A Greenfield police
officer was charged Thursday on suspicion of flinging a female prisoner into a
holding cell and addressing her with an expletive, according to a criminal
complaint.
Officer Thomas P.
Roszak, 30, was charged with misdemeanor misconduct in public office/acting in
excess of lawful authority in connection with the incident July 27 at the
police station, 5300 W. Layton Ave.
According to the
complaint, the woman was taken to the station after being arrested on suspicion
of drunken driving and fleeing a police officer.
Roszak removed the
woman from a holding cell for booking, but when he ordered her to return to the
cell she placed her hands on his chest and addressed him with a vulgarity.
Roszak then lifted
the woman by the torso, carried her across a hallway and flung her into the
cell, where she bounced off a steel stool fixed to the floor before landing on
the floor, according to the complaint.
The officer then
called her an expletive and closed the door to the cell without checking her
condition.
The woman suffered
visible bruises across her body, and surveillance cameras captured audio and
video of the incident, the complaint says.
After the incident,
Greenfield Police Chief Bradley Wentlandt placed Roszak on paid administrative
leave.
"The information
alleged in the criminal complaint clearly does not conform to our high
standards of professionalism and our expectations for officer conduct,"
Wentlandt said in a statement Thursday.