Stupid, Dumb and Just Plain Ignorant Cop Thread

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Scandal-scarred Lethbridge police told to fix problems or get shut down
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Publishing date:Mar 24, 2021 • 1 day ago • 1 minute read • Join the conversation
Lethbridge Regional Police Headquarters.
Lethbridge Regional Police Headquarters. PHOTO BY DAVID ROSSITER /Calgary Herald
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EDMONTON — Alberta’s justice minister has given the scandal-scarred Lethbridge Police Service until April 16 to serve up an action plan to fix its problems or face being disbanded.

Kaycee Madu says change needs to happen immediately.


He says the plan must address everything from recruiting to oversight, have benchmarks and timelines, and be communicated to the public.

If not, Madu says he has advised the force that he will take action that could include disbanding it.

The Lethbridge Police Service has been the focus of numerous controversies, both past and ongoing, such as conducting surveillance on and conducting improper database searches of Alberta NDP legislature member Shannon Phillips when she was a cabinet minister.

The police service, in a news release, says it is on board with Madu’s plan, has been working on reforms, and will likely have it ready before the April 16 deadline.
 

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Bodycam video shows police berating kindergartner who ran away from school
Author of the article:postmedia News
Publishing date:Mar 28, 2021 • 7 hours ago • 1 minute read • Join the conversation
Body camera video released by Montgomery County Police shows a police officer's exchange with a five-year-old boy who ran away from school in January.
Body camera video released by Montgomery County Police shows a police officer's exchange with a five-year-old boy who ran away from school in January. PHOTO BY SCREENGRAB /AP video
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A police department in Maryland has released body camera video that captured two of its officers berating a five-year-old boy who had walked away from his elementary school calling him a “little beast” and threatening him with a beating.

The incident happened on Jan. 14, 2020, but a body-worn camera recording of the exchange was released on Friday by Montgomery County Police Department.


The two officers had responded to a call from East Silver Spring Elementary School after the kindergartner ran away.

The officers caught up with him a block away, and what happened from that point on was captured in the body camera footage released by police.

“You feel like you can make your own decisions?… Are you an adult? Are you 18? So why are you out of school?” a male officer can be heard telling the boy in the video.

“I don’t care if you don’t want to go to school. You do not have that choice, do you understand?” the officer said.

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The officer can then be heard scolding the boy as he drives him back to school in a patrol car.

The situation escalates once the child is taken back his school’s office where he refused to take a seat.

The officers called the boy a “violent little thing” and a “little beast.”


At one point, a female officer can be heard in the video telling the boy, “I hope your mama lets me beat you.”

School staff were seen in the office while the child continued to cry as the officers discussed how he should be disciplined, saying he needed “whoopings” and “spanking.”

At one point the child was allegedly handcuffed in front of his mother.

The boy’s family filed a lawsuit in January against the police officers, the county, and the Montgomery County Board of Education.

Montgomery County Police Department said an internal investigation was conducted, but the results are confidential under Maryland law.

The department said both officers are still on the force.
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Mexican authorities probe death of woman shown pinned to ground by police
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
Publishing date:Mar 28, 2021 • 1 hour ago • 1 minute read • Join the conversation
File photo of a police car.
File photo of a police car. PHOTO BY FILE /Postmedia
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MEXICO CITY — Mexican prosecutors are investigating the death of a woman who was captured on video pinned to the ground by police in the Caribbean beach resort of Tulum, authorities said on Sunday.

A spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office of the state of Quintana Roo said police at the scene were being questioned over the incident on Saturday and that the woman’s cause of death was not yet clear. Nor was it clear why she was detained, she added.


A video published by news site Noticaribe showed the woman squirming and crying out as she lay face down on a road with a policewoman kneeling on her back with male officers standing by.

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The video, whose authenticity Reuters could not immediately verify, then cut to show the woman’s prone, handcuffed body lying on the road. Officers are later seen moving the limp, shoeless body into the back of a police truck.

The National Commission to Prevent and Eradicate Violence Against Women (CONAVIM) condemned the incident on Twitter and said it was in communication with authorities to ensure that those responsible were held to account.

Alejandro Encinas, deputy interior minister responsible for human rights, expressed outrage on Twitter, and described the incident as an act of “police abuse.”

The incident bore a similarity to the case of George Floyd, an African-American man whose death in May as a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck sparked racial justice protests in the United States and around the world.

Widespread and rising violence against women has long outraged many Mexicans, and has sparked major protests under the administration of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
 

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Mexican president condemns death of Salvadoran woman in police custody
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
Publishing date:Mar 29, 2021 • 3 hours ago • 2 minute read • Join the conversation
File photo of a police car.
File photo of a police car. PHOTO BY FILE /Postmedia
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MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s president on Monday sharply condemned the weekend killing of a Salvadoran woman in Mexican police custody, who died after a female officer was seen in a video kneeling on her back.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said 36-year-old Victoria Salazar Arriaza had been subject to “brutal treatment and murdered” after her detention on Saturday by four police officers in the tourist resort of Tulum on the Caribbean coast.


An autopsy showed Salazar’s neck had been broken.

“It’s a situation that fills us with sadness, pain and shame,” Lopez Obrador told a regular news conference that was dedicated to defending the rights of women and featured video by speakers including French President Emmanuel Macron.

Salazar’s killers would quickly face justice, Lopez Obrador said, vowing that there would be “no impunity.”

