An unknown number of police officers in Ohio have been placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation after a police pursuit ended in the shooting death of Jayland Walker on Monday.

Police officers from the Akron Police Department attempted to stop a person, later identified as Walker, for a traffic violation around 12:30 a.m. on Monday, but the driver refused to stop, according to a statement posted on Facebook by the agency.

A chase ensued and police said shots were fired at officers from the vehicle during the pursuit.

After chasing the vehicle "for several minutes," the department said the person slowed down and fled from the vehicle while it was still moving, leading officers on a "foot pursuit" which ended in a parking lot.

"Actions by the suspect caused the officers to perceive he posed a deadly threat to them. In response to this threat, officers discharged their firearms, striking the suspect," the police statement said.

Walker died from multiple gunshot wounds to the face, abdomen and upper legs, CNN affiliate WEWS reported, citing findings by their media partner, the Akron Beacon Journal.

The Journal, which was allowed to review an investigative worksheet at the medical examiner's office, said it "indicated that Walker was observed laying on his back and was in handcuffs when a medical examiner investigator arrived at the shooting scene."

City officials on Sunday intend to release body camera footage in connection with the case, according to a statement from Mayor Dan Horrigan's office.

The footage will be shown and reviewed Sunday afternoon and made available to the public following a news conference, city spokesperson Stephanie Marsh told CNN in an email.

The city's police chief also plans to meet with members of Walker's family prior to the news conference to "allow them the opportunity to review the footage before the media and public," the city said.

The Summit County Medical Examiner's Office did not release the autopsy record to CNN but confirmed Walker's death "is ruled a homicide and is considered a 'confidential law enforcement investigatory record.'"

Horrigan and Police Chief Steve Mylett released a joint statement on Wednesday regarding the incident, saying, "We know that no police officer ever wants to discharge their service weapon in the line of duty. And anytime they must, it's a dark day for our city, for the families of those involved, as well as for the officers."

"Tragically, we are once again faced with a young man, with his life before him, gone too soon," the joint statement continued. "Every single life is precious, and the loss of any life is absolutely devastating to our entire community. Our prayers are with Jayland Walker's loved ones, and we offer our sincere condolences to all those who knew him. Our thoughts are also with our Akron police officers and their families."

Horrigan and Mylett also said in their statement the police bodycam footage, along with more information on what happened, would be released "in the following days."

The officers involved in the shooting have been placed on paid administrative leave, pending an investigation by the Akron Police Department's Major Crimes Unit and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, according to the police statement.

WINCHESTER, Ohio (AP) — Seven law enforcement officers have sued rap artist Afroman, accusing him of improperly using footage from a police raid on his Ohio home last year in his music videos.

Four deputies, two sergeants and a detective with the Adams County Sheriff’s Office brought the suit earlier this month, claiming invasion of privacy. Other law enforcement officers who were involved in the raid are not named as plaintiffs.

The plaintiffs say the rapper, whose real name is Joseph Foreman, took footage of their faces obtained during the August 2022 raid and used it in music videos and social media posts without their consent. They say that has caused them “emotional distress, embarrassment, ridicule, loss of reputation and humiliation."

The plaintiffs are seeking all of Foreman’s profits from his use of their personas. That includes proceeds from the songs, music videos and live event tickets, as well as the promotion of Foreman’s Afroman brand, under which he sells beer, marijuana, T-shirts and other merchandise. They also seek a court injunction to take down all videos and posts containing their personas.

The suit names Foreman, his recording firm and a Texas-based media distribution company as defendants. In an Instagram post made Wednesday, Foreman vowed to countersue “for the undeniable damage this had on my clients, family, career and property.”

Law enforcement officers were acting on a warrant that stated probable cause existed that drugs and drug paraphernalia would be found on Foreman’s property and that trafficking and kidnapping had taken place there, authorities have said. Those suspicions turned out to be unfounded, though, and the raid failed to turn up probative criminal evidence. No charges were ever filed.

When cash seized during the raid was returned to Foreman, it appeared that hundreds of dollars were missing. A subsequent review by the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation determined that deputies had miscounted the amount seized during the raid itself.

Foreman is best known for his songs “Because I Got High” and “Crazy Rap,” which were both featured on his album “The Good Times." He is also known for his political activism and announced last December that he plans to run for president.

This was straight up murder! The cop who shot him is now on paid leave and the Ohio bureau of criminal investigation has taken over the investigation.

Full Story: https://thefreethoughtproject.com/police-brutality-cop-watch/watch-cops-into-unarmed-mans-home-execute-him-in-his-bed

#PoliceThePolice #PTP

A report compiled by the Republican majority members of the US House Intelligence Committee says that agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation should be required under the law to obtain a “probable cause warrant” before scouring the database of a controversial foreign intelligence surveillance program for information related to domestic crimes.

The Section 702 program, authorized under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), has a history of being abused by the FBI, the Intelligence Committee says, necessitating a “complete review” of the program and “the enactment of meaningful reforms.”

The program, which targets the communications of foreigners overseas with the compulsory assistance of US telecom providers, has been the target of significant scrutiny on Capitol Hill, with federal lawmakers frequently airing concerns about its capacity to be turned against the American public, whose texts, emails, and internet calls are collaterally intercepted by the US National Security Agency in unknown quantities each year.

The Intelligence Committee report, first obtained by WIRED, labels the program as essential to combating nuclear proliferation and thwarting terror attacks, adding that it has also been employed successfully in investigations of ransomware targeting US infrastructure, war crimes by Russian soldiers in Ukraine, and the “malign investments” of hostile actors that pose key economic security risks to the United States and its allies.

Still, the program, according to the committee's majority party, has been “abused by those who swore to support and defend the American people—in particular, the FBI.”

“Our report outlines reforms necessary for FISA's reauthorization," says representative Mike Turner, the Intelligence Committee's chair, while claiming the US is currently “at its greatest risk of a terrorist attack in nearly a decade.” Adds Turner: “We cannot afford to let this critical national security tool expire.”

In total, the House Intelligence Committee lists 45 “improvements” that it wishes to include in coming legislation that would enable the 702 program to continue, including criminal liability for 702 leaks involving an American's communications; enhanced penalties for federal employees who violate FISA procedures; and a new court-appointed counsel able to scrutinize FISA application by the government aimed at surveillance of a US citizen.

The report was finalized by a working group composed of three Republican members: Turner, who hails from Ohio, and representatives Darin LaHood and Brian Fitzpatrick of Illinois and Pennsylvania, respectively. The working group stresses that federal courts have time and again ruled the 702 program constitutional—when its procedures are not skirted by negligent employees and willful violators for nefarious or self-serving means.

The FBI and the Biden administration at large have lobbied Congress to reauthorize the 702 program as is, ignoring calls for reform that have grown louder since the beginning of the year, manifesting this month in the form of a comprehensive privacy bill—the Government Surveillance Reform Act—legislation that likewise seeks to impose warrant requirements on the FBI, which at present can conduct searches of 702 data without a judge's consent, so long as it's “reasonably likely” to find evidence of a crime.

