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Hawaiian Tours helicopter crashes-5 people dead www.privateofficer.com
East Molokai HI Nov 11 2011 Rescue personnel recovered four bodies Thursday evening and were attempting to retrieve a fifth from the wreck of a Kahului-based Blue Hawaiian Tours helicopter that crashed along a hillside in East Molokai at about noon.
Witnesses said the crash occurred about one-fourth of a mile behind Kilohana Elementary School on the side of a ridge near the 1,000-foot elevation in an area of scrub brush popular with deer hunters.
Among those killed was the pilot, tentatively identified as Nathan Cline, 30, of Kihei, Maui.
Also killed were two couples, one from Ontario and the other from Pennsylvania. Maui County spokesman Rod Antone said one of the couples was newly married. It did not appear that any of the victims were in Hawaii for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation gathering on Oahu this week.
Witnesses and rescuers said the crash happened in rain and under thick, low-hanging cloud cover. The National Weather Service had issued a high-wind advisory for Maui County through much of Thursday.
Police said the flight was to be a tour of West Maui and Molokai lasting an hour.
Blue Hawaiian Helicopters official Patti Chevalier said by telephone that the firm was cooperating with the investigation and was still trying to piece together what happened.
“We’re all puzzled,” she said.
Molokai police Sgt. Randy Esperanza said the first emergency call came in at 12:14 p.m.
Richard Stevens, principal of Kilohana Elementary School, said “a lot of us heard what we thought was thunder” at about 12:15 p.m.
The school’s health aide was outside at the time and called 911, Stevens said.
Several witnesses said they heard a helicopter that sounded like it was autorotating — an emergency maneuver — about a quarter-mile behind the school.
Ualapue resident Wren Wescoatt said he heard a very loud “whoop” and saw flames from the crash about two miles inland from the main highway. He said there were heavy rain squalls coming through the area.
A school employee, who asked not to be identified, said the helicopter could not be seen through the thick clouds, but sounded like it was flying low and in trouble.
“It sounded like boulders falling off a cliff,” the employee said.
Ian Gregor, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration’s Pacific Division, said the aircraft crashed and was “engulfed in flames.”
Emergency response vehicles gathered behind the school, and firefighters made their way up to the site with the help of all-terrain vehicles within a half-hour after the crash, Stevens said.
Stevens said the 71 students at the K-6 school remained in their classrooms. Classes ended at 2 p.m. at the school, which lies about 13 miles from Kaunakakai.
Maui County officials said the crash caused a small brush fire that was confined largely to the crash site.
The helicopter has been tentatively identified as a Eurocopter model EC-130 B4. FAA records show the aircraft is owned by the Nevada Helicopter Leasing Co. of Henderson, Nev. It was certified in April 2010.
The FAA’s Gregor said his agency would investigate the incident with the National Transportation Safety Board, the lead investigative agency. NTSB investigators typically post a preliminary report within a week or two of a crash, although it typically takes the board months to come up with a probable cause.
The earliest FAA records that could be found online show Cline was a registered helicopter flight instructor and pilot in Winnetka, Calif., in July 2004. His most recent registration showed him with a Kihei address and listed him as a pilot and flight instructor with certification good through March 2012.
Blue Hawaiian’s website lists Cline as having 4,400 flight hours.
On July 21, 2000, a Blue Hawaiian Helicopters aircraft slammed into the side of a ridge in Iao Valley, Maui, killing all seven aboard.
The eastern Molokai terrain can be unforgiving in stormy weather.
On Jan. 7, 1982, three Coast Guard aviators flying a Sikorsky HH-52A Seaguard helicopter were killed in a crash on a steep ridge in Molokai’s Wailau Valley. The crew was responding to a distress call from a 74-foot fishing boat that was taking on water off Maui.
On May 18, 1980, six Marines and one Navy corpsman were killed and two other Marines were severely burned when a Sea Stallion helicopter crashed soon after takeoff 3.5 miles east of Molokai Airport.
Maui County spokesman Ryan Piros said the Maui Visitors Bureau is assisting the victims’ families. No names were released Thursday night.
A Maui Police Department chaplain, meanwhile, was dispatched to help Blue Hawaiian employees deal with their grief.
Washington DC man convicted of stabbing-beating security officer www.privateofficer.com
DeVino Harding, 52, was convicted in the D.C. Superior Court of charges of assault with a dangerous weapon, assault with significant bodily injury, possession of a prohibited weapon, threats, and destruction of property. A sentencing date has not yet been set.