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Autopsy findings showed Salazar died from spinal fracture caused by the rupture of the first and second vertebrae, the attorney general’s office of Quintana Roo state said.

The office on Sunday opened a homicide investigation into Salazar’s death, leading to the arrest of three male officers and one female officer at the scene. The four face prosecution for suspected femicide, the office said.

“The level of force was carried out in a disproportionate, immoderate way and with a high risk to life,” the office said.

Salazar was a single mother who had worked in Tulum cleaning hotels, her mother, Rosibel Arriaza, told reporters outside the foreign ministry in San Salvador.

“Authorities are supposed to protect people with all the techniques they have to try to subdue someone, but this was an abuse of power,” Arriaza said. “She didn’t deserve this death.”

Salazar left two daughters, aged 15 and 16, who lived with her in Mexico and were the reason she had emigrated, she added.

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“She left for a better future for the girls and to help them get ahead,” Arriaza said.


Salazar had lived in Mexico since at least 2018, when she was granted refugee status for humanitarian reasons, Mexico’s migration institute said.

A video published by news site Noticaribe showed Salazar writhing and crying out as she lay face down on a road with a policewoman kneeling on her back while male officers stood by.

The video later showed Salazar’s prone, handcuffed body, lying on the road before officers put it into the back of a police truck.

Quintana Roo Attorney General Oscar Montes de Oca told Mexican radio police were responding to a emergency call for help at a convenience store when she was detained.

Salazar offered resistance at the store’s exit and police “improperly applied bodily control techniques that ultimately caused (Salazar’s) death,” he added.

Her death, which had echoes of the case of George Floyd, an African-American man who died in May as a Minneapolis policeman knelt on his neck, sparked outrage on social media and calls by El Salvador’s president for the officers to be punished.

Frustration over a failure to curb violence against women in Mexico has sparked major protests under Lopez Obrador.
 

spaminator

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Partner of Salvadoran woman killed during police encounter arrested
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
Publishing date:Mar 30, 2021 • 12 hours ago • 1 minute read • Join the conversation
Women protest against the murder of Victoria Salazar Arriaza, a Salvadoran woman who died in Mexican police custody, in San Salvador, El Salvador March 29, 2021.
Women protest against the murder of Victoria Salazar Arriaza, a Salvadoran woman who died in Mexican police custody, in San Salvador, El Salvador March 29, 2021. PHOTO BY JOSE CABEZAS /REUTERS
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MEXICO CITY — Mexican authorities have arrested the partner of a Salvadoran woman who died after a Mexican female police officer was seen in a video kneeling on her back, a case that triggered an outpouring of anger in Mexico, media reported on Tuesday.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador this week said 36-year-old Victoria Salazar Arriaza had been subject to “brutal treatment and murdered” after her detention on Saturday by four police officers in the tourist resort of Tulum on the Caribbean coast. An autopsy showed Salazar’s neck had been broken.

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Her death, which had echoes of the case of George Floyd, an African-American man who died in May as a Minneapolis policeman knelt on his neck, sparked outrage on social media and calls by El Salvador’s president for the officers to be punished.


Carlos Joaquin, the governor of Quintana Roo, said Salazar’s partner had been arrested for “abusing” her and her daughters, according to Mexican TV channel Milenio.

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“Today the arrest was made, they tell me,” Joaquin said, referring to state prosecutor’s office, according to Milenio.

Joaquin said more details will be revealed on Wednesday.

The attorney general’s office of Quintana Roo state has opened a homicide investigation into the deaths, which has led to the arrest of the four officers seen on videos of the incident.


A video published by news site Noticaribe showed Salazar writhing and crying out as she lay face down on a road with a policewoman kneeling on her back while male officers stood by.

The video later showed Salazar’s prone, handcuffed body, lying on the road before officers put it into the back of a police truck.
 

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MANDEL: Cops accused of planting heroin and lying under oath
Author of the article:Michele Mandel
Publishing date:Apr 07, 2021 • 2 hours ago • 3 minute read • Join the conversation
An image taken from the Toronto Police Service website.
An image taken from the Toronto Police Service website. PHOTO BY TORONTO POLICE SERVICE WEBSITE /Toronto Sun
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It’s a damning indictment of four Toronto Police officers accused of planting drugs and lying on the witness stand to cover up their illegal stop and search of a suspected drug dealer.

At the opening of the long-awaited police disciplinary tribunal against Consts. Michael Taylor, Fraser Douglas, Jeffrey Tout and Benjamin Elliot, lawyer Scott Hutchison accused the 55 Division officers of concocting an “elaborate story” to explain their arrest of Nguyen Son Tran.


With oozing sarcasm, the prosecutor noted Tout’s “spontaneous” traffic stop of Tran for supposedly running a red light and then his “miraculous” discovery of heroin the suspect had left sprinkled all over the console of his car.

Elliot claimed he then arrived on the scene and searched Tran’s Toyota Camry after overhearing the stopped car’s licence plate over the police radio and recognizing it as that of a suspect he’d arrested on drug charges the year before. His search then uncovered a stash of 11 grams of heroin in the steering wheel column.

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“The narrative is simply untrue,” Hutchison told Insp. Greg Walton. “It’s obvious they did not tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.”

In reality, he said, Elliot and Taylor had been researching Tran the day before and had learned from Const. Brian Davy that his confidential informant told him Tran was dealing. They were out looking for their suspect when they spotted him at Broadview and Gerrard.

