Mendez DUI Cover-up Continues, Goes All the Way to the Top

[XLFD]

In our two decades of making Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and receiving FOIA responses, one axiom has developed that has floated to the top when you are dealing with a government agency that is resistant to transparency, like the City of Ludington and (particularly) the Ludington Police Department (LPD).  The most interesting information is not what they voluntarily allow you to look at, it's the information that they voluntarily withhold from you.

On Tuesday, December 30th, at 4:24 PM, the LPD's chief, Christopher Jones (pictured above), put out a statement on their Facebook page that linked to two videos and five documents.  Within an hour, we had read the statement and put up a brief overview, it took local lapdog MCP a while longer that day with a misleading headline, the aptly named COLDNews would lay out another softball presentation the day after. 

Admirably, three hours after the release, WZZM would have refined the LPD release into a news item relaying the facts.  They would refine it into a reel by the end of the night amusingly captioned:  ""Never any attempts to conceal," said the Ludington Police Chief about a traffic stop of an off-duty officer for suspected OWI where body cams were turned off."  There would be another reel made the next day captioned:  " Over a year and a half after an off-duty Ludington police officer was pulled over for suspected drunk driving, his department is releasing new findings."  

Why would a police chief release such damning evidence of a 19-month cover-up of what amounted to an off--duty Officer Austin Mendez driving a vehicle rolling through a stop sign, crossing the center line, striking curbs and reaching speeds of up to 56 mph in a 30-mph zone, before being stopped?  At which point two responding officers broke multiple policies when they shut down their body cameras and in-car cameras and drove the obviously impaired Mendez home without even a civil infraction.  The police chief would be quoted in the local paper:

“Maintaining the trust of our community is a responsibility we take seriously,” Jones said, adding that the department is releasing additional information now to address public concerns and misinformation surrounding the incident. “There was no cover-up,” he said.

 

The problem is that this is the first acknowledgment by the LPD in 19 months that this incident even happened, even when they were called out on it at the last city council meeting when I berated the city for not responding appropriately to the FOIA request I made for records concerning this then-rumored incident.  With due humility, these very incriminating records showing massive cover-ups were only released at this point so as to blunt our eventual articles on this incident when the city would be finally forced to release the records by FOIA law.  That's the calculation Chief Jones made as was the decision to release them at the end of a general news cycle, hoping that they would die between the holiday-weekend period of December 31- January 4.

Yet, WZZM to their credit caught the release and went with a story and unlike the local lapdog corporate media who are in a continual quid pro quo relationship with the city corporation, took the same critical look at the records that we all did and noted that everything just wasn't adding up. 

This was a cover-up of the highest order.  This forced disclosure will prove the public's distrust in the LPD is well-founded, and this solidifies the notion that there is a two-tiered justice system in Mason County.

And it still is a massive cover-up when you take a look at what has been released and even that data seems to be contradictory to the narrative that Jones is trying to create.  Here's Officer Noah Noble's in car camera showing Mendez, driving erratically at the beginning, then ending before we can find out what the resolution will be:

One thing that may be missed beyond the multiple civil infractions is that if this was you or I, we would likely be charged with the felony of fourth degree fleeing and eluding as you note that Noble's lights go on before Mendez gets to Washington Avenue and it looks as if he travels at very high speeds over a 1/4 of a mile before he rolls over some petunias and stops well beyond the S-curve leading out of town.  

Surely, the BWC footage of Noble would show those sobriety field tests and Mendez being taken to the drunk tank at the county jail, but you'd be wrong if you thought that.  What you have is a brief interview between officers, Noble walking back to his vehicle and intentionally turns off his BWC audio without prompting at the 3:24 mark, Sergeant Babinec showing up a half minute later and we can't hear either part of the conversations while they conference for nearly a minute more before the audio is flipped off.

