Stupid people of the week

Driver dead and 3 injured in stabbing, shooting inside stolen BMW on NB I-5 in Federal Way

A man was fatally stabbed and three others were injured during an altercation inside a stolen car along northbound Interstate 5 in Federal Way Wednesday afternoon.

The Washington State Patrol said the driver of a stolen black BMW was pronounced dead at the scene from a stab wound. A man in the backseat of the BMW was taken to the hospital with “multiple” gunshot wounds, and another man in the backseat and a woman in the front passenger seat were taken to the hospital with stab wounds.

The deadly incident near the off-ramp to the SeaTac Rest Area was first reported around 2:40 p.m. and caused a miles-long backup Wednesday afternoon into Wednesday night.

Two northbound lanes of I-5 and the off-ramp to the rest area were closed for more than nine hours. The Washington State Department of Transportation reported a backup of over 6 miles into Fife and Pierce County at 5:30 p.m.

WSP Trooper Rick Johnson told KOMO News it was a confusing scene at first because it was initially reported as a crash, but responding troopers learned other vehicles were parked in the area because people were attempting to help those who were injured.

Johnson said there was no indication anything happened outside of the stolen vehicle and that “it all seemed to be contained in the one vehicle.”

However, a stolen handgun was found at the scene outside the BMW.

What led to the deadly altercation inside the vehicle is unknown, but Johnson said no other vehicles were involved and no suspects are outstanding.

“Right now, there’s no danger to the public, there is no one outstanding. We have everybody involved detained,” Johnson said. “We’re trying to figure out the sequence of events, (and) who’s a suspect, who’s a victim and so on.”

Source; KOMO News

Deputy watching murder suspect Eric Abril at hospital left the room 14 times, grand jury report says

A deputy assigned to watch accused Roseville park gunman Eric James Abril at a hospital left the room 14 times before Abril’s escape, according to a new report.

The Placer County grand jury’s report, released Thursday, sheds new light on failures that led to Abril’s escape from Sutter Roseville Medical Center on July 9, 2023, along with a detailed timeline. Abril was found after a 33-hour manhunt, at a cost of $109,000, according to the report.

The report found “misconduct and negligence” on the part of the deputy. It said the deputy had taken off his vest, including his radio, handgun magazines, “impact weapon,” body-worn camera, badge and phone, leaving it unattended near Abril as he went to the bathroom. After noticing the inmate’s escape, the deputy rushed to search for him without taking the equipment, according to the report.

The first person to alert authorities of Abril’s escape was a California Highway Patrol officer who was on the medical campus at the time and told dispatchers of a “subject in orange jumpsuit, possible escape.”

Two minutes later, the deputy responsible for guarding Abril returned to the hospital room to notify dispatchers of the escape, according to the report.

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The report says the deputy had been out of the room for more than 27 minutes in all for the eight-hour shift. During those periods, the deputy made phone calls, paced the halls and chatted with other nurses and patients.

At one point, a nurse was left alone “with an unguarded and dangerous inmate” for more than six minutes, the report said.

“The attending deputy’s failure to maintain visual contact of the inmate, to exercise common sense, and to conform to written policy and procedures, substantially contributed to the escape of the inmate, and represented a significant failure to meet one of the essential duties expected of a deputy sheriff,” the grand jury said in its report.

The Placer County Sheriff’s Office told KCRA 3 Investigates that the deputy is still working with the department. Moreover, the agency said it could not disclose if the deputy was disciplined.

“We assure any deficiencies discovered were addressed and appropriately resolved,” the Sheriff’s Office said.

Abril is accused of taking two people hostage on April 6, 2023, at Mahany Park, when CHP officers were attempting to execute a felony search warrant in connection with a freeway shooting. One of the hostages was killed during a police shootout, while the other hostage and a law enforcement officer were hurt. Abril was also shot and treated at the time before being cleared for jail.

The Placer County Sheriff’s Office previously released a report done with the help of a third-party consultant to review the policies and procedures in place at the time of the escape.

