5,000 march in downtown Detroit, urge rebuilding nation

BY NAOMI R. PATTON, Detroit Free Press, Aug. 29, 2010

Thousands of people in downtown Detroit made their way from Jefferson Avenue to Grand Circus Park in what was billed as a march to rebuild America for jobs, justice and peace.

On the 47th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s March on Washington, the event brought out many of state's Democratic politicians -- many of whom were attending the party's convention at Cobo Center. The march and rally were organized by the Rainbow PUSH Coalition and the UAW.

Along the way, the march grew as convention goers and others joined in. Among the marchers were the Rev. Jesse Jackson; Bob King, UAW president; Detroit Mayor Dave Bing; U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D- Mich.; U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif.; state Sen. Hansen Clarke, D-Detroit, and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero and his running mate, Southfield Mayor Brenda Lawrence.

Workers from the UAW, Service Employees International Union, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Michigan Council 25, American Federation of Teachers and Detroit Public Schools filled Washington Boulevard and Grand Circus Park, advocating for jobs.

"We're not here to tear anybody down ... to divide anybody. ... We care about all the unemployed in America," King said.

He also asked the crowd to return for the city's annual Labor Day march next week and to vote in the November elections.

"We have to put Americans to work," he said.

"I care about jobs," said Tanya Ball, 44, who works at the Ford Wayne Assembly Plant. She attended the march with her sister, Betty Ball, 55. Both are Inkster residents.

"I just came in the spirit of what was happening to our people 47 years ago. ... There's hardly any change," Betty Ball said.

Tom Hopp, 52, of Lake Orion said he has always been a fan of Jackson and came to the march to support the call for jobs. He has worked for General Motors Lake Orion for 32 years.

"It's never a waste of a day coming out to an event like this," he said.

Though political speeches and slogans nearly dominated the day's event, it was Conyers who reminded the crowd of about 5,000 of the historic significance of the day. It was Martin Luther King's march down Woodward Avenue with then-UAW President Walter Reuther that served as the precursor to the March on Washington, during which King gave his "I Have a Dream" speech.

"We're celebrating jobs, foreclosure moratoriums, universal health care -- cheer for that," Conyers said.

"Today's march commemorates one of the most important days in our history," Bing said after the march. "Our greatest challenge is creating jobs, and that's something I will continue to fight to bring to Detroit."

Contact NAOMI R. PATTON: 313-223-4485 or npatton@freepress.com

UAW and Rainbow Push Announce Aug. 28th Detroit March

Talking Union, Aug. 5, 2010

United Auto Workers President Bob King and Rev. Jesse Jackson announced an August 28th march to mark the beginning of a new campaign that will call on our leaders to Rebuild America by enacting policy that will unleash the skills and talent of the American workforce. Here is the statement at a July 12th press conference in Detroit announcing the march.

No group has suffered more from America’s economic meltdown than working men and women. The auto industry was decimated and workers paid the price. Urban America is in crisis and teachers, transportation workers, and all who do the hands-on work that make our cities run are the first to feel the effects of budget cuts. Unemployment continues at around 9.8%. Detroit is ground zero of this national crisis with an unemployment rate that is far higher. From December 2007 to June 2009, auto assembly and parts production accounted for 325,000 lost jobs. The auto industry has gone from a high of 1.5 million workers to 400,000 today.

In Appalachia and the Gulf, years of unenforced regulation, driven by corporate greed and government complicity, have led to needless deaths and destruction in the coal and oil fields. Our national infrastructure is crumbling–industry, education, transportation, environment–while millions of talented workers stand by, ready to stem the tide.

Poverty is on the rise. Home and church foreclosures continue to mount and student loan defaults are increasing. Our cities are under siege. Public transportation services are cut, workers laid off, but fares go up. Teachers are laid off and programs are cut as education budgets are slashed. Public housing faces cuts and we experience reverse redlining in our neighborhoods. We bailed out the predators–banks got money at 0%–while we made loans to the auto industry.

We need a plan for recovery. We need economic reconstruction. We need urban policy geared toward reindustrialization. We need fair trade policies that will even the playing field for American companies and workers and, as more and more people face greater economic need, it’s time to revive the War on Poverty.

