Opinion ID: 794242
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: A Threat of Investigation

Text: 4 On March 5, 2003, New York City Police Detectives Montes and Magaldi arrived at the IRS office in Manhattan to arrest Temple on a charge of aggravated harassment. The charge arose from threats of harm allegedly made by Temple to her landlord's management employees. Efforts by the police to have Temple surrender herself had proved fruitless. Upon arrival at the IRS office building, the detectives were met by an agent of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA). The agent escorted the detectives to the floor of the building where Temple's office was located. Temple was not at her desk when the detectives arrived but, when she returned, Montes identified himself and informed Temple that they were there to arrest her. The detectives asked Temple to accompany them out of the building voluntarily to spare her the embarrassment of an arrest. Detective Montes testified that, as they approached the area of the elevator bank on the way out, Temple 5 became very violent. She became abusive. She used foul language. She jumped in front of my face. Her arms were flailing. She yelled at the TIGTA agent, myself . . . . She specifically said that we had no fucking case, . . . that this was a dispute between herself and the management company, and I had no business being there. 6 Fearing an escalation of Temple's violent conduct, the detectives physically restrained and handcuffed her and, with the assistance of the TIGTA agent, brought her down in the elevator and out the front door of the IRS office building. Once outside the building, the detectives placed Temple in the back seat of their car and closed the car door. Temple opened the door and tried to get out. She was re-seated, the car's safety locks were engaged and Montes sat in the back seat as Magaldi drove to the 110th Precinct Police Headquarters in Queens. 7 As she was being transported, Temple continued to scream and yell abusive epithets. At one point, she kicked Montes as they sat in the back seat. During the trip, she told the detectives that she was an IRS employee, with the ability to initiate investigations and audits into the tax histories of the detectives. She also stated that there were a number of brothers and sisters who held a grudge against the NYPD and that she would contact those employees to audit the detectives' tax returns because of the arrest. Montes reported these threats to Agent McGowen of the TIGTA the next day. Montes testified that he took the threats to be true and gave the following reasons why he considered the threats significant enough to pass along to Agent McGowen: 8 [M]yself and Detective [Magaldi] were a little concerned that this woman having been an IRS employee for that amount of time, coupled with the behavior that we saw, and the belligerence, we became a little worried that perhaps she did have the ability to initiate audits and investigate into our tax histories. 9 Temple continued to be physically and verbally abusive after she arrived at the police station. According to Montes, Temple said numerous times throughout that day that the charges themselves were bullshit, that the complaining witnesses themselves were all Hispanic bitches, that I being a Hispanic myself am taking their side and that this was all a racist, I guess you could say a racist scheme against her. Temple complained about her arrest even after she had been placed in a cell. During the booking process, certain comments that Temple made in response to pedigree questions were so outrageous that they made some people in the office laugh. After the booking, Temple was transmitted for psychiatric evaluation by the Emergency Service Unit of the New York Police Department. Subsequently, a psychiatric evaluation was ordered by the District Court, and Temple was found competent to stand trial.