Officer Tammi Jo Gordy Arrested for Road Rage

A DeWitt Police officer has been taken off the streets after Davenport Police say she pulled a gun on another driver.

Davenport Police received a call about a "road rage" incident along Utica Ridge Road on Sunday, February 14. The male caller said the other driver had a gun. Reports state the other driver was DeWitt Police Officer Tammi Jo Gordy. During the investigation, Gordy said that the other car pulled out in front of her and when she passed, the passenger flipped her off. That's when they both stopped at the parking lot on 53rd and Utica Ridge Road and she said the man got out in a threatening manner. Police say that's when she showed her gun and a can of mace. The man had his wife and two young children in the car.

"We immediately launched our own internal affairs investigation regarding the administrative violations that are going to go along with the criminal allegations," said DeWitt Chief of Police Tom Whitten. "We're definitely going to provide the employee with the due process necessary. Once we complete our investigation, we'll review the facts and determine...any possible discipline."

Davenport Police has charged Officer Gordy with Aggravated Assault, an aggravated misdemeanor. She is due in court on March 3. The DeWitt Police have placed Officer Gordy on paid administrative leave.

Chief E.O. Shelton Investigated for Road Rage

The Columbia Daily Herald is reporting that Ethridge police chief E.O. Shelton is being investigated for a possible case of road rage that allegedly happened in Columbia earlier this week.

According to the report, the incident happened on Highway 43 Wednesday at five. The report said Columbia resident Thomas Jagger told them he was “cut off” by man driving a red Ford Explorer with Lawrence County tags.

He told the paper he then rolled down his window to speak with the man and they got into an argument. He said the man then pulled a gun on him. After telling the man he was a policeman, he showed his badge and drove north on 43.

Columbia police said they will let the alleged victim decide if he wants to press charges or turn the matter over to District Attorney General Mike Bottoms for review.

Bishop said the agency will let the victim decide whether to press charges.

Corrections Sgt. Salvator Nostrame Arrested for Road Rage

A Hudson County Department of Corrections sergeant was arrested today after an apparent road rage incident in which he is accused of assaulting the victim and then threatening him with his gun, reports said.

Sgt. Salvatore Nostrame, 40, of Cambridge Avenue, was charged with aggravated assault in connection to the road rage incident at 1:29 p.m. at Webster Avenue and South Street in the Jersey City Heights, police spokesman Stan H. Eason said.

Nostrame has been suspended without pay pending the outcome of the criminal investigation, said Hudson County Corrections Department Director Oscar Aviles.

Nostrame allegedly assaulted the other driver, took out his gun and threatened the victim with it, and then fled the scene, Eason said.

A witness got the license plate number of the fleeing vehicle and police traced it to Nostrame's home, reports said.

Police Emergency Services Unit officers responded to Nostrame's home and he was arrested when he came out about 20 minutes later, Eason said.

Nostrame has been a corrections officer for roughly 15 years and earns about $85,000 annually, officials said.

He is expected to make his first appearance on the charges in Central Judicial Processing court in Jersey City tomorrow.

Deputy Accused of Road Rage

A Buncombe County deputy accused of road rage has been suspended without pay.

Buncombe County Sheriff Van Duncan said the alleged incident happened on July 9. He said that was when a woman claimed that the deputy pounded on her car window near the intersection of Patton Avenue and Leicester Highway.

Duncan said that both the woman and the deputy made separate 911 calls.

The first 911 call came from the woman:

Dispatcher: “He tried to get into your car? Is that what you’re saying?”

Woman: “Yes. He tried to pull me out of the truck and now he’s up behind me.”

Dispatcher: “Why did he try to pull you out of the truck ma’am?”

Woman: “Because he cut me off and I honked at him and when we got to the light he jumped out and came to my truck.”

The second 911 call from the deputy tells a much different story:

Dispatcher: “And she’s just road rage or something?”

Deputy: “Yeah. I got over and I didn’t cut her off or nothing and then she gets over on my rear end and I look in the mirror and she’s flipping me off. So I get out of the car to see what the problem is and she’s all cussing and raising Cain, you know? So I ain’t even going to deal with this, so I called.”

