MOBILE, Ala. — The Mayor's Office has confirmed the death of a Mobile Police officer and the injury of another.

During a reported robbery attempt Friday morning at Dollar General in West Mobile, Lawrence Wallace, Jr. was seen spraying lighter fluid on the counter and setting it on fire, along with parts of the floor and a store display, according to WKRG.com. An off-duty officer at the scene saw him and tackled him, police said.

Later, Wallace was in police custody and according to WKRG's account, shot an officer as they arrived at the jail. The Press-Register reported the officer who died succumbed to stab wounds. Police were attempting to get Wallace back into custody Friday afternoon in a standoff outside a home near Dauphin Island Parkway.

YORK, Pa. — Officers arrested a Conewago Township man after he tried to steal a speed-timing device in Manchester Township Wednesday.

Daniel Ramsey, 51, of 1235 Bremer Road, is being charged with theft and receiving stolen property, according to Northern York County Regional Police, who were running the speed-enforcement detail.

Police said three officers were running the detail on North George Street near Hayshire Drive about 6:35 p.m. when Ramsey drove up in his pickup truck, grabbed the ENRADD device and started walking to his truck with it.

As officers approached him, he put down the device and tried to leave, but was arrested, police said. Ramsey told officers he thought the ENRADD was trash, police said.

ENRADD, short for electronic non-radar device, costs about $1,200, police said. It works by shooting two infrared light beams across the road. As a vehicle break the beams, the device calculates the vehicle's speed, police said.

It's the second time someone has allegedly tried to steal Northern Regional's ENRADD. On March 10, Joaquin Sierra-Abrew of York City grabbed the device and put it in his truck, but was arrested, police said. Because the device is aluminum, it could be sold as scrap metal, police said.

Police said a Conewago Twp. man was arrested after officers saw him try to steal the speed-timing device they'd set up along North George Street in Manchester Township.

Copyright 2012 York Newspapers, Inc.

NEW YORK — A sobering night in police custody wiped the smirk right off the face of the alleged would-be "assassin" who thought firing a bullet into the head of a hero police officer was a giant joke.

Luis "Baby" Ortiz stood stone-faced and silent in court yesterday as a Brooklyn judge ordered him held without bail.

"This was an assassination attempt by this defendant against Police Officer [Kevin] Brennan," prosecutor Lewis Lieberman told Criminal Court Judge Charles Troia, who ordered Ortiz held without bail.

The creep's meek behavior was in stark contrast to his ugly performance Wednesday, when he laughingly told photographers, "Take a picture of me!" and blew kisses to relatives.

But his family — including the sister who shouted, "F- -k the police," as she banged on the police car that took him away — were no-shows in court yesterday.

Instead, the 21-year-old felon found nothing but a sea of blue when he scanned the gallery for supporters.

Brennan — a 29-year-old dad of a 6-week-old daughter — was still recovering yesterday at Bellevue Hospital, where he could remain for several weeks.

He and his two partners were responding to a call of shots fired at about 9 p.m. on Tuesday at the Bushwick Houses when one of them recognized Ortiz from a prior bust.

Brennan yelled, "Stop, police!" Lieberman said, but Ortiz fled and kept "turning back and taunting them as he ran."

Brennan cornered Ortiz in the hallway at 370 Bushwick Ave., Lieberman said, noting there is video showing the cop struggling with the suspect. It does not show the actual shooting.

"The next thing you see is Police Officer Brennan going limp, and the defendant crawling away," Lieberman said.

A witness "saw the defendant running from the location where he left Police Officer Brennan to die on the ground," he said.

Brennan's partners, Officers Michael Burbridge and Christopher Mastoros, found him lying unconscious in a pool of blood.

The prosecutor said that Ortiz's gun was recovered with three spent casings and three live rounds and that tests showed the bullet taken from Brennan's head had been fired by Ortiz's gun.

The bullet did not pierce the officer's skull but lodged just under his skin. He's expected to make a full recovery.

Ortiz was picked out of three lineups, Lieberman said, and after catching Ortiz, cops found one white sneaker in the room.

"You see on the video that the defendant lost one white sneaker. The sneakers match," the prosecutor said.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly has said the video shows Brennan in a headlock and then lying wounded and motionless as Ortiz fled. Kelly called it "a miracle" Brennan survived.

