Archive
Officer arrested in jailbreak plan www.privateofficer.com
Alfred Casas, 30, was arrested on the job without incident and is charged with providing implements for escape — deadly weapon, which is a second-degree felony, officials said. The officer has been with the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office for three years, said Roger Dovalina, deputy chief of the detention division. Casas’ bail was set at $15,000.
Dovalina said he is trying to restore confidence in his officers because their morale is low after hearing about the incident. He said he told them “to keep their heads up” and that “one bad apple” is not a reflection of every officer in the division.
A fifth inmate also has been charged in the escape plot. All five unidentified inmates were facing long sentences and high bail amounts. They are being held in separate high-security cells, Dovalina said.
Since sheriff’s deputies and the district attorney’s office still are investigating the incident, he said, many details couldn’t be released. It wasn’t disclosed if investigators are looking for any other suspects or exactly how Casas may have benefited from helping the inmates.
Dovalina said the men had been planning the escape since early September and that they were able to saw off a metal bracket on a window in an outside recreation area. If the men had been able to proceed with the plan, the deputy chief said, the only extra line of security keeping them from freedom was a metal screen covering the window.
The plan was thwarted Saturday when officials found two 30-foot ropes, dyed prisoner clothing and a hacksaw blade. The hand-braided ropes were made from strips of bedsheets and blankets. A few cells down, authorities found dyed clothing and a 5-inch hacksaw blade. Officials said the inmates used teabags to dye their jail-issued orange jumpsuits dark brown. Authorities also found a broken window and a brick that had been chipped away.
Up until Saturday’s incident, the jail did not have a “set procedure to check officers” for foul play, Dovalina said. Now, he said, the jail will implement “daily inspections targeting the entire facility.”
“We want the public to know we perform our jobs in a professional manner,” Dovalina said. “We have a case here that doesn’t happen very often. We will continue the investigation and take all steps to ensure safety and security.”
BE A FAN! Facebook/privateofficer.com
JOIN US! http://www.privateofficer.com
Alabama teacher arrested for sexual abuse of student www.privateofficer.com
Marcus Deron Woodham, 37, of Brundidge, was arrested Monday and charged with first-degree sexual abuse, according to Barbour County Sheriff LeRoy Upshaw.
Evidence uncovered by Barbour County Investigator Sgt. David Morris is being turned over to the Pike County Sheriff’s Office in reference to allegations made against Woodham while he
was a teacher in the Troy City Schools, according to the Dothan Eagle report.
Authorities said they are troubled by the unusually high number of sex crimes worked by the Barbour County Sheriff’s Department this year.
The Barbour County arrest is the second case to come forward this week involving a teacher accused of having sexual relations with a student. Amanda Watkins, a 38-year-old Sheffield Junior High School teacher, was charged with rape and sodomy involving a 15-year-old student.
BE A FAN! Facebook/privateofficer.com
JOIN US! http://www.privateofficer.com
Delta passenger sets off firecrackers on plane www.privateofficer.com
Delta Air Lines spokeswoman Susan Elliott said the passenger was subdued immediately. She had no details on the injuries.
One passenger from the flight was taken to the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor, hospital spokeswoman Tracy Justice said. She didn’t know the person’s condition, or whether the person was a man or woman. She referred all inquiries to the FBI.
An FBI spokeswoman in Detroit said the incident is being investigated.
The firecrackers went off as Northwest Airlines Flight 253, an Airbus 330 carrying 278 passengers, was arriving in Detroit from Amsterdam. Delta and Northwest have merged.
J.P. Karas, 55, of Wyandotte, Mich., said he was driving down a road near the airport and saw a Delta jet at the end of the runway, surrounded by police cars, an ambulance, a bus and some TV trucks.
“I don’t ever recall seeing a plane on that runway ever before and I pass by there frequently,” he said.
Karas said it was difficult to tell what was going on, but it looked like the front wheel was off the runway.
Fundraiser turns into nightclub brawl www.privateofficer.com
Accounts of what happened at the club are disputed, but in the end club security personnel and then police officers had to clear 100 or more people from the Cantina Restaurant and Bar on Fourth Street downtown, abruptly shutting down what organizers had intended as a positive, helpful occasion.
“I’m pretty disgusted with the whole thing,” general manager Greg Chrisman said Wednesday.
“We were trying to do something nice for this family, and it’s unfortunate that this happened,” he said.
It was the second time that Chrisman and his staff had stepped forward to help the family of Todd and Alma Crowder and their four adult children.
The first was after Alma Crowder, 42, died of injuries from a Sept. 10 vehicle crash that also injured her two sons, Ryan Crowder, the driver, and Jesse Crowder, 24.
Ryan Crowder, 22, though critically injured, was later charged with vehicular manslaughter in the case. Authorities said he had methamphetamine and cocaine in his system at the time of the collision, and was driving on a suspended license.
Jesse Crowder was arrested late Tuesday in connection with the Cantina disturbance after he turned combative and resisted police efforts to break up the crowd, authorities and club personnel said.
Chrisman’s promoter, Anthony Merciari, has been friends with the family for eight or nine years and proposed the initial fundraiser on the Cantina’s second floor to help defray Alma Crowder’s burial costs, he said.
When one of her daughters, Britney Crowder, died in Alaska five days ago of what her sister said was flu, Merciari knew financial help for the family was more important than ever, especially given the brothers’ medical costs, he said.
In addition to bringing Britney’s remains home, the family had to send her sister, Marjorie, and father, Todd, to Alaska to identify her body because her fiance by law could not do so, Merciari said.
While the first fundraiser was a mellow gathering of friends and family members remembering the life of Alma Crowder and raising what Chrisman said was “a significant amount” of money for the family, the second event on Tuesday night drew a younger crowd.
There was a DJ providing music for about 120 people in attendance, in addition to the regular crowd downstairs enjoying the Cantina’s Taco Tuesday, Chrisman said.
Britney Crowder was in her early 20s, Merciari said, and many of those attending were young.
The atmosphere was charged by 10 p.m., Chrisman said, so he went through the gathering and asked that all of those under 18 be sent home. Then shortly before midnight, a young, intoxicated person in the crowd began making a scene and apparently had an argument with somebody. When the club’s security agents asked him to settle down, he went out on the deck and pulled down his pants, exposing himself, Chrisman said.
“I said, ‘This guy’s got to go,’” Chrisman said Wednesday.
