“I was right there,” he said. “I could see the sparks flying and everything. After he shot Chris once, he pointed the gun right at me, right in my face. But Chris was flailing around, so he turned back and – boom! boom! – he shot him twice more, just like that.”

Scalzo screamed to his wife to get in the house and lock the door, as he ran through high snow banks and dove over his backyard fence.

“I didn’t know if he was coming after me or what. But I guess he took off. I’ll tell you what though, I’ll never forget that guy’s face and that’s what I told the cops.”

Since the night of the shooting, the Scalzos have been serving a sentence of their own. Not in jail, but in a constant state of flight and financial freefall. The couple has moved three times and they still fear retaliation. They did not want their pictures taken for this column and asked that the town they live in not be disclosed.

“We were told, ‘This is gang-related and we can’t protect you in your house,’ ” Denise Scalzo said. “We had one night to get our personal belongings. That was it. We were put in witness protection.”

They say that while in witness protection, their house fell into disrepair and, when it finally sold, they lost all of their equity.

“At one point, the house was valued at $385,000,” Denise Scalzo said. “We ended up selling it for $200,000. We lost everything.”

They also have incurred medical expenses, including psychological counseling.

“To see a man just murdered like that,” she said. “And it turns out we knew him. He was friends with our daughter. A group of them had just returned from vacation.”

Add in the Lakewood taxes they paid on their vacant home while in hiding – “I called city hall, they wouldn’t talk to me,” Leonard Scalzo said – and rent they had to cover beyond the witness protection allotment – “Where are you going to go on $1,500 (a month)?” Denise Scalzo said – and their civic duty has cost them about $300,000.

To top it off, the Scalzos have only been offered $2,500 of the $144,000 reward posted for information leading to Crockham’s arrest and conviction.

RENO, Nev. (AP) - Facing new drug charges on top of an already long criminal history, James Corgan figured it would be best to cut a deal with authorities investigating drug-trafficking in northeast Nevada.

Corgan says state detectives assured him his identity would remain secret if he became a confidential informant, so he agreed in 2012 to lead them to a house in Elko where he routinely bought methamphetamine.

Days later, authorities raided the home, seized drugs and guns, and placed on the kitchen table a document that would turn Corgan's life upside down: a search warrant affidavit that identified him as the snitch.

Corgan says he was severely beaten by other prisoners and almost died after his release from jail when he was shot in the stomach by a contract killer in January 2013.

He accuses sheriff deputies of participating in a conspiracy, at one point holding him at the same jail with the hit man who shot him, and at another locking him in the same cell block with the alleged drug dealer he fingered.

Corgan makes the accusations in a federal lawsuit recently filed in U.S. District Court in Reno seeking up to $1 million in actual and punitive damages from the state, Elko County and others.

The suit doesn't suggest a motive for Corgan's treatment. But it alleges authorities later tried to cover-up the wrongdoing, and that a deputy attempted to "buy off Corgan" by offering him a house and money "to keep him quiet."


...

Bayonne, NJ– Officer Domenico Lillo of the Bayonne Police Department in New Jersey was actually raided by FBI agents and arrested on Friday morning in connection with a 2013 case of police brutality.

The raid took place after a federal grand jury in Newark returned an indictment charging him with deprivation of civil rights under color of law and falsification of records.

After having been armed and active on the force for over a year since the incident, Lillo was finally suspended without pay after the arrest.

On December 27, 2013, around 4:50pm, Lillo along with two other officers from the Bayonne Police Department went to an individuals home to execute an outstanding arrest warrant. Count one in the indictment states that while acting under the color of the law, Lillo struck the handcuffed victim, who was not resisting arrest, with a flashlight resulting in bodily injury. According to a lawsuit filed by the victim, the other officers stood by and did nothing to stop the attack.

The officer’s also allegedly pepper-sprayed both the victim and his mother, causing her grandchildren and other relatives to get sick.

nvestigators say the woman, identified as Kristiana Cognard, 17, of Longview, walked in the front doors of the empty lobby and made her way to the after-hours assistance phone.

