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DCI: Suspect in chase shot self

12-18-2013 Montana:

The man who led officers on a half-hour chase on Interstate 15 Sunday died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the state Department of Criminal Investigations said Monday.

He was identified as Timothy Arnold Miller, 49, of the Great Falls area by Lewis and Clark County Coroner Mickey Nelson.

Nelson said Miller’s body has been sent to the state crime lab in Missoula, and the matter is still under investigation.

Authorities said Sunday that Miller fled after police and county deputies attempted to apprehend him in northwest Great Falls in connection with a rape case shortly after 2 p.m.

After a half-hour chase, the suspect’s vehicle, a Ford F-250, was disabled with spike strips and came to rest in the median just north of the Gordon exit near mile marker 297.

An initial investigation indicates the suspect shot himself shortly thereafter, authorities said.

No officers were injured in the incident.

Nelson was called in to handle coroner duties given the number of Cascade County agencies involved in the incident.

The ongoing investigation has been turned over to the state Division of Criminal Investigations, as is common practice in situations involving the death of a suspect during a pursuit by law enforcement. ..Source.. by Tribune Staff



Montana man dead following high-speed chase

The rape suspect who died after leading law enforcement on two high-speed chases in the Great Falls area over the weekend has been identified as Timothy Arnold Miller.

Lewis & Clark County Coroner Mickey Nelson released the name Monday morning.

Miller, 49, was being investigated in connection with a rape case.

After eluding capture on Saturday during a high-speed chase, officers on Sunday located Miller outside the Heidelberg Bar on Division Road at about noon. Miller was reportedly sitting in a black pick-up truck in the parking lot.

An employee at the bar said they were informed to go into "lockdown" and not let anyone in or out as officers kept an eye on the suspect in the parking lot. The lockdown was reportedly not lifted until about 3 p.m.

Cascade County Sheriff Bob Edwards said that just after 2 p.m., officers attempted to apprehend Miller, but he drove away out of Great Falls north onto I-15.

The Montana Highway Patrol was called to assist in apprehending Miller, and about 30 minutes into the chase, Miller's vehicle went into the median and stopped near the Gordon Exit of I-15.

Edwards said that Miller died at the scene. It was unclear if Miller shot himself, or was shot by an officer.

The Montana Department of Criminal Investigation will assist with the investigation.

No law enforcement officers were hurt. ..Source.. by KTVQ.com

DC Police Officer Marc Washington facing child porn charges found dead

12-11-2013 Washington DC:

WASHINGTON - A D.C. police officer facing child pornography charges apparently committed suicide one day after being released from jail.

Marc Washington was found unconscious in the Washington Channel near Hains point just after 8 p.m. Tuesday.

He had just been fitted with a GPS monitoring bracelet.

Washington was freed from jail Monday morning and was on his own until Tuesday when he was given a GPS ankle bracelet and told to go home where he would be under house arrest.

But instead of going to Waldorf, Md., the 32-year-old apparently drove himself to Hains Point where he may have jumped into the frigid waters of the Washington Channel.

FOX 5 has been closely following this case since the Seventh District officer was arrested last week. Now a timeline is starting to come together.

We now know Washington was released from the cellblock at U.S. District Court Monday morning and told to show up at the Pretrial Services Agency at 633 Indiana Avenue, NW, where he would be placed into the high intensity supervision program.

The Prisoner Suicide Puzzle

8-15-2013 Washington DC:

Three inmates in Washington, D.C.'s city jail have killed themselves in the last two months. Add in a fourth, who took his own life in November, and that's a staggering figure for a lock-up system that hadn't previously seen a suicide in three years.

A pair of reportedly self-inflicted deaths in June was enough to spark a comprehensive plan to address the situation, including immediate efforts to make it physically more difficult for the more than 1,700 inmates regularly housed in the city's central detention facility to hurt themselves behind bars.

"One suicide is one suicide too many," says Dr. Forrest Daniels, health services administrator for the D.C. Department of Corrections.

The corrections department announced that jail guards would double security check efforts, making rounds every 15 minutes, up from the previous 30-minute check system. Director Tom Faust also said that his staff would undertake a comprehensive review of the jail's suicide prevention protocols.

The moves did not stop another inmate, 56-year-old alleged sex offender Mike Johnson, from hanging himself in his cell last week. Jail officials said they would immediately require all prisoners to share cells, in the wake of the latest incident, and would no longer issue razor blades to new inmates until they have completed a mental health evaluation. Paul Mannina, a Labor Department lawyer who killed himself just five days after being locked up for allegedly attacking a female co-worker in her home in Northwest D.C., reportedly cut his throat with a jail-issued razor. The three other inmates believed to have committed suicide since November died by hanging.

Oklahoma City police identify two suicide victims

10-15-2013 Oklahoma:

A Moore man and an Oklahoma City man shot and killed themselves in separate incidents Monday as police tried to take them into custody.

Oklahoma City police have identified two men who shot and killed themselves in separate incidents Monday.

Both men died before Oklahoma City police tactical team members could take them into custody.

... ... ...

Saul Hernandez Biera, 29, of Oklahoma City

The second incident was reported about 11:50 a.m. A woman told police that her two daughters, a teenager and a preteen, had been raped, according to the incident report.

Officers went to the suspect's last known address at the 500 block of SW 28 and heard a gunshot while they were walking up to the front door, police Capt. Dexter Nelson said.

The suspect was identified as Biera. ..Source.. by LeighAnne Manwarren

Molesting Suspect Commits Suicide

12-25-1996 Oklahoma:

GUTHRIE - A Guthrie man fatally shot himself late Monday while police watched, helpless to stop him.

Richard Mahnke, 59, killed himself while officers were attempting to get near enough to question him about the molestation of two small girls, Assistant Police Chief Harry Downs said.

Downs said Mahnke was called "uncle" by the girls, sisters age 6 and 8, but he does not think Mahnke was a blood relative of the children.

Police were called Monday evening to a home in the 1500 block of W Cleveland to investigate a possible child molestation.

Officers took two girls to the Logan Hospital and Medical Center's emergency room.

A doctor who examined the children said they had been molested by instrumentation, Downs said.

Shortly before midnight, officers returned to the home. When they asked to speak to Mahnke, other adults in the home found he had left.

Downs said police found Mahnke in the back yard, crouched by the corner of the house.

"When officers shined their lights on him, he already had a small caliber (.22) rifle under his chin and he pulled the trigger," Downs said.

Officers called for an ambulance and Mahnke died at the hospital a short time later.

Richard Smothermon, Logan County first assistant district attorney, said Mahnke became the third person connected with a juvenile rape investigation to commit suicide in Logan County in the past two months.

On Oct. 24, Golden Timothy Kelly Jr., 37, committed suicide by hanging himself in the Logan County Jail. He was charged with the second-degree rape of a 14-year-old girl.

On Dec. 9, William Lee Hodges Jr., 21, also committed suicide by hanging himself in the Logan County Jail.

He had been charged with two counts of first-degree rape involving his girlfriend's 2-year-old daughter. ..Source.. by Ellie Sutter