A Washington State Patrol Trooper is accused of burning evidence that connected his teenage son to a string of crimes in Olympia.

Daniel Ray Tindall, who's been a trooper for 24 years, was charged late last month with tampering with evidence and rendering criminal assistance to his son, who's accused of a host of crimes, including trying to light a car on fire.

Olympia police believe 18-year-old Wyatt Tindall repeatedly vandalized a car belonging to the father of a girl he was interested in. Over the course of a month, the younger Wyatt is accused of twice slashing the car's tires, as well as leaving a sign on the car.

The car's owner, Stephen Owens, eventually decided to install a surveillance camera in hopes of nabbing the vandal. In early April, Owens captured video of a masked man putting a wood stick and paper in the car's gas tank and then lighting it on fire. The car didn't ignite, but the vandal got away.

Two days after the arson attempt, Owens said he caught the masked man trying to slash his tires. He chased after the vandal, but wasn't able to catch him.

After interviewing members of the Owens family and viewing the surveillance video, police came to believe that Wyatt Tindall was behind the string of crimes, according to court documents.

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Detectives interviewed another of Wyatt's friends, who admitted that he had been with Wyatt the night Owens chased away the vandal. The friend allowed police to view Facebook messages from Wyatt that appeared to admit to the crimes.

It was in those messages that detectives began to believe Wyatt's father, WSP trooper Daniel Ray Tindall, knew about the crimes and may have tampered with evidence.

In one Facebook message, Wyatt wrote, "mom and dad came and got me before play practice was over. Apparently the cops talked to them. My mom and dad found my mask and coat. They hid them but my dad wanted to go to the cops. My mom convinced him otherwise. If I'm convicted I could go to jail for 7 years minimum," according to court documents.

When police arrested Wyatt last month, he allegedly admitted to committing all the crimes at the Owens home. He also told police his mom and dad knew about the crimes and had agreed to dispose of the clothes he was wearing in the surveillance video, according to court papers.

Daniel Tindall first tried to throw the clothes in a nearby garbage, but he got spooked by a passerby and aborted the plan.

Wyatt told police his parents then took the clothes to a second home the family owned in the Winthrop area. Police got a search warrant for that home and found a jacket and shoes matching the clothes worn in the surveillance video. They also found ashes and debris in a wood stove that they believe are remnants of the ski mask worn during the crimes.

After finding the evidence, police arrested Wyatt Tindall and booked him into Thurston County Jail on for arson and felony malicious mischief.

Daniel Tindall was also arrested. He was placed on administrative reassignment until the case is resolved.

Eight women who filed a federal lawsuit accusing a former Santa Fe police officer of harassment have accepted a $770,000 settlement from the city.

The parties agreed to settle the case in February, but the total amount of the monetary award was not decided until last week. It includes $55,000 that the city previously had agreed to pay one of the women.

The lawsuit, filed in 2012, claims that former police officer Michael Eiskant stalked and harassed the women. Those who sued him include a former Santa Fe police officer and two employees of the state Department of Public Safety.

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They said they first filed complaints about Eiskant with the police department, but Rael ignored them.

Former Santa Fe police officer Shannon Brady said Eiskant, who was Brady’s supervisor when she began working at the police department, followed her many times when she went on patrol. After Brady returned to work from a medical leave in October 2010, she learned that Eiskant had disclosed her medical condition to some of their colleagues, the lawsuit states.

Eiskant in April 2012 pleaded no contest to 10 criminal charges, including stalking, harassment and two counts of unauthorized computer use. Some of the charges against him involved women who had sued him in civil court.

The judge in his criminal case ordered Eiskant to resign his certification as a sworn law enforcement officer in New Mexico.

A family says Breckinridge County Kentucky Sheriff Todd Pate, with other officers, entered their home without a warrant or probable cause and took their 10 children.

Nicole Naugler was pulled over by a Breckinridge County deputy before officers took her two oldest boys with no documentation to support their actions, an audio recording of the incident shows.

Nicole, 5 months pregnant, was slammed into the hood of a cop car, and was taken into custody for disorderly conduct after pleading with the Sheriff to not take her boys, and resisting arrest.

When Nicole’s husband Joe arrived, Sheriff Pate, with his hand on his sidearm, ordered him back his the car and ordered him to turn over the remaining eight children over by 10:00 am, a website dedicated to raising support for the family, states.

Joe was threatened with felony charges if he didn’t comply, the website says. It appears the incident unfolded as a result of an unfounded anonymous complaint filed with Child Protective Services.

Audio recorded from the event details a heartbreaking scene as a mother cries for her children and police refuse to offer explanations before physical brutalizing her.

David Masters of Fredericksburg was shot and killed by Fairfax County police Officer David Scott Ziants on Nov. 13, 2009, as Masters drove on Route 1 in the Alexandria area of Fairfax County. Masters was unarmed and had ripped some flowers out of a planter in front of a business, which led to the police pursuit.

