Kill Police . com

GALVESTON, Texas –

Police say officers were overwhelmed trying to restore order as a spring break rap concert ended in multiple fights on the beach at Galveston, Texas.

Galveston police Lt. Jorge Trevino says it took officers almost four hours to clear the streets after the concert on Sunday and at least 12 people were arrested.

Four officers were initially assigned to patrol the concert but eventually all of Galveston’s on-duty officers were sent to the scene.

The concert was called the “Spring Break Party Beach Bash.” It was hosted by a Houston radio station that said scheduled performers included 2 Pistols, Colby O’Donnis, Lil Wil & Lil Keke, and Webbie.

A man wearing body armor shot two police officers in an East Baltimore alley early yesterday after fleeing the scene of another shooting, police said.

The suspect, Curtis Blache, 28, of no fixed address, was in critical condition and on life support at Johns Hopkins Hospital yesterday after he was shot several times in the torso by officers, police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III said at a news conference.

According to police, Officer Anthony Jobst, 47, was in his patrol car in the first block of E. Lafayette Ave. about 2:30 a.m. when he heard gunshots and saw a white Audi speeding away. Jobst, who was joined by four other uniformed officers, drove after the Audi and followed it for about a mile to an alley in the 400 block of E. Lorraine Ave. in the Harwood neighborhood.

The Audi crashed in the alley, and the driver ran out and hid behind a brick wall. When officers approached him, the man opened fire, shooting Jobst in the foot and grazing the left leg of 27-year-old Officer Hadyn Gross, Bealefeld said.

Officers returned fire, striking the man several times in the upper torso, but the gunfight was “protracted” because he was wearing body armor enhanced with steel inserts, Bealefeld said.

Only people who work in law enforcement or who hold a permit are allowed to possess body armor in the city, police said.

Back at Lafayette Avenue, where shots were first fired, police found Rico Alston, 27, with two bullet wounds to the chest. Alston was taken to an area hospital. He was in serious but stable condition yesterday, police said.

“Mr. Blache and Mr. Alston were involved in some kind of dispute,” Bealefeld said.

Blache had a .44-caliber revolver and a 9 mm handgun on him when he was arrested, police said. During the gun battle, he fired one round of ammunition from both weapons and then reloaded the 9 mm, police said.

The five officers who were involved in the shooting have been placed on administrative leave pending a review of the incident, as is required by department policy, Bealefeld said.

A search of online court records shows that Blache was convicted of second-degree assault in 2004, but Bealefeld said that he had other convictions that had been expunged from his record. Alston has a record of drug-related convictions, according to court records.

Stark County, Ohio
When Hope Steffey was assaulted by a cousin, another cousin called 911 for assistance. When the officer arrived, Ms. Steffey accidentally handed over her deceased sister´s license, which she kept for sentimental reasons. She immediately noticed the mistake and gave the officer her own identification and asked for her sister´s to be returned. The officer refused to return her sister´s license. The officer ran a check on Ms. Steffey´s license and found no infractions, but continued to treat her as though she were the perpetrator of the crime, instead of the victim.

Ms. Steffey states she begged for the return of her sister´s license until Officer Gurlea lost his patience and shouted, “shut up about your dead sister.” When Ms. Steffey pointed at the officer´s pocket, which held her sister´s id, and said, “she was here, she was someone”, Officer Gurlea threw her face down on the hood of his patrol car, chipping one of her teeth. And according to documents filed by Hope and Greg Steffey with the United States District Court in Cleveland, Officer Gurlea then threw Steffey to the ground. Although Ms. Steffey´s cousin repeatedly reminded the officer that Steffey was the victim and had been knocked unconscious in the previous assault, Officer Gurlea handcuffed Steffey and put her into the back of his patrol car, refusing her medical care.

Hope Steffey was then taken to the county jail and forcibly strip-searched by 6 to 7 male and female deputies, despite Stark County´s own policy which states that a strip search must be conducted by a same sex officer. She was left in a cell for 6 hours with no clothing or even a blanket and eventually wrapped herself in toilet tissue for warmth and modesty. She was not allowed a phone call or medical attention and when she was later taken to booking, she was given only a small weighted vest to cover her nudity. She was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

Stark County Sheriff Tim Swanson states the reason Steffey´s clothes were taken from her and she was left naked and exposed in a cell, was for her own safety. Sheriff Swanson maintains that his deputies are not guilty of any wrongdoing and that they have a job to protect prisoners in their custody.

