The Cleveland transit cop who attacked a woman after she pulled out her phone to record his unprofessionalism last month, slamming her to the ground before pulling out a knife and cutting her purse strap, forcing her pants and underwear down as he planted her face into the ground, then throwing her in jail overnight, was informed by his chief he had violated several departmental policies.
However, Jonathan Pacholke will remain on the job, placed on one year departmental probation.
The Regional Transit Authority cop who had been forced to resign from a previous police job due to his unprofessionalism will also be required to work with another officer for at least 60 days until he can prove he handle working by himself.
Or at least until he attacks another commuter, which will then get him fired, RTA Police Chief John Joyce wrote in his disciplinary report.
The incident took place March 29 when Jessica Ferrato was walking out of a train station and Pacholke demanded to see her ticket.
Surveillance video shows Ferrato walking past him as he stands in a doorway before he follows the 39-year-old woman. The video also shows her holding up her ticket to show him, but then continuing on her way towards the parking lot, which Pacholke took as a sign of disrespect towards his authority.
Unfortunately, the actual attack takes place outside camera the frame of the surveillance camera and apparently there are no other cameras recording the parking lot of the station, which is a little difficult to believe.
In his arrest report, Pacholke claimed that Ferrato was “acting disorderly” and speaking in an “aggressive tone, using profanity” and had “glossy, bloodshot eyes” – which is the typical character assassination cops use in their reports when they can’t describe an actual crime taking place.
Although Ferrato said she had attended a party earlier that evening where she had drank champagne, there is no indication that she was intoxicated in the surveillance video. And there is definitely no evidence that she was acting disorderly.
And she clearly was not “creating a risk of harm to others while being intoxicated” as he wrote.
She was, in fact, minding her own business before she was confronted by Pacholke, who had no business demanding her ticket considering she was leaving the station.
Even his superiors acknowledged that in the disciplinary report against him, listing that among three violations he had committed. The other two were that he pulled out a knife to cut her purse straps and that he failed to fill out a use-of-force after his shift.
But Pacholke said he had to use the knife out of “fear of officer safety,” which as we know, justifies any egregious act committed by cops.
For a fear of officer safety that she might have a weapon ( knife, pepper spray or small handgun) in the bag. I used a pocket knife to cut the strap, releasing the bag. After removing the handbag from her, Ferrato kicked me, with force in both of my knees pushing me backwards, causing me to slightly lose balance.
In the letter from Joyce, the chief also contributed to the character assassination against Ferrato by stating “you encountered a customer who refused to comply with a lawful order of a transit police officer” when in fact, Ferrato was under no obligation to comply with any of his demands considering he had no reasonable suspicion that she jumped the fare.
The chief also wrote that Pachokle’s unprofessional and abusive behavior “should not be construed to absolve or excuse Ms. Ferrato for any improper or inappropriate conduct on her part.”
But the evidence shows that Ferrato was simply trying to make her way home on a public transportation system when she was accosted by Pachokle.
In fact, the disorderly conduct charge against her was dismissed, according to Fox 8, which also discovered that Pachokle was forced to resign as a Highland Hills auxiliary officer for “unbecoming conduct” that occurred in an off-duty incident while he wore his uniform, something he did not mention in an interview with Virtual Career Network before this incident.
So chances are, we will be hearing about him again.
