Archive
Texas doctor, two others killed in Mississippi plane crash www.privateofficer.com
MCCOMB, MS April 11 2011(AP) – A private airplane crashed just outside McComb before dawn Sunday, killing all three people aboard.
McComb Police Chief Greg Martin said the plane crashed into trees near the McComb-Pike County Airport in a moderately populated area on the western edge of the city.
The plane was identified as a Cessna 310R, a dual-engine propeller craft. Authorities told the McComb Enterprise-Journal that the plane left New Orleans around 4 a.m. and was en route to McComb, about a 110-mile flight
A Lufkin doctor, his sister-in-law, and another person were killed in a plane crash outside of McComb, Mississippi early Sunday morning.
The local coroner identified two of the three people deceased as Dr. Taylor, Jacqueline Ham and the identity of the other person has not being released. According to Yana Ogletree, a spokeswoman for Lufkin’s Memorial Hospital, Dr. Pickett was a thoracic surgeon on staff.
Reports say the group went to New Orleans Saturday night to watch a friend, who’s a musician perform. They were on their way back to McComb when the plane went down.
Jacquelyn lives just outside McComb. The plane crashed about 4 miles from the McComb-Pike County airport. Dr. Pickett leaves behind four children together.
Four Columbus Ga. security officer shot www.privateofficer.com
COLUMBUS, Ga. April 11 2011 — Police in Columbus arrested an Alabama man they say shot four nightclub security guards.
Police arrested 38-year-old Gregory James of Phenix City, Ala., Sunday morning. He faces four counts of aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, and theft by receiving stolen property.
Police say James had previously argued with one of the men and the four outside a club 2:45 a.m. Sunday and started shooting. Police say he hit two men in the stomach, one on the left leg and another on the right hand.
Police say three of the men had to undergo surgery and the two shot in the stomach were in critical condition.
James was set to appear in court Monday morning. It wasn’t immediately clear whether he had a lawyer.
Source:AP
103 Year old judge still on the bench www.privateofficer.com
U.S. District Judge Wesley Brown was appointed by President Kennedy in 1962. He is now the oldest federal judge still hearing cases.
Brown arrives at the courthouse at 8:30 every workday to handle civil suits. He needs a wheelchair and an oxygen tank, but can still hear testimony and issue rulings.
Brown is one of more than 500 judges on so-called senior status who keep working after retirement age. Their service helps keep the system functioning at a time when litigation is increasing. Brown says his judgeship was a lifetime appointment, and that’s how long he intends to keep it.
Library patron threatens security while viewing porn www.privateofficer.com
Cincinnati OH April 11 2011 – Cincinnati police arrested a Green Township man Saturday for threatening a security officer at a library in connection with viewing pornography.
Warren Daniels, 40, was charged with disorderly conduct.
The security officer told police Daniels was watching pornographic films on a library computer at The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County’s Westwood branch in the 3300 block of Epworth Avenue.
Daniels was asked to leave several times but refused. He became loud in the library and threatened to assault the security officer, according to a police report.
Daniels was arrested at 1:41 p.m.
Prince William County substitute teacher arrested for sex crimes with student www.privateofficer.com
Police arrested 27-year-old Eric Lewis Thursday after Potomac High School discovered Lewis had been involved in a relationship with one of their students since 2008. That student is now 17.
Lewis has held various substitute-teaching positions in the county since 2006. He has taught at a total of 9 schools, 4 high schools and 5 middle schools, all in Prince William County. He last substitute taught in November of 2009, but was most recently a part-time track coach at Gar-Field High School.
Prince William County schools say that Lewis’ substitute status has been terminated and that a letter will be sent out to parents at all 9 schools at which he taught.
Lewis has been charged with 2 counts of crimes against nature and 2 counts of carnal knowledge. He is being held without bond.
NM jail guard arrested for sneaking drugs into jail www.privateofficer.com
Authorities say 31-year-old Correctional Officer Melvyn Askew had been suspected of transporting contraband for some time.
The Albuquerque Journal reports that officials got a tip from the jail’s security threat team, which gathers intelligence at the jail.
MDC contacted the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office to help investigate.
