Vero Beach Police Chief David Currey said he has decided to not take disciplinary action against two officers for their conduct at the botched June 1 traffic stop that resulted in their now-former colleague, Christian Butterfield, being charged with a felony.
Instead, Currey said, supervisors provided “verbal counseling” to Officer Soledad Hernandez, who witnessed the entire stop but did not remind Butterfield that – because he seized evidence of two marijuana-related felonies – the department’s General Orders required him to arrest the driver.
Hernandez, who has worked for the Vero Beach Police Department for two years, also failed to notify her supervisor about what had transpired during the stop, including Butterfield’s unauthorized use of discretion.
“She was there the whole time, and she didn’t report it,” Currey said. “Even though she was there in a backup role, she saw what was happening and should’ve said something.
“Our policy is: If you see something, say something,” he continued. “If you see something happen that is contrary to a General Order, or a city ordinance, or a state law, you should say something. At the very least, you need to notify your supervisor. She didn’t.”
Currey said supervisors also questioned Officer Paul Wickert, who arrived at the traffic stop while it was in progress and left the scene before it concluded, but his conduct required no further action.
The decision to verbally counsel Hernandez was documented, the chief said, and a record will be kept in Deputy Chief’s Matt Monaco’s file for a year. If there are no further issues with the 25-year-old officer’s performance, the report will be removed.
“It’s not a disciplinary action, and it won’t go in her personnel file,” Currey said. “I’ve also spoken to her at length, she understands why this was necessary and she wants to put this behind her.”
Butterfield, a rookie Vero Beach police officer who was hired in October and resigned amid an Internal Affairs investigation in June, was charged with “tampering with evidence” after he allegedly disposed of more than 20 grams of marijuana and a THC-loaded vape pen confiscated during the traffic stop.
If convicted of the third-degree felony, he faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
The 31-year-old former Marine, firefighter and EMT, who previously worked in corrections, is accused of tossing the marijuana and vape pen into a dumpster in a police department parking lot, apparently to get rid of the evidence of his decision to not arrest the 19-year-old driver, who admitted the contraband was his.
The department’s General Orders, however, do not allow officers to use such discretion with suspects when the alleged crime is a felony.
A report compiled after the department’s IA investigation of Butterfield’s conduct sustained six violations of those orders, including his failure to inform the young suspects – who were handcuffed and interrogated during the 45-minute stop – of their constitutionally mandated Miranda rights.
The report, released last month, also cited Butterfield’s failure to properly release the juvenile passenger, whom the now-former officer allowed to walk away from the scene shortly before 2 a.m., rather than attempt to contact the teen’s parents and have someone get him, or drive him home.
The other violations were connected to other aspects of Butterfield’s decisions to not make an arrest and discard evidence that could’ve been used in a criminal investigation.
Butterfield, who was released from jail after posting a $10,000 bond on June 19, essentially admitted that he violated a General Order and tampered with evidence last month, when he created a GoFundMe page that, as of last weekend, had generated more than $3,000 in contributions to help cover his legal expenses.
Butterfield wrote on the page that he “decided to not arrest the young men because the possession would be a felony and severely impact the rest of their lives,” later adding that he “disposed of the marijuana by throwing it away in the VBPD dumpster” in an “attempt to be an empathetic officer.”
Vero Beach attorney Andrew Metcalf, who is representing Butterfield, said his client merely exercised the same discretion often employed by other local law enforcement officers, even when handling felony offenses.
Court records show that Butterfield waived formal arraignment on July 17 and pled “not guilty.” A week later, Circuit Judge Robert Meadows granted his motion for a continuance, setting his next court date for Dec. 4, when it’s possible the case could go to trial.
Metcalf said last week the discovery process is ongoing and he will review the officers’ body-cam and other surveillance footage before deciding whether to file pretrial motions.
It was the department’s IA investigation that produced the tampering charge, which Currey said Butterfield could have avoided by returning to the police department’s headquarters and entering the marijuana and vape pen into evidence.
“If he comes back from his shift, turns in the evidence, fills out the necessary report and explains why he did what he did in deciding to not make an arrest?” the chief said. “There would be some policy violations and, probably, some disciplinary action, but he wouldn’t have been arrested.
“And he’d still have his job.”
Currey said he has seen other officers overcome conduct issues – “bumps in the road,” he called them – and go on to enjoy successful careers.
So he’s not overly concerned about Hernandez, whom he said had done “excellent work” before the Butterfield incident and continues to do so.
In late May, Butterfield’s supervisors had become curious about the officer’s conduct because, the IA report states, he was telling dispatchers he had cleared traffic stops with written warnings, but not filing the required paperwork.
The supervisors became so concerned that they decided to review body-cam video recordings of Butterfield’s stops – which eventually took them to the wee hours of June 1.
On June 3, Sgt. Frank Adamski had seen and heard enough to send a memo to Lt. Matt Harrelson, who took matters up through the chain of command. When it landed on Currey’s desk, the chief ordered an in-house investigation.
“I wasn’t happy with how he conducted himself,” Currey said of Butterfield. “The cockiness, the arrogance, his interactions and verbal exchanges with the juvenile passenger, arguing with a bystander … It wasn’t very professional.
“There was too much you-don’t-question-my-authority attitude and too many I-can-take-your-freedom-away threats,” the chief continued. “Why is he going back and forth with a 17-year-old who’s already in handcuffs? It sounded like two kids arguing.
“And to get into it with a bystander?” he added. “You’ve got two people in handcuffs. You’ve found a felony amount of marijuana. You’re already dealing with a lot. Let one of the other officers deal with him.”
Currey was also troubled by Butterfield’s changing demeanor as the traffic stop wore on.
Early in the stop, Butterfield sounded engaged, upbeat and almost light-hearted as he found the marijuana, weighed it and discovered there was enough for a felony arrest.
“Hit the magic number here,” the report quotes Butterfield as saying when he learns the confiscated marijuana weighed more than 20 grams, the threshold separating felony and misdemeanor amounts under Florida law.
Later, though, after expressing a willingness to show compassion for the driver, who was cooperative throughout the stop, Butterfield seemed to be getting bored, frustrated or both – to the point where, the report states, he could be heard saying, “I don’t even want to do this anymore. I want to go have fun.”
After releasing the driver, Butterfield failed to file a report on the stop, then disposed of the marijuana.
“It sounds like he wants to go stop cars, but not do the work that comes with it,” Currey said. “Filing reports to document those stops is part of the job.”
The IA report stated that Hernandez told detectives she didn’t see Butterfield complete any paperwork pertaining to the stop, nor did she speak to him about what he planned to do with the marijuana.
The report goes on to state that Hernandez told detectives she “didn’t think twice” about Butterfield’s decision to release the suspects and not charge at least the driver because she “didn’t like to overstep on people’s work.”
However, the report also quotes Hernandez warning Butterfield about releasing the passenger after learning he was a minor: “That’s something you have to get with Frank on,” she said, referring to Adamski.
Butterfield took her advice and called Adamski to ask how to un-arrest the juvenile. But, according to the report, he never mentioned the marijuana or that he had a second suspect in custody.
Currey said Butterfield’s actions weren’t fair to Hernandez and Wickert, adding, “He put them in a tough spot.”