City has paid more than
$600,000 in lawsuits for one officer
By Mark Puente, The Baltimore
Sun
While hospitalized with a
fractured ankle and broken jaw, John Bonkowski reached for his smartphone to
find details about the man who beat him outside a parking garage near the Inner
Harbor.
He typed "Officer Michael
McSpadden" into Google.
The results stunned Bonkowski.
He found references showing that the longtime Baltimore officer had been
accused in three separate civil lawsuits: of kicking and stomping a woman, of
breaking a man's wrist and of beating a man unconscious with a police baton.
Settlements in those lawsuits had cost city taxpayers more than $485,000.
"It's really sickening to
me," Bonkowski recalled recently, adding that he couldn't believe
McSpadden was able to stay on the police force for so long.
After enduring two surgeries,
Bonkowski also sued McSpadden. In a settlement, the city agreed in April to pay
Bonkowski $75,000.
McSpadden is not the only
Baltimore officer who has faced multiple lawsuits, forcing the city to pay
hundreds of thousands of dollars on court judgments and settlements, a
six-month Baltimore Sun investigation has found.
The investigation — which has
led to an inquiry by the U.S. Department of Justice— revealed that police
leaders, city attorneys and other top officials were not keeping track of
officers who repeatedly faced lawsuits with allegations of brutality.
City lawyers did not understand
the full extent of McSpadden's string of lawsuits until this July — after The
Sun started asking questions about the officer. The Law Department was unaware
that McSpadden was battling more than one lawsuit arising from incidents in
2012. And City Hall leaders learned about McSpadden's history just two days
before the Board of Estimates agreed to settle another excessive-force lawsuit
involving him. The total cost to taxpayers for the five lawsuits: more than
$624,000.
The investigation, which
focused on settlements and court judgments made since 2011, also found that
multiple cases related to allegations of assault, false arrest and false
imprisonment have not hindered some officers from becoming supervisors. In one
case, for example, two officers were sued by a Baltimore man who won $175,000
in a jury trial, but they now have a higher rank — a problem that police blame
in part on civil service rules.
The Baltimore Police
Department, like others around the nation, has a policy designed to protect
people under arrest. Part of its general orders state that officers are to
"ensure the safety of the arrestee" when taking people into custody.
But The Sun's investigation found that officers do not always follow policy in
reporting the use of force, making it harder for agency leaders to detect
problems.
On Friday, Police Commissioner
Anthony W. Batts said the Department of Justice would conduct a civil rights
investigation into the allegations of brutality and misconduct. He and Mayor
Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said they requested the probe after the issue was
highlighted in The Sun, but added that the problems arose before they took
charge.
City officials, who say some
lawsuits against police are frivolous, add that they are improving the systems
that track problem officers — especially those who are repeatedly the subject
of lawsuits. And police leaders pledge that officers who have recently sustained
complaints of egregious behavior will be bypassed whenever possible for
promotions.
Still, some city practices,
including the sparse information provided to the public about proposed
settlements, have limited the public's knowledge about police misconduct. In
such settlement agreements, the city and its police officers do not acknowledge
any wrongdoing, and the residents who sued are prohibited from talking in
public or to the news media about the allegations.
Officials such as Council
President Bernard C. "Jack" Young and Comptroller Joan Pratt have
called for changes that would increase transparency and provide more
information about misconduct to the public.
David A. Harris, a University
of Pittsburgh Law School professor who is an expert on police misconduct,
questions the leadership of the agency. He said he was surprised that Baltimore
did not already have a comprehensive tracking system like those in departments
in other major cities.
"There is no excuse for
that in the modern world," Harris said. "That speaks to the level of
supervision there."
One officer, many lawsuits
McSpadden joined the force in
1993. Within a couple of years, allegations of brutality arose.
In 1995, the young patrolman
was accused of dragging, stomping and kicking a handcuffed woman on Rayleigh
Avenue near Mount Carmel Cemetery. The court file in the state archives in
Annapolis shows that the woman's lawsuit was settled but doesn't list a dollar
amount. The city could not find financial records about the settlement.
