Archive
OFFICER DOWN- Correctional Officer Tracy Hardin
Correctional Officer
Tracy Hardin
Nevada Department of Corrections, Nevada
End of Watch: Friday, January 20, 2012
Bio & Incident Details
Age: Not available
Tour: Not available
Badge # Not available
Cause: Heart attack
Incident Date: 12/23/2011
Weapon: Person
Suspect: Not available
Correctional Officer Tracy Hardin died as the result of an injury suffered while struggling with an inmate at the High Desert State Prison.
Officer Hardin was speaking to the inmate about disciplinary issues when the inmate assaulted him. During the ensuing struggle Officer Hardin injured his ankle.
On January 20th, 2012, Officer Hardin was leaving the prison following his shift when he suddenly pulled into a pulloff outside of the employee parking lot. Seeing this, other officers immediately went to check on him and discovered he wasn’t breathing. They immediately initiated CPR but were unable to revive him.
It was determined that a blood clot broke free from the injured ankle and caused him to suffer a fatal heart attack.
Officer Hardin had served with the Nevada Department of Corrections for five years.
Please contact the following agency to send condolences or to obtain funeral arrangements:
Warden Dwight Neven, High Desert State Prison
Nevada Department of Corrections
5500 Snyder Avenue
PO Box 7011
Carson City, NV 89701
Phone: (775) 887-3285
Delaware security guard charged with impersonating police www.privateofficer.com
New Castle County DE Jan 31 2012 Police have arrested Javon Redden, 22, of the 700 block of Millcreek Court in Bear. He was charged with impersonating a police officer and related offenses after he attempted to perform a car stop after threatening the victim.
On Saturday afternoon, January 28, at 3:38 p.m., County Police were called to the community of Maplecrest for a terroristic threatening complaint. When officers arrived, they learned that the 19-year-old victim had been threatened by his girlfriend’s former boyfriend, who was later identified as Javon Redden. The subject then attempted to perform a car stop as he chased after the victim while he was driving northbound on Route 141.
The investigation revealed that during a phone conversation between the victim and suspect, an argument ensued and Redden had threatened to harm the victim. A short time later, as the victim arrived at his girlfriend’s home in the community of Chelsea Estates, Redden had showed up at the residence in a black Dodge Durango. The teen immediately left the area and Redden began pursuing the victim, stayed close behind.
Police learned that the victim began traveling northbound on Route 141 at a high rate of speed in an attempt to get away from the subject. During that time, Redden, who is employed by Bayside Security and whose vehicle was equipped with red and blue LED lights and strobe lights that are similar to those on a police cruiser, activated the equipment and attempted to stop the victim. Redden then chased the car driven by the victim for approximately two miles, with his lights activated, before the victim was able to get away.
Officers were able to locate the suspect after he returned to the community. He was taken into custody without incident. During a search of the vehicle officers located a blue strobe light underneath the front passenger seat and discovered the SUV was also equipped with red and amber strobe lights which were mounted on the rear hatch of the vehicle.
Redden was charged with the following crimes: Criminal Impersonation of a Police Officer, Reckless Endangering in the Second Degree, and Terroristic Threatening. He was arraigned and released on $1,000 secured bond.
Source:Post Online
Santa Maria police officer under investigation shot-killed by police www.privateofficer.com
SANTA MARIA, Calif.Jan 31 2012 - A Santa Maria police officer was shot and killed by a fellow policeman as he was about to be arrested, authorities said.
According to CBS affiliate KCOY, the officer shot was the subject of an international criminal investigation for allegations of sexual misconduct against a 17-year-old girl.
The officer killed was 29-year-old Albert Covarrubias Jr. Santa Maria police officer Matthew Kline fired the deadly shot Saturday morning.
Police say Kline was attempting to arrest Covarrubias on suspicion of illegal sex with a minor. Covarrubias resisted and fired his gun before Kline fatally shot him once in the chest at a DUI checkpoint where he had been on duty.
“He chose to resist,” Police Chief Danny R. Macagni said. “He drew his weapon. A fight ensued. He fired his weapon. And one of my officers that was there also discharged his weapon, and the officer was fatally wounded.”
