Chief finalist seeks to add Perez arrest to discrimination lawsuit
Lawyer says his client was victim of a ‘ criminal scheme’
BRIDGEPORT — The lawyer for Roderick Porter, a police captain who was a finalist for police chief, has asked the court to allow him to incorporate the recent arrest of ex- top cop Armando Perez into his client’s federal discrimination lawsuit against the city.
Perez and former Personnel Director David Dunn on Monday pleaded guilty in U. S. District Court to conspiring to rig the 2018 examination process which resulted in Perez’s appointment as police chief and then lying to the FBI about it. They were arrested Sept. 10 and subsequently resigned their positions.
Thomas Bucci, Porter’s attorney, recently filed a motion seeking to amend the complaint in the captain’s pending 2019 legal action against Bridgeport citing Perez’s arrest and what he described as evidence outlined in the federal complaint against him and Dunn.
In his lawsuit, Porter, who is Black, had already alleged he was a victim of a “racially hostile work environment,” that Perez failed to adequately investigate racist texts targeting Porter and that Porter, not Perez, should have been running the force but was passed over in 2018 because of the complaints he had raised about racism.
Mayor Joe Ganim appointed good friend Perez acting chief in 2016, then in 2018 gave Perez a five- year contract after selecting him from among three finalists following a national search. Porter and then- New Haven Assistant Chief Luiz Casanova were the other
two finalists.
In the proposed amendment, filed in U. S. District Court Sept. 23, Bucci writes that, based on the FBI’s findings, his client “was the victim of the ‘ criminal scheme’ ” that resulted in Perez becoming permanent police chief.
“But for the rigging of the selection process to allow for the selection of Perez, Perez would not have been qualified to proceed through the selection,” Bucci continues.
Perez in court Monday admitted to receiving confidential information about the chief’s exam and help from two unidentified police officers in preparing his responses to the written and oral questions.
And Dunn pleaded guilty to obtaining and providing Perez with the information about the exams.
According to the federal complaint, Dunn had also sought to tailor other aspects of the search for
Perez, including eliminating the need for a bachelor’s degree — Perez never graduated college while Porter has bachelor’s and master’s degrees — awarding more points for duration of law enforcement experience — Perez joined the department in 1983, Porter in 1993 — and forgoing penalties for not living in Bridgeport — Porter resides in the city while Perez’s home is in Trumbull.
Bucci in his filing also claims the federal complaint against Perez and Dunn bolsters allegations in Porter’s lawsuit that the ex- chief and city in 2018 failed to appropriately investigate offensive texts about Black people, including Porter, that Perez’s then right- hand man, the white Captain Mark Straubel, sent to a subordinate.
For evidence, Bucci alleges in the proposed amendment that one of the unidentified cops — “Officer 1” — whom the FBI said helped Perez during the chief’s exam then cooperated with the federal investigation “with no promise of any benefit,” was Straubel.
The federal complaint also notes that Officer 1, who was assisting Perez with the chief search in early June, “was put on administrative leave by Perez ... in July 2018, and eventually retired from the department, following a report to Internal Affairs that Officer 1 had used racist language in certain electronic messages to another BPD employee.”
Perez, according to the Internal Affairs report, was first alerted to the racist texts in mid June 2018 by a former Bridgeport cop, but Internal Affairs did not launch its probe until that former cop filed a formal complaint July 26. Perez placed Straubel on leave July 30 over the controversy. Then, in August and in the middle of the internal probe, Straubel retired, which ended Internal Affairs’ investigation.
Bucci in the amendment to Porter’s lawsuit focuses on a claim in the federal complaint that Perez had told Officer 1 he “wanted to help Officer 1 avoid the consequences of the racist messages Officer 1 had sent. For example, Perez noted that there were ‘ only three’ messages, that he would try to get the situation fixed, and that he ‘ love( s)’ Officer 1.’ ”
The limited Internal Affairs report on the Straubel texts, obtained in May 2019 by The Connecticut Post through a Freedom of Information Request, raised questions about whether Perez took appropriate action on an inflammatory situation or attempted to conceal it. Perez was never interviewed by Internal Affairs and Straubel retired before his scheduled interview.
As a result of The Post’s article, both the city and state NAACP called on the city to further examine Perez’s actions. But Ganim’s office at the time claimed an independent consultant hired that spring to improve department operations had already reviewed the situation and concluded Perez acted appropriately.
Bucci in his proposed amendment to Porter’s lawsuit alleges, “Perez was never serious about pursuing an investigation into the racist text messages which were directed at the plaintiff” and was instead focused on “helping” Straubel.
Straubel referred a request for comment for this story and as to whether he was Officer 1 to his attorney, Eric Brown.
“We can’t confirm or deny that it’s Mark Straubel,” Brown said.
While Porter continues to pursue his lawsuit against the city, the third finalist in the 2018 chief search, Casanova, has become chief of the police assigned to the state Capitol building in Hartford. Casanova has not returned repeated requests for an interview.