---

A pair of former New Orleans Police narcotics detectives each were sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to working side jobs while on the clock for the city and taking cash that was supposed to go to drug informants, U.S. Attorney Kenneth Allen Polite, Jr. announced Thursday (July 17).

Rafael Dobard, 39, and Quincy Jones, 33, also will have to repay $18,484 and $19,064 to the city, U.S. District Court Judge Nannette Jolivette Brown ordered.

The two detectives in February pleaded guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges, admitting they took money set aside for informants for themselves and other officers in their unit. They also admitted submitting timesheets that falsely showed they had been working for the NOPD during hours when they actually working security at New Orleans housing projects.

"The U.S. Attorney's Office is committed to ensuring that no one is above the law," Polite said in a press release. "These officers, both of whom swore to uphold and enforce our laws, instead broke the law by stealing public funds."

---

---

Two FDNY EMTs say they had to bodily intervene to stop four cops from hitting a handcuffed patient, documents obtained by the Daily News show. The violence broke out when the patient spit at the Emergency Service Unit officers and swore at them.

The emotionally disturbed patient was punched multiple times in the face by the cops on July 20, according to FDNY documents obtained by The News. The cops only stopped when the EMTs bodily intervened, the report said.

The violence broke out when the patient spit at the Emergency Service Unit officers and swore at them. The officers responded by hitting him in the face, hauling him off the stretcher to the ground and then tossing him back on the stretcher, the EMTs said in written statements submitted to the FDNY.

The two FDNY emergency medical technicians were called to Brooklyn's 67th Precinct stationhouse between Rogers and Nostrand Aves. in East Flatbush around 7:30 p.m. to bring the patient to a nearby hospital.

ESU arrived to restrain the man for transport. He was combative and banging his head against the wall, reports said.

"Pt. came out of the cell in cuffs. Pt. became combative with PD and (was) put on our stretcher," wrote one EMT in the Unusual Occurrence Report filed with FDNY brass.

"Pt. was struck in the face by an officer ... pt. spit in the face of an officer, whereupon the officer punched the pt. in the face multiple times," the report said.

When the patient spit at the cop again, more cops started beating him, the EMT said.

"Three cops began to punch the patient in the face, EMS (had) to get in the middle of it to intervene. Pt's. wounds and injuries cleaned in the (ambulance)," the report said.
The account was backed up by the second EMT, who noted that the patient was brought out by ESU in "handcuffs and foot shackles."

After the first round of punches, the patient was "taken off the stretcher to the ground and restrained again, pt. was thrown by ESU again on to my stretcher," the EMT wrote. "Pt. sustained injuries to face and head," the report said.

An FDNY spokesman confirmed there was a notification from the agency to the NYPD. The NYPD said the 67th Precinct incident is being investigated by the Internal Affairs Bureau.

---

---

The video starts off with an NYPD cop demanding ID from a young man. The young man’s friend then pushes him out of the way to save him from arrest and they walk off.

After smelling the blood in the water, this shark….ahem, cop, had to feed. He grabbed the closest person to him, which happened to be 16-year-old Nasheri, and demanded an ID, again. Having done nothing wrong, and not wanting to be assaulted, she told the accosting officer not to touch her.

Not receiving an instant submission to his ‘power’ was a direct blow to this officer’s authoritative ego; he must now throw a tyrannical temper tantrum.

As the power-tripping NYPD cop begins to manhandle a 90 lb teenage girl, her brother steps in to stop the injustice. As if they had been waiting for this glorious moment, the opportunity to escalate the violence had been granted; it was now time to bash some heads!

---

---

The court's decision basically makes everyone a suspect, even if they're suspected of nothing else than being in the relative proximity of someone a police officer suspects of committing a crime, or someone simply "matching the description." How does this work in practice? Gideon posits a single scenario, as interpreted by the person being (wrongly) detained and those doing the actual detaining.

---

---

First, imagine you are walking down a public street with your friend. You’re both on your way to the local grocery store to buy some hummus. The police pull up, take a look at you friend and mistakenly believe that he’s a notorious wanted criminal. They order him to stop. You, not wanting to be caught up in this police business, keep walking, but they order you to stop, even though they don’t know you, don’t suspect you and you haven’t done anything wrong. You have rights, dammit and you know the Fourth Amendment. Can they stop you and force you to give up your freedom?

The second is this: what I’ve just described above is a version of the events that transpired. They’re “facts” in a sense that they’re your recitation of the events. But that’s obviously not good enough, right? There is another version – that of the police officers. So who gets to decide which is the “truth”? Which is believable and accurate and should be relied upon? Because – and this is critical – the law is entirely fact-dependent. How the law applies depends on the nuances of the factual scenarios. And that is left entirely up to the trial judge: the judge that hears the evidence from you and the police officers and then decides what “actually” happened. That’s called fact-finding and will only be overturned if “clearly erroneous”. Meaning almost never. There is a deified deference paid to the trial court’s “findings of fact”.

---

---

It was last October when Daniel Stovall, of Perry, was pulled over for going over the center line, although police dashcam video doesn't show that he did.

Within minutes, Middlefield police brought in Geauga County Sheriff Dan McClelland and his drug-sniffing dog, Midge. The K-9 searched the van and didn't find any drugs. Police wound up arresting Stovall for not having a driver's license. It's a minor misdemeanor.

