Friday, 22 March 2013
CMPD announced the promotion and suspension of Captain Allan Rutledge in the same week.
Rutledge as Cedar Posts noted two weeks ago was noticeably absent from the promotion ceremony that was to see him promoted to Major. His promotion had been circulated to the press, and via email from both CMPD's Public Information Officer and Deputy Chief Katrina Graue.
Details about what lead to the suspension were scant but Cedar Posts has learned that Steele Creek Division Lt. Casey Carver was driving his take home car, a marked CMPD patrol car, when he hit a deer on his way home in Union County. Fearing a formal investigation by either the SHP or Union County Sheriff's Office Carver elected to sleep on it.
However, the following morning Carver felt the overwhelming flood of guilt for the death of the deer or perhaps the damage to Charlotte Taxpayer's patrol car and called his superior Allan Rutledge.
Rutledge apparently advised Carver to drive the patrol car into Mecklenburg County and report the deer vs patrol car collision as if it had just happened in Mecklenburg County.
It is not clear at what point the scheme fell apart, but once the facts made the rounds, and the Deer Tale became more than water cooler conversation Rutledge and Carver were offered a couple of sad options; resign or be terminated.
CP Update: Both CMPD Officers will keep their jobs. Rutledge was given a 30 day active suspension, Carver was given a 60 day active suspension. No word as to Rutledge's promotion to major at this time.
Basketball Drones - Cedar Posts didn't even get a honorable meantion in Kevin Siers' you write the caption contest this week.
Idiots In The Road - The Charlotte Observer is reporting another fatal pedestrian vs. vehicle encounter on Thursday night.
"A man died after he was hit by a truck on West Boulevard in Charlotte around 9:30 p.m. Thursday.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said Matthew White Jr. was driving his pick-up truck westbound on West Boulevard when Johnny Tisdale stepped in front of the truck. Tisdale died at the scene, according to Medic.
West Boulevard was briefly shut down while police investigated the incident. The road reopened a few hours later."
Cedar's Take: CMPD needs to step up and address this issue. Start citing people who insist crossing streets mid block rather than at intersections on streets with more than two travel lanes. Cedar also like the idea of the SFS "Signs for Stupids" campaign, a sample is posted above.
More CMPD - Cedar Posts understands that big changes are underway among patrol divisions.
Cedar hears that Captain Bannerman taken command of Providence Division and effectively tossed the poker table end over end, telling every one that changes are coming. Bannerman future reportedly stated that anyone with a special assignment job, would be required to re-apply for his/her position and that formal interviews would be held to determine if that officer gets to keep his special assignment or is sent back to patrol.
Cedar's Take: "Real nice moral booster"! Maybe Bannerman should ask Deer Abby for some basic guidance for interaction with subordinates.
Rutledge as Cedar Posts noted two weeks ago was noticeably absent from the promotion ceremony that was to see him promoted to Major. His promotion had been circulated to the press, and via email from both CMPD's Public Information Officer and Deputy Chief Katrina Graue.
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| CMPD Captain Allan Rutledge |
Details about what lead to the suspension were scant but Cedar Posts has learned that Steele Creek Division Lt. Casey Carver was driving his take home car, a marked CMPD patrol car, when he hit a deer on his way home in Union County. Fearing a formal investigation by either the SHP or Union County Sheriff's Office Carver elected to sleep on it.
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| CMPD Lt. Casey Carver |
Rutledge apparently advised Carver to drive the patrol car into Mecklenburg County and report the deer vs patrol car collision as if it had just happened in Mecklenburg County.
It is not clear at what point the scheme fell apart, but once the facts made the rounds, and the Deer Tale became more than water cooler conversation Rutledge and Carver were offered a couple of sad options; resign or be terminated.
CP Update: Both CMPD Officers will keep their jobs. Rutledge was given a 30 day active suspension, Carver was given a 60 day active suspension. No word as to Rutledge's promotion to major at this time.
Basketball Drones - Cedar Posts didn't even get a honorable meantion in Kevin Siers' you write the caption contest this week.