But some family members objected. Others simply wanted to know what was going on. At some point, a fight broke out. Others were yelling and screaming, he said.
Still others were trying to calm the situation, but fights continued to break out for various reasons, Chrisman and Merciari said.
“It just absolutely snowballed,” Merciari said. Within minutes, “it was just of pile of people,” he said.
Chrisman had three security people on duty, far fewer than on regular club nights, but happened to have the owner of his security company on the premises to talk over New Year’s Eve staffing needs. Still, the crowd was too much for them to handle, he said, and he had Merciari call police.
During the melee, Jesse Crowder, who is still recovering from multiple fractures sustained in the September crash, became combative, Chrisman and Merciari said.
Police said Crowder punched one officer in the chest, then head-butted another before he was subdued. His arrest further fueled what police said was a “hostile and belligerent” crowd because relatives were concerned about his injuries as he was wrestled over to a patrol car and put inside.
Jesse Crowder was arrested on suspicion of fighting in public and two counts of suspected assault on an officer.
Authorities, assisted by a police dog, closed off a block of Fourth Street to help disperse the crowd, including those forced to leave the first floor main restaurant because of the chaos, Chrisman said.
Jesse Crowder, reached Wednesday night, said the night’s events were caused by an unknown group of men at the bar who started fighting on the dance floor.
“I got on the DJ’s microphone and said everyone needs to calm down and we need to exit the building slowly,” Crowder said.
Crowder was walking down the stairs to leave when someone pushed him against the wall, he said. He said he initially fought back until he realized it was a police officer.
“Whoever was fighting, I have no idea who they were,” Crowder said. “But they didn’t end up going to jail, I was the only one who went to jail.”
The police restraint reinjured his leg, which was still healing from the September crash, Crowder said. His family is going to file a complaint with the police department, and several bystanders offered to give statements about how the police treated Crowder, he said.
Chrisman said such altercations are rare, although there was a period about a decade ago when the club, under previous ownership, had a reputation for fights and drunkenness.
The Cantina hasn’t been on the radar of police, said Santa Rosa Police Sgt. Mike Clark. “I patrol that area and we don’t see many fights down there,” Clark said.
Cantina operators were cited for selling alcohol to a minor in August 2008, but other than that the bar’s record is clean, said Tony Carrancho, a supervising investigator with the Alcohol Beverage Control department.
The Santa Rosa Main Street Association, a group aimed at bringing more foot traffic downtown, once tried to get bars to report repeatedly rowdy customers to each other and ban them from neighborhood businesses. The group has since dissolved.
“We haven’t received a large number of problems with downtown establishments recently,” said Clark, the police sergeant.
Carrancho said the department hasn’t handled many violations from downtown businesses since the Seven Ultra Lounge and Restaurant on Seventh Street closed in May after a history of fights and other problems.
“Ultra Lounge was a big draw for (police) services,” Carrancho said.
At a pub across the street from the Cantina, bartender Ryan Walker said the Cantina draws a rowdier crowd than other businesses in the area.
“It definitely wasn’t the first time it’s happened,” Walker said of the fight.
Walker, 24, said that his bar, Stout Brothers Irish Pub and Restaurant, attracts a mellow crowd of regulars. Still, he breaks up about one fight per month.
“It’s just something that happens when people drink,” Walker said.
Chrisman said he keeps tight control over who gets served and how many people are allowed in the club. He is participating in development of a Downtown Hospitality Zone program intended to prevent trouble-makers from frequenting downtown clubs and bars.
“I’d rather do good business for 10 years than do great business for one year and get shut down,” he said.
BE A FAN! Facebook/privateofficer.com
Join PRIVATE OFFICER
INTERNATIONAL
Shotgun toting robber holds up armored car www.privateofficer.com
ASPEN HILL, Md.Dec 24 2009
According to police a man held up an armored truck outside an Aspen Hill bank Wednesday morning and then vanished.
Officers said that the man was carrying a shotgun as he approached the driver of an armored car outside of a Wachovia Bank in the 3800 block of International Drive.
The suspect is described as a black male, 25 to 30 years old, between 6 feet and 6 feet, 3 inches tall, with a heavy build and a goatee. He was wearing a dark shirt and blue jeans.
The man fled with an undisclosed amount of cash. No one was injured.
Anyone with any information about the incident or the suspect is asked to call the Montgomery County Police Robbery Section at 240-773-5100, or submit a tip anonymously at 1-866-411-TIPS.
BE A FAN! Facebook/privateofficer.com
Join PRIVATE OFFICER
INTERNATIONAL
Security-bouncer stabbed breaking up fight www.privateofficer.com
A 29-year-old Elyria man was stabbed in the leg and chest yesterday morning after trying to break up a fight inside Benchwarmers Sports Bar and Grille. One man has been arrested in connection with the stabbing, while someone who fired a gun during the fight is still on the run from police.
Officers were called to 11 Lake Ave. around 2:30 a.m. after a fight broke out in a hallway that connects Benchwarmers to Mardi Gras Lounge. Brian Helke, who works as a security-bouncer at Benchwarmers, tried to break up the fight, but was punched in the eye and knocked to the ground, according to an Elyria police report.
After the fight broke up, Helke was approached by Frederick Ferris, who began fighting him and ended up on top of him. Ferris allegedly pulled out a knife and stabbed Helke in the chest and leg before fleeing out a Lake Avenue exit, police said.
Ferris was stopped a few minutes later as he was walking on Middle Avenue near Ely Square. No weapons were found on him, but a black-handled kitchen knife was later discovered at the north end of Ely Square across from the Lake Avenue intersection, police said.
Ferris was charged with felonious assault and tampering with evidence.
Later on, officers were called back to the bar after workers found a shell casing and a handgun magazine. A bullet hole was also found in the wall, which police believe was fired during the fight. A gun was found discarded in a sewer on Washington Avenue, outside of Mardi Gras Lounge, police said. The gun, which is listed as stolen through the Lorain County Sheriff’s Office, was taken from an Eaton Township home in December 2008.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Elyria Police Department at (440) 323-3302.
BE A FAN! Facebook/privateofficer.com
Join PRIVATE OFFICER
INTERNATIONAL
Argument at assisted-living facility leads to murder www.privateofficer.com
An argument in an assisted-living residence at 270 E. Second St. between two men in wheelchairs turned violent in the early hours of Sat., Dec. 19, and one of them stabbed the other to death, police said.
