BROOKFIELD
A town police officer arrested in New Milford last week and charged in connection with a domestic violence complaint was scheduled to return to work today.
Officer Michael Almeida, 33, was charged Sept. 26 with disorderly conduct and second-degree threatening for dispute at his home with a 27-year-old woman.
Almeida appeared Monday in Superior Court in Bantam, where a judge ordered him to surrender his service revolver at the end of each shift while the case is pending.
Almeida qualified for a family services program, according to The Register Citizen in Torrington, which could result in the dismissal of all charges provided he adheres to the program's requirements.
Almeida, an officer for nine years, has been suspended with pay since his arrest, Brookfield Police Chief Robin Montgomery said.
"We have to conduct an internal inquiry, obviously," Montgomery said. "The judge at the hearing Monday allowed him to come back to work and to carry his weapon while at work. After his shift is over, he leaves his weapon here."
Montgomery said the internal probe into Almeida's arrest could take until the end of the month.
Second-degree threatening is a class A misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail and a $2,000 fine.
It is defined as placing another person in fear of imminent personal injury or threatening to commit an act of violence.
Almeida is due in court again Oct. 30.
http://www.newstimes.com
Friday, October 03, 2008
Corrections Officer Felipe Garcia Charged with Holding Taser to Chin of Inmate
A Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office corrections officer was arrested Thursday after a police investigation determined records were falsified about an assault on a prisoner.
Felipe R. Garcia, 40, was charged with official misconduct.
A lieutenant was making rounds Aug. 29 when she observed a corrections officer holding a Taser to the chin of an inmate, according to the arrest report. The officer cursed at the prisoner, who was sitting down, and slapped the stationary man, the witness told police.
When the office prepared a report on the incident, the lieutenant said he omitted details about the assault and blamed his actions on the the prisoner’s larger size and mental instability. The inmate was in jail for petty theft and providing false identification to police.
Chief Tara Wildes of the Duval County jail said Garcia is on leave without pay pending the outcome of the case. Garcia was hired by the Duval County jail in November 2006 and has no disciplinary history, Wildes said. His charge is a terminable offense.
http://news.jacksonville.com
Felipe R. Garcia, 40, was charged with official misconduct.
A lieutenant was making rounds Aug. 29 when she observed a corrections officer holding a Taser to the chin of an inmate, according to the arrest report. The officer cursed at the prisoner, who was sitting down, and slapped the stationary man, the witness told police.
When the office prepared a report on the incident, the lieutenant said he omitted details about the assault and blamed his actions on the the prisoner’s larger size and mental instability. The inmate was in jail for petty theft and providing false identification to police.
Chief Tara Wildes of the Duval County jail said Garcia is on leave without pay pending the outcome of the case. Garcia was hired by the Duval County jail in November 2006 and has no disciplinary history, Wildes said. His charge is a terminable offense.
http://news.jacksonville.com
Officer Nelson Tuatagaloa Charged with Forcible Sexual Abuse
Prosecutors announced Friday that they've filed charges against a West Jordan police officer.
He is accused of sexual misconduct while on duty. Now he is in the Davis County Jail.
Prosecutors charged Nelson Tuatagaloa with two counts of forcible sexual abuse. They say he assaulted a woman in the parking lot of Jordan Valley Hospital.
The woman's friend did not want to do an on-camera interview, but says the woman is very emotional right now. He says the officer assaulted her for 30 minutes to an hour.
The woman's friend said the officer "had a gun. He had her in custody. He implied she could be arrested or go to jail for various charges."
The friend says he called police on Monday when the woman's children told him she had left her house distraught. He says when the woman found out police were looking for her, she also called police to say she was in a strip mall parking lot. He says three officers responded; one of them was Tuatagaloa.
The friend claims Tuatagaloa offered to take the woman to Jordan Valley Hospital for an evaluation, then he sexually assaulted her.
Prosecutors say he handcuffed the woman, then he began kissing and sexually assaulting her.
The friend says the assault continued for a while until dispatch called the officer's radio, wanting to know their location. The friend says that's when the officer "snapped out of it" and took the woman inside the hospital.
The woman told hospital workers what happened.
Tuatagaloa's sister-in-law, who did not want to go on camera, says she doesn't know why the woman is making these allegations. She says Tuatagaloa is a good man who loves his wife and four children.
Tuatagaloa's sister-in-law also says he's been with West Jordan Police Department for two years.
Before that, he worked for the Los Angeles Police Department.
The Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office says there may be people in their jail whom Tuatagaloa has arrested, so he was taken to the Davis County Jail for his safety.
West Jordan police Chief Ken McGuire released this statement: "Our department was notified of Officer Nelson Tuatagaloa's alleged misconduct during a call for service. After reviewing the allegations, he has been put on administrative leave without pay pending an active internal investigation by our department and a criminal investigation by the District Attorney's Office. We are taking this situation very seriously and are fully cooperating with all parties involved."
If convicted, Tuatagaloa could face possible sentences of 1 to 15 years in prison.
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_10631767
He is accused of sexual misconduct while on duty. Now he is in the Davis County Jail.
Prosecutors charged Nelson Tuatagaloa with two counts of forcible sexual abuse. They say he assaulted a woman in the parking lot of Jordan Valley Hospital.
The woman's friend did not want to do an on-camera interview, but says the woman is very emotional right now. He says the officer assaulted her for 30 minutes to an hour.
The woman's friend said the officer "had a gun. He had her in custody. He implied she could be arrested or go to jail for various charges."
The friend says he called police on Monday when the woman's children told him she had left her house distraught. He says when the woman found out police were looking for her, she also called police to say she was in a strip mall parking lot. He says three officers responded; one of them was Tuatagaloa.
The friend claims Tuatagaloa offered to take the woman to Jordan Valley Hospital for an evaluation, then he sexually assaulted her.
Prosecutors say he handcuffed the woman, then he began kissing and sexually assaulting her.
The friend says the assault continued for a while until dispatch called the officer's radio, wanting to know their location. The friend says that's when the officer "snapped out of it" and took the woman inside the hospital.
The woman told hospital workers what happened.
Tuatagaloa's sister-in-law, who did not want to go on camera, says she doesn't know why the woman is making these allegations. She says Tuatagaloa is a good man who loves his wife and four children.
Tuatagaloa's sister-in-law also says he's been with West Jordan Police Department for two years.
Before that, he worked for the Los Angeles Police Department.
The Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office says there may be people in their jail whom Tuatagaloa has arrested, so he was taken to the Davis County Jail for his safety.
West Jordan police Chief Ken McGuire released this statement: "Our department was notified of Officer Nelson Tuatagaloa's alleged misconduct during a call for service. After reviewing the allegations, he has been put on administrative leave without pay pending an active internal investigation by our department and a criminal investigation by the District Attorney's Office. We are taking this situation very seriously and are fully cooperating with all parties involved."
If convicted, Tuatagaloa could face possible sentences of 1 to 15 years in prison.
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_10631767
Deputy Darryl Jenkins Arrested for Possession of 138 Pounds of Marijuana
GROOM, Texas
An Illinois sheriff's deputy and his traveling companion have been arrested on drug possession charges after Texas authorities say they found 138 pounds of marijuana and 4,000 grams of cocaine in their vehicle during a traffic stop along Interstate 40.
Cook County Deputy Darryl Jenkins, 47, and Dorothy C. Edwards, 31, both of Calumet City, Ill., were arrested Sunday evening after Texas Department of Public Safety troopers pulled over a minivan near Groom in Carson County, about 50 miles east of Amarillo.
The two remained in the Carson County Jail on Tuesday on bail of $60,000 eaach, said Carson County Sheriff Tam Terry. He said the two did not have attorneys retained.
During the traffic stop, troopers noticed something suspicious and were given consent to search the vehicle, DPS said in a news release. The drugs, with a street value of about $368,000, were found inside luggage, DPS said.
Jenkins and Edwards were returning to Chicago from Los Angeles when they were pulled over, DPS spokesman Gabriel Medrano said.
On Tuesday, Jenkins was placed on paid suspension by the Cook County Sheriff's Office, department spokesman Steve Patterson said. A hearing Monday could lead to his suspension without pay, he said.
Jenkins has been a deputy in a courthouse on the south side of Chicago for 22 years, he said.
An Illinois sheriff's deputy and his traveling companion have been arrested on drug possession charges after Texas authorities say they found 138 pounds of marijuana and 4,000 grams of cocaine in their vehicle during a traffic stop along Interstate 40.
Cook County Deputy Darryl Jenkins, 47, and Dorothy C. Edwards, 31, both of Calumet City, Ill., were arrested Sunday evening after Texas Department of Public Safety troopers pulled over a minivan near Groom in Carson County, about 50 miles east of Amarillo.
The two remained in the Carson County Jail on Tuesday on bail of $60,000 eaach, said Carson County Sheriff Tam Terry. He said the two did not have attorneys retained.
During the traffic stop, troopers noticed something suspicious and were given consent to search the vehicle, DPS said in a news release. The drugs, with a street value of about $368,000, were found inside luggage, DPS said.
Jenkins and Edwards were returning to Chicago from Los Angeles when they were pulled over, DPS spokesman Gabriel Medrano said.
On Tuesday, Jenkins was placed on paid suspension by the Cook County Sheriff's Office, department spokesman Steve Patterson said. A hearing Monday could lead to his suspension without pay, he said.
Jenkins has been a deputy in a courthouse on the south side of Chicago for 22 years, he said.
Officer Nelson Tuatagaloa Arrested for Sexually Assaulting Suicidal Woman
A West Jordan police officer has been arrested and charged with sexually assaulting a suicidal woman in his patrol car.
Nelson Poni-Eletise Tuatagaloa, 34, is being held in the Davis County Jail. He was booked Wednesday and charged late Friday with two counts of forcible sexual abuse, a second-degree felony.
Prosecutors from the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office say the assault occurred Monday while Tuatagaloa was on duty and in uniform. The officer responded to a call involving a suicidal woman "who was sitting in a parked car in a public place," according to charges filed in 3rd District Court.
Tuatagaloa and other officers responded to the scene and he handcuffed the woman and put her in his patrol car. He then decided to take her to Jordan Valley Hospital, 3580 W. 9000 South, for a medical evalaution because she was suicidal and had been drinking, the charges state.
The officer put the woman in the front of his patrol car. At some point, "the defendant uncuffed her and drove to a dark portion of the hospital parking lot instead of to the emergency room," according to the probable cause statement. He then kissed the woman and sexually assaulted her without her consent, prosecutors say.
West Jordan Police Sgt. Greg Butler declined all comment about the incident, referring all questions to the district attorney's office.
Tuatagaloa is bein held in lieu of $100,000 bond. If convicted, forcible sexual abuse carries a possible sentence of one to 15 years in prison.
http://deseretnews.com
Officer Robert Melia Jr and Girlfriend Faces Charges of Having Sex with Cows
A suspended Moorestown, N.J., police officer is facing a grand jury indictment on charges of sexually assaulting three juveniles.
And 38-year-old Robert Melia Jr.'s legal troubles don't end there. He's also facing animal cruelty charges for allegedly performing sex acts with a cow in Southampton.
Melia's 33-year-old girlfriend, Heather Lewis, is also charged with sexually assaulting three juvenile girls and a teenaged boy.
The investigation began in April when the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office was contacted after one of the alleged victims disclosed to a relative that she had been repeatedly sexually assaulted by the defendants inside Melia's home.
Prosecutors said detectives seized a quantity of pornographic material and Melia's computer during a search warrant executed April 12 at his residence, located on Cottage Avenue in Moorestown. He was arrested without incident at police headquarters.
Lewis, of Stockton's Bridge Road in Pemberton, was arrested at the prosecutor's office that same day.
The animal cruelty charges were filed against Melia approximately two weeks after the initial charges, prosecutors said.
http://www.myfoxphilly.com
More Information on Ray DeCamillo
NORWALK
The trial of former Norwalk police officer Ray DeCamillo, charged with fondling a 20-year-old woman during a traffic stop, continued Thursday with a sergeant saying DeCamillo failed to report the stop to the dispatcher.
The woman, now 23, told police DeCamillo that the incident occurred two years ago on Silvermine Avenue.
DeCamillo, who was fired in May 2007, is charged with fourth-degree sexual assault and unlawful restraint. If convicted of both charges during his trial in state Superior Court in Norwalk, he faces a maximum sentence of two years.
During the fourth day of testimony Thursday, the main witness was the lead investigator, Detective Bureau Sgt. Arthur Weisgerber.
Weisgerber said he examined dispatch records and could find no indication that DeCamillo called in the traffic stop at 3:15 a.m. July 5, 2006.
He said he checked the records of the National Crime Information Center and found that the woman's license plate was not checked by dispatchers that night, as it would have been if the stop was called in.
Weisgerber said the woman had a phone number, which she said was given to her by "Officer Ray," in hopes she would call him later.
Weisgerber said the cell phone number was the one DeCamillo gave to the police department for when he needed to be reached for extra-duty work.
During cross-examination, Weisgerber told DeCamillo's defense attorney, William Pelletreau, that the woman could not pick DeCamillo's picture out of a photo array of 41 officers.
Weisgerber said the woman described "Officer Ray" as olive-skinned and husky with black hair about one inch long.
DeCamillo is black and shaves his head.
Investigators were unable to find DeCamillo's fingerprints on the woman's car, Weisgerber said, but a light rain fell that night and could have affected that.
Weisgerber said he interviewed DeCamillo on July 18, 2006, and DeCamillo admitted pulling a car over on Silvermine Avenue. DeCamillo volunteered that he "made a mistake" by not calling the stop in to the dispatcher, Weisgerber said.
After his testimony, Assistant State's Attorney Michael DeJoseph rested the state's case.
Pelletreau said he had as many as three more witnesses to call today before resting his case.
The trial of former Norwalk police officer Ray DeCamillo, charged with fondling a 20-year-old woman during a traffic stop, continued Thursday with a sergeant saying DeCamillo failed to report the stop to the dispatcher.
The woman, now 23, told police DeCamillo that the incident occurred two years ago on Silvermine Avenue.
