Tempers rise over officer's firing

The police chief and a patrol officer get into a confrontation about why another officer was fired from the department.

By MIKE BRASSFIELD

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 7, 2000

ST. PETERSBURG -- Police Chief Goliath Davis III and a patrol officer got into a heated exchange at the roll call for Wednesday evening's patrol shift as Davis explained why another officer had just been fired.

One man got in the other man's face during the confrontation in the crowded roll-call room, according to witnesses. Other police officers stepped between the two men.

But the Police Department's top brass and the police officers' union are telling strikingly different versions of what happened Wednesday. They disagree on who the aggressor was -- the chief or the patrol officer.

Police administrators say the patrol officer in question, Dan Feeley, was out of line. They suspended him for two days.

"Officer Feeley pushed his way through four or five officers and stood right in front of the chief," said Chuck Harmon, assistant chief in charge of patrol. "He acted totally inappropriately. He had to be restrained by other officers who pulled him back to the back of room where he'd been standing."

The officers' union, the Police Benevolent Association, says it was the police chief who was out of line and unprofessional.

The PBA says officers who were in the room will back that account. The union will call for an independent investigation.

"The chief approached Feeley. Feeley didn't approach the chief," said PBA executive director Bill LauBach.

"The chief pointed his finger at him, almost touching his nose. The chief yelled at him in a highly agitated, angry, loud voice. People were intervening to get between Feeley and the chief for fear that the chief was going to hit Feeley."

Both sides agree on this: Feeley and other officers had been questioning why the chief and other supervisors fired a patrol officer named David Sugar on Wednesday.

Sugar, 43, a 10-year veteran, was fired over allegations that he lied during an investigation into whether Officer Ron Adams used excessive force during an arrest last year.

On Jan. 21, 1999, a juvenile in a stolen car rammed Adams' police car during a drug investigation.

The youth was chased to 770 1/2 19th Ave. S, where Adams pulled the juvenile down a staircase.

Sugar was there. A third officer reported seeing Adams choke and possibly hit the youth, but Sugar denied seeing that.

Internal affairs investigators say Sugar changed his story somewhat when he re-enacted the scene for investigators much later. At that time, Sugar said Adams had more physical contact with the juvenile than he'd said earlier.

The outcome of the investigation was delayed for various reasons, but Sugar was fired after supervisors reviewed the case Wednesday.

As for Adams, who was an outspoken critic of the police chief, he recently retired with a full pension after 25 years on the force.

When an officer is fired or otherwise punished, Chief Davis personally explains why to other officers at each shift change. That's what he was doing in the roll-call room with about 50 officers at 4 p.m. Wednesday.

Davis took questions from several officers, including Feeley.

According to witnesses, Feeley wanted to know what evidence the department had that Sugar had been lying. That led to a confrontation between Feeley and Davis.

"From my perspective, there was no problem with temper on my part," Davis said Thursday. He referred other questions to Harmon, the assistant chief who suspended Feeley.

"The chief had answered several pointed questions during the discussion. There was some accusatory stuff," Harmon said. "The chief was asking Feeley whether he had read the case, and Feeley replied, "You always use that as an excuse.' That's when it started to get out of hand."

Feeley is a canine officer and a 14-year veteran. Harmon said that he, not Davis, suspended Feeley for two days for conduct unbecoming an officer.

"Some people think it was too harsh. A lot of people think it was too lenient," Harmon said. "As far as we're concerned, the incident occurred, it's been dealt with, it's over."

But the PBA says it is collecting affidavits from police union members who were in the roll-call room at the time.

Today, the PBA will send letters to St. Petersburg's mayor, City Council, city administrator and Labor Relations Department, asking for an independent investigation of Davis' conduct.

The union has asked for such an investigation before, without success.

The union is contesting Sugar's firing and Feeley's suspension.

Also today, it will release the results of a survey of PBA members -- many of whom, the PBA says, criticized Davis' management style.

"What the chief did was totally unprofessional. He's the head of the organization, and he should know better," said the PBA's LauBach.

"The mayor has always said he is 100 percent behind this police chief. I don't think the city is capable of investigating itself."

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