Phoenix police chase man who refused to show ID, fled, and died in police custody

(12/3/10) One month later and Phoenix PD have still not released information on an official cause of death.

Phoenix police have identified a man who fled from police on foot collapsed and died after being caught, police said.

Just before 7 p.m. Friday, Phoenix police responded to a call about a fight near 19th Avenue and Bell Road in north Phoenix.

Once there, they asked the three individuals involved for identification, said Phoenix police spokesman Steve Martos. Two complied immediately.

The third, Oesha V. Reese, 35, fled the apartment, Martos said. Officers chased after him on foot for about six minutes.

After police took him into custody, the man complained he was having trouble breathing, then collapsed, Martos said. Firefighters performed first aid, and the man was taken to a nearby hospital where he died just after 8 p.m.

Martos said it is not known why the man fled or whether he suffered from any pre-existing medical conditions.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/11/06/20101106phoenix-police-chase-man-who-dies-brk.html

Phoenix internal-affairs detectives investigating South Mountain Precinct

Phoenix police on Thursday confirmed that internal-affairs detectives have been investigating off-duty misconduct within South Mountain Precinct since 2007.

The complex investigation is focused on officers' off-duty security work - such as the assignments guarding nightclubs or working crowd control at parades or football games in which they earn extra money, Phoenix police Sgt. Trent Crump said.

Crump said the department's Professional Standards Bureau considers the investigation "still pending and still open." He declined to address specifics other than that detectives are looking into the actions of officers assigned to off-duty assignments in south Phoenix, rather than solely focusing on officers stationed at South Mountain Precinct.

Phoenix officers are authorized by the department to work off-duty security in uniform. They are also required to follow department policy.

Cmdr. Chuck Miiller, who oversees the police department's Public Affairs Bureau, said Friday that the recent reassignment of the South Mountain Precinct commander and several lieutenants was unconnected to the ongoing internal-affairs investigation into off-duty misconduct by officers.

Miiller said the reassignment of Cmdr. Jeff Alexander, who was replaced three weeks ago by Cmdr. Chris Crockett, and several lieuterants -- including Lts. Mark Tallman and Chris Moore of the Ahwatukee substation -- were part of a separate decision made by the department's chiefs to restructure leadership in the precinct.

Tallman and Moore will be replaced by Lt. Matt Giordano, also of Public Affairs Bureau, and Lt. Russ Frederiksen.

Republic reporter Cathryn Creno contributed to this report.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/2010/11/04/20101104phoenix-police-south-mountain-task-force-internal-affairs1105.html

Phoenix officer's fatal shooting still "confuses" detectives

More than two weeks after Phoenix police Sgt. Sean Drenth's on-duty shooting death, police have yet to release a suspect's description, a license plate on a getaway car or any other details from the scene.

If Drenth was shot to death by an unknown assailant, investigators have refused to say anything about the killer after the highly decorated patrolman was discovered fatally wounded outside his patrol vehicle in an industrial lot near the Arizona Capitol.

Drenth's shooting is still being treated as a homicide, according to Phoenix police, though the cause and manner of Drenth's Oct. 18 death is still under review by the Maricopa County Medical Examiner.

Phoenix homicide investigators have said little else other than they are forced to consider the possibility that Drenth committed suicide based on unidentified evidence collected at the scene of the shooting.

"We are still treating it as a homicide, as we always have, but there is still nothing definitive as to what happened out there," said Phoenix police Sgt. Trent Crump, the department spokesman handling the Drenth case.

"If we had that definitive evidence - one way or another, that it was a homicide or suicide - there would be no reason to withhold that information," Crump said.

By now, crime-scene technicians have already swabbed for evidence such as hair and fibers from inside Drenth's patrol vehicle and conducted a blood-spatter analysis from evidence at the scene, though it was still unclear if the South Mountain Precinct sergeant was shot inside or outside the vehicle.

Silent Witness is offering up to $10,000 in reward money for information in the case with the hope that someone will provide an anonymous tip leading to an arrest, though Phoenix police have yet to confirm Drenth was murdered.

Police said he was neither writing a report nor responding to an emergency call when he parked at the lot near the Union Pacific Railroad tracks at Jefferson Street and 19th Avenue on Oct. 18.

The vehicle is one of three crime scenes in the Drenth case, according to experts. The scene around the vehicle and the sergeant's body are the others.