When Askew arrived at work Friday, he was questioned and searched. Authorities say they found the cash along with heroin and a prescription drug used to treat heroin addiction.
Askew was hired in June. It’s unclear Saturday whether he has legal representation yet.
Source: The Republic
College of the Holy Cross is now considering arming public safety officers www.privateofficer.com
WORCESTER MA April 11 2011 — Without guns since 1843, the College of the Holy Cross is now considering arming its public safety officers.
The evolution of policing on and off campus and the Holy Cross partnership with the Worcester Police Department plays into the campus-wide discussion that began seriously a year ago. Holy Cross President Rev. Michael C. McFarland, S.J., will make the decision this summer, but is considering feedback from the campus community.
“We have officers routinely going off campus, more than in the past,” said Rev. McFarland. “The fact that they are off campus, in partnership with Worcester police, and they are in uniform and cannot just walk away from dangerous incidents makes me think differently about them, number one for their own safety and two for the safety of anybody that they are partnering with or protecting.”
With public safety officers out doing the same things as the Worcester police, the question now is should they be equally equipped, Rev. McFarland said.
“Public safety has evolved over the years,” said Robert W. Hart, director of public safety at Holy Cross. “Twenty-one of the 23 officers have full police authority on campus and any property that’s off campus; and now with the Holy Cross Community Compact, officers are out in the Caro Street and College Hill neighborhood in conjunction with the Worcester Police Department. The question is, as uniformed police officers, do they have all the tools available to them to meet the expectations of the campus community as far as safety and security?”
Last November, Rev. McFarland and Michael V. O’Brien, Worcester city manager, signed the Holy Cross Community Compact, which describes expectations for student behavior off-campus with alcohol, crowds, noise, on- and off-campus programming and responsibilities of landlords and tenants. The compact also increased cooperation and the relationship between Worcester police and Holy Cross Public Safety, including Holy Cross-funded police details and public safety officers’ responsibility in the College Hill neighborhood to patrol with Worcester police during certain times.
Nationwide, most public college campuses have armed security officers, but fewer private schools do. According to a 2008 report by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, 86 percent of sworn police on public four-year campuses were armed, while 30 percent of sworn police on private campuses carried weapons. The report was based on data from 2004-05.
Among the 13 public and private colleges and universities that are part of the Colleges of Worcester Consortium, seven are armed and six are not: Holy Cross, Quinsigamond Community College, Atlantic Union College in South Lancaster, Nichols College in Dudley, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in Worcester and Anna Maria College in Paxton have unarmed officers.
“We continue to asses whether or not the activity around us may warrant arming our officers, but we have not made any decision at this time,” said QCC President Gail E. Carberry.
The most recent to arm its officers was Worcester State University in 2007, only months after the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University shooting. “Virginia Tech shooting was a big watershed moment,” said Rosemary F. Naughton, chief of university police at Worcester State University.
“Students have to understand we’re here to protect them — who knows the campus best? Campus police,” Chief Naughton said. “It’s scary. Sit by yourself in a room for one minute, maybe two, and imagine a shooter there, see how long that feels.”
“Unless the safety can come from your own campus, even with a memorandum of understanding, it takes longer for local police to reach you. … we haven’t used the guns and nobody ever wants to use them, but you have to train your men and women, and be prepared,” Chief Naughton said.
Campus safety at Holy Cross has been improved by a number of steps taken through the years, according to Chief Hart. “With blue light phones, card access doors, emergency response, a notification system, and officers on duty 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, all 365 days of the year, it is an active campus and we have worked to ensure we are doing everything we can to keep the Holy Cross campus safe.”
College authorities hope no change would be apparent were officers armed.
“It’s just an additional tool,” Chief Hart said. “In security and safety you never go backwards, you are always striving to improve and make the community safer.”
The average response time for the Worcester Police Department is five to 15 minutes; campus safety response is about two minutes to anywhere on campus, he said. “We’re here, this is our area of operation, and they have a responsibility to be trained properly.”
Campuses look at risk because of changes in behavior, “not as much for individuals that might be on campus, but for individuals who come to your campus,” said Jacqueline D. Peterson, vice president for student affairs and dean of students at Holy Cross. “We don’t lock up the gates and pull down the shades at the end of the day, so we are at risk,” Ms. Peterson said.
