Marekshia Ricks Photo
Elliott receiving a departmental award in 2016.
A city cop assigned to an alternative high school went to a student’s workplace, asked her to come to his house for “a full-body massage,” then used Snapchat to keep asking her out, according to a newly released internal affairs investigation report.
The report concerns actions taken by Officer Jeremie Elliott, who was assigned to New Horizons, a school on Hallock Street for students who have been arrested or experienced serious trauma.
Based on the IA report, Police Chief Anthony Campell announced last week that he suspended Elliott for 10 days plus three more days to be held “in abeyance.” He reassigned Elliott to patrol and barred him from school or SWAT team duty.
The 10-page single-spaced IA report concluded that Elliott had a “pattern of behavior” that included inappropriate sexual advances to female faculty members, as well. The report, written by Sgt. Rose Dell, concluded that Elliott violated police department General Order 1.03, which forbids “conduct that would cause to discredit, lower or injure the morale or the Department in general”; and the city’s Computer Hardware and Software Policy ‚which prohibits personal use of government computers.
The IA report, which was released to the Independent Wednesday in response to a Connecticut Freedom of Information Act request, quoted Elliott stating he did not remember some key allegations but overall denying that he committed “inappropriate” behavior.”
Asked why he didn’t fire Elliott, Campbell said in an interview that he could deal only with those portions of the investigation related to actions that occurred while Elliott was on the job. The complaint included off-duty conduct that “may be morally reprehensible to me. It may be offensive. But I can only discipline for what I’m responsible for.”
He Persisted
Part of the report deals with Elliott’s alleged “inappropriate sexual” text messages and conversations with the school’s principal and several female staffers. The report quotes Elliott responding that “he has given compliments” to teachers “such as, ‘You look nice,’ or ‘Your outfit is nice,’ but does not remember asking for dates [or] sending them any text messages with sexually inappropriate content.” In the report, Elliott in turn accused the principal of making “inappropriate comments to him” including speaking about “her alternative lifestyle.” “He knew she was gay when he first started his assignment at the school so he would have no reason to say anything sexually inappropriate to her,” the report quotes Elliott stating.
The bulk of the IA report concerns Elliott’s interactions with an 18-year-old female student, beginning with an encounter in the school’s art room during lunch this past Dec. 14.
The student and a female fellow student were viewing her Facebook page on the computer. “Officer Elliott stood right next to [her]. He stood so close that [she] felt uncomfortable,” the student is quoted stating. With Elliott standing there, the student mentioned she was scheduled to work that night at a smoothie joint on the Shoreline.
Elliott showed up at the smoothie joint that night at 7 p.m. He told IA he went there beause he wanted to buy a smoothie.
Here’s what happened, according to the student’s account to IA:
“He wore his full uniform including a jacket with his name and police patch and his duty belt with his gun. He walked over to where she stood and gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. She was shocked and felt uncomfortable. …
“She began to feel uncomfortable when he asked her if he could take her home after work. She told him that she didn’t need a ride, because her mother was going to pick her up. He was persistent and said that he could bring her to his house first and then bring her home.
“She felt ‘creeped out,’ and explained that she now felt unsafe around someone that she was supposed to feel safe around since he was an Officer at her school. She felt her ears turn red, and she began to shake. …
“He then asked her if she wanted to come to his house where he would give her a full-body massage. She knew what he wanted and told him she was ‘not that type of girl’ and had a boyfriend. She knew he was ‘trying to hit on her.’
“He denied it and said it didn’t have to be more than just a massage and her boyfriend didn’t need to know. She pointed out to him that if he just intended to give her a massage, why would he tell her not to tell her boyfriend. She made him a smoothie and didn’t charge him for it since she is allowed one free smoothie per shift.”
The report states that the student began to cry during her IA interview while describing how “he stared at her” buttocks while she made his smoothie. “She wanted to put on a sweater to cover her body, but the store policy does not allow them to cover their uniform shirts.”
She said she told him to leave so she could close the store. He left at 8:45 p.m.. Ten minutes later, she received a Snapchat message from him, telling her “to give his offer some thought.”