Needing an excuse to search Tran’s car, they created the bogus traffic stop and after finding the hidden drugs, emptied one of the packets on his console to justify the illegal stop and search, said Hutchison.


And in an apparent gotcha, he said, Elliot didn’t come on scene because of recognizing the licence plate. “That’s a lie, that’s a lie because it never happened.”

He told the tribunal that the car’s plate number was never mentioned by the police dispatcher.

In a scathing 2015 ruling, Superior Court Justice Edward Morgan threw out the drug charges against Tran, finding the officers had given false testimony and planted the drugs to justify their warrantless search.

Charged criminally with perjury and obstruction of justice, the case never made it to trial after the Crown stayed the charges in 2017, blaming their own delay issues in giving disclosure to the defence.

But the four officers were also charged under the Police Act in 2016, and after years of delays, their disciplinary hearing is only now underway.

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Hutchison began his case by replaying audiotaped testimony from the Tran court case, including where Elliot was asked to listen again to the radio dispatch. “There’s no licence plate broadcast,” defence lawyer Kim Schofield told him.

The tribunal heard the officers uncovered a plastic baggie of 15 decks, or small packages, and five balls of heroin in the steering column. Coincidentally, the powdered heroin found all over the car console equalled the weight of one of these packets.

And would a drug dealer really leave heroin in the open while he’s stopped by a police officer?

“It’s inherently improbable that Mr. Tran had it out when he was driving, and he left it there while the officer was walking back and forth investigating him, and he’s out on bail (on different drug charges),” Hutchison said.

Tran, 61, is expected to tell the tribunal that while he was an occasional heroin user, he didn’t have the drug out on his console that day.

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Four Toronto cops to face obstruction of justice charges

The hearing is scheduled to last eight weeks. And in the meantime, cha-ching, cha-ching.

All four will continue to collect their six-figure salaries, just as they have since they were first suspended five long years ago.

mmandel@postmedia.com
 

spaminator

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LOCKED AND LOADED: Off-duty Toronto cop allegedly wore sidearm to meet sex worker
Officer charged with obtaining sexual services for consideration, possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose and mischief

Author of the article:Bryan Passifiume
Publishing date:Apr 08, 2021 • 6 hours ago • 1 minute read • Join the conversation
Investigators allege off-duty Toronto Police officer Travis Houston, 37, of Georgina, was captured on security video wearing a firearm while meeting with a sex trade worker at a York Region hotel on March 31, 2021.
Investigators allege off-duty Toronto Police officer Travis Houston, 37, of Georgina, was captured on security video wearing a firearm while meeting with a sex trade worker at a York Region hotel on March 31, 2021. PHOTO BY HANDOUT /York Regional Police
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An off-duty Toronto cop is in trouble after allegedly arranging to meet a sex trade worker at a York Region hotel.

And that officer, alleges the sex worker, wore a gun and identified himself to her as police during their encounter.


The victim told York Region Human Trafficking investigators that she’d been called to the hotel by the suspect for sexual services on Wednesday, March 31.

She claims the accused showed up wearing a firearm and identified himself as a police officer.

She then got upset and ordered him to leave, say York Regional police.

The suspect was identified as an off-duty Toronto Police officer, and was arrested two day later.

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Anthony Martin, 57, of Maple, was shot dead and a second man, 21, wounded when four gunmen opened fire on a group of friends playing dominoes in the courtyard of a townhouse complex on Gosford Blvd., in North York, on Thursday, sept. 24, 2020.
Off-duty York cop faces sexual assault, sexual exploitation charges
Toronto Police Const. Michael Theriault (left) and his brother Christian Theriault.
MANDEL: Stiff nine-month jail term for off-duty cop who beat Dafonte Miller

A CCTV image of the suspect, wearing what appears to be a police duty belt and holster, was released by York police.

Thirty-seven year old Travis Houston of Georgina faces charges of obtaining sexual services for consideration, possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose and mischief.

Police are concerned there may be more victims, and urge anybody with information to call 1-866-876-5423, ext. 6960, or anonymously through Crime Stoppers.

bpassifiume@postmedia.com
On Twitter: @bryanpassifiume
 

spaminator

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Court rejects appeal for speeding cop that killed teen
Det.-Const. Remo Romano to begin his eight-month sentence after fatally colliding with 18-year-old pedestrian Carla Abogado

Author of the article:Bryan Passifiume
Publishing date:Apr 08, 2021 • 5 hours ago • 1 minute read • 6 Comments
Det.-Const. Remo Romano leaves 361 University Ave. courthouse after a mistrial was declared in his trial on Wednesday May 18, 2016.
Det.-Const. Remo Romano leaves 361 University Ave. courthouse after a mistrial was declared in his trial on Wednesday May 18, 2016. PHOTO BY CRAIG ROBERTSON /Toronto Sun
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After three trials and nearly a decade, he’s off to jail.

Remo Romano, convicted of running down 18-year-old Natasha “Carla” Abogado as she crossed a Scarborough street nine years ago, will begin his eight-month sentence after the Ontario Court of Appeal dismissed his challenge to the Sept. 2018 verdict that found him guilty of dangerous driving causing death.

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Romano, a Det.-Const. with the York Regional Police service, was driving an unmarked police vehicle 115 km/h along St. Clair Ave. E. near Warden Ave. on Feb. 12, 2014 when he struck Abogado as she was crossing the road after exiting a TTC bus.