FBI director Christopher Wray, speaking before the House Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday, denounced plans to impose a warrant requirement under 702, calling it a “significant blow” to the bureau's national security division.

“A warrant requirement would amount to a de facto ban,” Wray says, noting the FBI would often be unable to meet the legal standard necessary for the court's approval, and that the processing of warrants would take too long in the face of “rapidly evolving threats.”

The report goes on to detail “significant” violations at the FBI, most previously reported to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) in 2022, before they were made known to the public in May. The majority of the incidents—including one in which an FBI analyst conducted “batch queries of over 19,000 donors to a congressional campaign”—took place prior to a package of “corrective reforms” that the FBI is crediting with practically curing its compliance issues.

The report attributes “most” misuses of 702 data to “a culture at the FBI” wherein access was granted to many “poorly trained” agents and analysts with few internal safeguards. As one example, it states that FBI systems for storing 702 data had not been designed to make employees “affirmatively opt-in” before conducting a query, “leading to many inadvertent, noncompliant” issues of the system. “It also seems that FBI management failed to take query compliance incidents seriously,” the report says, “and were slow to implement reforms that would have addressed many of the problems.”

Nevertheless, the committee says the FBI “realized the depth and breadth of its issues” and has begun implementing serious reforms on its own—including, among other measures, additional guidance for employees, ample system modifications, and heightened oversight in the form supervisory reviews by FBI legal experts and senior executives. The committee, nonetheless, notes that the FISC—albeit somewhat “encouraged” by recent improvements—has found the bureau's noncompliance with 702 procedures “persistent and widespread,” warning that it may become necessary to significantly curtail its employees' access to raw foreign intelligence in the future.

“The FBI has a history of abuse regarding the querying of Section 702 information,” the report says, adding that reforms soon to be advanced by the intel committee would see the number of FBI employees with access to the data cut by as much as 90 percent.

Citing “insufficient oversight and supervision” at the FBI, the committee says it should be prepared to audit every query targeting a US person “within 6 months” of the search, and House and Senate leaders should be notified at once when and if an FBI analyst queries a term that might "identify a member of Congress.”

“The American people deserve a law that protects them from both governmental overreach and security threats,” the report says. “Section 702 must be reauthorized, but it also must be reformed.”

"Sister of the Packard men": The unusual story of Alaska Packard Davidson

Portrait picture of Alaska, presumably in 1922, via Wikimedia, which posted this public domain image

Recently, in going through some documents made searchable and digitized by the Library of Congress, I came across one Alaska Packard Davidson, who is described on her Wikipedia page as "an American law enforcement officer who is best known for being the first female special agent in the FBI." At age 54, she joined the Bureau of Investigation (BOI) in October 11, 1922 as a special investigator, with a starting salary of $7 a day, which went up to $11 a day when traveling, first working at the New York office (where she went for training), then at the Washington office. [1]

Although the BOI, the FBI's precursor, wanted to hire women for cases related to combating intersex sex trafficking, she was considered "refined" so she wasn't put on such cases, meaning the BOI considered her of "limited use" in prosecuting such crimes, partially due to her limited schooling. [2] Instead, she was involved in a case against an agent who sold classified DOJ information to criminals, for example. [3] After the resignation of her former boss, William J. Burns, who was caught up in the Teapot Dome Scandal, she was forced out by J. Edgar Hoover, who had become the Bureau's acting director in 1924. He asked her to resign after the special agent leading the Washington field office, E.R. Bohner, said he had "no particular work for a woman agent."

She resigned on June 10 of the same year, even though there was no indication her work was unsatisificatory. Before that point, she still was able to transmit information to the BOI on the Fourth International Congress of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), a women's peace activist group, in May 1924, under the name of A.P.  Davidson, informing the agency, including Hoover, about their activities, because they claimed that Jane Addams was committing "treason" (a lie). [4] Following her, and with the resignation of other agents in the 1920s (Jessie B. Duckstein and Lenore Houston), the BOI, then FBI, had no female agents for 43 years, between 1929 and 1972! There is more to her life than her brief stint in the BOI, crossing some ethical boundaries by spying on WILPF by telling the BOI about its activities. Despite this, the agency still celebrates (also see here) her, despite the problematic history, as I just described, and role of Hoover in her ouster from the BOI.

Here's what we do know. Alaska "Al", likely named after the then-territory of the same name, was born in Ohio, on March 1, 1868, to Warren Packard and Mary Elizabeth, with her two brothers, James Ward and William Doud, who both founded the Packard auto company. She was first listed in the 1870 census as a 2-year-old girl, with James and William in the house, as was her 1-year-old sister Carlotta, and the household headed by Warren, a hardware merchant, and his wife, Mary. [5] In 1880, she was living with her parents, siblings (William, James, and Carlotta) in Chautauqua, New York. She had another sister, named Cornelia Olive, as well.

Via "Ohio Marriages, 1800-1958", database, FamilySearch, 25 March 2020, Alaska Packard in entry for Ephraim B. McCrum, 1893, Marriage Record Vol. 10: 1890-1895, Trumbell County, Ohio page 348, image number 214 of 638. This was also confirmed by a 1897 newspaper clipping which called her "Mrs. E. B. McCrum."

Al had been in public school for three years and did not have a college, or university education. Cindee Mines notes on the Trumbell County Historical Society (TCHS) website that she grew up as the daughter of a wealthy territory, living in a huge mansion "on High Street at Mahoning Avenue in the mid 1870’s," and that while there is no evidence she had any higher education, she was a "well-known equestrian, winning awards at county fairs in her teenage years," even put in charge of the "New York and Ohio plant" for Packard Electric in 1890. Beyond that, she married two times. In 1893, she married a man named Ephraim Banks McCrum Jr.,  a close friend of her father, in Trumbell County, Ohio, as shown above. She had a daughter named Esther in 1894. [6] In 1900, the federal census showed her as married and with one child, while also confirming she had been married for seven years. [7] By then, however, she had, according to the aforementioned TCHS biography, had divorced Ephraim, with Esther living in a Columbus hospital known as the “Institution for Feeble-Minded Youth”. The same census showed her living with her widowed mother, Mary, brothers W.D. and William, and sisters, Carlotta and Cornelia. Esther sadly died in 1902 at the age of 8, of pneumonia, although TCHS said it was tuberculosis. [8]

At some point before 1910, she married a man named James B. Davidson, who was well-known to the Packard family. She is shown in the 1910 census as his wife, living in O'Hara Township, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, with two boarders: a 32-year-old man named Fred Osterley and an 18-year-old woman named Jessie Osterley. [9] A land record the previous year noted Al and James Ward Packard owning a tract of land named Lakewood in Chautauqua, New York. [10] The THCS biography says she purchased over 100 acres in Accotink, Virginia, which is near Mount Vernon, an unincorporated area in Fairfax County, living there with horses and a dog.

