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Ocean Gate NJ police officer killed by DUI driver www.privateofficer.com
The officer, Jason C. Marles, 32, of the Ocean Gate police department had worked the drunken-driving patrol from midnight to 3 a.m., said Sgt. Julian Castellanos, spokesman for the State Police. Leaving work, Marles was still in uniform and driving his 1995 Jeep Cherokee northbound in the right lane near mile marker 83.3 when a 2010 BMW X7 struck him from behind, Castellanos said. The accident was reported 22 minutes after Marles’ shift ended, he said. The officer was pronounced dead at the scene, said Castellanos.
Authorities said the driver of the BMW sport-utility vehicle, Erick P. Uzcategui, 31, of Manchester has been charged with vehicular homicide and drunken driving. He was being held Thursday night in the Ocean County Jail, here, in lieu of $250,000 bail.
The force of the crash caused Marles’ Jeep to spin, strike a guardrail, run off the roadway then overturn, eventually resting on its roof against a pine tree before being engulfed in flames, according to Castellanos.
The Uzcategui vehicle bounced off the center guardrail and came to a stop on the right side of the Jeep, said Castellanos. Several passengers in the BMW fled the scene but were apprehended by Toms River police and state troopers, according to Castellanos.
Speaking at an afternoon news conference, Ocean Gate Police Chief Reece Fisher and other town officials called Marles a “dedicated officer” who was especially skilled at mentoring area children and keeping them out of trouble.
“He will be sorely missed,” Fisher said. “It will be a very difficult void to fill.”
Marles’ patrol car sat draped in flowers and black bunting at police headquarters on Thursday afternoon, as many residents came by to share their grief and express their sympathies to his colleagues on the eight-member Ocean Gate force.
“We are obviously devastated by the loss of this officer,” Ocean County Prosecutor Marlene Lynch Ford said in a statement. “Our condolences are extended to his family . . . (and) to the colleagues and officers who worked with Officer Marles.”
Marles, a Berkeley resident and an Ocean Gate police officer for nine years, leaves behind a wife and two young children.
Anyone who may have witnessed the collision or who may have information regarding this case is asked to call State Police Troop E Detectives at 732-441-4500 ext. 2372 or Detective David Margentino at 732-929-2027 ext. 2946.
Source:AP
Brays Island security shoot-kill armed man www.privateofficer.com
Charleston SC Nov 27 2010 A family Thanksgiving gathering inside a Brays Island home turned into a deadly gun battle.
But Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner declined Friday to shed any new light on the death of James Piotrowski, 42, of Stuart, Fla., who allegedly was shot early Thursday by a Brays Island Plantation security guard. The guard was called to the home after reports of a violent argument between Piotrowski and his uncle, Richard Santee, according to authorities.
“It’s an ongoing investigation, and we won’t be releasing any new information until the first of next week,” said Tanner, who also declined to say whether charges might be filed against the security guard.
Attempts were unsuccessful on Friday to reach the Santees, Piotrowski’s family in Florida, Brays Island Plantation General Manager Kevin Rhatigan and Steve Russell, the community’s head of security.
Tanner declined to say whether investigators have determined what started the argument during which Santee allegedly retrieved from his closet a long-barreled revolver loaded with shotgun shells. People in the home told investigators they heard gunshots and that one of them called Brays Island Plantation security before calling 911, Tanner said Thursday.
Moments later, a security officer, whom Tanner would not name, walked up to the front door. He looked through a window and saw Piotrowski standing in the foyer pointing a gun at Santee, the sheriff said.
Piotrowski fired, hitting Santee, Tanner said. The security officer then opened the unlocked front door and shot Piotrowski, Tanner said. Piotrowski was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Beaufort County Coroner’s Office. Santee was flown to Memorial Medical University in Savannah with potentially serious injuries, according to authorities.
Source: the Post and Courier
Drunk driver blows past security at power plant www.privateofficer.com
MIDDLETOWN CT Nov 27 2010 – A New Britain man reportedly blew past security guards and drove his car into the Kleen Energy Plant while intoxicated, police said.
Police said Philip Banker, 25, 41 Winthrop St., turned into the Kleen Energy Power Plant on River Road on Nov. 20 at 3:12 a.m.
Banker disregarded the commands of security staff at the gated entrance and proceeded onto the property without consent.
Police were called to the scene and found the suspect on the northern-most part of the parking lot. Banker admitted to driving past security guards and appeared confused and disoriented, police said.
