...[Darren Michaels] claimed, he hasn't seen his daughter for two years because he is afraid of the Sarasota police officer the mother was first dating and then married. Michaels insisted that though he is a peaceful man with no criminal record, Officer Joseph Snodgrass and some cop buddies wanted to cause him problems... An investigation was not launched until this summer, when Michaels wrote to City Manager Bob Bartolotta, who insisted one be doneTOM LYONS: OFFICER'S ACTIONS OVER THE LINE
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
By Tom Lyons
Sunday, October 31, 2010
[Excerpts] ...[Darren Michaels] claimed, he hasn't seen his daughter for two years because he is afraid of the Sarasota police officer the mother was first dating and then married. Michaels insisted that though he is a peaceful man with no criminal record, Officer Joseph Snodgrass and some cop buddies wanted to cause him problems... Michaels had evidence Snodgrass was dogging him: State records showed the officer, for months starting in late 2007, made numerous inquiries to check Michael's driver license and see if he had any arrest warrants. Snodgrass used the DAVID system, a database intended for law enforcement business only. Several other Sarasota officers ran checks on Michaels, too. There could have been valid cause for some officers to investigate on Michaels, but Snodgrass was too personally involved. It did look as if, amidst love-triangle tension, he used police powers to shop for a reason to have his wife's offbeat ex arrested. Michaels wrote a complaint to the Police Department in February 2008. He sent follow-up gripes to Chief Peter Abbott. An investigation was not launched until this summer, when Michaels wrote to City Manager Bob Bartolotta, who insisted one be done. The results are in. Though they say Snodgrass did nothing improper with the information, he was reprimanded for violating state and city policy by using DAVID for personal reason... And the other officers were cleared. Their DAVID checks apparently were police business, prompted by Snodgrass telling them - sincerely, I have to think, even if he was less than objective - that Michaels might be an angry, dangerous fanatic. And they took no improper action... "It's unfortunate that the investigation took that long" to start, because the department had evidence that Michael's records had been checked unreasonably, [Deputy City Manager Marlon] Brown said... [Full article here
[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence (IPV) abuse law enforcement public safety florida state database abuse computer lesa hand-slap teflon stalker stalking]
I agree...I was married to a police officer and have not seen my child in two years becuz of the constant harassment of the officers...someone needs to bring a huge awareness to this subject..it is way more common then people are aware of
ReplyDeleteIt called "probable cause" (for a legitimate business purpose)and abuse of authority. Snodgrass made up a hogwash excuse to justify his illegal activities claiming that Michaels was a tax protestor (never heard of the Tea Party? duh!) which had no supporting evidence to back up his claim.
ReplyDeleteLook at the Sarasota Police as a whole, especially the Perez incident with former Chief Abbott which will give you a good idea of how the "Good Ole Boy" network operates...
Since then the Chief Police Abbott (resigned - cough, cough), Internal commander Stockman took an early retirement (cough, cough) and City Manager was fired!
But 3 mayors and the ALL city commissioners also "covered-up" these officers willful crimes that violated both federal and state laws.
City Sarasota legal team is represented by "Dewey, Cheatem and Howe"