Formal complaint against Meriden Police Department

To: City Manager Larry Kendzior Date: 04-01-2011 From: Off. B. Sullivan #373/Off. Huston # 410 We are submitting this letter to file a formal complaint against several members of the Meriden Police Department. Members as follows: Chief Jeffrey Cossette, Deputy Chief Timothy Topulos, Sergeant Leonard Caponigro, Sergeant Glen Milslagle and Officer Evan Cossette.

We would like a formal independent investigation conducted into our allegations against the afore mentioned members of the Meriden Police Department.

In January of 2011 Donald Huston and I had the courage to come forward and file separate disparate treatment grievances. We had been subjected to and witnessed far too much corruption then we could bear to tolerate. It has affected us emotionally and physically. We are the voice of many others that are too fearful to step forward and attempt to dissolve this corruption. Many others share our feelings but are too afraid of retaliation to come forward. Many of us have witnessed this retaliation first hand and others are afraid that by speaking out they will hinder their career advancement. Well we have reached a point that we are no longer fearful. We put on are uniforms and wear them proudly. We are the ones with the Honesty and Integrity and we are going to stand up to what is right for our Department and for the community of Meriden. How many more people have to be injured and how many lawsuits is it going to take until something is done to stop this behavior. We strongly encourage you to take this matter very seriously and review the files/case reports/videos/audio recording/IAD reports pertaining to the incidents that we are disclosing.

Although we have filed grievances as required by our collective bargaining agreement I believe immediate action is necessary. The City has not taken our grievances to be serious in nature and the city did not answer our grievances at step one or step two level. They will be going to the labor board. The Chief openly expressed that he does not care because he won't be here when they reach the Labor Bard. We feel that his response is unacceptable. It is of the utmost importance to ensure the safety and security of the Department as well as the residents of Meriden. As documented in our disparate treatment grievances, there is unequal treatment as well as nepotism amongst our department. We know that this is not just in our Department but everywhere in the world.

When we applied to Meriden, the City stated that this was an equal opportunity employer.

Apparently somewhere along the line we have lost track of this. We will attach a list of the different disciplinary treatments amongst the department that will clearly show the prejudicial treatment. It appears as though we are disciplined according to who you are or who you are related to and for not what you have done. Depending on who you are will determine the thoroughness of the investigation that will be completed. Basic discipline is one thing, but it’s now reached a point where we believe it is dishonest, and vicious criminal acts are intentionally being covered up. Let us start by documenting our concerns with the pattern of excessive force that has been displayed by Officer Evan Cossette and the great lengths that the department has gone to conceal these cases.

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Officer Evan Cossette was first employed as a civilian booking technician called a PST. While working in this civilian capacity, PST Cossette was allowed to ride along with Officers during down time. Cossette was very arrogant and acted like he was a supervisor although he was not a sworn Officer and had no arrest authority. He had no regards for PST rules and regulations.

While on a ride along with Officer Fry, they encountered a female who had a warrant. The female was not dangerous and offered no threat to society. The female, not wanting to go to jail, fled from Officer Fry on foot. At that point in time, PST Cossette exited the vehicle against policy, and pursued the female on foot. PST Cossette having no right to do so tackled the female and subsequently broke her arm. He should have been fired immediately for his actions. No one else in this position would have been allowed to maintain their employment for conducting themselves in this manner. This untrained civilian performing this unorthodox tackle that seriously injured a suspect faced no consequences for his actions. Off.. Sullivan recently requested a copy of the internal affairs investigation into this incident, and as you can guess the entire incident was swept under the carpet and never investigated. Everyone plead ignorance to the incident. Off. Sullivan has made them aware, yet they still have not looked into this incident.

PST Cossette was also involved in an off duty altercation with former Officer Casanova. PST Cossette (at the time was under the age of 21) was out drinking alcohol the Meriden bar Maloney’s. PST Cossette had driven himself to the establishment. PST Cossette became highly intoxicated. He got into a physical altercation with former Officer Casanova. It was alleged that Officer Casanova "choked out" PST Cossette. This incident was brought to the attention of Internal Affairs as well as Chief Cossette/Deputy Chief Topulos. They would not initiate a formal investigation, of course, because it would expose the fact that PST Cossette was drinking underage in a local bar. How would that look for the Chief of Police? Well PST Cossette was a city employee that worked at the Police Department and if Internal Affairs had any integrity, they would have conducted a full investigation. But, of course, this corrupt administration did not. Officer Casanova was called into the department for an informal talk about the matter. Any other employee would have been fired for this type of behavior.

