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The November 21 emergency call came across as a kidnapping report into the Dallas City Hall 911 call center. Witnesses saw Raymond Jackson drag his former girlfriend, Betty Banks, out of her northeast Dallas apartment.

Caller: Some dude just came over and kicked in a door over here and snatched some girl. They’re about ready to get in the car and leave. It’s on Amanda Lane.
Operator: Okay, what’s the address on Melody Lane, sir?
Caller: She stays in an apartment. I don’t know, I’m not from over here.
Operator: Okay, well, that’s… We can’t do nothing with that if you don’t have any license plate on vehicle. I mean, who are we supposed to be looking for?
Caller: I’m not the police, ma’am. I’m just thinking you may want to check, but I’m just… Don’t worry about it. If you’re not worried about it, I’m not worried about it.
Operator: Alright, sir, you have a good evening.

The caller is left bewildered when the 911 operator says that she cannot offer any help because the witness, who offered a first-hand account of the kidnapping, did not get a license plate number on the car.

A spokesperson with Dallas Fire-Rescue described the call as totally unacceptable and unprofessional. “It was also poor customer service, just something that cannot happen in the city of Dallas,” said Lt. Joel Lavender with Dallas Fire-Rescue. According to Lavender, the caller gave enough information to dispatch police.

“In the fire service, we work on core values, diversity, integrity, dedication, customer service, respect, compassion,” Lavender explained. “None of those were followed in this call.”

The 911 operator who handled that call has been fired.

An apartment manager made another call 25 minutes later. That call finally got police officers to the scene.

The 911 operator on the second call was shocked that the first call was ignored. “I cannot imagine somebody not sending the police on a kidnapping, and I’m terribly sorry about the delay,” she said. “I mean, I’m frightened. That would be a terrible thing to happen. I mean, that’s just terrible.”

According to the police, Banks was released unharmed the next day, while Jackson was arrested.

Bond was set at $5,000 for an East Cleveland police officer accused of allowing a friend to escape from jail.

Officer Shawna Glaspy, 41, a dispatcher, faces four felony counts. They include escape and tampering with evidence. She is accused of helping Brian Allen break out of jail.
Allen was caught on surveillance video leaving the jail. He was serving time for burglary when he escaped.

NEW YORK

Mayor Michael Bloomberg met Tuesday with the family of an unarmed black man killed outside a strip club on his wedding day by police gunfire, and investigators questioned a third civilian witness.

The 50-bullet police volley — likened to a “firing squad” by the civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton — killed 23-year-old Sean Bell after his bachelor party, wounded two of his friends and ignited concerns over police tactics and firepower. The three men were unarmed.

Bloomberg went to the family’s church in Queens and met with Bell’s fiancee and father, and with Sharpton. The mayor then met again with other community leaders.

The meetings were “open, honest and blunt, which is the way it should be,” the mayor said later.

The third witness, who was not unidentified, was on a darkened block during the shooting, officials said.

The two other civilian witnesses are a woman on the street who says she saw officers firing their weapons and a second woman who from her window spotted a man running away.

On Monday, Bloomberg said the police response seemed “unacceptable” and “inexplicable,” but he was steadfast in his support for Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, who has been denounced by some critics since the shooting.

Of the victims, Bloomberg said Monday: “There is no evidence that they were doing anything wrong,” referring to what led up to the moment their car struck an undercover officer outside the nightclub.

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown said Monday his office was investigating the Saturday morning shootings and the results would be presented to a grand jury.

Police investigators have not interviewed the officers because of Brown’s probe, which could result in criminal charges. The officers have not spoken publicly. An attorney for the detectives’ union, Philip Karasyk, has called the incident “a tragedy, but not a crime.”

The shooting stemmed from an undercover operation that began 1 a.m. (0600 GMT) Saturday at the strip club Kalua Cabaret, part of a citywide crackdown sparked by the death of a teenager following a night of partying earlier this year at a Manhattan nightclub.

