Long Beach Councilmember Jeannine Pearce deemed a June 3 incident a “private family matter,” but investigation into the dispute between the 2nd-district representative and her former chief of staff, Devin Cotter, in the early hours of a Saturday morning has now created a lot of work for public departments.
Last week, the Long Beach Police Department (LBPD) released a new press statement detailing its investigation into the matter.
The department faced its own critics from the public. In the comment sections of various media sources and in social media, individuals asked whether the police offered Pearce special treatment when she took a field-sobriety test during a June police stop. In its statement, the police said that investigators conducted 22 interviews to examine the actions of the department employees.
“Additionally, investigators reviewed documents, reports, computer data, recordings and other relevant data,” the LBPD said in its statement. “In total, more than 300 hours of work were spent to determine if the actions of the employees were consistent with department policies and procedures.”
The department noted that Internal Affairs presented its final case to Chief of Police Robert Luna and the department’s Executive Command Team.
“After thoroughly reviewing the facts and evidence presented during the final briefing, it was determined that the allegations of misconduct were unfounded, which means that the alleged misconduct did not occur,” the LBPD concluded in its statement.
Responding to an inquiry from the Signal Tribune, Sgt. Brad Johnson clarified that these conclusions only deal with the alleged “misconduct” by police staff.
The press release from last week further noted that the department addressed one training issue dealing with review of criminal backgrounds.
“The department takes all allegations of potential misconduct very seriously and consistently applies a multi-step review process to both administrative and citizen complaints,” the LBPD stated.
The Signal Tribune reported last month on the June 3 incident that launched hundreds of hours of work and investigation. The LBPD had initially released a press statement that detailed what happened early that Saturday morning. According to the LBPD, CHP officers found a car facing southbound and parked on the median on the 710 Freeway. CHP discovered both Pearce and Cotter and called the LBPD to the vehicle, which was located near downtown not far from the Golden Shore exit. CHP had specifically requested the LBPD to investigate a “possible” DUI and domestic-violence incident. A former attorney for Pearce confirmed that both her client and Cotter were in a heated argument in the car.
Police say that Pearce, who had been driving the car, passed the field sobriety test, and the LBPD stated that at the time, officers could not find sufficient cause to arrest for either the DUI or domestic-violence charges. Officers took Cotter home, while they allowed Pearce to call a friend to take her home. However, police said that, around 6am, Cotter confronted Pearce outside her house. Pearce drove away from the scene and called police, who later discovered that Cotter had an outstanding warrant for his arrest related to a previous DUI charge. Police arrested Cotter that morning on a charge of public intoxication. An attorney for Cotter indicated that the DUI charge dates back to 2014, and his client was released from jail hours later. His attorney said that Cotter resolved that issue quickly by enrolling in the necessary alcohol classes.
The LBPD did note in its July 13 statement that both Pearce and Cotter have accused each other of “inappropriate activity.” The police did not elaborate on the details behind their accusations, however Pearce has made statements through her former attorney in the last few weeks about being the victim of harassment and stalking. Cotter’s attorney said that his client sustained his own injuries on June 3.
“Based on this information,” the LBPD said in its statement, “the police department initiated an investigation into these allegations, which include inappropriate behavior and potential conflicts of interest. This investigation, along with the information related to the June 3, 2017 investigation, was presented to the Los Angeles District Attorney’s (LADA) Office for filing consideration. The case is currently under independent review with the LADA Public Integrity Division.”
Greg Risling, a spokesman for the LADA Public Integrity Division, confirmed in a statement to the Signal Tribune that the division has received an allegation against Cotter and that it will remain under review.
Risling directed inquiries surrounding the allegations of conflicts of interest to the city attorney’s office, which has not yet responded to a media request sent on Wednesday.
While the LBPD may have passed the scrutiny of Internal Affairs, criticism of the police department has not gone away. Long Beach’s Citizen Police Complaint Commission has confirmed that it does have a complaint on file. Anitra Dempsey, the commission’s executive director, anticipated that the commission may review the case in November or December. Dempsey noted that the commission will consider a list of several allegations against the police. The list includes criticism of how officers handled both the DUI investigation as well as allegations that the officers failed to file a domestic-violence crime report. Critics of the police have also accused officers of “unprofessional” behavior when they did not arrest Cotter at the first police stop.The commission will also address the question of whether the police failed to follow procedure and offered “preferential treatment” to the parties involved.
The police said that it had presented its criminal investigation to the LA County District Attorney’s office surrounding the allegations of domestic violence. The district attorney’s office referred the case to the city prosecutor’s office, according to last week’s police statement.
The Signal Tribune asked Long Beach City Prosecutor Doug Haubert about the allegations of domestic violence and driving under the influence. He offered a brief statement.
“At this moment,” Haubert said in a phone interview Thursday, “we are looking into the events that took place on June 3 to determine if there are crimes that occurred that are appropriate for prosecution.”
The Beachcomber reported:
“Pearce was given VIP treatment at the direction of LBPD management in the DUI investigation by allowing her an expanded time frame as well as permitting water intake to mitigate blood alcohol levels prior to taking a breathalyzer test
Pearce battered her male companion causing visible injury and police officers were instructed not to take a crime report at the first scene”
Was Pearce given water before taking the test? Didn’t she still blow a .06 anyway?
What about the photo when Devin Cotter was arrested?
Were Pearce and Cotter having an affair while he was Chief of Staff?
How many thousands of our tax dollars has the city had to spend so far on these investigations stemming from Jeannine’s “private life” spilling into the public? Minimally, she should be billed for this time if she wants to take even a small amount of responsibility for the nuisance effect she has caused. If a public official is going to engage in morally questionable behavior, at least have enough smarts to keep it private. Otherwise, the need for transparency will take over and drive this to a (most likely) very embarrassing and expensive conclusion.
Not right. Why is she still in office?
Ms Pearce has shown she is irresponsible. Whether or not she committed a crime, she has not been forthright about her activities. Dr Garcia is also to blame for this as he “gifted” Mr Cotter to the new District 2 council member, who needed a chief of staff. Didn’t the mayor know about this warrant when he hired Mr Cotter? If not, there’s some serious inadequacies at city hall.
Ms Pearce’s predecessor’s predecessor, one Dan Baker, owned up to his deficiencies and resigned the position. For the sake of the district and the city, Ms Pearce should do the same.
I would like the same treatment as JP if I get pulled over after a couple drinks, I would like to wait about an hour and have a bottle or two of water to try to dilute the results of the test. If we are all being treated equally.
Such a coverup.
People associated with this should take a polygraph test.
What is the Chief of Police and Mayor Robert Garcia’s role in this?