Kissimmee police are being called out for a non-reporting culture

In 2023, Kissimmee Police Officer, Andrew Baseggio, was accused of kneeing a man in the face and tasing him multiple times as the suspect was experiencing a mental crisis.

Body cam footage shows Baseggio tasing the man seven times and kneeing him in the face twice, while he was held down by other officers. Baseggio received only an 8 hour suspension after an internal investigation.

Since then, he was indicted three months ago charged with felony battery, tampering with witness, official misconduct, and more.

READ: Kissimmee police officer relived of duty after 2024 indictment over use-of-force incident

State Attorney, Andrew Bain, held an FDLE investigation into the use-of-force incident last year.

“The investigation was compromised from the very beginning because Officer Baseggio was able to have access to knowing the investigation was going on and then begin to tamper with other witnesses,” says Bain

However, the grand jury, recognized problems with the KPD beyond the 2023 incident.

“The grand jury discovered a pattern of labeling excessive force incidents as mere policy failures- rather than specifying actual misconduct,” says Ryan Williams, Assistant State Attorney.

11 Kissimmee police officers were called into question by the jury, including the former Chief, Betty Holland, who has since resigned. The 11 were said to have given false statements about the incident.

Bain says the findings show that KPD has a culture of silence- officer misconduct is not reported and instead is accepted and even laughed about.

The grand jury recommends updating policies and evaluating current staff.

Next steps include rebuilding the communities trust from the ground up, by retraining staff and appointing new leadership in order to squash the previously accepted culture.

Kissimmee Interim Chief of Police, Robert Anzueto, says he began he process of building a culture that meets the communities expectations.

READ: Kissimmee police chief resigns, interim chief named after concerns during grand jury investigation

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