Former Bentonville Arkansas Firefighter
Kevin Thomasson Sentenced To 30 Days
In Jail After Ex-Girlfriend And Another
Woman Reported Being Raped
June 21st, 2008
BENTONVILLE, ARKANSAS
- A former Bentonville firefighter began serving a jail sentence for domestic abuse on Thursday.
Kevin Thomasson, 34, must serve 30 days in the Benton County Jail. He was found guilty of battery in the third degree, a class C misdemeanor.
The decision was handed down by Rogers District Judge Doug Schrantz in August 2007, but Thomasson lodged an appeal in Benton County Circuit Court.
Thomasson was also charged with two counts of rape.
Thomasson was arrested in January 2007 on suspicion of rape after a former girlfriend claimed Thomasson had raped her. When police interviewed the other alleged victim in connection with the former girlfriend’’s claims, the other woman claimed Thomasson had also raped her.
Thomasson testified and denied raping the woman.
A jury found Thomasson not guilty of one count of rape. Prosecutors requested that the other rape charge be dismissed.
Thomasson requested last month that his misdemeanor appeal be dismissed.
He resigned from the Bentonville Fire Department after his January 2007 arrest.
Rogers Arkansas Police Officer Sgt. Steve
Charles Suspended After Interfering In
Investigation
June 10th, 2008
ROGERS, ARKANSAS
—— A Rogers police sergeant has been suspended for 10 days from his job for off-duty actions that included interfering in a traffic-stop investigation in Fayetteville.
Sgt. Steve Charles, a passenger in a vehicle stopped on April 12 by a Fayetteville police officer, committed three violations of the Rogers Police Department’’s standards of conduct, according to a report based on an internal investigation. The report was released to the public on Monday.
The driver of the vehicle —— a relative of Charles’’ —— was ultimately charged with misdemeanor driving while intoxicated, according to a Fayetteville Police Department report. Charles was not arrested or charged with a crime.
The Rogers police report said that during the stop, Charles relayed a message through the Rogers dispatch center asking for a call from the investigating officer’’s supervisor. Charles then tried to convince him there was no valid reason for the stop.
According to the report of the stop, the vehicle was westbound on Lafayette Street near West Avenue when it crossed the center line. When the vehicle stopped at Lafayette and West, the officer saw a brake light not working. The officer stopped the vehicle at Maple Street and Leverett Avenue.
Charles, 42, a 13-year veteran of the Rogers force, also tried to get another sergeant at the scene to tell the investigating officer not to arrest the driver, the report said.
Rogers police spokesman Lt. Mike Johnson said the internal investigation was launched when someone from the Fayetteville department called the Rogers department two days later to report the incident.
The report concluded Charles possibly hurt the department’’s public image and its working relationship with the Fayetteville department.
In addition, Charles violated Arkansas Crime Information Center rules against using its system for personal use when he asked a dispatcher to send a message to Fayetteville, the report said.
Rogers Police Chief Steve Helms said Charles’’ position as head of the crime suppression unit is safe.
“”There’’s no reason to change his assignment,”" because he was not demoted in rank, Helms said.
Charles did not immediately return a message left on his office voicemail and there is no public phone listing in his name.
Charles will not be paid during the suspension, which began Saturday.
Four Arkansas Police Cadets Kicked Out
Of Police Academy For Cheating
May 25th, 2008
ROGERS, ARKANSAS -
- Four law-enforcement cadets were dismissed Friday from the Northwest Arkansas training academy for cheating three weeks before graduation.
A Benton County Sheriff’’s Office deputy, a Washington County Sheriff’’s Office deputy, a Bella Vista Police officer and a Farmington Police officer were dismissed from the academy after the cheating was discovered.
The Benton County Sheriff’’s Office was notified on Friday a deputy in the Arkansas Law Enforcement Training Academy in Elm Springs copied answers from a weekly exam and gave the answers to three other cadets.
Wade Porter, 37, of Gravette was fired from the sheriff’’s office Friday evening, said Capt. Mike Jones.
Porter was with the department for a year as a field deputy.
There are four remaining deputies attending the academy, Jones said.
“”I was embarrassed”" and “”extremely disappointed,”" Jones said of the situation. “”We work hard to put the best people with this organization.”"
The names of the other officers involved in incident were not released by their respective departments or the academy.
The weekly exam consisted of topics ranging from auto theft, hate crimes, weapons of mass destruction and death notices, said Steve Farris, the deputy director of academic operations for the academy.
The answer key was left on a lectern in the classroom of about eight cadets, an academy official said. Porter copied the answer key and gave it to two other cadets when the officer administering the exam stepped out the room. One of the cadets gave the answer key to a fourth cadet, Farris said.
The academy is conducting an investigation into the cheating incident.
The dismissed cadets have the right to appeal their termination with the Law Enforcement Standards and Training Commission, Farris said.
No cadet has been caught cheating at the academy in Elm Springs, he added. The last termination he was involved in was in 1995 at the training academy in Camden, Farris recalled.