"You can't arrest someone for not having a valid drivers license," said Jim Flaiz, the Geauga County Prosecutor.

Stovall called his arrest more than excessive. "I didn't pose any threat to the officers," he said.

Stovall was handcuffed, placed in the back of a squad car, and taken to the Geauga County jail, where sheriff's deputies and police had a difference of opinion about whether Stovall should be incarcerated for a minor misdemeanor.

Deputies refused to put Stovall behind bars, which the prosecutor says was the right decision.

While all this was happening, Middlefield Police Chief Arnold Stanko drove Stovall's van to a public location at the police station, where it was left unsecured for about an hour and a half.

"Leaving the vehicle unsecured is a huge evidentiary issue and that was not known by my office," Flaiz said.

Police searched the van again and, this time, they say they found some cocaine, which Stovall says had to be planted.

...

Tucholski was a lieutenant at the time of the arrest. He is seen on dashcam doing a pat-down search of Stovall and he is also the one who handcuffed Stovall. He intially denied making the arrest when questioned by Channel 3 News Investigator Tom Meyer.

When asked how he could arrest someone based on information from a suspect source, Tucholski refused to comment. He also said he was merely following Chief Stanko's orders.

Geauga County Judge David L. Fuhry decided to suppress the evidence this month for a number of reasons. He cited the use of an untrustworthy source, the unsecured van, and the failure of the K-9 to detect any drugs.

Flaiz said he had no choice but to dismiss drug charges against Stovall.

---

---

The FBI is hiring a contractor to grade news stories about the agency as “positive” “neutral” or “negative,” but the agency won’t say why officials need the information or what they plan to do with it.

FBI officials wouldn’t even reveal how they will go about assigning the grades, which were laid out in a recent contract solicitation. The contract tells potential bidders to “use their judgment” in scoring news coverage as part of a new “daily news briefing” service the agency is seeking as part of a contract that could last up to five years.

---

---

Nearly $13 million of the $16.7 million paid out by the city of Denver to settle legal claims in the past decade involved the police and sheriff departments, a Denver Post analysis has found.

Fifty-eight percent of that total payout was for cases where excessive force or civil rights violations were at issue.

Denver has had five years of below-average claims payouts, with no million-dollar settlements. That's about to change Monday.

The City Council will consider approval of $3.25 million to settle a federal lawsuit pressed by former jail inmate Jamal Hunter, who in 2011 was tortured by other inmates and, he says, choked by a jail deputy in another incident. He claimed another deputy facilitated and encouraged the inmates' brutal attack on him.

---

---

"One of the officers stopped me and insisted I was drinking. He asked for my name, too, but I didn't give him my name because I didn't commit any crime and that was my right not to give him my name," Marhal said.

Soon, Marhal was on the ground in handcuffs. Another friend took video with his phone as a sheriff's deputy appeared to put him in a choke hold.

"I was very scared when the officer put me in the choke hold and pulled me back because I couldn't breathe for a very long time because of how long he held the choke hold," Marhal said.

The Ozaukee County Sheriff's Office told WISN 12 News its officers said Marhal refused to remove his hands from his pockets and resisted even after handcuffs.

The department reviewed the video and said what Marhal thought was a choke hold was actually a shoulder hold and proper police protocol.

Police told WISN 12 News Marhal's breath test showed no sign of alcohol, but he will be ticketed for resisting arrest.

He said he will fight the ticket, and he's now considering a lawsuit against the deputy and Sheriff's Office for excessive use of force.

---

---

In the wake of Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports exposing the agency's use of people with disabilities in such operations, the attorney for one defendant went to trial and made the difficult-to-prove argument that her client was entrapped by agents.

The jury agreed. Alexis Davis — who has an IQ of 59 and reads at a second-grade level — was found not guilty following a trial in July.

His acquittal is the latest blow to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' undercover stings, already under investigation by Congress and the U.S. Department of Justice. Attorney General Eric Holder has called the tactics "ridiculous" and vowed accountability. The ATF said it has stopped the stings until it can get them right.

Davis' attorney, Sharon Samek, conceded in the trial that her client was a felon who couldn't have a gun because of previous drug convictions. But she argued to the jury the ATF agents working in the Lakeland storefront persuaded Davis to get them guns.

"He never would have possessed the guns if they hadn't come up with that store," she said. "The agents just kept pressing."

Records show Davis came to the store to buy tire rims and later came looking for a loan on his truck.

Each time, the agents encouraged him to find them guns, but he didn't bring any. Later, Davis waited outside while another man sold guns inside the storefront, but the agents said it was Davis who was behind the deals.

Davis' disabilities were apparent at times on the ATF video. At one point, Davis picks up a Magic Eight Ball on the store counter and asks how it works.

ATF Special Agent Yannick DesLauriers says, "You ask it a question."

Davis says, "I got to whisper to it?"

Davis' attorney says the encounter demonstrates her client's limitations.

"When this 33-year-old man picks up a Magic Eight Ball and asks how it works, and should he whisper to it, the conversation is no longer just a comical aside, but a poignant reflection of Davis' intellectual limitations," Samek wrote in a court document.

