We called the Fairfax County police for help....the punks they sent threatened to arrest us. One cop tells my wife that if she keeps crying he'll arrest her and the other cop, La Forge or something, says to me "You call the police this what you get"
I said that was wrong and he said
"Go ahead, say more fuck'n thing prick" and I thought "Well if you insist".
A
Clay Township police officer is scheduled to be arraigned Dec. 11 on 27 felony
charges.
Ralph
Cierpial, 36, of St. Clair, is being charged with 27 counts of unlawfully
granting pistol safety training certificates, a four-year felony.
Online
court records show Cierpial will be arraigned on the charges at 2 p.m. Dec. 11
in front of Magistrate S. Keith Bankson.
“Obviously
our concern is when a person chooses to carry a concealed weapon and chooses to
do that to protect themselves, the state and, frankly, local law enforcement
are interested in making sure they have the right level of training to do
that,” Prosecutor Mike Wendling said.
Cierpial
was a National Rifle Association certified instructor and charged for the
service, Wendling said. After questionable training certificates were brought
to the county gun board, an investigation was started.
Wendling
said more than 300 people were interviewed and every certificate issued by
Cierpial was reviewed.
“The
fact that he happens to be a police officer happens to be of no relevance to
us,” Wendling said. “I won’t say it’s not disappointing, but it’s not
relevant.”
Clay
Township Supervisor Artie Bryson said Cierpial is on administrative duty and
does not have his gun or badge.
“On
Nov. 14, 2013, Clay Township received notification from the St. Clair County
Prosecutor Michael Wendling that the St. Clair County Sheriff Department
obtained a twenty-seven (27) count felony warrant for Ralph Cierpial,” Bryson
said in an email. “The warrant is for unlawfully granting/presenting-pistol
training certificate.
“To
keep the integrity of the Clay Township Police Department in place and the
seriousness of the allegations, Officer Cierpial was immediately taken off of
street duties and placed on administrative duties. Depending on pending
adjudication of court proceedings, appropriate actions will be swiftly taken.”
Bryson
said the township will handle the situation appropriately.
“Basically,
he’s innocent until he’s proven guilty, and like we said, it’s an unfortunate
situation, but we’re going to deal with it appropriately once there’s a
determination on his guilt,” Bryson said.
Clay
Township Police Chief Don Drake said Cierpial has been a full-time officer for
about two years.
“We
always assume he’s innocent until proven guilty,” Drake said.
Cierpial
did not respond to an email requesting comment. His lawyer, Daniel Garon, could
not be reached for comment.
Chicago, IL- A south suburban Midlothian Police officer was
indicted on federal civil rights charges alleging that he used excessive force
against two different victims in separate beating incidents in 2010 and 2011.
The defendant, Steven G. Zamiar, was indicted on two counts of violating the
victims’ civil right to be free from the use of unreasonable force by a law
enforcement officer. The two-count indictment was returned by a federal grand
jury yesterday and was announced today by Zachary T. Fardon, United States Attorney
for the Northern District of Illinois, and Robert J. Holley, Special Agent in
Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Zamiar, 46, of Midlothian, joined the Midlothian Police Department in 2000.
He was a detective sergeant at the time of the alleged beating in 2010 and was
deputy chief when the alleged beating occurred in 2011. He was later demoted to
lieutenant and was placed on paid administrative leave this past September. He
will be arraigned on a date yet to be scheduled in U.S. District Court.
According to the indictment, on September 6, 2010, when he was a detective
sergeant, Zamiar used excessive force, resulting in bodily injury, against
Victim A. On November 24, 2011, when he was deputy chief of the Midlothian Police
Department, Zamiar allegedly used excessive force, resulting in bodily injury,
against Victim B. During the November 2011 incident, Zamiar allegedly used,
attempted to use, and threatened to use a dangerous weapon.
Each count carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000
fine. If convicted, the court must impose a reasonable sentence under federal
statutes and the advisory United States Sentencing Guidelines.
The government is being represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick
Otlewski.
An indictment contains merely charges and is not evidence of guilt. The
defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the
government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
A
California borough police officer who had been suspended earlier this year now
is accused of assaulting a handcuffed suspect.
Chief
Rick Encapera on Monday charged full-time Officer Justin Shultz, 29, of
Connellsville, with misdemeanor counts of official oppression and simple
assault.
