Accused Officer Rob Mahoney Tells Different Story

A veteran Seattle police officer accused of sexually harassing an 18-year-old police Explorer and lying about it said Tuesday he thinks top-level commanders trumped up the case to retaliate for challenging them and defending female officers who had been discriminated against.

Rob Mahoney, 46, a defensive-tactics instructor at the department's training center, said that his accuser, Heather Newstrom, was flirtatious and liked to hang around after training classes to talk to officers. He didn't deny giving her a peck on the cheek after she kissed him on the cheek and hugged him goodbye while the two were in an office after class on April 7, 2008. But, he said, that's as far as it went before he got a phone call and left.

"The allegation that I kissed her on the mouth and put my tongue in her mouth is made up," Mahoney said during Tuesday's hearing before the Public Safety Civil Service Commission.

But Newstrom, now 19 and attending the United States Military Academy, testified last week that as she stood up to leave, Mahoney grabbed her and said, "Now can I have a real kiss?" She said she was shocked and she turned her head and backed away. He dropped to his chair, placed his head in his hands, and apologized, she testified. The department's Office of Professional Accountability deemed her the more credible witness. Mahoney was suspended for 30 days and transferred to a desk job in the 911 center.

He has appealed, arguing the department lacked proof of dishonesty and unfairly disciplined him. The Seattle Police Officers' Guild says it's one of three cases in which officers were fired or disciplined for dishonesty since a new "presumption of termination" policy enacted last year. The other two cases were overturned by a civilian arbitrator, raising questions about how the new standard is applied.

Chief Gil Kerlikowske said he wanted to fire Mahoney under the policy but didn't think he had enough proof to do so. A dishonesty charge on his record, however, still would likely ruin Mahoney's career because it could be used against him in court.

The three-member commission must decide whether to uphold the chief's findings of professional misconduct and dishonesty or rule in favor of the officer. While Mahoney has no record of sustained misconduct, court records show he was the focus of a domestic-violence investigation in 2006 that resulted in no charges.

Newstrom, a Holy Names graduate, said she was 15 when she joined the police Explorers, a mentorship program for teenagers interested in police work and community service. They have uniforms and meet regularly under a department adviser. She said she enjoyed police training and providing security at community events. She said she did give hugs, which other officers said seemed like behavior typical of a high school student.

She said she got to know Mahoney taking his classes and looked to him as a mentor. Their friendship started because they share an interest in philosophy. Mahoney first noticed her because she stuck out while reading Mary Wollstonecraft's "A Vindication of the Rights of Women" while at the training center, he testified.

Mahoney testified that he's thinks investigators believed her because he made enemies on the command staff. He alleged that the captain overseeing the sexual-harassment investigation, Tag Gleason, held a grudge against him over a training program that he and several officers tried to start 8 years ago. Gleason then headed the training unit.

Mahoney said he drew Kerlikowske's scorn because he wrote a use-of-force analysis in support of two officers who were disciplined for beating a man outside a Capitol Hill nightclub over a littering complaint. The officers had asked him to do so because of his expertise. The case was one of two high-profile misconduct cases that led to a public controversy in 2007 over police accountability.

He testified that he's also in hot water for sticking up for his current girlfriend, Officer Susanna Munro, who filed a discrimination complaint against the Police Department. She testified Tuesday that she was turned down for a job on the Narcotics Unit over rumors that she was having an extramarital affair with Mahoney while married to another officer. Sgt. Alvin Little, who denied her application, is the current adviser to the Explorer program. He testified to helping Newstrom file a complaint against Mahoney.

Mahoney said he was viewed with suspicion from the start of his career because he has an advanced degree. He testified that he thinks his case was treated differently from other officers who denied allegations.

"I have no faith whatsoever in the ability of the (Office of Professional Accountability) to conduct a fair hearing of an officer who is politically unpopular in the department or in the community," he said.

Mahoney joined the department in 1998 after working as a college professor. He has a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Edinburgh. A New York City native, he started studying martial arts while growing up in the Bronx because the streets were rough but he wasn't a "tough kid," he said.

Mahoney's attorney, Alex Higgins, said the case boiled down to a "tall tale" told by Newstrom. He pointed out that Mahoney had no history of sustained complaints on his record.

