Ok, so here goes.Recently the Hartford police Academy graduated a class of recruits. Among those recruits, now a probationary Police Officers is Luis Feliciano.On June 9, 2006 Feliciano was arrested in Springfield Massachusetts for Murder. Feliciano's arrest was made based upon a security guards identification of him. The Security Guard apparently knew Feliciano from a previous encounter and led Springfield Police to his apartment. The security guard told Springfield Police that she saw individuals previously known to her fighting and then flee into an apartment. The security guard escorted police to Apartment 405, Officer Feliciano's apartment.
When Springfield Police knocked on the door, Feliciano answered and the officer noticed one other male in the apartment. Feliciano and the other male fit the description provided by the security guard. Once Feliciano and the other male were placed in custody, a stand up field identification was done and the security guard identified Feliciano and the other male as having been involved in the fight earlier that resulted in the stabbing death of the victim. Feliciano and the other male were placed under arrest and the case was turned over to Springfield's Homicide unit. Eventually the charges against Feliciano were nolled by the Hampshire County District Attorney, which meant that they decided not to prosecute Feliciano for the murder.
Sources have told me that it appears that Feliciano was apparently at the fight where the stabbing occurred but on June 30, 2006 another individual Jose Rivera, was indicted for the actual murder and was subsequently sentenced to 5-7 years in prison. As a result of the nolle, all murder charges against Feliciano were dismissed and the records were destroyed. Except for an interesting twist, there probably would be no record available now. After the charges against Feliciano were dismissed, he applied to the Springfield Police Department to be hired as a Police Officer. Since several officers who actually responded to and investigated the homicide were still employed by Springfield, they had first hand knowledge of Feliciano and the murder.
Once his background investigation was started, red flags were raised by the officers.Feliciano was rejected as a potential police officer for the City of Springfield. Even though the records of the case were legally destroyed, essentially clearing Feliciano's record, the City refused to hire him. That on its face value makes Feliciano sound like a victim of police officers with long memories.
Massachusetts has a Civil Service Commission which is the agency you complain to if you feel you are being treated wrong in hiring practices by a Massachusetts municipality. And here is the interesting twist. By going to the Commission, Feliciano essentially put all the facts that were destroyed as a result of the nolle back on the record as sworn testimony before the commission and part of the public record. The facts of the case are pretty basic as outlined above, except for a couple of disturbing details that might not be the best qualities for a Hartford Police Officer.
According to the Commissions decision, the Springfield Police applied for a search warrant to search Feliciano's apartment subsequent to his arrest on the murder charge According to the decision, during a search of Feliciano's apartment at 1607 Main Street, Apt 405 police officers found a clear plastic bag containing a scale, a box of plastic bags and two clear plastic bags which contained a white powdery substance and chunks of an off white substance. the report further stated "this is consistent how cocaine is packaged and stored for future sale in the City of Springfield As part of the report , officers requested an additional charge of Trafficking in Class B Cocaine.
It appears that for some reason those charges "fell through the cracks" and no charges were ever filed against Feliciano Also troubling is that the hearing Officer found Feliciano to be less than truthful in his testimony before the Commission. Feliciano testified that Apartment 405 was not his, even though evidence of a signed lease in Feliciano's name was entered as evidence as well as his personal mail that was sent to apartment 405. The hearing officer actually wrote in his decision that Feliciano's "failure to offer truthful, forthright testimony from the outset on this issue undercut his credibility and therefore I do not credit his testimony in regards to the events that occurred on June 9 2006.
What is a Hartford Police officer if not credible and forthright. The background investigation by the Hartford Police apparently relied on a letter from The Massachusetts's District Attorney regarding the nolle for Feliciano.The Commissions decision was not released until September 20, 2012, after Feliciano graduated from the Academy.
