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No Mas

TOP TEN REASONS THE LOCAL ELECTRONIC MEDIA WON’T REPORT ON THE FAIRFAX COUNTY COPS ILLEGAL SPYING ON CITIZENS

  

This story seems to require investigative techniques, research and confrontation. We don’t do that. That stuff is better left to the, wadda call those guys? The one’s write things down.  Um…writer’s downers, no, no that’s not it, you know Journalistic –ism –tic people. Those guys.  

This is complex and can’t be explained in 15 seconds so it’s not for us.

So, like, this wrong for the cops to do, like, right?

Reporting on this story might interfere with the ride-along stories we love so dearly.

This is real news. We don’t do real news.  We’re television.

Covering this would eat up at least five minutes of air time. That’s a full four minutes longer than our usual hard hitting, in depth investigative news piece.  

The story doesn’t have a hap, hap, happy ending! We’re television. We like to deal in warm, snuggly, happy news.

Like everybody in America, we’re afraid of the cops.  

We’re communication majors. We don’t understand this.

This seems a little too controversial for us. We like to avoid that sort of thing. The sponsors don’t like it.

U.S. Marshals Seize Cops’ Spying Records to Keep Them From the ACLU

A routine request in Florida for public records regarding the use of a surveillance tool known as stingray took an extraordinary turn recently when federal authorities seized the documents before police could release them.

The surprise move by the U.S. Marshals Service stunned the American Civil Liberties Union, which earlier this year filed the public records request with the Sarasota, Florida, police department for information detailing its use of the controversial surveillance tool.

The ACLU had an appointment last Tuesday to review documents pertaining to a case investigated by a Sarasota police detective. But marshals swooped in at the last minute to grab the records, claiming they belong to the U.S. Marshals Service and barring the police from releasing them.

ACLU staff attorney Nathan Freed Wessler called the move “truly extraordinary and beyond the worst transparency violations” the group has seen regarding documents detailing police use of the technology.

“This is consistent with what we’ve seen around the country with federal agencies trying to meddle with public requests for stingray information,” Wessler said, noting that federal authorities have in other cases invoked the Homeland Security Act to prevent the release of such records. “The feds are working very hard to block any release of this information to the public.”

Stingrays, also known as IMSI catchers, simulate a cellphone tower and trick nearby mobile devices into connecting with them, thereby revealing their location. A stingray can see and record a device’s unique ID number and traffic data, as well as information that points to its location. By moving a stingray around, authorities can triangulate a device’s location with greater precision than is possible using data obtained from a carrier’s fixed tower location.

The records sought by the ACLU are important because the organization has learned that a Florida police detective obtained permission to use a stingray simply by filing an application with the court under Florida’s “trap and trace” statute instead of obtaining a probable-cause warrant. Trap and trace orders generally are used to collect information from phone companies about telephone numbers received and called by a specific account. A stingray, however, can track the location of cell phones, including inside private spaces.

The government has long asserted it doesn’t need a probable-cause warrant to use stingrays because the device doesn’t collect the content of phone calls and text messages, but instead operates like pen-registers and trap-and-traces, collecting the equivalent of header information. The ACLU and others argue that the devices are more invasive than a trap-and-trace.

Anal searching cops still on the public payroll

It’s one of the most shocking and infamous cases to ever come out of New Mexico: A man, falsely suspected of carrying drugs, forced to undergo multiple anal cavity searches.

Now, a year and half after the incident and six months after a settlement of $1.6 million in local taxpayer money was announced, New Mexico Watchdog has learned at least three police officers involved in the case are still on the job, while the status of three others remains a secret.

Deming Police Chief Brandon Gigante told New Mexico Watchdog all three officers in his department who were listed as defendants in a subsequent lawsuit are on active duty. Gigante wouldn’t say why or reveal if the officers were disciplined.

“That is a personnel matter,” Gigante said in a telephone interview.

Three members of the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office were also listed in the lawsuit, but county officials refused to answer any questions about their status in the aftermath of the case involving Lordsburg, N.M., resident David Eckert.

A settlement was announced in January in which the 64-year-old Eckert will get $950,000 from the city of Deming and $650,000 from Hidalgo County — a total of $1.6 million for which taxpayers in the two communities are responsible.

According to the lawsuit, in early 2013 Eckert was pulled over by Deming police allegedly for not coming to a full stop at a stop sign in a Walmart parking lot in Deming. Hidalgo County sheriff’s officers also arrived on the scene.