Also, the officers know their environment, and have methods and strategies in dealing with students, said Ms. Peterson.
While the decision of whether to arm campus police is not up to the students, Rev. McFarland is looking at collective feedback from all members of the community, and an aggressive effort has been made to get students involved in the decision-making process.
Last fall, students started receiving emails, were welcomed to forums, given the chance to post on the online Holy Cross Moodle page that was looked at by the board of trustees, and have been invited to Student Government Association meetings, said Jenna Sattar, a Holy Cross senior and co-president of the Student Government Association.
The college’s SGA Senate, which represents the student body, favors arming officers, according to SGA Speaker of the Senate Peter E. Spadoni.
But some of the students who attended a mid-March Senate meeting on the subject said they did not favor the proposal. And comments from the Moodle page showed twice as many students oppose than support the idea.
“I went to school without firearms. There can be a safe campus without it,” said Mohamed H. Adam, a senior who was at the March meeting. “I have lived on campus in more dangerous cities, with a less secure, ungated, campus. Holy Cross is secure, I feel comfortable now, as an HC student and Worcester resident,” he said.
Larger issues on campus should be addressed first, another said. “Any sort of gun tragedy would be horrific, and Public Safety’s lives are certainly very valuable, but I am against this proposal because there are serious forms of violence like sexism and racism that are detrimental to people and their success, and we are not addressing this form of violence” said senior Matt J. Harper, who also attended the Senate meeting.
“I trust the officers, I know they are competent, I just think it could bring out bad interactions on campus. It would really change interactions among students and officers,” said senior Alex P. Clavering.
College officials hope the possible implementation of guns would create no change.
“Let me be very clear, if guns were issued, and I am not saying they will be, they will only be used to protect life, never be drawn unless there was a direct threat to human life,” said Rev. McFarland. “The only issue is what is safer for everybody — Public Safety, students, the community, and how do we protect the lives we are responsible for. That is what the decision has to be made based on.”
Campus police at most Jesuit colleges do not carry guns, according to a 2005 study. Of 28 members of the Association of Jesuit Colleges & Universities, 11 campuses were armed, including Boston College and Fairfield University in Connecticut, and 17 were not, said Rev. Charles L. Currie SJ, president of the Washington, D.C.-based association.
“There are folks who say campus security can be perfectly effective without guns, and some say they should be armed,” Rev. Currie said. “I would prefer they not be — in the abstract — but would respect a decision that the particular campus makes in light of their culture, history and particular situation.”
If Holy Cross officers are armed, they would have to pass a 40-hour firearms training course through the Massachusetts State Police and qualify to carry a weapon, said Chief Hart. And the firearms policy would be strict.
“The weapon stays in the holster unless they are defending a life,” said Chief Hart.
Reflecting on WSU’s journey down a similar path, Chief Naughton said her department got permission to carry weapons in November 2007, trained through Christmas break “and then when students were back the officers were armed, and unless you were really looking closely you did not notice a difference,” she said.
“It was a precarious situation before — they were sworn officers but not armed. It’s like asking a carpenter to go to work without a hammer.”
Source:Telegram.com
Man glued to toilet seat at Maryland Wal-Mart www.privateofficer.com
Elkton MD April 11 2011 Police in Maryland are on the hunt for the perpetrator of what appears to be an April Fools’ Day prank that left a man glued to a toilet at a Wal-Mart store.
If caught, the jokester who doused the seat with glue at the Elkton Wal-Mart on March 31 could face second-degree assault charges, said Lt. Matthew Donnelly of the Elkton Police Department.
Police, along with the Singerly Fire Co. and the Cecil County paramedics, were called to the scene at about 7 p.m.
There, they found the 48-year-old victim, who called for help after realizing the sticky situation he was in when he tried — and failed — to stand up and leave the superstore’s restroom, Donnelly said.
It took responders 15 minutes to remove the victim from the stall, but they were unable to disconnect the toilet seat from his body, Donnelly said.
Instead, the victim was taken to Union Hospital of Cecil County, where the seat was detached. He left with only minor injuries to his buttocks, Donnelly said.