While Officer Cossette was on FTO under the training of FTO Officer Richard Giammarco, there was one of the first signs of Officer Cossette's inability for him to control his anger and temper. It also shows his lack of respect for people. Officers were at the mall and issued a party a simple trespass ticket. The youth was mouthing off as he was attempting to get into his families vehicle to leave the scene. As Officer Giammarco described, Officer Cossette went wild and started beating the youth, and turned incident into a chaotic scene. The youth was ultimately arrested, and filed an internal affairs complaint against Officer Cossette. Officer Cossette took a situation that was a simple infraction, and escalated it into becoming a criminal offense, where he "had to use" physical force. As you can expect he was exonerated of all charges.

While having an off duty conversation with Officer Buck and Officer Ford, they described in detail two separate incidents in which Officer Evan Cossette abused his police authorities and assaulted two separate individuals when it was not necessary to use force. The first incident that Officer Buck described was an incident that occurred on Summer Street. Officer Buck explained that there were numerous parties involved in an altercation. Lt Richards, Officer Evan Cossette and Officer Jennifer Pierce were also on scene. Officer Buck and Officer Pierce had a brief foot

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pursuit with a suspect. They were able to tackle the suspect and place him in handcuffs. The suspect was placed in handcuffs with his hands cuffed behind his back.

He was kneeling on the ground with his hands behind his back. Moments later Officer Cossette approached the handcuffed male, and struck him several times in the back with a baton. Clearly a criminal assault with the use of a weapon. Officers on scene witnessed the brutal assault, but were too afraid to come forward and report the Chief’s son for excessive force, knowing that his actions would result in a criminal arrest if they had done so. They were fearful because they know how vindictive the chief can be when you cross him, and they felt as though IAD would just sweep it under the carpet, as they have done so many times before.

Officer Ford then explained of a case that occurred on Curtis Street. Officer Ford explained that he was with Officer Cossette and Detective Wagner, attempting to take a bank robber into custody. Officer Ford explained that the suspect was 110 pounds soaking wet, and offered little resistance to the three officers. They had the male down on the ground and were in the process of handcuffing him, when Officer Cossette expanded his asp and attempted to strike the suspect in the head. Officer Ford stated he feared that Officer Cossette could seriously injure the suspect or even himself, so he raised his arm and blocked the shot. He told Evan to put the asp, and later had words with him. Officer Ford stated that he told Officer Cossette that if he ever did that again, he would pontoon Officer Cossette over his head. Clearly another incident of an attempted criminal assault. As the department use of force would classify, a strike to the head (red zone) with an impact weapon is deadly physical force. Officers on scene were once again too fearful to report the criminal actions of Officer Cossette.

On 05/02/10, Meriden resident Pedro Temich Catamarca was arrested on Putnam Street. On scene Officers have conveyed that Officer Evan Cossette used excessive force that was border line on Police brutality while taking Pedro into custody. So much so, that investigating Officer, Officer Selander turned the case over to Officer Cossette because he didn't want to be responsible for the injuries that Pedro had sustained. Pedro was subsequently taken into custody and transported to HQ by Officer Cossette. Officer Cossette removed highly intoxicated Pedro from his patrol vehicle and escorted Pedro into the building. Pedro was highly intoxicated and stood at a height of 5 feet tall weighing 150 pounds. Officer Evan Cossette stands at 6 feet 3 inches tall and weighs nearly 270 pounds. Officer Cossette is captured on the in house camera system getting very agitated with Pedro. Officer Cossette ultimately forcibly pushed Pedro into a temporary holding cell. Pedro was still handcuffed behind his back, and traveled nearly 8 feet backwards before falling to the concrete floor and fracturing his skull. Officers working feared that the injuries were life threatening. Pedro was knocked unconscious and was bleeding profusely from his head. He was rushed to MidState Medical Center where he was treated and needed to have his head/skull stapled back together. Officer Cossette was very creative in detailing the events in his case report, but that case report was completely fabricated. Officer Cossette lied to cover up a blatant case of police brutality. The facts written in his case report do not coincide with the video of the incident. The fact is that Pedro was never a threat to Officer Cossette. Pedro was slowly walking backwards into a holding cell when Officer Cossette made the decision to forcefully push him into the cell without justification. To add insult to injury, that matter was not investigated by internal affairs although everyone in the department was well aware that it had occurred. There were a minimum of two supervisors working and I find it hard

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to believe, given the severity of this situation, that it was not reported to administration. How does an incident of this magnitude not get investigated? It's the Chief's son and everyone is afraid to do what it right even though Officer Cossette is wild and out of control.

