Tuesday, March 04, 2014

CMDR. Johnny Thomas Arrested for Domestic Violence

A Detroit police officer with nearly 25 years on the job is in custody accused of domestic violence.

The alleged altercation happened on Saturday between the 42-year-old officer and his girlfriend. Neighbors tell Isom they heard gunfire that day, which police have not confirmed.

"On the night of the incident there was a physical altercation between him and the young lady, and a report was made and we moved on that and sought a warrant and he arrested him for the ... alleged actions," says Commander Johnny Thomas.

A source tells FOX 2's Andrea Isom the woman escaped the situation by jumping out of a window and running to a nearby restaurant, wearing barely any clothing.

An employee at the restaurant tells Isom the woman was only wearing a shirt and her face was "a little bit beat up." Employees gave her some clothes to cover up and called for help.

Investigators may have been at the home once before, but they were also there again Tuesday searching for any signs of a struggle. They took lots of pictures and seemed to collect more evidence.

Police say the officer turned himself in, and the department has a zero tolerance policy for crime so the situation could cost the officer his job.

The officer is expected to be arraigned on Wednesday.

More Charges Filed Against Officer Dana Bond

A suspended Detroit Police officer has been charged with multiple misdemeanors in connection to an alcohol-related car crash that occurred Sunday.

Officer Dana Bond, according to the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office, is accused of driving while intoxicated when she crashed her car into another vehicle at 1:05 p.m. Sunday, injuring a 19-year-old male driver and his 16-year-old female passenger.

After striking the car, officials say, the 41-year-old allegedly attempted to flee the scene, ran into a snow bank and was arrested.

The injured victims were transported to a local hospital and were listed in stable condition, according to officials.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym L. Worthy’s office Tuesday announced Bond is charged with High Blood Alcohol Content (180-day misdemeanor), Failure to Stop at the Scene of a Personal Injury Accident (one-year misdemeanor) and Failure to Stop at the Scene of an Accident with Property Damage (90-day Misdemeanor).

Bond was previously suspended in connection to misdemeanor charges of retail fraud on Aug. 19 and Aug. 28. Bond allegedly stole item(s), including wine, from two separate stores. She is scheduled to have jury trials on both cases 9 a.m. April 15 before Judge Ronald Giles In 36th District Court.

The Detroit Police report that the defendant was arraigned this morning on the new charges. Bond was set at $10,000.

Sgt. Matthew Downing Charged with Assault and Battery

An Oklahoma City police sergeant has been charged with a crime after his supervisors say he stepped over the line.

Robert Biegler is still passionate about how he was treated by Sgt. Matthew Downing, with the Oklahoma City Police Department, on the morning of Jan. 26 at N.W. 36th and May Ave.

Biegler said he was going to get a cup of coffee at a convenience store when he saw Downing approach a female driver, who was stopped at a green light.

Biegler said, “He jumps out of his car, runs up to the driver’s window of the little minivan and screams at the driver, ‘What in the f*** is wrong with you!’”

So, he decided to yell something at Downing.

He said, “I just yelled out the window, ‘Road rage sucks!’ and proceeded about my business.”

Moments later, Biegler said Sgt. Downing followed him into the store.

“All of a sudden, boom!  He comes blasting through the door,” Biegler said.  “He says ‘Hey, you think you’re pretty smart?  You’re going to jail now!’”

Biegler said he called out to anyone listening, “Call the police!”

When a supervisor arrived, they decided Sgt. Downing had stepped way over the line.

“What our investigation is saying, is that we don’t believe that the officer had justification for making the arrest at all,” said Capt. Dexter Nelson, with the Oklahoma City Police Department.  “Therefore, he had no justification for using force against that individual.”

Biegler was released, but says he still has numbness in his thumb from being tied up in a police car for nearly an hour.

“This guy needs to go to jail immediately,” he said.  “He absolutely does not need to be on the streets with a gun.  He’s crazy.”

In a report, Downing claimed Biegler seemed mentally unstable and was arrested because he failed to devote his full attention to the road while yelling out his window.

The Oklahoma County district attorney filed one misdemeanor charge of assault and battery against Sgt. Downing, who is currently on paid administration leave, pending the investigation.

Nelson said Downing has not been arrested yet, and the police chief has not decided on any disciplinary action.

Downing has been with the department for 15 years.

Animal Control Officer Eva Wise Arrested for Animal Cruelty

Former Winnfield Animal Control Officer Eva Wise was arrested Friday for the charge of animal cruelty.

It all started at her former home off of Highway 1229 in Atlanta, Louisiana, a property she'd been renting since May 2013.

