Palm Bay Standoff Leaves Veteran-Ex-Police Officer Dead

Armed man, 39, shot and killed by Palm Bay officer 
WFTV News 
Updated: Mar 1, 2016

His girlfriend, who asked not to be identified, told Channel 9 the man is a former law enforcement officer and used to be in the military.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating after a Palm Bay police officer shot and killed a man.

Police say a man inside the home was threatening to shoot three people doing construction at a nearby home on Mariposa Drive. 

When police arrived, they say the 39-year-old man refused to come out of the home and a standoff began.

A neighbor told Eyewitness News the man was upset that the construction crew was working and making noise.
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Florida Officer On Leave After Harrassing Disabled Veteran

Update: Riviera officer on leave amid probe of incident with veteran
Palm Beach Post
August 11, 2015

“If I had done the same to him, I would have been cited, or at least I would be shot with a Taser,” James told The Palm Beach Post on Tuesday.

RIVIERA BEACH — A 20-year city police officer was placed on administrative leave Tuesday night while authorities investigate an incident caught on film of him knocking a smartphone out of a 28-year-old Army veteran’s hands during an argument over the legitimacy of his handicapped tag.

Sgt. Garry Wilson’s encounter Sunday morning with Isiah James has drawn widespread attention on social media, city spokeswoman Rose Anne Brown acknowledged Tuesday.

During the 13 minutes of video that James caught on his smartphone — and that went viral after he posted it on Facebook — Wilson berated James, saying he has no right to be in the handicapped space and that he isn’t disabled. Ultimately, Wilson grew so heated that he knocks the phone out of James’s hands, damaging it.

At the end of the video, Sgt. Frank Laporta, also a veteran, talks James down. Off camera, James said Laporta handed him his IDs back and told him he is free to go.
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I don't bother anybody. This is the shit that pisses me off. You harass me, assault me, profile me, then think I'm supposed to be ok with it? Fucking wrong. You picked the wrong guy to fuck with today that's for damn sure. Police harassment is real folks. This just happened to me and my farther about 10 mins. ago. What the hell is going on in this country. Share share share~Isiah
Posted by Liberal Lions on Sunday, August 9, 2015

Vet wounded in Iraq, Afghanistan forced to FIGHT with cop over handicapped spot
BIZPAC Review
Nicole Haas
August 13, 2015 Nicole Haas

According to the Post:

James served three tours with the Army in Afghanistan and Iraq between 2006 and 2011. He was injured multiple times by improvised bombs and other explosives. He sustained a traumatic brain injury and other elements, and today wears braces on both legs, has numerous screws in his legs and struggles to walk long distances.

A tussle between a disabled veteran and a cop who thought he wasn’t disabled enough to use a handicapped spot is making national news — and getting the police officer some unexpected administrative leave.

The incident occurred Sunday in Riviera Beach, Florida, when Sgt. Garry Wilson ordered army veteran Isiah James to move his car from a handicap parking spot despite Wilson’s having valid credentials, the Palm Beach Post reported.

James recorded the incident on video and later posted it to Facebook — where it has gone viral.

Ben Carson goes after ‘Uncle Tom’ charge — right in the heart of Harlem

James explained repeatedly that he is a disabled veteran.

But Wilson wasn’t buying it.

“Do that make you any better than a citizen or old lady in a wheelchair that really needs that plate?” Wilson said according to the Post. “I’m just saying. You walking.”
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Soldier from Palm Bay Florida fighting to walk again at Walter Reed

War-wounded Florida soldier Justin Burdette fights to walk again
WTSP News
By R. Norman Moody
Florida Today
Feb 16, 2014

U.S. Army Sgt. Justin Burdette of Palm Bay, Florida, was on patrol in Afghanistan when an explosion ripped through his legs, taking both below the knees. Here he practices walking with his first two prosthetic legs.
Photo courtesy Craig Rubadoux, Florida Today

Check link for more fabulous pictures 

BETHESDA, MD (Florida Today) -- Justin Burdette swings his limb up onto a table.

"See my new leg?" Burdette asks his occupational therapist as he uses his hand to lift the prosthesis.

That prosthetic leg, connected just below Burdette's right knee, is just the first of a pair the 27-year-old Army sergeant will need.

On June 9, a rocket explosion ripped through Burdette's legs while his unit was on patrol in the mountains of Afghanistan, protecting a convoy from enemy fighters.

He lost both legs below the knee.