A deputy with the Washington County Sheriff’’s Office and an officer with the Farmington and Bella Vista Police departments received the answers to the exam.
The cadet with the Bella Vista Police is on administrative leave with pay, said Chief James Wozniak, adding he requested the incident report from the academy but hadn’’t received it as of Tuesday afternoon.
Wozniak said it wasn’’t fair to comment on the situation until he saw the report.
The cadet joined the department a month before attending the training academy. Previously the cadet worked a couple of years at the Benton County Jail, Wozniak said.
The Washington County Sheriff’’s Office is conducting an investigation into the matter, said Kelly Cantrell, a public information officer.
The deputy is on administrative leave with pay pending the outcome of the investigation, Cantrell said.
There are about 11 deputies from the Washington County Sheriff’’s Office still at the academy.
The Farmington Police cadet was fired Monday, said Chief Brian Hubbard.
The cadet had been with the Farmington Police for about three months, Hubbard said.
“”It’’s a sad situation,”" he added. “”I hate it for these guys. Honor and integrity goes a long ways. Being in this profession, you got to have honor and integrity.”"
May 24th, 2008
FAYETTEVILLE, ARKANSAS
- A woman who was forgotten in a courthouse holding cell for four days without food or water will not be prosecuted on the charge that landed her in the system, a prosecutor said Tuesday.
A charge of selling pirated recordings was dropped Monday after prosecutors were able to verify Adriana Torres-Flores’’ alibi, Deputy Prosecutor Mark Booher said. She claimed she was watching a booth for someone else when police raided the flea market and seized pirated CDs and DVDs.
Torres-Flores, 38, pleaded not guilty in March, and Circuit Judge William Storey ordered her jailed because federal authorities had arrested her in December as an illegal immigrant.
A bailiff locked her in a holding cell at the Washington County Courthouse but forgot to call deputies to drive her to the county jail. Court was canceled the next day —— Friday —— because of stormy weather, and the courthouse was closed over the weekend.
No food, water or bathroom
Torres-Flores had no food, water or access to a bathroom during that time. She was discovered when the work week resumed and treated at a hospital. The bailiff was suspended for 30 days without pay.
Torres-Flores’’ attorney, Nathan Lewis, said his client and her family were pleased with the prosecutor’’s decision. “”She doesn’’t want to be in that courtroom again,”" he said.
Torres-Flores, originally from Mexico, has lived in the United States for at least 15 years and has three children who are U.S. citizens. She is free on bond in the immigration case, and a hearing is scheduled in December, according to Philip Miller, a deputy field office director for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Bella Vista Arkansas Police Recruit Scott
Vanatta Kicked Out Of Police Academy
For Cheating – Chief Wozniak Backs Bad
Cop
May 24th, 2008
BELLA VISTA, ARKANSAS -
Bella Vista’’s police chief said he plans to appeal on behalf of one of his officer who was accused of cheating and expelled from the Arkansas Law Enforcement Training Academy last week.
Chief Jim Wozniak said he’’ll appeal officer Scott Vanatta’’s dismissal to the training academy’’s standards commission.
“”I haven’’t seen a written report from the academy, but based on what Scott told me, absolutely, yes, we’’ll appeal on his behalf,”" Wozniak said Wednesday.
Steve Farris, the academy’’s deputy director, said Vanatta and three other officers were dismissed from the academy after an incident Friday. The others were Benton County sheriff’’s deputy Wade Porter, Washington County sheriff’’s deputy John Staats and Farmington police officer A. J. Jefferson.
Because of their expulsions, the four must wait two years before they can apply to return to the academy to become certified law officers in Arkansas. Either the officers or their departments can appeal to the Arkansas Commission on Law Enforcement Standards and Training.
The expelled officers could not be reached for comment.
Porter, who was fired from the Benton County sheriff’’s office Friday, copied answers to an unattended multiple-choice exam left in a classroom that morning at the Northwest Arkansas satellite of the academy in Elm Springs, Farris said.
Porter gave the answers to Jefferson and Vanatta, who gave them to Staats, Farris said. Another officer in the class saw the cheating and reported it to staff, Farris said, who then con- ducted the investigation that led to the officers being dismissed.
The off icers were three weeks from graduating from the 12-week program and becoming certified.
“”We’’re just floored,”" Farris said. “”We don’’t [know ] why they did this. They weren’’t failing or struggling in the class. Besides it being an ethical lapse, you’’ve got a real lapse of judgment here.”" Farmington fired Jefferson, while Staats and Vanatta have been put on administrative leave with pay in their departments.
The Washington County sheriff’’s office is conducting an internal investigation into Staats’’ involvement, spokesman Kelly Cantrell said. Officials at the Benton County sheriff’’s office and the Farmington Police Department didn’’t return calls.
Farris said at least one of the officers contends he didn’’t use the answers but that the claim is moot.
“”They get a handbook that says they promise not to cheat,”" he said. “”Whether or not they used the answers or received them, it violates the rules.”" He said the last time an officer was caught cheating was in 1995 at the main training academy in Camden. The Northwest Arkansas site opened in 2002.
