On Friday a jury acquitted a former Georgia sheriff's deputy of federal civil rights charges in connection with a May 2014 drug raid that gravely injured a toddler. Nikki Autry, a Habersham County deputy who was serving as a special agent with the Mountain Judicial Circuit Narcotics Criminal Investigation and Suppression Team, signed the application for the warrant that authorized the early-morning, no-knock raid, which found no drugs, guns, or money and left 19-month-old Bounkham "Bou Bou" Phonesavanh burned and mutilated by a flashbang grenade that landed in the playpen where he was sleeping. Autry's affidavit included several crucial misrepresentations, and during her trial the magistrate who issued the warrant testified that he would not have done so if she had told the truth.

Autry said a confidential informant "was able to purchase a quantity of methamphetamine from Wanis Thonetheva," Bou Bou's cousin, at the house she wanted to search, which belongs to Thoentheva's mother. Autry said the informant was known to be "true and reliable," having "provided information in the past that has led to criminal charges on individuals selling illegal narcotics in Habersham County." She added that she had personally "confirmed that there is heavy traffic in and out of the residence."

None of that was true. The confidential informant was newly minted and therefore had no track record, and it was his roommate who claimed to have bought meth from Thonetheva, a report that was not verified by police surveillance. Nor did Autry monitor the house to verify that a lot of people were going in and out.

Federal prosecutors argued that Autry, whom they described as "an overzealous police officer" with "no respect for the people she's investigating," made up those crucial details to manufacture probable cause for a search. She testified that the affidavit was prepared by a supervisor, Officer.com reports, but "acknowledged she reviewed it and recommended no changes be made despite numerous inconsistencies." Her attorneys portrayed that failure as unintentional. Prosecutors emphasized that the raid would not have happened without Autry's misrepresentations. "If there had never been a search warrant, Bou Bou would've never been injured," Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill McKinnon said. "There's a direct causation."

Autry was charged with four violations of Title 18, Section 242, which makes it a federal crime to deprive someone of his constitutional rights "under color of any law." That offense is generally punishable by up to a year in jail, but if "bodily harm" results, as happened in this case, the maximum penalty rises to 10 years.

Although Autry's "mistakes" led directly to Fourth Amendment violations that resulted in Bou Bou's injuries, the jury declined to hold her responsible. Her attorneys argued that Autry, who is the only officer to face charges as a result of the raid, became a scapegoat for other people's errors. They noted that Charles Long, the deputy who threw the grenade that nearly killed Bou Bou, had violated protocol by failing to illuminate the room before using the explosive device. "There's a pattern of excess in the ways search warrants are executed," defense attorney Michael Trost said during his closing argument on Friday. "That's what led to the injuries to this child."

In October 2014 a Habersham County grand jury faulted Autry for a "hurried" and "sloppy" investigation. The jurors "gave serious and lengthy consideration as to whether to recommend criminal charges" against her but decided that her resignation "in lieu of possible termination," combined with her surrender of the peace officer certification that enabled her to work in law enforcement, was "more appropriate than criminal charges and potential jail time." But the grand jurors did not consider the allegation that Autry lied in her search warrant affidavit, a charge that was included in a federal lawsuit filed by Bou Bou's parents in February.

"We are so proud of Nikki for standing up for what she believed in," one of Autry's lawyers said after Friday's verdict. But even if we accept Autry's dubious defense that the misrepresentations in her affidavit were a product of carelessness rather than deliberate deception, the only principle she has vindicated is that drug warriors can endanger innocent people's lives through sloppy police work without committing a crime.

According to Ms Fry, Bear was secured in his back yard using a cable leash-line the morning of his shooting. Bear's home was next door to an abandoned home that was the scene of construction from time to time. It wasn't unusual for Bear, still a puppy, to bark at the construction workers next door. So when Christie Fry was awoken by Bear's barking on Thursday, she wasn't worried until his barking was punctuated by gunshots.

...

