Cop arrested for attacking another cop, her husband

Thanks to WSBT (CBS) in Mishawaka, IN…

SOUTH BEND — A 10-year veteran of the city’s police department is on administrative leave, following a domestic violence arrest early Saturday morning.

St. Joseph County Police Sgt. Bill Redman confirmed Cpl. Meredith Hanley, a detective in the department, was arrested at her home after an alleged incident involving her husband, who is also a South Bend police officer. Her husband was not arrested.

Redman said police were called to a neighbor of the Hanleys at 1:35 a.m. The victim went there after the alleged assault. He told the officers Meredith had struck him over the head during an argument, and then scratched his neck and ear as he was standing back up.

Police say two young children were inside the home sleeping when it happened.

Officers then went to the Hanley residence. When Meredith didn’t come to the door, they got the garage door code from her husband and entered the home.

After making sure the children were OK, they began to question Meredith, but she said she didn’t want to speak to the officers and requested an attorney. She was arrested for domestic violence/battery, a misdemeanor.

Meredith was booked into the St. Joseph County Jail, and will remain in custody until she appears in court on Monday, December 21 at 1:30 p.m. There is no bond at this time.

South Bend Police spokesperson Capt. Phil Trent said per standard department procedure involving incidents of this nature, Meredith will be on paid administrative leave until the Board of Public Safety votes to make it unpaid.

Actor Charlie Sheen spends Christmas in jail

This comes to us from the AP…

ASPEN, Colo. – Charlie Sheen spent the better part of Christmas Day in a Colorado jail cell after being arrested on domestic violence allegations.

The 44-year-old actor was taken into custody Friday morning by officers responding to a 911 call from a house in this ski resort townabout 200 miles west of Denver.

An ambulance went to the house, but the accuser was not taken to the hospital.

Sheen, the star of CBS’ “Two and a Half Men,” was taken to the Pitkin County jail and booked for investigation of second-degree assault and menacing, both felonies, along with criminal mischief, a misdemeanor, Aspen police spokeswoman Stephanie Dasaro said.

He was released in the late afternoon after posting $8,500 bond and being advised by a county judge on the conditions of his release, she said.

Dasaro declined to name Sheen’s accuser, citing a department policy prohibiting the identification of potential victims in domestic violence cases.

Aspen attorney Richard Cummins said late Friday that he was representing Sheen in the case. He declined to name Sheen’s accuser or discuss details, but he cautioned against any rush to judgment.

“I think at the end of the day it will be much ado about nothing,” Cummins told The Associated Press. “I don’t think there’s any criminality about what went on.”

Cummins said a court date was set for Feb. 8. “That may be to determine whether a case goes forward or not,” he said.

Sheen’s publicist Stan Rosenfield also warned against making assumptions.

“It would benefit everyone not to jump to any conclusion,” he said.

Sheen is the son of actor Martin Sheen and brother of actor-director Emilio Estevez. He is married to Brooke Mueller Sheen, a real estate investor who gave birth to the couple’s first children, twin boys, in March. They married in May 2008 following Sheen’s bitter divorce and custody battle with actress Denise Richards.

The star of “Platoon,” “Wall Street” and the “Hot Shots!” movies has had run-ins with the law before. In December 1996, he was arrested and charged with attacking a girlfriend at his Southern California home. He later pleaded no contest and was placed on two years’ probation.

In 1998, his father turned him in for violating his parole after a cocaine overdose sent him to the hospital. He was later ordered to undergo a rehabilitation program.

Chinese man jailed for eating rare tiger

This comes to us from Reuters…

BEIJING (Reuters) – A man who killed and ate what may have been the last wild Indochinese tiger in China was sentenced to 12 years in jail, local media reported on Tuesday.

Kang Wannian, a villager from Mengla, Yunnan Province, met the tiger in February while gathering freshwater clams in a nature reserve near China’s border with Laos. He claimed to have killed it in self-defense.

The only known wild Indochinese tiger in China, photographed in 2007 at the same reserve, has not been seen since Kang’s meal, the Yunnan-based newspaper Life News reported earlier this month.

The paper quoted the provincial Forestry Bureau as saying there was no evidence the tiger was the last one in China.

A local court sentenced Kang to 10 years for killing a rare animal plus two years for illegal possession of firearms, the local web portal Yunnan.cn reported. Prosecutors said Kang did not need a gun to gather clams.

