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Carolina Panthers linebacker Jon Beason sued for assault www.privateofficer.com
Gregory C. Frye claims in his lawsuit the Nov. 15 attack occurred after he told another Panthers player that he had seen Beason “up at the lake doing coke with some girl.”
Beason, 24, was arrested Monday and accused of punching Frye in the face at the Morehead Street strip club after the team’s win over Atlanta.
Beason, one of the Panthers’ team captains and their leading tackler, adamantly denies attacking Frye and the drug allegations, said his attorney George Laughrun.
“I think Mr. Frye is living in fantasyland if he thinks Jon Beason ever snorted cocaine,” Laughrun said.
Frye’s suit claims he went to the annual Lake Bash at Lake Norman in June and saw Beason and an attractive woman “engaging in what he believed to be snorting cocaine.”
The suit then describes what Frye, 29, alleges happened at the nightclub after he told Panthers tight end Dante Rosario that he had seen Beason doing cocaine.
Frye claims Beason’s driver/bodyguard later approached him, saying: “Whatever you said about Beason, he’s really pissed. You need to go talk to him.”
Frye says a short time later Beason approached him “in a noticeably angry manner, cursing and yelling at Frye about the ‘cocaine’ statement.”
To cool things down, Frye said, he suggested talking outside.
Frye says he took one step and turned to see if Beason was following.
“Just as Frye turned around, Beason hit him with a crushing right blow to his left eye/nose area,” the suit says. “When the blow landed, Frye saw a streak of light, his legs buckled, and he fell to the floor.”
Frye claims he was kicked as he tried to get up. When he got to his feet, he alleges, Beason struck him again on the left side of his head, causing him to stagger back as someone handed him a rag to catch blood rushing from his nose.
Frye says he didn’t raise a hand or provoke Beason, and that he didn’t fight back.
The lawsuit alleges that Beason was asked if he had struck Frye, and that Beason responded “something along the lines of, ‘Yeah, I hit him. It might cost me a hundred grand, but you don’t go around telling people I’m doing coke …’”
Frye says he suffered a crushed nasal cavity, a facial fracture and swelling on the left side of his head. He is seeking damages in excess of $10,000.
Frye has a history of criminal charges and civil complaints, according to court records.
Among them: He sued a woman in 2005 for assault and battery and for medical costs, records show, but the case was dismissed. He was charged in 2008 with assaulting a female. That case was also dismissed.
N.C. Trooper fired at the drop of a hat…literally www.privateofficer.com
Thomas C. Wetherington, 22, says he was treated unfairly when the North Carolina Highway Patrol dismissed him in August over a lost hat — especially considering that other troopers have done worse things yet kept their jobs.
“Look, we’ve got guys having sex in patrol cars just about every day,” said Wetherington, a trooper since 2007. “Why did I get dismissed when other guys get slaps on the wrist?”
Capt. Everett Clendenin, the patrol’s spokesman, declined to comment on the case last week, citing pending legal action by the fired trooper. In general, he said, a trooper who loses a hat might face disciplinary action, but would not be fired for that alone.
According to Wetherington, it was a blustery, wet night in March when he pulled over a vehicle towing a large boat on U.S. 70. While seizing open containers of alcohol and two loaded pistols from the vehicle’s occupants, the trooper said, he set his hat on top of his patrol car.
He said he heard it blow off during a strong gust, tumbling down the asphalt in the dark.
Wetherington and another trooper later returned and spent about two hours looking for his hat in the ditches along the highway. The only trace he found was the flattened cord with two golden “acorns” that had adorned the top of the hat’s brim.
“I glue my tassels down,” Wetherington said. “How they came off is beyond me, but they had been run over and crushed. So one could deduce from that your hat was run over.”
When he told his supervisor about the lost hat, Wetherington was asked to file a written report so he could be issued a new one. Trooper hats — known as “campaign covers” for the military term used for similar head wear worn by Marine drill instructors — are state property.
“My campaign cover was caught in the wind and blew into the roadway,” Wetherington wrote. “The campaign cover was struck and was blown or dragged to an unknown location.”
About two weeks later, the same driver who Wetherington was ticketing when he lost his hat got stopped again by another state trooper. It turned out the driver had the hat, which he had retrieved from the dark road after Wetherington had left the scene to help another motorist. Although a card with Wetherington’s name and phone number were in the hatband, the driver had not called to say he had it.
The hat was passed on to Wetherington’s boss, according to a written report about the incident from the Highway Patrol.
