This week: A Pennsylvania state trooper was charged with putting naked pictures of his ex wife on the internet A California police officer was charged for the beating of his wife A South Carolina police officer was arrested for molesting three children A New York police officer faces nearly 200 stalking and harassment charges AND a Michigan sheriff's deputy is accused of shooting himself - and blaming someone else We will have all of this news and a lot more starting in just a few seconds. Bad Cop, No Donut! - week of April 6th, 2006 THEME I'm Ron Anicich with your weekly wrap-up of North American police brutality, misconduct and corruption. XXX Here is a look at what the police did to us this week. A police officer in Port Hueneme, California, was charged last Thursday in connection with a February attack on his wife. The Ventura County Star says that sergeant Chad Nichols is accused of injuring his wife during the attack and then attempting to dissuade her from reporting the crime. He was arrested on march 17th before being released on 20 thousand dollars bail. Nichols faces five years in prison if convicted on the charges. A 78 year-old retired banker who was tackled by a Vallejo, California, police officer last year had his lawsuit against the city settled last week. The Contra Costa Times says that the man was out for a morning walk when one of a group of officers responding to a reported suicide attempt tackled him without warning. The lawsuit was settled for 75 thousand dollars. The city of Oakland, California, has decided to settle a lawsuit filed by a man who was paralysed as he was trying to escape police officers. An Associated Press report says that officers were accused of using excessive force while trying to arrest a man for cocaine possession. No cocaine was found. The man tried to flee by jumping over a fence when he landed on his head and injured his spine. The city has agreed to pay the man one and a half million dollars. The chief of police in Phoenix, Oregon, was arrested last Tuesday for altering a report to protect his police officer son. The Oregonian reports that chief Bob Kershaw is charged with forgery, hindering prosecution, official misconduct, tampering with physical evidence and tampering with public records. Police were called to a home on January 27th where Andrew Kershaw - the chief's son - was consuming alcohol and marijuana with another Phoenix police officer and several minors. One of the minors had been reported missing. When the Jackson County Sheriff's Department took over the investigation it was determined that the reports turned over by chief Kershaw had been altered so that his son was no longer implicated. A police sergeant in Reno, Nevada, was placed on paid leave on Monday while a sexual misconduct complaint against him is investigated. The Reno Gazette Journal says that the unnamed officer was the subject of a complaint made by a 17 year old girl. The alleged misconduct took place in the officer's patrol car. The officer had pulled the girl over at a traffic stop ostensibly to administer field sobriety tests. The girl was released. Reno police have asked the Sparks police department to conduct the investigation. A sheriff's deputy in Denver County, Colorado, already arrested in January for fondling a 14 year old girl is facing new charges this week. The Rocky Mountain News says that deputy John Luna is now charged with an additional child sex assault which took place 13 years ago. A third victim has come forward to police who currently resides in Nebraska. No charges have been laid yet in that case. Luna is currently free on 15 thousand dollars bail and has been ordered to stay at least 200 feet away from his two alleged victims. In 2003 Luna was charged with felony child abuse. He late pleaded guilty to a misdemeanour charge and was sentenced to one year of probation. Two police officers in Janesville, Wisconsin, have been suspended for their actions when one of them was involved in an off duty traffic collision. The Janesville Gazette says that officer Robert Gruenwald obstructed an investigation into an accident he was involved in on February 26th. He has been suspended for 30 days without pay. Sergeant Mark Ratzlaff wrote a report for his superiors about the accident which contained false information. He has been suspended for 15 days without pay and has been demoted from sergeant to patrolman. His salary has been reduced by more then 150 dollars a week. A police officer in Sweet Springs, Missouri, was arrested on Friday and charged with tampering with a motor vehicle. The Marshall Democrat-News says that officer David Perez and a city police dispatcher were both arrested personally by the chief of police on the same day and both are facing the same charge. Perez is suspended from his job with pay. A police officer in Bridgeton, Missouri, filed a lawsuit last week claiming that he was wrongfully terminated from his job in which he makes many allegations against the department and its officers. WSDK reports that sergeant John Bartis was terminated for allegedly brutalizing inmates and one of his fellow officers. Bartis claims that his dismissal was the result of the fact that he was ready to go public with information about officer misconduct in the department. In his lawsuit Bartis claims that two officers - lieutenant Woodland and major Steinman - are guilty of chronic drunkenness. The lawsuit claims that the chief of the department improperly purchased a Harley Davidson motorcycle that was scheduled for auction. The lawsuit also points to a number of other problems including failure to answer calls, failing to file written reports and unauthorized and undocumented searches of local motel rooms. An Eaton County, Michigan, sheriff's deputy was charged with filing a false report on Monday. An Associated Press report says that sergeant Jeff Lutz claimed that he was shot by someone