HomeMy WebLinkAboutClosure 20TR-0005 w Rebuttal_RedactedDATE:
TO:
FROM:
SUBJECT:
City of Petaluma, California
Memorandum
Police Department, 969 Petaluma Boulevard No rth , Petaluma, CA 94952
(707) 778 -43 72 Fax (707) 778 -4502 E-mail: po/iceadmin@c ityofpetaluma.org
December 28 , 2020
IA File 20TR-0005
Brian Miller, Deputy Chief ~ #1--CPI
Internal Affairs Investigation Status-Closed/Sustained
Sergeant Novello resigned on October 12 , 2020 prior to the completion of the disciplinary
process related to this investigation. This investigation is otherwise considered completed
effective December 24 , 2020. Attached is a rebuttal to this investigation submitted by Sergeant
Nove ll o dated December 22 , 2020 .
RLS RAINS LUCIA STERN
ST. PHALLE & SILVER,PC
December 22, 2020
VIA EMAIL TO [JGREEN@CITYOFPETALUMA.ORG] AND FIRST CLASS MAIL
To : Personnel File
Petaluma Police Department
c/o Jordan Green, Esq., Ass istant City Attorney
l l Englis h Street
Petaluma , CA 94952
Andrew M . Gonz
Attorne y ot Lnw
AGnnz@RLSlnwyc rs.com
Re: Sergeant Lance Novello -Internal Affafrs Findings in matters 20TR-0005,
20TR-0006 and lOTR-0007
To whom it may concern:
Plea se allow this letter to serve as a rebuttal and response, on behalf of Sergeant Lance
Novello , to the findi ngs and other infonnation and conclusions con tained in the three above-
referenced interna l affai rs matters. Please place this letter in his personnel file upon receipt.
Summary
Sergeant Lance Novello served the Petaluma Police Department (the "Department") wit h
hono r and pride for app roximately two deca des. For the year 2015, he was na med "Officer of
the Year" by the Department. In exp laining his selection to a new s repo11er covering the
occasion , then-Chief Patrick Williams prai sed Sgt. Novello for hi s exemp lary detective work , his
humil.ity and his emb rac ing of th e community-orien ted approach known as "Petaluma Poli cing."
Chi ef Williams sta ted that Nove Jl o, "unde rstands that we make a difference , and he cares about
Petaluma."
Yet some how , su dd enly, on October 12 , 2020, all this seems to have changed. The
Department opened up three separate Interna l Affairs ("IA") invest igations against Sgt. Nove ll o
on th at date (herea ft er referred to as the"· ," ,"and "~ 'inve st igat ions). Whi le
Sgt. Novello was led to th e impression that the ~-----· matter was so obviously not misco ndu ct
that he would no t even need to be inte rviewed, and tha t the matter wou ld not be addre ss ed
until the Sonom a County Distr ict Attorney comp leted thei r proce ss, that quick ly cha nged . The
DA notified Sgt . Nov ell o that he was bei ng charged wit h mi sdemeanor battery in the matter
for an incid ent so absurdly inappropriate ly charged, that in all of my combined approximately 15
yea rs of practice (most spent as a prosecu tor), I cannot think of a worse examp le.
Now , the Petaluma Police Department was going to go full steam ahead with the ir
invest igation , and the timing was urgent. Of course, conduct that just moment s earl ier was
deemed not worthy of proceeding on immediately was now a burnin g priority at the moment
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Re: Sergeant Lance Nove llo
December 22, 2020
Page2
some b ad publ icity might come th e Department's way, regardless of the validity of the
allegations. He was now being forced to either; I) fight for a job wi th a Department tha t decided
to turn its bac k on him when he nee ded its support most , and particjpate in internal affairs
interv iews that cou ld be accessed by the Distri ct Attorney in hi s cri minal case; OR 2) retire .
Despite wanti ng to take part in interviews and addre ss these absurd all ega tio ns, consider in g the
legal advice given, he opted to leave the ca ree r he once loved.
