Brett Elder - Funeral and Controversy

Brett "Dewey" Elder (born 3/24/93) died two days before his 16th birthday (3/22/09). The unarmed (5'6", 140 lb) teen died after being Tasered by one of three officers of the Bay City police department. He was buried Thursday 3/26/09. His family has hired a lawyer, Flint attorney David Nickola, with the intention of suing the police department. Michigan State police have opened their own investigation into this case. Read more about this case here: 15-Year-Old Brett Elder Tasered to Death

This is one of those times where it is difficult not to form an opinion before all the facts are presented and although I will continue to report on all sides of this story, I would like to make the following statement:

I have read a number of reports regarding this young man's death and, in all honesty, the only conclusion I can come to, is that unnecessary force was used by the police against Brett Elder, resulting in his death.

The best scenario I can come up with; is that three adult police officers felt so threatened by this 15-year-old, drunk kid that they had no other option but to use extreme measures to subdue him. I do not believe this.

Any other scenario leads to the conclusion that this was a case of police brutality and possible criminal behavior. I hope justice is served!! Brett Elder did not deserve this.

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The Funeral service for Brett Elder was held at 4 p.m. at Ambrose Funeral Home, 1200 Garfield Ave. but before the service was conducted a second autopsy was perform on the teen's body by forensic pathologist Werner Spitz at the request of the law firm representing the Elder family. The law firm claims that the autopsy results "are expected to show (Brett Elder) died from being electrocuted by Taser causing his heart to defibrillate."

The first autopsy was done by Dr. Kanu Virani but he declined to offer an opinion on the cause of death until he learns results of toxicology tests checking levels of alcohol and other drugs in the boy's body. Virani said he also will await results of a microscopic examination of the boy's tissues before determining a cause of death. That could take a few weeks.

Police in Bay City held a four-minute news conference to address the death of 15-year-old Brett Elder. During the conference, Bay City Police Chief Michael J. Cecchini addressed the media by reading a prepared written statement. Cecchini said officers acted properly and denied an allegation that officers used the Taser gun after the teen was in handcuffs.

"A Taser electronic control device was deployed for one five-second cycle to subdue Brett,” Cecchini said.“He was subsequently handcuffed without incident. Upon taking Brett into custody, officers recognized signs of a possible medical problem and immediately rendered aid and summoned medical personal to the scene.”

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One of Brett Elder's friends, 23-year-old Bethany Schuster of Flint, joined with several others to paint "The Rock" on 12th Street and Hammerberg Road in Flint this week to protest Brett's death. She had planned to celebrate her 24th birthday this weekend with her friend Brett. Instead, the Flint woman will spend it mourning his death.

Bethany Schuster and her boyfriend, Brandon Look, are still coming to grips with the boy's death. Schuster said she met Brett in Bay City about five years ago, and it had become a tradition to celebrate their birthdays together. "It's unbelievable," she said, adding that he was a good kid who was easygoing and lovable. "He was not a kid without ambition," said Look, adding that Brett had a hard life growing up. "Now he's robbed of being an adult." They painted The Rock on Tuesday with birthday wishes but also had a sharp message for the police. "Tasered to death by Bay City PD," The Rock read.

For photos of the funeral and The Rock dedicated to Brett Elder click here: Tribute to Brett "Dewey" Elder

Roland Auslander Arrested

New York State Police have been looking for Roland "Jack" Auslander, 69, of  Cook Falls. After a stakeout they finally caught up with him and arrested him at his residence, 911 Cooks Brooks Rd. in the Town of Colchester. He was wanted on an indictment in nearby Sullivan county for:

Forgery second degree, Grand Larceny in the Third degree and Attempted Grand Larceny in the Fourth degree. He was also charged with Unlawful Disposal of Human remains in violation of the New York State Public Health Law, and Resisting arrest in Delaware County.

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What makes the Roland Auslander case interesting is that he apparently kept his dead mother, Herta Auslander - who was 99 when she died of natural causes -  in a freezer at her home for more than a year while he continued to cash her social security checks.

The body of Herta Auslander was found inside a freezer chest, located on a porch at her home in Cooks Falls, by New York State Police in October 2008. An autopsy revealed the woman died of natural causes - cardiac disease. She had been dead for more than a year even though her social security checks were still being cashed. That's when the police became interested in her son, Roland, who was no stranger to trouble, having been arrested several times on drug charges.

Roland Auslander was arraigned in Town of Colchester Court on the Public Health Law violation, which carries up to a $2,000 fine; and the resisting arrest charge, a misdemeanor, said Lt. James Barnes of the NYS police. He was later taken to Sullivan County for arraignment on the felony warrant for the larceny and forgery charges.

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15-Year-Old Brett Elder Tasered to Death

Brett "Dewey" Elder, 15, of  Bay City, Michigan was 5' 6" and weighed about 140 pounds. Brett Elder is dead. He was the recipient of one Taser bolt to the chest, fired by one of three police officers in an attempt to subdue the youth.

