Cops and animals ...what could possibly go wrong?

Hearing postponed for Montville Township officer charged in police dog's death

By Evan MacDonald, Northeast Ohio Media Group 

Montville Township police dog Beny died Sept. 28 after being left inside a police cruiser.Courtesy Montville Township police

MEDINA, Ohio -- A pretrial hearing for a Montville Township officer whose police dog died after being left for hours in a police cruiser has been postponed a fourth time.

Sgt. Brett Harrison is charged in Medina Municipal Court with two counts of companion animal cruelty, both second-degree misdemeanors. He pleaded not guilty Oct. 29.

Harrison is charged in connection with the death of K-9 Beny, who died Sept. 28 after being left in a police cruiser for more than four hours. Beny died as a result of injuries consistent with heat stroke, police said.

Prosecutor Jeff Holland filed a motion to continue a pretrial hearing scheduled Monday because he was due in court in a separate case, an employee at his Sharon Center office said.

Judge Dale M. Chase granted the motion Friday. A new court date has not been scheduled, according to court records.

Harrison's court dates have been postponed three times since arraignment. He was originally scheduled to stand trial Dec. 10.

A Medina County SPCA agent gathered evidence in the case by interviewing Montville Township officers, reviewing security footage and inspecting Harrison's police cruiser. Holland reviewed that evidence and recommended charges be filed.

Montville Township officials disciplined Harrison by suspending him two weeks without pay for violating department policy and procedures. Forty vacation hours were also taken from him.

Harrison apologized to Montville Township trustees, residents, the police department, his colleagues and Beny in a statement released Oct. 7.

I'm above the law

St. Louis Cops Threaten Slowdown Over Civilian Oversight Board

A St. Louis, Mo., police union official says officers would quit or do only the bare minimum of patrol if the city creates a proposed civilian oversight board, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

On Thursday, Jeff Roorda, a police union official, issued the stern warning to elected city officials who are poised to create a seven-member civilian board to investigate police misconduct allegations. And in an unusual step, St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay has even added his name to the measure as a sign of support.

“They’d answer their calls when they got them, but as far as interrupting criminal behavior on their own, why in the world would they do that when their employers aren’t even supporting them?” Roorda said.

“They would be incredibly reluctant to do their jobs,” he said, “and St. Louis would be a much more dangerous place than it is now. Nobody wants to be the next Darren Wilson.”

Wilson is the former Ferguson, Mo., police officer who shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was Black and unarmed, over the summer. The shooting sparked ongoing protests against police violence in the Black community.

Either way, the union has enlisted the assistance of Lou Hamilton, a seasoned lobbyist with knowledge of City Hall, to help fight or change the current bill.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports:

Alderman Terry Kennedy, who heads the city’s public safety committee, is a champion of the bill. He said he hasn’t set a date for a committee vote, which would have to take place before it moves to the full Board of Aldermen. Kennedy says he expects that to happen next month.

Kennedy disputed Roorda’s claims.

“The bill does not restrict officers from doing their jobs,” Kennedy said Thursday. “It enhances their ability to interface with the community because it gives a third party in residents the ability to look at complaints.”

The controversy comes nearly a week after a brawl broke out at a hearing about establishing the board. Roorda, who wore an “I Am Darren Wilson” bracelet, was accused of shoving a woman as he made his way to a podium to speak on the issue.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports:

“As I tried to make my way up to the podium, several protesters blocked my path,” he said. “The woman started stomping my feet and kicking my shins. I pushed back. The crowd just surged at me. I was just trying to stay on my feet.”

Civil rights leaders say Roorda’s behavior is emblematic of the flagrant disregard police show toward citizens.

“The existence of tension, and especially Jeff Roorda’s outrageous behavior, shows all the more clearly the need for civilian oversight,” said Jamala Rogers, the chair of the Coalition Against Police Crimes and Repression. “Watching Roorda’s actions and those of some members of the St. Louis Police Officers Association only gave more reasons why citizens are distrustful of the police.”

The Police No Longer Work For You

A Virginia police SWAT team raided a poker game and made off with thousands of dollars. That’s different from street gangs how?

February 3, 2015 By Daniel Payne

To the casual observer it appears that Virginia is run by violent psychopaths. That’s the takeaway from the recent report of an anti-poker SWAT team raid in Fairfax County, in which eight assault rifle-sporting police officers moved against ten card-playing civilians. The police possibly seized more than $200,000 from the game, of which 40 percent they eventually kept.

There was no indication that any of the players was armed. As a matter of fact, it appears that a gambler is more likely to be shot without provocation by the Fairfax Police than the other way around. The heavy firepower at the Fairfax raid was apparently motivated by the fact that “at times, illegal weapons are present” at such poker games, and that “Asian gangs” have allegedly targeted such events in the past. This is, then, a novel approach to law enforcement: as a matter of policy, Fairfax police now attempt to rob and steal from people before street gangs get around to doing it.