Rebuttal
"To keep the pe ace and enforce the law, a polic e department needs the co nfi dence
and cooperation of the comm unity it serves. Even if no t criminal in na ture , ac ts of
a police officer that tend to impa ir the public's tru st in its police departme nt can be
harmful to the departme nt's efficiency and mora le. Thus, when alJegations of
officer misconduct are raised, it is esse ntia l that the department conduct a prompt ,
thorough, and fa ir investigation. Nothing can more sw iftly destroy the
community's confide nce in its poli ce force than it s percept ion that concerns raised
abo ut an officer's hones ty or in tegrity wi ll go unheeded or w ill lead only to a
superficial investigation." Pasadena Po lice office rs Ass n. v . Ci ty of Pasadena, 5 1
Cal. 3d 564, 568 (1990).
When these words were written, the world was a d ifferent place. There was no internet
(th e "world wid e web" did not co me into publi c use until August of 1991). T here wa s no soc ial
media. There was no fa lse na rra tive abo ut p olice officers being evil an d vio lent. The re we re no
police chiefs and di strict attorneys being made to feel that they will be run out of town for
all egedly not doing enough to curb thi s made-up ep idemic of police mi sco nduc t.
But, th at is the wo rl d we live in today, at least as of the time of this "investigation " and
the writing ofthi s lett er. Afte r nearly 20 years of honorable service with the Petalum a Police
Dep artme nt, suddenly, and in almo st prec ise correlation to ant i-po Li ce protests erup ting around
the country, Sergeant Nove ll o was b eing investigated by th is Departm ent for three inci dents
invo lv ing all ege d imp roper use of force and/or discourteousness to c iti zens. The se in vestigations
also just so happened to be initia ted just after th e Sonoma County Disn·ict Attorney decided to
file mi sdemeanor battery and assaul t c harges agains t Sgt. Nove ll o fo r the'
in cide nt.
As to the incident, one truly nee ds to watch the body worn camera ("BWC") footage
in order to truly ap preciate the absttrdity of crim inal or admini strative charges aga in st Sergeant
Nove llo. Ms. -· (28 years old) showed up to the ho spi ta l alleging that he r mothe r had run
over her foot, when it fact : actuall y chase d after her mot her, who drove away to avoid bei ng
attac ked by her out-of-control daughte r. When officers inclu ding Novello respon ded, was
yelli ng and screami ng co ntinuously fo r the entire encounter.
When Ms. wal ked toward Sgt. Nove ll o, repeated ly demanding hi s badge numb er,
Novello too k a slow and slight step toward her and he pointed to his ches t, sayin g, "i t 's right
Re: Sergeimt Lance Novello
D ecember 22, 2020
Page 3
t here." It appears that the two made the slightest of momentary conta ct in the stomach or ch est
area. M s. · , then began to berate Sgt. Novell o at the top of her lungs, pointing a pen at him,
which she moved closer and closer. When she moved the pen just below hi s eyes and abo ut an
inch away, Novello grabbed her wrist and held it d own to prevent himself from being stabbed or
having his eye punctured. This moment is dep ict ed belo w:
The District Attorney acknowledges that thi s act wa s in self-defense, and is prosecuting
Sgt. Novello for the alleged "chest bump."
mother go t it exactly ri g ht when she told police on scene that was "p laying
the v ic tim" in relationsh ip to the false a ll egation that her mother assaulted her by mnning over
her foot. Ms. -· did the same thing here. She li ed and said that Novello "pus hed" her,
"literally punched" her, "cracked " her wrist and touched h er "tits." She went on t o say, "at l east
I'll get a l awsuit out of it," and th at she was sui ng everyb ody, "so I'm getting paid." She even
ca lled one officer present an "Uncle Tom ." Ms. used her race thro ughout the inc id ent as a
cudgel and a threat.
