Still more trooper incidents3 complaints of excessive force stand out over past 2 years The Post and Courier
Saturday, March 29, 2008
On the WebVIDEOThe Post and Courier has requested the troopers' dashboard videos. Authorities said they should be made available Monday afternoon. Videos will be posted on charleston.net/video COLUMBIA — South Carolina Highway Patrol Lance Cpl. J.B. Sawyer kicked reckless driver Sergio Caridi in the head several times after he was subdued following a high-speed chase that ended on Interstate 95 in Sumter County, according to internal affairs documents reviewed Friday. Of about 300 complaints lodged against state troopers since 2005, The Post and Courier was given access to review nearly 150 internal affairs documents from 2006 and 2007 in the wake of shakeups at the Highway Patrol and its parent agency, the state Department of Public Safety. The newspaper learned, through the Freedom of Information Act, that the incident with Caridi in May 2006 and two others involved use of excessive force. Caridi was hit with a stun gun and being restrained by officers when Sawyer kicked him in the head several times, investigators said. The incident was captured on tape by another officer's dashboard camera. Sawyer resigned from the Highway Patrol on Aug. 24, 2006, and is employed with the Marion County Sheriff's Office, according to documents. In all, though, state senators say the review of complaints in 2006 and 2007 doesn't appear to show a systemic problem at the Highway Patrol. Of 237 complaints made in those two years, 51 had merit, and 101 cases are still under review by the agency. Sixty-one complaints were made against troopers in 2005. Troopers make an estimated 500,000 traffic stops each year. Requests to view internal affairs documents dating back to 2003 are pending, although complaints for 2004 and earlier also include those made against the state Department of Motor Vehicles. "I don't think it's a widespread problem," Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell said. Isolated cases, though, can become permeating problems if they are not dealt with properly, he said. The Senate is investigating problems at the Highway Patrol — and will use its subpoena power if necessary — as it prepares to confirm a new public safety director, said McConnell, R-Charleston. State and federal investigations into the Highway Patrol also are under way. This week, Gov. Mark Sanford is expected to nominate a replacement for James Schweitzer, who stepped down after a 2004 dashboard-camera video surfaced last month showing a white trooper using a racial epithet and threatening to kill a fleeing black suspect. Three other videos that show troopers mistreating black motorists also have been uncovered in the past month. In two of the tapes, troopers, one of whom is black, use their cruisers to hit fleeing suspects, and another shows a black woman handcuffed to the bumper of a cruiser for about 40 minutes and then left on the side of the road. None of those troopers were fired. Sen. Robert Ford, D-Charleston, said the problems uncovered at Highway Patrol aren't based on race. "Nobody could call it racism — these are just some bad apples," he said. "These are the people we have to weed out." Ford noted that blacks fill many high ranks at the Highway Patrol and played a hand in deciding what disciplinary actions to take in some of the cases that have been publicized. Seventy-two troopers are black and 591 are white while an additional 47 black troopers serve in supervisory positions with 216 white counterparts. McConnell said he thinks the investigations will be constructive. "I see it as a learning process," he said. "I think it will be a morale booster and image booster for the patrol. To know where you're going, you have to know where you've been." The Post and Courier review revealed a wide variety of charges and complaints against troopers in 2006 and 2007, although the race of the troopers and suspects weren't always documented. They include inappropriate Myspace.com pages, unsustained allegations from a father that a trooper called his underage daughter and asked for a lap dance and complaints about troopers making degrading remarks about a homosexual trooper in a diner that were overheard by the trooper's partner. Here's a look at some of the other incidents detailed in the internal affairs documents: --Caridi, a New York resident who was driving a dump truck to Florida, led officers from several jurisdictions on a chase that ended when the vehicle caught fire. A total of 39 rounds of pistol fire and nine rounds of shotgun blasts were aimed at the truck's tires and radiator in an attempt to disable it. During the chase, which lasted about 30 minutes, Caridi attempted to strike Sawyer's vehicle, according to the records. Caridi's father told investigators that his son is a manic-depressive who had stopped taking his medication and was depressed because of his divorce and his father's colon cancer. While trying to stop Candi, police blew out six of 12 tires on the truck. --Demetrius