Mayor: Excessive force by cops under review

BRIDGEPORT -- It began with a video that caught cops mercilessly stomping a downed suspect in Beardsley Park.

That revelation was quickly followed by a Pleasant Street family's formal complaint that cops harassed them, shot the father with a stun gun, then arrested all five family members -- all over what started as an outdoor cigarette break. A few days later, police perforated the walls of an Atlantic Street apartment with a barrage of bullets meant to stop a knife-wielding suspect.

Excessive force?

That's what minority leaders and civil rights lawyers say.

Or were the incidents just anomalies in a department of otherwise well-trained cops?

That's what Mayor Bill Finch and Police Chief Joseph Gaudett Jr. maintain.

Whatever the case, the reports have cast a pall over the city's police department and have minority leaders calling for action.

"These three recent incidents do give a clear indication that work has to be done in the Bridgeport Police Department," said Carolyn Vermont, president of the Greater Bridgeport NAACP. "I think a lot of the problems stem from police not having a great relationship with people of color."

The publicity generated by these three incidents has others contacting the NAACP's Vermont, including a woman who said she was abused physically by a cop.

"I advised her to file a complaint," Vermont said. The Civilian Complaint forms are available on the city's website, as well as at the information desk in the department.

"I encourage any citizen with a valid concern or complaint to make an appointment to see Lt. Rebeca Garcia," head of the Internal Affairs unit, which reports directly to Finch, not the chief, the mayor said. "I know she takes every simple complaint seriously. I also know that not every allegation has merit. That's her job to ferret it out."

Beardsley Park

The graphic video of the May 20, 2011, police beating that was posted Jan. 18 on YouTube showed police officers Elson Morales and Joseph Lawlor violently kicking a motionless Orlando Lopez-Soto as he sprawled on the ground. The video continues with Officer Clive Higgins jumping out of his cruiser and running over to join in with his own powerful kick, even as the suspect was being restrained and stomped by the other cops.

The video garnered nearly 185,000 views.

Scot X. Esdaile, the statewide president of the NAACP said he was particularly shocked watching this video.

"It doesn't look like it was the first time for any of these officers," he said.

And it's "not the first time some of these officers have been accused of excessive force," according to Robert Berke, whose firm has filed a $1 million federal lawsuit on behalf of Lopez-Soto. "To say this is an aberration is not accurate."

Lawlor is among several officers being sued by William Feliciano, who claims he was kicked and beaten following a chase Dec. 3, 2010.

During a recent meeting with two Connecticut Post reporters, both Finch and Gaudett said the three officers were put on administrative desk duty as soon as they became aware of the videotape Jan. 18.

"I wasn't about to offer anybody a paid vacation," Gaudett said, explaining that the trio is assigned to the department's property room.

"Anyone who looks at the video and isn't disturbed is obviously fooling themselves from the truth," Finch said. "... Because it's so disturbing, the first thing we did is refer it to Internal Affairs and the Chief State's Attorney's office ... If what we're seeing on the video is true, then the full force of the law should come down on those officers."

But the mayor quickly added that "there is no way of knowing that without a full, complete and dispassionate investigation ... Those officers are afforded that, just like anyone else, and they have to be given that, otherwise we don't have justice -- we just have vigilantism."

Nevertheless, Finch said the matter could already have been resolved if the video had not been "kept in a cellphone for two years."

"People need to come forward when they believe someone has erred," the mayor said.

Jennings' family arrest

On Jan. 23, Dennis and Eric Jennings stepped outside their parents' Pleasant Street home to smoke a cigarette. Police Officers David Rivera and John Carrano passed by and told the pair to move along.

Words were exchanged, a tussle ensued; then an officer used his stun gun and cops kicked in two doors to enter the family's home.

Within minutes, the family -- mother, father and sons -- were under arrest.

The Jennings' family now charges that the incident was the result of blatant racial profiling.

The family has filed a civilian complaint and contacted Berke, Lopez-Soto's lawyer.

Gaudett confirmed that the family filed a civilian complaint that is at odds with the officers' report. An Internal Affairs investigation "is under way," the chief said, and he is awaiting the report.

In the meantime, he sees no need to place Rivera, Carrano or Sgt. Sean Lynch, who fired the stun gun, on administrative duty.

`Little Mikie' Stinson

One family that is well-known to Bridgeport police is the Stinson clan.

Members have racked up numerous convictions, including one for manslaughter. Two are serving federal prison terms for stealing assault rifles from an Ansonia gun manufacturer.