Authorities suspected Eckert was carrying drugs inside his anal cavity and over a 14-hour period subjected Eckert to two rounds of X-rays and three enemas and took him to a hospital in another county where Eckert was forced to undergo a colonoscopy.

No drugs were found. Eckert also received a bill for $6,000 for the colonoscopy. The case made international headlines.

Two messages left with Hidalgo County Sheriff Saturnino Madero have gone unreturned.

Hidalgo County Commissioner Darr Shannon told New Mexico Watchdog, “I don’t know (about the status of the officers). I hate to admit it, but I don’t know anything … A county commissioner cannot have anything to do with personnel matters.”

Hidalgo County Commission Chairman Ed “Bim” Kerr referred questions to the county manager, Jose Salazar, who referred questions to the county’s attorney in the Eckert case, Damian Martinez.

“I can’t give any comment as to that,” Martinez said when contacted by New Mexico Watchdog.

Why not?

“I know where you’re coming from, but I’m (part of a) private law firm and my law firm’s policy is we don’t discuss litigation,” Martinez said. “Sorry I couldn’t help you, but I like your website.”

If public money has been spent, don’t taxpayers have a right to know if the officers involved are still on the force?

“It’s (Madero’s) department,” Shannon said. “I would be like you, I would be wanting to find out for the public, but I’m here to tell you government works in a way that is extremely odd, especially county government.”

New Mexico Watchdog is in the process of filing an Inspection of Public Records Act request with Deming and Hidalgo County authorities, seeking information about the case.

When news of the Eckert case broke, Deming Police Chief Gigante told KOB-TV, “We follow the law in every aspect, and we follow policies and protocols that we have in place.”

Street fighter

The new urban street fight

DUI Trial Underway For Ex-Officer Charged In ATV Crash

MIAMI (CBSMiami) — Trial is underway for former Miami Beach police officer charged with four felonies after he was involved in an ATV crash on the beach which seriously injured two people in 2011.

Derick Kuilan and his partner were allegedly drinking at a bachelorette party July 4th, 2011 at the Clevelander Hotel.

“They start dancing with them. They’re having a good time,” prosecutor Eileen Keeley told the jury in her opening statement. “These police officers, they’re not acting like police officers, they’re becoming part of the entertainment.”

Maid of honor, Camille Hippensteel, testified Monday that she thought the officers, buffed out in form-fitting uniforms, could have been sent as party favors for the bridal party.

“Their uniforms were so tight that they almost looked like strippers,” Hippensteel said.

She testified that it did not occur to her that Kuilan might be impaired, but she didn’t think to look for any sign of impairment.

Keeley said Kuilan then took the 28-year bride-to-be Adalee Martin for for a joyride on a police ATV.

“They are flying down the sand and all of the sudden it’s like he hit a wall,” said Keeley.

That “wall” turned out to be Luis Almonte and Kitzie Nicanor who were out for a walk on the beach, according to authorities.

Almonte’s leg was broken. Nicanor also suffered a broken leg, was knocked unconscious and had to have several surgeries. Martin flew off the bike into the sand. Kuilan radioed for help but allegedly never mentioned the accident.

One of the first witnesses on the stand was Martin. She told the jury that she had a shot of tequila that night and a couple of Corona beers at the Clevelander. Martin also said she would not have gotten on the ATV if she suspected Kuilan had been drinking.

“I trusted him because he was a police officer, so I felt safe,” said Martin.

She added “We were going pretty fast. That’s like when I felt like we hit a brick wall.”

Traffic homicide investigator Kerry Humphrey showed jurors photos of the heavily damaged police ATV. Prosecutors believe the photos help prove Kuilan was traveling at a high rate of speed, bolstering their charge that he was driving recklessly. Humphrey said the ATV was going so fast that it flipped over on impact.

Investigators waited several hours before drawing Kuilan’s blood for testing.

Keeley told jurors Kuilan’s “face is flushed, his eye are red” and his “blood results were .088 five hours later he is still over the legal limit.

Kuilan’s defense attorney, Evan Hoffman, admitted that the ATV joyride was “probably not the smartest thing.”

“We agree that there were actions made that were not the best judgement,” said Hoffman.