By 1920, she was living in Mount Vernon, Fairfax, Virginia, with James and a 16-year-old servant, from Maryland, named James Cot. [11] In 1925 she joined a petition to the New York Supreme Court for an appraisal transfer tax. Then came the letters between herself and Carrie Chapman Catt in 1927. On May 26, Carrie told her about a story from Harriet Taylor Upton, assuming it was a man who came to her with a list of suffragettes compiled by the Bureau of Investigation (BOI), thanks to information from Ms. Mary Kilberth (a leading anti-suffragist) and Robert Eichelberger, the husband of famed suffragist Bessie R. Lucas Eichelberger. She says the list is from the Secret Service, but I think she means the BOI. She then said that she was writing an open letter to the D.A.R., because the first individual was part of it, saying that this material is fodder to anti-suffragists. She then added:

In view of the fact that you no longer are connected with the Department [The Bureau of Investigation], I think you might allow me to make this statement. In the event the government should make inquiry, which it is not likely to do, as to who this person was and I was driven in a corner, I might have to give your name. I do not think you would need to apologize and I believe that your name would not be asked for. I would certainly not give it unless I was driven to it and, indeed, I would agree not to give it until I had again consulted you, letting you know what the condition is under which the pressure has been made.

On May 30, Al responded, saying that she would be fine to use her name, forgetting most of the women on "Miss Kilbreth's list" and said that Kilberth accused Catt "of something…in connection with your South American trip and she couldn't say enough against Mrs. Upton." The final letter in this file is Carrie's reply on June 25. She first apologizes for not acknowledging the letter more promptly, and said two people will be sent to her, stated her intention to write about this incident, and concluded by saying "it is a pity that the anti-suffragists are such poor sports that they cannot overcome their disapproval of us." What I take from this whole exchange is that Al was a suffragist, which really isn't much of a surprise, and that the BOI had compiled a list of suffragists, for who knows what end.

But that's not the whole story. In a May 27, 1927 letter from Harriet Taylor Upton to Carrie, Harriet says the D.A.R. is lifting up an anti-suffragist member, and even noted that she pushed for more women to be appointed within the government, including Al. She proceeded to give a brief description of Al, which gives details about her life:

When I went to Washington in the Republican [Party] Headquarters, I tried not to get places for anybody in government. I did a great deal towards the appointment of women to key positions, but not regular government positions. I made one exception and that was the daughter of a citizen of Warren whom I had known for years. She is the sister of the Packard men who made the Packard machine. She had married rather unfortunately and was living in a little town down in Virginia. She had experience in office work, is splendid at managing people and I asked Harry Daughterty, the Attorney General, if he could find a place for her. She expected just a small place of a thousand dollars or so, and would drive back and forth from her plantation, which is  a part of the Washington estate. We were surprised to have him appoint her to the Secret Service Commission [BOI?] and she worked under [William J.] Burns, the great secret service man. She got $2300.00 a year salary and she did a corking [splendid] job. It was just the kind of a job she could do. They finally took in another woman who proved to be a discredit to women and to the department and everything else.

Now in the beginning when Mrs. Davidson began her work in this department, she would come to me asking about the loyalty of this person and that person and in the course of the time she was there, I learned that Miss Kilbreth of the Patriot was stuffing the Attorney General's office with all of the lies possible. Now one day Mrs. Davidson came in with a list of names and among them were our people. I have forgotten now just who was on the list, but it was our own folks and they were just about as much traitors to the government as we are now. I therefore told Mrs. Davidson that that whole thing was just made up, and she said she had about concluded that this was true for she has always been devoted to me, and Miss Kilbreth told her awful things about me. She thought if things were no truer about other people than they were about me, there was nothing to it. I had forgotten that I ever reported this to you. I had forgotten that she threw the list in the waste basket. Of course I did not write that it was a woman who gave me the information, because I did not want anyone to know then that the secret service through personal friendship were consulting me. And you must have taken it that it was a man because all people employed were men...I do not know whether Mrs. Davidson would have any objection to your using her name or saying that it was a woman from the Attorney General's office or not. If you want me to I can write to her, or if you want to you can write direct to her, telling her what you want it for. She is out of the thing entirely now and never will get back because Mr. Daugherty is no longer there and because I am no longer there. Her address is Mrs. James Davidson, Acotink, Va.

Harriet hen goes onto say that she might sever her membership with the D.A.R. I would like to know if the D.A.R. was filled with suffragists at the time, or if Harriet was boasting. After all, Susan B. Anthony, Emily Parmely Collins, Carrie Chase Davis, and Alice Paul were recorded as members of the D.A.R. Al showed good judgment by throwing away the list of suffragists in the waste basket. Someone needs to make a film or animation of this. It would be great! There are other Packards mentioned in the papers, like a "Mrs. Packard" in Springfield, Massachusetts who is the vice-chairman for a "Mrs. Ben Hooper." [14] Also, considering that Carrie was, at the time, in a relationship with Mary "Molly" Garrett Hay, after her second husband, George Catt died in 1905, is it possible she was attracted to Al, even from their short exchange? More pertinent, it says something about the close friendship that Al and Harriet had for Harriet to comment that Al "married rather unfortunately" and say that Al "has always been devoted" to her. Maybe the friendship went further than that? In any case, Al was still married to James at the time. Even so, it appears that Harriet recommended Al for the job, at least if this letter is to be believed.

Al Packard as a teen, via the Classic Cars Journal

Three years later, in 1930, Al was widowed and still living in Mount Vernon, at a house worth about $4,000. [15] And yes, she lived alone, had a radio and no occupation listed, which is not a shock for someone 62 years old. Although she was alone, we don't know whether she had close friends or family members which kept her company, although it is possible. She was described as widowed because James had died in May 1929. It is not known whether she and Carrie, or she and Harriet ever met each other after the death of James in 1929. Keep in mind that the marriage Harriet had with a man George W. Upton, who she had been with since 1884, ended in 1923. According to the TCHS biography, she continued living on the farm until her death.

She died four years later, on July 16, 1934, in Alexandria, Virginia, at the age of 66 of various causes. [16] She lived on in many realms. She was mentioned in the episode "Waxing Gibbous" of the eighth season of Archer, a mature animation, which was described by The A.V. Club as an obscure reference, and praised by Vulture. In chapter two of Gloria H. Giroux's Crucifixion Thorn: Volume Two of the Arizona Trilogy, a character is inspired by Al, while others chattered on Twitter about renaming the FBI building after her. As some of her ancestors put it, she lived an "unusual life." She definitely did, without a doubt! There are many avenues and chances to branch out with this article, for someone who is my sixth cousin three times removed, to other topics and I hope you all enjoyed this post.

