Police Officer Stress

[waltky]

Police officer wife commits suicide after husband officer's death...

Chicago Police Officer Takes Own Life Nearly Two Years After Cop Husband's Death
June 2, 2017 - Veteran Chicago Police Officer Dina Markham was found by a family member unresponsive in the bathtub on Sunday after ingesting pills.

Chicago police recently sought the FBI's help in reinvestigating the apparent suicide nearly two years ago of a sergeant after officers raised concerns about how evidence was collected at the scene, a source told the Tribune. Then, over the Memorial Day weekend, the renewed probe took a stunning twist after the sergeant's wife, herself a veteran police officer, was found dead in the couple's same Northwest Side home, records show.

Dina Markham, 47, a 22-year veteran of the force, was found by a family member unresponsive in the bathtub on Sunday after ingesting pills, according to police. The Cook County medical examiner's office has not ruled yet on the cause of death, but a police spokesman said the case was being investigated as a suicide. The tragic turn of events came as the FBI, in an unusual move, was re-examining the September 2015 death of Markham's husband, Donald. He had apparently shot himself in the home in the city's Norwood Park community after a drunken argument with his wife, police reports show.

Dina Markham, left, and Donald Markham​

The death was ruled a suicide at the time by the medical examiner's office. But the source said Superintendent Eddie Johnson sought the FBI's help after an officer had raised concerns about how evidence was handled at the scene. Johnson reviewed the case before deciding to contact the FBI. Documents obtained by the Tribune through an open records request show that Johnson's general counsel had been reviewing the Donald Markham case in February, when the Evidence and Recovered Property section sent records of evidence collected at the scene to the superintendent's office. The investigation was still ongoing as of Wednesday. The city's Inspector General's Office was also involved.

Police reports obtained by the Tribune show Dina Markham told police her husband, 51, had locked her out of their home the night of his death after the couple had been out drinking and argued after leaving a bar at about 1 a.m. She said she discovered her husband dead in their bed after one of her children let her in the house, the reports said. She said she then called 911. Her husband was pronounced dead at 3:34 a.m. at the house in the 5900 block of North Newark Avenue by a doctor from Presence Resurrection Medical Center, the records show.

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[Dan Stubbs]

Police officer wife commits suicide after husband officer's death...

Chicago Police WTakes Own Life Nearly Two Years After Cop Husband's Death
June 2, 2017 - Veteran Chicago Police Officer Dina Markham was found by a family member unresponsive in the bathtub on Sunday after ingesting pills.

Chicago police recently sought the FBI's help in reinvestigating the apparent suicide nearly two years ago of a sergeant after officers raised concerns about how evidence was collected at the scene, a source told the Tribune. Then, over the Memorial Day weekend, the renewed probe took a stunning twist after the sergeant's wife, herself a veteran police officer, was found dead in the couple's same Northwest Side home, records show.

Dina Markham, 47, a 22-year veteran of the force, was found by a family member unresponsive in the bathtub on Sunday after ingesting pills, according to police. The Cook County medical examiner's office has not ruled yet on the cause of death, but a police spokesman said the case was being investigated as a suicide. The tragic turn of events came as the FBI, in an unusual move, was re-examining the September 2015 death of Markham's husband, Donald. He had apparently shot himself in the home in the city's Norwood Park community after a drunken argument with his wife, police reports show.

Dina Markham, left, and Donald Markham​

The death was ruled a suicide at the time by the medical examiner's office. But the source said Superintendent Eddie Johnson sought the FBI's help after an officer had raised concerns about how evidence was handled at the scene. Johnson reviewed the case before deciding to contact the FBI. Documents obtained by the Tribune through an open records request show that Johnson's general counsel had been reviewing the Donald Markham case in February, when the Evidence and Recovered Property section sent records of evidence collected at the scene to the superintendent's office. The investigation was still ongoing as of Wednesday. The city's Inspector General's Office was also involved.

Police reports obtained by the Tribune show Dina Markham told police her husband, 51, had locked her out of their home the night of his death after the couple had been out drinking and argued after leaving a bar at about 1 a.m. She said she discovered her husband dead in their bed after one of her children let her in the house, the reports said. She said she then called 911. Her husband was pronounced dead at 3:34 a.m. at the house in the 5900 block of North Newark Avenue by a doctor from Presence Resurrection Medical Center, the records show.

