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Bullied teen commits suicide by hanging www.privateofficer.com
Tehachapi police investigators interviewed some of the young people who taunted Seth the day he hanged himself and determined despite the tragic outcome of their ridicule, their actions do not constitute a crime.
“Several of the kids that we talked to broke down into tears,” Jeff Kermode, Tehachapi Police Chief, said. “They had never expected an outcome such as this.”
He said the students told investigators they wish they had put a stop to the bullying and not participated in it.
Friends said Seth was picked on for years because he was gay.
School administrators said they have an anti-bullying program in place, but schoolmates said staff at Jacobsen Middle School in Tehachapi offered Seth no protection or guidance.
A YouTube video by a family member sends a message about Seth: “He was bullied and teased, now in the hospital, this face right here is suffering because of bullying, never say a mean thing again.”
Meanwhile the community is pulling together for the Walsh family. A fund has been set up at Bank of the Sierra for donations. In Bakersfield, Audrey’s Cafe on Union Avenue at Truxtun Avenue has a box where people can send messages to the family to show their support.
“We decided that we as a community in Bakersfield and as a county needed to do something to show our support,” said Kathi Briefer-Gose, a gay rights activist. “People can bring down cards, letters, to tell the Walsh family that they are behind them.”
A memorial service for Seth will be held Friday at 3:30 p.m. at First Baptist Church in Tehachapi.
Man covers self with paint to avoid police Taser www.privateofficer.com
CHEYENNE WY Sept 29 2010– Brian Mattert thought there was a good possibility police would use a Taser on him when they showed up at his house just after midnight on Sept. 16.
So he went into the back room of his house and hastily covered himself in white latex paint.
Cheyenne Police officers Joshua Thorton and James Womak arrived with their Tasers drawn.
“You see all this water-based paint?” Mattert asked them. “You shoot me with that and you’ll kill me.”
According to the police report, Mattert, 34, became defiant and uncooperative.
The officers continued to demand his surrender and explained that the paint would not affect a Taser’s capability nor would it cause his death if used.
After some time, the officers were able to get Mattert into his back yard. He tried to pull away and was subsequently shocked with a Taser.
As he lay in a fetal position on the grass, Mattert refused to give up his hand so he could be placed in cuffs. So he was shocked again, and the officers were able to detain him.
Mattert was booked in the Laramie County jail for domestic violence, assault and battery, interference with a peace officer and aggravated assault on a peace officer.
“Tasers are clearly useful and effective tools for law enforcement to use to actually procure the arrest and maintain the safety of those being arrested,” Cheyenne Police Sgt. Rob Dafoe said. “Thousands of law enforcement agencies utilize Tasers in their arsenal of police equipment.”
He said the officers did have to replace their uniforms.
Source:Wyoming News .com
Indianapolis museum fires security force-hires reserve police officers www.privateofficer.com
Indianapolis IN Sept 29 2010 The Indianapolis Museum of Art is turning to reserve police officers and college students in a new strategy for security and customer service.
As part of an overhaul estimated to save $600,000 annually, the museum fired 33 full-time and 23 part-time employees today.
Spokeswoman Katie Zarich said the revised structure features a 14-member campus police force and 100 IUPUI students participating in a work-study program.
Trained by the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, the Marion County Sheriff’s Department and communities in Hamilton, Boone, Madison and Randolph counties, the reserve police officers will emphasize safety at the new Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park and campus parking lots, where more than 40 break-ins have been reported since Jan. 1.
The IUPUI students, designated as “visitor assistants” stationed in museum galleries, will be paid $10 per hour. The museum will pay 25 percent of that figure, with the balance covered by federal funding.
The average rate for previous part-time gallery attendants was $11.50 per hour.
Source:Indystar.com
College security officer injured during DUI incident www.privateofficer.com
Fulton MO Sept 29 2010 An unexpected late-night chase for a Westminster College security guard led to the arrest of a Fulton man after the guard was the victim of a hit and run early Sunday morning.
At approximately 1:24 a.m., the Fulton Police Department received a report of an accident on West Chestnut and one of the drivers attempting to flee the area, ultimately crashing in the 600 block of Churchill Road.
According to police reports, upon arrival at the scene, officers found Pedro Nunez-Cruz, 25, of Fulton, sitting in the driver’s seat of a 1999 Chevrolet Tahoe with heavy driver’s side damage and a broken front axle. They learned Nunez-Cruz had rear ended a vehicle on West Chestnut and fled the area before losing control of his vehicle, striking a telephone pole and a parked truck on Churchill.
The driver of the first vehicle Nunez-Cruz allegedly hit was Westminster security guard Wade Frick, who said he was driving to McDonald’s to get coffee for his fellow security guards when a large, white SUV started following him very closely.
“It was so close I could see the glare of the lights, but not the lights themselves,” Frick said. “I tapped my brakes to warn him to back off a bit, but he didn’t.”
He said he tapped his brakes again, but Nunez-Cruz still did not fall back. When Frick slowed down a third time — this time with the intention of stopping, he said the other driver rear-ended his vehicle.
“I got out of the car to go see what he’d done to the back of my car, and he backed his truck up and came at me,” Frick said. “I put my back up against the car as far as I could; he came by so close, his SUV rubbed against my coat.
“If he had been any closer, I would have been dead.”
The security guard said he then got back into his own vehicle and started following Nunez-Cruz, hoping to get a license number, at the same time contacting the police department on his radio.
“I followed him. He was absolutely flying — it was like watching Cops in real life,” Frick said. “He turned down Churchill and he overcorrected and slammed into a pole. I thought I could block him in so he couldn’t leave, but then he shot across the road and ran into another truck.”