While Mahoney alleges department officials were searching for reasons to ruin his career, they didn't do so three years ago when Mahoney was accused of threatening to kill his ex-girlfriend and her fiance, which triggered a criminal investigation, according to court records.

SeattlePI.com obtained court records this week showing that Mahoney's ex-girlfriend, Siolo Thompson, filed for a court protection order against him in March 2006. Her then-fiance, Bart Keogh, a doctor at Harborview Medical Center, also said in a sworn statement that Mahoney made threats to kill him.

Both said Mahoney was jealous, verbally and physically abusive to Thompson, and had used his authority as a police officer to reach her at work. A judge declined to issue a permanent order, which would have required Mahoney to surrender his gun, but entered a less restrictive restraining order under a settlement between both sides, according to court records.

Mahoney and Thompson have a son together. After their separation in 2003, the court awarded custody to Mahoney with a visitation plan. In his statements from that case, Mahoney said Thompson, also a trained martial artist, was unstable and the one who threatened him, once warning that she would run away with their son to South America, where she is from, according to court documents.

Keogh also filed a complaint with Seattle police, which was investigated. King County prosecutors reviewed the allegations but didn't file charges in part because the woman later decided not to cooperate, saying she feared jeopardizing Mahoney's career, said Ian Goodhew, chief of staff in the Prosecutor's Office.

Prosecutors require proof the victim had a reasonable fear of the threat. Another issue arose with the fiance's call to police, in which he had at first phrased as a hypothetical "what-if" an officer had threatened to kill him, Goodhew said.

The Police Department also found no evidence of misconduct and the investigation was closed. No information from that case was presented during Mahoney's Civil Service Commission hearing.

"It was so baseless and far-fetched, even the City didn't bother to do anything with it," said Higgins, Mahoney's attorney, after Tuesday's hearing on the current case. "Unfortunately, with people in family situations, people are mad at each other and there are high emotions and the courts are brought in. But there was no basis for it and that was the conclusion of everyone who looked at it."

The prior case wasn't presented this week to the Civil Service Commission because no charges were filed, which raised questions of its relevance, Assistant City Attorney Paul Olsen said after Tuesday's hearing.

In her request for the protection order, Thompson said she started dating Mahoney in 1996 when she was 19 and taking a kickboxing class that he taught at the University of Portland. Mahoney was then an adjunct professor of philosophy at the school, according to court records.

Several Seattle police officers testified this week in support of Mahoney. Many described him as a top-notch training instructor and an "asset" to the department. Some of the same officers defended him in court against his ex-girlfriend's domestic-violence allegations three years ago.

Sgt. Rich O'Neill, president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild, criticized the investigation, saying the department failed to question other potential witnesses or follow up on possibly exonerating evidence. He said Mahoney got hardball questions, while Newstrom was tossed a few softballs. Typically, lying must be proved with evidence of intent, he said.

"When someone is bringing allegations this serious, that allegation should be tested," he said.

Mahoney said he's filed a claim with the city's Office of Civil Rights against the Police Department, alleging discrimination against him for defending his girlfriend.

Under questioning from Olsen, the city's attorney, Mahoney testified about a letter he sent in January to the state Department of Labor and Industries accusing Sgt. Little of defrauding the state workers compensation fund. It also accused Assistant Chief Nick Metz of covering up misconduct. The letter was sent after Mahoney was suspended, according to testimony.

Yet, Mahoney said he would like to return to his prior assignment and continue improving self-defense training for officers. The Civil Service Commission is expected to rule within 90 days.
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http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009180826_spdappeal06m.html

Woman Wins Excessive Force Case

The city will pay a 32-year-old University of Washington graduate student $115,000 to settle her federal civil-rights lawsuit against a Seattle police officer who broke her cheekbone during an arrest near KeyArena in 2006, the woman's lawyers say.

The payout to Brittany Beaulieu — expected to be announced by the city today — is the third six-figure settlement or verdict since November in lawsuits stemming from violent arrests by Seattle police officers.

Two of the cases have another similarity: Internal investigators recommended discipline for the officers responsible, but none was ever handed out.

According to court documents and depositions, Beaulieu had been celebrating with friends the night of April 21, 2006, after her last day of work at a job she was leaving. The group ran up a $215 bar tab at Tini Bigs Lounge at First Avenue North and Denny Way before leaving to walk north along First Avenue North toward KeyArena.

