15 Internal Affairs Investigations in Two Years and Officer Sterling Wheaten Is Still Employed

Sterling Wheaten, a K9 handler for the Atlantic
City, New Jersey, Police Department, has a special talent for
making unpleasant waves without consequences—so far. Only five
years on the job, and he’s been named in half-a-dozen lawsuits, and
investigated (but “exonerated”) repeatedly by Internal Affairs.
Now, just months after siccing his dog on a man who was already
lying on his face on the ground after being pounded by other police
officers (see the image at right), he’s accused of jumping and
arresting a woman because she videorecorded him roughing up her
brother.

From
Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia:

[Janine] Costantino says Wheaten arrested her brother after he
got into an altercation with another patron.

“Wheaten had my brother in a headlock and his arms were limp and
his legs were weak,” Costantino said. “I screamed out that it was
police brutality and that I was videotaping it all.”
That’s when she claims Wheaten turned on her.

“He was running at me and he says, ‘Give me the phone you
b**h,’” she said. “He grabbed my bun and he was slamming my
forehead into the floor.”

Wheaten then arrested Costantino but court records show the
charges against her were later dropped. Costantino says she’ll
never forget what one officer told her the night of the
incident.

“He’s like, ‘Oh, that’s your first mistake,’” she said. “You
shouldn’t be videotaping police officers.”

Wheaten is one of six officers under investigation for using
excessive force against 20-year-old David Connor Castellani.
Castellani had been ejected from a casino for being under age.
Surveillance video of the incident (see below) shows him mouthing
off at the cops as he walked away. Apparently wounded in their
pride, the cops rushed him (he was across the street) and laid into
him with fists, feet, and batons. Late-arriver Wheaten let his dog
do the work after Castellani was down.

From Wallace McKelvey at
pressofAtlanticCity:

Atlantic City officials and activists called for increased
scrutiny Tuesday as more allegations of excessive force surfaced
about one of six police officers recorded on video allegedly
beating a 20-year-old Linwood man this summer.

David Connor Castellani filed a lawsuit against the city, its
police department and six officers Tuesday in U.S. District Court
in Camden.

On June 15, Castellani was removed from the Tropicana Casino and
Resort. A short time later, at 3:10 a.m., Tropicana surveillance
video obtained via subpoena showed him being tackled by police,
with a K-9 released on him. Castellani’s injuries required 200
stitches and ongoing physical therapy, family members say. …

At least six other lawsuits filed in the last three years allege
that Sterling Wheaten, the K-9 officer seen in the video, abused
his power during the course of arrests. Wheaten graduated from the
Atlantic County Police K-9 Academy this May. Tracy Riley, his
attorney, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. One
of the lawsuits was dismissed and another settled out of court.

That article details the six lawsuits naming Wheaten and
predating the Castellani lawsuit, alleging such acts as punching,
beating, and throwing people down stairs. One plaintiff also claims
that Wheaten attacked him with a police dog.

The Comcast report refers to “an internal police report which
shows that Atlantic City Police internal affairs investigated
Wheaten 15 times between 2008 and 2010 for allegations of
misconduct, some of those allegations being excessive force. Each
time however, the department concluded Wheaten did nothing wrong or
that there was not enough evidence to clearly prove he did
something wrong.”

McKelvey says there are “21 complaints against Wheaten over a
three-year period” and that complainants included then-Chief John
Mooney and Deputy Chief Henry White. White alleged excessive force
and Mooney complained of “simple assault and standard of
conduct.”

The former police chief and the deputy chief complained
about Wheaten and he’s still on the job? You have to wonder just
what kind of photos he has filed away. And how long the people of
Atlantic City will have to tolerate him and his buddies.

Update: Costantino’s phone is MIA, along with her
video. According to a pressofAtlanticCity
report:

“Wheaten stood up and handed the phone to a smaller man in a
plaid shirt and said, ‘you got this?’,” the suit reads. “To which
the man in the plaid shirt said in sum and substance, ‘yah, I’ll
take care of it. Don’t worry’.”

That man, also unidentified in the suit, allegedly put the phone
in his pocket and walked away. The phone was never recovered after
the arrest.

So we’ll have to make do with video of the Castellani
incident.