Brett had been drinking and was fighting with others at 210 S. Catherine St. when the police were called at 3:40 am. They arrived at 3:44 am. Police say they were trying to break up a fight when Elder tried to go after other people in the house, as well as the police. That's when an officer deployed his TASER at 3:53 a.m. Brett was then handcuffed and because of his reaction to being Tasered, an ambulance was called.

Two males were arguing in an apartment, and one of them “attempted to fight the officers,” the statement said. “The male subject was then Tasered and taken into custody,” it said. “Medical personnel were summoned immediately due to the subject’s reactions.”

Eyewitnesses have a different story to tell. They say that Brett was handcuffed before being Tasered. They also say that not only was an ambulance not called quickly enough but they refused to allow CPR to be performed on the youth. They also question why three officers could not control him without the use of the Taser.

“He was flopping around and looked like a fish out of water. That’s the only way to explain it — his whole body was bent over,” Elder’s aunt, Cindy Hernden, said.

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State police said they have started an investigation into the death. City police have placed the officer involved on administrative leave.

“This is a very tragic event,” said police Chief Michael Cecchini. He said his department would conduct an internal investigation into whether the officer followed policy when using the Taser.

Eugene E. Elder Sr. figures police killed his teenage son unjustifiably with a Taser, and he plans to fire back with a lawsuit. "I'm going after the city. I don't care," said Elder, 55, of Bay City. "There's no reason for killing my boy. He didn't do nothing wrong."

"I believe they killed him," said Hernden. "I believe his heart couldn't handle it," Hernden added. "I just figured that Taser was too strong for that small of a kid. He's tiny, and there were three grown police officers. "They could have subdued him without handcuffs, but they handcuffed him and then Tasered him."

Bay City Deputy Police Chief Thomas P. Pletzke denied Hernden's allegation, saying Brett Elder wasn't in handcuffs when an officer deployed the Taser. Pletzke declined comment when asked if Bay City officers should share any blame for Elder's death. Pletzke didn't identify the officer who used the Taser, but said the department has placed him on administrative leave.

Relatives of Brett Elder said police arrested the late youth's half-brother, Eugene, at Bay Regional Medical Center following a scuffle with security personnel at the hospital after rescuers had taken Brett Elder there.

Brett Elder attended Wenona High School, an alternative high school at 201 Woodside Lane operated by the Bay City Public Schools. Elder attended Bay City Central High School earlier this school year.

''He was a pleasant enough young man,'' said Jerry Lombardo, principal at Wenona High School, though Lombardo noted Elder had attended the alternative school for only about three weeks.

Eugene Elder Sr. said his late son loved to ride bicycles with him, and would have turned 16 on Tuesday. He said his son had undergone treatment for alcohol abuse, but had been avoiding alcohol in recent weeks.

Brett's mother, Jodi Elder, had died in September. An aunt, Dorothy A. Hendrix of Bay City, said he was "devastated" by the death of his mother.

"He didn't even weigh 150 pounds," Hendrix said. "They Tasered a little kid."

4 Dead Police, 1 Dead Suspect

5 people lost their lives on the streets of Oakland, Ca. on Saturday March 21, 2009. Four of those people were police officers attached to the Oakland police department. They were slain by the gunman, Lovelle Mixon, 26, who was also killed. Acting Oakland police chief, Howard Jordan gave this account of the incident at a news conference:

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The Dead Are:

Sgt. Mark Dunakin, 40, assigned to the traffic division, joined the department in 1991.

Officer John Hege, 41, assigned to the traffic division, joined the department in 1999.

Sgt. Ervin Romans, 43, Swat officer, joined the department in 1996

Sgt. Daniel Sakai, 35, Swat officer, joined the department in 2000

Lovelle Mixon, 26, the gunman wanted on a parole violation

The incident started at around 1:15 pm on Saturday when two motorcycle officers, Sgt. Mark Dunakin and Officer John Hege, stopped a 1995 Buick driven by Lovelle Mixon in the 7400 block of MacArthur Boulevard. Unknown to the officers at the time, Lovelle Mixon was wanted on a no-bail warrant for violating parole. He was on parole for assault with a deadly weapon. Before the officers could approach the vehicle, Mixon opened fire with an assault rifle, gunning down both of them.

Mixon fled the scene and entered a three story apartment building at the corner of 74th Avenue and MacArthur Boulevard where his sister lived. Police converged on the scene after being tipped off that Mixon was in the building. At around 3:30 pm police stormed the building and entered the apartment where Mixon was hiding. As they approached a locked closet they were met by a  barrage of gunfire coming from within. Three officers were wounded, two mortally, as the police returned fire killing the gunman.

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There was some controversy about Lovelle Mixon's status. He was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon stemming from an armed robbery in San Francisco. He had served six years in Corcoran State prison before being paroled and another 9 months for violating that parole. He was released again from prison in November 2008. He ran into trouble with his parole officer after missing an appointment and feared that he would be arrested and sent back to prison. When he was stopped by the police, the family claimed that he was looking for a parking spot for the car he had just recently bought from someone in San Francicso. They said he did not have the paper work for the car.

