Officer with record is up for promotion
He drove drunk with child in car
A Milwaukee police sergeant who served jail time for letting his 13-year-old daughter drive and driving drunk himself with the child in his car is up for promotion to lieutenant.
In recommending John P. Corbett for the promotion, Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn wrote that Corbett and the other candidates for lieutenant have been “put through a timely internal vetting process wherein the members’ entire record was reviewed, including disciplines, open and closed investigations, administrative matters (e.g. use of force reports, squad accidents, criminal investigations, citizen complaints), fitness and history with the FPC.”
“I certify that these members are in good standing with the department and suitable for promotion,” Flynn wrote.
Corbett, 46, was convicted of a criminal misdemeanor, driving drunk with a child in the car, in 2011. He served 30 days on work release, doing his job as a police sergeant by day and sleeping in the jail.
His then-13-year-old daughter told authorities Corbett took the wheel when she got lost driving back from a tavern after a day of hunting in November 2010 in Fond du Lac County. As part of a plea agreement, a ticket for Corbett’s refusal to take a breath test was dismissed.
Corbett also was suspended from the department for 60 days as a result of breaking the law.
Asked how Corbett’s criminal conviction figured into the vetting process, Milwaukee police spokesman Sgt. Timothy Gauerke pointed out that the incident occurred six years ago and said Corbett has not received any discipline since then.
“As a result of the suspension, he lost approximately $17,000 in pay,” Gauerke said in a statement. “He also fulfilled the criminal sanctions set forth by a judge in Fond du Lac County. Having completed the suspension and judicial process he is relieved from further sanctions related to this incident.”
The civilian Fire and Police Commission has the final say on whether to promote Corbett. They were scheduled to discuss his record in closed session before their regular meeting Thursday but failed to muster a quorum. The meeting has been rescheduled for Monday.
If Corbett’s promotion is approved, it wouldn’t be the first time Flynn and the commission have promoted an officer whose past behavior has provoked public outrage.
Earlier this year, the commission approved the promotion of one of the three officers involved in the arrest of Derek Williams, who died in police custody in 2011.
Officer Richard Ticcioni was promoted to detective. Two residents spoke out against his promotion during a commission meeting, one of them asking, “What kind of message does it send?”
Ticcioni and the other officers involved in Williams’ death were cleared of wrongdoing by authorities at every level: departmental, state and federal. Although an inquest jury recommended state misdemeanor charges against Ticcioni and two other officers, a special prosecutor declined to issue charges.
Last year, Bradley Blum, characterized by the prosecutor in the Frank Jude beating case as the embodiment of a department “code of silence,” was promoted to sergeant.
Blum had been fired by then-Police Chief Nannette Hegerty for gross neglect of duty and for failing to protect Jude as off-duty officers brutally beat him outside a Bay View party in 2004.
The Fire and Police Commission overturned Blum’s firing and instead handed down two 60-day suspensions.
During the state criminal trial of three officers, Blum contradicted four other witnesses, saying he never saw the officers kick or otherwise assault Jude. Blum testified he saw two or three punches but nothing else.
E. Michael McCann, then Milwaukee County district attorney, called Blum’s testimony “preposterous” and said it reflected a police “code of silence” that had hindered the investigation.