Free Republic

Updated: Sunday, 16 May 2010, 11:09 AM EDT Published : Sunday, 16 May 2010, 8:44 AM EDT DETROIT - A spokesperson for the Detroit Police Department says a 7-year-old girl named Ayana Jones was accidently shot and killed by a DPD officer. Watch the latest video report by Fox 2's Roop Raj. It happened in the 4000 block of Lillibridge at 12:40 Sunday morning. According to Detroit Police , officers went to the house to arrest a murder suspect, with a valid search warrant. The suspect was wanted in another crime that happened on Friday in Detroit. A 17-year-old high...

To police investigators, the double-wide in rural Polk County was the hiding place of a drug trafficker. But to her family, it was merely the longtime home of a 76 year old widow named Helen Pruett. "All she did was go to church, go to Walmart, go to the beauty shop, and that's it," said Machelle Holl, Pruett's daughter. Tuesday morning, police dressed in black paramilitary fatigues, armed with weapons and an arrest warrant surrounded Pruett's home, knocked on the door and demanded to be let in. Helen Pruett's family says she saw them through the window, was frightened, and...

SEATTLE, Wash. -- A female Seattle police officer, caught on videotape stomping on a detainee’s leg, has been accused of police brutality in the past. The details are laid out in a 2005 federal civil lawsuit, uncovered by KIRO Investigative Reporter Chris Halsne. Cries of police brutality against a Seattle police officer caught stomping on a downed suspect's leg - have surfaced before. Use-of-force photographs, taken shortly after Seattle police arrested Raymond Edward Nix tell quite a story. Nix has a bloody face, swollen eye, bruises, and a skin-scraped elbow. Federal Court records show he was beaten nearly to death...

A former Gwinnett County police officer was indicted Wednesday for allegedly stunning a Waffle House employee with a Taser as a prank. A grand jury indicted Cpl. Gary Miles on charges of aggravated assault and violation of oath of office. He resigned from the department last June. Miles is out of jail awaiting trial on $8,100 bond. The waiter, Daniel Wilson, 23, told investigators that Miles was a frequent patron of the restaurant at 2725 Grayson Highway in Loganville. Wilson said he was chatting with two other Gwinnett County officers on Feb. 16, 2009, when Miles came up from behind...

The video of a Columbia, Mo., SWAT team shooting and killing a dog during a drug raid is now available online, due in part to the efforts of the Columbia Daily Tribune. The video shows members of the Columbia Police Department executing a narcotics raid on the home of Jonathan Whitworth. While the raid, which occurred in February, only turned up a misdemeanor amount of marijuana and a glass pipe, the Columbia PD was able to charge Whitworth with second-degree child endangerment because a child lives in the home. That same child, age 7, was present when the Columbia PD...

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - A northern Indiana man has filed a lawsuit blaming the U.S. government for his wife's suicide three days after Internal Revenue Service agents raided their home, saying she couldn't go on living in fear of the agency's trumped-up accusations. "Being innocent is simply not enough for the government," Denise Simon, a 50-year-old mother of six, wrote in a suicide note posted on a memorial Web site set up by her widower. In documents filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Fort Wayne, government attorneys denied any responsibility for Simon's death. Department of Justice spokesman Charles Miller could...

America's experiment with banning alcohol created problems that persist to this day. BY THOMAS FLEMING On Dec. 5, 1933, Americans liberated themselves from a legal nightmare called Prohibition by repealing the 18th Amendment to the Constitution. Today most people think Prohibition was fueled by puritanical Protestants who believed drinking alcohol was a sin. But the vocal minority who made Prohibition law believed they were marching in the footsteps of the abolitionists who sponsored a civil war to end another moral evil—slavery. At least as important was the belief that Prohibition would produce health and wealth. Yale economist Irving Fisher, the...

Police shoot, kill woman during "welfare check." Story at http://www.kctv5.com/video/23013661/index.html

A Christian who prayed in a public park with six other people is serving a nine-day jail sentence for disorderly conduct even though his case is under appeal and charges against the others were dismissed or overturned. Julian Raven of Elmira, N.Y., said he was "surprised by police at his office," handcuffed and taken into custody this week, according to the Alliance Defense Fund, which is defending Raven. "According to his wife, police escorted him out of a court hearing … in handcuffs in front of his crying children to begin serving his nine-day jail sentence," the organization said in...

This story on the First Lady taking the kids to a Broadway show in New York has an interesting element: a warning by the Secret Service that anyone taking their picture would have their cameras confiscated. Perhaps the Secret Service General Counsel could point us to where in the Constitution and federal law the Secret Service has the authority to ban photographs by the public and the confiscation of cellphones and pictures to enforce the ban. Michelle Obama – with Sasha, 8, and Malia, 11, and about a dozen other people in tow – attended the matinee performance of “Memphis”...