The suspect, Felipe Rivera-Cruz, 51, plunged a folding knife four times into the chest of the victim, Ronal Garcia, 24, at 4:12 a.m. in a second-floor hallway of the four-story Barrier Free Living residence between Avenues C and D, according to the complaint filed by the Manhattan district attorney. Garcia was taken to Beth Israel Medical Center with several other stab wounds in addition to the four fatal ones, and was declared dead soon after.
The stabbing, which staff members saw in progress on a surveillance monitor, followed an argument an hour or so earlier when the victim had made fun of the suspect, according to reports. Police also responded to the earlier call, but said it was just an argument with no injuries and neither party wanted to file charges. However, a New York Times report quoted a witness as saying the suspect had sustained a cut on his forehead during the earlier incident, and the victim had phoned his family in the Bronx between the first and second calls.
A security guard, who got to the scene too late to prevent the stabbing, observed the folding knife in the suspect’s hand, took it from him, and then called 911, the complaint says.
The nonprofit Barrier Free Living residence, operated under contract to the city, is one of the few that are completely accessible to wheelchairs. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeless Services said the city is investigating the circumstances of the stabbing.
Rivera-Cruz was held on charges of second-degree murder and third-degree criminal possession of a weapon pending a Dec. 24 court appearance
BE A FAN! Facebook/privateofficer.com
Join PRIVATE OFFICER
INTERNATIONAL
Wal-Mart settles with girl fondled in SC www.privateofficer.com
The State reported Thursday that Wal-Mart agreed last week to pay a girl an undisclosed sum after she was fondled by an employee who was a registered sex offender in 2004 at a store in Orangeburg.
The newspaper reported that Wal-Mart began conducting criminal background checks on new hires at its stores within weeks of that incident.
A spokeswoman for Wal-Mart’s corporate headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., Daphne Moore, would not discuss the Dec. 16 settlement on Wednesday. But Moore said the matter has been resolved.
The family’s attorney, David Massey of Columbia, said he’s glad the lawsuit has been resolved.
BE A FAN! Facebook/privateofficer.com
Join PRIVATE OFFICER
INTERNATIONAL
Security officer assaulted in robbery www.privateofficer.com
Brett Davis/Staff
PRIVATE OFFICER NEWS
NETWORK
http://www.privateofficer.com
Police responded to an incident at a local dollar store and say that three people were arrested Wednesday after a robbery.
Police said that the three are accused of stealing from a west side Dollar General Store.
Officers responded to the store at around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday and found a security officer in a battle with several people.
Investigators said that two men and one juvenile walked into the store at 6901 North Mesa, and the two men tried stealing a few items.
When approached by a security officer, the group began assaulting the officer and tried to flee.
All three were arrested and now face robbery charges.
Police have not yet released their identity.
BE A FAN! Facebook/privateofficer.com
Join PRIVATE OFFICER
INTERNATIONAL
Police shoot-kill man attacking bounty hunters www.privateofficer.com
The 29-year-old Cleveland man, who police did not identify, was taken to Huron Hospital and pronounced dead at 5:20 p.m.
The officer who shot him, 24-year-old Aaron Petitt, was treated for what police described as a stab wound and released from MetroHealth Medical Center.
Police policy requires that the officer, with the department for two years, be placed on temporary leave while the shooting is investigated.
The shooting happened about 4:15 p.m. in the 12800 block of Signet Avenue.
Police got a call about a man being chased by men with guns, said Sgt. Keith Campbell, a police spokesman.
At least three officers, including Petitt, arrived and found that the armed men were bounty hunters trying to capture a man wanted on a warrant.
The man had entered a home and barricaded himself in a room. Petitt and a bounty hunter tried to use a board to force open the door.
Police said the man forced the board out from between the door and the jam. The board hit Petitt, who also was stabbed in the foot, police said.
Two other officers also were injured during the struggle, Campbell said.
The officers were taken to MetroHealth, too. Their names and conditions were not available. But Campbell said their injuries were not life-threatening.
The department’s Use of Non-Deadly Force Investigation Team is reviewing the shooting. The team includes the officers in charge of the homicide and internal affairs units along with at least one investigator working for the Cuyahoga County coroner.
Their findings will be presented to City Prosecutor Victor Perez. City policy gives Perez 90 days to decide whether the officer’s actions were justified.
Cincinnati police officer killed in Afghanistan www.privateofficer.com
Hundreds attended the visitation Tuesday morning for Tech Sgt. Anthony C. “Tony” Campbell, who was killed while trying to disarm an improvised explosive device last week. The Air Force Tech Sgt. was serving in Afghanistan as an explosive ordinance disposal specialist.
Campbell, 35, had been serving as a Cincinnati police officer for just a few weeks before he was deployed.
“He was my best friend and a wonderful husband and father,” said his widow, Emily Campbell.
Campbell’s statements came from a program given to those who attended the visitation at Florence Baptist Church at Mt. Zion.
“He dedicated his life to his country,” Campbell’s statement continued.
Hundreds upon hundreds stood in line for a chance to express their sympathy for the family.
The 1992 Boone County high school graduate had his mother sign his enlistment papers at the age of 17 so he could join the Air Force.
In 2009 he became a Cincinnati police officer and served at downtown’s district one headquarters before he was deployed to Afghanistan.
In an additional statement Emily Campbell thanked the community for their support at this most difficult time.
“On behalf of the Campbell family I would like to express my deepest gratitude and appreciation for the outpouring of love and support we have received over the last week. The love that has been shown for my husband, Anthony, myself, and our grieving family has gone beyond my imagination,” Campbell said.
Campbell also leaves behind three children.
His 2-year-old son saluted his father before the service began.
During the funeral, Campbell was remembered by his best friend, Chris Webster.
“Anthony Campbell Junior was a father, a husband, a son, a grandson, a brother, an uncle and a friend,” said Webster, Campbell’s Best Friend. “He was a union brother to two of the biggest families in Cincinnati. The Cincinnati Police Department and the Plumbers and Pipe fitters Local 392 and a member to an even bigger family the United States Air Force. I’ve known Tony for 24 years and trust me when I say Tony was doing exactly what he wanted to do.”
Cincinnati Police Chief Tom Streicher also paid tribute to Campbell.
