Had some difficulties tracking reports today unfortunately, work required me to install an approved operating system build so my laptop was out of commission for half of the day and I couldn’t do any scans until I was on the bus home. Wednesdays tend to be one of our more busy days, on average netting over 20 reports, sometimes over 30. I did what I could to try and catch up, but…

Here are the 14 reports of police misconduct we tracked in our National Police Misconduct News Feed for this Wednesday, October 20, 2010:

• Westchester County NY police are accused of using excessive force on three Pace University football players who tried to help their friend when he was shot by police but left without medical care for about 15 minutes to die while cuffed.  [3]

• St Louis MO police officer has been sentenced to probation for shooting a man in the chest who was actually trying to come to his aid during a fight outside of an Illinois bar. [0]

• Richmond County GA deputy arrested on a sexual assault on a person in custody charge on allegations that he forced a woman to strip under threat of arrest during a traffic stop then caressed her thigh in front of her boyfriend. [0]

• Provo UT police officer is under investigation on allegations that he held a gun to his girlfriend’s head while he was on-duty after an argument. [1]

• Atlanta GA police officer was charged with reckless conduct, but not arrested, after pointing an assault rifle at people in bar while in plain clothes and not identifying himself as an officer. It’s not clear if he was on or off duty at the time. [3]

• Saltville VA police officer is the subject of a lawsuit filed by a family alleging false arrest & excessive force over an incident that was videotaped and allegedly moved a  judge to apologized to the family for their mistreatment when he saw it. [3]

• Platteville WI police officer has pled guilty to maintaining a drug house to support her crack habit that including reports of her using while in uniform. She allowed dealers to store cocaine at her home. [0]

• Bristol CT police officer has been suspended after his department found out about a battery and a felony assault charge that stemmed from his arrest while in Florida related to disputes he had with his fiancee at Disney World and a hotel that allegedly ended with him choking her. [3]

• A Harris County TX sheriff’s major retired after accused of pushing for hire of man who failed 3 mandatory pre-employment polygraph exams. [1]

• Massachusetts Bay Transit police officer suspended for allegedly defrauding agency of over $50k by altering his own time sheets. [0]

• Mahoning County OH deputy sentenced to probation after pleading guilty to an improper use of police database charge. [0]

• Pasadena CA shuts police review board claiming it can’t comply with open meeting laws & police privacy laws at same time [5]

• Okaloosa County FL chief deputy is among 3 ex-sheriff’s employees convicted for official misconduct, theft & racketeering [0]

• Nicholas County KY sheriff has been indicted on felony theft & abuse of public trust charges over allegations he mishandled confiscated drug money. [3]

That’s it for today, stay safe out there.

Well, here we are, well over half-way through the month and I still haven’t even come close to finishing up the 3rd quarter statistical report. I wish I didn’t have to juggle this project with a full time job on top of it, I wish this was my job… but that’s life.

This time around I’m adding more detailed statistics for excessive force data in addition to the general misconduct stats we’ve presented to date. I know from the search traffic we get that this is something people are looking for so I want to make sure everyone has access to that.

Anyway, since my time is so limited, I’m just leaving these reports in short format for a while… which means it’s nothing more than a copy of our news feed. At least until I get our Q3 report done… Sorry.

With that in mind, here are the 17 reports of police misconduct tracked in our National Police Misconduct News Feed for this Tuesday, October 19, 2010:

• Salinas CA settles suit for $2.1mil to mother & husband of woman fatally shot by cop at same time she was tasered [0]

• Costa Mesa CA cops investigated for allegedly intimidating council candidate who blames budget mess on cop pay & pensions

• Chicago IL cop sued by pal claiming cop’s service weapon mysteriously shot him in back of head during drunken fight (another article comes out and claims the officer fired the shot) [4]

• San Francisco CA approves $2.4mil settlement to pedestrian injured when hit by cruiser witnesses say was speeding [3]

• Lake County IL deputy on paid leave after arrested on misdemeanor DV charge for allegedly throwing girlfriend down stairs [0]

• Anne Arundel County MD cops investigated after not checking to see if woman they mistakenly declared dead was really dead [0]

• Chicago IL cop re-indicted on perjury & obstruction charges related to several false DUI arrest allegations after an appeals court overturned a lower court dismissal of those charges [0]

• Marion County OR deputy arrested for DUI, assault & reckless endangerment after off-duty crash that injured 1 [0]

• Denver CO cop arrested on kidnapping & sexual assault charges for coercing woman into sex under threat of arrest [0]

• Jackson MS police officer arrested on domestic violence charge over unspecified incident [2]

• Mendenhall MS police chief fired after suspended during missing funds probe & arrest for explicit gestures at family [1]

• Long Beach CA cop arraigned on DUI charge after motorists removed his keys from ignition while stopped at green light [1]

• Onodaga County NY deputy suspended w/o pay for 3weeks in excessive force case, other resigns in unspecified case [3]

• Provo UT police officer subject of investigation by Orem police concerning undisclosed incident [3]

• Manatee County FL deputy suspended 1 week & transferred for allegedly failing to report son’s sexual assaults on kids [0]

• New York NY settles suit for $965k to 83 cyclists arrested during monthly critical mass rides from 09/04 – 01/06 [0]

• Center CO cop arrested on numerous charges including assault, theft, witness intimidation & witness retaliation [0]

That’s it for today, stay safe out there!