On Wednesday, the Fairfax police released the dash cam video from Ziants’s car. The actual shooting is not visible, but the sounds of the shots can be heard (at 1:49), followed by another officer apparently telling Ziants, “What are you doing? Hold up! Whoa! Hold up! The —- you doing dude? Come on.”

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Fairfax Commonwealth’s Attorney Raymond F. Morrogh ruled in January 2010 that Ziants had not committed a crime, because Ziants believed that Masters was driving a stolen car, was reaching for a gun and had run over another officer, none of which was true. Ziants was allowed to remain on the force until May 2011, when then-Chief David M. Rohrer fired Ziants.

After a federal judge ruled that the video regarding the arrest of Lateef Dickerson on August 24, 2013, by Officer Tom Webster was no longer considered to be confidential, the Dover Police Department has decided to release the video. Based on the incident that occurred, which is captured on this video, the Dover Police Department initiated a multi-pronged investigation into this matter. As a result, in November 2013, the Dover Police Department placed Webster on paid administrative leave pending an internal investigation and review of the case by the Delaware Attorney General’s Office. In March of 2014, the Delaware Attorney General’s Office took the case before a grand jury who did not return an indictment for Webster. At that time the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Delaware reviewed the case and found that there was not a civil rights violation. After both agencies conducted their separate investigations, the Dover Police Department completed the internal investigation on Webster finding that his actions regarding this incident were outside of Dover Police Department policy and the department took the appropriate actions.

In June 2014, Webster returned to full duty with the Dover Police Department and was reassigned to the patrol division. On May 4, 2015, the Dover Police Department learned that the Delaware Attorney General’s office took this case before a second grand jury which indicted Cpl. Webster on the charge of Assault 2nd degree. Upon being notified of the indictment the Dover Police Department immediately placed Webster on leave without pay pending the outcome of the criminal case.

On May 4, 2015, Webster turned himself in and was presented to Commissioner Andrea Freud of the Kent County Superior Court where he was released on $5,000.00 unsecured bond.

...At first, Dowd would skim cash from crime scenes and off of perps both guilty and innocent—easy pickings that supplemented the $600-per-week paychecks cops were getting back then to throw themselves into the deadly crack wars that plagued the poorest hoods in NYC.

He recalled his first shakedown of a black motorist he’d pulled over that left him buzzing with a rush once he realized he’d gotten away with it. Skimming turned to robbery and extortion as he targeted drug dealers in his jurisdiction and offered protection services to local gangsters, recruiting several of his fellow officers in Brooklyn’s 75th Precinct. The adrenaline rush was “something you’ve never felt,” one of Dowd’s former cohorts ruefully explains.

Between 1986 and 1992, the Long Island-based Dowd and his boys ran rampant under the nose of a department that seemingly looked the other way—even as he showed up to work in a brand new red Corvette and lived suspiciously large on a beat cop’s modest salary. “You felt like you were a god,” Dowd admits with a gleam in his eye, more nostalgic than remorseful for the hundreds of crimes he committed while in uniform, including supplying a Colombian drug syndicate with guns, bulletproof vests, and police radios...

Bradford Area High School Resource Officer Hiel “Butch” Bartlett is being sued by the family of an emotional support student for allegedly using excessive force in a classroom, deploying pepper spray and cuffing the student for alleged non-compliance with a teacher.

The 17-year-old male is identified only with the initials T.K., and is a current resident of Johnstown. Messages sent to the family’s attorney, Alex Barker of Pittsburgh, for comment were not immediately returned.

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“After speaking to school administration and staff, the officer’s conduct and use of force was determined to be in line with the police department’s use-of-force policy,” Lucco said.

The policy, he said, was reviewed and approved by the city’s insurance company, solicitor and city council. It is a model policy in use across the country, he added.
“In today’s society, it’s not necessarily an officer’s actions in question, but the perception of those actions,” Lucco said.

The suit alleges that on March 14, 2014, the student was in his life skills/emotional support class at the high school sitting with his head down on the desk. He ignored the request from the teacher to sit up and do his work. The teacher asked if he was OK, “because she knew that T.K. sometimes becomes upset or experiences anxiety and needs time away from the rest of the class,” the suit read.

He did not tell the teacher he was anxious, and she again asked him to do his work. He said he would not. The teacher asked the dean of students to speak with him; the dean asked her to send T.K. to the hallway to speak to him. T.K. “refused to leave his desk,” so the dean entered the classroom and tried to convince T.K. to follow him to the office, the lawsuit read.

The student refused to comply, so the dean asked him if he was OK. The student refused to move, so the dean asked the teacher to move the other students to another room, the suit read.

