The Clewiston Police Department confirms that a police officer has turned himself in for arrest at the Hendry County Sheriff's Office.

The officer, Fernando Herrera, 47, has been suspended pending the outcome of an internal investigation.

According to the Hendry County Sheriff's Office he was booked and released Tuesday for Aggravated Stalking and Battery on a law enforcement officer.

According to a press release from HCSO, on Tuesday Herrera was arrested for that charge.

On Monday a current certified law enforcement officer with the Hendry County Sheriff's Office reported that on Nov. 29, he was attacked by Herrera who was off duty in the parking lot of the Shell gas station on State Road 80 in the Pioneer Plantation Community, the release states.

Herrera was in his uniform pants, duty boots and a black t-shirt - the off-duty deputy explained he had stopped at the convenience store to purchase items. While walking to his car he heard someone yell "hey" and he was allegedly attacked by Herrera when he turned around, according to the release.

The deputy was knocked to the ground and continually punched. The deputy was able to get up and got into a heated conversation with Herrera, according to the release.

"The deputy related to supervisors that Herrera alluded to the fact that he had a gun in his trunk and things could have been much worse. Herrera went on to say that he had thoughts of burning his house, with the deputy inside," according to the release.

Herrera was released on $7,000 bond - it is an ongoing investigation - and there may be possible pending charges, the release states.

Clewiston Police Chief Don Gutshell said the allegations are concerning. He notes the importance of public trust.

The question of infidelity being a motive is being explored in an internal investigation into the matter.

"Like everyone I've heard all of the rumors and I don't know, that's one of the things that we'll have to resolve as we go through our investigation."

Meanwhile, Herrera is suspended from the police department with pay. The internal investigation by Clewiston Police Department is expected to take between two to four weeks.

The reason for confrontation

Fort Myers criminal defense attorney Joe Viacava says emotions became heated when -- former Hendry County deputy and now current Clewiston Police officer -- Fernando Herrera confronted a Hendry County deputy.

The reason? Herrera believes the deputy is having an affair with his wife.

"What I will say is that there was clearly inappropriate action by a lot of people in this case. But what has to be separated is what is a crime and what is immoral," Joe Viacava said.

Herrera's accused of stalking and attacking the deputy at a Shell Gas station on State Road 80. Herrera's wife also works as a deputy at the Hendry County Sheriff's Office.

"Explain to me how you could be having an affair with someone else's wife, violating police procedure how you are doing it, and then be completely shocked that that person shows up to confront you in a public place. And you're a police officer and then complain you're a victim of a crime," Viacava said.

The Clewiston Police Department is also looking into the alleged affair as part of its investigation into Herrera's actions.

"Like everyone, I've heard all of the various rumors. I don't know that's one of the things that we'll have to resolve as we go through our investigation is what drove this," Clewiston Chief of Police Don Gutshell said.

We reached out to the Hendry County Sheriff's Office for comment and all three personnel files. We also asked if Herrera's wife worked in the same unit as the alleged victim. We are still waiting for a response.

Herrera's attorney says despite the allegations -- the public can still trust both men.

"These are actually both very honest, good decent people. But sometimes some people put themselves in a very inappropriate position. But this is not something where they should worry about being protected at their homes. They have honorable records," Viacava added.

Suspended cop faces DUI after hitting fire truck

by James Raykie

RIE, Pa. (AP) — Police in Erie have charged one of their own with drunken driving for an off-duty accident in which the suspended officer allegedly rear-ended a fire truck that was backing into its station on Thanksgiving.

Online court records don't list an attorney for 28-year-old Gabriel Carducci. The Erie Times-News (http://bit.ly/1rZHpQp ) reports he was mailed a summons Wednesday on charges of drunken driving, careless driving and not yielding to a fire truck entering a fire station and faces a preliminary hearing Jan. 15.

Police say Carducci was glassy eyed and had a blood-alcohol content twice the state's legal limit for drivers when he crashed about 5 a.m.

Police chief Randy Bowers says Carducci was already put on leave Nov. 10 for another unspecified off-duty incident that is being investigated by outside agencies.

Carducci doesn't have a listed phone.

Clewiston police officer accused of beating up deputy

By Andrea Hubbell, Reporter

Five deputies with the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office in Ohio are under investigation for allegedly sending racist text messages.

Two officers, Capt. Thomas Flanders and Detective Michael Sollenberger, have been placed on paid administrative leave while the other three – who are as yet unnamed – remain on the job while the investigation continues.

The accusations came to light after an anonymous source passed on hundreds of pages of the messages to the Dayton Unit of the NAACP.

Capt. Thomas Flanders, left, and Detective Michael Sollenberger, right, have been placed on paid administrative leave from the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office in Ohio during the investigation

The texts, which contain a barrage of racist slurs and insensitive jokes aimed at African-Americans, were exchanged between November 2011 and January 2013 on personal cell phones

The texts, which contain a barrage of racist slurs and insensitive jokes aimed at African-Americans, were exchanged between November 2011 and January 2013 on personal cell phones

After conducted a three-month-long investigation to ensure their authenticity, Derrick Forward - the civil rights organization’s local president - turned the messages over to Sheriff Phil Plumber last week.

