The Fairfax County Police Officer Jeffrey Hand Award for Creative Income Production. Fairfax County Police. Police Brutality
Leland NC police chief fired after several different allegations of corruption & misconduct within department [2] bit.ly/yz9cV7
Lincoln Co WV sheriff to take plea deal along w/count clerk in election fraud case, stuffed ballot box [0] fxn.ws/zzf4Uz
RCMP officer in BC resigns after charged with stealing a computer seized from a crime scene [0] bit.ly/wBYWZF
Des Moines IA cop who was union official convicted on 2 misdemeanor domestic violence charges, fired after charged [0] dmreg.co/xPPvfj
Palm Springs FL cop arrested on grand theft charge for allegedly stealing his mom’s $55k settlement check [0] bit.ly/xTqaOb
Talbotton GA cop pleads guilty to lying to federal agents during corruption investigation [0] bit.ly/z9Xeki
Fairfax County Police Officer “Crazy Moe” Mohammed Oluwa, Jihad on your ass. Fairfax County Police. Police Brutality
Jefferson Co KY constable indicted on assault & wanton endangerment charges for firing on a fleeing shoplifter [0] bit.ly/A3QgJ8
Dallas TX police sgt arrested for DV assault w/bodily injury while under investigation after shooting incident [3] bit.ly/yyNhH6
The Fairfax County Police officer Walter R. Fasci/ Sean McGlone award for sober living. Fairfax County Police. Police brutality
Sevier Co TN deputy fired after arrested on DUI charges after less than 2 months on the job [0] http://bit.ly/xUzsVh
Chicago IL cop convicted of participating in drug ring with kingpin who was once his informant [0] bit.ly/yJafzG
Sexual assualt by your police
Plainfield NJ police sgt arrested for criminal sexual conduct for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman while on duty [2] cbsloc.al/x0z0O0
Murder by your local police
Portland OR settles suit for $1.2mil to family of unarmed man fatally shot in the back by a cop with a rifle while he was surrendering. [0] bit.ly/xD96RV
Donyell Briggs police assault case report
City prosecutors indicted Baltimore Police Officer Donyell Briggs on charges of misconduct in office and second-degree assault based on a Feb. 4, 2010 altercation with Ricky Thomas. Video appears to show Briggs striking Thomas without warning, and Thomas says Briggs misrepresented the circumstances of the assault in court documents. A second officer who witnessed the incident filed a use of force and subsequently was interviewed by prosecutors. Briggs was given probation before judgment at a trial last month.
D.C. police misconduct reviews shut down for much of 2011
Police misconduct allegations in the District went unresolved for much of 2011, The Washington Examiner has learned.
The Office of Police Complaints, which probes accusations like harassment and the use of excessive force, acknowledged that an intergovernmental squabble kept it from administering its independent review process for most of last year and into January, forcing complainants and officers alike to wait longer for answers.
Although most allegations are dismissed, referred to another agency or mediated, the Office of Police Complaints refers some to complaint examiners -- outside attorneys who act as arbiters -- for adjudication. The last decision issued by an examiner came on April 29, 2011. That judgment, which upheld a harassment claim, capped the activity of the examiners at four cases in 2011. There were 14 rulings in 2010. said late Wednesday. "Since working on this contract, OCP has completed a thorough evaluation of how we do business and made significant changes."
The program resumed on Jan. 9 under a new approach: administration by employees within the Police Complaints Office, which Klossner said saved money but didn't necessarily improve the process.
"It saves in that it's not a financial outlay, but it puts substantial stress on the staff," Klossner said.
Since the program restarted, examiners have heard four cases. Decisions are pending.
"We had cases where we had ... reasonable cause to believe misconduct had occurred and then had to hold on to the case," Christian Klossner, deputy director of the Office of Police Complaints, told The Examiner.
Johnny Barnes, executive director of D.C.'s chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said a delayed review process delayed justice.
"The police cannot and will not police themselves," Barnes said. "If that board isn't functioning and cannot function, then there is likely no way to seek and find justice when citizens have complaints."
The process that ultimately forced the moratorium began in 2010, when the Office of Contracting and Procurement wanted to open for bidding the contract to administer the examination program. D.C. received no acceptable bids, and after the decision that was issued in April, the program was put on hold. "We had no mechanism by which to administer the program," Klossner said.
That set off a long struggle. "We spent several frustrating months not getting an answer on how we were going to move forward," Klossner said of his staff's interactions with contracting officials.
Meanwhile, cases lingered. By October,investigators had nine cases ready for review.
The turning point, Klossner said, came when his office complained to the contracting office's acting director.
"Then we had lots of help," Klossner recalled. "It definitely lit fires."
In a statement, the contracting office said the episode sparked reforms.
"There were obstacles that caused delays," spokeswoman Lauren Stephens spokeswoman Lauren Stephens said late Wednesday. "Since working on this contract, OCP has completed a thorough evaluation of how we do business and made significant changes."
The program resumed on Jan. 9 under a new approach: administration by employees within the Police Complaints Office, which Klossner said saved money but didn't necessarily improve the process.
"It saves in that it's not a financial outlay, but it puts substantial stress on the staff," Klossner said.
Since the program restarted, examiners have heard four cases. Decisions are pending.
Agreement made in ex-police chief, dog slayer case
CEDAR CITY - The former chief of the Parowan Police Department entered into a diversion agreement that 5th District Court Judge John Walton signed Wednesday, effectively dropping charges of obstruction of justice, a class A misdemeanor and official misconduct, a class B misdemeanor.
Preston Griffiths served as chief of police in Parowan for more than 20 years before retiring in August 2011. His retirement came after he was charged with obstruction of justice and official misconduct stemming from a July 19, 2010, incident in which Griffiths allegedly shot and killed a dog belonging to Parowan resident Amber Burton. Griffiths also allegedly lied to Burton about the incident.
The Millard County Attorney's Office took charge of the case to avoid a conflict of interest.
Griffiths' attorney, Ronald Yengich, who said an agreement to sign a diversion agreement had been made, waved a preliminary hearing scheduled for Wednesday.
Diversion is an agreement between a defendant and the state wherein the state agrees to drop charges if the defendant does not break any laws for a set period of time.
The terms of the diversion agreement between the state and Griffiths state that Griffiths will not commit any law violations, with the exception of minor traffic issues, for a period of six months. During this time Griffiths is also required to keep the Millard County Attorney's Office advised of his address. In return, the state will drop all charges against Griffiths with prejudice, meaning they cannot bring the same charges against Griffiths again.
If Griffiths breaks the terms of the agreement, he can be fined up to $1,000 and spend up to six months in Iron County Jail.
Yengich said the agreement was filed in July 2011, but for unknown reasons Millard County Deputy Attorney Patrick Finlinson, who represented the state, did not sign the agreement until Wednesday
Leland residents on Jayne's termination: 'It's about time'
LELAND, NC (WWAY) -- For months, WWAY has followed the allegations of corruption and officer misconduct at the Leland Police Department. Today, the department's leader was fired.
We spoke to a few people in Leland tonight to get their reaction to the news of chief Tim Jayne’s termination.
“I believe he's getting his just rewards right now,” said Kath McGrath, who lives in Leland.
Joanne Johnston, who has lived in the small town for years, says she's happy that people in power are finally being held accountable.
“We've just had some people that have let their power get out of hand,” she said.
