CHARLESTON, S.C.
Retrial date set for officer
The state retrial of a South Carolina police officer charged with murder for killing a black driver running from a traffic stop has been scheduled to begin March 1. Multiple media outlets report that a judge released the order setting the date Thursday. A jury couldn’t reach a verdict in Michael Slager’s murder trial in state court earlier this month. Slager, who is white, is also charged in federal court with violating Walter Scott’s civil rights. That trial is set to start May 1. Authorities say the former North Charleston police officer shot Scott in the back in April 2015 as he ran from a traffic stop.
OAKLAND, Calif.
Three generations slain
A man who urged an end to violence in Oakland after gunfire killed his son and grandson as they slept three years ago became a victim himself this week as he drove near a street memorial for his slain family. Melvin Johnson, 39, was shot and killed Tuesday on the east side of the San Francisco Bay Area city, not far from the shrine for his 16-month-old grandson and 20-year-old son, who were fatally shot in August 2013, the East Bay Times reported Thursday. Police have made no arrests and released no motive for Johnson’s killing. They have not said if the shooting was random or if Johnson was targeted. He died at a hospital.
GRANBY, Colo.
Fall from chairlift kills woman
A mother died and her two young daughters were injured after falling from a chairlift at a small Colorado ski area Thursday. The 40-year-old Texas mother and the girls, ages 9 and 12, fell 20 feet from a four-person lift onto snow at Ski Granby Ranch, a 400-acre family-oriented resort about 90 miles west of Denver. One of the children was hospitalized in stable condition and the other was flown to a children’s hospital in suburban Denver for treatment. Investigators have not released any names and have not said what caused the family to fall.
ASPEN, Colo.
Young Kennedy charged
Police say a member of the Kennedy family was arrested after a bar fight in the tony resort town of Aspen. Police say 22-year-old John Conor Kennedy was charged with disorderly conduct in the Thursday morning scuffle. Kennedy is the oldest son of Robert Kennedy Jr., an environmental activist, and the grandson of Robert Kennedy. Police say Kennedy and another man were fighting in the street and rolling around on the ground when officers tried to separate them. Officers reported seeing Kennedy punch the man in the head four or five times.
Compiled from wire reports