Yvette C. Hammett is a journalist who spent much of her career in newsrooms, including The Tampa Tribune, The Mobile Register, and The Stuart News, covering issues from courtroom to environmental battles, a busy cop beat, and international news.
The Supreme Court on Monday stood by its 50-year-old doctrine that many civil rights groups consider a shield for gross police misconduct. Even as protesters continue to take to the streets against police brutality, the court denied eight petitions addressing the qualified immunity doctrine, which c
The issues of police brutality and racial profiling are not new, but have gained traction in recent weeks following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis by a police officer who put him in a choke hold for the better part of nine minutes. That officer, Dennis Chauvin, has been charged with seco
You are the proud owner of what was once the family farm, only now your property is surrounded by commercial development and new suburbs. When the local government comes to take by eminent domain a strip of your property to widen the road running in front of it, what are your rights?
Here’s a sampling of eminent domain cases that have made the news, according to the Associated Press
* In Marietta Ga. the Cobb County School Board, after a long battle
Dan Biersdorf, a Minneapolis-based attorney who specializes in representing property owners in eminent domain cases nationwide, has tips for those preparing to go up against a government trying to take
Experts suggest knowing these tips when interacting with the police
* Remain calm if confronted by police
* Ask whether you are being detained
* Keep your hands where police can see them
