Gilbert officer has history of complaints

Officer Chad Wright also tickets Hispanic drivers at a rate higher than other officers.

During a two-year period, he ticketed 1,568 drivers. Of those, 466 were Hispanic. That's nearly 30 percent of tickets. Census figures estimate Gilbert's Hispanic population at 12 percent.  

"There is certainly significance to those numbers, and that is an issue we are investigating," Gilbert police Lt. Eric Shuhandler said.

But Wright, an eight-year motorcycle patrol veteran, was recognized as the town's employee of the year in 2005. He has also been nominated for several other awards.

During recent years, Wright has led Gilbert police in arrests, often more than doubling other officers in his unit. At one time, Wright had accounted for roughly 6 percent of Gilbert's arrests.

However, he has accumulated at least 10 complaints since 2006, and more than 20 others in his career.

Supervisors describe him as an extremely dedicated, tireless and passionate officer. But complaints from numerous citizens describe him as a cop on a "power trip."

Through police officials, Wright has declined to comment.

The Tribune requested Wright's file after Mesa police Chief George Gascon sent a complaint to Gilbert police regarding a Dec. 14 incident, which launched an internal investigation of racial profiling involving the officer.

As part of the East Valley holiday DUI task force, Wright pulled over Armando Rodriguez Morales in Mesa for backing his car illegally, a violation police officials say is rarely enforced.

Morales, 59, had driven from Hermosillo, Mexico, with his family for a wedding. He carries a Mexican driver's license and has Sonora license plates.

Wright decided that Morales' license was falsified and ordered his car to be towed.

Morales was left stranded along with his wife and two girls on the side of Broadway Road and Mesa Drive with their luggage.

The Mexican Consulate has since verified Morales' license and his car has been released.

Gilbert police said they are taking the racial profiling claim seriously.

The department will wait until the investigation is completed before they decide whether to take disciplinary action.

Chief Gascon was informed of the incident after he was forwarded a complaint from Bob Meyers, a Mesa resident whose daughter is married to Morales' son.

Gascon has declined to comment on the incident.

However, in an e-mail to Meyers, he wrote that what happened to Morales is an example of how a rush to enforce immigration laws can trample civil rights.

Wright has been cleared of two other racial profiling accusations.

Internal investigators concluded that the claims were unfounded.

The first occurred in October 2006 when Wright pulled over a Portuguese woman for making a left turn into a Walgreens parking lot.

Wright, who was driving the opposite direction, said he had to slam on his brakes to avoid hitting her. However, the woman said Wright was driving "way too fast" and had his headlights off.

Her citation was dropped after Wright failed to appear for several court hearings.

Wright once had a string of more than 100 straight appearances for court hearings.

Prosecutors have also praised him for his attendance record.

The second incident occurred in August 2007 when a black man was cited for making a wide left turn at a green light.

The man claimed that after Wright saw him in the car he was stopped for being a "black man driving."

Wright has been punished multiple times for violating police driving policies. In 2002, he engaged in an unauthorized police chase for 11 miles. He was also reprimanded in 2003 for driving more than 120 mph without lights or sirens.

He was suspended for short periods for both incidents.

Wright also has two at-fault accidents while on duty and has been disciplined for a seat belt violation.

However, Wright has been disciplined only twice for citizen complaints out of dozens of claims.

But officials said that the number of complaints he's received is not unusual due to the high number of people with whom Wright comes in contact.

Wright's most recent punishment came after an incident last July when his conduct was found unbecoming of an officer. He was ordered to have a discussion with a supervisor, records show.

Wright had left a girl handcuffed and seated on a street curb in a rainstorm while he and his partner waited in their patrol car for the vehicle she was riding in to be towed, records show.

He said he didn't place her in the police car because there was equipment in the backseat.

Her brother had been pulled over and arrested on suspicion of drunken driving.

She was never under arrest. But Wright placed her in handcuffs because he felt she might interfere with the towing process, records show.

Other recent complaints also cite claims of mistreatment from Wright.

One man, who was a passenger in a vehicle whose driver was arrested for DUI, was left along the Bush Highway, near the Salt River Recreation facility.

He said he was left "in the middle of the desert" and had to get a ride from a driver who stopped for him as he was walking down the road.

John DiGiovanni, a pilot and former policeman from Connecticut pulled over by Wright, called him "extremely condescending and cocky."

"Based on the experience of the 13 years that I have served as a police officer, both as a subordinate and as a supervisor, Officer Wright's judgment and behavior was far less than one can expect from a paid public servant, especially a police officer sworn to protect the citizens of his city or jurisdiction," DiGiovanni wrote in a letter to the police chief and mayor.

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"Officer Wright's judgment and behavior was far less than one can expect from a paid public servant, especially a police officer sworn to protect the citizens of his city or jurisdiction."

John DiGiovanni

former policeman pulled over by Wright