Each has already been processed for latent fingerprints and ballistics at this point of the investigation, though investigators have declined comment on the results of tests conducted in the Phoenix Police Crime Lab.

Doctors at the Maricopa County Medical Examiner's Office said they could take up to three months to release the official death-investigation report.

Dr. Cyril Wecht, a longtime Pennsylvania medical examiner and forensic pathology expert at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, said any shooting like Drenth's should be approached initially as it were a homicide.

He said based on his limited knowledge of the case, that a major metro police agency such as Phoenix police likely have an idea at this stage of the investigation - or that they simply could be stumped based on evidence that could suggest a murder or suicide.

"Two weeks of silence makes me highly suspicious," Wecht said. "It makes me think they've got some questions, that there may be more there than they're saying at this time and that it might not be a homicide," he said.

The case largely hinges on the weapon or weapons used in Drenth's shooting. Police have declined to confirm if Drenth was shot at a distance, from close alongside his vehicle or with one of his police weapons - such as his shotgun, his duty handgun or a secondary handgun officers carry on patrol.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/2010/11/05/20101105phoenix-officer-sean-drenth-shooting-mystery.html

Late Timing of Detention Officer's DUI Arrest Questioned

Maricopa County Sheriff's detention officer Adrian Salazar Guzman

GOODYEAR, Ariz. - A 26-year-old woman died in an accident caused by a suspected drunk driver -- and that driver, a Maricopa County Sheriff's detention officer, wasn't arrested until two weeks after the crime.

Adrian Salazar Guzman had a blood alcohol level of nearly 3 times the legal limit. It has many people asking why his arrest took so long.

Guzman has been charged with negligent homicide and several DUI-related charges in the death of 26-year-old Alisha Trejo. Court documents allege he ran a stop sign and hit Trejo, who was on a motorcycle stopped at the Goodyear intersection.

Her leg was amputated as a result of the impact and she died instantly.

At the hospital, Guzman admitted he had been drinking since 10 a.m. and felt "buzzed." A blood alcohol test taken by nurses at 2 a.m. registered at .225. At 4:23 a.m., DPS procured a search warrant and took another blood test, and the result was .14. The legal limit in Arizona is .08.

The accident happened on Oct. 16. But Guzman wasn't arrested until Oct. 29, nearly two weeks later. We've been trying to stay on top of this, but Goodyear Police has been very uncooperative with our questions and gave us the runaround.

FOX 10 wanted to know if this was standard procedure for Goodyear Police.

We called John Rowan with the department, and he says, Guzman's case was handled properly. When we asked him whether or not Guzman was given preferential treatment because he is a detention officer, the phone call was ended abruptly. We tried calling him back several times thereafter, and he didn't return the call.

It's a question that Alisha's grieving family also wants to know.

We called two law agencies in town to ask them what they think about the situation. One said that if a person was in the same position as Guzman, it is possible that he could have been released the same day. The agency would have slapped the driver with a DUI charge, opened an investigation, and then later on added a homicide charge in court.

The second agency said there is no way that guy should've been walking. The agency said it could take up to two weeks to get an accurate blood alcohol level read, but if a suspected drunk driver killed someone, it's just too serious. That driver should be taken to jail and not let out on the streets.

http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/news/crime/late-timing-of-dui-arrest-questioned-11-3-2010

Ex-Glendale police officer to temporarily lose his badge

Glendale police officer Daniel Arreola

A former Glendale police officer accused of turning in incorrect timesheets and sending offensive messages to other officers will not wear an Arizona police badge for almost two years.

The Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board decided to suspend Daniel Arreola's peace-officer certification until late 2011 in a Wednesday hearing.

THE INVESTIGATION

Arreola resigned in September 2009 after a Glendale police internal investigation found he had falsely claimed hours on 11 dates when he was actually on vacation, compensatory time or sick leave. The investigation also found the three-year officer sent sexually and racially offensive messages to other officers on a computer in his police cruiser.

The police board, which provides training and oversight to Arizona police, approved a consent agreement to suspend Arreola's certification to serve as an officer in the state. Fellow ex-Glendale officer Adam Fisher voluntarily relinquished his certification last October after a Glendale police probe also accused him of falsifying timesheets and sending offensive messages, among other allegations.

