Why does Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox preserve making an attempt to guard sure very dodgy law enforcement officials, a minimum of in the event that they occur to be… a sure kind of cop?
Triston Champagnie, Kelly Dever and now a man by the identify of Bryan Augustine.
After skating on all prices since he went on the job in 2018, the BPD has lastly, if belatedly determined to (type of) self-discipline Augustine.
And all of it occurred simply as a 34-year-veteran Boston police captain was submitting a lawsuit in opposition to Cox and the BPD, during which he accused them of making an attempt to power him to broom one of many many circumstances in opposition to Augustine.
The explanation Cox et al. needed the fees diminished in opposition to their favourite cop?
In line with the lawsuit, it was in order that Augustine’s certification wouldn’t be pulled by the Mass Police Officers Requirements and Coaching (POST) Fee. If the POST Fee ever discovered about this incident Gaughan was probing, Cox’s little pet “would likely be terminated, an end result they were trying to avoid.”
This civil grievance was filed by BPD Capt. Timothy Gaughan, and he brings the receipts. For some time, he was on Inner Affairs, dealing with one of many many prices in opposition to Augustine.
In line with his go well with, Gaughan bought a name from Cox’s enforcer, Supt.-in-Chief Phil Owens, who informed him “he was calling on behalf of Cox.” Owens requested Gaughan to principally scale back the fees in opposition to Cox’s pet, Augustine.
Then Owens despatched Gaughan a duplicate of a memo he’d despatched to Cox. You may test it out for your self. In it, the 2 severe prices in opposition to Augustine, “Untruthfulness” and “Conduct Unbecoming,” are crossed out. They’re changed with lesser, survivable prices of “Unreasonable Judgment” and “Neglect of Duty.”
Who scratched out these unique prices, and for what cause? And why would Cox use his enforcer to deal with the broom job?
From paragraph 55 of Capt. Gaughan’s go well with:
“Commissioner Cox attempted to shield his involvement in the matter by contacting plaintiff indirectly and exerting undue pressure on him to change the nature of the charges and supporting narratives. Cox’s objective was to protect a dishonest police officer from being terminated.”
A dishonest police officer!
The Boston Police Division declined to touch upon the go well with, or Gaughan’s accusations.
However the BPD did ship a duplicate of his Officer Resume from Inner Affairs, containing summaries of the “incidents” that Cox was going through prices on at first was simply, uh, labored out.
Some prices had been sustained, the foremost ones largely not – wink wink nudge nudge:
In 2020: “Stopped for drag racing in Revere. It is alleged that Officer Augustine was in the company of unsavory characters and gave the Trooper a hard time.”
In 2020: “(Redacted) stated that Officer Augustine always uses profanity while speaking to him at Egleston where he and his girlfriend hang out based on the fact that they are homeless and have no place to stay… A review of Officer Stanley Pina (bodycam) showed Officer Augustine threw the citation at (homeless man).”
In 2020: “A tractor-trailer was having a traffic issue on Washington Street… (Driver asked for help) but Officer Augustine did not respond. The complainant then approached cruiser (window open) and asked the officer if he had heard the truck driver’s request for assistance. According to the complainant, Officer Augustine replied, ‘Go (bleep) yourself.’ The officer then drove off.”
In 2022: “Calling in sick when he had exhausted his sick time and vacation time… failed to report for duty… he was AWOL for the tour… Officer Augustine has continually demonstrated a lack of attentiveness toward his time and attendance as a Boston Police Officer. His current pattern is evidence of complete unawareness or total disregard for his actions, placing his fellow officers and the unit at risk.”
In 2022: Lady leaving police headquarters says cop on metallic detector informed her she “looks familiar… (then) followed her to her car… asked her personal questions regarding her background. (Redacted) expressed that she felt the officer was flirting with her making her feel uncomfortable.”
In 2023: Whereas out sick, pending a employee’s comp declare, Augustine confirmed up in court docket to defend himself on a motor-vehicle quotation “in a Boston Police Uniform while off duty concerning a personal matter. Additionally, Sgt. DeFeo claimed that Officer Augustine fraudulently obtained the inspection sticker for his motor vehicle.” (Sgt. DeFeo beneficial that cost be investigated by the BPD’s anti-corruption unit.)
In 2024: “Officer Augustine gave off-duty Officer Fabian Bustillo and civilian Gabriel Albisu a ride home in a marked BPD cruiser from the Seaport District to Bustillo’s home with the lights and sirens activated.”
To repeat, a lot of the extra severe prices had been downgraded, however a lot of them had been in a technique or one other “sustained.” Two extra complaints in opposition to Augustine stay pending.
As Gaughan’s go well with was filed, Cox suspended Augustine for 30 days – “with 15 working days to service, without pay, and 15 working days held in abeyance for a period of one year, for misconduct….”
In line with the lawsuit, Gaughan suffered retaliation as a result of the case he declined to comb underneath the rug dated again to 2018, when Augustine was nonetheless a probationary police officer and thus had much less job safety.
To punish him, Gaughan says the brass slow-walked his promotion to captain and assigned him to “a toxic work environment” – the Operations Division.
Cox suffered one other authorized setback in his double requirements of meting out self-discipline final week. That defeat occurred in a federal case involving former officer Joe Abasciano, who was pressured out for tweets he made on Jan. 6, 2021.
Cox fired the MAGA cop, however final December the Civil Service Fee overturned the BPD’s resolution. The BPD appealed to do away with the Trump supporter.
The choose mentioned Cox doesn’t get a second chew on the apple as a result of the case had already been absolutely litigated on the state degree.
Attention-grabbing how Cox apparently was determined to guard Augustine on the similar time he needed to fireplace Abasciano. I ponder what the distinction is between the 2 cops. Are a couple of tweets worse than all of the above incidents involving Augustine?
Aggrieved cops, preserve these lawsuits coming. Why do I’ve this sense that there are much more Bryan Augustines and Triston Champagnies on the market being coddled by the present BPD brass… for no matter cause?
One final query: why is Commissioner Cox not licensed by the POST Fee? Is he by some means above the requirements he enforces, a minimum of on a few of his cops?
I requested the BPD, however they by no means bought again to me. Asking for a good friend….
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