Homicide #50: Woman found in car

Update 6 p.m.:

• Donna J. Riley, black/female, 08/08/1969, Kansas City.

From Kansas City police 9:53 a.m.:

• Today at about 7:30am, KCMO Police Officers were dispatched to 72nd and Prospect on a dead body.
• On arrival they contacted a worker at the business there (Haile’s Automotive Repair) who advised that when he arrived for work he noticed a vehicle there at the shop for repair, that had its windows down. He remembered that when he last saw the vehicle it had the windows rolled up. As he approached the vehicle, he found the body of a black female dead laying inside.
• Homicides Detectives and Crime Scene Investigators are at the scene and are investigating this as a Homicide. Anyone with information is asked to call the TIPS Hotline at 474-TIPS (8477).

'Sorry, sir, I have to take your camera'

Was the guy arrested for snapping shots of a drug arrest in Philadelphia right or wrong? Interesting reader discussion of the issue on tech site slashdot.org, including lots of links to documentation.

Hat tip to reader James B.!

Murder 1 charge in KC homicide #49

Update from police 3:50 p.m.:

• The victim has been identified as Ramon L. Walzer, black/male, 7/27/1960, of Kansas City.

Man killed in Saturday shooting
A 46-year-old man was found dead about 1:45 a.m. Saturday at a residence in the 3200 block of East 20th Street, Kansas City police said. The shooting victim’s name wasn’t released. Anthony R. Freeman (photo, right), 27, has been charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action.

This is the 49th homicide for 2006 as compared to 66 at this time in 2005.

KS to probe handling of starved-girls case

Sebelius orders probe into deprivation case
WICHITA - Gov. Kathleen Sebelius on Monday ordered an investigation into what she called the state's failure to help two Wichita girls who police say were starved and tortured for months.
The statement doesn't detail what failures the governor wants investigated. But Wichita school Superintendent Winston Brooks told The Wichita Eagle last week that administrators at the girls' school notified the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services twice in the past year of concerns they had that the girls, aged 6 and 7, were being abused.
Police have charged their father, Alex A. Wood, 28, and stepmother, Jennifer L. Wood, 27, with two counts of felony child abuse, saying the girls suffered torture, beating and inhumane treatment for around 10 months. Jennifer Wood also was charged with aggravated battery.
Authorities say the two girls became emaciated after being denied food and water.

Previous post:
'Worst case of malnutrition'

'Disappointed' bank robber get 5 years

Unhappy robber gets 5 years
A 38-year-old bank robber who said he was disappointed in his haul of small-denomination bills got a medium-denomination sentence today of five years in federal prison without parole.
Daniel M. Fuentes of Topeka said he saw the bills while examining his duffel bag of loot for dye packs. He was arrested about 10 minutes after the robbery. The bag contained $4,288, prosecutors said.
His presentence memorandum talks a lot about mental problems.

Source: U.S. Attorney Eric Melgren's office in Kansas, PACER

The indignity! Boy George to pick up trash

NEW YORK (AP) - Boy George will perform his court-ordered community service by picking up trash on city streets in the August heat, a sanitation spokesman said.
The one-time Culture Club singer will be issued a shovel, broom, plastic bags and gloves when he reports Aug. 14 for five days of work.

Born George O'Dowd, the 45-year-old singer has struggled with drug problems for years. He was arrested after calling in a phony burglary report and police found cocaine instead.
He could be assigned to pick up streets in Chinatown, Little Italy, Nolita or parts of the Lower East Side.
O'Dowd became an '80s icon with his androgynous appearance and vocals on hits such as "Karma Chameleon" and "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?" A Manhattan judge threatened the singer with jail time if he failed to complete his five days of community service before Aug. 28.

6 DUIs, 1 robbery warrant in Indy check

From Independence police a while ago (July 22, 4:45 AM):

The Independence Police Traffic Safety Unit conducted a sobriety checkpoint along eastbound US 40 Highway east of Lee's Summit Road. The operation began on Saturday 07/22/06 at 12:30 AM and ended at 4:00AM.
The checkpoint was staffed by 21 officers.
During the three and one half hours of operation (222) cars were checked with the following results:
(6)   DWI arrests
(5)   Driving without a valid operator license
(3)   Miscellaneous traffic violations
(2)   Narcotics violations
(6)   Outstanding arrest warrants (1 felony robbery)

1 in 8 drivers arrested at KC checkpoint

Police arrest 35 at weekend checkpoint

More than 1 in 8 drivers were arrested at a sobriety checkpoint Saturday night in Kansas City - the highest percentage in recent memory.
Only a third of the arrests, however, were for driving while intoxicated. The rest were for outstanding traffic warrants and a drug possession charge.
The checkpoint took place 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. in the eastbound lanes of Independence Avenue in the 5900 block east.

Reader Big Al weighed in on this in an email:

• Why did over half the cars pulled over on Indep. ave over the weekend have their info. ran and cars searched? I thought sobriety checkpoints were just to see if you have any alchohol on the breath??!!!
• 22 arrests of people that were just driving home, and minding their own business. I would like to know the numbers of white vs. latino and blacks. I was there and it looked awful funny to me.
• And why do they have time to run all these people? Is there some kind of constitutional law that this violates??

Pit bull roundup roundup

Dogs are man's best friend, but the relationship was particularly rocky on this blog last week. Check out the passion, pride and prejudice:

New York police kill pit bulls, injure selves (57 comments)
Police remove 68 pit bulls from Wichita home (43 comments)
71-year-old woman killed by dog (244 comments)
Colorado dad: A pit bull saved my son (50 comments)

And in the news:
KCK authorities catch pit bulls
Police picked up eight pit bulls Sunday afternoon, a day after they captured 20 others. Animal-control staff received 22 tips from the pit bull hot line. Two pit bulls were voluntarily dropped off at the city’s animal control center.

Pit bull crackdown: KCK seizes 20 dogs
Animal-control officers in Kansas City, Kan., had rounded up 20 pit bulls by Saturday afternoon, the Police Department reported. The Unified Government on Friday announced a crackdown on pit bulls after Jimmie Mae McConnell, 71, died after a dog attack Thursday.By Saturday afternoon, a pit bull hot line — (913) 573-8911 — had received 44 tips.

Charges follow fatal dog attack VIDEO
Derick D. Lee, 32, of Kansas City, Kan., was charged Friday with involuntary manslaughter in the pit bull attack that killed a 71-year-old woman in her back yard.

Grandview police fire tear gas

Home invasion investigated
Fast action last night in the 11900 block of Smalley Avenue in Grandview after a reported home invasion and robbery at 12:15 a.m.:

• Forty-five minutes later, three people run from the house and say the bad guys are still inside.
• Police set up a perimeter, call in the SWAT team and use a bullhorn.
• At 3:40 p.m., they fire tear gas, but the house is empty.