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Nursing student murdered by roommate over cat argument: Cops

homesafetytechpros — Sun, 04 May 2025 23:43:11 +0000

Tamilore Odunsi (GoFundMe).

A nursing student in Texas who was just days away from graduating was stabbed to death by her roommate after an argument over their cats, authorities say.

Chester Lamar Grant, 40, is facing a murder charge in the April 26 death of 23-year-old U.K. native Tamilore Odunsi in Houston. Cops responded shortly before 4 p.m. to an apartment on the city’s southside for a welfare check. Officers knocked on the door but received no answer. Then they walked around to the back of the apartment where they found blood on the concrete patio. Cops entered the apartment and found Odunsi in the kitchen suffering from numerous stab wounds. Officers also discovered Grant in the bedroom with at least one stab wound. The victim was pronounced dead while Grant was taken to the hospital with critical injuries.

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Houston police told local CBS affiliate KHOU the two had been roommates for just a couple months and were in a spat over their cats. The argument escalated and Grant allegedly stabbed Odunsi before trying to take his own life. Police took Grant to the Harris County Jail on Saturday. He is being held on a $500,000 bond.

Odunsi’s family started a GoFundMe account for the woman known on TikTok as Tami Dollars or TD.

“Tami was a beautiful soul, full of light, ambition, and kindness,” the fundraiser reads. “She was just 23 years old. A devoted Christian, she was a God-fearing young woman who found strength and joy in her faith. She had a deep love for her church community, where she was actively involved and always eager to serve others with humility and grace.”

She dreamed of becoming a nurse and wanted to work with children in her new career.

Odunsi was set to graduate from nursing school just a few days before her murder, her family said. Her death is “an unimaginable loss at a moment that should have marked the beginning of a bright and promising future.”

Grant is slated to appear in court on Monday.

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Columbia student sues Trump admin over possible deportation

homesafetytechpros — Tue, 25 Mar 2025 19:23:29 +0000

President Donald Trump listens as Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, Monday, March 24, 2025 (Pool via AP).

A Columbia University student who is currently being chased down by the Trump administration has filed a lawsuit that aims to undercut the government’s ongoing search and apparent concomitant efforts to deport her.

Yunseo Chung is a lawful permanent resident who has lived in the United States since she was 7 years old, according to the complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on Tuesday. Though technically a Korean national, the U.S. is “the only country she has ever known,” the 48-page lawsuit explains.

The 21-year-old junior has a 3.99 GPA and is highly engaged in various extracurricular activities, the lawsuit notes. Before that, Chung was her high school’s valedictorian. But the plaintiff’s academic achievements have seemingly been overshadowed by her participation in protests related to the Israel-Hamas war, the lawsuit says.

“Since 2023, along with hundreds of her peers, Ms. Chung has also participated in some student protests and demonstrations on Columbia University’s campus related to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and the devastating toll it has taken on Palestinian civilians,” the lawsuit reads. “Ms. Chung has not made public statements to the press or otherwise assumed a high-profile role in these protests. She was, rather, one of a large group of college students raising, expressing, and discussing shared concerns.”

To hear Chung and her attorneys tell it, those low-profile rallying efforts have made her a marked woman in the Trump administration’s eyes — and, in turn, prompted government agents up and down the line to initiate a carbon copy of the process that resulted in fellow Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil’s administrative detention in a Louisiana lockup without charges.

On or around March 8, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its offshoot Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “began a series of unlawful efforts to arrest, detain, and remove Ms. Chung from the country because of her protected speech,” the lawsuit says.

While Chung seems to have evaded detention so far, on March 10, one of her attorneys fielded law enforcement requests and took note of increasingly aggressive efforts to search for and detain her.

The lawsuit explains, at length:

AUSA [Perry] Carbone stated that the Secretary of State had revoked Ms. Chung’s visa. Attorney [Naz] Ahmad explained that Ms. Chung is a U.S. permanent resident, and that she is not present in the United States on a visa.

AUSA Carbone then stated that “the Secretary of State has revoked that,” too. Counsel for Ms. Chung offered that the Secretary of State does not have the unilateral authority to revoke permanent resident status. When Attorney Ahmad inquired further, AUSA Carbone could not explain the justification for the government’s purported action.