In 1996, a manager at a heavy
equipment company accused McSpadden of breaking his wrist after officers
confronted him walking near the Broadway Market in Fells Point. He was not
arrested. A Baltimore jury awarded the man $1 million, but a judge reduced the
damages to $100,000. He appealed, and jurors in a second trial awarded him
$335,000.
On Thanksgiving eve in 1999,
McSpadden and four other officers accused a 62-year-old man of kidnapping his
grandson on East Baltimore Street across from Patterson Park. The man claimed
that one officer clobbered him in the head with a steel hockey puck, and
McSpadden and the others beat him unconscious with batons. The city settled the
case for $152,500.
It is also unclear whether
McSpadden was disciplined or received counseling for those incidents. State law
shields the personnel files of government employees from the public, and police
officials generally will not talk about individual officers.
The May 2012 incident that led
to Bonkowski's injuries came after a concert by rapper Yo Gotti at Baltimore
Soundstage. The Baltimore shipping clerk, who had been drinking, stopped his
car at a gate inside the Water Street garage as he prepared to leave. But he
didn't have money for the fee.
He hit the gas. The gate
crumbled. While Bonkowski waited at a red light, two city officers who were
moonlighting at the garage yanked him from the car.
"Next thing I know, I'm
being pummeled, being beaten," Bonkowski recalled in a recent interview
that mirrored statements in his lawsuit. "I just remember I'm face flat on
the ground. I had my hands over my head. Next thing I know I just pretty much
lose consciousness."
Bonkowski pleaded guilty to
driving under the influence and served a year of probation. He said he sued
McSpadden and Officer Harvey Martini in the hope they would be fired.
In court filings, the officers
provided another version of events, saying Bonkowski crashed into another car
and then hit McSpadden. To explain the injuries, they also said that Bonkowski
had been assaulted by five unknown men at a club on East Baltimore Street.
McSpadden, who is now 43, said Bonkowski hurt himself by engaging in
"horseplay" outside the club.
Baltimore police would not
allow its officers to be interviewed by The Sun about this case or others.
Annual base salaries for the officers ranged from $62,000 and $89,000.
Bonkowski — whose medical
expenses and lost wages totaled nearly $46,000, according to court records —
admitted he triggered the incident by driving under the influence. But he's
still angry about what followed.
"I ran through a parking
pole," he said. "That doesn't justify a beat down."
Data not tracked
Since 2011, city police
officers have faced 317 lawsuits for civil rights and constitutional violations
such as false imprisonment, assault and false arrest. The Sun investigation
showed that even though the city has paid out $5.7 million on settlements and
court judgments over that period, it lacked a system to monitor lawsuits
against officers. And in almost every case, the people who received settlements
or won court judgments were cleared of any criminal charges.
Deputy Commissioner Jerry
Rodriguez says the Police Department started tracking the lawsuits earlier this
year, around the same time The Sun began its investigation. The data will be combined
with a system that tracks matters such as injuries from arrests, citizen
complaints, use-of-force reports and administrative investigations.
The agency did not enter old
lawsuits into the system, however. So several previous incidents involving McSpadden
would not show up on a report.
The city's Law Department also
has lacked a system to identify police officers who show up in lawsuits time
after time. The city hires law firms to handle those cases, and City Solicitor
George Nilson says it is difficult to check the status of cases once they move
outside the department.
Nilson said he knew the city
had a problem in July. The plaintiffs in yet another lawsuit against McSpadden
made allegations about a harrowing encounter in a city parking garage, one that
occurred soon after the Bonkowski incident. They also sued the garage operator,
accusing the company of negligence for allowing the officer to keep his
secondary security job at the city-owned garage. Nilson then learned about the
earlier lawsuits.
Nobody at City Hall knew
McSpadden was the subject of two concurrent lawsuits resulting from the
incidents in 2012. The reason, Nilson said, was that different outside firms
handled the cases.
"We kind of learned by
mistake," he said. "That was the first time I heard about the
McSpadden issue. We didn't possess that info in one place." McSpadden
declined requests to comment.