Farris said the teacher who left the answers unattended isn’’t in trouble. It’’s up to the officers to be ethical and police themselves, he said.
Hempstead County Arkansas Deputy
Sheriff Jeffrey Mayle Arrested, Fired,
Charged With Rape
May 23rd, 2008
HEMPSTEAD COUNTY, ARKANSAS -
A Hempstead County reserve deputy was arrested on a charge of rape. He’’s identified as 47-year-old Jeffery Mayle.
A Hempstead County woman told investigators she and her boyfriend had a fight, and that she got out of his car and started walking home.
She says she was picked up by Deputy Mayle while walking along a stretch of Highway 355, near the Saratoga Schools. She told investigators that Mayle took her to Millwood Lake and asked her to perform a sexual act. The woman says she refused, but later complied.
Mayle has been fired from his job.
We’’re told he’’d been with the force since August of last year.
After Returning Bribe Money, Carroll
County Arkansas Sheriff Robert Grudek
Wants Inmates To Pay For Food, Medical
Expenses, And Room And Board
May 18th, 2008
ROGERS ––The Carroll County Quorum Court passed an emergency ordinance to charge inmates for snack food, medical expenses and potentially room and board, officials say.
The quorum court passed the ordinance on Nov. 16 to establish an account for each inmate in the Carroll County Jail to pay for snack food and clothing items through commissary and medical expenses, said Sheriff Robert Grudek.
The ordinance allows the jail to charge convicted inmates a fee for being housed in the jail, Grudek said. It will be up to the district or circuit judge if the convicted inmate will have to pay, he added.
Grudek said the only drawback to the ordinance is whether the judges will allow the jail to charge convicted inmates fees for housing. Before the program is implemented, Grudek said he wants to sit down with each judge and explain how it will work.
Jail administrators are writing the standard operation procedures and waiting on equipment from Tiger, the commissary provider, Grudek said. The ordinance may not go into effect until the first of the year, he added.
The medical costs alone for the jail can bankrupt the sheriff’’s office, Grudek said. He added it’’s a “”big expense”" on the county taxpayers to pay for inmates’’ medical costs.
County Judge Richard Williams said the fees will come out of an inmate’’s pockets instead of the Carroll County taxpayers’’.
If an inmate requires medical attention, whether visiting a dentist or doctor, the jail can charge the inmate a co-payment deducted out of their accounts. If the jail administers medicine, like aspirin, to an inmate, they can charge the inmate a fee, Grudek said.
Establishing accounts will help the jail keep track of how much it spends on medical expenses, he said.
This year, a female inmate gave birth to a child, which cost the taxpayers several thousand dollars in medical costs. Often, inmates who used methamphetamine are treated for dental problems and expenses can accumulate, Grudek added.
An account is established for inmates once they are arrested. If an inmate has cash on him, it may be deposited during the booking process into the account.
After that, friends and family can deposit money into an inmate’’s account by providing the jail with a money order. Transacting just money orders will eliminate any state audit problems that could arise from mishandling cash, Grudek said.
Joe Lee Mills, justice of the peace, said he “”thinks”" inmates should “”pay their way.”"
Mills added he hopes the program deters residents from committing crimes and winding up in the jail.
While in the jail, inmates can call a toll-free number located in the holding pod and request any approved items on Tiger’’s list. The items will be deducted from the inmate’’s account and then delivered the next day in clear wrapping to the jail.
Upon release from the jail, any remaining account balance will be credited back to the inmate in the form of a check, Grudek said. If an inmate has a negative balance, they are required to pay their fees while on probation or parole.
The sheriff’’s office doesn’’t have any figures yet on how much money this ordinance will save the county, he added.
Maj. Gene Drake with the Benton County Sheriff’’s Office said the jail doesn’’t operate a commissary now but did several years ago.
Inmates receive their hygiene items, clothes and three cold meals a day from the jail, Drake said. Inmates can also have books without images and a trusty can have cigarettes.
Calls to Cpl. Jak Kimball of the Washington County Sheriff’’s Office was not immediately returned on Thursday.
INFOTEXT (must run)
Fast Facts
County Jail
* The Benton County Jail receives $40 a day for federal inmates, $28 a day for state inmates and $32.50 a day for city agency inmates. The estimated cost to house a Benton County inmate for one day is $37.16. Benton County’’s jail can hold a maximum of 500 inmates and on Thursday was at 473.
* The Carroll County Jail receives up to $40 a day for federal inmates, $28 a day for state inmates and $35 a day for county overflow inmates. The jail can house a maximum of 100 inmates and on average houses 70.
Veteran Fort Smith Arkansas Police
Officer Eric Lasiter Suspended For 30
Days – Facts Hidden From Taxpayers
May 10th, 2008
FORT SMITH, ARKANSAS
—— A Fort Smith police officer is serving a 30-day suspension after an internal investigation determined he violated a department regulation.
Cpl. Eric Lasiter, an 11-year veteran working on the information desk, was suspended without pay as of May 2, according to a news release from the department.