Later that same day, AUSA Carbone texted Attorney Ahmad a copy of an administrative arrest warrant naming Ms. Chung. The administrative arrest warrant did not specify under which provision of the immigration law Ms. Chung would be subject to deportation.

Her lawyers, on the other hand, say the warrants were based on “false pretenses” and meant to arrest her because of the viewpoint of her protest activities.

“The government’s retaliation against Ms. Chung comes in a broader context of retaliation against other noncitizens who have exercised their First Amendment rights,” the lawsuit reads. “Officials at the highest levels of the federal government have made clear that they intend to use immigration enforcement to punish noncitizens who speak out in support of Palestinians and Palestinian rights, or who are perceived to have engaged in such speech.”

In both formal and germane terms, however, the government is being intentionally evasive about the present case, the complaint alleges.

Neither Chung nor her attorneys have been provided with a specific reason for why the government wants to “presumably” send her to South Korea, according to the lawsuit. Nor, has she actually been presented with an “order of removal,” the lawsuit acknowledges.

Rather, Chung likens her experience so far to Khalil’s and anticipates she will likely, if caught, be subject to similar administrative detention based on a “pattern and practice” by the Trump administration “of targeting individuals associated with protests for Palestinian rights.”

More Law&Crime coverage: ‘Y’all could’ve picked me up’: Judge rips Trump admin over deportations without due process, says government could have ‘thrown me on a plane’

The lawsuit cites Khalil’s controversial case analogously and briefly explains that he eventually received an ICE-issued notice to appear which cites a section of federal law that says: “[a]n alien whose presence or activities in the United States the Secretary of State has reasonable ground to believe would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States is deportable.”

Chung now believes she is being subjected to the same “foreign policy ground” and is moving to preempt the government’s would-be actions.

To that end, Chung’s complaint also contains a petition for a writ of habeas corpus — which serves to question the basic premise of the government’s actions in relation to protesters over the war.

The writ of habeas corpus is a 900-year-old legal protection afforded to persons against authoritarian impulses of law enforcement and government executives which allows an advocate to argue someone is being illegally confined, detained or imprisoned. It is generally considered the bedrock of the American and British legal systems.

More to the point, the writ also attempts to force the government to answer questions in court and fully account for its actions by forcing an administrative process — like ICE detention and deportation — into the more public light of a judicial process. In other words, the writ here is being sought to make sure the New York federal court retains authority over Chung’s case instead of ICE and an immigration judge.

Still, neither the plaintiff nor the government are actually confused.

While DHS and ICE have not formally issued a removal order for Chung’s deportation, they have issued a warrant. And, as the complaint notes, both President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have promised that the administration “will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported.”

The lawsuit takes issue with the government’s interpretation of the law and notes that many opponents of the widespread protest movement “mischaracterize peaceful protest and any speech in favor of Palestinian rights as inherently supportive of Hamas.”

So, while the Trump administration believes the stated “foreign policy” ground is the only thing necessary to deport any noncitizen based on its own subjective determination, the plaintiff-undergraduate says this decidedly vague premise is a violation of the First Amendment, the Fifth Amendment, and various federal laws — including immigration law.

“The issuance of the administrative arrest warrant, pursuant to the Rubio Determination, is motivated by Ms. Chung’s constitutionally protected past, current, or expected beliefs, statements, or associations,” the lawsuit reads. “The Foreign Policy Ground and its implementation through the Policy, the Rubio Determination, and Defendants-Respondents’ attempts to detain Ms. Chung violate her due process rights under the Fifth Amendment as unconstitutionally vague and violative of Ms. Chung’s substantive and procedural due process rights.”

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Chung’s legal effort is also not entirely unlike a shot across the bow as the government appears intent to replicate the Khalil situation with numerous foreign national students who have taken part in on-campus protests since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, which began on Oct. 7 when Hamas-led militants stormed out of Gaza into Israel and killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took around 250 people hostage. According to Gaza’s health ministry, more than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began, the majority of them women and children. Authorities in Gaza do not distinguish between civilians and Hamas fighters when reporting casualties.