"It's part of the game," said the 2005 Palm Bay High graduate. "It's war. It happens."

Though there is still some fine-tuning to make the prosthesis fit perfectly, it immediately began making it easier for Burdette to move from bed to wheelchair and to stand, at least momentarily, as he undergoes months of treatment and therapy at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

"He can't reach a lot of stuff in the cabinets," his 5-foot-3-inch wife, Beth Burdette said.

"He's no longer 6-4."
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One Year Old Jack Russell Terrier scares off armed home invaders

ODD NEWS

Pete the puppy sends Palm Bay home invaders packing
Written by
Stacey Barchenger
FLORIDA TODAY
Jan 7, 2013

Two men held a woman at gunpoint and demanded cash in a home invasion robbery before being scared off by the family’s Jack Russell terrier late Sunday, Palm Bay police said.

The men with handguns knocked on the door of a home in the 1800 block of Wildcat Avenue SE and confronted a woman who answered the knock, police spokeswoman Yvonne Martinez said. One man who was wearing a mask and gloves “grabbed (the victim) by the hair and forcefully pushed her to the ground,” a police report says.

“One suspect pointed a gun at her head and shouted several times for her to give him the money, which he did not obtain,” according to the report.

Barbara Boos said she thought she was going to die, but believes her dog -- a 1-year-old terrier named Pete -- scared the suspects off.

“My dog went out and grabbed the other (suspect’s) pant leg and started trying to bite him,” she said. “He’s a feisty little thing.”

The 62-year-old woman said this morning she was still shaken up and may have sprained her wrist and an ankle in the incident.
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VA says no to PTSD service dogs

VA says no service dogs warranted for war stress sufferers
By Christine Stapleton
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

The Department of Veterans Affairs will pay service-dog benefits to veterans with vision, hearing or mobility-related injuries but not to veterans suffering only with post-traumatic-stress-disorder and other mental health disabilities.

A 67-page, final draft of rules concerning veterans in need of service dogs was published today in the Federal Register and will become final in 30 days. In justifying its decision, the VA cited “nationally established” and “widely accepted” training protocols for sight, hearing and mobility-assistance dogs and the lack of similar training protocols for mental health service dogs.

In addition, because there is little clinical research on mental health service dogs, the “VA has not yet been able to determine that these dogs provide medical benefit to veterans with mental illness.”

“Until such determination can be made, VA cannot justify providing benefits for mental health service dogs,” according to a pre-released copy of the rules obtained by The Palm Beach Post on Tuesday.

Veterans with service dogs were baffled by the rule.
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Marine Gunnery Sgt. Jonathan Gifford 2nd KIA in a week from Palm Bay

Marine killed in Afghanistan was due home in a month
Gifford is 2nd service member from Palm Bay to die in a week
Written by
R. Norman Moody
FLORIDA TODAY
12:48 AM, Aug 1, 2012

Marine Gunnery Sgt. Jonathan Gifford of Palm Bay was one month from completing his deployment to Afghanistan when he and another Marine were killed while on patrol.

Gifford — a 1996 graduate of Melbourne Catholic High, where he played soccer and baseball — had been in the Marine Corps for about 15 years.

He is the second service member from Palm Bay killed within a week in the war in Afghanistan, and the third in the past year.

Army Spc. Justin Louis Horsley, 21, a 2009 graduate of Bayside High, died July 22 while on patrol in Pul-E Alam, Afghanistan. Jeremiah T. Sancho, 23, died Oct. 13, 2011 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan. Both their units were attacked with improvised explosive devices.
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Hundreds turn out to honor soldier killed in action

Hundreds turn out to honor soldier killed in action
7:02 PM, Oct. 28, 2011
Written by
R. Norman Moody
FLORIDA TODAY

Family, friends, community and veterans gathered for the funeral of Army Specialist Jeremiah “Jerry” Sancho today. Sancho, 23, of Palm Bay, was killed in a roadside bombing Oct. 13 while on foot patrol in Kandahar province, Afghanistan. / TIM SHORTT/FLORIDA TODAY

MELBOURNE -- Family, friends, veterans and even some who didn't know Army Specialist Jeremiah “Jerry” Sancho gathered for his funeral today. Sancho, 23, of Palm Bay, was killed in a roadside bombing Oct. 13 while on foot patrol in Kandahar province, Afghanistan.

In front of about 200 people, Sancho was eulogized as someone who was a free spirit but who had a lot of love for his friends and family.

