Month: December 2021

A cruise ship out of South Florida will skip two ports after 55 people onboard tested positive for COVID-19. Royal Caribbean International confirmed Thursday that its ‘Odyssey of the Seas’ ship will not stop in Curaçao or Aruba as planned. The ship left Port Everglades on Saturday for an 8-night Caribbean sailing. It plans to remain out at sea until returning to Fort Lauderdale as scheduled on Sunday.  Last Saturday, another Royal Caribbean ship – ‘Symphony of the Seas’ – arrived back in Miami after 48 people tested positive for COVID-19.

Royal Caribbean said in a statement: “The decision was made together with the islands out of an abundance of caution due to the current trend of COVID-19 cases in the destinations’ communities as well as crew and guests testing positive on board — 55 crew members and guests, representing 1.1% of the onboard community. The cruise sailed with 95% of the onboard community fully vaccinated.”

Royal Caribbean says all 55 people who tested positive are fully vaccinated and mildly symptomatic or asymptomatic. The cruise line declined to say how many of those people are passengers and how many are crew.  Their statement read: “We continue to monitor their health. Close contacts were also identified and placed in quarantine to be monitored for 24 hours prior to testing.”

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On Thursday, jurors convicted suburban Minneapolis police officer Kim Potter of two manslaughter charges in the killing of Daunte Wright, a black motorist she shot during a traffic stop after she said she confused her gun for her taser.

The mostly white jury deliberated for about four days before finding former officer Potter guilty of first-degree and second-degree manslaughter. The 49-year-old Potter faces about seven years in prison on the most serious count under the state’s sentencing guidelines, however, prosecutors said they would be seeking a longer term.

Potter shot and killed the 20-year-old Wright during an April 11 traffic stop in Brooklyn Center as she and other officers were trying to arrest him on an outstanding warrant for a weapons possession charge. The shooting happened at a time of high tension in the area, with former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin standing trial just miles away for the killing of George Floyd.

Jurors were shown video of the shooting that was captured by police body cameras and dashcams. In sometimes tearful testimony, Potter told jurors that she was “sorry it happened.” She said that she shouted her warning about the Taser after she saw a look of fear on the face of Sgt. Mychal Johnson, who was leaning into the passenger-side door of Wright’s car. She also told jurors that she doesn’t remember what she said or everything that happened after the shooting, as much of her memory of those moments “is missing.” Potter’s lawyers argued that she made a mistake by drawing her gun instead of her taser.

Under Minnesota law, defendants are sentenced only on the most serious conviction if multiple counts involve the same act and the same victim.  The maximum sentence for first-degree manslaughter is 15 years. A sentencing date was set for Friday, February 18 at 10 a.m. ET.

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