A Boston police detective who failed to follow up on a September case tied involving a person of interest in the brutal abduction and murder of Amy Lord of South Boston last week has been demoted, police said.
Detective Jerome Hall-Brewster is losing his detective rating tomorrow as a result of the September case, according to a copy of a department Internal Affairs record that a police spokeswoman provided to the Globe.
The document did not indicate whether the demotion was permanent, but Cheryl Fiandaca, a police spokeswoman, said in an e-mail that Hall-Brewster is “no longer a detective†and that his new rank will be patrol officer.
Hall-Brewster could not immediately be reached for comment.
Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis said Friday that Hall-Brewster did not believe he had probable cause to arrest Edwin Alemany, 28, in the September case, even though a woman who was attacked grabbed the perpetrator’s wallet, which contained Alemany’s identification card.
Davis -- who did not identify Hall-Brewster by name at the time -- said he was “very disappointed†by his actions and that he believed the detective did have grounds for an arrest.
Alemany is being held on two alleged attacks in South Boston that occurred shortly before the abduction of Lord on the morning of July 24 in front of her Dorchester Street apartment. She was driven to several ATM locations and forced to withdraw money before she was found dead in a wooded area of Hyde Park.
Alemany, who has a lengthy criminal history, has not been charged with her murder, but police have called him a person of interest. He is currently undergoing a mental competency evaluation at Bridgewater State Hospital.
Hall-Brewster’s record also shows that he was charged internally in a complaint stemming from an incident in November 2011, and the allegations have been sustained. Fiandaca would not provide details about that complaint, since the department has yet to decide on his punishment.
In addition, the department found in 2001 that he failed to properly report the non-lethal use of force during an incident and served 16 hours of work without pay. The document did not provide further details of that case, and Fiandaca did not respond to an inquiry about it.
Seven other complaints have been brought against Hall-Brewster but were not substantiated, the document shows.
Travis Andersen can be reached at tandersen@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @TAGlobe.
