Cough on a Cop - Go to Jail

Sep 27, 4:14 PM (ET)

MORRISVILLE, N.C. (AP) - Morrisville police have charged a man with assault on a government official after an officer said the man coughed into his face during a traffic stop.

Officer Chris Gill said in his report that Kent Kauffman looked into his eyes before "hacking" in his face three times, according to Morrisville spokeswoman Stacie Galloway. Kauffman said he did cough from the window of his minivan but did so toward Gill's waist.

"He says I coughed in his face," Kauffman said. "But that would only work if he had a 4-foot-long face."

Kauffman said he developed a cough after his dog died last week. He said Gill put him in handcuffs and threw him into the side of the patrol car.

Gill pulled Kauffman over Tuesday for not wearing a seat belt. He now faces a misdemeanor charge and, if convicted, could spend up to 60 days in jail.

Top Kentucky Liquor Official Busted for DUI

Sep 24, 11:10 AM (ET)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - The executive director of the state's Alcoholic Beverage Control faces a drunken driving charge after he was arrested during a traffic stop. Chris Lilly was pulled over Saturday on U.S. 27 outside Nicholasville because his Ford Explorer was missing a headlight, and because he was weaving and driving slowly, police said.

Police said Lilly smelled of alcohol, lost his balance during a sobriety test and recorded a Breathalyzer reading of 0.181. The legal limit is 0.08.

Lilly posted $1,000 bail early Sunday, and was scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 18, Jessamine County Jailer Cecil Moss said.

"He has apologized to the agency, and has indicated he intends to resign effective yesterday," said Mark York, spokesman for the Kentucky Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet, which includes Alcoholic Beverage Control.

Messages left by The Associated Press at Lilly's home and office Monday were not immediately returned.

Gov. Ernie Fletcher appointed Lilly to the executive director position last year. Before that, Lilly was the commissioner of the state's Department of Public Protection and executive director for the Office Of Charitable Gaming.

Patient Abandoned in CT Scanner

Sep 28, 1:37 PM (ET)

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - A cancer patient says she was left alone in a CT scanner for hours after a technician apparently forget about her, and she finally crawled out of the device, only to find herself locked in the closed clinic.

Elvira Tellez of Tucson said she called her son in a panic, and he told her to call 911. Pima County sheriff's deputies arriving at the oncology office had her unlock the office door to let them in, said Deputy Dawn Hanke, a department spokeswoman. The deputies contacted the office manager, who was not aware of the situation.

Tellez was taken to a hospital as a precaution, then released early the next day.

Conjoined Twin Turtles on Display

NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) - A pet store has bought a two-headed turtle from a collector and plans to keep it on display, the store manager said. The 2-month-old turtle, actually conjoined red-eared slider twins, fits on a silver dollar.

It has two heads sticking out from opposite ends of its shell, along with a pair of front feet on each side. But there is just one set of back feet and one tail.

The turtle is apparently healthy, and the species can live 15 to 20 years, said Jay Jacoby, manager of Big Al's Aquarium Supercenter in East Norriton. The turtle has not yet been named.

The store would not disclose how much it paid.

The same exotic-turtle collector sold another Big Al's store a conjoined-twin turtle about 20 years ago, Jacoby said. The man lives in Florida, but he declined to identify him.

Huge Baby Born in Russia

Sep 27, 4:39 PM (ET)

MOSCOW (AP) - A small Russian city just got a really big addition: a 17-pound, 1 ounce baby whose mother had already delivered 11 other children.

Tatiana Khalina, 42, delivered the girl by Caesarean section at a maternity clinic in Aleisk, a town of 30,000 people in the Altai region in southern Siberia, a nurse at the clinic said Thursday.

Nurse Svetlana Gildeyeva also said the Sept. 17 birth went smoothly, and mother and the child were fine. She said the baby, Nadezhda, was transferred from the small clinic to a maternity hospital in Barnaul, a larger city. The girl was feeling well and developing normally, said Irina Kurdeka, a doctor at the Barnaul hospital.

The daily Moskovsky Komsomolets quoted the local social services chief, Marina Alistratova, as saying the family had modest means. She said Khalina's husband was on contract with a local military unit.

"We have presented them with a good washing machine, a food package and a card," Alistratova told the newspaper. "We will keep supporting them in the future." An average weight for newborn babies is around 7 pounds, 1 ounce, according to international statistics.

The Guinness Book of World Records says the heaviest baby ever was born in the United States in 1879. It weighed 23 pounds, 12 ounces and died 11 hours after birth. Guinness says they heaviest surviving baby was born in 1955 in Italy, weighing in at 22 pounds, 8 ounces.

Even the Dead Must Pay Library Fines

Sep 26, 10:18 PM (ET)

HARRISON, N.Y. (AP) - Even the dead apparently have to pay the fines on their overdue books at one Westchester County library. Elizabeth Schaper said she was charged a 50-cent late fee while turning in a book that her late mother had checked out of a Harrison Public Library branch.

