While Springfield residents and officials continue to grapple with the seemingly irresolvable issue of how to police the city’s police, there has been a resolution in one recent high-profile case of alleged police misconduct.
Last week, a settlement was announced between the city and Louis Jiles, a Springfield man who was shot in the wrist by police during a traffic stop in 2008. (See “The Louis Jiles Story,” May 21, 2009.) Officers said that Jiles, then 18, ignored orders to pull over after running a red light, then, when he did pull over, failed to show his hands as ordered by police. According to police, Jiles instead jumped into the back seat of his car and emerged holding what officers thought was a gun, prompting officers to shoot.
Jiles, in fact, had no gun (the suspicious object apparently was a beer bottle), and his attorney, Perman Glenn III, maintained that he had not jumped into the back seat but had raised his hands as ordered. “Logic tells us that if somebody’s shot in the back seat, there’s going to be blood in the back seat, or blood splatters,” Glenn told the Advocate last year. The attorney said he’d hired a forensics expert who examined Jiles’ car and found no blood in the back, but rather a pool of blood by the emergency brake as well as blood on the front dashboard, “which is consistent with [Jiles’] having his hands raised and being shot in the wrist,” Glenn said.
After the officers involved in the incident were cleared following investigations by the SPD and the district attorney’s office, Glenn filed a federal lawsuit contending the officers failed to provide Jiles with “prompt and appropriate medical attention” and “attempted to conceal their unlawful acts by threatening him and filing a false police report.”
Under the recent settlement, the city will pay an undisclosed amount of money to Jiles. The settlement includes no admission of wrongdoing or liability by the city or the officers involved.
Glenn— who’s long been a critic of the city’s handling of alleged brutality cases—said his client is happy to have the case settled. But larger problems remain, as demonstrated by the recent case of Melvin Jones III, the city man who was allegedly beaten with a metal flashlight by Patrolman Jeffrey Asher after a traffic stop last November. Police say they were subduing Jones after he tried to grab an officer’s gun. Jones was subsequently arrested for drug possession and resisting arrest.
In response to public outcry about that case, Mayor Domenic Sarno abolished the powerless civilian review board that had been in place, replacing it with a Community Police Discipline Board. Critics say that the new board isn’t much of an improvement over the old one, pointing out, for instance, that members of the new board lack the power to discipline officers, but can only recommend actions to the police commissioner. City Councilor Jimmy Ferrera has proposed an alternative board whose members would have disciplinary powers—something City Solicitor Ed Pikula maintains would violate Commissioner William Fitchett’s contract.
In announcing the Jiles settlement, Glenn issued a call for systemic changes within the SPD. His client’s case, the attorney said, “illustrates the need for more training for Springfield police officers and the need for officers to be properly supervised by senior officers with more training.”
Glenn also called for the city to strengthen the process for handling citizen complaints against the SPD. “Currently there is no threat of discipline and the officers do what they want, when they want and to whom they want,” he said, adding, “Many officers need sensitivity training and perhaps many are just not fit to work with the public. If they have a bad day, they bring it to work with them and take it out on the people they are supposed to serve and protect.
“We encourage people who are victimized by police to report these matters,” Glenn continued. “We also encourage people to participate and serve in juries when called upon. Serving as a juror and voting against police at trial also helps in deterring police violence and keeps a check on police power.”