Lasiter had 10 days from the start of his suspension to appeal the action, which was taken by Police Chief Kevin Lindsey.
Details of Lasiter’’s violation were not disclosed.
Dumbass Alma Arkansas Police Officers
Keep Residents Out Of Community Storm
Shelter During Tornado Warning –
Residents May Finally Have Access To
Shelter Next Year
May 9th, 2008
ALMA, ARKANSAS
- Some residents in the area tried to take cover from the storms Wednesday night at a new community tornado shelter in Alma but found themselves locked out.
Alma Tornado Shelters Locked During Wednesday’’s Tornado Warning
City officials will be looking into procedures for operating the facility.
About 20 people came to the shelter Wednesday night to take cover but ended up having to wait outside in the severe weather.
Every Alma police officer has a key to the door, but by the time the doors were finally opened by someone else, the storm had already passed.
This storm shelter was built last fall on the backside of Alma High School so residents would have a place to go when severe weather rolls through.
“”The Alma Police Department has a key to it, and when the sirens sound, a police officer comes down here and unlocks the building,”" said Alma Superintendent David Woolly.
But that is not what happened Wednesday night.
“”You can’’t always count on an officer being close by, and they may be five minutes away, and you don’’t want that five-minute delay. You want it unlocked when the first person gets here,”" Woolly said.
Wednesday night, Heather Barber and her three children were among those locked out, while police were busy tending to a wreck.
“”If I knew it wasn’’t going to be open, I would have went somewhere else instead of waiting outside in the storm with my children,”" Barber said.
Alma officials will be looking into a system that will automatically unlock the storm shelter when the sirens sound, officials said.
Until then, residents will have to wait for someone with a key.
“”In an emergency, there should be a plan or backup plan. There should be a well-thought-out plan, because it’’s an emergency!”" Barber said.
Switching to the new system should be complete by this time next year, Alma officials said.
West Memphis Arkansas Police Shoot
And Kill Man With Taser Weapons After
Hassling Him For Doing Nothing
April 28th, 2008
WEST MEMPHIS, ARKANSAS -
Police stopped Dewayne Chatt for loitering. When they were about to make the arrest the 38 year old ran into the Dodge’’s store across the street and locked himself in the managers office. Police ran after him and had to use a taser on him three times before finally getting him into custody.
Just over an hour later, Chatt died while locked up in the Crittenden County Jail. “”If he did run from police, they didn’’t have to use excessive force by tasering him and then never giving him medical treatment,”" said Chatt’’s brother Michael.
Chatt’’s family says excessive force caused dewayne’’s death. They believe the store’’s surveillance recordings will tell the whole story.
“”We want to get the video tape of the actions of the officers so we can see all the people can see how unjustified and and how vigilante these officers are being in West Memphis.”"
Meanwhile both the West Memphis Police and sheriff’’s departments have launched an investigation into how Chatt died. They are reviewing the video and waiting on the medical examiners report to determine what caused his death.
“”Obviously any time anyone dies in our custody it is a huge concern of ours to make sure there wasn’’t any wrong doing here,”" said Investigator Thomas Martin.
Chatt’’s arrest meanwhile is not his first. He has been locked up 12 times on everything from felony drug charges to his most recent stint for disorderly conduct. Chatt was released just yesterday on that charge, hours before he would return to jail where he died.
His criminal past is irrelevant his family says as they now deal with his death.
“”They in disarray. Everybody is shocked by this unlawful and unjustified homicide,”" said Michael Chatt.
Innocent Man Still Facing Bogus Charges
As North Little Rock Arkansas Police
Attempt To Cover Up Their Wrongdoing
During SWAT Raid That Turned Up
Nothing – Officers Shot Man Defending
His Home 5 Times
April 26th, 2008
NORTH LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS -
Interviewing the people in Tracy Ingle’’s life —— his sisters, his foster brother, his friends —— you hear one line often enough that it soon becomes a refrain: Tracy is no angel.
Though all express their love and admiration for him —— a kind man; a man who can fix anything, they say —— they tend to tell you the bad things about him first. A recovering alcoholic, Ingle had a couple of DWIs several years back. When the Arkansas Times spoke to him, he was on house arrest for a 5-year-old failure-to-appear warrant. A car accident in Maryland in 2002 left him with degenerative disk disease in his back and what his sisters said is an addiction to pain killers —— though all of his pills are legally prescribed. Up until Christmas 2007, he had several roommates, many of whom had had recent run-ins with the law. Last year, he agreed to fix a stereo in a friend’’s Mustang —— a car that turned out to be hot —— and got arrested for receiving stolen merchandise. That case still hasn’’t shaken out.
No matter what Ingle or those he gave a temporary home to may have done, however, it’’s hard to imagine he deserved what he got Jan. 7. That night, the North Little Rock SWAT team stormed Ingle’’s house on a high-risk, “”no-knock”" search warrant. By the time all was said and done, Ingle had been shot five times —— including one bullet that pulverized his femur and left his leg dangling from his body, connected only by a bloody mess of meat, skin and tendon.
