Sarasota police chief placed on leave for trying to bribe police abuse victim

July 26, 2009 @ 12:17AM

Sarasota police chief placed on leave for trying to bribe police abuse victim

By Carlos Miller -...

Sarasota Police Chief Peter Abbott believed he could pay a police abuse victim $400 in exchange for him agreeing not to sue the city.

The victim, as you may recall, was handcuffed and drunk when Sarasota police officer Christopher Childers kicked him twice, then planted his foot on his neck for five minutes.

It was all caught on a surveillance video (above) from the sally port area of the jail.

And since then, two witnesses – including a former cop from North Carolina who was visiting Sarasota – have stated that Childers was punching Perez even before the sally port incident.

Perez was not bleeding when the officer arrived, and was too drunk to be fighting back, they said.

“I felt sorry for the suspect,” said Locklear, a former homicide detective from North Carolina who was visiting Sarasota that day. “It appeared to be an excessive use of force.

Under Abbott’s orders, a detective also promised Perez they they would help keep him out of jail in the future, if only he signed the waiver promising not to sue the city.

Police called it an “immediate settlement.” It was essentially a bribe.

Perez, a 21-year-old Guatemalan immigrant who doesn’t speak English, signed the waiver believing that his charges of disorderly intoxication and resisting arrest without violence would be dropped.

However, he later had second thoughts and rejected the offer.

Now Abbott has been placed on leave pending an administrative investigation. The FBI has agreed to monitor the investigation.

Sarasota Police Chief Peter Abbott apologizes for trying to bribe a police abuse victim. Photo by Mike Lang/Sarasota Herald-Tribune

It turns out, this is not the first time the Sarasota Police Department has tried to bribe a police abuse victim with chump change.

Last year, they paid $800 to a man whose tooth was punched out by a cop. The man, a Moroccan immigrant with limited English skills, accepted the offer.

They also offered higher sums to other victims who apparently weren’t immigrants and had a basic grasp of the rights they were giving up.

In the Perez video, you can see another officer stroll up as Childers has his foot planted on Perez, who is laying down on the ground. The officer simply strolls back to whatever it was he was doing.

He’s probably seen it before. Childers has been accused of excessive use of force five times since he was hired in 2000.

Also, a lieutenant who saw the video of Childers kicking Perez did not report it to his superior for another 11 days.

A lot of credit must be given to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and its reporter, Todd Ruger, for not letting this story die.

Comments

Anonymous

2 years ago

When I first viewed the recording of this incident, the most disturbing part, other than the torture of the prisoner, was the other officer just strolling by shrugging his shoulders like this is just another day at the office.

Normally, they won’t give you a jury trial, even if you want to fight a misdemeanor and then only for a DUI. Plus they aren’t going to give you public counsel unless you have priors, which mean according to the FL Constitution that the court cannot sentence the defendant to any jail time. For, second degree misdemeanors, the fines are usually less than traffic violations. And in Sarasota County, Leos arrest about 50 people per day and our county jail only holds 750 people, so figure that out. They can’t keep you jail unless you did something really bad. Out of the 50 arrests, only about 20 involve crimes against a victim or property. Here, the court is being choked to death by the heinous crime of driving a car to work (now looking for work) without a government permit.

Back before we had the ease and inexpensive use of streaming video, I was involved in a dispute with the State. I remarked to my attorney that all this litigation would be so much simpler if the Leos were required to video testimony and questioning of witnesses, etc. My attorney looked at me very perplexed and said, “They don’t want to do that because then the cops couldn’t lie about it later.”

This is a fabulous case of the deadly power of the camera. It seems as though the city manager and the mayor didn’t like the fact that the Leos tried to lie about it later. If you want to defend yourself against the power of the State arm yourself with as many cameras as possible.

Anonymous

2 years ago

And I love how the Leos say that they will keep the arrestee out of jail for a victimless crime misdemeanor in FL. The worst penalty I’ve ever seen for a 1st degree misdemeanor is the sentence that Carlos got. If a guy wanted to, he could plead no contest at the advisory hearing, which is the next morning, get 3 to 6 months probation, 50 hrs community service, and get a withheld adjudication which means that you are not technically convicted. Normally, they won’t give you a jury trial, even if you want to fight a misdemeanor and then only for a DUI. Plus they aren’t going to give you public counsel unless you have priors, which mean according to the FL Constitution that the court cannot sentence the defendant to any jail time. For, second degree misdemeanors, the fines are usually less than traffic violations. And in Sarasota County, Leos arrest about 50 people per day and our county jail only holds 750 people, so figure that out. They can’t keep you jail unless you did something really bad. Out of the 50 arrests, only about 20 involve crimes against a victim or property. Here, the court is being choked to death by the heinous crime of driving a car to work (now looking for work) without a government permit.