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
Showing posts with label pr nightmare. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pr nightmare. Show all posts
Friday, November 30, 2012
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Elderly couple in turmoil since botched police raid
Nearly six months have passed since a Gilbert SWAT team raided the house of an elderly Phoenix couple and started a fire that destroyed the family's home and killed their dog.
Salvador Celaya, 73, and Carlota Celaya, 69, said everything they spent their life working for was destroyed in the Dec. 20 fire.
The couple said they live in constant fear of police since the raid and wonder if they will ever own a home again.
Gilbert and Scottsdale police obtained a search warrant for the Celayas' house after an investigation led them to believe they would find suspected carjacker and thief Erasmo Ruiz Villarreal, 23, at the residence. At the onset of the raid, Gilbert police threw a flash-bang diversion device into the Celayas' adult grandson's bedroom window. A flash-bang device is a form of non-lethal hand grenade that is meant to disorient temporarily.
A Phoenix Fire Department investigation revealed that the flash-bang landed on a bed and ignited the fire. The Fire Department's report stated that Gilbert police did not use the device in accordance with the manufacturer's safety precautions, which included checking and clearing the area before deployment.
Gilbert police said that Salvador's decision to arm himself with a gun forced them to implement safety precautions that prevented them from putting the fire out.
Police did not find their suspect or any of the items listed on the search warrant, and Gilbert police have yet to release an internal investigation of their SWAT operation.
The Celayas said they hired Phoenix attorney Daniel Ortega after they had not heard from police about whether they would be reimbursed for their destroyed house and belongings.
Salvador and Carlota said they came to the United States as Mexican immigrants about 45 years ago and raised their family on meager but hard-earned wages as a mechanic and seamstress.
Since retiring, they have lived on Social Security and could not afford to insure their house.
"I guess we felt safe. We'd lived there 40 years. We never thought anything like this could happen to us," Carlota said in Spanish.
Salvador said that in Mexico where he grew up, he could understand police doing something like this, but he never imagined American police would use such force raiding a citizen's house.
The actions of the police during the raid, Carlota said, have caused vivid nightmares and depression for the couple and their daughter Sonia, who lives with her parents as their caretaker.
Crying, Carlota recalled police handcuffing them and sitting them in a parking lot behind their house until about 2 a.m. Carlota said police never told them they had a right to an attorney and asked them repeatedly about Villarreal.
"I told them over and over I didn't know who they were talking about," she said.
Carlota said they saw a lifetime of memories go up in flames as they watched their house burn. The family and the two dogs that survived the fire are living in a south Phoenix house that their sons had planned to renovate and sell.
"We miss everything from our home - my flowers, my trees, neighbors - everything," Carlota said. "Our whole life was there."
Sonia, also crying, said she feels terrible for her parents, desperately misses her dog and blames herself for not being home early enough the night of the raid to protect her family.
"I don't leave the house at night any more. I will never leave them alone again," said Sonia, who is being treated by a therapist for trauma she said is related to the raid. "I told police my dog was in there. They did nothing. I don't have children. Bino, he was my baby."
Sonia said she worries about the effect the raid has had on her parents' health. Salvador's Alzheimer's disease has worsened, she said. And her mother, she said, who is in remission from breast cancer, cannot sleep and has stomach pains.
Carlota, speaking through tears, said she recalled mistaking police for thieves and running to warn her husband.
"It was already night. I woke him to tell him they were robbing us," she said. "Why didn't they just knock? We would have let them search the whole house. They would have seen that what they were looking for wasn't there. We would still have our home."
Turning to his wife, Salvador said in Spanish that he only grabbed a gun to protect her and their grandson.
"I see on the news every night, murderers and kidnappers," he said. "Why did they do this to us? We never did anything."
Salvador said he knows that from every bad there comes good, and he remains grateful for the kindness of his neighbors.
"Everything we have now, this furniture, they donated to us," he said. "I am afraid we will have to live in a trailer. All this is in the hands of God now."
Carlota said she prays that Gilbert will right its mistake.
"Just reimburse us for our house, for the things we lost," she said.
http://www.azcentral.com/community/gilbert/articles/0613celayas0613.html
Salvador Celaya, 73, and Carlota Celaya, 69, said everything they spent their life working for was destroyed in the Dec. 20 fire.
The couple said they live in constant fear of police since the raid and wonder if they will ever own a home again.
Gilbert and Scottsdale police obtained a search warrant for the Celayas' house after an investigation led them to believe they would find suspected carjacker and thief Erasmo Ruiz Villarreal, 23, at the residence. At the onset of the raid, Gilbert police threw a flash-bang diversion device into the Celayas' adult grandson's bedroom window. A flash-bang device is a form of non-lethal hand grenade that is meant to disorient temporarily.
A Phoenix Fire Department investigation revealed that the flash-bang landed on a bed and ignited the fire. The Fire Department's report stated that Gilbert police did not use the device in accordance with the manufacturer's safety precautions, which included checking and clearing the area before deployment.
Gilbert police said that Salvador's decision to arm himself with a gun forced them to implement safety precautions that prevented them from putting the fire out.
