TheAgitator.com
More from Josh Wexler
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009Earlier today, I posted about Josh Wexler, the New Orleans pianist and Agitator reader who stood up to a bullying cop last January. Wexler posted an updated in the comments section that’s worth its own post:
After the incident, my attorney and I wrote a letter to the DA, Leon Cannizaro, asking him to investigate the matter. His office wrote back declining to investigate, saying the matter would more appropriately be handled by the Public Integrity Bureau (which investigates police misconduct, but is run by the NOPD, not an independent commission).
I was strongly dissuaded from filing a complaint with the PIB by my attorney, Sam Dalton. Sam, who is the most experienced civil rights lawyer in Louisiana, told me that there was no way the PIB would discipline the officer and that they often treated complainants very shabbily.
However, Rich Webster of City Business Journal wrote the above article which led to the PIB very politely taking my complaint. I was told that the investigation would take up to a month to complete. In the intervening time, my seat belt ticket was thrown out before trial (the ADA issued a “nole prosequi”). But, after a month I did not receive the promised report on the outcome of the investigation.
I spent several days on the phone, getting the run around from various PIB and NOPD members. However, at one point I got to speak with the officer who actually performed the investigation. He told me that the cop (Torres) told a different story than mine and that his recommendation was to find the complaint “false” (or some thing equivalent to “false”- he could have recommended a finding of “unsupported” which would have meant there just wasn’t enough evidence to find the claim “supported). The investigator also told me that if he were the officer in question, he might well have arrested me for interfering with investigation/arrest of the pedestrian (I want to say here that I never got closer than 7 or 8 ft from the officer when he was holding the pedestrian).
I still haven’t received a report on the final PIB police findings, so I don’t know what the final outcome was. I think it’s safe to assume that—if they bothered to finish processing it at all—they dismissed the complaint.
Thanks to Mr. Balko for the thoughtful post and to the commentators for the overwhelming support here. And, thanks for the many nice comments about my testicles. However, it really wasn’t as “ballsy” as you might think. It happened in broad daylight with plenty of potential witnesses around. Otherwise, I probably wouldn’t have gotten out of my car. And when the cop started threatening me, I shut up and handed over my license and registration instead of risking going to jail (and worse) with any further provocation.
I have added the Qik application to my phone, after Balko alluded to it in a recent post. I wish I had it that day to make a record of the officer’s misconduct. Hopefully, apps like Qik will allow folks to better protect themselves and others from police abuse in the future.
If your cell phone takes video, Qik is a great ap to have handy.
Have you filed an open records request for the cop’s dashcam video? I know it’s a little late, but you should have filed that same-day.
Keep piling up the injustices NOPD. Like the old Baptist preacher R.G. Lee said “There will be a payday someday.”
Slightly OT
Referenced in comments for the previous Wexler article:
Rafael Goyeneche, president of the Metropolitan Crime Commission said that the police ARE a paramilitary organization.
A few days ago a baptist minister was gunned down by plain-clothes cops, very likely because he did not recognize them as cops.
Our commander-in-chief has said that combatants not in uniform are terrorists.
Shall we connect the dots?
‘Paramilitary’ isn’t a dirty word. It’s an accurate description of a group organized with ranks and a command structure resembling the military.
‘Paramedic’ is a reasonable parallel.
I didn’t say it was a dirty word. Another source (dictionary.com) provides the definition:
designating or of forces working along with, or in place of, a regular military organization, often as a semiofficial or secret auxiliary.
I believe this reflects many cops’ mindset, and I believe it to be unacceptable. When you couple their eagerness to commit violence with their desire to conceal their identity, you have a disaster.
Correct me if I am wrong, but doesn’t the dashcam video activate when the emergency lights are turned on ? In that case, there might not be any video because the cop probably didn’t have the lights on when he hit the pedestrian.
I’m beginning to consider moving somewhere where, in Lincoln’s words, I can take my despotism pure without the base alloy of hypocrisy.
Good follow up Josh, thanks. I know I’d think twice about getting out of my car even in broad daylight with a whole street full of witnesses.
Superintendent of Police, New Orleans, Warren J. Riley:
wriley@cityofno.com
Shorter NOPD: STFU and act the like the serf you are.
As an extremely lazy individual, I really need to get a job at PIB.
@#9, Jeff:
Are you sure it’s not Ignatius J. Reilly?
Yeah. This ended pretty much how we all knew it would.
I think Mr. Wexler does not understand the rules of the game. The seatbelt ticket was dropped in exchange for him not to file a complaint against the cop.
Among the many take-away lessons here:
Just in case there was any doubt about the objectivity of these investigations or any hope that the investigator was a “good cop” who would be willing to stand against one of his fellows doing wrong.
Once again, you really don’t get far dealing with authority types unless you have video of the incident. Unless it is flat out obvious the officer is lying, the “official process” will take his word about his own wrongdoing over a normal citizen’s. (And, of course, even video isn’t a magic bullet when it comes to getting real accountability from the system, but at least it helps educate the general public about what really goes on.)
Is this the same Josh Wexler who has written for National Review? I wonder what “Jack Dunphy” would have to say about all this.
“However, it really wasn’t as “ballsy” as you might think.”
There’s balls and then there’s stupid. You went to the limit of balls. Stupid just get you screwed (read: arrested, shot, etc.)
Self-preservation doesn’t disqualify the balls-y-ness of this heroic act. Live to fight another day and all that.
Let me add some more highfives to the pile, and a few hip-hip-hoorays for good measure.
“Is this the same Josh Wexler who has written for National Review? I wonder what “Jack Dunphy” would have to say about all this.”
Dunphy generally objects to the ridiculous accusations hurled at good law enforcement officers in the LAPD (the “O.J. was framed!” crowd was a big target). Okay, he and I might disagree on where the line between “good” and “bad” officers should be drawn, but even someone (like myself) who is very suspicious of over-reaching police powers has to acknowledge that that there is a cadre of anti-police activists who tend to regard any crime prevention as a gross violation of civil rights.
I want the police to come down hard on violent offenders; it’s the job they’re supposed to do. I don’t want the police to execute 3am, no-knock warrants against some guy with a couple of pot plants. But you know what? Cops have to enforce the laws they don’t agree with. It’s up to us to get the bad laws changed.