Pinal County Lt. leaves nasty message on talk show host's phone

PINAL COUNTY, Ariz. -- An early morning radio talk show has sparked questions about the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office and the possibility that it's abusing its power.

The questions came after a PCSO Lieutenant called conservative talk show host Barry Young’s personal cell phone and left a nasty voicemail.

Part of the voicemail said, “Hey man I know you gotta’ spin your (explicative) to make it sound cool. Take care."

The cursing caller telephoned Young after hearing the host rant about PCSO on Friday.
Young accused the Sheriff’s Office on-air of denying him an interview with supervisor Jennifer Foster.

Foster took the now famous photo in New York of a cop giving a pair of boots to a homeless man.
Listeners wanted to know how the Lieutenant got access to Young's personal cell phone number.
“But if this guy really went into a data base to get Barry's phone number that's serious,” said show producer Andrew Babinski.

Babinski said Young and Sheriff Paul Babeu's professional relationship changed following the sheriff’s shirtless photo scandal.

“Ever since then we like to have fun,” Babinski said while talking about the sheriff on their show.
Even though Foster's done several interviews across the country, including one with 3TV, Babinski suspects Young's show was blacklisted because of on-air Babeu banter.

Tim Gaffney with PCSO said that's just not true.

“There's no tension there at all,” said Gaffney.

So how did the Lieutenant get Young's personal cell phone number?

Callers questioned if the lawman abused his power and got it through a county data base.

“Mr. Young has given me his cell phone number in the past. I gave out that number. And that’s the number that he called. That’s how he got it. There is no data base that has Mr. Young's cell phone number,” said Gaffney.

The PCSO spokesperson also said he has spoken to KFYI executives.

Gaffney said both offices agree this has been one big misunderstanding that stemmed from a lack of communication.

We reached out to KFYI to confirm this and were told the station has no comment.

http://www.azfamily.com/news/pinal-county-lt-leaves-nasty-message-on-talk-show-hosts-phone-181608311.html

Former Phoenix police officer arrested in road rage incident

SURPRISE, Ariz. -- A retired Phoenix police officer has been arrested, accused of pointing a gun at another motorist in an apparent road rage incident.

The motorist was driving with his wife and two children just after 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday. As he was headed north on Cotton Lane, he tried to pass a dump truck and two other vehicles ahead of him.

The retired officer, 54-year-old Frank Marin, was driving his pickup truck just ahead of him. He also tried to pass the dump truck, but he apparently did not see the motorist’s car.

The motorist told police he honked his horn and braked to avoid hitting the pickup, and both vehicles ended up stopped at the intersection.

According to the police report, when the motorist looked over at the pickup, Marin was pointing a Glock 27 handgun at him.

Police say the motorist rolled down his window and yelled, "Go ahead, shoot me!" Marin then reportedly lowered his gun, put his truck in reverse, but then collided with another car.

When officers arrived, Marin at first denied that he had a gun. But he couldn't explain how the victim knew he had a gun and what it looked like, according to court documents. Upon further questioning, Marin admitted having a weapon in his vehicle.

An officer searched the car and reportedly found the gun under the seat. It had a fully loaded magazine inserted and a round in the chamber.

According to the police report, Marin told an officer he had thought that the other driver was going to be aggressive toward him. At that time, Marin was taken into custody. He faces charges of endangerment, misconduct involving a weapon and threats and intimidation.

Marin has since been released on bond. He’s due back in court on Tuesday.

Marin is a retired is a retired Phoenix police officer and is currently a reserve police officer.

http://www.azfamily.com/news/former-phoenix-police-officer-arrested-in-apparent-road-rage-incident-181556061.html

Phoenix Red Squad officer arrested for sex misconduct with teens

An officer assigned to the Phoenix PD's community relations division (aka The Red Squad) known for their political harassment of anarchist, anti-authoritarian, anti-cop, and Occupy Phoenix groups has been busted for sexual misconduct.  While the media makes a fuss over the charges that ended his career, his violent and abusive actions towards the valley's political rabble rousers remain unquestioned, as many more officers will fill the void left by Chris Wilson's abrupt retirement and arrest to continue the city's work of managing and attacking the space of social movements.  The above video shows officer Wilson in action, tackling a single protester who was giving senator John McCain a hard time a few years back.

