An officer's troubled record showed high complaints but he was only promoted
accused of sexual misconduct and with a checkered record an officer was allowed to stay on the force and was even promoted, your Friday long read from Injustice Watch
We go to Injustice Watch for this week's long read by Rita Oceguera, read the whole article “Aurora police officer accused of sexual misconduct remains on the job.” We include key excerpts below to convince you it’s worth your time.
groping around and winning accolades
Pablo, an activist and outspoken critic of the Aurora Police Department, had encountered Brian at least twice before. Each scenario began with Brian stopping Pablo for minor traffic violations and ended with Brian or other officers using force, arresting him outside his apartment building, and charging him with resisting or obstructing a police officer.
Injustice Watch obtained police dashcam footage of the April incident. Brian can be heard telling Pablo that he’s under arrest and warning him, “Don’t make me tase you or pepper-spray you.”
Pablo had two warrants for his arrest at the time. One warrant was for a missed court date tied to an ongoing domestic battery case, and the other was for an outstanding balance of about $3,200 in court fees for a 2018 reckless driving conviction.
Dashcam footage shows Brian starting to handcuff Pablo, who activates the camera on his cellphone with his one free hand and tries passing it to his partner, just outside the camera view.
“You can record it and give it to Black Panthers Aurora,” Brian says before taking the phone. “I already know you’re part of a terrorist organization.”
Underscored
“That’s not a pat when you are cupping someone, and you’re grabbing and just trying to feel around,” Pablo said in an interview with Injustice Watch.
Pablo was arrested but was quickly released after paying a bond of almost $1,000. He is still working to resolve cases connected to his encounters with Brian and other legal issues that he worries could put his immigration status at risk. Despite his fears, he decided to raise the alarm about what he alleged that Brian did to him by filing a complaint with the Aurora Police Department.
Pablo’s complaint marks at least the third time that Brian has faced sexual misconduct accusations since 2017, according to police disciplinary records obtained by Injustice Watch.
An investigation by Injustice Watch has shed light on Brian’s troubling history of alleged misconduct. Records show that Brian was named in at least 74 misconduct complaints about a range of issues since he joined the Aurora Police Department in 1995. At least 33 were sustained, meaning that the department found the allegations credible, including claims that he repeatedly sexually harassed a co-worker in 2016 and 2017. That investigation led the department to transfer Brian from the investigations bureau to the patrol division in 2019.
Bottom line
But more recent records show that Brian received seven complaints between 2016 and 2020, more than three times as many as the average officer during that period, according to an Injustice Watch analysis of data provided by the department. The complaints against Brian included allegations of excessive force, pursuit policy violations, and at least two sustained complaints of sexual harassment.
In November 2017, a police department employee filed an allegation of sexual harassment against Brian claiming that he created a “hostile work environment” by making “inappropriate” and “offensive” comments about another department employee. The case was sustained, and Brian received a written reprimand.
In May 2018, a police department supervisor was having a conversation with a department employee who revealed that Brian had sent her a text message asking whether she knew what a Fleshlight sex toy was, according to police records. While investigating that complaint, a police sergeant interviewed another department employee who said in 2016 and 2017, Brian had grabbed their buttocks “approximately six times in the office.” The investigation into the allegations found the accusations against Brian sustained.
Then-Aurora Police Chief Kristen Zimen suspended Brian for five days and transferred him out of the investigations unit, where he had been a detective. In her letter announcing his suspension in September 2018, she wrote: “I sincerely hope that this action on my part will cause you to adhere to all department rules and regulations.”
But that didn’t happen.
Read the whole article here.
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