via PBSO

​Update, 4:28 p.m.: PBSO reports he's returned home. Still waiting for more details.More >>

​Updated below with comments from the investigator, Al Smith, who says "I think I'm being kicked out [of the union] because of my involvement in these cases."

Last week, we posted about public defenders and a circuit court judge complaining that Fort Lauderdale Police officers showed a disturbing habit of not answering questions in depositions that they were legally required to answer.More >>

​The Charter School of Boynton Beach was locked down this morning after a 12-year-old student was arrested on weapons charges for allegedly bringing a gun to school. He said he found a gun and "brought it to school to scare another student who he was having a disagreement with," according to Boynton Beach Police.More >>

​Last week, Broward Public Defender Howard Finkelstein sent a letter (thanks, JAABlog) to Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler condemning "offensive, oppressive and highly questionable police tactics in predominately black neighborhoods within your city."

That includes arrests for what Finkelstein calls "walking while black" and hassling kids while "ladies of the night" strut nearby. But perhaps his most troubling accusation is that "several officers have recently started a new tactic design to frustrate discovery depositions."

The public defender attached a transcript of a court hearing about an officer who allegedly refused to answer questions in deposition. The assistant public defender at that hearing opened by accusing the officer's lawyer of foul language.

"This is now the second time in two weeks that he has told me to go fuck myself," said Assistant Public Defender Jason Blank.
More >>