There were five people in that group, and three of them went toward their vehicle, while Beaulieu and another woman continued walking. Police approached when an officer saw a member of the first group backing a pickup the wrong way down a street and nearly hitting a bus. The officer stopped the vehicle and called for backup because it appeared the driver was intoxicated, the documents say.

Meanwhile, Beaulieu and her friend arrived on foot. Documents indicate that several in the group were yelling at the officers as the driver was being taken into custody.

At least one other friend was arrested for interfering and, according to testimony of officers and witnesses, Beaulieu approached the pickup driver, who was sitting in the back of a patrol vehicle, and "began yelling, 'Don't blow into the machine,' " referring to a breath test, according to documents filed by the city.

She was led away and warned, but police say she was intoxicated and ran back toward the car. That's when Officer Aaron Parker moved to arrest her for obstructing the investigation.

Exactly what happened next is disputed. Parker, 32, claimed Beaulieu was drunk and struggling and he decided that it would be easier to handcuff her if she was on the ground, according to court filings. He said he attempted to use a "leg sweep to slowly lower Beaulieu to the ground," but that she broke his grip on her arm just as he kicked her legs out from beneath her.

Beaulieu, in her claim, said the officer "grabbed [her] from behind, took hold of her wrists and swept her legs out from under her." She landed hard, face-first, on the sidewalk and suffered a facial fracture that required surgery to repair, according to one of her attorneys, Tim Tesh.

The settlement does not include an admission of liability by the city, however lawyer Allen Ressler said that the lawyers representing the city "offered a verbal apology" during mediation.

City Attorney Tom Carr, reached Sunday, said he was aware of the settlement but had no further comment.

Ted Buck, the private attorney who represented the city, said the Beaulieu case -- like the two other excessive-force cases the city has settled in the past eight months -- presented "risks for both sides." Buck said the two settlements and a six-figure verdict against the city in another excessive force-case in May were "a fluke."

"We've had a string of sympathetic plaintiffs — not like the ones we usually see — and murky circumstances," he said. "Here, it included these horrific injuries from a simple takedown move you could perform a thousand times and never hurt someone like that."

Carr's office said the city spent just more than $32,000 for private lawyers to defend the Beaulieu claim.

An investigation by the department's Office of Professional Accountability recommended that Parker be disciplined for excessive use of force. In his findings, Internal Investigations Section Capt. Neil Low said the scene was chaotic and that officers likely had good reason to arrest Beaulieu and the others.

But Low found nothing that warranted Parker's response.

"The evidence does not support that she posed a clear and imminent physical threat" to the officers, Low wrote. "The officer may not have intended to injure [Beaulieu] and may be sorry he did so, but the evidence supports that the leg or foot sweep was more force than was necessary."

The department did not accept Low's recommendation, and instead referred Parker for additional training. Six months later, another complaint alleged he kicked a suspect in the head during an arrest after a foot chase. An internal investigation into that incident found "the impact area 'questionable' " and that he should have considered other options.

That same report says Parker's behavior had triggered an administrative review because he had accumulated more than 50 use-of-force incidents on the street since joining the department in 2002.

In May, a verdict in U.S. District Court awarded 22-year-old community volunteer Romelle Bradford $269,000 after he was knocked to the ground by an officer and wrongly arrested during a disturbance at the Rainier Vista Boys & Girls Club in 2006. The city — whose defense fees already have topped $140,000 — has asked the judge to reconsider the verdict and is seeking a new trial.

Bradford's lawyers are seeking more than $270,000 in attorneys fees from the city, as well.

And in November, the city paid $185,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by Maikoiyo Alley-Barnes, a 29-year-old art teacher who was beaten, kicked and arrested outside a Capitol Hill nightclub in 2005 when he questioned why an officer was citing his friend for littering. An internal investigation recommended the officers involved be disciplined for using excessive force, but Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske exonerated them.

The department said most of the blame lay with the supervisor at the scene, then-Sgt. Gregory Sackman; however, the department missed a deadline to discipline him. He has since been promoted to lieutenant.

Last month, a federal judge ruled that a civil-rights lawsuit against three Seattle police officers can proceed to trial, finding that there is evidence officers used excessive force when they Tasered a pregnant woman who refused to sign a traffic ticket in 2004.

