Free Republic

A raid gone wrong: Time to rein in police SWAT teams Published: Friday, September 19, 2008 Marc Fisher The Press of Atlantic City 9/19/09 It's sad, of course, that Cheye Calvo's dogs were blown away, left for hours in two pools of blood on the floors of his living and dining rooms. It's unfortunate, to be sure, that Calvo's front door had to be burst open, that it was necessary to plant his mother-in-law on the floor, arms bound, a high-caliber weapon pointed at her head, or that his house had to be trashed, every drawer flipped over, his belongings...

WINNFIELD, LA. -- At 1:28 p.m. on Jan. 17, Baron "Scooter" Pikes was a healthy 21-year-old. By 2:07 p.m., he was dead. What happened in the 39 minutes in between -- during which Pikes was handcuffed by police and shocked nine times with a Taser while reportedly pleading for mercy -- is spawning suspicions of a political cover-up in this lumber town infamous for backroom dealings.

The government watchdog group known as Judicial Watch recently filed a lawsuit against the U.S. State Department, for that agency’s failure to turn over certain documents related to the prosecution of Border Patrol Agents Ramos and Compean… The suit comes after the government refused to comply with a Freedom of Information Act request for documents which detailed the agreement made between the governments of Mexico and the United States, which allowed drug smuggler Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila to return to this country to actually testify against Ramos and Compean. The FOIA request was filed by Judicial Watch on April 17, 2008. The...

Officer Suspended For 5 DaysCHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A teenager died after being hit with a police Taser gun for 37 seconds, and the whole thing was caught on tape by surveillance cameras. Authorities said that Darryl Turner had been in a confrontation with a supervisor at work at a North Carolina grocery store. When Officer Jerry Dawson arrived, he fired his Taser gun at the 17-year-old and struck him in the sternum. "The initial use of the (Taser gun) is not in question," said Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Chief Ken Miller. However, for 37 seconds, Dawson continued to use the Taser gun...

PHOENIX -- Hispanic leaders are calling for an immediate end to Sheriff Joe Arpaio's illegal immigrants' patrols, claiming they are dividing the community and could lead to violence. "As a community, we see him going out setting up his troops and stopping people at random -- racial profiling," said Hector Yturralde, president of We Are America. "After they find out they can't speak English or they have no identification, then they stop them for immigration." Yturralde added, "He is causing a division within this community that is not good. And that is not his job." He said the sheriff is...

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (AP) -- Two police officers were suspended indefinitely with pay Thursday as an investigation continued into their arrest of a pregnant woman who had a miscarriage a day after she was thrown in jail.The suspensions came two days after police released a videotape showing Sofia Salva telling officers during her arrest last year that she was three months pregnant, bleeding and needed to go to a hospital. The tape shows officers ignoring her pleas. After the ninth request, the tape shows, a female officer asked: "How is that my problem?" (Watch police arrest Salva Video) The officers'...

Virginia's secretary of transportation sent out a letter announcing the state's annual "Click It or Ticket" campaign May 22 through June 4. I responded to the secretary of transportation with my own letter that in part reads: "Mr. Secretary: This is an example of the disgusting abuse of state power. Each of us owns himself, and it follows that we should have the liberty to take risks with our own lives but not that of others. That means it's a legitimate use of state power to mandate that cars have working brakes because if my car has poorly functioning brakes,...

HONEST KPD personnel have turned over police documents that prove corrupt police have conspired and targeted PINKERTON in an attempt to make PINKERTON a victim of malfeasances' and conspiracy to maliciously prosecute. Pinkerton has posted these files on his website.

"Fresno police are taking enforcement of drunken driving laws to a new level — which officers expect will bring both success and outrage. Saturday night, the traffic unit unveiled a new operation in which plainclothes police officers stake out bars and target drunk patrons. If the heavy drinkers get behind the wheel, officers in unmarked cars follow them and call in marked police cars to pull them over."

