St. Louis County Officer Dan Page came to
national attention after attempting to shut down the out newscaster's live
report from Ferguson, Missouri 01 September 2014 | By James Withers YouTube The
St. Louis area police officer suspended after a video was discovered of him
disparaging multiple groups, including the LGBTI community, has retired. Dan
Page, a 35-year veteran of the St. Louis County Police Department, faced
scrutiny after a televised encounter with CNN's out anchor Don Lemon. The gay
newscaster was reporting from Ferguson, Missouri, the town embroiled in
controversy over the police shooting of unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown.
Lemon charged Page shoved him. The department did not consider the incident
assault. Police spokesman Brian Schellman told the St. Louis Dispatch Page
retired on Monday, August 25. That was the same day Page faced an internal
review concerning a presentation he made to Oath Keepers of St. Louis and St.
Charles. Formed in 2009, the group is described by the Southern Poverty Law
Center, as a 'far-right... fiercely anti-government, militaristic group.' Lemon
brought the 2012 lecture to the attention of St. Louis County Police Department
officials. In the approximately one-hour lecture, the former officer calls
retired US Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens a 'homosexual sodomite' and
maintains there are now 'four sodomites on the Supreme Court.' Page, as to be
expected, is not a fan of gays, lesbians, and bisexuals openly serving in the
armed forces. 'In the military right now, you have open sodomy,' the officer
explains. 'People holding hands. Swapping spit together. Sick. It's pitiful.'
He calls President Barack Obama an 'undocumented president,' repeating the
discredited theory Obama was born in Kenya. Page also boasts of his skills as a
killer. 'I personally believe in Jesus Christ as my lord savior, but I'm also a
killer. I’ve killed a lot,' the officer notes. 'And if I need to, I'll kill a
whole bunch more. If you don't want to get killed, don't show up in front of
me, it's that simple. I have no problem with it. God did not raise me to be a
coward. 'I'm into diversity. I kill everybody, I don't care,' he offers. Page
is expected to receive a full retirement package.
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".
Three officers fired, resigned or retired over questionable police actions in Ferguson
One St. Louis-area police
officer resigned and another retired in the continued fallout from questionable
police actions in the days after the fatal shooting of an unarmed black
teenager in Ferguson, Missouri.
The moves bring to three the
number of police officers whose conduct was called into question after the
August 9 fatal shooting of Michael Brown, an African-American teen shot
multiple times by a white police officer.
The three officers are: Lt. Ray
Albers, who threatened and pointed an assault rifle at protesters; Dan Page, an
officer caught on camera pushing a CNN correspondent before a video surfaced of
him ranting about the Supreme Court and Muslims; and Matthew Pappert, an
officer fired after making what his chief called “very … inappropriate”
Facebook comments about the protests in Ferguson.
Albers, a 20-year veteran of
the St. Ann, Missouri, police department, resigned Thursday, according to City
Administrator Matt Conley.
Albers stepped down after the
city’s board of police commissioners recommended to the board of aldermen that
he be fired or resign, St. Ann Police Chief Aaron Jimenez told CNN on Saturday.
“He’s one of my best friends
but we have to do what’s best for the city,” Jimenez said. “It doesn’t mean
he’s a bad guy, but he made a mistake after 20 years of solving crimes.”
Albers was the officer who
pointed a semiautomatic rifle at a Ferguson protester and threatened to kill
him on August 19 — a tense moment caught on video and posted online.
A day after the incident,
police officials announced that the officer had been “relieved of duty and
suspended indefinitely.”
In the video, Albers can be
seen walking around with his assault rifle raised, then pointing it in the
direction of protesters.
“I’m going to f—ing kill you,”
he says. “Get back. Get back.”
Police said the protester
involved in what it deemed “a verbal exchange” was “peaceful.”
Another man in the crowd said
out loud, “Did you threaten to kill him?”
When the officer was asked for
his name, he responded: “Go f— yourself.”
Protesters mocked the officer
before was led away by another member of law enforcement.
A CNN crew also saw the officer
point his weapon at those around him as he cursed, shouted and threatened
people by saying he’d kill them unless they stayed away.
Jimenez said of Albers: “He’s
not doing well, but he’s trying to stay positive. He knows over his 20 years,
he’s done a lot of good work. You do one thing and it can ruin your career. He
recognized what he did was wrong. That’s his first step in moving on. He feels
remorse. He said he was scared and wasn’t thinking.”
