Cops Promoted, Get Golden Parachute for Stomping Handcuffed Man’s Head on Video, Covering It Up

Hartford, CT — Last year, police released dash camera footage of a controversial arrest — showing an officer in street clothes walk up to a handcuffed suspect sitting on the curb, and kick his head into the ground — it hit so hard, it bounced. Several other officers were also involved in attacking two restrained suspects. They admitted to doing it and covering it up, and now, two of them are being promoted while another gets a golden parachute.

Officers Steven Barone and Detective Christopher Mastroianni, who were recently punished for excessive force and lying on police reports, were just promoted to sergeant last week. What’s more, the officer seen on video stomping a suspect’s head, Sean Spell, who was arrested for his role in the attack, was allowed to quietly retire and avoid all accountability.

On June 4, officers pursued Ricardo Perez and Emilio Diaz through the streets of Hartford and West Hartford in a vehicle police suspected to be stolen. When the chase ended, officers arrested the pair — but the details of those arrests became the subject of multiple investigations when supervisors saw the bloody mugshots of the suspects.

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The concerns over excessive force intensified in October, after Hartford police released dash camera footage of a controversial arrest — showing former Sgt. Sean Spell, 46, in street clothes walk up to a handcuffed suspect sitting on the curb, and kick his head into the ground.

Spell retired from the force amid the probe and now, this 46-year-old will draw an annual pension of $129,977 from Hartford, paid out in monthly installments of $10,831—for the rest of his life—for stomping a handcuffed man’s head.

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Receiving only a slap on the wrist for their role in the case, however, Mastroianni and Barone will go on to receive higher pay and continue to police the citizens of Hartford as they get rewarded with a promotion.

According to the Hartford Currant:

During his interview with Internal Affairs, Barone provided “excuses” that seemingly contradicted themselves, according to Sgt. Kevin O’Brien, the report’s author. These included that he had recently been transferred from the Conditions Unit (which uses cruisers that don’t have dashboard cameras), yet it was “muscle memory” for him to turn cameras off.

Barone also said he manually shut the camera off at the end of the chase and during the initial struggle with Diaz and Perez because he didn’t think it was “relevant” to record. He denied shutting off the camera so it wouldn’t capture the two being taken into custody, according to O’Brien, who noted that the angle the car was positioned would’ve captured at least a portion of Diaz and Perez being arrested.

The report also says that Barone manually shutting off his cruiser’s camera was one reason why state’s attorney’s office investigators “were concerned that the video was physically tampered with” and sent all cruiser hard drives to be forensically tested during its probe of the incident.

Mastroianni’s discipline stemmed from his delay in filing a supplemental police report or requesting a use-of-force report until June 11, a week after Diaz and Perez were arrested.

During an interview with Internal Affairs, Mastroianni said he “delivered multiple foot strikes to Mr. Diaz’s torso area” during the arrest, but stopped after he saw that Diaz had been secured by other officers.

Mastroianni told the investigators that he was a “little rusty” on the policy for use-of-force, but ultimately admitted that he “should have known better,” O’Brien writes.

To recap, these officers were caught in a cover-up of police brutality, admitted to violating policy, one of them was even arrested for it, and their punishment comes in the form of two promotions and a golden parachute. And people wonder why there are protests in the streets.

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“On its face, the video raises very serious concerns, and I commend the Hartford Police Department for making the video public as soon as they were permitted to do so by the State’s Attorney,” said Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin in a statement at the time the video was released. “As a city, we are committed to transparency and openness, we have an outstanding and dedicated police force, and we expect our officers to uphold the highest standards – and to be held accountable when they fall short.”

So much for that one.

Connecticut Campus Shut As Professor Flees Following "Let Them F**king Die" Tweet

A professor at a Connecticut college said he was forced to flee the state after he received death threats for appearing to endorse the idea that first responders to last week’s congressional shooting should have let the victims "f**king die” instead of treating them, according to the Hartford Courant.

Trinity College Professor Johnny Eric Williams shared a link to a medium post which suggested that “bigots” should be left to die in life threatening situations. The medium article was accompanied by a photo of House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, who was wounded in the shooting, along with the title “Let Them F**ing Die,” which Williams later used as a hashtag in his ill-conceived posts.

In the post, the author describes a list of disturbing situations in which “bigots” should be left to die, while also encouraging readers to “smile a bit” as these figurative deaths unfold.

“If you see them drowning. If you see them in a burning building. If they are bleeding out in an emergency room. If the ground is crumbling beneath them. If they are in a park and they turn their weapons on each other: do nothing,” the article instructs readers."