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When I was a new LEO they gave a class and we were told that stress was bad in the Job. We did not know that and about three week later three of the new guys claimed stress and tried to retire over it. Its a joke the only stress LEOs have is the stupid supervisors that are promoted for no reason. I remember they promoted on guy who lost his gun at knife point, and once at base ball bat point. Made the rank of LT in about 7 years....Joke for his troops.

 

[MikeK]

When I was a new LEO they gave a class and we were told that stress was bad in the Job. We did not know that and about three week later three of the new guys claimed stress and tried to retire over it. Its a joke the only stress LEOs have is the stupid supervisors that are promoted for no reason. I remember they promoted on guy who lost his gun at knife point, and once at base ball bat point. Made the rank of LT in about 7 years....Joke for his troops.

I believe the stress factor in police work is influenced by three factors;

1) Individual assignment: One can be assigned to a high-crime, ghetto community where the inhabitants despise cops and do all they can to make the cops' lives miserable. Or one can be assigned to patrol a quiet, upper-income neighborhood where stressful events are extremely rare.

2) One's personal compatibility with the nature of police work. Some individuals are highly stressed by situations and events which others are not affected by.

3) As you said -- incompetent or abusive supervisory personnel.

 

[POdLibertarian]

Being a police officer these days is akin to putting a bulls eye on your back. I know that they want to help make a safe society, but at what cost for them?

how did you allow yourself to be brainwashed by such idiocy?

 

[POdLibertarian]

those who demonize law enforcement are hurting the very people they say they want to help!

pure unadulterated bullshit

 

[waltky]

On-Duty Officer Kills Himself...

On-Duty Alabama Police Officer Dies From Self-Inflicted Gunshot Wound to the Head
Nov. 2, 2017 - Vestavia Hills police officials said they are asking for prayers for the family and fellow officers.

A Vestavia Hills police officer was rushed to UAB Hospital with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. He died a short time after he arrived at the hospital. Police officials said they are asking for prayers for the family and fellow officers.

A Vestavia Hills police officer was rushed to UAB Hospital with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head and was pronounced dead a short time later.​

Police and fire radio traffic indicated they were responding to a gunshot wound to head in the 1000 block of Montgomery Highway near City Hall and police department headquarters. Officers could be heard screaming "step it up" to the medics. The officer was rushed to UAB with an escort. Birmingham and Homewood cleared traffic and blocked intersections for faster travel. He was pronounced dead a short time later.

More than a half dozen Vestavia and Birmingham police escorted the stretcher into the emergency room. Authorities are not releasing the officer's name. The self-inflicted shooting took place while the officer was in uniform and on duty. He was in his police cruiser behind his wife's business.

On-Duty Alabama Police Officer Dies From Self-Inflicted Gunshot Wound to the Head

 

[BULLDOG]

On-Duty Officer Kills Himself...

On-Duty Alabama Police Officer Dies From Self-Inflicted Gunshot Wound to the Head
Nov. 2, 2017 - Vestavia Hills police officials said they are asking for prayers for the family and fellow officers.

A Vestavia Hills police officer was rushed to UAB Hospital with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. He died a short time after he arrived at the hospital. Police officials said they are asking for prayers for the family and fellow officers.

A Vestavia Hills police officer was rushed to UAB Hospital with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head and was pronounced dead a short time later.​

Police and fire radio traffic indicated they were responding to a gunshot wound to head in the 1000 block of Montgomery Highway near City Hall and police department headquarters. Officers could be heard screaming "step it up" to the medics. The officer was rushed to UAB with an escort. Birmingham and Homewood cleared traffic and blocked intersections for faster travel. He was pronounced dead a short time later.

More than a half dozen Vestavia and Birmingham police escorted the stretcher into the emergency room. Authorities are not releasing the officer's name. The self-inflicted shooting took place while the officer was in uniform and on duty. He was in his police cruiser behind his wife's business.

On-Duty Alabama Police Officer Dies From Self-Inflicted Gunshot Wound to the Head

I heard it was a black cop that accidentally glanced in the mirror, and his years of being a cop on the street automatically took over so he shot the black guy. I;m sure he was in fear of his life, like all cops are.