Court-appointed defense lawyer Eric Poulos said there is no proof his client fired the shot and claimed Ortiz was the victim of police brutality.

The reputed Latin Kings member, who has 14 priors, had bruises to his face and a chipped tooth.

"He was struck by police officers' fists, both at the scene and at the station house hours after," Poulos said.

If convicted at trial, Ortiz faces a maximum of 40 years in the slammer.

And his troubles could get worse, as sources told The Post that the .38-caliber revolver was the same gun used in the New Year's Day murder of drug dealer Shannon Mckenzie.

Copyright 2012 N.Y.P. Holdings, Inc.

BUTTE, Mont. — A man instigated a high-speed police pursuit because it was on his "bucket list," sources said.

John C. Hughes, 55, took off Thursday at speeds of 70 mph after he followed a police cruiser for seven blocks, according to the Billings Gazette. Officers say Hughes drove more than 100 mph on the interstate.

Police threw stop sticks in front of his Xterra, deflating the tires, according to the Montana Standard. A few minutes later he pulled over.

During questioning Hughes told officers he "just always wanted" to see what it was like to be in a police chase, according to the police report. No weapons or contraband were found in the vehicle, and he was not intoxicated.

Hughes was taken into custody and charged with reckless driving while fleeing police. Later that morning he bonded out of jail.

BLACKSBURG, Va. — A cache of exotic animals was found Thursday in a steam tunnel at Virginia Tech University.

Maintenance workers found "two nonpoisonous, constrictor-like snakes, a black widow spider, a tarantula, two unidentified lizards, a frog, a rabbit, three mice and a cage of crickets" in a medley of cages and boxes, according to The Roanoke Times. Workers removed them from the tunnel and police were called to the scene.

One snake found in a Styrofoam cooler measured about 5 feet long, and the animals appeared to be in good condition, police said. It is unclear why the animals were there, but a Virginia Tech Police Facebook post from Thursday night said the owner was found.

"The owner of the animals has been identified thanks to the far reaching powers of FB.......thanks everyone...." the post said. It appeared just above another post asking the public for information about the recovered animals.

MARTINEZ, Calif. — A Richmond police officer was acquitted Thursday of charges that he assaulted a handcuffed man during a drug-related arrest in 2009.

The jury deliberated for about four hours before finding Dedrick Riley, 42, not guilty of unnecessary assault by an officer and filing a false police report — both felonies — and misdemeanor battery.

"I'm extremely happy for Officer Riley and his family," Riley's attorney, Harry Stern, said. "It's been a very long journey, but he's been completely vindicated and, frankly, there's no better feeling."

Riley was accused of using excessive force during a March 7, 2009, arrest and then lying on his police report in an attempt to cover it up. Both a rookie police officer, Anthony Diaz, and the accuser, Donald Stewart, testified that Riley punched Stewart twice in the head with a closed fist as Stewart was handcuffed and Riley was standing behind him.

The prosecutor argued that Riley pulled Stewart up from a sitting position and used excessive force in reaction to insults by Stewart, whom the officers caught smoking crack cocaine in his car.

The defense argued that Riley delivered two "distraction blows" with an open hand to control the struggling suspect, a minimal amount of force in accordance with police department procedure. Riley did not take the stand.

He was fired after an internal affairs investigation into the allegations involving Stewart. It was the second time in six years Riley was dismissed for allegedly punching people he encountered on the job and lying about it. Both times, he won his job back through arbitration after appealing the city's decision. He is currently on administrative leave.

Stern said he talked to two jurors after Thursday's verdict, and they said the panel didn't believe there was any evidence Riley did anything wrong.

"They were very supportive of Officer Riley," Stern said.

"They thought he was doing a very good job out there, and one juror talked of having a thorough appreciation of how hard it is to be a cop, particularly in a tough town like Richmond."

Copyright 2012 Contra Costa Newspapers

WILLOWS, Calif. — Willows Police Chief Bill Spears was a senior-ranking sergeant with the Santa Maria Police Department when he left in 2006, over concerns about low morale and differences he had with the chief.

Early on Sunday morning Spears learned that a Santa Maria officer he once commanded was forced to shoot and kill a fellow officer a former Police Explorer scout Spears had once mentored. The tragedy played out at a busy Santa Maria intersection during a DUI checkpoint.