There is no evidence or documentation at this time as to how far the investigator pursued the details of the case. On Friday October 5, 2012 Hartford Police Chief James Rovella essentially disbanded HPD's Background Unit. Backgrounds will now be conducted by Investigators from the Internal Affairs Division. When asked about the Investigation, Chief Rovella told me that he has requested a full Investigation of the facts by Lt. Rob Davis and the Internal Affairs Division. At the conclusion of that investigation, Chief Rovella says that appropriate action will be taken if necessary. The full report by the Civil Service Commission is below.
And as I mentioned in the beginning, attempts to get Officer Feliciano's version of the events were unsuccessful
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Feliciano Luis 092012[1]
62 comments:
And he passed the polygraph? Did the golden child do the polygraph? Red flags should have indicated an issue. And who signed off on his background packet? I understand it was probably done under the roberts tenure, but someone's name is on that packet, and that person should be held accountable. This is almost as upseting as the hire of the lobster thief.
The bar is set low i guess....
Wow....Kevin, wtf? I did not believe these lockeroom rumors, but I am reading this and becoming extremely enraged that this happened. Who in backgrounds authorized this hire? I understand the whole nolle thing. I mean I was arrested a long time ago for breach, which was nolled. But murder is kinda serious, and the fact that several non truthfull issues were brought to light makes this seem even more disturbing. Rovella did the right thing by giving the backgrounds to Internal Affairs. No more buddy system and taking care of lobster theif hair dressers.......
The problem with this is, he is hired, already went through the academy, and is on the road. I actually hear that he is smart and is taking to the job well. But the issue is, police are held to a higher standard. Even to be associated with a murder investigation should raise red flags. The fact is that the HPD backgrounds investigation failed to bring these questionable actions to the attention of command staff. I could be wrong, but someone wearing a white shirt signed the packet. In regards to the last comment, it is easy to pass a polygraph, just like it is a proven fact that certain individuals have passed the Sgt exam, when they can barely read. Everyone deserves a fair shake, but after reading the transcript from Mass. It paints a picture of someone that should not be carrying a firearm. If he stays, then ok, the system needs to be fixed, and Im sure Rovella will take the steps to make sure this never happens again.
Wow, I've known Luis for about 9 years now and I can't believe that this is still haunting him. Luis is one of the funniest and good hearted person I have ever met. I was behind him when this whole thing happened. That WAS NOT his apartment! I've been to his Apt.! He co-signed for a friend! The lease clearly states (read doc.) that it ended on April, 30th 2006. I don't get it......he was clearly mistaken for another person, who pled guilty and is in JAIL but no one thinks about that huh? Hope he sues.....
Keep you head up Luis!! The whole class is behind you and love you brother!! It's so easy to judge by just having the word "murder" out there. SPD letter says that it was mistaken identification because they thought you were the guilty guy. End of story. Stay safe brother!
academy 2012-1,
and what about the allegations of the cocaine in his apartment? acceptable also?
Kevin, I really wish you would get his side of the story. It was not his apartment. Did it ever cross your mind why the police never charged him for that?
anonymous 1:21pm,
I can 't force him to talk to me, I gave him every opportunity to speak with me to explain his side and he chose not to. The report seems to make it clear that Springfield PD dropped the ball and that he should have been arrested for cocaine trafficking, line 36 of report.
Allegations? That's all? Leave this kid alone already.
Just read it. I can only imagine what this guy is going through. Are you telling me that SPD did not even know that a murder case was solved and closed? Wow. Then when asked to prove of any background narcotic checks on him they "failed" to do so and they call his testimony "plausible?" This guy is getting screwed. Mr. Feliciano, if you are reading this, sue!! If Hartford proceeds with any disciplinary actions after the fact based on allegations, sue!
The fact that he associated himself with drug dealers and murderes should've been an automatic disqualifier. Plenty of qualified candidates were passed over this guy. Candidates with law enforcement backgrounds as well. I guess the old adage that crime does not pay is not true if you are a minority in HPD. Committ a crime before getting hired, committ a crime after getting hired and still keep your job. You can literally get away with murder here.
