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Dead Constitution See other Dead Constitution Articles Title: More Pig Murder and Mayhem www.nola.com/news/index.s...s_cops_involved_in_k.html New Orleans cops involved in killing face other probes by Brendan McCarthy, The Times-Picayune Thursday February 05, 2009, 10:27 PM Hours before fatally shooting a 22-year-old man on New Year's Day, a nine-member New Orleans specialized police unit was involved in another incident in which a man was subdued with a Taser gun, sparking brutality charges by his family, records show. Six of the nine officers involved in the separate incidents also are being investigated in connection with another unspecified complaint, and three are under scrutiny in still another episode of alleged misconduct in which they are accused of executing a search without a warrant, according to public records obtained by The Times-Picayune. Each of the New Orleans Police Department internal investigations is ongoing, with accusations against the officers not yet sustained or deemed unfounded. Despite a public outcry over the fatal shooting of Adolph Grimes III, the Police Department has released few details about the shooting and has refused to name the officers involved. All nine officers were reassigned to desk duty pending the homicide division's investigation of whether the shooting was justified, and the FBI has opened its own investigation into the matter. Grimes was shot 14 times, with nine bullets hitting him in the back, during an early-morning encounter in the 6th Ward with plainclothes officers, which NOPD Superintendent Warren Riley termed a "gun battle." Seven of the nine officers at the scene fired their weapons at Grimes, a New Orleanian with no known criminal record who moved to Houston after Katrina; officers said Grimes fired at them first. NOPD spokesman Bob Young declined to comment Thursday, saying the agency will not comment on internal investigations until they are complete. The first portrait of the police unit involved in the shooting and a fuller picture of their early-morning patrol on New Year's Day has begun to emerge in public documents. Officers in the unit include the 1st District's entire narcotics squad: Sgt. Daniel Scanlan and officers Julio Alonzo Jr., Larissa Austin, Regina Barr, Colette Booth, Gregory Lapin and Marcellus White, records show. Two others, Lt. Joseph Meisch and officer Steven Keller, were working with the unit that evening. Targeting robbers The group was assigned to patrol the district to prevent or respond to armed robberies, according to a police report involving a reckless driving incident before the shooting. Riley has said all the officers were dressed like tourists. The open investigations involving the officers include an incident hours before the Grimes shooting in which one officer, Meisch, deployed a Taser on an allegedly intoxicated and combative motorist, according to a police report filed in the incident and the record of Meisch's disciplinary history. Six of the nine officers -- Alonzo, Austin, Barr, Lapin, Scanlan and White -- also are under investigation in connection with an unknown complaint filed in December. In a written request to the city's Civil Service Commission, the group's superior asked for an extension in that investigation because the case, assigned to him on Dec. 30, involves officers involved in the Grimes shooting. In addition, Austin, Booth and Scanlan are under scrutiny in connection with a December incident in which they allegedly executed a search without a warrant, according to their disciplinary records. The nine officers in the specialized unit were on patrol Jan. 1 about 12:20 a.m. and heard gunshots near the intersection of Laharpe and North Dorgenois streets, according to a police report written by Meisch. The officers saw a black SUV run a stop sign at the intersection, the report said. The officers drove closer, turned on their dashboard lights and siren. The SUV sped up and ran another stop sign before halting, the report states. The driver, identified as Cleavon L. Crutchfield, 32, of River Ridge, refused to get out and screamed. The officers opened his door and reached for him, the report says. Crutchfield deflected their hands, the report says, and Meisch used a Taser on him as he sat in the driver's seat, the report says. Crutchfield, who has a criminal record with numerous drug arrests, resisted. Meisch used a Taser again on him before Crutchfield was handcuffed and booked with several municipal charges, according to the report. Brutality alleged Crutchfield's family has alleged police brutality, filing a complaint with the Police Department and hiring an attorney. The relatives referred questions Thursday to the attorney, who didn't respond to a call seeking comment. Shortly after Crutchfield's booking, the unit was again on the move in the 1st District as fireworks and an occasional celebratory gunshot could be heard across the city. About 2:45 a.m., the group received a report of a shooting at North Claiborne and Orleans avenues. There, police were unable to find a victim, but were directed to Club Fabulous, at 810 