Cop Fired for Putting Paper Bag on Perp's Head

Fort Lauderdale reserve officer let go for incident with spitting trespasser

A Fort Lauderdale cop is out of a job after he put a paper bag over the head of a spitting mad perp.

Part-time reserve Officer John Wezkiewicz had been with the force 20 years before he was sent home last month, according to the Sun-Sentinel.

The incident that got him fired happened Nov. 1, when a man, Gerald Feldhaus, was arrested outside Yolo Restaurant on Las Olas for trespassing and resisting arrest.

"He was spitting and screaming as he would look and yell at other people," Wezkiewicz told investigators.

Rather than use a department-issued hood designed specifically for prisoner control, Wezkiewicz used a brown paper bag.

"Poor judgment prevailed concerning his decision to utilize a brown paper bag," Capt. Rick Maglione wrote in a report on the incident.

Claiming Wezkiewicz "shed a negative light" on the department, the report said using the hood instead would not "be falsely perceived as an attempt to humiliate an individual."

Contact Us