Lord knows i made mistakes on this job but hey give the guy a chance if he made it this far then good for him. The only thing that concerns me is that someone was left in a alley for dead and at the minimum he should have notified police AMR or someone because he was there his involvement is a mystery. Ask his cuzzo Sammy cruz what he thinks hey I say leave him alone the only time its gonna be an issue is if he's involved with a big case and a good defense attorney brings this up the look on a jury would be priceless and damn yall still getting on Natoya??? There is no comparison here gutless cowards anyways the 49ers taking the bowl this year an the Lakers are back Kobe today tomorrow an forever I always say the key to long life an health is exercise healthy eating and polish women
Hey academy class of 2012. You have approximately 3 weeks on the job. Before we start a democratic rant of some type, keep your mouths closed. In my 16 years of patrol street time, I have seen new guys come and go. My advice is to keep quiet and get some time on the job before involving yourselves in department politics. Remember one thing, are you here for a career, and to provide for your family, or to make drinking buddies.........
In regards to this guy, unfortunately I don't blame him. I blame backgrounds. He should not have passed. Detective Knight would be ashamed with this.
Whatever happened, it still proves that this guy hung out with people that were unsavory inviduals. The drug thing also raises questions that the polygraph should have caught. ( golden child ) but im not surprised.
In the end, this new chief will make the right call. Backgrounds to IA is a good thing. No more buddy hairdresser lobster thieves from now on.
I dont understand why the aka "golden child" is being brought up.
Did we talk about Gutherie's polygraph person, Agostino (and his possible arrest), Chris Sullivan, Robles, ETC ETC.
Good for you Mr. Seniority. Nobody cares. We all wear the same uniforms and are all also entitled to our own opinions so stop the "16 year patrol time" crap and go talk yourself up to someone to who cares. And if you're gonna play the seniority, "I'm better than you" card at least back it up by puting your name on here since you're that much of a super-cop.
hey give the man a chance he'll probably be a decent cop if backgrounds dropped the ball shame on them Chief Rovella will fix it give the kid a take home car i like my black chevy I keep it clean and my giants taking the bowl this year believe that
This blog is a wealth of information this is one hell of a story somebody definitely dropped the ball on this one well he got to this point lets see how he does put him on the elite shooting team they cleaned up the streets and brought back prosperity to the department an my cowboys taking it oh yea
This is crazy who did the background on this guy they need to be transferred this ludicrous like Lieutenants catching feelings over dispathcers and harassing his subordinates dont get mad your chick chose me play the game playa lets just see how this plays out
What amazes me is how fast everyone wants to point fingers at "the golden boy." There is more then one person in 2012-1 that failed his polygraph (all are documented) these individuals were simply sent by their prospective background "investigator" to another polygraph (state police) until they passed. Furthermore it should be noted that the "Golden Boy" you speak of happens to be a highly educated, professional, well mannered individual. Though I understand these are not traits common to Hartford Police Officers (Guthrie, Agostino, Robles, etc) these are the reasons has been afforded the opportunities he has.
Luis Feliciano is a good man an innocent man. A man that was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was wrongfully arrested for this crime and not convicted for a reason. The same thing could happen to anyone your brother, cousin or uncle. He had a dream to become a police officer prior to this incident. Even though he was wrongfully arrested for a crime he did not commit he still believed in the law and respected it. He continued to pursue his dream only to get scrutinized over offense that was dropped and he was cleared of. He is a police officer now. He risks his life for the people of Hartford, even the ones that are judging him. He fights for justice because of what he has been through. There is always more to the story so please remember this is a man that has dedicated his career to serve and protect the public.
I have known Luis for a very long time. He is a noble, trustworthy, kind hearted individual. It is unfortunate that all these allegations, that in fact were never charged, are haunting him.
The golden child is not luis, it is someone else who gets take home cars, polygraph course, cso, bike class, gets to do what he wants because he knows peoples......
The posting for K9 officer was posted between the hours of 0100 hrs and 0400 hrs in the second stall of the boys bathroom on the day of 10-2-12. If you missed it, then its your own fault.
