By M. Ferguson Tinsley, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Swissvale, Penn. Mayor Mark Foerster has ordered the 10-day suspension of a patrolman accused of brutality to begin tomorrow.
Officer Frank Gamrat is suspended without pay. He will lose about $1,600 from his annual salary of $42,000.
In May, he was accused of trying to drag Brian Buehner, 20, of Forest Hills, through the open window of a running car. Buehner, a Veltre’s Pizza delivery worker, had been parked illegally near Roslyn and Noble streets.
Several days later, Buehner filed a complaint with police saying that Gamrat also handcuffed him, carted him to jail and berated him for two hours.
Gamrat then charged Buehner with disorderly conduct and released him. No traffic violations were filed against him. The disorderly conduct charge was dismissed June 24.
When Foerster announced the suspension last Wednesday, he said council had the right to modify the decision or to fire Gamrat. Foerster said “an extensive investigation” led to his decision.
“I feel confident that this is the action I should take at this time,” he said, calling Gamrat “a good family man.”
“It’s an unfortunate incident that occurred,” he continued, “but we’ll deal with it in this manner at this time.”
Buehner said he isn’t satisfied with the decision.
“He shouldn’t be able to be a police officer anymore,” he said. “He shouldn’t be able to ride around in a cop car pulling people over and arresting people. I don’t want to wish bad on anyone, but he put himself in his own predicament.”
Swissvale resident Susan Dougherty, who said last year Gamrat wrote a parking ticket for an ambulance coming to her aid, echoed Buehner’s sentiments.
“He shouldn’t be a police officer,” Dougherty said. “He makes you have a reason not to want to call the cops.”
Gamrat had called an emergency medical team with Eastern Area Prehospital Services to help Dougherty with injuries she’d gotten in a domestic dispute at her Harrison Avenue home. When they arrived and parked in a handicap accessible space, Gamrat cited them.
Swissvale police Chief Dominic Nuzzo would not comment on the discipline.
“It’ll have to take its course from here,” Nuzzo said. “He’s entitled to a civil service hearing.” He added that Gamrat was not available for comment.
According to the borough code, Gamrat may request a civil service commission hearing within 10 days of receiving a written copy of the charges against him.
Meanwhile, James Bonacci, a member of council’s police committee, said Gamrat has already had one hearing on the matter.
He said he, Nuzzo and Foerster met with Gamrat and Ronald Koerner, Fraternal Order of Police attorney, prior to Foerster’s decision. Bonacci declined to disclose details of that meeting with Gamrat.
Koerner said the meeting, called a Loudermill hearing, was required before action could be taken against Gamrat. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1985 said that such a hearing ensures public employees due process before termination.
Former Swissvale Mayor Anthony Vergona said that in 2002 Gamrat was suspended for two days for behavior similar to that described in recent complaints.
“It was the same thing,” Vergona said. “He didn’t know how to talk to the people. Got on my nerves. Nuzzo was the one who brought [the complaints] before me. He said, ‘We’re going to have to do something about Gamrat. We’re getting complaints from the people.’ And there were a number of them.”
More than a dozen citizens’ complaints made it to his office, Vergona said.
“I called him [Gamrat] into my office and showed him the complaints. I threw them out across my desk and said, ‘Frank what’s the matter you? Why do you keep doing this to the people of Swissvale?’ ”
He said Gamrat blamed the residents for a series of confrontations and disputes.
Vergona said he gave Gamrat a two-day suspension. Gamrat then appealed to the civil service commission.
“I threw the complaints out on the table during the hearing,” Vergona said. “When they [the commissioners] saw ... the complaints ... they said to let [the suspension] go through.”