The suit alleges the teacher returned to the room and Bartlett entered at that time. Yet according to a response filed by Bartlett’s attorney, the officer waited in the hall “while the dean and teacher tried to calm the situation. At some point, voices became raised and T.K. got aggressive so defendant Bartlett entered the room as it no longer appeared to be a safety issue, but, instead, was turning into a police issue,” the response read.
Both documents agree the student was growing more agitated and Bartlett was advising him to calm down. The student’s fist was raised during the incident as well, both documents agreed.

“Defendant Bartlett, following police protocol, pulled out his pepper spray and told T.K. that he would count to three before using it unless T.K. cooperated, got out of his seat and went into the hallway,” the response read.

T.K. replied, “Don’t f---ing spray me with that,” the suit read.

As Bartlett counted to three, the teacher and dean continued asking the student to calm down and go with them to the office, the suit read. When Bartlett got to three, he sprayed the student with pepper spray, “pulled T.K. from his desk and pushed him to the floor, where he held T.K. down for 30 to 40 seconds,” the suit read. The student was handcuffed while on the floor, and taken to Bartlett’s office in the school.

Bartlett’s response read, “In order to maintain control of the situation and protect the safety of other individuals, defendant Bartlett followed proper procedure in placing T.K. on the floor and restraining him so that he would not be a threat to any other persons. All of this was according to police protocol and proper procedure.”

The student’s suit alleges Bartlett failed to properly decontaminate the child, which is denied in Bartlett’s response. “During the time of the decontamination, T.K. was not handcuffed and after decontamination at the school, was taken to the home of his mother who was in a position to provide further decontamination.”

After the student was taken home, Bartlett retrieved his coat from where it had been left in the school and searched it for “any dangerous or sharp objects which T.K. might use to harm others,” the response reads. A can of smokeless tobacco was found.

The student’s suit claimed there was no cause to search the coat.

The suit is claiming excessive force, false arrest, malicious prosecution, assault and battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress and is asking for both compensatory and punitive damages.

Jess Cooke, 21, says she was driving through the checkpoint, when agents said she looked nervous. She was then routed over for a secondary inspection.

Knowing that the agents had no probable cause to search her vehicle, Cooke refused to consent to search. She was then told that she had to wait for a K-9 Unit to arrive before she could leave.

Being nervous is not probable cause nor reasonable suspicion for a search. While inconsistently answering questions may result in reasonable suspicion, it is unclear whether or not this happened prior to Cooke’s detainment.

Because Cooke had committed no crime she demanded to be let go. However, these agents were set on violating her rights.

The conversation between Cooke and the agents quickly escalated and Cooke was thrown to the ground by the male agent as the female agent deployed the taser.

Cooke said the taser was continually deployed until she stopped screaming. After handcuffing her, agents then illegally opened her trunk and searched her entire vehicle, according to Cooke.

The subsequent search turned up nothing.

“I was cuffed for over an hour after being out in the Border Patrol car and then brought to the U.S. Customs station in Ogdensburg. I sat there for a good 3-4 hours and got sent home due to they couldn’t figure out what charges to put on me,” Cooke said in a written response to North Country Now.

Cooke told North Country Now that she received scrapes and cuts on her legs, back and chest. She said her wrists are also marked from the handcuffs.

Cooke holds a two-year degree in criminal justice and will graduate this Saturday for Law Enforcement Leadership from SUNY Canton. She had plans to pursue a career in Border Patrol, but due to the recent assault and unlawful arrest, she’s changed her mind, according to North Country Now.

Cooke says she is waiting to hear about possible charges regarding the struggle.

The trial of a former western Massachusetts police chief who prosecutors say stole thousands of dollars from a Christmas toy fund is slated to begin next week.

The Springfield Republican reports (Federal prosecutors: Former Lee police chief robbed Christmas toy fund for needy children and second police charity for nearly $200,000 | masslive.com ) former Lee Police Chief Joseph Buffis was indicted in 2013 following allegations he pocketed about $60,000 from the police-sponsored LaLiberte Toy Fund over five years. His trial is scheduled to start May 18.

Prosecutors are attempting to include evidence showing Buffis' thefts went beyond that period.

Officials say a forensic analyst determined Buffis took "nearly all" of hundreds of individual donations meant for poor children to write checks to "cash," himself, various credit cards and his own bank between 1999 and 2012.

Buffis pleaded not guilty to extortion, fraud and related charges. He denies he stole the money.

Thousands of people have been brought to the Baltimore city jail in recent years with injuries too severe for them to be admitted, newly released records show.

The records, obtained by The Baltimore Sun through a Maryland Public Information Act request, show that correctional officers at the Baltimore City Detention Center refused to admit nearly 2,600 detainees who were in police custody between June 2012 and April 2015.

