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Week-End of Violence Leaves 3 Security Officers Dead-14 Others Injured www.privateofficer.com
Charlotte NC July 23 2012
It has been a violent week-end across the nation for the private security industry that started with a massacre that left 12 people dead and 60 injured at a premier of the latest Batman movie in Aurora Colorado at a Cineplex Theater, one of the deadliest mass shootings in recent U.S. history.
Among those killed was mall security officer Jon Blunk who witnesses say saved the lives of three people by shielding them with his body.
The war veteran had made plans with his girlfriend and some friends to see the movie as a celebration as he prepared to re-enter the Navy to be trained as a Navy Seal.
Because of his heroic actions, lives were saved. Blunk died of gunshot wounds in the theater.
Nassau County police are investigating the death of a security officer who died from an assault. Police are searching for several men.
Authorities have not released the name of the security officer or further details.
Houston Texas police say that an armed security officer confronted several men trying to enter a game room. When the security officer saw that the men were armed he pulled his firearm but was shot in the head. The security officer has died and the suspects are at large.
A Long Beach CA security officer is recovering from a gunshot would after he was shot at a local apartment complex. Police say that a confrontation with a visitor occurred and the guard was shot.
Chicago police say that an unarmed female security officer attacked at an apartment complex is in critical condition after she was choked with a shirt and beaten unrecognizable.
A passer-by called 911.
The security officer sustained massive facial and head injuries and is listed in serious condition.
Detroit MI-Authorities say that a security officer at a gas station and convenience store was stabbed numerous times during a possible robbery attempt.
The security officer is listed in critical condition and police are searching for at least one suspect.
Culver City Ca. A security officer on duty at a pet store was ambushed and pistol-whipped during a robbery.
Police say that two armed black males robbed the store of $3000.
The security officer was hospitalized with head trauma and the suspects have not been apprehended.
Houston TX- An off-duty city police officer who was working private security at a sports bar was followed by several men when he left work. The men pulled a gun on the officer and shots were fired. The officer was not injured.
Memphis TN A security officer trying to clear a grocery store parking lot where people were loitering was shot when a confrontation with several men occurred.
Richard Holmes is in critical condition.
Another Memphis security officer was also injured during a confrontation at a nightclub early Monday morning. Police are still on the scene and are investigating.
Police in Philadelphia are investigating several incidents where private security officers were assaulted.
One security officer was thrown into a glass window and injured a robbery attempt and a second security officer was sent to the hospital after being assaulted at a downtown nightclub.
In Oakland Ca. an unarmed mall security officer making early morning patrols was ambushed by an armed gunman who demanded access into a check cashing store. The security officer was assaulted. A passing police officer gave chase and a suspect was arrested.
San Antonio TX police are investigating a shooting involving a security officer on duty at the downtown Greyhound bus station. Police say that the security officer observed a disturbance in the middle of the street involving a man armed with a knife.
The security officer confronted the man and when he charged at the security officer he was shot three times.
Hospital patients and visitors upset over lack of security www.privateofficer.com
DETROIT MI July 23 2012 - The parking lot behind St. John Hospital on Moross on the Detroit, Grosse Pointe Woods boarder had two angry car owners and one less car.
It is the second time in two months that a dad who is at the hospital with his son getting cancer treatments has been a target.
“It’s very frustrating. You feel you should be able to come to a hospital where it is secure with cameras and everything. But nothing happens,” says Terence Talmadge.
Talmadge tells Local 4 that two months ago, he had a work truck stolen. The truck was found. His tools inside were gone.
Today it was his car, the window broken in an attempted theft.
“Security should be around this place constantly. During Monday through Friday oh absolutely. But during the weekends, I haven’t seen a security guy yet. I already talked to security and they said I’ll be right over there in a minute. I haven’t seen anyone yet,” Talmadge says.
Another victim is one of the hospital employees. He gave his information to Grosse Pointe Woods Police.
Not only did it happen at the hospital, but he figured his old rust bucket would not be a target.
Mark Corona tells Local 4, “I never dreamed a 1992 van would be stolen. It’s old. It’s got rust on it. It’s got a missing molding on the door. I’ve got nothing in the vehicle. It’s just my vehicle.”
