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Jim Kenney - John Macnesby - Driving Equality Law: Philadelphia ban on traffic stops for minor infractions goes into effect - fox29.com - city Philadelphia
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Driving Equality Law: Philadelphia ban on traffic stops for minor infractions goes into effect
PHILADELPHIA - A new law banning traffic stops for minor infractions went into effect in Philadelphia Thursday, despite recent legal challenges from the police union. Thursday’s implementation of their Driving Equality Law made Philadelphia the first city in the country to implement a law designed to reduce cases of what’s often called ‘driving while Black’ – or getting pulled over for superficial and racially motivated reasons. City Council passed the first-of-its kind bill in October, and Mayor Jim Kenney signed it into law in November, before it went into effect March 3. The law bans officers from pulling over vehicles based on traffic violations that are considered "secondary violations" in an effort to prevent racial disparities in traffic incidents handled by police. The following issues are considered secondary violations in the new law:Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #5 filed a lawsuit against the city and city officials over the law late last month, claiming that the law was dangerous. "This terrible law puts reckless drivers behind the wheel of unsafe vehicles that ultimately puts the general public in danger," said FOP Lodge # President John McNesby. McNesby had expressed concerns about the law before it was passed. In October, he told FOX 29 about the importance of traffic stops. "These stops, they lead to bigger things, they find guns, they find drugs, it leads to bigger things," he said.
Brandon Bostian - Defense argues rock throwers along tracks were to blame for deadly 2015 Amtrak derailment - fox29.com - state Pennsylvania - city Philadelphia
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Defense argues rock throwers along tracks were to blame for deadly 2015 Amtrak derailment
PHILADELPHIA - Prosecutors in the trial of Amtrak engineer Brandon Bostian told jurors Bostian was "grossly negligent" when his train derailed in 2015 killing eight.Bostian, 38, is charged with 8 counts of involuntary manslaughter and hundreds of charges of reckless endangerment in the crash along the Frankford Curve.The prosecution in opening statements argued Bostian "had one job and it was to control the speed of his train", but he failed.Christopher Phillips, a prosecutor in the office of the Pennsylvania Attorney General, said Bostian "had no chance of making that turn" when all 7 train cars derailed while on the "most dangerous part of the track," the Frankford Curve.The defense lays the blame squarely on the backs of what it calls "criminals" who threw rocks at two trains that night as Bostian was rolling through on his train.The trial began Thursday for Brandon Bostian, the Amtrak engineer charged in a deadly high-speed derailment that occurred back in 2015 in Philadelphia."This is the fault of the rock-throwers," defense attorney Robert Goggin said. "They caused the catastrophe." The defense also claims Amtrak failed to take precautions knowing the rock-throwers were out there along the rails. The first witnesses were police officers and a medical examiner, who took jurors through a series of pictures and described the injuries of the dead.Another witness described, after being thrown from the train, and calling for help, she asked Bostian several times to use his cell phone to call her father before he relented and gave her the phone.One of those injured in the Amtrak Train 188 derailment last year was Lenny Knobbs.
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