Here are the 17 reports of police misconduct tracked in the National Police Misconduct News Feed for this Monday, October 18, 2010:

• The actions of Mount Pleasant NY police and Pleasantville NY police are the subject of an investigation now being conducted by state police over an incident outside of a bar that ended in the fatal shooting of a Pace University football player and one of his friends being shot in the shoulder. When I read the initial reports I didn’t consider this a credible case but as more witness accounts came out along with statements from the passenger it began to look like, at the least, this was a tragic mistake but it’s also starting to sound like proper police procedures weren’t followed. Witnesses say the victim didn’t drink all night, wasn’t involved in the brawl that brought police there, had no criminal history, and wasn’t doing anything wrong but waiting in a fire lane for another friend. That doesn’t match with the official version of events that state he sped up and intentionally hit an officer but does seem to match with his passenger’s claim that the officer jumped out in front of the car and intentionally jumped on the hood before opening fire. As far as I know, it’s not standard procedure, as a matter of officer safety, to jump in front of a moving car in an effort to stop it. [3]

• Two Philadelphia Pennsylvania police officers who are currently involved in an investigation into a videotaped excessive force case were also involved in another excessive force and false arrest claim filed against the city that is just now coming to light that, interestingly, bears a lot of similarities to the other case. [4]

• In Chicago Illinois, an excessive force investigation into a Chicago PD sergeant that was announced this weekend has been expanded to include six four other officers. Just this evening more details were leaked about that case that allege the incident may have been captured on a police surveillance camera and involved one officer punching a handcuffed man in the face and a female officer slapping him as well. (UPDATE: 2 of the six officers were cleared via review of the GPS data from their cruiser) [3]

• A Riverside California police officer has been convicted on six counts of child molestation involving a female relative that began when she was 15-years-old and lasted for about two years. [0]

• A Lynchburg Virginia police officer is accused of using excessive force during a traffic stop over allegedly expired tags which ultimately resulted in some unspecified altercation with the driver and his arrest on an obstruction without violence charge. Incidentally, that man recently won a $5,000,000 x-prize for the development of an electric car. However, neither side is going into much detail on exactly what physical force was involved and why. [1]

• Two Los Angeles California police officers have been arrested, one of them on charges of arson, insurance fraud, and false reporting after allegedly torching his own car in an attempt to get insurance money. The other officer was charged with false reporting for filing a false police report to help out with the scheme. [1]

• A Memphis Tennessee police officer is under investigation after she apparently fell asleep while transporting a handcuffed detainee and crashed, leaving the detainee, who was arrested over a domestic dispute where he had called for police, with several skull fractures and a serious brain injury that cost him his short-term memory. [2]

• A Phoenix Arizona police officer has been arrested on a domestic violence-related aggravated assault charge in addition to a resisting arrest charge after a witness called police when he saw the officer beating on a woman and the officer then struggled with the officers who responded. [1]

• A Warren Ohio police officer and his wife were both arrested on domestic violence charges at their home, no other details were released, including why both were arrested. [2]

• A Las Vegas Nevada police officer was arrested on a misdemeanor domestic battery charge over an unspecified incident on allegations that he bit his ex-girlfriend’s nose and threw her against a stucco wall during a dispute. [2]

• The Atlanta Georgia police department is accused of withholding and possibly destroying evidence associated with an ongoing lawsuit over a high-profile raid on a gay bar last year. The judge in that case has been asked to consider contempt of court charges over the department’s unwillingness to turn over evidence that has been requested, some of which, apparently, had been seen by attorneys at the police station when they visited, but never turned over. [4]

• The Forrest County Mississippi sheriff’s department is the subject of a lawsuit filed by the ACLU on behalf of a former corrections officer who claims he was fired for no other reason than the fact that he is gay. [3]

• A Michigan State Trooper has been sentenced to probation after his no contest plea to unspecified assault charges. Not only was this article very poorly written and excessively confusing, it also didn’t go into any degree of detail about what the charge entailed. [3]

• The now-former police chief of Chester Township Pennsylvania has pled guilty to felony forgery and receiving stolen property charges for stealing a check from a halfway house resident then cashing it. [0]

• A Prince George’s County Maryland police officer has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison for his bank break-in scheme where he drove the robber to the bank he was supposed to break into in his police cruiser. Unfortunately for him an alarm was tripped and both of them were caught. [0]

• Two Newtown Connecticut police officers have been suspended with pay while they are the subject of a criminal investigation into missing police union funds. [1]