The texts were exchanged between November 2011 and January 2013 on personal cell phones between the employees during working hours.

They contain a barrage of racist slurs and insensitive jokes aimed at African-Americans.

One text said, 'I hate N******. That is all.'

One deputy 'joked' to another: 'What do apples and black people have in common? They both hang from trees.'

Another read: 'We stopped at a Walmart in Birmingham, there are a lot of Black people in Alabama. It's all Martin Luther Kings fault.'

Derrick Forward, the president of the Dayton Unit of the NAACP, was handed records of the texts by an anonymous source and he forwarded them to Sheriff Phil Plumber last week

'These text messages, while some of them may be some joking going on back and forth, some of them are flat out rude and racist,' Foward told WBTN.

He wants the deputies to be sacked immediately if the sheriff’s investigation finds that they sent the messages.

Sheriff Plumber said the deputies had 'tarnished the office' by sending the text messages.

'These five individuals have taken this organization three steps backward and will be held accountable,' he said. 'I will not tolerate racism in this department.'

Plummer said his investigation is in its early stages, but it was important to public safety that both Flanders and Sollenberger be put on leave.

Two African-American deputies were mentioned in the texts, he said.

The deputies were in shock they were caught, 'but did not apologize,' Plummer said.

The two suspended officers have both been recently promoted. 

Flanders was a sergeant at the time of the text messages and Sollenberger was a detective under Flanders’ supervision.

Flanders had most recently been working as a jail administrator and Sollenberger in Internal Affairs. 

Captain Tom Flanders, who has been with the office for 19 years, told 2 NEWS that the allegations are completely false.

He denied being racist and said he looked forward to clearing his name.

The NAACP is requesting that an outside agency perform an investigation also.

The NAACP has called for an outside agency to perform an investigation and for the deputies to be sacked immediately if they are found responsible

The NAACP has called for an outside agency to perform an investigation and for the deputies to be sacked immediately if they are found responsible

White Plains Police Officer Suspended After Domestic Violence Dispute

by Alesha Hanson

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -- White Plains police officer Keith Smalls has been suspended without pay after he allegedly struck his live-in girlfriend in the face and ribs several times at their Ossining home, according to a report by LoHud.com.

Smalls was arrested in Ossining on Sunday, Nov. 23 following the accusation, White Plains Police Chief James Bradley confirmed to LoHud. 

Smalls has been charged with third-degree assault and is free without bail, the report said. He is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday, Dec. 9, according to the report. 

The victim, who is also a Westchester county police officer, was treated at Westchester Medical Center and released, the report said.

White Plains police officer Keith Smalls has been suspended

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -- White Plains police officer Keith Smalls has been suspended without pay after he allegedly struck his live-in girlfriend in the face and ribs several times at their Ossining home, according to a report by LoHud.com.

Smalls was arrested in Ossining on Sunday, Nov. 23 following the accusation, White Plains Police Chief James Bradley confirmed to LoHud. 

Smalls has been charged with third-degree assault and is free without bail, the report said. He is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday, Dec. 9, according to the report. 

The victim, who is also a Westchester county police officer, was treated at Westchester Medical Center and released, the report said.

On Job Application, Cop Who Killed 12-Year-Old Listed ‘Under-The-Table Jobs’ As Prior Employment

by Erica Hellerstein  

Timothy Loehmann, the 26-year-old Cleveland police officer who fatally gunned down 12-year-old Tamir Rice, admitted on his job application for the Cleveland Police Department that his primary source of income prior to his hiring was “under-the-table jobs,” ThinkProgress found after reviewing a public records request from the city’s Police Department.

Despite listing his primary source of income for six months prior to his application as “under-the-table jobs,” Loehmann was nevertheless hired for the law enforcement position in March 2013.

From July to December 2012, Loehmann worked as a full-time Patrolman for the City of Independence, Ohio. “Upon completion of the police academy, I received my OPOTA commission on December 4, 2012. I resigned from my position on December 5, 2012 for personal reasons,” Loehmann wrote in a March 12 statement detailing his work history.

However, documents from the Independence Police Department tell a different story — that the officer who shot and killed Rice for playing with a toy pistol had a flawed gun handling record himself, and that had he not formally resigned from his job he would have been dismissed.

In a November 2012 letter contained in Loehmann’s file, Independence Deputy Chief Jim Pulak recounted a disturbing series of events in which the young officer buckled under pressure, displayed startling emotional immaturity, and conducted the most basic functions of his job with apathy and carelessness. “He was not mentally prepared to do firearm training,” Pulak wrote, adding that during firearms qualification training Loehmann was “distracted and weepy. He could not follow simple directions, could not communicate clear thoughts nor recollections, and his handgun performance was dismal. After some talking it was clear to Sgt. Tinnirello that the recruit was just not mentally prepared to be doing firearm training.”

