Autolycus
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http://www.post-trib.com/cgi-bin/pto-story/news/z1/09-08-06_z1_news_06.html
And now this guy is a cop? Somehow if I became all mallninja'ed out I doubt I would have a job offer.
Cop job iffy after ride-along
Friday, sept. 8, 2006
By Andy Grimm / Post-Tribune staff writer
HAMMOND — Nick Kokot had a busy night riding shotgun with Hammond Police Sgt. Timothy Thomas last New Year’s Eve.
Wearing fatigues and a bullet-proof vest, and carrying a pistol and sometimes an assault rifle, Kokot patted down suspects during a routine traffic stop. Later he wrestled a suicidal martial artist to the ground as three Hammond cops watched, then subdued an armed man outside a restaurant.
Around midnight, Kokot was only a few yards away when Thomas shot Jermaine Taylor, whom Thomas thought was reaching for a gun.
The fact that Kokot was a civilian, ostensibly with Thomas on a community ride-along, could cost Thomas his job.
After a five-hour hearing Thursday, Board of Public Works and Safety members said they would decide whether Thomas can remain on the force within 30 days.
“Nick Kokot got out of the car and risked his life to protect me,” Thomas told board members. “I think he’s a hero.”
Police Department officials have charged that Thomas did not report Kokot was riding with him the night of Dec. 31, 2005, until the department’s Internal Affairs division investigated the Taylor shooting.
Kokot, a friend of Thomas’, is now an East Chicago police officer, but was not working for any police department when Thomas asked him to join him on patrol.
Taylor has filed a federal lawsuit against the city, claiming Kokot was the one who shot him. Ballistics tests have shown the bullet that hit Taylor was fired from Thomas’ gun, said City Attorney Kristina Kantar.
Police officials said they only learned Kokot had been riding in Thomas’ car Jan. 5, when they read a transcript of Thomas talking to a dispatcher and repeatedly using “we” as he described the situation.
Earlier, Thomas had filed a carefully-worded report on the shooting that didn’t mention Kokot. Department rules for shooting reports require officers only to provide information relevant to their reasons for firing, insisted Thomas’ attorney, John Kautzman of the Indiana Fraternal Order of Police.
“I wrote my report what I believed I would have to testify to in court as to why I had to use deadly force,” he said. “Anytime Internal Affairs asked about it, I told them.”
Police Chief Brian Miller said he saw Kokot at the scene of Taylor’s shooting, but didn’t know he had been involved.
Thomas and Kokot testified they went to a house in the 1100 block of Moss Street around midnight when they heard gunshots. They spotted several men firing shots from the front porch of the house and then from the street.
The men ran back into the house as Kokot and Thomas approached. Thomas said he thought he heard shots coming from inside the house, but didn’t call for backup before he and Kokot got out of the squad car.
“Those two or three minutes (of waiting for backup) for the people inside the house getting shot, could be the difference between living and dying,” Thomas said.
Kokot circled toward the back of the house to cut off the men’s escape, and called out the fleeing men’s positions to Thomas. Thomas, his pistol drawn, approached Taylor between two houses and Kokot said he heard Thomas yell to Taylor to raise his hands.
Thomas said Taylor continued to reach toward his waist, as if to pull out a gun, so Taylor fired four times, striking Taylor in the hand.
Lake County Sheriff’s investigators cleared Thomas of any wrongdoing in the shooting, even after they learned Kokot had been present.
Earlier that evening, Kokot helped Thomas and two other Hammond patrolmen wrestle a suicidal man to the ground. As the officers talked to the man and Thomas shined a flashlight in the man’s eyes, Kokot slipped behind him and yanked him to the ground using a headlock-type move.
“My training kicked in,” Kokot said, smiling. “I thought (the officers) were in a vulnerable position ... we had the gentleman in custody without any problem.”
Earlier still, Kokot, carrying a rifle, stopped a man Thomas suspected was armed and pinned him to the ground until Thomas could handcuff the suspect.
Kokot resigned from the East Chicago Police Department in 2003, after he sued to fight a suspension for using excessive force against a suspect.
Kokot claimed it was because he supported Mayor George Pabey in the 2002 election bid over Robert Pastrick. Kokot was rehired, and started working in East Chicago Jan. 9.
Thomas claimed since he was the only officer that worked the 6 p.m to 2 a.m. “Tango” shift for the department, he was a supervisory officer with authority to approve civilian ride-alongs. He also said his son and ex-wife had accompanied him, and carried firearms, on ride-alongs with him in the past.
Attorney Bruce Parent said Thomas’ explanations for his actions — stating that Hammond policy allowed armed civilians to patrol with police — was “ridiculous.”
“These two gentlemen were dressed like police officers, they were armed like police officers. They were playing police officer,” Parent said in his closing statement.
“Keep your eyes on the ball here. This gentleman armed a civilian and put him out on the street,” Parent said. “The ab-solute arrogance and refusal to accept any responsibility for the rules is ridiculous.
“To allow (Thomas) to hold any position would in some ways condone vigilantism.”
Contact Andy Grimm at 648-3073 or [email protected]
And now this guy is a cop? Somehow if I became all mallninja'ed out I doubt I would have a job offer.
