A self-described “free-range” mom who lives in a gated apartment complex in Sacramento faces up to six months of jail time for letting her 4-year-old son play alone in the complex playground 120 feet from her front door. She was charged after two neighbors watched the boy, Tomahawk Hendren, playing by himself at the playground and then went outside to ask him to go home. When he said he wasn’t done playing they called the cops, and Child Protective Services took over, reports Fox 40. Sonya Hendren’s attorney says it’s now up to the prosecution to prove that Hendren willfully put her son in danger to proceed with the child endangerment and neglect charges.

While she was initially arrested for felony child endangerment and neglect, Hendren’s charges have been reduced to misdemeanors and she has been offered a reduced sentence of 30 days in jail and one year probation, but she rejected the offer and now faces a maximum penalty of six months in jail and three years probation, reports People.

“I just thought she would get a warning,” says one of the neighbors who called CPS, adding, “I’m not mad she has to do things now to teach her, because what if someone did take him?” For her part, Hendren says, “of course I love him, I do everything for him. I breastfed for 28 months. I cloth-diapered, you know, obviously I’m avoiding helicopter parenting.” Meanwhile Tomahawk, an “outdoors” boy, says, “I love her like 20 times—maybe a thousand.”

Jackie Neal of the San Antonio PD, has been on paid vacation for the last year and a half for accusations of crimes that his chief referred to as “unthinkable.” After evidencelinked him to this vile crime, he’s still been receiving his over-deserved salary of $62,556.00.

Neal, 40, was in full uniform, in a marked squad car and on-duty when he made a traffic stop on a Friday morning in November of 2013. He then proceeded to sexually assault a 19-year-old woman, according to the San Antonio Police Department.

He forced the young woman to bend over, with her face in the rear seat of the police car. He pulled her pants and underwear down to her ankles and sexually assaulted her, according to the complaint. At that point, Neal admonished her that if she told anyone, he would know where to find her and drove off, leaving her standing there.

Thursday night, Neal was shot in the neck by an unnamed female assailant. He is currently in critical condition.

​While the name of the woman in custody has not yet been released, police suggested that the incident was linked to the earlier rape allegations, says News4SanAntonio.

A Sergeant with the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office turned himself in on Wednesday after he was accused of raping a fellow officer, a crime which his buddies on the force reportedly tried to cover up.

KREM reported that Sergeant Gordon Ennis was being held on suspicion of Rape 2nd Degree after an investigation by the sheriff’s office determined that there was probable cause to charge him.

According to court documents, the victim told detectives that she was “very intoxicated” when she passed out in a guest bedroom following a party.When she woke up, she found Ennis sexually assaulting her, the documents stated. She also stated that she heard Ennis say he needed to go home after she woke up.

Authorities said that Ennis cut his finger nails to destroy DNA evidence. But authorities said that Ennis was currently cooperating and had agreed to provide a DNA sample.Officer Doug Strosahl, who hosted the party, was accused of tampering with evidence. He has not been charged with a crime, but officials said that he could still face disciplinary action.

Sergeant John Gately was also thought to have tipped Ennis off about the investigation. He is expected to be charged with Rendering Criminal Assistance 1st Degree and Obstructing a Law Enforcement Officer.

Gately is the head of the local police union.Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich told KREM that the “victim is very strong, and has great resolve to see this through to the end.”

“We would not have turned this case in requesting charges if we did not believe that this case actually happened,” the sheriff said.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office has declined to file charges against a former California Highway Patrol (CHP) officer caught on video savagely beating a woman walking along the side of the Santa Monica Freeway in July 2014. Earlier this month, the district attorney’s office stated that the case was still under review more than one year after the officer, Daniel Andrew, had resigned from the CHP and approximately 13 months after interviewing the victim in the case, Marlene Pinnock.

A former Bridgeport police officer who claimed someone left a racist memo on police letterhead in his mailbox at headquarters in February admitted to writing the letter himself and has been charged with filing a false report, according to police.

Two whistleblower lawsuits claim to have exposed what a panel of appellate judges say is a “blue wall of police silence" in the borough Police Department, including a private meeting at a garbage dump that the court said “smacks of an illegal police cover up."

The judges recently reinstated one of the lawsuits after a lower court dismissed it. The borough recently settled the other lawsuit for $527,500.

The borough agreed to pay retired police Lt. Kevin Pierson that amount to settle his whistleblower lawsuit that claimed he was harassed and forced out of the department after he told the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office about a colleague’s alleged wrongdoing, according to court papers. The borough and Police Department admitted no wrongdoing in settling the case.