Covarrubias was rushed to Marian Medical Center for emergency surgery and later pronounced dead from his injuries.
The Los Angeles Times reports detectives believed Covarrubias knew he was under investigation. Police say witnesses were being intimidated, and that the public would be at risk if the officer was not arrested before he left his shift Saturday.
“The information that we had in hand demanded that we not let him leave that scene, get in a car, drive somewhere. It would put the public at risk if he did,” Macagni said. “We just did not know what was going to happen. And we did not expect him to react the way he did.”
In the days prior to the shooting, the investigation into the officer’s sexual misconduct was unfolding. Information was discovered during the time Covarrubias was on duty and it was very explicit, very specific, and it demanded immediate action, Macagni said.
By 1 a.m. Saturday, detectives had enough information to arrest the officer, who would have been booked on multiple felony counts.
Covarrubias’ father said his son was a “beautiful person” and asked whether he was arrested in the streets in an attempt to ridicule him.
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the shooting.
Source:KCOY
Washington DOC officer arrested after stand-off with police www.privateofficer.com
Tacoma WA Jan 31 2012 – Tacoma Police on Monday arrested a Department of Corrections officer near a school after a brief standoff.
Tacoma Police received a call from Skyline Elementary school at 2301 N. Mildred St. around 9:15 a.m. Monday, reporting that a woman was injured in a fight with a man. Police Spokesman Mark Fulghum said the two were dropping off a child at the school. The man left with a young girl still in the car; he later dropped the girl off with relatives.
Police spotted the man as he was headed back toward the school. Officers chased him to a dead end at N. 10th Street and N. Skyline Drive where a standoff ensued. After talking with negotiators, the man gave himself up. A gun was found in his car.
Skyline Elementary was placed in modified lockdown until the suspect was captured.
Department of Corrections spokesman Chad Lewis later confirmed the suspect works at the Washington Corrections Center in Shelton and that his brother called around 6 a.m. to report the suspect was “armed and dangerous” and might return to the prison. The prison was placed into lockdown, but the suspect never showed up.
The suspect’s name was not immediately released.
The condition of the woman injured in the initial fight was not released.
Source:king5.com
Houston security guard arrested for soliciting teen online www.privateofficer.com
HOUSTON TX Jan 31 2012 - A security guard has been accused of trying to solicit a child online.
Jonathan Alexander Martinez, 25, was arrested at his apartment in the 3400 block of Woodchase in southwest Houston shortly before noon Monday.
Police said a 15-year-old runaway was inside Martinez’s home when he was arrested. Sources said she is from north Texas and has been turned over to Harris County juvenile probation authorities.
The girl’s parents told police they believe she took off with an adult she had met on the Internet.
Court documents show that in one of their online conversations he promised to pick up the girl; in another, he calls her his “wife”. He then explained in detail what sexual acts he would perform on the girl.
Martinez has been charged with online solicitation of a minor and could face charges of having sex with a minor, depending on further investigations.
Records show Martinez has been working as a security guard more about a year and worked for Houston company, Securitas.
Source:click2Houston.com
Four armed robbers flee into Las Vegas hospital causing lockdown-major search www.privateofficer.com
LAS VEGAS NV Jan 31 2012 – Metro Police arrested four people following a search at Centennial Hills Hospital and Medical Center. The hospital was placed on lockdown after police learned suspects from a pawn store robbery were hiding in the hospital.
Police say the incident started with an armed robbery around 9 a.m. at an Easy Cash Super Pawn store located on Cheyenne Ave. near N. Rainbow Blvd.
Police say they found the suspects’ car in the hospital’s parking lot on N. Durango Dr. and received reports the suspects entered the hospital.
Police say the suspects, three men and one woman, were found hiding on different floors. The hospital was on lockdown for about three hours, meaning no one could enter the hospital. That news upset some visitors.
“There’s families and people sick here and everything is shut down. People’s lives are in danger all because you wanted a couple hundred bucks from a pawn shop. It doesn’t make sense to me,” said hospital visitor Michael Avarmidis, who was hoping to see his father who had just undergone surgery.
