neutralgamer02
Member
I heard about this a while ago and was pretty surprised at the extent of what was going on. There has been a ridiculous amount of harassment against the increasing Latino population in East Haven by the police force there. Finally the FBI did something after investigating since 2009.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/24/connecticut-officers-deny-allegations_n_1229427.html
And the Mayor's ridiculous response:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/25/east-haven-mayor-joseph-maturo-response-_n_1230928.html
There are now calls for the mayor to resign.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/24/connecticut-officers-deny-allegations_n_1229427.html
EAST HAVEN, Conn. -- Four police officers, including the president of the local police union, were arrested Tuesday by the FBI on charges that they used excessive force against undocumented immigrants and covered up abuses in a New Haven suburb where a federal investigation found life was made miserable for Hispanics.
The East Haven officers assaulted people while they were handcuffed, unlawfully searched Latino businesses and harassed and intimidated people, including advocates, witnesses and other officers who tried to investigate or report misconduct or abuse the officers committed, the federal indictment said.
Police treatment of Hispanics in East Haven, a seaside city, has been under federal scrutiny since 2009, when the U.S. Department of Justice launched a civil rights probe that found a pattern of discrimination and biased policing.
The arrests were welcomed by local Hispanic business owners, including Luis Rodriguez, an immigrant from Ecuador who had complained of harassment by police at his Los Amigos Grocery store.
"They should have to pay, not with many years, but enough to make an example of them. They should not abuse their power," Rodriguez said. "All I ever wanted was to be left in peace."
Officers Dennis Spaulding, David Cari and Jason Zullo and Sgt. John Miller, president of the police union, are each charged with conspiracy against rights, which carries a maximum prison term of 10 years. Some also face charges including deprivation of rights, obstruction of justice and use of unreasonable force.
Zullo and Cari pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court in Bridgeport. Cari posted bond of $100,000, but Zullo was ordered to remain in custody until another hearing Thursday because he was not immediately able to post bond. The other two defendants were still waiting to be arraigned.
The U.S. attorney for Connecticut, David Fein, said the criminal investigation is still looking at other people and urged tipsters to contact the FBI.
The profiling claims emerged with a dramatic demographic shift in East Haven, a predominantly Italian-American suburb of 28,000 people that was 10.3 percent Hispanic in 2010, compared to only 4.4 percent in 2000. Latino business owners said rough treatment by police drove away many of the newcomers from Mexico and Ecuador, although business has recovered in recent months as residents report less profiling.
At My Country Store on Main Street, where the defendants are accused of carrying out illegal searches and a false arrest, owner Marcia Chacon said she is grateful for the tranquility.
"Things have gotten much better," she said. "Business has started to come back."
Federal officials say the officers denied Latino residents and their advocates the right to be free of unreasonable searches and seizures, the right to not be arrested and detained without probable cause and the right to not be arrested on false and misleading evidence.
"In simple terms, these defendants behaved like bullies with badges," said Janice Fedarcyk, assistant director of the New York office of the FBI.
Zullo described taking joy in singling out Latinos, authorities said, telling Spaulding in a 2008 exchange quoted by the indictment that he liked harassing drivers and referred to "persons who have drifted to this country on rafts made of chicken wings" and living in East Haven.
Miller repeatedly slapped a man handcuffed in his car, while Spaulding threw a man to the ground and repeatedly kicked him while he was handcuffed, according to the indictment.
Mayor Joseph Maturo said the four men were arrested around 6 a.m. Tuesday at their homes and at the police department.
Miller's lawyer, Donald Cretella, said his client has been honored with awards and risked his life in shootouts.
"John Miller is a hero in East Haven," he said. "He's decorated. He's a wonderful family man. Hopefully, we'll clear his name."
Spaulding's attorney, Frank Riccio Jr., said his client is an exemplary police officer.
"At this early stage it's our position Mr. Spaulding is not guilty of the charges," he said. "He's been nothing but an exemplary police officer. That's why this is shocking."
Attorneys for Cari and Zullo declined to comment.
The indictment says Miller reported to a police department leader described as a co-conspirator who blocked efforts by the police commission to investigate Miller's misconduct. That refers to Chief Leonard Gallo, according to his attorney, Jon Einhorn, who denied that Gallo blocked the investigation.