DeCamillo, who was fired in May 2007, is charged with fourth-degree sexual assault and unlawful restraint. If convicted of both charges during his trial in state Superior Court in Norwalk, he faces a maximum sentence of two years.
During the fourth day of testimony Thursday, the main witness was the lead investigator, Detective Bureau Sgt. Arthur Weisgerber.
Weisgerber said he examined dispatch records and could find no indication that DeCamillo called in the traffic stop at 3:15 a.m. July 5, 2006.
He said he checked the records of the National Crime Information Center and found that the woman's license plate was not checked by dispatchers that night, as it would have been if the stop was called in.
Weisgerber said the woman had a phone number, which she said was given to her by "Officer Ray," in hopes she would call him later.
Weisgerber said the cell phone number was the one DeCamillo gave to the police department for when he needed to be reached for extra-duty work.
During cross-examination, Weisgerber told DeCamillo's defense attorney, William Pelletreau, that the woman could not pick DeCamillo's picture out of a photo array of 41 officers.
Weisgerber said the woman described "Officer Ray" as olive-skinned and husky with black hair about one inch long.
DeCamillo is black and shaves his head.
Investigators were unable to find DeCamillo's fingerprints on the woman's car, Weisgerber said, but a light rain fell that night and could have affected that.
Weisgerber said he interviewed DeCamillo on July 18, 2006, and DeCamillo admitted pulling a car over on Silvermine Avenue. DeCamillo volunteered that he "made a mistake" by not calling the stop in to the dispatcher, Weisgerber said.
After his testimony, Assistant State's Attorney Michael DeJoseph rested the state's case.
Pelletreau said he had as many as three more witnesses to call today before resting his case.
Correctional Officer Roger Heitzman Arrested for Alleged Sex Scheme
ROCKVILLE, Ind.
A correctional officer was arrested Thursday in an alleged sex-for-contraband scheme at the Rockville Correctional Facility in Parke County.
Indiana State Police Sgt. Joe Watts said prison officials called investigators to the prison to check out allegations that Roger Heitzman, 43, of Rockville, brought items to the prison for female inmates.
Police said Heitzman traded tobacco, over-the-counter medication and jewelry for sex with at least one inmate.
Heitzman was arrested on charges of official misconduct and trafficking with an inmate. He faces up to four years in jail and a $15,000 fine if convicted.
Heitzman was held Friday in the Parke County Jail on $10,000 bond.
The Rockville Correctional Facility houses about 1,200 female inmates.
TheIndyChannel.com
Thursday, October 02, 2008
Deputy D.A. Arrested for Suspicion of Rape
A veteran Contra Costa County sex-crimes prosecutor was arrested Thursday on suspicion of rape, Martinez police said.
Deputy District Attorney Michael Gressett, 51, of Martinez is suspected of raping another deputy district attorney, according to two sources close to the investigation. A statement issued by Martinez police did not refer to the alleged victim.
Gressett was booked on suspicion of committing rape, oral copulation, sodomy and penetration with a foreign object, all felonies, Cmdr. Eric Ghisletta said in the police statement. The alleged attack occurred "several months ago," police said, but they did not give a date.
Gressett's attorney, Michael Cardoza, said his client is innocent and will "fight these allegations very vigorously."
"Everybody that knows him is exceedingly shocked by these allegations," Cardoza said. "The problem with allegations like this is that when he walks away innocent, there will always be people who will wonder. The allegations alone have a devastating effect."
Gressett was being held Thursday night in the county jail in Martinez in lieu of $1 million bail, a sheriff's deputy said.
Ghisletta said investigators were first told of the alleged attack Sept. 26. Officers later served a search warrant and "discovered evidence which was consistent with the victim's statements," Ghisletta said.
Police did not say where the warrant had been served.
"It's a sad day for our office for anything like this to occur," District Attorney Robert Kochly said late Thursday. "Anything of this nature is devastating to the office. It's antithetical to what we're about."
Kochly said Martinez police planned to turn over their evidence to the office of state Attorney General Jerry Brown to avoid a potential conflict of interest. Brown's office will decide on possible charges.
Gressett was arrested near the district attorney's office in Martinez. He was then placed on paid administrative leave, Kochly said.
Gressett has worked as a prosecutor for more than 20 years, and worked in the sex-crimes unit for the past 2 1/2 years, Kochly said. He ran unsuccessfully three times for Contra Costa district attorney, in 1994, 1998 and 2002.
During his most recent campaign, Gressett pledged to initiate a "real" no plea-bargaining policy, mandating maximum prosecution of violent felonies, including rape.
During his 1998 campaign, Gressett proposed a program that would list the disposition of every criminal case on the Internet.
"It's my belief that sunshine is the best disinfectant," Gressett said then. "This would hold the district attorney accountable. The one institution we need pure is the district attorney's office."
Gressett grew up in New Mexico and earned his law degree from UC Hastings College of the Law in 1986.
Deputy District Attorney Michael Gressett, 51, of Martinez is suspected of raping another deputy district attorney, according to two sources close to the investigation. A statement issued by Martinez police did not refer to the alleged victim.
Gressett was booked on suspicion of committing rape, oral copulation, sodomy and penetration with a foreign object, all felonies, Cmdr. Eric Ghisletta said in the police statement. The alleged attack occurred "several months ago," police said, but they did not give a date.
Gressett's attorney, Michael Cardoza, said his client is innocent and will "fight these allegations very vigorously."
"Everybody that knows him is exceedingly shocked by these allegations," Cardoza said. "The problem with allegations like this is that when he walks away innocent, there will always be people who will wonder. The allegations alone have a devastating effect."
Gressett was being held Thursday night in the county jail in Martinez in lieu of $1 million bail, a sheriff's deputy said.
Ghisletta said investigators were first told of the alleged attack Sept. 26. Officers later served a search warrant and "discovered evidence which was consistent with the victim's statements," Ghisletta said.
Police did not say where the warrant had been served.
"It's a sad day for our office for anything like this to occur," District Attorney Robert Kochly said late Thursday. "Anything of this nature is devastating to the office. It's antithetical to what we're about."
Kochly said Martinez police planned to turn over their evidence to the office of state Attorney General Jerry Brown to avoid a potential conflict of interest. Brown's office will decide on possible charges.
Gressett was arrested near the district attorney's office in Martinez. He was then placed on paid administrative leave, Kochly said.
Gressett has worked as a prosecutor for more than 20 years, and worked in the sex-crimes unit for the past 2 1/2 years, Kochly said. He ran unsuccessfully three times for Contra Costa district attorney, in 1994, 1998 and 2002.
During his most recent campaign, Gressett pledged to initiate a "real" no plea-bargaining policy, mandating maximum prosecution of violent felonies, including rape.
During his 1998 campaign, Gressett proposed a program that would list the disposition of every criminal case on the Internet.
"It's my belief that sunshine is the best disinfectant," Gressett said then. "This would hold the district attorney accountable. The one institution we need pure is the district attorney's office."
Gressett grew up in New Mexico and earned his law degree from UC Hastings College of the Law in 1986.
Director of Local Prison Arrested for Having Sex with Inmate
The director of education at a local prison has been taken into custody for having sex with an inmate following an investigation by the West Virginia State Police.
Standley Greene, 40, of Charleston, was arrested by Cpl. C.K. Zerkle Tuesday in the Mason County Magistrate Court, where he had gone to turn himself in after a warrant was issued for his arrest, according to Sgt. E.B. Starcher, detachment commander.
Greene faces a charge of sexual intercourse with an incarcerated person.
He appeared before Magistrate Cheryl Ross along with his attorney and posted a $5,000 bond through a bail bondsman.
On Aug. 22, Greene allegedly had sexual relations with an inmate at the Lakin Correctional Facility for Women, where he is employed as the director of education. According to the complaint, the inmate was in Greene’s office at the facility, which is where the alleged encounter took place.
The Mason County Detachment of the West Virginia State Police was contacted by Warden Adrian Hoke after he learned of the encounter.
Senior Trooper J.K. Cox then began a six-week investigation, which resulted in submitting an application for an arrest warrant.
According to state law, any person who is employed at a correctional facility is not allowed to have any sexual relations with an inmate and can be found guilty of a felony.
Standley Greene, 40, of Charleston, was arrested by Cpl. C.K. Zerkle Tuesday in the Mason County Magistrate Court, where he had gone to turn himself in after a warrant was issued for his arrest, according to Sgt. E.B. Starcher, detachment commander.
Greene faces a charge of sexual intercourse with an incarcerated person.
He appeared before Magistrate Cheryl Ross along with his attorney and posted a $5,000 bond through a bail bondsman.
On Aug. 22, Greene allegedly had sexual relations with an inmate at the Lakin Correctional Facility for Women, where he is employed as the director of education. According to the complaint, the inmate was in Greene’s office at the facility, which is where the alleged encounter took place.
The Mason County Detachment of the West Virginia State Police was contacted by Warden Adrian Hoke after he learned of the encounter.
Senior Trooper J.K. Cox then began a six-week investigation, which resulted in submitting an application for an arrest warrant.
According to state law, any person who is employed at a correctional facility is not allowed to have any sexual relations with an inmate and can be found guilty of a felony.
Officer Wayne Longe Once Again Charged with Sexual Assault
An Atlanta police officer whose criminal charges were thrown out earlier this week has been reindicted on the same sexual assault charges, according to the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office.
Wayne Longe is once again charged with sexual assault against a person in custody and violation of oath by a public officer, according to the indictment obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Atlanta and Fulton County news Longe, a police officer since 2002 who is on administrative leave, was originally brought up on those charges in June. He is accused of sexually assaulting a woman in the back of his patrol car while on duty in July 2004.
The sexual encounter occurred at Anderson Park in northwest Atlanta.
Longe’s attorney, Jackie Patterson, says Longe admits to having sex with the woman but says it was consensual.
On Monday, a Fulton County Superior Court judge threw out the indictment because the paperwork didn’t specify what kind of sex allegedly took place.
As a result, Longe’s attorney, Jackie Patterson, said the District Attorney’s Office could not reindict Longe because he contends the four-year statute of limitations has run out.
The District Attorney’s Office says it hasn’t, pointing to a Georgia law stating that when a case is thrown out, the statute of limitations is extended by six months from the date that it was quashed.
Longe’s new indictment, with more detailed language, was handed up by a grand jury on Tuesday.
Patterson said Thursday that he believes the second indictment will not stand, either. His argument is that Longe did not have the opportunity to go before a grand jury to provide a statement, which law enforcement officers are entitled to if the alleged crime occurred when they were “in the performance of his or her duties,” according to state law.
Yvette Brown, spokeswoman for the District Attorney’s Office, said prosecutors did not have to notify Longe or invite him to the grand jury hearing. She cited prior case law that says the crime of rape is not part of an officer’s official duties, so an officer charged with that offense doesn’t have a right to speak before a grand jury.
Brown said she could not address the fact that Long has not been charged with rape.
Patterson provided The Atlanta Journal-Constitution with a letter from a Fulton County prosecutor inviting Longe to attend the first grand jury hearing. It states that “you and your attorney, if you choose to have one, are entitled to be present during the presentation of evidence against you.”
Brown said she had not read the letter and couldn’t address specific wording, but said it was sent out as a “courtesy” to Longe and that he has never been entitled by law to attend the grand jury hearings.
Wayne Longe is once again charged with sexual assault against a person in custody and violation of oath by a public officer, according to the indictment obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Atlanta and Fulton County news Longe, a police officer since 2002 who is on administrative leave, was originally brought up on those charges in June. He is accused of sexually assaulting a woman in the back of his patrol car while on duty in July 2004.
The sexual encounter occurred at Anderson Park in northwest Atlanta.
Longe’s attorney, Jackie Patterson, says Longe admits to having sex with the woman but says it was consensual.
On Monday, a Fulton County Superior Court judge threw out the indictment because the paperwork didn’t specify what kind of sex allegedly took place.
As a result, Longe’s attorney, Jackie Patterson, said the District Attorney’s Office could not reindict Longe because he contends the four-year statute of limitations has run out.
The District Attorney’s Office says it hasn’t, pointing to a Georgia law stating that when a case is thrown out, the statute of limitations is extended by six months from the date that it was quashed.
Longe’s new indictment, with more detailed language, was handed up by a grand jury on Tuesday.
Patterson said Thursday that he believes the second indictment will not stand, either. His argument is that Longe did not have the opportunity to go before a grand jury to provide a statement, which law enforcement officers are entitled to if the alleged crime occurred when they were “in the performance of his or her duties,” according to state law.
Yvette Brown, spokeswoman for the District Attorney’s Office, said prosecutors did not have to notify Longe or invite him to the grand jury hearing. She cited prior case law that says the crime of rape is not part of an officer’s official duties, so an officer charged with that offense doesn’t have a right to speak before a grand jury.
Brown said she could not address the fact that Long has not been charged with rape.
Patterson provided The Atlanta Journal-Constitution with a letter from a Fulton County prosecutor inviting Longe to attend the first grand jury hearing. It states that “you and your attorney, if you choose to have one, are entitled to be present during the presentation of evidence against you.”
Brown said she had not read the letter and couldn’t address specific wording, but said it was sent out as a “courtesy” to Longe and that he has never been entitled by law to attend the grand jury hearings.
Cpl. Michael Harvey Charged with Abusing 5-year-old
Injuries to a 5-year-old have led to a Shreveport police officer turning himself in on a warrant charging him with one count of domestic abuse battery.
Cpl. Michael Harvey was identified as a suspect Sept. 17, a day after an educator complained about suspicious injuries to the child, Police Chief Henry Whitehorn Jr. said.
Details about the injuries to the child and the child's relationship to Harvey were not immediately available.
Harvey was placed on administrative leave and a warrant for his arrest, with bond set at $10,000, was signed Oct. 1 after the Caddo district attorney's office reviewed an initial investigation.
Harvey, a 13-year veteran of the Shreveport Police Department, will remain on leave pending an internal investigation, Whitehorn said.
Sheveporttimes.com
Cpl. Michael Harvey was identified as a suspect Sept. 17, a day after an educator complained about suspicious injuries to the child, Police Chief Henry Whitehorn Jr. said.
