Steve Soboroff, the president of the civilian Police Commission that oversees the LAPD, urged the public to consider the officers' perspective of the events leading up to the shooting.

"Try and put yourself in the officers' shoes. This is about what happened pre-shooting, not after the shooting," he said. "Let's find out the facts, just like every other shooting."

Charles "Sid" Heal, a retired Los Angeles County sheriff's commander, said it can be difficult for the public to understand an officer's perspective during such incidents. Police shootings usually unfold within seconds, he said. The stakes are life or death, he said, and less-lethal options such as a Taser are often no match for someone with a gun.

The scheduled hearing for June 22nd has been continued for West Monroe Police Officer Jody LeDoux, due to one of his attorneys being unavailable. The hearing is now scheduled for August 31st.

West Monroe Police Officer Jody LeDoux pleaded not guilty Thursday afternoon at his arraignment to one count of negligent homicide.

LeDoux was indicted last month for the shooting death of Raymond Keith Martinez in December outside a convenience store on 7th Street in West Monroe.

Video caught on camera the night of the shooting has been released to the media. A WARNING, the video posted on KNOE.COM is the non-blurred version and is graphic.

The last time LeDoux was in court he was joined by several West Monroe Police Officers showing their support. LeDoux is scheduled to be back in court May 19th.

While the case is moving forward there are still unanswered questions stemming from the December 4th shooting.

A Richmond police officer shot a department K-9 on Tuesday after the dog bit him, authorities said.

The shooting happened at police headquarters at 1701 Regatta Blvd. at 6:50 a.m. The officer was walking through the secured parking lot in street clothes, on his way to work, when he was set upon by the Belgian Malinois, said Richmond police Sgt. Nicole Abetkov.

The dog had been inside a Chevrolet patrol vehicle but somehow got out and attacked the officer, prompting him to shoot the dog once, Abetkov said. The dog’s handler was inside the police building at the time.

“The officer is going to be OK,” Abetkov said of the officer who was bitten.

The injured dog, which was trained to apprehend suspects and detect drugs, was taken to a Berkeley veterinary hospital and was reported to be in stable condition. The circumstances leading up to the incident are under investigation.

Sean Kendall, whose dog, Geist, was shot dead by a Salt Lake City police officer a year ago, wants his day in court. But a Utah law is making that difficult.

Kendall has filed a notice of claim outlining his intent to sue Salt Lake City. He also seeks to file a civil claim against Officer Brett Olsen, who shot Geist.

But a Utah law passed in 2008 poses a significant obstacle for the dog owner to sue the officer, according to Kendall's attorney, former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson.

The law, 78B-3-104, requires Kendall to post a bond to cover attorney fees and court costs for the officer. And it dictates the court award the fees and costs to the prevailing party.

Despite being accused of sexual assault back in 2007, Champaign Police Officer Jerad Gale was just given his department’s highest honor in March. On March 30, Gale was named Champaign’s Officer of the Year.

Just three months later he would be arrested for strangling and raping two more women.

Tuesday Officer Gale was arrested and charged with aggravated criminal sexual assault and domestic battery.

According to Illinois Hompage, prosecutors in Piatt and Champaign counties say two different women were sexually assaulted in separate incidents in 2012 and 2013. In addition, Gale is accused of strangling one of them.

Arrest warrants were issued in the two separate counties and Gale’s bond was set at $250,000.

The Piatt County case involves one felony count of criminal sexual assault. It reportedly happened between July 4 – 28, 2012. A conviction is punishable by 5 – 15 years in prison, according the IH.

The Champaign County case involves three counts including criminal sexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual assault and aggravated criminal domestic battery. Gale is accused of choking the victim at one point. The incident reportedly happened November 9, 2013. Punishment for those counts range from 3 – 7 years to 6 – 30 years, reports the IH.

Billings Police Officer Grant Morrison and his wife previously were cited for having a domestic pig inside Laurel city limits, but no new complaint has been made and there is no active investigation, Laurel Police Chief Rick Musson said Wednesday.

BPD Chief Rich St. John said the department is investigating an anonymous complaint that Morrison, who lives in Laurel, has been violating city codes.

The internal investigation is not concerned with the cause of any previous citations Morrison received, said BPD Lt. Casey Hafner. The department is looking into whether Morrison violated any department policies like failing to notify a supervisor of citations or orders to appear before a judge.

Musson said the fact that Morrison is a BPD officer has no effect on how the matter is being handled. An officer will visit the property if a complaint is filed and issue a citation if a violation is found.

...Buehler then pulled out his phone and began recording Autry, asking him to repeat what he perceived as a threat.

