FIRED: Deputies pay price in Soffredine case

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May 7, 2010

BY BRIAN McGILLIVARY bmcgillivary@record-eagle.com The Record Eagle Fri May 07, 2010, 07:46 AM EDT

TRAVERSE CITY — Joseph Soffredine continues to work as a Traverse City police officer, but two deputies today find themselves unemployed because they failed to investigate his sobriety.

Grand Traverse County Sheriff Tom Bensley on Thursday fired deputies Robert William Sillers, 29, and Mark Robert Noffke, 25. Bensley said they neglected their duty and gave preferential treatment to Soffredine following his Feb. 7 crash on Cedar Run Road.

Sillers and Noffke did not test Soffredine for intoxication after he missed a curve on Cedar Run Road and barrelled into a wooded stretch about 3:20 a.m. The incident sparked months of internal investigations by multiple law enforcement agencies and prompted significant community uproar.

Authorities last month charged Soffredine, son of longtime Traverse City police chief and current city Commissioner Ralph Soffredine, with drunken driving for the early morning incident.

Bensley said numerous factors influenced his decision, including how the deputies' treatment of a fellow police officer reflected on the sheriff's department in particular, and law enforcement in general.

"We believe that Joe Soffredine was given preferential treatment because he was a police officer," Bensley said in a prepared statement. "The officers' actions on Feb. 7, 2010, were not what we or the public expects. Everyone expects fair and equitable treatment and I don't believe that happened in this case."

Deputies' union representatives voiced disappointment with Bensley's "severe" action and contend public opinion drove the process.

"We definitely think public opinion is running the sheriff's department right now," said attorney George Mertz of the Police Officers Association of Michigan. "He's deferring his decisions to public opinion and what's been written in the press."

But Bensley said the three-month ordeal created a cloud that hung over the entire department.

"It was nothing personal against these guys," Bensley said. "It was done with what I feel are in the best interests of our officers."

Paul Postal, a Grand Traverse County Sheriff's Department detective and union representative, said it's unusual that officers with "impeccable service records" are terminated for what he termed an error in judgment.

"These guys are salvageable. They apologized for the image they brought upon the department," Postal said. "They acknowledged in court their error and they were accountable for it."

Sillers and Noffke this week were charged with and pleaded guilty to neglecting to perform the duties of a public officer, a criminal misdemeanor punishable by up to 90 days in jail.

They admitted they failed to investigate Soffredine, who was off-duty when he crashed and ignited a fire as he attempted to dislodge his car from the woods.

Sillers and Noffke did not administer field sobriety or preliminary breath tests on Soffredine, nor did they cite Soffredine for driving with expired license plates.

They filed grievances alleging wrongful termination almost immediately following Bensley's decision.

Sillers is a five-year veteran of the sheriff's department and Noffke in August completed a one-year probationary period.

Their personnel files contain nothing but commendations, Postal said, including a recent letter from Bensley for quick action in apprehending robbery suspects.

"They did a good job there," Bensley said. "This was one incident they didn't do a good job."

A follow-up investigation by Undersheriff Nathan Alger showed Soffredine spent more than five hours in three bars before the accident. Soffredine entered the House of Doggs restaurant about 2 a.m. on Feb. 7, where video from a security camera captured images of him swaying before he grabbed a man by the shirt and pushed him backward.

Several witnesses said Soffredine smelled of alcohol, slurred his speech and had trouble standing.

Traverse City Police Chief Mike Warren suspended Soffredine four weeks without pay and the county prosecutor charged Soffredine last month with drunken driving stemming from the crash.

Postal said Sillers and Noffke were prepared for an unpaid suspension similar to what Soffredine received, punishment he said is more consistent with those handed out by other police departments.

The grievance likely will go to arbitration, a slow process that can take four to five months, Postal said.

Bensley said he expected the deputies to appeal their firing.

"It will end up with an arbitrator, a one-man judge and jury, and he will have the last word," Bensley said.