It turns out vans are a target of thieves as they can use them to steal other stuff.
On Saturday evening, the parking attendant shack is unattended.
We did see one security vehicle made some passes, but they were several minutes apart, plenty of time to score and run.
Corona says, “I don’t have the money right now to go out and get another vehicle.”
A hospital spokesman says they are very concerned and security will look into the information Local 4 gave them.
He could not give us any numbers on thefts.
Monthly training helped prepare Colorado medical staff for casualties www.privateofficer.com
AURORA, Colo. July 23 2012— When security guards at the Medical Center of Aurora ushered Frank Lansville into his emergency room early Friday morning, he was confronted with sights and sounds he’d never seen there before.
“There was blood and debris all over the entry of the department,” says Lansville, the medical director of the hospital’s emergency department. “The number of people in there was nothing I’d ever seen — patients and staff members.”
Patients were screaming in pain and emotion, but the staff was quiet and methodical, following an emergency disaster plan that hospitals in Aurora and across the country had developed for such crises.
The hospital was already in lockdown following the deadly theater shooting, with security guards allowing entrance only to emergency workers and the wounded. A second set of nurses and surgeons to handle trauma, orthopedic and neural injuries had been called up. Administrators soon arrived to help provide more equipment, supplies and assistance.
That day 18 patients would arrive, including seven who were admitted and remained in the hospital Sunday.
Five miles away, at the University of Colorado Hospital’s Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, a similar scene was unfolding.
Doctors and nurses already knew they were dealing with the kind of mass casualty situation they train for every month before the first patients arrived, says Richard Zane, chairman of the department of emergency medicine at the Anschutz campus.
“Initial local resources were overwhelmed,” Zane says. “There’s no question the level of preparedness saved lives.”
The first responders — fire, police and EMS — triaged patients and brought them to the hospitals in police cars as well as and ambulances. “Multiple patients arrived at the same time, including two, three and four per vehicle,” Zane said.
All had penetrating gunshot wounds, many to the abdomen or chest, “places where you need to be in the operating room very quickly in order to survive,” he said.
All the patients needed blood. Many had perforated and collapsed lungs that needed to be rapidly expanded. Many could not breath on their own. There were 23 patients and 18 operating rooms, and not enough surgeons to go around.
But hospital staff knew what to do.
“We activated a hospital-wide mass casualty response,” Zane said.
Doctors, nurses and staff from other floors flooded the emergency and operating rooms, bringing with them blood and other supplies they knew they would need for the type of injuries confronting them. Some came in from home, but most of the response was handled with staff already at the hospital.
“What’s remarkable was that there was such a response to a simultaneous presentation of gunshot victims,” Zane says. “Usually in trauma, most of the patients do not require operations. In this case, because of the penetrating trauma of gunshot victims, there was a much higher need for operative treatment.”
The response was intense, and it was based on training and drills that Zane said happen almost every month.
Both the nearby Columbine school massacre of 1999 and the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, changed the way hospitals prepare for disaster. In the last 10 years, the University of Colorado Hospital, like others across the country, had specific training for mass casualties, Zane said. He arrived April 2 from Boston, where he had worked at the Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
The drills teach hospital staff to prepare for the unexpected, understand what their resources are, and have systems in place for a quick response, he said.
“So when we have to respond to something like this, the scale might be different but the scope is similar to what they’ve done before,” he said. “What’s important is everyone knew their role.”
While staff members knew how to handle the medical emergencies, they also had to deal with their own reactions to the tragedy after the crisis had eased, Zane said.
The hospital has a plan for that, too.
“What we know is that during the response people are very consistent because they’re trained to be consistent,” he said. “After, the emotional response varies, which is natural.”
Reactions have ranged from sleeplessness to disbelief, Zane said. Some people were emotional, some were stoic. All were encouraged to find an outlet. The hospital also offered group and individual debriefings, which will continue.
Lansville said he had not realized the magnitude of the attack until he started seeing the personal stories of the victims and their families on television. “I’m still digesting this whole thing,” he said.
