A police officer in Birmingham, Alabama was stripped of a combat medal last night. APR’s Alex AuBuchon tells us why.
Birmingham police officer Daniel Aguirre received his department’s Combat Cross Medal in May after valorous action in a shooting last year. Officials honored him for shooting a robbery suspect who the officer claimed pointed a gun at him.
But dash cam video released by AL.com last night tells a different story. It shows the suspect on his hands and knees and dropping to the ground when Aguirre shoots him twice. Aguirre then kicks a gun lying on the ground away from the suspect.
The Birmingham Police Department announced it is rescinding the medal pending a further review by the awards committee. The suspect, Aubrey Williams, recovered and is facing attempted murder charges.
Republican Presidential candidate and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee will revisit Alabama tomorrow.
Huckabee will be at the Alabama Republican Party: ALGOP Headquarters in Birmingham at 1:30 p.m. During the event, Governor Huckabee will present his petition and filing fee to Republican Chairwoman Terry Lathan. Huckabee visited Alabama last month, making several stops throughout the state.
In 2008, Governor Huckabee won the Alabama Primary.
Alabama has seen visits from former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Dr. Ben Carson, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Senator Ted Cruz, Ohio Governor John Kasich, Senator Rand Paul, Senator Bernie Sanders visited via telecast, and Donald Trump.
A petition calling for Perry County Circuit Judge Marvin Wiggins to be disbarred has gathered more than 23,000 signatures.
The Care2 petition demands Wiggins be disbarred for forcing low-income offenders to give blood in exchange for credits toward their legal fees, and threatened jail time if they didn’t give blood. That got the attention of the New York Times, and the Southern Poverty Law Center, who filed an ethics complaint against Wiggins.
Sara Zampierin is a senior staff attorney with the SPLC. She says Wiggins’s behavior was not only illegal but unethical.
“It’s, number one, a violation of the laws, but also is a violation of judicial ethics, because judges are required to uphold the integrity and independence of the judiciary, and this really undermines public confidence in the judiciary to make these sorts of orders.”
Wiggins is no stranger to controversy. He was removed from the Board of Trustees at Alabama State last year for conflicts of interest, and was publicly reprimanded by the state bar in 2009 for failing to recuse himself from a case involving family members.