No felony charges for officer in DPS dog's death

TUCSON, Ariz. -- The Arizona Department of Public Safety officer who left his K-9 partner in a hot squad car will not face felony charges in connection with the dog's death.

Officer Korey Lankow was placed on administrative leave after leaving Jeg, a drug-sniffing dog, in his squad car outside DPS headquarters in Tucson for more than an hour on July 11. The high that day was about 98 degrees, which means the temperature inside the car was probably in the 120-degree range.

Jeg suffered severe heat-related injuries and had to be euthanized.

Based on the criminal investigation conducted by the Tucson Police Department, the Pima County Attorney's Officer opted not to pursue felony charges against Lankow.

While he won't face felony charges in Jeg's death, The Tucson City Attorney's Office could still file misdemeanor charges.

Lankow, who has been with DPS since October 2005, and Jeg had been partners for almost three years. The 7-year-old Belgian Malinois had worked with another handler before being paired with Lankow.

According to investigators, Jeg was left behind when Lankow was sent on an emergency call while moving from one squad car to another. Lankow was en route to a crash scene when he realized Jeg was not with him.

He turned around to go back to his partner, but it turned out to be too late.

In addition to the TPD investigation, DPS has launched its own internal investigation to determine if Lankow followed proper procedure.

Jeg is the second Arizona law-enforcement dog to die after being left in a hot car.

Chandler police Sgt. Tom Lovejoy was charged with animal abuse after leaving his K-9 partner, Bandit, in a patrol car in August 2007. Bandit was left in the car, which was parked outside of Lovejoy's home, for 12 hours. He died from excessive heat.

Less than three weeks after Jeg's death, two K-9s in Bexar County, Texas died after being left in a deputy's hot patrol car overnight.

http://www.azfamily.com/news/No-felony-charges-for-DPS-officer-in-K-9-partners-death-166407076.html

DPS officer "forgets" K-9 in hot patrol car

An Arizona Department of Public Safety K-9 was taken to a vet in life-threatening condition after his handler left the dog in his car for more than an hour on Wednesday when the officer responded to an emergency call.

The officer was distraught and immediately placed on administrative leave, according to a DPS spokesman.

The incident unfolded at the DPS headquarters near Tucson about noon on Wednesday when an officer was transferring gear from one patrol car to another, said Officer Carrick Cook, a DPS spokesman. As the officer was moving his gear, a call went over the radio about a serious accident on Interstate 19 in Tucson, Cook said, and the officer responded.

It wasn't until the officer was en route to the crash that he realized his K-9 partner, Jeg, was in the car, Cook said, and he immediately returned to the parking lot to tend to the animal.

The Tucson Fire Department took Jeg, a Malinois, to a vet, Cook said.

"We are extremely concerned about the dog and the officer," Cook said. "These K9s are an integral part of our agency and what we accomplish with our interdiction. We look at them as other officers; they are family members in our agency."

It is unclear how hot it was inside the patrol car, or if it was parked in the direct sun. The Tucson area had triple-digit temperatures Wednesday.

The agency's last K-9 death came in 2007 when a dog ran into Interstate 10 during a pursuit and was struck and killed by a semi.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2012/07/11/20120711arizona-officer-forgets-police-k9-dog-car.html

ICE Agent Leads Police on 45-Minute Chase After Getting Busted in Marijuana Smuggling Sting

 Jason Alistair Lowery, 34, is a deportation officer with U.S. Immigration and customs enforcement. He's also allegedly a weed smuggler who led authorities on a 45-minute chase -- in his government-owned vehicle -- after getting busted in a marijuana smuggling sting.

Arizona Department of Public Safety Officer Carrick Cook tells New Times that DPS has been monitoring Lowery for several weeks after a known smuggler tipped off authorities that he was working with a law enforcement official.

"Initially, we kind of dismissed [the smuggler's claims]," Cook says. "Independent sources found out later that the information was credible."

Cook says that after monitoring Lowery for several weeks, authorities stashed 23 bundles of weed in the desert in the Vekol Valley, about 45 minutes South of Phoenix. Officers watched as Lowery loaded 14 of the 23 bundles into his government-owned vehicle and took off.

Cook wouldn't say how Lowery knew the weed would be there, but says the information was disseminated through the proper channels.