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), apparently unable to distinguish between real guns and replicas, seized a shipment of 30 toy guns in a February bust at the Port of Tacoma in Washington. Airsoft guns, which fire little plastic balls, are used by a growing number of loyal enthusiasts (think paintball, only not as messy). In addition, thanks to their realistic look, weight, and feel, these guns are often used for training purposes by National Guard units and law enforcement. It was this realism that led CBP agents to seize the shipment—which was destined for Airsoft Outlet Northwest in Cornelius,...

It was every businessperson's nightmare. Arriving at Harv's Metro Car Wash in midtown Wednesday afternoon were two dark-suited IRS agents demanding payment of delinquent taxes. "They were deadly serious, very aggressive, very condescending," says Harv's owner, Aaron Zeff. The really odd part of this: The letter that was hand-delivered to Zeff's on-site manager showed the amount of money owed to the feds was ... 4 cents. Inexplicably, penalties and taxes accruing on the debt – stemming from the 2006 tax year – were listed as $202.31, leaving Harv's with an obligation of $202.35.

IT WAS ELIOT NESS and the Untouchables, as played by the Keystone Kops. More than a dozen armed State Police officers conducted simultaneous raids last week on three popular Philadelphia bars known for their wide beer selections. The cops confiscated hundreds of bottles of expensive ales and lagers, now in State Police custody at an undisclosed location. The alleged offense: Although the bar owners had bought the beer legally from licensed Pennsylvania distributors and had paid all the necessary taxes, the police claimed that nobody had registered the precise names of the beers with the state Liquor Control Board -...

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- You can celebrate Christmas but you won't be able to burn the Yule Log on Friday in the Bay Area. That's because the Bay Area Air Quality Management District is prohibiting the burning of wood on Christmas Day. Friday will be the season's third winter Spare the Air day. Officials are blaming what they call "stagnant weather conditions. “Air quality is unfortunately forecast to be unhealthy on Christmas Day, and the Air District is taking steps to protect public health by issuing a Winter Spare the Alert,” said Jack Broadbent, executive officer of the Air District...

DALLAS — The search for suspects who raped an SMU student last weekend led police to a southeast Dallas neighborhood off Jim Miller Road and Red Bud Drive. Ruben Moontiel also saw SWAT officers near his home on Red Bud Saturday afternoon while he landscaped his front yard. No sooner had he gone inside to tell his wife police were suiting up outside when SWAT kicked in his front door. "I felt humiliated," Moontiel said. His wife, Agueda, said Dallas SWAT officers rushing into her home trampled over her foot and fractured it. DPD detained the entire family for four...

Police serving order shot at, ATF says LINDA SATTER ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE A Pulaski County man fired several shots Tuesday at officers who attempted to serve a federal warrant at his mobile home at 3106 W. Justice Road in northern Pulaski County, a federal agent said. No one was injured, and the resident, Johnny Davis, surrendered at about 2:30 p.m., roughly four hours after his standoff with officers began, said Joe Riehl, special agent in charge of the New Orleans Field Division for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Riehl said ATF agents obtained a warrant charging Davis with...

Nov 10, 2009 — There’s a move on to get Darwin’s ideas taught to tots. Britain is giving a “birthday present to Darwin,” wrote Andrew Copson for The Guardian, in the form of national curriculum for primary schools that will mention evolution for the first time – and prohibit teaching of creationism or intelligent design in science lessons. The addition of evolution to elementary school curriculum was in response to a letter promoted by the British Humanist Association and signed by “scientists and experts.” Copson was obviously delighted with what he perceived as a long-overdue smackdown against intelligent design –...

911 call records homeowner being shot by Phoenix PD Reported by: ABC15.com staff, wire reports Last Update: 7:20 pm Man shot by Phoenix PD files $5.75 million claim PHOENIX – The 911 call made by a Phoenix homeowner before he was shot six times by Phoenix police has been released. Tony Arambula is seeking $5.75 million in damages for himself and his family after he was shot on September 17, 2008 after officers responded to a call about an intruder inside Arambula's central Phoenix home. The claim, filed by Phoenix attorney Michael Manning on behalf of Arambula, names the city,...

Needed: A 'clean line' to determine lawfulness"You don't need to know. You can't know." That's what Kathy Norris, a 60-year-old grandmother of eight, was told when she tried to ask court officials why, the day before, federal agents had subjected her home to a furious search. The agents who spent half a day ransacking Mrs. Norris' longtime home in Spring, Texas, answered no questions while they emptied file cabinets, pulled books off shelves, rifled through drawers and closets, and threw the contents on the floor. The six agents, wearing SWAT gear and carrying weapons, were with - get this- the...

So as it turns out, even the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has its own SWAT team. You don’t need to know. You can’t know.” That’s what Kathy Norris, a 60-year-old grandmother of eight, was told when she tried to ask court officials why, the day before, federal agents had subjected her home to a furious search. The agents who spent half a day ransacking Mrs. Norris’ longtime home in Spring, Texas, answered no questions while they emptied file cabinets, pulled books off shelves, rifled through drawers and closets, and threw the contents on the floor. The six agents, wearing...