Archive
Line of Duty Death Deputy Sheriff Robert Crapse SR
Deputy Sheriff
Robert “Bobby” Crapse, Sr.
Bryan County Sheriff’s Office, Georgia
End of Watch: Friday, June 15, 2012 Bio & Incident Details
Age: Not available
Tour: Not available
Badge # Not available
Cause: Automobile accident
Incident Date: 6/15/2012
Weapon: Not available
Suspect: Injured
Deputy Sheriff Bobby Crapse was killed when his patrol vehicle was struck head-on by a wrong way driver on I-95, near mile mark 97 in Chatham County, at approximately 2:15 am.
He had just completed a traffic control assignment and was driving back to the north part of Bryan County when the crash occurred. Deputy Crapse’s canine partner sustained very minor injuries in the crash.
Deputy Crapse is survived by his wife and three children.
Please contact the following agency to send condolences or to obtain funeral arrangements:
Sheriff Clyde R. Smith
Bryan County Sheriff’s Office
95 Public Safety Way
Pembroke, GA 31321
Phone: (912) 653-3800
Teacher’s Aide Arrested for Sex with Student www.privateofficer.com
PAHRUMP, Nev.June 16 2012 – Nye County Sheriff’s Deputies have arrested a middle school teacher’s aide for unlawful sexual conduct between school employee and pupil, open and gross lewdness, and unlawful use of a minor as a subject of sexual portrayal.
Police say 31-year-old Amanda McGough admitted to having sexual intercourse with a 16-year-old student.
Police say McGough also exchanged explicit photos with the student over email.
McGough was placed under arrest and booked into the Nye County Detention Center in Pahrump. Her bail was set at $12,500.00.
Source:-news8now
Hotel security officer ambushed-office safe stolen www.privateofficer.com
Memphis TN June 16 2012 Police have arrested two men who were behind the recent robbery of a Hickory Hill motel.
Nicholas Rucker and Carlasta Curry have both been arrested and charged with aggravated robbery.
Police say one of the men posed as a guest at the Inn Town Suites, 3533 Hickory Hill Rd., and told the motel’s security guard that he had been locked out of his room.
When the guard walked to the room, he was ambushed by a man with a gun.
Rucker and Curry then forced the guard to the motel’s office and stole the business’ safe, according to police.
Rucker and Curry are in the Shelby County jail pending a court date. The security officer received minor injuries.
Texas police make drug bust on bus www.privateofficer.com
A Montgomery County Precinct 4 deputy constable was working traffic on Highway 59 just after 9 p.m. when he noticed a bus was unable to maintain a single marked lane.
The deputy pulled the bus over at FM 2090, checked the driver out, then asked permission to search the bus.
The driver agreed and opened the lower luggage compartment.
The deputy deployed his narcotics dog that got a hit on a bag. Deputies opened the bag to find several bundles — 22 pounds—of marijuana.
Deputies called for backup and moved all 15 passengers off the bus which, like the last El Expreso bus with drugs aboard, was headed from Houston to Chicago.
The deputies checked the passengers’ identification and were able to pinpoint the owner of the bag.
The dog then went onto the bus, checking between the seats and got another hit.
This time, they found a small amount of marijuana hidden in a carry-on bag.
A male and female passenger claimed ownership of that bag and were both taken into custody.
Gilberto Chapa, 18, and Eva Quintanilla, 21, were booked into the Montgomery County Jail and charged with possession of marijuana over five pounds, a third-degree felony.
Last Sunday, at almost the same spot, deputies found a million dollars worth of cocaine and black tar heroin on another El Expreso bus. In that case, the bus driver was arrested.
Former Jasper Al police sergeant pleads guilty to bribery www.privateofficer.com
The U.S. Attorney’s Office says 30-year-old Scottie Dewayne Wilkins of Winston County pleaded guilty Thursday to soliciting and accepting the bribe last Sept. 22.
U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance says Wilkins is charged with one count of bribery.
Wilkins was accused of taking money in exchange for helping someone with a probation matter that was pending in court.
Wilkins’ sentencing is set for Sept. 26. He faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The Birmingham News reports that Wilkins was a detective sergeant with the Jasper Police Department’s narcotics enforcement unit between July-September last year when he dealt with an individual identified as “A.”