Town manager David Hollis delivered the news to Jayne, also eliminating three administrative positions and another in the building inspections department. The firing comes just weeks after Hollis asked the Town Council to release information that Jayne had been on probation since September.
“I believe it's the right decision to make,” said Hollis. “It's not a decision that has come easily or lightly. I've thought about it a lot, and i just believe it's the right decision to make as a town and move forward at this point.”
Hollis claims the ongoing SBI investigation into the police department has nothing to do with his decision, and he has not spoken to anyone from the SBI recently.
Johnston says she's glad Hollis did not wait until after the investigation to take action.
“They made a good decision to go ahead and stop it, because they had a lot of the facts. Instead of waiting for everything to finish up, they knew what had gone on,” she said.
“Hopefully it will set a very, very good example and our next chief of police will make sure this kind of thing does not happen again,” said McGrath.
Illinois high court orders hearing in cop brutality case
The Illinois Supreme Court on Thursday reaffirmed its longstanding opposition to coerced and tortured confessions, upholding a lower court’s decision that said a confession obtained by police torture or other physical abuse must always be thrown out.
The decision, which had anticipated for months by the legal community, came in the case of Stanley Wrice, who was convicted in 1983 of rape but had long alleged that he had been tortured by officers working for the disgraced former Chicago police Cmdr. Jon Burge.
The court’s 6-0 ruling means Wrice will get a hearing in circuit court to determine if his confession was a product of police torture. The decision represents another milestone in the long-running saga of Burge and his crew of officers, who repeatedly have been accused of abusing African-American suspects in the 1970s and 1980s at a South Side police station.
Defense attorneys had feared that any break in the court’s tough stance would lead to the kind of abuse seen during Burge’s tenure. Prosecutors had hoped that the court would issue a ruling allowing them to use tainted confessions when the other evidence against a suspect was overwhelming.
“We believe that this type of coercion by the state ...constitutes an egregious violation of an underlying principle of our criminal justice system...” the court wrote.
The vote in the case was 6-0 because Justice Robert Thomas did not take part in the case.
Wrice was arrested in September 1982. According to Chicago police, Wrice and some friends had been driving around when they saw a woman on the street, picked her up and took her to Wrice’s South Side home. There, they repeatedly raped her, then beat her and burned her with a hot clothes iron and other material they had set on fire. Afterwards, they dressed her and left her on the street. She awoke outside, then walked to a gas station and sought help.
Wrice, according to police, admitted only that he dropped a burning iron on the victim’s thighs, though other witnesses said he raped her.
He went to trial in 1983, alleging that Sgt. John Byrne – long considered Burge’s right-hand man – and Detective Peter Dignan struck him repeatedly with a flashlight and rubber hose while being held in the basement of the Area Two police headquarters. A judge, however, turned aside his claims that his statement was coerced and Wrice was convicted of rape, deviat sexual assault, armed violence and unlawful restraint. He was sentenced to 100 years in prison.
Later, the armed violence and unlawful restraint convictions were thrown out. Now 57, Wrice is scheduled to be released in 2041.
Wrice filed several appeals, to no avail. But he filed a new claim after a special prosecutor’s report in 2006 that largely substantiated the widespread claims of abuse under Burge. The Illinois Appellate Court ruled in his favor, saying a coerced confession was never what courts call “harmless error.” Prosecutors had argued that when they have overwhelming evidence of guilt, a judge should use a harmless error test, weighing the confession against the other evidence rather than automatically throwing out a confession because it was coerced. The Illinois Supreme Court then heard the case.
In a friend-of-the-court brief filed last year, a group of prominent lawyers, politicians and community activists urged the Illinois Supreme Court to stick with its previous ruling that a coerced confession is never harmless error. That ruling came in the case of Andrew Wilson, a convicted cop killer who received a new trial after he prevailed on his claims that he had been burned against a hot radiator during questioning.
Wrice’s attorney, Heidi Lambros of the Office of the State Appellate Defender, argued that it was crucial to always bar coerced confessions, writing that “adherence to the Wilson rule is critical to send a message that this type of egregious police misconduct will not be tolerated in Illinois.” Special prosecutors appointed to handle a number of lingering Burge-related appeals argued that some balancing was needed.
Federal prosecutors later charged Burge with perjury and obstruction of justice for lying when he said under oath in a lawsuit that he had never taken part in or witnessed any torture. Burge was convicted and currently is serving a 4 1/2 year sentence in a federal prison in North Carolina.
The decision, which had anticipated for months by the legal community, came in the case of Stanley Wrice, who was convicted in 1983 of rape but had long alleged that he had been tortured by officers working for the disgraced former Chicago police Cmdr. Jon Burge.
The court’s 6-0 ruling means Wrice will get a hearing in circuit court to determine if his confession was a product of police torture. The decision represents another milestone in the long-running saga of Burge and his crew of officers, who repeatedly have been accused of abusing African-American suspects in the 1970s and 1980s at a South Side police station.
Defense attorneys had feared that any break in the court’s tough stance would lead to the kind of abuse seen during Burge’s tenure. Prosecutors had hoped that the court would issue a ruling allowing them to use tainted confessions when the other evidence against a suspect was overwhelming.
“We believe that this type of coercion by the state ...constitutes an egregious violation of an underlying principle of our criminal justice system...” the court wrote.
The vote in the case was 6-0 because Justice Robert Thomas did not take part in the case.
Wrice was arrested in September 1982. According to Chicago police, Wrice and some friends had been driving around when they saw a woman on the street, picked her up and took her to Wrice’s South Side home. There, they repeatedly raped her, then beat her and burned her with a hot clothes iron and other material they had set on fire. Afterwards, they dressed her and left her on the street. She awoke outside, then walked to a gas station and sought help.
Wrice, according to police, admitted only that he dropped a burning iron on the victim’s thighs, though other witnesses said he raped her.
He went to trial in 1983, alleging that Sgt. John Byrne – long considered Burge’s right-hand man – and Detective Peter Dignan struck him repeatedly with a flashlight and rubber hose while being held in the basement of the Area Two police headquarters. A judge, however, turned aside his claims that his statement was coerced and Wrice was convicted of rape, deviat sexual assault, armed violence and unlawful restraint. He was sentenced to 100 years in prison.
Later, the armed violence and unlawful restraint convictions were thrown out. Now 57, Wrice is scheduled to be released in 2041.
Wrice filed several appeals, to no avail. But he filed a new claim after a special prosecutor’s report in 2006 that largely substantiated the widespread claims of abuse under Burge. The Illinois Appellate Court ruled in his favor, saying a coerced confession was never what courts call “harmless error.” Prosecutors had argued that when they have overwhelming evidence of guilt, a judge should use a harmless error test, weighing the confession against the other evidence rather than automatically throwing out a confession because it was coerced. The Illinois Supreme Court then heard the case.
In a friend-of-the-court brief filed last year, a group of prominent lawyers, politicians and community activists urged the Illinois Supreme Court to stick with its previous ruling that a coerced confession is never harmless error. That ruling came in the case of Andrew Wilson, a convicted cop killer who received a new trial after he prevailed on his claims that he had been burned against a hot radiator during questioning.
Wrice’s attorney, Heidi Lambros of the Office of the State Appellate Defender, argued that it was crucial to always bar coerced confessions, writing that “adherence to the Wilson rule is critical to send a message that this type of egregious police misconduct will not be tolerated in Illinois.” Special prosecutors appointed to handle a number of lingering Burge-related appeals argued that some balancing was needed.