"Jerry was an impressive young man," said Rob Medina, who led the service. "Yes, he was called Hurricane Jerry but he loved."

Family members were coping as well as can be expected.
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Family, friends reflect on soldier's life: Family, friends, veterans and even some who didn't know Army Specialist Jeremiah “Jerry” Sancho gathered for his funeral Friday. Sancho, 23, of Palm Bay, was killed Oct. 13 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan. Video by Breuse Hickman

also
Fallen Pay Bay Soldier Returns Home

Palm Bay Florida Soldier Killed in Afghanistan

DOD Identifies Army Casualty
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
No. 881-11
October 16, 2011


The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

Spc. Jeremiah T. Sancho, 23, of Palm Bay, Fla., died Oct. 13 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, of injuries suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 3rd Squadron, 71st Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, N.Y.

Widow grieves for Palm Bay soldier killed in Afghanistan

Jerry Sancho, 23, was killed Thursday in Afghanistan when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He is pictured with his wife, RaiAnne, 21, during this past Christmas season. / Courtesy photo

Written by
Rick Neale
FLORIDA TODAY

PALM BAY -- During his Army basic-training graduation ceremony in May 2010, Jerry Sancho surprised his longtime girlfriend, RaiAnne Bocco, by dropping to one knee and proposing behind the bleachers at Fort Benning, Ga.

Seven days later, the couple married in the backyard of RaiAnne’s parents’ house in Palm Bay. Jerry’s grandfather, Eddie, an ordained minister, performed the ceremony.

Jerry, 23, an avid comic-book fan and budding artist, was deployed overseas on April 9 as a “mortarman.” The 2007 Palm Bay High graduate was killed Thursday in Afghanistan when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device, the Department of Defense announced.

RaiAnne, 21, learned of her husband’s death the next day while working at the Palm Bay Kmart. By the time her father picked her up and drove her home, an Army chaplain was already waiting at the house.
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Family electrocuted putting up ham raido antenna

Palm Bay electrocution victims identified
Police said the Palm Bay family was electrocuted when a ham radio antenna struck a live power line

Sarah Lundy and Gary Taylor

Sentinel Staff Writers

10:55 a.m. EDT, October 13, 2009


A Palm Bay couple and their 15-year-old son died Monday night when they were electrocuted while putting up a ham radio antenna, police said.

Yvonne Martinez, a spokeswoman for the Palm Bay Police Department, identified the victims as Melville Braham, 55, Ana Braham, 49, and their son Anthony. They lived elsewhere in the city, Martinez said.

Rescue crews responded to a 911 call about the electrocution shortly after 8:30 p.m. on Alaska Avenue, west of Interstate 95 in south Brevard County.

Authorities say the family was attempting to raise the antenna when they lost control of the pole and it struck an overhead power line.

The impact sent 13,000 volts of electricity through the pole the three were holding, Martinez said.
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Palm Bay electrocution victims identified

From WWII to Vietnam, Ret.Command Sgt. Major William G. Bainbridge, passes away at 83

Funeral today for ex-sgt. maj. of the Army

Staff report
Posted : Friday Dec 5, 2008 9:20:52 EST

William G. Bainbridge, the fifth sergeant major of the Army, died Nov. 29 in Palm Bay, Fla.

Bainbridge, 83, was a veteran of two wars, beginning his career in 1943 as a draftee, and retiring in 1979 after four years as the Army’s senior enlisted soldier and primary noncommissioned officer adviser to the chief of staff.

A native of Galesburg, Ill., Bainbridge’s first unit of assignment was with the 423d Infantry Regiment of the 106th Infantry Division, the last Army division organized for service in World War II.

After deploying into the Ardennes region of Belgium in late 1944, Bainbridge’s regiment was overrun by German forces during the Battle of the Bulge.

Bainbridge was captured and would spend the remaining months of the war in a German POW camp before being liberated by the 6th Armored Division.

Upon returning to the United States, Bainbridge left active duty and joined the Army Reserve. He subsequently returned to active service during the mobilization for the Korean Conflict.

After a series of assignments and promotions in the United States and Germany, Bainbridge became a battalion sergeant major with the 1st Infantry Division, and deployed with the division to Vietnam, where he would become sergeant major of II Field Force.

Upon returning from Vietnam, Bainbridge had a series of high-level sergeant major assignments before becoming one of the Army’s first command sergeants major in 1968.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/12/army_bainbridge_120508w/