The speed limit along that stretch of St. Clair West was 60 km/h.

Romano’s first trial in 2016 ended in a hung jury resulting in a mistrial, while a second resulted in an acquittal.

A successful appeal by the Crown triggered a third trial in 2018 where Romano was found guilty and sentenced to eight months, but released on bail pending the outcome of his appeal.

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Romano testified he was speeding to catch up with a six-vehicle convoy tailing a suspect as part of an undercover operation targeting commercial break-and-enters.

Nastasha Carla Abogado, 18
Nastasha Carla Abogado, 18 PHOTO BY TORONTO SUN FILES
He tearfully told the court in 2016 that he didn’t see the girl as she jaywalked across St. Clair Ave. W. at a bus stop.

The force of the impact tossed her nearly 80 metres.


She was pronounced dead at the scene.

York Regional Police Association President Rob O’Quinn said he was disappointed by Thursday’s decision to dismiss the appeal.

“As a result of the conviction in this case, police officers have been put on notice by the courts that they may face criminal liability for exceeding the speed limit while in the lawful execution of their duties,” he said in a statement, adding the association will assist Romano in his appeal.

bpassifiume@postmedia.com
On Twitter: @bryanpassifiume
 

spaminator

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Ontario's police watchdog charges two cops in two days with sex assault
One accused is with Hamilton, the other with Toronto

Author of the article:Chris Doucette
Publishing date:Apr 14, 2021 • 7 hours ago • 1 minute read • Join the conversation
Ontario Special Investigations Unit logo.
Ontario Special Investigations Unit logo. PHOTO BY CHRIS DOUCETTE /Toronto Sun
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For the second time in as many days the province’s police watchdog has laid sexual assault charges against a cop.

Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit says it was notified by the Hamilton Police Service on Nov. 7, 2020, about a man who had filed a complaint alleging he had been sexually assaulted a day earlier.


“The SIU invoked its mandate and commenced an investigation,” the SIU said in a statement released Wednesday. “As a result of the SIU investigation, Const. Ryan Cole is facing one count of sexual assault causing bodily harm.”

The SIU said Cole was arrested Wednesday and subsequently released on an undertaking with conditions that he is not to communicate or associate with any witnesses in the case and that he not possess a firearm.

The accused is scheduled to appear in Hamilton court on May 3.

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Toronto Police at the scene of a police-involved shooting on Tuesday, April 13, 2021.
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A Toronto Police cruiser.
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On Tuesday, the SIU revealed that a Toronto cop had been charged with sexual assault.

The SIU said it was contacted by the Toronto Police Service on March 25 regarding a woman’s complaint that she had been sexually assaulted by an officer four days earlier.

Const. Conal Quinn was arrested Tuesday and charged with one count of sexual assault and one count of breach of trust by an official.


The SIU said Quinn was released on a promise to appear and an undertaking on the same conditions as Cole.

He is expected to appear at Old City Hall court on May 7.

With both matters now before the courts, the SIU said they won’t be commenting any further on the investigations.

The SIU investigates any alleged sexual assault, serious injury or death involving police officers.

cdoucette@postmedia.com

On Twitter: @SunDoucette
 

spaminator

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Police in Texas hunting former deputy sheriff after triple homicide
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
Publishing date:Apr 18, 2021 • 2 hours ago • 1 minute read • 5 Comments
Stephen Broderick, 41, is pictured in a photo provided by Austin Police Department.
Stephen Broderick, 41, is pictured in a photo provided by Austin Police Department. PHOTO BY AUSTIN POLICE DEPARTMENT /Twitter
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Police in Austin, Texas, were searching on Sunday for a former deputy sheriff wanted in connection with the fatal shooting of three people at an apartment complex earlier in the day.

The slayings, which followed a spate of mass shootings in the United States, drew a large emergency response, as officers raced to the neighborhood and locked down the surrounding area, which includes a popular shopping complex.


Authorities lifted the shelter-in-place order on Sunday afternoon after determining that the incident was domestic in nature, rather than an active shooter situation, and launched a manhunt for the suspect.

Joseph Chacon, Austin’s interim police chief, identified the suspected gunman as 41-year-old Stephen Broderick, a former detective for the Travis County Sheriff’s Office, which is based in Austin, the state capital.

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Last June, Broderick was placed on administrative leave after being charged with sexual assault of a child, local media reported at the time.

Two women and a man were killed shortly before noon CDT, Chacon said.

“This appears to be a domestic incident, and the victims were all known to our suspect,” Chacon said, but added that Broderick should nevertheless be considered “armed and very much dangerous.”

Chacon said investigators had exhausted several tips but had been unable to locate Broderick.
 

spaminator

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Former Texas detective suspected in shooting arrested
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
Publishing date:Apr 19, 2021 • 3 hours ago • 1 minute read • 13 Comments
Stephen Broderick, 41, is pictured in a photo provided by Austin Police Department.
Stephen Broderick, 41, is pictured in a photo provided by Austin Police Department. PHOTO BY AUSTIN POLICE DEPARTMENT /Twitter
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Texas authorities on Monday apprehended a former sheriff’s detective suspected of fatally shooting three people at an apartment complex in Austin a day earlier, police said.