Page, an officer with the St.
Louis County Police Department, retired effective August 25, according to St.
Louis County police spokesman Brian Schellman.
Page was caught on camera
pushing CNN’s Don Lemon. He was placed on administrative leave after a video
surfaced of him ranting about the Supreme Court and Muslims, among other
things.
He also refers on the video to
Barack Obama as “that illegal alien who claims to be our President.”
This week, officials in the
city of Glendale, Missouri, confirmed that Pappert was fired after making what
his chief called “very … inappropriate” Facebook comments, according to a city
official.
“These protesters should be put
down like a rabid dog the first night,” Pappert wrote in one post, according to
CNN affiliate KMOV. There were reportedly five inappropriate posts, KMOV said.
Pappert, a six-year veteran of
the Glendale force, was originally suspended on August 22 after the comments
came to light. An inquiry was initiated that day.
“Officer Pappert was dismissed
following the conclusion of the investigation,” City Administrator Jaysen
Christensen said. “Our focus at this point is to move past this, and turn the
focus back to healing in … Ferguson.”
Glendale, like Ferguson, is a
municipality in St. Louis County. The two suburbs are about 15 miles apart.
A week ago, Glendale Police
Chief Jeffrey Beaton suspended Pappert and cited what he called the
“inappropriate posts on his personal Facebook page,” according to the
Webster-Kirkwood Times, an online news outlet in the area.
Police in the area have come
under fire for their heavy-handed response to the Ferguson protests following
Brown’s death.
An attorney for Pappert said
his client was sorry for his online comments.
“Officer Pappert is deeply
remorseful about what he posted on social media,” lawyer William Goldstein
said. “We ask for (the) same spirit of forgiveness and the opportunity for
redemption.”
CMPD officer arrested, charged with assaulting a female
By Hilary Trenda
A Charlotte-Mecklenburg police
officer was arrested and charged in Union County Thursday night after an
alleged domestic dispute involving a woman, the department said Friday.
Michael Ray Snider, 32, was
arrested shortly after 10:30 p.m. Thursday and charged with assault on a
female, according to the Union County Sheriff’s Office website.
“The charges are related to an
incident that occurred at Officer Snider’s residence in Union County,” a CMPD
representative said. It was not immediately clear who the woman involved in the
incident was or her relationship to Snider.
Snider has been placed on paid
administrative leave pending the outcome of the department’s Internal Affairs
Bureau investigation, police said.
Before being placed on leave,
Snider was assigned to patrol in the Independence Division and was hired by
CMPD in March 2003, according to the department.
Retired police officer with ALS 'kills wife and sister-in-law' days after ice bucket challenge fundraiser
A retired cop with ALS has been
charged with shooting dead his wife and sister-in-law just days after friends
raised thousands of pounds for him doing the Ice Bucket Challenge.
Former Dane County Sheriff’s
Deputy Andrew Steele, 39, faces two counts of first-degree intentional homicide
in the death of his wife Ashley, 39, and sister-in-law Kacee Tollefsbol, 38.
Prosecutors allege Steele
killed the sisters at his home in Fitchburg, Wisconsin, on August 22.
He is then accused of trying to
kill himself, but prosecutors have not yet offered a motive for the deaths.
The killings came just days
after the victims and Steele’s friends took part in the ALS ice bucket
challenge and raised £14,000 towards his medical expenses. The family were
reportedly trying to raise £45,000.
The former lawman was diagnosed
with motor neurone disease earlier this summer after noticing a shaking in his
arm and slurred speech.
According to legal documents
police were called to the house by Kacee who said she had been shot.
A Swat team arrived shortly
after and found the woman in the basement with a gunshout wound to the back.
She again claimed Steele had shot her before dying around an hour later.
Officers then found Ashley’s
body in the master bedroom. She had been shot in the head and had zip tie
wrapped around her throat.
The legal report claims Steele
was in the laundry room trying to kill himself by carbon monoxide poisoning
using a charcoal grill that was alight.
In a court hearing last Friday,
Steele’s lawyer, Jessa Nicholson, said she plans to investigate her client’s
mental state.
Steele, who appeared in court
via video conference, faces two life sentences if convicted.