Details obscured
Other top officials — and the
public — are often left in the dark about details of alleged brutality, due to
the way proposed settlements are vetted before the city spending board.
A two-page memo, submitted to
the Board of Estimates before a public meeting in July, illustrated the issue.
According to a 299-word summary, Bolaji Obe of Baltimore and Akinola Adesanya
of Towson said McSpadden handcuffed and assaulted them in the Water Street
garage in June 2012. Obe said McSpadden, who was moonlighting in uniform,
punched him in the face. The officer accused Obe of urinating in the garage and
said he defended himself when Obe threatened to kill him, the memo said.
The memo also said: "Obe
jumped out of his seat with clenched fists. In response, McSpadden contends
that he then struck Obe on his left side of his face in order to defend
himself."
McSpadden provided a more
detailed account in charging documents: "Mr. Obe assumed an aggressive
stance, clenched his fist and postured his body as if he was going to attack
Det. McSpadden [who] was in fear for his safety and reacted without hesitation
to prevent any bodily harm. Mr. Obe was quickly subdued by one strike of a
closed fist to the left side of his face. Mr. Obe fell down and was handcuffed
without further incident."
But the Board of Estimates memo
— drawn from charging documents — did not include more serious allegations
contained in the lawsuit brought by Obe and Adesanya.
According to that lawsuit, the
officer held Obe and Adesanya at knifepoint. McSpadden also demanded that one
of them remove a shirt to wipe up urine on the floor, and punched Obe in the
face when his hands were handcuffed behind his back, the documents state.
McSpadden wielded "a knife with a blade approximately 4 or 5 inches in
length … all the while making stabbing motions toward them and also threatening
to slash the tires" on their car, the lawsuit says.
A security camera video
obtained from the Baltimore City Parking Authority also contradicts McSpadden's
account of a confrontation.
On the video, Obe is brought
into a garage office and sits on a stool. McSpadden handcuffs Obe's hands
behind his back, leaves and re-enters the room. Moments later, he moves behind
the still-seated Obe, to a spot out of the camera's range.
Seconds later, Obe falls off
the stool and out the office door. He stays motionless on the floor of the
garage. McSpadden then stands over Obe and wipes something off his face. He
picks Obe up and leans him against a wall.
The lack of detail in Board of
Estimates memos is common when settlements are brought before the panel, which
includes the comptroller and city council president. Summaries provided to
members and the public typically stick to charging documents. If city officials
had looked into details of the lawsuit, they would have had a much clearer
picture of the allegations of violence.
City Council President Young,
who also called for a Department of Justice inquiry, questioned the
transparency of Rawlings-Blake's administration.
"I have a real problem
with that," Young, head of the spending board, said about not being told
about earlier brutality allegations and prior payouts for officers.
"They're not telling us the whole story."
He added: "The question I
would have asked is, 'What are we doing to bring Detective McSpadden in to find
out what is going on with him?'"
Another board member agreed.
"The Board of Estimates should be made aware if it is a reoccurring
officer," City Comptroller Joan Pratt said. "The Law Department
should inform the board of this information."
Police officers often moonlight
at bars, clubs and other businesses while in uniform. According to their union
contract, the city agrees to defend an officer in "litigation arising out
of acts within the scope of his or her employment," which includes second
jobs.
Asked why the administration
didn't tell board members about brutality allegations in McSpadden's fifth
lawsuit, Rawlings-Blake told The Sun that "the complaint is public"
record, noting that a reporter found it.
She then deferred to deputy
city solicitor David Ralph, who said earlier lawsuits were not relevant.
"We don't mention all the extreme allegations. We talk about the core
facts of the complaint. There's another side to the [allegations]."
Nilson said he offered to brief
Young about McSpadden a day before the board voted on the latest $62,000
settlement in July but the council president never responded.
Banned from moonlighting
Others knew about McSpadden —
even though city leaders didn't.
Shirley Merritt, senior
facility manager for Central Parking, told The Sun that the Baltimore City
Parking Authority had banned McSpadden last year from working there while off
duty. The garage operator, named as a defendant in the lawsuit brought by Obe
and Adesanya, settled for an undisclosed amount.
