Fired officer in skateboard incident gets support
The Baltimore police officer fired this week for berating and pushing a 14-year-old skateboarder three years ago at the Inner Harbor has supporters. Residents from Greektown to downtown are rushing to his defense, as his union prepares a lawsuit.
Officer Salvatore Rivieri had been cleared by an internal police panel of using excessive force and discourtesies, but convicted of administrative charges of failing to write a report. The panel recommended that he be suspended five days, but Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III disagreed and fired him.
The union argues that Bealefeld, even though he has the right to increase the punishment, abused his authority by turning a technical violation into a firing offense, and that he fired the officer not for failing to write the report but for his conduct at the harbor three years ago -- conduct for which he had been acquitted.
Rivieri's actions has stoked a furor. His father went on WBAL-Radio's Clarence Mitchell show and blasted the officer as out of control and defended his son for calling the the officer "dude," saying "he's just a child. But many others side with the officer, saying his stern lecture was just what Eric Bush needed:
Rosalind Ellis who lives at the Inner Harbor: "I cannot understand that with all the stuff that's going on in the city that the police commissioner would get involved with skateboarders. I'm very upset because I have personal dealings with these skateboarders, and they are frightening and arrogant."
Fallston's Kim Cowie who said Rivieri helped her daughter and her sick dog: "Officer Rivieri came over, got water out of his cooler and asked if she needed help. Apparently not seeing her mother, who was trailing 20 feet behind, "he offered to help get the dog to the vet. He was very concerned there was a child alone with a sick dog."
On Thursday, the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3 handed out a memo from 2008 that raises some questions. It shows that Rivieri was suspended in February 2008 after the video went on YouTube and then appears to have been cleared several months later and told he wouldn't face any internal charges that could result in his firing.
Police officials declined to comment on the memo. Read it for yourself here:
Categories: Confronting crime, Downtown
Comments
THe BPD need a civilian review board!! If that was the case, I wonder what their findings would have been????
Posted by: j | August 27, 2010 9:34 AM
Officer Rivieri comes from a different time. Unfortunate for him. Those of us old to remember a more civil, orderly world get him. Right Officer, wrong time. Yet this is the same world that has absolutely no problems with the operations of Patricia Jessamy. Duh....
Posted by: ruth | August 27, 2010 11:34 AM
I don't feel sorry for this officer at all. He did go over the top in dealing with the kid. My son is an officer also and I would hope he would use better judgment than this officer did.
Posted by: LaurenInGlenBurnie | August 27, 2010 12:05 PM
Look up Police misconduct on Wikipedia and Rivieri"s name is there!! A great example of Baltimores finest !!
Posted by: k | August 27, 2010 12:56 PM
I hope that all people who think the kid deserves to be berated and violently pushed down to the ground by a police officer have the same experience the next time that they get a speeding ticket.
Hey, he's just teaching you a lesson right.
The kid was a punk, but that's no reason for this officer to abuse his power and dishonor his own department.
I would have a LOT more respect for the Baltimore police department and the union if they didn't back this guy. It's really hurting their public image in a time of budget problems. I don't want to give a penny to the pension funds of the creeps who defend this sort of behavior. This is really bad PR.
Posted by: V | August 27, 2010 1:16 PM
This officer should have been fired earlier for his actions.
A slew of incidents involving Baltimore Police officers over the past several years draws into serious question, the training and review process these officers are getting.
A bully for a police officer is just a thug with a gun. There should be ZERO tolerance for that mindset.
Posted by: Herman | August 29, 2010 6:39 AM
No sympathy for any fired officer who abuses his power. I don't care how many good things he/she does prior to. In any jobs, in my job, any out of line conduct, such as this would result in firing or suspension without question. Be a man, accept the consequences of your actions and good luck finding a new job. I have plenty of friends in the academy begging to find work as a police officer. But self-entitled arrogant men like this are taking up the payroll and headcount.
Posted by: Chris | August 30, 2010 3:29 PM
Yeah screw this guy- hes a peice of crap doesnt deserve his badge. This is a lowlife.
Posted by: jackson | September 1, 2010 10:30 PM