WASHINGTON – CIA Director Michael Hayden has mounted a highly unusual challenge to the agency’s chief watchdog, ordering an internal investigation of CIA Inspector General John Helgerson, who has issued a series of reports sharply critical of top CIA officials, according to government officials familiar with the matter.
The move has prompted concerns that Hayden is seeking to rein in an inspector general who has used the office to bring harsh scrutiny upon CIA figures from former Director George J. Tenet to undercover operatives running secret overseas prison sites.
Black teen in rights case jailed
JENA, LA. – A teen at the center of a civil rights controversy is back in jail, his attorney said Thursday.
Mychal Bell, who along with five other black teens had been accused of beating a white classmate, went to juvenile court Thursday expecting another routine hearing, said attorney Carol Powell Lexing. Instead, state District Judge J.P. Mauffrey Jr. sentenced him to 18 months on two counts of simple battery and two counts of criminal destruction of property, Lexing said.
He had been on probation for those charges during the Dec. 4 attack on classmate Justin Barker.
More than 20,000 demonstrators gathered recently in Jena to protest what they perceive as differences in how black and white suspects are treated.
Cop to drop lawsuit over response to near-drowning
CASSELBERRY, FLA. – A police sergeant who sued a family because the officer slipped and fell in a puddle of water while responding to a baby’s near-drowning will drop the lawsuit, her attorney said Thursday.
Attorney David Heil, who represents Casselberry police Sgt. Andrea Eichhorn, said he plans to file paperwork to that effect as early as today.
The city also reported Thursday that it had placed Eichhorn on leave.
Eichhorn sued the family of Joey Cosmillo, 22 months, on Oct. 1, alleging negligence. The suit says she slipped and fell in water that was left on the floor because the boy had been brought inside.
Teen held in alleged “Columbine-style” plot
PLYMOUTH MEETING, PA. – Police said they arrested a 14-year-old boy Wednesday night after they received a tip that he was plotting a shooting spree at a high school in suburban Philadelphia.
The police said that the boy had been planning a “Columbine-style” attack on students at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School and that in searching his home, they had found a 9mm assault rifle, dozens of authentic-looking BB and air guns, and seven hand grenades he was making, four of which were operational.
The boy ‘s parents began schooling him at home 18 months ago because he was being bullied, the police said.