Police did not find their suspect or any of the items listed on the search warrant, and Gilbert police have yet to release an internal investigation of their SWAT operation.
The Celayas said they hired Phoenix attorney Daniel Ortega after they had not heard from police about whether they would be reimbursed for their destroyed house and belongings.
Salvador and Carlota said they came to the United States as Mexican immigrants about 45 years ago and raised their family on meager but hard-earned wages as a mechanic and seamstress.
Since retiring, they have lived on Social Security and could not afford to insure their house.
"I guess we felt safe. We'd lived there 40 years. We never thought anything like this could happen to us," Carlota said in Spanish.
Salvador said that in Mexico where he grew up, he could understand police doing something like this, but he never imagined American police would use such force raiding a citizen's house.
The actions of the police during the raid, Carlota said, have caused vivid nightmares and depression for the couple and their daughter Sonia, who lives with her parents as their caretaker.
Crying, Carlota recalled police handcuffing them and sitting them in a parking lot behind their house until about 2 a.m. Carlota said police never told them they had a right to an attorney and asked them repeatedly about Villarreal.
"I told them over and over I didn't know who they were talking about," she said.
Carlota said they saw a lifetime of memories go up in flames as they watched their house burn. The family and the two dogs that survived the fire are living in a south Phoenix house that their sons had planned to renovate and sell.
"We miss everything from our home - my flowers, my trees, neighbors - everything," Carlota said. "Our whole life was there."
Sonia, also crying, said she feels terrible for her parents, desperately misses her dog and blames herself for not being home early enough the night of the raid to protect her family.
"I don't leave the house at night any more. I will never leave them alone again," said Sonia, who is being treated by a therapist for trauma she said is related to the raid. "I told police my dog was in there. They did nothing. I don't have children. Bino, he was my baby."
Sonia said she worries about the effect the raid has had on her parents' health. Salvador's Alzheimer's disease has worsened, she said. And her mother, she said, who is in remission from breast cancer, cannot sleep and has stomach pains.
Carlota, speaking through tears, said she recalled mistaking police for thieves and running to warn her husband.
"It was already night. I woke him to tell him they were robbing us," she said. "Why didn't they just knock? We would have let them search the whole house. They would have seen that what they were looking for wasn't there. We would still have our home."
Turning to his wife, Salvador said in Spanish that he only grabbed a gun to protect her and their grandson.
"I see on the news every night, murderers and kidnappers," he said. "Why did they do this to us? We never did anything."
Salvador said he knows that from every bad there comes good, and he remains grateful for the kindness of his neighbors.
"Everything we have now, this furniture, they donated to us," he said. "I am afraid we will have to live in a trailer. All this is in the hands of God now."
Carlota said she prays that Gilbert will right its mistake.
"Just reimburse us for our house, for the things we lost," she said.
http://www.azcentral.com/community/gilbert/articles/0613celayas0613.html
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Tempe pulls TV show, makes apology
By Nick Martin, Tribune
November 30, 2006
Six times a week during November, a television show produced by Tempe police aired on the city's cable channel showing a white police officer telling two black men they could get out of a ticket if they performed a rap.
On Thursday, Tempe's mayor and police chief apologized for the show, suspended its future production and the chief launched an investigation after black community leaders voiced outrage and
disappointment over it.
"On behalf of our city organization, I apologize to the entire community for this clear misjudgment and I will expect that we will perform at a much higher level," Mayor Hugh Hallman said late Thursday. "This video is unacceptable."
Both the mayor and Chief Tom Ryff were responding to ire from leaders of two minority-rights organizations: Rev. Jarrett Maupin, president of Arizona's chapter of the National Action Network, and Rev. Oscar Tillman, president of the Maricopa County chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Both leaders were made aware of the video Wednesday by the Tribune. The chief and mayor both said they had not seen the show before Thursday.
The segment at issue of "Tempe StreetBeat," which followed several police on patrol, showed host Sgt. Chuck Schoville pulling over two men in August in the parking lot of the Arizona Mills mall. He first asks for a name and ID from the driver.
"You know how much the fine is for littering?" Schoville asks the men, who have stepped out of their car. "About 500 or so. Criminal arrest and all that other stuff."
The scene then cuts to Schoville's proposition: "No littering ticket if the two of you just do a little rap about — what do you want to do a rap about? Littering? About the dangers of littering. OK."
The two agree and each perform a short rap, laughing afterward. Schoville tells them to have a good day.
Before they go, Schoville says, "Raiders in the Super Bowl this year."
"You're right," the driver of the car said among other muffled words.
"You know I'm right. You know why you say I'm right?" Schoville jokes.
"Because I've got a gun and a badge. I'm always right."
All three laugh and rock music soon fades in.
Maupin, of the National Action Network, was wide-eyed after watching a DVD copy of the exchange.
"Do these individuals (in the department) know that they played into every negative stereotype of African Americans and the police?" he said.
"We don't all speak hip hop," he added later.
Maupin called for apologies from the mayor and chief and for an investigation into the show.
Tillman, of the NAACP, said apologies alone would not satisfy his outrage.
"I don't want your apology," Tillman said. "I want you to show me in your training and show me in your future" that things can change.
