Iowa: Marine admits he helped kill 50 petting zoo ducks
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A California Marine has admitted he helped kill 50 ducks at an Iowa petting zoo two years ago that police say were stoned to death.
The Gazette of Cedar Rapids reports that Shayne Smalling of Twentynine Palms, Calif., entered his guilty plea in writing to a misdemeanor charge of livestock abuse on Wednesday in Linn County District Court. He was ordered to pay a $625 fine.
Smalling is stationed in California.
Smalling and Zachary Kanellis, of Cedar Rapids, were accused of killing the ducks at Bever Park Children’s Zoo in June 2008.
Kanellis pleaded guilty earlier this month to third-degree criminal mischief and injury to livestock. He received a deferred sentence of unsupervised probation for two years, and was fined $625 on each count.
Vermont: Texas man held in sale of stolen van Gogh sketch
UNDERHILL, Vt. (AP) — A man wanted in connection with a stolen drawing believed to be by Vincent van Gogh has been arrested in Vermont.
Authorities say the Abilene, Texas, man is wanted in New Mexico for selling the $1 million sketch of van Gogh’s painting “The Night Cafe,” which shows a nearly empty cafe with a few customers seated at tables along the walls.
The sketch turned up at a New Mexico antiques shop after being stolen from a home in 2009. Police say they believe the man sold it to the shop for $250.
A warrant was issued for the man’s arrest after he didn’t go to court. The man was arrested Aug. 20 on charges of occupying an abandoned camp, burglary and possession of stolen property.
WCAX-TV says it’s unclear when he’ll be returned to New Mexico to face charges.
Utah: Family of slain firefighter files civil lawsuit
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The family of a part-time firefighter shot and killed after a 12-hour standoff is suing Farmington police.
The Salt Lake Tribune reports that family of Brian Wood contend the trajectory of the fatal bullet proves he couldn’t have posed a threat that would have justified the use of deadly force.
The 37-year-old was shot Sept. 22, 2008 outside his home. Police initially called the death a suicide, but later said an officer fired the fatal shot as police tried to subdue Wood with a barrage of flash grenades and tear gas.
The officer was later cleared of any wrongdoing.
The lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court names Farmington City, Davis County and Salt Lake City as defendants.
It seeks unspecified monetary damages.
West Virginia: Massey Energy seeks to quash subpoenas
BECKLEY, W.Va. (AP) — Massey Energy wants a Raleigh County Circuit Court judge to bar investigators from compelling its employees to answer questions about the explosion that killed 29 miners at its Upper Big Branch mine.
The lawsuit targets subpoenas issued by the state Office of Miners’ Health Safety and Training. The agency is jointly investigating the April 5 explosion with the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration. The U.S. Justice Department is conducting a separate criminal investigation.
The Charleston Gazette reported Thursday that Massey contends MSHA is using the state to expand its narrow subpoena power. While the state has subpoena power for private interviews, MSHA only can compel witnesses to testify at formal public hearings.
Colorado: Denver police again accused of excessive force
DENVER (AP) — A 23-year-old man has filed a lawsuit against the Denver Police Department that alleges he was dragged on the floor of his apartment and kneed in the head by officers responding to a noise complaint.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court Tuesday, alleges three officers “tortured” the man when they responded to his apartment in April and that people in his home who recorded what happened on their cell phones had their devices trashed.
Lt. Matt Murray, a police spokesman, said officials are investigating the allegations and he could not comment. The lawsuit names officer Abbegayle Dorn, a professional fitness model who was a contestant on the “American Gladiator” television show in 2008. The lawsuit also lists the police department and two other officers — who are not named.
The lawsuit filed by Rohit Mukherjee is the latest allegation of excessive force to hit Denver police.
The Denver Post reports Mukherjee seeks a jury trial to decide monetary damages. The newspaper has reported that the city has paid nearly $6.2 million since 2004 to settle police lawsuits, almost all of which were about excessive force allegations.
Mukherjee claims three officers responded to his apartment and that one male officer forced the door open when Mukherjee hesitated before going outside. He alleges that he was forced to the ground and dragged in a “wheelbarrow-like fashion.” Mukherjee said in the lawsuit that Dorn stood on his ankle, that officers twisted his fingers during questioning, kneed him in the head and smashed his face into a wall.
The lawsuit said that some of the nine people who were at the apartment took video and photos of what happened but that Dorn allegedly took their devices and put them in a bowl of water in the kitchen.
The lawsuit said Mukherjee was charged with assault on a police officer, resisting arrest, disturbing the peace and interfering with a police officer, but prosecutors dismissed the charges. Seven of the people at the apartment were also charged but those charges were also dismissed, according to the lawsuit.
Last month, Denver Manager of Safety Ron Perea resigned amid anger over police officers caught on video hitting a man during a violent arrest downtown last year. Perea was criticized for not firing the two officers in the case. Denver police recently reopened an investigation into what happened.
Also last month, another man claimed two police officers beat him after he made comments about a traffic stop involving another person. A video was also released in that case, which is under investigation.
Nebraska: Woman loses another lawsuit over death of son
CHADRON, Neb. (AP) — A lawsuit filed by the mother of a 16-year-old Crawford boy fatally shot by officers has been dismissed.
According to radio station KQSK of Chadron, Judge Judge Leo Dobrovolny of Dawes County District Court said state law protected the city from such a suit.
It was Pat Britton’s second lawsuit. Her first was filed in federal court against the city and the two officers who shot her son, 16-year-old Jesse Britton. It was dismissed in November last year.
Court records say then-Police Chief Rick Thompson of Crawford and Nebraska Game and Parks conservation officer Dan Kling shot the boy in a vacant Crawford bar in 2007. They said Britton failed to obey orders to lower a gun.
New York: Onondaga Nation land-claim lawsuit thrown out
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A federal judge has thrown out Onondaga Nation’s lawsuit claiming a large swath of land running down the middle of New York state.
The Post-Standard reports that Judge Lawrence Kahn, in making his decision Wednesday, said that similar cases brought by the Cayugas and Oneidas were dismissed because they were not brought soon enough. Kahn also says the case would have disrupted areas that had been developed by generations of landowners.
An attorney for the Nation said that it would take the case to the court of appeals and, if necessary, the U.S. Supreme Court.
