Cops

RICHARD DeCoatsworth, a five-year veteran police officer who was hailed as a hero after being shot in the face by a suspect in 2007 but who more recently drew controversial headlines, left the force last week. DeCoatsworth, whose most recent assignment was with the Marine Unit, took disability retirement from the department after it was determined that injuries from the 2007 shooting prevented him from continuing to do police work, said spokesman Lt. Ray Evers. After he caught the shotgun blast to the face as a rookie cop in 2007, DeCoatsworth was invited to attend a February 2009 presidential speech.

PHILADELPHIA police officers are supposed to be educated about civilian gun laws - especially since an expletive-laden altercation with a licensed gun owner ended up on YouTube last year and led to a $25,000 court settlement. For the record: It's perfectly legal to openly carry a handgun in the city - with a valid permit. Everywhere else in the state, a permit is needed only if the gun is concealed. But apparently not everyone in the Police Department got the memo. A new YouTube video shows two Philly cops antagonizing a man last week who was legally carrying a .40-caliber Glock on his hip as he headed to a Manayunk barbershop.

A WOMAN WHO contends that she lost a pregnancy after being zapped by police with a stun gun seven times outside her North Philadelphia home in 2010 filed a federal civil-rights lawsuit this week against the city and the three officers involved. Naimah Jones, 35, is suing for assault and battery, false arrest, malicious prosecution and emotional distress. The incident occurred Nov. 27, 2010, when Jones, en route to her parents' house to celebrate Thanksgiving, stopped home to grab some luggage.

THE PAGAN stationed on a corner of Atlantic Avenue in Wildwood stood with his burly arms crossed over his belly, guarding the infamous motorcycle club's hotel-turned-fortress like a living, breathing gargoyle. Behind him, yellow caution tape and blue tarps draped the Binns Motor Inn - a signal from the Pagan's Motorcycle Club for "citizens" and nosy cops to keep out during the 2011 Roar to the Shore biker rally this month. It's the same hotel where federal prosecutors say that leaders of the Pagan's Long Island chapter at last year's rally told their minions to prepare for death or prison as they plotted a hand-grenade attack on the rival Hells Angels.

The Democrats, at long last, had strung together a good day. They forced House Republicans to return, grumbling, from summer vacation for votes that allowed Democrats to show support for teachers, cops, and strong borders. Then they got Rangeled. "For what purpose does the gentleman from New York seek recognition?" the speaker asked of Rep. Charlie Rangel, the fallen Ways and Means chairman, when he rose from his seat early Tuesday afternoon. The gentleman from New York sought recognition to deliver, without warning, one of the most extraordinary pieces of political oratory in recent memory.

"OH MY GOD! They shot a cop!" I shouted into the phone to a Daily News editor who was taking notes as police surrounded the MOVE compound in Powelton Village. Cops were trying to get the radical cult members to drop their weapons and come out of the basement with their children. Suddenly, gunshots came from the basement window of the MOVE house. From a third-floor apartment window, I looked down to where stakeout cop James Ramp was slowly kneeling to take a shooting position on the sidewalk with others.

LET'S TALK about crooked cops. Philadelphia is known for many things - like cheesesteaks, pretzels, sports teams, and, yes, "crooked cops," too. It's a reality that has tarnished the image of this police department, and upsets the overwhelming majority of good cops who are doing a great job out there. I won't criticize any member of the public for making comments about crooked cops in Philly - instead I get disgusted with the dirty cops who give us this image. In my opinion, they are nothing but filthy pigs, and I'm tired of being embarrassed for their actions.

HAD THESE casinos broken ground, we would have had the money on the table to maybe have more police so they could keep from being shot and killed. All these people yapping not here, not there, no casino should be held responsible for the city not having the money for overtime. Moses Cook Philadelphia

YOUR op-ed page informing us of the total cost of providing a new police officer was very interesting. But what price do you put on their lives? Police officers are a good investment for our city. They do a great job and are often not respected enough for the dangerous job they do. They give up living a normal life because they are police officers 24 hours a day. So, hats off to them, and may God always keep them in his sight. Josephine Zirilli Philadelphia

A pleasant dinner was the plan, but as attorney Scott Lempert and his wife drove across traffic-jammed South Street near 4th, their first concern was a parking spot. Meanwhile, Officer Joseph Galie, a three-year veteran of the force, was frantically trying to keep the traffic moving. At about 9:40 p.m. on Saturday, March 23, 1996, Lempert met Galie. There was screaming and shouting, maybe some pushing and foul language. The couple never broke bread. Instead, Lempert was surrounded by cops and ticketed.