• And finally, a Byrnes Mill Missouri police officer has been challenged to a sanctioned MMA-style fight by a former Oakland Raiders lineman who put out a full-page newspaper ad declaring the challenge. The man claims he issued the personal challenge after he lost faith in the justice system when the officer allegedly “took a cheap shot” on him by sweeping his legs and slamming him into his car before having it impounded “for no good reason.” From an “is this misconduct” standpoint I think the jury is out because the officer’s explanation hasn’t been given and the alleged aggrieved party’s explanation of what happened is short on detail. But this certainly is unusual and the chief’s reaction to the issued challenge is a bit strange in that he considers it a threat, but I don’t see how it’s a threat when the only consequences of the officer not accepting the challenge is that the man says he’ll call him a coward. [3]

That’s it for today, stay safe out there.

Here are the 8 reports of police misconduct tracked in our National Police Misconduct News Feed for this weekend, October 16-17, 2010:

• A Charlotte-Mecklenburg North Carolina police officer shot the apparently unarmed 15-year-old son of a female stabbing victim while responding to that call. Police admit the boy wasn’t a suspect and claim that he refused to follow commands when an officer thought he saw something shiny in his hand… however, family members are saying that police haven’t even found anything shiny, let alone a weapon. Police did catch the actual suspect sometime later. (UPDATE) Police are just now claiming that they found a 12″ knife in the grass near where the boy was shot. While this seems odd given that it took police this long to finally say the unspecified shiny object the officer thought the boy had was a knife, it would possibly justify the shooting if true. I’m waiting for more reports to decide on whether to pull this report from the database. [1]

• A Richmond County Georgia school police officer has been fired for allegedly unnecessarily escalating a confrontation with a 14-year-old female student to the point where he shoved her from behind while she attempted to leave. At that point he used excessive force when the student began to struggle, at which point he grabbed her by the throat, shoved her into a cabinet, then began to repeatedly strike her with an ASP baton until she fell. Then he proceeded to take a knee on the back of her neck until the principal came and escorted her away from him. [0]

• Two Evansville Indiana police officers and possibly third officer are under investigation over claims of excessive force made by two teenagers, one of which later died, though apparently from natural causes. [3]

• Crandon Wisconsin has settled a wrongful death lawsuit for $10,000 that will have to be split between the 12 relatives of four young adults who died and one who survived a shooting spree by an officer who the victims’ families claim had obvious signs of mental illness that his employers should have recognized and acted on. [0]

• A Mesa Arizona police officer is facing criminal charges over allegations that he grabbed two off-duty female cops, one of which was his ex-girlfriend, by the necks and slammed their heads together at a bar just because they were there while he and his current girlfriend were. While he and his lady friend insist that he just hugged them, several bar patrons say otherwise. [1]

• An off-duty New York NY police officer has been accused of nearly running a bicyclist off the road and then pointing a gun at his head when he tapped on the officer’s window to alert him that he was there. The bicyclist didn’t realize he was a cop until other officers arrived in response to his 911 call and then allegedly turned on him after the off-duty cop flashed his badge. [4]

• An investigative report about the Mobile Alabama police department is alleging that the city’s rape statistics are being skewed due to the way the police classify what would normally be considered a rape as a regular assault, including sexual assaults on children. The report also goes on to explain how the department hides most rape cases from the public and the press through that department’s policies that allow them to withhold information about investigations from the public. [3]

• A Connecticut state trooper has been sentenced to 6 months of house arrest, probation, and a $100,000 fine for his role in a mortgage fraud scheme. [0]

• And finally, the sheriff of Los Angeles County California insists that voters be damned if they pass prop 19 which is intended to legalize marijuana use in that state. He says that the measure will not change the way they handle marijuana cases even if it passes and that they will enforce federal drug laws instead. I don’t know, seems like he’s sort of saying that laws don’t apply to him and his officers.

While those are the cases recorded in our database this weekend, one other case has been sent to me by a few readers but I would rather wait to see if anything else comes out of it before adding it. But I figured readers should have a say on it too.

Orlando Florida police claim that an alleged sexual battery suspect they were following had fatally shot himself during a traffic stop, however some witnesses are claiming that it appeared as though the police shot him after he exited out of the passenger side of the vehicle he was riding in. What makes this a bit questionable is that Orlando police are claiming there’s no way their officers fired a shot and Orange County deputies investigating the shooting appear to be backing that claim pending official an official coroner’s report.

So, what do you think? Is it misconduct? Was it as police claim? Or do you think we should give it some more time before deciding if it’s credible enough to go into our statistical database?
[poll id="35"]

That’s it for this weekend, stay safe out there.

