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St. Pete Officer Suspended After Leaving Woman In Van

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By STEPHEN THOMPSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 19, 2009

Updated: 02/19/2009 02:55 pm

A St. Petersburg police officer has been suspended for two days after she left a woman arrested for a traffic violation in a van for as long as 45 minutes while the officer went to get lunch, according to police documents released this afternoon.

On Oct. 17, Officer Sandra Minor left Francesca Fretta in an air-conditioned transport van for 30 to 45 minutes while Minor went into a restaurant and ate, Fretta told investigators.

Minor was found to have violated policies on efficiency and proper conduct for a police officer.
Fretta's attorney, John Trevena, had complained to the department's internal affairs division regarding Minor's conduct and that of another officer, John Douglas, according to a 21-page report released today.

Douglas was found to have done nothing wrong.

Fretta was initially stopped by Officer Douglas after he said she was speeding on the Pinellas Bayway. She told investigators that after she pointed out that Douglas listed the wrong type of vehicle on the ticket – he had listed it as a Hyundai when it's actually a Daewoo – he arrested her for refusing to sign a traffic ticket.

Officer Douglas's version of the events differed. He said that after he pulled over Fretta's car, she insisted she wasn't speeding and demanded on seeing the speed on the laser gun used.

Douglas said he told her it was not department policy to show violators their speed that way. Douglas said he was about to explain the ramifications of a speeding ticket when Fretta said she was a Stetson law student and knew the law.

Douglas also said Fretta claimed she didn't have to sign the ticket if the charge is not justified. Douglas said he told her signing the ticket was not an admission of guilt but refusing to sign it would result in her arrest. Fretta still refused to sign the ticket and was arrested.

When Douglas placed her in the back of his squad car, Fretta began feeling ill and was taken to Edward White Hospital, where she was checked out and then taken to the police station to await a trip in a transport van to the Pinellas County Jail.

Now, Fretta said she would sign the ticket, Douglas told investigators. She said she would lose her Bright Futures scholarship if she was arrested and she said she hadn't really believed Douglas would arrest her, Douglas said.

Douglas said Fretta never mentioned anything – either to him or to another officer involved in her arrest – about him getting the vehicle wrong on the ticket. Still, in a one-day trial last week, a jury found she was not guilty of refusing to sign a traffic ticket. The speeding ticket itself was also dismissed, Trevena said.

At the police station, Fretta was put in the transport van for the trip to the Pinellas County Jail. Minor, the van driver that day, took her to a restaurant where Minor planned on meeting a retired officer and his wife. She made sure the air conditioning in the van was working when she went into the restaurant for what she believed was 20 minutes and said she watched the van from a window, the report says.

As part of her discipline, Officer Minor was counseled on the importance of remaining in close proximity to arrested subjects in the transport van. She was also told how her actions put the police department in a bad light, the report says.

Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 451-2336.

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