Good cop fired, stopped brutality

[AMonger]

http://theintelhub.com/2012/04/22/a...r-protecting-young-man-from-police-brutality/
The United States’ descent into a hellish police state continues and appears to only get worse as the years go by. The case of Officer Regina Tasca of the Bogota Police Department in New Jersey is a troubling example of just how far gone some law enforcement agencies are today. In this case, Officer Tasca is being declared “psychologically incompetent” for stepping in to save an emotionally disturbed young man from a brutal beating at the hands of police. Here at End the Lie I have covered just a few of the troubling things police are able to get away with, such as murdering elderly tourists with pepper spray while they are restrained and brutally beating senior citizens suffering from dementia. I have also pointed out how when the good police officers out there actually do their job and stand up for justice, they are targeted for harassment or in some cases even thrown in a psychiatric ward. The things that police officers end up actually getting in trouble for tend to be outright absurd, like mowing the lawn in shorts, yet no one is held responsible for the most egregious violations like those listed above. Officer Regina Tasca’s ordeal started back in April of last year when she turned on her dashboard camera before attempting to stop two officers from brutally beating a 22-year-old emotionally disturbed man. It was just a matter of days after Tasca stepped in to defend the helpless man that she was informed she was being suspended without pay. One year later and she is still suspended and awaiting her internal trial. According to WPIX, the Bogota Police Department is looking to see her fired. The incident occurred when a mother, Tara, called to have her emotionally disturbed son, Kyle, taken to the hospital. While waiting for the ambulance to arrive, Bogota police responded. Officer Tasca was the only officer on the road –the Bogota PD has a mere 20 officers in total – so she followed protocol and called for backup. Two officers from the Ridgefield Park police showed up, and that’s when everything went horribly wrong. Keep in mind, Tasca had just finished being trained to work with emotionally disturbed individuals as part of a state-mandated training program. “The Ridgefield Park officer automatically charges and takes him [Kyle] down to the ground. I was quite shocked. As he’s doing that, another Ridgefield Park officer flies to the scene in his car, jumps out and starts punching him in the head,” Officer Tasca described. When viewing the disturbing video (which can be seen here), we hear Kyle and his mother Tara screaming, “Stop punching me!” and “Why are you punching him?” Astoundingly, the two Ridgefield Park Sergeants responsible have never refuted the claims that they repeatedly assaulted the 22-year-old man as he was waiting for medical assistance. Even more insane is that Kyle was never arrested or charged for any offense whatsoever. Officer Tasca says that is because Kyle never threatened the officers, did not possess a weapon and most importantly, was not violent and did not resist. Tasca was eventually able to pull off one of the Ridgefield Park officers who was striking Kyle and his mother actually called Tasca personally to thank her. “Thank you Regina. I appreciate you standing up for him, for protecting him while the officer attacked him. I can’t figure out what i would have done without you at the scene,” Tara said in the message. Officer Regina Tasca says she is “the only female–the first female ever–and the first and only gay female also,” in the Bogota Police Department. When asked if she thinks this blatantly unfair has anything to do with her sexual orientation and gender, she said, “Yes,” unhesitatingly. Tasca also said that she is being punished for actually doing her job is because she crossed the so-called “blue line” by refusing to support another officer who was guilty of using excessive force. It definitely doesn’t help that she is one of just 20 other officers. Tasca is going to be assisted by Catherine Elston, an attorney and former police officer herself, during the week-long department trial. “This was excessive force used against an emotionally disturbed person,” Elston said. “This was an unlawful tackle, this was a punching an emotionally disturbed person whose arms were pinned under his chest with his face pushed into the ground.” After the incident, she met with her superior officer and, “The next thing I know he asks me to turn over my weapon and be sent for a fitness for duty exam,” she recalled. Once Tasca recounted he events, the Bogota PD apparently believed that she was psychologically incompetent and thus unable to be a police officer. She was sent for testing but the Ridgefield Park officers were never so much as questioned. No investigators from the department’s internal affairs even interviewed the officers and they are currently still on the streets and continue to be paid. This is all while there is photographic evidence from the hospital showing the bruises the 22-year-old sustained on his head, back, arms and wrists from the assault. While letting the officers responsible for the beating off the hook completely, Bogota PD opted to suspend Tasca, an 11-year veteran with multiple commendations. Tasca’s trial, which will be held before a retired judge who will be the only person making the final decision, began on April 17. “If another officer is using excessive force, it’s my duty to make sure you stop it. And that’s what I did,” Tasca said. “They’re not just terminating her. They’re destroying her reputation,” Elston said. It is great to see that there are indeed still police officers out there who join the force for the right reasons and continue to actually do their job, which is to protect and serve the people, not ruthlessly beat them for no reason. Hopefully Tasca will have her name cleared, have all back pay paid and both of the officers responsible will be stripped of their positions and ideally charged with assault. The fact that the Bogota PD thought that this decision was in any way rational or legitimate is, in my opinion, deeply troubling and a disturbing sign of the times in which we live today. I’d love to hear your opinion, take a look at your story tips, and even your original writing if you would like to get it published. Please email me at [email protected]

