‘Shock,’ you too can get virus: singer
Three police officers in Aurora, Colo., were fired Friday for their links to a disturbing photo showing the gleeful reenactment of a chokehold at the site of Elijah McClain’s deadly arrest last summer.
Interim Aurora Police Chief Vanessa Wilson announced the terminations of officers Erica Marrero and Kyle Dittrich at an afternoon press conference, saying they willingly posed for the smiling photo with former officer Jaron Jones, who resigned earlier this week.
Wilson said she also fired officer Jason Rosenblatt, one of the three white officers involved in McClain’s arrest, because he received the photo by text and responded “haha.”
“We are ashamed, we are sickened, and we are angry,” a visibly upset Wilson said, calling the officers’ actions “a crime against humanity and decency.”
She said the officers tried to explain themselves by claiming they were only “trying to cheer up a friend by sending that photo.”
Rosenblatt and his fellow arresting officers encountered McClain, a massage therapist, around 10:30 p.m. Aug. 24 after someone called 911 to report him wearing a ski mask and waving his arms suspiciously.
Prosecutors say Rosenblatt tried to use a chokehold known as a carotid hold on the 23-yearold black man but couldn’t because of his position, so another officer performed the dangerous maneuver that has since been banned.
McClain politely and repeatedly begged the officers to relent and apologized for vomiting while being subjected to the carotid hold, according to body-cam video.
“I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to
Bronx-born singer Prince Royce revealed Friday that he’s battling an unexpected coronavirus diagnosis and is worried that young people won’t protect themselves over the Fourth of July holiday weekend, potentially infecting their families and friends.
“I never thought I would have to make this video,” the 31-year-old bachata star told his followers on social media.
“It’s something that I’m in shock,” he said. “I didn’t think it was going to happen to me. I thought that taking precautions by washing my hands and wearing a mask was going to be enough and it was not.”
The Dominican-American singer, born Geoffrey Royce Rojas, said his symptoms began nearly two weeks ago, but he described his case as “mild” and said he’s been feeling well.
Royce (inset) said he’s been taking precautions since the pandemic began and doesn’t know where he got infected.
He’s now “concerned and frustrated” to see people around the country not taking the virus seriously and even refusing to wear masks.
“I know Fourth of July is coming up,” Royce said in the video. “I know we’ve been stuck. We want to go out. We think it’s not going to happen to us.
“It’s real,” he warned. “And I just want to try to encourage my community, my youth, to take care of yourselves, to be mindful of others. Some of you guys might not be having symptoms and you guys might be spreading this around.”
Royce — whose music is a blend of Latin pop, bachata and R&B — has won more than 20 Latin Billboard Awards and earned at least a dozen Latin Grammy nominations, according to a biography on his official website. He has also scored numerous No. 1 radio hits, including “Corazon Sin Cara” and “El Verdadero Amor Perdona” from 2011 and “Darte Un Beso” from 2013.