Police do not suspect that the victim was specifically targeted, but that the incident was a random prank, Donnelly said. They have not received reports of glue-laden toilet seats since.
Unruly crowd turn on police and security at Mass. nightclub www.privateofficer.com
LAWRENCE MA April 11 2011 — An “irate and unpredictably hostile” crowd of several hundred club-goers threatened police and nightclub staff with violence early yesterday morning after a scheduled performer failed to show up.
Police arrested four patrons of Centro Nightclub, 60 Common St., around 2 a.m. In all, 12 officers — the city’s entire overnight shift — were called in to restore order.
The trouble began after club-goers were charged approximately $25 each to see the popular reggaeton artists Zion & Lennox, but were refused refunds when the group cancelled.
“All hell broke loose,” Lawrence police Chief John Romero said. “People were demanding money. Some of them were intoxicated, which exacerbated the whole situation.”
Responding officers estimated the crowd at between 400 and 500 people.
Arrested were Jose Castro, 25, of 132 Salem St., Apt. 1, Lawrence, Juan Florimon, 27, of 62 Kendall St., Lawrence, Tiffany Goguen, 23, of Gardner, and Jamie Barahona, 22, of 119 Massachusetts Ave., North Andover.
All four were charged with disorderly conduct. Castro was also charged with assault and battery on a police officer, resisting arrest, threatening to commit a crime, and trespassing after notice.
Barahona also was charged with resisting arrest.
According to a police report written by Officer Maurice Aguiler, police began assisting club security to quell and disperse the crowd of “irate and unpredictably hostile” patrons.
Soon, more officers were called in anticipation of a “mass disturbance,” Aguiler wrote.
“A mass quantity of patrons had become hostile and vowed not to leave until their money was returned,” Aguiler wrote. “Many of the patrons were openly threatening staff with violence and threatening property damage to the club — from ‘breaking all the (expletive) windows’ to ‘burning this (expletive) down.’”
Officer Joseph Cerullo, one of the officers dispatched to Centro, wrote in an incident report that the crowd was “growing out of control” as he walked to the rear of the club to tell a group of women seated at a table to leave.
Watching this was Castro, who began yelling at Cerullo and threatening to take his police baton, according to Cerullo’s report.
After attempts to control Castro by the club manager and a friend failed, Cerullo wrote that Castro became “totally out of control and (began) pushing his own friends.”
Cerullo then attempted to place Castro under arrest.
“Castro then pushed me backwards away from him and with his right hand he grabbed my baton and began to pull it away from me,” Cerullo wrote. “I then regained control of the baton and delivered several strikes to the legs and arms of Castro, sending him to the ground.”
Police used pepper spray on Castro after he continued struggling while on the ground.
“The crowd again began to turn against us by calling us bullies and saying that they were recording us beating up Castro,” Cerullo wrote.
“After several more minutes of chaotic behavior, we managed to bring the situation under control.”
Romero said a supervisor and three or four patrol officers are assigned to the city’s clubs each Friday and Saturday night.
“This went beyond that,” he said. “We needed more people.
“We’re getting into the warm weather. These are the things we deal with.”
Source:Eagle Tribune
Albuquerque police officer indicted for wife’s murder www.privateofficer.com
Valencia County NM April 11 2011 Tera Chavez’s October 2007 shooting death was initially ruled a suicide, but after 3 1/2 years of investigation by the Valencia County Sheriff’s Office, a grand jury indicted Chavez’s husband, Levi, an Albuquerque Police Department officer, on charges of first-degree murder and tampering with evidence.
At a press conference held Thursday at the 13th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, Valencia County Sheriff’s Lt. Jeff Noah said that “things came out” during the past six months that provided sufficient evidence to present the case to the grand jury.
He declined to elaborate on what the nature of the evidence was.
“We received many boxes of material this summer from the sheriff,” said District Attorney Lemuel Martinez. “We looked at it and found some holes in it. We gave it back to them and there was some further investigation done.
“We took a good look at it again and made a decision there was enough to take this to the grand jury.”