Jones, a black male, and Highway Patrol Cpl. Michael Tomson, who is white, gave different versions of what happened during a traffic stop on Nov. 13, 2006, on U.S. Highway 21 just south of Branchville. "The trooper ordered me to come around to the driver side of the vehicle in which I complied, crawling on my hands and knees. At that time, the trooper struck me in the face with the barrel of his shotgun. I began to bleed and swell," Jones told investigators. Jones, who was a passenger, was released with no charges against him. He required several stitches on his left cheek. What happened was out of view of the trooper's dashboard camera, although the trooper could be seen pushing at something with his shotgun, investigators said. --In an incident captured on tape, Lance Cpl. E.J. Burton struck Aaron Goodman four times with his left hand while holding a flashlight in that hand. He struck Goodman three times with his empty right hand, according to an internal investigation report. The blows were in the area of Goodman's back, neck and shoulders. Goodman was a passenger in a car stopped for speeding in Sumter County on June 24, 2006. He was released after it was determined he had not violated any laws during the pursuit. Cpl. Josepha Ham, who witnessed the encounter, told Burton five times to "ease off" on Goodman but in the end did not report the excessive use of force, according to the investigation. Reach Yvonne Wenger at ywenger@postandcourier.com or 803-799-9051 or. Reach Prentiss Findlay at 937-5711 or pfindlay@postandcourier.com. |
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Comments
This article has 13 comment(s)
Posted by amylrod on March 29, 2008 at 8:54 a.m. (Suggest removal)
It is unfortunate when a few bad apples make the entire department look bad. When I read of the excessive abuse, it reminds me how the soldiers treated Christ in "Passion of the Christ." I would believe their actions to be demonic and vitriolic.
It is one thing to be pulled over and the driver is spewing hateful slurs, making the matter more difficult for the officer to show restraint, especially if the ones being pulled over start to become physical. Officers have to be forceful at times, but not to the point where it shows they have completely lost their bearing and professionalism.
Posted by moonpie on March 29, 2008 at 9:08 a.m. (Suggest removal)
"I don't think it's a widespread problem," Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell said."
OH YEAH INSTEAD OF FIRING HIM AND TAKING HIS CREDETIALS AWAY SO HE CAN NEVER "SERVE" AGAIN HE IS ALLOWED TO WORK FOR MARION COUNTY SHERIFFS DEPT? YOUR CREATING THE WIDE SPREAD PROBLEM. WANNA BET HE'LL DO IT AGAIN?
NOT SAYING I WOULDN'T HAVE DONE THE SAME THING WITH THE IDIOT THEY CHASED BUT THATS EXACTLY WHY I'M NOT A COP!
Posted by carolinadude on March 29, 2008 at 10:15 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Thomas1776; I wholeheartedly agree that we should throw the rascalls out on June 10. Unfortunately McConnell and Sneaker of the House, Harrell have no opposition.
Posted by strangers_unaware on March 29, 2008 at 2:42 p.m. (Suggest removal)
what happen with this people?
Posted by Pols101 on March 29, 2008 at 3:04 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The colonel that was before Roark; I believe his name is Mobley, just got out of prison. Lexington County) - Lexington police have arrested the former commander of the South Carolina Highway Patrol on a charge of domestic violence.
Ralph Mobley was arrested Thursday and charged with with criminal domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature.
Officers say that at around 2:15 a.m., officers went to a home on Palmer Drive on a call of a domestic dispute. The officer says when he arrived he found the victim runnign from the house. She told the officer that her husband, Mobley, had shoved her into a wall. She also said her husband pointed a gun at her during the fight.
Mobley served as commander of the Highway Patrol from September 1999 until June of 2001. He had served with the patrol since 1977.
How about that guy that jerked the black lady out of her car for speeding on I 95 a few years back?
Yea, A bunch of nut cases are on the patrol. They need to fire all the higher-ups and start over.
Posted by RTC on March 29, 2008 at 3:43 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Sen. Robert Ford, D-Charleston, said the problems uncovered at Highway Patrol aren't based on race.
"Nobody could call it racism — these are just some bad apples," he said. "These are the people we have to weed out."
I am glad to hear Mr. Ford make a rational statement.
I don't always agree with Glenn McConnell, but knowing him personally, I understand what he is up against with these people in Columbia.
He can't do anything alone, and with all of the bickering going on at the state house it makes all of their jobs difficult.
Sorry to say, but Stanford has been a major problem, and about all he has really accomplished is bringing Democrats and Republicans closer together in agreement.