Michael Lehman, a member of the jury that acquitted Davis, said it was clear based on the agents' actions and Davis' limitations that it was a case of entrapment.

"To me, this was not about fighting crime. There is a lot of crime going on in the world, you don't need to manipulate the circumstances in order to encourage people to do bad things, that they might or might not otherwise do," said Lehman, of St. Pete Beach, who owns a public art construction company.

"This was a guy with a very low IQ who was highly suggestible and how they kept redirecting him and pressuring him to get them guns....It seems like a very misguided way to use public funds to deal with real problems."

---

---

Former King County sheriff’s deputy Darrion Holiwell changed his plea to guilty Monday and was sentenced to 366 days in jail for promoting prostitution, theft and drug dealing.

Holiwell, who was arrested June 19 when he was still a deputy, apologized in court.

“Darrion Holiwell violated his oath, the trust of his fellow deputies, and the trust of the citizens of King County”, said King County Sheriff John Urquhart said on July 15 when he fired Holiwell. “He does not deserve to be a police officer.”

Holiwell has been on administrative leave since the investigation into his activities began in late April.

---

---

When the 24-year-old man defended himself, knocking the 47-year-old sergeant to the ground, prompting others to break up the fight, Morgan’s wife reached for her husband’s wallet and pulled out his badge – as if that would give him a free pass.

But Seminole police officers did not allow that to stop them from arresting him on a misdemeanor battery charge.

However, even after that, Morgan tried his best to use his law enforcement connections to “get him out of this mess,” according to arresting officer Jarret Romanello.

And he even tried to obtain the victim’s address so he could send a SWAT team over to “deal with him later,” according to Romanello, who works for the Seminole Police Department, which has jurisdiction in all Seminole tribal lands in South Florida, which includes the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood.

The incident, which took place last August, was captured on surveillance video, which was obtained by Local 10.

Despite all the evidence against him, including several witness statements, Morgan was suspended with pay, meaning he has received more than $86,000 for doing nothing. He has also been allowed to use an unmarked departmental car during this time.

---

---

A family was traumatized when gun-wielding police officers walked onto their quiet property and shot their dog in the head while looking for a man who did not live there.

Megan Shimburski, 25, was spending a quiet afternoon with her children at her parents’ countryside East Concord residence on July 25, 2014. It was a normal day, she said, which involved watching her 5-year-old daughter play behind the house with their dog, as her infant son lied in a playpen inside the house.

Ms. Shimburski’s parents, John Shimburski and Martha Spaulding, were not at home when the day turned to chaos.

At around 2:00 p.m., Ms. Shimburski recalled that she ducked inside the house for a moment to use the restroom. She became alerted to something occurring when the family’s two dogs began barking; one was inside and one was outside the house.

Ms. Shimburski said that she looked out the window and saw two vehicles parked outside — a car and an SUV — along with unidentified men, one of whom had a gun drawn.

Panicked, she rushed outside toward danger to attend to her daughter, Makenna, who was accompanied by “Lady,” a 2-year-old Brindle Pit Bull.

The Shimburski family's "big baby," called Lady. (Source: Megan Shimburski) The Shimburski family’s “big baby,” called Lady. (Source: Megan Shimburski)
“I heard 2 shots fired, and Lady yelp, and my daughter scream,” Ms. Shimburski told Police State USA.

The armed stranger had just shot the family’s beloved pet in the head, with Makenna standing “20 feet behind [the dog] in the exact same direction.”

“He then proceeded to continue walking up the hill with his gun raised, and I screamed at him not to shoot his gun again,” she added.

Ms. Shimburski says that there was no clear indication of who the intruders were; there were no markings on the vehicles and the three men were not in uniforms. She described them as dressed in “business attire” — definitely not uniforms.

“I stated that I was going to call the police, and that’s when they said, ‘We are the Erie County Police,’” Ms. Shimburski recalled.

The men began then began to request to enter her parents’ home. Ms. Shimburski declined, and tended to her children and dogs. Lady was bleeding profusely. Makenna was cowering nearby crying, “The man shot Lady. He shot my dog.”

As Ms. Shimburski took her daughter inside, she discovered that two of the self-described “officers” had already entered her parents’ home, after she had explicitly told them to stay out.

“They were yelling at me to tell my daughter it was OK,” she said.

The young mom secured her daughter in a bedroom along with the second dog that had been indoors. Her parents quickly arrived after being notified about what had happened.

The reason for the intrusion was finally made known when they announced that they were looking for the father of Ms. Shimburski’s son. The family told the officers that the man they were seeking had never lived there, didn’t receive mail at the address, and that they should have tried looking for him at his own home.

The police had not brought a warrant, and said they only wanted to ask the man some questions. They continued to request a search of the home.

Meanwhile Lady, described as a “67-pound big baby,” was hiding under the deck, covered in blood. A bullet had traveled through the tissue on her head, neck, and shoulder. A large, open gash allowed blood to pour down her face into her eyes and nose. It was a shocking sight for the family.

“The officer stated that he had just ‘grazed’ her, and that she would be fine,” Ms. Shimburski recalled. “I looked at him and said, ‘You did not graze her!!’ His words were, ‘I didn’t mean to GRAZE her.’”

...

---

---

Nadwornik, out drinking with friends for his 58th birthday, urinated in a corner of the empty parking lot because the bar was locked up.

