Sarasota chief suspended, officer fired

SARASOTA - Sarasota's police chief has been suspended for two weeks without pay and the officer involved in a beating caught on videotape has been fired.

City Manager Robert Bartolotta made the announcement during a news conference this morning following an independent investigation conducted by the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.

"The public needs to know certain behaviors are good and certain behaviors are not good. and I think we took that action today," Bartolotta said.

Surveillance video from June 26 showed handcuffed suspect Juan Perez shimmying out of a police cruiser window and falling to the ground.

Officer Christopher Childers was seen on the video kicking Perez in the chest and holding him down with his foot.

Another officer, Demitri Konstantopoulos, walked over and saw it but walked away, police said.

Bartolotta said Chief Peter Abbott's 2-week suspension will be retroactive to November 9 since he's been on administrative leave for more than three months for his part in the mishandled investigation.

Abbott will be back as chief beginning tomorrow.

Officer Childers was fired. Today Officer Konstantopoulos received a one-day suspension.

A few days after the videotaped incident, the city's risk manager and a detective met with Perez, offering him $400,000 dollars if he signed a waiver that he would not sue.

Those two employees each get a letter of reprimand in their personnel files.

Bartolotta said he hopes the city can now move forward.

"I think you rebuild credibility and I think the way you rebuild credibility with the community is, when someone does something wrong, you take strong action and you move on," he said.

As part of the investigation, HCSO found the Sarasota Police Department didn't do anything illegal, unethical or immoral, but said a series of questionable decisions were made.