Police say surveillance video from the pawn store robbery and the vehicle description given by witnesses helped officers identify and locate the suspects in the hospital.
“We really need to point out the outstanding nature of the citizens who were diligent in giving descriptions of the vehicle,” said Metro Police Officer Marcus Martin.
Source:8NewsNow.com
Pennsylvania firefighter died of heart attack www.privateofficer.com
Cranesville PA Jan 31 2012 A Pennsylvania firefighter died Tuesday, Jan. 24, after suffering an apparent heart attack.
Cranesville Capt. Walter C. Sumner, 49, sustained the heart attack on Jan. 21 within 24 hours of responding with his company on a transfer to another station, according to the USFA.
He died on Jan. 24 of complications associated with the attack.
Friends may call at the Mattera Funeral Home, 188 East State Street, Albion, on Monday, Jan. 30 from 1 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 9 p.m.
Funeral services will be held Tuesday at noon with Pastor Hal Morgan officiating. Burial will follow in Hope Cemetery, Wellsburg.
Memorials in his honor may be made to the family in care of the funeral home, or to the Cranesville Volunteer Fire Department, PO Box 302, 9920 N Meadville ST, Cranesville, PA 16410-0302.
New Orleans visiting nurses seeking security after rape www.privateofficer.com
NEW ORLEANS LA Jan 31 2012 – Companies are on high alert after a home health nurse was attacked while on the job in Central City this weekend.
Police said they are still looking for the group of men who dragged the nurse out of her car and sexually assaulted her.
The victim said she was attacked near the intersection of Erato and South Gayoso streets.
“We have that cloud over us now of worry,” said Sue May, of Canon Hospice, a home and inpatient hospice service.
May said the entire home health community is now on guard and is taking extra precautions for their safety. Canon Hospice is working with a security company to escort staffers in questionable neighborhoods.
“The rule that I have for my staff is if you go somewhere and don’t feel safe, leave,” May said.
Police said a gunman forced the home health nurse, who was sitting in her car outside a patient’s home on Thalia Street, to a drive around the corner, where the victim was assaulted several times.
A friend who asked to not be identified said the victim is afraid and doesn’t want to talk to anyone.
“She doesn’t want to talk to a counselor,” the friend said. “She’s afraid of being seen and of being heard.”
Dale Standifer, of the Metropolitan Center for Women and Children, said their agency helps victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. He said they’ve handled 150 rape cases in the metro area in 2011 alone.
Standifer said the agency’s keeps track of which area most rapes occur, though many are still left unreported.
He said they help victims understand that the rape is not their fault.
“Rape is not about sex. Rape is about hurting someone in a very specific and humiliating way. Most rapists have someone they can have consensual sex with. They just want to hurt someone in that way or show off to their friends,” Standifer said.
Source:www.wdsu.com
Detroit security company providing security at Super Bowl www.privateofficer.com
DETROIT MI Jan 31 2012 - Ford Field security guards are accustomed to dealing with crowds at events including concerts and Detroit Lions home games. However, this weekend will give many of them a very unique experience, as a few hundred guards have been selected to work the upcoming Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis.
Longtime football fan Chris Hoepfner told WWJ Newsradio 950 he never thought he would have the chance to see the big game. But after Ford Field’s security company announced that they would be taking over 300 guards to the event, Hoepfner learned that he was one of the guards selected.
“A lot of people jumped on the bandwagon to request in and the ones that got selected were the lucky ones,” Hoepfner said. “Not everyone got selected to go.”
Hoepfner said that going to the Super Bowl is the opportunity of a lifetime.
“I actually work with a guy at my other job that payed $600 for a ticket,” Hoepfner said. “And he told me that he is up in the nosebleeds.”
The Super Bowl is this Sunday with kick off at around 6:30 p.m.
