OFFICER DOWN Deputy Sheriff Clifton Taylor

 

 

 

Johnson County Sheriff’s Office

Texas

End of Watch: Saturday, April 23, 2011

Biographical Info
Age: 31
Tour of Duty: 3 years
Badge Number: Not available

Incident Details
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Date of Incident: Saturday, April 23, 2011
Weapon Used: Gun; Unknown type
Suspect Info: Shot and killed

Deputy Clifton Taylor was shot and killed after he and other deputies responded to a domestic disturbance near Venus shortly after 4 pm.

Upon arriving at the scene the deputies began searching for the male subject. Deputy Taylor was shot as he opened the door to a shed located near the property. The other deputies returned fire and killed the suspect.

Deputy Taylor was transported to a local hospital where he succumbed to his wounds.

Deputy Taylor had served with the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office for three years. He is survived by his fiancee.

Agency Contact Information
Johnson County Sheriff’s Office
1102 E. Kilpatrick
Cleburne, TX 76031

Phone: (817) 556-6060

Please contact the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office for funeral arrangements or for survivor benefit fund information.

FBI identifies man wanted in Colorado attempted mall bombing www.privateofficer.com

 

Denver CO April 25 2011 The FBI identified a 65-year-old man with a raft of aliases as the suspect in the attempted bombing of a suburban shopping mall on the anniversary of the Columbine massacre and issued a nationwide alert Sunday, warning that he is probably armed and dangerous.

Earl Albert Moore is the lone suspect in the case, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said. It listed five aliases for him and said he had an “extensive” criminal background.

One week before Wednesday’s attempted bombing, the FBI said, Moore had been released from federal prison after serving a sentence for armed bank robbery in West Virginia.

Authorities found a pipe bomb and two propane tanks while extinguishing a small fire in the Southwest Plaza food court. The mall is less than two miles from Columbine High School, where in 1999 two students killed 13 people before turning guns on themselves. The mall, which can have as many as 10,000 shoppers at its busiest, was evacuated for hours.

There was no explicit link to the high school massacre, but the timing made people suspicious and anxious. The local school district restricted access to 25 schools as a precaution.

Attention swiftly turned to grainy pictures captured by surveillance cameras of a balding man with a mustache who was spotted leaving the area at the time of the attempted bombing. Investigators were not able to identify him until Sunday.

It remained unclear whether Moore was still in Colorado. In a statement, the FBI said it was conducting a nationwide hunt and asked the media to distribute images of Moore.

The agency said Moore is about 6 feet tall, weighs 200 to 220 pounds and has a gray mustache and multiple tattoos, including one of a viking. His aliases include Earl Buchanan, Morelli Buchanon, John Lindzy, Donald Morelli and Gary Steele.

Authorities urged anyone with information about his whereabouts to call 911 or the Jefferson County tip line at (303) 271-5615.

Source:LA Times

Off-duty St. Louis police officer killed in gunbattle www.privateofficer.com

 

ST. LOUIS MO April 25 2011 An off-duty city police officer was fatally shot early this morning as he attempted to stop a gun battle outside a downtown St. Louis nightclub, police said.

Daryl Hall, 34 years old and a five-year department veteran, was struck by bullets in the neck and arm about 2:30 a.m. today outside The Label at Fourth and Gratiot streets, just blocks from Busch Stadium, police said.

The incident began when two customers were escorted out of the club after an altercation, according to police.

Hall, who was inside as a patron, then heard gunshots and ran outside to investigate, police said. He spotted a man firing a handgun and pulled out his own weapon. Witnesses said Hall identified himself as a police officer and ordered the man to drop his weapon, but the man refused, according to police.

Gunfire erupted between Hall and the man, latter identified as Asif Blake of Hazelwood, with a nightclub security guard also opening fire, according to police.

Hall, assigned to the police housing authority unit, was pronounced dead at St. Louis University hospital.

Blake, 30, was pronounced dead at the scene from multiple gunshot wounds, police said.

The security guard, described by police as a 30-year-old male, was not injured. He was interviewed by homicide detectives and released.

Three guns were recovered from the scene.

Hall joined the St. Louis force in July 2006. He was a patrolman in the sixth district before joining the housing authority unit. He is survived by his mother, stepfather and a brother, according to the police department. Funeral services were being finalized.

A co-owner of The Label, Chris Little, issued a statement noting Hall was a regular visitor at the bar.

“This tragedy has deeply hurt us as well as shed new light on the extreme issues that our community is facing each day with ignorance and crime,” Little said.

