Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey made abundantly clear to radicals during a press conference on Thursday that Florida handles rioters a whole lot differently than authorities on the West Coast, underscoring that violence will be met with violence, and the odds are not in radicals' favor.
Sheriff Ivey, flanked by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, noted at the outset that Americans are moving to the Sunshine State in record numbers, in part, "because they know their families will be safe here, their businesses will be safe. They won't have to contend with what we're seeing in places like Los Angeles and New York and Chicago."
Ivey indicated that this coveted safety is the result, in part, of Florida law enforcement's approach to crime and the state AG's support for law enforcement.
'We will be notifying one of your family members where to collect your remains.'
Uthmeier announced Thursday that violence and intimidation against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers will not be tolerated and indicated he had directed the Florida Highway Patrol to partner with federal law enforcement to ensure that Florida-based federal agents doxxed by radicals have a direct line of communication with local FHP leadership. The Florida AG also instructed FHP to have troopers conduct routine welfare checks on doxxed agents' residences to ensure their safety and the safety of their families.
"Border Patrol and ICE agents enforcing immigration law deserve protection from leftists trying to harm them," Uthmeier said in a statement. "If the left doxxes these agents, we will have their backs. Whether you make the poor choice to riot or publish an agent’s personal information online to bring harm, you are committing a crime in Florida. We will find you and hold you accountable."
Sheriff Ivey noted that peaceful protest is welcome and "part of our democracy" and that peaceful protesters will enjoy the protection of law enforcement.
"If you let it turn violent, hoo," continued Ivey. "You do not want to do that in Brevard County."
RELATED: Kamala, Newsom, AOC outed: Leaked DHS memo claims they back violent illegal aliens over Americans ans
"If you resist lawful orders, you're going to jail. Let me be very clear about that. If you block an intersection or a roadway in Brevard County, you are going to jail. If you flee arrest, you are going to go to jail tired because we are going to run you down," continued the sheriff. "If you try to mob-rule a car in Brevard County — gathering around it, refusing to let the driver leave — in our county, you're most likely going to get run over and dragged across the street. If you spit on us, you are going to the hospital and then jail. If you hit one of us, you are going to the hospital and jail — and most likely, get bitten by one of our big, beautiful dogs."
Ivey kept working his way down his list of promises, adding, "If you throw a brick, a firebomb, or point a gun at one of our deputies, we will be notifying one of your family members where to collect your remains at because we will kill you, graveyard dead. We're not going to play."
'We must stand for law and order.'
The sheriff expressed disgust over the attacks on law enforcement further afield, especially the attacks on ICE agents in Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom's California.
"Go protest all you want. Do it peacefully," said Ivey. "But don't you dare break the law."
There are a handful of "No Kings" uprisings planned for Saturday in Brevard County. The protests, championed by billionaire Walmart heiress Christy Walton and backed by numerous radical groups and NGOs, are billed as a "response to the increasing authoritarian excesses and corruption of the Trump administration."
Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said in an interview Tuesday that his state has taken a decidedly different approach to illegal aliens and leftist violence than California.
"California under [Newsom's] leadership is the Shangri-la of sanctuary states. They invite illegals in. They pay for their health care. They give them in-state tuition. Obviously, they don't cooperate with ICE, but they're taking it to a whole new level," said DeSantis. "The governor of California and the mayor — part of it's ineptitude, but part of it's by design — are actually siding with the people who are creating the unrest."
"We must stand for law and order," stated DeSantis.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
A group of former officials with Los Angeles County blasted the current leadership in an interview with the New York Post, claiming that incompetence and DEI "hysteria" led to the fires that have already claimed dozens of lives and tens of thousands of acres.
The Post spoke with former Sheriff Alex Villanueva, former Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley, and retired Commander John Satterfield of the L.A. County Sheriff's Department. All three took aim at weak local leaders whose incompetence has been exacerbated by their devotion to leftist narratives.
"The degree of mismanagement is epic. It’s incompetence married with poisonous ideology," Villanueva said.
'Diversity is great, but ... there comes a point when technical competence and meritocracy are badly needed.'
