A police sergeant and three officers in the Connecticut city of East Haven were arrested on January 25 on federal charges of conspiracy, deprivation of rights and obstruction of justice. The case is in connection with a campaign of harassment and brutality directed against the town’s growing Latino population.
The accused cops were identified as Dennis Spaulding, David Cari, Jason Zullo, and Sergeant John Miller, who is their supervisor. Some of the charges could bring penalties of up to 10 years in prison, while obstruction carries a maximum penalty of 20 years.
According to press reports, the defendants used excessive force in making arrests, conducted unreasonable searches and seizures, made at least five arrests based on false and misleading pretenses and tried to intimidate other cops to obstruct investigation of their own misconduct. Some victims were slapped, hit or kicked while they were handcuffed.
The New York Times account of the arrests details charges that the police practiced racial profiling and harassed small business owners and customers in what appears to have been a conscious attempt to intimidate Hispanic immigrants and if possible drive them out of the community. The Los Amigos grocery and La Bamba restaurant were among the establishments where cops stopped people going about their business and in some cases made false arrests. At one local establishment, My Country Store, which catered to the growing Ecuadorean immigrant population, police told customers “they don’t want our kind here,” according to Paul Matute, the son of the store’s owner. The police later looked for store videotapes in an apparent effort to remove evidence of their behavior.
Mayor Joseph Maturo Jr. of East Haven expressed sympathy not for the victims of the police abuse but for the accused perpetrators. “It’s certainly very unfortunate and very tough for the families,” said Maturo, according to news reports, “but it’s tough for the Police Department and our community. I am proud of our police department. I stick by our men in blue.”
At a press conference to announce the arrests this week, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the US Attorney for Connecticut expressed outrage but sought to portray the case as an isolated or unusual problem.
“The residents of East Haven should not need protection from those that are sworn to protect and serve them,” said Janice Fedarcyk of the FBI’s New York office. She referred to a “cancerous cadre” in the East Haven police, and said the defendants “behaved like bullies with badges.”