Saving Room for Dessert (31 page)

“He already talked to me.”

“He did? When?”

“Yesterday. Hey, let’s go, Minarcin’s wavin’.”

Carlucci put his coffee mug down and led Reseta back toward the interview room.

“What’d he say? Nowicki.”

“Said for the next three months we’re gonna write up every dog-shit complaint, no exceptions.”

“Oh man. See? That’s why I know I should quit.”

“Why?”

“’Cause that makes me happy.”

“You’re gonna retire ’cause
that
makes you happy?”

“Hey, Rugs, when stuff like that starts makin’ you happy, if you don’t know it’s time to quit, it’s way too late for you,
believe me.”

“And here I thought all these years all you wanted to be was a soldier and a cop.”

“I did, that’s right. That’s all. So I got my CIB, got a couple pages’ wortha commendations, and I’m still askin’ myself,
am I a better man because of that?”

”Are ya?”

“Who knows? Somehow I doubt it.”

They went into the interview room and Rugs resumed his seat across the table from Buczyk and his attorney, Assistant PD Minarcin.

“I called the DA’s Office,” Minarcin said. “They’re miffed that you tried to do an end run around them.”

“Mr. Minarcin, you know as well as I do, it didn’t make any difference whether I talked to them before or after, nothin’ was
gonna happen without their approval.”

“Yes I do know that. But in this instance, it seems to have offended their sense of protocol.”

“Hey,” Reseta said, leaning against the wall behind Carlucci, “all we’re talkin’ about here is kickin’ one count of aggravated
assault, we’re not talkin’ about blowin’ up a federal building.”

“Talk to them, don’t talk to me,” Minarcin said.

“We will,” Carlucci said. “We have no choice. I just wanted to make sure you were open to the possibility that there might
be another reason why Mr. Buczyk here is havin’ problems with his hearing, okay?”

“Okay, I understand.”

“Well, Mr. Buczyk, are you? You talked this over with your counsel, your hearing any better?”

“Maybe.”

“Aw c’mon, Jesus. If anybody knows, you know that Officer Rayford gave half a dozen verbal commands and warnings before he
fired those shots.”

“Mr. Buczyk seems to me to be a perfect candidate for ARD,” Minarcin said.

“You discuss that with whoever you talked to in the DA’s Office?”

“I did.”

“What’s ARD?” Buczyk said.

“Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition.”

“What’s that?”

Carlucci started to answer, but Minarcin held up his hand. “Allow me, okay? Joe, ARD is a discretionary program whereby first
offenders are given an opportunity to rehab themselves, enter some kind of treatment or perform some kind of community service
instead of being incarcerated. They’re all different, depending on the trial judge, and the nature of the offense. The state
likes it because it dispenses with a trial, the defendants like it because if they complete their program, whatever the judge
sets up, they have their record expunged, and it’s like they didn’t do what they did. It’s like their history didn’t happen.
You follow?”

“Oh. And what do I gotta do to get this, uh, this RAD?”

“ARD.”

“Huh?”

“You said RAD. It’s ARD.”

“Oh. So what do I have to do, to, uh, to get this ARD?”

“May I answer?” Carlucci said.

“Be my guest,” Minarcin said.

“Your hearing has to improve a hundred percent, that’s all. And you have to say there was nothin’ wrong with your ears whenever
Officer Rayford’s hearings start. And there’re gonna be at least two of them. There’s gonna be one in front of an ad hoc committee
appointed by the Safety Committee to investigate this shooting. Then there’s gonna be one in front of the Safety Committee,
and depending on what happens in those, there could be one in front of the full council. And dependin’ on how they rule, there
could be a criminal trial. And dependin’ on how that goes, there could be a civil trial, ’cause your neighbor retained counsel
after he woke up from his surgery. So you have to remember, first, that what you said in your two previous interviews with
me was that you didn’t hear him, Officer Rayford. And people who wanna see Officer Rayford hung out to dry are gonna start
bustin’ your balls about what made you change your mind and what made your hearing improve, you get it?”

“I think so.”

“Ever been cross-examined, Mr. Buczyk?”

“No.”

“Then you don’t know what it means to get your balls busted big-time. And they’re gonna get busted big-time, believe me.”

