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Police: Officer's HIV remark was okay

The Tampa detective's comment, which was included in an arrest report, was later removed from the public record.

By REBECCA CATALANELLO
Published May 2, 2006

TAMPA - A Tampa Police detective acted appropriately when he told an officer that Terry Neal is HIV positive, an internal affairs investigation released Monday found.

When Neal requested his arrest report, he learned that officers wrote in the public document that he had HIV, hepatitis C and violent mental illness - comments Neal protested as baseless and wrong.

Despite the fact Detective Scott Guffey could not pinpoint the source of his information regarding Neal's health, the new internal investigation report concludes that "even when such information is unverified, the verbal communication of the warning between officers is justified to protect officers from even a possibility of a potentially fatal exposure."

Neal was arrested in December 2004 after ignoring orders to stop talking during the public comment portion of a City Council meeting.

City attorneys agreed earlier this year to remove the statements about his health from the public record.

But Neal said Monday the new internal affairs findings left him flummoxed.

"They falsified an arrest report and they're not reprimanding anyone?" Neal said. "I'm surprised."

Neal is running for City Council to replace District 5's Kevin White in 2007.

While the new internal affairs investigation concludes there was no wrongdoing by Guffey or Officer Kristoffer Babino, who wrote the report, Assistant City Attorney Kirby Rainsberger on Feb. 15 issued a legal bulletin urging officers to ensure "that information collected and retained by this agency is accurate and confirmed."

Uncertain information, Rainsberger wrote, should be attributed to its source.

"For example," the legal bulletin states, "instead of writing that, "The subject is deaf,' officers should write "The subject's mother advised that the subject has 95 percent hearing loss."'

After the 2004 incident, Neal was arrested and charged with trespassing. The case was resolved with a misdemeanor intervention program.

"We certainly did not mean to cause any harm to Mr. Neal," Tampa Police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said.

"We feel that we improved our policy for the safety of the public and the safety of our officers."

[Last modified May 2, 2006, 02:38:30]