April Five Organization Accepting Donations To Help Injured CMPD Officer

To make a donation to help the injured Officer see the information below the article.

This information is compiled from articles from The Charlotte Observer and News 14 Carolina.

An organization founded by a retired Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police (CMPD) Officer and his wife is accepting donations to supplement the income of a fellow CMPD Officer who is on the mend recovering from injuries he received when his cruiser was rammed head on by a suspect that was fleeing from another Officer.

Heidi Hazrati, wife of Kayvan Hazrati, the retired CMPD Officer whose injury spawned the organization, says that the Officer’s family will need all the support it can get.

“It did wonders when Kayvan was shot, and the money during that time, when you have to leave work as a family member, take FMLA and no pay, it helps cover the bills,” she said.

Officer Kayvan Hazrati was shot in the head in 2006 as he was part of a team that was trying to serve an arrest warrant on a suspect wanted in connection with a sexual assault. He was forced to retire following his recovery.

The injured Officer in need of assistance is Keith Trietley, of CMPD’s North Tryon Division. He was headed outbound on The Plaza, responding to Grubb’s call for backup, when police said Rodriguez intentionally veered into oncoming traffic, causing a head-on collision. Witnesses estimated Rodriguez was going around 60 mph at the time of the crash.

The crash trapped Trietley in his car, which was mangled by the collision. Firefighters had to cut the roof off the patrol car to reach Trietley and pull him to safety. They used half a dozen rescue tools, including the Jaws of Life, to reach the officer and Rodriguez, who was trapped in his truck after the crash.

Both Trietley and Rodriguez were rushed to CMC.

Witnesses described the crash as extremely violent.

 “I heard a loud boom,” Ross McNear said. “I saw a lot of smoke and a lot of fire.”

 McNear said he ran to Trietley’s car after the crash to try and help. The car was on fire, he said.

 ”We all ran up to the car, trying to pull the door open, trying to get the policeman out,” McNear said. “We finally got the door open, there was a lot of fire shooting out of the car, and an officer told us to get back (and) find a fire extinguisher. So that’s what I did, I found a fire extinguisher.”

 McNear added: “We knew we couldn’t get him out. We knew he was pinned in. And he wasn’t responsive at first.”

 ”It’s devastating,” Faith Talmadge, who lives a few doors down from Trietley, said. “They’re such awesome people and just somebody to purposely do that — it’s unthinkable.”

 Investigators said Treitley was alert and conscious by the time he was loaded into an ambulance. His patrol car was equipped with roll cages for extra protection, police said.

 ”Fortunately, the officer was (also) wearing his seat belt and, in addition to other equipment in his car, it probably saved his life,” Chief Rodney Monroe said.

 Treitley has several broken bones, according to Monroe. He said the incident is a stark reminder of the risks officers take every day.

 ”Any time that you have any officer involved in a chase, involved in an accident, or involved in a shooting, it just makes you take pause and realize how dangerous this job is,” Monroe said.

 Police have obtained warrants for Rodriguez for assault with a deadly weapon, assault with a deadly weapon on a government officer, assault on an officer and fleeing to elude arrest. He will also be charged with DWI, police said.

 Rodriguez’s neighbor, Jose Orlando, called Rodriguez a friend of his, said he’s in the country legally and that he’s a regular churchgoer. Orlando was surprised to hear about the incident, saying Rodriguez is not the type of person he would picture being accused of crimes like these.

 Police said Rodriguez is from Charlotte, but is wanted in another state.

Anyone wishing to make a donation to help the injured Officer during his recovery can make checks or money orders out to  “April Five” with “Officer Keith Trietley” written in the memo line. The checks should be sent to: 10612-D Providence Road, PMB 745, Charlotte, NC 28277; The organizations’s web-site is http://www.aprilfive.org.

