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Latest stabbing at Fulton County Jail renews concerns about jail safety

Latest stabbing at Fulton County Jail renews concerns about jail safety

Yahoo07-02-2025

The Fulton County Sheriff's Office is investigating a detainee stabbing at the Fulton County Jail.
[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
According the sheriff's office, it happened Thursday night. The victim survived.
The other detainees involved are facing new charges. How they got or made a knife inside the jail is under investigation.
The latest incident is renewing concerns about security at the jail.
'The time for talking is over,' said attorney Michael Harper in December.
Harper filed a class action lawsuit against the Fulton County Jail. He represents several people hurt or killed at the jail.
'We need change in Fulton County,' Harper told Channel 2′s Audrey Washington.
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In 2023 a jail detainee killed Dayvion Blake inside the jail.
'They were able to get to his jail because of non-working locks and stab him in his back,' Harper said.
Harper also filed a separate lawsuit for Blake's estate.
Sheriff Pat LaBat could not be reached for comment Friday, but a few months ago he addressed issues at the jail.
'These are fixable opportunities, and that is what our plan is as we move forward,' LaBat said.
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Beware, Shedeur Sanders: Browns could cut you for less than speeding tickets
Beware, Shedeur Sanders: Browns could cut you for less than speeding tickets

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  • USA Today

Beware, Shedeur Sanders: Browns could cut you for less than speeding tickets

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Beware, Shedeur Sanders: Browns could cut you for less than a speeding ticket
Beware, Shedeur Sanders: Browns could cut you for less than a speeding ticket

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Beware, Shedeur Sanders: Browns could cut you for less than a speeding ticket

Beware, Shedeur Sanders: Browns could cut you for less than a speeding ticket Show Caption Hide Caption Shedeur Sanders not feeling pressure from his doubters After sliding in the NFL Draft, Shedeur Sanders explains why he's not bothered by his many doubters as Browns career begins. Sports Pulse It's one thing to catch fire on the football field. Think about what wideout Puka Nacua has done during two exceptional seasons with the Los Angeles Rams, for example. Otherwise? Fifth-round draft picks entering the NFL need to be flame retardant. In the case of Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders, encasing himself in asbestos might have been the prudent move. Alas. Rather than remaining clear of an NFL spotlight that's sparked so many off-field wildfires over the years, Sanders opted to provide fresh kindling for a legion of critics waiting to pounce – cited by police for driving 101 miles per hour after midnight ET Tuesday morning in suburban Cleveland. The listed speed limit where he committed the infraction was 60 mph. Maybe you're thinking this isn't a big deal, easy enough to ascribe this mistake to youthful intemperance. And Sanders, 23, didn't cause an accident. He wasn't driving under the influence. His maximum legal exposure for a fourth-degree misdemeanor is a $250 fine. The Browns haven't issued a public statement. Nor has Sanders. And why should they? This incident – if it's even that – pretty plainly speaks for itself. 'I just feel like in life and everything, it's just me versus me, you know?' Sanders said following Cleveland's rookie minicamp last month. 'I can't control any other decision besides that. So, I just try to be my best self at all times.' Obviously, he fell short of that Tuesday morning. Still, it would be silly to suggest that this is or should be a fireable offense. However it's most certainly an (another?) unforced error from a player whose judgment outside the lines has drawn far more scrutiny in recent months than his generally reliable decision-making on the field. And it's fair to say a guy who's been running with the fourth stringers is further distinguishing himself in the Browns' crowded competition to be QB1 in 2025 – and that is not a compliment. There are three men ahead of Sanders on Cleveland's depth chart. Grizzled veteran Joe Flacco is a former Super Bowl MVP who also revitalized the Browns into a playoff squad in 2023. Kenny Pickett didn't pan out as a 2022 first-round pick for the Pittsburgh Steelers, but he does have a 15-10 record as a starter in the NFL and earned a Super Bowl ring of his own last season as a backup with the Philadelphia Eagles. Like Sanders, Dillon Gabriel is a rookie. Gabriel was also drafted 50 spots ahead of Sanders following a distinguished college run that saw him start the most games ever (64) by a Division I quarterback while also accounting for an FBS record 190 career touchdowns. He led the University of Oregon to a No. 1 ranking last year and a berth in the College Football Playoff. Sanders (somehow?) got his No. 2 – a digit the Browns didn't even see fit to let him select – retired by the University of Colorado, which went 13-12 during his two seasons and didn't win a bowl game. Despite his unremarkable physical skill set, he was unequivocally one of the country's better college quarterbacks – though it also helped to play with Heisman Trophy-winning receiver Travis Hunter, the No. 2 overall pick of this year's draft. Nevertheless, neither Flacco, Pickett nor Gabriel has been ticketed for excessive speeding … or drawn flak for anything else of note in their personal lives. Sanders needs to prove he's a superior option to a trio of other ones who have reputations as sterling citizens and, in one context or another, solid quarterbacks. And don't forget, there are also quite a few notable players behind Sanders. Just since 2012, the year Jimmy Haslam became the club's owner, the Browns have spent first-round picks on the likes of Brandon Weeden and Baker Mayfield, the top pick in 2018. Cleveland traded back into Round 1 in 2014 to pick Johnny Manziel, then gave up the farm and a fully guaranteed $230 million contract to acquire troubled Deshaun Watson eight years later. (Remarkably – or maybe not since we're talking about the Browns – neither Watson nor Manziel ever led Cleveland in passing yards in a season even once.) It didn't take Haslam long to lose patience in Weeden or Manziel, who didn't last two years in the league thanks to his pitiful play and off-field transgressions. (And, as of June 2025, no one should be comparing Manziel's brand of hubris or very serious personal issues to anything Sanders has done, allegedly or otherwise − though the latter also isn't the must-see, dual threat football talent 'Johnny Football' once was.) Mayfield often played well – and frequently through pain when he doubtless would have been better off anywhere but a football field – for a fairly flawed team yet was still unceremoniously dumped in favor of Watson, who only remains on the roster himself due to his onerous contract. And these were all guys the Browns were heavily invested in. Though Sanders was widely expected to go in the first round of this year's draft, more than one draft pundit suggested the son of legendary Hall of Famer Deion Sanders would more likely be a Day 2 pick if his name was Shedeur Jones. Turns out, apparently since his name was Shedeur Sanders, who was never the kind of generational talent who was going to blind teams with scintillating gifts, he became a fifth-round flier – the type of player who doesn't even need to give a team a reason to cut him. Asked about his approach after Cleveland finally ended his highly scrutinized draft free fall in April, Sanders said this: 'Get there and handle my business. Do what I have to do, whatever role that is. I'm just thankful for the opportunity. So that's all I could ask for. 'The rest is on me.' Yep. Sanders should heed his own advice. If he's not much more careful, the next ticket he's served with could be the one-way variety – to football exile. All NFL news on and off the field. Sign up for USA TODAY's 4th and Monday newsletter.

