Archive
Line of Duty Death Agent Wilfredo Ramos-Nieves
Agent
Wilfredo Ramos-Nieves
Puerto Rico Police Department, Puerto Rico
End of Watch: Tuesday, August 14, 2012 Bio & Incident Details
Age: 42
Tour: 15 years
Badge # Not available
Cause: Gunfire
Incident Date: 8/14/2012
Weapon: Gun; Unknown type
Suspect: Apprehended
Agent Wilfredo Ramos-Nieves was shot and killed as he and five other agents conducted a narcotics operation on Calle 2 in the Juan Sánchez area of Bayamón, Puerto Rico, shortly after 3:30 pm.
As they entered the area the agents observed a man with a gun. Before the agents were able to take action the subject opened fire on them, fatally wounding Agent Ramos-Nieves. The subjects fled the scene but were arrested a short time later.
Agent Ramos-Nieves had served with the Puerto Rico Police Department for 15 years and was assigned to the Bayamón Drug Division. He is survived by his wife and four children.
Please contact the following agency to send condolences or to obtain funeral arrangements:
Superintendent Hector Pesquera
Puerto Rico Police Department
PO Box 70166
San Juan, PR 00936
Phone: (787) 792-1234
Line of Duty Death Deputy Sheriff Jeremy Triche
Deputy Sheriff
Jeremy Triche
St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Department, Louisiana
End of Watch: Thursday, August 16, 2012 Bio & Incident Details
Age: 27
Tour: 4 years
Badge # Not available
Cause: Gunfire
Incident Date: 8/16/2012
Weapon: Rifle
Suspect: Five in custody
Deputy Jeremy Triche and Deputy Brandon Nielsen were shot and killed while investigating an earlier shooting that injured an officer working an off-duty detail. A vehicle matching the suspect vehicle’s description was located in a trailer park. As deputies interviewed one subject, another subject exited a trailer and opened fire, killing Deputies Triche and Nielsen and wounding another.
Five subjects were taken into custody.
Deputy Triche is survived by his wife and two year-old son.
Please contact the following agency to send condolences or to obtain funeral arrangements:
Sheriff Mike Tregre
St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Department
P. O. Box 1600
LaPlace, LA 70069
Phone: (985) 652-9513
Line of Duty Death Deputy Sheriff Brandon Nielsen
Deputy Sheriff
Brandon Nielsen
St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Department, Louisiana
End of Watch: Thursday, August 16, 2012 Bio & Incident Details
Age: 34
Tour: 1 year, 9 months
Badge # Not available
Cause: Gunfire
Incident Date: 8/16/2012
Weapon: Rifle
Suspect: Five in custody
Deputy Brandon Nielsen and Deputy Jeremy Triche were shot and killed while investigating an earlier shooting that injured an officer working an off-duty detail. A vehicle matching the suspect vehicle’s description was located in a trailer park. As deputies interviewed one subject, another subject exited a trailer and opened fire, killing Deputies Nielsen and Triche and wounding another.
Five subjects were taken into custody.
Deputy Nielsen is survived by his wife and five children.
Please contact the following agency to send condolences or to obtain funeral arrangements:
Sheriff Mike Tregre
St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Department
P. O. Box 1600
LaPlace, LA 70069
Phone: (985) 652-9513
Line of Duty Death Officer Robert A Potter
K9 Officer
Robert A. Potter
New Mexico Motor Transportation Police, New Mexico
End of Watch: Thursday, August 16, 2012 Bio & Incident Details
Age: 41
Tour: 7 years
Badge # K910
Military veteran
Cause: Heart attack
Incident Date: 8/16/2012
Weapon: Not available
Suspect: Not available
K9 Officer Robert Potter was working a tractor-trailer crash scene on Interstate 10 near Vado when he suffered a major heart attack. Officer Potter was one of several officers on the scene of the wreck, and he collapsed while rendering aid. He was transported to Memorial Medical Center in Las Cruces where efforts to revive him were unsuccessful. Officer Potter was pronounced at 2150 hours.
Officer Potter was a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and a member of the New Mexico Motor Transportation Division Honor Guard. He is survived by his wife and son.
Please contact the following agency to send condolences or to obtain funeral arrangements:
Deputy Chief Mark C. Rowley
New Mexico Motor Transportation Police
P.O. Box 1628
Room 3078
Santa Fe, NM 87504
Phone: (505) 476-2457
Chicago police shoot suspect in security officer stabbing www.privateofficer.com
It happened at the intersection of LaSalle and Monroe around 2 a.m. Saturday.
