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DA abruptly shifts gears in case against off-duty Transit cop charged with pulling a gun on another motorist in a traffic dispute
By adamg on Sat, 08/06/2022 - 9:51pm
The Globe reports on the machinations involving a cop whose own department moved to fire him but whose possible indictment was seemingly scuttled after Rachael Rollins left as Suffolk County district attorney and Gov. Baker appointed Kevin Hayden as acting DA.
Hayden is now running this fall to make his title permanent, against Boston City Councilor Ricardo Arroyo.
In addition to raising questions for Hayden, the case is the latest black eye for Transit Police, which in recent years has had to deal with a number of bad apples on the force, including:
- Three superior officers charged with overtime abuse;
- A lawsuit by a Black attorney arrested at Haymarket on the word of an emotionally disturbed woman;
- A lieutenant fired for setting up a room at police HQ as a sleeping nest - who then sued on the grounds of racial discrimination, but lost after the judge concluded he was fired for sleeping on the job, not because TPD's police chief Kenneth Green said in a radio interview he wanted to increase the number of minority officers;
- An officer indicted for beating a homeless man at Forest Hills and then lying about it;
- An officer used a baton to beat homeless man at Ashmont; pleaded guilty, got probation.
- An officer admitted sexually attacking two women at North Station;
- An officer sentenced to six months in jail for macing and beating a woman at what was then Dudley station;
- An officer indicted on charges he raped two women following a joyride in his cruiser. Scheduled for trial on Oct. 3, 2022.
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Comments
Transit Police actually wanted him prosecuted
What's really impressive in this case is that the Transit Police wanted this guy prosecuted and it's the DA's office who dropped it and keeps changing their story.
For all of you people bitching and moaning about Rollins supposedly letting people off too easy, she pursued this and it's her successor who dropped it. Which one is too easy on crime?
This story is insane
This story is insane. What's worse is that it highlights the options for Suffolk County DA this fall are:
Kevin Hayden - shown by this article that he doesn't care to enforce police misconduct/abuse. So he's essentially either corrupt or at absolute best is completely incompetent as DA
Ricardo Arroyo - Running at least in part on his father's name & has little experience in criminal justice (was a public defender for a brief period)
So who are we voting for?!? I guess Arroyo...but only by default?
Arroyo is also currently
Arroyo is also currently listed as an attorney on his brother's case suing the city. The same city that Arroyo is a city councilor for.
Bodycams for the Transit Police
If MSP and BPD are mandated to wear bodycams why is this department with a history of mistreating people of color and homeless citizens not required to wear bodycams.
If you read the story
The accused was off duty at the time.
Sorry, but there’s no way anyone would consent to being recorded 24/7.
If the price is right
Three million a year, and I retain distribution rights to the sex tapes.
Oh, Will
You always find an interesting take on these things.
How about if they want to
How about if they want to carry around a gun they have to wear a bodycam with it. Leave the gun in your locket otherwise.
arrest made on word of emotionally disturbed person
this is something that happens pretty frequently. Be careful out there.
Edit: on the Transit Police case, I can see the problems in it.
Leonor got out of his car and approached the driver's side window of the cop sitting in his car.
That would be framed as aggressive and threatening by the defense.
It wasn't like the cop jumped out of his car and whipped out his gun.
Any and all impeachment and propensity evidence would be used by the defense.
Strong chance of a not guilty or hung jury at trial
Read the actual story
First, nowhere does it say the victim was emotionally disturbed. He had called 911 to report the first incidence and had the presence of mind to have the 911 operator stay on the line when the transit cop approached his car, so there's a recording of what happened. There's also evidence the cop had an off-duty buddy lie and claim to be a witness.
Second, if the Transit Police thought there was enough evidence that they wanted it prosecuted, and Rollins was pursuing it, why should the new DA decide it's not worth pursuing? And it's not a good look (to say the least) for the DA to then get campaign contributions from the cop and his attorney.
I was referring to one of the
I was referring to one of the linked stories at first - the lawyer arrested on the word of the "emotionally disturbed" woman.
I think the gun case would be a hard case to get a guilty on - guy jumps out of his car and charges towards you sitting in your car, how could you know what was going to happen? Again, it's not like the cop jumped out of his car and pointed the gun. There would be a self-defense jury instruction.
And the DA is the one who tries cases and final word on prosecutions, not the Transit Police.
Other issues about witnesses etc are subordinate and more for the cop's employment case.
