Posted on 07/28/2006 4:52:22 AM PDT by abb
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.
Elected officials said they're watching how the criminal case plays out.
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
"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.
Ping. New Coverup In DukeLax case.
Thanks, abb.
I see it is blogged at the N & O.
http://blogs.newsobserver.com/editor/index.php?blog=19&c=1&page=1&more=1&title=a_few_responses&tb=1&pb=1&disp=single
ALL:
Please send out to FODU, CTV, WTVD, etc.
Paging Cash Michaels!
Just got off the phone with my WRAL contact. She said they would persue it, but I ain't holding my breath, lol...
Thanks abb...
"We're not Duke lacrosse lawyers," Mason said ... "We don't practice that way. We don't comment about pending cases, we don't do interviews, we don't make statements."
Why not say, "We're not Mike Nifong, we don't comment..."
But they do accept cover-ups.
"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 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."
Finnerty got a tough sentence for shouting at someone who punched him. This "poke in the shoulder" is technically battery, not assualt. What are these officers going to get?
And why aren't the Durham media all over this?
Are the Raleigh media any better?
Expect a "blue wall of silence" column from Ruth any minute now. /sarc...
Ruth will dismiss it.
Melanie will ignore it.
Nifong will whore it.
Jakki will extort it.
OMG!!! Sybil is posting at the abc forum
:-)
She is not one of me!
I've just emailed the FBI field office for NC
charlotte.public@ic.fbi.gov
and asked them to investigate this as a hate crime and police cover-up. The black cook was physically knocked down and kicked, by six assailants; racial slurs were hurled. Only two men have been charged and only with simple assault (which means, they shouted at the cook, but did not touch him).
This is a clear an example of the police trying to cover-up a physical assault which has racial overtones.
If this victim had been a muslim and had been kicked and called a "dirty muzzie", the FBI would be out there
at once.
I doubt the FBI will do anything at all about this; but if enough people raise this as an issue with them, maybe they'll think they have to do some routine kind of inquiry
in order to avoid criticism.
I also think the FBI site's online tip for reporting crimes of all types (including hate crimes) ought to be notified; and by as many people as possible.
Make this an issue they cannot ignore and pretend didn't happen.
And if (or WHEN) the FBI does no thing, complain to every congressman in site.
(It's real easy--just some clicks on a keyboard.)
Looking over the ABC report after their interview of the Cook, the BALD guy did the following that night:
(note: the BALD guy is referred to as the initial perpetrator in this article)
"F—- you, nig——-!" Thomas said the initial perpetrator responded (to his WOO-HOO)
"F—- you, cracker!'' Thomas said he replied.
The car stopped, he said, and the man who allegedly screamed the epithet got out. Thomas said the man walked over to him, POKED him on the shoulder with his finger, and said, "You don't know what you're getting into, BOY."
Thomas said he suggested to the initial perpetrator that a fight was imminent.
"I don't have to do it,'' the man allegedly said. "He's going to do it,'' and pointed to the driver of the Nissan.
Thomas described the initial perpetrator as about 6'1", medium build, BALD and with no facial hair.
Back to my comments, after the BALD man says he's going to do it, the man that BALD guy pointed to, DID, swiftly attack the man, according to the Cook's statements.
So the cook attributes the following actions to the BALD man:
Racial slurs
additional "Boy" comment
Aggressively and menacingly confronting him
Poking him in the shoulder (assault)
communicating threats (he's going to do it, etc)
the urging of a officer to assault and batter a person surrounding a man while he's being attacked
fleeing the scene
failure to report the crime.
Note: No BALD man is charged, the 3 men not charged (one is the BALD man) have had their restrictions lifted and they are back to their normal status on the Police force.
ABC article detailing alleged events that night:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/LegalCenter/story?id=2227472&page=1
Who could it be? Ya' think it's a FReeper?
Thank you, they should investigate it as corrupt too.
The Feds can come in and charge the others with Hate crimes or at least the Ringleader of the reported attack.
Good thinking.
This is where the Media comes in my opinion. If this had been 3 black basketball players, the overwhelming media outcry would've had the FEDS taking over the DUKE LAX case within hours of the DNA results.
It's not me - I posted it over at Court TV.
We have lots of FReeper evil twins floating around Al Gore's invention, LOL!
Where is Bill Bennett? What happened to him? And why isn't he all over this mess?
Whyare are the blogs -- particularly FR and jmoo over at CTV -- doing what Bennett's supposed to be doing?
Bennett's not a "potential witness," so he's not muzzled by that unauthorized quasi gag order.
Good question.
Any one want to email Bennett or Cheshire?
Try this at home.
Go to a crowded Movie theatre on Friday night. Outside where there are lines of people waiting for tickets, pick out an African American male. After making eye-contact, Yell FU** YOU, NIG*ER!
Then approach him menacingly and poke him in the chest while saying, "You don't know what your getting into Boy!"
Then direct someone in the crowd to attack him.
Now look at your watch and record how long it is until you are arrested and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law!
Use your one call to ask a love one to report back to us on your adventure.
Where have the hell have I been? Obviously distracted.
The news conference was yesterday.
http://www.raleighchronicle.com/2006072703.html
Chalmers also said in response to questions from reporters that even though he is stepping down in 18 months from his job as chief, the case would receive his full attention.
"I think it has to do with public confidence," he said. "I think in a situation like this, people want to see...the chief."
HAHAHAHAHA!
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