Former cop to S.C. council: "All I want is answers"

On a night when Spring City police chief , questions surrounding the dismissal of one of her former officers continued to beset the Spring City Borough Council.

Former Spring City police officer Jamal Lewis, who was with a borough resident, was in attendance and used the public comment portion of the meeting to express his frustration with his perceived treatment by the borough.

Lewis, who spoke for more than ten minutes, opened his comments by asking the council to confirm his understanding that he was eligible to apply for a full-time officer position in the borough.

Council president Lou DiGuiseppe said a full-time police officer position was not yet available.

"We haven't gotten that far in the process. We haven't opened up the positions yet," DiGuiseppe said.

"I'm trying to figure out how to get employment with this cloud hanging over the top...there were allegations made and I'm not getting anywhere with anyone," Lewis said.

Lewis said he is having trouble meeting his expenses.

"I'm two house payments back," Lewis said.

Traffic stop of former mayor

Lewis asked the council whether he was actually fired because of the alleged affair with borough resident Keisha Mennefee or because he issued a traffic citation to former borough mayor Mark Emery.

According to Lewis, he pulled Emery over for allegedly running two stop signs on or about February 17, five days before he received his termination letter. Lewis said he gave Emery a citation for running a single stop sign, rather than two.

Lewis said that Sherman, who was promoted to chief during Emery's term as mayor, later asked him to further reduce the citation. Lewis said he then changed the charge to "failure to obey a posted traffic device."

The following Tuesday, .

"This is not going to be an issue the council is going to be able to discuss in an open forum," borough solicitor Robert Romain said in response to Lewis's question.

"If you're requesting any documents, there's a procedure you can follow. That's all we can offer you tonight," Romain said.

Lewis said that he'd been advised by legal counsel that as a police officer accused of misconduct, he was entitled to a public hearing.

"If you have a lawyer, you can have them contact me, but there's no indication of a right to a hearing otherwise," Romain said.

"Chocolate child"

For the first time since some of the circumstances surrounding his dismissal became public, Lewis asked publicly whether his termination was racially motivated.

"Was it because I'm black?" Lewis asked. "The chief [Sherman] told me that was not an issue here in Spring City."

"I believed her. I trusted her. I love this woman [Sherman]. I love this council. Everybody that was in here, I had great respect for. [Borough Manager] Dennis [Rittenhouse]. The mayor. Every single one of you guys. Yet I'm feeling like I've been thrown away like the trash you guys talk about," Lewis said.

Lewis said that after his termination, he was told by Sherman that neither Mayor Michael Weiss nor other members of borough government would speak with him about the situation.

"That hurts, because I did a good job for you guys," Lewis said. "I'm a good guy, and you guys know it."

"She called me her 'chocolate child,'" Lewis said of Sherman. "I thought that was a term of endearment. She liked me and I respected her."

Sherman, who was in attendance, fixed her gaze on the front of the room as Lewis spoke a few feet behind her.

Investigation procedures unclear

Lewis said he was never given an opportunity to defend himself against the allegations in his termination letter. Mennefee and Lewis both deny that they were ever involved in a romantic or sexual relationship.

"That's not right. You give criminals more [chances] than that," Lewis said.

It is not clear what, if any, policies governed the investigation of Lewis's conduct that Sherman referred to in Lewis's termination letter.

During the portion of the meeting devoted to committee reports, councilman Thomas Kratz reported that a new policy governing internal affairs [see a PDF file of the new policy with the photo for this article] investigations was introduced at the April meeting of the borough's police committee.

When asked, neither Weiss nor any council member would say whether any policies or procedures governed internal affairs investigations prior to the April police committee meeting.

"I'm not aware whether there is or is not," Romain said.

"Personally, I'm not involved with the day to day operations of the police department," DiGuiseppe said, referring the question to Weiss.

"I don't know the answer to that. I can't say positively yes," Weiss said.