Stupid people of the week

It’s easier to fit pretty ladies if your sports car is a shooting brake

Former firing range master accused of stealing thousands of rounds of ammunition is indicted by N.J. grand jury

A state grand jury has indicted a former corrections range master in a scheme to sell $475,000 worth of government-owned ammunition.

Timothy Morris, 57, of the Bayville section of Berkeley Township, was indicted on 24 counts, the state Attorney General’s Office said in a statement on Friday.

The indictment charges him with the following crimes:

• second-degree official misconduct
• second-degree theft by unlawful taking
• second-degree financial facilitation of criminal activity
• 11 counts of third-degree financial facilitation of criminal activity
• five counts of third-degree failure to pay or turn over taxes
• five counts of third-degree filing or preparing a fraudulent return

Morris was the state Department of Correction’s Range Master from 2008 until his arrest last year. At the time of his arrest, his salary was $137,000, according to pension records.

Morris was responsible for managing the agency’s four firing ranges and ordering ammunition, authorities said.

The indictment alleges that between January 2019 and March 2025, he used his position to order excess ammunition so he could sell it to a gun store. The gun store paid Morris directly, the state alleged.

He made a profit of more than $475,000 from the sales, according to the indictment.

“This defendant was a law enforcement officer entrusted with the power to use taxpayer resources to run firing ranges for nearly two decades,” New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport said. “As alleged in the indictment, he exploited that position of public trust for his own personal benefit.”

He is also accused of attempting to cover up the scheme by cashing multiple checks at banks for small amounts, avoiding the bank reporting requirements for transactions exceeding $10,000, officials said.

In addition, Morris is accused of failing to pay state taxes on income allegedly earned from the ammunition sales. From 2020 to 2024, he allegedly filed false tax returns and failed to report income totaling $418,000, authorities said.

Morris has been suspended from his job since his arrest in March 2025.

Source; NJ.com

Coast Guard captain fired for ignoring a distress call loses labour board grievance

You have one job in the Coast Guard…

A Canadian Coast Guard captain accused of wilfully disregarding a distress call has lost his Federal Labour Relations Board grievance protesting his firing.

Article content
Lou Callaghan was captain of a Canadian Coast Guard vessel patrolling off the north shore of Prince Edward Island in May 2024 when a mussel boat ran aground in Malpeque Harbour and started taking on water in rough seas.

Another vessel tried to help and sent out a distress call.

Instead of providing assistance, Callaghan piloted his ship past Malpeque Harbour before calling the Marine Communications and Traffic Services Centre to ask whether he should help. After he was told that he should, he stopped and waited another five minutes to be told a second time. Then, by the time his ship arrived, the five occupants of the mussel boat had already been rescued by the local fire department.

Callaghan’s labour board grievance was about whether he should have been terminated for not responding to the distress call.

“(Callaghan) says that he committed no wrongdoing because Coast Guard vessels should wait to be tasked before responding to a distress call,” writes Christopher Rootham, Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board adjudicator in his Jan. 30 decision.

“He is wrong; all captains have a legal duty to respond to a distress call on receiving that call, and the Coast Guard’s policies affirm this duty. Further… that belief would require him to take the absurd position (which he tried to do in his evidence) that a Coast Guard vessel should sail past a vessel that it sees is in distress solely because it has not been formally tasked to render assistance.”

Rootham notes that during cross-examination Callaghan was asked: “So if you see a ship in distress, you do not assist, but you wait to be tasked?”

He writes: “Mr. Callaghan doubled down on his theory, testifying, ‘I would make a call to them (marine communication) and make them aware of the situation and they probably would send me if I was in close proximity.’ In other words, he is saying that he would sail past a vessel in distress because he needs to call it in and be tasked before rendering assistance.”

The lack of credulity in this answer, writes Rootham, put him “in the difficult position of either believing that (Callaghan) has callous disregard for other mariners, or that he does not sincerely believe what he is saying but feels that he must maintain the position, no matter how absurd its results. I choose the later.”

There were two distress calls that morning, the first from the other fishing vessel on behalf of the mussel boat, and a second from the marine communications centre. Both were recorded and subsequently played during the labour board hearing.

“When Mr. Callaghan listened to the first MAYDAY call during the hearing,” writes Rootham, “he said that he did not recognize it, and he denied having heard it on May 13, 2024. All three other crew members testified that they heard the first MAYDAY call and that Mr. Callaghan did too. I accept their evidence.”

