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JUPITER POLICE DEPARTMENT
Inter-Office Memorandum
DATE: August 15, 2016
TO: Chief Frank Kitzerow
FROM: Major Adam Hirsch
SUBJECT: Summary of Internal Affairs Investigation 2016-002
Accused:
Complainant:
I nvestiqators(s l:
Initiated:
Completed:
Allegations:
Date of Incident:
Location:
Sergeant Amy Walling
Chief Frank Kitzerow
Major Adam Hirsch Major David England
April 18, 2016
August 15, 2016
On April 17, 2016, Sergeant Walling was off-duty and involved in a verbal disturbance with the extra duty detail officer Sergeant Vansteenburgh and his fiancee Ms. Harwood at the U-Tiki Beach Restaurant. Management staff from U-Tiki escorted Sergeant Walling out of the establishment. Sergeant Walling returned to the property of U-Tiki later that night and was involved in a physical altercation in the parking lot with off-duty Officer Raleigh, Sergeant Vansteenburgh, and Mr. Ready. During the physical altercation Sergeant Walling bit Officer Raleigh and Mr. Ready in the face, and struck Sergeant Vansteenburgh with her hand.
1. General Order 1.4 (401) Commission of a Misdemeanor 2. General Order 1.4 (1 01) Conduct Unbecoming an Officer/Employee
April 17, 2016
11:07 PM
U-Tiki Beach Restaurant 1095 North AlA, Jupiter, Florida 33477
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Evidence:
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1) Notice of Internal Affairs Investigation Forms 2) Memo directing Internal Affairs Investigation 3) Relieved of Law Enforcement Duty forms 4) Attorney letters 5) Jupiter Police Department General Orders 6) Jupiter Police Report 16-001995, 16-002001, 16-002005, and
16-002006 7) Event Report Palm Beach Gardens PD 16-000448 (01 /01 /16) 8) Power Details Reports 9) Kantec Door Access Report
1 0) Investigative File Receipts 11) Garrity Rights Forms 11 ) Audio recording of lA interviews of:
A. Sergeant Amy Walling B. Sergeant Jason Vansteenburgh C. Sergeant Sandra Drown D. Sergeant Robert Given E. Officer Elizabeth Raleigh F. Officer Janine Ercolano G. Kathleen Harwood H. Jennifer Lunsford I. Rebecca Schwartz J. Christopher Perez K. Matthew Baroni
12) Audio recordings of Criminal Investigation by Detective Frank: A. Sergeant Jason Vansteenburgh B. Officer Elizabeth Raleigh C. Randy Ready
13) Photographs of Officer Raleigh and Randy Ready's injuries taken by Jupiter PD Crime Scene Investigator
14) Video surveillance from U-Tiki Beach Restaurant 15) Video surveillance from Sergeant Drown's vehicle 16) Video surveillance from Sergeant Vansteenburgh's cellular
phone 17) Text messages supplied by Sergeant Vansteenburgh 18) Text messages supplied by Sergeant Walling 19) Text messages supplied by Officer Raleigh 20) Facebook message supplied by Kathleen Harwood 21) Photographs supplied by Sergeant Walling 22) Three voicemail messages that Sergeant Walling provided 23) Event Report Palm Beach Gardens PD 16-181459 (07 /1 0/16)
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Summary of Incident:
On April 17, 2016, Sergeant Amy Walling was off-duty and under FMLA work status. On this date, Sergeant Walling went to Sergeant Vansteenburgh's residence in the
three times in an effort to return some of his personal property. Sergeant Vansteenburgh and his fiancee, Ms. Kathleen Harwood, were inside of the house; however they did not answer the door in an attempt to avoid Sergeant Walling. On Aprill7, 2016, Sergeant Vansteenburgh was scheduled to work an extra duty detail at the U-Tiki Beach Restaurant at 5:00PM. Sergeant Vansteenburgh and Ms. Harwood decided to go to the Jupiter Police Department to utilize the gym, and observed Sergeant Walling's vehicle traveling northbound on Military Trail a distance behind them. As Sergeant Vansteenburgh and Ms. Harwood were entering the police department, they observed Sergeant Walling's vehicle on the roadway in front of the police department employee parking area. According to the Kantec Door Access Report Sergeant Vansteenburgh entered the Jupiter Police Departments North entrance door at 2:58:56 PM, and Sergeant Walling entered the same door at 3:01 :48 PM. Sergeant Vansteenburgh and Ms. Harwood heard Sergeant Walling coming down the hallway, with her crutches while they were in the gym. Sergeant Walling entered the women's locker room. In an effort to avoid contact with Sergeant Walling, Sergeant Vansteenburgh and Ms. Harwood left the police department. Sergeant Vansteenburgh and Ms. Harwood returned to Sergeant Vansteenburgh's residence and decided to go for an exercise run.
Sergeant Vansteenburgh was ready to leave for his extra duty detail and parks his marked police vehicle on the roadway in front of his residence. Prior to Sergeant Vansteenburgh going to his police vehicle he observed Sergeant Walling's vehicle parked directly in front of his police vehicle. Sergeant Walling was sitting her vehicle and she parked the vehicle so close to Sergeant Vansteenburgh's vehicle that he could not maneuver the vehicle out of the parking space. Sergeant Vansteenburgh drove his personal vehicle to the detail in an effort to avoid contact with Sergeant Walling.
Sergeant Walling previously knew that Sergeant Vansteenburgh was working the detail at U-Tiki. The Power Details computer system showed that Sergeant Walling logged into the system and checked that specific detail on April 1 6, 201 6, at 13:14:18 hours and 16:19:54 hours, and on April 17, 2016, at 15:43:19 hours, 16:47:08 hours, and 16:54:56 hours. Sergeant Walling also logged into her department issued computer on April 17, 2016, at 16:53:09 hours, and logged off at 17:12:41 hours, in an effort to see if Sergeant Vansteenburgh was on duty at U-Tiki. At approximately 7:30PM, Sergeant Walling arrived at U-Tiki and sat at a table on the beach area closest to Jetty's Restaurant. Officer Raleigh and Mrs. Lunsford arrived at U-Tiki and joined Sergeant Walling at her table. After approximately one hour, Officer Raleigh left the establishment and Sergeant Walling and M~s. Lunsford remained. After approximately 45 more minutes, Mrs. Lunsford left and returned to her residence and Sergeant Walling remained at U-Tiki alone. Sergeant Walling left the beach area table and went to the main bar inside of the restaurant. While sitting at the bar, Sergeant Walling observed Sergeant Vansteenburgh and Ms. Harwood. At approximately 10:02 PM, Sergeant Walling walked up Sergeant Vansteenburgh and Ms. Harwood and initiated a verbal disturbance. Due to the fact that a disturbance was taking place, Sergeant Vansteenburgh made contact with the
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manager Matthew Baroni in an effort to have Sergeant Walling escorted out of the establishment. Mr. Baroni escorted Sergeant Walling out of U-Tiki and she left the property.
At approximately 11 :00 PM, the extra duty detail ended, and Sergeant Vansteenburgh and Ms. Harwood left the establishment and went to Ms. Harwood's vehicle which was parked next to the restaurant. Sergeant Vansteenburgh observed Sergeant Walling's vehicle parked directly next to his personal vehicle. Sergeant Vansteenburgh requested the assistance of on-duty Jupiter Police Department Sergeant; however, they were unable to respond due to an Armed Carjacking call for service. Officer Janine Ercolano was previously at the U-Tiki restdurant, and arrived back to drop off t)er friend Ms. Schwartz. Officer Ercolano's friend, Rebecca Schwartz, who is a police officer in Tennessee, volunteered to escort Sergeant Vansteenburgh to his vehicle. Sergeant Vansteenburgh attached his personal cellular telephone to the outer carrier. of his ballistic vest and activated the video recording feature. When Sergeant Vansteenburgh approached his vehicle he noticed that Sergeant Walling parked her vehicle extremely close to his driver's side door making it extremely difficult for him to enter his vehicle.
Off-duty Jupiter Police Officer Elizabeth Raleigh and her friend Randy Ready were also in the parking lot. Officer Raleigh approached Sergeant Vansteenburgh and stated 11
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don't know what's going on, she's a mess." Sergeant Vansteenburgh told Officer Raleigh briefly what had occurred earlier during the day. Sergeant Walling exited her vehicle and walked towards Sergeant Vansteenburgh and Officer Raleigh who were standing behind the trunk area of Sergeant Walling's vehicle. Ms. Schwartz was sitting in her truck at this time. Sergeant Vansteenburgh wanted to leave and walked to the driver's side of his vehicle and stated that he is going to open his driver's side door and if he hits Sergeant Walling's vehicle he did not care. Sergeant Vansteenbugh opened his driver's side door at which time he looked over and observed Sergeant Walling opening the driver's side rear passenger door of his vehicle without permission. Sergeant Vansteenburgh told Sergeant Walling to get away and he closed the rear door that she opened. Sergeant Walling asked Sergeant Vansteenburgh who the girl in the truck was. Officer Raleigh and Mr. Ready approached Sergeant Walling and attempted to get her .... away from Sergeant Vansteenburgh's vehicle and Officer Raleigh told Sergeant Walling that "this is not a good idea."
Officer Raleigh and Mr. Ready directed Sergeant Walling away from Sergeant Vansteenburgh's vehicle in an effort to prevent her from causing any further issues. While holding Sergeant Walling back, both Officer Raleigh and Mr. Ready were bit on the face by Sergeant Walling. After biting Officer Raleigh and Mr. Ready Sergeant Walling was able to break free from their hold and immediately approached Sergeant Vansteenburgh again as he was entering the driver's side of his vehicle to leave. Sergeant Walling immediately began to ask Sergeant Vansteenburgh again who the girl in the truck was. Officer Raleigh and Mr. Ready came up from behind Sergeant Walling and held onto her in an effort to pull her away from Sergeant Vansteenburgh. Sergeant Vansteenburgh stated that he did not know if Sergeant Walling attempted to "grab him" or '.'hit him"; however, he observed her hands coming at him, so he quickly turned away and felt an impact on his left shoulder. Sergeant Vansteenburgh pushed Sergeant
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Walling away with his open left hand. Sergeant Vansteenburgh entered his vehicle and was then able to drive away from the parking lot.
Officer Raleigh pulled Sergeant Walling down to the ground and was holding onto her. Sergeant Walling was acting hysterical and Officer Raleigh would not let her go as she was afraid that Sergeant Walling would drive away. Based upon how upset Sergeant Walling was Officer Raleigh did not feel as though Sergeant Walling was capable to safely drive a motor vehicle. Sergeant Drown arrived on the scene a short time after Sergeant Vansteenburgh left. Sergeant Drown approached Officer Raleigh and Sergeant Walling and Officer Raleigh let go of Sergeant Walling and she got up and walked to her vehicle. Mrs. Lunsford arrived and after some time she got into the driver's seat of Sergeant Walling's vehicle and Sergeant Walling was in the front passenger seat. While in the vehicle Mrs. Lunsford thought that Sergeant Walling took some prescription medication while inside of the vehicle and drove her to the Jupiter Medical Center. Officer Raleigh and Sergeant Drown followed Mrs. Lunsford to the hospital. Upon arriving at the hospital Sergeant Walling walked away and did not receive any treatment as she denied taking any medication. Sergeant Drown located Sergeant Walling walking on Jupiter Lakes Drive, and drove her home to her residence.
Prior to my investigation being conducted a criminal investigation was conducted by Detective Eric Frank. Sergeant Vansteenburgh, Officer Raleigh, and Mr. Ready declined to pursue criminal charges for battery, and each signed a Waiver of Prosecution Form. On April27, 2016, Detective Frank presented the battery cases to Senior Investigator Conklin at the Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office Public Corruption Unit for review. After the review it was determined that no further criminal investigation was required. For further information regarding the criminal investigations refer to Jupiter Police Department Case Numbers (16-001995, 16-002001, 16-002005, and 16-002006). For further information on this case refer to the statements of the individuals involved. Copies of surveillance videos from U-Tiki, Sergeant Vansteenburgh's personal camera phone, and Sergeant Drown's vehicle are attached to this investigation.
Sergeant Jason Vansteenburgh
On Tuesday, April 19, 2016, Sergeant Jason Vansteenburgh met with Detective Eric Frank . . Detective Frank conducted the criminal investigation where Sergeant Vansteenburgh was the victim of a simple battery and the suspect was Sergeant Amy Walling (Jupiter PD case number 16-002006). Sergeant Vansteenburgh signed a Waiver of Prosecution Form and did not want to pursue criminal charges against Sergeant Walling. The audio recording of the criminal investigation conducted by Detective Frank is included with this investigation.
On May 9, 2016, Major David England and I met with Sergeant Jason Vansteenburgh regarding the Internal Affairs investigation into this incident. The following is a summary of the recorded interview with Sergeant Vansteenburgh. On Sunday, Aprill7, 2016, in the middle afternoon hours, Sergeant Walling knocked on the front door of his residence. Sergeant Vansteenburgh did not answer the door and after a few minutes Sergeant Walling left the residence. Sergeant Walling communicated with Sergeant
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Vansteenburgh the previous day on Saturday, Aprill6, 2016, that she was going to come over to his residence as she had something that she wanted to drop off to him and his fiancee, Kathleen Harwood (aka Kaye). Sergeant Vansteenburgh had also previously planned on giving a stereo speaker to Sergeant Walling's friend Jennifer Lunsford; however, he did not want her to come to the residence while his fiancee was there, and told her not to come to his residence. Sergeant Vansteeenburgh stated that he did not think that she would come over to the residence. Prior to Sergeant Walling coming over to his residence he spoke with Ms. Harwood and they had made a plan on not answering the door in the event Sergeant Walling should come to the house. Sergeant Vansteenburgh and Ms. Harwood left his residence in the and traveled to the Jupiter Police Department to utilize the gym facility. While driving to the Jupiter Police Department Sergeant Vansteenburgh noticed that a vehicle matching Sgt. Walling's personal gray BMW vehicle was traveling northbound on Military Trail behind them. Upon arriving at the Jupiter Police Department, Sergeant Vansteenburgh observed Sergeant Walling's vehicle on the roadway of the police department employee parking area. It must be noted that according to Kantec Door Access Report Sergeant Vansteenburgh entered the Jupiter Police Department North entrance door at 2:58:56 PM, and Sergeant Walling entered the same door at 3:01:48 PM. Sergeant Vansteenburgh did not have any contact with Sergeant Walling at the police department and immediately left.
Sergeant Vansteenburgh and Ms. Harwood returned to the and went for an exercise jog. Approximately 30-45 minutes after returning from the jog Sergeant Walling returned to his residence a second time, and was knocking on the front door. Sergeant Vansteenburgh observed Sergeant Walling's vehicle parked in front of his house and again they did not answer the door. Sergeant Walling drove away from the residence after a few minutes. A little while later Sergeant Walling came back to Sergeant Vansteenburgh's residence a third time and was knocking on the front door, and again they did not answer the door. Sergeant Vansteenburgh drove Ms. Harwood home and returned to his residence to get his marked police vehicle as he was scheduled to work an extra duty detail at 5:00 PM. Sergeant Vansteenburgh parks his marked police vehicle in front of his residence. Prior to Sergeant Vansteenburgh returning to his police vehicle he observed Sergeant Walling's vehicle parked directly in front of his police vehicle. Sergeant Walling parked very close to Sergeant Vansteenburgh's vehicle which made it extremely difficult for him to maneuver the vehicle out of the parking space. It must be noted that Sergeant Vansteenburgh provided a video that he took from his personal cellular telephone showing how Sergeant Walling's vehicle was parked in front of his police vehicle. The video is included with this investigation.
Sergeant yansteenburgh drove his personal vehicle to his extra duty detail at U-Tiki in an effort not to confront Sergeant Walling. Sergeant Vansteenburgh advised that shortly after 5:00 PM, he arrived at the U-Tiki extra duty detail. Sergeant Vansteenburgh was wearing a Jupiter Police Department uniform while he was working the detail. During the detail he made contact with Sergeant Sandra Drown who was one of the on-duty Jupiter Police Department supervisors. Sergeant Vansteenburgh spoke with Sergeant Drown about what occurred with Sergeant Walling earlier in the day. At approximately
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9:00PM, Sergeant Vansteenburgh's fiancee Kathleen Harwood arrived at U-Tiki for dinner. Sergeant Vansteenburgh observed Sergeant Walling enter the bar area via the east side of the establishment and sit at the main bar area. Sergeant Vansteenburgh stated that he observed Sergeant Walling exit the bathroom area and began to walk towards Sergeant Vansteenburgh and Ms. Harwood. Sergeant Vansteenburgh stated Sergeant Walling approached them and he told Sergeant Walling 11don't do this here now; this is not obviously the time or place to do this. We have been here before. You know let it go." Sergeant Walling did not say anything to Sergeant Vansteenburgh and began to talk to Ms. Harwood. Sergeant Walling took off a black Under Armour jacket and handed it Ms. Harwood. Sergeant Vansteenburgh stated that Sergeant Walling previously told him that she was going to return his jacket to him, although he did not know what she was talking about. Sergeant Vansteenburgh had previously told Ms. Harwood that Sergeant Walling wanted to return a jacket to him. As Sergeant Walling took off the jacket he recognized it as his black Under Armour jacket. Sergeant Walling told Ms. Harwood 11 this is Jason's jacket; he gave it to me the last time we went out and it was cold." Sergeant Vansteenburgh stated that the last time he remembered seeing that jacket is when he was at in-service training and put it on the back of his chair at the Jupiter Police Department. Major England asked Sergeant Vansteenburgh where Sergeant Walling llgot the jacket", and he replied by saying: 11 1 never asked her. I don't remember ever giving it to her, it's May. It's the end of April. I haven't worn that jacket. The last cold spell we had was in December or January. I know I wore it to in-service training one morning because it was cold and I left it on the back of my chair at my desk." Sergeant Vansteenburgh stated that he had no memory of giving the jacket to Sergeant Walling when they went out. Sergeant Vansteenburgh did not realize he was missing the jacket and did not realize that it was missing when he was packing his house up for moving. Ms. Harwood took the jacket from Sergeant Walling.
A verbal dialogue took place between Sergeant Walling and Ms. Harwood. Sergeant Walling told Ms. Harwood that she hopes she is happy with him, and that he cheats on her. When I asked Sergeant Vansteenburgh if Sergeant Walling appeared intoxicated, he stated that he felt as if she was. Being that Sergeant Vansteenburgh was working the extra duty detail he was trying to stay out of the conversation. Sergeant Walling removed her cellular telephone from her bag, at which time Sergeant Vansteenburgh stated that he 11had enough, as he did not know what she was going to start videotaping, showing something on her phone that could have been anything, I don't know." Due to the fact that a disturbance was taking place he made contact with the manager Matthew Baroni to have Sergeant Walling escorted out of the establishment. Mr. Baroni made contact with Sergeant Walling and escorted her out of the establishment. Sergeant Walling asked Sergeant Vansteenburgh if he was 11throwing her out" and Sergeant Vansteenburgh stated "I am not throwing you out. I am separating a disturbance, and the manager is going to escort you to the front door." Sergeant Vansteenburgh observed Mr. Baroni escort Sergeant Walling out of the restaurant, and he observed Sergeant Walling enter her vehicle and drive out of the parking lot of U-Tiki towards A 1 A. Sergeant Vansteenburgh texted Sergeant Drown about the incident and she arrived at U-Tiki after Sergeant Walling had left.
