Harvard officer put on leave speaks out

Says she didn't point gun at black teen

Theresa McAuliffe, Harvard University policewoman, had stopped a black teen who was cutting his own bike lock. (Bill Greene/Globe Staff)

A Harvard University police officer who faces possible disciplinary action over an incident involving a black teenager last month said the university is using her as a scapegoat as it tries to address accusations of racial profiling by campus police.

Theresa McAuliffe said she and a male colleague have been placed on paid administrative leave and could face termination pending the outcome of an investigation into their treatment of the Boston high school student while responding to a call of a suspected bicycle theft on Aug. 8.

McAuliffe, in an interview yesterday at the Needham office of her lawyer, Timothy M. Burke, said she followed standard police procedure while confronting the young man, who was attempting to cut the lock on a bike he owned because the key had broken.

At the center of the investigation is whether McAuliffe pointed a gun at the student and whether the male officer berated him with profanity.

McAuliffe acknowledged removing her gun from its holster but said she never pointed it at the student. She said she did not hear her partner use curse words.

"I was shocked. I felt bad. I just couldn't be lieve they were saying that we mishandled him, that we were mean, that we were cursing at him, that I stuck my gun in his face," said McAuliffe, 39, recounting her meeting with a supervisor four days after the incident.

"I did not."

Harvard spokesman Joe Wrinn said he could not respond to McAuliffe's remarks because the investigation is continuing and confidential.

A spokeswoman for the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, the police union representing the male officer, also declined to comment on personnel matters in the midst of the investigation.

The Aug. 8 incident stirred outrage and concern among black faculty and administrators and followed longstanding complaints of racial bias by campus police.

Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust appointed a review board last week to examine the diversity training, community outreach, and recruitment efforts of the Police Department, a private force overseen by the university.

Neil Sullivan, executive director of the Boston Private Industry Council, which helped the student secure the summer job at Harvard, said yesterday that the student and his father would not comment on the incident until they speak with Ralph Martin, the former Suffolk district attorney who is heading the review board.

The student's family did not want him to be identified.

He emigrated from West Africa two years ago and was on his way to an MCAS remedial class in English when he was stopped by police. He works at Harvard.

McAuliffe, a 13-year veteran of the force, said she initially did not know the race of the student when she responded to the early-morning call outside the Barker Center.

She said she saw someone in a green Celtics shirt hunched over a purple mountain bike using a pair of wire cutters to cut a cable lock.

She said she pointed at the teenager with her left hand while partially removing the gun from its holster with her right hand.

She yelled for him to turn around, she said.

The teen instantly said: "It's my bike. It's my bike. I work here," McAuliffe recalled.

At that point, she said, she had to fully remove her pistol in order to reholster it, but she reiterated that she never pointed it at the teen.

Three people familiar with the Harvard investigation of the incident said the student told investigators that the female officer pointed her gun at him and that the male officer spewed a stream of profanity.

McAuliffe said she and her partner continued questioning the teenager. He showed her two broken keys as she examined the lock. She used the wire cutters to pull out the tip of the key that had broken off in the lock and discovered that it matched.

"I told my partner: 'I think this is legit. His story's matching up,' " she said.

Her partner then helped the student cut the rest of the lock off, and she suggested that he purchase a combination lock instead.

She said her partner shook the student's hand to assure him that everything was going to be all right.

"I thought it ended on a positive note," she said.

The following week, she learned of the complaint against her and her partner.

McAuliffe said she has never faced serious disciplinary action in the department.

"I'm concerned that she's being scapegoated for an incident that has nothing to do with race," Burke said.

Tracy Jan can be reached at tjan@globe.com.