Crew members also testified that the deckhand asked Callaghan whether they were going to respond to the distress call and he said no, adding that the water in Malpeque Harbour is shallow. Callaghan denied saying this.

Callaghan also seems to have been confused about how far his ship was from the distressed boat, writes Rootham. He mistakenly thought that he was 27 nautical miles away, when his coordinates stipulate that he was only 9.3 nautical miles away.

Then at the entrance to Malpeque Bay, Callaghan asked the deckhand to take the wheel, which the crew members inferred meant Callaghan was not comfortable piloting the ship in Malpeque Bay.

The Coast Guard suspended Callaghan and held a disciplinary hearing into the incident in June 2024, then terminated him in early July.

Ultimately, Rootham found just cause to discipline Callaghan, and that his termination was justified. Looking to the Canada Shipping Act, which governs this type of situation, Rootham wrote that “the captain of a ship in Canadian waters is under a legal duty to respond to distress calls.”

Most important, he adds, the testimonies of every witness except Callaghan supported the conclusion that the captain of a Coast Guard vessel does not need to be tasked to respond to a distress call. Callaghan’s refusal to acknowledge he should do things differently and his lack of sincerity at the hearing, wrote Rootham, outweighed Callaghan’s 18-years of “otherwise distinguished service.”

Source; National Post

Canadian serial criminal who murdered girlfriend by stabbing her 15 times gets lighter sentence because he is black

A Canadian serial criminal who murdered his girlfriend by stabbing her 15 times in broad daylight was handed a lighter sentence because of his race.

Everton Downey, 35, killed his girlfriend, Melissa Blimkie, 25, in a savage attack in December 2021 at the Metrotown shopping mall in Burnaby, British Columbia.

Downey was convicted of second–degree murder and sentenced to life in prison last month.

Prosecutors asked the court to make him ineligible for parole for 15 years, but British Columbia Supreme Court Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes instead set the period at 12 years.

The judge made the decision after reviewing Downey’s Impact of Race and Culture Assessment (IRCA), a report used in Canada primarily for black offenders that explains how poverty and marginalization may have shaped their life.

The report noted that Downey did not experience overt racism while growing up in Toronto, according to the National Post.

However, it claimed he later experienced disconnection, isolation and discrimination ‘he had not previously encountered’ after moving to British Columbia in 2016.

‘Mr. Downey has a substantial criminal record involving violence and firearms,’ Holmes said. ‘I recognize, however, that the aggravating effect of his criminal record is offset in part by the mitigating circumstances of his background.’

Downey was described in the assessment as a ‘black man of African Nova Scotian, African American and Jamaican ancestry.’

His report was written by University of Calgary social work associate professor Patrina Duhaney.

‘He grew up in Toronto in predominantly black and racially diverse neighborhoods and attended racially diverse schools,’ Holmes’ decision said.

Downey ‘felt that he did not experience overt racism’ and that ‘his experience living in communities which normalized racial diversity shaped his early sense of identity and belonging.’

The convicted killer said that changed when he left his home city for British Columbia.

‘He found a much smaller black population, and the cultural norms among black communities felt unfamiliar to him,’ the judge wrote in her decision.

She added that Downey experienced racial discrimination ‘in the community and in the institutional setting.’

Holmes acknowledged that Downey had a ‘significant criminal record that includes serious offenses of violence’ before killing Blimkie.

Downey had also previously served time in prison, though details of those earlier crimes were not specified.

However, the judge said his IRCA made ‘clear that broader systemic, structural, and community factors relating to Mr. Downey’s experience as a black person have played a part in his life experience.’

That included ‘various types of trauma, negative peer influences, and mental health challenges,’ the judge said.

Downey grew up experiencing domestic violence at home, shootings in his neighborhood and poverty.

His father was also described as being absent during his upbringing, all factors which contributed to Downey’s apparent ‘lasting sense of danger and mistrust.’

Downey’s report demonstrated ‘early exposure to violence, chronic instability, poverty, systemic anti–black racism and untreated mental health symptoms.’

The judge specifically pointed to Downey’s ‘hypervigilance, that may be trauma related.’

Downey fatally stabbed his girlfriend in a stairwell at the Metrotown mall on December 19, 2021.

A public obituary for Blimkie said she died due to a ‘senseless act of violence’ and remembered her as a ‘strong, intelligent and independent young woman.’

The two had been in a relationship ‘for some time’ prior to the killing, per the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

He defended himself in court and said he ‘kind of blacked out’ before killing Blimkie, according to Vancouver is Awesome.