It is a mystery why we put up with this obscene police behavior. Gambling itself is not illegal in Virginia; it is simply controlled by the state. So the Fairfax police department did not bust these hapless poker players with guns drawn for doing something truly immoral and fully outlawed, merely for doing something in a way not approved by the state legislature. Were gambling actually forbidden in Virginia, then a crackdown could at least be understood, if not condoned in so paramilitary a fashion. Yet Virginia’s stance on the matter is not to treat gambling as malum in se, but rather as an instrumentum regni: our government prefers to funnel gambling money into its own coffers for its own ends, outlaw the same thing when it’s done outside of the state’s jurisdiction, and then steal the money of the poor fellows who happen to get caught.

Local Police Are Not Supposed to Be Thugs

This is, in other words, a matter of state-sanctioned greed and opportunism. Gambling is an immensely profitable business. Like alcohol, a portion of which industry the government in Virginia also controls with a similar level of violence and incompetence, gambling is enough of a cash cow that the Commonwealth is reluctant to let anyone else handle it. This is not because state-controlled lotteries are any more virtuous or less risky. Indeed, Virginia officials know gambling can be both addicting and destructive, which is why the state prints gambling self-help phone numbers on all of its tickets.

Governments control gambling not to legitimize and sanitize the practice, but to extract as much money from the citizenry as they possibly can. In the state’s eyes, the fault of the poker players in Fairfax lay not in betting money on a card game, but in not pouring money into the state’s bank account while they were doing so.

More than anything, events like these are a helpful reminder as to why many of us support smaller and explicitly limited government. Given the choice between more freedoms and liberties, or empowering a bunch of armor-clad incompetent murderers, it is a wonder anyone would ever pick the latter. A free people does not deserve to be governed by thugs and gun-toting lunatics. The Fairfax police department should be ashamed of itself—and the citizens of Fairfax, and of Virginia generally, should move quickly to change the sad state of affairs in which a harmless card game is met with a militarized police response.

Daniel Payne is a senior contributor at The Federalist. He blogs at Trial of the Century. You can follow Daniel on Twitter.

The taxpayer pays and the cops get away

Detroit City Council will consider $2.5 million settlement for wrongful conviction of Walter Swift

Posted By Ryan Felton on Tue, Feb 3, 2015 at 3:43 PM

  Detroit City Council will soon consider a $2.5 million to settlement in the case of Walter Swift, the man prosecutors convicted in 1982 for raping a pregnant teacher inside her Indian Village home. It was a crime he never committed.

At the time, the victim falsely identified Swift, then 21-years-old, as her rapist when the Detroit Police Department showed her dozens of photographs of black teenagers. The woman identified seven people who resembled her assailant before she arrived at Swift's photograph, his attorney says. For whatever reason, police brought in only Swift from that group — and the woman wasn't able to confidently identify him as her rapist.

Nonetheless, the woman said it was Swift. Forensic evidence that supported Swift's claim of innocence was never shown to the prosecutor, the jury never heard of it, and an analyst who determined Swift's type didn't match that of the perpetrator was never asked to testify at the trial.

And for that, Swift was convicted.

"That's the last light of day Walter Swift saw until May 2008," says Julie Hurwitz, Swift's attorney, adding, "What happened to him was outrageous."

He spent 26 years in prison, until a yearslong investigation by The Innocence Project eventually led to his release on May 21, 2008. The prosecutor and officer on the case signed affidavits as part of the effort, revealing the level of wrongdoing committed by DPD. From that point on, however, similar to most exonerates, Swift struggled with post-prison life, a fact MT highlighted in a 2009 cover story. The following year, he filed a civl lawsuit against the city for malicious prosecution, false arrest, and false imprisonment.

Commonly, Hurwitz explains, wrongful convictions carries a figure of around $1 million per year. (Swift's co-counsel Barry Scheck, for example, recently won a $40 million award for a client that wrongly served roughly 15 years in prison.) But Detroit wasn't willing to concede a price that high, something that became fully evident from the onset, she says.

"The City of Detroit law department behaved, in my opinion, they behaved shamefully," Hurwitz says.

In a nutshell, she says, the law department refused multiple requests for documents and statements related to the case. In turn, the suit moved at a slow pace. By 2013, an agreement on some level of restitution for Swift still hadn't been reached.

Then, everything came to a grinding halt: Detroit filed for municipal bankruptcy in July 2013, freezing all pending litigation against the city.

But Hurwitz and her colleagues determined civil rights cases aren't protected by a bankruptcy filing. They later filed a motion asking the court to release Swift's case and let it move forward.

The judge, Steven Rhodes, "sat on this motion for many, many months," Hurwitz says, but later found Detroit was 100 percent on the hook for whatever financial liability was determined. Both sides were ordered into post-bankruptcy mediation with Judge David Lawson of the U.S. District Court this past December.

