Free Republic

As the City of Los Angeles struggled to reduce pedestrian deaths after its deadliest year in decades, state lawmakers have repealed jaywalking laws in the name of equity. And one high-profile prosecutor questioned whether the new rules are saving any lives. So far this year, according to the Los Angeles Police Department, the city is on track to see a reduction from 2022's 20-year high in pedestrian fatalities. But nearly three-quarters of the deaths involved potential jaywalkers. Deputy District Attorney John McKinney, the DA candidate who landed a life prison sentence for the man who killed rapper Nipsey Hussle, is...

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed a law Friday that will decriminalize jaywalking across California, ending the familiar practice of police handing out tickets to pedestrians on the argument that the law is enforced more often against minorities than other people. The new law, AB 2147, known as the “Freedom to Walk Act,” could bring an end to a cultural difference that has marked otherwise libertine Californians as being uniquely deferential to laws governing pedestrian traffic. The difference between Californians, who ostensibly tend to obey “don’t walk” signals, and urban dwellers elsewhere in the country, who are notoriously defiant when it...

Former Vice President Joe Biden is facing renewed scrutiny about his stance on the death penalty amid a re-surfaced video from the '90s in which he boasted that sweeping crime legislation he helped write did “everything but hang people for jaywalking.” The 2020 presidential hopeful is struggling to thread the needle between embracing his decades-long experience in the Senate, where he gained a reputation as a centrist Democrat, and connecting with a party base that has moved increasingly left on numerous issues including law and order. On top of controversial remarks this week over his past work with segregationist senators,...

Tulsa police have released body camera footage from two officers who arrested a black teenager and handcuffed a second for jaywalking last week. The videos were released in response to social media messages from the community about the arrest, police said. The videos appear to have been blurred and redacted by police to conceal the teenagers' identities. Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum said in a statement Wednesday that the incident is under investigation. "I want every kid in Tulsa to feel safe to walk down the street in their neighborhood. No Tulsa kid should have to fear being tackled and cuffed...

When did a republic extricate itself from imminent tyranny through the election of better or more virtuous people? Perhaps Article V opponents will point to the election of President Trump. There’s no doubt that he is a reprieve, but a reprieve is just that, a temporary interruption, a finger in the dike to the tide of tyranny.1 Can we somehow do likewise with Congress and Scotus? Just elect better congressmen and senators who in turn will only consent to conservative judges? Is it reasonable to believe we can do with Congress in the future what we haven’t done since the...

The 57-year-old man was hit by a pick-up truck Tuesday evening in Hackensack. The Record reports police say he was not in a crosswalk when he was hit.

A report in the Huffington Post outlines some tremors within the activist civil rights division of the Department of Justice following the election: (Via HuffPo) […] Former DOJ official Jonathan Smith, whose work included the Civil Rights Division’s investigation into widespread unconstitutional behavior by the Ferguson Police Department, said he suspects many attorneys within the division are already preparing to depart.

ITHACA, N.Y. -- This weekend Ithaca Police will have extra officers patrolling the streets on the lookout for unsafe and intolerable activity - in particular, violations committed by pedestrians. Police say extra officers will be on patrol from July 22 to July 25 during various hours of the day and night. A release by police advises that "officers will utilize a zero tolerance approach for all violations observed." The department says the goal is to increase pedestrian safety on Ithaca's streets, sidewalks and crosswalks.

It allegedly started with her jogging in her toe shoes and sporting headphones. It ended in video of her screaming and being led away in handcuffs. What happened in between is a matter of debate, but video showing parts of the incident is certainly gaining traction online. Whatever the woman did to get the attention of Austin, Texas police, a witness’ video of cops detaining her on a city sidewalk Thursday morning then escorting her to a nearby squad car indicate she was not happy with their actions.(snip) Student Chris Quintero, who the Daily Texan reported witnessed the arrest, said...

Now he’s jaywalking! Mayor de Blasio and his security detail crossed a Brooklyn street against the light Friday on his way to his morning workout – just a day after his SUV blew through two stop signs and was speeding in Queens. Exclusive video taken by The Post caught the mayor — dressed in a “Brooklyn” sweatshirt, slacks and sneakers — chatting on his cellphone as he sauntered across 11th Street on 6th Avenue in Park Slope, ignoring the orange hand on the traffic signal that clearly warns pedestrians not to cross. In January, NYPD precincts launched an aggressive jaywalking...

