Edmonds v. McNeal
| Decision Date | 11 March 1980 |
| Docket Number | No. 61532,61532 |
| Citation | 596 S.W.2d 403 |
| Parties | Arthur EDMONDS et al., Appellants, v. Theodore D. McNEAL et al., Respondents. |
| Court | Missouri Supreme Court |
C. John Pleban, St. Louis, Theodore F. Schwartz, Barry Ginsburg, Clayton, for appellants.
David O. Danis, St. Louis, for respondents.
The Board of Police Commissioners of St. Louis found Officers Edmonds, Johnson and Pickens in violation of Rule 7, Section 7.010(c) of its Police Manual and ordered them dropped from the rolls of the department. The circuit court affirmed the decision of the Board. The court of appeals reversed the judgment and remanded the cause for a new hearing on a determination that the record did not contain the allegedly violated rule. The case was transferred, together with the case of Prokopf v. Whaley, 592 S.W.2d 819 (Mo. banc, 1980), to determine whether the Board's decision is supported by substantial and competent evidence on the record including presence in the record of the pertinent rule.
Following incidents on November 8 and 9, 1974, Maurice Williamson, the proprietor of Maurice's Gold Coast Lounge, a bar on the north side of the City of St. Louis, complained to the Police Department that police officers obtained money from him in return for an agreement not to harass his bar, and would return for more at the beginning of the following month. This complaint was investigated by the Bureau of Inspections which on November 7, 1975, filed the following Charge:
Detective Arthur Edmonds, Detective Samuel Johnson, and Probationary Patrolman John Pickens on December 1, 1974, violated Rule 7.010(c) of the Police Manual published July 1970 by the Board of Police Commissioners, which rule in applicable part prohibits conduct unbecoming to a member of the Department, by participating in a shake-down of Maurice Williamson, contrary to the good order and discipline of the Department, bringing discredit upon themselves in particular and the Department in general.
With Specification that:
Detective Arthur Edmonds, Detective Samuel Johnson, and Probationary Police Officer John Pickens, on December 1, 1974, while assigned to the performance of police duties at 2919 Olive Street, in the City of St. Louis, Missouri, accepted $51 in currency from Maurice Williamson in consideration for which the officers agreed not to hassle Williamson or his tavern customers in the discharge of their police duties.
On January 23, 26, and 28, 1976, The Board of Police Commissioners accorded the officers a hearing pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act, §§ 536.010 et seq., RSMo. The officers were present with counsel and a number of witnesses including the officers testified. The allegedly violated rule was not formally introduced into evidence. After the hearing, the Board of Police Commissioners found:
7. The defendants, Edmonds, Johnson and Pickens were guilty together of shaking-down Maurice Williamson, proprietor of the Gold Coast Lounge, in accepting from Maurice Williamson the sum of $50.00 in return for their agreement not to hassle his establishment, and the defendants, Edmonds, Johnson and Pickens shared and split amongst themselves the $50.00 marked, and chemically treated money provided to Maurice Williamson by the Internal Affairs Division, Bureau of Inspections, Metropolitan Police Department, City of St. Louis, Missouri, and are hereby guilty of conduct unbecoming to a member of the Police Department as specified in Rule 7, Section 7.010(c) of the Police Manual, and as set out in Charge I and its Specifications.
All three officers were ordered dropped from the rolls of the Department effective April 14, 1976.
All three appellants charge that the circuit court erred in affirming the Board's decision for the reason it was not supported by substantial and competent evidence on the record as a whole. Appellants Edmonds and Johnson also contend that the agency decision cannot stand for the additional reason that the allegedly violated rule was not introduced into evidence nor did the agency take official notice of the rule.
The first point requires a statement of the evidence at the hearing. Considered in the light most favorable to the administrative agency, Hermel, Inc. v. State Tax Commission, 564 S.W.2d 888, 894 (Mo. banc 1978), the evidence adduced at the administrative hearing supports the following statement:
On November 8, 1974, Arthur Edmonds and Samuel Johnson were officers in the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and John Pickens was a probationary officer with the department. All were assigned to the Liquor Section of the Vice Division. On that evening Edmonds and Johnson along with two other officers entered Maurice's Gold Coast Lounge to check the age of patrons. A discussion between Officer Edmonds and Maurice Williamson concluded with an agreement that the officers would return the next night. Edmonds and Johnson did return the following night and accompanied Williamson upstairs into a small kitchen. Thomas Dugger, an employee in the kitchen, was asked to leave. Edmonds and Johnson intimated that a monthly payment would keep them from "hassling" the bar. Williamson offered $50.00 a month; the officers suggested $100.00. Williamson gave them $48.00 or $49.00, all he had, and the officers said they would return the first of the month.
Two days later Williamson went to the Police Department and signed a complaint against Edmonds and Johnson. He was directed to the Internal Affairs Division and a plan was devised whereby Williamson would make the next payment to Edmonds and Johnson with money coated with a tracing powder and the serial numbers of which recorded. A policewoman would be assigned to sit in the lounge on the appointed night to observe the conduct of Edmonds and Johnson.
In the evening of November 30, 1974, Williamson went to the Inspector's office, received $51.00 of dusted, recorded currency and returned to his bar. Jeanette Fedrick, an undercover policewoman, took a place at the bar between 9:00 and 10:00 p. m. and remained there until all the events of the evening ended about 1:30 a. m., December 1, 1974.
About 12:45 a. m. on December 1, 1974, Edmonds, Johnson, Pickens and Allen drove to Maurice's lounge. Pickens was feeling ill and he and Officer Allen were instructed to stay in the car while Edmonds and Johnson went into the bar. Officer Fedrick observed them enter and approach Williamson and heard Williamson tell them he would be up in a minute. Edmonds and Johnson went up the stairs; a short time later, Williamson followed. As had occurred three weeks earlier, Thomas Dugger was asked to leave the kitchen. Williamson put the powdered money on the refrigerator and Edmonds picked it up. Williamson returned to the bar area and told the policewoman that the money had been exchanged.
Edmonds and Johnson also returned to the bar area and each was given a drink by the barmaid. Wh...
To continue reading
Request your trial
- State v. Shaw
-
Phipps v. School Dist. of Kansas City
...184 (Mo.App.1975). The judicial [circuit court] review of such a case is from the decision of the administrative tribunal [Edmonds v. McNeal, 596 S.W.2d 403, 407 (Mo. banc 1980); Rule 100.07(b) ] and determines, among other inquiry, whether the agency action rests on competent and substanti......
-
Citizens for Rural Preservation, Inc. v. Robinett
...for this court to decide. The determination of credibility of witnesses is a function of administrative tribunals. Edmonds v. McNeal, 596 S.W.2d 403, 408 (Mo.1980) (en banc). Because the tribunal is in the best position to judge the demeanor and conduct of witnesses before it, we must defer......
-
Scheble v. Missouri Clean Water Com'n
...v. Krey Packing Co., 363 Mo. 707, 253 S.W.2d 136, 141[5-7] (banc 1952) ]; rather, each reviews the decision of the agency [Edmonds v. McNeal, 596 S.W.2d 403, 407 (Mo. banc 1980); Moran v. Whaley, 608 S.W.2d 446, 448[3, 4] (Mo.App.1980) ], each defers to the administrative adjudication [McCa......