The incident began when the driver of a black Maxima headed southbound on LaSalle Street rear-ended a silver car, causing the silver car to spin out.
The Maxima then crashed into a pole, and witnesses say the driver jumped out wielding a large knife and tried to attack the other driver.
When a private security guard approached the vehicles, the man stabbed her.
A police sergeant responded to the scene, identified herself and ordered the man to drop the knife.
Witnesses say he tried to grab the officer’s gun, and she fired once, hitting him in the leg.
He was arrested.
Both the security guard and the offender were transported to nearby hospitals.
No other injuries were reported.
7 suspects in St. John deputy shootings are tied to violent anti-government group ww.privateofficer.com
St John’s Parish LA Aug 18 2012 When Tennessee authorities arrived at a trailer park in suburban Nashville to serve a search warrant on a suspected child molester last November, they did not find the man they had come for. Instead, they found a Buick stolen from Nebraska, a small arsenal of weapons and a stack of a papers that led them to believe their suspect was affiliated with a violent, anti-government “sovereign citizens” organization.
And so begins the unraveling of the twisted tale of Terry Lyn Smith, the apparent patriarch of a seven-member group accused of gunning down four St. John the Baptist sheriff’s deputies Thursday, killing two and seriously injuring the others.
They have so far been charged only in connection to shooting an officer who did not die; murder charges are pending.
Smith, 44, of 250 Riverview Court in LaPlace was booked Friday with principal to attempted first-degree murder of a police officer.
His wife, Chanel Skains, 37, was booked as an accessory to first-degree murder. His elder son, Brian Smith, 24, the alleged gunman, was booked with attempted first-degree murder and his girlfriend, 23-year-old Brittney Keith, was also charged as an accessory. They all share Terry Smith’s Riverview Court address.
Terry Smith’s younger son, Derrick Smith, 22, who lists an address a few doors down on the same road, was booked with principal to attempted first-degree murder.
Kyle Joekel, 28, a longtime associate of the Smiths, was booked with principal to attempted first-degree murder of a police officer. Joekel shares the address 245 Riverview Court with 21-year-old Teniecha Bright, who was charged as a principal to attempted first-degree murder.
The Smiths and Joekel have often traveled together, moving from state to state in campers to do maintenance work for industrial plants. They landed only recently at the Valero Refinery in LaPlace, where Thursday’s shootout began in a satellite parking lot for workers.
Storehouse of evidence
In November 2011, the group was living in two campers in a trailer park in Adams, Tenn., when Terry Smith was accused of molesting a young female family member, according to the Robertson County (Tenn.) Sheriff’s Office.
Detective Sgt. Angela Looney couldn’t find the victim and assumed she’d been taken across state lines. She and other deputies went to the Smiths’ two trailers, search warrant in hand, to look for documentation that might lead them to the child.
The Smiths weren’t home. Joekel, though, was. He ran from one of the two trailers, leapt off a bluff and eluded police on foot, Looney said.
He left behind a 2000 white Buick, which the investigators learned had been stolen from Nebraska — Joekel’s home state, where he remains wanted on charges related to a two-state police chase.
In the Smiths’ trailers, deputies also found three shotguns, a rifle and ammunition for at least seven types of weapons. Looney carried away a stack of papers, hoping they might lead her to the victim.
“I started going through it,” she said. “And I discovered more than what I went there for.”
She wouldn’t say much Friday, citing fear of interrupting the investigation into the Louisiana shooting, but said the paperwork led her to believe Terry Smith was a member of the Sovereign Citizens, a loose group of anti-government organizations classified by the FBI as a threat of domestic terrorism.
The Robertson County Sheriff’s Office never saw the Smith clan again, and the child molestation case remains open.
History of legal trouble
The Smith family likely hails from Morehouse Parish, in the far northeast corner of Louisiana near Monroe. Terry Smith’s criminal history there begins in 1984, according to Morehouse Parish Sheriff Mike Tubbs. It involves minor offenses such as petty theft. He worked mostly odd jobs — at a paper factory, for a bail bondsman, as a gunsmith. His sons caused more trouble and made frequent visits to the jailhouse, Tubbs said.
But their bookings were always of little consequence — drugs, thefts, mischief, and on one occasion, flight from an officer.
