nothin IA Report: Cops Ignored Victim, Stopped… | New Haven Independent

IA Report: Cops Ignored Victim, Stopped Bodycams, Let Alleged Serial Rapist Go Free

NHPD

Officers Jacob Cedeno and Lindsey Nesto on May 20, as captured by body camera — when it was turned on.

A police internal investigation has concluded that three city cops broke the rules when they failed to arrest a suspected serial rapist during a traffic stop.

They let the alleged rapist go free though a woman at the scene said she had just been assaulted at gunpoint. Even though the man had a bb gun under his seat. Even though there was a warrant out for his arrest.

The officers also turned off their body cameras during part of the encounter. One threw a knife over a bridge into the West River. The suspect would go on to allegedly rape two more women before he was finally arrested.

That story emerged in a newly released police internal investigative report written by Sgt. Jessie Agosto on Nov. 28, 2018.

The New Haven police have now released the report to the Independent in response to a request made under the Connecticut Freedom of Information Act.

We are appalled by the officers’ behavior” in this incident, Assistant Police Chief Racheal Cain told the Independent.

This goes against what we train our officers to do. It goes against the community-based policing concept.”

We Let Her Down”

The incident in question took place a nine months ago, on May 20, when Officers Christopher Landucci and Jacob Cedeno, and then Lindsey Nesto, approached a car parked with its lights off late at night on Edgewood Avenue near Pendleton Street. Landucci and Cedeno considered the car suspicious because people were inside and criminal activity is known to occur in that area at night.

In the car was Navardo Lockhart and a woman.

Lockhart’s license was suspended. He had a warrant out for his arrest on a motor vehicle charge. And neighborhood cops were then on the lookout for a man sexually assaulting prostitutes. He was a person of interest.”

But the officers didn’t learn any of that that night. Because they didn’t check the department’s records database during the traffic stop.

One of the officers did learn that the woman had allegedly just been sexually assaulted. But the officers didn’t do anything about that.

Instead, they re-victimized” the woman with him by conducting a full search that included emptying her pockets before sitting her down on the curb right next to her alleged assailant.

Landucci and Cedeno then turned off their body cameras in the middle of the incident, while Nesto threw a knife she found at the scene out over a bridge.

This woman came to us and requested our help, and we let her down,” Asst. Chief Cain said.

The officers let Lockhart go free.

He would remain free for another four months before cops finally arrested him in September with tips provided by community activists associated with the Sex Workers and Allies Network (SWAN).

In the interim, Lockhart allegedly sexually assaulted two more sex workers: one on May 24 in Edgewood Park, one on Aug. 26 in the basement of the notorious, condemned West River apartment complex at 66 Norton St.

He has been charged with a variety of sexual assault felonies and misdemeanors in the two cases. Superior Court Judge Patrick Clifford, who has presided over Lockhart’s cases so far, said at a hearing in late January that he anticipates the state prosecutor will file more sexual assault charges against Lockhart within the next month.

Lockhart has filed a not guilty plea on one of the cases in court.

The Independent first reported on the internal investigation in September 2018. This article reported that on May 20, the three officers found Lockhart behind the wheel of the car with a woman who at times has done sex work in the front passenger seat. The woman said she was not working that night, and informed one of the officers that the the driver had pointed a gun to her head and demanded that she perform oral sex. Officers subsequently searched the car and found what turned out to be a bb gun; the officers allowed the driver to leave without arrest.

The newly released internal affairs (IA) report by Agosto details what police confirmed upon investigating the incident, and the findings that the officers violated multiple department rules.

The released version of the report has redactions blocking all specific references to the bb gun, the alleged sexual assault, and the names of Lockhart and the woman he was with. That information was redacted because it relates to an ongoing criminal investigation of Lockhart. For the same reason, the department is not yet releasing body camera footage of the encounter.

The released report does reveal months’ worth of police investigation into exactly what the officers at the scene did, and did not do, the night of that traffic accident.

Ultimately, the report finds all three violated police general orders regarding how to conduct proper traffic stops, how to handle evidence, how to treat apparent victims of sexual assault, and how to use one’s body camera when engaged in a potential criminal incident.

