A western Michigan woman heads to court Tuesday after being arrested for failing to renew her dog’s license.

Becky Rehr says she drove to the Kalamazoo County sheriff’s office June 23 to prove that she’s recently renewed the license for the family’s 11-year-old dog, Dexter. Rehr’s 14-year-old daughter waited in the car as her mother was arrested, fingerprinted and held for three hours, The Kalamazoo Gazette said.

“They frisked me and put me in this intake cell with all these inmates in orange jumpsuits,” Rehr said. “I was pretty nervous.”

Failure to license a dog is punishable by up to 90 days in jail and $100 fine.
County animal control Director Steve Lawrence said his office gave the 47-year-old Cooper Township woman numerous phone, mail and in-person notices of the need to renew the license. The last was a phone warning that a warrant would be requested unless she got a license by May 28.

A hearing on the misdemeanor case is scheduled Tuesday before District Judge Christopher Haenicke.

“We prefer not for this stuff to go to court,” Lawrence told The Associated Press. “It’s just a $10 license. For some reason, some people like to make it hard for themselves.”
Rehr said she had “every intention of taking care of it. But with the end of the school year and my job, it just totally got put on the back burner.”

DaJuawn Wallace was on a late night drug store run to get medicine for his sick girlfriend when he was targeted for a traffic stop.

Saginaw Valley State University Police Officer Leon Wilson had seen a car driving on the sidewalk on the SVSU campus earlier that night. Despite not knowing the make nor the model of the car, Wilson decided to pull over Wallace, citing that he “fit the description.”

“I was uncertain about the make and the model of the vehicle, but this vehicle looked like the same color and was leaving the immediate area,” Wilson wrote.

As Wilson turned on his lights to pull Wallace over, Wallace decided that it would be far safer to wait to pull over until he was in a well-lit area.

“I live in Detroit, and I know some people who were robbed by fake police officers,” Wallace said. “I was taught to find a well-lit area to pull over in.”

In fact, Detroit police have even gone on record and said that you have permission not to stop if you don’t believe a real cop is trying to pull you over.

Besides the risk of the cop being fake, there is also the danger of the cop simply being a cop. Just south of Kochville, in Inkster, Michigan, 57-year-old Floyd Dent was pulled over on a dark road, in March of this year. He was subsequently beaten, framed and charged with multiple counts including resisting arrest, assault on an officer, and fleeing police. Dashcam video eventually proved his innocence.

Wallace had driven an extra 1.5 miles after the initial turning on of Wilson’s police lights. He never once accelerated, nor did he turn off his lights, try to turn, or make any attempt at all to evade Wilson. He did, however, signal Wilson with his hand from out of the window, suggesting that he would be pulling over ahead.

Dashcam video shows exactly that.

Wilson reported that after he had turned flashing lights at the intersection of Bay and Liberty, Wallace continued southbound at about 35 miles per hour as he approached Kochville Road, according to MLive.

“The driver made no attempt to pull over and stop. I observed the driver stick his hands out of the window a couple of times. I did not see the driver throw anything from the vehicle, though it was dark and the road was poorly lit,” Wilson wrote backing up Wallace’s account and assertion that the road was dark and poorly lit.

...

The prosecutor’s office then issued Wallace a plea deal, saying that if pleaded guilty the misdemeanor charge of fleeing and eluding, that they would drop the felony charge.

Wallace, who is resolute in the fact that he did nothing wrong, rejected the offer to plead guilty to a “crime” he did not commit.

“Most people will say fine, thank you for not sending me to jail. Well, that will be detrimental to me,” said Wallace. “If I had to take a plea for a felony, I would be forced to resign my job, and I wouldn’t be able to get financial aid, and I wouldn’t be able to do anything with my degree. Even still with the misdemeanor.”

On Thursday, Wallace has his preliminary examination. If he again refuses to accept the plea deal, District Judge Terry Clark will determine if there is enough evidence to bring the case to trial.

