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Mount Vernon Mayor Promises Review of Controversial Detective
By
George Joseph
Published Mar 19, 2020
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(Source: Facebook page of Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard)
By
George Joseph
Published Mar 19, 2020
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The mayor of Mount Vernon says her administration is open to investigating a controversial detective who has been dogged for years by allegations of corruption and brutality.
Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard, who took office in January, promised a full review of the allegations against Det. Camilo Antonini, which include allegations of stealing money, beating up residents, and collaborating with drug dealers.
“We’ll have to go back and look at that,” Patterson-Howard said in response to a Gothamist/WNYC investigation of the allegations. “And if there are concerns, then we have no problem turning those cases over to the county DA’s office, or to the state AG’s office, or to any federal investigative authority, or doing any of the investigations in house that we need to do.”
Reached by phone, Detective Antonini declined to answer specific questions. “When the truth comes out, I hope that you put as much effort into that as you are into reporting this whole story,” he said before he hung up.
Most of the publicly-known accusations against the detective stem from a 2015 lawsuit filed by Officer Murashea Bovell, a Mount Vernon police whistleblower who said he was harassed because of his complaints about police misconduct. His allegations are mirrored in a series of confidential civilian complaints from 2014 and 2015.
Bovell lost his suit due to procedural failures, and the department dismissed the civilian allegations, a majority of which were initially investigated by Antonini’s direct supervisor.
“I think in previous administrations we did miss opportunities to deal with some police officer misconduct,” said Patterson-Howard. “But I can promise you in this administration it will be dealt with and it will be dealt with quickly.”
Joseph Murray, Officer Bovell’s attorney, praised the mayor’s announcement, calling it “long overdue.”
“For the mayor to step up and make this promise will be fantastic, not just for the Mount Vernon police department, but for law enforcement across this country who are wrestling with this issue of how to police the police,” he said.
Murray cautioned, however, that his client would be concerned if the mayor simply passed off a potential investigation to the Westchester District Attorney’s Office.
The attorney claimed that Bovell gave prosecutors evidence about other officers’ knowledge of misconduct last February. But he claimed that in a December 2019 meeting, Thomas Drake, a DA investigator, told him that the DA’s office had still not conducted further inquiries based on the evidence.
“His office dropped the ball because we gave him credible evidence of police officers who witnessed criminal activity, and they’ve done nothing with it,” Murray said.
Drake, the DA investigator, declined Gothamist/WNYC’s request for comment. In an interview, District Attorney Anthony Scarpino said he could not comment on the Antonini case specifically, but defended his office’s record.
“We need to have witnesses that can give us sufficient information to prove a person beyond a reasonable doubt. If a case doesn’t come to fruition, that’s the only reason why it doesn’t come to fruition,” said Scarpino, who is up for re-election this year. “The fact that he says he has provided information, doesn’t mean it’s information we can prosecute upon.”
The mayor’s comments come at a pivotal political moment for Mount Vernon and Westchester County at large.
Patterson-Howard took office following months of in-fighting within the police department and several corruption scandals that took down the city’s former mayor and corporation counsel.
Patterson-Howard appointed a new police commissioner and has promised to establish a civilian complaint review board, an idea which Mount Vernon political officials have been floating for years.
Scarpino, the Westchester District Attorney, is facing a tough Democratic primary challenge from Mimi Rocah, a former New York federal prosecutor and MSNBC legal analyst.
Damon Jones, a police reform activist, says the issue of police accountability could play a major role in the Democratic primary, which is scheduled for this June. Jones has endorsed Rocah, but says that his organization, Blacks In Law Enforcement of America, has not yet done so.
“With the many complaints from the public about the lack of oversight in this upcoming election, the voters will have a say on whether they want to see the same old, same old, or if they want to see what justice looks like from the District Attorney’s office,” said Jones, who is also the publisher of Black Westchester Magazine.
In the interview, Scarpino noted that he has taken on dozens of public integrity cases in his tenure, including several high-profile police cases. In January, Scarpino’s office indicted a Mount Vernon police officer, who is accused of body-slamming a handcuffed prisoner.
If you have a tip about a prosecutor's office, a law enforcement agency or the courts, email reporter George Joseph at [email protected]. He is on Twitter @georgejoseph94 and Instagram @georgejoseph81. You can also text or call him with tips at 929-486-4865. He is also on the encrypted phone app Signal with the same phone number.
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George Joseph
George covers Brooklyn for THE CITY with a focus on criminal justice and housing. He previously worked for WNYC and Gothamist, and has published stories with NPR, ProPublica, Esquire, and The Intercept among other outlets.
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