“We can have police efforts focused on pedestrian safety without violating the civil rights of our citizens,” said Wong’s lawyer, Sanford Rubenstein, who will file a notice of the lawsuit on Monday, naming the city, NYPD and unidentified officers as defendants. Wong maintains the traffic signal was green when he stepped off the curb at the southeast corner of 96th St. and Broadway to cross, but it may have turned red by the time the octogenarian reached the other side, where an unidentified cop stopped him and demanded to see his identification. Wong speaks only Cantonese and Spanish, but understood...

Kang Wong, 84, was jaywalking on New York City’s Upper West Side on Sunday when police stopped him and attempted to issue him a ticket for the time-honored infraction among New Yorkers. He ended up in a hospital after a police beating.

“I’m not aware of excessive force in that at all,” Bratton told reporters on Monday during a hastily scheduled visit to the West 96th Street corridor ...Upper West Side resident Kang Wong, 84, was left dazed and bleeding in the scuffle with cops who were ticketing jaywalkers on Sunday near the scene of another pedestrian fatality—a confrontation that escalated in plain view of reporters covering the deathBratton said he believed Wong sustained his injuries in a fall...

Cops bloodied an 84-year-old man and put him in the hospital Sunday when he jaywalked at an Upper West Side intersection and didn’t appear to understand their orders to stop, witnesses said. Kang Wong was strolling north on Broadway and crossing 96th Street at around 5 p.m., when an officer told him to halt because he had walked against the light. Police were targeting jaywalkers in the area following the third pedestrian fatality this month around West 96th Street. Wong, who lives a block away, appeared to not understand the cop, the witnesses said.

Cops bloodied an 84-year-old man and put him in the hospital Sunday when he jaywalked at an Upper West Side intersection and didn’t appear to understand their orders to stop, witnesses said. Kang Wong was strolling north on Broadway and crossing 96th Street at around 5 p.m., when an officer told him to halt because he had walked against the light. Police were targeting jaywalkers in the area following the third pedestrian fatality this month around West 96th Street. Wong, who lives a block away, appeared to not understand the cop, the witnesses said. “The guy didn’t seem to speak...

LOS ANGELES — In a city of seemingly endless highways — with its daily parade of car accidents, frustrating traffic jams and aggressive drivers — the Los Angeles Police Department these days is training its sights on a different road menace: jaywalkers. It is not quite “Dragnet,” but the Police Department in recent weeks has issued dozens of tickets to workers, shoppers and tourists for illegally crossing the street in downtown Los Angeles. And the crackdown is raising questions about whether the authorities are taking sides with the long-dominant automobile here at the very time when a pedestrian culture is...

WASHINGTON — It’s long been known that America’s school kids haven’t measured well compared with international peers. Now, there’s a new twist: Adults don’t either. In math, reading and problem-solving using technology – all skills considered critical for global competitiveness and economic strength – American adults scored below the international average on a global test, according to results released Tuesday.

Why In A Town That's Only 16% Black, African-Americans Account For 91% Of Jaywalking Arrests Rebecca J. Rosen August 27, 2012, 12:46 PM I once heard it said that every successful Freedom of Information Act request is a failure of open government. In other words, every time activists, journalists, or other citizens are able to get data or other records through a FOIA request, that information should have already been available, somehow, somewhere on the Internet, without the hassle of a request process. The thinking is that FOIA is an antiquated system, designed for a time when the government did...

SAN ANTONIO -- A 26-year-old man has been arrested almost a month after ripping up a jaywalking citation and running from police. Danton Smith allegedly refused to use the crosswalk on Nov. 7 in the 4800 block of Goldfield. Police said they told him to walk through the lines, but that he ignored their request and crossed the street about 30 feet outside the crosswalk. Smith was issued a citation, which police said he ripped up and tossed it into the air. Police said they drove towards the suspect, asking him to stop. Two patrol cars followed the jaywalking suspect...

The White House hit back Wednesday against New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's contention that President Obama has been a "bystander" to the nation's problems. "There were no bystanders in the Oval Office," presidential press secretary Jay Carney said. "In the past two and a half years that Barack Obama has been president, it has been one of the most substantial periods in our history." Mr. Carney went on to cite the "enormity" of the challenges that faced Mr. Obama when he took office, including a deep recession and global financial crisis. He said Mr. Obama made "a series of incredibly...