Now For Lies, Libel and Slander

The following article appeared in the Miami Herald (owned by the Washington Post) on December 29, 1980. I received this article by mail on April 18, 1991. It was the first time I was made aware of the content.


Officer John Mccarthy Jr, who 'couldn't get hired now,' racked up a string of brutality complaints.

Convicted war criminal became Dade cop

(All spelling are as rendered in the orginal article)

By PATRICK RIORDAN
Herald Staff Writer

John Joseph McCarthy Jr. had all the qualifications to become a Metro police officer; a high school diploma, a military background, a desire to serve.
He was also a convicted war criminal. The Army had instructed him to "terminate" the employment of a Vietnamese informant. He did so with a bullet.
He served two years of his 24-year sentence and bot a pardon from President Richard Nixon before coming to work in Dade County.
The Public Safety Department was aware of his record when it hired him in 1972. It didn't know he was a certifiable psychopath, with a tendency to become violent under stress, until after he racked up a string of brutality complaints.
McCarthy "couldn't get hired now" under departmental procedures, Public Safety Director Bobby Jones said in an interview.
McCarthy, who was allowed to resign quietly in June 1976, has been one of the department's most embarrassing secrets. He surfaced when a team of Miami Herald reporteers gained access to confidential police files after a 17-month legal battle.
His case illustrates what has been wrong with police hiring and police discipline until recently.
McCarthy underwent no psychological screening before he got his job. Complaints against McCarthy were brushed aside because, until the end of his career, fellow officers would not testify against him -- and the system covered up.
He was not fired. Two pending complaints against him were dropped the day he quit.
He received 11 complaints from citizens and other officers. Four of them were considered serious enough to warrant a full-dress Internal Review investigaion. None were sustained.
He has vanished without a trace. His friends at J.J's Lounge in Southwest Dade, where he used to hang out, got letters from him from Texas last year. But no one remembered the postmarks.
His ex-wifem, now living in Indiana, hasn't heared from him -- or received child-support payments -- in four years.
Born in Boston and educated in Maryland, McCarthy dropped out of college to join the Green Berets. He went to Vietnam and rose through the ranks. By late 1967 he was a captain, working as a commando "involved in sensative operations."
On Nov. 24, 1967, he had orders to "terminate the employment of certain locals," including a Vietnamese informant nicknamed "Jimmy," according to records of the U.S Army judge advocate general.
McCarthy told a master sergeant that merely firing Jimmy was risky. "Jimmy know too much," McCarthy said, according to court-martial records.
Jimmy died of a single .22-caliber bullet wound in the neck. He was shot in a car on the road from Saigon to Hoa Nqouc Tao.
The court-martial was in Longh Binh. McCarthy was found guilty on Jan. 30, 1968. He appealed and lost.
The Public Safety Depaartment hired him in 1972 after his pardon came through. He was considered "a normal employment risk" according to his file.
McCarthy was elected president of his class at the police academy.
In April 1974, he and his partner answered an emergency call and saved the liffe of a 13-year-old boy bleeding from a bullet wound in the chest. They were named "Officers of the Month."

The other side

Meanwhile, however, McCarthy was filling our "use-of-force" reports more often than most police officers.
On Sept. 12, 1975, he was at the intersection of SW 188 Street and 122 Avenue at 11:30 p.m. He saw Robert Westcott, 17, walking along the street. Westcott tossed away a beer can when he saw the police car.
McCarthy told him to put his hands on the car and submit to a search. Westcott turned to face McCarthy.
McCarthy punched him in the chest, grabbed his shoulders and threw him backwards to the ground, Westcott said, then jumped on him and banged his head against the ground. A fellow officer testified that McCarthy kicked the youth after he was handcuffed and on the ground.
The incident escalated. Three more youths were arrested for resisting arrest. Another wanted to talk to the officer. McCarthy hit him with his heavy metal flashlilght, and, in the struggle, McCarthy's gun discharged.
McCarthy was suspended. While the complaint was under investigation, he became involved in his final brutality incident.
It happened at 1:45 a.m. Feb. 12, 1976. McCarthy and a woman friend who was engaged to marry another man left J'J.'s Lounge and drove to her home in Southwest Dade. Her fiancee, a prominent obstetrician, was waiting near the house.
The doctor wanted to talk to his fiancee but she told him to leave. McCarthy intervened.

Broken bones

McCarthy said he only hit the doctor once. Dr. Ron Wright of the Dade County Medical Examiner's Office said the doctor's injuries -- a broken nose, broken cheekbone and broken maxillary spine -- were "inconsistent" with McCarthy's story.
More probably, Wright said, was the doctor's charge that McCarthy knocked him to the pavement and beat him repeatedly while he was on his back.
The charges McCarthy filed against the doctor were dropped. Belatedly, the department sent the officer to two clinical psycholologists for evaluation.
Dr. Alan H. Greg said McCarthy was mostly "cool and calculating....The one exception to this might be extraordinary stress situations where his masculinity or survival were threatened. Under those conditions, he might succumb to his usually well-defended aggressive hostility and act out his anger in a violent manner."
Dr. Jeffrey J. Elenewski said:
"We are dealing with a very excitable and aggressive individual who may be overly responsive to environmental pressures. Although [McCarthy] appears to be expending a great deal of energy in trying to control his behavior, his defenses appear inadequate to do so. I would predict this man would respond poorly in crisis situations, particularly if physical aggressiveness is present."
On June 10, 1976, McCarthy resigned. The same day, the final two brutality complaints against him were resolved.
"Not sustained," the file says.

