Nov 22, 2009 11:00 am US/Eastern

Pa. Couple Arrested For Failing To Pay Tip

College Students, Among Group Of 8, Refuse To Leave Gratuity Due To Poor Service At Lehigh Pub; Business Has Mandatory 'Service Fee' For Large Parties

BETHLEHEM, Pa. (CBS)

 

A pair of college students were arrested for failing to leave a tip at a Pennsylvania restaurant.

Two Pennsylvania college students were arrested after staff at a restaurant where they dined called police about the couple's refusal to leave a mandatory tip.

Leslie Pope and John Wagner were dining with about six other people at Lehigh Pub in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in October when the incident occurred.

The pair insists service was so horrible that the last thing on their mind was leaving any kind of tip.

They claim they had to wait at least an hour for their order, fetch their own silverware and beg the barkeep for drink refills.

"Gratuity is thanking you for your service," Pope, 22, told the The Express-Times online newspaper. "You can't give us terrible, terrible service and expect a tip."

The business reportedly charges a required 18 percent gratuity fee for parties of a certain size.

But Pope told The Express-Times that they were being told to pay $16.35 in addition to their $73.87 bill -- pointing out that the calculated service charge was much higher than 18 percent.

It was unclear why Pope and Wagner were the only ones of the group cited for theft of service. They pleaded not guilty to the charge and are awaiting their trial date.

The Express-Times say management for Lehigh Pub refused to comment on the story.

Doctor's diagnosis of patient: You're unemployed and fat

"When I got home, I was very upset about the way I was treated by him," the patient wrote in a private complaint to the board. Efforts to contact the patient were not successful.

Sunderhaus, who describes himself as a plain-spoken old German, escalated the conflict by later writing the patient to drive home his points using numbered paragraphs and signing it "sincerely." Then, he fired off opinionated missives to the board, which called him to Raleigh on Thursday for a closed-door meeting.

Sunderhaus' point — that doctors need to advise patients to lose weight, because obesity is not just a personal issue, it's a $147 billion public health crisis — may have gotten lost in the delivery.

The board, which licenses and disciplines doctors, has not decided whether to charge Sunderhaus over the patient's complaint. The worst that could happen is he'd lose his license.

Most problems arising from an insensitive comment are handled with a quiet tut-tut by the board — perhaps a recommendation that the practitioner take a refresher course in effective doctor-patient communication, said Jean Fisher Brinkley, the board’s spokeswoman.

Usually, doctors appreciate the confidentiality.

Sunderhaus, by contrast, stormed the beaches in defending his honor.

He wrote North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue, referring the patient's "irresponsible orgasm" that resulted in children whose medical care is provided by Medicaid.

He fired off numerous letters to the medical board, noting that its rules make him nauseous and, among other things, that "the biggest hoax on mankind" is the Drug Enforcement Agency.

Sunderhaus notified McClatchy that he was about to be "screwed" by the medical board, admitting he told the patient that thick eyeglasses would not cause her to go blind, "but her thick thighs and diabetes would."

"I poked her thigh to emphasize that diabetes is the leading cause of blindness," he said Thursday. "People have got to accept criticism without getting their bowels in an uproar."

Sunderhaus, a trim man who appeared before the board wearing cargo pants and sporting a backpack, makes no apologies for his actions. He blew off a psychiatric test the board arranged and flouted protocol by talking about his case, which the board likes to keep secret.

At the end of a conversation with this reporter, Sunderhaus offered $20 for her efforts. She returned it, but not before he tucked it in her sweater.

After 30 years of practice, Sunderhaus said, he is prepared to take whatever discipline the board issues, even the loss of his license.

Cops: Man Hits Girlfriend With Frozen Turkey

 BOSTON -- A Dorchester man was arrested Saturday for assault and battery with a deadly weapon after he hit his girlfriend with a frozen turkey, The Boston Herald reported.

The victim said her boyfriend, Mark Woodward, accused her of talking with her mother on the phone for too long. Woodward then took the turkey out of the freezer and threw it at her, hitting her in the hip, police said.

The victim told police she had received the frozen turkey and other holiday groceries from her church.

Woodward denied the charges, but a frozen turkey was found on the porch of his home, with apparent damage to the packaging, police said. 

