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
Will do.
//
Going back to who/what may have helped elevate the rape allegations to natioanl status ...
M/M Dagenhart may have played an active role.
John, Dagenhart as president of the Trinity Park Homeowners Association made many statements to the press early on, links above.
Some background on Ellen, Trinity Park real estate agent and Historic Preservation Society of Durham president.
http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:1KdeY12ZYb4J:www.herald-sun.com/durham/4-638202.html+%22ellen+dagenhart%22&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=8&client=firefox-a
http://www.preservationdurham.org/people/officers.html
http://www.mindspring.com/~dagnhrt/ellen.html
Good Catch! Black Panthers a registered hate group!
Georgia Goslee was a nobody before she started the Duke AV circuit.
But, how can they leave Kim Roberts "opportunism" out of an article on that subject.
Some of that stuff, as you know, was recycled. I think they put that article together in 30 minutes.
They could've also written an article detailing all the people that are in jail or awaiting trial related to this case.
There isn't any news in the article. It should be titled, "Pimping Thorpes's CD."
At best this article belongs in the N & O Lifestyle section, though I can think of better places for it. ;)
Note to N & O:
ID the BALD cop!
Melanie's got a new blog thread up...
Duke lacrosse thread
http://blogs.newsobserver.com/editor/index.php?title=duke_lacrosse_thread&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1
Airing out 'our' dirty laundry
Jim Wise; January 28, 2006, News & Observer, The (Raleigh, NC)
So a former member of the Durham Housing Authority's board came to a board meeting the other day and declared that it ought to quit airing "our dirty laundry in public."
A sentiment, that, no doubt, is discreetly shared by others around town fretted by the so-called "image problem."
Also, perhaps, by those for whom it's better to leave past events in the past, for reasons of decorum, decency -- or probable cause.
Such sentiments, however, slide around a pertinent point: the dirty laundry in question isn't "ours" -- it's ours, as in yours and ours, friends 'n' neighbors.
The public is precisely where it needs airing, because it's the public's property -- just like the money the Housing Authority apparently misused for years -- and the public's problem.
Yeah, it's pretty embarrassing for the City of Bull, too. Truth hurts. Big deal. Better to get it out and get it over with, though around here maybe that's too much to hope for.
Housing has been a matter of public concern in Durham since at least 1940, when a federal study found almost two-thirds of the city's dwelling places were "substandard" in terms of structure, utilities, capacity and/or upkeep.
It's just that situation that led to the Durham Housing Authority's creation after World War II, to administer taxpayers' money routed through federal hands toward eliminating the urban slums that the New York Times, in 1949, called "our number-one national disgrace."
The Housing Authority itself became a matter of concern later on, as two board members pleaded no contest to illegal wiretaps in a public-housing complex during the 1950s, and, in the late '60s, its management of public housing and policies toward tenants became the flashpoint for Durham's civil-rights movement.
Developments opened as objects of civic pride in the 1950s, such as the now-demolished Few Gardens apartments, declined on the authority's watch into warrens of despair, poverty, crime and drugs.
Over the past three years, the Housing Authority's fiscal management has become one more Durham scandal. It's bad enough that many thousands of the public's dollars have vanished into "our dirty laundry."
It's even worse that the people ultimately ripped off are the needy folks who are supposed be helped by the public's taxes. Stealing from the poor box is pretty low -- even by Durham standards.
For the public -- that's us -- to let the dirty laundry fester in the bin would be equally irresponsible, if not equally despicable.
Because it's just such lack of public oversight -- which means, of public interest -- that encourages hanky-panky. Stonewalling, "losing" records, making excuses and otherwise covering up only put off the time the laundry's fragrance leaks out, and the public can't help but smell the roses.
And when the laundry's brought out for airing, it's best if it looks like it's getting cleaned.
Copyright 2006 by The News & Observer Pub. Co.
Record Number: its51389
Durham DA: Shoulda Kept My Mouth Shut
http://lashawnbarber.com/archives/2006/07/31/shoulda-kept-my-mouth-shut
What a dilemma for the media of N & O --how to let a cover-up by the police continue?? I guess they really want these boys convicted more than anything!
As usual, thanks for keeping me posted!
BTW Mike, great report from Blincos-the MSM should be ashamed.
http://www.thescoop.org/archives/2005/03/09/durham-housing-authority/
Federal funding...
http://www.knowledgeplex.org/news/178194.html
Interesting.
I agree. The question is where did the money go, or maybe more to the point, who did the money go to?
http://www.carolinajournal.com/exclusives/display_exclusive.html?id=1695
Housing Policies Fail in Durham, Charlotte
Federal audit reveals problems in the Durham Housing Authority, while in Charlotte a density bonus may end
By Michael Lowrey
July 29, 2004
CHARLOTTE — The fallout continues from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s audit into the activities of the Durham Housing Authority. In the latest reversal for the DHA, the agency has admitted that its attempts to convert the former Fayetteville Street public housing project into a privately owned affordable apartment complex have failed. Many of the problems the HUD audit discovered at DHA involved the Fayetteville Street project.
“The deal is not going to close,” Robert “Bo” Glenn Jr., housing authority board member, said to the Durham Herald-Sun. “Given the present environment, I don’t see a private investor coming in — not with the cloud hanging over it.”
