Free Republic

Fairfax County's police chief said yesterday that one of his officers accidentally shot and killed an optometrist outside the unarmed man's townhouse Tuesday night as an undercover detective was about to arrest him on suspicion of gambling on sports. Police had been secretly making bets with Salvatore J. Culosi Jr., 37, since October as part of a gambling investigation, according to court records. They planned to search his home in the Fair Oaks area, just off Lee Highway, shortly after 9:30 p.m Culosi came out of his townhouse on Cavalier Landing Court about 9:35 p.m. and was standing next to...

The N.C. State Bar has challenged the dismissal of disciplinary charges against two former Union County prosecutors, saying they committed felonies to win a death penalty conviction. Kenneth Honeycutt and Scott Brewer were charged with lying, cheating and withholding evidence in the 1996 murder trial. Honeycutt, the former district attorney in Union County, has since returned to private practice; Brewer is now a District Court judge in Richmond County. Last week, the bar's Disciplinary Hearing Commission cited a missed deadline in dismissing the case against them. But the bar's lawyers say there is no deadline to bring charges because the...

WASHINGTON - In the 50 years that Grant Goodman has known and corresponded with a colleague in the Philippines he never had any reason to suspect that their friendship was anything but spectacularly ordinary. But now he believes that the relationship has somehow sparked the interest of the Department of Homeland Security and led the agency to place him under surveillance.

Even though city police officers made only one drunk-driving arrest after stopping more than 1,000 motorists at a sobriety checkpoint late last week, they called the effort successful. In fact, they are planning a similar effort in a few days. "We're doing it sometime around New Year's weekend. You better watch out," said Detective Lt. Thomas Michael. Michael said police received money from the state to conduct the roadblocks. The latest one started Thursday at about 7 p.m. on Main Street and lasted into the early morning. Ten officers were called in to take part in the roadblock. They found...

Deputy racked up complaints, lawsuits -- then retired comfortably By LEWIS KAMB The Seattle Post Intelligencer Longtime Deputy Pat Covey quit the King County Sheriff's Office last year, leaving a wake of complaints, lawsuits and a conviction for criminal trespass in a domestic-violence case. Today Covey is an honorably retired peace officer, thanks to former Sheriff Dave Reichert, who did not act on department recommendations to fire him. In fact, when the Sheriff's Office let Covey retire in October 2004, he was allowed to keep a state license to work as a cop -- even though he can't legally own...

Hurricane Katrina Survivor Victimized Again: Injuries from Police Use of Excessive Force Required Surgery 12/14/2005 8:00:00 AM NEW ORLEANS, Dec. 14 /U.S. Newswire/ -- A New Orleans woman is recovering from surgery this week from injuries resulting from when she was roughed-up by authorities who forced her to leave her home a week after Hurricane Katrina. Patricia Konie, 58, has filed a Federal lawsuit over the injuries and other violations of civil rights. "My client was severely injured in a needless removal from her home," stated attorney Ashton O'Dwyer. "Patricia Konie had food, plenty of water, and a roof over...

Man fighting for closed borders loses battle 08:55 PM Mountain Standard Time on Wednesday, November 30, 2005 By Mike Watkiss / 3TV reporter Casey Nethercott, 38, founded the anti-immigration group, Ranch Rescue. "If I had my way, I’d put a concrete wall down the border, put gun powder on it and say, 'America is closed,'" Nethercott said. Some people call Nethercott an American hero, a patriot wronged by the country that he loves. "He’s a hero. My son is a good man," said Nethercott's mother, Margaret. "He would never, ever hurt anyone." "I can’t help that I’m 250 pounds," Nethercott...

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Thousands of supporters of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez marched in Caracas on Saturday to support the leftist leader in his dispute with Mexico's president over U.S. free trade proposals. State workers, unionists and students, many wearing red T-shirts, waved flags and anti-U.S. placards as they marched through the capital accompanied by trucks blaring revolutionary songs, Venezuelan folk ballads and Mexican mariachi music. Venezuela and Mexico withdrew their ambassadors on Monday after Chavez called his Mexican counterpart, Vicente Fox, a "lap dog" of U.S. imperialism for his close ties to Washington and told him, "Don't mess with...