Whitehaven, TN - Three teenagers, and the father of two of them are out of jail tonight, after they admitted roughing up a DeSoto County Sheriff's Deputy. That, every body agrees on. But how it came about... and where... is the subject of lots of talk and plenty of debate. "He pulled his pistol twice on me." Ricky Brown still can't make sense of what happened, but he knows it brought dozens of officers from two states to his doorstep. He says he and his sons were sitting at home Tuesday night, when a man walked into his home claiming...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A Jackson County judge throws out contempt charges against the city's top cop. Kansas City Police Chief James Corwin was accused of editing out the last five minutes of a 2004 tasering incident that cost two officers their jobs. The video from a dashboard camera showing the arrest of 24-year-old Matthew Butt was given to the media in its entirety, but a shortened version was given to Butt's lawyer. The judge asked Corwin last week to explain why he did not submit the whole tape. Corwin says it was a lack of communication between the department...

Mexican police officers have been charged in the death of a California woman in a Baja jail cell. An investigation by the Spanish-language sister station of KSND-TV in San Diego also revealed three others will face charges tied to conspiracy to cover up the death of Paulina Baeza, 20, a college student in Irvine, Calif. Baeza was arrested Aug. 9 by police in Ensenada, Mexico, about 60 miles south of San Diego. Liza Davis, a representative of the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana, told the TV station police received two reports that she had been behaving in an aggressive, disoriented manner...

In some cases, Tasers can kill, company warns The stun gun maker says subjects in a state of excited delirium are at risk, and law enforcement officials say they are training users to recognize symptoms.

MILFORD — The daughter of a black civil rights activist was held in lieu of $45,000 bond Wednesday after she allegedly attacked two white police officers on a transit bus while denouncing them with racial slurs. The commotion began Tuesday night when Holly Tucker, daughter of Barbara Fair, an organizer for People Against Injustice, apparently failed to pay her bus fare and then threatened the driver when told to get off the bus. Two officers called in to defuse the situation found an angry Tucker on the bus in the parking lot of the Westfield Shoppingtown Connecticut Post mall, police...

When opponents of the “Real ID” legislation announced a rally for illegal immigrants and their allies in Montgomery County, MD, there was one immigration-related group I was absolutely certain would not show up: The Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the people responsible for actually enforcing our immigration laws. Casa de Maryland and others claimed 5,000 people would gather on Saturday to protest the “Real ID” Act working its way through Congress, and many of these people would be illegal immigrants themselves, we were told. If I were looking for immigration criminals, it’s exactly where I would be. That’s why...

Officer accepts penalty, keeps job By Deanna Boyd Star-Telegram Staff Writer FORT WORTH - A Fort Worth police officer has been suspended without pay for 16 days on accusations that he illegally entered and searched an apartment and then violated department policy by using a Taser gun on a man who later died. Officer P.R. Genualdo had faced termination had he refused the 16-day suspension, which went into effect April 14, according to civil-service documents released Tuesday by the city. Police had begun a routine administrative investigation into Genualdo's actions after the Nov. 2 in-custody death of Robert Guerrero, 21....

Once again, a pro-life Christian has had to appear in Richmond General District Court to answer bogus charges brought against him. As was expected, once again the charges were dropped. Those who minister outside Richmond abortion clinics have become used to this harassing cycle in recent years. Richmond City Police Officer Howard Noyse has made it his mission to threaten and/or arrest those who offer help to women who are contemplating abortion at Richmond Medical Center for Women (abortion clinic) where he moonlights several days each week. Although repeated pleas have been made to the Mayor, Chief of Police and...

OGDEN -- The next time a Utah Highway Patrol trooper pulls you over and suspects you may be "driving under the influence," he may make you bleed. No, the trooper won't hit you. In fact, it shouldn't hurt much at all. If it makes you feel better, learning how to make you bleed cost that trooper a lot of his own blood. He practiced by making other troopers bleed, and they all bled plenty. In a cost-cutting effort that could save thousands of dollars statewide, some of Utah's highway patrolmen are becoming certified phlebotomists, which is the medical title of...