Federal prosecutors later charged Burge with perjury and obstruction of justice for lying when he said under oath in a lawsuit that he had never taken part in or witnessed any torture. Burge was convicted and currently is serving a 4 1/2 year sentence in a federal prison in North Carolina.
Police: CHP officer arrested for DUI, kneeing cop
A California Highway Patrol officer was booked into the Shasta County jail on suspicion of DUI and obstructing a public officer
REDDING, Calif. — A California Highway Patrol officer was arrested 21Ú2 weeks ago on suspicion of drunken driving and resisting arrest after crashing her personal SUV and kneeing an officer who attempted to arrest her, police say.
Redding Police Sgt. Casey Bokavich said Tuesday that Doreen Shaw, 42, of Redding caused a four-car wreck about 11:05 p.m. Jan. 14 while driving a 2007 GMC Envoy westbound on South Bonnyview Road at Highway 273.
"During the investigation, Shaw was found to be at fault for the collision," Bokavich said.
At least one person in one of the other vehicles complained of pain after the wreck, Bokavich said.
Officers tested Shaw for being under the influence of alcohol and when they attempted to arrest her, she became "physically uncooperative and she struck one of the officers with her knee," Bokavich said.
Bokavich declined to say what her blood-alcohol level was, citing the ongoing investigation.
She was booked into the Shasta County jail on suspicion of DUI and obstructing a public officer, a jail watch commander said. She was released on her own recognizance without posting $2,500 bail.
Redding CHP Lt. Julie Horstman declined to comment and referred inquiries to Redding police. Shaw reportedly worked at the CHP's Cottonwood truck inspection facility.
A spokeswoman for the Shasta County District Attorney's Office said charges haven't yet been filed, since the case remains under investigation.
A March 16 court date has been tentatively set for Shaw's arraignment.
Bokavich said Redding police have been handling the case since it occurred in the city's jurisdiction. Bokavich said investigators have been "completely independent and objective."
He said officers didn't release information soon after the wreck due to the ongoing investigation.
"You could end up jeopardizing cases by speaking about them too early," he said. "There's no trying to hide something or anything like that."
Accused East Haven cop seeks disability retirement
EAST HAVEN — Police Officer David Cari, one of four officers indicted and arrested Jan. 24 for allegedly harassing and violating the civil rights of Latinos, has put in for a disability retirement, Deputy Chief of Police John Mannion confirmed Wednesday.
Mannion also confirmed that he has begun internal affairs investigations on all four arrested officers, as requested by retiring Chief of Police Leonard Gallo immediately after the arrests.
The investigations likely will take some time, said Mannion, who officially becomes acting chief Friday, when Gallo’s retirement goes into effect.
Mayor Joseph Maturo Jr. announced Tuesday that Gallo, whose lawyer has confirmed he is the unnamed “Co-conspirator 1” in the indictment, will retire effective Friday. While Gallo has not been charged with anything, he could be at a later date.
Maturo, meanwhile, quickly appointed two new members to the Board of Police Commissioners to replace two Democratic appointees of former Mayor April Capone, Chairman Fred Brow and James Krebs, whose terms expired Wednesday.
The new members are Republican Town Chairman Lou Crisci and Jose Velasquez, who Maturo also recently appointed to the new Law Enforcement Advisory Resource Network, or LEARN, committee. Velasquez will be the first Latino member of the police board.
The mayoral appointments need no confirmation.
Maturo’s two appointments are unlikely to immediately give him control of the board, raising questions about the likelihood of the board approving Cari’s disability retirement request.
The five-member board voted unanimously Tuesday night to recommend that Maturo fire Gallo. All three of the hold-over members, Vice Chairman Joe Civitello, Carl Perez and Frank Piergrossi, also were Capone appointees.
Mannion confirmed reports from several other sources that Cari, a veteran of about 10 years who has been seriously injured at least twice in the course of performing his duties, including being shot at least once, put in his retirement papers, but said he couldn’t comment on it. He referred questions to Town Attorney Joseph Zullo
Mannion also confirmed that he has begun internal affairs investigations on all four arrested officers, as requested by retiring Chief of Police Leonard Gallo immediately after the arrests.
The investigations likely will take some time, said Mannion, who officially becomes acting chief Friday, when Gallo’s retirement goes into effect.
Mayor Joseph Maturo Jr. announced Tuesday that Gallo, whose lawyer has confirmed he is the unnamed “Co-conspirator 1” in the indictment, will retire effective Friday. While Gallo has not been charged with anything, he could be at a later date.
Maturo, meanwhile, quickly appointed two new members to the Board of Police Commissioners to replace two Democratic appointees of former Mayor April Capone, Chairman Fred Brow and James Krebs, whose terms expired Wednesday.
The new members are Republican Town Chairman Lou Crisci and Jose Velasquez, who Maturo also recently appointed to the new Law Enforcement Advisory Resource Network, or LEARN, committee. Velasquez will be the first Latino member of the police board.
The mayoral appointments need no confirmation.
Maturo’s two appointments are unlikely to immediately give him control of the board, raising questions about the likelihood of the board approving Cari’s disability retirement request.
The five-member board voted unanimously Tuesday night to recommend that Maturo fire Gallo. All three of the hold-over members, Vice Chairman Joe Civitello, Carl Perez and Frank Piergrossi, also were Capone appointees.
Mannion confirmed reports from several other sources that Cari, a veteran of about 10 years who has been seriously injured at least twice in the course of performing his duties, including being shot at least once, put in his retirement papers, but said he couldn’t comment on it. He referred questions to Town Attorney Joseph Zullo
“Anything with any of the defendants has to go through Attorney Zullo’s office,” Mannion said.
Zullo did not immediately return calls for comment.
While Cari does not have enough time in as a police officer to qualify for a regular retirement, he would qualify for a disability retirement, sources said.
The Board of Police Commissioners must act on his request.
Cari was one of the two police officers initially involved in the Feb. 19, 2009, arrest of the Rev. James Manship, pastor of St. Rose of Lima in New Haven, while he was videotaping police taking license plates off the wall at My Country Store, a Latino-owned store on Main Street.
But long before that, he took a bullet in the ankle in what later was honored as a heroic effort that likely saved other police officers’ lives.
Zullo did not immediately return calls for comment.
While Cari does not have enough time in as a police officer to qualify for a regular retirement, he would qualify for a disability retirement, sources said.
The Board of Police Commissioners must act on his request.
Cari was one of the two police officers initially involved in the Feb. 19, 2009, arrest of the Rev. James Manship, pastor of St. Rose of Lima in New Haven, while he was videotaping police taking license plates off the wall at My Country Store, a Latino-owned store on Main Street.
But long before that, he took a bullet in the ankle in what later was honored as a heroic effort that likely saved other police officers’ lives.
Cari earned the state’s Medal of Honor for his actions March 14, 2006, thwarting a fleeing armed robbery suspect, diving into a car to get the gun as the suspect pulled it out and began shooting.
Another of last week’s arrestees, Sgt. John Miller, also was honored in connection with that incident.
Then, on Sept. 6, 2007, Cari was injured in a serious automobile crash while pursuing suspects in the robbery of a Main Street Chinese restaurant.
Cari was one of four police officers that the FBI arrested in pre-dawn raids Jan. 24 as part of a two-year investigation by the FBI, the U.S. Department of Justice and a federal grand jury into alleged profiling and mistreatment of Latinos in East Haven.
Another of last week’s arrestees, Sgt. John Miller, also was honored in connection with that incident.
