The city of Chicago has agreed to pay $20 million to settle a code-of-silence lawsuit brought by the families of two young men killed in a fiery drunken driving crash caused by an off-duty police detective, sources told the Chicago Tribune.

The agreement to pay $10 million each to relatives of Andrew Cazares and Fausto Manzera was reached in dramatic fashion earlier this month after it was revealed that key documents involving an alcohol-fueled bar fight in detective Joseph Frugoli’s past had been improperly withheld.

The amount of the agreement was not made public, but sources have since confirmed the figure to the Tribune. The settlement must still be green-lighted by the city’s Finance Committee before going to the full City Council for a vote. That could happen as soon as next month.

If approved, it would mark yet another massive payout for the city in a police misconduct suit. In the past two months alone, nearly $100 million in judgments have been assessed against the city for police-related cases, including a record $44.7 million jury verdict in October for a man who was shot by his childhood friend, Officer Patrick Kelly, in an off-duty incident. Earlier this month, the City Council approved a $31 million payout for the “Englewood Four,” who each spent some 15 years in prison for a 1994 rape and murder before DNA linked the crime to a convicted killer.

The Explosive New Sexual Harassment Allegations Against Bill O’Reilly, Detailed

Roger Ailes is out at Fox News but the troubles for the network might just be getting started.

In a new lawsuit filed in New York State Supreme Court on Monday, former Fox News host Andrea Tantaros alleges she was among a number of women sexually harassed by, yes, former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes.

But she also alleges she was sexually harassed by the network’s biggest star, Bill O’Reilly. The suit alleges that O’Reilly attempted to lure her to Long Island where he told her it would be “very private” and that she could show him her “wild side.”

[C]ommencing in February 2016, Bill O’Reilly (“O’Reilly”), whom Tantaros had considered to be a good friend and a person from whom she sought career guidance, started sexually harassing her by, inter alia, (a) asking her to come to stay with him on Long Island where it would be “very private,” and (b) telling her on more than one occasion that he could “see [her] as a wild girl,” and that he believed that she had a “wild side.” Fox News did take one action: plainly because of O’Reilly’s rumored prior sexual harassment issues and in recognition of Tantaros’s complaints, Brandi informed Cane that Tantaros would no longer be appearing on O’Reilly’s Fox News show, The O’Reilly Factor.

This isn’t the first time O’Reilly has been accused of sexual harassment. In 2004, he was sued by Fox producer Andrea Mackris who alleged he “repeatedly subjected her to sexual harassment through dinner and phone conversations variously described as lewd, lascivious, vile and threatening.” The allegations included O’Reilly trying to lure Mackris to his hotel room.

The lawsuit alleges that Tantaros was ultimately removed from the air in retaliation for her complaints to Shine and others. Fox News later offered to continue to pay her through the length of her contract if she provided general legal releases to Ailes, O’Reilly, and others. The release would have also prevented her from discussing her time at Fox News in perpetuity.

Keri Claussen Khalighi was a 17-year-old fashion model from a farka when she met Brett Ratner and Russell Simmons at a casting call.

Ratner was an up-and-coming music video director and a protege of Simmons, the Def Jam Recordings mogul. They took Khalighi to dinner one night in 1991 at Mr. Chow in New York, and then back to Simmons’ apartment to show her a music video they’d been working on.

Quickly, Simmons began making aggressive sexual advances, yanking off her clothes, Khalighi said.

“I looked over at Brett and said ‘help me’ and I'll never forget the look on his face,” she recalled. “In that moment, the realization fell on me that they were in it together.”

Khalighi said that Simmons, who was then about twice her age, tried to force her to have intercourse. “I fought it wildly,” she said. He eventually relented and coerced her to perform oral sex, she alleged. “I guess I just acquiesced.”

Ratner, meanwhile, “just sat there and watched,” she said.

Feeling “disgusting,” Khalighi said she went to take a shower. Minutes later, she alleged, Simmons walked up behind her in the shower and briefly penetrated her without her consent. She said she jerked away, then he left. “It hurt so much.”

6 Detroit cops charged in extortion scheme
Robert Snell and George Hunter, The Detroit News Published 1:13 p.m. ET Dec. 13, 2017 | Updated 9:08 p.m. ET Dec. 13, 2017


Six Detroit police officers have been charged with extortion after receiving bribes from the owners of automobile collision shops in the latest corruption scandal to hit the department in recent months.

Two officers were indicted Wednesday and four retired officers have pleaded guilty to committing extortion, according to federal court records.

