Saratoga County DA: No proof police broke law during 2013 chase of Darryl Mount Jr. – The Daily Gazette - The Daily Gazette
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Saratoga County District Attorney Karen Heggen has declined the City Council’s request for her office to convene a grand jury to conduct a noncriminal investigation of the city Police Department’s actions in the May 2014 death of Darryl Mount Jr.
Heggen’s decision angered the new Democratic mayor and public safety commissioner, and a Black Lives Matters activist who’s organized protests over the past two years about questions surrounding Mount’s death.
But Heggen — in a letter to Mayor Ron Kim that he received Thursday — said there’s no evidence that any member of the Police Department committed a crime on Aug. 13, 2013.
That’s the morning Mount, a biracial man, suffered injuries that led to his death. Mount spent nine months in a coma before passing away.
Investigators said Mount fell from scaffolding in an alleyway. But his family and members of the BLM community contend Mount’s injuries were consistent with a beating.
Heggen said all of the available information demonstrated the police acted appropriately that night, while the evidence suggested Mount broke the law, when he allegedly assaulted his girlfriend.
Police said they observed Mount, at about 3 a.m., allegedly shove his girlfriend‘s head into a brick wall prior to their pursuit of him.
The council also asked Heggen to conduct a noncriminal investigation of possible misconduct by then–Police Chief Gregory Veitch, who admitted in a 2017 deposition to misleading a reporter about an internal investigation regarding the police’s pursuit of Mount.
Veitch retired in 2019, and the fact that he is no longer with the agency would make it “improper to convene a grand jury to consider allegations against [him,]” Heggen said.
Moreover, an investigation to consider Veitch’s removal or disciplinary action against him would be moot since he’s no longer serving, the DA said.
Meanwhile, Heggen said, Mount would have been charged with harassment and/or assault in the third degree, resisting arrest and/or obstruction of government administration.
“At the time of flight from police, it is my understanding that Mr. Mount was on parole pursuant to a felony conviction and his conduct that evening would allegedly put him in violation of the terms and conditions of his parole,” Heggen wrote.
Heggen said police and her office hadn’t sought charges against Mount because of his serious injuries and his girlfriend‘s reluctance to cooperate with investigators.
“I recognize that the events that occurred on August 31, 2013, have sparked much discussion in your community,” Heggen wrote to Kim.
“However, I am ethically bound to exercise my discretion and responsibility as the Saratoga County District Attorney to present cases to a grand jury only in those instances where I have a good faith belief that either a crime has been committed, or a current public servant has engaged in misconduct, nonfeasance or neglect. For all of the foregoing reasons, I decline to present this case to the grand jury at this time.”
On Jan. 4, during the council’s first meeting of the year with four new Democrats, the panel adopted a resolution to ask Heggen’s office to convene a grand jury investigation into Mount’s death.
Kim said he’s disappointed but not surprised by Heggen’s decision.
“We said the community needs an investigation, and she has the authority to do it,” Kim said, adding that Heggen’s inaction was “not what leadership is about.”
Kim said the council will now consider turning to the state Attorney General’s office to see if that agency has an interest in investigating the matter.
Public Safety Commissioner James Montagnino said he was also disappointed.
“People in the community have been hungering for answers for a very long time,” he said. “And my reading of an Article 190 of the criminal procedure law would have allowed a report based on a grand jury investigation that would include or could include recommendations for future policies, with a goal of avoiding repetition of a negative result.”
Montagnino said he plans to issue a written report to the council of his findings about what led to Mount’s death “sooner rather than later.” The report will encompass filings that are available to the public in a civil case in New York State Supreme Court that Mount’s estate has launched against the city.
The case is set for trial in November, and it includes more than 1,000 pages of depositions, documents, video and other evidentiary materials.
“This way, people can read it, digest it, draw their own conclusions and make comments in whatever form they choose,” Montagnino said of his looming report.
Heggen said she found nothing in the civil filings that would support convening a grand jury, but she said she looked forward to Montagnino’s written report on the matter.
The DA noted that the most common function of a grand jury is to determine whether there is reasonable cause to believe a person or persons committed a crime.
A grand jury, as the council requested, cannot be convened to decide a criminal matter if there is “no modicum of evidence” to indicate that any member of the city Police Department ever engaged in criminal conduct the morning Mount was injured, she said.
The city Police Department posted video online that captured the incident involving Mount and his girlfriend, along with the actions of the police in response to observing Mount‘s actions towards his girlfriend, Heggen said.
Heggen also said the grand jury should not be used as a substitute for a policy-making board.
It is well within the council and Montagnino’s power to conduct a review and determine that city police should implement a different internal affairs or public integrity unit, Heggen said.
Lexis Figuereo, a leader of the city’s BLM movement, said he was also disappointed but not surprised by Heggen’s decision.
“She’s the same one who has charges that are going against us right now,” he said of his and 12 other protesters’ warrant arrests from a July protest in the city.
Figuereo said Heggen’s decision flew in the face of the more than 19,000 people from around the country, including Saratoga Springs, who signed a petition calling for a grand jury investigation.
“Nobody has answers,” he said. “There’s been unrest in Saratoga Springs for almost two years now surrounding Darryl Mount’s death.”
The activist asserted Heggen’s decision was politically driven.
“She doesn’t care for Ron Kim or any of the Democrats who are trying to petition for her to open this investigation,” Figuereo said of the Republican prosecutor.
“We’re going to make sure that we get Karen Heggen out of office this year, when she’s going to be up for reelection,” he said. “For sure. Especially with this.”
Contact reporter Brian Lee at [email protected] or 518-419-9766.
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source: https://dailygazette.com/2022/02/03/saratoga-county-da-no-proof-police-broke-law-during-2013-chase-of-darryl-mount-jr/
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