OFFICER'S RESPONSE

Arreola, who attended the Wednesday hearing, declined to comment. In a letter previously sent to Glendale Police Chief Steve Conrad and the police board, the former officer wrote that some of the timesheet errors cited in the investigation shouldn't be upheld. He said the errors occurred either because he did not complete the form himself or he was confused by the format of the timesheet.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/10/25/20101025glendale-police-officer-temporarily-loses-badge.html

Ex-officer barred from police work for 2 years

A former Tempe officer accused of pursuing romantic encounters while on duty has been suspended from serving as an Arizona police officer for at least two years.

The Arizona Peace Officers Standards and Training Board on Wednesday voted to suspend the certification of Jared Blanchard, 26.

"He became preoccupied with females on many, many calls," AZPOST presenter Bob Irish said.

Jared's pursuit of romantic relationships clearly led to neglect of duty on at least two occasions. Irish said.

"There's something about this that makes me incredibly uneasy," said AZPOST board Chairman Joseph Duarte.

Blanchard, a sworn officer since March 2007, resigned in lieu of termination in August 2009.

In one case, Blanchard pulled over a 21-year-old single mother near Tempe Marketplace and cited her for expired registration and no proof of insurance, according to Tempe police reports.

Blanchard got her number from the citation and texted "you are the prettiest girl I've ever pulled over."

Blanchard said he later had sex with the woman. He also admitted to pursuing romantic encounters with at least three others he met while on duty, some of whom were victims of crimes, according to an internal investigation conducted by the Tempe Police Department.

Asked this week about the Blanchard case, Sgt. Steve Carbajal, a Tempe police spokesman, said, "Obviously, we take these incidents very seriously. It's totally inappropriate and unacceptable to meet women on duty or men on duty and cultivate relationships on duty."

Blanchard was placed on desk duty in February 2009 after his neighbor called Mesa police to report that Blanchard, while off duty, had grabbed her breast while in her apartment in May 2008. Blanchard insisted it happened while the two were playfully touching.

The neighbor said she smoked marijuana and had drugs in her apartment when Blanchard was there, though he never used any. Officers are obligated to act when a crime is taking place.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/tempe/articles/2010/10/24/20101024tempe-former-cop-sex-on-duty1023.html

Nowakowski, Johnson say call to officer was not inappropriate

Vice Mayor Michael Nowakowski and Councilman Michael Johnson say allegations that they tried to influence a witness in the case involving Phoenix police Officer Richard Chrisman are false. Chrisman is being charged with second-degree murder.

On the website for the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, items posted suggest that Nowakowski and Councilman Michael Johnson inappropriately contacted Officer Sergio Virgillo shortly after Virgillo worked a domestic-violence call with Chrisman.

Chrisman fatally shot 29-year-old Danny Frank Rodriquez earlier this month, and, according to court records, Virgillo told investigators Chrisman needlessly killed an unarmed man who posed no threat.

On Thursday at his arraignment in Maricopa County Superior Court, Chrisman pleaded not guilty to the second-degree murder and other charges.

According to a string of e-mails posted on the police union’s website, Virgillo felt uncomfortable with the calls from the elected officials.

“During this conversation, the councilmen stated things like …‘You are not going to second guess yourself…Right?; and ‘You did the right out out there … Right?,’” according to the e-mails PLEA has posted.

PLEA has suggested the call could have violated the Phoenix City Charter and that politicians are “possibly trying to exert influence over a criminal investigation.”

Nowakowski said he and Johnson did call Virgillo but were in no way trying to persuade Virgillo to do anything. Nowakowski said he always contacts people involved in serious police situations to express support for the Police Department and “let them know they’re in my prayers.”

The allegations are PLEA’s attempt to discredit Virgillio as a sound witness in a case against one of the union’s members, Nowakowski said.

It’s a “game to try to have us call Sergio a liar,” Nowakowski said. “They wanted us to say something bad about Sergio.”

PLEA represents Chrisman and helped post the officer’s bail shortly after he was arrested on the murder charge. Virgillio is not a member of PLEA.

“It’s just crazy politics,” Nowakowski said. “Mark (Spencer) is doing what he can to protect his PLEA guy.”

Johnson said he was commending Virgillo for "stepping forward" and "telling his side of the story."

"It's good for an officer who sees something wrong to step forward and tell the truth," Johnson said.

Johnson would not comment on the e-mails which he called "third party e-mails written between a sergeant and a lieutenant based on an alleged conversation with Sergio and written to discredit him (Sergio)."

--Lynh Bui, lynh.bui@arizonarepublic.com

http://www.azcentral.com/community/Blog/PHXBeat/102492