Within seconds, two Barry Township police cars and three officers — two of them unpaid reserves — confronted him as he was zipping up his pants. What happened next is up for debate: Police said he resisted arrest. Nadwornick said he didn’t, and a waitress who was leaving work agreed.

What everyone does agree on is the aftermath: Nadwornik had a broken hand from a police baton, bloody elbows, and he had been kneed in the back. He was handcuffed, jailed and charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, a two-year felony.

...

The township's insurance company finally forced the police chief to make his small army of reserve officers stand down and confine themselves to special events (it also forced the town of Oakley, population 290, to put its army of 100 reserve officers on ice).

After a packed town meeting last night that had to be moved to the high school to accommodate attendees, the township board unanimously voted to review Pierce's continuing employment in a special meeting to be held tonight.* A notice of the meeting occupies the township Website's entire front page.

So, one small step in rolling back the militarization of modern policing? Or just the latest bit of evidence that law enforcement in the United States has gone full-on into occupying enemy territory mode?

That might depend on the outcome of the meeting.

---

---

A Sanford, Florida police officer was fired after he taunted a jailed inmate with McDonald’s french fries and later threatened the inmate with his service Taser while the inmate washed his patrol car, The Orlando Sentinel reported.

Nine-year-veteran Mickey Hinkley was placed on administrative leave when his superiors discovered the incidents on June 4, 2014, but was only fired yesterday after an investigation determined that he had violated departmental policy.

According to police documents obtained by The Sentinel, Hinkley forced inmate Victor Gonzaga Rivera to wash his patrol car. When Hinkley complained that Rivera had not put enough “tire shine” on his wheels, he also activated his service Taser, which caused an afraid Rivera to take off running.

...

---

---

WILLOUGHBY, Ohio -- What are the chances you would get a break if you were caught driving and driving?

Veteran Willoughby Patrolman Steve Alemagno could have possibly arrested a fellow officer who had been drinking and driving. He could have given the officer a field sobriety test.

He did neither. Instead, he cut the officer a break and had him call a friend for a ride home.

Alemagno never stuck around long enough to see if off-duty Ashtabula Officer Wayne Howell ever got a ride. He didn't. Instead, he got back into his pick-up truck and drove away.

He was later stopped by the Ohio State Highway Patrol and arrested for OVI after his blood alcohol level was nearly two times the legal limit of .08.

Willoughby Police Chief Jack Beckwith suspended Alemagno for three days for making a bad decision.

But Beckwith admitted his officers have discretion in these types of cases. That drew a stunned reaction from Judy Liggett, from Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

---

---

In the past 18 months, Denver sheriff's deputies have found themselves in trouble for all sorts of violations, ranging from the serious to the absurd, a Denver Post review of disciplinary letters issued since Jan. 1, 2013, shows.

Cases include a deputy who watched YouTube videos on her computer with jail inmates, one who abandoned her post because she wanted to leave early and two deputies who accidentally fired a bullet into the floor of an office at Denver Health Medical Center.

There was a deputy who kicked a basketball into an inmate's head, a deputy who lost a gun in a McDonald's bathroom and two employees who got mad during a cupcake fight at the office.

Because of deputy misconduct, inmates — and those who guard them — have had their safety jeopardized as officers failed to monitor the mentally ill, failed to properly escort violent prisoners or left unit doors wide open.

...

---

---

Two law enforcement officers in Topeka were checked out at the hospital after their police vehicles collided shortly after midnight.

According to the Kansas Highway Patrol crash report, the a Topeka Police Ford Explorer was trying to make a u-turn on a bridge, when it was struck by a Shawnee County Sheriff's Deputy's squad car.

The officer is identified as 27-year-old Anthony Palumbo, the deputy is identified as 24-year-old Aaron Schmidtlein.

The drivers were both taken to the hospital for treatment, but are expected to be okay. Both were wearing seat belts.

---

---

Two patrol cars responding to a call Tuesday night collided in an intersection on the city's East Side, sending one car into the porch of home and two officers to the hospital.

Three officers were hurt but none seriously in the crash at the intersection of Eaglesmere Avenue and East 136th Street, according to police at the scene. Both patrol cars were heavily damaged and ended up in the yard of a home on the southwest corner of the intersection.

---

---

A K-9 with the Little Rock Police Department is off the job for 10 days after he got loose and bit two people.

It happened Monday night around 8 outside Alexander.

The dog, "Ammo," is a Dutch Shepherd who's been with the LRPD at least 3 years. His handler is Ofc. Jason Harris.

Authorities say the dog got out of his pen and then jumped a 6-foot fence in the home's backyard.

Both victims lived across the street. At least one of them was taken to a Little Rock hospital where 10 stitches were needed to close the wound.

In a news release Tuesday, the Little Rock Police Department said the K-9 incident is being treated as a vicious dog bite by Saline County.

The K-9 is at home but cannot report to work for 10 days as required under the Saline County vicious dog ordinance.

The K-9 handler was not at home at the time of the incident. Emergency personnel responded to the residence where they located the K-9 in his driveway.

Ammo is trained in narcotics, tracking and patrol. He came to LRPD from Ultimate Working Dogs in West Virginia.