"So we went into this mediation with the City of Detroit knowing full well what their exposure was in this case," Hurwitz says, "also knowing full well that our client is as fragile as one can expect someone to be who has spent 26 years in prison for a crime he didn't convict."

Hurwitz says she proposed a settlement to be paid over the course of three budget cycles, rather than one up-front sum. But the city, which by all accounts has little wiggle room in its budget, didn't move an inch on its previous position, as Hurwitz describes. Swift's legal team and the city went back-and-forth on a figure — at one point, Hurwitz says, the city offered less than $1 million. Eventually, she says, "we got to a point where we walked away."

Lawson ordered them back into mediation early last month, Hurwitz says, "and I can tell you the numbers they were talking about back in December weren't even close to the number we settled on."

Eventually, it became obvious the case needed to just be settled, rather than slog through another trial, for the sake of Swift.

Says Hurwitz: "Here we are, Walter is now 53-years-old, he has been struggling very, very hard to learn how to function in the world, he's been battling a serious addiction that he developed when he released from prison — he never had a substance abuse problem before [he entered] prison — and ... our hands were tied. We were able to negotiate to a point where they were willing to settle this case for $2.5 million. And, in my opinion, tragically, we had no choice."

"At the same time, $2.5 million is quite a bit of money, and it's going to change Mr. Swift's life," she continues. "And that's all we can hope for right now. He will now be able to move forward and that's the best outcome one can hope for."

John Roach, spokesman for Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, declined to comment on the settlement or the negotiations. "[W]e don't comment on what transpires during mediation or on ongoing litigation," Roach says in an email.

The city council's internal operations committee could consider Swift's settlement as early as Wednesday, according to councilwoman Raquel Castaneda-Lopez. If the panel approves, it could go before the full Council as early as next week.

Cops settle civil-rights suit over '12 arrest

VINNY VELLA, DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

AFTER NEARLY a year of legal wrangling, a civil-rights case against two police officers and the city's top cop has been settled for $85,000.

A federal judge dismissed the case, filed in March 2014 by Rodney Handy Jr. against Officers Shane Darden and Timothy Taylor and Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey over Handy's arrest in 2012, court records show.

The dismissal came after the parties were able to settle their dispute out of court, according to an order filed yesterday. The city settles out of court most civil-rights claims made against police, according to a Daily News review last year of settled police lawsuits. The Daily News found that Philly paid out $14 million to settle civil-rights claims alone in 2013 — nearly four times as much as the $4.2 million just five years earlier.

Handy's attorney, David B. Sherman, did not return a call for comment last night.

In the suit, Handy said the two officers used excessive force, racially profiled him and retaliated against him when he asked why they stopped him on March 19, 2012, as he was parking his car outside his house.

The officers told Handy, who is black, that they were looking for a suspect in a reported shooting, then "dragged [him] out of his car," according to the complaint filed in the case.

Handy said the two white officers then pummeled him repeatedly with their fists and flashlights, and also used a Taser during their assault.

He was taken into custody after being treated for lacerations and "serious . . . head injuries," including a concussion, the complaint states.

However, all information related to the incident was erased from the Police Department's database at the request of Inspector Aaron Horne, who oversaw the Northwest Police Division at the time.

In August 2012, Horne was suspended for 30 days along with Capt. John McCloskey, the officers' commander, for erasing the files, according to police sources at the time.

Those sources told the Daily News that the duo did that as a favor to Handy's grandfather, a retired city cop.

The alleged coverup is the subject of a pending grand-jury investigation.

Credibility of officers caught lying can hurt court cases

By Eric Flack

One group of Louisville Metro Police officers have records that could end up hurting their cases in court. (Source: WAVE 3 News)

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - A strong criminal justice system is the backbone of any safe community. That takes police and prosecutors working together. But one group of Louisville Metro Police officers have records that could end up hurting their cases in court.

Louisville Metro Police Officer Randy Moore reports for duty in the traffic division despite wreckage in his past that could be a roadblock for prosecutors.

[VIEW: Brady List]

Moore has been suspended seven times since 1999 for violations such as clocking in late, leaving work early, skipping court and disobeying orders.

The department's newest traffic officer has even been suspended for causing an accident with his cruiser.

Moore also has been caught lying to Internal Affairs during one of their many investigations into his misdeeds, making him the police officer with the longest disciplinary history on what's known as the department's "Brady List."

The "Brady List" is made up of 15 Louisville Metro police officers still on the force despite incidents where they have been caught being biased or not telling the truth. LMPD created the list in 2013 to comply with a Supreme Court ruling that requires prosecutors to disclose credibility issues to the defense.

If Moore, or any of the other "Brady List" officers are ever called to testify at trial, their past histories of lying can be used to discredit what they say on the witness stand.