“Tony put himself in harms way so that other people could be protected. Other people in a community much larger that what we experience here in the Greater Cincinnati area in fact his community was the entire world and I think that’s something that speaks volume about his character, his tenacity and about his commitment to duty,” said Chief Tom Streicher of Cincinnati Police. “In my estimation, each and everyone one of us owe him a debt of gratitude for his loyal service to his community and to his country.”
Air Force commanders posthumously awarded Campbell the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, and the Combat Action Medal.
Tech Sgt. Campbell was escorted to the Veterans Cemetery in Williamstown where he was laid to rest.
“Tony Campbell was a great American, Tony Campbell is a hero in our minds, and he will live in our hearts forever,” said Streicher.
Pot store guard fired for being “over aggressive” www.privateofficer.com
The dispensary owner said he was let go for being “over-aggressive and scary.” The dispensary’s owner said Earth Cann has hired two new guards who are “nice and professional.”
Former security guard George Covarrubias was hired to keep an eye on the parking lot of Earth Cann Wellness Center in Lake Forest Here he’s shown outside the dispensary in October.
Club owner Shannon Saccullo immediately posted warning signs – telling club members that marijuana prescriptions must remain in a sealed bag until they are taken home – and hired Covarrubias to enforce the dispensary’s rules.
In a short time Covarrubias made sure there was no smoking and loitering around Earth Cann or other businesses. He stopped “drug deals,” he said. He also developed a rapport with nearby businesses and introduced himself, asking for their worries and input.
Covarrubias said he suspended about eight people from use of the club – including one he characterizes as a good customer.
Covarrubias said he also called police when it seemed that violations of the zero tolerance policy were taking place outside his area of patrol.
In one case Covarrubias said he caught a club member packing a bowl of marijuana and smoking it.
“He buys a quarter pound at a time and at $300 an ounce, he spends $1,200 each time,” said Covarrubias. “I set high standards for the place and was professional,” he said. “They treated me like I was an old gang banger. I got spit on, almost got knocked down by speeding cars and got flipped off.”
Covarrubias said he is disappointed by his removal.
Saccullo said she received countless complaints about Covarrubias’ aggressive behavior.
“People were coming into the club saying ‘your security guard is really obsessed,’” she said. “I told him to mellow out and be nice to people. He was not approachable and polite. I want people to have a positive experience in the club and not to be hassled.”
Since November police have not gotten reports of any problems associated with the dispensary.
Vickie Simpson, executive director of Us Too Center which focuses on special needs children, is familiar with the dispensary and located in the neighboring business park.
“Before the security guards people would speed through the parking lot and we saw multiple drug transaction right in front of our door,” said Simpson. “Now we have no problems at all.”
Earth Cann’s membership has grown to more than 2,500 now, almost 1,000 more since late October.
In November the dispensary won a lawsuit against its landlord, which tried to evict the business, when a judge rejected the landlord’s argument that the dispensary should be forced to close because it allegedly violated a city zoning rule.
David Welch, an attorney who represented Earth Cann, called Superior Court judge’s ruling a victory in the medical marijuana battle.
City officials – who on Sept. 1 announced that complaints had been filed against 35 people associated with 14 dispensaries.– said the tenant-landlord dispute will have no affect on the city’s legal efforts to close down dispensaries citywide.
“If the landlord takes action to remove the tenant and they are removed, that’s one less dispensary the city would have to close,” said Jeff Dunn, a partner with Best, Best & Krieger, representing the city in its legal action against the dispensaries.
“The city has taken legal action to close all storefronts in Lake Forest. But if the landlord doesn’t do it, it won’t change what the city will do. Nothing has happened that will affect the city’s process to move forward.”
Dunn said all dispensaries – now more than 20 – could be shut down by early next year.
But Saccullo remains optimistic and hopes the city will agree to regulate a few of the dispensaries that a re running legitimate businesses.
“Things are great,” said Saccullo adding that club members are bringing in cans for the needy for the holidays. “I have a book of 100 testimonials of what medical marijuana is doing for people. I’ll be the poster child for how a business liker this should be run. I’m very proud of it.”
BE A FAN! Facebook/privateofficer.com
Join PRIVATE OFFICER
INTERNATIONAL
Blufton teacher charged with sexual misconduct with minor www.privateofficer.com
The 36-year-old former Bluffton-Harrison schools teacher Tracey Pace faces sexual misconduct charges.
Police in Bluffton say Pace performed sexual acts on a teenager from January to March in 2007.
She was not a teacher at the time.
Pace is also charged with sending pornographic pictures to a minor in 2007.
Pace has been arrested and is being held in the Wells County Jail on $30,000 bond.
Pace is on administrative leave from her teaching position.
BE A FAN! Facebook/privateofficer.com
Join PRIVATE OFFICER
INTERNATIONAL
Florida cop busted for DUI accident www.privateofficer.com
But that goal and his law enforcement career were endangered by his arrest this weekend on charges that the off-duty officer drunkenly crashed into two different vehicles, then drove away.
Green, 30, was arrested early Saturday on charges of driving under the influence/crash, DUI involving property damage and two counts of leaving the scene of a crash involving property damage.
Both incidents took place on Fourth Street N about 10 p.m. Friday, according to St. Petersburg police.
The first crash took place as Green attempted to pass a vehicle near the 3500 block of Fourth Street.
Both vehicles were headed north. Green drove over the raised concrete median while passing a 2009 Honda sedan, police said, and struck the driver’s side mirror of that vehicle.
The Honda’s driver was not injured, but police said the officer didn’t stop after the collision.
Instead, Green continued north on Fourth. Police said Green’s vehicle struck another vehicle at 38th Avenue N and Fourth Street. Police said no one was injured in that crash, but that Green kept going.
After the incidents, officers searched the area and found Green’s damaged vehicle parked outside his Shore Acres home.
Green, who was off duty, was still inside the vehicle, according to police. His blood-alcohol level tested at 0.179 and 0.173. Florida law presumes a driver is impaired at 0.08 or greater.
He was arrested and booked into the Pinellas County jail about 3:30 a.m. Saturday. He could not be reached for comment Monday.
Green, a graduate of Lakewood High School and the University of South Florida, has been a patrol officer since November 2005. His personnel file shows nothing but positive reviews.
His file also showed that he has never been disciplined by the department. Green was involved in three crashes while driving his police cruiser, according to records, but only one incident was declared “preventable.” He received a warning for that incident.