“ICE’s shocking actions against Ms. Chung form part of a larger pattern of attempted U.S. government repression of constitutionally protected protest activity and other forms of speech,” the lawsuit goes on. “The government’s repression has focused specifically on university students who speak out in solidarity with Palestinians and who are critical of the Israeli government’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza or the pro-Israeli policies of the U.S. government and other U.S. institutions. Now, officials at the highest echelons of government are attempting to use immigration enforcement as a bludgeon to suppress speech that they dislike.”

The lawsuit pleads for the SDNY to take jurisdiction over the matter, bar the Trump administration’s “unlawful Policy of targeting noncitizens for removal based on First Amendment protected speech and advocacy for Palestinian rights” in general, bar the efforts targeting Chung in particular, issue an injunction that would specifically prohibit Chung’s detention and removal from the Empire State and the U.S., and a declaratory judgment that the anti-protester immigration offensive is broadly illegal and unconstitutional.

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Woman sentenced for stabbing college student up to 10 times

homesafetytechpros — Thu, 12 Dec 2024 15:08:48 +0000

This photo provided by the Bloomington Police Department shows Billie Davis (Bloomington Police Department via AP)

An Indiana woman has learned her fate for stabbing an 18-year-old Indiana University student with a folding knife between seven and 10 times in the head as the victim was riding a public bus to school, all because the victim was of Asian descent.

Billie Davis, 57, has been sentenced to six years in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release for committing a federal hate crime. Davis pleaded guilty in September to willfully causing bodily injury to a victim with a knife because the victim was of Chinese descent, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced in a press release.

The attack happened on Jan. 11, 2023. Davis stabbed the 18-year-old student as the victim stood up to get off the bus. The victim exited the bus, screaming in pain.

After the attack, Davis sat back down on the bus, where she remained until other passengers confronted her, and she got off the bus. But she was eventually arrested after a witness followed her and told police her whereabouts, authorities said.

The victim suffered serious wounds and cuts that required sutures and staples to heal, officials said.

In police custody, Davis described the victim to investigators as “some Asian f—ing c—,” prosecutors said. Davis told police she did it for her “being Chinese,” and this “would be one less person to blow up our country.”

In the press release, Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division upbraided the defendant.

“Racially motivated violence has no place in our society,” Clarke said. “This defendant targeted a young woman, who was simply riding a public bus to school, solely because she was Chinese. The sentence imposed for these vicious hate crimes should send a strong message that perpetrators of hate-fueled violence will be held accountable. The Justice Department is steadfast in its commitment to investigating and prosecuting hate crimes wherever they occur in our country.”

James Wimbush, the vice president for diversity, equity, and multicultural affairs at Indiana University, said shortly after the attack that the case was a sad reminder that “anti-Asian hate is real and can have painful impacts on individuals and our community.”

“No one should face harassment or violence due to their background, ethnicity or heritage,” he said. “Instead, the Bloomington and IU communities are stronger because of the vast diversity of identities and perspectives that make up our campus and community culture. To our Asian and Asian American friends, colleagues, students, and neighbors, we stand firmly with you.”

The university’s Asian Culture Center held an emergency meeting. Some students expressed concerns for their safety. Others recalled times they witnessed or experienced racial discrimination while riding the bus.

“We should not be fearing for our lives on public transportation,” the center said in a statement. “Taking the bus should not feel dangerous. The fact that the perpetrator announced that race was the motivation for her attack sends a jolt through our Asian community.”

Law&Crime reported in May 2023 that state charges of attempted murder, aggravated battery and battery by means of a deadly weapon were dismissed as Davis faced the federal hate crime charge.

The defendant’s son his mother suffers from severe mental illness, he said in an email to a Herald-Times reporter.

“I feel sorry for the victim, so sorry, it’s a sad situation all around but people need to know how bad my mom has been crying for help especially in the last couple months,” he wrote, the newspaper reported. “People need to know that she’s mentally ill and this is not her.”