Police Detective David Edward Abbott, a member of the Northern Virginia-Washington D.C. Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, committed suicide Tuesday before law enforcement could arrest him on suspicion of sexually abusing minors.

Abbott, you will recall, was the detective in the noteworthy teen sexting case from July 2014, in which the authorities sought a warrant to take the 17-year-old male suspect to the hospital, inject him with a drug that would give him an erection, photograph his genitals, and compare the photo with existing pictures of his genitals the police had confiscated from his 15-year-old girlfriend’s phone.

The teen was eventually sentenced to one year of probation. Here’s the kicker: Abbott sued the teen’s lawyer for defamation. The lawyer, Jessica Foster, remarked to the media that the warrant to take pornographic pictures of her client—to be used as evidence that he was guilty of creating child pornography—was “crazy.”

“Who does this?” Foster had said. “It’s just crazy.”

Abbott said the comments caused him severe emotional distress; he claimed he was threatened and called a pedophile, according to NBC.

Authorities now believe Abbott was a pedophile. He had inappropriate contact with two young boys, ages 11 and 13, according to patch.com. Police attempted to arrest him at his home earlier today, but he refused to surrender and eventually shot himself.

While this outcome is certainly a tragedy for his family, the revelations about Abbott should underscore two things: His treatment of the 17-year-old in the sexting case was unconscionable, and laws criminalizing sexting between teens are intrusive and easily abused. There actually was a truly depraved sexual monster in this case, it just wasn’t the teenager.

In a meeting on July 24, 2012, Chicago Police Officer Allyson Bogdalek broke down and cried as she admitted to prosecutors the obvious: She had lied under oath in the case of a man accused of robbing a Back of the Yards liquor store and shooting the owner in the leg.

The victim of the shooting had picked the suspect, Ranceallen Hankerson, out of a lineup. But Officer Bogdalek lied on the stand during an April 13, 2011, hearing when she denied that the victim had been shown photographs of possible suspects prior to Hankerson’s arrest. In fact, the victim had been shown photos, and he had failed to pick Hankerson out—evidence that would have proven beneficial to the defense.

Prosecutors opened an investigation, and recommend indicting Bogdalek for perjury and other felonies, according to Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office files provided to Salon. In February 2014, however, the process came to a screeching halt: State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez overruled her subordinates and instructed them that no charges would be filed. The case, which until now has escaped much public notice, provides evidence to back charges that Alvarez, currently under fire for her handling of the fatal police shooting of Laquan McDonald, protects officers accused of misconduct.

“It’s a powerful example of State’s Attorney Alvarez’s refusal to address systemic perjury by Chicago police,” says Craig Futterman, a civil rights attorney and professor at University of Chicago Law School who reviewed the case at Salon’s request.

Bogdalek’s lie had become clear at the 2011 hearing. After she testified that they had never shown the victim photos of possible suspects, Hankerson’s defense attorney played a recording from Bogdalek’s squad car, in which she can be heard asking a sergeant whether they should take Hankerson into custody given that the victim had failed to identify him in a photo array, meaning a group of photographs of potential suspects shown to a witness.

A former police officer found guilty of corruption in Troy, New York is expected to receive “lifetime health insurance” thanks to a police union contract that the city council was not told about for 18 months.

The Times Union reported that former officer Brian Gross would be eligible for the health insurance even though he resigned from the department in disgrace after pleading guilty to tipping off drug dealers to a raid.

Under a plea deal, Gross was sentenced to 100 hours of community service, and agreed to never work in law enforcement again. He was also ordered to pay $5,500 restitution.

A deal with the Troy Police Benevolent Association which was signed by Mayor Lou Rosamilia lowers the years of service required for lifetime health benefits from 20 years to 10 years. Although the agreement was signed on June 13, 2014, it was not put on the city council agenda until the Times-Union filed a Freedom of Information request.