Hoffman said while Kuilan’s actions and the accident were a civil matter and did not belong in a criminal court. They also plan to challenge the results of the DUI test. Hoffman said no one will testify at the trial that they ever saw Kuilan or his partner actually drinking at the bachlorette party.

Kuilan is charged with two counts of driving under the influence and causing serious bodily harm, and two counts of reckless driving. He faces a maximum prison sentence of ten years

Probation for cop in gun license case

He will pay more than $16,000 in restitution

Written by Beth LeBlanc

A former Clay Township police officer will serve a year and a half of probation and pay more than $16,000 in restitution for unlawfully granting pistol safety training certificates to 27 people.

Ralph Cierpial, 37, was sentenced Monday in front of St. Clair County Circuit Judge Daniel Kelly.

Cierpial pleaded guilty to the charge April 28, the same day he resigned from the Clay Township Police Department.

In a December preliminary examination, witnesses testified they received concealed pistol license training certificates in March 2013 without receiving required firing-range instruction.

During the sentencing, Cierpial apologized to the court and said he accepted responsibility for his actions.

Cop fantasy

“It’s not Mr. Cierpial’s intention to quibble, if you will, in terms of his overall acceptance of responsibility in this matter,” Cierpial’s lawyer Daniel Garon said during the sentencing.

Kelly said the lack of firing-range training puts those 27 certified by Cierpial at risk.

“As a law enforcement officer, your actions have reflected upon other law enforcement officers in the community,” the judgesaid.

Mona Armstrong, senior assistant prosecutor, said about $10,000 of the more than $16,000 in restitution will be given back to victims who paid for valid training and certification but did not receive it.

The remaining $6,000 will go to the St. Clair County clerk’s office.

“The clerk and the gun board literally had to spend hours and hours to determine which certifications were compromised,” Armstrong said.

St. Clair County Clerk Jay DeBoyer has said the clerk’s office contacted and interviewed more than 300 people who received certification from Cierpial.

Armstrong said the case was unfortunate from the onset.

“I’m comfortable that the defendant accepted responsibility for what he did, and the court appropriately sanctioned him,” Armstrong said.

Cop will go to prison for hacking NYPD over love triangle

By Kirstan Conley and Rich Calder

His rabid jealousy has landed a former Bronx NYPD detective in jail.

An emotional Edwin Vargas was sentenced in Manhattan federal court Monday to four months in prison for shelling out more than $4,000 to hack into police department email accounts so he could find out whether a fellow cop was sleeping with his baby mama.

Noting that the NYPD allowed Vargas to retire and keep his benefits due to an exemplary two decades of service, Judge Kevin Castel cut the ex-cop a big break. The judge didn’t hit him with a $30,000 fine he faced and sentenced Vargas well below the recommended guidelines of 10 to 16 months in prison under terms of his plea deal.

“First, I’d like to apologize to all the victims in this case, especially my son’s mother,” a choked-up Vargas told the court. “I never meant to hurt anyone. I’d like to apologize to my family and friends who, though they were disappointed by my actions, stood by me.”

After holding back tears, he then said, “I love you guys. To my son Tristan, I’d like to say ‘I am sorry.’”

A moved Castel said he believed Vargas’ apology was “sincere.”

Vargas admitted that from April 2010 to May 2012, he paid a Los Angeles company specializing in email hacking to supply him with personal log-in credentials to help spy on his ex-lover.

The data included information on at least 20 of his NYPD colleagues, including his former girlfriend.

He admitted using the information to access the account of at least one person. Vargas also dug up personal information on two cops using the FBI’s National Crime Information Center, and accessed the phone records of another victim, authorities said.

He pleaded guilty to computer hacking and unauthorized access to a law-enforcement database  and will be subject to a year of supervised release when he gets out of prison.

The feds busted Vargas in May 2013 after finding a file on his work computer with contact information for his victims, including email accounts and apparent passwords.

In some cases, Vargas communicated with the hacking company by freeloading off his neighbor’s wireless connections, authorities said.

One cop told The Post in May 2013 that Vargas’ creepy behavior had been an issue for years — and that he even pursued his co-workers’ ex-wives and girlfriends.

Vargas was disciplined two years ago for allegedly stalking his ex, sources said. He was penalized five vacation days and was transferred from the 40th to the 44th Precinct, both in The Bronx.

The woman, who was not identified, complained at the time that she was being stalked, and said that Vargas had sent her harassing texts and called her names, the sources said.