Source:AP
3 G4S armored car guards killed in ambush www.privateofficer.com
Alberta Canada June 16 2012 Edmonton police were hunting for one or more suspects after an armoured-car robbery this morning at the University of Alberta campus in which three security guards were killed.
Three employees of G4S Security died at the scene, and another was sent to hospital in critical condition after the shooting at the HUB Mall on the campus.
“Whether it is one suspect, two suspects, numerous … we have no details of that at this time,” said Scott Pattison, an Edmonton police spokesman.
“You could call it a manhunt.”
Police located a G4S armoured van, abandoned and empty, about 70 blocks south of the university, and less than 200 metres away from the company’s Edmonton property. It wasn’t immediately clear whether it was related to the shooting, but they were treating it as a crime scene.
The shooting took place after midnight MT inside HUB Mall, which houses residences for students.
“Tactical were called out, as were canine unit … Homicide has been called out,” said Pattison.
“What I can tell you is that three people are dead.”
Robin Steinberg, a spokesperson for the security company, told CBC News: “Our hearts go out to our victims’ families and to all our employees at the Edmonton branch. It is just devastating.”
Steinberg said the employees would have been armed while on the job.
Student Ravedh Seeberath told CBC News that he heard the shots around 12:30 a.m. MT while studying in the mall.
“As I was walking down, that’s when about 30 tactical officers were rushing toward me, passing me with complete firearms … the whole works, and police dogs,” he said.
“That’s when I went back to my books, grabbed what I could, and told the other ladies in that little study area that we should get out of there.”
‘Busting down the door’
The bodies were reportedly found by volunteers from Safewalk, an organization that provides escorts to students on campus at night.
They say they investigated after hearing a thud to find a wounded man behind a locked door beside a bank of ATMs in the mall.
They then contacted campus security.
Ian Breitzke, 21, watched from his window as police arrived at the scene.
“They end up busting down the door and ended up pulling out all the bodies that were in there. They pulled out a couple that I could see were dead,” he said.
“After a few moments after that they pulled out the man who was still alive … EMS ended up taking him to hospital.”
University offers help
A university administration statement released Friday said the school is “saddened about those who lost their lives last night, and we extend our condolences to their loved ones.
Police say the shootings happened on the north side of HUB Mall, which houses retail shops and student residences. (CBC News)”The safety and security of our students and staff is our first priority, and our campus protective services are working closely with Edmonton police,” the statement said.
“Counsellors are available to students living in the residential portion of HUB. If there are students directly affected by this tragic incident who feel they cannot take exams scheduled for Friday, they can defer those exams per our existing procedures.”
The statement said residents in the HUB Mall will be able to leave the building but will not be allowed to return until the mall is reopened.
Other parts of the campus were operating normally.
Fairfax County VA high school teacher charged with drug trafficking www.privateofficer.com
Fairfax County VA June 16 2012 A high school teacher and former sports coach was arrested Wednesday on charges of possessing and intent to distribute steroids, police said.
Jeffery Reagan, 43, had served as an assistant high school football and track coach at the South County Secondary School in Lorton and was recently being considered for a football coaching position at West Springfield Secondary School, police and school officials said. Reagan also taught at Mountain View Alternative Learning Center.
“We don’t have evidence to say he was distributing steroids to children, but it is an ongoing investigation,” said Lucy Caldwell, a Fairfax County police spokeswoman. “This is a good opportunity for parents to have conversations with their student athletes.”
Reagan, of the 10000 block of Moxleys Ford Lane in Bristow, was arrested in the Sully Plaza Shopping Center, where he allegedly met his illegal steroid supplier around 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, police said.
Reagan’s alleged supplier, Jeremy Helbing, 35, of Leesburg, also was arrested and charged with distributing steroids. After Helbing’s arrest, detectives searched the man’s home, where they uncovered numerous substances that appear to be steroids and are being tested, police said.
Fairfax County police detectives launched the investigation after receiving a tip in December 2011.
Mary Shaw, a Fairfax County schools spokeswoman, wrote in an e-mail that Reagan has been suspended from his job at Mountain View without pay. She said he had been through the proper background checks and was a coach at South County from 2007 to 2011.