"We don't know how she got here," said Longview police officer Kristie Brian.

After hours the police lobby is closed and all the windows are shut down. Police say Coignard came up to the courtesy phone and was connected to dispatch who then sent officers out to her.

It's unknown what was said when officers met her, but that's when police say she pulled out a weapon and threatened officers.

The department's lobby was temporarily on lockdown after the incident.On Thursday, Officer Kristie Brian said that Coignard entered the lobby of the police department. She picked up the red assistance phone in the lobby, and asked for police to come to her. When officers entered the lobby, Brian said, the woman was wielding a weapon, and was making threatening movements toward the officers. The woman was then shot by police.

Rodriguez was arrested after he allegedly persuaded a 37-year-old woman to enter his vehicle about 1 a.m. Dec. 31 in the 1500 block of North Avers, police said. When she tried to leave, he stopped her and attempted to sexually assault her while armed with a handgun, police said.

According to a police report, Chicago Police officers questioned Rodriguez when they spotted an orange Dodge Charger double parked at that location, but he responded to them by showing his Cook County sheriff's office badge and saying, “It's ok guys, I'm on the job.”

A woman, who is a “known prostitute,” then exited the Charger's passenger seat and told the officers that Rodriguez had invited the woman to get into his car, showed her his holstered handgun and implied a sexual act, the police report said.

The police report states that Rodriguez told the woman, “Take care of me the right way and I'll let you walk.” When officers arrived, Rodriguez “grabbed her left arm and stated: ‘Be cool.'”

Rodriguez was a deputy sheriff in the Civil Process unit and was not on duty at the time of the incident, said Sophia Ansari, spokeswoman for the sheriff's office. He has been de-deputized, and the sheriff's office has launched a disciplinary investigation, Ansari said.

A former New Orleans police officer pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday (Jan. 22) to bilking $158,700 from a government program designed to help families return to Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina.

Tracie Medus, 39, was a 17-year veteran of the department before being placed on unpaid suspension in November, when she was charged with theft of government funds. She resigned prior to her guilty plea, according to a release from U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite's office.

Medus, who owned an apartment building at 606 Harrison Ave. in Lakeview, filed an application in 2007 for two units in that building with the Louisiana Road Home Program's Small Rental Property Program, a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development-funded program designed help landlords repair smaller properties for low and middle-income renters displaced in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

For a landlord to be eligible, he or she would need to rent units at capped rates to tenants who met certain income levels. Those tenants would have to live in the units prior to the payment of funds.

In both her application and eventual acceptance of $158,700 in program funds, Medus claimed she was charging program-eligible rents to approved tenants. But, in her guilty plea, she admitted to overcharging tenants in both units, and renting one of the units to an unapproved tenant.

PRESCOTT VALLEY, Ariz. -- A Prescott Valley police commander has resigned amid allegations of misconduct.

Cmdr. Arthur Askew has been under investigation for allegedly stealing prescription drugs from the drug storage vault in the police department's evidence room.

According to police, the public voluntarily surrendered the drugs for destruction.

Police set up a motion-activated still camera and a covert video surveillance camera in the drug vault after receiving information in late November about suspicious activity in the vault.

The footage reportedly showed Askew removing prescription drugs from the discard box on Dec. 30 and 31.

...

Askew was placed on paid administrative leave pending completion of the internal review, but he chose to immediately resign.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A Cleveland police officer shocked a man with a Taser after the man had complied with orders to raise his hands and drop to his knees, according to video evidence and a civil rights lawsuit filed in federal court.

As Rafael Correa walked along Detroit Avenue near West 28th Street about 6:30 p.m. May 15, 2010, a police cruiser approached and Officer Jim Simone Jr. got out with his gun drawn and aimed at Correa, according to the complaint.