On Sunday, Oct. 21, 2007, Levi Chavez placed a call from a separate location and said “there was a problem” at his Las Maravillas home and his wife, Tera, had killed herself.
When deputies arrived, they were met by Levi and found Tera dead from a gunshot wound. Levi’s service weapon had been fired inside Tera’s mouth.
The Office of the Medical Investigator originally ruled the death a suicide, but after a request from the sheriff’s office, the ruling was changed to undetermined.
Levi Chavez was then named as a “person of interest” in the case.
A civil lawsuit filed by Tera Chavez’s family alleges that Albuquerque Police Department officers who responded to the scene on the night of the shooting to offer grief counseling to Levi trampled evidence.
The lawsuit also claims that a climate in APD allowed for unchecked fraternization and rampant extramarital affairs, and this climate contributed to Tera’s death.
Martinez said that his office will consult with the family before making the determination about whether his office will seek the death penalty.
In a statement issued Thursday, an attorney for Tera Chavez’s estate said the family opposes the death penalty.
Levi Chavez’s attorney, David Serna, said that his client’s defense will be that Tera Chavez committed suicide.
“I can tell you we have a host of the nation’s and perhaps the world’s leading experts who all conclude that she committed suicide,” Serna said.
“He (Levi Chavez) has abiding faith and abiding trust in the court system and he is relieved because now a decision will be made, and we’re confident that the decision will be not guilty.”
Levi Chavez has been working at Albuquerque’s Animal Welfare Department as an officer of APD. He has now been placed on paid administrative leave and will be served with a notice of contemplated action that is the first step that could result in his termination, said APD Chief Ray Schultz.
“I know it took a long time and I want to thank the family for being patient,” Martinez said. “I want to thank the Valencia County sheriff for not giving up.”
Source:NMonline
Jacksonville woman charged for leading shoplifting ring www.privateofficer.com
Jacksonville FLA April 11 2011 A West Jacksonville woman was charged March 9 with leading a shoplifting ring, but her accomplice remains free, the Clay County Sheriff’s Office said.
Authorities accuse Nyota Zikita McGriff, 33, of the 2900 block of West Fifth Street and an accomplice, Dishawn Desha Butler, 28, of providing two women with lists of items to steal from area stores. McGriff and Butler paid the two women less than the retail value of the stolen items, which included toilet paper and soap. The items would then be sold to buyers for a profit.
In one instance of meeting with the two women to buy the stolen items, McGriff brought along her 5-year-old daughter, the Sheriff’s Office said in her booking report.
The Clay County Sheriff’s Office said anyone with information about Butler’s location can call (904) 264-6512. Butler was recently arrested in Jacksonville on a fraud/unemployment compensation charge Feb. 23 and released on $10,000 bond.
Source:Jacksonville.com
Australia rail security given police authority www.privateofficer.com
Victoria AU April 11 2011 Armed guards promised by the Baillieu government to boost safety at train stations will be granted police-like powers to apprehend and arrest troublemakers on the rail network.
The new crop of 940 protective services officers, who will be deployed after 6pm, will be armed with semi-automatic firearms, capsicum sprays and batons.
In a move that will alarm civil libertarians and widen tensions with the police union, the government is preparing to unveil laws that will give the new PSOs ”sufficient capacities and sufficient arrest powers” to deal with alcohol-fuelled violence and antisocial behaviour at stations.
Police Association secretary Greg Davies said he had ”very grave concerns that if the PSOs’ powers are expanded, it will make them quasi-police officers, and once you do that, you’re on the road to second-tier policing”.
Liberty Victoria president Spencer Zifcak said he opposed the granting of arrest powers, describing the PSOs as ”a cheap and knee-jerk response”. The lightly trained officers would be placed in ”potentially explosive situations”, which could lead to someone being shot, he said.
Police Minister Peter Ryan said details were still being worked out with police command. But he said the guards – widely criticised as being under-trained compared with sworn police officers – would be ”appropriately empowered” to make arrests and handle ”the sort of antisocial behaviour that people should not have to cop when they’re using the train system”.
The officers may also be given the power to seize weapons and search offenders – including minors.