A Phoenix police officer was arrested Tuesday night on suspicion of sexual misconduct with two teenage boys, authorities announced Wednesday.

Officer Christopher J. Wilson, 43, was accused of 10 counts of sexual assault with a 14-year-old and a 17-year-old, said Phoenix Police Chief Daniel Garcia said at a press conference.

The 14-year-old informed his parents about the incidents. The parents called police Tuesday afternoon and detectives immediately sought more information, Garcia said.

The investigation began Tuesday afternoon and concluded at 8:15 p.m. with the 13-year veteran's arrest. He immediately resigned to escape termination, Garcia said.

Wilson admitted his involvement and charges imply that the actions were consensual, though law enforcement does not support the illegal engagements Wilson participated in, Garcia said.

"I'm extremely disturbed and disgusted by this conduct," Garcia said.

The sexual encounters occurred at several private locations, including Wilson's home, Garcia said.
Detectives found that Wilson had met the boys through community engagements that were undefined, Garcia said.

Garcia said he wants the community to know this is a transparent investigation.

Officials encourage anyone with additional information on this event or if there are other victims, to contact police, Garcia said.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/2012/08/08/20120808phoenix-officer-arrested-sex-misconduct-teens.html

Peoria officer suspended for using slur disciplined 10 years ago

The Peoria police officer who was suspended for two weeks without pay for using a racial slur, had not been seriously disciplined during the past seven years, city records show.

But Sgt. Patrick Kief was disciplined twice a decade ago for verbal abuse.

Kief began his two-week suspension on July 7 after an internal investigation concluded he used a "racially derogatory term" to describe his frustration over the shoddy construction of a podium. The term is considered to be offensive to African-Americans.

Kief, who has been a police officer for 19 years, told a supervisor that he did not mean to harm anyone and had used the racial term growing up, according to the personnel files released Monday.
Kief was demoted from sergeant to officer. He had been promoted to sergeant in 2008.

Peoria City Manager Carl Swenson said in a statement that Kief's actions will not be tolerated.

Police Chief Roy Minter said Kief's conduct was against city policy, which states; "All employees shall conduct themselves in a professional and courteous manner and exhibit only that conduct which would exemplify the Peoria Police Department to both the community and other law enforcement organizations."

In 2002, Kief was suspended for a combined 10 hours for two separate incidents of verbal abuse. Once incident was acting out against fellow employee and the other was disrespecting individuals involved in a sexual assault case, the records show. He was reprimanded in 2001 for running over a stop sign.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2012/07/23/20120723peoria-police-officer-suspended-demoted-after-using-racial-slur-abrk.html

Peoria police officer suspended, demoted after using racial slur

A Peoria police officer was suspended and demoted on Monday after using a racial slur during a shift briefing in April, officials from the Peoria Police Department said.

A supervisor reported that Sgt. Patrick Kief used a "derogatory racial term" to describe his frustration with a podium he was using during the meeting, Chief Roy Minter said in a statement. Kief had been assigned as a patrol sergeant and remained on restricted duty during the investigation, Minter said.

Minter said the investigation resulted in an 80-hour unpaid suspension and a demotion from sergeant to officer for Kief. Peoria City Manager Carl Swenson agreed with Minter's handling of the situation and condemned Kief's actions.

"The statement of Officer Patrick Kief was reprehensible and is something that will not be tolerated from any one of our city employees," Swenson said.

Minter said he disciplined Kief is in accordance with the department's Code of Conduct which states, "All employees shall conduct themselves in a professional and courteous manner and exhibit only that conduct which would exemplify the Peoria Police Department to both the community and other law enforcement organizations."

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2012/07/23/20120723peoria-police-officer-suspended-demoted-after-using-racial-slur-abrk.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

Report outlines fatal shot fired by Scottsdale police officer

Just before Scottsdale police opened fire on Jason Prostrollo, the former Marine appeared in the doorway of a friend's home holding two halves of a pool cue as he walked toward police.

"I saw a very methodical slow paced walk, like he knew what he was doing coming at us and he was gonna take us on," Lt. Ron Bayne told investigators following the Jan. 28 shooting. The incident was outlined in a 244-page police report released last week.

