Free Republic

A woman who refused to leave a hospital when doctors discharged her died after she was forcibly removed by police, authorities said Tuesday. Barbara Dawson, 57, collapsed Monday while being escorted in handcuffs from the Liberty Calhoun Hospital, where she went to seek treatment for breathing difficulties, said Blountstown Police Department chief Mark Mallory. Mallory said an officer had arrested Dawson for disorderly conduct and trespassing. An autopsy on Dawson has been performed and the results should be released Wednesday, Mallory said. Florida Department of Law Enforcement officials have been called in to investigate, department spokesman Steve Arthur said. He...

This is the shocking moment a cop tried to shoot a family's dog and accidentally killed a mother-of-three in front of her young son. Burlington Police Officer Jesse Hill was responding to a domestic dispute on January 6, 2015, when he said he slipped and shot dead Autumn Steele, while aiming for her pet. [snip] Out of camera shot, Steele was heard to cry out. She was rushed to hospital but died of a gunshot wound to her stomach. Hill later explained that he had been attempting to shoot the German Shepherd, which he claimed had tried to bite him,...

The criminal-justice system in Waco, Texas, continues to boggle the mind. Last month, a grand jury in McClellan County held a marathon session to consider whether District Attorney Abel Reyna had presented enough evidence to justify indictments in the shootout at a May gathering of bikers where nine people were killed. In the wake of those killings, 177 bikers were arrested. Many proclaimed their innocence, and local authorities faced criticism for jailing so many individuals using fill-in-the-blank paperwork that didn't differentiate among the jailed. Still, the November grand jury session returned 106 indictments at the end of one day, some...

EXCERPT: Noel Aguilar was killed by Los Angeles County deputies Albert Murad and Jose Ruiz in 2014 who claimed that they shot him after he tried to grab one of their guns. They also alleged Aguilar had a loaded weapon. Now footage of the incident, dropped off anonymously at the attorney's office for the suspect's family, appears to show the two officers shooting Aguilar while he was lying face down on the ground with his hands cuffed behind him. Attorney for the family, Humberto Guizar, said the video is 'clear evidence of an execution... Guizar also claims footage shows one...

A northwest suburb of Chicago has agreed to pay $875,000 to a woman who accused a police officer of using excessive force after a DUI arrest.

While authorities have said for months that nine bikers died in the May 17 Twin Peaks shootout, indictments in the cases attribute a 10th death to the melee. The names of the nine bikers killed in the clash of the rival groups have been widely reported. But it wasn't until recently, when the indicted bikers appeared in court for arraignments and the indictments were read aloud, that the inclusion of a 10th biker, identified in indictments as William Anderson, was noticed. Waco police and McLennan County prosecutors did nothing Thursday to help clear up the discrepancy. District Attorney Abel Reyna...

Burlington, Iowa - Des Moines County Sheriff Mike Johnstone accidentally shot himself in the hand. On Wednesday, December 16th, Sheriff Johnstone suffered a gunshot wound to his left hand while cleaning his personally-owned handgun at his home. Sheriff Johnstone was taken to Great River Medical Center Emergency Room for treatment of his non-life threatening injury. He will be transferred to another medical facility where he can be treated by a surgeon who specializes in hand injuries.

A Manassas City police detective, who was the lead investigator in a controversial teen “sexting” case last year, shot and killed himself outside his home Tuesday morning as police tried to arrest him for allegedly molesting two boys he met while coaching youth hockey in Prince William County. David E. Abbott Jr., 39, was a member of the Northern Virginia-Washington D.C. Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and had been an officer on the Manassas City force for 14 years. In his spare time he coached 13- and 14-year-old boys in travel hockey for the Potomac Patriots program at the...

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Charges have been filed against a man who stopped traffic on a busy freeway for a marriage proposal.The proposal happened on the North Freeway near downtown Houston on Sunday. Eyewitness News learned Tuesday that Harris County District Attorney's Office is charging Vidal Valladares, 24, with obstruction of highway, a class b misdemeanor.We spoke with the couple on Tuesday, as Valladares said he was going downtown to answer to the charges."I'm feeling bad, and of course," said Valladares. "I'm wanting to apologize to everyone if I caused any problems. That wasn't my intention in the beginning. I just...

[..] The confiscation policy, Nassau County Police Department (NCPD) Department Procedure OPS 10023, Removal and Disposition of Weapons - Domestic Incidents/Threats to Public Safety, authorizes the confiscation of lawful firearms during "domestic incidents" but goes further. It empowers law enforcement officers to confiscate legally possessed guns when these can be viewed as "creat[ing] a threat of violence" or any "threat to public safety" at all. Once confiscated, the firearm cannot be returned to its owner where the reviewing police officer finds the owner "has a relevant Nassau County arrest history" (whatever that may be), or where "other extenuating circumstances" exist...

