Sarges Awards: Chicago Lawn officer's go above and beyond



Officer Cavallone and Officer Falardeau came to see if they had my phone number correct on the police report. Then they said they had to go back to the car; and when they came back in, they were burdened with bags."The three officers had pooled their own money and bought food for the family. They also purchased an electronic Leapster game for little Grace, an Angry Birds game for Sadie, and a brand new Skylanders Wii game system with two games for Raven. Knowing how devastated Raven was, they also presented her with a new purse to replace the one that was stolen in the burglary, along with a few other small items.

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Sarges up date: Double shooting on the warmest day in January in Grand Crossing

A teenager arrested minutes after the slaying of a man in the Park Manor neighborhood Tuesday afternoon urinated on his hands while in an interview room after investigators told him a gunshot residue test would be done, prosecutors said today.
Quovadus Mahomes, of Dixon, is accused of killing 27-year-old Devin Common and wounding two other men, ages 27 and 30. Cook County Criminal Court Judge Donald Panarese ordered him held without bail today, said Cook County state’s attorney spokeswoman Tandra Simonton.
The shooting happened about 12:20 p.m. Tuesday in the 7400 block of South Champlain Avenue - the 41st murder of the year, surpassing the monthly total from 2012, which was an increase over 2011.
Mahomes was charged Wednesday with one count of first degree murder and two counts of attempted first degree murder, according to Chicago police. He had been arrested near the scene of the shootings, and while in custody, urinated on his hands after being told police would test them for gunshot residue, prosectuors said today.
Common's younger brother Antonio was killed about 15 months earlier, in October 2011. The 23-year-old was shot in the head in an alley about four blocks north of where his older brother was killed Tuesday.
Common died at the scene and the two others were taken to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County.
Common and the two other men were walking on Champlain, with Mahomes about a half-block ahead of them, when another person went up to the three men and started talking with them just after 12:10 p.m., prosecutors said. Mahomes turned around and started walking toward the group, then pointed a gun at them and started to shoot.
The 30-year-old was shot in the leg and shoulder on the street, and the 27-year-old ran into a gangway before being shot, also in the leg and shoulder, prosecutors said. Mahomes kept firing as he came closer, hitting Common three times—once in the chest and once in both the front and back of the neck. In all, Mahomes fired eight shots, prosecutors said.
The person who hadn’t been shot hit the ground as the firing started, then got up and followed Mahomes as he ran south on Champlain. The witness flagged down police who were arriving at the scene, and pointed to Mahomes as the shooter, prosecutors said. One of the victims also was able to identify him.
Police found an empty .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun nearby, in the direction that Mahomes had fled. At the scene, police found eight .45-caliber shell casings.
Mahomes was taken to a police station for questioning, and told his hands would be tested for gunshot residue. A video recording of Mahomes in an interview room shows him, still in handcuffs, taking off his pants, urinating on his hands and clothes and wiping his hands on his clothing, in what prosecutors said in a court document was “an obvious attempt to thwart” the test.
Police and prosecutors have given no information on a possible motive for the slaying. While Common had a criminal background, police said he had no known gang affiliation.
Mahomes is due back in court on Feb. 19, Simonton said

True News USA Posted : Former New York City First Known Gay Mayor Ed Koch dead at age 88: sources

 

His last words were, "Thank the Lord that Garry McCarthy never came back to the NYPD!"

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Florida man legally carrying a firearm is arrested

Case smoked some pot after Crushing 7 police cars

NEWPORT, Vt. -- A Vermont man charged with driving a tractor over seven police vehicles and crushing them has been found incompetent to stand trial.
Roger Pion (PEE'-on), of Newport, had already been involuntarily committed to the custody of the state commissioner of mental health.
The 34-year-old Pion had faced multiple criminal counts after police say he drove his dad's tractor over six cruisers and a van at the county sheriff's department in Derby in August, causing about $300,000 in damage.
Police say he was angry over a previous arrest for marijuana possession. Pion pleaded not guilty.

Sarge's classic cop cars

Only Sheriff in history never to carry a gun wants yours

Sheriff Tom Dart proposed new gun legislation Thursday that would in part give a specialized unit the authority to — without a warrant ­— search homes of people prohibited from buying firearms because of a gun or gang-related conviction.

The Prohibited Persons’ Enforcement Act also would require the same people in Illinois just 48 hours to return an expired Firearms Owner’s Identification card and account for their firearms. If not, he wants the authority to seize their weapons.

Currently, Cook County Sheriff’s officers don’t have the authority to take guns from convicted felons or people who can’t buy guns because of a serious mental illness, unless the person is on parole and someone from the Department of Corrections is on patrol with officers.

“Right now, you couldn’t think of a more preposterous system if you dreamed it up. Honest to God,” Dart said. “When you think you have your card revoked because of a criminal conviction or because of mental health, you are supposed to mail it in and if you don’t mail it in, nothing happens. No one comes looking for you. No one is coming to your door. Nothing.”

