Point Reyes Light - October 21, 2004
Park Service finds rangers didn't break rules
By Jacob Resneck
The National Park Service’s Internal Affairs Office this week announced its report on the July 28 pepper-spraying of two teenagers in Point Reyes Station has exonerated rangers Roger Mayo and Angelina Gregorio.
The teenagers are Chris Miller, 18, and his sister Jessica, 17, of Inverness Park. They were pepper-sprayed in Point Reyes Station when they approached the rangers, who were about to let two of their friends out of a patrolcar. The friends had been cited at Point Reyes National Seashore headquarters in connection with a traffic stop.
At present, the Park Service is refusing to make public the report, which summarizes its internal investigation of the rangers, although in August, Point Reyes National Seashore officials assured a community meeting that the report would be released to the public and the press.
The Light in recent weeks has made repeated requests for the report, citing the Freedom of Information Act, but so far has been rebuffed. The report is a personnel matter and, therefore, private, Park Service officials told The Light on Tuesday.
The exoneration, it is true, applies only to the rangers’ employment and not the legal system. The National Seashore’s chief Ranger, Colin Powell, at a public meeting Aug. 25 said that if the investigator’s report were critical of the rangers, they could either get a black mark in their personnel file, or could be required to take counseling, or could be fired.
And while the Park Service said its confidential report exonerated ranger Mayo, it also said he "has been temporarily reassigned, pending further administrative review."
That review will be conducted by the Pacific Western Region of the Park Service, which is headquartered in Oakland, and will consist of a "further investigation" into whether Mayo used the correct "procedures" during the events that "led to the pepper-spraying," National Seashore spokesman John Dell’Osso told The Light on Tuesday.
In related news:
• An attorney for the Miller family said he expects to file a lawsuit within a month against the Park Service.
• The Park Service said its investigation found that ranger Gregorio’s "pepper-spray was not discharged during the incident." Although others at the scene had claimed Gregorio took part in spraying Jessica Miller, her brother Chris and Emile Kempf of Inverness on Wednesday told The Light they themselves had not seen Gregorio spray Jessica. Kempf was one of two people in the patrolcar waiting to be released.
However, both young men claim Mayo abused them. Chris was pepper-sprayed. Earlier in the day, Kempf has said, Mayo grabbed him by his clothes and yanked him out of a car that a friend, Will White of Marshall, had been driving. Although he was not on park property, the ranger had stopped White for not having a front license plate.
Kempf said Mayo turned on him when he complained the traffic stop was unnecessarily long. After Kempf and White complained to sheriff’s deputies and tried to complain at park headquarters about Mayo’s behavior, the ranger hours later cited them on charges of threatening behavior.
The Park Service consistently refused to tell White and Kempf in what way they supposedly threatened the ranger and instead dropped charges against both of them.
Although the Park Service in early August had asked county government to prosecute the Millers on charges of resisting arrest, the District Attorney’s Office last week said neither will be prosecuted. The DA’s Office said that decision was based on its own review of the evidence and the Park Service’s changing its mind about attempting to press charges.
A news release written by the Park Service’s Pacific West Region Office in Oakland, said the internal affairs’ report:
• Exonerated ranger Mayo "for his actions related to the use of pepper spray. Numerous witnesses indicated that ranger Mayo repeatedly gave lawful orders to Chris Miller to remove his hands from his pockets and leave the area and that Chris Miller did not comply."
• Exonerated ranger Angelina Gregorio "for her actions related to the use of force. Her pepper spray canister was not discharged during the incident .... Ranger Gregorio will resume her regular duties at Point Reyes National Seashore."
• Concluded "that ranger Mayo used pepper spray only to gain control of [the Miller siblings] and was not used while either of them was restrained by handcuffs."
• Did not "substantiate claims that the two rangers involved in the incident held open [Jessica’s] eyes to pepper-spray directly into them."
Explaining the Washington Office’s decision to withhold the internal affairs report from the public, despite past assurances that it would be immediately made available, Dell’Osso said, "we essentially assumed that this report would, at some point in time, be made public. We have been told otherwise by the Washington Office. It’s not that we are lying to you, because we are not. This is the procedure right now."
Dell’Osso said the report, which he had read only portions of, contains sensitive information that if released would violate the privacy of those involved as well as protected information related to personnel.
Reactions
Pepper-spray victim Chris Miller said he was doubly offended; for the park’s decision to defend the rangers’ conduct and its failure to contact him directly after reaching a decision.
"I had to find out from the newspaper," he told The Light. "This John Dell’Osso, he’s the park spokesman? He’s never spoken to me." Chris said that neither he nor his sister ever tried to threaten anyone and that they approached the rangers in what they thought was a calm and relaxed fashion.
"You’re supposed to be able to communicate with people," he said. "By the time [the rangers] ordered us to get back, they were already pepper-spraying. You’d just think that they’d have better people skills than that."
Dennis Cunningham, the lead attorney representing the Millers, said he was not surprised by the Park Service’s announcement that it would withhold the report. "They were never going to give you the evidence that they based the whitewash on, because there never was any," Cunningham said. "Man, these people never run out of inventive ways to administer the great whitewash."
Blatant inaccuracies claimed
Attorney Gordon Kaupp, who works in Cunningham’s law firm, complained of what he called several blatant inaccuracies in the Park Service’s statement.
"They speak of ‘numerous witnesses’ backing up their findings. Well, there was only one third-party witness, so we know they must be relying on the rangers’ testimony," Kaupp said. "When this goes to trial, the question will be who the ‘numerous witnesses’ were."
The Regional Office’s choice of the words "numerous witness" also appeared at odds with a National Park Service statement that its investigator "interviewed five witnesses as well as the rangers involved."
Family wanted an interview but with a lawyer present
Kaupp also complained about the Park Service’s claim that "the Miller family themselves twice declined to be interviewed" by the investigator who prepared the report.
"That’s untrue," Kaupp said. "There were two opportunities for [the investigator] to interview the Millers because he took two trips to Point Reyes. On the first trip, he didn’t contact the family. On the second trip, Jessica and Chris Miller were, at the time, being investigated for criminal charges. So the Millers and the Millers’ attorneys wanted the investigator to meet with legal counsel present. We invited him to do an interview with counsel present, and in response he suggested they submit a letter."
In response to an earlier query from The Light, UCLA Law Professor Eugene Volokh agreed that it would have been unwise for the Miller siblings to meet with a Park Service investigator without their lawyer present because any testimony given could be used to prosecute them.
Dell’Osso said he recognizes that the Park Service’s announcement does not mean the rift between some members of the community and the Park Service has been resolved.
It’s not over yet
"It’s not come to a complete resolution yet. It’s a step forward, and there’s still more work to be done," he said, referring to the Regional Office’s pending "review" of ranger Mayo’s "procedures."
"We haven’t received a final resolution yet, and we really appreciate the patience of the people in this community."
Regional office spokeswoman Chris Powell told The Light, "I can assure you that the [regional office] is taking this very seriously. I think we’re all interested in seeing the community come back together and heal over this. Nobody is happy with the results of this incident, but we’d all like to go forward, and heal, and get past this."
The Miller’s attorney Kaupp, who along with Cunningham, specializes in police brutality cases, said it was unfortunate that people rarely get justice except through civil lawsuits.
"We wouldn’t be in this business if law enforcement agencies actually policed and monitored themselves," Kaupp said. "Unfortunately in this country, it is the jury that has to police the police."