Spain-born Nabil Touaizi, who is part of Manchester City's Elite Development Squad, commits to playing for Morocco.
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Friday, September 27, 2019
Thursday, September 26, 2019
Photovoltaic-powered sensors for the “internet of things”
By 2025, experts estimate the number of “internet of things” devices — including sensors that gather real-time data about infrastructure and the environment — could rise to 75 billion worldwide. As it stands, however, those sensors require batteries that must be replaced frequently, which can be problematic for long-term monitoring.
MIT researchers have designed photovoltaic-powered sensors that could potentially transmit data for years before they need to be replaced. To do so, they mounted thin-film perovskite cells — known for their potential low cost, flexibility, and relative ease of fabrication — as energy-harvesters on inexpensive radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags.
The cells could power the sensors in both bright sunlight and dimmer indoor conditions. Moreover, the team found the solar power actually gives the sensors a major power boost that enables greater data-transmission distances and the ability to integrate multiple sensors onto a single RFID tag.
“In the future, there could be billions of sensors all around us. With that scale, you’ll need a lot of batteries that you’ll have to recharge constantly. But what if you could self-power them using the ambient light? You could deploy them and forget them for months or years at a time,” says Sai Nithin Kantareddy, a PhD student in the MIT Auto-ID Laboratory. “This work is basically building enhanced RFID tags using energy harvesters for a range of applications.”
In a pair of papers published in the journals Advanced Functional Materials and IEEE Sensors, MIT Auto-ID Laboratory and MIT Photovoltaics Research Laboratory researchers describe using the sensors to continuously monitor indoor and outdoor temperatures over several days. The sensors transmitted data continuously at distances five times greater than traditional RFID tags — with no batteries required. Longer data-transmission ranges mean, among other things, that one reader can be used to collect data from multiple sensors simultaneously.
Depending on certain factors in their environment, such as moisture and heat, the sensors can be left inside or outside for months or, potentially, years at a time before they degrade enough to require replacement. That can be valuable for any application requiring long-term sensing, indoors and outdoors, including tracking cargo in supply chains, monitoring soil, and monitoring the energy used by equipment in buildings and homes.
Joining Kantareddy on the papers are: Department of Mechanical Engineering (MechE) postdoc Ian Matthews, researcher Shijing Sun, chemical engineering student Mariya Layurova, researcher Janak Thapa, researcher Ian Marius Peters, and Georgia Tech Professor Juan-Pablo Correa-Baena, who are all members of the Photovoltaics Research Laboratory; Rahul Bhattacharyya, a researcher in the AutoID Lab; Tonio Buonassisi, a professor in MechE; and Sanjay E. Sarma, the Fred Fort Flowers and Daniel Fort Flowers Professor of Mechanical Engineering.
Combining two low-cost technologies
In recent attempts to create self-powered sensors, other researchers have used solar cells as energy sources for internet of things (IoT) devices. But those are basically shrunken-down versions of traditional solar cells — not perovskite. The traditional cells can be efficient, long-lasting, and powerful under certain conditions “but are really infeasible for ubiquitous IoT sensors,” Kantareddy says.
Traditional solar cells, for instance, are bulky and expensive to manufacture, plus they are inflexible and cannot be made transparent, which can be useful for temperature-monitoring sensors placed on windows and car windshields. They’re also really only designed to efficiently harvest energy from powerful sunlight, not low indoor light.
Perovskite cells, on the other hand, can be printed using easy roll-to-roll manufacturing techniques for a few cents each; made thin, flexible, and transparent; and tuned to harvest energy from any kind of indoor and outdoor lighting.
The idea, then, was combining a low-cost power source with low-cost RFID tags, which are battery-free stickers used to monitor billions of products worldwide. The stickers are equipped with tiny, ultra-high-frequency antennas that each cost around three to five cents to make.
RFID tags rely on a communication technique called “backscatter,” that transmits data by reflecting modulated wireless signals off the tag and back to a reader. A wireless device called a reader — basically similar to a Wi-Fi router — pings the tag, which powers up and backscatters a unique signal containing information about the product it’s stuck to.