"It's unfair that he is mentioned in this regard when he isn't even indicted," Einhorn said.
The indictment also accuses unnamed union leaders of intimidation and interference to protect the officers, including a depiction of a rat posted on a bulletin board and a cartoon saying "You know what we do with snitches?" in a police locker room.
Maturo, who took office Nov. 19, reinstated Gallo as police chief. Gallo had been on paid administrative leave since federal authorities began investigating in 2010.
"I stand behind the police department," Maturo said. "We have a great police department."
The Department of Justice, which has pledged to reach out to the police department to work on reforms, said last month that the police department engaged in a pattern of discrimination against Latino residents. Investigators said their probe was complicated by efforts to interfere with witnesses and by police silence.
Nearly half or a third of the drivers pulled over by certain officers were Latino, and the number of Latinos pulled over by certain squads was "extraordinarily high," said Roy Austin Jr., deputy assistant attorney general for the civil rights division. Latinos who were stopped for minor violations were subjected to harsher punishments, such as arrest or vehicle towing, than were non-Latinos.
The East Haven Police Department, of some 50 officers, has come under scrutiny previously for civil rights issues. A federal jury ruled in 2003 that a white officer used excessive force and violated the rights of a black man he fatally shot after a chase.
Some officers involved in that case kept their jobs and were promoted, and there was no evidence that anyone received training to prevent similar confrontations in the future, Austin said.
And the Mayor's ridiculous response:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/25/east-haven-mayor-joseph-maturo-response-_n_1230928.html
East Haven Mayor Joseph Maturo is facing heavy criticism for controversial comments made after four police officers were charged for using excessive force against undocumented immigrants and covering up abuses.
In a broadcast interview, New York City-based WPIX reporter Mario Diaz asked Maturo: "What are you going to do for the Latino community today?" And with one hand on his hip Maturo quite proudly responded: "I might have tacos when I go home, I'm not quite sure yet."
You can't make this stuff up.
Diaz even gives Maturo a chance to redeem himself, by saying, "You realize that isn't the comment to say right now, right?"
That's when the interview got a bit, shall we say, ugly, and continued for about another four minutes.
Maturo added: "When you ask me what I would do for Latinos, I may go out and have a Latino dinner in the Latino community. There's nothing wrong with that and you can twist it and turn it whichever way the press decides to do!"
According to Diaz's report, Maturo approached him and apologized for his remarks.
The Latino community in East Haven, according to the Census, make up 10.3% of the town's population.
Yet out of a police force of 50, only one speaks Spanish, and government officials, along with one community resident, informed PIX 11 that he is not even Latino.
Police treatment of Hispanics in East Haven, has been under federal scrutiny since 2009, when the U.S. Department of Justice launched a civil rights probe that found a pattern of discrimination and biased policing.
This morning, Governor Dannel Malloy released a public statement regarding East Haven Mayor Joseph Maturo's "racially insensitive comments" calling them "repugnant" and "unacceptable."
This morning, Maturo was interviewed on WPLR-FM's Chaz and AJ morning show and said, "It was stupid, it was insensitive and I gave my detractors... a reason to make matters worse with a `gotcha' and an insensitive and stupid answer to something I should have never said."
Maturo said the radio interview would be the first and only interview he would give today. "I think I got myself in enough hot water yesterday," he said to WPLR-FM's Chaz and AJ morning show.
This past December, HuffPost reported that the Department of Justice condemned the East Haven Police Department for rampant discrimination against Latinos in the fourteenth amendment. The mayor of the town, Joseph Maturo, fired back that the report was both "slanderous" and "political."
Maturo has a history of controversial behavior.
Back in November, he returned to office and as one of his first duties as mayor, he reinstated Connecticut Police Chief, Chief Leonard Gallo, despite FBI probe on claims for harassing Hispanic residents because he "did not believe the allegations were true."
According to Diaz's report, Los Amigos Grocery Store owner Luis Rodriguez came to the United States 19 years ago in search of the American dream. But as he found out, in East Haven, the dream was at times a nightmare.
"The harshest form of intimidation came from officer Spaulding. He ripped my license in front of me while my car was parked. I wasn't even driving," Rodriguez told PIX 11 News.
There are now calls for the mayor to resign.
