ATTY. CRUMP REACHES
SETTLEMENT FOR RALEIGH
POLICE DEATH
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
Atty. Ben Crump has done it again! This time in North Carolina.
The man many call the “attorney general of Black America” because of his successful legal advocacy for the black families of victims of police abuse, has settled another police wrongful death lawsuit, this time with the Raleigh Police Dept. for the 2023 taser death of Darryl “Tyree” Williams, 32, by Raleigh police officers on Jan. 17, 2023. By agreement dated December 1st, the city will pay Williams’ mother, Sonya, $975,000 to drop her two year-old $25 million federal lawsuit against the Raleigh Police Dept. for the death of her son.
In her lawsuit, Sonya Williams accused Raleigh police officers of killing her son by repeatedly shocking him with a Taser, in addition to violating his constitutional rights. The lawsuit also accused city officials of ignoring a pattern of police excessive force accusations.
The city, however, admitted to nothing per Ms. Williams’ accusations. In other words, the settlement was not an admission of guilt. Instead, from the city of Raleigh’s standpoint, it was a business transaction to stop the litigation and end the case.
The settlement was “…guided solely by its estimates of its anticipated and unavoidable legal expenses.”It is the second largest known Raleigh police excessive force financial settlement since 2012.
The city will pay part of the settlement, while the city of Raleigh’s insurer’s will pay the balance.
Darryl Williams was reportedly trying to run from Raleigh police officers in a parking lot in Southeast Raleigh after an officer reportedly found a folded a folded dollar bill with white powder in his pocket. Williams was tased three times and handcuffed, even though Williams reported begged officers not to do so because he had a heart condition.
Police alleged in their report that they found two firearms and “suspected controlled substances” in Williams’ car.
A federal judge dismissed several claims from the original lawsuit against the city, but kept claims alleging that Raleigh police officers were not trained properly on how and when to use their tasers.
At press time, attorney Crump issued no comment about the settlement.
According to the Raleigh News & Observer, this almost million dollar settlement mirrors similar payments to 49 people and the families of alleged victims of police abuse since 2012 where the city of Raleigh has denied any culpability or liability in the excessive force actions of the Raleigh Police Dept., to the tune of a total of $5.4 million.
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NAT’L PARK SERVICE REPLACES
KING/JUNETEENTH HOLIDAYS
WITH TRUMP’S BIRTHDAY
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
If you and your family were planning to visit a national park either here in North Carolina, or across the country on either Martin Luther King, Jr. or the Juneteenth federal holidays next year, hoping to take advantage of the customary free admission on those days, you can now forget it.
As of January 1st, both national holidays have been eliminated from the list of free admission holidays, and will be replaced by June 14th, President Donald J. Trump’s birthday.
Technically, Trump’s birthday is not a national holiday in and of itself presently, but it does coincide with the traditional national Flag Day. Still, on the list of national days of honor that U.S. residents can enter national parks all over the country free of paid admission, both the King holiday and Juneteenth have been removed in favor of Pres. Trump’s birthday.
The National Parks Service announced the new change late last month.
Other national holidays that remain on the free admission list include Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Constitution Day, Veterans Day, President Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday (Oct. 27) and the National Park Service creation anniversary (Aug. 25).
There are 63 national parks in the United States. They are congressionally designated protected areas operated by the National Park Service, which is part of the U.S. Dept. of the Interior.
North Carolina has twelve designated national parks, trails and sites, which include the Appalachian Trail, the Blue Ridge Parkway, Cape Hatteras, Cape Lookout, the Carl Sandburg home in Flat Rock; Fort Raleigh in Manteo; the Great Smoky Mountains; the Guilford courthouse in Greensboro; Moores Creek in Currie; Overmountain Victory; the Trail of Tears; and the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills.
Some of North Carolina’s national parks, like Cape Hatteras and Cape Lookout, are fee-free year-round. No entrance fee or pass is required.
But a popular site, like the Wright Brothers National Memorial, does charge a year-round entrance fee of $10.00 per person (educational groups are free).
The King/Juneteenth national holidays are seen as the only two national holidays that commemorate the nation’s civil rights history. But because the Trump Administration has adopted a policy of dismantling that history, in addition to attacking and outlawing all vintages of DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion), reaction to those two national holidays being removed from the National Parks Service free admission list has been pointed.
“It’s extremely disappointing that Secretary (Doug) Burgum has removed Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth from park fee-free days.” said Kristen Brengel, Senior Vice President for Government Affairs at the National Parks Conservation Association, in a statement.
“Besides paying tribute to one of the most pivotal, inspiring figures in American history, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is a national day of service. Every year, volunteers around the country flock to national parks, spending their MLK Day long weekend protecting and repairing some of America’s most iconic places. Leaning into this tradition of volunteerism by offering free entrance was a welcoming and smart move."
“Juneteenth and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day each commemorate people and stories that are essential to understanding the history of our country. Park rangers at places like Martin Luther King, Jr, National Historical Park (in Atlanta, Ga.) and Reconstruction Era National Historic Park (in Beaufort County, S.C.) honor and interpret nationally significant Black history for visitors every day. Encouraging more people to visit parks, reflect on our country’s heritage, and celebrate history that unites us as a country is an important part of the Park Service’s mission.”
“We have reached out to the Department of the Interior to ask their reasoning for reversing park fee-free days for Juneteenth and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day,” Ms. Brengel concluded.
The condemnations didn’t stop there.
“The President didn’t just add his own birthday to the list, he removed both of these holidays that mark Black Americans’ struggle for civil rights and freedom,” Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada told the Associated Press. “Our country deserves better.”
“The raw & rank racism here stinks to high heaven,” Harvard Kennedy School professor Cornell William Brooks, a former president of the NAACP, wrote on social media over the weekend.
Here in North Carolina, reaction to the Trump Administration move was the same.
“This unprecedented decision by the National Parks Service is consistent with the Donald Trump campaign to destroy the recognition of anything remotely associated with the historical contributions of African Americans to this country’s growth and development,” said NC NAACP Legal Affairs Committee Chairman and NCCU School of Law Prof. Irving Joyner. “For people of African Descent in this country, this is yet another example of the Trump Administration racist disdain for African Americans and all of the significant contributions that we have made to and in this country.
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