Family of unarmed man killed by troubled Rocky Ford cop seeks justice

By Jesse Paul
The Denver Post

ROCKY FORD — Sitting in her bed early one morning in mid-October, Viola Jacquez heard the familiar rap-rap-rap of her son Jack's knocks at her backdoor.

She unlocked the latch at about 2 a.m., and her 27-year-old son stepped into the kitchen. An unfamiliar, redheaded Rocky Ford police officer angrily followed him, raised his gun inches from Viola's head and — before she could protect her son — shot him in the back, she said.

"I froze," Viola Jacquez, 59, remembered this week in the spot where the officer stood. "Honestly, I froze. I could not speak, but I could see. It was one of those moments where you're falling off a cliff."

The officer's bullet pierced Jack Jacquez near his heart, passing through his chest. It left his body and sailed over the orange and red carpet of the dining and living rooms, past his collection of DVDs and the Coca-Cola polar bear he brought back from Utah, lodging in the door at the other end of the house.

As Jack Jacquez lay dying on the floor, the officer fired an orange stream of pepper spray at his back before hurrying out of the home.

Rocky Ford, a southeastern plains town of 4,000 roughly 50 miles east of Pueblo, sits high among the thirsty farmland stained tan by the winter cold. The town is better known for cantaloupes and the hum of passing freight trains than political unrest, but anger boiled over as it found itself another epicenter in the debate over police brutality and race.

Like the killings of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and Eric Garner in New York, Jacquez's slaying raised questions of excessive force and race. Police Officer James Ashby is white, and Jacquez was Latino and unarmed.

Unlike those deaths at the hands of police, Jacquez's slaying remained mostly unnoticed. One other major difference: Ashby has been charged with second-degree murder and faces the possibility of years in prison.

"It was all too fast," Viola Jacquez said of the Oct. 12 shooting.

The Denver Post found Ashby had been accused of professional misconduct several times at his previous policing job and was the subject of an excessive-force investigation filed days earlier.

With his arrest last month, Ashby, 41, became the first Colorado law enforcement officer in more than two decades to face a murder charge in an on-duty death. A Denver officer was acquitted in a 1992 shooting.

Viola Jacquez says that moments before her son was shot she saw him struggle with Ashby over a skateboard before her son let go and walked away.

She says her son was heading home after a haircut at a friend's house before the shooting.

Small-town gossip has been active about why Ashby followed Jacquez and shot him, but court documents are sealed . A 23-year-old man who rode along with Ashby that night has not spoken publicly.

Ashby was due in court Monday for a preliminary hearing, but it was rescheduled for Jan. 15.

The mayor of Rocky Ford, Jerry Sitton, said anger over the shooting, which sparked fears of violent, destructive protests and drew a consolation specialist from the U.S. Department of Justice, has "pretty well blown over."

To those close to Jack Jacquez, some of whom marched in protest through the town's streets chanting "Hands up, don't shoot!" and "No justice, no peace!," that couldn't be farther from the truth.

"This is just the beginning," said Antonio Ulloa, the slain man's friend who said he has felt ignored by police because of his Latino heritage.

"It's been that way in this valley my whole life," he said.

Ashby was arrested Nov. 14 and fired the same day. He originally was held on $1 million bail beforeit was lowered to $150,000, which he posted.

"We're going to fight these charges to the fullest extent," said Michael Lowe, Ashby's Denver attorney.

Ashby served in the Navy as a mechanic in his 20s before moving back to southern Colorado, where he worked in loss prevention at a Kmart in Pueblo for one month in the fall of 2007. He was fired from that job because of "claims made against me by a fellow employee," he said in a police job application. From there he worked as a clerk at a Loaf 'N Jug.

In 2009, he was hired as a Walsenburg police officer. The Post obtained Ashby's 96-page internal affairs and disciplinary records file from his roughly five-year employment there. The file includes allegations that he used profane and derogatory language on the job and one alleged instance of sexual harassment against a dispatcher.

The file also documents how a handcuffed suspect in Ashby's custody escaped and was spotted running through town. Ashby later was forced to pay for the handcuffs, which the suspect removed using bolt cutters.

