Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/490678
ByJesseJ.Holland The Associated Press WASHINGTON Whites in the United States approve of police officers hitting people in far greater numbers than blacks and Hispanics do, at a time when the country is struggling to deal with po- lice use of deadly force against men of color, ac- cording to a major Ameri- can trend survey. Seven of 10 whites polled, or 70 percent, said they can imagine a situation in which they would approve of a po- lice officer striking an adult male citizen, according to the 2014 General Social Sur- vey,along-runningmeasure- ment of trends in American opinions. When asked the same question — Are there any situations you can imag- ine in which you would ap- prove of a policeman strik- ing an adult male citizen? — 42 percent of blacks and 38 percent of Hispanics said they could. These results come as Americans grapple with trust between law enforce- ment and minority commu- nities after a series of inci- dents, including the deaths Michael Brown in Fergu- son, Missouri, and Eric Gar- ner on Staten Island, New York, both black men. Thou- sands of people protested in the streets last year after the deaths of 18-year-old Brown and 43-year-old Garner, who gasped "I can't breathe" as police arrested him for al- legedly selling loose, un- taxed cigarettes. But the sur- vey shows the gap between whites, blacks and Hispan- ics long predates the recent incidents. The poll results don't sur- prise experts on American attitudes toward police. "Whites are significantly more likely to give police officers the benefit of the doubt, either because they have never had an alterca- tion with a police officer or because they tend to see the police as allies in the fight against crime," said Ronald Weitzer, a George Washing- ton University sociology pro- fessor who has studied race and policing in the U.S. and internationally. However, blacks and His- panics "are more cautious on this issue because of their personal experiences and/ or the historical treatment their groups have experi- enced at the hands of the po- lice, which is only recapitu- lated in recent disputed kill- ings," he said. The General Social Sur- vey is conducted by the in- dependent research or- ganization NORC at the University of Chicago. Be- cause of its long-running and comprehensive set of questions about the pub- lic, it is a highly regarded source of data about social trends. Numbers from the 2014 survey came out last month, and an analysis of its findings on attitudes to- ward police and the crimi- nal justice system was con- ducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Pub- lic Affairs Research and the General Social Survey. Deep racial divides exist in other law enforcement ar- eas as well: • A larger number of blacks could approve police striking a murder suspect who is being questioned: 24 percent, compared to 18 percent of Hispanics and 12 percent of whites. • At more than half of whites, 69 percent, and half of Hispanics approve of po- lice hitting suspects trying to escape from custody but only 42 percent of blacks approve. • Two-thirds, or 66 per- cent, of whites say they fa- vor the death penalty for convicted murderers, while 44 percent of blacks and 48 percent of Hispanics agree. POLL Morewhitesthan blacks, Latinos approve police striking men By Darlene Superville The Associated Press HILLAIRFORCEBASE,UTAH Utah, check. One more state to go for President Barack Obama: South Dakota. Utah was the 49th state visited by Obama and the latest stop on his recent tour of Republican "red" states. Since January, Obama has traveled to 10 GOP states: Arizona, Tennes- see, Idaho, Kansas, Indi- ana, South Carolina, Ala- bama, Georgia, Kentucky and Utah, all of which voted for Obama rival Mitt Romney in 2012. The White House says there is no concerted ef- fort to put the president in Republican states. ""There are really important, sub- stantive reasons that ex- plain the places we go," White House spokesman Eric Schultz said. After spending the night in Salt Lake City, Obama appeared on Friday at Hill Air Force Base near Ogden to announce new steps to support military veterans by training them for solar industry jobs. "A lot of our men and women in uniform at some point are going to transition into civilian life and we want to make sure that after they've fought for our freedom that they've got jobs to come home to," the president said, The departments of En- ergy and Defense are start- ing a program at 10 mili- tary bases