So when police confronted Michael "Little Mikie" Stinson after being told he was trying to break into an unmarked police car on Atlantic Street, their guard was up.

As soon as Stinson spotted them, police said he ran and a foot chase followed.

It ended in an Atlantic Street building's vestibule, where police said they ordered Stinson to drop a knife, then blasted him with pepper spray and zapped him with a stun gun -- and still he kept coming, lunging at them.

So they were forced, the officers said, to shoot him. A number of shots were fired, seriously wounding Stinson. How many is in question.

Berke, Stinson's lawyer, filed a notice with the city that he intends to sue the officers and Gaudett for negligence and poor training.

He said Stinson may have been shot as many as 10 times, and he is waiting for the medical report.

Berke visited the shooting scene and found a nearby apartment wall riddled with eight bullet holes; he said shots penetrated an apartment where a mother and her young daughter were watching television. One bullet whizzed by them and blew out the TV.

He saw another bullet hole in the door, and one in the floor, Berke said. A Connecticut Post reporter who visited the scene also reported that bullets punctured the apartment wall.

A quick calculation of Berke's -- and his client's claim -- is that as many as 20 shots were fired.

"At what point when you are shooting someone do you stop shooting?" Berke asked. "At what point does it become excessive?"

Finch said the officers "demonstrated great bravery on the job" and felt "threatened to a very grave extent" by Stinson.

"This particular person was a danger to the policemen and the public," the mayor said. "The chief and I visited two of the police officers that night and they were still visibly shaken ... one was getting some IV fluids."

Gaudett said the officers followed the department's continuum of force policy by proceeding from a verbal warning to pepper spray, then stun gun and finally, the last resort, using a gun.

"There's every indication this was a proper and lawful use of force by our officers," Gaudett said. "There is no reason to place anybody on any kind of administrative status."

What concerns the chief is the damage caused by the bullets piercing the neighboring apartment. He said before the officers fired, they believed the building's wall would act as a backstop. The department is now looking at the ammunition that was used and whether it was too powerful for a patrolman's gun.

"I'm not sure that should have gone right through the wall the way it did like that," he said.

He is considering whether or not the ammunition "should be the bullet of choice" for police guns.

Police probe

All three incidents are being investigated by Internal Affairs. That report will go to the mayor, the chief and the Board of Police Commissioners.

The Beardsley Park beating and the Stinson shooting also are being investigated by the state police.

Meanwhile, Berke is contemplating three separate federal lawsuits with the Beardsley Park beating already filed.

"In New York they have a civilian review board looking into complaints against officers; maybe that's what's needed here," he said.

That's exactly what Finch said the police commission is: a board of civilians that imposes punishment beyond the chief's 30-day maximum.

"We can't be tone deaf to the incidents that happened," said Finch. "I'm really concerned about them."

But Gaudett said there won't be any "mass training" in the use of excessive force because of these incidents.

"We talk about it every day," the chief said. "Every day is a training day."

Talk is not enough, according to Esdaile, the statewide NAACP president and Charles Kurmay, a Stratford lawyer whose clients pocketed substantial payments after bringing two recent federal excessive-force suits against the department.

"I would say it's clear from the NAACP's perspective there is a serious problem in Bridgeport," Esdaile said. "There has to be zero tolerance for this."

Esdaile said the NAACP intends to determine if Internal Affairs is recommending discipline in cases involving officers accused of excessive force and discipline is being carried out.

"If not, then they are sending a bad message," he said.

To determine this, he said he may be forced to use the state's Freedom of Information laws if the city resists turning over the information. But first he wants a sit-down with Finch.

He also wants the community to attend and be heard at an upcoming Police Commission meeting.

Kurmay applauds Esdaile's intentions.

"One of the things I always wondered is `what follow-up is done after an initiation of an excessive force complaint or civil proceeding against one of the officers?' It seems no real recommendation of discipline is imposed."

The Bridgeport Police Department has an authorized strength of 448 officers, and Kurmay believes most officers "lead heroic and blameless lives."

Both Finch and Gaudett would like to see Kurmay's comment extended to all their officers.

"The last thing anybody in our department wants is for their reputation to being sullied somehow by an individual or two with a badge," Gaudett said. "We want to have a reputation as professional, ethical, honest and fair."

"I personally believe every department has some bad apples and if you let the bad apples keep rotting in the barrel, it's going to be a bad thing," Finch said.

Staff writer Brian Lockhart contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Mayor-Excessive-force-by-cops-under-review-4285270.php

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