The hat was observed to be in good condition and did not appear to have been run over as Wetherington had said, the report said.
After Wetherington was questioned further at that point, he admitted he had not been truthful in his initial recollection of the incident, the report said.
Wetherington said in an interview that his boss had intimidated him while questioning him about the matter, and that he was apparently mistaken about the fate of his hat.
“When I last recalled having my hat, it was on my head, but at some point I must have taken it off and set it on the car,” he said. “It’s sort of like when you lose your wallet and look all over for it, only to find it in your pocket. I never intentionally misled anyone.”
On Aug. 4, Wetherington was charged with a violation of the patrol’s code of conduct, which requires troopers to be truthful.
After Wetherington appealed his dismissal, the state Employment Security Commission determined that he did not engage in significant misconduct.
Citing a solid work record, a panel of the Department of Crime Control and Public Safety also reviewed the case and ruled that Wetherington should be reinstated.
So far the Highway Patrol has refused to give Wetherington his job back. He is now awaiting a hearing before a state administrative law judge with the authority to order his reinstatement.
Man pulls grenade during traffic stop www.privateofficer.com
The traffic stop made about 7 a.m. after a blue Dodge Intrepid was spotted “driving erratically westbound on U.S. 60 in the Wickenburg area” was made after the license plate came back reported stolen from the Phoenix area, according to Harold Sanders, spokesman for the Arizona Department of Public Safety.
Sanders said a license-plate check before the traffic stop indicated the theft reported by the Phoenix Police Department. He said the vehicle came to a stop in the parking lot of a McDonald’s restaurant.
According to police reports, the officer approached the vehicle, and while talking with the driver, observed several indicators of impairment. Sanders said the driver was instructed to leave the vehicle, and that is when the suspect, identified as Jose Santos Cruz of El Salvador, turned his back on the officer while still inside of the vehicle and pulled what appeared to be a hand grenade from the waistband of his pants.
Sanders said the DPS officer wrestled Cruz to the ground, which caused the hand grenade to fall. The device did not detonate upon impact, according to police reports.
Sanders said the driver was handcuffed and placed in the back seat of the officer’s vehicle, and the officer instructed bystanders in the parking lot to clear the area. The officer also entered the McDonald’s restaurant and informed employees and customers to evacuate the area.
The Wickenburg police and fire departments and DPS Explosives Ordnance Disposal Unit responded to the scene, Sanders said. He said a perimeter of 300 feet was established around the grenade.
According to police reports, the explosives ordnance unit determined that the device was an actual military-grade “pineapple” hand grenade. Authorities reported “that the device was inert but had the capacity to be made an active device.”
Sanders said the car was confirmed to be stolen from the Phoenix area, and the license plate was also confirmed to be stolen in a separate case. Sanders said the incident is still under investigation, and that Cruz faces charges of driving while under the influence, theft and possession of a stolen license plate, theft and possession of a stolen vehicle, aggravated assault on a police officer and misconduct with a weapon simulated explosive device.
Deputy caught having gay sex during Gay Days www.privateofficer.com
Witnesses at the Royal Plaza Resort told investigators they had witnessed Master deputy Bryan Villella and another man having sex in one of the hotel’s unlocked conference rooms in June. Villella worked off-duty security at that hotel.
Orange County sheriff’s investigators said Villella, 45, violated the agency’s moral conduct policy. His supervisors docked 150 vacation hours, placed him on one-year probation and reassigned him to another beat.
Villella has served the Orange County Sheriff’s Office for 23 years.
Reports show a hotel employee warned the manager that “something may be going on” in a conference room that should have been empty on June 6. The hotel’s night manager, Rachid Bouzriba, went to the Jasmine Bay conference room and discovered two men “acting inappropriately” and in a sexual position.
Bouzriba said “Guys knock it off” and walked out of the room. The witness did not see a uniform or law-enforcement equipment identifying Villella. After an unspecified amount of time, Bouzriba saw Villella sitting in a chair by the front desk.
The sheriff’s office launched the investigation in early October when they were told of the allegations.
In early November, investigators called Villella for an interview, but he asked his union representative to initiate disciplinary procedures. Villella signed the documents on Nov. 5 acknowledging that he violated policy and investigators ceased their probe into the allegations.
However, investigators also based their conclusions on his previous disciplinary history.
Personnel records from 2002 show Villella deposited a $552 check from his ex-wife into his own account instead of applying it to a mortgage payment. His supervisors suspended him for 40 hours without pay.
