A settlement has been reached in the case of a University of Virginia student arrested during a botched ABC sting in Charlottesville.

Elizabeth Daly will receive more than $212,500 and a letter from the Alcoholic Beverage Control board explaining the circumstances of her arrest to present to any future employers.

Daly was originally seeking $40 million in a federal lawsuit. Attorney General Mark Herring said the decision came down to being fair to taxpayers. He said, "after careful consideration of the potentially significant costs of taking this case to trial, I believe we have reached such an outcome."

Daly sued the state and seven ABC agents after she was arrested in April 2013 when agents had mistaken sparkling water she and her roommates bought for beer. Daly says the terrifying experience has caused post-traumatic stress.

All charges against Daly were eventually dropped and her record was expunged.

Residents at the Cherry Tree Hill apartments say they've been shaken after they say Bibb County Deputy Kenneth Brown caused a scene in their neighborhood while allegedly soliciting a 14 year old pregnant girl for sex and pointing a gun in the face of a 19-year-old neighbor who tried to intervene.

Upon his arrival, he pulled in and parked in my driveway, where King sat on the front porch and began to bark. Only moments later my husband arrived and told King to get in the house, to which King obeyed. Deputy Wells exited his car and informed my husband of the complaint. Deputy Wells then looks over King and proclaimed “Well, it wasn't him. The dog in the complaint is wearing a collar.” He then proceeded to tell my husband that he was about to shoot King, had he not come home when he did. My husband asked “Why would you shoot my dog on my property?” to which Deputy Wells responds “If I feel threatened, I have that right, but, now I see that your dog is not vicious, he is just a mouthy protector.”

skip forward a month ...

The [same] deputy yelled at King, and king began to bark at him. “Feeling threatened, I removed my 12 gauge shot gun from my patrol car. I continued to yell at the dog to get away and go lay down, but he would not let me get away from my patrol car. Still feeling threatened, I discharged one round of 12 gauge 00 buckshot into the white and brown dog.”

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A federal judge has denied the police unions' bid to intervene in the stop-and-frisk case, paving the way for the city's settlement over the controversial practice to move forward.
In a 105-page decision issued Wednesday, Judge Analisa Torres found the 11th-hour bid by various police unions to get involved in the long-running litigation was "untimely."
The groups didn't have the standing to get involved in the court fight between the city and those who said their constitution rights were violated by the NYPD's use of stop-and-frisk in its policing, according to the ruling.
The unions' challenge was the biggest roadblock to enacting a settlement reached between the plaintiffs and the de Blasio administration earlier this year overhauling the way the police use the tactic and agreeing to a court-appointed monitor to make sure those reforms stick.
Mayor de Blasio said the judge’s decision "to formally approve the settlement to resolve the stop-and-frisk litigation is a major step in our efforts to repair police-community relations."
The bitter, years-long court fight between the plaintiffs — minorities who'd been stopped by cops — and the Bloomberg administration resulted in a blistering ruling by Manhattan Federal Court Judge Shira Scheindlin last August.


Read more: Judge blocks police unions from getting involved in stop-and-frisk case - NY Daily News

he Obama administration abandoned a corruption case against an Arizona border patrol agent after his attorney accused federal agents of entrapping his client, and spending federal dollars on strippers, plane tickets, and tickets to a Manny Pacquiao fight as part of their investigation.

A federal judge dismissed money-laundering and corruption charges against Customs and Border Protection agent Lauro Tobias Tuesday in response to dismissal motions from both the Department of Justice and Tobias’ attorney, which were filed within hours of each other July 25.

Tobias, a 10-year veteran of the CBP who also served in the Air Force for two decades, was arrested in March 2013 after he took a trip from Phoenix to Las Vegas for a drug deal — six kilograms of cocaine were exchanged with unnamed persons for $100,000. Tobias was paid $4,000 for working as security during the deal, based on court documents.

Tobias has maintained he did not know the trip was for a drug deal, and that he was assured the exchange was legal.

But, based on court documents, the drug deal wasn’t real: Everyone involved, aside from Tobias, appears to have been a part of a federal task force that has been attempting, with little success, to root out corruption within the Border Patrol along the Arizona-Mexico border.

It’s unclear why the Justice Department abruptly asked for the dismissal the same day as Tobias’ attorney filed his motion.

