Of The St. Louis American
Scott Tillis, a St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department officer, has been suspended without pay for 18 months over a charge of insubordination, or defying authority.
Previously, the longest suspension time – in St. Louis’ history – for this charge has been 14 days, according to a subpoena Tillis obtained.
Why would the police force delay settling Tillis’ case for so long? Why would saying, “don’t disrespect me,” when four commanding officers yelled at Tillis be so wrong?
In his police board trial, Tillis said it started when he began snooping around the S & H Parking Systems tow yard at 1325 N. 10th St. in February 2008. The company’s manager, Gregory Shepard – who confronted Tillis – was later indicted with multiple fraud charges in June 2009.
Or maybe it began when Tillis filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission because his supervisors allegedly refused to allow his religious practices.
Or maybe it started when he took the Nazirene “oath of separation” to live simply, not drink, be a good Christian – and forego cutting his hair.
Most people take the oath when they want to separate themselves from a situation. Tillis decided to take the oath when he thought things started getting shady at the police department.
“The people who were coming into command were questionable,” Tillis said, “and I started seeing myself slipping in the same area. I told myself that as long as I wear this uniform, I need to be an officer for the people.”
He took the oath to remind himself that he is a “peace officer.” His previous commanding officers had respected his religious practice – especially because his ponytail of ear-length dreadlocks fit comfortably under his police cap.
Then in 2007, one of his new supervisors discounted Tillis’ religion explanation and told him to cut his hair in order to be uniform with the other officers. After praying on it, Tillis decided to obey.
He said, “I respected his rank. I cut my hair and decided I would take care of this in a professional way. There is a format for people who disagree.”
And he filed the EEOC complaint in November 2007. That was the first “annoying factor” that ticked off his commanding officers, he believes.
The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department declined an opportunity to comment on Tillis’ case, saying it is a personnel matter and the subject of pending litigation.
Valentine’s Day tow fest
The second started on Valentine’s Day 2008.
Fourteen cars were towed from the O’Fallon Place apartment complex, a minority neighborhood and Section 8 development at 16th Street and Cass Avenue. Tillis was living there at the time.
His neighbors called the police about the mysterious towing incidents, but no one came to investigate. “So my neighbors came to me because they trust me,” Tillis said.
He first called the dispatcher to ask if there were any major incidents that night to justify the mass towing. The dispatcher said no. So Tillis said the hairs on the back of his neck stood up and he thought, “Something doesn’t smell right.”
Tillis got the names of all the people whose cars were towed and reported to Central patrol. When individuals get towed, a police officer files a form so the people can call the dispatcher and find out where to retrieve their cars. After looking through the forms, he found that all 14 cars were towed within about 20 to 30 minutes. In such a short amount of time, Tillis knew that one tow truck couldn’t have handled the load.
Either there was a police officer with the tow trucks running the license plates for violations, he thought, or the apartment complex had already tagged the vehicles, giving the residents appropriate notice. Tillis decided to talk with the property managers, and they said they were not informed that the vehicles were being towed that night. In fact, the managers have to follow a certain format in order to tow private residents’ vehicles in the complex.
His next step was to go down to the S & H Parking and Towing company a few blocks away. The supervisor, Gregory Shepard, came to answer his questions.
Tillis told Shepard he was a police officer, and he was doing an investigation on why the vehicles were towed, Tillis said. Then he asked for the records.
He said Shepard got red in the face and told Tillis, “Don’t you know who I am? I’m with Joe,” which Tillis later inferred was Police Chief Joe Mokwa.
Again, the hairs on Tillis’ neck rose up and he thought, “This doesn’t seem right to treat a police officer this way who wants to simply look at a few vehicles.”
Tillis persisted that he would like the information, saying, “I’m with the St. Louis Police Department. You are contracted to do towing with us, and I have a right to look at those vehicles.”
Shepard threatened to contact Internal Affairs on Tillis. And Tillis responded that he would do the same.
Internal Affairs
Tillis immediately went to the Internal Affairs office and told them about his run-in with Shepard. Tillis showed them the evidence he had for the cars and asked that they look into it.
“They said, ‘No, we’re not going to do an investigation,’” he said. Internal Affairs told him that he was to report directly to his commanding District 3 lieutenant. Tillis went to the lieutenant to ask if he could work overtime with a couple other officers to conduct an investigation.
The lieutenant told him to “drop it,” and that he had other things to worry about, such as a complaint made against him by a victim in December 2007.