The victim was treated at Boston Medical Center.

Ventura County man arrested for reportedly paying teens to spit on him

LA Times

November 20, 2009 |  8:52 am

A 39-year-old Thousand Oaks man has been arrested for reportedly paying teens to spit in his face, slap him and yell profanities at him, a spokesman for the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department said today.

Charles Hersel, who was arrested on child annoyance charges and released on his own recognizance, reportedly sought out young male Westlake High School students on the MySpace social networking website, said Capt. Frank O’Hanlon.

“It didn’t take long for word to spread among local teens that they could get paid to spit in a man’s face,” O’Hanlon said.

Teens also reported that Hersel asked them to urinate and defecate on him. He was arrested Wednesday after an undercover sting operation at the Westlake Promenade mall, where he paid a teen $31 to spit in his face.

-- Seema Mehta

Police accuse bank robbery suspect of gobbling up note (with dashcam video)

Gina Mace
Special to the Beacon Journal

06:58 p.m. EST, Nov 20, 2009

Police believe they have their man.

But they fear their suspect in a bank robbery may have eaten some of the evidence — the note handed to a Streetsboro bank teller demanding cash — while he was handcuffed and leaning over the hood of a police cruiser.

Twinsburg police Patrolman Daniel Biada said a dash cam video of Thursday's arrest of John H. Ford, 35, of Cleveland, shows Ford gobbling a piece of paper while officers searched his pockets.

"As we're searching him, officers are removing items and throwing them on the cruiser [hood],'' Biada said. ''We're searching him for weapons. We're not looking at his head.''

The whereabouts of the note demanding money came into question after Biada was taken into custody and Streetsboro investigators asked whether officers had found the piece of paper.

Twinsburg police reviewed the images captured on camera and said they observed Ford leaning over to eat something off the hood of the cruiser.

''He grabbed it in his mouth, just like Pacman,'' Biada said. ''He just ate it right there.''

Authorities said they found a .38-caliber pistol on the driver's side floor of Ford's car and a wad of cash covered in red ink on the passenger side of the vehicle.

Ford is also a suspect in bank robberies in Stow and Akron.

In the Streetsboro case, a man walked into the FirstMerit branch on state Route 14 around 10 a.m. and handed a teller a note that demanded money. The robber did not produce a gun inside of the bank.

Witnesses say he fled in a dark Ford Escort.

Twinsburg police stopped Ford, who was driving a black Ford Escort, on Interstate 480 shortly after the robbery was reported and turned him over to Streetsboro police.

LINK TO VIDEO

http://www.ohio.com/news/70663697.html

Last Edited: Yesterday, 6:27 am

Fingerprints, camera image lead to teenage bank-robbery suspect

01:00 AM EST on Saturday, November 21, 2009

Amanda Milkovits

Journal Staff Writer

WARWICK –– Perhaps he should have attended his English class.

A local 17-year-old boy skipped school on Thursday to rob a bank –– but the police said his misspelled note to the teller led to his arrest that afternoon.

Capt. Sean Collins said the teen walked into the Coastway Community Bank branch at 2089 Warwick Ave. Thursday morning and handed a note to the teller. The handwritten note, riddled with misspelled words, demanded money or “everyone will be shot,” Collins said.

The teller didn’t see a weapon, the police said, but gave the youth some money.

But the note held the youth’s fingerprints, the police said, and his image had been captured by the bank’s surveillance cameras — leading to his arrest six hours after the crime.

The boy, whose name has been withheld because he is a juvenile, was charged with first-degree robbery and is being held at the Rhode Island Training School.

10:19 a.m. Nov. 18, 2009 | Updated: 2:30 p.m. Nov. 18, 2009

Dad arraigned in son's killing; mom says she sought help for teen

Jamar Pinkney Sr. stood stoically in a Highland Park courtroom today, silent as a judge ordered him back to jail without bond, accused of shooting his 15-year-old son in the head execution-style.

With waist-long dreadlocks, the postal carrier didn't flinch as his son's great-aunt wailed and had to be led from 30th District Court.