MORE ON THE ATLANTA AIRPORT POLICE BRUTALITY MATTER If you're a Nuze reader you already know the background of this story. Atlanta police officer Terrance Alexander ordered Diana Dietrich-Barnes to move her car as she was waiting for her mom at the airport. She had to back up because there was a car in front of her. When she backed up her side-view mirror struck the cop in the arm ... or so he says. He then decided that Dietrich-Barnes was trying to run over him and ordered her out of the car. The incident ended up with Alexander body-slamming...

For Immediate Release Life and Liberty Ministries P.O. Box 862 Powhatan, VA 23139 On Friday, November 5, Officer Howard Noyse of the Richmond Police Department arrested Fred Neal, a Christian, as he preached truth on the public sidewalk at Richmond Medical Center for Women. Fred's charge was "disorderly conduct". This is a favorite "catch-all" charge used when no law has been violated. This is another instance in a long history of harrassment by this officer who is on the payroll of RMCW. For several years this police officer has been moonlighting at the clinic. In recent days Officer Howard Noyse...

FAIRLAWN, Ohio -- An 13-year-veteran of the Fairlawn Police Department was terminated Tuesday after an investigation of traffic stops involving women were discovered to be of a sexual nature. Fairlawn Mayor William Roth Jr. said that a six-week investigation was conducted before Officer Richard Jacobs (pictured, left) was fired. The investigation reportedly uncovered numerous violations of the City of Fairlawn Police Department's rules of conduct. The investigation began on April 21, 2004, after a written complaint was filed by a city resident regarding a traffic stop two days earlier. The woman said she was allegedly stopped for speeding, but submitted...

On May 8, at the county's "Gay Day" event in Dayton, Tennessee, police arrested two christians as they were fastening the beams of one of their ten-ffot crosses, which they often use in parades arond the nation in order to draw people to Christ. Without incident, they were arrested and charged with "disorderly conduct" and "interfering with a special event." They were both freed after posting the required $500 bond. Dayton police chief Kenneth Walker admitted to reporters "They wanted to go down to protest and we told them they couldn't" "they were arrested;that's it."

PORTLAND, Ore. - The city of Portland has agreed to pay $145,000 to an elderly blind woman after police pepper-sprayed and shocked her with a stun gun. The altercation began as an attempt to remove shrubs and appliances from 71-year-old Eunice Crowder's yard, and ended with police citing her for harassment and disobeying an order. This week, the city agreed to settle her excessive force lawsuit out of federal court, a month after a Multnomah County Circuit Court judge dismissed the violations against her. "This case goes to show that police misconduct and excessive force can happen to anybody outside...

High Court to Officers: Check Paperwork Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) - A divided Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a federal agent can be sued for violating the constitutional rights of a couple during a search of their ranch, refusing to shield officers from personal liability when they make mistakes on search warrants. The court, on a 5-4 vote, said that a mistake in the paperwork for a 1997 search in rural Montana was serious enough to allow a lawsuit against the officer who led a team of people on a fruitless hunt for illegal automatic weapons. Officers are ordinarily immune...

She was 71 years old. She was blind. She needed her 94-year-old mother to come to her rescue. And in the middle of the dogfight -- in which Eunice Crowder was pepper-sprayed, Tasered and knocked to the ground by Portland's courageous men in blue -- the poor woman's fake right eye popped out of its socket and was bouncing around in the dirt. How vicious and ugly can the Portland police get? Ladies and gentlemen, I think we have a winner. This 2003 case is so blatant, the use of force so excessive, the threat of liability so intimidating that...

LEXINGTON -- Prosecutors have added new allegations in the case for removing suspended Davidson County Sheriff Gerald Hege from office. In paperwork filed in Davidson County Superior Court late Tuesday, District Attorney Garry Frank charged that Hege: -used a code word directing officers to physically abuse suspects he thought "disrespectful, combative or impolite" -- telling the officers to take them on a "van ride." -occasionally instructed jail officers to place troublesome inmates on "suicide watch," which included staying naked in a bare cell. -directed policies that show a "total disregard" for the property rights of citizens and the legal process...