First of all, Tillis said, “In regulations, you can’t order someone to drop a case unless you assume it. So I kept checking up on the case, from February to April. I kept calling.”
Secondly, he said the pending complaint for improper handling of an assignment was never an issue before because “I did my job appropriately; I wasn’t worried about that.”
In the meantime, Tillis tried to gather more info on S & H. And that was the breaking point, he believes.
Two months later, he was informed that he was getting a written reprimand on the allegation, and he needed to sign it. Tillis told the sergeants he wanted an opportunity to respond “in an appropriate manner.” He said they told him, “No.” Tillis said he signed it because he didn’t want to be changed with insubordination, but he was charged regardless.
After some conversations with his district commanding officer about a meeting time, Tillis decided that he needed to get himself some representation and support.
Tillis said he was on the phone talking with his attorney when four officers of higher ranking came to the police academy, where he was working. He said one immediately started cussing at him and told him to get off the phone.
Tillis’ attorney heard the whole conversation and advised Tillis to comply. The officers asked if he had his weapon on him – he didn’t.
“I asked them if I was under arrest, because why else would they ask if I had my weapon on me?” Tillis said. “What did I do?”
Tillis said the officer answered, “Just shut up and come down to the district.”
Tillis said he waived his finger and said, “Don’t disrespect me.”
Tillis said he felt nervous because the four officers used a standard police tactic of barricading an individual or coming as a group to overwhelm a suspect.
In April 2008, Tillis was suspended for multiple charges of insubordination, which he said were not well substantiated. He said the captain who suspended him cited two reasons why he was being suspended: he disrespected the district lieutenant and filed a discrimination case.
Now it’s been 18 months.
In the interim, in July 2008, Mokwa retired when a scandal arose about his daughter, Aimie Mokwa, misusing towed cars from S & H. In Tillis’ police board trial this year, Mokwa testified that he visited Shepard at the tow yard regularly for “coffee.”
In June 2009, Shepard was indicted by a federal grand jury on seven felony counts of mail fraud, two felony counts of bribery involving federal programs, one felony count of wire fraud, and one felony count of making false entries. These are merely accusations.
In August 2009, former St. Louis Metropolitan Police Detective Kevin Shade pled guilty to mail fraud in connection with falsifying inspections for S & H Parking Systems.
Mokwa was police chief for the entire period when Shepard and Shade were under investigation by authorities, as reported in the federal documents.
Due process
Tillis was refused a trial by the Board of Police Commissioners within the 30 days required by law of due process.
“No rule, policy or procedure of the police force provides for a prompt post-suspension hearing after an officer has been placed on indefinite administrative suspension,” Tillis’ attorney at the time, Chet Pleban, stated in a court filing.
“As a result, the rules, the policies, and procedures, both on their face and as they apply to Tillis, violate due process and equal protection clauses of the 5th and 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.”
Tillis lives in a house he owns in North St. Louis County, with a small puppy that barks like crazy at anyone but Tillis. In Tillis’ living room, there is a couch, a small chair and coffee table. The house is humble and nearly empty, except for pictures of him graduating from the police academy and some statues, including a crucifix.
For the past year and a half, his future and livelihood have been put on hold. Being suspended, Tillis can’t work in any line of law enforcement, including security or investigations. But the Department of Public Safety does allow suspended officers to work in another police department. Tillis said the Board of Police Commissioners has not responded to his request to work in another department.
In March 2009, he finally had his first phase of the Board of Police Commissioners trial, where they found him guilty of two counts of insubordination. Initially he was being charged with multiple charges, such as hitting a sergeant with a door. But the officers had to recant their stories after his attorney testified of hearing the situation over the phone.
After this proceeding, the police department offered him a few options, but Tillis said, “What was presented was a slap in the face.” They offered him to resign with back pay, and they would forget all about it. But Tillis said he would rather wait for the penalty phase of his trial, which was scheduled for Sept. 23.
Actually, he would rather be back on the force, doing his job again, he said.
A week before this trial, Pleban dropped the case and didn’t tell Tillis why, Tillis said. Pleban declined to comment because of attorney-client privilege. However, he did say that Tillis had a “good case.”
Now Tillis has to wait to for the St. Louis Police Officer’s Association to assign a new attorney, prolonging the process even further.
“They don’t want this to be resolved because they would have to explain why I am being suspended,” Tillis said. “I’m a first-time offender, and it doesn’t make sense.”
According to the court document, the charge Tillis faces “carries a penalty of a reprimand to a 10-day suspension and 10-day suspension to dismissal for a second offense.”