Article

COPS III: MORE POINTS TO CONSIDER ON SUSPICIOUS ‘LOST RECORDS’ FIASCO

0 0 votes
Article Rating

BY DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, TUESDAY, APRIL 12, 2016) — As a commentator to THE PLANET noted yesterday, Pittsfield city officials would have us believe that most of the data on the PPD‘s  “Lost Records” have been recovered — all except those pertaining to the botched arrest of 88-year-old Phyllis Stankiewicz. It’s another of those “Pittsfield Coincidences” that happen in abundance always to the benefits of The Suits.

The Stankiewicz case raises a bunch of questions about the competency and leadership at the PPD. Of more concern, however, is how officials — the police, the DA‘s office, the mayor’s office — covered up the “data loss.” This leads to the most reasonable question of all: What else are they hiding? The corollary can be found in the implication: How can Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski — the honest, hard-working, taxpaying citizens who invariably end up paying for these mistakes one way or the other — believe anything the city tells them, be it about public safety, assessments, taxes, or new $200 million high schools?

Additional Points to Puncture City’s Hot Air Balloons

  • OFFICERS DALE EASON, left, and JENNIFER BRUECKMANNIn the original incident, dispatchers sent officers Dale Eason (left, in photo) and Jennifer Brueckmann (right, in photo) to check out a report of a person outside with a baseball bat. Does baseball now require a city license?
  • Eason and Brueckmann show up by mistake at the home of Stankiewicz. Apparently, they confused 57 Memorial Drive with 57 Wilson St., Stankiewicz’ address.  Lt. Mark Trapani, in an e-mail to Wynn, wrote: “I listened to the call and radio transmissions regarding this unfortunate incident. The caller states that she is in the ‘Wilson Project … in front of number 57.’ She does not say 57 Wilson [S]treet. The poor performance of the dispatcher is the reason why the officers were in the wrong location.”
  • Mrs. S is in the kitchen baking pies. No one is outside, let alone Ted Williams with a bat. Nonetheless, the two Barney Fifes — we won’t say “inept Barney Fifes” because this is Anti-Oxymoron Month — go to the door. Stankiweicz answers holding her “lethal” paring knife, which, by the way, is a great tool for trimming pie crust.
  • The two cops, according to digBoston, “imprisoned her in her home for reasons they failed to specify.” When Stankiewicz tried to leave, the cops shoved her, and the spunky woman gave Eason a-palm-and-five in the face. The cops then put the old woman on the ground, handcuffed her, and hauled her to Allen Street. She had a bruised right arm.
  • The DA declined to prosecute Stankiewicz.
  • An internal e-mail written by Capt. David Granger referred to the actions of the officers as “something that could tarnish the reputation of the department for years.” Mission accomplished, and exactly the kind of information officials would want to “lose” to a hard-drive crash, an armed break-in, or a tiddely-winks champ.
  • The PPD brass wanted to contain this story as much as possible. Nonetheless, word got out about, enough to pique the interest of Andrew Quemere and Maya Shaffer of digBoston. They heard about the bizarre arrest and on June 29, 2015 made a routine records request to the PPD. They were stonewalled.
  • On July 1, according to internal PPD e-mails, investigator John Bassi reported having “issues” with the play-back of booking videos.
  • How much faith do Granger and police chief Mike Wynn have in Eason and Brueckmann? Granger writes in an e-mail to Wynn: “I believe if we sent any other combination of officers from this department to the call it would NOT have ended in an arrest.”
Must See TV

If you haven’t watched this YouTube video, you should. It’s the reporter trying to contact the PPD midday during the week: : not picking up its phone and for trying to charge an unlawful $5 fee to process records requests.

——– 000 ——–

THE PLANET has two e-mails (sent Friday, re-sent yesterday) into Mayor Linda Tyer with the followup questions she invited when she issued her one and only statement on the incident, one in which she exonerated to Wynn’s department. We’re still waiting for a mayoral response.

With the budget coming up, how much longer before ordinary citizens and not just “the activists” storm city hall and take back their government? How much longer before beaten-down taxpayers throw off their chains and demand accountability?

—————————————————————————————————

“What man hands his son a stone if he asks for bread or a serpent if he asks for fish?”Jesus of Nazareth.

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”

LOVE TO ALL.

The views expressed in the comment section or opinions published within the text other than those of PLANET VALENTI are not those of PLANET VALENTI or endorsed in any way by PLANET VALENTI; this website reserves the right to remove any comment which violates its Rules of Conduct, and it is not liable for the consequences of any posted comment as provided in Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and PLANET VALENTI’s terms of service.

