A former Philadelphia police officer once hailed as a hero and given a seat next to the first lady at a speech by President Obama has been arrested and charged with rape and other crimes.

Authorities allege that former officer Richard DeCoatsworth left a party with two women early Thursday and took them to another location, where they claim that he produced a handgun and ‘forced the two females to engage in the use of narcotics and sexual acts.’

A police spokeswoman said the two called police after he left, and 27-year-old DeCoatsworth was charged with rape, sexual assault, terroristic threats and related offenses.

DeCoatsworth was hailed as a hero after he was shot in the face during a traffic stop in September 2007 but still managed to chase after his attacker, who was later sentenced to 36 to 72 years in prison.

DeCoatsworth was invited by Vice President Joe Biden to attend the president’s televised February 2009 address to Congress and sat with first lady Michelle Obama.

He said he didn’t know why he had been singled out, but being in the presence of the nation’s leaders was an honor ‘that I will keep with me for the rest of my life.’

WCAU-TV, which first reported his arrest, said DeCoatsworth retired from the department on disability in December 2011.

Police were tight-lipped Saturday about the details of the incident, declining to give even general locations for the party.

On May 10, police in Cotati, Calif., received a domestic violence call — an alleged complaint that evidently didn’t come from either of the people inside the home — and converged on the residence. There were four of them.

There was a child playing in the front yard. The homeowners informed police their other child was with them in the home.

The cops knocked on the door then announced they were there because they received a domestic violence call. The husband and wife both reply, without opening the door, that there hadn’t been any violence — simply an argument “with yelling.” That assertion would jibe with the circumstances: There was the happy child out front, who didn’t appear traumatized by whatever had recently transpired.

As the police persisted in their demand to be allowed access, the homeowners became alarmed and began recording everything, at first while speaking to police through the window, then later at much closer range. The homeowner reiterates that there hadn’t been any domestic violence, that there had simply been an argument.

On the video, what appears to be the alpha cop tells the family, still from outside the home, that they’re coming in if someone doesn’t open the door.

Another cop asks the couple why they won’t come out.

“Because we don’t live in a police state, sir — martial law has not been established in this country,” came the reply.

Agitated cops typically don’t walk away from someone’s front door once their blood is hot — whether they have a right to be there or not — without extracting a cathartic pound of flesh. What cop can be expected to abide a citizen who stands his legal ground, to perceive a citizen’s conscientious and well-informed acquittal of his own rights as anything but mockery and sass?

Not these ones.

Despite the fact that the police had no warrant and had no probable cause to enter, the police ordered the couple to go ahead and get down on the ground and put their hands in the “cuff me” position behind them, because “we’re gonna kick in the door.”

And that’s what they did. The couple hadn’t gotten on the ground and they didn’t have their hands behind their backs; nor did they offer any physical resistance — even though their home had just been illegally invaded by armed strangers hiding behind dark sunglasses and a badge. The cops used a Tazer on the wife first, then used a Tazer on the husband.

That’s when the video gets shaky, before ending abruptly.

Cotati Police Chief Michael Parish said a criminal investigation is ongoing, though he didn’t say whether his own thugs were the subjects of the investigation. He also said there would be an “administrative review” of the cops’ adherence to policy and procedure.

Source:  PersonalLiberty.com

Jurors took less than an hour to find Officer Kevin Fletcher, 35, guilty of two counts of violating the men’s civil rights. Security camera footage showed Fletcher striking the first man but did not capture him hitting the second. The video was shown to jurors repeatedly during the four-day federal trial in Chicago.

The incident happened outside Mr. Ricky’s nightclub around 2 a.m., after the club closed May 16, 2009.

Prosecutors alleged that Fletcher, a former teacher, reacted angrily when the two men cursed at him after he had told them to leave. Michael McPherson, 26, of Calumet City, testified at trial that he told Fletcher to “get your (expletive) hands off me” after the officer repeatedly pushed him even as he was walking away.

McPherson testified that Fletcher struck him without warning, leaving him bleeding heavily from a wound that later required three staples to close. He then struck McPherson’s friend Laurence Williams, 28, who testified that he was walking backward and holding his arms out with his palms up when the officer hit him.

The officer did not call for an ambulance or arrest either man, instead turning and walking away.

Fletcher, who has been on administrative leave since 2009, faces up to 10 years in prison when he is sentenced Aug. 16. A pending civil rights lawsuit that names Fletcher and the village of Dolton was filed by McPherson and Williams in 2009.

His lawyer did not dispute that Fletcher struck the men but said the officer made a split-second decision while fearing for his safety outside a nightclub with a history of violence.

A Dolton spokeswoman released a statement saying the “unfortunate incident … occurred under a previous administration” and the village’s newly elected leaders were unfamiliar with the situation and could not comment.

Source:  Chicago Tribute

The video, posted April 29, has received well over 1 million views in just 3 days and shows a male drinking from an large beverage can around 8 p.m. on Morganton Road while he waits for a friend to arrive before they buy some liquor.

