Crime & Safety

Police: No Investigation Coming Into 2nd Misconduct Video

A new video and claims about additional Seabrook police misconduct has surfaced, although police emphatically deny the claims and the need for an investigation.

The Seabrook Police Department will not begin a separate investigation into its officers due to a second batch of alleged civil rights violations because the department claims the new incident in question featured no misconduct.

Chief Lee Bitomske and Deputy Chief Mike Gallagher both emphatically said Thursday after reviewing the new YouTube video, featuring a South Main Street custody issue on July 3, 2013, that officers didn't violate any laws or rights during an incident both men described as an all-out "melee."

"What I uncovered was that there was no wrongdoing [by any the officers]," said Gallagher. "There was no improper behavior at this residence on this date by any of the officers."

The video was shared with Patch on Thursday after several high-ranking agencies began an investigation into alleged police brutality by the Seabrook Police Department against Michael Bergeron Jr. while they had the then-19-year-old man in custody on Nov. 11, 2009.

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Inquiries about the video to the Seabrook Police Department alerted Bitomske —who is shown in the video — of its existence. Bitomske originally withheld comment, but subsequently released information to Patch along with Gallagher in order to get the "truth" about the incident in the public's eye.

"People feel it's open season to make comments" due to the Bergeron investigation, said Gallagher.

All of the department's available officers responded to a home on South Main Street on the afternoon of July 3 after a disturbance followed an attempt by a local mother to pick up her children from their father, according to Gallagher.

Gallagher said the father of the children was "not cooperating" with a court order to transfer the custody of the children to the mother, and police arrived at the home to help "facilitate" that transfer on the day in question.

Angel Auger, the girlfriend of the father, was charged with obstruction, disorderly conduct, simple assault for throwing a cell phone at an officer, and resisting arrest after she and other individuals within the house "came out like a hornet's nest" in protest of the custody transfer and the police department's response, according to Gallagher.

Friends and family members of Auger have claimed in a message to Patch and in the description of the YouTube video that Seabrook police committed many offenses during the incident. They have claimed that officers punched a 2 year old, sexually assaulted Auger by grabbing her breast and ripping her shirt, and took custody of multiple children before bringing the children to a home with a Level 2 sex offender.

Gallagher denied those offenses occurred, stating that the assault claim involving an infant is "ridiculous" and that his department "followed the judge's orders" by bringing the children to a different residence.
Gallagher also said the officer whom the family claims assaulted Auger — Officer Justin Murphy — did no such thing.

According to Gallagher, Murphy claims in his official report of the incident that he notified Auger she would be placed under arrest and that Murphy told Auger's boyfriend — the father of the children removed by the court order — that he could fight the custody transfer. 

Murphy claims that Auger became agitated and threw her cell phone at Murphy's shoulder. Auger allegedly tried to go to the second floor of the home to allegedly avoid an arrest, and in the process of allegedly trying to "calm her down" by grabbing the arm of Auger's shirt, Murphy allegedly "tripped."

Gallagher said the report states that Auger's shirt ripped at that time and that Murphy didn't grab Auger's breast.
The court system later found Auger guilty of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, according to Gallagher. He said the other two charges were "dealt away," and that Murphy didn't wish to pursue the assault charge because he wasn't injured by the cell phone.
At some point between the July 3 incident and the posting of the cell phone video of the incident on YouTube on Wednesday, Gallagher said the father contacted him to complain about officers' actions during the incident.
No formal complaint or report was ever made, though, according to Gallagher and Bitomske.

Friends and family members of the father and Auger couldn't immediately be reached for comment for this story.
Gallagher and Bitomske said their department is "trying to get on with the" normal, everyday "business" of their department in the wake of the unrelated Bergeron allegations. Both men have said that the behavior that allegedly occurred in each of the instances is not accepted, nor is it the department's norm.


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