Ohio, the heart of it all

[Ed Anger]

Police chase canoe, Tase man in the river
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By Breaking News Staff
Sandy Collins
SUGARCREEK TWP. — A man canoeing on the river with his family was arrested after a witness called police around 4:10 pm and reported he saw the man in a physical altercation with his wife while their children were in the canoe.
It wasn't your typical Sunday family outing.
Sugarcreek Twp. police responded to the Bellbrook Canoe Livery on Washington Mill Road and waited for the canoe to arrive.
As they waited, witnesses on the Little Miami River identified the family as Josh and Autumn DeHart and their children.
About an hour after police arrived, a single occupant canoe came towards the livery. Police instructed the canoeist to dock. He reportedly refused to acknowledge the officer's directions and kept canoeing. Two officers jumped in an open canoe and rowed after the man, later identified as Joshua Dehart. They were able to take him into custody without incident.
Several other officers waited for the rest of the family at the livery. At 5:15 pm, the officers saw the woman, Autumn Dehart and four children, between 4 and teen years and a shirtless male coming up to the livery. One officer instructed him, later identified as Joshua Drazek, to dock so the officers could investigate the domestic violence complaint.
After communicating an expletive, the man continued down the river, according to the police supplemental report. The officer states he made repeated requests to dock and instructed the man that if he didn't, the officer would "come get him and take him to jail." The man continued on to his destination in Waynesville.
The officer, Sgt. Mark White, reports he removed his gear and shoes, jumped in the water and swam after the canoe with the woman, her children and the shirtless man.
"I swam towards the fleeing canoe constantly advising him that I was the police and that he is being ordered to stop the canoe and the operator (Joe Drazek) began to laugh and tell me that I was not a police officer," White wrote in his report.
About a quarter of a mile down the river, White reports he caught up to the canoe and Drazek tried to hold on to a tree branch to prevent the officer from pushing the canoe to the shore. While trying to climb into the canoe, White indicates that Drazek used the oar to push him back into the river.
White says he was able to get the canoe to the bank and instructed the children and Dehart to exit the canoe while struggling with Drazek. During the altercation, the officer noticed a strong odor of alcohol on the man's breath and several empty beer cans in the canoe.
While still struggling, White reports he instructed Officer Loudermilk who arrived to tase Drazek because the man had tried at least twice to hit him with the oar. In a bear hug, Drazdek reportedly continued to resist and Loudermilk said he warned Drazdek to stop resisting or he would be tased. Loudermilk eventually tased Drazdek in the chest area. He pulled the probes from the taser cartridge while being pushed to the bank, according to the report.
Drazdek continued to resist, so White reports he "drive stunned Drazdek on two occasions until he loosened up and ultimately was handcuffed."
After medics checked him, he was arrested and taken to the Greene County Jail.
After the arrest, Autumn DeHart reportedly told the officer that the family had stopped canoeing for a cookout, grilled food and drank alcohol. Back on the river, her husband of eight years began to tip the canoe with the intent to spill everyone out of the canoe. DeHart said she was worried about her children and told him repeatedly she didn't want him to tip the canoe.
She said her husband began to get increasingly upset and verbally abusive, then tipped over the canoe. One child was ejected with her mother.
Autumn DeHart said her husband wouldn't allow her back into his canoe, so the family then got into Drazdek's canoe to complete the trip. She said her husband was "very verbally abusive towards her" along the rest of the trip.
She elected to not have a protection order placed against her husband.
The case is going before a grand jury. We'll let you know what they decide.
- See more at: http://www.whio.com/news/news/crime-law/police-chase-man-river-tase-him-water/ngSPM/?__federated=1#sthash.brFYL5RO.dpuf

[garbon]

[Ed Anger]

I wish I was in France. 

[HVC]

I wish I was in France. 

sorry didn't realize it was TBR material

[Ed Anger]

I wish I was in France. 

french nanny =/= France

AND TBR VIOLATION

[jimmy olsen]

Real rigorous police work in Ohio

http://www.aol.ca/article/2014/07/29/mistaken-identity-woman-says-she-was-wrongly-accused-arrested/20938748/?icid=maing-grid7|canada-toshiba-win8|dl7|sec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D508546

Mistaken identity? Woman says she was wrongly accused, arrested
Jul 29th 2014 12:06PM

RITTMAN, Ohio - Ashley Brown was eight months pregnant when she was arrested on drug charges last November for a case in which her only real crime may have been having a very common name.

