In Louisiana, cops have their own Bill of Rights???


http://www.shreveporttimes.com/artic...WS03/908130319
Board reinstates Willis, says city violated his rights

Panel says Shreveport violated Wiley Willis' rights
By Loresha Wilson • ljwilson@gannett.com • August 13, 2009

A Shreveport police officer who was fired for violating departmental policy while arresting Angela Garbarino on Nov. 17, 2007, has been reinstated.

The Shreveport Municipal Fire and Police Civil Service Board's seven members made the ruling Wednesday in the case known nationally for video footage of the handcuffed woman lying in a pool of her blood in a police interrogation room.

The ruling means Wiley Willis can return to duty once his in-service and firearm requirements are met.

"He'll get a year and a half of back pay, benefits, retirement, everything," said Michael Carter, president of the Shreveport police officers union. And as far as he knows, Carter added, Willis intends to continue working for the Shreveport Police Department.

The Civil Service Board ruled that Willis' rights, under the Police Officer Bill of Rights, were violated because an expert failed to record a polygraph examination Willis took as part of the Police Department's investigation into Garbarino's injuries, including a broken nose.

Shreveport Police Chief Henry Whitehorn called the panel's finding a technicality and said he is "disappointed with the board's ruling." The police chief said he is moving forward with the city's legal department to pursue an appeal.

"This is not a technicality, this is the law — the Police Bill of Rights," Michael Carter, president of the Shreveport police officers union, said after a news conference Wednesday evening.

Carter also said Willis was fired for failing to administer first aid — a detail the Police Department never has released and would not confirm. Carter pointed out that police officers haven't been trained in first aid since 1996 and are not equipped with any type of medical supplies.

Wayne Nissen, who administered the polygraph, testified before the board that he was aware the Police Department was investigating Willis' actions. He said he wasn't given a line of questions to ask during the exam but was told to ask questions about the night of Garbarino's arrest.

However, Nissen said, he was unaware of the Police Officer Bill of Rights, which provides a certain level of protection for officers during investigations and personnel matters.

"They failed to record the interrogation of Wiley Willis. And that's a clear-cut, slam-dunk violation of his bill of rights," Eron Brainard, Willis' attorney, said.

Brainard also argued that Shreveport police failed to wrap up the investigation into the incident in 60 days, as required by the Police Bill of Rights, and did not provide use of force experts from the police academy during the questioning.

Civil Service Board members found no fault with the city's actions in those matters but unanimously cited the failure to tape the exam.

Willis' "discipline is null and void because of the violation," board member Lloyd Thompson said. "As a board, we did what we needed to do. The Police Department violated his rights."

Garbarino was arrested Nov. 17, 2007, on charges of DWI and hit-and-run driving. Photographs of Garbarino taken after the incident show her with two black eyes and cuts and abrasions all over her face.

Willis, 32, was terminated Feb. 5, 2008, for what authorities say was his handling of the incident. No criminal charges were filed in connection with Garbarino's injuries.

Whitehorn said it was something that needed to be handled internally and it was not enough to pursue criminal charges.

The well-publicized video of Garbarino's arrest is from a camera on a tripod, not a surveillance camera, that is specifically used to document DWI testing and is turned off after the tests are completed, Shreveport police Cpl. Bill Goodin said. The video is cut off' and when Willis turns it back on, Garbarino is lying face down in a pool of blood.

"Was he so smart to turn it off and commit some heinous crime and then so stupid to turn it back on to give evidence?" Carter asked after the news conference Wednesday at the union's headquarters in downtown Shreveport.

Willis has claimed from the beginning that Garbarino was injured during some sort of a fall for which she was responsible, Carter said.

"We are concerned when anyone receives an injury," Carter read from a prepared statement Wednesday at the news conference. "However, this organization will not allow any officer to be blamed for a failure in policy set forth by this administration."


In May, two other officers in unrelated cases were reinstated by the Civil Service Board.

"It appears no matter what decision was made and the reasons, the board still brings the officer back," Whitehorn said Wednesday. "I feel confident that I acted in good faith and did the right thing. This is an individual we are talking about that did not follow policy, and I still believe he was wrong."

The U.S. Justice Department and the Caddo district attorney's office investigated Willis' actions but did not prosecute.

The City of Shreveport reached a $400,000 out-of-court settlement with Garbarino and dismissed the charges against her. She was present during Wednesday's hearing and left immediately following the board's decision. Wiley Willis declined to comment.

Times staffer Kelsey McKinney contributed to this report.