Justice Department spokesman Cosme Lopez declined to comment on the case, which was the culmination of a multi-year investigation of the Lukeville Port of Entry border crossing by the Southern Arizona Corruption Task Force. The task force is made up of agents from Border Patrol, FBI, Justice Department, IRS, and other federal agencies. The dismissal of the case raises questions about the money and time invested in the task force, which has pursued rooting out systemic corruption on the border since 2010.

According to documents filed with the court, Tobias claimed the federal task force put the fake drug deal into play, as well as supplying the money, drugs, and agents for the various parts in the alleged conspiracy.

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For instance, according to a court motion filed by Tobias’ attorney, department officials would not release certain information about the investigation during discovery, including “an accounting of how much money was spent on this operation by the government … on hotel rooms, air fare, frequenting adult entertainment establishments, rental car costs, restaurant bills, and any other ‘perks’ that were used to implement the operation, such as the Pacquiao fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.” In another example, prosecutors were unwilling to even tell West — the defendant’s attorney — the code name of the investigation.

Tyler Harney was stopped by police on August 3rd, 2013. As the officers were throwing Harney up against the car, Harney began convulsing uncontrollably as a result of a seizure disorder, according to the lawsuit.

“Rather than immediately provide assistance to plaintiff, he was forced to the ground by the officers, face first,” Harney’s San Francisco-based attorney, David Helbraun, wrote in the 15-page complaint.

“An officer put his knee forcefully against plaintiff’s back and neck. One officer pulled and twisted back on plaintiff’s right arm, and continued to do so, saying, ‘stop, or I’m going to break your arm,’ or words to that effect. The officer then did in fact severely break plaintiff’s arm.”

After the arrest, Harney was taken to Stanford Hospital to be treated for multiple fractures to his left humerus bone. According to the suit, after he was booked into jail, sheriff’s deputies “exhibited deliberate indifference.” His shoulder was not properly immobilized and he was not given the proper pain medication.

The suit alleges that Harney was deprived of his state and federal constitutional rights “to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures, to be free from wrongful government interference with his freedom of expression and freedom of assembly and association, and to be free from bodily restraint and harm from personal insult and injury to personal relations.”

The lawsuit also claims that Harney is innocent of the crimes he was arrested for: battery on a police officer and resisting or obstructing a police officer. “At all material times, plaintiff acted peacefully and lawfully, never threatened any person, and never interfered with any police officer.”

Since this incident Harney has undergone multiple surgeries on his arm for which he is seeking unspecified damages. He also suffered a sprained wrist, ankle pain from tight shackles, nerve damage to his left arm and hand, and bruises all over his body.

The Albuquerque Police Department says it turns out it doesn't need a massive armored vehicle that the city obtained as military surplus and plans to dispose of it.

Albuquerque was among numerous law enforcement agencies across the country that obtained some of the many mine-resistant and ambush-protected vehicles that the military procured for the Iraq and Afghan wars.

Police Department spokesman Janet Blair says Albuquerque got its 14-foot-tall, 22.5-ton vehicle eight months ago but has not used it in the field.

According to the Albuquerque Journal, Blair says the department has other armored vehicles it can use for SWAT team deployments instead of the mine-resistant vehicle.

Blair said the department will work with the state to find a new owner for the vehicle.

Apparently, "I tested positive for cocaine because I rubbed some unknown 'sex-aid cream' on my genitals that was given to me by a friend who got it from some 'old Cuban guy'" is a suitable defense for a Florida cop to get his job back.

At least, that's what the arbitrator for a grievance hearing about a cop's firing ruled when he told the city to reinstate Miami Beach Police Detective Reinaldo Casas.

Last year Detective Casas tested positive for cocaine and was subsequently fired. But Casas said he had "never knowingly used cocaine."

Instead, he claims the cocaine must have been absorbed into his blood through "an erection-enhancing cream he applied to his genitals."

Overall pretty happy how the officers handled our refusal to ID the passenger. Not sure why it takes 4 officers and 2 cars to stop a car with a headlight out... but at least our rights weren't trampled on.

Police and FBI agents investigating the disappearance and death of 14-year-old April Millsap haven’t solved the case, but they did manage to stage an unrelated marijuana raid (priorities, you know) and impose a blockade around the entire town of Armada, Michigan.