Traditionally, the tags harvest a little of the radio-frequency energy sent by the reader to power up a little chip inside that stores data, and uses the remaining energy to modulate the returning signal. But that amounts to only a few microwatts of power, which limits their communication range to less than a meter.
The researchers’ sensor consists of an RFID tag built on a plastic substrate. Directly connected to an integrated circuit on the tag is an array of perovskite solar cells. As with traditional systems, a reader sweeps the room, and each tag responds. But instead of using energy from the reader, it draws harvested energy from the perovskite cell to power up its circuit and send data by backscattering RF signals.
Efficiency at scale
The key innovations are in the customized cells. They’re fabricated in layers, with perovskite material sandwiched between an electrode, cathode, and special electron-transport layer materials. This achieved about 10 percent efficiency, which is fairly high for still-experimental perovskite cells. This layering structure also enabled the researchers to tune each cell for its optimal “bandgap,” which is an electron-moving property that dictates a cell’s performance in different lighting conditions. They then combined the cells into modules of four cells.
In the Advanced Functional Materials paper, the modules generated 4.3 volts of electricity under one sun illumination, which is a standard measurement for how much voltage solar cells produce under sunlight. That’s enough to power up a circuit — about 1.5 volts — and send data around 5 meters every few seconds. The modules had similar performances in indoor lighting. The IEEE Sensors paper primarily demonstrated wide‐bandgap perovskite cells for indoor applications that achieved between 18.5 percent and 21. 4 percent efficiencies under indoor fluorescent lighting, depending on how much voltage they generate. Essentially, about 45 minutes of any light source will power the sensors indoors and outdoors for about three hours.
The RFID circuit was prototyped to only monitor temperature. Next, the researchers aim to scale up and add more environmental-monitoring sensors to the mix, such as humidity, pressure, vibration, and pollution. Deployed at scale, the sensors could especially aid in long-term data-collection indoors to help build, say, algorithms that help make smart buildings more energy efficient.
“The perovskite materials we use have incredible potential as effective indoor-light harvesters. Our next step is to integrate these same technologies using printed electronics methods, potentially enabling extremely low-cost manufacturing of wireless sensors," Mathews says.
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Using math to blend musical notes seamlessly
In music, “portamento” is a term that’s been used for hundreds of years, referring to the effect of gliding a note at one pitch into a note of a lower or higher pitch. But only instruments that can continuously vary in pitch — such as the human voice, string instruments, and trombones — can pull off the effect.
Now an MIT student has invented a novel algorithm that produces a portamento effect between any two audio signals in real-time. In experiments, the algorithm seamlessly merged various audio clips, such as a piano note gliding into a human voice, and one song blending into another. His paper describing the algorithm won the “best student paper” award at the recent International Conference on Digital Audio Effects.
The algorithm relies on “optimal transport,” a geometry-based framework that determines the most efficient ways to move objects — or data points — between multiple origin and destination configurations. Formulated in the 1700s, the framework has been applied to supply chains, fluid dynamics, image alignment, 3-D modeling, computer graphics, and more.
In work that originated in a class project, Trevor Henderson, now a graduate student in computer science, applied optimal transport to interpolating audio signals — or blending one signal into another. The algorithm first breaks the audio signals into brief segments. Then, it finds the optimal way to move the pitches in each segment to pitches in the other signal, to produce the smooth glide of the portamento effect. The algorithm also includes specialized techniques to maintain the fidelity of the audio signal as it transitions.
“Optimal transport is used here to determine how to map pitches in one sound to the pitches in the other,” says Henderson, a classically trained organist who performs electronic music and has been a DJ on WMBR 88.1, MIT’s radio station. “If it’s transforming one chord into a chord with a different harmony, or with more notes, for instance, the notes will split from the first chord and find a position to seamlessly glide to in the other chord.”
According to Henderson, this is one of the first techniques to apply optimal transport to transforming audio signals. He has already used the algorithm to build equipment that seamlessly transitions between songs on his radio show. DJs could also use the equipment to transition between tracks during live performances. Other musicians might use it to blend instruments and voice on stage or in the studio.
Henderson’s co-author on the paper is Justin Solomon, an X-Consortium Career Development Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Solomon — who also plays cello and piano — leads the Geometric Data Processing Group in the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) and is a member of the Center for Computational Engineering.
