Posted on Mon, Nov. 28, 2005
A costly police officer for Phila.
By Robert Moran
Inquirer Staff Writer
Police Officer Kenneth Fleming has cost the City of Philadelphia and an insurance company nearly $1 million in legal settlements.
In one case alone, $750,000 was paid to settle a suit brought by a minister who was nearly paralyzed when Fleming threw him to the ground at Philadelphia International Airport.
Fleming has been suspended for punching a court officer in front of a sitting judge, and for performing a strip search in public. He's been called a liar by the Police Department's own internal investigators.
And, yet, the 24-year veteran of the force remains on the job.
"Why is Fleming still in the department and still in contact with the public?" asked civil rights lawyer David Rudovsky, who represented two people who have won settlements in cases involving Fleming.
Fleming did not respond to requests for an interview. And Police Commissioner Sylvester M. Johnson would not address his case for this article.
Rudovsky's concern seems to have been anticipated a decade ago by Common Pleas Court Judge Anne E. Lazarus, who witnessed Fleming assault her court officer.
In a complaint to the Police Department, Lazarus asked: If Fleming shows "so little respect for a court when the judge is actually sitting on the bench, what must [his] behavior be like on the streets?"
Today, Fleming, 45, is expected to face another police disciplinary hearing - which is closed to the public - this time for allegedly using excessive force against the minister.
Until the Philadelphia Police Department decides otherwise, Fleming remains on duty at the airport, facing thousands of daily travelers.
On July 13, 1995, Judge Lazarus was listening to lawyers arguing a motion when two men in casual clothes entered the sequestered courtroom.
When Court Officer Gary Wakshul tried to stop them, one declared: "You can't do anything to us. We're... cops!"
Wakshul told the Police Department's Internal Affairs that Fleming grabbed his necktie with one hand and punched him in the face, knocking off his glasses. The other man, Officer Jean Langan, also punched Wakshul.
The Internal Affairs investigation found that Fleming and Langan, who had been working undercover with a narcotics unit, punched Wakshul and used profanity, though both denied it.
The District Attorney's Office took more than a year to evaluate the case and decided not to prosecute the officers.
A spokeswoman for the District Attorney's Office said the case was "not prosecutable" and declined to comment further.
Instead, the Police Department suspended Fleming for three days.
Captured on video
On March 28, 1999, Fleming and another officer stopped a red BMW in North Philadelphia to search the driver, Robert Hluchan Jr., 26, and the car for drugs.
Unbeknownst to Fleming and his partner, the stop was videotaped by an onlooker who later sold the tape to Hluchan's attorney.
On the tape, Fleming can be seen removing Hluchan's belt, lowering his pants and shining a flashlight inside the front and back of his underwear. Such a search violates department policy, which requires strip searches to be conducted in a police facility and not in public.
Hluchan was not arrested. The Police Department launched an investigation after he threatened to sue.
Internal Affairs investigators found Fleming guilty of lying to them when questioned about the incident. He also was found guilty of failing to cooperate with the investigation.
Fleming was suspended for 30 days without pay and transferred to the auto pound, where he would have minimal contact with the public.
He challenged the transfer in arbitration and won, and subsequently was reassigned to the airport.
Airport encounter
On June 23, 2003, Jorge Granados, a 52-year-old minister who was then based in Parkside, Delaware County, had just flown back to Philadelphia from the Dominican Republic, where he was helping build a school.
He encountered Fleming in the passenger-loading zone of Terminal A, where the officer was about to ticket Granados' wife for illegal parking.
A brief dispute developed when Granados tried to open the rear hatch of his minivan so he could load his luggage. Fleming later testified that the minister, who is 5-foot-3 and weighed 160 pounds, grabbed his arm "and stepped into my personal space, at which time I felt threatened."
Granados family members said they did not see the pastor touch the officer.
Fleming, who is 5-foot-10 and weighed 195 pounds, testified that he performed a "control hold and a take-down maneuver" on Granados, who landed on his back in the street.