Cooley, who spent a dozen years as lead prosecutor of L.A. County, beginning in 2000, told the Post he didn't realize how much diversity, equity, and inclusion had infiltrated the Los Angeles Fire Department in recent years.
"It’s like the main thing the fire department leaders were focused on was DEI, not fighting fires. It’s beyond incredible that things were allowed to get this far," Cooley stated.
Satterfield couldn't agree more, claiming that DEI "hysteria" has taken over several city and county agencies. "Every single L.A. City and L.A. County appointment is made with the most extreme left-wing agenda you can imagine," he stated.
"Diversity is great, but not when every single position checks the boxes for diversity. There comes a point when technical competence and meritocracy are badly needed," Satterfield added.
Satterfield explained that deputies are currently suffering the consequences of this fixation on identity politics, pulling 24-hour shifts to assist during the fire crisis "with no relief in sight."
"They are down 30% to 40% at sheriff department’s stations," Satterfield told the Post. "The Board of Supervisors cut 1,281 positions in 2020."
Villanueva, who served as sheriff from 2018 to 2022, claimed that the problem is widespread. "Both the L.A. Sheriff’s Department and the LAPD are missing more than 3,000 cops because of what happened during what I call the ‘Summer of Love’ after George Floyd’s death," he said.
Depleted ranks in law enforcement have been devastating, as the entire L.A. area has been thrown into chaos amid the fires. "You wonder why there’s looting? Why wouldn’t there be? The criminals know, at least up until now, that probably [no penalty or jail time] was going to happen to them," Villanueva said.
"All of this is deliberate. Even the county Board of Supervisors are all about ‘Care first, jail last’ when it comes to criminals."
Meanwhile, Joe Tyler, chief of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, has kept a low profile, the Post noted, holding just one press conference since the fires broke out more than a week ago. What's more, that lone press conference was held in Sacramento, nearly 400 miles from the blazes.
The outlet called Tyler's office on Tuesday, but a spokesperson was unable to provide Tyler's current whereabouts. The spokesperson was only "pretty sure" he had visited the L.A. areas ravaged by fires since the crisis began.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
A Kentucky sheriff who was accused of fatally shooting a district judge in his chambers two months ago was indicted for murder Thursday.
Prosecuting attorney Jackie Steele said after a grand jury returned the indictment that he couldn't comment on an alleged motive, although police previously said Shawn “Mickey” Stines — then-sheriff of Letcher County — and Judge Kevin Mullins had argued just before the Sept. 19 shooting, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported.
'Everything seemed fine between them. There was no clue that anything was wrong at all. You wouldn't have guessed there was the slightest problem.'
Judge Julia H. Adams received the indictment and set Stines’ arraignment for next Monday, the paper said.
Stines turned himself in after the shooting and was charged with first-degree murder, the New York Times reported, citing police. He retired as sheriff less than two weeks after the shooting.
Stines — who's accused of shooting Mullins eight times — pleaded not guilty to the murder charge.
The shooting was captured on surveillance video. You can view the surveillance clip here; it omits the actual shots being fired, and it's included in a larger video report about the shooting. Spectators cried out in the Morgan County courtroom as the video played during a hearing last month, WDKY-TV reported.
Kentucky State Police Detective Clayton Stamper testified that the full video of the shooting shows Stines using his own phone to make multiple calls, then using the judge’s phone to make a call, the Louisville Courier Journal reported, adding that the shooting followed.
Stamper testified that the calls were to Stines’ daughter, the Courier Journal noted, and he said the phone number of Stines' daughter had been saved in the judge's phone and was called before the shooting. Stamper also said Stines stood up from his chair in the judge’s office after looking at Mullins’ phone and shot him seconds later, the Herald-Leader said.
The shooting is particularly curious since Stines and Mullins reportedly had been decades-long friends.
What's more, the pair went to lunch at the Streetside Grill & Bar on Main Street just hours before the shooting, the Daily Mail reported. A restaurant employee told the outlet that Stines and Mullins ordered their usual lunch — both having chicken wings with salad.