Then, on Sept. 6, 2007, Cari was injured in a serious automobile crash while pursuing suspects in the robbery of a Main Street Chinese restaurant.
Cari was one of four police officers that the FBI arrested in pre-dawn raids Jan. 24 as part of a two-year investigation by the FBI, the U.S. Department of Justice and a federal grand jury into alleged profiling and mistreatment of Latinos in East Haven.
Many of the charges against Cari were related to the arrest of Manship.
He has been charged with nine counts of obstruction, which can bring up to 20 years in jail or up to $250,000 in fines, and eight counts of false arrest, which could see up to one year in jail or up to a $100,000 fine. He also was charged with one count of conspiracy against rights, which could bring up to 10 years in jail and up to a $250,000 fine.
He has been charged with nine counts of obstruction, which can bring up to 20 years in jail or up to $250,000 in fines, and eight counts of false arrest, which could see up to one year in jail or up to a $100,000 fine. He also was charged with one count of conspiracy against rights, which could bring up to 10 years in jail and up to a $250,000 fine.
Safety manager suspends Denver cop for excessive force in 2007 arrest
Denver Manager of Safety Alex Martinez issued a four-day suspension to a police officer for using unnecessary force during a shoplifting arrest more than four years ago, after a video of the bust surfaced last year.
The Police Protective Association has appealed to the Civil Service Commission the suspension without pay of Officer Rick Guzman. The amount of force Guzman used was within department guidelines, said David Bruno, a lawyer for the union.
The incident was so long ago that Guzman, who joined the department in 2005, can't remember it, and the video doesn't show what caused him to react the way he did, Bruno said.
Witnesses talked to Internal Affairs investigators, said a police spokesman.
The video wasn't available for review Tuesday, said police-records coordinator Mary Dulacki.
Guzman was arresting a shoplifting suspect held by security at the Kmart at 363 S. Broadway when the incident occurred Aug. 4, 2007, according to Martinez's order of disciplinary action.
On May 27, 2011, "an anonymous complainant" provided police with a video of the arrest. "The video of the arrest was reviewed, and it illustrates that Officer Guzman used an unnecessary amount of force while arresting the suspect. Additionally, Officer Guzman did not file a report of the incident," according to the order. Tom McGhee, The Denver Post
R.B. cop charged with tipping Torrance officer to drug raid
A former Redondo Beach police officer once honored for bravery has been charged with tipping a Torrance policeman that narcotics investigators were about to raid a house where the policeman allegedly had gone to buy drugs, prosecutors said Monday.
Christopher Sabosky, 33, allegedly sent a text message to Torrance Officer Jeff Grau when he recognized Grau as he and a South Bay police task force prepared to serve a search warrant in El Segundo in 2010, prosecutors said.
Grau, a former UCLA Bruin tight end who played briefly for the Dallas Cowboys and Miami Dolphins, drove up and walked inside the house. Grau reportedly had a drug problem and was at the house to purchase narcotics, prosecutors and police said.
Sabosky’s attorney, Bill Seki, denied the allegations against his client and said he will be exonerated.
“Officer Sabosky looks forward to the opportunity to get his side of the story out. Definitely you’ll see it is not as the charges appear to be,” Seki said.
“In no way, shape or form would he ever knowingly compromise any investigation that was ongoing based upon his experience working that task force and his commitment to the task force. He knew the seriousness of everything they did.”
Sabosky’s alleged crime occurred Dec. 16, 2010, as Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach and El Segundo police detectives prepared to raid a suspected drug house in the 600 block of Sheldon Street in El Segundo, prosecutors said.
As detectives conducted a stakeout, a GMC Yukon pulled up about 1:30 p.m. and a man went inside the house.
Police checked the license plate number and found it was registered to Grau, a Torrance police officer.
“Before officers could enter the residence, the complaint alleges Sabosky texted Grau, who was a friend of his, that police were about to search the house,” said Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the District Attorney’s Office. “Sabosky also allegedly called Grau as Grau was fleeing the scene.”
Grau tried to leave without buying drugs, but was detained. Prosecutors allege Sabosky tried to “influence another officer into not detaining Grau.”
Officer plans appeal
Redondo Beach Police Chief Joe Leonardi said El Segundo police notified his department about Sabosky in January 2011. Redondo Beach police officials assigned Sabosky to station duties while conducting an administrative investigation.
“Christopher Sabosky is no longer employed by the city of Redondo Beach,” Leonardi said. “We hold ourselves to the highest ethical standards of the police service in the Redondo Beach Police Department. This was an isolated incident.”
Sabosky, who worked for the department for about 10 years, plans to appeal his dismissal, Seki said.
The District Attorney’s Office charged Sabosky last week with felony counts of revealing warrant information prior to execution of a search or arrest warrant, and conspiracy to commit an act injurious to the public.
Sabosky was ordered to appear Monday for arraignment in Superior Court in downtown Los Angeles. He pleaded not guilty and was released on his own recognizance. He must return Feb. 14.
According to the criminal complaint filed against him, prosecutors allege Sabosky called and texted Grau before the warrant was served, failed to tell his fellow officers he had done so, called Grau as he fled and tried to influence another officer to let him go.
“The crime itself speaks for itself,” El Segundo police Capt. Brian Evanski said. “He notified somebody inside the house prior to the warrant being served. That could be dangerous. That is letting people know a warrant is about to be served at that location.”
After the warrant was served, police arrested Sandor Arpad Palfi, 46. Records show Palfi, who is registered to vote at the residence, was arrested on suspicion of possession of a methamphetamine pipe, possession of a controlled substance for sale and possession of dronabinol, a drug used to prevent nausea and vomiting from chemotherapy.
Palfi ultimately pleaded no contest to maintaining a place for selling, giving or using a controlled substance and was sentenced on March 22 to three years’ supervised probation and ordered to perform 45 days of community service, District Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said.
Heroic acts remembered
Prosecutors said Redondo Beach police fired Sabosky on Jan. 24, ending 10 years on the force that included a Distinguished Service Medal in 2005 at the South Bay Medal of Valor luncheon.
Sabosky was honored for coming under attack Jan. 7, 2004, when he checked two suspicious men on a Redondo Beach street. One of the men, Matthew Ryan Bickel, 26, was shooting at him.
Sabosky fired back and took cover behind trash cans, ducking and diving for safety, and then throwing trash cans at Bickel when his own gun jammed.
Bullets missed Sabosky, and Bickel escaped. Torrance officers killed Bickel later that day in a confrontation on Prairie Avenue.
“I never go to work thinking I’m going to get a medal,” Sabosky said. “It’s just icing on the cake. It’s a thankless job, but any time they honor you for something that’s admirable, it’s great.”
Grau, who was briefly detained at the scene, was not charged, prosecutors said. He did not have any narcotics on him, they said.
Torrance police Sgt. Steven Jenkinson said his department was made aware of the allegations involving Grau in December 2010. The department conducted an internal administrative investigation while El Segundo police conducted the criminal investigation.
“Mr. Grau separated service with the Torrance Police Department on Oct. 7, 2011,” Jenkinson said. “He no longer works here.”
Jenkinson, citing privacy issues related to police officers, declined to say whether the 32-year-old was fired or resigned.
Christopher Sabosky, 33, allegedly sent a text message to Torrance Officer Jeff Grau when he recognized Grau as he and a South Bay police task force prepared to serve a search warrant in El Segundo in 2010, prosecutors said.