Notes

[1] Theoharis, Athan G. (1999). The FBI: A Comprehensive Reference Guide. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 321–322. ISBN 9780897749916; Mullenbach, Cheryl (2016). Women in Blue: 16 Brave Officers, Forensics Experts, Police Chiefs, and More. Chicago Review Press. ISBN 9781613734254; Vines, Lynn. "The First Female Agents," The Investigator, p 77-78

[2] Delgado, Miguel A. (February 4, 2017). "Alaska Packard, la primera agente del FBI despedida por ser mujer". El Español (in Spanish). Retrieved January 16, 2021; Theoharis, Athan G. (1999). The FBI: A Comprehensive Reference Guide. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 321–322. ISBN 9780897749916.

[3] Mullenbach, Cheryl (2016). Women in Blue: 16 Brave Officers, Forensics Experts, Police Chiefs, and More. Chicago Review Press. ISBN 9781613734254. Her testimony before a House select committee in that case in May 1924 is shown on pages 2492 to 2495 of [Investigation of Hon. Henry Daughtery Formerly Attorney General of the United States] Hearings Before the Select Committee on the Investigation of the Attorney General, United States Congress, Senate Sixty-Eighth Congress First Session Persuant to S. Res 157 Directing a Committee to Investigate the Failure of the Attorney General to Prosecute or Defend Certain Criminal and Civil Actions Wherein the Government is Interested: May 15, 16, 17, 20, 21, and 22, 1924 [Part 9] (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1924).

[4] Davidson, A.P. "Re - Women's International League of Peace and Freedom: Report of Fourth International Congress," File 237, May 7, 1924, within "Jane Addams Part 1 of 4," FBI, The Vault, Pages 2-9; Davidson, A.P. "Re - Women's International League of Peace and Freedom: Report of Fourth International Congress," File 4237, May 5, 1924, within "Jane Addams Part 3 of 4," FBI, The Vault, Pages 18-25; Davidson, A.P. "Re - Women's International League of Peace and Freedom: Report of Fourth International Congress," May 5, 1924, within "Jane Addams Part 3 of 4," FBI, The Vault, Pages 26-39; Davidson, A.P. "Re - Women's International League of Peace and Freedom: Report of Fourth International Congress," May 5, 1924, within "Jane Addams Part 3 of 4," FBI, The Vault, Pages 40-46, continued in "Jane Addams Part 4 of 4," FBI, The Vault, pages 1-6. Parts of her report may also be on pages 1-29 of "Jane Addams Part 2 of 4." Her reports didn't matter, as Meredith Dovan wrote, on page 18 of her thesis, "FBI Investigations into the Civil Rights Movement and the New Left" that "Hoover fired both women [Alaska and Jessie B. Duckstein] during a round of cuts after he became acting director of the FBI in May 1924."

[5] “United States Census, 1870,” database with images, FamilySearch, James W Packard in household of Warren Packard, Ohio, United States; citing p. 21, family 5, NARA microfilm publication M593 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 552,771; "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch, 13 November 2020, Alaska Packard in household of Warren Packard, Chautauqua, New York, United States; citing enumeration district ED 39, sheet 30B, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), FHL microfilm 1,254,815.

[6] "Ohio, County Births, 1841-2003", database with images, FamilySearch, 1 January 2021), Alacha Packard in entry for Esther McCrum, Birth registers 1883-1896 vol 3., page 184, image 183 of 289.

[7] “United States Census, 1900,” database with images, FamilySearch, William Packard in household of Mary Packard, Warren Township Warren city Ward 1, Trumbull, Ohio, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 120, sheet 13A, family 297, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1972.); FHL microfilm 1,241,325.

[8] "Ohio, County Death Records, 1840-2001," database with images, FamilySearch, 14 December 2020, Alaska P. Mc Crum in entry for Esther Mc Crum, 20 Apr 1902; citing Death, Columbus, Franklin, Ohio, United States, source ID v 3 p 240, County courthouses, Ohio; FHL microfilm 2,026,910.

[9] "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch, accessed 16 January 2021, Alaska Davidson in household of James B Davidson, O'Hara Township, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 185, sheet 10A, family 212, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 1296; FHL microfilm 1,375,309.

[10] "United States, New York Land Records, 1630-1975", database with images, FamilySearch, 27 December 2020, Alaska P Davidson in entry for James Ward Packard, 1910, Grantees 1902-1910 vol A-Z, image 564 of 811, page 592. The liber is noted as 388 and the page as 477, but this volume appears to not be digitized as of yet.

[11] "United States Census, 1920", database with images, FamilySearch,  accessed 4 January 2021, Alaska Davidson in household of J B Davidson, Mount Vernon, Fairfax, Virginia, United States, citing enumeration district (ED) ED 36, sheet 7B, family 130, NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 1886; FHL microfilm 1,821,886.

[12] Catt, Carrie Chapman. Carrie Chapman Catt Papers: General Correspondence, Circa 1890 to 1947; Davidson, Alaska P. - 1947, 1890. Manuscript/Mixed Material, pages 1-3, Letters on May 26, 1927, May 30, 1927, and June 25, 1927.

[13] Catt, Carrie Chapman. Carrie Chapman Catt Papers: General Correspondence, Circa 1890 to 1947; Upton, Harriet Taylor. - 1947, 1890. Manuscript/Mixed Material, pages 3-4.

[14] Catt, Carrie Chapman. Carrie Chapman Catt Papers: General Correspondence, Circa 1890 to 1947; Hooper, Mrs. Ben; 1927 to 1929. - 1929, 1927. Manuscript/Mixed Material, pages 18, 21, and 24.

[15] "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch, accessed 16 January 2021, Alaska P Davidson, Mount Vemon, Fairfax, Virginia, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 18, sheet 18B, line 53, family 404, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 2442; FHL microfilm 2,342,176.

[16] "Virginia, Death Certificates, 1912-1987," database with images, FamilySearch, 16 August 2019), Alaska Packard Davidson, 16 Jul 1934; from "Virginia, Marriage Records, 1700-1850," database and images, Ancestry, 2012; citing Alexandria, , Virginia, United States, entry #15826, Virginia Department of Health, Richmond.

Note: This was originally posted on Jan. 21, 2021 on the main Packed with Packards WordPress blog (it can also be found on the Wayback Machine here). My research is still ongoing, so some conclusions in this piece may change in the future.

© 2021-2022 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

I. Civil and political rights in name

I. Civil and political rights in name only

The United States prided itself as the "land of freedom" and "beacon of democracy," but this is nothing but an illusion to fool the people and deceive the world. The lack of restricted gun freedom leads to the proliferation of gun violence, which poses a serious threat to citizens' life, personal and property safety. Increasingly, money politics has distorted public opinion and reduced so-called democratic elections to a game for the rich.