“It’s similar to a golden parachute disgraced CEOs get. I would not support special treatment for police officers who have done despicable actions,” Democratic Councilman Robert Doherty explained. “No one ever told me and I’m head of public safety.”

Police union president Sgt. Thomas Hoffman argued that the city council did not have to approve the agreement because it had already been signed by the mayor, making Gross eligible for health coverage.

Hoffman insisted that the city council was given a copy of the agreement and “maybe they misplaced it.”

The city council is expected to discuss the contract during a Dec. 17 meeting.

A PINAC correspondent working on a story about a man who was arrested Monday for video recording outside a Shell refinery was arrested himself Tuesday for recording outside the same refinery.

Both were on public property but it appears as if the Harris County sheriff’s deputies who arrested them were off-duty and working security for the Shell refinery in Deer Park, an industrial municipality outside Houston. Essentially hired goons.

Phillip Turner, who is quickly becoming Texas’s version of Jeff Gray, was charged with failure to identify and criminal trespass. And his friend David Worden was charged with interference with public duties for not allowing the deputy to pat him down.

Both are still incarcerated.

...

A PINAC correspondent working on a story about a man who was arrested Monday for video recording outside a Shell refinery was arrested himself Tuesday for recording outside the same refinery.

Both were on public property but it appears as if the Harris County sheriff’s deputies who arrested them were off-duty and working security for the Shell refinery in Deer Park, an industrial municipality outside Houston. Essentially hired goons.

Phillip Turner, who is quickly becoming Texas’s version of Jeff Gray, was charged with failure to identify and criminal trespass. And his friend David Worden was charged with interference with public duties for not allowing the deputy to pat him down.

Both are still incarcerated.

...

...

But in spite of clearly established case law recognizing the right of citizens to record public police activity, New Yorkers continue to be subject to harassment and arrest for filming the police in public. In this instance, I was in the Port Authority Bus Terminal when I noticed three White Port Authority Police officers confront and attempt to remove a Black passenger from a bus. I stood on the walkway and quietly began filming their public activity. I was suddenly confronted by one of the police officers who exited the bus - leaving the other two officers to deal with the situation - in order to demand that I stop filming and leave the public area immediately.

Whenever anyone films New York City Police Officers in public they risk being assaulted and arrested for exercising their lawful First Amendment rights. I was concerned that this officer would either grab my phone or strike me in the throat with his hand and arrest me, as recently happened to a sitting New York Supreme Court Judge who questioned a NYPD police officer's conduct during an arrest on a public street [the officer wasn't disciplined for assaulting the Judge]. Thankfully I was able to convince the officer that his attention was better focused on the safety of his fellow officers than on a citizen engaged in lawful First Amendment activity.

Six years ago, when Tom Newhart and his wife rescued a baby cat and named him Sugar, they never imagined that his life would end in a hail of gunfire. However, thanks to a North Catasauqua police officer, that’s exactly what happened.

Last Sunday, Sugar escaped from the Newhart’s home. Hours later, he’d be gunned down by police.

“It’s like one of your children, you raised them, bottle fed them,” said Newhart as he began tearing up.

When Sugar escaped, a neighbor five houses down found him and decided to call the police after not being able to detain the lost cat. When the cop showed up, he pulled out a shotgun and it was open season on lost cats.

“I found the cat sitting right here,” said the neighbor, Mike Lienert.

When the officer showed up, he told Lienert that it’s “not politically correct, but if it’s injured we will put it down,” — as if being ‘politically correct’ has anything to do with killing an innocent animal.

The officer then walked into Lienert’s backyard, blew the cat away, and then told Lienert that he’d have to clean up the mess. Lienert said aside from poking at the dead cat’s body, the officer never attempted to catch the cat.

Lienert said the cat did hiss at the officer, but instead of grabbing a pair of gloves and putting the cat in a cage, this public servant did some target practice.


After recovering Sugar’s body, the Newhart’s decided to have him x-rayed by the vet to see if the officer was justified in shooting him. However, they found that Sugar was fine, and the officer had no reason to kill him.

