2 Durham officers charged with assault (Another DukeLax Coverup)

DURHAM -- Raleigh police have charged two Durham Police Department officers in connection with an incident that occurred July 20 outside a Glenwood Avenue sports bar.

The officers, Gary Powell Lee, 38, of 3588 Copper Creek Lane, Franklinton, and Scott Christian Tanner, 33, of 2516 Hiking Trail, Raleigh, both face counts of simple assault. Conviction on the misdemeanor carries with it, for someone with no prior offenses on their record, the possibility of a maximum 30-day jail sentence and a $1,000 fine.

Lee and Tanner are accused of assaulting Rene Dennis Thomas, a cook who works at Blinco's Sports Restaurant and Bar, 6711 Glenwood Ave., Raleigh. The charges stem from a parking-lot altercation that occurred late on July 20 as five current and two former Durham Police Department officers were leaving a going-away party for a departing officer.

A criminal summons issued Thursday alleged that Lee, a member of the department's Special Operations Division, tried to strike Thomas and tackled him, causing the cook to fall to the ground. A second summons alleged that Tanner, a motorcycle officer who works in the department's Traffic Services Unit, kicked Thomas in the head.

Thomas has told television reporters that as many as six men participated in the assault, which began with an exchange of racial slurs. But Raleigh Police Department spokesman Jim Sughrue said detectives in that city don't intend to charge anyone else in connection with the incident, or add later to the charges they've already filed.

"It's been extensively investigated, and we're confident that the responsible individuals have been charged," Sughrue said.

But Lee and Tanner -- and three of their colleagues -- could still face sanctions from the Durham Police Department. An internal investigation is continuing and should conclude in two to three weeks, Police Chief Steve Chalmers said at a news conference Thursday.

The Durham probe is focusing on a wider range of issues that include the alleged use of racial slurs. "The alleged conduct is something that is certainly deplorable to us, and something we don't want to be consistent in the way we operate and conduct ourselves," Chalmers said. "The entire allegation is disturbing."

Lee and Tanner had previously been restricted to administrative duties, and remain so. The other three officers in the case -- Sgt. Mark Gottlieb, Officer Richard Clayton and Officer James Griffin -- had also been restricted but on Thursday were allowed to resume their normal duties.

The decision doesn't mean the three have been cleared, but does indicate that based on "the facts we've already uncovered ... there's no reason we can't put these officers back on full duty," Chalmers said.

Asked later if that meant the three had played only a minor role in the incident, Chalmers said, "At least we can say it wasn't a major role."

All of the officers have the right to a lawyer's help, and two, Gottlieb and Lee, have retained the Durham firm of Clayton Myrick McClanahan & Coulter to represent them as the internal investigation and criminal case unfold.

A lawyer there, Allen Mason, confirmed Thursday that senior partner Jerry Clayton had spoken to Gottlieb and that another of his colleagues, former Assistant District Attorney Freda Black, had spoken to Lee.

One of the two former Durham officers involved in the case, James Kennedy, has also retained Clayton's firm and has talked with Mason. Kennedy is a former motorcycle officer who left the department late last year. The other former Durham officer who was present remains unidentified.

Asked if the lawyers and their clients would speak up to offer their version of what happened, Mason said there's "not a chance in the world" of that happening outside formal channels.

"We're not Duke lacrosse lawyers," Mason said alluding to the year's most highly publicized Durham Police Department case, one that Gottlieb and Richard Clayton, who's no relation to lawyer Jerry Clayton, have both worked on. "We don't practice that way. We don't comment about pending cases, we don't do interviews, we don't make statements."

The Raleigh charges were notable for the fact that they didn't address what Thomas has said was the first act of the confrontation, a move by one of the men involved to poke him in the shoulder with a finger. The charge against Lee addressed an act Thomas alleged was committed immediately afterward by a second man, and the charge against Tanner addressed something that happened after Thomas fell to the ground.

The shoulder poke was likely a criminal act under North Carolina law, given court decisions that have held "the merest unauthorized touching of another [person] is an assault," said Barry Winston, a criminal-defense lawyer in Chapel Hill.

A judge "who strictly interprets the law would, I suspect, hold that North Carolina law requires him to convict someone who walks up to someone and in an antagonistic fashion pokes that person with his finger," although that's "not what the average person thinks of as assault," Winston said.

Raleigh detectives filed Thursday's charges after consulting prosecutors in Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby's office, a move Sughrue said is standard in officer-involved cases. The spokesman declined to say why there wasn't a charge addressing the alleged shoulder-poke.

"Based on the investigation of the case, and facts present, it was determined that these two charges were the appropriate charges to bring," Sughrue said.

Thomas was surprised Thursday to hear that the charges involved the officers they did. "Lee and Tanner? Huh. OK. Check that again and call me back," he said before cutting off a brief interview. "I don't think you have the right guys."