"I was in shock," Schaper said. "This has rocked me to my core."

Schaper's mother, Ethel Schaper, died at the age of 87 on Sept. 16 after suffering a massive stroke. A few days later, Schaper said she found a library book, "The Price of Silence," by Camilla Trinchieri, that her mother had checked out from the library. "My mother was an avid reader - she read an average of two books a week," Schaper said. "She was a frequent patron of the library."

Schaper said she returned the book last week, and was stunned when the man behind the library counter told her of the 50-cent fee.

"I told him that maybe he didn't hear me right, that my mother had just died, otherwise I'm sure that she would have returned it on time," Schaper said. "His only reply was that, 'That will be 50 cents.'"

Connie Perrotta, a secretary for the director of the Harrison Public Library, confirmed the incident occurred but said that the library would have no comment. Schaper said a couple days after the incident another library employee called to apologize and offered to return the fine she had paid.

Woman Attempts to Sever Husband's Penis

Sep 26, 4:29 PM (ET)

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - A Malaysian court sentenced an Indonesian woman to prison for six months for almost severing her husband's penis out of jealousy, police said Wednesday.

Umidah Setu, an Indonesian migrant worker living in Malaysia, pleaded guilty in court Tuesday in the southern city of Johor Bahru to voluntarily causing hurt, said Che Yussof Che Ngah, deputy chief of Johor state's criminal investigations department.

Umidah, a 47-year-old canteen operator, was arrested Sunday after her husband, who is also from Indonesia, filed a police report claiming she tried to cut off his penis with a knife, Che Yussof said.

Che Yussof said the man, whom he declined to identify, received 11 stitches after going to the hospital on his motorcycle for treatment.

Che Yussof said the dispute surfaced because Umidah was jealous of another woman, but he declined to elaborate on whether the man had been having an affair.

The couple have been married for 17 years and have two children, the New Straits Times newspaper said.

Muslim men in Malaysia are allowed to take up to four wives. It was not clear if Umidah will appeal the sentence.

Law Enforcement: This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/503/drug_police_corruption

Cops planting drugs, cops stealing drugs, cops stealing and doing drugs, cops stealing drugs and money -- just another week of drug prohibition-related corruption. Let's get to it:

In Milwaukee, an apparent rogue cop is accused of beating or planting drugs -- or both -- on at least 10 people, but has so far gone unpunished by the Milwaukee Police Department, even though the courts have taken note of the repeated allegations by people he has arrested. Sgt. Jason Mucha has been repeatedly cleared by the department's internal affairs unit, but at least four Wisconsin judges have acted on accusations against Mucha by defendants he arrested, in one case allowing others with similar allegations to testify and in another stating there was no reason Mucha should be considered more reliable than the defendant. In at least four cases involving the allegations, charges have been reduced or dismissed, but the Milwaukee Police Department promoted him nonetheless, leading to a rising outcry for reforms within the department and for a definitive investigation of the allegations against the one-time member of the "Night Train," a Milwaukee police unit routinely accused of excess and brutality by residents of the poor and minority neighborhoods in which it operated.

In Baltimore, a Maryland Transportation Authority Police officer was indicted along with her boyfriend on September 21 on charges they dealt crack cocaine from the Curtis Bay home they shared. Officer Angela Green, 25, and her boyfriend were both charged with conspiracy and possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance. The indictment comes three weeks after county police raided the home, finding 29 grams of crack in two safes. Green, who has three years with the Transportation Authority Police, is now suspended without pay pending trial.

In Dearborn Heights, Michigan, a now-former Dearborn police officer has been charged with using a controlled substance. Former officer Edward Sanchez, 30, admitted taking marijuana from suspects and baking it into brownies, which he shared with his wife, who was also charged. He achieved internet infamy last year when a tape of a 911 emergency call he made after eating the brownies began circulating. In it, Sanchez could be heard saying: "I think we're dying. We made brownies and I think we're dead, I really do." The city of Dearborn declined to prosecute, but neighboring Dearborn Heights decided to go after the couple earlier this month. They face up to 90 days in jail.

In South Bend, Indiana, a former South Bend police officer has pleaded guilty in a case where he stole drugs and money during a traffic stop. Former officer Haven Freeman, 31, pleaded to one count of using his official position to unlawfully demand property from a person and also to possession of heroin with intent to distribute. Freeman admitted in court that he stopped a vehicle in the summer of 2005 knowing that it was carrying drugs because of information from an informant. He told the vehicle's occupants that if they gave him their drugs and money, he would not arrest them or separate one of them from her child. He obtained several thousand dollars in cash and about 100 grams of heroin, which he turned over to his informant for resale. Now, Freeman faces up to 40 years in prison, but has been promised a more lenient sentence because he "accepted responsibility" with his guilty plea.