As Autry turned around to return to the courthouse, a sarcastic “have a nice day” was exchanged between the cop and one of Buehler’s associates.

Buehler then told him to “go **** yourself” as he was walking away, prompting Autry to turn around, pull out the handcuffs and arrest Buehler for disorderly conduct, even though numerous court decisions have ruled that using profanity against a cop is protected by the First Amendment.

Judge Voigt later denied Buehler’s motion to recuse herself from presiding over the subsequent trial given her involvement leading up to his arrest.

Buehler defended himself in court on June 5, 2013 and was found guilty after a 7-hour trial presided by the biased Judge Voigt.

He immediately appealed the decision and was granted a new trial with a new judge, who hopefully understands Constitutional law better than Voigt.

We will see tomorrow.

“We were given a trial de novo, I believe, because the original municipal court trial was in a court of no record,” Buehler explained. “We appealed it immediately with the county court which is above the municipal court.”

Buehler originally made headlines on January 1, 2012 when he was arrested on the felony charge of harassment of a public official, a 3rd degree felony, after he was accused spitting in the face of Austin police officer Patrick Oborski.

In the aftermath of that first arrest, Buehler launched the Peaceful Streets Project to educate the public on their rights as well as empower people to stand up for those rights as well as form communities to hold police accountable.

Over the next year-and-a-half, Austin cops arrested Buehler three more times for recording them while on duty.

Two years and nine months after the original 2012 New Year’s Day arrest, Buehler was found not guilty of all charges stemming from that incident during a four-day trial.

According to a prosecution document revealed in Brooklyn Supreme Court yesterday, rookie NYPD officer Peter Liang waited nearly 20 minutes to radio for help after he fatally shot Akai Gurley in a darkened stairwell of the Pink Houses in East New York last November.

Liang's trial commenced this week, and the document in question offers the most detailed account to date of the shooting and its immediate aftermath. Presented with this evidence, the NY Times reports, Justice Danny K. Chun denied a motion to dismiss the officer's charges on Tuesday. Liang was charged with second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in February.

The document, which includes testimony from Liang's partner Officer Shaun Landau and Gurley's girlfriend Melissa Butler, posits that Liang accidentally discharged his firearm at approximately 11:00 p.m., and didn't radio for help until 11:19. Immediately after the shot was fired, Officer Landau says that he heard running footsteps in the hallway below. Then, "Officer Landau asked defendant, 'What the **** happened?' Defendant asserted that 'It went off by accident' and repeatedly said he would be fired."

Landau and Liang then spent two minutes arguing about who should call in the incident, according to the document. In the meantime, Gurley was bleeding out on the stairwell's fifth floor landing. Butler ran for help, knocking on neighbors' doors, one of whom called 911 at 11:14. Butler returned to the stairwell, where Gurley was still alive, and put pressure on Gurley's wound.

Then, as Butler attempted to perform CPR with guidance from a 911 operator on the phone, Landau and Liang stepped around Gurley and Butler and proceeded down the stairs.

So here we go. I'm going to start Tweeting the things I've seen & participated in, in policing that is corrupt, intentional or not.

...

A detective slapping a completely innocent female in the face for bumping into him, coming out of a corner chicken store.

...

Punting a handcuffed, face down, suspect in the face, after a foot chase. My handcuffs, not my boot or suspect

...

Pissing and shitting inside suspects homes during raids, on their beds and clothes.

...

Swearing in court and PC docs that suspect dropped CDS during unbroken visual pursuit when neither was true.

...

Jacking up and illegally searching thousands of people with no legal justification

...

Targeting 16-24 year old black males essentially because we arrest them more, perpetrating the circle of arresting them more.

A federal civil rights lawsuit filed Tuesday claims that an off-duty St. Louis police officer handcuffed a blind woman without cause and dragged her and her dog out of a St. Louis bar.

The suit against off-duty officer William Clinton says he was working a security job at Caleco’s Bar & Grill, at 101 North Broadway, on Oct. 28, 2013. The suit says that Marvelena Quesada had left the bar as it was closing, but returned to help her friend settle her bill.

As she was paying the bill at the bar, Clinton “told her to ‘get out and get out now,’” the suit says, and refused to wait while she stowed her debit card and wallet in her purse. Clinton told her “I said now,” used an expletive, and added, “You’re going to jail,” according to the suit.

Clinton handcuffed her and pulled her off her chair, causing her to hit her head on the floor, the suit says. He then dragged her out the bar and down the sidewalk on her back, the suit says. The leash for Quesada’s guide dog was on her arm, the suit says, and the dog was dragged into chairs and tables.