---

---

A former Hartford police detective was sentenced to six months of home confinement Monday after admitting that he stole $30,000 in pistol permit fees from the department.

Federal prosecutors wanted Tishay Johnson, who was once shot while working undercover on a drug sting, to serve six months to a year in prison because they said he abused a position of public trust.

"Here, Mr. Johnson corrupted his office and betrayed the trust placed in him by the people of the City of Hartford," federal prosecutors said in written arguments. "He used his position to enrich himself at the expense of the people he was sworn to serve."


U.S. District Judge Robert N. Chatigny adopted Johnson's argument that he deserved leniency. Johnson's lawyer, Salvatore Bonanno, argued that Johnson stole to support a gambling habit – a compulsion that followed the shooting, Bonanno said.

---

---

Westchester prosecutors dismissed charges against another defendant Monday in the wake of an investigation into an improper search that ended with the death of a suspected drug dealer.

Felony drug charges against Kino Smith were dismissed in Yonkers City Court, although what role two Yonkers officers who are under investigation played in Smith's case has not been revealed.

"The D.A.s are being very upstanding here," said Hugh Jasne, Smith's lawyer, following the dismissal. "It's obviously nothing they've done wrong. It's a couple of cops who decided they were above the law."

Detective Christian Koch and Officer Neil Vera were relieved of their shields and weapons last week and remain under investigation by the Yonkers police Internal Affairs Division and the Westchester County District Attorney's Office.

The investigation began more than four months ago, after the March 21 death of Dario Tena. Tena, suspected of dealing drugs, fell to his death out a third-floor window at 141 School St. after police arrived to execute a search warrant.

Koch had submitted a sworn affidavit for the search warrant, and included information he got from Vera. Authorities soon determined that the affidavit contained "material false statements," and cases Koch and Vera have been involved in have come under close scrutiny.

Smith became the seventh defendant unrelated to the Tena case to have his drug charges dismissed. Three of those defendants were arrested in the same case and had faced mandatory state prison time on a Class A felony before their charges were dropped.

---

---

Two Tulsa police officers who are married to each other have both been arrested in connection to the shooting death of their daughter’s boyfriend.

Lisa Kepler, 18, told Tulsa World that her father, 54-year-old officer Shannon Kepler, opened fire on her boyfriend, 19-year-old Jeremy Lake, just as he was trying to introduce himself on Tuesday.

Shannon Kepler drove up to the couple’s home in a black SUV and shouted at his daughter, and began shooting at Lake, Lisa Kepler explained. She said that she was attempting to stop her father, until she had to hide because he also started shooting at her.

---

---

ast week, the Albuquerque Police Department announced it was getting rid of its massive 45,000-pound Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle largely due to concerns over criticism about over-militarization.

But now, APD has disclosed it has already purchased one tactical vehicle and plans on obtaining another.

“There’s a lot of sensitivity about using a military vehicle and we understand those concerns and that’s why we’ve gone into the civilian market,” said Janet Blair, Albuquerque Police Department communications and community outreach director.

Over the weekend, APD told the Albuquerque Journal the department spent $240,000 two weeks ago to buy a bullet-proof skid loader called The Rook that APD will use in situations involving barricaded subjects and bomb threats.

In addition, APD is applying for a $350,000 grant to obtain what’s called a MedCat, an armored vehicle similar to an MRAP that carries medical equipment and will be used to transport SWAT team members. On Monday morning, Blair said she wasn’t sure from where the grant money is coming.

---

---

A friend found 40-year-old Benny Longoria lying dead and naked in his Tulsa apartment on June 20, but police there failed to notify his family for more than a month, according to what family members have told me.Benny Longoria

Representatives of the property management company that operated the apartment complex reportedly said there was blood everywhere in the apartment, and yet Tulsa police continue to refuse to investigate this as a suspicious death, despite the family’s repeated pleas that they do so.

No autopsy was performed and Longoria’s body was immediately cremated at the request of police, due to his HIV status.

Tulsa Police Sgt. Dave Walker has refused the family’s investigation requests and insists Longoria died of natural causes, as determined by his primary care Dr. Frances Haas. But when I contacted Dr. Haas to verify cause of death, representatives in her office told me they did not sign a death certificate and do not know how Longoria died.

---

---

North Miami Beach police officer Tom Carney opposes Florida’s ballot initiative to legalize medical marijuana. So he sent an email explaining how the medical provision would still be a violation of federal law. But in sending the email, Carney himself violated his state’s law.

As the Miami Herald pointed out, non-elected officials like Carney are prohibited from sending emails about electoral politics from their work accounts. Violating the law, much like possessing marijuana, is a first-degree misdemeanor carrying up to a year in jail or a $1,000 fine.
Carney sent an email with the subject line the “Truth About Medical Marijuana” before advocates decried the email as illegal politicking. But Carney riled advocates even further when a follow-up email clarifying his intent not to break the law once again contained the advocacy materials.

The email contained talking points from the Florida Police Chiefs Association, several of which conflate legalization of recreational marijuana and medical marijuana.

---

---

As he continued defending his troopers' actions, the Louisiana State Police chief released a dashcam video Tuesday of the forceful stop of a musician in the Lower 9th Ward.

Shamarr Allen, a trumpeter known for his band, Shamarr Allen and the Underdawgs, has claimed in TV interviews that he felt in danger and that he was treated unfairly because of his race.