Source:STL.com

Security company guard Warren Buffett every second of the day www.privateofficer.com

 

Omaha NE April 25 2011 It was a chance meeting in a midtown bagel shop that led Warren Buffett to a business pact with a hometown cop who for 17 years now has handled the Oracle of Omaha’s personal security.

At that time, Dan Clark was a young Weed and Seed officer patrolling Omaha’s north side. He happened to lunch in the same spot as Buffett’s daughter, Susie, who was bothered by breaking news that Wisconsin bank robbers had plotted to kidnap her father.

Susie Buffett asked the uniformed Clark why police wouldn’t have informed her family earlier. Clark recalled telling her that he was not privy to details, but that the Buffetts should have been contacted.

Before he left, Clark offered his private security services — and shortly afterward, he was hired to protect the famed CEO of Omaha’s Berkshire Hathaway.

Thus began the longtime partnership between a buff martial arts practitioner whose police assignments have been among the most dangerous, and the billionaire Buffett famous for shrewd investments and an earthy, approachable style that would make any bodyguard nervous.

This week the two native Omahans will be at their busiest: working the Berkshire stockholders gatherings expected to draw up to 40,000 from across the globe. In Buffett’s shadow will be Clark and a contingent of his staff. He has a company with some 150 contracted guards and off-duty law-enforcement agents.

That’s a far cry from the one-man bodyguard show that started it all.

“The first year it was me, with a protein bar in my pocket, with Mr. Buffett,” Clark recalled. “I didn’t take a meal break, and I didn’t sit down. By the end of the weekend, I was dog-tired.”

***

The Clark and Buffett paths actually had intersected a few years earlier, when the officer was directed to distribute fliers telling about a town hall policing meeting.

Now 46, Clark recalls approaching a Happy Hollow-area home where he saw that the exterior wooden door was open. He didn’t know who lived there, but through the glass storm door he saw people playing bridge. Clark presented himself, prompting the man who came to the door to make his own introduction: “Hi, I’m Warren Buffett.”

“I’m thinking, ‘I can’t believe he answered his own door,’ ” Clark said in his first in-depth interview about his role with Buffett.

That reinforced his interest in the field of executive protection. Over time, he arranged to train with a retired Secret Service official and a State Department contractor. He amassed “reading people” skills and other investigatory techniques from his police roles and from colleagues. The research came in handy when he later ran into Susie Buffett at the Bruegger’s bagel restaurant.

Since Buffett hired him in 1995, Clark has expanded protection to include measures such as security around the investor’s house in 2006.

Clark said he follows his boss’s lead and adjusts to his lifestyle and personality. Buffett is known for not thinking twice about plunging into the swarm of stockholders to shake hands or have a barbecue sandwich.

“We try to make our approach breathable with the client,” Clark said.

That’s not to say he doesn’t get anxious.

He recalled a “spooky” admirer with a “blank” stare who followed Buffett from place to place during a Berkshire gathering. Said Clark: “We employed strategies to manage him. However, he had us all concerned.”

Another time Clark swerved to avoid a car running a red light. “It was one of those reaffirming moments,” he said, “that you can never let your guard down.”

Truth be told, though, it’s the crush of international media and adoring fans that keep Clark on his toes the most.

“The reality is I have protected him more from the press and crowds than from assaults.”

He recalled a backpedaling photojournalist who, in his persistence to get a good shot, rammed into and broke off the side mirror of the CEO’s car. “Mr. Buffett just shook his head.”

***

Clark’s nearly 24-year career with the Omaha Police Department began in 1986, when crack cocaine and gangs were relatively new to town and driving up violent crime, especially in and around north Omaha housing projects.

He patrolled a sprawling low-income complex nicknamed “Little Vietnam” for its bloodshed. Gangsters called him “Red,” and his efforts to quell disorder were criticized publicly by a few African-American community leaders as too aggressive.

Clark was praised by others. Among his awards displayed in his office near 75th and Pacific Streets is one from the Omaha Housing Authority, the landlord of housing projects.

“There was so much open-air drug trafficking,” Clark recalled. “I tried to do something about it.”

Along with weeding out bad seeds, Clark said he and his partner tried to build rapport with inner-city residents. They handed out police badge stickers to kids and sometimes shot hoops with them.

Clark went on to other high-risk assignments, including the SWAT, K-9, gang and narcotics teams. His was the first cruiser to reach fellow Officer Jimmy Wilson Jr. after he’d been shot and killed by gang members in 1995.

Just before Clark retired in 2009, his work with a key informant paid off. A team that included agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives intercepted more than 23 pounds of methamphetamine that drug couriers had hidden in three vehicles, including in the lower engine section of a Chevy Silverado 2500.

