Officers drew gun on 11-year-old daughter in her bedroom

By Elyssa CherneyOrlando Sentinelcontact the reporter

Groveland Police are investigating allegations that two of its officers, responding to a burglar alarm, entered the bedroom of an 11-year-old girl, pointed a gun at her and ordered her on the ground.

Officers James Festa and John Rigdon responded to a tripped alarm at the Del Pilar Drive home about 1:40 p.m. on Jan. 25, according to an incident report. That's when Jean Guirand, the girl's father, said the officers went into the home without identifying themselves, burst into his daughter's room and drew their weapons.

In an interview Monday, Guirand said he did not know what was happening until he heard some commotion and encountered an officer in the hallway. He said he filed a citizen's complaint the same day, alleging excessive force.

"Apparently the police officers came into her room while she was laying there watching TV, and they told her to get up, pushed her to the ground, put their knees behind her back and put her at gunpoint," Guirand, 25, said.

Guirand said he did not hear the officers come in because he was working in his home office and watching his 21-month-old son. 

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He said his daughter had disabled the alarm earlier in the day but that it somehow registered it as a burglary and the security company notified Guirand's wife, Lisa Pierre-Louis, who was at work. The company asked Pierre-Louis if she wanted the police to respond and she said yes, unsure if her husband was home, Guirand said.

Festa wrote in his incident report that he knocked on the door and rang the doorbell before entering the residence through a door inside the garage, which was open.

He also noted seeing a car registered to a resident at the address in the driveway before entering. The report did not mention any interaction with the girl but stated that children were found upstairs.

Guirand said he leaves the garage door open for his children to park their bikes but said the second door from the garage to the house was unlocked — but not wide open.

Police Chief Melvin Tennyson said his department is thoroughly reviewing the investigation that it launched on Jan. 28. He said his internal affairs division is interviewing all the witnesses and assessing the facts.

"We take it very seriously, and that's why there's an internal investigation into it," he said. "We do a thorough investigation and depending on the outcome of that investigation we take appropriate action."

The officers have not been suspended or placed on administrative leave, Tennyson said.

Both officers involved have a history of disciplinary actions in their personnel files but not for excessive force, according to records obtained from the City of Groveland. 

Rigdon has been disciplined for misusing Florida's driver-and-vehicle database in 2011 to access photos of his wife and her friend and for violating several policies in May, including neglect of duty, filing a false report and mishandling evidence, according to his personnel file. Rigdon was also cited for failing to appear to testify at traffic court and saying that he "forgot about it and offered no other reasonable explanation," according to an employee-supervisor conference form.

Festa, who has been working in law enforcement for more than 15 years, received disciplinary action for "carelessness" after failing to recognize visible signs of abuse on a juvenile in December, his personnel file shows. In May of the year before, Festa was suspended for six hours without pay for sleeping while on duty and neglecting duty, the file shows. 

Guirand, the 11-year-old girl's father, said he was wearing pajama pants and a tank top when he came out of his office on that Sunday in January to find an officer pointing a gun at him. Guirand said he also saw an officer leaving his daughter's room with a gun drawn.

Guirand said he believes that the officers' actions were out of line and that they traumatized his daughter. He said they should have recognized photos of her in the room and not been so rough with her.

Guirand said he is not sure whether race played a role in how the two white officers treated his black daughter and himself but that he just wants some answers. 

"I just want to get justice for the young child," he said. "When she talks about it she cries … she had to stay home from school one day because she woke up not feeling good and said that she was upset right now and afraid."

echerney@tribune.com or 352-742-5930