In June 2014, five months before he shot and killed Jacquez, Ashby joined the nine-person Rocky Ford police force. Records show he already had been named as part of three internal investigations, including allegations of excessive force in early October.

Rocky Ford police officials did not review Ashby's Walsenburg records when they hired him, instead relying on verbal recommendations from his former supervisors, said Frank Gallegos, chief of the Rocky Ford Police Department.

"It's a call I was hoping I would never get in law enforcement," said Gallegos, a lifelong town resident, of Jacquez's death. "It's devastating not only for the community, but it's a situation that has also affected other officers."

Gallegos says he understands why people are upset and has been working to rebuild community trust, implementing body cameras for on-duty officers.

"For the community of Rocky Ford, this was a tragic event," said James Bullock, the 16th Judicial District attorney who is prosecuting the case. "This affected almost every person in the community. A lot of people don't think they are safe."

Bullock is reviewing several binders filled with evidence compiled by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, the State Patrol and local law enforcement agencies.

Viola Jacquez hasn't moved back into her home since the shooting, returning only to grab her cats and occasionally speak to her son in his room.

Candles mark the spot where Jack Jacquez's head and feet came to rest after he was killed. A stain marks the spot on the area rug where his sister cleaned away blood and pepper spray. A tiny bullet hole in the front door serves as a reminder of a night the family cannot forget.

Jackie Jacquez-Lindenmuth kneeled in the freshly disturbed dirt of her brother's grave Wednesday, saying she feels good when she comes to the burial ground. It is marked by a tiny Christmas tree and night lights, left there because her brother hated the dark.

"I like to think of him still at my mother's house," she said. "This is just a place for people to come and visit."

Jesse Paul: 303-954-1733, jpaul@denverpost.com or twitter.com/JesseAPaul

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_27175556/family-unarmed-man-killed-by-troubled-rocky-ford?source=infinite

Exclusive: Fired Buffalo cop tells her side

Kendra Eaglin

7:18 PM, Dec 16, 2014

8:51 AM, Dec 17, 2014

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) - Former Buffalo Police officer Cariol Horne in a battle to get her pension. She was fired for trying to stop a fellow officer she says was abusing a suspect.

"November 1, 2006, there was a call of an officer in trouble at 707 Walden," said Cariol Horne.

That officer was Gregory Kwiatkowski, who was responding to a domestic dispute inside that home between Neal Mack and his girlfriend.

When officer Horne went into the house she says Mack had already been placed under arrest.

"He was handcuffed in the front and he was sideways and being punched in the face by Gregory Kwiatkowski," explained Horne.

Horne and about 10 other officers who arrived at the scene helped drag Mack out of the home.  But once outside Horne says Officer Kwiatkowski was out of control.

"Gregory Kwiatkowski turned Neal Mack around and started choking him. So then I'm like, 'Greg! You're choking him,' because I thought whatever happened in the house he was still upset about so when he didn't stop choking him I just grabbed his arm from around Neal Mack's neck," said Horne.

If that choke hold of a handcuffed suspect caught Horne off guard, it didn't prepare her for what she says Kwiatkowski did next.

"He comes up and punches me in the face and I had to have my bridge replaced," said Horne.

When Horne tried to defend herself other officers pulled her back and her shoulder was injured.

Following the incident, Horne was fired and charged with obstruction for "jumping on officer Kwiatkowski's back and/or striking him with her hands."

But officer Kiwatkowski's own words seem to conflict with the charges. In a sworn statement he says, "she never got on top of me."

Nonetheless, Horne lost every appeal and with her 19 year career over, she didn't qualify for a pension.

Horne is the mother of five children and is now working as a truck driver to make ends meet.

"My daughter said, 'Mommy, why did you go to work that day?' She never said, 'Why did you do what you did?' or 'I wish you wouldn't have done it.' She just said, 'I wish you wouldn't have gone to work that day.' So I don't regret it."

Officer Kwiatkowski was forced to retire from the police department after he was suspended for choking another officer on the job, and in a separate incident, punching another officer when he was off the clock.

In May 2014, Kwiatowkski and two other officers were indicted on federal civil rights violations against black teen suspects.