Details about the injuries to the child and the child's relationship to Harvey were not immediately available.
Harvey was placed on administrative leave and a warrant for his arrest, with bond set at $10,000, was signed Oct. 1 after the Caddo district attorney's office reviewed an initial investigation.
Harvey, a 13-year veteran of the Shreveport Police Department, will remain on leave pending an internal investigation, Whitehorn said.
Sheveporttimes.com
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
What Really goes on With Regards to Police Salaries
First, let me make clear that this unsigned letter I’m about to quote from came from an ex-wife, and that she is dropping a dime on her first husband.
Her ex is, or was, a state trooper on the Turnpike, and she says she wanted me to know just how good he has or had it on the job.
I understand that being a cop can be a dirty, dangerous job. But overall being a state trooper is a very good job indeed, especially when you compare it to what’s happening out here in the Dreaded Private Sector. Let’s go to the letter, which she starts by telling me how much her ex-husband the trooper enjoyed my columns.
“I can honestly tell you that he used to laugh and make fun of your articles.”
How dare he!
“I do not write you to be vindictive, but to enlighten you some on what really goes on with regards to the salaries.”
His base salary, she says, was $60,000 (I think it’s higher now), but he never made less than 180K and once got over $200,000.
“He had a master’s degree, which afforded him an extra 25 percent on top of his regular salary; he was paid $20-a-day tax-free to drive his own car back and forth to work, a perk I understand has been changed; he was paid extra money for passing a physical.”
Much of this is well-known. Here are the MSP payroll numbers from 2007: With overtime, 1,376 of 2,983 staties made more than $100,000. One lieutenant made $206,000 last year, $115,000 above his base pay.
“At the end of each shift (his was 7-3), the Turnpike would have one officer from each station running radar at time-and-a-half under the pretense of keeping the road safe. What a joke.”
He was home for dinner every night by 5:30, she said.
“He would always say that no one cared what time they left, as long as they wrote a certain amount of tickets and that the times on the tickets indicated that they actually worked the 4 hours.”
So how did he get home every afternoon at 5:30?
“He said that he would put the actual time of the ticket on the one he gave to the offender, but the one he submitted with his overtime card would have a later time on it so that it looked like he actually worked 4 hours. This went on for years, Howie.”
Then, of course, there were the paid details.
“My former husband used to sleep half the day because, as he would say, no one ever checks on us, and the construction people don’t care as long as the cruiser is there with the lights flashing - $40 per hour to sleep, not a bad deal, Howie.”
Another mammary: court duty. It was almost as easy as being a judge.
“He would be home every day by noon. If he was assigned a radar detail, he’d go back in at 3:30 and be home again by 5:30, earning $160 for his efforts.”
And finally, filling in on the weekends for “sick” troopers.
“I can remember him saying on weekends, ‘No hon, we can’t make plans today because so-and-so is calling in sick, and I’m next on the OT list to be called.’ And sure enough, he would get the call and go in and make 8 hours overtime. Those were the only times he ever did stay for his entire shift.”
I faxed this anonymous letter to the state police, and they confirmed all the contractual stuff - the Quinn bill payraises, the now-ended driving-to-work perk, etc. The state police spokesman said:
“If this guy did this, shame on him, and if there are others who are doing this, shame on them, because they’re a small minority of more than 2,000 state troopers . . . If there were a name attached to this, I can promise you he would be disciplined.”
Your move, Mrs. Statie. I’d be happy to pass on your ex-husband’s name.
Veteran Officer John Bachta Arrested for Possession of Heroin
A 15-year veteran of the Essex County Sheriff's Department was put on unpaid administrative leave after his arrest Saturday on a heroin possession charge, sheriff's department spokesman Paul Fleming said Monday.
John Bachta, 37, of Methuen was arrested about 12:25 p.m., near 85 Main St., in Tewksbury and was charged with a single count of possession of heroin.
He was later released on bail for arraignment in Lowell District Court.
"As soon as this department received information of the arrest, Mr. Bachta was placed on unpaid administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal investigation that is ongoing at this time," Fleming said.
Bachta began his career with the Sheriff's Department in May 1993 as a corrections officer at Middleton Jail, Fleming said.
He was promoted to sergeant in September 1999, and began working in the department's security and investigations unit in July 2001, Fleming said.
"He has had no disciplinary record during his tenure here," Fleming said.
Bachta is the son of retired Lawrence police Deputy Chief Stanley Bachta.
Information from the Salem News; http://www.salemnews.com/
John Bachta, 37, of Methuen was arrested about 12:25 p.m., near 85 Main St., in Tewksbury and was charged with a single count of possession of heroin.
He was later released on bail for arraignment in Lowell District Court.
"As soon as this department received information of the arrest, Mr. Bachta was placed on unpaid administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal investigation that is ongoing at this time," Fleming said.
Bachta began his career with the Sheriff's Department in May 1993 as a corrections officer at Middleton Jail, Fleming said.
He was promoted to sergeant in September 1999, and began working in the department's security and investigations unit in July 2001, Fleming said.
"He has had no disciplinary record during his tenure here," Fleming said.
Bachta is the son of retired Lawrence police Deputy Chief Stanley Bachta.
Information from the Salem News; http://www.salemnews.com/
Former Deputy James Plouffe Arrested for Theft
Police reports say James Plouffe and two other men were involved in the theft of air conditioning units from a home on Zion Hill worth $35,000.
The police report says he attempted to sell the stolen units in early September.
Plouffe and his business partner, Daniel Hart were both arrested.
Plouffe was terminated from the Wakulla County Sheriff's Office back in July when he was involved in a different incident.
The Wakulla County Sheriff's Office says a complaint was filed against James Plouffe in June.
According to reports, Plouffe was off duty when a group of young people got into a verbal dispute.
A parent complained that during the incident that Plouffe used profanity in front of the young people.
When the investigation was completed, Plouffe was transferred from the patrol division to the jail division.
However, the Sheriff's Office says Plouffe failed to report to duty and was terminated.
http://www.wctv.tv/home/headlines/30051534.html
The police report says he attempted to sell the stolen units in early September.
Plouffe and his business partner, Daniel Hart were both arrested.
Plouffe was terminated from the Wakulla County Sheriff's Office back in July when he was involved in a different incident.
The Wakulla County Sheriff's Office says a complaint was filed against James Plouffe in June.
According to reports, Plouffe was off duty when a group of young people got into a verbal dispute.
A parent complained that during the incident that Plouffe used profanity in front of the young people.
When the investigation was completed, Plouffe was transferred from the patrol division to the jail division.
However, the Sheriff's Office says Plouffe failed to report to duty and was terminated.
http://www.wctv.tv/home/headlines/30051534.html
Deputy Robert McClain Arrested Attempted Murder
A Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy arrested in Irvine for allegedly attacking his wife and a man he apparently believed to be her lover will be fired today, a sheriff's spokesman said.
Deputy Robert Avery McClain, 34, will be separated from the job he has held since November 2007 by the end of the business day, said Steve Whitmore, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
"Obviously, it was a very brutal attack, and the sheriff feels very strongly about it," Whitmore said.
McClain is also expected to be charged and make his initial appearance in a Newport Beach courtroom today for allegedly attacking his wife and the 23- year-old man, authorities said.
The woman was hurt in the attack but not as severely as the young man.
McClain was in custody in the Theo Lacy branch jail, where he was booked on suspicion of attempted murder and other crimes for allegedly attacking the man and stabbing him near the genitals.
Handfield took issue with press accounts describing the attack on the man as an attempted castration.
"He does have puncture wounds in the area of the groin, on the inside of his leg, but (a castration attempt) is a little too exaggerated for me," he said.
The victim was being kept in a medically induced coma and listed in stable condition, Handfield said.
The father of the injured man said that his son's face was beaten so severely that he could hardly recognize him. He said it was his "understanding" that the woman was trying to leave the deputy, who thought his wife was having an affair with his son.
McClain also allegedly attacked his wife, but police refused to identify her or say how she had been hurt.
Irvine police were sent to an apartment leasing office at 1000 Peyton on Monday in response to reports of an assault, which apparently took place there between 10:30 p.m. Sunday and 1 a.m. Monday, Handfield said. The wife works in the office, and the male victim lives at the complex, according to police and published reports.
More Information: http://www.fresnobee.com/384/story/908521.html
Deputy Robert Avery McClain, 34, will be separated from the job he has held since November 2007 by the end of the business day, said Steve Whitmore, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
"Obviously, it was a very brutal attack, and the sheriff feels very strongly about it," Whitmore said.
McClain is also expected to be charged and make his initial appearance in a Newport Beach courtroom today for allegedly attacking his wife and the 23- year-old man, authorities said.
The woman was hurt in the attack but not as severely as the young man.
McClain was in custody in the Theo Lacy branch jail, where he was booked on suspicion of attempted murder and other crimes for allegedly attacking the man and stabbing him near the genitals.
Handfield took issue with press accounts describing the attack on the man as an attempted castration.
"He does have puncture wounds in the area of the groin, on the inside of his leg, but (a castration attempt) is a little too exaggerated for me," he said.
The victim was being kept in a medically induced coma and listed in stable condition, Handfield said.
The father of the injured man said that his son's face was beaten so severely that he could hardly recognize him. He said it was his "understanding" that the woman was trying to leave the deputy, who thought his wife was having an affair with his son.
McClain also allegedly attacked his wife, but police refused to identify her or say how she had been hurt.
Irvine police were sent to an apartment leasing office at 1000 Peyton on Monday in response to reports of an assault, which apparently took place there between 10:30 p.m. Sunday and 1 a.m. Monday, Handfield said. The wife works in the office, and the male victim lives at the complex, according to police and published reports.
More Information: http://www.fresnobee.com/384/story/908521.html
Marivn Grant tells his Side of the Story
Marvin Grant admits he’s had a history of running from the police and driving with a suspended license.
So when he saw blue lights behind him as he was speeding down U.S. 221 in Greenwood County the night of June 24, 2007, he said his “instincts” took over, and he hit the gas on his red Honda Prelude.
What happened less than a mile away would land him — and the state trooper who chased him — together in a federal courtroom.
Lance Cpl. Steve Garren, 39, of Greenwood, is charged with one count of violating the civil rights of Grant, who testified Tuesday in the first day of the trooper’s trial.
A 15-year Highway Patrol veteran, Garren is accused of deliberately hitting Grant with his patrol car while Grant was fleeing on foot after bailing out of the Honda.
“Once I was hit, I flipped,” Grant told jurors. “When I fell, I completely hit the ground, bounced right back up and kept running.”
The incident was captured on Garren’s dashboard camera video, which was played for jurors.
Garren showed no emotion during the showing, though his wife cried as several minutes of the tape passed with only the sound of wailing police sirens.
Garren, a father of two and a church member, is heard on the tape telling another officer, “I nailed the (expletive) out of him. ... I was trying to hit him.”
About two dozen of Garren’s relatives and other supporters showed up in court. The trial before Chief U.S. District Judge David Norton is expected to last several days.
If convicted, Garren, who is suspended without pay from the Patrol, faces up to 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine, though he likely would receive a much lighter sentence under federal sentencing guidelines.
The charge against Garren, who was indicted in June, is the first federal civil rights case against a state trooper since authorities launched an investigation in March into alleged misconduct into the department.
Gov. Mark Sanford in February ousted Department of Public Safety director James Schweitzer and Highway Patrol commander Col. Russell Roark, contending they should have fired another white trooper who used a racial slur and threatened to kill a fleeing black suspect during a 2004 Greenwood County traffic stop.
Schweitzer and Roark are on Garren’s witness list, though it’s unclear whether they will testify.
In his opening statement , Brent Gray, deputy chief at the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division in Washington, D.C., told jurors prosecutors were “not here to defend (the action of) Marvin Grant.”
“Steve Garren was doing his job in trying to stop him,” Gray said, but he added, “All of us — every American — has the right to be free from excessive force.”
Columbia attorney John O’Leary, one of Garren’s lawyers, told jurors the government’s priorities were misplaced.
“We’re in this courtroom today because he is pursuing a criminal, and now he’s the criminal.”
O’Leary told jurors Garren never intended to hit Grant, pointing out that Grant suddenly cut in front of the patrol vehicle while running away on Holman Street, a narrow residential street on Greenwood’s eastern edge.
Garren’s other attorney, Wally Fayssoux, who is O’Leary’s son-in-law, Tuesday renewed his request to have jurors visit the incident scene, though Norton didn’t make a decision.
O’Leary, a former police officer and ex-director of the state Criminal Justice Academy, verbally sparred with Grant at times during Tuesday’s testimony.
“You ran that night because you were drunk,” O’Leary said, noting Grant had been drinking earlier in the day at a family home in Cross Hill in neighboring Laurens County.
“No, I didn’t want to get another DUS,” Grant replied, though he acknowledged he had been drinking.
Grant confirmed he has at least four previous convictions for driving under suspension, plus convictions for failure to stop for a blue light and possession of contraband. A father of three, Grant was in cuffs for his testimony, explaining he has been in jail since May on a child support charge.
Grant testified he was driving “pretty fast” after Garren started to chase him, though he couldn’t agree with O’Leary that his speed was about 100 mph. The chase lasted about seven-tenths of a mile, O’Leary told jurors.
Grant said he ditched his Honda on Holman Street — described by officers as a high-crime area — because he knew the neighborhood.
After he was hit by Garren’s vehicle, he ran through a nearby wooded area and eventually made it to a female acquaintance’s apartment about two miles away, he testified, though he admitted he gave authorities conflicting accounts.
“I wasn’t thinking about no pain right then,” he testified, though he said the pain later became so intense on his right side that he had to borrow a friend’s crutches to walk.
Officers never located Grant that night. He testified he turned himself in the next morning at the Greenwood County Sheriff’s Department but was not arrested then — a story confirmed Tuesday in testimony from Deputy Dale Boyer, who took Grant’s statement.
Grant has never been charged with any crime in connection with the incident involving Garren. Federal authorities didn’t interview him until April this year.
