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The 3 defendants in Ahmaud Arbery's murder will face a judge in a preliminary hearing to determine whether there's enough evidence to move forward with the case ... and TMZ will be streaming live.

The attorneys for Gregory McMichael, Travis McMichael and William "Roddie" Bryan Jr. are slated to appear at Glynn County Magistrate Court in Georgia ... nearly a month after the McMichaels were arrested for murder and denied bond and 13 days after Bryan, who recorded the deadly encounter, was arrested.

The alleged murderers will appear in court via teleconference. All 3 have been charged with murder in the February 23 death of Arbery, who was simply jogging down the street when he was stopped and confronted by the McMichaels. A struggle ensued and Travis shot Arbery. He fell to the ground and died.

Travis and Gregory were arrested for murder May 8. They later faced a judge and were denied bond. Bryan, who recorded the incident, was arrested 14-days later and was slapped with charges of felony murder and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment.

As we reported ... authorities allege Bryan "did attempt to confine and detain Ahmaud Arbery without legal authority, by attempting to confine ..." adding, Bryan was "utilizing his vehicle on multiple occasions during the above time frame, with the intention of confining and detaining Arbery."

So, the felony is false imprisonment, and if such a felony results in someone's death, that person can be charged with felony murder.

Bryan has claimed he was simply a witness and had no involvement in the killing. He also said he feared for his life after the video was leaked. The handling of the case has drawn scrutiny -- with good reason -- prompting the Georgia Attorney General to formally request the Justice Department get to the bottom of what happened.

We're also told bail may become a bone of contention.

The hearing is set to begin at 6:30 AM PT.

The NYPD is under fire after video surfaced showing several cops beating a bicyclist to a pulp with batons as the man tried crossing the street.

The clip was shot Wednesday night after a full day of peaceful protests in the Big Apple. You can see a man, walking his bike and being violently struck by a police officer's baton before two other officers join in.

As for the "justification" of force? An NYPD source tells us, the man was out after curfew, and officers were trying to "clear the streets." We're told the video was shot after 10 PM and curfew was at 8.

The person who posted the video said the incident went down at the intersection of 50th Street and Third Avenue. The tweet was captioned, "People stuck in traffic are witnessing NYPD beat up folks on their way home.”

The brutal assault caught the attention of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who said, "Horrifying. You start with the tiny possibility that two officers may be walking over to deescalate the abusive one. Instead, they join in beating a man trying to get out of traffic."

We've reached out to the NYPD for comment, and we're told "we are aware of the video and it is under internal review."

George Floyd's funeral will feature a guest who knows all too well the pain of losing a son to racial violence -- because Ahmaud Arbery's mom, Wanda Cooper, will be in attendance.

Wanda's attorney, Lee Merritt, tells TMZ ... she will be among those there in person next week for George's funeral procession in his hometown of Houston. She'll be attending with Lee, although it doesn't sound like she's set to speak at this point in time.

We're told the program is still being worked out, so it's possible she may share a few words -- but for now ... she's simply attending and paying her respects. Merritt tells us Wanda got connected to George's fam through their own family attorney, Ben Crump.

Of course, Wanda herself is in her own battle for justice over the killing of her 25-year-old son, Ahmaud, who was chased and gunned down by Travis McMichael, with the help of his father, Gregory. Both have been arrested and charged with murder/aggravated assault.

We already knew Wanda had recently sought to connect with Trayvon Martin's family -- now, it looks like she's connected with a family who's dealing with an even more recent tragedy.

The band that provided the magic for Joe Exotic's unique set of songs on 'Tiger King' has good news for everyone itching for more of their good musical vibes.

Vince Johnson of The Vince Johnson Band -- who made up one half of the music duo who wrote and performed Joe's tracks featured on the Netflix series -- just inked an exclusive licensing and distribution deal with BMG Rights Management and Create Music Group.

As part of the agreement, all those Joe tunes (which are actually Vince's) will be compiled onto an album for the first time and be released on streaming services everywhere in the coming months. There'll also be some new tunes, including a cut called 'Killer Carole.' Probably won't be a big hit in Carole Baskin's crib.

We got a little taste of this gem before it officially drops Friday -- we're thinking you can add this one to your back road country playlist. No sign of Joe, though, in the pseudo-music video -- he's a little tied up right now, unfortunately.

In any case, it's great news for Vince and co. ... whom, as we previously told you, were gunning for a record deal of some sort in the wake of the show's massive popularity. Unclear if they've gotten signed to a label yet, but a licensing deal is kinda like getting halfway there.

