A North Charleston police officer was arrested Wednesday after he was spotted driving in excess of 100 mph on Ashley Phosphate Road, according to an incident report.

Charleston deputies say Maurice Huggins, 39, is facing charges of reckless driving and open container, the incident report states.

The deputy reported being able to see "in plain view" a black Glock handgun in a black leather holster in the driver's seat after Huggins had seen secured in the deputy's car. The deputy also found a black leather wallet with a North Charleston Police ID and badge, as well as a silver flask in the center console with a clear odor of alcohol inside, the report states.

After Huggins was transported to the Al Cannon Detention Center, authorities found he was in possession of a fake $100 bill, which was also taken into evidence, deputies say.

Early last year, the U.S. Supreme Court elevated the legal status of drug-detecting dogs, ruling that a police search can be presumed lawful if it is predicated on a positive alert by a well-trained dog with basic paperwork. Such training, though, is bunk if not accompanied by valid certification of the dog and its handler.

Not only was it lacking in an ongoing drug-money forfeiture case in Maryland U.S. District Court, in which the government is seeking to keep $122,640 in cash seized last September from a passenger's luggage at Baltimore-Washington International Airport, but a fraudulent certification was produced by Maryland Transportation Authority Police (MTAP) and used by federal prosecutors, who sought to disguise and downplay the document's false provenance, according to a Baltimore attorney's recent filing in the case.

Glenview will pay $95,000 to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit after Glenview and Chicago police officers offered testimony which one Cook County circuit court judge said was in direct contradiction to police dash camera video in the arrest of a Glenview man on drug charges.

Federal civil court records show Glenview officials came to a settlement with Joseph Sperling of Glenview in late June. On Wednesday, July 2, after arriving at that settlement, Federal District Judge Thomas Durkin formally dismissed the suit, with prejudice, meaning it cannot be reintroduced.

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In early June 2013, Urbanowski, Horn and three Chicago police officers pulled Sperling over on a traffic stop near Tall Trees off East Lake Avenue.

All officers testified at a Mar. 31 criminal hearing that they approached the car, checked Sperling’s license and insurance, and made him get out of the car and stand near the rear of a car without being handcuffed while officers conducted a search of the vehicle after they said they smelled marijuana. They reportedly recovered a large amount of cannabis from the back seat of the car.
A police dashboard video camera’s recording, also reviewed by the Glenview Journal, showed a different sequence of events.

The video showed a Chicago police officer walk up to the car and try to open the locked driver’s side door from the outside before reaching through an open window and opening the door from the inside. The Chicago officer then allegedly pulled Sperling from the vehicle and immediately placed him in handcuffs.

Urbanowski recanted her testimony at that same hearing.

“If they would have told the truth, they would have had him,” Sperling’s criminal defense attorney Steven Goldman told the Journal shortly after Sperling’s criminal court appearance in which charges were dismissed.

“All officers lied on the stand today. The evidence that’s been submitted is directly contrary to their (officers) testimony and as counsel said, all their testimony was a lie... State, I expect you to look into this,” Cook County Circuit Court Judge Catherine Haberkorn said at Sperling’s Mar. 31 criminal court appearance, according to court transcripts.

Urbanowski and Horn were then placed on paid administrative leave where they remain.

Authorities said Schulte did not respond to the officers' commands to exit the vehicle so they broke out two windows to gain access.

"They just sort of received a blank stare, that incoherent -- wasn't comprehending what was being asked of him and just kind of sat in the driver's seat without moving," said Abens.

Reserve Deputy Troy Cline accidentally fired his weapon during the incident, but no one was hurt. (watch video)

"That unintentional firing of the weapon happened when the deputy went to reholster his weapon, completely unintentional definitely wasn't something he meant to do," said Abens.

Schulte was taken into custody and was transported to a hospital to be treated for minor injuries.

Authorities said Schulte apparently was suffering from a medical issue during the chase. They have not yet provided details about the medical issue.

The case, which has bounced around federal court for two years, drew public scrutiny on how police use their weapons. Reflecting the broader community debate, the first trial ended with a deadlocked jury in 2013. The second trial was scheduled to begin in August.

On the night of Oct. 16, 2010, Streater was stabbed by her former live-in boyfriend before she fled into the street. Wilson was the first officer to respond and began walking toward Streater’s home to check on her elderly parents.

Green was walking in the opposite direction. Having heard his mother had been attacked, he carried a kitchen knife.

When he and Wilson met, the officer pulled his weapon and told the youth at least three times to drop the knife, according to court documents. Green, standing more than 30 feet away, didn’t move, nor did he comply with Wilson’s order.

Streater screamed at Wilson not to shoot her son. While other officers on the scene heard her plea, Wilson testified that he did not. He fired twice, then after a pause, twice more. Green was hit two times.

The settlement comes three months after the 4th U.S. Circuit of Appeals, upholding a decision by the trial judge, refused to give Wilson immunity for his actions.