In 2008, Clark was named Crime Stoppers Officer of the Year for his role in taking apart two large narcotics operations. Road Trip II had him in deep disguise, gaining the trust of drug lords. He once engaged in a semi-friendly coin toss to settle a negotiation over the price of an assault weapon. (Clark won the flip, reducing the cost by $100.)

Clark had so changed his appearance for that bust — his red, short-cropped hair was dyed dark, and he had a beard and extra weight — that his own daughter backed away when he showed up to drive her home from dance class.

Since he had the security business on the side, the typically clean-shaven Clark at times met private clients at least partially in disguise. Clark may even have startled Buffett a time or two. He recalls stopping once at the investor’s office, sporting a goatee and longer curly hair.

“He said, ‘Dan, just to let you know, if you hadn’t said who you were, I wouldn’t have recognized you.’ ”

***

Although the Buffett guard detail doesn’t typically put Clark in the same seedy company as his undercover work did, he’s well aware that he’s guarding the third-richest person in the world.

And danger has presented itself more than once.

Clark declined to discuss details that might reveal security strategy or leave a client vulnerable, including how much time he spends or distance he travels with Buffett. He said his company handles any need presented to it by Berkshire, from guards to drivers to investigations.

Public reports show increased investment for “personal and home security services provided for Mr. Buffett and paid by Berkshire.”

In 2008, Berkshire paid $315,709. In 2009, that rose to $344,490; and in 2010, the amount was $349,946. The company didn’t list that expense before 2008.

Walt Disney spent $562,034 last year for security around President and Chief Executive Officer Robert Iger. American Express spent $330,000 over the past three years on home security systems for Chief Executive Kenneth Chenault; the company also spent $118,000 for security during Chenault’s personal trips. The last year before the company was acquired, Anheuser-Busch Cos. spent $392,168 for personal security for then-CEO August Busch III.

The investments reflect that “risk awareness on the part of executives has changed a great deal. Corporations are much, much more aware of risks,” said Bob Hayes of the Security Executive Council, a Washington-based group that researches ways to manage business risk.

Perhaps the most notable safety threat that occurred on Clark’s watch was in 2007 at Buffett’s home — a modest abode when contrasted with the secluded, high-security residences of most other multibillionaires. (Buffett has lived in the house since 1958, when he bought it for $31,500.)

One of Clark’s contracted guards, a Papillion police lieutenant, disarmed a camouflaged man who was carrying a fake gun and a real weapon. The intruder escaped; Clark praised his associate for repelling the attack and returning to the security team to ensure the well-being of the Buffetts.

Though Clark laughs and denies ever getting a financial tip from Buffett, he acknowledges other perks of the job — such as the time he got to meet an idol, martial arts expert and actor Chuck Norris, while at a celebrity golf event with Buffett. And he said Buffett also has offered the occasional ethics-laden advice on running a business.

Clark said he enjoys Buffett’s wit and has been awed at his thought process.

“Mr Buffett is extremely focused, and there are obviously benefits that have come from it.”

When asked about Clark, Buffett said he considers him a friend and called him “terrific at what he does.”

Clark, a father of four, said he has been privy to a lot of personal situations with the Buffetts but doesn’t need a contract or written agreement to know when to stay tight-lipped.

“Mr. Buffett and I have always done business on a handshake based on trust.”

***

The Buffett connection likely helped open doors to work with other celebrities. Among the dignitaries that Clark has protected while they were in town are Sarah Palin, actor George Clooney, then-Sen. Barack Obama and Iraqi Judge Raid Juhi al-Saedi, the former chief investigative judge for the Iraqi High Tribunal, which handled the trial of Saddam Hussein.

Just last week, workers hung new signs outside the expanded 7,000-square-foot Clark International office that houses a range of security services. The business also includes a gym for defensive tactics and other training, including martial arts for youths.

This week’s Berkshire meeting, however, presents Clark with his largest annual task.

His associates are busy climbing through ductwork, examining catwalks, sweeping meeting rooms. Security guards will be dispatched throughout the city. Clark also coordinates with area law enforcement agencies.

The pre-planning phase grows each year with the crowd. But one thing hasn’t changed, Clark said.

Buffett, now 80, still walks quickly, “can change directions on a dime” and keeps Clark’s guys hopping.

“It pays to be in shape,” Clark said — referring to the bodyguards, of course.