Beach cop lied to protect love interest

By Marc Freeman, Sun Sentinel

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Former Delray Beach Police Officer Dave Chin is now a convicted felon because of his lies and misdeeds concerning a romantic interest in a woman he arrested in 2011.

Chin, 37, pleaded guilty Monday to five felony charges: three counts of official misconduct and two counts of perjury in an official proceeding.

While those counts altogether carry maximum of 25 years in state prison, Chin was sentenced to six months in Palm Beach County Jail under a plea deal with the State Attorney's Office. He'll serve the punishment on house arrest with a GPS ankle monitor.

Chin, represented by defense attorneys Flynn Bertisch and Michael Salnick, appeared before Circuit Judge Robin Rosenberg and acknowledged his crimes rather than proceed to a trial and leave his fate up to a jury.

Prosecutor Marci Rex called the plea agreement "an appropriate resolution to this case."

Salnick agreed.

"Considering the fact that he is not going to jail, I believe it was a fair resolution," he told the Sun Sentinel.

According to a report filed for Chin's August 2012 arrest, the married officer had sent text messages to Natalie Jerue, a friend of a confidential informant, telling her she was pretty and asking her out on movie and dinner dates.

While he was a member of the department's Street Narcotics Enforcement Unit, Chin in June 2011 charged Jerue with trafficking Oxycodone, a painkiller. But investigators accused Chin of falsifying some of the facts in Jerue's arrest report.

Later, in an effort to help Jerue's case, Chin sent a memo to the State Attorney's Office, which he attributed to his supervisor, saying that on the day of her arrest Jerue started providing information to police that led to several narcotics arrests, the seizure of approximately 200 Oxycodone pills, several handguns, a rifle and $3,800 in cash.

But it was all lies, authorities said.

The trafficking case against Jerue was later dropped, according to court records.

At the time of Chin's arrest and subsequent suspension, the police chief said the officer's actions were "not a direct reflection of the dedication and hard work done daily by the men and women of the Delray Beach Police Department."

But Chin's misconduct turned out to be quite costly for the agency, because in September 2012 the State Attorney's Office dropped at least 20 cases that involved Chin's work as a police officer.

Narcotics charges resulting from arrests of suspects from 2010 to 2012 were tossed because of the tainted connection with Chin.

Chin's felony convictions mean the disgraced cop won't be able to wear a badge ever again, prosecutor Rex said after Monday's court hearing.

"He will lose his right to vote, own firearms, and be a law enforcement officer," she said.

But Chin's already pursuing new career opportunities, anyway.

"He's turning the page and moving forward," Salnick said.

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Former San Bernardino Police Officer Found Guilty on Federal Civil Rights Charges Stemming from Sexual Assaults of Prostitutes

U.S. Attorney’s Office May 28, 2014

Central District of California (213) 894-2434

RIVERSIDE, CA—A former officer with the San Bernardino Police Department was convicted today of federal civil rights charges for forcing two prostitutes to perform sex acts while he was in uniform.
Jose Jesus Perez, 46, of Menifee, was found guilty this morning of two felony counts of deprivation of rights under color of law for sexually assaulting two victims in 2011. The jury determined that both offenses involved aggravated sexual abuse and that one attack involved a kidnapping and bodily injury.
Perez is scheduled to be sentenced by United States District Judge Virginia A. Phillips on August 18, at which time he faces a potential sentence of life in federal prison.
Perez has been in custody since he was arrested last September in Texas. The arrest was the result of a federal grand jury indictment that alleged Perez forcibly had sex with two women who told investigators that they engaged in the sex acts demanded by Perez out of fear because he was a police officer.
The evidence presented during a week-long trial showed that Perez groped a woman and caused her to perform oral sex by using force against her on April 25, 2011.
The jury also found that Perez had unlawful sexual intercourse with another woman on two occasions in August 2011.
The two victims testified about Perez forcing them to have sex in vehicles and hotel rooms. A third woman testified that Perez had aggressively solicited sex from her while he was in uniform. The three women each testified that they feared repercussions if they did not comply with Perez’s demands.
The jury in the case also convicted Perez of one misdemeanor civil rights offense related to the second time he demanded sex from the second victim in August 2011. Additionally, Perez was acquitted of one misdemeanor offense related to allegations that he forced the second woman to have sex in September 2011.
Perez became a police officer in 1997, when he was hired by the Los Angeles Police Department. Perez worked for the LAPD until 2008, when he went to work for the San Bernardino Police Department. Perez was released from employment by SBPD in December 2012.
The investigation into Perez was conducted by the San Bernardino Police Department and the FBI.