Pulak attributes Loehmann’s emotional volatility to a turbulent relationship with his “on and off again girlfriend whom he was dealing with till 0400 hrs the night before. Some of the comments made by Ptl. Loehmann during this discourse were to the effect of, ‘I should have gone to NY,’ ‘maybe I should quit,’ ‘I have no friends,’ ‘I only hang out with 74 yr old priests,’ ‘I have cried every day for 4 months about this girl.’”

He concluded that Loehmann “does not possess the maturity, commitment, and discretion necessary to perform well as an officer and recommended that he be “released from the employment of the City of Independence. Due to this dangerous loss of composure during live range training and his inability to manage this personal stress, I do not believe Ptl. Loehmann shows the maturity needed to work in our employment…I do not believe time, nor training, will be able to change or correct these deficiencies.”

Cleveland Police are reckless, use excessive and unnecessary force: Attorney General Eric Holder

Nearly 600 cases involving allegations of brutality were reviewed in Justice Department probe opened in 2013. 'Too many incidents in which officers accidentally shot someone,' says study

BY DEBORAH HASTINGS

Cleveland Police are reckless, use excessive and unnecessary force: Attorney General Eric Holder

Nearly 600 cases involving allegations of brutality were reviewed in Justice Department probe opened in 2013. 'Too many incidents in which officers accidentally shot someone,' says study

BY Deborah Hastings

The Cleveland Police Department has a troubled, reckless history of using excessive force far too often, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced Thursday, following a three-year Justice Department review.

The probe, which covered nearly 600 cases from 2010 to 2013, revealed a disturbing pattern of wrongdoing, the investigation report released Thursday said.

The investigation was launched after a 2012 police chase ended with the shooting deaths of two people, as well as other highly publicized incidents.

Justice Department investigators found a systemic pattern of inappropriate force used by officers, as well as recklessness that endangered not only the public, but other officers on the force.

Kris Connor/Getty ImagesU.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced a Justice Department probe had documented a pattern of excessive force used by the Cleveland Police Department.

"We saw too many incidents in which officers accidentally shot someone either because they fired their guns accidentally or because they shot the wrong person," the report said.

The findings come as Cleveland continues to protest the Nov. 22 killing of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old boy holding a pellet gun. Police shot the boy to death, saying they thought he was holding a real weapon.

The Justice Department review was prompted by a 2012 high-speed chase that ended with police firing 137 rounds into the car, killing two unarmed people inside.

Heavy-handed police officers have created serious mistrust of Cleveland police, most notably in the African-American community, the report said. Officers also are poorly trained in how to arrest people, how to deal with mentally unstable people and how to use their firearms.

It noted one incident in which a cop shot a man dressed in boxer shorts who had fled a house where he and others were being held against their will. The police sergeant said he fired because the man raised his arm and pointed.

TAMPA TO PAY $41,500 TO SETTLE CLAIM OVER CELLPHONE VIDEO ARREST

Richard Danielson

The City Council this week approved the settlement to Leeanna Presson, 40.

Presson was arrested on Feb. 2, 2013, in front of her Interbay-area home. In a claim sent to City Hall, her attorney, Michael Maddux of Tampa, outlined this sequence of events:

Presson and her husband, William Viers, had friends visiting when Viers went out for cigarettes. Police Cpl. Mark Altimari pulled him over near his home.

When Presson approached her husband's truck to see what was going on, Altimari told her to back away. She did, then went inside to get her cellphone after seeing what she felt was some rough treatment of her husband. She shot the video from 20 to 30 feet away.

There are two videos from that night. The first, about 2 ½ minutes, mainly shows several vehicles. As Presson moves in closer, a man says, stay over there.

"I have every right to be here," she said.

"No, you don't," said the man, who is not seen.

"Actually, I do," she said. "I know my rights. I talked to my attorney."

The second video, which lasts 16 seconds, shows virtually nothing, but Presson can be heard pleading, "Please don't take me to jail. Please. I am a good person."

"You should have thought about that when I told you three times to leave," a man's voice said.

"You didn't tell me three times to leave," she said. "You told me once."

In his claim letter, Maddux said Officer Lanard Taylor told Presson to stop making the video and "rushed to grab the phone away from her."

When Presson said she was within her rights to shoot the video, Maddux said, Taylor pushed her up against a fence, swung her around and handcuffed her, bruising her wrists and hurting her back and shoulders.

Presson, who works as an account representative for a printing company, had no criminal record in Florida. She was charged with obstructing or opposing an officer without violence, a misdemeanor.

Three months later, Hillsborough prosecutors said there was insufficient evidence of obstruction and dropped the charge. (Viers, 41, pleaded no contest to DUI with a blood-alcohol content over 0.15 percent. He was judged guilty and sentenced to 12 months' probation, 50 hours of community service and a six-month revocation of his license.)