He had crashed his agency-issued vehicle six times between 1995 and 1988. Officials reprimanded him verbally and in writing several times, as well as suspending him for five hours without pay.
In 1989, he also used his assigned-vehicle during an off-duty job. He was suspended for 40 hours and placed on a six-month probation.
DC Correction officers charged with federal bribery charges www.privateofficer.com
The officers, Thomas Ford, 35, and Quincy Hayes, 32, have been placed on administrative leave and were released on personal recognizance after a brief hearing in the District’s federal court. They are officers at the District’s Correction Treatment Facility (CTF), which is run by the Corrections Corporation of America.
Renee Braxton, 44, a security guard at a museum, was also released on personal recognizance, court records show.
Authorities said that an inmate approached the FBI in October 2008 to report that guards were smuggling contraband into the facility. An undercover FBI employee, pretending to be the brother of an inmate, met with Braxton and Ford in 2008 and early this year and gave them several hundred dollars to smuggle a phone, an iPod and a charger to inmates at the CTF. Ford passed the items to the inmates, the FBI said.
Hayes is accused of accepting a $300 bribe payment in June 2009 to smuggle in an iPod to a CTF inmate, the FBI said in court papers.
Hospital security officer roles expanding www.privateofficer.com
Security officers study the management of aggressive behavior and counter-terrorism.
They are responsible for a surprisingly large number of people who visit a hospital daily and the large number of employees who work there.
Visitors to critical care hospitals are often under stress, faced with a sudden illness or serious accident in the family and unsure about the road ahead for their loved one.
Hospitals are a complex environment and the job of their security guards is more challenging than ever EVER, said Patrick Wade, director of public safety and emergency management at St. Bernardine Medical Center in San Bernardino.
“It is a microcosm of everything going on,” he said.
To take St. Bernardine’s 26-person security force to a higher level of competence, the hospital put each member through a training and certification process developed by the Illinois-based International Association for Healthcare Security and Safety.
The hospital’s training completion rate recently won them the IAHSS designation of as a “Program of Distinction,” shared with only one other hospital in California – San Diego’s Scripps Mercy Hospital.
Some 900 patients and visitors go through the doors of St. Bernardine daily. Each brings with them a different set of emotions and methods for handling stress.
But not all entering hospitals have a valid reason to be there.
Sometimes criminals – who specialize in victimizing hospital visitors and employees – enter for illegal purposes.
A few years ago, someone posing as a clergyman would enter Southland hospitals and steal valuables from purses of employees and hospital guests, said Louie Hernandez, director of security for Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center.
Eventually, the culprit was apprehended in Texas, Hernandez said.
To help counter criminals who specialize in the health care environment, Hernandez helped organize an informal network of hospital security officers, located primarily in Los Angeles County, to exchange descriptions and methods of operation.
But it’s not just street crime that concerns hospital security these days.
Reflecting the current international environment, Hernandez said he obtains alerts on terrorist acts and methods nationwide.
Seven public safety officers at St. Bernardine, and Hernandez at Pomona Valley, have taken California’s terrorism liaison officer course, which deals with all levels of terrorism.
Officers at Pomona Valley use a K9 unit, consisting of four Belgian Malinios, to help them patrol.(One has retired but will be replaced, Hernandez said.)
The dogs are trained in police techniques like crowd control and tracking people, as well as in bomb detection – finding commercial and improvised explosives.
In the bomb detection mode, the dogs are trained to “sit and almost point” to the threatening device. The dogs are taught not to touch the target, since scratching could lead to the detonation of a pressure-sensitive device, Hernandez said.
St. Bernardine public safety officers are also taking emergency management and hazardous material/patient decontamination classes, Wade said.
When an emotional outburst occurs and a security officer is called to the scene, it’s important for them to not escalate the situation, Wade said.
Hospital security officers take classes to learn “how to talk people down.”
They learn things like “never making a promise that can’t be kept” and “never to take what’s being said personally,” he said.
Officers also learn to separate a hostile speaker from his or her audience, which could be family or friends.
Taking away the audience may eliminate the reason to act out, he said.
Because hospital security officers come from diverse backgrounds, consistency of training is important, Wade said.
“You have to not just listen to the words, but what they are not saying…their frustration,” Wade said. “Their acting out may be conveying something else.”
Court rules against mall in security camera case www.privateofficer.com
Timothy Puro leased a booth at Antique Mall at Quechee Gorge Village in 2005 to sell coins and currency and Steven Yoken leased a display booth at the site in 2002 to sell jewelry, according to court documents.
