Slinger police officer under probe in misconduct charges resigns
Porcus Ubiquitous
By PETER MALLER
pma...@journalsentinel.com
Last Updated: Dec. 26, 2002
Slinger - A village police officer who was being investigated by a
special prosecutor in connection with allegations of misconduct in
office has resigned from his job, the village administrator said
Thursday.
The village has reached a resignation agreement with Richard A. Cohn,
who was suspended from his job after Police Chief Steven Braun accused
him of making "inconsistent statements" in police reports, Patrick
DeGrave said.
DeGrave refused to release details of the agreement - even though it's
already been approved by the Village Board in closed session - before
consulting Luis Arroyo, the attorney who represented the village in
negotiations that led to Cohn's resignation. Arroyo is on vacation and
will not return to his office until Monday, DeGrave said.
"Because we have a written agreement between the village and Officer
Cohn, I'm not going to release the agreement without Luis looking over
my shoulder," DeGrave said. "We have (legal) counsel, and I will take
advice from the counsel."
Cohn was suspended with pay in November, a year after being suspended
in another case that cast doubts over whether he had told the truth
about a tussle with a drunken driver.
Special prosecutor Paul Bucher said he will decide next week whether
to bring charges against Cohn.
"The case is pending and is still being reviewed," said Bucher, who
also is the Waukesha County district attorney. "We were waiting to see
his (future) employment status" with the village before making a
decision, he said.
Cohn, who has an unpublished phone number, could not be reached for
comment. He was not home when a reporter visited his house in Slinger
on Thursday.
Washington County District Attorney Todd Martens called for a special
prosecutor to consider the case after he reviewed an investigative
report prepared by the county Sheriff's Department.
Martens said then that criminal charges against Cohn should be
considered in connection with "things that Mr. Cohn did and did not do
while on duty."
Cohn has been the subject of three disciplinary investigations while a
Slinger police officer.
His six-day suspension in March 2001, stemming from the tussle with
the drunken driver, came after a felony charge was dismissed against
the driver, a Hales Corners man. Cohn stopped him just north of
Highway 60 on Feb. 15, 2001, on suspicion of drunken driving.
The man was charged with battering an officer, a felony, after Cohn
told an assistant district attorney that the driver punched him in the
face.
Cohn has maintained that he never said the driver hit him, but that
the driver did attack him.
According to police records, the man got out of his car and confronted
Cohn. The pair ended up on the ground, and Cohn used pepper spray
against the man, records say. Both men were taken to a hospital for
treatment.
Cohn's conduct in the case prompted Martens to say that he would stop
charging suspects in Cohn's cases unless his statements were
"independently corroborated."
In another matter, Braun charged Cohn earlier this year with
misappropriating village property and disobeying a direct order.
But on May 2 - when Cohn was scheduled to appear at a Village Police
Commission hearing on those charges - he took a 90-day leave of
absence, and the charges were dropped.
Cohn then told reporters that his temporary departure was just a
coincidence, not part of a deal for dropping charges.
Upset by Cohn's statement, Braun considered bringing new charges
against Cohn, this time for violating the settlement agreement. But
Braun said he finally decided against pursuing the matter because he
didn't want the village to incur additional legal fees.
A version of this story appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on
Dec. 27, 2002.
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