Brown said she pulled into the driveway of her mother's Rittman home and was closely followed by two cars from the Rittman Police Department.

"I got out and one of them walked up to me and said, 'we have a warrant for your arrest,' and I thought that they were joking," said Brown.

"I thought that it was for an unpaid parking ticket and he said, 'no ma'am, it's for dangerous drugs,' and I lost it," said Brown.

Her sister, Morgan, was in the house and had already spoken with officers who came to the door looking for Ashley.

"I was scared and I was crying because I was like, what are they going to do to her?" said Morgan, who explained the officers didn't tell her anything about the reason they were looking for her sister.

Ashley's close friend and neighbor, Alyssa Al-Jammal, also saw what was happening.

"I was just in shock," said Al-Jammal.

"It was probably one of the biggest shocks of my life because she has never been in trouble before and she is pregnant now. Her life is about to change forever," said Al-Jammal.

Investigators accused Brown of driving a a co-defendant to a location to sell drugs in April.

Confidential informants, who apparently bought the drugs from the co-defendant, told police that the girl's name was Ashley Brown.

The case was ultimately taken to a Medina County Grand Jury which issued an indictment against Brown, charging her with two different felonies.

Brown's arrest was on the Friday before Veteran's Day in November, after the indictment had been returned.

She said she was transferred to the Medina County Jail where she cried constantly, insisting they had the wrong person, but worried because it seemed people were not willing to believe her.

"They had my name, my date of birth, my social security right; but I told them the whole time, 'you have the wrong person,'" said Brown, who admits she was worried about her baby and afraid she was going to deliver her daughter behind bars.

Because Monday was a holiday, she was not in court until the following Tuesday when she first met her attorney, Bob Campbell, after spending four days behind bars.

Campbell said he has had plenty of clients who say they are innocent but Brown was adamant from the start that her arrest was a case of mistaken identity.

Even so, he admits he did not completely believe her in the beginning.

"I wanted to make sure that I completely vetted her claim of innocence before I presented it to anybody else, because about the worst that you could do is to present a claim of innocence when you are not. That has a tendency to backfire," said Campbell.

"I was really hard on Ashley the first few times that we met," admitted Campbell, adding, "unfortunately I reduced her to tears a couple of times but she never waivered once."

As the case progressed, Campbell said he talked with the attorney representing the co-defendant in the case who actually sold the drugs.

"When he met with his client, Ashley's picture was part of the police report and one of the first things his client asked him was, 'who's that?'" said Campbell.

Campbell said when the owner of the car that was used in the drug sale was found he also had no idea who Ashley Brown was.

"Eventually they showed the informant who had previously provided the name, Ashley Brown, a photo lineup and he couldn't identify my client out of that photo lineup," said Campbell.

There was also an alibi: a Facebook post from the cousin of Brown's ex-boyfriend that confirmed Ashley was out hiking on the day of the drug transaction.

But Campbell said he feared taking the case to trial because he knows that jurors tend to want to believe police officers over the testimony of a defendant who claims they arrested the wrong person.

Campbell believes the actual girl who was involved in the drug deal only identified herself by her first name, saying, "hi, my name is Ashley."

Campbell also believes it was the informant who came up with the name Ashley Brown and then investigators went through driver's license photographs of people with the same name who live in the area and concluded that they had the right person based on her description.

"And that was enough to get her indicted," said Campbell.

"I think people believe that in order to get charged with a felony offense you have to at least be hanging around with the wrong people or doing something that you probably knew you shouldn't do and this certainly proves this is not the case. She was just minding her own business," said Campbell.

For eight grueling months following her arrest, Brown said she was required to make daily status phone calls and subject herself to random drug tests twice a week at her own expense.

Ultimately, prosecutors agreed to drop the charges against her.

Brown said she felt embarassed to have to go through what she did, especially when she was pregnant and she feels she is entitled to an apology.

"I hope this never happens to anybody, and I hope they do their research better before they go to try to convict somebody of something they didn't do," said Brown.