Attorneys for Ms. Steffey do not believe that the sheriff´s office has handed over all of the footage from the night of the arrest and the dashboard camera was not turned on during most of the incident. In a second installment from WKYC, mounted video cameras in the jail show an officer filming Ms. Steffey´s arrest, but lawyers claim they have yet to receive the footage. WKYC

Interestingly enough, Ms. Steffey´s is not the first lawsuit filed in Stark County for illegal strip search. On May 18, 2007, three girls aged 14,15 and 16 arrived at the Multi-County Juvenile Attention Center for an arraignment following charges of “criminal trespass on a public sidewalk”. Instead of going before a judge the girls were informed by a court worker that the case would be over if they agreed to 20 hours of community service, to attend school regularly and take a 15 minute tour of the Attention Center. Unbeknownst to the girl´s parents, who waited downstairs for the tour to be over, the girls were taken upstairs and strip-searched while guards made disparaging remarks. There was no reason for the strip search as the girls were not under arrest or about to be confined and they had been through a metal detector and searched upon entering the building. Sheriff Swanson confirms that an investigation is underway, but states no conclusions have been reached.

I understand that occasionally strip searches may be necessary, but Hope Steffey was the victim, not a violent criminal and had yet to be charged with any crime. The charges against Ms. Steffey were disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. Is acting disorderly after an assault a reason to be strip-searched? Couldn´t the very act of “disorderly conduct” after being knocked unconscious be a clue that Ms. Steffey may have needed medical assistance? And as the victim of an assault isn´t it reasonable that Ms. Steffey may resist arrest? She was the victim of the crime, not the perpetrator and I am sure she was mightily confused as to why she was being taken to jail. And what of her rights as a citizen of this country not to be violated and humiliated for a minor offense?

Ms. Steffey stated that she felt “raped, without penetration” and really, how else could she feel after being handcuffed, held down and having her clothes forcibly removed by both men and women? Rape, after all, is not a sexual act; it is an act of power, force and humiliation. She was not charged with a violent crime and yet her rights, her dignity and her clothing were stripped from her with total disregard to the fact that she was the victim and a human being. Is this how police officers in Stark County are being trained to treat victims and minor offenders?

The footage of Ms. Steffey´s violation is difficult to watch, but at least some footage has surfaced. Attorneys for the three teenage girls believe that the surveillance footage at the Attention Center has been concealed or destroyed. Stark County Family Court Judge David E. Stucki was handling arraignments at the Attention Center the day the minor girls were allegedly strip-searched and although he will not publicly discuss this case, he says he often handles low-level offenses informally. The tour through the Attention Center is designed to scare kids straight, but Judge Stucki says he does not know specifically what occurs during the “tours”. Attorneys for the girls are seeking to discover if other children have been strip-searched on an Attention Center tour.

Youtube videos:
Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daYBjfvEjfQ
Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDuuo0k9xXw

Email the Stark Co. Sheriff and tell them how you feel about this horror: strkshrf@raex.com

Stark Co. Sheriff website: http://www.sheriff.co.stark.oh.us/

posted by: huffgas

My close friend’s father, whom I have known for 15 years now, is somewhat of an alcoholic and was on anti-depressants at the time, he had also been suicidal for quite a while at the time. Circumstances at home ended up with his father (whom I will call Tom just for the sake of keeping this as private as possible) enraged and drunk - the alcohol hadn’t mixed well with the medication. Tom fired off two or three rounds from one of his rifles into the front lawn and the police were called. At this point the situation quickly got out of control.

The neighbors were evacuated, as was Tom’s family. Tom’s oldest son stayed in the house with him to talk him down. By this time Tom had obtained a pistol. Tom and his son were out in the garage, he was becoming more calm - until he heard a noise outside the side-door of the garage, he opened it to find a police officer. Tom quickly pulled the gun to his own head and threatened to kill himself if the officer didn’t leave him alone. At this point the son, only a few feet away, noticed that the safety was still on so he dove at his father and was able to wrestle the gun away. The son ran out-front of the house and was forced to the ground by the swat team that had by now responded. Tom on the other hand had another gun near and quickly retrieved it, returning to the house.