He is dangerous and has seriously hurt several people and yet he faces no discipline when any other Officer in his situation would face criminal charges.

Nearly 6 weeks later, Internal Affairs initiated an investigation against Officer Allen Ganter.

Officer Ganter was observed by Sergeant Caponigro pushing a handcuffed prisoner. Interesting how Sergeant Caponigro was aggressive in pursuing this investigation. Once Officer Ganter was made aware of this IAD investigation, it was brought out that it was not fair that he was subjected to an investigation for simply pushing a handcuffed suspect when Officer Cossette forcibly pushed a handcuffed suspect without cause and seriously injured the party in custody. It was only at this point in time that IAD was forced to investigate Officer Cossette’s incident.

Appalling to say the least and you can verify these facts by checking the dates of the investigation. If it had not been for the fact that an Officer exposed the fact that they had failed to investigate Officer Cossette’s incident, then the department would never have initiated an investigation. His actions led to a prisoner sustaining very serious physical injuries. The department had a duty to act and investigate this matter, but failed to do so until it was forced upon them. Ultimately IAD investigated Officer Cossette. As you can guess, the complaint was substantiated against Officer Cossette. It is my belief that his actions were criminal; however he was given a letter of counseling not for use of force, but for mishandling a prisoner. It disgusts me to watch the video of this incident and think of the outcome. He blatantly lies and is dishonest in his reports, not to mention that this was clearly unwarranted and a clear case of police brutality. Deputy Chief Topulos was very upset by this incident and initially stated that Officer Cossette was going to get two weeks off for this incident, but he later gets off with a letter of counseling? Both Internal Affairs Investigators were aware of this situation as well as the Deputy Chief and Chief. It was a complete cover up and in our opinion is Police corruption.

They knowingly allow Officer Cossette to get away with this brutal assault that could have killed this suspect in police custody.

On 10-05-10 Officer Cerejo responded to a complaint at 3 Pasco Street with Officer Cossette.

Officer Cerejo ultimately made the decision to take uncooperative Robert Methvin to the ground in order to place him into custody. Officer Cerejo took Methvin to the ground with little resistance and was in the process of applying handcuffs when Officer Cossette joined in. Officer Cossette had recently been retrained in arrest and control for the Pedro Temich incident. He was well aware that arrest and control instructors will teach that you must first gain control of an uncooperative suspect. Then, once you have gained control, do you attempt to apply handcuffs on the suspect. Well if veteran Officer Cerejo was applying handcuffs, then he certainly already had control of Methvin. Well wild and out of control Officer Cossette joined in and delivered a crushing knee strike the head/face of Methvin. The knee strike was so intense that if forced Methvin’s teeth through his face severely injuring Methvin. The knee strike was to the head which is considered the red zone. A knee strike to the head would be considered deadly physical force. This situation clearly did not justify the use of deadly physical force and it is my opinion that it was only delivered to cause punishment and inflict pain.

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The injury caused significant bleeding/swelling/bruising. Methvin had to be transported to MidState Medical Center where it required nearly 6 staples to close the laceration to his face caused by the knee strike. Officer Cossette was not initially aware that he had his in car camera system activated and his body microphone recorded the entire incident. I was met with such a great deal of resistance attempting to obtain a copy of the recording. Internal Affairs refused to release a copy of the tape. Officer Cossette telephoned me in a panic and demanded I tell him why I wanted the tape. I was forced to submit a request the Meriden’s Legal Department and they authorized the release of this recording. It is disturbing to listen to how Officer Cossette laughs and jokes about delivering the knee strike to the face of Methvin. He showed no remorse for the injuries that he caused, and spoke of the large quantity of blood. Officer Cossette wrote the case report. Methvin later filed an internal affairs complaint. As you can guess, Officer Cossette was cleared by the investigation.