 

[SavannahMann]

On-Duty Officer Kills Himself...

On-Duty Alabama Police Officer Dies From Self-Inflicted Gunshot Wound to the Head
Nov. 2, 2017 - Vestavia Hills police officials said they are asking for prayers for the family and fellow officers.

A Vestavia Hills police officer was rushed to UAB Hospital with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. He died a short time after he arrived at the hospital. Police officials said they are asking for prayers for the family and fellow officers.

A Vestavia Hills police officer was rushed to UAB Hospital with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head and was pronounced dead a short time later.​

Police and fire radio traffic indicated they were responding to a gunshot wound to head in the 1000 block of Montgomery Highway near City Hall and police department headquarters. Officers could be heard screaming "step it up" to the medics. The officer was rushed to UAB with an escort. Birmingham and Homewood cleared traffic and blocked intersections for faster travel. He was pronounced dead a short time later.

More than a half dozen Vestavia and Birmingham police escorted the stretcher into the emergency room. Authorities are not releasing the officer's name. The self-inflicted shooting took place while the officer was in uniform and on duty. He was in his police cruiser behind his wife's business.

On-Duty Alabama Police Officer Dies From Self-Inflicted Gunshot Wound to the Head

I heard it was a black cop that accidentally glanced in the mirror, and his years of being a cop on the street automatically took over so he shot the black guy. I;m sure he was in fear of his life, like all cops are.

Perhaps he was overcome with guilt at his crimes against the citizenry?

 

[waltky]

FBI expert concluded Chicago cop's shooting staged to appear as a suicide...

FBI expert concluded Chicago cop's shooting staged to appear as a suicide
Jan. 12,`18 -- Veteran Chicago police Sgt. Donald Markham was shot by someone else at point-blank range in his home in 2015 before the scene was staged to appear to be a suicide, a forensic pathologist hired by the FBI concluded in a report obtained by the Chicago Tribune.

The five-page report contradicts Cook County officials' ruling that Markham had shot himself in September 2015 after a drunken argument with his wife, Dina, also a veteran Chicago cop. The report was part of a yearlong probe by the FBI, which began after questions were raised within the Chicago Police Department about Markham's death. The mystery deepened last May when Dina Markham, 47, was herself found dead, submerged in a bathtub in the couple's home in the 5900 block of North Newark Avenue. Her death, ruled an accidental drowning by the Cook County medical examiner's office, occurred before the FBI was able to interview her. As part of its probe, the FBI hired forensic pathologist Scott Denton to review the autopsy reports and photos from the scene of Markham's death. Denton, a former chief interim medical examiner for Cook County, works in a private capacity in downstate Bloomington.

Denton's report -- submitted to the FBI last February -- found a number of troubling aspects about the scene that led him to conclude the shooting was, in fact, a homicide, or "death at the hands of another." Among the clues, he said, were blood patterns indicating Markham's arms were "lifted upward after death," the strange placement of the gun "loosely in his right hand" and a lack of small abrasions or lacerations on his index finger that typically can be seen after someone fires a gun. "The position of his body, the blood flow pattern on his face, the blood transfer pattern on his chin and left hand under his chin, and the moved and placed appearance of the gun in his right hand are all consistent with his body having been moved after death," Denton wrote in the report, obtained by the Tribune from the medical examiner's office through an open records request. The medical examiner's office, meanwhile, has doubled down on its original ruling that Donald Markham, 51, shot himself in his own bed that night, writing in a point-by-point refutation that the FBI expert offered "creative and descriptive scenarios" that were not grounded in science.

In her nine-page rebuttal report, also made public Thursday, Chief Medical Examiner Ponni Arunkumar wrote that Denton's analyses of the blood spatter and position of Markham's body ignored scientific literature that a body often continues to move -- or even convulse -- after suffering a gunshot wound to the head. The position of the gun in Markham's hand was consistent with a well-known textbook on gunshot wounds showing that suicide victims often grip guns in a different way than they would if they were shooting at a target, Arunkumar wrote. And while Donald Markham apparently left no suicide note, Arunkumar said that "neighbors, friends, colleagues and family members" of the Markhams all gave interviews indicating that the couple argued frequently and that "during these arguments they would express statements about killing themselves."

