Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Report: Chandler police official was disorderly, disruptive

Chandler Assistant Police Chief David Lind committed disorderly conduct and seriously disruptive behavior when he went into the stands at a Tempe high school and berated a volleyball teammate of his daughter's, a Tempe police report says.

On Sept. 29, as the Perry High School volleyball team was preparing to compete at Marcos De Niza High School, Lind used a "booming voice while standing two to three feet away" from the teammate and her coach for about three minutes, the report says.

The coach, Shasta Millhollin, and the student sobbed and cried. The coach, who has since accepted Lind's apology, has declined to assist in prosecution, but the girl and her mother desire prosecution, the report says.
The report has been submitted to another city attorney's office for review, since Lind formerly worked for Tempe, said Tempe Police Chief Tom Ryff. The prosecutor is empowered with filing charges.

In a statement to police, in which she also said she feared Lind would come closer to her as he screamed, the girl said Lind accused her of bullying his daughter and threatened her.

She quoted him as saying, "you better start telling the truth young lady! You three-way called people to gang up on my child, and when I find out all of this is true I'm going to Dan Serrano (Perry High School principal) and have you suspended because you bully my daughter! This is bull----!"

The girl said that she had contacted teammates earlier that day to discuss ways to "respect each other more" and that Lind's daughter felt attacked.

Lind also said threatening things to Millhollin, she said in the report. She said Lind told her, "I am going to go to the board and things are going to get ugly! I will give you the chance to take care of this but if you don't I will take action!"

She said when she got home Lind called her and he apologized, and she accepted.

"He was still very upset about his daughter's feelings being hurt and wanted the girls he believed to be at fault to apologize to his daughter for their actions," she told police.

At the same time, Millhollin said, Lind was willing to apologize to the girl and her parents for his behavior. It is unclear whether this took place.

The incident was filmed by high school surveillance equipment, the report says. It also says that Lind never identified himself as a police officer.

Lind supervisors at least half of Chandler's police force, including the public information office.

The Rev. Oscar Tillman has become involved since the girl who was yelled at is African American.

"This is a deputy police chief of a city that is growing like Chandler," Tillman said last week "He goes to the point of verbally attacking a teenager . . . He goes after a kid at school . . .

"How much respect can (they) teenagers have for law enforcement?" Tillman asked.

Lind, one of two assistant chiefs who report directly to Police Chief Sherry Kiyler, was reprimanded and suspended without pay for two weeks in 2010 after conducting an affair that included trysts in hotel rooms while on duty.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/10/12/20111012chandler-assistant-police-chief-investigation1014.html

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