Disabled Man Tasered To Death For Falling Off Bike

Would not stop for cops so they used a stun gun on him

Steve Watson
Prisonplanet.com
November 24, 2011

A 61 year old man from Halifax County, Virginia, was tasered by cops and died Tuesday after they were called to the scene by an onlooker who saw the man fall off his bike in a parking lot and feared he was drunk.

When the police arrived, Roger Anthony was riding away on the bike. Anthony did not respond to the officers’ requests for him to stop so Officer John Turner used a stun gun on him, causing Anthony to once again fall off his bike, reports wral news.

Family members told the press that when Anthony arrived at the local hospital shortly afterwards, he was declared brain dead.

Scotland Neck Police Chief Joe Williams told the media that the officer had seen Anthony “take something out his pocket and put it into his mouth,” and had therefore taken the decision to taze the man.

Anthony’s sister, Gladys Freeman, told wral that her brother was disabled, hard of hearing and suffered from seizures.

Anthony’s brother-in-law, Milton Freeman told reporters “Why would you (use a stun gun on) a man on a bike? He didn’t do any crime. He wasn’t trying to escape. How (was) he going to escape on his bicycle?”

The police have refused to comment further on the incident pending an investigation. Officer Turner, who had only been on active duty for a month, has been placed on leave...[Full Article]

Woodpecker-Saving Daughter Costs Mom $500, Possible Jail Time

WUSA9.com

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. (WUSA) -- Eleven-year-old aspiring veterinarian, Skylar Capo, sprang into action the second she learned that a baby woodpecker in her Dad's backyard was about to be eaten by the family cat.

"I've just always loved animals," said Skylar Capo. "I couldn't stand to watch it be eaten."

Skylar couldn't find the woodpecker's mother, so she brought it to her own mother, Alison Capo, who agreed to take it home.

"She was just going to take care of it for a day or two, make sure it was safe and uninjured, and then she was going to let it go," said Capo.

But on the drive home, the Capo family stopped at a Lowes in Fredericksburg and they brought the bird inside because of the heat. That's when they were confronted by a fellow shopper who said she worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service...[Full Article]

WikiLeaks Suspect Forced To Sleep Naked In Brig

CBS / Baltimore

Bradley Manning has told of leaking classified diplomatic reports, along with this secret video, to the whistleblower website Wikileaks.org. (AP Photo)

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Army private suspected of giving classified U.S. documents to the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks was forced to sleep naked in a military jail at least once this week, the Marine Corps acknowledged Friday after the soldier’s lawyer complained.

Commanders of the brig in Quantico, Va., ordered all of Pfc. Bradley Manning’s clothing, including his boxer shorts, taken from him Wednesday night under provisions of the Navy Corrections Manual, which governs prisoner treatment, said 1st Lt. Brian Villiard, a spokesman for the Marine Corps base...[Full Article]

Man Strips at Va. Airport Checkpoint in Protest

RICHMOND, Va. -- Police say a man stripped to his underwear at a Virginia airport checkpoint in a protest against security procedures.

Airport police said the man took off his shirt and pants at Richmond International Airport on Thursday. He had scrawled across his chest a reference to the Constitution's 4th Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure...

[Full Article]

Va. appeals court upholds tracking suspects with GPS

Police can use a GPS device to track the movements of a suspect’s vehicle without first obtaining a warrant, the Virginia Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday.

The court held that police did not violate the privacy rights of David L. Foltz, a suspect in a series of sexual assaults, when they placed a GPS on the bumper of his vehicle.

In upholding Foltz’s conviction on charges of abduction with intent to defile, the appeals court weighed in on the hot-button issue of how the Fourth Amendment ban on unreasonable searches and seizures regulates police use of technology.

The appeals court said Foltz had no expectation of privacy on a public street...

[Full Article]

Stalin Bust Has Virginia Town Red-Faced

Communist dictator deemed unworthy of D-Day recognition

Wayburn Norfleet and Norma Stover, visiting from Indiana, take pictures of the Josef Stalin bust at National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Va. The controversial bust was installed in time for Sunday's 66th anniversary of the World War II invasion of Normandy. (Associated Press)

The small town of Bedford, Va., is home to 21 men who sacrificed their lives on D-Day, June 6, 1944. It is now also the home of one of the world's few public memorial busts of communist dictator Josef Stalin.

Local citizens and organizations have expressed their outrage over the installation of the bust at the National D-Day Memorial, which honored the 66th anniversary of the invasion of Normandy over the weekend. The bust of the Soviet Union's wartime leader was unveiled last week to accompany existing busts of U.S. Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman as well as British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

"Having Stalin in our backyard, people are really upset about that," said Karl Altau, the managing director at the joint Baltic American National Committee that has helped in movements against the Stalin bust...

[Full Article]

Virginia To Investigate Global Warming Scientist Mann

A legal battle is heating up faster than the planet for embattled climatologist Michael Mann.

First word emerged that the inspector general for the National Science Foundation would look into the Penn State panel reviewing the climate scientist, who is currently director of the school's Earth System Science Center. Now the attorney general for his old employer the University of Virginia is planning an investigation, too.

According to a report in Charlottesville weekly The Hook, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has asked the University of Virginia to produce "a sweeping swath of documents relating to Mann’s receipt of nearly half a million dollars in state grant-funded climate research" conducted while Mann was at UVA between 1999 and 2005.

Should the AG uncover evidence of impropriety, the school could be commanded to return the funds, and pick up the cost of the AG's investigation...

Virginia To Teach Gun Safety In Elementary Schools

A new law will require Virginia's education department to come up with a gun-safety curriculum for public elementary schools that incorporates guidelines from the NRA.

Schoolchildren in Virginia who aren't old enough to pack their lunches yet will soon start learning about packing heat.

Move over, Crime Dog McGruff. There's a new mascot on the playground and he's got the backing of the powerful National Rifle Association.

The NRA's Eddie Eagle will soon be offering his brand of gun-safety lessons to the state's schoolchildren.

A new law will require Virginia's education department to come up with a gun-safety curriculum for public elementary schools that incorporates guidelines from the NRA.

The law allows local school divisions to offer gun-safety education to pupils in kindergarten through fifth grade. While each school board can decide whether to offer it, those that do must use the state curriculum -- which will include rules used by the NRA's Eddie Eagle GunSafe Program...

Human Microchips Seen By Some As In Virginia House As Device Of Antichrist

RICHMOND, FEB. 9 -- The House of Delegates is scheduled to vote Wednesday on a bill that would protect Virginians from attempts by employers or insurance companies to implant microchips in their bodies against their will...