Merit Commission Canceled - AGAIN

Today's meeting of the McHenry County Sheriff's Department Merit Commission earns five demerits for canceling its March meeting! You may recall that it canceled its February meeting on short notice and after publishing an Agenda for that meeting.

Perhaps the name of this Commission needs to be changed!

As some may know, this is not an independent public body of McHenry County Government, as are other County commissions operating under the name "Commission".

Unlike the 3-man, City Council-appointed, Woodstock Board of Fire and Police Commission, it's sort of like a private party of five friends of Sheriff Nygren who are appointed by him. The five members are not selected by the County Board; they are handpicked by the Sheriff.

In view of yet one more lawsuit filed against the McHenry County Sheriff's Department, why isn't this Merit Commission holding its meetings? Might members of the public or the media want to ask some pointed questions?

On December 1, 2008, a McHenry County judge dismissed a case against a woman who had been charged with two counts of resisting arrest back on April 17. The State's Attorney asked for this case to be dismissed because two sheriff's deputies (Lt. Miller and Sgt. Penna) failed to show up in court to testify against her. The defendant's attorney objected to the dismissal, but the judge dismissed the case, anyway.

Why isn't the sheriff taking disciplinary action against a lieutenant and a sergeant who failed to show up in court, after having been given Notice to Appear? Would they have raised their right hands, sworn to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, and then said exactly the same thing written in the reports following the arrest?

It will be a while before the answer to that is known, if ever. A civil rights case in U.S. District Court Northern District by Susan O'Grady is just getting started.

Isn't their failure to appear in court considered a serious infraction? What if a non-supervisory deputy had been ordered to court to testify against a person he had charged with resisting arrest and he hadn't shown up? What if that deputy had been questioning some of the actions of other deputies who might have been breaking laws while they were supposed to be enforcing them? Would he be standing at attention before the Merit Commission? You bet!

Why isn't the Sheriff hauling Miller and Penna before Merit Commission? Has either one been there before?

The County Board should create its own "Merit Commission" for the Sheriff's Department and appoint five civilians who will consider all matters fully independently, on behalf of the employees of the Sheriff's Department AND the public. Maybe it could be called something like McHenry County Sheriff's Department Internal Affairs Commission?

Minutes of the Merit Commission meetings should be posted on the County's website where anyone, civilian or County employee, can read them. An employee of the Sheriff's Department is quite unlikely to approach the administration and ask to read the Minutes of meetings of the Merit Commission.

Just imagine how high on the popularity list his name would be, if he did so.

Another lawsuit against MCSD

How many lawsuits against the McHenry County Sheriff's Department will taxpayers tolerate? Here's another one.

On January 27, 2009, Susan O'Grady filed a case in U.S. Federal Court Northern District against Anthony J. Penna, John Miller, McHenry County Sheriff's Department and County Of McHenry.

This would be Sgt. Anthony J. Penna and Lt. John Miller, the same who didn't bother to show up at Susan Grady's December 1, 2009, trial for resisting arrest. (See related article adjacent to this article.)

What will this lawsuit cost the taxpayers of McHenry County? Will the taxpayers ever really know the total costs, if the defense costs come out of Sheriff Nygren's kitty?

I rather suspect that Sgt. Penna and Lt. Miller will not forget to show up for court dates in Federal District Court. Why do I think that those judges might not have the same sense of humor found in McHenry County?

Case No. 3 2009-CV-50012 can be tracked. You can expect months and months of legal maneuvering and expense, both to Ms. O'Grady and to the Sheriff's Department and McHenry County.

How many other cases are there like this? And, worse, how many other cases should there be like this?

Perhaps there needs to be a grid available to the public through the Law & Justice Committee of McHenry County (peopled by our elected County Board members, who are supposed to represent the Public) that shows how many lawsuits are pending and what deputies are involved in the lawsuits? Are the same names showing up repeatedly?

Police work is difficult and sometimes dangerous work. There are legal limits on what law enforcement personnel can do in performance of their duties.

They cannot rough people up. They can use "such force as is necessary". They can't bully. They can't beat up a teenager to such an extent that nose reconstruction at a major Chicago hospital is required.

If the sheriff's department had an Internal Affairs Division that operated the way it is supposed to operate, probably many lawsuits would be headed off early. If residents made complaints about improper or illegal performance of duties and saw that real action was taking place, they might not so quick to sue.

But there is no IAD. And the lawsuits will continue.

Resisting Arrest - Serious (or not?)

When you get arrested for "Resisting a Peace Officer" (resisting arrest), that's pretty serious business. Right? Often the newspapers report only the first side of the story - all the gory details about how Person A resisted Officer B but was finally taken into custody and jailed.

Whatever happened after that? Who cares? It's "old" news. Besides, the cops are always right, aren't they? I mean, why would they arrest someone, if that someone hadn't broken the law?

On April 17, 2008, McHenry County Sheriff's Sgt. Anthony Penna showed up at a Crystal Lake residence to arrest Thomas Haas. Some interaction apparently occurred between Susan O'Grady and Sgt. Penna, and Susan O'Grady was arrested and charged with two counts of resisting a peace officer.

Count One (from the Complaint filed by Deputy Penna was that O'Grady "...knowingly obstructed the performance of Sgt. Anthony Penna..., knowing Sgt. Anthony Penna to be a peace officer engaged in the executive of his official duties, in that he (sic) pushed, shoved and refused to move to clear the way for Sgt. Anthony Penna, thereby blocking the officer's entry into the residence... where Thomas Haas currently resides."

Count Two was "...that she pulled away, pushed, and resisted being handcuffed by Sgt. Anthony Penna..."

Well, that ought to be easy in court. Just stand up and testify as to what happened, and then expect the judge to find the Defendant guilty.

What happened in this case?

Aside from the error in using a male pronoun to describe O'Grady, after several court dates and Motions, matters came to a head on December 1, 2008. Well, not quite. Read the Motion that was entered on December 1st.

"On State's Motion - State representing that Officers Pena (sic) and Miller having been noticed to appear, the State moving to Nolle Prosse (spelling unclear in handwritten Order) over the Defendant's objection - IT IS ORDERED the above captioned matter is dismissed."

What does all this mean?

After Susan O'Grady was arrested and jailed in April, gave a $1,000 bond and paid $100 bail plus $33 costs to pass Go and get out of Jail, two of McHenry County's sheriff's deputies refused to show up in court on December 1 and give truthful testimony about what really had happened back in April.

They were given Notice to Appear. That's pretty formal. You really shouldn't snub the Court and the State's Attorney and just not show up. Is this merely dereliction of duty? Or is it worse?

You cause a lot of grief, expense and embarrassment to a member of the community, and then you just don't show up?

Ms. O'Grady's attorney would have objected. The judge should not have given the deputies a pass on this one. The Judge should have issued a Court Order right then for the bailiff to call the Sheriff and tell him to find his two deputies, get them out of bed and get them over to the courthouse in one hour for the trial. Or maybe they were really just sitting in the Sheriff's Department already, enjoying a second or third cup of coffee and laughing at the ordeal and expense they had just put O'Grady through.

The two Resisting Arrest charges were dropped, but they are still listed in the computer at the courthouse. Any prospective employer running a background check will see those charges, become concerned, and pick the next candidate for a job. Will an HR person really understand what Nolle Processed means?

Or bother to find out?

The story is not over... See the next article about a civil rights lawsuit against the McHenry County Sheriff's Department.