Pete Bendorf, a former South County High School football coach, said Reagan coached freshman football there under him. Bendorf said Reagan had been a lineman on a club football team at George Mason University. He said there was no indication that any football players at South County used steroids during Reagan’s time as a coach at the school.
“It’s a little sad to hear,” Bendorf said about Reagan’s arrest. “He was extremely loyal and I never had any issues with him.”
Shaw said Reagan had only brief contact with the West Springfield football program. “His ‘association’ with West Springfield consisted of attendance during two days of a recent football camp and a fitness workout session as part of him being evaluated to join the football staff,” Shaw wrote in her e-mail.
A booster club for the school listed Reagan as the offensive and defensive line coach on its Web site. The reference was recently removed.
On Thursday, the principals of South County and West Springfield sent e-mails to parents about Reagan’s arrest. In the West Springfield note, Principal Mark Greenfelder said Reagan was “never alone” with the students during his brief time with the football team.
Reagan is scheduled to be arraigned Friday in Fairfax County court. Neither he nor Helbing could be reached for comment.
Source:Washington Post
NY teacher charged in sexual abuse of 8-year-old student www.privateofficer.com
New York City NY June 16 2012
A New York City elementary school teacher was held on bail Thursday on charges he sexually abused an 8-year-old student in the school, a week after Mayor Michael Bloomberg pushed for more power to fire teachers accused of sex crimes.
Rafael Sosa, 29, of Yonkers, was arrested Wednesday and held on $75,000 bail, accused of multiple sexual acts with the girl between Dec. 1 and June 6, according to a criminal complaint. He was also accused of making her send him love notes over e-mail. The Department of Education reassigned him from his job at Public School 208 in Manhattan, where he had worked since September 2009.
A lawyer for Sosa could not be reached Thursday evening.
The incident was the latest this year involving teachers or aides charged with sexual abuse, including one teacher arrested on federal child pornography charges.In at least one instance, a teacher had faced previous accusations of inappropriate behavior. This was the first time Sosa had been investigated, the department said.
Bloomberg has used the issue to call on the state Legislature to give him more authority to fire tenured teachers accused of sexual misconduct. He wants his schools chancellor, Dennis Walcott, to have the final decision on whether to fire teachers, rather than leaving that question up to independent arbitrators.
This wouldn’t be an issue in Sosa’s case, because he doesn’t have tenure.
The United Federation of Teachers union has fought the idea, saying that the city’s contract already requires the firing of any worker found guilty by an arbitrator on sexually related charges.
Bloomberg, however, said he’d rather err on the side of firing an innocent teacher than letting a guilty one stay in the system.
Walcott will visit the school, also known as the Alain L. Locke Elementary School, at 9 a.m. Friday and press the importance of making the change to state law.
Sosa began working for the department in September 2007 at P.S. 90 in the Bronx.
Four Washington D.C. public school security officers sue for not being paid www.privateofficer.com
Filed on May 18, the suit stems from U.S. Security Associates and Watkins’ alleged failure to pay officers for 30 minutes of security work performed each shift during bogus “meal breaks” from October 2009 to January 2012 in D.C.’s elementary and middle schools. In violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act, the District of Columbia Minimum Wage Act, and the District of Columbia Wage Payment Law, the alleged wage theft impacted an estimated 250 Washington school security officers. These officers have been trying to form a union with Local 32BJ, an affiliate of SEIU.
While the vast majority of students in D.C. public schools are well-behaved, performing security in just about any school in the country these days is no cake walk. And these school security responsibilities, the suit alleges, did not stop during meal times. As first responders and community protectors, officers continued working professionally through mealtimes in order to keep students, faculty, and administrators safe. But the officers were allegedly not paid by U.S. Security or Watkins for their work.
If the workers are able to prove these allegations, U.S. Security Associates and Watkins will be found to be not only on the wrong side of U.S. and D.C. law, but also a fundamental American value–when you work, you get paid–in full.
By standing up for this ideal and for higher standards in the industry, the four D.C. public school security officers are a credit to the security profession.
Officers who work for U.S. Security or Watkins Security in D.C. public schools and wish to join the lawsuit should contact attorney Renne Gerni at 202-223-2620.
Santa Monica man charged with assaulting security-police officers www.privateofficer.com
Santa Monica CA June 16 2012 Officers walking along the Third Street Promenade were called to assist Santa Monica Place security who had detained someone on the mall’s third floor.