On August 28th in Detroit, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition and UAW, along with our friends and allies, will march to mark the beginning of a new campaign that will call on our leaders to Rebuild America by enacting policy that will unleash the skills and talent of the American workforce. We will march for Jobs, Justice and Peace on the anniversary of that day in 1963 when Walter Reuther, president of UAW, Martin Luther King, Jr., president of SCLC, and other civil rights leaders joined with hundreds of thousands of Americans for the March on Washington.

Leading up to that day, marches were held around the country, building momentum for what was to be the largest civil rights rally in history. In Detroit, prior to the March on Washington, 125,000 marchers participated in the Freedom Walk led by Dr. King. At the march, King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech for the first time before sharing it with the world in Washington. This year, a massive march has been called for October 2 in Washington.

We will begin to build momentum again right here in Detroit on August 28th.

It’s time to enact real change for working families and all America. It’s time to reverse the policies that have resulted in jobs and investment flowing out, creating economic hardship for millions of Americans. It’s time to Rebuild America with Jobs, Justice and Peace. We are calling on our national leaders to Rebuild America by focusing on:

Jobs–economic reconstruction driven by targeted stimulus, reindustrialization and trade policy that will create jobs, support manufacturing in America, and put workers first.

Justice–enforcement of the law regarding workers rights, civil rights, industrial regulation, and creation of strong urban policy, and fair and just education, economic, and health policy.

Peace–ending the ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, saving lives and redirecting the war budget to rebuilding America.

We invite all who share our commitment to march with us in Detroit on August 28th. Nothing is more important than strengthening our coalition of conscience and restoring the promise of democracy and economic justice for working families.

Detroit Cops Murder 7-Year Old Girl In Her Home

Detroit Police Say 7-Year-Old Shot in Home Search
Detroit police say 7-year-old girl fatally shot when officer's weapon fired during home search
AP, ABC News, May 16, 2010

Charles Jones, Aiyana's father, told the Detroit News the woman Godbee referred to was his mother and the child's grandmother.

"They came into my house with a flash grenade and a bullet," Jones said. "They say my mother resisted them, that she tried to take an officer's gun. My mother had never been in handcuffs in her life. They killed my baby, and I want someone to tell the truth."...

...Jones said he was trying not to be angry but wanted the story to be told.

"This was a wrongful death," he said.

DETROIT - A sleeping 7-year-old girl was shot and killed when an officer's gun went off while Detroit police were searching a duplex for a suspect in the slaying of a teenager, a police official said.

Assistant Chief Ralph Godbee said at a news conference Sunday that Aiyana Jones was hit in the neck by a single bullet and died at a hospital. Police said the girl was sleeping on a couch when she was shot.

"This is any parent's worst nightmare. It also is any police officer's worst nightmare," Godbee said.

Godbee said officers with the department's Special Response Team set off a flash grenade as they entered the apartment with their guns drawn about 12:40 a.m. Sunday with a warrant to look for a suspect in the Friday slaying of a 17-year-old boy.

The lead officer encountered a 46-year-old woman immediately inside the front room of the house and "some level of physical contact" ensued during which the officer's gun went off, Godbee said. The officers had identified themselves as police, he said.

Charles Jones, Aiyana's father, told the Detroit News the woman Godbee referred to was his mother and the child's grandmother.

"They came into my house with a flash grenade and a bullet," Jones said. "They say my mother resisted them, that she tried to take an officer's gun. My mother had never been in handcuffs in her life. They killed my baby, and I want someone to tell the truth."

Godbee said the shooting was being investigated and all information was preliminary. The officer was put on paid administrative leave, he said. Police do not believe the gun was fired intentionally, he said.

"We cannot undo what occurred this morning," Godbee said. "All we can do is to pledge an open and full investigation and to support Aiyana's family in whatever way they may be willing to accept from us at this time."

Jones said he was trying not to be angry but wanted the story to be told.

"This was a wrongful death," he said.

The officers had a search warrant and were looking for a 34-year-old man suspected in the shooting death of 17-year-old Jarean Blake.

Blake, a student at Southeastern High School, was gunned down Friday by a liquor store in front of his girlfriend. Blake stumbled across the street, collapsed and died, police said.

Officers arrested the suspect during the search, Godbee said. Jones said the suspect wasn't in his apartment but one upstairs that officers raided at the same time.

Godbee would not comment on newspaper reports that neighbors told police there were children in the house and showed them toys in the front yard.