“No lacerations, no blood, other than neck wound on body. ” Newhart said.

Newhart said he called the Mayor and the chief of police, who told him that this is not policy and has never happened before.

“This guy doesn’t deserve the badge he wears, and should be fired immediately and held accountable,” said Newhart in a Facebook post.

In a statement, the borough said it’s in the process of gathering information and conducting a review and investigation of what took place. After this process is complete, the borough will be taking the necessary and appropriate steps, according to WFMZ.

According to a local animal shelter, the officer’s actions could be considered animal cruelty. According to the Free Thought Project, the officer’s actions are considered cowardly and sadistic.

At the chief's request, federal authorities will investigate the Milwaukee Police Department as part of a reform initiative.

The U.S. Department of Justice, through its Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), will conduct a "lengthy probe into all aspects of force," according to local news reports.

Milwaukee is the ninth city to request such an investigation, according to reports.

The news comes on the heels of a $5 million settlement announcement in 14 illegal strip-search cases in which 74 men, all black, sued the city, claiming police officers publicly strip-searched them without a warrant, in some cases fondling their genitals and reaching into their ---- cavities.

The settlement must be approved by the Milwaukee Common Council and the mayor. According to a letter from the city attorney, 131 officers have been named across all the lawsuits.

Officer Michal Vagnini, the alleged leader of the four officers forced to resign and criminally convicted for the searches, is serving a two-year prison term.

The police have also been the subject of scrutiny over the fatal shooting of Dontre Hamilton, a mentally ill man who was shot 14 times after an officer approached him as he slept in a public park.

Officer Christopher Manney is still fighting his termination stemming from Hamilton's death, but he was never charged with a crime or civil rights violation.

In November, six demonstrators, including Hamilton's brother, gathered at an annual tree-lighting ceremony in the park where Hamilton was killed were arrested for disorderly conduct. They have since been released, according to local news reports.

Dean Puschnig, a spokesperson for the Justice Department in Eastern Wisconsin, did not immediately respond to a voicemail requesting comment.

According to the news report, the investigation of the Milwaukee Police Department will be formally announced Thursday at a news conference on the steps of the federal courthouse.

A Bedford Municipal Court judge set bond at $1 million for a former Pepper Pike police officer charged with rape and menacing by stalking.

Jeffrey L. Martin, 55, of Bainbridge Township is accused of raping a woman in September 2014. The woman has also reported at least four stalking incidents since August, according to court records.

Martin waived his right to a preliminary hearing during a court appearance Wednesday. The case will be bound over to the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court where a grand jury will decide what charges the former officer will face.

Defense attorney David Snow declined to comment after the hearing.

Judge Brian J. Melling ordered that Martin remain at the Bedford Jail until he surrenders weapons he keeps at his house.

Melling also approved the woman's request for temporary protection order against Martin.

The woman came to the Bedford Police Department on Dec. 7 to accuse Martin of rape. Martin followed her to the police department that day, according to a police report.

A sheriff's deputy recognized as a hero in the line of duty, now accused of criminal violence against a fellow deputy.

"They both work together so I think the victim felt it was appropriate to go and let her superiors know about it and then that started the investigation," said Lt. Joe Gomez of the Fresno Police Department, which investigated the incident.

Police arrested Fresno County sheriff's Sgt. Mark Eaton Monday on misdemeanor domestic violence charges. He's now on paid leave. Five years ago, Eaton was a hero. He was on the team serving a warrant when a suspect opened fire and killed deputy Joel Wahlenmaier, and later, Reedley police officer Javier Bejar. Eaton earned a Medal of Valor from the governor for his bravery. But in 2015, he stands accused of an act of cowardice against his girlfriend. "The victim wanted the suspect to leave," Lt. Gomez said. "He didn't want to leave. And near the front door of the residence, he had grabbed her face, her nose and squeezed pretty hard and pushed her back."

