Brickbats: July 2025
Police in Miami suspended an officer pending an investigation into an incident in which she sat in her patrol car while numerous bikers assaulted a man in front of her. Video shows the bikers not only beating the man but jumping on the hood and roof of his car and breaking his windshield, while the officer never left her vehicle.
The Massachusetts Office of the Inspector General says the city of Everett wrongly paid Mayor Carlo DeMaria $180,000 in bonuses. The city enacted a rule in 2016 giving mayors $10,000 after each term, but a last-minute word change instead gave mayors $10,000 for each cumulative term. The change allowed DeMaria—then in his fourth term—to pocket $40,000 each year instead of $10,000 every four years. When the City Council found out in 2022, it slashed the payments and the inspector general demanded the money back. The council later passed an ordinance demanding DeMaria stop using city funds to fight the inspector general’s recommendation.
New York’s Northville Central School District fired 81-year-old high school basketball coach Jim Zullo after video showed him yanking his star player’s ponytail. The incident happened after the Northville girls’ team lost a state championship game. Hailey Monroe, Northville’s all-time leading scorer, had already fouled out and was crying when Zullo grabbed her hair and yelled at her before a teammate stepped between them. Zullo claimed Monroe had cursed at him earlier.
Los Angeles lost $66 million on parking enforcement in the fiscal year ending June 2024. The city handed out 2 million parking tickets and collected $110 million in fines in that ti
Article from Reason.com
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