Americans Take to the Streets in Protest

WASHINGTON – CRIME – Across the United States, protests over the deaths by unarmed black people have resulted in nightly protests across the country. New York, Los Angeles, Chicago have led the way as citizens have taken to the streets.

Thousands of protesters marched through Manhattan for another night of demonstrations against police violence.

Protests have been ongoing since a grand jury decided earlier this week not to indict New York police officer Daniel Pantaleo in the choking death of unarmed black man Eric Garner last July.

Friday night’s protests were heated at times with police pushing marchers back onto the sidewalks, although generally police have been unobstructive to demonstrators.

Elsewhere scores of people held die-in demonstrations in which they lay on the floor … here a group converged in Macy’s department store. Then again in city’s bustling Grand Central Station.

Protesters say the issue is of the utmost importance.

One protester, Francis Brathwaite stated, “With our voices being heard and us being united, we believe we can make a difference in letting these people know that this has to stop. It has to stop today. No more police brutality”.

FBI Top Ten Most Wanted

Yaser Abdel Said, wanted for the murder of his two teenage daughters in Texas, has been named to the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.

A reward of up to $100,000 is being offered for information leading directly to the arrest of Said, who was born in Egypt and may be hiding there or in U.S. communities with Egyptian ties.

On January 1, 2008, Said persuaded his estranged daughters—Amina, 18, and Sarah, 17—to visit him. He said he was going to take them to get something to eat. Instead, he allegedly drove them in his taxi cab to a remote location and used a handgun to murder them. One of the girls was able to make a 911 call and was heard screaming for help, saying she and her sister were being shot by their father. Their bodies were discovered several hours later in the cab, which was abandoned outside a hotel in Irving, Texas.

“Yaser Abdel Said is wanted for his alleged role in committing a terrible act of violence against his own daughters,” said Diego Rodriguez, special agent in charge of our Dallas Field Office. “Adding him to the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list shows our commitment to seek justice for Amina and Sarah.”

Since the murders nearly seven years ago, the case has received widespread publicity, and law enforcement has followed every credible lead, but Said remains at large. Today’s announcement, Rodriguez noted, should draw increased attention to the case. “We believe that the combination of publicity, the significant reward, and the team of experienced investigators working the case from the Dallas Violent Crimes Task Force and the Irving Police Department will result in Said’s arrest.”

Special Agent Gil Balli, a task force supervisor who is leading the investigation, explained that “Said likely fled immediately after the murders. There have been many reports that he is in the U.S., but we are not ruling out the possibility that he is abroad.” Balli added that investigators are coordinating with law enforcement partners in Egypt and Canada along with U.S. law enforcement agencies.

The last confirmed sighting of Said, now age 57, was in Irving, Texas, in 2008. He is 6 feet 2 inches tall, weighs about 180 pounds, and has brown eyes, black hair, and possibly a thick moustache.

Amtrak stabbing, luxury hotel shooting top week’s crime headlines

A stabbing on board an Amtrak train.

Police in Niles, Michigan say Amtrak called them to say a passenger, Michael Williams, was behaving oddly. Niles Chief of Police Jim Millin says “Our officers were dispatched up here. While they were en route, at some point the male suspect on the train did assault at least four individuals on the train with a knife.”

It was a frightening scene

Amtrak passenger Caitlin Cipri stated, “I heard somebody screaming and yelling just loud. I look up and there’s an African American gentleman standing over someone who’s sitting down in one of the first seats in the car and I see him have his fist up and then bring it down.”

Three passengers and a conductor were injured. Williams faces four counts of assault and a one million dollar bond.

Across the country, Beverly Hills California’s Rodeo Drive saw an unusual scene — as police shot a bank robbery suspect inside the Luxe Hotel.

VIDEO by Reuters