else when it appears most likely that he shot himself. The March 20th shooting led to a massive manhunt for an assailant who apparently did not exist. Lutz has been on medical leave since the shooting and is currently residing in a mental health facility. He faces 4 years in prison if he is convicted. A Genoa, Ohio, police officer was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison on Monday for having sex with two teenage girls. WCMH reports that officer Edsil Spence pleaded guilty to two counts of unlawful sexual contact with a minor and one count of gross sexual imposition. Spence resigned from his job last November. A sheriff's deputy in Lucas County, Ohio, was indicted by a grand jury on a perjury charge last Thursday. The Toledo Blade reports that deputy Maurice Morris was also charged with assault in connection with the same case on the same day in another court. Both charges are connected to the deputy's harassment and false arrest of a man who Morris believed had committed a crime against a family friend. On February 8th, 2005, Morris threatened the man with a gun after pursuing him in his person vehicle. Morris continued the harassment until last month - falsely charging the man with assaulting a police officer on two occasions. The charges against the man are both dropped. Morris is also accused of assaulting the man during a March 5th church service which was witnessed by a large number of worshippers. Morris is facing five and a half years in prison and 11 thousand dollars in fines if he is convicted on both charges. An Ontario Provincial Police officer stationed in Haldimand was charged last week with assault causing bodily harm. The Hamilton Spectator says that constable Brandon Wilson detained a man in Cayuga on October 2nd. During his detention the man suffered a broken cheekbone and a concussion. He was released without being charged and went to a hospital to have his injuries treated. Wilson has been reassigned to administrative duties and will appear in court next on April 19th. The deputy chief of the Halton Regional Police in Ontario was sentenced to lose 25 days of vacation time last Wednesday after he pleaded guilty to four counts of misconduct. The Toronto Star reports that deputy chief Michael Kingston lied about his education background on four occasions. Each act of misconduct was related to a misrepresentation made during an internal promotion. Kingston had maintained that he had a degree from the University of Waterloo. In addition to the vacation time he was ordered to go back to school. Kingston has been with the Halton department since 1976. He is currently enrolled in a four year police studies program at Georgian College in Barrie. The Ontario Civilian Commission on Police Services says that the false degree played no role in Kingston's promotion to deputy chief. A Lynn, Massachusetts, police officer was arrested last Friday after a drunken crash into a Peabody, Massachusetts, police cruiser. WRGB reports that officer Kevin Livermore crashed into the occupied police cruiser in the middle of an intersection. Neither officer was seriously injured. Livermore is charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and failing to stop. He was released on his own recognisance and has been on leave from his job for the past year. A Seymour, Connecticut, police officer was arrested on Friday and charged with larceny. WFSB reports that officer John Harkins had been suspended for six weeks for taking to long to respond to a 9-1-1 call. Harkins was arrested after police found an item reported missing from a local business during a search of the officer's home. Police are not saying what the missing item was. A police officer in New York City was arrested Friday for attacking and sexually assaulting a woman earlier the same day. An Associated Press report says that officer Miguel Martinez is accused of offering a ride to a woman before beating her and stealing her belongings. He later forced her to undress and perform oral sex on him at knifepoint. Martinez was suspended last year after he was accused of forcing two men to have sex with him at gunpoint. A police officer in Suffolk, New York, was arraigned on Monday on nearly 200 charges related to the cyberstalking of his ex-girlfriend. New York Newsday says that officer Michael Valentine is accused of hacking into the woman's email account and assuming her identity on a dating website. He is accused of contacting 70 men using his ex girlfriend's identity. Several of them were invited to her home. The woman became aware of the activity when the men showed up at her home. 21 of the charges against Valentine are felonies. Those charges include stalking, computer tampering and aggravated harassment. Valentine is currently free on his own recognisance. A police officer in Syracuse, New York, was arrested this week for drunk driving. WSTM reports that officer Brian Novitsky is charged with driving while intoxicated after he caused a chain reaction collision involving four vehicles. At the time of his arrest his blood alcohol level was more then two and a half times the legal limit. Novitsky has been suspended with pay. ACTU A police officer at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania was arrested last Friday for the sexual assault of two four year old girls. WGAL reports that officer Michael Fernsler is a family friend of the victims and that the abuse took place in their home. Fernsler used to work for the police department in North Londonderry but was forced to resign after he was caught viewing pornography on a computer at work. At that time he confessed to an addiction to pornography. Fernsler resigned from his job on Saturday and is currently being held in custody. A Lancaster, Pennsylvania, police officer was charged with indecent assault last Thursday. The Lancaster Intelligencer-Journal says that officer Kenneth Eckert is