Sorry this one is late folks. Here are the 19 reports of police misconduct tracked in our National Police Misconduct News Feed on this Friday, October 15, 2010:

• Two Minneapolis Minnesota police officers are the subject of a lawsuit after they were caught on a security camera yanking a handcuffed detainees pants off on the side of a public street and then performing a cavity search on him. [3]

• A Springfield Massachusetts police officer has been charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon after a witness videotaped him beating a man with a flashlight at a traffic stop. [1]

• The Kanawha County West Virginia sheriff’s department has settled a lawsuit for $812,000 to the children of a woman who was shot to death by her estranged husband while she was packing her clothes. The suit alleged that a deputy who was supposed to escort her while she moved out of the home with her friends under protection of an emergency protection order had failed to secure and search the residence before and then left them alone, which is when her husband ran into the home with a shotgun and killed her, then himself.[0]

• The now-former police chief of Prospect Park New Jersey has been sentenced to probation for assaulting a handcuffed 16-year-old handcuffed suspect at the police station. [0]

• New York NY has settled suit for an undisclosed sum to a college professor who was falsely arrested during a traffic stop where cops bragged that it was always a good day when they bagged a “sand nigger”. [1]

• Three Montgomery Alabama police officers performed a no-knock raid on the wrong address, damaging an innocent woman’s home while frightening her and her two children while wearing masks and ordering them to shut up while holding them at gunpoint. The officers later left when they realized their target was a mile away, but refused to apologize. [4]

• A Chicago Illinois police sergeant is on desk duty while under investigation on allegations he assaulted man in custody. The police chief held a conference to tell reporters about it, but that’s pretty much all he said. [3]

• A Duluth Minnesota police officer with a history of sexual misconduct complaints, including a sexual assault case that went to trial, has resigned during an unspecified investigation. Officials are still refusing to say what happened since he resigned before the investigation was complete. [4]

• A New York NY police commander and four other officers are the subject of an investigated on allegations related to that city’s statistics manipulation scandal where multiple officers recorded commanders ordering cops to downgrade reports and issue false summonses in order to cook the books, one of those officers was forcibly committed to a hospital in order to discredit him before he went public. Officials insist this was the full extent of the problem… [2]

• Maricopa County Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio is the subject of a lawsuit alleging that his deputies locked a woman in a jail cell with up to 10 male detainees for up to 6 hours and refused to give her access to medical care or food. She was also unable to use the restroom during that time since the toilet was out in the open. [3]

• A Durango Colorado police officer has been charged with assault and harassment involving an off-duty bar fight between two groups of people in July. [1]

• A Santa Maria California police officer has been arrested on a felony domestic violence charge. No other details released though. [3]

• A Suffolk University Massachusetts police officer has been sentenced to 14 years in federal prison for working with a dealer in a different state to sell meth and ecstasy on campus. [0]

• A Houston Texas police officer has been charged with theft by a public servant on allegations he stole $500 in cash during the course of his duties. [1]

• A Camden New Jersey police officer has been charged with filing a false report over discrepancies in her report about how a handcuffed detainee escaped her custody. If she would have told the truth it’s doubtful she would have gotten in that much trouble. [0]

• A Pleasant Hill Iowa police officer sentenced to probation on DUI, possession of meth, and 3rd degree burglary charges for stealing meth from evidence then crashing a police cruiser while under the influence of meth after it was found in that cruiser. [0]

• A US Customs & Border Patrol officer in Oregon has been arrested for possession of heroin within 1000ft of a school. [1]

• A Santa Clara California police officer is facing a felony conspiracy charge on allegations he passed DMV info to a Hells Angels member. [2]

• And finally, a Jasper County Missouri sheriff’s lieutenant has been charged with driving under the influence when he tested at a .145 BAC after a traffic stop. [0]

That’s it for today, stay safe out there.

Here are the 17 reports of police misconduct tracked in our National Police Misconduct News Feed for Thursday, October 14, 2010:

• Phoenix Arizona police officer Richard Chrisman, who was recently charged with aggravated assault over an incident where he was accused by a fellow officer of needlessly shooting a man’s dog then fatally shooting that man has now been charged with murder in the second degree over that incident. The same day the upgraded charges came out, so did a video that explained why Chrisman has been said to have “credibility issues” that landed him on a Brady List. Apparently he and his former partner decided it would be fun to plant drug paraphernalia on a mentally disabled homeless woman while arresting her on an outstanding warrant in 2005, just to get a rise out of her, so they claimed. His partner was fired for it, but he only got a short unpaid vacation.

