Critics: Crude Cop's Deal Too Sweet

Pundits say frisky police officer got special treatment

Critics are slamming the plea deal pervy police officer Charles Grady got after the frisky cop was busted grabbing the breasts of women he pulled over.

Grady will never patrol the streets as a cop again and he'll always have the misdemeanor battery charges on his record, but the way his case was handled and the lack of jail time is ruffling feathers in South Florida.

Tony Alfieri, director of the Center for Ethics and Public Service at the University of Miami, wants to know why Grady was never arrested and never did jail time, and why the paperwork on his case revealed few details of the charges he was facing.

Alfieri says the lack of action by the BSO coupled with the leniency of justice is only helping to hurt the public perception of law and order.

"First, you have the serious and traumatic injury to the victims," Alfieri told the Miami Herald. "Two, you have the institutional injury to law enforcement in Broward County by the failure of internal controls and accountability at the BSO. And third, the people of Broward County are now rightfully skeptical about the candor and accountability of the BSO."

The 39-year-old former Broward Sheriff's Office deputy was accused of several crimes throughout his 12-year career and was the subject of 17 internal affairs investigations including battery and molestation.

But nothing much stuck until women starting coming forward claiming Grady was abusing his badge to cop a feel.

One woman claimed the crude cop pulled down her top to gawk at her breasts while she was in a holding cell. Another said Grady jiggled her bra and asked her if "those were real."

The worst accusation was from a woman who claimed Grady had forced her to perform oral sex on her at gunpoint during a traffic stop.

But what has Alfieri and others upset is that the details of these accusations weren't made public until a public records request was filed with the state attorney's office. Not to mention that most people accused of these acts would surely be arrested and tossed in a cell.
 
"There was no intentional coverup," said prosecutor David Schulson. "We took care of it. We got the word out, we got to prosecute and we got the result we wanted."

Whether true or not, the perceived lack of vigor has doubts raised.

"This is about a national problem of a law enforcement and prosecutorial culture that by inclination protects their own," Broward Public Defender Howard Finkelstein told the Herald. "This problem is not unique to Broward. And because it is so widespread, it is that much larger of a problem."

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