Of course, Vince lost his longtime music collaborator -- Daniel Clinton -- who helped him pen a lot of the songs on 'Tiger King,' after he passed away from a heart attack late last year. Here's hoping Vince does him proud with this streak of good luck going forward.

We've obtained the mugshots of officers Thao, Kueng and Lane ... all 3 are now in custody and have bail set at $1 million.

Attorney General Keith Ellison says the evidence now supports the stronger charge for Chauvin along with the arrests and charges of the other 3 officers.

Ellison asked the public for more patience as they continue to thoroughly investigate and gather evidence, and issued ominous words of caution — winning a conviction "will be hard."

He says history has shown there will be clear challenges in getting guilty verdicts for the cops but pointed out that his partner on the case, Hennepin Co. Atty Mike Freeman is the right man for the job ... he’s the only lawyer in Minnesota to convict a cop of murder.

The AG also asked anyone who has information about Floyd’s death to come forward, and made it clear he will not rush the case to trial ... because he wants everything to be completely ready to go and as strong as possible when they go to court.

The 3 officers who stood by as Derek Chauvin killed George Floyd have all been arrested and charged with crimes, and Chauvin now faces a 2nd-degree murder charge.

As for the 3 officers -- Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao -- they've all been charged with felonies -- aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter.

It's interesting ... the complaint calls the 2nd-degree murder charge "unintentional while committing a felony." So, they're charging Chauvin on felony murder for the excessive force that led to Floyd's death.  The underlying felony is excessive force and an assault against Floyd.

It's extremely significant because the 3 officers who stood by will be noticed by every other cop in the country. Now, when a cop crosses the line and another cop observes it, that second cop will presumably think twice before just watching and doing nothing.

Chauvin now faces 40 years in prison -- that's the maximum penalty for 2nd-degree murder.

As for the other 3 ... they face 40 years each -- the same punishment for 2nd-degree murder.

Attorney Lee Merritt, who reps the Floyd family along with attorney Ben Crump, tells us the reason he and others have been pushing so hard for the officers involved in Floyd’s death to be held accountable ... is to encourage all cops to start becoming part of the solution to police brutality.

Lee hopes George’s murder case sends a message -- cops need to oppose bad cops in order to be good cops. He says this can be a positive step toward changing a system that’s enabled mistreatment of black people for so long ... and there’s already signs it’s happening.

Meanwhile, Ben Crump calls the upgraded charge for Chauvin and the arrest of the 3 other former officers a "bittersweet moment" for the Floyd family. He says ... "This is a significant step forward on the road to justice" and is providing some peace for George's family in this painful time.

You can clearly see it was more than just Derek Chauvin kneeling on Floyd's body ... with 3 ex-officers total on him at one time.

The independent autopsy at the behest of Floyd's family revealed he died from asphyxia as a result of neck and back compression.

The Atlanta police officers involved in the violent arrest and tasing of 2 black college students who were in their vehicle during protests this weekend are now facing charges ... on the heels of 2 of them losing their jobs.

The Fulton County DA has charged 6 cops for using excessive force during the incident with Messiah Young and Taniyah Pilgrim Saturday night.

Four of the cops have been charged with aggravated assault -- Mark Gardner, for tasing Pilgrim; Ivory Streeter, for tasing Young and pointing a gun at him; Lonnie Hood for using a Taser on Pilgrim and Young; and Willie Sauls for pointing a Taser.

Another officer, Armond Jones, has been charged with aggravated battery for forcefully throwing Young down on the street and pointing a gun at him. The sixth officer, Roland Claud, is charged with criminal damage to property ... the couples' car.

Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms fired both Gardner and Streeter almost immediately after learning of the incident, and the other 4 were placed on desk duty.

The students claim they were out getting food when they got caught in traffic and the chaos around them. They later spoke about the scary ordeal, saying they felt lucky to be alive ... and demanded change so similar incidents stop happening.

Cleveland's mayor left a sour taste in the mouth's of many locals who tuned in to a discussion he had about the city ... referring to The Land as "The World's Butthole."

Mayor Frank Jackson was talking about his fair city and its charms on Wednesday -- but during the Facebook chat, he said yes, he's aware that many perceive Cleveland as Earth's anus ... so to speak. He very quickly made it clear, though, that HE doesn't actually believe that to be the case.

Check it out ... Frank says perception isn't always reality, and if you closely examine Cleveland's GDP and gross domestic capital -- it's actually fairly wealthy in that region of the country.

He's right, BTW ... there've been multiple studies and articles in recent years documenting Cleveland's output -- and the numbers, by and large, are on an upward trend dating back to the early 2000s. Even federal data backs up Cleveland's positive economic status.