In responding to the Miami Herald article, above, I wrote to a prominent attorney in the Miami area with the following information. The attorney advised that the statute of limitations had run on libel.
There was no discussion on "conspiracy to libel" which I later learned has to such statutory limits.

Responses to Miami Herald article written on December 29, 1980 written by Richard Riordan, a Herald Staff Writer, who later became the Press Secretary for the Governor of the State of Florida. Title: "Convicted War Criminal Became Dade Cop"

Paragraph Two:

I was not charged nor convicted of a War Crime. I shot no one.

Paragraph Three:

President Nixon did not pardon me nor was he asked to do so.

Paragraph Four:

Public Safety Department was not aware of my military background when I was hired. This information came to light six weeks later on the day I was elected class president. On that day my FBI "rap sheet" arrived in Miami, the result of a fingerprint check at FBI Headquarters. The formal FBI document's first entry was for a conviction of premeditated murder. The final entry was being incarcerated at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas for 24 years.

I had been called to the PSD admin office to explain the FBI Report. I did so by providing the General Orders signed by the Secretary of The Army, Stanley Resor and General William Westmoreland, then Army Chief of Staff. The order reads that since the command authority had determined that a new trial was not warranted (newly found evidence and fraud on the court by written recantation of government expert witness) "all rights, privileges and property removed as a result of the finding and the sentence will be restored." That means I have the Right to say I have never been arrested, convicted or served time for premeditated murder. The FBI and Department of Justice ignored this information with near disastrous results.

Riordan's characterization of "certifiable psychopath" must have been culled from the same garden as his rendering of "convicted war criminal" as I was returned to work after the psychological examinations. "A tendency to become violent under stress" translates into what I told both psychologists, from the teachings of the PSD Staff in the Academy. "Use of force may go from the minimum of placing a hand on the arm of the arrestee to the maximum, depending on the amount of resistance realized." Every cop knows what that entails. "If you punch me in the face, you can expect the same in return while effecting an arrest." A "string of brutality complaints" translates into FOUR citizen complaints of excessive force out of over four hundred arrests over a four year period. Four out of four hundred did not want to go to jail and resisted arrest by varying degrees. None of the complaints of excessive use of force were sustained. This means that Internal Affairs investigated the allegations and found no reason to use disciplinary action for the force used in the arrests in question.

During this same time period, the State of Florida passed a law that provided a felony conviction for any person filing false charges of brutality against a police officer, which had become rampant for those with repetitive arrests.

Paragraph Five:

My entire class of 70 men and women underwent psychological testing and examination prior to the beginning of the Academy Training. The same answers given at that exam were given to subsequent testing. The same answers were given to previous exams, including ink blot interpretations.

Paragraph Six:

After being cleared of all charges of "use of excessive force" I turned in my badge and revolver and said, "I am going fishing." No one "allowed" me to resign. In fact, they tried to talk me out of it.

Paragraph Seven:

My entire class did individually undergo an oral examination for psychological screening before a panel of seasoned police officers and the staff psychologist. Obviously my answers were acceptable as I started the Police Academy the following week.
I am not aware of any officer refusing to testify against me in any matter. I am not aware of any citizen complaint being brushed aside. There were no complaints pending against me on the day of resignation, June 6, 1976.

Paragraph Nine:

Of the eleven citizen complaints against me, Internal Affairs investigated four which were not sustained. Of the remaining seven, I can recall two: One citizen complained that I had said, "Have a nice day," after she received a traffic citation for speeding in a residential area. The second was made by a citizen who claimed I had hung up on him after repeated calls from the citizen who demanded immediate police response to his location for the purpose of reporting information on the location of stolen property. Repeated attempts to explain the non-availability of a police unit was met with irate belligerence. The remaining five complaints were so trivial I don't recall them.

Paragraph Eleven:

My ex-wife had not received child support payments because the divorce settlement, on file in Judge Red Blake's courtroom, provides for the profit from the sale of our home ($35,000) in lieu of child support.

Paragraph Twelve:

I was not educated in Maryland nor did I drop out of college.

Paragraph Fifteen:

I appealed and won based upon "newly found evidence and fraud on the court."

Paragraph Sixteen:

I was not pardoned.

Paragraph Seventeen:

I was elected class president on the day the FBI "rap sheet" arrived at PSD Headquarters indicating I should have still been in Leavenworth. (see Chapter 12, One Man-One Voice, above)

Paragraph Nineteen:

Over a four year period involving over 400 arrests, I initiated twenty five "use of force reports." This translates to 25 out of 400 plus arrested persons who resisted arrest with varying degrees of violence which resulted in varying degrees of force used to affect the arrest, by the book.