"She had said that she had recently gone to work for the city working as an animal control officer, so we were aware of that. She had a job so she could pay the rent," Johnson said.

The property's owner, Jennifer Johnson, said Wise had stopped paying rent by October 2013 and they were preparing to evict her when they got a call from the local humane society, the Heart of Louisiana Humane Society in Winnfield.

"They told me they had an issue for animal cruelty on our property. They had went to check it out but they needed my permission to go on our property," said Johnson.

The president of the humane society, Shonna Moss, told KTVE/KARD they received word about dying dogs from neighbors.

Moss said she personally saw 7 dogs chained with no food or water on the property.

Two others were dead.
The humane society said eight dogs and a litter of puppies were also found under another property just a mile away.

What Johnson said she saw paints an even worse picture.

"There was one laying almost dead in the yard and another puppy in equally bad shape. Out back there was an old chicken pen where the door had been fixed and shut where they couldn't get out and there was two skeletons in that pen," she said.

Johnson said she asked Wise - Why?

"She just said that she couldn't hardly afford to feed herself, much less the animals and she had said that she had told some of her husband's family they needed to come get the dogs because she had apparently up and left and this had been for several weeks," said Johnson.

Of all those dogs, only two survived.

The property was cleaned up with a new tenant living there by last December.

Wise now awaits trial, currently in jail on $100,000 bond.

The question remains: Why was Wise just arrested last Friday when the humane society said all this happened last October?

Law enforcement wouldn't tell KTVE/KARD, saying they didn't want to hurt the prosecution's case.

There is some good news about the last two surviving dogs.

Moss said one of the dogs, a german shepherd named "Kassi" currently has an adoption pending.

The other dog is also in a foster home and is available for adoption.
For more information on adoption, click here.

Officer Albert Coriat Arrested for DUI

The brotherhood of the badge could not keep an off-duty Miami-Dade Police officer out of the back of a trooper’s patrol car, despite the officer’s repeated pleas, according to dashcam videos released by the Florida Highway Patrol.

The Florida Highway Patrol arrested Albert Coriat, a member of the Miami-Dade Police Department since 2002, for DUI on the Florida Turnpike near Plantation last month.

“I thought we were all brothers,” a handcuffed Coriat told the trooper arresting him.

The video shows Coriat doing all he can to avoid going to jail for DUI…

“I would tell someone to come pick me up. Why the (expletive) do you have to (unintelligible).Do you know what you’re doing to me? Do you know what you’re doing to me?” Coriat asks the trooper.

Around 3 am on February 16, a trooper pulled Coriat over for attempting to make an illegal u-turn. Troopers say Coriat made it known right away that he was a cop, flashing his badge and denying that he was drunk.

TROOPER: “How much have you had to drink tonight?”
CORIAT: “Two beers.”
TROOPER: “Two beers?”
CORIAT: “Yes.”
TROOPER: “I smell a strong odor of alcohol coming from your breath.”

Seconds later, Coriat again tries to convince the troopers that he should be let go.

CORIAT: “I’m not drunk, man. I was…”
TROOPER: “You can barely even talk. Your speech is so slurred.”

The video shows Coriat performing a roadside sobriety test. Troopers say he failed — tipping over during a standing exercise and stumbling during a walking test. When the cuffs came out, the dashcam video shows Coriat begging to be given a break because he’s a cop.

CORIAT: “I’m a cop, just like you guys.”
TROOPER: “I understand that. But you’re doing something that’s illegal.”
CORIAT: “No, I’m not.”  (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
CORIAT: “It’s not gonna be good for you. Listen to me…”
TROOPER: “What’s not gonna be good for me?”

Minutes later Coriat asks to speak with an FHP supervisor then mentions an FHP higher-up who is a friend or acquaintance.  Finally, the trooper making the arrest sets Coriat straight.

“Turn around,” the trooper says. “I’m not going to keep explaining. You say you’re a cop. Are you saying you’re a police officer? Then you understand how the job is. Turn around, face the vehicle. Would you like to be treated this way if it was somebody that you’re arresting. No, right? So, please. Have some respect.”

The FHP report says Coriat told troopers that “he has stopped and let people go in the past that were driving under the influence.”

FHP says Coriat refused to submit to a breath test and that once he was at a secure facility he became ill and wound up sleeping in his own vomit.

CBS 4 News tried to reach Coriat for comment but someone who answered a phone number for him hung up on us. Miami Dade PD told us that Coriat is relieved of duty with pay. Miami-Dade would not comment on the arrest or comment on Coriat’s claim that he let people go who he suspected of driving drunk.