accused of attacking the girlfriend of his roommate on March 12th. While his roommate was away Eckert attempted to kiss his girlfriend and placed his hands on her breast and down her pants in a five minute long assault. Eckert claims he was drunk at the time of the incident. He is currently free but has been suspended from his job. The former chief of police in West Homestead, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to 12 years in prison last Friday for having sex with a 14 year old girl in his patrol car. An Associated Press report says that chief David Ausburn pleaded guilty to coercion and enticement and resigned from his job. The relationship came to light when Ausburn became chief and letters were found in his desk which revealed details of the sexual relationship. Ausburn had been a trusted family friend of the child he is guilty of abusing. A Pennsylvania State Trooper was arrested last Thursday after he posted naked pictures of his ex-wife on the internet. The Allentown Morning Call says that trooper Luke Heller placed the nude pictures on a bondage and fetish website along with an invitation to contact his ex-wife for violent sex. Heller is charged with unlawful use of a computer and criminal use of a communication facility. He is currently involved in a custody dispute with his former wife. The next hearing in that matter is scheduled for April 17th. During a hearing in February a judge ordered Heller to undergo a psychiatric evaluation. His ex-wife claims that after the couple's divorce in 2003, Heller threatened to post compromising pictures of her on the internet. He also threatened to kill himself, her parents and dog and a judge. Heller has been suspended from his job and is currently free on 30 thousand dollars bail. The city of Easton, Pennsylvania, settled a police brutality lawsuit for 65 thousand dollars last week. The lawsuit was filed in 2003 by a man who claimed that police used excessive force during an arrest. The defendants in the lawsuit were officers John Mazzeo, Salvatore Crisafulli, and Michael Orchulli as well as the department, several high ranking officers, the city and the former mayor. In the last five years the city of Easton has settled six police lawsuits for a total of five million dollars. Two more lawsuits are still pending. A police officer in Prince George's County, Maryland, was arrested last Thursday and charged with soliciting a prostitute. The Prince George's Gazette says that officer Tyrone Wills was off-duty at the time of his arrest. He has been suspended with pay until an internal hearing can be conducted. A Cecil County, Maryland, sheriff's deputy was charged with theft and misconduct on Monday. WBAL reports that deputy Felix Cervantes is accused of stealing fake designer handbags from a police evidence room. Police launched an investigation in December after they were tipped off by one of the deputy's friends. Three of the handbags have been recovered. A police officer in Richmond, Virginia, was charged last Thursday with aiding and abetting an illegal gambling operation. Richmond.com says that officer Goldie Weaver is currently on unpaid leave. Weaver was involved in a controversial police shooting in 2001. A police officer in Virginia Beach, Virginia, was arrested on Tuesday for assaulting his girlfriend. The Virginian-Pilot says that officer Joseph Barcia was arrested at his home after police received a call for help from his girlfriend. He was charged with domestic violence. Later the same day Barcia was arrested a second time after he returned to the home in violation of a protection order. He is currently free on a 25 hundred dollar bond and has been suspended from his job with pay pending the outcome of an investigation. Barcia was forced to turn over his gun and badge. A corrupt Memphis, Tennessee, police officer was sentenced to four and a half years in prison last Wednesday. WREG reports that officer James Vaughn had pleaded guilty to accepting money in exchange for his security services during a drug deal. Vaughn will not be going to prison until January of 2007 so that he will be able to bond with his child who is due to be born in September. Vaughn was the third Memphis police officer to be sentenced in the scandal. Officer Billy Scott was sentenced to seven years in prison and officer David Tate was sentenced to 14 years in prison. ACTU A police officer in Camden, South Carolina, was arrested on Friday for molesting three children. An Associated Press report says that officer Rhett Kelly is charged with three counts of committing or attempting a lewd act on a child under 16. The alleged abuse took place between May 2001 and March of this year. The victims are now eight, 10 and 14 years old. Kelly is currently free on bond. He is scheduled to appear in court next on April 24th. A sheriff's deputy in Clay County, Florida was arrested last Tuesday for sexual battery of a girl under the age of 12. The Daytona Beach News-Journal says that deputy Brian Sutherland is accused of sexually assaulting the child of a friend. Sutherland has resigned from his job and is being held in custody. An internal investigation is also underway. Sutherland was disciplined for improper conduct in 2004 after he was accused of threatening an inmate. A sheriff's deputy in Collier County, Florida, was arrested last Wednesday for driving under the influence of an intoxicant. WBBH reports that lieutenant Scott Anderson was arrested after a high speed chase. The arrest was Anderson's third in the last two months. He was arrested for driving under the influence of painkillers in February and again in March for false prescriptions for pain medication. This time around Anderson is charged with high speed fleeing and eluding and wilful and wanton reckless driving. He is being held in custody and has been fired from his job. Another Collier deputy - Craig Marshall - was also arrested for