Commissioner says taser probe too secretive
KINGSTON, N.Y. » The city Board of Police Commissioners should have been more transparent in the way it handled a complaint by a resident who was tased by police after they mistook him for an assault suspect, a commissioner says.
“I don’t feel that that process was handled correctly,” Nina Dawson said during a commission meeting Wednesday afternoon. “I have some reservations about how the executive session was handled because we do constantly speak about transparency, and a lot of the questions are not answered to people in this community.”
Dawson, a former Ward 4 alderwoman, said she understands the commission’s right to discuss certain matters in private but that not everyone in the community does. Her concern, Dawson said, was how the commission can say it is transparent when people still have questions about the Fabian Marshall case.
Marshall, 27, was arrested Sept. 4, 2015, at Maiden Lane and Albany Avenue in the city while waiting for a ride to work. He said he was punched and tased by Kingston police officers who mistakenly identified him as a suspect in a reported assault and who tried to interview him.
On Nov. 3, 2017, Marshall was convicted in City Court of failing to comply and fighting with police officers during the 2015 incident. He was found guilty of misdemeanor obstructing governmental administration and sentenced to a one-year conditional discharge.
On April 5, the five-member Board of Police Commissioners declined to take disciplinary action against officers involved in the Marshall incident.
“One point I have to say is, I feel like with that particular case there were two victims, and I don’t think that our opinions as commissioners [were] related,” Dawson said. “So I understand a lot of the questions still.” She added that when she went to church after the commission’s decision, she was bombarded by people asking her what happened.
Dawson said she did not vote when the commission declined to take disciplinary action.
Mayor Steve Noble said the no-discipline vote by the commission was unanimous, but Dawson said she did not vote. She said she told other commissioners after the executive session that she still had issues.
Video of the commission’s meeting shows Dawson remained silent throughout the vote. She did not vote “no” or abstain.
Dawson said there are things the commissioners need to look at going forward in order to bridge the gap with the community.
Earlier in Wednesday’s meeting, Elizabeth Baker, Marshall’s mother, criticized Kingston Police Chief Egidio Tinti and said she was also disappointed in Noble. She said the community does not trust Tinti because he knows there has been corruption in his department the entire time he has worked there. Baker said the chief also “fought like a lion” to make sure no discipline was taken in her son’s case.