We were so disturbed by this case that we requested a copy of the entire case and IAD report.

We were sick to our stomachs reading the reports and listening to the interviews. In most other IAD cases, the Chief is the complainant. There are numerous cases that the Department becomes aware of situations and will initiate the investigations. If the department becomes aware of misconduct or excessive force, they are obligated to conduct investigations. This case they had a complainant. Sergeant Caponigro a 42 year veteran Sergeant does not recognize the signs of excessive force or pattern of abuse by an Officer? Well, he does, and has in the past, but it depends on what Officer he is investigating as to whether he will conduct a full investigation and in some instances will even go as far as to offer his opinion. Sgt. Caponigro during the Officer Allen Ganter internal affairs interview between himself and Sergeant Milslagle offered his opinion that Officer Allen Ganter and a problem controlling his temper. Once again Officer Cossette lies and fabricates his report. During his interview he also lies and states that Methvin only sustained superficial injuries. He states that they could not control Methvin because of his size and the knee strike was necessary.

We find that interesting because on Cossette’s audio body microphone recording he spoke of the large amount of blood. It was clearly apparent that Methvin had sustained serious physical injury. After being read his Garrity Warning, Off. Cossette lies and calls the injuries superficial.

Sergeant Caponigro makes no attempt to question Methvin or obtain any medical records to substantiate his injuries. But he also states that the injuries were superficial. While playing the in car camera video you can hear someone say I will break your face, I will snap your neck. How could one listen to Officer Cossette’s body microphone recording and possibly infer that it was superficial. This is a blatant case of corruption by IAD. It was documented in Cossette’s report that he delivered a knee strike, but it was not documented where the knee strike was delivered, nor was this question asked by internal affairs investigator Sergeant Caponigro.

A citizen sustains substantial injuries, files the appropriate complaint and the Department policy obligates IAD to conduct an impartial investigations. Being an experienced investigator, one would think that you would ask the Officer in question the simple question "where did you

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deliver the knee strike", but of course, that was NEVER asked. As a matter of fact, once the investigation was completed, Sergeant Caponigro makes the shocking statement "we are just going to go through the motions and make this one go away". This is a gross dereliction of duty and clearly conduct unbecoming for a person in his position.

We have a copy of the interview to sustain my allegations. With a statement like that being captured on tape, it clearly shows that there is corruption in the rank and file at the Meriden Police Department. How could you expect one to conduct an impartial investigation when you make such a statement? This statement was made before the investigation was completed. He also conducted a very brief investigation with Officer Cerejo. He never asked any specific questions regarding the use of force that was appropriate to take Methvin into custody. Sergeant Caponigro goes as far as to lie and document that he had not heard back from Methvin and closed the case. A mediocre investigation at best, with a very troubled Officer whose actions have become criminal and he is once again allowed to walk on water. The fact of the matter is that Methvin did not deserve to be treated in the manner in which he was treated and he deserved to have an impartial investigation conducted. He did not get this. The true facts are that Methvin came to the Police department on multiple occasions attempting to get the status of his complaint. He was blown off each and every time he attempted to get a hold of IAD Sergeant Caponigro. Officer Felton working entry can contest to the multiple times that Methvin came to entry, attempting to speak with Sergeant Caponigro. Even in the event that Methvin never filed a complaint, the Department is obligated to contact an investigation of any misconduct of an Officer. The actions and statements of Sergeant Caponigro are not acceptable and we want them investigated.

Several years prior, Officer Farkas was forced to retire for not investigating a domestic violence dispute and making the appropriate arrest. He was threatened with an arrest if he didn't retire.

Interesting how several years prior, Officer Wilkinson and Detective Visconti were involved in a physical altercation at the PBA bar. The bar was heavily populated with patrons and everyone witnessed this incident. The bar tender telephoned 911 and request that the Police Department send the SWAT team because the Police were fighting in the bar. There were numerous supervisors that witnessed this incident. These two individuals had bad blood between them over recent marital and child custody battles. When Detective Visconti was separated from his wife, Officer Wilkinson allowed him to move in with him. They resided together and co-habitated for several months. That would forever classify their relationship to fall under domestic violence.