Four villagers who helped Kang dismember the tiger and ate its meat were also sentenced from three to four years for “covering up and concealing criminal gains,” the report said.

Kang was also fined 480,000 yuan ($70,000).

The Indochinese tiger is on the brink of extinction, with fewer than 1,000 left in the forests of Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar.

NASCAR driver pleads no contest to DWI charge

Sporting news brought to us by NASCAR…

A.J. Allmendinger has pleaded no contest to the charges of DWI in North Carolina District Court and received a 60-day suspended sentence, 18 months unsupervised probation, 24 hours of community service and $100 fine plus court costs.

Mooresville, N.C., police said Allmendinger, who drives for Richard Petty Motorsports, failed a field sobriety test after he was pulled over on Oct. 29. Allmendinger reportedly blew a .08 on a Breathalyzer test.

Allmendinger said he had drinks with dinner and made a mistake in driving afterward.

“I honestly felt fine, but I obviously should have erred more on the side of caution, particularly given what I do for a living,” Allmendinger said. “It was a bad judgment call and I apologize for that.”

NASCAR placed Allmendinger on probation until Dec. 31, citing a violation of Section 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing) of the 2009 NASCAR rule book. RPM also placed Allmendinger on probation through the end of the 2010 racing season and fined him $10,000, which would be donated to charity.

Petty routinely shunned alcohol sponsorship, and refused to allow his teams to participate in NASCAR’s second-tier series when it was sponsored by Busch.

“If anything good can come of this, then hopefully I can be an example of being more aware of drinking responsibly and if even if you feel fine, take a cab, call a friend,” Allmendinger said after the incident. “Just don’t risk it. I will do my best to make it right and use this to learn myself and hopefully educate others.”

Have you seen this man?

There were a rash of break-ins reported worldwide overnight. Police reports are sketchy at this time but be on the look out for a fat man with a white beard wearing a red suit. If you see this man, please do not try to apprehend him on your own — leave that to the proper authorities.

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday with family and friends.

“Balloon Boy’s” parents get jail time for hoax

Thanks to the Houston Chronicle…

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — The parents who carried out the balloon boy hoax were sentenced to jail Wednesday and given strict probation conditions that forbid them from earning any money from the spectacle for four years.

Richard Heene was sentenced to 90 days in jail, including 60 days of work release that will let him pursue his job as a construction contractor while serving his time. His wife, Mayumi, was sentenced to 20 days in jail.

Richard Heene choked back tears as he said he was sorry, especially to the rescue workers who chased down false reports that his 6-year-old son had floated away in a balloon on Oct. 15. It was a stunt designed to generate attention for a reality TV show.

“I do want to reiterate that I’m very, very sorry. And I want to apologize to all the rescue workers out there, and the people that got involved in the community. That’s it,” said Richard Heene, whose wife did not speak at the hearing.

Larimer County District Judge Stephen Schapanski then ordered Heene to begin a 30-day jail term on Jan. 11, delaying the start of the sentence for two weeks so he can spend the holidays with his family. Schapanski allowed Heene to serve the remaining 60 days of his jail term under work release, meaning he can work during the day but spend his nights in jail.

The Heenes’ probation will be revoked if they are found to be profiting from any book, TV, movie or other deals related to the stunt.

“This, in simple terms, was an elaborate hoax that was devised by Mr. and Mrs. Heene,” the judge said.

The Heenes pleaded guilty to charges that they carried out the balloon hoax, with deals that called for up to 90 days in jail for the husband and 60 days for his wife.

Schapanski ordered Mayumi Heene to serve 20 days in jail after her husband completes his sentence. Her time served is flexible — she can report to jail on 10 weekends, for example — so the children are cared for, the judge said.

Prosecutors asked for the maximum sentence for the husband, saying that a message needs to be sent to promoters who attempt to carry out hoaxes to generate publicity. Chief Deputy District Attorney Andrew Lewis also asked for full restitution to reimburse authorities for the cost of investigating the hoax — an amount that could exceed $50,000.

“People around the world were watching this unfold,” he said. “Mr. Heene wasted a lot of manpower and a lot of money in wanting to get himself some publicity.”

He added, “Jay Leno said it best when he said, ‘This is copycat game.’ And people will copycat this event. (The Heenes) need to go to jail so people don’t do that.”