 

[Turtle]

Posting links or entire articles, without any comments of your own, is nothing more than SPAM. You do realize that, right?

 

[AMonger]

Posting links or entire articles, without any comments of your own, is nothing more than SPAM. You do realize that, right?

Is that the EO definition? That's a pretty silly definition.

Here's my comment: many here criticize me for hating all cops, and I have maintained that I do not hate all cops, but that good cops are in the distinct minority. Further, the blue wall protects the bad cops and purges the good cops.

Here's an example of a good cop that I would like, her personal life notwithstanding.

 

[Turtle]

Is that the EO definition? That's a pretty silly definition.

It's kind of the definition of all forum SPAM, which is "messages that are advertisement, abusive, or otherwise unwanted on Internet Forums." Since the sole purpose of The Soapbox is for expressing opinions to spark conversation, you kinda need to express one when posting. Otherwise it's either news aggregation or blatantly advertising for another site, neither of which is wanted in the context of the forum description. For example, if the initial post up there had been made by someone with a single post on their EO resume, it would have been deleted as SPAM without a second thought. As is, the only comment that the initial posts solicits is along the lines of, "Well, OK. And...?" or "Yeah, so?"

Also factoring into this is there are those who have been criticized for doing the same thing, and if you get a tacit pass on it they'll have a full-blown conniption fit over it.

 

[LDB]

Paragraphs are your friend.

 

[AMonger]

Paragraphs are your friend.

I don't know what happened to the formatting.

 

[moose]

I don't know what happened to the formatting.

The Paragraphs got herself fired for trying to stop the brutality of the whole story.

your know what the problem with long story's?,
they makes the few good paragraphs looks real bad.

 

[Tennesseahawk]

The Paragraphs got herself fired for trying to stop the brutality of the whole story.

your know what the problem with long story's?,
they makes the few good paragraphs looks real bad.

And what do misused apostrophes do?

 

[AMonger]

Another take on the peace officer who stopped aggravated battery committed by fellow cops.

Officer Regina Tasca Goes "Rogue"

Regina Tasca is a “rogue cop” – and God bless her for it.

Tasca is in the middle of disciplinary hearings that may result in her termination from the Bogota, New Jersey Police Department. She stands accused of “bizarre and outlandish” behavior in two incidents a year ago during which she revealed herself to be “A danger to other police officers.”

Her first supposed offense -- which wasn't mentioned until after the second -- was a failure to assist another officer who was “attacked” by a drunken woman who was roughly half his weight and barely five feet tall. Her second was was to intervene when a police officer from another jurisdiction viciously assaulted an emotionally troubled young man who was not suspected of a crime.

“I consider myself a peace officer,” Tasca told Pro Libertate. “My thing is to help make sure that people are safe, and that they don’t have a reason to fear the police – that we treat them like human beings. The incident that started all of this was one in which I intervened to prevent excessive force against a kid who was the subject of a medical call, not a criminal suspect."

