Bobby Wingate, a black Jacksonville, Florida man, is suing the local police department after he was reportedly punched in the face, Tasered, and arrested, all for “walking on the wrong side of the road.” Wingate was walking to an appointment along Oliver Street in the neighborhood of Arlington when a JSO Police Officer pulled up and asked him to stop. Wingate explained that he was running late. Court papers show that the officer then punched Wingate in the face and “engaged his Taser.” Fearing for his safety, Wingate phoned 911 for help, and explained his situation to the dispatcher. [Gawker]
Two teenagers charged with the robbery and killing of an 88-year-old World War II veteran pleaded not guilty to all charges Thursday. Demetruis Glenn and Kenan Adams-Kinard, both 16, appeared in Superior Court Judge James Triplet’s courtroom, facing charges on the beating death of Delbert Belton on Aug. 21. Police say they beat Belton to death while he waited for a friend in his car outside the Eagles Lodge. Their trial begins November 4 at 9 AM. [Spokesman]
In an audio speech released online a day after the 12th anniversary of the 9/11 strikes, al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri urged small-scale attacks inside the United States to “bleed America economically,” adding he hoped eventually to see a more significant strike, according to the SITE monitoring service. [Reuters]
In a rare attack, a North African python, also known as a rock python, killed a family’s 60 pound Husky in Southwest Miami-Dade County on August 30. Miami-Dade County responded to the initial call, but the Florida Fish & Wildlife Commission weren’t notified until September 2 and didn’t issue a general news release about the attack. The details are just now becoming public. The family is choosing to remain anonymous. [CBS Miami]
Memphis mother Erica Shead said she was angry after her 10-year-old daughter Erin told her she wasn’t allowed to write about God for a school assignment. Shead’s daughter, Erin, was reportedly ordered by her teacher at Lucy Elementary in Memphis, Tenn., to choose another idol. Her second choice was Michael Jackson. Quoting what her daughter told her, Shead said, ‘But my teacher said I couldn’t write about God. She said it has something to do with religion and God can’t be my idol.’ [WREG]