Horne is continuing to fight for a pension.

The City of Buffalo Common Council sent her case to the New York State retirement system for review. A determination has not yet been made.

Copyright 2014 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

http://www.wkbw.com/news/fired-buffalo-cop-id-do-it-again

Victoria police officer investigated for tasing driver, 76

By Melissa Crowe 
Dec. 13, 2014 at 10:06 p.m.

A Victoria police officer is under investigation after a 76-year-old man accused him of using excessive force during a traffic stop.

The officer, Nathanial Robinson, 23, was placed on administrative duty Friday pending the outcome of an internal investigation into whether he violated the use of force policy when he tased Victoria resident Pete Vasquez, said Chief J.J. Craig. The officer was hired after graduating from the police academy two years ago.

The incident happened Thursday after Robinson saw an expired inspection sticker on the car Vasquez was driving back to Adam's Auto Mart, 2801 N. Laurent St., where he helps with mechanical work.

Vasquez got out of the car, which is owned by the car lot, attempting to get the manager. He pointed out to the officer the dealer tags on the back of the car, which would make it exempt from having an inspection.

Police dashboard camera video shows Robinson arresting Vasquez for the expired sticker.

When the officer first grabbed Vasquez's arm, the older man pulled it away. Robinson then pushed Vasquez down on the hood of the police cruiser. The two fell out of the camera's video frame, but police said the officer used the Taser on Vasquez twice while he was on the ground.

"He just acted like a pit bull, and that was it," Vasquez said. "For a while, I thought he was going to pull his gun and shoot me."

Vasquez was handcuffed, placed in the back of the police cruiser and taken to Citizens Medical Center, where he remained in police custody for two hours.

Craig said the police department's dash cam footage "raises some concerns."

He decided to open the investigation after viewing the footage and has personally apologized to Vasquez for the incident.

"Public trust is extremely important to us," Craig said. "Sometimes that means you have to take a real hard look at some of the actions that occur within the department."

The internal investigation also will examine the details of the arrest. Driving with an expired inspection sticker is a Class C misdemeanor, typically addressed with a citation. Because Vasquez was driving a car with dealer tags, the car was exempt, Craig confirmed. Vasquez was released from the hospital without being cited.

If the investigation finds Robinson violated the use of force policy, his possible punishment ranges from a letter of reprimand to suspension without pay or termination, Craig said.

District Attorney Stephen Tyler said he has not been contacted by police about the case or seen the video.

First, authorities must determine whether criminal wrongdoing, moral wrongdoing or a policy violation occurred.

Possible charges include official oppression, injury to elderly, aggravated assault and assault, he said.

Tyler said the incident was bad timing given the headlines dominating national news, but said Victoria isn't Ferguson, Mo., or New York.

"You want to make sure you give the right kind of person a badge and a gun," he said.

Larry Urich, a 62-year-old sales manager at the car lot, said watching the scuffle unfold made him sick. He said he wanted the officer fired and prosecuted for excessive use of force and causing bodily harm to an elderly person.

"I told the officer, 'What in the hell are you doing?' This gentleman is 76 years old," Urich said. "The cop told me to stand back, but I didn't shut up. I told him he was a g-------- Nazi Stormtrooper."

Urich followed behind the police car that drove Vasquez to the hospital and waited until his friend was released.

"There should have been an ambulance called for this elderly gentleman," Urich said. "He should not have been handcuffed to go to the emergency room when he had not done anything wrong."

Through it all, Urich said, he feels sorry for the officer.

"He's probably a good family man, but you don't treat people like that," Urich said. "I don't see how in the world anyone would think he should keep his job after that."

A day after the incident, Vasquez said he still had body aches and expected it would be a few days before he healed.

"I feel like my rights were violated," he said. "The police department is supposed to train their police officers to be more conscientious and use common sense. I don't think he had any."

Craig said he hired the officer "because he was a very good candidate," but he also felt obliged to talk to Vasquez in person to apologize for the incident.

Vasquez said he appreciated the conversation with the chief.