  Anyone wishing to send ‘Get Well’ wishes to the Officer should send them to:

Officer Keith Trietley, North Tryon Division, Care of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Dept., 601 East Trade Street, Charlotte, NC 28202

Suspect in Chase That Injured 2 Char-Meck Officers Exits Hospital, Enters Jail

By Meghan Cooke / Charlotte Observer

The man who led police on a chase that injured two officers last week is in custody after being released from an area hospital while one of the injured officers is recovering after multiple surgeries.

Francisco Rodriguez, 57, was released from the hospital Wednesday and was interviewed by detectives, said Charlotte-Mecklenburg police.

‘

‘, false_format=>’

‘ –>

Francisco Rodriguez

He was then transported to the Mecklenburg County jail, where he will remain in custody.

Rodriguez faces a variety of charges related to last Thursday’s chase though northeast Charlotte, including assault with a deadly weapon on a government official and fleeing to elude arrest.

Court records show Rodriguez is a convicted sex offender wanted in Florida for a probation violation.

Two officers, Richard Grubb and Keith Trietley, were injured in last week’s chase.

Police said the driver of a truck put his vehicle in reverse and slammed into Grubb’s cruiser after the officer pulled the truck over for speeding. After a chase to a dead end, the truck’s driver again reversed and tried to hit Grubb when he got out of his car in expectation of a foot chase.

Trietley, who was responding to a call for backup, suffered multiple fractures and had to be rescued from his mangled car after police say the truck veered into Trietley’s lane on The Plaza near East Sugar Creek Road, causing a head-on collision.

Trietley broke both arms and a femur, and suffered a shattered knee cap in the wreck, said Heidi Crater, director of April Five, an organization that assists Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers injured in the line of duty.

Trietley had multiple surgeries for his injuries and will begin physical therapy soon, she said.

“He’s in good spirits but dealing with pain,” Crater said.

To read the initial article about the crashes, click the link below:

http://ten8.wordpress.com/2011/01/04/updated-information-on-2-cmpd-officers-injured-in-chase-crashes/

‘

‘, false_format=>’

‘ –>

Ranier, Oregon Officer Shot to Death During Struggle in Shopping Complex

Victim reportedly town’s police chief; suspect wounded in ensuing shootout

RAINIER, Ore.  — A police officer was shot to death Wednesday in a shopping complex just before noon, and the suspect was wounded and taken to a hospital, law enforcement authorities said.

The Columbia County Sheriff’s office confirmed that an officer from the Rainier Police Department had been killed. One witness said the officer was the town’s police chief.

The shooting occurred in a small shopping complex in Rainier after the report of a disturbance at a car audio shop. The officer responded, a struggle ensued at the store and he was shot to death.

More officers responded to the scene and gunfire ensued. The suspect was wounded and taken to a hospital, authorities said.

Dusty Rockwood, an employee at the Exhaust Shop and Tire Center, told the Oregonian newspaper that he had been told a man who had broken into a car wrestled with the officer, took his gun and shot him.

Rockwood said he was told the officer was police Chief Ralph Painter, 55.

Jeff McCracken, the pastor at the Rainier Assembly of God Church in the shopping complex, told NBC station KGW he heard police sirens, watched the incident unfold outside his window and almost got shot himself.

“There were officers about 10 feet outside my window with AR-15s … We heard them [police] start yelling at this guy inside to put his weapon down. I told everyone [in the church] to get down. Then all the sudden a round came through the window I had been looking through, about six inches above my head, where I had just been standing,” McCracken said. “I started yelling, ‘everybody get out, get out!’”

At that point, McCracken and the others inside the church ran to the opposite side of the building. They said police told them to stay inside as a safety precaution.

So far, police have not confirmed that anyone was hit by gunfire. McCracken said they were using the church as a makeshift headquarters for the investigation.

The church is in a small shopping complex in the 7400 block of Rock Crest Street in Rainier, a small city along the Columbia River north of Portland. It is across the river from Longview, Wash.

McCracken said it looked as though the shooting suspect had been inside an auto stereo shop in the shopping complex when police first confronted him.

