KISSIMMEE, Fla. — A Kissimmee Police supervisor was given a 40-hour suspension after failing to document a possible domestic violence situation.
Cpl. Corey Anthony was also found to be disrespectful for telling the woman inside the home that the man she lived with could kick down the door if he wanted to in order to retrieve his belongings.
9 Investigates learned it happened even though the officer was disciplined during a department-wide crackdown on these types of incidents almost two years ago.
“You understand she can’t kick you out if you’ve been living there two and a half years,” Anthony is heard saying on body camera video during the call.
Anthony was at the home helping a man get his belongings out, but within a minute, it became clear that there was a history of domestic issues.
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“She’s saying last night I hit her, which I didn’t hit her,” the civilian told the corporal. “She’s saying I threw something at her, I didn’t. She threw stuff at me, she was drunk, and then she threw pictures.”
The internal affairs investigation shows that rather than defusing the situation at the scene, Anthony “created additional tension and aggression.”
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Once the woman inside the home opened the door, Anthony said, “He’s either going to civilly come in while we’re here, or he’s going to break down the door, which he has a lawful right to do so, and it’s going to scare the kids even more.” According to the internal affairs investigation, a DCF investigator told Kissimmee Police that the man did, in fact, kick in the door once police left the scene.
“In this one, he made a mistake, and I’m confident he’ll learn from it,” Chief Jeff O’Dell said.
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9 Investigates asked O’Dell about the incident because less than two years ago, we uncovered a pattern of officers mishandling or failing to document cases of potential domestic violence. It was such a big issue at that time, the entire department had to be retrained on policy.
“We put an emphasis on it, and did some retraining with the department, made sure supervisors were involved, because it is a critical issue,” Chief O’Dell said.
Looking back through records from 2019, we confirmed one of the cases that prompted the refresh involved Anthony. At that time, he was accused of responding to two separate calls at the same home and failing to document domestic violence issues both times.
Despite another lapse in policy, O’Dell says it’s not a pattern for the officer or a department-wide problem.
“We’ve made great strides,” O’Dell said. “Certainly in this situation, we’re always going to employ human beings, and human beings are going to make an error in judgment or mistake, and we think that’s what happened in this case.”
In a letter in his own defense, Anthony wrote he didn’t believe the man who later kicked down the door was emboldened by the statements Anthony made on scene. He used stored-up PTO for his suspension.