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At approximately 11:00 PM, the extra duty detail ended, and Sergeant Vansteenburgh and Ms. Harwood left the establishment and went to Ms. Harwood's vehicle which was parked next to the restaurant. Sergeant Vansteenburgh observed Sergeant Walling's vehicle parked directly next to his personal vehicle with the headlights on. Sergeant Vansteenburgh attempted to have Sergeant Drown respond back to U-Tiki, however she was on a call and requested him to contact Sergeant Robert Given as he was the other on-duty supervisor. Sergeant Vansteenburgh spoke with Sergeant Given and asked him to come to U-Tiki, as he did not want to have a confrontation with Sergeant Walling without having a witness present and wanted to have someone escort him to his vehicle. Sergeant Vansteenburgh waited with Ms. Harwood until Sergeant Given arrived at the location. While Sergeant Given was responding to U-Tiki an Armed carjacking call for service occurred and he was unable to respond.
Officer Janine Ercolano was previously at the U-Tiki restaurant and arrived back to drop off her friend. Officer Ercolano's friend Rebecca Schwartz who is police officer in Tennessee volunteered to escort Sergeant Vansteenburgh to his personal vehicle. Sergeant Vansteenburgh stated that at this time, a Jeep also arrived and parked next to Sergeant Walling's vehicle. An unknown male and female exited the jeep and the male subject was standing to the rear of the jeep with his arms crossed looking at Sergeant Vansteenburgh. At this time, Ms. Harwood left the area driving her vehicle. Sergeant Vansteenburgh allowed Ms. Schwartz to escort him to his vehicle. While Sergeant Vansteenburgh was walking, Ms. Schwartz was driving alongside him in her truck.
Sergeant Vansteenburgh attached his personal cellular telephone to the outer carrier of his ballistic vest and activated the video recording feature. Sergeant Vansteenbugh utilized the camera as he did not know what was going to occur and wanted to document what was going to happen. Sergeant Vansteenburgh approached his vehicle and noticed that Sergeant Walling parked so close to his driver's side door he was unable to get in. Sergeant Vansteenburgh further stated that the only way that he could access the driver's side door of his vehicle while wearing his police equipment was to walk sideways and still could not fit into the vehicle. Sergeant Vansteenburgh noticed that the Jeep belonged to a subordinate off duty Jupiter Police Officer Elizabeth Raleigh and the male was her friend Randy Ready. Sergeant Vansteenbugh opened the passenger side rear door of his vehicle and put his lunch cooler in the back.
At this time, Officer Raleigh approached Sergeant Vansteenburgh and stated 111 don't
know what's going on, she's a mess." Sergeant Vansteenburgh told Officer Raleigh briefly what had occurred during the day. Mr. Ready was standing at the driver's side door of Sergeant Walling's vehicle and observed her exit her vehicle. Sergeant Walling then walked towards where Sergeant Vansteenburgh and Officer Raleigh were standing. Ms. Schwartz was sitting in her truck at this time, and Sergeant Walling asked Sergeant Vansteenburgh who the girl in the truck was. Sergeant Vansteenburgh wanted to leave and walked to the driver's side of his vehicle and stated that he is going to open his driver's side door and if he hits the other car he does not care. Sergeant Vansteenbugh opened his driver's side door at which time he looked over and observed Sergeant Walling opened the driver's side rear passenger door of his vehicle without permission. Sergeant Vansteenburgh told Sergeant Walling to get away and he closed the rear door
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that she opened. At this point, Officer Raleigh and Mr. Ready approached Sergeant Walling and attempted to get her away from Sergeant Vansteenburgh. Sergeant Vansteenburgh told Sergeant Walling to leave him alone and to close his door. Sergeant Vansteenburgh overheard Officer Raleigh tell Sergeant Walling "this is not a good idea." Sergeant Vansteenburgh stated that Sergeant Walling continued to come at him, so he wiggled his way out between the vehicles and exited at the front portion of the vehicles in an effort to keep space and avoid the confrontation with Sergeant Walling.
Ms. Schwartz exited her truck and approached Sergeant Vansteenburgh and offered to drive him home and leave his vehicle. Sergeant Vansteenburgh did not want to leave the vehicle as he was in fear that Sergeant Walling would break out the windows in his vehicle. Ms. Schwartz then entered the front passenger side of Sergeant Vansteenburgh's vehicle, crawled over to the driver's seat, and backed the vehicle out of the parking space. Prior to Ms. Schwartz backing out Sergeant Vansteenburgh's vehicle, Sergeant Vansteenburgh moved her truck forward to allow his vehicle to be backed out. After Sergeant Vansteenburgh exited the truck he looked over and observed Officer Raleigh and Mr. Ready trying to keep Sergeant Walling away from him. Sergeant Vansteenburgh advised that Sergeant Walling was yelling at Officer Raleigh and Mr. Ready. When I asked Sergeant Vansteenburgh why Sergeant Walling needed to be held back, he stated "I assume she was trying to come back at me." Sergeant Vansteenburgh advised that he observed Sergeant Walling bite Officer Raleigh and Mr. Ready, and heard them both say "ouch." Sergeant Vansteenburgh did not know which person Sergeant Walling bit first.
Sergeant Vansteenburgh then went to enter the driver's side of his vehicle to leave, and observed Sergeant Walling coming at him again. Sergeant Walling immediately began to ask Sergeant Vansteenburgh again who the girl in the truck was. Officer Raleigh and Mr. Ready came up from behind Sergeant Walling to get her away from Sergeant Vansteenburgh. Sergeant Vansteenburgh stated that he did not know if Sergeant Walling attempted to "grab him" or "hit him", however he observed her hands coming at him, so he quickly turned away and felt an impact on his left shoulder. Sergeant Vansteenburgh advised that he pushed Sergeant Walling away with his open left hand. Officer Raleigh and Mr. Ready grabbed Sergeant Walling, and Sergeant Vansteenburgh heard Mr. Ready say "not on the Sarge." Officer Raleigh and Mr. Ready pulled Sergeant Walling back. During this point of contact Sergeant Vansteenburgh was just about seated in his vehicle and the driver's side door was open. Sergeant Vansteenburgh then drove away from the location and did not have any further contact with Sergeant Walling. Sergeant Vansteenburgh further stated that he did not have any further telephonic contact with Sergeant Walling that night as he blocked her from calling his cellular telephone.
On Monday, April 18, 2016, Sergeant Vansteenburgh was contact by Officer Raleigh and she requested to meet with him. Sergeant Vansteenburgh met with Officer Raleigh in the Admirals Cove parking lot and she requested not to attend in-service training the next day due to her injuries. Sergeant Vansteenburgh observed a wound on her face and bruising above her eye. Sergeant Vansteenburgh provided three videos that he
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captured while using his personal cellular telephone. The videos are included with this investigation. The complete audio recording of the Internal Affairs interview with Sergeant Vansteenburgh is included with this investigation.
On June 14, 2016, Sergeant Vansteeenburgh provided Major David England with a copy of a text message conversation that he had with Sergeant Walling on Saturday, April 16, 2016. During the text message conversation Sergeant Vansteenburgh explicitly tells Sergeant Walling not to come to his residence on April 17, 2016. Sergeant Vansteenburgh further tells Sergeant Walling to throw away any of his property that she has as he does not want anything back. Copies of the text message conversation are included with this investigation.
Christopher Perez
On May 12, 2016, I met with Mr. Christopher Perez regarding this incident. In summary, Mr. ·Perez stated the following: On April 17, 2016, Mr. Perez was working in a security capacity as an employee of U-Tiki Beach Restaurant. Mr. Perez's work hours on April 17, 2016, where from 2:00PM- until the restaurant closes. While Mr. Perez was stationed in the area of the front hostess desk he observed Sergeant Walling approach Sergeant Vansteenburgh and speak with him. Mr. Perez heard Ms. Harwood tell Sergeant Walling "do you see this ring? He loves me!" Mr. Perez advised that there was not a loud argument taking place between Sergeant Vansteenburgh, Sergeant Walling, and Ms. Harwood, and he did not even realize that an argument was taking place.
Mr. Perez told me that Sergeant Vansteenburgh pointed towards Sergeant Walling and said "come get her", and he thought that Sergeant Vansteenburgh was joking. Mr. Perez stated that after "five minutes" Sergeant Vansteenburgh told him again "no really come get her." At this point the manager Matthew Baroni approached them and escorted Sergeant Walling out of the restaurant. The complete audio recording of the Internal Affairs interview with Mr. Christopher Perez is included with this investigation.
Mr. Maffhew Baroni
On May 19, 2016, Major England and I met with Mr. Matthew Baroni regarding this incident. In summary, Mr. Baroni stated the following: On April17, 2016, Mr. Baroni was working as a manager for the U-Tiki Beach Restaurant. Mr. Baroni's scheduled work hours were from 3:00 PM- until the restaurant closed. Mr. Baroni was approached by another manager who told him that an issue was occurring at the wall bar area in the restaurant. Mr. Baroni observed Sergeant Vansteenburgh in between two women who were identified as Ms. Harwood and Sergeant Walling. Sergeant Vansteenburgh was observed trying to keep Sergeant Walling away from Ms. Harwood. Being that Mr. Baroni was the manager he approached and wanted to ensure that everything was okay. Mr. Baroni did not overhear the conversation between Sergeant Walling, Ms. Harwood, and Sergeant Vansteenburgh.
Mr. Baroni stated that Sergeant Walling was asked to leave the restaurant. Mr. Baroni asked Sergeant Walling to come with him so they could talk, and she started to go with
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him. Sergeant Walling then turned around and began to walk back towards Sergeant Vansteenburgh. Mr. Baroni told Sergeant Walling to come talk with him outside of the restaurant and she followed him out. Mr. Baroni asked Sergeant Walling if everything was okay. Sergeant Walling replied by saying "he is with me and her at the same time." Sergeant Walling then looked down at her phone, said that she was "sorry", and then ran away. Mr. Baroni advised that it appeared as though Sergeant Walling had a drink or two and that she did appear intoxicated. Mr. Baroni stated that when they were outside of the restaurant Sergeant Walling was able to answer his question right away. However when she initially was asked to come outside she started to come, but then turned around and started to walk back towards Sergeant Vansteenburgh, which Mr. Baroni though was a "little odd" to him.
Mr. Baroni met with Sergeant Drown that evening and explained to her what had occurred. Sergeant Drown asked Mr. Baroni to obtain the video surveillance of the incident. Sergeant Drown supplied Mr. Baroni her contact information. Mr. Baroni advised that Sergeant Walling was not derogatory towards any of the staff at U-Tiki, and prior to this date has always been professional at the establishment. Video surveillance from U-Tiki was obtained and is attached to this investigation. The complete audio recording of the Internal Affairs interview with Mr. Matthew Baroni is included with this investigation.
Officer Janine Ercolano
On May 11, 2016, Major England and I met with Officer Janine Ercolano regarding this incident. In summary, Officer Erolano stated the following: On April 17, 2016, while off duty she went to the U-Tiki Beach Restaurant with her friend Rebecca Schwartz, Birget Handzik, and an unknown male friend of Ms. Schwartz. Officer Ercolano advised that Sergeant Vansteenburgh was working the extra duty detail and he was wearing a class "B" police uniform. Officer Ercolano briefly spoke with Sergeant Vansteenburgh and also said hello to his fiancee Ms. Harwood. Officer Ercolano did see Sergeant Walling at the restaurant however she did not have any contact with her. Officer Ercolano advised that since Sergeant Walling was her direct supervisor, she did not want to be seen talking with Sergeant Vansteenburgh or Ms. Harwood, due to the past relationship issues between Sergeant Vansteenburgh, Sergeant Walling, and Ms. Harwood. Officer Ercolano observed Sergeant Vansteenburgh and Ms. Harwood in the front of the restaurant and then observed Sergeant Walling come in and sit at the corner bar where she could sit and face Sergeant Vansteenburgh. Officer Ercolano decided that she did not want to stay at U-Tiki due to Sergeant Vansteenburgh and Sergeant Walling being at the same restaurant.
When Officer Ercolano left the restaurant with her friends, Sergeant Walling was still sitting at the corner bar, and Sergeant Vansteenburgh and Ms. Harwood were at the front area. Officer Ercolano drove her friends to another establishment, and left Ms. Schwartz's vehicle at U-Tiki. At approximately 11:00 PM, Officer Ercolano drove Ms. Schwartz back to U-Tiki to pick up her vehicle. Officer Ercolano and Ms. Schwartz spoke with Sergeant Vansteenburgh, and he said that he could not get to his vehicle. Ms. Schwartz volunteered to stay with Sergeant Vansteenburgh and escort him to his vehicle. Officer
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Ercolano then left the location. When I asked Officer Ercolano if she saw Sergeant Walling in the parking lot, she stated that she saw two dark colored BMW's parked next to each other, and Sergeant Vansteenburgh mentioned to her that he could not leave as Sergeant Walling was blocking him in. After Officer Ercolano left U-Tiki she did not have any further contact with Sergeant Vansteenburgh or Sergeant Walling that night. The complete audio recording of the Internal Affairs interview with Officer Ercolano is included with this investigation.
Kathleen Harwood
On May 18, 2016, Major David England and I met with Kathleen Harwood at the Jupiter Police Department regarding this incident. In summary, on Saturday, April16, 2016, Sergeant Vansteenburgh told Ms. Harwood that there was a possibility that Sergeant Walling may come to the residence to drop off .. some jacket.~~ A decision was made to not answer the door if she should come to the residence. On Sunday, April 17, 2016, at approximately 1:30PM, while packing Sergeant Vansteenburgh's house for moving, Sergeant Walling rang the doorbell and knocked on the front door at Sergeant Vansteenburgh's residence in the . Since Sergeant Vansteenburgh and Ms. Harwood did not answer the door Sergeant Walling left the property.
Approximately 45 minutes later, Sergeant Vansteenburgh and Ms. Harwood left his residence in the and traveled to the Jupiter Police Department to utilize the gym facility. While driving to the Jupiter Police Department Sergeant Vansteenburgh noticed that a vehicle matching Sergeant Walling's personal gray BMW vehicle was traveling northbound on Military Trail behind them. Ms. Harwood also looked in the rearview mirror and observed the BMW. Upon arriving at the Jupiter Police Department, Sergeant Vansteenburgh parked his vehicle where the police vehicles park. While entering the police department through the employee entrance Sergeant Vansteenburgh stated to Ms. Harwood 110h my God. She just pulled in 11 (Sergeant Walling}. Sergeant Vansteenburgh and Ms. Harwood entered the gym facility and heard the sound of Sergeant Walling's crutches coming down the hall. It must be noted that at this time, Sergeant Walling was utilizing crutches to assist her with walking. A decision was made to leave the police department to avoid contact with Sergeant Walling. Sergeant Vansteenburgh and Ms. Harwood observed Sergeant Walling's BMW parked directly next to Sergeant Vansteenburgh's vehicle. Ms. Harwood and Sergeant Vansteenburgh returned to the and went for an exercise run.
Upon returning from their run and getting ready to take a shower they heard the doorbell ring again at approximately 3:50 or 4:00 PM. Sergeant Walling was at the residence again for the second time. Sergeant Vansteenburgh and Ms. Harwood again did not answer the door, and Sergeant Walling left. At approximately 4:20PM, Sergeant Vansteenburgh was dressed in his police uniform for his extra duty detail. that started at 5:00PM, at U-Tiki. Sergeant Vansteenburgh had to drive Ms. Harwood home to her residence prior to going to work. At this time, the front doorbell rang again, and Sergeant Walling was back at the residence for a third time. Again, they did not answer the door or have contact with Sergeant Walling. Ms. Harwood advised that she did not
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see Sergeant Walling at the residence on these occasions and just heard the doorbell ring. Sergeant Vansteenburgh and Ms. Harwood left the residence from the back door, and he drove her home in his personal vehicle. Sergeant Vansteenburgh dropped off Ms. Harwood and he returned to his residence to pick up some of his police equipment for work.
Ms. Harwood stated that after Sergeant Vansteenburgh arrived back at his residence he observed Sergeant Walling's vehicle parked extremely close to the front of his police vehicle, which was parked in the front of his residence. Ms. Harwood stated that Sergeant Vansteenburgh recorded the parking situation on his phone and sent her the video. While working the extra duty detail at U-Tiki Sergeant Vansteenburgh was in contact with Ms. Harwood by telephone. Since Sergeant Vansteenburgh did not see Sergeant Walling at U-Tiki, he told her to come for dinner. At approximately 9:00 PM, Ms. Harwood arrived at U-Tiki. Upon arrival Ms. Harwood spoke with Sergeant Drown, and Sergeant Vansteenburgh. After speaking with Sergeant Drown, Ms. Harwood sat down at the small wall bar and ordered food and a Corona beer.
While Ms. Harwood was eating, Sergeant Vansteenburgh advised her that Sergeant Walling was there. Sergeant Walling was observed sitting at the main bar area. Ms. Harwood exited the restaurant and spoke with Officer Janine Ercolano outside of the front door. After speaking with Officer Ercolano for a couple of minutes Ms. Harwood returned to the same bar area where she was previously sitting. Sergeant Vansteenburgh then told Ms. Harwood that Sergeant Walling was gone. Ms. Harwood then went to the main bar to order another Corona beer, and observed Sergeant Walling coming from the bathroom area walking towards them. Ms. Harwood observed Sergeant walling pass behind her, went up to the seat where Ms. Harwood was previously sitting in, and where Sergeant Vansteenburgh was standing. Ms. Harwood then left the main bar area without her beer and went back to her previous seat next to Sergeant Vansteenburgh. Sergeant Walling handed Ms. Harwood a jacket and stated "here, he leant it to me when I was cold." Ms. Harwood "grabbed" the jacket from her hands and stated "thank you." Ms. Harwood also stated "Is that it? Is that what you wanted to give to me or what you wanted to tell me? Sergeant Walling replied by saying "yeah, as long as you know he is cheating on you. That's it." Ms. Harwood then stated "That's it. Are you going to leave us alone now? Is that going to be it from you?" Sergeant Walling replied by saying "that's it."
During the conversation Sergeant Walling told Ms. Harwood that she is the 11 laughing stock" of the agency. Ms. Harwood did not reply to that comment made by Sergeant Walling. Sergeant Walling then asked Sergeant Vansteenburgh if he "enjoyed his workout." Ms. Harwood found this statement to be bizarre. Sergeant Vansteenburgh stated "we did not work out today." Ms. Harwood then said to Sergeant Walling "Do you see this ring that I am wearing? He does not want to be with you. Don't you understand we are getting engaged? What about that do you not understand?" Sergeant Walling then looked at Ms. Harwood and stated "I wore that ring first. It was in his house." Ms. Harwood then looked at Sergeant Walling and stated approximately ten times llyou are pathetic." Ms. Harwood then advised Sergeant Walling "you followed us around to the police department. You knocked on the door three times. What is wrong with you?"
