T h e B l u e L i e C R CrookedCops O O K E Co p sar r es t edf o r : D 626117211 B Y :J aySant o s . www. c r o o k ed p d c o m . www. c r o o k ed s ap d c o m/ f o r u m
/ / -//
Baroda-Lake Township officer David Cramton arrested on drunk driving charge June 26, 2011 STEVENSVILLE - A Baroda-Lake Township reserve officer was arrested on a charge of drunk driving Wednesday night, according to a sergeant with the Bridgman state police post. David Cramton, 52, was arrested at 11:40 p.m. Wednesday after he left the 5 O'Clock Sports Bar on Red Arrow Highway, Sgt. Ken High said. Cramton was observed leaving the bar and heading north on Red Arrow Highway toward St. Joseph Avenue. When Cramton made a left out of the bar parking lot, he stayed in the left lanes of Red Arrow Highway - the wrong side of the road - before swerving into the right lanes. Cramton was pulled over by a state Trooper Steve Vrablic after he turned onto St. Joseph Avenue. Cramton had a .18 blood-alcohol content. He was taken to the Berrien County Jail in St. Joseph. Cramton was charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated, with a high BAC. Baroda-Lake Township Police Chief Gary Ruhl said that as of Thursday Cramton "was put on inactive status until after his court proceedings are finished and whatever the disposition is of the case." Once the court proceedings are complete, Cramton will go before the Baroda-Lake Police Board. Ruhl said there could be several outcomes, including Cramton resigning, Cramton staying with the police department under some kind of probation or the board discharging him. CrookedSAPD Visit the Forum
Update: DA says Orleans officer Travis Tebbetts could still face DWI charge June 25, 2011 ORLEANS — The local police officer who was stopped by a state trooper March 6 for allegedly driving drunk could still be charged even though the trooper didn't perform any sobriety tests or arrest him. Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O'Keefe said Friday he would consider prosecuting Orleans police Officer Travis Tebbetts when the state police investigation into Trooper Steven Culver's actions that night is concluded. "When we see those reports, we'll make a determination whether it is a prosecutable matter," said O'Keefe, who had not reviewed the internal affairs report done by the Orleans police in April that resulted in Tebbetts' being disciplined by his own department. O'Keefe said the key to any prosecution will be Culver's testimony. "He's the only guy who actually stopped him," O'Keefe said. "That will be the salient report." Culver called Orleans police Sgt. Matthew Watts, the officer in charge that night, and told him Tebbetts was intoxicated and needed a ride home. Culver also made the same comment to off-duty Yarmouth police Officer Gordon Gibbons, adding that Tebbetts had admitted to drinking eight beers before driving, according to documents obtained by the Times. Gibbons was the first to notify the Yarmouth police of Tebbetts' alleged erratic driving because he was driving behind him down Station Avenue. Cruisers from Yarmouth and Dennis, as well as Trooper Culver, responded. Culver ultimately stopped Tebbetts on Route 6, called the Orleans police for the ride home and had Tebbetts' car impounded, a move Gibbons labeled "professional courtesy" and that Orleans Police Chief Jeffrey Roy called "discretion," pointing out that officers issue many more warnings than tickets when they make traffic stops.
"Discretion doesn't mean you can decide whether or not to arrest somebody who has committed a criminal act," said Tom Nolan, a former associate professor in criminology at Boston University who was a Boston police officer for 27 years. "The public loses faith when this kind of favored treatment is doled out to officers." Brotherhood loyalty Some other recent cases making the news on the Cape support Nolan's observations about the appearance of a double standard. When state police Lt. Jeffrey Peirce rear-ended a pickup truck on Route 6 in September 2009, the state police sergeant who responded didn't give Peirce any field sobriety tests despite the empty beer cans found in Peirce's vehicle. The sergeant felt he was outranked and called in a state police captain to investigate. Peirce was taken to the hospital. He was never given a Breathalyzer or blood test, but he submitted to field sobriety testing when a state police captain arrived nearly three hours after the crash. State police Col. Marian J. McGovern said in January that the police had no evidence to pursue criminal charges against Peirce. When Falmouth police Patrolman Michael Gonsalves wrote up fellow Officer Theodore Williams in 2005 for allegedly being drunk when he flipped his truck, spilling beer cans onto the road, a dead rat was placed in Gonsalves' locker and his paycheck was run through a shredder. Williams was later acquitted of drunken driving, although he did not receive a field sobriety test or Breathalyzer because he was taken to the hospital, where he refused to submit to a blood test. Bond of mutual reliance The police often feel pressure to let their "brother" police officers escape the kind of punishment ordinary citizens receive, said police experts and officers interviewed for this story, because they rely on one another in tough, sometimes life-threatening situations. That sense of camaraderie, a shared experience, creates a bond that is tough to betray, they said.