Duncan said that he cannot prove the woman’s claim.

The State Bureau of Investigation has taken over the case, Duncan said.

Officer Robert Cirello Accused of Throwing Tobacco Juice At Two Motorists

The Baltimore police officer who was arrested in connection with a traffic altercation in Bel Air last week is accused of throwing a cup of tobacco juice at two motorists and flashing his Glock handgun at them, according to arrest documents on file with the Harford County District Court.

Robert G. Cirello, a decorated seven-year veteran of the force and a member of its SWAT team, was off duty when he turned right into a northbound lane of Emmorton Road about 12:30 p.m. May 8. The driver of second car, who felt he cut them off, honked at Cirello, according to police documents.

Cirello, 30, of Abingdon, then stopped his sport utility vehicle, and as the second car slowed down and attempted to pass, Cirello tossed a cup of tobacco juice through its open windows, striking the driver and another occupant, they told police. The men allege that Cirello pointed a black handgun at them before driving away, court documents said.

When state police later stopped Cirello's vehicle near Routes 24 and 1, they noticed a black .40-caliber Glock pistol protruding from his waistband and arrested him without incident. Cirello, who is licensed to carry a weapon, admitted throwing the tobacco juice but denied pointing the handgun, documents say.

City officer accused of road rage Cirello, a New Jersey native and former paramedic who responded to the scene of the collapsed Twin Towers on Sept. 11, 2001, won a departmental commendation and was invited to the Maryland governor's mansion after being shot in the line of duty in Patterson Park in September 2006. He served in the Southeast District of the Baltimore force for five years.

Cirello, who did not respond to messages seeking comment, was charged with two counts each of first-degree assault, second-degree assault and reckless endangerment. He was released on $20,000 bond. A court date is scheduled for June 4. Cirello is suspended from the police force until the criminal and departmental investigations are complete.

"The commissioner takes these kinds of matters extremely seriously," said Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the Baltimore City Police. "The department is committed to seeing how the legal process plays itself out, of course, but behavior of the kind alleged will not be tolerated."
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Previous Information:

http://whathappenedtoprotectandserve.blogspot.com/2009/05/officer-robert-cirello-arrested-for.html

Officer Robert Cirello Arrested for Road Rage

A Baltimore City police officer who is no stranger to controversy was arrested Friday and charged with assault and reckless endangerment in connection with a road rage incident in Harford County, Maryland State Police said Monday.

Officer Robert G. Cirello, 30, of Abingdon was driving in Bel Air about noon Friday when he and another driver got into an unspecified disagreement in traffic, state police said.

As the two vehicles reached Emmorton and Plumtree roads, the second driver said Cirello, who was off duty, flashed a gun, according to Sgt. Arthur Betts, a state police spokesman. The driver called police with a description of the vehicle.

Shortly afterward, officers located a vehicle matching that description at U.S. 1 and Route 24, found Cirello in possession of a handgun and made the arrest, Betts said. Cirello was booked at the Harford County Detention Center on two counts of first-degree assault, two of second-degree assault and two of reckless endangerment, police said.

He was released on $20,000 bond. Cirello did not immediately respond to phone messages left by The Baltimore Sun.

A New Jersey native and seven-year veteran of the city police, Cirello was the key figure in a 2006 incident in which four men said the officer improperly arrested them as they finished a game of pickup basketball in Patterson Park.

A jury agreed and awarded them a total of $1.85 million last May. The city ultimately settled the case for $320,000.

The men had said Cirello - in attempt to "prove he was King of the Park," according to court documents - drew his weapon in the process of arresting two of them, used pepper spray on the two and called for backup. Some spent weeks or months in jail awaiting trial before a jury acquitted all the men of assault charges.

Cirello asserted in a countersuit that the men converged on him in a hostile manner, one brandishing a knife, as he tried to evict them from the closed park. The jury rejected those counterclaims.

In a subsequent filing, the officer implied the men were responsible for an incident in which he was shot while patrolling the same park later that year.

