In This Issue - Vol 4, No. 2 (Fall, 2003)
Police Officers Face Reckless Manslaughter Charge
Florida Narcotics Chief Indicted
From the Chairman
Many thanks for your generous contributions to LELDF. Without your support — and that of like-minded individuals — we could not have come to the aid of officers such as Jeremy Morse, Stephanie Mohr, the “Bloomfield Four” (Richard Chiarello, Gerald Filippone, Frank Furfaro, and Vincent DeFabrizio), and most recently, Wyatt Henderson. These officers, though from diverse backgrounds and different parts of the country, all have one thing in common: they were unjustly charged for actions taken in the line of duty. All have paid a heavy price. Stephanie Mohr has been separated from her young son, who just had his birthday without her. Jeremy Morse must go though a second trial shortly. The Bloomfield Four were summoned to help a man in distress. They did everything they could to assist him, but they are now facing a possible 10-year sentence for trying to preserve his life.
Officers Mohr, Morse, and the Bloomfield Four have something else in common: they are being punished for alleged racism. It is an unfortunate reality that when a white officer is involved in an incident with a citizen of another ethnic background, the race card is often played. Stephanie Mohr is serving 10 years because the jury believed that she may have uttered racial slurs in a previous arrest. Jeremy Morse was assaulted by an out-of-control man who grabbed his private parts. In a reflex action to defend his own body, Morse struck the black suspect.
Wyatt Henderson, who has received numerous awards and has previously been injured in the line of duty, is a white officer who is accused of pistol-whipping a white male. His situation is complicated by a FBI probe of his narcotics unit. Unbelievably, the FBI has mounted a case against him even though he passed its own polygraph test. Since this investigation began, the memories of other officers at the scene of the arrest of the drug pusher have changed suddenly.
In our last newsletter, we discussed our support of Officer Scott Smith, who was convicted in July 2001 of manslaughter in the 1998 death of one of the most notorious criminals in Connecticut. That guilty conviction has been overturned by the Connecticut Court of Appeals, and he is facing a new trial.
I am concerned about how police officers will be perceived by upcoming generations and how we can ingrain in our young people’s minds not only respect for the police but also a sense of the daily difficulties and dangers these men and women face. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me at LELDF@cox.net or at the mailing address below.
Sincerely,
David Henderson Martin