"He didn't want me to think that all policemen are like that," Vasquez said. "I said he's got a lot to do to prove to me that."

https://www.victoriaadvocate.com/news/2014/dec/13/victoria-police-officer-investigated-for-tasing-dr/

San Francisco Police Corruption Trial Begins

BOB EGELKO ON NOV 12, 2014 
SOURCE: SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

A federal prosecutor opened the trial of two San Francisco police officers Monday by telling jurors the case was about "corruption with a badge." Defense lawyers countered that it was about a third policeman who cut a deal with prosecutors to frame their clients.

Reynaldo Vargas, who pleaded guilty to four felony charges last month and agreed to testify against his former colleagues, is a man with an "evil nature" whose testimony was "bought and paid for," Brian Getz, attorney for police Sgt. Ian Furminger, said in an opening statement to the U.S. District Court jury in San Francisco.

Teresa Caffese, lawyer for Officer Edmond Robles, said Robles "had no knowledge of what Vargas was doing" and "didn't help Vargas commit any of the crimes." Vargas, she said, "is a liar and he is a convicted criminal" who "is now pointing fingers at Ed Robles because he wants to save his own skin."

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Rodney Villazor said Vargas and other witnesses would describe a series of thefts of money, drugs and other property from criminal suspects by the three officers, who worked in the plainclothes unit at the Mission Station.

$30,000 in cash

In a May 2009, during a search of a home in Newark, where the officers were assisting the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Villazor said, Vargas found a shovel in the backyard, dug up $30,000 in cash and split it with Furminger and Robles. The next day, the prosecutor said, Robles deposited $6,000 in his bank account.

In another 2009 search, Villazor said, Vargas found two Apple gift cards, one for $500 and the other for $53.17, in the hotel room of a suspected drug dealer. "Vargas looked at Ed Robles and said, 'Let's go shopping,'" Villazor said, and one of the gift cards was used to buy an iPod for Robles' girlfriend.

"That's what this case is about, a cop stealing money," the prosecutor said. He said the items police seize during searches belong in evidence lockers, "not in their bank accounts."

Caffese said Robles, when he gave the iPod as a gift,did not know it had been purchased with a stolen gift card.

Furminger and Robles are charged with theft from suspects and from the city and with depriving the public of their honest services. The criminal charges against all three officers followed an investigation by San Francisco police and the FBI that concluded they had stolen marijuana that had been seized from suspects in 2009, and that Vargas had delivered the drugs to a pair of informants, who sold it in return for 25 percent of the proceeds.

Furminger and Robles have been suspended without pay.

Ex-officer's admissions

Vargas was a police officer from 1999 until he was fired in 2012 for allegedly falsifying his time sheets. In a plea agreement Oct. 21, he admitted stealing computers, gift cards, money and other property and keeping them for personal use. He also said he, Furminger and Robles had taken marijuana from a seized UPS package in 2009, and that he later gave the drugs to two people whom the three officers had been trying to recruit as informants.

Vargas will testify later in the trial, which is scheduled to last several weeks. One prosecution witness Monday, the girlfriend of a suspected drug dealer, described being handcuffed and interrogated by the three officers, who then allegedly offered her a kickback if she would implicate her boyfriend.

Stewart said she didn't remember which officer asked the question, but all of them were within earshot. They later released her without charges.The officers trashed the couple's hotel room and took her to the police station, said the witness, Kelsey Stewart, where they asked her about her boyfriend's bank account and motor vehicles, and said "whatever money they got they would split with me."

Another prosecution witness, Ian Elliott, a friend of Stewart's, said he heard Robles question her outside the hotel room and offer to "split the proceeds with her" if she helped them find her boyfriend's vehicles.

The trial resumes Thursday.

Copyright 2014 - San Francisco Chronicle

Tribune News Service

http://www.officer.com/news/11769266/san-francisco-police-corruption-trial-begins

Charges Dropped For Cop Who Fatally Shot Sleeping 7-Year-Old Girl

November 30, 2014 12:08 am

In all of the melee resulting from the shooting of Michael Brown by Officer Darren Wilson, the media has overlooked a number of other very important shootings of unarmed civilians by police officers. One of the most egregious offenses is that of Officer Joseph Weekley’s fatal shooting of 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones.

