(WSVN) - The Sunrise sergeant arrested for grabbing a fellow officer’s throat has now retired from the police department. 7 Investigates has also obtained revealing records from his criminal case, including a text the now former sergeant sent on the day of the incident. 7’s Karen Hensel investigates.
Sunrise Police Sgt. Christopher Pullease: “Watch out, [expletive]. Hey, hey, hey, look at me, look at me! Look at me!”
During a heated arrest last November, a young officer pulled her sergeant away from a handcuffed suspect in the back of a patrol car. That’s when Sgt. Christopher Pullease turned around and turned on her.
Sgt. Christopher Pullease: “[Expletive], don’t ever [expletive] touch me again.”
Officer: “Sir.”
Newly released records obtained by 7 Investigates show Sgt. Christopher Pullease sent a group text to other officers on scene less than two hours after the incident. It reads, “All, it is important not to air our dirty laundry to any officers that are not on this platoon, as it’s none of their business.”
In a sworn statement, one officer said about the message, “I felt it was a coverup.”
Sgt. Christopher Pullease: “Everybody turn off their [expletive] cameras.”
In the months since 7 Investigates first aired the dramatic bodycam video seen by millions online, so many questions remained about what went down when the cameras stopped rolling. Now, finally, some answers. We obtained more than 800 pages of police officer interviews, cellphone records and other documents detailing what led to the arrest of Christopher Pullease for felony battery.
Sunrise Police got a search warrant to seize the sergeant’s cellphone, but he told the investigator he had updated his phone and all his “data got erased.”
That’s when the U.S. Secret Service was called in and “discovered evidence” the phone was “wiped” clean the same day Pullease was told he was under criminal investigation.
Sgt. Christopher Pullease to suspect: “Look at me, [expletive]. You wanna play [expletive] games? You wanna get disrespectful with my [expletive] officers? I will remove your [expletive] soul from your [expletive] body.”
Also for the first time, we are learning what the young officer told investigators. Asked about why she intervened, she said, “…I did not want his anger to make him act out of character. Make him do something that we should not be doing as police officers.”
In his only interview on the issue, the Sunrise Police chief told us in January…
Sunrise Police Chief Anthony Rosa: “I’m very proud of this police officer. She took some definitive action. I can only imagine what she must be feeling. She’s a newer officer, and he’s a very senior sergeant.”
A very senior sergeant who, according to the officer, he grabbed, texted her that same day after work, “‘How was your day?’ or something about my day, and I just didn’t respond.”
Karen Hensel: “What would you say to her?”
That was our question to Pullease as he left jail after being arrested in July.
But just a month after the incident, an attorney hired by the police department to review the case said, “It is my legal opinion that no crime was committed and no criminal investigation is necessary.
Sgt. Christopher Pullease on the bodycam video: “And I’ll [expletive] see you in about five minutes.”
But one happened anyway, and we now know it was the group text about not airing “our dirty laundry” that ultimately triggered the criminal probe. Karen Hensel, 7News.
Christopher Pullease’s attorney declined to comment citing the pending trial. Pullease pleaded not guilty to charges of battery, assault and tampering with evidence. His next hearing is set for January.
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