Archive
Line of Duty Death Officer Celena Hollis
Police Officer
Celena Hollis
Denver Police Department, Colorado
End of Watch: Sunday, June 24, 2012
Bio & Incident Details
Age: 32
Tour: 7 years
Badge # Not available
Cause: Gunfire
Incident Date: 6/24/2012
Weapon: Handgun
Suspect: Not available
Police Officer Celena Hollis was shot and killed while attempting to break up a fight at a jazz festival in Denver’s City Park shortly after 8:00 pm.
Two groups of people had begun to fight and Officer Hollis intervened, attempting to stop the fight. One of the subjects involved in the fight opened fire with a handgun, striking Officer Hollis in the head. She was transported to a local hospital where she succumbed to her wounds.
One subject was taken into custody at the scene.
Officer Hollis had served with the Denver Police Department for seven years and acted as the president of the Denver Black Police Officers Association. She is survived by her daughter.
Please contact the following agency to send condolences or to obtain funeral arrangements:
Chief Robert White
Denver Police Department
1331 Cherokee Street
Denver, CO 80204
Phone: (720) 913-2000
Jersey Shores strengthens police force during summer with “Specials” www.privateofficer.com
Ocean City NJ June 25 2012 Every morning, 21-year-old Special Officer Giovanni DeMarco suits up and patrols the boardwalk in Ocean City.
For $10 an hour, no health benefits and no vacation days, he puts his life on the line to keep countless beach-goers safe.
But he is just one face in a population of thousands who seek seasonal employment at the Jersey Shore each year.
Some work as reinforcement for local police departments, others as amusement park ride operators, or ice cream scoopers, but they all are part of the magic that is the Jersey Shore.
“We hire a mix of approximately 40 Class 1 and Class 2 officers every summer,” said Ocean City Police Lt. Bruce Twiggs.
The hiring of special officers to supplement shore towns has been going on for more than 30 years. Just about every police department along the Atlantic coast does it.
“Our population fluctuates between about 12,000 in the winter time to a peak of 110,000 in the summer,” said Twiggs. “With that kind of influx we need supplemental officers, but we don’t need them year-round.”
The Ocean City police department has 55 full-time officers.
“So for the summer we don’t exactly double our force, but it is pretty close,” said Twiggs.
To help with the crowds, police departments can hire two classes of seasonal help.
Class 1 special law enforcement officers have limited enforcement powers and do not carry firearms, but can still enforce laws for motor vehicle violations, city ordinances, petty disorderly persons offenses and disorderly persons.
These recruits go through 80 hours of training, traffic enforcement, traffic control, unarmed defense, report writing and other basic law enforcement courses.
Class 2 officers are just shy of full-time police officers. They can carry a firearm, but cannot make arrests outside of a town’s jurisdiction or take their firearms home.
These officers receive 471 hours of training, classes run in the winter and summer, said Twiggs.
DeMarco worked his way up and is now serving as a Class 2 officer in Ocean City.
“Last year I served on the patrol division as a Class 1. I issued parking tickets more than anything, but it was a good learning experience,” said DeMarco. “I was able to learn from the officers around me and pick up their good habits.”
This year, DeMarco is on the boardwalk unit and he has embraced the extra responsibility of a Class 2 officer. He also likes the interaction with the public.
“I want the public to look at me and see that I enjoy my job,” said DeMarco. “I don’t want people to fear approaching me, because as law enforcement officers we are here to help the community.”
This is John Coffey’s first year as a Class 1 officer in Ocean City.
The 18–year-old Pennsauken resident is a student at Rowan University.
Twiggs said 99 percent of the special officers they hire are college students. Of that amount, 75 percent are criminal justice majors. Some students can even use the summer jobs to earn college credit.
“I’m only a month in, but for the most part it has been a positive experience,” said Coffey. “It’s a good test to see if I want to pursue a career in law enforcement.”
So far, Coffey said he handles a lot of “quality of life” calls.
“Not too much action yet on the boardwalk,” he said.
Twiggs said boardwalk officers work on a two-shift rotation, either 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. or a 5 p.m. to 1 a.m.
