Archive
82 yr old CT school security officer calls work his home but will retire www.privateofficer.com
Norwich, Conn.March 25 2012 — Ed Gates’ grandest moment in a long-running career as a Norwich Free Academy security guard came on an all-too-common day of social unrest in 1973.
A trio of streakers wearing only white, high-top Converse sneakers and black ski masks ran across NFA’s football field. Before they could make it to the other end, Gates, a former track star for the high school, chased them down.
“He was so fast,” his son, Greg Gates, said. “He caught them before they got to the end zone. That’s what he’s famous for at NFA.”
Decades later, despite the brown pair of Nikes he wears daily, Ed Gates’ main wheels are a golf cart, which he drives around campus, making sure there are no stray students out of class.
“NFA is my whole life,” the 82-year-old said. “It always will be.”
After 43 years of working full time and then part time, Gates is retiring at the end of the school year — a bittersweet end to a marriage that has been nothing short of blissful.
“It’s been the same routine: I get up at 4 a.m., read the paper, drink my coffee, watch TV, feed the dog and come to school,” he said. “It’s my real home.”
Gates, born and raised in Norwich, graduated from NFA in 1948, the same year he won the state pole vault championship.
After graduation, he joined the Air Force and served his country for 22 years.
When he arrived back in the city, he visited his alma mater and interviewed for a job.
“It was the first place he applied, and the only place he’s worked since,” Greg Gates, who also is an NFA security guard, said. “It’s going to be very emotional when he walks away.”
Al Fecteau, who is the campus safety director, started at the Norwich Police Department the same year Ed Gates started at NFA. NFA’s security team was two men that year. Now, there are nearly a dozen security guards who monitor students and work events.
“Eddy has always done whatever needs to be done to help NFA and its students,” Fecteau said. “He will really be missed. There are students here now whose grandparents remember him.”
Connor Curland, a senior, is one of those students.
“My grandfather (Richard Curland) went to school with him,” Curland said. “(Gates) can be pretty imposing, but once you get to know him, he’s very personable.”
Don’t expect much fanfare on Gates’ last day. The divorcee, who has three children and two grandchildren, has made it clear he doesn’t want a party.
“There won’t be any tears,” he said quietly, “but I will think about NFA a lot. Being around the kids always makes you feel young.”
Pat Kenny is a 2001 graduate of NFA.
“I remember him being ever-present on campus,” Kenny said. “If you needed a hand, Papa Joe was always around to help, or to catch you doing something.”
Decades and thousands of students have meant numerous nicknames. The origin of “Papa Joe” is unknown, but several years ago, his lunchtime duties earned him the name “The Ketchup Nazi.”
“Now he’s called ‘the old guy that rides around in the golf cart,’ ” Greg Gates said, laughing. “It doesn’t matter. For me, it’s been nice seeing him every day.”
Don’t expect much fanfare on Gates’ last day. The divorcee, who has three children and two grandchildren, has made it clear he doesn’t want a party.
“There won’t be any tears,” he said quietly, “but I will think about NFA a lot. Being around the kids always makes you feel young.”
Pat Kenny is a 2001 graduate of NFA.
“I remember him being ever-present on campus,” Kenny said. “If you needed a hand, Papa Joe was always around to help, or to catch you doing something.”
Decades and thousands of students have meant numerous nicknames. The origin of “Papa Joe” is unknown, but several years ago, his lunchtime duties earned him the name “The Ketchup Nazi.”
“Now he’s called ‘the old guy that rides around in the golf cart,’ ” Greg Gates said, laughing. “It doesn’t matter. For me, it’s been nice seeing him every day.”
Source:www.norwichbulletin.com
11-year-old special needs student sues Henry County sheriff’s deputy www.privateofficer.com
Henry County G A March 25 2012 A Henry County sheriff’s deputy knocked down and handcuffed an 11-year-old special needs student, then charged her with simple assault on a police officer, according to a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by the girl’s parents.
Deputy Richard Gaouette, who works as a school resource officer for Henry County, was called to the school on May 4, 2010, after the girl, upset that her snow globe broke in art class, wandered outside Smith Barnes Elementary.
According to the suit filed in U.S. District Court two weeks ago, the 11-year-old, suffering from an emotional episode, ran back inside the school when she spotted Gaouette.
The deputy pursued her and ordered her onto the ground, the girl’s parents claim in the suit. They say she did not understand the command.
Then, according to the suit, Gaouette “violently kicked her legs out from under her. With [the student] on the ground, Gaouette grabbed her arms and legs to immobilize her.”
The deputy then allegedly left the girl unattended and handcuffed, causing physical and emotional harm, the filing claims. The cuffs were removed following “an outcry from teachers on the scene,” the suit alleges.
Gaouette had been called to Smith Barnes before and was familiar with the girl’s condition, her parents said. Besides assault on a officer, the girl was also charged with simple assault on a teacher and disruptive behavior. A juvenile court judge ultimately dismissed all charges, the suit says.
Henry County Sheriff Keith McBrayer is also named in the suit for failing to “properly train school resource officers to properly respond to and/or handle special needs students within the schools.”
Gaouette remains a school resources officer, according to the Henry sheriff’s website.
The suit seeks punitive damages from McBrayer and his deputy.
A copy of the suit was emailed to the AJC Friday. Efforts were being made to contact a spokesman for the family.
A spokesman for the sheriff’s department had not yet responded to a request for comment Friday afternoon.
Source:ajc.com
West Virginia house fire kills eight family members www.privateofficer.com
CHARLESTON, W.Va. March 25 2012 (AP) – A fire tore through a two-story home that had no functioning smoke detectors Saturday in West Virginia’s capital city, killing eight family members, including six children, the city’s mayor said.
Charleston Mayor Danny Jones said he believed it was the city’s deadliest fire in at least six decades. Jones said only one smoke detector was found in a cabinet, and it was not working.
In the yard of the home that sits on a corner in a neighborhood tightly packed with small houses, a children’s picnic table, chairs and umbrella were overturned. The outside of the front of the home was blackened by the flames and smoke.
Jones said he was devastated by the news when he got the call sometime after the fire was reported around 3:30 a.m.
“I was with my children and I just grabbed them and hugged them, because I have a 5-year-old and a 4-year-old,” he said. “I walked up there and caught a glimpse of some fatalities and it’s something that’s hard to grasp. The fact that there are (six) dead children, it’s unimaginable.”
Charleston Assistant Fire Chief Bob Sharp said two of those killed were adults, and all of the children who died were younger than 8.
In addition, one child was on life support at a hospital and not expected to survive, the mayor said.
Ten people were inside the home at the time of the fire and all were related, but Sharp wasn’t sure how.