The city of Torrance will pay $1.8 million to a Redondo Beach surfer who was mistakenly shot at by its police officers during the manhunt for rogue Los Angeles police Officer Christopher Dorner, officials announced Thursday.

The agreement settles David and Lizzette Perdue’s lawsuit against the city and its Police Department, ending the acrimonious battle over what occurred that chaotic week in February 2013. Officers rammed Perdue’s truck thinking he was Dorner fleeing a shooting, then fired three shots at him.

“They were trying to protect the community and were proactively going out there thinking that this is a guy who was armed, who had been using assault rifles,” Matsuda said. “There is not a great way to try to engage somebody like that.

“For them to decide to use their car to intervene and take that action, it took a lot of courage to do that. That’s where we get to the totality of everything that occurred before that, that led them to that point, and then it turned out not to be him.”

Sooper is now serving as a school resource officer. McGee was assigned to the department’s communications bureau following the shooting. Matsuda said it was in McGee’s and the public’s best interest to assign him to work in the 9-1-1 dispatch center, but he will eventually return to patrol

A Saint Jo Police Officer was arrested July 15 for official oppression, based on allegations by a Bowie area teen.

Steven Bret Nabors, 34, is accused of unlawfully detaining an 18-year-old female driver from the Bowie area on at least two occasions and following her on several other occasions, according to the arrest affidavit.

Texas Ranger Marshall W. Thomas said he did not want to release the young woman’s name due to the case still being under investigation. Nabors was released on $1,500 bond on the Class A misdemeanor.

Police Chief Tony Tamayo said Nabors, employed with the department since October, has been placed on paid administrative leave.

The teen made a written statement to Bowie Police Department School Resource Officer Bob Blackburn on March 4. She said she was pulled over for the first time on Oct. 22, 2013 for speeding, a stop the driver says was justified because she was speeding.

On Nov. 1, 2013, the officer pulled her over again, she said, because he said her vehicle registration was about to expire. The driver did not receive a citation or warning, and added the registration was valid.

The affidavit continues with specific dates the officer allegedly followed her outside of Saint Jo: Feb. 7, the officer followed her outside of Saint Jo on State Highway 59 to the courthouse at Montague; Feb. 17, down Highway 59 all the way to Prime Cut Steakhouse; Feb. 21, on U.S. 82 past the Cooke County line and then on Feb. 24 to Lone Star Road on Texas 59, south of Bowie.

She told officers on Feb. 3, he stopped her because her turn signal was on the verge of going out. The driver said when she got home, she checked and it was working fine. In referencing the dates, the woman said she was sure of the dates because she called her mother after each incident.

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson's administration paid $540,000 last month to a man - - the son of two of Jackson's administrators – who sued the city after being shot by police.

Randell Scott Jr. sued the city in September 2013, a year after he was stopped and shot in the stomach by a police officer. Scott is the son of Randell Scott, a top aide to the mayor, and former Cleveland Councilwoman Sabra Pierce Scott, who was hired by Jackson in June, just months after completing a federal sentence for public corruption.

Cleveland police stopped Randell Scott Jr. shortly after midnight on Sept.15, 2012, as he walked with an open beer to his house on Parmelee Avenue on the city's East Side, according to the suit. Police ordered Scott to put down the beer and "come here." As Scott complied with the order, he announced that he had a firearm in his waistband and a permit to carry it. Then, one of the police officers, Mark Worsencroft, drew his gun and ordered Scott to raise his hands and put them behind his back, the suit says. Scott was slowly lowering his hands to comply with the order when Worsencroft shot him in the stomach, the suit says.

Scott, a commercial truck driver at the time, was critically wounded and missed 11 months of work. His medical costs totaled nearly $500,000, the suit says.

The town manager of Seabrook, New Hampshire, fired two police officers on Wednesday for roughing up a man at the town's police station, an incident that drew scrutiny after surveillance footage of the incident was posted online earlier this year.

The town manager, William Manzi, also demoted a police lieutenant for not properly reviewing and reporting the incident.

The video shows a skinny, shirtless Michael Bergeron being escorted by two police officers down a hallway. One of the officers, Mark Richardson, holds him forcefully by the arm and swings Bergeron into a concrete wall, which he hits head first. A few moments later, while Bergeron is on the ground, Officer Adam Laurent sprays him with pepper spray.

The incident took place on Nov. 11, 2009, after Bergeron, then 19, was arrested for driving while intoxicated.

A Southern California man at the center of a brutal beating caught on video is demanding answers from the San Jose Police Department. Nate Howard claims police used excessive force and spoke to ABC7 News about his ordeal.

Howard says he wants a formal police investigation after the incident that took place outside a venue on the corner of East San Salvador and South First Street on May 24.

Howard is a 23-year-old motivational speaker in Southern California who teaches high school students to write and perform poetry. In May, he gave a commencement speech at San Jose State University, but what happened following an after party was captured on a cellphone.