Can you imagine the changed attitudes by the responding officers if that was you or I fleeing drunkenly that night?  We learn through the other documents that they conducted zero sobriety checks on Mendez, nor did they give him any citation for the multiple civil infractions and the felony fleeing charge he also deserved-- not to mention the drunk driving he should have been branded with, if appropriate after testing.  In fact, the police actions that night met that definition used earlier as a cover-up.  Jones saying flatly that there was no cover-up is a flat-out lie.  But there's plenty of lies and plenty of more cover-ups revealed by the written records and it continues just as badly up the ranks.

Please review the written records, I'll point out sections that merit analysis, here's what we have been allowed to review:

IA 24-01 Babinec Disciplinary Letter.pdf

IA 24-01 Mendez Disciplinary Letter.pdf

IA 24-04 Noble Internal Investigation Disposition Letter.pdf

Internal Investigation Summary.pdf

LPD Chief Statement - June 2024 Incident.doc

The three disciplinary/disposition letters all lack a date and any acknowledgment of receipt.  What bothers one in these letters and the investigation summary is that Officer Noble was given a free pass, even though he started the whole cover-up process by not treating Mendez as if he was a normal fleeing and drunk person, and then intentionally turning off his BWC audio even before Sgt. Babinec arrives and gives any further direction, that isn't part of the record.  Neither did he make an incident report regarding the stop.  

I would propose that he is the one who suggests to Babinec that they should cover-up the incident and the continued cover-up proves that.  Observe how the two videos end with Babinec's arrival, but also observe that the investigation indicates there is a third video that the LPD suppresses even now, her in-car camera footage which was referenced in the June 3, 2024 investigation:

Noble had already shut off his audio, no prompting, hoping to conference with his sergeant without oversight.  It seems rational that he was the one who had already broken several policies and tried to bring Babinec over to his side to protect his peer.  To her discredit, she allowed that corruption to take root, but she would be the one (not Noble) who would break later that morning by uncovering the sordid affair to her superior.

Why would Babinec admit a mere four hours after the fact, that she masterminded the original cover-up, unless the idea was sold to her by an officer who had already violated that protocol and seemed to have bought into it almost immediately by treating Mendez with kid gloves once stopped?  The voluntary non-disclosure of Babinec's footage by Chief Jones and the total blackwashing of her statements during her 'hearing' (which have zero cause for exemption under FOIA) indicates a cover-up of the truth continues:

Sergeant Babinec had complicity in the original cover-up to be sure, but Officer Noah Noble acted much differently than his last name would suggest, and he should have been sorely disciplined given the facts of the matter to at least the same level of Babinec.  He would move over to the county sheriff's office by November, where he was one of the deputies that appears to have made an unlawful arrest against a woman trying to vote that day.  she has been cleared of all charges since.

This brings us to Chief Jones current statement and his comments made in the COLDNews.  We hear in that statement and the internal investigation that he contacted the MSP on or after June 3, 2024 and had them conduct an investigation into the incident that had already undergone such already at the LPD.  Again, what isn't voluntarily disclosed is any contact with the MSP where they would need to review the videos and interview those involved.  Of course, one would think that Mendez would have sobered up by that point.  

He acknowledges that the MSP finished a report and sent it to the prosecutor for review, and that she actually denied a warrant request.  If true, we already know that Prosecutor Hand does not turn down a warrant request unless it's against a fellow public official.  Thus, we have to ask where are the records of the MSP and the prosecutor that correspond to this statement?  Why would anything be pursued if the evidence was never shared?

What about Captain Haveman that received the information a mere four hours after the traffic stop?  Why did he not send a car over to the Mendez resident and try to have him give consent for sobriety testing, if the goal was to treat him fairly like other folks who get stopped for breaking multiple laws, including felony fleeing and eluding?  If Mendez refused, add disciplinary sanctions. Let's face it, this was a cover-up on all levels back on Saturday, June 1st, 2024. 

But then there is the 19 months following that kept the cover-up ongoing and gaining even more power as a blot against the administrators of the LPD, where the buck stops with Plagiarist in Chief Chris Jones.  He has not provided the supplementary material listed above at the least, and has took the time to wipe out the defenses claimed and statements made by Mendez and Babinec at their disciplinary hearings.

