#7 - Nicolette Muniz
Officer Nicolette Muniz was investigated by her own colleagues at the San Antonio Police
Department following allegations that she’d assaulted a love rival, in April of 2019.
A report created in connection to the incident detailed how Muniz, a 3-year veteran of the force,
had Facetimed former SAPD officer Kenneth Moreno, with whom she was allegedly having an affair.
The call was answered by Moreno’s girlfriend, however, and an argument between the two women
subsequently ensued. Muniz eventually coaxed her rival into revealing her home address, and the
off-duty officer then went to her residence, in the early hours of the morning, to confront her.
Upon Muniz’s arrival, reports indicated that there was a physical altercation between the women.
The officer allegedly elbowed the homeowner in the stomach and struck her in the face and neck
in an attempt to elicit a similarly violent reaction. Rather than strike Muniz in retaliation,
however, Moreno’s girlfriend called the police. It was later discovered that Moreno himself had
been hiding in the backyard before he ultimately left the premises through a back alleyway. Officer
Muniz was arrested and placed on administrative leave following the incident. Although she’d
initially faced criminal charges, they were later dropped due to insufficient evidence. In June of
2020, Muniz reportedly told a fellow SAPD officer that she’d been in contact with Moreno, which
violated the terms of the order she’d received from her superiors to stay away from her former
romantic partner. She was consequently issued a 15-day suspension in mid-December of 2020.
#6 - Maria Velez
In 2015, Ohio woman Maria Velez left her job as a bilingual teacher's aide at Clark School to enter
Cleveland's police academy. In December of that year, the 22-year-old reportedly started working
basic patrol in the department's 5th District. The mother of a male student came forward,
in September of 2017, to report that the officer had had an inappropriate relationship with her son
during her time as a teacher’s aide. Velez allegedly had several intimate encounters
with the respective student throughout much of 2015. In response to the accusations against the
young officer, detectives in the Cleveland Police Department's internal affairs unit
launched an investigation into the matter. It led to Velez being arrested during her shift,
on October the 19th. She was charged with multiple offenses, including attempted tampering with
evidence and intimidation of a crime victim or witness. The charges stemmed from a phone call
she’d reportedly made to the victim’s mother in which she told her to lie about the illicit
relationship when questioned by investigators. It was reported that the patrolwoman agreed to
resign from the police department in the wake of her arrest. In April of 2018, Velez pleaded
guilty to the charges levied against her and was ultimately sentenced to 24 months in prison plus
5 years of supervised release. #5 - Davin Cole
At around 6 pm, on November the 3rd of 2021, off-duty San Francisco police sergeant Davin
Cole entered a Rite Aid in San Mateo. Cole, who was allegedly armed with a loaded firearm that
wasn’t his service weapon, handed the pharmacist a note demanding painkillers for which he didn’t
have a prescription. It’s unclear if anything was ultimately stolen but Cole was confronted by two
San Mateo police officers upon exiting the store. They tackled the off-duty sergeant to the ground
after he’d resisted arrest, and he was eventually taken into custody on suspicion of robbery.
Cole was reportedly admitted to a rehabilitation facility after posting bail. The suspect’s
attorney detailed how his client had secretly been battling an addiction to painkillers ever since a
doctor had prescribed them to him for a severe K9 bite in 2010. He also revealed the darkly ironic
fact that Cole had been working in the police department’s Healthy Streets Outreach Command
and Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion program, where he helped individuals with substance abuse
issues stay off the streets. He was placed on unpaid leave pending an internal investigation
into his arrest. Cole reportedly appeared in court via video conference in February of 2022.
#4 - Dave Rodriguez
California man Don McComas uploaded a video to YouTube, on July the 29th of 2015, which showed
a troubling encounter he’d had with a local police officer in front of his Rohnert Park residence.
During the 5-minute clip that went viral on social media in the incident’s aftermath, McComas noticed
a police cruiser slowly approaching his house while he was hooking a boat up to his vehicle
in his driveway. After a couple of minutes, the officer inside the patrol car was shown taking
a picture of McComas with his own cell phone. He then exited the car and approached the homeowner,
ordering him to take his hand out of his pocket. The officer subsequently unholstered
his service weapon and pointed it at the ground. McComas maintained that he’d done nothing wrong,
and asked the policeman if he was suspected of committing a crime. The officer admitted that
the homeowner wasn’t under any such suspicion, and he then walked back to his cruiser before
leaving the scene. The Santa Rosa Press-Democrat later identified the officer in the video as
Dave Rodriguez. Rohnert Park Police Chief Brian Masterson reportedly declined to comment on the
incident and it was reported that the City of Rohnert Park would investigate
the matter. The official probe concluded that Officer Rodriguez had acted within his rights
during his interaction with McComas. The latter filed a lawsuit against the city, seeking more
than $25,000 in damages for what he described as a “violation of his civil rights and the negligent
infliction of emotional distress”. Court documents indicated that a settlement was eventually reached
by the two parties, but the specifics of the agreement weren’t made available to the public.
