An Ansonia police officer’s eight day suspension in January 2009 has been cut in half, based on a ruling by the state’s Board of Mediation and Arbitration filed this month.
The Ansonia Police Department will have to reimburse Officer Joseph Jackson for four of the eight suspension days he served in January 2009, according to the decision filed Oct. 6, 2011.
The panel found that the Ansonia Police Department administrators were within their rights in suspending Jackson — but the length of the suspension was too long.
“I’m just glad they heard my story. Just because they made a decision doesn’t mean they made the right decision. But you keep your head up and move on,” Jackson said Tuesday.
Jackson was arrested in Bridgeport in May 2008. However, the breach of peace and interfering charges lodged against him were later thrown out of court — and one of the Bridgeport officers involved in his arrest was kicked off the force.
Jackson, 46, has been on the Ansonia Police Department for 23 years.
Background
Jackson was arrested by Bridgeport police in May 2008, after he pulled up to the scene of motor vehicle stop near his home and asked officers there what was happening.
An argument ensued after Jackson was told to move along, according to a 2008 report from the New Haven Register. Bridgeport police said Jackson was aggressive and combative — accusations he has denied — and charged him with second-degree breach of peace and interfering with an officer. They also claimed that he was disrespectful during his processing at the Bridgeport Police Department, according to the labor board’s report.
The charges against him were dropped within two months of the alleged incident.
The Ansonia Police Department conducted an internal affairs investigation into the incident, and suspended Jackson for eight days for violating the department’s manual regarding conduct becoming an officer.
Jackson filed a grievance.
The grievance made its way to the Board of Mediation and Arbitration, which held a hearing in June 2011, and then held an executive session on the matter in July 2011.
“The allegations made against Officer Jackson are serious considering the type of behavior attributed to him during the processing at the station,” the board wrote in its decision. “Such behavior can not justify the harsh suspension imposed by Police Chief Kevin Hale. This is especially true when we note that Officer Jackson has no prior disciplinary
record.”
Article continues after the decision.
Officer Jackson Mediation Decision
Discrepancies
The board said the evidence heard during the hearings does not support an eight-day suspension. The Board of Mediation and Arbitration members reviewed police reports from the night of Jackson’s arrest, the Internal Affairs investigation that Ansonia Police conducted afterward and interviewed Jackson first-hand.
No one from the Bridgeport Police Department testified at the hearing, according to the report.
The report says Jackson, witnesses at the scene of his arrest, and the Bridgeport Police Department personnel had “totally different recollection of what transpired on the night of the arrest and the processing.”
The board said it had trouble relying on statements from Jackson and the Bridgeport Police.
“As best the panel can determine, there is no credible and reliable evidence within the statements made by the principals (BP and the Grievant) which the panel can use in drawing a fair and reasonable conclusion as to who was wrong or right,” the report states.
So they focused on statements made by a third party — the mother of the teen who was pulled over by Bridgeport police the night of Jackson’s arrest.
The mother was called to the motor vehicle stop because her truck had been taken by her daughter without permission. The mother witnessed Jackson pull over his car and ask police what was happening.
By the mother’s account, the officers at the scene were yelling at Jackson, and even told him to “shut the f*ck up” during the incident. She also said the officers “shoved the driver (Jackson) onto the car” according to the report. The woman also said Jackson never put his hands on the officers.
The board determined, based on the mother’s accounts, that Jackson’s arrest was not justifiable.
“This is not to say that some of the behavior attributed to the Grievant at the scene or during his processing at the police station is acceptable,” the board wrote in its report. “Arguably, just the fact that an officer is accused of being disrespectful, belligerent, confrontational, aggressive or event inebriated could constitute a basis to charge him with conduct unbecoming and officer and failure to carry his oath of office to the best of his ability.”
Reaction
Jackson’s attorney, Rob Serafinowicz, said in an e‑mail that the board’s decision “shows that Joe was not treated fairly by both the Ansonia Police Department as well as the Bridgeport Police Department.”
Serafinowicz said one of the arresting officers — Sgt. Christine Burns — was later fired because of a different incident in that department. Click here to read a Connecticut Post report on that separate incident.
Jackson said the decision speaks for itself.
“I didn’t do the things they said I did,” Jackson said of his arrest.
Jackson said the ruling doesn’t change his character, or the way people view him.
“I’m just glad it’s over with. It’s been three years,” Jackson said. “I’m still going to stay on course and accomplish the things I want to accomplish. I don’t let stuff like this ruin the goals that I’m trying to achieve.”
Chief Hale said he considers the matter closed.
“In my opinion, discipline was needed in that situation,” Hale said. “Although they didn’t agree with the length of the discipline, they did agree with us that discipline was in order.”