Buczyk shrugged and looked at his attorney, who shrugged back.

“Okay,” Carlucci said. “I’m gonna turn this recorder back on now, and we’re gonna start over, okay?”

T
HE MEETING
of this committee investigating the shooting of Peter John Hornyak, age forty-six, of 214 Jefferson Street, City of Rocks-burg,
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, will now come to order. For the record, my name is Mrs. Anna Mae Remaley. I was appointed chairperson
of this committee by Mayor Angelo Bellotti. Other members of the committee present are City Councilman Egidio Figulli, representing
the Safety Committee and the Streets and Roads Committee, and City Councilman Thomas Trautwine, rep-resenting the Recreation
Committee and the Electrical Committee. Counsel for the committee is Rocksburg City Solicitor Arthur B. Hepburg, Esquire.

“For the record, this hearing is being held in City Council chambers of Rocksburg City Hall. It’s now ten minutes after 10
A.M., Monday, May 3rd, 1999. This inquiry is being recorded on audiotape. Should any participant wish to have the tapes transcribed,
the costs will be borne by the participant who so wishes the transcription.

“My charge, as given me by Mayor Bellotti, is to lead the inquiry into the shooting of Mr. Hornyak on Friday, April 16th,
1999, at approximately 7:30
P.M.
by Rocksburg Police Department Patrolman William Milton Rayford, shield number 529. Officer Rayford resides at apartment
4A, 335 Detmar Street, Rocksburg, PA. For the record, Officer Rayford is thirty years of age and has served with the department
for nearly six years.

“The shooting incident being investigated by this committee—”

“Madam Chairperson,” said a tall, stooped, balding man in a rumpled suit. He raised his right hand as he stood.

“Yes?”

“Surely that’s not the end of the exemplary performance of Officer Rayford you’re going to enter into the record here today?”

“Uh, would you state your name and say why you are here?”

“My name is Panagios Valcanas. I’m an attorney, and I’ve been retained by Officer Rayford to represent him in this inquiry.”

“And I take it you have something you wish to add to Officer Rayford’s record, is that it?”

“Yes, ma’am, I do.”

“Well I have no objection. Do I hear any objection?”

Councilmen Figulli and Trautwine shook their heads and said no.

“Then you may proceed, sir,” Mrs. Remaley said brightly.

“Thank you, Madam Chairperson. I want it on record that my client, Rocksburg PD Patrolman William Milton Rayford, served four
years in the United States Air Force, three years and nine months of which he served as a military police officer, either
in training or on active duty. In that capacity, he served with distinction. He received six letters of commendation, two
meritorious promotions, was awarded the Good Conduct Medal, and upon his honorable discharge was recommended for reenlistment.
I wish it further added to this record that Officer Rayford, in his tenure with the Rocksburg PD, has served with no less
distinction. He has received two letters of commendation, he’s passed the sergeant’s test, and is, pending the outcome of
this proceeding, being considered for promotion to the rank of detective sergeant.”

At that point, attorney Valcanas held up his hand as though to ask for a moment. He took out his handkerchief and sneezed
strenuously three times. “Spring allergies, Madam, excuse me.”

“Well God bless you, Mr. Valcanas, and thank you. The record will so note Officer Rayford’s past service to his country and
his ongoing service to this city.”

“Excuse me, Madam Chairperson, I wasn’t finished.”

“Oh.”

“Thank you. I just want to make it clear for the record that Officer Rayford has not been suspended by his superiors in the
department for any reason related to this shooting, nor have they assigned him other, less rigorous duties pending the outcome
of this inquiry. In other words, his superiors continue to demonstrate full confidence in his ability to perform his normal
and routine duties as he has for nearly six years. And while they have questioned him rigorously on numerous occasions about
the particulars and details of this alleged incident, they have in no way indicated that they doubt his capacity for truth
and veracity. That’s all, Madam, thank you.”

“So noted, Mr. Valcanas,” Mrs. Remaley said. She turned to the tall, paunchy, woolly-haired man to her far right and said,
“Solicitor Hepburg, are you ready to proceed?”

“I am, Madam Chairperson.”

“Do you have an opening statement?”

“No, ma’am, I do not. I think that the charge of this committee will best and most quickly be served if we merely question
the witnesses.”