At this point there wasn’t anyone around the house for a block and the gas had been shut off to the house. He was no longer a threat to anyone but himself. This was also about the time I arrived, being kept behind the police line at the end of the street.

Tom locked himself up in the house, talking with a negotiator, continually threatening suicide but never once threatening a single other person. At one point Tom hung up and went out to the garage - at some point the main garage door had been opened. A swat team was at the end of the driveway, upon seeing them Tom pulled the gun on himself again. The swat team moved up the driveway towards him, Tom threatened to kill himself if they kept coming. At some point one of the swat officers shot Tom with a taser. This is where things start to get hazy.

After being hit with the taser the police initially claimed that he started to point the gun at them. Tom was shot, twice. Once in the arm, once straight through the center of his chest. I want to return to this situation later, but for now I will continue telling Tom’s story.

Tom was life-flighted to a nearby hospital. During the transportation he died three times and had to be resuscitated, he received enough blood transfusions to fill his entire body seven times over. (the quickest detox in history, my friend later joked) It was reported to the medical staff by the police force that the officer had “shot to kill” and had nearly done so, missing Tom’s heart by only a fraction of an inch. I am happy to say that Tom recovered, losing half of his right lung and a significant portion of his rib-cage on that side. He hasn’t drank now for almost seven months.

Now to return to a previous point. As I said, initially the officers claimed to shoot only because Tom started to pull the gun on them. A later report would say that he never pulled the gun on them, but had instead been waving it wildly to the current running through his body after being tasered. And one officer was overheard saying in private that Tom had actually been on the ground at the time, the gun not even in is hand. Noone but the police that had shot him know the truth, all we heard was the police screaming at him and the shots. Tom doesn’t remember anything.

This isn’t my main problem with the situation. What I want to know was why the police were on the offensive? They knew he was drunk, they had been told that there was no more alcohol in the house. He hadn’t threatened anyone but himself, and even if he had he no longer had any way to harm them. All they needed to do was surround the house, stay back, and wait for him to calm down. Instead they had officers all around in inside the house. The situation could have ended much sooner had it not been for the cop near the garage, Tom’s son could have talked him out of the situation. But due to the police that was no longer an option. Later, they could have simply stayed back instead of charging up the driveway and into the garage. Instead they chose start down the path that nearly ended up causing Tom his life.

I realize that Tom was in the wrong with respect to many of his actions, but did he really deserve a bullet through the chest? The police clearly overreacted in my opinion. Some of the precise details may be incorrect, not all the information was disclosed and it’s not the type of thing I like to bring up with my friend to ask him more about the details.
Another, unrelated incident happened a few years back while I was in High School. A student (whom I didn’t know - he was in the year behind me) was skipping class, he had missed many classes and was in trouble due to his attendance record. The police officer posted at our school tracked him down and brought him back to his office. They talked for a minute, then the officer left for some reason that I am not clear on. The student waited for a bit then left, running across the officer near the library. The officer grabbed him by the arm to drag him back to the office, the student pulled his arm away and told the officer not to touch him. At this point the officer put him in a headlock and tackled him, the student’s head was knocked against the ground and he was put in a coma for a little over two weeks.

Although I haven’t dealt with anything of these types of magnitude personally, I have been threatened with arrest and a night in jail twice - once because I fit the description of a person throwing rocks at cars, and once because me and two friends were at a city park at 11 PM, after it was closed. I have had three officers pull their guns on me when I was sixteen due to a dmv mixup where my license plates didn’t make it into the system. I have been accused of either drug or alcohol possession or shoplifting, and forcefully searched almost every time, around seven times now. Been pulled over multiple times, once for speeding and the other times for no apparent reason.

You may think that all of these things happen in the City, but surely not where you live, right? Actually all of this happened in a small suburb in northern Utah.

Posted By: dman88

This kind of action is happening in every city, county, state in this union. With their a group of their own serving as witness. As I have said many times to the children I am involved with…do not trust the police, they are nothing more than a thug gang, and too will break the law to come to their means. Is it not funny that we have baseball players on trial in the highest court of our land, yet the issues with law enforcement go unpunished or even investigated. The police wonder why people flee, we don’t trust you, we fear you even more so than the criminals.

by: mitcheichman