DeMarco said there are major differences between the two shifts.
“During the daytime you see more families so you get calls for medical emergencies like heat stroke or seizures,” said DeMarco. “At night there is more action, kids out drinking or causing trouble.”
DeMarco, who hopes to land a job with his hometown department, said his goal is to protect the public and educate them on why certain rules on the boardwalk need to be followed.
North Wildwood Police Lt. Kevin Tolan said working as a special officer can serve as a stepping stone for a future law-enforcement career.
North Wildwood, where the population typically swells from 5,000 year-round to 50,000 in the summer, has hired 43 officers this summer to supplement their 20-plus full-time police force.
“This year 10 kids returned out of 41 because most of the officers from last year got picked up for a full-time job in their hometowns,” said Tolan. “We’ve had kids who started here that are now in all levels of law enforcement across the state.”
But the Jersey Shore is not all about law and order.
This summer Caroline Drury, 20, of Philadelphia, is working at Johnson’s Popcorn.
She said her family owns a house in Ocean City and as she got older she started picking up jobs to make some extra money.
“I like it a lot but it kind of stinks being able to look out at the beach knowing you’re stuck here,” said Drury. “It gets tough and frustrating when I’m the only girl working, you have to think the line will always end at some point.”
Personnel Director at Gillian’s Wonderland Pier, Brian O’Connell, said they hire about 200 summer employees including international college students from Lithuania and Turkey.
Morey’s Pier in Wildwood hires approximately 1,500 seasonal workers and keeps 115 full-time employees, said spokesman Tim Samson. Most seasonal ride operators make the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.
Tim Diggins, 19, of Egg Harbor Township, has been working at Ocean City’s Wonderland Pier for three years.
“It’s a fun, reliable job,” Diggins said. “You get to watch kids have fun on rides and it’s pretty easy.”
Diggins said the ability to work just a few months in the summer is what drew him to seasonal work at the shore.
“I go to college in North Carolina so three or four months of work is the perfect job for me,” said Diggins. “Most days here I work open to close.”
As for training on certain rides, Diggins said each day they are assigned to a ride.
“They make a schedule each day and if someone has not been trained on a ride they take you out and spend plenty of time making sure you know how to operate the ride,” said Diggins. “Safety is first.”
The Jersey Shore is also known to host many international workers through the summer. It was 20-year-old Kazakhstan native Bagdat Akhmenov’s first trip to the United States.
Akhmenov is working at George’s Candies this summer.
“I wanted to see the world and make new friends,” said Akhmenov, whose native country in central Asia borders Russia. “I’ve never been to the USA. It maybe was a little bit like my dream to come here.”
According to the U.S. Department of State’s Exchange Visitor Program, in 2011 nearly 7,000 workers came into New Jersey for summer jobs on a temporary work visa.
The Federal Summer Work Travel program is said to provide foreign students with an opportunity to live and work in the United States during their summer vacation from college to experience and to be exposed to the people and way of life in the United States.
Samson said Morey’s Piers owns four boarding homes that house both international and U.S. employees.
“We house about 10 percent of our summer work force,” Samson said. “We work with area housing owners and provide options to our seasonal associates.”
source:cpsj.com
74-year-old Las Vegas commits suicide after firing at wife www.privateofficer.com
Las Vegas NV June 25 2012 Metro police said a 74-year-old Las Vegas man committed suicide early Saturday after firing a weapon at his wife who fled their home.
Watch commander Lt. Craig Klatt said the man was depressed and had been drinking before he fired a round at the woman, who called police at 7:23 a.m.
Responding officers tried to reach the man by telephone, but he hung up. They later heard a shot inside the home, on Furnace Gulch Avenue near Fort Apache Road, while waiting for a SWAT team to arrive.
The SWAT team then entered the house and found the man dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Klatt said.
source-las vegas review journal
Univ. of Nebraska hook bike thieves with a little “bait” www.privateofficer.com
Lincoln NE June 25 2012 On the reality TV show “Bait Car,” police park GPS-rigged vehicles — unlocked and with keys inside — then wait for an unsuspecting thief to bite.