"This is a tragedy of unspeakable magnitude to Aiyana's parents, family and all those who loved her," Godbee said. "It is a tragedy we also feel very deeply throughout the ranks of the Detroit Police Department."

The Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality called the girl's death "the pain of pains" in a statement issued Sunday and questioned what protocols police used in the raid. The coalition said it would host a candlelight vigil Sunday evening at the home where she was shot.

****************
For more information:
Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality

Facing evictions, repression, no jobs: Workers, youth open fightback at Tent City

By Kris Hamel, Workers World, June 17, 2009
Tent City, Detroit

June 16—Hundreds of poor and working people have gathered at the National People’s Summit and Tent City in downtown Detroit to put forward the people’s vision of a future with guaranteed jobs and income, universal health care, housing and utilities, and all rights that working class people are currently denied under the capitalist system.

More than 330 people registered for the four-day event. They have come from throughout metro Detroit and Michigan—even workers from the Upper Peninsula are at Tent City. Workers and activists from Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio and more are represented.

The People’s Summit and Tent City, based in Grand Circus Park from June 14-17, was called in response to the National Summit of big-business CEOs and executives being held at the General Motors Renaissance Center—GM’s world headquarters.

“They’re going to regret the closing of 14 plants and the laying off of General Motors workers, because the workers are fighting back!” said Frank Hammer, a retired United Auto Workers International representative and leader of the Autoworker Caravan, as he opened the rally after a militant demonstration outside the big-business summit today.


More than 500 workers, including many from around Michigan and Ohio, marched in front of the GM Renaissance Center demanding jobs and human needs, not corporate greed. “The workers have spoken—keep the plants open!” was one of many chants that thundered from East Jefferson Avenue as dozens of cops and private thugs stood in formation guarding the privately owned Ren Cen.

As the workers marched and rallied for jobs, Richard Dauch, CEO of American Axle and Manufacturing, Inc., addressed the capitalists inside, along with former Michigan Gov. John Engler.

Dauch wrested tremendous concessions from striking UAW workers in 2008, cutting wages and benefits in half. Workers were promised their jobs would be saved, but now Dauch has broken that vow and the American Axle plant in Hamtramck, Mich., located within the city of Detroit, has closed.

Engler was rewarded for his gutting of welfare and education in Michigan with his appointment as president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers.

The People’s Summit and Tent City opened with a dynamic State of Emergency Fightback Rally on June 14. A host of speakers reiterated the theme that workers and poor people must fight back to reclaim their right to jobs, homes, equal quality education, and social and economic justice. “I declare a state of emergency!” said state Sen. Hansen Clarke, sponsor of a bill in the state legislature for a two-year moratorium on foreclosures and evictions.

Other speakers included Detroit Councilperson JoAnn Watson; the Rev. Ed Rowe of Central United Methodist Church, a base of many struggles for social and economic justice; Maureen Taylor of Michigan Welfare Rights Organization; Teresa Gutierrez of the May 1 Coalition in New York City; foreclosure-fighting attorney Vanessa Fluker; Sandra Hines of the Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures and Evictions; Marguerite Maddox of Paws with Cause, a disability-rights organization; youth and union organizer Dante Strobino of Durham, N.C.; recently- convicted people’s journalist Diane Bukowski, who was charged with felony counts while trying to report on pedestrian deaths resulting from a police chase; and Baldemar Velasquez of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee.

Special sessions at the People’s Summit on June 14 discussed the immigrant rights struggle. Organizers with Fight Imperialism, Stand Together (FIST), a militant national youth organization, talked about the problems facing students and young workers today. Another special session heard from Dieter Ilius of the German Metalworkers Trade Union.

June 15 started with a mass leafleting outside 36th District Court, three blocks from Tent City. Activists distributed hundreds of “Know Your Rights” leaflets to homeowners and renters facing foreclosures and evictions. 36th District Court is the busiest foreclosure court in the United States. A militant picket line and demonstration demanding a moratorium on foreclosures and evictions took place outside the court at lunchtime.

A “Corporate/Banker Devastation Tour” caravan departed Tent City for the GM Ren Cen to pick up big-business meeting participants who were “cordially invited” to see the real Detroit and what corporate greed has done to the city’s people. None of them had the guts to board the van and face reality. Nevertheless, many out-of-town People’s Summiteers and some media joined the tour and viewed foreclosed homes, abandoned neighborhoods and closed plants.