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At this time, Sergeant Walling pulled out her cellular telephone to possibly show Ms. Harwood something on the phone. Ms. Harwood advised that she did not want to deal with that, at which time, Sergeant Vansteenburgh stepped in between Ms. Harwood and Sergeant Walling. Sergeant Vansteenburgh motioned for U-Tiki management to come over to their location. Sergeant Vansteenburgh requested that management escort Sergeant Walling out of the restaurant. Management escorted Sergeant Walling out of the establishment and Sergeant Vansteenburgh followed behind. Ms. Harwood advised me that Sergeant Vansteenburgh was in contact with Sergeant Drown, and she arrived at U-Tiki. Ms. Harwood and Sergeant Vansteenburgh advised Sergeant Drown what had occurred.
Ms. Harwood waited for Sergeant Vansteenburgh's detail to end prior to leaving U-Tiki. At approximately 11:00 PM, Sergeant Vansteenburgh and Ms. Harwood exited the restaurant and went to Ms. Harwood's vehicle. Sergeant Vansteenburgh and Ms. Harwood observed Sergeant Walling's BMW parked directly next to Sergeant Vansteenburgh's personal vehicle. Ms. Harwood then observed that a Jeep arrived and parked next to Sergeant Walling's vehicle. The unknown male occupant exited the Jeep and began to face them while crossing his arms. Sergeant Vansteenburgh contacted Sergeant Drown to come to the scene; however she was on a call. Sergeant Vansteenburgh then contacted Sergeant Given. At the same time, Officer Ercolano arrived back at U-Tiki to drop off her friend. Ms. Harwood advised that Officer Ercolano's friend approached them and told them that she is a police officer in Chattanooga. She further stated that she could be an independent third party witness, and walk Sergeant Vansteenburgh over to his vehicle. Ms. Harwood advised that Sergeant Vansteenburgh utilized his personal cellular telephone and video recorded the incident. At this time, a carjacking took place, and Sergeant Vansteenburgh realized that Sergeant Given would not be able to come over to U-Tiki. Sergeant Vansteenburgh accepted the offer from the Chattanooga Police Officer to escort him to his vehicle. Sergeant Vansteenburgh advised Ms. Harwood to leave and go directly home, and she then left. Ms. Harwood did not have any further contact with Sergeant Walling that night. The complete audio recording of the Internal Affairs interview with Kathleen Harwood is included with this investigation.
On July 5, 2016, I spoke with Ms. Harwood on the telephone. Ms. Harwood told me that she had just found a message that Sergeant Walling sent to her via Facebook on April 17, 2016, at approximately 5:15PM. The message was received the same day prior to the incident at U-Tiki. Ms. Harwood emailed me a copy of the Facbook message. The message included dates and times that Sergeant Walling and Sergeant Vansteenburgh allegedly engaged in sexual activity, details about their encounters, and information about their relationship. A copy of the Facebook message is included with this investigation.
Officer Elizabeth Raleigh
On Monday, April 18, 2016, I called Officer Elizabeth Raleigh regarding this incident and explained to her that I would be meeting with her when she returned to work. Officer
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Raleigh requested to come in right away, and Major David England I met with her in my office at the Jupiter Police Department. Officer Raleigh was provided with the Notice of Internal Affairs Investigation Form. We observed a bite wound to Officer Raleigh's cheek area on the left side of her face, and bruising above her right eye. Detective Eric Frank was contacted to conduct a criminal investigation into this matter, and Crime Scene Investigator Teresa Bryant responded to my office to photograph Officer Raleigh's injuries. On Tuesday, April19, 2016, Detective Frank met with Officer Raleigh to conduct an interview as she was the victim of a simple battery and the suspect was Sergeant Amy Walling (Jupiter PO case number 16-001995). Officer Raleigh signed a Waiver of Prosecution Form and did not want to pursue criminal charges against Sergeant Walling. The audio recording of the criminal investigation conducted by Detective Frank is included with this investigation. Officer Raleigh provided Detective Frank with a series of text messages from April17, 2016, between Sergeant Walling and herself. Officer Raleigh also provided Detective Frank a series of text messages from April 1 7, 201 6, between Jennifer Lunsford and herself. Copies of these text messages, photographs of Officer Raleigh's injuries, and a copy of the audio recording of the criminal investigation conducted by Detective Frank are included with this investigation.
On May 9, 2016, Major David England and I met with Officer Elizabeth Raleigh at the Jupiter Police Department regarding this incident. In summary, on April 17, 2016, Officer Raleigh first made contact with Sergeant Walling in the later afternoon hours, at Jennifer Lunsford's residence. Sergeant Walling met with Officer Raleigh to pick up a sweater from Officer Raleigh that she previously borrowed. Officer Raleigh stated that Sergeant Walling was visibly upset and could tell that she had been crying. Sergeant Walling advised that she wanted to be alone and left Mrs. Lunsford's residence to watch the sunset and hockey game at U-Tiki. Officer Raleigh checked to see who was working the extra duty detail at U-Tiki and discovered it was Sergeant Vansteenburgh. Officer Raleigh then sent a text message to Sergeant Walling based upon her knowledge of Sergeant Walling and Sergeant Vansteenburgh's personal relationship history. The following text messages were supplied by Officer Raleigh:
Officer Raleigh- Amy, I just looked at who is working U-Tiki. Do you think it is a good idea? 1918 hours
Sergeant Walling- Nope. It's a horrible ides. 1919 hours Officer Raleigh- Don't put yourself through that please. Come meet us somewhere else. 1920 hours
Sergeant Walling- She comes to my details so why not? The can't stop me from doing this one little thing I enjoy. I'll go in the back and avoid them. 1922 hours Officer Raleigh-He's not worth your time or energy. 1923 hours Sergeant Walling- He won't even know I'm here. 1924 hours Officer Raleigh- Really? I'm using the brown hair thinking today not the blond. LOL. 1925 hours Sergeant Walling- Well I just ordered food and drinks so I'm here now. 1927 hours Officer Raleigh- Ok. If you want us to come we will. I hate seeing you go through this alone. 1928 hours Sergeant Walling- What's he going to do, file another lA complaint because I wanted a drink and food. Fuck him. 1929 hours
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Officer Raleigh- Unfortunately you never know. And you don't need that aggravation. 1930 hours Sergeant Walling- True but at this very moment I don't care. 1931 hours Officer Raleigh- I know, just don't want you to regret it later. 1932 hours Sergeant Walling- I'm positive I will. 1932 hours Officer Raleigh- Then at least let us come meet you. Can say we wanted to go there. 1933 hours Sergeant Walling- I don't wanna drag y'all out just cause I'm having a bad day. 1935 hours Officer Raleigh- I'm already dressed and Jen is in the shower. 1935 hours Sergeant Walling- Ok. 1936 hours Officer Raleigh- Be heading there in a few. 1936 hours Sergeant Walling- Ok. It's cool bring a jacket. 1937 hours Officer Raleigh- I got my jean jacket in the car! 1937 hours Sergeant Walling- I have JV's in the car if gets colder. I was supposed to drop it off to him today. 1939 hours Officer Raleigh- We got jackets lol. 1947 hours Officer Raleigh- Where are you sitting? Has he seen you yet? 1951 hours Sergeant Walling- No. I'm on the sand on the side by Jetty's. 1952 hours Officer Raleigh- Ok, we'll walk up through the side. Leaving Jen's now. 1953 hours Sergeant Walling- Ok. You don't have to sneak in on my account. These drinks are really strong. LOL. I like them. 1954 hours Officer Raleigh- Take it easy girl. LOL. 19 55 hours Sergeant Walling- He walked past but I kept my head down. He didn't see me. I'm only on my 2nd. 19 59 I 2000 hours Officer Raleigh- Ok good. 2000 hours Sergeant Walling- For what it's worth I don't give a shit if he does know I'm here. Fuck him. 2016 hours · Officer Raleigh- I know, but I don't want to see a comeback against you later. 2017 hours. Sergeant Walling- I don't care. Fuck him. 2017 hours Officer Raleigh- He can go fuck himself. 2018 hours Sergeant Walling- I suspect he might be doing that the next couple days. 2020 hours Officer Raleigh- Oh yeah. 2021 hours
When Offi~er Raleigh and Mrs. Lunsford arrived at U-Tiki they sat with Sergeant Walling at a table in the sand section in the back of the restaurant. After spending approximately one hour at U-Tiki, Officer Raleigh left to pick up her friend Randy Ready leaving Sergeant Walling and Mrs. Lunsford alone. According to Officer Raleigh Mrs. Lunsford left U-Tiki as Sergeant Walling wanted to be alone. Officer Raleigh provided the following text message conversation between herself and Mrs. Lunsford:
Mrs. Lunsford- K just got there and Amy was going to give his jacket back to him. 2146 hours Officer Raleigh- Ok. 2150 hours Mrs. Lunsford- Kay. 2151 hours Officer Raleigh- Oh she is giving it to Kay? 2153 hours
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Mrs. Lunsford- She's confronting them after one more drink. 2155 hours Officer Raleigh- Ughhh. 2156 hours Mrs. Lunsford- She just got kicked out of U-Tiki. 2205 hours Officer Raleigh- Do I need to go get her? 2206 hours Mrs. Lunsford- I don't know yet. 2207 hours Officer Raleigh- I called, she didn't answer. I just texted asking if she needed me to get her. Waiting on reply. 2208 hours Mrs. Lunsford- She's leaving. I don't know what's going on. 2208 hours Officer Raleigh- She just asked me to take Toby? 2209 hours Mrs. Lunsford- She told me she can't talk. 2209 hours Officer Raleigh- WTF? PD kick her out? 2209 hours Mrs. Lunsford- I have no clue. 221 0 hours
Officer Raleigh also provided the following text message conversation between herself and Sergeant Walling:
Officer Raleigh- Do you need me to come get you? 2207 hours Sergeant Walling- No. 2207 hours Sergeant Walling- Can you take Toby? 2208 hours Officer Raleigh- Yes. Tonight? Tomorrow? What's up? 2208 hours Sergeant Walling- I can't do this anymore. 2210 hours Offic~r Raleigh- Sweetheart where are you? 2211 hours Sergeant Walling- JV just kicked me out of U-Tiki. 2212 hours Officer Raleigh- No road patrol involved? 2213 hours Sergeant Walling- Please take care of Toby. No. 2213 hours Officer Raleigh- That's good. I'll meet you at your house. 2213 hours Sergeant Walling- You're with Randy! No! 2214 hours Officer Raleigh- I don't care. Chicks before dicks! If he really want to be with me he will understand. 2215 hours Sergeant Walling- I love you. 2215 hours Officer Raleigh- I love you too! So much! 2215 hours Officer Raleigh- You want me to come get Toby in the morning? You going to take off for a little while? 2217 hours Sergeant Walling- No. He's with me. 2222 hours Officer Raleigh- Where are you? 2224 hours Sergeant Walling- Driving. Headed back to U-Tiki. 2227 hours Officer Raleigh- No No! 2228 hours Sergeant Walling- JV has me blocked. I can't tell him bye. Text him. Tell him I'm in the parking lot and I'm done. 2247 hours
Officer Raleigh advised me that she and Mr. Ready drove back over to U-Tiki. Upon arriving back in the parking lot of U-Tiki Officer Raleigh observed Sergeant Walling's vehicle parked directly next to Sergeant Vansteenburgh's personal vehicle. Officer Raleigh parked her Jeep next to the driver's side of Sergeant Walling's vehicle. Sergeant Walling was sitting in the vehicle and she was crying. Sergeant Walling advised Officer Raleigh that she wanted to speak with Sergeant Vansteenburgh to 11Ciear the air." Since Sergeant Vansteenburgh had previously blocked Sergeant Walling from calling or texting
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him, Officer Raleigh texted Sergeant Vansteenburgh; however he did not reply right away.
Sergeant Vansteenburgh walked out to his vehicle and he was accompanied by an unknown female driving a truck. Sergeant Vansteenburgh went to get into his vehicle and some dialogue occurred between Sergeant Vansteenburgh and Sergeant Walling. Sergeant Walling had parked very close the driver's side of Sergeant Vansteenburgh's vehicle and he was having a problem getting into his vehicle. Officer Raleigh overheard Sergeant Vansteenburgh say that he did not care if he dented Sergeant Walling's vehicle when he went to get into his vehicle, which upset Sergeant Walling. Sergeant Vansteenburgh was standing next to his driver's side door, and Sergeant Walling began yelling and went to the rear driver's side passenger door of Sergeant Vansteenburgh's vehicle. Due to Sergeant Walling yelling Officer Raleigh went in between Sergeant Walling and Sergeant Vansteenburgh with her back facing Sergeant Vansteenburgh. Officer Raleigh stated that "she did not want to see anything bad happen, and wanted to protect her." When I asked who was being aggressive, Officer Raleigh replied "They were both yelling. I know her arms were flailing." Officer Raleigh stated that Sergeant Vansteenburgh was not doing anything antagonistic to Sergeant Walling, but was "keeping an arm out" to keep distance between them. Officer Raleigh specified that Sergeant Walling attempted or did open Sergeant Vansteenburgh's rear driver's side door.
In an effort to eliminate a hostile situation; Officer Raleigh attempted to separate Sergeant Walling and Sergeant Vansteenburgh by pushing her forward. At some point Mr. Ready was behind Sergeant Walling and grabbed onto Officer Raleigh's hands and boxed her in. Officer Raleigh then wrapped her arms around Sergeant Walling and walked her to the driver's side of the Jeep away from Sergeant Vansteenburgh. Sergeant Walling was yelling to let her go, crying, and extremely upset. Officer Raleigh advised that while she was holding onto Sergeant Walling the top of Sergeant Walling's dress came down, and Officer Raleigh was telling her to "pull her top up." Officer Raleigh advised that Sergeant Walling was "distraught and hysterical."
Officer Raleigh advised me that she was facing Sergeant Walling and she had her arms wrapped tightly around her. Sergeant Walling kept saying "let me go.;' Officer Raleigh stated "no, you need to calm down. You need to take a breath." Sergeant Walling was flailing her arms trying to get away from Officer Raleigh. At this time, Mr. Ready came up behind Sergeant Walling over her right shoulder and was telling her to "calm down." Officer Raleigh did not realize it at the time, but Sergeant Walling bit Mr. Ready on the chin. Sergeant Walling also bit Officer Raleigh on the left side cheek of her face. Officer Raleigh was unsure of who got bit first. Officer Raleigh stated that Sergeant Walling bit them in desperation to get away from them. Officer Raleigh stated that Sergeant Walling was panicked, and stated "I can't breathe, let me go." Officer Raleigh advised that she believed that Sergeant Walling could breathe, and was not holding her that tight. Officer Raleigh stated that Sergeant Walling was upset, and it was almost as if someone was in a "panic attack." Officer Raleigh stated that she thinks Sergeant Walling said "I can't breathe", and Officer Raleigh stated "If you are talking, you are breathing." Officer Raleigh told us that she did not think she was holding her too tight to cause her breathing
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· -) problems, however she did not know how it felt to her.
I asked Officer Raleigh way she did not let Sergeant Walling go and she stated Ill did not want her to go back over to him. I did not want there to be anymore confrontation." After Officer Raleigh was bit she let Sergeant Walling go, and she went back over to where Sergeant Vansteenburgh was located. Officer Raleigh went behind where Sergeant Walling was standing, and grabbed onto the back of the jean jacket she was wearing. Sergeant Walling was yelling at this time, and she was able to remove the jacket from herself, while Officer Raleigh was holding the jacket. Officer Raleigh then grabbed Sergeant Walling's arms and her body while standing behind her and dragged her backwards. Officer Raleigh then went down to the ground with Sergeant Walling. Sergeant Vansteenburgh then drove away from the location, and Sergeant Walling was yelling at Officer Raleigh to 11 1et her go." Sergeant Walling was hysterical and Officer Raleigh did not let her go as she was afraid that Sergeant Walling would go back to her vehicle and drive away. Based upon how upset Sergeant Walling was Officer Raleigh did not feel as though she was capable to safely drive a motor vehicle.
Sergeant Drown and Mrs. Lunsford arrived at U-Tiki at this time. Officer Raleigh let go of Sergeant Walling, and she believes that Sergeant Walling went directly over to Mrs. Lunsford. Officer Raleigh advised me that she did not see Sergeant Walling strike Sergeant Vansteenburgh; however she did observe her flailing her arms at him. During the struggle Officer Raleigh also sustained a bruised right eye by the eyebrow area, although she is unsure of exactly when it occurred. Officer Raleigh spoke with Sergeant
) , Drown and told her what occurred and that she was bit in the face.
A decision was made to have Mrs. Lunsford drive Sergeant Walling's vehicle and take her back to her residence. Prior to leaving the parking lot of U-Tiki Mrs. Lunsford told Officer Raleigh that she was taking Sergeant Walling to the Jupiter Medical Center. Officer Raleigh and Sergeant Drown followed Mrs. Lunsford in their own vehicles to the Jupiter Medical Center. Officer Raleigh told us that she believes that they were going to the hospital as there was a concern over Sergeant Walling's prescription medication. Upon arriving at the Jupiter Medical Center, Sergeant Walling exited the vehicle and walked away. Sergeant Drown then located Sergeant Walling and told them that she would take Sergeant Walling home. The complete audio recording of the Internal Affairs interview with Officer Elizabeth Raleigh is included with this investigation.
Randy Ready
On April 22, 2016, Mr. Randy Ready met with Detective Eric Frank. Detective Frank conducted the criminal investigation where Mr. Ready was the victim of a simple battery and the suspect was Sergeant Amy Walling (Jupiter PD case number 16-002005). Prior to the interview on April 18, 2016, Crime Scene Investigator Teresa Bryant met with Mr. Ready at Roger Dean Stadium and took photographs of his injures. Mr. Ready advised Detective Frank, that on April17, 2016, his friend Officer Elizabeth Raleigh picked him up at Jumby Bay as he was intoxicated. Officer Raleigh received a telephone call from someone and they were now going to U-Tiki. Upon arriving at U-Tiki Mr. Ready remained
_) in Officer Raleigh's vehicle while Officer Raleigh made contact with Sergeant Walling
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who was sitting in her vehicle. Mr. Ready advised Detective Frank that everything was a little "fuzzy" to him as he was under the influence of alcohol. Mr. Ready further advised that he observed Officer Raleigh and Sergeant Walling get ~~tangled up and were kind of wrestling a little bit." Mr. Ready went over and got in the middle of them. Mr. Ready told Detective Frank that apparently he had been bitten on the chin; however he did not know it had occurred, and does not remember Sergeant Walling biting him. Mr. Ready did not recall Sergeant Vansteenburgh being involved in the incident. Mr. Ready signed a Waiver of Prosecution Form and did not want to pursue criminal charges against Sergeant Walling. The audio recording of the criminal investigation conducted by Detective Frank and photographs of Mr. Ready's injuries are included with this investigation.