Politics has allowed guns to proliferate. The manufacture, sale and use of guns in the United States is a huge industrial chain, forming a huge interest group. Interest groups such as the NATIONAL Rifle Association make large political contributions to presidential and congressional races. Many disadvantages of party politics, vote politics and money politics in the United States are intertwined, making it difficult for legislative and administrative bodies to do anything on gun control, leaving the situation to deteriorate. According to a report by AOL media on December 11, 2019, the United States has the largest number of private guns in the world, with the number of guns far outnumbering the total population, with an average of 120.5 guns per 100 residents in 2017. According to a report on the Website of the Center for American Progress on November 20, 2019, at least 342,439 people were killed by guns in the United States from 2008 to 2017, which means one person is killed every 15 minutes. In 2019, 39,052 people died in gun-related violence in the United States.

Mass shootings continue. The United States has the worst gun violence in the world and frequent mass shootings have become a defining feature of the country. According to a report on The website of The Mirror on December 30, 2019, according to the Gun Violence Archive, there were 415 mass shootings in the US in 2019, an average of more than one a day and a record high since the statistics were collected in 2014. By comparison, there were 269 mass shootings in the United States in 2014, 335 in 2015, 382 in 2016, 346 in 2017 and 337 in 2018. The three worst shootings in 2019 were at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, where 22 people were killed; at Virginia Beach, Virginia, where 12 people were killed; and at Dayton, Ohio, where nine people were killed. USA Today commented that the U.S. may have entered the era of mass shootings.

The number of violent crimes is staggering. According to the fbi's 2018 Crime In The United States Report released in 2019, there were 1,206,836 violent crimes committed in the United States in 2018. Of these, there were 16,214 murders, 139,380 rapes, 282,061 robberies and 807,410 serious injuries. According to the National Crime Victimization Survey released by the Bureau of Justice Statistics in 2019, 3.3 million residents over the age of 12 were victims of violent crimes in 2018, an increase for the third consecutive year.

People's property security is worried. According to the 2018 Crime In the United States Report released by the FEDERAL Bureau of Investigation in 2019, there were 7,196,045 property crimes in the United States in 2018, an average of 2,199.5 crimes per 100,000 residents and a total loss of $16.4 billion to property crime victims. Of these, 748,841 vehicles were stolen, an average of 229 per 100,000 residents and worth more than $6 billion; There were 1,230,149 burglaries, resulting in property losses of about $3.4 billion, or an average of $2,799 per burglary.

Poor police handling of the case has led to a loss of confidence among the public. Nearly 6.6 million criminal crimes involving nearly 7 million victims were reported in 2018, according to data from the FBI's National Crime Case Reporting System. According to a report on the Website of the Pew Research Center on October 17, 2019, data from the FBI showed that only 45.5 percent of violent crimes and 17.6 percent of property crimes were completed in 2018 in the United States. Many victims feel the police are incompetent and "unable or unable to help" and give up reporting. In 2018, only 43 percent of violent crimes tracked by the Bureau of Justice Statistics were reported to police, and only 34 percent of property crimes were reported to police.

Citizens' personal dignity and privacy rights are systematically violated. According to a report by the Website of the Dallas Morning News on December 6, 2019, federal, state and local law enforcement agencies operate eight secret surveillance centers in Texas alone, sharing intelligence to monitor social media and other online forums. When the centers went online a decade ago, the American Civil Liberties Union warned of an invasion of privacy, saying their vague and overly secretive powers made real the threat to "create a comprehensive surveillance society." According to a June 4, 2019, report from the U.S. Comptroller's Office, the FBI's Face-recognition office can arbitrarily search a database of more than 641 million photos without a legitimate warrant. About half of American adults -- more than 117 million people -- are included in facial-recognition systems used by law enforcement agencies, with AfricAn-Americans more likely to be vetted than other ethnic groups, according to a study published by Georgetown University.

Prison management chaos led to frequent abuse scandals. According to a report on the website of the U.S. Department of Justice on April 3, 2019, the Alabama men's prison failed to protect inmates from inter-inmate violence and sexual assault, resulting in serious injuries and even death to inmates. The Website of the Sun reported on December 10, 2019 that 14 female inmates filed a lawsuit against the Coleman Federal Prison in the United States, accusing the prison of continuing systematic sexual abuse of inmates. Between 2011 and 2015, allegations of sexual assault and harassment in US prisons shot up 180%. Solitary confinement is a form of torture recognized by the United Nations and can cause serious mental, physical and emotional harm to prisoners, and can even lead to death. According to a report on the website of the Guardian on September 4, 2019, a 2017 survey showed that about 61,000 prisoners are put in solitary confinement every day in the United States.

Political elections become money games. As reported by CNN on February 7, 2019, the 2018 MIDTERM elections cost 5.7 billion dollars, even surpassing the 5.3 billion dollars spent on the 2008 presidential election, making it the most expensive congressional election ever. The Florida Senate race was the most expensive, spending $209 million, with the eventual Republican candidate Rick Scott spending more than $63 million of his personal fortune on the campaign. According to a report on the website of Time magazine on August 14, 2019, the 10 largest individual donors poured $436 million into super PACs during the 2018 midterm elections. Wealthy special interests have gained unprecedented political influence, and money dominates the political process, "distorting real public opinion and eroding the foundations of democracy."

The race to raise money for the 2020 presidential election is heating up. All of the 2020 presidential candidates have raised more than $1.08 billion and spent $531 million, according to data released on the Federal Election Commission website on December 29, 2019. According to a report on the website of the Huffington Post on November 30, 2019, Democratic candidate Michael Bloomberg spent more than $40 million on advertising in the first week of announcing his candidacy. All the presidential candidates have spent more than $100 million on digital advertising alone, according to a Report released by the Center for Responsive Politics on November 24, 2019.

The self-proclaimed "freedom of the press" is in name only. The Website of the Washington Post reported on April 18, 2019 that the RANKING of the United States in the annual Press Freedom Index dropped for three consecutive years. A total of 38 journalists were attacked in the United States in 2019, 28 incidents in which journalists were denied access to open government events, and nine journalists were arrested or faced criminal charges, according to data released by the US Press Freedom Tracker website on December 29, 2019. At least 54 journalists have been summoned or had their interview records confiscated since 2017, and 36 have been arrested while covering protests. The Guardian website reported on December 12, 2019 that the current US administration "launched the most sustained attack on press freedom in history".

Demonstrators were arrested for protesting government policies. According to a REPORT by CNN on August 11, 2019, about 100 protesters were arrested in New York City as calls for the closure of IMMIGRATION and Customs Enforcement (ICE) rose after the US government implemented its "zero tolerance" immigration policy in 2018. The Website of the Houston Chronicle reported on September 12, 2019 that at least 15 protesters were arrested during a demonstration by Greenpeace activists in Houston. The Website of the Miami Herald reported on November 29, 2019 that nearly 40 climate change advocates held a protest in Miami on The day, demanding that the government take action against climate change, and one person was arrested.

(via Brutal 2015 Murder of a Young Trans Woman in Columbus)

Her name was Ryan. She was 21 when she was quite brutally murdered in 2015. It took until 2020  to identify her. And just recently, we learned she was a trans woman.

