Police Captain

IN FULL UNIFORM and with his head held high, a retired Philadelphia police captain was arrested in New York yesterday while participating in an Occupy Wall Street demonstration. Ray Lewis - who left the Philadelphia department in 2004 after serving as captain of the 25th Police District, headquartered at Front and Westmoreland streets - reportedly was among more than 170 protesters who were arrested. Several representatives with the NYPD's public-information office said they could not confirm Lewis' arrest because there were so many people taken into custody who had not yet been processed.

A Lower Merion police captain was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol after his car crashed into the rear of another car Tuesday night, Radnor Township police said yesterday. Capt. John H. Sheehan was charged with drunken driving about 9:35 p.m. Tuesday after the minor accident, which occurred next to Villanova University at the intersection of County Line Road and North Ithan Avenue, police said. Police said the crash was reported by university security guards.

Police Capt. Floard Catlett, claiming defamation of character, has filed suit in Camden County Superior Court against Councilman Leon Williams. According to Catlett's attorney, Louis Hasner of Cherry Hill, Williams allegedly slandered and defamed Catlett from July 16 through August 1992 by falsely telling numerous individuals on several occasions that Catlett had been arrested for drug-related offenses. Hasner said the suit was filed about a month ago. Williams, who said yesterday that he has yet to receive notice of the suit, denied the allegations in the suit and said he believed it to be politically motivated.

Anthony C. Melchiorre Sr., a retired police captain who preferred resolving problems with a persuasive personality rather than the power of his office, died Friday from complications of Parkinson's disease. He was 77 and lived in Mount Holly, N.J. Tony Melchiorre began his career in 1950 at the old 9th District at 20th and Buttonwood streets. When he retired in 1980, he had had been one of the city's first community relations officers, a detective, a member of Juvenile Aid Division and chief of police at Philadelphia International Airport.

ABOUT 75 RESIDENTS of the diverse 35th Police District - which includes Logan, Olney, Ogontz and East Oak Lane - gathered Wednesday night in a show of support for the district's recently removed police captain. Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey on Friday suspended the district's longtime commander, Capt. John McCloskey, as well as Inspector Aaron Horne for 30 days because they allegedly helped cover up the arrest of a retired cop's grandson. Ramsey transferred McCloskey to night command and moved Horne from the Northwest Police Division to the Forensic Science Bureau.

Lower Merion police Capt. John H. Sheehan, charged in September with driving under the influence of alcohol, waived his preliminary hearing Tuesday and will stand trial in Delaware County Court. Sheehan was arrested by Radnor police after the car he was driving crashed into the rear of another car near Villanova University at the intersection of County Line Road and North Ithan Avenue, police said. Appearing before Radnor District Justice Beverly Foster, Sheehan was scheduled for a formal arraignment in Delaware County Court at 9 a.m. Dec. 20. Foster ordered him to post $1 bail.

Police capt. hurt in hit-and-run Clarissa Street near Hunting Park Avenue in Nicetown A police captain suffered a broken leg early yesterday when his car was rear-ended by a hit-and-run driver, police said. The victim, a captain in the 39th District, which is headquartered at 22nd Street and Hunting Park Avenue in Tioga, was driving in an unmarked car about 3:37 a.m. when it was struck by a tan vehicle, police said. The driver remained at large last night. The captain was taken to Temple University Hospital, where he was treated and released.

Only four months after joining Coatesville's police department, retired Philadelphia police captain Edmond Losco has decided to quit. Losco, who filled the new $32,000-a-year post as department captain and second in command, will leave next week. He declined to explain the move other than to say he was quitting for personal reasons. Other city officials said they had been told that Losco was leaving to take a higher-paying job as an investigator for a Philadelphia law firm.

IRVINE, Calif. - A heavy police presence sectioned off a block of homes in a quiet Southern California suburb Sunday, as residents adjusted to life at the center of a sprawling manhunt for a fugitive whose police and military background and vitriolic online manifesto has put the region on high-alert. Joe Palacio lives down the street from a home surrounded by authorities protecting a police captain mentioned as a target in Christopher Dorner's Facebook rant against those he held responsible for his dismissal from the LAPD five years ago. Dorner, 33, is suspected of killing three people, including one police officer, and as the manhunt entered its fourth day with no success, authorities posted a $1 million reward for information leading to his capture.