Right name, wrong man leads to week in jail
By Andrew Brown
He wasn't the right Jose Alicea
but still spent week in jail
When Jose Alicea left work on
April 15, he thought that he was going to the last meeting of his 12-month
probationary term. He told his boss he would be back shortly.
He was proud of the progress he
made since he pleaded guilty to drug paraphernalia charges in May 2013. Alicea
had found a good place to live, started a full-time job working for Singh Auto
Group, and was spending time with his 3-year-old daughter every week.
But when he arrived at the
Northampton County probation office, he was told that a warrant had been issued
for his arrest in Lehigh County. He was handcuffed and taken to the Northampton
County Prison.
When he asked what he was
charged with, he was told that a protection-from-abuse order had been filed
against him and that he had failed to appear in court when he was summoned.
Alicea, of Bethlehem,
protested. He didn't know anyone who would file a protection-from-abuse order
against him, and he knew that he hadn't done anything wrong.
But the arrest warrant didn't
lie. It had his name, date of birth and place of residence printed on it. He
couldn't understand what was happening.
"As soon as I had my life
set up, boom, something like this happened," Alicea said, recounting that
day.
As Alicea, 43, sat in jail for
a week waiting for his bail hearing, he was racked with worry. He couldn't
sleep. The few phone calls he was given were wasted; his former girlfriend, the
mother of his child, wouldn't speak with him, believing that another woman had
filed a protection-from-abuse order against him.
He worried that he wouldn't be
allowed to see his daughter anymore. He was concerned that he would lose his
job and apartment. But the worst part was the gnawing anxiety of not knowing
how his name ended up on the warrant.
"Mentally, I was stressed
out because I had no clue why," Alicea said.
When Alicea was transferred to
Lehigh County for his scheduled court date, he still had no answers, but his
bail was set at $2,000 and his mother and aunt gathered the $200 needed for his
release.
Alicea wasted no time.
He immediately began calling
the probation officers in Northampton and Lehigh County. But after those calls
provided no information, he went to the Lehigh County Court's Clerk of Judicial
Records to request the protection from abuse order that sent him to prison.
When the clerk handed him the
order, Alicea was in disbelief. The protection order was proof that Jose Alicea
had not violated his probation — at least not this Jose Alicea.
The name on the order matched
Alicea's, but the date of birth, Social Security number, residential address
and physical identifiers didn't match his own, according to the documents
obtained by Alicea.
Alicea said he couldn't believe
that a clerical error could put him in prison, and more importantly, that
nobody else had realized the mistake.
"If I wouldn't have made
bail, I never would have been able to resolve this," Alicea said.
While Alicea's case is
troubling, it is far from uncommon. Wrongful arrests and convictions occur
throughout the United States — often the result of clerical errors.
In August, the Clay County
Sheriff's Office in Florida settled a lawsuit for $67,000 with a woman who was
wrongfully arrested twice, according to the news website WKRG.com.
Ashley Nicole Chiasseon of
Louisiana was extradited and spent four weeks in jail on charges of grand theft
and writing bad checks. The woman authorities sought was named Ashley Odessa
Chiasseon, according to the website. Four deputies were suspended without pay
for the mistake.
In May, WFAA.com reported that
the Dallas Police Department's Internal Affairs Division had investigated six
cases of wrongful arrest in the year preceding the news article, including that
of Shantel Johnson, who was picked up on a domestic violence case. The woman
police sought had a similar name but was 20 years younger.
In many wrongful arrest cases,
like Alicea's, the people who are wrongly accused often have prior criminal
records that open them up to mistakes by law enforcement. In 1993, Alicea
pleaded guilty to drug charges in addition to his 2013 arrest.
"Having any prior criminal
record — essentially being known to law enforcement — is a factor that is
linked to wrongful conviction," said Jon Gould, an American University
criminal justice professor.
In 2013, Gould and his
colleagues at American University published research funded by the National
Institute of Justice that identified several factors associated with wrongful
convictions, including the age of the defendant, wrongful eyewitness
identification and an individual's criminal history.
"Knowing nothing else
about the case," Gould said of Alicea's arrest, "the thing that jumps
out at me is that this is someone who has a prior criminal record."
