Public Complaint No. 1713135553 - 946709060

Officer Penney was acting as a supervisor when I had concerns over a car crash in which I was not at fault. His fellow officer, on the scene, implied that I lied about the details of the wreck. He was quite rude and tried to force me to drive my disabled car, that all of the fluids had leaked out of. My phone interaction with Penney was exponentially worse that the in-person experience with the other officer. Penney screamed and cursed at me, over the phone, and made several false statements. One was that he saw the photos of the scene and that my front wheels were turned to the left, indicating that I was attempting to make left turn. That was completely false, as the photos clearly showed my wheels were turned to the right, indicating that I had attempted to avoid the crash! We were able to obtain video footage of the wreck, which clearly showed that it was not my fault, but the fault of the distracted driver who drifted into my lane of traffic and hit me head-on! Once both insurance companies saw the video, the other driver, who was prompted to lie about the details, was forced to take full responsibility for the crash. Otherwise, I would have been left with a damaged 1 year old car that cost upwards of $10,000 to fix and an increase in my insurance premium! I filed a complaint with CPD internal affairs, but they did not hold Penney accountable for his lies and unprofessional, abusive conduct. We took the copy of the video to CPD headquarters and forced them to view it and produce an amended report, one that reflects the truth. I can supply a copy of said video footage, to this agency, if needed. It took several months to get my car fixed properly and I had to seek trauma therapy to work through the aftermath of the horrible experience. I am a middle-aged woman, a retired professional, with no record whatsoever! The way that I was treated was a disgrace to law enforcement. I now have an aversion to police and my husband and I cut off all donations to law enforcement charities, after the awful experience. Penney is solely responsible for my new, jaded, feelings about law enforcement. I will never see them the same, as protectors, again. I still wonder why Penney and the officer at the scene behaved the way that they did. Thank goodness we were able to obtain the video of the collision, or the gross injustice would have been multiplied even more so! The reason I am filing this complaint 5 years late is that I did not know that this resource exists, until recently, when a friend directed me to the site.