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A case revolving around racial bias in police practices heads to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. Its decision will determine what constitutes a valid justification for police stops.

The case involves an arrest made on January 9, 2017. Then, two white police officers, Joseph Abasciano and Brian Garney, patroled the Roxbury/Dorchester area. That area features a history of violent crime.

Around 7:30 pm, shots rang out, leaving one victim critically injured. Abasciano and Garney began a search for possible suspects. At the same time, Tykorie Evelyn, a 17-year-old black man, walked through the neighborhood alone. When the two police officers encountered him, they pulled alongside Evelyn and requested to speak with him.

Officers characterized Evelyn as nervous and evasive, walking briskly and possibly hiding something from their view. They asked if Evelyn knew anything about the shooting in the area. When he replied no, they continued to follow him.

Based on his behavior, police records show, the officers determined Evelyn acted suspiciously enough to warrant a search. They exited their cruiser and Evelyn gave flight. They chased after him until he lay down near a parked car. Following, they arrested him and found a gun nearby.

Now, attorneys for Evelyn claim the officers illegally arrested and searched their client, citing racial bias.

Court to Decide if Racial Bias led to Arrest

The defense hinges on a conclusion regarding Evelyn’s behavior. Various legal experts, from NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund to Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard Law School, argue in favor of Evelyn. They believe his behavior mirrors reasonable suspicions of police officers within the Black community. Therefore, his behavior did not suggest guilt or association with the nearby shooting.

Thus, stopping him becomes unwarranted.

The logic asks what a reasonable individual would do in similar circumstances. Evelyn’s defense argues the court must consider police practices. Since police disproportionately stop and frisk young Black men, Evelyn’s flight can reasonably be attributed to fears of racial profiling – it cannot be cited as evidence of guilt to justify his arrest.

The implications of the SJC’s ruling will likely impact police policy moving forward for all departments within the commonwealth.

BOSTON, MA – The man who killed two Boston doctors was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He beat, bound, and stabbed the engaged couple to death with a carving knife inside their upscale South Boston condo.

Apart from this, 33-year-old Bampumim Teixeira was found guilty by a Suffolk County grand jury on Tuesday. The man from Chelsea was convicted of murdering two Boston doctors, Dr. Lina Bolanos and Dr. Richard Field.

However, Teixeira was forced to watch the sentencing on a video monitor in another room per Judge Mitchell Kaplan’s instruction. The judge’s order stemmed from several outbursts Teixeira had earlier in the week. Still, he was given the opportunity to speak before his sentencing but chose not to. 

It should be noted that Teixeira was a doorman at the Macallen Building on Dorchester Avenue where the doctors lived. Before violently killing the couple on May 5, 2017, he duct-taped them. Reportedly, authorities discovered the bodies in pools of blood.

Furthermore, on Tuesday, Teixeira was pulled out of court for verbally attacking Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney John Pappas. In addition to this, he made offensive remarks and threatened to sexually assault Pappas’ wife. 

Moments before the guilty verdicts were announced, Teixeira yelled out, “Do you want to know his last words?” Undoubtably, Field’s family were brought to tears. And, as a result of his outburst, Teixeira was swarmed by officers and ushered away.

During a police interview, Teixeira told detectives that he and Bolanos were having an affair. Additionally, stating that Field stabbed Bolanos to death after walking in on them.

He said he murdered Field in an act of self-defense.

The Boston doctors planned to get married and have children. As well as open a health clinic in the Bahamas for the less fortunate.

BOSTON, MA – A 42-year-old man allegedly rammed his vehicle, head on, into a police cruiser. In fact, he drove his vehicle into the squad car a total of three times. As a result, he is now facing multiple charges, including attempted murder with a motor vehicle.

The suspect’s identity has not been released. However, in addition to attempted murder, he is also charged with possession of ammunition without a license, and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. Along with operating under the influence, negligent operation, and failure to stop for police. Not only that but attempting to commit a crime: larceny of a firearm and attempting to commit a crime: larceny from a building as well. 

Following the Middleborough Police Department’s investigation, the suspect will likely face additional charges. His arraignment will be held Thursday in Wareham District Court.

According to a news release, police responded to a call around 9:34 p.m. which led them to Wareham Street. The call was regarding a reported disturbance at a home. However, once police arrived at the scene, the suspect allegedly fled. As a result, police followed. He led authorities into a parking lot, about a mile from where the initial disturbance was reported.

At that time, the suspect allegedly drove his vehicle head on into the police cruiser as it approached. As stated by police, he then backed up, and drove into the cruiser again. Then, backing up and driving head-on into the cruiser a third time. Subsequently, the suspect got out of the car and was arrested by police. Afterwards, he was transported to a hospital nearby by way of an ambulance.

Importantly, the officer in the police cruiser at the time sustained minor injuries. He was taken to another area hospital where he was treated and then released.

BOSTON, MA – Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of the Boston Marathon bombers, and his attorneys are appealing his death sentence in a final effort to change the conviction to life in prison.