Last month, the FBI held an unusual meeting with officials at the medical examiner's office, detailing the bureau's findings that called into question the suicide ruling. A medical examiner's office spokeswoman said the initial Markham death investigation was then put through a review by 10 other pathologists with its office, who all agreed with the original finding of suicide. The Tribune reported Sunday that the FBI concluded its probe into Markham's death after that meeting and that no federal charges would be sought. But the case is far from over. Officers and detectives who were present at the scene of Donald Markham's death have been interviewed by prosecutors with the Cook County state's attorney's office as part of a parallel investigation, the Tribune has reported. Also pending is a separate probe by Chicago Inspector General Joseph Ferguson, who launched his own investigation early last year focusing on whether any city administrative rules or codes of conduct were violated.

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[SavannahMann]

FBI expert concluded Chicago cop's shooting staged to appear as a suicide...

FBI expert concluded Chicago cop's shooting staged to appear as a suicide
Jan. 12,`18 -- Veteran Chicago police Sgt. Donald Markham was shot by someone else at point-blank range in his home in 2015 before the scene was staged to appear to be a suicide, a forensic pathologist hired by the FBI concluded in a report obtained by the Chicago Tribune.

The five-page report contradicts Cook County officials' ruling that Markham had shot himself in September 2015 after a drunken argument with his wife, Dina, also a veteran Chicago cop. The report was part of a yearlong probe by the FBI, which began after questions were raised within the Chicago Police Department about Markham's death. The mystery deepened last May when Dina Markham, 47, was herself found dead, submerged in a bathtub in the couple's home in the 5900 block of North Newark Avenue. Her death, ruled an accidental drowning by the Cook County medical examiner's office, occurred before the FBI was able to interview her. As part of its probe, the FBI hired forensic pathologist Scott Denton to review the autopsy reports and photos from the scene of Markham's death. Denton, a former chief interim medical examiner for Cook County, works in a private capacity in downstate Bloomington.

Denton's report -- submitted to the FBI last February -- found a number of troubling aspects about the scene that led him to conclude the shooting was, in fact, a homicide, or "death at the hands of another." Among the clues, he said, were blood patterns indicating Markham's arms were "lifted upward after death," the strange placement of the gun "loosely in his right hand" and a lack of small abrasions or lacerations on his index finger that typically can be seen after someone fires a gun. "The position of his body, the blood flow pattern on his face, the blood transfer pattern on his chin and left hand under his chin, and the moved and placed appearance of the gun in his right hand are all consistent with his body having been moved after death," Denton wrote in the report, obtained by the Tribune from the medical examiner's office through an open records request. The medical examiner's office, meanwhile, has doubled down on its original ruling that Donald Markham, 51, shot himself in his own bed that night, writing in a point-by-point refutation that the FBI expert offered "creative and descriptive scenarios" that were not grounded in science.

In her nine-page rebuttal report, also made public Thursday, Chief Medical Examiner Ponni Arunkumar wrote that Denton's analyses of the blood spatter and position of Markham's body ignored scientific literature that a body often continues to move -- or even convulse -- after suffering a gunshot wound to the head. The position of the gun in Markham's hand was consistent with a well-known textbook on gunshot wounds showing that suicide victims often grip guns in a different way than they would if they were shooting at a target, Arunkumar wrote. And while Donald Markham apparently left no suicide note, Arunkumar said that "neighbors, friends, colleagues and family members" of the Markhams all gave interviews indicating that the couple argued frequently and that "during these arguments they would express statements about killing themselves."

Last month, the FBI held an unusual meeting with officials at the medical examiner's office, detailing the bureau's findings that called into question the suicide ruling. A medical examiner's office spokeswoman said the initial Markham death investigation was then put through a review by 10 other pathologists with its office, who all agreed with the original finding of suicide. The Tribune reported Sunday that the FBI concluded its probe into Markham's death after that meeting and that no federal charges would be sought. But the case is far from over. Officers and detectives who were present at the scene of Donald Markham's death have been interviewed by prosecutors with the Cook County state's attorney's office as part of a parallel investigation, the Tribune has reported. Also pending is a separate probe by Chicago Inspector General Joseph Ferguson, who launched his own investigation early last year focusing on whether any city administrative rules or codes of conduct were violated.

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So the cops did a crappy job of staging the suicide of one of their brother officers?