Source:CBS Detroit
Georgia college students turn to food stamps as tuition continues to rise www.privateofficer.com
ATLANTA GA Jan 31 2012 – One way that Georgia college students are dealing with rising tuitions and fees — as they face the prospect, in the next few years, of Georgia’s HOPE scholarship paying less and less toward tuition — is not just by working whatever part-time jobs they can rustle up, mornings, nights and weekends.
It’s also by tapping into an unconventional form of student financial aid: food stamps.
The “Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program” is providing college students who qualify with $200 a month toward their groceries, making them part of the 20 percent of Georgia’s population currently receiving the benefit.
But it is an open secret on the campuses that increasing numbers of students are going straight to the state and applying, which is perfectly legal. And the colleges and universities are not involved at all.
“A few of my friends are on it, I haven’t applied for it yet,” said Robert Taylor, a sophomore at Georgia State University in Downtown Atlanta. “But I was going to [apply], just because they said it’s a big help.”
“With the budget cuts, students are definitely going to have to think of different ways to get money and finances for things such as groceries,” said Danielle Ford, a GSU Junior. “So food stamps will definitely be a big help, absolutely. Without food stamps, they wouldn’t be able to eat.”
Taylor is a full-time student with a part-time job.
“As a full-time student, my bill usually comes up to about almost $5,000 a semester. That’s tuition alone,” he said.
On top of that are his books and fees and his rent for an off-campus apartment, which is $600 a month.
One of the reasons he moved out of a campus dorm, Taylor said, is that GSU was requiring him to pay, in addition to board, about $1,700 a semester for the university’s meal plan.
Now, living off-campus and buying his own groceries, he understands why students are tapping into the SNAP program.
“I mean, I think it helps,” said Taylor, “because these are students that I know that [like me] are working, like, jobs! And they’re really tight on money. These are people who actually really, really need it, and they tell me it’s a big help.”
Last year, Michigan cut 30,000 students from its food stamp rolls by tightening up the requirements for approval, in order to save $75 million a year.
Some states, like Michigan, tightly restrict food stamps that college students who qualify are allowed to receive, while other states promote the program and encourage college students to apply.
11Alive News expects to find out the latest figures on Tuesday indicating how much money Georgia is paying students for food stamps, which is in addition to their state and federal financial aid.
Source:11Alive.com
Wishard Memorial Hospital employee inappropriately touched unconscious female patient www.privateofficer.com
Indianapolis IN Jan 31 2012 The Marion County Sheriff’s Office arrested a former Wishard Memorial Hospital employee charged with inappropriately touching an unconscious female patient and videotaping the incident with his cell phone.
Folajuwoni Ajayi, 47, has been charged with trafficking with an inmate, voyeurism and battery.
According to court documents, officers with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department were dispatched to the hospital on Friday, Jan. 20 to investigate footage found on a cell phone discovered in the Sheriff’s Detention Unit at Wishard Hospital.
A corrections guard told the officers he found the phone on the floor and began searching through it to find the owner. During the search, the guard told police he discovered a video that showed a man touching an unconscious patient’s private areas.
According to court documents, the videotaped incident occurred in late August. The probable cause stated Ajayi was the care technician assigned to the female patient.
“What’s really troubling is this woman was basically unconscious,” said Marion County Deputy Prosecutor Richard Plath. “She had no idea that this had happened until, in fact, the investigators told her.”
Police said Ajayi admitted the cell phone was his during police questioning. However, he said he was having issues with his phone and that it recorded video without his knowledge. Ajayi also denied knowing the patient in the video.
During a forensic examination of the phone, more than 40,000 photographs and 17 video recordings were found. According to court documents, several of the videos depicted sexual acts with unknown females.
“To be able to say where those came from is going to be very difficult. In other words, they could have been downloaded from the internet,” Plath said. “We’re only focused on the two videos.”
Upon further review of the videos, police located another one shot the same day as the alleged incident in August. In the video, police noted Ajayi’s hospital identification card was visible.
Cell phone use is prohibited in the Sheriff’s Detention Unit at Wishard Hospital.
