Monday, February 22, 2010

Reserve Officer Gary Lambert Charged with Pointing Weapon

A reserve Wayne police officer finds himself on the other side of the law. Gary Lambert was arrested Saturday in Southwest Oklahoma City after he said he came to his daughter's rescue. Lambert says his daughter Crystal dialed him on her cell phone during a fight with her boyfriend.

She didn't talk, but he said he heard the boyfriend making serious threats.

Lambert said he was scared for her life and rushed over to the apartment with his gun; on the way he dialed 911.

Oklahoma City Police tell us that both Lamberts threatened the boyfriend with a gun.

Crystal and Gary Lambert are charged with pointing a handgun while Teddy Parker is charged with domestic abuse by strangulation.

Gary Lambert said he did what he believes any dad would have done.

"I was acting as a daddy going in there to get his daughter; my child was being murdered in that house and I was going in to get her."

Officer Matthew Sharkey Arrested for DUI After Crashing Into Troopers

An off-duty Philadelphia police officer suspected of driving under the influence injured two state troopers and a tow-truck driver yesterday when his vehicle crashed into a state police car on a shoulder of I-95, authorities said.

Officer Matthew Sharkey, 23, was detained on suspicion of DUI after the accident, which hurt Troopers Matthew Sheeran and Michael Sadowski, state police said. The agency is investigating the crash.

Sheeran was in fair condition at Hahnemann University Hospital, according to a spokesman there.

Sadowski was treated at Hahnemann for cuts and bruises and released. Sharkey also briefly received medical care there. The tow-truck driver was also treated at Hahnemann, but there was no word on his condition.

The accident happened about 3:30 a.m., after the troopers had parked their cruiser behind an abandoned car on northbound I-95 near the Girard Avenue interchange, state police said.

The tow-truck driver had pulled in front of the abandoned car and was underneath it, hooking it up, when Sharkey's car drove through warning flares and hit the back of the cruiser, authorities said.

Sheeran was pinned between the cruiser and the abandoned car. Despite his cuts and bruises, the tow-truck driver crawled out from underneath and pulled the truck forward, freeing Sheeran.

State police did not identify the tow-truck operator, saying only that he worked for the Philadelphia Parking Authority.

Sharkey was tested for alcohol and drugs, but no results were immediately available. No charges had been filed, and the state police asked witnesses to call 215-560-6200.

Sharkey joined the force in 2007 and has been assigned to the 17th Police District at 20th and Federal Streets in South Philadelphia.

Officer Jason Cortez Runs Through Checkpoint

An off-duty Covington police officer and a woman were critically injured in a car crash early Sunday, police said.

Col. Michael Edmonson of the Louisiana State Police said the single-vehicle crash happened at about 2:10 a.m. on Louisiana Highway 21 in St. Tammany Parish.

Police said Jason Cortez, 26, of Bush, La., was traveling north on LA 21 in a 2008 Ford Mustang when he approached a St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office checkpoint manned by three deputies who were searching for an escaped inmate.

"Cortez came to a stop prior to the checkpoint and was instructed to proceed forward by the deputies, at which time he accelerated and sped through the checkpoint proceeding northbound on LA 21 at a high rate of speed," Edmonson said.

As deputies attempted to catch up with the Mustang to conduct a traffic stop, Cortez failed to negotiate a left curve and ran off the right side of the roadway. The vehicle traveled about 72 feet through a ditch before hitting a culvert and becoming airborne.

"The Mustang rotated counterclockwise and began to overturn when it impacted a utility pole, breaking the pole in half. The vehicle came to a rest upright on its wheels in a ditch on the east side of LA 21," Edmonson said.

Cortez and his passenger, 23-year-old Brittany Thornhill, of Covington, were not wearing seat belts at the time of the crash and were ejected from the vehicle. They were transported to St. Tammany Parish Hospital in critical condition.

Edmonson said authorities believe alcohol was a factor in the crash. Investigators are awaiting the results of a urine and blood sample taken from Cortez, against whom charges are pending.