Posted on 05/11/2009 12:55:04 PM PDT by BnBlFlag
Lumberton stands up to hate group Strong support for local police in face of Quanell X protest
Jerry Jordan News Editor
Several hundred Lumberton residents and others from throughout Southeast Texas came to show their support for the Lumberton Police Department this past week as Quanell Ralph Evans (Quanell X), leader of the separatist hate group the New Black Panther Party, descended on the tight-knit community to protest the recent death of Kevin Jibrell Laday.
According to Lumberton Police Chief Danny Sullins, Laday crashed his car into a ditch on Pine Burr Road at about 3 a.m. on Thursday, April 30. Sullins said his officers, who combined weighed slightly more than the 6 foot, 2 inch and 260-plus pound Laday, did not beat Laday and did not do anything wrong.
"We have nothing to indicate that the officers violated policy or state law," Sullins said of the officers involved.
Sources close to the investigation said the in-car video from the Lumberton Police cruiser shows the officers talking with Laday and attempting to administer a field sobriety test, known as a horizontal gaze nystagmus (HGN) test. The newspaper was told the video shows that Laday kept backing away as the officers tried to determine if he was intoxicated or under the influence of some type of narcotic, and when one of the officers walked behind him, Laday took off and ran from police. Because the in-car camera is stationary, the events that followed were not caught on tape, Sullins confirmed, after he was asked by the newspaper about what it had discovered.
"Again, I can tell you, my officers did not beat that man," Sullins said. "In fact, the officers involved, as you know, they are small guys; they had to call for back-up because he was fighting. These men are first-rate professional officers and I have never had any reports of problems with them. One of them is involved in prison ministry and works to minister to the inmates. These are fine officers."
But Quanell Evans, who was accompanied by Sandra Laday - Kevin Laday's mother - and a number of residents from Laday's hometown of Port Arthur, did not appear to be interested in the ongoing Texas Rangers and FBI investigation or the possibility that Laday might have been on drugs when the officers resorted to using a Taser to stop him from fighting with them.
"My son is dead. I didn't come here for no fight. I came here for justice," said Sandra Laday. "I don't see no point of someone sitting in a chair rocking back and forth when my child is dead. And this will go all the way to President Obama. I will make sure this goes nationwide. This is not over. My son's not laying in a mortuary and it's going to be over.
"I will make sure on my life that this will not end like this. I will make sure that justice happens; if I have to I will walk to the White House."
Lumberton officials said they believed Evans' comments at the protest nearly sent the already tense situation over the edge into violence. But they credited the presence of nearly 60 law enforcement officers from the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Hardin County Sheriff's Office, Lumberton Police Department and other federal agents, along with the behavior of Lumberton's supporters, as the reason why there was no violence during the protest.
Evans, like Sandra Laday, was quick to question the version of events put forward by police.
"We know one thing for a fact, there are several facts, that Mr. Laday, his car was in a ditch," Evans said. "When police pulled up he was on the phone with his mother. He was seeking assistance from the Lumberton Police Department. He was not seeking a confrontation. He was not breaking any laws. Instead of helping him they immediately said, 'We are going to give him a field sobriety test.' We know that the man was unarmed. We know that he had no weapons but now we have a young man that is dead, who was only seeking assistance because he had a traffic problem with his car being in the ditch. We don't understand why he was Tazed and it was necessary. We don't understand why this man was beaten the way that he was. The question was asked why did he run? He had no drugs on him. He had no weapons on him. But if you've got four cops whopping the hell out of you, I'd run, too.
"Now this man is dead but the problem is that you don't give a damn because it's a black man. So, we want to say this. Black people are sick and tired of being beaten. We are sick and tired of the madness. Now, you can say what you want to say but at the end of the day, if you kill one more black man, I guarantee you we will tear this whole damn city down."
When asked what he was trying to accomplish by holding the protest, Evans boasted that if he wanted to he could start a racial fight between the two sides present.
"If it was my desire to do that it would have happened here today," Evans said.
At one point, Evans challenged a man in the crowd to a fight. He told his New Black Panthers Party members, recognized as a black separatist hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League, to stand back as he took off his jacket and asked the crowd to clear out between the two. Evans was responding to a question by the man wanting to know why Laday ran from police if he wasn't doing anything illegal.