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| Click to hear Basketball Jones by Tyrone Shoelaces |
I proably dated myself as well with my play on the 1973 song by Tyrone Shoelaces aka Cheech and Chong. What you have no idea what "Basketball Jones" is? Well click on the Kevin Siers image above.
Cedar Update: CP Operative Agent Bill Fehr is reporting just before 12 noon, a "with his own eyes" sighting of a pilotless drone near Charlotte. Flying on a west southwest to east flight path just south of uptown. No shit!
Idiots In The Road - The Charlotte Observer is reporting another fatal pedestrian vs. vehicle encounter on Thursday night.
"A man died after he was hit by a truck on West Boulevard in Charlotte around 9:30 p.m. Thursday.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said Matthew White Jr. was driving his pick-up truck westbound on West Boulevard when Johnny Tisdale stepped in front of the truck. Tisdale died at the scene, according to Medic.
West Boulevard was briefly shut down while police investigated the incident. The road reopened a few hours later."
Cedar's Take: CMPD needs to step up and address this issue. Start citing people who insist crossing streets mid block rather than at intersections on streets with more than two travel lanes. Cedar also like the idea of the SFS "Signs for Stupids" campaign, a sample is posted above.
More CMPD - Cedar Posts understands that big changes are underway among patrol divisions.
Cedar hears that Captain Bannerman taken command of Providence Division and effectively tossed the poker table end over end, telling every one that changes are coming. Bannerman future reportedly stated that anyone with a special assignment job, would be required to re-apply for his/her position and that formal interviews would be held to determine if that officer gets to keep his special assignment or is sent back to patrol.
Cedar's Take: "Real nice moral booster"! Maybe Bannerman should ask Deer Abby for some basic guidance for interaction with subordinates.
Tuesday, 19 March 2013
Cedar's Take: The Deupty is wrong, however. When Jackass meets Jackass the trouble is we eventually have an accident and the rest of us just trying to go about our drive home, end up sitting in the resultant traffic backup for hours.
Cedar Update: Charleston's Post and Courier delivers the details:
A Summerville man said he wanted whomever was driving a North Carolina sheriff's cruiser on Interstate 526 on Monday to be held accountable for erratic driving.
Chad Walton said that's why he posted a video of his interaction with the cruiser on YouTube Tuesday afternoon. In less than a day, the video has been viewed more than 304,200 times and has led to the deputy's resignation.
Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown issueed a news release saying the deputy who was driving the cruiser, Craig Culpepper, resigned after the Sheriff's Office reviewed the video and discussed the matter with Culpepper.
In a 911 call obtained by The Post and Courier through a Freedom of Information Act request, Walton, 32, can be heard telling an operator about his run-in with an Onslow County Sheriff's cruiser on I-526 about 6:30 p.m. Monday near the Ashley River Road exit.
Walton, who made a similar but unfounded complaint about a North Charleston police officer a year ago, told The Post and Courier the Onslow County Sheriff's cruiser was going about 50 mph in the left lane, so he flashed his lights at the car in hopes he could pass.
“He was holding up traffic,” Walton said. “I flashed my high beams at him. I could see him yelling at me in the side view mirror.” That's when Walton said he began recording the cruiser.
“I just thought 'he's going to do something stupid' and if I don't record it, no cop is going to believe me,” Walton said.
At the end of the nearly two minute video, the cruiser is seen pulling in front of Walton and hitting the brakes.
The driver of the cruiser braked suddenly, causing Walton's car to hit the cruiser, according to a North Charleston traffic collision report released today. Police have not said whether anyone was ticketed.
Sheriff Brown said in the release that the investigating officer in South Carolina did not issue any tickets, but listed Culpepper as having contributed to the collision. The damage to the sheriff's cruiser was estimated at less than $100, the release said.
Cedar Update 2: Say hello to Chad Walton. Why am I not surprised?
Cedar Update 3: Took some digging but Walton is a jackass, with a long criminal record that dates back to 1999 with convictions for failure to stop for blue lights, grand larceny, possession of a stolen vehicle and being a habitual traffic offender, according to SC Law Enforcement Division records.