Harding attacked the security officer in December after the officer asked a couple of young men to remove the ski masks they were wearing inside the Rite-Aid store in the 800 block of H Street NE.
Harding accused the officer of harassing the young men, and was asked to leave. Harding swung a stick at the security guard, but missed and shattered the glass front door. He then pulled out a knife and stabbed the security guard in the stomach.
As the guard tried to flee, Harding stabbed him in the leg. He then tackled the man and stabbed him twice in the back.
Witnesses pointed police to a nearby house where Harding was found with a knife.
Source: Washington Examiner
Resort security aids police in capture of burglar www.privateofficer.com
This was called in by a Holly Lake Ranch security officer after he had observed a 48 year old w/f identified as Jackie Cornwell from Dallas was pulling a power washer across the property.
The security officer asked her what she was doing and she gave an excuse and the security officer told her to wait while he contacted the Sheriff’s Office.
Cornwell then took off running and the security officer followed as she entered a time share condo on the other side of the complex.
Upon Deputy O’Grady’s arrival he contacted Cornwell and observed marijuana in plain sight.
Cornwell was place in custody for possession of marijuana under 2oz. Cornwell waived her rights and spoke to Deputy O’Grady about the power washer and other stolen items found in the condo.
Recovered and identified by the owner from the next condo complex were assorted power tools, masonry tools, extension cords, a work light and a tool box with assorted tools all items totaled approximately thousand dollars.
The items were taken from a pickup truck and been there around 5:30am this same morning. All items were released back to the owner. Cornwell was booked in to Wood County Jail for Burglary of a motor vehicle and possession of marijuana under 2oz.
Lithia Springs Comprehensive High School teacher charged with sex crimes against student www.privateofficer.com
LITHIA SPRINGS, Ga.Nov 11 2011 — He was hired to educate and care for high school students.
But a 52-year-old teacher at Lithia Springs Comprehensive High School is accused of taking advantage of a 17-year-old girl from his school, which is a felony under a Georgia law that took effect only last year.
Dennis Brown was arrested Wednesday, accused of having consensual sex with a student who had skipped school to meet him off campus. The Douglas County Sheriff said it occurred in Brown’s truck in the park-and-ride lot at Lee Road and Interstate 20 — which is near the school — during school hours.
The new law makes it a felony for educators to have any sexual contact with students of any age who are in their care, in elementary and secondary schools. Even if the student is 17, consent does not matter, according to the law.
It was in 2009 when the Georgia Supreme Court ruled on a previous version of the law, declaring that a teacher is not necessarily breaking the law for having sex with a student 16-years-old or older who participates willingly.
The legislature rewrote the law in 2010 to ban educators from having any sexual contact with their students, in elementary and secondary schools.
Sheriff Miller said Brown confessed when investigators arrested and questioned him.
“There may be other victims, according to what we’re told,” Sheriff Miller said. “This man may have had sex with more than one female” student. “
“As we conducted the interviews, the female admitted, when we brought her up there, that they had, that she had had oral sex with the teacher,” Miller added. “They’re 17-years-old; they’re still impressionable, and for somebody who has authority over them, it puts them in a situation that they may not know exactly how to say no.”
Parents are angry, and saying enough is enough.
“I think it’s awful,” said Calvin Bates, who lives near the high school and has two children in middle school. “I think it’s a bad thing. I think once they get in mind to make an example out of some of these guys, they’ll stop sexing these kids. Just need to stop it. Once they make an example out of one of them, just like anything else, it’d come to a halt.”
Dennis Brown faces up to 25 years in prison for each offense, and the sheriff said the investigation is just beginning.
Source:11Alive.com
Pineville High School teacher arrested for sex with student www.privateofficer.com
Tim Rodriguez, an assistant baseball coach and teacher in his first year at Pineville High, turned himself in to Grant Parish sheriff’s authorities Wednesday afternoon after a warrant was issued for his arrest on two counts of prohibited sexual conduct between an educator and a student.
The law is defined as a teacher having sex with a student between the ages of 17 and 21 who is at least five years younger than the teacher.
Jody Bullock, chief of detectives for the Grant Parish Sheriff’s Office, said a complaint was filed by a 17-year-old Pineville High School student and her parents with the Ball Police Department on Tuesday. Ball authorities determined that the two alleged sexual acts occurred in Grant Parish, meaning the jurisdiction fell to the Grant Parish Sheriff’s Office, Bullock said.
Pineville High School Principal Karl Carpenter was not available for comment on Wednesday, and Assistant Principal Jeff Hickman said he couldn’t comment on personnel matters, referring the matter to Superintendent Gary L. Jones.