driving under the influence in a separate incident on the same day. Marshall was found dead of an apparent suicide last Thursday. A sheriff's deputy in Charlotte County, Florida, was charged with theft last Wednesday. The Sarasota Herald-Tribune says that deputy Gerald Chapdelaine is accused of stealing 60 dollars during a search of a home on March 23rd. He was immediately suspended with pay. He was notified he was to be dismissed from his job the same day he was charged. In an unusual public statement sheriff John Davenport said that his deputies would continue to be arrested in the future. A jury awarded two million dollars last Thursday to a Delray Beach Florida family whose rights were violated by Jefferson County Sheriff's deputies. The Palm Beach Post reports that the family claimed that they were strip searched when they were detained by deputies for four hours in July 2001. The deputies stopped the family because they believed that one of them - a 15 year old girl - was selling cocaine. The family also claimed that the deputies forced them to return to a relatives home which the deputies then searched. In court the deputies claimed that no strip searches took place and that they had the consent of the family to conduct the search. Three New Orleans police officers are accused of beating a woman at a traffic stop on Tuesday. An Associated Press reports says that the officers involved in the incident are unnamed but that the woman is the wife of a New Orleans police officer. The officers say the woman was stopped after she ran a stop sign. The woman claims that she was pulled from her car by her hair before being beaten and pepper sprayed. The beating was witnessed by the woman's neighbours. She claims that the officers referred to her race during the attack. She suffered numerous injuries including a fractured wrist. The woman was then charged with flight from an officer, battery, running a stop sign and making an illegal turn. A police officer in training in Longview, Texas, was arrested last Thursday for the sexual assault of a minor. KLTV reports that officer Eric Bradley was the subject of a complaint that he was engaging in a sexual relationship with a high school student under the age of 17. An investigation was initiated during which the student confirmed that she had sex with the officer. Bradley was just days away from completing his one year probationary employment period. He was fired from his job. A Dallas, Texas, police officer was fired last Thursday for coercing a woman to have sex with him while he was on duty. KXAS reports that officer Cory Adams destroyed a crack pipe belonging to a woman on the condition that she have sex with him. He was on duty at the time of the May 2005 incident. Adams was suspended on March 11th. It is not yet known whether he will appeal his termination. A police officer in Lakeway, Texas, was arrested for drunk driving last week. KXAN reports that officer Brian McCannon was arrested after the car he was driving swerved into oncoming traffic and struck another vehicle. A breath test showed that he had more then twice the legal limit of alcohol in his blood. The driver of the other vehicle was not seriously injured. A police officer in Texas City, Texas was arrested on Tuesday and charged with soliciting a prostitute. KHOU reports that officer Christopher Marshall was driving his patrol car but was off duty at the time of his arrest. Marshall has been suspended with pay while an internal investigation is conducted. He is currently free on a 500 dollar bond. TASER Police in Salem, Oregon, used a taser on a pregnant woman last week. The woman was taken to a hospital and later released. Taser International - makers of the weapon - says in its training material that the devices should not be used on pregnant women. A police officer in Montgomery, Alabama, shocked a 15 year-old high school student with a taser last Thursday. It was reported this week that police in Wichita, Kansas, have used tasers on students in school three times in recent months. A taser was unsuccessfully deployed against a 14 year old on February 14th. A 15 year old boy at a different school was shocked with a taser on February 7th. Taser use in schools became an issue recently after a student was shocked with a taser on March 16th. In that case the family of the boy is threatening to file a lawsuit. A police officer in Surprise, Arizona, was hospitalized on Sunday after he was shocked three or four times with his own taser. The incident occurred in the home of a man who officer Brandon Lindsay was attempting to arrest. The city of Washougal, Washington, settled a lawsuit last Thursday filed by a woman who was abused by a police officer with a taser. The woman was shocked 12 times with 50 thousand volts of electricity by officer Robert Ritchie after she refused to sign a complaint about her dog in August 2003. The woman's lawyer says that the lawsuit has been settled for 200 thousand dollars. Officer Ritchie was demoted from sergeant to patrolman. ACTU Other than the killings reported earlier in this program police also killed people this week in Kansas City, Missouri; Holland, Michigan; Battle Creek, Michigan; Bowling Green, Ohio; Warminster, Pennsylvania; Baytown, Texas; EXTRO BAD COP, NO DONUT! is produced at CKLN 88.1 FM in Toronto and can be heard on community, low power, non-profit, pirate and internet radio stations throughout the United States, Canada and elsewhere. This program is also available as a podcast. If you would like to find out how to broadcast this program, if you would like to write us some new theme music, or if you have any comments or story ideas please let us know. The email address for this program is RON AT CKLN DOT FM We count on you to let us know what the police are doing where you live. Thanks to everyone who sent in articles for this week's show. I'm Ron Anicich. Thanks for listening.