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November 6th, 2009 by Cooper Levey-Baker in Editor's Desk, News, Politics, Sarasota-Manatee
The news everyone will be talking about today: The Hillsborough Sheriff’s Office concludes that the Sarasota Police Department did nothing “illegal, unethical or immoral” in its handling of the Juan G. Perez case. Lots of stuff to sort out:
— Click here to download a PDF of the report for yourself from the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
— “[City Manager Robert] Bartolotta emphasized Thursday that he has not read the nearly 3,000 pages in the full report and has not made a decision on [Police Chief Peter] Abbott’s future with the department. The report concludes that Abbott made ‘mistakes’ but still has the confidence of employees at the department. Bartolotta said that conclusion is another piece of information, but does not mean Abbott will keep his job.”
— Legal experts disagree that the SPD did nothing “unethical”: “The Police Department improperly mixed a civil settlement with an ongoing investigation by having the same detective who was investigating allegations of excessive force broker a civil settlement in the case, said Joseph Pollini, a law professor at John Jay College in N.Y. Also, it was unethical for the city’s risk manager to have victim Perez sign a waiver on a Saturday morning, use a fellow officer for a translator, and do so without a lawyer representing Perez, Jacob said.”





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