Terry Smith and the boys’ mother divorced several years ago, the sheriff said. She since remarried and moved and could not be reached Friday for additional information about her ex-husband and sons.
The group lay low between November’s search warrant in Tennessee until May, when they resurfaced in DeSoto Parish.
The Smiths, Joekel and two women were living in two RVs in a trailer park near Mansfield, according to Lt. Robert Davidson. On May 22, the trailer park reported a burglary at the on-site laundry. Spare change had been stolen. Other residents reported having seen the group carrying assault rifles.
When three patrol deputies arrived, they found Joekel and Derrick Smith. But there was no evidence they committed the burglary.
DeSoto police set watch
But the Desoto Parish Sheriff’s Office, suspicious, began investigating the group and soon found the bulletin out of Tennessee declaring Terry Smith wanted for questioning in a child sex abuse case. He had a history, the bulletin said, that wove through Nebraska, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Kentucky, Alabama, Indiana, South Carolina and Virginia. He was affiliated with the Sovereign Citizens, a dangerous organization linked to domestic terrorism, the bulletin warned.
The two women who lived with them were enrolled in a technical college nearby, Davidson said. He could not confirm whether they were the same women booked with the men this week, though he was familiar with their names as known associates.
Next, the DeSoto Sheriff’s Office found Terry Smith’s Facebook page, where he had posted photographs of him and his sons holding assault weapons.
Fearing an extremist group was setting up camp in their parish, deputies began surveillance on the group from a nearby trailer. They intended to arrest Brian Smith on an outstanding warrant on a probation violation from Morehouse Parish. They also planned to arrest Joekel on an outstanding warrant from Nebraska.
In August 2011, Joekel and another man were making trouble at a bar in Barneston, Neb., near the Kansas border. They two fled in Joekel’s red Dodge pickup at high speed, heading south into Kansas and “intending to harm law enforcement,” according to a news release from the sheriff’s office in Marshall County, Kan.
A high-speed chase ensued, ending in Oketo, Kan., where Joekel’s car crashed into two parked vehicles, sending one of them into the living room of a residence. Joekel managed to flee on foot.
‘Weapons on the front seat’
The Beatrice (Neb.) Daily Sun reported that authorities believed Joekel went underground and left the area shortly after that incident. He was due in court on Sept. 1, 2011, to face charges of distributing marijuana and resisting arrest, the paper reported, for allegedly trying to sell four and a half pounds of pot worth $6,075 to an undercover agent.
WWL-TV reported Friday that Joekel’s sister, Kady Agena, gave an affidavit in that case in which she said she had alerted authorities about her brother’s behavior because “she was very scared and needed to tell police what was going on.”
Court documents cited by the station also mention a “brick” of cash confiscated by police and valued at $30,110 that Joekel left behind as bail money. Authorities also found a deadbolted “safe room” with “five rifles, several empty handgun cases, several handgun holsters and approximately 30,000 rounds of live ammunition.”
In her affidavit, according to WWL-TV, Joekel’s sister said officers left behind the arsenal because it not illegal, but took the cash.
The Gage County (Neb.) Sheriff’s Office also had “intel” suggesting that Joekel was affiliated with anti-government groups. Sheriff Millard “Gus” Gustafson said it seemed accurate, based on “the kind of people he was hanging around with.”
“We got a feeling there were people giving him aid so he could elude law enforcement,” Gustafson said. “It just didn’t look right. These guys would be driving around at night, and they’d have weapons on the front seat. If you’re doing that, something’s wrong — you’re either hunting illegally or doing something else.”
Applying for gun license
In DeSoto Parish, the Sheriff’s Office had hoped to arrest Joekel in May on that outstanding warrant during a traffic stop, fearing violent resistance in a populated trailer park. But only Terry Smith, who did not have an outstanding warrant, and the two women returned to the trailer park.
Terry Smith went to the DeSoto Sheriff’s Office on June 10 to apply for a federal firearms license. He wanted to open up a gun shop in Mansfield, Davidson said. He never returned to learn he’d been rejected.
It’s unclear exactly when the group migrated to St. John the Baptist Parish. Both Terry and Derrick Smith were working on a joint venture project at Valero Refinery in LaPlace.
St. John Sheriff’s Deputy Michael Boyington was sitting in his car near the plant’s parking lot around 4 a.m. Thursday when a man drove up and started shooting into his vehicle with an assault weapon. Boyington was hit several times but survived and managed to alert dispatch to a description of his shooter’s vehicle.