I spoke with Mr. Ready by telephone in an effort to schedule an interview with him regarding this Internal Affair's investigation. Mr. Ready was adamant that he did not want to be involved in this investigation and refused to meet with me for an interview.
Rebecca Schwartz
On May 27,2016, Major David England and I conducted a telephonic interview with Rebecca Schwartz, who lives in Tennessee. In summary, Ms. Schwartz is a police officer with the Chattanooga Police Department in Tennessee, assigned to the road patrol division. On April, 17, 2016, Ms. Schwartz was on vacation in the Town of Jupiter. Ms. Schwartz went to the U-Tiki Beach Restaurant at approximately 9:00PM, with her friend Officer Janine Ercolano, Birget Handzik, and Derrick. Prior to April 17, 2016, Ms. Schwartz had not met Sergeant's Walling or Vansteenburgh.
Ms. Schwartz and the rest of her group left U-Tiki, and Officer Ercolano drove her to another establishment leaving her vehicle at U-Tiki. At approximately 11:00 PM, Officer Ercolano drove Ms. Schwartz back to U-Tiki to pick up her vehicle. Ms. Schwartz observed Sergeant Vansteenburgh in the parking lot talking to his fiancee in her BMW. Sergeant Vansteenburgh was hesitant to walk to his vehicle as Sergeant Walling and two other people were by his vehicle. In an effort to keep things peaceful Ms. Schwartz offered to go down to Sergeant Vansteenburgh's vehicle with him. Ms. Schwartz drove her truck over to Sergeant Vansteenburgh's vehicle while he walked alongside her truck.
Upon arriving at Sergeant Vansteenburgh's vehicle Ms. Schwartz observed that Sergeant Walling had parked her vehicle extremely close to his making it difficult for him to gain entry. Sergeant Walling made contact with Sergeant Vansteenburgh and she tried to keep him from getting into his vehicle. When Sergeant Vansteenbugh went to get into his vehicle, Sergeant Walling attempted to get into his vehicle through the rear driver's side door. Sergeant Vansteenburgh was unable to get into his vehicle due to his police equipment being worn as Sergeant Walling parked so close to his vehicle. Words were exchanged between Sergeant's Walling and Vansteenburgh. Ms. Schwartz offered to back out Sergeant Vansteenburgh's vehicle so he could leave. Ms. Schwartz entered Sergeant Vansteenburgh 's vehicle via the front passenger door, climbed over to the driver's side, and successfully backed out the vehicle.
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Ms. Schwartz told me that she did not see Sergeant Walling hit Sergeant Vansteenburgh however she did see her grab his upper body. Ms. Schwartz further told me that she did not see Sergeant Walling cause injury to Officer Raleigh or Mr. Ready although she did see them holding her back from going after Sergeant Vanstenburgh. Sergeant Walling appeared extremely intoxicated according to Ms. Schwartz due to her behavior. The only direct contact that Ms. Schwartz had with Sergeant Walling is when Sergeant Walling asked who she was. Being that Ms. Schwartz is a law enforcement officer, I asked her if she felt that Sergeant Walling's behavior was appropriate. Ms. Schwartz replied by saying "no11
, and if she was a police officer responding to that scene she would probably be arrested for "Public Intoxication~~ or 11 Disorderly Conduct." The complete audio recording of the Internal Affairs interview with Rebecca Schwartz is included with this investigation.
Jennifer Lunsford
On May 18,2016, Major David England and I met with Communications Officer Jennifer Lunsford at the Palm Beach Gardens Police Department regarding this incident. In summary, on April 17, 2016, Mrs. Lunsford first made contact with Sergeant Walling at Lunsford's residence when she came to pick up a jacket from Officer Elizabeth Raleigh. Sergeant Walling was going to U-Tiki and wanted to wear the jacket that she obtained from Officer Raleigh. Mrs. Lunsford stated that Sergeant Walling appeared upset as she was crying. Due to Sergeant Walling being upset and not wanting her to be alone, Mrs. Lunsford and Officer Raleigh went to U-Tiki. Officer Raleigh and Mrs. Lunsford joined Sergeant Walling at a table on the beach area of U-Tiki. When they arrived Sergeant Walling was consuming an alcoholic beverage. Officer Raleigh left Mrs. Lunsford and Sergeant Walling at U-Tiki as she had a prior engagement. Mrs. Lunsford remained with Sergeant Walling for approximately 20-30 minutes after Officer Raleigh left. Mrs. Lunsford was aware that Sergeant Walling wanted to return a jacket to Sergeant Vansteenburgh who was working the extra duty detail at U-Tiki.
Mrs. Lunsford advised that Sergeant Walling apologized to her as she went to Sergeant Vansteenburgh 's residence earlier in the day to drop off his jacket and obtain a stereo speaker that Sergeant Vansteenburgh was planning on giving to Mrs. Lunsford. Sergeant Walling was unable to return the jacket earlier in the day or obtain the speaker for Mrs. Lunsford as Sergeant Vansteenburgh was not home. Mrs. Lunsford further stated that Sergeant Walling ran into Sergeant Vansteenburgh and his fiancee at the Jupiter Police Department gym. Mrs. Lunsford further stated that Sergeant Walling went over to Sergeant Vansteenburgh's house twice, and believed that he had a fight with his fiancee as he drove his personal vehicle to the U-Tiki detail.
Mrs. Lunsford stated that Sergeant Walling told her that she wanted to go to the bar area and watch the hockey game and return the jacket to Sergeant Vansteenburgh. At this time, Mrs. Lunsford left U-Tiki and was not present when Sergeant Walling returned the jacket or was escorted out of the establishment. Sergeant Walling advised Mrs. Lunsford that she was kicked out of U-Tiki. Mrs. Lunsford and Officer Raleigh had a text message conversation, which was listed under Officer Raleigh's interview section. The text message conversation obtained from Officer Raleigh is attached to this investigation.
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Since Sergeant Walling returned to U-Tiki, Officer Raleigh and Mrs, Lunsford went back to U-Tiki. Mrs. Lunsford arrived after Officer Raleigh and was not present when Sergeant Walling bit Officer Raleigh and Mr. Ready or struck Sergeant Vansteenburgh.
Upon Mrs. Lunsford arriving at U-Tiki, Sergeant Walling, Officer Raleigh, Mr. Ready, and Sergeant Drown were present in the parking lot. Sergeant Walling made contact with Mrs. Lunsford and was crying. Sergeant Walling told Mrs. Lunsford that she "couldn't breathe", and that they "pulled her dress down." Mrs. Lunsford was unable to elaborate about Sergeant Walling's dress being pulled down; however she did state that the dress was "tubeless", and it easily slides down which is why she wanted to wear a jacket. Sergeant Walling told Mrs. Lunsford that she just wants to go home. Mrs. Lunsford began making arrangements to take Sergeant Walling home. Mrs. Lunsford advised that Sergeant Walling appeared to be coming down from an .. anxiety attack", and she did not want her to drive herself. A decision was made for Mrs. Lunsford to drive Sergeant Walling's vehicle and take her home. Mrs. Lunsford told me that she did not know what had occurred, although Sergeant Walling was upset and wanted to go home.
As they began to leave in Sergeant Walling's vehicle, Sergeant Walling told Mrs. Lunsford that she might as well take her to the emergency room. Mrs. Lunsford asked Sergeant Walling the reason for going to the hospital, and she stated .. I just took some stuff." Mrs. Lunsford asked Sergeant Walling what she took, and she replied by saying "oh it was nothing." Mrs. Lunsford told Officer Raleigh and Mr. Ready that they needed to go to the emergency room, and they proceeded to the Jupiter Medical Center. Officer Raleigh followed behind Mrs. Lunsford, and Sergeant Drown followed behind Officer Raleigh. After leaving the parking lot of U-Tiki Sergeant Walling told Mrs. Lunsford that she did not take anything, and just wanted to leave. Mrs. Lunsford decided to take Sergeant Walling to the Jupiter Medical Center for precautionary reasons. Upon arriving at the Jupiter Medical Center Sergeant Walling exited the vehicle and began to walk away from the hospital. Mrs. Lunsford did show Sergeant Drown a pill bottle that contained an unknown amount of pills that was left in the vehicle.
Sergeant Drown left and made contact with Sergeant Walling, while Mrs. Lunsford parked Sergeant Walling's vehicle in the Jupiter Medical Center parking lot. Sergeant Drown returned with Sergeant Walling, and picked up Sergeant Walling's dog that was in her vehicle. Sergeant Drown transported Sergeant Walling and her dog back to her residence. When I asked Mrs. Lunsford if Sergeant Walling told her what occurred at the U-Tiki Restaurant, she stated that when she arrived Sergeant Walling told he that she couldn't breathe. Mrs. Lunsford advised that "Liz had her in the hold." Mrs. Lunsford further stated that "Liz did not have her that tight, but I think the panic attack added to that." I asked Mrs. Lunsford if she knew why Officer Raleigh had her in a hold, and she advised that .. honestly the way that Officer Raleigh explained it to me was that she knew that Amy was upset and she just wanted to calm her down." I further asked if Officer Raleigh told her about any injuries that she sustained, and Mrs. Lunsford stated .. yes." Mrs. Lunsford described as Sergeant Walling was trying to get away from Officer Raleigh holding onto her, she hit Officer Raleigh in the eye, and bit her in the face. Mrs. Lunsford did see that bite wound that Officer Raleigh sustained to her face. Mrs. Lunsford was unaware of anyone else being injured by Sergeant Walling. According to Mrs. Lunsford
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she believes that the police department would not be involved in this investigation if Sergeant Vansteenburgh was not trying to "cover-up" and "hide" his relationship with Sergeant Walling. The complete audio recording of the Internal Affairs interview with Jennifer Lunsford is included with this investigation.
Sergeant Sandra Drown
On May 10, 2016, Major David England and I met with Sergeant Sandra Drown at the Jupiter Police Department regarding this incident. In summary, on April17, 2016, Sergeant Drown was on-duty in the capacity as a road patrol supervisory for the Jupiter Police Department. At approximately 8:00PM, Sergeant Drown first made contact with Sergeant Vansteenburgh at U-Tiki regarding a suspicious person I unwanted guest incident at U-Tiki. Sergeant Drown later had a conversation with Sergeant Vansteenburgh regarding the day's events involving Sergeant Walling prior to coming to the extra duty detail. At approximately 8:50PM, Sgt. Vansteenburgh's fiancee Ms. Harwood arrived at U-Tiki, and she had a brief conversation with her. Sergeant Drown received the following text messages from Sergeant Vansteenburg: -9:40PM, he advised that Sergeant Walling was at U-Tiki -10:01 PM, Sergeant Vansteenburgh stated "get in here now."
At approximately 9:52PM, Sergeant Drown left the Jupiter Police Department and proceeded back to U-Tiki. Upon arriving she observed Sergeant Walling walking in the parking lot of U-Tiki and she left while Sergeant Drown was speaking with Sergeant Vansteenburgh inside of U-Tiki. Sergeant Vansteenburgh advised Sergeant Drown that a confront9tion occurred inside of U-Tiki involving Sergeant Walling and Ms. Harwood. Sergeant Walling was asked to leave U-Tiki by management. Sergeant Drown made contact with U-Tiki management about reviewing the surveillance video from U-Tiki. The staff was unable to download a copy of the video surveillance footage that evening. At approximately 10:49 PM, Sergeant Drown received a telephone call from Sergeant Vansteenburgh advising that Sergeant Walling had returned to U-Tiki. Due to Sergeant Drown being on a call for service she referred him to Sergeant Given. At approximately 1 0:54 PM, Sergeant Drown spoke with Sergeant Given and briefed him about the previous incidents involving Sergeant Walling. At approximately 1 0:56 PM, there was an armed carjacking call for service which prevented Sergeant Given from responding to UTiki. Sergeants Drown and Given spoke and it was determined that Sergeant Given would supervise the carjacking incident, while Sergeant Drown responded to U-Tiki.
At approximately 11:07 PM, Sergeant Drown arrived in the U-Tiki parking lot. Sergeant Drown observed two individuals who appeared to be wrestling on the ground. Sergeant Drown identified those individuals as Sergeant Walling and Officer Raleigh. Sergeant Drown observed that both of them were sitting on the ground and Officer Raleigh was holding Sergeant Walling around the midsection of her body in a "bear hug" position. It must be noted that Sergeant Drown captured this incident on her video camera system in her vehicle although no audio was taken. The in-car video is attached to this investigation. Officer Raleigh released control of Sergeant Walling, and Officer Raleigh made contact with Sergeant Drown. Officer Raleigh pointed to an injury on her face that she sustained, and she said "this is what you get when you try to help a friend."
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Sergeant Drown stated that Officer Raleigh was trying to prevent Sergeant Walling from doing something and was not aggressively fighting with her.
Sergeant Walling entered her vehicle and sat in the driver's seat. It is unknown if Sergeant Walling started the vehicle; however she did observe that the brake lights were activated. Sergeant Drown repositioned her vehicle and parked behind Sergeant Walling's vehicle in an effort to ensure that she did not drive away. Sergeant Drown stated that in the short time she was on scene, she could tell that Sergeant Walling was "impaired", and did not want her to drive the vehicle. Sergeant Drown felt as though Sergeant Walling was impaired for the following reasons: she was crying, became verbally aggressive, had mood swings, and did not listen when told not to do something. Sergeant Drown advised that Officer Raleigh, Mr. Ready, and Mrs. Lunsford were trying to keep her contained and prevent her from wandering away. Sergeant Walling was not cooperating and Mrs. Lunsford was trying to get her home ·either in Officer Raleigh or someone else's vehicle.
Sergeant Drown called Deputy Chief Daniel Kerr as he was on the on-call Administrator. Sergeant Drown briefed Deputy Chief Kerr about the current situation. Sergeant Walling approached Sergeant Drown and asked her if Sergeant Vansteenburgh called the OnCall Administrator? Sergeant Drown advised her that she made the notification. Sergeant Walling then walked away from her back towards her vehicle. Sergeant Drown then spoke to Deputy Chief Kerr again and supplied him with additional information.
Mrs. Lunsford decided to drive Sergeant Walling home in Sergeant Walling's vehicle and Officer Raleigh followed behind her. Sergeant Drown followed behind Officer Raleigh. At the intersection of Alternate A 1 A and Indiantown Road, Mrs. Lunsford and Officer Raleigh proceeded south on Alternate A 1 A going through a red traffic light. All of the vehicles went to the Jupiter Medical Center. Mrs. Lunsford pulled under the overhang in front of the Emergency Room and Sergeant Drown approached the vehicle in an effort to find out why they were at the hospital. Sergeant Walling then exited the vehicle and walked away. Sergeant Drown advised that Mrs. Lunsford took her to the hospital as she in fear that Sergeant Walling took as they were driving. Mrs. Lunsford handed Sergeant Drown an empty bottle and said "this is what she was taking while I was in there." Sergeant Drown looked at the empty pill bottle and kept it in her possession. Officer Raleigh told Sergeant Drown that she had an injured ankle and requested that she locate Sergeant Walling. Sergeant Drown then proceeded through the Jupiter Medical Center parking lot and located Sergeant Walling walking westbound on Jupiter Lakes Boulevard. Upon making contact with Sergeant Walling she stated that she did not want to go the hospital, did not need to go to the hospital, and wanted to go home. Sergeant Drown advised Sergeant Walling to get into her vehicle and she would take her home. Sergeant Drown asked Sergeant Walling how many pills she took, and she replied by saying "only one and it is for pain." Sergeant Walling further stated she had a prescription for the pills and that she was fine.
When Sergeant Walling got into the truck, she stated that "he fucked me again" which refers to Sergeant Vansteenburgh. Sergeant Drown drove back to the Jupiter Medical Center so Sergeant Walling could obtain her keys and dog from Mrs. Lunsford. While
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driving to Sergeant Walling's residence they had a conversation, and Sergeant Walling stated "Jason fucked me again." According to Sergeant Drown, Sergeant Walling also advised her that this was the week , she was an emotional wreck, and he told her that he was moving in with his fiancee and getting married. Sergeant Walling further told Sergeant Drown that the incident was her fault and that "she knew she was making a mistake but she could not stop herself." Sergeant Walling further.told Sergeant Drown that the whole night was a mistake but she could not stop herself. Sergeant Drown stated that Sergeant Walling was suffering from " , and that she couldn't afford the cost of the therapy sessions."
Sergeant Drown told me that Sergeant Walling did appear intoxicated while she was driving her home. Based upon Sergeant Drown's training and experience Sergeant Walling had a distinct odor of someone who had been consuming alcoholic beverages. Sergeant Walling called Deputy Chief Kerr on the telephone while Sergeant Drown was driving her home. Sergeant Drown dropped Sergeant Walling and her dog off at her residence and left. On April18, 2016, at approximately 3:05AM, Officer Raleigh called Sergeant Drown at the police department and began to speak with her about the incident that occurred with Sergeant Walling. Officer Raleigh told Sergeant Drown that the injury that she sustained to her face occurred when Sergeant Walling bit her. Officer Raleigh also told Sergeant Drown that Sergeant Walling bit at Mr. Ready, but there was no contact. Sergeant Drown stated that she was "stunned" that Officer Raleigh was bit. The complete audio recording of the Internal Affairs interview with Sergeant Drown is included with this investigation.
Sergeant Robert Given
On May 1 0, 2016, I met with Sergeant Robert Given at the Jupiter Police Department regarding this incident. In summary, On April17, 2016, Sergeant Given was on-duty in the capacity as a road patrol supervisory for the Jupiter Police Department. Sergeant Given stated that on April 17, 2016, he did not have any visual contact with Sergeants Vansteenburgh, Walling, or Officer Raleigh. On April17, 2016, Sergeant Given advised me that he received a text message from Sergeant Vansteenburgh who was working the extra duty detail at the U-Tiki Restaurant. Sergeant Vansteenburgh requested that Sergeant Given respond to U-Tiki regarding an incident with Sergeant Walling. While Sergeant Given was responding to U-Tiki, an Armed Carjacking call for service came out over the radio. A decision was made to have Sergeant Drown respond to U-Tiki, while Sergeant Given supervised the carjacking incident. Sergeant Given assisted Sergeant Drown with obtaining the dash camera footage from her police vehicle. The complete audio recording of the Internal Affairs interview with Sergeant Given is included with this investigation.