He portrayed the Heenes as growing increasingly desperate as their pitches for a reality TV show kept getting turned down by networks — and the family fell deeper into a financial hole. Lewis said the Heenes set in motion the balloon hoax in early October as a way to jumpstart the effort and get some attention.

They chose Oct. 15 because the weather was cooperating and the kids were home for school with parent-teacher conferences, allowing the Heenes to report that 6-year-old Falcon had floated away, Lewis said.

Once the parents were brought in for questioning, Richard Heene feigned sleep during the lie-detector test, claiming it was some sort of diabetic episode, Lewis said.

David Lane, Richard Heene’s attorney, pleaded for leniency with the judge and said that the couple “have learned a lesson they will never forget for the rest of their lives.” He also said that if someone has to go to jail, let it be Richard Heene and not his wife.

“That is his plea. That would be something of a Christmas miracle if that can occur,” he said.

Husband slaps wife with hamburger

More food news from NBC Miami…

Domestic violence is never, every funny, but it can be medium-rare: a 25-year-old Port St. Lucie man was arrested for allegedly rubbing a hamburger on his wife’s face during an argument.

Police say Daniel Boss and his wife got into it late Thursday night and started calling each other names. At some point, the woman apparently poured soda on Boss’ hamburger, causing him to grab the sandwich, rub it in her face and start throwing food.

Boss left, but his wife went to the police station to report the incident. Officers arrested him three hours later on a misdemeanor domestic battery charge, which we take to mean they arrived to view the scene before this guy got there.

It could not be determined if Boss had an attorney.

Police chief ordered held without bail for coverup of fatal beating

This comes to us from the AP…

SHENANDOAH, Pa. — A police chief ordered held without bail on charges he tried to cover up the fatal beating of a Mexican immigrant by white teenagers was named in a 2006 lawsuit that claimed police beat to death a Hispanic teenager, then made it look like a suicide.

Police Chief Matthew Nestor was never charged, but the allegations contained in the suit, in Tuesday’s indictment and in other civil claims depict a police department with pervasive hostility to minorities and a penchant for using excessive force.

Police “acted as feudal warlords in this coal town community that people were afraid of,” said attorney John Karoly, who represents the parents of 18-year-old David Vega in their federal lawsuit against the borough. Karoly said he wasn’t suggesting police were abusive to everyone, “but I would say the pattern certainly starts to appear that minorities took the thrust of their abuse.”

The suit names Nestor and Capt. Jamie Gennarini as defendants, as well as the borough of Shenandoah. The officers have denied wrongdoing. A civil trial is scheduled for next summer.

Nestor, 33, and two other officers were charged Tuesday with orchestrating a cover-up as the FBI investigated the fatal attack on Luis Ramirez by a group of high school football players. Gennarini and Nestor were indicted separately in a scheme to extort money from illegal gambling operations.

On Wednesday, Nestor was ordered held until trial at a bail hearing in Wilkes-Barre. Judge Malachy Mannion called Nestor “clearly, unequivocally a serious danger to witnesses in this case.”

At the hearing, a federal prosecutor alleged that Nestor drove a cooperating witness in the extortion investigation to an isolated area and ordered him to strip down before returning him unharmed to his home.

The officers pleaded not guilty before a federal magistrate in Wilkes-Barre and the other two were released to home confinement.

A third federal indictment charges teenagers Brandon Piekarsky and Derrick Donchak with a hate crime in connection with the July 2008 attack on Ramirez, 25, an illegal immigrant from Mexico. Donchak and Piekarsky have an initial court appearance scheduled for Tuesday. Their lawyers did not return phone messages Wednesday.

Donchak and Piekarsky were previously charged in state court with Ramirez’s death.

Piekarsky was acquitted in May by an all-white jury of third-degree murder and ethnic intimidation; Donchak was acquitted of aggravated assault and ethnic intimidation. Both were convicted of simple assault. Piekarsky is scheduled to be released from jail Thursday. Donchak remains locked up.

Early in the Ramirez investigation, Schuylkill County prosecutors determined that they had a serious problem with the Shenandoah police, District Attorney James Goodman said Wednesday. No Shenandoah officers were called to testify at the trial.

“We determined the police did not do their job and they were partly involved with this cover-up,” said Goodman, adding that he asked the Justice Department to investigate the force.