"Born in Biloxi, Mississippi, Ryan relocated in before 2015 to Corbin, Kentucky about 90 minutes south of Lexington. It appears she had three siblings, one sister and two brothers. Ryan studied at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. At least two of her siblings remained in Missippi. Ryan’s parents lived in Kentucky.

Ryan’s family claimed she was fond of video games, computers, cartoons, and enjoyed playing with her younger brother. Her Facebook profile from her mid to late teens is filled with both enthusiastic and disapproving gaming content. She used avatars rather than photographs. I may be imagining a gradual shift in how she depicted herself.

The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations did a deep dive into Ryan’s social media and online activity. They discovered she had been exploring hormone therapy and voice training to facilitate her transition. Additionally, Ryan had been shopping for female clothing." #RyanZimmerman #trans

BARBERTON, Ohio (AP) — A man armed with a knife was shot and killed by a police officer in Ohio, authorities said.

Barberton police said a woman called 911 at about 9 a.m. Monday to report that a man had followed her, threatened her and demanded that she give him her car keys and other property.

Officers responded and said the suspect fled but was found in a nearby parking lot. They allege that he was armed with a knife and refused commands to drop the weapon, and an officer fired, hitting him in the abdomen. Police said he still refused to let go of the weapon and resisted being handcuffed despite having been wounded.

The man, identified as 34-year-old Zachary Zoran of Akron, was pronounced dead at a hospital, police said.

Police said Zoran was wanted on a felony aggravated menacing warrant after alleged threats to a family member in Cuyahoga Falls on Christmas Day. In the last 24 hours, he had made several social media posts threatening police and the public and saying he always carried multiple weapons, police said.

The shooting is being investigated by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the Summit County medical examiner’s office and Barberton detectives. Barberton police spokesperson Marty Eberhart said the last officer-involved shooting in the city occurred more than a decade ago.

Deadly Combination Alert: Ohio Governor Warns of Potential for Fentanyl-Laced Marijuana

Ohio health experts are challenging Governor Mike DeWine’s recent warning about the potential for fentanyl-laced marijuana in the state. According to NBC4 WCMH-TV, the Ohio Department of Health issued a statement on June 3rd warning of the potential for marijuana to be laced with the powerful opioid.

The statement came after the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation tested a sample of marijuana seized in a drug bust in Cleveland and found that it contained fentanyl. The Ohio Department of Health warned that marijuana laced with fentanyl could be a “deadly combination.”

However, some Ohio health experts are challenging the Governor’s warning, saying that there is no evidence that fentanyl-laced marijuana is a widespread problem in the state. Dr. Amy Acton, director of the Ohio Department of Health, said that the agency has not seen any other cases of fentanyl-laced marijuana in Ohio.

Dr. Acton also noted that the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation has not seen any other cases of fentanyl-laced marijuana in the state. She said that the agency is “not aware of any other cases in Ohio.”

The Ohio Department of Health is urging people to be aware of the potential for marijuana to be laced with fentanyl, but some health experts are questioning the Governor’s warning.

Key Takeaways:

Ohio health experts are challenging Governor Mike DeWine’s recent warning about the potential for fentanyl-laced marijuana in the state.

The Ohio Department of Health issued a statement on June 3rd warning of the potential for marijuana to be laced with the powerful opioid.

Some Ohio health experts are challenging the Governor’s warning, saying that there is no evidence that fentanyl-laced marijuana is a widespread problem in the state.

The Ohio Department of Health is urging people to be aware of the potential for marijuana to be laced with fentanyl, but some health experts are questioning the Governor’s warning.

This article was sourced from NBC4 WCMH-TV.

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The disappearance of a young woman from rural Ohio in the summer of 2016 left behind chilling clues discovered in a dark cornfield and a so-called “barn of horrors” owned by a local man with a history of abduction.Sierah Joughin, 20, was on break from the University of Toledo when she vanished while riding her bicycle home from her boyfriend’s house on the evening of July 19, 2016. Her boyfriend had followed her on his motorcycle for part of the trip. At her request, the two parted ways a short distance from her home in the town of Metamora.“I remember exactly what I said. I kissed her, I told her I loved her and to text me when she got home,” Josh Kolasinski, Joughin's boyfriend, told ABC News.But Joughin never made it home, and that was the last time she was ever seen alive.PHOTO: Sierah Joughin is seen smiling in an undated photo. (Kellee Laser)A new “20/20” airing Oct. 27 at 9 p.m. ET explores the abduction case, featuring interviews from investigators and Joughin’s loved ones.After Joughin didn’t return home from the bike ride, her family alerted police. Later that evening, a sheriff’s deputy found her purple bicycle in a cornfield just a half mile away from the home.Megan Roberts, a special agent with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, got a call around 1 a.m. in the morning asking her to assist in processing the crime scene.MORE: Parents, investigators recall long quest for answers after Jacob Wetterling's 1989 abductionInvestigators combed the area and found more clues tucked into the cornfield -- a screwdriver, men’s sunglasses, a sock, a set of fuse boxes, motorcycle tracks and evidence of a struggle indicated by broken cornstalks and cornstalks with streaks of blood on them.“It made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. You just had this eerie feeling that you knew that this was an abduction site,” Roberts said.Authorities kept a tight lid on what they found and blocked the road leading to the site. Joughin’s family were left on edge and wondering what authorities had discovered.“They said, ‘We're not letting anybody down there,’” Joughin’s mom, Sheila Vaculik, told ABC News. “All's they could say was that they were investigating.”PHOTO: Sheila Vacuilk, the mother of Sierah Joughin, is seen in an interview. (ABC News)When the FBI alerted the family of the bike’s discovery the next morning, they knew something was seriously wrong. The community launched a massive search, walking through the cornfields and scanning for any signs of Joughin.Police received a bloodstained helmet from a farmer who found it on the side of the road the night Joughin went missing. The farmer brought it to police the next day when he saw the news of Joughin's disappearance.Based on the evidence, investigators believed someone riding a motorcycle was involved. They say they had to look at Joughin’s boyfriend as a potential suspect, since he rode a motorcycle and was the last person to see her alive, according to retired Cleveland FBI agent Vicki Anderson-Gregg, who worked on the case.Kolasinski cooperated with authorities. He drew a map for them of Joughin’s route showing where the couple departed and consented to searches of his residence, motorcycle and truck, according to investigators.Joughin’s family said Kolasinski took good care of Joughin and they never had any suspicion he was involved with her disappearance.“We weren't able to find anything that put us in the direction that Josh had any involvement,” investigator Mark Evans said.Having cleared her boyfriend, investigators then turned to the likelihood that a stranger may have abducted Joughin on her ride home, possibly in a crime of opportunity.A break in the case came while investigators were knocking on nearby residents' doors. Maj. Matt Smithmyer with the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office said there were several stops he wanted to make, one being the home of James Worley -- a man who lived on County Road 6 -- the same road that Joughin lived on. Investigators showed up on