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Recent settlements
July: $115,000

Brittany Beaulieu's cheekbone was broken during an arrest near KeyArena in 2006.

May: $269,000

Romelle Bradford was knocked to the ground by an officer and wrongly arrested during a disturbance at the Rainier Vista Boys & Girls Club in 2006.

November: $185,000

Maikoiyo Alley-Barnes was kicked and arrested outside a Capitol Hill nightclub in 2005 after asking why an officer was citing his friend for littering.

Seattle Jury Awards $268,000 for using Excessive Force

In a stunning setback for the Seattle Police Department, a federal civil court jury on Monday found patrol officers made a false and unlawful arrest and used excessive force when they detained and then jailed a young Seattle man on charges of obstruction and resisting arrest.

Romelle Bradford's case was featured in a Seattle P-I investigation of obstruction arrests.

The nine-member jury awarded Romelle Bradford $268,000 in damages. Though they rejected punitive damages, they also found the 2006 arrest was a federal civil rights violation, which means the city must pay Bradford's attorneys fees, an amount not yet determined.

An obviously happy Bradford, 22, said he dreamed last week he was going to win the case. But he had faced a tough uphill battle in waging the lawsuit. The city hasn't lost a police misconduct lawsuit before a judge or jury in more than a decade.

Bradford wasn't seriously injured during the arrest, yet Lem Howell, Bradford's attorney, argued his client suffered an "unseen injury" because the promising young man must from now on answer "yes" whenever a potential employer inquires whether he has ever been arrested.

Juror Debbie Girdler said she was particularly offended that police not only arrested Bradford, but booked and jailed him overnight after it should have been clear to them that Bradford did nothing wrong. Supervising police Sgt. Eric Zerr explained during a deposition that he approved the booking and jailing of Bradford that night in part because they needed to check whether he had suffered any injuries during the arrest and to verify his identification. Police officials told the Seattle P-I that is not a common practice.

"He should have been released," said Girdler, a retired software engineer from Bellevue. "Here we have a person who's never been in trouble with the police. Now he has an arrest record. Because they want to check his ID and his health? That's wrong."

Bradford and the city had gone to mediation, during which Howell said his client would have been ready to settle for $150,000, though he had hoped for $250,000. The city offered only a "nuisance value" of $10,000, then upped it to $25,000 just before trial -- still unacceptable, Howell said.

The arresting officer in the case, Jacob Briskey, said he was "disappointed" by the verdict but offered no other comment.

Bradford has a clean record and in 2003 was named youth of the year in the state for overcoming chronic truancy, getting good grades and for his work helping other disadvantaged youngsters at the Rainier Vista Boys & Girls Club in South Seattle. His case was featured in a Seattle P-I investigation of obstruction arrests, titled "Strong Arm of the Law."

The P-I found blacks were eight times more likely than whites to be arrested for obstruction, and that about half of the cases were dismissed by the City Attorney's Office before trial. Bradford is black.

The criminal charges against him were dismissed before any attempt at prosecution.

It was after a club dance Bradford was supervising in August 2006 that he and club volunteers summoned police because of a potentially unruly crowd outside the club. Briskey, 26, was then a rookie officer. He arrived as things were settling down, spotted Bradford jogging down the street and ordered him to stop. When Bradford didn't halt immediately, Briskey rushed at him and slammed him to the ground.

Bradford said he didn't think the officer was talking to him because he said he was wearing a red T-shirt clearly identifying him as a Boys & Girls Club member. He said he was holding up his club badge and showing the officer his T-shirt when he said the officer decked him with his forearm.

Using the F-word, the young officer threatened to break Bradford's arm as he handcuffed him in front of several youngsters who were protesting that he was, indeed, a staff member trying to help.

After a police station interview in which Bradford insisted he was a staff member, police nevertheless booked and jailed him overnight. Briskey claimed Bradford's failure to immediately stop justified the obstructing charge and that a hesitation to offer one arm during handcuffing -- which Bradford doesn't recall -- justified the resisting charge.

Criminal defense attorneys refer to "obstructing a public officer" arrests by two other monikers: "Contempt of cop" and "the cover charge." Several told the P-I those nicknames are applied because the charges are sometimes abused to punish people for their being "mouthy" or to cover up when police might have used wrongful force against an innocent person.