• Six Mesa Arizona police officers are the subject of a lawsuit alleging they used excessive force when they tasered, kicked, then beat a suspect after witnesses say he had put his hands up and surrendered following a chase. [3]

• New York City NY has spent almost $1,000,000,000 on police-related lawsuits in the last 10 years according to a recent Associated Press investigative report. So far this year, at least from January through September, the NPMSRP has tracked about $213,622,000 in police misconduct-related civil judgments and settlements in the US. That’s approximately $23,736,000 per month. [0]

• A Henderson County Tennessee deputy faces federal charges on allegations he had pornographic images of children on his cell phone and using minors to produce pornography. No other details are available. [1]

• Four Altoona Pennsylvania police officers are on paid leave while subject of an internal and criminal investigated on allegations they assaulted two bar patrons while off-duty. [4]

• Two Philadelphia Pennsylvania police officers are the subject of a lawsuit alleging they illegally searched a man and his car during an unwarranted traffic stop. [3]

• Maricopa County Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio has been ordered to fix unconstitutional conditions at his jails by a 9th circuit court ruling in a suit brought by the ACLU. [0]

• A Des Moines Iowa police officer mistakenly opened fire at a news photographer while he was responding to a call about a vandal who smashed a window at a local news station. Fortunately he missed. [0]

• Three Hattiesburg Mississippi police officers have joined a 4th officer by resigning while under investigation on allegations involving money stolen from a suspect. All four were members of the department’s “elite strike force”. [3]

• The police chief of Mendenhall Mississippi has been arrested for disorderly conduct on allegations that he “lewdly made obscene gestures to his private parts while a man was standing in his front yard with his family and child.” The chief was already on paid leave when he became the subject of a federal investigation into allegations associated with missing cash and property belonging to a man who was arrested and then released after a week. I blame his massive porn-stache. [0]

• A Miami Beach Florida police officer has been arrested on allegations that he had sex with a 16-year-old girl on repeated occasions including some that occurred in his police cruiser and some of which that he videotaped, which also led to child pornography charges as well. [1]

• The sheriff of Orleans Parish Louisiana and his chief deputy lost a civil award of $650,000 to two tourists from Ohio that the jury found were falsely arrested then detained during Hurricane Katrina. [0]

• A Cleveland Ohio police officer has been suspended without pay after arrested for misusing police computer system for personal gain. [1]

• Nashville Tennessee police investigators are accused of mishandling an investigation into sexual battery allegations against a cop who is now facing trial over multiple sexual misconduct allegations, including rape, that probably could have been avoided if the investigation into the first allegation against him was performed properly. [0]

• A Passaic County New Jersey sheriff’s captain has been charged with driving while intoxicated after he was involved in a minor accident while driving a police cruiser he wasn’t authorized to take while off-duty… let alone drive drunk in. [0]

• A Logan Ohio police officer has been allowed to resign and will not face criminal charges over allegations that he stole over $1,000 worth of ammunition from the department and sold it. [3]

• And finally, a now-former Gowanda New York police officer has been sentenced to probation for taking three pizzas as a bribe in exchange for fixing a ticket. Part of his plea deal in that case involves his cooperation in the investigation into allegations that he faked being shot while on-duty. [0]

That’s it for today, stay safe out there!

I hope everyone knows how much I really hate to ask for donations here, but we really need help making it through to October 22… so please, if you haven’t donated yet, please consider it.

With that said, here are the 17 reports of police misconduct tracked in our National Police Misconduct News Feed for Wednesday, October 13, 2010:

• A Dallas Texas police officer is the subject of a criminal investigation over allegations that he choked a 14-year-old kid while interrogating him about where his brother was while serving an arrest warrant at the boy’s home. [1]

• Two West Virginia state troopers who are also brothers are the subject of an FBI investigation into alleged civil rights violations. While officials refuse to specify what the investigation is about, there is speculation it has to do with a possible excessive force complaint made by a drug suspect in July. The officers resigned in September for unspecified reasons. [3]

• An Albuquerque New Mexico police officer has been suspended with pay after being indicted on 26 counts of criminal sexual penetration after a year-long investigation into allegations that he sexually assaulted and molested a young relative. [3]

• The police chief of Greenville Mississippi is now the subject of an arrest warrant issued by a Washington County judge over allegations that he threatened to shoot three women. He’s been suspended without pay since the allegations came out in September. [1]

• The now-former sheriff of Carteret County North Carolina has been sentenced to a little over a year in prison and must pay $84,880 in restitution for embezzling money from a fund intended for drug investigations along with four other deputies. [0]

• A Hattiesburg Mississippi police officer has resigned and three other members of the elite strike force unit he was also a member of have failed lie detector tests as part of an investigation into allegations that they stole $3,500 from a suspect. [3]

• A Henderson North Carolina police detective has been arrested on one felony and three misdemeanor larceny charges but officials are refusing to explain why. [3]

• Two Inkster Michigan police officers have been remanded over for trial on felony perjury and conspiracy charges along with a former prosecutor over their involvement in a tainted drug case where they allegedly conspired to lie about the involvement of a paid informant.

