NEWS OF THE DAY
Husband arrested: After his pregnant wife and two daughters disappeared, Christopher Watts stood on his porch in Frederick, Colo., and lamented to reporters how much he missed them. On Thursday, Watts was in jail after being arrested on suspicion of killing all three family members, probably before he spoke those words. Authorities did not offer a motive. The body of 34-yearold Shanann Watts was found on property owned by Anadarko Petroleum, one of the state’s largest oil and gas drillers, where Christopher Watts used to work, police said. Investigators were looking for the bodies of the two girls, 4-year-old Bella and 3-year-old Celeste.
Police shooting: Jurors watched body camera footage from a former Texas police officer who fired into a car full of black teenagers and fatally shot a 15-year-old boy. The footage was shown Thursday during the murder trial in Dallas of former Balch Springs officer Roy Oliver. He killed Jordan Edwards last year as officers responded to a report of underage drinking at a house party. Oliver, who is white, has said he feared for his and his partner’s safety as the car sped by. Prosecutors say Oliver fired after the car passed and his partner wasn’t in danger. Oliver, 38, was fired after the fatal shooting, which was thrust into a national conversation about police killings of African Americans.
No immunity: A judge says a white former Atlanta-area police officer who fatally shot an unarmed, naked, mentally ill black veteran isn’t entitled to immunity based on self-defense. Lawyers for Robert Olsen had argued he had the right to act in self-defense and that the charges against him should be dropped. Olsen faces charges including felony murder in the March 2015 death of 27-year-old Anthony Hill. Olsen was a DeKalb County police officer and was responding to a call about a naked man behaving erratically outside a suburban apartment complex when he fatally shot Hill. DeKalb County Superior Court Judge J.P. Boulee said in an order this week that Olsen didn’t show that he had reason to believe deadly force was needed to prevent death or serious injury to himself or someone else.
Overdose victims: The number of overdose victims linked to a suspected bad batch of synthetic marijuana has risen to 76 in New Haven, Conn., as officials try to determine exactly what sickened people. People on and around the historic New Haven Green near Yale University began falling ill shortly Wednesday, and the overdoses continued into Thursday. No deaths were reported, and most people brought to hospitals have been discharged, officials said. Many victims lost consciousness, officials said. Others vomited. Some just became nauseous or lethargic. Some victims tested positive for the powerful opioid fentanyl, but it appeared most if not all the overdoses were caused only by a potent batch of “K2” synthetic marijuana, said Dr. Kathryn Hawk, an emergency medicine physician and professor at Yale-New Haven Hospital.
Chronicle News Services