In other testimony Tuesday, Greenwood County Sheriff’s Sgt. Derrick Smith said Garren made comments to him — while being recorded on Garren’s dashboard video — about hitting Grant minutes earlier with the patrol car. Smith told jurors he had to “apologize” to them about repeating an expletive Garren used.
Deputy Brad Ware testified Garren told him later that night, while they were searching on foot for Grant, that he had deliberately struck Grant. Ware said he notified his supervisor about Garren’s comments, noting he “had some concern about it.”
video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hOHNUX2cqk
So when he saw blue lights behind him as he was speeding down U.S. 221 in Greenwood County the night of June 24, 2007, he said his “instincts” took over, and he hit the gas on his red Honda Prelude.
What happened less than a mile away would land him — and the state trooper who chased him — together in a federal courtroom.
Lance Cpl. Steve Garren, 39, of Greenwood, is charged with one count of violating the civil rights of Grant, who testified Tuesday in the first day of the trooper’s trial.
A 15-year Highway Patrol veteran, Garren is accused of deliberately hitting Grant with his patrol car while Grant was fleeing on foot after bailing out of the Honda.
“Once I was hit, I flipped,” Grant told jurors. “When I fell, I completely hit the ground, bounced right back up and kept running.”
The incident was captured on Garren’s dashboard camera video, which was played for jurors.
Garren showed no emotion during the showing, though his wife cried as several minutes of the tape passed with only the sound of wailing police sirens.
Garren, a father of two and a church member, is heard on the tape telling another officer, “I nailed the (expletive) out of him. ... I was trying to hit him.”
About two dozen of Garren’s relatives and other supporters showed up in court. The trial before Chief U.S. District Judge David Norton is expected to last several days.
If convicted, Garren, who is suspended without pay from the Patrol, faces up to 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine, though he likely would receive a much lighter sentence under federal sentencing guidelines.
The charge against Garren, who was indicted in June, is the first federal civil rights case against a state trooper since authorities launched an investigation in March into alleged misconduct into the department.
Gov. Mark Sanford in February ousted Department of Public Safety director James Schweitzer and Highway Patrol commander Col. Russell Roark, contending they should have fired another white trooper who used a racial slur and threatened to kill a fleeing black suspect during a 2004 Greenwood County traffic stop.
Schweitzer and Roark are on Garren’s witness list, though it’s unclear whether they will testify.
In his opening statement , Brent Gray, deputy chief at the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division in Washington, D.C., told jurors prosecutors were “not here to defend (the action of) Marvin Grant.”
“Steve Garren was doing his job in trying to stop him,” Gray said, but he added, “All of us — every American — has the right to be free from excessive force.”
Columbia attorney John O’Leary, one of Garren’s lawyers, told jurors the government’s priorities were misplaced.
“We’re in this courtroom today because he is pursuing a criminal, and now he’s the criminal.”
O’Leary told jurors Garren never intended to hit Grant, pointing out that Grant suddenly cut in front of the patrol vehicle while running away on Holman Street, a narrow residential street on Greenwood’s eastern edge.
Garren’s other attorney, Wally Fayssoux, who is O’Leary’s son-in-law, Tuesday renewed his request to have jurors visit the incident scene, though Norton didn’t make a decision.
O’Leary, a former police officer and ex-director of the state Criminal Justice Academy, verbally sparred with Grant at times during Tuesday’s testimony.
“You ran that night because you were drunk,” O’Leary said, noting Grant had been drinking earlier in the day at a family home in Cross Hill in neighboring Laurens County.
“No, I didn’t want to get another DUS,” Grant replied, though he acknowledged he had been drinking.
Grant confirmed he has at least four previous convictions for driving under suspension, plus convictions for failure to stop for a blue light and possession of contraband. A father of three, Grant was in cuffs for his testimony, explaining he has been in jail since May on a child support charge.
Grant testified he was driving “pretty fast” after Garren started to chase him, though he couldn’t agree with O’Leary that his speed was about 100 mph. The chase lasted about seven-tenths of a mile, O’Leary told jurors.
Grant said he ditched his Honda on Holman Street — described by officers as a high-crime area — because he knew the neighborhood.
After he was hit by Garren’s vehicle, he ran through a nearby wooded area and eventually made it to a female acquaintance’s apartment about two miles away, he testified, though he admitted he gave authorities conflicting accounts.
“I wasn’t thinking about no pain right then,” he testified, though he said the pain later became so intense on his right side that he had to borrow a friend’s crutches to walk.
Officers never located Grant that night. He testified he turned himself in the next morning at the Greenwood County Sheriff’s Department but was not arrested then — a story confirmed Tuesday in testimony from Deputy Dale Boyer, who took Grant’s statement.
Grant has never been charged with any crime in connection with the incident involving Garren. Federal authorities didn’t interview him until April this year.
In other testimony Tuesday, Greenwood County Sheriff’s Sgt. Derrick Smith said Garren made comments to him — while being recorded on Garren’s dashboard video — about hitting Grant minutes earlier with the patrol car. Smith told jurors he had to “apologize” to them about repeating an expletive Garren used.
Deputy Brad Ware testified Garren told him later that night, while they were searching on foot for Grant, that he had deliberately struck Grant. Ware said he notified his supervisor about Garren’s comments, noting he “had some concern about it.”
video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hOHNUX2cqk
Officer Melissa Kronebusch Accused of Arson Plans to Marry Firefighter
A Saukville police officer charged with setting fire to a vacant home in March is scheduled to be married this month to one of the firefighters who responded and extinguished the blaze, according to statements made in court Tuesday.
Melissa L. Kronebusch, 26, a three-year veteran of the Saukville Police Department, is charged with one count of arson and one count of second-degree reckless endangerment, both felonies for which she could be sentenced to 50 years in prison if convicted.
According to a criminal complaint, Kronebusch was spotted on a surveillance video in the backyard of the house at 625 E. Green Bay Road, next door to the Saukville Police Department, around 12:30 a.m. on March 20.
About 20 minutes later, the video shows a glow visible in the southwest basement window of the house, which was owned by the village.
The video then shows Kronebusch leaving the adjacent parking lot in her squad car, driving through smoke that was already coming from the house, and then returning a few minutes later, at which time she reported the house on fire, the complaint says.
Saukville firefighters responded and extinguished the fire, which started in the basement. The fire caused $5,000 damage to the house, the complaint says.
One of the four firefighters named in the complaint as having responded to the blaze was in court Tuesday and was identified by Kronebusch's lawyer, Michael Guerin, as her fiancé.
The couple's wedding is planned for Oct. 10, he said.
Ozaukee County Circuit Judge Joseph D. McCormack set bail for Kronebusch at $5,000. Kronebusch posted bail Tuesday and was released from the Ozaukee County Jail.
District Attorney Sandy Williams had asked for $50,000 bail, while Guerin requested that Kronebusch be released on her own recognizance.
Kronebusch appeared in court via teleconference, clad in a jail-issued orange jumpsuit, and occasionally dabbed tears from her eyes.
McCormack ordered that conditions of Kronebusch's bail include having no contact with members of the Saukville police or fire departments, except for her fiancé, and that she not leave the state except to visit her parents' home in Altura, Minn., just across the state line near La Crosse.
That means those from the police and fire departments involved in the wedding will not be able to attend, Guerin told McCormack.
Guerin said in an interview that Kronebusch will plead not guilty to the charges.
In a statement issued Tuesday, Saukville Police Chief Bill Meloy said Kronebusch was placed on paid administrative leave on June 26 and will remain there until an internal investigation is completed.
"This was a complete surprise to us," Meloy said in an interview, adding that Kronebusch has been a reliable member of his department during her tenure.
The Saukville Police Department employs eight patrol officers, two clerical workers and three officers, including the chief.
Melissa L. Kronebusch, 26, a three-year veteran of the Saukville Police Department, is charged with one count of arson and one count of second-degree reckless endangerment, both felonies for which she could be sentenced to 50 years in prison if convicted.
According to a criminal complaint, Kronebusch was spotted on a surveillance video in the backyard of the house at 625 E. Green Bay Road, next door to the Saukville Police Department, around 12:30 a.m. on March 20.
About 20 minutes later, the video shows a glow visible in the southwest basement window of the house, which was owned by the village.
The video then shows Kronebusch leaving the adjacent parking lot in her squad car, driving through smoke that was already coming from the house, and then returning a few minutes later, at which time she reported the house on fire, the complaint says.
Saukville firefighters responded and extinguished the fire, which started in the basement. The fire caused $5,000 damage to the house, the complaint says.
One of the four firefighters named in the complaint as having responded to the blaze was in court Tuesday and was identified by Kronebusch's lawyer, Michael Guerin, as her fiancé.
The couple's wedding is planned for Oct. 10, he said.
Ozaukee County Circuit Judge Joseph D. McCormack set bail for Kronebusch at $5,000. Kronebusch posted bail Tuesday and was released from the Ozaukee County Jail.
District Attorney Sandy Williams had asked for $50,000 bail, while Guerin requested that Kronebusch be released on her own recognizance.
Kronebusch appeared in court via teleconference, clad in a jail-issued orange jumpsuit, and occasionally dabbed tears from her eyes.
McCormack ordered that conditions of Kronebusch's bail include having no contact with members of the Saukville police or fire departments, except for her fiancé, and that she not leave the state except to visit her parents' home in Altura, Minn., just across the state line near La Crosse.
That means those from the police and fire departments involved in the wedding will not be able to attend, Guerin told McCormack.
Guerin said in an interview that Kronebusch will plead not guilty to the charges.
In a statement issued Tuesday, Saukville Police Chief Bill Meloy said Kronebusch was placed on paid administrative leave on June 26 and will remain there until an internal investigation is completed.
"This was a complete surprise to us," Meloy said in an interview, adding that Kronebusch has been a reliable member of his department during her tenure.
The Saukville Police Department employs eight patrol officers, two clerical workers and three officers, including the chief.
Officer Kevin Sledge Hospitalized
LAWRENCE, Mass.
A Lawrence police officer who is charged with kidnapping and raping a woman while on duty was hospitalized overnight after complaining of chest pains.
Police say 46-year-old Kevin Sledge of Salem, N.H., will be checked out Wednesday morning and arraigned if possible.
Sledge is accused of leaving his post at the police booking room early Friday and raping a woman in his own vehicle in a nearby parking lot. He then returned to work.
He was arrested Tuesday morning in New Hampshire and waived extradition, but spent the night under police guard at Lawrence General Hospital.
A Lawrence police officer who is charged with kidnapping and raping a woman while on duty was hospitalized overnight after complaining of chest pains.
Police say 46-year-old Kevin Sledge of Salem, N.H., will be checked out Wednesday morning and arraigned if possible.
Sledge is accused of leaving his post at the police booking room early Friday and raping a woman in his own vehicle in a nearby parking lot. He then returned to work.
He was arrested Tuesday morning in New Hampshire and waived extradition, but spent the night under police guard at Lawrence General Hospital.
Officer Kevin Sledge Arested for Rape while on Duty
A veteran Lawrence police officer is facing rape charges and has lost his job after he allegedly kidnapped a woman off a Lawrence street and repeatedly sexually assaulted her while on duty and in his uniform.
Kevin Sledge was arrested in Pelham, NH earlier today on charges of rape, kidnapping and indecent assault and battery. He agreed to return to Massachusetts. This evening, Sledge is at Lawrence General Hospital undergoing a medical evaluation, said his attorney, Ronald Ranta.
The attorney said he was not certain what symptoms prompted the hospital visit. Depending on his condition, Ranta said Sledge will be arraigned at the hospital or in Lawrence District Court Wednesday.
IN a statement, Ranta defended Sledge. "At this time, we have not been provided with any investigative reports of what Officer Sledge is alleged to have done, or to whom,'' Ranta said in the statement. "It is our desire to expeditiously gather all the facts and vigorously defend Officer Sledge's innocence.''
Lawrence Police Chief John Romero outlined the allegations against the 46-year-old Sledge, who has been on the force for 15 years.
Romero said while on duty and assigned to the booking room early Sept. 26 Sledge left his post, drove in his private car into a Lawrence neighborhood and picked up an apparently inebriated woman.
With the woman in his personal car, he drove back to the station and parked in a nearby lot and returned to work. For about the next 90 minutes, Romero said, Sledge left the station, went to his car and periodically sexually assaulted the woman.
After getting a cell phone call around 4 a.m., a girlfriend of the woman came to the police station to pick the woman up. Sledge, according to Romero, told the girlfriend she was sleeping it off in his car and to come back in an hour.
The woman returned and the alleged victim told her what had happened. The two women immediately notified Sledge's supervisors and a both a civil and criminal investigation began, Romero said.
He said Sledge has been fired by Mayor Michael Sullivan but is entitled under civil service law to a termination hearing, which is now set for Oct. 6.
more information: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iP59JKBWP9Xe5oqd72mRjkUYM2gQD93HE4804
Kevin Sledge was arrested in Pelham, NH earlier today on charges of rape, kidnapping and indecent assault and battery. He agreed to return to Massachusetts. This evening, Sledge is at Lawrence General Hospital undergoing a medical evaluation, said his attorney, Ronald Ranta.
The attorney said he was not certain what symptoms prompted the hospital visit. Depending on his condition, Ranta said Sledge will be arraigned at the hospital or in Lawrence District Court Wednesday.
IN a statement, Ranta defended Sledge. "At this time, we have not been provided with any investigative reports of what Officer Sledge is alleged to have done, or to whom,'' Ranta said in the statement. "It is our desire to expeditiously gather all the facts and vigorously defend Officer Sledge's innocence.''
Lawrence Police Chief John Romero outlined the allegations against the 46-year-old Sledge, who has been on the force for 15 years.
Romero said while on duty and assigned to the booking room early Sept. 26 Sledge left his post, drove in his private car into a Lawrence neighborhood and picked up an apparently inebriated woman.
With the woman in his personal car, he drove back to the station and parked in a nearby lot and returned to work. For about the next 90 minutes, Romero said, Sledge left the station, went to his car and periodically sexually assaulted the woman.
