Fort Lauderdale cop who shoved demonstrator has 79 complaints for excessive force. Why is he still on the streets? | Editorial
Wait a minute. Can you believe that after a Fort Lauderdale police officer shot LaToya Ratlieff in the head with a foam rubber bullet, bloodying her face and damaging her eye socket, the police department shied away from opening an investigation, even though the officer’s action may have been a violation of policy?
This, at a time when the actions of rogue police officers are at the very root of the protest where Ratlieff — who, according to video and Herald reporters’ eyewitness accounts — was running away from tear gas, not throwing bottles at police, when she was shot.
Clearly, department authorities didn’t get it.
Fortunately, many other citizens did, taking their outrage to social media. On Thursday, egregiously late in the game, the police department announced that it was opening an internal investigation into the incident.
No doubt, the scene of the protests was chaotic that night. Police were entrusted with protecting both peaceful protesters and themselves. But Ratlieff, 34 and a grant writer, had been on her knees, demonstrating peacefully and urging others around her to stay calm. That’s when police launched tear gas into the crowd. By all accounts, she was making her escape when she was targeted and shot by an officer who has neither been identified nor relieved of duty.
The injuries to Ratlieff’s face are hard to stomach: a knot the size of a golf ball; two swollen black eyes, nearly closed. Given that she was unarmed, shot as she was obeying orders to disband, why is the department giving this officer cover?
Police Chief Rick Maglione said Wednesday, “I am responsible for every single thing that my police department does.” He should prove it then — get this rogue officer off the streets and tell the public who he is. There might be other complaints about his style of policing — or statements of support — that the department needs to hear.
Another Fort Lauderdale officer isn’t getting such kid-glove treatment. As Steven Pohorence waded through demonstrators kneeling on the ground Sunday, a black female teenager was blocking his path. He allegedly brusquely shoved her onto the pavement. All hell then broke loose in the crowd, which spurred the incident in which Ratlieff was struck. We commend a fellow officer, a black woman named Krystle Smith, for getting in Pohorence’s face and removing him from the scene — an action that none of the three now former Minneapolis officers dared take as their colleague Derek Chauvin was squeezing the life out of George Floyd.
Pohorence has been suspended, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating his conduct at the protest.
And now we know that Pohorence, who is assigned to Fort Lauderdale’s black communities, has been reviewed 79 times by Internal Affairs for using excessive force. But, according to the records, since he was hired in October 2016, he has never been found to have violated department policy. In his latest evaluation, his supervisor said Pohorence “is a positive, proactive and motivated individual.” Still, he was sent to mandatory training to improve his interactions with the public, his supervisor wrote.
Which is why we don’t have the highest of expectations that the unnamed officer who shot Ratlieff in the head will face much, if any, penalty.
But we stand ready for Chief Maglione to surprise us and make clear that he holds his officers to a higher standard.
This story was originally published June 5, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