Authorities have since placed all three Smiths, Joekel and Bright in that car.
A citizen’s tip led police to a mobile home park around 5 a.m.
‘I wasn’t surprised’
Deputies Brandon Nielsen, 34, of Destrehan, Jeremy Triche, 27, of LaPlace, and Jason Triche started to question a man in a trailer when they noticed a second man inside, fully dressed but under a blanket. Both men agreed to walk outside with the officers. A third man emerged from the trailer and opened fire on the officers.
Authorities called it an “ambush.”
Nielsen and Jeremy Triche were killed. Jason Triche was wounded.
Looney said Friday that she had been keeping a stuffed three-ring binder on the Smith clan. She was saddened to hear that their travels ultimately culminated in violence, with the death of two fellow officers.
“Unfortunately,” she said, “I wasn’t surprised. I just wasn’t.”
Source:Gordon Russell - Claire Galofaro
Reporters -Times Picayune
Children’s Hospital Oakland fined for not adequately protecting their employees www.privateofficer.com
As the Contra Costa Times reports, a 49-year-old gunman “held a registered nurse and a ward clerk hostage” last July, before being subdued by police.
Then in October, a gunshot victim was dropped off in front of the hospital, instead of at the Emergency Room door, and in the chaos that followed several nurses reported feeling unsafe while they tended to the victim outside the hospital walls. One ER nurse at that scene, Anna Smith, blames the hospital in part for not providing adequate training for handling such situations. Furthermore, she says, “We are experiencing more violent incidents recently and are not equipped to deal with them.” As the Chron reports, some of this complaint may stem from a contract dispute with nurses that remains unresolved.
The hospital, for its part, objects to being portrayed as though it were in the center of a war zone, and feels both Cal-OSHA and the nurses have sensationalized the above mentioned events. Hospital president Bert Lubin says the action by Cal-OSHA stems “from the mistaken belief that because the hospital is in an urban setting, violent criminals are likely to pursue victims who are brought to the hospital for care, creating a threat to hospital staff… Indeed, at one point, the investigator compared Oakland to the violence found in the streets of Mexico City. The facts do not support this assertion.”
Former substitute teacher aradmits to sexually assaulting dozens of children www.privateofficer.com
Gerald Ardell Hale, 81, was arrested for sexually abusing a juvenile family member. The assault happened in 2008, Farmington police Det. Heather Chavez said.
Hale has a criminal history of child abuse that dates back to 1969, but investigators believe he got away with more sex assaults against children than he was charged with.
Hale allegedly told investigators this week he started sexually abusing children when he was 10 years old, Chavez said.
“He lost count of the victims,” Farmington police Cpl. Clay Raybon said. “He never really stopped. It was a perpetual thing. He told us he lost track of how many victims he had.”
Chavez said Hale described at least 25 assaults during his interview with police.
“I honestly don’t know how many victims there were,” Chavez said. “He made numerous disclosures prior to incarceration.”
Hale previously worked as a substitute teacher for the Farmington Municipal School District, prior to pleading guilty to four counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor in 1995, according to a state courts website.
The exact dates of his employment with the school district were not available Thursday evening, Superintendent Janel Ryan said.
Hale was arrested for child molestation in California in 1969 and 1970, Chavez said. He was arrested in Farmington in 1995 and again in 2005 for raping a child, though it did not appear he was convicted of the most recent charge, according to a state court website.
Hale was a registered sex offender at the time of his arrest on Thursday.
Farmington police detectives started investigating Hale last month when Hale’s family member came forward and reported sexual abuse that took place in 2008, Chavez said.
The victim waited several years to report the assault because the person was afraid of Hale, Chavez said.
The statute of limitations has expired on all of the assaults Hale allegedly admitted to except for the 2008 molestation. He was charged with one count of criminal sexual contact of a minor and is being held at San Juan County Adult Detention Center on a $170,000 bond.
Source:the daily times
Montgomery County high school teacher arrested for corruption of minors, possession of child pornography www.privateofficer.com
Sean Michael McCullough, 43, an English teacher at Methacton High School in Worcester, was charged with endangering the welfare of a child, corruption of minors, possession of child pornography, and related crimes.
According to court documents, McCullough had the student in class for four years. He allegedly admitted to police that he fondled the student and engaged in “sex chats” using Facebook, e-mails and text messages. The situation was discovered when an adult relative of the victim saw the messages.