N. Claiborne Ave., according to a police report on the incident. The club owner told police that someone had been shooting across the street, beneath the elevated Interstate 10. The shooting was never confirmed, however. Police said the plainclothes unit saw a black vehicle leaving the area outside the club, under the elevated interstate. At 3:06 a.m., NOPD dispatchers received a report of a shooting involving police officers in the 1700 block of Gov. Nicholls Street, near North Claiborne. Minutes earlier at that location, the plainclothes unit had approached Grimes as he sat in the driver's seat of a black Toyota Camry parked outside his grandmother's house. Police officials said the officers approached and Grimes pointed a handgun and fired at them through the rear window of his car. The officers answered with a flurry of shots, police said. Weapons found, police say Police said crime lab investigators found a shotgun, shotgun shells and a 9 mm magazine clip in the trunk of Grimes' car when they processed it days later. Eric Hessler, an attorney for the Fraternal Order of Police and several of the reassigned officers, said he believes the police investigation will show that all the officers acted appropriately in response to a threat. Hessler noted that the first responding officer on the shooting scene, not including the unit's nine officers, was NOPD Assistant Superintendent Marlon Defillo. Hessler allowed that some of the officers have been the focus of several complaints in the past few months. But, he said, they have had more than 3,000 contacts with citizens during that period. "That's a testament to what a good job they are doing, " he said. "They operate in a professional manner." Grimes' family has disputed the police version of events. They said Grimes, a cable installer in Houston and the father of a toddler, had no reason to shoot at police. He had just arrived from Houston on New Year's Day and planned to spend the holiday with relatives left scattered after Hurricane Katrina. Grimes' father has acknowledged that his son owned a 9 mm handgun but said he had a Texas permit for it. He said he didn't know of him possessing a shotgun. While some public documents shed light on the actions of the specialized unit, the NOPD has not yet released a police report on the Grimes shooting. Former officer to plead guilty in child porn case www.kpax.com/Global/story.asp?S=9793631 Associated Press - February 5, 2009 9:44 AM ET MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) - A former Missoula police officer, who spent more than a year on administrative leave, has agreed to plead guilty to a federal child pornography charge. Daniel Jason Huntsinger is charged with a single count of receipt of obscene material and is scheduled to enter his plea on Feb. 12 in U.S. District Court in Missoula. The plea agreement filed with the court does not contain a sentencing recommendation. Prosecutors say Huntsinger used a computer owned by the Missoula Police Protective Association to access a subscription child pornography Web site. Huntsinger began working in Missoula in January 2000. He resigned from the Missoula Police Department in September 2008. Information from: Missoulian, www.missoulian.com Former officer sentenced on lewd act charges www.carolinalive.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=256332 By Tonya Brown Thursday, February 05, 2009 at 7:22 p.m. A retired police officer in Bennettsville admitted in court Thursday to committing lewd acts on six underage boys. The crimes date back 30 years ago, when the officer headed up a junior police organization. Jerry Starnes was sentenced to five years probation. The victims wanted the judge to give him probation. The judge was very reluctant about it and at one point refused to do so, but eventually agreed to the victims' requests. Thursday morning, 58 year old Jerry Starnes pleaded guilty to six counts of committing lewd acts on young boys. He retired from the Bennettsville Police Department last week. Prosecutors say from 1969 to 1981, he ran the department's junior police organization. They say after the organization's meetings Starnes would give a boy a ride home, but before he dropped him off he would perform a sexual act in the boy's presence. Prosecutors say that happened with six different boys. The boys, who are now adults, talked with the judge about what happened, and how its affected their lives. They didn't want to be identified. "It hadn't been easy, I mean, you think about it throughout your life over the course of 30 years. Friends that you have told about it, you wonder, you know, what they're thinking in the back of their mind. You just have to reassure yourself that he was the one with the problem and you're normal," said one victim. In addition to giving Starnes five years probation, the judge ordered him to register as a sex offender. He will have to do that for the rest of his life. These allegations first surfaced in 1997, but Starnes wasn't charged until last April when more victims came forward. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
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