Local News

Logan hears officer’s appeal

Township holds hearing on internal police incident

The Logan Township supervisors heard a township police officer's appeal Friday of his one-day suspension for insubordination, a penalty based on his angry reaction to learning he'd been denied workers compensation for mental health issues.

According to Officer Alex Vazquez, the angry display for which he later apologized resulted from a perceived lack of support from departmental leadership in connection with the mental health claim -- which in turn was based at least in part on being the alleged victim of racist behavior among individuals working for the township.

The supervisors convened in executive session after the hearing and will announce their decision at a subsequent public meeting.

Vazquez and two other officers called as witnesses on his behalf were stopped three or four times from going into detail about the alleged racist behavior, when township solicitor Dan Stants in his capacity as hearing officer sustained objections from Michael Palombo, the township's labor lawyer.

In addition to insubordination, Vazquez was accused of conduct unbecoming an officer, quarreling or fighting with an officer and failure to obey a lawful order.

The incident that led to the accusations occurred in January, after Vazquez received the letter denying his workers compensation claim, which a workers comp representative told him was based on information provided by township police Chief David Hoover.

Vazquez went to the door of Hoover's office and confronted him with what the representative told him, Vazquez testified.

Interrupted in what he was doing, having experienced Vazquez stopping by in "hit and run" fashion to voice complaints a number of times before, not remembering immediately what he'd written in regard to the workers comp claim and not appreciating Vazquez's loud and accusing tone, Hoover lost patience, the chief testified.

"I had just had enough," Hoover said at the hearing. "'We're not going to have this now,''' he recalled saying to Vazquez.

He told Vazquez to calm down, but Vazquez didn't, according to Hoover.

So Hoover told him to "get the hell out of my office."

Vazquez walked away, saying, "this place sucks," Hoover said.

On the way down a hall, Vazquez passed by Sgt. Barry Fry, who confronted him.

Vazquez responded with something like "you're a d–khead too," Fry testified.

Vazquez then proceeded to the police station's report room, with both Fry and Hoover trying to get him to calm down, according to testimony.

"Neither of you is in charge of my emotions," he told them, according to testimony.

Vazquez then left the building, but not before commenting on Fry's "smug face," according to Fry.

The mental health issues bothering Vazquez that led to his request for workers compensation resulted from several incidents over the years that had "built up," Vazquez testified.

His frustration about that buildup was behind his getting especially upset when Hoover appeared to laugh dismissively in reaction to his confronting the chief with the workers comp denial letter, he said.

"I said, 'it's not a laughing matter -- it needs to be taken seriously,'" Vazquez testified. "You don't get it -- the racial abuse I've taken here."

Township attorney Michael Palombo interrupted immediately with an objection when Vazquez said that.

"He doesn't get to do this," Palombo said, arguing that the hearing officer shouldn't admit "all the thousand things" that Vazquez might have in mind -- and that nothing should be admitted beyond what was said at that time between the chief and Vazquez.

Stants sustained the objection.

"This isn't a fishing expedition," Stants said.

In subsequent testimony, Vazquez slumped in his chair and grew emotional, taking several seconds at least once to compose himself, wiping at an eye a couple of times.

"The person I should rely on the most left me hanging," he said at one point, apparently referring to Hoover.

When he confronted Hoover with the denial letter, he had been "elevated, absolutely" in his tone of voice, he said.

But he wasn't yelling, despite testimony that he had been from several witnesses, Vazquez testified.

During cross-examination, Vazquez's lawyer Peter Demkovitz asked Hoover whether the chief could recall Vazquez being upset about comments that had been made about his ethnicity.

"I know he's brought it up -- yeah," Hoover said. "I know it upset him."

Asked by Demkovitz if that statement triggered an investigation, Hoover said no.

Vazquez seems to have been singled out for disciplinary action, given that a former township officer was not disciplined for multiple instances of similar angry outbursts -- including use of insulting language, said officer Chris Blough, a defense witness.

During his testimony, Blough referenced racism he said has been exhibited by a current official who used to be a member of the police department.

He was prevented from elaborating on that by an objection from Palombo that was sustained by Stants.

Vazquez was not being disrespectful of Hoover and Fry on the day he learned about the workers comp denial, but rather was expressing disappointment in them, testified officer Matt Lutz, another plaintiff's witness.

Not long after his outburst on the day he received the letter, Vazquez returned to the station and apologized to several people, including Fry.

But he didn't apologize to the chief, who didn't deserve one, according to Vazquez.

Still, that apology to the others in the department kept the punishment from being worse, according to Hoover.

"It made an impact with me," the chief said. "Originally, I was looking at something more harsh."

He couldn't let it go altogether, however, as "there still needed to be some kind of discipline," he said.

Given that he already served the one-day suspension, Vazquez is looking to clear his record and get the lost pay, Demkovitz said.

Several representatives of the Blair County branch of the NAACP attended the hearing in support of Vazquez.

They came in response to a request for assistance from the Fraternal Order of Police -- the first time such a request has been documented to happen in central Pennsylvania, according to branch Executive Director Andrae Holsey.

There are several issues that Holsey's organization is checking out in connection with the Logan department, Holsey said.

They include alleged discriminatory comments made over the years and the shooting down of attempts made to file complaints with federal agencies, Holsey said.

Vazquez has tried to report some of those sorts of issues, Holsey said.

The Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission has been brought into the case, and also has been asked to look at problems with police departments throughout central Pennsylvania, Holsey said.

Township resident and retired state trooper Warren Rhyner attended the hearing and wasn't happy with what he saw.

"I'm dismayed," Rhyner said. "It doesn't seem like an arbitration without prejudice."

Supervisor Ron Heller had no comment after the hearing.

Hoover and Township Manager Tim Brown said they couldn't comment on a personnel matter.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.