June 06--
NEW HAVEN -- The FBI has launched a preliminary investigation into potential civil rights violations during an arrest of a man in the city's Temple Street courtyard over the weekend.
A spokesman for the New Haven Police Department, in a press release, stated that the Federal Bureau of Investigation informed police that agents had begun a "preliminary investigation" into an incident already under investigation by police internal affairs.
A message left for the FBI was not immediately returned.
New Haven police Lt. Anthony Duff, the head of IA, stated Wednesday that agents visited the Police Department and reported a civil rights investigation had been started into the arrest of a Bridgeport man in the city's entertainment district. Witnesses took pictures of a police sergeant with his boot on the neck of the arrestee that were published on the New Haven Independent website.
Duff said IA and the FBI will conduct parallel but cooperative investigations.
The chief ordered an IA investigation after the sergeant ordered the arrest of a woman who used her iPhone to record the arrest. He reportedly stated that the recording was evidence of the man resisting arrest. The woman refused to turn it over and stuffed the phone down her bra.
Duff said police would look both into whether the arrest of the Ansonia woman violated department regulations and also into the circumstances of the arrest that she was recording.
Department rules make it clear that civilians, within reasonable constraints, have a right to record officers doing their jobs.
Duff said the FBI informed the department that its initial focus was on whether police violated the civil rights of the man seen in pictures on the ground with an officer stepping on his neck and another attempts to restrain him.
An official said the "photos were disturbing." Continued...
Horace Rawlings, 24, of Bridgeport, was arrested for interfering with police and disorderly conduct, police said, early Saturday. He was released on bail and was arrested the following day on similar charges by different officers in New Haven.
"The investigations are separate but we are cooperating," Duff said.
He said there was no indication that the agents would look into the arrest of the Ansonia woman but Duff said the federal probe could travel in any direction.
On Tuesday, Duff made a public appeal for anyone who captured images or footage of Saturday's incident to contact police.
"Our intention is to get as much evidence and specifically video footage of the incident from different angles," he said. "We may come across some additional witnesses, as well."
The police inquiry involves whether Sgt. Chris Rubino violated department general orders when he arrested a woman behind Pulse Night Club after she filmed an arrest and then refused to surrender her phone to police and stuffed it down her bra. The incident was first reported in the New Haven Independent.
Police seized the phone as evidence supporting the arrest of the man. Police Chief Dean Esserman ordered an IA probe Monday to determine if Rubino violated department regulations in doing so.
After several incidents of people being arrested for filming police, the department crafted a general order -- and trained all officers -- affirming the public has a right to film officers doing their job, and that doing so "in and of itself does not constitute a crime."
"If a person video recording police activity is arrested, the officer must articulate clearly the factual basis for any arrest in his or her case and arrest reports," the order reads.
Officer Arpad Tolnay, president of the police union, contended police did that. The sergeant viewed the video, concluded that it was evidence detailing the arrest of the man and seized the phone. Continued...
"We're going to work to get IA to do something right for once, which is to let police officers do their job," Tolnay said.
Now, Internal Affairs is looking for footage that it already has at its fingertips right in the police evidence room, he said.
The arrested woman, Jennifer Gondola, could not be reached for comment Tuesday. She gave this account to the Independent:
She went to Pulse Night Club for a drink with friends and, when they left, came upon an tussle outside involving police. She took out her iPhone and started filming. Other people did, too.
She said Rubino noticed her filming and ordered her to stop. She refused, saying it was her right to do so.
Rubino told her he had a right to review it, and Gondola said she pressed play and let him view the video.When it was over, Rubino said that the video was evidence of a crime and demanded the phone, the woman stated. She refused again and he told her that she would be arrested if she didn't surrender it.
With that, she reportedly slipped the phone into her bra. She was arrested a moment later and a female officer retrieved the iPhone. Gondola was taken to police headquarters and later released with a charge of interfering with a police officer.
Gondola asserted that police used unnecessary force in the arrest. Tolnay stated the video would be evidence of police using justifiable force against a combative suspect.
Duff asked anyone else in the plaza that night to contact Internal Affairs so police could create a complete and accurate picture of what happened.
He asked people with video or witnesses to contact IA at 203-946-6249. Continued...
The question about civilians videotaping police arose in 2010, when an assistant chief ordered the arrest of a man who recorded police breaking up a fight. An IA probe concluded that Assistant Chief Ariel Melendez violated policy when he ordered the arrest and had the phone seized and the video deleted. He later retired.
The general order affirm people's right to film police was crafted under former police Chief Frank Limon.
Copyright 2012 - New Haven Register, Conn.
