Free Republic

Two police officers who defended the Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021 attack filed a federal civil lawsuit, asking a judge to order the hanging of a plaque to honor police heroes who protected the Capitol, lawmakers and staff from rioters. The lawsuit cites a 2022 law signed by President Biden that required the honorary plaque be hung by March 2023. The plaque has been completed and in storage since at least last year, but GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson has not committed to installing it at the Capitol. The dispute over the plaque has angered victims and inflamed a...

The former police chief, convicted murderer and rapist dubbed the “Devil in the Ozarks,” was nabbed less than two miles from the Arkansas prison he escaped two weeks ago, authorities said Friday. Grant Hardin, 56, has evaded capture since walking out of Calico Rock prison on May 25 — despite searchers employing bloodhounds, officers on horseback, drones, helicopters and an elite US Border Patrol team. “Escapee Grant Hardin was captured this afternoon approximately 1.5 miles west of the prison grounds by law enforcement officials,” the Izard County Sheriff’s Office wrote on Facebook. “His identity was confirmed by fingerprint analysis prior...

A new round of DNA testing exonerates a homeless man who has spent nearly four decades in prison for the killing of a Santa Ana nanny, according to defense attorneys who are asking Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer to declare Kenneth Clair innocent of the 1984 slaying. Clair, who spent years on death row before an appellate court overturned his death sentence and he was re-sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. ...

Sussex police officers PC Stephen Smith and PC Rachel Comotto went on trial in London over the incident involving Donald Burgess, a single-leg amputee and wheelchair user. The officers were accused of using excessive force on Mr Burgess during a confrontation at Park Beck care home in St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, on 21 June 2022. The pair had denied the charges. A jury at Southwark Crown Court found 51-year-old Smith not guilty of two counts of assault for using Pava spray and a baton. Comotto, 36, was found not guilty of one count of assault for deploying her Taser. The...

A disgraced ex-Arkansas police chief who was serving 80 years in prison for rape and a shotgun-to-the-head execution escaped from a high-security prison disguised as a cop. Grant Hardin, 56, the former police chief of Gateway near the Arkansas-Missouri border, was seen on security cameras walking out of the North Central Unit prison, in Calico Rock, dressed in what appears to be a homemade law enforcement uniform on Sunday afternoon. Hardin, who is considered extremely dangerous, used the outfit to sneak through the controlled gate while inconspicuously pushing a cart full of utility materials, according to the Stone County Sheriff’s...

Shocking police bodycam footage showed the fatal officer-involved shooting of an armed Afghan man during a traffic stop last month. Jamal Wali, 36, was pulled over by a Fairfax, Virginia, police officer for an expired inspection tag last month when things turned deadly. Wali informed the officer he was armed before going on an insane rant about how much he hates the United States.

An Oklahoma City police officer pulled over Canadian County (OK) Sheriff Chris West for speeding (outside of Canadian County). Almost immediately, he recognizes Sheriff West, who proceeds to demand special treatment, ultimately lecturing - and perhaps threatening/intimidating - the officer, who only gave him a warning. He just happens to be one of the sheriffs who were just with President Trump in the White House a couple of months ago, and also the same sheriff who has long operated a cash seizure trap on his highways that seizes cash from law-abiding Americans.

The decision revives a lawsuit against a Texas officer who shot a driver after endangering himself by jumping onto a moving car. ============================================================= During a routine traffic stop near Houston in 2016, a police officer killed Ashtian Barnes by blindly firing two shots into his car after jumping onto the doorsill as Barnes began to drive away. Last year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit ruled that the shooting was justified by the threat that the officer, Harris County Constable Roberto Felix Jr., faced when he shot Barnes. Last Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously rejected the...

FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. — The family of a U.S. airman who was fatally shot by a Florida sheriff’s deputy inside his own home in 2024 filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Tuesday over his killing. The complaint filed in a Pensacola courthouse alleges that Deputy Eddie Duran used excessive and unconstitutional deadly force when he shot Senior Airman Roger Fortson just seconds after the Black 23-year-old opened his apartment door on May 3, 2024. Duran identifies as Hispanic, according to his voter registration. Fortson’s family is represented by Ben Crump, a civil rights attorney who has been involved in...

... Seconds later, he hears his partner shouting from a parking lot entrance at San Mateo Street and El Corazon Avenue intersection and sprints to help her. The female officer's bodycam shows McClintock running toward her open driver's side door. While there is no audio, the video shows her pulling out her handgun before McClintock wrestles it away from her. During the struggle, the officer is thrown to the ground but quickly gets up and runs for cover, right as her partner arrives. "He did grab the weapon from her but I know that my brother was not someone to...