A special session on organizing mass protests outside the G20 summit to be held in Pittsburgh heard from dozens of people with ideas on how to build a broad-based coalition to challenge the mass meeting of capitalists from the richest countries on Sept. 24-25. Special sessions on the crisis in education and how to fight foreclosures provided an opportunity for activists to exchange ideas on furthering these struggles.

Hundreds of People’s Summiteers marched from Tent City down Woodward Avenue to the GM Ren Cen on June 15. “Bail out the people! Not the banks!” and other chants echoed loudly throughout downtown Detroit as marchers carried banners and signs demanding jobs, health care, education, immigrant rights, jobs not jails for youth, reproductive justice for women, an end to foreclosures and evictions, and many other demands.

In the evening a rally to stop police brutality and killings denounced the many injustices of the criminal injustice system that incarcerates millions of oppressed people. Speakers included Larry Hales of FIST, himself a survivor of police brutality and ongoing harassment; former prisoner Joshua; Kevin Carey and Charlotte Diggs of Detroit People’s Task Force, who are investigating the many irregularities in the Detroit Crime Lab; Ron Scott of the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality; and LeiLani Dowell of FIST, who chronicled the police brutality and injustices facing lesbian, gay, bi and trans people.

June 16 began with a militant demonstration led by people with disabilities in front of the Grand Circus Park station of the Detroit People Mover, an elevated rail system that is inaccessible to people in wheelchairs. Participants marched and wheeled down Woodward Avenue to the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center, where they spoke out at a session of City Council. Councilwoman JoAnn Watson commissioned the council’s research department to begin an immediate investigation into the lack of elevators at the Detroit People Mover stations so as to implement meeting the needs of Detroiters with disabilities.

Musicians, poets and spoken-word artists have rounded out the days at the Tent City with performances after each evening’s rallies. A delicious dinner has been prepared by volunteer activists and served every evening to more than 300 people at Grand Circus Park.

The People’s Summit and Tent City has received widespread coverage by the big-business-owned media. Every day the people’s struggle has been highlighted on local television, radio and in newspapers.

The strength and success of the People’s Summit and Tent City, the feeling of fightback and solidarity expressed by all its participants, will not end when the final tent is taken down on June 17. There is the sense here that this is the beginning of a mighty struggle to reorder the priorities of society, to demand and fight for jobs and all human needs and to put corporate greed and the profit system into the dustbin of history where they belong.

Articles copyright 1995-2009 Workers World. Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.

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State plans to cut child abuse programs criticized

Karen Bouffard, The Detroit News, May 14, 2009

Lansing --Gov. Jennifer Granholm's plan to slash nearly $14 million from services that help prevent child abuse will lead to more crimes against children and the loss of millions in federal matching grants for the prevention of child abuse, the Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police and child advocacy groups said Wednesday.

The cuts, part of an effort to balance the state's budget, come as police agencies statewide are less able to deal with the problem due to cutbacks in law enforcement, said Howell Police Chief George Basar, president of the Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police.

"Another $41 million in cuts in revenue sharing to local communities will result in more (police) layoffs at the local level," Basar said. "And while that's happening, we're eliminating prevention programs at the front end."

The cuts coincide with rising unemployment and economic hardship expected to result in an increase in violence against children, said Kathy "K.P." Pelleran, state director of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids -Michigan, a group of more than 400 police chiefs, sheriffs, prosecutor and other law enforcement leaders.

The organization released its latest figures on child abuse in the state, showing that 29,638 Michigan children were abused in 2007. Based on research on the long-term effects of child abuse, the group predicts that 1,185 of those children will become violent adult criminals.

"One of the best investments is child protection," Pelleran said. "If we don't pay today, we will pay tomorrow."

The Nurse Family Partnership, a program that provides support for teenage parents in five counties, including Wayne and Oakland, will end under the cuts, according to the group.

Ending that program will hurt Michigan's chances of accessing part of $124 million in federal money available in 2010 as matching grants to states with evidence-based home visitation programs for low-income mothers and pregnant women, Pelleran said.

Michigan's Zero to Three Secondary Prevention Initiative, which gives home visitation and support for families of infants and preschoolers considered at risk of neglect or abuse, also would be purged, the group said.