According to an evidence list left at Ingle’’s house after the shooting, no suspected drugs or drug residue were recovered from the residence —— only a digital scale, a notebook and a few plastic baggies, all of which Ingle’’s family members have identified as part of the junk they had collectively stored at the house.
It might seem strange, then, that Ingle currently stands accused of several serious felonies —— including two counts of aggravated assault. While the North Little Rock police insist they got a dangerous criminal off the streets, Ingle and his family say the charges are all about appearances —— and covering the police.
Tracy Ingle’’s biggest problem, those who know him say, is that he just can’’t say no.
For five years now, Ingle has lived in a rambling, hand-me-down house on East 21st Street in North Little Rock. The place used to belong to his sister’’s godfather —— has at one time or another been home to nearly all his kin. In recent years, however, as the neighborhood took a rough turn and family moved away, the house became storage and catch-all for Ingle’’s entire clan, the upstairs full of boxes, baby clothes, knick-knacks and Tracy’’s prodigious collection of ham radio gear. A former stonemason who worked federal contracts in D.C. before he hurt his back, Ingle led a hand-to-mouth existence even before he was shot, repairing electronics and doing odd jobs for money.
As someone who knows what it is to be down and out, he’’s always been an easy touch, his family says, for those looking to crash at his place long term. They say Ingle would take in nearly anyone with a hard luck story; a situation that even he admits led to a lot of shady characters hanging around the house. Before Christmas, before he put most of them out, there were five full-time roommates living in the house, including a cousin who had recently gotten out of jail after serving time for making meth.
As it happened, Ingle was home alone on the night of Jan. 7, when his life went from bad to worse. Earlier that evening, he’’d had an argument with his sometime girlfriend, Sandra Melby. She’’d gone to her friend’’s house in Greenbrier for the night. Around dusk, the night coming on cold, Ingle went back to his bedroom —— a small 10-by-10 room at the rear of the house —— and lay down on the bed to watch television. With the bedroom light still on, he dozed off in the big cannonball post bed that faced the window.
At around the same time, things were in synchronized motion at the North Little Rock Police Department. Acting on a warrant signed almost three weeks before —— Dec. 21, 2007 —— by North Little Rock Judge Randy Morley, the NLR SWAT team was gearing up and getting ready to roll on one of the most dangerous things in their job description: a no-knock warrant.
Conceived during the Nixon administration, the no-knock warrant —— and the use of militarized Special Weapons and Tactics teams to execute them —— came of age during the drug wars of the 1980s. The rationale behind no-knocks and using SWAT to serve them was simple: As the criminals became more savvy and well-armed, serving drug warrants demanded the element of surprise, and a more well-armed show of force.
Given that it’’s a case that has yet to be prosecuted, it should be noted that the North Little Rock Police Department says it is limited in what it can say about Ingle’’s case at this point. There are obvious questions. In the warrant obtained to search the house at 400 E. 21st St., a copy of which was obtained by the Arkansas Times, police say they believe the house in question contained “”crack cocaine.”" That description has been carefully scribbled out, with “”methamphetamine”" written in above and initialed by Judge Randy Morley. According to an affidavit signed by NLRPD narcotics investigator Mickey Schuetzle, narcotics had been sold from the residence. In that document, Schuetzle doesn’’t elaborate on who sold him the narcotics, what was sold, or when.
It’’s a fast drive from the North Little Rock Police Department on Main Street to Ingle’’s house, situated on a dead end of East 21st Street, just a few blocks away. The SWAT wagon was there by 7:40 p.m. The movements of the officers once they left the truck had been planned out long beforehand. One team went to the front door on the north side with a battering ram while others took up positions along the perimeter of the house —— including two officers outside Ingle’’s chest-high bedroom window on the west side.
As you might expect, there are differences in account of what happened in the explosive next 10 seconds or so.
A place that cherishes both its guns and the sanctity of a man’’s home, Arkansas is one of many states that has enshrined some version of the Defense of Premises Doctrine in its laws. It is, simply put, the right to defend your home without fear of prosecution, up to and including killing an intruder who has made forcible entry.
It’’s an idea that is dangerously at odds with the concept of no-knock search warrants, says Radley Balko, senior editor of Reason magazine. A former fellow at the Cato Institute, a Washington, D.C., libertarian think tank, Balko did some of the early research into the use of no-knock warrants and militarized police units. Over and over again, Balko said, he sees cases where a SWAT team breaches a house, the homeowner exercises his right to defend his home, and either an officer or the homeowner is killed or injured. The only difference is that when it’’s a cop who gets shot, the private citizen nearly always winds up in jail.
“”The dichotomy is very striking,”" Balko said. “”Here you have these violent, confrontational raids where the police are breaking into someone’’s home…… You can understand how the officers might make a mistake. But the person on the receiving end of things —— woken up in the middle of the night, usually by flash-bang grenades which are designed to confuse people —— if they make a mistake, then they’’re held accountable and are usually charged pretty severely.”"
