The Daily Dose/September 19, 2018
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
In The News
The trial of Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke for the 2014 shooting of Laquan McDonald concluded its second day Tuesday. Police reports shortly after the incident stated Van Dyke acted in self-defense, while dashcam video, released a year after the shooting, showed McDonald walking away at the time of the shooting. Van Dyke shot him once, which felled McDonald, and then Van Dyke shot him 15 more times. Van Dyke was charged with first-degree murder, remains free on $1.5 million bond and, unlike some in his situation, selected a jury trial instead of a bench trial.
We’ve discussed this before: first-degree murder is very difficult to prove in police shootings. Murder 1 generally involves planning and intent and, as the Jason Shockley case in St Louis brilliantly illustrated, this is difficult to prove when a cop has known the victim only a few minutes.
Editor’s Note: Click here for a 2017 column Gaylon wrote about the Shockley case.
This is what happened here when police came across an erratically behaving McDonald walking down the street. No one knew him from Adam. He didn’t do what the police asked and he had a knife and soon he was dead.
Now, Illinois law provides for a conviction of a lesser offense and state law defines second-degree murder, in part, as an unjustified killing resulting from “sudden and intense passion resulting from serious provocation by the individual killed.” We’re not lawyers here, nor have we ever played one on TV, but this might have been a more reasonable charge.
Today at the Site
The Diary of a Nobody: There is complete chaos at the hotels Sparrow works at, and he spends the night at Hotel A instead of his usual Hotel B. Plus, there is almost a fight between two customers at the retailer, where the first Christmas decorations are being trotted out.
Good gravy…I am not paid to deal with this…None of us are, really, but a checker less than some others and I’m sorry, I am not going to take a punch or a bullet here, and I’m certainly not going to put my new falsies at risk…Two ding dongs want to go at it, go, knock yourselves out…So to speak.
The Bottom Ten/NFL Week 4: There was no change in the Bottom Ten medal stand this week, as Detroit, Cleveland and Houston all stayed put with losses. The NFL is so bad this year there is not even room for every unvictoried team in this week’s survey.
10. Seattle Seahawks (0-2; lost to Chicago 24-17) – Seahawks get nod for final spot over equally winless Arizona thanks to strength of schedule points for losing to lousy Bears team…Offense getting smiley faces on playbooks for turning two (2) interceptions by defense into zero (0) points, two (2) punts….Next Loss: at Arizona
The Thought for the Day will return.
On This Date
In 1976 – Turkish Airlines flight 452 crashes into the side of a mountain, killing 154 people. They were on approach to Antalya, Turkey, from Istanbul, when the first officers mistook a highway for the runway. When the control tower asked what they were doing, the plane took corrective action but struck the slope of a hill. There were no survivors and passengers had no warning of the crash.
In 1986 – Joe Cowley of the Chicago White Sox pitches a no-hitter in a 7-1 victory over the California Angels. The lone Angels run came in the sixth, on three of Cowley’s seven walks and a sacrifice fly. It is the 33rd and final victory in Cowley’s major league career, and he remains the only pitcher in history whose final big league victory was a no-hitter.
In 1970 – Ain’t No Mountain High Enough by Diana Ross is at #1 for the first of three weeks on the Billboard Hot 100. It was Ross’ first #1 solo hit after twelve #1’s with the Supremes. The song also went to #1 on Billboard’s R&B chart.
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Randy Johnson is the other pitcher to strike out exactly 20 batters in a game, doing so in 2001 for the Arizona Diamondbacks. He struck out 20 Cincinnati Reds in nine innings, but the mark is not included in the record book because the game went 16 innings.
Today’s Stumper
What act first charted with Ain’t No Mountain High Enough? – Answer next time!
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