Columbia (WACH) - A Midlands criminal justice expert says police internal affairs investigations are typically unbiased reviews, and not a case of the "fox guarding the henhouse."
The city of Columbia launched an internal affairs investigation last week -- one day after WACH FOX news broke the story of surveillance video that apparently contradicts a written incident report submitted by three Columbia police officers.
Assistant City Manager Mike King asked for time to conduct the investigation via press release and stated that he would not comment further.
"Any allegation of wrongdoing is simply that, an allegation," said King via the press release.
USC criminal justice professor Geoffrey Alpert says Columbia authorites are treating their investigation with standard operating procedure.
Alpert has been a teacher and consultant in the law enforcement field for several decades. In 2009, he released a book entitled Managing Accountability Systems for Police Conduct. He says all investigations are initiated by a complaint that can come days even months after an alleged incident.
Alpert points out that if a well-trained and accountable investigator from a police department's internal affairs unit is handling a case, it results in a focused, fact-finding mission, not an agenda-based public relations stunt.
"I don't think it's so much of a political issue as it is who's been caught or who's been accused of doing something wrong and if an investigation shows that's accurate then there must be discipline," says Alpert. "If he (the internal affairs investigator) is a well-trained and ethical police officer it's going to be an investigation of the complaint and the lawyers are the ones who have to build the case around that."
Horry County attorney Jonathan David McCoy has filed a federal lawsuit against Columbia police officers John K. Passmore, James Heywood and Amanda H. Long alleging the officers violated his Constitutional rights when he was arrested on charges of interfering with police outside Red Hot Tomatoes on Harden Street the night of October 16. The 15-page lawsuit requests unspecified monetary damages and names the police officers as well as the police department and the city of Columbia.
According to the Columbia police incident report, McCoy "grabbed an officer by the arm" after he saw officers attempting to arrest another man. The report further states McCoy then "continued to intervene by getting in [responding officer's]) face."
WACH FOX News was first to release surveillance video of the two-minute incident that appears to contradict the written account of the incident submitted by the officers.
WACH FOX News showed the First on Fox video to Columbia attorney and Constitutional Law expert Jay Bender. According to Bender, the incident report does not accurately reflect the evidence shown by the surveillance video. Furthermore, Bender said citizens have a Constitutional right to question police officers.
“Citizens always have a right to ask law enforcement what’s happening and I see nothing that indicates there was any interference with the arrest because the first person had already been on the ground and handcuffed before the second person walked up and was immediately pushed by the police,” said Bender.
According to a written letter provided by McCoy's attorney's, the city has not responded to multiple requests to drop the charges against McCoy.
To watch the entire, unedited, two-minute surveillance video of the arrest outside Red Hot Tomatoes click the link below this story to view the original WACH FOX report.
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