Prosecutor looking into arrest of special cop in Clifton gun thefts

BY JEFF GREEN

CLIFTON — Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia Valdes on Thursday said she was instructing her staff to determine whether she should intervene in a Clifton Police investigation of an alleged handgun theft by a special police officer.

Clifton police charged Nayeska Bermudez, 36, a special police officer working in Guttenberg, with theft of firearms this month but initially withheld information about her arrest. Documents released Thursday also showed the police charged her with a third-degree crime, which is an indictable offense and punishable by up to five years in prison. Bermudez was issued a summons to appear in Municipal Court. She was released without bail.

Valdes said her office was not involved in the case and had not been notified. "I'm not familiar with it at all, because it's not here," she said, meaning a case file is not in the prosecutor's office.

Valdes said that while she did not know the details and didn't cite specific issues, she was concerned about how the case was being handled. Valdes said she would instruct Paul DeGroot, an assistant county prosecutor who handles public integrity cases, to contact Clifton Police today.

Documents released on Thursday showed that Bermudez, a Clifton resident, was accused of stealing two 9mm Glock handguns from a Union City police officer who also lives in Clifton. The guns were not recovered.

The Union City police officer from whose home the weapons allegedly were taken declined to comment. Bermudez could not be reached.

On May 15, The Record reported that Detective Sgt. Robert Bracken confirmed there was an ongoing investigation into a complaint police received about a theft of firearms in Clifton. He declined to release details of the case, saying that criminal charges were being considered. However, a booking sheet obtained last Friday through a public records request showed that Bracken had arrested Bermudez and charged her on May 8. Police are required to release certain information to the public about arrests within 24 hours.

On Thursday, Bracken told The Record that he did tell a reporter that charges had been filed during the May 14 interview, and that a summons had been issued, but that he was compelled to withhold key details about the case because it was under investigation and because it may have involved domestic violence.

"I don't hide anything," Bracken said. "All I've done is withhold information that's sensitive to an investigation. I never give any falsehoods or anything else."

Bracken disputed that he was the arresting officer, saying he didn't know how his name was listed as such on the booking sheet. He said he was "involved in the investigation" but that his detectives "worked the job."

Documents provided by City Attorney Matthew Priore list Bracken as the lead investigator and complaining party in the case.

Police Chief John Link was not available for comment on whether the investigation was being properly handled.

The motive for the alleged gun theft remains unknown. But it's apparent that Bermudez has had a close relationship with the police officer from whom she is charged with stealing the guns. "You look great, Hottie!!!" she wrote in a comment on a photo of the man on Facebook. "I wonder who took such a nice pic. … Lol."

Michael Caliguiro, Guttenberg's police director, said Thursday that an internal affairs investigation was under way but he could not comment on whether Bermudez had been suspended. She became a special police officer in January 2013 and remains employed, he said. Special police officers are part-time officers, sometimes paid by the hour, who often are assigned by departments to parking and traffic enforcement.

Former Romulus police chief pleads guilty in corruption case

By Jackie Harrison-Martin

The News-Herald

DETROIT — Several weeks prior to going on trial for numerous charges in a corruption case, a former Romulus police chief has pleaded guilty.

Michael St. Andre was set to go on trial next month, but pleaded guilty to racketeering, embezzlement and misconduct charges Wednesday in Wayne County Circuit Court.

Sentencing is set for Oct. 17 before Judge Michael Hathaway.

St. Andre’s wife, Sandra Kay Vlaz St. Andre, also faced charges stemming from the corruption case and was convicted in a jury trial in February.

She was convicted of acquiring/maintaining a criminal enterprise and criminal enterprise-conspiracy, failure to file taxes/false return and receiving and concealing stolen property.

She was sentenced to 7 to 20 years.

Former detectives Richard Allan Balzer, Richard Bruce Landry, Donald Ralph Hopkins, Jeremy James Channells and Larry Droege, also were charged in the case.

Droege was found guilty of misconduct in office and neglect of duty and Channells was found guilty of two counts of misconduct in office and neglect of duty in early March.

Trials for the remaining officers are set to take place in August.

