[NY] STAND BY SONIA

Photo display is from Sonia's page on myspace:

How BIG, how BAD, can Sonia's killer BE?
How thick, how wide is the blue wall?
How gender specific - that even killing an officer
can be done quietly?

If justice cannot move swiftly for a slain officer of the law
then
what are the rules?

What isn't being said out loud?
Wives of officers - FIERCE to defend their men and their husband's department - are often murdered with no one from the police department showing up at her funeral. No officers. No wives. No uniforms to be seen. Wives of officers think they are in the family until they divorce or are beaten. Then the door closes and they find themselves outside the wall, despised and shunned. Shocked, disoriented, and stunned.
If they are killed, every effort is made to not let it reflect on the department - and if possible, not reflect on the officer. She killed herself. She was coming at him with a knife. She drowned in an empty tub, lacerated and bruised from what must have been a fall.

She disappeared, probably ran off with another man.
And her people keep searching
and searching.

And if it can be pulled off, life goes on.

There are exceptions. I see their faces too.

I am the keeper of the stories.
I tell you it's the way it usually goes.

But now comes Sonia, an officer herself. Does her being a woman determine the sloth and silence after her murder? If her NYPD fiance' had been slain while alone in the house with her, dead from her "recently fired" department issued service weapon,

and if she had been just getting out of the shower - all blood spatter and gun residue washed away - as the police who she called arrived,
would she still be free two months later?

It is very hard to imagine that she would.
And if a slain officer cannot find timely justice
what hope is there
for the rest of us?

I try to think the best, but I am recalling / deliberately resurrecting the murder of Annette Perez.

Officer Investigated in Slaying of Woman
NYTIMES
By ADAM NOSSITER
August 25, 1995
A police officer in the Bronx is under investigation in the weekend shooting death of a pregnant woman believed to have been his girlfriend... The officer, Anthony Nieves, 30, of the 41st Precinct, was placed on desk duty yesterday, his gun and shield having been taken from him earlier... About the same time as the officer was placed on desk duty, funeral services were held for the woman, Annette Perez, 25. The services came the day after relatives and friends held a candlelight vigil outside the 41st Precinct station house, demanding action against Officer Nieves...

COP SUSPECT IN SLAY EYED IN PREGNANT LOVER'S DEATH
NYDailyNews
By JOHN MARZULLI
August 25th 1995
...Officer Anthony Nieves, 30, was stripped of his gun and badge and placed on modified assignment after the victim's family held the vigil, calling for justice. Police spokesman Tom Kelly said the action against Nieves was "in the best interest of the department." THE ACTION WAS TAKEN AFTER SOME 60 FRIENDS AND RELATIVES OF THE SLAIN WOMAN GATHERED WEDNESDAY NIGHT OUTSIDE THE 41ST PRECINCT in the South Bronx where the cop works...

A YEAR LATER:

VICTIM'S KIN SEEK ANSWERS
NYDailyNews
By MIGUEL GARCILAZO
August 22th 1996
Annette Perez was only days from giving birth to her second child when she was shot to death in her Bronx apartment a year ago. As the anniversary of her death passed, her anguished family is demanding answers about why the case remains unsolved. They plan to hold a vigil Sunday outside the 46th Precinct stationhouse, and say they will not rest until Perez' killer is brought to justice. Perez, 25, died on Aug. 19, 1995, from two gunshot wounds to the head. The unborn baby also did not survive... "If they were so suspicious of him in the beginning, why hasn't he been arrested?" asked Norma Rosario, 55, the victim's distraught mother...

THREE YEARS LATER:

WHEN ABUSE WEARS BLUE: A special report;
New York Police Lag in Fighting Domestic Violence by Officers
NEW YORK TIMES
By DAVID KOCIENIEWSKI AND KEVIN FLYNN
November 1, 1998
In the fall of 1995, Officer Anthony Nieves was accused of two offenses that could hardly have been more different. Already a suspect in the murder of one girlfriend, he was arrested for harassing another. Then he was caught, while off duty, sprinting onto the field at Yankee Stadium to high-five a player. Yet when police officials considered the incidents, they imposed punishments that could hardly have been more similar. His antics at the stadium earned him a 30-day suspension. Harassing his girlfriend earned him a 29-day suspension... Already this year, the Police Department said it had received 821 complaints of domestic abuse by officers, from threats to actual assaults... In the Nieves case, the officer was punished no more severely for the abuse complaint than for the ball park prank, even though his girlfriend said she had been terrified when he scaled her fire escape and broke the window to her apartment after a fight. When he was disciplined, police administrators who made the decision held personnel records showing that he had been placed on modified duty because he was a suspect in the murder of a previous girlfriend. Officer Nieves, who was never charged in the murder, has since been returned to full duty... "You kind of wonder, what will it take to finally make them deal with this?" said Dr. Pamm, of the Mayor's Task Force on Domestic Violence. "I mean, how many bodies do they need before they realize it is a major problem?"

Previous entries:
- FAREWELL SONIA - September 30, 2007
- [NYPD] Sad clue in the murder of Precinct Princess Officer Sonia Garcia - October 05, 2007
[rant police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety lethal fatality fatalities murder cop-on-cop new york state politics]