Paragraph Twenty through Twenty Three:

Westcott was arrested at a block party of over 100 youths, most under 18. Westcott had tossed a beer can into the air which landed on the police patrol car. During the arrest numerous youths interfered with the arrest which quickly turned into a mêlée. My flashlight was knocked from my hand as I wrestled with three youths. No one sustained an injury from "a heavy metal flashlight." One of the "youths" was successful in removing my revolver from my holster while I was on the ground fighting two "youths". I grabbed the barrel of the revolver and a round discharged into the ground beside me while I was struggling for my life. Other units arrived and assisted in handcuffing the three principals in the interference of the arrest of Westcott. One "youth" continued to attempt to gain his feet after he was handcuffed and I placed my foot on his back to prevent him from rising. He was not kicked nor did he sustain any injury. This same "youth" had attempted to relieve me of my revolver.

Paragraph Twenty Four:

I was not suspended over this incident. This was, however, one of the four excessive use of force complaints investigated by the Internal Affairs office. The complaint was not sustained based on testimony provided by witnesses at the scene. The State Attorney Janet Reno "nol prossed" the charges against the "youths", without consultation with me.

Paragraph Twenty Five and Twenty Six:

I had finished work at 10:30 p.m. and proceeded to J.J.'s Lounge for a prearranged night-cap with a woman who was not engaged at the time. After one drink apiece (the bar receipt was confiscated by PSD Investigators) the woman and I proceeded to her home in her Car. My car was left i n the parking lot at the lounge because the "prominent gynecologist" had been making inquiries as to my work location by calling all PSD sub-stations and various administrators of PSD and County Judges attempting to find our where and when I worked. This fits the description of stalking. This information had been reported to my superiors at my work station. They had recommended I not park my car at the police station parking lot and be cautious when departing or approaching my car.
Upon arriving at the womans home, she observed he ex-fiancé's car parked in her driveway and she drove past her residence. The "prominent obstetrician" immediately sped out of the driveway and attempted to overtake us, cutting in front of the car and forcing us to the side of the road and onto the shoulder. Repeated attempts at this maneuver were unsuccessful and I recommended the woman return to her home. I did not have a police radio and could not contact the department. Avoiding colliding with the other vehicle the woman returned to her driveway where she locked her doors and closed the window. The "doctor" began banging on the glass and shouting. I decided to arrest the "doctor" for aggravated assault with a motor vehicle and exited the vehicle while identifying myself as the police officer whom he had been attempting to locate and telling him he was under arrest. He responded by punching me in the solar plexus and the face, knocking me to the ground. This former Olympic boxer still packed a punch. I got up and hit the good "doctor" one time, knocking him onto the hood of the car. I then attempted to place his hands behind his back and hold him there while the woman ran inside to call for assistance from the police department. At this time the "doctor" stomped on my left instep while attempting to break free. Although in extreme pain I managed to roll the "doctor" off of the car hood and he landed face first onto the driveway asphalt with me on top of him. His additional injuries were sustained during the fall in this attempt to escape. Within minutes two squad cars arrived and the good doctor was transported, obviously intoxicated, to jail under arrest.

Paragraph Twenty Seven:

The following morning at 9:00 a.m. my supervisor informed me I was under suspension charged with excessive use of force, by order of Major Bobby Jones, then commander of the uniform division of PSD. He later became Dade Country Sheriff. The Internal Affairs investigation began that day and concluded five months later. The report made six trips between Internal Affairs and the sub-station where I worked. The argument was over verbiage and add-on charges by the IA office which the sub-station refused to accept. The charge was not sustained.

Paragraph Twenty Nine:

The charges of Assault and Battery and Aggravated Assault with a motor vehicle were "nol-prossed" by Janet Reno. I was notified when I appeared before a judge at the preliminary hearing in a Dade County Criminal Court. I immediately called the States Attorney's Office and spoke with Janet Reno that as the victim and the arresting officer in this case I should have been consulted in this matter of dismissing the charges. Janet Reno informed me that SHE made the decisions on who went to court and who did not. Ms. Reno was also aware of the reputation of the "prominent obstetrician". Ms. Reno later became third choice as the US Attorney General and supervised the action in Waco, Texas at the Branch Davidian massacre and the Ruby Ridge deadly use of force.

Paragraph Thirty:

Under "extraordinary stress situations" any police officer may be expected to use that force necessary to preclude further injury to himself and to affect an arrest. That force may be a disabling blow or the use of deadly force depending on the situation.

Paragraph Thirty One:

I always became very excitable and aggressive when someone punches me in the face or kicks me in the groin. Fortunately, those incidents are extremely rare these days. They don't pay police officers to sustain physical abuse. Unfortunately there are those people who will refuse to go to jail when arrested and require the use of force to accomplish such action.

Conclusion:

The referenced article in the Miami Herald is rampant with lies and character assassination as well as slander and libel. Although I understand the term "journalistic interpretation" I cannot fathom how such blatant falsehoods can be allowed into print under the guise of "freedom of the press".

This is a prime example of "yellow journalism".

The Miami Herald has been notified of the discrepancies in the above article and has not responded.

When I approached Bob Woodward of the Washington Post in 1984, I was not aware of the Post's ownership of the Herald.