Free Republic

FORT HUACHUCA — The most populous nation in Africa is still facing growing pains in becoming a true democracy, a Nigerian naval officer said. Twice the size of California and with a population of more than 135 million, Lt. Abdullahi A. Muhammed said the majority of Nigerians are determined that their nation become a democracy, leaving behind the times of dictatorships, both civilian and military, that have ruled the nation for most of the time since it gained independence from Great Britain in 1960. The nation had its first successful transfer of a civilian presidential party through a recent election....

A police officer shot in the head by a doughnut shop robber died Thursday morning, the police commissioner announced. The gunman went into the shop and demanded money just before Cassidy opened the door, said Sandra Kim, a Dunkin' Donuts employee who was behind the counter at the time. He then spun around and shot the officer as he held the door. Cassidy was a regular customer who came in twice a day for a large coffee with cream and sugar, Kim said. "He's always nice to all the employees," she said. "The officer was just coming in for a...

Myanmar military officer defects to Thailand Agence France-Presse BANGKOK (AFP) - A Myanmar military officer has fled to Thailand to seek asylum, apparently because he refused orders to attack Buddhist monks in anti-junta protests, a senior Thai intelligence official said Wednesday. Major Hla Win entered Thailand with help from a non-government organization, and he hopes to apply for asylum in Norway, the official told AFP. "He is not a senior general, but is mid-ranking," the official said. Hla Win's defection is the first known case of a military official fleeing the country since the junta last week ordered a crackdown...

ST. GEORGE, Mo. -- A suburban St. Louis police officer whose berating of a motorist was captured on video has lost his job. Aldermen in the tiny town St. George voted 5-0 to fire Sgt. James Kuehnlein. The vote occurred Monday in a session closed to the public. Notice of the firing was posted Wednesday at City Hall. Motorist Brett Darrow, 20, had a video recorder inside his car. He was at a commuter lot near Interstate 55 in the early hours of Sept. 7 when the officer approached the car. In a video that got wide viewership on the...

PORTLAND, Ore. -- The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office has launched an investigation into allegations that a local corrections deputy bragged about using a Taser gun on people in an Internet chat room. FOX 12’s news partner, the Portland Tribune, was the first to break this story. Now, authorities at the Justice Center Jail want to know if the same deputy, identified as David B. Thompson, also filed a false police report to cover up the beating of an inmate. Lt. Jason Gates of the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office said he is appalled at the alleged online comments of thecounty corrections...

FORT WORTH -- A Fort Worth police officer was arrested Wednesday on allegations that he slapped the rear of a woman he caught engaging in sexual conduct in a car in Oakhurst Park in June.Officer Craig Murrah, who has been with the department since 2001, was arrested on a warrant for "official oppression," a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to two years in a county jail and a fine of up to $4,000.Murrah is on restricted duty pending a review of the case by the Tarrant County district attorney's office. According to a news release by the Fort Worth...

West Point — A 2004 West Point graduate who found God after graduation has turned to the courts to win approval for a conscientious objector discharge. Capt. Peter D. Brown, currently stationed at Camp Stryker in Iraq, has retained the help of the New York Civil Liberties Union to battle Uncle Sam. "Jesus taught that I should bless those who curse me and not fight back against evil with force," Brown wrote in court papers filed last week in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. "So instead of paying back others with force, I am supposed to love...

New Hampshire authorities said yesterday that they will not press charges against a former Marine who stepped into a deadly shooting and killed a 24-year-old high school dropout who had moments earlier fatally shot a police officer. The former Marine, Gregory W. Floyd, 49, was driving with his son along Route 116 in Franconia on Friday night when he saw Liko Kenney, 24, shoot Franconia Police Corporal Bruce McKay, 48, four times in the torso. After Kenney drove his Toyota Celica over McKay as the officer lay on the ground, Floyd grabbed the officer's service weapon and shot and killed...

MOSCOW, Idaho - An officer who was shot responding to a gunman spraying bullets at a courthouse died of his injuries Sunday, police said. Law enforcement officers stormed the church Sunday where the gunman hid after shooting three people, including the officer, in an ambush late Saturday, police said. They found the body of the likely gunman and another man, police said. The shooting also wounded another officer and a civilian, said David Duke, Moscow's assistant police chief. The name of the officer killed was not immediately released. Duke said the attack was apparently an ambush, with the shooter firing...

Egyptian major smoothes the way for task force in Africa. By Angela Scherbenske Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa CAMP LEMONIER, Djibouti, May 11, 2007 — Working to build a cohesive relationship with the host nation while at Camp Lemonier is the role of Egyptian liaison officer Maj. Osama Selim, a member of the Egyptian military who is temporarily assigned to CJTF-HOA. Selim said he supports the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa mission by providing the members here information and a professional perspective regarding the different African countries. “Major Selim’s ability to effectively communicate with the local population...

