DETROIT (WXYZ) — A Detroit police sergeant now facing a $10 million wrongful arrest lawsuit was nearly fired in 2020 after the department concluded he abused his girlfriend and repeatedly called her the n-word.
Sgt. Samuel Pionessa was sued in April in Wayne County Circuit Court, along with officer Crystal Anderson and the City of Detroit, by a Detroit woman that the department and prosecutorsaccused of credit card theft last year.
It was alleged Sandra Wilson stole a credit card from a Detroit gas station, but she only held on to it for 15 seconds.
A Wayne County judge later dismissed all the charges against Wilson, saying the case never should have been brought.
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But records obtained by 7 Action News show that two years before Pionessa arrested Wilson, his own department nearly fired him. It came after years of alleged and documented misconduct Pionessa amassed over his 23-year career.
‘An outrageous number’
While at DPD, records show Pionessa has caused at least two vehicle accidents. The first came in 2006 when Pionessa’s blood-alcohol content was more than two-and-a-half times the legal limit. He was suspended for 30 days.
The second came in 2018 when Pionessa crashed a department vehicle and then left the scene.
He would later say a dog jumped in front of his car, but a witness to the crash said there was no dog.
Because Pionessa left the scene before a supervisor arrived, and never got tested for drugs or alcohol, DPD could “not determine with absolute certainty if he was under the influence.” He was suspended for three days.
As an officer on the street, Pionessa has been accused dozens of times of misconduct and hit with 61 citizen complaints over his career. The complaints run the gamut, from excessive force to improper searches.
"61 citizen complaints is an outrageous number for someone who is a sergeant,” said attorney Brandon McNeal, who represents Sandra Wilson. “Someone who is supposed to be supervising other officers.”
Facing termination
In 2020, DPD nearly fired Pionessa after he was arrested and accused by his then-girlfriend of assault. She was also a Detroit police officer.
In police interviews, she said she was woken up in the early hours of November 2018 by Pionessa, who was screaming and repeatedly calling her the n-word.
She said she ran upstairs and locked herself in a bedroom and claimed Pionessa followed her, continued screaming the n-word and then “kicked in the bedroom door.”
She said he assaulted her, “grabbing her by the back of her neck and pulling her backwards.”
A DPD investigation sustained the allegations against Pionessa.
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“He’s really crossed the line when you put your hands on a woman,” said Kenneth Reed, a spokesman for the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality.
Pionessa was charged by the Wayne County Prosecutor with domestic violence, but pleaded no contest to destruction of property. He was sentenced to nine months probation.
“If you’re doing this to your woman, what are you doing out there when you're out here in these streets, in the City of Detroit?” Reed asked.
DPD acknowledged it would normally fire an officer for what Pionessa did, but instead gave him a “last chance agreement.”
Approved under former Chief James Craig in 2020, it said if Pionessa engaged in “similar misconduct,” he would be fired.
"There’s no excuse for his continued employment after this," McNeal said.
Pionessa agreed to seek treatment for alcohol abuse and was set to serve a 20-day suspension.
“And did Sgt. Pionessa actually serve the suspension? No,” McNeal said. “We have documentation showing he used his comp time, in lieu of serving a suspension. That’s not discipline. That’s not leadership.”
Controversial arrest
Two years after signing his “last chance agreement,” Sgt. Pionessa would arrest Wilson. Her lawsuit, filed in Wayne County Circuit Court, seeks $10 million.
On surveillance video, Wilson could be seen picking up a credit card left on a gas station counter and handing it to a customer who had just left the station after, Wilson said, the customer told her it belonged to her.
The card turned out to belong to a different customer who’d been inside the gas station that evening, who says the card was used to charge hundreds of dollars in unauthorized purchases.
Police acknowledge that Wilson didn’t use the card and had no evidence she knew the other customer she gave it to, but still pushed to charge her. She spent three days in jail, faced two felonies and lost her job following her arrest.
Wayne County Judge Paul Cusick later dismissed all the charges against Wilson, calling the case "absurd and ridiculous and wrong."
McNeal said if the department had taken action against Pionessa in 2020, the city would not be facing a lawsuit from his client.
“All of those times that they turned a blind eye to Sgt. Pionessa’s behavior, that ultimately led to Sandra Wilson’s unlawful arrest, and possibly countless others,” McNeal said.
An attorney for the City of Detroit Law Department had no comment on the litigation filed against DPD. Previously, the department has said its arrest of Wilson was proper and followed policies and procedures.
Pionessa responds
In an e-mail, Sgt. Pionessa said he sought treatment for alcoholism following his arrest in 2018, saying that “my life came to a crossroads.”
“I was struggling with an addiction to alcohol. When I hit my rock bottom, I realized I could not stop drinking on my own. I accepted our lord and savior Jesus Christ into my life and was born again as a child of god. I have worked the 12 steps of AA and today I live my life guided by the principles of AA and the Bible. I am honored and humbled to serve and mentor to others that are struggling with addiction,” he wrote.
“As a person and a police officer I strive to be kind and have empathy for those who are struggling and need help. I am responsible when anyone, anywhere, reaches out for help, I want the hand of AA always to be there, and for that I am responsible.”
In a statement, Detroit Police applauded Pionessa for his courage in confronting his alcoholism.
“Sergeant Pionessa has had no violations resulting in discipline since 2018, and he has complied with all stipulations from his past cases," said a department spokesperson.
"Unfortunately, Sergeant Pionessa’s conduct pre-dates the Department’s current disciplinary and risk management protocols. But his progress to date is promising.”
Contact 7 Investigator Ross Jones at ross.jones@wxyz.com or at (248) 827-9466.