Post by WaTcHeR on Dec 20, 2006 14:45:06 GMT -5
12.20.2006 - GREENBURGH - A Greenburgh police sergeant insisted last night that he did not call Officer Erik Ward to an arrest scene just because he had a dominatrix in custody.
Sgt. Robert Gramaglia's testimony at Ward's disciplinary hearing was intended to counter dominatrix Gina Pane's claim that Ward confronted her about a sexual fetish as soon as he got there on Jan. 21.
Pane was arrested that night outside the Greenburgh Multiplex after a police officer allegedly saw her smoking marijuana. Ward, a member of the street crime unit, responded to the scene and spoke to her there and at police headquarters about the possibility of becoming a confidential informant.
Pane contends that Ward was called in by his buddies because they had learned of her occupation and knew him to be a sex fetishist, a claim Ward has denied. Gramaglia said he knew of no such reputation and the only reference he ever made to Pane's occupation was when he called ahead to headquarters to report that an emotionally disturbed prostitute was being brought there on marijuana charges.
He said that at the scene Pane was "hysterical crying" before Ward's arrival and he had to calm her down. Prosecutor Vincent Toomey questioned why he had to call headquarters with his cell phone. The sergeant said he didn't think he had to broadcast that over the police radio.
Ward and Pane met the following day near her Rye Brook home, and Pane has accused Ward of taking her into a wooded area so she could defecate for him while he masturbated.
Ward said the meeting was just to determine whether she had good information about a drug dealer and to set up a sting to arrest the dealer. He said they never got out of the car in the woods and he never discussed his sexual interests with Pane, as she claims.
Ward was suspended after Pane made a complaint, and in April was charged with official misconduct, a misdemeanor. Last week, a town judge found him not guilty.
The disciplinary charges focus on whether Ward violated departmental rules in contacting Pane. Members of the Town Board, serving as the Board of Police Commissioners, could find him guilty and fire him even if they don't believe Pane's claim of a tryst in the woods.
Commissioner Francis Sheehan questioned Ward about the computer missing from his apartment when police executed a search warrant at the end of January. Ward insisted he was surprised to learn of the search and said he had thrown out the computer a week earlier because it had broken. Police officials had wanted to see if Ward had frequented sadomasochistic Web sites - Pane's in particular - in the past, since he had denied any interest in that topic.
Ward testified last night that he never tried to get White Plains police to arrest the drug dealer Pane had called for him, only that he wanted any information they might have had about the dealer to help him prove what he was doing with Pane.
www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061220/NEWS02/612200341/1023/NEWS07
Sgt. Robert Gramaglia's testimony at Ward's disciplinary hearing was intended to counter dominatrix Gina Pane's claim that Ward confronted her about a sexual fetish as soon as he got there on Jan. 21.
Pane was arrested that night outside the Greenburgh Multiplex after a police officer allegedly saw her smoking marijuana. Ward, a member of the street crime unit, responded to the scene and spoke to her there and at police headquarters about the possibility of becoming a confidential informant.
Pane contends that Ward was called in by his buddies because they had learned of her occupation and knew him to be a sex fetishist, a claim Ward has denied. Gramaglia said he knew of no such reputation and the only reference he ever made to Pane's occupation was when he called ahead to headquarters to report that an emotionally disturbed prostitute was being brought there on marijuana charges.
He said that at the scene Pane was "hysterical crying" before Ward's arrival and he had to calm her down. Prosecutor Vincent Toomey questioned why he had to call headquarters with his cell phone. The sergeant said he didn't think he had to broadcast that over the police radio.
Ward and Pane met the following day near her Rye Brook home, and Pane has accused Ward of taking her into a wooded area so she could defecate for him while he masturbated.
Ward said the meeting was just to determine whether she had good information about a drug dealer and to set up a sting to arrest the dealer. He said they never got out of the car in the woods and he never discussed his sexual interests with Pane, as she claims.
Ward was suspended after Pane made a complaint, and in April was charged with official misconduct, a misdemeanor. Last week, a town judge found him not guilty.
The disciplinary charges focus on whether Ward violated departmental rules in contacting Pane. Members of the Town Board, serving as the Board of Police Commissioners, could find him guilty and fire him even if they don't believe Pane's claim of a tryst in the woods.
Commissioner Francis Sheehan questioned Ward about the computer missing from his apartment when police executed a search warrant at the end of January. Ward insisted he was surprised to learn of the search and said he had thrown out the computer a week earlier because it had broken. Police officials had wanted to see if Ward had frequented sadomasochistic Web sites - Pane's in particular - in the past, since he had denied any interest in that topic.
Ward testified last night that he never tried to get White Plains police to arrest the drug dealer Pane had called for him, only that he wanted any information they might have had about the dealer to help him prove what he was doing with Pane.
www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061220/NEWS02/612200341/1023/NEWS07