The Whole Nine Yards Ch. 03

Rather than call McElwane up immediately and just get to the gist of his grievance, the Union lawyers chose to focus on the McCombs incident. They called up Officer Buchannan and the other Officers at the scene (except me as the Defendant). They had craftily arranged for Teresa to be called before McElwane, Justin Hendricks, or McCombs were. That was a mistake. Teresa had figured out the 'rules'.

"Commander Croyle," said the Union lawyer, "you assaulted Officer Hendricks while Troy was assaulting Sergeant McCombs-"

"He's not a Sergeant." Teresa interrupted. "He's not even a Police Officer anymore."

"Confine yourself to answering my questions." snarled the Union lawyer haughtily. "You're out of line."

"No she's not." replied Dr. Chase, to the utter shock of the Union lawyer. Seeing Mike G. Todd raise his hand, Dr. Chase said "Mr. Todd?"

"Your Honor, I request we show the various tapes of the incident now, so that the Jury will have the proper reference and context." said Mike.

"You'll get your turn." the Union lawyer said.

"And he'll get that turn right now." said Dr. Chase. "I agree, now is the time to show the video." The many videos of the McCombs Incident were shown, as well as my recording of my 'conversation' with McElwane in my office.

When it was done, the Union lawyer said "To ask my question, when Troy assaulted Sergeant McCombs-"

"That's a lie." said Teresa. "Commander Troy did not assault former Officer McCombs. He prevented McCombs from murdering an unarmed black man in a racist act of hatred-"

"Sergeant McCombs is not on trial here!" yelled the Union lawyer.

"Why isn't he?" Teresa fired back. "It's absolutely ridiculous that you're trying to protect an outright criminal as well as a pathetic excuse for a Police Officer, while the best Officer this Police Department has ever had is considered to be the Defendant in this proceeding!"

"Your Honor," cried the Union lawyer, "we want this witness held in Contempt!"

Dr. Chase intervened. "I'll remind the Jury that this is not a Court trial, and that you are not reaching a verdict of guilt or innocence of criminal charges. And no, not only will I not hold the witness in Contempt, I'm allowing her words to remain fully on the record."

When Officer Justin Hendricks came up, looking slovenly in his uniform... which was not complete because he did not wear his jacket, in violation of Police policy on uniform appearances in proceedings like this... Mike G. Todd really ripped into him.

"So you are asserting that you did not hear former Officer McCombs call the man he was trying to kill the n-word?"

"No I did not hear Sergeant McCombs use the n-word." said Hendricks.

"You won't be a Police Officer much longer, then." said Mike Todd. "They do have standards for hearing acuity, and everyone else at the scene says they heard him say it, and we all can hear it on the videotapes!"

"Objection!" cried the Union lawyer.

"Overruled!" fired back Dr. Chase.

The Union tried their last trick: "We call Commander Donald Troy to the stand."

"Bailiff, escort the Jury out for a ten minute recess." said Dr. Chase. As soon as they were gone, he lit into the Union lawyer: "You were already told that Commander Troy could not be called to testify, and I told you that you could not call him to the stand!"

The Union lawyer fired back: "Then let the Jury see and hear him refuse to go on the stand!"

"I've already ruled on that." snarled a visibly angry Dr. Chase. "I'm not sure I can hold you in Contempt of Court for your blatant disregard of my earlier ruling, but I'll be finding out. I will say that if you try any more dirty tricks like that in violation of my previous rulings, I'll just direct the Jury to find against you. Do you have any other witnesses to call?"

The Union called McElwane last, and he asserted repeatedly that he felt I was denying him Union representation and also interrogating him without representation that he'd asked for. Mike Todd had already laid the groundwork (as well as showing the video) that I'd asked no actual questions, and earlier had worked with Chief Moynahan to assert that McElwane was obligated to clarify his Police report, but McElwane dodged and weaved when Mike tried to pin him down on anything. I felt like the proceeding ended on a bad note for my side...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

4:30pm, Monday, July 27th. Much to my surprise, they got in the whole Board of Inquest proceeding in one day. The Jury was instructed that they could deliberate tonight and begin to write their findings, and would come back tomorrow to finish their work and submit their report. The rest of us were excused.

Seeing me, Teresa, and the Sheriff file into my office, Cindy Ross came out of her office and knocked on the door. "How'd it go?" she asked.