Source: USA TODAY
Unarmed Chicago security officer in critical condition after beating www.privateofficer.com
CHICAGO IL July 23 2012 – Police were seeking the man who pummeled an unarmed security guard outside a Bronzeville apartment complex on Saturday.
The beating occurred shortly after daybreak Saturday, outside the Lawless Gardens high-rise apartments, at 3510 S. Rhodes Av.
The security guard told police that, when the man first approached her at about 5:30 a.m., he made small talk.
Police News Affairs Officer Daniel O’Brien said that the man suddenly wrapped a shirt around the guard’s neck and punched her repeatedly in the head until she was able to struggle and get away.
A passerby called 911.
An eyewitness told WBBM Newsradio that the beating left the guard unrecognizable.
Chicago Fire Department paramedics transported the guard to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where doctors stabilized her but the assault left her in serious condition.
Central Area detectives said they are seeking a man who is in his late 20s, or early 30s. He was wearing a white tank top and blue jeans at the time.
Louisville man arrested for exposing himself at JC Penney store www.privateofficer.com
LOUISVILLE, Ky July 23 2012– Police say a Louisville man was arrested Wednesday night after he was spotted committing sex acts behind female shoppers at JCPenney.
It happened at the JCPenney store at the Jefferson Mall, shortly after 7:30 p.m.
Police say 25-year-old Jacolby Hamilton was walking up behind women at the store, exposing himself and committing sex acts in public.
When store security realized what he was doing, police say they confronted him. That’s when, according to arrest reports, Hamilton decided to make a run for it. He fled on foot from a deputy sheriff and, “ignored officers’ commands to stop.”
Police eventually found him down the street, not far from the mall, and he was placed in custody.
Police say JCPenney has surveillance video of his actions.
Hamilton has been charged with indecent exposure, disorderly conduct and fleeing or evading police
Source: WDRB
Shoplifter quicky caught after Macy’s alerts police patrol www.privateofficer.com
FRANKLIN TN July 23 2012 – A Nashville man was arrested on drug and felony theft charges after his failed attempt to steal more than $600 from the Cool Springs Macy’s Saturday.
Christopher Bevans, 21 of Nashville, concealed a variety of clothing valued at about $620 in a shopping bag Saturday night. When security challenged him, Bevans dropped the bag, fled to his parked car, and sped away. Bevans was stopped by officers patrolling the area moments later and arrested. In addition to the felony theft charge, Bevans picked up a drug charge after officers found a marijuana cigarette in his vehicle during the arrest.
“Officers who patrol these areas take time to build relationships at those stores,” said Franklin Police Sergeant Charles Warner. “Quick response times coupled with increased and instantaneous communication between our officers and security are key.”
Officers who patrol these areas regularly share their cell phone numbers with security teams, and CoolSprings Galleria Security can communicate directly with officers on Franklin Police radio frequencies.
Bevans, charged with Felony Theft and misdemeanor drug possession, is free on a $3,250 bond and due in court July 26 at 2 p.m.
Source:the Tennessean
Alabama Target store security agent assaulted www.privateofficer.com
HUNTSVILLE, AL July 23 2012 - A shoplifter at a Target store in Alabama was taken into custody Saturday night after Huntsville Police caught him assaulting a store asset protection agent.
A Target employee told police James Gilliard tried to leave the store on University Drive with items; and began fighting with him the security officer attempted to detain him.
A officer spotted the man but he drove off in his car leading police on a short chase.
After police caught up with the man, he was arrested and later charged with second degree robbery.
Virginia wants a tough Arizona-style “show me your papers” law www.privateofficer.com
RICHMOND, Va. July 23 2012— The results of last week’s Quinnipiac Poll question on immigration were clear and loud: Virginia wants a tough Arizona-style “show me your papers” law allowing police to check the legal status of people stopped or arrested for other reasons.
By almost a 2-to-1 ratio, registered Virginia voters surveyed by the respected Quinnipiac University Polling Institute said they favor an Arizona-style crackdown — at least the police checks provision of Arizona’s sweeping law that wasn’t voided by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Guess what: Virginia put a version of that law in place in 2008, two years before Arizona. It requires Virginia officers to check every person they arrest and take into custody to determine whether they are in the United States legally. Virginia long ago mandated checks on arrests and in many other circumstances, including admission to a state hospital, to obtain a driver’s license, Medicaid benefits and, in some cases, employment.
