Thread: AZ: Cop in profiling case has history of complaints

Cop in profiling case has history of complaints
By David Biscobing
East Valley Tribune
updated 7:05 a.m. MT, Fri., Jan. 4, 2008
A Gilbert police officer accused of racial profiling last month after he had the car of a visiting Mexican family towed has a history of citizen complaints, including two other racial profiling claims. Officer Chad Wright also tickets Hispanic drivers at a rate higher than other Gilbert officers, police records indicate.

Read citizen complaints filed against officer Chad Wright (PDF)

During a two-year period, he ticketed 1,568 drivers. Of those, 466 were Hispanic. That's nearly 30 percent of his tickets. Census figures estimate Gilbert's Hispanic population at 12 percent.

"There is certainly significance to those numbers, and that is an issue we are investigating," Gilbert police Lt. Eric Shuhandler said.

But Wright, an eight-year motorcycle patrol veteran, was recognized as the town's employee of the year in 2005. He has also been nominated for several other awards.

Over recent years, Wright has led Gilbert police in arrests, often more than doubling other officers in his unit. At one time, Wright had accounted for roughly 6 percent of Gilbert's arrests.

However, he has accumulated at least 10 complaints since 2006, and more than 20 others in his career.

Supervisors describe him as an extremely dedicated, tireless and passionate officer. But complaints from numerous residents describe him as an officer on a "power trip."

Through police officials, Wright has declined to comment.

The Tribune requested Wright's file after Mesa police Chief George Gascón sent a complaint to Gilbert police regarding a Dec. 14 incident, which launched an internal investigation of racial profiling involving the officer.

As part of the East Valley holiday DUI task force, Wright pulled over Armando Rodriguez Morales in Mesa for backing his car illegally, a violation police officials say is rarely enforced.

Morales, 59, had driven from Hermosillo, Mexico, with his family for a wedding. He carries a Mexican driver's license and has Sonora license plates.

Wright decided Morales' license was falsified and ordered his car towed.

Morales was stranded along with his wife and two girls on the side of Broadway Road and Mesa Drive with their luggage.

The Mexican Consulate has since verified Morales' license and his car has been released.

Gilbert police said they are taking the racial profiling claim seriously.

The department will wait until the investigation is completed before deciding whether to take disciplinary action.

Gascón was informed of the incident after he was forwarded a complaint from Bob Meyers, a Mesa resident whose daughter is married to Morales' son.

Gascón has declined to comment on the incident.

However, in an e-mail to Meyers, he wrote that what happened to Morales is an example of how a rush to enforce immigration laws can trample civil rights.

Wright has been cleared of two other racial profiling accusations.

Internal investigators concluded that the claims were "unfounded."

The first occurred in October 2006 when Wright pulled over a Portuguese woman for making a left turn into a Walgreens parking lot.

Wright, driving the opposite direction, claimed he had to slam on his brakes to avoid hitting her. However, the woman said Wright was driving "way too fast" and had his headlights off.

Her citation was dropped after Wright failed to appear for several court hearings.

Wright once had a string of more than 100 straight appearances for court hearings.

Prosecutors have also praised him for his attendance record.

The second incident occurred in August 2007 when a black man was cited for making a wide left turn at a green light.

The man claimed that after Wright saw him in the car he was stopped for being a "black man driving."

Wright has been disciplined multiple times for violating police driving policies. In 2002, he engaged in an unauthorized police chase for 11 miles. He was also reprimanded in 2003 for driving more than 120 mph without lights or sirens.

He was suspended for short periods for both incidents.

Wright also has two at-fault crashes while on duty and has been disciplined for a seat belt violation.

However, Wright has been disciplined only twice for citizen complaints out of dozens of claims.

But officials said the number of complaints he's received is not unusual, due to the high number of people he comes in contact with.

His most recent punishment came after an incident last July when his conduct was found unbecoming of an officer. He was ordered to have a discussion with a supervisor, records show.

Wright had left a girl handcuffed and seated on a street curb in a rainstorm while he and his partner waited in their patrol car for the vehicle she was riding in to be towed, records show.

He said he didn't place her in the police car because there was equipment in the backseat.

Her brother had been pulled over and arrested on suspicion of drunken driving.

She was never under arrest. But Wright placed her in handcuffs because he felt she might interfere with the towing process, records show.

Other recent complaints also cite claims of mistreatment from Wright.

One man, a passenger of driver arrested for DUI, was left along Bush Highway, near the Salt River Recreation facility.

He said he was left "in the middle of the desert" and had to get a ride from a driver who stopped for him as he was walking down the road.

John DiGiovanni, a pilot and former policeman from Connecticut, pulled over by Wright, described him as "extremely condescending and cocky."

"Based on the experience of the 13 years that I have served as a police officer, both as a subordinate and as a supervisor, Officer Wright's judgement and behavior was far less than one can expect from a paid public servant, especially a police officer sworn to protect the citizens of his city or jurisdiction," DiGiovanni wrote in a letter to the police chief and mayor.

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Tribune writer Jason Massad contributed to this report.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22503172/

From what I read in this article, he doesn't profile, he pulls EVERYONE over for whatever violations he sees. Black, white, hispanic..he stopped them all.

The family driving with the Mexican license should have had an International Driver's card from Mexico's version of AAA. It verifies that the drivers license is a valid license.

I'd be curious to see the breakdown of all the drivers ticketed by him. Article states nearly 30% were hispanic, tell me about the 70% not disclosed in the article.

1,568
- 466
NOT racial profiling

However, Wright has been disciplined only twice for citizen complaints out of dozens of claims

No where does it say in all these how long Wright has been on the force

We will see many of these kinds of stories coming out of that part of the USA.
Don’t get me wrong there are guys that have it in for Mexicans but has any body ever seen the List against Sheriff Joe

As I see it, the population of Chandler should have no bearing on this officer's stats as it is part of metropolitan Phoenix which has a huge population, probably 45% Hispanic if not more and people are mobile and transient, so the residential population of Chandler itself is a mute point. Only a whiny activist would use an argument like that.

The Man was doing his job.. Flat out doing his job.. Didnt seem to matter to him what you looked like if you messed up and he was there you got a ticket//

Originally Posted by fmrjarhead

The Man was doing his job.. Flat out doing his job.. Didnt seem to matter to him what you looked like if you messed up and he was there you got a ticket//

The way its supposed to be