Downey claimed he thought he was being watched, followed and drugged in the months leading up to the fatal stabbing.

‘After we entered the sliding doors, I lost it,’ he told the court, per the outlet.

‘I was hearing voices, “She’s going to kill you! She’s going to set you up! She’s going to kill you!”‘ Downey said. ‘I just remember not being able to control myself.’

Downey fled the scene after stabbing Blimkie and interacted with nine civilians before being taken into custody.

The Daily Mail reached out to Canada’s Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, which investigated Downey’s killing of his girlfriend; Duhaney, who wrote Downey’s IRCA; and the Supreme Court of British Columbia, where Holmes serves, for further comment.

Source; Daily Mail

Officer having ‘anxiety attack’ took ambulance sent for man dying from police shooting, report says

A man who was shot by police and later died had to wait 10 extra minutes for an ambulance after an officer having a “mild anxiety attack” took the first one that arrived at the scene, according to a newly released state investigation.

Dyshan Best, 39, was shot in the back last year as he fled from officers in Bridgeport, Connecticut. A report released Tuesday by the state’s inspector general found that the shooting was justified because Best had a gun in his hand and the officer pursuing him had reasons to fear for his own safety.

But the report raised questions about what took place after the March 31 shooting, which left Best, who was Black, bleeding with severe internal injuries.

The first ambulance called to take Best to the hospital arrived at the scene at 6:02 p.m., about 14 minutes after the shooting. However, at the urging of other officers, that ambulance was used to take away a white police officer, Erin Perrotta, who had been involved in the foot chase, the report said.

Paramedics reported that Perrotta declined treatment in the ambulance.

“I am fine, I just needed to get out of here,” she said, according to the report. Another officer described Perrotta at the time as “visibly hysterical (crying and breathing rapidly) and had blood all over her uniform,” the report said.

The second ambulance arrived at the scene at about 6:12 p.m. Hospital records said Best was brought in for treatment at 6:22 p.m. — about 14 minutes after Perrotta got to the hospital, according to the report.

Best died at 7:41 p.m. as he was undergoing treatment for the gunshot wound, which damaged his liver and right kidney.

The report by Inspector General Eliot Prescott did not say whether the delay in waiting for another ambulance contributed to Best’s death.

One of Best’s nieces, Tatiana Barrett, told The Associated Press that revelations from the report have angered and saddened family and friends. They believe he could have survived if he was taken to the hospital in the first ambulance.

“Honestly it’s heartbreaking hearing all these details,” she said. “We were looking for justice. In our community, we don’t know what justice looks like. We want justice for my uncle. We truly believe he was murdered.”

A spokesperson for Bridgeport police, Shawnna White, declined to comment Wednesday when asked about Perrotta taking the first ambulance. She said in an email that the police department’s Internal Affairs Division would conduct its own investigation.

Perrotta currently is out on administrative leave due to an unrelated matter, which White did not disclose.

Phone and email messages were left Wednesday for Perrotta, Mayor Joe Ganim’s office, Prescott’s office, the city police union and Darnell Crosland, a lawyer for Best’s family.

The series of events began when someone called 911 to report a brawl involving about 30 people, including some who had guns. A witness pointed officers to two men in an SUV and said they had a gun, the report says.

Perrotta approached the passenger’s side of the vehicle and opened the door. Best is seen on police body camera video in the passenger’s seat, holding a bottle of alcohol, a vape pen and a cellphone. Perrotta asks Best to step out of the SUV so she could pat him down, the video shows. Best gets out of the vehicle, then runs away with police chasing after him.

During the chase, Best pulled out a 9 mm handgun, the report said. As he ran into a lot filled with disabled cars, the officer chasing him, Yoon Heo, fired his gun twice, striking Best once.

The inspector general concluded, based on the video evidence, that the shooting was justified because Best pointed his gun backward at Heo as he ran.

While wounded on the ground, Best said, “I got shot,” the videos show. Heo responds, “You pulled a gun on me,” but Best says “No I didn’t.” Heo then says “Yeah you did.” Prescott said a handgun was found near Best at the scene.

After the shooting, the family’s lawyer, Crosland disputed that Best had a gun and claimed he was instead holding a vape pen. Prescott said police body camera video clearly show Best with a pistol in his hand.

Best’s niece, Barrett, said he was a truck driver who had returned to his hometown of Bridgeport to attend a friend’s funeral.

Source; Yahoo! News

Category: Crime, Police, Stupid Criminals