Anything Smart: Projects: Good Cops Bad Cops

Showing posts with label Projects: Good Cops Bad Cops. Show all posts

Friday, May 4, 2018

Officer Delgado and the Pulse Nightclub Attack

Police officer Omar Delgado was on duty in Eatonville, Florida on the night of Sunday, June 12, 2016. He was responding to a disturbance about 2:00 AM when he heard a "signal 43" from Orlando. A signal 43 means "Rush! Officer needs help."

Delgado drove eight miles south expecting the emergency - whatever it was - would be over before he got there. But it wasn't. When he arrived at the Pulse nightclub shots were still being fired and victims were still in the building. The shooter would not be stopped for another three hours.

Officer Delgado went into the building with the 2^nd wave of responders and saw dozens of people lying on the floor. He assumed they were playing dead and he called out to them: "Hey, come on, get up! Let’s go! We have cover for you. Police! We’re here.”

As he called out, Delgado realized in horror that these people were not playing dead, they WERE dead. Or they were dying. As he watched, he saw some of the bodies start to twitch as the last thin threads of life gave way. "They didn't want to give up," he said. That terrible sight triggered months of nightmares.

A fellow officer who had served in Afghanistan said the horrors in the Pulse nightclub that night were worse than anything he saw in the war.

Bullets were still flying and the police were worried there might be a bomb in the club when Delgado went to work trying to identify and save the living. As he helped one woman escape he deliberately shone his light in her eyes so she wouldn't see the bloody bodies all around her.

One of the people he saved was Angel Colon who remembers: "He grabs my hand and says, ‘This is the only way I can take you out.' I’m grateful to him, but the floor is just covered with glass. He’s dragging me out while I was getting cut.” Angel asked Delgado to carry him instead. Colon said. “I just saw him, his size, his glasses, so I’m like, ‘Just help me, please.’”

When he couldn't save anyone else Delgado stood guard over the bodies. He saw some of the dead had terrible disfiguring wounds and felt like he had to stop that from happening to others. He guarded one woman about whom he said, "She was kind of my baby, per se, I was watching her. I knew she was gone."

At one point that evening Delgado sent a message to his children, letting them know he loved them, just in case. He finally left the scene at 9:00 AM.

Delgado suffered from PTSD-like symptoms for months after the attack. He found it difficult to sleep and felt panic whenever his cell phone rang. The sound reminded him of the phones of the victims ringing in the night club, the phones of the dead, the phones that would never be answered again.

Delgado tried to go back to work on the 4^th of July weekend after the attack but he had a flashback and could not continue. Since then he has been treated for nightmares and depression.

Unable to perform all of the normal duties of a police officer, and thus losing out on overtime, Delgado sought financial help from a GoFundMe account and also from the OneOrlando Fund which was set up to provide money to survivors of the Pulse night club attack. Unfortunately, that fund was only for people who were actually in the club when the shooting started so it did not provide any assistance to Officer Delgado.

Ultimately, Delgado lost his job just six months before he would have been fully vested in the pension plan. (According to one source he will receive a pension equal to 42% of his salary but that will only kick in 10 years from now.)

When Officer Delgado was called to risk his life to save people at the Pulse night club he did his duty. When his traumatic experiences left him needing help it seemed there was no help to be had.

For more information on Officer Delgado check the links below:

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/24/us/i-thought-they-were-playing-dead-officers-are-haunted-by-scene-at-orlando-club.html

http://abcnews.go.com/US/orlando-police-chief-describes-officers-heroic-actions-orlando/story?id=39934416

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/28/us/orlando-shooting-police.html

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/orlando-victim-hugs-hero-police-officer-pulled-safety-article-1.2677882

http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/17/health/beyond-the-call-delgado-orlando/index.html

http://lawofficer.com/exclusive/tale-two-stories/

http://abcnews.go.com/US/pulse-nightclub-hero-dismissed-police-department/story?id=51613661

https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/orlando-nightclub-massacre/police-officer-ptsd-pulse-massacre-loses-his-job-n827171

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[In this book shooting victim Gabby Giffords argues for responsible gun ownership.]

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Sunday, May 21, 2017

Good Cops and Bad Cops - Bad Georgia Cops Assault a Man in Public

What do we do when two police officers beat a man right out in public, in broad daylight, with no excuse?

Unfortunately, that's what we are going to have to find out in Gwinnett County, Georgia.

This barbaric incident occurred about 4:00 PM on Wednesday 12 April 2017 when Sergeant Michael Bongiovanni pulled over 21 year old Demetrius Hollins in Lawrenceville, just outside Atlanta.

According to the sources below Hollis was pulled over for a broken taillight and a missing license plate.

What should have been a simple, and non-violent, stop quickly spiraled out of control.

Bongiovanni ended up arresting Hollis and according to one of the sources below Hollis was tasered multiple times in the course of that arrest.

Master Police Officer Robert McDonald showed up to "help" his supervisor Bongiovanni and a witness got him on video running up to Hollis and stomping or kicking his head while the young man lay handcuffed on the ground.

To give credit to the Gwinnett County Police Department this video led to the firing of McDonald less than 24 hours after the incident.

Then a second video showed up and revealed what had happened a little earlier: Hollis came out of his car, with both hands in the air, and Bongiovanni punched him in the face!

Bongiovanni had never mentioned this punch in his report, and had claimed Hollis resisted arrest, so he was fired for lying.

The department quickly issued a statement: "We are fortunate that this second video was found and we were able to move swiftly to terminate a supervisor who lied and stepped outside of his training and state law."

The statement also says that the video: "...shows the man getting out of the car with both hands up. As he stands with his hands up, [Sergeant] Michael Bongiovanni strikes the man in the face."