Presson did not interfere with police, Maddux said. Her claim against the city alleged false arrest, excessive force and a violation of her rights under the First Amendment.

"When she's not even the focus of the criminal conduct that's being investigated, a DUI, it's definitely misguided to direct force onto a person who's exercising their First Amendment rights," Maddux said.

In a summary for the City Council, assistant city attorney Ursula Richardson said City Hall denied any liability. Still, she added that if Presson sued and won a verdict, the judgment probably would be as big as or bigger than the settlement.

Police spokeswoman Janelle McGregor said Taylor would not comment. Altimari has since retired and could not be reached.

Presson's claim reflects a larger trend shaping police work.

A while back, police Chief Jane Castor told a group of students at City Hall that one of the biggest changes she has seen in her three-decade career is that now everyone has a camera.

Increasingly that includes police themselves. Tampa this week opened bids from five companies vying to sell the city body-mounted digital cameras for officers. Also, President Barack Obama said he would seek funding to provide 50,000 body cameras to police nationwide.

In Tampa, new officers are trained "on the importance of protecting the constitutional rights of all citizens," including the right to make videos of "on-duty police officers as long as they don't interfere with law enforcement duties," McGregor said. That's backed up with continuing education, supervisor workshops and legal bulletins.

In March — months after Presson made her claim — senior assistant city attorney Kirby Rainsberger warned Tampa officers, "don't expect the courts to protect you from the annoyance of having your general activities recorded from an appropriate distance."

In a one-page legal bulletin, Rainsberger said, "with very few restrictions, this recording is both legal and consistent with TPD's philosophy of openness and transparency."

Even when the people behind the camera make profane comments, "this sort of activity is generally constitutionally protected up until the point where the recording individual substantially interferes with law enforcement duties," he said. "The officer bears a heavy burden to prove that the interference substantially outweighs the protected activity."

Times researcher John Martin contributed to this report.

Yonkers considering $85K payout in cop misconduct suit

Ernie Garcia, elgarcia

The Yonkers City Council considers $85,000 for man claiming he was falsely arrested by Yonkers cops

The Yonkers City Council is considering an $85,000 payment to a man who alleged he was falsely arrested by Yonkers police officers after he filed a complaint about the cops.

At its Dec. 9 meeting the council is expected to vote on the resolution paying $85,000 to Danny Squicciarini, who sued the city in 2012.

Squicciarini alleged in his federal civil rights complaint that two Yonkers police officers illegally arrested, harassed and strip-searched him in retaliation for unsuccessfully trying to file a complaint against them five months earlier.

Squicciarini claimed in the court papers that he was driving into a parking lot at the Cross County Shopping Center when an unmarked black SUV blocked his car and two plainclothes officers hopped out without identifying themselves, ordering him and his friend to step out of their vehicle.

The officers patted the pair down and searched Squicciarini's car without permission, finding his textbooks and a fishing knife, which one of the officers pocketed and refused to give back before driving off.

The officers were identified in the suit as "Detective DellaDonna" and "Detective DeVito."

Squicciarini and his friend immediately drove to the city's Second Police Precinct to lodge a complaint, he said, but a desk sergeant refused to file one without names or badge numbers, even after Squicciarini gave detailed descriptions.

Other officers suggested the two plainclothes officers might have been federal agents or state police, the suit claims.

One night five months later, Squicciarini claimed he was meeting friends in a Central Avenue parking lot when the same two officers pulled up and, recognizing him, searched his car again — this time finding an unlit marijuana cigarette.

Squicciarini was arrested and charged with criminal marijuana possession, his suit stated, and harassed on his way to getting processed.

Staff writer Colin Gustafson contributed to this report.

The cases where US police have faced killing charges

By Taylor Kate Brown BBC News, Washington

Two cases of black men being killed in police confrontations have caused anger when no charges were brought against the officer in each case. So when have police faced charges?

In 2013, Russell Rios, 19, fled a Wal-mart in Conroe, Texas, after allegedly stealing about $50 (£32) in goods from the store.

An officer, Sgt Jason Blackwelder, responded and chased Rios on foot to a wooded area. Blackwelder left the woods, Rios did not.

Blackwelder later said in his report during a struggle Rios had choked him to the point of almost losing consciousness. Blackwelder fired his gun and killed Rios, arguing it was self-defence.

But prosecutors said evidence from the scene contradicted that account, including the fact that Rios had been shot in the back of the head.

Blackwelder was charged by a grand jury for manslaughter and making false statements. He was convicted in a jury trial.

It is one example of a rare instance where police are arrested or charged for violent incidents related to their police work.

"Everybody knows policing is violent, and [jurors] don't want to second guess those decisions," says Philip Stinson, a researcher at Bowling Green State University in Ohio and former police officer.