As TheSun reported at the time, unknown assailants ambushed Cirello as he got out of his patrol car in Patterson Park on Sept. 7, 2006, shooting him twice in the chest at close range. Police said body armor saved him.

That part of Cirello's countersuit was dropped when the plaintiffs requested documents related to the shooting investigation.

A paramedic before becoming a police officer, Cirello was among those who aided victims at the World Trade Center towers in New York after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Cirello has been suspended from police duty pending the outcome of the criminal case and a department investigation, said Detective Nicole Monroe, a city police spokeswoman.

His preliminary hearing is set for June 4 in Harford County District Court.
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http://www.abc2news.com/news/local/story/City-Officer-Charged-in-Road-Rage-Incident/rWwxh9RH1kyuvXg7yE1feQ.cspx

Officer Robert Cirello Arrested for Road Rage

Officer Robert Cirello was arrested over the weekend after Maryland State Police say he was involved in a road rage incident around noon on May 8th.

According to charging documents obtained by ABC2 News, Cirello is accused of cutting off a car along Route 924 near Singer Road in Harford County. That car's driver honked at Cirello, who then stopped, forcing the other car to drive around him. When the two were side by side, the two victims say Cirello threw a cup of "tobacco juice" on them and pointed his 40 caliber Glock handgun at them.

Cirello was arrested by Maryland State Police and was scheduled for a suspension hearing on Monday.

Officer Robert Cirello was shot near Patterson Park in 2006 while on patrol after a rash of robberies. He was saved by his bullet proof vest.

In a separate incident, Officer Joseph Hannerman was arrested on May 8th just before 11pm for allegedly choking and punching his girlfriend in the face. The alleged assault occurred on the front porch of 2935 Mosher Street in Southwest Baltimore.

Hammerman is also scheduled for a suspension hearing Monday.
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http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/harford/bal-cirello0511,0,280671.story

Dallas Chief Fires 4 Officers

Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle fired four police officers Monday morning, including a lieutenant who internal investigators concluded made a series of heated, profanity-laced calls to Waxahachie school officials.

Kunkle has fired 66 officers since he became chief in June 2004.

Dallas police Lt. Paul Wisdom's troubles began last May when he used a city phone to leave a profane message for David Nix, the principal of Waxahachie High School. Nix told investigators that he had a previous confrontation with Wisdom and that he was concerned about his and his wife's safety.

Wisdom told investigators that he didn't intend the message as a threat but only to express his displeasure.

Internal investigators concluded that he violated department policy when he used a city phone to leave a profane and intimidating message while on duty. In September, Wisdom was told he'd be suspended for three days over the incident.

On the same day that Wisdom received that suspension, he left another series of profane and intimidating messages for Nix and other school officials, police records show.

Wisdom told investigators that he made the second round of calls after his supervisor gave him a copy of the criminal trespass warning that had been issued by the school district. He also said he regretted the profanity he used in the voice mail, but said he felt like he had been baited into making the phone calls.

"I'm very disappointed in Chief Kunkle's lack of judgment and foresight," Wisdom said Monday after he was fired.

His wife, Velmea Wisdom, says her husband is being treated unfairly and that there are other officers, including supervisors, in the department who have done worse things and haven't lost their jobs.

She is a former Dallas police officer who is currently running for the Waxahachie school board.

Also fired:

•Police Officer Daniel Hageman, who was indicted last month after being accused of shooting at a woman's vehicle in Garland in what prosecutors say was a road-rage incident. Hageman, hired in 2001, is charged with deadly conduct in the May 2008 incident, a third-degree felony.

He has denied firing his weapon at the car. "I'm being falsely accused," he said in a brief interview after being fired. "I don't want that job back. I think the chances of me appealing are pretty slim."

•Senior Cpl. James Sims, 45, was fired after internal investigators concluded that he didn't pay his debts and that hot checks were written on his bank accounts. Two landlords obtained civil judgments against him after hot checks were written for his rent, records show.

