National Police Misconduct NewsFeed Daily Recap 07-22-10

Here are the 19 reports of police misconduct that were tracked by the National Police Misconduct News Feed on Thursday, July 22, 2010:

• A Mount Sterling Illinois police officer who also works for the Camp Point police and the Brown County sheriff is under investigation on allegations that he peppersprayed, then struck a handcuffed man several times in the face before placing his foot on his throat. The allegations were made by a Brown County deputy who had handcuffed the man outside a bar and left him when he went inside to talk with the owner because the man was being compliant, then came out and witnessed the alleged incident. The officer is apparently the subject of another unspecified investigation into an arrest he made as a Camp Point officer and has been removed from the Brown County rosters due to this incident that occurred while he was working for Mount Sterling.

• A Hyattsville Maryland police officer has been indicted on perjury and assault charges for kicking a handcuffed man in the mouth and then lying about what happened in order to justify the use of force. In this case, again, it was an officer that reported the excessive force, not the victim.

• A Colorado State trooper is the subject of an investigation into a fatal shooting incident where one witness claims that the man who was killed was unarmed and was blinded by pepperspray when he was shot in the chest by officers who he had refused to let into his home without a warrant. The man was suspected of drunken driving after he allegedly crashed his car in a nearby yard. The police have, so far, refused to discuss what happened.

• A Cleveland Ohio police officer was arrested on a domestic violence warrant after the department’s internal affairs unit looked into allegations that he broke his wife’s nose when he assaulted her during an argument.

• A now-former Polk County Georgia police investigator has been found guilty of witness tampering, obstruction, and possession of a vehicle with an altered VIN in a case where he had been accused of running a chop shop, though he was declared not guilty of those allegations.

• Chicago Illinois is facing it’s second post-Burge conviction lawsuit over allegations of torture-induced false confessions. This suit, filed by a man who spent 23 years in prison, alleges that Burge’s unit beat him with a phone book, smothered him with a plastic bag, poured 7-up down his nose, burned him with a lighter, then pointed a gun at him and threatened to kill him in order to elicit a false confession for a rape that he was later cleared of in January of this year.

• A now-former Gainesville Florida police officer has been charged with driving under the influence for an accident where he hit and seriously injured a 69-year-old pedestrian. The officer may be facing even more charges after an internal investigation resulted in recommendations being forwarded to the state attorney’s office asking that he be charged with seven counts of felony official misconduct and video voyeurism for videotaping several women without their knowledge while he was both on and off duty.

• A Center Texas police detective is under investigation on allegations of perjury regarding his investigation into a fight that occurred between two Shelby County deputies which led to one of the deputies being charged with assault on a peace officer. Now, the detective says it’s a false accusation and he may well be telling the truth… but, no matter which way this case ends up, it will be a case of misconduct either against the detective if the charges are sustained or the deputy who made the false allegation if they aren’t.

• A now-former Cicero Illinois police officer has pled guilty to conspiracy to obstruct justice charges on allegations that he helped suspected members of the mafia by teaching them how to identify and avoid law enforcement surveillance techniques and running license plates to determine if any cars near one suspected mobster’s business were police officers.

• The Colorado Springs Colorado police are the subject of a lawsuit filed by the owner of a medical marijuana dispensary who claims that an officer illegally seized $14,000 from him after his car was illegally searched during a traffic stop. The police refused to return the money, claiming that he’s now under investigation for money laundering and have threatened to call the DEA on him even though medical marijuana dispensaries are legal in that state.

• A New York NY police officer has been sentenced to 11 years in prison after he pled guilty to committing drug, extortion, and firearms crimes by helping a drug dealer he was friends with sell cocaine and carried out fake raids on his friend’s rival in order to rob his drug courier.

• A now-former Laredo Texas police officer who is already facing drug trafficking charges has now been indicted for wire fraud over allegations that he took part in a scheme that defrauded insurance companies out of thousands. Apparently he would transport cars to Mexico where they would be sold and then he, or another officer he paid off, would report the cars as being stolen to get insurance money on top of the sale amount.

• An Emerson Georgia police officer has been charged with false reporting and stalking after he apparently tried to get police to arrest his estranged wife on stalking charges so he could move back into the home that he had left so that his wife and kids had a place to stay when both were made subject of a no-contact order.

• A Downers Grove Illinois police officer has been charged with four counts of official misconduct on allegations that he was using police databases to look up license information for personal use, but officials aren’t yet disclosing what that personal use entailed. (Details being released by prosecutors now suggest that he was looking up license information on suspected drug dealers as part of a plot to stage traffic stops in order to rob them.)

• An Aurora Colorado police officer has been suspended for one month and may face further disciplinary action for being arrested twice in one year on DUI charges, once for crashing his SUV into a utility pole and another incident where he crashed on his motorcycle.

• Three Hackensack New Jersey police officers have been suspended without pay while they are the subject of an internal investigation into unspecified misconduct allegations. While officials refuse to elaborate an unnamed source alleges that it has something to do with conduct surrounding an accident one of the trio was involved in while off-duty.

• A Dumfries Virginia police officer who was assigned to lead that department’s sexual predator investigations has resigned in lieu of being fired after an investigation sustained 13 internal charges against him for various policy violations that appear to revolve around violations of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force policies involving the viewing and dissemination of pornographic material. Officials say that, at this time, there is no criminal investigation pending but they haven’t elaborated on the specific allegations involved.

• In Dumfries Virginia again, a police captain was fired on allegations of dishonesty, neglect of duty, and failure to report violations he was aware of. Again, officials refuse to specify what the allegations were in association to this case but they insist that there are no more pending internal investigations, although they do admit that the FBI is investigating the department at this time.

• And finally, a Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission officer has been arrested on allegations that he was selling counterfeit merchandise after US Customs agents had investigated him for about nine months. TABC agents are sworn officers and even take part in raids on certain establishments, which is why the name might sound familiar.

That’s it for today, as always, try to stay safe out there.