"I tell you what, why don't we do this," Evans said. "I will tell all of them to stay here. I will come to you. I will come to you. Let him come up here and be a man."
Lumberton Police Captain Forrest Cobb would have none of it and, at 6 foot, 7 inches and weighing nearly 350 pounds, he towered over both men as he stepped between the two with his arms crossed.
When asked by The Examiner if he would apologize should the officers be exonerated, Evans replied, "Will I apologize to them because I said an African-American male died under suspicious circumstances, who was unarmed and he comes up dead when he was seeking their assistance and their help? Will I apologize because he had no weapon? Let me say this, Hell no. I will not apologize because what have I accuse them of? Am I going to apologize for them Tasering him? Hell no. Am I going to apologize for them beating and wrestling with him? Hell no. Am I going to apologize for that man coming up dead, who had no weapons and was seeking their help? Hell no, I am not going to apologize. But I will say this. I have seen many people who are high on crack and they just don't walk around and come up dead. If he was high on crack, he had a decent conversation with his mother on the phone. If they do a toxicology test on him, I ask the Texas Rangers and the FBI to take a urine-piss sample from all of the cops involved and then let's talk about apologizing."
The police say they want to tell more of their side of the story but they must remain tight-lipped until an investigation by the Texas Rangers and the FBI is completed and toxicology tests are released by an Odessa lab and sent back to Pathologist Dr. Tommy Brown. Brown, who is the head of the independently-owned Southeast Texas Forensic Services, is conducting Laday's autopsy. The police believe the toxicology test and the autopsy will clear the two officers of any wrongdoing in Laday's death.
And sources close to the investigation have told The Examiner that they were not aware of any severe trauma to Laday's body that would indicate he was beaten to death as Evans and Sandra Laday have claimed.
"You are correct that there is no major trauma to the body that would indicate a cause of death," a source told the newspaper.
Attempts to contact Brown were unsuccessful and a secretary at his office explained that Brown does not comment on any cases but would pass along general questions about the autopsy process.
Jerry Jordan can be reached at (409) 832-1400, ext. 225, or at jerry@theexaminer.com.
The Examiner 795 Willow Beaumont, Texas 77701 409-832-1400 Software © 1998-2009 1up! Software, All Rights Reserved
Blind pigs (no pun intended) sometimes get acorns (again no pun intended).
It’s great to see people start to stand up to these racist thugs. It is too bad that no one was allowed to beat the crap out of this swine.
Quanell 10 PING, he may even be able to take this to the White House.
Quanell 10(X) has a finley honed sense for theatre.
I’ve always wondered.. was Quanell 9 his dad?
One of the most heartening news stories in years was the time that the folks in that Pasadena neighborhood bandied together and resisted Quanie and his thugs, following the Joe Horn incident.
I read later that an officer was on the scene observing when Joe Horn shot the men approaching his yard. The officer was waiting for backup before he would respond.
Lumberton update.
I know of a police officer whose career was ruined by this asswipe. I think people are getting tired of his BS.
“Quanell . . . Jibrell.”
Names taken from the same rhyming baby name book?
Here’s a photo array of 20 pictures from the event:
http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/multimedia/tempers_flare_at_panther_rally_05-04-2009.html
A story from the Beaumont Enterprise regarding the event:
http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/local/44327662.html
But Quanelle X has a history of creating problems where none really exist. His last one was a black guy here in Hosuton busted for coke, who claimed the police made him swallow THEIR coke, then beat him up.
Quanelle jumped in with both feet.
Unfortunately, the supposed victim was full of crap. It was HIS coke, and nobody beat him up.
That is quite a difficult feat when the cop is wrong, let alone when he wasn’t. What happened?
Dates clear back to Quanelle I in the heart of Kenya, I suppose.
Thanks for the pix! I would have loved to have been there when the 6’7” 350lb Lumberton Police Chief stepped between Quanell, the buffoon, and his antagonist.
Too bad he wasn’t at the scene himself. “Dey wouldn’t had needed no taserin’ den”!
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