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

LOL, I win. ;)

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http://www.maynardije.org/columns/dickprince/041124_prince/

Among the groups protesting Lee's arrest were the National Association of Black Journalists and its local chapter, the American Society of Newspaper Editors, the Society of Professional Journalists, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

In a note to the NABJ's listserve today, Lee thanked members for their support and concluded, ...

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http://www.geocities.com/nctabj/news/willsutton.html

Former NABJ and TABJ President Will Sutton To Join Hampton University Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications

Hampton, Va. – Will Sutton, deputy managing editor at The News & Observer in Raleigh-Durham, N.C. and former president of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ), and the Triangle Association of Black Journalists , will serve as the Scripps Howard Visiting Professor at Hampton University’s Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications (SHSJC) for the 2005-2006 academic school year, announced SHSJC Dean Tony Brown.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/10/lkl.01.html

KING: We're going to go back to Durham now, spend a few moments with John Dagenhart, president of the Trinity Park Neighborhood Association. Trinity Park is the area in which this alleged rape occurred. He has lived in Durham since 1978.

Describe the neighborhood, John.

JOHN DAGENHART, PRESIDENT, TRINITY PARK NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION, DURHAM, NC: Good evening, Larry. The neighborhood is roughly a 40- block area comprising roughly 1,200 addresses and around 700 single family homes.

KING: Have you had problems with students in that neighborhood?

DAGENHART: Yes, Larry, we have. We have had problems for years. This is one episode amongst many years of problems that we have had with a small number of students causing a large problem. And it's -- although it's a small number of students, not representative of the university as a whole, it's caused a lot of problems in the neighborhood.

KING: Is there a close relationship between Duke University and Trinity Park?

DAGENHART: There is a close proximity physically. The neighborhood is next door; they're to the west and we're to the east. And there are quite a few employees of Duke University, both professors and other employees that work at the university, amongst other neighbors of -- and it's a very diverse neighborhood.

KING: What about the response generally of the local police to student partying?

DAGENHART: The local police have been very helpful to us in the past. We've worked with them diligently to try to get a handle on things. We thought we were turning the corner with both the Durham Police Department and the university security. We're starting to patrol outside the neighborhood, and we thought we were turning the corner on some of these issues, and with the university purchasing the property and the judicial department working on some of the problems just recently. We really thought we had turned the corner, and this unfortunate situation happened.

KING: Now, you know -- you think, rather, that the vast majority of Duke students are good kids, right?

DAGENHART: Absolutely, Larry. They work hard. Many of them go out into the community and help in community events. 99.9 percent of them are upstanding citizens, and we're proud to have them as neighbors. It's just a small segment of the community that has caused a large part of the problem.

KING: Thanks, John. John Dagenhart, president of the Trinity Park Neighborhood Association. We'd all agree that Duke University is one of the great schools in the world, right?

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(Not a direct link:)
http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:1twPKX9VkqIJ:p067.ezboard.com/fnccueaglesfrm4.showMessageRange%3FtopicID%3D208.topic%26start%3D121%26stop%3D140+%22John+Dagenhart+%22+durham+naacp&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=8&client=firefox-a

The Buchanan Boulevard house lies in the Trinity Park neighborhood near East Campus. Neighborhood association president John Dagenhart said the arrests highlighted for many residents of his neighborhoods a sense that they, Duke officials and the city had missed chances to address a festering problem.

"It's sad that it had to come to this," Dagenhart said. "I wish there had been a way we could have gotten a handle on past situations in some way [so] we could have avoided this. I think we were doing all we could do. It's sad that this situation had to develop the way it did. Now it's going to have to play out."

Dagenhart echoed Brown in saying that the incident will do lasting damage, especially to the people most directly involved.

"If these young men fight this and they win it, they'll forever have this hanging over their heads," he said. "And the young lady, however this turns out, she has things to deal with the rest of her life also. There are no winners in this."

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http://www.news14charlotte.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=117854

Group prays for healing in Duke case
4/16/2006 7:29 PM

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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1617542/posts

Activists, leaders welcome Duke arrests (barf alert)

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http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:HJK4MO3PX94J:www.ci.durham.nc.us/agendas/minutes/cc_minutes_09_17_01.pdf+%22John+Dagenhart+%22+naacp&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=9&client=firefox-a

SUBJECT: DURHAM HOUSING AUTHORITY - MAYOR'S NOMINEE FOR RE-
APPOINTMENT
MOTION by Council Member McKissick seconded by Mayor Pro Tempore
Clement to approve the Mayor's nomination of John Dagenhart for
re-appointment to the Durham Housing Authority--term will expire
September 28, 2003 was approved at 7:27 p.m. by the following
vote: Ayes: Mayor Tennyson, Mayor Pro Tempore Clement and Council
Members Blyth, Burnette, Cheek, Edwards, Hill, Jacobs, Langley,
Larson, McKissick, Stith and Wagstaff. Noes: None. Absent: None

http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:HJK4MO3PX94J:www.ci.durham.nc.us/agendas/minutes/cc_minutes_09_17_01.pdf+%22John+Dagenhart+%22+naacp&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=9&client=firefox-a

Why would Nifong want to speed things up? He was stalling and delaying and Stephens and Titus were playing right along with him.
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IMO, something transpired in the background.

I posted some stuff on here about this same Durham DA's office, having an actual lawsuit filed against them for Judge-shopping (from the N&O arhives). They moved to settle that case before it was heard. The agreement was to have a group of people (representing both sides) review how Judges were assigned to cases (via scheduling) and have that group work towards a resolution.

I'm just saying a number of things could've happened including, in front of a Judge, the Defense attorneys could have advised the sitting Judge and Nifong they were making official Federal Civil rights violations (or some Federal claim) motions and asking the Federal Gov't to intervene in the case. It could've been something else, BUT Nifong didn't relinquish a tool in his arsenal without good reason.

I think everyone here would agree - Nifong or a Judge involved in the case must have felt strong pressure (or felt they were vunerable) from some arena - for Nifong to up and relinquish a tool that DA's office has been brandishing for years and years.

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