nationwide, in- cluding at Hill Air Force Base, to teach service mem- bers who are transitioning out of the military how to install solar panels. The Energy Department has committed to training 75,000 people, including veterans, for solar indus- try jobs by 2020. South Dakota now has the distinction of being the only state awaiting a pres- idential visit by Obama. With 21 months left on his term, he has plenty of time to get there. PRESIDENT Utah is 49th state to witness an Obama visit CAROLYNKASTER—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS President Barack Obama speaks to members of the military, media and others about clean energy, in front of a solar array on Friday at Hill Air Force Base, Utah. By Kim Chandler The Associated Press BIRMINGHAM, ALA. A man who spent nearly 30 years on Alabama's death row walked free Friday hours after prosecutors acknowl- edged that the only evi- dence they had against him couldn't prove he commit- ted the crime. Ray Hinton was 29 when he was arrested for two 1985 killings. Freed at age 58, with grey hair and a beard, he was embraced by his sobbing sisters, who said "thank you Jesus," as they wrapped their arms around him outside the Jef- ferson County Jail. Prosecutors said this week that new ballistics tests couldn't match his mother's gun to any of the six bullets found at the crime scenes. "I shouldn't have sat on death row for 30 years. All they had to do was test the gun," Hinton said. "When you think you are high and mighty and you are above the law, you don't have to answer to nobody. But I got news for them, ev- erybody who played a part in sending me to death row, you will answer to God," Hinton said. "They just didn't take me from my fam- ily and friends. They had ev- ery intention of executing me for something I didn't do," Hinton said. Hinton was arrested in 1985 for the murders of two Birmingham fast-food res- taurant managers after the survivor of a third restau- rant robbery identified Hin- ton as the gunman. Prose- cution experts said at the trial that bullets recovered at all three crime scenes matched Hinton's mother's .38 caliber Smith & Wes- son revolver. He was con- victed despite an alibi: He had been at work inside a locked warehouse 15 min- utes away during the third shooting. "The only thing we've ever had to connect him to the two crimes here in Bir- mingham was the bullets matching the gun that was recovered from his home," Chief Deputy District At- torney John R. Bowers, Jr. told The Associated Press on Thursday. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that Hinton had "constitutionally de- ficient" representation at trial because his defense lawyer wrongly thought he had only $1,000 to hire a ballistics expert to rebut the state's case. The only ex- pert willing to take the job at that price struggled so much under cross-exami- nation that jurors chuckled at his responses. Attorney Bryan Steven- son, who directs Alabama's Equal Justice Initiative, called it "a case study in what is wrong with our sys- tem. He was convicted be- cause he was poor. We have a system that treats you bet- ter if you are rich and guilty than if you are poor and in- nocent." The independent experts Stevenson hired to re-exam- ine this evidence after tak- ing on Hinton's case in 1999 "were quite unequivocal that this gun was not con- nected to these crimes," he said. "That's the real shame to me. What happened this week to get Mr. Hinton re- leased could have happened at least 15 years ago." Stevenson then tried in vain for years to persuade the state of Alabama to re-examine the evidence. The bullets only got a new look as prosecutors and defense lawyers tangled over a possible retrial fol- lowing the Supreme Court ruling. The result: Three foren- sics experts could not posi- tively conclude whether the bullets were fired from Hin- ton's revolver, or whether they came from the same gun at all, according to the state's request to dis- miss the case against Hin- ton. Bowers said the "bullets were so badly mutilated that they did not have the neces- sary microscopic markings to make a conclusive deter- mination." CRIMINAL JUSTICE Man walks free a er 30 years on death row Thiscouldbeyourluckyday by helping a dog or cat find a loving home from... Ad Sponsorship $ 25 Call Suzy 737-5056 RedBluffDailyNews ELI Paws & Claws TEHAMACOUNTYANIMAL SHELTER 1830 Walnut Street P.O. Box 38 • Red Bluff, CA 96080 (530) 527-3439 CORNING ANIMAL SHELTER 4312 Rawson Rd. 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