Wallace is in a master’s program at SVSU for health administration and has a May 2016 graduation date. Because of a defunct legal system, hell bent on keeping its 98% conviction rate, Wallace could have his entire education flushed down the toilet if he’s convicted. In the meantime, however, a cop can admit to raping a toddler and avoid jail altogether.

A Pennsylvania woman who was wrongly charged with shoplifting can't invoke the state constitution to sue police for financial damages over harm she claims was caused to her reputation, a Commonwealth Court panel ruled Monday.

The case, outlined in an opinion by Judge Bonnie Brigance Leadbetter, involves retail theft charges Rush Township police lodged against Deborah Hughes in August 2012, charging her with stealing big-screen TVs from a Schuylkill County Walmart.
Hughes was charged with two counts of retail theft and a count of receiving stolen property. When she called the police to deny committing the crimes, she was told the charges were based on video surveillance footage and because some of her friends had "ratted her out."

Hours later, however, an officer called Hughes back and "told her that it was not her on the video and that he was sorry," Leadbetter wrote. Still, the judge noted, the charges against Hughes remained on a state web site that was accessible to the public until at least July 3, 2014, when Hughes sued the police in Schuylkill County Court, seeking more than $50,000 in damages.

The case came to Leadbetter's court after a county judge dismissed Hughes' complaint, finding the law does not allow for the recovery of monetary damages for an alleged violation of the state constitution's guarantee of someone's right to their reputation.

In appealing to the state court, Hughes argued that the right to protection of one's reputation bestowed by the state constitution is "illusory" unless a wronged person can sue for financial compensation.

Yet Leadbetter backed the county court ruling and wrote that her court has "clearly rejected claims for monetary damages for alleged violations of state constitutional rights."

“I had to ask them [police] what they were arresting me over, and they said I breached the peace, and they were going to try and get me with inciting a riot. That blows my mind because it was peaceful all up until they arrested me.”

...

According to WJXT Channel 4 News, a young man was arrested July 4th 2015 in Neptune Beach, Florida after playing the national anthem on his electric guitar for an enthusiastic crowd.

The man, 22 year old Lane Pittman, told reporters,

“I had to ask them [police] what they were arresting me over, and they said I breached the peace, and they were going to try and get me with inciting a riot. That blows my mind because it was peaceful all up until they arrested me.”


Video footage uploaded by Mr. Pittman himself to YouTube, clearly shows him playing whilst both he and his amp are on the sidewalk, just to the side of the street. After finishing the anthem and one other song, Pittman begins to put his guitar back into its case and gather his amp, when several police officers then come into view, take his guitar from him, and then appear to escort him to the side, beyond the camera’s view. Shortly after this, he was ordered to spread his legs, and put under arrest.

Pittman has since hired an attorney, who stated,

“I’ve never seen a law that says you can’t play the national anthem on the sidewalk. Disturbing the peace could be used to cover a lot of conducts that may not necessarily be criminal. I guess we’re going to have to wait and see what the state attorney decides to do with it.”

It is difficult to ascertain from any of the footage available what exactly Pittman was doing that could be considered criminal.

Police claim he had been obstructing traffic on the nearby road, but the video of Pittman playing his guitar clearly proves he was off the street at the time. There is indeed a large crowd gathered around Pittman, many of them spilling into the street, but this only serves to beg questions.

Does jubilation and enthusiasm from onlookers who appreciate good music constitute “breaching the peace”? Is eliciting patriotic sentiments and cheers, “inciting to riot”? How can one man playing guitar be responsible for dozens of others deciding to mill in the street or not?

The police claim that members of the crowd were yelling at police and spitting on their patrol cars. As Pittman’s own camera footage attests, this was probably circular: people can be heard expressing disgust at the police when they appear to confiscate Pittman’s guitar and lead him away.

It is worth wondering why police were present at this 4th of July celebration in the first place, in such relatively large numbers, and why they felt compelled to contact Pittman at all.