The intent of the internal investigation was to determine if the officers were negligent in their duties with the handling of the situation,” Agosto wrote. The report bears out that the department found the allegations of misconduct and malfeasance” facing each officer to be true.

On Sept. 18, 2018, Police Chief Anthony Campbell put all three officers on administrative duty pending the outcome of the investigation.

Since then, two of the officers have received suspensions. A third, accused of the grossest misconduct, has left the force after suffering injuries in an unrelated motor vehicle accident. (More on all that later in this story.)

What The Cop Wrote

Thomas Breen Photo

Superior Court Judge Patrick Clifford, who has presided over Lockhart’s case, said he anticipates more charges will be filed soon against sex assault suspect.

According to Landucci’s written incident report, he and Cedeno noticed an occupied silver SUV parked on Edgewood Avenue near Pendleton Street at around 10:47 p.m. on May 20. The cars lights were off, so the crime suppression partners stopped by to take a look.

The incident report states that the officers identified the occupants of the vehicle. Cedeno spoke with the woman, who denied providing him [Lockhart] with any services or offering him anything in exchange for money.”

Nesto arrived soon thereafter in response to a call for back-up. She patted down the woman while Landucci handcuffed and patted down Lockhart and Cedeno searched the car.

Landucci then released both Lockhart and the woman and issued a verbal warning for improper parking and failure to carry an operator’s license.”

What The Body Cameras Showed

All three officers at the scene were wearing body cameras. What Agosto found when she watched the footage was quite different from what she found in Landucci’s incident report.

First, Agosto noted that Landucci’s body camera produced not one but two video clips from the night of the incident.

Officer Landucci turned his body worn camera off for a period of approximately 1 minute and then turns it back on,” Agosto wrote. The first video clip was 11 minutes, 21 seconds long; the second one minute, 28 seconds long.

Cedeno also turned off his body camera after 10 minutes, 31 seconds at the scene. He never turned his back on.

Nesto, who arrived at the scene after Landucci and Cedeno, recorded seven minutes, 28 seconds of the incident. She did not turn her camera off until the police had let Lockhart and the woman go.

48’d With A 75”

NHPD

Officer Christopher Landucci in body camera video.

The first video clip from Landucci’s body camera showed Landucci arrive on the scene and approach the SUV on its driver side. Lockhart opens the driver-side door, and he and Landucci engage in a conversation.

Lockhart identifies himself to the officers, but tells him that he’s left his driver’s license at home. The woman sitting next to him tells the officer that she too has lost her ID.

The car belonged to his girlfriend, Lockhart said, and he and the woman had just pulled over to the side of the road to talk.

As Landucci interviews Lockhart, Agosto wrote, one can hear in the background of the video Cedeno talking with the woman.

Landucci asks Lockhart if he has any weapons in the vehicle. Lockhart says no. Over Landucci’s radio, Agosto wrote, one can hear Cedeno request backup.

Cedeno then tells Landucci that the woman in the car told him that she was 48’d with a 75 in the car.”

Forty-eight is the police radio code for aggravated assault with a weapon. Seventy-five is the police radio code for carrying or possessing a deadly weapon.

Landucci, who remains standing in front of the open driver-side door, then asks Lockhart to exit the vehicle. The cop places him in handcuffs. He pats Lockhart down and sits him on the curb. He asks again if he has any weapons, and this time Lockhart tells him that there is a bb gun in the car.

Landucci relays that information to Cedeno and Nesto, who has now arrived on the scene. Officer Yonick Crawford had also arrived, though he left after only four minutes when Cedeno told him they are all set and he can go.”

Officer Cedeno informs Officer Landucci that OpCenter is not working,” Agusto wrote, referencing a system officers use to check for outstanding warrants, and he [Landucci] instructs him [Cedeno] to call up to Records.” But Cedeno never did.

He asks Cedeno if the woman said she was assaulted with a weapon, to which Cedeno replies, No … he showed her.”

Landucci then goes back to the car, conducts a quick search of the driver side rear and front passenger compartments, and finds the bb gun on the driver’s seat. He picks it up, then puts it back down.

He asks Lockhart why he has the bb gun (redacted in the report), and Lockhart says it belongs to his girlfriend.