Balko said that the rise of the SWAT team has largely been in response to the fear that inner city drug dealers and other criminals have amassed hordes of automatic weaponry to use on police (by contrast, he said, the National Institute of Justice has found that the overwhelming majority of gun crimes were committed using small-caliber, easily concealed handguns). Originally conceived in huge, high-crime cities like Los Angeles, tactical teams have since spread to almost every police department that can afford one, and have often been accompanied by a corresponding militarized mentality —— one that can trickle down even to the rank-and-file officers on the street.
It’’s easy to see why. Highly trained and armed to the teeth, often given the most dangerous assignments, being a SWAT officer is about as close to being Batman as most cops are ever going to get: decked out in ninja black, identities hidden from evildoers, with a utility belt full of the latest tactical gadgets. Even so, Balko said, many older police officers he knows are suspicious of the new breed of gung-ho cops who gravitate toward SWAT —— and the us-versus-them mentality an overly militarized police force can create.
“”We’’re giving these cops military equipment,”" Balko said. “”We’’re giving them military training in military tactics, and then we send them out and tell them they’’re fighting a war on drugs. It shouldn’’t surprise us at all when they start to treat public streets like a battlefield and private citizens like enemy combatants.”"
While Balko said there are legitimate uses for SWAT teams —— hostage situations, armed and violent suspects and the like —— those moments are few and far between, even in cities much larger than North Little Rock. Because tactical teams are expensive to train and equip, that has led many police departments to put them on search warrant duty rather than see them sit idle for years at a time. That’’s exactly the wrong thing to do, Balko said, both for cops and suspects.
“”When you’’re sending SWAT teams in after low-level drug users, you’’re creating violence,”" he said. “”You’’re creating a confrontation where there wasn’’t one before.”"
No matter what neighborhood you live in, no matter what your rap sheet looks like, try to imagine it: Coming awake in your house, in the middle of the night, to the sound of someone breaking in. What would your first reaction be?
“”The only thing I heard was breaking glass,”" Tracy Ingle said.
Asleep in his bed when the window directly opposite came crashing in, Ingle’’s first instinct was to reach for the pistol he kept by his bedside —— a cheap Lorcin automatic. Having never been convicted of a felony, it was perfectly legal for him to have the gun; perfectly legal for him to use it to defend his home against intruders. He had bought it a few years before, he said, because of how bad the neighborhood had gotten. His house had been broken into in the past. A few months before, at a store only a few blocks away on Main Street, a robbery had turned into a shootout, and two people had been killed. Even so, Ingle couldn’’t have shot anyone with the gun even if he’’d wanted to. Years before, someone had pounded the wrong clip into the gun and jammed something inside. Ingle and his foster brother, Eric Nelson, say it couldn’’t even chamber a round, much less fire.
A second after he sat up, Ingle said, the room “”kind of filled up with light,”" and he could see the officers outside the window, in their black helmets and body armor. “”I could see that they weren’’t robbers, so I threw the gun down,”" Ingle said. “”A second later, I heard one of the police officers say, ‘‘He’’s got a fucking gun’’…… I could hear him turning in the leaves, and as soon as he turned, he turned around and started shooting.”"
This is where Ingle’’s story and that of the two officers involved diverge. The officers, identified only as “”Victim 1″” and “”Victim 2″” in a NLRPD investigation report concerning the shooting, both told investigators that Ingle was sitting up and bed and pointing the gun in their faces when they raked away the sheet covering the window, giving them no choice but to open fire. Ingle, meanwhile, says that the gun was already on the floor, and he was in the process of raising his hands when the shooting started.
Whatever the case, the first shot that hit Tracy Ingle was devastating —— most likely a high-velocity .223 round, given the damage it inflicted. The bullet entered Ingle’’s leg just above the left kneecap and blew his thigh apart. Surgeons would later replace a large chunk of Ingle’’s femur with a stainless steel rod.
He knew he had been shot, Ingle said, and his first instinct was to try to get off the bed —— away from the window, at least, where the two officers were now pouring fire into the room. As Ingle tried, he got tangled up in the blankets and his ruined leg folded under him, the shattered bone grating inside. He fell to the floor in agony. As he fell, the officers outside the window kept shooting, hitting him four more times —— arm, calf, hip and chest. The round that hit him in the chest is still there, too close to his heart to be removed. Days later, Ingle’’s brother, Eric, would dig four more bullets out of a space heater that was only a foot from where Ingle’’s head lay, and spackle up nine bullet holes in the wall over Tracy’’s bed. Some of those rounds had gone completely through and into the bathroom on the other side of the wall, two of them blowing ragged holes through both sides of a plywood shelf.
Finally, the shooting stopped.
“”After that,”" Ingle said, “”all the police rushed in, and were standing over me and calling me Michael. They kept calling me Michael or Mike, and I wouldn’’t answer them. One of them asked me why I wouldn’’t answer them, and I said, ‘‘My name’’s not Mike.’’ I don’’t remember much after that except them taking me out of the house to an ambulance.”"