In a complex series of transactions, the housing authority in December 2002 sold the public housing complex for $1 to Fayette Place LLC. Fayette Place, in turn, was owned by two nonprofit subsidiaries of the housing authority. The transfer was made to obtain federal tax credits for developing low-income housing. The bulk of the $12.5 million needed to remodel the non-air conditioned, boxy brick-and-concrete public housing units into modern Victorian-style duplexes would have come from mortgage revenue bonds and private investors.
The principle force behind Fayette Place was James Tabron, then DHA’s executive director. In April 2003, Tabron was forced to resign from the public housing agency for charging $12,500 in personal purchases, including a $1,750 gold ring for his daughter, to the agency’s credit cards. Discovery of Tabron’s unauthorized credit card purchases also prompted the HUD audit.
It has since come out that Tabron was also engaged in self-dealing. Tabron ran a consulting business on the side with Troy Chapman, director of the Chester County, Pa., housing authority. Chapman was to be paid a $450,000 “developer’s fee” upon completion of the Fayette Place project.
The HUD audit uncovered more than $5 million in questionable spending by DHA. It also recommends that the federal agency take over control of DHA, freeze spending on a $35 million federal housing grant Durham received, and discipline certain officials.
Even before the release of the audit, the Fayette Place project was in trouble. The sluggish economy had put downward pressure on rents generally, making it difficult for the authority to attractive private investors to the project.
The housing authority has spent more than $1 million on the project. To what degree it is liable for an additional $1.3 million in pending and disputed charges remains to be determined.
To make matters worse, DHA moved families out of Fayetteville Street in anticipation of remodeling the property, aggravating a public housing shortage in the city. The Herald-Sun reports that only 43 of the 200 units are occupied. Twenty of those families didn’t pay their rent in May. Even with only limited maintenance being done, the complex lost $20,000 during the first five months of the year.
(snip)
We now are covering two parallel and related major storylines. One involves the criminal investigation.
The other involves the lacrosse team and broader questions of student life and party culture at Duke. [snip] We plan to keep covering them. [end excerpt]
Can Melanie say the same about the alleged assault by Durham PD officers at Blinco's?
We now are covering two parallel and related major storylines. One involves the criminal investigation.
The other involves Durham PD and broader questions of police life and party culture in Raleigh-Durham. We plan to keep covering them.
Now... what about the BALD man, who the cook alleges was the instigator? Melanie?
Well I got home from CA and to my computer I can post on her blog and put up a post on the Demorris Lee arrest/case.
Also anyone else see the irony that everyone BUT the N&O sees the Duke Lacrosse hoax as an opportunity. The N&O has an opportunity to as the leftist put it speak truth to power, but they do not see it as an opportunity to be great investigative reporters.
This is an appeal to readers here who are residents of Durham County and who are outraged (as I am) at the behavior of Mike Nifong as Durham's District Attorney. The events of last week turned November's election from an uncontested election for Nifong into a recall election for Mr. Nifong.
Lewis Cheek, and our own signatures on the petitions which got his name on the ballot, have given us an opportunity to vote for Cheek and Elect Anybody But Nifong. The Cheek campaign committee and doubtless many others in the county are looking to see how the public reacts to the two press conferences last week.
I ask that you join me as Durham residents to seize the day to better our justice system by writing letters to the editors of the HeraldSun and the News & Observer, giving all the good reasons why you are voting for Lewis Cheek to elect Anybody But Nifong. Be sure to identify yourself as a Durham resident. If you would like help composing your letter, please email letgovernordecide@yahoo.com
HeraldSun: Letters are limited to 250 words. You can email or use the form provided at the link below. If you email, be sure to visit the website listed to see what information the H/S requires in an email submission.email: letters@heraldsun.com You can also use the H/S form at:
http://www.heraldsun.com/tools/letterstoed/letterform.cfm?sendLetter=letters
News & Observer: Letters are limited to 200 words. A form is provided at:
http://www.newsobserver.com/484/story/433256.html
Mr. Nifong has asked for a Durham solution. Please help get this campaign off the ground to ensure a solution that is good for Durham.
Stay tuned for updates, and thanks to all of you for considering my request.
jmoo
9:25 PM, July 31, 2006
It will be VERY interesting to see what Gottlieb told authorities.
Did Gottlieb throw his friends overboard and minimize or deny his participation?
It's feasible that a SUPVR (Gottlieb) tells the other officers to keep their mouths shut, Deny and obfuscate. I can't be sure, I didn't see, I can't recall, It happened so fast. I didn't know what was happening.
So, why the other guys are obfuscating and playing dumb, did Gottlieb put the Knife in their Back?
So, if you have statements where people are claiming innocence and playing dumb, and then one statement provides the bulk of the details used to determine what happened? If that one statement (other than the Cook), was from
Gottlieb - you'd have exactly what we have today.
Gottlieb has far more experience than all of them, and he had the highest ranking, and conceivably was more experienced with strategy and Politics. He certainly has more trial experience.
... . .. . . . . .. . . . . NEW ARTICLE on DNA
http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-757334.html
Maybe Gottlieb talked them into taking the fall in exchange for some nice paying off-duty security jobs.
Sounds like Linwood has been trying to provide an effective leak and failed badly, as when he (imo) tried to call the fingernail dna a "match".
Link to new thread.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1675456/posts?page=18
semen on a towel in the house where the boy lived--I'm just shocked! /more sarc
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