• A Chelan County Washington jail deputy has been arrested on charges of bribery, forgery, complicity to escape, official misconduct and bringing contraband into a jail. [1]

• A New Jersey State trooper was awarded $249,000 by a jury that found the state retaliated against him for blowing the whistle on K9 training practices that involved uncertified dog trainers when they reassigned him to work in the police museum. [4]

• A Louisville Kentucky police officer with a history of sexual misconduct problems has been fired on allegations that he was viewing porn in his police cruiser and used his squad car laptop to send people nude photographs of himself. [0]

• An Ault Colorado police officer who was recently hired thanks to federal funding has been suspended after being arrested for harassment when he allegedly slashed his ex-girlfriend’s tires then placed several harassing phone calls to her in addition to using police databases to dig up her and her friend’s driving records. I sure wish all these new federal “buy more cops” grants were tied to some accountability reform requirements. [0]

• The sheriff of McLean County Kentucky insists that he made a great choice when he hired a recently fired Owensboro police officer who was caught on tape taunting a handcuffed detainee before attacking him. [1]

• A Colorado State trooper has been arrested on a domestic violence charge over allegations that he threw his girlfriend down the stairs during an argument. [0]

• A Dallas Texas police officer is under investigation after arrested on assault with bodily harm charges in a really hard to understand report detailing a strange domestic dispute incident where the alleged victim signed a report that said she wasn’t injured… yeah, this one confused me too. [1]

• A Jupiter Florida police officer who was previously fired in 2007 over an alleged drunk driving incident but was then forced to be rehired thanks to an arbitrator has now been placed on paid leave after charged with driving under the influence when he jumped a curb in his police cruiser while on-duty. Police say he failed a sobriety test but tested negative for alcohol on a breathalyzer.  [1]

• And finally, a Denver Colorado police sergeant and a lieutenant, who apparently believed that the department’s internal affairs division hated cops, were reassigned after they were caught secretly videotaping an internal affairs officer while trying to goad him into saying something embarrassing. All this after public outrage over several cases where officers appeared to get off with light discipline over highly publicized excessive force cases… I’m sure this incident didn’t help that department’s image as lax on discipline much.  [3]

That’s it for today’s reports, stay safe out there.

After several unexpected delays I will be starting work on an on-site systems engineering contract job tomorrow, which means the news feed will be affected. I’ll try to update it as I’m able but it will be impacted. Also, we can really use some donations to help us make it through until I start getting paid for that job, at which point I’ll be able to stop bugging you for donations, finally!

With that in mind, here are the 23 reports of police misconduct tracked in our National Police Misconduct News Feed for Tuesday, October 12, 2010:

• The New York NY police department is accused of covering up the vicious beating of a cab driver by 10 drunken police officers outside of a trendy bar for 2 years. They allegedly did it by refusing to investigate a police captain who witnessed the incident but failed to stop it, arresting the cab driver who was beaten, and punishing the police sergeant who broke up the massive brawl. [5]

• A Montgomery Alabama police officer is under investigation on allegations that he gave a 16-year-old boy a concussion when he hit him over the head with his service pistol during a traffic stop that occurred when the officer mistook him for a robbery suspect. Then, once realizing the mistake, the officer just left the injured boy who had to then drive himself to the hospital for treatment. [1]

• A Lindenwold New Jersey police officer is accused of using excessive force when he arrested a cab driver for asking why his wife was being pulled over at their apartment complex. The officer allegedly dragged the man out of his cab and unleashed his police dog on him, then allowed the dog to continue attacking the man after he was cuffed as the officer walked away. Police insist it was justified because the man was resisting, despite witnesses saying otherwise. [3]

• A DeSoto Parish Louisiana deputy has resigned after an investigation into an incident where he injured a woman’s face when he tackled her in front of an ER for failing to stop when he tried to pull her over. She didn’t stop because she was transporting a man who suffered severe burns to his face to the hospital after calling 911 but dispatchers failed to relay that information to the deputies who ended up chasing her. Another deputy at the scene was suspended for 5 days and the dispatcher who failed to inform the officers was suspended for 3 days as well. [0]

• Three Naples Florida police officers are accused of using excessive force by a woman who suffered facial injuries when officers forcibly removed her from her home on a mental health hold after the woman’s sister called police worrying about her being depressed. While the woman admits she struggled she claims that an officer stomped on the back of her head after she was under control and on the ground and that officers shouldn’t have approached the situation as aggressively as they did. [0]

• A Dresden Tennessee police officer was fired after being arrested on a solicitation of statutory rape charge. Officials refused to divulge any other information. [3]

• A Patton Village Texas police officer is being accused of showing preferential treatment to a road rage suspect who he let go without charges after he allegedly threatened a man with a rifle and smashed out that motorists windows after forcing him to stop at gunpoint. The officer, instead, arranged for someone to give the driver $400 to let it go. Police insist the suspect wasn’t a law enforcement officer. [3]

• The Borough of Saxonburg Pennsylvania is being sued by a woman claiming the police officer in charge of that town had stalked and sexually harassed her and that officials responded to her complaints by assigning that officer to investigate himself, which only made the harassment worse. The officer eventually left the borough but officials gave him a clean record, which allowed him to become an officer in the town where that woman now lives. [5]

• The town of Refugio Texas is being sued by two former police officers who claim that they were forced to resign as retaliation for their cooperation into a federal investigation into allegations that the police chief was embezzling drug funds. [3]

