KISSIMMEE, Fla. — The city of Kissimmee held a press conference Thursday to present what it called a “roadmap” to address “significant shortcomings” at the city police department.
The move came on the heels of a grand jury investigation — and an investigation by State Attorney Andrew Bain’s office — into an officer’s use of force that found the department “exhibits a culture of silence — or a culture of cover up.”
The investigation stemmed from an incident involving former officer Andrew Baseggio, who is accused of attacking and assaulting Sean Kastner during a call for service received just after midnight on April 22, 2023.
He is accused of “spiking” Kastner in the face with his knee twice and hitting him with seven Taser stuns, and then lying to cover up his actions afterward.
The grand jury investigation determined that other officers and leadership at the Kissimmee Police Department aided in the cover up, and ultimately punished Bassegio with a single day off without pay.
The former officer has since been charged with multiple crimes in connection with the incident, including battery, felony battery, two counts of tampering with a witness, official misconduct and solicitation of perjury.
Following the grand jury and State Attorney investigations, police Chief Betty Holland and Deputy Chief Camille Alicea both resigned their positions. Detective Jonathan Fernandez and officer Milagros Sanchez have been placed on administrative duty, and Cpl. Justin Lunsford has been removed from his role in Internal Affairs.
Overall, the 35-page grand jury report breaks down its conclusions into six sections, titled:
- The Kissimmee Police Department exhibits a culture of silence — or a culture of cover up
- Kissimmee Police Department officers and command staff lack the training necessary to improve performance and public safety in a variety of areas
- The Kissimmee Police Department’s Internal Affairs Section lacks sufficient resources, procedures and continuity to function effectively
- Chief (Betty) Holland has knowingly failed to comply with Florida law and its requirement to report certain conduct to the Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission
- Members of the Kissimmee Police Department either acted inappropriately or were dishonest in their testimony during this investigation
- We lack confidence in the Kissimmee Police Department’s current command staff and their ability to lead the agency
During a press conference Thursday, interim police Chief Robert Anzueto said department and city leadership have taken the investigations to heart and are following their recommendations.
“Our message is: changes have been made,” Anzueto said.
On Thursday, Anzueto said he’s making immediate changes to ensure nothing like this happens again. He’s tasked with performing a review of department leadership, policies and methods to enforce accountability and transparency.
“The actions that we’ve taken are not just a response to past failures, but a clear path forward towards restoring trust within our community,” said City Manager Mike Steigerwald, during a press conference at KPD as he read from a prepared statement.
Evidence in the grand jury report accused Holland of ignoring evidence of misconduct, and failing to conduct a criminal investigation into Baseggio’s actions, despite video from the incident clearly showing felony-level misconduct.
“Unfortunately, we were kind of being stonewalled for a while, until they relented,” Bain said Thursday.
The grand jury also determined that when KPD leadership finally decided to cooperate with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the investigation was compromised from the start. The grand jury accused several officers of being dishonest and untruthful in their testimony.
“There’s no indication on why they all chose to make the decisions that they made through the course of this investigation,” said assistant State Attorney Sean Wiggins.
When asked about the bodycam video, Anzueto said it was hard to watch and he was still processing it.
“The video is troubling,” he said. “But this is day two for me. Let me digest everything and implement whatever changes are necessary.”
Overall, the grand jury reported that it lacks confidence in KPD command staff, and that it found a pattern of excessive use of force.
“The grand jury found approximately ten instances where sustained policy violations went unreported to the commission and spanned multiple chiefs administrations,” said Wiggins.
Steigerwald called the issues identified in the grand jury report “significant shortcomings.”
“Shocked, absolutely shocked,” he said of the allegations. “It’s something we don’t expect to occur.”
According to information from the city of Kissimmee, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office has been tasked with leading the investigation into the 11 officers “whose truthfulness or conduct was found to be concerning by the State Attorney’s Office during their inquiry.”
“We will allow the personnel assigned to the investigation to use their training and experience to follow the facts and evidence to uncover the truth,” Anzueto said in a statement from the city.
As part of the city’s plan to prevent a similar situation in the future, a new position with the KPD Internal Affairs Section will be created: a civilian internal affairs manager.
This person will lead investigations, aid in developing department policies, ensure that Internal Affairs personnel are property trained and monitor compliance with state laws regarding officer conduct.
According to information from the city, the Kissimmee Police Department will also be focusing on the following five key areas:
- Leadership: Evaluate the command staff’s knowledge, experience, and skill set to ensure trustworthy and competent law enforcement professionals lead the department.
- Accountability: Identify and implement methods and tactics to enforce accountability and transparency at all levels of the organization, including those in senior command staff positions. Also, ensure a thorough and fair review of Response to Resistance incidents, including holding officers accountable for excessive use of force.
- Policies: Examine, change, and create policies that provide better guidance to officers in Response to Resistance incidents, set standards for deciding whether to begin a criminal investigation following response to resistance, and clearly assign responsibility for reporting Brady violations to the State Attorney’s Office, and officers who fail to maintain good moral character to the Criminal Justice and Standards Commission.
- Personnel and Resource Analysis: Continue performing a personnel and resource analysis and make necessary personnel reassignments to ensure the Department can perform its legally required duties effectively, promptly, and in accordance with state law.
- Training: Implement and carry out training recommended by the Presentment, including training on crisis management, interacting with citizens who may be experiencing a mental health crisis, the duty to intervene, and search and seizure law, including warrantless entry into residences.
“The recent issues have highlighted the need for a renewed focus on accountability and integrity, both within the department and in its relationship with the community,” Steigerwald said in a statement.
Despite the alleged actions of the officers cited in the two investigations, Steigerwald asked the community to “continue to have faith in the overwhelming majority of the officers at the Kissimmee Police Department who work each day with honor, integrity, and good morals.”