Police said they had received several complaints about prostitution and drug dealing at the cabaret and sent in two undercover detectives who left their guns behind because of searches at the door.

One of the officers alerted the backup team outside that a man inside was possibly armed. An undercover detective retrieved his weapon and confronted Bell and his friends after they entered their car.

Kelly suggested that it was unorthodox for the officer to blow his cover rather than rely on other officers to make the arrest.

Union officials insist the detective took out his badge, identified himself and ordered the men to stop before the car, driven by Bell, lurched forward and bumped him. The vehicle then smashed into an unmarked police van, backed up and smashed the van again before the shooting began.

The crashes — along with the fear that one of the men had a gun — seem to be what escalated the situation to the hail of gunfire by five officers.

It is not immediately clear if the men in the car knew they were dealing with a police officer. Friends and family speculated Bell got spooked by the officer’s gun pointed at his car.

The shootings occurred after 4 a.m. Saturday outside the Kalua Cabaret in Queens. Kelly said the confrontation stemmed from an undercover operation by seven officers investigating the club.

Bell was struck twice. Joseph Guzman, 31, was shot at least 11 times, and Trent Benefield, 23, was hit three times. Guzman was in critical condition Monday and Benefield was stable.

The officers’ shots struck the men’s car 21 times. They also hit nearby homes and shattered windows at a train station, though no residents were injured.

None of the five officers had fired a 16-shot semiautomatic pistol on patrol before that morning, officials said. The undercover officer shot first, firing 11 rounds; another, a 12-year-veteran, fired 31 times, meaning he reloaded.

Officials said all the officers would have been trained to avoid “contagious or sympathetic fire” — when police become disoriented by the sound of friendly fire and blast away at a phantom threat.

Contagious fire would not be a valid excuse, Sharpton said.

Joseph Guzman, 31, was shot at least 11 times, and Trent Benefield, 23, was hit three times. Guzman was in critical condition, and Benefield in stable condition Tuesday.

The informant who Atlanta police say led them to the house where an elderly woman was killed in a drug raid is accusing the officers involved in the bust of asking him to lie about the confrontation, police Chief Richard Pennington said Monday.

The informant, who has not been identified, complained to department officials that the drug investigators involved in the bust had asked him to go along with the story they concocted after the shooting, Pennington said. The informant has been placed in protective custody, he said.

Nearly a week after the drug raid in northwest Atlanta, Pennington said he had asked for an unusual multi-agency review of the shooting and what preceded it. After being away from Atlanta in the initial days after the shooting, Pennington appeared at a news conference Monday evening that featured top officials from the U.S. attorney’s office, the FBI, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Fulton County district attorney’s office.

David Nahmias, the U.S. attorney in Atlanta, said federal agents “come to this investigation with an open mind,” but he cautioned that anyone who lies could face federal charges.

“No one should get in the way of the truth,” Nahmias said.

Kathryn Johnston was shot to death last Tuesday as the drug investigators burst into her house at 933 Neal St. Johnston was shot twice in the chest by the officers, who have said that they were returning her fire.

The 88-year-old woman wounded three of the officers with a rusty revolver her niece said she bought her aunt for her protection. One officer was hit three times, including one time in the center of his bulletproof vest, and the other two were shot once each. The officers were discharged from Grady Memorial Hospital a few hours after the shooting.

Police officials have said the narcotics officers went to Johnston’s house after the informant purchased drugs there from a man identified only as “Sam.” Police have obtained an arrest warrant for Sam.

In a court affidavit, Jason R. Smith, an Atlanta narcotics officer, said that the informant bought $50 worth of crack cocaine from Sam a few hours earlier at the Neal Street house. Smith described the informant as a reliable source of information who has helped police make drug arrests in the past.

In the affidavit, Smith said the informant spoke briefly to Sam on the front porch of the house and then the suspect entered. The informant returned to Smith and other officers with two bags of crack, according to the affidavit.

The informant also told police that Sam had installed surveillance cameras at the house and was monitoring them constantly, according to Smith’s statement.