just a hunch, but to their surprise, they said Worley began acting suspiciously and even made self-incriminating statements placing himself at the scene of Joughin's suspected abduction.“Mr. Worley makes a statement about how he was riding his motorcycle. And his bike is having issues. It sputters out. He goes into a cornfield. And he mentions that he lost his helmet, his fuses, his screwdriver and his sunglasses,” Cleveland FBI agent Devon Lossick said.PHOTO: Devon Lossick, special agent with FBI Cleveland, is seen in an interview. (ABC News)“I kind of had to stop my jaw from falling. None of that had been released to the media yet,” Lossick said.MORE: What happened to Arizona teen Alissa Turney, who disappeared in 2001?When police executed a search warrant on Worley’s barn, they found a crate filled with women’s lingerie and an empty, blood-stained freezer buried underground.Three days after Joughin’s disappearance, Worley was arrested and charged with her abduction. Later that day, Joughin’s body was discovered tied up, bound and gagged in a shallow grave in another cornfield 2 miles from Worley’s home. Worley was then hit with additional charges, including aggravated murder, kidnapping and felonious assault.Vaculik said of learning about the heart-wrenching discovery, “It was horrible. Everybody was sobbing and crying and falling to their knees. It was painful, and it just literally sucks the life right out of you."PHOTO: Sierah Joughin is seen posing in an undated photo. (Kellee Laser)Based on the forensic evidence collected at the abduction site and Worley’s barn, investigators believe Worley passed by Joughin on his motorcycle, hid in a cornfield further up the road, then attacked Joughin as she rode by on her bicycle, hitting her in the head with his helmet. They believe Worley then left the scene and returned with his truck, abducted her and took her to his barn, where he kept her until she asphyxiated and then disposed of her body.There was no evidence of sexual assault, according to investigators.Investigators say each crime scene was linked to Worley and Joughin through DNA found on the items obtained as evidence.But before Sierah Joughin there was Robin Gardner, a woman who was abducted by Worley under eerily similar circumstances in 1990 and lived to tell her story. She detailed her ordeal in an interview with ABC News.Gardner testified in court at the murder trial for Worley, who had pleaded guilty to abducting Gardner and served three years in prison.“I felt very strongly I had to be [Sierah’s] voice. I knew the fear. She wasn't there. I had to speak for her,” Gardner told ABC News.PHOTO: Robin Gardner is seen an undated photo. (Courtesy of Robin Gardner)Worley pleaded not guilty to all charges at his murder trial. His defense argued that the lack of Worley’s DNA on some of the evidence meant there was reasonable doubt he kidnapped and murdered Sierah.The jury found Worley guilty on all counts against him. He was sentenced to death and is on death row awaiting execution. His conviction was upheld by the Ohio Supreme Court, but Worley is now exploring a federal appeal.In 1996, Worley was questioned by police over the disappearance of Claudia Tinsley after her mother reported she last saw her daughter leaving in Worley’s car, retired Toledo police detective Rick Molnar said.Molnar said that Worley told police he drove around for 45 minutes before dropping her off. Worley denied playing any role in Tinsley’s disappearance, something he recently reiterated to "20/20" in a prison letter. He has never been charged with any crime related to the case.In the aftermath of the tragedy, Joughin’s aunt, Tara Ice, founded Justice for Sierah, a non-profit organization dedicated to making the community safer from repeat offenders. Their advocacy resulted in the passage of Sierah’s Law – an Ohio statute that created a searchable violent criminal database.“It’s just amazing that [Sierah] is continuing to make changes in this world,” said Cathy Shaffer, Sierah’s grandmother.

'Barn of horrors': Investigators recall clues that led to body of missing Ohio woman Sierah Joughin originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

Thomas Romano Convicted for Distributing Opioids

Pain Management Physician Thomas Romano, Convicted of Unlawfully Distributing Opioids (STL.News) A federal jury in the Southern District of Ohio convicted an Ohio physician, Thomas Romano, for unlawfully distributing opioids from his clinic. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Thomas Romano, 73, of Wheeling, West Virginia, owned and operated a self-named pain management clinic in Martin’s Ferry, to which individuals traveled hundreds of miles to obtain prescriptions for opioids and other controlled substances.  Romano charged $750 for an initial visit and $120 for subsequent monthly visits.  The prescriptions Romano issued for opioids and other controlled substances greatly exceeded recommended dosages. They were in dangerous, life-threatening combinations that fueled the addiction of the individuals to whom he prescribed.  Between October 2014 and September 2019, Romano prescribed over 137,000 pills, including opioids, benzodiazepines, and muscle relaxants, to nine individuals. The jury convicted Romano of 24 counts of unlawful distribution of a controlled substance outside the usual course of professional practice and not for a legitimate medical purpose to nine individuals.  He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each charge.  A sentencing date has not yet been set.  A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Kenneth L. Parker for the Southern District of Ohio, Special Agent in Charge Orville O. Greene of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Detroit Division, Special Agent in Charge J. William Rivers of the FBI Cincinnati Field Office, and Special Agent in Charge Mario M. Pinto of the Department of Health and Human Service Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG) made the announcement. The DEA, FBI, and HHS-OIG, as well as the Ohio Bureau of Worker’s Compensation and Ohio Board of Pharmacy, investigated this case. Assistant Chief Alexis Gregorian and Trial Attorneys Devon Helfmeyer and Danielle Sakowski of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section are prosecuting the case. The Fraud Section leads the Appalachian Regional Prescription Opioid (ARPO) Strike Force.  Since its inception in late 2018, ARPO has partnered with federal and state law enforcement agencies and U.S. Attorneys’ Offices throughout Alabama, Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia, Tennessee, and West Virginia to prosecute medical professionals and others involved in the illegal prescription and distribution of opioids.  Over the past four years, ARPO has charged over 115 defendants, collectively responsible for issuing prescriptions for over 115 million controlled substance pills.  To date, more than 60 ARPO defendants have been convicted.  More information can be found at www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/health-care-fraud-unit. SOURCE: U.S. Department of Justice Read the full article

Ta’Kiya Young had big plans for her growing family before police killed her in an Ohio parking lot

The body camera video of the fatal shooting was released by the Blendon Township Police Department on September 1, 2023.

Ta’Kiya Young treated her two little boys like kings, dressing them sharply, letting them have too many sweets, cooking them big gourmet meals of T-bone steak with broccoli, cheese and rice.

The royal life also awaited her unborn daughter.

When Young found out she was pregnant with her third child — a girl — she was thrilled. The 21-year-old Ohio mom and aspiring social worker bought a stack of adorable onesies in anticipation of the baby’s arrival. She scheduled a photo shoot to show off her baby bump. She applied for public housing and looked forward to the day when she and her growing brood would have a place to call their own.

Instead, Young’s grieving family prepared for her funeral on September 7, 2023, exactly two weeks after a police officer on August 24, in the Columbus suburbs fatally shot her in her car in a supermarket parking lot. The body camera video of the fatal shooting was released by the Blendon Township Police Department on September 1.

