McKinney Police Officer Sued for breaking teenagers arm

McKinney, Texas

The city of McKinney and a McKinney police officer are facing a lawsuit after the police officer allegedly broke a high school student's arm.

Clifford Griffing filed suit against Officer Cody McGrew, Officer John Doe and the city of McKinney on March 28 in the Eastern District of Texas, Sherman Division.

In April 2009, Clifford Griffing, a student at McKinney Boyd High School, was ill with stomach problems. Shortly after lunch time, Griffing felt that he could not physically attend the rest of his classes for the day.

He left the nurses office and was walking toward an exit door when he states an officer yelled "You got to get back in the school!"

After asking several questions, the officer wrote Griffing a truancy ticket. When he received the ticket, he turned and continued to walk through the exit doors.

According to the lawsuit, the officer yelled at Griffing and grabbed one of his arms and Officer McGrew grabbed the other. The suit states the officers twisted his arms and pushed him to the ground.

Griffing alleges he fell on his left arm and yelled to the officers that his arm was broken. The officers allegedly ignored Griffing and twisted his arms behind his back, causing a compound fracture with the bone protruding through the skin.

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Rosebud Police Chief Convicted Of Evidence Tampering

Marlin, Texas

Down in Rosebud, Police Chief Jeremiah Shults is free on bond, awaiting a sentencing hearing after a Falls County jury found him guilty on one of two counts of evidence tampering.

According to the indictment from October 2010, Shults was accused of concealing alcoholic beverage containers at the scene of an accident and altering the driver’s seat of a vehicle.

After about six hours of deliberation that stretched into the night Thursday, jurors convicted Shults on the evidence tampering count stemming from the removal of beer cans from the vehicle involved in the accident, but acquitted him on the count stemming from allegations he moved a seat in the vehicle.

Shults has decided to let the judge decide his punishment. A hearing will be held after a pre-sentence investigation by the county’s Adult Probation Department.

The offense carries a possible penalty of two to 10 years in prison.

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Comments By Harris County Medical Examiner Raise Questions About A Police-Related Shooting

Houston, Texas

Comments Made By a Medical Examiner about an officer involved shooting are under scrutiny.

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Texas State Trooper indicted over bus encounter

Austin, Texas

A Texas Department of Public Safety trooper captured on Capital Metro bus surveillance video grabbing, dragging and pushing a male passenger in October has been indicted by a Travis County grand jury on two misdemeanor charges.

Don MacFarlane, 55, who had been assigned to Capitol District patrol, was removed from his job pending an investigation into a complaint connected to the Oct. 3 encounter on the bus. On Wednesday, DPS officials said that "termination proceedings have been initiated" against MacFarlane but that he has not yet been fired.

Last Tuesday, the grand jury handed down an indictment charging him with official oppression, a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail, and assault, a Class C misdemeanor punishable by a fine.

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Remember the tape of Houston Police Officers beating teen Chad Holley? Officers only receive misdemeanor charges and local TV station faces silence when asking about grand jury

Houston, Texas

It's now infamous, the video detailing the beating of a burglary susupect by HPD officers. The district attorney fought its release. Now the courthouse doesn't want you to know who was on the grand jury.

The video stunned the city. Four Houston cops await trial.

The criminal charge in the Holley case is official oppression. That's just a misdemeanor.

"If I wear a uniform and I come into your store and make you give me a hamburger because I'm in uniform and me beating a suspect who is handcuffed and that gets the same charge -- I think everybody in Houston should be appalled of that," said Rev. DZ Coffield, the president of the Houston NAACP.

Joe Larsen is a lawyer specializing in the public's right to know.

"The names of the grand jurors are announced in open court when they are empanelled," Larsen said.

But after Houston’s KTRK-TV asked, the district attorney's office notified the judge over the grand jury, Vanessa Velasquez.

Two days after our request, the judge issued an order barring any county employee from releasing the names. The DA's office now says its hands are now tied. The names of the grand jurors could be secret forever.

"I'm extremely dismayed. I think this subverts the Public Information Act on its face," Larsen said.

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Port Arthur police officer being investigated for improper relationship with High School Student

Port Arthur, Texas

A Port Arthur police officer who worked security at Memorial High School has been assigned to station duty while an investigation takes place into his possible criminal behavior.

The officer, who has not been named, is being investigated for possibly having an improper relationship with a student at the school.

Chief Mark Blanton said the department was notified by the Port Arthur school district about the issue Monday afternoon.

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Family questions man's shooting death by off-duty Houston Police Officer

Houston, Texas

A family is questioning the use of deadly force after their son was shot and killed by a Houston police officer, their neighbor. The victim was 32-year-old Chad Nash.

According to the officer, he saw the victim with a knife, and fearing for his life, fired his gun.

Rhonda Nastasi is still reeling from the death of her only child, 32-year-old Chad Nash, who was shot and killed early Valentine's Day morning by their neighbor, an off-duty Houston police officer.

She said, "We had no idea that that off-duty officer was going to kill him."

Now, as the grand jury investigation is ongoing, the officer has returned to his job at the police department.

Nastasi says she knew her son had some issues but wonders if he had to die.

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