At that point, Frick said he ran over to Nunez-Cruz’s vehicle and stood at the window of the driver’s side door to prevent him from leaving.
“It wasn’t until he heard the cops coming that he stopped trying to go,” he said. “I just felt like, if I hadn’t been there … he would have gone on and done more damage.”
According to the report, Frick was transported to the Callaway County Hospital via ambulance with back and neck injuries. He said Monday that his injuries were not serious, although he is still sore: “I feel like I’m in bootcamp.”
Nunez-Cruz was arrested at the scene and charged with DWI, felony second degree assault, felony property damage, felony leave the scene of an accident involving injuries, careless and imprudent driving involving an accident, no insurance and no operator’s license. He was transported to the Callaway County Jail, where he is being held on $15,500 bond.
Source:Fulton Sun
Teen sues Virginia mall after sexual assault www.privateofficer.com
Roanoke, Va. Sept 29 2010 One million dollars.
That’s how much a teenager is asking for in a civil suit against Valley View Mall in Roanoke. The teen was sexually assaulted two years ago inside a dressing room.
In the suit, filed in Roanoke Circuit Court, the teen, who’s from Georgia, says she’s been traumatized to the point that her enjoyment of life has been severely impaired.
The incident happened in September 2008 when the victim, who was 16 at the time, was shopping with her sister at Abercrombie & Fitch. Soon after the attack, News7 sat down with the girl’s mother who took us through the entire incident.
The victim, was trying on clothes when Ryan Jason Sink forced his way into the dressing room, put his hand down her pants and held what’s believed to be a knife to her throat. Eventually a store employee realized something was off and rushed into the dressing room.
Sink was sentenced to 10 years in prison last September. However, the teen and her family say negligence is to blame. They’re suing the mall and the security company claiming a security guard and an Abercrombie employee saw Sink before the incident occurred and noticed he was intoxicated. Mall policy states anyone who is visibly drunk must be removed from the premises.
Abercrombie & Fitch is also named in the suit as well as the security company Emerson Russell Maintenance Co., and the owners of the mall, CBL & Associates.
Source:WBJD7.com
Prosecutor joins in shoplifter chase www.privateofficer.com
Dustin Hise, 25 of Spring Hill, is accused of stealing a $71 bottle of cologne from Macy’s in Cool Springs Galleria.
Mall security officers told Franklin Police that Hise was trying to run out of the mall.
Assistant District Attorney Chris Vernon was at the mall with his family. When he saw security running after Hise, he decided to jump in on the chase. He stayed on his cell phone the entire time updating police on Hise’s location. Police arrived on the scene and arrested Hise.
“I commend Assistant District Attorney Vernon for having the wherewithal to do what he did,” said Franklin Police Chief Jackie Moore. “Had it not been for his willingness to get involved, outside of the courtroom – where he spends much of his time prosecuting our cases, this suspect may well have gotten away.”
The Tennessean
Dayton women nabbed in shoplifting spree www.privateofficer.com
MONROE OH Sept 29 2010 — Three Dayton women are facing theft and other charges for their alleged shoplifting activities at several stores at Cincinnati Premium Outlets.
Tequila Gaines, 18, is charged with receiving stolen property and theft. Isis Morrell, 19, is charged with theft, criminal tools and receiving stolen property and Danette Postell, 18, is charged with obstructing official business and receiving stolen property.
All three are scheduled to appear for pretrial hearings Oct. 18 in Lebanon Municipal Court in Warren County. Two juveniles, also of Dayton and Trotwood, were released to their parents with charges pending in 4 to 6 weeks from the Warren County Juvenile Court, said Police Officer Paul Corbeil.
Monroe police received a call from Valor Security at the mall at 9 p.m. Friday, Sept. 24, about a shoplifter who was being followed by security from Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th. Store security detained two females, Morrell and a 17-year-old juvenile, for allegedly stealing a pair of women’s shoes from the store, valued at $100.
The incident also was observed on video by loss prevention, Corbeil said.
“While speaking with (the juvenile) she was found to be in possession of a screwdriver-like tool with a slit like end. She stated she used the tool at the outlet mall to pop security sensors off of clothing items and then conceal them,” he said.
Morrell said that she knew the juvenile had stolen the pair of shoes while she was with her, Corbeil said.
After being taken into custody, Morrell gave him permission to search her vehicle. She was informed that the pair had been seen at the mall by security for more than five hours making several trips to the car, but they had never been seen purchasing items in the store.
“Isis Morrell finally admitted that it was her idea for five girls to go to the outlet mall to steal and that she knew two of the girls had tools to remove sensors,” he said.
Police said she admitted to providing bags for everyone to put the stolen items in that would be used to conceal the clothes.
Corbeil said while processing Morrell and the juvenile, three other females — Postell, a 15-year-old and Gaines, arrived on scene and wanted to know what was going on with their friends. He said he separated all three.
The 15-year-old was in possession of a screwdriver, stolen jewelry from the mall and a couple of shirts from Charlotte Russe.
“She admitted she knew the plan for coming to the mall was for everyone to steal items,” Corbeil said.
Gaines was found to be in possession of stolen jewelry items from Claire’s, which she denied stealing, he said. However, she admitted that she came to the mall to steal too, he said.
Postell said she was not with the other girls when they were stealing, Corbeil said.
Upon searching the vehicle belonging to Morrell, he said several bags of stolen clothing, shoes and jewelry items were found in the trunk and front of the vehicle totaling $1,655.
In addition, Corbeil said four bags of brand new clothing and miscellaneous baby items were found in the vehicle with the tags still on them, but it could not be determined what stores the items came from. The merchandise totaled $750.
Dayton Daily News
