Internal Affairs officer removed
Investigator had looked into case of rubber bullet hitting protester
A police sergeant responsible for investigating complaints about cops has been removed from his post, accused of showing bias in favor of a Fort Lauderdale officer who shot a woman with a rubber bullet during a demonstration.
Fort Lauderdale Police Sgt. Jeffrey Newman told civil rights protester LaToya Ratlieff that the officer was a friend of his and the shooting wasn’t intentional.
According to Ratlieff, Newman told her: “I’ve worked with [him] before. He’s a good guy. I know he didn’t intentionally mean to do it. And it’s my job to investigate and to see what happened.”
Because of the comments, Newman has been removed from the department’s Office of Internal Affairs for “creating serious doubt … on his ability to independently investigate the matter,” according to an internal department memo.
Newman’s removal raises fresh doubts about the Police Department’s Office of Internal affairs
and its ability to find the truth. In June, the department revealed that it had not routinely reviewed all of officers’ body camera footage when investigating complaints made against them. Experts called that a violation of basic police practices.
Ratlieff, 34, was shot in the face with a rubber bullet May 31 while protesting police violence. She was participating in a Black Lives Matters demonstration in downtown Fort Lauderdale that devolved into a pitched melee between activists and police.
During the fracas, some cops could be heard on bodycam video apparently reveling while firing at protesters, saying “get that motherf—-er” and “pop his ass.”
It has not been determined whether the officer who pulled the trigger, Detective Eliezer Ramos, was intentionally aiming for Ratlieff or misfired while shooting at someone else. Ramos said in a report that he was trying to stop a man behind Ratlieff who was throwing tear gas canisters back at police.
It is the job of the Internal Affairs department to sort out what happened.
But when Ratlieff met with police officials, including Newman, on Aug. 10 to give a statement, she and her attorneys discovered two issues that concerned them.
The first was that investigators had put her case on hold.
Because of a provision of a Florida law known as the Police Officer’s Bill of Rights, police departments can pause internal affairs investigations if the governor declares a state of emergency. Florida has been in a state of emergency because of COVID-19 since early March.
The Fort Lauderdale Police Department has not been actively investigating complaints made against its officers since March 17, according to Fort Lauderdale Police Assistant Chief Francis Sousa.
That means the six officers assigned to Internal Affairs weren’t actively working on Ratlieff ’s case.
The second issue was that Newman and Ramos were friends. Newman said as much to Ratlieff during the meeting.
A department memo dated Aug. 12 says that “this communication calls his judgment into question.” It also says Newman will be required to attend training in “procedural justice” and communication.
“LaToya was in shock when Sergeant Newman told her about his relationship with Officer Ramos and that he had seemingly predetermined the outcome of an investigation which had barely began,” Ratlieff’s attorneys, Michael Davis and Benedict Kuene, said in a written statement.
“Victims deserve fair and impartial investigations which prioritize justice based on the facts. The days of friends investigating friends need to come to an end. The city must pursue fundamental changes to the way it handles internal affairs investigations.”
Police experts say statements like Newman’s could be problematic if they tarnish an investigation because of perceived bias.
“As a general statement, it’s critical for internal affairs investigators to maintain their objectivity — especially under times of such scrutiny,” said Joe Natiello, a former state prosecutor and Broward County sheriff ’s deputy.
“It definitely gives me some concern,” said Rodney Jacobs, assistant director of the city of Miami’s Civilian Investigative Panel. “One thing we definitely champion in our office is that we are unbiased, we champion layers of transparency so the community has trust in us.”
Ratlieff’s spokesman, Evan Ross, said she still intends to fully cooperate with the investigation.