McCullough, of Collegeville, was set to be arraigned Thursday. Bail information was not available.
Source:philly.com
University of Colorado segregate students who have concealed-weapons permits www.privateofficer.com
Boulder CO Aug 18 2012 The University of Colorado will segregate students who have concealed-weapons permits in special dorms, but their firearms will have to be locked up before bedtime, according to campus police.
University officials have amended their student housing contract at its Boulder and Colorado Springs campuses to accommodate students who are 21 years or older and have concealed-weapons carry permits, said Ryan Huff, public information officer with the University of Colorado’s campus police in Boulder.
“If you have a permit, you can carry a concealed weapon on campus, as long as its hidden away from view, and you can even have it with you in class,” Huff told NBC News. “What you can not do is have it on you at a ticketed event, such as football games, or in any of the residence halls on campus.”
The university’s policy change comes after the Colorado Supreme Court upheld an appeals-court decision in March that struck down the university’s ban on guns.
“I believe we have taken reasonable steps to adhere to the ruling of the Colorado Supreme Court, while balancing that with the priority of providing a safe environment for our students, faculty and staff,” CU-Boulder Chancellor Philip P. DiStefano said in a statement on the university’s website.
Lauren Redfern, High School Teacher Sentenced To Sex Offender Treatment, But No Prison Time www.privateofifcer.com
Eagle County CO Aug 18 2012 Lauren Redfern, a former female Basalt High School gym teacher who had been charged with sexual assault on a student, was sentenced Tuesday but faces no prison time and may even be released from jail later this week.
Redfern, 26, was arrested in February after she was caught by the school’s athletic director having sex with a student in the teacher’s restroom. At the time Redfern was charged with two felony counts of sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust with a pattern of sexual abuse, a class 3 felony.
“They were caught in a room they shouldn’t have been in together and that’s what started this investigation. And they admitted what was going on,” Eagle County Undersheriff Mike McWilliams told CBS4 shortly after Redfern’s arrest.
Redfern, who also taught varsity girls’ basketball at Basalt High School, resigned after her arrest and reportedly entered a plea deal just three months later. As part of that deal, Redfern pleaded guilty to a lesser felony charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and the Eagle County District Attorney’s Office agreed to dismiss the sexual assault on a child charges. According to that deal, Redfern wouldn’t even have been added to the sex offender registry.
If she had been convicted on the original charges, Redfern could have spent up to 16 years in prison.
When exactly the two began their sexual relationship was a crucial point in this case because in Colorado a 17-year-old can have sexual relations with an adult, but not with a teacher, since teachers hold a position of trust. Therefore when the the two were caught together in the teacher’s bathroom, no unlawful sex act had been committed because the student was 18 — although it did violate school policies.
“The fact that he was almost 18 (played a part) and I think, ultimately too what we were looking for, was if there was any ‘grooming’ behavior on the part of Ms. Redfern, and there was not,” Eagle County District Attorney Mark Hurlbert told the Aspen Times.
Eagle County Court Judge Katherine Sullivan even lowered Redfern’s bond to $5,000 saying she didn’t believe Redfern was a flight risk since Redfern grew up in the Roaring Fork Valley. The condition was that she wouldn’t consume alcohol or leave the state without written permission from the court.
Then Redfern, who was still awaiting sentencing, violated that bond just days after being released. According to The Denver Post she was arrested near Lake Powell, Utah when campers complained a group of people were shooting guns, drinking alcohol and harassing passersby.
Officers found cans of beer, 28 hallucinogenic mushrooms, ammunition and a 12-gauge shotgun among Redfern and her group. In a statement, the officers say Redfern admitted to drinking and illegally firing the weapon.
But on Tuesday Redfern was ultimately sentenced to 180 days in jail, 150 days of which would be suspended pending other requirements, plus she will be credited with time already served. Redfern was ordered to avoid drugs and alcohol, and complete four years supervised probation and treatment for sex offenders.
Source:huffpost
Remote lifeguards launced into action www.privateofficer.com
WESTERLY, R.I. Aug 18 2012 (AP) — Think of a lifeguard and you might conjure up images of sunburned teenagers working a summer job. A new and relatively inexpensive lifesaving device could change that.
Meet EMILY, a remote-controlled lifeguard. It looks like a buoy, but it’s a small watercraft fitted with a flotation device. It can go up to 22 mph and can get to people more quickly, and in some cases more safely, than any human.
