The federal trial of two East Haven police officers accused of violating
the civil rights of Hispanic business owners and motorists starts Monday.
David Cari and Dennis Spaulding are charged with conspiracy against civil
rights, deprivation of rights for making arrests without probable cause and
obstruction of justice. Spaulding also has been charged with unreasonable force
by a law enforcement officer. If convicted they face maximum sentences of 20
years.
The trial, before U.S.
District Court Judge Alvin Thompson in Hartford, is expected to take at least a
month.
Cari and Spaulding were arrested in January 2012 along with two other East
Haven officers – Robert Miller and Jason Zullo – after a federal civil rights
investigation of the police department. When the arrests were announced,
federal authorities called the officer "racial bullies."
Miller and Zullo have since both pleaded guilty to lesser charges. Miller
has agreed to testify against his fellow officers.
Zullo's sentencing has been postponed until after this trial because his
attorney, Norman Pattis, objected to the government's attempts to have alleged
civil rights violations which were not part of the plea be included as relevant
conduct for his sentencing. Zullo is not expected to testify against the
officers.
Some of that evidence will be the basis of their case against the other two
officers including officer-to-officer communications involving disparaging remarks
about Hispanics and discussions about stopping cars leaving Hispanic-owned
businesses in town.
The civil rights investigation began after the Rev. James Manship was
arrested while trying to videotape the arrest of a Latino man inside the My
Country Store. Spaulding and Cari were involved in that arrest. The two
officers also caught on security tapes going back to the store after the
arrests and trying to get the owner to give them copies of a security tape.
They are seen walking into the back room of the store searching for the tapes.
Following Manship's arrest, a federal civil rights lawsuit prepared with
the assistance of the Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization at Yale
University was filed against the department. Nine plaintiffs alleged racial profiling
and the use of excessive force by police. The lawsuit has been put on hold
until the criminal proceedings are completed.