Thirteen current and former law enforcement officers, nearly all of them from North Carolina, have been indicted for drug trafficking. The announcement was made yesterday in Washington by an assistant U.S. attorney general and the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina. The indictment alleges that members of the Northampton County Sheriff’s Office […]
John H. Tucker
Bio: John H. Tucker is a staff writer for INDY Week.Email: [email protected]: http://twitter.com/JH_Tucker
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Bill would bar keeping dangerous wild animals as pets
A new General Assembly bill would bar keeping dangerous wild animals as pets. In addition to making it unlawful for any person to possess, sell, transfer, or breed a dangerous wild animal, House Bill 554, “Protect Public from Dangerous Wild Animals,” also makes illegal the act of coming into direct physical contact with a dangerous […]
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Durham Police mangle traffic stop
Jeffrey Castillo had been sitting inside a Durham police cruiser for half an hour, and he seemed nervous. He twiddled his thumbs and bit his nails. Last fall, a patrol officer had pulled over the 21-year-old New Yorker for speeding on Interstate 85. Castillo’s demeanor roused the suspicions of the DPD patrol officer, who decided […]
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Durham pet apparel company Thundershirt sues BH Pet Gear for patent infringement
A downtown Durham animal apparel company has sued a Brooklyn business for federal patent infringement and unfair and deceptive trade practices. Thundershirt, which is located next to the Durham Bulls Athletic Park and county courthouse, alleges that the Brooklyn company stole its idea to create pressure-applied pet garments, used to calm dogs and cats suffering […]
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Backlog leads to 18-month waits for rape-kit results, Durham police acknowledge
North Carolina women who file sexual assault complaints must wait 18 months for rape-kit results to return from the state’s laboratory, a Durham homicide detective told a crowd this afternoon at a community luncheon. Durham police process about 600 sexual assault cases per year, Investigator Quincey Tait told the guests at the luncheon, held at […]
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House bill would allow police chiefs to release officer-involved shooting videos to public
A House judiciary committee today voted to proceed with a bill that would allow law enforcement agencies to publicly release police videos depicting officer-involved shootings without receiving the officer’s permission. Invoking the recent police shooting in North Charleston, S.C., that killed a fleeing unarmed man, Rep. John Faircloth, the lead sponsor or HB 713, told […]
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N.C. Supreme Court to hear case about whether Durham man’s DWI arrest was valid
One judge issued a verbal order from the bench. But another judge signed the written order. Is the order valid? That’s the question that will be posed before the N.C. Supreme Court tomorrow in a DWI case stemming from Durham. Among the other questions: how many field tests does a driver have to pass in […]
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Defective bearings installed under N.C. highway bridges after manufacturer falsifies certification
A manufacturer of bridge parts pleaded guilty today to aggravated identification theft and making false statements concerning highway projects after local investigators noticed that more than 1,000 bridge parts he shipped from Chicago to North Carolina were defective. In some instances, the defective parts have already been installed underneath state bridges, setting up a $5 […]
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Because of a vague federal law, Raleigh man faces deportation back to his native Congo over a $50 hat
It wasn’t the baseball hat, per se, that puzzled the defense attorney. It was the logo. If the hat had bore the emblem of a local teama UNC Tar Heel or Duke Blue Devilthen maybe he could convince a jury it wasn’t stolen. But this hat was unique, emblazoned with a grizzly, as in the […]
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Legislators want video kiosks in N.C. jails
Video kiosks could soon be installed in jails across the state, giving inmates remote access to attorney consultations. House Bill 374, “IDS Efficiency Act” would cut down on attorneys’ travel time and save taxpayer money, according to one of the bill’s sponsors. (“IDS” stands for the N.C. Office of Indigent Defense Services, a public organization […]