The records do not indicate how the people were injured or whether they suffered their injuries while in custody. However, they do suggest that police officers either ignored or did not notice the injuries. Suspects are constitutionally guaranteed health care before they are booked into jail.

A North Carolina cop who sued Starbucks for hot coffee-related injuries said he drove home to take photos of himself before he went to the emergency room.

Matthew Kohr testified he froze in pain after the lid of his coffee cup came off as he was sitting down at the coffee shop, spilling the hot liquid in his lap, said the News & Observer of Raleigh, N.C. The coffee had been free, a perk for members of the police force.

He immediately returned to the police car, drove to the police garage, picked up his truck, and then drove home.

There, his wife took pictures of the burns on his inner thigh. He wasn't treated at urgent care for more than two hours, a point Starbucks' attorney Tricia Derr used to downplay the urgency of his condition, according to the news report.

Kohr sued Starbucks for at least $50,000, saying he has suffered third-degree burns from the spill. These, he said, aggravated his Crohn's disease and he suffered severe anxiety and sleeplessness. He grew distant from his wife and his medical costs rose, he said.

A 20-year member of the police force, Kohr said he took the photos since he knew he'd have to show his employer, not because he was thinking of a lawsuit.

Much of the day's testimony focused on Kohr's medical condition. His psychiatrist testified Kohr had difficulty controlling anxiety, experienced depression, had surgery related to Crohn's disease, and he struggled to stop taking anti-anxiety drug Xanax, said the News & Observer.

Grand juries would be prohibited from investigating police shootings and cases where an individual dies from excessive force during an arrest under a bill passed Thursday by the California state Senate.

Protests sprouted up nationwide last fall after grand juries in Missouri and New York declined to indict white police officers who had killed unarmed black men during confrontations. The system, in which a jury of citizens weighs the evidence to decide whether to bring charges, came under fire for its secrecy.

Sen. Holly Mitchell, D-Los Angeles, who introduced Senate Bill 227, argued that the lack of transparency and oversight in grand jury deliberations, which do not involve judges, defense attorneys or cross-examination of witnesses, did not serve the public.

“The use of the criminal grand jury has fostered an atmosphere of suspicion that threatens to compromise the nature of our justice system,” she said.

By banning the use of grand juries, the decision to prosecute officers would rest solely with local district attorneys. Mitchell said forcing district attorneys, who are elected, to deal with these cases would provide accountability.

“The general public would then have an opportunity for recourse” at the next election, Mitchell said in an interview, whereas “referral to a grand jury can be a way to avoid having fingerprints” on a case.

The measure received some pushback from lawmakers who suggested it was an emotional response to controversy that could trample due-process rights, but it was ultimately approved by a 23-12 vote, with all of the “yes” votes coming from Democrats. It heads next to the Assembly.

Read more here: California senators approve ban on grand jury investigations into police deaths | The Sacramento Bee

A white police officer in a small South Carolina town shot and gravely wounded a black homeowner who had called 911 during an attempted home invasion. The officers apparently mistook him for a suspect.

Sheriff’s deputies shot the victim, Bryant Heyward, 26, of Hollywood, South Carolina, on Thursday morning shortly after he called 911 to plead for help because two armed men were trying to break into his home.

The men reportedly fired two shots into his home, prompting Heyward to grab his brother’s .40-caliber handgun from a bedroom and fire back.

By the time two Charleston County sheriff’s deputies arrived at Heyward’s home, the two suspects had fled and Heyward went to greet the officers at his back door — reportedly holding his brother’s handgun.

But then one of the officers shouted for him to drop the gun and fired a bullet that went whizzing into Heyward’s neck.

“He thought I was the crook,” Heyward told investigators while in an ambulance being rushed to a hospital, according to audio of the interview released by authorities on Friday.

Police do not allege that Heyward ever raised the gun at the officers. Heyward’s family told local reporters that he might never walk again.

A 33-year-old man died in police custody this week after being hit with a taser during an arrest. During the arrest, victim John Kaafi reportedly told the officers on the scene that he had medical problems, including asthma.

Police say that he “resisted” and attempted to get away, but no evidence has been presented to verify their version of events; nor has it been confirmed by any other witnesses. According to police, Kaafi escaped from the police car window at one point.

After they attacked him, the police called an ambulance to the scene, but then later canceled the call for no reason. Eventually, Kaafi was taken to the hospital, where he later died from complications resulting from the attack.

Naturally, the officer’s decision to cancel the ambulance is already coming under scrutiny.

Michael Barfield, with the Florida American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, stated, “They note he was acting strangely and had difficulty breathing. For the officer to make a medical assessment is wrong, not just for the protection of the person in their care and custody, but for the protection of the agency, in case something occurs later on. Now we’re faced with the question of, if EMS had responded, would he still be alive? We’ll never know the answer to that question.”

There were three different officers involved in the encounter with Kaafi, and all of them are currently on paid vacation.