Sims told internal investigators that he was having financial trouble and that he did not write all of the checks. He also stated that he unknowingly wrote hot checks on a closed account.

Sims said he plans to appeal his firing but declined to comment further. He was hired in 1988.

•Officer Jeffrey Fowler faces a felony charge of intoxication assault for an incident last month in which Fowler hit another car while driving near the intersection of Midway Road and Bonham Street. Takiyan Brown, a passenger in his pickup, was critically injured, suffering fractures to her skull, pelvis, ribs and spine as well as a lacerated kidney and liver, court records state.

When police arrived at the scene of the accident, Fowler smelled of alcohol, had bloodshot eyes, slurred his speech and was unsteady on his feet, records state.

In mid-January, Fowler was arrested on suspicion of public intoxication while he was off duty and riding in a vehicle that was involved in an accident in the Oak Lawn area on his 28th birthday. He was hired in 2007.

Fowler declined to comment.
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http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Dallas-Police-Chief-Fires-Misbehaving-Officers.html

Officer Jamel Dennis Charged with Assault

The 12-lane thoroughfare is often called the Boulevard of Death, but for one short-fused police officer, the authorities say, it became a road of rage.

On the afternoon of Nov. 17, a civilian, Geoffrey Hollinden, 41, was crossing Queens Boulevard near 109th Street in Forest Hills when he was nearly hit by a car, the authorities say. Enraged, Mr. Hollinden pounded on the car, a 2006 Infiniti, as it passed.

Suddenly the car pulled over, and out sprang a large and irate man — identified by the authorities as Jamel Dennis, 32, an off-duty Brooklyn narcotics officer. Officer Dennis, who is 6-foot-6, grabbed Mr. Hollinden, the authorities say, dragged him to the boulevard’s service road, lifted him to shoulder height and slammed him to the ground, knocking him unconscious.

Mr. Hollinden was hospitalized for three days.

“As a motorist — and more so, as a police officer — the defendant should have known better than to allegedly take matters into his own hands and elevate a minor traffic dispute into a felonious assault,” the Queens district attorney, Richard A. Brown, said in a statement on Tuesday.

Officer Dennis was charged on Monday night with second-degree assault and released on his own recognizance. He is scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 15 and faces up to seven years in prison. Reached by telephone on Tuesday, he declined to comment. A man who identified himself as Officer Dennis’s father said, “They railroaded my son.”

It is not the first time that a New York police officer has been accused of road-rage assault. In August, two transit officers, Michelle Anglin, 37, and Koleen Robinson, 24, were charged with pummeling a man in the head and face with a baton and a gun after he pulled up alongside them in the Bronx with his side door open, nearly scraping their sport utility vehicle.

The Queens Boulevard episode provided yet more grist for the road’s dangerous reputation. The 8- to 12-lane street is one of the main arteries linking Queens to Manhattan; it also divides neighborhoods with a fast-moving river of traffic that some pedestrians find hard to cross.

Between 1993 and 2000, 72 pedestrians were killed along the road. Since 2004, safety improvements have led to a decrease in the number of collisions, but drivers and pedestrians still find the boulevard nerve-wracking, and accidents there still claim lives — two this year.

According to the district attorney, Officer Dennis fled after assaulting Mr. Hollinden. Two days later, Mr. Brown said, Officer Dennis went to the 112th Precinct station and identified himself as an officer in the Brooklyn North Narcotics Division. He said a man had pushed him during a traffic dispute in the area and asked whether anyone had filed a complaint. He also pointed out scuff marks on the back of his car to an officer from the Department’s Internal Affairs Bureau, which investigated the case.

District Attorney Brown said that the incident came to light because an eyewitness jotted down the license plate number of the defendant’s car. Mr. Hollinden sustained a cut in his head that required five staples, cranial bleeding and a herniated disc, according to the district attorney.

“The guy escaped the car, but not the driver,” said Kevin Ryan, the district attorney’s spokesman.

Officer Jamel Dennis Charged with Beating Pedestrian

QUEENS

A New York City police officer has been charged with beating a pedestrian.