There are dozens of provisions in Virginia’s statutes aimed at isolating illegal immigrants. Some go back generations. With an economy still in its sickbed four years after a frightful meltdown, a federal government pilling up $4 billion in new debt daily, and jobs easy to lose and hard to find, paranoia and anger find an easy foil in immigrants, particularly undocumented ones. And as Quinnipiac found, it stirs powerful feelings that politicians can harness to push for more — even sometimes redundant — restrictive laws targeting immigrants.
When asked if they supported the Arizona model allowing police to verify the legal status of people stopped or arrested, 64 percent of the 1,673 registered voters surveyed said yes and 31 percent said no while 5 percent offered no answer. The survey, based on telephone interviews, was conducted from July 10-16 and had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.4 percentage points.
Asked if Virginia should implement the same policy, 62 percent said yes, 34 percent said no and 4 percent didn’t know.
Prince William County, which has a rich blend of Hispanic and other ethnic groups and has been on the front lines of skirmishes over immigration policy for years, tried a similar approach several years ago, but jettisoned it as a budget-buster.
In a twist, when poll respondents were asked what they thought of President Barack Obama’s decision to allow young illegal immigrants who came to the United States as children to obtain work permits and avoid deportation, 53 percent favored the decision to 40 percent who did not with 7 percent undecided.
For the past two years, conservative Republican House of Delegates members from Prince William County — Virginia’s premiere testing ground on immigration issues — have unsuccessfully pushed bills that restate and make marginal advances to Virginia’s 4-year-old check-on-arrest law.
“Some people say that what’s on the books is already sufficient, but this clarifies the language and makes it more specific,” said Del. Scott Lingamfelter, who sponsored the bill in 2011. Del. Richard Anderson, R-Woodbridge, carried the bill this year.
But Lingamfelter, who has announced his candidacy for the 2013 lieutenant governor election, conceded that police “can already make the checks right now. Any locality in the state can do it. It’s considered acceptable police work.”
This week’s poll means the bill is probably bound for another encore before Virginia’s GOP-ruled House and Senate starting in January, Lingamfelter said
Claire Guthrie Gastanaga, the newly installed executive director of the Virginia ACLU who has spent years lobbying the General Assembly on behalf of Latinos and other immigrant groups, voices frustration over it.
“We have at least 50 laws on the books that directly affect immigrants, many of which require some sort of check on immigration status,” she said Friday.
In the Legislature, she said, “the first reaction (to the poll) is, ‘Well, we need to do something to respond to this public concern.’ Well, no you don’t because you already have.”
And in more ways than one might imagine, according to a list Gastanaga gleaned from Virginia’s statutes. The Department of Mental Health, under a law enacted before 1950 during the time of the state’s shameful experiment with the discredited pseudoscience of eugenics, must determine the nationality of anyone admitted to a state facility and to report to federal immigration authorities anyone found to be an “alien.”
Sheriffs and the Department of Corrections are required under another pre-1950 law to identify “criminal aliens” in the state’s jails and prisons and report them.
“We’ve been at this a long time,” Gastanaga said.
Politically, a tough line on illegal immigrants has been generally good for Republicans, said political consultant and retired Virginia Commonwealth University political science professor Robert D. Holsworth. They have to be careful, however, not to overdose on it.
“On one hand, you have a 2-to-1 majority in a poll showing people favor a show-your-papers law,” Holsworth said. But the electoral consequences of enacting ever more strident illegal immigration laws could be damage to the GOP’s prospects among the fast-growing ethnic and minority populations, he said.
“Then one day legal immigrants hear this and they start to worry and start asking themselves ‘Who are you talking about here?’ and they start talking about that,” Holsworth said.
Source:AP
Security officer pistol whipped during robbery of pet store www.privateofficer.com
Culver City CA July 23 2012 Staff at the Centinela Feed & Pet Supplies store on Sepulveda Boulevard were robbed at gunpoint shortly before 8 p.m. on Sunday night.
