James Rooney Shooting

well I must say lauren Ritchie is correct in her findings about rooney....the young man in the park that day DID NOT SHOOT HIMSELF!!!!!! Rooney has lied about the events that went down that day in the park and he still sticks to his story and that's what it is a STORY OF LIES. Rooney never should of been let back on the force at all. He says he was traumatized on that dreadful day,but does anybody know how traumatized that young mans family is,and what they are going thru with the loss of the young man that they loved so much. I feel for his mother she has to deal with the loss of her son everyday of her life,imagine what she goes through on the holidays and his birthday. I don't know how Rooney can go thru life knowing how many lies he told about the events of that day. Apparently he does not feel no guilt or shame.

What a mess.

Clermont wastes $30,000 on evaluation of police department

The long-awaited $30,000 evaluation of the Clermont Police Department arrived a couple of weeks ago.

And just as quickly, the document created by the International Association of Chiefs of Police disappeared into the annals of city bureaucracy like a rock into quicksand. Gulp! It's gone.


Of course, it revealed none of the rampant "corruption" in upper management claimed by a group of whining officers who all had been disciplined or fired for misbehavior.

Most of the conclusions were twaddle that could be said of any police department in America. For example, it said there are cliques within the department. Oh, for heaven's sake. Anyone who has worked in or around any law-enforcement agency could state that with authority.

Asked if they learned anything from it, both Clermont's city manager and police chief bumbled a bit and then acknowledged that they really hadn't. The chief said he'd be looking it over to see what suggestions could be implemented.

There's another $30,000 in taxpayer money wasted, thanks to Clermont council members who certainly had better and cheaper choices if they felt their police department needed an evaluation after the departure of former Chief Steve Graham, whom they ran out of town without any valid reason.

The report did make one useful suggestion, however. It said the department should concentrate on "fair and consistent practices" with discipline.

It certainly should.

Consider that Capt. Jon Johnson, a 35-year law-enforcement veteran, was suspended with pay last year for nearly four months while Clermont investigated, well, something. Nobody was ever sure exactly what. The city never told Johnson what he was accused of, and it never cleared him. Darren Gray, the new city manager, simply put Johnson back to work.

Meanwhile, an officer remains on the job even though he is the subject of two inquiries by the State Attorney's Office and is under two additional internal investigations by his own department. Three of the four probes stem from two separate incidents — one in which Officer James Rooney is accused of punching a citizen in the stomach and a second in which he got into a dispute with his sergeant.

The fourth is a review by the State Attorney's Office of Rooney's overall history to determine whether to prosecute cases the officer makes. Prosecutors could find themselves embarrassed if a smart defense lawyer brought the officer's past into the courtroom.

This week, prosecutors are interviewing witnesses as they decide whether to charge Rooney after a Clermont resident complained that the officer slugged him in the stomach for taking pictures of Rooney's department-owned motorcycle illegally parked in a handicapped spot at Osprey Ridge Apartments. What was it doing there in the first place? Rooney, who isn't handicapped, didn't respond to a request for an explanation.

Dustin Carter, 25, told officers on July 14 that Rooney hit him when he reached into his pocket to get his cell phone to show the officer the photos of his motorcycle parked where it shouldn't have been.


Rooney told investigating officers the next day that he "felt threatened" because Carter was in his "personal space," and he thought he might be going for a gun. The police report states that Carter was not wearing a shirt at the time, raising questions about how Carter could have hidden it in a pants pocket or waistband. Carter was taken by ambulance to South Lake Hospital after he began urinating blood.

Rooney, 37, is under internal investigation for his role in that incident and for another in which he is accused of threatening his sergeant over a poor performance review.

My, oh, my. Remember that Rooney is the same officer who hysterically described a running gun battle with a dangerous "suspect" he confronted for legally smoking a cigarette in a city park in December. Forensics later showed that the only person shooting was Rooney, who fired multiple times. The man he confronted took his own life minutes after the encounter by firing a single slug into his head.

In 2005, Rooney was fired and arrested on charges of petty theft and forgery for signing a doctor's note so that he could collect holiday pay. The physician declined to testify in court, so the charges were dropped and Rooney was reinstated.

Somehow, Rooney continues to "protect" the citizens of Clermont, but a captain with a near-spotless record still isn't vindicated. Police Chief Chuck Broadway said the circumstances don't warrant a suspension.

It appears that Clermont has a ways to go to meet that $30,000 goal of being "fair and consistent."

considering that I keep reading on james rooney and how corrupt that man really is why the hell is he still on the police force? now the incident in the park when rooney confronted this young man,that young man DID NOT TAKE HIS OWN LIFE HIS DNA WAS NOT ON THE GUN ANOTHER MALE DNA WAS ON THE GUN..HMMMMMMM WHO COULD THAT DNA BELONG TO..CAN ANYBODY "COVER UP" BY THE CLERMONT POLICE DEPARTMENT. THERE IS SOMEBODY OUT THERE THAT KNOWS MORE ABOUT THIS THAN MEETS THE EYE..IF YOU DO PLEASE CONTACT THE STATES ATTORNEY ABOUT THIS

No matter what people think about the person they portrayed on tv he still was a human being with a family and a son who loved him unconditionially.everyone makes mistakes in life it doesn't mean he should be treated like he doesn't matter. Maybe one of you in your spare time could help get to the truth speak....because he's dead.

