Website and automated forms processes, Copyright
2007, Matthew August LeFande.
All
rights reserved. No claim to original government forms
Website and automated forms processes, Copyright
2007, Matthew August LeFande.
All
rights reserved. No claim to original government forms
Police chief’s BAC was .299
An accident report reveals Marion, Texas Police Chief Tony Plaid’s blood-alcohol level was well over three times the legal limit when he wrecked his truck early March 18.
The report listed Plaid’s BAC as .299 percent. The legal limit in Texas is .08 percent.
The blood test was surrendered by University Hospital in response to a search warrant signed by County Court-at-Law No. 2 Judge Frank Follis.
Once the test results became known to local law enforcement officials, Guadalupe County Attorney Elizabeth Murray-Kolb’s office filed drunken driving charges against Plaid on March 24.
Plaid, 51, sustained major injuries in the accident. He was flown to University Hospital in San Antonio, where he was treated for a week before being transferred to another medical facility. He is on sick leave and is said to be recovering, but his latest condition was not known Thursday.
The report, a standard form used by the Texas Department of Public Safety, gave some details of the 12:42 a.m. accident investigated by Seguin DPS Trooper David Villanueva.
It was obtained from DPS officials in response to an inquiry by the Seguin Gazette-Enterprise.
DPS officials reported in the days following the accident that there were indications beforehand that Plaid had been drinking. Villanueva’s report lists being “under the influence-alcohol,” as a contributing factor to the single-vehicle accident.
According to the report, Plaid was southbound on FM 725 at high speed when he drifted into the northbound lane and overcorrected to the right, sliding sideways, striking a guardrail and rolling over.
The report said Plaid was not wearing his seat belt and estimated the guardrail damage at $5,000.
Marion Mayor Glen Hild said he’d also obtained a copy of the report Thursday.
“It’s way over .08, I saw that today,” Hild said.
The mayor had a busy day at his general store and feed business, and said he hadn’t had time to talk to Plaid on Thursday, and didn’t know how his recovery was proceeding.
“Unless something changes tomorrow, the council will discuss this Monday night, and our city attorney will be there with us,” Hild said. “He’s written up the language for us to go into executive session for the personnel action.”
Hild said council could take some kind of action, but he wasn’t sure what it would be.
“We’ll discuss the information and see what they want to do,” Hild said. “From what I gather, there’s a variety of actions we can take from doing nothing at all, I believe, even as far as termination.”
Marion City Council meets at 6 p.m. in the City Hall Annex building.
Hild said a reserve officer who normally works days for the MPD, the department’s school resource officer and its sergeant were working together to ensure there are no gaps in the city’s law enforcement coverage.
“We’re doing OK,” Hild said. “The city’s functioning and there are no holes in our police coverage.”
http://seguingazette.com/story.lasso?ewcd=627a4608e969cc42
posted by Matthew LeFande 7:29 PM
matt@lefande.com
Officers Marshalik and Pekearo Died For Nothing
In encountering a wild shooter in New York’s Greenwich Village last week, reservist officers Eugene Marshalik and Nicholas Pekearo died needlessly.
What the hell went wrong?
In observing the shooter and determining his location as they had heard the call go down – they went to face him anyway – Marshalik and Pekearo made two fatal mistakes: the first is that they didn’t take cover and faced him openly to ‘talk with him’ it’s reported, and the second is that they were unarmed and had no power to stop him.
Compare this to the off-duty officer in Utah’s Trolley Square Incident where one officer was armed and shot the shooter to death before the shooter could kill more people.
Think.
Understand that whether civilian or sworn off-duty police officer, armed individuals stop crimes in progress millions of time per year – usually armed civilians stopping the criminals in the absence of police.
The majority of states shows citizens carrying concealed weapons legally and with no increase in crime, but decreases in violence, which humiliates so-called gun control.
Understand that individuals are already possessed of that authority in this country. It may seem alien to some who just don’t understand our heritage and history and what our guns are really all about, and who continue to think like Europeans, but in this country, citizens have the ultimate authority, and the legal authority to stop a crime in progress is well established.
Gun control kills people – it kills innocent constituents – by disarming them for the dumbest of reasons - or the shrewdest of reasons - depending on what officials are really thinking. Criminals can not only lay their hands on any weapon they want, but they also ignore several gun laws on the way to their core crime.
