an average of 3.3% of total populations of 145 countries taking part in the first rounds. The allocation includes 336 million doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine — 240 million manufactured by the Serum Institute of India plus 96 million made by AstraZeneca — as well as 1.2 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
The COVAX Facility, which is coordinated by the World Health Organization, Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, noted that the plan is “non-binding and may be subject to change,” with allocations and distributions subject to a number of caveats, including WHO emergency-use approval for vaccines and countries’ readiness.
“We will soon be able to start delivering life-saving vaccines globally, an outcome we know is essential if we are to have any chance of being able to beat this pandemic,” Seth Berkley, chief executive of Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, said at a press conference Wednesday.
Feb 04, 6:18 am US death toll from COVID-19 tops 450,000
An additional 3,912 fatalities from COVID-19 were registered in the United States on Wednesday, bringing the country’s cumulative total over the 450,000 mark, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.
Wednesday’s tally is still less than the country’s all-time high of 4,466 new deaths on Jan. 12, Johns Hopkins data shows.
There were also 121,469 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed nationwide on Wednesday, down from a peak of 300,282 newly confirmed infections on Jan. 2, according to Johns Hopkins data.
COVID-19 data may be skewed due to possible lags in reporting over the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday weekend last month.
A total of 26,557,031 people in the U.S. have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the pandemic began, and at least 450,805 have died, according to Johns Hopkins data. The cases include people from all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., and other U.S. territories as well as repatriated citizens.
Much of the country was under lockdown by the end of March as the first wave of the pandemic hit. By May 20, all U.S. states had begun lifting stay-at-home orders and other restrictions put in place to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. The day-to-day increase in the country’s cases then hovered around 20,000 for a couple of weeks before shooting back up over the summer.
The numbers lingered around 40,000 to 50,000 from mid-August through early October before surging again to record levels, crossing 100,000 for the first time on Nov. 4, then reaching 200,000 on Nov. 27 before topping 300,000 on Jan. 2.
So far, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorized two COVID-19 vaccines for emergency use — one developed by U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, and another developed by American biotechnology company Moderna and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. More than 33 million vaccine doses have been administered nationwide, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Franklin County Sheriff’s DepartmentBy WILLIAM MANSELL, ABC News
(COLUMBUS, Ohio) — Former Columbus, Ohio, police office Adam Coy has been charged with murder in the shooting death of Andre Hill, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced Wednesday.
Coy has been arrested and charged with one count of murder, one count of felonious assault and two counts of dereliction duty.
“I believe the evidence supports the indictment,” Yost said during a press conference Wednesday night.
Hill, 47, was shot to death by Coy on Dec. 22. Officers were responding to a 311 non-emergency call for a noise complaint.
Police body camera footage released in December showed officers handcuffing an apparently lifeless Hill after shooting him multiple times and then standing around for five minutes and 11 seconds without rendering first aid.
Hill had a cellphone in his left hand, but no weapons when he emerged from a friend’s garage.
Coy was fired in January after an investigation determined that his use of deadly force was not reasonable.
His bail hearing will be held Thursday.
ABC News’ Bill Hutchinson and Will Gretsky contributed to this report.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
narvikk/iStockBy MORGAN WINSOR, ERIN SCHUMAKER, IVAN PEREIRA and EMILY SHAPIRO, ABC News
(NEW YORK) — A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now infected more than 103.9 million people worldwide and killed over 2.25 million of them, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Here’s how the news is developing Wednesday. All times Eastern:
Feb 03, 9:38 am Fauci says ‘absolutely not’ to Super Bowl parties
Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser on COVID-19 to U.S. President Joe Biden, said people should “absolutely not” host or attend any Super Bowl parties this weekend.
“Watch the Super Bowl on TV, enjoy it, have a party in your house with your family with the people who are there,” Fauci told ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos in an interview Wednesday on Good Morning America.
“You don’t want parties with people that you haven’t had that much contact with, you just don’t know if they’re infected,” he added. “So as difficult as that is, at least this time around, just lay low and cool it.”
Fauci, who is also the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, noted that the country is still seeing a “considerable number of cases” each day and there’s cause for concern over the new, more contagious variants of the novel coronavirus that were recently detected on U.S. soil.
When asked whether he thinks the Super Bowl could become a superspreader event, Fauci said he hopes not.
“I believe that they are trying to keep people separated enough in the stands wearing masks so they don’t have that proximity,” he added. “If you’re outdoors and you’re several feet apart — 6, 7, 8, 10 feet — you could be OK, as long as people abide by that and don’t slip.”
Feb 03, 8:08 am US reports over 114,000 new cases
There were 114,437 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in the United States on Tuesday, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.
Tuesday’s case count is far less than the country’s all-time high of 300,282 newly confirmed infections on Jan. 2, Johns Hopkins data shows.
An additional 3,532 fatalities from COVID-19 were registered nationwide on Tuesday, down from a peak of 4,466 new deaths on Jan. 12, according to Johns Hopkins data.
COVID-19 data may be skewed due to possible lags in reporting over the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday weekend last month.
A total of 26,435,563 people in the U.S. have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the pandemic began, and at least 446,901 have died, according to Johns Hopkins data. The cases include people from all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., and other U.S. territories as well as repatriated citizens.
Much of the country was under lockdown by the end of March as the first wave of the pandemic hit. By May 20, all U.S. states had begun lifting stay-at-home orders and other restrictions put in place to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. The day-to-day increase in the country’s cases then hovered around 20,000 for a couple of weeks before shooting back up over the summer.
The numbers lingered around 40,000 to 50,000 from mid-August through early October before surging again to record levels, crossing 100,000 for the first time on Nov. 4, then reaching 200,000 on Nov. 27 before topping 300,000 on Jan. 2.
So far, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorized two COVID-19 vaccines for emergency use — one developed by U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, and another developed by American biotechnology company Moderna and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. More than 32 million vaccine doses have been administered nationwide, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
(RALEIGH, N.C.) — The Tar Heel State removed a remnant from its Confederate past from the roads.
A representative from the North Carolina Department of Transportation told ABC News on Tuesday that the state’s Division of Motor Vehicles stopped issuing specialty license plates that feature the Confederate flag at the beginning of the year.
Drivers who currently have the Confederate flag plate won’t be allowed to renew them, according to Steve Abbott, a representative for the NCDOT.
“The Division of Motor Vehicles has determined that license plates bearing the Confederate battle flag have the potential to offend those who view them. We have therefore concluded that display of the Confederate battle flag is inappropriate for display on specialty license plates, which remain property of the state,” Abbott said in a statement.
As of Feb. 2, there are about 2,500 cars with the Confederate plate, according to Abbott. The Confederate plate was offered to members of the group Sons of Confederate Veterans, according to the state’s laws.
Abbott said the DMV is required to provide a specialty plate to members of the group and tried to work with the group to find different artwork, but it couldn’t come to an agreement.
“SCV’s classification as a civic organization does not entitle it to dictate the contents of the government speech on that specialty plate,” Abbott said in the statement.
The NCDOT will continue to work with the group to come up with a plate that doesn’t contain the Confederate flag.
The North Carolina chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans did not immediately return messages for comment.
North Carolina joins other states that have been moving to remove the Confederate flag from public display due to its connection to slavery.
Last year, Mississippi removed the Confederate symbol from its state flag and replaced it with a voter-approved symbol that featured its state flower, a magnolia.
Kali9/iStockBy JULIA JACOBO, ABC News
