NOTHING SHORT of an independent investigation into the death of Brookline resident David Woodman will satisfy the need for transparency in a case that is roiling the Boston Police Department. Wisely, Police Commissioner Edward Davis called yesterday for just such an inquiry into the case, which began with Woodman's June 18 arrest after a Boston Celtics championship victory and ended 11 days later when he was declared dead in a local hospital.
"I'd like to have outside eyes look at it," says Davis, who says he sees no evidence of excessive force on the part of his officers. "We have nothing to hide."
Six of the nine officers involved in Woodman's arrest have just one or two years on the force, Davis said. Two of the three veteran officers on the scene have faced departmental discipline, one for domestic violence and one for improper use of force.
Public confidence in the Boston police hit a nadir in 2004 after the Red Sox pennant victory. Victoria Snelgrove, 21, was celebrating peacefully when she was fatally shot with a pepper pellet fired by police seeking to control a rowdy crowd nearby. Former US attorney Donald Stern headed up an independent commission that found a serious breakdown in police command discipline and poor training. Stern would be an excellent choice to head up any outside investigation of the Woodman death.
The official inquiry by Boston police homicide detectives is well underway, under the control of Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley. Much of that effort will focus on a six-minute interval when police discovered that Woodman, whom they had arrested for alleged public drunkenness and resisting arrest, had stopped breathing. Woodman's parents have accused police of not providing their son - who was born with a heart condition - with prompt medical attention. An initial autopsy revealed that Woodman, 22, had an enlarged heart, according to a report in yesterday's Globe.
Conley needs time to complete the death investigation and determine what, if any, criminal responsibility may apply. But an independent panel should investigate concurrently whether police procedures, training, or operational plans may have played a role in Woodman's death. That could include whether officers may have overreacted to alleged verbal taunts by Woodman and whether officers threatened Woodman's friends, who were potential witnesses, with arrest if they did not leave the area.
The Woodman family and the public deserve the most thorough and transparent investigation - and on multiple fronts if necessary - to learn the truth.