"Everything seemed fine between them. There was no clue that anything was wrong at all," an employee said. "You wouldn't have guessed there was the slightest problem."
A woman who reportedly works for the Letcher County Sheriff’s Office also gave her phone to investigators for examination, WDKY said, adding that Stamper testified that she was one of Stines’ employees and believed she’d received text messages from Stines that noted what occurred at lunch and led to the shooting.
Under cross-examination, Stamper said that when Stines "was taken into custody, I was told by one of the other officers that were there that he made the comment, ‘They’re trying to kidnap my wife and kid,'" WDKY added.
More from the Herald-Leader:
The crime could be eligible for the death penalty if Stines is convicted because Mullins was a public official. Steele, who is prosecuting the case with Attorney General Russell Coleman’s office, said there had been no decision yet on whether to seek the death penalty against Stines if he is convicted. However, Stines’ attorney, Jeremy Bartley, has said that he does not think the murder is the appropriate charge in the case.
Bartley said at the Oct. 1 hearing that the evidence offered there pointed to the shooting as being an act of “extreme emotional disturbance” in reaction to something Stines had seen on Mullins’ phone.
There was no information at the hearing about what was on the phone. If a jury decided Stines acted out of extreme emotional disturbance, he couldn’t be convicted of murder, but rather first-degree manslaughter or a lesser crime. The death penalty would not be an option in that case.
You can view a video report here about Thursday's murder indictment.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Surveillance video of a Kentucky judge getting fatally shot in his chambers last month was shown during a hearing in the case of the sheriff accused of killing him.
Spectators cried out in the Morgan County courtroom as the video played last week, WDKY-TV reported.
'Everything seemed fine between them. There was no clue that anything was wrong at all.'
You can view the surveillance clip of the shooting here; it omits the actual shots being fired, and it's included in a larger video report about the shooting.
Former Letcher County Sheriff Shawn “Mickey” Stines appeared before a judge last Tuesday afternoon for a probable cause hearing, WDKY said. State police said Stines, 43, fatally shot District Judge Kevin Mullins in his courthouse chambers in Whitesburg on Sept. 19.
Stines turned himself in after the shooting and was charged with first-degree murder, the New York Times reported, citing police.
Stines — who's accused of shooting Mullins eight times — pleaded not guilty to the murder charge.
Kentucky State Police Detective Clayton Stamper testified that the full video of the shooting shows Stines using his own phone to make multiple calls, then using the judge’s phone to make a call, the Louisville Courier Journal reported, adding that the shooting followed.
Stamper testified that the calls were to Stines’ daughter, the Courier Journal said. Stamper added that the phones have been sent to forensic teams for examination, the Courier Journal noted, adding that the daughter’s phone has not been examined. Stamper also said the phone number of Stines' daughter had been saved in the judge's phone and was called before the shooting, the Courier Journal reported.
However, Kentucky State Police Trooper Matt Gayheart told WDKY in a separate story that contrary to how it was stated in court, investigators won’t know if the number of Stines' daughter was saved in Mullins’ phone until forensic reports come back in a few weeks. But the call log reportedly showed her number had been called prior to the shooting, the station noted.
The shooting is particularly curious since Stines and Mullins reportedly had been decades-long friends. What's more, the pair went to lunch at the Streetside Grill & Bar on Main Street just hours before the shooting, the Daily Mail reported.
A restaurant employee told the outlet that Stines and Mullins ordered their usual lunch — both having chicken wings with salad.
"Everything seemed fine between them. There was no clue that anything was wrong at all," an employee said. "You wouldn't have guessed there was the slightest problem."
A woman who reportedly works for the Letcher County Sheriff’s Office also gave her phone to investigators for examination, WDKY said, adding that Stamper testified that she was one of Stines’ employees and believed she’d received text messages from Stines that noted what occurred at lunch and led to the shooting.
Under cross-examination, Stamper said that when Stines "was taken into custody, I was told by one of the other officers that were there that he made the comment, ‘They’re trying to kidnap my wife and kid,'" WDKY added.
