Police Assaults

First Amendment activists and a member of Congress said this week that the FBI may have stepped out of line with a letter accusing a Compton rap group of encouraging "violence against and disrespect" for law enforcement officers. "The FBI should stay out of the business of censorship," said Rep. Don Edwards (D-San Jose), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on civil and constitutional rights, when informed of an Aug.

ISTANBUL, Turkey - Hundreds of riot police firing tear gas stormed a central Istanbul park Saturday, tearing down tents and clearing out demonstrators in a bold, if politically risky, move by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to stem more than two weeks of antigovernment protests. The police assault at twilight sent hundreds of protesters scurrying for cover as street clashes echoed through the city. The swift and overwhelming action by security forces highlighted the country's deepening political divide and the potential danger Erdogan faces in further provoking a large segment of Turks critical of what they see as his authoritarian tendencies.

The strange, oftentimes uproarious Zsa Zsa Gabor trial was handed over to posterity on Friday, with a jury convicting the actress of slapping a police officer, driving without a license and possessing an open container of alcohol--a flask of Jack Daniels--in her $215,000 Rolls-Royce. But the tempestuous Hungarian was acquitted of disobeying Beverly Hills Police Officer Paul Kramer when she drove away from a routine traffic stop on June 14.

Protesters defying a blunt warning from Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan engaged in running battles Tuesday with police who unleashed clouds of tear gas and blasts of water cannons in an effort to end nearly two weeks of protest. After daylong street battles, protesters who were chased away in the early morning swarmed back into Istanbul's central Taksim Square, which has become a focus for grievances in a country long regarded as a model of democracy and economic growth in the Muslim world.

When an Orange County judge in 2003 sentenced gang member Antonio Nunez to life in prison without the possibility of parole for a crime, the defendant became one of the youngest in California history to get the penalty. Nunez was 14 when he sprayed an AK-47 assault rifle at police trying to thwart a 2001 kidnapping plot. In addition to life in prison without the possibility of parole, Nunez also was sentenced to four consecutive life terms on separate counts of attempting to murder four police officers.

Protesters defying a blunt warning from Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan engaged in running battles Tuesday with police who unleashed clouds of tear gas and blasts of water cannons in an effort to end nearly two weeks of protest. After daylong street battles, protesters who were chased away in the early morning swarmed back into Istanbul's central Taksim Square, which has become a focus for grievances in a country long regarded as a model of democracy and economic growth in the Muslim world.

A 32-year-old teacher who was shot and wounded by deputies after she fired at them this week was placed on leave Thursday by the Garden Grove Unified School District, officials said. Kara Knutson of Lake Forest was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of discharging a firearm with gross negligence and two counts of assault with a firearm on a peace officer. She is being held in lieu of $250,000 bail and is scheduled to be arraigned today at Harbor Justice Center in Newport Beach.

Tyran "Tah Tah" Moore was cleared as a suspect Friday in the shooting of a New York police captain but remains in custody on an unrelated weapons charge. Moore, a fringe rap industry figure, was arrested Thursday after a tense, three-hour standoff with police and was held as a suspect in the shooting. But authorities later came to believe that he wasn't involved.

Three street gang members were convicted Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court of trying to kill two LAPD officers in an ambush following a high-speed chase in 2000. Joseph "Little Respect" Aghazadeh, 20, Mario "Little Boy" Aleman, 25, and Ramon "Chubbs" Maldonado, 22, were found guilty of attempting to murder Officers Tom Baker and Carlos Langarica. They also were convicted of robbing a passerby of his wallet. All three face maximum life sentences for each of the attempted murders.

A sniper who wounded a recycling-yard worker and two Orange County sheriff's deputies -- including a helicopter pilot -- was shot and killed Saturday after waging a four-hour gunfight with authorities along a remote brush-covered canyon at the edge of the Cleveland National Forest. According to officials, the gunman, who was not identified, shot Deputy Jerry Larson at the Baker Canyon Green Recycling center after authorities responded to an 11:09 a.m. report of gunfire.

