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Police pursuit of shoplifters ends in death www.privateofficer.com
According to a spokeswoman with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD), officers with the Concord Police Department were pursuing a vehicle involved in a theft from the Concord Mills mall into Mecklenburg County.
The suspect vehicle struck another vehicle head-on at the intersection of Polk Road and Mallard Creek Church Road.
A passenger who was in the car that was struck by the speeding vehicle died at the scene.
In addition the fatal victim, at least five people were injured and transported to the hospital. Two of those people suffered life-threatening injuries.
The intersection of Mallard Creek Road and Polk Road was closed throughout the evening rush hour according to fire officials as officers with the CMPD are investigating the crash.
Police have not released the name of the victim yet.
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Wal-Mart employee shot by unknown person www.privateofficer.com
LILBURN, Ga May 23 2009
The victim told police he was behind the store on Lawrenceville Highway in Lilburn with another employee when he heard a pop and felt something hit his leg.
He walked back into the store and noticed his leg was bleeding. That’s when he realized he’d been shot.
Police and medical personnel rushed to the store and transported the employee to a local hospital.
“We’ll be looking at video from behind the Wal-Mart to determine what happened,” said Matthew Lake of the Lilburn Police Department. Right now we do not know if he was the intended target or not.
The employee has been listed in stable condition.
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100 Years prison for father who poisoned children www.privateofficer.com
A Clayton County jury found William Cunningham guilty on all seven counts of aggravated assault and cruelty to children.
Cunningham spiked his children’s soup with prescription drugs and lighter fluid in a plot to get money from Campbell’s Soup in 2006. They nearly died.
Overcome with emotion, the children’s mother and grandmother said they now have justice for Miranda and Billy Cunningham.
“I was so proud of that jury,” said Janet Dockery, the children’s grandmother.
William Cunningham was found guilty Thursday of poisoning his 18-month-old daughter and 3-year-old son with soup laced with prescription drugs and lighter fluid, not once, but three times.
“The third time, he forced it down them and this is the one that put the kids in the hospital and made them deathly sick,” said Ron Dockery, the children’s grandfather.
The 100-year prison sentence is fitting, according to the Janet Dockery.
“I hope you get what you deserve when you are in there,” she said Thursday. “They should serve him lighter fluid every night.”
“Who would think your husband or the father of your kids would to that? At the time, I didn’t know,” said the children’s mother, Rhonda Cunningham.
Officials said William Cunningham’s motive was that he wanted to extort money from Campbell’s Soup.
Channel 2 Action News reporter Diana Davis asked Ron Dockery why he thought William Cunningham would poison his children. Dockery replied, “Money. Just money. Greed.”
Both children survived but may have lifelong breathing problems from swallowing the lighter fluid.
“That chemical has scarred their lungs,” said Janet Dockery.
The family said the little girl has no memory of what happened. The little boy, now 6 years old, does. He caught a glimpse of his father’s mug shot in the newspaper.
“And he said, ‘Mama, I think that’s my old daddy,’” said Janet Dockery. “I said, ‘No baby, that’s not your daddy.’ I played it off to something else but he said, ‘Yeah, that’s soup daddy.’ That’s what he calls him…soup daddy.”
Cunningham was also convicted at an earlier trial in federal court. The children’s mother has since divorced him.
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Sherwood teacher charged with sexual assault of student www.privateofficer.com
A Sylvan Hills Middle School teacher and football coach has been arrested on two sex-related felonies following a two-week investigation by the Sherwood Police Department.
According to Sherwood Police Capt. Scott McFarland, Tyson Norsworthy, 28, of Jacksonville was arrested without incident at the city police department at 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 20.
Norsworthy was arrested on charges of first-degree sexual assault and sexual indecency with a child (both felonies), according to McFarland.
According to the sexual indecency with a child statute, the victim or victims in this type of crime would be minors 15 years old or younger, McFarland said.
McFarland said the police department received a tip about two weeks ago that sparked the Norsworthy investigation.
