[Good Cop story] Cop stops other cops from beating emotionally disturbed young man...

weslinder · Apr 18, 2012

...may be fired for it.

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Story

Bogota Officer May Be Fired For Stopping Beatdown
By KIRSTIN COLE

pix11.com | @colekirstin

9:14 p.m. EDT, April 16, 2012
Plenty of cop "beat downs" can be found online, but how often does the officer who stops others from handing out the beating get fired for it? That's exactly what's happening to Officer Regina Tasca in the Bogota Police Department.

Tasca's dashboard camera captured her as she attempted to stop two officers from beating an emotionally disturbed young man. Just days after the incident, she was told she was being suspended with pay. A year later, her trial is about to begin as the Bogota PD seeks to fire her.

In Bogota, officers control whether or not their dashboard camera rolls. Fortunately, when Officer Tasca responded to a call in April 2011, she clicked her unit "on." The black-and-white tape captures it all--a mother, Tara, screaming for police to stop punching her son on their front lawn. She had called to have her emotionally disturbed son Kyle taken to the hospital. Bogota police responded while waiting for the ambulance. Tasca was the sole officer on the road that day, so she called for back-up according to protocol. Ridgefield Park police then sent two officers. Tasca had just completed her state-mandated training for working with emotionally disturbed citizens.

Tasca described what we see on the videotape: "The Ridgefield Park officer automatically charges and takes him down to the ground. I was quite shocked. As he's doing that, another Ridgefield Park officer flies to the scene in his car, jumps out and starts punching him in the head."

On the tape you can hear Tara, the mother, and Kyle, her son, screaming, "Why are you punching him?" and "Stop punching me!"

The two Ridgefield Park Sergeants are never heard refuting the claims that they punched the 22 year-old man as he was waiting for an ambulance.

Even worse, Kyle was never charged, nor arrested, for any offense. Tasca says it's because he never threatened, did not have a weapon, and indeed never resisted and was not violent. Eventually Tasca was able to pry the punching Ridgefield Park officer off Kyle, as seen in a picture taken by the Kyle's mother, who also later commended Tasca in a phone call.

The call came in to Tasca's answering machine and was kept on a recording: "Thank you Regina. I appreciate you standing up for him, for protecting him while the officer attacked him. I can't figure out what i would have done without you at the scene."

Catherine Elston is the attorney helping Tasca prepare for a week-long departmental trial. Elston is also a former police officer.

"This was excessive force used against an emotionally disturbed person," she said. "This was an unlawful tackle, this was a punching an emotionally disturbed person whose arms were pinned under his chest with his face pushed into the ground."

What happened next is so baffling to so many.

Tasca's voice began to waiver as she recounted the meeting with her superior officer:

"The next thing I know he asks me to turn over my weapon and be sent for a fitness for duty exam," she said.

Bogota PD, after hearing Tasca's story, believes she is psychologically incompetent to be a police officer, and she is being sent for testing. The Ridgefield Park Police officers seen tackling and punching an emotionally disturbed man waiting for an ambulance are never questioned. never interviewed by an Internal Affairs Investigator, and are still working the streets today.

Bogota Police chose to suspend Tasca, an 11-year veteran with numerous commendations. There are photographs from the hospital documenting the bruises on the 22-year-old's head, back, arms and wrists.

Tasca says the real reason she's being called out on these charges is she crossed the "blue line" by refusing to support another officer even when he used excessive force. The other problem? The Bogota Police Department is very small--fewer than 20 officers. And there, she is a definitive minority.

Tasca spells it out: "I'm the only female--the first female ever--and the first and only gay female also." When asked if she feels targeted because of her sex and her sexual orientation, she doesn't hesitate in here answer: "Yes."

The trial, to be in front of a retired judge who will be the sole decision maker, starts Tuesday.

"If another officer is using excessive force, it's my duty to make sure you stop it. and that's what I did," says Tasca about her actions.

But attorney Elston, a veteran of "the job" knows even more. "They're not just terminating her. They're destroying her reputation."
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rhadamanthus · Apr 18, 2012

Damaged beyond rehabilitation.

I avoid the cops like the plague.

lean · Apr 18, 2012

This is a good cop story?

rhadamanthus · Apr 18, 2012

lean said: ↑

This is a good cop story?
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It's called a bait and switch. Naughty, naughty weslinder.

weslinder · Apr 18, 2012

lean said: ↑

This is a good cop story?
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It's a story about a good cop.

rhadamanthus · Apr 18, 2012

weslinder said: ↑

It's a story about a good cop
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Not really.

lean · Apr 18, 2012

weslinder said: ↑

It's a story about a good cop.
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Fair enough. A story about one good cop and two bad ones, let alone all the others at her department who would see her fired.

Air Langhi · Apr 18, 2012

This story show that cops are homophobic thugs. This is a very negative story about cops.

da_juice · Apr 18, 2012

Here's all you need to know about cops in Bergen County (where Bogota and Richfield Park are):

Most of them were slackers who got in trouble in high school.
Most of them either didn't go to college or went to the local CC then went to the police academy.
They get ridiculous pay and pension to deal with what little crime happens, most of the time they're pulling over speeders, busting kids for drinking or weed, or just sitting around waiting for something to happen.

It's about time they start getting exposed.

edwardc · Apr 18, 2012

just a shame that she should even have to go through this she did what the other two jerks didn't.

thadeus · Apr 18, 2012

[One Good Cop Goes Against Two Bad Cops and Gets Fired For Being A Good Cop Story]

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[Good Cop story] Cop stops other cops from beating emotionally disturbed young man...

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