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Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered flags at the state capitol flown at half-staff Sunday. Schwarzenegger returned from Washington, D.C., to meet briefly with Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums and members of the police department Sunday afternoon. His office released a statement late Sunday night saying that both Mark Dunakin, who lived in Tracy, and Ervin Romans, who lived in Danville, left behind a wife and three children.

Police said never in the department's history had so many officers been killed in the line of duty in a single day. Oakland had never lost even two officers on the same day.

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Friends who knew Sgt. Daniel Sakai from his days at the University of California, Berkeley and his continued involvement in his college fraternity said he was married to a campus police officer and was a father. He and his family lived in Castro Valley. He was an accomplished mountain biker and outdoorsman who majored in forestry and graduated in 1995. As an undergraduate at Berkeley, Sakai worked for the campus police department as a student volunteer. After graduation, Sakai spent a year in Japan teaching English.

"His honor was extremely important to him. Whenever there was a situation where someone could take the path that was less honorable, he always advocated doing the right thing," said Oren Levy, a fraternity brother of Sakai. "Being a police officer was really perfect for him."

Officer John Hege's father said his son, who lived in Concord, loved being a policeman. He worked well with people and was an Eagle Scout. He played high school football and wrestled. He umpired and coached even as a youth, and joined the Oakland Police Department reserves. After graduating from St. Mary's College in Moraga, he taught high school physical education for a few years in nearby Hayward before joining the police department a decade ago. He recently became a motorcycle traffic patrol officer, Hege said, adding, "He liked excitement."

LaTasha Mixon, 28, of Sacramento said her cousin was "not a monster." She said her family's prayers were with the slain officers' relatives.

"We're devastated. Everybody took a major loss. We're crushed," she said.

Josef Fritzl Gets Life Sentence

"I regret from the bottom of my heart what I have done to my family. Unfortunately, I cannot make amends for it. I can only try to look for possibilities to try to limit the damage that's been done."

Those were the last words spoken by Josef Fritzl before the court at St Pölten passed judgment on him. They found him guilty on all 6 counts: rape, deprivation of liberty, incest, coercion, slavery and murder. His punishment: Life imprisonment.

Court representatives said Fritzl appeared 'composed' as his sentence was read out. He immediately accepted the sentence, as did the prosecution, meaning that it is legally binding and ruling out any right of appeal.

Fritzl's defense lawyer, Rudolf Mayer, confirmed that Elisabeth had been present for part of the trial.

'This is what triggered the agitation that led him to confess,' Mayer told German N-TV news channel, referring to his client's surprising change of heart.

Catch the story from the beginning in this 5-part video called The Josef Fritzl Story and read about developments in the case since being arrested and imprisoned on The Josef Fritzl Page.

The life sentence would entail a minimum of 15 years in prison, according to Franz Cutka, vice president of St Pölten courts. The 11 months he has already spent incarcerated would count towards that sentence. On the advice of Adelheid Kastner, the forensic psychiatrist who spent 25 hours evaluating Fritzl's mental health, he will first be sent to the Mittersteig prison in Vienna for an evaluation. Afterward, Fritzl may then be transferred to another prison or psychiatric institution. Kastner told the jury that locking him up without therapy and treatment could be dangerous, and that there was a real risk he would try to take his own life. She also said that Fritzl had a serious personality disorder and would pose a threat to others if freed. He remains under a suicide watch.

"He has the right to voice an opinion on where he should be sent, but this wish has to tally with any expert opinion and with the directorate of the prison," said Huber-Günsthofer the deputy director of St Pölten prison, where Fritzl has been held since his arrest last April.

There was never really any doubt of Fritzl's guilt, even his lawyer, Rudolf  Mayer, admitted that Fritzl had raped his daughter 3,000 times, but his fate was sealed when Fritzl changed his plea to guilty on all counts, including the "murder by neglect" of his infant son, Michael. This was the most serious charge against him and it was this charge that earned him the life sentence.

"The life sentence was a consequence of his confession," Mayer told reporters after the jury's decision. "After confessing to 3,000 instances of rapes, 24 years of captivity in a cellar, plus murder, it's obvious that such a sentence will be handed down."

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At a news conference after the verdict, court officials said Elisabeth could bring a separate civil case against Fritzl to seek damages for her suffering, adding there was no limit to what she could request. They said the Austrian government would join in on bankruptcy proceedings that Fritzl recently initiated, and said the process could involve selling his seven real estate holdings — including the house in Amstetten where he held his daughter. They also said Fritzl would have to secure permission from Austria's Justice Ministry if he wanted to write and sell his memoirs.

Amstetten's mayor verbalized the unspoken thoughts of the people of his town - and perhaps for most Austrians - who for almost a year came under the intense attention of the entire world when he said:

'A dark chapter in the history of our town is now closed,' said Amstetten Mayor Herbert Katzengruber after the guilty verdict was announced. 'We all hoped it would turn out this way.'