Ms. moth er also let officers know that was "very vindictive." Once again,
that played itself out here. took her lies t o the Petaluma Police Departme nt, and the Di stric t
Attorney's Office. Th e timing of her baseless allegations co uld no t have been better for her to
Re: Sergeant Lance Novello
Decem ber 22, 2020
Page 4 ·
"get paid," as di sc ussed above. S he has hired an attorney to pursue her "payout," but in the
meantime, she was ab le to get th ese two agencies to sc ramble for poli ti ca l cover.
At the time of the writ in g of thi s letter, t he misdemeanor charges are pend ing against
Sergeant Novello. If he can get a fair tria l, he will be acquitted and vindi cated. Anyone who
reviews this video and knows the Jega l requirem ents for these c harges will be able to quickly
recognize that. A lay p erson would be able to easi ly see that no crime was comm itted here (o ther
than th e assa ult committed by
R athe r than tak e the prudent and fair approach of merely wa iting for Sergeant Novello' s
acquittal of crimi nal charges to occur, the Petaluma Po lice Department chose to "get o ut in front"
of potential bad p ubl icity tha t might re sult from not immediately condemning Sergeant Novello
(tmth a nd fairness be dam ned). The Police D epartment chose to separate itself from even the
accusa tion that they cond oned such awful behavior, particularly where th e iss ue ofrace was
conveniently injected in to the mix.
With the Petaluma P olic e Department, M s. had the good fortu ne to find L ieutenant
E d Crosby as the person investigating her claims of misconduct. Crosby (as he mentio ns not
until page 21 of hi s investigative report in this matter) had a p ri o r re lationship with as the
investigator int o her bei ng a victim of an appar ently se ri ous domestic violence incident just a few
years earlier. That was also not too long after Petalum a Police recommended she be charged in
an other matter for knowingly ma.king a fa lse report of a crime to law enforcement in an unre lated
case. Crosby m enti ons in h is report here that expressed appreciatio n to him for his work o n
that prior domestic v iolence case.
Lo and behold, given all of the above-descri bed context and background , Crosby
sus tai ned Novello fo r 8 of the 9 vi o lat ions a lleged. Th en there were the "l and "1
matters. Sergeant Novello was found by Crosby to have vio lated a pol icy regard in g courteous
conduct for having a long heart-to-heart with a woman whose mentally ill adu lt son was caus ing
her to have to regularly contac t the p oli ce. He sp e nt a long ti me talking to her, which included
some ins tances of "tou gh love". This was in the sp ir it of community po li cing that he embraced
a nd which helped gain him the Officer of the Year awa rd in 2015.
In the ' matter, C ro sb y sustaine d Nove ll o on all 3 allegations, for attempti ng to
take into cu sto dy a woman who resisted anest. Again , the theory would have to be th at all of th e
sudden, after approximately 20 years of be in g an upsta ndi ng member of the Department , w ho
was promoted to Sergeant, Novello (in a span of a few weeks) beca me a violent, po licy-vio la ti ng
l iabi lity.
Sergea nt Nove ll o did not change all of the sudden i n the summer an d earl y fa ll of 2020.
Othe r thfogs did . As a result of these events, now faci ng these absi.rrd criminal charges, Novello
op ted to retire rather t han take part in what was sure to be, and u ltimately c learly was, a sham
inves tigatory process, as fa r from "fair" as one could imagin e.
Re: Sel'gea nt Lance Novell o
December 22, 2020
Page5
To whomever m igh t read this in order to assess the a ll egation, please do no t do what the
Sonoma District A ttorney and Petaluma Po lice Department di d. U nd er the perceived threat of
negative political consequences, it was more expedient to sacrifice Lance Novell o. This is
undoubtedly the easy thing to do; however, doing the "r ight thing" and doing the "easy thing"
are very often not the same.
Before coming to any conclusions , p lease actually look into the facts of these a llegations
(again, the v ideo in t he in c ident is the best and quickest window into the truth here). Please
consider the context. Please g ive him the fair shake that he was not given in t hi s internal affairs
process .
S incerely,
RAINS LUCIA STERN
ST. P RALLE & S ILVE R, P C
~anz ,Esq.
Cc : Lance Novello (via email)