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Is racism against whites ‘edgy and exciting’? Potential SCOTUS pick pens dissent supporting bullied student

homesafetytechpros — Thu, 28 Nov 2024 10:07:04 +0000

Education Law

Is racism against whites ‘edgy and exciting’? Potential SCOTUS pick pens dissent supporting bullied student

By Debra Cassens Weiss

November 18, 2024, 3:22 pm CST

The author of a Nov. 13 two-judge dissent in a case of a bullied student in Texas was Judge James C. Ho, who was joined by Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan. (Photo from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at New Orleans)

A Texas high school student who said he was bullied and harassed for being a white Trump supporter won’t be able to pursue his lawsuit under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act as a result of an evenly divided decision by a federal appeals court.

The split Nov. 13 decision of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at New Orleans had the effect of upholding a federal judge’s decision to dismiss the suit, report Bloomberg Law, Reuters and Law360. The plaintiff was a minor referred to as “B.W.”

The 5th Circuit’s decision noted the split, with nine judges on each side of the issue. Four justices explained why they thought that B.W. could not pursue his claim under Title VI, which bans discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin by recipients of federal funds.

Nine others judges explained why they disagreed, and two of those judges declared in a separate dissent that “our culture today increasingly accepts (if not celebrates) racism against whites.”

The author of the two-judge dissent was Judge James C. Ho, who was joined by Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan. Both have been mentioned as potential U.S. Supreme Court nominees if President-elect Donald Trump gets a chance to appoint a justice during his administration.

“It’s racist to characterize whites as racist,” Ho wrote. “Because it’s racist to attach any negative trait to a group of people based on their race. And it’s no less racist just because the victimized racial group is white.”

B.W. had alleged that he was “mocked, physically beaten and verbally abused” while a middle school and high school student at the Austin Independent School District in Texas, according to the nine-judge dissent written by Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod.

One student said he was going to “beat the s- – – out of” B.W. because he was white and then did so, B.W. alleged. A teaching aide referred to B.W. as “Whitey” and belittled him for struggling with lessons, asking, “Can’t figure this one out, Whitey” A teacher allegedly mocked B.W. for listening to “white gospel music,” another expressed concern about the number of white people, and a third objected to a white man talking about gender issues. One student made a meme of B.W. dressed as a Ku Klux Klansman.

The four-judge concurrence, written by Judge Priscilla Richman, said it is “sickening and reprehensible” that a student would have to be subjected to the treatment that B.W. alleged.

But the suit makes clear that B.W. was bullied and harassed because of his political beliefs and the contrary beliefs held by classmates, the concurrence said. Any bullying based on race was not so severe and pervasive that it deprived him of educational opportunities, Richman said.

Elrod’s dissent said the suit should survive because the allegations “plausibly amount to severe, pervasive and objectively offensive racial harassment.”

Ho’s dissent noted that the Supreme Court recently granted cert in Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services to decide whether courts may require members of majority groups suing under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act to present special evidence of “background circumstances” to support their claims.

The plaintiff in the Supreme Court case, Mariam Ames, is a straight white woman who alleges that she was demoted from an administrator position that was then filled by a gay man, according to previous coverage by Law.com. She had unsuccessfully sought a promotion for a job later filled by a gay woman.

Federal appeals courts are split on whether majority group members must make a special showing in discrimination cases, Ho wrote in his dissent in the B.W. case.

There should be no dispute that white people are entitled to the same legal protections as any other racial group, Ho said.

Ho said law professors teach that angry white people are fearful of racial diversity, and white evangelicals are waging war on democracy. University students are told that talking to white people can “suck you dry.”

“So it’s not surprising that more institutions increasingly believe that they have cultural permission to tolerate (if not encourage) racism against whites, under the guise of promoting diversity,” Ho wrote. “Racism is now edgy and exciting—so long as it’s against whites.”

Martin Cirkiel, a lawyer for the student, told Reuters that he will ask the Supreme Court to hear the case, B.W. v. Austin Independent School District.

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Uber driver raped college student in her dorm room: Police

homesafetytechpros — Sun, 06 Oct 2024 11:34:27 +0000

Background: Villanova University (YouTube). Inset: Mirvan Dinler (Delaware County (Penn.) District Attorney’s Office).

Police in Pennsylvania have arrested an Uber driver who allegedly followed a college student into her on-campus dorm room and raped her after bringing her home.

Mirvan Dinler, 26, was arrested on Friday, Philadelphia ABC affiliate WPVI reported. The assault allegedly occurred the night of Sept. 13, according to the station.

