Re: 1/25/01 - NH Advocate: The Chief's Doorstep
The Chief's Doorstep
Hit & Run
By Paul Bass
Published 01/25/01
New Haven's police chief claims a Jan. 4 internal affairs report answers the important questions about a 1996 murder coverup and exonerates his department. Like an earlier grand jury report, it pins the blame for the coverup on one bad cop, says Chief Mel Wearing.
"I don't think there is any other department in the state that can withstand this kind of scrutiny and emerge" with only one cop identified as breaking the law, Wearing says.
But you don't have to read far between the lines of the 69-page report to find criticism of another cop's conduct: the chief's.
The report doesn't accuse Wearing of knowing that his top cops covered up a key eyewitness statement in the 1996 murder of Philip Cusick. Wearing's former chief of detectives, Capt. Brian Sullivan, was arrested last month on charges of hiding that statement and hindering the investigation.
But the internal report's revelations raise serious questions about Wearing's management of the department and the internal investigation. The revelations include that:
* Wearing overruled his own internal affairs investigators in their efforts to obtain "untainted testimony."
* Sullivan's deputy, Sgt. Ed Kendall, took actions that could easily be interpreted as tampering with a witness. Wearing learned of this but took no action.
* Internal investigators wanted to review records of a separate murder case they believed may have been connected to this one. They discovered the files were missing.
Wearing's disciplinary actions in the wake of the internal report raise a further question: What message does he want to send?
He suspended the three detectives who worked on the Cusick investigation. According to the internal report, Sullivan told them to halt the investigation, supposedly based on the chief's order. (Wearing vehemently denies giving that order.) Two of the detectives, smelling a coverup, brought the matter to the attention of prosecutors at the state's attorney's office.
The report quotes Sullivan as later telling the detectives that Wearing was angry at them for talking to the state's attorney. Wearing denies this, too.
Why, then, did he discipline them?
They went to the wrong authorities, the chief says. His cops "better make damn sure the chief is aware of their actions" before going outside the department.
Wearing ordered the internal affairs investigation last April, after New Haven's top prosecutor had already asked for a grand jury investigation. Once Sullivan claimed that Wearing had ordered the coverup, Wearing rightly recused himself from supervising the internal probe. City Hall took over.
But before that, while still in charge, Wearing overruled his internal affairs investigators. They sought to postpone their scheduled interview with Sullivan so that it would coincide with a separate interview of Sullivan's deputy, Sgt. Ed Kendall.
"We felt that interviewing them too far apart would hinder our investigation and prevent spontaneous and unrehearsed testimony from being obtained. We attempted to ... gain untainted testimony," according to the report, written by Capt. Brian Kearney, head of internal affairs.
On May 3, 2000, Wearing called Kearney into his office and "told me not to postpone Capt. Sullivan's interview," Kearney writes. Kearney pressed again for a postponement, but was overruled. A cop working for Kearney then expressed his and Kearney's concerns in a memo. Wearing wouldn't bend.
"The order was followed under protest," Kearney writes.
Wearing says that if Sullivan and Kendall wanted to coordinate their statements, they'd already had plenty of time to do so. "I was pushing to get the job done. They were dragging their feet. I don't need advice from anyone about how to conduct an investigation."
The report states that early in the investigation, Kendall visited the property room and asked two civilian employees to go for a ride. The employees keep track of what comes into and out of the property room--including a missing tape of the Cusick eyewitness interview.
According to the report, Kendall--a subject of the internal investigation--said he was acting on Sullivan's orders. He was taking the civilian employees to the office of a private attorney, Jack Kelly, to give statements about the Cusick case. Kendall told them they couldn't bring a union representative.
One of the employees went. One refused.
Kelly was on retainer with the police department. He also briefly represented Capt. Sullivan in this case, which, if he continued, would have been a conflict of interest.
Wearing didn't learn of this incident until after it happened, according to the report. But he took no disciplinary action.
The report also discusses the internal investigators' efforts to look into one rumored motive for the coverup: a connection to a 1994 murder in Bridgeport, which New Haven cops helped investigate. The investigators discovered that New Haven's files from that case are missing.
Asked last week if he's doing anything about those missing files, Wearing responds, "I don't know what that's about. Everybody's trying to find a motive. I stand by the grand jury report" issued last month, finding that only Sullivan broke the law.
Sullivan refused to talk to the grand jury. That's probably why it made him the lone fall guy.
He may speak yet--when he comes to trial on charges of covering up the murder investigation.
Wearing says he can take the hits in the internal report. "That's why I separated myself from the case. I didn't want any favoritism shown on my behalf. I don't create an environment where people love me. I take hits all day long."
After Kearney wrote this report critical of the chief, Wearing decided to move Kearney out as head of internal affairs. Wearing says Kearney did a "great job" there, but "he wanted" a new challenge.
Kearney will soon direct the traffic enforcement division.
The report states that early in the investigation, Kendall visited the property room and asked two civilian employees to go for a ride. The employees keep track of what comes into and out of the property room--including a missing tape of the Cusick eyewitness interview.
According to the report, Kendall--a subject of the internal investigation--said he was acting on Sullivan's orders. He was taking the civilian employees to the office of a private attorney, Jack Kelly, to give statements about the Cusick case. Kendall told them they couldn't bring a union representative.
One of the employees went. One refused.
Kelly was on retainer with the police department. He also briefly represented Capt. Sullivan in this case, which, if he continued, would have been a conflict of interest.
Wearing didn't learn of this incident until after it happened, according to the report. But he took no disciplinary action.
The report also discusses the internal investigators' efforts to look into one rumored motive for the coverup: a connection to a 1994 murder in Bridgeport, which New Haven cops helped investigate. The investigators discovered that New Haven's files from that case are missing.
Asked last week if he's doing anything about those missing files, Wearing responds, "I don't know what that's about. Everybody's trying to find a motive. I stand by the grand jury report" issued last month, finding that only Sullivan broke the law.
Sullivan refused to talk to the grand jury. That's probably why it made him the lone fall guy.
He may speak yet--when he comes to trial on charges of covering up the murder investigation.
E-mail: pbass@newhavenadvocate.com
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