Military troops and police moved against thousands of anti-government protesters occupying a landmark square in Bahrain's capital early Wednesday after the king had declared a three-month state of emergency and instructed the military to battle unrest in the strategic nation. The security forces fired tear gas and shotguns as they pushed into Pearl Square, and at least two people were killed, eyewitnesses said. An army ambulance with its light flashing was seen leaving the area. "When they started shooting shotguns, we immediately went back," said Sayed Fadel.

It was a stakeout gone bad, featuring jumpy police officers, human traffickers, a roughed-up federal agent, and a multimillion-dollar twist of an ending. Sergio Lopez, an undercover U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, was tracking smugglers in October 2006 when Chula Vista police officers pulled him over. These were dangerous times in the San Diego suburb. A Mexican gang had been kidnapping residents, sometimes by posing as law enforcement officers. "What . . . are you doing speeding through my city?"

When an Orange County judge in 2003 sentenced gang member Antonio Nunez to life in prison without the possibility of parole for a crime, the defendant became one of the youngest in California history to get the penalty. Nunez was 14 when he sprayed an AK-47 assault rifle at police trying to thwart a 2001 kidnapping plot. In addition to life in prison without the possibility of parole, Nunez also was sentenced to four consecutive life terms on separate counts of attempting to murder four police officers.

A San Bernardino man was shot and killed by police after he attacked an officer and pointed a stun gun at him during a traffic stop, San Bernardino police said Tuesday. About 6:30 p.m. Monday, officers spotted a man running from their police car toward a vehicle parked in an alley on North Wall Avenue, Lt. David Harp said. Police approached the vehicle and asked the four occupants to step out. One of the men, identified as Cedric James May, 22, emerged from the back seat, tried to grab an officer's baton and gun, and finally got hold of the officer's Taser and pointed it at the officer's face, Harp said.

An alleged Whittier gang member wanted in an attack on two Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies nearly nine years ago has been arrested in Mexico, authorities announced Monday. Emigdio Preciado Jr., who had been listed as one of the FBI's 10 most wanted, was arrested Friday night in the rural town of Corral Piedras, officials said. The community is in Nayarit state, along Mexico's central coast. He was arrested by Mexican federal police after a tip by U.S. authorities.

Heavily armed gunmen staged a series of surprise attacks against municipal police forces in this tense border city, killing seven and wounding three in brazen assaults that shattered a four-month period of relative calm. Six police officers and an auxiliary officer died within a 45-minute span late Monday in ambushes at a hillside substation, on busy streets and outside an OXXO mini-mart, where four were killed in a hail of bullets, including one who tried to fight back.

A trucker saw a California Highway Patrol officer being savagely attacked on the side of Highway 99 as cars zoomed by, and did what no one else was doing: He stopped to help. David Tucker was honored Tuesday by the CHP for going to the rescue of Officer Wendy Weidenman last December, risking his own safety in the process. "I'm just glad I was there. I'd do it again in a heartbeat," the truck driver said after the ceremony.

A Newbury Park man was shot by sheriff's deputies after he fired several rounds in an industrial neighborhood Sunday night and later pointed a rifle at officers, authorities said. Andrew Brennan, 41, whom officials described as mentally disturbed, was shot in the shoulder. He was taken to Los Robles Regional Medical Center in Thousand Oaks, where he is recovering, authorities said. The incident comes at a time when officer-involved shootings in Ventura County are under the microscope.

Baitullah Mahsud, the leader of Pakistan's Taliban movement, threatened Tuesday to launch attacks in the United States in retaliation for missile strikes by American drones aimed at militant leaders sheltering in Pakistan's tribal areas. In an unusual step, the normally reclusive Mahsud personally made a round of telephone calls to news media representatives claiming responsibility for an audacious commando-style strike on a police training school near the eastern city of Lahore a day earlier.

San Diego officers shot and killed a 50-year-old man who lunged at them with a 10-inch knife after his wife had made a panicky call to police for help, authorities said Friday. Willard Anthony Bradley stabbed a police dog before advancing on officers, police said. Bradley was pronounced dead at the scene. His 50-year-old wife, whose name was not disclosed, was found dead in the living room of their home in the Paradise Hills neighborhood.