National Police Misconduct Reporting Project

City Settles Lawsuit for False Arrest

May 26, 2012 @ 5:52 PM by Tim Lynch

Recent item from the New York Daily News:

Michael Warren and wife Evelyn, who is also a lawyer, claimed vindication in their lawsuit, which was scheduled for civil trial Monday.

The couple were stopped at a red light on Vanderbilt and Atlantic Aves. on June 21, 2007, when they observed cops tackle a man. The suspect was handcuffed when Sgt. Steven Talvy allegedly kicked the man in the head.

The Warrens got out of their vehicle and Michael Warren told the sergeant what he was doing was wrong and illegal. The couple alleged they were punched in the face before being charged with disorderly conduct. They spent about six hours in police custody.

“Without the witnesses, it would have been our words against the police version of the incident, which was totally wrong and false,” Evelyn Warren said outside Brooklyn Federal Court.

Their lawyer Jonathan Moore said the substantial payout confirms the officers engaged in wrongdoing and noted that Talvy and Officers Joseph Tillotson, Anthony Carozza and John Acconi have cost the city over a half a million dollars to settle multiple lawsuits.

The article goes on to say that Officer Talvy was promoted in 2009 even after complaints of misconduct were substantiated.

Police Break Into Man’s Home, Break His Neck

May 26, 2012 @ 10:59 AM by Tim Lynch

From the Sacramento Bee:

On the evening of June 2, 2007, Officers John Boyd and Jason Wentz entered Mr. Dagdagan’s residence shortly before midnight after responding to a call. They awoke Mr. Dagdagan, who was asleep in his bed, to ask him about a citizen complaint.  Mr. Dagdagan then told the officers to leave, but they arrested him, fired a Taser at him twice and handcuffed him.  The police officers then engaged in illegal and violent use of force that dislodged Mr. Dagdagan’s vertebrae and ruptured his disk, causing immediate paralysis and permanent damage to his spinal cord. 

Attorney Peter Alfert stated, “Our client sued because his civil rights were violated.  Through this settlement, he wants to send a clear message that all of us must not tolerate police misconduct and we will hold police accountable.  The police had no justification for going into the apartment, for arresting Macario, and certainly no reason to break his neck.”

On the night of the incident, after the arrest, a police sergeant arrived at Mr. Dagdagan’s apartment.  He heard the victim say that his neck was broken and observed and photographed Mr. Dagdagan’s bloody face.  However, neither the sergeant nor anyone in the department conducted an investigation to determine whether the officers used excessive force.

Attorney Todd Boley stated, “Under the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution, the police officers had no right to enter Mr. Dagdagan’s home without a warrant unless it was an immediate emergency or someone was in danger.  It is also widely accepted that police officers may only use sufficient force to carry out an arrest and nothing more.  In this case, the police violated their oath to uphold the Constitution by entering Mr. Dagdagan’s home without due cause, and they used excessive force.  No one should have to endure such pain and have their rights violated in such an egregious fashion.”

A Vietnam War veteran who worked his whole life before the incident, Mr. Dagdagan is now permanently disabled and expects to have increasingly more expensive healthcare costs in the coming years as a result of the severe injuries he incurred.

Dagdagan said, “I felt humiliated and degraded by the officers, and now I have to live with these terrible injuries for the rest of my life.  The police officers haven’t shown any guilt or compassion for what they did to me, and the police force didn’t launch an investigation even after I was hospitalized. I live in constant pain and am afraid even in my own home.  Holding the Vallejo police department accountable for their actions is the only thing I can do to ensure this doesn’t happen to someone else.”

The officers involved were hired by another city after the case.

 

False Accusations, Innocent People, and Plea Bargains

May 25, 2012 @ 11:45 AM by Tim Lynch

From time to time, you will find some posts here that concern problems that are not directly related to police misconduct.  This report concerns a young man who was falsely accused of rape.  On the advice of counsel, the young man pled guilty and went to prison.  Luckily for him, he was able to expose his accuser’s lie on videotape.

There are many problems with plea bargaining — one is that it extorts guilty pleas from the innocent.  Another, not at issue in the above case,  is that police misconduct escapes scrutiny because it does not come to light since there is no trial.  More here.