• The New Jersey State Police and the state transportation authority have lost a lawsuit that resulted in a $8,748,311 jury award to a woman who lost her leg when a car crashed into her after she crashed into an 8-car pileup that the suit alleges could have been avoided if police didn’t take so long to respond to multiple 911 calls about the initial collision. [1]

• A Mount Vernon Alabama police officer has been fired over allegations of unspecified misconduct involving a female detainee at that city’s jail. He’s still the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation over the alleged, but unspecified, incident. [4]

• The now-former police chief of Wilton Manors Florida has resigned under pressure while he was suspended for sending racist email messages that he claimed were for training. However, the official reason for the resignation under threat of termination was for abusing vacation policy, not for the racist messages and the questionable excuses for them. [3]

• A Loudoun County Virginia deputy has been indicted for filing a false report and bribery on allegations that he solicited a bribe from a female motorist in exchange for not arresting her on drug charges. [0]

• The police chief of Lincoln Heights Ohio has resigned but insists that it has nothing to do with a recent news report that discovered he wasn’t certified to be a police officer. He resigned from his previous job as a Cincinnati police officer in 2002 when he was charged with record and evidence tampering in addition to the obstruction charge he eventually pled no-contest to. [1]

• A now-former Minneapolis Minnesota police officer has pled guilty to the last of a long series of robbery charges against that included 5 charges in Hennepin county, 5 in Dakota county, and a federal bank robbery charge as well. He has already been sentenced over the federal and Hennepin County cases. [0]

• A now-former Folly Beach South Carolina police sergeant is the subject of an investigation over allegations that he had sent inappropriate text messages to women that he had met while during the course of his job as an officer. [1]

• Officials in Coppell Texas are refusing to say why a deputy police chief was suspended and escorted out of the police department but insist that it has nothing to do with an investigation into about $1,500 that is missing from a fund meant for drug investigations. [4]

• A Nashua New Hampshire police officer was arrested on drunk driving charges after he crashed through a guardrail and had to be extricated from his truck in an off-duty accident. [0]

• A Sauk County Wisconsin sheriff’s detective has been arrested on a drunk driving charge after he rear-ended a car while driving an unmarked cruiser. No word on if he was on-duty or not at the time. [0]

• The sheriff of Alamance County North Carolina is the subject of a lawsuit by a now-former Alamance deputy who claims that the sheriff punched him in the face while he was cuffed after he was arrested on false charges by Guilford County NC deputies, who are also part of the suit. [3]

• An Oakland California police lieutenant is under investigation on allegations that he violated policy when he let his girlfriend drive his unmarked cruiser when it was involved in an accident. [0]

• A Madison County Tennessee deputy has resigned while under investigation on allegations theft for using his county gas card for personal use. [0]

• And finally, a now-former Farmington Utah police lieutenant has received probation, a small fine, and some community service as part of a plea deal after he was caught soliciting a prostitute during a prostitution sting. [0]

That’s it for today, stay safe out there.

It was an unusually slow day for police misconduct reports today and it wasn’t until about 3:00pm that I remembered it was one of those strange quasi-holiday days that are only celebrated by bankers, government employees, and a few other select special people.

Anyway, with that in mind, here are the 11 reports of police misconduct tracked in our National Police Misconduct News Feed for Monday, October 11, 2010

• A Seattle Washington police officer who shot a Native American woodcarver to death while he was carrying a legal pocket knife and a block of wood is now facing a county inquest into that incident after autopsy results showing the man was shot four times in the side did not match up with the police version of events which initially claimed the man was facing the officer and approaching him. Witnesses at the scene also stated that it appeared the victim might not have even heard the officer’s commands before he was shot… however, the Seattle Weekly says you probably shouldn’t hold your breath expecting anything other than a “justified” ruling from that process since King County inquest juries have never ruled against an officer. [3]

• The police chief of Pine Lawn Missouri is the subject of an investigation that was requested by prosecutors into allegations that he fired a shot at an unarmed suspect as he fled after a brief car chase that started when he clipped an officer while trying to avoid a seat belt compliance checkpoint. [1]

• A Tampa Florida police officer is accused of using excessive force when she drive-stunned a college student four times, once while he was already cuffed, outside of a college football game. The student and his lawyer have made the unusual move of asking the governor for a special counsel to look into the incident. [1]

• Mount Vernon New York has approved payment on three different police misconduct-related lawsuits that includes at least one excessive force case but the city is refusing to even answer FOIA requests into what those cases involved. [4]

• A Hephzibah Georgia police officer has been arrested on a single battery charge on allegations that he grabbed his step-son by the arm, bruising him, and threw him against a wall while he was drunk and being verbally abusive towards him and his mother. The officer then lifted him off the ground by the shirt, causing him to choke, while hurling racial epithets at the boy. Police reported that he was visibly intoxicated and still yelling and cursing when they arrived while the mother of the boy claims she’s made about 10 complaints against her husband already… [0]