Officer Landucci advises [the man] that it is not good to have [it] because it can get him into a bad situation,’” Agusto wrote. He tells him, It is not illegal for you to have it, but you just have to be smart man. People do stupid shit.’”

In the background, one can hear Cedeno and Nesto talking.

Cedeno calls Landucci over, and then he and Landucci turn their body cameras off. Nesto walks away as the two partners talk.

When Landucci turned his body camera back on a minute later, Agosto saw Landucci release Lockhart from his handcuffs. The officer tells him he does not want to see him back out there.”

In the background, one can see the woman walking away down the street.

Officer Landucci shakes his [Lockhart’s] hand and allows him to go back to his vehicle.”

Is It 11 O’Clock Yet?”

NHDP

Body camera still from May 20.

Cedeno’s body camera footage, on the other hand, reveals how he (and, eventually, Nesto) interacted with the woman in the car.

After Landucci tells Cedeno that the incident likely involved prostitution, Cedeno walks over to the passenger side and speaks with the woman. He asks her to get out of the car, and she whispers to the officer that Lockhart has a gun. (That last word is redacted in the report).

The woman appears distressed and tells him that she does not know him,” Agosto wrote. She tells Cedeno that Lockhart had hit her and that he was making her give him a … The next part is redacted in the report. Sources familiar with the case said she was being forced to perform oral sex.

The woman tells Cedeno the gun is underneath the driver-side seat.

Thank God you pulled over,” she tells him.

Cedeno replies by warning her that if she is lying she is going to get locked up.” She insists she is not lying.

Cedeno then calls over the radio for Crawford and Nesto. Officer Cedeno does not mention anything about a possible weapon being involved,” Agosto wrote, nor calls a supervisor.”

He has the woman sit down on the curb, and then goes to talk to Landucci. He tells Landucci that the woman had told him she was 48’d with a 75 in the car.”

When Crawford and Nesto arrive, Cedeno tells them about the woman’s allegation of armed assault. Cedeno walks to the front driver side of the car, reaches under the seat, and finds the bb gun.

He picks up the bb gun, manipulates it and then places it on the driver’s seat.” He then searches the rest of the car.

While conducting the search, Cedeno asks, Is it 11 o’clock yet?”

It should be noted,” Agosto wrote, that Officer Cedeno was scheduled to work until 12:00 AM that day.”

Cedeno then takes down information from Lockhart and the woman, and goes back to his patrol vehicle to run their names for warrants through the Mobile Communications Terminal. He is unable to because the system is down at the time.

He tells Landucci that he’s unable to run their names for warrants, and Landucci suggests he call the records department.

Cedeno doesn’t. Instead, he walks over to Nesto. Nesto tells him that the woman told her, Thank God that you guys stopped her … he was coming this way, she lives on [redacted], he was gonna give her a ride and then he pulled a [redacted] on her and told her what she was gonna do.”

Then Cedeno calls over Landucci, and the two turn off their body cameras.

Knife On The Ground — Then Over Bridge

In Nesto’s body camera, Agosto found footage equally unreported, and disturbing.

When Nesto arrives at the scene, Landucci tells her there’s a bb gun in the car. Landucci asks Nesto to pat down the woman.

The woman tells Nesto that she had a piece of a knife on her, but she put it on the ground. Officer Nesto picks the knife off the ground, shows it to Officers Cedeno and Landucci and then places it back down. The knife appeared to be a small steak type knife with a broken handle.”

Nesto then conducts a full search of the woman, which includes going into her pockets and removing items.” Even though the woman was not under arrest.

While Nesto is searching the woman, the woman tells the officer that she did not know Lockhart, that he was giving her a ride, and that he had a gun in the car and was forcing her do do something.

Officer Nesto does not ask any additional questions,” Agosto wrote, and has [redacted] sit back down on the curb.”

Nesto then picks up the knife and asks Landucci if he wants it. He says no.

Officer Nesto throws the knife over the bridge; you can hear it fall onto the walkway below.”

Complete Disregard For The Victim”

Body camera still from May 20.

On Sept. 20, Agosto received copies of two memos from the department’s investigative services unit (ISU). The first memo, by Sgt. Mary Helland of the special victims unit (SVU), is from Sept. 13 and is addressed to Lt. Brett Runlett, who heads ISU.