According to scanner reports, two black males held up the store with a handgun, stole $3,000 and one of the suspects pistol whipped a security guard inside the store. The security guard was taken to Brotman Medical Center after complaining of head pain.
Suspect #1 is described as a thin black male 5’6″ – 5’8″ in his late teens or early 20s, and wearing a black hoodie, shirt, dark jeans and a black beanie.
Suspect #2 is also described as a thin, black male, 5’6″ to 5’8″, in his late teens or early 20s, wearing a plaid red shirt, black jacket, dark jeans and a black beanie.
Culver City Police told Patch at 8:15 p.m. Sunday all officers are currently in the field attempting to track down the suspects and will provide more details as they become available.
The suspects were last seen running westbound on Janisann Avenue towards Sawtelle Boulevard.
Anyone with any information is urged to contact the Culver City Police Department at 310-837-1221
Source-Patch
Houston police officer working security detail shoots at atmed men www.privateofficer.com
HOUSTON TX July 23 2012—An off-duty officer discharged his weapon at an armed suspect early Sunday morning, after a car full of men followed him from a bar where he was working.
Around 3:30 a.m., an off-duty Houston police officer left his second job as a security guard at a sports bar.
At that time, a couple of men that he had asked to leave the bar earlier allegedly began to follow him, driving recklessly.
The officer stopped at the intersection of Wayside and the East Freeway, got out of his car and approached the suspects.
The men in the car allegedly told the officer they were too drunk to drive and he directed them to pull over to a nearby gas station and he would help.
Authorities say that is when one of the men inside the vehicle pointed a gun at the officer. The officer pulled his weapon and shot one time into the driver’s side car window.
He reports that he doesn’t believe he hit anyone.
The suspects took off in their vehicle.
Source:khou
San Antonio security officer shoots knife-wielding man www.privateofficer.com
San Antonio TX July 23 2012 A security guard at the downtown Greyhound bus station shot a knife-wielding pedestrian three times Sunday when the pedestrian reportedly charged the guard following an argument with a motorist.
San Antonio police Lt. Kevin Luzius said around 5:45 p.m., the 51-year-old pedestrian was trying to cross St. Mary’s Street when he got into an argument with a motorist.
“Something happened, and the pedestrian was upset with the occupants in the vehicle,” he said.
The motorist got out of his vehicle, Luzius said, but then retreated after seeing that the pedestrian had a folded knife with a four-inch blade.
According to witnesses, the pedestrian then stabbed the man’s tire, causing it to go flat. By then, people inside the bus station had alerted security to the argument.
Two guards chased the man with a knife around a parking lot at St. Mary’s and Martin streets before shots were fired, Luzius said. The man was shot three times: in the abdomen, chest and finger, according to police.
“He ran, and then he stopped and charged the security officer with a knife,” Luzius said. “It’s early on in the investigation, but it looks like (the guard) acted in self-defense.”
The critically injured man was taken to San Antonio Military Medical Center.
Source:www.mysanantonio.com
Alabama Ranks #2 in U.S. for Women Murdered in Domestic Violence www.privateofficer.com
Shartoria Jackson conceals cuts and bruises from being abused by her current boyfriend. “He grabbed the pole, and I can’t defend myself, when a 27 year old man is trying to kill me, he had me in the ER,” says Jackson.
Sheila Craig, who’s now homeless, was on the other end of the stick. She was the abuser with her very own family. “Me and my daughter, we use to fight a lot, and I would get arrested,” says Craig.
And a lady named Ginger says her step-father use to ask her for sex and beat her.
Police are encountering more domestic violence related cases. A recent study by the violence policy center rated Alabama second behind Nevada for having the most women killed by men. These stories are all too familiar with the police department and Maria Dickens.
“Hardships and plight come to women at different stages,” says Dickens. Dickens works for “Pathways”, an agency that serves homeless women and children. Dickens says women from their early 20′s to their 70′s come to “Pathways” to start anew, and transform their lives. “Agencies like “Pathways” are here to walk with them, through the process, not to get discouraged because they did not get into their situation overnight, so it won’t go away over night,” says Dickens.
And that’s what these three ladies are doing now, spending day after day at the agency to move forward. Ginger says, “I feel like I’m a lot of a better person today, than I was back then.”
