Police Commissioner's Tear Gas Alibi Goes Up In Smoke

By Ralph Cipriano

for BigTrial.net

At a June 25th press conference, then-Deputy Commissioner Dennis Wilson stepped up to the microphone and took sole responsibility for authorizing the use of tear gas on protesters who were trying to block traffic on the Vine Street Expressway.

"I didn't call the commissioner, I gave the  approval," Wilson said in his mea culpa. "And it was me and me alone."

Wilson then announced that for "violating the rules of engagement and the commissioner's trust, I'm going to take a voluntary demotion" to chief inspector. "Falling on the sword," was how Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw characterized the ritualistic human sacrifice of Wilson for the benefit of the gullible news media, which promptly lapped it up.

But, according to several police sources, what Wilson had to say was complete B.S. A phony story line concocted to get Mayor Jim Kenney and Police Commissioner Outlaw, who were under fire by no less than The New York Times, off the hook. How'd they do it? By making Wilson, who had supposedly been threatened with arrest by the D.A.'s office, the police department's official fall guy. 

The real story, however, according to several police sources, is "She [Outlaw] knew ALL about it [the teargassing], and in typical fashion, she abdicated all responsibility, and blamed it on poor Dennis Wilson," one veteran commander said. "The entire department knows this."

For nearly two months, the Police Department's Internal Affairs Bureau has been investigating the use of tear gas on the Vine Street Expressway protesters since it happened on June 1st. According to police sources, Internal Affairs did some 20 interviews last week, and this week, they've supposedly got 60 more interviews scheduled. 

A key part of the story that Internal Affairs is investigating is whether Wilson did indeed talk to the police commissioner about authorizing the use of tear gas on the Vine Street Expressway, and whether she did in fact sign off on it.

An official police spokesperson declined comment.

"Unfortunately, because this incident now involves active litigation, I am unable to provide comment," said Inspector Sekou Kinebrew, commanding officer of the Police Department's Office of Public Affairs & Media Relations.

In the absence of official comment, what's known is that there were witnesses with both Wilson and Outlaw at the time the teargassing went down who are about to be interviewed by Internal Affairs. There are also numerous texts and emails that were exchanged between top cops that would flush out the full story.

And if Internal Affairs decides to cover up the real story, expect subpoenas to fly in the criminal and civil courts. The real story has to come out.

Several cops who know Wilson tell Big Trial he's not the kind of guy who would make a momentous decision like whether to tear gas protesters under a hot media spotlight without first running it past the boss. They describe Wilson as a cautious, chain of command, cover-your-ass kind of guy.

"No way in hell" would Wilson have made this decision on his own, said one cop who knows Wilson. The cop said when he watched the press conference where Wilson was humiliated, it was obvious "They had something hanging over his head."

And it's not too hard to figure out what that might be.

Even though he took a voluntary demotion, and an annual pay cut of about $30,000, Wilson is enrolled in the DROP. Under the Deferred Retirement Option Plan, an employee's pension benefits are frozen once he or she enters DROP, and that employee is guaranteed a six-figure cash bonus when they walk out the door. In Wilson's case, regardless of the demotion and cut in pay, he still gets to retire in a couple of years with his full pension plus his DROP cash bonus of about $800,000. 

That's enough cash to make it worth falling on your sword. But if Wilson was arrested by the D.A. and convicted, he would have lost his pension.

The threat of being arrested by District Attorney Krasner was undoubtedly real. We just saw a recent example of how our warped and corrupt D.A. would do anything to nail a cop.

Another official scapegoat for the Vine Street Expressway teargassing was former SWAT team member Richard Nicoletti, who was fired by the department and subsequently arrested by District Attorney Larry Krasner, and charged with simple assault and reckless endangerment.

Krasner, who hates cops, also charged Nicoletti witha possession of an instrument of crime, namely the pepper spray issued by the department. Nicoletti used that pepper spray on protesters who were breaking the law and endangering countless lives, by sitting on the ground and trying to block the Vine Street Expressway at rush hour.

But several cops, including a former SWAT team member, have previously told Big Trial that in using pepper spray and tear gas on protesters, Nicoletti was merely following orders that went up the chain of command, all the way to the police commissioner and the mayor, and then came back down again with a big green light.

The day before the Vine Street Expressway debacle, on May 31st, the SWAT team also deployed tear gas on protesters along the 52nd Street business corridor in West Philadelphia, where there was widespread rioting, looting and arson fires.

Several police sources say that before the May 31st teargassing in West Philly, Outlaw was thoroughly briefed about what the cops were going to do, and gave her approval. According to those same police sources, a SWAT team member fitted Outlaw with a gas mask before tear gas was deployed.

In an Inquirer video, police sources say that on minute 2:38 of the newspaper's posted video of the rioting, Outlaw's black Chevy Tahoe is briefly seen on screen passing through West Philly. 

The day of the Vine Street teargassing, Outlaw released a written statement that said, "Today's deployment of tear gas was a means to safely diffuse a volatile and dangerous situation, and restore order, when it became increasingly clear that other measures were ineffective in accomplishing that necessary objective." 

After the SWAT team was allowed to briefly go on offense against rioters and looters, a SWAT team member posted a message on Facebook praising Outlaw.

"The commissioner allowed SWAT to use gas, pepper balls and bean bag rounds against the rioters/looters!!!," the SWAT team member wrote. "She's the first commissioner to [have] the balls to allow this in at least 30 years!!! I, for one, greatly appreciate it!!"

The post was subsequently deleted after Outlaw went south on backing the blue.

At a June 2nd press conference, Outlaw said that the "decisions to deploy gas are made by the incident commander there on the scene." At that press conference, Outlaw did not disclose that Wilson had supposedly disobeyed her direct orders by not getting a final approval from the police commissioner before he deployed tear gas.

In a July 17th Inquirer story on police response to the West Philly riots, Outlaw said she made it clear to Wilson that tear gas was not to be used "indiscriminately" and that officers had to follow department guidelines.

At the June 25th press conference where he fell on his sword, Wilson said he had "several conversations" with Outlaw, and that she "wanted me to call her prior to using any CS gas." 

According to department policy, a deputy commissioner doesn't need the approval of the commissioner to deploy tear gas. According to department policy, the highest ranking commander on the scene can make the decision to employ tear gas on his own. 

"Wilson was the highest ranking commander on the scene," the veteran commander said. Outlaw "made this up to cover her ass."

The veteran commander was talking about the official story line where Outlaw supposedly ordered Wilson to call her one last time before he made the final decision to deploy tear gas. According to that phony story line, with witnesses standing beside him, and the whole world watching, company man Wilson supposedly forgot to make that last call to Outlaw.

Yeah, right. I'm not buying it and neither should you.