"The children abused or neglected in 2007 would more than fill the Palace of Auburn Hills," Pelleran said. "And these acts of violence could have been prevented."

kbouffard@detnews.com (517) 371-3660

http://www.detnews.com/article/20090514/POLITICS02/905140393/State-plans-to-cut-child-abuse-programs-criticized

Chris Cejas Network To End Child Abuse

June 14 - 17: People's Summit & Tent City in Detroit

Four Days of Active Resistance, Political Discussion and Strategizing for a “People's Stimulus Plans” and an “Economic Bill of Rights”
for Working People and the Poor

JOIN the TENT CITY next to the NATIONAL BIG-BUSINESS GATHERING at FORD FIELD

People's Summit & Tent City
June 14-17, 2009
Grand Circus Park, Detroit, Michigan



On June 15-17, 2009, the National Business Summit, sponsored by the Detroit Economic Club, will take place at the Renaissance Center, General Motors Corporate Headquarters. Millionaire capitalists like the heads of Conoco-Phillips, Dow Chemical, General Motors, Chrysler, Humana Inc., Ascension Health, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, BNSF Railway Co., and PVS Chemicals, and well as the presidents of the National Council on Competitiveness and U.S. Chamber of Commerce, will gather at this summit. President Barack Obama and cabinet members have been invited.

These wealthy businesspeople will put their greedy heads together to discuss “innovation and policy ideas in technol­ogy, energy, environment and manufactur­ing.” In other words, they will be strategizing on how to further increase their profits at the expense of the ever-shrinking middle class, the vast working class and the growing millions living in utter poverty.

The National Business Summit will be held in a city with record-high unemployment and poverty rates, lay-offs, budget cuts, school closings, utility cost hikes and shut-offs and massive home foreclosures. With a registration fee of $1,495, it is unlikely that any victims of foreclosures and evictions, let alone laid-off workers, will be able to attend the National Business Summit. No one at this event will be speaking in the interests of those most affected by the economic collapse.

The People’s Summit will be a dynamic event. During the People’s Summit, organizers will implement a moratorium on foreclosure evictions by going into the neighborhoods and supporting homeowners who are willing to confront the bailiffs. If there is a strike, demonstration or sit in, the People’s Summit will join it. The People’s Summit will confront the big-business CEOs and politicians gathering next door. Join us!

RAISE YOUR VOICES TO DEMAND:

* Bailout the people!

* Jobs, healthcare, housing and education for all

* Moratorium on foreclosures, evictions and utility shutoffs – housing is a right

* Stop budget cuts and restore social services funding

* Stop tuition hikes and school closings

* Moratorium on layoffs, plant closings, pension thefts and union busting – A job at a living wage is a right

* End racism, sexism and anti-LGBT attacks

* Stop attacks on immigrants

* Full rights for disabled people

* Bailout youth and students

* No more police brutality

* Jobs not Jails - For prisoners and ex-prisoners' rights

* Save the natural environment and stop global warming

* U.S. troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan

* Money for jobs and human needs, not war

Initiated by the Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures and Evictions
www.moratorium-mi.org
Email: moratorium@moratorium-mi.org
5920 Second Avenue, Detroit, MI 48202
Phone 313-680-5508

Call today to endorse, volunteer, reserve your tent space and/or make a donation

Worthy won’t prosecute cops in killings case

By Diane Bukowski, The Michigan Citizen, Feb. 4, 2008

DETROIT — Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy has again refused to charge police officers in the death of a young Detroit man, according to a letter dated Jan. 22.

The family of Jevon Royall, 30, joins the families of Brandon Moore, 16, and Artrell Dickerson, 18, in protesting Worthy’s decisions.

Royall, a father and barber, was beaten and shot to death by two white police officers last July outside his home, near the site of the 1967 rebellion at 12th and Euclid. His family gathered there on Jan. 27 to read a letter from James Gonzalez, Worthy’s Chief of Special Operations, to Royall’s fiancée Kozetta Russell.

“I wish to inform you that we have reviewed all of the police reports, witness statements, medical examiner’s protocol, and all other relevant materials,” Gonzalez wrote. “The applicable laws were reviewed and a legal determination was made that criminal charges could not be filed since there is insufficient evidence that any crime was committed.”

In response to an inquiry, Assistant Prosecutor Maria Miller, press representative for Worthy, said Jan. 30 that, “We have recently re-opened the Jevon Royal investigation, based upon new evidence. We will not be able to comment about the matter at this time.”