On the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus, police are doing the same thing — with bicycles.
The UNL Police Department has been using GPS trackers to catch bike thieves since late 2010, Sgt. John Backer said.
“It is not the most serious problem on campus, but is one of the most prevalent and persistent,” he said. “We try to focus our efforts on the crimes students have to deal with, and (bike theft) is a top spot for that.”
Ninety-three bicycle thefts were reported on campus in 2011, down from 115 the year before. But it’s too early to tell whether the downward trend will continue, Backer said. The annual average is 94.5 bike thefts.
UNL police generally see a spike of reported thefts in September and October, shortly after the start of the fall semester, and a smaller increase in April and May, coinciding with the end of the spring semester, Backer said.
The department uses several bikes it acquired as abandoned property to run the stings.
“It’s not like we’re putting out the best bike out on the market. We’re just putting out an average bicycle because that is what is being stolen,” Backer said.
Officers leave the bike unattended and unlocked in a public place. Typically, Backer said, it’s stolen within four or five hours.
When the GPS indicates the bike has moved beyond a predetermined perimeter, dispatch is notified and officers move, usually catching the two-wheel larcenist with feet still on the pedals. Police also use the university’s camera network to record thefts.
Officers run the sting as often as staffing allows, Backer said, although they don’t do it on days they’ll be too busy to retrieve a bike.
They also don’t do it on bitterly cold days for fear of damaging the GPS unit. Winter months are the slowest for bike thefts anyway, he added.
Backer said the department conducted similar operations for years before getting GPS technology, just less often because it required one officer to watch the bike while another waited nearby to catch the thief.
New technology simply has made it much more efficient.
Source:journalstar.com
Illinois man commits suicide in front of police after killing woman www.privateofficer.com
Carpentersville IL June 25 2012 A 39-year-old Lake in the Hills man fatally shot a female acquaintance and minutes later shot himself in front of police officers last night following a domestic quarrel in northwest suburban Carpentersville, police said.
Anthony Rodriguez, whose last known address was on Tecumseh Drive in Lake in the Hills, was taken to Sherman Hospital, where he was pronounced dead last night, according to a police spokeswoman.
Police were called to the 0-100 block of Pueblo Road at 9:39 p.m. for a report of a man with a gun and a domestic disturbance, she said.
Officers discovered a 39-year-old woman shot twice and dead on the scene, she said.
As police were investigating this, at 10 p.m. a second call came in regarding an armed man, she said.
“The subject who shot this woman was at a friend’s home in the 1500 block of Amarillo Drive,’’ she said.
Police found Rodriguez in the front yard of the home with a gun. “As they tried to talk to him, he shot himself one time,’’ the spokeswoman said.
The woman’s name was not being released Saturday, pending notification of family members, according to the spokeswoman.
The Kane County coroner’s office is handling both deaths, but a representative was not immediately available.
Source:Chicago Tribune
Five charged with theft, assault in Michigan shoplifting caper www.privateofficer.com
OSHTEMO TWP., Mich. June 25 2012 – Two adults and three juveniles have been arrested on robbery and felony retail fraud charges.
Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Department said in a news release several stores in Oshtemo Township have been targeted recently.
Investigators said a group would fill up several shopping carts with electronics and then leave the store with the goods.
That’s exactly what they said happened at a Wal-Mart store in Oshtemo Township Friday.
When confronted, one person assaulted the security officer.
Deputies arrested the group of five outside the of the store and recovered about $1,000 in stolen merchandise.
Source: WOOD
Four dead in Oregon plane crash www.privateofficer.com
VENETA OR June 25 2012— Four people died Saturday after a Cessna 172 crashed in a wooded area south of Suttle Road after taking off from a private airstrip just west of the Oregon Country Fair property, according to the Lane County Sheriff’s Office.
The names of the deceased were not available Saturday. Sheriff’s office officials said the names would not be released until next of kin were notified. Officials with the National Transportation Safety Board were en route from Portland to investigate, sheriff’s spokeswoman Carrie Carver said.