The cook did not elaborate, and did not return a call placed to his cell phone late Thursday afternoon.

The Raleigh department's decision to issue a criminal summons for each of the officers, rather than an arrest warrant, saved Lee and Tanner an appearance before a magistrate and possibly the need to post bail to avoid detention. Sughrue said the officers didn't receive any special treatment.

"That is very typically the way a simple assault case is handled," he said. "That's very consistent with the way we'd handle the same case if the suspects had not been law enforcement officers."

Also routine was the Raleigh department's decision to assign detectives from its own internal-affairs unit to work the case. No matter what agency they work for, when police are "suspect in a case in Raleigh, the case is investigated by internal affairs," Sughrue said.

Mayor Bill Bell said the allegations, if true, are unfortunate. "If in fact it did happen, I'd hope they'd be prosecuted to the fullest extent," he said.

City Councilman Eugene Brown agreed. "It's always problematic when you have those hired and paid for enforcing the law breaking the law," he said. "I want to withhold judgment, but so far, this is just embarrassing."

Lee has worked for the department since 1999. Tanner joined the force in 1997, and was recently the beneficiary of a department-organized fundraiser intended to help him and another officer pay for cancer treatments. He suffers from Hodgkin's

I forget what article it was, but the wording went "earlier in the year."

I took that to mean before the lax case, which is why I have been trying to align the players (Cheek, Leary and Pope) with their respective "teams" (for lack of a better word).

from my previous post

Nifong's presser :
http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/465647.html

"....He said that during his primary campaign earlier this year, Cheek and two men who eventually backed Cheek's petition drive -- Ed Pope and Roland Leary -- visited him to give campaign advice. Nifong said he did not take the advice. He said that later he thought that Pope, a state juvenile justice official, and Leary, a former sheriff, wanted to control the district attorney.

"I realized that their concern had not been with the concept of a small group of people owning the District Attorney's Office but with the concept of it being owned by someone other than them," he said.

Cheek, Pope and Leary could not be reached Friday...."

I still think it was strange that all of a sudden Leary and Pope were thrown into the mix by Nifong. I do wonder if it was some sort of warning shot against the bow. Remember "They don't want to go up against me."

Important points from post 219

The News & Observer
December 3, 1992

In move that caught many by surprise, veteran Durham County Sheriff Roland Leary announced his resignation Wednesday, saying he wants to pursue "other interests" but promising to stay active in public life.

"I think the time is right for me to step down," said Leary, 59, who has held the job for 10 years. "I'm confident now that I'm leaving the department in capable hands."

His departure, which takes effect Jan. 1, leaves the city and county without their two top law enforcement officials. The city is still looking for a police chief to replace Trevor Hampton, who left his job in June.

(snip)
"I'm not totally surprised," said William Bell, chairman of the county commissioners. "There have been some indications he might do something different. He feels he's been able to accomplish much of what he set out to do."

Leary's relationship with the commissioners, who control his department's purse strings, has not always been rosy. The sheriff and the commissioners have occasionally disagreed on policy matters, including how best to manage the jail, which has suffered from a highly publicized problem with overcrowding.

An increase in inmates during Leary's tenure has strained the county's already cramped jail facilities. It's been a constant curse for the Sheriff's Department, though the situation has eased in recent months.
(snip)

Already attention is centering on Chief Deputy Chet Dobies, Leary's second-in-command. And Dobies, who has overseen plans to build the county's new $43 million, 576-bed jail, has his boss's blessing.

"There's no one in the state of North Carolina more qualified to run the sheriff's department than Chief Dobies," Leary said.

Dobies also has impressed the commissioners.

"I've found him to be well-prepared, highly professional and highly competent," said Commissioner Ellen Reckhow. "He may prove to be an excellent interim replacement."

(snip)
Another possible contender is Al Hight, a former county commissioner and police detective. Hight, who served as a commissioner from 1984 to 1990, unsuccessfully challenged Leary in the 1990 Democratic primary.

Hight enjoys strong ties with the commissioners, stemming from his days on the board alongside Bell, Reckhow and Becky Heron.

Since then, he's generously supported the commissioners' re-election bids. According to campaign spending reports filed in late October, Hight contributed $500 each to the campaigns of Reckhow and MaryAnn Black this year and $200 each to Giles and Bell.

Hight said Wednesday he may seek the job but hasn't made up his mind.

(END EXCERPTS)

Al Hight went on to get the job. Remembeer there were rumors that Hight and WILLIAM JOHNSON were partners, co-owning only 3 or 4 massage parlors in Durham, which were never busted.

I was going to tie this into post 220 also, but rediscovered peice of info I had forgotten about.

brb

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