Source:Omaha news

 

 

Off-duty police officer sued after fatal shooting www.privateofficer.com

 

Houston TX April 25 2011 Lawyers for relatives of a man fatally shot by a Houston police officer in August 2009 are asking the federal court to order the city not to withhold or delay autopsy results in police-shooting deaths.

The request is part of a lawsuit filed March 31 in U.S. District Court by relatives of John T. Barnes Sr., who was shot by Officer Ryan Gardiner. The officer was a security guard at Woodland Hills Village Apartments in Kingwood but was wearing his police uniform, according to the lawsuit.

Barnes’ autopsy report was completed Nov. 3, 2009, but not released until April 19. It states Barnes was shot four times in the back, once in the left torso, once in the left buttock, once in the chest and once in the left arm.

“The city had suppressed the autopsy until now,” attorney David W. Hodges said. “In this case, I think it was probably the filing of the lawsuit which finally was the impetus behind them releasing the autopsy.”

In general, Hodges said, the city should release autopsy results in police shootings either as soon as the investigation is complete or after a year, whichever comes first.

Comment from the city legal department was not immediately available Saturday.

According to the lawsuit, the shooting came after Gardiner heard Barnes having a verbal exchange with his common-law wife, Karen Echols (at the time known as Karen Bennett).

As Barnes left, Gardiner ordered him to the ground. When the unarmed Barnes refused, the officer “physically attacked” him, according to the suit.

Barnes pushed the officer, who stepped back and drew his pistol, the suit states. When Barnes asked, “What are you going to do, shoot me?” the officer fired “numerous times,” the suit states.

Yuma teacher charged with having sex with 14yr old student www.privateofficer.com

 

YUMA, AZ April 25 2011- Police have arrested a Yuma teacher suspected of having a sexual relationship with a middle school student.

According to Yuma police Sgt. Clint Norred, 30-year-old Jessica Coz allegedly had been involved with the 14-year-old male student for several months.

Coz, a band teacher at Castle Dome Middle School, was booked into the Yuma County Jail for continuous sexual abuse, sexual conduct with a minor and child molest, according to Norred.

Norred said the allegations were reported by the boy’s family. He said there is no indication of other potential victims.

The investigation is continuing and Norred says anyone with information about this case call Det. Mike Sanchez at 928-373-4689 or 78-Crime to remain anonymous.

Houston nightclub security in gunbattle with car thief www.privateofficer.com

 

HOUSTON TX April 25 2011 – A suspect attempting to break into a vehicle outside a southeast Houston night club shoots the car’s owner then exchanges gunfire with a security guard working at the establishment.

Around 1 a.m. Sunday, police say the owner of a vehicle parked at the El Tenampa night club on Market and Federal, walked out to find two unknown suspects attempting to break into his car.

According to police, one of the burglary suspects shot the vehicle’s owner in the stomach as he approached them.

A security guard working at the night club heard the gunshot and approached the suspects, say police.

One of the suspects opened fire on the security guard and the guard exchanged fire.

Police say neither the suspects nor the security guard were injured.

The security guard told police that the suspects fled the scene in a white Chevy Impala.

The vehicle owner who sustained a gunshot wound was transported to Ben Taub Hospital in serious but stable condition.

Source:www.myfoxhouston.com

Durham band teacher faces 65 counts of sex with student www.privateofficer.com

 

 

WINSTON-SALEM NC April 25 2011 The band teacher at Durham’s Shepard Middle School faces dozens of counts of having sex with a student while he was teaching at Parkland High School near Winston-Salem, according to the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Department.

Terry Lamar Jones Jr. has been charged with 64 felony counts of having sex with a student, authorities say.

Jones’ alleged conduct with the former student came to light in a first-person story published in the April 13 issue of N.C. Central University’s student newspaper, Campus Echo. The woman, now a junior at N.C. Central University, used a pseudonym to tell about starting a relationship with her band teacher at Parkland High School in 2007 and 2008 when she was 17 and he was 24.

She referred to the band teacher as “James Smith” throughout the article. In it, she recounted how the teacher took her to an abortion clinic in Greensboro to terminate a pregnancy so they wouldn’t be seen. She wrote that their relationship ended after she discovered he also was in a relationship with one of her friends.

Five days after the story was published, the principal at Parkland High School contacted the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office, which began an investigation. Detectives interviewed the young woman about her relationship with Jones from October 2007 to May 2008.

The Sheriff’s Office was assisted by officers at the university, Durham Police and the State Bureau of Investigation.

Authorities are looking for Jones, who lives in Durham and has yet to be arrested. Those with information on his whereabouts are asked to call 336-917-7001 or 336-727-2800.