An undercover cop, identified by Alcoholic Beverage Control Law Enforcement Thursday afternoon as Rick Libero, approaches the man in the parking lot.

A off-duty Jersey City police officer who struck and killed a man crossing Kennedy Boulevard last month has been issued four summonses, including one for speeding.

Officer Michael Spolizino, 36, was driving on Kennedy Boulevard at 10 p.m. on April 19 when he struck Stephen A. Clifford, 24, of Jersey City, who was crossing Kennedy Boulevard at Fairmount Avenue.

Clifford, who had moved to Jersey City from Bellmore, N.Y. recently, was rushed to the Jersey City Medical Center and pronounced deceased at 10:35 p.m.

Spolizino, a member of the Emergency Services Unit, was issued summonses for speeding, careless driving, no vehicle inspection sticker and failure to wear a seat belt. Police Chief Tom Comey refused to comment further and wouldn’t reveal how fast they believe Spolizino was going at the time of the accident until the investigation is completed.

Comey said that the investigation is still active and the results will be handed over to the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office.

On the night of the incident, Spolizino told officers that he did not see Clifford crossing the street and that Clifford “came out of nowhere,” the accident report said. There was no indication that Spolizino was under the influence of alcohol or any other substance and that a sobriety test was not administered, police said.

A witness, who did not give police his name, told police at the scene that he saw Clifford crossing the four-lane Kennedy Boulevard while the light was green, the accident report said. The witness added that it appeared Clifford hesitated, and then darted across the roadway before being struck.

Source:  NJ.com

The defendant, Kevin Walker, 44, is currently serving 10 to 23 months in jail after pleading guilty last year to an “official oppression” charge related to a long list of sexual assault charges filed by at least three women, according to online court records. Numerous sexual assault charges were either withdrawn or “disposed at a lower court,” the records show.

It is unclear whether the plaintiff in the federal case against Walker, Darby Township police department and Darby Township Police Chief Robert Thompson was one of the victims of the cases filed against Walker in Delaware County Common Pleas Court in early 2012.

Plaintiff Stephanie Tozer, of Collingdale, accuses Walker of ongoing predatory sexual behavior, stalking and abuse of his police power from 2009 to 2010, starting with an incident inside the police station where he allegedly forced Tozer to expose her breast to Walker and another township officer.

“[Tozer] was taken into custody along with her friend … and lodged in a detention cell where she was left for many hours,” the lawsuit filed this week claims. “Officer Walker and another Darby Township Police Officer ordered the Plaintiff to expose her breast under the guise that this was a requirement as part of the Police search. … Fearing for her safety, she complied.”

Later in 2009, Walker again took Tozer and a friend into custody after coming across the two walking on a Darby street, the suit claims. In custody, he again allegedly forced her to expose her breast.

The suit says a friend of Tozer filed a complaint with Darby police at that time, but the stalking and harrassment allegedly continued when Walker was both working and off duty.

Walker’s aggression and harrassment grew to the point that he eventually forced Tozer to have sex with him “four or five times from approximately October of 2009 through April 2010,” the suit claims, “forcing her to have sexual intercourse in the woman’s locker room and in a bathroom in the police station.”

Read more at source…

Baltimore County police arrest one of their own. The disturbing charges against the officer include sexting an underage girl and handcuffing a naked woman to a  patrol car.

Gigi Barnett reports the officer is accused of doing this repeatedly.

According to charging documents, detectives were able to link sexually explicit cellphone message back to someone on the force.

While he should have been responding to emergency calls, Baltimore County police tell WJZ that officer Aaron Pross was having sexual relations in his patrol car while on duty.

Scathing charging documents reveal the five-year veteran was sexting a 16-year-old girl.

“He has let down his fellow officers and he has let down this agency,” said Cpl. Cathleen Batton, Baltimore County Police spokeswoman.

Detectives were tipped off back in January when the teen’s father called them. He’d discovered the sexually explicit messages and videos on his daughter’s phone.

According to charging documents, the man on tape was masturbating while wearing bluish gray-pants and a dark blue shirt, consistent with the Baltimore County police uniform.

A three-month investigation led police to Pross.

Read more at the source…

Ali Haleem, 46, of Chicago, was charged with one count of extortion and two counts of selling a firearm to a felon in January following a federal investigation into allegations of bribery and extortion involving tow truck drivers hired to remove disabled cars.

He is the 11th Chicago police officer to be charged since 2008 in the federal “Operation Tow Scam.” Charges are still pending against an additional three officers.

Haleem entered his plea before Judge John Z. Lee in U.S. District Court in Chicago, admitting he sold three firearms to the same tow truck driver he accepted bribes from, knowing the driver was a convicted felon.

Read more at Sun Times

A former Delcambre Police Officer will spend 10 years in jail after he was found guilty of sexually abusing a woman in his custody.

Ernest Billiot was sentenced Friday for the second degree kidnapping and sexual battery of a woman he detained while on duty in February 2008.

Billiot will serve 10 years in prison at hard labor for both charges at the same time without the possibility of parole or probation.

During the trial Billiot admitted to the judge he abused his power.

Source:  KLFY