Apology not enough for man handcuffed by Milton officer

Despite apologies from Police Chief Kevin Mearn, the Rev. Henderson L. Brome says he remains livid over how he was treated last month by Milton police.

The Milton resident said he will pursue "all avenues" to redress the wrong he alleges was committed against him by an officer who handcuffed him on the morning of July 28.

The officer was looking for a suspect in a 5:30 a.m. car break-in attempt who was identified as a black man. When he approached Brome, who is black, he told him to shut up and handcuffed him, according to the Episcopalian priest's attorney, James Dilday.

"I have no interest in engaging in a crusade to discredit or disrespect the Milton police," Brome said. "Having said that, however, the act was so horrendous that it has to be addressed and addressed in a most forceful way."

Brome wants to make sure young black males who receive similar treatment feel they can speak out without fear of reprisal, said Dilday, who is one of Brome's parishioners at St. Cyprian's Episcopal Church in Roxbury.

"It's fortunate that he's a minister and has a doctorate degree, so that when it happens to him it becomes news," he said.

Mearn, who declined to identify the officer, said the incident is "under review."

"I am certainly respectful of the fact that [Brome] was upset about the situation," Mearn said. "He was obviously not the [suspect]. It doesn't take someone of even my limited intelligence to say that if you have the wrong person you say you're sorry. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I don't believe race is a factor in this whole process."

Mearn said he wants to talk to Brome in a closed-door meeting, but Dilday said he is not sure that will happen. Dilday said Brome is on a trip to Barbados.

MARIA CRAMER