Chambers writes Bush about officer's conduct
State Sen. Ernie Chambers sent a letter to President Bush complaining about a Nebraska police officer and Army Reserve officer who allegedly left a noose hanging in the work area of a black woman, an Army Reserve sergeant under his command.
The behavior is conduct unbecoming an officer, Chambers said in the letter, providing details of the alleged mid-October incident and the victim’s response.
An Army Reserve spokeswoman verified the military is investigating an equal opportunity complaint on the incident.
Bellevue Police Chief John Stacey will also investigate the incident after receiving a letter from Chambers Friday, but said Detective Harold Hessig has a good record with the public.
Chambers gave this account of what happened at the Council Bluffs, Iowa, Army Reserve facility based on his interviews with the victim and on documents:
First Lt. Hessig and another soldier fashioned a noose from rope that had been left in a waste basket, and Hessig left it hanging from a heating pipe in the work area he shared with Sgt. Tiffany Robinson.
Robinson found the noose Oct. 16 and reported the incident to two higher-ranking personnel. When asked to do so, she telephoned Hessig to tell him she was offended.
Hessig said he didn’t know the noose would offend her and that he intended to take it home but had forgotten to do so, according to Chambers’ account.
Hessig later left a note of apology at Robinson’s house on the Offutt Air Base and sent flowers and candy.
Hessig and Robinson’s battalion commander, Lt. Col Robert Pelletier, said that because Hessig was born and raised in Nebraska, he had not been exposed to her “cultural background” and did not understand the sensitive issues raised by the noose, according to Chambers’ account.
Shortly after the noose-hanging incident, Robinson had repeated hang-up phone calls at her home over several days. These were found to be coming from a dating service, according to her commanding officer.
Robinson asked to be reassigned back to Mississippi because she didn’t feel safe in Nebraska.
When her Nebraska commander suggested she stay and teach the troops about her “cultural background,” she took her request for a transfer to a high-ranking officer in another state, and she was reassigned to Mississippi.
Robinson also made an equal opportunity complaint to the Army and called the FBI.
Robinson did not know whether there was an EOC or FBI investigation and had no knowledge that anyone had been disciplined when she talked with Chambers in early November.
An equal opportunity investigation could take as long as six weeks, said Kathy Klein, an Army Reserve public affairs specialist in Kansas.
“The soldier has filed a complaint and there is an investigation going on. That is basically all I can tell you,” she said Friday afternoon.
Neither Hessig nor Robinson could be reached for comment.
Hessig’s work and interaction with the public “has been exemplary,” Bellevue Police Chief Stacey said.
“This is pretty much out of character for this individual,” he said.
The department takes every complaint seriously and investigates, Stacey said. Because a police officer is held to a higher standard, behavior off the job is also subject to investigation, he said.
The credibility of an officer has to be above reproach, he said.
Both Hessig and Robinson have served overseas in recent years.
Robinson spent nine months in Iraq in 2004. Hessig spent 18 to 24 months in Afghanistan, Stacey said.
“This matter is grave and has produced serious psychological consequences to the victim,” Chambers wrote in his letter to the president.
“It portends incalculably negative repercussions and ramifications for the Military and its faltering efforts to recruit and retain African Americans,” he wrote.
Chambers also sent letters about the incident to 15 top-ranking federal officials and Congressional leaders, and to Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rev. Al Sharpton and Louis Farrakhan.
Reach Nancy Hicks at 473-7250 or nhicks@journalstar.com.
The behavior is conduct unbecoming an officer, Chambers said in the letter, providing details of the alleged mid-October incident and the victim’s response.
An Army Reserve spokeswoman verified the military is investigating an equal opportunity complaint on the incident.
Bellevue Police Chief John Stacey will also investigate the incident after receiving a letter from Chambers Friday, but said Detective Harold Hessig has a good record with the public.
Chambers gave this account of what happened at the Council Bluffs, Iowa, Army Reserve facility based on his interviews with the victim and on documents:
First Lt. Hessig and another soldier fashioned a noose from rope that had been left in a waste basket, and Hessig left it hanging from a heating pipe in the work area he shared with Sgt. Tiffany Robinson.
Robinson found the noose Oct. 16 and reported the incident to two higher-ranking personnel. When asked to do so, she telephoned Hessig to tell him she was offended.
Hessig said he didn’t know the noose would offend her and that he intended to take it home but had forgotten to do so, according to Chambers’ account.
Hessig later left a note of apology at Robinson’s house on the Offutt Air Base and sent flowers and candy.
Hessig and Robinson’s battalion commander, Lt. Col Robert Pelletier, said that because Hessig was born and raised in Nebraska, he had not been exposed to her “cultural background” and did not understand the sensitive issues raised by the noose, according to Chambers’ account.
Shortly after the noose-hanging incident, Robinson had repeated hang-up phone calls at her home over several days. These were found to be coming from a dating service, according to her commanding officer.
Robinson asked to be reassigned back to Mississippi because she didn’t feel safe in Nebraska.
When her Nebraska commander suggested she stay and teach the troops about her “cultural background,” she took her request for a transfer to a high-ranking officer in another state, and she was reassigned to Mississippi.
Robinson also made an equal opportunity complaint to the Army and called the FBI.
Robinson did not know whether there was an EOC or FBI investigation and had no knowledge that anyone had been disciplined when she talked with Chambers in early November.
An equal opportunity investigation could take as long as six weeks, said Kathy Klein, an Army Reserve public affairs specialist in Kansas.
“The soldier has filed a complaint and there is an investigation going on. That is basically all I can tell you,” she said Friday afternoon.
Neither Hessig nor Robinson could be reached for comment.
Hessig’s work and interaction with the public “has been exemplary,” Bellevue Police Chief Stacey said.
“This is pretty much out of character for this individual,” he said.
The department takes every complaint seriously and investigates, Stacey said. Because a police officer is held to a higher standard, behavior off the job is also subject to investigation, he said.
The credibility of an officer has to be above reproach, he said.
Both Hessig and Robinson have served overseas in recent years.
Robinson spent nine months in Iraq in 2004. Hessig spent 18 to 24 months in Afghanistan, Stacey said.
“This matter is grave and has produced serious psychological consequences to the victim,” Chambers wrote in his letter to the president.
“It portends incalculably negative repercussions and ramifications for the Military and its faltering efforts to recruit and retain African Americans,” he wrote.
Chambers also sent letters about the incident to 15 top-ranking federal officials and Congressional leaders, and to Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rev. Al Sharpton and Louis Farrakhan.
Reach Nancy Hicks at 473-7250 or nhicks@journalstar.com.
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