Markeshia Ricks Photo
Poindexter, attorney Segar and union chief Cavaliere at hearing.
A rookie New Haven cop not only allowed her ex-boyfriend to use her car to deal drugs after she was warned against it—she also maintained a relationship with a convicted murderer, according to an internal investigation that has led the police chief to seek her dismissal.
The officer, Najea Poindexter, is fighting the termination. Her lawyer began grilling her investigators Wednesday night at a hearing of the Board of Police Commissioners called to consider the request by Chief Dean Esserman to fire Poindexter.
The hearing at 1 Union Ave. lasted two hours, at which point Esserman asked that it be continued for the sake of “transparency and openness.” The commission voted unanimously to continue the hearing until March. The fourth-floor board room was packed with observers, including several city alders.
Esserman (pictured center) asked the commission to support his decision to fire Poindexter, who just graduated from the Police Academy last October, after a 400-plus-page internal investigation report concluded that she violated two sections of department Rule 15, which describes the conduct officers must follow or face “reprimand, suspension, reduction in rank or grade, or … dismissal.” Poindexter, who was temporarily assigned to desk duty during the investigation, was found to have “consorted with individuals involved in criminal activity” and to have “publicly discredited the department through both news articles and public response,” said attorney Jarad Lucan, who represented the department.
After Poindexter’s attorney, Marshall Segar, cross examined the department’s star witness, raising questions about the quality of the department’s investigation, Esserman requested that the commission continue the hearing so that more officers and supervisors could be brought in to speak to the questions Segar raised. Initially, only Esserman the investigating officer, and Poindexter were slated to appear and testify at the hearing.
“It’s been a long night,” Esserman said. “I can go long … but every hearing is a search for truth. There is no question that the defense has raised questions which need to be answered by people who are not in this room.”
Tip Of The Iceberg?
The investigation that led to Wednesday night’s hearing for Poindexter’s termination stems from a Jan. 17 traffic stop and arrest (first reported here) of a man driving a white Honda Crossover with his lights off — and allegedly carrying large quantities of heroin and crack cocaine.
The car belonged to Poindexter. A cop delivered the keys to her home, and she came and retrieved her Honda. Poindexter was reportedly in a relationship with the alleged dealer, who also is the father of her child. In a previous interview with the Independent, police union President Louis Cavaliere Jr. denied that Poindexter currently is in a relationship with the man beyond the contact she has with him because of their child; and he argued that she deserves to stay on the force. Cavaliere argued that the department’s Rule 15 contains vague, outdated language (like “hoodlums”).
Pointdexter has yet to tell her side of the story. (Cavaliere related it in this story.) She was expected to testify at Wednesday’s commission hearing. She declined the option of having the hearing closed.
Esserman ordered an internal affairs investigation into the case hours after the arrest. Poindexter was taken off the street, placed on internal duty at 1 Union Ave. Esserman told the commission Wednesday night that the internal investigation is focusing on the actions of other officers involved in the case, as well.
According to the testimony of the police officer who conducted the investigation, Sgt. Carlos Maldonado (pictured at center of the photo), Poindexter’s association with the man arrested in January was just the tip of the iceberg of her alleged association with men who walk on the wrong side of the law that she is sworn to enforce.
Maldonado’s testimony Wednesday night centered around Poindexter’s alleged connection not only to the man arrested in January, but to a man who is currently serving time in prison for murder; a different man who is serving time for drug possession and weapons charges; and another man who is now on parole after serving a prison sentence for drugs and weapons charges.
He testified that last April, while Poindexter was going through the Police Academy, the officers arrested the same man they later picked up in January, this time for possession of marijuana. The man allegedly was driving Poindexter’s car during that stop too. That incident led to a conversation among Poindexter, a now retired assistant police chief and staff at the academy about how such an association could negatively impact her career.
Maldonado told commissioners that during the course of his investigation he learned that Billy Ray Wright, a man serving a prison sentence for murder, called Poindexter 17 times from prison and she spoke with him at least 10 of the times he called. A transcript of one of the conversations allegedly shows her telling Wright that a previous internal investigation of her alleged connections were “B.S.,” Maldonado said, “and that [the department] can’t control who she associates with.”
He also learned from a “cooperating witness” that a man named Roy “Jamma” Reid, who had been convicted of narcotics and weapons charges, had visited Poindexter in her home. Reid was arrested as part of “Operation Bloodline,” one of the largest-ever federal criminal sweeps in Connecticut history. And he was provided evidence from a fellow officer that Poindexter had a Twitter exchange, while possibly on duty, with another man Roderick Swilling, who served time for narcotics and weapons charges before his release in November.
On cross examination of Maldonado Wednesday night, Segar raised questions about how he obtained the information that led him to determine that Poindexter had violated Rule 15, and about whether or not a heavily relied upon “cooperating witness” was receiving money for his or her information. The gender of the witness was withheld during the hearing in an attempt to avoid identifying the person.
“Does the New Haven Police Department have a policy on handling confidential witnesses?” Segar asked.
Maldonado appeared unsure. “Not to my knowledge,” he said. (Of course it does, Chief Esserman said later.)
“Is probationary officer Poindexter under criminal investigation?” Segar asked.
“No, she is not,” Maldonado said.
Had Maldonado used available databases to determine if Wright was a member of a street gang? What “purpose code” did he use to search a particular database?
“I used ‘C’,” Maldonado said.
“What does ‘C’ stand for?” Segar asked.
“I don’t know. We just use ‘C,’” Maldonado said.
Did the cooperating witness say whether he/she had been arrested by Poindexter? Maldonado had not checked. Did this person ask about a statute of limitations on crimes? Maldonado had not been asked that. Had the person been paid for information? Possibly, Maldonado said.
After Segar finished his questioning, Esserman asked the commission to stop the proceedings so that any information that might be needed could be provided.
Commissioner Gregory Smith said it was the right decision to continue the hearing to allow for more information.
“This should be an open process, and I need all of the information, not just some to make a decision,” he said. “This is a difficult type of decision to make when you don’t have everything in front of you.”
Segar said after the commission adjourned that it was “unfortunate that we didn’t get to hear both sides. Officer Poindexter was prepared to tell her side of the story tonight.”