Jack Montesanto was found guilty of criminal obstruction of breathing. This is an important victory for the peoples’ movement. But there is more work to do.
The City of Geneva and the Geneva police department are complicit in Montesanto’s crime. By continuing to employ Jack Montesanto—despite knowing that he had a violent temper, despite knowing that he was prone to using excessive force, and despite knowing that he was a domestic abuser—the Geneva Police Department and city staff willfully and knowingly put the people of Geneva at risk. By continuing to send Montesanto out armed into the city, the city put the public at greater and greater risk. In this context, Montesanto’s attack on a woman in his custody in July 2019 was disturbingly predictable, and the city did nothing to stop it. The City of Geneva not only failed to protect us, they enabled someone who was likely to abuse us. And this was the result.
On March 8, 2020, eighteen months ago, feminist fighters of all genders in Geneva, NY rose up and declared ourselves a fighting feminist army. We committed ourselves to having each others’ backs, no matter what or who we are up against—because we know what it feels like to be afraid of seeing our abusers at the grocery store, at our school, in our home, at work, or wearing a police uniform. And we also know how powerful we are when we stand together. Together we can defeat the abusers, harassers, and rapists; we can end the impunity of violent cops, discriminatory landlords, and exploitative bosses; we can abolish the system of policing that increases violence against women, rather than eradicating it.
On International Women’s Day, 2020 we also committed to standing with Maria, who was strangled by disgraced, former-GPD officer Montesanto. Eighteen months ago, Maria was preparing to testify. Maria didn’t relish testifying, but she knew what had happened to her was wrong. Just days later, the trial was postponed nearly two years, and finally ended with the conviction of Jack Montesanto on September 22, 2021.
The Police Review Board:
Geneva has taken an important step toward greater police accountability through the creation of the Police Review Board. By reviewing complaints about officer misconduct that do not reach the level of criminality like we saw here, we will hopefully be able to prevent attacks like the one Maria suffered. The attack on Maria and other targets of the GPD could have been avoided if only more had been done in response to the earlier complaints about Officer Montesanto’s excessive use of force and his tendency to act in violent and harassing ways when he was engaging with the public.
Next Steps:
But the PRB does not and cannot solve all Geneva’s policing problems. We also need to take action to reduce the power of the police union. Right now, they hold all the cards. Jack Montesanto remained on the roster of the Geneva Police Department until after his convictions—more than 2 years after he committed this unconscionable crime—because he could not be fired per his union contract while his case was ongoing. While he was on unpaid leave, the people of Geneva paid more than sixty thousand dollars a year to cover his benefits. Sixty thousand dollars a year was spent for a person who attacked a member of the community on camera in our own Public Safety Building. It is past time for Geneva’s city staff to make decisions that are in the best interest of our residents instead of being beholden to the special interests of the police union.
Ultimately we know that reforms alone will not end the patriarchal violence that Maria and so many others are subjected to by their abusers. And Jack Montesanto is not the only Geneva cop to be fired for choking a woman. On October 10, 2020, then-GPD probationary officer Ryan Ambrose attacked his former girlfriend, choking her and causing injury. Domestic violence research has shown that abusers often use strangulation as a way of establishing control and exerting their power. Such abusers don’t strangle to kill; they strangle to show that they can kill. Montesanto’s attack on Maria in July 2019 is a textbook example of this. He choked her as a threat. “Don’t you ever yell at me like that!” the video from July 23, 2019 shows Montesanto yelling. As the assistant district attorney said in his closing statement, “he wanted to shut her up.”
The People United, Will Never Be Defeated
It is only by uniting and standing together against the racist, sexist patriarchy; against the cops, bullies, and abusers; against a system that criminalizes victims, rather than caring for them that we will truly be free. Until then, we’ll keep us safe—especially from those who have sworn to “serve and protect” us.