# New York Corrections Officer Fired in Fugitive's Escape



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*GENE WARNER*
_Buffalo News (New York)_









An Erie County sheriff's corrections officer accused of ignoring an escape alarm and then lying about it has been fired in the wake of Ralph "Bucky" Phillips' escape from the Erie County Correctional Facility on April 2.
Sheriff's Department officials confirmed Wednesday that they fired the corrections officer accused by a state commission of "negligent dereliction" of duties in Phillips' escape.
Meanwhile Wednesday, Phillips was arraigned in Buffalo on a felony escape charge through video conferencing, and local officials suggested he could receive a life sentence just for his escape from the facility in Alden.
While authorities wouldn't name the disciplined officer, he was identified in the state report as David Padilla, a 10-year veteran who worked in the facility's control room.
Sheriff's officials accused him of clearing the 5:14 a.m. motion-detector alarm on the roof, without investigating.
At about 6 a.m., jail officials realized an inmate could be missing. Still, sheriff's officials said, Padilla said nothing about the alarm.
"He didn't follow proper procedures, he remained silent, and then when he was asked about it, he didn't tell the truth," said Brian Doyle, the sheriff's chief of administrative services.
Padilla was served with a notice last Thursday that he was accused of dereliction of duty. A disciplinary hearing was held Friday, and he was fired Monday.
A highly critical report issued by the New York State Commission of Correction in early August said that Padilla and another officer insisted that no alarms were heard during the time Phillips escaped onto the jail roof.
Padilla, according to the report, suggested that the alarm data was altered as part of an ongoing administrative attempt to blame the escape on a single staff member.
"We found that an alarm did sound, that this officer cleared the alarm without investigating and following the proper procedures," Doyle said.
In its report, the state commission concurred, stating that its review of the alarm data file showed no indication of its being altered.
The report claims that Padilla's disregard of that alarm, without his notifying other officials, was "a negligent dereliction of central control room staff duties."
The state commission criticized the Sheriff's Department in its 53-page report, concluding that the Alden jail was overcrowded and badly understaffed and that the department willfully operated the facility in an unsafe manner.
That report contained many inaccuracies, Undersheriff Richard T. Donovan said Wednesday. Sheriff Timothy B. Howard has brought those inaccuracies to the commission's attention.
"Since the escape, we have taken measures to correct faulty situations," Donovan said. "We have complied with parts of the commission report which were accurate. And we terminated a correction officer on Monday, for not properly responding to an audible alarm he was responsible for at the time of the escape."
Phillips, still jailed in Elmira, was arraigned Wednesday, via video conference, on the first-degree escape charge by State Supreme Court Justice Richard C. Kloch Sr. in a downtown Buffalo courtroom.
"It was a routine court proceeding that lasted less than 10 minutes," said John R. Thweatt, chief assistant district attorney of Chemung County. "Phillips said nothing beyond a few yes and no responses."
The court entered an innocent plea on Phillips' behalf, on charges of escape and criminal mischief.
If convicted and found to be a persistent felony offender, Phillips would be subject to a possible life sentence, with a minimum of 12 years to life and the maximum of 25 years to life.
"This is not a trivial matter," Erie County District Attorney Frank J. Clark said of the case here. "Frankly, I don't see any reason why we shouldn't prosecute him for every crime he committed. I don't care if it ends in 10 lifetime sentences."
The case in Erie County is expected to be resolved after more serious cases are handled in Chemung and Chautauqua counties.
Phillips has been charged with aggravated attempted murder in the wounding of Trooper Sean Brown in Chemung County on June 10.
Chautauqua County officials still are putting together a possible case for the shooting death of Trooper Joseph A. Longobardo and the wounding of Trooper Donald H. Baker Jr. on Aug. 31.
"My assumption is that he would be tried first in Elmira, then in Chautauqua County," Clark said. "He was brought back there [Elmira], they have the indictment; that is a more clear-cut issue, and it would give Chautauqua County the time to put its case together."
If Phillips were convicted in either or both of the other cases, Clark said, he would expect that the Erie County case might be settled with a plea.
News Staff Reporter Dan Herbeck contributed to this report
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