Emantic “EJ” Bradford, Jr’s family has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit over his death. Bradford, a young black man, was killed by a police officer in Hoover a year ago. Attorneys for the family say the officer didn’t follow proper procedures during the incident.

On Thanksgiving night 2018, shots were fired at the Riverchase Galleria mall. Within seconds, a responding police officer then shot and killed the 21-year-old. The police first said that Bradford was the shooter and then admitted the next day that they were wrong. There were marches and protests in the community for weeks following the incident.

The city of Hoover, as well as the officer who shot Bradford, are named in the lawsuit. Officials have not publicly identified the officer involved. The attorneys for Bradford’s family say that the officer didn’t issue a verbal warning before the shooting, which violates recommended policing procedures. The officer is also accused of not turning on his body camera, as well as not verifying if Bradford actually posed a threat before shooting and killing him. The family lawyer, Ben Crump, said that Bradford was never given a chance. The police shot first and then asked questions later.

A year after the shooting at a press conference, another attorney, Devon Jacob, said that the policing policies of the Hoover Police Department are “below standard.” He said this isn’t about the shooting in the Galleria but instead about the right to possess a handgun. At the time of his death, Bradford did have a handgun and was trying to help other people when the first shooting happened. Bradford does have a permit to carry a weapon. At the press conference, individuals called on the police department to release the name of the officer, as well as video related to the case. A separate lawsuit has been filed seeking that information. Bradford’s mother, April Pipkins, said the lawsuit is to bring changes so that no one else has to live through this.

Phillip Corley, the Hoover City Attorney, said that officials defend the officer against the lawsuit and points to a review by the U.S. Justice Department and Alabama Attorney General that says there wasn’t any criminal wrongdoing by the officer. The city has stood by the officer the whole time and will continue doing so.

The ongoing story of the wrongful death lawsuits being filed against one medical institution and a doctor continues with yet another case. This is the 30th filing of such charges, stemming from a patient in 2017 that was treated by the aforementioned, Dr. William Husel.

Mount Carmel Health System, the medical institution being charged along with Husel, according to the alleged charges, issued lethal doses of fentanyl. This occurred, based on the filing, following an initial visit for a broken toe.

The patient named in the wrongful death charge, Danny Mollett, was then diagnosed with hypertension and diabetes. It was in December of 2017 when Mollett was admitted to the ICU under the care of Dr. Husel, for issues related to peripheral vascular disease and a gangrene infection in his toe.

Citing the lawsuit, the charges claim that, ” Mount Carmel failed to prevent massive doses of CNS drugs such as Fentanyl from being accessed by nurses utilizing the AMDS system. A properly programmed AMDS system would deny a request for an excessive dosage of Fentanyl, and the machine would not permit any trays to be opened. “

The most shocking charges according to the lawsuit allege that Dr. Husel directed that 1,000 micrograms of fentanyl be administered. Medical experts suggest the maximum dosage for Fentanyl not exceed 100 mcg. What makes this story even more frightening is that the lawsuit also states that the drug was to be given by “…IV push all at once over the period of three to five minutes.”

To record, there have been 35 patients who have died under the care of Dr. Husel between the years of 2014 to 2018. Husel was indicted earlier this month on 25 counts of murder tied to the 25 patients who allegedly received 500 mcg of fentanyl or more.

Mount Carmel, following its own internal investigation, dismissed Dr. William Husel due to concerns raised over patient care. The hospital has made a public apology and has made internal changes to restrict such access to these types of drugs. They have also retrained the entire staff in addition to paying out more than $4 million in settlements.

Husel has pleaded not guilty and speaking on his behalf, criminal defense attorney Richard Blake said that these accidents were unintentional. Perhaps, even for the sake of the victims, we all hope so.

The Multnomah Estate of a 30-year-old expectant woman who lost her life when a huge cedar fell onto her Ford SUV has moved to court to seek compensation amounting to $9.50 million. The suit has been filed against the registered owners of the Multnomah County land where the cedar tree grew.

According to the information provided in the lawsuit, Olivier was about four months pregnant when the incident occurred on 1^st March 2016, at almost 6:30 am as she was heading to work along the Southeast Oxbow Drive. The cedar tree which was approximately 100-foot tall fell onto the driver’s side of Olivier’s 2001 Ford Explorer and killed her instantly.

Denied Permission

After Olivier’s death, Mark Harrington, the owner of the land where the tree grew came forward and said that the county authorities had denied him the permission to cut down the ill-fated tree and other trees near it that were also in a devastating condition.

Although it isn’t clear why Harrington was denied the permission to cut down the tree, Mr. Pullen, the official county spokesman, says that the county lacks a general code governing the cutting down of trees on private property.

At the time of her death, Olivier was a wife to Jeremy Olivier, and they had a baby boy who was three years old.

The estate where Olivier lived has taken the county to court claiming that the county denied granting the landowners where the tree grew permission to cut it down even after informing them about the rotting nature of the tree. The lawsuit argues that if the county had granted the sought orders to cut down the tree, Olivier’s life couldn’t have been cut short.

Portland attorneys Anthony Furniss and Gregory Leineweber are representing Olivier’s estate in the case which was filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court.

Related Cases

The lawsuit filed by Olivier’s estate is the fourth one to be recorded in the past two years over deaths caused by falling trees. A case was filed in 2016 in which the parents of an 11-year-old kid, Lake Oswego after he was killed when a tree fell on top of the car he was riding in.

During the same year, another lawsuit was also filed by the estate of an elderly woman who was killed when a neighbor’s tree fell onto her house at night. This happened in Southeast Portland. A similar case was also reported last year when a 27-year old man was killed while driving along the Columbia Highway.