#3 - Rodney Dunn
On July the 9th of 2020, Arkansas woman Nicole Harper was traveling on
US Highway 167, in the city of Jacksonville. The 38-year-old woman, reported as being pregnant
at the time, was clocked at a speed of 84 mph in a 70 mph zone by Arkansas state trooper
Rodney Dunn. The officer subsequently began pursuing Harper, who didn’t immediately pull over
to the shoulder. The woman would later justify the delay by explaining that she didn’t think there
was sufficient space for her vehicle. Instead of instantly stopping, Harper had reportedly reduced
her speed to that of roughly 60 miles per hour and turned on her hazard lights as she searched
for a safe location to pull over. Dunn, however, believed that the woman was attempting to flee
from him. The trooper then rammed Harper’s bumper in an attempt to execute a Pursuit
Intervention Technique, commonly referred to as a PIT maneuver. The woman’s car was sent careening
into the adjacent lanes before it flipped over and slid to a complete halt. Harper reportedly avoided
any serious injury during the accident and her baby was ultimately born without complication a
few months later. She was, however, charged with speeding and failing to yield to an emergency
vehicle. Harper subsequently filed a civil lawsuit against the state of Arkansas and, in November
of 2021, the two sides reportedly reached a settlement agreement. Court records detailed
how the agreement would lead to policy changes on the use of PIT maneuvers by state police.
#2 - Daria Jalali and Austin Hopp On June the 26th of 2020, an elderly
Colorado woman named Karen Garner exited a Walmart location, in the city of Loveland, with $14 worth
of unpaid merchandise. Employees at the store detected the theft and retrieved the items from
the 73-year-old, who allegedly pulled off one of the workers’ face masks during a minor altercation
that ensued. Garner subsequently began walking home, and the employees contacted local police
to report the incident. A first-year officer with the Loveland Police Department named
Austin Hopp found Garner picking flowers in a field alongside the road a short time later.
Hopp reportedly approached the woman aggressively with the intention of arresting her. Garner,
who appeared scared and confused in video captured by the officer’s body cam, started to walk away
from him, at which point he grabbed her arms and pulled them backwards in order to handcuff
her. The officer then forced the 80-pound woman to the ground, repeatedly, as she continually
attempted to get up and walk home. Officer Daria Jalali arrived at the scene soon after that and
helped Hopp hold down Garner against the hood of a patrol car and hogtie her. A bystander
reportedly questioned the officers’ use of force on the frail woman, but Jalali and Hopp dismissed
their concerns. Garner was taken to the police station, where she was handcuffed to a bench as
a small group of officers laughed and joked while watching Hopp’s body cam footage of the arrest.
In the aftermath of the incident, it emerged that Garner had sustained a fractured arm, a dislocated
shoulder, a sprained wrist, and several bruises on her body as a result of the officers’ aggressive
exertion of force. It was also revealed that the woman suffered from dementia and sensory aphasia.
Garner filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Loveland and 5 members of the police department,
in April of 2021. The elderly woman was ultimately awarded a $3 million payout
after a settlement was reached, and officers Jalali and Hopp resigned from the department
after facing criminal charges. The latter’s trial was scheduled to begin on April the 18th of 2022.
#1 - Yvonne Wu On the evening of October the 13th of 2021, an
off-duty New York police officer named Yvonne Wu broke into her ex-girlfriend’s Brooklyn apartment
and lay in wait. Shortly after Wu had arrived on the premises, 23-year-old Jenny Li arrived
home with her new girlfriend, Jaime Liang, aged 24. Wu confronted them and promptly opened fire,
shooting both women in the torso. One of the victims was able to contact 9-1-1, and Wu could
reportedly be heard in the background of the phone call screaming “I told you not to mess with me”.
When police officers made their way to the scene, they came upon Wu standing outside the apartment,
and she was then taken into custody without incident. Li and Liang were both transported
to the hospital following the shooting. The latter passed away a short time later,
while Li was stabilized by doctors and ultimately survived the shooting. Wu was taken to Maimonides
Medical Center, where she underwent a psychiatric evaluation. The 5-year police veteran was charged
with murder and attempted murder in connection to the love triangle shooting. In January of 2022,
the slain woman’s family announced their plans to file a $25 million lawsuit against the NYPD
and the city of New York. The family alleged that the police department had acted negligently
in allowing Officer Wu to retain her service weapon in spite of the fact that they were aware
of her “distressed emotional state” that had been exacerbated by her contentious breakup with Li.
Thanks for watching! Would you rather be pulled over every time you are going even 1
mile over the speed limit or have to stay perfectly within the painted lanes at
all times? Let us know in the comments section below!