The Herald-Sun article that mentions City Manager Patrick Baker's comments on Shelton is no longer online. Damn it!
the cache is still there:
http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:p1QdEbCYJiMJ:www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-733339.html+durham+rape+baker+shelton&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1
Duke based initial gang-rape reactions on campus officer who eavesdropped on call
By Ray Gronberg : The Herald-Sun
gronberg@heraldsun.com
May 9, 2006 : 10:53 pm ET
DURHAM -- A March 14 Duke Police Department report that downplayed gang-rape allegations against the school's lacrosse team stemmed from what a Duke officer overheard while listening to a Durham Police Department sergeant's cell phone conversation, City Manager Patrick Baker said Tuesday.
The Duke officer, Christopher Day, never actually spoke to the sergeant or conducted any follow-up inquiry before telling his superiors that the woman at the center of the case had changed her story several times, and that her allegations were unlikely to produce serious charges, Baker said.
Day and the sergeant were at a loading dock outside Duke Hospital, where Durham police had taken the woman for treatment. The sergeant made a call, and Day overheard him "say something to the effect of the witness had changed her story and he didn't think there were going to be anything other than misdemeanor charges filed," Baker said.
Baker added that he believes no one in the Durham Police Department's hierarchy formally relayed such an assessment to Duke police, and that Day's eavesdropping occurred while Durham officers still were trying to figure out exactly what they were dealing with.
Day's report to his supervisor, Lt. J.O. Best, apparently helped persuade Duke officials that the rape case would blow over, according to two former university leaders Duke President Richard Brodhead asked to review his school's handling of the matter.
Duke officials "seriously underestimated the seriousness of the allegations" because they thought Durham police doubted the accuser's credibility, former Princeton University President William Bowen and former N.C. Central University Chancellor Julius Chambers said in a report to Brodhead released by Duke on Monday.
But Baker said it should have been apparent to Brodhead's staff that Durham police were taking the woman's charges seriously.
"There's no doubt that by the time the sun rose on Tuesday morning, [March 14,] the Durham Police Department was treating this as a sexual-assault investigation," Baker said.
Baker said he began looking into the matter soon after the Bowen-Chambers report surfaced, pledging to find out what Durham police told their counterparts at Duke.
Duke officials released a copy of Day's March 14 "operations report" on Tuesday, reversing a position they took Monday. They also conceded that their information about the Durham Police Department's initial take on the incident might have been something they overheard rather than something that came to them through formal channels.
"The Durham police were the primary agency," said Aaron Graves, associate vice president for campus safety and security. "We just happened to be there. What [Duke officers] heard and what they thought they heard was what they were reporting. In some cases, that may not have been direct information."
Baker said he's still looking into the matter and has not yet identified or spoken to the sergeant. Much of his information, most notably the key point that Day overheard the sergeant talking on the phone, came to him Tuesday from Duke officials.
Day's operations report didn't mention that he'd merely listened to the sergeant's phone conversation. He said only, "The victim changed her story several times, and eventually Durham police stated that charges would not exceed misdemeanor assault against the occupants of 610 North Buchanan" Blvd., a house leased by three captains of the lacrosse team.
Day also said the woman "was claiming that she was raped by approximately 20 white males," a fact the Bowen-Chambers report mentioned prominently and that prompted lawyers representing members of the lacrosse team to launch a fresh round of attacks on the accuser's credibility.
Baker, however, said he didn't know where Day had gotten that information.
"I'm not aware of that at all," Baker said when asked if the woman had told Durham police she'd been attacked by 20 men. "I've met with just about everybody involved in the case, and it hasn't been brought to my attention. I don't know where that's coming from."
The sergeant Day overheard at the hospital loading dock supervises patrol officers in District 2, the Durham Police Department operations zone that covers the Duke campus. He was not one of the investigators assigned to the case, Baker said.
Durham police radio logs record the movements of three officers and a sergeant who helped with the case early on March 14. The sergeant was John Shelton. Baker wasn't sure if Shelton was the sergeant Day overheard, but the manager said he did think, "He was one of the officers out there who reported that he thought the woman may have been intoxicated."
The logs show that Shelton was dispatched to the Hillsborough Road Kroger supermarket -- where police first encountered the woman -- at 1:32 a.m. He left there at 1:49 a.m. The logs have no mention of Shelton's going to Duke Hospital.
The other three Durham Police Department personnel mentioned in the radio logs -- Willie Barfield, Gwendolyn Sutton and Joseph Stewart -- hold the rank of officer and have worked for the department for less than three years, Human Resources Director Alethea Bell said.
The logs only refer to radio traffic. Durham police -- especially those in the command ranks -- frequently use cell phones for official communication.
Baker reiterated earlier comments that police had trouble getting a statement from the woman.
"I understand the alleged victim was very upset, and crying, and emotional," he said.
But sometime between 3 and 4 a.m., police decided they needed to bring in an investigator to talk to the woman. A female officer who happened to be on duty was sent to the hospital, Baker said. The two detectives who've led the subsequent investigation, Benjamin Himan and Sgt. Mark Gottlieb, joined the case the afternoon of March 14.
Police didn't get a statement from the woman until the morning of March 16, Baker said. They secured a search warrant for 610 N. Buchanan Blvd. that afternoon and served it later in the evening. Baker said two Duke police officers accompanied Durham police to the search.
Investigators began questioning three lacrosse captains who lived there during the search, moving with them later to the District 2 substation. The questioning lasted for eight hours, and the participation of the captains was voluntary, Baker said.
"When we have Duke police officers with us executing a search warrant and talking to students, I'm at a loss for anyone thinking we're not taking the case seriously or thinking it's going to blow over," Baker said.
The Bowen-Chambers report said Brodhead first learned of the incident on March 20, the same day Baker said Durham police were making arrangements with Duke athletic officials to "interview the entire team."
Someone in the Duke administration was monitoring events, because Mayor Bill Bell or a member of the City Council did field a complaint from that quarter about the questioning of the lacrosse captains. The complaint centered on a mistaken belief that "we interrogated somebody [on the team] for 24 hours," Baker said -- adding that his response set the record straight and pointed out the captains weren't in custody and had been free to go at any time.
Bowen and Chambers compiled their report without talking to anyone from the Durham Police Department, a deliberate choice.
"Our mandate was to investigate Duke's handling of the matter, not the city's handling of the matter, so we didn't think it appropriate to deal with the Durham police or the district attorney. They were sort of out-of-bounds for us," Bowen said.
But, he added, "The report we received of the downplaying of the incident came to us from so many people within Duke that there is simply no question that this is what the Duke people believed. Is it possible that Duke people got it wrong? I suppose it is, but on the face of it, it seems unlikely."
Staff writer Paul Bonner contributed to this report
What were his comments on Shelton? THat supplemental report is so odd -- three weeks after the incident and after it became apparent that the case was falling apart. He obviously prepared it under intense pressure from his bosses to help the DA, and that was most favorable he could give them.
Baker's role in htis is still mysterious but it looks like he may have been very involved in the politicization of the case.
Baker said the sergeant, John Shelton, was talking with his superiors while police were trying to figure out exactly what they were dealing with. Patrol officers initially believed the woman was intoxicated.