By Joshunda Sanders
Austin American-Statesman (Texas)
Copyright 2006 The Austin American-Statesman
All Rights Reserved
Eighteen police officers and five firefighters have been reprimanded and/or suspended for departmental violations ranging from choking a handcuffed teenager to crashing their patrol cars, according to disciplinary memos obtained from the Civil Service Commission for January to the beginning of July.
Cpl. Richard Munoz was fired in May for arresting two boys for truancy on a school holiday and choking one of the teens, then lying about it. Munoz had also botched a child abuse investigation, according to the memo, and his mistake allowed a sexual predator to abuse another child before he was arrested, the document says.
Officer Christopher Gray was suspended for 70 days in April for punching a handcuffed Ramon Hernandez 14 times in the lower back and kidney area during Hernandez’s arrest in September 2005. Police said Hernandez fled the scene of a motor vehicle accident, the memo says. Gray was videotaped punching Hernandez while the suspect was facedown on the ground and was being restrained by three officers. Gray was indicted by a Travis County grand jury for official oppression but found not guilty.
Officer Fred Rodriguez was suspended for 15 days in March for not documenting a consent search in September. He failed to submit secondary employment applications, incorrectly documented the amount of secondary employment hours he was working and failed to submit his off-duty logs in a timely manner, according to the memo. He failed to provide an accurate account of his secondary employment and violated a general order by contacting a witness during the administrative investigation, the memo said.
Officer Joshua Visi was suspended for 12 days in January for writing a citizen citation in July 2005, then calling the violator the next day to discuss ways to handle the citation, the memo said. He also lied to his chain of command about the incident.
Officer Randall Ballard was suspended in February for 10 days for witnessing a disturbance in September while he was off duty and giving police an inaccurate account of what happened. He also failed to notify his supervisor about the incident, according to a disciplinary memo, and lied when his supervisor asked about it.
Sgt. Eddie Holland was suspended for five days in February and had to attend sexual harassment training for failing to take supervisory action against an officer under his command who was accused of making inappropriate and offensive inquiries of a sexual nature to a civilian officer, the memo said.
Officer Daniel Rivera, who was disciplined for falling asleep on duty in 2004, was suspended for five days in March for crashing his police car in January.
Sgt. Edward Peek was suspended for five days in March for “failing to satisfactorily perform his supervisory duties, including taking corrective action when warranted,” according to a memo.
Cpl. Kevin Yates was suspended for five days in March for “conducting himself in an inappropriate and unprofessional manner during his interactions with co-workers,” according to a memo.
Austin Fire Department fire specialist David Glover was suspended for 15 days in June for lying about the details of a motorcycle accident he had at Fire Station 31 and filing a worker’s compensation claim, which he later withdrew, the memo said.
Fire specialist Barry Stroud was suspended for eight days in March for drunkenly assaulting a woman and injuring her while he was off duty in September 2005. Police arrested and charged Stroud with assault with injury, the memo said. Stroud’s history includes three alcohol-related incidents over the past 10 years, including a 10-day disciplinary suspension in 2001 related to an arrest for driving while intoxicated.
Officers and firefighters disciplined declined to comment.