William Kaempffer, Register Staff 04/18/2005
NEW HAVEN — Internal affairs investigators suspect a police recruit knew his girlfriend abused and maybe even sold illegal drugs, despite denying it during the application process.
Recruit Russell Blackwell, who is less than a week shy of graduation, is scheduled to attend a disciplinary hearing today before the Board of Police Commissioners.
The city wants him fired, but Blackwell’s lawyer and the police union are hoping to work out a deal to save his job.
While the city and Police Department have released the basic allegations against Blackwell, new details have emerged that some police officials say call into question the recruit’s character.
The investigation concludes Blackwell repeatedly lied or omitted unfavorable information during the department’s hiring process.
According to police documents, Blackwell’s then live-in girlfriend, LaTonya Jenkins, tested positive for cocaine in 2003 while she was pregnant, prompting an investigation by state child welfare officials.
Both Jenkins and Blackwell agreed to guidelines set by the state Department of Children and Families, and the case was closed when the baby tested negative for cocaine when she was born, police documents state.
The baby, Kyra, died in her sleep last November in the apartment Blackwell and Jenkins shared. In January, toxicology reports showed that she died from an overdose of methadone, a long-lasting painkiller that had been prescribed to Jenkins, police said.
It was the baby’s death that prompted police to take a renewed look at his application from last year.
Blackwell’s supporters say he’s being railroaded by the department and say he would make an excellent police officer. They claim the department is using incomplete facts, uncorroborated allegations and faulty assumptions to bring internal charges.
To fire him when he’s already suffered a terrible loss is particularly coldhearted, his supporters claim.
"He seems like a stand-up kind of guy, someone that they would want to have on the New Haven Police Department," said his lawyer, Peter R. Stark, of Milford.
According to police, the investigation into Kyra’s death revealed that Jenkins was still smoking crack while Blackwell was at the academy and that Blackwell knew about it.
Before he was hired, Blackwell indicated that he wasn’t living with or in a relationship with anyone who "uses, possesses or sells" illegal drugs.
Stark said the neighbor who brought the allegations of continued drug use and sales was herself a "crackhead" and inherently unbelievable. And even if it were true, the lawyer argued, there’s no evidence that Blackwell knew about it.
The department also maintains that Blackwell lied when he indicated he was never a defendant in a civil action when a former landlord had sued him in Housing Court for not paying rent.
Investigators also say he failed to list that address in a required list of all residences over the last decade.
Stark said Blackwell didn’t list that address because it was Jenkins’ apartment, and he never lived there.
Blackwell has some staunch supporters. His entire academy class signed a letter that described Blackwell’s "strength of character" and "incredible promise."
Some members of the department question whether there’s a double standard when other members of the class have black marks in their past but haven’t been bounced.
Brian Clark, his one-time boxing trainer and a supporter, said Blackwell did hear rumors that Jenkins was using drugs while he was at the academy and confronted her about it. She denied it.
Investigators spent weeks scrutinizing Blackwell’s past "and all they came up with was this?" Clark said.
William Kaempffer can be reached at 789-5727 or wkaempffer@nhregister.com.
İNew Haven Register 2005