Bayne used his .40-caliber Glock pistol to shoot and kill the 25-year-old Prostrollo after police were called to the north Scottsdale home of Prostrollo's friends.

The friends had called police because Prostrollo was drunk and threatening the homeowner with a large hunting knife.

Bayne, a 19-year police veteran, told investigators that he has been in many situation where using deadly force was a potential option.

"We've given commands and people have complied. There was never an indication in my mind that (Prostrollo) had any intention of complying at all," Bayne said.

The day after the shooting, a police spokesman said officers could not use a Taser on Prostrollo because of windy conditions. The report says the officers were armed with Tasers and several officers mention windy conditions that night, however the report does not specify that is the reason a Taser was not used.

As Prostrollo walked toward officers, he made "karate-type moves" using the sticks, Bayne said.

Another officer described Prostrollo coming out in a stick-fighter position, with a stick in each hand on his sides.

Sgt. KC Moore told investigators that another officer was giving Prostrollo commands to stop, but Prostrollo did not listen.

"He had a very piercing stare. Almost like, I don't know if I wanna call a death stare, but he wasn't paying attention to what we were saying," Moore said.

As Prostrollo continued walking toward officers, the K-9 officer, who was giving Prostrollo commands to stop, yelled that he was going to release his dog.

At the same time, Moore said he heard two loud pops, which was Bayne firing his weapon.

Bayne's bullets hit Prostrollo, killing him and hitting the dog, which was taken to an animal hospital and survived.

How it all started

The incident began the night before at Ernie's Restaurant and Bar, 10443 N. Scottsdale Road.

Prostrollo's friends, a 50-year-old man and a 33-year-old woman, had known Prostrollo for about six months. Their names are redacted in the report.

The couple told police that they went to Erine's about 10:30 p.m. Jan. 27 to play pool and have some drinks. There, they ran into Prostrollo, who had told them he was a former Marine and had served in Iraq.

"That night, Jason was drinking but did not seem to be impaired," the 50-year-old man told police.

Later, the couple invited Prostrollo back to their house to play pool.

The three left Ernie's shortly after midnight and drove to the home in the 12000 block of north 135th Place.

A few hours later, the girlfriend went to bed and by this time, Prostrollo appeared to be drunk, different and more aggressive in his storytelling, the report states.

"Jason kept pouring himself more drinks, Jack Daniels and getting very liberal with the drinks," the man said.

About 3 a.m., the man called a cab for Prostrollo.

The cab arrived about 30 minutes later, and Prostrollo, who was unable to walk straight or complete his sentences, got in the cab, the man told police.

About 4 a.m., the cab driver called 911 to say that 10 minutes earlier, a man had held a knife to his neck and forced him to drive back to the house on 135th Place.

About 10 minutes later, the doorbell rang and someone was banging on the front door, the man told police.

He saw it was Prostrollo, and he allowed him into the foyer.

"Jason was at the front door and was very animated, talking nonsense and paranoid."

Prostrollo was rambling about his brother, his mission in the Marines and stating, "You know what you did."

The man offered to call another cab for Prostrollo and asked him to leave.

"I could see this guy was not all there right now," the man told police.

At about the same time, the 33-year-old woman called 911. She told the dispatcher that she had locked herself in the bathroom because a friend was threatening her boyfriend with a knife.

She heard her boyfriend call out her name, so she walked outside to the foyer and saw Prostrollo standing in the kitchen holding a large military-style bowie knife with a round handle and large silver blade. She saw Prostrollo put the knife down and she ran out of the house, where police met her.

Police then called the boyfriend on his cellphone and told him to exit the house. He complied. Moments later, Prostrollo exited the house. He was wearing a white tank top with his dog tags around his neck. The girlfriend told officers that Prostrollo was a former military man who possibly had post-traumatic stress disorder. Prostrollo's father later confirmed the diagnosis for The Republic.

"The subject has something in his left hand that looked like a pool stick. In his right hand he had something that looked like a darkened barrel of a rifle, just the barrel. Both objects appeared to be the same length. The subject had his hands raised up near his head holding the two objects," the report states.

Officer Anthony Sanborn, the K-9 officer, was instructed to give commands.

"At a point when it was clear that he wasn't listening to Sanborn, I started giving my own commands," Bayne said.

