Daily Police Blotter

By STACY MORROW

Updated 6:29 PM CDT, Mon, Oct 5, 2009

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Here's a daily list of recent activities drawing the attention of North Texas law enforcement. List compiled on Oct. 5, 2009.

CRASH KILLS EX-DEATH ROW INMATE MONTH AFTER FREED
A Texas death row inmate freed after an appeals court overturned his capital murder conviction has died in an East Texas pickup truck crash. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports 43-year-old Michael Roy Toney died in an 11 a.m. Saturday crash in Cherokee County. The Texas Department of Public Safety reports his truck veered off Farm Road 347, overturned and ejected and crushed Toney. Click here to read this story on NBCDFW.com.

OFFICER FINDS DRIVER DEAD IN PARK
A 27-year-old Carrollton man was found dead Saturday with gunshot wounds inside a car at Mike Lewis Park in Grand Prairie, police said. A patrolling officer noticed Gonzalo Orantes in a car parked over a sidewalk and curb at about 6:50 a.m. in the 2400 block of North Carrier Parkway, police said. Click here to read this story on NBCDFW.com.

CLERK BEATEN IN BEER HEIST
A clerk who yelled at a beer thief was brutally beaten Saturday at about 4 a.m. outside the Valero Gas Station in the 1000 block of Fuller Wiser Road, the Star Telegram reported. The 35-year-old man was working alone when a man walked in and grabbed two 18-packs of beer and walked out, police said. The clerk ran outside and told the man to stop and that's when the thief turned around and started punching him. Then the attacker's accomplice drove up and joined in, before one man ran back into the store to grab three more 18-packs of beer, police said.

COUNTERFEITERS FLOAT FAKE BILLS THROUGH HURST
An investigation is under way after counterfeiters brought out $125 in fake bills from Sept. 20 to Sept. 26 at three separate businesses, the Star Telegram reported. Three fake $20 were passed at Walgreens in the 700 block of West Bedford-Euless Road, then on Sept. 26 customers tried to pass two fake $20 bills at a 7-Eleven in the 600 block of West Pipeline. They successfully passed three fake $5 bills and a fake $10 bill at A&G Tire in the 500 block of West Pipeline Road.

DRIVER IN OVERLOADED DAY CARE VAN WRECK TO BE CHARGED
The driver of a day care van involved in a collision last Monday that injured 22 people, including 19 of the 20 children, inside will face charges, Grand Prairie police said. An investigation verified that Karissa Acosta, 20, of Arlington, ran a red light while traveling westbound on Mayfield Road at the intersection with Great Southwest Pkwy, police said. A northbound Chevrolet Tahoe collided with the van, causing it to overturn. Click here to read this story on NBCDFW.com.