Brandy Hoover is Tracy Ingle’’s sister. She happens to be a surgical nurse at Baptist Health Hospital in North Little Rock, where her brother was taken after the shooting. Like most of her family, Hoover learned about the shooting from the nightly news. She and Ingle had had a falling out some weeks before the shooting, over what she calls the untrustworthy people he was involved with. After the shooting, however, she visited her brother’’s hospital room any time she could.
As someone who deals every day with stringent patient confidentiality laws including HIPAA —— the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, under which a person can be fined and even imprisoned for releasing details of a patient’’s medical records —— Hoover said she was shocked when, after her brother was released from the hospital after a week and a half in ICU, he was picked up by detectives from the North Little Rock Police Department —— along with all his paperwork, instructions and medication prescriptions.
“”When he was discharged, he was discharged to them because they were right there,”" Hoover said. “”I found out later that they had been calling up there every day finding out his status —— which is a huge HIPAA violation. They knew before I knew. They were waiting on him.”"
Still wearing hospital scrubs and in a wheelchair, Ingle was taken to North Little Rock Police Department, where he said he was questioned for around six hours, without his pain medication. During the questioning, he says he was never told that he was under arrest, or even that he was suspected of anything.
“”The fella that was talking to me said that he was Internal Affairs,”" Ingle said. “”He gave me the impression that he was trying to learn about the shooting and everything that had happened. When he was done, he told me that they were going to put me in jail and he would give it to the prosecutor or whoever, and they would decide what the charges were going to be.”"
For his part, North Little Rock Police Chief Danny Bradley said that he has investigated concerns by Ingle’’s family that he was denied his medication or otherwise mistreated while being questioned.
“”I have not been able to determine that any of them are substantiated,”" Bradley said, noting that at one time, Ingle’’s sister Tiffney Forrester was claiming that there had been federal marshals at the hospital the night of the shooting. “”There were no federal officers at the hospital,”" Bradley said. “”I’’m satisfied that he was treated in a legal and civil manner and was not mistreated at all.”"
After questioning, Ingle was taken to the Pulaski County Jail, where he would stay for the next four days. At the hospital, nurses had told him that his bandages needed to be changed and his wounds cleaned out with antibiotic wash every four to six hours in order to avoid infection.
“”The whole time I was there, they only changed them twice,”" he said. “”They just locked me in a room and left me.”" Ingle said his pain medication and antibiotics were never given to him —— when he was released, he was told the prescriptions had been lost. He later told Forrester that the only medical treatment he received the whole time he was in the jail was having his bandages changed twice and an admonishment to not go into the showers because “”he’’d probably get gangrene.”"
Infection soon set up in all his wounds. Charged with operating a drug premises, possession of drug paraphernalia (a digital scale and plastic baggies that belonged to his sister, both Ingle and Forrester say —— the baggies leftovers from Forrester’’s jewelry-making hobby, the scale a freebie from the animal testing lab where she once worked), and two counts of aggravated assault, for making the officers who shot him fear for their lives, Ingle was brought before a judge whose name he doesn’’t recall for a bond hearing on Sunday. According to Ingle, the judge told him that because he’’d had a shootout with police, he was setting his bond at $250,000. Ingle’’s family, who had been putting together money for Ingle’’s bail in anticipation of his bond hearing, was crushed.
“”My immediate reaction was nausea,”" Brandy Hoover said. “”Who on earth can come up with that kind of money? Even at 10 percent [for a bail bond], people aren’’t walking around with that kind of money. It was insane…… All I can remember thinking is, they’’ve got him, and we’’re never going to get him back.”"
Eventually, however, the family was able to cut a deal with a local bail bondsman. Between them, they scraped together $5,000 cash and the deed to some property, sold Ingle’’s Jeep, and finally got him out of jail.
While his wounds have closed, the months since the shooting have been hard on Ingle and his whole family. Ingle’’s mother suffered a heart attack while trying to come in from Pittsburgh to see him. He has struggled with depression and constant pain, and has lost weight because he can’’t bring himself to eat. For weeks, Ingle’’s brother, Eric, stopped by every day and knocked. Though he knew Ingle had to be inside because of the tracking bracelet, Ingle just stopped answering for awhile.
After over a month of trying through his sisters and brother, the Arkansas Times finally got Ingle to talk about the shooting, the man who came to the door was famine-thin and hollow-eyed —— even skinnier now than when we last saw him at court, stooped and hobbling on a pair of crutches.
It’’s not that he didn’’t want to talk to us, he apologized. There was just a period of time there when he didn’’t want to talk to anybody.
“”It’’s just like being in jail,”" he said. “”It’’s just a different jail cell, I guess. When I was first out of the hospital, I couldn’’t get up and leave anywhere, hardly. Now, I can’’t leave.”"
As he told his family, Ingle still insists that he threw the gun down the moment he saw that the intruders were police —— and before the shooting started. Even so, he said a person reaching for a weapon in a situation like that shouldn‘‘t give police the automatic right to shoot.