"This is the most horrible thing that's ever happened to him," Pinkney Sr.'s lawyer, Corbett O'Meara, said after the hearing, not addressing whether Pinkney feels any remorse about Monday's shooting. Pinkney Sr.'s preliminary exam is scheduled for 9 a.m. Dec. 1 in 30th District Court in Highland Park.

"He's calm," O'Meara added. "He appears to understand what's going on."

Investigators say Pinkney was reacting with rage when he stripped his son naked, marched him outside the home of the boy's mother and executed him Monday afternoon.

Lazette Cherry, Jamar Jr.'s mother, said she wanted to get her 15-year-old son help when he came to her and said he had acted inappropriately with his 3-year-old half-sister.

There wasn’t a rape, Cherry said her son told her. But he confessed to his mother that he knew lying on top of the baby was wrong, she said.

So she called her son's father and told him what she believed happened in his home on Newport on Detroit’s east side.

“I called and told his father this isn’t something you sweep under the rug,” the devastated mother said today.

His father showed up at the house Monday afternoon with a gun, she said.

“He started beating him right here,” Cherry said from her living room. “I said, ‘No, please stop!’ ”

But the father marched Jamar Jr., a sophomore at Martin Luther King High School, outside.

“He got on his knees and begged, ‘No, Daddy! No!’ and he pulled the trigger,” she said. “There wasn’t nothing that my son wouldn’t do for his father. He loved his father so much."

The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office charged Pinkney Sr. with first-degree murder, punishable by up to life in prison. He's also been charged with three counts of felonious assault for pointing the gun at Cherry and two other people at her home before the shooting.

"No individual has the right to exact the death penalty on another no matter how reprehensible the behavior -- that is why we have laws," Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said today in a statement announcing the charges.

“I hope he rots in jail,” Cherry said of the man she met while they worked at the post office. “He did not deserve that,” she said of her son.

As white teddy bears with red silk hearts bearing the words "I love you" sit on the grass next to her home where her son died, candle wrappers from a vigil held Tuesday night scattered around, Cherry still can't believe what happened.

"There's no justification for what he did, you know, downright shoot your child," she said, wondering aloud about her ex. "He didn't rape her or anything. So why did you have to come and take matters into your hands? We said we were going to get him help."

A fund has been set up to help the family with burial expenses for Jamar Jr. Donations can be made at the Charter One Bank branch in Highland Park

Lazette Cherry, 36, holds her 1-year-old son, Quran Stewart, and a photo of her 15-year-old son Jamar Pinkney Jr. who police say was shot in the head execution-style by his father in a Highland Park field on Monday after confessing to molesting his 3-year-old half-sister. (TAMMY STABLES BATTAGLIA/DFP)

Jamar Pinkney Sr. appears before Chief Judge Brigette R. Officer in 30th District Court in Highland Park today (PATRICIA BECK/Staff Photographer

Lazette Cherry talks this morning. (TAMMY STABLES BATTAGLIA/Detroit Free Press)

      WARNING COULD BE OFFENSIVE

http://www.ketv.com/video/21674469/

Last Edited: November 21, 2009, 9:55 am

Police: Robber who warmed bottle for baby arrested

Robert Coleman, 18, arrested at Arlington High

Updated: Friday, 20 Nov 2009, 10:54 AM EST
Published : Friday, 20 Nov 2009, 10:53 AM EST

Liza Danver

Andrew Bonner

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Indianapolis Metro Police have arrested a man who allegedly heated up a bottle for a crying baby during a violent home invasion robbery. The infant's father is now speaking out about how the arrest came about.

Police arrested 18-year-old Robert Coleman Tuesday at Arlington High School where he is a junior. Officers got a tip after a television viewer saw surveillance video on the news.

Officers said Coleman admitted to the robbery.

Detectives said last Friday two men forced their way into a home in the 6100 block of East 21st Street just after 8:30 a.m. with intentions of robbing the family inside.

At one point, one of the robbers hit one of the adults over the head with a gun, police said.

Police said while the robbers were ransacking the house, a baby in the house started crying. That's when police said Coleman not only let a child in the house feed the baby, he actually warmed the bottle himself in the microwave

But police said it was also Coleman who held a gun to the head of the infant's father, Ronnell Griffie, and threatened to kill him.

