Decry Captain's Transfer: Troopers: Cover-up In Sweeney Case

Decry Captain's Transfer
Troopers: Cover-up In Sweeney Case

The union representing State Troopers last week called for an independent investigation into allegations that police brass concealed a 911 call and other records of a domestic violence incident at U.S. Rep. John E. Sweeney's home last December.

DANIEL DeFEDERICIS: Report was suppressed. "They can't investigate themselves," contended Daniel M. De Federicis, president of the New York State Troopers Police Benevolent Association. "We don't trust them to do a complete and accurate investigation, because this may have been at the highest levels."

'Knocking Her Around'

Mr. De Federicis's call for an outside review comes after veteran union delegate Capt. Frank Pace was transferred for his purported involvement in leaking the report, which stated that Mr. Sweeney's wife, Gaia, told authorities the Congressman was "knocking her around the house."

The union president and others have alleged that the details of the 911 call were suppressed because of fear that it would negatively affect Mr. Sweeney's bid for re-election.

State Police officials have acknowledged that they took measures to "secure the document and limit general access to it," according to the Albany Times-Union, which first published the report. The file also stated that Mr. Sweeney grabbed his wife "by the neck" and pushed her around the house during the late-night altercation.

Political pundits have said that a backlash and negative press about the 911 call contributed heavily to the Republican Congressman's loss to Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand Nov. 7.

According to Mr. De Federicis, Captain Pace is being retaliated against because of his vocal criticism of management in past cases, as well as his role supervising a felony assault investigation involving Mr. Sweeney's son in 2004.

Mr. De Federicis pointed out that the Albany Times-Union already stated that Captain Pace was not its source. "He's the scapegoat," the union leader argued. "They didn't even conduct an investigation. It's kind of a witch hunt."

Mr. Sweeney has close ties to State Police brass, according to Mr. De Federicis. For years, the Congressman exercised at the private gym at the State Police Academy, Mr. De Federicis said. "This really smells, and anyone who looks at it agrees," he asserted. "Very few civilians have access to the State Police Academy." Captain Pace, who had been in charge of 80 officers at the state's Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation, has been transferred to a post in Fonda, a remote station in Fulton County. "He's being wronged," Mr. De Federicis argued. "At very high levels of this agency, we have questions of how honest they are."