POLICE DISCIPLINE TOO LIGHT

This time, the police had a confession to make. A chain of needless errors
led to the death by suffocation of 20-year-old Matthew Sheridan while in
custody last June, the Mequon Police Department said in a report it issued
the other day.

The punishment? A captain got a letter of reprimand, and a sergeant got a
letter of "instruction on policies and procedures." The police officer who
was the immediate cause of the suffocation got a one-month suspension
without pay.

This punishment was not stiff enough.

Perhaps Chief E. Doyle Barker was right when he said, "The bottom line is a
young man lost his life in this tragedy. As that goes, there's nothing we
could do that would seem fair." Still, the police lapses were so egregious
as to justify tougher penalties.

First, Police Officer Gregory Klobukowski should have known better than to
put the SURVIVAIR Quick2000 Escape Hood over Sheridan's head. Sheridan,
arrested on suspicion of possessing drug paraphernalia, became unruly on
the way to the Mequon police station, prompting Klobukowski to use what he
thought was a spit mask. He had gotten training in the use of the mask but
missed the training for the escape hood because he was given the wrong
time. Klobukowski has said he does not remember the details of the spit
mask training.

Other than that both go fully over the face and head, the escape hood in no
way resembles a spit mask. The airtight escape hood is meant for fleeing
hazardous air. The wearer is supposed to breathe through a filtered
mouthpiece, which was not fitted into Sheridan's mouth. A spit mask, or
transport hood, is designed to protect emergency workers from spitting and
biting.

What's more, Klobukowski negligently failed to read the instructions for
the unfamiliar piece of equipment - a precaution that would have informed
him it was not the right equipment for the occasion.

Second, along with officers from other departments who were on hand when he
placed the hood over Sheridan's head, Klobukowski ignored his prisoner's
shouts that he couldn't breathe. And the officer ignored Sheridan's death
throes in the car.

Yes, as an inquest jury rightly ruled, this death was accidental.
Klobukowski committed no crime. But he was derelict in his duty to
transport a prisoner safely - a dereliction that led to the prisoner's
death and that warrants more of a punishment than a mere month without pay.

Capt. Mark Zupnik was reprimanded for failing to ensure that spit masks
were placed in all squad cars, as they were supposed to be. Sgt. Paul
Neumyer was disciplined for that reason and for failing to ensure that
officers completed training in the hoods. Each deserved at least a week's
suspension without pay.

Perhaps the civil lawsuit Sheridan's family may file in this case will
extract a greater measure of justice.