The Department was well aware of this and it would qualify by law to be a mandatory domestic violence arrest. The Department not only didn't conduct a criminal investigation into this altercation, but to the best of my knowledge didn't even conduct an Internal investigation. The decision not to make an arrest is criminal, for we are mandated by state law to make arrests in all domestic violence cases where there is physical violence. The parties were called in for an informal meeting to squash the matter. Once again depending on who you are will depend on how they investigate an incident even if it violates state law.

It’s amazing to see the great lengths that this department will go through to discipline an Officer that they have targeted. During the Brian Lawlor excessive force incident, the department visited a prison multiple times to solicit a complainant in the case. The Department had traveled out of town to other locations. The Department aggressively shopped the warrant around to different

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GA's because Meriden would not sign the warrant. The chief adamantly stated that he would not tolerate an Officer such as Officer Lawlor who acted in the manner in which he did. He would hold his Officers accountable and would not tolerate police brutality. Why is it that his son is allowed to police in such a manner? He has seriously injured several people, and at best, a prejudicial and shallow investigation was conducted.

He has caused the same injuries that Officer Lawlor inflicted and yet faced no discipline. At least the suspect in Officer Lawlor’s case had his hands free to attempt to fight or defend himself. Not the case with Pedro Temich. His hands were cuffed behind his back and he was virtually defenseless. The Chief, Deputy Chief and IAD were directly involved with the investigation and discipline. We hold them all accountable for their actions or their lack of actions.

Why was Donald Huston subjected to being placed on administrative leave for his recent use of force complaint? He did not injury his suspect. His suspect did not file a complaint, yet the chief initiated the IAD complaint. Huston was subjected to a criminal investigation. He was cleared on all criminal charges and by IAD, yet the Chief targets Huston and still suspends him for 5 days.

Yet with all the clear cases of police brutality against Officer Cossette, the department IAD and Administration collectively work to make them go away. There were never any criminal investigations into his multiple incidents. This is clearly police corruption and is unacceptable.

Patrol Officers are routinely held to a higher standard. Interesting how administration seems to forget that they are held to the same standards. No one is above the law. I request that as City Manager you empower an outside independent agency to conduct an investigation into my allegations. The Meriden Police Employees should be removed from their positions immediately to prevent a bias investigation and possible destruction of evidence. It should also be noted that this complaint, as well as all evidence related to this complaint and grievances, will be forward to our attorney as well. We call into question the integrity of the Meriden Police Department Administration as well as the Integrity of Internal Affairs. It is paramount that immediate action be taken into this matter. We feel that we will be targeted for making this complaint and we will not tolerate any form of retaliation or hostile treatment as a result of this complaint. We expect that matter to be taken very seriously and handled professionally. A certified letter with a signed hard copy of this email will follow.

In addition: Since coming forward and looking to stop the nepotism and disparate treatment we have been informed that we have targets on our back. This information has been told to us by numerous other officers. Here is an example as far as the targeting.

The day after the news article was posted on record journals website. Off. Huston was working a road job. Officers are hired and it is through the company that they work for. Off. Huston was approximately ten minutes late for this detail and was informed to write a detailed report as to why he was late by Sergeant Caponigro. Off. Huston was informed later that an 8 by 11 (letter of explanation) would suffice. The memo was completed and handed to Sergeant Caponigro, the internal affairs Sgt. The following day Off. Ieraci was called into Internal Affairs with no prior notice. Off. Huston then was notified that day that the chief had filed an internal affairs investigation against him for tardiness and untruthfulness. (interesting how being tardy to a road job requires such an immediate IAD Investigation but as previously stated it took IAD nearly 6 weeks to initiate an investigation into the incident in which Officer Cossette fractured the skull

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and seriously injured a prisoner that was in his custody. This is an example of a clear case of retaliation) The 8 by 11 that he had written had nothing untruthful in it and tardiness is a normal occurrence within the department. It is common practice and past precedence to complete a tardy slip for the tardiness. Off. Huston has been informed by Union Officials that there have been people with approximately 20 previous tardiness’ and have never had an internal affairs investigation filed. This is just another example of the disparate treatment and it needs to come to an end.

In closing, we had sent an additional email stating that we would be available to meet and discuss the details of this complaint as well as to present our evidence to substantiate our allegations. We now are formally requesting to meet at your convenience so we can discuss this complaint in full detail prior to making a final decision into this matter.

Respectfully Submitted, /s/ Off. B. Sullivan # 373 860-942-2493 /s/ Off. D. Huston # 410 860-681-7685

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