It will make a few New Yorkers angry, but think it through: people are getting sick of being disarmed by their public servants and being put at the mercy of school shooters or church shooters in known victim disarmament zones, and being punished for wanting to stop them with their sovereign authority. That sovereign authority works as the best solution, and it is obfuscated for political gain. This is the real crime.
Look your mate in the eye and ask whether being disarmed is the right way to plan how your household will manage an encounter with violence when police aren’t even notified, much less en route. Going for a ‘crackdown’ on guns is just stupid, since it meaninglessly touches only the innocent and by definition can never touch the violent criminal. Or, it is shrewd if you want to preside over crisis.
The Court of Appeals did the right thing in banning the D.C. gun ban. And it’s not the only court to do so. The U.S. Department Of Justice found three years back the right to carry is an individual right and not a collective right.
We need to clarify to officials what we need in public service so ambitious officials no longer seek to preside over crisis as their pride and legacy, and good officials preside over prosperity, prosperity in every sense as our joint pride and legacy.
The first thing to do is to better understand civilian rights, civilian authority as superior, and the vital role of civilian lethal force, also superior to officials, and how and why the second amendment was written. Lethal force in the hands of citizens is a safeguard against various abuses of due process.
Safeguard.
The Founding Fathers had had it up to here with abuses of process. Bloomberg’s scam is the perfect example of modern abuse of due process. The Second Amendment to our Bill Of Rights was written to be impervious to such abuses then and now, and for the purpose of furnishing a lethal force in the hands of civilians purely to back up the civilian authority of the nation. The authority of the civilian is superior to that of any American official, including a mayor. Or a presidential candidate.
This is why right-minded courts are ruling in favor of the Second Amendment and why Mayors are pulling out of the Bloomberg scandal. The BATFE has instructed Hizzoner to quit it while they investigate his actions.
Mayor Bloomberg thinks like a European when he should be thinking like an American. We have a few of those at this time in office.
Marshalik and Pekearo died for nothing. They did not take cover and they had no lethal force with which to stop the shooter. By an abuse of due process, no one in the immediate vicinity had that lethal force. In another state or two, an armed citizen would have taken this shooter out.
And with all legal authority.
http://mensnewsdaily.com/2007/03/17/officers-marshalik-and-pekearo-died-for-nothing/
posted by Matthew LeFande 1:38 PM
matt@lefande.com
Constable's racy picture sparks investigation
A photograph of a young Victoria Police constable exposing her breasts while in uniform, which she sent to her policeman boyfriend, has been circulated through the force's internal email.
The ethical standards department is examining the matter to determine whether an offence has been committed as a result of the circulation of the image, a Victoria Police spokeswoman has confirmed.
It is believed the policewoman, named on the Nine Network tonight as Constable Melissa Scannell, took the image on her mobile phone and passed it on to her boyfriend as an intimate get well message.
The constable was in her police uniform with her name badge visible, her shirt undone and her breasts exposed when she was photographed.
But the image was circulated widely through the force's internal email, landing in the inboxes of top-ranking officers and ethical standards department detectives.
"She has sent an image to her boyfriend and obviously he has done the wrong thing and forwarded it on," a Victoria Police spokeswoman said.
"The ethical standards department has been notified. They are aware of the incident, which involved the circulation of a photograph, and they are examining it to see if an offence has been committed."
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/constables-racy-picture-sparks-investigation/2007/03/18/1174152879172.html
posted by Matthew LeFande 12:21 PM
matt@lefande.com
Armed Citizen of the Week
Riccardo Crossland used a pellet gun to rob a man legally carrying a real gun outside a Bridgeton motel Tuesday morning and ended up shot, police said.
Crossland went off to a hospital with wounds of the hand and leg; the victim went on his way with the congratulations of police.
"Here was a robbery where we have a good ending for once," said Bridgeton Police Major Don Steinman, who said the shooting was clearly self-defense.
The 23-year-old victim holds a concealed-carry permit from his home state of Florida, which is honored in Missouri, officials said.
"He had his gun aimed at my face," the robbery victim said in an interview granted on the condition that his name and hometown not be used. "I definitely thought he was going to shoot me, so I started firing."
Crossland's weapon turned out to be a pellet gun that resembled a .45-caliber handgun, police said. The victim had a real .45 in his waistband.