Few from either side can stand the man, so there is constant headbutting that gets nothing solved.
Posted by wise1 on March 29, 2008 at 3:52 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Thomas1776 -- I totally agree with you 100 percent. McConnell and those state senators' *sses has got to go!!!
Posted by THISMUSTSTOP on March 29, 2008 at 10:14 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Calling for these Troopers to be fired and not calling for the Charleston Fire Department Command Staff to be fired is a little inconsistant. We are going back a few years on Trooper complaints and incidents yet consider the Charleston Fire Department past to be just that, the past.
I say fire them all!
Posted by pygmon on March 29, 2008 at 10:29 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Oh yes, any perfect citizen that leads police on a high speed chase...endangering other motorists, like oh...I don't know say maybe you, me, YOUR FAMILY or mine...deserves a big sloppy kiss on the lips and a group hug after they're detained. They weren't being bad, just making a pooooooor choice. Oh yes, I want the cops to kiss a CRIMINAL'S A$ S. What a peeeeerfect world it would be!!!You idiots go out and face the crap our cops have to face on a DAILY basis and see how understanding and touchy feely you are after some dirtbag tries to KILL YOU. If you're such a BAD A$ S, a wee little rap on the head with a Mag Light is nothin' to a big bad 'Gangsta'. Right?
Jeeezis, beam me up.
Posted by member on March 30, 2008 at 6:52 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Enough is Enough!! If this is the way that the P&C needs to sell papers, they are in bad shape. First there are two sides to every story and I think we are only getting to hear one. Who is standing up for our Troopers? I have not seen one of those incidents that have been local. If my family is safe from these criminals and thugs, I do not need all the answers on how they achieve that goal. How are all the bad guys getting the support? Anyone that was in that horrible traffic on Thursday that gridlocked the whole Lowcountry knows how bad we need our Troopers. By the way, the idiot that caused the whole thing FAILED TO STOP!!!!
Posted by pygmon on March 30, 2008 at 1:18 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Just what we need...and what our oh-so-prolific criminals want...a "kinder, gentler police force". Let's all join hands and sing a little Cumbayah! Have a Coke and a smile while you're at it too!
Posted by abitskeptical on March 31, 2008 at 1:39 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The dash video cams have made it easier to investigate when a complaint is lodged.
It would go a long way in establishing public trust if cam tapes were reviewed on a regular basis by an objective party. This way unprofessional behavior or excessive force by any law enforcement officer can be identified & corrected, regardless of citizen complaint, BEFORE it becomes an established method of operation.
If unprofessional behavior is "officially" denounced, but in reality, accepted, it diminishes the overall effectiveness of our law enforcement, & gives them all a jaded reputation.
I imagine that many complaints are not valid. People in general love to complain.
Due to personal experience, albeit limited, I KNOW some complaints are valid. Also,I know some people,though they have a valid complaint, do not always make the complaint known to the appropriate authority.
Also, I know that complaints get screened, dismissed or "explained" away.
Once, while in stand-still traffic due to the Sertoma event, I witnessed, close up,an officer go up to a car screaming obscenities at the passenger. All of a sudden the officer reached into the car,pulled the boy out through the window, slammed him on the ground & put hand cuffs on him. Other officers looked unconcerned & ambled away from this scene. I told the kids in my car to get down on the seat as I became alarmed watching this officer going crazy & was fully prepared for him to start shooting. He appeared out of control & in a frantic rage. I felt like a sitting duck, as there was no way to move out of the traffic jam.
What brought on the officer's rage? Apparently the boy said to the driver of the car "Just run them over" & the officer heard him because the windows were down. Traffic was bumper to bumper & we had not moved for 15 minutes.
I called the police department to report this & asked to speak to chief. I gave a description of the officer which included that he had a bright blue thing on his head. The desk officer said "Uh, that would be his helmet, mam" I responded "No. I am aware of what a helmet looks like. He did not have on a helmet. I believe that what he had on his head is what is commonly called a do-rag." I was told someone would be calling me back.
Days later someone did call me back and told me the officer's behavior was appropriate for the situation. It was clear to me that no one was interested in what concerns I had stemming from what I had witnessed. It was very discouraging.
Posted by bootlicked on March 31, 2008 at 10:32 p.m. (Suggest removal)
FIRE-CHIEF THOMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!