When a group of New Mexico State Police officers returned from two weeks of Hurricane Katrina relief efforts in Louisiana in September, they brought with them haunting tales of devastation, refugees and the wide swath of destruction the storm had wrought on the Gulf Coast. They also carried with them something darker, more disturbing even, than the might of Katrina itself. The Sante Fe Reporter has learned New Mexico police allege they witnessed numerous and shocking incidents of police abuse committed by members of the Baton Rouge Police Department. According to New Mexico Department of Public Safety spokesman Peter Olson,...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Six teenagers at West Mesa High School faced charges Friday after a police officer said the students jumped him. Steven Anzures is a senior at West Mesa. He gets good grades, and he's excited about college. But, Anzures said Albuquerque police officers jumped him, and his younger brother, Ray, while they were at school. "(The officer) shoved his knee in my face and started scraping it on the pavement," Steven Anzures said. "He was all bleeding on the side of his face, and his eyes were closed," Ray Anzures said. The teens said the fight started when...

n the waning days of a record season, a helicopter buzzes treetops here in a remote corner of the "Emerald Triangle," redwood country notorious as the USA's premier producer of marijuana. (Photo gallery: Rooting out pot hot spots) State narcotics officers from CAMP - Campaign Against Marijuana Planting - are searching for "gardens" to eradicate and find six on a warm, cloudless day. They strap onto a 150-foot cable dangling from the chopper, drop into the pot patches, hack down the plants and bundle them for the chopper to haul back to a landing zone.

MANATEE - Getting shoved around, handcuffed, manhandled and witnessing a police beating - these are the memories two young hurricane relief workers from Manatee County say they took away from Bourbon Street in New Orleans on Saturday night. After about a month of volunteer work in areas hit hard by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Manatee County residents Calvin Briles and Mike Monaghan decided to take it easy in the Big Easy for an evening. The two men, program consultants for the Volunteer Center of Manatee County, had spent the day buying chain saws and delivering them to volunteer reception centers...

Seattle -- A U.S. Army veteran who fled to Canada to avoid prosecution because he grew marijuana to help control chronic pain was yanked from a hospital by Canadian authorities, driven to the U.S. border with a catheter still attached, and turned over to U.S. officials — who provided him with no medical treatment for five days, his lawyer said. Steven William Tuck, 38, was still fitted with the urinary catheter when he shuffled into U.S. District Court for a detention hearing Wednesday, said his lawyer, Douglas Hiatt. U.S. Magistrate Judge James P. Donohue ordered Tuck temporarily released so that...

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — French Quarter bar owners say the Big Easy's soul can never be restored if a midnight-to-6 a.m. curfew continues to be enforced, so they plan to challenge it the only way New Orleans knows how: with a party. Jim Monaghan said his Molly's at the Market bar will return Friday to its normal operating hours of 10 a.m. to 6 a.m. regardless of a curfew police have enforced more aggressively over the past week or so. His goal, he said, is to demonstrate that New Orleans is on the mend and it's open for business. "We'll...

NEW ORLEANS - A retired elementary teacher who was repeatedly punched in the head by police in an incident caught on videotape said Monday he was not drunk, put up no resistance and was baffled by what happened. Robert Davis said he had returned to New Orleans to check on property his family owns in the storm-ravaged city, and was out looking to buy cigarettes when he was beaten and arrested Saturday night in the French Quarter. Police have alleged that the 64-year-old Davis was publicly intoxicated, a charge he strongly denied as he stood on the street corner where...

Two of the Moss Landing Harbor residents who were the subjects of random boat searches during Labor Day Weekend say their experiences were closer to armed invasions than the friendly "safety inspections" characterized by U.S. Coast Guard officials. Both residents said search crews entered the harbor in inflatable boats with machine guns mounted on their bows. Then, carrying M-16 rifles, they approached residents and boarded and searched their boats in the name of safety and "homeland security." One resident, who asked not to be identified for fear or retribution, said his experience was "very intimidating, very frightening." "To me it...

My sinuses a casualty of the drug war   Tom Martin OPINION Sunday, September 11, 2005 My breathing is becoming a problem for my wife. Yes, the inhalation of air for the benefit of my lungs has become an annoyance, especially at night when she's trying to sleep. The problem is with the decibel level of my breathing, which is loud because my nasal passages are generally blocked. I'm an allergy guy. Breathing through my nose is not something I take for granted. It takes effort to keep the duct work clear. For decades that effort, along with seeing...

http://www.ktvu.com/video/4946889/detail.html

Dalworthington Gardens, Texas police will draw the blood of drunk driving suspects. After completing a training course, Dalworthington Gardens police officers have been certified to draw blood from any motorist whom they suspect of driving under the influence of alcohol. The small North Texas city joins three counties -- Montague, Archer and Clay -- which have recently adopted similar policies. These jurisdictions are seeking to make drunk driving convictions less vulnerable to court challenge as mounting evidence shows breathalyzer machines can be inaccurate. Under the new policy, a suspect will be brought to a police station and asked in a...

On the WorldNetDaily page you can find the link: VIDEONETDAILY They shoot dogs, don't they? Sheriff says killing pets of forced evacuees 'more humane' --Dallas Morning News The link to the video directly is: http://www.dallasnews.com/s/dws/photography/2005/katrina_video/straydogs.html