The Washington Post
January 29, 1994, Saturday, Final Edition
Fairfax Police Admit Mistake in Diplomatic Flap
BYLINE: Tamara Jones, Washington Post Staff Writer
SECTION: FIRST SECTION; PAGE A6
LENGTH: 442 words
Fairfax County police have admitted making a mistake in the
arrest of a South African diplomat and his wife, but blame the pair's
"hostility" in part for the events that landed them in jail on
charges of public drunkenness. Documents released by the Fairfax Police
Department yesterday in response to a Freedom of Information Act petition filed
by The Washington Post said "appropriate measures" have been taken in
the case.The South African Embassy had filed a protest with the State
Department demanding to know why the diplomatic immunity of First Secretary
Eckard Piprek, 34, and his wife, Gerda, 31, was disregarded when they were
arrested Oct. 16 outside their Oakton home. Charges against the couple have
since been dropped and the criminal complaint expunged from police files.
The South African Embassy indicated yesterday that it is not
satisfied with the police conclusions, and it continued to deny that the
Pipreks were drunk at the time of their arrest. "We have to pursue this
with the State Department," said embassy spokesman Wesley Johanneson.
Police spokeswoman April Kranda said yesterday that the two arresting officers
had made a "technical violation" by reporting the detention of the
Pipreks to the South African Embassy instead of to the State Department.The
violation "is not one which we would consider serious," she said. The
department does not discuss disciplinary measures against its officers, and
Kranda would not confirm or deny whether any were taken.Police were summoned to
the Pipreks' home by neighbors complaining of a loud, drunken party outside.
Officers Michael Kulikowsky and Onzy Elam took the Pipreks into custody only
after they refused to quiet down and go back inside, according to an internal
police investigation of the incident.In a letter to the State Department's protocol
office, Police Chief Michael W. Young concluded that it "is evident that
Mr. and Mrs. Piprek contributed in large part to the circumstances resulting in
their arrest.""Their behavior in the cul-de-sac in front of their
home, as well as at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center, was not what one
would expect from diplomats representing a foreign country," he wrote.The
South African Embassy gave a different account, insisting that the Pipreks
tried several times before and after their arrests to establish their
diplomatic immunity, but were ignored. They were released after spending three
hours in jail when an embassy official arrived to identify them.Kranda said the
department "would not provide an apology" to the Pipreks or their
embassy because it "would not be appropriate" in this case.