Police Chief Butch Ayers added: "...there is literally no excuse for behavior like this" and "...that punch was unreasonable and unnecessary."

The department has now launched criminal investigations on both McDonald and Bongiovanni - and good for them! - that's exactly what they should do!

Bad cops cause pain and suffering and they need to be punished for that. Hollis described his encounter as "the scariest moment of my life."

Hollis's lawyer said "We want them to have to stand before a Gwinnett County judge in a courtroom full of Gwinnett County citizens, with their legs shackled and their hands cuffed behind their back."

There are so many good cops risking their lives to protect us. When we find bad cops like McDonald and Bongiovanni they need to be punished and made into examples.

This link has video of the attack:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/georgia-officials-dismiss-89-cases-linked-fired-officers/story?id=46819260

The video is also available here:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/second-georgia-cop-canned-after-violence-caught-on-video-during-arrest/

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/14/us/georgia-gwinnett-county-officers-fired-video-trnd/index.html

http://theinsidekorea.com/2017/04/16/georgia-cop-fired-for-stomping-handcuffed-black-man-in-the/

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[This is the original Good Cops and Bad Cops book. Check it out.]
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Sunday, April 16, 2017

Good Cops and Bad Cops - "Shot in the face, bleeding heavily."

During a deadly encounter in Chandler, Arizona, Officers Daniel Colwell, 29, and Joshua Pueblo, 34, proved themselves to be good cops who bravely and effectively eliminated a threat to themseleves and to the people around them.

The call, about a trespasser at a Walmart near Phoenix, came in at 6:21 AM. The intruder was 24-year-old Mitchell Oakley who had trespassed on previous occasions but always left before police arrived. On April 23, 2016 Oakely did not leave before police arrived - he waited.

According to one report Officer Colwell spoke with Oakely for several minutes before he started checking for active warrants. Then, as Officer Pueblo approached, Oakely pulled a gun and opened fire.

The shooting only lasted 10 seconds but that was enough for Officer Pueblo to be hit three times, in the arm, the back, and the face. Badly wounded, Pueblo retreated and called for help on his radio, "Help me, help me... shots fired... shot in the face, bleeding heavily." A Walmart employee helped Pueblo with paper towels.

In the meantime Officer Colwell was hit twice in his bullet-proof vest. From the floor the police officer returned fire, quickly hitting the fleeing Oakley five times. One shot hit Oakley in the hand and he dropped his gun, then turned back to pick it up, and died.

The tragedy of this story is that it might have been prevented. Oakley had gotten himself into legal trouble and did time in jail for theft, drugs, and attempted aggravated assault. At the time of the shooting he was depressed about being unemployed and living as a homeless person. His parents lived nearby but thought "tough-love" might help the troubled young man and only allowed him to spend nights at home occasionally.

At one point during his legal troubles the state had found Oakely incompetent to stand trial, unable to aid in his own defense. His mom said he was talking to himself and threatened to kill her. His parents unsuccessfully tried to persuade his probation officer to get mental health care for him.

Then Oakely bought a gun he found advertised on the internet for $200. His half-brother thought about taking the gun away from him, but didn't get around to it in time.

Whatever failures there may have been to prevent this incident, none of them reflect on the skill and courage of Officers Colwell and Pueblo. They were faced with a sudden life-threatening situation where an armed assailant tried to kill them and posed an obvious and imminent threat to everyone in the area. They did their job and they did it well. This is what good cops look like.

For more details, and video of the shooting, check out the links below.

Watch shocking moment....
(Includes video)

Chilling moment....
(Includes video)

10 deadly seconds....
(Includes video)

Suspect killed....

Suspect dead....

Fortunate he's with us....

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Friday, January 6, 2017

Bad Cop: Shooting "the perfect dog"

From the press accounts I've read recently about Officer Michael Cruse of Topeka, Kansas he sounds like a real bull in a china shop kind of guy.

In March 2001 he was injured in an accident with his patrol car that also injured four other people.

In April 2002 he was responding to a burglar alarm when he raced through a stop sign, smashed into a pickup truck, and killed 61-year-old Leonard Porter. Cruse was sentenced to one year in jail for involuntary manslaughter but served only 30 days.

While he was still on probation for this killing Cruse was rehired by the Topeka Police Department in 2003.

Officer Cruse got back into the news on July 13, 2015 when he responded to another burglar alarm, this time at the home of retired Shawnee County District Judge Jim Macnish, his wife Harriet, and their dog Josie.

Josie was a 26-pound miniature Pinscher-boxer mix who had lived with the Macnishes for six years. Harriette called Josie "the perfect dog" and said "she was wonderful, and she loved us."

Cruse went into the backyard to look for signs of a break in and Josie, as good dogs do, came running and barking toward the uniformed intruder who proceeded to shoot her dead.

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If you want to support "Anything Smart" just click on book links like the one below to buy your books. "Anything Smart" will receive a commission. Thanks!]

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According to Cruse he had been in danger and needed to defend himself. “I attempted to place time and distance between the dog and myself by running backwards. The dog continued to aggressively run toward me to attack…I…shot the dog 2 times effectively ending the imminent attack”

A heart-broken Harriette held her lifeless pet in her arms for half an hour. Acording to one account Harriette wonders how often Topeka police officers shoot pets and why Cruse is still on the force after his involvement in a vehicular homicide. These are good questions.

As one commentator wrote: "How is it that postal workers, delivery drivers, and door to door salesmen can fend off dogs on a daily basis without killing them but police officers cannot?" More good questions.

I am sure there are thousands of times a day when a little dog runs toward someone barking. The vast majority of the time this happens people hold out their hands and speak to the dog and everything turns out fine.

We need more cops who show restraint and try to defuse situations. We need to get rid of cops whose first instinct is to kill.

