carlson1 wrote:CaptDave the "BAD TRAFFIC" stop was something that happened in Florida several years ago. Many may remember. . .
Deputy Richard Mankewich is best remembered for his controversial 1997 turnpike confrontation with now-retired Miami-Dade police Maj. Aaron Campbell.
Mankewich stopped Campbell, who is black, for having an obscured license plate and not using a turn signal. Campbell thought he was being harassed and singled out because of his race. After a confrontation, he was arrested and charged with assault and resisting arrest.
A judge ruled the traffic stop was illegal, yet eventually sentenced Campbell to probation on a single misdemeanor charge of resisting arrest without violence.
Campbell sued the Sheriff's Office, alleging racial profiling, and settled out of court for $10,500.
On Monday, Campbell recalled thinking that Mankewich would get in trouble again because the Sheriff's Office has rewarded his behavior with promotions and awards.
"I knew this guy would be in the limelight again," said Campbell, a vice mayor in Miami Gardens. "It's just the way he is ... . I don't understand that. How could they put him back on the street? That reinforces his behavior."
Hey Carl:
I found the article that you are referring to. Interesting!
Florida cop who killed un-armed man is suspended with pay
by Pedro Ruz Gutierrez, Orlando Sentinel
Jan. 27, 2004
Orange County Sheriff Kevin Beary on Monday overruled a decision that had allowed a veteran sergeant back on street patrol only eight days after he shot and killed an unarmed black motorist.
"Community concerns," worry about the deputy's safety and media scrutiny of the case contributed to the reversal, Beary said.
Sgt. Richard Mankewich, a controversial deputy sheriff who withstood national scrutiny after arresting an off-duty black Miami police major in 1997, worked throughout the weekend. About a week earlier, on Jan. 15, he killed 26-year-old Marvin Williams after the sheriff's felony squad mistook Williams for a murder suspect.
On Monday, Beary and Undersheriff Malone Stewart -- the agency's top officers -- overruled a lower-ranking commander and ordered that Mankewich be kept on administrative duties pending the outcome of several investigations into the shooting.
In an unusual memo to the sheriff's staff Monday, Beary stated, "While I have total confidence in the shooting investigation process ... I must confess the recent criticism of Sergeant Mankewich has caused me great concern ... . Again, this move is NOT punitive ... . Please do not misinterpret the intent of these most recent decisions."
Stewart, the highest-ranking black officer, said he and Beary discussed Mankewich's move back to patrol and decided immediately to reverse Chief Deputy Matt Weathersby's order.
"We made the decision because it's not fair," Stewart said. "We also want the general public to have confidence in us."
Having Mankewich on patrol in areas with large black populations, Stewart said, did not make sense.
The shooting death sparked anger in the largely black community where it happened and led to a disturbance Saturday night in Williams' old neighborhood east of Orange Blossom Trail after his funeral.
County Commissioner Homer Hartage said he is deeply worried about the community's anger and thinks Beary's actions Monday were not enough.
"This case has the potential to become very volatile," said Hartage, who is asking Beary to suspend Mankewich with pay immediately. "We need to do everything in our power to assure the community that we are objective and fair. He used poor judgment by putting the deputy back on the streets. And he made another poor decision by placing him on administrative duties."
Hartage, who is black, said he will deliver a letter to Beary today asking the sheriff to move the case from Orange-Osceola State Attorney Lawson Lamar's circuit.
Lamar, a former Orange sheriff, and Beary "are longtime associates and have worked together for many years," Hartage said.
Lamar replied that the sheriff is not the focus of the investigation. If Beary were, he said, "I'd ask the governor to assign another state attorney, but I feel that I can be ... totally objective, with this case and this deputy."
Lamar's office will review separate investigations into the shooting by the Sheriff's Office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Those inquiries, which are continuing, will include testimony that a fellow deputy radioed to Mankewich during a high-speed pursuit that Williams was a "possible" murder suspect. The suspect, Mankewich was told, had killed someone with a gun.
However, Williams was not that suspect. He was unarmed. He ran from authorities, his girlfriend said, only because he was afraid he would be sent back to jail for driving without a license.
It won't be the first time Mankewich has been under the microscope.
The Boston native is described by peers as one of the agency's most aggressive officers.
He arrested and detained police officers, tourists and drug traffickers alike while he patrolled Florida's Turnpike.
Some of them later criticized his patrol and arrest practices and contacted the agency's internal-affairs division. Although he was cleared and has never been disciplined, Mankewich has been accused of being rude, making racial comments and harassing a female deputy in his squad.
There have been about a dozen complaints filed against him since 1998, and all of them were judged to be unfounded by sheriff's investigators.
Sheriff's officials say it's not uncommon for a deputy who works in specialized traffic and drug units to receive complaints because he is constantly interacting with the public. And in Mankewich's case, they say, he goes after "the bad guys."
"He's always in the middle of action," said Chief Deputy Ernie Scott, who as a former captain supervised Mankewich on the turnpike's now-disbanded criminal- patrol unit. "He's an honest, aggressive cop. I never had any indication that he distorted, embellished or did anything that would cause me to question his integrity."
Mankewich once admitted in court testimony that he frequently reached into suspects' pants to seize drugs during pat-downs. "All I had to do was pull his pants out. I didn't take his pants off him. Reach down and pulled it out," he testified about a 1996 arrest.
His bosses and peers praise him as a diligent supervisor and planner who passes on his knowledge about "aggressive, innovative techniques being utilized to catch offenders."
Mankewich is best remembered for his controversial 1997 turnpike confrontation with now-retired Miami-Dade police Maj. Aaron Campbell.
Mankewich stopped Campbell, who is black, for having an obscured license plate and not using a turn signal. Campbell thought he was being harassed and singled out because of his race. After a confrontation, he was arrested and charged with assault and resisting arrest.
A judge ruled the traffic stop was illegal, yet eventually sentenced Campbell to probation on a single misdemeanor charge of resisting arrest without violence.
Campbell sued the Sheriff's Office, alleging racial profiling, and settled out of court for $10,500.
On Monday, Campbell recalled thinking that Mankewich would get in trouble again because the Sheriff's Office has rewarded his behavior with promotions and awards.
"I knew this guy would be in the limelight again," said Campbell, a vice mayor in Miami Gardens. "It's just the way he is ... . I don't understand that. How could they put him back on the street? That reinforces his behavior."
Pamela J. Johnson of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report.
Published by
Orlando Sentinel
Men worse than women.