Smith’s affidavit was sufficient to persuade Fulton County Magistrate Kimberly Warden to sign a warrant that allowed the officers to enter the house without knocking on the door.

Smith asked for the special authorization because of the possibility that officers would be injured or evidence would be destroyed.

However, the informant denied to police and a local television station that he purchased the drugs.

The informant, who said he worked with Atlanta police four years, told WAGA-TV that he hadn’t been at 933 Neal St. His identity hidden, the informant told the TV station that one of the drug officers called him soon after the shooting with instructions.

Quoting the police officers, the informant, told Fox 5 News: “‘This is what you need to do. You need to cover [us]

? It’s all on you man. ? You need to tell them about this Sam dude.’”

“I don’t know if he went in or not,” Pennington said of the informant.

All seven Atlanta drug investigators involved in the raid have been suspended with pay, Pennington said.

“The complete truth will be known,” Pennington promised.

Many questions and conflicting and changing accounts have surfaced since police shot the woman, described by neighbors as feeble and afraid to open her door after dark. “There are many unanswered questions,” Pennington said at the Monday news conference.

Mayor Shirley Franklin said she had discussed the allegations with Pennington and the chief has “my confidence that they will be transparent and honest and very thorough in their review. ? I certainly share the concern that all of us have on

the loss of life. We were not expecting something like that could happen in the city of Atlanta.”

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No charges will be filed against the South Bend Police officer who shot and killed a man in the line of duty Monday. Prosecutors say Patrolman Jason King did what was absolutely necessary to defend his own life and the homicide has been ruled justifiable. Officer King responded to a domestic dispute call in the neighborhood of E. Bowman and S. Vernon Streets Monday. When he arrived he spotted 25-year-old Joseph Hanrath in the neighborhood. Hanrath matched the description of the offender in that call. Patrolman King chased him until Hanrath turned on the policeman and attacked him. Police say Hanrath used a military or martial arts move to choke Officer King.

Metro Homicide investigators say a tape recording from King’s police radio details the attack with sounds of King gurgling and choking, nearly to death. A “Good Samaritan” from the neighborhood came to Patrolman King’s aid, but could not get Hanrath to let up. “ Make no mistake, Officer King was in a fight for his life,” says Metro Homicide Commander Tim Corbett. “He wasn’t fighting for points, he wasn’t fighting for a belt, he wasn’t fighting for trophies, he was in a fight for his life. Officer King had two decisions to make at that time, kill or be killed. Officer King continued to fight. He was on his back and able to get to his duty weapon. Just before he nearly succumbed to the choking and the near neck breaking he was able to fire one round into Mr. Hanrath.”

Emergency crews were on the scene of the shooting just a few minutes after the shooting and police officers closed intersections in an attempt to rush Joseph Hanrath to the hospital before he died. The 25-year-old did not survive. Toxicology reports should tell police if Hanrath was on drugs at the time he attacked Patrolman King. Prosecutors say Hanrath has a lengthy violent criminal history. Patrolman Jason King is home recovering from relatively minor injuries. He could return to duty later this week. Police say they expect to honor both Patrolman King and the “Good Samaritan” who came to the officer’s aid with some commendation in the future.

ATLANTA

The niece of a 92-year-old woman shot to death by police said her aunt likely had reason to shoot three narcotics investigators as they stormed her house.

Police insisted the officers did everything right before entering the home Tuesday evening, despite suggestions from the woman’s neighbors and relatives that it was a case of mistaken identity.

The woman, Kathryn Johnston, was the only resident in the house at the time and had lived there for about 17 years, Assistant Chief Alan Dreher said. The officers had a legal warrant, “knocked and announced” before they forced open the door and were justified in shooting once fired upon, he said.

Sarah Dozier, the niece, told WAGA-TV that there were never drugs at the house.

“My aunt was in good health. I’m sure she panicked when they kicked that door down,” Dozier said. “There was no reason they had to go in there and shoot her down like a dog.”

As the plainclothes Atlanta police officers approached the house about 7 p.m., a woman inside started shooting, striking each of them, said Officer Joe Cobb, a police spokesman.