After getting a cell phone call around 4 a.m., a girlfriend of the woman came to the police station to pick the woman up. Sledge, according to Romero, told the girlfriend she was sleeping it off in his car and to come back in an hour.
The woman returned and the alleged victim told her what had happened. The two women immediately notified Sledge's supervisors and a both a civil and criminal investigation began, Romero said.
He said Sledge has been fired by Mayor Michael Sullivan but is entitled under civil service law to a termination hearing, which is now set for Oct. 6.
more information: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iP59JKBWP9Xe5oqd72mRjkUYM2gQD93HE4804
Police Technician James Denis Charged with Sexual Assault on Child
ARAPAHOE COUNTY
Sixty-one-year-old Denver Police Technician James Edward Dennis has been charged with two felony counts of sexual assault on a child.
The charges were filed in Arapahoe County Court on Sept. 22 against Dennis, who worked in the Denver Police's juvenile intake bureau.
According to the Aurora Police Department affidavit for arrest, in March, Technician Dennis took a young girl for lunch and then to a house for sale where no one lived.
There, according to the warrant, the girl says Dennis “went into my pants and started squeezing my butt.”
The girl said Dennis lifted her shirt and “started licking her” on the chest.
The girl said Dennis asked her if that felt good. She told police “she got scared.”
She told him to stop and he said he was a “little drunk.” He also told her not to tell anyone.
According to the affidavit, the girl told Dennis’s wife, who also told her “not to tell anyone.”
The girl eventually told her mother and her grandmother. The case was investigated resulting in Technician James Dennis’s arrest and the felony charges.
Dennis has been suspended without pay by the Denver Police Department. He’s been a Denver Police officer since 1979.
Dennis submitted his retirement papers to Denver Police this week.
http://www.myfoxcolorado.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=7549938&version=2&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1
Sixty-one-year-old Denver Police Technician James Edward Dennis has been charged with two felony counts of sexual assault on a child.
The charges were filed in Arapahoe County Court on Sept. 22 against Dennis, who worked in the Denver Police's juvenile intake bureau.
According to the Aurora Police Department affidavit for arrest, in March, Technician Dennis took a young girl for lunch and then to a house for sale where no one lived.
There, according to the warrant, the girl says Dennis “went into my pants and started squeezing my butt.”
The girl said Dennis lifted her shirt and “started licking her” on the chest.
The girl said Dennis asked her if that felt good. She told police “she got scared.”
She told him to stop and he said he was a “little drunk.” He also told her not to tell anyone.
According to the affidavit, the girl told Dennis’s wife, who also told her “not to tell anyone.”
The girl eventually told her mother and her grandmother. The case was investigated resulting in Technician James Dennis’s arrest and the felony charges.
Dennis has been suspended without pay by the Denver Police Department. He’s been a Denver Police officer since 1979.
Dennis submitted his retirement papers to Denver Police this week.
http://www.myfoxcolorado.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=7549938&version=2&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1
Officer Keith Moody Arrested for DUI
Meridian Police Department patrolman Keith Moody, who was recently acquitted of charges he contributed to the delinquency of a minor in connection with an incident involving alcohol that reportedly occurred in July, was arrested and charged with DUI early Friday morning.
MPD Chief Benny DuBose confirmed Tuesday afternoon Moody had been charged during the incident. Moody, who was not on duty at the time of the arrest, had been back on the police force after his acquittal Sept. 2.
"He was put back on a shift about a week after his court hearing concerning the earlier charge," said DuBose.
Asked what impact this latest charge would have on Moody's law enforcement career with the MPD DuBose said, "We will have to wait to see if he is convicted on this charge. If he is convicted then he can't drive."
Moody is still on the force pending the outcome of his court hearing.
http://www.wtok.com/news/headlines/29961214.html
MPD Chief Benny DuBose confirmed Tuesday afternoon Moody had been charged during the incident. Moody, who was not on duty at the time of the arrest, had been back on the police force after his acquittal Sept. 2.
"He was put back on a shift about a week after his court hearing concerning the earlier charge," said DuBose.
Asked what impact this latest charge would have on Moody's law enforcement career with the MPD DuBose said, "We will have to wait to see if he is convicted on this charge. If he is convicted then he can't drive."
Moody is still on the force pending the outcome of his court hearing.
http://www.wtok.com/news/headlines/29961214.html
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Trooper Kevin Foley Arrested for Murder
Slain Blairsville dentist Dr. John J. Yelenic predicted he would be murdered in 2006 by a state police trooper living with his estranged wife.
On Thursday, the state Attorney General's Office arrested Trooper Kevin James Foley, 42, of 10 Susan Drive, White, near Indiana, for the April 13, 2006 killing of Yelenic.
A statewide grand jury meeting in Pittsburgh since May recommended filing a criminal homicide charge against Foley, who has lived with Michele Yelenic since 2004.
The jury's presentment said Pittsburgh attorney Effie Alexander, the dentist's divorce attorney, testified that shortly before his death, he offered to set up a fund to investigate his murder because he believed Foley would kill him. The Yelenics were wrangling over their pending divorce.
Foley is accused of entering Yelenic's home in the early-morning hours and repeatedly slashing the well-known dentist with a knife.
At a news conference yesterday, state Attorney General Tom Corbett said Yelenic, 39, bled to death from multiple slash wounds to his scalp, face, neck, trunk and right arm.
"It is extremely difficult to have to arrest a member of the law enforcement community, but as in any case, we follow the evidence wherever it leads," Corbett said.
Corbett gathered with Indiana County District Attorney Robert Bell, state police Maj. Robert Lizik and Blairsville police Chief Donald Hess at the Indiana County Courthouse to announce the arrest.
Investigators said they linked Foley, a 13-year veteran trooper, to the slaying by using his DNA, which matched skin found under the dentist's fingernails.
They also said they found a bloody shoe print at the home that matches the ASICS brand, which Foley preferred because of a discount offered to state police.
After the murder, Foley, an avid runner, suddenly switched to Nike brand running shoes, the grand jury found.
Foley was arraigned yesterday morning before Indiana District Judge Guy Haberl and is being held in the county jail without bond.
Lizik said Foley was immediately suspended Thursday without pay. He said Foley, who was a criminal investigator at the Indiana barracks at the time of Yelenic's murder, was placed on station duty, first in Indiana and later in Hollidaysburg, after he became a suspect.
Under station duty, an officer works at the station and is required to relinquish his badge and gun at the end of each shift. Foley, who has been on sick leave since June, was arrested yesterday at the Indiana barracks without incident, Lizik said.
According to the grand jury presentment, Foley was a suspect from the outset when his co-workers and a Blairsville police officer noticed an injury above his left eye, which the trooper blamed on a hockey game he played in Delmont the night before the murder.
But Foley's teammates, including Trooper Robert Worcester, did not see Foley sustain any injuries during the game, according to the grand jury.
Foley's co-workers, including troopers Deanna Kirkland and Daniel Zenisek, told the grand jury that Foley was always complaining about Yelenic.
Kirkland testified that she was stunned by statements Foley made in March 2006.
"They were on a prisoner transport, driving to Westmoreland County, and Foley said he wished that Dr. Yelenic would die or be killed in a car accident," the grand jury presentment quoted Kirkland as testifying.
Zenisek told the grand jury that Foley once asked him whether he wanted to "help him kill Yelenic." Zenisek said he didn't take Foley seriously.
Lizik said yesterday that none of Foley's threats about Yelenic were ever brought to his superior's attention.
"It's a very dark, disturbing day for the Pennsylvania State Police," said Lizik, Southwestern Pennsylvania state police commander.
Corbett defended the length of the investigation, which lasted almost 18 months. The case was first handled by Blairsville police and county detectives until earlier this year when Bell turned to Corbett's office for assistance.
Corbett said some of the forensic-analysis reports were not finished until they were presented to the grand jury earlier this month.
Corbett declined to comment about a motive, saying the issue will be addressed during the trial.
The grand jury heard from several witnesses who said Michele Yelenic frequently called the dentist's office "demanding money."
Just a week before his death, Michele Yelenic telephoned and Dr. Yelenic refused to take the call, his receptionist, Georgette Johnson, testified. He told his receptionist to tell his wife that if she wanted money she had to sign the divorce papers, according to the grand jury.
The divorce settlement would have slashed Michele Yelenic's monthly support check from the dentist from $3,800 to $1,300 a month.
The grand jury presentment said that Dr. Yelenic was insured for more than $1 million and Michele Yelenic and the couple's adoptive son, J.J., would be the beneficiaries.
Neighbors told state police, according to the grand jury presentment, they heard "blood-curdling screams or noises like pig squeals" about 1 a.m. on the day of the killing. Yelenic's body was discovered by a neighbor boy late that afternoon.
Corbett said the investigation is continuing. He declined to say whether Michele Yelenic is a suspect.
Attempts to reach Michele Yelenic for comment yesterday by telephone were unsuccessful. Foley's attorney, Thomas Johnson, of Indiana, did not return telephone calls seeking comment.
Police chief Hess said the knife used in the slaying and the tennis shoes were never recovered.
Officer Melissa Kronebusch Charged with Arson
SAUKVILLE, Wis.
A Saukville police officer has been charged with arson after she allegedly set fire to a vacant home in March.
Prosecutors say surveillance tape captured 26-year-old Melissa L. Kronebusch entering a home after midnight. They say she exited about 20 minutes later, with a glow visible through the basement window.
According to a criminal complaint filed Monday, the video shows her leaving the adjacent parking lot in her squad car, and then returning a few minutes later to report the fire.
Saukville firefighters responded and extinguished the flames. The complaint says the fire caused $5,000 in damages.
Police Chief Bill Meloy says Kronebusch was placed on paid administrative leave June 26.
Online court records didn't list an attorney for Kronebusch.
------
Information from: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, http://www.jsonline.com
A Saukville police officer has been charged with arson after she allegedly set fire to a vacant home in March.
Prosecutors say surveillance tape captured 26-year-old Melissa L. Kronebusch entering a home after midnight. They say she exited about 20 minutes later, with a glow visible through the basement window.
According to a criminal complaint filed Monday, the video shows her leaving the adjacent parking lot in her squad car, and then returning a few minutes later to report the fire.
Saukville firefighters responded and extinguished the flames. The complaint says the fire caused $5,000 in damages.
Police Chief Bill Meloy says Kronebusch was placed on paid administrative leave June 26.
Online court records didn't list an attorney for Kronebusch.
------
Information from: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, http://www.jsonline.com
Police Employee Kinyetta Bass Charged with Stealing Thousand of Dollars
A Norcross Police Department employee has been charged with stealing thousands of dollars from the evidence room.
Kinyetta Bass is accused of pocketing $763 on July 30 and $2,600 on Aug. 15. Warrants for her arrest were issued Friday on two felony counts of theft by taking.
Bass, 27, of Smyrna, was hired four years ago as a communications officer and later promoted to red light camera technician and evidence custodian, which is a civilian position. She had not been arrested as of Monday afternoon, Gwinnett jail records show.
Reached by phone at her home on Monday, Bass said, “I have no comment at this time.”
Norcross police spokesman Capt. Brian Harr said Bass came under suspicion when another employee noticed “a discrepancy in our policy and procedures that Ms. Bass was involved in.” Bass has since been fired.
The department completed an audit of the evidence room and no other items are missing, Harr said.
“This was an isolated incident involving one person,” Harr said.
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/gwinnett/stories/2008/09/29/Norcross_cop_accused.html
Kinyetta Bass is accused of pocketing $763 on July 30 and $2,600 on Aug. 15. Warrants for her arrest were issued Friday on two felony counts of theft by taking.
Bass, 27, of Smyrna, was hired four years ago as a communications officer and later promoted to red light camera technician and evidence custodian, which is a civilian position. She had not been arrested as of Monday afternoon, Gwinnett jail records show.
Reached by phone at her home on Monday, Bass said, “I have no comment at this time.”
Norcross police spokesman Capt. Brian Harr said Bass came under suspicion when another employee noticed “a discrepancy in our policy and procedures that Ms. Bass was involved in.” Bass has since been fired.
The department completed an audit of the evidence room and no other items are missing, Harr said.
“This was an isolated incident involving one person,” Harr said.
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/gwinnett/stories/2008/09/29/Norcross_cop_accused.html
Officer Huy Chi Tran Charged with Harassing Several Women
A Houston police officer has been relieved of duty, charged with oppression and harassment of a least six women he pulled over during traffic stops, authorities said.
In each case, the women involved say Huy Chi Tran, 32, made harassing sexual advances toward them. After the traffic stops, Tran is accused of repeatedly calling the women and asking them out on dates in an exchange for dismissing their tickets, said Harris County District Attorney's Office spokeswoman Donna Hawkins.
HPD spokesman Sgt. John Chomiak could only confirm that Tran had been relieved of duty last Thursday.
Tran's next scheduled court appearance is Thursday. The District Attorney's Office asks anyone who believes he or she may be a victim in this case to call 713-755-8330.
Click here to see the full video story by FOX 26's Isiah Carey.
In each case, the women involved say Huy Chi Tran, 32, made harassing sexual advances toward them. After the traffic stops, Tran is accused of repeatedly calling the women and asking them out on dates in an exchange for dismissing their tickets, said Harris County District Attorney's Office spokeswoman Donna Hawkins.
HPD spokesman Sgt. John Chomiak could only confirm that Tran had been relieved of duty last Thursday.
Tran's next scheduled court appearance is Thursday. The District Attorney's Office asks anyone who believes he or she may be a victim in this case to call 713-755-8330.
Click here to see the full video story by FOX 26's Isiah Carey.
Officer Paul Ewing Arrested for Raping 16 year old
PORTSMOUTH, Va.
A Portsmouth police officer is off the job and under arrest. 37 year old Paul Ewing is accused of sexually assaulting a 16 year old girl. Tuesday, he faced a judge.
Portsmouth Police information officer Ann Hope tells MyFoxHamptonRoads.com Officer Paul Ewing and the alleged victim are acquaintances. Ewing was arrested Monday night even though his accuser says she was raped in January of 2007.
