Problem cop costs city 425G in settlements

PHILADELPHIA Police Officer Deona Carter's services will likely cost city taxpayers a half-million bucks this year.

About $75,000 in salary and overtime - plus the $425,000 that city attorneys yesterday agreed to pay to settle three federal lawsuits filed by people who say that Carter assaulted or wrongly arrested them.

There's a pattern forming here. An expensive one.

Yet, Carter, 29, an officer in West Philly's 18th District, remains on active duty.

"It's so obvious, at least in my view, that she's not fit to be a police officer," said Leonard Villari, whose firm represents the three plaintiffs in the civil-rights suits. "She's cost the city hundreds of thousands of dollars at this point, and there's a strong possibility that she will cost the city even more money in the future."

In June, Internal Affairs opened an investigation into whether Carter violated the department's social-networking policy by posting a naughty photo of herself on MySpace in high heels, a skimpy blue dress and her police hat.

Internal Affairs is now investigating the allegations in two of the lawsuits. The plaintiffs, bartender Geovanni Tanner, 26, and UPS worker Darnell Jackson, 21, said that Carter falsely arrested them in 2008 and 2010, respectively, by claiming that they had assaulted her. The charges against the men were later dropped.

Chief Deputy City Solicitor Craig Straw confirmed yesterday's settlements, but said they don't amount to an admission of wrongdoing.

In 2008, Carter was suspended for 20 days for assaulting her neighbor, then trying to have her "falsely arrested" by telling responding officers that the neighbor had attacked her, according to her police personnel file. Last summer, she was reprimanded for neglect of duty for showing up for court in "short pants and flip-flips," records show.

Carter was in the news again last week when, police say, she smashed a glass vase in the face of a would-be thief behind her Overbrook apartment. Carter said that the man ran off.

"She hasn't been able to identify anybody and nobody showed up at the hospital," said Lt. John Walker, of Southwest Detectives. "We're still investigating it."

Walker is familiar with Carter's history, but he said that detectives have no reason to doubt her smashed-vase story.

"This one seems pretty legitimate," he said.