DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – A federal jury has found two Des Moines police officers used excessive force and committed battery when they pepper sprayed and beat a man in 2013. KCCI-TV reports jurors awarded Dustin Burnikel $200,000 on for medical expenses, pain and suffering. Burnikel sued the city and officers Michael Fong and Greg Wessels. Burnikel says they attacked him after he shouted at them thinking they were assaulting a woman on a city street. The officers in plain black coats were attempting to arrest the woman. They claim Burnikel appeared aggressive, so they subdued him. Burnikel sustained back injuries, bruises and broken teeth.
CASTANA, IA (IRN) – A man from the town of Castana in Monona county has been charged with murdering his grandmother. Police did a welfare check on 66-year-old Cheryl Stowe after she didn’t show up for work. Eliot Stowe, 21, her grandson, was living with her at the time the alleged murder took place.
IOWA CITY, IA (IRN) – It took a jury about an hour Tuesday to find Curtis Jones guilty of killing an Iowa City cab driver. KCRG-TV reports Jones was on trial for murder of 46-year-old Ricky Lillie. Jones was riding in Lillie’s cab in June 2017 when he shot Lillie and robbed him. Jones is also facing a murder charge for the death of 34-year-old Jonathan Wieseler. He was an Iowa City bail bondsman who was killed in April 2017.
DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Des Moines Police are searching for suspects in a Tuesday shooting that sent two people to the hospital. WHO-TV reports a gray SUV pulled up next to a sedan and two males in the SUV rolled down their windows and exchanged words with the passengers in the other car. The men in the SUV then began shooting. The male driver of the sedan was shot in the leg, along with his male passenger. A female passenger was uninjured.
DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Iowa State will play Drake in football for the first time since 1985. Iowa State and Drake announced that the FCS Bulldogs have replaced Incarnate Word as the Cyclones’ Dec. 1 opponent. Incarnate Word qualified for the FCS Playoffs and opted to back out of their arrangement to come to Ames, creating a need for another opponent.