He was last arrested Dec. 24, 2010, by the Berkeley County Sheriff's Office and charged with second-degree assault and battery.
Too bad the audio cuts out, so here is the transcript of the full announcement:
This is the Bedford Falls Fire Department a 1956 International Fire Truck.
The Bedford Falls Fire Department promotes the history of fire fighting in America, while building respect for the men and women who have made it their choice to help others and to save lives and property.
Bedford Falls Engine wears the number 343 honoring the 343 brave men and women of FDNY who gave their lives on September 11, 2001. Their final call.
Bedford Falls Engine wears the number 343 honoring the 343 brave men and women of FDNY who gave their lives on September 11, 2001. Their final call.
Big thanks and a shout out to The Bedford Falls Fire Department for putting up with The Yorkie and giving Mrs. Cedar a ride, and to Firehouse Subs for the T-Shirts and supporting the guys at the Bedford Falls Fire Department.
This story from the Charlotte Observer comfirms much of what Cedar Posts reported on Monday:
Two days before Arielle Troutman was found dead alongside her best friend on train tracks in south Charlotte, a breakup with her girlfriend put the 16-year-old in “a dark place,” her father told the Observer on Tuesday.
Arielle and 18-year-old Hannah Elizabeth Rigley were found dead early Sunday near where the tracks meet Monroe Road and the McAlpine Creek greenway.
A train conductor said he saw someone sleeping on the tracks, but couldn’t stop in time. Paramedics found the two teens dead beneath the train.
Jamie Troutman is not sure why his daughter died – whether because of a drug overdose or suicide or some other cause. He said he hasn’t received a final answer from police or the Mecklenburg Medical Examiner’s Office.
The rest of the Observer Story is here.
Monday, 18 March 2013
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — A private jet apparently experiencing mechanical trouble crashed Sunday March 17, 2013 in a northern Indiana neighborhood, hitting three homes and killing two people aboard the plane.
The Hawker Beechcraft 390 Premier I twin-jet had left Tulsa, Okla.'s Riverside Airport and crashed late Sunday afternoon near South Bend Regional Airport.
Two of four people aboard the plane were killed.
Cedar Posts Update: local South Bend IN station picked up on the CP post and asked the NTSB if the crashes were somehow connected:
A spokesperson for the NTSB said there is no evidence at this time connecting the three crashes.
“If we identify a fleetwide safety issue with an aircraft, we work very quickly and very closely with the Federal Aviation Administration to issue any kind of rectifying, mitigating recommendations to make that process safer for the aircraft,” said Todd. “At this time, we are in the preliminary stages of this investigation, and we do not have any indication that we are going to be making any emergency recommendations at this time.”
NewsCenter 16 contacted Beechcraft, the company that manufactures the Hawker Beechcraft 390 Premier 1A to inquire about any known issues with the model, the exact number of planes in service, when the planes began being manufactured or whether there are plans to ground it in light of the three crashes in the past month. The company sent the following in an emailed response:
"Beechcraft is cooperating with the National Transportation Safety Board and cannot comment due to the three ongoing active investigations."
The plane that crashed in South Bend, was registered to 7700 Enterprises of Montana LLC in Helena, Mont. The company is owned by Wes Caves and does business as DigiCut Systems in Tulsa, Okla. It makes window film and paint overlay for automobiles
Mike Daigle, executive director of the St. Joseph County Airport Authority, said the jet attempted a landing about 4:15 p.m., went back up and maneuvered south to try another landing, but eight minutes later the airport learned the plane was no longer airborne.
"There was an indication of a mechanical problem," Herwig said.
The crash comes less than a month after the crash of another Hawker Beechcraft 390 jet in Thomson Georgia.
Five people died in that crash that also happened during an aborted landing.
Normally you could just fault tragic coincidence, but
On March 4, 2013, a Hawker Beechcraft model 390 (Premier IA) business jet, with a Cayman Islands registration of VP-CAZ, collided with terrain shortly after takeoff from Aérodrome d'Annemasse (LFLI), near Cranves-Sales, France.
Wittnesses reported that the aircraft struggled shortly after leaving the runway struck a barn then a fence and bounced once before impacting the ground behind a farm house and bursting into flames.