When officers arrived, they found security officers struggling with the suspect on the ground as he was fighting to get away.
Officers went to assist security and had to struggle with the suspect before eventually handcuffing him. During interviews with staff at Sonoma Wine Garden officers learned that the suspect had vandalized the restaurant’s men’s bathroom by ripping from the wall the metal toilet seat ring holder.
When the manager confronted the suspect, he allegedly punched the manager in the face several times, knocking him to the ground. The suspect then ran off.
When security caught up with him, the suspect punched one guard in the face before being tackled. The suspect was booked for battery, resisting arrest and vandalism.
He was identified as Michael Mejia, 20. His bail was set at $20,000.
Officer helps disabled motorist, finds $1.7M in meth, heroin www.privateofficer.com
Police said on Wednesday a drug smuggler had broken down on a road in northwest Houston, when a Houston Police Department officer stopped to assist. When the officer called for a tow, the suspect slipped away.
The man had been driving a white Ford Mustang and left it behind. Growing suspicious, the officer searched the vehicle and discovered that the back bench was loose.
When he removed it, he found 15 kilos of methamphetamine and 17 kilos of heroin.
“Fifteen kilos is a larger volume of meth for this area,” said an HPD investigator who did not want to be identified. “But the heroin essentially tripled the previous record held by HPD, which was in the neighborhood of 7 kilos of heroin—so we’re talking about three times the previous amount.”
Officers said the drugs had a street value of more than $1.7 million. They are certain that they came from Mexican drug cartels.
Now they are trying to determine exactly who was involved and where the drugs were headed.
Source-khou
Suicide of Quincy police officer stuns department-community www.privateofficer.com
It is difficult to get a handle on how many police officers commit suicide, let alone what causes it and why their suicide rate appears higher than the general population, said John Violanti, a research professor at the University of Buffalo and an expert on police suicides.
“We know it’s a problem, but we don’t know the extent of the problem,” he said.
The problem struck the Quincy Police Department in shocking fashion Thursday morning when Edward Ryan, a well-liked and respected drug unit detective and an officer in Quincy since 1996, was found dead of a gunshot wound in a West Quincy cemetery. No foul play is suspected.
“He was always upbeat, always laughing, joking,” Police Chief Paul Keenan said. “We’re devastated at the loss. No one can explain it.”
Ryan, a 41-year-old second-generation police officer, was found by a cemetery worker in the Pine Hill Cemetery. Ryan’s father, Thomas, who died in 1997, is buried there.
The state medical examiner will determine whether Edward Ryan’s death was a suicide. The apparent cause of death was a single gunshot wound with no additional indications of trauma to the body, according to the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office.
Keenan called an immediate meeting with officers Thursday to explain the situation, and activated two members of the department who are trained to deal with stress. The department also called in the Boston Police Stress Unit, which specializes in helping officers deal with personal problems.
Other law enforcement agencies offered their backup so Quincy officers can attend services for Ryan next week, which Keenan said will be “more subdued” than they would be for an officer killed in the line of duty.
After the services, Keenan said, the department will have a mandatory debriefing for all officers.
“What happens in the room and what is said in the room stays in the room,” Keenan said of the debriefing. “It gives the officers an opportunity to vent.”
Police said suicide hasn’t struck the Quincy police ranks in decades. Nationally, suicide rates among police officers are thought to be higher than they are in the general population, and suicide is a bigger cause of officer death than being shot by a suspect.
A study by Violanti last year estimated that an average of 18 of every 100,000 police officers commit suicide, compared with 11 out of 100,000 in the general population.
Violanti said the victims are most likely to be white patrolmen between 35 and 44 years of age, with 10 to 19 years of service. Ninety-five percent use their service firearm in committing suicide, he said.
A significant number of the victims, Violanti said, appear to have relationship problems exacerbated by the stress of police work.
The study was based on an Internet search for stories about approximately 143 police suicides, which police departments aren’t required to report.
Violanti advocates requiring departments to report that information to get a true picture of the problem and a window into the causes.
“We need to develop ‘psychological autopsies’ to delve further into how these things develop,” he said. “By looking into the past of the individual … we can make determinations of how this got to this point in the first place. That kind of research is really new with police, but I think it’s very worthwhile.”
