Naked woman's arrest will cost Chandler

A Chandler police officer illegally entered Esmeralda Rossi's home and arrested her while she was naked.

As The Republic's Megan Cassidy reported last week, an internal investigation found that Officer Doug Rose had no grounds to enter Rossi's house, and that he failed to document the arrest in his report.

Body-camera footage and a cellphone video shot by Rossi's distraught daughter back up her version of what happened. Rose was contacting her to investigate an argument she had with her soon-to-be-ex-husband. Her daughter called her out of the shower to speak with officers, and Rossi came to the door wearing a towel.

She walked away; Rose followed her into the house. He handcuffed her and later had her daughter remove the handcuffs. No charges were filed against Rossi.

She intends to sue, and she should. Rose messed up.

But he probably won't be the one answering for his mistake. He retired before the internal investigation was complete. And it doesn't appear that any criminal charges will be filed against him.

So, if Rossi prevails, the city (and, by extension, its taxpayers) will be paying for Rose's mistake.

That's not right. Particularly in this political climate.

Too many people are convinced that officers are bad people and that departments are all too eager to look the other way when officers make mistakes. YouTube is full of videos claiming people have been mistreated, wrongfully arrested or their rights violated, and incidents such as this one only add fuel to that flame.

Could Chandler Police have done more to avoid the bad press? It's hard to say. But the U.K.'s Daily Mail (yes, this story went that far) reports that the other officer on the scene contacted his superior to report Rose's behavior. He saw something and said something. That led to an internal investigation.

The incident wasn't pushed under a rug, as if it never happened.

If nothing else, that deserves some praise.