Boston Detective Demoted After Amy Lord Murder Had Past Misconduct
BOSTON (CBS) – The Boston police officer who has been stripped of his detective ranking after it was learned that he failed to arrest a man who is now a person of interest in the Amy Lord murder also faces disciplinary action in a separate case, his internal affairs record indicates.
Jerome Hall-Brewster was demoted to patrolman this week after a review of a September 2012 incident found he failed to move forward in a sexual assault case last year in which Edwin Alemany was the prime suspect.
According to Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis, Hall-Brewster had probable cause to arrest Alemany after a woman who was attacked in Roxbury gave officers a wallet containing Alemany's ID.
Alemany is accused of attacking two women in South Boston last week and has been named a person of interest in the murder of Amy Lord, who was kidnapped, beaten, and forced to withdraw cash from five ATMs before she was stabbed to death July 23.
"There are things that have happened that are troubling," said Davis at a community meeting Monday night. "I've said very clear, that I am dissatisfied with the work of one of the detectives."
This is not Hall-Brewster's first problem with his own department.
According to Boston police, he has been investigated by Internal Affairs several times, with at least 10 complaints filed against him. Seven of those complaints did not result in findings of misconduct.
However, in one case, he was docked pay for two days for failing to properly report non-lethal use of force.
According to the internal affairs record obtained by WBZ-TV, Hall-Brewster also had charges sustained from a November 2011 incident. The details of that incident were not disclosed, but Hall-Brewster's file indicated the department had not yet determined what discipline he would face for the incident.
Hall-Brewster was also sued along with two other officers after they arrested a man for videotaping them at a crime scene.
Simon Glik won a $170,000 judgment against the city when the courts ruled he should never have been arrested by the three officers for simply taping them.
Glik tells WBZ-TV he recorded the officers because they were using so much force he did not think anyone would believe him if he did not have it on video.
Hall-Brewster joined the force in 1995 and made detective in 2007. He will now revert back to a patrol officer.
Nobody answered the door at his home in Stoughton on Tuesday, although a woman inside did call police when a reporter knocked on the door for comment.
Union officials also declined to comment on the detective's demotion.
A neighbor of Hall-Brewster said he had nothing but positive things to say.
"When we moved down here we stopped by all the neighbors," said Sheka Kargbo. "He came out, he talked for a while, showed me about the neighborhood, the daycare around, the trails."
WBZ-TV's Michael Rosenfield contributed to this report. Follow him on Twitter @MichaelWBZ4