Neighbors indicated there had been a birthday party at the home Friday for one of the adults. Sharp said a couple of families may have been living in the home.
“We’re not sure if all these people live here all the time or if it was a weekend thing,” he said.
An adult female from the home went to a neighbor’s house to report the fire. The home was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived.
Sharp said firefighters reduced the flames quickly. When they went inside, they immediately came across five victims and “started realizing there were a lot of people in this house, a lot of children.”
Sharp said the fire seems to have started in the middle of the home’s main level. The cause is under investigation.
Sharp said it was the deadliest fire in the city since seven firefighters perished in while battling a fire at a Woolworth department store in 1949.
“You can imagine how traumatizing that is to us and shocking to the community in general,” he said.
H&R Block manager in Southern California arrested for identity and theft scheme www.privateofficer.com
North Hills CA March 25 2012 An H&R Block manager in Southern California has been arrested for using the identities of his former tax preparation clients in an identity theft scheme.
Damon Charles Dubose, 38, of North Hills, Calif., was arrested Thursday by special agents with the IRS’s Criminal Investigation division after a criminal complaint was filed against him.
Dubose, working as a manager for an H&R Block office in Van Nuys, allegedly obtained personal identifying information of past customers. He prepared bogus tax returns in their names designed to obtain tax refunds and credits, according to prosecutors, and then used H&R Block Emerald Cards to withdraw the fraudulently obtained refunds from automated teller machines.
Dubose declined to comment when reached by phone. H&R Block said it is helping with the investigation.
“H&R Block takes this matter very seriously,” said H&R Block spokesman Gene King. “This was an isolated incident and we are cooperating fully with authorities on the investigation of a former employee. The situation involves a small number of clients who have been contacted and informed of the steps the company is taking to help them and correct the situation.”
Shortly before midnight on February 12, Dubose was seen by a patrolman loitering near the ATMs of three banks, wearing pantyhose over his face as well as beanies and a scarf.
Inside Dubose’s vehicle, the officer found six envelopes with a name and partial Social Security number handwritten on the outside, and an H&R Block Emerald Card on the inside. The Emerald Cards allow H&R Block customers to access their tax refunds electronically like a debit card.
Dubose’s vehicle also contained approximately $2,960 in cash and a printout of the dates of birth and Social Security numbers matching the handwritten information on the envelopes. Dubose claimed that the information was for his tax clients and he was authorized to make withdrawals on their behalf.
When law enforcement authorities searched the home of Dubose’s girlfriend, they found $6,900 in cash, along with six H&R Block Emerald Cards, and the personal identifying information of more individuals.
Three taxpayers whose identifying information Dubose possessed were contacted by law enforcement. All of them indicated that Dubose was not authorized to make withdrawals on their behalf or possess their personal identifying information.
According to the complaint, Dubose allegedly wired the electronically filed fraudulent tax returns from Van Nuys, Calif. to Tennessee and West Virginia.
Following Thursday’s appearance in court, Dubose was released on bond. His next court appearance is scheduled for April 30.
Eisenhower Elementary School teacher arrested with drugs www.privateofficer.com
FRASER, Mich. March 25 2012 - “I’m just very saddened by it because he is an excellent teacher,” says parent Kelly Lawrence.
And that sums up the reaction of parents and students at Eisenhower Elementary School in Fraser. It follows the drug arrest of 6 th grade teacher Gregory Austin right in the school parking lot.
Police say Austin met convicted felon Jason Taffie in Roseville, then they drove separately to the school.
That’s where undercover officers believe Austin handed over cash for Hydrocodone.
“It’s nowhere near as strong as Oxycontin, but I think it is along the same lines as Vicodin,” says Roseville Police Chief James Berlin. “It is illegal, unless it’s prescribed by your physician.”
On parent actually saw the prescription drug bust go down.
The cars got impounded, and I saw the canine unit pull in, so I knew it was something drug orientated. I just didn’t know the specifics or anything like that,” says Dave Demopoulos.
Parents are also telling us that Mr. Austin has taught at Eisenhower for 12 years and that he is respected and loved by everyone.
Parents we spoke with tell us the Fraser school district is such a small, tight knight community — tight knit community that everyone is talking about this.
Gregory Austin is free on personal bond but faces up to two years in prison.
The district has put him on leave and assigned a substitute to take over his class.
Source:www.wxyz.com
Virginia State Police investigating suspicious death of a Western State Hospital patient www.privateofficer.com
STAUNTON VAMarch 25 2012 — Virginia State Police are investigating the suspicious death of a Western State Hospital patient who died earlier this month, several days after being physically restrained by staff from the Staunton psychiatric facility, according to a search warrant filed in Augusta County Circuit Court.
Alfred “Billy” Rowe III, of Staunton, was 46 years old when he died March 11.
A preliminary autopsy listed Rowe’s cause of death as anoxic brain injury — a lack of oxygen to the brain.
Police say that they are investigating this incident because it occurred in a state facility.
Two year Washington child found high on heroin www.privateofficer.com
EVERETT, Wash.March 25 2012 – An Everett mother was arrested Thursday with heroin, while her 2-year-old son had to be hospitalized because police said he was high on heroin too.
Camie Bena, 22, faces reckless endangerment and possession of heroin charges following a traffic stop that occurred Thursday night on Marine Drive in Everett.
Bena was arrested when an officer saw heroin paraphernalia in her purse. In the backseat, he stated he noticed the toddler in a carseat acting lethargic. Paramedics agreed he was intoxicated and transported him to Colby Hospital.
According to court documents, Bena said she smokes heroin and showed no remorse for using it in the car with the young child.
Bena’s boyfriend was also arrested for giving officers a fake name with an outstanding warrant.
Another person in the car, sitting next to the toddler, was also high on heroin, officers said.
Custody of the boy was handed over to Child Protective Services.
Long running neighbor dispute ends in murder-suicide www.privateofficer.com
FRESNO, Calif. March 25 2012 — A long-running dispute over a Fresno’s man dog has turned fatal. Police say a neighbor who was irate about the animal getting into his yard shot and killed the dog’s owner before turning the gun on himself as officers moved in to arrest him.
The Fresno Bee reports (http://bit.ly/GLERTW ) that 59-year-old Frank Cardoza was shot three times outside his condominium Thursday night just after he and the suspected gunman, 74-year-old Dan Andersen, had gotten into a fistfight over Cardoza’s collie.
Police Chief Jerry Dyer says the two neighbors had been arguing about the dog for about five years, but that officers had never been called to mediate the situation.
Andersen shot himself in his car near a Fresno restaurant an hour later as police tried to block in his vehicle.
Police Chief Jerry Dyer says the two neighbors had been arguing about the dog for about five years, but that officers had never been called to mediate the situation.