Officer Weekley recently saw manslaughter charge dropped against him, for shooting the 7-year-old while she slept.

The Detroit police officer had been on trial for involuntary manslaughter who was shot and killed during a 2010 police raid.

But early in October, Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Cynthia Gray Hathaway granted a motion which Weekley’s attorney had filed, arguing for the dismissal of the felony charge he faced in the young girl’s death.

The trial was brought to an end while the Michigan Court of Appeals reviewed an emergency appeal of the ruling.

Presiding Judge Michael Talbot issued the order to deny the appeal and allow the judge’s dismal to stand.

“Although I find that the trial court erred in form and substance in granting defendant’s motion for directed verdict, we are barred from reviewing that decision,” Talbot wrote.

The shooting happened just after midnight, back on May 16, 2010.

A SWAT team had conducted a raid to search for a murder suspect. Weekly ended up being first through the door.

There was even a film crew on hand to film for a reality show about murder investigations. Weekley says that another SWAT member had thrown a flash-bang grenade, which temporarily blinded him. That’s when he fired the shot that killed Aiyana who was asleep on the couch in the front room of the house.

Doubling down on this claim, in court he actually testified that Aiyana’s grandmother had somehow “touched” his gun, which made him fire the shot. But he failed to explain how he could tell she had done this when he claimed he couldn’t see anything at the time.

The prosecution noted that even having his finger on the trigger of his submachine gun was improper. “He could have avoided injury if he had followed his training,” Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Robert Moran explained.

“He didn’t, and as a result of him not following his training and not following the mandates of ordinary care, someone was killed.”

But ultimately, the arguments and reason didn’t win out.

Roland Lawrence, the chairman of the Justice for Aiyana Committee, issued a statement after the court’s decision was announced.

“Surely, the death of a baby by a well-trained police force must be deemed unacceptable in a civilized society,” Lawrence said.

Steve Fishman, Weekley’s attorney, claimed that even though he did not dispute that his client pulled the trigger and killed the girl, “there is absolutely no evidence, none, that’s in the least bit credible, that Officer Weekley knowingly created a danger or, more importantly, intended to cause injury.”

After the dismissal, the only charge Weekley faced, was a relatively minor misdemeanor charge of “careless discharge of a firearm causing death.”

(Article by Moreh B.D.K.)·
http://countercurrentnews.com/2014/11/aiyana-stanley-jones/#

Newton cop exposed himself to young male drivers during stops, complaint says

By Ben Horowitz | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com 
Email the author | Follow on Twitter 
on November 17, 2014 at 5:35 PM, updated November 18, 2014 at 7:12 AM

NEWTON — A Newton police officer was arrested Monday on accusations that he unzipped his pants and exposed himself to young male drivers during "numerous" traffic stops.

Jason R. Miller, 37, of Hampton Township, a patrolman since 2001, turned himself in at the Sussex County Prosecutor's Office and has been indefinitely suspended without pay pending the outcome of the criminal case, according to a statement issued by Sussex County Prosecutor Francis Koch and Newton Police Chief Michael Richards.

Miller was charged with two counts of official misconduct, one count of a pattern of official misconduct and one count of lewdness, the statement said.

Miller would expose his genitals to motorists "to satisfy his prurient interests" and then let them leave without issuing traffic summonses, according to a police complaint.

The incidents occurred between March 18 and Oct. 23 of this year, the complaint says.

Superior Court Judge Thomas Critchley set bail at $35,000 with a 10 percent option and the condition that Miller surrender all firearms, the prosecutor's statement said. Miller posted the bail, the statement added.

The statement said Newton police received an anonymous tip on Oct. 23 reporting an allegation of misconduct by Miller and then another anonymous message on Oct. 24.

Based on the information, "an immediate investigation ensued" and following a review of patrol car video recordings and interviews, Miller was suspended on Oct. 28, the statement said.

An affidavit signed by Capt. Donald Peter of the Sussex County Prosecutor's Office detailed what appeared to be a pattern of behavior by Miller during several traffic stops.