Wishard Hospital representatives turned down interview requests regarding Ajayi, but released the following statement:
“On Friday, January 20, 2012, Wishard employees were alerted to possible inappropriate conduct by a former staff member and immediately contacted local authorities. During the past week, Wishard has worked closely with the Marion County Sheriff’s Office as they conducted the investigation that led to the charges filed today. Wishard is committed to providing safe, high quality care and has in place, and will continue to maintain, strong management practices to identify and immediately report any suspected wrongdoing.”
Source:WXIN
Carnival cruise ship guest dies in jump from top floor www.privateofficer.com
NASSAU, Bahamas Jan 31 2012 (AP) – Authorities in the Bahamas say a 26-year-old U.S. tourist has died aboard a Carnival cruise ship that left from Charleston. The cruise was delayed pending the investigation, but returned to Charleston on Monday.
Bahamas police said in a statement Saturday that a man from South Carolina apparently jumped from one floor to another aboard the Carnival Fantasy ship that had docked in Nassau late Friday. He was declared dead at the scene.
Carnival issued a statement saying the guest apparently fell. They said the ship’s visit to Freeport on Saturday was canceled as the investigation continues.
Officials did not release the man’s name or home town.
The ship departed Charleston on Wednesday for a five-day Bahamas cruise. It returned to Charleston Monday.
NJ man arrested stealing baby formula at Pathmark www.privateofficer.com
Belleville NJ Jan 31 2012 Loss prevention agents say that Ray Marshall, 49, of Newark, entered the Pathmark store and attempted to flee with a substantial amount of baby formula.
Marshall was arrested after a security officer at the Pathmark located at 115 Belmont Ave. told police the suspect attempted to leave the store with $99.80 worth of baby formula and that he did not pay for the merchandise.
Marshall was held on $500 bail and transported to county jail.
Police arrest suspect in store burglary after returns to scene www.privateofficer.com
GALESBURG IL Jan 31 2012 — Travis William Young, 22, South Seminary Street, was arrested around 3 p.m. Saturday for retail theft over $300 and resisting a police officer after he returned to the scene of a burglary he committed two days earlier, according to the police report.
Security cameras at Menards, 2791 Veterans Drive, captured Young around 7 p.m. Thursday enter the store, conceal a security camera for sale in a toolbox and purchase the toolbox. Police were contacted after Young was seen again in the store Saturday afternoon.
Police said Young also was found to have stolen an iPod docking station and a package of batteries, to a total value stolen of $368. He also was charged with resisting an officer after he refused to comply with the officer Saturday afternoon in the store.
Jared jewelry employee charged in thefts www.privateofficer.com
NATIONAL CITY SC Jan 31 2012 — An employee at Jared jewelry store in National City was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of embezzling high-end gemstone rings and bracelets, then pawning them to pay his bills, police said.
Company loss-prevention officers confronted employees at the Westfield Plaza Bonita store about recently discovered thefts dating back to October, National City police Detective Tom Di Zinno said.
He said the security officers were investigating the disappearance of a customer’s engagement ring set valued at $6,200. When they questioned employee Raphael Quintero, 45, of San Diego, who repaired and cleaned jewelry, he allegedly admitted he had stolen the rings and pawned them in Mexico. Quintero also admitted taking dozens more rings, bracelets and other items valued at more than $10,000 and pawning them, mainly in San Diego and in National City, Di Zinno said.
“He got behind in his bills and didn’t know what to do,” Di Zinno said.
Di Zinno said Quintero would steal a piece of jewelry, take it to a pawnshop, get a cash loan and pay a bill, then steal another item and use the cash to redeem the first item and pay another bill, then steal a third item.
“It was like a cash-flow Ponzi scheme,” Di Zinno said.
Di Zinno said he has tracked down 40 pieces of stolen jewelry at pawn shops, but doesn’t yet know how much is already sold and gone.
“The store is still trying to determine all its loss,” he said.
Teens wanted in violent attack at Mayfair mall arrested www.privateofficer.com
Wauwatosa WI Jan 31 2011 Thanks to a quick-witted civilian staffer at the Wauwatosa police station, two of three suspected thieves were rapidly tracked down and arrested at home after they threatened violence against a Mayfair Mall store security guard and then fled.