It’s being used by a handful of communities. Last month, it was used in its first rescue.
“In the day and age of shrinking budgets and the availability of personnel, this is just another thing we can use,” said Joshua Williams, chief of the Depoe Bay Fire District in Oregon, which performed the rescue with it July 15. “It’s proven itself by saving a father and a son. It’s really all the proof that we need.”
EMILY stands for Emergency Integrated Lifesaving Lanyard. It’s a little over 4 feet long, weighs 25 pounds and costs about $10,000. It’s made by Hydronalix, a Green Valley, Ariz., company established in 2009.
If a swimmer is struggling, a lifeguard or anyone else can put battery-powered EMILY in the water and, with a remote control, send it through even rough waves to help. Some locations attach an emergency radio so they can instruct panicked swimmers on what to do.
EMILY can’t bring swimmers back to shore, but it can keep them safe until rescuers get there, or be attached to a rope so rescuers can pull EMILY and anyone holding on back in.
In Los Angeles County, the lifeguards made famous by the TV series “Baywatch” use EMILY to shoo people away from rip currents, said Rori Marston of Hydronalix.
EMILY doesn’t replace a lifeguard. Someone must be on shore to operate EMILY, and lifeguards have skills EMILY can’t replicate. EMILY also can’t be used if a swimmer is unconscious.
Louis Misto, chief of the Misquamicut Fire District in Westerly, said he was skeptical but soon changed his tune.
“When you’re talking about getting right into the surf line, where most of these drownings or rescues take place, EMILY is going to be one of the most useful tools,” he said.
Westerly bought two EMILYs this summer after Barbara Stillman, who runs a beach resort, proposed the idea. Over the years, she has jumped in to help distressed swimmers when lifeguards are off duty.
“They’re so panicked that they push you down,” she said.
She has been trained on how to use EMILY for the next time that happens.
“I could run over there and grab EMILY and put a rope on her, throw her in the water, and bring her in myself,” Stillman said.
Depoe Bay has no lifeguards and a small volunteer fire department to cover about 16 miles of rocky coastline. The water is cold, the currents are strong and not every firefighter knows how to perform water rescues, Williams said.
In the July rescue, when firefighters arrived, the father was exhausted, having already saved one son from a rip current. He was swimming toward another son, the mother frantic on the beach, Assistant Chief Hank Walling said. In the past, they would have had to call in a Coast Guard helicopter or find a firefighter certified to swim.
Instead, they sent EMILY.
News of the rescue was validation for communities using it.
“It’s an awesome tool,” Stillman said. “I know all it’s going to take is one life. Then, to me, it’s worth all its value.”
Orlando federal jury awards elederly man $880,000 in excessive force lawsuit www.privateofficer.com
Orlando Fla Aug 18 2012 A federal jury Friday found that an Orlando police officer used excessive force when he took down an 84-year-old in a parking lot almost two years ago, breaking the elderly man’s neck.
After deliberating for roughly three hours, the panel determined Officer Travis Lamont violated Daniel Daley’s civil rights and awarded the World War II veteran $880,000 in damages.
Daley had little to say about the verdict as left the Orlando federal courthouse.
“I think they’re right,” he said, adding that he doesn’t care about the money.
When asked what the lesson is to be learned, Daley replied: “Behave.”
Daley’s lawsuit against Lamont stems from an encounter he had with the officer in a parking lot off North Orange Avenue on Sept. 18, 2010.
Daley, who was upset his car was going to be towed, admitted he repeatedly tapped Lamont on his arm while asking the officer for assistance in the dispute.
Daley, now 86, said the tapping was only intended as a friendly gesture. The tow-truck driver also testified Daley repeatedly tapped him as he inquired why his car was being towed.
But Lamont told jurors the encounter with Daley escalated when the elderly man threatened to knock him out while simultaneously cocking his fist up to his chest.
The city claims Daley was drunk and belligerent — his blood alcohol level was 0.162 — and Lamont performed the armed-bar takedown on Daley because he was in fear.
Lamont, now 28, and city attorneys left the courthouse Friday without commenting to reporters.
“Every day police officers face difficult circumstances and make on-the-spot decisions in order to ensure the safety of our community. In this particular case, Mr. Daley admitted to lunging at and touching the officer at a time he had an elevated blood alcohol level,” Orlando Police Department spokesman Sgt. Vince Ogburn said in a statement released Friday afternoon. “In this situation, the officer had to make the split-second decision of how much force to use in order to de-escalate the situation without harming the person involved.”
