Police arrest driver of murder suspect
NEW KENSINGTON, Pa. — Police in suburban Pittsburgh said they arrested the driver of an SUV who fled a traffic stop, leaving a man behind — a passenger who fatally shot a rookie police officer.
State police on Monday continued to search for the passenger, 29-year-old Rahmael Sal Holt, who is accused of killing New Kensington officer Brian Shaw during a traffic stop Friday night.
On Sunday, police arrested Tavon Jamere Harper, who they said fled the traffic stop after Holt bolted from the SUV. Police found Harper on Saturday with $2,500 cash and bags of suspected heroin, according to a criminal complaint, resulting in his being charged with drug and fleeing counts. He does not face charges in connection with Shaw’s death.
District Attorney John Peck said Shaw attempted to pull over the SUV for a minor traffic violation. The SUV never came to a complete stop.
Authorities said the 25-year-old rookie officer was shot in the chest while chasing Holt on foot.
Officers from different towns and municipalities pitched in on the manhunt so the town’s Police Department could grieve Shaw’s death and attend services, New Kensington Mayor Tom Guzzo said.
S.C. lacks drug for scheduled execution
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Officials said Monday that they can’t carry out South Carolina’s first death penalty in more than six years because the state can’t get the drugs needed for lethal injection, but remaining appeals make it unlikely the execution could have moved forward as scheduled anyway.
Last week, the Department of Corrections received its first execution order in more than six years. State Supreme Court justices set a Dec. 1 execution date for Bobby Wayne Stone, a 52-year-old man on death row for killing a Sumter County sheriff’s deputy.
Corrections Director Bryan Stirling said Monday that efforts to find a supplier for one drug in the state’s execution protocol, pentobarbital, have failed because drug companies don’t want it publicly known they provide execution drugs. The state’s supply expired in 2013.
Stirling has repeatedly asked lawmakers to pass a law allowing the state to keep the providers of execution drugs a secret.
Other states, including Arkansas, have struggled with finding companies willing to sell the drugs.
South Carolina currently has 39 inmates on death row.
Sanctuary-city edict permanently barred
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge on Monday permanently blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order to cut funding from cities that limit cooperation with U.S. immigration authorities.
U.S. District Judge William Orrick rejected the administration’s argument that the executive order applies only to a relatively small pot of money and said Trump cannot set new conditions on spending approved by Congress.
The judge had previously made the same arguments in a ruling that put a temporary hold on the executive order targeting so-called sanctuary cities. The Trump administration has appealed that decision to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
An email to a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Justice was not immediately returned.
Orrick’s ruling came in lawsuits brought by two California counties, San Francisco and Santa Clara.
San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera said the ruling was “a victory for the American people and the rule of law.”
Worker dies in N.Y. factory fire, blasts
NEW WINDSOR, N.Y. — Authorities recovered the body of a worker reported missing after two explosions and a fire at a New York cosmetics factory left 30 to 35 people injured, including seven firefighters caught in the second blast, officials said Monday.
“A deceased male employee was recovered from the plant fire at approximately 7:40 p.m.,” Orange County spokesman Justin Rodriguez said in a statement Monday night. He gave no additional details.
The first explosion occurred around 10:15 a.m. Monday at the Verla International cosmetics factory, New Windsor police said. Firefighters who responded were inside when the second explosion occurred around 10:40 a.m.
Up to 35 people were being treated for injuries, Town Supervisor George Green said. Two firefighters were taken to the burn unit at Westchester Medical Center, he said. None of the injuries appear to be life threatening.
A Section on 11/21/2017