The
charges stem from an alleged early morning incident Nov. 9 involving Shultz and
suspect Adam Logan, 27, of California.
Encapera
said Logan was in custody at the police station around 3 a.m. awaiting
arraignment on charges related to an alleged purse snatching.
Logan
was standing in the holding cell, handcuffed behind his back and secured to a
bench with a leg shackle, according to an affidavit of probable cause.
Encapera
showed The Valley Independent footage from video surveillance inside the
station, which shows Logan appearing to continuously bicker with Shultz and two
other officers as Shultz finished searching him.
The
video shows the three officers leaving the cell and Logan continuing to chatter
out the cell door. That's when it appears Shultz walked back in, grabbed Logan
by the throat, pinned him against the wall and shook him twice.
Shultz
then allegedly pulled Logan toward him and slammed him to the bench and floor.
Logan appeared to be in what Encapera described as “substantial pain.”
On
Nov. 18, Logan waived his right to a preliminary hearing on robbery, simple
assault and other charges for the alleged purse snatching. He remains in the
Washington County Correctional Facility in lieu of $10,000 bond.
Encapera
said he viewed the video and sent an email to Shultz on Nov. 11 telling him not
to come to work. The chief said he followed that up with a written letter
telling Shultz he was off the work schedule.
Encapera
said Washington County District Attorney Gene Vittone recently reviewed the
video and advised the chief to file charges.
“I've
been a cop for 36 years, and I've gotten mad, but you never do anything like
this,” Encapera said. “Once you handcuff someone, the game is over.”
Encapera
said his department often uses leg shackles for arrestees because they are
often highly intoxicated and will run into cell walls and later claim
mistreatment by officers.
The
chief said he did not want to give the department “a black eye,” but felt there
was little choice but to file charges against Shultz.
“This
is not something you can just sweep under the carpet,” Encapera said. “When you
get a complaint from someone who was arrested, you have to take it with a grain
of salt.
“You
have to let them go through the court proceeding, and if they don't file a
formal complaint, I can't do anything. ... In this instance (Logan) was
secured. It was definitely mistreating somebody.”
Borough
council will ultimately determine whether Shultz is terminated.
Encapera
said he took Shultz off street patrol and placed him on “administrative duties”
in May after receiving “numerous informal complaints” regarding Shultz's
conduct.
On
May 13, council suspended Shultz and officer Terry Childs without pay after the
two returned an unmarked vehicle to Washington, Pa., May 3 during a Friday
night shift.
Their
action left the borough with just one available officer. The trip was not
authorized, Encapera said.
While
Shultz and Childs were away, a fight erupted outside Sigz Bistro, a business on
Second Street. The brawl required back up from four neighboring police
departments.
Encapera
said Childs submitted a letter of resignation, effective Dec. 1.
With
Shultz off the schedule, California is down to four working full-time officers.
AUBURN
— The Auburn Police Department confirmed Tuesday morning the identity of an
officer who was suspended for three days after being involved in an on-duty
crash while he responded to a bank alarm in his police cruiser Nov. 20.
The
Auburn Board of Works learned of the suspension at its Nov. 27 meeting. At that
time, Capt. Mark Stump declined to the identify the suspended officer when
asked by a reporter.
Minneapolis
Police Chief Janeé Harteau has fired two white police officers who scuffled
with a group of black men, then used racial slurs while berating local police
investigating last summer’s incident in Green Bay, Wis., according to sources
close to the Police Department.
The
firings of officers Brian Thole and Shawn Powell, both military veterans who
were on the department’s SWAT team, will kick off an automatic appeals process
that could last a year, according to a lawyer familiar with such cases. The
officers have been on paid administrative leave since July.
At
least one of the officers also disparaged Harteau as a lesbian in the June 29
incident, which was partly recorded on video and described in a 40-page Green
Bay Police Department report. The officers, who were off-duty, were not charged
with any crime in Green Bay, but the department there reported the incident to
the Minneapolis department, prompting the internal affairs process that led to
Tuesday’s firing.
Ron
Edwards, a longtime Minneapolis civil rights activist, applauded Harteau’s
decision. “She is sending a message that disrespect under her leadership will
not be tolerated and I commend her for her courage,” he said.