...

The delegate’s suit identifies him only by the initials T.D. However, Pierson in his lawsuit, identified the officer who interceded on his behalf as Thomas Dennehy, state delegate of the Policemen's Benevolent Association, Local 251.

Pierson, in his lawsuit, claims he found out in 2008 that then-Sgt. David Scrivanic had put "a device on his home water pipes to divert water for his personal use without charge."

...

Pierson reported the allegations about Scrivanic to the Prosecutor’s Office. The Prosecutor’s Office investigated the allegations and directed the Tinton Falls Police Department to bring a “major disciplinary action’’ against Scrivanic, Pierson’s lawsuit said.

“David Scrivanic was not criminally charged by our office," Charles Webster, spokesman of the Prosecutor’s Office, said when asked about the outcome of the investigation.

What ensued was an investigation to find out who brought the matter to the Prosecutor’s Office in the first place.

“The chief prompted (internal affairs) to conduct an investigation to locate who revealed the sergeant’s water diversion activities, even though it was clear the sergeant’s conduct was unlawful," the appellate judges said in the PBA delegate’s case.

An investigation of the incident by Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey resulted in a ruling that Deputy Ford’s attack was “justified” because of profane and provocative language used by the detainee, Kyle Askins, and because he stood up when approached by the enraged deputy.

...

Askins “popped up off the bench,” Ford related during the inquiry. “I didn’t tell him to get up. I didn’t give him an order. He popped up off the bench in an aggressive manner. His body was tense, and his face, and then, based off his previous threats about what he was going to do to me, I felt threatened and I defended myself with … a strike that we are taught in the Academy to defend ourselves against threats.”

A few minutes after that phone call, the SUV Bendetta was driving was blind-sided at an intersection by a vehicle operated by a man named Scott Abbott. She apparently didn’t see Abbott’s car. For his part, Abbott was driving well above the speed limit, and didn’t have time to avoid the fatal crash. Brenda was flown to a nearby hospital, where she died as a result of her injuries.

Criminal homicide charges have been filed as a result of Bendetta's death. The suspect was not Pennsylvania State Trooper Scott Abbott, the man who killed her, but 23-year-old Jonathan Switch, the individual Abbott was pursuing. Abbott joined the chase after Switch – who had been driving with a suspended license – fled from a traffic stop.

Gary Miller referred to his wife’s death as the result of a “senseless … high-speed chase.” Given that the troopers were engaging in tax collection, rather than the pursuit of a suspected violent felon, a better description of their actions would be “criminally irresponsible.”

Shirley Brown said in a lawsuit filed in 2011 that Cleveland police had pulled over her son on New Years Eve for allegedly driving without his headlights on – and then ordered him out of his vehicle.

The lawsuit maintained that Brown was elbowed in the back of the neck during a pat down before he ran across the street and turned to face his attackers in a nonthreatening manner.

After an officer deployed his stun-gun on him, police said Brown again fled and then aggressively resisted when several cops attempted to subdue him while deploying Tasers.

As officers got control of the situation and handcuffed the man, a police radio recorded Brown repeatedly telling the cops he could not breathe. One of the officers can be heard responding on the recording, “Who gives a ****?” before Brown went into cardiac arrest, became unresponsive, and died.

Multiple witnesses maintain that the cops are liars and that Brown’s headlights were on. In addition, Brown family attorney Al Gerhardstein has called the officers’ version of events “classic circumstantial evidence.”

The Sixth Circuit is now considering an appeal by the cops after a federal judge refused to grant them immunity on the claim that they were deliberately indifferent to Brown’s medical condition.

Cleveland city attorney John Bacevice Jr. said Friday during the proceedings that the eyewitnesses who claimed Brown’s lights were on had not come out of their home until the officers had already made the stop, and asserted that Brown likely turned them on after being pulled over.

Bacevice also argued that lower courts should not have heard the deliberate-indifference claim because it was not pleaded in the original legal complaint by Brown’s mother.

In response, Judge Karen Nelson Moore asked if Shirley Brown was willing to amend her claims if the court ruled against her on that basis, and Bavevice said that move would be “wholly unfair” because it “would basically give the plaintiffs a do-over.”

Bacevice maintained that, “Brown did not show serious medical need until the officers could hear the sirens of the EMS,” and that the phrase, “I can’t breathe,” did not constitute serious medical need because, “Brown was viciously fighting off the officers for several minutes after making the statements.”

“These [police officers] are not doctors,” Bacevice said. “They are not nurses. They did the best they could.”

