MEDINA INTERNAL AFFAIRS REPORT ON THODY CRASH

MEDINA IAD REPORT ON THODY CRASH  on Scribd

POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY- IS HARTFORD'S CHIEF THODY ABOVE THE LAW?

Hartford's Mayor Luke Bronin knows all the buzz words when angry constituents show up on his front porch. Yet he seems to have lost his voice when it comes to the actions of his hand picked Police Chief Jason Thody

Has anyone heard Bronin speak out about Thody's evading an accident scene?: Has anyone heard any Hartford City Council members, besides Josh Michtom, asking questions or attempting to gather the facts? Michtom is the only person who has called me asking questions. Bronin has apparently told Councilmembers "there is nothing to it". The facts will show that is the furthest thing from the actual truth

Instead Bronin and his staff seem more intent on putting out false information to continue the Thody coverup. "Oh, it was just a minor accident" or"there was very little damage" or the one that "there was less than a $1000 in damage" from Assistant Chief Medina's post dated IAD report. None  of that matters according to Connecticut State Law, unless of course Thody has placed himself above the law, unlike the little people who have to follow and obey those same laws.

Just to be clear, here is one of the Statutes that would, or should apply to Thody's behavior:
Sec. 14-224. Evasion of responsibility in operation of motor vehicles.  (3) Each operator of a motor vehicle who is knowingly involved in an accident that causes injury or damage to property shall at once stop and render such assistance as may be needed and shall give such operator's name, address and operator's license number and registration number to the owner of the injured or damaged property, or to any officer or witness to the injury or damage to property, and if such operator of the motor vehicle causing the injury or damage to any property is unable to give such operator's name, address and operator's license number and registration number to the owner of the property injured or damaged, or to any witness or officer, for any reason or cause, such operator shall immediately report such injury or damage to property to a police officer, a constable, a state police officer or an inspector of motor vehicles or at the nearest police precinct or station, and shall state in such report the location and circumstances of the accident causing the injury or damage to property and such operator's name, address, operator's license number and registration number.

In case you don't like reading full statutes, here are the imperative points:

the operator of a motor vehicle who is knowingly involved in an accident that causes injury or damage to property shall at once stop and render such assistance as may be needed and shall give such operator's name, address and operator's license number and registration number to the owner of the injured or damaged property, or to any officer or witness to the injury or damage to property,


You might also notice that no where in that Statute does it mention a threshhold of $1,000. No where. just part of the coverup by Thody and I might add , by his silence or misinformation Luke Bronin. Assistant Chief Medina also threw that in his so called Internal Affairs report. Maybe it is from ignorance of the law, but I kind of doubt it

If Luke Bronin is really interested inj gathering the facts and maintaining the public's trust in his Police Chief and his Police Department, he needs to start answering questions truthfully. Why did the Autobody shop that repaired Thody's car apparently refuse to turn over the reapir records and billing to Hartford's City Auditors when they requested them Friday? If it was only $1000, show us the bill and prove it. I am being told it was much cloder to $7000.00 if not more. Where is the paper trail of the text mesaages that Thody claims caused him to crash, even a screen shot showing the date and time to coincide with his explanation. Where is the phone record of his notification of COO Thea Montanaz, who according to Medina's report claims she was at home when Thody called. I'm being told a much different version but the phone records wil show the time and even as much as where she was on her phone. Thatg's technology you know, we wi9ll be able to tell, lets say was she actually at home  , or in Vermont or lets even say somewhere like Chester, CT..

There are many more questions that I am sure will be coming out and hopefully some answers .

 Whether Luke Bronin gets out in front of this to build trust or we wait for the answers from the Connecticut State Police and the Middlesex County States Attorney is up to Bronin . It is entirely up to Luke Bronin whether he proves he is just another talking political puppet or is he really a leader willing to confront the difficult decisions head on.

In this current climate of Police mistrust, Hartford's people deserve that .

HARTFORD CHIEF THODY ACCIDENT NOW BEING INVESTIGATED BY CONNECTICUT STATE POLICE AND MIDDLESEX COUNTY STATES ATTORNEY

Statement from the Connecticut State Police issued tonight regarding Thody's crash:

Stay tuned as this develops

MAYOR BRONIN, IT IS TIME TO WALK THE WALK ON THODY CRASH

As the saying  goes, talk is cheap. Hartford's Mayor can't just stand on his front porch when confronted with concerns over the Hartford Police Department and give lip service until he can safely get back inside the confines of his home.

