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Excessive force used, report says
Photo
Warren Patrolman Jeff Hoolihan
By ED RUNYAN
WARREN
Warren Police Sgt. Jeff Hoolihan used excessive force when he ordered boys ages 7, 9 and 10 to the ground in their backyard at gunpoint March 26, an internal affairs officer has concluded.
But internal affairs Officer Jeff Cole said his investigation did not uncover evidence that Hoolihan is guilty of racial profiling.
Cole’s report has been turned over to police Chief Tim Bowers, who will decide on any punishment.
Cole released his report Thursday. It includes a summary of interviews he conducted with Hoolihan and a fellow officer and with the boys and their parents.
The parents, Anthony and Carolyn Simmons, could not be reached to comment on the results of the investigation.
The incident took place a short time after the boys walked to their home on Sarkies Drive from their nearby school, the Lincoln K-8 building. Cole said their boys’ actions — running in a back yard — were not sufficient evidence that a robbery was taking place.
In the interview with Hoolihan, Cole asked whether Hoolihan could tell the age of the boys when he decided to exit his police cruiser and investigate the possibility that they were committing a robbery.
Hoolihan “stated that when he observed them, he had no indication that they were young kids. He stated that he thought they were teenagers,” Cole said.
In further questioning, Hoolihan said he understood what racial profiling is — stopping a black person to harass them regardless of whether they committed a crime or not — but that was not what he was doing.
Cole said there are no other complaints in Hoolihan’s personnel file accusing him of racial profiling or racism.
When asked whether he understood the department’s use-of-force policy, it became apparent Hoolihan did not, Cole said.
The policy states that the force employed by a police officer “should be in direct relationship to the amount of resistance employed by the person or the immediate threat the person poses to the employee or others” and that force should escalate in steps.
When questioned as to whether a lesser amount of force would have been sufficient under the circumstances, Hoolihan said he “felt that his life was in jeopardy because he didn’t know what he was getting into.”
Hoolihan said that after seeing the three boys three times in the back yards between Sarkies Drive and Atlantic Street Northeast stooped over, appearing to try to evade him, he called for backup regarding a robbery and got out of his cruiser to investigate.
The boys told Cole in an interview that they saw Hoolihan while they were playing tag but did not run from him.
Hoolihan said he could not see where the boys had gone, so he drew his firearm because “he lost sight of them and was going to go around the corner into an area that he was not familiar with,” Cole said.
The sergeant said he ordered the boys to the ground at gunpoint but as soon as they were on the ground, he put his weapon back in its holster. Though he was by himself, Hoolihan had Mace and a nightstick, he told Cole. Hoolihan said he has repeatedly asked since suffering an injury in October to be provided with a Taser but has not received one.
Hoolihan is one of several detectives assigned to road patrol duties when the department’s ranks were reduced in 2009 by 20 patrol officers because of layoffs.
In a complaint filed with the police department, Anthony and Carolyn Simmons said Hoolihan’s actions left the boys “terrorized” and “crying hysterically.”
The parents said they didn’t think Hoolihan’s explanation was sufficient that he was on high alert because of the high number of burglaries that had occurred in the area.
They were also angry that Hoolihan didn’t apologize to the boys.