Norsworthy was kept at the city jail immediately after his arrest until his Thursday morning arraignment in front of Sherwood District Court Judge Butch Hale. At his initial court hearing, he was read the charges against him and Hale set a $25,000 bond.
Later Thursday morning, bond was posted on Norsworthy’s behalf and he was released from the city jail, McFarland said.
Due to Norsworthy being arrested on felony charges, the case has been transferred to the Pulaski County Circuit Court because Sherwood’s district court does not process felony cases, McFarland said.
McFarland said all known parties involved in the case have been notified about Norsworthy’s charges.
“We are not releasing many details of the case because we do not want to compromise the investigation,” McFarland said.
McFarland said the department has notified the Pulaski County Special School District about Norsworthy’s arrest.
McFarland said the police department classified Norsworthy’s arrest as a probable-cause arrest in which no warrant was issued in his case.
McFarland said the probable-cause arrest was made because officers said they believe they have ample evidence to prove that Norsworthy has committed the offenses on which his arrest was based.
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Man with assaults security, police with cane www.privateofficer.com
St. Lawrence County Sheriff’s deputies arrested a Massena man in Canton this morning after he allegedly attacked officers responding to a call for assistance from court security.
According to deputies, 42-year-old Terry A. Derouchie of State Highway 56 was at the St. Lawrence County Courthouse in Canton for a family court appearance this morning. Derouchie allegedly became angry and confronted his ex-wife in the parking lot, threatening her with a metal cane.
When the uniformed Court Security Officer ordered Derouchie to drop the cane, he allegedly threatened the officer with the cane and got in his vehicle. When arriving officers attempted to stop Derouchie from driving away, he allegedly kicked an officer twice in the chest, attempted to strike them with the metal cane, and punched an officer in the face, causing lacerations.
Derouchie was taken before Canton Village Court on a charge of 2nd degree Assault and sent to St. Lawrence County Jail in lieu of $1,500 bail. Derouchie posted bail upon arrival and was released.
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McAllen TX. teacher arrested for student rape www.privateofficer.com
A 30-year-old high school math teacher faced felony charges Thursday that he carried on a yearlong relationship with a student less than half his age.
Police said the 14-year-old student told her mother of the improper relationship with the IDEA Quest Academy & College Preparatory instructor Tuesday at their McAllen home.
Ricardo Garcia Jr. and the student began having sex during Spring Break in March, but the pair began regularly exchanging text messages in May 2008, according to court documents in the case.
Police arrested Garcia on Wednesday.
A McAllen police officer responded to a “family disturbance” at the home about 6:41 p.m. Tuesday, but police could not confirm the disturbance stemmed from the girl telling her mother about her alleged relationship with Garcia.
Clad in a white T-shirt with a tattoo showing on his right arm at his arraignment Thursday morning, Garcia held his head low as McAllen Municipal Judge Kathleen Henley read the girl’s allegations and the criminal charges against him.
Garcia was arraigned on three counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child, four counts of sexual assault and one count of having an improper relationship with a student.
Henley set his bond at $1 million for the charges, the most severe of which could send him to prison for up to 99 years.
Tom Torkelson, founder and chief executive officer of Idea Public Schools, said the accusations against Garcia are the first against any teacher at the decade-old college preparatory school’s campuses.
Garcia, who has taught at the IDEA Quest campus – located at 14001 N. Rooth Road in Edinburg – for two years, has been suspended without pay, pending the outcome of the investigations, Torkelson said.
“As the parent of two young children, please know that the safety and well-being of our students is my top priority,” he wrote in a statement. “With everyone – teachers, parents, administrators – working together, we can build a community of support and safety that protects all of our children.”
The relationship between Garcia and the girl began at least a year ago, when the girl was a sixth-grade student at IDEA Quest, court documents state.
The pair exchanged text messages and on May 11, 2008 – Mother’s Day – Garcia told the girl he loved her, according to the court records.
