A hearing before Police Chief Jose Garcia has cleared the St. John officer accused in connection with an alleged attack on a courtesy car driver of all charges, a police union official said Monday.
Alphonso Boyce, vice president of the Police Benevolent Association for the St. Thomas- St. John district, said Officer Eugene Somersall "did not assault" Kelly Giggenbach "in any way." Speaking at a press conference to report the findings of the disciplinary hearing held on Thursday, May 11, he said Somersall was back on the job pending a ruling by Police Commissioner Franz Christian.
However, Radio One news reported Tuesday morning that Somersall remained on administrative leave.
The hearing was called as a result of an internal investigation by St. John's Police Zone D commander, Lt. Rene Garcia, into a March 18 incident near the Cruz Bay dock. Giggenbach, an employee of Caribbean Villas, said an off-duty officer, later identified in press reports as Somersall, assaulted her. Garcia founded the charges "unfounded," Boyce said.
Boyce, the PBA shop steward representing Somersall at the hearing, said no report of injury, no photographs and no other evidence was introduced at the hearing to support the charge of assault.
Several witnesses testified in support of the officer's claim that no assault occurred, Boyce said, and previously unreported details about the incident were presented during the hearing. Moments before the encounter, Boyce said, Giggenbach had had a heated argument with a taxi driver. According to the union steward, witnesses testified at the hearing that as the off-duty, out- of-uniform Somersall approached her and asked to see her driver's license and car registration, she ignored the order and began to walk away.
"The lady refused to give identification when asked. She walked away. In her testimony she said she heard somebody say ‘license and registration,' and she said she then turned around and couldn't tell who said it," Boyce stated.
Boyce said witnesses testified that Giggenbach had left her car parked where it was blocking taxis, and taxi drivers "couldn't find her to remove her vehicle." It took "45 minutes to an hour" to locate her, "according to testimony for the government side and for the union side," the union steward said.
According to witnesses, "The officer did not grab her, did not push her against any vehicle, did not grab her by her breast," Boyce said. He added that Giggenbach herself in her testimony "indicated that the officer did not hold her by her breast."
Both Giggenbach and a witness said Somersall did not identify himself as a police officer, Boyce said.
Initial press reports of the altercation said Somersall grabbed Giggenbach by the breast and shoved her repeatedly into the side of a car. When the complainant was asked at the hearing about this account of the incident, Boyce said, she replied that she had never said that was what happened and that the details came from a letter written by a witness to a local newspaper.
Later published reports also quoted a witness as saying the officer also choked her in an apparent attempt to cut off her screams.
Attempts to contact Giggenbach for comment were not successful. But Mary Hildebrand, president of the St. John Accommodations Council, of which Caribbean Villas is a member, said she believed the originally reported account. "Harvey Irby was her witness. I don't think he made that up," she said.
Boyce also said that a second officer who had been accused of failure to take police action was cleared of the charges in a separate hearing also held on Thursday. Media reports have identified that officer as Lorraine Sprauve.
Police Chief Jose Garcia has declined comment on any aspect of the case and has refused to confirm the identities of the officers who were the subjects of the disciplinary hearings. Garcia said he is bound by the police union contract to keep the proceedings secret until disposition of any grievances that might be filed in connection with the case.
Although Christian issued a statement last month promising full disclosure after the hearing, the police commissioner has neither issued a ruling nor offered any comment.