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown said that moments before the alleged assault, the officer almost struck the victim with his car as the man was crossing Queens Boulevard in Forest Hills.

The officer was off-duty at the time of the alleged incident, which occurred two weeks ago.

The officer was identified as Jamel Dennis, 32, of Queens. Dennis, who is assigned to the NYPD's Brooklyn North Narcotics District, was arraigned Tuesday night in Queens Criminal Court on a charge of second-degree assault, a Class D felony punishable by up to seven years in prison.

Dennis was released on his own recognizance and ordered to return to court on January 15, 2009.

Investigators said Dennis was driving along Queens Boulevard on the afternoon of November 17, when he almost struck Geoffrey Hollinden, 41, who was crossing near 109th Street.

Hollinden allegedly hit the rear of the defendant's 2006 Infiniti as it passed him, according to Brown. At that point, Dennis is accused of getting out of his car and attacking Hollinden, allegedly slamming him to the pavement and knocking him out.

Hollinden sustained a laceration to the head that required five staples, as well as cranial bleeding, a herniated disc in the neck and substantial pain that caused him to be hospitalized at a local Queens hospital for three days.

Prosecutors said Dennis appeared at the NYPD's 112th Precinct a couple of days after the incident, where he identified himself as an officer assigned to the Brooklyn North Narcotics District. He allegedly stated that he had been involved in a traffic dispute with another man who had pushed him and wanted to know if anyone had come in to file a complaint in connection with the incident.

That same day, Dennis allegedly pointed out a scuff mark on the rear of his Infiniti to an officer assigned to the NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau and stated that was where the other man had hit the back of his car.

The case came to light when an eyewitness, who observed the alleged incident, jotted down the license plate of the defendant's car, Brown said.

Officer Frank White to Stand Trial for Shooting Mother and Son

After a dramatic day of testimony yesterday, a judge ordered a San Diego police officer to stand trial for shooting a mother and her son in an Oceanside parking lot at the culmination of an apparent road rage incident in March.

“I think we expect more from our officers than the conduct that was displayed here,” Judge Joel Pressman said at the end of a nearly daylong preliminary hearing in Vista Superior Court.

Officer Frank White, 28, is charged with one felony count of grossly negligent discharge of a firearm and one misdemeanor count of exhibiting a firearm. He faces up to nine years in prison if convicted.

The District Attorney's Office decided to charge White in July. It marked the first time in 13 years that a county law enforcement officer – on or off duty – had been charged for shooting someone while acting under the color of authority.

Authorities say Rachel Silva, 28, cut off and aggressively followed White, who was off-duty, and his wife into a Lowe's parking lot March 15, while revving her engine and yelling at them. After she pulled in front of them in the lot, she backed up toward their car.

Her right mirror hit White's left mirror, and he fired his first shot through the window of his Mercury Milan into the passenger window of her Honda Accord. Silva's son, then 8, was in the passenger seat and was struck in the left leg.

As Silva continued in reverse, the right front of her car hit the left rear of White's car. He shot four more bullets from his .38-caliber revolver through her windshield. She was struck twice in the right arm.

Silva's son, with his father by his side, teared up in court yesterday as he recalled the shooting.

He testified that his mother was upset when she picked him up at a friend's house and later when she followed the car into the parking lot. “My mom was mad at him,” he said. “She was yelling.” In the parking lot, the boy said, he saw a person in the other car pointing a gun at him.

The boy testified that he curled up in his seat when he saw the gun, putting his legs near his face. He said he told his mother, “Momma, he has a gun,” and she called 911.
Later in the hearing, prosecutors played tapes of 911 calls made by Silva and White's wife, Jacquellyn, who is a Carlsbad police dispatcher.

On the call made by Silva, she says, “There's a guy who's pulling a gun on me.” After the shooting, she says it is “some guy, a policeman.” Screams are heard throughout the tape. At one point, Silva tells her son, who sounds hysterical, “Stop! You're OK! You're OK!”

