Knowfacts

Shocking video captured the moment an Ohio elementary school cafeteria worker forced a fourth-grade girl to eat a waffle she had thrown in the trash in a disturbing incident that led to a federal lawsuit and the firing of the lunch lady and the school's principal. The nine-year-old student, who is black, was ordered to finish her meal after the white lunch monitor, identified as Monika Sommers-Fridenstine, fished the lunch from a trash bin at Palm Elementary in Lorain - as the principal stood by and did nothing, according to the civil rights lawsuit. The footage of the early December incident was released last week by Lorain City Schools following a public records request. 'We see in this video, she throws her lunch away like thousands of students do across the country do every day,' said Jared Klebanow, the lawyer representing the girl's family. 'For one reason or another, this monitor pulls the waffle from the garbage, holds it out like she doesn’t even want to l...

Cheyenne, Wyoming — Wyoming's first Black sheriff last year fired a White deputy who is accused of tormenting a Black subordinate for years with racist name-calling that led him to quit, a new federal lawsuit reveals. Albany County Patrol Sergeant Christian Handley once drove past and yelled a profanity and the N-word at Corporal Jamin Johnson while Johnson and his wife and children were walking out of their home, according to one example of racism alleged in the discrimination lawsuit filed last week. "Mr. Handley later apologized for having not realized that Mr. Johnson's family was present, as if his vile racism was otherwise acceptable," the lawsuit says. Johnson is suing Handley, seeking a jury trial if necessary and damages for the years of racism that he says led up to his decision to quit in 2017. The allegations put a new spotlight on the sheriff's office in Laramie, the Albany County seat known for the murder of gay University of Wyoming student Matthew ...

A federal judge has sentenced a former Oklahoma police officer to 25 years in prison for the 2014 killing of his daughter’s boyfriend. Shannon Kepler was convicted of killing the man in a fourth trial, but the Supreme Court ruled Oklahoma lacks jurisdiction in crimes on tribal reservations. A former Oklahoma police officer was sentenced Friday to 25 years in prison for the 2014 killing of his daughter’s boyfriend after being convicted of second-degree murder the fifth time he went on trial in the case. U.S. District Judge Gregory Frizzell sentenced Shannon Kepler, 61, to 300 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release. He also ordered Kepler, a former Tulsa police officer, to pay restitution to cover the cost of a headstone for Jeremey Lake, who was 19 years old when Kepler killed him. “Kepler, at the time, was sworn to uphold the law but instead made a series of decisions that led to the young man’s murder,” U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson said in a statement. “Today’s...

A woman who dragged a state trooper onto a highway with her SUV appealed her sentence, arguing that it was unnecessarily harsh. What the court decided was even worse than she could have imagined. Brittany Burnett was sentenced to 5 years in prison along with 364 days in a county jail for causing serious injury to a police officer when she dragged him onto a highway ramp with her vehicle. However, despite appealing her conviction, the 27-year-old New York woman just might regret trying to get her sentence overturned after hearing the court’s latest decision. After pulling her over for blocking a bus lane and refusing to move, New Jersey State Trooper Michael Delgaizo was walking toward Burnett’s parked SUV when he suddenly heard her shift into drive, NorthJersey.com reports. The officer slapped the hood of the car and yelled at the driver to “put the car in park.” Instead, Burnett moved forward, hitting the trooper’s knee. Delgaizo quickly reached into the driver’s window to unlock th...