Sergeant Amy Walling
On June 15, 2016, Major David England and I met with Sergeant Amy Walling at the Jupiter Police Department regarding this incident. Sergeant Walling was provided with and signed a Garrity Rights Form, and provided with a copy of the Law Enforcement
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Officers' Bill of Rights. Mrs. Elizabeth Parker and Mr. Stuart Kaplan (attorneys from Kaplan, Sconzo, and Parker) accompanied Sergeant Walling during this interview. Prior to beginning the interview Mrs. Parker and Mr. Kaplan were provided copies of the text messages that Sergeant Vansteenburgh provided Major England on June 14, 2016. Major England and I stepped out of the office for Sergeant Walling and her attorneys to review the documents. After reviewing the documents we were advised that Sergeant Walling also had evidence to provide regarding this investigation. Sergeant Walling wanted to complete her interview with Major England and I; however, we advised them that the interview would be postponed so Sergeant Walling could produce the evidence that she wanted to present in this investigation. The interview was rescheduled to June 23, 2016. On June 22, 2016, Mrs. Parker supplied me with a quantity of text message conversations between Sergeants Walling and Vansteenbrugh dating back from October 2015 through April2016. The text message conversations show an ongoing personal relationship involving sexual activity. Sergeant Walling also provided a copy of a greeting card given to her by Sergeant Vansteenburgh from an unknown date, photographs of her arms containing bruising caused by Officer Raleigh from the incident date of April17, 2016, and a single photograph taken in September of 2015, of Sergeant Walling's stomach area over clothing. It m.ust be noted that Sergeant Walling's face is not in the photograph and it was supplied to show her stomach area when
An additional item supplied was a compact disc which had three voicemails from September 10, 2015, and September 15, 2015, allegedly left by Sergeant Vansteenburgh crying for Sergeant Walling to call him back. All of the evidence supplied by Sergeant Walling is attached to this investigation.
On June 23, 2016, Major David England and I met with Sergeant Amy Walling at the Jupiter Police Department regarding this incident. Sergeant Walling again was provided with and signed a Garrity Rights Form, and was provided with a copy of the Law Enforcement Officers' Bill of Rights. Mrs. Elizabeth Parker and Mr. Stuart Kaplan (attorneys from Kaplan, Sconzo, and Parker) accompanied Sergeant Walling during this interview. In summary, Sergeant Walling has been employed with the Jupiter Police for 20 years, and is currently assigned as a road patrol sergeant. Sergeant Walling has previously worked in the following assignments while being employed at the Jupiter Police Department: Road Patrol Officer, Field Training Officer, and Traffic Officer. Sergeant Walling was promoted to the rank of Police Captain where she was the Division Commander of the following sections: Administrative Services and Road Patrol Bureau. Sergeant Walling was again promoted to the rank of Police Major, where she was the Division Commander of the following sections: Patrol Bureau and Criminal Investigations. In 2015, Major Walling voluntarily requested a demotion back to the rank of police sergeant. Sergeant Walling holds a Master's Degree in Public Administration and has attended numerous advanced training law enforcement courses throughout her career. Sergeant Walling holds law enforcement instructor certifications, and is currently an adjunct instructor for the Institute of Police Technology and Management (IPTM) at the University of North Florida. Sergeant Walling teaches DUI courses, Drug Recognition Expert courses, Line Supervision, and Developing Law Enforcement Managers.
Sergeant Walling first became acquainted with Sergeant Vansteeenburgh in 1999, when he became a police officer with the Jupiter Police Department. Sergeant Walling
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previously supervised Sergeant Vansteenburgh when she was a Police Major over the Criminal Investigations Section and he was a detective assigned to her division. Sergeants Walling and Vansteenburgh had a friendship outside of the work environment, which in approximately 2012, became sexual after she acquired the collateral assignment as SWAT Team Commander. Sergeant Walling advised that in August of 2015, she and Sergeant Vansteeenburg was
Problems did carry over into the work environment and police administration did separate them from working on the same shift rotation. Prior to the incident date Sergeant Walling last saw Sergeant Vansteenburgh on Tuesday, April 12, 2016.
On April17, 2016, Sergeant Walling was off-duty and on FMLA work status. On April17, 2016, Sergeant Walling sent a text message to Sergeant Vansteenburgh, however he did not reply to her. Sergeant Walling admitted to going to Sergeant VanSteenburgh's house twice on April 17, 2016, at approximately 1 :30 PM, and 4:30 or 4:40 PM, although he did not answer the door. Sergeant Walling stated that she felt as though she was invited to come to the residence. I asked Sergeant Walling if she had an opportunity to view the text message conversation that I supplied to her from Sergeant Vansteenburgh from April 16, 2016, and she stated that she did. Sergeant Walling agreed that Sergeant Vansteenburgh did tell her not to come to his residence in the text messages; however, she stated that she received a text message on April 1 6, 201 6, saying that she could come over prior to him going to his extra duty detail. Sergeant Vansteenburgh's text message conversation that he supplied explicitly states that he did not want Sergeant Walling to come to his residence and did not want any of his personal property back. The text message conversation that Sergeant Vansteenuburgh provided is attached to this investigation.
Sergeant Walling also provided a text message conversation with Sergeant Vansteenburgh from April 16, 2016. The conversation is as follows:
April16. 2016
Sergeant Walling (12:01 AM) - Well I'll stop by tomorrow afternoon and drop off beer for you. That'll be my contribution to helping you pack. LOL Sergeant Vansteenburgh (12:02 AM)- Kaye will be here. Sergeant Walling (1 :01 PM) - Are you gonna be home tomorrow? I'm going to meet Jenn now and remember that speaker. I need to get a bottle of lito's for you before I pick it up so maybe tomorrow will be a better day to stop by and I can drop off everything at once. Sergeant Vansteenburgh (1:13PM)- First of alii don't want a bottle of anything. She can have it. Tomorrow will be no different during the day until before I go to U-Tiki at 5, maybe then. I have no idea what your problem was last night but that shit has to stop. Gotto get back to packing. Later. Sergeant Walling (1:20PM) -I want you to have your shit back before you leave. I'll drop it off at some point this weekend. I'll give you a heads up first. Sergeant Walling (1:42PM)- Yeah. I'm getting your shit together so I can drop it off. I'm almost done though and I'm gonna go have a beer. Let me know when you have that speaker ready to go. I can stop by after the bar or tomorrow.
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Sergeant Vansteenburgh (1:45PM)- Why don't you do this tomorrow? Sergeant Vansteenburgh {1 :46 PM)- I am working tomorrow. So I'm going to have more free time. That speaker needs to be removed from the box so I need my drill gun and shit. It's not ready. Sergeant Walling {1:50PM)- Ok. That's why I asked to let me know when it was ready.
The text message conversation that Sergeant Walling provided is attached to this investigation. According to Sergeant Walling the purpose of going to Sergeant Vansteenburgh's house was to drop off some of his personal property prior to him moving in with Ms. Harwood. The personal property consisted of: pressure washer, jacket, four or five shirts, and beer. Sergeant Walling admitted to coming to the Jupiter Police Department to utilize the gym and told me that she did not follow Sergeant Vansteenburgh to the police department. Sergeant Walling did see that Sergeant Vansteenburgh and Ms. Harwood were entering the police department and stated that it was "bad timing." Sergeant Walling went to the locker room, removed something from her locker, and did not go into the gym. According to the Kantec Door Access Report Sergeant Vansteenburgh entered the north police department door at 2:58:56 PM, and Sergeant Walling entered the sar}le door at 3:01 :48 PM. The Kantex report is attached to this investigation. I asked Sergeant Walling why she did not leave his personal property at the police department while she was there, and she stated that she could not leave beer at the police department and needed to get a speaker for Mrs. Lunsford. Sergeant Walling wanted to do everything at once to include dropping off all the personal property and picking up the speaker.
Sergeant Walling stated that she returned to Sergeant Vansteenburgh's house at 4:30 or 4:40 PM, and knocked on the door; however, Sergeant Vansteenburgh did not answer. Sergeant Walling denied blocking in Sergeant Vansteenburgh's police vehicle intentionally, and prior to leaving she backed up her vehicle and sent a text message. Sergeant Walling also advised that there was a vehicle originally parked in front of her vehicle and in order to leave her parking spot she had to back up towards the police vehicle. When she originally arrived at Sergeant Vansteenburgh's house her vehicle was not parked close to the police vehicle.
On April 17, 2016, Sergeant Walling admittedly used her department issued MDT to log into CAD. Sergeant Walling went on CAD in an effort to see if Sergeant Vansteenburgh was logged in to work his extra duty detail at U-Tiki. According to the MDT login report Sergeant Walling logged into CAD at 4:53:09 PM and logged off 5:12:41 PM. The MDT report is attached to this investigation.
I asked Sergeant Walling if she logged into the Power Details Extra Duty Software system on April 16, 2016, and April 17, 2016, and she told me that she did. Sergeant Walling logged into the U-Tiki detail and Castway's detail and she told me that she wanted to see if Sergeant Vansteenburgh was still scheduled to work at U-Tiki and which officer was scheduled to work at Castaway's. Sergeant Walling likes to check to see who is working details prior to going out to those establishments. The Power Details login report showed that on April 16, 2016, Sergeant Walling logged into Job #97 63 (U-Tiki) at 1:14:18 PM, and 4:19:54 PM, and Job #9739 (Castaways) at 1:14:25 PM. The Power Details login report
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also showed that on April 17, 2016, Sergeant Walling logged into Job #9763 (U-Tiki) at 3:43:19 PM, 4:47:08 PM, and 4:54:56 PM, Job #9739 (Castaways) at 4:54:49 PM. The Power Details report is attached to this investigation. According to Sergeant Walling she did not want to go where Sergeant Vansteenburgh was working. Sergeant Walling told me that even though she knew that Sergeant Vansteenburgh was working at U-Tiki, she still wanted to go there because it is her favorite place and wanted to enjoy the U-Tiki atmosphere. Sergeant Walling stated that she was unaware that Ms. Harwood would be at U-Tiki.
Per Sergeant Walling she believed that their relationship was fine and were not having any issues prior to April 17, 2016. I read a portion of the text messages that Sergeant Vansteenburgh supplied to Major England on June 14, 2016, which is as follows:
Walling- I am actually running a little late so it'll either be tomorrow or later today. I'll text before I'm 51. Walling- And if you want "shit" to stop then maybe you should stop with your antics. I'm just over being fucked with. I really am. Just tired of it. Vansteenburgh- Don't come here over here Amy. I'm telling you. I don't fuck with anyone. I'm leaving in 6 days, 6 fucking days. Got it? Later Walling- And I want you to have your shit back before you leave. I'll drop it off at some point this weekend. I'll give you a heads up first. Vansteenburgh- I don't want anything back. Throw it all away. Thanks
Sergeant Walling told me that the above text message conversation actually occurred on Friday, April 15, 2016. I explained to Sergeant Walling that she previously told me that she believed everything was fine between Sergeant Vansteenburgh and herself. I told Sergeant Walling that if this conversation occurred Qn Friday like she said it appears as though she knew there was an issue between the two of you, and requested her to explain it. Sergeant Walling stated "honestly it's just, it is what it is. I am trying to give him his stuff back. He told me not to come over. Then the next I said can I come over today, and he said how about we do this tomorrow, and that would be Sunday." Sergeant Walling further went on to explain that their relationship has been on again and off again since Sergeant Vansteenburgh , and this is the type of relationship they had. They were communicating throughout the prior week and didn't believe that they were having problems.
Sergeant Walling arrived at U-Tiki at approximately 7:30PM, and sat at a table on the beach area closest to Jetty's Restaurant. Sergeant Walling entered U-Tiki from the back south area intentionally not to make contact with Sergeant Vansteenburgh as she was "having a rough day with everything going on." I questioned Sergeant Walling about the text message conversation she had with Officer Raleigh and she stated that her responses to Officer Raleigh were intentionally sarcastic as she was frustrated with her due to the previous contact at Mrs. Lunsford's residence. Even though Officer Raleigh told Sergeant Walling that it was not a good idea to go to U-Tiki, she did not care as she likes the location. Sergeant Walling wanted to eat, have a drink, and watch the hockey game, and did not believe that any issues would occur.
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Officer Raleigh and Mrs. Lunsford arrived at U-Tiki and joined Sergeant Walling at her table. After approximately one hour, Officer Raleigh left the establishment and Sergeant Walling and Mrs. Lunsford remained. After approximately 45 minutes Mrs. Lunsford left and returned to her residence and Sergeant Walling remained at U-Tiki. Sergeant Walling left the beach area table and went to the main bar inside of the restaurant. Sergeant Walling sat at the bar, ordered a glass of wine, and watched the hockey game. While sitting at the bar Sergeant Walling observed Sergeant Vansteenburgh and Ms. Harwood. Even though Sergeant Walling stated that she was trying to avoid Sergeant Vansteenburgh and Ms. Harwood the entire time she was at U-Tiki, Sergeant Walling still went over and made contact with Sergeant Vansteenburgh and Ms. Harwood. Prior to making contact with Sergeant Vansteenburgh and Ms. Harwood, Sergeant Walling thought that Ms. Harwood had left the establishment and at that time, she was going to return Sergeant Vansteenburgh's jacket to him which she was wearing. Sergeant Walling advised me that she went to hand the jacket to Sergeant Vansteenburgh, Ms. Harwood confronted her, and Ms. Harwood took the jacket from her. Sergeant Walling asked Sergeant Vansteenburgh 11 how was your workout Jay? Did you get to work out?" Sergeant Vansteenburgh replied by saying 11We didn't get too." Ms. Harwood told Sergeant Walling that she needed to leave them alone. Sergeant Walling and Ms. Harwood had the following conversation: how Sergeant Walling got the jacket, personal relationship between Sergeants Walling and Vansteenburgh, about Sergeant Walling stalking them all day, and about Sergeant Walling wearing Ms. Harwood's engagement ring. Ms. Harwood told Sergeant Walling that she was 11 pathetic" several times. Sergeant Walling told Ms. Harwood t.hat she was not stalking them throughout the day, and that Sergeant Vansteenburgh told her to come to the residence on that day.
Sergeant Walling then went to show Ms. Harwood the text message showing that Sergeant Vansteenburgh told her to come over on Sunday. At this time, Sergeant Vansteenburgh stepped in between both of them as he did not want Sergeant Walling showing Ms. Harwood that text message conversation or any other text messages between the two of them. I advised Sergeant Walling that sometime during the contact with Sergeant Vansteenburgh and Ms. Harwood a disturbance occurred, and Sergeant Vansteenburgh requested management ask you to leave and she replied uyes." I asked Sergeant Walling if she was escorted out of the establishment and she stated that Ms. Harwood was causing the disturbance and Sergeant Vansteenburgh called 11Matt" over to escort her out because he did not want Ms. Harwood to see the text message conversations on her phone. Sergeant Walling stated that since Sergeant Vansteenbl:Jrgh told management she needed to get out of here, she was told that she needed to leave by management. Sergeant Walling further stated that she remained professional and that Ms. Harwood was causing the disturbance. After being escorted out of the establishment by management Sergeant Walling left and went back to her residence. Sergeant Walling told me that she complied with managements request and did not give them any issues.
I began to speak with Sergeant Walling about the text message conversation that she had with Officer Raleigh on April 17, 2016, starting at 10:08 PM. The text message conversation was previously documented in Officer Raleigh's portion of the interview. Sergeant Walling explained that she was very upset when she was texting Officer Raleigh
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as Sergeant Vansteenburgh did not stop Ms. Harwood from berating her at U-Tiki, and also having her removed from the establishment. Sergeant Walling stated that she packed a bag and planned on going to Jacksonville, Florida to get away.
1 asked Sergeant Walling why she went back to U-Tiki after being asked to leave by management. Sergeant Walling told me that she was not going to go inside of U-Tiki, and that even though Sgt. Vansteenburgh had her removed from the bar their relationship was not contentious at that point. Sergeant Walling wanted to talk to Sergeant Vansteenburgh by herself without anyone else around to work things out. Sergeant Walling stated that when she arrived at U-Tiki and parked her vehicle a truck was parked on her driver's side. She stated that she parked her vehicle in the parking lot close to A 1 A; however, there were other spots available to park in. In an effort to remove her crutches from the backseat of her vehicle, she was forced to park close to Sergeant Vansteenburgh's vehicle. It must be noted that throughout the night Sergeant Walling had not used her crutches to assist with walking. Sergeant Walling parked directly next to Sergeant Vansteenburgh's vehicle because she wanted to talk with him. Sergeant Walling was sitting in her vehicle at which time Officer Raleigh arrived at U-Tiki. Officer Raleigh showed up on her own accord and was not asked to be there. Sergeant Walling requested Officer Raleigh to text Sergeant Vansteenburgh for her as he blocked Sergeant Walling from calling or texting his cellular telephone. Sergeant Walling further advised me that she has been blocked from calling him before and it occurred when he is with his fiancee Ms. Harwood. I asked Sergeant Walling if somebody blocks your number does it appear that they do not want to talk to you. She told me that she believed that he was with Ms. Harwood and had not unblocked her yet.
I asked Sergeant Walling if returning to the property after being requested to leave by management constituted trespassing. Sergeant Walling told me that it is only considered trespassing if you go back inside of the establishment and the full property did not count. I reviewed the cellular telephone video footage supplied by Sergeant Vansteeburgh with Sergeant Walling in the parking lot of U-Tiki. Sergeant Walling exited her personal vehicle and did not remove or utilize her crutches that she previously stated that she was going to use and was the purpose of parking so close to Sergeant Vansteenburgh's driver's side of his vehicle.
Sergeant Walling told me that she opened Sergeant Vansteenburgh's rear driver's side door to speak with him even though he did not give her permission to open or enter the vehicle. Sergeant Walling did not see anything wrong with opening the car door without permission. I asked Sergeant Walling from viewing the video if Sergeant Vansteenburgh wanted to have a conversation with her, and she stated "this is a situation of me needing to have a conversation with him." Sergeant Walling told me that she wanted to "clear the air", with Sergeant Vansteenburgh, and that is not uncommon for Sergeant Vansteenburgh to not speak with her in front of other people. Sergeant Vansteenburgh was telling Sergeant Walling to get away from him. I advised Sergeant Walling that a subordinate officer (Officer Raleigh} was basically telling her to stop what she was doing. Sergeant Walling replied by saying "but I can't tell you why she is doing it. Alii am trying to do is talk to him. I did not hit him or attack him. Alii am trying to do is talk to him." Sergeant Walling told me that she did not know what Officer Raleigh's mindset was, and
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did not know why she was trying to keep her away from Sergeant Vansteenburgh. I asked Sergeant Walling as a law enforcement officer and police sergeant if a subordinate officer was standing next to the both of you overhearing the conversation wouldn't she infer that a disturbance was occurring? Sergeant Walling stated that "this is a girl trying to talk to a guy that she is sleeping with, who threw her under the bus at U-Tiki in front of management and his fiancee."
Sergeant Walling further stated that she did not do anything wrong throughout the day and only wanted to talk to Sergeant Vansteenburgh. Sergeant Walling got upset when Officer Raleigh approached her and put her hands on her. Sergeant Walling told me that she kept asking who the girl was assisting Sergeant Vansteenburgh because she thought she knew her. Sergeant Walling asked Ms. Schwartz who she was, and she told her that she was an off-duty officer, but would not tell her which agency she worked for.
When I asked what Sergeant Vansteenburgh was wearing, she told me that he was wearing a uniform as he was working a detail. Sergeant Walling denied trying to strike Sergeant Vansteenburgh while he was in his vehicle. Sergeant Walling denied flailing her arms and wave them at Sergeant Vansteenburgh in an attempt to hit him. Sergeant Walling stated that she was trying to get away from Officer Raleigh as she put her hands on her and was holding her so tight. Sergeant Walling stated that at some point she reached out to Sergeant Vansteenburgh in an effort to get help and get away from Officer Raleigh. Sergeant Walling stated that she did touch his outer vest. Sergeant Walling denied trying to strike or commit a battery against Sergeant Vansteenburgh.