During a deposition, one of
Obe's attorneys, Richard Desser, quizzed her about the incident captured on a
garage surveillance video. Merritt told Desser that officers simply filled out
applications and were hired by the head of security — a retired police
lieutenant. No background checks were done.
Desser asked Merritt whether
she would have liked to know about McSpadden's earlier lawsuits and city
settlements.
"Yes, because I would not
have hired that individual," she replied.
McSpadden was also questioned
in a February 2014 deposition — but the court file contained only six of the
more than 98 pages of the interview. Based on the six pages, it's unclear what
explanations McSpadden provided.
Merritt described McSpadden as
a "nice guy," and said he had worked at the garage for several years
But she said the company was
concerned that Obe and Adesanya listed the firm as a defendant in their
lawsuit. She added, "We were told [McSpadden] couldn't work here more than
a year ago."
On Friday, police officials
said that McSpadden had been suspended; they could not say when that action
took effect.
Rodriguez said police officials
did not become aware of the discrepancy between McSpadden's police report and
the security camera video until after the settlement was made. He admitted that
he did not know the security camera video existed, adding, "We're
vigorously looking into it."
Fugitive cuffed
Daudi Collier's violent
encounter with two other Baltimore officers came along Mount Street in West
Baltimore six years ago, when he fled from Sgt. William Colburn and Detective
Edgardo Hernandez.
Collier ran several blocks
before climbing a concrete wall. Colburn ordered him down.
"I jumped down with my
hands still up," Collier told jurors in 2012 as part of his lawsuit
against the officers. Colburn "hit me in the face with his walkie-talkie
and busted my nose. And that's when [Hernandez] came, jumped on my back and
they were just stomping me and hitting me with the walkie-talkie and just doing
everything."
Authorities refused to let him
in the jail because blood was gushing from his nose. He went to Good Samaritan
Hospital for treatment.
At the civil trial, both
officers denied hitting Collier.
Hernandez testified that
Collier "lunged at the door and pinned me between the car door and door
jamb." Colburn said Collier resisted arrest and got into a brief struggle
when being handcuffed.
But during the arrest, the
officers and Collier didn't know that someone was watching from a porch 10 feet
away.
Dolores Brockington, told
jurors that Colburn threw Collier to the ground and handcuffed him behind his
back.
"And when he was on the
ground, [Colburn] hit him with a walkie-talkie," she said, adding,
"He said, 'This is for making me run after you,' and then he hit him
again."
She said she remained silent as
Hernandez "stuck his thumb in [Collier's] eye."
The jury awarded Collier
$175,000. Prosecutors dismissed criminal charges.
Colburn is now a lieutenant;
Hernandez is a sergeant.
Lapses in policy
The Collier trial highlighted a
weakness in accountability within the Police Department: Officers do not always
file a report noting injuries to a suspect, as required by policy.
At one point in the trial
Collier's lawyer asked Colburn why such a report hadn't been filed, leading to
this exchange:
"Because I was not aware
that that was a part of our general orders until about two years ago," the
then 15-year officer said.
"And you were a sergeant
at the time?"
"I was."
Recently, The Sun informed
deputy commissioner Rodriguez and Rodney Hill, the head of the Internal Affairs
Division, about that testimony. Rodriguez said he was surprised to learn that a
longtime supervisor didn't know the policy for injured suspects.
Rodriguez, who leads the
Professional Standards and Accountability Bureau, pointed to Hill and said,
"Take the name down, and we'll do an investigation for neglect of duty
since we just became aware of it."
But misconduct has not been
eliminated within the agency. In recent weeks, a video surfaced of an officer
beating a Baltimore man on North Avenue in June — an incident that triggered a
lawsuit. Once the video was made public, city officials called the beating
outrageous and suspended the officer.
Hill said the agency is
changing for the better under Batts. Rooting out bad officers and bad practices
takes time, Hill said, comparing the task to steering a battleship. "It's
slow. You can't really notice it's turning."
Police leaders say they have
little power to stop officers from rising in the ranks if they meet
requirements on promotional tests, due to civil service laws.