Authorities say Silva had a blood-alcohol level nearly twice the legal limit and was driving on a suspended license. She faces charges in connection with the incident. She was subpoenaed to appear at White's hearing yesterday, but she asserted her Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination and didn't testify.

On Jacquellyn White's 911 call, she tells a dispatcher that a silver Honda is “road raging” them, and they don't know why. After the shooting, she tells the dispatcher that her husband has fired his gun.

“Did he hit anybody?” the dispatcher asks.

“I don't know if he hit her,” White's wife responds. She soon says that the other driver has a child in the car.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys agree that White didn't see the child when he opened fire. The car's side windows were tinted, with a darker tint on the rear windows.

On the 911 call made by Jacquellyn White, her husband can be heard after the shooting yelling, “Turn the car off!” and “Police!”

Prosecutor Julie Korsmeyer said the District Attorney's Office “carefully” charged White. “We have someone who overreacted violently in this case.”

White's attorney, Rick Pinckard, said the couple didn't do anything to provoke the confrontation, and Silva assaulted them with her car. “This was clearly a case of self-defense,” Pinckard said.

The state Attorney General's Office has charged Silva with felony child endangerment and five misdemeanors, including drunken driving and driving on a suspended license. Her trial is set for Nov. 18.

Rookie Officer Alfie Madrid Charged with Killing Officer

MANILA, Philippines

A rookie policeman – one of the topnotchers in the 2005 criminology licensure examinations – was charged Monday with shooting and killing a police officer and wounding his wife following an argument over a minor road accident in Bacoor, Cavite province.

PO1 Alfie Madrid, 26, was charged with murder and frustrated murder at the Bacoor Prosecutor’s Office, according to Supt. Mario Reyes, town police chief.

Reyes said they also filed a case for illegal possession of firearms and ammunitions against the suspect.

The same charges were filed against Hermogenes Gagan, a civilian who was with Madrid at the time of the shooting incident.

A police investigation showed that Madrid, who is assigned to the Regional Special Action Unit of the National Capital Region Police Office, shot Insp. William Pelicano, a policeman assigned in Las Piñas City, during an argument following a vehicular accident on Marcos Alvarez Road in Barangay Molino 3, Bacoor, at around 8 p.m. Friday.

Pelicano, who was accompanied by his wife, Babylyn, was in a passenger jeepney when it was bumped by a Daihatsu multicab driven by Gagan. Seated beside Gagan was Madrid.

The victim, who was wearing a police uniform, alighted from the jeep and talked to Gagan. When the victim and the suspects started arguing, Madrid allegedly shot Pelicano several times, a police report said.

Pelicano’s wife rushed to his aid, but Madrid also shot her in the arm, the report added.

Pelicano was rushed to the Molino Doctors Hospital where he was declared dead on arrival.

Police found two 9 mm Beretta pistols, bullets and magazines for .45 cal. and 9 mm handguns and Gagan’s license to carry firearms in his van. Gagan was arrested by Bacoor police who rushed to the scene, while Madrid was apprehended in a follow-up operation.

According to the records of the Professional Regulation Commission, Madrid ranked seventh among the 1,476 examinees who passed the criminology board tests in May 2005.

Madrid’s superior, NCRPO chief Director Jefferson Soriano, Monday ordered his men to undergo a weekly “troop information and education” to prevent similar incidents from happening.

He also met with RSAU personnel in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City, where he told them to strictly “respect the police uniform and rank.”

“Starting today, I will require a strict observance of the chain of command, from Police Officers 1 to the highest position in the command,” Soriano told 300 RSAU agents, considered as the NCRPO’s elite police unit.

In his speech, Soriano said the incident only showed the “grave problem” regarding the lack of respect among PNP members.

“There’s no reason for us to draw our guns and shoot whoever we want to kill, especially someone who is wearing a police uniform,” he said.

Officer Ross Magnuson Charged with Road Rage Assault

A 12-year Superior police officer has been charged with second-degree assault for allegedly pulling a gun and pointing it at a motorist in the parking lot of a Two Harbors service station in an apparent road rage incident on Sunday.