The video shows San Jose police and a group of African-Americans, many of them college students. Police beat Howard with a baton and threw him on the ground, where he's handcuffed and taken into custody.

He spoke to ABC7 News via Skype from San Diego. He says he did nothing wrong and was only questioning police actions against a friend.

Howard said, "It happened so fast, I was in complete shock."

The Lawyers Committee For Civil Rights calls the police actions over the top and have filed a conduct complaint against San Jose police.

Joanna Cuevas Ingram from Lawyers Committee For Civil Rights said, "Excessive force was implemented. It was unwarranted because he posed no danger, no threat to public safety."

Howard was never charged. He filed a complaint with police internal affairs. When he heard nothing, a new conduct complaint was filed with the San Jose Independent Police Auditor, who works directly with internal affairs.

Under Georgia law, a police dog can search the outside of any vehicle, even without the owner's permission. If the dog alerts to the presence of a narcotics odor outside of the vehicle, the officer then has probable cause to search inside the car.

"It's amazing to me that there's no policies in place for that type of thing, because you're talking about a four-legged animal, which is being used to determine the outcome of someone's constitutional rights," said Jermaine Muhammad.

But the way Georgia law reads right now, an officer can go to the pound and pick out a dog and start using it tomorrow.

Two studies have found that at least 40% of police officer families experience domestic violence, (1, 2) in contrast to 10% of families in the general population.(3) A third study of older and more experienced officers found a rate of 24% (4), indicating that domestic violence is 2-4 times more common among police families than American families in general. A police department that has domestic violence offenders among its ranks will not effectively serve and protect victims in the community.5, 6, 7, 8 Moreover, when officers know of domestic violence committed by their colleagues and seek to protect them by covering it up, they expose the department to civil liability.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Center for Health Statistics, in 2005, marriages occurred at a rate of 7.5 per 1,000 people, while divorces occurred at a rate of 3.6 per 1,000 people. These numbers are reflected in the staggering statistic that 48 percent of marriages fail in the United States. Past studies have indicated that law enforcement officers have one of the highest divorce rates when compared with other groups of professionals. Law enforcement officers and other first responders face extraordinary challenges in marriage and family relationships due to factors such as chronic job stress and irregular work schedules.

LEHIGH COUNTY, PA — A man may never walk again after he was shot in his driveway by a constable who had showed up to his home regarding unpaid parking tickets.

Kevin McCullers, 38, was just about to make a trip to go buy some morning doughnuts when his life changed forever. Around 7:30 a.m. on July 17th, McCullers got into his car, opened his garage door, and put his car into reverse gear. As he backed out of the driveway, his girlfriend abruptly heard gunshots ring out.

Two strange men were outside, and one had just shot Mr. McCullers while in the driver’s seat of his car.

“They never knocked on the door! No nothing! I just heard the gunshots! He pulled the car out of the garage and all I heard were gunshots,” Hafeezah Muhammad told NBC 10 Philadelphia. She was inside the house during the attack.

The shooter turned out to be a Pennsylvania State Constable, performing an early morning warrant service over unpaid parking tickets. The unnamed constable claimed that he feared for his life by Mr. McCullers backing out of his driveway — so he opened fire.

“For someone to get shot, on the way to Dunkin’ Donuts, unarmed, for parking tickets? For tickets?! Its insane,” said Ms. Muhammad.

Mr. McCullers was shot in the back. The bullet struck his spine, and he is now paralyzed from the waist down. He may never regain the ability to walk.

The shooter has been allowed to remain anonymous. There has been no word on any discipline or criminal charges that he may face, if any.

LEHIGH COUNTY, PA — A man may never walk again after he was shot in his driveway by a constable who had showed up to his home regarding unpaid parking tickets.

Kevin McCullers, 38, was just about to make a trip to go buy some morning doughnuts when his life changed forever. Around 7:30 a.m. on July 17th, McCullers got into his car, opened his garage door, and put his car into reverse gear. As he backed out of the driveway, his girlfriend abruptly heard gunshots ring out.

Two strange men were outside, and one had just shot Mr. McCullers while in the driver’s seat of his car.

“They never knocked on the door! No nothing! I just heard the gunshots! He pulled the car out of the garage and all I heard were gunshots,” Hafeezah Muhammad told NBC 10 Philadelphia. She was inside the house during the attack.

The shooter turned out to be a Pennsylvania State Constable, performing an early morning warrant service over unpaid parking tickets. The unnamed constable claimed that he feared for his life by Mr. McCullers backing out of his driveway — so he opened fire.

“For someone to get shot, on the way to Dunkin’ Donuts, unarmed, for parking tickets? For tickets?! Its insane,” said Ms. Muhammad.

Mr. McCullers was shot in the back. The bullet struck his spine, and he is now paralyzed from the waist down. He may never regain the ability to walk.

The shooter has been allowed to remain anonymous. There has been no word on any discipline or criminal charges that he may face, if any.