Imagine a police officer snatching a “suspicious” Black man off the street to spend the weekend in jail. The probable cause? Dealing Newport cigarettes. A growing under-the-radar movement to criminalize menthol cigarettes is starting us on a slippery slope toward just such a scenario on a street corner near you. San Francisco was the first city to ban the sale…
The Baton Rogue (Louisiana) Police Department recently charged 20-year-old Brittany Stephens with negligent homicide in the traffic-related death of her year-old daughter, Sevaira. On Oct. 12, 2017, 28-year-old off-duty Baton Rogue police officer Christopher Manuel, while driving his 2007 Corvette 94 miles an hour, plowed into a 2002 Nissan Xterra which contained several occupants, including Stephens and her daughter, Sevaira.…