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Experts: Mass. dispatcher should be fired for social media posts

Carla Grant said an overdosing pregnant woman should have been left to rot and a family who lost their son in a crash should have lost everything

By Cody Shepard
The Enterprise

BROCKTON, Mass. — She said an overdosing pregnant woman should have been left to rot, a murder suspect should have been hung from a tree and a family who lost their son in a fatal crash should have lost everything they own.

Carla Grant, a 19-year Mass. State Police civilian dispatcher, was placed on unpaid administrative leave Wednesday following a series of stories published in The Enterprise that exposed her social media behavior.

But two police experts believe the Brockton woman will soon be terminated -- or, at least, should be.

“This will probably result in her termination,” said Mitch Librett, a criminal justice professor at Bridgewater State University and former New York police officer. “This is a disciplinary offense that is certainly grounds for termination. I don’t think she’s got a long shelf life in that communications field.”

Joseph Giacalone, a retired New York City Police Department detective sergeant and adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, agrees that firing Grant is the right move.

“It looks as if the evidence in this case is overwhelming,” he said. “In the long run, I think she will no longer be an employee. She should be fired.”

An internal investigation was launched by state police, Grant’s employer, after The Enterprise revealed on March 22 that the dispatcher had posted about an ongoing criminal investigation on the Brockton Hub Facebook page.

“Neg op and speeding ... NOT responsible for the crash - which was caused by the decedent - per the dash cam evidence,” Grant wrote from her personal account, which has since been deleted.

But the dash cam evidence, part of an investigation that resulted in charges against 21-year-old Kyle Thistle of Brockton related to the death of Cory Wasilewski on Route 24 in February 2017, had not been released publicly. And that information would only become public in court documents a month later when Thistle was arraigned on charges related to the crash.

Grant’s posts on the same Facebook page regarding Narcan, an overdose-reversing drug also known as naloxone, are also being investigated after she implied a pregnant woman shouldn’t have been revived.

“She needs to be left to rot,” Grant wrote. “Ph-ck that bulls--- ‘disease’ crap! Selfish piece of s---!”

The Brockton woman also commented on an open murder investigation in the city, saying a mother who killed her children should be “swinging from a tree branch.”

And Grant has also posted insensitive comments about the Wasilewski family.

“The decedents family is engaging in a defamation campaign that will hopefully see them losing everything they own,” she wrote.

Thomas Wasilewski, the father of the crash victim, told The Enterprise last week that he wants Grant fired. He said his family knew nothing about dash cam evidence before Grant posted about it.

“I’m not letting this go until she’s terminated,” he said. “She’s abusing her power as a dispatcher. She constantly says nasty things about issues she has nothing to do with. She shouldn’t be looking into police reports. She crossed the line big time.”

David Procopio, a state police spokesman, said Friday that the investigation is ongoing and there is no timetable for when it will be complete.

“However long it takes to do a complete job,” he told The Enterprise.

When the investigation is complete, Procopio said it is up to Col. Kerry Gilpin to decide Grant’s fate.

The experts say the decision should be easy.

“If she’s expressing an opinion regarding underlying circumstances that are relevant to an ongoing investigation, then her personal opinion becomes something more than a personal opinion,” Librett said. “It becomes revealing the details of a police investigation that’s not yet completed. That would be a termination offense in my opinion.”

As for how long the investigation could take, Giacalone said this case shouldn’t get dragged out.

“The evidence is overwhelming,” he said. “I don’t think it’s going to take months.”

Copyright 2018 The Enterprise

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