It's something Moore wasn't saying anything about when we tried to speak with him recently. He declined comment for this report.

Defense Attorney Brian Butler, who spent years working as a prosecutor, said juries always look at a Brady List police officer in a different light.

"If you have a disciplinary history involving dishonesty, that is absolutely something that can impact a case," Butler said. "Why should I believe them if they have lied before?"

There are officers on the Brady List in nearly every division of the department, some for things that happened years ago. Others, just months ago.

Deputy Police Chief Col. Ozzy Gibson said there haven't been any cases where the involvement of a "Brady List" officer led to a criminal walking free since the list was created in 2013, and hopes that continues.

"I would find it hard to believe that point right there would make or break a case," he said.

Colonel Gibson said all the Brady List officers have served their punishment and deserve a second chance. Or in Officer Randy Moore's case, a third, fourth, fifth and sixth chance.

"So my question is do we continue to hold a man down?" Gibson asked. "No human being is perfect."

Prosecutors may hope a jury feels the same way.

So why doesn't the department just fire these police officers? They can't.

The Supreme Court ruling doesn't call for officers with honesty issues to be thrown off the force -- just identified. And union rules limit what the chief can consider when disciplining officers to the last couple years, meaning misconduct that happened five, six or seven years ago has to be set aside.

Baltimore mayor to push for tougher police officer misconduct penalties

BALTIMORE - Baltimore City's mayor wants to make it easier to punish police officers who break the law.

She is calling on the General Assembly to change the law, to allow the police commissioner to suspend -- without pay -- an officer charged with a misdemeanor that could lead to more than a year in jail, that happened while the officer is on duty.

Police officers can face serious criminal charges; in September, police say Ofc. Gualberto Diaz broke into the apartment where his estranged wife was asleep with another man.

Investigators say Diaz threatened them both with his service weapon, then went back to work at the Northwestern District and asked for the rest of the day off.

Diaz was suspended without pay -- and is scheduled to go on trial this month on felony charges including first-degree assault and using a weapon during a violent crime.

But in June of last year, Ofc. Vincent Cosom was caught a police city-watch camera punching 32-year-old Kollin Truss, while another officer holds Truss's arm.

Cosom is charged with a second-degree assault -- a misdemeanor, so he has been suspended with pay.

“What we've seen around the country is while there is a tremendous amount of respect for the men and women of police departments around the country, there is a growing frustration and intolerance to the good cops putting up with the people they know shouldn't be on the street,” said Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, during a news conference Monday afternoon.

The idea is likely to face opposition in Annapolis.  The mayor said she is going by what she heard from city residents during community meetings, and she has spoken with the police union about her plan.

“What I have said to them, the officers, is that the status quo is not acceptable,” she said.

The head of Baltimore City FOP Lodge #3 has not responded to calls from ABC2 News directly, but the union's Twitter account indicated that the union would not comment until its officers have read the actual wording of the mayor's proposal.

Attachment disordered cops

 Sheriff's officer fires gun in argument with woman, report says

 Sergio Bichao

WOODBRIDGE – A Union County sheriff's officer has been suspended after being accused of shooting his weapon during an argument with a woman and, in another incident, threatening her at gunpoint.

Scott Gardiner, 43, was charged Jan. 16 with making terroristic threats by a township woman who told local police that Gardiner has been "continually harassing her" since December.

The woman told police that Gardiner threatened her with his work-issued weapon several times in 2013, when they lived together.

She claimed that in July 2013 Gardiner shot his gun into a bed during an argument and told her: "Next time it's gonna be you, b.... "

Also that year, she said, Gardiner made her drive him to visit his mother, telling the woman "keep driving, b.... " as he pointed his gun toward the windshield.

She said he also "cursed at her on numerous occasions," calling her vulgar slurs against women.

Gardiner, a Manalapan resident, has been a law-enforcement officer since May 1994, according to state pension records. In 2013, he earned more than $95,000 a year and held the rank of sergeant.

Because the complaint involves alleged domestic violence, authorities are required to take certain steps, including notifying a county prosecutor and confiscating the officer's personal and work weapons.

The woman told police that she was reporting the incidents for the first time because she had not "wanted to get him into trouble," according to a Woodbridge police report obtained by MyCentralJersey.com under the Open Public Records Act.

Gardiner was not arrested, according to the report, which also noted where he worked and that the incident would be investigated by internal affairs.

Union County Sheriff Joseph Cryan on Monday declined to discuss details of the case.

"I can confirm that he has been suspended from our office pending the conclusion of the ongoing investigation," he said.

Cryan said Gardiner's weapons were confiscated "as a matter of policy" but declined to elaborate or say whether Gardiner would continue to receive pay.

Gardiner on Monday said the case was "going through the court system" and that the restraining order that a municipal court judge had signed against him last month had been dropped. He declined further comment.