0 0 votes
Article Rating
53 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Pat
Pat
7 years ago

The Berkshire Eagle has now run a second article on this incident (only a year late) which goes into some detail and they say they made a request to the police department, but have not received any info on whether the two officers were disciplined for their actions against this very elderly woman.

What happened to this poor woman was terrible enough, but trying to cover it up is totally unacceptable. Our city has turned into Washington D.C.

K-Man
K-Man
Reply to  Pat
7 years ago

Thanks DV for putting this on the front burner, there’s no way the BB would have done more coverage without your pressure.

Rip Van Winkle
Rip Van Winkle
7 years ago

A person answers her door armed, slaps a cop, and gets arrested.

What did you expect the cops to do?

The booking video is one of many that were lost to hard drive failure.

These things happen. What is the big deal?

I suggest you move on to more serious concerns.

Mr G1188
Mr G1188
Reply to  Rip Van Winkle
7 years ago

Two cops act completely inappropriately, making bad decision on top of bad decision compounding the original error exponentially to a point where an 88 year old woman is wrestled to the ground, man-handled, cuffed and arrested, evidence in the case mysteriously disappears, the disappearance is blamed on a bogus, completely avoidable and easily soluble computer error again compounding the initial errors and lack of judgement exponentially, then that whole mess is denied, buried, covered up and stonewalled for almost a year, in defiance of all open, public record access laws…and you ask what is the big deal?!?!?! Either your last name is Eason, Brueckmann or Wynn, or you are the police union rep (indicted…have they gotten a new one yet?) or you just don’t understand what corruption and cover-up are. I am not easily outraged, but Rip, your post did the trick!

Donna M
Donna M
Reply to  Mr G1188
7 years ago

G1188– I agree with totally. This is a troll GOBSIG . The city is loaded with them. Clean sweep is the only solution.

Shakes His Head
Shakes His Head
Reply to  Donna M
7 years ago

The original GOBSIG should be arrested for wearing that dead animal on his melon.

Sarcasmo Fantastico
Sarcasmo Fantastico
Reply to  Shakes His Head
7 years ago

How about worrying about those who can raise your taxes and further screw up this city. You constantly attack a man who’s trying to help the taxpayer. Is your life that empty?

Sarcasmo Fantastico
Sarcasmo Fantastico
Reply to  Shakes His Head
7 years ago

How about worrying about those who can raise your taxes and further screw up this city. You constantly attack a man who’s trying to help the taxpayer. Is your life that empty?

Shakes His Head
Shakes His Head
Reply to  Shakes His Head
7 years ago

proposing petitions that waste time and money for the taxpayer isn’t exactly sticking up for the little guy. Drag out meetings. Install, record, and maintain electronic files of all calls and hire a consultant to review the school department? Who does he think is going to pay for all this? typical GOBSIG misdirection.

EddieP
EddieP
Reply to  Rip Van Winkle
7 years ago

Hey Rip, I think you watch too much television.

K-Man
K-Man
Reply to  Rip Van Winkle
7 years ago

Are you serious Rip? Cops enter the house for no reason. An old woman has a paring knife in her hand. The cops “imprison” her don’t tell her why, shove her, wrestle her to the ground, cuff and bruise her. All with no explanation. And you ask what is the big deal?

Mad Trapper
Mad Trapper
Reply to  Rip Van Winkle
7 years ago

It is not illegal to be armed in your own home, in FACT IT IS A RIGHT!

If the persons at the door, happens to act like Jack Booted Thugs, push their way in and ASSault you, the DA should step and prosecute, the Thugs not Grandma.

Wynn and Bianchi seem to be accomplices, after the fact. Covering up a crime, is a crime in itself………..

Edconnect
Edconnect
7 years ago

Check out officer Dale Easons facebook page. He clearly “Don’t give a F@ck!” How professional.

Wolfman
Wolfman
Reply to  Edconnect
7 years ago

This”moral;” leader of police explorer scouts once donned a costume of a Catholic priest and fastened a male child doll with its head attached to his groin area and went to a costume party apparently as a pedophile, abusive priest. He then proudly posted pictures of this costume on facebook.
Aren’t law enforcemet officers supposed to be held to a higher threshold ? Wasn’t he also involved in a incident with a mentally challenged rape case witness in a police car ? Don’t recall the specifics.

painter
painter
Reply to  Wolfman
7 years ago

I hope you got your facts right.