The plane took off about 3:10 p.m. Saturday, southbound from a private airstrip at 24003 Suttle Road that, according to nearby residents and online Lane County records, is owned by Conrad Magnuson.
Approached about what happened, Magnuson, surrounded by a group of people in his driveway, yelled obscenities and told members of the media to get off his property.
“It’s going to take heavy tools to get them out of there,” Lane County District No. 1 Fire Chief Terry Ney said of the victims. The small plane “for whatever reason didn’t clear the woods,” Ney said.
All four occupants of the aircraft were pronounced dead at the scene by Lane Rural Fire, according to Carver. The sheriff’s office was assisting the NTSB with scene security and removal of the bodies, she said.
Magnuson’s airstrip, known as Crow-Mag Airport, according to county records, is on the north side of Suttle Road. The plane crashed on the south side of Suttle Road, just east of Ridiculous Road, on private property just east of John and Debbie Parker’s home.
A half dozen Lane County emergency vehicles could be seen parked near the crash site.
Debbie Parker said she had just gotten home Saturday afternoon and was unloading groceries when she heard the plane overhead.
“Didn’t sound real strong,” Parker said, sitting on her deck. “And then I heard it crash.”
She said she and her husband have lived there for 26 years and listened to planes take off and land. But they had never heard one crash, she said. They aren’t really bothered by the airstrip, “but it gets so loud sometimes you can’t hear yourself talk. We just live with it,” Parker said.
Some people associated with the nearby Oregon Country Fair property came by Saturday and thought the crash victims might be associated with the fair, Debbie Parker said.
A November 1991 Register-Guard story about Magnuson’s efforts to expand his small airport told of residents’ opposition. Residents said at the time that expansion would increase noise and create a higher risk of crash.
A manager of what was then the state Aeronautics Division said more planes would not increase safety risk. The story said the grass airstrip at Crow-Mag Airport was 3,100 feet long and 50 feet wide and built by the previous owner in 1969.
A Lane County hearings official ruled in October 1991 that Magnuson’s investment of money and labor in his airstrip since 1976 was sufficient to allow him to finish the project, according to the story.
Some neighbors quoted in the story complained of low-flying planes spooking their horses, but other neighbors said they had no problem with the airstrip.
However, one resident was quoted as saying: “If it grows to more airplanes like they want, I just feel there will be an accident.”
It’s unclear whether the number of planes at the airport was ever increased.
Source:register-guard.com
Unplugged metal detector causes chaos at JFK Airport terminal www.privateofficer.com
New York NY June 25 2012 The TSA’s bungling reached a new low yesterday when a JFK Airport terminal had to be evacuated and hundreds of passengers marched back through security screening all because one dimwitted agent failed to realize his metal detector had been unplugged, sources told The Post.
The stunning error led to hours of delays, two planes called back from the runway and infinite frustration for furious passengers.
“The truth is, this is the failure of the most basic level of diligence,” a law-enforcement source said.
“How can you expect the public to feel confident of the mission of the TSA if they don’t even know if the lights are turned on?”
The chaos at Terminal 7 was caused by screener Alija Abdul Majed, who had manned Lane No. 1 during the morning shift with no idea his metal detector had no juice, sources said.
Amazingly, he failed to realize that alert lights never flashed once as streams of passengers filed through the dead detector, the sources said.
Majed was so clueless that he couldn’t even tell police how long the machine had been shut off or how it happened, the sources said.
“It was simply an unplugged machine — the TSA doing its best,” another source said.
Higher-ups at the Transportation Security Administration finally discovered the security boondoggle at 9:44 a.m. — leaving the Port Authority with no choice but to call for a complete evacuation of the international terminal that is home to British Airways, Cathay Pacific, United Airlines and others.
The extraordinary measure meant that two jumbo jets — including a San Francisco-bound United flight — had to return to the gate so passengers could be rescreened at a metal detector that was actually turned on.
The TSA would not confirm or deny that its detector had been unplugged, releasing a statement saying only that a metal detector suffered a “malfunction.”
Eight to 10 flights were delayed as a result of the power-cord bungle, sources said.
Frustrated passengers tweeted photos and gripes throughout their hours-long ordeal.
