ALBANY COUNTY — Albany County Sheriff’s Deputy Philip Milano — the same officer involved in the tasing of New Scotland resident Christopher Dimmit, who had been stopped for speeding, this past June 21 — has been reassigned, pending the outcome of an investigation of an October traffic incident.

The internal investigation of Milano was sparked by a complaint filed by a Rensselaerville resident, Ron Hughes. Sheriff Craig Apple confirmed that, pending the investigation’s outcome, Milano has been taken off patrol and been assigned to headquarters, to the transportation unit. (See related editorial)

The traffic incident — which occurred on Oct. 11 — involved Corey Hughes, 23, of Clarksville. The complaint was made by his father.

The events that led to the complaint are connected to the Dimmitt incident: Corey Hughes was the front-seat passenger in Christopher Dimmitt’s car and stood outside the car with Dimmitt, not following Milano’s demands; the standoff in Dimmitt’s driveway lasted almost five minutes and ended with Dimmitt’s being tased as soon as Milano’s backup, Sergeant Philip White, arrived. 

In the Oct. 11 traffic incident, Ron Hughes told The Enterprise, Hughes’s two sons, Corey and Travis, were on their way to see Ron Hughes when they stopped at the Stewart’s on Route 443 in Clarksville. “Officer Milano was sitting across the street, at Dunston’s,” a recycling center for car parts. Corey and Travis Hughes put air in the tire of a bicycle, pumped some gas, and then went into the store to buy a couple of food items. 

So then, Hughes recounted, the two young men left Stewart’s and were going to go to M&B’s Stop and Shop in Westerlo, because he had asked them to bring a six-pack of beer for him, and Stewart’s cooler had been out. 

When they pulled out of Stewart’s, Hughes said, Milano pulled out as well. There were two cars between Hughes and Milano, and Milano passed both “in a dip by the trailer park on Route 85, to get behind Corey.” Corey Hughes then, his father said, recounting his son’s description, turned his directional light on just past Filkin’s Lane, “like 300 feet above the store.” 

Milano pulled in behind and made the traffic stop, Ron Hughes said. Milano said that Corey Hughes had not turned his directional light on soon enough, that he needed to turn it on more than 100 feet before the turn. “Well,” said Ron Hughes, “I know that it’s at least three telephone lengths from Filkin’s Lane down to the store, so I know that’s well over 100 feet.”

Next, said Hughes, Milano gave the young men “the runaround,” saying, “Oh, it smells like stale marijuana in here.” Older son Travis said then, “No, it doesn’t. Corey just put a cigarette out before he pulled in here.” 

And then Milano called for backup. When Sergeant Philip White — the same officer who had arrived as backup during the Dimmitt incident — arrived, Corey Hughes telephoned his father and said, “Hey, Milano just pulled us over at M&B’s and is giving us a hard time.” 

Ron Hughes soon arrived and, by his own account, was angry. He said to Milano, “You know, this is bullshit. You knew goddamn well who it was, and you followed him up the hill, and you’re pulling him over and giving him a hard time. It’s just harassment, is all it is.” 

Milano was, Hughes said, rolling his eyes, while Hughes was, by his own account, screaming, “Don’t tell me you didn’t run his plate and know who it was before you pulled him over. Don’t tell me you didn’t know who it was when they left Stewart’s. You sat right across the street and watched them put air in the bicycle tire and go over and get gas and then walk in the store, and, as soon as they pulled out, you pulled out of Dunston’s.”

But the officers wouldn’t let up, Hughes said. So he called his wife on his cell phone and asked her to have State Troopers sent there. “And as soon as the call came over the radio that the troopers were going to get dispatched to the scene, Phil White was like, ‘Nah, I think we’re all right, we’ve got it under control, right?’

“He looked at me and said, ‘We’ve got it all under control?’” 

Ron Hughes replied to White, “If Milano’s going to write him a goddamn ticket, tell him to write the ticket, and we’ll be on our way. But, other than that, no, the troopers are coming, because this is harassment. There’s no need for it. Here they are on a Sunday afternoon, and they’re not doing anything wrong, and now Milano’s just trying to get whatever he can on Corey.” 

Corey Hughes even apologized to Milano, Ron Hughes said, when he was first pulled over at M&B’s, for the Dimmitt incident, “for being a jerk that night.” 

