Rules investigation into allegation against Pheil founded – Reuters

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Investigation settles allegation against Pheil founded

Posted at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, April 7, 2023

The LaGrange Police Department released details that led to the resignation of a high-ranking supervisor.

Former LaGrange Police Captain Mike Pheil resigned on March 2, 2023, amid an internal investigation into an incident that occurred during a police supervisor training retreat on November 11, 2020, in Banning Mills, where he allegedly exposed himself to a female officer.

On Thursday, Mayor Willie Edmondson announced at a press conference that an outside investigation into the incident had been concluded.

One of the things that I promised when I arrived was that we need to be transparent, open to the citizen citizens of LaGrange because we want you to know everything, Edmondson said. Lots of things we couldn’t touch. We couldn’t say anything about it because we didn’t have the final conclusions, but we had an investigation done outside the police department to get conclusions from an independent body and those conclusions came back.

Edmondson said he would not go into details of the investigation during the press conference which also included the announcement of the hiring of the new police and fire chief, but said the report would be available in open folders. The LaGrange Daily News received the investigative documents on Friday via an open filing request.

In inquest documents, Acting Police Chief Dale Strickland said he was made aware of an anonymous complaint on February 27, 2023. The following day, Strickland met with Pheil and he was administratively suspended pending investigation. Pheil tendered his resignation two days later.

Maj. Mark Tison of the Rome Police Department (GA) Office of Professional Standards led the outside investigation into the incident and concluded that Pheil violated several LaGrange Police Department policies, including those on the professional image, conduct on and off duty, immoral conduct and conduct unbecoming an officer.

Pheil is accused of exposing himself to Sgt. Monica Peterson at a 2020 Banning Mills retirement social gathering in Whitesburg.

Peterson told investigators that she and Pheil had a casual conversation at an after-hours social gathering at the retirement. She told Pheil, who was wearing running shorts, that his shorts were too short and looked like women’s panties.

She said she noticed a bandage on his side, which he said was from surgery. Peterson said she asked to see his scar, thinking he would lift his shirt, but Pheil dropped his shorts instead. She said she then turned away, not having had a full view.

Peterson said she then told Pheil, no. I asked to see your scar, and he pulled his shorts down far enough so she could see his genitals.

Peterson said Sgt. Joshua Clower then grabbed her arm and pulled her towards him saying he would beat the [expletive] out of you if you start again.

Peterson told investigators she thought Clower blamed her for Pheils’ actions, but said she didn’t think Clower intended to harm her, saying it was just his way of speaking. .

During the investigation, Peterson said she had no complaints about the 2020 incident and was not aware of any complaints about the incident until the anonymous complaint was filed. She said she didn’t tell anyone about the incident because of her previous experience, saying if complaints are made against another officer, you get kicked out.

Peterson said she previously reported an incident to Strickland and after other officers learned of her complaint, they stopped talking to her and slowly responded when she needed help, which led her to feel isolated.

Peterson told investigators she believed she was charged with starting the investigation into Pheil and had been branded a mole. She added that if she was not a supervisor, she would not feel safe and would quit her job.

As part of the investigation, Peterson also alleged that she was called into Pheil’s office and he told her he had complaints about her and indicated that she was a cancer at her shift. work.

Several officers involved in the incident allegedly consumed large amounts of alcohol, including Pheil. Peterson admitted to drinking but said she was not intoxicated. She stated that she believed Pheil was intoxicated.

Lt. Mark Cavender told investigators he had no doubt that Pheil and Peterson were intoxicated due to their mannerisms and that they knew them well. Cavender said he didn’t drink, but he acknowledged that others drank alcohol during the retreat.

After the investigation, Tison concluded that the preponderance of evidence suggests that Pheil exposed his genitals to Peterson and that the misconduct allegations against him were founded.

A total of 11 LPD employees were identified as being present at the retreat when the misconduct allegedly took place. Nine current employees were interviewed and three observed Pheil pull down his shorts, one of whom said he saw Pheil’s penis. Another officer reported seeing Pheil’s pubic hair.

A final employee confirmed seeing Pheil pull down his shorts but was unable to see Pheil exposing himself. The facial expressions of Peterson and others led the employee to believe the exposure had occurred.

Five additional employees did not witness any misconduct, but learned of the incident from others.

Tison noted that his investigation did not pursue allegations of misconduct at the 2022 retreat at Banning Mills, which had previously been investigated. As part of that investigation, Pheil had been suspended for three days for violating police department standards of conduct, specifically the articles on professional image and conduct unbecoming an officer.

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