Renton Police Officers Appeal Demotions Over Video Parody

Two Renton Police officers are appealing their demotions over a cartoon video parody that was followed by more video parodies and a criminal investigation.

Officer Bill Judd was demoted from sergeant, and Sgt. Chuck Marsalisi was demoted from deputy chief earlier this year for their roles in the first video, which poked fun at the Renton Police Department and its jail.

Police Chief Kevin Milosevich confirmed that he received a grievance from Judd, who created the original parody. Milosevich also said Marsalisi is going through the appeal process through the city’s Civil Services Commission. Marsalisi knew about the original video but did not immediately inform the chief.

Read a timeline of the investigation here.

City Communications Director Preeti Shridhar said Marsalisi filed his appeal on July 13, and the hearing will take place at City Hall on Nov. 1 and 2.

Two other sergeants were also disciplined for their involvement in the first video, although the department redacted their names from internal investigation documents. One received a written reprimand and the other a verbal reprimand.

With the investigation into the first video complete, aside from the appeals process, the city is continuing with its separate internal investigation to try to find out who created the subsequent videos, which were the subject of a now-suspended search warrant accusing the maker of cyberstalking. Those videos also mocked the Renton Police Department and SCORE,  the new South Correctional Entity jail facility.

(Read our August coverage of the investigation in a Q&A with the mayor, police chief, city attorney, city administrator and communications director.)

City Attorney Larry Warren still believes that the city has a case even though the search warrant has been suspended, but the city is "a long ways from a criminal charge."

The second internal investigation hinges on the city's ability to determine if the video creator is, in fact, a city employee. 

"We're still looking at options for the internal (investigation) if it is determined that the creator is a department employee," said Milosevich. "Otherwise it's moot."

as well as the internal investigation on the first video created by Judd.

Click here for a timeline and excerpts from the 435-page investigation document. (hyperlink the whole sentence to the other file.) Click on the PDF images to the right of this article for the full document.