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by: BRENT MITCHELL Herald Staff Writer Hollywood police officers should be more polite and be sure to
wear distinctive clothing, but they shouldn't be charged with beating a small-time auto burglar who claimed police brutality, a grand jury reported
Tuesday.
The Broward County grand jury investigated claims by Daniel O'Keefe, who accused officers of repeatedly hitting him on the face
even after he had been handcuffed. The 22-year-old Hollywood man was arrested Nov. 1 for allegedly violating probation.
The officers said O'Keefe resisted arrest, and that they were forced to pursue and physically subdue him. O'Keefe spent seven
months in jail before the state attorney's office dropped the resisting-arrest charge May 26.
O'Keefe passed a lie-detector test about the alleged beating, and a reported eyewitness -- a juvenile who also was handcuffed in
the back of the van -- corroborated his accusation in a sworn statement given to the public defender's office.
But the grand jury report released Tuesday discounted the witness, noting that he also said he saw police subdue O'Keefe even
though he was inside a van 2 1/2 blocks away.
The jury announced in July that it wouldn't file charges against the officers. Tuesday's report contained more detailed comments
on their findings. |
The jury ruled that O'Keefe struggled against the officers and that the police didn't strike him while he was handcuffed. The
critical findings were that the officers were "rude and unnecessarily aggressive" and that they didn't all wear clothing that identified them as
police. Hollywood police's internal affairs division won't file charges against any of the officers involved, spokeswoman
Stephanie Norris said. She said the department's investigation was complete and only awaiting the final grand jury report.
But the department will examine the grand jury's suggestion about the officers' behavior and their clothing.
"We will look to see if that is something that that unit needs to work on -- obviously, if there is more training needed or more
clearly identifiable clothing," Norris said.
But O'Keefe's attorney, Jeff Ivashuk , an assistant public defender, said he was upset the department and the grand jury had
cleared officers who hadn't answered his questions about the incident.
Ivashuk didn't understand why the grand jury's report didn't mention the polygraph test that helped get his client released from
jail in May. He wanted the Hollywood Police Department to discipline the officers.
The grand jury is "telling you that they were acting in a way that is not to be tolerated, and Hollywood internal affairs is
coming back and saying, 'Oh, yes it can,' " Ivashuk said. |