"It's just wrong," Allen told NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune on Tuesday after watching the video. "I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't do none of that. I don't live wrong at all. It's just, this is the life of a black man in the Lower 9th Ward."

State Police Superintendent Col. Mike Edmonson says troopers' use of force was justified and necessary because Allen was disobeying their commands. The troopers were on high alert because they were looking for a suspected cocaine dealer who had escaped from the NOPD's station in the French Quarter. Troopers saw Allen approach in his car, stop and reverse, which raised their suspicions, Edmonson said.

The video, which lacks audio, shows troopers initiate a traffic stop. Then two troopers approach him with their guns drawn. Then four officers grab him forcefully out of his car and onto the ground.

The force was necessary, Edmonson said. Troopers had ordered Allen to show both hands, Edmonson said, but he had kept his right hand hidden, so police thought he could have a gun.

But Allen claimed he would have complied if the officers had given him a chance to. "There was no chance to resist," he said. "By the time they got on the car, they pulled me out the car. There wasn't any resistance."

He said the thought of disobeying the cops never crossed his mind. He remembered two people he knows who were killed by police. "I just know the police is in my face with guns and that's very, very, very scary - very scary."

Once Allen was on the ground, the video shows, the troopers continued to restrain him and handcuff him. While on the ground, Allen moved his head and shoulders "in an attempt to get up or turn over," police said.

After police handcuffed Allen, they tried to walk him over to a police car. The video shows him appear to jerk his body away from the officer, and the officer pulls him back. Eventually, he is brought to a police car, where he is questioned.

Police said he was released after 20 to 30 minutes of officers checking his records.

---

---

I got pulled over for a seatbelt infraction. Cop said he smelled marijuana and that they were having a canine unit come. They searched my car and didn't find anything and let me go with a ticket for no seatbelt. Fuckin cops man..

---

---

A March 2014 e-mail from Western Division Commander James Randol to SJPD’s Deputy Chief David Hober states, "The UAV is not a drone. Drones are regulated by the FAA. The FAA doesn’t regulate our device.”

But that’s not at all the perspective of the Federal Aviation Administration.

“Anyone who wants to fly an aircraft—manned or unmanned—in US airspace needs some level of authorization from the FAA to ensure the safety of our skies,” Ian Gregor, an FAA spokesman for the Pacific Division, told Ars in a statement.

“The FAA authorizes UAS operations that are not for hobby or recreation on a case-by-case basis. Public entities (federal, state, and local governments, and public universities) may apply for a Certificate of Waiver or Authorization (COA), which, when approved, provides authorization for [unmanned aircraft systems] operations in the [national airspace system]," he said.

---

---

A pit bull was shot and killed Wednesday afternoon by a Lancaster city police officer, and the incident was caught on camera.

WARNING the video may be considered graphic. A dog can be heard and then multiple gun shots. It was sent to us by FOX43 viewer Eli Gacheke.

According to Lancaster online the dog had jumped out of the bed of a pickup truck and was on the loose in a parking lot.

Officers tried to taser the animal, before one of them shot the dog twice.

Lancaster police told us earlier they would release more information, but later said they don’t expect to comment until tomorrow.

---

---

Relatives of John Crawford, the man shot dead by police at a Beavercreek Walmart, say they’ve contacted civil rights organizations because they believe the shooting was not justified.

They believe he was killed possibly after he picked up a toy gun in the store.
Crawford, 22, of Ridge Drive in Fairfield, was identified as the man Beavercreek police shot and killed Tuesday night.

LeeCee Johnson, who said she is the mother of Crawford’s children, said she was on a cell phone call with Crawford when he was shot by officers. She said Crawford went to the area to visit family members.

“We was just talking. He said he was at the video games playing videos and he went over there by the toy section where the toy guns were. And the next thing I know, he said ‘It’s not real,’ and the police start shooting and they said ‘Get on the ground,’ but he was already on the ground because they had shot him,” she said, adding: “And I could hear him just crying and screaming. I feel like they shot him down like he was not even human.”

Beavercreek Police Chief Dennis Evers did not answer questions Wednesday but said officers acted appropriately.

Johnson said she has two children with Crawford: John Crawford IV, who is 1, and Jayden Crawford, who is 4 months old. She just found out she is pregnant with a third child, but never got the chance to tell Crawford.

---

---

What is the “worst nightmare” one can imagine in an encounter between a police officer and a member of the productive class? One answer is offered by the experience of Eric Garner, who died after being choked and swarmed without cause by a thugscrum of NYPD officers. That nightmare continues for his wife, his six children, his grandchildren, and others who were deprived of his company because of an unprovoked act of criminal aggression by privileged purveyors of government-sanctioned violence.

What, on the other hand, is the “worst nightmare” for a police officer in such a situation? In a single word, accountability.

---

---

---

---

Missouri court rules that police misconduct is not protected as a personal matter.

---

---

A Vancouver man is suing police after an officer allegedly kicked him while he was being rescued from a fire in his own home.

Surveillance video filmed in the Marguerite Ford social housing complex shows police dragging Cameron Stewart out of his suite naked and into the hallway.

When he tries to sit up, an officer appears to kick him back down to the floor.