According to police, he was placed on administrative duty pending an internal investigation. After the investigation, a chain-of-command board will determine any disciplinary action.
Shoplifter captured after stabbing Wal-Mart agent www.privateofficer.com
Officers learned that a security guard, Terry Edward Counts, of Vanceboro, had been cut by a man trying to take shoes from the store. Counts told officers he followed the suspect out of the store, and the man turned around and attacked him, cutting his arm repeatedly.
The suspect fled the scene on foot, and thanks to citizens who provided officers with information on his movements, police pursued him across Highways 17 and 70 to Egret Circle in the Woodland Crossing Apartment complex. As part of the New Bern Police Department’s Holiday Task Force, numerous officers were already in the immediate area, which allowed for a rapid response time. The suspect, Randolph Jones, Jr., of 728 Cedar St., was apprehended within 10 minutes of the call to police.
Counts was taken to Carolina East Medical Center and then airlifted to Pitt Memorial Hospital for treatment.
Jones has a criminal history that includes larceny, assault, trespassing, common law robbery, shoplifting and felony breaking and entering. He was charged with Larceny and Assault with a Deadly Weapon with Intent to Kill Inflicting Serious Injury.
He was placed in the Craven County jail under a $150,000 bond and scheduled to make a first appearance in court December 28, 2009.
Follow Us On Twitter/privateofficer
BE A FAN! Facebook/privateofficer.com
Join PRIVATE OFFICER
INTERNATIONAL
$5 Million taken in armored car robbery www.privateofficer.com
The spokesman for the FBI office in San Juan, Harry Rodriguez, said that the six or seven criminals came on Monday morning to the company facilities, where they overpowered several guards charged with the custody of the vehicle’s shipment.
The robbers unloaded the money and fled in the vehicle they arrived in without injuring any of the Ranger American employees.
Police chief Jose Figueroa Sancga said that he will cooperate with the FBI to solve the case as quickly as possible, noting that practically 100 percent of armored car robberies in Puerto Rico end with the arrests of the criminals.
BE A FAN! Facebook/privateofficer.com
Join PRIVATE OFFICER
INTERNATIONAL
Firefighter arrested for making 48 hoax calls www.privateofficer.com
A woman arrested Friday for making 48 phony 911 calls to county police dispatchers was a volunteer firefighter in southeast Weld County, according to court records released Monday.
Caryn Sodaro, 44, lives in Lochbuie, but she was a volunteer firefighter in Hudson. She told investigators that after she made the phony suicide and ambulance calls, she listened to the law enforcement responses on one of the department’s police radios.
Most of the phony calls in the past few months were threats of suicide, and Sodaro told investigators that she is “depressed and thinks of suicide,” according to court affidavits.
Following her arrest, Sodaro was booked into the Weld County Jail on charges of attempting to influence a public official, false reporting to authorities and resisting arrest.
Sheriff’s investigator Terie Rinne documented the 48 calls that Sodaro is accused of making, including:
» The first call on Aug. 4, when a woman said she had suicidal thoughts and she was calling from the Carbon Valley Recreation Center in Frederick. Although they were able to track the telephone to a Frederick address, she used a prepaid cell phone, which made it almost impossible to locate the owner.
» Sept. 6: A woman called to say she was calling to tell the police where to find her body. She said she was between Lochbuie and Hudson and was going to step in front of the first train to come by.
» Sept. 8: “A female called in, saying she was 16 years old and suicidal and then hung up. She was never located.”
»Oct. 10: A woman called dispatch to say she was at a gas station in Lochbuie and needed an ambulance. She was not located.
»Oct. 17: A woman called dispatch to report that her mother was not breathing and they were driving on Colo. 52 near Hudson. She said her name was Abby.
»Nov. 3: A female caller said she was in a church parking lot in Firestone “to blow her head off, and if she can’t do it before the police get there, she is going to make them do it for her.” She was never located.
The 48 calls sent police or ambulances scurrying to various south Weld County towns, including Fort Lupton, Lochbuie, Hudson, Firestone and Frederick.
After many of the calls, the caller’s phone number suddenly changed. Sheriff’s deputies and Fort Lupton and Lochbuie police found that the new telephone had been purchased at a store in Brighton. From that store, they traced the cell phone to Sodaro.
On Friday, Lochbuie Officer Brock Williamson and Weld Sheriff’s Deputy Nick Armstrong executed a search warrant at Sodaro’s home. When they tried to arrest her, the court records show that she fought with the officers and they “brought her to the ground” and handcuffed her.
They said they found the cell phone that was used in some of the calls in her bedroom.
During questioning, Sodaro said she was aware police were trying to track the phone, and that’s why she recently bought a new one. She also said she shut off her phone at night so it couldn’t be tracked to her home.
Also during that interrogation, Sodaro said “she utilized the (radio) packset she got from the Hudson Fire Department to monitor the law enforcement responses she got to her calls.”
Hudson Fire Chief Johnny Blackston said Monday night Sodaro has been suspended from the fire department. He said she’d been a volunteer on the department for more than three years.
BE A FAN! Facebook/privateofficer.com
Join PRIVATE OFFICER
INTERNATIONAL
Three friends guilty in Wal-Mart employee murder www.privateofficer.com
Timothy Smith, Anthony Howe and Amber Talbot, who pleaded guilty to murder and conspiracy in the October 2008 death of 25-year-old Christopher Gray, sat at adjoining tables in court as the victim’s family members tearfully remembered him and berated his killers.
“Just remember that night,” said David Kemp, 33, Gray’s brother. “I hope it eats you and eats you and eats you until can’t take it (any) longer.”
Smith and Howe each got 40 years to life and Talbot 25 to 50 years for taking the Groton, Vt., man to a mobile home under the pretext of watching movies. There, Smith, 24, and Howe, 19, who are cousins, stabbed and strangled him as they stood around a campfire.
Gray, an aspiring auto mechanic whose buoyant personality helped him overcome a low IQ, attention deficit disorder and a speech impediment, became a target after wooing Talbot, 18, who also worked at the Woodsville Walmart.
Her boyfriend, Michael Robie, 19, became enraged when he heard about it and plotted revenge, enlisting the other three from his cell. Robie, who was heard discussing the attack in tape-recorded telephone calls from jail, has pleaded guilty to assault and conspiracy.
He is awaiting sentencing.
