THE TRUTH ABOUT: 9 | History Defined

Brickbat: Are You Sure That's You?

A federal judge has awarded $1.5 million to a family after their two children, a boy and a girl who are U.S. citizens, were wrongly detained at the U.S.-Mexico in 2019. The family lives in Mexico, but the children attend school in the United States. As they attempted to cross…

Reason · Jul 3, 2024

Brickbat: You Don't Want To See This

For almost eight years, California law enforcement officials kept a death in police custody secret, labeling the case an "accident" and refusing to disclose basic information to journalists and the family of the victim, according to an investigation by Open Vallejo. Darryl Mefferd had seemed disoriented and dehydrated and was…

Reason · Jun 18, 2024

Brickbat: Close Enough for the Feds

Federal agents arrested Penny McCarthy at gunpoint outside her home in Phoenix. They insisted that she was Carole Anne Rozak, a fugitive wanted on a 1999 warrant for probation violation in Oklahoma. At first, the U.S. Marshals Service said McCarthy's fingerprints matched Rozak's, but they later admitted the prints did…

Reason · Apr 30, 2024

Brickbat: Paint It Black

Victor Silva Sr. says he used to paint over graffiti on the fence of his home in Oakland, California. But the 102-year-old adds that since he has been confined to a wheelchair that has been difficult. City officials don't seem to have any sympathy for Silva's plight: They sent him…

Reason · Apr 5, 2024

Brickbat: Science Doesn't Lie, but Scientists Do

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) says it has found that former CBI forensic scientist Yvonne "Missy" Woods manipulated data in the DNA testing process or posted incomplete test results in hundreds of cases. The CBI says it has found 652 cases affected by Woods' work between 2008 and 2023,…

Reason · Mar 29, 2024

Brickbat: Unsafe at Home

Mayor Earl Johnson of Andalusia, Alabama, has apologized to Twyla Stallworth after an officer entered her home and arrested her for not showing her identification. Under Alabama law, police officers can only demand ID from someone who is in a public place and has committed a crime or whom they…

Reason · Mar 27, 2024

Brickbat: Pint-Sized Prison

A girl in the United Kingdom's Wetherby Young Offender Institution twice had her clothes removed while being restrained by an all-male team of prison officers, according to a report by the Inspectorate of Prisons. The girl was reportedly trying to use her clothes to harm herself. Wetherby is a correctional…

Reason · Mar 18, 2024

Brickbat: Swift Justice

King County Prosecuting Attorney Leesa Manion said she won't file felony charges against Officer Kevin Dave of the Seattle Police Department, who fatally struck Jaahnavi Kandula with his patrol car in January 2023. "Our legal analysis reveals that the PAO (Prosecuting Attorney's Office) lacks sufficient evidence to prove beyond a…

Reason · Mar 14, 2024

Brickbat: Taking the Piss

A man says he was threatened with arrest after his dog urinated on a public street in Bournemouth, England. Steve Schuurman said an "aggressive" female Dorset police officer shouted at him to "clear your fucking dog piss." Schuurman said he would have cleaned up if his dog had defecated but…

Reason · Mar 6, 2024

Brickbat: Watch What You Say

In Canada, Charlie Angus, a New Democratic Party member of Parliament, has introduced a bill that would make it illegal "to promote a fossil fuel, a fossil fuel-related brand element or the production of a fossil fuel." Regular citizens who violate the act would face a fine of up to…

Reason · Mar 4, 2024