National Police Misconduct NewsFeed Daily Recap 07-27-10

Here are the 21 reports of police misconduct captured in the National Police Misconduct News Feed for Tuesday, July 27, 2010:

• New York City NY has settled a wrongful death lawsuit for $7,150,000 to the family and friends of Sean Bell who was fatally wounded by a barrage of over 50 bullets fired by police while he was unarmed and in his car on the night before he was to be married. He allegedly tried to get away from undercover officers who he and his friends alleged at the time they didn’t know were cops. The police union is calling the settlement “an absolute joke”.

• A Hartford Alabama reserve police officer who is also a member of that town’s rescue squad has been arrested on charges of rape, sodomy, and enticement of a 15-year-old girl. While the charges revolve around alleged repeated sexual assaults that began earlier this year, the enticement charge deals with allegations that he enticed her into the rescue squad building with the intent of having sex with the girl. While we limit our reports to sworn law enforcement officers, reserve officers in Alabama are generally encouraged to certify to the same level as regular officers and, once they do, they have the same arrest powers as a full-time officer. It’s unclear if this officer was certified but it is assumed that he was since most departments require their reserves to be certified.

• Tulsa Oklahoma has settled a wrongful death lawsuit for $85,000 to the mother of a man who was unarmed when he was shot to death when he fled from police on foot. The officer who shot him claims he was certain that the man, who was tracked to his apartment by a police dog allegedly following a scent from the scene of an armed robbery, was involved in that robbery that he thought he was armed and claims he opened fire when the man reached for his waist. The officer was cleared over the shooting and retired earlier this year.

• The Los Angeles California police department and a police officer are the subject of a wrongful death suit regarding a 14-year-old murder case where the female officer is accused of killing her ex-boyfriend’s wife. While we already have the murder case tracked, the suit goes on to allege that the officers assigned to investigate the case and the LAPD itself were part of an intentional cover-up or, at least, an intentionally lax investigation into the case since a fellow officer was a suspect.

• A now-former Evansville Indiana police officer has been found guilty on two counts of criminal deviate conduct after he refused to mount a defense in his trial for physically forcing women to have sex while he was on-duty. He resigned just moments before the commission was to hear his case after an internal investigation into the allegations against him.

• Five Peoria Illinois police officers are the subject of a lawsuit filed by a man who claims that he was dragged from his car and repeatedly tasered when police pulled him over on suspicion that he had drugs after he left a house that was under surveillance for suspected drug activity. When police asked him to exit his vehicle he allegedly tried to take one more drag off of his cigarette, at which point police tried to drag him out even though he was still strapped into his seat belt. Police felt this was resisting arrest and began to beat him then tasered him multiple times after removing him from the car. He later pled guilty to unlawful possession over 0.1 grams of cocaine police say they found at the hospital.

• A Charleston West Virginia police captain who was a member of the department’s professional standards division has been on leave since May while the subject of an internal investigation that has now turned into a criminal investigation into allegations that he sexually harassed a woman and then misused police databases to check the license plates of people who knew her.

• A Duluth Minnesota police officer who has a history of sexual misconduct allegations is now the subject of two unspecified complaints involving women. The officer in question was acquitted of sexual assault charges involving a mentally ill woman in 2003 and the subject of disciplinary action in 2000 based on two different complaints that he had inappropriately touched at least two women.

• A Chelan County Washington deputy and the suspect he was chasing are the subjects of a lawsuit filed by a woman who was injured in a collision with the the suspect’s car during what she alleges was a needlessly risky high-speed pursuit that reached speeds of up to 100mph after the man fled a DUI checkpoint..

• Two Pierce County Washington deputies have been charged with perjury over their testimony during a trial for a man who was accused of possessing weapons as a convicted felon. The deputies apparently testified that they did not enter the man’s home without permission and without a warrant when, apparently, they did, which resulted in the case against the man being dismissed.

• Two Bloomfield New Jersey police officers who got into a fight in their police station parking lot will not be facing any criminal charges even though the altercation sent one of the officers to the hospital. Meanwhile, a police union official is pushing for a criminal investigation into how news of the fight was leaked to the public.

• Bell California is the subject of a lawsuit filed by a now-former police officer who claims he was forced out of the department after he filed a complaint with the state alleging that his fellow officers were participating in voter fraud by telling absentee voters who they should vote for and for filling out absentee ballots for people who were dead. Bell has been in the news recently for the exceptionally large salaries of that city’s officials and is the subject of an investigation by the state AG over that issue as well as the allegations brought up in this lawsuit.

• A Dumfries Virginia police officer is on administrative leave after he was arrested for obstruction and resisting arrest in a strangely reported case where he’s accused of walking up on Stafford County deputies who responded to a domestic dispute call at someone else’s home and began to get combative with them while they were allegedly sorting things out.

• New York state has settled a suit for $60,000 filed by a former East Fishkill NY police officer who claims that a New York state trooper falsely arrested her on DUI charges and maliciously prosecuted her, in part, in retaliation for her lawsuit against her former police chief that alleged he sexually harassed her.

• The police chief of Hermantown Minnesota has resigned while he was under investigation for unspecified reasons. Officials refuse to elaborate but do say that, with his resignation, the investigation is over and no other information will be released.

• A now-former Port Richey Florida police sergeant has pled guilty to selling over a thousand oxycodone pills to an informer for the DEA for $5,000. The sergeant previously won the department’s exceptional service award and, at one time, even served as the chief investigator for the internal affairs division.

• A Cook County Illinois deputy may be fired but won’t face any criminal charges after a flawed sting operation meant to catch her smuggling marijuana-filled pens to a jail detainee facing murder charges jumped the gun and failed to prove that the deputy knew the pens that she delivered were filled with pot.

• A Laurel Montana police officer has been given a 14 day suspension after he was given a suspended sentence for a misdemeanor assault conviction that involved a dispute with his wife where he had tried to get his gun and threatened suicide, sparking an hour-long standoff with police who were called after she fled the home with their two children.

• A Fort Bragg California police officer is under investigation for working there while receiving disability retirement payments of $3,000 a month due to injuries he received at his previous job as a Stanislaus County deputy.

• A Clarksville Tennessee police detective who’s a member of the SWAT team has been suspended for one day after photos were discovered on the Internet of several people, including one minor, posing with his service weapons next to his police car.

• And finally, A Cincinnati Ohio police officer is under investigation after he ran over and killed a homeless woman who was sleeping in the grass at a city park. Rumors are that he drove through the grass because he spotted someone with what he thought was a beer can. Many of the homeless people who frequent that park say that the officer was well known as one of the nicer officers who patrolled the park and didn’t harass them like other officers did. It serves as a reminder that not all misconduct is born of a malicious intent… sometimes such things really are just tragic accidents of neglect, but due to the power vested in police, even a slight act of neglect can have horrific consequences.

That’s it for today, stay safe out there.