Gun fired in police station, Taser used on pregnant woman: Inside Herkimer police records

A Herkimer police officer shot his gun inside the police station, once caused a car crash and was consistently late for his shift.

Another village officer used a Taser on a pregnant woman during a shoplifting response and on another occasion left his loaded gun unattended.

These concerning incidents are detailed in police disciplinary records obtained by the Herkimer Times Telegram.

The police disciplinary records, which reveal multiple other instances of substandard performance or behavior in the department, were obtained through a legal settlement with the Village of Herkimer in April, nearly three years after the Times Telegram first requested them through a Freedom of Information request.

Herkimer Police Chief Mike Jory and the Police Benevolent Association of the Herkimer Police Department declined to comment on the released records.

How to search our database for NY police misconduct records

In June 2020, the state legislature repealed Section 50-a of the state's Civil Rights Law, which had long been used repeatedly and extensively to keep New York police disciplinary records from being released.

The USA Today Network and partners, including MuckRock, filed requests with every police agency in the state, and the results are presented in our database of police disciplinary records, which is searchable by location, agency, date, officer name and type of incident.

Search: Database of police disciplinary records

How the records were obtained by Herkimer Times Telegram

The Times Telegram initially filed a Freedom of Information law request for Herkimer's police disciplinary records on June 17, 2020. That request went unanswered by the village until the following year, when reports of only two officers were released.

In November 2021, the Times Telegram's parent company Gannett filed a lawsuit against the Village of Herkimer, in an effort to receive these records in their entirety.

In April 2022, Oneida County Supreme Court Judge Bernadette Clark, who was assigned to the case in Herkimer County, decided against Gannett in this lawsuit and Gannett filed an appeal. A year later, before the appeal was decided, the two parties reached a settlement in which the village agreed to release the full selection of these records.

Why these NY police disciplinary records are important

Dan Bodah is an adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. He is also an attorney and senior program associate at the Vera Institute of Justice, where he helps cities achieve police accountability through data transparency.

"It's important for the police and the general public that these records are open," Bodah said.

Bodah noted that police departments work for the public. Officers act as an arm of the government while on duty, he said, and this role gives them a lot of power. Transparency, therefore, is key, including when police need the public's help in solving crimes.

If tough decisions — on any issues — are closed off to public view, Bodah said, it makes it easier for bad decisions to be made, because no one will know about them.

Departments opposed to making police disciplinary records public are possibly looking to shield officers and themselves from potential embarrassment, Bodah said.

"It's a desire to not hurt the person, not a desire to have honest policing," he said.

Unauthorized Taser use, loaded gun left unattended

Perhaps the most concerning incidents revealed in the Herkimer Police Department records were the ones in which officers misused their department-issued weapons in a reckless or dangerous manner. Herkimer Police Officer Jason Crippen was involved in two such incidents, one involving the use of a Taser on a pregnant woman.

On Sept. 14, 2016, the records say, Jason Crippen knowingly left a loaded firearm in an area of the police department while non-police personnel were present. According to a statement of charges for the incident, the weapon was left on the window sill of the office’s communication rooms and its adjoining hallway. Crippen was suspended without pay for three days.

Then on Sept. 20, 2017, the records say, Crippen went to Walmart after the store had called in to report someone for shoplifting. During the course of this investigation, Crippen used a "drive-stun" on a 22-year-old, 5-foot-3-inch woman who had previously told Crippen she was pregnant. In "drive-stun" mode, a Taser is deployed at close range without the use of darts. Crippen was suspended without pay for one week as a result of the incident.

In a citizen complaint from March 2015, Crippen was accused of "illegally detaining" someone while conducting a traffic stop. After witnessing Crippen drive at what the citizen perceived to be over 80 mph in a 55-mph zone, according to the complaint, the driver followed Crippen's vehicle when it pulled into a gas station on the corner of S. Caroline and Mohawk streets and approached Crippen, accusing him of "reckless driving."

Crippen’s report disputed the driver's account, and claimed he had passed the driver in the right lane after following it for several miles in the left lane when it "became clear" the driver would not merge right. During their later exchange at the gas station, Crippen also claimed in his report, the driver gave him the middle finger and sped off.

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Crippen followed the driver, and said in his report he witnessed the driver make an incomplete stop and saw an air freshener hanging from the rearview mirror. Crippen conducted a traffic stop on North Caroline Street, claimed he smelled marijuana in the car, and saw "several ashes and cigarette butts littered within the vehicle" and asked the driver to step out of the car.

The driver refused to comply, but gave Crippen his license, registration and a statement from German Flatts Town Court validating his license status. The driver then started recording the exchange on video and, over the course of 20 minutes, claimed Crippen told him not to tell him how to do his job, gave differing reasons for the traffic stop and threatened to arrest him. Crippen claimed the driver "went into a tirade."

50-a appeal: How we're helping the public access NY police disciplinary records

Crippen ultimately gave the driver two tickets — for failure to stop at a stop sign and obstructed view.

“Due to the hostile demeanor of Officer Crippen and his inability to give me a straight answer about the reason with which he pulled me over,” the driver wrote in his complaint, “I am led to believe that Officer Crippen pulled me over simply because he was angry that a citizen (myself) witnessed him violate traffic law and later confronted him over the issue.”

Crippen was cleared of any wrongdoing for the incident, and deemed to have acted appropriately by then-Herkimer Police Chief Joseph Malone.

Crippen is still employed by the department, Jory said.

Tardiness, car crash, gun fired in police station

According to a report submitted by Herkimer Police Officer Robert Holt to Captain Jeff Crim, Holt was assigned to desk duty on July 21, 2016. At about 1:35 a.m., he decided to field strip and inspect his department-issued Glock 23, a semi-automatic pistol.

Holt reassembled his Glock, and reinserted the magazine.

“At that point I believed there was no round in the chamber,” Holt said in the report.

While seated at his desk, he removed the magazine, inspected the weapon’s iron sights, and pulled the trigger, expecting the “dry-fire” of an unloaded weapon. The gun fired, and a bullet passed through a glass window of the squad room, ending up lodged in the wall.

Holt was the only officer in the station at the time. He was suspended without pay for two weeks, was required to pay $218.50 in restitution to the Village of Herkimer and to take a handgun safety course on his own time.

Two years later, on Sept. 13, 2018, Holt was driving on Route 12 leaving St. Luke's Hospital around 2 a.m. when he noticed hospital paperwork was sliding off the car's dashboard computer. Holt had, according to the report, just dropped off a person in mental distress.

Holt reached over to grab the papers and took his eyes off the road, according to the report, not seeing the traffic light he was approaching at the intersection of Noyes Street had turned red.

Holt's patrol car crashed into the car ahead of him, which was stopped at the red light. Holt was determined to be at fault for causing the crash, and found guilty of following too closely, but was not issued a ticket. The department estimated the crash caused up to $6,941.20 of damage.

Holt was suspended without pay for 84 hours and paid the village's $500 insurance deductible. He was also required to take a defensive driving course.

Over the course of four years, from 2015-2019, Herkimer Police reported five incidents when Holt either missed meetings or was late to his shift. The department cut 36 hours of Holt's vacation time in 2019 as a result of the tardiness.

Holt is still employed by the department, Jory said.

This article originally appeared on Times Telegram: NY police records: Herkimer documents made public. What they reveal