I'm waiting for the outrage of City Council and the Administration, a demand the Police Department clean house. A demotion for this type of conduct, why is the officer(?) not fired. Is this the type of person we want walking the streets of Toledo enforcing(?) the law? And if it had not been taped, nothing would have happened. Is this the only police officer(?) who is offending the residents of Toledo or just the only one who was caught. This is a call for our political leaders to step forward and demand more than just a demotion of this person.
Article published Thursday, August 21, 2008
Police sergeant guilty of making threats to clerk
By LAREN WEBER
BLADE STAFF WRITER
A Toledo police sergeant was found guilty yesterday on departmental charges after being accused by the internal affairs unit of threatening, on more than one occasion, to arrest a convenience store clerk unless she had sex with him.
Sgt. Daniel Brandon, 40, who was appointed to the department in 1993, pleaded no contest to the charges and was found guilty of conduct unbecoming of an officer, abuse of authority in dealing with the public, and conduct subversive to the good order and discipline of the department, Deputy Chief Don Kenney said.
The deputy chief recommended that Sergeant Brandon be demoted to patrolman for one year and suspended without pay for 10 days.
The recommendation must be approved by Bob Reinbolt, the city's safety director, who said he expects to make a decision within a few days.
Sergeant Brandon, on at least two occasions, made sexual comments to the clerk, suggested the use of an illegal substance, and used vulgar language. The comments were made in the presence of other customers and were recorded on the store's surveillance video, Lt. Ed Bombrys, of the internal affairs unit, said.
Lieutenant Bombrys declined to release the name of the store or victim to protect the victim.
The first incident occurred about 4 a.m. March 20 when Sergeant Brandon approached the counter to talk to the 23-year-old clerk.
After a short conversation, Lieutenant Bombrys said Sergeant Brandon threatened to arrest the woman unless she had sex with him.
"I will take your punk [expletive] to jail and while you're sitting in the county [jail], you'll be thinking, [expletive] it was only five minutes," Sergeant Brandon can be heard saying on the tape.
The clerk's response: "I would just go to jail."
Sergeant Brandon said he was joking with the woman, whose name he didn't know. He later admitted the comments were inappropriate.
"In my mind, [there] just wasn't any seriousness to it," he told internal affairs investigators. "I'm actually embarrassed about it now because it was stupid."
But Lieutenant Bombrys said based on Sergeant Brandon's body language in the video, it didn't appear as though he was joking.
"He lowers his voice and leans over the counter. He's emphasizing something to her," he said.
In a meeting with Lieutenant Bombrys, the clerk said that during that March incident Sergeant Brandon told her that he had her license plate number and threatened to pull her over at night.
According to Lieutenant Bombrys' interview with her, she told the sergeant she occasionally drinks and drives and that Sergeant Brandon responded by giving her two options - "Have sex with me or go to jail."
On April 6, Sergeant Brandon returned to the store about 3:40 a.m. He again made sexual comments to the woman and told her that she was going to have sex with him "either willingly or by force," according to transcripts of the surveillance video.
After a few more minutes of conversation, Sergeant Brandon then told the clerk she needed to "smoke more dope." The woman responded by asking the sergeant to watch the register while she rolled a marijuana joint.
Sergeant Brandon said: "All right, as long as you roll one for me."
Although the clerk can be heard laughing in the surveillance tape during both incidents, Lieutenant Bombrys said she told him she was intimidated by Sergeant Brandon's comments and feared he might follow through with his threats.
She said she didn't want to get on Sergeant Brandon's bad side.
Sergeant Brandon, who is married, was promoted to sergeant in 2000. He was suspended for five days last year after he was found guilty of insubordination and use of informants.
He is paid an annual salary of about $62,000.
Contact Laren Weber at:
lweber@theblade.com
or 419-724-6050.
2 comments:
You might want to know that while they eventually fired Sgt Brandon in the fall of 2008; he appealed his 'no contest' plea and in June 2009, Sgt Brandon was reinstated by the Toledo Police Department. If you are interested in joining the groups of individuals fighting for his re-firing, feel free to contact me.
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