Reinstated Philly cop, fired for beating Dunkin’ Donuts worker, charged with a new assault

On Valentine’s Day 2015, Philadelphia Police Officer Joseph Marion was parked outside a Dunkin’ Donuts in East Mount Airy when an employee accidentally lost control of a shopping cart he was using to salt the parking lot.

The cart bumped into Marion’s Chevrolet Suburban. Marion went berserk, allegedly attacking the worker and wrapping his hands around the man’s throat, then assaulting a woman who tried to intervene.

“It was just pure rage,” the woman would later tell The Inquirer.

Marion, then 39, was arrested and fired, the Police Department announced in November 2015. He pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct/engaging in fighting, and a federal lawsuit filed by the store employee was settled by the city for $5,000.

But in December 2017, Marion was quietly reinstated after the Fraternal Order of Police filed a grievance on his behalf.

» READ MORE: Fired, then rehired

In a settlement agreement, city officials agreed to reduce his termination to a suspension if he completed anger-management and use-of-force training — with the city covering “all costs” of the training.

That training, it appears, might not have worked.

On Wednesday, Marion was arrested again on charges of simple assault, reckless endangerment, and disorderly conduct. Commissioner Danielle Outlaw has suspended him for 30 days with the intent to dismiss at the end of the 30 days.

Marion allegedly “punched a male in the mouth with a closed fist” during an off-duty altercation in April, police said in a statement. His gun fell to the ground during the altercation “and was retrieved by a child that was on location at the time of the incident,” according to the statement. Marion did not point the weapon at the other man.

Neighbors described him as screaming and out of control, according to a law enforcement source.

» READ MORE: Inside the once-secret misconduct files of 27 Philadelphia police officers

It was unclear Thursday if the FOP would provide legal representation for Marion. Union president John McNesby had no comment on Marion’s new charges, a spokesperson said. Marion could not immediately be reached for comment.

In the 2015 Dunkin’ Donuts incident that led to Marion’s first firing, the woman who intervened, Laura Godshaw, would later say she was shocked by Marion’s reaction to the shopping cart rolling into his truck.

“He was like a bull in a china shop. He was … red, raging, fists like, ‘Rrrr!’” Godshaw said, adding that Marion eventually turned on her, calling her a “bitch” and punching her in the face.

“I’m like … ‘Look at the chaos you’re causing.’ For no reason. There’s no crime,” Godshaw said. “If [the employee] came up to you and put a knife to your throat, then yeah, I hope you’d defend yourself. But … he literally tapped your car with a shopping cart full of salt. All he’s trying to do is his job.”

Godshaw was interviewed by The Inquirer in 2019 for a story on how Philadelphia police officers often have their discipline reduced or overturned through the FOP arbitration process. While officers’ arrests or terminations are usually made public by the Police Department, it does not announce when they later rejoin the force after an arbitrator’s ruling or pre-arbitration settlement.

In Marion’s case, the 2017 settlement agreement, later obtained by The Inquirer, included a provision for partial confidentiality.

“This Agreement may not be introduced, or referred to, for any purpose by either party in any subsequent administrative, judicial, or other legal proceedings,” it stated.

Marion, a nine-year member of the Police Department who was last assigned to the 22nd District, is among at least 13 Philadelphia police officers arrested this year on an assortment of crimes, including aggravated assault, DUI, conspiracy, sexual assault of minors, child pornography, obstruction of justice, perjury, and tampering with records.