Juries - both grand juries and trial juries - tend to "give every possible benefit of the doubt" when it comes to police officers who have killed while on-duty, Dr Stinson says.

But the secrecy of the grand jury proceedings make it hard to know why that was.

He adds this tendency to not charge does not exist as strongly for police officers investigated for non-violent crimes, including corruption cases.

Comprehensive nationwide numbers of how many police officers kill individuals while on duty do not exist.

The FBI does record "justifiable homicides" by police officers. There were 461 such homicides in 2013, but by definition, this doesn't include the number of police charged with a crime for on-duty actions.

And reporting these statistics to the FBI is voluntary. In addition, even police agencies who report their overall crime numbers are not required to submit additional data on homicides, justified or not.

Mr Stinson's own research found 41 police officers were charged with murder or manslaughter between 2005 and 2011. In the same time period, the FBI recorded several thousand justifiable homicides.

And the process by which police officers face charges depends on the state. Some are charged by grand juries, others are charged directly by police through arrest warrants.

In Baltimore in 2008, Police Officer Tommy Sanders was indicted for voluntary manslaughter while on duty when he shot and killed Edward Lamont Hunt.

Mr Sanders told the court Hunt had been staring at him across a car park at a shopping centre. As he was searching Hunt, the officer said Hunt assaulted him and ran off. After giving chase, Sanders told the court he saw Hunt reach for something.

Mr Sanders fired three shots, two hitting Hunt in the back.

During the trial, multiple witnesses said Hunt had never assaulted the officer, nor did he reach into his coat while running.

How one shooting sparked a movement

Hunt was unarmed.

While the evidence led a grand jury to charge Hunt, he was eventually found not guilty.

But the case was slightly different than recent cases of white police officers being accused of bias in handling of black suspects - Mr Sanders himself is black.

And in at least one case, when prosecutors do not get an indictment, they try again.

Last September, Jonathan Ferrell, 24, a former college football player, was shot by Officer Randall Kerrick as he attempted to get help after being involved a car crash late at night in Charlotte, North Carolina.

A woman alarmed by Farrell knocking and yelling at her door at two o'clock in the morning called police.

By the time Mr Kerrick had arrived, Ferrell had walked away, looking for help elsewhere. What happened next is disputed, but it ended with Mr Kerrick shooting at the 24-year-old 12 times, 10 of the shots hitting Ferrell.

Mr Kerrick's own police department said the shooting was "excessive" and said he "did not have a lawful right to discharge his weapon" during the incident.

Prosecutors brought the case to a grand jury, and when they did not charge Kerrick, the state argued the jury had not had enough people and convened a second grand jury, which did indict.

Mr Kerrick faces trial for manslaughter next year.

And once a case goes to court, and even a conviction, the tendency to give police officers every benefit appears to extend to the sentencing as well.

After his conviction, Blackwelder was given five years probation for the crime. He had faced up to 20 years based on the charge.

Eric Garner choke-hold cop sued in prior misconduct cases

By Kevin McCoy

NEW YORK – The white New York City police officer whose choke hold led to the death of an unarmed black man has been sued three times for allegedly violating the constitutional rights of other black people that he and fellow cops arrested.

A grand jury decision not to indict Daniel Pantaleo on Wednesday in the death of Eric Garner, 43, the man he wrestled to the ground during an attempted arrest for selling untaxed cigarettes on a Staten Island sidewalk in July, sparked waves of angry though largely peaceful demonstrations in several cities.

The Garner case wasn't the first time Pantaleo, 29, was accused of misconduct, however.

Darren Collins and Tommy Rice alleged in a 2013 federal court lawsuit that Pantaleo and at least four other officers subjected them to "humiliating and unlawful strip searches in public view" after handcuffing them during a March 2012 arrest on Staten Island.

The court complaint charged that the cops, searching for illegal drugs, "pulled down the plaintiffs' pants and underwear, and touched and searched their genital areas, or stood by while this was done in their presence."

Pantaleo and three of the officers repeated the searches after they took the suspects to Staten Island's 120th police precinct, the complaint alleged.

Charges against Collins and Rice, who said they had done nothing wrong, ultimately were dismissed and sealed. The city settled their lawsuit last year, court records show.

Separately, Rylawn Walker alleged that Pantaleo and other cops falsely arrested him on Staten Island for alleged marijuana possession in February 2012. His federal lawsuit against the cops maintained that Walker "was committing no crime at that time and was not acting in a suspicious manner."

City lawyers have denied the allegations, and the case is pending.

The marijuana charges against Walker were dismissed and sealed on a motion by Staten Island prosecutors, defense lawyer Michael Colihan wrote in an August 2014 letter to U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos.

"To put it mildly, many police on Staten Island have been playing fast, loose and violently with the public they seem to have forgotten they are sworn to protect," wrote Colihan. "After litigating about 200 of these civil rights matters in the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York since 1977, I have seen no interest by the managers of the New York City Police Department, or anyone employed by the city of New York, in doing anything to stop this."

