Log in Subscribe

Update: Additional BPD Officers Lodge Complaints Against Bevan

Posted
BRADENTON – In an ongoing scandal that continues to rock the Bradenton Police Department, four additional former and current BPD officers have filed complaints against Police Chief Melanie Bevan.

Earlier this month, TBT reported that an officer had accused Bevan of conducting an illegal search while assisting probation officers with the Florida Department of Corrections who were serving an arrest warrant.The complaining officer alleged having witnessed Bevan reaching inside the pocket of a bystander outside the home "without any warrant or warning."

On Tuesday, the Herald Tribune reported that four additional complaints had been lodged via affidavits to Bradenton Mayor Gene Brown.

Bevan and members of her command staff are alleged to have gone to great lengths in directing officers to unlawfully arrest an uncooperative witness thought to be capable of identifying a perpetrator in a case the department was investigating.

In another complaint, Bevan is accused of assigning Christopher Herron to the Special Investigations Unit, despite not being sworn in as an officer. The officer who made the complaint alleges that Herron initiated a traffic stop while operating a patrol car, despite being warned not to do so by a superior. Herron was said to be physically abusive and is alleged to have avoided complaints through his relationship with Bevan.

In perhaps the strangest incident, Bevan and her command staff were accused of directing officers to steal the cell phone of Sgt. Joseph Kelly, whose wife had recently committed suicide. Kelly suspected this was done to prevent him from learning of an affair his late wife may have had withformer Deputy Chief Paul McWade.

Click here to read the Herald Tribune article in full.

related:

Comments

No comments on this item

Only paid subscribers can comment
Please log in to comment by clicking here.