Alejandro Flores, 33, allegedly hit his girlfriend in the face and broke her nose, pushed her into a wall in another argument, and lit her hair on fire in another argument. Michele Gile reports.

A deputy with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department was scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday after being charged with eight felony counts, including allegedly setting fire to a live-in companion’s hair, threatening her with a firearm and breaking her nose, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.

Flores, who was a sheriff’s deputy at the time of the alleged assaults, and the woman lived together along with a child relative under the age of 2.

The first incident of abuse, which was not reported at the time, took place on Oct. 22, 2014, when Flores allegedly hit “Jane Doe” in the face, breaking her nose.

The violence allegedly escalated on June 28 when Flores and “Doe” argued about the child’s pacifier and he pushed her into a wall at their Buena Park home, the DA stated.

The video, posted by Los Angeles blogger and journalist Jasmyne Cannick, reportedly documents the arrest of Tyree Carroll, a 22-year-old Philadelphian who the camerawoman and witness says was stopped while riding his bike.

It starts with the man being held down by four cops. He is struggling or writhing, screaming and calling out for his grandmother. A bicycle can be seen a few feet away. A cop punches him repeatedly. Then another police car pulls up and an officer gets out yelling, “I have a f*cking Taser, here I come! You’re getting the f*cking Taser!”

An officer can then be heard saying, “Tase that motherf*cker.”

Multiple officers can then be seen pummeling the man with fists, another screams, “you f*cking bit me you piece of sh*t!”

The woman holding the camera says to a companion that the man was Tased four of five times. By the end of the video, at least two dozen officers are on scene. The camerawoman counted 11 police cars and 26 officers – most of whom appeared to be white.

“Four cops had him, he wasn’t going no where,” the videographer says to her companion. “Thank God he lived — right now.”

According to Cannick, the incident occurred April 3 at 7:30 p.m. He was arrested on charges of assault, recklessly endangering another person, resisting arrest, and several drug charges.

Philadelphia court records show Carroll was arrested April 4 by Philadelphia police and is still in custody, scheduled for arraignment on July 21. The court document shows bail set at only $5,000 with Carroll facing drug-related charges. Cannick reports he can’t be freed on bail due to a previous parole violation, and that his family is working to free him and get charges dropped.

Rookie Cop Turns In Two Fellow Konawa Police Officers For Animal Abuse

...It was a minor traffic stop involving a man on a bike without a reflector. He was pulled over on Ronald Warnell's property, and Warnell wanted to know what was going on.

he exchange between the black man and a white officer named Dylan Mulhollan was recorded by his police body camera.

MULHOLLAN: "Sir, can you back up please?"
WARNELL: "Hold on, man; you are on my property now."
MULHOLLAN: "No, no. It's my property right now."
WARNELL: "It's not your property; you need to get your laws straight, brother."Officer

Dylan Mulhollan appears to be agitated in the recording.

MULHOLLAN: "He [the biker] pulled on your property. I followed him on a traffic stop. Now back up!"
WARNELL: "Make me."
MULHOLLAN: "Make you? OK."
The officer and Warnell continued to argue.

OFFICER: "Go ahead and put your hands behind your back."
WARNELL: " I said, no."
MULHOLLAN: "You said 'no'? OK."
The video then shows the officer shoving Warnell to the ground.

The FBI has opened an investigation into the 2013 death of Jermaine McBean, a Florida man who was shot by police while walking home with an unloaded air rifle, a court filing shows.

...

After McBean was killed, police said he had ignored their calls to drop the rifle, spun around and pointed it at them near a pool where children were swimming.

The shooting officer said the 33-year-old computer engineer had nothing in his ears that would have stopped him from hearing the police commands, and the detective in charge of the investigation said police at the scene confirmed McBean was not wearing headphones and and said they were found in his pocket.

...

But as NBC News reported in May, a photo taken by a witness and only recently disclosed shows McBean was in fact wearing earbuds when he was shot.