Stephen Broderick, 41, was arrested without incident at about 7 a.m. following two 911 emergency calls about a “suspicious person” walking on a rural street near U.S. 290, said Police Chief Ryan Phipps of Manor, Texas, about 15 miles (24 km) northeast of Austin.


“He was armed with a pistol in his waistband,” Phipps said. “He complied with verbal instructions. There was no resistance.”

In an apparent domestic dispute, two women and a man were shot dead shortly before noon on Sunday, police said.

Broderick, a former detective with the Travis County Sheriff’s Office, which is based in Austin, the state’s capital, was placed on administrative leave last June after being charged with sexual assault of a child, local media reported at the time.
 

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MANDEL: York cop to argue entrapment after sting leads to convictions
Author of the article:Michele Mandel
Michele Mandel
Publishing date:Apr 21, 2021 • 2 hours ago • 3 minute read • 29 Comments
In an Ontario Superior Court exhibit image, surveillance camera footage shows York Regional Police Const. Richard Senior placing a police shotgun in a rental van.
In an Ontario Superior Court exhibit image, surveillance camera footage shows York Regional Police Const. Richard Senior placing a police shotgun in a rental van. Toronto Sun
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Richard Senior can likely say goodbye to his job as a York Regional police officer.

Senior dodged one major judicial bullet when a judge acquitted him of the attempted robbery of a warehouse he believed was filled with cocaine and cash.


But Superior Court Justice Vanessa Christie still convicted him on 11 of 14 corruptions charges, including stealing $300 earmarked for a police informant, trafficking in steroids, possessing a stolen police shotgun for the planned robbery and offering to sell the cocaine he anticipated stealing.

The 188-page ruling paints a portrait of a dirty cop.

Senior progressed from small-scale crime — unlawful police database checks — to the big league when a drug warehouse was dangled in front of him by a mid-level Asian crime boss hoping to hurt a rival.

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But it was all a mirage. There was no cache of cocaine for the taking — it was all part of an elaborate police sting that involved an undercover RCMP officer posing as drug importer “Henry Wong” and a York Region cop playing Senior’s new, shady partner eager to get in on a drug heist.

His bromance with both men would end with the traffic cop under arrest for multiple charges — with the most outrageous being attempted robbery.

“It is the view of this court that Const. Senior intended to commit the robbery,” the judge wrote. “The remaining question that this court needs to address is whether the plan had gone far enough to amount to an attempt.”

Despite the hours of conversations caught on tape, his purchase of duct tape and zip ties to subdue anyone inside, and the silly string to block any cameras, even the acquisition of a loaded police shotgun for firepower, Christie decided that it had not.


The plan to rob the warehouse began Sept. 12, 2018, and came up every time Senior and his partner were together after that date, the judge acknowledged.

“The numerous items found in the rental van on Oct. 9, 2018 demonstrate Const. Senior’s serious intention to carry this plan through to completion. Const. Senior even took advantage of an opportunity to steal a YRP shotgun and place it with the other equipment that he had amassed for the robbery, because he expected that Henry (the supposed drug dealer) could call at any moment.”


Yet, Christie didn’t find that was enough.

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“This court certainly agrees that there was a lot of preparation — that is undeniable. However, this court is not satisfied that his actions went beyond mere preparation,” she concluded. “On Oct. 9, there were still too many unknowns for Const. Senior’s actions to amount to an attempt.”

Senior, 46, has been suspended with pay since his arrest Oct. 9, 2018.

“We are very pleased with the dismissal of the most serious charges,” said Senior’s lawyer, John Struthers.

His work is not done.

Now Senior’s only hope of staying out of prison lies in the second stage of the trial where his lawyers will argue that he was entrapped by this police sting and his convictions should be thrown out.

When court resumes in June for the entrapment motion, they’re expected to argue that Canadian law prevents authorities from offering someone an opportunity to commit a crime when the person wasn’t already engaged in a criminal act.

“It is not a proper use of the police power to randomly test the virtue of people,” the Supreme Court has ruled in the past.

Offering to traffic cocaine is one of the more serious of his convictions.

Senior offered one man half a kilo to act as the robbery lookout, the judge found, and negotiated to sell “Henry” the coke he found in the warehouse at $30,000 a kilo.

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In an Ontario Superior Court exhibit image, surveillance camera footage shows York Regional Police Const. Richard Senior placing a police shotgun in a rental van.
MANDEL: Dirty cop or victim of unfair police undercover sting?
In an Ontario Superior Court exhibit image, surveillance camera footage shows York Regional Police Const. Richard Senior placing a police shotgun in a rental van.
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He was looking at making a big score. Or as he was caught telling his partner on a wire: “You wanna make some money, or what?”

Instead, Senior’s pay as an officer is finally coming to an end.

mmandel@postmedia.com

On Twitter: @MandelSun
 

spaminator

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'Lazy' Hamilton Police officer gets probation for document forgery
"He was so lazy and so unprofessional that he resorted to criminal acts to complete two simple assignments"

Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Colin Perkel
Publishing date:Apr 22, 2021 • 1 day ago • 1 minute read • 11 Comments
Hamilton Police
Hamilton Police
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A “lazy and irresponsible” police officer in Hamilton found guilty of forgery will have to spend 18 months on probation and do 75 hours of community service, an Ontario court judge has ruled.

In handing down a conditional discharge, Judge Joseph Nadel found Const. Darren Smith, who had pleaded not guilty, derived no personal benefit from twice forging documents related to a firearms-surrender program.