Mad Trapper
Mad Trapper
Reply to  Wolfman
7 years ago

Black Thugs matter, to Pittsfield PD

dusty
dusty
7 years ago

the whole thing about lies and coverups is that you have to keep doing it and add more lies and more cover ups and hope everyone involved keeps quiet.

I did click the “not picking up phone” link and watched the you tube video. Do you mean to tell me that we are paying millions of dollars for a police dept we can’t get a normal phone call to? Really mayor? Really chief? And how many administrative people do we have working there again?

wow!!

spagirl
spagirl
Reply to  dusty
7 years ago

Haul the Chief’s ass in front of the City Council. The Mayor, and the Council needs to hold him accountable to the Citizens.

mi
mi
7 years ago

The dispatcher’s sound like teenage cheerleaders. Wasn’t one of the officers accused of tampering with a video of a traffic stop awhile ago? Believe the officer was filming the officer in a traffic stop and the evidence disappeared.

mi
mi
7 years ago

Redact.. The officer was being filmed by a citizen during a traffic stop.

Spider
Spider
7 years ago

All the talk is about the 2 officers, but what’s the story with the dispatcher? Was he/she reprimanded? Has that person screwed up before?

Is that dispatcher still working there? If so, how comforting to know our 911 emergency calls are in such good hands.

spagirl
spagirl
Reply to  Spider
7 years ago

I see the bigger issue with lack of respondency, and coverup. This Department has No Leadership…. it is clear that the Public has no right to ask or know, and this is the way they do business. They need an awakening. Dan Bianchi had the same stench in City Hall.

Harry Houdini
Harry Houdini
7 years ago

What’s the problem? Things disappear all the time. No big deal.

poorboy
poorboy
7 years ago

They were looking for a person with a baseball bat.
They found an elderly woman baking pies.
Close enough.
That’s a mistake anyone could make.

88 year old women baking pies are on the terrorist watch list.
Those two officers were in fear for their lives.

This is not the country your parents were raised in.
Political correctness.
Abusive police.
Economy in shambles.
Drug abuse off the charts.
Love for fellow humans at an all time low.
These are all signs of a collapsing society.

Dowager Hat
Dowager Hat
7 years ago

At least Officer Eason contributed to Pittsfield politics when he arrested then mayoral candidate and well known Williams College grad.,Donna Walto for public intoxication at her residence after she called the police. It was front page news at the time.
He was also featured on a fb story about PPD corruption and victimization by William Thornton, just yesterday. This guy is plastered over the web.
Wonder if Ms. Walto may have a comment ?

K-Man
K-Man
Reply to  Dowager Hat
7 years ago

But he’s probably untouchable. African american and all that.

Kate Dempsey
Kate Dempsey
Reply to  Dowager Hat
7 years ago

Is this “scholarly” article written by the same William Thornton that was “allegedly” found in the parking lot of the Pittsfield Domino’s with underwear wrapped around his head, masturbating, and terrifying the female employees?

Yeah, I’d consider my source on that article or post it and let us judge.

Donna M
Donna M
7 years ago

T HE SIMONETTA’S–were treated as badly as this by the ppd and ironically lost some of the records of their case which were pertinent. They tried to get records of their 911 calls and the police wouldn’t give them to them until a judge ordered them to release them. The police settled with the Simonetta’s rather than risk being exposed as criminals which they are. This present cover up by the PPD WILL BLOW OVER IN TIME AND IT WILL BE BUSINESS AS USUAL. There is one and one way only to solve the problems in this city and that is by joining the NON-GOBSIG NETWORK the WIZ is building. The entire council, school committee and mayor must go and need to be replaced with individuals who will do the bidding of the taxpayer. Dan made it as clear as clean water that the kapanski’s must get involved and act. You can start by being along side of the wiz tonight at the CC Meeting and again tomorrow at rh SC Meeting. SHORT OF ACTION—GOOD BYE CITY

Donna M
Donna M
7 years ago

T HE SIMONETTA’S–were treated as badly as this by the ppd and ironically lost some of the records of their case which were pertinent. They tried to get records of their 911 calls and the police wouldn’t give them to them until a judge ordered them to release them. The police settled with the Simonetta’s rather than risk being exposed as criminals which they are. This present cover up by the PPD WILL BLOW OVER IN TIME AND IT WILL BE BUSINESS AS USUAL. There is one and one way only to solve the problems in this city and that is by joining the NON-GOBSIG NETWORK the WIZ is building. The entire council, school committee and mayor must go and need to be replaced with individuals who will do the bidding of the taxpayer. Dan made it as clear as clean water that the kapanski’s must get involved and act. You can start by being along side of the wiz tonight at the CC Meeting and again tomorrow at rh SC Meeting. SHORT OF ACTION—GOOD BYE CITY