Simone ordered Correa, 28, to take off his backpack, get on his knees, remove the shirt slung around his neck and put his hands in the air. Correa quickly complied. But Simone, with a gun in one hand and a Taser in the other, fired his Taser into Correa, the video shows.

Two more officers -- Joseph Wright and Matthew Craska, according to the complaint -- arrived at the scene, rolled Correa onto his face and put him in handcuffs. Correa was unconscious while the officers searched him and his bag, the complaint states.

The officers were looking for a gun after a Bounce nightclub employee reported that Correa was booted from the property and may be armed, according to the complaint.

Police found no weapons, drugs or contraband during their search.

An ambulance arrived about six minutes after Correa was injured. A few minutes after that, two more officers arrived, bringing the total on scene to five. Many of the officers laughed and stood around while a paramedic checked Correa, video shows.

Correa was placed under arrest and kept in jail for four days on accusations of assault, obstructing official business and disturbing the peace, the complaint states. He was charged with obstructing official business. The charge was later dropped, according to Cleveland Municipal Court records.

The three officers, then-Chief Michael McGrath and the City of Cleveland were listed as defendants in the lawsuit. The suit claimed the city had deficient policies and failed to properly train its officers, which in part led to a violation of Correa's constitutional rights, according to the complaint.


In 2013, the city settled the lawsuit for $100,000.

A San Francisco police corruption scandal, triggered by surveillance videos that appeared to show officers as thieves, registered its first verdicts Friday when a federal court jury found two veteran officers guilty of stealing property and thousands of dollars in cash from drug-dealer suspects to enrich themselves and defraud the city.

The jury took 3½ days of deliberations to unanimously find Officer Edmond Robles guilty of five felony charges and Sgt. Ian Furminger guilty of four. Jurors acquitted them of four charges, including conspiracy to deprive the public of their honest services, and deadlocked on a theft charge against Furminger.

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer scheduled sentencing for Feb. 23. Furminger’s lawyer, Brian Getz, said after the verdict that the crimes carry lengthy prison terms under federal sentencing guidelines.

The trial took place more than three years after San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi released videos that appeared to show officers walking out of cheap single-room-occupancy hotels with bags of residents’ possessions.

The encounter between Martin and Sacramento County Sheriff’s deputies was captured on home surveillance video. It appeared that a deputy approached Martin from behind, shoved him into a trashcan and then onto the hood of his car.

Julie said the deputies told her he was arrested for being drunk in public, but that he was never formally charged with anything.

“He wasn’t in public. He was in the garage, completely closed off,” Julie said.

The family filed a lawsuit against the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department Friday. They are alleging unlawful arrest, excessive force and violation of the Trust Act, since Martin was still jailed for three days on an immigration detainer request.

“There was no lawful reason reason for him to stay in jail,” Julie said.

The family said they are seeking damages the time Martin was forced to spend away from his children.

“I looked out the window and I saw they put him in the car and they left but that was it. It was very, very sad,” Martin’s son Nicolas said.

“Like he said, it’s sad and I missed the little ones,” Martin said.

The Del Agua’s attorney sent FOX40 a copy of letter from Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones. The attorney said in this letter Jones admitted that during an internal investigation, the department found evidence to support their claim of employee misconduct.

Sunday the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department said they were not available to make a comment.

“They need to take responsibility for their lack of following the law,” Julie said.

a Florida woman said this week that a Florida deputy had received favorable treatment after he shot up her home with an AK-47 because he was a member of law enforcement.

Dawn Bryan told The Tampa Tribune that a neighbor and one of his friends had shot her house several times on Saturday while firing an AK-47 on a nearby property. Bryan found that several rounds had hit her home. One bullet was fired into her 2-year-old daughter’s nursery, shattering the window above the crib.

Bryan contacted law enforcement, who came out to investigate. One of the shooters was identified as neighbor Scott Radford, who is a Hillsborough County firefighter. Hillsborough County sheriff’s detention deputy Paul Adee, whose father is sheriff’s Maj. Paul Adee, was confirmed to be the second shooter.