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“He did not intend to cause anyone personal harm,” Nadel said. “He was so lazy and so unprofessional that he resorted to criminal acts to complete two simple assignments.”


Smith’s crimes arose when he was twice sent to retrieve unwanted firearms from two residents. The program calls for the owners to sign a “destruction waiver” but, instead, Smith forged their signatures and handed in the forged documents.

According to Nadel, the officer was simply saving himself the “inconvenience” of having to go back to the homes to get the required signatures.

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“Even then, that inconvenience would have been remunerated as part of his regular shift duties as a patrol officer,” Nadel noted.

In passing sentence, Nadel found several mitigating factors, including the fact that Smith was having difficulty dealing with work pressures but had no previous record.

The fact that Smith committed his crimes while on active duty was an aggravating factor but his behaviour is unlikely to end up casting a cloud over the integrity of other officers and the judicial system itself, the judge said.


Nadel said the guilty findings will have serious consequences for Smith, noting the officer still faces a misconduct hearing that could see him fired. Ultimately, Nadel said, a conditional discharge involving probation — which means he will not be formally convicted if he fulfils the terms — was the appropriate punishment.

“Officer Smith’s crimes, despite being acts of malfeasance during the course of his duties, were the criminal acts of a lazy and irresponsible police officer,” Nadel wrote. “But they were not designed to harm the public intentionally (or) to financially benefit Mr. Smith.”
 

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Former cop jailed four years for sexually assaulting boy
Frank Kohler, 75, admitted to sexually abusing his victim between 1967 and 1972

Author of the article:Bryan Passifiume
Publishing date:Apr 26, 2021 • 10 hours ago • 2 minute read • Join the conversation
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PHOTO BY STOCK PHOTO /Getty Images
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A former Brampton police officer who admitted sexually assaulting a young boy nearly half a century ago was sentenced Monday to four years in jail.

Frank Kohler, 75, had pleaded guilty to two counts each of gross indecency and indecent assault for abusing the boy between January 1967 and December 1972.


The victim grew into a man whose life spiralled into a tragic cycle of abuse and homelessness. He blamed his troubles on the sexual abuse he had suffered before his body was found floating in the Don River two years ago.

Court heard that Kohler, who joined the Brampton Police Force in 1966 at age 20, volunteered with Big Brothers and was paired with the 10-year-old victim, who’d recently lost his father.

The abuse began the next year and lasted until 1972.

Kohler earned the boy’s trust through fun activities like snowmobiling, waterskiing, a three-week excursion to Europe, and yearly trips to visit Kohler’s parents in Nova Scotia, court heard.

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Kohler also coached the boy’s youth hockey team.


In 1974, the victim relocated to northern Ontario — the same year Big Brothers received an anonymous postcard accusing Kohler of being a “dangerous homosexual predator.”

Investigators put Kohler at the centre of a sexual misconduct investigation where he admitted the years of abuse.

No criminal charges were laid, but Kohler handed in his badge and was allowed to return to his native Nova Scotia, where he got married, found Christ, and served as a pastor for more than two decades, court heard.

The victim, left broken by the abuse, was found dead in 2019.

It was through the help of the victim’s childhood friend and retired Peel cop Pam Hand that Kohler was brought to justice.

Kohler was charged in August 2020 by the province’s Special Investigations Unit in connection with the abuse.

“There was an unspeakable breach of trust,” said Superior Court Justice Richard LeDressay, who added the victim was a vulnerable child.

“The gravity of the sexual violence … when he was a child was enormous,” the judge said while imposing his sentence on Kohler.

bpassifiume@postmedia.com
On Twitter: @bryanpassifiume
 

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'HEAR THE POP?': Colorado cops laughed about violent arrest of senior with dementia, video shows
Four officers including Austin Hopp, the first to handcuff 73-year-old Karen Garner, have been suspended

Author of the article:Washington Post
Washington Post
Andrea Salcedo
Publishing date:Apr 27, 2021 • 1 day ago • 5 minute read • 18 Comments
Loveland, Colo. police arrest 73-year-old Karen Garner, fracturing her arm and dislocating her shoulder.
Loveland, Colo. police arrest 73-year-old Karen Garner, fracturing her arm and dislocating her shoulder. PHOTO BY THE LIFE & LIBERTY LAW OFFICE /YouTube
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Last June, Karen Garner sat handcuffed to a bench inside a booking cell weeping and in pain.

No one had come to treat her fractured arm and dislocated shoulder hours after Loveland, Colo., police violently arrested the 73-year-old with dementia, her family said.


Meanwhile, about three metres away, three officers sat hunched around a computer as they re-watched body-camera footage of Garner’s arrest, a new video released by the attorney representing Garner’s family shows.

“Ready for the pop? Hear the pop?” the officer who initially handcuffed Garner can be heard saying, referencing the moment he injured her shoulder.

The nearly one-hour booking cell video released Monday shows two Loveland Police Department officers who participated in Garner’s arrest fist-bumping each other while discussing the incident. At one point, they are joined by another officer as they mock and praise the arrest, which they claimed “went great,” while referring to Garner as “ancient,” “senile” and “flexible.”

“We crushed it,” one of the officers says.

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Sarah Schielke, an attorney representing Garner’s family, called the video “heart-wrenching” and “unseeable.” Schielke, who obtained the initially inaudible video last August, worked with a forensics audio engineer to capture the dialogue.