She reported continuing to receive Snapchat messages for “the next couple of days,” in which he “told her not to say anything to anyone about what he asked her, because it could get him into trouble.” Finally, on Dec. 17, she deleted her Snapchat account to avoid receiving more messages.
Her next verbal interaction, she said, came on Jan. 7, when Elliott contacted her on her Facebook Messenger app account.
“Hey, how are you,” he wrote. “Long time no hear.” “He then posted a picture of her that he copied from her Facebook page” and wrote “beautiful pic,” according to the report. “he then asked her to send him another pic so he coudl see the whole outfit.” The student gave IA’s Sgt. Dell access to her account to print screen shots of the interaction.
Dell asked the student if Elliott had sent her Snapchat messages while both were in school. Yes, she responded. “[S]he told him not to send messages while she was there, because the staff would take her phone from her.”
The Officer’s Side
Elliott, who is in his mid-thirties, is a graduate of Eli Whitney Technical School, where he was class valedictorian. He served 14 years in the U.S. army. has in the past received praise from his supervisors for his work at New Horizons, including talks he gave about the need for boys to respect girls’ physical boundaries. The department gave him a “meritorious service” award in 2016. He has worked as school resource officer (SRO) at New Horizons for more than three years.
Eilliott told IA that in the Dec. 14 encounter with the female student in the art room, he “made comments about the outfits some of the females wore in the [Facebook] pictures but never commented on their female appearance. He said that he would comment if an outfit didn’t match or, for example, if someone wore sneakers with a dressy outfit. ” he said he didn’t remember standing next to the student.
He claimed he did not wear his uniform when he visited the smoothie joint that night. He acknowledged that he “knew that [the student] worked there because he heard her say it at school.” He said the student offered not to charge him, “but he gave her his credit card.” He said he “couldn’t recal particular details” of their conversation, but “denied that he offered he a ride home or a massage.”
“He may have given her a hug (not a kiss), because this is often how he says goodbye to people. He regularlyhugs students at the school,” the report states.
Elliott told IA he “does not remember” whether he communicated with students via Snapchat while on duty.
“He has used Facebook messenger to communicate with students in order to build rapport and communicate information regarding policing and the military,” the report quotes Elliott stating. “When he engaged in conversation with [the student] through Facebook, he asked her how she was, complimented a ‘make-up job,’ and asked her about her hair color. He took a screen shot of one of the photos from her profile and sent it to her.”
Elliott argued that it is not “inappropriate for an SRO to contact a student outside of work as long as nothing inappropriate is said. He also believes that it is appropriate for SROs to contact students for personal communication (not work related) on social media. He denied that he has had any type of dating relationship with a student while he has been an SRO.”
Dell reported visiting the smoothie joint, which no longer had video of Elliott’s visit. She obtained a computer screen shot of a record showing Elliott’s credit card was denied when he purchased the smoothie at 8:29. She obtained a receipt showing that the student used her “allotted ‘free smoothie’” to cover the cost.
Profession “Sullied”
Paul Bass Photo
Chief Campbell at last Thursday’s Board of Police Commissioners meeting, where he announced Elliott’s suspension.
In a conclusion section, Dell writes that Elliott for years had a “pattern of behavior and course of conduct that had a negative impact on both the staff and students at the school.”
“As an SRO,” she writes, “Officer Elliott was a highly visible representative of the Department at a school. He was to serve as a positive role model for the students and exhibit excellent character and judgment. He was entrusted with the safety and well-being of young impressionable minds. In this case, he worked in his official capacity with a particularly vulnerable student body that consisted of students that have either endured personal trauma, struggle with learning disabilities or have had previous negative interactions with law enforcement.
“Officer Elliott had an opportunity to build trust with members of this community and elevate the profession of law enforcement for the student. Instead, his inappropriate behavior sullied the profession for the students, staff and administrators of this school.”
The Board of Alders is considering a proposal for a new police civilian review board, amid public critiques of the department’s ability to police itself.