Good morning. In today’s AP Morning Wire:
- Joe Biden to test his promise to unify America in Kenosha visit.
- Video: Black man’s suffocation shows US cops put hood on him.
- CDC tells US states: Be ready to distribute vaccines on Nov. 1.
- Germany: Russia’s Navalny poisoned by Soviet-era nerve agent.
TAMER FAKAHANY
DEPUTY DIRECTOR – GLOBAL NEWS COORDINATION, LONDON
The Rundown
ROCHESTER POLICE VIA ROTH AND ROTH LLP VIA AP
In Kenosha, Biden promise to unify US to be tested; Video in Black man’s suffocation shows cops put hood on him
48 hours after President Donald Trump waded forcefully into the nation’s reckoning with racial injustice and police brutality in Kenosha, Wisconsin, pushing a ”law and order” hard line, his Democratic opponent Joe Biden will visit the scarred city today carrying a strikingly contrasting message: unifying a nation torn asunder.
Biden’s core pitch for the presidency faces its most intense test yet when he travels to Kenosha. It’s a city wrenched by police and protest violence that makes it a microcosm of the nation’s turmoil, report Bill Barrow and Will Weissert.
Biden believes he can use his trip as an opportunity for community leaders to find common ground. He plans to meet with the family of Jacob Blake, the Black man shot seven times by a white officer, and to host a discussion with business figures, civic leaders and law enforcement officials.
Trump did not mention Blake’s name, nor meet his family, two days ago.
Rochester Police Death: A Black man who had run naked through the streets of a western New York city died of asphyxiation after a group of police officers put a hood over his head, then pressed his face into the pavement for two minutes, according to video and records released by the man’s family.
VIDEO-Graphic Content: Police put hood on Black man killed by asphyxiation.
Daniel Prude died March 30 after he was taken off life support, seven days after the encounter with officers. Police body-camera video of the arrest was only released Wednesday. His death received no public attention until then.
“I placed a phone call for my brother to get help. Not for my brother to get lynched,” Prude’s brother, Joe Prude, said at a news conference.
VIDEO: Protesters rally in Rochester, victim’s brother speaks.
The city halted its investigation into Prude’s death when the state Attorney General’s office began its own investigation in April. That investigation is continuing. Michael Hill reports.
Louisville: Demonstrators arrived at the nondescript park in Kentucky months ago to demand justice for George Floyd and for Breonna Taylor, Black people killed by police. The protesters were strangers to each other then. The crowds dwindled, until about 50 people were coming to this park day after day. They are bus drivers, pastors, grocery store workers, retirees. Together, they’ve been tear-gassed and sprayed with pepper bullets by police in riot gear. They witnessed a killing. They’ve received death threats.
Now, they’ve become a family. “This is where I’ve got to be,” said one woman, part of a group that has kept vigil at “Injustice Square” every day for three months. “This is my moment, this is my space.” Clare Galofaro has this special report from Louisville which is worthy of your time.
VIDEO: 90 days of protests in Breonna Taylor’s hometown.
California Fatal Shooting: A grainy video shows a Black man struggling with a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy. But it doesn’t confirm whether he reached toward a dropped gun before being shot and killed. The Sheriff’s Department says Dijon Kizzee was shot when he made a motion toward a handgun that he dropped, but the video doesn’t show that. Authorities say the confrontation began when deputies tried to stop Kizzee for a bicycle traffic violation.
Florida Couple Arrested: Two Black men say they were threatened with guns by a white couple and worry whether justice will be served. The men were dropping off a moving van rental last week in Tallahassee when shots rang out from the darkness. The white couple ordered the men to surrender. Fearing for their lives, the men sped away in their pickup. Police officers partly witnessed the scene. The couple were arrested and appeared in court on three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill.
Portland Protests: Journalists have been covering protests in the city for three months. But in the chaos, some have been injured or arrested. Whether they are from major media outlets, freelancers or self-proclaimed “citizen journalists,” reporters say they’re doing their job and law enforcement is hindering that work. Police say protesters have masqueraded as journalists and then set fires or thrown fireworks, making it a struggle to figure out who’s a real reporter during the pandemonium, Sara Cline reports.