"If there are no open
complaints, we are very limited as far as what we can do ..." he said.
Rodriguez said he couldn't
address the way the prior police administration scrutinized officers before
promoting them.
Former Commissioner Frederick
H. Bealefeld III, who preceded Batts, said through a spokesman that he put the
community first and worked to eliminate misconduct, but he declined to be
interviewed about the issues of discipline.
Inquiries by the Department of
Justice's Civil Rights Division examine whether officers have a history of
discrimination or using force beyond standard guidelines. They typically lead
to consent decrees and years of court monitoring. Twenty federal probes have
started in the past six years, in cities such as Cleveland and New Orleans.
Harris, the police misconduct
expert, said younger officers learn bad practices when supervisors aren't held
to high standards. "When that becomes the norm, the few bad apples affect
the whole department."
Peter Moskos, a former
Baltimore officer who is an assistant professor at the John Jay College of
Criminal Justice in New York, said many officers do not have a stake in the
community because they live outside the city. In 2013, more than 70 percent of
Baltimore's officers lived outside the city, records show.
He suggested one way to reduce
misconduct lawsuits: Pay settlements and judgments out of the police budget,
not the city's general fund.
"That will change the
culture pretty quick," said Moskos.
Quick to settle
One former officer, David
Reeping, said the city is too quick to settle lawsuits that allege brutality.
The city has spent $71,500 to settle two excessive-force lawsuits involving
Reeping, who spent eight months in federal prison in 2012 for accepting a bribe
in a wide-ranging towing scandal.
Taxpayers could be on the hook
for another $272,790 jury verdict being appealed.
Frank Snell II, a Randallstown
dentist, and his friend, Brian Holmes, accused Reeping and two other officers
of false arrest and assault in May 2009.
Their lawsuit says Reeping
stopped Snell for no reason at the intersection of East Baltimore and Holliday
streets in May 2009. Snell said Reeping and two other officers forced him to
the ground and hit him in the head, ribs and crotch. As he lay on his stomach,
Snell said, they stepped on his handcuffed wrists and forced the metal into his
back. Holmes said the officers also pushed him to the ground and handcuffed
him.
Neither man was charged with a
crime. The city settled the case for $47,500.
A year after that incident,
Sophia DeShields accused Reeping of pulling her from the back of a car and
breaking her wrist under the Jones Falls Expressway. She went to jail for about
12 hours but did not face charges. Reeping says DeShields fell to the ground
because she had high heels on, records show.
The city settled the case for
$24,000 in February.
A month later, a jury awarded
$272,790 to a Defense Department analyst who accused Reeping of false arrest
and false imprisonment in 2010.
One fact in this case is
different from most other lawsuits: Jamal Butler told jurors that Reeping did
not physically assault him.
Butler testified that Reeping
told him he was being arrested "for being a black smart ass" while
standing in front of Crazy John's on East Baltimore Street in 2010.
Butler spent time in jail, but
did not face charges. Still, he testified that the arrest, which has been
expunged, will remain in his personnel file at the Pentagon and could hinder
his ability to get jobs with higher security clearances.
Reeping's attorney appealed the
verdict. Judge Wanda Keyes Heard could rule in the coming weeks.
Reeping, 44, believes his
extortion conviction, which was noted at the trial, swayed jurors to award
Butler money. "What other reason would it be?" Reeping said in an
interview. "I didn't lay a hand on him. I was respectful to him. I didn't
lock him up because he was black."
He criticized the city for
settling the other cases, saying it "chooses to hand the money out for no
reason."
Reeping said that during his
four years on the force he was an aggressive officer with many arrests. He said
it's no secret on the street that the city quickly pays money to settle
allegations.
Nilson and Ralph said city
lawyers know that many lawsuits are frivolous, but it can be cheaper to settle
cases instead of fighting them in court.
"There are bad-doers out
there who try to turn a lawful arrest into a windfall for them," Ralph
said. "We are aware of that."
He pointed out that the city
pays out less than 1 percent of what people seek in lawsuits. Damage awards
against a municipality are generally capped at $200,000 under Maryland law.