Fraser Public Schools district teacher arrested for selling drugs in school parking lot www.privateofficer.com
Roseville MIMarch 25 2012— A teacher from Chesterfield Township and another man have been arrested and charged for illegally selling and buying painkillers in the parking lot of an elementary school, police said Friday.
Gregory Francis Austin, 31, has been charged with possession of analogs, a two-year felony, according to Roseville Deputy Police Chief James Berlin.
Austin, employed as a teacher in the Fraser Public Schools district, is free on a $5,000 personal bond, Berlin said. He has been placed on administrative leave, he also said.
According to the district’s website, Austin is a sixth-grade teacher at Eisenhower Elementary.
The second man police arrested, Jason Tassie, 37, of Fraser, has been charged with two counts of delivery of a controlled substance, officials said. Each charge is a felony that carries a penalty of 10 years in prison.
Tassie is being held at the Macomb County Jail on a $10,000 bond.
Police say officers responded to a report early Monday afternoon about a possible drug deal in the area of Masonic and Kelly Roads in Roseville.
Berlin said detectives observed Austin and Tassie speaking to each other. After a short conversation, officers saw Tassie give Austin a quantity of Hydrocodone pain pills, which are only available through a doctor’s prescription, police said.
After the transaction, officers with Roseville Police and Fraser Public Safety Department arrested the men without incident.
Source:detnews.com
Heavily armed man arrested at Sacramento International Airport www.privateofficer.com
Harold Waller, 45, was arrested Thursday afternoon after Transportation Security Administration officials found a gun in one of his carry-on bags, said Sacramento County Sheriff’s Deputy Jason Ramos.
When TSA screeners conducted a more thorough check, they found Waller was carrying a loaded gun, and had two other semi-automatic weapons packed in his carry-on bags, Ramos said.
After Waller was arrested, deputies searched his car and said they found eight more guns, some of which were loaded.
Those guns were a combination of handguns and what he described as “long guns.”
Ramos said a “significant amount” of ammunition was found in the car as well.
Waller, from Circle, Mont., was trying to board a US Airways flight to Phoenix.
He was booked on suspicion of unlawful possession of a loaded firearm, unlawful possession of a concealed firearm, possession of an unauthorized weapon in a public building and possession of a firearm within a sterile area of an airport, Ramos said.
Ramos said he could not say if Waller made any statements during or after his arrest. It was not clear whether Waller had retained an attorney.
Source:AP
ON THE JOB: Tulsa Courthouse Security
Tulsa OK March 25 2012 The recent shooting outside the Tulsa County Courthouse has cast the spotlight on people such as Shawn Shelton.
He’s one of 68 Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office employees who are charged with keeping visitors to the courthouse safe. The group includes a 20-member courthouse security staff made up of 13 unarmed court security officers and seven armed deputies. In addition, 30 more armed deputies guard courtrooms.
As a court security officer, Shelton uses an X-ray machine and an electromagnetic wand – along with a fair bit of common sense and patience – to check everyone who walks through the courthouse doors.
The hardest part of the job, he said, is keeping people happy.
“Some people come in stressed out, they have court or they have to get protective orders,” he said. “The last thing they want to hear is someone tell them that they are in the wrong place or that they just had a family member put in jail.”
Shelton, 35, has seen visitors to the courthouse carry in all kinds of things.
A few weeks ago, an older woman tried to bring in a Walmart bag full of silverware. Her plan was to use the utensils to pay off a fine.
And then there was the “adult toy,” as Shelton described it, found among an attorney’s belongings.
“I thought it was a flashlight,” Shelton said.
Sometimes, emptying one’s pockets at a screening station can be a costly affair – even if there is little money to be found in them.
Cpl. Al Wilson, who oversees the court security officers, said an officer recently asked a man to empty his pockets after a wand search indicated metal in them.
Sure enough, the man had a quarter in his pocket – along with a half-dozen small bags of marijuana.
“The crazy part of it was if he’d had it (the marijuana) all in one bag, it would have been a misdemeanor,” Wilson said.
But because it was “packaged for resale,” it’s a felony.
After each shift, court security officers turn in items they have confiscated and record them in a book.
In the past month alone, the list of items includes a corkscrew, pepper spray, a box cutter, a metal back scratcher, a chain and a paint-can opener.
Eventually, the items are destroyed.
“The thing that hurts me the most is when it’s granddad’s pocketknife,” Wilson said. “I’ve seen some nice knives.”
When it is appropriate, courthouse security officers give visitors the option of returning questionable items to their cars or leaving them with someone outside, he said.
The list of items not allowed inside the courthouse includes anything illegal, such as marijuana or a switchblade knife, and items that could be used to harm someone.
Determining what items fit into the latter category is where an officer’s discretion comes into play and a visitor’s patience can be tried.
But Wilson insists that decisions regarding which items are allowed in and which aren’t are based on sound reasoning.
“The one thing I want people to understand is we are not being arbitrary when you can’t bring that stuff in,” he said. “Everything has been selected because it has been used as a weapon to do something really bad.”
Deputies Stephen Culley and David Fortenberry were two of the armed officers who responded March 7 to a report of a shooter on the Civic Center Plaza north of the courthouse.
Three people, including Fortenberry and the alleged gunman, Andrew Joseph Dennehy, 23, were hit by gunfire.
Dennehy has been charged with two counts of shooting with an intent to kill, one count of possession of a firearm after delinquent adjudication as a minor and reckless conduct with a firearm.
Sheriff’s Office employees at the courthouse, meanwhile, are looking to see how they can learn from the incident. Officials met this week to discuss what changes if any should be made to the previously planned remodeling of the courthouse entrances.
The plan calls for creating an east entrance, making the south entrance for exiting only, and expanding the north entrance.
“We want to re-examine matters that are used in the structure out there to see if it would protect” from gunfire, said Capt. Larry Merchant, who oversees court operations for the Sheriff’s Office.
Shelton, meanwhile, said more visitors to the courthouse are expressing their gratitude for the security presence since the shooting.
“We actually had a judge tell us he didn’t think we were that necessary – until a couple of weeks ago,” he said.
Prohibited items
scissors
cigar cutters
nail files
box knives
disposable razors
can/bottle openers
cigarette lighters
hairspray
chains
corkscrews
pepper spray
screwdrivers
back scratchers
coat hangers
hair picks
toy guns
Source:www.tulsaworld.com
Maryland man given 66 months in prison for credit card fraud involving 700 victims www.privateofficer.com
ALEXANDRIA, Va. March 25 2012 Olubunmi Oladapo Komolafe, 33, of Laurel, Md., was sentenced Friday to 66 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for his role in an identity theft and credit card skimming ring that involved more than 700 victims.
Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, David E. Beach, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service’s Washington Field Office; M. Douglas Scott, Chief of Police, Arlington County Police Department; and J. Thomas Manger, Chief of Police, Montgomery County Department of Police, made the announcement after sentencing by United States District Judge Anthony J. Trenga.
Komolafe was found guilty on Dec. 13, 2011 by a federal jury. According to court documents evidence at trial, Komolafe and co-conspirators led an identity theft ring that stole credit card numbers from restaurant customers in the Washington, D.C., metro area. Komolafe and his co-conspirators recruited, trained, and paid restaurant servers to swipe customers’ credit cards through a skimmer that recorded customer credit card numbers.
The men used the stolen credit card numbers to re-encode credit cards and gift cards to purchase gift cards and designer merchandise, and sometimes returned this merchandise for cash.
From at least January 2010 to June 2011, Komolafe and others facilitated thousands of fraudulent transactions from stolen credit card numbers throughout Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania.
Four individuals have pleaded guilty for their roles in the identity theft and credit card skimming ring, including: William Samuel Martin, Usman Muhammed, Anthony Danero Thomas, and Raoul Lycorish, all from Maryland.
Source: WUSA
Houston student killed at large house party that grew out of hand www.privateofficer.com
Houston TX March 25 2012 The buildup for the house party on Allison Road was brazen – spread rapidly and broadly through Twitter, Facebook and fliers for days in advance. Free liquor all night, bikinis, foam and disc jockeys were promised for an entry fee of at least $10.
When the event – held at what some called “the mansion” – eventually happened last week, it spiraled out of control with hundreds attending, streets crammed with vehicles and a shooting that left one high school senior dead.
The slaying has trained a spotlight on the large-scale, sometimes illegal parties spread through social media. Authorities and experts say while teenage partying is not a new phenomenon, such large-scale, organized events spread through social media are growing and difficult to monitor.
Meanwhile, neighbors and the family of the 18-year-old – whose funeral is Saturday – are asking what more could have been done to prevent his death.
“It was too late by the time the party occurred,” said Assistant Chief Brian Lumpkin of the Houston Police Department. “Because of social media, the party drew folks into the neighborhood.”
The house in a quiet southeast Houston neighborhood was notorious for previous loud, raucous parties, neighbors said. Officials said the gathering was likely illegal from the beginning, held without a permit and serving alcohol to teens.
Two off-duty HPD officers provided security at the party, but had left before the shooting.
As many as 600 people are estimated to have attended the March 13 gathering, which fell during spring break for many of the high-schoolers. Around midnight, HPD officers arrived, responding to noise complaints and gunshots.
Ownership unclear
Police are trying to determine who shot Ryan Spikes, interviewing witnesses and attempting to find out who allowed the party to take place. It is unclear who owns the property, and police are not releasing the name of the occupant, who officers said is the nephew of the former owner.
It’s not unusual for parties promoting alcohol for teens to get little attention from law enforcement, officials from HPD and the Texas Alcohol and Beverage Commission said.
Lt. Randy Field, a TABC supervisor in Houston, said the commission’s investigators for the most part do not monitor house parties, but charging at the door and serving alcohol to those who are underage are issues. Law enforcement agencies aren’t set up to work those types of situations, he said.
“The house parties that pop up are hard to control,” Field said. “There is so much to do with bars, time doesn’t allow us. We look at social media from time to time, but there is so much out there that it’s hard to control.”
HPD spokesman John Cannon said it’s generally up to residents to report illegal parties.
“There is not a specific department that works for prevention,” Cannon said. “Officers and the TABC have enough to do with businesses, bars and such. … They aren’t going to know who is throwing the party and where.”
Johnny Nhan, an assistant professor at Texas Christian University, said using Twitter and Facebook to promote parties has become more commonplace because it’s a cheap way to advertise and has the added benefit of evading police scrutiny.
“The thing with law enforcement is that it can’t be everywhere all the time, and there is no centralized entity where they can supervise,” said Nhan, who researches cyberspace and cyber crimes. “Police are focusing on child predators. … They don’t care about these parties as much, especially at local level.”
Family wants answers
On Monday, at the request of community members angry about the police response to the party, Houston City Councilwoman Wanda Adams called a meeting at Cullen Missionary Baptist Church, near the neighborhood where the shooting took place.
Several city and state leaders and police officers attended the meeting.
Adams said that whoever allowed the party to take place should also be held responsible. She said the city permitting department needs to be notified of a business operating in a residential community, and suggested that a party that size required a permit.
“It was illegal from the beginning,” Adams declared.
Ryan Spikes’ family is desperate for answers about how he was killed. The family went to the scene of the shooting Wednesday night, and his sister, Tiffany Spikes, said she noticed drops of blood on the ground.
Tiffany, a 27-year-old college student from Beaumont, sat with her mother, Debra, at her Cypress home Thursday.
Debra Spikes said Ryan snuck out of the house that night “like normal teenagers do,” and later in the evening his friends knocked on the door to tell her he had been killed.
“It was so devastating,” she said. “I didn’t know what I was going to do.”
The family said they want not only the shooter, but also the party promoters held responsible. “I place plenty blame on them,” Tiffany said. “It’s a terrible loss. We need to know who is renting that house, who is throwing these parties and why the police didn’t do anything to stop this.”
Source:chron.com
Virginia State Police investigating missing money from Greene County Sheriff’s Office www.privateofficer.com
STANARDSVILLE VAMarch 25 2012 — The Virginia State Police is investigating funds reportedly missing from the Greene County Sheriff’s Office.
NBC 29 reported that the case involves $22,000 missing from an evidence locker at the Sheriff’s Office.
“In February, Greene County Sheriff [Steve] Smith requested the Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation’s Appomattox Field Office investigate concerns about missing funds,” State Police spokesman Corinne Geller said in an emailed statement Friday. “The investigation is ongoing at this time. No arrests or charges have been made.”
Smith would not go into details. “There’s not much I can say about the investigation,” he said Friday.
Prince William Commonwealth’s Attorney Paul Ebert has been appointed to investigate the case. Calls made to him on Friday were not immediately returned.
Sikeston MO junior high teacher arrested for sexual misconduct with student www.privateofficer.com
SIKESTON, MO March 25 2012 – A Sikeston junior high teacher was arrested on several charges of sexual misconduct and enticement of child involving a student.
Andrew J. Delles, 28, of Jackson is charged with three counts of enticement of a child (unclassified felony) and three counts of sexual misconduct involving a child (class D felony).
Delles is accused of sending explicit photographs to the victim and inappropriate touching of a 14-year-old female student.
He has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.