Henderson took Solomon’s class, 6.838 (Shape Analysis), which tasks students with applying geometric tools like optimal transport to real-world applications. Student projects usually focus on 3-D shapes from virtual reality or computer graphics. So Henderson’s project came as a surprise to Solomon. “Trevor saw an abstract connection between geometry and moving frequencies around in audio signals to create a portamento effect,” Solomon says. “He was in and out of my office all semester with DJ equipment. It wasn’t what I expected to see, but it was pretty entertaining.”
For Henderson, it wasn’t too much of a stretch. “When I see a new idea, I ask, ‘Is this applicable to music?’” he says. “So, when we talked about optimal transport, I wondered what would happen if I connected it to audio spectra.”
A good way to think of optimal transport, Henderson says, is finding “a lazy way to build a sand castle.” In that analogy, the framework is used to calculate the way to move each grain of sand from its position in a shapeless pile into a corresponding position in a sand castle, using as little work as possible. In computer graphics, for instance, optimal transport can be used to transform or morph shapes by finding the optimal movement from each point on one shape into the other.
Applying this theory to audio clips involves some additional ideas from signal processing. Musical instruments produce sound through vibrations of components, depending on the instrument. Violins use strings, brass instruments use air inside hollow bodies, and humans use vocal cords. These vibrations can be captured as audio signals, where the frequency and amplitude (peak height) represent different pitches.
Conventionally, the transition between two audio signals is done with a fade, where one signal is reduced in volume while the other rises. Henderson’s algorithm, on the other hand, smoothly slides frequency segments from one clip into another, with no fading of volume.
To do so, the algorithm splits any two audio clips into windows of about 50 milliseconds. Then, it runs a Fourier transform, which turns each window into its frequency components. The frequency components within a window are lumped together into individual synthesized “notes.” Optimal transport then maps how the notes in one signal’s window will move to the notes in the other.
Then, an “interpolation parameter” takes over. That’s basically a value that determines where each note will be on the path from its starting pitch in one signal to its ending pitch in the other. Manually changing the parameter value will sweep the pitches between the two positions, producing the portamento effect. That single parameter can also be programmed into and controlled by, say, a crossfader, a slider component on a DJ’s mixing board that smoothly fades between songs. As the crossfader slides, the interpolation parameter changes to produce the effect.
Behind the scenes are two innovations that ensure a distortion-free signal. First, Henderson used a novel application of a signal-processing technique, called “frequency reassignment,” that lumps the frequency bins together to form single notes that can easily transition between signals. Second, he invented a way to synthesize new phases for each audio signal while stitching together the 50-millisecond windows, so neighboring windows don’t interfere with each other.
Next, Henderson wants to experiment with feeding the output of the effect back into its input. This, he thinks, could automatically create another classic music effect, “legato,” which is a smooth transition between distinct notes. Unlike a portamento — which plays all notes between a start and end note — a legato seamlessly transitions between two distinct notes, without capturing any notes in between.
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Jimmy Jean-Louis discusses powerful foreign film ‘Deserances’
Last week, Deserances premiered at the Urbanworld Film Festival in NYC and we can’t wait for you to see this powerful foreign film starring Claws alum, Jimmy Jean-Louis.
Directed by African Director Apolline Traore, who hails from Burkina Faso, the film will be the country’s first-ever Oscars submission.
Desrances tells the story of Francis (Jimmy Jean-Louis) who is expecting a second child, a son. He looks forward to the birth of his heir. For Francis, having a son is crucial since the destruction of his country was devastated by a horrific earthquake in January 2010. His joy of welcoming a son to his happy family is short lived. While Aissey is about to give birth, a civil war breaks out in Abidjan. His newborn son, and his wife have disappeared. Despite his refusal, his 12-year-old daughter Haïla decides to accompany him on his quest. Francis discovers the unsuspected courage of Haïla.
We caught up with Jimmy Jean-Louis and Apolline Traore to find out how they created this stirring piece of art that highlights several social issues in a truly provocative way.
“I thought it was quite powerful. The read was excellent. It was very easy to read and that’s the first indication that you have something good in your hands. We talked about how she was going to approach the movie and to be shooting the movie in a place like Ivory Coast, I was in,” he said of the film.