In 2013, during the annual Boston Marathon, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his brother detonated two homemade bombs. The attack happened a little before 3 p.m. on April 15^th, and three people lost their lives. Several hundred other resulted severely injured, including many who lost limbs.

Tsarnaev’s brother was killed by police during a manhunt that also ended with his arrest. After his trial in 2015, the Kyrgyz-American was sentenced to death for the attack. Ever since he has been waiting on death row at the ADX Florence supermax prison in Colorado.   

The Rocky Mountains prison is infamously known as “a clean version of hell”, and between its walls, it holds most of the worst terrorists and traitors in the country. For instance, the 9/11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui or FBI traitor Robert Hanssen.

Some other notorious bombers also share the 490-cell prison with Tsarnaev are Terry Nichols, who took part in the Oklahoma City bombing or Richard Reid, known as the “Shoe Bomber”.

Now, Tsarnaev’s team of lawyers has filed a 207-page briefing to appeal the court’s sentence. Among the attorneys that took part in the process are David Patton, Clifford Gardner, Mia Eisner-Grynberg and Gail Johnson. As well as Daniel Habib and Deirdre Von Dornum.

The briefing makes a total of 13 points to explain why Tsarnaev’s death sentence should be revised and revoked. The lawyers argue that their client did not receive a fair trial. Since the bombings traumatized the whole region, it was almost impossible to get impartial jury members for the trial.

Tsarnaev’s lawyers believe that he was denied his right to a fair trial and attest that the jury was drawn from a group of people that knew too many details about the attack. They also mentioned that 69% of the jury pool already believed their client was guilty of the explosions.

In addition, the attorneys contend that evidence that should be considered inadmissible was actually used at the trial to sentence Tsarnaev. Furthermore, they accuse two of the jurors of allegedly lying in the selection process, which would violate Tsarnaev’s rights.

Meanwhile, prosecutors maintain that the jury was impartially and carefully selected.

Even though Massachusetts does not enforce the death penalty since 1984, Tsarnaev’s case was tried as a federal offense. That made him eligible for execution. Now, Tsarnaev is fighting to get that sentence revoked and get life in prison for his crimes.

This might be the last chance Dzhokhar Tsarnaev get to change his fate.

BOSTON, MA – In a bit of a surprising development, a recently published study ranked Boston Transit the second-best in the entire country. This high placement is even more shocking when considering the present problems with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.

The site WalletHub measured 100 cities across 17 important metrics. These factors ranged from commuters who use public transportation to the busiest hours spent stuck in congestion. These metrics were then used to evaluate who offered the best and most efficient ride.

When broken down, Boston earned the second-highest ranking in terms of accessibility and convenience. Furthermore, the study gave it the 10^th highest-ranking for Boston transit resources.

The Boston community, however, scored lowest in safety and reliability. They came in at a mediocre 34^th place.

Seattle ranked the highest in overall public transportation performance.

Boston’s impressive rank definitely comes as a shock to commuters who use MBTA services. After all, several derailments happened just this past summer.

“I think it’s wrong,” commuter Hussein Salem said. “It’s the worst, it’s so bad. It is like 10, 20 minutes every day.”

On the other hand, there are people who think just the opposite of Salem. In fact, one commuter maintains the study was right. For her, the T is the lifeline of Boston.

Local officials are currently planning to close parts of the Red, Orange and Green lines during the weekends starting this October. The goal is to implement improvement to T service. These improvements come amid ineffective transit opportunities for commuters.

BOSTON, MA – On Monday morning Boston police pulled a human body from the Charlestown Navy Yard development.

Officers had been dispatched to a section of the neighborhood located near First Avenue and Fifth Street. Somebody had reported seeing a body.

Daniel Ferreira, a kiosk worker for Boston Harbor Cruises, has begun his daily work around 6:30 a.m. This was in the area where police officers were responding to the call.

“At first I thought it was a normal day,” he said. “Then I saw a lot of police, ambulances, and fire trucks show up.

Ferreira went on to say that first responders centered their investigation in the waters by the USS Constitution Museum in the Navy Yard. There were many officials congregated in this area.

Around 7:30 a.m., most of the first responders and their trucks and any other police vehicles had vanished from the location. However, there was still a small clutch of police officers surveying the area. By now the police had cordoned off the scene of the accident or crime.

Paula, a clerk at a nearby 7-Eleven said she spotted the body of what she thought was a woman floating in the water around 7:30 in the morning. To her eyes, the person was dressed in a white shirt, black pants and no shoes.

Richard White, 68, who arrives here every morning to sip coffee and feed bread to the birds said, “If someone fell in the wee hours of the morning, there wouldn’t be anyone around.”

On Tuesday evening over 1,000 Jewish activists took to the streets right in the middle of rush hour, resulting in a total shutdown of traffic. The spirited crowd sang, chanted, and even drummed to protest immigrant detention in the city and throughout the country.

The crowd managed to wind their way from the New England Holocaust Memorial located right on Congress Street then down Tremont Street and through Chinatown. From there they headed to the Suffolk County House of Correction in the South End. Here is where lots of US Immigrant and Customs Enforcement detainees are kept.

Police arrested a total of eighteen protesters who’d locked arms at the facilities entrance.