According to police reports:
At 1:35 p.m. Tuesday at a home in Milwaukee, a 16-year-old Milwaukee boy was arrested for theft and an 18-year-old Milwaukee man was arrested for theft and being party to a crime after they and another male suspect were involved in a “grab and run” at Macy’s at Mayfair Mall.
Earlier, the 16-year-old and the unknown suspect were being watched by store security when the 16-year-old grabbed an armload of jeans and they both ran.
A store security officer tackled the unknown suspect in the parking lot and was trying to handcuff him when a store manager shouted to him to “Let it go!”
He looked up to see a red Volvo coming at him with the rear passenger door open and the 16-year-old suspect in back, waving a steering wheel “club” at him. The guard retreated and the youth he had been holding, minus his hat, coat, shirt and cell phone, ran and leaped into the car.
The car had no rear license plate, and store personnel got only the first three numbers of the front plate.
But hearing the dispatch, a civilian police clerk remembered a car of the same description having been involved in another incident and knew the full license number.
An officer was sent to the address in Milwaukee where the car was registered and spotted three young males walking toward the front of the house from the alley. She called out to them, “Do you live here?” and one answered “Yes!” just before all three scuttled into the house.
The officer called for assistance and drove to the alley, where she spotted the red Volvo and saw the stolen jeans inside.
The two suspects still in the house when back-up units arrived were arrested without incident. Police believe that the third suspect left before officers could surround the home.
The 16-year-old had also been arrested on Jan. 9 for theft at Boston Store.
Source:patch.com
Insulin pump mistaken for weapon at LAX www.privateofficer.com
Los Angeles CA Jan 31 2012 A diabetic woman caused a security scare at Los Angeles International Airport after TSA agents mistook her insulin pump for a weapon.
The woman, who was not identified, was going through a security checkpoint on Friday morning when a body scanner detected the device on her waist.
Sources told the Los Angeles Times that the agents saw what looked to them like a gun, but she had walked off before she could be searched.
TSA agents called in LAX police and the LAPD to investigate a possible threat.
The woman was reportedly detained and questioned after authorities determined the device was not a threat.
The incident caused delays of about an hour for passengers boarding flights.
TSA spokeswoman Lorie Dankers told LA Weekly: ‘The security checkpoint at Terminal 4 at LAX was closed at 7:43am this morning, and that was because an individual left the security area before the screening process was completed.
‘The passenger was subsequently located in the terminal and cleared without incident. The checkpoint reopened at 8:20 a.m.’
Insulin pumps are designed to provide a diabetes patient with injections of insulin to treat the disease.
Shopper stands in line at Kohl’s to rob cashier www.privateofficer.com
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. Jan 31 2012 – Witnesses say a man stood in line to rob a cashier at a Kohl’s in Colorado Springs.
Police say a man went into the Kohl’s on Sunday night at 6 p.m., selected a shirt and stood in line.
When it was his turn to pay, the man laid the shirt down on the counter, pulled out a gun and demanded cash, police said.
The man took the money and ran off.
Witnesses said he was a black man in his 30s, about 5 foot 8 inches tall with light-colored blotches of skin on his face. He was wearing a black, hooded sweatshirt with two yellow stripes down the sleeve.
KY babysitter charged with murder of 2 yr old www.privateofficer.com
ELIZABETHTOWN, KY Jan 31 2012 - Charges have been upgrade against a woman after a toddler she was caring for died.
28-year-old Ashley Champan is now charged with murder in the death of 2-year-old Layla Johnson.
Police say Chapman struck and shook the little girl leaving her unconscious, bruised and bleeding.
“The mother of the child and the babysitter, Ms. Chapman, had a conversation throughout the day, based on that conversation the mother felt the need the child needed to be picked up immediately,” said Kentucky State Police MTPR Norman Chaffins.
Chaffins say Layla’s grandmother immediately picked up Layla and took her to Hardin Memorial Hospital because Layla was unresponsive. From there, she was taken to Kosair Children’s hospital in Louisville, where she died on Sunday.
