Safety
As police command staff officials began peppering his hand-picked police chief with complaints of discrimination, Richmond’s most powerful executive official did all he felt he should do: Initiate an independent investigation, pass the complaints on to his Human Resources manager and issue a department-wide letter reiterating conduct policies. “I felt like I was doing exactly what I should have done,” Lindsay said in response to questions from Jonathan Matthews, the attorney for one of the seven plaintiffs in the discrimination…
The plaintiffs in the discrimination suit against Richmond Police Chief Chris Magnus, former Deputy Chief Lori Ritter and the city aren’t suing for a specific dollar amount. But Wednesday’s testimony for the first time hinted at the costs they may have incurred from allegedly discriminatory promotion processes. According to an economist’s testimony, the total amount that five of the seven plaintiffs may have lost in total lifetime earnings and pension payments by not being promoted by Magnus ranges into the…
A 23-year-old Richmond resident was shot and killed while riding in a car from a party in South Richmond Friday night. The victim, William Cantrell was one of three people in the car, which was fired at by a shooter who was on foot in the 2900 block of Florida Ave., according to Lt. Bisa French. “They were leaving a party, but we have no information on motive or suspect,” French said. The car traveled a few blocks to a…
In recent years, the Richmond Police Department has been riven with discord between sworn and civilian employees, mediation meetings undertaken in bad faith and at least one internal dispute over whether to count a dead body in Richmond as part of the city’s homicide total, according to two witnesses’ testimony Friday. Human Relations Manager Leslie Knight concluded her third day of testimony in the discrimination lawsuit filed by seven African American officers against Chief Chris Magnus, former Deputy Chief Lori…
A year ago possibilities meant nothing to Mari Hernandez. Possibilities were for American citizens—people who spoke English or had money. They certainly weren’t for undocumented immigrant women whose husbands beat them into a life of silence.
Hours after court recessed Wednesday, attorney Stephen Jaffe was still miffed. That morning, defense attorneys filed a motion seeking sanctions against Jaffe—who is representing six of the seven African American police officers who are suing the city of Richmond and its chief of police for racial discrimination—for allegedly berating and making racist comments to a member of their staff.
Joe Blacknell III was found guilty Thursday of 20 felony counts, including the first degree murder of Marcus Russell in 2009. Jurors reached their decision after more than eight days of deliberations. Blacknell, 21, was convicted on 20 out of 22 felonies with which he was charged. He was found not guilty on two counts of attempted murder stemming from the September 13, 2009, shooting of Elliot Lawson and Devonte Bernstein, who were wounded in a drive-by shooting at the…
Lt. Johan Simon, a decorated member of the Richmond Police Department who some thought of as a potential candidate for chief of police, instead gained a more dubious distinction during the divisive early period of Chief Chris Magnus’ tenure atop the organization. He was the first officer ever to be put on a “threat assessment,” a city labor safety practice aimed at quashing workplace violence, according to testimony Wednesday in a Martinez courtroom. Why Simon, then a 26-year veteran of…
These graphs display data showing the gender and racial demographics of all the promotions made to the positions of deputy chief, captain, sergeant, and lieutenant positions under Chief of Police Chris Magnus in Richmond since January, 2006 through January, 2012.