COPS: "A MIND-ALTERING DRUG SUCH AS BATH SALTS"

The Drug War hysteria continues. Remember crack cocaine and how every baby born to a crack addict would be a worthless throw-away to society? Or how anyone who used methamphetamines would be hopelessly, immediately addicted?

"Bath salts" is the new hype. In Pulaski County, Mo., this fella — Devon Michael Cardin, 20 — is charged with felony resisting arrest, and it's all because of evil, evil, bath salts. From a sheriff's office news release:

(The) subject who had failed to appear in court on a felony charge of receiving stolen property. Since he had failed to appear the warrant was a no bond allowed warrant. The additional officers were included because he had fled into the woods behind the home the first time the deputies attempted to serve the warrant. At approximately 7:33am on June 8, 2012, the deputies and Troopers confronted the suspect inside the home and the suspect immediately assaulted the officers. He was subdued with the aid of a Taser unit. The suspect appeared to be under the influence of a mind altering drug such as Bath Salts. During the fight one Trooper sustained a minor wound to his arm.

Cardin's being held on $50,000 bond. Surprised he didn't eat someone's face.

MAN: THAT WAS NO ROBBERY, THAT WAS ME SLEEPWALKING

Winston Riley, 27, robbed a woman in the elevator of a Connecticut casino. After being caught, he confessed to cops.

But the waking Riley didn't do it, or so he attorney says. According to the Norwich Bulletin:

(Defense attorney Nicholas) D’Amato said he has prepared a “medical defense” that relies on Riley’s history of sleepwalking. D’Amato, of the Bridgeport-based firm Tina Sypek D’Amato LLC, said he has already spoken to Riley’s family to confirm he has been sleepwalking since he was a child. 

“It is the first time we’ve encountered this,” D’Amato said. “This is a legitimate medical condition." 

D’Amato plans to argue that Riley wasn’t feeling well and had napped in his car on the morning of the incident. Riley was actually woken up by the woman in the elevator, running away in confusion and fright, he said. 

D’Amato said while he has anecdotal evidence, he is in the early stages of gathering medical records in his attempt to gather proof and convince prosecutors they should take the claim seriously. 

“This is not going to be an easy defense to present,” D’Amato admits. “We really have the burden to prove this. The prosecutors are not going to drop the case because we say so.”

Riley has no priors and he's married.

NOM NOM NOM, FACE

A follow to our post about the face-eating naked guy in Miami who refused to stop munching and was shot dead by cops.

Our friends at Gawker have published what may be some photos of the victim. Given that much of his face became a snack for a wack, it isn't pretty. But God, so graphic!

Click at your own peril.

ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE BEGINS IN MIAMI

So this is how it begins.

Police in Miami, Fla., shot and killed a man who was eating the face of another man on a causeway ramp.

Yeah. Seriously. According to the Miami Herald:

"A road ranger saw a naked man chewing on another man’s face and shouted on his loud speaker for him to back away.Meanwhile, a woman also saw the incident and flagged down a police officer who was in the area. 

The officer, who has not been identified, approached and, seeing what was happening, also ordered the naked man to back away. When he continued the assault, the officer shot him, police sources said. The attacker failed to stop after being shot, forcing the officer to continue firing. Witnesses said they heard at least a half dozen shots."

The coppers are blaming cocaine, of course, because they don't want us to know the truth.

STARSKY BUSTED FOR WEED

Actor Paul Michael Glasser — who played cop David Starsky in the bad '70s show "Starsky & Hutch" — has been busted for weed in Kentucky.

From the Bowling Green (heh) Daily News:

Glaser was in Bowling Green on May 10 promoting his young adult fantasy novel, “Chrystallia and the Source of Light,” which was released last fall. He read to children at Moss Middle School and Bowling Green Junior High School. He also spoke at the Warren County Public Library. The book is about a girl and her brother who are about to lose their mother and their house. It’s their last Christmas together, and the children discover an underground world of crystals and minerals. Glaser told students at both schools that he based the story on his own life experiences and interests. He lost his first wife and a daughter to AIDS.

Glaser said it was medical marijuana from California, where he's got a 'script. He faces 45 days in jail.

CAUGHT UP IN MADNESS

Springfield police are looking for a teen who's reportedly tagging downtown businesses.

From the cops:

The damage is the result of a suspect(s) tagging businesses with the words KEY, BOBE or KSB. The suspect(s) is using either black spray paint, or white shoe polish or marker, to tag the outside of businesses. Investigators do not believe that the tagging represents any gang affiliation. Investigators believe the suspect(s) have been involved in 22 incidents of property damage. Most of the incidents occurred in January and February.

At least he's not painting "CUIM" on buildings. Caught Up In Madness, indeed.