Jurors heard testimony from witnesses and use-of-force experts throughout the week.
Witnesses who had been with Daley at The Caboose bar in the moments leading up to the controversial takedown testified they never saw Daley make a fist or make any threats toward Lamont. Those witnesses said they saw Lamont flip Daley and saw the elderly man’s head strike the ground with his legs straight in the air.
Lamont’s backup officer, Natasha Endrina, told the jury she saw Daley lunge at Lamont’s neck. But she didn’t see the takedown maneuver because she was in the process of getting out of her car.
Experts brought in by Daley’s legal team said Lamont’s actions were excessive and improper.
Criminologist George Kirkham called Lamont’s armed-bar takedown “very extreme and unwarranted.” Lamont never threatened to arrest Daley if he didn’t stop touching him. He also did not try other tactics such as threatening him with chemical spray, a Taser or other measures, Kirkham said.
Daley initially filed suit against the city of Orlando and Lamont, but the charges against the city were dismissed this week — making Lamont the only defendant and focus of jury’s decision.
“The federal court judge completely validated the City’s training, policies and actions in this case by dismissing the City from all claims,” Ogburn said via email. “As for Officer Lamont, we respect the jury’s decision and are pleased that Mr. Daley has made a complete recovery.”
During his closing argument Friday morning, Jason Recksiedler, one of Daley’s attorneys, told the jury the case was about excessive force. He described Lamont as having “sudden and uncontrolled rage.”
Daley, Recksiedler said, wasn’t angry with Lamont. But Lamont was irritated that Daley kept patting him on the arm. Recksiedler said Daley was no gang member or street thug. He asked the jury what a reasonable officer would be afraid of.
Daley, the attorney said, was “just an old man upset about his car being towed.”
Meanwhile, Lamont’s attorney, Dennis O’Connor, told the jury the officer was cordial and he didn’t intend to injure Daley.
“At worst, ladies and gentlemen, this was a mistake,” O’Connor said.
Daley’s attorneys asked the jury for more than $750,000 in damages, which includes past and future medical expenses.
It wasn’t immediately clear how the $880,000 will be funded.
Heather Fagan, the mayor’s deputy chief of staff, said city officials are evaluating their options related to the case. The city is self-insured up to a certain limit and carries private insurance for anything over that amount.
Fagan said officials have not determined how the insurance in this case will be applied.
Source:tribune.com
Metro corrections officer arrested www.privateofficer.com
LAS VEGAS NV Aug 18 2012 – A Metro corrections officer is facing charges of domestic violence and driving under the influence following his arrest on Thursday.
Metro Police arrested 47-year-old Jason Grove who has been employed with the department as a corrections officer since July 1996.
According to sources close to the case, Grove had a blood alcohol level of .22 when he was pulled over for speeding on April 27, 2012. According to the police report, Groves performed poorly on impairment tests.
Grove is charged with DUI, domestic violence, and driving on a revoked license. Grove has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the results of an internal investigation.
There is no additional information on the domestic violence charge or the driving on a revoked license charge.
Source:news8now.com
Man Arrested For Impersonating Officer At Louisville Walmart www.privateofficer.com
Louisville KY Aug 18 2012 Police in Louisville charged a man with impersonating a police officer after he tried to get away with shoplifting by posing as a cop.
Police say Rolando Almenares, 40, and another man walked into the Outer Loop Walmart. Security officers told police they soon spotted the second man pocketing items.
“Security was trying to detain him and work on that situation. Meanwhile, that individual did approach him and said he was an undercover officer, and what they were doing was blowing his cover,” Louisville police spokesperson Carey Klain said.
Police say Almenares even flashed a badge, but it wasn’t very convincing.
“It was a very fake badge, and it was obvious. But he was trying to present that from a distance,” Klain said.
Police say officers also found a set of toy handcuffs on Almenares when they patted him down.
Police arrested Almenares and charged him with impersonating a police officer.
Source:lex18
Marlboro Township volunteer firefighter charged with impersonating police www.privateofficer.com
Marlboro Township OH Aug 18 2012 Police arrested an Atwater firefighter Wednesday for misuse of sirens and lights.