Yep dead and he was a dirtbag, SAO already looked into it. No charges filed, let it go sir/ma'am, your family member killed himself! I do agree with you that this Rooney fellow is about on the same level as your dead family member..both were/are scumbags.

lets see do you have children??? yes that young man is dead and HE DIDNT SHOOT HIMSELF THE DAMN TRUTH WILL COME OUT...YOU BELIEVE WHAT PEOPLE SAY.DID YOU KNOW THIS YOUNG MAN? YOU CANNOT JUDGE BY WHAT OTHER PEOPLE SAY,OH BUT CERTIAN PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN CLERMONT HAVE SMALL MINDS..YOU CALL HIM A SCUM BAG WELL YOU KNOW SOMETHING IT TAKES A SCUM BAG TO KNOW A SCUMBAG AND LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING A SCUMBAG THAT YOUNG WAS NOT!!!!!!!!!!!

SORRY USED THE WRONG WORD I MEANT DIRTBAG TAKES ONE TO KNOW ONE..AND ROONEY IS A DIRT BAG ALSO.HE ISNT NOTHING BUT ONE HELL OF A LIAR WHO GOT AWAY IT THIS TIME

Rooney's a scumbag/dirtbag but so WAS your crazy family member who chose to shoot himself in the head. State Attorney's Office is done with it, evidently you can't handle the truth but keep telling yourself it's a big cover-up and click your heels Dorothy, you might end up in your fantasyland of OZ. Oh by the way, how many times did your "fine outstanding" family member get arrested, oh wait I just did a Google search...wow, yeah he was a great productive member of society, wait wait ...I bet he had, "just turned his life around", too right???! :lol:

[Unregistered]

i would like to take a minute and ask anybody out there "what did rooney do this time to get his lying ass fired" best thing that the chief has done

[Unregistered]

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/...210-story.html

Clermont police officer surrenders city badge in settlement


By Stephen Hudak Orlando Sentinel
December 10, 2014, 5:54 PM



A Clermont police officer who once sued the chief has agreed to give up his city badge and job in a settlement that will pay him $100,000..

Officer James Rooney's 14 years with the Clermont Police Department were marked with controversy, including a 2012 shooting in a park that ended with the suicide of a young father. But Rooney will leave the city with his law-enforcement credentials intact, allowing him to seek employment with another agency.


The agreement, approved Tuesday night by City Council, was struck "in the best interest of the city to avoid future litigation and arbitration proceedings," City Manager Darren Gray said in an email when asked why the city paid Rooney to stop working as a police officer for Lake County's largest city.

Rooney could not be reached for comment after repeated attempts.


First hired by the Clermont police in 2000, Rooney was fired five years later after he was accused of altering a doctor's excuse to cover a work absence over the Labor Day holiday. Prosecutors ultimately dismissed the felony charge, partly because the doctor refused to testify, and the city reinstated Rooney.

He later filed a civil-rights lawsuit in federal court against the city, then-Clermont Police Chief Stephen Graham and others, alleging the altered doctor's note could have been explained, and the resulting "malicious prosecution" caused him public humiliation and expenses for a lawyer and medical and psychological care.

The lawsuit was tossed out of federal court.

In December 2012 while on traffic duty, Rooney spotted 21-year-old Joshua Waldron sitting on a park bench near Clermont Elementary School, smoking a cigarette and waiting on his child. Smoking was prohibited in the park and Rooney approached Waldron, asked for ID and permission to search him.

The officer said Waldron drew a gun, hit him in the forehead with the weapon, then pulled the trigger but it did not fire. Waldron ran off, jumping over a picnic table and climbing over a chain-link fence. Rooney initially said he exchanged gunfire with Waldron during an ensuing chase. But firearm tests conducted by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement showed that Waldron actually fired his gun just once that day – when he shot himself in the head.

Rooney returned to police duty after he was cleared by the State Attorney's Office and an FDLE investigation.

But he was again placed on paid administrative leave June 15 because of abusive comments attributed to him, according to a city document detailing the allegations. The document alleged that Rooney became irate over a grievance hearing and declared that he wanted to knock out the teeth of two supervisors.

As part of the settlement agreement, the allegations were deemed to have been "not sustained."

The city agreed to notify FDLE that Rooney's employment was a "voluntary separation not involving misconduct" and to inform any future prospective employers that he left the city in "good standing."

Now from the desk of Lauren Ritchie...

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/...19-column.html

Clermont should have fired officer instead of agreeing to settlement

Lauren Ritchie
Orlando Sentinel
lritchie​@orlandosentinel.com

et's hope Clermont learned a lesson during the recent process of getting rid of a police officer — after all, it certainly was an expensive exercise for taxpayers..

