The Secret Service officer assigned to Vice President Kamala Harris’ security detail who got into a brawl with her colleagues last week is described by a former co-worker from the Dallas Police Department as mentally unwell and having “screws loose,” The Post has learned.
Michelle Herczeg was temporarily removed from her duties last Wednesday after she assaulted a superior officer at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, where she was waiting for Harris’ departure.
The Dallas PD colleague exclusively told The Post they’re gobsmacked that Herczeg was picked for the vice president’s detail as in their experience, she was not the type of person suited to law enforcement.
“I wouldn’t have allowed this person to supervise my dog, much less the vice president … Somebody dropped the ball on this one,” the former colleague said.
Herczeg previously sued the city of Dallas in 2016 for $1 million, saying she “was targeted for being a female officer and treated less favorably” for reporting sexual harassment and other instances of wrongdoing by cops, according to a report by the Dallas Morning News.
She also joined the Air Force in 1999 and served for nearly a decade, earning multiple service awards and leaving as a staff sergeant.
“I would say this person and how she got in the military, how she got into the police department, how she got in the Secret Services, I don’t have a clue. I was at a loss for words when I heard she was an agent much less on a detail with somebody that high up,” the ex-colleague said.
Herczeg’s on-base outburst occurred after she reportedly started deleting cellphone apps from a male agent’s personal cell and eventually becoming increasingly irate.
She was said to be mumbling to herself, hiding behind curtains and throwing menstrual pads and other items at another agent, telling her colleagues they were “going to burn in hell and needed to listen to God,” according to RealClearPolitics.
When her supervisor dismissed her from the assignment, Herczeg shoved, tackled and punched him, the outlet reported.
Herczeg didn’t respond to The Post’s request for comment Monday. The Dallas Police Department referred the matter to the Secret Service.
Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said: “The US Secret Service takes the health and safety of our employees very seriously. As this is a personnel matter, we are not in a position to disclose any further details.”
He had previously said of the incident: “A US Secret Service special agent supporting the vice president’s departure from Joint Base Andrews began displaying behavior their colleagues found distressing. The agent was removed from their assignment while medical personnel were summoned.”
Herczeg’s apparent issues are deep-rooted, according to the former colleague.
The former Dallas officer who served alongside Herczeg said she first “became a little off” after a 2014 shooting incident in which she and another colleague, Jay Jankowski, were responding to an incident at the Grand Hotel Dallas.
At the time, Herczeg and Jakowski believed there was a stolen vehicle and went to investigate, according to the Dallas Observer.
When Herczeg tapped on the truck’s window, she noticed there was a man inside, Terence Michael Groessel, who had a gun pointed at Jankowski.
“The two officers immediately retreated toward their squad car and began firing their weapons at Groessel,” a police spokesman previously said. Groessel then stuck his arm out of the truck window, which police said appeared as if he was pointing a gun at Herczeg and Jakowski.
Just a few minutes later, Groessel shot and killed himself.
The distressing episode seemed to leave a mark on Herczeg, but it is unknown if she was officially diagnosed with any mental health issues.
“That was the impetus that kind of made people go ‘She ain’t right,'” the former colleague said.
When Herczeg later sued Dallas police, the lawsuit stated she was not allowed to return to a special crime reduction team after reporting an alleged assault and was barred from taking overtime shifts, causing “stress and mental anguish from loss in payment compensation.”
Herczeg’s former colleague said she was reassigned to a small unit at the Dallas Police Department and at the time other officers were warning “Watch your back, watch yourself” when working with her because she was so “litigious.”
“When she got up there [to the new unit], the feelings just changed. Nobody would talk, people were afraid to say anything around her,” the former colleague said, adding that they couldn’t wait for the “oddball” Herczeg to leave the force.
“Everybody, including myself, just knew she wasn’t right.”
Herczeg’s lawsuit against Dallas was dismissed by a Texas court, and her subsequent appeal and request for a new hearing were both denied.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.