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A suspended Greenburgh police officer said he met a dominatrix to recruit her as an informant but never engaged in any sexual or kinky activities with her.
Erik Ward's first public account of his dealings with dominatrix Gina Pane came at a disciplinary hearing last night before members of the Greenburgh Town Board, who are serving as the Board of Police Commissioners. The board will consider departmental charges filed against Ward by Chief John Kapica, and if it finds the officer guilty, he could be further suspended or fired.
Pane was arrested Jan. 21 on marijuana and driving-while-ability-impaired charges after, police said, she was smoking marijuana in the parking lot of the Greenburgh Multiplex on Saw Mill River Road. She said that police officers harassed her later at headquarters after learning she was a dominatrix and that Ward arranged to meet her the following day under the guise of trying to recruit her to become an informant.
Pane said he suggested he could help get her charges dismissed if she would act out a fetish of his. Pane said they went into a Greenwich, Conn., nature preserve, where she defecated as he masturbated.
But Ward insisted last night that his behavior was appropriate for the recruitment of an informant. On questioning by prosecutor Vincent Toomey, Ward said there was no discussion of Pane's occupation or sexual activity in the initial conversations they had at the theater parking lot, at police headquarters or over the phone setting up the meeting. He said he never talked with her about his sexual preferences, as she contends.
Ward said they met the following afternoon, even though it was his day off, because he wanted to talk to her, before an attorney or her family talked her out of becoming an informant, about a drug dealer she claimed she could set up.
The officer said they sat in his car in the parking lot of the Arrowwood conference center near her Rye Brook home. He had her call a ******* dealer she knew because he hoped she would set up a drug buy in Greenburgh.
The only conversation of a sexual nature was when she would describe fetishes her clients enjoyed. He said he didn't know if she was teasing him or just entertaining herself, but that he didn't try to stop her.
"Sometimes when you have an informant who wants to talk, you let them talk," he said.
They were waiting for the drug dealer to call back when both began feeling uneasy in the parking lot, he said. They drove around and eventually ended up in the woods, he said, but he told her he wanted to leave because it was too secluded.
At that point in the testimony, the hearing was adjourned. It will resume at 7 tonight.
Ward insisted he never told Pane he could get her charges dismissed. The only thing he promised her, he said, was that if her information led to an arrest, he would notify prosecutors of her cooperation so they could consider reducing the charges against her.
Toomey suggested that Ward's violations of departmental procedures in meeting with Pane the way he did warranted his dismissal from the force because they put the town and its Police Department in an "indefensible" position against her claims.
Ward said he took into account her profession but that it didn't dissuade him from meeting with her or excite him.
"We've locked up some very strange people. A dominatrix is like a prostitute to me. We've locked up many prostitutes," he said. "A dominatrix didn't really move me at all."
Ward was suspended with pay from his $81,954-a-year job and his street-crime unit temporarily disbanded after Pane filed a formal complaint with police officials that week.
The six-year veteran was eventually arrested on a charge of official misconduct, a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in the county jail. After his arrest, Ward's suspension became without pay. His nonjury trial in that case resumes Monday.
Neither Pane nor her lawyers attended last night's hearing. She is still fighting a misdemeanor marijuana charge, and her lawyers have announced plans to sue the town for $2 million.
Newshawk: User - 420 Magazine
Source: The Journal News
Pubdate: 30 November 2006
Author: Jonathan Bandler
Copyright: 2006 The Journal News
Contact: jbandler@lohud.com
Website: THE JOURNAL NEWS: LOHUD.COM
Erik Ward's first public account of his dealings with dominatrix Gina Pane came at a disciplinary hearing last night before members of the Greenburgh Town Board, who are serving as the Board of Police Commissioners. The board will consider departmental charges filed against Ward by Chief John Kapica, and if it finds the officer guilty, he could be further suspended or fired.
Pane was arrested Jan. 21 on marijuana and driving-while-ability-impaired charges after, police said, she was smoking marijuana in the parking lot of the Greenburgh Multiplex on Saw Mill River Road. She said that police officers harassed her later at headquarters after learning she was a dominatrix and that Ward arranged to meet her the following day under the guise of trying to recruit her to become an informant.
Pane said he suggested he could help get her charges dismissed if she would act out a fetish of his. Pane said they went into a Greenwich, Conn., nature preserve, where she defecated as he masturbated.
But Ward insisted last night that his behavior was appropriate for the recruitment of an informant. On questioning by prosecutor Vincent Toomey, Ward said there was no discussion of Pane's occupation or sexual activity in the initial conversations they had at the theater parking lot, at police headquarters or over the phone setting up the meeting. He said he never talked with her about his sexual preferences, as she contends.
Ward said they met the following afternoon, even though it was his day off, because he wanted to talk to her, before an attorney or her family talked her out of becoming an informant, about a drug dealer she claimed she could set up.
The officer said they sat in his car in the parking lot of the Arrowwood conference center near her Rye Brook home. He had her call a ******* dealer she knew because he hoped she would set up a drug buy in Greenburgh.
The only conversation of a sexual nature was when she would describe fetishes her clients enjoyed. He said he didn't know if she was teasing him or just entertaining herself, but that he didn't try to stop her.
"Sometimes when you have an informant who wants to talk, you let them talk," he said.
They were waiting for the drug dealer to call back when both began feeling uneasy in the parking lot, he said. They drove around and eventually ended up in the woods, he said, but he told her he wanted to leave because it was too secluded.
At that point in the testimony, the hearing was adjourned. It will resume at 7 tonight.
Ward insisted he never told Pane he could get her charges dismissed. The only thing he promised her, he said, was that if her information led to an arrest, he would notify prosecutors of her cooperation so they could consider reducing the charges against her.
Toomey suggested that Ward's violations of departmental procedures in meeting with Pane the way he did warranted his dismissal from the force because they put the town and its Police Department in an "indefensible" position against her claims.
Ward said he took into account her profession but that it didn't dissuade him from meeting with her or excite him.
"We've locked up some very strange people. A dominatrix is like a prostitute to me. We've locked up many prostitutes," he said. "A dominatrix didn't really move me at all."
Ward was suspended with pay from his $81,954-a-year job and his street-crime unit temporarily disbanded after Pane filed a formal complaint with police officials that week.
The six-year veteran was eventually arrested on a charge of official misconduct, a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in the county jail. After his arrest, Ward's suspension became without pay. His nonjury trial in that case resumes Monday.
Neither Pane nor her lawyers attended last night's hearing. She is still fighting a misdemeanor marijuana charge, and her lawyers have announced plans to sue the town for $2 million.
Newshawk: User - 420 Magazine
Source: The Journal News
Pubdate: 30 November 2006
Author: Jonathan Bandler
Copyright: 2006 The Journal News
Contact: jbandler@lohud.com
Website: THE JOURNAL NEWS: LOHUD.COM