“Once again, I was playing a Haitian character but this time with a twist because we were in Africa.”
Yes, there are subtitles, but you’ll hardly mind having to read given the incredible pacing, evocative imagery, and passionate performances from its stars. Jemina Nemlin, who plays Haïla, is particularly impressive in her first-ever film role.
“When we first met, we sort of looked alike,” Jean-Louis says of his young costar. “I do have daughters that are around her age so I understand the relationship between little girls and dads.”
The choices that director, Apolline Traore made with this film are what make the viewing experience truly astounding.
“My goal for the film was to make the audience feel what the characters were feeling and to bring them inside the main character’s head,” she explained. “Because this character is so troubled and so misunderstood, I wanted the audience to feel that.”
Without giving away any major plot points, we can attest that she was successful in her mission and the result is a riveting ride that is sure to make your heart race.
Check out the trailer for Deserances:
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WATCH: ‘RHOA’ season 12 trailer is full of fierce fights and major fallouts
The ladies of the Real Housewives of Atlanta are back and judging by the looks of the first official season 12 trailer, there will be no shortage of serious drama.
Kenya Moore will return to the series this year and she and fellow new mom Porsha Williams seem to be on good terms. That’s about where the lovefest ends because a few seconds into the clip, we see a fist fight break out between several of the ladies.
“I told you that lady was crazy,” say a very pregnant Eva Marcille before we hear Porsha’s vice telling someone to “get out of this room.”
Later, we hear Nene Leakes screaming “No, no, no, no, no,” and all hell has clearly broken loose in the A.
Former RHOA star Peter Thomas slapped with $237k tax lien
It looks like viewers will get too see the moment that Cynthia Bailey gets her proposal from Mike Hill and we’ll watch Dennis McKinley having second thoughts about walking away from his engagement to Porsha.
Nene Leakes and her husband are back together, but in one scene, she seems pretty curious about the idea of an open marriage.
Expect to see sparks fly between Nene and Cynthia when a leaked recording surfaces.
“Cynthia has a side to her that you guys do not know about,” Leakes tells Marlo Hampton in one part of the clip. We’ll also get to see the trouble brewing between Kenya and her estranged husband, Marc Daly.
“We’re in a really low place right now,” Kenya tells Cynthia about her marriage before a scene flashes with Marc Daly yelling at Kenya.
“You can take everything, I’ll build it again!” he shouts.
BREAKING NEWS: RHOA star Kenya Moore and husband, Marc Daly break up after two years of marriage
YIKES.
Check out the trailer:
Real Housewives of Atlanta returns to Bravo on November 3.
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Tekashi 6ix9ine plans to decline witness protection and resume his rap career after prison
Tekashi 6ix9ine still has champagne wishes and caviar dreams to be a superstar so he’s reportedly opting out of witness protection so he can continue his music career once he’s a free man.
—Snoop Dogg jokes about Tekashi 69, and drags R. Kelly into it—
That’s a very tall order for a man’s who’s dropped all the dimes and testified against Nine Trey Gang members, and everybody else he could give up the goods on in his federal case, in order to reduce his time in jail.
Tekashi 6ix9ine spilled it all, and because it’s such a dire situation for the rapper, he was supposed to enter witness protection, but TMZ is reporting he wants to go back into the rap game.
Tekashi reportedly plans to hire his own bodyguards to protect him around the clock so he can continue his rap career.
Good luck with that!
On the flipside, while Tekashi plans to protect his life with bodyguards, he’s also got family in fear of their lives who feel unprotected.
Tekashi’s deal with the feds earned him the ability to be released from jail by next year in exchange for giving them info that reduced his possible 47-year sentence for cooperating with prosecutors.
Celebrities and fans took to social media this week to discuss Tekashi 6ix9ine “snitching” on many of his friends and former gang the Nine Trey Bloods while on trial.
6ix9ine is said to have implicated Trippie Redd, Cardi B, Jim Jones, and Casanova in his testimony in court.
—NFL star Nelson Agholor invites fan who threw viral shade to Eagles game—
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Racist man goes on nasty tirade against Latina college student and gets fired
A Georgia Sheriff’s office employee has been fired after he was caught on camera flaunting his racism in a nasty rant against a Latina college student in Savannah.
