The $800,000 shooting: Three men and a car
Dan Bernstein of the Press Enterprise examines the impact that the foreclosure crisis has on furniture stores in the region.
Why is Hemet losing its city manager? That's the question being asked by everyone.
(excerpt, Press Enterprise)
Hemet City Manager John Davidson, on the job for just over a year, is out effective Tuesday, with no one saying if the departure is voluntary.
"All I can say is John is leaving," Mayor Marc Searl said Wednesday.
He declined to elaborate on Davidson's departure, saying a press release with more details would be issued at the City Council meeting Tuesday.
"The city manager is departing March 11 in mutual and amenable terms with the City Council," Deputy City Manager Mark Orme said.
Davidson could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
So has Davidson been "fired"? Stay tuned for further developments in the case of the departing city manager.
Mark June 3 on your calendar if you're from Colton because that's when the mayoral recall election has been scheduled.
Grade separations to ease train congestion are coming to Banning. They were coming to Riverside but so far only one, Jurupa's, has made it.
The Community Police Review Commission in Riverside has been investigating the fatal officer-involved shooting of Douglas Steven Cloud but it wasn't until 18 months and one $800,000 settlement later, that it was briefed by its investigator, Butch Warnberg. There were eyewitness accounts from Riverside Police Department officers who were arriving at the scene of the car dealership where Cloud's car had crashed after he had sped away from a nearby Home Depot after an attempt to steal a paint spraying device was thwarted.
The accounts of events below are from Warnberg's report.
The Other Officers
Officers mentioned in Warnberg's report which did not have interviews included in it were Jeffrey Putnam at the Home Depot location and Canine Officer Michael Mears at the Acura Dealership.
Officer Alfonso Navar was traveling in a squad car with his field training officer, Jeffrey Derouin. It was day two in Navar's career at the Riverside Police Department and both officers were traveling west-bound to Lincoln when the robbery was reported over the radio by Putman
The two officers arrived at the scene and Navar saw the vehicle that had crashed resting on the sidewalk in front of the Acura of Riverside dealership. Navar left the car and began to approach the vehicle from the front. Several officers at the car had their weapons drawn and were struggling with the driver who was Cloud, trying to pull him out of the vehicle while the engine revved. Navar heard the gunshots being fired when he was about 10-15 feet away from the car. He saw the officer who had struggled with the driver lean back away from the car and fire a single gunshot which may have hit the driver in the upper body or head. After Navar took cover, he heard two more gunshots.
Another new officer, Nay Mann was working his or her first day at the department assigned to Field Training Officer Bryan Crawford. Mann heard the 211 broadcast over the radio and when the two officers arrived at Indiana Avenue, they saw the crashed vehicle, with its engine running and the tires spinning.
Mann saw three officers shouting at Cloud and trying to pull him out of the car. After Mann took cover behind a squad car, he or she saw an officer fire three to four rounds at Cloud.
Derouin said that he had heard the 211 call and a description of the vehicle and its last known direction that it had been traveling in, but there was no description of any weapon. He saw the vehicle, "a tangled mess" with its engine revving loudly and three to four officers on the driver's side of the window. Their weapons were drawn and they were trying to pull a person out of the car. Derouin ran to the car and when he got within 10-15 feet, he heard four shots being fired. There was a slight pause between the first two shots fired and the last two, and to him, it seemed as if two officers had discharged their weapons.
When Officer Eric Meier arrived at the scene in his squad car, he saw Officers Nicholas Vazquez and David Johansen pointing their guns at Cloud while standing outside the driver's side window. Meier ran toward the car and when he reached within 60 feet of the car, he heard three to four shots being fired.
Afterward, some of these officers and others participated in a "clearing" or "K-9 arrest team" after the car's engine had stopped revving including Vazquez and Johansen. To Meier, both officers appeared shaking and traumatized after the shooting.
No weapon was ever reported as being seen and none was found.
The commission will begin discussing this shooting case later this month, even as its members had few questions for its investigator. Given that the litigation filed in the case (which provided a potential time wavier for G.C. 3304 (d)) has been settled, any discussion of this case's outcome is academic. Which goes back to what columnist Dan Bernstein has said about the city, the CPRC and the relationship between the two entities.
The prosecution's expert witness admitted on the witness stand that she failed to take proper precautions when processing evidence at the scene of the fatal shooting of Sean Bell in New York City.
