P.C. Outlaw Relied On Fabricated Account To Fire Chief Inspector

In a 13-page analysis and decision, arbitrator Walt DeTreux ruled that Outlaw's big mistake was to buy into Captain LaVerne Vann's fabricated story that in an argument over whether a prisoner should be charged, that Boyle had "forcibly grabbed Capt. Vann with both hands and was bending her arm behind her back" besides being "derelict in his duty."

When Outlaw's firing of Boyle went to arbitration during four hearings in January, March and May of this year, the city "failed to prove any of those charges," DeTreux wrote. While relying on Vann's fabricated story of abuse, DeTreaux wrote, Outlaw also chose to ignore "the fairly consistent and credible accounts of other participants and eyewitnesses that indicated Chief Boyle was trying to separate the prisoner from Capt. Vann's interlocking arm hold and rough treatment."

In firing Boyle, the arbitrator wrote, Outlaw and other city officials also chose to disregard "Capt. Vann's repeated insubordination in refusing to release" the prisoner she and Boyle were arguing over. 

Outlaw and other city officials, the arbitrator found, also dismissed testimony that during the confrontation between Boyle and Vann, that Boyle was responding to Vann's "defiance of his direct orders." And that Vann responded by "yanking" the prisoner away and "bending her forward until she cried out in pain."

When the city fired Boyle, he was cited for going "hands on," the arbitrator wrote. This made no sense because of the city's "own directive that requires an officer to stop another officer engaged in the use of inappropriate or excessive force," the arbitrator wrote in clearing Boyle of all the charges. 

"For all these reasons, I find that the city did not have just cause to discharge of discipline Chief Inspector Anthony Boyle," the arbitrator concluded. 

"To remedy this unjust discharge," DeTreaux wrote, Boyle, who had 44 years on the job, should be reinstated to his former position "with no loss of seniority" as well as receive "back pay and benefits from the date of his discharge to the date of his reinstatement."

As for Vann, the arbitrator wrote, "the parties did not indicate whether Capt. Vann faced any disciplinary consequences."

Vann was one of four officers who subsequently sued the department and Boyle, claiming racial discrimination. The lawsuit also alleged that Boyle had allegedly falsified paperwork, hid information from the D.A.'s office, and retaliated against the officers who sued him. 

When the arbitrator's decision to reinstate Boyle was announced in July, George Bochetto, Boyle's lawyer, told the Inquirer that the arbitrator's decision was "a testament to the integrity of Tony Boyle, and it really does show what he's been put through."

The Police Department declined comment, except to say that it was reviewing the arbitrator's decision.

In his analysis, the arbitrator traced the dispute between Boyle and Vann back to 2017, when former Police Commissioner Richard Ross assigned Boyle, Inspector Ray Evers, and Captain Vann to lead the Narcotics Bureau under the command of then Deputy Commissioner Dennis Wilson.

The arbitrator quoted Evers as testifying that Wilson wanted the narcs to pursue "bigger jobs, stronger jobs" that would involving debriefing and flipping the "small fish" in the "hope of securing information that would implicate the 'bigger fish.'"

According to the arbitrator, however, Captain Vann was not on board with flipping drug dealers into informants. On Sept. 13, 2018, she issued a memo to the members of the Narcotics Strike Force saying that "under no circumstances" would officers or supervisors delay the filing of a so-called PARS report notifying the D.A.'s office of an arrest "for the purposes of gathering information toward future investigations."

According to the arbitrator, Vann did not share her memo with any of her superiors, including Boyle and Wilson.

On Oct. 3, 2018, the Narcotics Bureau investigated drug dealers operating out of a warehouse at I Street and Erie Avenue and arrested a woman for buying heroin. During a debriefing, the arbitrator wrote, the woman "offered information regarding the selling of firearms and a recent homicide."

While the police were investigating the information they got from the prisoner, Chief Boyle decided that the prisoner would be released, rather than charged that day. Boyle also ordered that the prisoner be taken home by police in an unmarked vehicle.

That sparked an argument between Boyle and Vann over the release of the prisoner. Boyle informed Vann that the prisoner was to be released and that the D.A.'s office had signed off on the release.

