Investigation launched after video appears to show arresting officer with knee on man’s neck
Authorities in Allentown, Pennsylvania are investigating after a video appears to have captured a police officer kneeling on a man’s neck while attempting to restrain him Saturday night. The 26-second video, posted to Twitter by the group Black Lives Matter to Lehigh Valley, shows three police officers attempting to restrain a man on the ground outside Saint Luke’s Hospital — Sacred Heart Campus. One of the officers appears to place his elbow, and then his knee, on the man’s neck, drawing comparisons to George Floyd, who died May 25 when a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes. After the Allentown video was shared, protesters demonstrated Saturday night in front of the downtown police precinct, and Black Lives Matter to Lehigh Valley cited the police department’s use of force policy, which prohibits the use of neck restraints unless to prevent “imminent death or serious bodily injury to a member or citizen.” The Allentown Police Department released a statement Sunday saying in part that the man was restrained after he began to “yell, scream and spit at the officers,” which “required officers to restrain the individual and the hospital applied a spit shield.” The man was ultimately treated in the hospital and later released, police said. The department is conducting an internal use of force investigation, which will be reviewed by the Lehigh County district attorney, officials said.
COVID-19 numbers
Here’s the latest data on COVID-19 coronavirus infections and deaths.
Latest reported numbers globally per Johns Hopkins University
Global diagnosed cases: 12,910,357
Global deaths: 569,128. The United States has the most deaths of any single country, with 135,205.
Number of countries/regions: at least 188
Total patients recovered globally: 7,116,957
Latest reported numbers in the United States per Johns Hopkins University
There are at least 3,304,942 diagnosed cases in 50 states + the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam. This is more than in any other country.
U.S. deaths: at least 135,205. New York State has the greatest number of reported deaths in the U.S., with 32,350.
U.S. total patients recovered: 1,006,326
U.S. total people tested: 40,282,176
The greatest number of reported COVID-19 cases in the U.S. is in New York, with 401,706 confirmed cases out of a total state population of 19.5 million. That is the most reported cases than in any other single region in the world.
COVID-19 headlines
Man dies after attending ‘COVID party’, thought virus “was a hoax”
A Texas doctor says a 30-year-old man who attended a so-called ‘COVID party’ died last week after contracting COVID-19, which he thought was “a hoax.” Dr. Jane Appleby, chief medical officer San Antonio’s Methodist Hospital and Methodist Children’s Hospital, said the patient, whose identity is protected by federal privacy laws, told nurses about the party, which was hosted by someone diagnosed with the coronavirus and which people attended “to see if the virus is real and if anyone gets infected.” Dr. Appleby said according to nurses, the man’s final words were, “I think I made a mistake. I thought this was a hoax, but it’s not.” Appleby said she shared the story to make people aware COVID-19 can affect anyone. Texas currently has the fourth-highest infection rate in the U.S., with 262,762 reported cases and 3,216 deaths as of Monday morning, according to Johns Hopkins University.
States continue to post new COVID-19 records
Those states currently hardest-hit by COVID-19 posted new infection and hospitalization records over the weekend. In Florida, which has the third-highest number of COVID-19 infections in the nation, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, the state Department of Health reported 15,300 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, making it the highest one-day total for a state in the U.S. since the pandemic began. Texas, which has the fourth-highest number of infections in the nation, broke its one-day record for new COVID-19 hospitalizations again on Sunday, with 10,410 patients admitted. The day before, 16.33% of Texans who took a COVID-19 test were positive for the virus. The South Carolina health department said their state’s test positivity rate has reached 22.3%, the highest percentage it’s seen in the last 28 days. And Arizona, which has the seventh-highest number of confirmed cases in the U.S., posted a positivity rate of 20.8%. As of Sunday, there were 3,432 people hospitalized in the state from COVID-19, with an estimated 89% of all ICU beds full.