...

Stewart, who also lives with mental illness, fell asleep while cooking and caused the small fire in his unit. Staff responded to the alarms but couldn’t enter his suite so police and firefighters were called.

---

---

An 80-year old woman in Florida who was recovering from hip surgery was relaxing in her home when two burglars smashed her back door window and made their way inside. When N.J. Logan realized it wasn’t her husband she grabbed her gun and immediately called 9-1-1.

According to Logan, who says she didn’t want to shoot anyone, the 9-1-1 dispatcher repeatedly urged her to put the gun down.

Logan’s response?

I’ll put the gun down when I see the police.

The burglars exited the premises before the police got there and no injuries were reported.

---

---

A Mississippi judge who admitted to being disrespectful and jailing citizens without due process must be removed from the bench, the state's highest court ruled.

Leigh Ann Darby, who served as a drug court judge, family master and youth court referee in Tate County, Miss., admitted to throwing eight parents into jail without due process "for conduct allegedly occurring outside of court."

She also denied a trio of teenagers due process in 2011 after they were arrested for walking across someone's yard. Darby ordered the teens to be drug-tested and sent them to detention for the weekend without conducting a hearing. They were eventually exonerated.

The Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance charged Darby with judicial misconduct and conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice.

Darby also agreed with the commission's finding that she had frequently treated litigants and others in her court "in an abusive, belittling, impatient, unprofessional and discourteous manner."

The Mississippi Supreme Court had previously reprimanded Darby for sanctioning a mother for contempt without due process.

In this case, the court agreed with the commission that Darby should be removed from the bench.

---

---

A Dedham police officer was arrested Wednesday for allegedly allowing the mastermind of the kidnapping of an Avon man to use his department-issued equipment, including his badge, to persuade the victim to leave his home, officials said.

The victim, James Robertson, 37, disappeared Jan. 1 has not been seen since, and is presumed dead, Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey’s office said in a statement.


Dedham police Officer Michael Schoener was arraigned in Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham on Wednesday, and he pleaded not guilty to accessory before the fact of kidnapping, according to Morrissey’s office.

Bail was set at $5,000 cash.

James Feeney, 44, of Dedham, is alleged to have masterminded the kidnapping and is currently being held on $500,000 cash bail.

---

---

A police officer is recovering from surgery after she was attacked by her partner, a police dog.

Ventnor Officer Jamie Pirchio sustained injuries to her legs, arms and hands.

Police Chief Michael Miller tells The Press of Atlantic City Pirchio was attempting to feed Niko in her Northfield home when the dog got distracted and attacked her.

Pirchio managed to get the dog back in its cage and ran to a neighbor for help.

Ventnor purchased the dog for $6,800.

The police chief says Pirchio is on medical leave while Niko will remain in a kennel until officials decide whether the dog can remain on the police force.

---

---

A Romulus police officer is accused of being the aggressor in a road rage incident May 29 on Belleville Road near Interstate 94 in Van Buren Township.

David Brooks was off-duty at the time of the alleged road rage. Van Buren Township police officers were told two trucks were involved and that one of the drivers had a handgun.

They pulled Brooks over in his Dodge Ram pickup truck when he was traveling northbound on Belleville Road.

After an investigation by the Van Buren Police Department and review by the Wayne County prosecutor, Brooks was charged with felonious assault and felony firearm. He was arraigned on Thursday at the 34th District Court in Romulus before Judge Tina Brooks-Green.

---

---

A sleazy NYPD cop who ​allegedly ​offered to fast-track a female recruit’s job application in exchange for her panties, $1,000 and sex has been indicted on bribery charges.

Delfin Lantigua, 34, allegedly contacted the NYPD applicant on Facebook in February, telling her he would expedite her hiring process — for a price.

The woman, who contacted police, wore a wire when she met Lantigua, a nine-year officer, at a Dunkin’ Donuts in Brooklyn on March 11.

During the meeting, Lantigua, who lives in Kensington, demanded sex from the woman, $1,000 and her panties, law enforcement sources said.

Two days later, thinking he was going to a Brooklyn motel for a rendezvous with the woman, he was arrested by Internal Affairs Bureau officers.

---

---

Jacob Lavoro is facing life in prison for making pot brownies, but he's hopeful that his sentence will be reduced. The penalty is so harsh because officers counted the full weight of the brownies as drugs.

---

---

---

---

On Friday, the medical examiner ruled his death a homicide. A day later, police arrested Ramsey Orta, the man who filmed Garner’s arrest, on a weapons charge. On Tuesday, Orta’s wife was arrested and accused of assault. Chrissie Ortiz told WPIX Channel 11 police have been harassing her and her husband.

---

---

Bobo said the 911 call was the first of its kind for his department.

"Is it unusual for a momma to call the police on teenagers looking at porn? Yeah, it is," Bobo said.

---

---

---

---

A young man holding a toy rifle in a Walmart was shot and killed on Tuesday by police in the Dayton suburb of Beavercreek, Ohio, according to Raw Story. John Crawford, 22, was carrying a toy gun he picked up in the store, alarming two other shoppers.

