Arbitrator to Ramsey: Reinstate cops punished after taped beating

TWO YEARS ago, the nation turned its eyes on Philadelphia for a story that threatened to set off a powder keg of mixed emotions and racial tensions.

It had all the right ingredients: a triple shooting on a darkened street corner, a cat-and-mouse chase between cops and three suspects, and a wild televised arrest that looked to many like out-and-out police brutality.

A roller coaster of events followed. A few weeks after the May 5, 2008, incident, which was videotaped from a Fox 29 helicopter, Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey fired four cops who appeared to have beaten the suspects. He suspended three other officers and demoted a sergeant.

Last year, a grand jury cleared the officers of any criminal wrongdoing, and a separate jury acquitted the three suspects in the North Philly shooting case.

Yesterday, an arbitrator wrote what might have been the last chapter in the affair. For the cops who were disciplined by Ramsey, it was a happy ending.

The arbitrator, from the American Arbitration Association, ruled that two of the fired cops, Patrick Gallagher and Vincent Strain, should get their jobs back.

The other two fired officers, Patrick Whalen and Robert Donnelly, were rookies on probation when they were fired. The arbitrator didn't address their situation, but Ramsey later said that they would likely get their jobs back.

Joseph Schiavone, the sergeant who was demoted to officer, should be reinstated to his old rank, the arbitrator ruled.

The arbitrator also ruled that the fired officers, the sergeant and the three suspended cops - Jonathan Czapor, Demetrios Pittaoulis and Sean Bascom - should all receive back pay.

All the cops previously worked in the 35th District, headquartered at Broad Street and Champlost Avenue. It was unclear if they would return there.

The arbitrator's rulings didn't sit well with the police commissioner.

"Well, I don't agree with it, but I respect the process," he said yesterday afternoon. "We have to move on from here, but I still think the decision I originally made was the correct decision."

Ramsey's punishment of the officers was praised as bold at the time by community-rights activists and criticized as a rush to judgment by police union officials.

Those sentiments held firm yesterday.

"These guys were vindicated," said John McNesby, the president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5. "I feel real good for them and their families.

"I've said it a thousand times: Cops in this city are guilty until proven innocent. Today, they were proven innocent."

Jerry Mondesire, president of the Philadelphia chapter of the NAACP, said he learned the arbitrator's ruling last night and wanted to wait a few days before commenting. Mondesire had been an outspoken critic of the videotaped beating and the July 2009 grand-jury report that cleared the cops, most of whom were white. The three shooting suspects were black.

The grand jury, which comprised 15 men and eight women - 14 blacks, eight whites and one Latino - said the 55-second video that aired on Fox 29 didn't offer the full story.

The video showed cops pulling Pete Hopkins, Dwayne Dyches and Brian Hall out of a car at 2nd and Pike streets after a long chase.

Numerous cops appeared to violently kick and punch the men while they were on the ground, as the news helicopter thrummed overhead.

The grand jury asserted that the officers acted appropriately, given that they believed that all three men had just been involved in a triple shooting at 4th and Annsbury streets, in Feltonville.

The three men were linked to the scene by an undercover police officer who was doing surveillance in the area of the shooting.

None of the three suspects suffered serious injuries, which was further proof that the cops had not viciously attacked the men, the grand jury noted. Instead, the cops had used their training to subdue the men, who appeared to have been resisting arrest.

In moving quickly to discipline the officers, the grand jury said, Ramsey was seeking to prevent the public from losing confidence in the Police Department.

Ramsey noted yesterday that the arbitrator determined that the department had just cause to discipline five of the officers who were involved in the case.

"He felt they deserved a reprimand" but not to be fired or suspended, Ramsey said.

"You can't appeal the decision. You just have to move on."