The Badge of Life Police Mental Health Organization, a California nonprofit focused on police suicide prevention that uses Violanti as a consultant, recommends annual mental health checks for officers, no matter how sure they are they don’t have issues.
“Your career is one of the most toxic, dangerous, violent and traumatic in the world,” the group’s website reads. “You deal with ‘unhealth’ on the streets every day and night, then go home and try to lead a healthy home life.”
Ryan, a Quincy native who lived in Canton, began his career as a seasonal police officer in Hull in the early 1990s.
In 1991, he told The Patriot Ledger that his father Thomas’ experiences as a Boston officer inspired him to get into the field. His two brothers also work in law enforcement.
“I always wanted to be a cop, since as long as I can remember,” Ryan said in the 1991 interview.
Source:www.patriotledger.com
Florida State University security officer robbed at gunpoint www.privateofficer.com
Tallahassee Fla June 16 2012 On the evening of June 14, 2012 a FSU Police Department Security Officer was patrolling the grounds on the northwest side of DeGraff Hall at approximately 11:06 pm when he encountered a black male (suspect) with a handgun.
The suspect ordered the guard to get on the ground, which he did. The suspect then demanded the officer’s radio to aid in his escape.
The officer complied and gave the suspect his radio. The suspect then fled northeast around DeGraff Hall, towards Dewey Street.
The security officer was not injured during the incident. Investigation has revealed the suspect was poised to commit a robbery in the immediate vicinity.
Tallahassee Police Department K9 responded to the area and began a track. K9 tracked the suspect to the east side of DeGraff near Dewey Street where he lost the track. Officers searching the area met with negative results.
The suspect was described as the following:
Black Male, approximately 6 ft tall, late 20s or early 30s average build, short hair, with a mustache but otherwise clean shaven, wearing a dark shirt, and khaki shorts.
The FSU Police Department is actively investigating this case. If you have any information about this incident or the suspect(s), you may also contact the FSU Police Department at 644-1234 (off campus) or 3-1-1 (on campus). In an emergency, DIAL 911. You may also contact Crime$toppers at 574-TIPS. Your information may make you eligible for a reward of up to $1000, and you can remain anonymous.
Source:WCTV
Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport may hire contract security screeners www.privateofficer.com
The airport board voted unanimously to move forward with trying to get private security Thursday afternoon.
Now that the board has decided to apply for privatized security, the TSA has 120 days to respond to their request. If they decide to okay the board’s application, Airport Director Brian Sprenger hopes that sometime next summer the privatized security will go into effect.
“I think we do better training. I think we emphasize customer service better. We’re smaller and more flexible than TSA,” said Gerry Berry, President of Covenant Aviation Security. Berry’s aviation security company is based in Anaconda and is interested in the private security job. Covenant Aviation Security already runs the security at San Francisco International Airport, the largest airport in the Screening Partnership Program, or SPP.
“I think it’s very hard for TSA to be a provider while they regulate themselves. I think that’s one of the issues. They are certainly going to regulate us; they do a good job at that,” said Berry.
A TSA spokesperson tells us the security standards at a federalized airport and privatized airport are identical and will remain that way.
“On the private side, they have the ability to respond quicker to changes in the airport environment, personnel needs, airline flight schedule changes, and they’re also able to address issues a lot quicker than the federal bureaucracy can,” said Sprenger.
He emphasizes the differences will be not in what the passengers are asked to do, but in how they are treated, “we’re looking at private security primarily to enhance the experience at our airport to ensure that we have good security but also good customer service at the same time.”
Sixteen commercial airports of the 450 in the United States are part of the SPP and seven of those 16 are in Montana.
Police arrest man with explosive device boarding plane www.privateofficer.com
“We confirmed he didn’t have any intent to use them on the plane,” said Lt. Nathan Garibay of Redmond Police. “As far as whether he knowingly knew he had them and forgot, that has yet to be confirmed.”
Police arrested Joseph Seeley, 24, of Bend, after Transportation Security Administration personnel found the device in the course of normal screening before passengers boarded an Allegiant Air flight to Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport on Thursday morning, Garibay said.
Seeley was later questioned by police and the FBI.