Crossland, 39, of the 7100 block of Beulah Avenue in Jennings, was taken to DePaul Health Center, police said, for treatment of his wounds, which were not considered life-threatening. He was charged with first-degree robbery and armed criminal action.
Police said Crossland is on probation for a drug-related offense, and has convictions for robbery, burglary, stealing and drug-related crimes.
The victim gave this account:
He had stayed several days at the Motel 6, near Interstate 270 and St. Charles Rock Road, while looking at a race car engine to buy from a man in St. Louis.
About 3 a.m. Tuesday, he took his pit bull on an errand for food. Just outside the motel, he encountered two men who asked questions about the dog before one of them pulled out what looked like a gun and announced a holdup.
"The one guy started to pat me down, and I didn't want him to find my gun, so I was handing them over everything I could," the victim said. "I was just waiting for the right opportunity to get my gun."
The robbers then started to depart with the man's wallet, necklace, ring and cash.
"The guy with the gun was walking away with the gun at his side, but then he turned around and aimed it at my face," the victim said. "I definitely thought he was going to shoot me, so I pulled my gun out and started firing."
He fired seven shots and the pair fled.
Crossland was found about a quarter of a mile away, hiding on a parking lot in the 12900 block of St. Charles Rock Road, police said. The accomplice was not caught.
The victim said he had the concealed-carry permit for two years but had never used the weapon. Missouri has no tracking system for cases in which people with concealed-carry permits use their weapons.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/C8F7B714E6
62ECD68625729E000FA62B?OpenDocument
Funnier if he was named "Richard Crosman". - Matt
posted by Matthew LeFande 1:05 PM
matt@lefande.com
2 NYPD Auxilaries Dead in Greenwich Village Shootout
A gunman rampaged through a strip of restaurants and bars in a trendy Manhattan neighborhood, killing a pizzeria employee and two unarmed volunteer police officers before other officers shot him to death, the mayor said.
Gunman David Gavin had a fake beard, two guns and 100 rounds of ammunition, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said early Thursday.
"Tonight was a horrible night for the New York Police Department and for our city," he said. "Two men who volunteered their time to make our city the safest big city in America lost their lives helping to keep it exactly that way."
The shooting began around 9 p.m. Wednesday, the mayor said. Gavin, 32, went into a Greenwich Village pizzeria, asked for a menu and then shot an employee 15 times in the back before fleeing, Bloomberg said. Police identified the employee as Alfredo Romaro, 35.
Nicholas Todd Pekearo and Eugene Marshalik, two of the city's nearly 4,500 auxiliary police officers, responded to the shooting and approached Gavin, who crossed the street and fired at them. Auxiliary officers are civilian volunteers who wear uniforms, are unarmed and help patrol streets.
Gavin then exchanged gunfire with uniformed officers, the mayor said. Several uniformed officers suffered minor injuries.
Authorities recovered the 9mm semiautomatic pistol Gavin fired, plus a .380-caliber semiautomatic handgun in a bag with the ammunition, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said. Gavin shot at least 23 rounds.
"He appeared to be ready to take even more lives," said Kelly.
A worker in a nearby restaurant, Nikola Simic, said he saw police officers swarm toward the middle of the street where the auxiliary officers were slain.
"Then we heard a shooting that was like a good five minutes," Simic said.
Police said they did not know what prompted Gavin to begin shooting.
Pekearo, 28, was a writer with a book scheduled to be published soon, the mayor said. Marshalik, 19, a student at nearby New York University, had immigrated from Russia, Bloomberg said. The mayor said Marshalik hoped eventually to join the police force.
Marshalik and Pekearo were the first New York City auxiliary police officers to die in the line of duty since 1993, according to the mayor. Only five other auxiliary officers have died in the line of duty in the city's history.
The street where the shooting occurred is located near NYU's downtown campus, close to Washington Square Park and near several famous bars and restaurants, including Cafe Wha?, where Bob Dylan used to perform.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031500158.html
posted by Matthew LeFande 8:39 AM
matt@lefande.com
Bogus Police Sites Posted on MySpace
A new police tool on the Internet has prompted hoax sites on MySpace.com, and the popular networking site is shutting them down.
At least 16 police or sheriffs' departments appeared to have profile pages on MySpace to seek investigative tips or deter predators, but at least six were found to be fakes.