(excerpt, New York Daily News)
Detective Ellen Friedman, who specializes in finding guns concealed in cars, said she was not wearing protective gear - except for rubber gloves - when she used a screwdriver to pry open a door and remove an air bag.
She did the search before crime scene investigators finished searching Bell's SUV.
"I didn't take any precautions as to contaminating any bloodstains or any other evidence in the vehicle," Friedman said, adding that she saw two spent shell casings beneath the driver's seat during her search.
Friedman's testimony was supposed to buttress prosecutors' contention that Bell was killed on his wedding day by three trigger-happy detectives who fired 50 shots without letting the targets know they were police.
Instead, it laid the groundwork for the defense to argue that anything found in the car should be thrown out because proper procedures weren't followed to protect the evidence.
During the trial of three New York City Police officers charged in connection with the shooting, the property inventory of Bell was listed.
Valerie Bell, mother of Sean Bell, spent her 52nd birthday listening to testimony in court involving the death of her son and three of the officers who killed him.
The New York Times's analysis of the proceedings is that it more resembles a public hearing than a criminal trial.
Milwaukee will no longer pay its fired police officers charged with serious crimes. So says this article in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
(excerpt)
Passage of the police pay bill, by a vote of 95-0, marked a breakthrough for those who wanted to end the practice to protect Milwaukee taxpayers and a setback for the police union that fought some of the changes.
Under current law, fired officers are paid until their appeals are exhausted, a process that can take months or even years. Under a deal reached last week, pay would stop for officers who are fired and charged with felonies, Class A misdemeanors or Class B misdemeanors. Officers fired for rule violations would continue to be paid until their appeals are heard, something Democrats wanted to end as well.
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, who has pushed for the bill for years, said it solves the problem of ending pay for officers who have been charged with crimes.
"This is a huge victory for the taxpayers of Milwaukee, this is a huge victory for the excellent police officers who work for the Milwaukee Police Department, and it's a huge victory for the department overall," Barrett said.
The police department's labor union's leadership said that the bill shouldn't include misdemeanor offenses.
Does the city attorney in Los Angeles have a conflict of interest when it comes to billboards? Would he be aware if he had one?
Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca wrote this article in the Los Angeles Times about criticism being part of the price for innovation.
Why is Hemet losing its city manager? That's the question being asked by everyone.
(excerpt, Press Enterprise)
Hemet City Manager John Davidson, on the job for just over a year, is out effective Tuesday, with no one saying if the departure is voluntary.
"All I can say is John is leaving," Mayor Marc Searl said Wednesday.
He declined to elaborate on Davidson's departure, saying a press release with more details would be issued at the City Council meeting Tuesday.
"The city manager is departing March 11 in mutual and amenable terms with the City Council," Deputy City Manager Mark Orme said.
Davidson could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
So has Davidson been "fired"? Stay tuned for further developments in the case of the departing city manager.
Mark June 3 on your calendar if you're from Colton because that's when the mayoral recall election has been scheduled.
Grade separations to ease train congestion are coming to Banning. They were coming to Riverside but so far only one, Jurupa's, has made it.
The Community Police Review Commission in Riverside has been investigating the fatal officer-involved shooting of Douglas Steven Cloud but it wasn't until 18 months and one $800,000 settlement later, that it was briefed by its investigator, Butch Warnberg. There were eyewitness accounts from Riverside Police Department officers who were arriving at the scene of the car dealership where Cloud's car had crashed after he had sped away from a nearby Home Depot after an attempt to steal a paint spraying device was thwarted.
The accounts of events below are from Warnberg's report.
The Other Officers
Officers mentioned in Warnberg's report which did not have interviews included in it were Jeffrey Putnam at the Home Depot location and Canine Officer Michael Mears at the Acura Dealership.
Officer Alfonso Navar was traveling in a squad car with his field training officer, Jeffrey Derouin. It was day two in Navar's career at the Riverside Police Department and both officers were traveling west-bound to Lincoln when the robbery was reported over the radio by Putman
The two officers arrived at the scene and Navar saw the vehicle that had crashed resting on the sidewalk in front of the Acura of Riverside dealership. Navar left the car and began to approach the vehicle from the front. Several officers at the car had their weapons drawn and were struggling with the driver who was Cloud, trying to pull him out of the vehicle while the engine revved. Navar heard the gunshots being fired when he was about 10-15 feet away from the car. He saw the officer who had struggled with the driver lean back away from the car and fire a single gunshot which may have hit the driver in the upper body or head. After Navar took cover, he heard two more gunshots.