The Sikeston R-6 School District told the Sikeston Department of Public Safety Thursday they were investigating allegations of inappropriate electronic communications between Delles and one of his female students.
Delles was found traveling in his vehicle around 3 p.m. March 23 and was arrested near US 61 and HH Hwy.
Delles’ bond is set at $25,000 cash or surety.
Source: KFVS
Ohio State troopers hot and bothered over uniform change www.privateofficer.com
Columbus Ohio March 25 2012 State troopers are hot and bothered because their boss spurned a request to stay cool in these record-high temperatures.
Col. John Born, superintendent of the State Highway Patrol, informed the troopers’ union yesterday that he would let troopers wear short-sleeve shirts earlier than normal this year only if he can decide in future years when to make the switch from long sleeves.
The union decided to keep sweating for another three weeks.
“The patrol talks about how the guys who are working the road are taking drugs off the streets and reducing traffic fatalities. This would have been a way they could have rewarded people … at no cost to anyone,” said Larry Phillips, president of the 1,750-member Ohio State Troopers Association.
“The patrol saw this as an opportunity to make changes to what they lost back in 2009.”
Until July 2009, management made the call on when all troopers in the state wore short sleeves. But under the current contract, short sleeves must be worn only from April 15 through Nov. 1 — a provision that the union wanted and a fact-finder agreed should be included.
Lt. Anne Ralston, patrol spokeswoman, said Born is obeying the contract. The old contract, she said, gave management flexibility to take into account an unseasonably warm spring or cold fall and adjust accordingly.
“The employer was willing to change,” she said of the request to wear short sleeves now. “ However, the union was unwilling to return that original management right back to the employer.”
Phillips said he asked Born’s office on Tuesday about switching to short sleeves sooner at the behest of a trooper who contacted the union.
The long-sleeve uniform is worn with a tie, Phillips said. Combine that with a protective vest, and a trooper’s “body temperature gets significantly higher” — especially in 80-degree weather.
The short-sleeve uniform has an open collar, allowing some “air under the shirt a little bit,” Phillips said.
Why did the union want the contract to specify certain dates for short sleeves?
In the past, Phillips said, management would not switch to short sleeves until May and would return to long sleeves in October. The mandated April 15-Nov. 1 timeline gives troopers, sergeants, dispatchers and electronic technicians a little more time in short sleeves, he said.
Source:dispatch.com
Flasher has problem with Northlake mall security www.privateofficer.com
DeKalb County GAMarch 25 2012 A man known to expose himself to Northlake Mall department store employees has a problem with mall security, DeKalb County police said.
They won’t stop following him around, he said.
Police haven’t confirmed the identity of the man, according to a police report filed last week. They were called to the mall March 16 once employees realized, after consulting security camera footage, the man known for exposing himself also filed a complaint recently with the mall’s manager about security personnel following him.
During the meeting with the mall’s manager, the suspect was loud and belligerent and seemed “unstable,” the report said. The man occasionally comes into Kohl’s or Macy’s and asks an associate a question. He moves into an area of the store not covered by a security camera, and when the associate turns around, he exposes himself, associates told police.
The suspect has been seen in a white, 4-door, late-model Honda Accord or Nissan Maxima. He was described as a white male in his mid-30s with a medium build and about 5 feet 9 inches tall. He has a receding hairline and a greasy pony tail and has worn a white undershirt and a button-down men’s shirt. He occasionally wears a baseball cap and sunglasses.
Virginia man commits suicide after hit-and-run crash www.privateofficer.com
WINCHESTER VAMarch 25 2012 – Virginia State Police say a man killed in a fatal shooting after a hit-and-run crash in Frederick County on Thursday shot himself.
The Officer of the Medical Examiner in Manassas ruled the death of a 53-year-old man a suicide after conducting an autopsy Friday, according to state police spokeswoman Corinne Geller.
The man died of a single gunshot wound, Geller said in a news release.
The agency does not release the identities of suicide victims, according to Geller.
Authorities responded to a minor hit-and-run vehicle crash reported just before 6:20 p.m. at Everette Place and Greenwood Road, according to Geller and Frederick County emergency dispatchers.
A red Mazda had been struck in the Abrins Point subdivision and another vehicle fled the scene, Geller said. No one reported injuries in the crash, according to Geller.
Further investigation of the crash led Trooper J.W. Bennett to a home in the 100 block of Everette Place where he found the Ford Escape reported to have left the scene of the crash, Geller stated.
Shortly after arriving at the residence at 7:20 p.m. the trooper heard a single gunshot from inside the home, according to Geller. Police found the deceased man inside the home, Geller said.
No one else was at home at the time of the shooting, according to Geller.
Washington man charged with robbery in theft of lip balm www.privateofficer.com
Longview WA March 25 2012 Police said a man tried to steal a tube of lip balm from a grocery store but ended up arrested on suspicion of first-degree robbery and assault Thursday evening.
Two security guards confronted 19-year-old Timothy Ryan Nicholas after he slipped out of Winco, 120 Triangle Shopping Center, with a shoplifted tube of Blistex, said Longview police Sgt. Steve Dennis.
Dennis said a fight began, and Nicholas pulled and opened a pocket knife. The security guards managed to subdue Nicholas. The guards were uninjured, but Nicholas complained of pain and was examined at St. John Medical Center before he was booked into the Cowlitz County Jail.
Nicholas was booked into the Cowlitz County Jail on suspicion of first-degree assault and first-degree robbery. Nicholas was still being held Friday on suspicion of first-degree assault and first-degree robbery, Dennis said.
Source:tdn.com
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels signs “Right To Resist Police” law www.privateofficer.com
INDIANAPOLIS IN March 25 2012 — Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels said Wednesday that he shares police groups’ concerns that some people might misinterpret a new law that lays out when residents could be legally justified in using force against police officers.
Daniels said he thought carefully before signing the bill Tuesday night. The legislation was passed by strong majorities in the House and Senate in response to public uproar after the state Supreme Court ruled last year that residents couldn”t resist officers even during an illegal entry.
“Contrary to some impressions, the bill strengthens the protection of Indiana law enforcement officers by narrowing the situations in which someone would be justified in using force against them,” Daniels said in a written statement. But, he added: “What is troubling to law enforcement officers, and to me, is the chance that citizens hearing reports of change will misunderstand what the law says.”
The law took immediate effect.
The measure specifies that people are protected by the state”s self-defense law if they reasonably believe force is necessary to protect themselves, someone else or their own property from unlawful actions by a public servant.
Supporters have said the proposal strengthens the legal rights of people against government agents improperly entering their homes. But police groups worried about the measure giving people justification for attacking officers.
“For those who don”t take the time to read the law, it is going to be devastating for someone to think they have a right to resist if they only think an officer is acting illegally,” said William Owensby, president of the Indianapolis chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police.