The investigation took officers back to March 18, when Miller stopped a 26-year-old male who was driving 16 miles per hour over the speed limit and acknowledged on an audio recording that he had consumed alcohol, Peter said in his affidavit.

While Officer Miller was in his patrol car and after his initial interaction with the man he stopped, "you can hear what appears to be the sound of a zipper opening and/or closing," Peter said.

"Officer Miller did not issue any motor vehicle summonses, nor investigate (the man) for driving while intoxicated, despite the driver's admission to consuming alcohol and coming directly from a bar," Peter said.

On Oct. 23, Miller stopped a 22-year-old male who was leaving O'Reilly's Pub sometime after midnight and the young man noticed the officer's zipper was down and his genitals were exposed, Peter said in his affidavit. The young man said Miller asked him several times where he was going and where he lived, and that made him "uncomfortable."

During a review of the video recording of the interview, "it appears that Officer Miller's zipper is open" and his genitals were visible, Peter said. The young man drove home and was not issued a ticket, Peter said.

Miller's attorney, Anthony Iacullo, said his client is innocent.

"Officer Miller is an excellent officer who vehemently denies these allegations, as they are false and baseless," Iacullo said in a statement. "We are confident that when this matter is heard in a court of law, Mr. Miller will be exonerated of all the charges."

Anyone with further information is asked to contact the Sussex County Prosecutor's Office at 973-383-1570.

Ben Horowitz may be reached at bhorowitz@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @HorowitzBen. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

http://www.nj.com/sussex-county/index.ssf/2014/11/newton_cop_accused_of_exposing_himself_to_male_motorists_during_traffic_stops.html

New Orleans police routinely ignored rape cases, scathing report finds

Police chief ‘deeply disturbed’ by allegations that five detectives failed to investigate properly more than 1,000 cases of sex crimes and child abuse

Associated Press in New Orleans

Thursday 13 November 2014 09.25 EST

In the latest blow to New Orleans’ troubled police department, a city inspector general’s report claims five detectives failed to do substantial investigation of more than 1,000 cases of sex crimes and child abuse — with one detective being cited for stating a belief that simple rape should not be considered a crime.

The report, released Wednesday, examined the detectives’ work between January 2011 and December 2013. It found the detectives filed follow-up reports for only 179 out of 1,290 sex crime cases. In particular, the report found that some cases of potentially abused children and rape victims went completely uninvestigated.

Police officials said the detectives have been transferred to patrol duty and are under further investigation. The police also said two supervisors who oversaw the detectives have been transferred.

Police superintendent Michael Harrison said he was “deeply disturbed” by the allegations. Harrison, who took over the force when former chief Ronal Serpas retired earlier this year, vowed Wednesday to make widespread changes in the department to rebuild community trust.

The US Justice Department previously investigated the scandal-plagued police force and in 2012 the city agreed to a host of changes in its policies. Among the federal probe’s major findings were that the police force was rife with corruption and had numerous instances of excessive use of deadly force, discrimination and problems with its sex crimes unit. A federal monitor is overseeing compliance.

The latest city report charged that a detective handling child abuse failed to investigate a case involving a three-year-old brought to an emergency room due to an alleged sexual assault, closing the case without any charges even though the child had a sexually transmitted disease. The same detective closed the book with minimal or no investigation, and again with no charges, on two cases involving children brought to the emergency room with fractured skulls, the report said.

Another detective, this one assigned to handle sex crimes, allegedly told several people that simple rape should not be considered a crime, the report charged. Simple rape happens when a person has sex with someone without their consent.

This same detective handled 11 simple rape cases and five of those cases saw no follow-up reports and one case had no initial report, inspectors found. The same detective said no DNA evidence existed for one alleged rapecase, but that was contradicted by Louisiana state police, the report said.

Two of the detectives are also accused of writing six reports — on the same day in 2013— to make it appear that they had done follow-up reports years before for the old cases, the report said. In fact, the report said, those documents were written only after inspectors asked for the missing reports.

“These revelations suggest an indifference to our citizens that shouldn’t be tolerated,” said Ed Quatrevaux, the city’s inspector general.

Harrison said the five detectives could face criminal charges and be fired, pending an internal investigation.