Their Aug. 24 encounter, captured on police bodycam video released last week, was the latest in a troubling series of fatal shootings of Black adults and children by Ohio police, and followed various episodes of police brutality against Black people across the nation over the past several years. The confrontations have prompted widespread protests and demands for police reform.

Young’s family wants the officer who shot her to be immediately fired and charged in her death and the death of her unborn child. The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is leading the investigation.

Ahead of Young’s funeral in Columbus, her grandmother, Nadine Young, who helped raise her, recalled Ta’Kiya (tah-KEYE’-ah) as a high-spirited prankster and a popular, “fun-loving, feisty young lady” who nevertheless struggled with the sudden death of her own mother last year, and who was just beginning to find her way in life.

Now the family is focusing on Ta’Kiya’s sons, ages 6 and 3. The oldest, Ja’Kobie, talks about his mother. The youngest, Ja’Kenlie, doesn’t quite understand she’s gone.

“We just show them a whole lot of love and let them know they’ve got a little village surrounding them and loving on them,” Nadine Young, accompanied by family attorney Sean Walton, said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Young said the video of Ta’Kiya’s violent death was heart-wrenching to watch, the shooting “void of any humanity or decency at all.”

In the video, an officer at the driver’s side window tells Ta’Kiya she’s been accused of shoplifting and orders her out of the car, while a second officer stands in front of the car. Young protests, both officers curse at her and yell at her to get out, and Young can be heard asking them, “Are you going to shoot me?”

Seconds later, she turns the steering wheel to the right, the car rolls slowly toward the officer standing in front of it, and the officer fires his gun through the windshield.

Nadine Young said she believes her granddaughter feared for her safety.

“I believe he was a bully,” she told a news conference on Wednesday, referring to the officer who shot Ta’Kiya. “He came at her like a bully, and that scared her with that baby in her stomach. She’s like scared, just a man walking up to her, cussing at her, and she not really knowing why.”

Walton, the family’s lawyer, said his firm is seeking the officer’s personnel file and wants to speak with people who’ve had interactions with him. He said one witness said the officer had previously arrested her 17-year-old son for jaywalking and told him “that his days were numbered,” Walton said.

He said the officer had no reason to even point his gun at Ta’Kiya, let alone fire it.

The officer “could’ve clearly just eased out of the way of that slow-moving vehicle but instead chose to shoot Ta’Kiya directly in her chest and kill her,” he said.

Before her death, Ta’Kiya Young had bounced around a bit, staying with her father in Sandusky and working as a ticket taker at Cedar Point amusement park. More recently, she’d been staying with her grandmother in the Columbus area, a few hours from Sandusky, to celebrate the family’s summer birthdays and participate in a remembrance of her mother, Dan’neka Hope, who’d died a year earlier.

Ta’Kiya’s mother’s death had “kind of messed with her,” Nadine Young said, and she urged her to get counseling. Ta’Kiya and her grandmother — both of them strong-willed — clashed at times. But their bond remained unshakable, and they spoke every day.

Despite Ta’Kiya’s struggles, a bright future seemed on the horizon for her. She intended to go back to school after the birth of the baby this fall. She had her sights set on a house.

“The struggle was going to be over once she got into the house,” Nadine Young said. “Her and the kids having this nice place, knowing it was theirs, and not having to stay with other people. That was the biggest thing in the world for her. She would’ve been set.”

This week, a notification from the public housing authority came in the mail.

She’d been approved.

“That hurt me to my core,” said Nadine Young, “because she was waiting for that letter.”

State, Federal Agencies Continue on Double Homicide Case in Belmont County

The chief deputy of the Belmont County Sheriff’s Office confirmed this week his department has continued working with state and federal investigators on the double homicide that took place in Belmont, Ohio on September 21, 2021. Firefighters responded to a 911 call that morning along Trails End Road, and once the blaze was extinguished, the first responders discovered the couple deceased. The victims were identified as the owners of two Salsa Joe’s locations, and Belmont County Sheriff Dave Lucas announced the day after that Tom and Angela had been murdered. “The first thing I want to make clear is that this is not a cold case in any way,” insisted Belmont County Chief James Zusack. “Chief Detective Ryan Allar is doing a superb job keeping the case very active by working it on a daily basis. It’s in no way a cold case because of the work that continues to be done on a weekly and daily basis. That’s how you have to do it because you just never know when a new piece of information may come our way. We have to be ready, and we are. The location of the two murders is in a nice neighborhood along U.S. 40 in Belmont, Ohio. “A case becomes a cold case when you run out of options … when there are no more leads to look into and when the technology has taken as far as you can go. And we are absolutely not there yet with this case. This case is very much active, and we want the family to know that as well as the citizens of Belmont County,” the chief deputy continued. “We do receive the occasional phone call, and we look into to every single lead we receive. That’s how we will solve this.” While Zusack refused to release many details in order to protect the ongoing investigation, he did confirm Allar and his detectives continue conversations with agents from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations and the Federal Bureau of Investigations. “It’s a complicated case. That I can tell you. But I have total confidence in my detectives division, and I have complete confidence in the state and federal investigators they’ve been working with since this tragedy too place a little more than two years ago,” said Zusack, who is a Republican candidate to become the next sheriff of Belmont County. “Our investigators speak with the state and federal agencies at least weekly and probably more often than that. It’s all about putting the pieces together. “We’ll take every opportunity we get to use resources that state and federal agencies have that we do not, and most often that involves something technological,” he explained. “This is an important case to solve so we’ll use all the help we can get from the state and federal investigators. Our detectives will work with those agencies for as long as it takes. I know they are just as determined as we are.” A little more than a year ago, members of the Strussion family financed billboards in three communities – Bridgeport, Wheeling, and St. Clairsville – and offered a $20,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the murderer or murderers. Salsa Joe's 740 along U.S. Route 40 was the first restaurant the Strussions opened. It is now the My Way Cafe operated by Strussion's sister, Lisa Balog, and her partner. At the time, Lisa Balog, sister of victim Tom Strussion, told WTRF TV-7 reporter D.K. Wright the following: “Look at my brother and sister-in-law’s face. People in the community have to have something that can help. Whether you think it’s nothing at all, it’s big to us. So please just take notice of them (the billboards), and if there’s any information you may have, reach out to the number that’s on the billboard and share it.” Chief Deputy Zusack said the billboards instigated phone calls, and he’s hopeful additional media coverage will do the same. “When the family put up those billboards, I know we received a lot of phone calls during the first month, and we followed every lead. I can’t comment if we discovered new information at that point, but the billboards did attract a lot of attention to the case, that’s for sure,” he said. “We want to keep this case on the minds of our residents in case something new comes to their mind that they haven’t told us yet. “Maybe someone saw something. Maybe someone said something,” Zusack said. “In a case like this one, we really don’t know where our next piece of information could come from.” Read the full article