“How many hours will it take to send a terminal full of people BACK through security?” tweeted one passenger off to Los Angeles.
Other inconvenienced passengers had less of a sense of humor about the situation.
“This is terrible,” said Michael Dorn, 29, who was headed for Hawaii.
“I hate waiting in line. It’s nerve-racking. I don’t know if I will make my flight or why we evacuated.”
Others, like Jason Bailey, who was headed to San Diego, didn’t mind the delay.
“It’s a big inconvenience, but it’s better safe than sorry,” he said.
PA officials reopened the terminal at 11:45 a.m., two hours after they were called in to clean up the TSA mess, sources said.
“Obviously, the horse was out of the barn by the time we were notified,” a PA source said.
In scary twist, the source couldn’t be certain that every passenger who went through the powerless detector had been accounted for and hadn’t gotten on a flight.
The incident is just the latest in a long line of TSA fiascoes.
Last year, agents allowed a woman to carry a steak knife onto a plane departing from Newark Airport.
At JFK, agents allowed Eusebio Peraltalajara, 45, to make it onto a flight to the Dominican Republic with the same type of box cutters used by the 9/11 hijackers.
Source:NY Post
Alabama town police go stealth with bike hybrids www.privateofficer.com
Sheffield AL June 25 2012 Mayor Ian Sanford and Police Chief Greg Ray said the acquisition of three bicycles in the Police Department will create the element of surprise that is sometimes needed while policing the city.
The mayor and chief, along with others including Park and Recreation Department Director Ricky Canup, recently tried out three hybrid bicycles the city is purchasing from Joe Fields, a representative of HummingBike.
HummingBike offers several varieties of hybrid electric bicycles that operate on both human and battery power.
The city is purchasing two patrol bikes equipped with a blue light and siren, a bike that folds and can be stored in a car trunk, and a three-wheel HummingBike model that will be used by the Recreation Department.
Riders can pedal the bike or switch on a battery operated electric motor that will last for about 30 miles at speeds of up to 20 mph, Fields said.
The city will pay for the new equipment through a grant from the Colbert County Community Development Committee, with disperses a portion of the Tennessee Valley Authority in-lieu-of-tax money.
The committee approved a $3,000 grant for the bikes.
“It’s a lot of fun to ride,” Fields said. “I think the Police Department will have fun with them.”
Fun was not the original reason Ray and the mayor wanted the bicycles.
Sanford announced at the June 18 council meeting that someone had vandalized nearly 30 solar-powered lights on the city’s new river walk, which is built above the Tennessee River along the bluffs at Riverfront Park.
Utility Department General Manager Allen Hughes estimated the cost of the vandalism at $15,000.
The mayor said the Police Department could use something that would help give them an element of surprise.
Ray said bicycles also would be helpful to patrol downtown Sheffield, around the high school during football games and outdoor events, such as concerts held during the W.C. Handy Music Festival.
“They’ll make a good impression and they’re kind of green,” Sanford said, referring to the environmentally friendly aspect of the hybrid bikes.
Canup said he can use the three-wheel bike around the Recreation Department’s ball fields. In fact, he already was using one during games Wednesday night.
“It’s much better quality than I thought,” Ray said, bending over to inspect one of the black and white bikes that come with a blue light and siren.
Even Sanford took one of the bikes for a spin around the City Hall parking lot.
“They’re mainly to go where cars can’t,” the mayor said.
Florence Police Chief Rick Singleton said his department has been using bicycles for more than 20 years.
“They’re a great tool, especially when you have situations like the Handy Festival and Fourth of July,” Singleton said. “They enable an officer to get around a little more quickly in a crowd situation. It’s not only an effective law enforcement tool, it’s an effective public relations tool.”
He said the bikes and the less formal uniforms the officers wear make them more accessible to the public.
Tuscumbia police also use bike patrols.
Source:TimesDaily.com
Florida State Trooper Sentenced for Role in Oxycodone Trafficking Ring www.privateofficer.com
U.S. Attorney for Connecticut David B. Fein announced that Justin Kolves, 29, of Florida, was sentenced Friday by U.S. District Court Judge Janet C. Hall in Bridgeport federal court to 84 months, followed by three years of supervised release.