Jackson says, “I’m still dealing with it, every night I still think about it, and I cry about it, but you got to let the past be the past…”
Sheila Craig says, “It’s kind of like getting back on the track.”
If you’re a woman and need help, you’re encouraged to call 205-322-6854.
Virginia police continue investiating death of news reporter www.privateofficer.com
Fauquier County VA July 23 2012 The Facebook, Twitter and online dating profiles of a northern Virginia reporter have come under recent scrutiny by police investigating culprits in the popular woman’s mysterious death.
Sarah L. Greenhalgh, 48, was found dead July 9 in the burning remains of a farmhouse she rented in a posh village 60 miles outside Washington, D.C.
An avid social media user, Greenhalgh left a cryptic message on her Facebook page the night before her death, writing that she would sleep peacefully with her windows open as long as “crazy boy left me alone.”
The day after Greenhalgh’s corpse was discovered, police questioned the as yet unnamed man believed to be “crazy boy” in his Gainesville home.
According to an interview in The Washington Post with Kate Langton, Greenhalgh’s sister, the man was depressed and had been working through a divorce. He and Greenhalgh had been dating on and off and were spotted arguing in a parking lot the day of her death.
Langton maintained, however, that she did not know who killed her sister.
“We have several persons of interest, some we’ve talked to, some we have not, some we’re seeking to talk to,” Fauquier County Sheriff’s Lt. James Hartman told 9News Now.
Greenhalgh had a tumultuous relationship with another man and was known to use online dating sites to meet male companions.
The daughter of a once-prominent local politician, she had been reporting on county government at The Winchester Star since the previous summer; her stories there have also been examined by police.
The paper’s managing editor, Maria Hileman, told The Associated Press that Greenhalgh was “a bright spot in the room.”
“She really had sort of a very effervescent personality. When she came into the room, you knew that Sarah was in the room,” Hileman told the Press. “She was very friendly and lively.”
Greenhalgh was also well known for her equestrian reporting and had been freelancing on the subject for two decades.
“It really seems strange without her here,” Hileman said.
Fauquier County authorities are still awaiting autopsy results to determine cause of death, according to the Washington Examiner.
Medical technician charged in connection with infecting 30 people with the hepatitis C www.privateofficer.com
EXETER NH July 23 2012 — In a statement issued Friday afternoon, an Exeter Hospital doctor claimed the medical technician charged in connection with infecting 30 people with the hepatitis C virus was “the ultimate con artist … who pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes.”
David M. Kwiatkowski has been charged with stealing operating room drugs, injecting himself, then allowing used medical equipment to be used on patients.
Friday, the hospital issued its strongest statement to date condemning the drug diversion. It also sought to respond to details that emerged in court documents yesterday about Kwiatkowski’s behavior while employed in Exeter.
According to the affidavit, employees at Exeter Hospital were suspicious of Kwiatkowski’s behavior before an outbreak of hepatitis C was detected at the hospital this spring. He was allegedly observed leaving the CCL during procedures, sweating profusely, attending procedures on his off-days and “engaging in other suspicious behavior,” according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
One former co-worker who spoke with police remembered that Kwiatkowski appeared to be “on something.” Another said he remembered seeing Kwiatkowski with “a red face, red eyes, and white foam around his mouth” while on duty.
Other employees recalled that the family of an Exeter Hospital patient found a syringe labeled “fentanyl” inside a public bathroom outside the cardiac catheterization laboratory where Kwiatkowski worked.
In response, hospital officials said they have found no report that any employee suspected Kwiatkowski of diverting medication from the hospital. They say all concerns raised by hospital staff were evaluated, and in each instance, Kwiatkowski provided plausible explanations related either to medical issues he had previously made claims about, or to family crises.
Dr. Thomas Wharton, medical director of the Cardiac Catheterization Unit at Exeter Hospital, now views Kwiatkowski as “the ultimate con artist and an extremely good cardiac technologist who pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes,” the statement reads.
“Of the isolated incidents that fellow Cardiac Catheterization Unit employees began reporting in the spring, David had stories for everything that pulled at your heart strings and we had no reason to disbelieve him,” Wharton stated. “David claimed to have several important medical conditions, and we had no reason to challenge this.”