—Baby Archie makes first appearance during Meghan and Harry’s South Africa tour—
On Wednesday, Sheriff John T. Wilcher confirmed that the man who has not been named has been terminated after Cristina Riofrio, 19, posted a video of the man screaming “shut the f*** up!” while she was trying to get food at a McDonalds, NBC News reports.
Riofrio is from California, and attends Savannah College of Arts and Design. Her parents, she says are from Educador. The ranting racist told the student she came “over in a f***ing boat” and chastised her for speaking Spanish in front of the white customers.
“In America, I can speak f—— Spanish if I want to,” Riofrio said.
When Riofrio hit back at the man calling him a racist, he gladly accepted the title saying, “I know I am.”
“Yeah, sure am. That’s me. I built this f***ing country,” the racist man admitted.
Others started to jump in and help Riofrio and ordered the man to leave.
The man also mentioned Trump’s name several times and blamed Riofrio for making America “a horrible place.”
“At first I was really surprised and shocked but then I realized these people, there’s a lot of people in this country and sadly us people that are foreigners that speak other languages, not only Latinas, others, have to sadly face this,” Riofrio told reporters.
“A lot of people say, “Are you okay, are you afraid?” But I am not, actually,’”Riofrio said. “I am never going to stop speaking Spanish in front of white people, like I feel proud of where I am come from.”
A McDonald’s employee told the man to leave. The video circulated widely on social media and resulted in the man’s firing from the Sheriff’s office.
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Must-read advice from Black women executives for guaranteed career success
Black women have a reputation for putting in work when it comes to their careers. Whether it’s being one of the most educated groups in the country, or making up the majority of the Black labor force in the U.S., we’re continuing a legacy of leading organizations and companies with our talents. However, while we sometimes make it look easy, that doesn’t mean it actually is.
A staggering pay gap, intersectional racism and sexism, and for some the demands of being working moms, all play a role in giving us hurdles to clear.
This was the subject of a recent panel at the Congressional Black Caucus’ Annual Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C., called “African American Women in the C-Suite: How Did You Get There? Was It Worth It?” hosted by U.S. Representative Brenda Lawrence.
TheGrio was in the building to hear some of the top Black women executives in the country open up about the challenges they faced on the job, as well as offering a few gems of knowledge for other Black women who are rising the corporate ladder of success.
If you’ve been out of work for some time…
“Don’t look at it as a liability that you’ve been out,” says Carla Harris, Vice Chairman, Managing Director and Senior Client Advisor at Morgan Stanley.
“And by the way, if you’ve been out taking care of your kids for 15 years, or taking care of sick parent, there’s probably a lot of things that you have done where you had to pull people together or had to manage them.”
READ MORE: Founders of DAO, Erin Patten and Will Marshall, are promoting healthy natural hair
Harris says that the game has changed when it comes a 1-2 year gap on a resume. Being entrepreneurial in non-traditional ways can still serve you well.
“Think about the things you do in your community which says you are in fact a leader. Because you’ve got people to do things and they weren’t reporting to you and you were fair. Think about how you tell your story as a leader and someone can get something done.”
If you’re ready for a change in your role…
“For a change, we think we have to go behind our boss, and sneak around and we look at the job bank and we try to apply, we go to our colleagues,” says Susan Reid, Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion for Morgan Stanley.
“If you’ve invested the time at a company, growing a career, build the right relationship with your manager,” says Reid.
“If your manager is seriously invested in your success, they should be the first person who you turn to when you’re ready for more, and when you’re ready for something different. But you have to invest in the time before cultivating that kind of relationship with your manager.”
If you’re trying to decide whether you fit into a company’s corporate culture…
When it comes to things like hair, fashion and style, Black women have encountered restrictions and in some cases, straight-forward discrimination on the job. While some spaces like tech, have a more casual approach to a dress code, there are still traditional spaces in which Black women may encounter resistance to even simple things like natural hair.