I advised Sergeant Walling that it appears as though Officer Raleigh and Mr. Ready were attempting to hold her back from going after Sergeant Vansteenburgh while he was at his vehicle. Sergeant Walling stated she was not attacking Sergeant Vansteenburgh, and that Officer Raleigh and Mr. Ready attacked her, battered her, and hurt her. According to Sergeant Walling Officer Raleigh had her arms wrapped around her body locked and Mr. Ready held onto Officer Raleigh's arms and she could not breathe. Sergeant Walling further stated that at one point her dress top came down. Sergeant Walling stated that Officer Raleigh and Mr. Ready moved her to the other side of Officer Raleigh's vehicle still holding onto her pushing down on her restricting her movement. Sergeant Walling stated that she was being hurt, being held around her ribcage, and she had trouble breathing. Sergeant Walling screamed for them to release her and she was calling out to Sergeant Vansteenburgh for help. Sergeant Walling stated "I don't know why I was being attacked. I haven't done anything to anybody and alii asked to do was speak to Jason." Sergeant Walling said that she was "going into full blown anxiety attack. I'm panicking because I feel that I can't breathe." Sergeant Walling stated that her only defense to get away from Officer Raleigh and Mr. Ready was to bite them as she did not have control of her arms. Sergeant Walling lightly bit Mr. Ready's face first (cheek area) and he released control of her. Sergeant Walling then decided to do the same to Officer Raleigh and bit her face.
Sergeant Walling was released by Officer Raleigh and she then went over to Sergeant Vansteenburgh who was in his vehicle. Sergeant Walling told me that she kept asking Sergeant Vansteenburgh who Ms. Schwartz was because she thought she knew her.
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Sergeant Walling was asked if Sergeant Vansteenburgh was asking her to leave him alone and get away from him, and she replied by saying "yes." Sergeant Walling further stated that she just got done being attacked by Officer Raleigh and needed someone on her side to help her get away from Officer Raleigh. I asked if it appeared as though Sergeant Vansteenburgh was on her side, and she stated "at t~is point me and Jason have an intimate relationship, and we have a relationship where I can usually rely on him to do things for me." Sergeant Walling denied striking Sergeant Vansteenburgh while he was sitting in his vehicle. Sergeant Walling advised that Officer Raleigh went after her again and pulled her jacket off, at which time, she was pulling away from Officer Raleigh. Sergeant Walling stated that she was scared of Officer Raleigh and she was trying desperately to get away from her.
Officer Raleigh continued to hold Sergeant Walling down on the ground even after Sergeant Vansteenburgh left. Upon Sergeant Drown arriving on the scene Officer Raleigh stopped retraining Sergeant Walling. After some time, Sergeant Walling asked Sergeant Drown if Sergeant Vansteeburgh called on the On Call Administration, and Sergeant Drown told her that she called. The injury occurred to Officer Raleigh's eye when she pulled Sergeant Walling down to the ground after Sergeant Vansteenburgh left and her head hit Officer Raleigh's eye. Sergeant Walling told me that she sustained a bruise to the back of her head. Sergeant Walling thought that Sergeant Drown advised Mrs. Lunsford to take her to the hospital, and Mrs. Lunsford drove Sergeant Walling's vehicle to the Jupiter Medical Center. Upon arriving at the hospital Sergeant Wa!li· g exit~d her vehicle and walked away as she did not need to be there.
Sergeant Walling denied taking any prescription medication in the car while ~· ,rs. Lunsford was driving her to the Jupiter Medical Center. Sergeant Walling was driven back home to her residence by Sergeant Drown. Sergeant Walling denied that she told Sergeant Drown that "she knew that she was making a mistake during the entire night but could not help herself." Sergeant Walling stated that she had a conversation with Sergeant Drown about the and the events that transpired at U-Tiki.
I asked Sergeant Walling if she found her conduct at U-Tiki appropriate for a law enforcement officer or even more a sergeant with the Jupiter Police Department. Sergeant Walling replied by saying that she did not do anything wrong inside of U-Tiki. Sergeant Walling further denied doing anything wrong in the parking lot of U-Tiki and stated that she was trying to defend herself from Officer Raleigh and Mr. Ready. Sergeant Walling found that her conduct in the parking lot was appropriate due to the situation and found nothing wrong with what she did. Sergeant Walling advised.me that biting Officer Raleigh and Mr. Ready was appropriate in that situation as she was being held down and could not breathe. Even though Sergeant Vansteenburgh did not want to speak with her she still wanted to talk to him. Sergeant Walling stated that on the date of the incident she believes that Sergeant Vansteenburgh was in fear that she would tell Ms. Harwood that they began to see each other again, and that was not what she was planning on doing. Her intent on going to Sergeant Vansteenburgh's house was to drop off his personal property and pick up a speaker for Mrs. Lunsford .
. j Sergeant Walling explained to me that the text message conversations provided to me 33
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on June 22, 2016, were to prove that she had a personal and sexual relationship with Sergeant Vansteenburgh. The complete audio recording of the Internal Affairs interview with Sergeant Walling is included with this investigation.
On June 23, 2016, while Major England and I were conducting the interview with Sergeant Walling, Mr. Kaplan (Sergeant Walling's attorney) requested that we conduct a follow-up regarding some of the information that Sergeant Vansteenburgh and Ms. Harwood said during their interviews.
Follow-up # 1 Mr. Kaplan stated that Sgt. Vansteenburgh said that he had no idea that Sergeant Walling was going to come over to his residence; however Ms. Harwood stated that she was aware as of Friday that Sergeant Walling may come over and they decided not to answer the door.
During Sergeant Vansteenburg's interview on May 9, 2016, he stated that Sergeant Walling communicated with him the previous day on Saturday, April16, 2016, that she was going to come over to his residence as she had something that she wanted to drop off to him and his fiancee Ms. Harwood. Sergeant Vansteenburgh had also previously planned on giving a stereo speaker to Sergeant Walling's friend Jennifer Lunsford; however he did not want her to come to the residence while his fiancee was there, and told her not to come to his residence. Sergeant Vansteeenburgh stated that he did not think that she would come over to the residence. Prior to Sergeant Walling coming over to his residence Sergeant Vansteenburgh spoke with Ms. Harwood and they had made a plan on not answering the door in the event Sergeant Walling should come to the house.
Follow-up #2 Mr. Kaplan stated that Major England asked a question about how Sergeant Walling obtained Sergeant Vansteenburgh 's jacket. Sergeant Vansteenburgh stated that during a training session he recalled leaving the jacket on the back of a chair and had no idea how Sergeant Walling would have obtained the jacket. During the inteNiew of Ms. Harwood she knew that Sergeant Vansteenburgh had a conversation with Sergeant Walling that weekend that it was her intention to come over and return the jacket and that Sergeant Vansteenburgh was being dishonest.
During Sergeant Vansteenburgh's interview on May 9, 2016, he stated that Sergeant Walling previously told him that she was going to return his jacket to him, although he did not know what she was talking about. Sergeant Vansteenburgh had previously told Ms. Harwood that Sergeant Walling wanted to return a jacket to him. Sergeant Vansteenburgh stated that the last time he remembered seeing that jacket is when he was at in-service training and put it on the back of his chair at the Jupiter Police Department. Major England asked Sergeant Vansteenburgh where Sergeant Walling II got the jacket", and he replied by saying: 11
1 never asked her. I don't remember ever giving it to her, it's May. It's the end of April. I haven't worn that jacket. The last cold spell we had was in December or January. I know I wore it to in-service training one
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morning because it was cold and I left it on the back of my chair at my desk." Sergeant Vansteenburgh stated that he had no memory of giving the jacket to Sergeant Walling when they went out.
Follow-up #3 Mr. Kaplan also requested a follow-up about Ms. Harwood not knowing about Sergeant Vansteenburgh and Sergeant Walling's personal relationship and how he blocks telephone calls on his cellular telephone.
The scope of this investigation does not involve speaking with Ms. Harwood about the personal relationship between Sergeant Vansteenburgh and Sergeant Walling.
Findings lA 201 6-002
On April17, 2016, at approximately 1:30PM, Sergeant Amy Walling went to Sergeant Vansteenburgh's house to return some of his personal property. Sergeant Vansteenburgh and his fiancee Ms. Harwood refused to answer the door in an effort to avoid contact with Sergeant Walling. Sergeant Vansteenburgh and Ms. Harwood decided to come to the Jupiter Police Department to utilize the gym. It appears as though Sergeant Walling followed Sergeant Vansteenburgh and Ms. Harwood to the Jupiter Police Department as Sergeant Vansteenburgh observed her vehicle traveling northbound on Military Trail a distance behind his vehicle. According to the Town of Jupiter Kantec Door Report, Sergeant Vansteenburgh entered the North employee entrance door at 2:58:56 PM, and Sergeant Walling entered the same door at 3:01:48 PM. Sergeant Vanasteenburgh and Ms. Harwood left the Jupiter Police Department to avoid contact with Sergeant Walling, and returned back to Sergeant Vansteenburgh's residence.
At approximately 3:50PM or 4:00PM, Sergeant Walling returned to Sergeant Vansteenburgh's residence again for the second time. Sergeant Vansteenburgh and Ms .. Harwood again did not answer the door, and Sergeant Walling left. At approximately 4:20 PM, Sergeant Walling came back to the residence for a third time. Again, they did not answer the door or have contact with Sergeant Walling. Sergeant Vansteenburgh drove Ms. Harwood home to her residence in his personal vehicle, and returned back to his residence to retrieve some police equipment and his marked police vehicle, which was parked in the front of his residence. Prior to Sergeant Vansteenburgh going to his police vehicle he observed Sergeant Walling's vehicle parked directly in front of his police vehicle. Sergeant Walling was sitting her vehicle and she parked the vehicle so close to Sergeant Vansteenburgh's police vehicle that it would make it extremely difficult to maneuver the vehicle out of the parking space. Sergeant Vansteenburgh provided a video that he took from his personal cellular telephone showing how Sergeant Walling's vehicle was parked in front of his police vehicle. I reviewed the video and the rear portion of Sergeant Walling's vehicle was parked approximately 1.5 feet from the front of Sergeant Vansteenburgh's vehicle. Sergeant Vansteenburgh drove his personal vehicle to the detail in an effort to avoid contact with Sergeant Walling.
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Sergeant Walling previously knew that Sergeant Vansteenburgh was working the detail at U-Tiki. The Power Details computer system showed that Sergeant Walling logged into the system and checked that specific detail on April 1 6, 2016, at 13:14: 18 hours and 16:19:54 hours, and on April17, 2016, at 15:43:19 hours, 16:47:08 hours, and 16:54:56 hours. Sergeant Walling also logged into her department issued computer on April 17, 2016, at 16:53:09 hours, and logged off at 17:12:41 hours, in an effort to see if Sergeant Vansteenburgh was on duty at U-Tiki. On April17, 2016, Sergeant Walling met with Mrs. Lunsford and Officer Raleigh at Mrs. Lunsford's house, and decided to go to U-Tiki alone even though she knew that Sergeant Vansteenburgh was working the detail at U-Tiki. Officer Raleigh checked the Power Detail System and had a text message conversation with Sergeant Walling notifying her that Sergeant Vansteenburgh was working the detail and asked her if it was a good idea that she went there. At 7:19 PM, Sergeant Walling replied by saying "Nope it's a horrible idea." Even though Sergeant Walling knew that is was not a good idea to go to U-Tiki because Sergeant Vansteenburgh was working there she still went there. The entire text message conversation is outlined in Officer Raleigh's interview section. Officer Raleigh and Mrs. Lunsford went to U-Tiki and joined Sergeant Walling at her table where she was sitting.
Officer Raleigh and Mrs. Lunsford left U-Tiki at different times, leaving Sergeant Walling at U-Tiki alone. Sergeant Walling left the beach area table and went to the main bar insi9e of the restaurant. While sitting at the bar, Sergeant Walling observed Sergeant Vansteenburgh and Ms. Harwood. At 10:00 PM, Ms. Harwood is observed having a brief conversation with Officer Ercolano, Birget Handzik, Ms. Schwartz, and an unknown male friend of Ms. Schwartz , and then
This was captured on U-Tiki surveillance Ms. Harwood went back into U-Tiki and at 10:01 PM. At approximately 10:01 PM, Sergeant Walling is observed . At approximately 10:02 PM, Sergeant Walling walked up to Sergeant Vansteenburgh and Ms. Harwood and a verbal disturbance occurred between Sergeant Walling and Ms. Harwood. Sergeant Walling was observed taking off a jacket and handing it to Ms. Harwood which belonged to Sergeant Vansteenburgh. Due to the fact that a disturbance was taking place, Sergeant Vansteenburgh made contact with the manager Matthew Baroni in an effort to have Sergeant Walling escorted out of the establishment. At approximately 10:04 PM, Mr. Baroni escorted Sergeant Walling out of U-Tiki. This entire encounter was captured on U-Tiki After being escorted out of the establishment Sergeant Walling left the property.
During Sergeant Walling's interview she stated that while at U-Tiki she was trying to avoid Sergeant Vansteenburgh; however, she initiated contact with Sergeant Vansteenburgh and Ms. Harwood. On July 5, 2016, I spoke with Ms. Harwood on the telephone. Ms. Harwood told me that she had just found a message that Sergeant Walling sent to her via Facebook on April 17, 2016, at approximately 5:15PM. The message was received the same day prior to the incident at U-Tiki. Ms. Harwood emailed me a copy of the Facbook message. The message included dates and times that Sergeant Walling and Sergeant Vansteenburgh allegedly engaged in sexual activity, details about their · encounters, and information about their relationship. A copy of the Facebook message
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is included with this investigation.
Sergeant Walling had a text message conversation with Officer Raleigh, and at 10:12 PM, during the conversation she explained that she was removed from U-Tiki. At 10:27 PM, Sergeant Walling told Officer Raleigh that she was driving back to U-Tiki. Officer Raleigh replied by telling her uno." The entire text message conversation is outlined in Officer Raleigh's interview section. Officer Raleigh and Mr. Ready went to U-Tiki and met with Sergeant Walling in the parking lot.
At approximately 11:00 PM, the extra duty detail ended, and Sergeant Vansteenburgh and Ms. Harwood left the establishment and went to Ms. Harwood's vehicle which was parked next to the restaurant. Sergeant Walling had returned to the U-Tiki parking lot even though she was previously asked to leave by management, and parked directly next to Sergeant Vansteenburgh's vehicle. Sergeant Vansteenburgh requested the assistance of an on-duty Jupiter Police Department sergeant; however, they were unable to respond due to an Armed Ca~acking call for service. Officer Ercolano returned to U-Tiki to drop off her friend Ms. Schwartz. Ms. Schwartz volunteered to escort Sergeant Vansteenburgh to his vehicle. Sergeant Vansteenburgh attached his personal cellular telephone to the outer carrier of his ballistic vest and activated the video recording feature.
When Sergeant Vansteenburgh approached his vehicle he noticed that Sergeant Walling parked her vehicle extremely close to his driver's side door making it extremely difficult for him to enter his vehicle. Sergeant Vansteenburgh went to the back passenger side door of his vehicle and put away his lunch cooler. Officer Raleigh made contact with Sergeant Vansteenburgh and stated 11 1 don't know what the fuck to do. She's a fucking mess." Sergeant Vansteenburgh told Officer Raleigh briefly what had occurred earlier during the day. Sergeant Walling then approached Officer Raleigh and Sergeant Vansteenburgh and said "hi." Sergeant Vansteenburgh ignored Sergeant Walling and began to speak to Ms. Schwartz who was still seated in her vehicle. Ms. Schwartz asked Sergeant Vansteenburgh if he wanted her to climb in the passenger side of his vehicle to help move Sergeant Vansteenburgh's vehicle and he told her uno." Sergeant Vansteenburgh also states that he will open his door and if he "smashes the other door he does not care at this point." Sergeant Vansteenburgh walks over to his driver's side door, at which time Sergeant Walling follows behind him. Sergeant Walling then opened Sergeant Vansteenburgh's rear driver's side door without permission. Sergeant Vansteenburgh told Sergeant Walling to get out of his vehicle. Sergeant Walling is heard stating "don't hit my fucking car." Sergeant Vansteenburgh tells Sergeant Walling a couple of times to get out of his car.
At this time, Officer Raleigh approached Sergeant Walling in an effort to stop her from causing any further altercation with Sergeant Vansteenburgh. Officer Raleigh told Sergeant Walling "this is not a good idea." Sergeant Walling asked Sergeant Vansteenburgh twice who the girl in the pickup truck was. Officer Raleigh and Mr. Ready attempted to hold Sergeant Walling back from Sergeant Vansteenburgh, and Sergeant Walling is telling them to "leave me the fuck alone." Sergeant Vansteenburgh then states to Sergeant Walling "don't touch me." Officer Raleigh and Mr. Ready are still
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trying to hold Sergeant Walling back due to her aggressive behavior. Officer Raleigh and Mr. Ready held onto Sergeant Walling and moved her to the driver's side of Sergeant Walling's vehicle. Sergeant Walling is heard yelling and screaming at Officer Raleigh and Mr. Ready to leave her alone and get off of her.
Ms. Schwartz was able to back out Sergeant Vansteenburgh's vehicle so he could leave the parking lot. Officer Raleigh and Mr. Ready are still holding Sergeant Walling back as they did not want her to have further altercations with Sergeant Vansteenburgh. During the entire time, Sergeant Walling is talking and yelling at Officer Raleigh and Mr. Ready. Officer Raleigh and Mr. Ready were trying to calm Sergeant Walling down however they were not successful. . While holding onto Sergeant Walling she bit Mr. Ready in the chin area which caused him to release control of Sergeant Walling. Sergeant Walling then bit Officer Raleigh in the face on the left side of her cheek, which caused Officer Raleigh to release control of Sergeant Walling.
Sergeant Walling immediately reengaged Sergeant Vansteenburgh as he was attempting to get into his vehicle to leave. Sergeant Vansteenburgh told Sergeant Walling llget out of here," and Sergeant Walling immediately stated 11 please tell me who she is" meaning Ms. Schwartz. Sergeant Vansteenburgh told Sergeant Walling again .. get out of here," and Sergeant Walling stated 11 please tell me." Officer Raleigh and Mr. Ready approached Sergeant Walling again in an effort to stop her from having an altercation with Sergeant Vansteenburgh, and Sergeant Walling stated 11 leave me the fuck alone." Sergeant Vansteenburgh stated that he did not know if Sergeant Walling attempted to 11grab him" or "hit him", however he observed her hands coming at him, so he quickly turned away and felt an impact on his left shoulder. Sergeant Vansteenburgh advised that he pushed Sergeant Walling away with his open left hand. Officer Raleigh and Mr. Ready grabbed Sergeant Walling, and Mr. Ready said .. not on the Sarge." Officer Raleigh and Mr. Ready pulled Sergeant Walling back due to her continued behavior and Sergeant Vansteenburgh left the parking lot.