A spokesman for the Middlesex County Sheriff's Office did not return a request for comment.

Investigations into law-enforcement officers involved in domestic violence complaints are governed by state attorney general guidelines that went into effect in 2009.

The guidelines were issued in order to make victims less intimidated about complaining about police officers.

The guidelines require agencies to disqualify job applicants with histories of domestic violence or sexual assault and to train officers annually on handling domestic violence calls and on the impact of domestic violence within the law-enforcement community.

Supervisors are supposed to look for "warning signs" of possible domestic violence problems among officers, including an increase in excessive force complaints, inappropriate treatment of animals, injuries and excessive tardiness and absences.

The guidelines caution against making any arrests until an investigation has been conducted.

The internal affairs unit of the agency where the officer works is supposed to investigate the incident, even if a temporary restraining order is dismissed.

Law-enforcement agencies since 2011 have been required to keep track of internal affairs probes involving domestic violence. Records for the Union County Sheriff's Office indicate that there were no reported domestic violence investigations in 2011 or 2012. Data for 2013 and 2014 is not yet available.

Staff Writer Sergio Bichao: 908-243-6615; sbichao@mycentraljersey.com

Lexington police officer charged with harassment

A Lexington police officer has been charged with harassment and official misconduct after an investigation.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) - A Lexington police officer has been charged with harassment and official misconduct after an investigation into a Jan. 13 arrest. 

The investigation revealed that Officer James Norris had "forceful physical contact" with a suspect, and had "intent to harass and intimidate". 

Norris has been relieved of duty since January 22.

WTVQ-TV, LLC

smack'n the old wife around, a national police past time

 Louisville police officer charged in wife’s battery

Louisville Metro Police officer Jonathan Osborne was arrested Monday morning in Clark County and is preliminary charged with aggravated battery, domestic battery, battery, resisting law enforcement, criminal restlessness and public intoxication.

by Gary Popp

JEFFERSONVILLE — A Louisville police officer believed to have brutally attacked his wife late Sunday night, causing their vehicle to crash along a Sellersburg roadway, has been charged in Clark County.

Jonathan A. Osborne, 34, Louisville, appeared in Clark County Circuit Court No. 1 on Thursday morning. He has been charged by the Office of the Clark County Prosecutor with level 5 felony battery; level 6 felony attempted battery by bodily fluid or waste on a public safety official; and class A misdemeanors of resisting law enforcement and criminal mischief.

The Louisville Metro Police Department officer was represented at the hearing by Bart Betteau. A not guilty plea was entered during the proceeding presided over by Judge Drew Adams. Clark County Deputy Prosecutor Jennifer Harmeyer represented the state at the hearing.

A spokesman with LMPD said Thursday that Osborne is suspended from the department without pay until the disposition of the criminal case.

After the hearing, Betteau said that Osborne acted like a “completely different person” during the assault than he has been his entire life.

“He is extremely sorry with what happened,” Betteau said. “There has never been any allegation any where, any time, any place that he has been physically abusive to any person.”

He said Osborne has been proud to serve as a police officer and hopes to have the opportunity to continue working with at LMPD.

Betteau said the allegations against his client do not support a “clear-cut case” of culpability.

“We have something that we could certainly present to a jury which would, in fact, make him not guilty of these offenses, if we choose to do that,” he said.

Cleveland police officer is under arrest for several charges including kidnapping, domestic violence, and intimidation.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A Cleveland police officer is under arrest for several charges, including kidnapping, domestic violence, and intimidation. Officer David Anderson, 51, turned himself in on Saturday. Anderson has been suspended since December, after his arrest for felony stalking and domestic violence. He remains suspended without pay pending a criminal case against him. He has been a Cleveland police officer since October 2007.

Bond set for LMPD officer accused of punching his wife while she was driving

Jonathan Osborne, 34, is charged with aggravated battery (level 3), battery, criminal recklessness, domestic battery with prior unrelated co., public intoxication and resisting law enforcement.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) – A Louisville Metro Police Department officer was arrested in Clark County, Ind. Sunday, Feb. 1.

Jonathan Osborne, 34, of Louisville, is charged with aggravated battery (level 3), battery, criminal recklessness, domestic battery, public intoxication and resisting law enforcement.

Osborne appeared in court Monday around 1:30 p.m. The prosecutor requested a 72-hour continuance in order to review paperwork.

The Clark County Prosecutor said Osborne punched his wife while she was driving, causing a crash; Osborne then hit and kicked his wife in the face.

Osborne's bond is set at $30,000.

LMPD issued the following statement: "We are aware of the charges our officer is alleged to have committed in Indiana. Officer Osborne is afforded due process and we will await the results of his case in court. In the meantime, the Chief has initiated a Professional Standards investigation into this matter and, therefore, in accordance with KRS 15.520 we are prohibited from speaking further on this particular case."