Fein said Kolves provided “protection” for the drug traffickers as they transported and delivered large quantities of narcotics in 2011. He resigned from the Florida Highway Patrol after he was caught, and pleaded guilty in March.
On Monday, Naugatuck resident Stephen Stopper, 47, received a two-year sentence, three years of probation and a $2,500 fine as part of a ring that transported Oxycodone, a highly addictive pharmaceutical painkiller, from Florida to Connecticut for illegal sales.
Fein said the ring transported thousands of Oxycodone pills a week. It was busted by Operation Blue Coast, a law enforcement sting operation headed by the Drug Enforcement Administration’s High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force in Bridgeport.
The pills that were purchased in Florida for $5 each ultimately were sold on the street in Connecticut for up to $30 each, Fein said.
Officers from the Connecticut State Police, and the Bridgeport, Milford, Norwalk, Stamford, Greenwich, Monroe, Danbury, Waterbury and Westport police departments, DEA officers in Florida and Connecticut, the Westchester County Department of Public Safety, Florida Highway Patrol, U.S. Marshals Service and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General participated in the investigation.
In all, twenty individuals, including three Transportation Security Administration officers, former Florida state trooper Kolves and a Westchester County police officer were charged as a result of Operation Blue Coast.
Fein said Kolves’ lengthy prison sentence “is appropriate for a sworn law enforcement officer who moonlighted as a body guard for a known drug dealer and who assisted in the illegal transport and sale of highly addictive Oxycodone pills.”
He continued, “This prosecution should serve as a clear warning to those few law enforcement officers who disgrace their badges and violate the public’s trust that you will ultimately be caught and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Police report murder-suicide at Beverly Hilton Hotel www.privateofficer.com
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. June 25 2012 - A man and a woman were found fatally shot at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in what homicide investigators believe was an apparent murder-suicide.
Officers responded to the landmark hotel on Wilshire Boulevard at 10:50 p.m. Friday evening, following a report of gunshots, police said in a department statement.
Upon arrival, police say they found the bodies of an elderly man and elderly woman, reports CBS Station KCBS.
Their identities have not been released.
Paramedics were seen leaving the scene without a patient.
The coroner’s office picked up the bodies early Saturday and was investigating the deaths.
The shootings occurred just hours before the Daytime Emmy Awards were to be held at the hotel – the latest among several other annual galas (including the Golden Globe Awards) that take place at the Beverly Hilton.
In February Whitney Houston was found drowned in the bathtub of her room there.
NC couple arrested for running a meth lab at a local motel www.privateofficer.com
Deputies arrested a couple accused of running a meth lab at a local motel in Cleveland County.
Cleveland County officers arrested Mark Stacey and Catherine Stacey Friday night at the Victory Inn motel in Kings Mountain.
Police said the couple was out on bond and awaiting trial for possession of a meth lab in Gaston County, last year.
They are charged with manufacturing methamphetamine, possession of precursor chemicals and possession of drug
paraphernalia. Both are being held on a $500,000 secured bond.
This was the eighth methamphetamine laboratory located in Cleveland County this year.
Source:WSOCTV.com
Cleveland security guard charged ins hooting at China House www.privateofficer.com
CLEVELAND, OH June 25 2012 - Three people were shot during a shootout at Cleveland’s China House.
The alleged gang related shooting happened around 1:30 a.m. outside of the China House restaurant located at Saint Clair Avenue and East 53rd Street.
According to Cleveland Police, witnesses flagged down officers after an argument broke out in front of the China House. A security guard at the door pepper sprayed a group of six to seven males all wearing white t-shirts, who then threatened the guard stating they would be back.
Approximately two minutes later, the males returned and opened fire upon the restaurant and the customers walking out. The security guard returned fire.
Two males and one female were struck during the shootout. Antoine Banks-Matthew, 30, was transported via EMS to MetroHealth Medical Center. Alvis Cook, 34, was transported by private vehicle to MetroHealth Medical Center. A third victim, Takeshia Fuller, 27, was driven by private auto to the Cleveland Clinic where she was treated and released.