When police attempted to pull him over, Lowery stopped briefly before taking off into the desert, Cook says.

The chase reached speeds of up to 110 miles per hour, and Lowery was seen throwing 10 of the 14 bails of marijuana out of the vehicle as he attempted to evade law enforcement.

The chase came to an end when Lowery flipped the vehicle he was driving, and surrendered to police.

Authorities believe Lowery was taking the weed to the home of 33-year-old Joshua Duane Powell, of Arizona City, who is currently out on bail for other felony charges. According to Cook, Powell already faces "decades in prison" for his previous crimes.

According to DPS documents first obtained by the Associated Press, Powell was previously arrested after a separate investigation last month turned up multiple bulletproof vests, weapons, stolen night-vision equipment, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, and various drugs inside his home.

According to document, "since [Powell's] release only a few weeks ago, he has amassed a small arsenal of weapons and has proven to continue involvement in the illicit drug trade."

When police searched Powell's home yesterday, they found 14 rifles and guns in the trunk of his car, seven of which had been reported stolen.

Lowery was booked into Pima County jail on charges of smuggling and felony flight. Powell was also booked into jail on similar charges.

ICE spokesman Vinnie Picard issued a statement about Lowery's arrest, saying "ICE is cooperating with federal and state authorities in this matter. We hold our officers and agents to the highest levels of responsibility and are committed to supporting the agencies investigating this incident." 


http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2011/10/ice_agent_leads_police_on_45-m.php#more

DPS officer accused of inappropriately touching woman at bar

An off-duty officer from the Arizona Department of Public Safety is accused of inappropriately touching a woman at a Flagstaff bar, authorities said.

A 30-year-old woman at the Greenroom Bar says she confronted a man after she was touched inappropriately on Saturday. She told bar employees, who then called police, according to the Flagstaff Police Department.

The man, 32-year-old Robb Gray Evans, identified himself to police as a DPS officer. He was charged with sex abuse and booked into the Coconino County Jail on $50,000 bond.

Evans, who has been a DPS patrolman for 11 years, is on paid administrative leave pending the Flagstaff police investigation, according to Capt. Stephen Harrison, a DPS spokesman.

DPS plans to have its own investigation, he added,

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/08/01/20110801arizona-flagstaff-dps-officer-arrested-sexual-assault-abrk.html

Hackers expose racism's underbelly: Driving while black, brown or red in Arizona

Driving, and living, while Black, Brown or Red in Arizona
Article and photo by Brenda Norrell
Copyright Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
Photos: Arizona border victims by Brenda Norrell

TUCSON -- When the ACLU released the report, "Driving while Black or Brown," exposing racial profiling by Arizona police, it came as no surprise to Native Americans who live in the state. When hackers exposed the racist e-mails of Arizona police officers last week, it came as no surprise to the Native Americans who are victims of excessive force by Arizona police in bordertowns.

When hackers exposed the fact that off-duty US Marine contract killers are patrolling the Arizona border with assault weapons, stalking migrants, it came as no surprise to human rights organizations in southern Arizona. When hackers exposed the fact that a school cop was reporting the diversity class at a Tucson high school to the Arizona Attorney General, that probably came as a surprise to many students and staff at Santa Rita High School. The district is engaged in an ongoing battle with the State of Arizona to save its ethnic studies programs.

What was a surprise when hackers spilled data from Arizona police files? The surprise was that they got caught. Arizona police, private security officers and white supremacists have carried out their abuse and crimes with impunity in the State of Arizona. The Governor, Arizona State Legislature and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio have fueled the xenophobic attitude towards migrants and all people of color. This trio has attempted to create rule by white supremacists in a state populated by 21 American Indian Nations and diverse peoples and cultures.

"The good old boy" system crashed with the servers of the Fraternal Order of Police websites last week.

While the mainstream media fuels the racism, aiding private prison profiteers to fill their prisons with people of color, the media also paints Sheriff Arpaio as a colorful character, rather than examining the poisonous climate of hate he has injected into the region.

What was in those police e-mails hacked last week? There were racist chain letters forwarded by police about immigrants. There were insulting chain letters about President Obama. There was an e-mail praising torture from the police chief of Springerville, located near the Navajo Nation, Zuni Pueblo and White Mountain Apache Indian Nations.