Four lawsuits in 10 years
Calvin Moss came to Baltimore
to fight crime in 2004.
He has been sued at least four
times in his 10 years on the force. He targeted hot spots as a member of the
former Violent Crimes Impact Section — a unit that was disbanded in 2012 after
residents complained about its heavy-handed tactics.
"If you want to affect the
crime rate, you go where the criminals are, and we have plenty of criminal
activity in Baltimore," Moss told Patch.com in 2010.
The website profiled Moss in
2010 when he participated in a mixed-martial-arts cage fight. He scored a
second-round knockout against another officer.
Lillian Parker, a longtime city
cafeteria worker at Leith Walk Elementary School, encountered Moss in May 2007
after decorating her church. She was distributing raffle tickets for a weekend
prayer breakfast, according to a lawsuit she brought against Moss, Daniel Hersl
and other unnamed officers.
She went to a friend's home
near Harford Road and Darley Avenue. While waiting, Parker, then 50, decided to
walk up the street for fast food, and her phone rang in front of 1609 Normal
Ave. Parker was asked to wait there so her friend could pick up the tickets.
Unknown to Parker, a team of
officers, including Moss and Hersl, was watching a residence at that address
for drug activity. Hersl asked Parker why she was there.
She explained that she was
waiting for a friend. Moss then ordered another officer to arrest Parker, the
lawsuit says.
Parker was charged with six
drug offenses and a gun charge, and spent two days in jail.
In charging documents, police
stated that Parker talked to some men on the porch as they sold drugs and even
directed others to the dealer. As the officers moved in, Parker yelled
"police" to alert the dealers, Moss wrote in the documents. Police
arrested six men and confiscated crack, marijuana, a revolver and $10,540,
records show.
Prosecutors later dropped the
charges against her and the six men.
She sued Moss and Hersl in 2010
for battery, false arrest and false imprisonment, and settled the case for
$100,000 in June 2012. She declined requests to comment.
Moss, 46, was absolved in two
other lawsuits. In one, a Baltimore woman accused Moss and his partners of
strip-searching her in public and hitting her on Lombard Street in 2008; a
civil jury ruled in favor of the officers in 2012. A Randallstown man accused
Moss and his partner of beating him before and after being handcuffed; a jury
cleared Moss, but a judge found the partner liable for $7,500.
He has also been sued over a
January 2013 incident near Bel Air Road. According to court documents, Marque
Marshall jumped from a car and fled from Moss. The officer shot Marshall's left
hand when he tried jumping a fence. Marshall lost most of his small finger.
Marshall's lawsuit says another
officer falsely told Moss that Marshall had a gun. He faced several charges,
including assault, but prosecutors dismissed them, records show.
That civil suit is ongoing.
Pattern of misconduct
Hersl, who has been the focus
of other complaints and lawsuits, made headlines in 2006.
During a trial for three East
Baltimore men accused of being drug dealers, a judge ruled that defense
attorneys could tell jurors about dozens of complaints filed against officers
in the case: Hersl and Frank Nellis.
They had a total of 46
complaints. And though only one for each had been sustained, the sheer number
of accusations merited judicial notice, the judge said.
"Misconduct, sometimes
when it's frequent enough, it indicates a lack of desire to tell the
truth," Baltimore Circuit Judge John Prevas said after reviewing Hersl's
internal affairs file.
Prosecutors dropped the charges
against the three men.
In August 2007, Hersl was
involved in another incident that landed in court.
Taray Jefferson and three of
her friends visited Joy Garden Carry Out Restaurant on Harford Road. Minutes
later, another woman entered, followed by Hersl and a sergeant.
The officers pulled the woman
outside, and as the sergeant searched the trash and floor inside, Hersl stood
in the doorway, according to a lawsuit filed by Jefferson.
The sergeant told Jefferson,
then 19 years old, and her friends to get up against the wall. Jefferson
pressed for answers, but the sergeant told Hersl to handcuff her.
Hersl grabbed her right arm;
the sergeant grabbed her left arm and pushed it up as high as it would go, the
lawsuit says. She pleaded for them to stop and then heard a loud pop. She then
hit the floor.