Witnesses on scene told police that the male suspects were gang members of the 105 Boys and Hough Boys, who were targeting the China House.
After the shooting, the males fled the scene.
Cleveland Police returned to the China House and arrested security guard, Keith Crump, 21. Crump was transported to Cleveland’s Central Prison Unit and booked for felonious assault-firearm and contempt of court but it is unknown at this time if the charges relate to this shooting or a different incident.
Source:WOIO
Three crew members missing after head-on train collision www.priavteofficer.com
Goodwell OK June 25 2012 Three Union Pacific Railroad crew members are missing after two freight trains collided in the Oklahoma Panhandle.
Union Pacific spokeswoman Raquel Espinoza says an eastbound train and a westbound train crashed about 10:08 a.m. Sunday near Goodwell, which is near the Texas border. Espinoza says a two-person crew was aboard each train, and officials are unable to account for two engineers and a conductor.
She says the other conductor appears to be uninjured.
Espinoza says two locomotives on the westbound train and a locomotive on the eastbound train caught fire after the collision. One train was carrying a resin solution, but Espinoza says that load wasn’t on fire and is being doused with water as a precaution.
Texas County Emergency Management Director Harold Tyson says firefighters are battling the blaze.
Atlanta security officer shot during robbery www.privateofficer.com
Joseph Carter, 55, of Jonesboro, was working security at 116 Juniper Street when he heard a man screaming outside and went out to see what was going on.
John Clayton, 25, told police he was walking down Juniper about 3 a.m. when a car began following him. He said a man in the car jumped out, produced a handgun and robbed him of his wallet. Clayton then began screaming, police said, and Carter was shot when he responded.
The shooter then jumped back into the car. Atlanta police spotted the car and gave chase. But two men in the car jumped out of the vehicle while it was still moving and escaped into an apartment building on Boulevard Avenue. The vehicle rolled onto a sidewalk and hit a tree.
Carter was treated at the scene.
Source:AJC.com
Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s dispatcher fired -arrested for shoplifting www.privateofficer.com
The Times-Picayune reports (http://bit.ly/MB4Tr7) Aariel Dorsey, 21, was arrested on June 15 and issued a misdemeanor summons after authorities said she was caught on video stealing from a retail store on the parish’s west bank.
The Sheriff’s Office said she was fired after internal meetings.
Sheriff’s spokesman Glen Boyd said deputies were called to the store on Lapalco Boulevard on June 13 after a shoplifting report was received.
Boyd said the store manager told investigators she had surveillance video of two women, one wearing a Jefferson Sheriff’s Office uniform, removing items from shelves and putting them in one woman’s purse.
Two days after the incident, Dorsey met with detectives to discuss the incident.
Boyd said the decision to fire her was made after that meeting.
NY woman sues Walmart for $7million for shoplifting arrest www.privateofficer.com
Alexandra Albano Richardson alleges in a federal lawsuit that she was leaving the store at 3131 E. Main St. about 3:30 p.m. Jan. 17 after she finished shopping, when a security guard grabbed her.
The lawsuit claims she was “forcibly dragged into a back room,” where she was “falsely accused of shoplifting and subjected to verbal abuse including profanity.”
She was detained for an hour, the lawsuit alleges, taken to a state police post and charged with petty larceny. Although the charges were dismissed May 7, Richardson claims she had to pay $5,000 in defense costs.
She’s alleging false arrest, assault and malicious prosecution, claiming the store violated her constitutional right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure.
Her attorney, John Grill, had no comment.
Source:lohud.com
North Virginia zoo director arrested for animal cruelty www.privateofficer.com
Authorities say 26-year-old Megan Mogensen of Silver Spring, Md., was arrested Friday following a 5-month investigation.
The probe began after officers got a complaint about the circumstances surrounding the death of a wallaby.
In addition to the animal cruelty charge, Mogensen was charged with possession of a controlled substance.
Authorities say the zoo did not have the appropriate permits or training to dispense the euthanasia drug that was used to kill the animal.