Both said that not only was the rap request stereotyping the men, but the joke at the end of the segment was dangerous.
"It's the most dangerous statement that a law enforcement officer can have at a time when we're looking at what happened in New York," where police officers this week shot an unarmed black man 50 times, killing him.
On Wednesday, police spokesman officer Brandon Banks, who was the credited producer of the show, defended it and said footage that was cut shows Schoville originally told the two they would not receive a ticket, then asked if they would rap for the cameras. Banks and a cameraman were with Schoville when the scene was shot. The extra footage was cut for time considerations, Banks said.
Schoville himself did not respond to a request made through the department to comment.
"Rev. Tillman and Rev. Maupin are the ones who are asserting that it's stereotypical and I don't see it as such," Banks said, adding later: "It was done in absolutely good-natured good fun and the people
involved were all in agreement."
No one previously came forward to complain and neither of the men complained either, Banks said. "They have the complete right and freedom to walk away at any point."
The two men could not be identified. Because they were not given a ticket, Tempe had no record of their names.
For now, the city's top officials are expressing regret the incident ever happened and that it made air.
An investigation will be conducted by the police internal affairs unit and city's diversity manager, Ryff said.
"I would like to offer my sincerest apologies to members of our community who may have been offended for our airing of this program as well as the conduct of our officers," he said.
When Maupin learned of the apologies and investigation late Thursday, he responded: "Thank God."
Tribune writer Garin Groff contributed to this report.
November 30, 2006
Six times a week during November, a television show produced by Tempe police aired on the city's cable channel showing a white police officer telling two black men they could get out of a ticket if they performed a rap.
On Thursday, Tempe's mayor and police chief apologized for the show, suspended its future production and the chief launched an investigation after black community leaders voiced outrage and
disappointment over it.
"On behalf of our city organization, I apologize to the entire community for this clear misjudgment and I will expect that we will perform at a much higher level," Mayor Hugh Hallman said late Thursday. "This video is unacceptable."
Both the mayor and Chief Tom Ryff were responding to ire from leaders of two minority-rights organizations: Rev. Jarrett Maupin, president of Arizona's chapter of the National Action Network, and Rev. Oscar Tillman, president of the Maricopa County chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Both leaders were made aware of the video Wednesday by the Tribune. The chief and mayor both said they had not seen the show before Thursday.
The segment at issue of "Tempe StreetBeat," which followed several police on patrol, showed host Sgt. Chuck Schoville pulling over two men in August in the parking lot of the Arizona Mills mall. He first asks for a name and ID from the driver.
"You know how much the fine is for littering?" Schoville asks the men, who have stepped out of their car. "About 500 or so. Criminal arrest and all that other stuff."
The scene then cuts to Schoville's proposition: "No littering ticket if the two of you just do a little rap about — what do you want to do a rap about? Littering? About the dangers of littering. OK."
The two agree and each perform a short rap, laughing afterward. Schoville tells them to have a good day.
Before they go, Schoville says, "Raiders in the Super Bowl this year."
"You're right," the driver of the car said among other muffled words.
"You know I'm right. You know why you say I'm right?" Schoville jokes.
"Because I've got a gun and a badge. I'm always right."
All three laugh and rock music soon fades in.
Maupin, of the National Action Network, was wide-eyed after watching a DVD copy of the exchange.
"Do these individuals (in the department) know that they played into every negative stereotype of African Americans and the police?" he said.
"We don't all speak hip hop," he added later.
Maupin called for apologies from the mayor and chief and for an investigation into the show.
Tillman, of the NAACP, said apologies alone would not satisfy his outrage.
"I don't want your apology," Tillman said. "I want you to show me in your training and show me in your future" that things can change.
Both said that not only was the rap request stereotyping the men, but the joke at the end of the segment was dangerous.
"It's the most dangerous statement that a law enforcement officer can have at a time when we're looking at what happened in New York," where police officers this week shot an unarmed black man 50 times, killing him.
On Wednesday, police spokesman officer Brandon Banks, who was the credited producer of the show, defended it and said footage that was cut shows Schoville originally told the two they would not receive a ticket, then asked if they would rap for the cameras. Banks and a cameraman were with Schoville when the scene was shot. The extra footage was cut for time considerations, Banks said.
Schoville himself did not respond to a request made through the department to comment.
"Rev. Tillman and Rev. Maupin are the ones who are asserting that it's stereotypical and I don't see it as such," Banks said, adding later: "It was done in absolutely good-natured good fun and the people
involved were all in agreement."
No one previously came forward to complain and neither of the men complained either, Banks said. "They have the complete right and freedom to walk away at any point."
The two men could not be identified. Because they were not given a ticket, Tempe had no record of their names.
For now, the city's top officials are expressing regret the incident ever happened and that it made air.
An investigation will be conducted by the police internal affairs unit and city's diversity manager, Ryff said.
"I would like to offer my sincerest apologies to members of our community who may have been offended for our airing of this program as well as the conduct of our officers," he said.
When Maupin learned of the apologies and investigation late Thursday, he responded: "Thank God."
Tribune writer Garin Groff contributed to this report.
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