Michigan ex-trooper guilty in Taser crash
DETROIT -- A former Michigan state trooper was convicted of involuntary manslaughter Wednesday in his second trial in the death of a Detroit teenager who crashed an all-terrain vehicle and died when he was shot with a Taser.
Mark Bessner, who had a history of misconduct allegations involving Taser use, fired the immobilizing device from the passenger seat of a patrol car while he and his partner chased 15-year-old Damon Grimes in August 2017. State police officials condemned his conduct and agreed that criminal charges were appropriate.
Bessner said he believed the teen was reaching for a gun in his waistband. The boy, however, didn't have a weapon.
The prosecutor's witnesses included a state police lieutenant who explained that a Taser can be considered a tool of deadly force in certain circumstances. Jurors also heard an audio clip of Bessner wishing he could have used a Taser in a different ATV incident.
Bessner was charged with second-degree murder, but the jury opted for the lesser charge after deliberating for one day.
Tear gas ends Utah Burger King standoff
SALT LAKE CITY -- A Utah man who was wanted in a weekend shooting barricaded himself inside a Salt Lake City area fast-food restaurant and fired several times at police during an overnight standoff that ended when the man surrendered after officers fired tear gas into the restaurant, authorities said Wednesday.
Joshua Williams, 36, was arrested early Wednesday after firing about 10 rounds at officers during a six-hour standoff at a Burger King in Magna, Utah, said Unified Police Sgt. Melody Gray.
No one was injured, she said.
Officers had been searching for Williams since Saturday after several shots were fired at a woman who was letting him stay in her house, said Lt. Dan Bartlett of the suburban Cottonwood Heights Police Department.
Bartlett said officers were in Magna looking for Williams on Tuesday night when Burger King employees called police to report a man had locked himself in the bathroom and was refusing to leave at closing time.
When police arrived, Williams pointed a gun at the officers, Gray said. Officers left along with the restaurant employees, set up a perimeter and called in the SWAT team. That team filled the restaurant with gas several times until about 5:30 a.m. when Williams finally told a robot sent inside the restaurant that he wanted to leave.
Size of U.S. nuke stockpile now a secret
WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump's administration has halted, without explanation, the recent U.S. government practice of disclosing the current size of the nuclear weapons stockpile.
The decision was revealed in a recent Department of Energy letter to the Federation of American Scientists, a private group that studies nuclear weapons issues and advocates for government openness on national security issues.
President Barack Obama's administration, in May 2010, had declassified for the first time the full history of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile from its beginning in 1945.
As recently as last year, the Trump administration had disclosed that the stockpile consisted of 3,822 nuclear warheads as of Sept. 30, 2017, down 196 warheads from the year before. The 2017 figure was made public in response to a request by the scientists group, which asked for a 2018 update in October.
"After careful consideration ... it was determined that the requested information cannot be declassified at this time," the Energy Department wrote in an April 5 letter responding to the federation's request.
The Pentagon did not respond Wednesday to a request for comment.
N.Y. expands college aid to vets' kin
NEW YORK -- New York state will grant free state tuition and room and board to the families of New York military members killed or disabled while on duty, Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday.
The move comes after President Donald Trump and Republican state lawmakers criticized a decision by Democrats in the state Assembly to block legislation that would have expanded an existing scholarship for Gold Star families.
The state had already covered tuition for dependents and spouses of service members killed or disabled in combat or in training -- but that didn't cover all military deaths or injuries.
Cuomo said Wednesday that there was no need to wait for lawmakers to act, and he had already directed state higher education officials to expand the existing Military Enhanced Recognition Incentive and Tribute scholarship program immediately.
The expanded scholarship will offer children and spouses free tuition and room and board to public colleges and universities -- or an equivalent scholarship to attend private schools. The scholarship offered recipients living on campus a maximum of $24,250 and commuting recipients $15,750 for the 2018-2019 school year.
The expansion is expected to cost "several million dollars," according to Cuomo, who said it was a small price to honor the sacrifice of fallen service members and their families.
A Section on 04/18/2019