"I got a call about an hour after it happened," Spears said.

According to media reports, Santa Maria officer Alberto Covarrubias Jr., a nine-year veteran, was suspected of having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl in the department's Police Explorer program.

Covarrubias, 29, had married three weeks before.

An internal investigation had earlier been launched into the relationship with the Explorer, and the arrest of Covarrubias was considered imminent.

Spears said it is his understanding the department learned some new information in the investigation Saturday. "Some felt it was critical for public safety reasons that the officer be removed immediately," Spears said.

Covarrubias, a motorcycle officer, and the Explorer were both assigned to work the DUI checkpoint.

For unknown reasons, the commanding officer at the scene told all officers present, including Covarrubias, that the girl was going to be called away for an investigation.

Covarrubias allegedly panicked when he heard the commanding officer announce the girl was going to make a "pretext call" to a suspect, designed to get the suspect to admit to wrongdoing.

Covarrubias reportedly began texting the girl, allegedly stating he would rather kill himself than go to jail.

The girl placed the call, and the officer, though knowing he was being investigated, acknowledged their sexual relationship.

At about 1 a.m. two sergeants one of them the officer's cousin approached Covarrubias to take him into custody.

The officer reportedly stepped back and tried to draw his weapon. As he was taken to the ground he fired four times, but didn't hit anyone.

Spears said he learned firing the weapon may have been a suicide attempt by Covarrubias.

When he aimed his service revolver at officer Matt Kline, his best friend and best man at his wedding, Kline drew and fired, fatally wounding the Covarrubias.

Spears said he is getting his information second-hand, but doesn't believe he would have handled the officer's arrest in that manner.

He said he believes Police Chief Danny Macagni, his former boss, did a good job of explaining it during a press conference.

Kline is on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office.

"I feel bad for everyone involved in this, but I'm especially worried about the officer that did the shooting," Spears said.

"It's bad enough for an officer to have to shoot anyone on the job, but killing a fellow officer, under any circumstance, makes it much more traumatic," Spears stated.

"This could cast a shadow over him and some of the other officers for the rest of their careers."

Spears added that he wouldn't be surprised to see some officers resign in the wake of what he called "a gut-wrenching tragedy."

Spears said he helped develop the Police Explorer program in Santa Maria, and always insisted on the "two deep" rule. "That means two officers must be present at all times during Explorer functions, just so something like this can be avoided, or halted before it becomes an issue."

He said he doesn't believe the tragedy will take a serious toll on Police Explorer programs elsewhere, like the one for which Willows is actively recruiting.

Spears said the incident could be devastating to a department that has recently been rocked by other misfortune. "This is the third officer shot in the (Santa Maria) department since early December," Spears said.

In a shoot-out with a suspect late last year one officer was shot in the leg and suffered a shattered femur, while another was shot in the thumb. Spears said he learned some questionable tactics may have exposed the officers to gunfire.

The suspect was killed.

The department is reportedly denying the officer a police funeral. Police officials who have appeared in public in regard to the incident have not been wearing black bands over their badges.

Spears said Santa Maria employs just over 100 officers.

Copyright 2012 Chico Enterprise-Record

Police have made a "substantial" out-of-court settlement after stopping a man's car and smashing its windows, lawyers said.

Retired businessman Robert Whatley, 73, of Usk, Monmouthshire, South Wales, took legal action over a 17-minute pursuit for not wearing a seat belt.

The officers were later cleared in a disciplinary hearing and Gwent Police has made no admission of liability.

But it has been reported the payment made to Mr Whatley is "in excess of £20,000."

The grandfather, who claimed for post-traumatic stress disorder, has already received more than £8,000 from the force after claiming for damage to his Range Rover.

His solicitors said Gwent Police had also agreed to pay "all reasonable" costs for the legal action.

A key piece in Mr Whatley's lawyers submission was a copy of the police video of the 2009 incident, which was later uploaded to YouTube.

He had driven off without wearing a seat belt and was followed for several miles along country roads between Cwmbran and Usk.

Mr Whatley was later found guilty of not wearing a seat belt, failing to stop for a police officer and having tinted car windows that did not conform to legal requirements.