Detroit police Chief James Craig said two additional officers are under internal investigation and could be fired for their parts in the alleged extortion scheme, which the chief said was ongoing for as long as 12 years.

“This has been going on for some time in the department,” Craig said. “There have been previous investigations, which didn’t result in any closure, because there just wasn’t enough evidence. As troubling as these allegations are, I’m happy to see there’s some closure to a longstanding problem.”

The court filings unsealed Wednesday emerged 14 months after The Detroit News revealed federal investigators were probing an elaborate scheme involving collision shops that stripped stolen vehicles and collected thousands of dollars from insurance companies for unnecessary repairs.

The cases appear to be an offshoot of a broader public corruption scandal that has led to charges against 18 people, including towing titan Gasper Fiore and a former deputy police chief, according to a source familiar with the investigation.

Until Wednesday, the corruption scandal was focused on at least three fronts: Macomb County politicians pocketing bribes in exchange for approving municipal contracts with Sterling Heights trash hauler Rizzo Environmental Services, Fiore’s towing empire, and the Macomb County Public Works office.

The charges, in some cases, were sealed as long as a year ago, a move that likely gave federal agents time to investigate and build a case against more people, said Peter Henning, a Wayne State University law professor and former federal prosecutor.

No collision shop owners were named in the cases unsealed Wednesday.

“This is a classic case of benign corruption, at least that’s how officers can justify it to themselves,” Henning said. “They’re not being bribed to look the other way but the officers are putting a little cash in their pockets.”

“The vast majority of Detroit Police Officers are courageous, dedicated, superb public servants,” Acting U.S. Attorney Daniel Lemisch said in a statement Wednesday. “The charged defendants should have put the people of Detroit first, rather than lining their own pockets.”

Those charged are:

■Officer Deonne Dotson, 45, who was indicted on six extortion counts.

■Officer Charles Wills, 52, who was indicted on four extortion counts. He is accused of pocketing $5,600.

Lawyers for both officers could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

■Retired officer James Robertson, 45. He pleaded guilty earlier this year to two extortion counts, according to court records unsealed Wednesday. He received $2,000 in fall 2014 from the owner of a Detroit collision shop in exchange for sending an abandoned vehicle to the business for repairs.

His lawyer declined comment.

■Retired officer Jamil Martin, 46. He received $500 from the owner of a Detroit collision shop in 2014 in exchange for sending vehicles to the shop for repairs.

Martin could spend up to 30 months in federal prison, according to his plea deal. His lawyer could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

■Retired officer Martin Tutt, 29. Tutt’s plea deal covers two counts of extortion and he has admitted receiving $1,000 from a Detroit collision shop in summer 2014 in exchange for referring an abandoned vehicle to that shop for repairs. He could get sentenced to 30 months in federal prison. His lawyer could not be reached for comment.

■Retired officer Anthony Careathers, 52. He struck a plea deal and admitted pocketing $1,500 from a collision shop owner. He could spend up to 24 months in federal prison, according to his plea deal. His lawyer declined comment.

The extortion charges are 20-year felonies and include $250,000 fines.

“The actions of these six officers illustrate a pattern of misconduct and an abuse of authority, which is in contrast to the vast majority of law enforcement professionals at the Detroit Police Department who serve each day with distinction and integrity,” said David Gelios, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Detroit office.

Craig said he’s directed the Professional Standards Section to launch an internal investigation into two officers who were not part of Wednesday’s indictments and plea deals.

“There isn’t enough evidence to charge them criminally, but there’s evidence they violated administrative rules, and they could be subject to termination,” Craig said.

The officers indicted Wednesday were among six Detroit cops suspended in fall 2016 amid a months-long federal and Detroit Police investigation.

Last year, a police source told The News the scheme started with officers whose job is to hunt for stolen and abandoned vehicles. After they found one, this is what would happen, according to the source:

Officers are supposed to alert dispatch, which assigns one of 23 authorized tow companies to pick it up, depending on where the vehicle was found and which of multiple firms were next on the rotation list.

But they didn’t alert dispatch; instead, they were calling one tow company to pick up the vehicles. The tow company usually paid the officers between $50 and $100 for each car towed.

Officers would look for vehicles with minimal damage, such as ignition switch damage or missing tires. The tow company would then tell the vehicle’s owner it had found their stolen vehicle, which had unspecified damage, and that it worked with a collision shop that would waive the deductible for repairing it.

