Police Captain

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Charles W. Murphy, 70, a former Philadelphia police captain who later held executive positions in the city government and with Chambers of Commerce, died Tuesday of cancer at his Worcester home. He retired in 1972 after 20 years with the Philadelphia Police Department, the last five as captain and commander of the Accident Investigation Division. He then served as assistant managing director for safety in the administration of Mayor Frank L. Rizzo. Mr. Murphy joined the Chamber of Commerce of Greater Philadelphia as vice president/safety and executive director of the safety council in 1972.

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.

Richard T. Doyle, 83, a retired Philadelphia police captain of detectives, died of heart failure Friday at Abington Memorial Hospital. Mr. Doyle, who was born in Philadelphia, joined the Philadelphia Police Department in 1940. First assigned to the "motor bandit patrol," in 1945 he was promoted quickly to put his crime-solving expertise to use by capturing two prisoners who participated in the biggest breakout in the history of Eastern State Penitentiary. In April of that year, 12 convicts escaped through a 97-foot tunnel they had dug underneath the walls.

  Ray Lewis, the retired Philadelphia police captain who became a hero to the Occupy Wall Street movement, will not face legal consequences for wearing his old uniform at protests, a Police Department spokesman said Monday. "He will not be arrested," said Lt. Raymond Evers, spokesman for Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey. "He's exercising his First Amendment rights, and we're fine with that," Evers said. That position is in stark contrast to a letter Ramsey signed in November demanding that Lewis "immediately cease and desist" from wearing his old uniform in public.

Hard to understand why NBC would keep Awake sitting on its bench for so long, because the show is better than most of the series the network had in its starting lineup for the season. On Awake , the concept is all. Consequently, it takes a little explaining. Following a car crash, police detective Michael Britten (Jason Isaacs, the malevolent Lucius Malfoy of the Harry Potter universe) spends his days in alternating realities. In one, his wife (Laura Allen)

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.

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.

A Municipal Court judge was left a little underdressed yesterday after his judicial robe was stolen while he went to the men's room. Ruling of the day? It's still a tough town. Judge Joseph C. Waters Jr. said the robe was taken from a robing room in the Criminal Justice Center, at 13th and Filbert streets, after he stepped out for a moment. He said he'd left the door unlocked. An email was circulated to judges and courthouse staff just after 1 p.m. yesterday, asking that people look out for the missing garment and return it if found.

The man preying on women in Kensington has chosen his victims well. Addicted and swirling through the neighborhood's dangerous drug culture, where life and death happen in abandoned buildings and desolate alleys, the victims already existed on the edges of society. None of the three women found dead since Nov. 3 lived in Kensington, meaning they were part of a transient population of outsiders with few ties to the area. Investigators trying to find the killer must wade into a community of people who are, at a minimum, wary of police.

Radnor police stood down Monday as an intruder crept into a stately mansion near Villanova University - because it was all for the movie cameras. Jason Statham , director Boaz Yakin , and producer Lawrence Bender are shooting the thriller Safe , in which Statham spirits a girl from mobsters. Through Tuesday, the trio and a film crew are holed up in the rented mansion, which is on the market for nearly $7 million. The house portrays New York City's Gracie Mansion. Statham - the intruder - wants a face-to-face with the mayor, played by Chris Sarandon ( The Princess Bride )

The trial of fired Philadelphia Police Officer Joseph Harvey was postponed yesterday after the judge recused himself at the request of the District Attorney's Office. Harvey, 36, who was arrested in April and charged with exposing himself to a woman he was questioning while on duty, was given a new court date of Dec. 16 in Municipal Court. Judge Joseph C. Waters, a retired police captain, was to have presided over the nonjury trial. But Assistant District Attorney Bob Foster said that his office had concerns because one of Waters' sons is a police officer who several years ago worked with Harvey in the 24th District, in Juniata.

MAYS LANDING, N.J. - A 72-year-old Atlantic City man who was captured on video fatally shooting a Sewell contractor he claimed owed him money received a sentence of 501/2 years in prison Friday. Before the sentencing in Superior Court, Jose Aleman delivered a rambling, 10-minute diatribe in which he expressed no remorse for killing Pong H. Yu, 59, on April 24, 2008, in front of an abandoned Atlantic City building Yu was considering buying and renovating. Aleman saw Yu speaking with an architect about the job and went home to fetch a revolver, according to the prosecutor.