It was at least the second shooting death of a law enforcement officer in the United States in 2011. On New Year’s Day, a sheriff’s deputy was shot to death in Enon, Ohio , while investigating reports of gunfire. The suspect also was killed. Deputy Suzanne Hopper had married last year and had two children.

In 2010, deaths in the line of duty among law enforcement officers rose to about 160 from 117 the year before, according to numbers as of Dec. 28 compiled by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, a nonprofit that tracks police deaths.

2 Injured in Omaha, Nebraska High School Shooting

School principal one of the injured; suspect, son of Omaha Detective, fatally shoots himself

From The Associated Press

OMAHA, Neb. — The son of a police detective shot and wounded the principal and assistant principal of his high school on Wednesday, then shot himself in his car a few blocks away, authorities said.

Nati Harnik  /  AP

Police stand guard outside Millard South High School in Omaha, Neb., on Wednesday. Police say a 17-year-old who opened fire in the school fatally shot himself after leaving the school.

Robert Butler, Jr., 17, who transferred in November to Millard South High school, left a suicide note on the social media site that said the school “drove me to this.”

“Everybody that used to know me I’m sry but Omaha changed me and (expletive) me up. and the school I attend is even worse ur gonna here about the evil (expletive) I did but that (expletive) school drove me to this. I wont u guys to remember me for who I was b4 this ik. I greatly affected the lives of the families ruined but I’m sorry. goodbye,” Butler posted on his Facebook page.

Butler had been suspended from the school on Wednesday morning, when classes resumed after the winter break, for using his vehicle to tear up the football field, local media reported.

Butler’s motive was under investigation, Omaha Police Chief Alex Hayes told reporters, but his father was a police detective, which gave the son access to firearms.

“Tragedy has hit the Omaha Police Department as the suspect’s father is an Omaha Police detective,” Hayes said. “We are talking to him.”

The principal, Curtis Case, was in stable but serious condition at Creighton University Medical Center, according to spokeswoman Kelsey Archer. He had been at the school for five or six years, Millard Schools Superintendent Keith Lutz said.

Assistant principal Vicki Caspar was in critical condition. She was a veteran administrator at the school, Lutz said.

The school was equipped with security cameras and guards and performed safety drills, Lutz said. “But nothing prepares you,” he said.

A 16-year-old student at the school told The Associated Press she was just beginning lunch when a school administrator came into the cafeteria.

“He was like yelling, ‘Get in the kitchen! Get in the kitchen!’ He was waving his arms. You knew something was wrong and it wasn’t a drill,” said Laura Olson, who is the daughter of an AP reporter.

Olson, a junior at Millard, estimated that she’d been rushed into the kitchen with several dozen students around 12:45 p.m. Hayes said police first received reports of the shooting around 12:50 p.m.

The school was on lockdown after the shooting, but by 3 p.m., students were being released in groups from the school. Parents were allowed to pick them up at a nearby church.

The high school sits on the west side of Omaha, within city limits, and has about 2,100 students.

“We need prayers and we need hugs,” Omaha Mayor Jim Suttle said.

Alabama Drive-By Shooting Kills 6-Year-Old; Arrests Made

Girl was sleeping when 18 rifle rounds were fired into her home

From www.msnbc.com and various news outlets

ECLECTIC, Ala. — Three men were charged with capital murder Tuesday in the death of a 6-year-old girl who was sleeping when 18 rounds from a rifle were fired into her home.

The Elmore County Sheriff’s Office said three men were arrested and charged with killing Kenyatta Kendrick, 6, of Eclectic, the Montgomery Advertiser reported on its website.

The three were identified by Chief Deputy Ricky Lowery as Aaron McDowell, 18, of Alexander City; Bernard Nix, 17, of Alexander City; and Stalandous Slaughter, 25, of Eclectic.