Can you imagine going to a court defending yourself against charges and the court reporter failing to put you or your attorney's comments on the record, but putting all the prosecution's statements on the record?  If anything, Chief Jones and his fellow administrators have not only covered up the event of the Mendez DWI/Fleeing non-arrest event back on June 1, 2024, but continue to cover-up the facts to this day while bald-facedly telling us that there was and is no cover-up.  But all they want to tell us is more and more lies at the COLDNews:

“We are committed to accountability, fairness, and openness, and we hold our officers to high professional standards,” Jones said. “This incident was handled promptly, objectively, and in accordance with established investigative procedures, and we will continue to take appropriate action whenever concerns arise.” 

That's ridiculous, if your department had those traits we would have seen an off-duty officer driving dirty be treated just like any other individual who swerved and sped away from a police officer for a quarter of a mile chase, endangering the community.  These statements are not taking responsibility for this 19-month-old incident, it's only showing the culpability of LPD leadership.

[Rick]

Great work on this story, “X”! Nothing ever mentioned of this until you broke the story recently, now it’s all out damage control by LPD! As you know, I moved away from Ludington this summer but I still follow this page and the local news and this incident absolutely infuriates me.

I went back through several months of Mason County Press Police Reports and EVERY incident of OWI reported involved the offender being taken to the Mason County Jail…NONE of them were given rides home by LPD! I also did a little research this morning as follows…Michigan OWI first offense…up to 93 days in jail, fines of up to $500 plus court costs, license suspension of up to 6 months, community service up to 360 hours (maybe his work time is considered community service?!), 6 points on drivers license. I then looked at punishment for 26 mph over speed limit…$210 fine plus court costs, and 4 points on drivers license.

Whether a corporation or a public entity such as LPD, the “culture” starts at the top and trickles down. Ultimately, Jones (doesn’t deserve to be called “chief” after this incident) should be fired. The other two officers need to be relieved of their duties as well! It probably will never happen but maybe the Channel 13 news report will catch the attention of some of the elected officials in Lansing and push for the right thing to be done…maybe even use a President Trump tactic of withholding funding until the right thing is done in response to this matter.

I think I told you at a past city council meeting that, while I don’t always agree with some of your tactics in approaching an issue, I have a ton of respect for what you do to point out the corruption in LUD and keeping the citizens of LUD informed.

On another note, I can’t wait to see your response to the former LSD Superintendents severance package. Anyone involved with drafting and approving that contract needs to be voted off the school board!

[XLFD]

That severance package was a hoot; I hope the three old-school board members (including the last two chairmen) that are up for re-election this year don't expect another term for saddling us with this golden parachute.  

My favorite person from France just died, adieu Brigitte Bardot, but my second continental choice from that slice of Europe had a good quote on tactics in the public battlefield:  "One must change one's tactics every ten years if one wishes to maintain one's superiority."

This is my 19th year of skirmishing with the City of Ludington over various topics and the tactics I adopt do need to change over time to adapt to the city's changes in personnel and mores.  In retrospect, I think I have not always used the best tactic at all times in order to achieve the objectives I wanted, but I think I always had a point to make and if I hurt some official's ego in the process, I'm sure they had it coming.

Nevertheless, thanks for doing the research regarding what happens to the usual DWI and speed demon in the area, I sometimes hear these types of cases on Wednesday afternoons at the courthouse, and there's rarely any that survive the plea-bargaining phase, even with Beth Hand around.  All I know is that if you or I were driving over 25 mph going east on Ludington Avenue with a LPD vehicle behind you from Harrison almost to Jackson, with lights & siren for the latter half, that we would be charged with felony fleeing & eluding. 

One guy I know was charged with that for driving a vehicle home after meeting with his PO.  Never sped, but he went across Ludington before they turned their lights on and he was a block ahead of them and made another turn at Loomis without being aware that they were coming for him.  This was a borrowed vehicle and they impounded the vehicle even after contacting the owner and having her show up while it was still around.  This isn't what community friendly police departments do.