WASHINGTON -- Do you have to tell the police your name? Depending on how the Supreme Court rules, the answer could be the difference between arrest and freedom. The justices heard argument Monday in a first-of-its kind case that asks whether people can be punished for refusing to identify themselves. The court took up the appeal of a Nevada cattle rancher who was arrested after he told a deputy he had done nothing wrong and didn't have to reveal his name or show an ID during an encounter on a rural road four years ago. Larry "Dudley" Hiibel, 59, was...

<p>WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Rush Limbaugh asked a court Wednesday to hear his claim that investigators violated his privacy by seizing his medical records and asked that the records not be released.</p> <p>The conservative radio host cannot be treated for his medical conditions because the state seized his charts and files last month and intimidated his doctors, the court petition said.</p>

A state-run police database might be violating privacy protections in state records laws by, among other things, sharing information about who holds handgun permits, according to an analysis by the state's top expert on the law. The Multiple Jurisdiction Network Association is a collection of millions of police "contact" records that 175 police agencies in Minnesota and Wisconsin have agreed to share and jointly pay for. Through a password-protected Web site sometimes available from squad cars, it provides officers the names of people who have found their way into police files for a variety of reasons. They can be listed,...

The Associated Press 10/24/2003, 10:12 p.m. ET PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A former police officer whose cruiser plunged off a rooftop parking lot and plummeted four stories onto the street below was found innocent Friday of drunken driving and related charges. Authorities said that then-Officer Walter Jernigan, 55, deliberately drove the patrol car off the North Philadelphia roof on Sept. 29, 2001. Jernigan was fired from the department after he was charged in October 2002 with driving under the influence, criminal mischief and reckless endangerment. In a statement Friday, District Attorney Lynne Abraham called Municipal Judge Marsha Neifeld's verdict "beyond the...

Diana Ross testifies she was coerced into DUI test 06/23/2003 By Joe Barrios / Arizona Daily Star Pop diva Diana Ross told a city court this morning that she felt coerced into taking a DUI test after a Tucson traffic stop last year. It was the first court appearance for Ross since her arrest Dec. 30 on the Northeast Side. Ross, wearing a black pantsuit and silver bracelets, testified for about 10 minutes during the hearing to determine what evidence could be used in a trial. Attorneys for Ross were seeking to have breath test results thrown out as...

A Douglas County teenager who graduated from high school with distinction last week is facing jail time and a hefty fine for putting blue lights on her car. The lights, known as Cobra Eyes, are popular with teenagers who use them as decoration. Devon Cook, 18, drove with the lights on her car for two years before being stopped by a Douglasville polie officer. "He was like, ‘Do you know why I pulled you over?’, “No sir, was I speeding?’ [I said], ‘No, there's blue lights on her car [the officer said].’" The officer gave Cook a ticket for operating...

The owner of two pit bulls shot by Portland and Gresham police in his back yard Tuesday night plans to file complaints against the officers. Jeryl De Paolis said Wednesday that the officers, who were searching for a fugitive who fled a nearby house, didn't notify him before returning to conduct a second search of his yard. Also, De Paolis said, one officer pressed a handgun to his chest after firing several shots at his dogs. One dog, a pregnant 5-year- old, died. A bullet is lodged in the jaw of the second, a 3- year-old awaiting surgery at an...

A resident of the northern Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina said yesterday that he was beaten and physically abused by four border policemen for several hours Saturday. One of the policemen allegedly cut a Star of David into his left arm with a razor blade. Bakar Naggi Allan, 19, said he was walking to work at a gas company in the neighborhood, when four border policemen ordered him to stop. He was dragged to an uninhabited area and intermittently beaten for two hours. He said one of the four ordered him to put his head on the ground, and, using...