"It escalated to 'Get on the ground! Get on the ground!' then, 'If you say a word, you're going to die, you're going to die right now'," Griffie recalled.

Griffie said that a few hours after a report of the robbery was shown on TV, a woman came to his friend’s house where the crime happened.

Griffie said the woman asked him a few questions about the robbers and then started crying uncontrollably. She said one of the robbers was her nephew, Robert Coleman, who lives with her. The woman said she had all the stolen items at her house. Griffie said she returned almost everything to him, right after she turned in her nephew to police.

Upon learning of Coleman's arrest, Griffie said, "I hope and pray he changes his life. It doesn’t have to be that way."

He added, "I'm just happy that he won't have the opportunity to do it to anyone else...You don't know what's going to happen in a situation. You don't know what a person is thinking. All you can do is talk to them and be nice to them."

Coleman is in jail on $30,000 dollars bond for burglary, robbery, criminal confinement and pointing a firearm. Metro Police are still looking for the other suspect.

LINK TO VIDEO

http://www.wishtv.com/dpp/news/strange/police-robber-who-warmed-bottle-for-baby-arrested2

Last Edited: November 21, 2009, 7:20 am

Sergeant accused of stealing more than $600,000

November 20, 2009 9:22 PM |  UPDATED STORY

The head of the Chicago police sergeants' union was charged with looting union dues to pay for steak dinners, gambling trips to Las Vegas and a second residence in the city's Sauganash neighborhood.

Sgt. John  Pallohusky, a 21-year veteran assigned to the detective division, was arrested at his Northwest Side home early Friday on felony theft and money-laundering charges for allegedly embezzling  about $600,000 over the last several years.

"This case makes this a very difficult day for all of us in law enforcement," said State's Attorney Anita Alvarez.

Pallohusky, 53, is accused of writing checks from the Chicago Police Sergeants' Association to himself and depositing them into his personal accounts. He is also accused of using  association credit cards for  personal use.

 The union funds were built by the $25 each member pays per pay period, according to the complaint. Some $765,000 in dues is collected each year from the 1,200 members of the union.

"We will do everything possible to recover these funds," said Police Superintendent Jody Weis, who noted that the investigation continues.

Union officials said they were cooperating with the investigation and that the organization is "fiscally sound." Edward  Maloney, the union's general counsel, said the board of directors will run the union's day-to-day operations. The board "is deeply upset by the charges," he said.

Attorney Robert Kuzas, who is representing Pallohusky, denied wrongdoing. "I don't believe he misappropriated one penny of the union's money," he said.

The Police Department's Internal Affairs Division opened an investigation after Chase Bank noticed in August that Pallohusky had deposited tens of thousands of dollars into a personal account from a union credit card account, authorities said.

Prosecutors moved to seize Pallohusky's two homes and more than a dozen bank and brokerage accounts. In a recent 12-month period,  Pallohusky used $75,000 in stolen funds on dinners in Loop steakhouses and restaurants, the charges alleged. 

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/11/cop-accused-of-stealing-funds-from-sergeants-group.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ChicagoBreakingNews+%28Chicago+Breaking+News%29

Last Edited: November 21, 2009, 7:01 am

Taser gun used on 10-year-old girl who 'refused to take shower'

A police officer used a Taser stun gun to subdue a 10-year-old girl in her own home.

Nick Allen in Los Angeles
Published: 12:12AM GMT 19 Nov 2009

A police officer using a Taser gun Photo: PA

The officer had been called to the girl's home in Ozark, Arkansas, by her mother because she was behaving in an unruly manner and refusing to take a shower.

In a report on the incident the officer, Dustin Bradshaw, said the mother gave him permission to use the Taser.  When he arrived, the girl was curled up on the floor, screaming, and resisting as her mother tried to get her in the shower before bed.

"Her mother told me to take her if I needed to," the officer wrote.

The child was "violently kicking and verbally combative" when he tried to take her into custody and she kicked him in the groin.

He then delivered "a very brief drive stun to her back," the report said.

The girl's father, Anthony Medlock, who is divorced from her mother, said the girl showed signs of emotional problems but did not deserve to be "treated like an animal".

