Falmouth Selectman David Braga Resigns from Police Dept.
By: Brent Runyon
Published: 01/14/11
A suspect escaped while in the custody of Falmouth Police Officer David Braga while at Falmouth Hospital on Tuesday evening, stole a car, crashed it about an hour later and was taken back into custody, according to police.
The next morning Officer Braga, who is also a member of the Falmouth Board of Selectmen, cleaned out his locker and submitted his resignation to the police department.
“I was going to wait until September to retire,” Officer Braga said yesterday.
“But then this happened the other night, and I started questioning my judgment. I would never have made this mistake before. I just realized maybe the time is now.”
Officer Braga, who is 52 and has been a member of the Falmouth Police Department for 32 years, said he has been considering retirement for months because of health concerns.
“I’ve never had this happen before,” he said of the escape.
“The first thing I was thinking was, ‘This is the way I’m going to go out? This is the way I’m going to be remembered? Everything good I’ve done, people will forget.’ ”
His official date of retirement will be January 18, he said, but he will not work another shift as a Falmouth police officer due to previously scheduled vacation time.
Retiring sooner than planned
Police Chief Anthony J. Riello said Wednesday that he was aware of the incident, which was under investigation, but did not know that Officer Braga had resigned, because he was out of the office attending to a personal matter.
Chief Riello said Captain Stephen M. O’Neil is doing an internal investigation into the incident. Capt. O’Neil said it was a significant incident and disappointing from the department’s point of view.
This is the only time a suspect has escaped for any significant amount of time in at least the past 30 years, Capt. O’Neil said. Other prisoners have gotten away from police custody, but were caught almost immediately, Capt. O’Neil said.
No actions could be taken against an officer after he has resigned, he said.
Officer Braga said his plan was to retire in September; because of health issues he could not wait that long. He decided to retire earlier this week, he said, after a discussion with his wife.
The escape precipitated his retirement, but did not cause it, he said.
“I had a confrontation with a younger officer a week or so ago, and he called me a dinosaur,” Officer Braga said.
“I said, in my resignation letter, maybe he was right.”
A silver lining to his retirement, Officer Braga said, was that now he will not have to recuse himself as a selectman from matters pertaining to the Falmouth police. He will also be able to participate in the hiring of the new town manager.
This is not the first time Mr. Braga has discussed retirement. He has been on injured leave at the Falmouth Police Department for most of the past six years, after an elbow injury in the line of duty.
Surgeries to correct that problem led to numbness in the fingers on his left hand. Mr. Braga said he recently discovered he has Lyme disease, and is taking antibiotics to correct the problem.
A town employee can retire after 20 years of employment, regardless of their age, said Francis St. Germaine, the administrator for the Falmouth Retirement System.
“If a town employee started working when he graduated from high school when he was 18, he could technically retire when he was 38,” he said.
That employee would receive a reduced level of benefits, but would still be eligible to retire.
Mistake leads to escape
During his regular shift on Tuesday afternoon, Officer Braga arrested Stephen A. Michalik, 54, of Locust Street, Falmouth, on warrants from Falmouth District Court and Barnstable District Court for shoplifting after police received a report of an intoxicated man on Simpson Lane, Falmouth, at 3:31 PM.
During booking, Mr. Michalik told Officer Braga and Sergeant Christopher Hamilton that he recently had open heart surgery, and fell over in the booking chair.
Police called Falmouth Fire Rescue and rescuers took him by ambulance to Falmouth Hospital, where he was being treated by two nurses.
Officer Braga said he did not handcuff Mr. Michalik, before he left him to go to the bathroom, and when he returned approximately a minute and a half later, the bed was empty.
At first, Officer Braga said he thought Mr. Michalik was taken to another room for testing, but a nurse said he had not been moved.
“I should have handcuffed him. That was my responsibility. It was my responsibility to secure the prisoner,” Officer Braga said.
Officer Braga reported the prisoner was missing at 4:58 PM.
At 5:16 PM, a woman at the Visiting Nurse Association across the street from Falmouth Hospital reported her car was missing. Police searched the area, but were unable to locate Mr. Michalik or the vehicle.
Over the next hour there were reports of Mr. Michalik driving in Mashpee and Falmouth, as police searched for him.
At 6:18 PM police responded to a rollover crash on Route 28 near the Thomas B. Landers Road on-ramp, and there they found Mr. Michalik, who told police he was not injured.
Police arrested Mr. Michalik again for larceny of a motor vehicle, escaping from lockup, negligent operation of a motor vehicle, operating a motor vehicle with a suspended registration, and marked lanes violations.
He was arraigned in Falmouth District Court on Wednesday and held on $15,000 bail. His pretrial hearing is scheduled for February 17.
15 Responses to "Falmouth Selectman David Braga Resigns from Police Dept."
Leave a Reply
In order to comment you need to be logged in.
Registered users
Please log in.
Not registered yet?
Advertisement
Officer Braga had an honorable career and one mistake does not diminish that.
these things happen and its the responsibilty of everyone who is supposed to be supervising these bozo's. how dumb can one police department be. this all starts from the top. thats what you get when you hire an outsider to run a town ploce force. with the proper leadership the falmouth police will be fine. these nitwits need so serious training and then someone should try and teach them how to DRIVE A CAR!
