By George Brennan
SANDWICH — Sandwich Police
Chief Peter Wack released the results of two internal investigations this week:
One concludes a police officer lied about his military ranking and another
finds that a police officer violated department rules in an alleged drunken
driving crash.
The internal investigations
were released Wednesday in response to a public records request by the Times
and center on the conduct of three officers — Timothy Kane, Daniel Perkins and
John Manley.
Kane, who is suing the town in
federal court and filed a similar complaint with the Massachusetts Commission
Against Discrimination, never told the town he had been promoted during his
six-month deployment in the U.S. Air Force Reserves in 2011 and, ultimately,
was overpaid by $2,400 by the police department, the internal affairs
investigation concludes.
The town pays members of the
military differential pay while they are deployed, making up the gap between
their federal salary and what they would have earned from the town.
The investigation concluded
Kane violated the department's policy on truthfulness as well as a town policy
that makes employees responsible for telling supervisors about any change in
military rank that would affect pay.
The department's investigation
did not sustain allegations that Kane committed a criminal act of larceny and
cited a separate investigation by the Cape and Islands District Attorney
Michael O'Keefe's office, which declined to press charges against him.
"Patrolman Kane denies any
wrongdoing and we look forward to trying our case in federal district court
where we'll have an opportunity to present all the evidence and let a jury
decide," his attorney Joe Napiltonia said Thursday.
Kane has since paid back the
money, records show. In the report, Kane denied there was an intent to deceive,
saying members of the department knew he had been promoted to master sergeant.
"I did not try to defraud,
it was an oversight on my part," Kane told the investigator, according to
the report.
In his lawsuit, Kane alleges he
was passed over for promotion because of his military service.
Sgt. Josh Bound, who got the
job even though Kane scored higher on the civil service exam, conducted the
internal investigation.
Last week, the town's attorney,
Bradford Louison, called it "ludicrous" to think the town would
discriminate against Kane for serving in the military. At least two other
department members have been promoted after being deployed, Louison said.
In the internal investigation,
Kane acknowledged that he initially told Lt. Michael Nurse that his military
rank had changed at the end of his deployment, instead of one month into it as
military records show. Kane told the investigator he was "distracted"
because he was in a police supply store making a purchase at the time of
Nurse's inquiry, the investigative report shows.
"...I confronted him with
that (military record), that's when he got confused and distracted, that's when
he started to stumble, so I think he intended to lie," Nurse said,
according to the report.
Wack said in an email Thursday
the department cannot release the discipline Kane received because he did not
sign a waiver allowing the town to release it.
The second internal
investigation pertains to an off-duty crash in November involving Officer
Daniel Perkins. Wack determined there was no longer a need to withhold the
public record as O'Keefe's office had requested because the Mashpee police
report was released as part of the public court record.
Like the police report, the
internal investigation says Perkins, fellow officer John Manley and a third man
were coming from Zachary's Pub, a strip club in Mashpee, in separate pickup
trucks when Perkins lost control of his vehicle on Nov. 30 and crashed on Route
130 near the Sandwich town line.
Perkins was injured in the
crash and taken to Cape Cod Hospital, records show. His blood work, subpoenaed
by Mashpee police, shows he had a blood alcohol level of 0.22, nearly three
times the legal limit of 0.08, records show.
Perkins pleaded not guilty to a
charge of operating under the influence of alcohol last month in Falmouth
District Court. He is due back in court March 27.
Perkins refused to be
interviewed for the department investigation, records show. The investigation
concluded he engaged in criminal conduct, conduct unbecoming an employee,
failure to report for duty and absence from duty. He was suspended for 60 days
and served part of that working for the department without getting paid, Wack
said.
The internal probe provides the
first insight into Manley's actions that night. Manley and another unidentified
man, who is not a police employee, took Perkins out to cheer him up — starting
at the British Beer Co. in Sandwich and ending at Zachary's, according to the
report.
Manley said he lost track of
Perkins during the two hours they were at Zachary's and is unsure what Perkins
had to drink, records show. He asked Perkins if he needed a ride before they
left Zachary's but did not believe his colleague was impaired, records show.
When he came upon Perkins'
vehicle flipped on its side, Manley and the unidentified male got out of their
truck, checked on Perkins' condition, found that his injuries were not
"life threatening" and asked a woman at the scene if she had called
police, records show.
"I left the accident. It
was a panic response," Manley, who admitted to having five or six draft
beers that night, reportedly told the investigator. In a follow-up interview,
Manley, a two-year veteran with the department, said, "I was scared of the
repercussions with the department."
Manley told the investigator he
called Perkins at home the next day to check on his condition, according to the
report. He was suspended for three days for conduct unbecoming an employee and
neglect of duty.
Attempts to reach Perkins and
Manley on Thursday were unsuccessful.