Gerhardstein said the cops “are on the hook because they saw [the situation] developing,” and that the incident may have had a different outcome had the EMS been informed of the severity of the situation.

He said that when the emergency responders arrived, Brown was hunched on the curb and “propped up on one of the officer’s legs.” The attorney told the three judge panel on Friday that the case should be decided by a jury.

Gerhardstein also asserted that the city is liable for Brown’s death because of department policy that trains cops to fire their Tasers at suspects chests. No timetable has been set for the Appeals Court decision.

So began a tense, hourslong hostage standoff that ended in the arrest of the suspect and, separately, the fatal shooting by police of Funk .... Funk was fleeing the scene Saturday when he was shot, the lawyer said, though police say they opened fire only after a man refused to drop the gun he was holding.

An officer wearing protective armor also was shot in the helmet and injured when authorities entered the business in an attempt to rescue the hostages, Neenah Police Chief Kevin Wilkinson told reporters. The officer was treated at a hospital and released. It wasn't immediately clear who shot the officer.

A.J. Daoust was minding his own business, hadn’t caused harm to anyone, and simply wanted a quick meal when he was targeted by Alberta’s finest as an easy mark for extortion.

As Daoust was waiting in line at a Tim Horton’s Drive-thru in Beaumont, he received a text message, naturally he replied. Sitting in a drive-thru and texting, even to the most staunch anti-distracted driving advocates, is considered entirely harmless as you are most likely stopped while doing so.

However, according to a Beaumont cop, Daoust was placing the entire planet in danger when he sent out that digital message.

“I was just sitting there and I got a text, I replied to it….” said Daoust. But when he lifted up that phone, he broke the law.

According to the law, the use of a cellphone is prohibited on ‘any’ thoroughfare, public or private that the public is ordinarily entitled to use for the passage of vehicles.

So, after he paid for his food, an officer came knocking at Daoust’s window and told him to pull over. He was then issued a $287 ticket for distracted driving — while in a drive thru.

“To me, this is ridiculous. It’s just kind of heavy-handed,” said Daoust, and he’s right.

No one likes a distracted driver, and, indeed, they are a danger on the roadways. However, texting while in the drive-thru lane is entirely benign, even the officer knows this.

...

The witness is one of 13 black women who have accused Daniel Holtzclaw, 28, a former Oklahoma City police officer, of sexually assaulting them while on duty. Holtzclaw faces 36 counts, including sexual battery, forcible oral sodomy and rape. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

As she spoke to the court two weeks ago about her alleged rape, the woman wore an orange uniform, her hands and feet in shackles, as she herself was currently jailed on a drug charge.

It was hard not to see the moment as symbolic. The 13 women who came forward -- many of whom have criminal records and substance abuse problems -- have faced attacks on their credibility during the course of the trial. Because of their histories, it seemed they were on trial as much as Holtzclaw.

As the case draws to a close, a picture has emerged of a predator who allegedly targeted the most vulnerable women in society using the power of the badge. Holtzclaw would stop the women in his patrol car, often when they were walking alone. He'd search them for drugs and run criminal background checks to see if they had a record, or were wanted on a warrant. Then, they said, he would force them into sex, threatening them with arrest if they didn’t comply.

One woman alleged that she was handcuffed to a hospital bed, high on PCP, when Holtzclaw forced her to perform oral sex on him. Another woman testified that Holtzclaw ran her name and found out she had city warrants, and then drove her to an abandoned school and raped her.

Another victim explained to the court that she didn’t tell anyone about Holtzclaw's alleged abuse because she’d "never been on the right side of the law." The last woman to testify, who was only 17 at the time of her alleged rape, summarized the group sentiment with one salient and heartbreaking question: "What kind of police do you call on the police?"

The alleged assaults occurred over a period of seven months. The investigation into Holtzclaw was triggered after one victim, who has been identified by local media as a 57-year-old grandmother, went to the police and reported a sexual assault.

A clearly confused and racist Georgia cop was caught on dashcam telling a driver during a traffic stop, “I don’t care about your people,” and then threatening him.

On November, 16, officer Maurice Lawson of the Cobb County police department pulled over 33-year-old middle school teacher, Brian Baker for allegedly speeding.

During the stop, three officers would surround Baker’s car to issue him a citation.

After Baker received the citation, he merely asked officer Lawson if he could leave, to which Lawson replied, “Leave. Go away. Go to Fulton County. I don’t care about your people, man, go.”

When Baker questioned the officer’s remarks, Lawson threatened him by saying, “Do you want to step out of the car and talk to me?”

“Why do you need me to step out of the car?” Baker asks.