"I told [the sergeant] he
was hurting me and [Hersl] had my other arm and he punched me in my arm,"
Jefferson said in a deposition.
She sustained a broken arm.
Days later, Hersl charged her with resisting arrest, failure to obey and
disorderly conduct. The charges were eventually dropped.
Jefferson sued Hersl and his
sergeant in 2008, and settled for $50,000 in the following year.
In September 2010, Hersl said
he spotted a suspected drug transaction on North Wolfe Street. As officers
pursued Charles Faulkner, he fled.
During the chase, another
officer said Faulkner tossed aside five plastic bags with a white powder substance.
Hersl found Faulkner hiding on a porch, and when he ran again, Hersl tackled
him.
In a civil lawsuit, Faulkner
said Hersl beat him in the face with his fists and a police radio. The blows
made him pass out, the lawsuit says. The officers then took him to the
hospital, where he was treated for a broken jaw and fractured nose.
He was later charged with
possession with the intent to distribute. Faulkner, who had been convicted of a
handgun offense in 2010, received probation before judgment for the drug charges.
He sued Hersl in August 2013.
The city settled the case last week for $49,000.
Police contract protections
The secrecy surrounding
internal discipline of police officers is not unique to Baltimore.
Samuel Walker, professor
emeritus of criminal justice at the University of Nebraska Omaha, said the
public should have access to those disciplinary records, just as sanctions
against doctors, pharmacists and lawyers are publicized.
"Police officers are
public employees," he said. "We ought to know what happens in these
cases."
Why hasn't that happened?
'It's the political power of
the cops," Walker said. "They have managed to get these exceptions.
It's a national problem."
The Fraternal Order of Police
contract guarantees that the city will defend officers against litigation,
along with paying settlements and court judgments, even if an incident arises
from moonlighting. In exchange, the city is entitled to all court records such
as depositions when it pays a settlement or court judgment. But, according to the
contract, if an officer is acquitted, the city can't request files held by the
attorneys, including depositions and photos.
(Taxpayers will not pay damages
if a judge or jury finds that an officer acted with malice — but that has never
happened, according to Nilson.)
Nilson said it's not realistic
to expect officers to pay the damages when they risk their lives.
Moreover, he questioned the
level of policing that would come if officers lost their homes or wages from
lawsuits. But he acknowledged that he doesn't like the contract guarantee about
defending all officers who are accused of misconduct.
"We've learned to live
with it," he said. "It's the right thing to do."
Young, the council president,
would like the city to eliminate that clause in the next contract.
"I respect and appreciate
the police officers, but we cannot protect bad officers who are costing the
city millions of dollars," he said.
Fraternal Order of Police
President Robert Cherry said the city could refuse to pay in cases where
misconduct claims are sustained. He warned that officers might become fearful
of doing their work if the city does not back them.
"That is a ludicrous
statement to make," he said about Young.
The Sun requested records on
misconduct lawsuits in April and began asking questions about McSpadden's cases
in June.
In light of his multiple
lawsuits, Nilson revamped the process to settle misconduct cases, adding
multiple layers of oversight this month. The change came a month after The Sun
asked about McSpadden, but Nilson said that investigation didn't trigger
reforms.
First, staffers will start
entering lawsuit information into a database, and outside law firms are
required to notify the city about officers' previous lawsuits. Officers must
disclose the cases on signed affidavits for the lawyers.
Second, if officers face
multiple lawsuits within six months, the same outside firm must handle the
cases.
Under the current proposal, the
city pays a flat fee to two firms — Schlachman Belsky & Weiner earned about
$506,000 in the last fiscal year, and Whiteford Taylor & Preston received
$481,000. The firms can charge additional fees in complex cases.
Thurman W. Zollicoffer Jr., a
former city solicitor and a partner at Whiteford Taylor & Preston, handles
some of the trial work in these cases. Herb Weiner, who represents the police
union in contract negotiations and discipline matters, manages Schlachman,
Belsky & Weiner.
