Police Chief Cathy Lanier has come to the rescue of two street cops — kind of.
On Friday, Lanier ruled in favor of officers Kimberly Sillah and Tamika Hampton. The chief granted their appeal of a 10-day suspension handed down by the civilian chief of the department’s human resources division. It’s a win for two hard-working police officers whose travails have been the subject of a few of my columns.
But in assessing the victory, the Fraternal Order of Police accuses the chief of ducking the central matter it raised in the appeal: Can a civilian bureaucrat overturn a ruling by a Trial Board comprised of high-ranking police officials? And Lanier’s ruling “after a thorough review of the record” fails to reveal how she views the shooting that triggered the entire affair.
Officers Sillah and Hampton were partners patrolling the rough streets of Anacostia’s Seventh Police District on Jan. 27, 2011. They responded to a desperate 911 call. A woman pleaded for police to protect her from her fiance, Kevin Jackson. Sillah and Hampton rolled up on the row house in Southeast D.C.
According to court testimony, legal filings and interviews, Jackson became aggressive and threatened the officers. Sillah and Hampton backed out of the house into the yard. A large man, Jackson rushed them. They pleaded with him to stop. They drew their weapons. He reached behind to his waistband. They shot him.
As medics wheeled Jackson away, he cursed the officers.
Rather than a giving them a commendation, the Metropolitan Police Department’s use-of-force review system found the two cops had shot Jackson without cause and recommended they be fired. The officers asked for a full review and hearing by the MPD’s Trial Board.
In the meantime, prosecutors charged Jackson with assaulting the officers. Turns out he had a record of such assaults. He pleaded guilty. The Superior Court judge said if the cops had not used their weapons, it could have “cost Officer Hampton her life.”
In January, the Trial Board heard testimony and “exonerated” the two cops a month later. They were relieved — but not for long. In April, Diana Haines-Walton, head of the MPD’s human resources shop, overruled the Trial Board and ordered the 10-day suspension. Haines-Walton is a desk jockey who has never worn a badge, carried a weapon or tried to pacify an enraged man bent on assault.
Sillah and Hampton appealed to Lanier; the chief’s ruling got Haines-Walton’s heel off their necks.
“I was definitely shocked,” says Hampton from her scout car in 7D, where she’s back on patrol. “But she’s still defending her position.”
Police union General Counsel James Pressler argued in the appeal that the Trial Board is the final word, according to legal precedent and regulations. Lanier disagreed and said bureaucrats still had ultimate power.
“We are left wondering why she granted the appeal,” says Pressler, who has been representing cops since 1975.
“If the department is not going to support its officers in a case like this, it sends a terrible message to the men and women on the street.”
Lanier has not responded to an interview request.
The saga moves to Superior Court’s civil side, where Jackson has sued the cops and Mayor Vincent Gray for $5 million for assault and battery and negligence.
Good luck with that.
Harry Jaffe’s column appears on Tuesday and Friday. He can be contacted at [email protected].
