NEW HAVEN ——
The Meriden police officer accused of brutality after being captured on video pushing a handcuffed suspect into a jail cell is fighting to keep the tapes from a federal jury by claiming the department's now-deceased internal affairs investigator may have mishandled the recordings.
Defense attorney Raymond Hassett argued in front of U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton Monday that some police station cameras recorded what happened moments before the 2010 incident between Officer Evan Cossette and the suspect, but that no tapes from those cameras currently exist.
Additionally, he argued, there is a gap in the recording sequence from when prisoner Pedro Temich was brought into the station through a sally port and when Cossette is seen pushing the suspect into the cell.
Hassett said it is unclear what happened to the original tapes or why there is a gap of roughly eight to 10 seconds because Sgt. Leonard Caponigro, who was in charge of the internal affairs investigation, never wrote a report on his probe of Cossette's actions. Caponigro died in 2012 just a few months after retiring.
"We don't know how, why or when these tapes were copied,'' Hassett said. "There is no chain of command for the evidence and no police report indicating what was done."
Arterton Monday denied Hassett's motion to preclude the video from being played to the jury. But she did rule that prosecutors will have to call witnesses, including security company employees and a police union representative involved in the Cossette investigation, to explain why there is a gap in the tape before deciding whether the jury will see the recordings.
"If the evidence the government presents doesn't convince me it should be shown to the jury, then it won't be and we will all go home,'' Arterton said.
Caponigro was accused by some officers of going easy on Cossette because Cossette's father, Jeffry Cossette, is the police chief. Caponigro investigated two other allegations of police brutality against Evan Cossette filed after the Temich incident and cleared him both times. He was caught on tape in one instance telling Evan Cossette he was "just going through the motions."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul McConnell said federal authorities will have a representative of the security company that maintains the cameras for the police department testify, as well as then-union leader Capt. Patrick Gaynor, who saw the original tapes along with Caponigro. McConnell said Gaynor will testify that the copies are authentic and that there was nothing of significance on the missing tape.
The government also is expected to have the dispatcher who called 911 testify about what she saw on the live video feed, which led her to call an ambulance.
After being pushed by Cossette, Temich fell backward and cracked his head on a concrete bench in the holding cell, knocking him out. The videotape shows Cossette entering the cell several times and moving the injured man around. Emergency personnel eventually arrived and took Temich, who had head injuries, to a local hospital.
Cossette is charged with using unreasonable force and with obstruction of justice, and faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted.
Cossette wrote in his report that he felt threatened by the Temich, who was handcuffed. Hassett said the missing portion of the tape is potentially important because Cossette claims that Temich was abusive to him as they were walking to the cell, which would have been captured on that tape.
In his interview with internal affairs, Cossette said that as he opened the holding cell door, Temich "spun around and invaded my personal space."
"I became fearful that [Temich] was going to continue to be combative and possibly head-butt me or even kick me as he attempted to do at the scene,'' Cossette told Caponigro during the interview.
An internal affairs investigation by Caponigro found that Cossette had used unnecessary force, but at an administrative hearing, Deputy Chief Timothy Topulos overruled Caponigro's findings. Topulos issued a letter of reprimand to Cossette and ordered him to take four hours of training on the subject of excessive force.
The video came to light after fellow Officers Brian Sullivan and Donald Huston wrote a letter to city officials claiming that Cossette was receiving preferential treatment within the department because of nepotism.
The city hired former federal prosecutor Thomas Daily to do an independent investigation and Daily concluded that there was no pattern of brutality by Cossette and no favoritism shown toward him. Daily's report and conclusions cannot be submitted at trial, the judge ruled.
Cossette is on paid administrative leave from the department pending the outcome of the case.
Jury selection is scheduled for May 7, with the trial expected to start on May 28 and last about six days.