“At one point, I broke down and I wept because it was so raw, wrong and heartless,” Schielke told The Washington Post. “I don’t even know Karen, but it could have been my grandmother and I can’t imagine what the experience of having to live through that would be.”

Two weeks ago, following public outcry after body-camera footage of the incident was released, the city announced it would open an independent investigation into Garner’s treatment. Colorado’s Eighth Judicial District Attorney Gordon McLaughlin said his office’s critical response team would investigate whether there was “any potential criminal behaviour” by the Loveland officers.

On Tuesday, a Loveland police spokesman said four officers including Austin Hopp, the first to handcuff Garner, have been suspended. The criminal investigation will be conducted by McLaughlin’s office and the Fort Collins Police Department.

“Loveland Police Chief Bob Ticer strongly advocated for the criminal investigation, in consultation with the DA and other police agencies,” Tom Hacker, a Loveland police spokesman said in an email.

In a statement shared with The Post, McLaughlin said he has reviewed the booking cell footage released on Monday and that the investigation “is a priority for my office.” “The statements on the videos are very concerning,” McLaughlin said. “I will consider those statements along with all relevant evidence … in making a charging decision.”

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Garner’s family, which filed a federal lawsuit against the city and three of the officers two weeks ago, has since filed an amended complaint adding two more Loveland officers for allegedly failing to intervene or provide medical care to Garner based on the recently released booking video.

Police aggressively arrested the 80-pound woman as she was plucking purple wildflowers and strolling back home on June 26. They had been called after she left a Walmart without paying for items worth $13.88, according to her family’s lawsuit. Walmart said employees called the police after Garner allegedly pulled off an employee’s mask during the incident.

Body-camera footage shows Hopp grabbing Garner by her arms and wrenching them backward to handcuff her as she repeatedly cried that she was “going home.” At one point, Garner fell to the ground as officers struggled with her before putting her in a cruiser. Prosecutors later dropped all charges against Garner.

In the lawsuit, Garner’s family argues that due to dementia and sensory aphasia, a condition that leaves her unable to understand speech or to communicate easily, she was unable to understand the police officers’ commands. Schielke, the family’s attorney, said the incident could have been avoided had police requested a mental health unit.

After the lawsuit was filed, the department said it had not received a previous complaint about the incident and that it was unaware of Garner’s injuries. But Schielke alleges the booking cell video disproves that because officers can be heard discussing a report that “alerts the department and creates an official record that force was used or an injury occurred.” That report allegedly made by the officers would have gone up the chain of command, Schielke said.

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The nearly one-hour long booking video released on Monday, which was compiled in an edited 14-minute clip, shows Hopp along with officers Daria Jalali and Tyler Blackett watching the body-camera footage of Garner’s arrest while laughing and joking. “I hate this,” Jalali can be heard saying.

“This is great,” Hopp said.

“I love it,” Blackett replied.

At one point, as the three officers remain glued to the computer screen re-watching the arrest, one officer says, “It’s like TV!”

“The body-cam show,” another officer replied, while laughing.

Near the end of the clip, Hopp says Garner is the first person he’s ever used his hobble restraint on during an arrest. “I was super excited,” Hopp said. “I was like, ‘All right, let’s wrestle, girl. Let’s wreck it!’ I got her on the ground and all that stuff. I got her cuffed up. . . . Threw her on the ground a couple of times.”

He added, “I can’t believe I threw a 73-year-old on the ground.”

The officers also appear to monitor Garner from a screen and at one point Jalali enters her cell and comes back to report that Garner is claiming the handcuffs are hurting her hands.

Schielke said it took six hours before Garner was seen by a doctor.

Months after her arrest, Garner moved into a memory care facility about 45 minutes away from Loveland,, where she used to live in a condo one block away from a daughter’s house. While Garner used to play cards, garden and was “fiercely independent,” she dropped those activities after the arrest, Schielke said.

“Since this happened, it’s vanished,” Schielke said. “The Loveland Police Department took it all away from her and now we know they laughed about it, too.”

Schielke said the family wants all the officers involved to be fired but also wants systemic change in the department and city leadership.

“We want to ensure that it doesn’t happen to anyone else again,” Schielke said. “What the family has lost here money of course can’t cure, but money will cause change.”
 

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Barrie cop charged over violent arrest of skateboarder
Author of the article:Liz Braun
Publishing date:Apr 29, 2021 • 16 hours ago • 1 minute read • Join the conversation
An arrest in Barrie caught on camera will be investigated.
An arrest in Barrie caught on camera will be investigated. PHOTO BY @AREACODE416IX /Instagram
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A violent arrest caught on camera has led to criminal charges against a Barrie police officer.

When a young man was arrested on Dunlop St. E. in February, a passerby filmed the brutal takedown. The arresting officer can be seen holding the youth down, striking him in the head with a bright yellow stun gun and smashing his head into the ground so hard that other witnesses can be heard screaming at the police to stop.


The man being arrested can be heard begging for help. He is also heard saying that he is not resisting arrest.

The footage was posted on social media.

Barrie Police Chief Kimberley Greenwood quickly for the Ontario Provincial Police to conduct an independent investigation.

On Thursday, the OPP issued a statement explaining Const. Jason Stamp, 46, has been been charged with assault and assault with a weapon.


The young man who was arrested, Skyler Kent, was initially ticketed for riding a skateboard through a red light in Barrie; he told a local TV station that when he mouthed off to the cops while riding away, police stopped him again and the violent incident ensued.