Jonathan Osborne was accused of beating his wife after a Super Bowl party

Police shortly release a statement on Feb. 4 to give more insight on Officer Osborne's suspension:

"After reviewing the video of Officer Osborne's actions, which also led to his arrest in Clark County, Indiana, the Chief has determined to exercise his authority under KRS 15.520 and suspend Officer Osborne without pay pending the disposition of the charges."

Osborne will be back in court on Feb. 5 at 10 a.m.

Suspended Cleveland police officer jailed after domestic incident Saturday; judge revokes bond

By James F. McCarty, The Plain Dealer 

CLEVELAND, Ohio - City police officer David Anderson, who already was facing domestic violence charges, was arrested Saturday in connection with an incident at a North Olmsted restaurant.

A Cuyahoga County grand jury returned an indictment earlier Monday charging the officer with aggravated menacing, menacing by stalking, abduction and other charges involving his 43-year-old live-in girlfriend.

During a hearing Monday in Common Pleas Court, Judge Michael Jackson ordered Anderson's original $25,000 bond revoked based on the new charges and evidence from prosecutors that the officer had repeatedly violated a no-contact order with the victim.

Jackson ordered Anderson held in the County Jail without bond, and set bond on the new case at $200,000. Anderson pleaded not guilty to the new charges.

After the hearing, Assistant County Prosecutor Christopher Schroeder said Anderson and his girlfriend caused a scene during a loud dispute at a Chili's restaurant where they had gone to eat dinner Saturday. Anderson followed his girlfriend into the women's lavatory and forcibly led her out of the restaurant while gripping her arm, Schroeder said.

Restaurant employees were concerned for the woman's safety, and called police, Schroeder said. Anderson later surrendered to police and was arrested.

In court documents filed with Jackson last week, Schroeder said he had obtained evidence that Anderson had committed 240 violations of a no-contact order with the victim since his arrest Dec. 15 on domestic violence charges. Schroeder said he suspected Anderson of witness-tampering, and of threatening the victim, and asked the judge to revoke the officer's bond.

On Dec. 23, a grand jury indicted Anderson on charges of menacing by stalking, aggravated menacing and domestic violence. Anderson pleaded not guilty to the charges on Jan. 8, at which time Judge Dan Gaul delivered the no-contact order.

Anderson, however, immediately began calling the victim - essentially every day, several times a day - Schroeder said in the motion. The calls lasted for a total of more than 35 hours, he said.

Defense attorney Henry Hilow said Anderson's girlfriend supports the officer.

"She has made it clear from the beginning that she wasn't a victim, and she maintains that to this date," Hilow said.

According to the original charges, Anderson attacked his girlfriend three times on consecutive days, beginning Dec. 13, when he shoved her to the ground, causing her head to strike the pavement and knocking her unconscious. In the ensuring days, Anderson shoved her to the ground outside their home on South Hills Avenue in Cleveland. And on the following day, he kicked in her bedroom door, chased her down the stairs and shoved her to the landing, where her head was bloodied, prosecutors contend in court documents.

Former Chicago-area police officer charged with trying to hire hitman

By Robyn Turner

CHICAGO (WKOW) -- Drew Peterson, the former Bolingbrook, Illinois police officer convicted of killing his third wife, has now been charged with trying to hire someone to kill the prosecutor who put him behind bars. 

Monday, state and local prosecutors stated Peterson is charged with solicitation of murder for hire and for murder after allegedly trying to hire someone to kill Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow while Peterson is imprisoned.

Peterson, 61, is serving 38-years behind bars after his 2012 conviction in the 2004 drowning death of Kathleen Savio.

The investigation into Savio's death was reopened after Peterson's fourth wife, Stacy, disappeared in 2007.  Authorities have stated they believe Stacy is dead and that Drew is a suspect, however, he hasn't been charged in that case.

Philly Cops Charged in Brutality Incident After Victim’s Girlfriend Did Some Investigating of Her Own to Get Authorities Started

A year and a half after the incident, the two cops were charged and suspended with intent to dismiss.

Ed Krayewski|

Two Philadelphia police officers, Sean McKnight and Kevin Robinson, were arrested last week on charges of assault, criminal conspiracy, reckless endangerment, tampering with public records, making false reports, obstructing the administration of law, and official oppression. The charges stem from a May 2013 incident in which pulled over resident Najee Rivera while he was riding a motorized scooter. Rivera allegedly fled, and cops are accused of pursuing him without using their sirens or lights and then violently beating him after catching him.

The Philadelphia police accepted the cops’ version of events, which accused Rivera of assaulting them and resisting arrest, and that would’ve been that but for his sleuthing girlfriend.

Philly.com reports:

"As soon as I picked him up, we went right over there," [Rivera's girlfriend Dina] Scannapieco said. He was in a hospital gown covered in blood.

