Officer in video suspended in July
He had been charged with failing to enforce distancing rules at shop
The city police officer at the center of an arrest that fueled public outrage and led to changes in police policy was suspended without pay for three days for failing to enforce social distancing rules at an ice cream shop that was eventually forced to close over health violations.
The administrative charge against Officer Brian Pommer, under the police department’s standards of conduct policy, occurred at Bumpy’s Polar Freeze on April 6, exactly three months before he was videotaped punching and placing his knee on the head and neck area of a city man on the ground, who had objected to being arrested over a neighbor dispute.
The departmental probe with the Schenectady County District Attorney ’s Office into the July 6 altercation with 31-year-old Yugeshwar Gaindarpersaud is ongoing.
The revelation about the discipline against Pommer resulted from a Freedom of Information Law request filed by the Times Union requesting the officer’s personnel records, including any information related to the arrest of Gaindarpersaud, who was suspected of vandalizing a neighbor’s car on North Brandywine Avenue.
Signed by Pommer, the paperwork detailing the work violation and agreement to settle it, indicates that he “made unprofessional and inappropriate remarks concerning his duly constituted authority ... to enforce social distancing at the establishment.” He served the punishment from July 22 to 24.
Additionally, Pommer, who earns $79,510 a year, temporarily lost his spot on the “entry team position” with the department’s SWAT team.
Albany Proper, a local website, and the Daily Gazette made similar records requests.
Gaindarpersaud, who has accused Pommer of kneeling on his neck and punching him several times during the skirmish, has been charged with criminal mischief and resisting arrest, both misdemeanors. He is free pending a future court appearance.
The police department later released footage from Pommer’s body camera, which showed Gaindarpersaud running from the officer when Pommer tried to discuss the vandalism complaint. In that recording, Pommer can be seen punching Gaindarpersaud several times in the ribs while Gaindarpersaud squirmed on the ground.
Bumpy’s and its owner, David Elmendorf, were forced by the county health department to close up shop and were hit with a $10,000 fine after he allegedly did not keep tables six feet apart and did not having distance markings in the customer waiting line for pickup orders at the State Street establishment.
Elmendorf also faces criminal charges for allegedly pointing a pellet gun at a man and a woman who were part of a protest outside Bumpy ’s after racist text messages attributed to Elmendorf were made public.
The police union also wants the city to withhold information about cases in which Pommer was exonerated of wrongdoing and bar the release of any documents that resulted in Pommer receiving a “counseling notice.”
As a result, the matter is tied up in litigation in what could well be a test case of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s repeal on June 12 of a state law known as 50-a, which until then had shielded police disciplinary records from public disclosure.
Last month, State Supreme Court Justice Mark Powers noted in court that the Schenectady Police Benevolent Association wants the city to redact any information about complaints about Pommer that were unfounded, unsubstantiated or that did not lead to discipline. Powers has sealed most of the legal papers filed in the case, leaving few clues about the nature of complaints the PBA hopes to shield from public view.
The city was preparing to comply with the newspaper’s request to see the personnel file when the union went to court to block disclosure.
Schenectady has filed new legal papers under seal and Powers is expected to issue a written decision after he meets with the two sides on Oct. 13.
A similar case is playing out in New York City, where a federal court judge last month lifted a restraining order that barred the city ’s police watchdog agency, the Civilian Complaint Review Board, from releasing police disciplinary records. But a federal appeals court recently agreed to keep the records secret while it weighs an appeal from the city ’s public safety unions.
Earlier this week, a State Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that Buffalo’s police and fire unions will not be able to keep their members’ disciplinary records secret lawsuit on Tuesday and lifted a temporary restraining order on the release of those records.