Cuff 'N Stuff
The Internal Newsletter of the Wise County Sheriff's
Department
06-15-01
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Cuff 'N Stuff 06-15-01 |
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SUNDAY JULY 1, 2001 @ NOON CENTRAL CHURCH OF CHRIST ON US 380 We go through our business thinking that no one appreciates us. A lot more do than don't but when they show it we do not respond so they lose interest in showing us. We need to reciprocate the gesture by attending. Those on night shift can send Marilyn an email saying how many will be there from your family. This is for the entire department. Make a sincere attempt to have a good showing.
"A woman chasing a rat with a lit roll of paper set her bed ablaze and narrowly escaped from a smoke-filled apartment with her life at the Royal Beechnut Apartments in Houston." ABC13 and KTRK Houston Texas "People injured or killed in the Michigan firearms deer season include a Bay City man shot in the leg while trying to photograph his dog holding a rifle, which accidentally went off." 28 November 2000 Michigan Live "Something strange is happening to Malaysia executioners manning the gallows. Three people in the last two years have accidentally hanged themselves while clowning around. The most recent mishap occurred when the executioner prepared for an upcoming sentence and slipped the noose around his neck. Apparently he wanted pictures taken of himself standing on the gallows when the trap door gave way, breaking his neck instantly. " 29 November 2000 Bizarre News, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia "A 27-year-old policeman fell to his death when he accidentally piloted a powerful speedboat over 165-foot high Loskop Dam near Johannesburg." Reuters South Africa "Two soldiers died in their tent when fumes from an illegal propane heater snuffed their lives in Barstow, California. Officials said they were on an Army training exercise in the Mojave Desert when they broke new ground in abuse of gas-powered equipment." 15 January 2001 TAP "An off-duty Los Angeles police officer accidentally shot himself while cleaning his gun, and was treated for a groin injury at a nearby hospital." 14 January 2001 Sacramento Bee.
Domestic Turns Deadly for Officer—Mark Nichols If the authorities are right, the course of events that led to the shooting deaths of San Antonio Police Officer Hector Garza, 48, and Jessica Garcia, 20, started with an abusive relationship. Frank Garcia, 28 - the man who stands accused in their deaths – was a jealous husband prone to violence, police and relatives say. This tragic tale started on July 15, 1994, when Jessica Duran, only 14, married Garcia, then 21, a young dropout known in the neighborhood for his hot car and his quick temper. But it is also the story of a public servant who knew the streets of his beat inside and out, and who in trying to prevent a catastrophe became part of one. Garza and a second officer responded to a domestic disturbance call at the Garcia home. The call unfolded without incident. Jessica waved the two officers off, and believing everything to be O.K., they left. About 9 a.m., Garza returned to the house on a second call, without a fellow officer to cover him. After entering the Garcia home, he was shot and killed, as was Jessica. Authorities arrested Frank Garcia 15 minutes later and charged him with capital murder in the deaths of his wife and the officer. It’s those calls related to domestic troubles that give officers pause. Police know how dangerous it can be to step between an abusive spouse and a victim. “We know we’re not bulletproof, but you get these calls over and over again and nothing happens. Then you do one too many and everything goes to hell,” said Capt. Dennis Stout. After being approached by a case worker, Officer Garza agreed to check on Jessica’s well-being during his regular patrols of the area. And neighbors remember seeing Garza frequently over the years. Police went to the house on various calls, seeking a burglary suspect or a criminal mischief report. But records do not show do not show a single family disturbance call from the Garcia house in the last three years until the morning Officer Garza was shot and killed. Hector Garza was the fourth San Antonio officer to die in the line of duty in that many months. The department has been overwhelmed by the loss of life among its ranks. Reprinted from AMERICAN POLICE BEAT: JUNE 2001
Legal Issues - Search and Seizure CONTRABAND FALLING FROM A SUSPECT’S CLOTHES AS HE RAN FROM THE POLICE SEIZED Two detectives sitting in a car talking with another police officer in his car saw a vehicle without a front license plate being driven by a man one of the detectives recognized as having a suspended license. The officer also had information from a confidential informant that the driver was selling drugs from a car of the make and color the man was driving. The detectives activated their lights and tried to stop the other car. Rather than stop, the suspect kept driving, making furtive movements...hand movements, body movements, back and forth” with his passenger. When the car finally stopped, the passenger’s door swung open and the defendant got out. The detective recognized him as being on parole for narcotics violations, and as having been in “assaultive situations” previously, and having fled from the police. The officer ordered the defendant to put his hands on the roof of the car so he could be frisked. Instead, the defendant tried to shove past the officer. A struggle ensued in which the defendant struck the officer’s shoulder. The defendant eventually was subdued, handcuffed, and placed under arrest for assaulting a peace officer. Handcuffed, the defendant ran again. He was chased by another officer and a police intern. As the officer chased the defendant, he saw a brown wallet and a shiny object fall from the defendant’s shorts. The defendant finally was caught, and the officers returned to recover a baggie containing crack cocaine that had fallen on the ground. More than five hundred dollars were found stuffed in the defendant’s underwear. The defendant moved to suppress the cocaine, claiming that it was the fruit of an unlawful arrest because he had not committed any offense. Holding: A peace officer may arrest without a warrant a person who commits an offense in the officer’s presence or view, even if that offense is a traffic offense. The detectives stopped the car in which the defendant was riding after it was observed being driven without a front license plate by a driver whose license was known to be suspended. An officer who has reason to believe that a suspect may be armed and dangerous may frisk that person for weapons. The detective already had decided to conduct a frisk before he approached the car because he had seen furtive movements between the driver and the passenger. The officer also recognized the defendant as someone who previously had scuffled with the police and fled from them. Fearing for his safety, he tried to frisk the defendant, as he was entitled to do under the circumstances The defendant was not under arrest when he got out of the car, but he was arrested for assaulting a peace officer when he hit the officer in an attempt to flee the scene. An officer may seize objects in plain view if the officer has a right to be in a position to make the view, and those objects may be introduced into evidence. In this case, “the officers had the right to seize the cocaine as it lay in plain view after it flew out of the defendant’s shorts during his brief flight. It was not an error for the trial judge to deny the defendant’s motion to suppress the cocaine. Ford v. State, 26 S.W.3d 669 (Tex. App.-Corpus Christi 2000)..
From the Chaplain - Marilyn Featherstone A GOOD FATHER God had something special in mind when He made the first father. He assigned him a specific role in life. All of a father’s activities are measured against that standard. A little boy needs a father. He needs someone to teach him how to be a man, to take him by the hand and lead him through the maze of life, to teach him to be strong, gentle, loving and to be a defender of the right. A little girl needs a father, too. She needs a father to protect her, to counsel her on life’s problems, to teach her how to be a woman. The home needs a father to serve as provider, protector, spiritual leader and counselor. While the world seldom hears what a father says to his children, the effects will be felt by the next generation, and the next, and the next. The Bible says, “Husbands, love your wife as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it,” Eph. 5:25. And, in Eph. 6:4, “Fathers, do not make your children angry, but raise them with the training and teaching of the Lord.” |
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Crime Does Not Have To Be A Fact Of Life |