Mayor Bronin, if you want to preserve confidence in the Hartford Police Department and maintain your own integrity, if that exists, you need to act swiftly.

A full investigation into the facts of Hartford Police Chief Jason Thody's crash of his City Vehicle should have already have been ordered by you. In case you haven't been following the news, police relations are at a critical tipping point and your failure to move quickly and decicively to get to the truth could be detrimental to Police/Community relations in Hartford.

Why was the City car in Chester on a Sunday evening? Who was in the car with him and what is the identity of the passenger? If Thody did actually call the Connecticut State Police as he claims, his cell phone records should already be on Bronin's desk. I am sure the Connecticut State Police would be more than willing to provide the recordings of that call to Bronin if they actually exist. ( I am not a gambler, but I would take that bet that there was no call made)

Where are the internal HPD documents to prove that Thody followed accepted HPD procedures as required? Who was the shift Lieutenant that was required to be notified after any HPD officer has interactions with an outside Police agency. Where was the CIR ( report) as required after any City vehicle accident? The incident report claims COO Thea Montanez was notified after the accident, How and when did she document the incident, maybe as a first hand witness?

If  Thody did call CSP as he claims, the recording would be very interesting to hear. What did Thody relate to them to get them to decline responding? And where are the documents submitted to the HPD Fleet manager to facilitate repairs and notifications or did Thody just take the vehicle to a Southend towing company vendor , an HPD contracted tow company to try to get the repairs completed "under the radar" quickly? Where are the photographs taken by the HPD Crime Scene Division to document the damage?

Too many questions for either myself or anyone else to maintain trust in Chief Thody's leadership of HPD. Mayor, it is within your power and obligation to resolve these questions and if you are any kind of leader with integrity you will already be well  underway to be answering these questions and not approving a coverup to protect your allies. I have confidence in Commissioner Rovella that he is already working to maintain the integrity and reputation of his agency, and Mayor Bronin needs to do the same. I have many of the answers to my own questions already and it isn't pretty. Much more to come on this, rest assured.

IS ANYONE PAYING ATTENTION ?

Hartford Police Crime Stats as of June 20, 2020

I know most everyone is preoccupied withy Covid-19 and trying to get back to normal. In the meantime Hartford is in a serious crime crisis.

By their own admission and documents, homicides in Hartford are up 33% and shootings and shooting victims are up over 45%.

What is the plan and what is being done to combat these numbers?

What is the plan Chief Thody , Mayor Bronin, and Hartford City Council? A simple question and Hartford deserves answers

HPD CHIEF THODY CRASHES CITY VEHICLE

I today obtained a Hartford Police incident report for HPD case number 20-16619. Although I had requested the report through an FOI request to HPD, they did not provide it. The report was obtained through "alternative means".

The report details a crash by Hartford Police Chief Jason Thody on May 31, 2020 while he was driving his City of Hartford vehicle, a 2019 Chevy Tahoe.

The report, written by Thody's Chief of Staff at the time, Lieutenant Brian Bowsza, The report states  "on the above date and time", but no time is noted. The narrative states that  Thody was on Route 154 in Chester , Connecticut when "the vehicle"  momentarily crossed the right lane boundary marker and made contact with the guardrail.

There is no mention of damage estimates in Bowsza's report, but sources familiar with the crash estimated that repairs would be in excess of $5,000.

The report further states that the "Connecticut State Police was immediately notified, but declined to respond or provide a case number". That sounds a little odd, but it is easy enough to verify with the Connecticut State Police as far as incident reports, Dispatch entries and actual phone recordings. Much more on that in a future post.

In the meantime, this incident raises more questions than answers. Why did it take almost 13 days for a report to be generated by Bowsza. Hartford's 911 Dispatch Center's records apparently show that the case number wasn't requested until June 12, 2020.

Is the Chief allowed to override policy and procedure and Connecticut State law on reporting an accident? Why is there no mention of the Headquarters Lieutenant being notified as required if there was any interaction with another Police Agency such as CSP? Why was the Crime Scene Division not requested to take photographs of the damage as is normally done with a police vehicle accident?

Who else was in the vehicle with Thody and what City business was being conducted in Chester Connecticut at approximately 6:00PM on a Sunday evening. Was alcohol potentially involved or what "distracted" Thody to veer and hit the guardrail?

Much more to come on this I am sure. Another case of leadership by example at HPD.

FROM HPD: ANOTHER FATAL ACCIDENT

HARTFORD, CONN. - (June 25, 2020) On Thursday, June 25, 2020 at approximately 3:21a.m., patrol officers responded to a serious motorcycle collision in the area of 500 Hudson Street.