If the owner agreed to have the work done at that collision shop, employees then would strip vehicles of their motors, transmissions and other major parts without the owners’ knowledge. When a claims adjuster for the owner’s insurance company saw the stripped vehicle, thousands of dollars in damages would be assessed.

The collision shop owner would collect the money, put the parts back on the vehicle and do the minor repairs for the original damage before telling the owner to pick up the vehicle. The owners were never aware of the scheme.

Two collision shops in Wayne County are being investigated.

The cases were unsealed two months after former Detroit Deputy Police Chief Celia Washington, 57, was indicted on federal conspiracy and bribery charges.

Washington pocketed bribes in exchange for helping an unnamed towing mogul grab a bigger piece of a Detroit towing industry that totaled more than $2 million a year. City attorneys say the towing mogul is Fiore.

Washington was charged after investigators built a case with secret video recordings, a “significant number” of wiretaps, text messages and other evidence, according to court records.

Last year, Craig said the six officers were suspended with pay, pending the outcome of the investigation.

This type of corruption is difficult to detect, in part, because the amount of money officers received is so small, Henning said.

“Even if you multiplied the amount by five, they just sold their career for less than $30,000,” Henning said.

Detroit police probe Tasering of boy in fatal ATV crash

Detroit — Police have launched an investigation into a police pursuit Saturday that ended when a state trooper used a stun gun on a 15-year-old ATV driver, who crashed into a pickup and died.

Detroit Police Chief James Craig announced the probe Monday, a day after state police suspended the trooper and began an internal investigation.

Demond Grimes was killed about 5:30 p.m. Saturday at Rossini and Gratiot on Detroit’s east side. State police, who patrol the 9th Precinct as part of the Secure Cities partnership, say Grimes was driving the ATV on the street, which is illegal, so the trooper ordered him to pull over.

State police Lt. Mike Shaw said Grimes didn’t comply, so the trooper pursued him. At some point during the chase, the trooper deployed his Taser, striking the boy, who then drove the ATV over a curb and slammed into the back of a pickup.

Troopers rendered first aid before medics arrived and began treatment. Grimes was transported to St. John Hospital, where he died. Shaw said the pursuit was over within 49 seconds.

The trooper was suspended Sunday, with Shaw adding: “We had to look at the facts before making a decision (to suspend the trooper).

“We’ll do our own investigation, which we’ll forward to the prosecutor,” Shaw said. “If there’s a determination that a crime or a felony took place, his status will change.”

Shaw added the trooper was suspended because he violated a policy forbidding using a stun gun in a moving vehicle.

Shaw said state police are using troopers from the 1st District in Lansing for the agency’s internal probe. He said investigators are looking into why the trooper deployed his stun gun.

Craig said he decided Monday to launch his inquiry.

“Anytime we have a situation that involves a death with another police agency involved, it warrants an independent investigation,” Craig said. “This in no way suggests any impropriety on the part of the Michigan State Police.”

The Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office would evaluate the recommendations from the separate police probes as part of its own investigation.

Several law enforcement agencies patrol Detroit, all with their own policies governing vehicle chases. Detroit police restrict chases to violent felons, and even then there isn’t always a pursuit, Craig said.

“Even in the case of a felony, there are a lot of factors to consider: Time of day, road conditions, what impact there might be to the public,” Craig said. “I’m a firm believer that in the event of a pursuit, particularly one that causes a danger to the public, our airship should monitor it.”

Craig added most situations don’t call for chasing someone — “particularly when you talk about a traffic infraction or a misdemeanor,” he said.

State police follow the agency’s own chase policy, even if they’re patrolling in cities that have differing rules, Shaw said.

“Our policy is also very restrictive,” Shaw said. “We teach troopers to take numerous things into (account): what the speed is, age, weather conditions, danger to public. Our helicopters often fly over Detroit, but in this case, it wouldn’t have mattered because the incident was over so fast.”

According to the Wayne County sheriff’s chase policy, “vehicular pursuit is justified only if the officer knows, or has reasonable grounds to believe, that the fleeing person has already committed, or attempted to commit, a serious felony that could result in death or 🤬 injury, or has the intent or means to commit a serious felony that could result in death or 🤬 injury in the immediate future.”

Meanwhile, friends and others gathered Monday night near the crash scene for a vigil that was postponed because of rain.

“We never thought we would lose someone so important to us to the police,” said Natavia Hamilton, 13, a longtime friend who turned out to honor her friend before she learned the vigil was postponed.

The death highlights a need for policy change, said Sam Riddle, who is active with the National Action Network.