In addition, another witness — a driver who called 911 in alarm when he saw McBean walking down the street — told NBC News that he never pointed the air rifle at police.

Michael Russell McCarthy, 58, said McBean had the Winchester Model 1000 Air Rifle he had just bought at a local pawn shop balanced on his shoulders behind his neck, with his hand over both ends. He was turning around to face police when one officer began shooting, McCarthy said.

"He [McBean] couldn't have fired that gun from the position he was in. There was no possible way of firing it and at the same time hitting something," McCarthy said. "I kind of blame myself, because if I hadn't called it might not have happened."

Police officers threw a 17-year-old autistic boy onto the ground outside his Bronx home and punched him in the face — then hauled him to the precinct stationhouse where they questioned him before releasing him without charges, according to a lawsuit.

A lawyer for Troy Canales, now 18, said the NYPD violated the teen's civil rights during the Nov. 12 incident, which began at 8 p.m. after a pair of officers drove up and saw Canales leaning against a car outside his family’s house on Bainbridge Avenue in The Bronx, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court this week.

The lawsuit claims the officers clearly had no training in how to deal with people with special needs when they began haranguing Canales, who is verbally communicative but has a hard time making eye contact with strangers, about what he was doing there.

Manuel Avila was deemed unfit to carry a weapon in 2007 by a psychiatrist hired by the city of Paterson after a suicide attempt, and he was reassigned to duty in the holding cell area of police headquarters so he could reach a 20-year pension milestone and boost his retirement pay, reported The Record.

Not long after he was assigned to the holding cell, where officers work unarmed, Avila was charged with forcing a female prisoner to perform oral sex on him – and he was placed on paid leave.

The 27-year-old woman, who was jailed following a domestic dispute with her boyfriend, said Avila ordered her to perform the sex act in exchange for allowing her to use a phone to reach relatives who blocked collect calls.

The woman admitted that she had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, and the officer’s attorneys argued that she was lying and was seeking money through her accusations.

Avila was acquitted in June 2010, and the city settled a civil suit filed by the woman for $710,000 in July 2011.

Since then, Avila has remained on paid leave while police resolve a disciplinary case against him that has been stalled because, among other reasons, his accuser could not be located and his attorney was injured.

The city has paid Avila nearly $800,000 during his eight-year leave and spent about $300,000 on his criminal and civil defense, the newspaper reported.

Along with the lawsuit settlement, Paterson has already spent more than $1.8 million on Avila since he was accused of sexual assault and placed on leave.

Now he wants the city to pay his legal defense during the disciplinary process – along with the unpaid vacation time he’s due upon retirement.

That would bring the total amount owed to Avila to more than $2 million, the newspaper reported.

City officials calculated his severance package for unused leave and terminal pay at nearly $70,000 about 18 months ago, but they have not said how much the city has offered in a settlement through the police union.

The city’s mayor, Jose “Joey” Torres, said Paterson must abide by the union contract, which means Avila will likely be paid for the vacation days he did not claim while he remained on pad stay-at-home leave.

The shooting death of a San Francisco woman had already fueled a fresh round of fierce debate over U.S. immigration policies. Now a new detail in the investigation adds another dimension to the discussion.

The gun used in the killing of Kate Steinle belonged to a federal agent, a source with knowledge of the investigation said.

It wasn’t immediately clear what federal agency the gun was tied to, how it ended up in the hands of the alleged shooter or whether the revelation about where the weapon came from would affect the case.

“It doesn’t in terms of charging this defendant,” CNN legal analyst Danny Cevallos said, “but it may mean that somebody else is going to be on the hook, and soon.”

The undocumented immigrant who’s accused in the killing earlier told CNN affiliate KGO-TV that he found the gun wrapped inside a T-shirt on the ground.

Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, who has a felony record and has been deported to Mexico five times, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to murder and weapons charges. His bail was set at $5 million.