He said: "Ten years old and they shot electricity through her body, and I want to know how the heck in God's green earth can they get away with this.

"If you can't pick the kid up and take her to your car, handcuff her, then I don't think you need to be an officer. She doesn't deserve to be treated like a dog. She's not a tiger." Local Mayor Vernon McDaniel said the FBI should investigate.

He said: "People here feel like that he made a mistake in using a Taser, and maybe he did, but we will not know until we get an impartial investigation." The local Police Chief Jim Noggle said no disciplinary action was taken against Bradshaw.

"We didn't use the Taser to punish the child, just to bring the child under control so she wouldn't hurt herself or somebody else," he said.

He said if the officer tried to forcefully put the girl in handcuffs, he could have accidentally broken her arm or leg.

Mr Noggle said the girl will face disorderly conduct charges as a juvenile.

Last Edited: November 20, 2009, 11:50 pm

Woman, 34, fatally shot at boyfriend's funeral gathering

City detectives believe incident connected to earlier slaying, but motive unclear

A woman was fatally shot Thursday night outside this West Baltimore funeral home, where she was attending a private family gathering for her boyfriend, who was killed last week, police said. (Baltimore Sun photo by Justin Fenton / November 20, 2009)

Justin Fenton 

Baltimore Sun

12:20 p.m. EST, November 20, 2009

But they aren't, Brown said as he sipped coffee outside of his business Friday morning, a bullet hole marring the glass vestibule. A few steps away, a man wearing gloves and plastic boots used bleach in an attempt to clean up blood from the sidewalk. It's not gone, but it's better, he told Brown.

"That's gone out the window," Brown said of respect for funerals. "This has become a fact of life as much here in Baltimore as it is in Afghanistan, Iraq and anywhere else. There's many wars going on in the world, and this just happens to be one of the wars in our community."

The irony, Brown said, is that Baltimore's high death toll helps fuel the funeral home industry here. He said members of his staff become "master embalmers," adept at taking victims who suffered gunshot wounds to the head and making them presentable for an open casket. His ability to restore a lifelike appearance that doesn't show any indication of the deceased's tragic demise is a point of pride.

"But when it happens right outside your door, it brings it really, really close to home," Brown said.

The shooting was at least the second time someone has opened fire on a West Baltimore funeral service in the past two years. In April 2008, two people were shot outside the Unity Methodist Church, where about 300 mourners had gathered to view the body of a 26-year-old who had been killed in a triple shooting. In 2001, a man was shot at while leaving a viewing for his brother at Wylie Funeral Home.

With tensions running high, police often send a uniformed or plainclothes presence to keep watch outside funerals. Brown said he has a retired city police officer who works security and was at the facility last night when the shots rang out, leaving him to wonder what else he could do to better safeguard mourners and his staff from brazen gunmen.

"We've worked very hard in building this business, and to have something happen like this, it does shake my confidence," he said. "It shakes my confidence in how well we are protected, or insulated [from the city violence]. Is my staff going to be OK? Will they catch a stray bullet? I feel very vulnerable right now."

About a dozen people had gathered for services for Michael Anthony McFadden, who was shot to death Nov. 12 near his home, in the 2000 block of W. Lanvale St., police said. It was one of two services taking place at the 16,000-square-foot facility Thursday night.

Police said his girlfriend, Virginia McGhee, received a phone call about 7:30 p.m. and stepped outside, where she was shot in the chest by an unknown assailant. Police are investigating whether she was lured outside, or whether her attacker was waiting and seized the opportunity.

Detectives believe the two shootings are connected, but a motive was unclear. A man who had been standing in the vestibule of the funeral home was also treated for a gunshot wound to his arm, according to police.

Like much of the city's violence, officials believe drugs could be at the root of the shootings. McFadden pleaded guilty to a drug distribution charge in October 2007, receiving a four-year suspended prison sentence, and he has several prior drug-related arrests. McGhee, who court records show shared an address with McFadden, pleaded guilty to a second-degree assault charge in October 2008, receiving a five-year suspended prison sentence, and last month was charged with violating her probation.

Relatives planned to follow through with McFadden's funeral. As Brown's staff worked to clean up the area outside, McFadden's sister was inside paying the bill. She declined to speak with a reporter. Brown said he expected hundreds of people to attend the service, each passing by the bullet hole in the front vestibule. He's unlikely to be able to replace the glass today.

