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| NEWS > 22 September 2009 |
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S.F. police conduct plan behin
Eight months after Mayor Gavin Newsom vowed to ride "roughshod'' over the Police Department to ensure adoption of a computerized system to track officers' use of force and other conduct, the plan has yet to be submitted to the Police Commission for a vote.
In a February interview, after The Chronicle reported on use of force by San Francisco officers, Newsom said he wanted such a system adopted by the end of the year and added the move was "in the best interest of the department in terms of public confidence and a kind of respect we are hoping to build again ...''
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San Jose Mercury News
22 September 2009
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San Jose Police Department, CA
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2 San Jose police officers fac
Leveling his harshest punishment against one of his department's most popular officers, San Jose Police Chief Rob Davis is moving to fire Sgt. Will Manion more than a year after the veteran officer allegedly tried to cover up a former officer's drunken driving, the Mercury News has learned.
The chief's decision comes after criminal and internal affairs probes of Manion and fellow officer Patrick D'Arrigo over suspicions they failed to properly investigate a March 25, 2008, accident in which former officer Sandra Woodall smashed her speeding Cadillac into several cars, injuring a teenager. The officers didn't cite her or test her for alcohol, though she was saying she was fresh out of rehab and had been drinking.
Woodall eventually pleaded guilty to drunken driving after an investigation by the office of the state attorney general.
Manion, a 19-year veteran, in recent days has received a Notice of Intended Discipline, which officially signals the department's move to fire him, according to sources close to the department. D'Arrigo is also expected to receive his potential walking papers after 15 years on the force.
Sources said that the officers were being disciplined for "conduct unbecoming of an officer."
Neither Davis, nor Assistant Chief Daniel Katz would comment on their move to fire the officers. Now the city manager's office must sign off on Davis' decision in order to pave the way for the relatively rare termination of veteran officers. Such firings are generally a secretive process.
The officers have been on paid administrative leave since last summer. They are expected to fight the chief's move through an appeal, although their lawyer, Craig Brown, could not be reached for comment Monday.
The woman who pushed for the cover-up investigation celebrated the chief's decision. But some officers and union officials lamented the severity of the punishment. Both officers were criminally investigated by their own department, but a grand jury late last year declined to indict them.
For Davis, who teaches ethics to the rookies of his department, the decision seems to signal zero tolerance for what some considered a brazen and sloppy attempt by the officers to cover for Woodall, who was an investigator with the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office at the time of the accident. She has now left the office. Woodall's husband, Jason, was a San Jose Police sergeant at the time; her father-in-law, Jack Woodall, a former lieutenant in the Police Department, is also a District Attorney's investigator.
The mother of the teenage girl who was hospitalized after the accident said she was pleased — and amazed — by the decision.
"Because the police officers chose not to do their job, chose to falsify their reports, chose to put the public safety at risk by allowing a dangerous person back on the streets, I believe the chief chose the right decision," said the woman who launched the criminal and internal investigations when she brought her suspicions of a cover-up to police officials. She has requested anonymity to protect the identity of her daughter.
But many officers and union officials were upset at a discipline they consider too severe. Manion, 44, is well-known as a proud, aggressive and supremely talented homicide detective who seemed destined for the highest command ranks within the 1,300-officer department.
"We are not a corrupt department," said Sgt. Bobby Lopez, who heads the police officers union. "But apparently, we will sacrifice two good cops because we will go to any depths to make sure that corruption does not look like it's here."
On the night of March 25, 2008, Woodall drove her Escalade at almost 20 mph over the speed limit into the back of a car and careened over a median to strike another car at Branham Lane and Pearl Avenue.
Police soon arrived, supervised by Manion. A medical worker who arrived at the crash later told investigators that Woodall admitted drinking "a lot," smelled like booze and was so disoriented that she thought it was 2006.
However, officers reported that they noted no signs of intoxication and therefore did not test her alcohol level. Medical personnel told investigators they felt Manion had tried to stymie their attempts to determine if she was drunk, court documents show.
Later, at the hospital, D'Arrigo reportedly told the girl's upset mother it was too late to test Woodall for alcohol.
Officers told a different story. Manion told investigators he had no evidence at the time that Woodall was drunk, and that he was trying to determine whether she could be brought to a hospital against her will. Some officers concluded that the collision could have been caused because Woodall was eating egg rolls from Jack in the Box while she was driving.
The mother of the injured teenager brought her complaints to the SJPD, which soon launched an investigation. The Santa Clara County District Attorney's office passed the DUI case against their own employee to the state attorney general. Woodall pleaded guilty to driving under the influence causing injury and was sentenced to 45 days in jail.
A week later, Manion and D'Arrigo were cleared by a grand jury of any criminal wrongdoing. But the internal probe ground on toward the chief's dramatic decision.
Both officers are expected to ask for hearings before Katz, the assistant police chief, to have their discipline lifted or lessened. If that fails, the officers may ask to have their cases heard before a civil service commission or an arbitrator. Either could reinstate them to their jobs.
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