As a result of an FDLE undercover operation, Crestview police officer Michael Abrisch has been charged with trafficking hydrocodone (Lortab) and possession of a controlled substance. Reportedly, he purchased the Lortab pills from an undercover FDLE officer.
He is currently being held in the Okaloosa County Jail and has been suspended without pay from the Crestview Police Department pending an internal investigation.
Lieutenant Mitch Tomlinson of the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’ s Department has been fired. Tomlinson was arrested in March for sexually molesting two young girls under the age of 12. The Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office placed the lieutenant on administrative leave when Tomlinson was publicly arrested. Tomlinson could face a life sentence if convicted of just one of the three capital sexual battery charges against him.
Last Wednesday, Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan announced the arrest of Deputy Mike Priest for sexual battery. Deputy Priest had been placed on desk duty following allegations that he threatened a woman with public intoxication charges unless she performed sexual acts in his patrol car. Deputy Priest is set to be arraigned on the two pending counts of sexual battery on May 20, 2010.
On December 8, 2009, the Pensacola Police Department (PPD) announced that it had changed its “police chase” policy as a result of the death of 17 year old Victor Steen. The change prohibits officers, in a police car, from chasing vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians through heavily populated areas like apartment complexes and parking lots . This change in policy comes after the PPD’s October revision to its taser policy, also a result of Steen’s death. Officer Jerald Ard fatally injured Victor Steen on October 3, 2009 when Steen, on bicycle, fell into the path of Ard’s cruiser. Officer Ard also fired a Taser from the window of his car while in pursuit of Steen. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement continues to investigate Steen’s death and Officer Ard’s professional conduct.
Six months after a Schuylkill County Pennsylvania jury acquitted two teens of aggravated assault and murder in the date of Luis Ramirez, three officers were charged with conspiring to obstruct justice in the investigation of Ramirez’ death. Ramirez, a Mexican immigrant, was beaten into a coma during a street brawl in Shenandoah in July 2008. Shenandoah Police Chief Matthew Nestor, Lt. William Moyer, and Officer Jason Hayes allegedly failed to “memorialize or record” statements made by the teens involved in the beating death, and “wrote false and misleading reports that intentionally omitted information about the true nature of the assault and the investigation.” Moyer faces additional charges of witness and evidence tampering and making false statements to the FBI. Each officer could face 20 years in prison on each of the obstruction charges and additional 5 years on conspiring to obstruct justice. Moyer could face another 5 years if convicted of making false statements to the FBI.
The majority of law enforcement officers in this country perform their difficult occupations with a respect for the law and the community. However, there are some officers who believe that the power of their job elevates them to a different position then you and me…above the law. When an officer acts in a manner contrary to the law, he or she is engaging in police misconduct.
It is a violation of your rights for an officer acting under the “color of law” to deprive you of any right protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States. Police misconduct prohibited by these laws includes excessive force, sexual assault, intentional false arrest, and the intentional creation of evidence resulting in a loss of liberty to another.
Most of us think that we could never be a victim of police misconduct because we obey the law. In my practice, I commonly encounter the mentality that only criminals have run-ins with law enforcement officers. Bad things only happen to bad people right? The scary truth is that we are all potential victims.