A page that claimed to represent the New York Police Department had racy photos. Another that said it was the Fairfax County Police in Virginia said officers loved donuts and coffee. Officials in both departments said they did not set up the pages and did not know who did.
Asked about those profiles last week, MySpace closed them. It also closed pages claiming to represent New Jersey State Police and the Coral Gables Police Department in Florida. Hemanshu Nigam, MySpace's chief security officer, says the site is investigating six more profiles that look like police department pages.
"We want law enforcement present on our site, but we don't want people violating our members' trust," Nigam says. He says in the physical world, people recognize police by their uniforms. On its site, however, MySpace needs to verify which are legitimate, Nigam says.
MySpace, which Nigam says has 160 million profiles, has been working to answer criticism that it does not do enough to protect teens from predators. It has run public safety ads, co-developed a database that identifies and removes convicted sex offenders from online sites, and has a 24-hour-a-day hotline to report problems. It is training police on how to set up a MySpace page and tag it as an official profile.
Nigam says a MySpace page is an extension of community policing. "Police departments realize it's important to have a presence where people live," and the physical world has merged with the online world, he says.
Five departments confirm they have profiles on MySpace, including Newton, N.H.; Smithville, Ohio; Haverhill, Mass.; Newburyport, Mass.; and Miami-Dade, Florida. Most say they started the pages to seek crime tips.
Miami-Dade police created a page last week. It urges parents to have their teens select the department as an electronic "friend" to scare off sexual predators. If it the police department is chosen as one of the top friends, its logo will appear when the page opens. More than 500 people have asked the department to be their friend.
"It acts as a deterrent for an online predator," says Sgt. Erik Palmer, who works in Miami's Internet crimes unit and created the page. "We're just a click away."
Haverhill, Mass., police launched a profile in September to help investigate crimes. Crime analyst Kristina Perocchi says she gets two or three tips a week. Some have led to drug-related arrests.
Flint Waters, an agent with the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation who specializes in Internet crimes against kids, welcomes the police pages on MySpace but says they need to be checked frequently. He says predators need to know police are watching them.
In his work, Waters says, he has seen people pose online as police officers to lure children into trusting them.
http://www.officer.com/article/article.jsp?id=35290&siteSection=1
posted by Matthew LeFande 5:22 PM
matt@lefande.com
New York officer in Diallo shooting wants gun back
A New York City police officer involved in the fatal 1999 shooting of unarmed African immigrant Amadou Diallo wants to be allowed to carry a gun again while on the job.
Kenneth Boss, nicknamed "Kenny No-Gun" by fellow officers, said in a lawsuit filed in federal court on Tuesday that his performance as a U.S. Marine during a recent tour in Iraq is proof of his readiness to return to full status on the police department.
He has been on restricted duty and cannot carry a gun.
Boss was one of four police officers involved when 41 bullets were fired at Diallo, a 23-year-old man from Guinea.
The memory of that case was revived last November when police fired 50 shots at three unarmed men, killing Sean Bell on his wedding day in a case still under investigation.
Of the four officers in the Diallo shooting, only Boss remains on the force.
In 2000, the officers were acquitted on charges of murdering Diallo and cleared of violating police rules by a departmental review. The shooting and verdict sparked big demonstrations protesting police brutality and racial profiling that resulted in hundreds of arrests.
The city later agreed to pay the Diallo family $3 million.
Boss's suit says he has been "regarded as a pariah and was forced to endure regular taunts because of his duty status."
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=N13469124&rpc=92
posted by Matthew LeFande 9:35 AM
matt@lefande.com
Armed Citizen of the Week
As customers watched in horror Sunday afternoon, a man stabbed a woman and attempted to set her on fire in the parking lot of a Jackson store, witnesses said.
The attack was stopped by a passer-by, who held the man at gunpoint until police arrived, witnesses said.
The suspect, Henry Watson, 42, was arrested and is expected to face aggravated assault charges, Jackson Police Department Cmdr. Lee Vance said. Watson's wife, Gracie Watson, 42, was transported to the University of Mississippi Medical center, where she was listed in good condition.
"It wasn't five minutes from when she had left my line when I heard a scream outside," said Theresa Stuckey, a cashier at the Family Dollar at 516 Nakoma Drive in Jackson. "I looked out, and (the attacker) was on top of her stabbing her, and stabbing her and stabbing her.