Read the story
The guy who had the gun pulled on him has a 911 recording to prove he spoke reasonably and non-aggressively. The cop had his buddy lie for him. The previous DA was pursuing the case. The staff in the DAs office who handle these sort of cases have all quit, which tends to indicate a problem with how the DA views these cases. The DA got campaign contributions from the cop and his attorney.
Perhaps the most amazing thing
He got a campaign contribution of $100 from one cop and $150 from another. That’s all it took.
Of course, from the Globe article it sounds like the DA wasn’t going to peruse the case regardless so perhaps the joke’s on the cops for donating anything.
Read closer
Hayden personally solicited the donation from the offending officer’s attorney. Then he lied about it to the Globe.
On Wednesday, after the Globe asked Hayden’s campaign about the donations, a representative for Hayden said his campaign had moved to return both Griffin’s and Green’s donations, calling them a “potential conflict of interest.” The representative said Hayden did not solicit the donations, and said the campaign had no record of any communication between Hayden and Griffin or Green about the donations. But Griffin said that wasn’t true. “Kevin Hayden solicited that donation himself, from me,” said Griffin. “He asked me for financial help. I didn’t make that on my own. He called me.”
Right
So not only is the bribe laughably small, it was specifically requested by the DA.
The DA is basically acting like a squeegee man to cops.
I'm always amazed when I hear
how little it takes to buy elected officials. You want someone to introduce your insane bill into Congress, you can probably buy the right for less than $10K. You want to disappear the criminal charges against you for the illegal shit you managed to get recorded doing while on duty? $250 will get it done.
Maybe we ought to set up a GoFundMe for this. Bound to be cheaper than going through the proper channels.
Thrift shop prices
When things were going through a really bad spell in the State House in the early 1980s we commented that the politicians had gotten so cheap you didn't even need to buy them, you could just rent them.
Massachusetts
Employing the Unemployable Since 1620
This whole article is a terrific argument in favor of UBI. But we can't have that, because DURR SOCIALISM
Well, the opposite of that is issuing guns to people who arrest lawyers and sexually assault people, so maybe try something different one time?
C'mon Will there's tons of
C'mon Will there's tons of easier do-nothing, no-standards, impossible-to-fire jobs around here. If it was just about a steady paycheck, the state government HR page is RIGHT THERE.
These dipshits become cops because they like to bully people and feel big. But don't want to be in actual danger, so they don't join the military. UBI isn't going to solve that.
Alternate headline
Kevin Hayden is a dumbass.
And here’s why (for those who won’t read the Globe story):
- Upon being appointed DA Hayden added a former police defender as his main deputy (Mullen), hasn’t bothered to fill the three spots vacated in the Special Prosecutions Unit that — you guessed it — investigates police misconduct.
- Mullen and Hayden in turn slow roll the case, despite there being clear evidence that both cops filed false reports. And Mullen tells the offending officer’s attorney (Griffin) orally and via text that the case is dead. Via text? Yes, of course, Mullen and Griffin are friends.
- When the Globe starts asking questions, Hayden’s office claims they never said the case was closed, despite those texts from Mullen to Griffin and Griffin’s subsequent affidavit sweating that Mullen said the case was dead.
And the real cherry on top: right about this time (April), Hayden solicits and receives a campaign contribution from Griffin.
Because Kevin Hayden is a dumbass.
To be clear, Hayden could reverse course, toss Mullen out of the DA’s office and apologize for repeatedly screwing up this incredibly easy case, but don’t hold your breath.
That is a preposterous statement.
I suppose you must be a supporter of the Arroyo Crime Family.
Cute
Here come the Hayden can do no wrong posters.
I’d rather have Arroyo over a Baker appointee who lost track of almost 2k sex offenders when working in a statewide role and is now engaging in quid pro quo’s to get members of law enforcement off while padding his campaign fund.
If you read the article
You would see that several transit police cruisers pulled the victim over. So if they had bodcams we would have a clear picture of how they mistreated the victim
I read the article
I came away with the idea that the arrest of the non-cop was weak, but it was at least in theory based on an incident that predicated it. He confronted another motorist (which he concedes wasn't the best idea) and that motorist displayed a gun in return. From the cop's perspective, he was protecting himself against road rage. From the other guy's perspective, he himself was a victim of road rage.
The main issue is that as opposed to typical incidents like this, one side had the Transit Police to take their side without doing a proper investigation. The cops were fired for using their positions improperly. This should probably go to trial, but it's far from a slam dunk.