Committee on Public Integrity
Telephone: 202-374-3680 --- Email: CommitteeOnPublicIntegrity@gmail.com
www.CommitteeOnPublicIntegrity.com
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The Committee on Public Integrity Calls On District Attorney to Appoint Special Prosecutor Over Cop's Injury Investigation - December 20, 2011
Cries of a cover-up have followed the tragic November 15, 2011 serious injury of respected Pelham Manor Police Officer Michael Tillistrand and have left numerous calls on Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore to appoint a Special Prosecutor over the pending investigation. As reported in the November 17, 2011 edition of the Westchester County Journal News, Officer Tillistrand was hit and seriously injured during a routine traffic stop on Boston Post Road in the small village of Pelham Manor. While the accident was widely reported, it took days before The Journal News uncovered that the driver of the vehicle that hit Officer Tillistrand was the daughter of the Village of Pelham Manor Fire Chief, Joseph Ruggiero. The 28-year-old Tillistrand was admitted to Jacobi Hospital with life-threatening head injuries, made tremendous progress, and is currently in Helen Hayes, a Rockland County Rehabilitation facility.
The Journal News reported on November 16, 2011, that the Pelham Manor Police had declined to comment "...about the status of the investigation until the chief came in at 10 a.m." Reporter James O'Rourke noted in his story that, "A silver coupe was covered by a tarp, perhaps to preserve evidence as it rained," and that, "A county police accident investigator said at the accident scene that the officer who was struck had been assisting another officer who was writing a citation for the driver of a stopped car." However, details pertaining to driver Jillian Ruggiero's texting-while-driving activity at the time she allegedly drove into Officer Tillistrand have been, it is alleged, kept secret. In addition to the apparent conflict of the Pelham Manor Police investigating the actions of the daughter of the Pelham Manor Fire Chief, there's more.
In a bizarre series of events that left administrators at Jacobi Hospital frantic, the Pelham Manor Village Manager, John Pierpont and his wife apparently appeared to visit the injured Tillistrand shortly after he was admitted. It is reported that Mrs. Pierpont, a nurse associated with Sound Shore Hospital in New Rochelle, began reviewing Officer Tillistrand's medical charts. Mr. and Mrs. John Pierpont were allegedly escorted out of the hospital and banned from visiting the critically injured Tillistrand at Jacobi Hospital.
The Pelham Manor Village Manager, John Pierpont, is not new to controversy. In an article believed to be from October of 1997, the local Town of Pelham newspaper, The Pelham Weekly, headlined an article, "Pierpont: No Comment On Mount Kisco Case." It was reported that Mr. Pierpont had, "no comment on a Westchester County district attorney's inquiry in a Mount Kisco case," noting that, "Pierpont was village manager in Mount Kisco until two years ago." The focus of the District Attorney's investigation was, "whether a crime was committed regarding computer equipment which was unaccounted for when a recent inventory was taken." The article quoted the Mount Kisco police as saying that, "the items [had been] returned."
The Committee on Public Integrity Applauds Governor Cuomo's Appointment of a Prosecutor as Ethics Head - December 14, 2011
Cuomo says DiFiore selection sends a message - The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle by Jon Campbell
Appearing in Albany after hosting a meeting to try to iron out issues with a bill involving livery cabs, Gov. Andrew Cuomo praised Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore, who was the governor’s pick to chair the newly minted Joint Commission on Public Ethics. Cuomo said tapping a sitting prosecutor to head the commission “was a signal that we are taking this very, very, very seriously.” The 15-member panel — appointed by Cuomo and legislative leaders — will be able to investigate ethics charges in both the executive and legislative branch of state government. “I think the message was credibility and integrity, and I don’t think you could send a stronger message than appointing a sitting district attorney … let alone with the credential of Janet DiFiore,” Cuomo said. Cuomo said he doesn’t have any concerns about having an elected official – who raises money from various interests for reelection campaigns – lead the board. Nor was he concerned that DiFiore is president of the state District Attorneys Association, which weighs in on legislation at the state level. The state has “politicians” run for the county district attorney positions and state attorney general, Cuomo noted. “Look, we have addressed the question: Can you have a ‘politician’ in law enforcement?” Cuomo said. “Can you have a politician that raises money? Of course you can.” While Cuomo again didn’t reveal his preference of when it should be held, he did say he hopes the state doesn’t have three separate primaries — one for the Presidential election, one for state races, and one for local races — citing the cost it would have on local governments. Cuomo weighed in on a handful of other topics, as well as the ongoing debate over when the state should hold its primary election for state lawmakers. (More to Come.....)
