Troy Council to vote on excessive force settlement

HOULE shortly after his 2012 arrest

The City Council will vote to settle for $60,000 a federal lawsuit brought by freelance photographer Brian Houle at next month’s meeting.

The ordinance, which the Council will first discuss at the Finance Committee meeting on Nov. 20, will satisfy claims that officer Kyle Jones and others used excessive force while arresting Houle on June 26, 2012 in front of his South Troy home.

Prior to the questionable arrest, Houle and Jones got into a dispute on Facebook over what constitutes a “hero.” Houle referred to himself as one as he described how he extinguished an automobile fire after an accident.

Jones disputed there was a fire, Houle took exception. Jones then called Houle and the two continued the debate on the phone – a conversation Houle recorded and distributed to the media. Jones didn’t outright threaten Houle but he came close.

He was arrested for resisting arrest and disorderly conduct for allegedly blocking traffic during the early morning hours of June 26, 2012.  Those charges were dropped.  

Houle’s lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, named Jones and other officers as well as Chief John Tedesco, for failing to supervise or train his officers, and the city.

He initially asked for $3 million.

Internal Affairs investigated Houle’s claims against Jones and found the officer violated the department’s computer policy but did not use excessive force.

If the Council does not accept the mayor’s recommendation to settle, the case will proceed to trial.

Houle is represented by attorney Danielle Neroni.

The FBI and the TPD

The FBI has decided not to pursue a full blown investigation into two other allegations of excessive force filed against the Troy Police Department.

According to Police Benevolent Association President Bob Fitzgerald, the request to look into the actions of Officer Kyle Jones during two 2012 arrests will not result in anything more than a cursory look. This comes on the heels of the FBI determining the Kokopellis melee of Jan. 25 did not warrant a full blown investigation either.

HOULE

In June, 2012, Jones was accused of using excessive force while arresting freelance photographer Brian Houle. Days prior to the arrest in front of Houle’s South Troy home, Jones and Houle got into an argument on Facebook over the definition of “hero.” Houle called himself such after putting a car fire out, Jones took exception and called Houle to tell him as much. Houle, of course recorded the conversation and while Jones didn’t outright threaten him, it was close.

Days later, Houle, Jones was on patrol in South Troy, attempted to arrest Houle for some petty crime, Houle allegedly resisted and got beat up pretty good.

FOGARTY'S HEAD

Houle currently has a $3 million lawsuit filed against the city. Jones was found to have violated the department’s internet policy and standards of impartiality. I don’t think there is such thing as “violating good judgment” or “thumbing your nose at common sense” in the police officer manual but if there were he would be guilty of those too.

Anyway, in December, Jones tried to arrest Frank Fogarty in downtown for disorderly conduct and Fogarty and his wife allegedly resisted. An Internal Affairs investigation found that Jones did use excessive force, but the PBA claimed Chief John Tedesco released the letter to Fogarty too soon and filed a complaint against the chief for doing so.

Along with allegations of excessive force after the Jan. 25 Kokopellis melee, the two complaints were sent along to the Justice Department by the Troy African American Pastoral Alliance.  The FBI took a look at all three and decided not to conduct a full blown investigation into any of them.

TEDESCO and JONES

In addition to Houle’s civil suit, Fogarty filed one too, Kokopellis has already filed a notice of claim and I’d be willing to bet it’s only a matter of time before Roshwon Donley, the man captured on cell phone and surveillance videos getting hit by police with nightsticks, files one as well.

Some good did come out of the allegations, however. The Police Department has revamped how it takes complaints – in that they are actually taking them seriously – the Police Objective Review Committee is taking a more active role and there is a separate entity, the Troy Citizens Complaint Board, to assist residents file complaints and see the police follow through with the investigation.

In the end the allegations did have some lasting impact:

DOHERTY

-Tedesco came out on top by forwarding everything to the FBI – whether he knew the outcome or not – and got control of the TPD’s day-to-day operations back.

-Not that the TPD didn’t take the more serious complaints seriously, but now officers know the minor ones will too.

-Kokopellis brought to a head what citizens called a systematic, longtime abuse at the hands of police officers. I’m not sure how widespread it was – or if it was institutional racism as indicated by a number of residents – but obviously there was something there based on the number who showed up at the Public Safety Committee meetings to complain and by Tedesco’s own words.

-Despite the FBI, the nation's lead investigatory agency, opting not to pursue the complaints, Councilman Bob Doherty, D-District 4, still wants a district attorney to take a look at possible criminality. I just don't see that happening.