[Peace-discuss] Compare this to Champaign/Urbana

[Marti]

I got this story from the News-Gazette online.  Now in Champaign officers
can shoot into the home of a woman and her family while chasing a suspect,
but all an officer has to do in Monticello is point his gun at someone to be
reprimanded. 


Monticello police officer suspended after gun incident


By Christopher Troksa 


Thursday July 12, 2007


MONTICELLO - Monticello police Officer David Ballard has been suspended
without pay due to allegations that without being provoked, he aimed his
service weapon at Monticello attorney David Cox and two other individuals on
June 23.

"His conduct was, in my opinion, criminal," said Cox in a prepared
statement.

Ballard, a Peoria resident, has been a part-time officer in Monticello for
the last 11 years. He has been suspended since June 28.

Cox alleges that Ballard entered his law office at 112 W. Washington in
Monticello at 3:20 p.m. June 23. Soon after, Ballard pointed a gun at Cox.
Cox's son Jonathan, 18, and John Moreland, 19, were also in the room.

Those in the office could see only the gun because Ballard shielded himself
from their sight in the hallway, according to the statement.

"I saw a gun peek around the door, and I immediately think, as an attorney
that someone who is angry with me, maybe a divorce case, has come to shoot
me," Cox said.

Ballard later walked into the office and demanded identification, which Cox
was unable to provide without moving from his seated position. A standoff
then ensued for a few minutes, during which Ballard also aimed the gun at
Jonathan Cox, according to the statement.

Ballard told Cox he was "looking for suspects" after an alarm had been
tripped at the nearby First-Mid Illinois Bank & Trust office in Monticello.
Ballard searched the law office until another officer arrived. The officers
left the office without offering an explanation or an apology, Cox alleges.

Officials at First-Mid said they could not comment on security matters or
confirm that police responded to a false alarm.

The Monticello Police Department concluded an internal investigation of the
incident and gave a sealed envelope to Piatt County State's Attorney Leonard
Rumery.

"The criminal case depends on very specific facts of the case, such as
whether he drew his gun or whether he came in with the gun drawn," he said.

Due to his working relationships with Cox and the Monticello Police
Department, Rumery has forwarded the report to Chuck Zalar of the special
prosecution unit of the State's Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor's office in
Springfield. Zalar will assign a special prosecutor to the case.

"This one's a little unusual," Zalar said.

He said he anticipates movement on the case "within the next month."

Monticello Police Chief John Miller said both the FBI and the Illinois State
Police have been involved in investigating the incident.

"All citizens have a right to fill out a complaint, and we have the right
and a duty to throughly investigate the complaint," he said.

Miller said the department has taken all the right steps to comply with the
ongoing investigation, but that he could not comment further because it was
a personnel issue.

Cox said he was satisfied with the steps taken by the city and the police
department. Ballard did not return a phone message.

  _____  

Find this article at: 
http://www.news-gazette.com/news/2007/07/12/officer_suspendedafter_gunincide
nt

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/private/peace-discuss/attachments/20070712/8a7a3b80/attachment-0001.htm