Ross W. Magnuson, 45, of Knife River, Minn., was also charged Friday with making terroristic threats, recklessly handling a dangerous weapon and disorderly conduct. The first two crimes the officer is charged with are felonies. The other two are misdemeanors.

According to the criminal complaint:

Motorist Philip Hoberg told Two Harbors Police Officer Nathan Gens that he and his girlfriend and her son were driving to Gooseberry Falls Sunday afternoon on Highway 61 when they passed a vehicle with a man driving. Hoberg said that the driver “flipped him off’’ as they passed.

Hoberg said they drove to a Holiday station in Two Harbors and were waiting for their turn at the gas pumps. He said that the vehicle they had passed pulled in next to his. The driver got out and stuck his head in Hoberg’s open moon roof and began yelling at him.

Hoberg said he told the driver to step back and that he was going to close the window. The other driver came around the front of the car. Hoberg said he got out of his car and approached the driver, who then pulled a gun and pointed it at him.

Hoberg said he was scared and he attempted to calm the other driver down and apologized for making him mad. He provided a license plate number that eventually led police to Magnuson.

In a follow-up interview, Hoberg told the Two Harbors police officer that Magnuson had been intimidating and alarming and used a hostile tone. He said his body language, his red complexion and the words he used were inappropriate and unacceptable with or without a child present.

Hoberg said that Magnuson, who was off duty and not wearing a police uniform, drew the weapon from a holster on his right hip and pointed it at his chest. He said Magnuson gritted his teeth and moved in his direction with his gun drawn, saying something like, “Do you want to go?"

He said he asked Magnuson to put the gun away and calm down. He said he placed a “friendly warning hand on Magnuson’s chest and assured him that whatever set him off was unintentional, hoping that he would just leave.”

Hoberg said Magnuson holstered his firearm, which appeared to be silver with black trim or dual tone with black and silver, but continued to argue.

Hoberg was able to pick Magnuson’s photo from a phone lineup of six men.

Police executed a search warrant at Magnuson’s home on Friday. Magnuson opened his gun safe and provided a silver and black Smith & Wesson semi-automatic pistol.

Magnuson told officers that he had been driving on Highway 61 that day when he was approached by a car driving erratically.

He admitted stopping at the Two Harbors Holiday station where the car was parked. He said he approached the car and spoke with the driver about his driving conduct. He said the other driver got out of his car and approached him. Magnuson said he felt threatened and “broke leather" on his firearm.

Superior Police Chief Floyd Peters said it was fair to say that he was shocked by the allegations when notified of the charges Friday afternoon. “He’s been a very well respected officer in our department and in the community,’’ Peters said.

The chief then read from a prepared statement. “It is the position of the Superior Police Department that it would be in-appropriate to comment on or in any way interfere with this investigation at this time," he said. “The Superior Police Department will conduct its own internal investigation into this matter only after the criminal investigation is complete. Officer Magnuson will be placed on administrative leave pending these investigations.’’

Magnuson appeared in court Friday afternoon in handcuffs. He told the court that he’s married and has two children, 9 and 12 years old.

Because of a scheduling conflict, Magnuson was arraigned in St. Louis County District Court in Duluth instead of in Lake County District Court in Two Harbors where the crime is alleged to have occurred.

Retired Judge John T. Oswald, who occasionally fills in for other judges in the 6th Judicial District, set bail at $4,000 and referred the defendant to a probation officer to be considered for supervised release. Neither the Lake County Jail nor Two Harbors police would say if Magnuson was being held in the Lake County Jail after the arraignment.

Officer Ross Magnuson Charged with Pointing Weapon at Motorist

DULUTH, Minn.

A Superior, Wis., police officer is charged with second-degree assault for allegedly pulling a gun and pointing it at a motorist in an apparent road rage incident.

Ross W. Magnuson, 45, of Knife River also faces charges of making terroristic threats, recklessly handling a dangerous weapon and disorderly conduct.

According to the criminal complaint, a motorist, his girlfriend and her son were driving near Two Harbors last Sunday when they passed a vehicle whose driver flipped them off.