Stop making this new guy out to be the second coming of jesus, he just got here. backgrounds is to blame. Maybe he will be a good cop, but don't all jump on the bandwagon like that lucky giants win this weekend over niners....
another HPD love triangle is about to begin!!!! Lts+ Dispatchers + playas = get ready ta rumble!!!!!
This is a case of mistaken identity. Luis was arrested based on a security guards identification of him that was later thrown out. They have the man that committed the crime who pled guilty to the murder. What more is there to say. An innocent man is getting screwed because of an allegation. Is that fair? You can accuse anybody for anything if they did it is a different story. Leave him alone. All he wants to do is enforce the law. My hat tips off to him for still wanting to be an officer after he had to go through an allegation of that magnitude.
I am a writer and a Law Enforcement Officer in Massachusetts. No disrespect to you, Sir but this is just a blog, not an article in Time Magazine. I am not sure you had such a difficult time posting the aforementioned blog which may lead some uninformed readers to believe that Luis is a dishonest individual. There is an obvious negative tone to this "article". Please leave the guy alone. Don't ask to speak with him. Luis has done more than enough talking in efforts to clear his name and get on with his life. Years after the unfortunate altercation that claimed a man's life, Luis has had to defend his name and the content of his character. In my personal opinion, SPD conducted a less than stellar investigation in the murder case. Nevertheless, the responsible individual WAS arrested, tried and convicted. SPD mentioned finding several items consistent with illegal drugs in a home they could not prove belonged to Luis. SPD should have conducted a solid investigation and charged the guilty parties but encountered one problem. They lacked credible evidence. SPD may have also conducted an illegal search and seizure. All of which was swept under the rug by the SPD and forgotten about until Luis decided to challenge them years later. It seems easy to call someone a killer, drug dealer or liar. Especially if you cannot prove it. If anyone is being dishonest it is definitely not the man in the HPD uniform.
for the legal experts posting here, there is a huge difference between innocent and lucky. There is no dispute, according to the documents that Feliciano was present at and part of a serious assault(paragraph 30) that resulted in the death of another human being. Feliciano was not "innocent", he was lucky that a prosecutor was assigned the case that didn't want to seem to do the heavy lifting and prosecute the case since the person that actually plunged the knife into the victim plead guilty. I am glad that you are able to overlook the cocaine and trafficking testimony, I hope you get the same consideration if you are ever in a vehicle or apartment where drugs are located, but again, that doesn't equate to "innocent", maybe ignorant though for putting yourself in that situation, especially if you are planning on a career as a police officer
Ok so i read said paragraph. So he started the fight? Based on witnesses correct? Read paragraph 32., "Detective stated that Mr. Feliciano was in a group of men that were involved in an altercation which resulted in the death of another subject. MR. FELICIANO WAS CLEARED IN COURT DUE TO A FALSE IDENTIFICATION." What if i told you that the individual that was found guilty of the crime was never arrested on scene or on said date, but in fact a few weeks later? Good job SPD for not putting that info out. Page 12, 3rd paragraph. Im assuming you don not belive his testimony either. You should apply for a position at the Springfield Police Department, you'd fit right in.
I have been on the force for almost 10yrs and i am disgusted in the way we treat eachother. My main and ONLY concern everyday is to get home safe to my family. Isnt it bad enough that we have to deal with the madness of society? Dont know Feliciano and dont care. Whatever happened it was before he was an officer. I will judge him myself as an Officer and not on his past. As long as he backs me up, i will do the same because we are brothers and sisters in blue.
I'm dying laughing over here ! OMG...too funny !
The new k9 officer looks happy in his take home cruiser...
It will be interesting to see if the chief signiture is forged when the time comes to cut orders to go to the k9 school.......I believe there should be fairness, since the k9s has always been a highly desired postion.