Officer Raleigh pulled Sergeant Walling down to the ground and was holding onto her. Sergeant Walling was acting hysterical and Officer Raleigh would not let her go as she was afraid that Sergeant Walling would drive away. Based upon how upset Sergeant Walling was Officer Raleigh did not feel as though Sergeant Walling was capable to safely drive a motor vehicle. Sergeant Sandra Drown arrived on the scene a short time after Sergeant Vansteenburgh left. Sergeant Drown approached Officer Raleigh and Sergeant Walling and Officer Raleigh let go of Sergeant Walling and she got up and walked to her vehicle. I reviewed the in-car video from Sergeant Drown's vehicle and it showed Officer Raleigh holding Sergeant Walling down on the ground.
The text message evidence supplied by Sergeant Walling did not have any direct relation to the incident that occurred on April 17, 2016. Sergeant Walling provided the text message conversations with Sergeant Vansteenburgh to prove that they had a personal relationship. The photographs of Sergeant Walling's arms did show small bruises which is consistent with Officer Raleigh holding onto her. Sergeant Walling also provided a single photograph taken in September of 2015, of her stomach area over clothing.
__ ) Sergeant Walling's face is not in the photograph and it was supplied to show her 38
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stomach area when . This photograph has no evidentiary value to this investigation. Sergeant Walling supplied a compact disc which has three voicemails from September 10, 2015, and September 15, 2015, allegedly left by Sergeant Vansteenburgh crying for Sergeant Walling to call him back. The voicemails supplied do not have any evidentiary value to this investigation. Sergeant Walling provided a copy of a greeting card given to her by Sergeant Vansteenburgh from an unknown date. The greeting card has no direct evidentiary value to this investigation. All of the evidence supplied by Sergeant Walling was attached to this investigation.
Based upon the investigatory findings of this investigation, I believe there is a preponderance of evidence to substantiate the allegations that Sergeant Walling committed three counts of misdemeanor battery against Officer Raleigh, Sergeant Vansteenburgh, and Mr. Ready. Sergeant Walling was the sole aggressor during the incident and Officer Raleigh and Mr. Ready were attempting to hold her back in an effort to stop her from going after Sergeant Vansteenburgh. Based upon the investigatory findings of this investigation, I believe that there is a preponderance of evidence to substantiate the allegation of conduct unbecoming an officer/employee. While off-duty Sergeant Walling's conduct and demeanor reflected badly upon herself and brought discredit to the Jupiter Police Department and the Town of Jupiter. Therefore, the following are the investigatory conclusions:
General Order 1.4 (401) Commission of a Misdemeanor (3 Counts) Sustained
General Order 1.4 (101) Conduct Unbecoming an Officer/Employee Sustained
Major Adam Hirsch Professional Standards Commander
)~? . .?d'o-J Major David England Patrol Bureau Commander
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JUPITER POLICE DEPARTMENT Inter-Office Memorandum
DATE: September 9, 2016
TO: Chief Frank Kitzerow
FROM: Major Adam Hirsch
SUBJECT: Supplemental Summary of Internal Affairs Investigation 2016-002
7M On September 1/,2016, Major England and I met with Chief Kitzerow regarding Internal Affairs Case # Zo 16-002. Chief Kitzerow had reviewed the Investigative File for the Internal Affairs Investigation, and requested some follow-up questions be answered.
Follow-Up Question# 1
Why did Sergeant Drown, Officer Raleigh, and Mrs. Lunsford go through the red traffic light at Indiantown Road and Alternate A 1 A?
On May 10, 2016, Major England and I conducted an interview with Sergeant Drown. During the interview Sergeant Drown advised that while she was following behind Officer Raleigh and Mrs. Lunsford they were stopped at the red traffic light at the intersection of Indiantown Road and Alternate A 1 A. At this time, Sergeant Drown was talking with Deputy Chief Kerr. Sergeant Drown observed Mrs. Lunsford and Officer Raleigh travel southbound on Alternate A 1 A through the red traffic light. Sergeant Drown then proceeded through the same red traffic light. The in-car video system from Sergeant Drown's vehicle captured all three vehicles proceeding through the red traffic light. Sergeant Drown advised that she was unsure why the vehicles went through the red light and she followed behind them. Sergeant Drown realized that they were going to the Jupiter Medical Center. At the conclusion of this Internal Affairs . investigation, Sergeant Drown and Officer Raleigh will be counseled about violating the traffic control device.
Follow-Up Question #2
How did Sergeant Drown come up with the conclusion that Sergeant Walling was suffering from , and could not afford the cost of the therapy sessions?
On May 10, 2016, Major England and I conducted an interview with Sergeant Drown. During the interview Sergeant Drown advised us that while driving Sergeant Walling home they had a conversation in the vehicle. Sergeant Drown stated that she also had a conversation with Sergeant Walling a couple of months prior. On April 17, 2016, she asked Sergeant Walling if "she was doing anything about her own
) emotional well-being as she had described that she was suffering from ." Sergeant Drown stated that Sergeant Walling said that
she had been seeing a counselor but could not afford the cost of the therapy sessions.
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Follow-Up Question #3
What did Officer Raleigh tell Sergeant Drown regarding the manner in which Sergeant Walling parked her vehicle in the U-Tiki parking lot?
On September 8, 2016, I met with Sergeant Drown at the Jupiter Police Department. On April 18, 2016, at approximately 3:05AM, Sergeant Drown had a telephone conversation with Officer Raleigh. Sergeant Drown advised me that Officer Raleigh told her that Sergeant Walling "positioned her vehicle so close to Sergeant Vansteenburgh's vehicle that he could not get in or out of it." Sergeant Drown further told me that she did not know which sides of the vehicles were positioned in which manner.
During the same telephone conversation that Officer Raleigh had with Sergeant Drown, Sergeant Drown documented in her police report that "she spoke of words that were exchanged between her and Walling." I asked Sergeant Drown if she knew what Officer Raleigh and Sergeant Walling spoke about. Sergeant Drown told me that Officer Raleigh explained to her "how she came to be in this event in the first place." Officer Raleigh was out with her friend Mr. Ready, spoke with Sergeant Walling, and went to pick up Sergeant Walling at U-Tiki "who in her opinion while talking with her on the telephone is impaired." Sergeant Drown stated that she also believed that Sergeant Walling and Officer Raleigh had a conversation about "why Sergeant Walling was at U-Tiki in the first place." Sergeant Drown further stated she could not recall any other portion of the conversation that she had with Officer Raleigh during that telephone conversation. The complete audio recording of this Internal Affairs interview with Sergeant Drown is included with the investigation.
Follow-Up Question #4
What factors were considered when sustaining the violation of Jupiter Police Department General Order 1.4 (1 01) Conduct Unbecoming an Officer/Employee?
On April 17, 2016, while off-duty and employed as a Jupiter Police Department Sergeant, the totality of Sergeant Walling's conduct and demeanor reflected badly upon herself and brought discredit to the Jupiter Police Department and the Town of Jupiter in the following manner:
• Sergeant Walling bit a subordinate officer (Officer Raleigh) in the face. Officer Raleigh knows that Sergeant Walling is a law enforcement officer.
• Sergeant Walling bit a civilian (Mr. Ready) in the face. Mr. Ready knows that Sergeant Walling is a law enforcement officer.
• Sergeant Walling caused a disturbance and committed a battery against Sergeant Vansteenburgh who was in full police uniform in the public parking lot of U-Tiki. Sergeant Vansteenburgh knows that Sergeant Walling is a law enforcement officer.
• The disturbance that Sergeant Walling was causing in the parking lot of U-Tiki was witnessed by an off-duty Chattanooga, Tennessee Police Officer (Ms. Schwartz). Ms. Schwartz observed Sergeant Walling grab Sergeant Vansteenburgh 's upper body while he was in full police uniform. Ms. Schwartz did not see Sergeant Walling cause injury to Officer Raleigh or Mr. Ready although she did see them holding her back from going after Sergeant Vanstenburgh.
• Sergeant Walling returned to the U-Tiki property after earlier asked to leave by U-Tiki Manager Matthew Baroni. Mr. Baroni knows that Sergeant Walling is a law enforcement officer.
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• On April17, 2016, Sergeant Walling parked her personal vehicle extremely close to the front of Sergeant Vansteenburgh 1
S police vehicle in the front of his residence. Parking in this manner would have made it extremely difficult to maneuver the police vehicle out of the parking space. Sergeant Vansteenburgh took his personal
. vehicle to his extra duty detail to avoid contact with Sergeant Walling. • On April17, 2016, when Sergeant Walling returned to the U-Tiki Restaurant she
parked directly next to Sergeant Vansteenburghls vehicle. Sergeant Walling parked the passenger side of her vehicle extremely close to the driver! s side of Sergeant Vansteenburgh 1s vehicle making it extremely difficult for Sergeant Vansteenburgh to enter his vehicle.
The three battery incidents and Sergeant Down Is involvement were documented in Jupiter Police Department Reports. On April27, 2016, Detective Eric Frank presented the battery cases to Senior Investigator Conklin at the Palm Beach County State Attorne/s Office Public Corruption Unit for review. The incident has obtained media attention and a news article was written on April23, 2016. The totality of Sergeant Walling Is conduct and demeanor brought discredit to the Jupiter Police Department and the Town of Jupiter, thus the violation of Conduct Unbecoming an Officer/Employee was sustained,
Respectfully submitted,
Major Adam Hirsch Professional Standards Commander
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JUPITER POLICE DEPARTMENT Office of the Chief of Police
Inter-Office Memorandum
DATE: October 11, 2016
TO: . Mr. Andy Lukasik, Town Manager
FROM: Frank Kitzerow, Chief of Police ~ SUBJECT: Internal Affairs Investigation 2016-002
-On April18, 2016 I instructed Major Adam Hirsch, Professional Standards Division Commander, and Major David England, Assistant Patrol Bureau Commander, to conduct an internal affairs investigation surrounding the off-duty actions of Sergeant Amy Walling.
On April17, 2016, Sergeant Walling was off duty and involved in a disturbance with the extra duty detail officer, Sergeant VanSteenburgh and his fiancee, Ms. Harwood, at the U-Tiki Beach Restaurant in Jupiter. Sergeant Walling and Sergeant VanSteenburgh had previously been involved in an on again off again romantic relationship. At the request of Sergeant VanSteenburgh, the restaurant staff escorted Sergeant Walling out of the establishment. Sergeant Walling later returned to the property and was involved in a physical altercation in the parking lot with off duty Officer Elizabet_h Raleigh, Sergeant VanSteenburgh, and Mr. Ready. During the physical altercation Sergeant Walling bit Officer Raleigh and Mr. Ready in the face, and struck Sergeant VanSteenburgh, who was in his official JPD uniform, with her hand.
After the initial review of the investigative report submitted by Major Hirsch and Major England, I instructed them to answer some additional questions that I had relating to this matter. The questions and responses are included in this investigative file under a separate memorandum entitled, "Supplemental Summary of Internal Affairs Investigation 2016-002., ·
On September 9, 2016, I reviewed the final investigative file submitted by Major Adam Hirsch in this matter. On the basis of my review, I have determined that this report represents a full and complete examination of the facts and circumstances relevant to this investigation.
On September 29, 2016, a disciplina·ry hearing was conducted in my conference room ) at the Jupiter Police Department. Present for the hearing was Attorney Elizabeth
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Mr. Andrew Lukasik October 11, 2016 Page Two
Parker, Attorney Stuart Kaplan, Deputy Chief Dan Kerr, Major Adam Hirsch, Major David England, Sergeant Amy Walling, and me.
Following a review of the process and confirmation that Sergeant Walling and her attorneys received copies of all documents and associated evidence relating to this case, Sergeant Walling was afforded the opportunity to ask questions, provide any evidence on her behalf, and to make a statement.
On the basis of this report of administrative investigation and the disciplinary hearing with Sergeant Amy Walling, I have reached the following conclusion in this case:
General Order 1.4 (401) Commission of a Misdemeanor (3 Counts) Sustained
General Order 1.4 (101) Conduct Unbecoming an Officer/Employee Sustained
The basis for my decision is as follows:
On April17, 2016, at approximately 1:30PM, Sergeant Amy Walling went to Sergeant VanSteenburgh's house to return some of his personal property. Sergeant VanSteenburgh and his fiancee Ms. Harwood refused to answer the door in an effort to avoid contact with Sergeant Walling. Sergeant VanSteenburgh and Ms. Harwood decided to come to the Jupiter Police Department to utilize the gym. It appears as though Sergeant Walling followed Sergeant VanSteenburgh and Ms. Harwood to the Jupiter Police Department as Sergeant VanSteenburgh observed her vehicle traveling northbound on Military Trail a distance behind his vehicle. According to the Town of Jupiter Kantec Door Report, Sergeant VanSteenburgh entered the north employee entrance door at 2:58:56 PM, and Sergeant Walling entered the same door at 3:01 :48 PM. Sergeant VanSteenburgh and Ms. Harwood left the Jupiter Police Department to avoid contact with Sergeant Walling, and returned back to Sergeant VanSteenburgh's residence. ·
At approximately 3:50 PM or 4:00 PM, Sergeant Walling returned to Sergeant VanSteenburgh's residence again for the second time. Sergeant VanSteenburgh and Ms. Harwood again did not answer the door, and Sergeant Walling left. At approximately 4:20PM, Sergeant Walling came back to the residence for a third time. Again, they did not answer the door or have contact with Sergeant Walling. Sergeant VanSteenburgh drove Ms. Harwood home to her residence in his personal vehicle, and returned back to his residence to retrieve some police equipment and his marked police vehicle, which was parked in the front of his residence. Prior to Sergeant VanSteenburgh going to his police vehicle he observed Sergeant Walling's vehicle parked directly in front of his police vehicle. Sergeant Walling was sitting in her vehicle,
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Mr. Andrew Lukasik October 11, 2016 Page Three
having parked the vehicle so close to Sergeant VanSteenburgh's police vehicle that it would have made it extremely difficult to maneuver the vehicle out of the parking space. Ultimately, Sergeant VanSteenburgh had to drive his personal vehicle to the detail.
Sergeant Walling had previous knowledge that Sergeant VanSteenburgh was working the detail at U-Tiki. The Power Details computer system showed that Sergeant Walling logged into the system and checked that specific detail on April16, 2016, at 13:14:18 hours and 16:19:54 hours, and on April17, 2016, at 15:43:19 hours, 16:47:08 hours, and 16:54:56 hours. Sergeant Walling also logged into her department issued computer on April17, 2016, at 16:53:09 hours, and logged off at 17:12:41 hours, in an effort to see if Sergeant VanSteenburgh was on duty at U-Tiki. On April17, 2016, Sergeant Walling met with Mrs. Lunsford and Officer Raleigh at Mrs. Lunsford's house and decided to go to U-Tiki alone, even though she knew that Sergeant VanSteenburgh was working the detail at U-Tiki. In addition, Officer Raleigh checked the Power Detail System and had a text message conversation with Sergeant Walling notifying her that Sergeant VanSteenburgh was working. During the conversation Officer Raleigh asked Sergeant Walling if she thought going to U-Tiki was a good idea, Sergeant Walling replied by saying "Nope it's a horrible idea." Even though Sergeant Walling knew that it was not a good idea to go to U-Tiki because Sergeant VanSteenburgh was working, she still proceeded to go there. Officer Raleigh and Mrs. Lunsford went to U-Tiki and joined Sergeant Walling at her table where she was sitting.
Officer Raleigh and Mrs. Lunsford left U-Tiki at different times, leaving Sergeant Walling at U-Tiki alone. Sergeant Walling left the beach area table and went to the main bar inside of the restaurant. While sitting at the bar, Sergeant Walling observed Sergeant VanSteenburgh and Ms. Harwood. At 10:00 PM, Ms. Harwood is observed having a brief conversation with Officer Janine Ercolano, Birgit Handzik, Ms. Schwartz, and an unknown male friend of Ms. Schwartz , and then
. This was captured on U-Tiki surveillance Ms. Harwood went back into U-Tiki at 10:01 PM. At approximately 10:01 PM, Sergeant Walling is observed . At approximately 1 0:02 PM, Sergeant Walling walked up to Sergeant VanSteenburgh and Ms. Harwood and a verbal disturbance occurred between Sergeant Walling and Ms. Harwood. Sergeant Walling was observed taking off a jacket and handing it to Ms. Harwood which belonged to Sergeant VanSteenburgh. Due to the fact that a disturbance was taking place, Sergeant VanSteenburgh made contact with the manager, Matthew Baroni in an effort to have Sergeant Walling escorted out of the establishment. At approximately 10:04 PM, Mr. Baroni escorted Sergeant Walling out of U-Tiki. This entire encounter was captured on U-Tiki After being escorted out of the establishment Sergeant Walling left the property.
) Mr. Andrew Lukasik October 11, 2016 Page Four
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During Sergeant Walling's interview she stated that while at U-Tiki she was trying to avoid Sergeant VanSteenburgh; however, she initiated contact with Sergeant VanSteenburgh and M~s. Harwood.
Sergeant Walling had another text message conversation with Officer Raleigh, and at 10:12 PM, during the conversation she explained that she was removed from U-Tiki. At 10:27 PM, Sergeant Walling told Officer Raleigh that she was driving back to U-Tiki. Officer Raleigh replied by telling her "no.'' The entire text message conversation is outlined in Officer Raleigh's interview section. Officer Raleigh and Mr. Ready went to U-Tiki and met with Sergeant Walling in the parking lot.
At approximately 11 :00 PM, the extra duty detail ended, and Sergeant VahSteenburgh and Ms. Harwood left the establishment and went to Ms. Harwood's vehicle which was parked next to the restaurant. Sergeant Walling had returned to the U-Tiki parking lot even though she was previously asked to leave by management, and parked directly next to Sergeant VanSteenburgh's vehicle. Sergeant VanSteenburgh requested the assistance of an on-duty Jupiter Police Department sergeant; however, they were unable to respond due to an Armed Carjacking call for service. Officer Ercolano returned to U-Tiki to drop off her friend, Ms. Schwartz. Ms. Schwartz volunteered to escort Sergeant VanSteenburgh to his vehicle. Sergeant VanSteenburgh attached his personal cellular telephone to the outer carrier of his ballistic vest and activated the video recording feature.
When Sergeant VanSteenburgh approached his vehicle he noticed that Sergeant Walling parked her vehicle extremely close to his driver's side door making it extremely difficult for him to enter his vehicle. Sergeant VanSteenburgh went to the back passenger side door of his vehicle and put away his lunch cooler. Officer Raleigh made contact with Sergeant VanSteenburgh and stated "I don't know what the fuck to do. She's a fucking mess." Sergeant VanSteenburgh told Officer Raleigh briefly what had occurred earlier during the day. Sergeant Walling then approached Officer Raleigh and Sergeant VanSteenburgh and said "hi." Sergeant VanSteenburgh ignored Sergeant Walling and began to speak to Ms. Schwartz who was still seated in her vehicle. Ms. Schwartz asked Sergeant VanSteenburgh if he wanted her to climb in the passenger side of his vehicle to help move Sergeant VanSteenburgh's vehicle and he told her "no." Sergeant VanSteenburgh also stated that he would open his door and if he "smashes the other door he does not care at this point.'' Sergeant VanSteenburgh walks over to his driver's side door, at which time Sergeant Walling follows behind him. Sergeant Walling then opened Sergeant VanSteenburgh's rear driver's side door without his permission.
