Just getting word on this and I don't have all the details yet, but apparently the Labor Board has ordered the re-instatement of Hartford Police Officer Robert Murtha.
Murtha was terminated and eventually arrested after an on-duty shooting incident. A jury cleared him of the charges after his trial.
More on this as I get more details.
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23 comments:
remind us again because there seems to have been a couple cops v the city of hartford cases this year. Was Murtha the guy that shot and killed the unarmed kid or was he the one that shot at a car saying that the car tried to run him over and when a police car video showed that to not be true he recanted or was he the one that went into a lockup to assault a detainee.
either way, I'm glad I don't live in hartford if either of them will be reinstated.
Officer Murtha was the one who had the car coming toward him and shot at the vehicle. The police dash camera gave a somewhat different version, but keep in mind that these are split second decisions made by police officers. Did the video show the fleeing vehicle was inches away, a foot away, or three feet away. Easy to say when you have the option of "play and rewind", but if you are the one with a car flying toward you, I think you might see it differently, and justifiably so.
If the convicted felon driving the vehicle attempting to flee from the officer had obeyed the officer's commands, none of this would be important.
to kevin:
conversely, if an officer had not shot at someone who was likely driving away from him, none of this would be important.
to be driving away from the officer on a dead end street, would he not have had to drive past the officer first. I've never been in the situation like that but it seems like a split second to make the decision that your life is in danger, draw your weapon and prepare to fire, all of this with a car traveling at you at what ? 40, 50, 60 miles an hour, very fast moving situation to assess and police officers don't come equipped with computer chips in their brains, until they do, police officers are human and make decisions, as do criminals. I would venture to say the criminal made his decision first , which led to Officer Murtha being forced to make his.
I believe the city paid Sullivan, Schoen, Campane & Connon to handle this case against Murtha. That must have been a big bill. I heard Folley got his award from the labor board this week too. Most of the suspension time was reinstated and the penalty was said to be severe... How much money did the city pay Sullivan, Schoen, Campane & Connon to fight this case, not mention internal man hours, only to have to repay lost time and over time. yikes$$
hopefully our new Corporation Counsel will start reviewing some of these cases and begin working out agreements to cut the City's losses.
Murtha, Foley, Secore, Nolan, Lawlor and plenty of others have been handled poorly and the Corp. Counsels Office has close to a 100% loss record in these cases, but it is hard to defend a loser of a case from the start, even with outside Attorneys.
Murtha's case is probably well over a million in losses to the City, he was already awarded $700,000 and now his back pay and benefits with interest will be substantial. Nolan will possibly be a very large settlement when the testimony is done, Secore at the very least would be a couple years back pay as ordered by the Labor Board. I think his should be pretty easy to settle as long as he returns to work.
Lawlor just filed suit against the States Attorney in his case who he alleges withheld info from the Grand Jury that charged him. At the same time it has been revealed that John Connelly, the Waterbury States Attorney Lawlor is suing is now caught up in a Federal Grand Jury investigation along with a Judge, another attorney and potentially Inspectors from the States Attorney's Office.
It just keeps getting better and better, unless of course you are a taxpayer in Hartford footing the bills for these payouts
Anonymous,
It's easy to pass judgment from the 5 O'clock news but Murtha was acquitted in a court of law by a jury that saw far more of the case then you did from your couch.
But don't feel bad most people live reality through the TV.
you paint an interesting picture of the shooting. my recollection is that the car got stuck on an embankment, murtha jumped out of his car, the car got unstuck and drove away from murtha (proven on video) and he shot at car. On his report, he LIES and says that the car was coming at him and he did this whole split second save my life thing that your helping him with and when he was confronted with the existence of the video, he took it back.
welcome back murtha, i'm sure it won't be too long before your getting some nice pj bucks from some of the same cops who refused to testify against you. one big ole' happy family over there. oh yeah, and if you have a family member who needs a job, make a tow company take them in in return for that company being the first one you call when you tow a car.
by the way, that last posting was me.