But she said that the deputies who investigated the case did not collect any evidence — including an AK-47 round that was still on her porch — and no one was charged.

“They got favorable treatment,” Bryan explained. “My house got blown up by an AK 47. I have to tell you, I was hysterical at the time.”

Bryan said that deputies escorted Radford to her home to apologize. Radford had told the deputies that the shooters had not been aware that the AK-47 rounds would travel far enough to hit her house.

“He shook my hand and apologized,” Bryan recalled. “He admitted he did it. Then the cops look at me and say, ‘OK, so, we’re good, right?’ I asked, ‘What about charges?’ and the deputy says he called his sergeant and there would be no charges.”

“We’re not talking about a BB gun here,” she added. “This was an AK 47 that could have struck my children.”

Bryan said that Radford promised to pay for the damage that at least nine bullet holes caused to her home, but she’s not holding her breath waiting for a check.

“I don’t think I’m going to see squat,” she insisted. “I’m a single mother. I don’t have money to pay for this. They were completely reckless.”

Hillsborough County sheriff’s office spokesperson Debbie Carter declined to discuss the details of the case, but said that charges were still possible.

The disgraced former California Highway Patrol officer at the center of a nude photo-sharing scandal that rocked the agency will avoid any jail time after pleading no contest Tuesday to two felony counts of secretly copying and sharing explicit photos of female DUI suspects.

Contra Costa Superior Court Judge Terri Mockler said she struggled with Sean Harrington's punishment but in the end gave the former officer a 180-day suspended jail sentence for two felony computer theft charges for stealing photos from the women's cellphones. As long as he follows the terms of his probation and attends violence-prevention classes, Harrington will not spend time behind bars. However, his law enforcement career is almost certainly over.

BROOKLYN, N.Y. (PIX11) – “His story checked out. Every single thing he said to me checked out. Never wavered in his story and remained consistent for over a year and a half,” this is how Debbie Silberman describes her client Jeffrey Herring who she first met following a June 2013 gun arrest in East Flatbush.

The arrest was conducted by NYPD officers out of the 67th Precinct. The case had several unanswered questions including an informant who could not be produced. “The allegations made by the prosecution in this case is what stood out to me, not necessarily what he said in the fact that it seemed so unreasonable and so unbelievable,” said Silberman.

Silberman, who has handled hundreds of cases for Brooklyn Defender Services, knew this one was unique. The young defender’s persistence as well a relentless pursuit for the truth shined the light on another a miscarriage of justice for the system.

“No innocent person should spend one minute of their freedom taken away,” said Silberman.

Now the allegations that are surfacing is that NYPD officers involved may have planted guns in this case as well as others. It has resulted in Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson producing an investigation.

District Attorney Thompson issued the following statement to PIX11 News, “We will investigate the arrest of Mr. Herring and other arrests by these officers because of the serious questions raised by this case.”

What was the smoking gun?

Similarities in past arrests. Silberman showcased the parallels in testimony from a 2012 case.

“At the time and place, I observed a male sitting on his bike with a white plastic bag on a bike,” said Silberman. “And in your case it says, I observed a man standing in front of a building with several shopping bags and a bicycle.”

The nearly identical testimony appears in the Herring case.

Additionally, the Detective in the 2012 case, the same one who played a role in Silberman’s case was criticized by a Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge for not willing to address questions focused on a previous DWI arrest. To be clear, it was the detective who had been arrested for DWI, “This is an individual who arrests people. He was involved with Mr. Herring in my case. He himself was arrested and when confronted with it wouldn’t even answer questions while testifying under oath about his own experience,” said Silberman.

The defender also added that the NYPD cops involved in the latest case failed to take the stand and answer questions surrounding their investigation.

The NYPD would not answer any inquiries on the cases only issues a statement that confined an investigation by the Internal Affairs Bureau.