He also admitted having a registration plate which did not adhere to regulations and was fined a total of £235 and ordered to pay £300 towards prosecution costs at Caerphilly Magistrates' Court.

But he was cleared of failing to stop after an accident.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) later supervised an investigation into the incident, but a disciplinary panel made up of officers from another force cleared the two Gwent officers, whose identity has not been revealed.

It found their actions were justified given the circumstances.

Regarding the out-of-court settlement, Gwent Deputy Chief Constable Jeff Farrar said: "Gwent Police have not accepted any liability in this matter, however contesting the matter further would have incurred substantial legal costs if the case had gone to court.

"Therefore, whilst we maintain our position we do not admit liability, a decision was made to settle the matter out of court on financial grounds."

Copyright 2012 The Press Association Limited

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Two of his pickup truck's tires were shot out and a K-9 stopped him from running, but Timothy Shawn McManus continued struggling with the deputies he had led on a 120-mph car chase Monday, according to sheriff's reports.

McManus fought and tried to spit on Charleston County deputies who captured him beside an intersection of dirt roads in the Francis Marion National Forest, arrest warrants and a sheriff's report said.

McManus, 31, of Macoma Drive in Mount Pleasant, was treated at East Cooper Hospital before being lodged at the Cannon Detention Center.

On Tuesday, bail was set at $102,550 for McManus, who is charged with reckless driving, failure to stop for blue lights and siren, resisting arrest and third-offense driving under suspension.

Deputies allege McManus sped away after almost colliding in Mount Pleasant with a sport utility vehicle driven by Sheriff Al Cannon. Cannon began pursuit, and said McManus drove over curbs and sidewalks before and during the chase, and that McManus forced more than a dozen other vehicles off the roads.

The chase that began in Mount Pleasant continued for 25 miles to near Awendaw.

"It's a miracle that no one was killed," county Magistrate Linda Lombard told McManus.

While on forest roads, Cannon and two deputies fired shots into McManus' truck tires and forced the truck to skid to a halt.

McManus' mother and wife were in court and told Lombard that he is the father of three.

"He's not a bad person," his wife, Melissa McManus, said, adding after Lombard noted his license has been repeatedly suspended that he had to drive to get to work.

"He shouldn't have been doing what he was doing," she told Lombard.

McManus said he is a self-employed roofer who has lived in Georgia and South Carolina. Lombard said he has a long record of driving offenses in both states.

"Your driving record goes on and on," the judge said.

Before McManus appeared at the hearing via video conferencing, a jailer told Lombard the inmate was a "disciplinary" problem. McManus was cuffed behind his back.

Outside the courtroom, Melissa McManus maintained that her husband was beaten by deputies who arrested him. She claimed he received stitches after the arrest because the dog that brought him down was allowed "to chew on him."

The State Law Enforcement Division is investigating the chase, a standard procedure after shots are fired by law officers.

Sheriff's Maj. John Clark said there was no police brutality.

Clark said he witnessed much of the final moments of the chase and said McManus refused orders to surrender. He said it "was just a matter of seconds" before deputies pulled the dog off McManus.

A warrant states a lieutenant pointing his gun told McManus to get on the ground, but McManus instead reached into his truck, and the lieutenant struck him several times.

McManus continued to resist until the K-9 put an end to the effort. After being cuffed, "he continued to resist and attempted to spit on deputies," the warrant states.

Copyright 2012 The Post and Courier

There will be a series of classroom seminars addressing topics such as National Security, Mass Casualty Response, Active Shooter Threat Planning and Preparation, and a host of others. There will be a live-fire venue, hosted by Orlando City PD, at which attending trainers will have the opportunity to work with internationally-recognized instructors SGM Nir Maman, SGM Pete Gould, and Steve Mescan, and the ammo will be provided by SARK Securities.

During the five-day seminar I will divide my time as best as possible between the Command Leadership track and the Warrior Track. Late last week, I spoke again with my friend Chris Ghannam — Chief Technology Officer and Training Coordinator for SARK, who has been working on this event for more than a year — to get a little more information on the upcoming program. Next week I’ll provide a synopsis of our conversation about the Warrior Track — here I’ll address what Ghannam told me about the Command Leadership track.