Eventually the couple made it to the 2700 block of North Sixth Street, where he had been arrested the night before - and where two officers were saying Rivera had thrown one of them into a brick wall.

The two, she said, saw where he was arrested.

"You seen all his blood all over the pavement," she said…

After seeing the blood, Scannapieco began asking questions.

She eventually found surveillance video, at a barber shop-auto detailing business on the block, that would exonerate Rivera and lead to the arrest of the officers who prosecutors say beat him without provocation and then falsely arrested him.

By August 2013, charges against Rivera were dropped and the cops began to be investigated. A year and a half later, after a grand jury found the bulk of their statements false and they face formal charges, the police department has suspended McKnight and Robinson with “intent to dismiss.”  Police say they could not have started an investigation against themselves immediately at the time absent an official complaint. That hurdle has now been removed, and the Philadelphia police commissioner Charles Ramsey says in hindsight police should have canvassed the area after Rivera’s arrest.

At least one of the officers, Robinson, has been previously accused of police brutality while making a false arrest. He was sued in 2012 and the city settled for $125,000. He remained on the force.

More drunk and drugged up cops

Metro officer charged with tipping off drug dealers expected in court

Malik Khaalis

SAVANNAH, GA (WTOC) - A former Metro Police officer charged with tipping off drug dealers is scheduled to appear in court Monday morning.

It is all part of the fallout after investigations into the conduct of several former officers, including the former Savannah-Chatham Metro Police chief.

Malik Khaalis has gone from a man sworn to protect the law, to someone trying to protect himself and prove he did not break any laws.

Khaalis had worked as a Metro officer assigned to CNT for years before his fellow agents began to believe he was tipping off drug dealers, telling them that they were being watched.

Investigators say Khaalis likely lied to his supervisors and put a sensitive investigation at risk.

The former Metro officer is now facing nine felony counts of false statements and violation of oath. He is one of several officers that have resigned, retired, or been taken off the force under questionable circumstances, including former Police Chief Willie Lovett, who was found guilty of several federal corruption charges.

 Sheriff moves to fire cop over DUI arrest

Bill Dolan bill

Lake County officer charged with DUI, causing crash

CROWN POINT | A Lake County Sheriff's Department officer has been charged with driving drunk and causing a three-car collision Sunday night at… Read more

Crown Point man sues officer for injury in alleged DUI crash

 CROWN POINT | A Lake County Sheriff's Department officer demoted and facing termination for allegations of drunken driving is being named in a… Read more

CROWN POINT | Lake County Sheriff John Buncich said Thursday he has demoted and wants to fire a once high-ranking county policeman for being arrested last weekend for drunken driving that injured two people.

"I had termination papers served on him today," Buncich said Thursday morning of Lt. David Britton, 46, of Cedar Lake. Buncich said he demoted Britton from his previous rank of police commander.

John Bushemi, an attorney for the sheriff, said the final decision on whether Britton is removed from the police force must be made by the Lake County Police Merit Board, a panel of civilians appointed by the sheriff and police officers who oversee the discipline of county officers.

Family members of a Griffith woman killed in a 2002 crash involving Britton are speaking out against him remaining on the county force and expressed relief that no one died in the Sunday night wreck at 97th and Main Street in Crown Point.

Crown Point police allege Britton was intoxicated and driving at a high rate of speed southbound on Main Street in his pick-up truck despite a snow-packed pavement.

Christopher Crepeau, 39, of Crown Point, told police he was slowing for the traffic light at 97th in the southbound lanes when he saw Britton's truck approaching too fast to stop in time.

Crepeau tried to move out of the way, but Britton struck the left rear of Crepeau's car, careened through the intersection and struck the front of a car driven by Serena Yester, 24, of Dyer, that was stopped at the red light on the northbound side of Main.

Police said Britton stopped, looked into both cars and drove away. Crepeau and Yester were later taken from the scene in ambulances for treatment of back and ankle injuries.

A witness to the wreck called police with a description of Britton's vehicle. Police located it in a business parking lot nearly a mile south from the accident scene. Police said a breath test showed Britton's blood alcohol content 0.24 percent, three times the legal limit.

Police said they arrested Britton on suspicion of misdemeanor driving while intoxicated, endangering a person and leaving the accident scene.

Britton, who has been with the department since 1996, has been involved in a number of mishaps but hasn't previously been charged with any criminal wrongdoing.

Buncich briefly suspended Britton in 2012 for striking and damaging a guardhouse at Cedar Lake's Havenwood Subdivision and failing to report the crash until two months later.

The county also had to pay a Gary man $221,000 in 2005 to settle a police brutality suit involving Britton and a second county police officer.

In 2002, Britton was driving an unmarked squad car when he crashed into the car of Marga Gniffke, who died eight days later of her injuries. The family sued, took the county to trial, but reached a $750,000 settlement with the county shortly before a jury returned with a verdict finding Britton responsible for that wreck.

