Boston Police will discipline Capt. John Danilecki this week with a three-day suspension relating to multiple altercations in 2019 and 2020, but the department did not uphold an allegation of excessive force.
One incident with Dorchester resident David Nave has dragged on for years; he claims Danilecki inappropriately pinned him to the ground on March 30, 2019.
Nave says he was walking in his neighborhood in search of a group of kids who stole his son’s phone when Danilecki approached, forcefully grabbed him and pinned him on the ground. Danilecki maintains Nave was acting aggressively, and that he put Nave on the ground for his own safety.
In April, the Boston Globe reported it obtained internal affairs documents that showed “investigators determined Danilecki had violated the department’s use of force guidelines and lied.”
The Boston Globe reported late Tuesday that after investigators sustained excessive force complaints, Police Commissioner Michael Cox ordered a further examination of the internal affairs investigation into Danilecki.
Two weeks ago — after the police commissioner had ordered the review but before it was made public by the Globe — Cox told Boston Public Radio that “there were no findings regarding [use of force] being sustained.”
According to information Boston Police provided to GBH News on Tuesday, investigators did not sustain complaints of violations for “untruthfulness in department record” and “use of non-lethal force” related to the altercation with Nave.
The internal affairs recommendations supported one count of neglect of duty for failing “to complete a required department incident report or a FIOE [Field Interaction/ Observation/ Encounter] report after activating himself at a fight he had observed and making physical contact with the complainant.”
The internal affairs recommendations supported findings in other pending cases as well: that Danilecki failed to file another FIOE report when he used force at the 2019 Straight Pride Parade, which reportedly was pepper spray; and that he inappropriately ripped up a sign at a Black Lives Matter protest in 2020, an incident widely covered by international media. The summary of that violation provided to GBH News by Boston Police describes the item as “a cardboard sign belonging to one of the demonstrators and not contraband as (Danilecki) thought.”
Civil rights attorney Howard Friedman, who is representing one client with a separate misconduct complaint against Danilecki, said ripping up a protest sign constitutes a First Amendment violation, but also sets the tone within the department that behavior is acceptable.
“He’s sending a message to other officers,” he said. “The idea that he didn’t know what it was, he thought a sign was contraband at a protest — really?”
Friedman said it’s not uncommon, in his experience, to see police departments sustain minor infractions and small suspensions as a way to protect their own liability.
“They almost never will sustain a complaint for use of improper force, so they look for some minor violation,” he said. “Many of the penalties will impose a short suspension, saying it saves them time and effort of having to file an appeal, which they might lose. But that means that they’re not imposing proper discipline.”
Since 1993, according to the Boston Globe, Danilecki has racked up at least 21 internal affairs cases containing nearly 40 allegations of misconduct. Boston Police Sgt. Detective John Boyle said with this round of findings there are no more internal affairs cases related to Danilecki pending the commissioner’s sign-off.
The Boston Police officers’ union did not immediately respond to GBH News’ request for comment.
Jamarhl Crawford, who served on the Boston Police Reform Task Force in 2020 that resulted in the city’s new Office of Police Accountability and Transparency, said the minor disciplinary action does not constitute proper accountability.
“A three-day suspension for an officer of the status of Danilecki equates to family time and vacation. A three-day suspension is not even a pebble,” Crawford said. “Danilecki has not been impacted whatsoever by a minor suspension such as this.”
Friedman said there are a number of disciplinary actions the department could take given the sheer volume of complaints against Danilecki, even if they do not find abuse of force. One of those actions would be a demotion.
“They could break his rank,” he said.
