Officer charged with buying drugs, leaking information


A Frankfort police officer has been charged with intimidation and phone harassment, charges related to his alleged beating of a former girlfriend in the summer of 2012.
Officer Donald Walsh, 30, of Monee, was arrested Wednesday in a Will County courtroom. His bail was set at $50,000.
He’s accused of threatening the woman in a June 2012 phone call that she secretly recorded — about a month before Walsh allegedly choked and struck her at her Mokena residence. The woman kept a copy of the recording and gave another copy to her sister, who locked it in a safe-deposit box, prosecutors said.
Walsh has denied attacking the woman. He has been on administrative leave without pay since his arrest in July 2012.
Mokena police learned about the telephone recording when the attorneys in Walsh’s battery case did — when told by the victim’s sister at the start of Walsh’s trial on Nov. 20.
Mokena police had investigated the July 2012 attack for criminal purposes, but Frankfort police conducted an internal inquiry for disciplinary reasons. Frankfort Police Chief John Burica and Deputy Chief Robert Krause testified during a recent hearing on the recording that they discussed it with village attorney David Silverman and decided the tape would not be used in their disciplinary case against Walsh.
The two police officials said they did not tell Mokena police or the special prosecutor in the battery case that the recording existed.
Circuit Court Judge Edward Burmila found that to be a violation of the evidentiary process and said Wednesday that the prosecution will not be allowed to use the recorded call in the battery trial, which is set to resume Jan. 13.
Defense rests in trial of ex-Fullerton officers charged with killing homeless man
SANTA ANA, California — A defense pathologist testified Wednesday that a homeless man who died after a 2011 struggle with Fullerton police had an enlarged heart from years of methamphetamine abuse.
Dr. Steven Karch said Kelly Thomas probably suffered heart failure during the struggle, the Orange County Register reported (http://bit.ly/1cRFHvm ).
Thomas' death was "precipitated by a spontaneous and concurrent psychotic episode" brought about by his drug use that was a factor in his violent encounter with police, Karch testified.
Karch said he disagreed with an Orange County pathologist who conducted the autopsy and concluded that Thomas died, in part, from lack of oxygen to the brain caused by compression of his chest and head injuries received during the confrontation.
Karch was the 13th and final witness called by the defense in the trial of two former Fullerton police officers.
Manuel Ramos, 39, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter, and Jay Cicinelli, 41, has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter and use of excessive force.
A third officer will be tried separately on a charge of involuntary manslaughter.
Thomas, 37, had a history of drug use, citations for minor crimes and violent behavior. The officers' attorneys argued that he became violently combative after he was stopped and questioned July 5, 2011. He stopped breathing and was removed from life support five days later.

Much of the incident was captured by a security camera and audio recordings from officers' body microphones. The case garnered national attention at the time and fueled months of local protests that led to the resignation of the police chief and a recall election in the small college town.