Hartford City Councilman calls for Hartford police chief to resign
One of the principle demands of protesters and community leaders during the unrest following the murder of George Floyd has been transparency. We want to know when police officers break the rules, and know that they will be held accountable. The way that Hartford Police Chief Jason Thody has sought to conceal the details of his recent car accident, including repeatedly changing his story [July 2, “Report on Hartford police chief ’s car accident omits that he stopped at home in Haddam on way back to Hartford; accident witness called 911, suggests that he has no concept of the importance of transparency in his job. He should resign.
It’s become increasingly apparent that the incidents that get attention and investigation tend to be the ones where civilians film police officers engaging in misconduct. This was the case in Hartford when Officer Stephen Barone was fired after threatening civilians, saying he was “trigger happy” [Oct. 17, 2018 “City Fires Hartford Police Officer Filmed Telling A Group He Felt ‘Trigger Happy’”]. It’s one reason so many are wary of the police: they alone are charged with investigating their own misconduct, and they tend to do so only when pressured by the public.
Chief Thody’s response to his fender bender is a study in neglecting transparency. The first report on the matter, which the chief directed a lieutenant to make, said that Thody immediately called State Police, as required by state law and written city policy. The public didn’t see that report until over a month later, after it was leaked to blogger Kevin Brookman. At that point, details began changing and a new report now explained that the chief did not call State Police at all because he was in such a hurry to return to Hartford for work. The first report, we were told, had errors based on a “miscommunication.”
On July 7, Connecticut State Police released audio from a 911 call
[”Witness to Hartford police chief ’s incident in city-owned SUV reported the vehicle was ‘all over the road,’ according to 911 call”]. Another driver was behind Chief Thody’s car at the time of the accident and had called 911 because he was concerned about Thody’s driving.
The 911 caller said that the driver in front of him seemed drunk - weaving all over the road, hitting a guardrail at 60 mph without stopping, almost hitting two motorcyclists, and doing 80 in a 50. We will never know if Chief Thody was driving under the influence, but we should be concerned that he was driving a city car recklessly. We should be especially concerned that Thody didn’t call State Police as required, then told a contradictory story about it when the matter became public, and finally, had the facts of the second story called into question by further revelations that he didn’t even go straight to Hartford, but stopped at his house in Haddam. When the clients I represent as a public defender change their stories like this, police and prosecutors usually call it “lying.”
We need a police chief who not only doesn’t hide his mistakes or change his story, but is unrelentingly transparent to those he serves, no matter the personal or professional costs. As a member of Hartford City Council, I receive multiple emails each week from the police department that inform me about recent shootings, car crashes and drug busts. If Chief Thody had simply called State Police after his scrape and sent all of us an email about it, there would be a lot less to talk about.
We need to know that our top cop will always be willing to investigate and admit his department’s mistakes and hold wrongdoers responsible. Instead, we have a chief who tried to cover up the details and consequences of his own poor driving. What if someone had been injured or another vehicle damaged? Hartford residents can have no confidence that Chief Jason Thody would have done the right thing. The options are simple: he must resign or be fired.
Josh Michtom, Hartford