From his experience, Gould said
he believes that someone eventually would have recognized the mistake during
Alicea's court proceedings. But Alicea was able to do that for himself, acting
as his own defense attorney, Gould said.
"In terms of what the
lessons are for law enforcement and for prosecutors," Gould said,
"it's to sweat the details."
But even when criminal justice
employees realize their mistakes before conviction, the wrongful arrests can
cause serious problems for the accused. And in some cases, records are never
corrected, leaving room for future confusion and mistakes by law enforcement.
When Alicea was released from
jail, he had no money, no apartment and no job — in Alicea's absence, his boss
hired another employee.
"I got out with
nothing," Alicea said, "and all I got was: 'I'm sorry.'"
Alicea said that the Lehigh
County probation office apologized when they realized its mistake.
But for Alicea it was a little
too late.
"They were trying to do
anything possible to make it better for me," Alicea said, "but it's
already done. What can they do?"
According to Lehigh County
District Court Administrator Bill Berndt, the mistake was made when the
probation office received the civil court listing and mistakenly matched
Alicea's name with the man who had the protection-from-abuse order filed
against him. Berndt said he did not know of any similar mistakes made by
probation officers.
"The employee who checked
it was not as diligent as they should have been," Berndt said.
Berndt said the mistake had
been fully investigated, but would not say whether any disciplinary action had
been taken against the staff member that made the mistake.
But Berndt emphasized the fact
that Alicea never would have been arrested if he had shown up at court when he
was summoned. Berndt said that since protection-from-abuse orders are a civil
matter, the only reason Alicea was arrested was because he had failed to appear
in court for the protection-from-abuse order.
"His failure to appear
compounded our mistake," Berndt said.
Alicea said that he never
received a letter summoning him to appear in front of a Lehigh County judge.
But even if he had, Alicea said the court administration is missing the point.
He said if they wouldn't have mixed up his name, he never would have been
summoned to court in the first place.
Since April, Alicea has found
another place to stay. He's back doing detail work at Singh Auto Group again,
but his hours have been limited because he can't find a ride to work everyday.
Alicea said he's upset and
frustrated that his life was disrupted by someone's mistake. He said he would
like to seek some type of compensation for being wrongly accused, handcuffed,
strip-searched and jailed. He has sought consultation from lawyers specializing
in false arrests.
According to lawyers who
specialize civil rights cases, not all wrongful arrest cases can lead to
winnable lawsuits.
"It sounds like they
dropped the ball in this case," Robert Magee, a partner at the law firm of
Worth, Magee & Fischer in Allentown, said after being told details of
Alicea's case.
But Magee, who litigates civil
rights cases, said winnable civil suits focusing on wrongful arrests don't come
along every day. He said it often depends on in what jurisdiction the arrest
occurred and whether the victim can prove that law enforcement officials didn't
operate in a professional manner.
Alicea said the point of
seeking civil action isn't about retribution; it's about principle.
"That's a week out of my
life that I'll never get back," he said. "Some people may not think
it's a lot, but it is for me."
Police: Officer Targeted Black Women For On-Duty Sexual Assaults
OKLAHOMA-- A police officer and
former football star in Oklahoma City is facing some serious charges from his
own police department.
According to CBS Affiliate
KWTV, the allegations came to light after a 57-year-old grandmother made claims
that Holtzclaw forced her perform oral sex in June. The officer was placed on
leave and the investigation started.
During a court hearing Friday,
the judge set Holtzclaw's bail at $5 million.
Investigators said so far seven
victims have come forward, but they believe there are more.
According to an affidavit
obtained by Associated Press Friday, Holtzclaw was arrested on charges of
serial sexual assault preyed on women in the rundown neighborhoods he was
assigned to patrol - picking some up off the street, pulling others over at
traffic stops and in one case taking a woman to a nearby school.
"They're retracing all of
his contacts, as many as they can, especially traffic stops," said police
spokesman Capt. Dexter Nelson.
The investigation began - and
Holtzclaw was immediately placed on leave - when police said a woman complained
in June that Holtzclaw had sexually assaulted her during a traffic stop on a
boulevard about two miles north of the state Capitol. The alleged incident
prompted police to check other contacts Holtzclaw had with the public since
beginning street patrols about 18 months ago.
