From the KXEL NewsCenter…your Tuesday morning headlines:
An insurance company for the City of Cedar Rapids will pay $8 million to a black motorist who was paralyzed after a police officer shot him during a 2016 traffic stop. The payout will settle a long-running lawsuit brought by Jerime Mitchell over a shooting that had exposed tensions between black residents and authorities in Iowa’s second largest city. The payment is expected to be the most expensive settlement over allegations of excessive force by police in Iowa history. Cedar Rapids had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees defending against the lawsuit, and arguing that Officer Lucas Jones acted lawfully in shooting Mitchell in 2016. A city spokeswoman said in a statement that it was fully prepared for trial but its insurer, States Insurance, had control over whether to settle under its policy and “determined settlement to be in the best interests of its insured, the city.” The resolution avoids a trial that had been scheduled to begin today.
The third finalist in the search for the next president of the University of Iowa is now on campus. Wendy Hensel, J.D., Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at Georgia State University is on campus through today to meet with faculty, staff, students, and other campus community members. Hensel is one of four finalists for the position.
Boone, Iowa-based Fareway Stores now offers online shopping at nearly 50 Fareway Meat & Grocery and Fareway Meat Market locations, with the remaining locations to offer online shopping in the coming months. Orders can be modified up to 30 minutes before pick-up and can be ready as quickly as four hours after being placed. Customers can shop online at Fareway by visiting shop.fareway.com or via the Fareway mobile app.
A 63-year-old Waverly man was killed Friday night in a farm implement accident. Dale Clewell was working on a planter when the jack supporting it apparently shifted, causing the planter to fall on top of him and killing him. While there is no foul play suspected, an autopsy will be conducted. The Bremer County Sheriff’s Office released information about the incident yesterday.
FFA students from across Iowa have come together for their annual conference, which was cancelled last year due to COVID-19. Mickayla McGill, the state president of Iowa FFA, said everyone is excited to bring people back together, but she says safety is their biggest concern. The annual FFA conference allows students to learn about agricultural careers and compete in events including poultry evaluations, ag mechanic competitions and a career show. Attendees will also package 250,000 Meals From the Heartland. The event is being held at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines so they can socially distance the more than 4,000 attendees. They do plan to move the conference back to Hilton Coliseum in Ames next year, depending on the COVID-19 situation.
Authorities have charged a Des Moines couple after their 16-year-old special needs son was found severely malnourished and zip-tied to a chair at the workplace of his mother. The incident happened Feb. 22, when police responded to a call to a Pleasant Hill automotive store and found the boy zip-tied to a chair by his left ankle and through a belt loop on his pants. Police say he weighed only 78 pounds at the time. Authorities say an investigation found the boy was often denied food and locked in his room with no access to a bathroom. Police say he was punished if he then urinated in his bed. 48-year-old Jennifer Marie Ryan and her husband 47-year-old Richard Joe Ryan, are each charged with one count of first-degree kidnapping.
Des Moines police are facing pushback after putting a sergeant who has been disciplined for excessive force on a five-person team that leads de-escalation training. City Manager Scott Sanders defended the decision to make Sgt. Michael Fong a trainer this past week in an email, writing that he and Police Chief Dana Wingert met privately with “sincerely concerned residents,” but he told the mayor and council members in the email that he didn’t find their arguments persuasive. Members of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement and others have repeatedly publicly asked that Fong and another officer, Sean O’Neill, be removed from their roles in the department’s de-escalation training.