How about the c squad cop who is off on worker's comp, but feels ok to go skydiving? Last time I saw someone hurt or have surgery on their back they weren't able to take part in any extracarricular acctuvites other than recouperating and laying in bed, not shooting commercials for Red Bull.
uh oh, workers comp corruption at Hartford Police??? you don't say.............what a freakin surprise....
Word is that lobster-gate will be ending soon.......
This entire blog has been hijacked by a large number of grammatical errors and finger pointing. Punctuation errors and more importantly, bias on the part of the author raise the question of credibility in this article as well.
Anonymous 4:24pm, Thanks for the free editorial service, a few things with your posting, it should be "raises the question", if you used the plural of "questions" raise would work. Also, I think you could drop the "as well " at the ende of your last sentence. What is the bias you describe, I posted a public document, the facts are all in there and it was posted in its entirety
kee borgess making $234,000 a year as your acting coo. Wheres the outrage and foia's for that larceny?
so its ok to steal lobsters?.....next time she should get some steaks too.....bring em to the next c squad party...unbelievable that she is allowed to work a patrol car....it must be comforting to the tax paying citizens of Hartford to know that when they call in a larceny complaint it could very well be a thieving officer that arrives to take the complaint....what a complete joke to the department and citizens of the city.....can you say a federal investigation should occer for how several issued have been handled by HPD?
Mr Brookman im coninced now you are a Racist from the time of this blog's inception you have repeatedly posted about police officers of color wether black or hispanic going all the back to Chief Roberts now he's gone and your still posting about people of color you have never posted a negative post about any white police officers i find that interesting let me let you in on a secret the African American officers in the police dept. call you Rush Limbaugh just some food for thought the next time you run for anything in the city of Hartford that's predominantly black and hispanic
I think Captain Bernier, chief Horvath, Chief Ciesinski, and Chief Sansom might disagree with you on the minorities only comment. But I understand though, if racism is the only tool you have to defend your behavior, go with it, someone might listen
Holy run-on sentence Ofc. Johnson!
Wow. This guy use to work for Walmart in Springfield. I heard he and his partner almost got stabbed a few times catching shoplifters. He's a cool dude.
Mr brookman who do you think you are? Luis Feeliciano doesn't have to say anything to you. You're not the police or a Grand Jury I wouldn't give you the time of day you are never objective you only bash minorities and, you're a bigot. This is a free country you have the right to be a bigot just like alot of the white police officers that post on this blog.I saw you at the Irish parade but not the West Indian or puerto rican parade your actions and dimeanor an ways speak for themselves. I bet you have a autographed signed copy of Mein Kampf (thats Adolph hitler's book) for the idiots in hee that don,t read. Hey freedom of speech right? Well the Aryan nation , KKK, White Wolves and the Miitia are alive and well in here.
Tron has the C-squad runnin in circles and setting them straight. Bout time they got squared away. Steel Curtain by 3 Sunday night ya heard.
Why evryone blaming backgrounds we did our job put it all in the packet an the chief signed off on it. theres so many haters in here its pathetic go cry to someone who gives a shit Ofc Felician made it through the whole process unscathed leave the man alone. Lets not talk about all the rejects that made it in here det Knight and Sgt Brooks were running backgrounds should i name a few Contreras, Raimundi, Sullivan,Collins,Campbell etc etc etc I did my job an researched and put it all together Sgt Maccci an Chief roberts signed it so stop hating haters peace out!
too black for HPD,
you are not only a coward, but you are a moron as well. If you judge racial acceptance by the Parades I attend, then you should know I was at both. And if you are actually a Police officer who marched in either parade, you might recall that I was helping your Union President at the grill behind 525 Main St. after the Puerto Rican Day Parade. The same as i did at the Riverfest Celebration. It is unfortunate that you judge right and wrong by someones race and are unable to see beyond skin color to decide that certain behaviors are not acceptable no matter what the race is
C squad's on lockdown now that old Gordo's having new kids do chinese fire drills in the middle of the night...what's next, guess who the guy under the motor cycle helmet is or hot potato with lobsters?