Chief Greenwood said in a press release Thursday, “The need for transparency in policing is critical. The Barrie Police Service holds all its members to the highest level of professionalism. I thank the OPP for conducting a thorough and detailed investigation.”

Stamp is an 18-year member of the service.
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Jurisdictional spat leaves spitting victim high and dry
Despite having clear video of crazed woman spitting on him, Mississauga man says his assault complaint was turned away by both Toronto and Peel police

Author of the article:Bryan Passifiume
Publishing date:May 05, 2021 • 46 minutes ago • 2 minute read • Join the conversation
Despite getting clear video of a woman spitting on him near a Toronto park, a Mississauga man says neither Toronto and Peel police seem interested in taking his assault complaint.
Despite getting clear video of a woman spitting on him near a Toronto park, a Mississauga man says neither Toronto and Peel police seem interested in taking his assault complaint. PHOTO BY SCREENGRAB
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Despite having clear video of a woman spitting in his face, a Mississauga man says he’s caught in the middle of a jurisdictional spat between two GTA police services — neither of which seem interested in receiving his assault complaint.

Video posted online shows the man, who requested the Sun withhold his name, being spat upon by a woman during a parking dispute along Marine Parade Dr. near the Humber Bay Shores.

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“It’s pretty unfortunate,” the victim told the Sun, explaining he was in the area for work and was accosted by a crazed woman while attempting to back into a roadside parking space.

“She was waving her hands, yelling ‘no, no! you can’t park here!” he said, as both she and her husband stood at his car’s front bumper.+


It’s when she started spitting on his hood that the victim took out his phone.

“The husband took her by the arm and started to lead her away,” he said.

The woman broke free and stormed back, waving her arms and giving his camera the middle finger.

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“I really didn’t think she was going to do anything,” he said.

Despite getting clear video of a woman spitting on him near a Toronto park, a Mississauga man says neither Toronto and Peel police seem interested in taking his assault complaint.
Despite getting clear video of a woman spitting on him near a Toronto park, a Mississauga man says neither Toronto and Peel police seem interested in taking his assault complaint. PHOTO BY SCREENGRAB
The video then shows the woman approach the passenger-side window and hawk a loogie at the victim’s face.

Led away by her man, the victim’s next thought was to contact the police.

Initially calling 911, he was told the incident wasn’t an emergency and was referred to the Toronto Police non-emergency number, when after an extended period of time on hold decided to follow the advice of the automated hold recording and file an online complaint.

“I got a reply that this was a physical assault, and I needed to speak to an officer,” he recalled.

Upon calling the number he was provided, a Toronto police officer told him that because he lives in Mississauga he needed to report the incident to Peel Regional Police — despite the assault occurring in Toronto.

Peel police also declined to accept his complaint, who the next day told him they had no jurisdiction over crimes committed in Toronto.

“I really don’t know what to do,” he said, explaining that since the police don’t seem interested in helping him, he might as well post the video — which contains clear video of the offenders’ faces and licence plate number — on social media.

“That’s pretty much about it.”

bpassifiume@postmedia.com
On Twitter: @bryanpassifiume
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Hamilton cop charged in incident with tenant caught on video
Author of the article:Kevin Connor
Publishing date:May 07, 2021 • 20 hours ago • 2 minute read • Join the conversation
Hamilton Police Professional Standards Branch have charged Const. Ian Milburn with Assault Level One after reviewing video of an interaction between an officer and citizen that took place on Thursday, Feb. 11, 2021.
Hamilton Police Professional Standards Branch have charged Const. Ian Milburn with Assault Level One after reviewing video of an interaction between an officer and citizen that took place on Thursday, Feb. 11, 2021. PHOTO BY SCREENGRAB /TWITTER
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A Hamilton Police officer who was allegedly caught on camera “lunging” at a woman has been charged with assault by the service’s Professional Standards Branch.

On Feb. 11, at about 4:30 p.m., two officers were called to a landlord and tenant dispute in the area of King St. E. and Sherman Ave.


A camera outside an apartment recorded the interaction between the police and the tenant.

CCTV footage shows one officer asking to speak to a woman involved on the other side of the door.

She opened the door but kept the chain on the door to speak with the officers.


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“I know my neighbour has made some kind of complaint against me,” says the woman, referring to a building superintendent.

“He is someone to allow renovations to occur contrary to the zoning of this house to affect my eviction. What this is is a superintendent harassing his tenant and making it construed to be the opposite.”

One officer responded saying, “Hey, listen to me. If you damage his property, listen to me, if you damage his property — can I finish … If you damage his property, you are going to be arrested. And that’s not going to help you …”

The woman says she hasn’t damaged the landlord’s property and the police shouldn’t speak to her that way.

“Sir, it’s clear. Go have a good day … enjoy your bullying of the position,” she says, before closing the door while the officer lunges back towards her direction.


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Police said after the incident they are aware of the video and issued a statement.

“The interaction captured on the video is concerning and has been forwarded to our Professional Standards Branch for investigation,” the service said. “Public trust and accountability are integral to our work and we are committed to upholding these values.”

On Thursday, Hamilton Police said they had concluded the investigation and had charged Const. Ian Milburn with assault level one.

Milburn has been placed on administrative duties, which means he will have no contact with the public while the case against him is ongoing.

kconnor@postmedia.com
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