Thread: Human Rights Commission defends discrimination findings

Human Rights Commission defends discrimination findings

burlingtonfreepress.com
Written by
Mike Donoghue
Dec. 3, 2011

Members of the Vermont Human Rights Commission on Friday defended their finding that a Vermont state trooper discriminated against two Mexicans who were passengers in a speeding vehicle stopped on Interstate 89 in September.

Executive Director Robert Appel, Chairwoman Mary Marzec-Gerrior and Commissioner Don Vickers said the decision was based on the information presented during a closed-door hearing in Winooski on Thursday.

The commission said there was "reasonable grounds to believe that the Department of Public Safety discriminated against Daniel Alejandro Lopez-Santiago and Antonio Mesa-Sandoval based on their national origin, race and color."

The Human Rights finding appears to be at odds with a unanimous ruling by the Vermont State Police Advisory Commission in October. The seven-member citizen panel supported the finding of Public Safety Commissioner Keith Flynn that Trooper Jared Hatch had acted properly during the Sept. 13 traffic stop. The state police commission, which is appointed by the governor, said Hatch did not violate the department's bias-free policing policy.

"I think they were answering different questions," Appel said when asked about the difference between the two rulings.

"I think it is important to note that the State Police Advisory Committee's charge was to determine whether the trooper violated the then-existing bias-free policing policy. The commission's charge was to determine whether the trooper's actions violated the state's public accommodation act which prohibits discrimination based on race, color and national origin," he wrote in an email.

Flynn weighed in Friday and did not see it that way. He also said the Human Rights Commission failed to follow its own rules and procedures in handling the case.

"I hope this investigation causes the legislature to take a look at the Human Rights Commission. How it is functioning, the lack of due process and the lack of following their own statutory regulation," said Flynn, who is a lawyer.

"I will be the first one to say if the department did something wrong I will be the first to say the criticism is well deserved," he said.

He said the commission mandates that it interview all relevant witnesses. Flynn said the undocumented immigrants were the only people interviewed.

He said Hatch and two other troopers who were at the scene were never interviewed. The commission also did not interview the vehicle's driver, a Randolph man who had the two Mexicans in his compact pickup when he was stopped for driving 88 miles per hour in a 65 mph zone on Interstate 89 in Middlesex.

Appel said the driver did not want to cooperate with the Human Rights Commission. While he could have been subpoenaed, it would have taken time and the commission needed to wrap up the case because of a deportation hearing for Lopez-Santiago next week, he said.

Marzec-Gerrior and Vermont State Police Director Tom L'Esperance said Mesa-Sandoval has been voluntarily deported back to Mexico.

L'Esperance said Hatch still has his full support for the way he handled the traffic stop.

Appel said his investigator, Nelson Campbell, never interviewed Hatch. Instead she and the commission used the Burlington Free Press website to watch a video from the dashboard camera in a cruiser used by Hatch, he said. The Free Press had obtained it through the Vermont Public Records Act.

When asked if they watched the videos from the other two state police cruisers, Appel said he was unaware of the videos' existence. He said the commission had asked the Vermont State Police for copies of video from the scene, but the link did not work.

He also explained why the Human Rights Commission did not accept the state police offer to see the department's internal affairs report. He said the state police had insisted that the commission not provide copies to the complaining witnesses.

Appel also disclosed that a written response from an assistant attorney general on behalf of state police was rejected by the commission because it was one day late. While Appel said he was inclined to allow for its acceptance, the complaining witnesses objected, and it was disallowed.

The final vote was 3-0. Marzec-Gerrior and Vickers were joined by former commissioner Chuck Kletecka. He was brought back because three commissioners were unavailable.

Commissioner Mercedes Mack of Burlington disqualified herself because she had participated in a protest at the state police barracks in support of the two Mexicans the day of their apprehension. Commissioner Mary Brodsky of Essex is going to resume a job with federal immigration, while Commissioner Nathan Besio was ill, commission officials said.

Contact Mike Donoghue at 660-1845 or mdonoghue@burlingtonfreepress.com;

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/arti ... 1009/RSS01

He said the commission mandates that it interview all relevant witnesses. Flynn said the undocumented immigrants were the only people interviewed

.

Sounds like the commission should be dissolved.