Cruse has been involved in at least three incidents now where people or a little dog were injured or killed. That seems like enough evidence to conclude he is a bad cop and needs to find a new line of work.

Check out the links below for more details on this sad incident.

http://www.dogingtonpost.com/police-officers-kills-26-pound-miniature-pinscher-mix-in-backyard-shooting/
http://www.wibw.com/home/headlines/TPD-claims-shooting-former-Judges-dog-was-justified-320591252.html
http://cjonline.com/news/2015-08-03/topeka-police-officer-fatally-shoots-retired-judges-dog-his-backyard?page=2 (This link includes a graphic video of the shooting.)
http://www.punkrocklibertarians.com/body-cam-shows-cop-backyard-shoot-kill-familys-small-dog/ (This link includes a graphic video of the shooting.)
http://www.dogingtonpost.com/police-officers-kills-26-pound-miniature-pinscher-mix-in-backyard-shooting/
http://www.copblock.org/134806/topeka-cop-kills-again/

Monday, January 2, 2017

Good Cop: Better Get Small

This post originally appeared on my old Good Cops and Bad Cops blog on 14-September-2015. And now it's here.

Fifty-one year old Lieutenant Brian Murphy was a 21 year veteran of the Oak Creek, Wisconsin police department. He had served in the Marine Corps for five years before that. At 10:25 AM on 5 August 2012 Murphy heard the report over his radio of possible shots fired at a local Sikh temple. Arriving at the scene first, he parked his car sideways for cover and tried to unlatch his AR-15 rifle but it wouldn't come loose.

Murphy saw two victims on the ground and moved closer to see if he could help. When he got within 10 feet he could see the victims were already dead and he decided to make another attempt to get his AR-15.

As Murphy turned back to his car he saw the shooter running for a truck. The shooter was Wade Michael Page an ex-GI and a neo-nazi who played in racist rock bands. Murphy yelled for Page to stop and the murderer raised his gun. They both fired at the same time from 30-40 yards. Murphy missed and took a bullet in the chin that also tore up his larynx.

Murphy lost sight of the shooter and got behind his car. The killer circled around and opened fire again. Murphy got hit in the thumb and thought, "Man that's gonna leave a mark." He was hit in the thigh and the upper arm and thought, "Better get small."

Murphy tried to crawl away and got hit in the back of his bullet proof vest. He remembered, "It got very quiet. It got nice and warm. Cozy. I started closing my eyes for a second." Then he decided, "I'm not going out like this. I'm not gonna let my wife down. I'm not gonna let my daughter down."

Murphy crawled some more while Page reloaded and opened fire again. Murphy was hit in the back of the arm, the back of the leg, the back of his skull and he thought, "Jesus Christ, are you ever going to run out of bullets?"

As Page drew even closer, maybe as close as six feet, Murphy thought, "If he gets close enough, there's a knife in your pocket. Stab his ass. Kill the son of a bitch," and then, "My wife is gonna be so mad. We had a vacation to the Florida Keys coming up in less than two weeks."

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[This looks like a book I will enjoy reading. If you beat me to it please send me a review I can publish here at AnythingSmart.

If you want to support "Anything Smart" just click on book links like the one below to buy your books. "Anything Smart" will receive a commission. Thanks!]

***

More cops finally arrived, Page was shot by one of them, and then killed himself in the parking lot.

As fellow officers rushed up to help Murphy he waved them off; with at least eight bullet wounds from a 9mm pistol he was bleeding heavily but he waved them off and tried, with his shattered voice, to send them into the Temple to help the victims inside where six people had been murdered.

"As they approached him, he waved them off and told them to go into the temple to assist those wounded there," Police Chief Edwards said.

“He could walk through walls, that guy,” his Dad said. “It’s terrible he had to take all those bullets, but he was helping people who were in real trouble.”

Murphy was later honored by a Sikh group who said, "We are highly grateful to him for his sacrifice and exemplary service to law and order and providing protection to all citizens of Oak Creek, including the members of the Sikh community in Wisconsin."

For putting his life on the line and for putting the safety of others ahead of his own we honor Lieutenant Brian Murphy as a very good cop.

For more information click on the links below.

Thursday, December 29, 2016

Good Cops and Bad Cops: "Lying on the Ground"

This was originally posted on another blog on August 30, 2015. And now it's here.

Seventeen year old Laquan McDonald had a juvenile record but was trying to turn his life around. He got a job and enrolled at a local high school in Chicago. On the evening of 20 October 2014, though, something went wrong. He took PCP and went out to steal from vehicles at a trucking yard.

The police responded to a call at 9:45 PM. They ordered Laquan to drop the knife he was using to slash tires. He ignored their orders and walked away. The police followed him through a Burger King parking lot and out onto a busy street waiting for a taser to arrive.

According to the official account a second patrol car showed up and Laquan again refused to drop his knife. The police tried using their cars to box him in against a construction fence but he punctured a tire, damaged a windshield, and escaped back out onto the street.

The police now got out of their vehicles, Laquan lunged at them, and one of the officers was forced to shoot him in the chest. He was pronounced dead at 10:42 PM.

This police version of events was simple and believable. NBC called it a "clear-cut case of self-defense. From the beginning though, eyewitness accounts contradicted the police version of events.

Alma Benitez said the police had the situation under control and had no need to shoot Laquan. Another witness said Laquan was "shying away" from police when he was shot, not lunging toward them. One witness described the shooting as an execution.

After the shooting police officers visited the nearby Burger King and examined the security video. When the Independent Police Review Authority tried to view this video the next day they found it erased.

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[This looks like a book I will enjoy reading. If you beat me to it please send me a review I can publish here at AnythingSmart.