On April 29, 2011, Tasca was on patrol when she got a call for medical assistance. Former Bogota Council Member Tara Sharp, concerned about the erratic behavior of her 22-year-old son Kyle, called the police to take him to the hospital for a psychological evaluation. Requesting police intervention, particularly in cases of this kind, is never a good idea. Sharp was exceptionally fortunate that Officer Tasca was the first to respond: She has years of experience as an EMT and had just completed specialized training on situations involving psychologically disturbed people.

Once on the scene, Tasca acted quickly to calm down the distraught young man.

“When the call came, I heard that a couple of officers from Ridgefield Park were coming to provide backup, which I thought was OK, Tasca related to Pro Libertate. “Kyle had been shouting and swearing when I got there, but I got him calmed down.” The young man’s mood changed abruptly when he saw the other officers arrive.

“He noticed them and asked me, `Why is there another police officer here from another town?’ Then he said that he was leaving, and he moved maybe two or three steps when one of the Ridgefield officers jumped him.”

Sgt. Chris Thibault tackled Kyle, wrapped him in a bear hug, and attempted to handcuff him. Within an instant, Sgt. Joe Rella piled on and began to slug Kyle in the head while his horrified mother screamed at the officers to stop.

Tasca instinctively did what any legitimate peace officer would do: She intervened to protect the victim, pulling Rella off the helpless and battered young man. Eventually the Ridgefield officers handcuffed Kyle – then turned their fury on Tasca.

“One of them yelled at me, `We can’t have this!’” she recalled. “I said, we `can’t have’ what? There was no reason to take that kid to the ground and start slugging him. This was a medical assistance call, and the mother was sitting their screaming at them to stop beating on their son. I didn’t fail to aid another officer; I acted to stop a beatdown.”

Two days later, Tasca was summoned by her captain, who informed her that she was being suspended pending a disciplinary hearing. She learned that in addition to “using force” to stop Rella’s assault on Kyle Sharp, Tasca was accused of failing to assist Bogota Officer Jerome Fowler when he was “assaulted” by an intoxicated woman on April 3.

“Nobody had said anything to me about the earlier case until after the incident with the Ridgefield officers,” Tasca pointed out to me.

Tasca was on night patrol when she came across “this young girl walking in the middle of the street, crying, with one broken heel. She was very drunk, and the officer who had picked her up had just dropped her off at the apartment of somebody who was described as a `male friend’ – but practically nothing was known about this guy. He just left her there without finding out anything about the situation at that apartment; she could have been assaulted, raped, or killed. Whoever it was, he just threw her back out on the street – which actually might have been the best outcome. So she was crying hysterically and very distraught when I found her. I radioed HQ that I would be assisting her, and the officer who had picked her up arrived, and we went to the hospital with me carrying her in the back seat of my police car.”

The young woman was taken to the Emergency Room at Holy Name Medical Center. “Once we got there, our job was done,” Tasca continues. “I stuck around for a little while to make sure everything was OK. There were about a half-dozen hospital security personnel on the scene, as well as about four or five EMTs and nurses there. The girl walked over to the nurse’s station, then decided that she didn’t want to go to the hospital. When Jay [Officer Fowler] reached for her, she started flailing her arms, and hit his hand, opening up an old cut he had on one of his knuckles.”

This was the “assault” that figures so prominently in the charges against Tasca. The officers who ganged up on Kyle Sharp have not been charged or subjected to administrative discipline – but Tasca’s refusal to help ground and pound a tiny, intoxicated woman who had made incidental contact with a fellow officer is being treated as a career-imperiling delinquency.

“Apparently, Jay believed I should have pushed all these people aside and help him subdue a tiny girl -- she was about five foot one, and very skinny – who had given him a scratch,” Tasca pointed out.