Peaceful protesters have been under attack by the Minneapolis PD, often in violation of their First Amendment rights ... according to a new class-action lawsuit.

A woman named Annette Williams is suing the city on behalf of all other peaceful protesters like herself ... who she claims got sprayed by cops with a chemical irritant "in retaliation" for opposing police tactics in the arrest and killing of George Floyd.

Williams says she and her daughter were peacefully protesting on a public sidewalk on May 28 when the Minneapolis PD drove past and sprayed the crowd, which she claims was presenting no danger to police.

She says the irritant was not being used to clear a path for vehicles either, because it was directed at protesters on or around a sidewalk. Williams says it forced her and others to remove face masks worn for COVID-19, and they began coughing uncontrollably.

She says she's "suffered from labored breathing and chest pain interfering with her daily activities" ever since. She adds that the incident had a "chilling effect" and discouraged protesters from exercising their constitutional right to free speech and peaceful assembly.

On top of all this, Williams claims the arrest of a CNN news crew the following day -- which as we reported, and went down live on the air -- underscores "the city and police force’s open infringement on first amendment rights."

According to the suit ... police have also engaged in a "corral and combat" strategy against protesters in an effort to concentrate them in one location, then gas them and shoot non-lethal projectiles at them. Williams claims this has "no tactical purpose other than injuring otherwise peaceful protestors."

George Floyd's son and the family's attorney are making a powerful call for justice ... from the very site where he was killed.

George's son, Quincy Mason, stood alongside attorney Ben Crump Wednesday on the Minneapolis street where Floyd died. They kneeled to pay their respects, and Quincy spoke to the crowd, saying no man or woman should be without their father ... and he wants justice to be served.

Crump added that justice for the family goes beyond the arrest and now second-degree murder charge for ex-cop Derek Chauvin, who kneeled on George's neck for nearly 9 minutes.

Crump was speaking shortly before the announcement the other 3 ex-officers would also be charged ... but said their arrest and prosecution are also key to the family's pleas for justice.

As we reported ... the Minnesota Attorney general is expected to make an announcement Wednesday afternoon charging Tou Thao, Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng in connection to Floyd's death.

Two radio hosts who made racists comments on-air during the Black Lives Matter protests are joining the ranks of the unemployed ... they woke up to find out they were fired.

Kimberly Ray and Barry Beck -- now formerly known as "Kimberly & Beck" on Radio 95.1 WAIO-FM in Rochester, NY -- were canned Wednesday morning after repeatedly referring to the "n-word" on-air Tuesday during their discussion of #BLM and local protests against police brutality in the wake of George Floyd's death.

The former cohosts were talking about a viral video appearing to show a local couple being attacked by looters when Kimberly asked Barry, "Were they acting n-word-ish?"

Kimberly did not explicitly use the full racial slur, but she continued to ask her cohost if the alleged attackers were acting "n-word-ly."

Beck took a cue from Donald Trump and threw around words like "thugs," saying ... "If you look like a thug and if you act like a thug, and you’ve got three on one beating up a white woman with a two-by-four, by God, you’re a thug."

The fired hosts kept digging a bigger hole ... they also discussed whether they could even utter the phrase "n-word" and concluded, "no one's offended by that."

Well, tons of folks were offended ... Kimberly and Beck faced instant backlash on social media after their recorded comments went viral, and people called for their jobs and asked advertisers to drop their sponsorship.

As we reported ... former Sacramento Kings play-by-play announcer Grant Napear also lost his job over controversial #BLM comments. Napear resigned Tuesday after facing major heat for tweeting "All Lives Matter."

Kimberly and Beck are no strangers to controversy ... they were booted from another Rochester radio station way back in 2014 after ridiculing transgender people. Four months later, Radio 95.1 hired them as afternoon weekday hosts.

A man was wrestled to the ground by cops, and then momentarily got the snot beat out of him ... before a vigilant eyewitness called them out and forced them to stop.

The outrageous scene was shot in Compton, CA, earlier this week, and it shows L.A. County Sheriff's deputies attempting to detain a guy from behind some type of wall, sorta hidden from plain view. Somebody is filming from afar, unbeknownst to the officers.

At first, it looks like the guy's resisting -- but eventually ... they get him on the ground, and he makes it clear that he's not fighting them anymore. Not enough for these deputies though, it seems, 'cause at least one more rushes over and they start to pound on him.

It's crazy too ... before the beating -- which involved fists and knees -- one of the deputies looks around, as if to see if anyone is watching them. A few seconds into the thrashing, somebody else aside from the cameraman calls out, asking why they're whooping on him.

That forces all the deputies to halt immediately, and that's where the video cuts out.