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***

The medical examiner's report raised more questions. The police said Laquan was shot in the chest. The Medical Examiner said he died of multiple gun shot wounds. When the autopsy report was finally released four months later the public learned that Laquan had been shot 16 times. Nine of these 16 shots struck Laquan from behind and nine had a downward trajectory, suggesting Laquan was on the ground when at least those were fired.

The dash cam video from the fatal night has not been released but it was finally viewed by attorney's for the family in February 2015. Their description of the video differs markedly from the police story.

According to them the officer who shot Laquan opened fire moments after arriving on the scene. Laquan spun and fell into a fetal position with the first shot. After that, the officer just kept shooting. Family attorney Michael Robbins says "You can see in the video as he is lying on the ground, that he is being shot."

The video allegedly shows the shots fired from 12-15 feet away. Contrary to the police story the video does not show Laquan "lunging" toward officers but rather walking away at the time he was shot.

This description seems to be supported by the fact that, after reviewing the video, the City Council unanimously agreed to pay the family $5,000,000 to avoid a Federal lawsuit. One of the conditions of the settlement is that lawyers for the family are not allowed to release the video to the public.

The officer who shot Laquan is Jason Van Dyke. In the past he has been accused of using racial epithets, manhandling suspects, and pointing a gun at a suspect without justification. Van Dyke said he feared for his life that night, but none of the other five officers present fired.

The currently available evidence seems adequate to conclude that Van Dyke is a bad cop who shot too soon and too often.

For more information click on the links below.

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Friday, December 23, 2016

Good Cops and Bad Cops: "Please be alive...."

This story was originally posted on another blog on 1-August-2015. And now it's here.

It happened in the pre-dawn hours of a southern Saturday morning. Corporal Adam Willis, a 10 year veteran of the Mount Pleasant, South Carolina police department, was out on patrol. He got a call about a car engulfed in flames near Vickery's Bar and Grill on Shrimp Boat Lane and immediately accelerated in that direction to help.

As Willis pulled into the parking lot his dash cam captured the burning car, the whole front end covered in fire. He came to a stop, grabbed his fire extinguisher, and ran toward the burning vehicle. He later said he was thinking "please be alive, don't be dead." In a subsequent interview with Fox and Friends Willis said he didn't really think about the danger, he just focused on the job.

As Willis approached the car the flames were so intense that he couldn't see inside. He used the extinguisher to drive the fire back and then saw an arm gripping the steering wheel. Willis later explained to an interviewer: "When you're in those kind of situations, there's really not much time to have emotion or to think about too much. Like I said, I went in there with a mindset that I was going to make sure there was no one in the vehicle. Once there was somebody, my mindset then went to: I gotta get him out of the vehicle."

[This looks like a great book about good cops catching bad cops. If you read it before I do please send me a review I can publish here at AnythingSmart.

If you want to support AnythingSmart just click on book links like the one below to buy your books. AnythingSmart will receive a commission. Thanks!]

The 27 year old in the driver's seat was unconscious. Fortunately, the door was ajar so Willis pulled it open and grabbed the occupant by the arm yelling "Get out!, Get out!" The man regained consciousness and, with Willis's help, got out of the car and ran for safety.

When firefighters arrived they told Willis that if he had been just one or two minutes later the story might have had a very different – and tragic – end.

The young man was heavily intoxicated and was taken to a hospital as a precaution. He was released an hour later.

Willis summed up what he did in a later interview: "There was nothing else going through my mind. Our training... you have these critical incidents that require just a bunch of adrenaline. It's more of a reactionary thing and that's exactly what I went through," and "That's part of loving the job – is being able to help people."

Corporal Adam Willis did a great job. He saw a dangerous situation and ran straight into it. When he realized someone needed help, he was there to provide that help. Adam Willis is one of our good cops.

For more information – and for video of the fiery rescue - click on the links below.

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Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Good Cops and Bad Cops: "Who is supposed to help?"

This was first published on 18-July-2015 on another blog. And now it's here.

On 26 January 2015 Charlena Michelle Cooks – 8 months pregnant – was trying to get her 2^nd grade daughter to school on time in Barstow, California. According to a school employee who honked at her, Crooks was driving too fast in the parking lot. The employee said Cooks responded by screaming and punching the employee's car.

A responding officer told her that, with no damage to her car, no crime had been committed. He said he would talk to the other lady and get her name, though he never asked the employee for her name.

After a short conversation with Cooks the officer asked for her name and she refused to give it. She took out her phone to call her boyfriend to find out if had to give her name or not. The officer told Cooks, "I have every right to ask you for your name."

The officer said he would give Cooks two minutes to finish her phone call. He must have changed his mind because within 30 seconds he grabbed Cooks, pushed her down onto the ground, and, with his partner's help, handcuffed her.

As the police grabbed Cooks she cried out, "Don't touch me!" As they pushed her onto the ground, on her stomach, Cooks screamed, "Please! I'm pregnant. Please stop this."

One officer asks her, "Why are you resisting?" and I can hear Cooks say on the video, "Because you're stupid." Actually that's a pretty good answer. According to an attorney from the ACLU, "Even if an officer is conducting an investigation, in California, unlike some other states, he can't just require a person to provide ID for no reason."

Coincidentally, the Barstow Police Department was just settling a case where they had arrested two brothers for refusing to identify themselves. The Department had to make a cash payment and do retraining which included instructing officers that people are almost never required to provide ID unless they are driving a vehicle.

When Cooks was charged, it was only with resisting arrest. If you get arrested, and the only charge is resisting arrest, something is obviously wrong. Somebody must have realized that Cooks did not have to provide ID and therefore could not be charged with that, after all. When she went before a judge even the resisting arrest charge was thrown out.