Police say the tagger is a teen, between 5'-8" and 5'-11", weighing 135-150 pounds. Got a clue? Call the cops at (417) 869-TIPS.

AGONY OF THE FEET

Since last August, human feet have been washing ashore on British Columbia's Gulf Islands. Right feet, to be precise, and clad in sneakers.

It happened again on Thursday, in Richmond.

According to this Canada.com story, it's a real stumper:

The first foot appeared last Aug. 20 on Jedediah Island, near Nanoose Bay.

A week later, a second foot was found on nearby Gabriola Island.

On Feb. 8, a third foot washed up on the eastern shore of Valdez Island, off the shore of Nanaimo, which is accessible only by floatplane or private boat.

All three were right feet and all were found in sneakers. The first two feet were found in size 12 men's sneakers.

The latest foot was found on the north side of uninhabited Kirkland Island, west of the George Massey Tunnel at the south end of No. 5 Road.

Someone has gotten off on the right foot.

HE'LL NEVER MAKE SERGEANT

A police officer in New York was cleaning his gun in dim light. No electricity; he couldn't pay the bill.

And then something happened, and a toddler was shot. The Associated Press reports:

Officer Patrick Venetek, who had less than two years experience on the force, was stripped of his gun and placed on modified duty while the department investigates the Feb. 7 incident, authorities said.

His brother told reporters Friday that the officer had set his gun down on a table, and then accidentally knocked it to the floor when he returned to the room.

The gun discharged, firing a bullet that passed into the apartment below and hit 1-year-old Jonathan Porcellini in the arm.

"Just a few more inches and I could have lost my son," said his father, Justin Porcellini. "This is a city employee, a cop. They are supposed to be safe. I want people to know that what happened was wrong."

Who cleans a gun without making sure it's unloaded?

THERE GOES HIS CAREER

Kenneth Ray Burton is a "career flasher." Or so say prosecutors, and a judge in Redwood City, Calif., agrees.

Burton, 52, was sentenced to 13 years, four months in prison for showing off his dangly bits to a woman on a train.

The Associated Press reports:

Police arrested Burton last year after he allegedly began masturbating in front of a woman on a Bay Area Rapid Transit train.

Prosecutors sought the lengthy prison sentence because Burton already had two prior convictions for indecent exposure and a previous conviction on six counts related to sexual assault, San Mateo County Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said. ...

"Our concern was, 'Are we being too lenient? Are we adequately protecting the public?'" Wagstaffe said. "We have a person here who has done this for many, many years. And with all likelihood, he will be doing it again."

The reaction from his fellow inmates should be interesting.

SOME THINGS ARE SACRED

Dude's driving drunk. Cops try to nab him. Dude leads cops on a chase before bailing from his car and fleeing on foot.

And then, as WKMG reports:

The man was spotted fleeing while still clutching a beer.

"There was a 12-pack of Corona he was working on in the front seat," Orange County sheriff's Cmdr. Jeff Stonebreaker said. "He decided to take one of those over the fence with him. So, he bails out of the car and runs from the deputies with a beer in his hand."

The driver, who was not named, was arrested and charged with DUI and aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer.
Authorities said the driver has a history of DUIs.

And a thirst for bad beer.

CRIME IN SPRINGFIELD STILL UP

Crime stats for the first six months of the year are out. Springfield is more crime-ridden than it was in 2006.

The police chief likes to blame the increase on "thugs and drugs." Is that too simplistic an answer?

Consider:

•Crimes against persons up 16.3 percent.

•Robberies jumped 55 percent (from 106 to 164).

•Crimes against property up almost 12 percent.

•Total crimes up 12.6 percent.

Auto thefts remain on the increase -- up 37.3 percent for the first six months of this year, as compared to the same period in 2006. Meanwhile, the solve rate for auto thefts is down; fewer than one in five vehicle thefts is cleared by cops.

AUTO THEFT SOARS IN SPRINGFIELD

Motor-vehicle thefts in Springfield nearly doubled in the first three months of 2007, when compared to the same period last year.

Police say 249 motor-vehicle thefts were reported for the first quarter of this year -- a 99.2-percent jump from the 125 auto-theft reports filed between January and March 2006.

Other facts from the report, released Monday:

•Aggravated assaults are on the rise, and police are solving fewer of those cases. Aggravated assaults rose 30 percent (130 to 169) while clearance rates dropped by nearly 25 percent (74 to 56).

•Robbery is a much more common crime in Springfield, up nearly 43 percent in the first quarter (56 to 80).

•For every 100 crime cases in Springfield, about 23 are cleared. It's more likely that police will solve a crime against a person (31.8%) than a crime against property (22.1%).

The most common crime? Theft. More than 2,500 larcenies and/or thefts were reported to police in the first three months of 2007.