Officers located a seriously injured 28-year-old male and seriously injured 22-year-old female on the roadway alongside a motorcycle. The male and female were transported to the Hartford Hospital Emergency Room by Aetna ambulance.

 The male was later pronounced deceased at Hartford Hospital. The female was listed in serious, but stable condition.

The crashed motorcycle, a blue 1999 Yamaha, was the only vehicle involved. Detectives from the Crime Scene Division responded to the scene and assumed control of the investigation. Preliminary investigation of the crash indicates that the motorcycle was traveling northbound in the area of 500 Hudson Street.

Video footage appears to indicate that the motorcycle operator lost control and struck a light pole located on the east side of Hudson Street. Both the male operator and female passenger were ejected from the motorcycle.

 Further reconstruction and investigation of the incident is being conducted. The deceased motorcycle operator has been identified as Carlos Alexis Rivera, of South Windsor, CT. Anyone who may have witnessed or have footage of the incident is asked to call CSD Detective Eric Lemke at 860-757-4125, or the HPD anonymous tip line at 860-722-TIPS (8477)

THE WAKE-UP CALL FOR POLICE ADMINISTRATORS

Anyone whos has seen or heard of the George Floyd video should be rightfully appalled. There are most likely many such incidents that don't result in deaths or are not  recorded, that occur many times each day.

As long as we hire human beings as Police Officers, we will see some bad behavior. We probably don't hear very often about the things great Police Officers do every day, but that's the nature of the beast.

Sadly, I think any Police Chief or Police supervisor worth their salary, knows immediately who their problem Officer's are. The real question is what have they done to curtail their problems and address bad behavior before it escalates.

 The problem is many Chief's and supervisors are unwilling to deal with the consequences of taking bad Police Officer's head on before the next George Floyd.

Police Union's have become more about protecting bad officer's and winning their job's back than in actually looking out for the good officers and protecting them

The "no snitching" mentality is alive and well in just about every Police Department. Good cops, for whatever resaon tend to cover for "bad " cops. Its just the nature of the culture and good Officers who do go beyond and report bad behavior, usually find themselves as the outcasts because they reported a bad cop.

Last summer I received calls from Officer's about an incident on a Northend street. When I asked to see the body cam footage of the incident, I was told by two high level HPD officers that the officer's in question "left the office and forgot their body cameras" Now isn't that convenient, and what discipline or corrective action was eventually taken to make sure it doesn't happen in the future? None is the most likely answer.

I have had conversations with many Police Chief's and high level supervisors regarding bad behavior by Officer's and there seems to be a common theme when dealing with problem Officers...Police Union's and bad Labor Board decisions.

One Police Chief told me he didn't want to terminate a bad Officer, with well documented racist behavior, because he didn't want to face the officer in the hallway in 2 years when the Labor Board would order him to hire the officer back.

Recently HPD was ordered to hire a detective back after he was terminated as the result of his DUI arrest and his well documented racist tirade, repeatedly using the "N" word during his arrest, all caught on dashcam and bodycam in real time.

Where is it acceptable to now assign a documented racist Officer? Is he only a racist whwn he is drunk?

 What about the racist Sergeant who was recently returned to the streets as a supervisor  after he was documented previously referring to Hartford's African American men as "Gorilla's in the mist". Did he serve enough time in  the bowels of HPD in the booking Department that he relinquished his racist viewpoints? Did assigning him to the Southend  ensure he can't exercise his racist behavior. I sure hope so because that is the last thing we need right now and no one can come back and say "geez, what a surprise, we never knew"

Or do we just wait until the next time he has a bad day and boils over in a racist rant? There is too much riding on the Public's trust of Police Officers to allow, or even risk,  continued bad behavior.

It doesn't serve anyone's best interest and it may require Legislative change to address the options.Again, Police Officers are human, but maybe the Legislature should require a Labor decision that keeps them employed, but maybe not in a Police capacity. Somerwhere in a Office is the basement of City Hall might work, with limited public contact.

We also need to do a lot more for mental health support for Officers who see things everyday that no human being should have to see or deal with. It is no wonder some officer's eventually "snap", or worse. Supervisors need to be much more in tune with identifying problems and risk factors and not be afraid or intimidated to address these issues.

More on this in the future. This can't be the dirty little secret that no Police Chief wants to address. It is out in the open now, deal with it and work to fix it. Denial now is futile.