Grau, a former UCLA Bruin tight end who played briefly for the Dallas Cowboys and Miami Dolphins, drove up and walked inside the house. Grau reportedly had a drug problem and was at the house to purchase narcotics, prosecutors and police said.
Sabosky’s attorney, Bill Seki, denied the allegations against his client and said he will be exonerated.
“Officer Sabosky looks forward to the opportunity to get his side of the story out. Definitely you’ll see it is not as the charges appear to be,” Seki said.
“In no way, shape or form would he ever knowingly compromise any investigation that was ongoing based upon his experience working that task force and his commitment to the task force. He knew the seriousness of everything they did.”
Sabosky’s alleged crime occurred Dec. 16, 2010, as Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach and El Segundo police detectives prepared to raid a suspected drug house in the 600 block of Sheldon Street in El Segundo, prosecutors said.
As detectives conducted a stakeout, a GMC Yukon pulled up about 1:30 p.m. and a man went inside the house.
Police checked the license plate number and found it was registered to Grau, a Torrance police officer.
“Before officers could enter the residence, the complaint alleges Sabosky texted Grau, who was a friend of his, that police were about to search the house,” said Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the District Attorney’s Office. “Sabosky also allegedly called Grau as Grau was fleeing the scene.”
Grau tried to leave without buying drugs, but was detained. Prosecutors allege Sabosky tried to “influence another officer into not detaining Grau.”
Officer plans appeal
Redondo Beach Police Chief Joe Leonardi said El Segundo police notified his department about Sabosky in January 2011. Redondo Beach police officials assigned Sabosky to station duties while conducting an administrative investigation.
“Christopher Sabosky is no longer employed by the city of Redondo Beach,” Leonardi said. “We hold ourselves to the highest ethical standards of the police service in the Redondo Beach Police Department. This was an isolated incident.”
Sabosky, who worked for the department for about 10 years, plans to appeal his dismissal, Seki said.
The District Attorney’s Office charged Sabosky last week with felony counts of revealing warrant information prior to execution of a search or arrest warrant, and conspiracy to commit an act injurious to the public.
Sabosky was ordered to appear Monday for arraignment in Superior Court in downtown Los Angeles. He pleaded not guilty and was released on his own recognizance. He must return Feb. 14.
According to the criminal complaint filed against him, prosecutors allege Sabosky called and texted Grau before the warrant was served, failed to tell his fellow officers he had done so, called Grau as he fled and tried to influence another officer to let him go.
“The crime itself speaks for itself,” El Segundo police Capt. Brian Evanski said. “He notified somebody inside the house prior to the warrant being served. That could be dangerous. That is letting people know a warrant is about to be served at that location.”
After the warrant was served, police arrested Sandor Arpad Palfi, 46. Records show Palfi, who is registered to vote at the residence, was arrested on suspicion of possession of a methamphetamine pipe, possession of a controlled substance for sale and possession of dronabinol, a drug used to prevent nausea and vomiting from chemotherapy.
Palfi ultimately pleaded no contest to maintaining a place for selling, giving or using a controlled substance and was sentenced on March 22 to three years’ supervised probation and ordered to perform 45 days of community service, District Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said.
Heroic acts remembered
Prosecutors said Redondo Beach police fired Sabosky on Jan. 24, ending 10 years on the force that included a Distinguished Service Medal in 2005 at the South Bay Medal of Valor luncheon.
Sabosky was honored for coming under attack Jan. 7, 2004, when he checked two suspicious men on a Redondo Beach street. One of the men, Matthew Ryan Bickel, 26, was shooting at him.
Sabosky fired back and took cover behind trash cans, ducking and diving for safety, and then throwing trash cans at Bickel when his own gun jammed.
Bullets missed Sabosky, and Bickel escaped. Torrance officers killed Bickel later that day in a confrontation on Prairie Avenue.
“I never go to work thinking I’m going to get a medal,” Sabosky said. “It’s just icing on the cake. It’s a thankless job, but any time they honor you for something that’s admirable, it’s great.”
Grau, who was briefly detained at the scene, was not charged, prosecutors said. He did not have any narcotics on him, they said.
Torrance police Sgt. Steven Jenkinson said his department was made aware of the allegations involving Grau in December 2010. The department conducted an internal administrative investigation while El Segundo police conducted the criminal investigation.
“Mr. Grau separated service with the Torrance Police Department on Oct. 7, 2011,” Jenkinson said. “He no longer works here.”
Jenkinson, citing privacy issues related to police officers, declined to say whether the 32-year-old was fired or resigned.
Never Call the Police: Single Mother in Milwaukee Raped by Cop – Then Arrested for “Assaulting an Officer”
When the brick crashed through her bathroom window and somebody began kicking in her front door, the 19-year-old single mother of two in Milwaukee dialed what are supposed to be the most trustworthy three numbers
“I called 911 for help,” she later said in court. “I didn’t call 911 to be the victim.”
Within minutes, two police officers responded. One took her 15-year-old brother outside to speak to him. The other cop, Police Officer Ladmarald Cates, gave her boyfriend $10 and told him to go the store and get some water. She told him that he was welcome to chilled water from her refrigerator.
Her boyfriend has a pronounced limp and set off with no promise of returning soon. Cates asked to see the broken window and she led him down a narrow hallway to a bathroom in the back. She felt sure that jealous neighbors had attacked her happy home because she dared to defy what seemed surely to be her fate as an inner-city teenage single mom.
“I wanted to be a good example to my kids,” she would later say. “I wanted to learn something, be somebody.”
She had returned to high school as a mother of two and after graduation she had continued on to the University of Wisconsin, where she was studying criminal justice with the thought of becoming police officer or a lawyer.
Should the race of the victim matter? Mike Daly responds to user comments.
“I thought I was going pretty good,” she would recall.
She now stood on a floor littered with broken glass and pointed to the brick. The cop she had summoned to protect her instead chose this moment to grab the back of her head by her hair and sodomize her. Then he raped her.
Cates appeared and grabbed her by the waist, spinning her around. Her swinging feet may or may not have struck the partner. She was handcuffed and taken in, told at the stationhouse that she was being charged with assaulting a police officer.
After 12 hours, she was interviewed by internal affairs and taken to a hospital, where a rape kit was used to collect evidence. She was then taken to the county jail and held for four days before being released without actually being charged.
She took her story to the Milwaukee District Attorney’s office. A prosecutor subsequently wrote, “While I did find the victim’s version of events credible, I did not believe that her testimony would be strong enough to successfully prosecute Officer Cates.”
In other words, Cates was still a cop and she was still an inner-city teenage single mom. She stopped going to school as she fell into a deep depression, making two serious suicide attempts.
She who had so desperately wanted to be a good example for her 3-year-old boy and 2-year-old girl began to wonder if they should even be with her.
“Sad and crying all the time,” she says. “I didn’t know if I wanted my kids around, me being upset like that about something that happened to me.”
Meanwhile, internal affairs confronted Cates with DNA evidence linking him and the victim. He told three different stories, finally saying there had been a voluntary sexual encounter. His victim read in the newspaper that he had been fired for lying and for “idling and loafing” on duty, words that mocked what had been done to her.
“That really pissed me off,” she says.
She took some comfort in knowing Cates was not going to be answering any more 911 calls. But he still had not been held accountable for what he did to her.
“It wasn’t really justice,” she says. “It didn’t say he hurt me.”
She was sinking only deeper into despair when she went on the Internet and chanced up a photo of an eminent Milwaukee defense lawyer named Robin Shellow.