COP STEALS WEED, MAKES BROWNIES

Edward Sanchez used to be a cop in Dearborn, Mich. But that changed after he started pilfering drugs in police custody -- and using them.

According to the Detroit Free Press:

The department's investigation began with a bizarre 911 call from Sanchez's home in Dearborn Heights. On the night of April 21, 2006, a panicky Sanchez told an emergency dispatcher he thought he and his wife were overdosing on marijuana.

"I think we're dying," he said in the 5-minute tape, obtained under the Michigan Freedom of Information Act.

"We made brownies and I think we're dead, I really do," Sanchez continued ...

When later questioned by police investigators, Sanchez said his wife took the marijuana out of his police vehicle while he was sleeping, and she told investigators she tricked him into eating a pot-laced brownie.

"Cpl. Sanchez was insistent that he would never ingest marijuana or any narcotics intentionally," an investigator wrote.

But in a subsequent interview, Sanchez acknowledged he fetched the marijuana from his car, put it in the brownie batter, and ate the brownies.

Sanchez also said he took the marijuana "off the street from unknown persons," investigators wrote.

Sanchez's wife, Stacy, also admitted to taking cocaine from hubby's cop car and tooting it away during a three-week binge.

The charges against Eddie and Stacy Sanchez? None. He was allowed to quit the police force without being charged with a crime. Dearborn police say he resigned during an internal investigation.

BURYING A DEAD BODY

The new, improved (and packed with more fiber) News-Leader has its good points. The expanded editorial and opinion section is appreciated. And now that the makeover is a week old, it seems likely that Don Wyatt's wispy columns have finally ended.

A solid week of Wyatt's typing ("Good morning. Welcome to your new News-Leader ... Good morning. Welcome to the second day of the new News-Leader ... Good morning. Welcome to the third day of the new News-Leader." Rinse, lather, repeat) culminated in a Sunday front-page cut-and-paste column from the editor. Meanwhile, someone was shot dead outside a downtown Springfield nightclub -- you know, real news.

Front page? Not in Wyatt's World.

The paper's Sunday coverage of a Friday night slaying outside Traffic, a downtown nightclub, is worse than pitiful. The five-paragraph report is a brief on 2A. No refer from 1A. No quotes. No color. It gets less space than a report on the arrest of an armed-robbery suspect.

Springfield averages around six homicides a year, compared to more than 200 annual robberies. Because homicide is such a relatively rare crime, it belongs on the front page.

We're not alone in that opinion. Our Saturday post about the shooting has drawn comments from others who wonder what happened to the paper's news judgment.

And another thing: While we're critiquing the local paper, we draw your attention to the briefs column on the Nation/World section front (11A). The first two briefs report on a newborn recovering from a tumor removal, and a woman surviving two days inside a partially submerged SUV. Nice little briefs. Too bad they're missing datelines, or any other indicator of the Where.

Welcome to your new News-Leader.

SATURDAY, BRIEFLY

•George Wesley Helms was a police officer in Hutto, Texas. Now he's just an accused perv. The 35-year-old cop is charged with sexual performance of a child, according to the Austin American Statesman. Helms was working as a resource officer at Hutto High School when he reportedly took several pics of a 16-year-old student. The next day she shows up at his office:

This time, according to court documents, Helms put a chair in front of his office door and asked the girl to remove her shirt, bra and pants.

He then photographed her topless and gave her $50 "to induce her to stay a little longer," the affidavit states.

The story does not say whether coats were pulled off and thrown in a corner.

•Chang Po-yu, a veterinarian, was just doing his job this week at the Shaoshan Zoo in Taiwan. His job, in this case, was retrieving a tranquilizer dart from a 440-pound Nile crocodile. Unfortunately, Chang didn't notice that the croc wasn't zonked; Chang stuck his arm through a rail. The croc was not amused. There is good news: Doctors were able to reattach Chang's arm. Click here for the picture. It's gruesome, horrible, unbelievable -- in other words, man, click that link.

•By popular demand: A reader wanted to see photos of Phil Spector, the music producer accused of shooting a woman in the face. Here's a snap of Spector when he was a genius, and almost sane. This is when he decided to sport an old-school 'fro. And this is his current Fifth Beatle 'do. Go and style no more.

CALL HIM 'CHIEF IMUS'

The police chief of Pewaukee, Wis., is being sued in federal court by one of his police officers. The officer claims Chief Gary Bach threatened to fire him because the officer told the chief to stop with the sexist and racist remarks.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports:

Officer Robert Kraemer contends that Bach in retaliation wrongfully took away Kraemer's position as community service officer and put him on patrol duties.

In the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Milwaukee, Kraemer says his First Amendment rights to free speech were violated and is seeking at least $300,000 in damages. ...