”The powers will change to a sufficient degree to enable the PSOs to deal with the problems we have historically encountered on the platforms,” Mr Ryan said. ”To the extent that requires people to be arrested – yes they will have the powers of arrest.”
At present, protective services officers who guard places such as Parliament House or the Department of Premier and Cabinet only have citizen’s arrest powers, which can be imposed only when they see a crime take place. (Those guarding courts have the additional powers to frisk search and seize weapons.) But the new crop of officers, who will be deployed across every metropolitan and major regional rail line, will receive strengthened arrest powers, as well as being armed.
The introduction of 940 PSOs was a central plank of Ted Baillieu’s pre-election pledge to ”get tough on crime”. They will be phased in over the next four years. But already the move has divided police, worried legal advocates, and placed the government under political heat.
The government’s plans to not extend training for PSOs, yet boost their powers, have compounded concerns. The officers will be armed after receiving only eight weeks’ training. Police receive 23 weeks’ training plus 10 weeks’ on-the-job training. There are fears the officers will not be sufficiently equipped to make split-second life-and-death decisions or contend with people under the influence of drugs or alcohol or suffering from a mental illness.
”When you’re talking about search powers, or the searching of minors, these are extremely serious powers – and that’s why only sworn and fully trained police have them,” said opposition police spokesman James Merlino.
Fitzroy Legal Service executive officer Robin Inglis said it was simplistic to think crime could be solved by ”scaling up” police powers.
”The notion that a whole lot of new people might be given similar powers to sworn police, and be armed is a cause for concern,” he said
Raleigh NC student poisons teacher www.privateofficer.com
RALEIGH NC April 11 2011 – According to the Raleigh Police Department, a teacher was taken to the hospital and a student was arrested after an incident where a foreign substance was put into a teacher’s soft drink can at school.
Raleigh Police Department spokesman Jim Sughrue released to the media on Friday the details of the situation.
According to the police, Leesville High School teacher Roseann Marie Monteleone was taken to the hospital after she became sick on Thursday, April 7th.
“The Raleigh Police Department school resource officer at Leesville High School responded to situation that involved a teacher who had become ill after drinking from a soft drink can,” said Sughrue.
The SRO immediately contacted the emergency communications center, EMS was dispatched, and the teacher, Roseann Marie Monteleone, was transported to Rex Hospital, where she was treated and released,” he added.
According to the Raleigh Police Department, the school resource officer followed up on “suspicions that an unknown substance had been placed in the teacher’s soft drink can during a time period in the morning when it had been left unattended.”
“Additional RPD personnel and detectives from the department’s Aggravated Assault Unit responded to the school to gather information and perform follow-up investigative work,” commented Sughrue.
According to the police, the foreign substance put into the soft drink was some kind of “cleansing substance.”
As a result of the investigation, Sughrue said that Leesville High School student Cody Austin Beckett had been arrested on a charge of assault on a school employee and taken to Wake County Jail.
In a letter to parents, Leesville High School principal Scott Lyons commented on the incident but did not mention the poisoning or allegations against the student.
“Shortly after second period began, one of our teachers had an apparent medical reaction to something she ingested,” he said. “We immediately called EMS and fortunately, she is fine. However, she was transported to the hospital for evaluation.”
University of Cincinnati student arrest stealing inhaler during asthma attack www.privateofficer.com
Cincinnati OH April 11 2011 A University of Cincinnati student having an asthma attack was arrested Wednesday for fighting with a pharmacy employee while attempting to get an inhaler.
Daniel Bay, 18, was arrested at the Corryville Walgreen’s for allegedly biting an employee during an altercation concerning an asthma inhaler. Bay was attempting to buy the inhaler to alleviate the asthma attack he was having at the time.
The purchase of the inhaler was delayed due to difficulties with Bay’s health insurance card, leading to Bay taking the
inhaler from the pharmacist.
A security guard tallegedly tackled Bay, aggravating his asthma attack and resulting in Bay biting the guard.
Bay was arrested and charged with robbery for taking the inhaler. Paramedics treated him for the asthma attack before he was jailed at the Hamilton County Justice Center.
His bond was set for $10,000 and the court is requiring Bay be tested for communicable diseases that he might have passed to the security guard.