When
it first came to light, the incident brought immediate condemnation from city,
police and union leaders. The Star Tribune learned days later that at least
three more Minneapolis officers had been cited for assault months before for a
similar incident in Apple Valley.
The
two cases ignited a round of public recriminations of the department and
reawakened simmering complaints of racial intolerance by police officers.
Prominent community activists held a news conference on the front steps of City
Hall to call for a U.S. Justice Department audit of the department.
Harteau
said at the time that she would review the department’s training and hiring
practices. She also pledged to expand a citizens advisory council to rebuild
trust with the community, inviting cultural and faith leaders to meet with the
group that she had created soon after becoming chief one year ago.
The
meetings, which Harteau said would ultimately produce a plan to improve
community relations, have been held in private.
Harteau
was not immediately available Tuesday to talk about her community plan.
Lengthy
appeals process
In
a news release, Harteau said she informed the officers of her decision Tuesday
but could not release it publicly because of privacy laws. Two sources who
spoke on the condition of anonymity confirmed to the Star Tribune that the two
men were fired.
Because
the two officers are both veterans and union members, they have two appeals
options.
They
can challenge their dismissal through the traditional union procedures,
provided under the union contract with the Minneapolis Police Federation. Union
leaders Tuesday declined to discuss the reported firings.
Or,
they can appeal under procedures created under the state’s Veterans Preference
Act.
They
can use only one of the two procedures. They have three weeks to decide whether
to file a grievance under the union contract, or 60 days to decide whether they
wish to file under the Veterans Preference Act. Sources indicated Tuesday that
the officers had not decided which route to take.
If
they appeal under the union contract, an arbitrator will decide whether to
uphold their termination or put them back to work.
If
they use the Veterans Act, either a civil service panel or a panel of three
people, one member selected by the veteran, one selected by the Police
Department, who together pick a third person, will conduct a hearing and reach
a decision by majority vote. There is a period of discovery before the hearing
to conduct witness interviews and gather evidence. If a veteran disagrees with
the panel’s decision, he can appeal to state district court.
The
process could take a year and the appealing officer would be paid until a
decision is reached under the Veterans Act. In a union procedure, officers
could be awarded back pay if the firing is overturned.
Just
weeks before the Green Bay case, three off-duty Minneapolis police officers —
William C. Woodis, Christopher J. Bennett and Andrew R. Allen — were wrapping
up court proceedings related to an alleged assault during a fight on Nov. 19,
2012, outside an Apple Valley bar. The white officers were among a group of
white men who followed a group of black men into the parking lot of Bogart’s
Place, knocking one of them down and beating him, according to the Apple Valley
police report. The black men said the Minneapolis officers used racial slurs.
Woods
and Bennett plead guilty to disorderly conduct; charges against Allen were
dismissed. The three officers are still the subjects of an Internal Affairs
investigation.
The
question of how Minneapolis disciplines police officers has been under renewed
scrutiny after the Apple Valley and Green Bay incidents. According to a Star
Tribune analysis, the city of Minneapolis made $14 million in payouts for
alleged police misconduct between 2006 and 2012, but the Police Department
rarely concluded that the officers involved did anything wrong.
Citing
that record, community activist Mel Reeves said he considered Tuesday’s
decision a first step.
“It’s
a step in the right direction, but we will know they are really serious when
they start punishing cops who are guilty of brutalizing people,” he said.
PORTLAND,
Ore. (AP) — A federal appeals court has ruled that a police officer who
complained about his department's safety standards is not entitled to First
Amendment protection of his speech.
Former
Eugene officer Brian Hagen complained about four incidents in which Eugene
police SWAT team members accidentally fired their weapons and, in two of those
incidents, shot and injured another officer.
Hagen
complained to a superior numerous times and was transferred as a result. He
sued, challenging the transfer as retaliation against his whistleblowing, and
won $250,000 in a federal jury trial in March 2012.
Eugene
police appealed, arguing that Hagen was not entitled to First Amendment
protection because he made his remarks as part of his job duties as a public
employee.
This
week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit agreed with the police
department and reversed the verdict.
"Hagen's
concerns," wrote Judge Arthur L. Alarcon, "contain all the hallmarks
of traditionally internal workplace complaints one would typically expect an
officer to communicate to his superiors."