READ MORE: After 10 season MasterChef has a Black Woman as the winner
“Think about who you are, and that lane you’re going through in your career,” advises Harris. “Is it authentic for you to go into a specific area if you’re not willing to wear the uniform? It’s inauthentic to say, for example, ‘I’m gonna go to a Wall Street firm, and I’m gonna wear shorts and a pulled out shirt because I’m that good?'”
“‘They’re going to have to take me like I am.’ It’s inauthentic to make that call because if that is inconsistent with the uniform, you’re not going to be successful there.”
On the flip side, some Black women may choose to be pioneers and push company culture, particularly when it comes to hair. Increasingly, there are anti-discrimination laws being instituted to protect people of color who want to express themselves authentically.
“There is a part of the journey that is about us and self acceptance, and I think a lot of us are still on that journey,” says Reid.
As the Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion at Morgan Stanley, she often leads campaigns and discussions on difficult topics, from race to policing. She also is a sister who wears her hair natural.
“I would encourage [you to] just keep exploring that journey. And if you see a black woman who is going through the journey of going from relaxed to being natural, support her. Support her. Our hair comes in all different styles.”
If you’re feeling stuck, feeling frustrated and ready to quit…
You may have reached the point where you’re mentally checked out on the job, but that shouldn’t come across in your work or interactions.
“The key is that you don’t burn bridges,” says Tonya Hallett, Executive
Director, Global Manufacturing Human Resources at General Motors (GM).
Hallett has smoothly navigated working at different companies, leaving GM at one point, then returning again and being welcomed with open arms.
“The other personal mantra I have is that every role that I go into, regardless of where I go after, whether it’s a lateral job, or I get promoted out of it, or I choose to leave the company: leave that work and organization better than I found it. Just make sure that’s a part of the track record.”
As the first in her family to go to college, Hallett knows wells that self- determination and agency at work are essential traits for Black women to succeed. It’s a lesson she also models as a mom of three boys.
“When you’re stuck, you’re right on the edge of a slippery slope that can fall into victimhood, right? You can become a victim of all of what they’re not doing,” says Hallett.
READ MORE: ‘Beyoncé Feminism, Rihanna Womanism’ course goes mainstream at several colleges
“Which is why that self-inventory of ‘OK, why do I feel this way right now? Why am I not getting what I think I want to get? And why I’m not growing the way I think when I grow?’ It starts with ‘What am I not doing?'”
If you’re considering changing industries altogether…
You’ve looked at your resume and even though you’ve built a track record in one lane, maybe you’re feeling like it’s time to switch. These days, switching companies and industries isn’t taboo. In fact, you may get further by starting over.
“I think it’s always key to keep an external view of what other people are doing in other industries, not just within your company,” says Hallett.
“I do feel like sometimes we put ourselves in a box and, and only allow ourselves to look for opportunities immediately in the industry. We started in that right after school… and we don’t allow ourselves to look across and see how we can broaden our experiences and skill sets.“
READ MORE: OPINION | “All wealth ain’t the same”: A look at billionaires Byron Allen and Jay-Z
Hallet’s advice to other Black women is to stay in tune with whatever they determined to be an early personal passion.
“Oftentimes I find that people marry a company, marry a brand, and they forget why they went to college,” she says. “As a professional, [if] you’re an engineer, if you’re in an H.R. person, if you’re a finance person: Test your skills so that you can do it across industries with different products and services.”
“It does a lot to broaden your understanding and maybe even also validate and reconfirm your core knowledge as well.”
For more of our CBC’s Annual Legislative Conference 2019 coverage, visit theGrio’s YouTube channel and our Politics section!
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EXCLUSIVE: Civil Rights Attorney Benjamin Crump demands former Dallas officer, Amber Guyger be charged with tampering of evidence and conspiracy on top of murder
It was day three, yesterday, in the murder trial against former Dallas police officer, Amber Guyger who shot and killed 26-year old accountant, Botham Jean, in his apartment last September.
After being questioned by the defense outside of the presence of the juror, lead investigator, Texas Department of Public Safety’s David Armstrong, provided testimony saying that he did not think that Guyger committed a crime because it was reasonable to believe that there was an intruder in her apartment and that she reacted because she perceived Jean as a deadly threat.