Former Georgia jail guard abused inmates with Taser and lied about it, authorities say
Former Georgia jail guard abused inmates with Taser and lied about it, authorities say

Yahoo

time2 days ago

  • Yahoo

Former Georgia jail guard abused inmates with Taser and lied about it, authorities say

ATLANTA (AP) — A former Fulton County jail guard has been indicted on federal civil rights charges after prosecutors said she used her Taser abusively against three inmates and then lied to cover it up. Khadijah Solomon, a 47-year-old Fairburn resident, pleaded not guilty to the six-count indictment in federal court in Atlanta on Tuesday and was released on bail. The troubled jail where Solomon worked has been under a federal civil rights investigation for the past two years and was also the site where Donald Trump surrendered on election interference charges in 2023. Solomon's lawyer, Devin Rafus, said his client will fight the allegations. 'The Fulton County Sheriff's Office is under a lot of political pressure with the Department of Justice investigating the jail,' Rafus said via email. 'My client is collateral damage of that pressure.' The June 11 indictment said Solomon used her Taser 'without legal justification" against separate inmates at the Atlanta jail on Jan. 16, Jan. 25 and Jan. 27. The indictment alleges that Solomon then wrote reports falsely justifying what she did. In reality, sheriff's office investigators said body-worn camera video showed the pretrial detainees were compliant and not resisting. In the Jan. 16 incident, sheriff's office investigators said Solomon approached an inmate who was kicking his cell door and said she was about to 'pop' him before opening the cell and using the Taser on the inmate. Investigators said Solomon then stunned the inmate twice more. She later claimed in her report that the inmate 'was getting ready to throw' a tray at her. The sheriff's office in February announced that it had fired Solomon and two other jail officers — Chantrece Buggs and LaQuondria Pierce — arrested them, and charged them with state crimes including aggravated assault and violating their oath of office. Solomon, a jail sergeant, was also charged with cruelty to inmates and false statements or writings. At the time, investigators said Pierce used her Taser without justification on an inmate Feb. 13 and Buggs encouraged Solomon's violence. No federal charges against the other two were announced, and neither has yet been indicted in a state court. Rafus, who is also the lawyer representing Pierce, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on her state charges. Natalie Ammons, a spokesperson for Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat, said the sheriff's office had worked with the FBI in the Solomon case. 'On three occasions, Khadijah Solomon allegedly tased Fulton County Jail detainees without a legitimate purpose, causing each of them pain and injury," U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg said in a statement. "Abuses of power of this kind are unconstitutional, erode our community's trust, and will be prosecuted.' The U.S. Justice Department in July 2023 opened a civil rights investigation into jail conditions in Fulton County, citing violence, filthy living quarters and the in-custody death of a man whose body was found covered in insects. That investigation found that jail officers didn't receive adequate training and guidance on the use of force and were found to engage in 'a pattern or practice of using excessive force' against people in county custody. The Justice Department and Fulton County officials announced in January that they had entered into a court-enforceable consent decree. An independent monitor was appointed in February to oversee that agreement.

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