Philadelphia police officers Michael Gentile and Robert Tavarez, who allegedly mistreated a gay man, never received any LGBT-sensitivity training prior to the incident, according to a recent legal filing.
Luis A. Berrios 3d says the officers falsely arrested him in December 2010, after a neighbor summoned police to help calm a domestic dispute involving Berrios and his then-boyfriend.
Gentile is a seven-year veteran of the force, while Tavarez is a 13-year veteran.
According to a federal lawsuit filed by Berrios, Gentile repeatedly called him a “faggot,” hurled profanities at him and handcuffed him in a manner that injured his wrists.
Additionally, both officers allegedly conveyed misleading information to detectives, resulting in a “malicious prosecution” of Berrios, according to his lawsuit.
After his arrest, Berrios was charged with simple assault, reckless endangerment and possessing an instrument of crime. But all of the charges were eventually withdrawn.
In depositions released earlier this month, Gentile and Tavarez acknowledged they never received any LGBT-sensitivity training prior to the Berrios incident.
But both officers emphatically denied mistreating Berrios.
In September 2006, the Philadelphia Police Department began offering a two-hour LGBT-sensitivity seminar to all new recruits.
Last year, Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey declined to implement a recommendation from the city’s Police Advisory Commission to expand the seminar to 12 hours and offer it to all members of the force.
But this week, a police spokesperson said the department’s LGBT-sensitivity training isn’t limited to new recruits.
“Throughout various years, there are a number of different diversity topics that have been addressed and taught through municipal police officer certification training, which is done annually,” said Lt. John Stanford. “The most recent year [2014] contained a block which addressed policy changes in which our latest policy on interactions with transgender individuals was reviewed and explained to every member within the department. As far as future training, our department is always reviewing policies, procedures and training opportunities to address all issues of diversity, involving all people, that our officers will experience daily. To be specific, the department is looking into particular training for next year focused on bias policing, which again would encompass all people, genders, races, sexual orientations, etc.
“The department holds the right to send officers to any training it deems necessary for the performance of their duties in a professional and respectable manner. Therefore, if an officer needs to be disciplined, then that will take place. And if they need to be provided with additional training, whether internal or external, then that will be done as well.”
City attorneys have asked U.S. District Judge C. Darnell Jones 2d to dismiss Berrios’ lawsuit as meritless.
But in a 13-page brief filed Dec. 2, attorneys for Berrios said the case should go to a jury.
“The city has long had a policy of failing to properly train and/or punish police officers who brutalize, assault and make derogatory statements to members of the LGBT community,” the brief states. “The city has for well over a decade continued to let officers harass, wrongfully arrest, assault, beat, call names and otherwise fail to respect members of the LGBT community, and treat them the same as non-LGBT persons.”
At presstime, Jones hadn’t ruled on the city’s request to dismiss the case.
Efforts to settle the case with a modest payment to Berrios have been unavailing.