Jones said that Rodriguez was suspended Tuesday when the complaint surfaced, and he likely will be fired at next month’s school board meeting.
“Our own investigation revealed some other things besides the criminal charge, and there will be a recommendation to terminate him on the December agenda,” Jones said.
Rodriguez was in his first year as an assistant baseball coach at Pineville after serving five years as the head coach at his alma mater, Pine Prairie High School.
Barbara Lee, the interim principal at Pine Prairie High School, said there hadn’t been any complaints of similar behavior with Rodriguez while he was in Pine Prairie. Lee said Rodriguez’s departure simply was about his coaching and teaching.
“Some years you just need to move in a new direction,” she said.
After taking Pine Prairie to the second round of the Class 2A playoffs in 2007 and 2008, Rodriguez’s teams missed the playoffs in each of his final three years at the school.
That was a far cry from when Rodriguez played for the Panthers.
A star pitcher, Rodriguez was a two-time all-stater who led Pine Prairie to its first baseball title in 2001 as a junior, taking the Panthers to a Class B championship.
Rodriguez later played at Louisiana College, where he compiled a 1-1 record in 13 games as a pitcher and batted .213 with 39 RBI in 111 career games with the Wildcats.
Suicide reported at Occupy Vermont encampment www.privateofficer.com
Scuffle at the mall lands shoplifter in jail www.privateofficer.com
Stanley Leon Turner Jr., 27, of Oakland was arrested around 8:21 p.m. Nov. 4 outside Macy’s in Stoneridge Shopping Center.
Turner tried on an $89 pair of Polo shoes, gave his old shoes to a female acquaintance, then left the store, according to the report, which said he was stopped inside the mall by a guard.
The security guard tried to bring Turner back inside, but a scuffle broke out between the two, leading to the forcible robbery charge.
Transportation Security Administration reminds officials of travel time security issues www.privateofficer.com
WASHINGTON DC Nov 11 2011 — The Transportation Security Administration on Thursday reminded officials charged with securing mass transit around the country to be aware of security issues as the country enters the busy holiday travel season. There was no specific threat behind the warning.
The reminder came in a bulletin that the agency already issued earlier this year, Transportation Security Administrator John Pistole said.
The intelligence community does not currently know of a specific threat to mass transit, according to a counterterrorism official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about intelligence.
“It’s something that we’ve seen in reporting over time that terrorists, around the world, clearly, are interested because of the accessibility, the open architecture, of both buses and rail, and so we try again to work with our state and local counterparts as best we can,” Pistole told an audience at an event hosted by the Homeland Security Policy Institute at George Washington University.
Buses and rail systems have been targeted by terrorists in the U.S. and overseas. Evidence found in Osama bin Laden’s compound after he was killed in May showed that al-Qaida was looking at the structures of trains and train tracks, seeking the best spot for a derailment that would kill the most people.
In March, two U.S. airmen were killed at the Frankfurt, Germany, airport when a man opened fire on them at close range with a handgun after the attacker got into an argument with them outside their military bus. And in October, a Taliban suicide bomber rammed a vehicle loaded with explosives into an armored NATO bus on a busy thoroughfare in Kabul, Afghanistan, killing 17 people, including a dozen Americans.
Generally, the TSA sends warnings to state and local law enforcement and others charged with securing transportation systems. They are often reminders to be on the lookout for suspicious activity and are not always prompted by intelligence about a specific threat or plot.
Alaskan pilot caught with 200 pounds of pot at Indiana airport www.privateofficer.com
SELLERSBURG IN Nov 11 2011 — A 71-year-old Alaskan pilot is facing felony charges after he was caught with 200 pounds of marijuana at Clark County Regional Airport in Clarksville, according to a probable-cause affidavit filed in Clark County Superior Court No. 2 on Thursday.
Allen P. Richter, of Ketchikan, Alaska, was charged with two counts of class C felony dealing marijuana and class D felony maintaining a common nuisance.
The Indiana State Police received information on the evening of Nov. 4 that U.S. Customs officials had tracked a suspicious aircraft on radar from Arizona to Indiana. The plane originally departed from California, but suspicions were raised when its flight plan changed.
Trooper Nathan Abbott arrived at the airport with K-9 Kilo to search the aircraft at 9:50 p.m. Kilo gave a positive alert for the odor for narcotics on the right side of the plane. The state police petitioned for a search warrant, which was granted by Judge Joe Weber at 11:50 p.m.