It's
a break with another opinion written by Alarcon in 2009, in which he said
Baltimore, Md., police commanders violated the First Amendment rights of an
officer who leaked an internal memo to The Sun newspaper in Baltimore. The
difference is that Hagen didn't bring his concerns outside the department,
while the Baltimore officer did, thus entitling him to First Amendment
protections as a private citizen.
David
Fidanque, executive director of ACLU Oregon, said the ruling reemphasizes the
problematic situation in which public employees find themselves, especially
when they follow the chain of command.
"My
gut feeling is that it's a difficult standard to meet the First Amendment claim
for a public employee," Fidanque said, "particularly one who does
what an employee would be expected to do, which is raise the complaint to their
supervisors."
The
problems at the Eugene Police Department date back to at least the late 1990s,
when SWAT members began to accidentally fire their weapons. Sometimes they hit
their own, like in 2001, when a police sniper accidentally shot a sergeant
during a SWAT operation.
Hagen
joined the department in 2004 and, a year later, a SWAT officer attempting to
pull the pin on a flash-bang grenade accidentally pulled the trigger on his
rifle. It was aimed at the ground and no one was hurt.
Hagen,
who worked with the department's police dogs, and two other department dog
handlers complained to their supervisor. Two years later, in January 2007, a
SWAT officer again accidentally fired his rifle while climbing a fence and,
this time, hit another officer.
Hagen
and the other dog handlers again complained to their supervisor. When they
pressed, the sergeant "became irritated and expressed frustration that the
issue was being raised again."
Again
in April 2007, a SWAT officer accidentally fired his weapon during a search
warrant in a residential neighborhood. Hagen sent an email to sergeants with
the dog and SWAT teams, asking for a meeting to discuss the safety issues.
Three days after the email, the department's police chief suspended SWAT
operations for about three weeks.
The
SWAT sergeant, Tom Eichhorn, attempted to transfer Hagen for "passive
insubordination" and, when that failed, began to write him up for job
performance concerns that Eichhorn admitted in court "he had previously
regarded positively or neutrally."
Hagen
stopped reporting safety concerns to Eichhorn and was transferred in May 2009.
He sued the department in April 2010.
A
Brooklyn man is suing the NYPD after he was cuffed earlier this year when cops
confused breath mints he was carrying for ecstasy pills, according to news
reports.
According
to the suit filed last week in federal court, 46-year-old Robert Hankins was
falsely arrested in April after police found the breath mints in his pocket and
accused him of having drugs, the The Smoking Gun and the New York Post both
report.
Hankins
was booked on drug possession charges and spent about 30 hours in police
custody, the papers report. Prosecutors later dropped the charges after
discovering the purported drugs were actually Pow-brand energy mints.
"Fresh
breath is not a crime. It’s unthinkable that mints from Walgreens could be
confused for Ecstasy pills. All the officers needed to do was smell them.
They’re wintergreen,” Hankins’ attorney told the Post.
It’s
not the first time NYPD officers have confused candy for drugs, according to
The Smoking Gun. In October, a man filed a civil rights lawsuit against the
department after he was arrested when officers mistook blue and red Jolly
Ranchers for methamphetamine.
A Schaumburg police officer was sentenced in Cook County court today to 18
months probation after he admitted he kept a handgun that two village residents
had turned into the police department for safe disposal.
Bryan
Woodyard, 39, of the 7400 block of Dixon Street in Schaumburg pleaded guilty to
official misconduct during a hearing at the Criminal Courts Building. He had
faced up to five years in prison for the class 3 felony.
Authorities
said Woodyard was working on the department’s front desk in April when he
accepted a .22 caliber revolver from the residents who wanted to dispose of
it. Woodyard at first tried to buy the
gun but the residents insisted it be destroyed, authorities said.
Several
days later, one of the residents told Woodyard’s superiors she was
uncomfortable with the way the officer had handled the situation, authorities
said.
Police
began an investigation and found that Woodyard had not reported the incident
and kept the handgun for personal use, authorities said. A seven-year veteran
of the department, Woodyard subsequently resigned and was arrested in June.
Woodyard
was the fourth Schaumburg police officer to resign this year for alleged
misconduct. Three other former officers
are awaiting trial on charges they kept cash and sold narcotics they had seized
from drug dealers.