Compiled by Bethany Kohoutek bethany@dmcityview.com

911 call

(Editor’s note: The caller in this conversation is a law-enforcement official requesting backup medical assistance)

D: Sheriff’s office…
C: Hi… Hey, you want to send rescue down here? Meredith and Merle Hay, just west — I’m sorry, just east of Merle Hay on Meredith. A guy got hit by a car. Looks like he was on a bike. A guy got hit. Looks like he’s got a broken leg. Conscious and breathing.
D: Merle Hay and Meredith?
C: Yeah, its just gonna be east of there.
D: Is it like county part or is it Des Moines?
C: We’re in the county.
D: OK.
C: He’s on the north side of the road.
D: Alright.
C: Alright, thanks.

Officer’s Report: I was dispatched to [the scene] of a hit and run involving a pedestrian. Upon arrival, Johnston Fire Department was already on scene attending to the victim. I spoke with [a witness, who] said he was westbound on Meredith when he saw a person lying in the north ditch.[The witness said when he approached the person, he saw that it was a friend of his… and that’s when he called 911. I met with [the victim] at Mercy Hospital, and he said that he had left his house around 21:30 hours to run to the post office and Hy-Vee in Johnston and was on his way home, headed eastbound on Meredith, when an older, white, medium-sized sedan that was headed westbound came over the hill and struck him, knocking him into the north ditch. [The victim] said the vehicle did appear to have swerved to hit him intentionally. [The victim] was unsure on any other descriptions. The doctor at the hospital said [the victim] possibly had a broken femur to his right leg. Deputy Vandeweide took pictures and measurements at the scene, and the bicycle was placed in property for evidence. The bicycle appeared to have white paint transfer to the front forks and plastic, possibly from the suspect vehicle. [The victim’s] injuries did not appear to be life-threatening.

Docket diving

What is the definition of a “safe work environment?” And does that definition change when an employee is required to perform dangerous work as a routine part of his or her job?

That is one of the questions placed before the Iowa Court of Appeals recently. On Dec. 13, justices evaluated a controversial case from Black Hawk County, Gary McCormick vs. Iowa Division of Labor. In 2001, the Iowa Board of Regents approved the use of Tasers for all three state university police forces; although, none of them currently are permitted to carry side arms. They equip officers with chemical agents, like Mace, as well as the stun-gun-like Tasers, but campus police are required to call city police for backup if additional assistance is needed.

Gary McCormick was an officer in the University of Northern Iowa’s police department when he raised the complaint that would eventually ascend Iowa’s judicial ladder. McCormick disagreed with the policy barring campus police from carrying firearms. He believed that he and other campus police should have access to such weapons in order to protect themselves.

McCormick said the policy violated workplace laws because it failed to provide the officers with a “safe work environment” — a cornerstone of federal OSHA (the Occupational Safety and Health Act) regulations. And he implored the Iowa Division of Iowa to investigate the matter.

An administrator with the agency replied that OSHA lacks any mention of “specific standards that address equipping employees with firearms as personal protective equipment,” according to court documents.
So McCormick took his case to the Iowa court system. Specifically, he asked that the Black Hawk County district court require the labor department “to conduct an investigation and issue such appropriate orders as may be necessary to correct the foresaid workplace hazard.” He also requested a hearing, at which he said he could produce evidence showing that the no-guns policy left campus officers in danger.

But the court sided with the Division of Labor. A Black Hawk County judge concluded that “the current safety measures in place are adequate” under state and federal OSHA laws.

Despite the setback, McCormick wasn’t ready to give up. He appealed the case, claiming that the district court had erred when it wouldn’t allow him to call witnesses or present evidence supporting his case. But his case didn’t fare any better with the higher court. In fact, justices on the Iowa Court of Appeals concluded that, “We discern nothing unreasonable in this ruling.”

Ultimately, the appellate court consulted precedent — Cf. West vs. Department of Commerce — a 1999 case in which a university police officer challenged Wisconsin’s ban on firearms for campus cops. “[T]he abstract threat West faced as a university police officer was not the type of threat Congress had in mind when it passed OSHA,” justices opined.

1,284 : number of inmates currently being housed at Anamosa State Penitentiary. The facility’s capacity is 913.

Sucks to be you

Name: Eric Christopher Miller
Location: Polk County Jail
Posed for this photo because: Eric Christopher Miller is being held in the Polk County Jail on a $500,000 bond and a first-degree murder charge, after he allegedly killed Jamey Brucker, a 29-year-old Des Moines man. Miller, 25, allegedly directed police to a University Avenue apartment, where they discovered the body of Brucker, who appeared to have died of stab wounds. When law-enforcement officials found Miller’s vehicle, they confiscated a shotgun from inside.

Day as a dispatcher

The Polk County Sheriff’s department refers to its dispatch team as “the lifeline that connects citizens with emergency services.” In 2005, the Communication Center at the Polk County Sheriff’s Department received an average of 130 individual 911 calls per day. Throughout the course of the year, dispatchers handled a total of 47,550 emergency calls. In addition, the year 2005 saw 100,613 law-enforcement units dispatched, and 39,920 fire or ambulance units. Dispatchers performed criminal history checks 13,287 times, and they received 7,117 warrants.

On the clock

Des Moines Police – Nov. 27

2:40 a.m.
Burlary and stalking in the 2200 block of E. Euclid. A victim reported that a man was making unwanted phone calls to her home and her cell phones after she had broken up with him. He allegedly was calling multiple times per day. She said that the suspect had also been appearing at her place of work, and that management had banned him from the property. On this particular night, the victim got into her vehicle after work and began to drive away, when the suspect emerged from the backseat. He had been hiding in the trunk. He began making threatening remarks to her. The victim said she returned to her work parking lot, ran inside and called police. When she went back outside, the suspect was gone. But a few moments later, he called her from a nearby pay phone. After police interviewed the victim, they eventually located the suspect at his mother’s house. He was arrested. He admitted to hiding in the victim’s car and waiting for her after work.

11:49 a.m.
Burglary in the 5800 block of S.W. 4th Street. During the night, an unknown suspect pried open the front door of the residence. The suspect apparently intended to take the dishwasher, because it was left behind, sitting in the middle of the driveway. Identification specialists were called in to process the scene.

12:30 p.m.
Robbery in the 3000 block of E. 12th. Police were sent to Dahl’s grocery store on Ingersoll to meet with a store manager, who had found a purse. Evidently, a person had turned it in at the store after finding it in a ditch. Police made contact with the purse’s owner, who reported being robbed. She said she had failed to report the robbery for fear of retaliation. She said that on Nov. 7, she was walking in the 3000 block of E. 12th, when the suspect vehicle approached. A male grabbed her by her hair and tried to pull her into the vehicle, she said. The victim said she fought her attacker and punched him in the face. The attacker was able to grab her purse in the process. The purse and various papers were recovered, but the victim’s cell phone and car keys are still missing.

9:30 p.m.
Burglary in the 6500 block of SW 16th. A victim reported that sometime between Nov. 26 and Nov. 27, a suspect entered his garage and took several items. One of the doors to the garage was unlocked at the time. Among the items stolen was a Schwinn 12-speed bicycle with a broken kickstand. The victim estimates that the bike is worth about $150.

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