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
IIRC (and drawing on memory) that had something to do with part of their property they thought was theirs but was not.
I think.
According to campaign finance reports filed with the state board of elections, the Monks campaign had $4,251.20 on hand as of July 7, while Nifong's campaign, which spent more than $66,000 winning the primary against two opponents, had $1,945.
...Nifong's campaign, which spent more than $66,000 winning the primary against two opponents, had $1,945.
Ut oh. He should have hung on to some of that money. The campaign is just now getting started.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1674019/posts
I don't usually do this--hilarious
Sometimes you just have to laugh.
Spork Weasel?
I don't usually do this--hilarious
Sometimes you just have to laugh.
Spork Weasel?
We were overdue for a laugh on this thread. Thanks.
Ralph needs to come to Durham...
Here's an example - I've created to illustrate the injustice in North Carolina in regard the alleged attack at the Bar by numerous DPD members:
For example, could a Teacher be off-duty and cross the school parking lot to her car parked on the street (off school property) and see some students and a friend that is not a student at the school - could that Teacher approach the non-student - Poke her and say Fu** You N*gge*! And then point to a student and inform the victim that this student was going to attack her?
The student then attacks the non-student.
Do you (or anyone) think this teacher would NOT be charged?
They'd probably hit her with about 10 counts. DA's go to uncommon, little used charges when they believe it is merited. It's a red-herring to ONLY discuss this alleged attack in terms of assault only.
The alleged actions of the BALD officer amount to a violation of the public trust too.
This was on the abc board. This guy posts alot, says he used to go to the clubs ALOT. Seems to know what he is talking about. Seems to be credible.
Throwing it out for consideration:
Re: Re: The Blinco's line cook says,
Author: TRYTON77VI
EVERYONE knows DPD is pulling a cover up to keep the two Duke Lacrosse Investigators clean. .. . BREAKING NEWS... You ballbags at the Durham Police Dept.... ARENT FOOLING ANYONE! OH ... and
BTW ... someone should tell that COP with black hair and mustatch that he should be Driving that SILVER DURHAM POLICE RECURIT VAN when he's drinking up at TEASER'S MENS CLUB.. people are starting to talk.
Posted: 7/29/06 12:28 AM
Mike it is the same thing with the ADA. This case aside, I really do not care what he does on his offtime.
But as ADA he has a position of public trust. Like it or not, he is to set an example. When he has a page like the one at myspace, using his own name, what does it say about his judgement, his professionalism, his maturity?
He should be out of there for being an idiot.
If he has not learned discretion at this stage of the game, he has no business being there.
Have they been saved for ourselves and our posterity?
It was early April, I believe, when I heard about that Durham Police Van at strip clubs. Patrons were scared - and than found out - it was someone watching the show, instead of a bust.
BUST has different meanings in the Durham Legal lexicon.
CABBIE SHOT IN DURHAM !
You never know, with the crazy stuff going on in Durham.
http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-756706.html
If another Cabbie drops - it's a pattern of crime in Durham.
I have some. I will go hunt the other ones up.
IS THIS OUR PRECIOUS????
Club Ebony is a black strip club in Jacksonville NC. There is a post from Precious dated 7/17-do not know what year
http://www.stripclublist.com/m.asp?c=18851
PRECIOUS - 7/14 - Remove Comment whats up ppl i will be coming down from va every now and then on the weekends lets see how the club has changed be looking for me Mickey and Vegas
IS OUR PRECIOUS IN VA??????
There is a 28 day program in South VA--lots from Richmond go there...damn. can't think of it.
More Precious...Think this is 2005
Precious - 3/21 - Remove Comment
[ Jobs : Forums : Strip Gear : Members Area : Stripper Hot-or-Not : Club Reviews ]
What's up everyone? I have been dancing @ Mickeys since the opening and i love it so far, chill lay'd back environment. Hot and latest music. If i didn't work there I would still go there to chill and have a good time.
I bartended a couple of police off duty parties. There's nothing in the world quite like a couple of hundred drunks with their off duty pistols, all of whom are sure they'll never get arrested for anything. No shots fired, but some tense moments on my part.
If that is her, she should be paying people to see her strip and not the other way around.........
From the old Dockside Dolls.
http://www.stripclublist.com/m.asp?c=8616
Talia - 11/21 - Remove Comment
[ Jobs : Forums : Strip Gear : Members Area : Stripper Hot-or-Not : Club Reviews ]
Has anyone seen that stripper Precious. Shes a wack job! Don't tip her, she'll stalk you
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