 It is alleged that between January 2006 and September 2011 each repeatedly made, or assisted others in making, material misrepresentations of fact in connection with expense reports they submitted in an effort to seek improper reimbursement; created fraudulent documents to support improper expenditures of drug forfeiture funds; obstructed justice; made false statements in police reports; and ultimately misused Romulus funds for their own personal gain.

Prosecutors said the drug forfeiture money was used to buy a tanning salon for Sandra Kay Vlaz St. Andre, as well as pay for prostitutes, marijuana and alcohol.

Lawsuit accuses San Benito officials, police of false imprisonment, conspiracy

Kayleigh Sommer | Valley Morning Star

SAN BENITO — A lawsuit has been filed against the city of San Benito accusing local police and city officials of false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, conspiracy, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

San Benito resident Alfonso Benavides filed the lawsuit May 7 in the 357th state District Court in Brownsville.

Named as defendants are the city of San Benito, then-Mayor Joe H. Hernandez, City Manager Manuel Lara, Police Chief Martin Morales Jr., Assistant Police Chief Michael Galvan, Officer Greg Monroe, Detective Michael Cortez and Sgt. Isaac Vasquez.

Other defendants named are Justice of the Peace David Garza and another San Benito resident, according to the lawsuit.

Benavides claims in the lawsuit that the defendants conspired together to arrest him in May 2012 after the police said the parent of a runaway boy, then 14, complained that Benavides was housing the boy at his Combes Street home.

Benavides was charged with a Class A misdemeanor of harboring a runaway child and was jailed at the Carrizalez-Rucker Detention Center in Olmito on $3,000 bond.

Those charges were later dismissed.

Benavides is seeking $1 million in damages on each of the five counts, alleging he suffered mental anguish, physical pain and suffering, and depression.

Former City Attorney Janice Cassidy, Benavides’ legal counsel, was unavailable for comment Wednesday.

Attorney Ricardo Navarro of Harlingen, San Benito’s legal counsel, said, “We don’t really comment on pending litigation.”

In January 2012, Benavides filed a complaint that led to a two-count indictment against Hernandez, charging him with abuse of official capacity and tampering with evidence. The first charge was dismissed after a one-year pretrial diversion and the tampering charge was dismissed outright.

Hernandez was acquitted of another charge last year after he was accused of threatening Benavides and former City Commissioner Ricardo Rodriguez.

Hernandez has repeatedly denied accusations that he threatened to burn down Rodriguez’s house last October.

When contacted Wednesday, Hernandez said the lawsuit is “regarding the city and I prefer not to comment.”

Attempts to reach Lara by phone were unsuccessful.

US judge OKs Occupy Philly lawsuit against police; protesters claim false arrest, retaliation

By MARYCLAIRE DALE 

PHILADELPHIA — Occupy Philadelphia protesters can go forward with a lawsuit accusing police of unlawful arrest, retaliation and other civil rights violations, a federal judge ruled Thursday.

More than two dozen protesters sued after they were acquitted of criminal charges stemming from their November 2011 clash with police. The confrontation came as city officials urged the protesters to move after seven weeks outside City Hall.

Philadelphia police arrested the protesters even though they complied and marched through downtown, the lawsuit said. They were charged with conspiracy, failure to disperse and blocking a roadway.

In Thursday's ruling, U.S. District Judge Berle Schiller upheld most of their claims, including retaliation, unlawful arrest and malicious prosecution. He dismissed their excessive force and illegal search claims for lack of evidence.

"You can't tell people to do something, and then when they comply with an arguably illegal order to begin with, arrest them, and charge them, when they're simply exercising their constitutional rights," Lloyd Long III, a lawyer for the protesters, said Thursday.

A city solicitor did not immediately return a call for comment. However, in court papers, she said the lawsuit failed to specify which officers and plaintiffs were involved in each of the various allegations.

The protesters had set up camp in October in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street protesters in New York, speaking out against economic inequality and alleged corporate greed. City officials evicted them at the end of the next month, citing long-planned renovation work at the site.

The defendants include Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey and other police supervisors and officers. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.

Judge deliberates in case against Howard officer involved in Anne Arundel collision

|By Luke Lavoie,

An Anne Arundel County judge heard closing arguments Wednesday in the case against a Howard County police officer charged with assault in connection with a June 2013 wrong-way collision in Anne Arundel that injured a family of four. Circuit Court Judge Paul F. Harris Jr., who is presiding over the trial, said he will deliver his decision on June 23.