More than a year and a half after the alleged rape occurred in January '07, Portsmouth police say the teen and her mother contacted them. On September 28th, the report was filed and the accuser passed a polygraph test according to the police report. September 29th, investigators arrested Officer Paul Ewing at the Portsmouth Police Department on rape charges. Tuesday, he was in court.
"He was placed on administrative leave and we can't really discuss that because it's a personnel issue," says Hope.
Hope says Ewing, now 37, was with the department for almost four years.
"He was a uniformed patrol officer who worked the midnight shift," says Hope.
It was right around noon New Years Day the alleged victim told investigators the rape happened. The report states after she got home, Ewing "followed the victim to her bedroom. The defendant began to remove the victim's pants."
It goes on to say, "The victim told the defendant to stop and was not comfortable with the situation..."
The report also states, "The victim took a polygraph exam in which she passed with no indications of deception."
As Ewing's family left the Portsmouth Courthouse Tuesday, they were too emotional to speak. No one in his neighborhood was willing to speak on camera, saying they didn't know him well enough. No one responded to our knocks at Ewing's home.
"It's sad. It's unfortunate and all we can do at this point in just wait for the court system to run it's process," says Hope.
Ewing's bond was set at 20-thousand dollars. A Commonwealth Attorney Spokesman tells me they requested another attorney be brought in to work this case because of conflict of interest. Ewing's preliminary hearing is set for November.
MyFoxHamptonRoads.com
http://www.myfoxhamptonroads.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=7547466&version=2&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1
Monday, September 29, 2008
Veteran Officer Theodore Dixon Jr Charged With Pointing Weapon at Prisoner
A veteran McKeesport police officer was arrested and charged yesterday with threatening the life of a prisoner and pointing a gun at him.
Theodore R. Dixon Jr., 55, was placed on administrative leave by Police Chief Joseph Pero after he surrendered to detectives. He was charged with simple assault, terroristic threats, reckless endangerment and official oppression.
Early Saturday morning, shots were fired through Officer Dixon's living room window while his wife and child were inside the house. Though no suspects were named, Officer Dixon became convinced that the attack was related to Sakarr Bray, 30, whom Officer Dixon had arrested for aggravated assault and was awaiting arraignment at the McKeesport police station.
Officer Dixon became agitated after the shots were fired at his home, according to a criminal complaint, telling other officers that "someone was gonna die."
Upon returning to the police station, Officer Dixon pointed his service revolver into Mr. Bray's holding cell.
Mr. Bray told investigators that Officer Dixon said, "I should kill you right now. I'm going to handle this my way. I'm gonna kill you and your brother. You tell your mom I'm gonna kill both of you all."
A surveillance camera captured Officer Dixon pointing the gun into the cell and Mr. Bray backing up with his hands in the air, according to the criminal complaint.
Officer Dixon was released and ordered to stay away from the Bray family. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Monday before District Judge Eugene Riazzi, who once was a McKeesport police sergeant, serving with Officer Dixon.
Calls to Chief Pero and McKeesport Mayor Jim Brewster were not returned.
Officer Dixon, a former lieutenant who ran unsuccessfully for district judge last year against Judge Riazzi, was dismissed from the McKeesport Police Department in February 1994 for violating a protection-from-abuse order obtained by his ex-girlfriend, Paula Cauley. Later that year, after spending a few months in jail, Officer Dixon was acquitted of assault and reckless endangerment charges, though he was convicted of harassment.
He was reinstated in 1999 and later won $176,000 in back pay for unjust termination.
Officer Dixon also was accused in July 1994 of asking a fellow police officer to kill Ms. Cauley. But the district attorney dismissed those charges in April 1995 because two key witnesses could not be found.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_590783.html
Theodore R. Dixon Jr., 55, was placed on administrative leave by Police Chief Joseph Pero after he surrendered to detectives. He was charged with simple assault, terroristic threats, reckless endangerment and official oppression.
Early Saturday morning, shots were fired through Officer Dixon's living room window while his wife and child were inside the house. Though no suspects were named, Officer Dixon became convinced that the attack was related to Sakarr Bray, 30, whom Officer Dixon had arrested for aggravated assault and was awaiting arraignment at the McKeesport police station.
Officer Dixon became agitated after the shots were fired at his home, according to a criminal complaint, telling other officers that "someone was gonna die."
Upon returning to the police station, Officer Dixon pointed his service revolver into Mr. Bray's holding cell.
Mr. Bray told investigators that Officer Dixon said, "I should kill you right now. I'm going to handle this my way. I'm gonna kill you and your brother. You tell your mom I'm gonna kill both of you all."
A surveillance camera captured Officer Dixon pointing the gun into the cell and Mr. Bray backing up with his hands in the air, according to the criminal complaint.
Officer Dixon was released and ordered to stay away from the Bray family. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Monday before District Judge Eugene Riazzi, who once was a McKeesport police sergeant, serving with Officer Dixon.
Calls to Chief Pero and McKeesport Mayor Jim Brewster were not returned.
Officer Dixon, a former lieutenant who ran unsuccessfully for district judge last year against Judge Riazzi, was dismissed from the McKeesport Police Department in February 1994 for violating a protection-from-abuse order obtained by his ex-girlfriend, Paula Cauley. Later that year, after spending a few months in jail, Officer Dixon was acquitted of assault and reckless endangerment charges, though he was convicted of harassment.
He was reinstated in 1999 and later won $176,000 in back pay for unjust termination.
Officer Dixon also was accused in July 1994 of asking a fellow police officer to kill Ms. Cauley. But the district attorney dismissed those charges in April 1995 because two key witnesses could not be found.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_590783.html
City of New Orleans Settles Lawsuit Against Officers Accused of Planting Drugs
The raid on Russell's Tire Shop had the look of a successful garden-variety drug bust.
Acting on an informant's tip, police stormed the building on North Galvez Street and hauled out three suspects, a bag of heroin, a quarter-ounce of crack cocaine and more than $4,000 in cash. Police say they found the evidence in plain sight.
But 11 months after the August 2002 bust, prosecutors dropped the charges. And this June, attorneys for the city offered the men accused of dealing the drugs $85,000 to settle a lawsuit that alleged the four New Orleans police detectives involved in the raid planted the drugs -- and uprooted the lives of innocent people.
Prosecutors had a problem: In the years since the bust, the police officers involved ran into legal troubles of their own.
One detective tested positive for cocaine and another was caught using a stolen Social Security number to lease a Corvette. A third officer was pulled over in Illinois driving an unauthorized New Orleans Police Department squad car; authorities found him with some marijuana and a woman wanted for prostitution. The fourth detective resigned as police were investigating a stolen gun found in his squad car. All four officers were ultimately fired or quit.
Sharply diverging claims surrounding the 2002 drug bust may never be put to rest; no judge or jury rendered a final judgment. But a look at the raid and its aftermath offers a window into the tactics of one team of narcotics officers -- the kinds of alleged abuses that critics say foster suspicion toward police.
The three drug suspects -- Leo Hammond, his son Gregory Hammond and Tyrone Taylor -- say they were the victims of rogue cops who were willing to frame innocent men after a bust turned up empty. None of the accused had outstanding warrants or prior arrests at the time of the raid. All passed court-ordered drug tests, court documents show.
The city attorney who defended the officers, Jim Mullaly, still stands behind them, asking: Why would anyone plant so much heroin, more than 30 grams? Why frame men they didn't know?
None of the officers involved in the case could be reached to comment for this article, and NOPD superiors declined to discuss the matter until completing a records search. The officers' accounts come from sworn depositions in the civil case, as does the account of the unnamed police informant. Information about the officers' alleged subsequent misconduct was documented in internal police memoranda that turned up during the civil case.
Russell's Tire Shop is a tiny, one-story building tucked into the 100 block of North Galvez. Russell Taylor, Tyrone Taylor's father, bought the property in the late 1970s and the stoop out front became a hangout for acquaintances.
Leo Hammond, 48, an air-conditioning repairman, said the shop has long served as a place to rest between jobs since he has no office of his own. Tyrone Taylor, 41, was the shop's manager at the time and a lifelong friend of Hammond's. Gregory Hammond, a 23-year-old administrative assistant for the Recovery School District, spent time at the tire shop as a small child.
Detectives involved in the case -- Steven Payne, Eric Smith and Earl Razor -- testified during civil proceedings that they had heard rumors of drug dealing at the tire shop but didn't act on them until they were transferred to that part of town. It was around July 2002 that the officers were moved from the 5th District to the 1st, which includes the Galvez Street business. In the 1st District, they worked under the narcotics unit's supervisor, William Marks.
In his application for a search warrant, Payne said a longtime informant told him a man known as Cadillac was dealing crack cocaine and marijuana just outside the shop.
Payne said he conducted surveillance on the shop twice, watching with a pair of binoculars from an unmarked car.
Payne said he witnessed a man matching Cadillac's description selling narcotics. He said that he followed up with a controlled purchase, giving the informant cash to buy crack at the shop. During a stakeout, hours before the raid, he said two men later identified as Gregory Hammond and Tyrone Taylor made a similar sale.
Brett Prendergast, an attorney for the Hammonds and Taylor, says there were significant discrepancies in the police and informant accounts. He argues that Payne's surveillance probably never happened.
Payne wrote in his warrant application that Cadillac "will not let anyone else inside the tire shop with him." Instead, Payne said, Cadillac would make contact with customers outside and retrieve the drugs from inside the shop.
But the informant told lawyers otherwise during a discovery hearing: "I've never given Cadillac money on the outside. He would not accept money on the outside. . . . Every time I went there, I went in."
In the hours before the raid, Payne said, the informant contacted him again to say that Cadillac was in the tire shop. The informant testified that such a tip-off never happened.
Weeks later, the informant said, Payne turned up and warned against talking to investigators about the tire shop case: "He said in the event someone should come, I know nothing, I didn't see anything."
--- 'All I saw was their guns' ---
Police said that when they stormed the tire shop on Aug. 1, 2002, Cadillac was not there.
As police arrived, they saw Gregory Hammond dash inside. Razor, the fastest man in the unit, chased him inside, followed by Payne and Smith.
Gregory Hammond said he had reason to bolt: A spate of shootings in the neighborhood had left him anxious. He said when police pulled up in unmarked cars, "All I saw was their guns." Police said he ran to flush the drugs.
Razor grabbed Gregory Hammond when he fell, while Smith and Payne handcuffed his father and Taylor.
When Payne came inside the shop, he was angry and asked to see the man who ran, Hammond testified. When he saw the younger Hammond, the detective punched him in the eye, Taylor and Gregory Hammond said. The detectives maintained that Hammond had hit something on the ground or the edge of the desk as he fell. Hammond was taken to Charity Hospital before booking because of swelling under his eye.
Also in dispute is the exact placement of the drugs detectives said they found.
In his arrest report and in a hearing in criminal court weeks after the raid, Payne said he found the drugs in plain view on the desk, giving police cause to arrest all three men. But Razor and Marks both said Payne had the heroin and crack in his hand the first time they saw it. Another officer, Smith, testified that the drugs were found on Gregory Hammond.
"I don't know where, it may have been in the waist -- in his waistband," Smith said.
Gregory Hammond and Taylor filed a formal complaint with the NOPD Public Integrity Bureau, denying they sold drugs and alleging Payne had struck Gregory and stole money found on the shop desk. The investigation concluded there was not enough evidence to prove the claims.
--- Legal trouble ---
All three men were booked with possession and intent to distribute heroin and crack. Each pleaded innocent. But as they awaited trial, the detectives who arrested them ran into legal problems.
Smith resigned from the NOPD in March 2003, 11 days before he was indicted on identity theft charges. Investigators accused him of using a fraudulent Social Security number to lease a Corvette. He pleaded guilty to one count of identity fraud.
Two months later, in May 2003, the NOPD began investigating Razor for allegedly stealing heroin from a suspected drug dealer in police custody. During that investigation, Razor tested positive for cocaine. Investigators also found two plastic bags with drug residue in the glove compartment of his squad car. Razor was fired but maintained his innocence.
In July 2003, the Orleans Parish district attorney's office dropped the tire shop case. In a written statement outlining its rationale, the office noted that the case relied too heavily on Payne's word. And that testimony, the office wrote, "will lack credibility due to his close working relationship with Det. Razor and Det. Smith."
With the criminal case scuttled, the subjects of the raid filed a wrongful arrest suit in federal court on Aug. 1, 2003.
Within months, the detective in charge of the police unit, Marks, had his own run-in with law enforcement.
An Illinois state trooper pulled Marks over in November 2003 for speeding. Marks had borrowed an NOPD squad car from Payne to make a trip to Milwaukee. The state trooper reported finding two women in the car. One was a convicted felon with an outstanding warrant for prostitution in Chicago. Under her seat, the trooper found a small bag of marijuana, "a partially burned marijuana stuffed cigar and a smoking pipe," according to police documents. A stolen 9 mm handgun was found in the trunk, documents show.
Marks begged the trooper not to contact the NOPD, fearing he would be fired for taking the car out of state, police documents show. He was fired less than a year later.
Payne denied any knowledge of a gun in the trunk and testified that he took a dim view of Marks, calling him "a lazy pig." An internal police investigation sustained charges of possession of a stolen gun against Payne, who resigned for "personal reasons, and medical reasons" while awaiting a disciplinary hearing, documents show.
As for the accused, Leo Hammond said that when police accused him of dealing drugs, "that's when I knew they were dirty cops. Anyone who knows me, knows better."
"Drugs is something I never affiliated with, never," he said. "I said, 'You know what, I'm going to fight this all the way.' I couldn't live with just letting it go like that."
. . . . . . .
timespicayune.com
Acting on an informant's tip, police stormed the building on North Galvez Street and hauled out three suspects, a bag of heroin, a quarter-ounce of crack cocaine and more than $4,000 in cash. Police say they found the evidence in plain sight.
But 11 months after the August 2002 bust, prosecutors dropped the charges. And this June, attorneys for the city offered the men accused of dealing the drugs $85,000 to settle a lawsuit that alleged the four New Orleans police detectives involved in the raid planted the drugs -- and uprooted the lives of innocent people.
Prosecutors had a problem: In the years since the bust, the police officers involved ran into legal troubles of their own.
