The original incident occurred August 8, 1991,when Howie said she was caught in traffic onEverett St. while driving her father's car.

Howie said she was approached by the suspectwho yelled and "hit the car with a flag attachedto a stick." According to Howie, the suspect brokethe mirror and dented the body and fender of hercar.

After the incident, the alleged assailant raninto his apartment building. He soon returned indifferent clothes, Howie said.

Although Howie's father and a nearby driverknown only as "Steve" identified the suspect,Howie said, neither man was recorded in the policereport as a witness. The police also did notrecord the name of the man identified by thewitnesses, Howie said.

Internal Investigation

Lieutenant Thomas O'Connor, who was assignedthe case in the internal investigation, said hecleared the officers of all charges because therewas no proof of misconduct.

"There's a difference between a mistake andviolating a rule or regulation," O'Connor said.

"The long and the short of it was she felt shedidn't get a vigorous police response. It was ourconclusion that this was not the case," he said.

O'Connor added that the officers spent anotherhour following up after they left the scene of theincident.

"That's certainly not, in our opinion, brushingoff the incident or the report," he said.

Howie criticized the internal investigation,calling it "perfunctory." She said that she wastold she didn't need a lawyer when presenting hercase to O'Connor although the police officers hadcounsel present when they spoke to O'Connor.

O'Connor said that both Howie and the officershad the right to counsel.

"They [the officers] didn't need it either," hesaid. "That's their right and privilege."

Howie and Officer Pasquarello testified at aDecember meeting of the Police Review and AdvisoryBoard, which is conducting the external review.

Officers Calnan and Ahern, refusing to givetestimony that could be used to incriminate them,cited the Fifth Amendment in front of the ReviewBoard.

Officer Calnan could not be reached yesterday,and Ahern refused to comment.

Howie will be represented in tomorrow's trialby Assistant District Attorney Miranda Jones.Jones declined to comment on the case whencontacted yesterday