City attorney Daniel Passeser complained that the defense letter in part was "designed to fan the flames of anti-police sentiment in the Staten Island community." He unsuccessfully argued that portions of the letter should be removed from the court docket.

Kenneth Collins, a 22-year-old Staten Island man, in November filed a lawsuit alleging that Pantaleo and other police officers violated his rights during a February 2012 marijuana arrest. Along with being arrested falsely, he "was subjected to a degrading search of his private parts and genitals by the defendants," the court complaint charged.

The drug charges were dismissed and sealed one day after the arrest, court filings show.

Collins' lawsuit alleged that the police officers charged him in part in an alleged bid to get overtime pay while processing legal paperwork and obtain credit from superiors for making the arrest.

City attorneys have not yet filed a response to the lawsuit.

Misconduct allegations against city police officers filed with the Civilian Complaint Review Board dropped to 11,501 in 2013, the lowest total in a decade, the agency's data shows. NYPD currently has approximately 34,500 uniformed officers. The CCRB received 2,739 complaints during the first six months of this year, a 7% increase from the same period of 2013, the data shows.

Emails from police officer include commercials, police footage, graphic photos

Elkhart police Lt. Brent Long was suspended for four days and put on probation for forwarded emails including graphic photos and beer commercials.

Emily Pfund

Documents released to The Elkhart Truth on Friday, Dec. 5, shed a little more light on an investigation into inappropriate emails sent from the work accounts of three Elkhart police officers to various city employees.

Disciplinary hearings for two of the officers — Det. Scott Weaver and Lt. Peggy Snider — are scheduled for Dec. 19 and Jan. 19, respectively. Chief Laura Koch has requested the Elkhart Board of Public Safety fire Snider and demote Weaver and suspend him for four days.

The case for the third officer, Lt. Brent Long, was decided Nov. 12. He was suspended for four days and placed on probation for one year.

INVESTIGATION LAUNCHED

The emails were apparently uncovered during the discovery process for an unrelated lawsuit filed against the city by a former employee. Chad Dyer, a former network administrator for the city’s information technology department, filed a lawsuit in June 2013 alleging the city did not pay him overtime for which he was eligible and eventually fired him after he asked the city to review his job classification. He claims that when he asked the city to review his job classification — which said his position was not eligible for overtime — and pay him for the overtime work he had done, his requests were ignored and he was eventually fired.

Dyer’s suit, filed in United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, argues he was fired because he insisted that the city comply with the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Scott Duerring, Dyer’s attorney, said the case is still in the discovery phase and a trial date has not been set yet.

“My understanding is that the city was going through information based on a request we made and that’s how they supposedly found these other emails,” Duerring said of the emails that prompted disciplinary action against the three officers.

The Elkhart Police Department has declined to comment on how the emails were discovered.

LONG’S EMAILS

The emails that prompted the disciplinary action against Long, obtained by The Elkhart Truth through the Indiana Access to Public Records Act, include seven messages with video or photo attachments sent between January 2009 and January 2011.

One of Long’s emails shows photos of a man who jumped off a ledge on a building while running from police in Atlanta in 2003 and was decapitated after landing on a fence. The photos show the man’s body lying in a pool of blood in a parking lot and his head still on the fence.

Another includes a video of a man being electrocuted by touching a power line while standing atop a stopped train.

In one of the videos, a man is seen dancing backwards into a busy street and being struck by an ice cream truck.

Some of the content included in the emails are television commercials. A commercial for Heineken shows a group of women screaming in excitement while looking at a massive walk-in closet. A group of men has the same reaction standing in a walk-in freezer stocked with beer.

<p>

In another commercial, this one for a cell phone carrier, a woman tries to surprise her significant other with a pole dance in their living room, but the pole collapses.

Two of the videos include police actions. One was recorded by a police dash cam and shows an officer arresting a man who appears to be intoxicated and was driving a hydraulic lift down the street.

Another shows a group of men, identified in the email as bank robbers, running out of a building and into a car just before a group of police officers run past them and into the building. The video is not a real robbery, but was part of a commercial, according to hoax-debunking site Snopes.com.

There is no comment from Long in the body of any of the emails. The emails were forwarded to various other accounts without comment. The email files provided to The Elkhart Truth did not include the recipients Long sent the messages to.

Requests for the emails involved in the disciplinary actions against Snider and Weaver are still pending with the city’s legal department, as is a request for a copy of the city’s email and computer use policies.

Long declined to comment Friday afternoon.

Alton officer indicted for misconduct

MADISON COUNTY, Ill. – An Alton, Illinois police officer is accused of destroying evidence. Now, he has been indicted on a felony charge of official misconduct.

Jonathan K. Forrler, 38, is accused of destroying forensic evidence gathered as part of a sexual assault case. According to the indictment, the evidence included a rape kit and clothing.