Garibay would not disclose just what the device was, where it was found or how it was found. After consulting with bomb technicians from state police and the FBI, police cited Seeley on a misdemeanor charge of possession of an explosive device without a license and released him.
The Deschutes County District Attorney’s Office and U.S. Attorney’s Office were reviewing the case, Garibay added.
The FBI did not immediately return a call for comment.
Source:www.sacbee.com
Nightclub bouncer shot-robbed walking home from work www.privateofficer.com
The victim, who works as a bouncer at the nearby Golden Nugget restaurant and bar in South Fairmount, had just finished his shift when he was jumped at about 3:25 a.m., police said.
He was taken to University Hospital. It was not immediately clear if his injuries were life-threatening.
A police search dog and handler are scouring the area of the shooting for the suspects.
Source:cincinnati.cm
Windsor man charged with exposing himself at Westfarms Mall www.privateofficer.com
Police say they arrested 50-year-old Alan Stuart Hickey Tuesday night at the Mohegan Sun Casino after using his cell phone to track him.
Police say they received tips from the public after releasing security video of the suspect inside the Go Calendar store. Authorities say that video, taken Monday, shows Hickey exposing himself to a 6-year-old girl and forcing her to touch his genitals.
Police say Hickey had been alerted by a friend that he was wanted by police and had cut his hair and shaved his beard in an apparent attempt to conceal his identity.
Hickey was arraigned in Hartford Superior Court on Wednesday and ordered held on $350,000 bail.
Source:www.norwichbulletin.com
Macon Mall security team has new K-9 partner www.privateofficer.com
MACON, Georgia June 16 2012- The Macon Mall security team has a new four-legged member. The Macon Police Department announced, today, that Eonn, a Belgium Malinois will be joining the team. Eonn is trained in sniffing out narcotics.
According to the owner of the mall John Gibson, k-9′s are great security ambassadors and heighten the presence of the police department. Gibson said, Eonn will add a sense of comfort and demonstrate the mall’s commitment to customer safety.
“His main purpose is not to come to the mall and sniff out narcotics. His main purpose is to be seen and to be a deterrent. That being said, I don’t think anybody that has narcotics wants to be close to the dog because he would smell it,” said Major Robert Grabowski of the Macon Police Department.
Eonn has been training for his new job with the k-9 unit since he was six months old.
source-wmgt.com
Casino security officers rescue traffic accident victim www.privateofficer.com
Engine fluids exploded into fire upon impact.
Security officers Dawn Heffner, 40, Jeff Hanes, 45, and Paul Wheeler, 58, risked their lives to bring Baumann, her mother, Lucille A. Pruhsmeier, 92, Baumann’s German shepherd and parrot out of the burning SUV alive.
Hanes is an emergency medical responder and Wheeler has 14 years experience as a volunteer firefighter.
Joining the three was good Samaritan Levi Anderson, 22, who lives across the street from where the accident occurred. Also aiding the effort were Sheridan and Willamina firefighters and EMTs, members of the Yamhill County Sheriff’s Office and Oregon State Police personnel.
The parrot was not the only one emerging from the accident with a story to tell.
About 9:50 p.m., Baumann’s SUV approached the intersection of Red Prairie Road on state Highway 18, the Salmon River Highway, where Heffner sat at the stop sign. The SUV’s brakes were locked and the tires were screaming as the vehicle moved down the highway, sliding sideways and then backwards, almost as if it were trying to turn on to Red Prairie.
“I thought she was going to try to make the turn,” said Heffner, who recalled the event on June 5 with her co-workers in a conference room on the second floor of Spirit Mountain Casino. Casino Security Manager Brian Willis congratulated all three by presenting them with “Shining Star” awards.
“She is not going to make that turn,” Heffner remembers thinking.
Then the SUV started flipping. It rolled twice before coming to a stop at the stop sign on the other side of the highway, and then burst into flames with an explosive sound.
“I drove across 18 and parked by the ditch,” Heffner said. “As soon as I got out of my car I started hollering (to the people in the car), but I couldn’t get any response.”
At the same time, she punched in 911 on her cell. She also was trying to get somebody driving by to stop and help.
“Nobody would stop,” she recalled.
Meanwhile, the SUV rocked precariously between the stop sign and the ditch, with the passenger side down and the front of the car facing west on Highway 18 toward the casino, the direction it had come from. Red Prairie Road is nine miles east of the casino.
