War On You: Breaking Alternative News

Here are the 19 reports of police misconduct tracked in our National Police Misconduct News Feed for this Monday, January 24, 2011:

• A Los Angeles CA police officer was found liable by a jury in a civil case over the fatal shooting of an autistic man in 2008. The city was put in a strange predicament defending the officer over the shooting that they claimed was justified based on nothing more than his word even though he was later fired from the department for dishonesty. The jury has not yet made a decision on the final liability amount. [3]

• Prince George’s County MD settled a lawsuit for an unknown sum but also pledged to institute reforms involving drug raids and how officers dealt with family pets over the high-profile bungled drug raid that took place at Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo’s home based on a faulty investigation which resulted in the shooting death of his two dogs. [0]

• The Denver CO police are again the subject of a lawsuit based on allegations of excessive force. This time the suit involves a faulty warrantless drug raid on a Hispanic family that was based on stale information where the suspects being sought had moved out several months previous. The family alleges police barged in and roughed up their small sons, half the size of the officers, while the officers claim the kids attacked them and that they were given permission to enter. [4]

• A Jacksonville FL police officer who was detained “for his own safety” last week over an outburst he had with a trainer while he was already suspended over another case is now the subject of yet another complaint alleging he punched a handcuffed detainee on video, sending him reeling backwards where he was almost hit by a passing van. [4]

• A Donna TX police officer has been arrested for official oppression, assault and for violating the rights of a teen that he peppersprayed w/o cause in a holding cell, all of which was captured on surveillance cameras. [0]

• The Seattle WA police department will apparently be the subject of a US DOJ pattern & practice investigation that was requested by several civil rights groups and two former US Attorneys after several high-profile excessive force incidents last year. [0]

• The now-former police chief of Salisbury MA may be facing charges after an investigation reportedly found that he had violated several departmental rules and regulations before he resigned which includes allegations that he exchanged drugs and cash for sex with suspects, that he had falsified reports and even hid or tampered with evidence in criminal cases. [0]

• The sheriff of Yadkin County NC may be preparing to resign and hasn’t shown up at work for a week now that he’s the subject of multiple state investigations looking into possible financial irregularities. [2]

• A Fulton County GA deputy has been sentenced to 6 years in prison for accepting money to protect what he believed to be cocaine dealers handling large shipments of drugs but were actually federal agents taking part in a sting operation. [0]

• A Miami FL police officer has pled guilty to fencing a shipment of 10,000 Bluetooth headsets for sale in the black market. In addition to the plea, he’s still the subject of an investigation into two fatal shooting incidents last year. [0]

• Two Sebastian County MO deputies were disciplined with 1 day suspensions without pay over unspecified violations of the department’s code of conduct based on unspecified complaints. [3]

• A now-former LaPlata MO police officer has been sentenced to probation on a felony count of making false statements for lying to FBI agents about having sex inside the police station while he was on duty with a woman that he arrested on a DUI charge. [0]

• A now-former Louisville KY police officer was fined and was given a conditional release after pleading guilty to public intoxication and assault charges for getting into a bar fight with an off-duty officer who was trying to arrest her sister for throwing a drink on someone. [0]

• A Horry County SC police sergeant has been arrested on domestic violence charges for allegedly hitting and choking his girlfriend in a fight over their planned superbowl party. [0]

• A Superior WI police sergeant has been arrested on a misdemeanor domestic assault charge on allegations he punched his girlfriend in the face. [0]

• A Flint MI police officer who is also the president of that police union has been charged with misdemeanor domestic violence over an altercation he had with his wife. [1]

• The Grosse Pointe Woods MI police department is being sued by the family of 1 of 16 students who were questioned and had their cars searched at school after a police dog triggered on all the cars, but no drugs were found in any of them. This suit apparently isn’t over the search itself, but an effort to get information on how the dogs are trained, if at all, in order to determine why this dog made false hits on 16 of 16 cars that day and the department is refusing to release that information. [4]

• A now-former Putnam County NY deputy has pled guilty to grand larceny in a workers comp fraud case for claiming she was injured on the job when she actually fell from a horse while off-duty. She was fired after being convicted for perjury involving a case she worked on as an officer. [0]

• And finally, a Rhode Island State trooper was arrested on a drunk driving charge after he was involved in a car accident with an off-duty police officer. [0]

Also, I’m sorry the feed was a bit sporadic today. I received some really bad news about that contract job I was supposed to start this week and I’m just really devastated about it. It’s been put on hold for at least 2-3 weeks and, because of that, I don’t see how we’ll be able to avoid eviction here. I’m just really at wit’s end here and utterly frustrated about this endless string of bad luck. Nothing else to do but keep trying to survive I guess.

Anyway, that’s it for today, stay safe out there.