A Florida deputy has been indicted for manslaughter in the shooting death of Jermaine McBean, who was killed while walking home with an unloaded pellet gun he had just bought a pawn shop. Broward County Sheriff Peter Peraza — who was given a bravery award for the shooting by his bosses while it was still under investigation — surrendered early Friday, prosecutors said. He faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted. It's the first time since 1980 that a police officer in Broward County has been indicted for a fatal on-duty shooting. The grand jury began hearing testimony...

A former Oklahoma City police officer accused of raping more than a dozen women while on duty was found guilty of a slew of charges by a jury Thursday.

Jail was the last place wife, mother and churchgoer Jacqueline Renell Charles expected to spend two weeks of her life. The 50-year-old manager of tax preparation offices in the New Orleans area was on her way home from work late in the evening Nov. 18 when a law enforcement officer pulled her over for speeding. He told her the stop was taking a long time because when he checked her license, he found a warrant for her in Mississippi. She couldn't imagine why. Her son is in school at Millsaps College, so she does go to Jackson occasionally for ball...

An attorney for a Waco biker who was wounded in the May 17 Twin Peaks shootout asked a judge to dismiss the indictment against his client Monday or give him the earliest possible trial date. Judge Ralph Strother of Waco's 19th State District Court arraigned Cody Ledbetter, a Cossack, and Clifford Pearce, a Cossack pledge, who both pleaded not guilty to first-degree felony engaging in organized criminal activity charges, with the underlying offenses alleged to be murder and assault. Like Ledbetter, Pearce, also from Waco, was wounded in the shootout and attended Monday's hearing in a wheelchair. His attorney, Kurt...

<p>WACO, Texas (AP) - Two people have pleaded not guilty in the first arraignment hearings in the case of the more than 180 bikers arrested after a deadly shootout outside a Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco.</p> <p>Eight people indicted on charges of engaging in organized criminal activity in connection with the May 17 shootings were arraigned in district court Monday. Six waived their arraignments.</p>

As a parade of San Francisco cops questioned the police commission last night about why the city might not trust them to view footage from the body cameras they’d soon be required to wear on duty, five of their colleagues were across town, shooting an allegedly knife-wielding man. It was a hell of a night all around. The shooting happened roughly an hour before the commission meeting, calling Police Chief Greg Suhr away from City Hall. There was plenty of blue on display without him, though: Cops were lined up around the bend trying to convince the commissioners to see...

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – A former police officer in Connecticut who reported finding a letter disparaging black officers has been arrested on charges he planted the note himself. Clive Higgins was arrested Wednesday on a charge of second-degree falsely reporting an incident. Higgins reported finding the threatening letter Feb. 9 inside his mailbox at the Bridgeport police department. Higgins, who is black, said the note written on police letterhead made him fear for his life and showed there was discrimination inside the department.

HUNDREDS OF CASES PROSECUTED WITH PLANTED EVIDENCE, MANY WRONGLY CONVICTED STILL IN PRISONThe Alabama Justice Project has obtained documents that reveal a Dothan Police Department’s Internal Affairs investigation was covered up by the district attorney. A group of up to a dozen police officers on a specialized narcotics team were found to have planted drugs and weapons on young black men for years. They were supervised at the time by Lt. Steve Parrish, current Dothan Police Chief, and Sgt. Andy Hughes, current Asst. Director of Homeland Security for the State of Alabama. All of the officers reportedly were members of...

San Francisco police officer whose good looks earned him the nickname "Hot Cop of Castro" was on medical leave when he allegedly hit two pedestrians with his Dodge Charger, then abandoned his vehicle and ran away, police said. Officer Christopher Kohrs turned himself in to fellow officers at police headquarters Sunday, according to the San Francisco Police Department. He was arrested and later booked on suspicion of two felony counts of hit-and-run. Kohrs, a 7-year San Francisco police veteran, was off-duty at the time of the crash and on medical leave for an unrelated medical condition, police said. If Kohrs...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – A former Sacramento police officer convicted of raping a 75-year-old stroke victim in her senior living apartment has been sentenced to life in prison, court records show. Prosecutors said Gary Dale Baker, 52, entered the woman’s apartment at least three times from 2010 to 2012, raping her twice as she suffered from a stroke-related inability to speak. He was convicted in July of nine charges relating to the case, including rape, forcible oral copulation, sexual battery and burglary. On Tuesday, Baker was sentenced to 62 years to life, meaning that he will spend the rest of his...