“Go back to Fulton County, sir.”

Whether he knew it or now, Baker

Baker then drove off, at which point Lawson vented to his fellow officers about how people who don’t immediately prostrate themselves before his almighty badge, anger him. “I lose my cool, man, every time. Why do I got to deal with (stuff) like that? This is the f**king America we live in, ain’t it?”

Lawson’s admitted inability to keep his cool should, without a doubt, be grounds for losing a job in which he carries the state’s authority to use violence against others, and a gun to enact said violence. However, when he actually loses his cool on video by making blatantly bigoted remarks and subsequent threats, there should be no question as to whether or not he should keep his badge.

But, as in most cases, Lawson was not fired, nor was he even suspended. He was merely transferred to another precinct, “Pending and Investigation.”

Pike County Deputy Joel Jenkins has been charged with felony involuntary manslaughter after he says he accidentally shot and killed his neighbor.

According to Pike County Sheriff Charles Reader, at about 11:40 p.m., Thursday, dispatchers received a call from Jenkins, who was off duty at the time, saying his gun had accidentally discharged and had shot his neighbor, 40-year-old Jason Brady, in the head.

Reader said Jenkins had been drinking alcohol when he fired the handgun that was not his duty weapon.

In August of 2014, Rebecca M. Sotherland, a police officer formerly employed for the Oglala Sioux Tribe, was videotaped tazering a citizen of the Oglala Sioux Tribe 17 times while he laid unresponsive on the ground on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

Sotherland was indicted by a federal grand jury only days after the brutal incident and charged with violating the constitutional rights of 33-year-old Jeff Eagle Bull, by repeatedly using her Taser on him.

The federal trial for the indicted former officer began earlier this week. If found guilty, Sotherland faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The video footage shows Eagle Bull screaming in pain as he lay on the ground repeatedly being shocked with electricity by the officer. Never during the encounter did the man make any aggressive moves. Throughout the incident, he only lays on the ground writhing in pain screaming as he is being brutalized.

It’s obvious from the video footage that Sotherland wasn’t using the stun gun as a means of defense, as the man can be seen lying helplessly on the ground in handcuffs. She was using it as a means of sadistic punishment in an attempt to motivate him to get into her police cruiser.

Sotherland repeatedly yells at the helpless man to get in the car, eventually threatening that, “It’s gonna get you again,” referring to the 50,000 volts of electricity delivered by the tazer.

The disgraced cop continues screaming, “Hurry up! Get the car before it hits you again! Hurry up!” The brutal electrical assault continues as she keeps commanding the man to, “Get up and get in the car or it’s gonna get you again.”

Sotherland is seen on the now viral video standing over the top of a clearly helpless Eagle Bull. Eagle Bull was already in handcuffs and lying on the ground.

Finally in disgust the bystanders yell at the cop, “Let him go, quit tazing him! Just help him up! Just stop tazing him and help him up. One of these boys will help you.”

Sotherland responds, “You guys gonna help him up?” To which the onlooker says, “Yeah.” After that, a gentleman then can be heard saying, “I dunno, I don’t trust her myself,” referring to the cop after seeing what she has just done to the man on the ground.

At this point, a number of bystanders go over to assist the brutalized man into the police cruiser.

While the quick indictment of Sotherland was certainly a move in the right direction, it remains to be seen whether a South Dakota jury will actually hold the former officer accountable for her actions. Members of the tribe are skeptical that justice will actually be served, as South Dakota has a tenuous history with Native peoples.

A Washington state police officer has been charged with sexually assaulting a fellow cop after she passed out at a party, authorities said.

Spokane Police Department Sgt. Gordon Ennis turned himself in Wednesday and was booked on second-degree rape charges, according to The Spokesman-Review. He was released minutes later.

His arraignment is scheduled for Monday.

The female officer told investigators she consumed several drinks at an October party thrown by another Spokane officer. She vomited and then went to sleep it off in a guest room at the host’s house, she said.

She awoke to find Ennis sitting next to her on a bed, with his fingers penetrating her, she said.

He abruptly left, she said.

“The victim is very strong, and has great resolve to see this through to the end,” said Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich, KREM-TV reported.

Court documents say Ennis trimmed his fingernails to avoid the collection of DNA evidence, the station said. He was placed on paid leave after the alleged incident.

Other officers are being investigated for possibly compromising the investigation, authorities said.

“This is a disappointing day for Spokane. We hold our police officers to the highest standards of conduct, and the allegations contained in these charges fall far short of those expectations,” sid Spokane Mayor David Condon.