Dilly Dally
Dilly Dally
7 years ago

I think I’ll turn my baseball bat over to the authorities. Can’t hit anymore anyway.

dusty
dusty
Reply to  Dilly Dally
7 years ago

How about apple peelers or paring knives? You got any of those things buddy? You can’t take them on a plane so what makes you think you can have them in Pittsfield?

dusty
dusty
Reply to  dusty
7 years ago

If you read chapter four, Volume 911 of the revised city charter it distinctly says NO PARING KNIVES IN PITTSFIELD.

OMG get a clue people.

Behnkrupt
Behnkrupt
Reply to  Dilly Dally
7 years ago

Is it a Mark Belanger model? He had trouble hitting with it too.

amandaWell
amandaWell
7 years ago

i take pride when preparing my pies.

Harry Houdini
Harry Houdini
Reply to  amandaWell
7 years ago

They knew the old lady was gong to leave a pie behind Lach’s Lounge.

talking head
talking head
7 years ago

With all the conspiracy theorists on this site, I can’t believe that you people really think the missing booking tapes is about this poor 88 year old woman. Ask yourselves, why would they need a tape of a case that was dropped?? Now maybe it has more to do with, oh i don’t know, someone else who may have been on that same tape around the same time, who a certain high ranking ppd official may not want everyone to know about. Read between the lines people, you are looking at this all wrong. Maybe someone actually sabotaged that dvr!!

Troll Patrol
Troll Patrol
Reply to  talking head
7 years ago

It was so bad that they didn’t want the video used against them in a civil suit.

bill beno
bill beno
7 years ago

The chief is to busy being a playboy, no time to run the dept. the way it used to be. The then again all the former chiefs passed the test and were appointed to the job.

AlaskanBushClowns
AlaskanBushClowns
7 years ago

The Mayor might want to cancel the next fitness challenge and find time to straighten this out. You can’t have 90 year old women answering the door with a toe nail clipper.

McDonald Trump
McDonald Trump
7 years ago

Wynn and Capt. Mullin better book appearances on the the sofball shows n PCTV. Their boots are dirty and need a spit shine.
Either shop will do a good job and get the boots shining. What wouldwe do without these two good shoe shine shops in Pittsfield. I hear these two shops are doing very well. Economic engines at work. .

Dilly Dally
Dilly Dally
7 years ago

Behnkrupt just when 0for 5. Just saying.

Dilly Dally
Dilly Dally
7 years ago

Behnkrupt just when 0 for 5. Just saying.

Dilly Dally
Dilly Dally
7 years ago

That is funny.

Joetaxpayer
Joetaxpayer
7 years ago

Hope that officer got some prize money for that Halloween costume. I found it funny, and I’m Catholic. There are a lot of great police officers out there, the sole purpose is to serve and protect. They risk there lives everyday, never knowing when someone will harm them. You shouldn’t paint such a broad brush. Someone’s age shouldn’t make them any less of a threat, if you think that way you might not see another day.

Pat
Pat
Reply to  Joetaxpayer
7 years ago

At 88 years old and obviously scared to death that people were breaking into her home, I don’t blame her one bit for her actions. Nobody is putting down the police. We are putting down a system that can’t be honest when it messes up big time. The public is very forgiving. We just want to be told the truth at all times.

Joetaxpayer
Joetaxpayer
7 years ago

Sorry, respectively disagree, I was taught to respect the law, they spoke to her and she reacted angrily. I wasn’t there, but if they came to my house I would have been more than cooperative.

amandaWell
amandaWell
7 years ago

There will be grades tonight!

Red Armstrong
Red Armstrong
7 years ago

What happened to the Water boys Rug?

Harry Houdini
Harry Houdini
Reply to  Red Armstrong
7 years ago

Are the breast implants of a city council member fair game and up for discussion? How about the school committee member who wears a hair piece? Are these fair topics to post abut? Is this what you want this blog to be about?

mi
mi
7 years ago

It’s rapped up.

Shelly Liver
Shelly Liver
7 years ago

Bow Tie Cufflinks. Planet, you gotta see this! nd a 900 dollar Shirt.

Harry Houdini
Harry Houdini
Reply to  Shelly Liver
7 years ago

But what’s your opinion on his presentation?

Shelly Liver
Shelly Liver
7 years ago

Hootervilles Sam Drucker.