Vincent Feli Boy’s Blog

A judge stopped a trial, exonerating a man of cocaine charges, after a video of the defendant’s arrest contradicted the testimony of two officers. An internal affairs investigation was under way, police officials said Monday, and the district attorney’s office was expected to take up the matter. and both testified Friday that they chased into his apartment building last year and saw him toss a black object.

They said one of the officers picked up the object a few feet from Alarcon, a 29-year-old grocery store worker, and found cocaine inside. But produced a 37-minute video that he said came from the apartment building’s surveillance camera. The reported that the tape, a copy of which was obtained by the newspaper, shows the officers took longer than 20 minutes to find the drugs and that two other officers helped in the search.

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A black civil rights activist is fighting to close a store that sells KKK robes and T-shirts emblazoned with racial slurs. David Kennedy is confident he can make it happen. After all, he says he owns the building. Since 1996, the Redneck Shop has operated in an old movie theater that, according to court records, was transferred in 1997 to Kennedy and the Baptist church he leads.

“Our ownership puts an end to that history as far as violence and hatred, racism being practiced in that place and also the recruiting of the Klan,” Kennedy said. “This is the same place that we had to go up into the balcony to go to the movies before the Klan took it. So there’s a lot of history there.” But legal documents also indicate that the man who runs the store, 62-year-old John Howard, is entitled to operate his business in the building until he dies. Now the dispute may go to court.

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“The whole back of the building was pancaked,” Young said. Eight people were injured in the blast, and three were treated at the scene, Young said. Of the five people sent to an area hospital, four were discharged by Thursday evening and one had been admitted, according to a hospital spokesman who said he did not know the remaining patient’s condition.

A fire that erupted had been extinguished, officials said, and Young said the injuries included smoke inhalation, bumps and bruises. Candi Rixie said she was taking orders at Leno’s Submarine Shop, one block away from the shopping plaza, when she felt a huge tremor. “We felt like an earthquake, like somebody had hit the building with a car,” she said.

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