Assault victims question behavior of off-duty Hamtramck police officers

Two women say they were assaulted at The Tin Fish bar in St. Claire Shores last year while off-duty Hamtramck officers stood by and let friends of theirs commit the beatings.

By Charles Sercombe
Their motto:
To serve and protect.
But according to two women, three off-duty Hamtramck police officers didn’t live up to that police motto.
Instead, the women said, the officers were part of the problem that led to a brawl at a St. Clair Shores bar last year.
The officers were not directly involved in the fight and are not facing criminal charges. The Review is withholding their names because no charges are pending nor is there a civil lawsuit.
The Review reached out to the officers, through an email request to Acting Police Chief Anne Moise, for their version of events, but we were told by City Manager Katrina Powell that our request for comment would not be passed on to the officers.
Powell added that since there will be further legal action the officers are not allowed to comment on the matter.
One woman who assaulted the two victims has been convicted and is awaiting sentencing. Although the woman was charged with a misdemeanor, because it was an aggravated assault her sentence could be as much as one year in jail.
Two other women involved in the matter cannot be found but have outstanding warrants for their arrest.
The two victims, Vivian Arapaj and Maria Olivan, provided The Review with written statements about what happened on the night of Aug. 22, 2014 at a bar called The Tin Fish in St. Clair Shores.
Here is their account of what happened that night:
They were at the bar celebrating a friend’s birthday when one of the officers insisted they have a shot with him. They declined, and that’s when things got testy.
The officer picked up Vivian and sat her on top of the bar, insisting she have a shot.
A male friend of the pair told the officer to back off. The officer responded with a threat: “I’m going to kick your f****** ass.”
The officer further said: “Do you even know who I am and what I can do to you?”
A scuffle ensued with a bartender, who intervened, and that’s when the women left with their friends.
Outside in the parking lot they said their goodbyes, but the three officers and others came up to them.
One of the officers said to Maria Olivan: “You need some d*** that’s why you’re such a bitch.”
And then suddenly a group of women attacked the two victims, kicking their heads and pulling their hair.
Police were called but the suspects fled. However, someone took a photo of the license plate of the car the group left in.
One of the officers ended up cooperating with St. Clair Shores police and identified the women who committed the assault.
The victims both asked Hamtramck’s Police Department to look into the matter.
Former Police Chief Max Garbarino told The Review he assigned an investigator to look into the matter, and as a result of that felt there was no need to take disciplinary action.
However, Maria Olivan said no one from Hamtramck ever contacted her to talk about the incident despite several pleas, including one to City Manager Powell.
She said that although she is frustrated by Hamtramck’s response, she is not surprised.
“I thought to myself, they’re living up to the reputation they have as a department,” Olivan said. “It’s a department that doesn’t care and is corrupt.”
Olivan said that although the officers didn’t commit the assault, they added to the tension and “egged on” the assault. For that reason, she said, the department should have taken disciplinary action.
“Officers are held to a higher standard. I definitely feel they took advantage of this situation,” Olivan said.
St. Clair Shores Sgt. Jay Cohoe, who handled the matter, said because the officers were not directly involved in the assault, they were not charged.
However, he conceded that: “This was no ordinary bar fight. It’s unfortunate the officers didn’t act accordingly.”
The incident raises the question: Should the officers have intervened when members of their group assaulted the two women?
It’s a trickier question than it appears.
The Review talked with Erick Barnes, an instructor of criminal justice at University of Detroit Mercy, about the responsibilities of an officer who sees a crime unfold in front of him or her.
Although Barnes couldn’t comment on this specific matter, he said there are many factors to take into account, and that depends a lot on an officer’s training and experience.
For starters, when an incident rises to a level of a serious crime, such as a shooting, an off-duty officer “has a legal obligation to take action,” Barnes said, but to what extent is still open to interpretation.
It could mean taking out his gun, calling local police or simply coming forward as a witness.
The incident in this matter was a misdemeanor.
Often, Barnes said, it’s a split-second call.
“Most individuals would agree that a certain legal duty is required when a crime happens in their presence,” Barnes said. “Hindsight is 20-20.”
But a major mitigating factor is the recent attention on police behavior and the allegations of police brutality. That, Barnes said, has a “chilling effect” on officers getting involved in a situation when off-duty.
Former Hamtramck Police Chief Garbarino said that given the specifics of this matter, the officers should have stepped forward and held back their friends.
“That’s common sense,” Garbarino said.