Baumann later told Wheeler that it had felt like “ ‘the steering wheel locked before the car shot to the right.’ That would be consistent with a blown front tire,” he said.
While waiting for help to arrive, Heffner heard from the occupants of the SUV. She said she was looking for “a screw driver or a wrench or something” to break out the front window, but couldn’t find anything. She thought of throwing dirt on the engine fire that was already coming up over the driver’s side front tire, but the dirt was filled with weeds. She looked for large rocks, but all she could see were pebbles. She tried to kick out the window, without luck.
When Baumann spoke, her first words were mired in confusion. “Where am I?” she asked. “What happened?”
Heffner reached in on the driver’s side window to talk to Baumann and to see how to help her out, but did not have the tools even to release the seatbelt.
About this point, Hanes and Wheeler, who were also heading to work for the graveyard shift, saw the headlights “all weird looking,” in Hanes’ words.
They hurried down that way.
“It’s on fire, Paul,” Hanes said to his co-worker and they both jumped out of the car on arrival. Neither saw Heffner, who was working with Baumann when they arrived. She was on the far side, the ditch side, of the car. They all just had the same instincts.
About the same time, Anderson, a 5-foot, 7-inch equipment operator with asthma who weighs in at 270 pounds, and who also has training as a volunteer firefighter, heard the tires squealing. He came running, arriving just after Hanes and Wheeler.
The way the car had landed forced all of them to work at reaching the occupants from the ditch side, or from in front through the windshield, with the SUV rocking uncontrollably. If it rocked too far, it had only one way to go.
“We started breaking windows,” Hanes said. He showed a “rescue knife” designed to cut and hammer through windows and he knocked out the driver’s back side window with it. He tried to make it work on the windshield, but “windshields are designed not to shatter,” he said, and so it was broken in a million pieces that all stayed together. “I tried to pull the whole thing out but it wouldn’t come.”
“We could not get the driver’s side door open,” said Anderson, “but we ended up prying it open as far as we could.”
At this point, the fire also was coming into the car from under the dash, not a large, swirling fire, said Wheeler, but “it was coming in pretty good.”
Back at the driver’s side window, Hanes reached in.
“I told her I was going to cut her seat belt,” he said, and used his tool to do that. “She fell back into the car, crying, ‘Ahhhh.’
“I’m telling her (Baumann), ‘You’ve got to use your feet to climb out.’ ” said Hanes.
“She may have fallen on her mother,” who was in the passenger seat, said Wheeler.
“(Pruhsmeier) was calling, ‘Help me,’ ” said Wheeler.
“It crossed my mind for about 10 seconds that the car could explode,” said Heffner.
“They teach you in Emergency Medical Responder training to evaluate a scene before going in,” said Hanes. “Is the scene safe? Do you have protective equipment, gloves to protect against blood? Well I’m thinking, there‘s nothing safe about this scene and I don’t have protective equipment.”
Wheeler also knew the rules: If you don’t have proper training and equipment, stay away, but he said he was thinking, “If we don’t do something, these people are going to die.
“I didn’t realize how much that car was still rocking on its side, and I knew it could easily roll over on us, but you’re thinking, if we don’t do something, they’ll all burn to death.”
“We got (Baumann) to stand up,” said Wheeler. “Jeff was on her right and I was on her left.” Anderson was half in the windshield disintegrating in front of her.
“That’s when I realized there was a dog in the car,” said Wheeler. “I saw the eyes, and I’m thinking, ‘Please be friendly.’ ”
“We lifted (Baumann) up by her pants and out through the driver’s side front window,” said Wheeler.
They walked her away from the SUV though emergency medical help had not yet arrived, Hanes remembered.
Maybe four minutes in, firefighters, police and medical staff started arriving.
Baumann was crying, “My dog, my bird, my mother …”
Meanwhile, “Everyone’s screaming, ‘You’ve got to get out of there,’ ” said Hanes.
Anderson was back in the front windshield.
“I was talking to Lucille and trying to get her to respond to me, and get her undone from her seatbelt.”
At this time, he added, “The car was pretty much all the way inflamed. They had started to spray fire extinguishers.”
