The Philadelphia Inquirer
reports on Officer Thomas Tolstoy, who was accused by three
women of sexually assaulting them in similar but separate
incidents, while acting as a police officer, and how he may be
close to returning to patrol the streets of Philaldephia. Tolstoy
was pulled from duty, with pay, after a woman who landed in a
hospital after her encounter with Tolstoy in October 2008. She only
knew his first name, Tom, but he had given her his phone number as
well.
Six years later, there has been no prosecution of Tolstoy. The
Inquirer explains the details, including accusations that
media reporting tainted the case and what made the woman accusing
Tolstoy an unreliable witness in the eyes of prosecutors. The
article is titled “Why an accused Phila. officer is still on the
force” but actually only provides an explanation of why he may not
have been prosecuted despite being investigated by local and
federal authorities.
Why his return to the force was guaranteed when the statute of
limitations on the alleged crimes ran out wasn’t explained.
Via the Inquirer:
Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey said he believed that –
lack of prosecution notwithstanding – there might be truth to the
accusations against Tolstoy. But the absence of corroborating
evidence and the role allegedly played by the reporters meant that
“the likelihood of being able to do anything with the case is very,
very remote.”If the allegations against Tolstoy are true but the
investigation itself became compromised, Ramsey said, an officer
who should have been removed from the force will still patrol the
streets.“The odds are, I’m stuck with a guy who shouldn’t be a cop,”
Ramsey said.
Ramsey is stuck with an alleged sex predator who could’ve easily
been expelled had the same accusations been made against him as an
undergraduate at an American college because Ramsey does not
have the power to fire Tolstoy. The police commissioner of the
Philadelphia Police Department can not summarily dismiss someone
accused of multiple sexual assaults who is permitted by law to use
violence to gain compliance from the residents of Philadelphia.
Even when Ramsey tries to fire problem cops, he usually fails. A
cop caught on camera hitting a woman for no reason
got his job back after an arbitration hearing last year. Union
protections
prevent Ramsey and police chiefs and city leaders around the
country from being able to effectively discipline and terminate
problem cops.
With no guarantee the cop you encounter on the street isn’t like
this one, how can you be asked
to blindly comply? People who encounter cops deserve to get
home safe at night too.
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