According to Marlboro Township Police Chief Ron Devies, Jeffrey D. Weisel, 24, of 4493 Fairground Road, Atwater, was charged with number of lights permitted on vehicle; horns, sirens and warning devices; reckless operation of a vehicle; three counts of making false alarms; two counts of inducing panic; and one count of disorderly conduct. The incident happened at 6:11 p.m. Wednesday on S.R. 44 north of S.R. 619 in Stark County.
Devies said the arrest tied up some loose ends on multiple reports of a silver vehicle running through the township with emergency lights and sirens. Devies said he had seen the vehicle on three occasions but was unable to pull over the vehicle because he was in a personal vehicle or on other police business, as was the case Wednesday, when he was transporting a potential suicide victim to Mercy Medical Center.
When questioning Weisel about his use of the emergency signals, Wise and Hall learned Weisel was an Atwater volunteer firefighter not on call. “One morning he said he did it because he was late for work,” Devies said, noting Weisel did not offer reasons for other instances of using the lights and siren.
Atwater Chief Mel Russell was notified, and he confirmed Weisel’s status as a firefighter, but told Devies that Weisel is not authorized to have red lights or sirens on his vehicle — a 2007 silver Chevrolet Impala.
“In order for a volunteer firefighter to do that in the state of Ohio, the vehicle first has to be inspected by an agent of the state fire marshal’s office, and it’s only legal if they are displaying the (state-approved) 4-by-4 sticker on a Maltese cross,” Devies added.
Also in the process of questioning Weisel, Devies said the arresting officers learned he had been a security guard for EnerVest at an oil drilling station in the 10900 block of Edison Street, where four incidents had been reported earlier this year, including one assault on Marlboro Township Police Officer Donald Worthy.
Weisel’s previous incident reports mentioned a man allegedly firing a shotgun from a green truck (at 4:15 a.m. March 27), when no casings were recovered; two males who allegedly approached him and refused to leave (at 9:53 p.m. May 11); and a heavyset white male who approached him and struck him with a handgun (May 25).
“The common denominator on all these reports is he was the security guard,” Devies said, adding Weisel admitted to fabricating the incidents, yet again offered no reason as to why he reported false information. “For the false alarms, he didn’t know why he did the first two, but the last one he had the flu, and wanted to go home,” Devies continued.
Weisel has since been discharged from his duties by EnerVest. He will appear today for arraignment in Alliance Municipal Court.
“It gives us peace of mind knowing that while there was one (real) incident … this was the product of an overactive imagination,” Devies concluded.
Source:recordpub.com
Small TN police department shuts down after media attention www.privateofficer.com
COOPERTOWN, Tenn Aug 18 2012(AP) — Coopertown Police Chief Paul West resigned suddenly and the small city has no police force.
West was the only remaining officer when he turned in his resignation Thursday.
Childs was not immediately available by telephone on Friday and a message was left for him.
For now, the Robertson County Sheriff’s Office is patrolling the town, located about 30 miles northwest of Nashville.
In an email to the newspaper, Childs appeared to indicate the media was responsible.
“West resigned due to predatory reporting and the consequences of the predatory reporting on his family,” Childs said in an email to the newspaper.
Childs fired reserve police Officer Robert McCormick two weeks ago. That came after a police car dash camera recorded a conversation between McCormick and another officer during which a racial slur was used.
An attorney for the town’s only other fulltime police officer — a policeman who was off duty when he was seen to pull his gun in a road rage incident — gave the video to WTVF-TV, which broadcast it. The officer was fired by Coopertown, but was not charged in the road rage incident. His attorney, Fletcher Long, said the dismissal was because the officer, David Deckerd, uncovered the video with the racial slurs.
Although he fired McCormick, Childs indicated he understood how the conversation occurred.
“Policemen like to thump their chests. That’s what they’re doing on the tape,” Childs told The Tennessean at the time.
The department has made headlines several times in the past decade. The city has been sued at least five times for unlawfully firing police employees. Three cases were settled under secret terms, one was dismissed and one went to trial. The jury returned a verdict against Coopertown and set the cost at $90,000.
Prosecutor John Carney filed an ouster petition against former Mayor Danny Crosby in 2006, accusing him of setting up speed traps, targeting drivers who were nearby Fort Campbell soldiers or Hispanics, violating child labor laws, using racial slurs and violating open meeting laws.
Crosby was temporarily suspended, but eventually prevailed in court and kept his job until being voted out in 2008 in favor of Childs.
