Pot times July 17, 2005

Policeman Is Reinstated - City Faulted For Firing Him

URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n1129/a07.html
Newshawk: Herb

Pubdate: Sun, 17 Jul 2005
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Copyright: 2005 Globe Newspaper Company
Contact: letter@globe.com
Website: http://www.boston.com/globe/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52
Author: Matt Viser

POLICEMAN IS REINSTATED; CITY FAULTED FOR FIRING HIM

Had Admitted Drug Addiction

A police officer who was fired a year and a half ago after admitting an addiction to painkillers has been reinstated to the Somerville Police Department after the state's Civil Service Commission ruled unanimously that the city should not have dismissed him.

Patrolman Alex Capobianco, who is a first cousin of Mayor Joseph A.  Curtatone, rejoined the force this month after he was fired in December 2003 for several reasons, including his addiction to OxyContin.  He was the school resource officer at Somerville High School at the time and had ingested OxyContin while on duty, according to a city investigation that led to his firing.

The city has agreed to pay Capobianco nearly $90,000 in back pay, and he has agreed to three random drug tests over the next year.

"He's a great guy, and it was an unfortunate set of circumstances," Capobianco's attorney, Douglas I.  Louison, said last week in a telephone interview.  "He's very happy to be back at the job that he wanted."

The allegations came to light in June 2003 when Somerville police investigated the case of a man who died of a drug overdose.  Police discovered a taped phone conversation in which a voice that police believed to be Capobianco's was asking the man for 600 OxyContin pills because he had a buyer, according to a transcript of the phone conversation.

Capobianco said he did not remember having the conversation, but said it could have been him, according to civil service documents.

Capobianco admitted to having an addiction to OxyContin and in July 2003 he checked himself into rehab, according to civil service documents, but he denied ever selling drugs.

He developed the addiction after being prescribed the drug to relieve back pain that he developed after being in a car accident while on duty prior to September 2002, according to civil service documents.

After several hearings, the city fired Capobianco for his addiction and his association with a drug dealer, according to civil service documents.  Capobianco declined to undergo a lie detector test, which the city considered "insubordination."

Capobianco appealed the decision and in May, the Civil Service Commission ruled that the city had not given Capobianco a fair hearing.  It also said that Capobianco was treated more harshly than officers who had tested positive for using marijuana or cocaine and were not fired.

The city decided not to appeal the decision.  Curtatone recused himself from the issue, leaving it up to Bruce Desmond, the president of the Board of Aldermen.  After consulting with city attorneys and other members of the board, Desmond said he decided it would only cost the city more money to fight an appeal.

"The civil service decision was very strong in supporting Capobianco and very strong in condemning the city," Desmond said.  "There was no way in hell we were going to win that appeal.

"If there was something there, the district attorney's office or the attorney general's office would have taken the case," he added.  Both offices looked into the issue, but neither pressed charges.

"In a circumstance like this, if I had evidence that a police officer was out there trying to sell drugs as part of something, I definitely would have appealed it because that's a travesty," Desmond said.  "But it didn't exist."

Desmond said he has received assurances from the police chief that Capobianco would not be working in the schools.  He probably will be working as a rank-and-file patrolman, according to Police Chief Robert Bradley.  Capobianco returned to the payroll July 1 and is scheduled to resume active duty this Wednesday, Bradley said.

The commission also says in its decision that former mayor Dorothy A.  Kelly Gay's firing of Capobianco "raises concerns of a politically motivated decision."

On Thursday, however, Gay defended her decision, saying it had "nothing to do with politics."

Curtatone had defeated Gay in the primary in September, and he went on to win the general election in November.  Capobianco, who worked on his mayoral campaign, was fired the next month.

"The commission finds that the disparate treatment of [Capobianco] is based on his political support and his relation to Joseph Curtatone," the 16-page decision says.  Curtatone declined to comment on the case.

Over the past year and a half, Capobianco has dabbled in real estate.  He has married and has an 8-month-old child, Louison said.  Capobianco, a lifelong Somerville resident, did not respond to requests for comment.