PITTSBURGH (AP) — A white
police officer should be fired for arresting a black teacher after a community
meeting that addressed police relations with Pittsburgh's black community, a
board that investigates citizen complaints of police misconduct has concluded.
The non-binding recommendation
Tuesday from the Pittsburgh Citizen Police Review Board that Officer Jonathan
Gromek be fired was first reported by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (http://bit.ly/NTwZDI
).
The recommendation from the
panel was much harsher than the letter of reprimand Gromek received in November
after an internal police investigation, a punishment the city's police union
criticized as too severe.
Mayor Bill Peduto and acting
police Chief Regina McDonald have 30 days to respond to the recommendation, and
indicate if they'll accept it, reject it or modify the board's findings. A
police spokeswoman declined to comment Wednesday, and Peduto's office didn't
immediately respond to a request for comment.
The recommendation stemmed from
an incident on June 26 when the teacher, Dennis Henderson, 38, was charged with
disorderly conduct and resisting arrest after he reportedly commented about
Gromek driving by at a high speed as Henderson stood near his parked car.
The district attorney's office
withdrew the charges against Henderson — who spent about 12 hours in jail after
his arrest — because they stemmed from Henderson exercising free speech.
Henderson sued, with the help
of the American Civil Liberties Union, after Gromek was reprimanded in
November. Said Witold Walczak, the ACLU's legal director in Pennsylvania,
"it's hard to imagine ... a stronger case of misconduct."
Henderson had just left a
meeting of the Community Empowerment Association, which seeks to address
problems in poorer black neighborhoods, and that night, had discussed ways to
improve communication and trust between the black community and the police.
Henderson was speaking to a
photographer for the New Pittsburgh Courier, a newspaper that covers the city's
black community, in the street next to Henderson's car when Gromek's patrol car
drove by close enough that Henderson and the photographer pressed against
Henderson's car for safety.
According to his lawsuit,
Henderson said, "Wow!" — referring to the speed with which the
officer was driving down a narrow street.
Gromek then turned around,
stopped and confronted both of them and asked Henderson, "Do you have a
problem?" eventually arresting the teacher when he and the photographer
started using a cellphone to record the encounter as onlookers gathered.
Gromek's attorneys have argued
in court papers that he handcuffed Henderson and took the other actions only
for his own safety as the crowd gathered.