In the back seat of the aircraft, police found three duffle bags containing more than 30 pounds of high-grade hydroponic marijuana. In the storage area behind the passenger compartment, seven large bags of marijuana were found. The total amount was weighed at 195 to 200 pounds, according to the report.
Richter was staying overnight at the Ramada Inn in Sellersburg, and police set up surveillance at the hotel. Detective Dave Mitchell followed the suspect as he drove to the airport.
According to the report, Richter provided only “limited information about his involvement in the suspected marijuana smuggling.”
Richter admitted the aircraft was stolen, according to police. The tail number listed in court records is assigned to a 1962 fixed-wing single-engine Piper PA-24-250. The plane was registered in June to another individual in Ketchikan.
The police investigation is ongoing. Richter is expected to appear in Clark County Superior Court No. 2 on Monday. He is being held on $100,000 cash-only bond.
He faces two to eight years if convicted of a class C felony and six months to three years if convicted of a class D felony. No attorney has filed an appearance in the case.
Emerson Hospital security stops baby kidnapping-nabs suspect www.privateofficer.com
Anthony Deantonis, 33, was charged with kidnapping, reckless endangerment to a child, assault and battery, larceny form a building, disorderly conduct and giving a false name to a police officer.
Deantonis is the biological father of the baby, according to Concord Police Lt. Tom Mulcahy.
Police said a nurse caught Deantonis breaking into an office in the Birthing Center.
“When she confronted him, he scooped up the baby and ran through the door,” Mulcahy said.
The nurse tried to block the door jamb, but Deantonis allegedly ran into the nurse, knocking her to the ground, Mulcahy said.
The nurse called security and activated “Code Pink,” and security officers were able to detain him in the maternity ward until officers responded, Mulcahy said.
“The mother and child were safe,” he said. “No harm came to either of them.”
“A well-trained and quick-thinking team in the Birthing Center immediately implemented appropriate hospital procedures on the locked unit and kept the baby secure until hospital security and the Concord Police Department arrived,” Emerson Hospital said in a statement.
Source:theBostonChannel.com
Former West Palm Beach police captain succumbs to ALS www.privateofficer.com
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.Nov 11 2011 — A former police captain died after battling ALS.
Daniel Patrick Sargent was 50 years old when he succumbed to what is also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease on Saturday.
Sargent, a Forest Hill High School graduate, earned the ranks of sergeant and lieutenant and eventually retired as a captain after 27 years with the West Palm Beach Police Department.
Sargent, who attended college at Florida State, is survived by his wife, daughter, son, father, two brothers and a sister. He also had 10 nieces and nephews.
A statement released by the West Palm Beach Police Department said Sargent “fought this battle till the end. We will love and miss him forever.”
Visitation will be Thursday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Palms West Funeral Home. A funeral service is scheduled for Friday at 11 a.m. at Christ Fellowship Church on Northlake Boulevard.
Source:WPBF.com
Decatur Al mall security officer injured by cross dressing shoplifter www.privateofficer.com
Decatur, AL Nov 11 2011 – Decatur Police say a security guard received minor injuries during a scuffle with a crossdressing shoplifting suspect this week.
It happened at the Sears department store inside the Decatur Mall on Wednesday around 1:30 p.m.. Mall security called police to report a man in drag was seen trying to conceal stolen items in their store. When they confronted the suspect – 29 year old Marcus Jolly – he reportedly fought back, causing minor injuries to one of the guards.
The guards were able to detain Jolly until Decatur Police arrived.
Jolly is being held in the Morgan County Jail on $2,500 bond
source:waay31.com
SC man sentenced to 35 years in prison for the fatal shooting of a security officer www.privateofficer.com
ORANGEBURG, SC Nov 11 2011 (AP) – A 29-year-old Harleyville man has been sentenced to 35 years in prison for the fatal shooting of a security guard who had kicked him out of an Orangeburg County nightclub moments earlier.
The Times and Democrat of Orangeburg reports that Rodney Neals pleaded guilty Tuesday to murder and attempted murder after a jury was selected to hear his case.
Authorities say Neals was upset in October 2010 because Deshon Potts and another security guard turned him away at the door of the Allen Murray Club because he was banned from the nightspot after shooting at a man who tried to walk away from a fight a year before.
Investigators say Neals fired three shots at the closed door. Two passed through and one struck Potts and killed him.
Antelope Valley College employee charged with embezzlement www.privateofficer.com
Mandy Borquez, 33, could face charges of grand theft and identity theft, according to an arrest report by the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department.
Borquez was arrested after a 10-month investigation by sheriff’s commercial crime investigators, who were contacted by school administrators after noticing discrepancies in their accounting, according to the report.