Granados, who was arrested on assault and other charges, was later taken to Mercy Hospital of Philadelphia. He had spinal-cord surgery there three days later to prevent the possibility of ending up paralyzed from the neck down. Among other procedures, doctors screwed a plate to his spine.
The next January, Granados appeared in court to face charges of simple assault, resisting arrest and reckless endangerment.
Municipal Court Judge William A. Meehan found Granados not guilty of all charges.
A company insuring the airport paid Granados a $750,000 settlement in August.
Testimony in drug case
In 2000, a drug case involving Fleming was referred to the District Attorney's Office on suspicion that Fleming provided false testimony on the stand. The case was subsequently referred to police Internal Affairs.
In the case, Fleming testified against a man he had arrested for alleged drug-dealing. Fleming said he watched the man with binoculars from a "confidential location" for 15 minutes and observed drug transactions. He then "regrouped" with his partner.
Asked whether his confidential location was an automobile, Fleming said no.
However, Fleming's partner, Officer Christopher Rommel, testified that he and Fleming had been together "continuously," answering radio calls and engaging in "routine patrol" in a marked police car. While patrolling, Fleming announced that he had seen a drug transaction and told Rommel to jump out of the car and make the arrest.
Prosecutors later dropped the case against the defendant.
Ultimately, Internal Affairs did not sustain the complaint against Fleming that the District Attorney's Office had forwarded.
That same year, Fleming arrested a drug suspect, Willis Pryor, 31. At trial, the judge did not allow Pryor's lawyer to raise Fleming's Internal Affairs record to question the officer's credibility.
Pryor was found guilty. Public defenders appealed the case to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, claiming that Pryor's constitutional rights were denied because they were prevented from questioning Fleming's credibility.
The high court overturned the conviction and ordered a new trial. Prosecutors declined to retry Pryor, who had already spent nearly 22 months in custody. To avoid a lawsuit, the city paid Pryor $28,000.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/states/pennsylvania/13272741.htm
A costly police officer for Phila.
By Robert Moran
Inquirer Staff Writer
Police Officer Kenneth Fleming has cost the City of Philadelphia and an insurance company nearly $1 million in legal settlements.
In one case alone, $750,000 was paid to settle a suit brought by a minister who was nearly paralyzed when Fleming threw him to the ground at Philadelphia International Airport.
Fleming has been suspended for punching a court officer in front of a sitting judge, and for performing a strip search in public. He's been called a liar by the Police Department's own internal investigators.
And, yet, the 24-year veteran of the force remains on the job.
"Why is Fleming still in the department and still in contact with the public?" asked civil rights lawyer David Rudovsky, who represented two people who have won settlements in cases involving Fleming.
Fleming did not respond to requests for an interview. And Police Commissioner Sylvester M. Johnson would not address his case for this article.
Rudovsky's concern seems to have been anticipated a decade ago by Common Pleas Court Judge Anne E. Lazarus, who witnessed Fleming assault her court officer.
In a complaint to the Police Department, Lazarus asked: If Fleming shows "so little respect for a court when the judge is actually sitting on the bench, what must [his] behavior be like on the streets?"
Today, Fleming, 45, is expected to face another police disciplinary hearing - which is closed to the public - this time for allegedly using excessive force against the minister.
Until the Philadelphia Police Department decides otherwise, Fleming remains on duty at the airport, facing thousands of daily travelers.
On July 13, 1995, Judge Lazarus was listening to lawyers arguing a motion when two men in casual clothes entered the sequestered courtroom.
When Court Officer Gary Wakshul tried to stop them, one declared: "You can't do anything to us. We're... cops!"
Wakshul told the Police Department's Internal Affairs that Fleming grabbed his necktie with one hand and punched him in the face, knocking off his glasses. The other man, Officer Jean Langan, also punched Wakshul.
The Internal Affairs investigation found that Fleming and Langan, who had been working undercover with a narcotics unit, punched Wakshul and used profanity, though both denied it.