A Post-Graduate-level Colloquium The Southeast Regional Warrior Symposium begins on Monday morning, February 27th, with opening ceremonies which will include Keynote Speakers Bobby Henline (read more about Henline here) and Craig Floyd (of NLEOMF). Lectures on day one will include thought-leaders such as Dr. Michael Asken, Brian Willis, Henk Iverson, COL. Danny McKnight (Black Hawk Down) and the abovementioned Chris Ghannam (many of whom are PoliceOne Contributors).

“We’re setting this up as almost a post-Graduate-level curriculum, where you’re going to have a distinguished panel in front of you,” Ghannam said when we connected via phone last week. “You have one day that discusses your public relations, your legal, and your policy side. Then the next day you have an operational and planning focus, and on the final day we have the national security and intelligence focus.”

The rooms for the Command Leadership track will be set up “classroom style” with tables and note-taking materials provided. For each session, there will be “runners” tasked with taking note cards from attendees who write down their questions for the panel, specifying which panelist they might want to answer their questions. Those note cards will be fed to the moderator throughout the day, and the moderator will subsequently address those inquiries to the appropriate panelists in the final segment of each day.

“Your distinguished panel is going to consist of four to five world-class colleagues,” Ghannam explained. “They’re going to give between a one-hour and a one-hour-and-forty minute lecture in each given topic. It’s going to be moderated by Mr. Jeff Norwitz the first two days — as we talked about, Jeff is the former Counterterrorism Chair for the Naval War College — and Brian Willis is going to moderate the last day because Jeff will be on the panel for that day.”

A Closed-Door Discussion The whole point of the exercise is to cut out all the ‘canned crap’ which tends to permeate a lot of seminars and events at which the speakers are constrained by limitations on what “talking points” will be tolerated by the speaker’s agency or department.

“This is not going to be an agency debrief — it’s not a capabilities debrief. It’s a chance to hear the explicit opinions of those individuals. When they come, they’re not there representing their given agencies. They’re there giving their experience, their beliefs, their feelings, and their recommendations. It’s not going to be, ‘You have to say this because you’re mandated by this agency to say this.’ Nobody wants to hear that — they can read that all day online.”

I am truly honored to be asked to attend this event — and not just because I see the obvious value in the high-level of presenters, attendees, and program highlights. I am the only member of “the media” who will be allowed to be there.

“A lot of the panelists have continuously reiterated that media cannot be present,” Ghannam stated. “In fact, I just got off the phone with Dr. Michael J. Sulick, Former Director of the CIA’s National Clandestine Service, and I told him that you would be present and that you are the only member of the media we’re permitting to attend — he said he’s good with that.”

A Multi-Lateral Perspective Ghannam told me that the people attending the Command Leadership track are generally lieutenant-level and above on the law enforcement side — a lot of lieutenants, captains, and chiefs — who are coming from across the country to get the thoughts from a variety of experts on how we can pave a road for the future.

“This is a chance to hear not just from a local, neighboring jurisdiction, but to get into the mind of a world-class scholar in another region of the country or even another region of the world. While a presenter may have an international perspective, the focus is on domestic — we want to keep the discussion topics to how does international stuff affect our stateside entities. We don’t want any information to be out of context or irrelevant to our stateside LE or homeland security side.”

For example, the national security intelligence day will begin with John Williams from Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office talking about covert criminal communications. Among the topics Williams will cover will be how high-level criminal organizations continue to communicate across borders from within our own prisons. These lessons are applicable not only to addressing — and preventing! — criminal behavior, but to the wider national security issues of trans-national terrorism and other threats.

“Jeff Norwitz is going to be breaking down a very specific group. The objective of his lecture is to enlighten security professionals about the fastest growing religion in the world in order that attendees can conduct effective liaison, community outreach, investigations, intelligence best-practices, and successfully interrelate with persons from Muslim communities. With Dr. Sulick coming as the former Director of the CIA’s National Clandestine Service, we’ve asked him to provide his direct insight as to what he feels the future of the intelligence community is headed, where we’re falling short, where out strengths lie, and where we need to be gearing up for the future.”

Toward the end of our call, Ghannam summed it all up perfectly when he said, “At the end of the day, the fundamental construct has to be our national security, our citizens. At the end of the day, if you’re wearing a badge, you’re on a mission to support and defend. Whether it be policy dissemination or whether it be planning and preparation — we need to get the community as a collective on the same page.”