One detective tested positive for cocaine and another was caught using a stolen Social Security number to lease a Corvette. A third officer was pulled over in Illinois driving an unauthorized New Orleans Police Department squad car; authorities found him with some marijuana and a woman wanted for prostitution. The fourth detective resigned as police were investigating a stolen gun found in his squad car. All four officers were ultimately fired or quit.
Sharply diverging claims surrounding the 2002 drug bust may never be put to rest; no judge or jury rendered a final judgment. But a look at the raid and its aftermath offers a window into the tactics of one team of narcotics officers -- the kinds of alleged abuses that critics say foster suspicion toward police.
The three drug suspects -- Leo Hammond, his son Gregory Hammond and Tyrone Taylor -- say they were the victims of rogue cops who were willing to frame innocent men after a bust turned up empty. None of the accused had outstanding warrants or prior arrests at the time of the raid. All passed court-ordered drug tests, court documents show.
The city attorney who defended the officers, Jim Mullaly, still stands behind them, asking: Why would anyone plant so much heroin, more than 30 grams? Why frame men they didn't know?
None of the officers involved in the case could be reached to comment for this article, and NOPD superiors declined to discuss the matter until completing a records search. The officers' accounts come from sworn depositions in the civil case, as does the account of the unnamed police informant. Information about the officers' alleged subsequent misconduct was documented in internal police memoranda that turned up during the civil case.
Russell's Tire Shop is a tiny, one-story building tucked into the 100 block of North Galvez. Russell Taylor, Tyrone Taylor's father, bought the property in the late 1970s and the stoop out front became a hangout for acquaintances.
Leo Hammond, 48, an air-conditioning repairman, said the shop has long served as a place to rest between jobs since he has no office of his own. Tyrone Taylor, 41, was the shop's manager at the time and a lifelong friend of Hammond's. Gregory Hammond, a 23-year-old administrative assistant for the Recovery School District, spent time at the tire shop as a small child.
Detectives involved in the case -- Steven Payne, Eric Smith and Earl Razor -- testified during civil proceedings that they had heard rumors of drug dealing at the tire shop but didn't act on them until they were transferred to that part of town. It was around July 2002 that the officers were moved from the 5th District to the 1st, which includes the Galvez Street business. In the 1st District, they worked under the narcotics unit's supervisor, William Marks.
In his application for a search warrant, Payne said a longtime informant told him a man known as Cadillac was dealing crack cocaine and marijuana just outside the shop.
Payne said he conducted surveillance on the shop twice, watching with a pair of binoculars from an unmarked car.
Payne said he witnessed a man matching Cadillac's description selling narcotics. He said that he followed up with a controlled purchase, giving the informant cash to buy crack at the shop. During a stakeout, hours before the raid, he said two men later identified as Gregory Hammond and Tyrone Taylor made a similar sale.
Brett Prendergast, an attorney for the Hammonds and Taylor, says there were significant discrepancies in the police and informant accounts. He argues that Payne's surveillance probably never happened.
Payne wrote in his warrant application that Cadillac "will not let anyone else inside the tire shop with him." Instead, Payne said, Cadillac would make contact with customers outside and retrieve the drugs from inside the shop.
But the informant told lawyers otherwise during a discovery hearing: "I've never given Cadillac money on the outside. He would not accept money on the outside. . . . Every time I went there, I went in."
In the hours before the raid, Payne said, the informant contacted him again to say that Cadillac was in the tire shop. The informant testified that such a tip-off never happened.
Weeks later, the informant said, Payne turned up and warned against talking to investigators about the tire shop case: "He said in the event someone should come, I know nothing, I didn't see anything."
--- 'All I saw was their guns' ---
Police said that when they stormed the tire shop on Aug. 1, 2002, Cadillac was not there.
As police arrived, they saw Gregory Hammond dash inside. Razor, the fastest man in the unit, chased him inside, followed by Payne and Smith.
Gregory Hammond said he had reason to bolt: A spate of shootings in the neighborhood had left him anxious. He said when police pulled up in unmarked cars, "All I saw was their guns." Police said he ran to flush the drugs.
Razor grabbed Gregory Hammond when he fell, while Smith and Payne handcuffed his father and Taylor.
When Payne came inside the shop, he was angry and asked to see the man who ran, Hammond testified. When he saw the younger Hammond, the detective punched him in the eye, Taylor and Gregory Hammond said. The detectives maintained that Hammond had hit something on the ground or the edge of the desk as he fell. Hammond was taken to Charity Hospital before booking because of swelling under his eye.
Also in dispute is the exact placement of the drugs detectives said they found.
In his arrest report and in a hearing in criminal court weeks after the raid, Payne said he found the drugs in plain view on the desk, giving police cause to arrest all three men. But Razor and Marks both said Payne had the heroin and crack in his hand the first time they saw it. Another officer, Smith, testified that the drugs were found on Gregory Hammond.
"I don't know where, it may have been in the waist -- in his waistband," Smith said.
Gregory Hammond and Taylor filed a formal complaint with the NOPD Public Integrity Bureau, denying they sold drugs and alleging Payne had struck Gregory and stole money found on the shop desk. The investigation concluded there was not enough evidence to prove the claims.
--- Legal trouble ---
All three men were booked with possession and intent to distribute heroin and crack. Each pleaded innocent. But as they awaited trial, the detectives who arrested them ran into legal problems.
Smith resigned from the NOPD in March 2003, 11 days before he was indicted on identity theft charges. Investigators accused him of using a fraudulent Social Security number to lease a Corvette. He pleaded guilty to one count of identity fraud.
Two months later, in May 2003, the NOPD began investigating Razor for allegedly stealing heroin from a suspected drug dealer in police custody. During that investigation, Razor tested positive for cocaine. Investigators also found two plastic bags with drug residue in the glove compartment of his squad car. Razor was fired but maintained his innocence.
In July 2003, the Orleans Parish district attorney's office dropped the tire shop case. In a written statement outlining its rationale, the office noted that the case relied too heavily on Payne's word. And that testimony, the office wrote, "will lack credibility due to his close working relationship with Det. Razor and Det. Smith."
With the criminal case scuttled, the subjects of the raid filed a wrongful arrest suit in federal court on Aug. 1, 2003.
Within months, the detective in charge of the police unit, Marks, had his own run-in with law enforcement.
An Illinois state trooper pulled Marks over in November 2003 for speeding. Marks had borrowed an NOPD squad car from Payne to make a trip to Milwaukee. The state trooper reported finding two women in the car. One was a convicted felon with an outstanding warrant for prostitution in Chicago. Under her seat, the trooper found a small bag of marijuana, "a partially burned marijuana stuffed cigar and a smoking pipe," according to police documents. A stolen 9 mm handgun was found in the trunk, documents show.
Marks begged the trooper not to contact the NOPD, fearing he would be fired for taking the car out of state, police documents show. He was fired less than a year later.
Payne denied any knowledge of a gun in the trunk and testified that he took a dim view of Marks, calling him "a lazy pig." An internal police investigation sustained charges of possession of a stolen gun against Payne, who resigned for "personal reasons, and medical reasons" while awaiting a disciplinary hearing, documents show.
As for the accused, Leo Hammond said that when police accused him of dealing drugs, "that's when I knew they were dirty cops. Anyone who knows me, knows better."
"Drugs is something I never affiliated with, never," he said. "I said, 'You know what, I'm going to fight this all the way.' I couldn't live with just letting it go like that."
. . . . . . .
timespicayune.com
New Ruling Will Allow Officers to Taser Handcuffed Suspects
A case involving the stun-drive Tasering of a handcuffed arrestee was decided this month by a federal Court of Appeals panel in Florida, with some instructive language regarding what’s permissible in the handling of passively resisting subjects by an officer working alone.
In assessing a deputy’s actions in delivering Taser shocks to an arrestee who would not get off the ground to be moved to a patrol car, the panel ruled 2-1 on Sept. 9 that:
• applying Taser prongs in an effort to motivate a nonviolent subject to stand up was not excessive force under Section 1983 of the federal Civil Rights Act;
• to conserve valuable police time and energy, “the government has an interest in arrests being completed efficiently and without waste of limited resources”;
• an officer’s call for backup “does not make the use of force before reinforcements arrive unreasonable” per se;
• indeed, a single officer confronting a non-compliant suspect “need not…wait idly for backup to arrive to complete an otherwise lawful arrest.”
With its ruling, written by Chief Judge J. L. Edmondson, the 11th circuit appellate court reversed a U.S. District Court decision that had judged the deputy guilty of “grossly disproportionate and unnecessary” force for applying the Taser in a pain-compliance mode.
“The language in this decision is outstanding in its importance to law enforcement,” says Wayne Schmidt, executive director of Americans for Effective Law Enforcement, the nonprofit organization that monitors police- and corrections-related cases and provides legal guidance through its popular training seminars. “This decision goes beyond mere commentary on Taser use.
“Single officers faced with uncooperative subjects are often uncertain about what constitutes reasonable force in their situations. This court shows a realistic understanding of the challenges they face.”
Like many appellate actions, this decision is unpublished, which means it is not binding on lower courts, Schmidt explained to Force Science News. “But I believe it will still be cited for the moral and persuasive authority of its reasonable arguments.”
THE INCIDENT.
The case grew out of a traffic stop by Deputy Jonathan Rackard of the Washington County (FL) S.O., initiated on a speeder named Jesse Buckley on a dark, rural 2-lane highway one March night nearly 5 years ago. The incident was captured on in-car video and can be viewed here.
The 23-year-old violator, “financially destitute and homeless,” became agitated and “began to sob” over getting a ticket. Despite repeated requests, he refused to sign the citation, as required by state law. “Arrest me,” he said.
Rackard did. Buckley submitted to handcuffing without resistance, wrists behind his back. But as Rackard started to walk him toward the patrol car, Buckley “dropped to the ground behind his car, crossed his legs, and continued to sob,” according to the appellate court’s recounting of the incident.
Rackard cautioned him about the danger of getting hit by traffic on the nearby roadway. “My life would be better if I was dead,” Buckley responded. Rackard asked him “several times” to stand up. Buckley wouldn’t. The deputy tried to lift the 6 ft., 180 lb. subject to his feet. Buckley went limp and wouldn’t get up. Rackard repeatedly warned him that unless he cooperated, a Taser would be used against him. “I don’t care any more,” Buckley shouted. “Tase me!”
After allowing further time for compliance, the deputy pressed the Taser against Buckley’s clothed back in stun-gun fashion and initiated a 5-second burst. Buckley slumped forward and moved around, causing Rackard to struggle to maintain contact with the prongs…but the suspect still would not get off the ground. A second Tasing resulted in the same continued resistance.
Rackard walked to his patrol car and radioed for backup. In the 5 minutes before another deputy pulled up, Rackard issued more commands for Buckley to stand, tried again unsuccessfully to lift him to his feet, and finally applied the Taser a third time after a plain warning. Nothing worked—until the backup arrived. Then Buckley “promptly relented” and was escorted to the patrol car “without incident.”
Buckley’s physical injuries consisted 16 “small burn marks,” with some scarring and keloid growth around some of them. (The total reflected the fact that Taser contact was broken by Buckley’s movement and had to be reestablished several times across the 3 zappings to complete the cycles.) Buckley also alleged emotional suffering, claiming that he “now finds it difficult to trust police officers and to ask for their assistance.”
Although he pleaded no contest to charges of refusing to sign the speeding ticket and to resisting arrest and “does not quarrel with his lawful conviction” on those counts, he filed suit against Rackard and Sheriff Bobby Haddock for violating his constitutional rights under the 4th Amendment.
LOWER COURT FINDING.
The U.S. District Court for northern Florida denied Rackard’s motion for summary judgment on the basis of qualified immunity and held that he had used excessive force.
If the deputy had used his Taser just once, that “might arguably have been reasonable,” the lower court said, but the additional applications “were grossly disproportionate and unnecessary, especially given that the arrestee had been ‘fully secured’ and given that backup was en route.” If Rackard had “simply waited for backup, 2 officers could have lifted [Buckley] and carried him to the [patrol] car without any application of force,” the court declared.
In addition to the repeated Tasing, the court “placed considerable stress” on the fact that Buckley was handcuffed and resisted only passively. Indeed, it described the situation as “analogous” to the circumstances in a 2002 11th Circuit case, Lee v. Ferraro (284 F.3d 1188). The officer in that case had pulled over a young woman for a minor traffic violation, forced her out of her car, handcuffed her, and led her to the back of the vehicle where he spread her legs with his foot and slammed her head against the trunk lid, although she did not resist the officer at any time.
Like her, the District Court said, Buckley “posed no threat to the deputy or anyone else and…never actively resisted or attempted to evade arrest by flight.” Buckley’s attorney had relied heavily on Lee in arguing his case.
APPELLATE REVERSAL.
The Lee decision “does not control” the Buckley case, the Court of Appeals ruled emphatically in reversing the District Court’s judgment. Lee pertained where force that was “wholly uncalled for” was used against a subject who was “resisting arrest in no way.”
Buckley, in contrast, “did resist,” albeit passively, by dropping to the ground, refusing to comply with reasonable orders, ignoring warnings that he would be Tased, and refusing to stand when lifted. The differences are “easily distinguishable” and Lee “decides nothing” about the gamut of force options appropriate for dealing with arrestee intransigence.
The appellate court was not judging whether Rackard used the best option for carrying out the arrest—only whether his conduct was “reasonable in the constitutional sense,” the decision noted. Chief Judge Edmondson cited several compelling factors in Rackard’s support.
• Safety was an issue. “[T]he incident occurred at night on the side of a highway with considerable passing traffic,” the decision pointed out. “[S]ome 14 vehicles passed nearby…during the approximately 8 minutes that the deputy and [Buckley] were both exposed on the roadside…not inside a car.” The government’s “legitimate interest” in the safety of the deputy, the violator, “and even passing motorists” would have been “advanced by putting [Buckley] in the patrol car.”
• Buckley’s resistance delayed completion of the arrest. Even though his refusal to sign the citation was relatively minor, “the government [has] a significant interest in enforcing the law on its own terms, rather than on terms set by the arrestee,” the decision declared. Arrests need to be “completed efficiently and without waste of limited resources: police time and energy that may be needed elsewhere at any moment.”