“Least of all put your life on the line for theirs, and do not dare think doing so, putting your life on the line for theirs, gives you reason to feel celestial. Save the life of those that would kill you is the opposite of virtuous. Let. Them. Fucking. Die. And smile a bit when you do.”

Williams also expressed his rage toward white people in a series of tweets. In one, Williams said he was “fed the f**k up” with white “bigots” who demean minorities, immigrants and LGBTQ people. In another, he said the time had come to “put end to the vectors of their destructive mythology of whiteness and their white supremacy system.”

As a result of the posts, which gained national attention, Williams said he has received more than 1,000 threats. The situation briefly forced the closure of Trinity College’s campus in downtown Hartford Thursday morning. The campus had reopened by late morning, though Hartford police provided heightened security.

Unlike the administration at Evergreen State College in Washington, which has been willing to countenance threatening behavior and other provocations from its students, Trinity’s administrators have promised to hold Williams accountable for his actions, promising in a statement that there would be “an investigation" into Williams" conduct.

"The Dean of the Faculty will review this matter and advise me on whether college procedures or policies were broken. I told Professor Williams that in my opinion his use of the hashtag was reprehensible and, at the very least, in poor judgment. No matter its intent, it goes against our fundamental values as an institution, and I believe its effect is to close minds rather than open them."

Williams said he regrets the affect his actions have had on his family.

"It was overwhelming for my family," Williams said. "I have to look out for family. I"ve got young kids."

But rather than apologize for offending millions of Americans - not to mention the families of Scalise and the other four victims of the rampage shooting at an early-morning practice of the House Republicans baseball team – Williams claims his tweet was misinterpreted. He says the tweet was a response to the fatal shooting of a pregnant woman in Seattle who was armed with a knife.

And what’s worse, he has committed 100% to playing the victim, saying that he’s considering filing a lawsuit.

"This is about free speech as well as academic freedom," he said. "From my perspective, I"m considering whether I should file a defamation against Campus Reform, the site that first shared Williams’ posts.

"The black community is beside itself all over the country with the constant killing. It doesn"t matter what we do, we still be killed, we still go to jail. Just being black and living is a crime. That"s what seems to be the problem," Williams told the Courant.

Read the full text of Trinity"s statement below:

Dear Members of the Trinity Community,

As many of you are aware, a set of social media posts by one of our faculty members has resulted in a loud and public rebuke and landed Trinity College in a national spotlight, both in the media and across various social media platforms. I understand the concerns many have expressed, and I’m especially grateful for the inquiries we’ve received from members of our community who’ve asked whether what they’re reading and hearing is accurate. To be clear, both personally and on behalf of the College that I represent, I do not condone hate speech or calls to incite violence.

I’ve spoken with Johnny Williams, who has been a sociology professor at Trinity since 1996. I wanted to hear directly from him about the messages he posted and what has transpired since. It is important to clarify a few details. On June 16, a writer who goes by the name “Son of Baldwin”—and who is not Johnny Williams—wrote a piece for Medium.com that cited another writer’s perspective on the shooting that occurred at the Congressional baseball practice in Virginia last week. The Medium piece went on to explore broader issues concerning race and the relationship between “victims of bigotry” and “bigots.” The piece culminated with a call to show indifference to the lives of bigots. That call was reprehensible, and any such suggestion is abhorrent and wholly contrary to Trinity’s values.

While Professor Williams did not write that article, he did share it on his personal social media accounts this week, and he did so with the use of a hashtag that connected directly to the inflammatory conclusion of that article. Professor Williams, who teaches about race and racism, shared the article on his personal Twitter account using that hashtag; he also shared it on his personal Facebook page.

The Dean of the Faculty will review this matter and advise me on whether college procedures or policies were broken. I told Professor Williams that in my opinion his use of the hashtag was reprehensible and, at the very least, in poor judgment. No matter its intent, it goes against our fundamental values as an institution, and I believe its effect is to close minds rather than open them.

I want to underscore that what we seek is to build a diverse college community that is welcoming to all viewpoints and backgrounds and that engages in civil discourse on even the most vexing issues. That requires that we continue to uphold our fundamental belief in academic freedom and support our community members’ constitutional right to free speech. But our aspirations for the community we want to be also demand we take particular care with the words we use and the contexts in which we use them.

This incident has caused distress on our campus and beyond; threats of violence have been directed to Professor Williams and to our campus community, neither of which is an acceptable response.

I denounce hate speech in all its forms, I will explore all options to resolve this matter, and I will be back in touch with our community members with our decisions.