In its findings, the report said the detectives classified 65 percent of the cases they received as “miscellaneous,” for which no report at all was written.

Of the remaining 450 cases, the detectives followed up on only 179 cases and 105 of those were handed over to prosecutors, who in turn prosecuted 74 of those cases.

The report called on police to fully investigate the 271 cases that the detectives failed to properly check into. Officials said much has been done to correct the detectives’ poor work — including follow-up on neglected cases and ensuring that 15 children left in potential danger got the help they needed to ensure their safety.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/nov/13/new-orleans-police-routinely-ignored-cases-report-finds

Cop accused of using stolen heroin with felon

Mike Donoghue, The Burlington (Vt.) Free Press1:17 p.m. EST November 13, 2014

BURLINGTON, Vt. — A veteran police officer, whom officials say used stolen heroin for a year with a convicted felon, needs care in a residential drug-treatment facility immediately, attorneys and a federal judge agreed during a court hearing Wednesday.

Suspended Detective Cpl. Tyler Kinney was led into federal court in Burlington with his hands cuffed behind him for a brief appearance before Magistrate Judge John Conroy.

"You appear to be in desperate need of intervention," Conroy told Kinney. The judge made the remark after hearing comments from Assistant U.S. Attorney William Darrow and defense lawyer John Pacht and reviewing public court records and a private report from the pretrial-services office.

Conroy agreed to postpone the initial hearing until 2 p.m. Friday to see if a bed can be located. Until Friday, Kinney will remain in custody. Kinney did not enter a plea, as is typical for initial appearances in federal court.

Kinney is charged with distributing heroin Nov. 1 and stealing a .38-caliber revolver from the Colchester Police Department's evidence room and giving the handgun to a convicted felon, court records state.

Kinney admitted to investigators he has used opiates for about one year and "was attempting to recover from opiate addiction," a court affidavit stated.

Kinney's arrest Monday places countless criminal cases in jeopardy because he was in charge of evidence storage and associated record-keeping, Chittenden County State's Attorney T.J. Donovan said.

Court hearings

The fourth floor courtroom at U.S. District Court was nearly full with family, friends, journalists, employees of various federal government offices, federal agents and other observers Wednesday afternoon. Kinney wore an untucked button-up shirt and jeans during his brief proceeding. His wife watched from the gallery, her hands clasped in her lap.

Kinney's case began to unfold following an unrelated drug search of a home by Burlington police at about 6 a.m. Monday.

Police arrested Peter M. Burnett, 25, on suspicion of being a convicted felon in possession of handgun — the revolver stolen from the Colchester police evidence room.

Burnett appeared briefly in the same courtroom ahead of Kinney. He was released on his own recognizance and conditions requiring him to have no contact with Kinney and to avoid using alcohol and drugs. He and his lawyer, Frank Twarog, declined comment.

Burnett has about two dozen criminal convictions, including at least two felony unlawful-mischief cases that resulted in more than $1,000 in damage in Chittenden County, Vermont Superior Court records show.

Under federal law, convicted felons are prohibited from possessing firearms.

Special Agent Matthew Ekstrom of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, who is working with Burlington police on the investigation, filed affidavits outlining the cases against Kinney and Burnett.

The Burlington police search at Burnett's home Monday turned up the .38-caliber handgun under the dresser in his bedroom, the affidavit stated.

Burnett, who said he was given the gun for protection, said he had the weapon while sleeping in bed Monday, but when he heard police trying to enter his home he wrapped it up in a T-shirt and tried to hide the gun.

Kinney was arrested later that day.

As the Burlington police investigation unfolded throughout the day Monday and grew to include federal authorities, law enforcement discovered that drugs also were missing from the secure evidence room, which Kinney was assigned to control.

New details

ATF Agent Ekstrom's two affidavits offered new details in the case:

Speaking with police after they found the revolver, Burnett said he received the firearm from Kinney, a 12-year police veteran. Burnett said Colchester police had had him about a year ago.

"Burnett stated that the two men developed a friendship, which evolved into them using heroin together. Burnett had obtained heroin for himself and Kinney to use. Also, Burnett said, Kinney obtained heroin for both of them to use," Ekstrom wrote.