The pilot and copilot were fatally injured, the sole passenger sustained serious injuries. The airplane was registered to Chakibel Associates Limited and operated by Global Jet Luxembourg.
VFR visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the flight that had the intended destination of Genève Aéroport (LSGG), Geneva, Switzerland.
Cedar's Take: I'd expect the NTSB and FAA guys have taken notice. Just too many similarities, to call it coincidence. The Hawker Beechcraft may just not be as forgiving as pilots expect in certian configurations, much like a Lear-25.
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| Hawker Beechcraft 390 Premier 1 Crash Scene In South Bend, IN |
The Hawker Beechcraft 390 Premier I twin-jet had left Tulsa, Okla.'s Riverside Airport and crashed late Sunday afternoon near South Bend Regional Airport.
Two of four people aboard the plane were killed.
Cedar Posts Update: local South Bend IN station picked up on the CP post and asked the NTSB if the crashes were somehow connected:
A spokesperson for the NTSB said there is no evidence at this time connecting the three crashes.
“If we identify a fleetwide safety issue with an aircraft, we work very quickly and very closely with the Federal Aviation Administration to issue any kind of rectifying, mitigating recommendations to make that process safer for the aircraft,” said Todd. “At this time, we are in the preliminary stages of this investigation, and we do not have any indication that we are going to be making any emergency recommendations at this time.”
NewsCenter 16 contacted Beechcraft, the company that manufactures the Hawker Beechcraft 390 Premier 1A to inquire about any known issues with the model, the exact number of planes in service, when the planes began being manufactured or whether there are plans to ground it in light of the three crashes in the past month. The company sent the following in an emailed response:
"Beechcraft is cooperating with the National Transportation Safety Board and cannot comment due to the three ongoing active investigations."
The plane that crashed in South Bend, was registered to 7700 Enterprises of Montana LLC in Helena, Mont. The company is owned by Wes Caves and does business as DigiCut Systems in Tulsa, Okla. It makes window film and paint overlay for automobiles
Mike Daigle, executive director of the St. Joseph County Airport Authority, said the jet attempted a landing about 4:15 p.m., went back up and maneuvered south to try another landing, but eight minutes later the airport learned the plane was no longer airborne.
"There was an indication of a mechanical problem," Herwig said.
The crash comes less than a month after the crash of another Hawker Beechcraft 390 jet in Thomson Georgia.
Five people died in that crash that also happened during an aborted landing.
Normally you could just fault tragic coincidence, but
On March 4, 2013, a Hawker Beechcraft model 390 (Premier IA) business jet, with a Cayman Islands registration of VP-CAZ, collided with terrain shortly after takeoff from Aérodrome d'Annemasse (LFLI), near Cranves-Sales, France.
Wittnesses reported that the aircraft struggled shortly after leaving the runway struck a barn then a fence and bounced once before impacting the ground behind a farm house and bursting into flames.
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| The wreckage of Hawker Beechcraft VP-CAZ |
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| Hawker Beechcraft VP-CAZ |
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| Satelite View of the airfield and crash site shown suspected flight path of VP-CAZ |
The pilot and copilot were fatally injured, the sole passenger sustained serious injuries. The airplane was registered to Chakibel Associates Limited and operated by Global Jet Luxembourg.
VFR visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the flight that had the intended destination of Genève Aéroport (LSGG), Geneva, Switzerland.
Cedar's Take: I'd expect the NTSB and FAA guys have taken notice. Just too many similarities, to call it coincidence. The Hawker Beechcraft may just not be as forgiving as pilots expect in certian configurations, much like a Lear-25.
The deaths of Hanna Elizabeth Rigley, 18, and Arielle McKenzie Troutman, 16 on the CSX railroad tracks that parallel Charlotte's Monroe Road are likely to fade from the newspapers and nightly news inside of 24 hours.
CMPD sources tell Cedar Posts that they have not uncovered any signs of foul play. Based on the CSX engineer's comments and other evidence it seems that only one conclusion can be made, suicide.
