January 2023 Blues Vol 39 No. 1

AROUND THE COUNTRY yrs.

AROUND THE COUNTRY yrs. ACROSS THE US Latest law enforcement news from across the country. EX-OFFICER SHOT, KILLED AFTER PULLING GUN ON TEX- AS OFFICERS RESPONDING TO DOMESTIC DISTURBANCE CALL By Ashley Silver, Police1 SAN MARCOS, TX — A former Texas officer was fatally shot on Christmas Day after pulling a gun on police at an apartment complex. According to KXAN News, San Marcos police received a call regarding an assault at an apartment complex. The caller said the man allegedly responsible, 36-year-old Kyle Lobo, was drinking and had a gun. When police responded, they noticed Lobo was holding a child in his arms. He handed the child to the woman who had called the police and then pulled a firearm, prompting police to shoot the former San Marcos officer. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital. KXAN reported that Lobo resigned from the San Marcos Police Department earlier this year amid family violence charges. Lobo’s wife told officers in previous police records that he’d assaulted her five or six times since the start of 2022, including times when he allegedly assaulted the woman’s 11-year-old son. The Texas Rangers are investigating the shooting. FLORIDA OFFICER FIRED AF- TER VIDEO SHOWS HIM DRAG- GING WOMAN INTO JAIL By Dan Sullivan Tampa Bay Times TAMPA, FL. — The Tampa Police Department fired one of its officers Tuesday after he was recorded dragging a handcuffed woman across the ground toward a Hillsborough County jail booking room. An investigation found that Officer Gregory Damon violated several department policies during the Nov. 17 incident. It happened after he and other officers were called early that morning to the Tampa Family Health Centers at 4620 N 22nd St. in the Belmont Heights area. People at the medical office reported that a woman was sleeping outside the building and refusing their requests to leave the property. The same woman had previously been told to stay away from the property, police said. She was arrested on a trespassing charge. When Damon arrived with her at the Orient Road Jail, the woman refused to step out of the back of his patrol SUV, police said. Body-worn camera video that police released Tuesday captured his interaction with the woman. “I’m going to drag you out of this car,” he told her. “I want you to drag me,” she said. The video shows the officer taking her by the arm, pulling her out of the vehicle, then moving her across a long concrete floor toward a sign reading “search your arrestee” over the doorway to the central booking room. The woman speaks defiantly, berating the officer throughout. As he drags her, the officer stops and tells the woman to stand up. She remains on the ground. Damon continued to drag her toward the doorway. He pressed a call button, summoning two Hillsborough County jail deputies to come outside to help bring the woman into the room. Tampa police did not name the woman in a news release about the incident. But jail booking records indicate that she is 46 years old. She was booked in jail at 10:19 a.m. that day on a trespassing charge. Booking notes indicate that she was released a few days later to a mental health facility. The criminal case against her continues to be prosecuted. Supervisors at the jail, which 42 The BLUES The BLUES 43