"The idea of professional courtesy has tacitly been understood and imparted to them at the academy level, at intake and reinforced when working on the street," Nolan said. "It's not anything I've heard publicly admitted to or acknowledged by police, but it is used among and by police officers." "I don't condone it, but you can't pretend it's not going on," Nolan added. "There is a thing called 'professional courtesy,' but that line stops with behaviors that are dangerous to others, such as drunk driving," said James Fox, a Northeastern University professor of criminology. Nolan said the practice was more widespread before major court cases such as Debbie Irwin v. Town of Ware (1984), in which the court found the town liable after the police stopped a drunken driver but let him go. Soon after, the driver crashed into the Irwin family car at a high speed and killed Irwin's husband and daughter. "In every line of work, there are times when people look out for their own," Fox said. "There's lots of pressure to give someone a pass because he's one of our own." But the message should not be that you can drive drunk with impunity unless you actually hurt somebody, Fox said. Tebbetts, who has worked for the Orleans police for six years, was disciplined as a result of the Orleans Police Department's internal investigation and is still employed with the department. Roy would not specify what disciplinary action was taken, citing personnel privacy exemptions to state public records laws. The Times is appealing that decision. Tebbetts could not be reached for comment. BY: Doug Fraser CrookedSAPD Visit the Forum
City of San Antonio and former officer Gregory Mickel sued by woman after she claims sexual assault June 28, 2011 A woman is suing the city of San Antonio and a former police officer, alleging her civil rights were violated because the cop sexually assaulted her after detaining her. The federal lawsuit, filed Friday, names ex-officer Gregory Mickel, who pleaded guilty in September 2009 to two state misdemeanor charges — official oppression and violation of civil rights — and received two years of probation. But the suit also claims the city was aware of similar misconduct by other San Antonio police officers before the incident that led to Mickel's dismissal from the force. The suit seeks unspecified compensatory damages, plus $1 million in punitive damages. An SAPD spokeswoman referred calls seeking comment to the City Attorney's Office, but a call there was not returned Tuesday. Mickel could not be reached for comment. Mickel's plea came at a time when the SAPD was marred with negative publicity over sexual misconduct allegations, and “in that context, the city thus condoned this pattern of abuse, which continued through the time of plaintiff's oppression and assault,” her lawyer, Ricky J. Poole, wrote in the suit. Mickel was arrested in July 2009 after admitting to internal investigators that he had sex with the woman, who is now 47. She had two prior prostitution arrests and was in an East Side area where prostitutes loiter when a man picked her up in his truck on June 26, 2009, according to published reports. Mickel stopped the truck, ordered her to sit in the back of his patrol car, told the man to leave, then told the woman he
would arrest her a third time if she didn't have sex with him, which she did unwillingly after he drove to a secluded area, the suit said. Mickel maintained the sex was consensual. The Bexar County District Attorney's Office said Mickel was on duty so his actions were “coercive by the very nature of the situation� but prosecutors decided the misdemeanor charges were more fitting than felony sexual assault, officials said. BY: Guillermo Contreras CrookedSAPD Visit the Forum
Former Buckeye officer Casey Shook arrested for nine counts of assault including alleged sex assaults involving children June 29, 2011 A former Buckeye police officer was arrested in Florida after a Buckeye resident accused him of sex offenses involving children, Buckeye police said. Buckeye officers worked in conjunction with Daytona Beach police to arrest Casey Shook, 39, of Buckeye, last week, Buckeye police spokesman Lt.