The majority of the protesters were young and came outfitted in prayer shawls and head coverings. This was a nod to lessons they’d learned in Hebrew school as well as from relatives who had experienced the Holocaust. The protesters pleaded with the Trump administration to “close the camps.” This protest, and others like it, comes as lawyers and lawmakers paint a picture of these migrant camps as disgusting and inhumane.

Michaela Caplan, 23 and one of the event organizers, said, “When we grew up hearing the words ‘never again’, it’s referring to a moment like this.” Michaela, as with many others, had been inspired to protest due to her family’s history. In fact, her grandmother lived to tell about Aushwitz and also lost over 3o family members.

The protest was the brainchild of a loosely linked group of Jewish activists. They started to plan the protest with the phrase “Never Again” as their guiding principle. They also merged with the immigrant-rights group Cosecha and linked their protest to the recent event in New Jersey when 36 protesters were charged just outside of ICE detention center.

BOSTON, MA – Northeastern, Boston University, M.I.T., and Harvard rank as having the highest average apartment rents within a one-mile stretch of their campuses. This designation was relegated to the better known Boston area universities.

Real estate listings and research site RentCafe followed apartment rents within a mile radius of the nation’s top 100 universities as listed by U.S. News and World Report. The results of the study were fairly alarming.

It turns out that the average price of rent near Northeastern, BU, and M.I.T were unusually expensive: $3,335, $3,321, and 3,286 a month, respectively. The average price within a one-mile range of Harvard was about $2,780. Granted, that is still a whopper of a price but definitely cheaper than the Cambridge average of $3,031 a month.

As far as Chestnut Hill is concerned, RentCafe said the general average hovered right around $3,103. According to this data then, renting within one-mile of Boston College is noticeably more affordable than renting in Chestnut Hill overall. In fact, the average apartment rents that are as close as one mile of Boston College is $2,137.

Also, if you rent in close proximity to Brandeis University, it seems you’re in line for much cheaper prices than the rents generally are Waltham. In fact, rents were about $100 cheaper if it was near Brandeis. Now, when it comes  to Tufts University, the rents are also less costly than the area of Medford in general.

BOSTON, MA – The greater Boston area is growing which is a great thing for the city. However, with all the growth comes congestion. And with all the congestion it’s become increasingly difficult for the people of Boston to move around. In fact, traffic has become such a thorn in the collective population’s side that many residents are considering leaving.

In fact, not only has traffic become impossible to deal with, the other alternatives aren’t much better. Public transit in Boston continuously snarls at peak hours, leaving many doubly frustrated. Among Massachusetts voters who live within Route 128 and are full-time workers, around a third of them say they’ve pondered moving out of Boston altogether. Each of them cite road delays and snafus with public transit as being the reason.

This data was compiled in a poll released on Wednesday by the MassINC Polling Group. The poll was funded by the Barr Foundation, a nonprofit that’s seeking money to support new, game-changing transportation projects.

Problem Isn’t Just in Boston Proper

Plus, this issue isn’t confined to the Boston area alone. In fact, folks frustrated with the state of traffic and the efficiency of current public transportation is a statewide concern. For example, a whopping 30% of voters surveyed who are full-time employees say they’ve thought about leaving their job in order to get a better commute. And, according to those numbers, a quarter of those people have also considered leaving the area entirely.

The numbers are staggering. This same poll found those with commutes longer than 45 minutes, half of them thought about changing jobs. Moreover, 30% of that group has looked into leaving the area forever.

The bottom line with the numbers is that people are on the brink of reaching their breaking point when it comes to commuting. And there’s no getting around the issue, a recent ranking of worst rush hour traffic, indicated that Boston was the worst.

For political leaders, the consensus is that every solution must be on the table for the transportation problem. Otherwise, all the people coming to Boston to spur its growth, will be quickly leaving.

NATICK, MA – Both state and local police arrived at the scene of a shooting at a Natick hotel early this morning. This occurred at the Crowne Plaza Hotel on Worcester Road, located in Natick.

Police arrived just after 2:30 in the morning. The police evacuated the hotel due to the incident. Essentially, they received reports that there was an active shooter present.

Apparently, several suspects followed another man into the front lobby of the Natick hotel. After they followed the man, they shot at him. Luckily, the victim did not suffer injuries from this. But, the suspects who shot at the man fled from the area. This information comes from James Hicks, the Natick Police Chief.

When police arrived at the hotel, they set up a perimeter. They also spoke with the victim of the event, who claimed that he did not know the suspects who followed him.

However, after the shooting occurred, many believe that the suspects might still be inside the building. To be extra cautious in the dangerous situation, police made the decision to evacuate the building.

As a result, they led about seventy-five guests of the hotel, along with employees, to the Natick Mall cafeteria to wait. Some of the guests chose to stay in their cars.

Authorities now believe that the suspects fled the scene in a vehicle. In addition, police do not believe that these suspects pose a danger to the public. Instead, they believe that this was an individual event targeted at this specific person.

However, officials are still investigating. They hope to discover how many suspects were involved and find more information about their motive for the shooting.