“Our fear all along was that it”s going to put citizens and officers into grave danger,” he said. “I don”t want to have to bury another police officer.”
A blizzard of emails to officials, a Statehouse protest and threats against judges ensued when the Indiana Supreme Court ruled last May that homeowners couldn”t use force to resist police officers” entry into their homes, whether those entries were legal or not. The justices later clarified that the ruling didn”t abridge homeowner”s Fourth Amendment rights.
The ruling came in a Vanderburgh County case in which a man scuffled with an officer who tried to enter his house without a warrant while investigating a report of a domestic disturbance. The man, Richard Barnes, was convicted of resisting law enforcement and other charges.
The court declined comment on the law through a spokesman.
At least one supporter said the law didn”t accomplish what it was supposed to do because it didn”t affect situations like that covered by the Supreme Court decision.
“I think it was a feel-good measure on their part but it really didn”t achieve anything,” said Greg Fettig of the tea party group America Refocused. “Police could still go in without any probable cause whatsoever.”
Fettig added: “As far as I”m concerned as a private citizen, I will not let them in without a search warrant.”
The bill”s primary author, Republican Sen. Michael Young of Indianapolis, said he believes the new law does a good job of balancing police power with individual rights.
“I think the governor took his time and deliberated on the issue just like we did in the General Assembly. It”s a tough issue,” Young said.
Source:AP
North Carolina man molested 11 yr old girl, raped dog www.privateofficer.com
ROWAN COUNTY, N.C. March 25 2012
A Rowan County man was arrested and charged with molesting an 11-year-old girl and sexually violating a dog, deputies said Thursday.
Matthew Darrell Curtner, of Salisbury, was charged with three counts of first degree sex offense of a child, bestiality and cruelty to an animal by torture.
According to the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office, detectives began a joint investigation with Department of Social Services officials after receiving allegations that 29-year-old Curtner was molesting an 11-year-old girl.
A detective visited Curtner at his Mt. Hope Church Road home Wednesday where Curtner admitted he had been molesting the girl for several months, deputies said. During the conversation, Curtner said he had also had sex with a female pit bull-Chow mix.
According to deputies, Curtner said the sex acts with his dog happened regularly. He also admitted to other sex offenses he committed over the last 20 years, deputies said. Those incidents are under investigation.
Deputies said further charges are expected against Curtner for the offenses against the 11-year-old, but said those would be determined after a meeting with the Rowan County District Attorney.
Medical exams have also been scheduled for other children in the home, deputies said.
Curtner’s bail was set at $1 million. He is expected to be in court Friday.
Source:WSOC.com
NC woman sues Iredell County sheriff, deputy for sexual harassment www.privateofficer.com
IREDELL COUNTY, N.C. March 25 2012
A Kannapolis woman is suing the Iredell County sheriff and a deputy after she said the deputy threatened and sexually harassed her and still kept his job.
She filed the civil complaint against the two men on Wednesday.
“Just because you are an abused woman doesn’t mean you lose your right to speak,” said Suzanne Wick.
Wick said she went to the Iredell County Sheriff’s Office in 2009 for help after her husband hit her, threatened her with a gun, and even got physical with their children.
“It’s life or death, and you need protection and need it now,” she said.
Instead, Wick says she was sexually harassed by Deputy Ben Jenkins, who was on the Special Victims Unit at the time of her complaint.
“It started with him making comments about my appearance, and it escalated to be very graphic,” Wick said.
In the civil complaint, Wick alleged that Jenkins called her repeatedly, sometimes late at night. Once, she said he threatened her for turning down an invitation to his home.
“You know, you keep telling me that you’re not going to see me and I can go right now and drop all charges against your husband,” Jenkins said, according to Wick.
“I believe he needs to lose his job. He should have lost it a long time ago,” Wick said.
After her ex-husband pleaded guilty to assault by strangulation and felony child abuse, she brought her concerns about Jenkins to the sheriff’s office, she said. According to Wick, the two officers who heard her complaint later told her Jenkins was demoted.
The sheriff’s website does not show him working in the domestic abuse unit anymore. The human resources department said he is currently a patrol deputy.
Wick says she does not think the sheriff did enough.
The sheriff has not returned phone calls or emails requesting comment on the matter since the complaint was filed. Staff members at the sheriff’s office said he was not in the office Friday.
The county’s Board of Commissioners has the power to call for an investigation into Wick’s claims, but several board members said the do not have enough information to comment on the ordeal.
Jenkinsis also not returning requests for comment.
Wick is seeking damages of more than $10,000. She said she did not pursue criminal charges because she was afraid to after her treatment at the sheriff’s office when she made her initial complaint against her husband.
Source:WSOC-TV.com
Former Bridgeport CT security guard faces 10 yrs in prison after guilty plea in theft case www.privateofficer.com
Shelton CT March 25 2012 A Bridgeport man will face up to 10 years behind bars when sentenced in June after pleading guilty in federal court Wednesday to stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of equipment from PerkinElmer in Shelton, where he worked as a security guard.
Gabrielle Quinones, 28, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton in New Haven to one count of interstate transportation of stolen merchandise.
Federal prosecutors said the plea stems from Quinones’ theft of more than $370,000 in computer equipment and software from PerkinElmer in Shelton.
Quinones was employed by Securitas Security Services as a private security guard, according to federal prosecutors.
In 2009, while he was stationed at PerkinElmer’s office complex in Shelton, he stole $379,065 in proprietary software, laptop and desktop computers, and related computer equipment from the company’s warehouse.
He then listed the stolen merchandise for sale on eBay and sold the items to purchasers in the United States, Canada and Europe, prosecutors said.
Judge Arterton has scheduled sentencing for June 14, 2012, at which time Quinones faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years, a fine of up to $250,000 and an order of full restitution — in the amount of $373,776 — to PerkinElmer.
According to a plea agreement in the case he will likely serve between 30 and 37 months behind bars.
The plea agreement also says Quinones must forfeit several items seized from his Broad Street residence in 2009 — including eight laptops, six computers, four waterproof surveillance cameras, other various computer equipment and software, and six copies of the Guitar Hero video game.
The investigation has been conducted by the Connecticut Financial Crimes Task Force, which includes members of the United States Secret Service; the United States Postal Inspection Service; the United States Department of State, Bureau of Diplomatic Security; the Connecticut State Police; and the Glastonbury, Greenwich, Hartford, New Haven and Shelton Police Departments.
PerkinElmer also assisted the investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Hal Chen.
Source:Valley Independent Sentinel
Woman with leg pain refuses to leave hospital-dies in jail www.privateofficer.com
RICHMOND HEIGHTS MO March 25 2012 Anna Brown wasn’t leaving the emergency room quietly.