After suffering losses in a burglary on Sept. 7, 2005, Puro and Yoken alleged negligence, fraud and misrepresentation on the part of mall owner, Neal Enterprises Inc., doing business as Quechee Gorge Village, the court said.
In a joint action, both parties were induced to lease display booths based on the mall owner’s misrepresentation of the security system and practices at the mall, they said. “We allege that the safety security of the premises was oversold,” way beyond the reality of what was there, Kaveh Shahi, lawyer for the two plaintiffs said recently.
The high court found the mall was not entitled to a Windsor Superior Court’s summary judgment in favor of the mall owners. The judgment was based on a lease contract clause, known as the exculpatory clause that mall owners said cleared them of liability.
The mall owner had filed a motion for summary judgment in the superior court based in part on a contention that they made no misrepresentations and the plaintiff’s action was barred by the exculpatory clause, the high court said.
In reviewing the Consumer Fraud Act, the high court agreed with the plaintiff’s claim that the contract’s exculpatory clause didn’t rule out the alleged counts of fraud, consumer fraud or negligent misrepresentation in the case. Decisions in other jurisdictions in New York, Massachusetts and Arizona support that result as to the fraud claims, the high court said.
The reversal sends the case to Windsor Superior Court to reconsider the fraud claim in proceedings consistent with the high court’s decision.
The booth holders were consumers since they bought mall space, where mall personnel sold products to the public on leasees’ behalf, Shahi said. “It preserves someone’s right to challenge a transaction they have entered into, in this case … a lease agreement for display of goods at the Antique Mall,” Shahi said of the high court decision.
The ruling left issues in dispute between the parties in the case, Samuel Hoar Jr. attorney for Neal Enterprises Inc. said. “We disagree as to what happened,” Hoar said. There is also lack of agreement as to the legal consequences of what happened Hoar said. “If we are unable to settle the case, those areas of disagreement are going to have to be resolved by a judge and jury,” Hoar said.
After hours on Sept. 7, 2005, thieves broke into the 450 booth mall by prying a rear door open and stole jewelry from the plaintiff’s display booths, the court said.
An alarm sounded and a security company for the mall notified the police, the court said. The thieves fled before police arrived and the goods — valued at $25,293 for Puro and $31,698 for Yoken — were not recovered, the court said.
The plaintiffs said they had been led to believe that the mall had a working camera surveillance and the mall had security cameras in place, and some of them were attached to video recorders, the high court said.
However, images of the thieves were not recorded since security cameras were not operating at the time of the theft, the high court said. The jewelry and coin dealers, signed a pact, which included an exculpatory clause, that said the mall would be cleared from blame in the event of a theft, the high court said. Routine in business, the agreements are often unanimously upheld by courts, justices said.
Before signing the agreement, plaintiffs discussed the mall and its security system with the mall general manager, the high court said.
The manager allegedly told Yoken that the site had “video cameras everywhere,” according to court documents. In a talk with Puro, the manager allegedly said the mall had a state-of-the-art alarm system, and cameras covering every booth at all times.
Key information about security was apparently omitted or misrepresented when the mall leased space, the high court said. Three black-and-white cameras on the ground floor recorded onto a VCR during business hours only, the court said. Representations the mall company made about its security is a key remaining issue in the case, the high court said.
In the one part of their appeal where plaintiffs have not prevailed, the high court rejected Puro and Yoken’s argument that the exculpatory clause was invalid in this instance because it was against public policy or “publicly unacceptable.”
Man robbed as he was dying in hospital ER www.privateofficer.com
PHILADELPHIA PA Dec 2 2009
An educator and community leader became a victim of crime as he lapsed into unconsciousness in the waiting room of a Philadelphia hospital Saturday. Police say as the victim was dying, instead of seeking help, three people saw it as an opportunity to rob him.
Police say in the final moments of his life, 63-year-old Joaquin Rivera was robbed of his wrist watch.
Police records indicate Rivera walked into the Aria Frankford Hospital emergency room at about 10:45 p.m. Saturday complaining of pain in his left arm and torso. As his wait to be treated moved into its second hour, Rivera lost consciousness.
Police say during this time, Richard Atlen and two others, removed Rivera’s watch, passed it around and left the hospital with it.
According to police, a witness who noticed the theft and realized Rivera had apparently stopped breathing, notified hospital officials who rushed him into the emergency room. Rivera was pronounced dead one hour and 19 minutes after arriving at the hospital.