Bach was not at work today and was not immediately available for comment.

According to the lawsuit, Kraemer in October 2006 learned that a number of police department employees were "unhappy with Bach's use of derogatory name calling of females and minority groups."

Following the discipline of a female officer that month, Kraemer warned Bach to stop calling female officers names, the suit says. Kraemer said he also heard the chief use a vulgar term when Bach referred to the city's female administrator, according to the suit.

The suit says Kraemer also told Bach that Bach needed to stop calling females "fat naked sumo wrestlers,... to stop referring to certain minority groups as the 'N' word, to stop sending pornographic e-mails to female members of the PPD, and to stop harassing certain female employees."

Here's a photo of the Pewaukee Police Department.

FETUS OR BABY?

AK spotted this AP report and now we're perplexed.

In Kansas City, two cops have been suspended (with pay). A lawsuit claims the officers arrested a pregnant woman, Sofia Salva, and refused her pleas for medical help. Salva had a miscarriage in jail. She was three months pregnant, by her own account.

From The AP:

(Salva) was arrested Feb. 5 and held overnight on traffic violations and outstanding city warrants. After being released the next morning, she delivered a premature baby boy who died immediately after birth, according to the lawsuit filed Friday in Jackson County Circuit Court.

A first-trimester fetus is a "baby"? We're not cracking wise here -- maybe the language is from Silva's lawsuit -- but wouldn't it be more accurate to say she miscarried in jail?

TALK, OR WE ARREST YOU

If a police officer stops you and asks where you're going, do you have a right to say, politely, "It's none of your business"?

Apparently not, at least in St. Louis. Brett Darrow, 19, was detained as a drunken-driving checkpoint because he declined to tell an officer where he was going. Darrow's answer: "I don't wish to discuss my personal life with you, officer."

That was enough to get Darrow ordered out of his car and detained for about 12 minutes. According to this write-up in the Newspaper.com, billed as "a journal of the politics of driving," Darrow videotaped the encounter, and has a transcript of the stop:

Darrow is considering filing suit against St. Louis County Police.

"I'm scared to drive for fear of being stopped at another checkpoint and arrested while doing nothing illegal," Darrow told TheNewspaper. "We're now guilty until we prove ourselves innocent to these checkpoint officers."

On that late November night, videotape confirms that Darrow had been ordered out of his vehicle after telling a policeman, "I don't wish to discuss my personal life with you, officer." Another officer attempted to move Darrow's car until he realized, "I can't drive stick!" The officer took the opportunity to undertake a thorough search of the interior without probable cause. He found nothing.

When Darrow asked why he was being detained, an officer explained, "If you don't stop running your mouth, we're going to find a reason to lock you up tonight."

The threats ended when Darrow informed officers that they were being recorded. After speaking to a supervisor Darrow was finally released.

Was Darrow being a smart-ass? Probably. Did he make the cops feel uncomfortable, even angry? Probably. Are we living in a free country? With stories like this, that's up for debate.

WHY THEY CALL IT DOPE

Who: Stoner.

What: Called 911, said he'd been trying to sell a pound of pot for $1,100, but a dude with a shotgun stole it.

When: Dec. 6, 2006.

Where: Wichita.

Why: Lack of intelligence.

How: Let the Wichita Eagle tell you:

[T]he buyer pulled out a sawed-off shotgun and stole the marijuana, the victim told authorities after calling 911. Police officers arrived at the house with a drug-sniffing dog and were able to locate additional marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

The man with the gun was still "in the wind" as of Friday afternoon, police spokesman Gordon Bassham said.

The victim was booked into Sedgwick County Jail on several charges, including possession with the intent to sell drugs.

Dave's not here, man.

TEEN GETS WHAT HE WANTS

Roger Holyfield was 17. Walking in Jerseyville, Ill., Holyfield was confronted by police on Saturday. The teen was yelling: "I want Jesus." He was carrying a Bible.

Cops shot him with a Taser. Now he's dead. The Associated Press reports:

In a statement obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press, police in Jerseyville, about 40 miles north of St. Louis, said 17-year-old Roger Holyfield would not acknowledge officers who approached him and he continued yelling, "I want Jesus."

Police tried to calm the teen, but Holyfield became combative, according to the statement. Officers fired the stun gun at him after he ignored their warnings, then fired again when he continued struggling, police said.

Holyfield was flown to St. Louis' Cardinal Glennon Hospital after the confrontation Saturday; he died there Sunday, police said.

An autopsy was planned for Tuesday.

The statement expressed sympathy to Holyfield's family but said city and police officials would not discuss the matter further.

Calls Tuesday to Jerseyville Police Chief Brad Blackorby were not immediately returned. The department has been using stun guns for about five months, according to the statement.

What was the kid doing wrong in the first place?