LASD tells us, yes, these are their guys ... and an investigation into the use of force by the deputies is underway. If misconduct is found, we're told a personnel complaint will be filed.

Cops pulled a drive-by on some black kids in Los Angeles. Seriously, and it's all on video.

To be fair to cops, the video doesn't show how this interaction started, but the conclusion is suspicious. The group of about 5 to 6 apparent teens -- many with backpacks and skateboards -- were walking on a sidewalk, and not in the middle of a protest.

Suddenly, an L.A. County Sheriff's Dept. cruiser pulled up on the street corner and unleashed a hail of rubber bullets on the group of kids ... who were already running away from the cops.

Again, we don't yet know what sparked this confrontation, but here's what's clear from the video -- at the moment the shooting started, the kids were calmly walking together down the street. The video caught the attention of Lil Nas X who tweeted, "This is why we need to push as hard as ever this time."

To Lil Nas' point ... this appears to be exactly the kind of police behavior against which millions are protesting right now.

We've reached out to the Sheriff's Dept for more information.

Carole Baskin's vanished husband's dying wishes appear to have been concocted by somebody other than him -- so says the local sheriff still investigating the case.

Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister told WTSP where things stood in his investigation of Don Lewis' mysterious disappearance ... which was documented on 'Tiger King.'

He said they actually had some new developments -- namely, that they've confirmed his will was, in fact, a forgery.

Sheriff Chronister doesn't even try to hedge -- he says they had two experts take a look at it, and both concluded the same thing ... it's a fake. He also says that's something his office already knew, going on to say his team was following up on some promising new leads.

Here's why the will is so important ... it has a bizarre clause that says in case of Don's disappearance Carole gets everything. Talk to any estate planning expert and they will tell you ... they've NEVER seen a clause like that -- EVER.

Now, for some bad news for folks who want justice for Don ... Sheriff Chronister says despite what he and his detectives found -- including possible malfeasance on the part of Carole -- it might end up being moot by the end of it ... 'cause there's not much they can do to charge her criminally. It's the same that often foils cases like these ... too much time.

Even on the civil end of things, the Sheriff says a judge has already deemed the will valid ... which is what allowed Carole to inherit pretty much all of Don's assets and wealth. So, not much can be done there either. Still, dude sounds determined to get to the truth.

An apparent agitator in the middle of a peaceful protest's car is burned out ... after the firework he tried to leave got thrown back into his car by a protester.

The crazy incident went down Tuesday in Riverside, CA after a man pulled into the middle of the street, stepped out and laid down what looks like a Molotov cocktail. You can see from the video the stunt immediately backfired on him because a protester -- trying to keep the march peaceful -- grabbed the smoking bottle and tried tossing it right back into dude's car!!!

The agitator made a failed attempt to get it out of the vehicle but ended up ducking for cover. The bottle never actually made it inside the car but it fired directly into the car's interior and you can see the fireworks go off. You can also see the unattended car roll in reverse before some good folks jumped in and put the car in park.

It's a stark illustration of what's been happening in a lot of the protests over George Floyd's death at the hands of ex-cop Derek Chauvin.

Peaceful demonstrations interrupted by agitators trying to amp up violence. This time peaceniks fought back.

Hollywood is showing support for the Black Lives Matter movement ... with tons of huge celebs taking to the streets of Los Angeles to protest in the wake of George Floyd's death.

Machine Gun Kelly carried a sign that read, "Stop Arresting Protesters! Arrest Killer Cops!!" as he marched alongside Travis Barker, who had his own sign saying, "NO JUSTICE NO PEACE."

Logan Paul reunited with his ex, Josie Canseco, for the protest through Hollywood ... and Halsey walked alongside her ex, Yungblud, for their second L.A. protest together. As you can see, Logan busted out a "BLACK LIVES MATTER" sign.

Other celebs joining the massive protest included ... Emily Ratajkowski and her husband, Sebastian McClard, plus Mod Sun, Cara Santana, DeRay Davis and Tinashe.

Ben Affleck and girlfriend Ana De Armas also joined the protest ranks ... with Ben carrying signs in support of #BLM and a Baptist church in Venice.

An NYPD officer was hit by a car and propelled in the air during disturbances early Tuesday morning in the Bronx.

An unmarked police car was responding to a commercial burglary at around 12:45 AM when cops saw a bunch of people at the location. A sergeant got out of his car and just as he stepped out a black sedan peeled off, striking the Sgt. ... hurling him into the air.

The sergeant -- a 30-year veteran of the NYPD -- was taken to the hospital where he's in serious but stable condition. Cops are looking for the sedan and the occupants.