The Madison County State's Attorney's Office says someone notified it over the summer that evidence was missing from the Alton Police Department. So the office, along with the FBI and Illinois State Police, launched an investigation. Authorities say they found missing evidence in 130 cases.

Forrler, who was working as an evidence officer, was charged in the sexual assault case because of the strict standards the law holds when it comes to handling rape kits. Madison County State's Attorney Thomas Gibbons says the missing evidence will allow felons to walk free in dozens of cases. His office notified the defendants in all 130 cases of the situation.

Gibbons says a very thorough investigation did not find any malicious intent behind the missing evidence, but investigators are convinced Forrler destroyed evidence on purpose. In the sexual assault case, Gibbons says investigators could not find any connection between Forrler and anyone involved in the case.

"Truly, the facts of this case defy logic. And, it does not make any sense. But, there was no personal gain to the officer, and to try to understand the motive and intent here, fortunately we don't have to prove that in a court of law. Because it truly does defy logic," said Gibbons.

The Alton Police Department declined to comment on the situation, or on the status of Forrler's employment. Forrler's bail was set at $20,000.

In response to the indictment, Alton Mayor Brant Walker released the following statement:

The City of Alton and the Alton Police Department have worked closely with county, state, and federal officials during the course of the investigation into the destruction of evidence at the Alton Police Department.

The Police Department is currently conducting an internal investigation of this serious incident and the City of Alton will take all appropriate corrective action to ensure that such an incident does not occur again.

It is important to understand that individual actions do not reflect on the entire Police Department, and I remain confident in the Department's ability to protect our City.

Grand jury indicts police officer accused of kidnapping and raping women

HAMMOND, LA (WAFB) -

Court officials said a police officer was indicted on kidnapping, rape and other charges Friday.

According to District Attorney Scott Perrilloux, a grand jury in Tangipahoa Parish indicted Grant Carruth, 25, of Husser, on the following:

Second-degree kidnapping (2 counts)

Aggravated rape

Sexual battery

Armed robbery

Carruth was an officer with the Amite Police Department at the time of his arrest. His current status with the department is unknown.

Deputies with the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office took Carruth into custody on September 30.

Sheriff Daniel Edwards said his office has been investigating two separate cases for about a month that involved women being kidnapped and sexually assaulted. The cases were reported on August 11 and September 20. Authorities said the suspect was more violent toward the second victim.

He added in both cases, the victims reported they were approached by a man who identified himself as a narcotics officer and would then tell them that they were being placed under arrest.

2 San Francisco police officers convicted of corruption

By Bob Egelko

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.

Bronx cop accused of helping drug trafficker avoid the NYPD: prosecutors

Police Officer Merlin Alston was arrested on conspiracy and official misconduct charges at his posting at the 46th Precinct in Fordham Thursday night — two days shy of his 32nd birthday, officials said.

BY DAREH GREGORIAN , THOMAS Tracey

A Bronx cop was a drug trafficker’s go-to guy, authorities said Friday.

Police Officer Merlin Alston was arrested on conspiracy and official misconduct charges at his posting at the 46th Precinct in Fordham Thursday night — two days shy of his 32nd birthday, officials said.

He’s been accused of serving as a bodyguard, courier and a driver for a trafficker since 2010, according to the city’s Special Narcotics Prosecutor’s office. He also gave his boss a heads-up when the NYPD was getting too close, prosecutors said.

His misdeeds were caught on wiretaps, including a March 20 incident when he agreed to pick up a shotgun for the trafficker, which he called “The ... that noise,” prosecutors said.

5% of New York cops turn in 40% of "resisting arrest" cases

Updated by Dara Lind

In the wake of Eric Garner's death, the head of the NYC Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, a police interest group, blamed Garner: "You cannot resist arrest, that's a crime." But it's not a crime that most police officers often file reports about.

The New York Police Department is made up of 35,000 officers, and just a minority of them have sent people into court for "resisting arrest."

But the ones who do, according to a new report from WNYC, charge a lot of people — and that can be a "red flag" for other issues.

WNYC looked at over 51,000 cases where someone was charged with "resisting arrest" since 2009. They found that 40 percent of those cases — over 20,000 — were committed by just 5 percent of all the police officers on the force. And 15 percent of officers accounted for a majority of all "resisting arrest" charges.

Why "resisting arrest" cases matter

The upshot of this data is that charging people with "resisting arrest" is something most cops do very rarely, and a few cops do a lot. Here's why that matters: if a cop is routinely hauling people into court for resisting arrest, he might be taking an overly aggressive attitude toward civilians. A police officer might even, as police accountability expert Sam Walker told WNYC, use the criminal charge to cover up his use of excessive force:

"There's a widespread pattern in American policing where resisting arrest charges are used to sort of cover - and that phrase is used - the officer's use of force," said Walker, the accountability expert from the University of Nebraska. "Why did the officer use force? Well, the person was resisting arrest."