"Come on in." I said. Cindy did, closing the door behind her, and sitting down by the Sheriff on the sofa. I sat down in the near-side hot chair (the one closer to the door). The 'medicinal' Canadian whisky came out, even though it was still afternoon.

I said "That rough-and-tumble format was interesting, but I suspect it'll get more formal in future Inquests. As to how it went, the Union made a huge mistake bringing up the McCombs case early: as soon as they heard McCombs on videotape calling that man the n-word, the black jurors all but tuned out for the rest of the day."

"Good, then maybe we'll win." growled Griswold.

"But it's not all good, Sheriff." I said. "I don't think we made a good case for ourselves in the McElwane grievance. And that was the last thing the Jurors heard at the end of the day..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

On my way home from Headquarters, I diverted myself to University Hospital and went up to Inga Gunddottar's room. Her head was still wrapped in bandages, but she was vastly improved over what the Paramedics had rescued that horrible night.

Jerome Davis was sitting in a chair in the corner of the room. When he saw me come in, he quickly got to his feet.

"How is she?" I whispered as we stood at the side of the bed.

"Getting better." said Jerome. "She's still out of it, for the most part." And then, almost in deliberate contradiction to that, Inga opened her eyes. I leaned over so that she could see me.

"Hey." I said. "Welcome back."

"Sirrrr..." Inga managed to whisper. "I'm sorrryyy..."

"Shhh." I said. "You have nothing to apologize for, so don't even start. You just work on getting better and getting out of here. Orange Order dinners aren't the same without you."

That made Inga's eyes crinkle with amusement. She was trying to stay awake, but her eyes began fluttering, and soon she was asleep again.

Jerome and I went out into the hallway. "She looks like she's improving." I said. Jerome nodded, and I said what needed to be said: "I know you want to stay here for support, Lieutenant, but we need you back at work, at least during the day. Father Romano can stay here when you're away, so she won't be alone, but you need to get back."

"Yes sir." Jerome said, his voice neutral. If he was upset at my words, he was not showing it...

Part 17 - Dad Jokes

I needed to be cheered up, and petting the dogs was only helping so much. So we had supper at The Cabin and invited the Steele's over. And that meant 'Dad Jokes' night.

I held up the prized, highly-sought-after blue ribbon and said "Okay, who's starting us off?"

"I will!" said Tasha. "Where does Tiger Mom go when she loses her tail? The retail store!" The other kids booed loudly, but we adults laughed.

Marie said: "I'm so good at sleeping, I could do it with my eyes closed!" The other kids booed loudly. The adults chuckled.

Ian said: "Did you hear the one about the roof? Never mind, it's over your head." That one got some well-earned boos, though the adults were amused.

Ross said: "I was going to make a joke about pizza, but it was really cheesy." The other kids booed. I groaned. They weren't getting any better.

Jim said: "They say memory is the second thing to go. I forgot what's first." The other kids booed (no surprise, there). The adults thought it was funny, but seemed to forget why.

Carole said: "I saw a robbery at the Apple store today. That makes me an iWitness." The other kids booed loudly. But it must've just struck my funny bone, because I laughed out loud at it.

"Okay, there is a clear winner tonight," I said, "and it is Carole." Carole squealed with delight as she came up to accept the blue ribbon. The adults clapped, and the other kids politely joined the applause.

And I felt much better, for the moment.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Afterwards, Edward Steele and I sat on the back deck and discussed things.

"We have the second reading of the Promotions and Medals package tomorrow night." said Edward. "There is rarely debate on second readings, but I'm hearing that Carnes and Lewis want to use it to make a stink over the Breonna Bryant trial. But don't worry; it'll pass. Mayor Allgood is going to vote with us and ram it through, if need be."

"Good." I said. "Am I the only one getting real tired of their antics?"

"Get used to it." said Steele. "It's becoming par for the course. Civil discourse is gone, and so is civil political debate. I've never seen things so polarized, be it locally, State-wide, or nationally. And I don't see it getting any better. So, how did the Board of Inquest go?"

I filled him in on what had happened. "I think we're going to win, so unless the Union wins an appeal in Federal Appeals Court, we should be able to put most of this behind us."

"Most of it?" Edward asked.

