A teenager slammed to the ground by police, as captured in a viral video that prompted a citywide reexamination of the state of community policing, will get $35,000 for keeping quiet about what happened to her.
During the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in March 2015, the teen, Teandrea Cornelius was thrown into a snowbank by Officer Joshua Smereczynsky, leaving her with swelling and cuts on her face and a fracture on her shoulder.
Despite the officer being cleared in an internal investigation, Cornelius planned to take her case to federal court, arguing that her constitutional rights had been violated. A settlement last month led her to withdraw the suit.
In the agreement signed in early December, which the Independent obtained through the Connecticut Freedom of Information Act, the City of New Haven agreed to pay Cornelius $35,000 for dismissing her lawsuit and releasing it “from any and all past, present or future claims” related to the case.
The settlement “is made for the purpose of avoiding protracted and burdensome litigation and other legal proceedings, based upon disputed claims,” the agreement reads. The settlement, it goes on, “shall not be interpreted as, and does not constitute, an admission of liability.”
As one of the terms of the agreement, Cornelius must stay silent about the settlement. She cannot confirm any details without the city’s sign-off. Nor can her “spouses, family members, attorneys, advisors, agents, representatives, insurers, successors or assigns.”
If asked about what happened, Cornelius must state simply, “The matter has been resolved,” the agreement states.
That settlement reflects a larger stance by much of the police department to stand by the officer’s actions that day, amid widespread questioning about the need to slam a handcuffed, unarmed teen to the ground. That led to the formation of a task force that aimed to reexamine the state of community policing in New Haven.
Teandrea Cornelius, with swelling around her right eye.
On March 15, 2015, during the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, cops arrested Cornelius outside the Buffalo Wild Wings on Church Street, after a fight took place inside the restaurant.
Cornelius, then 15 years old, was inside the restaurant with her twin sister when they ran into an 18-year-old girl with whom she’d been feuding. Her mom, Valerie Boyd, said she’d previously phoned the police department asking for help in protecting Cornelius.
Inside the restaurant, Cornelius called Boyd, while the girl attacked her sister. A fight broke out. The manager called the cops, saying somebody had sprayed a stream of Mace.
By the time police arrived, Cornelius was seated on a bench in the lobby, waiting with one of her hands shoved inside her jacket pocket. The other diners continued eating, like nothing had happened, one detective remembered.
Smereczynsky, who’d already been working for more than 15 hours, questioned the other girls first, until the manager told him Cornelius had shot off the pepper spray. When Smereczynsky asked her name, she didn’t answer. Cornelius later said that she stayed silent because her mom told her not to speak to police until she turned 16 years old.
Smereczynsky told Cornelius to stand up and take her hand out of her pocket, then moved toward her; Cornelius told Smereczynsky not to touch her. He then grabbed her left wrist, handcuffed her with the help of a security guard, and escorted her outside.
On the sidewalk, Smereczynsky pinned her face into a truck’s window. Another officer, Hector Valentin, later recalled seeing her struggling, like she was trying to get away. Smereczynsky then said he spotted a knife handle protruding from the girl’s open purse, which was hanging from her back. (She was not holding the knife.) He took Cornelius to the ground, putting a knee into her back.
Officers went through the girl’s pocketbook and found a kitchen knife. Cornelius said in a deposition that she carried the knife for “protection” against the 18-year-old girl, because she was scared for her safety. Police did not find Mace in the purse.
Cornelius was arrested and taken to 1 Union Ave, where she was charged with carrying a dangerous weapon, third-degree assault, breach of peace, and interfering with an officer.
Nine days later, then-Chief Dean Esserman went to the girl’s home to apologize.
Smereczynsky was subsequently cleared in an internal investigation by then-Lt. Racheal Cain and Sgt. Carlos Maldonado, though one policing expert was ready to testify at trial that their report hadn’t been thorough. They said they failed to contact Cornelius or Boyd for an interview or obtain medical records about the injuries and didn’t interview other staff at Buffalo Wild Wings.
At the time, the controversial arrest strained community-police relations. Protests went off at Police Department headquarters, followed by counter-protests at City Hall. “No justice, no peace! No racist police!” activists chanted on Union Avenue.
Within a month of the incident, cops killed black men in Los Angeles, Tulsa, North Charleston and Baltimore.
Seeking to defuse the tensions, Mayor Toni Harp (who met demonstrators in her office) appointed a community-policing task force.
Eventually, the cops and activists on the panel issued two reports recommending ways to deescalate tense encounters, catch misconduct and recruit a more diverse force.
Activist Barbara Fair, who’s fighting charges from a July 2017 counterdemonstration against a white-supremacist rally on the Green, said she was “deeply disturbed” by the initial video of the take-down. She said she felt the department still fails to hold its officers accountable, letting them “hide behind a broad excessive-force policy.”
“A settlement does little, if anything, to heal victims from the psychological and physical wounds victims endure. More importantly, it does nothing to address police abuses of power. When police violate the law, we find all kinds of ways to excuse their behavior, something not afforded the general public. If this behavior is not checked, city residents will continue to pay for over-inflated egos and too-much-testosterone, which leaves none of us safe,” Fair said. “I hope a public apology was part of the settlement. It’s the least those who condoned this behavior can offer.”
The attorneys representing Cornelius and Smereczynsky did not respond to requests for comment.
Mayoral spokesman Laurence Grotheer said “this matter is self-explanatory” and did not respond to follow-up questions about what the community-policing task force has accomplished.
Read previous coverage:
• Video Captures Cop Slamming Girl To Ground
• This Time, Cop Kept On Streets During IA Probe
• Anybody Home?
• “I’m Sorry For What Happened”
• Harp Explains Decision; Cops Plan Protest Rally
• Cop In Video Has Clean Record