That pattern held up in the case of Donald Sadowy, a Brooklyn police officer who's the subject of the WNYC article. Sadowy has more than 20 resisting arrest cases since 2009 — putting him in the 98th percentile, or higher, among all police. Meanwhile, over the last two years, Sadowy's been sued 10 times for excessive force.

Police officer suspended after two investigations

By Michele Dargan

A nine-year police department veteran has been issued a two-week suspension without pay after two internal investigations found that he violated department policies.

Officer Adam Zeller received the suspension from Public Safety Director Kirk Blouin on Nov. 26 but has not yet served it. He has until Tuesday to appeal the suspension in writing.

An internal affairs report cited two traffic stops during which Zeller, while performing on-the-job training, used the occupants of the cars he stopped to test his trainee’s skills. By doing that, he jeopardized the safety of his fellow officer and the civilians, according to the report.

The investigation also concluded that Zeller failed to share important criminal arrest history of a suspect with his trainee officer and failed to take proper action by not arresting a known habitual traffic offender.

Blouin removed Zeller from the Field Training Officer Program as part of the disciplinary action.

The second investigation found that Zeller failed to notify patrol officers and his supervisor of a possible aggravated assault on a fireman during a Sept. 2 call. By not sharing that information, he endangered everyone involved, the report said.

On Nov. 6, Blouin notified Zeller that he could be suspended up to four weeks without pay.

Zeller, 31, and his attorney Jason Tracey attended a pre-disciplinary hearing on Nov. 18 with Blouin and Lt. Michael Keehan.

According to the transcript of that hearing, Tracey asked Blouin to consider Zeller’s time and service to the department and his commendations. A four-week suspension without pay would have cost Zeller about $5,000, Tracey said.

Police department records show Zeller has received 22 department and citizen commendations and no disciplinary actions in his nine years with the department. He was named Officer of the Month in June 2009. A January 2008 citizen complaint was determined “unfounded,” but no other information about it was available.

‘‘Mistake of the heart’’

During the hearing, Tracey told Blouin and Keehan that since the investigations began, Zeller continued to perform his job in a professional manner. Zeller also didn’t intend to harm the trainee or the department, Tracey said.

“There are occasions when an individual makes a mistake of the heart versus a mistake of the mind, and Officer Zeller’s heart was in the right place with respect to the training exercise,” Tracey said. “He went through the exercise of trying to see if the trainee was ready for his own detail.”

Zeller apologized to Blouin for putting the department through the investigations. He asked Blouin to issue a written reprimand rather than a suspension.

“My actions were never intended to endanger or intentionally mislead a fellow officer or anyone in the community,” Zeller said in the hearing. “My actions were not malicious but intended to teach a trainee the officer safety skills. In regards to the second incident, I wanted to apprehend this guy. I didn’t want him to do anything else to anyone else … Even though I’m unhappy with the actions taken, which led to two different internal affairs investigations, I do accept responsibility for my mistakes and will use what I have learned to grow as an officer … Mistakes are always made and I will learn from them considering I’ve never been disciplined in my career.”

Missed arrest

According to the internal affairs report on the traffic stops, Zeller and his trainee, Officer Jose Rodriguez, conducted a traffic stop on July 9 on Polmar Park Road. Rodriguez was in the last phase of his field training. A dispatcher advised that the driver was a habitual traffic offender.

Zeller heard the information on the radio and called dispatch to confirm it but didn’t tell Rodriguez. Because Rodriguez did not know the driver’s history, he wrote a citation for a suspended driver’s license but the driver should have been arrested.

“Officer Zeller had the duty and responsibility as a field training officer to intervene with Officer Rodriguez when he did not take the proper action,” the report said.

While Rodriguez wrote the ticket, Zeller asked the passenger to step out of the vehicle — without telling Rodriguez — so he could test Rodriguez’s safety skills. Zeller motioned to the passenger from behind the vehicle to step outside and, when he did, Rodriguez yelled at the passenger to get back inside. Zeller motioned a second time for the passenger to step out. The passenger later told police he was afraid to get out a second time, but he did so when he saw Zeller walking toward him.

The report also cited another traffic stop, during which Zeller told the driver — without telling Rodriguez — to get out of the car. That stop took place June 30.

Committee would hear appeal

The second investigative report said Zeller arrived on an accident scene during which fire-rescue Battalion Chief David Burke had been nearly run down by a car fleeing the scene. Burke told Zeller he had seen an accident and gotten out of his car to help. The fleeing driver would have run him down if he hadn’t jumped out of the way, Burke said.

Zeller failed to tell patrol units and supervisors — who were looking for the fleeing driver — that the suspect purposely tried to run down Burke. Burke later said that Zeller may not initially have understood that he was out of his vehicle when he almost was hit.

If he files an appeal, Zeller would plead his case in front of the Town Council’s Administrative and Personnel Committee. The two-member committee of council members Richard Kleid and Penny Townsend would make a recommendation to the Town Council, which would make the final decision.