In a 32 year career in any field mistakes are going to occur. Is it the officers responsibility to secure prisoners? yes it is, and officer Braga stepped up and took responsibility for his mistake. To the idiotic response from the intellectually challenged "anutuna", The MAJORITY of the people in the FPD are good at what they do, always have been, always will be. Unless you've had a firsthand look at it from the inside you should consider closing your mouth and saving all of us from your ingnorance. Mistakes happen, you deal with them and move on. Apparently though, it doesn't appear officer Braga will be getting much support from his superiors which isn't very surprising. Why couldn't the Capt. just say, it is an incident we are looking into and it will be dealt with internally, does he really need to say its disappointing from the departments point of view? No he doesn't. He could have, and should have showed support for an officer that has put in 32 years of service for the town, unfortunately thats never been the avenue some superior officers have chosen to take over the years which just strengthens the us against them mentality and promotes bad feelings within the department.
as with no other professional who works for the town, Mr Braga admitted his mistake. I can not imagine that was easy.....take a look back people......Bob W never admitted nor apologized for his mistakes which has cost the town huge money,how about the dept head who covered up the fact there was something wrong with our towns water......nothing from him......and who is going to held responsible for the fine the town will pay because of the trash hauling fiasco?? enough said....
Wow anutuna, you seem to know it all. I bit my lip when you spouted off for poor Mr Newton after that ridiculous article was written. I could not let another one go. These guys and girls are out there dealing with a society that has changed drastically over the last several years. They are seeing more drug addiction which is fueling crime, alcohol related crimes as well as violent crime.Those cars they drive are on the road twenty four hours a day. There are going to be accidents. They have the courage to sit in that seat and drive to "the call", where you would probably be driving the opposite direction because you were scared. So, when something happens and you need the police, handle it yourself because those "nitwits" are busy.
And one more thing. Thank you to Officer Braga for his service and God Bless the Falmouth Police Department.
I just wanna say that sometimes Karma comes back to you..He might be all these great things you all are sayin, but I also know and have heard on many occasions him make fun of and put people of Falmouth down. He thought it was funny when others would make mistakes in their lives and pass judgement on them like he was Judge, Juror and Executioner! So, for me, I dont have all the warm and fuzzy things people are saying about him! He got great joy out of driving around the poorer neighborhoods and would pick out homes that he thought were "ghetto" and get great joy and laughter out of the exterior condition. Maybe thats all fun and games to him, but I dont find a bit of that funny! For me, I think it couldnt have happened to a more judgmental, condesending man!
And redsox your right about taking responsibility for your mistake. But only a coward makes a mistake, bails out on the mistake and lets the Dept. take the heat because he resigned! Who does that?? And all that hog wash about it he " was going to retire" is comical!! How convenient that he resigns the DAY AFTER the incident?? Am I the only one who finds that veryyyyyyyyyy coincidental?? And bravo to the Capt. for saying what he said! Why should he take the heat and stick up for Braga??? Did Braga give a rats behind the heat the Dept. was going to get over his resignation the day after a "significant incident" happened? Braga took the high road and put his tail between his legs and resigned because HE didnt want to take the heat so Kudos to the Capt for what he said!
Ah... Mr or Mrs. "KarmaBeliever" - I do hope that you would check ALL your fact's before spewing your horrible, ludicrous comments on the internet. I do recall an article in the Enterprise a few years back which told how Officer Braga paid (our of his own pocket) for a mother and daughter to stay at a local hotel because there was not enough room at the shelter. I also recall many readers of the article sending money to Officer Braga - but he would not accept - he donated all the monies to a local charity. It makes me wonder what a low-life you must be to talk so horribly about someone, who for 32 years served and protected this town. I would hope that you would look at yourself in the mirror and see what kind of person you are before typing such idiotic comments. Now some of the words I have typed here may be too sophisticated for your small, fifth grade level reading mind to understand - but hopefully you can get someone to read it for you. There is obviously some underlying issues you have and I would suggest for you to seek counseling. What goes around comes around...
i can't believe how some of you come on this blog and just undermine people the way you do..Officer Braga is one of a kind..He does so much to help other people and cares very much about our opinions..For you to say that he goes around and drives around "poorer neighborhoods" and passes judgement just because of the way the outside of the house looks...Officer Braga has barely anytime to do things that matter and for you to sit there and imply that he does that on his spare time is assinine...whoever you are you need to find a hobby..Instead of insulting people on this blog why don't you go get a job and do something constructive with your time..Im sure Im not the only person that agrees that Officer Braga is a very hardworking person, and is by far what you are portraying in this blog...We love you Officer Braga...
Officer Braga made a mistake, he is a human being none of us are perfect. maybe he thought he could trust this moron, who would of thought an open heart patient would escape? ppl need to stop being so flipping critical and look at your own wrong doings.
I totally agree with Ackrite
I also had a confrontation with one of the "younger" Falmouth officers who seemed to lack respect and think that particular officer could learn a lot about what it takes to be a good officer like Offr Braga.
Falmouth PD? What a joke...maybe one of these years they'll solve the riddle of who shot John Busby, what's it been, 30 years now? Maybe in another decade or so...what a bunch of Keystone Kops..
nighthawksoars????? you obviously didnt read the write ups when the Reine woman was killed 5 yrs ago, Melvin Reines brother I believe told Police he and his brother shot Busby? did u miss that part? statue of limitation law!!!!! but i do believe they know and have proof who killed Shirley Reine but there to scarred to do anything about it, or maybe they r connected!!