Tuesday, October 28, 2003
Public-housing unit officers said they were following orders, the report states.
By PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Some city police officers assigned to patrol the Trumbull Metropolitan Housing Authority area routinely conducted strip-searches on suspects taken to the police station in violation of state law and departmental policy, an internal police investigation report states.
TMHA unit officers said their commander, Sgt. Robert Massucci, ordered them to perform the searches, the report states. As many as seven to eight officers at a time have worked in the TMHA unit over the years.
Although some officers performed the strip-searches, at least one officer refused to do so.
"While assigned to the TMHA Unit, Patrolman [Ben] Harrell was ordered by Sgt. Massucci to conduct the searches on people arrested and brought to the station," states Lt. Joseph Marhulik, who wrote the report.
"Patrolman Harrell did not follow the order because he knew the procedures on conducting strip-searches. When other officers assigned to the TMHA Unit would do strip-searches, he left the room," Marhulik says in the report.
Sgt. John Yuricek and Lt. Tim Hughes spoke to officers of the TMHA unit about the strip-searches, but the officers advised they were doing what their sergeant told them to do, the report states.
TMHA provides housing to low- and moderate-income people.
"It appears to me that some of these officers were treating the TMHA property like a prison camp," said Tom Conley, president and CEO of the Warren-Trumbull Urban League. "This is shocking."
Earlier investigation
In July, The Vindicator reported that a city police officer, Patrol Officer Tim Parana, admitted routinely conducting body cavity and strip-searches on male suspects in even minor crimes, according to an internal police investigation.
That investigation was started because of a complaint by TMHA resident Dominic Gambone, 25, who lived on South Project Southeast, when he was arrested in February 2002 on charges of driving under suspension and driving slowly.
Gambone said he was taken to the police station by Patrol Officers Parana and Robert Trimble. Gambone said he was strip-searched in a holding cell.
After an internal police investigation, Police Chief John Mandopoulos declined to discipline the two officers.
Mayor Hank Angelo and Safety-Service Director Fred Harris ordered the investigation reopened after The Vindicator article on strip-searches was published.
Second probe
The information about some of the TMHA officers routinely conducting strip-searches was discovered during the second internal police investigation, which was conducted by Marhulik.
Mandopoulos said Saturday that he did not know about the allegations that Massucci was ordering the strip-searches to be conducted.
The chief declined to comment, saying the city law department advised him not to talk about the matter because civil lawsuits have been filed regarding strip-searches.
Angelo said "this puts the city in a very, very bad light. This concerns me because I don't want to turn this into an explosive racial issue."
Guidelines for searches
Trumbull County prosecutors say that strip-searches should be done only in certain cases and that a list of procedures -- including, in many cases, getting a search warrant -- must be followed.
Courts have determined that conducting an illegal strip-search is a first-degree misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
Officers receive training on strip-searching suspects when they attend the basic police academy, Marhulik said in the report.
Marhulik noted that since Gambone filed a complaint in March, a new departmental policy, with strict guidelines on strip-searches, has been created. The new guidelines, written by city police and law department officials, require doctors to be present during the most invasive searches.
Previously, department policy was for officers to follow the state law, which permits them only in certain cases.
During a meeting Sept. 17, Jim Sanders, an assistant law director, advised Angelo, Harris, Mandopoulos and Marhulik that any action in regards to strip-search investigations be held in abeyance until all civil litigation against the city goes through the courts, according to Marhulik's report.
All members in attendance agreed with Sanders, the report states.
The report also expresses Marhulik's concerns about the strip-searches.
"The court system may have overlooked the incidents by allowing the officers to file charges, defense lawyers never questioned the searches, judges bound over felonies, the county got indictments on the charges and some of the cases were prosecuted," the report states.