A Sheridan firefighter pulled Anderson out of the windshield and had the equipment to take out the rest of the glass. And that was quickly removed.
Anderson ran back to the rear driver’s side window and reached in for the dog. It didn’t want to come when he got its collar, so he reached in and hugged it to his chest and carried the dog out. He brought the dog to Baumann.
Hanes, an unnamed firefighter and EMT pulled Pruhsmeier from the SUV. They put her on a gurney.
“She was hurting,” said Wheeler, “but she was not burned and she was conscious. What I remember is her bare feet coming out and the fire coming out. I expected to see her feet all burned.”
The bird, flapping wildly inside a Plexiglas cage with small breathing holes in the back of the SUV, was last to emerge, Anderson said. Hanes never saw the bird.
Afterwards, when the adrenalin subsided, Wheeler said, “I could have found a corner of the casino to sit down in and cry.”
“When the adrenalin wears off, you realize what happened,” said Hanes. “The emotions that get you afterwards: I could have bawled.”
“I was coughing from the smoke,” said Hanes. “Dawn couldn’t get a deep enough breath.”
Wheeler used “an old fireman’s trick,” he said. “I covered my face with my coat and didn’t get it as bad.”
Heffner, Hanes, Wheeler, Anderson and the crash victims ended up at the Willamette Valley Medical Center in McMinnville. Baumann went from there to Oregon Health & Science University Hospital in Portland.
At the hospital, Hanes found pieces of the tempered glass from the windshield in his jacket pockets.
“I got some plastic string on my glasses,” said Wheeler. “I hadn’t noticed until after.”
Anderson suffered from smoke inhalation with cuts on his leg and hand. “He had been punching the window,” said Hanes.
“We’re very proud of the unselfish, heroic actions our officers took during this harrowing rescue,” said Joann Mercier, director of Security for the casino. “They displayed tremendous courage.”
“It says even more that these guys stopped on their own time,” she added. “They don’t just do their job at work, but also outside of work.”
Anderson took in the dog and bird following the accident, said they were “100 percent OK.” The bird spent the weekend mimicking the coughing and gasping it had heard, Anderson said.
Baumann and Pruhsmeier were subsequently released from the hospitals. Baumann picked up her pets on Tuesday, June 5, and although she did not return a call for comment, she told Anderson that when things calmed down, she wanted to have everybody over for a barbecue.
“It was the most extreme circumstances,” said Hanes, “and the best result.”
Source:Smoke Signals
West Virginia shoplifter-purse snatcher captured at Walmart www.privateofficer.com
PRIVATE OFFICER BREAKING NEWS at 12:01 AM 0 comments 
CABELL COUNTY, W.Va.June 16 2012 – A woman that State Police describe as a serial purse snatcher has been arrested, and is now in jail.
Dana Kirk, 41, of Huntington, was arrested after security guards at the Walmart along Route 60 in Huntington said they spotted a woman shoplifting and then stealing a wallet from a customer.
According to the criminal complaint, Kirk admitted during questioning to stealing five purses from women at the Huntington Walmart, two purses at the Barboursville Walmart and one purse at the Barboursville Kroger. Troopers say she also admitted to using a stolen credit card. They say the thefts happened May 19 and Tuesday afternoon.
As for motive, Kirk said she was addicted Roxy 30’s.
Troopers charged Kirk with shoplifting, petit larceny and forgery of credit card. She is being held in the Western Regional jail.
Source: WSAZ
Birmingham police officer, third suspect charged in arson www.privateofficer.com
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama June 16 2012– A second Birmingham police officer arrested in connection to an arson investigation has been charged, Birmingham police announced this afternoon.
A third suspect in the case — who is not a city employee — has also been charged.
The officer, Jason Arnold, 35, of Hoover, has been charged with arson and is being held on $150,000 bond. He has been a West Precinct officer since 2009.
The third suspect is Anthony Weaver, 48, of Birmingham. He is charged with arson and is held on $60,000 bond.
These arrests are associated with fires at 2901 Ensley Avenue and 2532 Warrior Road, said Sgt. Johnny Williams.
Already charged is Officer Curtis Jeffrey Thornton, 27, is charged with second-degree arson in connection with a May 21 house fire in the 1700 block of 29th Street Ensley.
Source:AL.com