“She had a beautiful smile,” the victim recalls. “It was just her smile and the look in her eyes…She’s not mean and she’s a woman … She looked like she could understand me...She looked like she would help.”
She went to Shellow’s office.
“I just was giving it a shot. I didn’t think nothing was going to come of it.” Shellow proved to be everything her photo suggested. Shellow also happened to have just finished a case in federal court and she had the number handy for the prosecutor who had been her opponent. Asst. U.S. Attorney Mel Johnson came to her office with an FBI agent to interview her new client. He not only found her credible, he was willing to prosecute.
“He was a very nice guy,” the victim says. “He kind of made me not afraid.”
“I knew it,” she says. “The way he treated me, I knew he had to have hurt somebody else before.”
As the case headed for trial, Gina Barton of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Cates had been investigated for illegal behavior on five previous occasions, three of them involving sexual misconduct. Two of those were with prisoners. The third was with a 16 year-old and that case had been referred to the Milwaukee district attorney’s office, which declined to prosecute. The priors came as no surprise to the 19-year-old who was now accusing him of raping her while he somehow remained employed as a cop.
“I knew it,” she says. “The way he treated me, I knew he had to have hurt somebody else before.”
But, the law prohibited the prosecution from using Cates’s history to sway the jury. The case was still a she-said-he-said as the victim took the stand. She had been counseled and steadied by Shellow right up to this moment. She was now on her own.
“I am here today because Officer Cates is a very bad man,” she said. Shellow says that her client was a terrific witness . The victim herself feels otherwise, faulting herself for not being able to convey the enormity of what happened. She does say, “It felt good to look at him and tell him what he did. He was looking at his shoes.” She also felt that whatever her shortcomings he was sure to be convicted.
“I thought it would be guilty,” she said. “I felt it in my stomach. Anybody with two eyes could see this dude was an animal.”
On January 11, the jury convicted Cates of violating the victim’s civil rights by raping her
“I just heard the 'guilty' and then I left because I was so emotional,” she says.
She returned to court on Jan. 18, to see Cates remanded, pending sentencing in April, when he faces a maximum of life in prison.
“I didn’t feel happy,” she says. “I felt like, ‘Finally, it’s over.’”
She could not help but feel sympathy for Cates’s children.
“They didn’t do anything,” she says.
She has chosen to accept the anonymity accorded a sex crime victim as she resumes being the hero of her own particular life. She is back to being the mom she wanted to be for her own kids. And she plans on continuing her studies next semester, though she has seen enough of the legal system to have a new career goal.
“A nurse or a doctor,” she says.
Police Brutality Tells Us More About Society Than Those Who Police It
In the fall of 2010, I lived in Los Angeles as I prepared to direct Rampart. Rampart is a movie about a very bad cop (Woody Harrelson) who refuses to surrender his brutal sense of street justice. Set in 1999 -- a time of great change -- the LAPD, hemorrhaging prestige and money from the extensive Rampart anti-gang unit Scandal, was put under the microscope, restructured, reworked and rebranded.
Like some post-Western Hollywood movie, the LAPD of the late 90s presented its cops with a very simple choice: change your ways, help rebuild the LAPD image, or fade away. Evidence tampering, police brutality, robbery, drug dealing, perjury, even murder charges were all lobbed at the Rampart police department, based on one or two corrupt cops' testimonies, and the flood gates opened to accusations that still resonate today, many true, many false, all palpable in the war zone that is the world of law enforcement in this country.
That fall, I was talking with cops, trying to get into their heads, get a sense of their heart, who they are as human beings. One white cop, leaning confidently on his idled squad car in downtown LA, took his time explaining to me that the battle for the streets of Los Angeles is never ending and it's the same everywhere. He laid out a grim picture that ultimately defined his world: there are criminals out there who play their parts brilliantly as bad guys so that the police only have to play their part as the opposing force. It's all very well defined, a cat and mouse game that lasts all day every day. Each side is under siege and each side reacts with a vengeance. The rules of the game are a matter of who gets away with what and for how long.
He told me endless stories in great detail about capers and heists, about gangbangers and shootouts, and he told me many stories about the sex lives of cops (which made a lot of sense as he was basically describing the thrill of power games. Sex, as we know, goes hand in hand with fantasies of domination, to use a metaphor). He told me a few stories about the horrors he's seen and then hinted at the horrors he's committed. Over 20 years on the department, he's been penalized for many misdeeds, but he says he just can't get enough of the grind, the action, of "hitting the street, getting down with the game" and trying to win for his team every day.
Hours later I found out that even though many of his stories were laced with cheerful racism, homophobia, sexism and ant-Semitism, his girlfriend was black, his brother gay, and his sister a Jewish convert who married a Jewish man and raises her kids within the faith. He told me he loved his family.
In a word, it was a show. He was a performer. And he had me from the get-go. He played his part, he wasn't kidding, there's a certain theatricality to police work. He was a character, in the same way I was about to make Woody Harrelson a character in a movie, except for him the consequences were real.
Before we said goodbye, I asked him "how does it stop?" How is this war, this occupation mentality, this theater of siege and retribution get resolved? He gave me a long baffled look, as if I've asked a ridiculously inconsequential question. He was almost embarrassed for me. I was a glasses-wearing movie director, for god's sake, I should have been smarter than asking a question like that. "How does this get resolved?" he asked appalled "Are you kidding? He said the endless loop of police brutality and criminal behavior has to do with the education system in this country, it has to do with jobs. He said it wasn't his "department." His mission was not to solve the crime problem in this country, his duty was to kick ass in the name of law and order.
I knew he was on to something. In a society that makes incarceration of minorities and the poor a lucrative business, a society that falls further and further down in its level of public education in comparison to other advanced countries and offers fewer and fewer job opportunities for its working-age population, this war on the streets is the only game in town. That look of bafflement he gave me was also an indictment. It said "I am doing your work, I am living out your desire for uncompromising law enforcement; you are looking the other way, you are tolerating me and you mostly don't want to know about the shit I pull on the streets so you could sleep well at night in your comfortable bed and not ever think about what's really going on in a world where jail cells replace jobs and incarceration replaces education." "I work for you," that look was telling me, "How dare you ask me how to resolve this problem? You threw me into this game, and maybe I love it, maybe I love putting on the uniform and getting away with misconduct which I excuse for myself as reactions under pressure and as a result of traumatic situations experienced on the streets, but don't pretend for a second that I can resolve the problems that make society sick.
I work for you, he was clearly saying. You, Mr. Tax-Paying-Citizen, control the environment for this game; I just play it. You want it to be different, change the game, because you're not going to change the behavior of a bad cop or a power structure that delves into the darkest corners of human behavior. Sure, individual responsibility goes a long way, and cops must be accountable for breaking the law, but the brutality cops sometimes show, be it in the Occupy demonstrations or a random beating of a motorist, is society's brutality. It's just a mirror. Bad apple excuses and department-wide systematic fixes will keep us going in circles. They work for us. What are we going to do about it for their sake and ours?
Death In The Devil's Chair: Florida Man's Pepper Spray Death Raises Questions About Jail Abuse
When he left his home in Ohio to visit his brother in Fort Myers, Fla. in March 2009, Nick Christie was already breaking down, physically and mentally. His wife Joyce was concerned about his well-being. Rightly so. By the end of the month, the grandfather of two, whose only prior run-in with the law was a DUI in the 1980s, would be strapped to a restraining chair in the Lee County, Fla. jail, coated with a thick layer of pepper spray, smothered in a "spit hood," then finally taken to a Florida hospital where, two days later, he would die.
