WYFF: Police: Asheville Firefighter Shot Bicyclist
Officers said the victim was riding with his wife and had his 3-year-old son in a child seat attached to his bicycle when a driver approached him.
Police said the driver, Charles Diez, claimed he was upset that the victim was bike riding with his child on the heavily traveled Tunnel Road.
Diez pulled a gun and opened fire, hitting the victim in his bicycle helmet, according to police.
And the bicyclist, amazingly, survived without even being hit by the bullet. Whatever brand of helmet he owns, I want to buy it.
On Monday, they confirmed he has been placed on paid investigative leave pending the outcome of this investigation.
Well, we wouldn't want him to be out of money to buy more bullets, would we?
Associated Press: Police: Fake officer tries to stop real officer
Oakland police say a man impersonating a police officer tried to pull over a real undercover officer and was arrested.
Police say 21-year-old Antonio Fernandez Martinez of Oakland was arrested Wednesday in the Fruitvale district after trying to pull over an unmarked police vehicle. Martinez was driving a Ford Crown Victoria outfitted with flashing lights, a microphone and speakers.
And the guy was on probation too. I suspect he will be a long term resident of California's notorious
Philadephia Daily News: Store video catches cop bullying woman
Lawless was standing at the counter of the store, at Comly Road and Roosevelt Boulevard, smiling and chatting with the clerk, when she was grabbed from behind and violently pushed back with a police officer's gun in her face.
The officer's son had hit her car, so he called dad claiming she hit him. So the officer went to the convience store and assaulted this woman. Not only that, he brought along a civilian witness, his son, who participated in the assault and was himself armed.
The clerk on duty the night that Lopez confronted Lawless told investigators that three times after the incident, police officers spoke with him about the security tape and that two asked if he would erase it.
An Internal Affairs investigation found no misconduct among officers who spoke with the clerk about the tape.
On top of everything else, he and his buddies try to tamper with evidence, and the police department does nothing.
The District Attorney's Office reviewed the case and declined to prosecute Officer Lopez in December. Eight days later, he was reissued his weapon and returned to full duty.
The cop remained on duty until the above story appeared Monday. Today, he is thankfully off the street, at least temporarily.
theNewspaper.com: UK Council Considers Speed Camera Photos Copyrighted
The East Sussex, UK Police are attempting to have speed camera photographs removed from websites by claiming they represent copyrighted material. In particular, the police are targeting a set of images taken in June 2008 that motorcyclist Peter Barker used to prove that a radar device that clocked him at 38 MPH must have been wrong. Based on measurements of the photographic evidence, a Brighton Magistrates Court judge agreed and threw out the case against Barker.
Obviously, copyright laws are there to protect the works of creators, not the products of an automated camera which may embarrass the police department. The UK should go the route of the US and make this kind of thing a public record, accessible to all. This should tell you why such transparency is a good thing for the general public:
While officials may prefer that drivers simply pay the tickets when they arrive in the mail, tens of thousands of innocent motorists have seen good reason to challenge their citations. In May, the National Prosecutors Office in The Netherlands refunded 9298 photo citations and another 2640 in because of uncertain camera accuracy. In March, 3000 automated tickets in Lausanne, Switzerland were thrown out after a "technical problem" caused tickets to be issued to law-abiding motorists. In February, prosecutors in Nuremberg, Germany began investigating a police chief for tampering with a photo radar evidence log. A major investigation in the UK last year concluded that 2660 speed camera tickets were unlawfully issued in Lancashire. In Arizona, 589 bogus speed camera tickets were canceled after faulty speed sensors were discovered.
Associated Press: Wisconsin court praises drunken concert goer
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — An Illinois teen knew he was too drunk to drive home after a Dave Matthews Band concert south of Milwaukee. So he fell asleep in his car, only to be awoken by a state trooper. Travis Peterson, 19, of Dixon, Ill., said even though he told the officer he was drunk and sleeping it off, the trooper ordered him to leave because the lot was being cleared.
Once out of the parking lot, Peterson was arrested for drunken driving. He was subsequently found guilty and ordered to spend 60 days in jail.
You can't get much more of an open and shut case of entrapment than this one. The police ordered a man to commit a crime then arrested him for that crime.A Wisconsin appeals court on Wednesday commended Peterson for doing the right thing by trying to sleep it off, and said the trial court was wrong not to let him argue that police had entrapped him.
The state had argued successfully at trial that people who choose to drink too much can't argue they've been entrapped when stopped for drunken driving. The 2nd District Court of Appeals disagreed.
It's not often you get a Court of Appeals which praises a drunk teenager. The teenager was convicted initially, likely because we as a society essentially criminalize certain types of behavior - drinking, concert going, being a teenager - and when something happens to someone engaging in such behavior, we say they "had it coming" by engaging in what should be regarded as perfectly acceptable behavior. In this case, the Court of Appeals rightfully disagreed with this, saying it didn't matter that he was an underage drunk after a concert, he tried to do the right thing and shouldn't have been punished for it.AP: Town on SF Bay wants to photograph every car
TIBURON, Calif. — Visitors should be prepared to have their pictures taken as they enter and leave this picturesque town of million-dollar views and homes along the San Francisco Bay.
Officials want to photograph every car and use the license plate information to solve crimes in the town of 9,000. Critics see the plan as an intrusion into the rights of visitors, but proponents say it is a sensible precaution that absolutely will not cross privacy lines.
"As long as you don't arrive in a stolen vehicle or go on a crime spree while you're here, your anonymity will be preserved," said Town Manager Peggy Curran. "We don't care who you are and we don't know who you are."
Right. So you have nothing to worry about unless you have something to hide, I suppose. So what recent crime spree prompted this measure?
Curled on the edge of the San Francisco Bay in Marin County, Tiburon is not a high-crime spot. In 2008, police report there were 99 thefts, 20 burglaries and two auto thefts.
Two whole autothefts? Why not fingerprint everybody too?