That report revealed Abril was taken to Sutter Roseville Medical Center on July 9 because of “possible seizure activity” and that he was monitored by a single deputy at a time.

The report had said Abril was initially designated as a “two-officer” inmate due to his charges, but staffing and his behavior in the facility downgraded him to “one-officer.” The report recommended that the one- or two-person classification inside a facility should not be used to decide how many officers escort an inmate outside the facility.

In response to that report, the Placer County Sheriff’s Office decided to use two officers for all prisoner transport situations. The sheriff’s office said both officers should remain with the inmate at all times and maintain visual contact with them.

The new report by the grand jury recommends a formal training program for deputies on transporting inmates and monitoring them.

“The grand jury believes the inadequate training of the Placer County’s Sheriff’s Office uniformed staff, coupled with the failure of the policies, procedures, and protocols, contributed to the escape,” the report said. “In addition, relying upon a security status reclassification protocol which fails to consider any given inmate’s incentive to escape based on the seriousness of criminal charges he or she is facing, or the length of an imposed sentence, are believed to have been substantial factors leading to the inmate’s escape.”

“We appreciate the grand jury serving as another set of eyes looking at this situation,” the Placer County Sheriff’s Office said in response to the report.

Source; KCRA

88-year-old Montana man sentenced to prison for role in 2 bank robberies

An 88-year-old man was sentenced Thursday to two years in prison for his role in two bank robberies within four days of each other, according to Montana’s U.S. attorney.

Steven Whitecloud of Billings, Montana, pleaded guilty in February to one count of bank robbery, following his alleged involvement in two bank robberies that took place in August.

U.S. District Judge Susan Watters sentenced Whitecloud to two years in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release.

The court additionally ordered Whitecloud to pay $3,092 in restitution.

The U.S. attorney’s office alleged in court documents that on Aug. 24, 2023, Whitecloud’s co-defendant Patrick Justice, 26, entered a U.S. Bank and presented a teller a note demanding money. The teller obliged and Justice fled in a green Ford Taurus.

Four days later, Justice entered a Wells Fargo bank and again presented a teller a note demanding money, telling the teller he was “strapped,” which the teller interpreted as Justice saying he was armed. The teller gave Justice money.

As police responded to the scene, they saw Justice entering the green Ford Taurus. After a pursuit, officers stopped the vehicle and detained Justice along with Whitecloud, who was driving. Authorities said the two stole a combined $15,000 in both robberies.

Justice is Whitecloud’s grandson, according to court documents filed by the defense.

Whitecloud, who had been convicted of bank robbery in 2008 and sentenced to 10 years in state prison, told officers he had suggested that he and Justice rob banks to make money, as he had done in the past. Whitecloud said he told Justice which banks they should hold up and acted as the getaway driver.

Whitecloud suffers from severe health issues, including stage 5 lung cancer in remission, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, hepatitis C, high blood pressure, arthritis and scoliosis. He requires the use of supplemental oxygen and has limited mobility.

Since 2017, Whitecloud has had three criminal convictions, including a felony for criminal mischief after he discharged a firearm at a victim who caught him and another person stealing out of the victim’s truck.

“He is living on the very ragged end of life,” the U.S. attorney’s sentencing memorandum read. “And yet. Despite all of his illness and infirmity, the defendant has demonstrated himself to be, on multiple occasions, a significant danger to the community.”

Whitecloud was ordered to report to the U.S. Marshals Service pending designation to a Bureau of Prisons medical facility. Justice was also sentenced to two years in prison for his conviction.

CORRECTION (June 23, 2024, 6:40 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated the number of robbery of counts Whitecloud pleaded guilty to. He pleaded guilty to one count of bank robbery, not two.

Source; NBC News

UC Berkeley firebomb suspect, 34, lives with parents, has PhD

Casey Goonan was arrested Monday morning at his parents’ $1.1 million home in Pleasant Hill on suspicion of a string of arson attacks at UC Berkeley from June 1 to 16.

