Boulder City officer in fed probe quit four months ago

Monday, Aug. 4, 2003 | 10:53 a.m.

A Boulder City police officer who is the subject of a federal investigation into alleged excessive force resigned from the department four months ago, city officials said.

Boulder City Attorney Dave Olsen said he does not believe the March 31 resignation of Joseph "Tony" Norte, 31, is related to his controversial arrest of 73-year-old Bob Parker of Las Vegas during a traffic stop last August.

After all, Olsen said, "he (Norte) was completely exonerated (by an officer/citizens review board) last September."

"The FBI did an investigation and the Justice Department has not (yet) done anything. If we thought for a minute that he acted wrongfully we would have disciplined him and perhaps terminated him."

Norte, who was hired by the Boulder City Police Department in December 2000, was paid $23.28 per hour, officials said.

In his letter of resignation to Boulder City Police Chief William Turk, Norte resigned effective immediately "for personal reasons." He did not elaborate. Norte's present employer is not known. Norte could not be reached for comment.

Cal Potter, an attorney for Parker, a retired pipe fitter with Alzheimer's disease who suffered three broken ribs during his arrest, said it was "unrealistic" to think that Norte "quit on his own."

"We are waiting for the (Justice Department) decision, but if we do not hear anything in the next few weeks, we are ready to go forward (with civil action)," Potter said.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada is co-counsel in the planned civil rights suit.

The FBI was called in by the Boulder City Police Department to investigate the incident and sent its report to the U.S. Attorney General's office in Las Vegas, which in turn forwarded it to the Justice Department in Washington, D.C.

Jorge Martinez, spokesman for the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., said the case remains "an open matter." He said he cannot discuss open cases, but he said it is not unusual for investigations to take as long as this one has.

"Each case is unique -- some take less time than others," he said.

Norte had stopped Parker's Chevy Suburban on Aug. 15 because the license plates matched a vehicle involved in an alleged injury hit-and-run accident near the Las Vegas Strip in July 2002.

Norte approached the vehicle with his gun drawn, backed up by Officer Mike Daniel. When Parker got out of the passenger side of the vehicle, he refused two orders to drop a cigarette. A struggle ensued. Parker was pushed against the hood of a patrol car and then to the ground, where he was handcuffed, the use-of-force board found.

Local ACLU Executive Director Gary Peck said, "The cigarette did not pose a serious threat to the officers -- such that they were warranted in beating him. When concerned citizens called us about this incident, we found it to be an especially egregious abuse of police authority."

Peck said it was also suspicious that the incident was not recorded by the vehicle-mounted camera on a patrol car driven by one of five responding officers.

"It is curious at best that the video camera was not turned on when it should have been," Peck said. "Such cameras serve to protect police officers who act properly from being falsely accused and to make sure officers who act improperly are held responsible for their actions."

The Boulder City police department has since said it will enforce an existing policy that prohibits officers from turning off cameras.