Officers identified seven
victims and eight incidents before accusing Holtzclaw of crimes including rape,
sexual battery and indecent exposure. Police Chief Bill Citty published
Holtzclaw's photograph with the hope that other women would step forward.
District Attorney David Prater said formal charges could be lodged by Aug. 29.
Holtzclaw had not previously been disciplined in his three-year tenure with the
department.
Police reports said the victims
were all black women between the ages of 34 and 58. Holtzclaw, who played
college football at 6-foot-1, 246 pounds, would come across the woman while on
patrol. Three were assaulted in his car. One victim was taken to a school in
the Spring Lake Division where he worked, according to the affidavit.
"Did he feel that these
people were so disenfranchised that they could be thrown away because no one
would care about their safety?" asked state Rep. Connie Johnson, who
represents the area in the state Legislature.
Police said it wasn't clear if
Holtzclaw targeted victims because of their race.
"All of this victims were
black, but that is probably because the area where he worked," Nelson
said, referring to the mixed race neighborhood of black, Hispanic and
Vietnamese residents as well as some gentrification drawing more whites into
the area.
Holtzclaw joined the force
after parlaying a stellar high school and college football career into a
criminal justice degree from Eastern Michigan University.
Holtzclaw was an all-state
football player in his senior year at Enid, leading the team with 123 tackles.
The Eastern Michigan football media guide in 2008 featured him at the top of
its roster page - touting his weightlifting abilities and his starting in every
game since his arrival on campus in 2005. He tried out for the Detroit Lions
after he was not taken in the NFL draft, but was cut from the team.
His former high school football
coach, Tom Cobble, said the allegations were "absolutely a shock."
"It's so totally out of
character. It's unbelievable." said Cobble, who retired from coaching at
Chickasha, Oklahoma last year.
"We need to reach out to
him and make sure he knows he's loved," Cobble said.
A feature article in the Enid
News & Eagle newspaper last year quoted Holtzclaw as saying he wanted to
join the police department's anti-gang unit "where you knock and go in
screaming."
"The gang unit reminds me
most of playing football," Holtzclaw was quoted as saying. It reminds me
of that adrenaline rush. You are going, going ... chasing bad guys."
Nelson said Holtzclaw's
colleagues were upset at the allegations against a police officer.
"Most of us see it as a
black eye to our profession and our department," he said
Family of John Geer, Springfield man shot by Fairfax County Police, files wrongful death lawsuit
By Jay Korff, ABC 7 News
SPRINGFIELD, Va. (WJLA) - The
family of a Springfield man shot by police during a standoff last year has
filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Fairfax County Police Department.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in
Fairfax County Circuit Court, asks for $12 million for the wrongful death of
John Geer, as well as $350,000 in punitive damages against the officers
involved.
The lawsuit and claims all stem
from an incident that took place on Aug. 29, 2013.
On that date, Fairfax County
Police responded to a reported domestic dispute in a home on the 7900 block of
Pebble Brook Court. Whoever reported the incident claimed that Geer had
weapons, prompting a large police response, as well as SWAT teams entering the
usually quiet neighborhood.
Police said they negotiated
with Geer, who was standing in the doorway of the home, for about 40 minutes.
Geer reportedly had his hands up, resting on the door jamb above his head.
However, when Geer reportedly
started lowering one of his arms, police opened fire and shot him. Rescue teams
that entered the home reported that Geer was dead.
A few days after the incident,
police announced that their investigation revealed that Geer had not been
armed, after all.
Now, Geer's widow, Maura
Harrington, is the plaintiff in the lawsuit that names the Fairfax County
Police Department, Chief Ed Roessler, and three as-yet unnamed police officers
who were involved in the shooting as defendants.
In the wrongful death claim,
Harrington cites "solace, mental anguish and solace," loss of Geer's
income and funeral expenses, asking for $12 million in compensation, as well as
interest dating back to Aug. 29, 2013, when the incident took place.
Harrington also requests the
return of "personal property wrongfully seized and now retained" by
the police department.
A Fort Wayne Police Officer, Mark Rogers, has pleaded guilty to raping a woman during an OWI arrest.
As part of his plea agreement,
Rogers pleaded guilty to a Class B-felony charge of rape, as well as one charge
of sexual misconduct and another charge of official misconduct.
According to the terms of the
plea deal, Rogers will not serve any more than six years in prison, home
detention, or work release.