One was hit in the arm, another in a thigh and the third in a shoulder. The officers were taken to a hospital for treatment, and all three were conscious and alert, police said.

Rev. Markel Hutchins, a civil rights leader, said Johnston’s family deserves an apology.

“Of the police brutality cases we’ve had, this is the most egregious because of the woman’s age,” Hutchins said.

Hutchins said he would try to meet with Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington and would also meet with lawyers.

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A suspect shot himself in the head while in the back of a police car with his hands cuffed behind his back, police said Monday.

Oliver Neal III, 26, was in critical condition, police told the Philadelphia Inquirer. It was not immediately clear whether Neal was trying to kill himself or if he shot himself accidentally, police said.

Neal had been pulled over just before 1 a.m. Monday for a traffic violation, according to Capt. Benjamin Naish, a police spokesman. A check showed he was wanted on numerous violations, Naish said.

Officers frisked Neal, found drugs in his pocket, handcuffed him and put him in the back of the car, Naish said. Neal apparently had a gun tucked in his clothing that officers did not find, police said.

It was unlikely the gun had been left in the back of the car because Philadelphia cruisers have one-piece plastic back seats that provide no hiding place, Naish said. He did not get free from the handcuffs.

“We don’t know how the officers did not discover the gun,” Naish said.

The department was investigating internally, officials said.

A Sheffield Village police office was fired for using his Taser gun on a woman in custody, NewsChannel5 reported.

A security camera in the police booking room caught the incident on video.
Officer Edward Long shocked an allegedly intoxicated 32-year-old Kristina Fretter after Long said she was being unruly.

Fretter was taken to the hospital. She was treated and released.

Officials said this was not the first time Long had been involved in an incident. He already served one suspension, was facing another, and has been involved in three accidents with his police car.

Long had been the police force for two years.

PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY, Md.

Before someone killed Raymond Scott Brown, he called for help, but according to 911 tapes, dispatchers apparently did not take him seriously and now officials have disciplined the operators who took the call.Brown, a well-known music producer and engineer known as “Scotty Beats” called 911 to report that someone was stealing his car.

Officials in Prince George’s County, Md., released those tapes to NBC4.

The call to the 911 center was at 2:26 a.m. on Oct. 13, the night Brown was shot and killed by car thieves near his home in Lake Arbor, Md.

Dispatcher: “Prince George’s County 911 Center. What is your emergency?” Brown: “Yes, somebody just came in my driveway, a tow truck and towed my car.”

Brown told the dispatcher he was awakened by the alarm in his car, a Chrysler 300. The dispatcher however suggested that the vehicle was probably being repossessed.

Dispatcher: “OK, what I’m saying is the tow truck was picking up your car. Are you late on your payments on your car?”

Brown: “No! Not at all! Not at all! No I’m not late on my payments. Not at all!”

The dispatcher then told Brown to call back.

Dispatcher: OK, so what you’re going to have to do sir, is give us a call back within the next two hours to find out what tow company has towed it, and where they took it to, and they’ll give you a reason. But right now, they just did it, we won’t have any way to know.”

Brown: “All right, thank you.”

Police said after hanging up, Brown ran outside, jumped into another car he owned and confronted the people in the tow truck a block away on South Lake Drive where he was shot and fatally wounded.

Prince George’s County Public Safety Director Vernon Herron said an investigation determined that the three 911 call takers involved failed to do their jobs properly.

“We have procedures and policies in place that we want them to follow,” Herron said. “There is no room for deviation from those procedures and those policies.”

Herron said two dispatchers involved in the call were suspended for four days without pay and a third received a written reprimand.

At a candlelight vigil for Brown, one friend worried that the four-day suspension for the dispatchers was not enough.

“It’s going to happen to another family,” said D.J. Flexx, a friend of Brown’s. “This can’t happen! It’s 911! They’ve got to help us.”

This happened Nov. 15th, 2006

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Abuse of power at its finest

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