Much of this section of the report is redacted but, based on the Independent’s conversations with people in law enforcement who are familiar with the case, Helland’s letter to Runlett references a series of assaults of sex workers in the area of Edgewood Park in April 2018.

Sergeant Helland stated she emailed Lieutenant John Healy and Lieutenant Elisa Tuozzoli with the information on April 12, 2018,” Agosto wrote. She was informed that the information was distributed to the officers who worked that area.”

On May 31, SVU conducted a detail in the area to address the complaints. The week of Sept. 3, the department developed a probable suspect: The man Cedeno and Landucci had stopped.

When Helland checked OpCenter to see if Lockhart was in the system, she found Landucci’s incident report and the three body camera videos.

The second memo that Agosto received was sent by Runlett to Assistant Chief Herb Johnson and was dated Sept. 13. Runlett described Helland’s investigation, and then the nature of the May 20 stop, Landucci’s incident report, and the body cam footage.

He then told Johnson, After reviewing the body camera footage myself I was disturbed to see how the officers handled the situation, their lack of officer safety tactics, their handling of potential evidence, and their complete disregard for the victim of [redacted].” He pointed out that the officers did not conduct a warrant check on someone who wound up having an outstanding warrant.

The Officers’ Side

Former Ofiicer Jacob Cedeno

During interviews with Agosto and the investigative unit, both Landucci and Nesto recognized that they did not handle the traffic stop as well as they could have. But both insisted that they had not done anything wrong.

Agosto was not able to interview Cedeno for his investigative report. Cedeno was involved in a job-related motor vehicle accident later in 2018. The police union successfully argued that he could not answer any questions about the May 20 incident while on medication.

On Oct. 5, Agosto interviewed Nesto. She told him that she was simply the backup officer at the scene that night, and that her sole reason for being on scene was to conduct a pat down of a female.”

Nesto admitted that she conducted an arrest search” of the woman when she was told to just do a pat down. She also admitted to not asking any follow-up questions and not calling a supervisor when the woman told her that Lockhart had a gun and that she had just been sexually assaulted.

She said she did not know that Cedeno and Landucci had turned off their body cams, and that she chalked up the release of Lockhart to officer discretion.

She described the woman’s complaint as a very vague statement,” and said she relayed the information the woman had told her to Cedeno, who was the initial officer on the scene.

When asked why she threw the knife over the bridge, Nesto admitted that looking back she used bad judgment in tossing the butter knife’ and should have taken the knife and placed it into property.”

When asked if she believes she should have taken corrective action” based on what the woman had told her, Nesto said she was not the initial officer and that there were two senior officers on the scene.

She added it was common practice in this department not to step on anyone’s toes.’”

She did not question the two lead officers and she did not feel the need to contact a supervisor.

Not Okay.” Not Not Okay”

Paul Bass File Photo

Sgt. Jessie Agosto (right), who investigated the officers; and (now-retired) Lt. Elisa Tuozzoli, who investigated the alleged sexual assaults.

On Oct. 5, Agosto also interviewed Landucci.

Landucci could not explain to the investigator why he had not detained the woman in the back of the cruiser, and why he instead seated her on the curb next to her alleged assailant, though he recognized that he had not followed best practices.

He also could not explain why he didn’t follow all department guidelines for traffic stops, such as checking for vehicle registration and outstanding warrants.

He admitted that he and Cedeno typically run names in OpCenter, but do not always double check with the records department if OpCenter doesn’t turn anything up or doesn’t work.

He also said he did not think he had violated any rules when he turned off his body camera, which can be done during personal conversations between officers, but not in the middle of an incident response.

He stated that he did not think it was Okay’ [to turn off the camera],” Agosto wrote, but then states he did not think it was not okay.’”

He told the investigators that he did not remember what he and Cedeno had spoken about after they turned their body cameras off. Most likely, he said, it was about whether or not the bb gun could stay in the car.

During the conversation off camera,” Agosto wrote, they [Landucci and Cedeno] solidified an assault had not occurred.”