Christie, 62, a retired boilermaker, suffered from heart disease as well as emphysema, the latter the likely result of his former smoking habit and years of exposure to asbestos. A bout with diverticulitis had forced him to cancel a fishing trip the year before, and he slipped into a depression after he was hospitalized for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a condition that further constricted his breathing.
Christie had been taking medication for his depression, but the doctor who was treating him had recently moved. That left no one to manage Christie's spiraling emotional state, and no one to control the possible side effects of his medication. Christie's wife worried about his trip to Florida, to the point where she contacted police in Lee County herself to ask that they keep an eye out for her husband. At her request, a captain from the Girard, Ohio police department also called Lee County officials and asked them to take Christie to a hospital if they found him.Christie was first arrested on March 25, for public intoxication. Though there's evidence Christie had been drinking, he was also beginning his mental deterioration, and may have merely been disoriented. One fast-food worker he interacted with that night said she thought he was suffering from Alzheimer's. Though confused (he couldn't remember his wife's or brother's phone number), Christie did inform the jail attendants of his various medical conditions, and gave them a list of the medications he was taking. He was released the next day.
Christie was then arrested again on March 27, this time for misdemeanor trespassing. Nicholas DiCello, whose Cleveland firm Spangenberg Shibley & Liber has filed a civil rights lawsuit on behalf of Joyce and Christie's estate, says the second arrest was for a minor offense. "It was for trespassing at the hotel where was staying," DiCello says. "He was having another mental episode. He was bewildered, acting crazy, and so the hotel got fed up and asked him to leave. When he didn't go, they called the police." According to DiCello, the jail staff and the staff for Prison Health Services, the private company contracted to provide medical service to the jail, ordered no advanced physical or mental health screening for Christie before he was jailed, despite the long list of medical conditions already in his file from his prior arrest. There is also no indication that anyone was made aware of Joyce Christie's notification of Lee County officials, in which she informed them about her husband's conditions. According to the lawsuit, after the second arrest, Lee County deputies locked Christie's medications in his truck. During his 43 hours in custody, he was never given medication.
Christie was uncooperative and nonsensical from the time he was arrested, but at some point after his incarceration, he became combative. Lee County deputies responded by either directly spraying him or fogging his cell with pepper spray at least 10 times. (According to police, Christie was sprayed eight times. A cell mate was sprayed two other times, which may have affected Christie.) He was never allowed to "decontaminate" -- to wash the spray off. Other inmates in the jail, who weren't targeted with the spray, told the Fort Myers News-Press the blasts were so strong that the secondary effects caused them to gag. The deputies then put Christie into a restraining chair, a controversial device that binds inmates at both wrists, both ankles, and across the chest. In depositions, the other inmates, along with a deputy trainee named Monshay Gibbs, testified that Christie was sprayed at least two more times after he had been strapped to the chair. He was also stripped naked, and outfitted with a "spit mask," a hood designed to prevent inmates from spitting on jail personnel. In Christie's case, the mask kept the pepper spray in close proximity to his nose and mouth, ensuring he would continue to inhale it for the full six hours he was in the restraint chair.
According to Gibbs' testimony, Christie pleaded with the deputies, telling them he had a heart condition and numerous other medical problems, and that the spit mask made it difficult for him to breathe. Other inmates have confirmed Gibbs' account, adding that Christie began to turn purple.When Joyce Christie heard of her husband's second arrest, she flew down to Florida to find him. "She was actually relieved to hear he had been arrested," DiCello says. "She thought they had responded to her pleas for help, that they would take him to a hospital to be treated." She eventually made her way to the Lee County jail. Joyce Christie would later learn that at one point in the night, when she was pleading with police to take her husband to the hospital, at the same time and in the same building he was being tortured to death in the restraint chair.
"She left frustrated," DiCello says. "They weren't listening to her. She didn't know what to do."In the early afternoon of March 29, Nick Christie went into respiratory distress. He was taken to the Gulf Coast Medical Center in Fort Myers. Joyce Christie told journalist Jane Akre that according to hospital staff, her husband was so covered in pepper spray that doctors had to repeatedly change their gloves as they became contaminated. Christie would suffer multiple heart attacks over the next two days before he was finally declared brain dead and his life support was removed on March 31. Two days after Christie had been transported out of the jail, Deputy Medical Examiner Dr. Robert Pfalzgraf noted in his autopsy report that Christie still had brown-orange liquid pepper spray all over his body.
Pfalzgraf determined that Christie's heart gave out due to stress from his exposure to pepper spray. He ruled the death a homicide.The Devil's Chair
"I look at this story, and all I can say is, what in the world were they thinking?" says David Klinger, a former police officer who now teaches at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Klinger specializes in the use of force. "As a general rule, you don't use pepper spray on someone who is restrained. There might be some limited circumstances where, say, you have a suspect in handcuffs who is banging his head against the window of a patrol car. You might give him a quick burst of pepper spray. But never, never someone who is secured in a restraint chair. It just makes no sense at all."
The Lee County deputies appear to have violated accepted use of force guidelines a number of different ways, including the length of time they kept Christie strapped to the chair, pepper spraying him after he had been restrained (as well as their failure to clean the pepper spray off of him), their failure to properly evaluate him for mental and physical health problems, and their failure to allow him to take his medication.
While the Florida Sheriff's Association told HuffPost that it has no guidelines on the use of restraint chairs, there seems to be a strong consensus that the use of pepper spray, stun guns, or other compliance tools after a suspect has been restrained is at minimum excessive force, and possibly a crime.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has found that pepper spraying suspects suffering mental illness is a violation of their constitutional rights, and several federal appeals courts have ruled that spraying someone who is already restrained is an excessive use of force. The state of Vermont forbids the use of restraint chairs for punishment, and requires approval from a medical professional and a mental health professional before a chair can be used. In the event that an inmate poses an immediate risk, a mental health professional is to be contacted immediately after the inmate is strapped in. The Florida Department of Juvenile Justice forbids the use of restraint chairs and pepper spray on incarcerated minors entirely.
The Florida State Prison System doesn't use restraint chairs, either. A spokeswoman told the Orlando Sentinel in 2006 that the state's Department of Corrections has determined the chairs are a safety risk, and inappropriate for prisoners with mental illness. The problem, some experts say, is that inmates with mental illness are particularly prone to "excited delirium," an escalating set of respiratory and cardiovascular symptoms that can lead to death. (Though the diagnosis is still controversial.)
Steve Yerger has been training law enforcement agencies on the use of force for 20 years, and gives what he says is the only course on restraint chairs in the country. Yerger says the complete restriction of movement to which the chair subjects inmates can trigger physiological effects -- both respiratory and circulatory -- and that the problem can be exacerbated in patients with mental health problems. "They can just go through the roof, and then they crash. You need to make sure you have constant monitoring, and that you always have medical professionals close by," Yerger says.
But inmates with mental illness are also more likely to present a threat to themselves or others, which means they're more likely to need restraint. A 2009 report by the Maryland Frederick News-Post, for example, found that in the previous year, 64 percent of inmates put in a restraint chair by the Frederick County Sheriff's Department had mental health problems.