The victim, who has not been publicly identified, was reportedly out with friends in Philadelphia for a birthday party that night. She apparently started feeling ill during a ride to a nightclub, so she decided to go home. Her friends reportedly waited with her until her Uber arrived to take her back to her dorm.

The driver of that Uber was Dinler, police say. He allegedly picked her up at around 10:19 p.m. and arrived at the university almost an hour later, at 11:08 p.m., according to the WPVI report.

He then is said to have followed her into her dorm room after her dropping her off. He allegedly raped her and forced her to perform oral sex, police say.

Dinler left, but then allegedly came back and demanded that the victim give him money for what he said was a mess in his car. She allegedly handed him her phone, which Dinler purportedly used to send $150 via Venmo. He finally left after that, WPVI says.

The student reported the alleged attack to university officials the following week. A spokesperson for Villanova reportedly said that the driver had been banned from Villanova property during the pendency of the investigation.

Court records show that Dinler is charged with rape, indecent assault, and reckless endangerment. Several of the charges are enhanced because the victim, having had multiple drinks that night, is deemed a “substantially impaired person.”

Uber said in a statement that Dinler is no longer with the ride-share service.

“Sexual assault is a devastating crime that has no place in our society, Uber said in a statement, according to CBS News Philadelphia. “We are appalled by what’s been described, and banned the driver as soon as this was reported to us. We will assist law enforcement however we can.”

Court records indicate Dinler was unable to post bail and is currently being held that the Delaware County Prison. He has a hearing scheduled for Oct. 17.

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French teacher settles with school board over firing

homesafetytechpros — Fri, 04 Oct 2024 10:05:18 +0000

Peter Vlaming in 2018. (WRIC)

A French teacher has settled with the Virginia school board that fired him for refusing to use a transgender boy’s pronouns.

Peter Vlaming will receive $575,000 in damages and attorneys’ fees, said his legal team at the Alliance Defending Freedom, a far-right advocacy organization known for filing lawsuits aimed at rolling back the rights of gay, lesbian, and transgender people.

“I was wrongfully fired from my teaching job because my religious beliefs put me on a collision course with school administrators who mandated that teachers ascribe to only one perspective on gender identity — their preferred view,” he said in a statement. “I loved teaching French and gracefully tried to accommodate every student in my class, but I couldn’t say something that directly violated my conscience. I’m very grateful for the work of my attorneys at Alliance Defending Freedom to bring my case to victory, and hope it helps protect every other teacher and professor’s fundamental First Amendment rights.”

More Law&Crime coverage: Pair of Trump-appointed federal judges blocks Biden efforts to protect transgender students

West Point Public Schools Superintendent Larry Frazier told Newport News outlet The Daily Press that “we are pleased to be able to reach a resolution that will not have a negative impact on the students, staff or school community of West Point.”

The Virginia Supreme Court last December reinstated Vlaming’s lawsuit, which the Circuit Court of King William County had previously dismissed.

“[N]o government committed to these principles can lawfully coerce its citizens into pledging verbal allegiance to ideological views that violate their sincerely held religious beliefs,” the decision also said. The judges found that the lower court “erred dismissing this claim on demurrer on the ground that Vlaming’s factual allegations, even if assumed to be true, were insufficient as a matter of law to state a free-exercise claim” under Virginia law.

In its ruling, the Virginia High Court said that hurt feelings are sometimes the cost of free speech.

“When religious liberty merges with free-speech protections, as it does in this case, mere ‘objectionable’ and ‘hurtful’ religious speech or, as in this case, nonspeech, is not enough to meet this standard,” the opinion said.

Justice Thomas Peter Mann, who concurred in part and dissented in part, said he agreed with the majority opinion that the circuit court made a mistake and that Vlaming’s lawsuit was “legally viable.” Nonetheless, he said the majority mishandled their analysis of the plaintiff’s claims.

“Regarding Vlaming’s free-exercise claim, the majority establishes a sweeping super scrutiny standard with the potential to shield any person’s objection to practically any policy or law by claiming a religious justification for their failure to follow either,” he wrote (citations omitted). “Justice Antonin Scalia, writing on behalf of the Supreme Court of the United States, warned that interpreting a free exercise clause so broadly would permit an individual ‘to become a law unto himself.’ Under the majority’s analytical framework, all laws and regulations must yield to an individual’s invocation of religious freedom unless doing so results in ‘overt acts against peace and good order.’ I disagree.”

