Bumbling Sheriff's Office volunteers mistake children's toy for bomb.

 

 

Suspicious device was a toy

FOUNTAIN HILLS, AZ (CBS5) - A suspicious device found late Wednesday afternoon at Sheriff Joe Arpaio's posse office in Fountain Hills turned out to be a toy, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office said.

MCSO initially said the object looked like a possible explosive device made of nails and batteries.

A children's playhouse is located next door and investigators determined it was a toy made by some of the kids, sheriff's deputies said.

The investigation at 16833 Saguaro Blvd. prompted the closure of the nearby intersection.

http://www.kpho.com/story/19115410/mcso-suspicious-device-found-at-posse-office-a-toy

Phoenix police officer investigated over shove captured on video

A 6½-year veteran of the Phoenix Police Department is the subject of a criminal and internal investigation after a video surfaced on YouTube that shows him roughly shoving a girl during a police call, authorities said.

The officer, Patrick Larrison, has been put on administrative leave pending the investigations, Phoenix police officials said in a press release.

Sgt. Trent Crump, a department spokesman, said the incident occurred in January but that it did not come to police attention until Tuesday night when a department employee spotted the video on the Internet and notified a police supervisor.

The incident purportedly involved the girl in an altercation with a woman in a parking lot. The woman, apparently a parent, and the girl are seen on the ground for some time; the girl managed to get free and was walking away when an officer responding to the scene approaches her from behind and knocks her off her feet.

She's seen lying on the ground motionless for a short while; the officer then handcuffs her and walks her back toward a police vehicle.

The incident reportedly occurred near Ombudsman Charter School near 40th Street and Thomas Road.

"The video at face value is of great concern to the Department and we are taking the matter very seriously," Crump wrote in the press release.

Authorities said that in addition to the criminal and internal probes, Larrison was immediately placed on administrative leave and the juvenile division of the Maricopa County Attorney's Office was notified.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/05/04/20110504phoenix-police-officer-youtube-shove-brk04-ON.html