"Sergeants, lieutenants, captains, assistant chiefs and chiefs should be alerted to the contempt of cop charge," Howell said after Monday's verdict. "These charges by their very nature are suspicious."

Several jurors said after issuing their ruling that they feel the department's internal investigation unit should investigate the case. Howell said he agreed.

Moses Garcia, the private attorney who defended the city and the police against the lawsuit, said there would be no point now in conducting an internal investigation, though he added that ironically an internal investigation might have provided him with more evidence to win his case. He also noted that Bradford didn't file a complaint with internal investigators, a tactical move by his attorney.

The jury didn't rule entirely in Bradford's favor. They found that Briskey had "reasonable suspicion to stop and temporarily detain" Bradford prior to arresting him. Thus they rejected an "illegal seizure" claim. They also found that Briskey didn't act "with evil motive, actual malice, deliberate violence or oppression, with intent to injure, or in willful disregard" for Bradford's rights. They also rejected other claims of "malicious prosecution," "abuse of process" and "assault and battery," denying an unspecified request for punitive damages.

But they did find that Briskey lacked "probable cause" to arrest Bradford, and that the arrest was unlawful. They said the force used was excessive under the federal civil rights law.

Several jurors said their verdict should send a message to the city to better supervise young officers. Several questioned department procedures and leadership. They even questioned the officer's use of the F-word in front of a crowd of Boys & Girls Club youngsters.

"I feel really strongly about (the need to examine the case)," said jury foreman Charles Young of Bothell. "I wouldn't want to be treated like that."

After a four-day trial, the jury took a day and a half to deliberate. Jurors said they spent a lot of time studying the statutes, particularly the obstructing statute, and comparing them to the events. They said they also struggled with the question of whether there was probable cause to arrest. They said though this case involved a civil-rights violation, race issues didn't arise in their deliberations. Briskey is white, but a more senior officer who assisted in the arrest is black.

Magistrate Judge James Donohue told jurors after they issued their verdict that this was "a very difficult case" and that "he was glad he didn't have to (decide) it," Girdler said.

The jurors said they felt Briskey made mistakes because of his lack of experience, and several said they felt badly for him.

"We felt that there should be better mentoring of young officers," said juror David Pippin, a Seattle schoolteacher, who added that Bradford was also very young and shouldn't have been left by his supervisors to oversee the dance that night.

"This was a case about babies arresting babies," said Girdler.

Garcia said he was disappointed in the verdict and took personal responsibility for it. He said he felt he must not have gotten the point across, because the evidence was on his side. He said the police had plenty of probable cause to arrest Bradford and even to jail him on suspicion of obstructing and arresting.

Seattle police have not lost an officer misconduct case before a judge or a jury for at least a decade and probably longer, said Anne Bremner, a partner at Stafford Frey Cooper, the firm that defends the city against such lawsuits. Some notable cases have been settled with payments made to plaintiffs, including a recent excessive force case on Capitol Hill and the settlement with WTO demonstrators.

Bremner said she has not lost such a case before a judge or jury in the 20 years she has defended Seattle officers against lawsuits.

"I was surprised," she said. "Appeal options are being analyzed. The verdict was disappointing given the fact the officers acted in good faith."

Jurors had to sort through conflicting statements. While Bradford and numerous witnesses said he was wearing the identifying red T-shirt, the police officers testified that he was wearing a plain white T-shirt. They did not explain why they took Bradford's red staff T-shirt into custody when they arrested him.

Zerr, the supervising sergeant, also made a misleading statement on an after-action "use of force" report, justifying Briskey's actions. He twice claimed that Bradford took a swing at Briskey. Even Briskey admitted that wasn't true. Zerr later explained that he interpreted Bradford's holding up of his identification badge, which was attached to a key chain, as a move tantamount to taking a swing at the officer. Briskey also claimed he thought the keys might be used as a weapon.

Jurors said Zerr's statements didn't affect them during their deliberations.

Bradford has not yet obtained his high school diploma, but is working on a GED and plans to attend computer classes at Bellevue Community College. He said he hopes to someday work for Microsoft, where he said he has been offered an internship. He said his earlier truancy had affected his ability to finish high school at one point, and he was slowed again by the arrest and the aftermath. He said after the verdict that "a weight has been lifted off of me."