Instead of simply firing former Officer James Rooney for misconduct, the city instead could end up paying him roughly $163,000 to go away, and that doesn't include the cost of the time of staffers and the city attorney to get it done.

Unfortunately, the city brought this pricey problem on itself by trying to placate Rooney, who has complained for years that he is targeted and mistreated by department officials.

The most recent flare-up in June is rooted in an incident two years ago when Rooney described a running gun battle that never happened involving a suspect who supposedly tried to shoot him.

A second incident in which Rooney was unable to discern accurately when someone pulled a gun on him eventually led to his departure last week. Just before he was placed on leave June 15, Rooney claimed that a captain in the department pulled a gun on him — a fact disputed by the three people in the room at the time.

The monetary cost of this fiasco was bad enough, but the real tragedy is the agreement that Clermont made with Rooney to relay a false account of how he left the department to state authorities. That could result in other departments hiring Rooney without a full understanding of his performance in Clermont. It's simply wrong. It's how bad cops keep getting passed from department to department across Florida. Clermont had a moral obligation to be truthful.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement maintains a database of those who hold certificates to be police officers in the state. When an officer leaves an agency, the head of the department is required to tell the state how the officer left. One of the choices is to say the officer resigned while being investigated for misconduct. That's what Clermont should have declared. Instead, city officials agreed to say that it was a "voluntary separation not involving misconduct."

The truth is, Rooney was the subject of three internal investigations when he was placed on leave in June so he could be examined for psychological fitness for duty. Those investigations weren't closed until the separation agreement was signed by the parties last week.

Internal investigation documents show that Rooney, a 14-year veteran of the department, was reprimanded for repeatedly failing to stay in the area he was assigned to patrol. Sometimes, Rooney was working outside the boundaries. Once, he didn't respond to a call, and officers found him working out in a gym.

Rooney was angry about that reprimand and threatened to knock out his sergeant's and lieutenant's teeth, the internals say. Those threats prompted the opening of the second internal investigation.

Police Chief Chuck Broadway started the third on June 11 after he told Rooney that he was being placed on leave for the evaluation. During that encounter, Rooney accused Capt. Charles Vitale of drawing a weapon on him. Vitale, Broadway and an officer who is Rooney's union representative all gave sworn statements saying they never saw Vitale even touch his gun, let alone unholster it.

This was the second time Rooney was mistaken about being threatened with a weapon. In December 2012, Rooney claimed that Clermont resident Joshua Waldron hit him on the forehead with a gun and then aimed at his head and pulled the trigger. Later, Rooney would tell a dramatic story of his life being saved when Waldron's gun misfired at the start of the gun battle in which he could feel the "wind" from the bullets whizzing by.

No injuries to Rooney's head were documented, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement determined Waldron carried no drugs and had never shot at Rooney.

Since that incident, Rooney has been the subject of several complaints from the public, including one that he unnecessarily drove over and damaged the lawn of a home owned by an elderly woman and another in which he punched a resident of his apartment complex who was taking pictures of his city-owned motorcycle improperly parked in a handicapped spot.

Still, the city took no significant action against the officer — perhaps to simply keep peace? — and that was wrong tactic.

The result was that the officer's behavior got worse. He should have been fired. That way, at least, the city wouldn't be in the awkward position of closing the three recent internals as "not sustained."

In the first of the internals, someone even had to do a little rewriting of history. A check mark in the box noting that the officer received a reprimand was scratched out and in its place was a hand-lettered notation that the allegations weren't sustained "pursuant to a voluntary separation agreement and general release." How embarrassing. Now the chief and the captain, who ordered the investigations, look like liars.

Of course, the city will not release the results of the psychological evaluation Rooney underwent, and the officer did not reply to a request asking for psychiatrist's conclusions. But that's irrelevant, isn't it? Rooney could have — and should have — been dismissed based on his behavior.

Let's hope city officials learned from this expensive and shameful lesson that everyone employed in a public position should be held to the same high standards or dismissed — not paid off to go away. It's not worth the embarrassment.

[Unregistered]

I just read through the James Rooney and Josh Waldron story again, and again and who really cares what josh waldron was or wasnt, who cares he had a blunt, but i care that a dirty cop gets away with murder, the fact that james rooney said he felt a bullet whizzing by from waldrons gun is a lie because the only shot from the gun was taken by waldrons head, forensics showed the 22 hand gun only had one dead, shot shell and thats the one recovered from waldrons head, second is that forensics show thay waldrons dna was not on the gun that killed waldron, the only dna on the gun was from another male, and where is the missing sock from waldrons foot i may as you Rooney? Did you use the sock to wipe down the gun after you killed waldron? Why Rooney did you fire your own gun feet away from waldron and miss, as you said in the reports, it all happened so fast and you cant remember however you remember a bullet from waldrons gun almost hitting you, you remember the blunt
But just why cant you remember the truth, forensics dont lie, but rooney cops do