On the night Gray went missing, Walmart surveillance video showed the three picking him up after work at the Woodsville store, before they drove to Talbot’s home. “He was only there because he wanted you to be his friend,” his father, Michael Gray, told them Monday.
Talbot hung her head, her brown hair falling in her face, as Gray’s “mom,” legal guardian Annie Crowley, 38, of Groton, Vt., chided her as the one who lured Gray.
“Are you more than just a stupid girl that who caught up with the wrong crowd?” she told Talbot, standing at a podium in the hushed courtroom. “I think so. I believe all the young men involved are your victims.”
Crowley, who had been his guardian for about two years before his death, broke down in tears as she read her statement. “How am I supposed to live with myself, knowing that I was his guardian? I was supposed to be looking out for him,” she said.
Shirley Kingsbury, Gray’s aunt, stood by the podium as Assistant Attorney General Jeffery Strelzin read her statement for her.
“You are despicable human beings,” he read from her statement. “My heart is broken forever.”
Smith, who had confessed to the killing in a handwritten letter to Gray’s family after the slaying, apologized again Monday.
“I see Chris every time I try to sleep. No matter how many times I say I’m sorry, I can’t bring him back. But I wish I could. That night, I should’ve told Chris what we planned on doing, and not to come,” Smith said.
Before the sentencings, Gray’s family and friends threw an appreciation luncheon for police and prosecutors from Vermont and New Hampshire who cracked the case.
A dozen uniformed officers and plainclothes detectives received lapel pins from Crowley in an informal ceremony before sitting down to a buffet lunch at a community organization’s office in nearby Wells River, Vt.
“It was my honor to work on this case,” said Assistant New Hampshire Attorney General Lucy Carrillo, as she stepped up to have Crowley pin her.
“We just felt it was important that they be recognized for the work they put into it,” said Crowley. “I felt Chris would have appreciated that and would have wanted us to be grateful,” she said
BE A FAN! Facebook/privateofficer.com
Join PRIVATE OFFICER
INTERNATIONAL
Security helps nab burglar in the act www.privateofficer.com
Athens Police arrested Nicole Anne Chavez, 26, of 19260 Airfield St., Lot 54 in Athens on a charge of third-degree burglary, records show.
A security guard at Oakview Apartments on U.S. 31 North saw two people carrying copper from the construction site about midnight and approached them, said Lt. Floyd Johnson. One of the suspects fled in a vehicle and the other fled on foot, prompting the guard to call police, Johnson said.
A few hours later, Officer Neal Muse saw Chavez walking on North Jefferson Street and stopped her because she fit the description of the suspect described running from Oakview Apartments, he said.
Muse and Lt. Trevor Harris questioned Chavez, and she admitted taking copper from the apartments, Johnson said.
She was transferred to the Limestone County Jail, where she remained in lieu of posting a $2,500 bond, records show.
BE A FAN! Facebook/privateofficer.com
Join PRIVATE OFFICER
INTERNATIONAL
Pierce County deputies ambushed, kill gunman www.privateofficer.com
The officers killed the gunman before they were rushed to the hospital. One was listed in stable condition, the other was in critical condition in the intensive-care unit.
Sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer said the sergeant and a deputy were shot at around 8:45 p.m. Monday while responding to an altercation between David E. Crable and his brother near Eatonville, a rural community in the Cascade foothills. The home is about 15 miles west of Mount Rainier National Park and 50 miles south of Seattle.
Crable, 35, shot the two officers before he was killed when they returned fire, Troyer said, adding that the gunman has a history of “terrorizing” his family. The names of the officers were not immediately released.
Troyer said the officers were met at the door by Crable’s brother, Troyer said. When the deputies entered the house, Crable opened fire from upstairs, hitting one of the officers multiple times.
“This issomebody that was laying in wait for our guys,” Troyer told reporters near the shooting scene. “There’s not much we’re going to be able to do when somebody is hiding and arming themselves and we have somebody else inviting us into the residence and the second person opens fire on us.”
Crable’s family tried to help the wounded officers by providing first aid, Troyer said. Deputies said the brother was cooperating with investigators and did not call him a suspect.
“It looks like people that were in this residence went out of their way to help our people,” he said.
The shooting comes three weeks after four Lakewood police officers were shot and killed at a coffee shop before their shift. After a two-day manhunt, suspect Maurice Clemmons was shot to death by a Seattle police officer. The Thanksgiving weekend attack on the officers occurred about 17 miles northwest of Monday’s shooting scene.
A month earlier, Seattle Officer Timothy Brenton was killed as he sat in his patrol car Halloween night. Christopher Monfort, 41, has been charged with aggravated first-degree murder in Brenton’s death.
“Most people of the community as we have seen in the last few weeks have a tremendous regard for (law enforcement),” Pierce County Sheriff Paul Pastor said at the scene late Monday. “But there are people in the community that don’t come from there, and that’s the people we deal with day after day.”
After Monday’s shooting, the deputy was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where spokeswoman Susan Gregg-Hanson said he was in critical condition in the intensive care unit.
The sergeant was taken to Madigan Army Medical Center and was in serious condition, Troyer said. Madigan spokeswoman Julie Calohan said he was in stable condition early Tuesday.
BE A FAN! Facebook/privateofficer.com
Join PRIVATE OFFICER
INTERNATIONAL
UMC employee forced to resign after Tweet To Governor www.privateofficer.com
Tuesday, December 15th Governor Haley Barbour put a message on Twitter stating he was looking forward to hearing the legislature’s ideas on trimming state expenses.
Jennifer Carter, a former administrative assistant for UMC’s nursing school, tweeted the following to Governor Haley Barbour,
“Schedule regular medical exams like everyone else instead of paying UMC employees over time to do it when clinics are usually closed.”
Carter was referring to an incident she heard about three years ago when she claims the Governor came to the Pavilion on a Saturday and had it specially staffed for a check up.
“I wasn’t really jabbing at him. That’s just what people do on Twitter,” said Carter.
Two days later Carter was contacted by UMC’s Department of Compliance for violation of HIPAA Laws.
“I was told I would be suspended for three days without pay until the paper work could be done. I was strongly encouraged to resign,” said Carter. She did resign.
Carter doesn’t believe her Tweet broke any privacy laws that protect patients. Attorney Terris Harris specializes in health care law and does not represent any parties involved. He said just because the Governor is a public figure doesn’t mean his health information can be public knowledge.
