Philadelphia cops hunt gunman who shot officer

[Saguaro]

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (AP) -- A police officer walked into a doughnut shop Wednesday while it was being robbed and was shot in the head, authorities said, becoming the third officer in four days to be wounded by gunfire in this city.

The 54-year-old officer, Charles Cassidy, was checking on a Dunkin' Donuts shop around 10 a.m., Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson said. The robber shot him almost immediately after the officer walked in.

"He actually walks into a robbery, a holdup, unbeknownst to him," Johnson said.

The bullet went through the officer's brain, the commissioner said. He was taken to a hospital, where doctors were "doing everything they can to save his life," Johnson said.

The robber left the shop, returned to pick up the officer's gun and then fled, Johnson said.

Police swarmed the North Philadelphia neighborhood in a search for the gunman, combing the area on foot, in squad cars and in a police helicopter. More than a dozen schools in the area were locked down.

Mayor John F. Street said he met with the officer's family at the hospital. "We told them we're going to catch the perpetrator of this act," Street said at a news conference.

The shooting came about 12 hours after a masked gunman shot Traffic Officer Mario Santiago in the shoulder during a chase downtown.

Santiago was responding to a report of a gunman in a sport utility vehicle shooting at another car, injuring two men and a woman, police said.

After Santiago chased the SUV, the gunman eventually got out of his vehicle and approached the squad car, firing twice through the window. Santiago was hit once in the right shoulder, Johnson said.

Santiago survived, but his condition was not known Wednesday morning.

The gunman in that shooting apparently jumped into the Schuylkill River, where searchers later recovered a body. Police said Wednesday morning that they had not determined if it was the suspect's body.

Early Sunday, an officer responding to a melee at a West Philadelphia nightclub was shot in the ankle. More than two dozen bullets were fired, police said. One suspect was fatally shot and another was arrested.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/10/31/officers.shot.ap/index.html

[cassandra]

Prayers for his family.

[Wabash]

Guess what ethnicity is doing most of the shootings over there?
Sure glad we don't have that problem in my part of the country!

[Wabash]

Sarah Kennedy 'can't see black people in dark'

Last Updated: 2:32am GMT 01/11/2007


Sarah Kennedy, the BBC Radio 2 presenter, has been criticised by her own listeners for claiming that it is hard to see black people in the dark.

The controversial early morning disc jockey interrupted a discussion of road safety to say she had almost run over a black pedestrian because his dark clothes made him "invisible".

"It's lucky he opened his mouth to yawn or do something and I saw him," she said on her show this morning.

Her comments were immediately attacked by listeners on the BBC's own message boards, and prompted an apology from the corporation.

"This is just one in a long line of irresponsible remarks from Sarah Kennedy, but the BBC don't have a problem with her," one listener wrote.

"OK in 1957 but not PC in 2007," another added.

"If this were the only occasion in which SK has made direct reference to race, you could let it go, but she has something of a chequered history in this respect," a third wrote.

"You would have thought she'd be wiser not to refer to race at all."

In 2000 Kennedy suggested that black people made good runners because they were used to being chased by lions, during an on-air discussion of genetics.
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And the 57-year-old raised eyebrows earlier this year by slurring words on her morning show and leaving sentences unfinished.

Listeners again flooded messageboards after she offered to send "panties" to soldiers fighting in Afghanistan to cheer them up and spoke of Princess Diana's 'pink polka blot' dress.

The BBC insisted at the time that her unorthodox performance was the result of breathing difficulties.

Today the corporation apologised for Kennedy's remarks and said the disc jockey - who currently presents the 6am-7.30am weekday slot - had been spoken to by bosses.

But not all of Kennedy's listeners were outraged her contribution to the road safety debate this morning. Many believe she made a valid point on the dangers of wearing dark clothes on winter evenings.

"This is nothing to do with prejudice - it is a fact based on the science of light reflecting off objects," one wrote on one message board.

"Remember the campaign 'Wear Something White at Night'? Maybe a timely reminder of common sense was in order," another added.

Kennedy joined Radio 2 in 1976 and won a Sony Gold Radio Award in 1995. She remains a schedule fixture despite the station's drive for younger viewers, and was awarded an MBE in 2005.

In 1999 she took a week off work suffering from exhaustion after making a series of inappropriate on-air comments while standing in for Sir Terry Wogan.
https://www.newsvine.com/_tools/user/login?redirect=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newsvine.com%2F_to ols%2Fseed%26save%3Fu%3Dhttp%253a%252f%252fwww.tel egraph.co.uk%252fnews%252fmain.jhtml%253fxml%253d% 252fnews%252f2007%252f10%252f31%252fnkennedy131.xm l%26h%3DSarah%2BKennedy%2B%27can%27t%2Bsee%2Bblack %2Bpeople%2Bin%2Bdark%27

Isn't that why the reflective tennis shoes were developed?

[Wabash]

Philadelphia officer dies; police hunt doughnut shop gunman

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (AP) -- A police officer shot in the head during a robbery in a doughnut shop died Thursday morning, the police commissioner said, and his killer remained at large. He was the third city officer shot in the span of four days.


Officer Charles Cassidy walked in on a robbery and was shot in the forehead, police officials say.

Charles Cassidy, 54, was shot in the forehead Wednesday at a Dunkin' Donuts when a hooded robber spun from the counter and fired at him as he walked in the door, according to an employee.

The 25-year police veteran died at 9:40 a.m. Thursday at Albert Einstein Medical Center, Commissioner Sylvester Johnson said.

"This is a sad day for the city of Philadelphia," Johnson said.

Police released portions of a chilling videotape that shows the hooded robber pushing aside two customers and waving a gun as he approaches the counter. Video Watch robber wave gun as police car pulls up »

It also shows him grabbing Cassidy's pistol as he fled.

The suspect hadn't been found Thursday. Johnson said video showed the gunman running through the shop's parking lot with a distinctive gait, almost as if he had a limp.

"We still have an armed and dangerous man out there in the streets of Philadelphia," Johnson said.

The officer came in twice a day for a large coffee with cream and sugar, shop employee Sandra Kim said. "He's always nice to all the employees," she said. "The officer was just coming in for a cup of coffee like normal."

Johnson said the officer was doing a routine check on the shop, which had been robbed September 18. He said he didn't think the robber got away with any money.

The shooting came about 12 hours after a masked gunman shot traffic Officer Mario Santiago in the shoulder during a chase downtown.

Santiago was responding to a report of a gunman in a sport utility vehicle shooting at another car, injuring two men and a woman, police said.

He was chasing the SUV when the gunman eventually got out of his vehicle and approached the squad car, firing twice through the window. Santiago was hit once in the right shoulder, police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson said.

Santiago was in fair condition Wednesday.

The gunman in that shooting apparently jumped into the Schuylkill River, where searchers later recovered a body. Police said Wednesday morning that they had not determined whether it was the suspect's body.

Early Sunday, an officer responding to a melee at a West Philadelphia nightclub was shot in the ankle. More than two dozen bullets were fired, police said. One suspect was fatally shot and another was arrested.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/11/01/officers.shot.ap/index.html

[Ringo]

They can gun down Cops and innocent people but you can't call the bastards what they truly are? If these cops had got the drop on these guys and fired in self defense, Fat Al and Jesse the Mouth would have been there calling them HATERS, Killers of Blacks, blah blah blah, worthless as*hole$! I hope they find them but hope more, that they NEVER get to trial!!!:godzilla