nd when HPD handed Jerry the ticket, there was a major red flag.

"I immediately know that something's hinky with the ticket," Jerry said.

That's because the ticket-writing officer listed another HPD officer as a witness.

"There was no other officer, he was the only officer there," Jerry said.

What he didn't know at the time, is what the I-Team has now uncovered through a paper trail of records--dozens of cases where HPD officers listed witnessing officers on tickets--who were never there.

It was all to allegedly collect hefty overtime checks by later appearing in traffic court..

"Just to remind you just like any other citizen, they're innocent until proven guilty," said Ray Hunt, President of the Houston Police Officers' Union.

Hunt said the Union is prepared to offer legal representation to Officers Gregory Rosa, Robert Manzanales and John Garcia. The three have been relieved of duty and reassigned to desk jobs while an internal affairs investigation proceeds.

A fourth officer under investigation, Rudolph Farias, shot and killed himself Tuesday afternoon in a police parking garage near downtown.

The I-Team found the alleged ticket-rigging scheme took place mostly on highways. In one case in May, Officer Manzalnaes put Officer Farias down as a witness at 11:24 p.m. at I-10 and Westcott Street.

But at the same exact time, records show Farias was writing a ticket nine miles away at I-10 and Wilcrest.

...

Win in police doughnut-eating contest sparks U.S. man's arrest

The sweet victory for a North Carolina man who beat police officers in a doughnut-eating contest this week soured after a newspaper story about the win led to his arrest on breaking and entering charges.

Bradley Hardison, 24, of Elizabeth City downed eight doughnuts in two minutes during a contest Tuesday night at an anti-crime event hosted by the city's police department, according to a story in the Daily Advance.

That report caught the eye of Camden County Sheriff's Lieutenant Max Robeson, who said his detectives had been trying to interview Hardison for about nine months after suspecting him in break-ins at two local businesses.

Robeson said they brought Hardison in for questioning on Wednesday.

"I said, 'Congratulations on your win last night,'" Robeson recalled, before arresting the man on criminal charges of breaking and entering and injury to real property.

Hardison remained in jail on Friday, the sheriff's lieutenant said.

Reuters

Win in police doughnut-eating contest sparks U.S. man's arrest - Chicago Tribune

Even assuming that half these deaths were homicides, policing would have a murder rate of 5.55 per 100,000, comparable to the average murder rate of U.S. cities: 5.6 per 100,000. It's more dangerous to live in Baltimore (35.01 murders per 100,000 residents) than to be a cop in 2014.

This is not to say that police officers do not have a difficult job. They certainly do. They’re required to have daily contact with drunks, the mentally disabled, and criminal suspects. Arrests can often lead to physical confrontation, assault, and sometimes injury. Police are constantly dragged into families' and neighbors' petty squabbles. It can be a stressful and sometimes thankless task.

But it just isn't unusually deadly or dangerous—and it’s safer today than ever before. The data do not justify the kinds of armor, weapons, insecurity, and paranoia being displayed by police across the country. Short of an outbreak of land-mine-related crimes in America's heartland, there's no reason to deploy mine-resistant vehicles and .50 caliber machine guns to rural sheriffs departments.

Howard County police said a man has died after officers - who found him in his bedroom with self-inflicted stab wounds - shot him after he confronted them with a knife.

Police spokeswoman Mary Phelan said that officers were called to a home in the 7600 block of Coachlight Lane in Ellicott City Wednesday afternoon for a report of a possible suicide in progress.

Phelan said two officers found 45-year-old Darren Friedman in a bedroom suffering from several serious, self-inflicted stab wounds.

Phelan said when officers went into the room to help Friedman, he confronted them with a knife and both officers fired their weapons.

Friedman was flown to a hospital where Phelan said he died; an autopsy will determine the cause of death.

Florida police responding to a report of a crazed lunatic with a gun outside an Orlando, Florida night club shot at the reportedly uncooperative gun-wielder, Kody Roach, 23, nine times. One of their bullets went astray and killed an innocent young woman inside the club, 22-year-old female college student Maria Fernanda Godinez of Coco Beach. Godinez was killed by the stray bullet, yet the suspect who was hit six times survived. Officer Eduardo Sanguino, who it's believed shot the bullets which killed Godinez, was given a paid vacation while police "investigate." They say so far there is no reason to believe the shooting was not "justified."

Of course, all that's required for the shooting to be considered "justified" is the cop claiming he "feared for his life."

An Albany police officer, who shot and killed an undocumented immigrant four years ago, has been suspended and is facing dismissal after video captured him tasering a kneeling teen who was surrendering at the time of the incident.

Sgt. Vincent P. Igoe, is under investigation by both local authorities and the FBI after he tasered 16-year-old Kelijah Fink following a high speed chase that authorities claim reached 110 miles per hour, according to CBS6 Albany.

According to authorities, Igoe joined in the pursuit already in progress after officers spotted Fink driving with his headlights off. When police finally pulled Fink over after he struck several stop signs and a fence as he tried to out run them, Igoe allegedly approached the car and fired his Taser through a broken car window, but missed. After exiting the vehicle, Fink knelt on the ground with his hands behind his head. A police video camera captured footage of Igoe again firing his Taser at Fink, this time striking the teen, paralyzing him with a powerful electric shock..


Following a review of the tape, authorities suspended Igoe and have initiated termination proceedings.