Vann asked Boyle if he "had it in writing." According to the arbitrator, Boyle directed Vann to not get involved in the situation. When Vann asked again for something in writing, Boyle replied, "You don't need it in writing, I'm giving you an order."

Vann, according to the arbitrator, then borrowed handcuffs from another officer and handcuffed the prisoner. When Boyle came over, he ordered Vann to uncuff the prisoner. Two or three times, Boyle repeated this order, the arbitrator wrote, "but Capt. Vann did not comply."

Boyle then placed his hand on the prisoner's arm. As he did so, Vann pulled the prisoner away, "pushing her arms up and forcing her to bend forward," the arbitrator wrote, which caused the prisoner to scream "that she was hurting and in pain."

Boyle grabbed Vann's either hand or wrist to pry it loose from the prisoner's arm, the arbitrator wrote. He also instructed her to release the prisoner. 

The two supervisors "struggled for 10 to 20 seconds" before other officers intervened.

After the altercation, Vann alleged that Boyle "pointed his finger in her face while screaming at her." She also charged that while she was trying to uncuff the prisoner, Boyle "grabbed both her wrists, bent her hands back, and pushed her toward the ground," as well as twisted her right arm behind her back.

After Vann made her allegations, Wilson met with Boyle and took his gun away. From October 2018 to July 2020, Boyle remained chief inspector assigned to the Narcotics Bureau but he didn't have any duties.

Neither Police Commissioner Ross nor his successor, Christine Coulter, took any action against Boyle.

In February, the newly appointed Outlaw reviewed the case with Deputy Commissioner Robin Wimberly before deciding to charge Boyle with conduct unbecoming and two counts of failure to supervise. Then, Outlaw used what's known  as Commissioner's Direct Action to fire Boyle.

When the commissioner takes direct action, it allows her to bypass any not guilty plea from Boyle, as well as a hearing that would have been conducted by the Police Board of Inquiry.

After Boyle was fired, he responded by filing a grievance.

During an investigation where some 30 witnesses were interviewed, the arbitrator wrote, Vann's story of alleged abuse by Boyle found "little or no support from fellow officers, including her own subordinates, and other witnesses."

Instead, the witnesses testified that as Boyle approached Vann, she "tightened her hold" on the prisoner by slipping her arm through the prisoner's handcuffed arms, the arbitrator wrote. And then she pulled or jerked away the prisoner.

Instead of an assault by Boyle, the arbitrator wrote, cops who witnessed the altercation described it as a tug of war between Boyle and Vann over the prisoner.

In an initial discussion with another supervisor, Vann did not charge that Boyle had assaulted her. Then, she went to Temple Hospital and subsequently claimed she was injured. When she finally went to Internal Affairs, "she fabricated the story of an 'assault,'" the arbitrator concluded.

"Captain Vann's account is simply not credible as it contradicts or conflicts with key details included in all other witness statements and testimony," the arbitrator wrote. "Capt. Vann created an elaborate story of  'assault' that runs counter to the observations of all other witnesses."

The arbitrator found that the department lacks "a clearly written policy regarding flipping" of suspects and turning them into confidential informants. So Boyle's decision to release the prisoner without filing a PARS report was not prohibited by the department. That meant that Boyle "cannot be charged or disciplined for violating a policy that does not exist," the arbitrator wrote. 

As I mentioned previously, officials in the Police Department and the city's Law Department did not respond to requests for comment. 

However, Derrick Jacobs, a former homicide detective who later sued the department in a whistleblower retaliation lawsuit in federal court, told Big Trial, "This is exactly the same pattern and practice the PPD used against me." 

According to Jacobs, the department uses an "arbitrary and capricious disciplinary process" to get rid of cops it deems as enemies.

"Commissioner Outlaw then usurps the rights of officers by taking Commissioner's Direct Action and terminates their employment with false information from Deputy Commissioner Wimberly, who heads internal affairs," Jacobs wrote in an email. 

And if Outlaw and Wimberly needed any additional help in getting rid of unwanted officers, Jacobs said, they often relied on an assist from that "useful idiot Dennis Wilson."