Judge dismisses some charges against city officer

A district judge on Tuesday dismissed two of four charges against a Pittsburgh police officer accused of hindering an investigation to try to protect another officer who allegedly was involved in a road rage incident in 2017.

District Judge Eugene Ricciardi dismissed charges of unsworn falsification to authorities and official oppression against Officer Kaelen T. O’Connor, 32, of Banksville, and held charges of hindering apprehension or prosecution and obstructing the administration of law.

“I believe there was some carelessness and it could have been more carelessness than criminality,” Judge Ricciardi said as he made the decision during a preliminary hearing at City Court, Downtown.

Officer O’Connor responded to a reported road rage incident on May 3, 2017, at Chartiers Avenue and Straka Street in Sheraden. A driver, Jesse Smith, said a man driving a black Mercedes had pulled alongside his SUV and pointed a gun at him.

Mr. Smith drove away and called 911, giving dispatchers a partial license plate number for the Mercedes. Officer O’Connor was one of two officers to respond. He took the partial license plate number and found a potential match — a Mercedes registered to Officer Robert Kramer.

The officers at the scene then asked other officers to go to Officer Kramer’s address on Climax Street

— but then there was a flurry of phone calls between several officers, including calls to Officer Kramer, court records show.

The officers who arrived at Officer Kramer’s home were told by Officer Raymond Toomey that a policeman lived at the house and they could leave, according to a criminal complaint. Officer Toomey has since resigned.

In Officer O’Connor’s subsequent report about the road rage incident, he excluded all information about Officer Kramer and listed the suspect in the case as “unknown,” police Detective Edward Green testified Monday.

About a month later, Mr. Smith called to see whether an arrest had been made. At that point, a Zone 6 detective realized Officer Kramer was a suspect in the case and alerted the police command staff, prompting an internal and criminal investigation.

Officer O’Connor’s attorney, William Difenderfer, argued that his client made a judgment call not to include Officer Kramer’s information in the report because he “strongly believed” the officer had nothing to do with the road rage incident. It’s common for officers to exclude irrelevant information from their reports, he said.

“It’s not like he is hiding anything,” Mr. Difenderfer said about the officer’s report. “All the victim’s information is right there. Is this criminal? Did he intend to obstruct justice? At best it’s careless.”

Officer Kramer has since been charged in the road rage incident. He is awaiting a September trial.

Assistant District Attorney Jon Pittman argued that Officer O’Connor listed the suspect as “unknown” in a deliberate attempt to cover for Officer Kramer.

“He talked to the suspect on the phone,” Mr. Pittman said. “How do you put unknown when you just talked to the guy?”