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Mr. Andrew Lukasik October 11, 2016 Page Five
Sergeant VanSteenburgh told Sergeant Walling to get out of his vehicle. Sergeant Walling is heard stating "don't hit my fucking car." Sergeant VanSteenburgh tells Sergeant Walling a couple of times to get out of his car.
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At this time, Officer Raleigh approached Sergeant Walling in an effort to stop her from causing any further altercation with Sergeant VanSteenburgh. Officer Raleigh told Sergeant Walling "this is not a good idea." Sergeant Walling asked Sergeant VanSteenburgh twice who the girl in the pickup truck was. Officer Raleigh and Mr. Ready attempted to hold Sergeant Walling back from Sergeant VanSteenburgh, and Sergeant Walling is telling them to "leave me the fuck alone." Sergeant VanSteenburgh then states to Sergeant Walling "don't touch me." Officer Raleigh and Mr. Ready are still trying to hold Sergeant Walling back due to her aggressive behavior. Officer Raleigh and Mr. Ready held onto Sergeant Walling and moved her to the driver's side of Sergeant Walling's vehicle. Sergeant Walling is heard yelling and screaming at Officer Raleigh and Mr. Ready to leave her alone and get off of her.
Ms. Schwartz was able to back out Sergeant VanSteenburgh's vehicle so he could leave the parking lot. Officer Raleigh and Mr. Ready were still holding Sergeant Walling back as they did not want her to have further altercations with Sergeant VanSteenburgh. During the entire time, Sergeant Walling is talking and yelling at Officer Raleigh and Mr. Ready. Officer Raleigh and Mr. Ready were trying to calm Sergeant Walling down however they were not successful. Sergeant Walling then bit Mr. Ready in the chin area which caused him to release control of Sergeant Walling. Sergeant Walling also bit Officer Raleigh in the face on the left side of her cheek, which caused Officer Raleigh to release control of Sergeant Walling.
Sergeant Walling immediately reengaged Sergeant VanSteenburgh as he was attempting to get into his vehicle to leave. Sergeant VanSteenburgh told Sergeant Walling "get out of here," and Sergeant Walling immediately stated "please tell me who she is" meaning Ms. Schwartz. Sergeant VanSteenburgh told Sergeant Walling again "get out of here," and Sergeant Walling stated "please tell me." Officer Raleigh and Mr. Ready approached Sergeant Walling again in an effort to stop her from having an altercation with Sergeant VanSteenburgh, and Sergeant Walling stated "leave me the fuck alone." Sergeant VanSteenburgh stated that he did not know if Sergeant Walling attempted to "grab him" or "hit him", however he observed her hands coming at him, so he quickly turned away and felt an impact on his left shoulder. Sergeant VanSteenburgh advised that he pushed Sergeant Walling away with his open left hand. Officer Raleigh and Mr. Ready grabbed Sergeant Walling, and Mr. Ready said "not on the Sarge." Officer Raleigh and Mr. Ready pulled Sergeant Walling back due to her continued behavior. Sergeant VanSteenburgh left the parking lot. Mr. Andrew Lukasik
-I Mr. Andrew Lukasik October 11, 2016 Page Six
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Officer Raleigh pulled Sergeant Walling down to the ground and was holding onto her. Sergeant Walling was acting hysterical and Officer Raleigh would not let her go as she was afraid that Sergeant Walling would drive away. Based upon how upset Sergeant Walling was Officer Raleigh did not feel as though Sergeant Walling was capable to safely drive a motor vehicle. Sergeant Sandra Drown arrived on the scene a short time after Sergeant VanSteenburgh left. Sergeant Drown approached Officer Raleigh and Sergeant Walling and Officer Raleigh let go of Sergeant Walling and she got up and walked to her vehicle.
A copy of the criminal investigation associated with this matter was presented to the Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office for review. Included in the criminal investigation was the fact that Sergeant VanSteenburgh, Officer Raleigh and Mr. Ready declined to prosecute, having all signed the official Waiver of Prosecution form. The State Attorney's Office declined to pursue criminal charges against Sergeant Walling.
On September 29, 2016, during the disciplinary hearing conducted at the Jupiter Police Department, Sergeant Walling elected to have Attorney Parker speak on her behalf as it related to the facts and Sergeant Walling's perspective of this incident. Attorney Parker began her remarks by citing some of the highlights and accomplishments of Sergeant Walling's career. She also opined that the Internal Affairs Investigators in this case did not put enough weight into the evidence provided by her office and that the investigation was biased against Sergeant Walling.
Attorney Parker questioned the integrity of Sergeant VanSteenburgh, along with his credibility and his significant, intimate relationship with Sergeant Walling during a time when he also had a girlfriend and fiancee.
Attorney Parker also stated that although she was strung along in this relationship, Sergeant Walling isn't without blame and accepts that she has made some poor decisions where Sergeant VanSteenburgh is concerned.
Regarding the particular events addressed in this internal investigations report, Attorney Parker stated that Sergeant VanSteenburgh failed to disclose that he was still involved in a relationship with Sergeant Walling near the time of the incidents referred to in this matter.
Attorney Parker also suggested that Sergeant VanSteenburgh painted Sergeant Walling as a stalker so that his fiancee would remain under the impression that Sergeant Walling , as opposed to a long term relationship.
1 Mr. Andrew Lukasik October 11, 2016 Page Seven
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Attorney Parker stated that when Sergeant Walling approached Sergeant VanSteenburgh at U-Tiki to return his property, he was standing alone and that she did not cause a scene, nor did she raise her voice. Ms. Parker went on to say that it was Sergeant VanSteenburgh's fiancee who is the one that became animated in this situation.
Attorney Parker suggested that when Sergeant Walling took out her cell phone to show Sergeant VanSteenburgh's fiancee some of the text messages that were being exchanged, Sergeant VanSteenburgh panicked, subsequently requesting that Sergeant Walling be removed from the premises by the management. According to Ms. Parker, neither the manager nor the private security person observed any disturbance.
Ms. Parker indicated that Sergeant Walling had a valid reason for being upset especially as it relates to the manner in which she was treated by someone that she had a relationship with. In addition, Sergeant Walling was still emotional over the fact that
which came as a result of this relationship, was over.
The incident that occurred when Sergeant VanSteenburgh was leaving his detail, according to Ms. Parker, came about as a result of Sergeant Walling just wanting to speak with Sergeant VanSteenburgh. Ms. Parker stated that in her opinion, Sergeant VanSteenburgh and Officer Elizabeth Raleigh were the cause of the situation escalating to where Sergeant Walling bit two people in the face. Ms. Parker went on to state that in her opinion, Officer Raleigh and her boyfriend, Mr. Ready both physically inserted themselves into the situation and physically detained and restrained Sergeant Walling. According to Ms. Parker, Sergeant Walling felt like she was having difficulty breathing and therefore had a legal right under Florida law to defend herself. This concluded the disciplinary hearing.
I have noted that throughout the course of this investigation, it is very apparent that Sergeant Walling's actions, as they relate to this situation, were progressive, deliberate, planned, and executed with full awareness of the consequences of her actions.
It begins with her attempts to make contact with Sergeant VanSteenburgh and his fiancee at his residence. Despite the fact that she was told via text message not to come by the house that day, she attempted on more than one occasion to make contact with Sergeant VanSteenburgh by knocking repeatedly on his front door.
Based on her pattern of behavior, I believe that Sergeant Walling was deliberately following Sergeant VanSteenburgh and his fiancee as they were traveling up Military
} Trail, en route to the Jupiter Police Department. This is evidenced by the fact that .J
} Mr. Andrew Lukasik October 11, 2016 Page Eight
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Sergeant Walling made entry into the police department building less than three minutes after Sergeant VanSteenburgh did.
Sergeant Walling used her access privileges to the off duty detail software system to search the database and determine the exact location and time that Sergeant VanSteenburgh would be working his extra duty detail. She then parked
her personal vehicle directly in front of Sergeant VanSteenburgh's police cruiser in front of his residence, in such a manner as to restrict his abilities to use the cruiser to report to his official extra duty assignment at the U-Tiki Restaurant.
Contrary to the advice of her friends and colleagues, including Officer Elizabeth Raleigh, Sergeant Walling drove to the U-Tiki Restaurant with the knowledge that Sergeant VanSteenburgh was working there. At the restaurant, Sergeant Walling consumed some alcohol and decided to confront Sergeant VanSteenburgh and his fiancee. When the situation escalated, Sergeant Walling was asked to leave the premises. Despite being asked to leave the prop~rty, Sergeant Walling decided to return later in the evening and once again confront Sergeant VanSteenburgh. Again she ignored the advice of her colleague and friend I not to return.
After returning to the U-Tiki parking lot, Sergeant Walling parked her vehicle directly next to Sergeant VanSteenburgh's vehicle in such a manner so as to prevent him from being able to enter through the driver's side door. It is obvious that she planned this so that he could not leave the parking lot and she could once again confront him. Recognizing the potential for a confrontation, Sergeant VanSteenburgh utilized his cell phone to record the subsequent encounter. It is clear in the video that Sergeant Walling is determined to confront Sergeant VanSteenburgh to the extent that she strikes him with her hands despite the fact that he is in full JPD uniform, with his badge of authority displayed, and in the public view.
When Sergeant Walling's colleague, off duty Officer Elizabeth Raleigh, who has been texting with Sergeant Walling throughout the evening, attempts to intervene and deescalate the situation, Sergeant Walling proceeded to bite Officer Raleigh on the face. Sergeant Walling also bit Mr. Ready on the face as well. Sergeant Walling bit Officer Raleigh with such force that Officer Raleigh was excused from department training several days later due to the visibility of her injuries.
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Mr. Andrew Lukasik October 11, 2016 Page Nine
Also, I found it to be significant that earlier in the day, Sergeant Walling delivered a lengthy, graphic, and confrontational message via social media to Sergeant VanSteenburgh's fiancee regarding her relationship with Sergeant VanSteenburgh and its impact on the fiancee. A copy of this post is included with the Internal Affairs Investigative report.
-Finally, I reviewed the text messages and evidence provided by the Attorneys Parker and Kaplan, and have weighed them accordingly in my decision making process.
In determining the appropriate discipline for Sergeant Walling regarding the violations sustained in connection with this incident, I have considered the fact that Sergeant Walling does not have any prior disciplinary actions taken against her. I have also taken into consideration that during the disciplinary hearing, Sergeant Walling accepted full responsibility for her actions and apologized for the damage she has caused to the department and herself. She further stated that if given the opportunity, she would work extremely hard to restore her reputation and value to the Town and the·Jupiter Police Department.
Recommendation
After careful consideration of all relevant facts and circumstances in this case, including the emotional trauma , I am recommending the following as disciplinary action in this matter:
• Reduction in rank from Sergeant to Officer • A thirty-day suspension from duty without pay • Successful completion of a fitness for duty examination • Successful completion of anger management classes • Implementation of a detailed last chance employment agreement, with a
twenty-four month minimum duration
1 FJK:em __./
Novem ber 9, 2016
Sergeant Amy Wa lling Jupiter Police Department 210 Military Tra il Jupit er FL 33458
Re: Town Manager Determination Letter/
ToWN oF l =UP=IT=E=R ==
Review of Aprill7, 2016 incident and Interna l Affairs Invest igat ion 2016-02
Dear Sergeant Wal ling:
As you are aware, the Jupiter Police Department conducted an Internal Affairs Investigation in response to an incident in which you were involved, while off-duty, on April 17, 2016. The investigation resulted in the following alleged violations and findings :
• General Order 1.4 {401): Commission of a Misdemeanor (3 Counts) It was alleged that you bit Officer Liz Raleigh and Mr. Randy Ready wh ile they were restraining you during a confrontation with Sergeant Va nSteenburg. Further, it was alleged that you struck Sergeant VanSteenburg in the shoulder during th is exchange. The investigation concluded that "there is a preponderance of evidence to substantiate the allegations that Sergeant Wal ling
committed three counts of misdemeanor battery against Officer Raleigh, Sergeant VanSteenburgh, and Mr. Ready. Sergeant Wa lling was the sole aggressor during the incident and Officer Ra leigh and Mr. Ready were attempting to hold her back in an effort to stop her from going after Sergeant VanSteenburgh." Th is allegation was sustained.
• General Order 1.4 (101): Conduct Unbecoming an Officer/Employee The investigation concluded that, based upon your behavior on the date of the incident, there is a preponderance of evidence to substant iate the allegation of conduct unbecoming an officer/employee.
On October 11, 2016, I received a memorandum f rom Ch ief Frank Kitzerow in wh ich he concurred with the find ings of the Intern al Affa irs investigat ion. Add it iona lly, as a result of the September 29, 2016 discipl inary hea ring Chief Kitzerow conducted with you and your legal counsel, and based upon his review of t he facts and ci rcumst ances of this case, Chief Kitzerow recommended the followi ng disciplinary action:
• Successful comp letion of a f itness for duty examination
• Successfu l completion of anger management classes • Implementat ion of a detai led last chance employment agreement with a minimum
duration of 24 months
• Reduction in rank from Sergeant to Officer
• A 30-day suspension f rom duty w ithout pay
2 10 Military Trail • Jup iter, Flor ida 33458 • ww\.v .ju.p iter.fl.us • Phone (561) 746-5 134
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Town Manager Evaluation of Recommended Disciplinary Actions: On Tuesday, October 25, 2016, I met with you and your legal counsel, Mr. Stuart Kaplan and Ms. Elizabeth Parker, at Town Hall to conduct an informal pre-determination hearing in advance of considering Chief Kitzerow's recommendation for disciplinary action.
During that meeting, Mr. Kaplan discussed your employment history with the Town as well as your credentials. Namely, Mr. Kaplan referenced the fact that that you have no history of disciplinary issues and that you had been a valuable member of the Command Staff prior to your request to be reassigned to the position of Sergeant. Mr. Kaplan, then, discussed the impacts of the emotional distress associated with a broken relationship and that you were facing at the time of the incident. Lastly, Mr. Kaplan explained that you have received treatment since the incident, have taken responsibility for your actions and understand the impact of your behavior on the Town.
As part of the meeting, you had the opportunity to share with me your perspective on the emotional trauma that you experienced and how you have addressed it. You discussed the treatment and therapy you received and your ultimate release from treatment. You shared your perspective on the poor decision making you exhibited during that period of time and that you are aware that you were, and continue to be, responsible for your actions. Lastly, you discussed the tools that you received during therapy in order to cope with difficult circumstances in the future, the lifestyle changes that you've made to improve your social health and the manner in which you would conduct yourself if you returned to work.
As part of this meeting, Mr. Kaplan and Ms. Parker advocated for leniency when considering Chief Kitzerow's recommended disciplinary action. The request was to allow you to return to the Department with the rank of Sergeant as opposed to Officer. Mr. Kaplan argued that you continue to have the ability to be an effective leader and that the impact the incident had on your reputation was enough "punishment". Additionally, I was asked to consider eliminating the recommended suspension without pay if I were to support Chief Kitzerow's recommendation for your demotion due to the economic impacts.
Town Manager Determination: Sergeant Walling, you are well aware of the confidence that the organization had in you as you progressed quickly through the ranks to become a valued member of the Command Staff. Chief Kitzerow saw your potential and encouraged your development by offering you progressively more complex assignments and training opportunities - including his attempts to have you admitted to the FBI National Academy. As we discussed during your pre-determination hearing, the Chief and I often reviewed your progress and anticipated that you would have been a strong candidate to compete for the Chiefs position in the future. I have considered all of this as I evaluated Chief Kitzerow's recommendation.
While the months prior to the incident are not the subject of the Internal Affairs investigation, it is obvious that a series of poor choices on your part, over a period of months, culminated in events of April 17, 2016- the details of which are not in dispute. You and I spoke on a number of occasions during that time period. During those meetings, you shared with me your concerns about how you had been treated by the Chief and that you needed to be reassigned in order to cope with the stress. Little did I know about the personal decisions that you were making that were actually the cause of your emotional distress.
While not an excuse for your behavior during the incident in question, the factors contributing to it cannot be ignored when considering disciplinary action in this matter. For that reason, I agree with
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Chief Kitzerow that your acceptance of responsibility for your actions, in light of the circumstances surrounding this incident, warrant a continuance of employment with the Town. Save extreme circumstances, our organization does not discard people who have erred and are willing to take corrective action. I am confident that you will continue to take the necessary steps to move beyond that troubled time in your life.
However, your employment is conditioned upon the Town's acceptance of a fitness for duty examination and a demotion from the rank of Sergeant to Officer. Although Mr. Kaplan described Chief Kitzerow's recommendation of a demotion as "punishment", it is actually the Town holding you accountable and reinforcing the organization's expectations of its employees. Your actions before and during the incident threatened the operation of the police department and will continue to have the potential to jeopardize its reputation and standing with the public. While our organization values those that take responsibility for their actions, it cannot look the other way when its employees act contrary to its standards.
You noted during our conversation that you know that you need to rebuild the trust of the organization's leadership in you. While we know that you endured a difficult time in your life and are encouraged that you have been able to emerge from it with renewed energy, your actions shook our ability to trust you in a leadership position. The qualities that allowed you to quickly build a career are still with you- but you need to rebuild the organization's trust in you before it can consider bestowing greater responsibility on you.
Another condition of continued employment will be acceptance of a Last Chance Agreement. The Last Chance Agreement will be developed and shared with you for review. This agreement will be your acknowledgement that any discipline within the 24-month period could result in immediate termination. You will be required to execute this agreement and comply with its terms, in addition to submitting to and passing the fitness for duty evaluation, to continue employment with the Town.
Your reassignment to the rank of Officer comes with a change in compensation. You will be paid at the top of the range for Officers as opposed to the salary you've earned as a Sergeant. However, you will be able to maintain your seniority for the purposes of bidding on shifts. You will not be able to participate in promotion testing until the completion of the term of the Last Chance Agreement.
To the extent that the organization must reinforce its standards and convey the seriousness of your actions, I am also upholding Chief Kitzerow's recommendation to suspend you for 30 days without pay. Yes, it will impose an economic hardship. However, in combination with the demotion, it is commensurate with the severity of your actions.
We will review the anger management course you have already completed to determine if it meets the Town's requirements. The Town, for instance, will not accept the completion of an on-line course as satisfaction of this requirement. If the coursework you completed does not meet the Town 1s expectation, you will be required to take another course.
Please coordinate fulfillment of these terms with Director of Human Resources and Risk Management Dawn Loren. She will be able to assist with logistics and answer any questions you may have.