She is being held at a jail in Lynwood in lieu of $250,000 bail, and is expected to appear in court Dec. 14.
Source:LA NOW
N.C. Supreme Court has upheld powers of campus police departments at religious affiliated colleges
The ruling was a relief to Davidson College officials, who had waited more than year to find out if the justices would agree with the N.C. Court of Appeals. The appeals court ruled in August 2010 that Davidson College’s campus police could not enforce state laws because Davidson is a religious institution. The campus police had retained their powers since then while the court considered the case. Thursday’s ruling reinforces the campus department’s powers to stop suspects and make arrests.
On Thursday, a Davidson spokeswoman provided the following statement:
We are gratified by the State Supreme Court’s decision, as we believe it reinforces North Carolina public policy that favors trained police agencies as the best way to ensure public safety on college campuses.
Further, we believe this decision correctly recognizes that Davidson College’s primary mission is education. In reaching its decision, the State Supreme Court rightly determined that Davidson College is an educational institution that is voluntarily associated with the Presbyterian Church (USA). Davidson’s affiliation with the PCUSA has never had any influence on the way that our campus police officers carry out their sworn duties.
We are pleased that this decision allows our commissioned campus police officers to continue to protect the Davidson community.
Davidson College’s police department, headed by Chief Adrienne Murray, has nine full-time officers including the chief, 10 part-timers and one administrative person, a spokeswoman said.
The court last March heard oral arguments in the case, known as State vs. Yencer. In 2006, Davidson College police stopped driver Julie Anne Yencer on a road near campus. At first, she pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated and reckless driving. But in 2008, she appealed and challenged the authority of the campus police department, saying the state’s certification of the department violated the separation of church and state.
Campus police departments, including Davidson College’s, are granted the same police powers as public departments by the the state Department of Justice. The N.C. Court of Appeals had sided with Ms. Yencer, citing precedents involving two other colleges as well as the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. That ruling said the N.C. Attorney General’s office erred in certifying the department for law enforcement because of its religious affiliation.
The state Attorney General’s Office had appealed the case to the Supreme Court. Davidson College was not a party to the case, although any ruling would have had a direct effect on the college – and possibly other campuses. Last November, lawyers filed a similar suit challenging the powers of Duke University’s campus police after a DWI arrest. Duke has a historical affiliation with the Methodist Church.
In its ruling, the Supreme Court said the state Campus Police Act applies to Davidson’s campus police and those at other religiously affiliated institutions. “We hold that the Campus Police Act, as applied to defendant, does not offend the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution,” the court said.
The Supreme Court noted that precedents cited by the appeals court had been decided before the state’s Campus Police Act became law. The justices upheld the act, whose purposes include “to assure, to the extent consistent with the State and federal constitutions, that [police] protection is not denied to students, faculty, and staff at private, nonprofit institutions of higher education originally established by or affiliated with religious denominations.”
“It is well established that ‘religious institutions need not be quarantined from public benefits that are neutrally available to all,’” the court said, citing a previous ruling. The Supreme Court also noted:
… that “Davidson College is not a church and that its primary purpose is not religious in nature. Davidson College’s secular, educational mission predominates. While a reading of Davidson’s statement of purpose shows that the college is church affiliated, the statement also shows that the College is not a ‘predominantly religious’ institution.
While Davidson College was not actually a direct party to the case, it would have been directly affected by a negative ruling. The college did file a “friend of the court” brief, arguing that while it is “voluntarily associated” with the Presbyterian Church USA, that affiliation “plays no role” in admissions, hiring, or curriculum, and is not a factor when campus police do their jobs. In addition, the college noted that Davidson is “owned” by its board of trustees, not by the Presbyterian Church (USA).
A ruling against the college also could have affected the role of Davidson’s town police on campus. Davidson Police Chief Jeanne Miller said Thursday: “I’m glad for the Davidson campus police, that they can move on and we can continue to work together as we have in the past,” she said.
She said the two police departments have jointly trained on everything from firearms to rapid deployments, and she expects that to increase.
Security officer fatally wounded during robbery at Chicago aldi’s store www.privateofficer.com
Chicago IL Nov 11 2011 A security guard was fatally shot and a woman was wounded in her leg Thursday night during a robbery attempt at an Aldi grocery store on the South Side, officials said.
The two, both in their 50s, were shot at 7:27 p.m. at the store near 90th and Halsted streets by a suspect trying to rob them, police said.
The shooter fled and was not in police custody Thursday night, police said.
Police were unable to say if the gunman made off with any cash or items.