Burnett said Kinney reported that he took items out of the Colchester police evidence room for both men to use.

Burnett said Kinney gave him pure heroin, which was used to train police canines. Kinney also discussed with Burnett the possibility of selling methamphetamine the detective would supply in order to obtain heroin, the ATF agent wrote.

Ekstrom wrote that Kinney confessed when police questioned him Monday night.

Kinney admitted to investigators he took some prescription medications that Colchester residents had turned in during the voluntary drug-take-back campaigns and from a drop-off box in the lobby of the Colchester Police Department, the affidavit stated.

Kinney told investigators they could find some drugs in the trunk of his Colchester police cruiser, and a search uncovered about 1.5 grams of heroin in a plastic baggie in the center console, Ekstrom stated.

Colchester Police Chief Jennifer Morrison called the incident the "darkest day" in the nearly 50-year history of her department.

Gov. Peter Shumlin, speaking at a news conference Wednesday in Montpelier, said the Colchester case shows that addiction affects people in all professions and life situations.

"This is a terrible, terrible disease," Shumlin said. "It makes folks do things that they would never otherwise do."

The governor added: "My heart goes out to law enforcement in Colchester, who are doing a great job," and also to the people of Colchester.

Pacht said Kinney, who has been jailed without bail since Monday night, is trying to move forward.

"He is doing what he needs to do. This is a very difficult time," the veteran defense attorney said.

Darrow said the government sought to detain Kinney "only until the defense can find a residential drug-treatment center." He noted the serious nature of the crime, which carries a minimum 10-year sentence.

He said that Kinney was unable to provide a drug test Wednesday, but his level of addiction was outlined in court papers.

Contributing: Free Press reporters April Burbank and Elizabeth Murray

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/11/13/cop-gun-drug-charges-felon/18971761/

Sturgis police officer charged with being 'super drunk,' given 2-week suspension

By Rex Hall Jr. | rhall2@mlive.com 
Follow on Twitter 
on November 10, 2014 at 5:11 PM, updated November 10, 2014 at 5:12 PM

STURGIS, MI – Prosecutors are alleging a Sturgis police officer had a blood-alcohol level of more than twice the legal limit when he crashed his truck while off duty on Oct. 26, 2014, near Climax.

Bryan L. Stuck, 29, of Bronson, was charged Friday, Nov. 7, 2014, with one count each of operating a motor vehicle with a high blood-alcohol content of 0.17 percent or higher and operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, Kalamazoo County Prosecutor Jeff Getting said Monday.

The high BAC charge is a misdemeanor punishable by a maximum of six months in jail and a fine of $200 to $700, Getting said. The OWI charge is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 93 days in jail and a fine of $100 to $500.

A date for Stuck's arraignment in Kalamazoo County District Court had not been scheduled, as of Monday, Nov. 10, 2014.

Kalamazoo County sheriff's investigators have said previously that Stuck was driving at about 2 a.m. on Oct. 26 on 44^th Street near PQ Avenue when he crashed his pickup truck. Stuck, who was the lone occupant in the truck, was taken to a Kalamazoo hospital after the crash where he was treated and released.

Investigators have said Stuck was off duty at the time of the crash.

He was placed on paid leave by the Sturgis Police Department last month following the incident, pending results of the investigation by the sheriff's office, Sturgis Deputy Police Chief David Ives said at the time.

On Monday, Nov. 10, officials from the Sturgis Police Department said in a news release that Stuck has been suspended for two weeks following an internal investigation.

Officials said that Stuck informed the administration at the Sturgis Police & Fire Department following the crash that he was being investigated for drunk driving and that a blood test was performed on him at the hospital.

In addition to his suspension, officials said Stuck is taking part in mandatory counseling and that "a last chance agreement has been agreed to."

"The officer has been cooperative and forthright regarding this investigation both criminally and internally," Sturgis Public Safety Director Geoffrey Smith said in the news release.

Rex Hall Jr. is a public safety reporter for the Kalamazoo Gazette. You can reach him at rhall2@mlive.com. Follow him on Twitter.

http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2014/11/sturgis_police_officer_charged_1.html