“You go to the hospital for help and you end up dying and get robbed at the same time, you know, it’s pretty said,” said Captain Jack McGinnis of Northeast Detectives.
Alten was taken into custody at the hospital and remains behind bars in lieu of bail. Police say they may release hospital security video in hopes of catching the other two suspects.
Aria Frankford Hospital has released the following statement:
“Due to the pending criminal investigation and citing patient confidentiality, Aria Health is unable to comment with regards to the circumstances surrounding this patient’s death. Aria Health is cooperating fully with the Philadelphia Police Department in connection with the investigation and offers its condolences to the patient’s family.”
Joaquin Rivera was described by friends as a bilingual counselor who dedicated 30 years to students at Olney High School. He was a tireless advocate for keeping Puerto Rican Folk arts alive and recently wrote a song for a documentary. Funeral arrangements for Rivera are pending.
Police crack book stealing gang www.privateofficer.com
Police in Prince George’s County Maryland have secured indictments in an alleged ring of book thieves operating at public and university libraries in the area. A dozen people, several related to each other, are said to have stolen 822 books valued at $87,000. Among the victims were several branches of the Prince George’s public library system, the University of Maryland Baltimore County, and Harford Community College. The thefts have reportedly been going on for the past year.
These thieves did not target the rare book rooms or collectible works, but they did focus on an expensive category – college textbooks. As anyone who has had to purchase these lately can attest, textbooks these days are as crazily priced as a college education. Most of these books cost $100 and up. However, these thieves were hardly becoming rich on the process. Apparently, they weren’t making much more than petty cash, some, evidently, using the money to feed drug habits. They would remove any identifying labels and sell the books to used book stores or online. As such, they were only making pennies on the dollar. These books tend to depreciate faster than an American car when driven out of the dealer’s showroom. Unlike the more sophisticated thieves who operate in rare book rooms, this group made their money on volume, not margin.
Public libraries in the Prince George’s County system allow their patrons to take out up to 75 books at a time. This group was generally “borrowing” close to the limit, but not returning them. That number may need to be reviewed as it’s hard to imagine why anyone would need to take out 75 books at a time.
Mary Eilerman, Chief of Harford Community College Security noted, “Ironically, there were books on ethics and philosophy.” Unfortunately, it is unlikely any of the thieves stopped to read these books before they sold them. Glenn Ivey, local States Attorney, noted, “Pardon the pun, but they [the grand jury] really wanted to throw the book at this group.” As of the time of the indictments, none of the stolen books had been recovered. The defendants are expected to go on trial sometime next year, though one would imagine in a case like this, if they are responsible, we will see some plea deals before that day arises. Technically, they could be sentenced for as long as 15 years in prison, though that seems way out of line with other book theft cases.
Social networks identify sex offenders, delete 3500 accounts www.privateofficer.com
At a press conference, Cuomo said Facebook has disabled accounts held by 2,782 registered sex offenders and News Corp.’s MySpace has disabled accounts linked to 1,796 registered sex offenders. Some of the sex offenders were on both Web sites.
Cuomo said many of the offenders were violating their parole by being on social-networking sites and are prohibited from interacting with young people.
“Whether it’s a playground on the street corner or a playground in cyberspace, it doesn’t matter,” Cuomo said.
Under the state’s Electronic Securing and Targeting of Online Predators Act passed last year, registered sex offenders are required to register their emails and other online identifiers with the state.
The law sets mandatory restrictions on a sex offender’s access to the Internet where the offender’s victim was a minor, the Internet was used to commit the offense or they are among the highest-level offenders.
Cuomo said Facebook and MySpace are the online social-networking sites who have sought access to the information compiled under the e-Stop law.
His office is sending letters to 17 other social-networking sites encouraging them to take advantage of the data gathered under the law, including classmates.com and Friendster, Cuomo said.
Joe Sullivan, Facebook’s assistant general counsel, said the Web site voluntarily adopted a policy to not allow registered sex offenders on the site. He called New York’s law the model for other states and the nation.
In a statement, MySpace Chief Security Officer Hemanshu Nigam said, “We applaud and support Attorney General Cuomo’s leadership in his ground breaking use of e-STOP to make the Internet a safer place. MySpace utilized e-STOP to complement technology we had already put in place to remove registered sex offenders from our community as part of a comprehensive approach to protecting Internet users from predators.”
MySpace and Facebook agreed in 2007 to adopt new procedures to protect children from sexual predators.