The data exposed a registered sex offender who is a member of the Fraternal Order of Police, and a stalker who was a potential candidate for police chief in Tucson in 2009. It also exposed that a Navajo police officer from Teec Nos Pos discovered Arizona state police were filing charges in state court, rather than tribal court, for crimes on Indian land. The Navajo officer was then targeted by his superior and discriminated against.

Although a group of the worst e-mails have been published, one e-mail was too vulgar to publish. The e-mail was sent to a member of the Fraternal Order of Police, who is a former employee of the private prison profiteer Corrections Corporations of America. The e-mail was vulgar sarcasm about what was actually down to the body of Osama bin Laden. It was sent by a person working at a lighting company in southern California. The same FPO member had an outgoing e-mail with too much profanity to publish.

The data exposed the fact that Arizona police are well aware of the white supremacists and hate groups in Arizona. There are few eyes to witness the murders and rapes in the Sonoran Desert. The victims who are people of color in Arizona are a low priority for Arizona prosecutors. When US Border Patrol agents have been charged with the murder of migrants in federal court in Tucson, they were not convicted.

The hacked e-mails show that Arizona police are well aware that their own data was used when the ACLU prepared the report, "Driving while Black or Brown." The report showed that Native Americans stopped by Arizona police are 3.25 times more likely to be searched than whites. The report says that these targeted searches were uncalled for, since whites are far more likely to be carrying contraband than Native Americans.

Here's a recap of stories from the e-mails and reports exposed by hackers during June, who sail under the names of Antisec, Anonymous and Lulzsec.

Hackers slam Arizona police a third time
Hackers slammed the Arizona Department of Police for a third time on Thursday night, exposing police e-mails with more racism directed at Arabs, anti-immigrant chain e-mails, and crude jokes about President Obama. The release, Chinga La Migra Comminque III, "Fraternal Ownage of Police," targets Arizona's Fraternal Order of Police. The Antisec movement said they are defacing and taking down their websites, on behalf of the rights of immigrants and working people. Read the worst e-mails:
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2011/06/hackers-slam-arizona-police-for-third.html

Tucson: Hackers reveal data targeting ethnic studies
TUCSON -- Hackers have once again slammed Arizona police, exposing racism and corruption.
In the second release of data on Wednesday, June 29, in the Chinga La Migra Dos files, Tucson schools public safety officer Robert 'Bob' Barry of Tucson, sent a letter to Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne urging an investigation of studies at Santa Rita High School in May.
Barry tells the Attorney General that students at Santa Rita High are being "indoctrinated" because they are being told about the genocide of Native Americans. Barry calls a diversity speech "hate speech."

Read more:
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2011/06/tucson-hackers-reveal-data-targeting.html

Hacked data reveals US Marines as contract killers, hunting migrants on the border
The hunting and murder of migrants by US Marines along the Arizona border was among the first facts revealed, after LulzSec hacked the Arizona Department of Public Safety on Thursday. The data exposes the fact that Arizona law enforcement officers were aware that migrants were being hunted by off-duty Marines patrolling the border with assault weapons. The information was in a report for the month of October, 2008, by Arizona's HIDTA (High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area) Investigative Support Center.

"In other incidents reported in October, U.S. Border Patrol agents encountered two subjects who claimed to be members of the Border Watch Group the Blue Lights based on the Caballo Loco Ranch. The subjects, armed with pistols and at least one M4 rifle, were dressed in full desert camouflage uniforms, similar to those of the United States military. They stated they were not members of the Minutemen, but paid contract employees who ‘get the job done’ and ‘were not just volunteers.’ They possessed valid United States Marine Corps identification cards."

Read more about this ranch near Sasabe, Arizona, south of Three Points, and alongside the Tohono O'odham Nation. The Caballo Loco is where Minutemen, Patriots, off-duty Marines and other white supremacists camp and stalk migrants:
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2011/06/hacked-data-reveals-us-marines-contract.html

Also see:
ACLU Arizona Racial Profiling "Driving while Black or Brown"
http://www.scribd.com/doc/59087728/Arizona-Racial-Profiling-Report-Driving-Black-or-Brown
Columbus, Ohio Police Target Native American Long Walkers, on Friday, July 3, 2011, and in 2008:
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2011/07/columbus-ohio-police-target-native.html

About the photos
At El Tiradito Shrine in Tucson, the organization "No More Deaths," remembered "Descondido" and thousands of other migrants who have died along the border of the United States and Mexico. Descondido was found hanged near the village of Cowlic in 2005 and is among the migrants meeting with violent death after crossing the border.