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Man attacks college student after she gave him ride: Cops

homesafetytechpros — Mon, 16 Sep 2024 10:28:49 +0000

Darrell Scott Brooks (Anderson County Sheriff’s Office)

A good Samaritan interrupted the attempted sexual assault of a South Carolina college student by a convicted sex offender recently released from prison, authorities said.

Darrell Scott Brooks, 57, is facing a litany of charges including kidnapping, grand larceny and assault with the intent to commit criminal sexual conduct, the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office said. Deputies say Brooks asked the Clemson University student for a ride at an off-campus apartment complex late Tuesday, telling her he worked at the school and his car had “broken down.”

‘Legs flailing out of the trunk’: Florida man wearing ankle monitor attempts kidnapping in Walmart parking lot, police say

As she drove the man toward campus, Brooks allegedly forced her to pull into a church parking lot where he attacked her with a “folding razor blade knife” before pinning her down. A good Samaritan happened to be driving by and heard the woman yelling for help. The woman was able to escape with the help of the good Samarian. Brooks then allegedly stole the woman’s vehicle and took off.

Deputies from the neighboring Oconee County Sheriff’s Office saw Brooks crash in the Seneca area after fleeing from them when they tried to conduct a traffic stop, authorities said. They then took him to the Oconee County Detention Center. Clemson University officials are in contact with the student to make sure she has the resources she needs during the recovery process.

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White male law student settles suit against Chicago Bears over ‘legal diversity fellow’ position

homesafetytechpros — Fri, 13 Sep 2024 06:12:53 +0000

Law Students

White male law student settles suit against Chicago Bears over ‘legal diversity fellow’ position

By Debra Cassens Weiss

September 5, 2024, 10:36 am CDT

A student at the DePaul University College of Law has settled a lawsuit claiming that the Chicago Bears football team refused to consider him for a “legal diversity fellow” position because he is a white man. (Photo from Shutterstock)

Law student Jonathan Bresser Jr. had alleged race and sex discrimination in his March 11 suit, filed in federal court for the Northern District of Illinois.

A notice posted by the court clerk said the parties had reached a binding settlement agreement, Law360 reports.

The Chicago Bears posted the fellowship position in November 2023. The posting said the team was looking for a “person of color and/or female law student,” according to Bresser’s suit. Bresser said he met all other requirements when he applied for the job.

Bresser noted that he had more than two years of experience as a litigation paralegal at the Trent Law Firm, which represented him in the case.

Hat tip to Above the Law and TaxProf Blog, which noted the suit resolution.

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Principal, teacher couple sexually abused student: Deputies

homesafetytechpros — Mon, 04 Mar 2024 10:16:56 +0000

David Alan Wakefield and Rachel Jean Wakefield sexually abused a student who attended Damascus Christian School, deputies said. (Mug shots: Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office)

A husband and wife are charged with sexually abusing a student while holding prominent roles at Damascus Christian School in Damascus, Oregon. David Alan Wakefield, 60, had been the principal and athletic director until 2020 while his wife, Rachel Jean Wakefield, 54, was a substitute teacher and coach.

Authorities in Clackamas County claim the two abused a student for approximately four years, starting when she was 14. Detectives worry that there could be more victims, and accordingly, they are seeking information from the public.

From deputies:

Anyone with information on possible additional criminal activity by David and Rachel Wakefield is urged to contact the Sheriff’s Office Tip Line — by phone at 503-723-4949 or by using the online form. Please reference CCSO Case # 22-020999.

You can submit online tips here.

A grand jury indicted the Wakefields on Feb. 20, with the husband facing 20 counts of sex abuse in the second degree, and the wife for 11 counts of sex abuse in the second degree.

David Wakefield was aware of the allegations since 2021 and turned himself in when charges were filed, his attorney, Barry Engle, wrote in court, according to The Oregonian.

“Dave and Rachel Wakefield have been valued members of the Clackamas County community for their lives,” he and Rachel Wakefield’s attorney, Zach Stern, reportedly said in a joint statement. “They deny the charges and look forward to the day when the truth comes out.”