However, Russell contacted Detective Cassandra Brown, the investigator assigned to the case, who said that the case has not been re-opened as far as she knows.

Royall’s mother Lenora Royall collapsed weeping as eyewitness Charlotte Washington recounted the events of July 7.

“Basically, they were beating my brother like they didn’t have any remorse,” said Washington. “They did everything in front of our faces, me and my niece’s father Demetrius and his mother. The people next door to us came out, and Kozetta came out, and we heard shots go off and my brother moan. Demetrius tried to talk to the officers, but they turned around with their guns and threatened us.”

According to Washington, on the day of the shooting, Royall got into the passenger seat of a friend’s car to go to the store. Two plainclothes police officers drove up and cut off the car from the front diagonally, so the squad car’s camera could not record events.

The officers demanded that Royall, not the driver, get out of the car. They later claimed they saw a gun on Royall’s side of the car, and that they thought the car was stolen, although it was not. They alleged that Royall also reached for one officer’s gun.

One officer allegedly sustained a “flesh wound” in the leg. The family said they knew that officer as “Pacman.”

Attorney Bill McHenry of Geoffrey Fieger’s law firm, which has filed suit on behalf of the family, said they still have not received police reports on the case.

An independent autopsy by famed forensic examiner Dr. Werner Spitz determined Royall was shot at least two times, and had been struck on the head by flashlights or batons.

Toxicology reports showed Royall had no alcohol or drugs in his system.

Ron Scott, of the Detroit Coalition against Police Brutality, Inc., said an internal source told him that there were no fingerprints on the gun police claimed belonged to Royall, and no gunpowder on his hand. Royall’s fiancée said she had never seen him with a gun in the five years they had been together.

Scott said the police officers never called for back-up as if they were in a dangerous situation. He added Worthy brought no charges in other fatal shootings by police in Detroit, Taylor and Westland.

The prosecutor must investigate all police killings, but Scott said Worthy basically rubber-stamps police department determinations. He said his organization plans a demonstration outside her office.

Royall’s uncle Garland Royall said the prosecutor’s office did not contact the family.

In September, the family of 16-year-old Brandon Martell Moore, shot in the back by three-time killer Detroit Police Officer Eugene Williams during Thanksgiving weekend, received a letter from Gonzalez which was almost identical to the Royall letter, saying no charges would be brought.

Moore was shot outside the National Wholesale Liquidators’ (NWL) store at the Bel-Air Mall on Eight Mile near Van Dyke.

NWL of Bel-Air, Inc. has since said in lawsuit discovery documents that Williams was working part-time for them as a “greeter” and “loss/risk manager” to ensure faster police response time in the event of thefts.

NWL, however, denied responsibility for Moore’s death, saying that Williams shot him outside the store, as part of his duties as a police officer. Moore and a group of friends, including his brother John, 21, all unarmed, had gone to the store, which has a policy of not allowing anyone under 17 to shop unaccompanied by an adult.

When the group broke up inside the store, Williams and Elester Jones, an employee of Mahoning Security Co., Inc., told the group to leave. They did so, but when they got outside, they realized they had left one friend in the store, and one member of the group tried to return to get him. Williams allegedly engaged in a tussle with the group, then shot Moore in the back, and 14-year-old Johnathan Stanley in the hand, as they ran from him.

The lawsuit filed in the case by Fieger’s firm is still in discovery proceedings.

“I just think Kym Worthy is full of crap myself,” said Artrell Harp, the father of 18-year-old Artrell Dickerson, killed by Detroit Police Officer Kata-Ante Taylor after the funeral of a friend outside Cantrell Funeral Home on Feb. 12 last year.

“She hasn’t prosecuted any cop for killing anyone since Nevers and Budzyn in the Malice Green case,” Harp explained. “It’s coming on a year now since my son’s death, and Fieger told me two weeks ago that he had to take the city to court to get the police reports released. As far what we are due, this was my only child. I’ll never have any grandchildren, and even a hundred million dollars can’t replace my son.”

Assistant Prosecutor Miller said regarding the Moore and Dickerson killings, “The investigations into the matters . . . were extremely thorough. We conducted our investigation independent from the police. . . In the case of Mr. Moore, we could not sustain our burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the shooting was not done in lawful self-defense. In the case of Mr. Dickerson we could not sustain our burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the shooting was [not] done in lawful self-defense and defense of others.”