BOGOTA - At the sixth day of suspended Bogota Police Officer
Regina Tasca's disciplinary hearing, Tasca's attorney criticized a Bogota
captain's handling of the Internal Affairs investigation involving an April 29,
2011, incident. The incident is one of two that led to Tasca's suspension.
Bogota Officer Regina Tasca, left, who is up on charges,
talks to lawyer Catherine Elston, right, at a recent hearing.
Catherine Elston, Tasca's attorney, argued May 17 that
Bogota Capt. James Sepp, the Internal Affairs investigator, attempted to
influence the testimony of Ken and Tara Sharp, witnesses to the April 29
incident.
In that incident, Tasca is accused of interfering as
Ridgefield Park officers tried to detain the Sharps' son, Kyle, an emotionally
disturbed man. Tasca, however, has said she was stopping the use of excessive
force.
At the hearing, Elston suggested that Sepp offered his
opinions on the incident to Tara Sharp rather than solely obtaining her
observations.
"Didn't you say from a police perspective, when you
were speaking to Mrs. Sharp, that Ridgefield Park hadn't really tackled
Kyle?" Elston asked.
"I don't believe I said they hadn't really tackled
[Kyle]," Sepp responded.
"Didn't you say they were correct to tackle Kyle to the
ground? Didn't you tell her that?" she asked.
"I told her that that was acceptable, yeah," he
said.
Sepp testified recollections of the incident from both Ken
and Tara Sharp had discrepancies compared to video footage from Tasca's patrol
car. He described the Sharps as "confused" by the incident.
Elston contended the Sharps had accurately noted their son
was tackled and punched by the Ridgefield Park officers.
She criticized Sepp for not recording portions of his interviews
with the Sharps and for destroying notes he had taken in those interviews. She
said Attorney General guidelines in effect then called for the notes'
retention.
Upon questioning by retired Superior Court Judge Richard
Donohue, the hearing officer, Sepp said, "When I transferred my
information on to this report -- my final report -- they were no longer my aid
because this is my report. ..."
Elston had noted Sepp did not interview Kyle Sharp or the
Ridgefield Park officers -- Sgt. Chris Thibault and Detective Sgt. Joseph Rella
-- as part of his investigation.
Referring to his closeout report, Sepp said he took
Thibault's and Rella's reports from the incident into consideration along with
the video footage.
The disciplinary hearing, which began in April, is expected
to continue into June. Attorney Raymond Wiss is representing the borough.
Tasca faces 20 charges from the Police Department as a
result of the April 29 incident and one on April 3, 2011. In the April 3
incident, she allegedly failed to assist Bogota Officer Jerome Fowler, who was
struck by an intoxicated woman they had taken to Holy Name Medical Center.
In May 2011, Dr. Matthew Guller, of the Institute for
Forensic Psychology in Oakland, found her unfit for duty. She has been
suspended with pay since that time.
Tasca, Bogota's only female police officer and also openly
gay, has said she was targeted by the department for not supporting another
officer in the April 29 incident.
She has sued the borough and Police Department alleging
discrimination, harassment and retaliation that began early on in her 11-year
career with Bogota. The borough, Sepp, Fowler, Chief John Burke and Sgt. Robert
Piterski are named as defendants in the lawsuit, filed May 4.
Her disciplinary hearing is next scheduled on May 29. Burke
will likely testify.