There are about 5,000 current FOID card holders who have had their card revoked in Cook County alone, according to the sheriff’s office. Just 20 percent of those people have turned their cards into Illinois State Police, which runs the FOID system. Of the 4,000 who didn’t return the card, 870 were revoked for mental health reasons and 804 were revoked because of the issuance of an order of protection.

Dart said a unit went to more than a dozen south suburban homes in recent weeks and found several convicted felons with guns in their homes.

“When it’s people that are not on parole, the ability to enter their house without a warrant would be huge,” Dart said. “And once again, it’s not because we randomly are picking citizens to kick in doors. These are people we have identified as people convicted of carrying guns illegally that we need to keep an eye on.”

The act, which Dart said could be introduced to the Illinois General Assembly as soon as this week, would also require all mental health providers to report people who pose a risk to themselves or others. Current law only requires state hospitals and mental health facilities report patients who pose a risk. Dart said making sure all mental health facilities, including private ones, report will “completely close that loophole.”

The act also calls for extending the terms of mandatory supervised release to 10 years for felons and street gang members convicted of possessing firearms. Current law carries a three-year term

President needs more guns for protection so he wants to take yours

WASHINGTON – Vice President Joe Biden met Thursday with Senate Democrats to brief the caucus about the rationale behind the administration’s recommendations on guns, arguing that, in the wake of the Newtown, Conn., shooting, the nation “will not understand if we don’t act.”
Biden seemed intent to emphasize that the most politically challenging of the initiatives he has recommended – an assault weapons ban – was still a priority for the administration, mentioning it first in remarks to reporters afterward.
“My message was to lay out for my colleagues what our game plan was, what we thought needed to be done,” Biden said after the more than hourlong meeting. “I made the case for not only assault weapons but for the entire set of recommendations the president laid out.”

Biden said he also asked to sit down with the key parties on Capitol Hill to plot strategy going forward.
All 23 of President Obama's gun policy proposals
A day after the Senate Judiciary Committee held its first hearing on guns, the vice president said there has been a “sea change” in public opinion since the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, calling it the “straw that broke the camel’s back” to get the public behind gun measures for the first time in decades.
“I’m not saying there’s an absolute consensus on all these things,” he said. “But there is a sea change in attitudes of the American people. And I believe that the American people will not understand – and I know everyone in that caucus agrees with me – will not understand if we don’t act.”
Participants in the meeting said the vice president indicated he will continue to travel to make the administration’s case, as will the president. A week ago Biden traveled to Richmond, Va., to focus on the call for universal background checks, which is seen as the most likely of the slate of proposals to pass.
PHOTOS: President Obama’s past
At that time, Biden did not mention the assault weapons ban in remarks to reporters afterward, though aides said it did come up in the private discussion with officials present.
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said Biden told the caucus Thursday that the administration is still behind the ban, a priority of her California colleague, Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
“He said this is something that they support. And that the reports that he’s seen have shown that it did make a difference,” Boxer said.
That remains a challenge though, even in the Democratic-controlled Senate because the Democrats must defend 21 seats in 2014.
“Until I see the bills and the language, the only thing I’m going to say is I’m a strong supporter of the 2nd Amendment. We’ve got to find a balanced approach, and I will take each amendment and bill as it comes,” said Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), who will be seeking reelection next year in a deeply Republican state.
Biden maintained that while there is no way to eliminate the possibility of another mass shooting, “there are things that we can do … that have virtually zero impact on your 2nd Amendment right to own a weapon for both self-defense and recreation that can save some lives.”

“I’ve always been confident we can reach a consensus on a broad cross-section of issues that can reduce some of this violence, even knowing it will be imperfect,” said Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.).

Easiest Zoo to escape from Cook County Corrections

An Indiana man convicted of murder has been on the loose since Wednesday night after Cook County Jail officials mistakenly released him, authorities said.

The sheriff's office confirmed that Steven Robbins, 44, was released after appearing in Cook County court on armed violence and drug charges, and the charges were dismissed.

But the office didn't alert the public that Robbins, who was convicted of a 2002 fatal shooting a Kentucky man, was on the loose until Thursday evening.

Robbins spent the night in the Cook County Jail on Tuesday to attend a court date Wednesday on a warrant for a 1992 criminal case, in which he was charged with armed violence — committing a felony while using a gun, said Frank Bilecki, a spokesman for Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart.

After attending the court hearing, Robbins was released at 7 p.m. Wednesday because there was no indication in his jail paperwork that he was ordered to remain in custody, Bilecki said. Robbins left through the jail's main entrance.
 Read on the 10th escape from Crook County Jail

Lake Shore Drive by leaves 1 dead

A woman was shot to death inside a van on the southbound ramp from Lake Shore Drive to interstates 94 and 55, according to authorities.

The woman, the driver of a white van, sustained multiple gunshot wounds and died at the scene, police said. The van crashed into a concrete wall after the shooting.

A second woman in the van, a passenger, wasn't injured and is being questioned by police. She's not considered a suspect, police said.

Illinois State Police, now handling the investigation, learned of the shooting about 4:20 a.m. from Chicago police, who happened upon the crash.

Police have closed access to both interstates from southbound Lake Shore Drive. Flares laid out to keep vehicles off the ramp were quickly extinguished by biting winds.