"That will be a reminder to everybody that comes into this funeral home today of what happened," he said. "This is something none of us will ever, ever forget."

                              LINK TO VIDEO

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bal-funeral1120,0,4150914.story

November 19, 2009

Kerry's Daughter Arrested on Suspicion of DUI in Los Angeles 

FOXNews.com

Alexandra Forbes Kerry was arrested and then released on $5,000 bail, Los Angeles Police Department officer Norma Eisenman told Fox News. 

Sen. John Kerry's daughter was arrested Thursday morning in Los Angeles on suspicion of driving under the influence, police said. 

Alexandra Forbes Kerry was arrested and then released on $5,000 bail, Los Angeles Police Department officer Norma Eisenman told Fox News. 

Police are not releasing any other details on the incident at this point. 

She is the eldest daughter of the Massachusetts senator and former Democratic presidential nominee.

                        WARNING VERY REVEALING

LINK TO PHOTO WITH SEE THROUGH DRESS:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article86097.ece

Last Edited: November 20, 2009, 7:14 am

'What The Bleep?' Mayoral Ad Generates Buzz

Last Edited: November 20, 2009, 5:23 am

Woman tracked down nightclub attacker on Facebook

A woman nearly blinded in a nightclub attack tracked down her assailant on Facebook after police said they had no leads.

Published: 10:25AM GMT 18 Nov 2009

Jennifer Wilson Photo: MASONS

Jennifer Wilson, 20, was horrifically injured when Ashleigh Holliman, 22, rammed a pint glass into her face in an unprovoked nightclub attack.

The tanning salon receptionist was left lying on the dance floor with a deep gash just a centimetre below her left eye.

Holliman fled the scene without being identified after bouncers failed to detain her.

Police investigating the attack told her CCTV from the club was not clear and evidence had been cleared away from the dance floor by staff.

But Miss Wilson, from Oxhey, Herts., recognised one of Holliman's friends who she knew vaguely from Facebook.

She trawled the social networking site and searched through 200 of the man's 'friends' until she found a photograph of her attacker.

She even tracked down her address through a mutual friend on the site and gave it to Hertfordshire Police.

However, Holliman was out when officers arrived to arrest her - and they then asked Miss Wilson if she could find out where she worked.

So Miss Wilson went back on Facebook and discovered she was a hairdresser in Croxley Green, Herts.

Holliman was then arrested at work the following day and taken to a police station, where Jennifer picked her out from an identity parade.

The girl thug admitted actual bodily harm at St Albans Crown Court and was sentenced to 120 hours community service on November 10.

Speaking yesterday Miss Wilson, who has been left with an inch-long scar, said she was delighted to have caught her attacker but said police should have done more.

She said: ''In the end I had to do the police's job for them and track this girl down on Facebook.

''This girl had just been glaring at me all night long and then all of a sudden I was dancing with friends and she slammed the glass into my face.

''She managed to escape but I recognised one of her friends and decided to try and track her down because I didn't deserve what she did to me.''

The attack happened on March 21 as Miss Wilson danced on a raised stage in the Walkabout bar in Watford, Herts.

Recorder Peters QC awarded Jennifer £2,400 compensation and ordered Holliman to do 120 hours unpaid work.

He said: "In nine times out of ten people that glass people in a club go to prison.

"You now have a record and if you lose your control again, which you did that evening, you will end up going to prison."

A Hertfordshire Constabulary spokeswoman said: “Police were called 2.10am on Saturday March 21 to reports that a 20-year-old girl had been assaulted at Walkabout bar in Watford Town Centre.

“The incident had happened at 12.45am that morning and the victim said she thought she knew who it was. She requested police go to see her after 9am later that day, once she was out of hospital.

“Officers did this. Prior to police attendance the victim had made enquiries of her own and tracked down the offender on Facebook. She passed this information on to officers.

“Meanwhile officers also conducted other investigations of the offence, including viewing CCTV at the bar and identifying witnesses who we interviewed. Officers followed up the lead of the named person and other leads before arresting a woman on April 1.”