WASHINGTON, April 26, 2007 – U.S. military officials in Iraq have charged an Army officer with aiding the enemy by providing an unmonitored cell phone to detainees, along with other crimes. Lt. Col. William H. Steele has been charged with offenses under four articles of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Officials emphasized that the charges constitute only an accusation of wrongdoing, and that Steele is presumed innocent unless and until he’s proven guilty in legal proceedings that follow. Officials allege that Steele aided the enemy by providing an unmonitored cellular phone to detainees between Oct. 1, 2005, and...

FORT HUACHUCA — There is a cancer in Afghanistan, and democracy is its cure. That’s the view of Lt. Col. David Morrison, a military intelligence officer who recently returned from that nation and who worked there four years ago. Morrison said during an interview this week that the democratic chemotherapy is being administered by American, coalition and Afghan forces as they battle the Taliban cancer, an insidious tumor shrinking each day. As the cancer spreads, it works against the desire of the Afghan body politic. “It’s the Taliban and al Qaida who are trying to poison that co-existence,” Morrison said,...

Ryan Hoeft was a rookie St. Louis Park cop on Nov. 6, 2001, when his handgun went off in his squad car, the bullet hitting his head and killing him. The Hennepin County medical examiner ruled his death a suicide. But his parents allege in a lawsuit filed this week that their son did not kill himself and that his gun fired accidentally. Mary and Terry Hoeft, of Rice Lake, Wis., accuse the Hennepin County Sheriff's Department, the county medical examiner and St. Louis Park police of failing to properly investigate their son's death. The suit, filed Tuesday in Hennepin...

(AP) DES MOINES, Iowa A bald eagle owes its life to the sharpshooting skills of an Iowa conservation officer. Though the bird has yet to offer any thanks, Jason Sandholdt is getting plenty of recognition from those who saw him use a single bullet last weekend to free the bird from a branch that hung over a cliff at Lake Red Rock. "There were accusations of sheer luck," said Brian Lange, one of the kayakers who discovered the bird Saturday and alerted authorities. He added: "It was really a heroic shot." Sandholdt, who works for the Iowa Department of Natural...

A San Francisco police officer was killed in a shooting Friday night that left another man dead in the Sunset District. Officer Bryan Tuvera, 28, a four-year veteran of the force who worked out of the department's Taraval station, died at 12:01 a.m. today at San Francisco General Hospital. The events that led to Tuvera's death started about 8:30 p.m. when he and other officers tried to serve a felony warrant on a man in the area of 25th Avenue and Lawton Street. The suspect was described as armed and very dangerous.

The UCLA police officer videotaped last week using a Taser gun on a student also shot a homeless man at a campus study hall room three years ago and was earlier recommended for dismissal in connection with an alleged assault on fraternity row, authorities said. UCLA police confirmed late Monday that the officer who fired the Taser gun was Terrence Duren, who has served in the university's Police Department for 18 years. Duren, who was named officer of the year in 2001, also has been involved in several controversial incidents on campus. In an interview with The Times on Monday...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE SALERNO, Afghanistan, Nov. 7, 2006 — If there was any doubt as to the resolve and capability of the Afghan National Security Forces and their determination to protect their homeland from terrorist extremists, an Afghan police officer gave his life to make a strong case to the contrary. In a display of selfless heroism, Afghan National Police Officer Abbarker died protecting the lives of the Andar District Governor, his fellow police officers and Coalition soldiers. While guarding the Miri District Center in the District of Ghazni, Abbarker noticed that a man had bypassed the security checkpoint and...

The 2.2 across-the-board military pay raise in January is a joke. So is the 8.7 percent raise set for 125 generals and admirals. How about reversing it? Officers do not need the bigger raise. It’s the enlisted ranks who have people on food stamps and receiving assistance from the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program. With the price of gas and everything else higher, a 2.2 pay raise is a slap in the face. It’s also a travesty what else our politicians did to the 2007 defense authorization bill. They basically screwed disabled retirees rated “IU,” or unemployable, by refusing...

OXFORD, Miss.-A University of Mississippi police officer was killed early Saturday morning while conducting a traffic stop near the university campus. Officer Robert Langley, 30, had stopped a vehicle for speeding when the driver suddenly pulled away, dragging him approximately 200 yards. Langley suffered severe head injuries and was taken by helicopter to the Medical Center in Memphis where he was pronounced dead. Within 30 minutes of the incident, Oxford Police detained 20-year-old Daniel Cummings, a second-year UM student from Germantown, Tenn. Cummings has been charged with capital murder of police officer and is being held in the Lafayette County...

Just saw this on local KATV television 10PM news:Officer was responding to a cell phone call from victim in trunk stating that she had been kidnapped.Officers respond to apartment where woman said she was being taken.Officers knock, let in by kidnappers roomate, and search home.Find kidnap victim okay, search closet, and suspect comes out shooting. Cop hit in leg (non life threatening), cop and partner return fire killing suspect. KATV (ABC affiliate) just showed it, since it is breaking....not up on website yet.