Furthermore, Exeter Hospital did not have the legal right to investigate Kwiatkowski’s medical claims, and did not have the right to access certain records federal investigators have used to build their case, the statement indicates.
“In hindsight, with this additional information, a picture has emerged that is different from the one hospital employees had in real time,” it reads.
The statement reiterates that controlled drugs, such as the anesthesia drug fentanyl — which Kwiatkowski is accused of stealing — are stored in secured machines at the hospital.
“Medication vials are accessed from a locked machine that has extensive security measures to prevent unauthorized access. Cardiovascular technicians such as Kwiatkowski are not enabled to use the machine, but they do have access to the lab area itself to participate in, prepare, or observe procedures in accordance with their roles as employees. Medication storage and handling procedures at the Exeter Hospital Cardiac Catheterization Unit are regularly reviewed and we continuously improve the security of medications used for procedures. Since this tragic development, we have has consulted with outside experts to strengthen security in this area,” the statement said.
The hospital also sought to prove it had done its due diligence in hiring Kwiatkowski, a traveling medical technician.
“Kwiatkowski began working at Exeter Hospital in April of 2011 as a temporary employee, otherwise known as a ‘traveler,’” the statement said.
“Pre-employment drug testing and a national criminal background check were conducted by the staffing agency in advance of his placement at Exeter Hospital. References reflecting the highest level of performance were provided by his two previous employers one of whom said ‘David has been invaluable in helping us get our lab up and running.’
Prior to being hired into a regular full-time position as a Cardiovascular Tech in the Cardiac Catheterization Unit in October of 2011, Exeter Hospital performed an additional state criminal background check, completed another sanction check — a federal government clearance check designed to identify fraud and licensure issues — and Kwiatkowski was also evaluated by hospital staff.
“All of these required employment checks resulted in no raised concerns. Kwiatkowski holds the required The American Registry of Radiologic Technologies (ARRT) certification for the Cardiovascular Tech position; he also holds a bachelor’s degree although none is required for this job,” the statement said.
Source:fosters.com
NY police officer shoots-kills son thinking he was a burglar www.privateofficer.com
Wyoming County NY July 23 2012 A retired Rochester Police Department captain who is now a police officer in Wyoming County shot and killed his son Saturday morning after he mistakenly thought he was an intruder, according to the New York State Police.
Police say Michael Leach, 59, of Rochester, shot and killed 37-year-old Matthew S. Leach, around 12:51 a.m. Saturday.
Police from the Town of Webb responded to the Clark Beach Motel for a 911 call from Michael Leach, who said he shot what he believed to be an intruder.
Michael Leach is employed as a police officer in Perry, Wyoming County.
He was taken by ambulance to St. Lukes Hospital in Utica where he remains for a medical issue, State Police said.
Rochester police Capt. Peter Leach – Michael Leach’s brother – is in charge of the special detail currently policing the city’s downtown area. Both men are sons of former Rochester Police Chief Delmar Leach, who served from 1981-85.
In November 1975, Michael Leach, then a 22-year-old officer in the Rochester Police Department, shot and killed Denise Hawkins, an 18-year-old who was coming toward him with a knife in the basement of an apartment building.
The incident led to extensive protests from black community leaders and a grand jury investigation. The shooting was ruled to be justified.
The Rochester Police Department this afternoon issued a statement expressing “its deepest sympathy to the Leach family over the tragic loss of Matthew Leach… We ask that everyone keep the Leach family in their thoughts and prayers.”
The investigation is continuing in conjunction with Acting Herkimer County District Attorney Jeff Carpenter.
Two people arrested in murder of WV mayor www.privateofficer.com
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| Tom Hatcher |
WELCH WV July 23 2012 — Two people have been arrested and charged with first-degree murder in connection with the death of long-time War Mayor Tom Hatcher.
Hatcher’s daughter-in-law, Rebecca Lynn Hatcher, 31, of War and her brother, Earl Click, 26, originally of War and now of Grundy, Va., have both been charged with first-degree murder in connection with Hatcher’s death, according to Deputy Ron Blevins of the McDowell County Sheriff’s Department.