Mainstream media doesn't report on suicides, but as horrific as it sounds these two girls may have had a death pact. The engineer's statement that he saw one person not moving suggest both girls on the tracks together.
A review of Rigley's Facebook page revealed nothing out of the ordinary at first glance, a young woman, into tattoos and piercing, somewhat goth in nature.
But then there is this photo.
Troutman's Facebook page is much the same, more or less unremarkable.
Except this photo.
CMPD sources tell Cedar Posts that they have not uncovered any signs of foul play. Based on the CSX engineer's comments and other evidence it seems that only one conclusion can be made, suicide.
Mainstream media doesn't report on suicides, but as horrific as it sounds these two girls may have had a death pact. The engineer's statement that he saw one person not moving suggest both girls on the tracks together.
A review of Rigley's Facebook page revealed nothing out of the ordinary at first glance, a young woman, into tattoos and piercing, somewhat goth in nature.
But then there is this photo.
Troutman's Facebook page is much the same, more or less unremarkable.
Except this photo.
Both girls, both with photos of train tracks leading off into the forest.
Sadly for the CSX crew the image of the photos is a harsh contrast to the reality of what happened in the early dark hours of March 17, 2013.
In the weeks leading up to their deaths Hanna is arrested on a felony charge of "Peeping" since the arrest was made by a Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Deputy it appears individual signed the warrant before a magistrate.
In the last six hours of their lives they both offered clues via twitter that they had decided to end their lives together.
On the afternoon of March 15, 2013 at 2:25 p.m. Hanna using the Twitter handle @0ccltism Tweeted "I'll kill you if I can't have you."
At 8:47 p.m. Arielle Tweets: "A song to say goodbye - placebo" perhaps referring to the UK Alternative Rock Band of the same name.
At 10:52 p.m. Arielle's final Tweet: "Why don't I ever throw up."
At 11:21 p.m. Hanna Tweets: "I'm drunk help"
11:26 Hanna's final Tweet: "I'm really fucking dead."
Most disturbing is this photo on Hanna's Twitter feed posted a few days before her death:
In the weeks leading up to their deaths Hanna is arrested on a felony charge of "Peeping" since the arrest was made by a Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Deputy it appears individual signed the warrant before a magistrate.
In the last six hours of their lives they both offered clues via twitter that they had decided to end their lives together.
On the afternoon of March 15, 2013 at 2:25 p.m. Hanna using the Twitter handle @0ccltism Tweeted "I'll kill you if I can't have you."
On the morning of March 16, 2013 at 10:52 a.m Arielle using the Twitter handle @ElleNeDitRien Tweets: "I get to see my best friend @0ccvltism today <3." A message that Hanna re-Tweets a minute later.
At 8:47 p.m. Arielle Tweets: "A song to say goodbye - placebo" perhaps referring to the UK Alternative Rock Band of the same name.
A few seconds later Arielle Tweets: "It was nice to visit the tracks.", suggesting that the tracks were a place she went to on more than one occasion and that they had left the CSX tracks early in the evening.
At 9:29 Arielle Tweets: "I think I just got my best friend fucked up for the first time lol."
An hour later at 10:30 p.m. Arielle Tweets: "I want someone to be in love with me."
At 10:52 p.m. Arielle's final Tweet: "Why don't I ever throw up."
11:26 Hanna's final Tweet: "I'm really fucking dead."
Most disturbing is this photo on Hanna's Twitter feed posted a few days before her death:
It is difficult to understand everything that young women deal with. On Friday March 15 Arielle Tweets:
"Me: I get called a whore bc I'm pretty
Dad: you're pretty?".
There seems to be a tremendous amount of peer pressure among young women to be either straight or gay. There are huge cliches that revolve around homosexuality at high school that did not exist 20 years ago. It is a new form of "Bullying" that Cedar Posts has witnessed on several occasions.
The pressure to be "out" and not embarrassed and to make a choice, to determine who your friends are and how you are accepted and perceived has never been greater.
Hanna's obsession with death, the goth lifestyle, "I collect dead things" and her instagram page "Suicide is Simple" may have been more for shock value than anything else.
Hard to say. But not talking about it won't make it go away.
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