Garcia’s contact with the girl dropped off last summer, because he “was afraid her mother would find out,” but started again by the following school year, the criminal complaint in the case states.
By December, when the girl was 13, she became Garcia’s girlfriend and they went to several movies, where they sat in the back row at the corner of the theater, police said she told them.
The girl told police she later lost her virginity to Garcia – after she had turned 14 – because “he told her that he loved her and wanted to marry her,” according to the criminal complaint.
The pair had sex four times from March 16 to May 15 at his house and at a McAllen hotel, the court records state. The girl told police she sneaked out of her house to meet with Garcia.
Torkelson said school officials notified other IDEA Quest students’ parents of the Garcia situation after he was arrested Wednesday.
“Over the last decade we have seen that no school – private, religious, or public – is immune from these types of incidents, but we can all be vigilant on behalf of our youth,” Torkelson wrote in a statement
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Casino security officers hit during police pursuit www.privateofficer.com
A high-speed chase on Interstate 515 southbound this morning ended with an arrest in the buffet line of the Railroad Pass Casino.
Kalani Pelekane Ahquin, 34, was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on charges of possession of a stolen vehicle, reckless driving, evading a police officer, assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer and two counts of battery, according to Boulder City police.
The chase began about 10 a.m., when Boulder City detective Sgt. Vince Albowicz and detective Brett Wibrew were driving from Henderson, where they had been on police business, back to Boulder City.
While going through a construction zone on I-515 near Russell Road, a white Pontiac Grand Am sped past them going about 100 mph, Albowicz said. They checked the license plate and discovered the car had been reported stolen in Las Vegas.
While following the car, the officers called Henderson police to handle the situation, but the driver motioned to them as if he wanted to stop or pull over, Albowicz said. The Grand Am then passed several vehicles on the right shoulder.
“That was when we decided to stop him, before he killed somebody,” Albowicz said.
Albowicz and Wibrew pulled the Grand Am over, but the driver took off toward Boulder City before they could talk to him, Albowicz said.
The officers kept their lights and sirens on and followed the car at a safe distance, Albowicz said.
“We left the lights and sirens on to keep people behind us,” he said. “It was more of a ‘let’s keep the public safe’ kind of thing.”
Once the car got to Railroad Pass, Boulder City police had cars waiting to join the pursuit, Sgt. Slade Griffin said.
After the Grand Am passed the U.S. 95 overpass, it stopped briefly to let a passenger out, Albowicz and Griffin said. It turns out the passenger had asked his friend to drive him to Boulder City to see his girlfriend, Albowicz said.
“The passenger was begging the guy to stop and let him out,” Albowicz said. “He didn’t want any part of it.”
Wibrew and Albowicz questioned the passenger, then released him, Albowicz said.
Meanwhile, Boulder City units continued following the Grand Am south on U.S. 93, where it was going 70 mph, Griffin said. A Boulder City police car was in driving front of it around Veterans Memorial Drive. The officer gunned his car to stay ahead, but the Grand Am rear-ended the patrol car, Griffin said.
The stolen car then turned into the dirt median and headed north back toward Railroad Pass, Griffin said.
The car pulled into the Railroad Pass parking lot and the driver ran into the casino, hitting two security officers while being chased on foot by Boulder City officers.
He hit a female security guard first, but “she got right back up and started chasing him,” Griffin said. A security supervisor who was hit also got back up and gave chase with the officers.
Once the driver reached the buffet line, he was stopped by security officers waiting for him, Griffin said.
Ahquin was arrested in the buffet area and transported to the Clark County jail, Griffin said.
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Woman charged with assault on store security www.privateofficer.com
It happened Thursday evening at the Target Greatland.
Evansville police say 30-year-old Amy Huey was seen trying to hide several items. Officers say a security guard was bringing her back into the store, when Huey knocked him to the ground and hit him several times in the face.
Police say there is security video of what happened. They say a pipe and meth were found on huey at the jail.
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