Another new officer, Nay Mann was working his or her first day at the department assigned to Field Training Officer Bryan Crawford. Mann heard the 211 broadcast over the radio and when the two officers arrived at Indiana Avenue, they saw the crashed vehicle, with its engine running and the tires spinning.
Mann saw three officers shouting at Cloud and trying to pull him out of the car. After Mann took cover behind a squad car, he or she saw an officer fire three to four rounds at Cloud.
Derouin said that he had heard the 211 call and a description of the vehicle and its last known direction that it had been traveling in, but there was no description of any weapon. He saw the vehicle, "a tangled mess" with its engine revving loudly and three to four officers on the driver's side of the window. Their weapons were drawn and they were trying to pull a person out of the car. Derouin ran to the car and when he got within 10-15 feet, he heard four shots being fired. There was a slight pause between the first two shots fired and the last two, and to him, it seemed as if two officers had discharged their weapons.
When Officer Eric Meier arrived at the scene in his squad car, he saw Officers Nicholas Vazquez and David Johansen pointing their guns at Cloud while standing outside the driver's side window. Meier ran toward the car and when he reached within 60 feet of the car, he heard three to four shots being fired.
Afterward, some of these officers and others participated in a "clearing" or "K-9 arrest team" after the car's engine had stopped revving including Vazquez and Johansen. To Meier, both officers appeared shaking and traumatized after the shooting.
No weapon was ever reported as being seen and none was found.
The commission will begin discussing this shooting case later this month, even as its members had few questions for its investigator. Given that the litigation filed in the case (which provided a potential time wavier for G.C. 3304 (d)) has been settled, any discussion of this case's outcome is academic. Which goes back to what columnist Dan Bernstein has said about the city, the CPRC and the relationship between the two entities.
The prosecution's expert witness admitted on the witness stand that she failed to take proper precautions when processing evidence at the scene of the fatal shooting of Sean Bell in New York City.
(excerpt, New York Daily News)
Detective Ellen Friedman, who specializes in finding guns concealed in cars, said she was not wearing protective gear - except for rubber gloves - when she used a screwdriver to pry open a door and remove an air bag.
She did the search before crime scene investigators finished searching Bell's SUV.
"I didn't take any precautions as to contaminating any bloodstains or any other evidence in the vehicle," Friedman said, adding that she saw two spent shell casings beneath the driver's seat during her search.
Friedman's testimony was supposed to buttress prosecutors' contention that Bell was killed on his wedding day by three trigger-happy detectives who fired 50 shots without letting the targets know they were police.
Instead, it laid the groundwork for the defense to argue that anything found in the car should be thrown out because proper procedures weren't followed to protect the evidence.
During the trial of three New York City Police officers charged in connection with the shooting, the property inventory of Bell was listed.
Valerie Bell, mother of Sean Bell, spent her 52nd birthday listening to testimony in court involving the death of her son and three of the officers who killed him.
The New York Times's analysis of the proceedings is that it more resembles a public hearing than a criminal trial.
Milwaukee will no longer pay its fired police officers charged with serious crimes. So says this article in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
(excerpt)
Passage of the police pay bill, by a vote of 95-0, marked a breakthrough for those who wanted to end the practice to protect Milwaukee taxpayers and a setback for the police union that fought some of the changes.
Under current law, fired officers are paid until their appeals are exhausted, a process that can take months or even years. Under a deal reached last week, pay would stop for officers who are fired and charged with felonies, Class A misdemeanors or Class B misdemeanors. Officers fired for rule violations would continue to be paid until their appeals are heard, something Democrats wanted to end as well.
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, who has pushed for the bill for years, said it solves the problem of ending pay for officers who have been charged with crimes.
"This is a huge victory for the taxpayers of Milwaukee, this is a huge victory for the excellent police officers who work for the Milwaukee Police Department, and it's a huge victory for the department overall," Barrett said.
The police department's labor union's leadership said that the bill shouldn't include misdemeanor offenses.
Does the city attorney in Los Angeles have a conflict of interest when it comes to billboards? Would he be aware if he had one?
Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca wrote this article in the Los Angeles Times about criticism being part of the price for innovation.
Labels: City Hall blues, officer-involved shootings, What is past is prologue
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