He added that he never spoke with the woman, relying on Cedeno to do that. He said she did not appear physically harmed, and she was not distraught or emotional.”

He stated he was just trusting Officer Cedeno’s judgment,” Agosto wrote, he should have verified the information himself, but he didn’t.”

Landucci also said he was not aware that Lockhart had an active warrant at the time of the stop and he was not aware that Lockhart’s license was suspended.

Undocumented Ride Home

Landucci also told Agosto that, after they had released Lockhart, he and Cedeno gave the woman a ride home. She had been walking up the street after being released from the scene. The cops pulled their cruiser to the side of the road, asked if she wanted a ride, and then gave her a ride home.

He admitted that he did not document the ride, and that he did not call a supervisor to request permission to provide the ride.

He also admitted that he had not actually given a verbal warning to Lockhart about parking improperly and not having a license, as he said he had done in his incident report.

Lt. David Zannelli, who heads IA and was also in on the interview, asked Landucci why he thought that the woman was a prostitute.

He stated the fact that the story was a little lackluster,’” Agosto wrote,” they were in the area late at night, it’s a high prostitution area, a high trafficking area and their story didn’t seem to make sense.”

Zannelli asked Landucci what he thought when Cedeno told him that the woman may have been assaulted with a weapon.

He replied that she may have been in a bad situation” and needed to get out of the vehicle to speak to the officers. Maybe Lockhart was the john,” Landucci said. Maybe she was just trying to get out of the vehicle, she could have just made that up.”

He admitted that he never asked the woman if she needed medical assistance.

Agosto was never able to find and interview the woman involved in the incident.

Conclusion & Consequences

Markeshia Ricks Photo

Cain: “We are appalled.”

At the end of the report, Agosto lists the sustained allegations of misconduct of Landucci, Cedeno, and Nesto.

Conclusion: Nesto failed to follow up on the allegations of armed assault made by the woman. She conducted a full search when only a pat down was necessary. And she threw a potential piece of evidence, the knife, over a bridge.

She received a 10-day suspension. Chief Cain said in an interview that Nesto clearly violated rules, and also committed the least violations of the three officers involved: She was not aware of what the woman had reported to Officer Cedeno. She never turned off her body camera.”

Conclusion: Landucci did not conduct a complete preliminary investigation when he failed to follow up on Cedeno’s reference to an assault with a weapon. He did not properly identify the subjects, and failed to fully investigate the possible assault. He failed to talk with the apparent victim and hear from her what had happened. He turned off his body camera when he shouldn’t have. He said he issued a verbal warning to Lockhart, but hadn’t. And he transported the victim home without notifying police radio dispatch or requesting approval from a supervisor.

Landucci was suspended for 90 days. Chief Campbell originally planned to bring his case to the Board of Police Commissioners and seek a larger disciplinary penalty, according to Cain.

The chief can mete out suspensions up to 15 days on his own; he must go before the commissioners for larger discipline, and the officer has a right to contest it in that setting. But under the union contract, the officer, the chief and the union can also meet and negotiate suspensions of over 15 days without having it go before the commissioners. That’s what they did here: They all agreed to the 90-day suspension, with Landucci waiving his right to appeal.

Conclusion: Cedeno did not offer medical assistance to the apparent victim and failed to investigate her allegations of assault. He failed to relay the woman’s information correctly to Landucci, turned off his body camera when he shouldn’t have, did not conduct proper record checks, and drove the victim home without getting approval.

The chief planned to bring Cedeno’s case before the police commissioners and seek stronger discipline, up to and including dismissal,” according to Cain.

But first Cendeno was in that on-duty motor vehicle accident. He was injured seriously enough that his doctor attested he would not be able to return to work.

Under the union contract, he had a right to resign for reason of suffering a service-related injury, Cain said. This was a legit injury.”

That doesn’t mean the case will go away” for Cedeno, Cain argued. Under revised Connecticut POST (Police Officer Standards & Training) Council policy, if an officer resigns or retires while under internal investigation, the department is under obligation to report that investigation to any other law enforcement agency to which that officer may subsequently apply for employment.

It is our responsibility” to notify other potential employers of Cedeno’s actions that night by the Edgewood Park bridge, Cain said. And the department will.

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