History of violence
Documents detail history of violence
Records show detective killed at family event had been repeatedly disciplined by Akron police
By Ed Meyer and Andale Gross
Beacon Journal staff writers
NEW FRANKLIN - An off-duty Akron police detective fatally shot during a family gathering last week had numerous problems with violent outbursts and arrests for alcohol-related incidents, and Akron police were well aware of them, Summit County court records show.
Records concerning Michael S. Beitko date back to 1992.
Akron Police Chief Michael Matulavich said he chose to suspend Beitko for 30 days in 2001 after an incident in November 2000. He decided to not fire him because Beitko was off-duty, and his wife gave inconsistent statements and didn't want to press charges.
``We have strict rules and regulations, and we certainly apply them when we can prove this is the case,'' Matulavich said. ``Some people say, `Well, he should have been fired after the 2001 (suspension). I made a decision back in 2001, and I stick by it. I don't look back.''
In November 2000, an Akron police captain put in a call to the SWAT team to respond to an incident at Beitko's Cliffside Drive home on the city's west side.
According to those records, Beitko assaulted his wife, ``choking her until she went limp,'' after coming home drunk at 2 p.m. carrying his service weapon.
Nine Akron officers and police supervisors responded to the call from his wife. The SWAT team eventually was called off after Beitko was persuaded to calm down.
Although Ohio law says ``preferred arrest'' is the proper course if the responding officer finds probable cause that domestic violence has occurred, records show Beitko's police career continued because he was not criminally charged.
If he had been charged and convicted, he would not have been able to carry a gun, thus ending his career as an officer.
Ohio law states that an officer can make an arrest for domestic violence without the victim's consent.
``We're not shy when it comes to arresting our own police officers,'' Matulavich said. ``I don't think Mike Beitko was given any preferential treatment.''
Incident in 2005
Matulavich said that after the 2001 suspension, he was aware of no further incidents until November 2005, when officers went to the Beitko home for a domestic incident call and found his wife with bruises, which she blamed on a fall. The chief said Beitko had been drinking.
Beitko was not suspended but was ordered to attend a substance-use evaluation at a local hospital in January. Matulavich declined to name the hospital.
According to Matulavich, a chemical dependency counselor said Beitko ``exhibited a low probability of a substance dependence disorder'' and dependency treatment was not necessary.
``We tried to get this officer help,'' Matulavich said. ``I think we did everything we could as a police department.... There's nothing that I could have done that maybe would have prevented this. It would have been different if I didn't take any action at all.
``Your most valuable resources are your employees. And I think we have an obligation, as does any employer, to get help for them when they need it. And that's what we did.''
Beitko, 41, was fatally shot Wednesday night at his sister's home in New Franklin when her husband intervened after the detective hit his wife and attempted to choke her, tape recordings
of the 911 calls show.
The 911 calls were made to the New Franklin Police Department shortly before 9:30 p.m. by Beitko's sister, Jenny Carlson, who told the dispatcher Beitko was ``very drunk and hitting his wife.''
Carlson's husband, Jacob A. Carlson, 32, was charged with murder. He is to be arraigned in Barberton Municipal Court at 1 p.m. Wednesday.
In the 2000 incident, detailed Akron police records state the first officer responding to Beitko's home was met at the front door by his wife, Suzanne, who was holding one of her children.
Three-page report
Officer Christopher Brown, now a sergeant, wrote a three-page report about his encounter with Suzanne Beitko, stating: ``I observed that she was crying and visibly upset. I asked her what was going on. She stated: `Chris, Mike's got his gun and he's gonna shoot anyone who comes into the house.' ''
After seeing to it that Suzanne Beitko and her two children were safe in his police cruiser, Brown began talking to Michael Beitko to calm him as police supervisors arrived.
They found his ``unloaded pistol sitting on the kitchen table,'' Brown wrote.
Later, after the SWAT team had been called off, Lt. Sylvia Trundle, now a captain, began talking to Suzanne Beitko to find out what had happened.
Trundle wrote: ``She stated that she and Michael got into an argument about his drinking.... She said (he) was just throwing things around the house and yelling but then he put her in a choke hold and she went limp. She said that it scared her because he had never done anything like that before and that was why she called the police.''
Ultimately, she insisted that she did not want her husband charged, telling Trundle, ``He needs help, not charges.''
Michael Beitko was taken out of the home that night and driven to his father's house in Manchester.
But before the night was out, a police captain conferred with the department's legal adviser, an assistant Akron city prosecutor, who ``agreed with me as to how we had handled the situation.... ''
Records show Beitko's troubles with the department began in 1992, six months after he graduated from the police academy.
In November of that year, he was stopped in his car by Cuyahoga Falls police for going 74 mph in a 35 mph zone. An Akron police sergeant was summoned and found Beitko ``to be highly intoxicated.''
The sergeant wrote in his report that he found ``several open containers of alcohol on the front seat and in a cup holder,'' as well as his service weapon.
For that incident, Beitko was convicted of DUI, sentenced to 10 days in rehabilitation at Oriana House and suspended for 10 days for violating department regulations.
His city disciplinary notice concluded with the warning: ``Any continuation of these violations will result in further disciplinary action, which may include discharge.''
Four months after his DUI conviction, Beitko was in trouble for striking a suspect who had been handcuffed behind another officer's patrol car.
That officer said he had to pull Beitko off the suspect after Beitko ``had his hands around the subject's neck.'' Beitko was suspended for 90 days in connection with that incident.
Ed Meyer can be reached at 330-996-3784 or
[email protected]. Andale Gross can be reached at 330-996-3743 or
[email protected].
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