Police say Chapman had been watching Layla since late last year. Police say there were no signs of abuse prior to this recent case and Layla was the only child in her care at the time of the alleged beating.
Chapman told police that she had previously worked at a licensed day care facility in Hardin County.
Chapman will be arraigned on her murder charge Tuesday.
Source:WAVE
Florida security guard caught impersonating law enforcement www.privateofficer.com
Holiday, FL Jan 31 2012– A security guard was arrested Friday after he was caught impersonating an officer.
According to police, on Jan. 14, Richard Sleeper pulled over a car in the 4600 block of Floramar Terrace in New Port Richey for having an obscured tag and identified himself as a police officer. After saying he was going to cite the driver for having the obscured tag, he got back into his car and pulled away in front of the car.
The driver and passenger told police Sleeper then began “brake checking” them a couple blocks from the traffic stop causing an accident.
The Florida Highway Patrol officer who responded to the accident found a security jacket, black revolver were found in Sleeper’s car. The victims said those items were not shown to them when he pulled them over.
Deputies say after Sleeper was under arrest he admitted to confronting the driver for having an obscured tag.
Sleeper was charged with Impersonating an Officer and was released the next day on $5,000 bond.
Source:WTSP
Hanover County deaths of children-father, ruled murder-suicide www.privateofficer.com
Hanover County VA Jan 31 2012 Law enforcement authorities and the state medical examiner’s office have concluded that all three victims found Saturday at their home near Mechanicsville suffered carbon monoxide inhalation and lacerations to the neck area.
Authorities ruled the deaths a murder-suicide.
Sheriff’s Sgt. Chris Whitley said this afternoon that his department would not release a specific cause of death but that each of the victims, twin 3-year-old daughters, and their father, Robert D. King, died either from the lacerations, the inhalation of the deadly gas or a combination of both.
“We’re not going to get into the specifics beyond that because of the nature of what happened” and out of respect for the family, Whitley said.
According to a search warrant filed today, the mother of the twins, Kristina Hooper, King’s estranged wife, entered the house and found the three together before calling authorities.
The search warrant describes how Hooper lifted up one of her daughters, finding her cold to the touch, and then placed her back down before calling 911. It was not clear how Hooper was able to negotiate the carbon monoxide fumes, which police vented from the home by breaking windows.
Whitley said there is no indication that an intruder was involved in the killings and that there is no effort under way to locate a suspect.
From earlier reports
A man and his 3-year-old twin daughters were found dead in their Mechanicsvile home Saturday by the man’s estranged wife, according to court documents.
A search warrant affidavit and divorce petition records on file in Hanover County Circuit Court this morning indicated Kristina Hooper found the bodies of her two daughters and her husband in a front bedroom that had been linked to the exhaust pipe of a van parked outside the Mechanicsville house.
The court records said Hooper called 911 at 3:36 p.m., and when Hanover County deputies arrived at the house in the 7900 block of Wynbrook Lane, just off Mechanicsville Turnpike, they found Hooper in the driveway “crying on her knees and stating, ‘My babies are dead. They’re in the house.’ “
Deputies also found a van backed up near the residence with flexible duct tubing attached from the exhaust pipe “which continued into the bedroom” where the three were found, the court papers indicated. When authorities tried to enter the house, “they were initially overcome by fumes and began ventilating the residence.”
Among the items investigators recovered at the house, according to the court documents, were blood-stained sections of duct tape tubing, a wallet and two notes of unspecified content.
Declared dead at the scene were Robert D. King, 40, and Caroline R. King and Madison R. King. Hanover County authorities have declined to discuss how the three died.
The three bodies were taken to the medical examiner’s officer in Richmond, where autopsies were scheduled for today.
Court records indicated Hooper married King in March 2008 and their twin daughters were born Aug. 15 of that year.
The couple’s divorce petition indicates Hooper left King on Sept. 28, 2011, and has been living in the 5000 block of Pole Green Road.
The divorce file indicates Hooper deserted the family in September, claiming he had been verbally abusive to her and he refused to leave, so she did.
