Montgomery police officer arrested, 2 others on leave

An altercation, a 911 call and an inaccurate report following the incident has resulted in the investigation of three Montgomery Police officers, one of whom was arrested for a misdemeanor harassment charge Tuesday.

All three officers have been placed on mandatory administrative leave with pay. Officer Janice Braswell was arrested Tuesday night for the misdemeanor charge, and the two officers, one who was on-duty and one who off-duty, are not facing criminal charges. Because the investigation of the latter two concerns internal policy and procedure with no criminal act, their names were not released.

On Wednesday, MPD Chief Ernest Finley, MPD Chief of Staff Bryan Jurkofsky and Mayor Todd Strange held a press conference to discuss the investigation with the goal of being fully transparent and accountable.

“This is all about transparency,” Finley said. “It’s all about being in touch with your employees as well as your citizens.”

A 911 call was placed just after midnight Sunday at the home of an unspecified MPD officer, and on-duty officers responded to the scene. Braswell, an unnamed officer and a citizen were the only ones reported to be there. A report was filed, and Chief Finley said the report detailed a non-physical altercation between Officer Jennifer Braswell, 41, and the citizen.

“The information that was provided to me on that Sunday morning indicated that the incident was handled, wasn’t physical, but was only a verbal altercation,” Finley said Wednesday.

However, MPD has a thorough fact-checking process for filing reports, and Finley was notified by an officer Monday that the report filed might not be accurate or complete. He notified Director Ronald Sams of the Office of City Investigations and Public Safety Director Chris Murphy on Tuesday as Jurkofsky spear-headed the preliminary investigation.

That same day, Finley and the directors decided to put the two unnamed officers on leave, and the civilian filed charges against Braswell who was arrested Tuesday night.

“It appears there was a verbal argument that turned physical,” Jurkofsky said. “There were very minor injuries to the victim who we talked to yesterday and warrants were signed.”

Braswell was then released on bond and also put on administrative leave. Mayor Strange said the investigation will be conducted by the Office of City Investigations and should take about 10-14 days.

“The facts will filter themselves down, and we will get to the bottom of this, and administrative action, if appropriate, will be taken against those individuals,” Strange said.

The OCI reports directly to the Mayor’s office. Should further action be necessary, Finley would decide on the action which would then be approved or modified by Director Murphy.

The incident was a minor one, but combined with a falsified report, the MPD felt it necessary to relate to the public how high the standards are for the department.

“It’s all about running the department as fairly and accurately as possible,” Finley said. “It’s all about trust and full disclosure. We’ve got to do the right thing each and every day.”