At El Tiradito Shrine in Tucson, volunteers with "No More Deaths," remembered migrants who have died along the border during a prayer vigil at a shrine in Tucson. When each migrants' name was read, those present said, "Presente" (Present) to show that they had not been forgotten. Thousands of names of migrants, who died from dehydration, assaults and other causes, were placed at the shrine.

Shrine outside federal courthouse in Tucson for Francisco Javier Dominguez Rivera, 22, from Morelia, Mexico, murdered by US Border Patrol agent. Agent was found not guilty.

Angie Ramon, Tohono O'odham, mother of Bennett Patricio, Jr, 18, stands where her son was run over and killed by the US Border Patrol on Tohono O'odham land. Ramon sued the officers in federal court, alleging her son was murdered by officers when he walked up on Border Patrol agents transferring a load of drugs in the remote desert at 3 am. Ramon carried the case to the Ninth Circuit and found no justice.
================================================================
Brenda Norrell has been a news reporter in Indian country for 29 years, living on the Navajo Nation for 18 years and in Tucson for a decade.
Copyright Censored News. To request permission to repost, please contact the publisher Brenda Norrell, brendanorrell@gmail.com

Free the Fonz! Fronzo West Jailed for Telling Authorities "Fuck the Police"

Why are cops afraid of The Fonz? A combination of camcorder and freedom of speech.

Phoenix civil liberties activist Fronzo West is currently doing time in the Maricopa County jail for exercising his freedom of speech rights as enshrined in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Folks like to say we have freedom of speech in this country, and in theory, we do. But in practice, it's a whole 'nother matter. West, 65, challenges that theory nearly every day of the week here in Phoenix by riding around in a car emblazoned with the slogans "Fuck the Police" and "Stop Police Brutality." He goes further than that. Everything he wears, from the cap on his head to his loafers also bears the same anti-cop messages.

For West, it's part of a self-appointed crusade against police heavy-handedness that dates back some 30 years, when "The Fonz" as he's known around town, was wrestled to the ground in downtown Phoenix by white police officers. The Fonz, who is black, was roller-skating -- his preferred mode of ambulance -- while carrying his child in a papoose. The Fonz's mixed race kid was white in appearance, and this is what led the cops to believe something was askance. The entire ugly incident was captured on tape by a local TV news crew, and watching it now is, to say the least, a surreal experience.

Since that time, Fonz has driven around town in a vehicle scrawled with his opinions about the local gendarmes. He also stops to videotape them whenever he spies them pulling someone over. But Fonz, a Navy vet who served this country during the Vietnam war, pays a price for his activism, and for expressing himself so boldly. That is, whenever cops of any stripe see his car or his garb, they harass him, pull him over, and find something to cite him on.

Fonz has no idea how many times he's been arrested, and a cursory check of court records does not reveal all of the times I know he's been collared after I first met him several years ago. (There are numerous jurisdictions involved.) But he must've been taken into custody scores of times since he began his mostly one-man "Stop Police Brutality" organization.

It should be noted that Fonz has a Gandhi-like approach to local law enforcement. When they begin to question him after seeing his clothes or his car, he remains silent. If they approach him and lay hands on him, he does his patented "Fonz flop" and falls to the ground, a textbook example of passive resistance.

As a result of doing this for decades, many cops know who he is, as do many judges and justices of the peace. As Fonz offers no threat to the community, and as his continued harassment by law enforcement does nothing but waste cops' time and taxpayer money, you'd think they'd just ignore him. But that'd be like a Spanish bull ignoring a red sash. And so, Fonz inevitably ends up in court on some pretty bogus charges, like "failure to obey" a police officer.

According to his longtime lawyer Steve Suskin, a former La Paz County Attorney who currently represents New Times in numerous matters, when Fonz ends up in Phoenix municipal court, the judges there, who are all lawyers, overlook his clothing, perhaps as a nod to the First Amendment issues involved. But in the justice courts, the Justices of the Peace are so disturbed by Fonz's attire that they frequently order him to remove his shirt or order him out of court altogether.

