By Michele Dargan
A nine-year police department
veteran has been issued a two-week suspension without pay after two internal
investigations found that he violated department policies.
Officer Adam Zeller received
the suspension from Public Safety Director Kirk Blouin on Nov. 26 but has not
yet served it. He has until Tuesday to appeal the suspension in writing.
An internal affairs report
cited two traffic stops during which Zeller, while performing on-the-job
training, used the occupants of the cars he stopped to test his trainee’s
skills. By doing that, he jeopardized the safety of his fellow officer and the
civilians, according to the report.
The investigation also
concluded that Zeller failed to share important criminal arrest history of a
suspect with his trainee officer and failed to take proper action by not arresting
a known habitual traffic offender.
Blouin removed Zeller from the
Field Training Officer Program as part of the disciplinary action.
The second investigation found
that Zeller failed to notify patrol officers and his supervisor of a possible
aggravated assault on a fireman during a Sept. 2 call. By not sharing that
information, he endangered everyone involved, the report said.
On Nov. 6, Blouin notified
Zeller that he could be suspended up to four weeks without pay.
Zeller, 31, and his attorney
Jason Tracey attended a pre-disciplinary hearing on Nov. 18 with Blouin and Lt.
Michael Keehan.
According to the transcript of
that hearing, Tracey asked Blouin to consider Zeller’s time and service to the
department and his commendations. A four-week suspension without pay would have
cost Zeller about $5,000, Tracey said.
Police department records show
Zeller has received 22 department and citizen commendations and no disciplinary
actions in his nine years with the department. He was named Officer of the
Month in June 2009. A January 2008 citizen complaint was determined
“unfounded,” but no other information about it was available.
‘‘Mistake of the heart’’
During the hearing, Tracey told
Blouin and Keehan that since the investigations began, Zeller continued to
perform his job in a professional manner. Zeller also didn’t intend to harm the
trainee or the department, Tracey said.
“There are occasions when an
individual makes a mistake of the heart versus a mistake of the mind, and
Officer Zeller’s heart was in the right place with respect to the training
exercise,” Tracey said. “He went through the exercise of trying to see if the
trainee was ready for his own detail.”
Zeller apologized to Blouin for
putting the department through the investigations. He asked Blouin to issue a
written reprimand rather than a suspension.
“My actions were never intended
to endanger or intentionally mislead a fellow officer or anyone in the
community,” Zeller said in the hearing. “My actions were not malicious but
intended to teach a trainee the officer safety skills. In regards to the second
incident, I wanted to apprehend this guy. I didn’t want him to do anything else
to anyone else … Even though I’m unhappy with the actions taken, which led to
two different internal affairs investigations, I do accept responsibility for
my mistakes and will use what I have learned to grow as an officer … Mistakes
are always made and I will learn from them considering I’ve never been
disciplined in my career.”
Missed arrest
According to the internal
affairs report on the traffic stops, Zeller and his trainee, Officer Jose
Rodriguez, conducted a traffic stop on July 9 on Polmar Park Road. Rodriguez
was in the last phase of his field training. A dispatcher advised that the
driver was a habitual traffic offender.
Zeller heard the information on
the radio and called dispatch to confirm it but didn’t tell Rodriguez. Because
Rodriguez did not know the driver’s history, he wrote a citation for a
suspended driver’s license but the driver should have been arrested.
“Officer Zeller had the duty
and responsibility as a field training officer to intervene with Officer
Rodriguez when he did not take the proper action,” the report said.
While Rodriguez wrote the
ticket, Zeller asked the passenger to step out of the vehicle — without telling
Rodriguez — so he could test Rodriguez’s safety skills. Zeller motioned to the
passenger from behind the vehicle to step outside and, when he did, Rodriguez
yelled at the passenger to get back inside. Zeller motioned a second time for
the passenger to step out. The passenger later told police he was afraid to get
out a second time, but he did so when he saw Zeller walking toward him.
The report also cited another
traffic stop, during which Zeller told the driver — without telling Rodriguez —
to get out of the car. That stop took place June 30.
Committee would hear appeal
The second investigative report
said Zeller arrived on an accident scene during which fire-rescue Battalion
Chief David Burke had been nearly run down by a car fleeing the scene. Burke
told Zeller he had seen an accident and gotten out of his car to help. The
fleeing driver would have run him down if he hadn’t jumped out of the way,
Burke said.
Zeller failed to tell patrol
units and supervisors — who were looking for the fleeing driver — that the
suspect purposely tried to run down Burke. Burke later said that Zeller may not
initially have understood that he was out of his vehicle when he almost was
hit.
If he files an appeal, Zeller
would plead his case in front of the Town Council’s Administrative and
Personnel Committee. The two-member committee of council members Richard Kleid
and Penny Townsend would make a recommendation to the Town Council, which would
make the final decision.