FOX 8 News did attempt to speak with the director of the Medina County Drug Task Force about the investigation but was unable to reach him on Monday; our call was not returned.

Campbell calls the case 'scary,' noting anyone could have found themselves in Brown's situation.

"Even though Ashley went through a terrible ordeal for eight months, it does renew my faith in the system in that we got it right in the end and that's a good thing," concluded Campbell.

[grumbler]

http://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2014/07/31/cleveland-woman-accused-of-shoplifting-at-walgreens-responds-by-pooping-in-store

Don't they have coolers at Walgreens?

Cleveland Woman Accused of Shoplifting at Walgreens Responds By Pooping in Store
Posted By Vince Grzegorek on Thu, Jul 31, 2014 at 11:00 AM
Screen_Shot_2014-07-31_at_10.59.11_AM.png
A 51-year-old Cleveland woman who was attempting to abscond with $140.47 of merchandise from the South Euclid Walgreens was spotted by a store manager and the suspect did what any reasonable person would do when faced with the fact that the gig was up: she pooped in the store.

From the News-Herald:

In the parking lot he asked Thomas for her receipt, which she could not find.
The manager brought Thomas back into the store and told her that he was calling police.

"Thomas told him that she had to use the bathroom badly when she suddenly pulled down her pants and defecated in the front of the store," according to the report.

That wasn't the end, sadly. The suspect then left the store, heading toward Warrensville Center and Colony Rd., when the manager caught up with her. She then threatened to pepper spray him, told him she had AIDS and "would spit on him," and later, when the police arrived, said she had colon cancer and bed bugs, before again pulling down her pants.

She's been charged with theft and disorderly conduct.

[Duque de Bragança]

I wish I was in France. 

"Your" Normandy enjoys a dry weather with temperatues between 20-25 C so it's quite nice right now indeed.

[Syt]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/02/us-usa-water-ohio-idUSKBN0G20L120140802

Toledo, Ohio, warns customers not to drink tap water because of toxins

(Reuters) - Officials in Toledo, Ohio, warned residents of the city and surrounding areas on Saturday not to drink their tap water or try to boil it for purification after samples found dangerously high levels of toxins from an algal bloom.

"Lake Erie, which is a source of drinking water for the Toledo water system, may have been impacted by a harmful algal bloom," said a statement from the city, which is the fourth-largest in Ohio.

City officials warned that boiling the tap water will not destroy the toxic microcystins, which have shown up in two sample readings in excess of the standard of 1 microgram per liter, according to the statement.

Drinking the contaminated water could affect the liver and cause diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, numbness or dizziness, officials said. They told people to seek medical help if they feel they have been exposed to the toxins.

The water also should not be given to pets, officials said.

[The Brain]

Eerie.

[DontSayBanana]

Eerie.

Wrong state.

[Sophie Scholl]

I wish I was in France. 

[removed to save TBR sanctity]

AND TBR VIOLATION

Thankfully you are here to ensure the edit does not eliminate the information!

[Ed Anger]

No indictment in the Wal Mart shooting case.

Fuck y'all. As I've said before, no Greene county grand jury would go against a cop unless it was obvious wrong doing.

[derspiess]

The video really seems to call into question the 911 caller, who was obviously exaggerating if not outright lying.  If any charges should be filed, it should be against that guy. 

[garbon]

No indictment in the Wal Mart shooting case.

Fuck y'all. As I've said before, no Greene county grand jury would go against a cop unless it was obvious wrong doing.

Apparently Justice Department is dispatching US Attorney's Office and FBI to review the shooting.

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2014/09/24/0924-No-indictment-in-Ohio-Wal-Mart-shooting.html

The U.S. Department of Justice said it will review the facts and circumstances surrounding the shooting. Crawford's family has sought a federal investigation to see whether race was a factor. Crawford was black, and the officers are white.

The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, the U.S. attorney's office for the southern district of Ohio and the FBI will conduct the inquiry.

The agencies said they will "conduct a thorough and independent review of the evidence and take appropriate action if the evidence indicates a prosecutable violation of federal criminal civil-rights statutes."

Jennifer Thornton, spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Carter M. Stewart, said federal officials planned to investigate Crawford's shooting "regardless of the state proceedings."