Stines' lawyer also argued that the charges against his client should be lowered to manslaughter given Stamper’s testimony claiming the shooting was the result of “extreme emotional disturbance" and there's no evidence showing the shooting was planned.
Court documents indicated that the defense established probable cause in last Tuesday’s hearing, and the case is set to be heard by a grand jury, WDKY reported.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
The Justice Department ended its probe of Florida cops' use of force in a late September arrest of a drug suspect, the Associated Press reported.
James Felte Jr. — the department's criminal section chief — wrote in a letter to Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters that the arrest of Le’Keian Woods doesn't present a prosecutable violation of federal civil rights laws, the AP said.
Woods ran from police after a traffic stop and appeared to resist arrest, even after getting hit with a taser.
A passerby recorded cellphone video of Woods' arrest, which showed numerous officers using force to gain control of him, including slamming his head into the ground; the video also showed Woods' swollen face after he was handcuffed.
Jacksonville police release report, booking photo of man accusing officers of brutality youtu.be
Woods' attorney called for a federal investigation and accused Waters of a cover-up, the AP said in a previous story. But Waters ripped critics during a news conference during which bodycam video of the arrest was shown:
"So, it's pretty unbelievable, disheartening, to have to announce that social media is not reality. Its content is not fact-checked by any entity. Because of this misinformation campaign by the anti-police fringe, our agency has come under fire, and individual detectives' lives have been threatened. This intentionally misguiding manipulation of facts is wrong and dangerous, and I will not remain silent while the truth is buried to advance a particular agenda. The truth is Woods sustained facial injuries when he fled from police and was tased [and] fell face-first onto the concrete. Detectives struggled with him, and as I stated before, they used strikes to ... gain control, but he continued to resist arrest. The outcome of Woods' apprehension contrast[s] with that of his friends in the truck who immediately complied with police and suffered no physical injury. Force looks ugly, as I stated before, because all force is ugly, not because the detectives engaged in misconduct. And based on the currently available information, the agency believes that the involved detectives acted appropriately with respect to the law and [sheriff's office] policy."
Here's the video of the news conference. Bodycam video showing the traffic stop, chase, and Woods' arrest begins at the 7:49 mark:
— (@)
Waters and Mike Shell, his assistant chief for public accountability, said officers knew Woods had been accused of murder at one time, was on probation for armed robbery, and had been connected to firearms and drug trafficking when they chased him after the traffic stop, the AP reported.
Woods has been on probation after pleading no contest to a 2017 Tallahassee robbery in which he and his roommate tried to rob a marijuana dealer at gunpoint, the AP noted, citing court records.
The dealer pulled his own gun and fatally shot the roommate as Woods fled, the outlet also said, adding that Woods originally was charged with second-degree murder over his roommate’s death, but a plea bargain was reached last year that released him without prison time.
Woods was charged in this latest encounter with resisting arrest with violence, armed trafficking in cocaine and methamphetamine, and other felonies, the AP noted.
Woods' attorney Harry Daniels told the AP in a statement that "while it is unfortunate that the DOJ’s Special Litigation Section has chosen to close its review so quickly despite the clear evidence before them, it is not surprising. At the end of the day, that’s why we have the civil courts where a jury will ultimately decide justice.”
The outlet, citing his attorneys, said Woods suffered a ruptured kidney, vomiting, and migraine headaches following the confrontation.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department on Sunday removed and apologized for its social media post sympathizing with the “victims and families impacted” by the U.S.’s strike on Iran’s nuclear sites, which were bombed Saturday night. The original post stated, “Our hearts go out to the victims and families impacted by the recent bombings in Iran,” […]
The Democrat-run police department 'has repeatedly released criminal aliens into the community' for at least a year, says the AG's office.
A Florida county sheriff who had refused to enforce immigration laws yielded after state Attorney General James Uthmeier warned he could be removed from office. The move from Uthmeier comes as sheriff’s departments in places like Los Angeles refuse to help federal immigration officials and even fail to shut down pro-illegal immigration riots. Earlier this […]
'If a child was allowed to participate in this naked bike ride, any and all adults who supported and condoned this need to be arrested immediately.'
thefederalist.com
www.theblaze.com