According to WXYZ-TV, “The FBI and Armada Police are stopping every vehicle attempting to enter or leave the Village of Armada. Agents and officers are marking an X on the hands of everyone they have spoken to.”

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A Brooklyn cop crossed the line when he cracked a suspect in the head with a baton, a prosecutor said Wednesday.

Officer Keith Dsouza violated NYPD guidelines and used unjustified and potentially deadly physical force against Ryan Scails when he and his partner busted him for public urination in Red Hook on July 5, 2012, said Heather Cook, a Civilian Complaint Review Board prosecutor.

“There was never a deadly physical force threat to these officers — never,” Cook said at Dsouza’s administrative trial at NYPD headquarters.

“[Dsouza] hit him in the head, and he knew he wasn’t supposed to him in the head. He got in more than one whack on his head.”

Scails filed a complaint with the CCRB, which substantiated it, leading to the trial.

Dsouza, who has seven years on the force and could lose at least a week’s pay if found guilty, testified he and his partner, Officer Fernando Lopes, chased Scails for three blocks after they saw him relieving himself against a building. He said Scails resisted arrest and prevented Lopes from handcuffing him.

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Scails, a 24-year-old arts student at the time, needed stitches to repair wounds on his right leg and behind his right ear. The charges against him — resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and public urination — were later dismissed.

In addition to the CCRB complaint, he filed a civil rights lawsuit, which is pending.

The store window designer says she heard someone from an unmarked van yell at her friend and her for jay-walking in Greenwich Village last Friday. She yelled back. She says she had no idea she had just tossed an F-bomb at an NYPD Officer.

"I didn't even know he was an officer. There were tinted windows," said Stephanie Maldonado.

But Stephanie Maldonado says by then it was too late , she claims the officer came at her in a fit of rage.

"He grabs me and puts me in handcuffs and then with handcuffs already, I feel my arm, he just throws me on the floor." She continues, "With his knee he put all his weight on my face that's why I have all these abrasions, please you are hurting me, you are hurting me."

The injuries, Stephanie says expose the brutal force allegedly used against her handcuffed, 120 pound body.

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Soon after being arrested, Stephanie was taken by ambulance to Beth Israel Medical Center where doctors treated her for a fractured hand, broken teeth, and facial bruises.

It's also where officers from Internal Affairs came to visit to take pictures of her injuries and ask her questions about the arresting officer, Eric Duval of the 6th Precinct.

"Officer Duval approached me; he grabs me picks me up off the ground and slams me face-first into the ground, knocking my teeth out," said Michael Gjenvick.

Gjenvick tells a similar story after he claims he was falsely arrested a few years ago by the same NYPD Officer Eric Duval.

"I was screaming very similar comments, Why are you arresting me? What are you doing? What is going on right now? Not really getting any response other than him shoving my face into the ground," adds Gjenvick.

Pictures show a handcuffed Gjenvick bleeding from his mouth, teeth broken when slammed face first into the sidewalk.

Four months ago, without admitting any wrongdoing, the city paid Gjenvick $207,000 to settle a lawsuit against Officer Duval and two fellow officers.

"Police officers like this need to go to jail, there needs to be a course of action against them," adds Gjenvick.

Now after her encounter with Officer Duval, Stephanie Maldonado has months painful physical therapy and dental surgeries ahead. She wants the NYPD to do something before it happens to someone else.

Troopers say 18-year-old Sebastian Reyes, a cadet in the commercial vehicle enforcement division, was driving an unmarked SUV on a routine assignment.
Police say Reyes used a crossover for emergency vehicles to head in the opposition direction.

Officers say Reyes lost control of the vehicle and sideswiped a car driven by 59-year-old Karen Holt-Williams of Temple Hills.

Authorities say Holt-Williams' car traveled across the interstate and hit a jersey wall. Reyes' SUV hit another car.

Last week's exoneration not only clears Phillips' name and his credit report, it will also make him a wealthy man.

Texas law awards an exoneree $80,000 for each year of wrongful incarceration, so Phillips will get a lump sum of $960,000 and then $80,000 a year for as long as he lives.

Texas also offers exonerees state-run health insurance and a free education, if they choose.

An LAPD K-9 has been suspended after attacking an LAPD officer that was part of a frantic search for a LAPD motorcycle officer’s missing a loaded tactical shotgun.