Sheriff Bill Franklin said 19-year-old Darren Kendrick, Kenyatta’s uncle and a senior at Elmore County High School, was sleeping in a nearby chair and was hit once in the left hip and once in the left ankle when the shots were fired about 3 a.m. Tuesday on Nichols Avenue. A hospital spokeswoman said he’s listed in fair condition.

Kenyatta was a first-grader at Eclectic Elementary School.

Corrections Sgt. With Manatee Co., FL Sheriff’s Dept. Suspended In ‘Obama Prayer’ Incident

By Tammie Fields / http://www.wtsp.com

Palmetto, Florida – Something called “The Obama Prayer” has landed a Manatee County corrections sergeant in hot water. According to an internal affairs report, Sergeant Matthew Neu highlighted a verse in a Bible that reads, “Let his days be few – and let another take his office.”

Sheriff Brad Steube was out Of  the office and not available For comment on the incident.

Sgt. Neu’s co-workers at the Manatee County Central Jail facility in Palmetto say it’s a well known fact that Neu is not a fan of President Barack Obama.

Many of them explained that in a 16-page internal affairs report, saying he made that clear in casual conversation before. But one of his co-workers, Sergeant Martha Nash, told investigators he went too far recently. She says what he admitted to doing was shocking.

Sgt. Nash says a copy of her Bible was on her desk and inside that Bible was a handwritten note that said “Obama Prayer.” She says at first she thought it was probably something positive until she took a closer look.

The verse that Sgt. Neu admits to circling in that Bible is from the book of Psalm: Chapter 109 Verse 8 which reads, “Let his days be few; and let another take his office.”

Nash said “she felt whoever left the note wanted the president dead and that the supporting verses after that verse support that.” The following verse reads, “Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.”

But Sgt. Neu told investigators it was not a threat on the president. In the report, he admits, “Maybe it was not in good taste.” He says it was never intended for Nash.

He adds that the desk where he left the Bible is shared by several co-workers and that there was a stack of Bibles on the desk. A stack of Bibles that the chaplain hands out to inmates and other employees.

Neu says he planned to show the Bible verse to others since he’d received an email about the Bible verse because “he thought it was funny.”

The sheriff of Manatee County, Brad Steube, was out of the office on Monday and 10 News was told no one else within the department would talk about the incident. We were told that the internal affairs report speaks for itself.

Meanwhile, Sgt. Neu has been suspended without pay for about 26 hours. That’s about three 8-hour shifts.

Tampa, FL Police Dept. Corporal Resigns Amid Sex Scandal

Corporal Scott Guffey was earning $80,433 a year and is still eligible to collect his pension, which amounts to more than $60,000 a year for the rest of his life.

By Mike Deeson / www.wtsp.com

Tampa, Florida — Sex in broad daylight in a public park is what cost a Tampa undercover cop his job. Chief Jane Castor says the department got a tip from a citizen that Corporal Scott Guffey was involved in inappropriate activity while on duty.

Corporal Scott Guffey

After receiving the tip, Internal Affairs launched an investigation into the 24-year veteran. In the middle of the afternoon, I.A. officers followed Guffey, 46, to Al Lopez Park Just North of Raymond James Stadium. Chief Jane Castor says Guffey was not supposed to be there, and that his area of responsibility was in a different district than where the park is in.

According to Internal Affairs, before Guffey came into the park he took off his tactical vest and gun, so he would look more like an ordinary citizen. Then once inside the park, Guffey took a sunshade, put it in the windshield and then climbed into the back seat to have sex with a 24-year-old woman. At the time, he was supposed to be supervising undercover officers.

Castor says this had nothing to do with the Tampa Police Department and the woman who was having consensual sex with Guffey was not involved with the department or in any of his cases.

While Guffey clearly did something wrong, Tammy Dorotzak says if it wasn’t for him, she doesn’t know if she would have her daughter or grandchildren.

Dorotzak says Guffey was the officer who found her 1-year-old daughter Ashley in 1989 when she was kidnapped by Dorotzak’s ex-husband. Although Dorotzak wants people to know what Guffey did for her family, she also admits if he hadn’t resigned as police officer, she thinks he should have been fired.