Ron Hughes said that he hadn’t wanted to get involved, “because I didn’t want the repercussions, but what do I have to lose if he’s already harassing my kids, you know? This is the third incident now with my kids. And my kids work six, seven days a week.” They work in construction, like their father.

He went on, “They’re honest, good-working kids, young adults. It’s not like they’re out causing problems and raising hell.”     

The third incident Ron Hughes referred to allegedly occurred before the other two, in 2013, but was never reported. Milano had allegedly, according to Corey Hughes, responded to a house party in Guilderland for a noise complaint.

The Enterprise was given a brief video of the incident. Corey Hughes, who was a visitor to the home, is standing in the kitchen with a few other people and with a uniformed officer said to be Milano. Hughes tells the officer that his ride has come and that he is going to go home; the officer shoves him and tells him to “stand there and shut up.”

The video is only 10 seconds long, and it is impossible to know what happened before the exchange shown. It is also hard to hear what Corey Hughes said to the officer, and, because the sheriff’s office was not able to locate any record of a police response to the address that Corey Hughes gave to which Milano would have responded, the events could not be confirmed. 

Milano did write Corey Hughes the ticket for not signaling properly on the turn to M&B’s.

Ron Hughes called the sheriff’s office in Clarksville to make a complaint, and made an appointment to speak with Senior Investigator Charles Higgins of the sheriff’s Professional Standards Unit. 

Hughes said that Higgins “seemed fair,” and that he even came out “and measured the road where Corey had turned on his directional.” The result was, Hughes said, that the distance was found to be “more than 100 feet, more like three times that.” 

 Higgins assured him, Hughes said, that “there’s not going to be any more problems with him [Milano] on the Hill.” 

Hughes also received a call, he said, from Sheriff Apple, who told him that “it’s going to be a whole new day.”

Sheriff’s view

Asked how often his office investigates an officer, Sheriff Apple said that, since they have “680-some” employees, “you’re bound to come across some unfortunate circumstances.” The majority of their investigations, he said, involve some kind of off-duty conduct. 

But in any case, he said, his office looks at each complaint that comes in, and, “if we believe there’s some credibility to the complaint, we make an adjustment, which would be a reassignment, and then we conduct the investigation. And we’ll determine the outcome, and at that point we’ll take the appropriate action.” 

Apple mentioned the law enforcement motto of “to protect and serve” and said that his officers have the protecting part down, but that he’s been trying to change “the whole mindset of this department in terms of the serving portion.”

He continued, “We should do a lot more with our public than give them speeding tickets and traffic tickets and failure-to-signal tickets. People get out of the academy, they’re filled with piss and vinegar, and all they want to do is lock up America. And then normally after a short period of time they realize, ‘OK, I understand now,’ and then we’re back in the groove.” 

For the first time in his career, Apple said, he recently had to tell the 13 recruits who are in the police academy now, “Don’t think you’re going to obtain points with me by being out there writing 20 tickets a day. That’s not what I’m about. I’m about stopping the guy and saying, ‘Hey, listen, you’ve got a turn signal out. Please get it fixed. If I see it again, I’m going to have to write you a ticket. Have a nice day.’”     

Apple firmly believes that officers need to use discretion, “especially with residents who are working hard and maybe can’t afford to have their headlight fixed on Monday, and are waiting for Thursday’s paycheck.” 

Something he was taught 29 years ago “on day one of the job,” he said, is “that law enforcement involves a lot of discretion.” 

He said that he believes that most people, if stopped and told what they did wrong, will take action themselves to correct the problem. 

“I firmly believe,” he said, “in stopping somebody and talking to them, explaining what they did. Sometimes the people are going to be an idiot on the side of the road and, you know what, you use your discretion and, if you want to give them the ticket, you give the ticket. More times than not, people will fix the problem; they’re going to be very gracious of the break that they got, and they’re going to take their own corrective action.” 

Apple noted, “You’re living in a time nowadays where you can get a $150 to $350 speeding ticket. And a $75 surcharge.” 

He does not believe that the role of his officers is to issue as many traffic tickets as possible. 

“I don’t believe it’s right that the state tells everybody that, ‘The tickets are down, the revenue’s down.’ We’re not put here to balance the state’s revenue issues. We’re here to keep our roadways safe.” 

The traffic ticket against Corey Hughes has been dismissed, Apple said.