"Yeah." I said, frustration in my voice. "Hendricks is still on the Force. McElwane is a piece of shit, and he will be a bottom-rung Patrol Officer for the rest of his career, but as long as he doesn't actually fuck up, he'll have that career. But Hendricks is dirty, like McCombs is and Sharples was, and Hendricks is a cancer within the Force."

Steele said "Let me circle back to the Inquest Board. Do you think we'll be able to get rid of Kelly Carnes with it?"

I replied: "It will depend on the composition of the Jury, and who the Presiding Officer is. Dr. Chase was willing to be the Presiding Officer this time, but he doesn't want to make a habit of it. It'll probably be I.G. Wellman himself, and he'll set new precedent on how it's run."

Edward said "The really sad thing about this is that Kelly Carnes is a truly despicable excuse for a human being, and you'd think we'd be rooting hard for Bill Redmond to win against her in November. But except for J.P. Goldman, who believes the enemy of his enemy is his friend, none of us like Bill Redmond at all, and we're not sure if he'd really be much better than Carnes..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The kids were put to bed and the adults were not going to be far behind. Laura asked me to join her on the back deck for a 'nightcap' as the dogs went to do their business. We sat together on the metal mesh loveseat, sipping Larceny wheated bourbon, an excellent and (much) less expensive alternative to Pappy Van Winkle's wheated bourbon whiskeys.

Laura said "How was your visit with Inga today?"

"Brief." I said. "Too brief. I think she knew who I was, but she fell back asleep. She tried to apologize, and I told her to stop that, then told her a joke to make her feel better."

Laura said "Did you tell Jerome Davis he needs to spend less time at the Hospital with her?"

I said "I told him he needed to be at work during the day, and I think he realized that was not a suggestion."

Laura said. "Good."

"Why?" I asked. "Is he in the way at the Hospital?"

Laura said "Well... yes and no. I've been talking with Inga. She's in and out of it a lot, but I've gathered that she remembers being abducted, and, unfortunately, remembers some of being raped. She didn't remember all of it, and I suspect her memory stopped working when Jacquez Wilson started throwing punches into her face and head." I nodded.

Laura: "She has some very traditional reactions. You said she tried to apologize, and that's one of the reactions... she's blaming herself, as many rape victims do. I can work with her to get past that."

With some insight, I said "And it might be better if you do your work without Jerome around as much as he has been?"

Laura said "Not much gets past you, Darling. And yes... I'm increasingly believing that Jerome's presence is not helping Inga emotionally. She needs some space for now."

I said "I'll make sure that happens, then..."

Part 18 - Repercussions and Ramifications

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" shouted the redheaded MILF reporterette at 7:00am, Wednesday, July 29th, from between the Federal Building and the State Office Building, with City Hall in the background. "The Union is appealing the Board of Inquest ruling!"

Bettina began: "As you heard yesterday on Channel Two News at Noon, the six-member Jury of the Board of Inquest determined that the Town & County Police acted correctly in stopping former Police Sergeant McCombs from shooting an unarmed black man, and said that McCombs was correctly terminated for cause, and correctly stripped of his rank and time-in-grade."

Bettina: "The jury of four white and two black women also found for the Police in the grievance against Commander Troy, saying that he technically acted correctly in interrogating an Officer after that Officer requested Union representation. However, the Jury did find that the Police should review their policies, and be much more 'respectful' of Officer requests for Union representation regardless of the circumstances."

Bettina: "The TCPD issued a statement saying they consider the matter to be closed. However, upon hearing the Jury's findings, the Union immediately filed an appeal in Federal Appeals Court, seeking a new Federal hearing and binding Federal arbitration of the grievances. It is not yet known when the Federal Appeals Court will hear the case."

Bettina: "And Council Democrats are once again objecting to the oppressive, heavy-handed tactics of Mayor Daniel Allgood, again citing his use of threats of arrest to suppress legitimate debate of the issues. Councilman Reginald B.F. Lewis, who is not running for re-election, said in a statement to Channel Two News that, quote, 'illegitimate Mayor Allgood is suppressing the voices of blacks and women Democrats, while coddling his fellow racist Republicans', close quote."

