Phone video ignited probe
Albany police officers failed to notify top brass about use of force in First Street confrontation
Albany Police Department top officials didn’t learn about a violent confrontation between police and First Street residents until after cellphone video from a bystander was shared with a City Hall employee.
Chief Eric Hawkins said none of the 11 officers who responded at 4 a.m. March 16 to 523 First St. self-reported the incident that led to charges against one officer, Luke Deer, and the suspension of two others, one of which is Officer Matthew Seeber. Police have refused to release the name of the third officer placed on leave.
“I should never find out about these sorts of confrontations through a third party,” Hawkins said earlier this week. “I fully expect that if there are any sorts of misconduct that our officers self-report, and clearly that didn’t happen in that case.”
Department spokesman Officer Steve Smith on Thursday couldn’t say whether responding officers had
submitted official use-of-force reports to the department, and said the investigation is ongoing.
Police originally charged three men — Armando Sanchez, Mario Gorostiza and Anthony Childs —with a variety of offenses, including inciting a riot, resisting arrest and obstruction of governmental administration.
However, the video clip sent to Albany officials depicting an officer apparently beating one man prompted further review of officers’ body-worn cameras, Hawkins said. Officials said the initial review of the footage not only showed that Deer had violated department policy, but that he’d committed a crime, too.
Smith said officials received the cellphone footage later March 16 and began their internal review two days later. On March 20, Deer was suspended, he said. It wasn’t until Tuesday that Deer was then charged with felony assault and misdemeanor official misconduct charges, and two other officers were suspended.
Five clips of the body-worn camera footage released Wednesday showed police kicking in the door of the First Street home, dragging one man out and kicking him repeatedly. It also showed an officer charging another man, pushing him and punching him, then beating him with the butt of a police baton.
The neighborhood surrounding where the incident took place is one of the busiest for police in the Capital city.
“I think, sadly, that they were so used to doing this kind of thing that they didn’t have the sense for what might have begun as a proper investigation turned into a nightmare for these people,” said Gorostiza’s attorney Michael Feit.
Whenever an officer, or supervisor, uses force — whether firing their gun, using pepper spray or physical force — they’re expected to submit a form that clearly documents the incident, Smith said.
“Any incident that involves use of force is reviewed by the office of professional standards,” he said of the department’s internal investigations unit.
The Times Union requested the written policy regarding use of force, but Smith told a reporter to submit a Freedom of Information Law request to get a redacted version.
Brett Meade, senior program manager for the National Police Foundation in Washington, D.C., said it’s common for officers to be expected to report uses of force. To ensure that this happens, Meade said it is important to have the policy and procedures in place.
“When it comes to having those checks and balances, it’s having policies in place that meet national standards and expectations, and community expectations, for reporting,” he said.
Albany police supervisors also review body camera footage on a regular basis to identify any training needs and ensure those on the streets are following department policy, Smith said.
Policy dictates that shift sergeants must review two random videos per officer in their command per month, and shift lieutenants must review one random video per sergeant in their command per month, he said.
A copy of this policy also was requested by the Times Union but wasn’t received by deadline Thursday.
Smith said whenever an allegation or tip comes in about officer misconduct, or use of excessive force, officials will investigate the matter, and even in the case of the March 16 incident, the initial charges against the three men arrested on First Street would have prompted a deeper investigation, including review of body and dash camera footage.
“In this incident in particular, especially with the arrests and some other information provided from people internally, this incident would have been looked into,” Smith said. “Certainly, the third-party video was necessary as well.”
Most of the officers who responded to the scene March 16 typically work the midnight shift at Center Station, Smith said. The station covers Pine Hills, Buckingham Pond, West Hill and several other neighborhoods in west Albany. A sergeant, who supervises staff on that shift, also responded that morning, but police have refused to release the name.
The call history as well as one official familiar with the incident notes Sgt. Jimm B. Lewis was at least one of the higher ranking officials on the scene.
Hawkins said the incident has prompted him to take a different look into the department’s training needs, including training for supervisory personnel pertaining to decision-making and leading subordinates.
“It’s very, very important that our officers understand very clearly when entries into a residence can be made, when it’s appropriate to use certain levels of force, the appropriate way of using body cameras and lastly, how to report these incidents in the aftermath,” he said.