Another set of changes will
give the Law Department's settlement committee — eight senior lawyers — more
information on the lawsuits. Memos to the committee will now include prior
lawsuits and say whether the officers would make good or bad witnesses under
oath — taking into account such issues as whether an officer has a criminal
record.
Going forward, Nilson vowed to
provide more detailed information to all members of the Board of Estimates.
City lawyers will also make one of three recommendations on each case. They can
suggest officers either get more training or receive counseling from the Legal
Department. A third option includes no action.
If the city recommends the last
option, and more misconduct occurs, Nilson said the settlement committee would
bear some responsibility. "We're on the hook," he said.
Officers who were sued
Some Baltimore police officers
have been sued several times in civil cases and the city has paid court
judgments or settlements. Here is a summary of the cases, based on court
records. In settlements, the officers and city do not acknowledge any wrongdoing.
Detective Michael McSpadden,
43, joined force 1993
2012: Bolaji Obe and Akinola
Adesanya accused McSpadden of beating them in a Water Street parking garage.
The city settled the lawsuit in July 2014 for $62,000.
2012: After driving under the
influence and crashing through a parking garage gate, John Bonkowski accused
McSpadden and another officer of breaking his wrist and ankle. The city settled
the lawsuit in April 2014 for $75,000.
1999: Lacey Burnette accused
McSpadden and other officers of beating him unconscious during a domestic
incident. The city settled the case for $152,500.
1996: Robert O'Neil Jr. accused
McSpadden of breaking his wrist in Fells Point. A jury awarded the man $1
million, but a judge reduced it to $100,000. The man appealed; a second jury
awarded him $335,000.
1995: Mary Forrest accused him
of dragging and stomping her while handcuffed during a domestic incident. Court
records show the case shows settled, but no payout is listed. The city could
not find financial records about the settlement.
Detective Daniel Hersl; 44,
joined force in 1999
2010: Charles Faulkner said
Hersl broke his jaw and nose with his fists and a police radio after the man
fled. He later received probation before judgment for drug charges. The man
sued Hersl; the city settled the lawsuit last month for $49,000.
2008: Taray Jefferson accused
Hersl and another officer of breaking her arm when they searched for a drug
suspect in a carryout store. The city settled the case in 2009 for $50,000.
2007: Lillian Parker was
selling church raffle tickets when Hersl and Detective Calvin Moss accused her
of selling drugs. She spent two days in jail, but prosecutors dropped the
charges against her. She sued in 2010; the city settled the case in 2012 for
$100,000.
Detective Calvin Moss, 46,
joined force in 2004
2013: Marque Marshall jumped
from a car and fled from Moss. The officer shot Marshall's left hand when he
tried jumping a fence. Marshall lost most of his small finger. Marshall's
lawsuit says another officer falsely told Moss that Marshall had a gun.
Marshall faced several charges, including assault, but prosecutors dismissed
them, records show. The civil suit is ongoing.
2010: Darrel McGraw accused
Moss and his partner of beating him before and after being handcuffed. A jury
in the civil case cleared Moss, but a judge found the partner liable for
$7,500.
2008: Adair Wiley accused Moss
and his partners of strip-searching her in public and hitting her on Lombard
Street. A jury in the civil case ruled in favor of the officers in 2012.
2007: Lillian Parker was
selling church raffle tickets when Moss and Hersl accused her of selling drugs.
She spent two days in jail, but prosecutors dropped the charges against her.
She sued in 2010; the city settled the case in 2012 for $100,000.
Patrolman David Reeping, 44, on
force 2007-2011
2010: Jamal Butler accused
Reeping of false arrest and false imprisonment, testifying that the officer
said he was being arrested "for being a black smart ass" while
standing on an East Baltimore Street. A jury awarded Butler $272,790 this year;
the verdict is under appeal.
2010: Sophia DeShields accused
Reeping of pulling her from the back of a car and breaking her wrist under the
Jones Falls Expressway. The city settled the case in February 2014 for $24,000.
2009: Frank Snell II, a
Randallstown dentist, and his friend, Brian Holmes, accused Reeping and two
other officers of beating them while handcuffed on East Baltimore Street. The
city settled the lawsuit in 2011 for $47,500.