Legal decisions and a racist robocall in Ga. governor race

Legal decisions and a racist robocall in Ga. governor race

ATLANTA

Last-minute legal decisions, a racist robocall and a protester wearing a giant chicken suit holding a sign that reads “too chicken to debate.”

These are the scenes playing out amid the final furious days of the hotly contested and historic race for Georgia governor between Democrat Stacey Abrams and Republican Brian Kemp.

A robocall apparently from a white supremacist group is injecting racism directly into the race, which has already been fraught with a race-laden debate over ballot access and voter suppression. Abrams would be the first black female governor in U.S. history. Kemp, who oversees elections as Georgia’s secretary of state, vehemently denies charges that he’s used his office to make it harder for minorities to vote.

Abrams and Kemp are both condemning an automated telephone call filled with racist and anti-Semitic statements. The call, sent to an unknown number of Georgians, impersonates Oprah Winfrey, the billionaire media titan who came to Georgia on Thursday to support Abrams.

The robocall says it was paid for by The Road to Power, a group organized by Scott Rhodes of Idaho. He has been linked to several other racist robocalls, including a recent effort in Florida, where Democratic nominee Andrew Gillum would become the first black governor in his state’s history.

Three Girl Scouts, one adult killed in Wis. hit-and-run crash

LAKE HALLIE, Wis.

A pickup truck lurched off a road in western Wisconsin on Saturday and hit a group of Girl Scouts picking up trash in a ditch, leaving three girls and one adult dead and critically injuring a fourth girl, police said.

Sgt. Daniel Sokup of the Lake Hallie Police Department said the driver of the black Ford F-150 pickup truck fled the scene but later turned himself in. He identified the driver as Colton Treu, 21, of Chippewa, Falls, Wis.

Sokup said Treu will be charged with four counts of homicide through the negligent use of a vehicle. Sokup said the crash happened before a hill, and there were no blind spots.

“The area is not an unsafe area,” he said. Sokup said it was not immediately known if there were other factors that might have led the driver to leave the road.

Yoga studio shooter posted racist, misogynistic videos

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.

A brooding military veteran and former teacher who railed at women and blacks in a series of poorly lit videos shot two women to death and wounded five other people at a Florida yoga studio before killing himself.

The Friday evening shooting at a busy upscale shopping plaza jolted the state capital and police said they were still searching for a motive that led to the deaths of a Florida State University student and a well-known local doctor who was a member of the school faculty.

But details about 40-year-old Scott Paul Beierle began to emerge in the hours after, including that he had once been banned from FSU’s campus and had been arrested twice for grabbing women even though the charges were ultimately dropped.

Asylum seekers detained in Oregon file federal lawsuit

PORTLAND, Ore.

Two asylum seekers who were detained at a federal prison in western Oregon have filed a lawsuit contending the Trump administration violated religious protections.

Oregon Public Broadcasting reported that Pachattar Singh and Gurpreet Singh filed the federal lawsuit Thursday saying they weren’t allowed to follow customs of their Sikh religion at the Federal Correctional Institution in Sheridan.

“While detained at Sheridan, asylum-seeking detainees of the Sikh faith were denied a vegetarian diet, and many were forced to eat meat to avoid malnutrition and starvation,” the lawsuit said.

The plaintiffs were told to pray in their cells, but their religious beliefs do not allow them to pray in a room with a toilet, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit said those are violations of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

The current status and whereabouts of the plaintiffs were unclear. The federal government hasn’t responded to the lawsuit.

Officer probed for friend wearing SWAT vest, driving cruiser

CINCINNATI

A police spokesman says a K-9 officer on the Cincinnati police SWAT team has been placed on restricted duty for allowing a friend to wear his tactical vest and drive his take-home cruiser while bar hopping Halloween night.

WXIX-TV reports Lt. Steve Saunders says 20-year veteran John Neal’s conduct Wednesday is being investigated by the department’s internal affairs unit.

In a dispatch call released Friday, a customer at an Anderson Township bar is heard saying that a man dressed in a SWAT uniform was interrogating employees and customers without probable cause. The call prompted a response from Hamilton County sheriff’s deputies who found the friend wearing Neal’s vest. Neither man was arrested.

Neal declined to comment.

Officials: Wounded Cleveland officer in stable condition

CLEVELAND

Officials say a Cleveland police officer has been shot in both legs while responding to a call about a shooting and is in stable condition after undergoing surgery.

Cleveland police said a man with an assault-type weapon opened fire on officers around 4:30 a.m. Saturday and that the wounded officer was shot multiple times with one round penetrating the door of his cruiser.

Spokeswoman Sgt. Jennifer Ciacci said officers drove their wounded colleague to a nearby city ambulance and then returned to the scene where they found a wounded man inside a vehicle.

Ciacci said the police department’s Gang Impact Unit has arrested a suspect.

Police have not yet identified the wounded officer.

Pair suing haunted house for alleged assault, simulated rape

AKRON

An Ohio pair’s lawsuit alleges they were grabbed, shoved and injured, and one was subjected to a simulated rape at a haunted-house attraction where actors were suspended after complaints about such behavior.

Akron Fright Fest was billed as a hands-on experience with “risque scenes” and actors getting physical. Owner Jeremy Caudill has said he was appalled at the alleged behavior that drew complaints from visitors last month.

The Akron man and woman suing Caudill and several Fright Fest employees say they never signed waivers or consented to such treatment. They’re seeking $50,000 in damages.

The Akron Beacon Journal reported a spokesman for the park that put on Fright Fest said its management had no immediate comment on the lawsuit and was separately dealing with the death of Caudill’s wife.

Not-guilty pleas by inmates charged in prison knife attacks

PORTSMOUTH

Two prison inmates charged in separate knife attacks at an Ohio prison that left a guard severely wounded and four prisoners injured have entered not-guilty pleas.

Authorities say the four prisoners couldn’t defend themselves during a June 2017 attack because they were handcuffed to a table.

The injured guard, Matthew Matthias, received 32 stab wounds and numerous internal injuries in an attack this past February. He was hospitalized for weeks and hasn’t yet returned to work.

The attacks were at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville. Both inmates are now housed in the state supermax prison in Youngstown.

Associated Press