By Kyle Stucker
SEABROOK — Three suspended
Seabrook officers have earned a total of nearly $40,000 in wages while the
state has investigated police brutality claims against them.
Officers Mark Richardson, Adam
Laurent and Keith Dietenhofer have all been on administrative leave since Jan.
7, which is one day after police station surveillance video depicting them
engaged in an alleged November 2009 assault was posted by the alleged victim on
YouTube.
Between Jan. 7 and April 10,
Laurent earned $12,899.46, Dietenhofer earned $12,806.54, and Richardson earned
$11,745.69, according to payroll data provided by Town Manager Bill Manzi.
Manzi said the average annual patrolman salary in Seabrook is about $47,300.
All three were on paid
administrative leave during that period. Richardson was placed on unpaid
administrative leave on April 11, a day after Rockingham Superior Court
announced that he had been indicted on a felony count of simple assault.
The Nov. 11, 2009, video shows
the officers leading Michael Bergeron Jr., a Seabrook man who was 19 years old
at the time, down a hallway within the station before an officer reported to be
Richardson can be seen slamming Bergeron head-first into the wall of the cell
block.
Bergeron, who was in the
station due to a driving while intoxicated arrest, is helped to his feet in the
video, and the officers continue to lead him down the hallway before Bergeron
falls on the floor just off camera.
The officers reported to be
Laurent and Dietenhofer can be seen laughing in the video as Laurent allegedly
pepper-sprays Bergeron while he was on the floor.
Senior Assistant Attorney
General Jane Young has said charges were only pursued against Richardson and
Laurent because they were the ones "who appeared to have taken
action" during the alleged assault.
The grand jury chose not to
indict Laurent, however, and Young said he "will not face a criminal
charge" for allegedly using oleoresin capsicum, commonly referred to as
pepper spray, to subdue Bergeron during the incident.
Laurent and Dietenhofer are
still on paid administrative leave.
Manzi said the three officers'
leaves have also created an increase in overtime paid out by the Seabrook
Police Department, although Manzi declined to release exact details of the
overtime paid to cover the officers' shifts. He said releasing that financial
information could indicate that certain shifts aren't being fully covered,
which he said could compromise law enforcement activities and the department's
overall effectiveness.
"Depending on the shift
involved, coverage would be augmented by sworn administrative staff,
detectives, et cetera," said Manzi. "However, to reveal the exact
amount of hours of such overlapping coverage would provide public details of
anti-crime coverage to the detriment of public safety, which we decline to
do."
As of Tuesday, Manzi said the
total overtime expended by the department in the first quarter of 2014 was
$73,874.30. That is a sharp increase compared to the overtime paid out during
the same period in 2013, during which $49,556.10 worth of overtime was
expended.
A number of factors outside of
the officers' leaves play a role in the increase, though, according to Manzi.
Those factors include a harsher winter with a significantly greater number of
snowstorms as well as several major incidents that required police presence,
including a standoff just over the town line in Hampton Falls.
This year's first quarter
overtime is also higher than the amount paid out during the first quarters of
both 2011 and 2012, which had $58,185 and $56,698 in overtime, respectively,
according to Manzi.
Young has said the
investigation into the officers is now a "pending matter in court"
and that she can't comment on the investigation because of this.
The town has contracted
Municipal Resources, an outside firm, for a maximum of $5,000 to head its own
separate noncriminal investigations into the officers. Police Chief Lee
Bitomske has said the scope of the investigation "will include everything
that happened that night, everyone who was working and anything else they find
out."
Bitomske has said he couldn't
confirm whether the administrative structure will be evaluated to determine how
an incident of this nature went unnoticed by town and department officials for
five years, though he said the investigators wouldn't go in with a narrow
focus. The investigation, according to Bitomske, will also help answer why
Richardson never filed a report after the alleged assault, which is something
that Laurent, Dietenhofer and another officer on duty did.
The charge against Richardson
carries an enhanced maximum penalty of two to five years in state prison and up
to a $4,000 fine because Richardson was on duty when he allegedly slammed
Bergeron, now 23, into the wall.
Richardson is scheduled for
arraignment in Rockingham Superior Court at 1 p.m. on April 24.