Outside Caleco’s, as Quesada screamed for help, her friend and other patrons successfully urged Clinton to release her, the suit says.

Quesada suffered cuts and bruises, a back injury, depression and loss of sleep due to nightmares, according to the suit. She was confined to her bed for weeks afterward, the suit says. The two-count lawsuit seeks unspecified compensation for unreasonable seizure and assault and battery.

uthorities on Tuesday arrested a deputy who served at the Stanislaus County jail, alleging he stole money that belonged to inmates.

Jose Pacheco, a nine-year veteran custodial deputy with the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department, was arrested on charges of felony grand theft and burglary.

According to a news release, detectives started an investigation into the theft of money from the Inmate Welfare Fund last month. Investigators believe more than $9,000 was stolen; they identified Pacheco as the employee responsible.

The money deposited in the fund by families of those in the custody of the sheriff is used for the benefit, education and welfare of the inmates. The money is used in programs designed to provide educational, vocational and rehabilitative opportunities.

“To protect the public’s trust and confidence in us, we will always hold our employees accountable to the community we serve and to the Law Enforcement Code of Ethics,” Sheriff Adam Christianson said.

Pacheco was booked at the Stanislaus County jail on suspicion of felony grand theft and burglary. He has been placed on administrative leave. Authorities provided no further details, citing personnel reasons.

Off-duty Lake County (FL) Sheriff’s Deputy Thomas Jones Thompson has been placed on suspension after a recent arrest for charges that include Aggravated Assault with a Firearm and Improper Exhibition of a Firearm. The charges come after a road rage incident in which Thompson attempted to use his personal vehicle while off-duty to make a traffic stop.

A married couple, Charles Christopher and Sarah Nelson Newcomb, had just left a Taco Bell when the sheriff’s department employee decided he didn’t like how they were driving. Thompson, who is a Master Detention Deputy, already had his own siren and rear emergency lights installed on his personal car. It seems that he was premeditating some vigilante traffic justice. On top of this, in 2013 he was reprimanded for checking out spare patrol cars and using them longer than his work hours and duties would require. Now I am not saying there were warning signs, but…

Not to miss his big chance to play big bad traffic cop, Thompson pulled up beside Christopher and Newcombe and ordered them to pull over. The couple had no idea who this guy was and were confused by the sound of his sirens, which they said sounded like a toy. For obvious reasons, they were hesitant to pull over.

According to the couple, Thompson then began stalking them and trying to run them off the road while brandishing a gun and threatening to shoot.

Thompson claims the couple instigated the swerving and attempts at ramming after he identified himself as a deputy and attempted to get them to pull over for ‘driving erratically’.

At this point, Christopher began yelling obscenities at the man he assumed was just a crazed motorist and chucked a burrito at the ************.

After the couple filed a report, Thompson was arrested and booked into the jail he works at. According to Sheriff’s Department Lt. John Herrell, Thompson is also currently under investigation for another incident, which is not being disclosed at this time.

When Philip Ransom told Kansas City, Missouri, police that his van had been backfiring, they didn’t believe him.

“No, it’s not. Our window’s shot out!” responded officer Tyrone Phillips. But, in fact, Ransom’s van can be seen on a police dashcam video, shooting sparks out its tailpipe as it backfires, a federal appeals court notes. Shrapnel in the officers’ squad car and damage to their vehicle were from richocheting shots fired by the cops.

Nonetheless, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Phillips and his partner are immune from a civil rights suit brought by Ransom, because they acted reasonably under the circumstances of what seemed like someone who was “suicidal by cop”. Responding to a Nov. 11, 2010 report of shots fired near the van, which was pulled off the road, the pair opened fire after Ransom exited his van. Ransom had apparently not heard their command to stay in his vehicle, the 8th Circuit explains in its written opinion (PDF).

Fortunately the officers missed Ransom, who was, in fact, an unarmed, law-abiding driver, the 8th Circuit says. He hadn’t realized police were shooting at him because he thought the sound of their gunfire was his van backfiring.

Ranson alleged in a Section 1983 civil rights suit that police violated his Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights not only by shooting at him but by taking him into custody; using excessive force against him; and making an unreasonable seizure.

“Only seconds after arriving at the scene where shots reportedly had been fired, the officers heard what both parties agree sounded like a gunshot,” the court writes. “Although the sound actually was the backfiring of Ransom’s van, it is not unreasonable that the officers at the scene would not notice the tailpipe shooting sparks or realize that the sound they heard was from the van and not a gun.”