By William Kaempffer
New Haven Register
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A police officer was reprimanded for an incident in which he handcuffed a firefighter at a medical call in Fair Haven, the police chief said.
The fire chief said he planned no discipline.
“I suspect if they both had a chance to step back, they both would have done something differently,” said police Chief James Lewis. “I think both sides could have taken a deep breath and stepped back.”
Lewis addressed the issue with Officer Newton Anderson some time ago in what he described as a counseling session, he said. The bizarre incident came to a head when Anderson detained fire Lt. Filipe Cordero as the two argued over Anderson’s demeanor toward a woman who passed out after injecting heroin. Firefighters were trying to convince her to go to the hospital and said Anderson was hindering that effort by berating her.
After supervisors arrived, Cordero was unhandcuffed and later released, but the incident raised questions about which department was in charge, and sparked separate inquiries by both.
Cordero’s lawyer wrote to Lewis calling for Anderson’s arrest. A police supervisor, in contrast, told Internal Affairs she believed Anderson had probable cause to arrest Cordero for his conduct.
Lewis said he didn’t see either man’s conduct rising to a criminal level.
His counterpart, fire Chief Michael Grant, said he concluded Cordero didn’t violate any policies.
“It could have been handled a little differently,” Grant said, “but not to the point that (Cordero) was wrong.”
Grant said he planned to meet with Cordero this week.
An Internal Affairs probe sought to answer central questions: Did Anderson interfere with a medical call? Did he overstep his authority by handcuffing Cordero? Did he use excessive force?
The conclusions were: Under state statute, Cordero was in charge of the medical scene, but it couldn’t be determined whether Anderson’s actions constituted a violation and medical care was not compromised. If Anderson feared for his safety, as he claimed, handcuffing Cordero would not have violated state statute or department policy. As for excessive force, the probe made no findings as to whether Cordero was injured by improper handcuffing technique or his resistance.
Cordero, an officer on Engine 10, and Anderson, among others, responded to the April 1 scene. Anderson searched the woman’s purse and car for contraband and, based on witness accounts, was verbally abusive toward her. At some point, Cordero approached Anderson and told him to stop. That’s where things got heated.
Anderson told investigators Cordero was “condescending and demeaning” and aggressive. Anderson told him repeatedly to step back and warned him he would be arrested if he didn’t, he said. Anderson claimed Cordero took a step forward and, fearing for his safety, he handcuffed him.
Cordero, meanwhile, said he approached Anderson privately so as not to embarrass him and was surprised when Anderson told him to back up. Cordero said he repeatedly asked for a police supervisor and “at that point Officer Anderson grabbed my wrists.”
Other officers, firefighters and medical personnel at the scene said they couldn’t hear the conversation between the two until the end.
"(G)et your (expletive) hands off of me. Are you (expletive) crazy?” one police officer quoted Cordero as saying while Anderson moved to handcuff him.
Police Union Vice President Frank Lombardi contested whether Anderson was disciplined, since there was no record of it in his file. There would be no record of a verbal reprimand.
“It’s the union’s position that he wasn’t disciplined,” he said, nor should he have been.
Diane Polan, the attorney for Cordero, said she couldn’t comment until after she reviewed the IA report and spoke to Cordero.
Copyright 2009 New Haven Register