Arizona Drivers Among Worst in U.S.

Check yourself before you start cursing at that out-of-town driver. Arizona drivers are among the worst in the nation, according to a new analysis of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration statistics conducted by the website CarInsuranceComparison.com. The state ranked sixth for most-dangerous drivers in 2015 after Montana, South Carolina, New…

Accused Child Molester Chris Simcox’s Trial Date Set

With the Arizona Supreme Court refusing to intervene in the case, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Jose Padilla on Wednesday set a start date of April 4 for the trial of former minuteman and accused child molester Chris Simcox. “We need to get this to trial,” Padilla said during a…

Inmates Accuse Arizona of Experimenting with Lethal-Injection Drugs

A group of five condemned prisoners this week asked the U.S. District Court in Phoenix not to lift a moratorium on executions instituted after a botched 2014 lethal injection, arguing that the Arizona Department of Corrections has not properly addressed concerns about the drugs used for the procedure. A federal…

Thanksgiving Weekend DUI Checkpoints Around Metro Phoenix

We’ve all done it: chugged our wine or whiskey during Thanksgiving dinner in an attempt to drown out the racist and political rambling of crazy uncle George. Dealing with family members often requires that the libations flow freely — we get it. But this year, if Uncle George goes on…

ACLU Releases Cell Phone App to Help Citizens Record Police Brutality

The American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona has launched a new cell phone app aimed at helping average civilians record inappropriate law enforcement activity and then safely and properly disseminate it to experts at the ACLU. The Mobile Justice AZ app has three major features: record, witness, and report. The…

Phoenix Cop Arrested for Sexually Exploiting a Minor

Hours after Phoenix police Officer Richard Tucker was released from jail for a domestic-violence charge against his wife, he was arrested again and booked into jail on eight counts of alleged sexual exploitation of a minor over whom he had partial custody, police say. The timeline of events is a…

Sister Still Haunted by Mikelle Biggs’ 1999 Mesa Abduction

It was January 2, 1999, and 9-year-old Kimber Biggs and her 11-year-old sister were playing in the street in their Mesa neighborhood while waiting for the ice-cream truck. After a while, Kimber got cold and went inside for her jacket; her sister stayed to wait, clutching the quarters she got…

ASU Police Now Wearing Body Cameras

In a move designed to increase transparency, accountability, and civilian-officer relations, officers with the Arizona State University Police Department now wear body cameras as part of their uniform. ASU purchased 80 cameras that weigh only 3.5 ounces and can record up to 9.5 hours of audio and visual footage. The…

Naked Cop Never Was “Exposed” in Massage Bust, Glendale PD Insists

A detective in a massage-parlor sting was nude when he began receiving what court records call a “hand job” from a suspect in May, but Glendale police insist the officer stayed within policy. The incident during an undercover operation demonstrates the fine line officers have to walk to make busts…

Phoenix Police Release Video Lead in Murder of Transgender Woman

Phoenix police released surveillance video this week they say could help catch the killer of a transgender woman murdered in August. On August 11, the last images of 35-year-old Kandis Capri were captured on a Phoenix convenience store camera as she walked outside in the parking lot.  Wearing a striped…

Cockfighting Suspect Arrested With 45 Roosters at Phoenix Home

Phoenix police raided the home of a man suspected of raising roosters for cockfighting, finding about 45 birds and other evidence of the banned blood sport. Carlos German Vasquez-Morales, 30, was booked into jail on suspicion of 45 felony counts, then released with a pending court date. The investigation began…

Brain-Damaged Roger Scott May Be Only One Executed in Debra Milke Case

Roger Scott watched the press conference in a windowless 8-by-12 cell in the maximum-security wing of Arizona State Prison-Eyman on a clear, plastic television specially designed to prevent inmates from hiding contraband amid its internal wires. Frail at 67, with hollow cheeks and a perpetually trembling right arm, he sat…