Damascus Christian School said they were “heartbroken” to hear about the charges filed against the Wakefields.

“Although this couple have not been connected to the church or school for some time, Damascus Community Church and Christian School still take these reports very seriously and the safety of our students and staff is a top priority,” the school wrote in a statement released Thursday. “If requested, we will fully cooperate with law enforcement and the courts during this process. If you have any additional information regarding these charges or other allegations, we encourage you to contact the Clackamas County Sherriff’s Office directly. Please join us in praying for all those involved in this situation.”

More Law&Crime coverage: Christian school teacher tried to kill husband by poisoning smoothies, caught on secret surveillance cameras, cops say

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Student suffers cut by samurai sword in sword fight

homesafetytechpros — Wed, 28 Feb 2024 02:37:46 +0000

A lawsuit was filed after a teacher brought in swords and held sword fights, and a student was hospitalized in New Mexico. (Image from lawsuit)

The guardians of a high school student in New Mexico who was hacked in the wrist by a samurai sword during “school-sponsored sword fighting,” requiring a trip to the emergency room, have filed a lawsuit in the case, according to a lawsuit.

The lawsuit, filed Feb. 23, said the “school-sponsored sword fighting” happened in a chemistry class at Volcano Vista High School in Albuquerque on May 2, 2022. A sophomore was taken to the ER after one of the fights and has been suffering from permanent physical and psychological injuries from the trauma, the lawsuit says.

“It was total shock,” family attorney Jessica Hernandez told FOX New Mexico affiliate KRQE. “Not only did this teacher and APS (Albuquerque Public Schools) not protect this child, but actively put her in harm’s way, actively created this danger, and put deadly weapons right into these student’s hands and exactly what could reasonably be anticipated is what happened.”

The complaint obtained by Law&Crime said the teacher brought in a “surprise” that day — two swords, a katana-style sword with a long, curved blade and a rapier-style weapon that the teacher called “props.” She instructed the students to rearrange their desks, creating a space in the middle of the classroom and encouraged her students to fight one another for two minutes each while other students shot video on their phones.

In the video, a student can be seen wielding the heavy katana sword. He appears to wield it defensively by parrying the other student’s attacks, moving backward, and retreating away while holding a lighter, longer rapier-style blade. He makes stabbing motions toward the other student as teacher Loviata Mitchell looks on.

The next match drew blood.

A lawsuit was filed after a teacher brought swords, including a samurai-style sword, and held sword fights in a classroom in New Mexico. (Image from lawsuit)

A student identified in court documents as N.S. was struck across the right forearm, wrist, and hand by a student holding a katana-style sword. The injury caused intense physical pain and heavy bleeding, court documents said.

Immediately after N.S. was cut, Mitchell said, “I’m in trouble!” The lawsuit said she ordered her students to delete their videos, refrain from posting anything about the fights online, and not tell anyone.

As N.S. bled, Mitchell tried to call the health office, “but she could not figure out how to do so” and did not immediately call 911, the lawsuit alleges.

Mitchell allowed N.S. to call her grandfather for help — about 20 minutes after N.S. was cut.

“As N.S. began to feel nauseous and weak from blood loss, another student ran to the VVHS health office for medical assistance,” court documents said.

Shortly after that, a school health assistant arrived in Mitchell’s classroom, called 911, and began providing first aid — about 30 minutes after N.S. had been cut. The student was taken to an emergency room where she was treated for “a gaping wound on her right wrist” an hour after being cut by a “real sword consistent with [a] ‘samurai sword’ style item,” Albuquerque Fire Department EMS staff dispatched to the scene noted, court documents said.

The assistant principal’s official school accident report said the teacher brought a “prop” to school for a lesson on “metal and melding (science)” and that the student accidentally cut the other student with it.”

Albuquerque Public Schools did not comment on the lawsuit, citing a policy against commenting on pending litigation, KQRE reported, adding Mitchell was hired as a special-education teacher in 2021 and was terminated in 2022.

The lawsuit seeks an undisclosed amount for medical expenses, pain and suffering, lost future earnings, loss of mobility, and psychological and emotional distress.

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