Blevins said deputies with the McDowell County Sheriff’s Department working in conjunction with agents with the Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigations unit located and arrested Rebecca Hatcher and Click late Thursday night. Rebecca Hatcher was arrested in War and Click was taken into custody in Grundy, Va.
During a press conference Friday, Chief Deputy Mark Shelton declined to release a cause of death. Investigators may receive a report from the State Medical Examiner’s Office by Monday, he said.
Money taken from Hatcher’s home could be a partial motive behind his murder, Shelton said.
“After killing Mr. Hatcher, the two individuals did steal, take and carry away approximately $1,100 U.S. currency,” Shelton said in both arrest reports filed at the McDowell County Magistrate Clerk’s Office.
When asked if drugs were involved in the case, Shelton replied that it was “most likely” that the money was taken in order to purchase drugs.
Rebecca Hatcher was arraigned Friday morning before McDowell County Magistrate Richard VanDyke. She is being held without bond pending a hearing before a circuit court judge. A bond hearing could be conducted Monday or Tuesday.
Blevins said McDowell County authorities are working to extradite Click back to West Virginia. He is currently being held at the South-west Virginia Regional Jail in Haysi, Va.
Hatcher was found dead shortly before noon on Tuesday by city employees after he did not appear for work. Blevins said authorities expected foul play from the beginning.
Blevins said additional charges are pending in the case, which will be presented to the next session of the McDowell County grand jury.
Police initially reported that they didn’t suspect foul play in Hatcher’s death. Blevins said the sheriff’s department reluctantly released incorrect information to the media as part of the ongoing investigation.
During Friday’s press conference, Shelton said that he and other investigators proceeded cautiously until they had what was needed for arrest warrant.
“We thought that the scene was suspicious,” he told reporters. “But at the same time, we did not want to release any information due to the fact we knew who the two individuals were.”
“Actually Chief Field Deputy (Mark) Shelton and I are working on this together,” Blevins said early Friday. “He received some information in and around the War area that led us to a couple of different subjects that gave us information. That gave us enough information where we contacted the prosecuting attorney and he advised us we had enough to make the arrest.”
Investigators felt that the suspects could flee if they learned that foul play was suspected, Shelton said.
Rebecca Hatcher had been living at different locations, but the mayor’s home in War “was her primary residence,” Shelton said. She is being held at the Southwest Regional Jail in Holden.
Her estranged husband, John Hatcher, is currently incarcerated in a West Virginia prison, Shelton stated.
On her Facebook page, Rebecca Hatcher said she was “recently separated after 13 years of marriage.”
Tom Hatcher was 72 at the time of his death. He had served as mayor of War since 1997. Shelton, who is also the chief of police in War, said Hatcher would be missed.
“I worked with Mayor Hatcher for several years. He was a good man. The city of War is going to miss him greatly,” Shelton said.
Hatcher worked in the field of education for 48 years before returning home. He taught in the public schools in Morgantown from 1960 to 1965, then worked as an education and language arts professor at West Virginia University. He also worked as a public school administrator from 1991 to 1999.
Hatcher was active in the War Kiwanis Club and the Christ The King Catholic Church in War. He was a past president of the Clinch Mountain Militia, Sons of the American Revolution and was also a past president of the Tazewell County Historical Society.
There will be a closed casket visitation on Sunday, July 22, from 6-9 p.m. at Christ The King Catholic Church in War. A funeral mass will be held at the church on Monday, July 23 at 11 a.m. City of War employees and police will serve as pallbearers.
Source:Bluefield Daily Telegrapgh
Garda armored vehicle destroyed in fire www.privateofficer.com
Upon arrival firefighters found a Dodge Sprinter van fully involved in flames spreading to the right of way. The van was an armored car owned by Garda Co.
It took firefighter approximately 20 minutes to extinguish the fire. The fire destroyed the van and burned about 1/8 acre of grass along the right of way.
Both northbound lanes were shut down about 20 minutes while the fire was extinguished. One lane was shut down for about an hour while contents of the vehicle were transferred to another vehicle by Garda employees and the van was removed.
The fire started in the engine compartment of the van.