So it would seem the arresting officer WAS stupid. Stupid enough to win a place in our bad cops category. He didn't understand the law, he didn't understand (or was not aware) of the retraining his department was forced to conduct, once the arrest was made he couldn't come up with anything illegal Cooks had done before the arrest, and, finally, what he did charge her with, was thrown out by the judge.

Later Cooks said, "I don't think I've ever been that terrified in my life.... I told him I was pregnant so he could proceed with caution. That didn't happen and the first thing I thought was I didn't want to fall to the ground. I felt the pressure on my stomach from falling and I was calling for help. But these guys are supposed to help me. But who is supposed to help me when they are attacking me?"

Cooks gave birth to a daughter on 30 March. The baby seems healthy but will be monitored to ensure she did not suffer any injury during her pre-natal encounter with the Barstow police department.

For more information click on the links below.

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Thursday, December 1, 2016

Good Cops and Bad Cops, "Straight Into Danger"

This post was originally published on another blog on 12 July 2015. And now it's here.

On the evening of 3 May 2015 the American Freedom Defense Initiative, or AFDI – listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an anti-Muslim group - held a "Draw Muhammad" contest in the Dallas suburb of Garland, Texas. The event was located at a local school arena called the Curtis Culwell Center.

The contest offered a $10,000 prize for the "best" cartoon depicting Muhammad. These drawings are considered blasphemous by many Muslims. Underlining the AFDI's intent to be offensive, one of the speakers at the event was the anti-Muslim Dutch politician Geert Wilders. Because of the controversial nature of the event the AFDI reportedly spent $10,000 on extra security. There were private security guards, 40 police officers, and representatives of state and federal law enforcement agencies at the scene.

Regrettably, two men from North Phoenix, Arizona did decide to attack the event and drove 1100 miles to do so. Their car was loaded with three assault rifles, three pistols, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. FBI investigators later learned these men had prepared and practiced for this attack for months before it took place.

The attack occurred at 7:00 PM local time. The shooters drove up to a barricade in a dark-colored car, got out wearing body armor and carrying assault rifles, and opened fire on a security guard and a police officer standing next to a police car. The guard, Bruce Joiner, was quickly wounded in the ankle.

[Sadly, not all cops are good. If you read this book before I do please send me a review I can publish here at AnythingSmart.]

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The police officer, who was later reported to be a traffic officer, 60 years old, with 30 years of experience on the force, returned fire with his Glock duty pistol and was able to at least wound both of the men shooting at him. According to later analysis of photographs it appears the officer fired about a dozen rounds while steadily advancing on the shooters, starting about 20 yards out and ending up within 10 yards of where the attackers died.

An eyewitness named Cynthia Belisle said dozens of cops sprang into action. The heroic traffic officer was quickly supported by a 4-member SWAT team that fired dozens of additional rounds until it was obvious the attackers were dead next to their car.

Police spokesman Joe Harn spoke about the first officer to respond, "He did what he was trained to do. Under the fire that he was put under, he did a very good job. And probably saved lives.... His reaction, and his shooting with a pistol, he did a good job."

Several days after the attack the police chief praised all the officers involved "who put their own lives at great risk."

The anonymous traffic officer hero of Garland deserves our respect and thanks. Sadly, security concerns in our dangerous world, have prevented his name from being released. Even though we don't know this officer's name we can still recognize his great courage and service. When the security guard next to him went down, and the bullets were flying, and he was alone for those first few deadly seconds - he returned accurate fire, and apparently advanced streadily straight into danger until the attackers were down and the hundreds of people people counting on him were safe.

This traffic officer in Garland, Texas is a good cop.

For more information click on the links below:

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Good Cops and Bad Cops: The NYPD Tapes, "They Came and Got Me"

[This was originally posted on another blog on 30 June 2015. And now it's here.]

What if you knew that senior police officials were breaking the law? What if you gathered evidence against them by recording their conversations? What if they found out what you were doing, then showed up at your apartment, arrested you, and had you locked up in a mental hospital?

That's what happened to New York City Police Officer Adrian Schoolcraft in 2009. And that's the story told in Graham A. Rayman's book: The NYPD Tapes: A Shocking Story of Cops, Cover-ups, and Courage.

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Schoolcraft started his police career in 2002 and did pretty well until Steven Mauriello took over the 81^st Precinct in October 2006. Mauriello used a "...hands-on, numbers- and productivity-focused approach that was favored by ambitious commanders in the era of CompStat." CompStat was the NYPD's computerized system for tracking the crime rate in every precinct, and the "activity" of every police officer, in the city.

Naturally, if Precinct Commanders are judged by CompStat, they are going to do everything possible to keep police "activity" up and crime down – or at least give the appearance this is happening. Schoolcraft's ratings started to suffer as he resisted the pressure to increase "activity" by arresting innocent people and "reduce" crime by falsifying reports.

One technique used to increase "activity" in the 81^st Precinct was called a "Mauriello Special" – find people loitering on street corners and arrest them all. Even if no crime had been committed these arrestees would be held for a few hours and then released. This counted for police "activity" in CompStat and would look good on Mauriello's job reviews.

To keep crime down cops were pressured to deliberately falsify reports. When a man named Timothy Covel was attacked and robbed the police wrote it up as "lost property." This same type of corruption was happening not just in Schoolcraft's 81^st Precinct but also all over the city. Rayman provides numerous examples from other precincts.

One of the most horrifying cases was exposed by a retired Detective First Grade Harold Hernandez who arrested a sexual predator named Daryl Thomas in 2002. Hernandez discovered that many of Thomas's earlier crimes had been falsely reported as misdemeanors. This hid the pattern of what was really going on, delayed Thomas's arrest, and caused more women to suffer attacks – all to keep the "official" crime rate down in CompStat so Precinct Commanders would look good.