Jared Griffith said. Shook reportedly was in Florida for training related to his new employment with American K-9 Detection Services, LLC.
Shook was booked on nine counts of sexual conduct with a minor, three counts of kidnapping, aggravated assault, two counts of sexual abuse, three counts of voyeurism, indecent exposure, and threatening and intimidating, Griffith said. Griffith would not elaborate on the specific nature of the accusations or the number of victims, only saying that the age range is 8 to 14 years old. Shook is in custody at the Volusia County jail awaiting extradition to Arizona, he said. Buckeye detectives flew to Florida to interview him for the investigation. Police said Shook reportedly was a karate instructor in Buckeye, but Griffith was not sure if he worked for a karate studio or did private instruction. Aaron Delgado, the program director at Lee’s ATA Black Belt Academy, Buckeye’s only martial arts studio, said Shook was not an instructor at the academy. Shook was fired Sept. 23 after he was accused of plagiarizing three police reports, improperly investigating and closing cases and improperly impounding evidence. On June 15, the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board imposed a three-month suspension of his certification that was backdated for Sept. 23 through Dec. 23. BY: Jackee Coe CrookedSAPD Visit the Forum
Fayetteville prison employee Dave Green arrested after police find 32 grams of heroin, 27 grams of cocaine and six pounds of marijuana in house June 30, 2011 Fayetteville, N.C. — Fayetteville police said they arrested an employee of the Sampson County Correctional Institute during a drug bust Wednesday. Officers arrested Dave Green, 50, who works at the Sampson correctional facility; Derrick Green, 41; and Michelle Banks, 44, after searching a residence at 2618 Trenton Road. Police said they found 32 grams of heroin, 27 grams of cocaine and six pounds of marijuana in the house. They estimated the drugs had a street value of approximately $49,000. All three suspects were charged with trafficking heroin by possession, trafficking heroin by manufacturing, possession with the intent to sell and deliver cocaine possession with intent to sell and deliver marijuana. Dave Green was also charged with maintaining a dwelling for the storage of controlled substances. CrookedSAPD Visit the Forum
Austin officer William Norrell suspended 10 days for hitting suspect in face July 1, 2011 Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo is temporarily suspending an officer for allegedly hitting a suspect in the face. The suspension for William Norrell is 10 days. This is his mugshot after being arrested back in early march. An affidavit shows Norrell was involved in a fight at a target parking lot in Round Rock off Henna Boulvevard near I-35. A Round Rock police officer says he saw Norrell pinning a woman and another man against a car. The officer also noticed the man and woman with injuries and arrested all three. Charges against Norrell have been dismissed. CrookedSAPD Visit the Forum
China Grove officer Daniel Casas on unpaid leave after arrest for failing to register as sex offender July 2, 2011 A China Grove police officer is on unpaid administrative leave after he was arrested for failing to register as a sex offender, officials said. Daniel Casas, 48, turned himself in at the Bexar County satellite office on June 24, when he posted $10,000 bail and was immediately released, according to Detective Louis Antu, a spokesman for the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office. He was convicted of a 1991 sexual assault of a child with contact, Antu said, and received deferred adjudication. In the past, a sex offender registry law only required sex offenders convicted after 1997 to register, but a change in the past few years now requires offenders to register if convicted after 1970. Casas has worked for the China Grove Police Department for a few years, officials said. According to Antu, Bexar County investigators are combing through cases to ensure convicted offenders comply with the law. Casas’ conviction slipped past Bexar County’s investigation but was noticed by the Texas Department of Public Safety, which informed Bexar County and Casas of the offense. “He refused to register,” Antu said. “We issued a warrant, couldn’t find him, and then he turned himself in. He still hasn’t resolved it — he had seven days to register after the 24th, and he has failed to do so.” CrookedSAPD Visit the Forum
T h eB l u eL i e Cr o o k ed Co p s B Y :J aySant o s . www. c r o o k ed p d c o m . www. c r o o k ed s ap d c o m/ f o r u m
Mo r et oc o me. . .