She yelled from a wheelchair at St. Mary’s Health Center security personnel and Richmond Heights police officers that her legs hurt so badly she couldn’t stand.
She had already been to two other hospitals that week in September, complaining of leg pain after spraining her ankle.
This time, she refused to leave.
A police officer arrested Brown for trespassing. He wheeled her out in handcuffs after a doctor said she was healthy enough to be locked up.
Brown was 29. A mother who had lost custody of two children. Homeless. On Medicaid. And, an autopsy later revealed, dying from blood clots that started in her legs, then lodged in her lungs.
She told officers she couldn’t get out of the police car, so they dragged her by her arms into the station. They left her lying on the concrete floor of a jail cell, moaning and struggling to breathe. Just 15 minutes later, a jail worker found her cold to the touch.
Officers suspected Brown was using drugs. Autopsy results showed she had no drugs in her system.
Six months later, family members still wonder how Brown’s sprained ankle led to her death in police custody, and whether anyone — including themselves — is to blame.
There seems to be no simple answer.
St. Mary’s officials say they did all they were supposed to do for Brown. Richmond Heights police said they trusted a doctor who said she was fit for jail.
Brown’s mother, Dorothy Davis, isn’t sure what to think.
“If the police killed my daughter, I want to know,” she said. “If the hospital is at fault, I want to know. I want to be able to tell her children why their mother isn’t here.”
Davis also faults the St. Louis County Family Court, which she said forced her into a heartbreaking dilemma after the state took away Brown’s children on a claim of neglect. Davis could take in her grandchildren or her daughter, a judge said, but not both.
“I’m mad at myself because if I hadn’t listened to the courts, she would still be here,” Davis said. “If she had been here at this house, she would be here today.”
STREETS BECAME HOME
Anna Brown was one of 10 children. She graduated from Kirkwood High School. At 18, she had her first child, a boy. She had a daughter nine years later. Brown was raising them alone when a tornado destroyed her north St. Louis home on New Year’s Eve 2010. She moved to Berkeley.
Shortly after, she lost her job at a sandwich shop. Bills lapsed. The electricity was turned off. So was the gas. And the water.
Family members say Brown and her children appeared fine during visits at Davis’ home in Normandy.
They weren’t.
In April, a state Children’s Division representative found Brown’s toilet filled with feces. Burn marks scarred the floors and sinks where Brown had used small fires to stay warm. One refrigerator could not be opened. Insects and rotting food filled another, according to state reports given to the Post-Dispatch by Brown’s family.
Brown was not lucid and seemed confused as Berkeley police arrested her for parental neglect. The courts awarded legal custody of the kids to the Children’s Division. Davis could have physical custody, as long as Brown didn’t live with her.
Brown’s home was condemned. She ended up on the streets. She lived in four homeless shelters from May to September 2011.
At first, she visited her children at her mother’s home. That ended in June, when Brown started telling the children they didn’t have to listen to their grandparents and called the police to report they were being abused. Police found no evidence of abuse.
After that, Brown had supervised visits with her children at the Children’s Division. She also called her mother daily to check on them.
SLIPPING AWAY
Brown struggled with officials’ requirements for reuniting with her children. She passed two drug tests but balked at others. “She felt that she had passed them, so there was no point in doing them again,” Davis said.
A court-ordered psychological evaluation to determine whether Brown had cognitive, developmental, behavioral or mental illnesses came back inconclusive. So the courts ordered a psychiatric evaluation to determine whether Brown needed medication or a doctor’s treatment.
But Brown resisted, not understanding the difference between the two evaluations, according to her caseworker’s notes.
Still, she may have known something was wrong. She joined the St. Louis Empowerment Center, a drop-in center for the mentally ill.
“It was like a light bulb went on when she heard others tell their stories,” said Kevin Dean, a peer specialist at the center. “She was just starting to make progress.”
Brown’s witty comments often broke the ice during group meetings, said Warren Brown, another peer specialist and no relation to Anna.
Anna Brown one day said she hurt her ankle while walking near a ditch, Dean and Warren Brown recalled.
The last time they remember seeing her was in August 2011; she said she couldn’t walk up the stairs.
Brown told her caseworker on Sept. 14 that she had been admitted to St. Louis University Hospital for a sprained ankle.
Bills her mother received show Brown stayed at that hospital from Sept. 13-15 and underwent an EKG, some radiology services, lab work and cardiovascular services.
“She wasn’t very eager to go home, but we do all we can to take care of the whole patient, and we want to make sure that we do not push someone out the door as soon as she came here,” said SLU spokeswoman Laura Keller. She said there was no indication of a blood clot in Brown’s leg.
Krystle Brown said she saw her sister for the last time after she was discharged from SLU. She dropped Anna off on Market Street downtown, where Anna said she wanted to be.
Davis didn’t want her daughter out in the rain and ordered Krystle to bring her home — regardless of the court order. It was too late. Krystle couldn’t find her sister.
Four days later, Brown had her last supervised visit with her children. She was on crutches.
FINAL MOMENTS
State inspectors working for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services — a federal agency that regulates hospitals — interviewed St. Mary’s staff and reviewed medical records after the Post-Dispatch asked about Brown’s case in January.
They found that on Sept. 20, Brown returned to SLU Hospital for knee and ankle pain. X-rays of her knees were negative and she was given a prescription for a painkiller.
She refused to leave. Hospital security called St. Louis police, who responded about 5 a.m. Brown told them she wanted to go to a better hospital but refused to go in an ambulance, police said.
She then wheeled herself next door to Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center, where doctors found tenderness in her legs. They told her she was at a pediatric hospital. She said she wasn’t leaving unless someone took her to an adult hospital, according to the inspectors.
An ambulance then took her to St. Mary’s, inspectors found. She arrived at 11:45 a.m. Her left ankle was swollen. She was there for about seven hours, during which ultrasounds on both of her legs were negative for blood clots. A nurse said she saw her stand up. A social worker gave her a list of shelters and a phone number for transportation.
She returned eight hours later by ambulance complaining of abdominal pain only, inspectors said. She refused to sign discharge papers but was discharged at 7 a.m.
Richmond Heights Officer Jason Tharp was at St. Mary’s on another call about 10 a.m. when a security officer, Steve Schaffer, told him a woman was claiming she “did not receive adequate medical attention and did not have to leave.”
She was sitting in a wheelchair and told officers she was waiting for a ride. Tharp told her to wait outside or face arrest for trespassing.
“You can’t arrest me. I know my rights, I can’t even stand up!” she yelled, according to police.