It was in this corrupt environment that Adrian Schoolcraft collected 1000 hours of recorded conversations documenting the crimes being committed against the people of New York by the very police department sworn to protect them. When the department finally became aware what Schoolcraft was up to they tried various means to pressure or discredit him. Most frighteningly, on 31 October 2009, they arrested him in his apartment and then had him held in a mental hospital for six days against his will.

One morning while he was there a doctor asked Schoolcraft, "Do you feel they are coming after you?" and he answered, "Well, they did. They came and got me."

This book could have been better edited; there are occasional errors that should have been caught and corrected before publication. The story is dramatic enough however, and important enough, to over-ride these small problems. This is a very important book about how a large police department can become corrupt and turn into the enemy of the people it was meant to serve. This is a book that should be read by every citizen of the United States.

Friday, November 18, 2016

Good Cops and Bad Cops: "My back was hurting bad"

This was originally posted on another blog on June 25, 2015. And now it's here.

On Friday, 5 June 2015, a pool party in Mckinney, Texas, got out of control. Uninvited guests showed up who climbed over a fence to get into the party and then refused to leave. A security guard called police who showed up about 7:15 PM.

The police response started out fine. Video shows a police officer speaking politely to young people at the scene. He advises them not to run when police show up and thanks them for returning a flashlight one of the officers had dropped. Then Corporal Eric Casebolt arrives - patrol supervisor, and 10-year veteran on the force – and the situation goes from calm and professional to violent and outrageous. As Police Chief Greg Conley later said of Casebolt, "He came into the call out of control, and as the video shows, was out of control during the incident."

Casebolt shouted, cursed, threw a teenage girl in a bikini down onto concrete, then threw her down again on a lawn and kneeled on her back. He pulled his gun when teenagers rushed forward to protest his abuse of the girl.

Her name was Dajerria Becton and she said, "He grabbed me, twisted my arm on my back and shoved me in the grass and started pulling the back of my braids." Adding: "I was telling him to get off me because my back was hurting bad."

Casebolt had to go quite far to get Becton and drag her back, since she was already leaving the scene as ordered. According to the teenager who took the video, Brandon Brooks, "I think she was 'running her mouth,' and she has freedom of speech, and that was very uncalled for him to throw her to the ground."

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Becton was detained briefly and then released to her parents with no charges against her. Only one person was ultimately arrested and the charges against him were later dropped. By Tuesday morning, four days after the incident, the video of Casebolt going berserk had been viewed 9,000,000 times on the internet. That same evening his resignation was announced.

Police Chief Greg Conley spoke on Tuesday. He made no effort to defend Casebolt, instead describing his actions as "indefensible." "Our policies, our training, our practice, do not support his actions," the Chief said, and, "I had 12 officers on the scene, and 11 of them performed according to their training. They did an excellent job."

Casebolt's lawyer, Jane Bishkin, spoke on Wednesday when she said Casebolt had been stressed by earlier calls that day, especially two suicide cases. She said Casebolt "allowed his emotions to get the better of him." On his behalf, she apologized to all involved. Casebolt has received death threats since the incident and has hidden in an undisclosed location.

We can all sympathize with Casebolt for having a stressful day. We cannot condone his later abuse and violence against innocent people as a result of that stress. We can all condemn the death threats against Casebolt. We can also say that, on that Friday night in Texas, at that pool party police were called to, at that time and place where professionalism was needed, Eric Casebolt was a bad cop!

For more information click on the links below:

Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Good Cops and Bad Cops: "Without a moment's hesitation...."

This post was originally published on my old Good Cops and Bad Cops blog on 6-June-2015. And now it's here.

(This originally appeared on another blog on 6-June-2015.)

On Sunday 6 April 2014 NYPD officers Dennis Guerra and Rosa Rodriguez responded to a 911 call about a fire at 2007 Surf Avenue, Coney Island. When they got to the 18 story building they went straight up to the 13^th floor in the elevator. They were overwhelmed by smoke and carbon monoxide almost immediately after the elevator doors opened.

The two officers barely had time to call for help on their radio before the toxic fumes knocked them out. According to newspaper accounts Guerra's last words may have been "Can't breathe! Can't breathe! Can't see!" Moments later the officers were rescued by fire fighters who found them unconscious.

Guerra and Rodriguez were both hospitalized in critical condition. Rodriguez gradually recovered but Guerra died a few days later at 6:50 AM on Wednesday 9 April 2014. Guerra was a 38 year old father of four with seven years on the NYPD Housing Bureau. Rodriguez was a single mom, also of four, with four years on the force.

These two officers, Dennis Guerra and Rosa Rodriguez, were good cops who did exactly what good cops are supposed to do – when people were in danger, they rushed to help, even at risk to their own lives.

A resident of the building where the officers were overcome said, "It hurts that two police officers came here to save our lives and they are the ones getting hurt."

Commissioner Bill Bratton said, "Police officer Guerra gave his life trying to save others and that is the ultimate selfless act."

Mayor Bill de Blasio's comments included, "We had a very brave police officer Dennis Guerra who did something that most of us wouldn't understand how to do. He went towards those in danger no matter the risk to him.... He went selflessly toward the flames... Without a heartbeat's hesitation, he and officer Rosa Rodriguez did what so many wouldn't have had the courage to do."

Thanks to Guerra and Rodriguez for showing us an example of good cops in action.

For more information click on the links below:

Copyright © 2016 by Joseph Wayne Gadway

***

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Monday, July 4, 2016

Good Cops and Bad Cops: "You Promised You Wouldn't Hurt Me!"

This post first appeared on my old Good Cops and Bad Cops blog on 2-June-2015. And now it's here.

