By Ryan Davis and Sumathi Reddy, Baltimore Sun (Maryland)
As word of Kevin P. Clark’s May 15 domestic dispute leaked to the news media, the former Baltimore police commissioner suspected that some officers involved in the initial investigation were out to get him, according to investigative documents released Monday.
“There’s a book that’s actually out,” Clark told investigators on May 24. “It’s called Power Politics and Police. And it tells you how to take down the top guy. And I’m looking at it. They’re actually going right through this process.”
Deputy Commissioner Kenneth Blackwell also told investigators that Clark was suspicious of officers’ motives. He said he, too, thought some aspects of the initial police response were “curious.”
The transcripts of interviews with Clark, Clark’s fiancee, Blackwell and others tied to the ex-commissioner’s domestic dispute were released Monday by city officials. The investigation was conducted by Howard County police officials, who were brought in by Mayor Martin O’Malley to probe the incident while Clark went on voluntary paid leave.
Though the mayor announced June 2 that the investigation found any allegations against Clark to be unsubstantiated, he refused to make the report public -- prompting The Sun and WBAL-TV to sue O’Malley.
After two courts ruled against the mayor, he released the report Nov. 2. It found any May 15 domestic assault allegations to be unsubstantiated, but it also disclosed past unsubstantiated allegations against Clark. The documents released Monday account for a vast majority of the evidence gathered by Howard police during their investigation.
O’Malley fired Clark Nov. 10, saying the allegations against the commissioner, though unsubstantiated, had become a distraction to fighting crime. Clark sued the mayor last week, seeking $60 million in damages for what he describes as an unlawful dismissal.
The hundreds of pages released Monday offer the first detailed glimpse of what Clark and his fiancee, Blanca Gerena, say occurred inside their North Baltimore condominium early on May 15. They offer a portrait of Clark as a commissioner who believed his troops were out to get him. And they provide Clark’s description of the 1989 domestic dispute with his wife that prompted New York police to place him on administrative duties for four months while they investigated.
Clark told investigators that the 1989 abuse allegation arose from a phone call his mother-in-law made to police. At the time, Clark said, he was separating from his wife. (The couple remain estranged but married.)
While he was investigated for four months, Clark went to counseling. He returned to full duty when he received a call saying he had been promoted to lieutenant, he said.
Howard County investigators prodded him on the 1989 allegation.
“As best I recall, it had to, you know, it had to be something with abuse or something,” he said. “I really can’t even remember back.”
Clark, 48, said it was typical at that time for New York investigations to drag on for months.
City officials did not release Monday other reports from New York involving Clark and his wife.
In separate interviews with Howard County investigators, Clark and his fiancee said he awoke about 2 a.m. on May 15 to find her preparing to leave for New York. Gerena, 40, was upset that he was going to work that day -- Preakness race day -- instead of traveling with her.
They got into an argument, which Clark described as “mild,” and Clark told Gerena to leave. He also told her he didn’t think she was being supportive of him, according to the transcripts.
Gerena said she walked out upset, forgetting her keys and cellular phone. That’s when she asked officers stationed outside for security if she could use a phone, she said.
The officers reported her saying, “He assault me.” Gerena told investigators that she said, “He hates me.”
About that time, Clark came downstairs, the two retreated into the condominium, he kissed her and their son goodbye and then she left for a friend’s house, they said.
That night she cried at the friend’s house, according to interviews. She never went to New York that weekend.
One neighbor told investigators that he woke up to a bang from above in Clark’s condo. Clark and Gerena said they didn’t know the source of that noise.
“My life has been turned upside down,” Gerena told investigators. “And I don’t even know why.”
The two officers at the heart of Clark’s conspiracy concerns are Maj. Regis Phelan, whom he had previously found guilty of misconduct, and Lt. Elfago Moye, whom he had demoted.
Phelan and Moye told investigators they treated Clark fairly.
“I can tell you right now, if there was a motivation of revenge, this report would have been completely different,” Phelan said.