She says he made a very bad mistake, but it doesn’t erase all the good he has done.

When Guffey — who is married and is a father — was caught by Internal Affairs, he didn’t deny any of the activity took place.

Chief Castor says what he did is against policy, is unbecoming an officer and is not indicative of the men and women of the Tampa Police Department.

Castor says Guffey was surprised when he was caught and resigned instead of being fired.

Guffey — who made $80,433 a year — is still eligible to collect his pension, which amounts to more than $60,000 a year for the rest of his life.

“No Refusal” DUI Checkpoints Could Be Coming to Tampa, FL

By Adam Freeman / www.wtsp.com (December 30, 2010)

Tampa, Florida– With New Year’s Eve only days away, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration expects this to be one of the deadliest weeks of the year on the roads.

But now a new weapon is being used in the fight against drunk driving.

It’s a change that could make you more likely to be convicted.

“I think it’s a great deterrent for people,” said Linda Unfried, from Mother’s Against Drunk Driving in Hillsborough County.

Florida is among several states now holding what are called “no refusal” checkpoints.

It means if you refuse a breath test during a traffic stop, a judge is on site, and issues a warrant that allows police to perform a mandatory blood test.

It’s already being done in several counties, and now Unfried is working to bring it to the Tampa Bay area.

“I think you’ll see the difference because people will not drink and drive. I truly believe that,” she said.

Not everyone is on board, though.

DUI defense attorney Kevin Hayslett sees the mandatory blood test as a violation of constitutional rights.

“It’s a slippery slope and it’s got to stop somewhere,” Hayslett explained, “what other misdemeanor offense do we have in the United States where the government can forcefully put a needle into your arm?”

The federal government says Florida has among the highest rates of breathalyzer refusal.

“Now you’ve got attorneys telling their clients, don’t blow, don’t blow! Because we know from the results from these machines that they’re not operating as the state or the government says they’re supposed to operate,” said Stephen Daniels, a DUI consultant and expert witness.

Supporters, though, say you could see the “no refusal” checkpoints in the Bay area by October.

“We don’t want to violate people’s civil rights. That’s the last thing we want to do, but we’re here to save lives,” Unfried said.

She adds that this type of checkpoint would be heavily advertised, with the goal of deterring any drunk driving.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has recently said he wants to see more states hold similar programs.

Marion Co., FL Sheriff’s Deputies: Burglar Chased By Pit Bull Dies After Jumping Out of Window

From WKMG via http://www.wtsp.com

SUMMERFIELD, Florida — Marion County deputies said a man died after jumping out of the window of a home he had broken into and severely cutting himself.

Detectives said they believe Laird Butler was in the middle of a weekend drug binge when he broke into his neighbor’s mobile home on Southeast 143rd Lane on Sunday.

Laird Butler

Deputies said they believe Butler was chased by a pit bull in the home, prompting him to jump out a window and injure himself.

Deputies said Butler, 41, was found several blocks away and pronounced dead at Villages Regional Hospital Sunday afternoon.

Bradenton, FL Robbery Suspect’s Wife Sees Photo On TV, Calls Police

From The Associated Press

BRADENTON, Fla. – Authorities south of Tampa say a man confessed to robbing a bank after his wife saw a surveillance photo on the evening news and alerted them.

A camera got a clear shot of the man with a pony tail and scruffy beard robbing the First Bank in Bradenton on Tuesday. The robber got away.

But Manatee County Sheriff’s officials got a break Tuesday evening when Afra Sandifar saw a news report about the robbery. She called authorities and told them her husband was the robber.

That’s when 45-year-old Troy Sandifar fled the couple’s apartment.

Troy Sandifar

Deputies stopped his vehicle but Troy Sandifar refused to get out. They say he ingested what appeared to be drugs before they were able to arrest him. He was taken to the hospital, where authorities say he confessed.