On 8 February 2015 Natasha McKenna, a 37 year old mother of a 7 year old girl, died in Virginia. The cause of death was "excited delirium associated with physical restraint including use of a conductive energy device."

In other words, a woman who was mentally ill was handcuffed and shackled and tasered multiple times to make her compliant. And then her heart stopped. How did this happen?

On 15 January Alexandria police got a report of a woman being disruptive near a Hertz Rental Car location. Six officers arrived and subdued McKenna with the help of pepper spray after she punched one of them in the face. These cops did the right thing after the the struggle was over when they got this troubled woman to a hospital, instead of taking her to jail.

Unfortunately, a felony warrant was later issued for McKenna for punching the officer. A psychotic episode was now a crime. Out of the hospital on 26 January Mckenna was picked up again and this time ended up in Fairfax County jail.

More than a week later, on the morning of 3 February, Fairfax County Sheriff's deputies prepared to move McKenna to Alexandria where she had "assaulted" the officer. She agreed to cooperate and allowed herself to be handcuffed, but then she began to struggle, crying out, "You promised you wouldn't hurt me!"

Six Emergency Response Team members wearing white biohazard suits and gas masks worked for 20 minutes to get McKenna fully restrained. When they were done she was in handcuffs hobbled to leg shackles and wearing a mask to prevent biting.

Next, deputies tried to strap Mckenna into a restraint chair. She wouldn't bend her legs so one of the deputies punched her knees repeatedly. Finally, one of the deputies shot her four times with a taser. This in spite of the fact that tasers are not supposed to be used in cases of excited delirium, or more than three times in quick succession.

The shocks apparently disabled her enough so she could be strapped into the chair, but when deputies got her to the entrance for transportation, a nurse noticed she wasn't breathing and had no pulse. The nurse called an ambulance and deputies began CPR. McKenna's heart started beating again 20 minutes later on the way to the hospital. She stopped breathing at least three more times, once for 5 minutes. Five days later, she died.

As criminologist and former San Jose Police Officer Ron Martinelli said "You need to treat that prisoner like a patient, not a suspect. She is already restrained, why don't you let her calm down?"

McKenna was mentally ill and, in her final moments, she was distraught and needed help. But she didn't get help. Instead she got shackled and punched and shocked over and over again until her heart stopped. The people who did that to her were bad cops.

For more information click on the links below:

Copyright © 2016 by Joseph Wayne Gadway

***

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Thursday, April 21, 2016

Good Cops and Bad Cops: "I Don't Want to Shoot You"

This was first posted at my old Good Cops and Bad Cops Blog on 23-May-2015.

On Thursday 16 April 2015 Police Officer Jesse Kidder of New Richmond, Ohio faced a potentially dangerous situation confronting a man already suspected of two murders on that same day. Kidder's body cam, given to him as a gift by a family member, allows us to see what happened, almost through his eyes.

On the video we can see the suspect getting out of his car and rushing back toward Kidder's car. Kidder then exits his vehicle, aims his gun at the suspect, and then retreats down the street to give himself some time and space and to avoid shooting.

Kidder can be heard saying, "Get your hands up," and "Stop right there," and "I don't want to shoot you," but the suspect keeps coming.

The suspect even escalates the tension by putting his hands in his pockets to make it appear his going to draw a weapon and shouting "Shoot me! Shoot me!" Kidder keeps his gun aimed but refuses to shoot saying, "No man I'm not gonna do it."

Near the end of the video, Kidder loses his footing and falls down and the suspect is almost on him and still Kidder holds his fire. Finally backup arrives and the suspect gives up, raising his hands and then laying face down on the street.

With about one year in his current job Kidder is new to the police but he is not new to stressful situations. He did two tours of duty in Iraq as a Marine and earned a Purple Heart there.

After the incident Kidder said that he had tried to open a dialogue with the suspect and added "Law enforcement officers all across the nation deal with split-second decisions that mean life or death. I wanted to be absolutely sure before I used deadly force."

Kidder's boss, Chief Randy Harvey, said, "For him to make the judgment call he did show[s] great restraint and maturity."

It turned out the suspect had no weapon on him. Kidder had a good idea of this while the incident occurred. Even in the stress of the moment he noticed that the suspect's jacket pockets were not sagging which led him to believe there was no gun in either of those pockets.

Kidder did a great job and deserves great praise. He was observant, alert, and courageous. He helped capture a dangerous suspect without use of excessive force. Most of all he showed an admirable attitude – the desire to avoid deadly force unless absolutely necessary.

Thank you Jesse Kidder for giving an example of courageous and highly competent police work in under extremely stressful circumstances.

For more information click on the links below:

Copyright © 2016 by Joseph Wayne Gadway

***

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Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Stopping a Hatchet Wielding Assailant

There is no reason a rational human being cannot be both pro-gun and pro-gun control. The positions are not mutually exclusive.

Gun control does not have to mean banning guns, or taking guns away from law-abiding citizens. It can and should mean trying to keep them out of the hands of people who would misuse them.

The link below leads to a story about a good man with a good gun who did a good job defending himself and a store owner from a hatchet wielding assailant. We need gun control laws that make sure people like this keep their guns.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/03/14/concealed-weapon-owner-shoots-hatchet-wielding-attacker-in-wash-7-eleven/

The link below leads to a story about armed robbers who terrorized people in broad daylight. We need to find out how these criminals got guns and then figure out how to plug those holes. We need gun control laws that can stop people like this from getting guns. Or at least make it more difficult for them.
http://abc13.com/news/video-brazen-armed-robbery-in-n-houston/1244715/

Help good people and hinder bad people. That's what laws are supposed to do. Gun control laws should be no different.

Copyright © 2016 by Joseph Wayne Gadway

***

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Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Good Cops and Bad Cops: A Predator and a Panicky Cop

[Note: This was originally published on another blog 29-April-2014.]