“Without a specific statutory exception than any provision of his health care would be in my opinion a violation of HIPAA laws,” said Harris.
Attorneys for WLBT tell us according to federal regulations and the health and human services website, only health-care related entities are covered by HIPAA. Carter never was involved with the Governor’s health care, but was employed by UMC.
“If the Governor wants to do something with the budget and stop job losses, causing a single mom to lose her job eight days before Christmas really doesn’t help the matter,” said Carter.
University Medical Center sent us this statement, “Disclosing a patient’s protected health information is a policy violation that we take very seriously. We will do whatever is necessary to protect the privacy of our patients. An investigation of this matter was pending and the employee resigned, so we consider it closed.”
BE A FAN! Facebook/privateofficer.com
Join PRIVATE OFFICER
INTERNATIONAL
Teacher Billy Ray Smith arrested for sexual assault www.privateofficer.com
Officers started the investigation over a week ago after the Department of Human Services received a tip.
Public information officer Carrie Wyrick says the victim and Smith both attend the same church in Durant, and that’s where the instances took place. She says the victim and Smith came in for voluntary interviews last week
“Based on information given both by the victim and the suspect there was enough to make an arrest. The investigation is far from being over, it’s going to be a long process just because there are different jurisdictions involved and trying to gather information from a lot of different locations,” said Wyrick.
Wyrick says the victim reported the abuse has been going on for at least two years. So far no reports of assault have been filed in Coleman, Oklahoma, or at the school where Smith teaches. But Police are looking into it.
“We don’t know how long he’s been doing this so it’s a possibility once the story runs and more victims come forward saying “hey he did this to me too,” I mean that’s always a possibility or this may be a singular occurrence, just typically it’s not,” said Wyrick.
Billy Smith is currently charged with three counts of sexually abusing a child and forcible sodomy, which are felonies punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Smith was arraigned in a Bryan County Court room Monday afternoon to be formally charged. And Wyrick says they expect additional charges will be filed as the investigation continues.
Serial bank robber captured in Charlotte www.privateofficer.com
Michael Gene Terrelonge, 41, recently admitted his involvement in a total of 17 bank robberies and indicated that he is the “Bearded Bandit,” Charlotte police said Tuesday morning.
Police also said that his partner, Latries George Murphy, 40, has been implicated. The string of robberies that Terrelonge admitted his involvement in date back to the summer of 2004, police said.
The end for the ‘Bearded Bandit’ appeared to come on Oct. 1 when Murphy and Terrelonge were arrested by CMPD officers minutes after fleeing from the armed robbery of the Wachovia Bank at 10210 Couloak Drive, police said.
They bonded out on their state charges and were placed into the CMPD Electronic Monitoring Program. The United States Attorney accepted the case for federal prosecution and both men were federally indicted on December 15, 2009, police said.
Terrelonge and Murphy were arrested on December 18, 2009, based on the federal indictment.
CMPD Detectives, as part of the FBI Safe Streets Task Force, led this extensive investigation, police said. Police also said it is important to note that this investigation is in its early stages and is ongoing.
Additional charges against both Terrelonge and Murphy will likely follow, but it is important to note that they have been formally charged with only the robbery of the Wachovia Bank at 10210 Couloak Drive, on October 1, 2009, police said. The cases involved are listed at the end of this story.
Authorities say that a bank in the Southpark Area of Charlotte was robbed Friday, July 3 by the ‘Bearded Bandit’ who — at that point they throught — had robbed 11 banks in 3 years.
At that point, FBI officials thought they may have made a break in the case with the July 3 robbery.
According to authorities, shortly before 9:30 a.m. on July 3, The Bank of Granite at 3920 Sharon Road, was robbed by a man wearing a mask, carrying a hand gun. The person also had a beard, which was fake, authorities said.
A witness noticed a portion of the robber’s neck that was not covered by make-up, the FBI reported. Detectives believed from that robbery and information that he was a white man, not a Hispanic or black man.
Witnesses had given different descriptions in the other robberies linked to the “Bearded Bandit” because he is covering his exposed skin with make-up. He’s also using a wig, fake facial hair, glasses, a hat, gloves and a padded suit to disguise his true identity.
The FBI said the robbery on July 3 was the 11th robbery linked to the Bearded Bandit in the last three years. He has used a weapon in all the robberies, and even threatened customers forcing them to the floor.
Here is a list of all of the ‘Bearded Bandit’ robberies, according to police:
Bank
Address
Date and Time
BB&T
101 Queens Road
06/29/2004 10:46
US Airways Federal Credit Union
2830 Boyer Street
07/30/2004 09:56
Clearview Federal Credit Union
2830 Boyer Street
07/07/2005 09:14
RBC Bank
14925 John J. Delaney Drive
08/09/2005 09:16
RBC Bank
230 E. W.T. Harris Boulevard
10/19/2005 09:08
Wachovia Bank
1527 W. Morehead Street
12/30/2005 09:11
First Citizens Bank
7837 Pineville Mathews Road
06/05/2006 09:29
RBC Bank
1000 East Boulevard
11/01/2006 09:34
Clearview Federal Credit Union
2830 Boyer Street
06/05/2007 09:25
First National Bank (Gastonia)
529 South New Hope Road
04/03/2008 09:21
RBC Bank
14925 John J. Delaney Drive
10/20/2008 09:11
RBC Bank
1000 East Boulevard
10/30/2008 09:45
SunTrust Bank
7801 Pineville Matthews Road
01/06/2009 09:06
Wachovia Bank
10210 Couloak Drive
11/25/2008 10:13
Bank of Granite
3920 Sharon Road
07/03/2009 09:19
RBC Bank
1000 East Boulevard
08/20/2009 09:14
Wachovia Bank
10210 Couloak Drive
10/01/2009 09:13
Nashville uses “Beet Juice” to melt snow from roads www.privateofficer.com
The Tennessee Department of Transportation will begin using beet juice this winter to help remove snow and ice from state roads and interstates.
TDOT said in a news release Monday that beet juice mixed with salt and salt brine will be spread at various locations across the state.
Beet juice is a byproduct of the beet after the sugar has been extracted.
The department is also evaluating the effectiveness of larger snow plows and some new tools for applying salt and deicing agents.
TDOT currently has more than 160,000 tons of salt and more than 1.1 million gallons of salt brine ready for use. The department has budgeted more than $12 million this year for snow and ice removal operations across the state.