Feds, cops and CalFire allege the 34-year-old, a Northwestern University doctorate of African American studies, firebombed a Berkeley campus police car and carried out three other arson incidents on university grounds June 1, as well as last Thursday and Sunday.

Charges were filed Thursday by the Alameda District Attorney’s Office. The felony charges include arson, weapons offenses, possession of a “destructive device,” and violent conduct.

“He will enter a not guilty plea and fight these charges,” his attorney, Jeff Wozniak, said Friday. “No evidence has been presented yet connecting him to these allegations.”

Wozniak confirmed multiple law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, raided the home where Goonan lives with his parents in Pleasant Hill at around 10 a.m. Monday morning. A bio from a 2018 academic journal states Goonan “considers himself a scholar-activist” and an aspiring professor. No social media profiles, including LinkedIn, could be found for Goonan.

“Casey got his PhD! Onto job apps,” Goonan’s mother wrote in a 2022 Instagram post. He previously completed his undergraduate degree at UC Riverside.

Another bio from 2019 described Goonan as an “abolitionist currently living and working in Chicago.”

In online articles, Goonan has described the United States as a “god-awful fascist hell hole” where social injustices are “concealed under the blinders of white supremacist American reason.”

One magazine article titled “Defining Social Reality in a Revolutionary Way” praises the Black Panther Party for establishing “a blueprint for U.S.-based radical organizations experimenting with the scientific, premeditated, and necessarily methodical artistry of social revolution.”

Posts online claiming credit for the torchings point to acts being carried out in protest of the war in Gaza. The Indybay.org post from Sunday titled “retaliation arson attack on construction site at university of kkkalifornia berkeley,” claimed the pro-Palestine group going by the handle Marilyn’s Daughters had looted a university supply building of “thousands of dollars,” firebombed a police car, carried out “experimental burning of dry grass hills on the interior of campus,” torched a building on the campus perimeter, and set fire to a construction site.

“This was done to further retaliate against the UCPD for attacking students at UCSC and UCLA,” the post states.

Another post claiming credit for a firebombing writes, “EVERY SINGLE BUILDING ON THE UC BERKELEY CAMPUS DESERVES TO BE INCINERATED.”

“This is a political investigation,” said Wozniak in an email before charges were filed by the district attorney. “It is an investigation focused on Mr. Goonan’s political beliefs in a free Palestine and against the ongoing genocide in Gaza. If charges are filed, Mr. Goonan’s legal team will aggressively fight the charges. It is my hope, however, that [District Attorney Pamela Price] does not engage in this political persecution, does not file charges and that Mr. Goonan is released from jail.”

Wozniak said the search warrant specifically sought “documents related to the conflict between Israel and Palestine.”

Wozniak is already defending Goonan in a San Francisco felony vandalism case. Prosecutors say Goonan wielded a hammer during a protest outside the Women’s Declaration International USA conference in September last year. Court documents say police saw Goonan smash the Hilton Hotel sign on Kearny Street with a hammer before he was pulled from the crowd and arrested. Protesters had gathered at the conference, which they deemed anti-trangender.

Women’s Declaration International has said that the concept of “gender identity” threatens the rights of women and that transgender women “should not be included in the category women in the context of women’s human rights.”

Goonan pleaded not guilty to felony vandalism, and the case continues; the next hearing is scheduled for Friday in San Francisco. He was scheduled to appear Thursday in Alameda County court for arraignment on arson charges. His bail has been set at $1 million.

A thread of posts Monday night to X by the Escalate Network encouraged support for “someone” who was “accused of using improvised devices to start fires and damage property in retaliation for police brutality against Gaza solidarity encampments.”

The posts called the actions “logical,” saying that even if the arrested person was innocent, they should be supported “as if they truly did take bold and heroic actions to save millions of lives” and calling the deeds “something we should all aspire to, tactics aside: selfless and urgent action to stop the war.”

Update: This story has been updated to include confirmation charges were filed by the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office on June 20.

Source; SF Standard

Category: "Teh Stoopid", Crime, Police, Stupid Criminals, WTF?