Officer's Reinstatement Sparks NAACP Anger

The New Haven Board of Police commissioners last week agreed to reconsider the recent reinstatement to a beat of a Yale police officer who was stripped of her badge and gun three years ago for acting improperly in an allegedly racial incident.

The board voted three to two on August 10 to reinstate conditionally Natalie Podryhula, who has worked as a police dispatcher for the past three years. But in a letter on August 20 to New Haven Mayor Biagio DiLieto. Edward White Jr., president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), urged DiLieto to "use his leadership to reverse the unconscionable action of the Police Commission."

'Lack of Control'

White said he believes that Podryhula "demonstrated a serious lack of control and judgment" in the incident of October 22, 1979. At about 3 a.m. on that date, Podryhula stopped a Black Yale student entering the Berkeley College gate and asked to see his identification.

The student, Randy Reeves, claimed that she had only stopped him because he was Black and also claimed that Podryhula called him a "nigger."

The racial accusation was never proven, but Podryhula was found to have behaved improperly.

Several days after having received White's letter, the mayor publically nnounced that he agreed with White's contention that Podryhula is unfit for police duty. He said he would ask the board, of which he is an ex-officio member, to reconsider its decision.

The New Haven Board has jurisdiction in this case since Yale Police are technically a division of the New Haven Police. The board had denied Podryhula's reinstatements on at least two prior occasions before August 12.

At a September 14 meeting, attended by a crowd of about 30, the board agreed to reconsider the case and set a hearing date of September 28. Five members of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, the oldest national Black fraternity, brought a statement that said "continuation of officer Podryhula will be a most serious affront to the Black community."

About 10 members of the NAACP also attended the meeting, bringing a letter to board chairman Joseph Adelizzi in which they said he could have only two reasons for reinstating Podryhula: Either she has been punished enough or she has threatened to sue the commission if not reinstated.

The letter reiterates the NAACP's contention that neither of these is a sufficient reason to reappoint a woman who they said demonstrated such serious lack of control.

Podryhula's lawyer, William Dow, said. "It is unfortunate that this has been treated as a racial incident," the Yale Daily News reported. He explained that both her letter of termination and the findings of a Yale Grievance Panel show Podryhula was not dismissed for any racial impropriety.

But Dow made no objection to the motion to reconsider the case.