National Police Misconduct NewsFeed Daily Recap 05-24-12

May 25, 2012 @ 10:26 AM by Tim Lynch

Here are the 8 reports of police misconduct tracked for Thursday, May 24, 2012:

  • One of the Fullerton, California police officers charged in the death of homeless man, Kelly Thomas, has been fired.  The officer allegedly punched Thomas in the ribs and tackled him to the ground while the other officer tasered him multiple times http://bit.ly/L8Db6v  Previous coverage here. 
  • A Philadelphia police officer is charged with assault after using a stun gun on an underage suspect.  The officer allegedly used the stun gun on the handcuffed teen who was already in custody and handcuffed inside a holding cell.  He then laughed about the encounter with a fellow officer http://bit.ly/JH6b0D
  • Two  San Bernardino, California off-duty sheriffs deputies, in separate vehicles, drive drunk, crash, and cause injuries. One was in court today and was sentenced to 180 days in jail http://bit.ly/KwNO0u
  • A Pennsylvania State Trooper involved in a fatal crash is suspected of a DUI. The state trooper allegedly failed a sobriety test after the accident  http://bit.ly/JRqSeA
  • A New Orleans police sergeant kept quiet about a post-Katrina shooting.  The officer, who is married to a police lieutenant, was promoted shortly after the shooting to the Public Integrity Bureau, which investigates police misconduct http://bit.ly/LkJCCY
  •  A Philadelphia officer was charged with stealing from a toy store. The officer was arrested for allegedly engaging in an ongoing conspiracy to steal from a local toy store http://bit.ly/MKIzhP
  • Tucson, Arizona officer is facing termination over a DUI. The officer was arrested for drunken driving while on duty  http://bit.ly/KyVLQB
  • A Pennsylvania police officer was charged with trespassing and criminal mischief after allegedly breaking into his neighbor’s house to do laundry http://bit.ly/Lj6YG9

Secret Service Chief Sees No ‘Systemic’ Problems

May 24, 2012 @ 4:09 PM by Tim Lynch

Yesterday, Mark Sullivan, director of the Secret Service appeared before the Senate Homeland Security Committee.  It was his first appearance before Congress since the prostitution scandal came to light in April.

Excerpt from today’s New York Times:

Mr. Sullivan’s appearance only heightened the senators’ discomfort with the Cartagena episode and the director’s attitude toward it. Again and again, the lawmakers raised past episodes to suggest there was a pattern of sexual misconduct that had been ignored or even condoned by supervisors. Each time, Mr. Sullivan defended the Secret Service’s culture and integrity, even as he vowed to pursue the investigation in the case vigorously.

The senators did not call for Mr. Sullivan to step aside, but they did press Charles K. Edwards, the acting inspector general at the Department of Homeland Security, to pursue an independent investigation, and not just look over the shoulders of the Secret Service in its own inquiry.

“I think that the director’s a very fine individual who’s very proud of his own career — understandably so — and of the agency that he heads,” Ms. Collins said. “Therefore, I think he has a difficult time coming to grips with the fact that he has a broader problem than just this one incident.”

Joe Davidson of the Washington Post quotes Senator Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.):

“It is hard for many people, including me, I will admit, to believe that on one night in April 2012 in Cartagena, Colombia, 12 Secret Service agents there to protect the president suddenly and spontaneously did something they or other agents had never done before, which is gone out in groups of two, three or four to four different nightclubs or strip clubs, drink to excess, and then bring foreign national women back to their hotel rooms.”

Director Sullivan said he had named a “professionalism reinforcement working group” to improve his agency.

National Police Misconduct NewsFeed Daily Recap 05-23-12

May 24, 2012 @ 10:18 AM by Tim Lynch

Here are the 6 reports of police misconduct tracked for Wednesday, May 23, 2012:

  • A Gary, Indiana officer loses his job after crashing his squad car last year.  The officer tested positive for alcohol and marijuana the night of the accident  http://bit.ly/KfO1WS
  • A Las Vegas police officer has been arrested on a charge of lewdness with a minor under the age of 14.  He has been relieved of duty without pay pending both internal and criminal investigations http://bit.ly/MFwOcl
  • Fitchburg, Massachusetts officer was fired for his friendship with a suspected drug dealer. At the hearing, the officer received charges of untruthfulness, improper associations, and conduct unbecoming an officer.  A police union representative plans to appeal http://bit.ly/LotP2r
  • A Denver cop driving impaired at 143 mph could keep his job.  A Civil Service Commission panel has issued the officer a 42 day suspension http://bit.ly/L8Db6v
  • Former East Chicago police officer has been indicted in federal court with charging a housing complex for work he supposedly did as a security officer when he was actually on duty as a police officer http://bit.ly/KgSAA5 
  • Lewiston, Idaho officer faces a decertification hearing for alleged off-duty misconduct.  In cases where an officer is charged with misconduct that calls for decertification, the officer normally chooses to pursue another career http://bit.ly/JmasbE 