The District Attorney's Office took more than a year to evaluate the case and decided not to prosecute the officers.
A spokeswoman for the District Attorney's Office said the case was "not prosecutable" and declined to comment further.
Instead, the Police Department suspended Fleming for three days.
Captured on video
On March 28, 1999, Fleming and another officer stopped a red BMW in North Philadelphia to search the driver, Robert Hluchan Jr., 26, and the car for drugs.
Unbeknownst to Fleming and his partner, the stop was videotaped by an onlooker who later sold the tape to Hluchan's attorney.
On the tape, Fleming can be seen removing Hluchan's belt, lowering his pants and shining a flashlight inside the front and back of his underwear. Such a search violates department policy, which requires strip searches to be conducted in a police facility and not in public.
Hluchan was not arrested. The Police Department launched an investigation after he threatened to sue.
Internal Affairs investigators found Fleming guilty of lying to them when questioned about the incident. He also was found guilty of failing to cooperate with the investigation.
Fleming was suspended for 30 days without pay and transferred to the auto pound, where he would have minimal contact with the public.
He challenged the transfer in arbitration and won, and subsequently was reassigned to the airport.
Airport encounter
On June 23, 2003, Jorge Granados, a 52-year-old minister who was then based in Parkside, Delaware County, had just flown back to Philadelphia from the Dominican Republic, where he was helping build a school.
He encountered Fleming in the passenger-loading zone of Terminal A, where the officer was about to ticket Granados' wife for illegal parking.
A brief dispute developed when Granados tried to open the rear hatch of his minivan so he could load his luggage. Fleming later testified that the minister, who is 5-foot-3 and weighed 160 pounds, grabbed his arm "and stepped into my personal space, at which time I felt threatened."
Granados family members said they did not see the pastor touch the officer.
Fleming, who is 5-foot-10 and weighed 195 pounds, testified that he performed a "control hold and a take-down maneuver" on Granados, who landed on his back in the street.
Granados, who was arrested on assault and other charges, was later taken to Mercy Hospital of Philadelphia. He had spinal-cord surgery there three days later to prevent the possibility of ending up paralyzed from the neck down. Among other procedures, doctors screwed a plate to his spine.
The next January, Granados appeared in court to face charges of simple assault, resisting arrest and reckless endangerment.
Municipal Court Judge William A. Meehan found Granados not guilty of all charges.
A company insuring the airport paid Granados a $750,000 settlement in August.
Testimony in drug case
In 2000, a drug case involving Fleming was referred to the District Attorney's Office on suspicion that Fleming provided false testimony on the stand. The case was subsequently referred to police Internal Affairs.
In the case, Fleming testified against a man he had arrested for alleged drug-dealing. Fleming said he watched the man with binoculars from a "confidential location" for 15 minutes and observed drug transactions. He then "regrouped" with his partner.
Asked whether his confidential location was an automobile, Fleming said no.
However, Fleming's partner, Officer Christopher Rommel, testified that he and Fleming had been together "continuously," answering radio calls and engaging in "routine patrol" in a marked police car. While patrolling, Fleming announced that he had seen a drug transaction and told Rommel to jump out of the car and make the arrest.
Prosecutors later dropped the case against the defendant.
Ultimately, Internal Affairs did not sustain the complaint against Fleming that the District Attorney's Office had forwarded.
That same year, Fleming arrested a drug suspect, Willis Pryor, 31. At trial, the judge did not allow Pryor's lawyer to raise Fleming's Internal Affairs record to question the officer's credibility.
Pryor was found guilty. Public defenders appealed the case to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, claiming that Pryor's constitutional rights were denied because they were prevented from questioning Fleming's credibility.
The high court overturned the conviction and ordered a new trial. Prosecutors declined to retry Pryor, who had already spent nearly 22 months in custody. To avoid a lawsuit, the city paid Pryor $28,000.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/states/pennsylvania/13272741.htm