• Although handcuffed, the suspect remained a potential threat. Buckley “refused repeatedly to comply with the most minimal of police instructions—to stand up and to walk to the patrol car.” That he “did not attack or menace the deputy does not shield [him] from the use of force, even if it might result in pain….
“Never was [he] fully secured until after the second officer arrived. [He] was not bound at the feet (so, he could both run and kick),” he remained at risk near the highway, and he continued his defiance, despite Rackard’s pleas and warnings. “An objectively reasonable police officer could rightly believe that force was therefore necessary to…complete the arrest.”
• Availability of backup was not an issue. “The federal courts must not dictate…how the police should allocate their limited resources….No constitutional basis exists for requiring 2 or more officers to make routine arrests, even if deploying more officers might result in less force actually being used…. That an officer has requested more police assistance does not make the use of force before reinforcements arrive unreasonable….
“A single officer in the deputy’s situation, confronting a non-compliant arrestee like [Buckley], need not—as a matter of federal constitutional law—wait idly for backup to arrive to complete an otherwise lawful arrest….
“[O]fficers acting alone may not always use any and all force necessary to complete an arrest without assistance. If Deputy Rackard had used more severe techniques (beaten [Buckley’s] head with a club or shot him, for example), this case would be a different case.
“[But] Rackard only used moderate, non-lethal force; and he did so only after reasoning with [Buckley], then after trying to lift [him], and finally after repeatedly warning [him]—a warning given before each use of the Taser—that a Taser would be used….Even then, [Buckley’s] injury was not great….”
In conclusion, the Court noted: “We must always recall that police officers are making hard decisions under difficult circumstances and within severe time constraints. Such decisions are easy to criticize later….
“[But] this case is not one where a compliant arrestee was abused for no good reason….In the light of all the circumstances, therefore, we conclude that Deputy Rackard’s use of force was not constitutionally excessive.”
A heated, 17-page dissent was written by Judge Beverly Martin, a member of the appellate panel from Georgia. She argued that Rackard could have used “any number of less injurious, more effective and safer forms of pain-compliance techniques” and that his employment of “an electric prod” (the Taser) “repeatedly against a peaceful individual” was nothing other than “the infliction of gratuitous pain and injury” in violation of the 4th Amendment.
If you Google Deputy Rackard’s name, you’ll find more about the case on the Internet, including a number of commentators in the blogosphere who agree with Judge Martin’s dissent.
To read the full decision of the Court of Appeals, click here.
NOTE: Although unrelated to the issues of the Buckley/Rackard case, AELE has an enlightening article in its current Monthly Law Journal about litigation and liability related to claims of excessive force caused by “overly tight” handcuffing. The Journal can be accessed free of charge here.
Special note:
Are you up to date on critical lethal and less-lethal force issues?
A thorough updating on court cases and guidelines regarding the reasonable use of force will be presented at the renowned Lethal and Less-Lethal Force Workshop, sponsored by Americans for Effective Law Enforcement Oct. 20-22 in Las Vegas.
Faculty members will include attorney Michael Brave, the nation’s leading authority on Taser-related legal matters; Greg Meyer, an advisory board member of the Force Science Research Center and an expert on lethal and less-lethal force options; Dr. John Peters, noted authority on excited delirium and in-custody deaths; and Judge Emory Plitt Jr., well-known for his expertise in police liability issues.
Also on the program will be Dr. Bill Lewinski, executive director of the Force Science Research Center and Dr. Alexis Artwohl, an FSRC board member and former police psychologist. Lewinski and Artwohl will address the latest research in biological, physiological, and psychological aspects of deadly force encounters.
For more information or for registration for this cutting-edge conference, contact AELE’s Law Enforcement Legal Center at 800-763-2802 or visit the AELE website at www.aele.org.
In assessing a deputy’s actions in delivering Taser shocks to an arrestee who would not get off the ground to be moved to a patrol car, the panel ruled 2-1 on Sept. 9 that:
• applying Taser prongs in an effort to motivate a nonviolent subject to stand up was not excessive force under Section 1983 of the federal Civil Rights Act;
• to conserve valuable police time and energy, “the government has an interest in arrests being completed efficiently and without waste of limited resources”;
• an officer’s call for backup “does not make the use of force before reinforcements arrive unreasonable” per se;
• indeed, a single officer confronting a non-compliant suspect “need not…wait idly for backup to arrive to complete an otherwise lawful arrest.”
With its ruling, written by Chief Judge J. L. Edmondson, the 11th circuit appellate court reversed a U.S. District Court decision that had judged the deputy guilty of “grossly disproportionate and unnecessary” force for applying the Taser in a pain-compliance mode.
“The language in this decision is outstanding in its importance to law enforcement,” says Wayne Schmidt, executive director of Americans for Effective Law Enforcement, the nonprofit organization that monitors police- and corrections-related cases and provides legal guidance through its popular training seminars. “This decision goes beyond mere commentary on Taser use.
“Single officers faced with uncooperative subjects are often uncertain about what constitutes reasonable force in their situations. This court shows a realistic understanding of the challenges they face.”
Like many appellate actions, this decision is unpublished, which means it is not binding on lower courts, Schmidt explained to Force Science News. “But I believe it will still be cited for the moral and persuasive authority of its reasonable arguments.”
THE INCIDENT.
The case grew out of a traffic stop by Deputy Jonathan Rackard of the Washington County (FL) S.O., initiated on a speeder named Jesse Buckley on a dark, rural 2-lane highway one March night nearly 5 years ago. The incident was captured on in-car video and can be viewed here.
The 23-year-old violator, “financially destitute and homeless,” became agitated and “began to sob” over getting a ticket. Despite repeated requests, he refused to sign the citation, as required by state law. “Arrest me,” he said.
Rackard did. Buckley submitted to handcuffing without resistance, wrists behind his back. But as Rackard started to walk him toward the patrol car, Buckley “dropped to the ground behind his car, crossed his legs, and continued to sob,” according to the appellate court’s recounting of the incident.
Rackard cautioned him about the danger of getting hit by traffic on the nearby roadway. “My life would be better if I was dead,” Buckley responded. Rackard asked him “several times” to stand up. Buckley wouldn’t. The deputy tried to lift the 6 ft., 180 lb. subject to his feet. Buckley went limp and wouldn’t get up. Rackard repeatedly warned him that unless he cooperated, a Taser would be used against him. “I don’t care any more,” Buckley shouted. “Tase me!”
After allowing further time for compliance, the deputy pressed the Taser against Buckley’s clothed back in stun-gun fashion and initiated a 5-second burst. Buckley slumped forward and moved around, causing Rackard to struggle to maintain contact with the prongs…but the suspect still would not get off the ground. A second Tasing resulted in the same continued resistance.
Rackard walked to his patrol car and radioed for backup. In the 5 minutes before another deputy pulled up, Rackard issued more commands for Buckley to stand, tried again unsuccessfully to lift him to his feet, and finally applied the Taser a third time after a plain warning. Nothing worked—until the backup arrived. Then Buckley “promptly relented” and was escorted to the patrol car “without incident.”
Buckley’s physical injuries consisted 16 “small burn marks,” with some scarring and keloid growth around some of them. (The total reflected the fact that Taser contact was broken by Buckley’s movement and had to be reestablished several times across the 3 zappings to complete the cycles.) Buckley also alleged emotional suffering, claiming that he “now finds it difficult to trust police officers and to ask for their assistance.”
Although he pleaded no contest to charges of refusing to sign the speeding ticket and to resisting arrest and “does not quarrel with his lawful conviction” on those counts, he filed suit against Rackard and Sheriff Bobby Haddock for violating his constitutional rights under the 4th Amendment.
LOWER COURT FINDING.
The U.S. District Court for northern Florida denied Rackard’s motion for summary judgment on the basis of qualified immunity and held that he had used excessive force.
If the deputy had used his Taser just once, that “might arguably have been reasonable,” the lower court said, but the additional applications “were grossly disproportionate and unnecessary, especially given that the arrestee had been ‘fully secured’ and given that backup was en route.” If Rackard had “simply waited for backup, 2 officers could have lifted [Buckley] and carried him to the [patrol] car without any application of force,” the court declared.
In addition to the repeated Tasing, the court “placed considerable stress” on the fact that Buckley was handcuffed and resisted only passively. Indeed, it described the situation as “analogous” to the circumstances in a 2002 11th Circuit case, Lee v. Ferraro (284 F.3d 1188). The officer in that case had pulled over a young woman for a minor traffic violation, forced her out of her car, handcuffed her, and led her to the back of the vehicle where he spread her legs with his foot and slammed her head against the trunk lid, although she did not resist the officer at any time.
Like her, the District Court said, Buckley “posed no threat to the deputy or anyone else and…never actively resisted or attempted to evade arrest by flight.” Buckley’s attorney had relied heavily on Lee in arguing his case.
APPELLATE REVERSAL.
The Lee decision “does not control” the Buckley case, the Court of Appeals ruled emphatically in reversing the District Court’s judgment. Lee pertained where force that was “wholly uncalled for” was used against a subject who was “resisting arrest in no way.”
Buckley, in contrast, “did resist,” albeit passively, by dropping to the ground, refusing to comply with reasonable orders, ignoring warnings that he would be Tased, and refusing to stand when lifted. The differences are “easily distinguishable” and Lee “decides nothing” about the gamut of force options appropriate for dealing with arrestee intransigence.
The appellate court was not judging whether Rackard used the best option for carrying out the arrest—only whether his conduct was “reasonable in the constitutional sense,” the decision noted. Chief Judge Edmondson cited several compelling factors in Rackard’s support.
• Safety was an issue. “[T]he incident occurred at night on the side of a highway with considerable passing traffic,” the decision pointed out. “[S]ome 14 vehicles passed nearby…during the approximately 8 minutes that the deputy and [Buckley] were both exposed on the roadside…not inside a car.” The government’s “legitimate interest” in the safety of the deputy, the violator, “and even passing motorists” would have been “advanced by putting [Buckley] in the patrol car.”
• Buckley’s resistance delayed completion of the arrest. Even though his refusal to sign the citation was relatively minor, “the government [has] a significant interest in enforcing the law on its own terms, rather than on terms set by the arrestee,” the decision declared. Arrests need to be “completed efficiently and without waste of limited resources: police time and energy that may be needed elsewhere at any moment.”
• Although handcuffed, the suspect remained a potential threat. Buckley “refused repeatedly to comply with the most minimal of police instructions—to stand up and to walk to the patrol car.” That he “did not attack or menace the deputy does not shield [him] from the use of force, even if it might result in pain….
“Never was [he] fully secured until after the second officer arrived. [He] was not bound at the feet (so, he could both run and kick),” he remained at risk near the highway, and he continued his defiance, despite Rackard’s pleas and warnings. “An objectively reasonable police officer could rightly believe that force was therefore necessary to…complete the arrest.”
• Availability of backup was not an issue. “The federal courts must not dictate…how the police should allocate their limited resources….No constitutional basis exists for requiring 2 or more officers to make routine arrests, even if deploying more officers might result in less force actually being used…. That an officer has requested more police assistance does not make the use of force before reinforcements arrive unreasonable….
“A single officer in the deputy’s situation, confronting a non-compliant arrestee like [Buckley], need not—as a matter of federal constitutional law—wait idly for backup to arrive to complete an otherwise lawful arrest….
“[O]fficers acting alone may not always use any and all force necessary to complete an arrest without assistance. If Deputy Rackard had used more severe techniques (beaten [Buckley’s] head with a club or shot him, for example), this case would be a different case.
“[But] Rackard only used moderate, non-lethal force; and he did so only after reasoning with [Buckley], then after trying to lift [him], and finally after repeatedly warning [him]—a warning given before each use of the Taser—that a Taser would be used….Even then, [Buckley’s] injury was not great….”
In conclusion, the Court noted: “We must always recall that police officers are making hard decisions under difficult circumstances and within severe time constraints. Such decisions are easy to criticize later….
“[But] this case is not one where a compliant arrestee was abused for no good reason….In the light of all the circumstances, therefore, we conclude that Deputy Rackard’s use of force was not constitutionally excessive.”
A heated, 17-page dissent was written by Judge Beverly Martin, a member of the appellate panel from Georgia. She argued that Rackard could have used “any number of less injurious, more effective and safer forms of pain-compliance techniques” and that his employment of “an electric prod” (the Taser) “repeatedly against a peaceful individual” was nothing other than “the infliction of gratuitous pain and injury” in violation of the 4th Amendment.
If you Google Deputy Rackard’s name, you’ll find more about the case on the Internet, including a number of commentators in the blogosphere who agree with Judge Martin’s dissent.
To read the full decision of the Court of Appeals, click here.
NOTE: Although unrelated to the issues of the Buckley/Rackard case, AELE has an enlightening article in its current Monthly Law Journal about litigation and liability related to claims of excessive force caused by “overly tight” handcuffing. The Journal can be accessed free of charge here.
Special note:
Are you up to date on critical lethal and less-lethal force issues?
A thorough updating on court cases and guidelines regarding the reasonable use of force will be presented at the renowned Lethal and Less-Lethal Force Workshop, sponsored by Americans for Effective Law Enforcement Oct. 20-22 in Las Vegas.
Faculty members will include attorney Michael Brave, the nation’s leading authority on Taser-related legal matters; Greg Meyer, an advisory board member of the Force Science Research Center and an expert on lethal and less-lethal force options; Dr. John Peters, noted authority on excited delirium and in-custody deaths; and Judge Emory Plitt Jr., well-known for his expertise in police liability issues.
Also on the program will be Dr. Bill Lewinski, executive director of the Force Science Research Center and Dr. Alexis Artwohl, an FSRC board member and former police psychologist. Lewinski and Artwohl will address the latest research in biological, physiological, and psychological aspects of deadly force encounters.
For more information or for registration for this cutting-edge conference, contact AELE’s Law Enforcement Legal Center at 800-763-2802 or visit the AELE website at www.aele.org.
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