BE A FAN! Facebook/privateofficer.com
Join PRIVATE OFFICER
INTERNATIONAL
Atlanta’s Buckhead area victim of another smash-grab www.privateofficer.com
cbsatlanta.com
Earlier this week, Atlanta Police arrested six members of the 30 Deep gang. Many of the men arrested, police said, are connected to a rash of smash-and-grab burglaries across the metropolitan Atlanta area.
Burglars made their own entrance into Seven Over Escape, smashing through glass to break into the store. The owner would not comment about the burglary that happened in the early morning hours on Sunday.
Police said the six men arrested are implicated in a smash-and-grab burglary at Georgio’s Big and Tall store at Greenbriar mall, a Radio Shack on Metropolitan Avenue and eModa in Midtown.
The owner of Georgio’s spoke to CBS Atlanta News Sunday about the arrests and how he thinks Atlanta Police are handling these cases.
“You know, only a few members were arrested, the rest are still at large. I am not surprised that another store was hit. Police are not doing enough to capture criminals. There will be a lot more of them [smash-and-grabs], especially in the next 10 days or two weeks, especially during the holidays it happens more often, always does,” Ellie Karam said.
The robbery at eModa at the end of November put the store’s owner over the edge. The store now sits vacant and empty, not from thieves, but from workers packing up shop and closing down.
“I am thinking about getting out of Atlanta, it’s not worth my time. I blame security in the building of that complex and the police department they have a camera right in front across the street aiming at my complex and my store. They are not quick enough, they are not preventing it there is not enough going on preventing this from happening they are not scaring these guys at all they are not catching enough people,” Dan Kogan said during an interview in November 2009.
Police have not commented on whether the latest robbery is affiliated with a local gang.
BE A FAN! Facebook/privateofficer.com
Join PRIVATE OFFICER
INTERNATIONAL
Police nab man wanted for running down security agent www.privateofficer.com
Algernon Maurice West, 26, of Lakeland, was arrested Friday and is being held without bail in Clark County, Nev., on a charge of attempted first-degree murder.
West gave a false name after being arrested for jaywalking by Las Vegas police, but officers discovered his identity via his fingerprints, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said.
West was sought in an incident Dec. 4 at the Walmart at 1110 Causeway Blvd.
Hillsborough deputies said West and Eunessa Lawson tried to buy an $898 laptop using stolen checks from a Lakeland burglary. When asked for identification, they made a disturbance that drew the attention of loss prevention officers.
Lawson struck the officer who detained her, deputies say.
West got into a black Chevrolet Avalanche and struck another loss prevention officer with the vehicle, running over her with both right-side tires, deputies say.
The officer was treated at Tampa General Hospital and released.
Detectives will begin extradition proceedings to return West to Hillsborough.
Lawson, 32, of Lakeland, was arrested on charges including grand theft, uttering a forged instrument, resisting arrest, obstructing or opposing an officer and giving a false name to law enforcement.
BE A FAN! Facebook/privateofficer.com
Join PRIVATE OFFICER
INTERNATIONAL
Muscle Shoals teacher arrested for sex with teen www.privateofficer.com
Amanda Watkins has been charged with second-degree rape and second-degree sodomy. She was transferred to the Colbert County Jail. Bond was set at $15,000. Watkins posted bond and was released on Monday.
Dr. Richard Gardner, Sheffield’s Superintendent of Education, said Watkins teaches 8th grade English at Sheffield Junior High. Gardner said the accusations involve a student who is currently in the 9th grade. He said the teen was a student in Watkins’ class last year.
Superintendent Gardner said Watkins has worked for Sheffield City Schools for at least six years and that she is considered an excellent teacher. He said that the status of her employment would be determined once the facts of the case are clear.
BE A FAN! Facebook/privateofficer.com
Join PRIVATE OFFICER
INTERNATIONAL
Ohio school employee arrested-inappropriate student relationships www.privateofficer.com
By: Rick McCann-Staff
PRIVATE OFFICER NEWS
NETWORK
http://www.privateofficer.com/
The sheriff’s department has announced the arrest of a school employee after allegations came to light that he was involved in numerous relationships with students.
Sheriff David Doak said that Bryce McLean, 22 of 9041 Spring Avenue, Village of Windham was taken into custody on December 18th after his investigators determined that McLean had inappropriate contact with more than one underage student.
Doak said that they have charged the school employee with two counts of battery,which are felonies under Ohio law.
The sheriff stated that he did not know what position that McLean held with the school but he did not believe that he was a teacher.
The investigation began with a tip and officers from both the sheriff’s office and the Windham police and an investigator from family services jointly began to look into the matter.
McLean is currently being held at the Portage County jail pending a court date.
BE A FAN! Facebook/privateofficer.com
Join PRIVATE OFFICER
INTERNATIONAL
Houston security officer injured during robbery www.privateofficer.com
Brett Davis-Staff
PRIVATE OFFICER
http://www.privateofficer.com/
Police say three gunmen entered Bellaire Gifts and Games just before 3am, tied up the customers and security officer and then broke into 20 slot machines, taking the cash.
Officers aren’t saying how the security officer was hurt but he was taken to Ben Taub Hospital for treatment.
Investigators hope to talk to the guard and other witnesses for more clues.
They also plan on reviewing the video from surveillance cameras inside the business.
Police say the suspects fled in an unknown direction and have few other details about the robbery at this time.
BE A FAN! Facebook/privateofficer.com
JOIN US! http://www.privateofficer.com
Shoplifter dies in struggle with Wal-Mart security www.privateofficer.com
Marty Bridges, 38, was attempting to flee the store, at 4725 Ashford Dunwoody Rd., when the officers grabbed him, Dunwoody Police spokesman Sgt. Mike Carlson said. Another shopper intervened and a slight altercation ensued.
“It was basically a big pile-up,” he said. “They had him pinned on the ground to keep him from running.”
When police arrived around 1 p.m., two bystanders were administering CPR, but they were unable to save Bridges. He was pronounced dead shortly after being transported to Northside Hospital.
It’s unclear what Bridges allegedly tried to steal, but Carlson said the amount of the item or items was less than $300, and would have amounted to a misdemeanor were he tried and convicted of shop lifting.
Wal-Mart employees were able to recover the item or items, police said.
It doesn’t appear that any undue force was used on the suspect, Carlson said. An autopsy is underway.