While there's no universal policy on how long an inmate can safely be left in a restraint chair, the Oklahoma Department of Corrections limits it to two hours. Texas limits the time to five hours in any 24-hour period. Montana limits restraint to four hours. Iowa law also limits the time to four hours (though Iowa jails that exceed that limit appear to suffer little more than some public criticism.) Utah banned restraint chairs entirely after inmate Michael Valent died of blood clots -- the result of being strapped to a chair for 16 hours. Though in Utah too, several counties continued to use the chair after the ban.
There have been a number of deaths over the years at least in part attributed to what critics call "the devil's chair" or the "torture chair." In a 2000 article for The Progressive Anne-Marie Cusac documented 11 deaths, including several inmates with mental illness as well as cases in which inmates were pepper sprayed after they had been restrained. Cusac notes that in the 1999 case of James Arthur Livingston, who died after being strapped to a restraint chair in Tarrant County, Texas, the first deputy who attempted to give Livingston CPR wrote in his report, "I then removed myself from the area and walked into the sally port, where I threw up from inhaling pepper gas residue from inmate Livingston."
In 2004, the Dayton City Paper wrote about three restraint chair-related deaths in Dayton County, Ohio, alone.
Restraint chair-related lawsuits alleging patterns of abuse have proliferated across the country, including in Iowa, Georgia (PDF), Colorado, Texas, California, New Jersey and Maricopa County, Arizona, where the chairs were finally replaced in 2006 after three deaths and several million dollars paid out in settlements.
Florida has also had its share of restraint chair problems. Four of the 11 deaths Cusac chronicles in her 2000 article took place in Florida jails. In 2007, Lake County paid out a $500,000 settlement to the family of a woman who suffocated in a restraint chair, though the settlement didn't bar the county from using the chair in the future. The state has also been the scene of a years-long, high-profile controversy following the use of a restraint chair on the daughter of the Florida State Attorney in 2005.
Like Klinger, the former police officer, Yerger says the use of pepper spray in conjunction with the chair was particularly over the line. "This is a tool for restraint, and there's no reason to pepper spray someone once they're restrained. That's punishment, and it's a form of torture. At minimum, that sort of thing should cost someone his job. And it should probably lead to criminal charges."
But the pepper spray-restraint chair combination has happened in other jurisdictions as well. Last year, a Harrison County, Indiana, officer was accused of putting pepper spray in a hood, then putting it over the head of an inmate already nude and bound to a restraining chair. In the following months, more accusations came out against the department, many again involving abuse of the restraining chair. In 2006, deputies in another Harrison County -- this one in Mississippi -- emptied an entire can of pepper spray into a hood that they then placed over the head of Jesse Lee Williams, while he was confined to a restraint chair. Williams, who was also severely beaten, later died of kidney failure.
Yerger says the other problem in Lee County is that once Christie had been securely restrained, he needed medical treatment. While the officers in Lee County were clearly out of line, Yerger says, the problem in many other cases is more a lack of training.
"Several years ago, I was researching the restraint chair for a case where I was going to be an expert witness. I found that all of these police departments across the country were using the chairs, but none of them were getting any training," Yerger says. "There's no training on the proper way to put someone into the chair, but more importantly, you have these people who have mental problems, or who are on alcohol or drugs. These are medical problems, that require medical attention. This isn't criminal behavior. But that's sometimes how it's treated."
This collection of deaths, injuries and reports of abuse involving restraint chairs has moved both Amnesty International and the United Nations Committee Against torture to call for a ban on the devices.
In her 2000 article, Cusac points to a deposition of Dan Corcoran, president of AEDEC International Inc., the Beaverton, Oregon, company which manufactures the Prostraint Violent Prisoner Chair. Corcoran acknowledges that the only testing he did of the chair before marketing it was to put some friends in it. He says the chair had never been tested in any scientific way for its effect on someone impaired by drugs, alcohol or mental illness (in fact, he specifically recommends the chair for the first two), or for other hazards like deep vein thrombosis, the sometimes-fatal blood clotting that can occur after remaining in the same position for more than a few hours.
But both Yerger and Klinger say calls for banning the chair are misplaced. They say restraint is sometimes critical when a prisoner poses a threat to himself or others, and there's nothing particularly sinister about the restraint chair. "Once you take care of the immediate threat -- and you really do need to take care of that -- then you treat the case like it needs to be treated. That means if it's someone having a mental crisis, you get them to a hospital," Yerger says.
"Any new device or piece of technology can be helpful, or it can be abused, whether it's a restraint chair, a Taser, or baton," says Klinger. "If you have officers who are willing to punish and abuse a restrained prisoner, it's going to happen whether he's in a restraint chair, handcuffs, or a restraint bed or gurney. The device isn't the problem. It's the officers."
"It's really about culture," says Yerger. "You need to instill a distinct code, especially in a correctional facility, that emphasizes control over punishment."
Yerger cites Philip Zimbardo's famous 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment which, though it later came under criticism, showed how quickly students randomly chosen to be guards in a hypothetical prison resorted to abusing students randomly chosen to be prisoners. "It's a constant thing. It has to be hammered home, over and over."
In Christie's case, that puts the bulk of the blame on the deputies and Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott, not on the restraint chair.
No Accountability
When Joyce Christie finally got a phone call in March 2009 letting her know that her husband had been taken to the hospital, the call was anonymous, and the caller didn't say what hospital. She used caller I.D. to determine the call had come from the Gulf Coast Medical Center. When she arrived, the police wouldn't let her see her husband. Fortunately, someone in the waiting room overheard her conversation and gave her the card for a bail bondsman. She left to get the bond, and only after posting bond was she allowed to see him. By then, Nick Christie was close to death. As a deputy at the hospital got up to leave, he told Christie to make sure her husband -- now with eyes taped shut and tubes protruding from his face -- showed up for his court date, or else he'd be arrested.
Scott's office conducted its own internal investigation of Nick Christie's death and, perhaps not surprisingly, found no wrongdoing on the part of any Lee County deputy. That conclusion may come back to bite the county. Municipalities have what's known as sovereign immunity from civil lawsuits. But one way to get around sovereign immunity in a civil rights case is to show that a government agency has displayed a pattern or practice of improperly training employees about citizens' rights. Since using pepper spray on a restrained inmate and neglecting to get him medical attention are both clearly established civil rights violations, in concluding that none of his officers acted outside of department policy, Scott may have given DiCello an opening.
And in fact, none of the deputies involved with Christie's death were disciplined in any way. Florida State Attorney Stephen Russell declined to press criminal charges. DiCello says that Russell's review was based almost entirely on the sheriff's department report. Samantha Syoen, communications director for Russell's office, says the investigation did use much of the sheriff department's investigation, but that the possible bias of that report was taken into consideration when deciding whether or not to pursue criminal charges. "We've prosecuted police officers before." Syoen says. "We've prosecuted judges, we've even prosecuted our own."
Syoen says the state attorney's office didn't clear the deputies involved with Christie's death, it only determined that under Florida law there wasn't enough evidence for criminal charges.
"Our office was very concerned about what happened to Mr. Christie," she said. "But the memo concluded that this would be a matter better settled at the federal level, either with possible criminal charges or with a lawsuit."
According to DiCello, the office of U.S. Attorney Robert O'Neill has yet to show any interest in the case. (O'Neill's office referred HuffPost to the FBI's Fort Myers regional office. That office did not return HuffPost's request for comment.)
Joyce Christie returned to Girard, Ohio shortly after Nick, her husband of 40 years, had died. A few days after she returned, she received something in the mail from Lee County, Florida. It was a warrant for her husband's arrest.