Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s been in Iowa for the past few days to help his horse in the GOP presidential primary, Texas Governor Rick Perry, in his final push before state’s January 3 caucuses.Apparently, Perry still thinks the sheriff’s support is a good thing — despite Arpaio’s recent (ahem)…
The Atencio family has released the following obituary and schedule of funeral services for their late family member Marty. The public can send flowers and cards in care of the address below for Heritage Funeral Chapel.Heritage Funeral Chapel 6830 W Thunderbird Road Peoria, AZ 85381-5025 (623) 974-3671 Obituary…
Video of Atencio being stripped and left naked in a cell, taken from MCSO footage by Phoenix videographer Dennis Gilman. Note: Gilman obscured parts of Atencio’s body to maintain the dignity of the victim. As with the first video, there is no sound.Above is more disturbing raw footage culled from…
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s humiliating “Birther” investigation apparently has hit a snag in the funding department.According to Arpaio, the “investigation” is being funded by donations to his “Birther” posse, and not with taxpayer money (which is a huge relief). However, the money, it seems, has dried up — with,…
By now, most of you have seen the video of Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office detention officers using a Taser on Marty Atencio, an assault suspect who died after getting zapped while already in jail (see our story on Atencio’s death here).However, some of you might have missed it — you…
U.S. District Judge Neil Wake is allowing Chandler police officer Thomas Lovejoy’s lawsuit alleging rights violations to move forward in the latest blow to Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.Lovejoy’s the over-worked officer who left his K-9 partner, Bandit, to die in a hot patrol car on August 11, 2007 and…
Video of the Atencio tragedy, taken by videographer Dennis Gilman from hours of MCSO footage. Please note: There is no sound. Last week, Marty Atencio’s brother Mike told me that he and his family believe Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s detention officers “murdered” his brother, leaving the 44 year-old Army vet dead…
It’s official: Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office detention officers no longer have the authority to act as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in MCSO jails — as was announced during an overly dramatic badge-piling ceremony at the sheriff’s training facility this afternoon.That’s right, rather than simply collecting the detention officers’ ICE…
Living in Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s Maricopa County is like living in a medieval version of the movie Groundhog Day, where each morning one awakens with further reminders that we do not live in the civilized world.Two years ago, I first told you about Miriam Mendiola-Martinez, whose son Angel was born…
Yesterday, the family of Ernest “Marty” Atencio, who was brutally Tased in Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s Fourth Avenue Jail last week, removed their loved one from life support. According to the family’s attorney, Mike Manning, Atencio died Tuesday afternoon. Plans for services have not yet been made. Atencio, 44, was found unresponsive…
Stop us if you’ve heard this one before, but Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio — at 79 years old — claims to be mulling over a run for the Senate seat getting vacated by retiring Senator Jon Kyl.Anyone who knows anything about America’s self-proclaimed “toughest sheriff” knows he’ll do whatever…
Maybe Iowa Congressman Steve King didn’t get a chance to read the Department of Justice’s scathing 22-page report on Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his agency’s historic racial profiling paractices — because that’s the only logical explanation for why he produced a Youtube video defending the sheriff, and is…
Congratulations to the New Times reader who goes by the handle shadeaux14, you are the proud winner of this week’s New Times You Write the Caption contest.On Friday, we asked readers to provide what they think would be an appropriate caption for the above photo of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe…
As we reported yesterday, a Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office detention officer is sans one toe after getting shot in the foot by a DUI suspect — who was in handcuffs at the time — while he was assisting in a holiday DUI task force over the weekend.The officer is expected to…
A man is dead — and a Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office detention officer is missing a toe — following a shootout on a Phoenix freeway over the weekend.According to the MCSO, the detention officer — a drug recognition expert — was part of a Holiday DUI task force patrolling Valley…
Federal authorities promised today to take up the slack in Maricopa County jails following the severing of ties with the sheriff’s office over allegations of widespread racial profiling. In a letter today to Arizona Senator Jon Kyl, an official with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security vowed to leave “no gap” in immigration enforcement. Fifty agents from…
The following is a statement issued by Phoenix Police Department spokesman Steve Martos, regarding the arrest of Ernest “Marty” Atencio.Martos states that Atencio was arrested for assault after displaying some very odd behavior, as you’ll read. He also notes that the PPD believes its officers did not Tase Atencio. He further…
Last week, in honor of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s comeuppance ( Department of Justice investigations, botched sex-crime investigations, etc.), we submitted the above photo of the sheriff and his PR puppy for this week’s New Times You Write the Caption contest.If you missed our post on the sheriff shamelessly…
A distraught Mike Atencio, on his way to the hospital to watch his brother Ernest “Marty” Atencio die, told me today that he and his family believe his brother was “murdered” by Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s thugs in the Fourth Avenue Jail.”The sheriff’s office murdered my brother,” said Atencio, acting as…
Note: For Updates, including the name and mugshot of the victim, see below.Following on the heels of a report by the U.S. Department of Justice condemning the MCSO for engaging in “discriminatory policing” and blasting its treatment of Latinos in and out of its jails, an incident involving a prisoner…
Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery expressed skepticism today about the claims of racial profiling by the Sheriff’s Office, and demanded the return of a jail program to identify illegal immigrants. The feds announced yesterday they were canceling the 287(g) program in Maricopa County due to findings by the U.S…
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau isn’t ready to comment this morning on the impact of severing ties with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office.Which is a shame, because we have some good questions for them. Like, why was ICE supervising operations (see the last couple of pages of its…