Mary, you are wrong. I know. The car drove at him and by him. And he never took anything back, even when he was confronted with the video. Sorry Mary. You are wrong.
this is from the courant: "A Hartford police videotape released Monday, March 10, 2003, shows Officer Robert Murtha, who will face a first-degree assault charge in Hartford Superior Court Tuesday, firing his gun three times into the driver's side of a car driven by Elvin Gonzalez. The tape, recorded by a video camera in another cruiser, shows that Murtha got out of his police cruiser while Gonzalez attempted to maneuver the vehicle back onto the street. Once it did, Murtha who had gotten out of the car, ran alongside Gonzalez' car and fired the weapon into the moving vehicle, the video showed."
here's the link to the photo of the above caption (http://www.courant.com/sports/football/hrt-copvideo20100215142815,0,7999990.photo)
Here's a document from 123people.com which has a crap load of press regarding the acquittal and some of the backstory.
http://members.cox.net/13thjuror/Murtha%20testimony.doc
Anonymous is right, it doesn't look like Murtha took his story back. He got an expert to explain how the stress of the situation might've led him to believe that he got hit. One thing is certain, his retelling of the event was contradicted that of the video.
Kevin ask Attorney Jessica Ritter at the Law Offices of Sullivan,Schoen,Campane and Cannon what the bill was to defend...yes THAT ritter
I can't help think about all the cops winning law suits. You have to wonder how many private citizens and other Hartford employees are also looking at settlements.
John Rose and Eddie Perez really left a mess for the new administration and Hartford tax payers.
Why does a 3 sentence post get all the comments and the ones that I work on for hours get nothing ? :)
Matt, I agree. Saundra Kee-Borges, the new Corp Counsel,will have to buy a truckload of gauze to stop all the bleeding from the damage that John Rose caused. She needs to do it rather quick though before it gets much worse. If it offers any encouragement, my limited dealings with her so far seem to be much more reasonable than Rosie. She actually responds to e-mails in a coherent format without any obscenities, unlike Rose.In an e-mail on Monday she agreed to abide by the FOI proposed decision I posted here on Saturday. No argument, no appeal, just an acceptance of the FOI ruling.
It's a good start, but I know she has a huge mess to dig through.
Anonymous posted:Kevin ask Attorney Jessica Ritter at the Law Offices of Sullivan,Schoen,Campane and Cannon what the bill was to defend...yes THAT ritter.
Is this in the Foley case? The private firm doesn't have to give me anything, but I can "FOI" the City's records as long as I know which case it is. Is Jessica Ritter related to the Councilman? I am not aware of any connection.
Feel free to e-mail me privately if you don't wish to post details here.
Thanks
Yes, Jessica Ritter is the Councilman's sister. But why does that matter. It just means that there's one less person in on any conversation about the case because he would have to recuse himself.
Anonymous:
Thanks for posting the Courant story on the acquital.
http://members.cox.net/13thjuror/Murtha%20testimony.doc
Murtha was not close to being convicted. His acquital was three years ago. I have no idea why, if he wants to be a cop,he still isn't three years after the trial. While Mary is glad she doesn't live in Hartford where we'd have cops like Murtha, the real problem with the town is that we have too many folks like Elvin Gonzales.
correction:
The acquittal was nearly four years ago. The incident itself occurred in 2003. What gives? If he wants to be a cop, why should it take so long for him to get his job back?
Peter, it was well known for at least two+ years that Murtha was for sure going to win his job back. Roberts never liked him, so he did not want him back. McKoy felt if they just ignored the prblem it would just go away. Together those two have cost the city hundo's. Getting up near millo's.
Kevin....When John Rose proposed the $490,000. settlement, Nick Carbone and a few others wanted to use the case to embarass Perez and Rose. They organized among the Council to block the settlement and now Hartford will have to pay 1 million when its all said and done...THANKS NICK !!!!!!!!!!!
Yeah Carbone is on the Firearms Discharge Board and Cintron as well as he is the co-chair of the 3rd district and the mentor of minnie and ramon.
Carbon was using his relationships in these organizations to embarrass Mayor Perez and he,Minnie and others convinced the Council to reject some settlements like Murtha's.Their puppet Ken Kennedy joined them in the Murtha vote.
The stupidity of these idiots in stopping perfectly reasonable settlements will end up costing the city taxpayers millions of dollars.
Send the bill for the increase between the proposed settlement of Murtha and what the City will have to pay to Nick Carbone.He has been raping the City his whole life by way of tax deferrals and tax scams approved by the city thru his political muscle for property that he owns and has plenty of money buried that he got from the City.
Tip..check into the property he owns on Sigourney Street thru a corporation for recent city "help"
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