Bettina: "Those complaints come after a bitterly contentious Council meeting last night, in which the Council immediately went into Executive Session. The second reading of the Public Safety Department promotions and medals package was passed 6-5, with Mayor Allgood inserting himself into the partisan politics by breaking the tie..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"The Union's appealing?" asked ADA Paulina Patterson as she, Captain Tanya P. Muscone, Lt. Commander Teresa Croyle, Chief Sean Moynahan, and Your Iron Crowbar drank coffee in the Chief's Conference Room. 'Coffee Klatch Lite', I called it to myself.

"Yes." I said. "They were really, really bitter about the Inquest Jury's findings, especially on the McElwane grievance."

"Shouldn't they have appealed before the Board of Inquest?" Tanya asked.

"My understanding is that is going to be our side's response to the appeal." I said. "I was hoping Judge Taney would slap them with a Contempt charge, but they have the right to appeal. Mike Todd says that it's likely the appeal will be denied, but 'never say never' when it comes to Federal Courts."

"I heard a rumor," said Teresa Croyle, "that someone is responsible for Bettina not being able to broadcast from the roof of the building at the corner of Riverside and College." Everyone looked at me, and saw me grinning like the proverbial Cheshire Cat.

"It is possible," I said, "that I went with the County Health Inspector to that place of business and inspected it. We also contacted the building's owner, and I told him that allowing reporters on the roof was violating several Town & County ordinances as well as being a civil liability threat. I then communicated those issues to their insurance company."

I continued: "The business owner wasn't going to stop Bettina from broadcasting from up there... he was being paid well to allow it... but the building owner and the insurance companies put the kibosh on it. So Bettina can't broadcast from up there anymore."

"And what spurrrrred you to do that, Mister Crowbarrrr?" drawled the Chief.

"Bettina's Monday morning report, Chief." I said. "I don't have to tolerate her crap. And I noticed that her report today was a damn sight better, at least relatively speaking."

"What happened at the Council meeting?" Tanya asked, partially to change the subject.

Teresa replied: "The audience was packed, but pretty silent and well-behaved. And it didn't matter much: the Council went into Executive Session almost immediately."

Chief Moynahan said: "I was in the Executive Session meeting. Mayor Allgood announced it would be formal at the beginning, but Carnes and Lewis started up with their crap, trying to hold up our promotions and medals over the Breonna Bryant case. They traded barbs under the dis-guizzzze of 'points of order', but they finally got it to a vote, and the Republicans rammed it through by a 6-5 vote. That was interesting because Malinda Adams had voted for the package the first time, but voted against it the second."

"I wonder if she was 'warned' to toe the Party line." mused Teresa.

"Someone said something to somebody." I replied...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

At 9:00am, I was called into the Chief's office. Commander Cindy Ross was already there. The Chief had me sit down next to her.

"Okayyyy." drawled the Chief. "The Inquest Jury did not find against you, Commander Troy, but they did write in their findings that in general, we must be more cognizant and respective of Police Officer's rights to Union representation when asked for. I interpret that as their way of saying that yoo were not on the side of right in pressuring McElwane to answer questions. Sooooo, we're going to be implementing new policies re-garrrr-ding future incidents, so that the Union cannot bash us over it."

"Firrrst," said the Chief, "if a Police Officer asks for a Union Rep in a situation like McElwane's, we will provide it, and we will not ask questions of the Officer until he has it. There will be a flip side to that, though: the Officer will be immediately relegated to Desk Duty, and not permitted to return to Field Duty, until the issues are resolved to the Police Chief's satisfaction. And it will be stated in the new policy that returning to Field Duty will be contingent upon passing a weapons requal-i-fi-cay-shunnnnnn."

"The Union just might grieve those new rules, Chief." I said. "Especially requalification." If there is one thing Police Officers hate, it's having to requalify with one's service weapon. To have that in the policy was a stroke of genius, I thought, but something the Union would fight against.

"Either I or the Sheriff will be putting it out as a 'clarification' of current rules, not needing Union consent." said the Chief. "One thing we do know is that the Union spent a lot of money on the McCombs and McElwane situations, and are not flush with funnnds. If they choose to fight this, we'll just drain more of their money in legal actions."

"Payback is hell." I said.

"And karma is a bitch." Cindy added. "They've been trying to drain us, especially Don, financially. It's long past time we hit them back..."

Part 19 - Seven

"I hear babies cry
I watch them grow
They'll learn much more
Than I'll ever know
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world"
- Louis Armstrong, 'What A Wonderful World