Criminal Cops of the Week – Vol 2

With so many stories of police misconduct coming to light each day, sometimes it’s easy to miss some of the stories that should get more attention and some of the stories that really deserve to be told as a single piece…

So, that’s what this topic is for, a few of those stories that didn’t get a lot of attention in the news or blogosphere, but might deserve a second look.

Court Says Sex Offenders Can Still Make Great Cops

In January of 2008 Hunterdon County NJ Sheriff’s officer Jeremiah Hupka made a plea deal that saved him a potential 30 years in jail. He faced a 1st degree and 2nd degree aggravated sexual assault trial but plead down to 4th degree sexual contact charges for raping and impregnating his 19-year-old ex-girlfriend while she was unconscious on her couch.

In that deal he was sentenced to a mere 2 years of probation and was banned from ever working in law enforcement again in the state of New Jersey… but apparently the deal wasn’t sweet enough for Hupka.

He appealed, not for the probation, but to overturn the ban on his eligibility to be a cop and today in a 2-1 split New Jersey appeals court ruling he was granted the privilege of working as a police officer once more on the grounds that what he did wasn’t in the line of duty, so it shouldn’t affect his job performance as a cop.

However, what the news articles don’t tell you is that rulings made at the appeals level can be used as precident in other trials, meaning that any police officer found guilty of a sexual offense may be able to remain eligible for law enforcement positions in the state of New Jersey…

Since the ruling was a split decision the state plans on appealing to the New Jersey supreme court… but if the ruling stands it might open the door for all manner of convicted cops to seek reemployment as a New Jersey cop once more.

…The Town of Greece New York Agrees

Greece NY police officer Gary Pignato was convicted this week of coercion, accepting a bribe, and official misconduct for coercing a woman into having sex with him under threat of being reported for a parole violation.

However… it’s not the end of Pignato’s experience on the other side of the law as yet as he faces more charges of coercion, bribery, misconduct, and trespassing for coercing yet another woman into having sex with him under threat of being arrested… and the calls are supposedly still flooding into the state police hot-lines from even more women reporting the same behavior.

But… the town of Greece can’t pretend that it didn’t have any clues that this might happen as 2004 lawsuit filed by a pregnant woman he pulled over and made lewd suggestions to revealed that Greece got a bargain basement deal on Pignato since they grabbed him after he was fired from the Rochester NY police department for misconduct.

Still… it’s not that Greece NY appears to have any problem with sex-crazed cops running wild through the streets as Greece NY police sergeant Thomas Schamerhorn is facing a federal civil rights lawsuit for some pretty disturbing allegations…

This lawsuit alleges that Sgt. Schamerhorn pulled over a woman one night and injured her when he kicked her legs out from underneath her and face-planted her in the pavement. But that’s not the entirety of this suit…

It appears as though a few months after that incident he pulled over the same woman again and, in the presence of several other officers, made her do a perverted version of a sobriety test and, after a few chuckles with the boys, slammed her against his cruiser, fondled her breasts, and then ground his erection against her while pressing her against the car while she screamed for help and the other officers just stood and watched…

They watched, supposedly, because they knew his routine quite well and even nicknamed him “The Thumper” for it. So common was Sgt. Thumper’s antics that an astonishing 13 other women all made the same claims of violent and sexually abusive encounters against Sgt. Thumper and, in 2004, one woman won a $220k settlement from the town for ending up with two broken wrists during one of his stops.

Don’t worry though, those guys can still look forward to continuing their fine law enforcement careers in New Jersey though.

Arrested for a Finger

Even if those stories made you mad, you might want to think twice about flipping off a cop…

A Dothan Alabama police investigator arrested a man on the street for allegedly flipping him off… which Houston County DA Doug Valeska says is a criminal act that is punishable by up to 90 days in jail.

Why? Well the DA says:

“You have free speech, but that’s not included. The South is supposed to be renown for having respect for authority and law enforcement… It’s utter disrespect… that officer may have been needed at a burglary but he was tied up.”

Hmm… maybe if he wouldn’t have been so thin-skinned as to ignore being flipped off like most people would have done he wouldn’t have been so tied up? But no, the DA goes on to explain…

“If he knew the price of an officer’s life, maybe he’d have more respect for law and order and authority.”

Hmm… Maybe it’s just me, but it seems as though there’s an inherent conflict when those who are sworn to protect and serve the public are viewed as more valuable than those they are sworn to protect and serve… don’t you think?

Good Thing He Wasn’t Guilty…

An Allegheny judge acquitted Pittsburgh Pennsylvania police officer Paul Abel on charges of aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, and DUI on Thursday… all because what he did was in the line of duty… er, even while off duty?

Apparently, officer Abel was out drinking and driving when 3 men came up to his car and, for whatever reason, punched him in the face. Once he recovered he drove up to another intersection and spotted Kaleb Miller, that’s when the drunken off-duty officer Abel jumped into action and became drunken on-duty officer Able, apparently.

Officer Able ran up an began pistol-whipping Miller and, in the course of attempting to arrest Miller by beating him with his pistol, the gun went off and shot Miller in the hand.

Only later did a tow truck driver, who witnessed the whole debacle, come forward to let everyone know that Miller wasn’t one of the people who punched Abel… but it didn’t matter to the judge who said that, while Abel’s actions where “imprudent”, they didn’t rise to the level of a crime since he was acting within his authority as an officer… which means he feels that officers are allowed to beat people they wrongfully accuse of a crime apparently.

Abel declined to comment other than to say that he’s eager to get back to work… making more fine arrests of innocent people like the one he did the night he shot Miller, I’m sure.