BIG BEAR LAKE, Calif. - All that was left were footprints leading away from Christopher Dorner's burned-out pickup truck, and an enormous, snow-covered mountain where he could be hiding among the skiers, hundreds of cabins and dense woods. More than 100 officers, including SWAT teams, were driven in glass-enclosed snow machines and armored personnel carriers to hunt for the former Los Angeles police officer suspected of going on a deadly rampage to get back at those he blamed for ending his police career.

BIG BEAR LAKE, Calif. - All that was left were footprints leading away from Christopher Dorner's burned-out pickup truck, and an enormous, snow-covered mountain where he could be hiding among the skiers, hundreds of cabins and dense woods. More than 100 officers, including SWAT teams, were driven in glass-enclosed snow machines and armored personnel carriers to hunt for the former Los Angeles police officer suspected of going on a deadly rampage to get back at those he blamed for ending his police career.

POLICE IN Puerto Rico said former boxing champion Hector "Macho" Camacho Sr. had been shot and critically wounded Tuesday night in Bayamon, near San Juan. The Associated Press reported that doctors and Camacho's spokesman said the former boxer was expected to survive. Police said Camacho was shot in neck and face while in a car outside a bar. A second man in the car also was shot and killed but authorities said it is not clear what relationship, if any, Camacho had with the victim.

As many have seen on You Tube and elsewhere, Philadelphia police Lt. Jonathan Josey was recently captured on video hitting a woman in the face and knocking her to the ground during the city's Puerto Rican Day Parade . The video is not pleasant. But did it justify Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey's quick decision to fire Josey? From my years in law enforcement, I know that when a police officer resorts to the use of force - whether justified or not - it is never pretty. Police work is often ugly, and when it's exposed to the public, there is a natural aversion to much of it. However, whether this public disgust is justified can be determined only through a dispassionate evaluation of the facts.

The mysterious 1999 disappearance of Maria Procopio, a 35-year-old South Philadelphia woman, had faded from public consciousness until Friday, when the identity of a suburban police officer's accused killer was released. Andrew C. Thomas, who authorities say fatally shot Officer Bradley Fox in Plymouth Township late Thursday afternoon before killing himself, was the prime suspect in Procopio's suspected murder. "He absolutely was," said Radnor Township Police Superintendent William Colarulo, who was the Philadelphia police captain overseeing detectives in the case.

The mysterious 1999 disappearance of Maria Procopio, a 35-year-old South Philadelphia woman, had faded from public consciousness until Friday, when the identity of a suburban police officer's accused killer was released. Andrew C. Thomas, who authorities say fatally shot Officer Bradley Fox in Plymouth Township late Thursday afternoon before killing himself, was the prime suspect in Procopio's suspected murder. "He absolutely was," said Radnor Township Police Superintendent William Colarulo, who was the Philadelphia police captain overseeing detectives in the case.

A JUDGE found Dwayne "Chico" Young - arrested Sunday for allegedly holding a deaf-mute man hostage for months to steal his disability checks - so despicable that he set bail at $1 million. And it might not have been the first time Young preyed on a vulnerable elderly person for financial gain, police said Thursday. Young, 56, of West Philadelphia, for years lived with a woman who used a wheelchair after losing her legs to diabetes, said Capt. Larry Nodiff, commander of South Detectives.

ABOUT 75 RESIDENTS of the diverse 35th Police District - which includes Logan, Olney, Ogontz and East Oak Lane - gathered Wednesday night in a show of support for the district's recently removed police captain. Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey on Friday suspended the district's longtime commander, Capt. John McCloskey, as well as Inspector Aaron Horne for 30 days because they allegedly helped cover up the arrest of a retired cop's grandson. Ramsey transferred McCloskey to night command and moved Horne from the Northwest Police Division to the Forensic Science Bureau.