Documents and Incidents Tagged "Wandering Cops"
Documents
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- Department
- Decertified, Dismissed, & Wandering Ex-Police
- Description
- The formerly-decertified, now-reinstated Polly F. Griffin currently works at the Petersburg Police Department. Griffin was fired from the VCU Police Department, indicted by the City of Richmond, and decertified by the DCJS after she attacked a civilian at a hospital. "You're lucky I don't kill you," Griffin reportedly said to the victim of her unprovoked attack, while a superior officer watching told her up to four times to "Let up," DCJS documents state. Upon her indictment for assault and following her termination from VCU Police citing "unnecessary/excessive force," a deal was made in court to allow for dismissal of Griffin's criminal charges upon completion of community service. While VCU Police Chief Venuti had promptly requested Griffin's certification be revoked, Griffin promptly requested an appeal before the DCJS Executive Board Committee, which, despite extensive documentation and testimony of the incident, voted to overturn her decertification and free her to work as a law enforcement officer in Virginia. Reinstated, free of charges, and authorized to patrol again, Griffin applied for and was granted a job with the Petersburg Police, according to rosters obtained by Open69Oversight VA in fall 2023. The attached document is the DCJS case file for Griffin's appeal for reinstatement. It contains correspondence, a letter of termination, emails, notices, and several reports of the events on the day of the assault. If you have information about Polly F. Griffin, contact info@openoversightva.org.
- Tags
- Wandering Cops | VCU Police | Terminations | Polly Griffin | Richmond | DCJS | Decertifications | Excessive Force | Petersburg Police | FOIA (2024) | Juicy | Police Brutality | Chief Travis C. Christian |
Incidents
Incident Unlawful-Arrest-By-Digirolamo |
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| Date | Jul 26, 2020 |
| Time | 07:00 PM |
| Report # | Unlawful-Arrest-By-Digirolamo |
| Department | Richmond Police Department |
| Officers | Patrick Joseph Digirolamo |
| Description | |
| Address |
620 block West Main Street
Richmond, VA |
| Tags | Richmond Police | Police Protest Violence | Video | Patrick Digirolamo | Wandering Cops | Attacks on the Press | |
Incident Killing-of-Verlon-Johnson |
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| Date | May 17, 2002 |
| Time | 12:00 PM |
| Report # | Killing-of-Verlon-Johnson |
| Department | Richmond Police Department |
| Officers | William James Burnett , Esche'n D. Tunstall |
| Description | 29-year-old Verlon Johnson was shot to death unarmed on his front porch. "On May 17, 2002, Detective Melvin led a team of eight other police officers to Verlon Johnson's South Side home to arrest him. Mr. Johnson came out of his house as ordered, his hands in the air. Detective Melvin testified that he saw the self-employed landscaper suddenly drop his right hand. The detective fired. Verlon Johnson fell backward onto his porch, his hands upraised and coming to rest by the sides of his head. No gun was found. Further, Rosa Johnson, Mr. Johnson's wife, testified that her husband was left-handed. The Johnsons had five children, four of whom were in the house with their mother when their father was killed." Twenty-nine-year-old father of five Verlon Johnson was shot to death while unarmed on his front porch in South Side as a nine-member police team attempted to arrest him on robbery and firearms charges. No gun was found on or near Johnson. Detective David Melvin, the only officer at the scene to pull his gun, was charged with involuntary manslaughter. Following two mistrials, he was acquitted at the third trial. The City settled out of court with Johnson’s widow for an undisclosed amount. |
| Address | Richmond, VA |
| Tags | Richmond Police | Lawsuit | Wandering Cops | Killing | Verlon Johnson | |