“It was pretty troubling and it obviously caused problems with the prosecution in the case and made the case more difficult,” Goodman said.

Police in this blue-collar town of 5,000, about 80 miles northwest of Philadelphia, face other accusations of wrongdoing.

Gennarini and Capt. Raymond Nestor — the father of the police chief — arrested David Vega at his home shortly before 8:55 p.m. on Nov. 28, 2004, while responding to a report of a domestic dispute, according to court documents.

“While in police custody … Vega was beaten to death and then hung from the bars of a holding cell to make it appear as if he had committed suicide,” the lawsuit said.

Vega was pronounced dead at 10:50 p.m.

His father, Carlos Vega, said Wednesday that he had no doubt what happened to his son. Vega, a retired chef who moved to Shenandoah 19 years ago, said he’s afraid to leave his own house for fear of the police.

“A big group of Spanish people moved into Shenandoah, and they didn’t know how to react to that,” said Vega, who was born in New York and is of Puerto Rican descent.

“Were they fair to us? No. They’re fair to their own kind. The outsider always had to pay.”

An autopsy conducted by the county coroner determined Vega’s son committed suicide, but Karoly said the coroner accepted Nestor’s explanation that Vega’s bruises had come earlier as he resisted arrest. A second autopsy arranged by the family confirmed Vega “suffered extensive, massive injuries consistent with a profound beating. … The defendant did not die of hanging,” the suit said.

Vega had a new girlfriend and was meeting with military recruiters about earning money for college, Karoly said.

“He had everything to live for,” he said. “The kid was on top of the world and had no reason to commit suicide.”

Nestor’s attorney insists otherwise, writing in court papers: “The only credible independent evidence to date establishes that David Vega committed suicide.”

Nestor faces yet another lawsuit, this one filed by a Shenandoah man arrested by the chief and another officer on a drug charge March 11.

David Murphy Sr., who is also represented by Karoly, claims Nestor and another officer made him turn over his prescription blood thinner at the police station, then refused to allow him to take his evening dose. Nestor also punched Murphy in the back, where he had recently undergone spinal fusion surgery, the lawsuit said.

The officers left Murphy in a holding cell overnight. He “started to experience severe pain in his chest and arm … but there was no one in the station to hear his cries for help,” the suit said. He passed out; Karoly said he suffered a heart attack. He spent four days in a hospital.

Murphy, who is black, claims Nestor threatened to kill him if he filed suit.

The chief told Murphy he would not “make it out of the Shenandoah jail alive … that (he) would end up like that Mexican who ‘hung’ himself,” the suit said.

Can’t cars and bikes just get along?

This comes courtesy of Reuters…

BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s most wanted fugitive was captured Tuesday after a five-day manhunt, when police knocked the escaped murderer off the woman’s bicycle he was ridingalong a rural road near the Dutch border.

Peter Paul Michalski surrendered without a fight after an unmarked police car deliberately crashed into him, knocking him off the bicycle onto the grassy shoulder of the road.

The 46-year-old, who was serving a life sentence when he escaped from prison last week, was carrying a pistol.

Heavily armed police commandos had raided a number of buildings in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia searching for Michalski following his escape from a high-security prison in Aachen. An accomplice in the escape was captured Sunday.

They made a copy of a key inside the jail and simply unlocked several doors to escape, according to German media reports. They even stopped to wave good-bye to a security camera outside the front gate before getting into a taxi.

“Bad luck for you — we just broke out of jail,” the accomplice Michael Heckhoff was quoted telling the taxi driver in his testimony to police, according to a report in Bild newspaper Tuesday. “He said that was no problem for him.”

Thousands of police were involved in the hunt and authorities in neighboring countries were also alerted.

Police warned the public the two were extremely dangerous. They stole a car and robbed several people along their escape route through several western German towns and cities.

Fort Worth cop twice the limit after fatal accident

This comes to us from the Houston Chronicle…

FORT WORTH — The medical examiner says an off-duty Fort Worth police officer’s blood-alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit when he was involved in a crash that killed a woman.

Results released Thursday indicate the blood-alcohol level for Jesus Cisneros’ was .17 at the time of the fatal collision Dec. 11. The legal limit in Texas is .08.

Fort Worth police say they are now trying to determine how fast Cisneros was driving in his unmarked car and will investigate the crash as an intoxication manslaughter case.

The narcotics officer has not been charged but is now on restricted duty.