LeeCee Johnson, the mother of Crawford’s children, told the Dayton Daily News she was on the phone with him while he was browsing in the store. “We was just talking,” she told the Ohio newspaper. “He said he was at the video games playing videos and he went over there by the toy section where the toy guns were. And the next thing I know, he said ‘It’s not real,’ and the police start shooting and they said ‘Get on the ground,’ but he was already on the ground because they had shot him. And I could hear him just crying and screaming. I feel like they shot him down like he was not even human.”

CBS reports that two other Walmart customers, April and Ronald Ritchie, saw Crawford walking around the store with what appeared to be a gun and called the police. The police station reports that officers asked Crawford to put down the weapon, and opened fire when he did not comply. He later died of his gun shot wounds at a nearby hospital, where his death was ruled a homicide by the Montgomery County coroner’s office. A request for comment by msnbc to the Beavercreek police department was not immediately returned.

---

---

The couple's answering machine wasn't operating properly. Since the couple was receiving a lot of calls from doctors and friends concerned about, or checking on, Julia Agazio, Frank was trying to fix it.

In doing so he accidentally hit a pre-programmed 911 button.

When he did, the Commerce City Police called back to find out if everything was OK. He told them everything was fine.

Commerce City police decided to send an officer to the residence to make sure - without telling the Agazios they would soon be there.

Officer Chris Dickey, spokesman for the Commerce City Police Department, said that such a response is customary police work.

"The officer was responding to a 911 call to determine the validity of what was going on," said Dickey. "It is our responsibility."

He said the female officer - who he declined to identify by name or length of service - walked through an open gate on the Agazio driveway, said Dickey.

There, said Dickey, she was confronted by "three, large vicious dogs."

Dickey said the officer shot Zoey as the dog attempted to attack her.

The officer is still on duty and is still carrying her weapon. The shooting is not the same as where an officer shoots a human and is placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation.

The Agazios tell a different version of events.

They claim that moments before the shooting, Zoey, along with the other two dogs, were on a porch being fed biscuits by Frank's 82-year-old father.

They believe the two other dogs stayed with Frank's father.

When the officer approached, Zoey, who has always acted as the couple's watchdog, apparently heard the officer and started barking at her as she always did at visitors.

The Agazios said the officer had walked at least 40 yards on to their property when she pulled the trigger once. The shot struck Zoey in the chest.

At the time she was shot, the Agazios said Zoey was 10 feet away from the officer.

---

---

The LAPD says there is an Internal Affairs investigation into the conduct of a female off-duty officer wielding a gun in traffic.

The woman was driving a dark blue Chevy Tahoe SUV on the eastbound 60 Freeway, east of downtown Los Angeles, when a photo was taken from an adjacent vehicle Thursday afternoon.

It was not immediately known who took the photo or if the photo was altered in any way, but the LAPD confirmed that the woman in the photograph is an LAPD officer, and an investigation is underway.

The photo was posted on our ABC7 Facebook page.

---

---

Thirteen defendants, including nine former police officers, have been sentenced to federal prison this week for accepting thousands of dollars in cash payments to provide protection during staged drug deals that were part of a federal undercover operation.

“This case sent shock waves through Georgia law enforcement offices, both local and federal,” said United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates. “Certainly, these departments are filled with dedicated officers who literally risk their lives every day to make our communities safe. But this case revealed a troubling number of officers from a variety of law enforcement agencies who betrayed their oaths to protect and serve, taking cash from the very criminals they should have been arresting.”

---

---

A SWAT team is under investigation for storming into a home in Coconut Grove at around 11 a.m. with a narcotics warrant.

According to the homeowner, Bobby Mclendon, the warrant that SWAT presented to raid his house was for 2 blocks away. However these brutes did not care.

They came in belligerent, with guns drawn ordering children around like slaves. When the children didn’t react fast enough to the officers’ commands one child was subsequently bludgeoned with the buttstock of a rifle.

“They didn’t have any reason to, but they hit my nephew in the head with their rifle. He’s 13,” recounts Mclendon.

Major Delrish Moss, with Miami PD, said that in all of the chaos of the raid, the 13-year-old was injured when he “ran into an officer’s weapon.”

You can’t make this stuff up.

---

---

10 News tracked down the violent video that cost this cop his job. The video takes place in the North Shore Pool parking lot in downtown St. Petersburg back in January of this year.

...

"Mr. Woodworth says he doesn't want to answer, doesn't want to give him information, asks who (Pienik's) supervisor is and that's when officer Pienik throws his clipboard down," said St. Petersburg Police spokesperson Yolanda Fernandez.

...He ends up grabbing the man, throwing him to the ground hard, and then jumping on top of him.

After the incident when Pienik was supposed to submit that video into evidence, "the officer did not do this," Fernandez said.

Pienik tried to hide the video, saying it would "disappear." That was a red flag for the Pinellas County State Attorney's office that asked Pienik for the video.

"He said it would not help (the) case," Fernandez said. The State Attorney's office put in a formal request to see the missing video, which alerted Pienik's supervisor to the problem.

...

In all, Pienik was cited for nine different departmental and city violations. Interim police chief David DeKay said in a release: "There were other options and resources available at the time… without the level of force that was used by Officer Pienik."

"He used bad judgment during the incident, then he used bad judgment afterwards in dealing with the video tape," Fernandez said.

Kenneth Pienik had spent six and a half years on the St. Petersburg police force.

---