After being put on suspension, Tasca was subjected to a psychological evaluation by Dr. Matthew Geller, a psychiatrist who does contact work for New Jersey law enforcement agencies. Geller provided the diagnosis he had been paid for, ruling that Tasca was unfit for duty. At the same time, the Bogota PD’s internal affairs officer produced a report concluding that Tasca’s refusal to assist Officer Fowler in the April 3 incident demonstrated her unfitness.

The internal affairs review wasn’t exactly a model of investigative rigor, Tasca observes: “There were nearly a dozen other people who witnessed the incident – and the only one he interviewed was a 14-year-old Ambulance Corps volunteer who happened to be his niece!”

Tasca, an openly gay female police officer, believes that at least some of the problems she’s experienced are the product of a cultural clash with what she describes as “the Old Boys Club.” More importantly, however, she has been targeted for the unforgiveable offense of “crossing the Blue Line” by taking the side of a Mundane being attacked by a member of the Brotherhood.

“I’ve been an officer here in Bogata for eleven years, and spent seven or eight years as a Class 2 Special Officer in Fairview, which is where I grew up,” Tasca told Pro Libertate. “Until now, I’ve never had problems with anybody on the force, or anybody in the community. Oh, sure, when you work near people for ten or twelve hours every day, you’ll have disagreements and maybe say some things you shouldn’t, but that’s typical of just about any relationship, professional or otherwise. But never in my career had I been accused of unfitness for duty until after that incident a year ago.

As a veteran with nearly twenty years in law enforcement, Tasca has noticed a dramatic change in the institutional culture of law enforcement in recent years.

“I think what we’re seeing is a lot of kids who are given power and immediately begin to abuse it,” Tasca observes. “Some of these guys are as young as 18 years old. You give them a uniform, and it goes right to their head. And even many of those that don’t do abusive things miss the point, which is that we’re supposed to be peace officers. They get a badge and a gun and they think they’re gods, or at least that they’re entitled to treat people like dirt. I see them as people, and insist on treating them like I’d want to be treated.”

In contemporary law enforcement, commitment to the Golden Rule is a firing offense. Just ask Ramon Perez, whose experience is strikingly similar to that of Regina Tasca.

Perez, a probationary officer who had won the top leadership award at his police academy, was cashiered by the Austin, Texas Police Department as a result of his refusal to use a Taser on an elderly, non-violent man during a domestic disturbance in January 2005. The order was unconstitutional, illegal, a violation of the guidelines in the department’s handbook and, most importantly, immoral.

A few days after that incident, Perez was given a punitive transfer to the night shift. Two months later, Perez was told to report to APD psychologist Carol Logan to undergo what he was told would be a “communication” exercise. In fact, it was a disguised “fit-for-duty review” intended to ratify the pre-ordained decision to fire him.

Logan’s four page report focused entirely on Perez's moral and religious beliefs. Perez is a self-described non-denominational fundamentalist Christian, an ordained minister who home-schools his children. He is also firmly convinced that protection of civil liberties is the paramount duty of a peace officer – a duty he regarded, literally, as a sacred trust.

According to Logan, the depth of his commitment to his beliefs – beginning with that perennially unpopular tenet called the Golden Rule --produces an “impairment” of his ability to absorb new facts, to communicate with his superiors, and to deal with “feedback.” As was the case with Regina Tasca, Ramon Perez’s detractors dredged up a second incident of “misconduct” involving a refusal to use unnecessary force.

By twice displaying a peace officer’s preference for de-escalation, Perez had established himself as a repeat offender. He was purged from the APD, a department that has since done much to distinguish itself – in the face of fierce and plentiful competition -- as one of the most abusive in the country.

A vast geographic and cultural gulf separates Ramon Perez, a Fundamentalist Evangelical from Texas, and Regina Tasca, an openly gay Roman Catholic from New Jersey. They have at least one critically important thing in common: Both of them intervened in defense of helpless citizens facing criminal violence from fellow cops, and learned that for people who have chosen a career in law enforcement, behaving like a peace officer is a firing offense.