• An El Paso Texas police officer has been arrested on aggravated robbery charges after he was apparently caught when he stole a money box belonging to a newlywed couple at their wedding reception where he was working an off-duty job as a security guard. Reportedly, wedding guests confronted him and then chased him as he tried to flee, resulting in one guest ending up on the officer’s hood when he was almost run over in the process. [0]

• The police chief of Beloit Wisconsin is facing his fifth racial discrimination lawsuit after a new filing and several updated filings made by several of his  police officers along with a local business owner. [1]

• Denver Colorado is slated to settle a racial profiling lawsuit for $24,000 involving an officer who already cost that city $75,000 in another racial profiling suit as well. The ACLU says that the suit never would have happened if the city didn’t try to keep what happened secret. [3]

• Two Escondido California police officers are accused of harassing and taking photographs of people who were protesting against one of that city’s questionable police checkpoints. One officer is accused of getting right into the faces of protesters while taking photos of each person and threatening to arrest those who tried to hide their faces behind placards. [3]

• A Guam police officer is the subject of an internal and a criminal investigation into allegations that she was involved in a domestic violence incident that some apparently claimed was covered-up. [2]

• Animal rights protesters are alleging that a Pembroke Pines Florida undercover police officer mooned them while they protested against animal testing. One person even took a photo of the alleged mooning but police are claiming that the man in the picture isn’t a cop… even though one astute reader asked “if he isn’t a cop, why is there a police radio in his pocket?” No word on if there will be a lineup of “suspects”. [3]

And finally, two people wrote me about this report out of Washington DC about the bomb cop who crashed into a “Transformer” when he drove through where they were filming a scene for the third installment of that flick while responding to a call… but, maybe it’s just me, but I really don’t see how it’s misconduct. Do you have a different take on it than I do? If so, take a vote or let us know in the comments why you think it’s a case of misconduct worth putting in our database.

[poll id="34"]

That’s it for today, stay safe out there!

Here are the 11 reports of police misconduct tracked in our National Police Misconduct News Feed for this weekend, October 9-10, 2010:

• Four Denton Texas police officers are the subject of a lawsuit alleging they used excessive force when they shot a man in the leg who answered his door holding a shotgun. While I normally hesitate to add excessive force allegations when they involve someone holding a weapon, this suit alleges that the officers did not announce when they knocked and that they falsely claimed that the homeowner fired a shot when an investigator later discovered that the shotgun he held had not been fired. While the man was never indicted for the incident nor the original call that led police there, which appears to be a false sexual assault allegation, he still lost his job over the incident. [3]

• Newark New Jersey has settled a lawsuit for $300,000 to a man who was imprisoned and prosecuted for crimes that would have been impossible for him to have committed. The man, a Peruvian immigrant who couldn’t read English, came to the police station to turn in a wallet he found and ended up signing a series of 8 confessions written in English that he couldn’t read concerning theft charges that occurred while he was already in jail over unpaid fines. Police and prosecutors still moved forward and indicted him anyway, resulting in him staying in a jail for 10 months until the 3rd public defender assigned to his case actually looked into it and convinced prosecutors to dismiss the case. [4]

• A Texas State trooper was attested on a warrant for two counts of indecency with a minor over allegations that he had sexual relations with a 13-year-old female relative on at least 15 different occasions allegedly including one time when he was caught in the act after admitting and apologizing to girl’s mother about what happened. [1]

• A Rochelle Georgia police officer has been arrested on a child molestation charge over allegations he had sex with underage teen girl. [1]

• Two Honolulu Hawaii police officers are under investigation in two separate domestic violence cases. One officer has been arrested but the other had charges against him dismissed, though he’s still the subject of an internal investigation over the alleged incident. [3]

• A Prince George’s County Maryland police instructor who is under investigation on allegations that he gave police cadets answers to tests and gave cadets perfect scores when they didn’t deserve them has been transferred and now works as a detective in that police department’s sex offender unit. [1]

• A Bridgeport Connecticut police officer has been suspended for 20 days without pay and has been taken off of that department’s SWAT team until he completes sensitivity classes as discipline for uttering racial slurs over the police radio.

• A Vermont State trooper has been charged with driving while under the influence when he was stopped by local police who were alerted to watch out for his vehicle after he was allegedly involved in a bar dispute. [0]

• A Fresno California police officer has been arrested on DUI and hit & run charges after he allegedly hit a car while leaving an apartment complex parking lot then kept driving. Police later found him at a restaurant and arrested him there. [0]

• A Clinton Utah police officer has been sentenced to 30 days in jail in a plea deal for unauthorized access to e-mail accounts and personal data. The report does not specify what the case involved, but does say that he resigned later over a different incident where he was caught using an unmarked cruiser to hook up with a married woman he was having an affair with. [1]

• A Corona California police lieutenant has been fired over his alleged ties with a motorcycle club that was recently the subject of an investigation that resulted in 33 of that club’s members being arrested on parole violations in addition to drug and weapons charges. [1]

That’s it for this weekend, stay safe out there!