The Good....

Last January police in Portland, Oregon were hunting Kelly Swoboda who was a suspect in three bank robberies.

Swoboda turned even more dangerous when he kidnapped a 23 year old woman from a tanning salon, beat her with the butt of his pistol, stuffed her into his van, and bound her ankles and wrists with duct tape. Somehow the young woman managed to get the van door open and tumble out into the street as her attacker drove away.

Evidence suggests Swoboda then stocked his van with supplies to prevent the escape of future captives: chains attached to the floor, ropes, and zip-locks. He watched and followed women, taking careful notes on their appearance, where and when he spotted them and, in some cases, their license plate numbers.

By March there were numerous reports of a suspicious van following female students near Wilson High School.

It was this suspicious van that Portland police officer John Romero and two colleagues were investigating on March 12 when Romero saw Swoboda watching and then walking quickly away.

Romero followed the suspect and repeatedly ordered him to stop and take his hands out of his pockets. When Swoboda finally did take his hands out of his pockets one of them was holding a gun and he opened fire on Romero wounding him on the hand.

Romero stayed on his feet and focused on his job, returning fire and killing Swoboda with a bullet to the chest.

Based on all the evidence pieced together before and after the shooting it is clear that Swoboda was a dangerous predator who would have attacked more women if given the chance. Officer Romero's professionalism, courage, and skill ensured that he would never get that chance.

John Romero is a good cop!

For more details check out the links below:

http://koin.com/2014/04/25/im-hero-swoboda-killer-john-romero-says/

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2014/04/detectives_found_evidence_fugi.html

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2014/03/portland_police_shooting_kelly.html

The Bad....

Officer Randall Kerrick shot and killed unarmed Jonathan Ferrell with 10 shots to the chest and arms on September 14, 2013.

Ferrell had wrecked his car shortly after midnight and was apparently searching for help. As he pounded on one door the frightened woman inside called the police to report a man trying to break in.

Ferrell left that house and soon encountered Kerrick and two other officers responding to the call. As Ferrell approached the officers one of them shot him with a taser, one or more of them shouted orders to get on the ground, and then Kerrick - 27 years old with three years on the force - shot him dead.

The Charlotte - Mecklenburg (North Carolina) police department almost immediately ruled the shooting unlawful and arrested Kerrick. Police Chief Rodney Monroe said that even if Ferrell had continued to advance after being ordered to the ground that would still not have justified the use of deadly force.

Kerrick is now facing a criminal charge of voluntary manslaughter and also a civil lawsuit filed by Ferrell's family. Whatever the outcome of those trials may be Kerrick's shooting of an unarmed man who was searching for help after a car accident was ethically and morally wrong.

Randall Kerrick was a bad cop.

For more details check out the links below:
http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/27/us/north-carolina-police-shooting/

http://newsone.com/2853047/former-cop-randall-kerrick-indicted-in-fatal-shooting-of-unarmed-jonathan-ferrell/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mari-fagel/jonathan-ferrell-attorney_b_4676681.html

Copyright © 2016 by Joseph Wayne Gadway

***

This is a great book about a good cop. I want to reread it soon. If you get to it before I do please send a review I can publish here.

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Good Cops and Bad Cops: Saving From Fire and Beating the Deaf

[Note: This was originally published on another blog Friday, April 18, 2014]

#1: One good :-), Four Bad :-(

The Good...

While on routine patrol the night of January 28, 2014 Austin Miller of the Columbia Borough Police Department in Lancaster County Pennsylvania smelled smoke.

When he identified the house that was on fire Miller was able to rouse and evacuate five people, including a baby. As the flames spread toward a neighboring home Miller roused two people there as well - two people who had no idea they were in danger.

This is a great example of an alert, decisive, and courageous police officer saving seven people from possible injury or death. Great job!
Austin Miller
you are a good cop! Thank you for your service.

For more details click on the two links below:

http://lancasteronline.com/news/local/police-officer-s-heroic-efforts-save-from-columbia-fire/article_760519e4-8931-11e3-9630-0017a43b2370.html?mode=story

http://fox43.com/2014/01/31/columbia-police-officer-saves-two-familes-from-fire/#axzz2zHnWrCd9

The Bad...

Jonathan Meister has a Master's Degree in Architecture and had never been arrested before February 13, 2013. On that day he was picking up some belongings from his ex-roommate's back porch when officers from the Hawthorne (California) Police Department showed up to investigate the "suspicious" activity.

Now as it happens Meister cannot speak or hear so he tried to explain what he was doing using gestures and sign language. Apparently the police interpreted this as threatening behavior so they shot their victim with a taser, threw him on the ground, punched, kicked, and choked him, and finally handcuffed him and arrested him for assaulting them!

Meister has now filed a lawsuit over this incident and we will have to wait and see how that turns out. However, when an innocent man who is harming no one is tasered, handcuffed, and arrested I don't think we have to wait to pass ethical and moral judgment.

This one seems like a pretty easy call:
Jeffrey Salmon
Jeffrey Tysl
Erica Bristow
Mark Hultgren
you are bad cops! Please find some other line work....

Read further details by clicking on the links below:

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2014/02/17/police-beat-stun-deaf-man-after-confusing-sign-language-with-threatening-gestures/

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/lawsuit-hawthorne-police-allegedly-beat-deaf-man-245916161.html

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/california-cops-taser-deaf-man-unconscious-communicate-article-1.1618103

Copyright © 2016 by Joseph Wayne Gadway

***

This looks like a good book about a bad cop. If you read it before I do please send a review I can publish here.

If you want to support "Anything Smart" just click on book links like the one below to buy your books. "Anything Smart" will receive a commission. Thanks!