“No one’s life was in danger but his,” he said near the crash scene Monday night. “There must be a policy in Detroit that addresses this and the inhumane manner of outside police agencies using Detroiters for target practice.”

Police chases have proven deadly throughout the years.

In January, two men were killed when Detroit officers from the 10th Precinct chased a minivan after a traffic stop. The minivan crashed into another vehicle, resulting in both deaths.

In June 2015, Makiah Jackson, 3, and Michaelangelo Jackson, 6, were killed while Detroit police chased parole absconder Lorenzo Harris, who drove his car 95 mph through an east side neighborhood as he tried to elude officers. He was convicted of two charges of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to 30-50 years in prison.

Both Craig and Shaw said ATVs are a growing problem in Detroit and nationwide.

“We’re getting up to 80 of these things driving on the roadways, threatening people, causing traffic issues,” Shaw said. “The individual was pursued (Saturday) for driving on the roadway; you can’t drive these vehicles on the road in the city of Detroit.”

Craig also said teens driving ATVs have been taunting officers.

“We’re aware of complaints of young people who engage in ... racing (ATVs),” Craig said. “In the 9th Precinct, they would taunt the police, doing wheelies in front of police cars.

“But it amounts to a misdemeanor at best, so our officers know not to pursue. It’s too much risk.”

Colin Kaepernick explains protest of national anthem

SANTA CLARA, Ca. -- Forty Niners quarterback Colin Kaepernick has willingly and knowingly immersed himself into controversy by refusing to stand for the playing of the national anthem in protest of what he deems are wrongdoings against African Americans and minorities in the United States.

His latest refusal to stand for the anthem -- he has done this in at least one other preseason game -- came before the 49ers preseason loss to Green Bay at Levi's Stadium.

"I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses Black people and people of color," Kaepernick told NFL Media in an exclusive interview after the game against Green Bay. "To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder."

The 49ers issued this statement: "The national anthem is and always will be a special part of the pre-game ceremony. It is an opportunity to honor our country and reflect on the great liberties we are afforded as its citizens. In respecting such American principles as freedom of religion and freedom of expression, we recognize the right of an individual to choose and participate, or not, in our celebration of the national anthem."

By taking a stand for civil rights, Kaepernick, 28, joins other athletes, like the NBA's Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul, LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony and several WNBA players in using their platform and status to raise awareness to issues affecting minorities in the U.S.

However, refusal to support the American flag as a means to take a stand has brought incredible backlash before and likely will in this instance. The NBA's Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf of the Denver Nuggets, formerly Chris Jackson before converting to Islam, refused to acknowledge the flag in protest, citing similar reasons as Kaepernick and saying that it conflicted with some of his Islamic beliefs.

Abdul-Rauf drew the ire of fans and was briefly suspended by the NBA before a compromise was worked out between the league and player, who eventually stood with his teammates and coaches at the playing of the national anthem.

Kaepernick said that he is aware of what he is doing and that he knows it will not sit well with a lot of people, including the 49ers. He said that he did not inform the club or anyone affiliated with the team of his intentions to protest the national anthem.

"This is not something that I am going to run by anybody," he said. "I am not looking for approval. I have to stand up for people that are oppressed. ... If they take football away, my endorsements from me, I know that I stood up for what is right."

Kaepernick said that he has thought about going public with his feelings for a while but that "I felt that I needed to understand the situation better."

He said that he has discussed his feelings with his family and, after months of witnessing some of the civil unrest in the U.S., decided to be more active and involved in rights for black people. Kaepernick, who is biracial, was adopted and raised by white parents and siblings.

Kaepernick's Twitter feed is filled with civil rights Tweets and messages.

The former Super Bowl starting quarterback's decision to go public comes while he is fighting for his football life with the 49ers, who drafted him in the second round in 2011. He lost his starting job last season after being one of the most promising players in the NFL during his run under former coach Jim Harbaugh.

Over the past few months, his relationship with management has turned sour. He requested a trade last spring, which never came to fruition. He also has spent most of the offseason rehabilitating from operations to his left (non-throwing) shoulder, his hand and knee. That left him unable to fully compete with Blaine Gabbert for months and now, just weeks before the regular season starts, has him seemingly in a bind to regain his starting job.

He made his preseason debut against the Packers and played for the second quarter, completing two of six passes for 14 yards. He looked as rusty as you'd expect from someone who has not played since last November.

Following the game and without any knowledge of Kaepernick's non-football behavior, coach Chip Kelly said that there has never been any discussion about cutting Kaepernick.