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Plenty evidence after 6-month probe, but no criminal charge against Jupiter Police Captain Reggie ScurryPosted by Jose Lambiet. Tuesday 18 January 2011 3:54 pm Reggie Scurry (The Palm Beach Post)
After a six-month investigation in which several Jupiter Police officers may have lied and tampered with evidence to protect one of their own, State Attorney Mike McAuliffe opted not to charge criminally a controversial police captain accused of causing a gash to his wife’s head.
JPD Capt. Reggie Scurry was placed on leave with pay in June when the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office’s violent crimes unit was called in for the domestic violence probe.
The investigation showed that Scurry’s wife, Cobi, told a nurse who stitched up her head at the Jupiter Medical Center that Reggie pushed her out of their car during an argument outside the house party of another Jupiter policeman, according to a memo from the Office of the State Attorney obtained by Page2Live.
Cobi, 33, told the nurse she fell from the car and onto the driveway, injuring her head. And Reggie, 35, allegedly called her “heffer” as she lay on the ground! Still, he returned to work Thursday after McAuliffe’s office notified the JPD of the decision not to charge him.
Scurry, a former Jupiter High football star who headed the criminal investigations division before his suspension, has been assigned to desk duties. He’s now under the JPD’s Internal Affairs scrutiny. If found to have violated department policies, he faces disciplinary action could include a suspension, demotion or firing.
Chief Frank Kitzerow, who promoted Scurry despite his role in a well-publicized off-duty bar fight at Abacoa in 2007, said he doesn’t believe the State Attorney’s memo will cause citizens to look at his department differently.
“Obviously, we have issues regarding some of the officers named in (the memo),” Kitzerow said. “But the community understands we stand for integrity and honesty.”
McAuliffe, who’s up for reelection next year, refused to discuss why he decided not to prosecute Scurry or go after witnesses who lied.
Here is what’s undeniable about the Scurry saga, according to the memo: Late on June 12, Reggie and Cobi Scurry showed up at the house of JPD Officer Telly Tyson about 11:30 p.m. to watch the broadcast of an ultimate fighting event. All guests, except for one, were Jupiter cops or spouses of cops.
Witnesses at two gas stations near Tyson’s house called 911 an hour later to report a woman driving a car while bleeding from the head. By 1 a.m., Cobi Scurry was at the emergency room, pulling her hand away from her husband’s when he tried to hold it.
The rest of the story? Depends whom you ask, since no one at the party seems to have seen much!
And that’s one reason why Reggie Scurry remains free of criminal charges.
And that’s one reason why Reggie Scurry remains free of criminal charges.
Among the inconsistencies:
– Cobi changed her statement several times, according to Chief Assistant State Attorney Elizabeth Parker’s memo. At one point, the woman claimed being so drunk that she blacked out several times. Surveillance tapes at the gas stations showed her behaving like a sober person.
– Reggie Scurry told PBSO he doesn’t “remember” his wife falling at the party or calling her a heffer but remembers having an argument. He changed three times the statements about his whereabouts after the party. Each version was debunked by cell-phone records. “Cell tower records are evidence that Reggie Scurry was not truthful,” Parker wrote.
– As his wife was being treated, Scurry and one of his officers, Jason Van Steenburgh, drove to the gas station where her car was parked. Both cops denied removing evidence from the vehicle. Yet, surveillance camera videoed Van Steenburgh picking up something inside then throwing it out. He invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself in follow up interviews with PBSO. Reggie Scurry is seen cleaning up blood from the seats, disrupting a de facto crime scene.
In the end, Parker considered charging Reggie Scurry with domestic violence but couldn’t because Cobi, the victim, was deemed uncooperative. A testimony by the nurse she confided into would not be admissible in court.
Parker looked into charging him with perjury, a felony, but couldn’t because PBSO detectives failed to place Scurry under oath.
Finally, Parker pushed to have him charged with lying to police during an investigation.
That, too, was nixed during a meeting with McAuliffe. Lying to police is prosecuted only if the false information is provided during a felony investigation, and domestic violence is a misdemeanor!
Three years ago, the aftermaths of a bar fight between Scurry and a 23-year-old, Gregory Holzer, tore the JPD apart. One cop, John Banister, quit his job after claiming that Scurry and other officers twisted the facts so that Scurry would appear to be the victim.
Holzer, who had a criminal record and may have used a racial slur, was charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and faced 30 years in the slammer after leaving Scurry bloodied. The office of then-State Attorney Barry Krisher dropped the charges against Holzer when The Palm Beach Post started questioning the facts of the incident.
Last week, the State Attorney’s office outraged Page2Live readers after refusing to prosecute a PBSO deputy, Cheryl Griffin, maimed in a boat crash during which she allegedly was drunk.
And don't forget to check the SAO reasons:
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