State of Maine, Cumberland ss
Superior Court Civil Action Docket No. CV-04-98
Gayle A. Fitzpatrick & Charles Rankowski, individually and as parents of Jan Rankowski, a minor, Plaintiffs
vs.
Town of Falmouth, et al., Defendants
Appearances:
On Behalf of the Plaintiffs: Ronald R. Coles, Esq.
On Behalf ot the Defendants: Melissa A. Hewey, Esq.
Transcript of Hearing, 20 August 2004 before Thomas E. Humphrey, Justice
6. TESTIMONY OF CHARLES RANKOWSKI
THE CLERK: State your name and spell your last name please.
THE WITNESS: Charles Rankowski, R-A-N-K-O-W-S-K-I.
THE CLERK: Do you swear that the testimony you shall give in the case now in hearing shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
THE WITNESS: I do.
THE CLERK: Please be seated.
CHARLES RANKOWSKI, called by the Plaintiffs, having been duly sworn, testified as follows:
DIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MR. COLES:
Q. You are Charles Rankowski?
A. Yes.
Q. You are the father of Jan?
A. Yes.
Q. That is a photograph of Jan in the corner, right?
A. Yes.
Q. Are you also Asperger's autistic?
A. Yes.
Q. When were you first diagnosed?
A. Oh, about 10, 12 years ago.
Q. Okay. What do you do for a living, sir?
A. Right now I'm a medical researcher and writer. I was formerly creative director of Saatchi & Saatchi in New York.
Q. What is Saatchi & Saatchi in New York?
A. I think it is the world's largest advertising agency.
Q. What was your role there?
A. Creative director.
Q. When you say creative director, doing what?
A. Developing medical materials for pharmaceutical companies.
Q. And you and your wife moved to Maine several years ago?
A. Yes.
Q. Okay. Do you remember a telephone conversation that you had with Police Officer Robert Susi on December 1st of last year?
A. Sure.
Q. Would you please tell the court what that conversation was, who said what to whom?
A. Well, Officer Susi started up by saying that Tim McCormack, Superintendent McCormack, had called him and informed me that if I had showed up on the playground then I would be arrested.
And I said, You mean even if I'm not doing anything wrong?
He said, If Tim McCormack complains, yes, that he has to arrest me.
And I said, Even if I'm in a public library minding my own business and Tim McCormack calls you, you have to come arrest me?
And he said yes.
And then I said, Well, you know, maybe my -- I would want my son to grow up knowing that I had gone to the wall for him and done absolutely everything, even inconvenient as it was to myself by, you know, going in the schoolyard with him to show him I support him. And Officer Susi pointed out that it would be more traumatic to my son to see me handcuffed and taken away in the back of a police cruiser because he explained that that was standard procedure. And he said, Well, we would just have to do that.
MR. COLES: No further questions, your Honor.
THE COURT: Thank you. Attorney Hewey?
MS. HEWEY: I have no questions at this time.
THE COURT: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Rankowski.
MR. COLES: Thank you.
Q. I have no further witnesses today, understanding that we do have some key witnesses next week, your Honor.
THE COURT: Thank you. We are going to then recess for the day and I will see counsel in chambers briefly to discuss scheduling. Thank you.
(Whereupon, at 4:06 p.m., the Court recessed.)
Continue to Day 2: Testimony of Gayle Fitzpatrick
Reported by: Timothy Thompson, RMR, CRR Official Court Reporter
(This transcript was scanned from a certified copy of the original and converted to text using OmniPage Pro 14.)