Fresno police say Eaton also squeezed the woman's neck, and then made persistent, unwanted contact with his victim for a couple months. We're not identifying her, but she's also a sheriff's deputy and she reported what happened two months after the alleged attack.

Although the case is wrapped in a veil of confidentiality because the participants are in law enforcement, Action News has also learned there was a witness to the incident who is in law enforcement. And the alleged victim got a restraining order against Eaton, which could affect his job. "Once that protective order is issued, that person is not supposed to have access to guns or possess guns in any manner," said ABC30 legal analyst Tony Capozzi.

Police must not pretend to "help" motorists in order to write a ticket or make an arrest, the state Court of Appeals said Friday. A three-judge panel used the case of Carlos Eduardo Martinez Morales to send a message to law enforcement by affirming a lower court judge's decision to set Morales free.

It was around 2:30 in the morning on November 22, 2014 when Reno County Sheriff's Department Deputy Travis Vogt spotted Morales parked on the side of K-96 highway. The lawman's suspicions were aroused because it was a rural area and the car's lights were on. As Deputy Vogt approached, Morales stepped on the brakes and prepared to leave. Deputy Vogt hit his emergency lights to keep that from happening, even though Morales had not violated any laws.

Deputy Vogt walked up to Morales and asked whether "everything was okay." The officer claimed he smelled alcohol and had the man perform two sobriety tests. Morales passed one and failed the other. He was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI), but the trial judge threw out the evidence gathered as a result of the traffic stop because the judge did not believe it was really a "welfare check" as the deputy claimed.

"It's our department's job to check on any vehicles that are either parked along side of the roadway, abandoned, basically to check to make sure if they are occupied, everything is okay, they're not having mechanical problems," Deputy Vogt testified. "If a vehicle is out in this area, you know, out in, in a rural area like that, to make sure they're not stolen or, or a part of some other crime that we would get a hit off of by running the tag, something like that."

Here, the car was clearly not abandoned, but the deputy did run the license plate to check whether it was stolen. This, the appellate court concluded, was proof that this was an investigation, not a safety stop. The three-judge panel quoted a lengthy story to make the point that this was unacceptable.

"The fallacy of letting officers masquerade an investigatory stop as a public safety stop is perhaps better answered by logic than by legal precedent," Judge Henry W. Green Jr wrote for the court. "An example of this is a story told of President Abraham Lincoln during his days as a trial lawyer. Lincoln is credited with cross-examining a witness in the following way:

"'How many legs does a horse have?'
"'Four,' said the witness.
"'Right', said Abe.
"'Now, if you call the tail a leg, how many legs does a horse have?'
"'Five,' answered the witness.
"'Nope,' said Abe, 'callin' a tail a leg don't make it a leg.'"

So police in Kansas may not justify an investigatory stop by calling it a public safety stop. A copy of the ruling is available in a 220k PDF file at the source link below.

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal by the city of Los Angeles and two policemen on Monday, leaving in place a $5.7 million judgment a jury awarded to a man left paralyzed from the waist down after the officers shot him in the back four times.

The city and the officers, Julio Benavides and Mario Flores, had asked the justices to overturn a ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that upheld the 2012 award won by the man, Robert Contreras, in his lawsuit accusing police of using excessive force in the 2005 incident.

The incident occurred after the officers were alerted to reports of a drive-by shooting and followed a van linked to the crime. Benavides and Flores chased Contreras when he exited the van and shot him in the back when he stopped in a driveway.

The officers later testified that Contreras had a gun although he was, in fact, unarmed.
Contreras was convicted on two counts of attempted murder for his role in the drive-by shooting and was sentenced to seven years in prison. He is now out of prison.

Contreras filed a federal lawsuit in 2011, accusing the officers of using excessive force in violation of his rights under the U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures. The Los Angeles City Council rejected a chance to settle the case for $4.5 million in 2012.

The case is City of Los Angeles v. Contreras, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 15-58.