National Police Misconduct NewsFeed Daily Recap 05-22-12

May 23, 2012 @ 9:59 AM by Tim Lynch

Here are the 6 reports of police misconduct tracked for Tuesday, May 22, 2012:

  • A Prince George’s County, Maryland police officer has been charged with DUI after he crashed his patrol car. Officer Daniel Gonzalez was off-duty when the crash occurred http://bit.ly/Kx2FIh
  • A Connecticut police officer is on trial for manslaughter for killing a teenager. Authorities say Michael Koistinen had been drinking and speeding when he struck Henry Dang. Koistinen was fired from the force and his father, Police Sgt. Robert Koistinen awaits trial for hindering the investigation http://bit.ly/KQZdI5
  • East Ridge, Tennessee officer Sean Merriman pleaded guilty today to leaving the scene of an accident. Merriman wrecked his Jeep Cherokee, but his blood was not drawn to determine if he was over the legal limit. Merriman is on paid leave and the incident will be expunged from his record in 30 days http://bit.ly/KIz3uU
  • Porter County, Indiana officer Ryan Fenters pleaded guilty to OWI on Election Night 2010 – after celebrating the election of Sheriff Dave Lain. Fenters was also charged with leaving the scene of an accident, but that charge was dismissed under an agreement with prosecutors http://bit.ly/JO675F
  • A former Jersey City man who accused an officer of excessive force in 2005 will receive a $185,000 settlement approved by the city council. Samy Gattas said Officer Michael Gonzalez shoved him into a police car after Gattas questioned the officer’s demands. Gattas was initially charged with disorderly conduct, but that was dropped by prosecutors http://bit.ly/Ke9BMa
  • Canton, Ohio cop fired for a pattern of verbal abuse and threats is seeking reinstatement through arbitration proceedings http://bit.ly/Ht9wm2

Police Chiefs Unable to Discipline Bad Cops

May 22, 2012 @ 11:09 AM by Tim Lynch

Sunday’s Wall Street Journal reported that Thomas Dale, the Police Commissioner of New York’s Nassau County is asking the legislature for the power to fire his own officers (subscription only), a prerogative that few New York police officials have.

Excerpt:

The legislation comes after months of embarrassing news for the 2,400-member Long Island police department.

A former officer is being investigated over allegations he met with a mistress dozens of times while on duty before resigning in April. Just weeks earlier, in March, the Nassau County district attorney’s office charged three former high-ranking police officials with helping to cover up a theft allegedly committed by the son of a major benefactor. The officials have pleaded not guilty.

Before Mr. Dale took office, County Executive Ed Mangano closed the crime lab last year after faulty procedures came to light. Before that, more than a dozen officers were disciplined after an internal investigation found they failed to investigate claims of domestic abuse by a 24-year-old woman who was later killed by her ex-boyfriend.

Dale wants to fire seven officers on his force, but under the present union contract, officers can call in outside arbitrators in disciplinary matters. The union has vowed to challenge the reform legislation after its likely passage.

Welcome to PoliceMisconduct.net

May 21, 2012 @ 4:39 PM by Tim Lynch

Welcome to policemisconduct.net! My name is Tim Lynch and I work on criminal justice issues here at Cato.

This site is one component of our new National Police Misconduct Reporting Project (NPMRP). The purpose of the project is to gather news reports about police misconduct in America in a fair and unbiased way. Our objective is to study the scope of the problem and to identify policies that can minimize misconduct.

We welcome feedback from readers — so if you think we have made an error, let us know. And if you have seen a credible news story about police misconduct that we have not already reported, we would like to hear from you — please use this form for that purpose.

This project is a work-in-progress. As time goes by, we will expand our reporting capacity and make other improvements. One easy way that you can help this project is by spreading the word about this new site in the coming weeks and months. Thanks for visiting!