Officer Scott Stebelman said he waited for about three hours for a doctor to examine Brown before taking her to jail. At 12:30 p.m., a doctor issued a “Fit for Confinement” report, according to the state inspectors.
The inspectors’ report, however, contains some differences from reports written by Richmond Heights police and the county medical examiner’s office:
• Police and medical examiner reports, based on interviews from that day, quote St. Mary’s staff as saying Brown did complain of leg pain on her return visit, not just abdominal pain.
• A St. Mary’s nurse told the medical examiner that Brown was still complaining of leg and abdominal pain at 12:40 p.m.: “She was advised that she had already been treated and needed to leave the hospital.”
• Police said the doctor’s “fit for confinement” decision was made at 1:20 p.m., not 12:30 p.m. Police also said Brown yelled “My legs don’t work!” as they wheeled her out after the exam.
DYING IN JAIL
Once in custody, Brown initially cursed at Tharp inside his patrol car during the ride to jail and asked for a wheelchair after officers ordered her out of the car, according to surveillance tapes.
“I can’t put any pressure on my legs,” she told them.
Two officers then pulled her into the station by her arms. Police listed “suspected drug use” as Brown’s physical state and “unknown leg pain” under medical notes.
While at the police station, Brown’s condition worsened. Officers carried her by her arms and legs into a cell and left her on her back on the floor. She moaned and moved her head back and forth. She’s last seen moving on the tapes at 2 p.m.
A dispatcher with East Central Dispatch zoomed a surveillance camera in and out on Brown because “it was difficult to determine if the prisoner was still breathing later due to the pixilation grain on his monitor,” police reported.
Fifteen minutes later, a jail worker readying meals found Brown unresponsive. Several responders shocked her with a defibrillator and started CPR. Paramedics rushed Brown back to St. Mary’s.
Within hours of being declaring fit for confinement, Brown was pronounced dead.
Back in the jail cell, Richmond Heights Fire Chief Kerry Hogan was putting away the jail’s defibrillator when, according to a recording of the conversation, a Richmond Heights officer told him: “We got a ‘fit (for confinement’) on her a half hour ago. I mean, literally, a half hour ago we brought her in here.”
“Where at?” Hogan asked.
“St. Mary’s.”
“What was, uh. Any problems at all?”
“No, they thought she was a drug seeker.”
“Well, that could very well be … And that’s a shame.”
Acting Police Chief Maj. Roy Wright refused to identify the officer on the tape. He also wouldn’t let the Post-Dispatch interview Stebelman, who sat with Brown for three hours waiting for a doctor’s exam. Wright said his officers had no way of knowing Brown’s dire condition.
“A lot of times people don’t want to stay in jail and will claim to be sick,” he said. “We depend on medical officials to tell us they’re OK.”
Likewise, the dispatcher monitoring Brown as she died had no way of knowing she wasn’t just sleeping, said Mark Dougherty, general manager of East Central Dispatch.
“It’s not unusual to have someone lay there lethargic,” he said. “If he felt it was more severe, he would have called.”
SEARCH FOR ANSWERS
All nine of Brown’s siblings went to St. Mary’s after learning she was gravely ill. Confusion and frustration took over as they waited 45 minutes for a doctor to tell them their sister was dead.
“They told us she came in from the jail unresponsive and, ‘We don’t know what happened,’” Krystle Brown recalled.
Davis said she did not receive a bill from St. Mary’s, as she had from SLU Hospital. She said she has been told she cannot see the medical records without proving a legal right to them.
She vowed to not give up.
“When you lose a child, it’s like a part of you you will never, ever get back,” Davis said. “It’s like a part of your soul, a part of you is totally gone. And when you don’t know why, you keep wondering, you keep guessing.”
Brown’s cause of death puzzles Davis because immobility is a risk factor for deep vein thrombosis, the medical term for clots in the legs. “My daughter was homeless. She had to move around constantly.”
But trauma, such as a sprained ankle, also is a risk factor. So is obesity, said Dr. Samuel Goldhaber, a Harvard Medical School professor and director of Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s Venous Thromboembolism Research Group. At autopsy, Brown was 5 feet tall and weighed 189 pounds.
“The body responds to trauma by revving up the coagulation system to prevent the individual from bleeding to death from the trauma,” Goldhaber said. “But half the time, DVT is silent and there are no symptoms whatsoever.”
In most cases, diagnosed patients take blood thinners and walk out of the hospital, said Dr. Elliott Haut, an emergency medicine expert for Johns Hopkins Medicine.
“Relatively small periods of immobility can potentially cause DVT,” Haut said. “Not every test is 100 percent, but if you do the test and see the veins you are supposed to, you shouldn’t miss it.”
St. Mary’s staff leaned heavily on the state’s investigation in defending its actions.
“Our records show that, in this case, everything that should have been done medically was done properly. We found nothing that would have changed this tragic outcome,” according to a statement.
Hospital spokesman Neil Keisel said, without providing specifics, that the medical examiner’s report had inaccuracies and, “If that information was true, we would’ve been cited by the” state inspectors.
PASSING JUDGMENT
Brown’s family hired an attorney, but a lawsuit hasn’t been filed.
Should the matter make it to court, it will rest on whether St. Mary’s violated state medical malpractice laws, said Sean Fosmire, a Michigan attorney with more than 30 years of experience representing hospitals and physicians.
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services “must have seen there was enough … medical testing to satisfy the federal law,” Fosmire said. Federal law does not require accurate treatment, he noted.
If St. Mary’s doctors “went through an exam, did testing and determined that the diagnosis was something else like a leg cramp, they may have been wrong, but that doesn’t mean they’re in violation of the federal law,” he said.
The family’s success in court also would depend upon how much a jury finds her life was worth — in dollars, said Tom Keefe, a Belleville-based personal injury attorney.
“If you kill a homeless man with no job, he’s not worth very much. But if you wipe out (Cardinals star) Matt Holliday, who is making $20 million a year, it’s worth a lot of money,” Keefe said. “Even though they are both human beings and both victims, the truth is, death cases are evaluated by the losses you can prove the survivors have suffered.”
Davis said she still has trouble sleeping and eating, and constantly questions whether she should have taken in her daughter. She said she wants permanent custody of her grandchildren, now 11 and 2.
Brown’s son is in counseling to deal with his mother’s death but is earning A’s and B’s. The girl kisses a picture of her mother whenever her grandmother wears a T-shirt bearing her image.
The family wore the shirts to Brown’s burial on Oct. 8. Krystle Brown still wears hers to bed.
“She was not a drug dealer or a hooker or doing other things that she could’ve ended up dead for,” the sister said. “People assume things because of they way they talk or the way they live or the things they do.
“My sister is not here today because people passed judgement.”
Source:www.stltoday.com