Fonz's predicament has resulted in some fairly amusing episodes. Once, when ordered to remove a shirt with an offending inscription, he did so, only to reveal another beneath it with the same message. In another incident I witnessed and wrote about in April of last year, JP C. Steven McMurry lashed out as soon as he saw the Fonz, sputtering, "I am not having that 'Fuck the Police' [shirt] in the court!"

Fonz left the courtroom, and later, McMurry apologized for repeating in court the very phrase he wished to forbid.

Fonz's appearance before JP Armando Gandarilla a couple of days ago was not so amusing. Before Gandarilla on lame charges of "unsafe lane usage" and "failure to obey" a police officer, Fonz was wearing his Eff the Po-Po uniform as always. Gandarilla held Fonz in contempt, and Fonz is currently in MCSO custody on a $500 bond until his case is heard Friday morning.

"I think the judge's thinking was, he'd be in jail the rest of this time," explained attorney Steve Suskin. "And when the sheriff's deputies brought him back to the court, he'd have a striped suit on. That's fine. You can have a trial with a striped suit on, but you can't have a trial with a `Fuck the Police' shirt on."

Keep in mind that Fonz's already spent several days in county after being arrested on the original charges back in March. If you take a look at the DPS reports generated by the March incident, you can see what a mountain the four -- count 'em, four -- DPS officers made out of this molehill. (You can read them for yourself, here.)

What was Fonz stopped for? According to Officer L.A. Lopez, it was because as Fonz was exiting I-17 at 16th Street, the car's "right front and rear tires crossed over the fog line by a full tire width." We all know this wasn't the real reason. Lopez and the other officers do allude to the real reason by stating at the top of their reports that, "the vehicle was also covered in red anti-police graffiti/slogans such as `Fuck the Police' and `Stop Police Brutality.'"

The remainder of the reports are like something right out of a script for Reno 911, save for the fact that it sounds like Fonz was moments away from getting gunned down. Lopez reports that, "The driver a black male immediately exited the vehicle pointing a silver object in my direction that was in his left hand as he stood in the roadway." The "silver object," of course, was Fonz's camcorder. A black man with a silver object in his hand? Fonz is lucky to be alive.

True, Fonz probably could have parked in a more convenient location for the patrolmen, and he was hardly what you call cooperative. On the other hand, Fonz should have never been pulled over to begin with.

The DPS officers go on to search Fonz's vehicle without his permission or any probable cause that I can see. They find what they call "burglary tools," basically a couple of slim jims. When having one of these became illegal is beyond me, but interestingly this one semi-serious charge is the one that's been dropped. There were no drugs or any other sort or contraband in Fonz's car. So this illegal search and seizure produced nothing of import. I should also mention that one officer's sinister suggestion that Fonz is an IV drug user is completely untrue, based on zero evidence whatsoever.

It's not the first time Fonz has gone to jail on petty charges, drummed up and enforced because those with authority don't like Fonz's message. Nor will it be the last. Fonz is not afraid of jail, and indeed, he seems to feel it's part of his duty as a citizen to be incarcerated for challenging unchecked police power. As we approach the Fourth of July, I would posit that Fonz is a true patriot, a Yankee Doodle Dandy wearing his declaration of independence on his sleeve, and every other part of his clothing.

Justice Gandarilla and the DPS officers involved should be ashamed of themselves for what they've done, in no small part because Fonz is a veteran who is not in the best of health. The last time he was in the hospital, his heart stopped and he had to be revived. As the police are hardly gentle with Fonz when they arrest him, I anticipate that he will one day die in custody, just because his eccentric devotion to certain constitutionally protected phrases ticks off those bearing badges and black robes.

UPDATE: The sheriff's office was supposed to deliver Fonz to JP Gandarilla's court Friday morning at 9 a.m., but did not do so. JP Gandarilla told attorney Steve Suskin that he would sign an order of release for Fonz.

I called down to the court, and am awaiting a call back from someone who works for Gandarilla to tell me whether or not this was done, and if Fonz has been released.

This farce will continue after the court reschedules the trial on these bogus misdemeanor charges Fonz faces. More as I get it.

http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/bastard/2009/06/free_the_fonz_fronzo_west_jail.php