“”I don’’t feel like I did anything wrong,”" Ingle said. “”You have the right to protect your house. I didn’’t know who they were. To me, it looks like the only reason the charges were brought was to cover their own ass.”"
Like many of his family members, Ingle said that he’’s sure that if the North Little Rock Police Department wants to see him convicted on the charges he’’s accused of, he’’ll likely be convicted. Still, Ingle said he doesn’’t hold a grudge against the two police officers for shooting him.
“”They were just here doing their job,”" he said. “”It’’s a tough job to have to go to somebody’’s house and have to come through a window or break down a door. You never know what’’s in there. But I feel like, if I had time to think about throwing the gun down, they had time to think about whether or not to shoot me.”"
Sulphur Springs Arkansas Police Chief
Andrew Little Fired, Sgt. Jeremiah
Nicholson Forced To Quit – Dumbass
Chief Stole Stepfather’’s Guns, Pawned
Them, And Lied
April 24th, 2008
SULPHUR SPRINGS, ARKANSAS
- Sulphur Springs is minus two police officers after the termination of the chief and the resignation of another officer.
On Wednesday night, Mayor Quinton Hoffer informed the Sulphur Springs Town Council of his decision to terminate Police Chief Andrew Little from his position.
Little was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of stealing guns owned by his stepfather. Little turned himself in to the Benton County Jail and was released on a felony citation.
Hoffer told the council he had spoken with Little, who was supposed to come to City Hall and turn in his resignation. Hoffer said he waited for Little, but after he did not bring his resignation, Hoffer said he terminated Little and retrieved his patrol car and equipment.
Hoffer also asked another officer – Sgt. Jeremiah Nicholson – to resign because of his connection to the case. Hoffer told council members he felt the decision concerning Nicholson was the correct move.
Nicholson did resign his position, Hoffer said.
The council voted unanimously to accept Little’’s termination and Hoffer’’s resignation.
According to a probable cause affidavit in the case, in early March, Little told his stepfather, Richard Cummins, that the house the two shared with Nicholson had been burglarized. Little told Cummins five of his weapons had been stolen, according to the affidavit. Cummins was out of the state on business at the time.
Little first claimed the alleged thief had been arrested but that the guns were being held by the Fort Smith Police Department until after the case went to court on April 18.
Cummins told police that, after returning home, he had discovered a sixth and seventh gun were also missing. Little told Cummins the guns were in a Sulphur Springs evidence locker and could not yet be returned, according to the affidavit.
Cummins listed the following guns as missing: a Winchester 12-gauge pump shotgun, a Winchester Model 63. 22 single shot, three USAFA. 45 caliber pistols, a Remington Model 660. 309 bolt-action rifle and a Winchester 670. 270 caliber rifle.
Cummins checked with Fort Smith police, who had no record of the missing guns, according to court documents. He then reported the incident to Gentry police.
On April 19, police placed a recording device on Cummins and recorded his conversation with Little, who told Cummins the guns were in the custody of the Sebastian County Sheriff’’s Office and would be returned at the end of the month, according to court documents.
Police recovered the weapons Tuesday at Pawn U. S. A. in Centerton and Big Brothers Pawn in Bentonville, according to the affidavit.
Little confessed that he had told Nicholson that the guns were his (Little’’s ) and asked Nicholson to take the guns to the pawn shops, the affidavit states.
Little’’s termination and Nicholson’’s resignation mean that the town has no certified law-enforcement officers.
Joshua Merredith is a fulltime officer, and Brian Smith, who is part time, are currently in the academy.
Hoffer told the council that he asked former Police Chief Tommy Sizemore about replacing Little, but Hoffer said the position needs to be advertised.
Hoffer wanted the council’’s input whether to ask Sizemore to fill the position on a temporary basis or accept Benton County Sheriff Keith Ferguson’’s offer for deputies to cover the town.
The council went into administrative session concerning Sizemore and later voted in favor of deputies covering the town until new Sulphur Springs officers are hired.
Arkansas Attorney Cindy Baker Found In
Contempt Of Court, Again…………
April 22nd, 2008
GREEN FOREST, ARKANSAS
—— Attorney Cindy Baker was found guilty of contempt of court in Green Forest City Court Friday, March 21, for missing a previous court date.
According to court documents, Judge Scott Jackson presided over the hearing in which he found Baker guilty of the misdemeanor offense, and ordered her to pay a $150 fine and $50 in court costs. Jackson could not be reached for comment.
Baker is facing a similar charge in Berryville District Court. Judge Kent Crow charged her with contempt arising from her Jan. 15 continuance request, in which she reportedly said she would be delayed in St. Louis, Mo., awaiting court action there and would not be able to attend proceedings in his court the following day.
Crow claims Baker was issued a speeding citation near Huntsville on the day she was to be in his court and misrepresented her ability to be in his court to represent her clients, a charge she denies.
That case is to be heard in Berryville on April 28.
Carroll County Arkansas Sheriff Bob Grudek’’s
Roadblock Plan To Check For Misdemeanor
Warrants Halted By Court
April 21st, 2008