When Prostrollo reached about 7 yards away, Bayne said he fired two rounds without pause.

"From all my years of training ... with his level of violence that (Prostrollo) had displayed all night, it was clear to me that he wasn't gonna comply with our commands and he had every intent to hit one of our officers," Bayne said. "And I believe that that would've caused life-threatening injuries if he would have been successful with that."

Phoenix officer arrested, charged with assaulting wife and discharging firearm

A Phoenix police officer who is also a Marine Reservist and recently back from a combat tour in Afghanistan has been arrested on charges of assaulting his wife and discharging a firearm.

A Casa Grande police spokesman said that Armando Ramirez was arrested Saturday and booked into the Pinal County Jail on one count of aggravated assault/domestic violence, one count of disorderly conduct with a weapon and one count of unlawful discharge of a weapon.

No one was injured by the gunshot, the spokesman said.

A Phoenix police spokesman, Sgt. Trent Crump, said Tuesday that Ramirez, 37, is a five-year member of the force. He also said Ramirez had previously served 10 years in the Marines and since joining the Phoenix police has done a combat tour in Iraq and a recent seven-month stint in Afghanistan.

Crump said Ramirez had resumed duties in the South Mountain Precinct on Dec. 5.

Ramirez has been placed on paid administrative leave and assigned to his home by the Professional Standards Bureau until an investigation is completed, the spokesman added.

Crump said he had spoken on the telephone with Ramirez.

"He said to me that he loves his family very much and is going to do everything possible to make this right,'' he said.

Crump said that "appropriate action'' will be taken by the Police Department, "when the facts of the case are known and have been reviewed.''

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/12/13/20111213phoenix-officer-accused-domestic-violence.html

Report: Chandler police official was disorderly, disruptive

Chandler Assistant Police Chief David Lind committed disorderly conduct and seriously disruptive behavior when he went into the stands at a Tempe high school and berated a volleyball teammate of his daughter's, a Tempe police report says.

On Sept. 29, as the Perry High School volleyball team was preparing to compete at Marcos De Niza High School, Lind used a "booming voice while standing two to three feet away" from the teammate and her coach for about three minutes, the report says.

The coach, Shasta Millhollin, and the student sobbed and cried. The coach, who has since accepted Lind's apology, has declined to assist in prosecution, but the girl and her mother desire prosecution, the report says.
The report has been submitted to another city attorney's office for review, since Lind formerly worked for Tempe, said Tempe Police Chief Tom Ryff. The prosecutor is empowered with filing charges.

In a statement to police, in which she also said she feared Lind would come closer to her as he screamed, the girl said Lind accused her of bullying his daughter and threatened her.

She quoted him as saying, "you better start telling the truth young lady! You three-way called people to gang up on my child, and when I find out all of this is true I'm going to Dan Serrano (Perry High School principal) and have you suspended because you bully my daughter! This is bull----!"

The girl said that she had contacted teammates earlier that day to discuss ways to "respect each other more" and that Lind's daughter felt attacked.

Lind also said threatening things to Millhollin, she said in the report. She said Lind told her, "I am going to go to the board and things are going to get ugly! I will give you the chance to take care of this but if you don't I will take action!"

She said when she got home Lind called her and he apologized, and she accepted.

"He was still very upset about his daughter's feelings being hurt and wanted the girls he believed to be at fault to apologize to his daughter for their actions," she told police.

At the same time, Millhollin said, Lind was willing to apologize to the girl and her parents for his behavior. It is unclear whether this took place.

The incident was filmed by high school surveillance equipment, the report says. It also says that Lind never identified himself as a police officer.

Lind supervisors at least half of Chandler's police force, including the public information office.

The Rev. Oscar Tillman has become involved since the girl who was yelled at is African American.

"This is a deputy police chief of a city that is growing like Chandler," Tillman said last week "He goes to the point of verbally attacking a teenager . . . He goes after a kid at school . . .

"How much respect can (they) teenagers have for law enforcement?" Tillman asked.

Lind, one of two assistant chiefs who report directly to Police Chief Sherry Kiyler, was reprimanded and suspended without pay for two weeks in 2010 after conducting an affair that included trysts in hotel rooms while on duty.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/10/12/20111012chandler-assistant-police-chief-investigation1014.html