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Carton and his radio partner, Ray Rossi, walked off the air less than an hour into their afternoon radio show Thursday, hours after Jones' news conference. The drive-time radio hosts began railing about the message board Tuesday. The anonymous posts called for police to "hammer everyone" with traffic tickets, except for fellow police and their family, in response to perceived criticism state troopers have faced since Gov. Jon S. Corzine's auto accident. Gannett New Jersey reported on the message board posts Thursday. Police officials have said they would not tolerate a ticket-writing campaign. Andrew Santoro, the chief operating officer of Millennium Radio New Jersey, which owns New Jersey 101.5, said Jones' "intimidation and extortion is reprehensible" and called for a police investigation. In a statement, Carton said, "My safety and more importantly the safety of my family is paramount to me, and I can not and will not allow them to be put in harm's way because of the misguided rantings of a powerful police figure." In an interview, Jones said, "I don't believe in intimidating anyone." Jones said he did not know who floated the idea of a ticket-writing campaign on the union Web site but believes he knows who leaked the information. He said it didn't matter if police were threatening to go on a ticket-writing campaign. "If guys, be they troopers or not troopers, choose to vent on a blog board, that's their right, and that's a board that's supposed to be shared," Jones said. "A couple of cowards obviously compromised it, and when I find out who those Girl Scouts are I'm going to crush 'em like bugs." Jones said the very idea of a ticket blitz is "nonsense, it has no validity, it's not happening," but said motorists are now arguing more with police over tickets. "People are immediately becoming confrontational as to the lawful authority and to the probable cause that happens with why these stops are taking place," Jones said. In a profanity-laced interview hours after the news conference, Jones said Carton had crossed over from entertainment to "putting cops in harm's way." "He's a fake and a phony and he's not a Jersey Guy and he doesn't care about the Jersey people," Jones said. "Everybody knows he lives in Pennsylvania. He's got nothing to do with the government in New Jersey other than to sit there and ridicule it." Jones would not say how he got Carton's address, other than to say "information was gleaned from legitimate sources." In New Jersey, property records are accessible through many public records and are posted on some Web sites, including Gannett New Jersey's. State police were seeking a transcript of the news conference and an opinion from the Attorney General's Office on "how Jones, in his capacity as a sworn member, bound by our rules and regulations, is impacted by his concurrent role as a union president," department spokesman Capt. Al Della Fave said. "We want to know as much as you, in terms of what he did from a legal standpoint, and a legal analysis opinion as far as what took place," Della Fave said. Jones is one of many public figures who has clashed before with the controversial "Jersey Guys" show, whose inflammatory bits make them a frequent lightning rod for criticism. The performance of the state police has come under scrutiny after the accident, in which Corzine's police driver was found to be driving 91 mph with emergency lights flashing shortly before the accident. Corzine was on his way to a meeting between fired radio host Don Imus and the Rutgers University women's basketball team over the host's controversial remarks about the team.
CBC News, April 27, 2007 An Edmonton police officer has been convicted of assault with a weapon for zapping a downtown jaywalker twice in the back with a Taser. Provincial court Judge Brian Fraser ruled Friday that Const. Aubrey Zalaski, 34, overreacted with an "unnecessary, gratuitous use of force" when he stopped Paul Cetinski Jr., 35. Outside court, Crown attorney Gary Cornfield said: "When you are shooting somebody in the back it's hard to say you are acting in self-defence." During the trial, Cetinski tearfully testified that he was polite and courteous when stopped for jaywalking near a police station in the middle of the day in August 2004. He said Zalaski asked him to lean against the police car and spread his legs as if he were a criminal. Cetinski told the court he had a handcuff on one wrist when he turned to look at Zalaski. The officer jumped back, then zapped him twice with a Taser, including once after he had fallen to the ground, he testified. A Taser is an electronic weapon designed to cause temporary paralysis. A sentencing hearing will be held in June. The constable's lawyer told the court that when it comes to sentencing, he believes a discharge would be appropriate.
Prison Planet ... The officer made the statements on camera with a notable smirk, and made no attempt to distance himself or other witnesses from any physical danger (as he would have done had he actually believed the activist had a bomb). The officer went on to give away his criminal behavior, still on tape, despite ongoing demands he and the other officer made that the cameras be shut off. Alex Jones commented, "We have New York police on tape threatening to frame someone for terrorism in a nonchalant fashion. How bad would it have gotten if there were no cameras around? If they'll talk like this on camera, heaven help us." ... MORE ...
By Tyra Braden, Allentown [PA] Morning Call, April 27, 2007 PLAINFIELD, PA Young, 29, ended what he said was a sincere and heartfelt statement His demeanor changed dramatically when Northampton County Judge Stephen G. Baratta ordered that Young spend 10 to 36 months in state prison, to be followed by a year of probation. "Do you understand your sentence?" Baratta asked. "I think it's harsh and unfair," Young said, yanking off his suit coat and unknotting his necktie. The judge said Young was entitled to disagree with the punishment, adding, "Sir, you're a police officer..." "I am?" Young interrupted, putting his hands behind his back to be handcuffed. "You just said I'm not." The judge said Young, having worked as a policeman, understood the state sentencing guidelines. "Yeah," Young said. "Six to 14" months is what he believed the guidelines called for. Deputies took hold of Young and led him quickly from the courtroom. Baratta said Young was to be temporarily housed in the county prison's treatment unit, away from the general population. He also instructed Young's attorney, Gary N. Asteak of Easton, to investigate other possible places, such as a county prison away from this area, where Young might be able to safely serve his sentence. Young pleaded guilty March 5 to one count of statutory sexual assault and no contest to unsworn falsification. He resigned from the police force, from which he had been suspended, hours after entering the plea.