Jean family attorney and civil rights activist, Benjamin Crump, adamantly disagrees. In an exclusive interview with theGrio, Crump said that not only should Guyger be found guilty of murder, but the family demands that both she and her partner turned lover, Martin Rivera, be charged with tampering with evidence, conspiracy, and aiding and abetting.
“This is a case of double standards and double talk,” said Crump who has been in the courtroom since the beginning of the trial.
“What is heartbreaking is to see how the police are doing everything in their power to protect this killer from being bought to justice. There is damning evidence that Amber Guyger and her partner/lover were sexting and then it comes out that she deleted all of her text messages and Rivera also deleted his texts and sexually explicit images that they shared with one another. Why are they not being charged with tampering of evidence or a conspiracy or Rivera with aiding and abetting? He destroyed evidence that was pertinent to what happened here.”
READ MORE: Amber Guyger murder trial: Listen to her frantic 911 call
Critics have said that Guyger had the upper-hand from the very beginning. She clearly enjoyed the perks of being an officer with the Dallas Police Department when they allowed her to turn herself in at another county to avoid the press and when the police union paid her bond. But, like many things in life, you can’t have it both ways.
Why are they not being charged with tampering of evidence or a conspiracy or Rivera with aiding and abetting? He destroyed evidence that was pertinent to what happened here.
According to Crump, the Dallas Police Department treated the situation as if it was a police involved shooting with an on duty officer, but when it’s beneficial, the defense changes the narrative to her being an off duty officer.
In a closed hearing today, it was also revealed that the sergeant who put Guyger in the squad car, told her not to say a word because the dash cam video was running. Once the police union rep gets on the scene, he tells the sergeant to turn off the vehicle recorder, so that nothing they say will be recorded. Neither of these luxuries is typically afforded to most accused killers, especially if they are Black.
“This is a clear violation because you know they would not do this for another citizen who had just killed an unarmed person in his own apartment,” says Crump.
“If she is not held accountable for killing this young, Black man, then is there any where Black people are safe from being executed by police in America?”
Further details of that night indicate that Guyger was removed from the police vehicle after the shooting and allowed council from other officers, which seemingly gave her time to construct the story she wanted to tell. Unlike what was said on the 911 tape, Guyger suddenly pushed this notion of self-defense, which Crump believes was a result of her having the time to be coached.
READ MORE: Family of Botham Jean holds press conference after Dallas police officer arrested for manslaughter
“She never once said anything about feeling threatened or in fear of her life,” says Crump. “That was the conspiracy to get a justification for her killing this man. In her words, she said, ‘I f**ked up.'” Botham went to his grave not understanding why this police officer broke into his house and shot him.”
Listening to the 911 audio, it also seems that Guyger didn’t draw on her training as an officer once she realized what she had done. Instead of trying to administer first aid, she stayed on the phone with the dispatcher and even texted Rivera.
“She’s sending text messages to her lover while Botham is laying there dead. What about trying to give him medical attention while he’s struggling for life? She’s thinking about herself. She never thought about the unarmed Black man who she just shot.”
The Jean family has had to relive this tragedy over and over again. Today they heard from Christin Noble who works with the Dallas D.A.s office and is is a digital multimedia analyst as well as four of Jean’s former neighbors (Taydra Jones, Whitney Hughes, and Alyssa Kinsey, Shanel Bly), Trace Evidence Examiner, Waleska Castro, Medical Examiner, Dr. Chester Gwin, followed by Crime Scene Analyst, Robyn Carr, who took photos of the evidence inside and outside of Jean’s apartment and of Guyger that night.
The realization that Jean was already dead before EMS arrived on the scene and seeing officers administering CPS onto his unresponsive body was more than they could handle. Actually, this entire experience has left a defining impression in their minds.
“Remember, Botham is from St. Lucia. His family is looking at America and saying it seems to be open season when it comes to killing Black people in America by police. Is America a place where there is equal justice under the law or are those just words?'”
Wendy L. Wilson is the managing editor of theGrio.com. You can find her rants, raves, and reviews on Twitter @WendyLWilson_
The post EXCLUSIVE: Civil Rights Attorney Benjamin Crump demands former Dallas officer, Amber Guyger be charged with tampering of evidence and conspiracy on top of murder appeared first on theGrio.
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