Dramatic body camera footage shows the moment a police officer begs for her life after a deranged, half-naked suspect stole her gun moments before a fatal shooting in California. In the disturbing video, the unidentified officer is heard pleading, “Please don’t shoot me!” following the confrontation with 26-year-old Osean McClintock in Fountain Valley, Orange County.

NEW: Police release bodycam footage showing a suspect stealing a female officer's gun, leaving the officer begging for her life. Embarassing. The incident unfolded in Fountain Valley, California, earlier this year. Police were initially called in response to a report that 26-year-old Osean McClintock was trying to get into an occupied car. When officers arrived, McClintock wrestled the gun from the female officer while she was still in her patrol car. "Please don't shoot me!" the officer begged, as she cried and panted. Thanks to a nearby male officer, her life was spared. The other officer shot and k*lled McClintock,...

NORTHEAST MIAMI-DADE, Florida (WSVN) — Rescue crews took a man to the hospital after he accidentally shot himself with his own firearm while inside the Walmart in Northeast Miami-Dade, officials said. The gunshot startled shoppers at the large retailer located at 1425 NE 163rd Street, Saturday afternoon. Witnesses said some people ducked for cover, while others asked what was happening. When asked whether she was scared, a shopper said, “Yes.” 7News cameras captured Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office deputies swarming the area. “When we pulled up, there were so many lights, so many police cars,” said a customer named Penelope, “and then,...

This female has no business being a police officer, period. On display is the worst tactics ever captured on body camera video.This is an embarrassment to all LEO’s.She’s lucky to be alive.

BOZEMAN, Montana — Nine felony cases connected to a game of “Crime Bingo” played by Bozeman Police Department officers will not be prosecuted, said Gallatin County Attorney Audrey Cromwell. “It’s a tough call, but dismissal of the cases is the best way to protect the defendant’s constitutional due process rights and to ensure procedural fairness in those cases,” said Cromwell in a statement. Bozeman Police Chief Jim Veltkamp revealed the “Crime Bingo” during an April 18 press conference, saying an independent review concluded “that zero of the cases had been affected by the game.” Cromwell announced last week that four...

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The criminal investigation into an allegedly illegal gun registry maintained by the City of Jacksonville continues to widen, with nine current and former city officials named in a new subpoena issued by the State Attorney’s Office. The State Attorney is seeking all emails and texts containing 15 keywords, including things like “constitutional carry” and “registry.” “Subpoenas are flying. This is clear confirmation that the State Attorney is in the middle of a criminal investigation,” Councilmember Nick Howland (R-Group 3 At-Large) said. Howland was the first to tell Action News Jax about the list of gun owners who...

Three former Memphis officers were acquitted Wednesday of state charges, including second-degree murder, in the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols after he ran away from a traffic stop in 2023. A jury, which appeared to be all white, took about 8 1/2 hours over two days to find Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith not guilty on all charges after a nine-day trial in state court in Memphis. After the jury’s verdict was read, the defendants hugged their lawyers as relatives of the former officers cried. One relative yelled, “Thank you, Jesus!” The three defendants still face the prospect...

HENDERSON, Texas — Timothy Michael Randall was on the phone with his mother when a police car pulled up behind his Nissan Altima with its lights flashing. It was just after 12:30 a.m. on Sept. 14, 2022, and Randall was heading to his cousin’s house after a night out. “He had called to let me know that he was going to be home a few minutes later,” Randall’s mother, Wendy Tippitt, recalled. “So I wouldn’t worry.” Randall, 29, pulled over and hung up with his mom. Sgt. Shane Iversen of the Rusk County Sheriff’s Office walked up to the Altima...

ZACHARY, La. (WAFB) - The head of the Zachary Police Department is speaking out in response to social media rumors about a traffic Bingo game some officers allegedly played. In a statement released on Tuesday, March 25, Zachary Police Chief Darryl Lawrence Sr. confirmed that some officers created a Bingo game as a competition between shifts two years ago, but he denied a quota system or breaking of any laws. “The officers did not receive any incentives or awards for this game,” he stated. According to the chief, the police administration did not create or approve this game, and he...

'Based on the totality of the circumstances here, and along with our core value of being compassionate, this is the best outcome for everybody involved in this case.' In a twist amid the recent and widespread rash of attacks against Tesla vehicles, a Minnesota police chief is following his department's "core value of being compassionate" and won't be charging a Tesla vandalism suspect. What's more, Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges earlier this week declared that "the suspect in this case may have been a victim — and I mean victim in terms of the rhetoric that is being spewed out...