The incident occurred more than three years ago, exceeding the 120-day internal investigation standard.
It's been three years since New Jersey state troopers allegedly assaulted a mentally impaired Oxford Township man, who had been a passenger in a parked car.The anniversary of the May 16, 2009, incident is frustrating for the victim's father, John Bayliss, because New Jersey State Police have yet to complete an internal investigation, preventing more troopers from being named in the lawsuit and possibly delaying the start of a trial.
"Frankly, I'm kind of aggravated," John Bayliss said.
State police have far exceeded the department's policy of completing internal investigations within 120 days, and the family's attorney said state officials are dragging out the investigation.
"They've had over 1,000 days to investigate this matter," attorney Robert Woodruff said.
State police spokesman Lt. Stephen Jones said the inquiry into Bayliss' allegations is "near the end of the investigations cycle." Typically, state police impose a 120-day investigation period, although it's not a hard-and-fast rule, he said.
Officials make exceptions to the 120-day benchmark for "very complex" cases, and those involving "allegations of criminal behavior," Jones said."For both sides, it's critical that these cases are thoroughly investigated," he said. "Speed is important, but speed needs to take a back seat to the integrity of the investigation."
The civil suit filed in January 2011 alleges
that state troopers used excessive force and then falsely imprisoned James Bayliss, now 24, on May 16, 2009. At the time, the younger Bayliss was the passenger of his vehicle when police
approached the car parked in a Mansfield
Township driveway.
After the driver passed field sobriety tests, police instructed James Bayliss to exit the car, according to court records. The driver told police that Bayliss struggled with processing information, due to a traumatic brain injury suffered in a 2005 car crash, according to the complaint.
Bayliss alleges
that Trooper R. Wambold Jr. threw him to the ground and began striking and kicking him and was soon joined by Trooper Keith Juckett and other state troopers.
Police charged James Bayliss with
obstruction of justice and resisting arrest, but those charges were dropped on Oct.
18, 2011, in Washington Township Municipal Court. Juckett and Wambold, whose first name has not been made available, could not be reached for comment.
The civil case does not yet have a trial date, Woodruff said, and he said he hasn't received any indication when the internal investigation will be completed.
Bayliss isn't alone in waiting on internal investigations beyond the 120-day limit, according to a recent report by New Jersey Comptroller Matthew Boxer. The report released April 17 reviewed a sample of state police misconduct cases randomly selected from January 2009 to November 2011."I don't know," he said. "They just keep saying, 'It's being investigated.'"
Only 10 of the 48 sample cases were completed within 120 days, according to the report.
These internal investigations are handled by the New Jersey Law Enforcement Office of Professional Standards, which is designed as an independent overseer of state police affairs. The office classifies incidents according to the nature of the complaint, sorting allegations of misconduct from issues of equal opportunity employment, for example.
Once categorized, the complaints are ultimately reviewed by the office superintendent, and receive one of four labels: substantiated, unfounded, exonerated or insufficient evidence. From there, disciplinary hearings may or may not follow, depending on the outcome of the investigation.
Pennsylvania State Police have a similar process, conducted by the state police's Internal Affairs Division, according to spokeswoman Maria Finn. There is no set time limit on the length of those investigations, but Finn echoed the notion that the duration hinges on whether the complaint involves allegations of criminal activity.
She added that internal investigations often depend on witness interviews, which can cause delays. Witnesses aren't legally required to cooperate, so finding people willing to talk can sometimes be challenging, she said.
Once these witnesses are found, the next problem is working around their schedule.
"It's based on their time schedule," Finn said. "So it could take a while."
In terms of Bayliss' complaints, Jones declined further comment on where the internal investigation stood, since it is ongoing. Woodruff said he doesn't anticipate the outcome of the investigation will affect his client's case, and said he has a video that clearly shows that his client was assaulted.
As for John Bayliss, he said he questions the length of the investigation as both a father and a taxpayer. He said that this isn't the first time he's been told that the inquiry into his son's case was nearing completion.
"I've heard that over and over," Bayliss said.
...
The New Jersey State Police Office of Professional Standards 2010 Annual Report, the most recent available.
In 2010, 848 incidents were reported to the office:
- 290 were misconduct allegations
- 164 were performance-related
- 14 were referred elsewhere
In 2009, 886 were reported, of which:
- 295 were misconduct allegations
- 183 were performance-related
- 25 were referred elsewhere
The status of all these cases was not available.