By Dave Savini, WBBM-TV Chicago, April 26, 2007 CHICAGO He says unless the crime is caught on tape He found since 200, 662 officers had an astounding 10,733 complaints, of which only 22 complaints resulted in a suspension. Chad Overly claims he is a victim of Officer Jerome Finnegan. "I got arrested because he was a police officer," Overly said. It was on I-55 two years ago when Overly says he was attacked by Finnegan, who was off-duty, in a road rage incident. "I was hoping I wouldn't get shot in the back," Overly said. Overly called 911. When police arrived he was the one arrested. Those charges later dropped. Police took no action against Finnegan and, despite other complaints, he remained on-duty until charged with other felonies including intimidation, home invasion and armed robbery "A normally functioning internal affairs system would have caught it long before it became the problem it did," said Jon Loevy, Overly's attorney. Another internal police memo dating back to 1998 reveals policy for dealing with police abuse cases and when they are supposed to be reported to prosecutors. That would include when victims have broken bones or need stitches, if there is a death or when it is a "media case." "They are saying that scandal management is more important than the facts of the case," Futterman said. The same document also says in these cases investigators should not take formal statements. "This means don't investigate, don't lock folks in, don't formally put people on the record," Futterman said. Rossi says right after his escape, by chewing the duct tape off his wrists, he called police. They went to the building where the attack occurred, simply knocked on the door, and when no one answered they just left. No one has been charged in the case. "Her mentality that night was that she was above the law," Rossi said. Rossi says blood, duct tape and other evidence was lost because police did not get a warrant to search the place where he was attacked. Late Thursday afternoon police told CBS 2 officers made a mistake. "I am very disappointed as I said as how the investigation was handled," said Chief of Detectives Maria Maher. "We should have gotten a search warrant. We should have gone in there and attempted to locate a crime scene." "We are checking and investigating why this investigation wasn't conducted," she added. Detective Maher confirmed Thursday that Catherine Doubek was stripped of her police powers and there is an investigation into the beating. Police officials dispute the number of suspensions we uncovered, and say last year eight percent of officers accused of wrongdoing received suspensions. That would meet the national average.
Associated Press, April 26, 2007 ATLANTA Officer J.R. Smith told the judge Thursday that he regretted what had happened. "I'm sorry," the 35-year-old said, his voice barely audible. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter, violation of oath, criminal solicitation, making false statements and perjury, which was based on untrue claims in a warrant. Former Officer Gregg Junnier, 40, who retired from the Atlanta police force in January, pleaded guilty to manslaughter, violation of oath, criminal solicitation and making false statements. Both men are expected to face more than 10 years in prison. The charges followed a November 21 "no-knock" drug raid on the home of Kathryn Johnston, 92. An informant had described buying drugs from a dealer there, police said. When the officers burst in without warning, Johnston fired at them, and they fired back, killing her. Fulton County prosecutor Peter Johnson disclosed Thursday that the officers involved in Johnston's death fired 39 shots, striking her five or six times, including a fatal blow to the chest. He said Johnston only fired once through her door and didn't hit any of the officers. That means the officers who were wounded likely were hit by their own colleagues, he said. Junnier and Smith, who is on administrative leave, had been charged in an indictment unsealed earlier Thursday with felony murder, violation of oath by a public officer, criminal solicitation, burglary, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and making false statements. The other officer, Arthur Tesler, also on administrative leave, was charged with violation of oath by a public officer, making false statements and false imprisonment under color of legal process. His attorney, William McKenney, said Tesler expects to go to trial. Tesler, 40, is "very relieved" not to face murder charges, McKenney said, "but we're concerned about the three charges." In Junnier's and Smith's cases, prosecutors asked the judge Thursday to withhold sentencing until after a hearing later Thursday in federal court where both are expected to enter pleas. U.S. Attorney David Nahmias told The Associated Press that the recommended federal sentence for Junnier will be 10 years and one month in prison, and for Smith, 12 years, seven months. The state and federal sentences are expected to run concurrently. Both men could have faced up to life in prison had they been convicted of murder. The deadly drug raid had been set up after narcotics officers said an informant had claimed there was cocaine in the home. When the plainclothes officers burst in without notice, police said Johnston fired at them and they fired back. No cocaine was found. The case raised serious questions about no-knock warrants and whether the officers followed proper procedures. Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington asked the FBI to lead a multi-agency investigation of the shootout. He also announced policy changes to require the department to drug-test its nearly 1,800 officers and mandate that top supervisors sign off on narcotics operations and no-knock warrants. To get the warrant, officers told a magistrate judge that an undercover informant had told them Johnston's home had surveillance cameras monitored carefully by a drug dealer named "Sam." After the shooting, a man claiming to be the informant told a television station that he never purchased drugs there, prompting Pennington to admit he was uncertain whether the suspected drug dealer actually existed. The Rev. Markel Hutchins, a civil rights activist who serves as a spokesman for Johnston's family, said the family was satisfied with Thursday's developments. "They have never sought vengeance. They have only sought justice," he said. Hutchins said the family is considering civil action against the police department. "I think what happened today makes it very clear that Ms. Johnston was violated, that her civil rights were violated," he said.
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