After pulling into a service station and waiting to pump gas, the driver who gestured at them pulled up next to the group, got out and began yelling, the complaint said.

The motorist, who provided a license plate number to police that eventually led to Magnuson and later identified Magnuson in a police lineup, said Magnuson pulled a silver and black gun and pointed it at him, the complaint stated.

Police executed a search warrant at Magnuson's home and he provided a silver and black Smith and Wesson semi-automatic pistol.

Magnuson, who was off duty and not wearing a police uniform on the day of the incident, told officers that he had been driving when he was passed by a car driving erratically.

He said he pulled off at the station to speak with the motorist about his driving conduct, and feeling threatened upon their encounter, Magnuson "broke leather" on his firearm, according to the complaint.

Superior Police Chief Floyd Peters said he was shocked by the allegations when notified of the charges filed against the 12-year veteran of the force.

"He's been a very well respected officer in our department and in the community," Peters said.

The chief then read a prepared statement declining any additional comment. Magnuson, who was arraigned Friday, was placed on administrative leave pending criminal and internal investigations into the incident.

Peters said no internal review would begin until the criminal investigation is completed.

Peters said no internal review would begin until the criminal investigation is completed.

Officer Frank White Charged in Road Rage Shooting

An off-duty San Diego police officer pleaded not guilty July 29 to charges relating to the shooting of a mother and her 8-year-old son in March.

Franklin “Frank” White is charged with one felony count of gross negligent discharge of a firearm with two enhancements for great bodily injury, and one misdemeanor count of exhibiting a firearm.

If convicted, he faces up to nine years in prison, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

Rachel Silva and her son, Johnny, were shot March 15 after she and White, 28, were involved in a traffic dispute that prompted the off-duty officer to fire five shots into Silva’s car at a home-improvement store parking lot in the 100 block of Old Grove Road in Oceanside, according to court documents.

Before White fired into Silva’s vehicle, striking her twice in the arm and her son twice in the leg, Silva allegedly pursued and struck White’s vehicle, which contained him and his wife, court documents state. Further, Silva allegedly nearly caused a collision with another vehicle just prior to the incident with White.

“Every officer-involved shooting is carefully reviewed by the District Attorney’s Office to determine if criminal charges should be filed,” District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis said in a press release. “Based on the evidence and the law, these charges are appropriate.”

Police Chief William Lansdowne declined to comment on the charges.

White has been placed on unpaid leave pending an internal investigation that could take up to 90 days, said Monica Munoz, a spokeswoman with the San Diego Police Department.

Last month, after reviewing 2,500 pages of documents, including an accident reconstruction report, the state Attorney General’s Office concluded that there was insufficient evidence surrounding the circumstances of Silva striking White’s car to file assault charges against her.

However, because she’d allegedly been driving with a .15 blood alcohol level, the state charged her with child endangerment, driving under the influence and possession of marijuana.

The state Attorney General’s Office took over Silva’s investigation from the San Diego District Attorney’s Office last month after the two agencies met with the Oceanside Police Department, which initially investigated the case.

Silva, who was driving on a suspended license at the time of incident, is currently in a court-ordered rehabilitation center, her attorney Michael Pancer said.

“She’s pleased to see the District Attorney’s office took some action and feels somewhat vindicated,” Pancer said of Silva’s feelings about White being charged.

This is the first time since 1995, when former San Diego Police Officer Christopher Chaney shot a fleeing suspect in the arm and was charged with assault with a deadly weapon, that an officer has been charged in connection with an officer-involved shooting, Steve Walker, a spokesman for the District Attorney’s Office, said.

A jury acquitted Chaney after only a few minutes of deliberations, Walker said.

Civil lawsuits have been filed against the San Diego Police Department, Lansdowne and White by Silva and her ex-husband on behalf of their son. In addition to monetary damages, the suit also seeks policy changes for law enforcement personnel of the San Diego Police Department.

Pancer, who’s also representing Silva in her civil case, said he believed the criminal charges against White “impacted the civil claims a great deal.”