Source:Richmond Times Daily
Indy begins to tighten security for Super Bowl www.privateofficer.com
Indianapolis IN Jan 31 2012 From pickpockets and prostitutes to dirty bombs and exploding manhole covers, authorities are bracing for whatever threat the first Super Bowl in downtown Indianapolis might bring.
Some — nuclear terrorism, for instance — are likely to remain just hypothetical. But others, like thieves and wayward manhole covers, are all too real.
Indianapolis has ample experience hosting large sporting events — the Indianapolis 500 attracts more than 200,000 fans each year, and the NCAA’s men’s Final Four basketball tournament has been held here six times since 1980— the city’s first Super Bowl poses some unique challenges.
Unlike the Final Four, which is compressed into a weekend, the Super Bowl offers crowd, travel and other logistical challenges over 10 days leading up to the Feb. 5 game. And unlike the 500, where events are largely concentrated at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway about seven miles from Lucas Oil Stadium, the NFL’s showcase event will consume 44 blocks — about a mile square — in the heart of the city, closing off streets and forcing an anticipated 150,000 or more NFL fans to jockey with downtown workers for space much of the week.
“This is clearly bigger in terms of the amount of people who will be downtown over an extended period of time,” city Public Safety Director Frank Straub said.
Under a security risk rating system used by the federal government, the Super Bowl ranks just below national security events involving the president and the Secret Service, said Indianapolis Chief of Homeland Security Gary Coons. The ratings are based on factors including international attention, media coverage, the number of people the event attracts and visits by celebrities and foreign dignitaries, he said. The Indianapolis 500 ranks two levels below the Super Bowl.
The city has invested millions of dollars and worked with local, state and federal agencies to try to keep all those people safe. Up to 1,000 city police officers will be in the stadium and on the street, carrying smartphones and other electronic hand-held devices that will enable them to feed photos and video to a new state-of-the-art operations center on the city’s east side or to cruisers driven by officers providing backup, Straub said. Hundreds of officers from other agencies, including the state police and the FBI, will be scanning the crowd for signs of pickpocketing, prostitution or other trouble.
One concern has been a series of explosions in Indianapolis Power & Light’s underground network of utility cables. A dozen underground explosions have occurred since 2005, sending manhole covers flying.
Eight explosions have occurred since 2010. The latest, on Nov. 19, turned a manhole cover into a projectile that heavily damaged a parked car and raised concerns about the safety of Super Bowl visitors walking on streets and soaring above the Super Bowl village on four zip lines installed for the festivities.
Since December, IPL has spent about $180,000 to install 150 new locking manhole covers, primarily in the Super Bowl village and other areas expected to see high pre-game traffic.
IPL officials say the new Swiveloc manhole covers can be locked for security reasons during the Super Bowl. In case of an explosion, the covers lift a couple of inches off the ground — enough to vent gas out without feeding in oxygen to make an explosion bigger — before falling back into place.
An Atlanta consultant hired by the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission last summer to audit IPL’s underground network of cables for a cause of the explosions says the new covers are merely a Band-Aid.
“We’ve argued it’s better to prevent,” said Dan O’Neill of O’Neill Management Consulting, which filed its report in December.
O’Neill’s team couldn’t pinpoint an exact cause for the explosions but said a flawed inspection process contributed, noting that IPL workers missed warning signs such as road salt corroding an old cable or leaks in nearby steam pipes. In a report filed Jan. 19 with Indiana utility regulators, the power company said it had overhauled its inspection process.
IPL will dispatch extra crews to the area around the stadium in case of power-related problems, such as a recent breaker fire that left 10,000 customers in homes south of downtown without power. Spokeswoman Crystal Livers-Powers said the company doesn’t anticipate any power issues.
Straub, the public safety director, said he’s confident the city is prepared and notes that Indianapolis hosts major events “pretty regularly.”
Special teams from the Department of Energy will sweep Lucas Oil Stadium and the surrounding area for nuclear terror threats, and a new $18 million high-tech communications center that opened in time for the lead-up to the game will tie it all together.
“We’re using more technology, and state of the art technology, than has been used in any Super Bowl before this one,” Straub said.