NEW ORLEANS - Police have identified a suspect in the shooting of 19 people during a Mother's Day parade in New Orleans. Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas said last night that they were looking for 19-year-old Akein Scott. He said multiple people identified Scott as the shooter. Three gunshot victims remained in critical condition yesterday, though their wounds didn't appear to be life-threatening. Most of the injured had been released from the hospital. Video released earlier in the day shows a crowd gathered for a boisterous second-line parade Sunday suddenly scattering in all directions, with some falling to the ground.

A WOMAN caught on video being hit by police Lt. Jonathan Josey during a celebration after last year's Puerto Rican Day Parade will be awarded $75,000 in a settlement from the city. Mayoral spokesman Mark McDonald confirmed yesterday that the city agreed this week to pay the amount to Aida Guzman, 39, of Chester. Guzman suffered a busted lip when she was struck by Josey, at the time a decorated highway patrolman, during a raucous street party at 5th Street and Lehigh Avenue following the Sept.

CRIMINAL investigators descended on Delaware County's troubled Colwyn Borough yesterday in connection with a probe of a former Philadelphia cop who was secretly hired to oversee the suburban police department. The latest raid in Colwyn, a dysfunctional little burg on the border of Southwest Philly, appeared to be focused on Rochelle Bilal, who recently left her city job but has been quietly working a side gig in the borough since September, apparently in violation of city police rules, the Daily News reported last month.

MIKE CHITWOOD was a rookie cop fresh out of the Police Academy on Nov. 7, 1964, when he was walking a beat on Susquehanna Avenue in North Philadelphia with a seasoned officer who was teaching him the ropes. Chitwood - who went on to become a much-honored Philly cop and is now the police superintendent of Upper Darby Township - and his partner, Mike Muto, might not have been prepared for heroics that day, but that's what they got. On the 1600 block, they saw flames shooting out of a house and a woman with a baby hanging onto a rope between the second and third floors, calling for help.

ENFORCEMENT BY THE Philadelphia Police Department against violators on wheels and on heels increased last year, fulfilling a pledge made by city officials and Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey to better enforce the law. I'm not sure if the improvement is a result the city's (invisible) "give respect, get respect" campaign, or the hectoring by a singularly "crabby" "dinosaur" who uses his column to "yell at clouds" (to quote some of my bikehead critics). If the latter, the clouds are listening.

HARRISBURG - As Pennsylvania's top law enforcement officials gathered in the Capitol recently to announce another jaw-dropping round of corruption charges, a Marine veteran in a dark suit stood quietly in the back. But when the time came to take questions about the pay-to-play allegations against the men who ran the Pennsylvania Turnpike, State Police Commissioner Frank Noonan had the answers. Noonan, 66, may well be one of the most influential law enforcement officials you've never heard of. As the state's top cop for the last two years, and before that as head of criminal investigations at the state Attorney General's Office, he has helped guide some of the biggest prosecutions in recent Pennsylvania memory: The Bonusgate cases.

Philadelphia Police are searching for a man who got away after he and an officer traded fire one time during a foot chase. Officers from the 22nd District were on patrol, traveling eastbound on Edgley Street near North 24th Street in North Philadelphia, around 2:45 a.m. in uniform and in a marked police car, said Lt. John Stanford, spokesman for the Philadelphia Police Department. As they crossed North 24th Street, they witnessed a man firing a handgun at people inside a gold Chrysler on the 2100 block.

An off-duty Philadelphia police officer was stabbed twice in the abdomen Monday night after struggling with two men who robbed him of his iPod, police said. The officer was listed in stable condition Tuesday morning at Aria Health-Torresdale Campus hospital, according to Officer Christine O'Brien, a police spokeswoman. She didn't release the officer's identity. O'Brien gave the following account: The incident occurred about 9:30 p.m. when the officer was walking on the 4800 block of Grant Avenue near State Road in the Northeast.

SAN FRANCISCO - Residents of a rural Northern California county were being told yesterday to keep their doors locked and report anyone considered suspicious as authorities continued the search for the killer of an 8-year-old girl. Calaveras County deputies and law-enforcement officials from neighboring counties were looking for a suspect after Leila Fowler was found stabbed in her Valley Springs home about noon Saturday. The girl was found by her brother - reported by local media to be 12 years old - after he encountered a male intruder in the home.