Officer Mark Brotemarkle Returns to Work at School After Fight Investigation
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Allowing Officer Mark Brotemarkle to work at Hickman High School during an internal investigation of his actions in a student fight undermines the city’s efforts to improve the Columbia Police Department, First Ward Councilman Paul Sturtz said.
"It sends the wrong signal that they’re not taking the investigation very seriously," he said. "The integrity of this new professional standards unit is on the line here.
Personally, I’m embarrassed by it, that what seems to be a very good process being put in place is being damaged right off the bat here."
The internal police unit - created early this year to review citizen complaints - is investigating Brotemarkle after a lunchtime altercation where he intervened, throwing two girls to the floor, including Diamond Thrower, who was trying to get two peers to stop fighting.
Columbia Public Schools administrators initially said Brotemarkle would not be at Hickman during the investigation, but he returned to the school Monday.
Assistant Superintendent Wanda Brown said the confusion stemmed from a misunderstanding between the two entities: The school district’s policy is to suspend an employee under investigation, but the police follow different guidelines.
Ray Magruder, who mentors Diamond, said he doesn’t think it’s safe for Brotemarkle to be back at Hickman. "Kids are at risk for retaliation," he said.
"It’s a hostile environment. ... I don’t want Mark’s job, but he’s not suitable for schools. They need to put him back on the streets where he can deal with real criminals."
Interim Police Chief Tom Dresner in a news release defended the decision, saying replacing school resource officers isn’t easy. "There are eight SROs for the entire police department," Dresner wrote.
"Each is specially trained, already assigned to a school and each has ongoing responsibilities in their own schools. ... I had to consider if the disruption caused by Officer Brotemarkle’s reassignment outweighed the potential disruption by his return."
Brown and Hickman Assistant Principal Doug Mirts each said Brotemarkle’s presence at the school last week did not appear to have disrupted the learning environment.
Sturtz complained to City Manager Bill Watkins that Dresner’s decision doesn’t reflect well on the interim chief.
"Capt. Dresner has done a remarkable job so far and has restored a lot of faith in the police department in just a few short months," Sturtz said.
"I’m really confused why he would seek to undercut himself like that."
Before his election in April to the city council, Sturtz said he had his own run-in with Brotemarkle, who arrested him for riding a bicycle on a sidewalk. Sturtz said he contended his bicycle was "coasting" and that he didn’t immediately surrender his identification when asked.
Brotemarkle placed him in a holding cell and "psychologically messed with me for two hours," he said.
Sturtz said he doesn’t have an ax to grind, "but I don’t have very much trust in him.
He’s somebody who appears to get a charge out of using excessive force, in my opinion, speaking as a private citizen."
Some students last week began circulating a petition to keep Brotemarkle at Hickman.
The originator of that petition, who asked that his name not be used, said the document was torn up by opponents.
"It’s not so much that we like him or dislike him," the student said. "I just think people support him as a police officer and support any police officer’s right to take care of a situation like that."
Re: Officer Mark Brotemarkle Returns to Work at School After Fight Investigation
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Originally Posted by kellyhound
A student recorded the altercation, and the video landed on Documenting the Strange, Bizarre, and Unusual Formerly NTFU. as well as local and national media.
Re: Officer Mark Brotemarkle Returns to Work at School After Fight Investigation
This is getting ridiculous
Just pass a law stating "Members of staff and police officers are allowed to use physical restraining and force upon minors".
They should however have mandatory cctv in all areas in schools to cover this. Pushing someone over to stop them punching someone else shouldnt get you fired.
10-26-2008, 06:27 PM