He was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and simple trespass. Banker was released from custody after posting a $500 bond and scheduled to appear in Middletown Superior Court on Nov. 29.
Source:middletown press
Four year old kills self with father’s police weapon www.privateofficer.com
Gavin Thompson, the son of Officer John Thompson, apparently got the .45-caliber handgun from the top shelf of a bedroom closet in their home on F Street in Liberty, police said. The gun discharged just before noon, striking the boy in the upper body.
He was pronounced dead on arrival at UPMC McKeesport.
“John definitely had his weapon secured,” Port Vue police Lieutenant Bryan Myers said. “How the child got the weapon, we don’t know yet.”
He said the boy’s death appears to be an “unfortunate accident” but referred other questions to Allegheny County homicide detectives, who were still investigating Friday night. County police Superintendent Charles Moffatt offered few glimpses into the shooting but noted that his detectives were canvassing the quiet street, talking to people who were both inside and outside the home before Gavin was struck.
Mr. Thompson, a five-year veteran of the Port Vue force, also has worked intermittently as a Liberty officer for more than 10 years, Liberty police Chief Luke Riley said.
“He is a fine officer,” said Mr. Myers, who described himself as a personal friend of the Thompson family. “I’m devastated.”
Liberty police were called to the home just before noon after 911 received a hang-up call from the address. Police called county homicide detectives when they realized the boy’s father was a fellow officer, Mr. Riley said. Gavin was one of five young siblings, some of whom were home when he was shot. Neighbors said the children’s mother lives in the home, but they weren’t sure if she was there when the gun went off.
The boy’s sister ran outside and sought help from a man who was visiting his own young grandchildren who live across the street.
“She said, ‘Something happened, and Dad said to get some help,’ ” said the man, a former Port Authority police officer who asked not to be identified. He rushed into the house and found the boy lying on the floor in his father’s arms.
The man performed CPR on Gavin before paramedics arrived.
The other children, he said, seemed not to grasp the situation.
“They didn’t realize what had happened,” the man said. “They said they thought a balloon broke.”
Mr. Thompson was in tears.
“The other police officers were consoling him,” said Amy Lockhart, who lives next door and watched emergency crews from her porch. She said paramedics and police flooded the area and a few minutes passed before they brought Gavin out on a stretcher and loaded him into an ambulance.
“He had blood on his face,” she said. “That’s all I know.”
A mother herself, Ms. Lockhart wondered how the boy was able to retrieve the weapon.
“How could it be so accessible to him?” she said. “He’s 4.”
In a seemingly similar case last month, the 4-year-old son of a state trooper at the Belle Vernon barracks accidently wounded himself with his father’s personal gun at the family home in Donora. Police in that case wouldn’t say what steps Trooper Nicholas Petrosky took to secure the weapon or how his son got it. That boy survived.
Source:www.post-gazette.com
Man arrested at Wal-Mart for low hanging pants www.privateofficer.com
MEMPHIS, Tenn. Nov 27 2010 — Black Friday shoppers at a Memphis Walmart were so upset by a man’s low-hanging pants and his revealing red underwear that an off-duty officer arrested him for indecent exposure.
Records obtained by The Commercial Appeal newspaper showed Mario Bernard Johnson, 22, was asked by the officer who was working security at the store to pull up his pants after several women shoppers complained.
When the officer saw the man with the low pants again in line, tensions rose with profanity, loud talk and finger-pointing.
He faces an additional charge of disorderly conduct.
Johnson was arrested at about 5:30 a.m. and was held in the Shelby County jail on a $500 bond.
The Associated Press
Security officer injured during bar fight www.privateofficer.com
RACINE WI Nov 27 2010
A security guard required staples after being hit over the head during a fight at Park 6, 500 Sixth St.
According to police reports, security was moving the crowd out of the bar about 1:40 a.m. Friday, Nov. 26, prior to closing. Several active fights broke out, reports said, and during one of them, a security guard was hit over the head with an unknown object. Another guard brought the injured man over to the bar area and called police.
When officers spoke with the man, he was unstable from blood loss and the head wound. He was taken to Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare-All Saints hospital, 3801 Spring St., where he required staples to close the 5-inch long cut on his head.
Police sent several squads to the area to help maintain order. One person was arrested, though it was unrelated to the assault or any of the fights. Officers on the scene stopped one person, who was then arrested for possession of marijuana.
Police are looking into whether the incident was captured on the bar’s security cameras.