Kate Domsic, whose family was related by marriage to Gniffke, said the report of Britton's latest crash "has reopened old wounds." Pete Domsic said, "I can't believe how many times this guy has gotten a pass, evidently because he is a Lake County (deputy) sheriff."

Mary Domsic told The Times in an email, "There are many amazing officers who are dedicated to their job and the people they serve. However, David Britton seems to be the type of officer who has been able to live by his own rules. ... Somehow Britton needs to learn that he has to be accountable, as well as learn that he must change his life before someone else dies."

Stay the hell out of Oklahoma

Crash Victim's Family Responds To Charges Against OCPD Officer

BY DANA HERTNEKY

Court officials said an Oklahoma City police officer faces criminal charges for driving too fast and crashing into and killing a 79-year old woman. Officer Bryant Holloway was charged with negligent homicide, a misdemeanor.

According to the court documents, Officer Holloway was trying to chase down a speeder and was going 78 miles per hour 150th Street near May Avenue without lights and siren. The speed limit was posted at 40 miles per hour.

The accident happened as Marinan Reese was trying to make a left hand turn out of her neighborhood. The probable cause affidavit said Officer Holloway hit his brakes but was still going about 60 miles per hour at impact. Reece, whose son describes as a hardworking, dedicated member of her church and the Sooners, died.

 “Both the officer and the OCPD need to be held accountable, but there's no malice there or anything from our side,” said Reece's son, Steve. “We feel like this whole thing is part of God's overall plan in regards to my mom and her legacy.”

According to the court documents, Ms. Reese's view was obstructed by that hill so she couldn't see Officer Holloway coming.

“My opinion is he was going too fast,” said Oklahoma City Police Chief Bill Citty. “Officers have to go at a speed that still keeps the public safe.”

Chief Bill Citty said state law allows for officers to drive above the speed limit without lights and siren and so does department policy.

“If you turn the lights and siren on a lot of individuals will turn and try and hide from the officers if they're far enough away,” explained Citty.

However, Chief Citty said the department is looking at making that policy more restrictive.

“We've looked at speeds, we've had to discipline some officers for excessive speeds in certain circumstances and so we feel like there's enough of an issue there and a problem we're going to have to be a little more definitive in guiding our officers as to what their speeds will be in certain circumstances.”

Reese's family however, said they're comfortable where their mom is now and just hope some good will come from this for Officer Holloway.

“Maybe it could be a positive in his life somehow, that this accident draws him closer to his family or the Lord and that's what my mother would have wanted.”

Officer Holloway has been on administrative leave since the accident.

Officer charged in fatal accident

OKLAHOMA CITY —The district attorney is charging Officer Bryant Hollaway with misdemeanor negligent homicide.

The charges come after a violent collision with his patrol car and Marinan Reese's car.

“If there is a way for this to be a positive influence on that young man’s life, I think my mother would have been the first to raise her hand and say ‘I’ll gladly give my life if God has work to do in this young man’s life,'" Reese's son, Steve, said.

The unwavering faith of Steve Reese was passed down to him from his mother.

It’s been hard since she died, and, at times, anger has crept in.

“Both this young man and the OCPD need to be held accountable," he said.

Reese says he’s leaving that decision up to the courts and he’ll continue to put his trust in God.

“Those of us that have spent our lives in Oklahoma City know that, most of the time, that the OCPD has our safety and our well-being in mind," Reese said. "We know that God is in control and that He also showed mercy on this young man, easily both of them could have been killed.”

Officer charged in connection with pawning police items

By Michael Purdy

Oklahoma City —

An Oklahoma City officer is accused of pawning police gear, over the period of multiple months.

Newsok.com reports Travis Smith was charged on Friday with 10 felony counts of making a false declaration of ownership to a pawnbroker.

He's said to have sold a police radio, gas masks, riot gear, and a ballistic vest.

It was his supervisor who actually noticed the items were being pawned.  The supervisor was searching a database law officers can access regarding pawn shops.

"Police supervisors suspected criminal behavior when Smith displayed suspicious actions and behavior," OKC police said in a release.

All of the pawned items have been recovered.  Police also found pawn tickets, signed by Smith.

  

New Metro Police Chief Jack Lumpkin has vowed to clean up the police force.

In the meantime, Khaalis is scheduled to have his arraignment docket call at the Chatham County Courthouse Monday at 9:15 a.m.

OKC police officer charged with selling police equipment

OKLAHOMA CITY —A 14-year veteran with the Oklahoma City Police Department was charged with 10 counts of making a false declaration to a pawnbroker on Friday.

Sgt. Travis Smith, 40, is on paid leave as the charges are investigated.

Police said Smith is suspected of pawning police equipment that was property of OKC police to pawn shops in the area.

The criminal investigation is complete and now the Oklahoma City Police Department will conduct an internal investigation