Grandmother files complaints against police, school

HAMDEN — A woman says her grandson was bullied by a school resource officer, and the police and administration have failed to do anything about it.

Marnie Hebron, whose grandson attends Hamden Middle School, has filed complaints with the Police Department, the Board of Education, NAACP and the

State Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities, saying her grandson was discriminated against based on his race and special needs designation.

The complaints relate to an Oct. 16, 2018, incident when Hebron’s grandson was called to Assistant Principal Jessica Coffey’s office.

When Hebron’s grandson arrived at the office, he asked to call his grandmother, Hebron said, because that was the action plan she had discussed in a planning meeting with Coffey and other administrations about a week before for whenever he gets worked up. She told them about her grandson’s situation at the meeting so the school could be supportive of his needs, but in this incident, Coffey didn’t let the student call his grandmother, Hebron said.

School resource officer Craig Appleby was incidentally in the office doing paperwork for another case when Hebron’s grandson arrived. Hebron said Appleby should not have been in the room because her grandson had a right to privacy, but Appleby allegedly taunted him by saying her grandson couldn’t be in the office for anything good after he asked why the boy was there. Hebron alleged Appleby had previously taunted her grandson in the hallways, saying he would be arrested and has an undesirable future.

According to Hebron’s complaint to Hamden police, her grandson told Appleby it wasn’t his business why he was called in, and it set Appleby off. He allegedly threw a balled-up paper at the student and continued to make unwanted comments toward him, Hebron said in her complaint.

Appleby and Hebron’s grandson then began yelling back and forth when Coffey called Hebron, she said. While on the phone, Hebron said the boy was crying for her to come pick her up when the phone disconnected because Appleby had taken it from him.

According to Appleby’s report, Hebron’s grandson was cursing and yelling racial slurs at him when Coffey let him use the phone, so Appleby “grabbed the phone from (Hebron’s grandson) and gave it to Principal Coffey to call his grandmother because the decision was made by Coffey to send him home for the day.”

Hebron said when Appleby took the phone from her grandson, Appleby pressed his body up against the student and had his hand on what the student thought was a Taser, taunting the 13-year-old to hit him. She called the school back and was told by Coffey to come pick up the boy, which she did, Hebron said.

According to Appleby’s report, he activated his Axon body camera after grabbing the phone and told Hebron’s grandson he did so in case the student were to fight with him.

Appleby’s report goes on to say that Hebron’s grandson was being verbally abusive, then started getting emotional and crying. The body camera remains on when the student says several profanities toward Appleby and Coffey, according to the report. It concludes when Hebron arrived at the school to take her grandson without incident.

After what happened, the boy withdrew from everybody and everything, Hebron said, not showering, not going to school. He didn’t tell her until days later about the incident in the office, Hebron said. She filed complaints with police and Hamden Public Schools Oct. 19, 2018, based on what her grandson had told her.

“It’s important to know the type of children that are being targeted,” Hebron said.

Acting Police Chief John Cappiello said the ethics and integrity unit’s investigation is closed and the complaint against Appleby was not sustained, meaning it wasn’t proven or disproved. Because the case involves a juvenile and pending action against the town, Cappiello declined further comment.

“I communicated with the Acting Police Chief at length because I’m concerned whenever I hear of something related to Hamden students,” Mayor Curt B. Leng said in a text message. “In this instance, I strongly feel it’s best for both sides to have the full opportunity to talk with the unbiased officials, allowing them to hear everything, to review all the evidence and talk with the multiple witnesses, before anyone makes any assumption or judgements.”

Leng said the formal complaint restricts him from commenting further as he normally would.

Hebron received a letter from Capt. Ronald Smith, who heads the ethics and integrity unit, saying the allegations weren’t sustained, but Hebron received the letter Jan. 16, before the ethics and integrity interview with Hebron and her grandson, she said. Smith video recorded the interview and Hebron said her grandson identified the beeping sound of the camera as the same one he heard the entire time Appleby was in the office, beginning before he took the phone.

“The fact that you say he was being verbally aggressive and since you took the phone from him, you were supposed to be recording,” she said. “Either you have (the recording) and aren’t willing to produce it, or you used it improperly.”

Officers are required to activate their body cameras “as soon as practical once it has been determined in the officer’s use of sound judgment that an incident is to be recorded,” including any consensual or non-consensual encounter “while an officer is engaged in the execution of official police duties,” or “as deemed necessary by the officer,” according to the department’s general orders.

Hebron requested the complete body camera footage, but was told the only footage that exists begins after Appleby grabbed the phone, and doesn’t show what led up to her grandson crying, which is in accordance with the police report.

Hebron said she hasn’t received any communication about the investigation since the interview with Smith.

After the incident, Hebron asked that Appleby and Coffey have no involvement with her grandson or any access to his records, but Coffey still signs the student’s disciplinary reports, she said. Further, Hebron said the school told her the discipline referral Coffey was supposed to file for sending her grandson home that day didn’t exist.

In another incident, Hebron’s grandson was in the cafeteria when a student hit him for saying something, she said, and her grandson hit the student back. Hebron was called by police about the incident, not the school, asking her if she wanted to press charges, she said. When she arrived at the school, Principal Michelle Coogan said Hebron’s grandson would be suspended for 10 days.

Hebron said she received a letter from the Board of Education saying it would conduct a manifestation determination to see if the boy’s actions in the cafeteria had anything to do with his disability. The manifestation says that if it’s determined that a student’s actions are related to a disability, he can’t be suspended.

Hebron said they determined her grandson’s actions were related to a disability, but suspended him anyway when they weren’t supposed to. At that point, her grandson had already been away from school for 10 days.

Hebron said since the day in the office, seeing Coffey and Appleby has become a trigger for her grandson and all the school and police have done is try to protect the officer and the principal.

“When he sees them it gets him angry because nobody has done anything about it,” she said. And it makes her angry too.

“I want them fired,” she said. “If you want it swept under the carpet, you swept it under the wrong carpet, because I keep a tidy house.”

Coffey declined comment and Board of Education Human Resources Director Gary Highsmith did not return a request for comment.

Hebron said the town has refused communication with her after she filed the complaint with the CHRO on Feb. 8. The town has until April 1 to respond to it.

Appleby