“I could not agree more. Please call your first witness.”

“Call Peter Hornyak.”

Rocksburg PD Patrolman Lawrence Fischetti was guarding the door to council chambers. He opened it, pointed his finger at someone,
beckoned that someone to come in, and then held the door as Peter Hornyak hobbled in on crutches, his right knee held at an
angle by a sort cast.

Hornyak made his way to the chair positioned to the right of the committee’s table. The chairperson asked him to raise his
right hand and to place his left hand on a Bible Fischetti was carrying and asked him if he swore to tell the truth, the whole
truth, and nothing but the truth, so help him God.

“I do,” Hornyak said, and sat down with a thump and a wheezy grunt.

Solicitor Hepburg asked Hornyak to state his full name, address, and occupation. Hornyak gave his name and address and then
said that he was presently on medical leave of absence from his job at Home Depot.

“And why is that, sir?”

“’Cause my kneecap’s shattered. I was shot by that cop sittin’ right there,” he said, pointing at Rayford, who was sitting
in the front row of seats beside his attorney.

Valcanas raised his right hand, stood up in a kind of semi-crouch and said, ldquo;Madam Chairperson, before we get a minute
further into this proceeding, I have to ask, what rules are we going to play by here? Are witnesses going to be allowed to
editorialize, make unfounded accusations, as this witness just did here, and do I have the right to object to that kind of
response? How’re we going to do this, I mean, I fully realize this is not a court of law, but I think it is unreasonable to
think I’m going to sit mute while a witness makes an unfounded accusation.”

“C’mon, Mo, sit down,” Councilman Figulli said. “You know your guy shot him, he knows he shot him, everybody knows he shot
him, this ain’t a trial, I mean, if your guy didn’t shoot him, what’re you doin’ here?”

“That’s an interesting way to phrase it, Councilman, but, uh, what I’m doing here—and counsel Hepburg knows what I’m talking
about—is trying to determine if there’s going to be any protocol to the introduction of evidence, as there is in a criminal
trial. I want to know if that protocol is going to be followed here or just what the rules are here. Or are witnesses going
to just yak away whenever they feel like it. Now either there’s gonna be some coherence to this proceeding or there isn’t.
Because at this point, what I know, or what you claim I know, Councilman, or what you claim the mythical everybody knows,
is irrelevant until such time as evidence establishing that has been introduced within the framework of this inquiry. Is this
gonna be a free-for-all, or is there gonna be some rationale to it?”

“Counsel makes a good point,” Hepburg said, turning to the committee. “Madam Chairperson, I would ask you to please inform
the witness that he is to answer the questions and only the questions that are asked and not comment or editorialize in any
way. If he does that, and only that, I’m certain we’ll get to the facts of the incident with due dispatch.”

“Well, I appreciate your concerns, of course, both of you,” Mrs. Remaley said, “as long as you both understand that the committee
reserves the right to question the witnesses when you’ve both completed your questioning. Is that understood? Mayor Bellotti
gave me his word that my right to question any witness would not be obstructed by anybody in any way.”

“Counsel?” Hepburg said, looking over his reading glasses at Valcanas.

“I understand,” Valcanas said. “As long as the chairperson understands that I will object to her questions if I find them
objectionable and that if I do we will find ourselves in the unusual position of having objections ruled on as to their merit
by the interrogator who is being objected to—in which case I have no idea to whom I can appeal her ruling. Which is a question
I meant eventually to ask, that is, who is the next higher authority in this matter?”

“Well that would have to be the full Safety Committee of City Council, wouldn’t it?” Mrs. Remaley asked. “Mr. Hepburg, isn’t
that what you think? I mean who else would it be?”

“My question is not so much
who
it is, Madam Chairperson,” Valcanas said. “My question is whether any ruling made here by this committee, or any member thereof,
whether any ruling can be appealed to
somebody
, that’s what I’m asking.
Who
that somebody might be is of secondary importance, from my point of view.”

“Well I don’t see the distinction there, but, uh, why not—Mr. Hepburg, do you agree? I mean we are going to submit our report
to the Safety Committee, and it’s my understanding they will have their own ruling on our findings, and the, uh, the full
council will eventually rule, won’t they?”