I'm never going to play the race card when I post on this blog. In fact I never the play the race card. The fact is as a black man I been wronged more in life from black people than any other people on earth. My conern is the following police officer Sean Collins was a police officer paid by the citizens of hartford to protect and serve. He was arrested and convicted in the court of law of threating to kill an american citizen for defending his right of freedom. The witnness said Collins was making racist statements and was trying to get the victim to agree that white people are superior, to blacks the arrest warrant says.My concern is simple. Who did the background check on officer Collins, who was officer Collins partner and did his partner an racist actionms of officer Collins while on duty. If so did he or she report it to those higher in command. Where the citizens of Hartford lives at risk with this human being patrolling the city espically the north end. Why didn't we see any post about this officer on this website. It is clear that many Hartford police officers read and post on this site. Where was the out rage??? Come on police speak up !! What was going on and are there more Hartford police officers who have the same attitudes like him? See I post the facts no fiction speak up bloggers keep it real!!!!
So I hope that officer puts a civil rights complaint against that c sqaud supervisor for ordering her to run laps around her cruiser...confirmed!!!!!!If your wondering too, its Sgt. GORDON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I smell a civil rights violation....
No Item a for destroying evidence at a crime scene. It's ok, because now the bar is set pretty low, so when the next person does it, free vacation...so evidence tampering and lying about arson to your own car is signs of good character for cops at HPD.
No Item A for lobster Theif too... Another allstar hire...
Feliciano changed his tune as to the facts and circumstances of the incident. That in itself raises signs of impropriorties... but since the group of criminals are her workin, why not keep him, he will fit in..
what a loser . good job hartford hire more criminals
Kevin....so wheres the dirt on the c squad chinese fire drill?....this will be your biggest story of 2012 by far.....i guarantee this will also set a new comments posting record...start digging Kevin because your missing a gem of a story....
ok so a Black Sergeant made a white female officer run around a cruiser yea it was wrong but if you gonna post the dirt on him make sure you post the dirt on the white Sergeants that harass black officers don't go there what Sergeant Gordan did was wrong but if you gonna get on him get on Sergeant Kessler an Sergeant Yergeau an Sergeant Reynolds for their harrasing of black an latino officers
The background check should be outsourced to an independent firm that has no ties to HPD or politicians.
Welcome Luis. I'm going to fill you in on HPD culture. This department is filled with self righteous "elites" who think they know the objective right and wrong of EVERYTHING. Thus, they ultimately feel they have the right to subjectively judge others.
We act on what we know, but what we know is instructed to us by those with agendas. So we think we act freely. But how can we act as such if we base our decisions solely on knowledge that others have instilled in us?
An example of this would be the 16 year old "veteran" who posted above. He clearly thinks that defending your character against Kevin's post is inconceivable because you just graduated from the academy. The worst part about his opinion? It's almost entirely base on childish hazing rituals which should not be allowed in a PROFESSIONAL workplace. Yeah, I understand that hazing can be used to test officers under situations of stress and hostility. The problem is, it can quickly escalate to bullying, and often is responsible for the distrust toward superiors and veterans.
Hope you learned something from this Luis. Elitism, for noble or selfish causes, is never a good thing. Don't be the next 20 B squad.
okay so I read all your comments from 2012 and some felt very bad for this man and some didn't okay its 2014 and have you seen the latest on him? HARTFORD, Conn. (WWLP) – Hartford police officer Luis Feliciano was arrested and charged with larceny and possession of a shoplifting device on Tuesday.
Mmmmmm I wonder why the Sprinfield, MA department rejected you ?
The good and gracious City of Hartford has hired thugs, thieves, perverts, and other religious personal. I don't see why we can't hire drug dealers and murders. Give him a job. Sign him up. And for crying out loud, tell him he can leave his gun in the car while he goes upstairs to bang a hot date for the night. Yo.....bro.
This man been a crook who are you fooling buddy ten years in Mass Wal Mart his house must of looked like a movie theater sheesh I'm going to go get my popcorn out the oven be back after the hammer falls
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