"She was screaming, 'Help, he's trying to kill me!' She was rolling on the ground, trying to get out of the way, but he kept stabbing her. He stabbed her about 20 times in the neck, back and arms."
As the attack continued, people were yelling at the man to stop and honking their horns, Stuckey said. She said she called 911.
"He was just standing over her hacking away," said Dolly Baker, who had just left the Save-A-Lot store next door when she saw the attack.
Baker said she watched the man pour gasoline on the victim then try to strike a match.
"He was literally trying to kill that lady in broad daylight," she said.
Baker said an armed citizen stopped the attack.
"He told the man, 'Stop, or I'm going to shoot. And if you run, I'm going to kill you,' " Baker said.
The armed citizen held Watson at bay until police arrived at the scene.
"Right now, all we know is that (Watson) attacked his wife. For what reason, we don't know," Jackson Police Department Sgt. Eric Smith said.
Police said they are looking for the armed citizen who stopped the attack and would like to talk to him but don't know who he is or where he went.
The incident occurred about 3:50 p.m.
Smith said he did not know exactly how many times Gracie Watson was stabbed but said it was more than 10 times.
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007703050350
posted by Matthew LeFande 9:51 AM
matt@lefande.com
Deputy Caught With Officer's Wife Suspended
A Nassau County deputy was suspended on Monday when the sheriff's office completed a three-month law enforcement investigation.
The sheriff's office started looking into Deputy Corey Wilson after he was involved in an altercation with Fernandina Beach police officer Henry Lee.
In December, Lee went home, discovered his wife with Wilson and used his Taser gun on the man, the sheriff's office said.
Investigators with the sheriff's department said they determined that Wilson is guilty of conduct unbecoming of an officer.
He was suspended without pay for 15 days and placed on one-year probation.
Lee is facing criminal charges.
http://www.news4jax.com/news/11177312/detail.html?subid=10101101
posted by Matthew LeFande 12:43 PM
matt@lefande.com
Dog with college degree called to court
An attorney challenging the authority of the police chief of Fostora, Ohio wants the department's police dog to appear in court as an exhibit, because he says the dog and the chief have criminal justice degrees from the same online school.
The issue gives "one pause, if not paws, for concern" about what it takes to get the degrees from the school based in the Virgin Islands, Gene Murray wrote in a court document filed Monday.
Murray is seeking to have a drug charge against a client dismissed by arguing that police Chief John McGuire — who is accused of lying on his job application — was not legally employed and had no authority as an officer.
McGuire is to go on trial in March on charges of falsification and tampering with records. A special prosecutor said McGuire lied on his application and resume about his rank, position, duties, responsibilities and salary in three of his previous jobs.
McGuire was hired as chief of this northwest Ohio city a year ago.
The union that represents Fostoria police officers and dispatchers filed a lawsuit challenging McGuire's hiring.
Murray said asking that the police dog, Rocko, show up in court at an evidence hearing is a key to discrediting McGuire, who took part in a traffic stop and search in October that resulted in drug possession charges against Clifford Green of Fostoria.
Both McGuire and Rocko, who is listed as John I. Rocko on his diploma, are graduates of Concordia College and University, according to copies of diplomas that are part of Murray's motion.
The court filing did not say how the attorney knows that diploma is for the dog or how Rocko allegedly managed to enroll in the college.
"My client had absolutely nothing to do with any animal getting a degree from an institution of higher learning," said McGuire's attorney, Dean Henry. "The whole thing is bizarre."
He said the dog was with the department before McGuire began working there.
Seneca County Prosecutor Ken Egbert said he will ask the judge to deny the request and limit the hearing to matters that are relevant.
"I don't think it's necessary to bring the actual dog," Egbert said.
A date has not been set for the evidence hearing.
City leaders have said McGuire's hiring was not influenced by his college degree, and any confusion about his background was resolved during interviews.
"We've already been through all that," Safety Service Director Bill Rains. "That was answered to our satisfaction."
Fostoria is about 35 miles southeast of Toledo.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070301/ap_on_fe_st/dog_s_degree;_ylt=AqjixYGwVri0Fwa9U_UJOu9I2ocA
posted by Matthew LeFande 11:52 AM
matt@lefande.com
