Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 25, 1990 TAG: 9007250591
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A/1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Evangeline Jeffrey, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in Roanoke, said today that she has been in contact with Justice Department officials as recently as this morning.
Federal authorities in Washington D.C. could not be reached today to confirm the investigation, but Jeffrey said she has been told by the Justice Department that a probe will be conducted.
Police Chief M. David Hooper also could not be reached for comment this morning.
Jeffrey said the NAACP is concerned about reports that a William Fleming High School coach and counselor, John Canty, was allegedly beaten and called racist names by police, who charged him with impeding police. Canty said he was trying to assist two girls charged with trespassing over the weekend.
Jeffrey said there have been other recent cases - at least five - in which police have used excessive force after a black suspect has been arrested and handcuffed.
"It's really uncalled for," she said. "Anytime you have a suspect in custody and you continue to deliver more punishment on him, that's excessive force.
"And at no point is it necessary to have racial slurs," she said.
Part of the problem, Jeffrey said, is that some police officers are apparently "still harboring some racial prejudice."
"They take these opportunities where they are in charge of a situation to vent their hostilities" on blacks, she said.
Jeffrey said many of the allegations of excessive force involve the arrests of large, black men. In many cases, the men are charged with resisting arrest or impeding police.
In at least two cases, she said, police officers have ripped gold chains from the necks of suspects they were arresting.
Some police seem to consider gold jewelry an indication that the blacks are involved in drug dealing or other illegal activity, she said. "It seems as if [the jewelry] is something they resent," she said.
Jeffrey cited another example of excessive force used by police: an incident in which officers were called to a report of drinking in public at the Hurt Park housing project.
The NAACP contends that police used too much force in breaking up what amounted to a family cookout.
Two people, David Lee Mason and Michelle Saunders, were arrested and charged with assaulting police officers. At a recent hearing in Roanoke General District Court, a judge convicted them of the charges and sentenced them to jail terms. The case is being appealed to Circuit Court.
But regardless of the case's outcome in court, Jeffrey said, the NAACP believes that police continued to beat Mason after they had him in custody.
Police officers testified during the hearing that Mason and Saunders resisted arrest and that some force was necessary to subdue them.
"When force became necessary, they used the minimal amount that was needed, but it didn't faze [Mason]," said Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Mac Doubles, who prosecuted the case.
"Consequently, the amount of force escalated," Doubles said.
Mason conceded in court that he has been convicted of several serious offenses, including manslaughter.
He testified that an officer "run up and chunked me" with a night stick and ripped a gold chain off his neck. "I wrestled with them to protect myself," he said. "If I had swung at him, they would have known it."
In addition to the cases of Fleming coach Canty, Mason and Saunders, Jeffrey said there have been other incidents of excessive force by police in which no charges were filed.
Jeffrey said the NAACP has been closely monitoring the Police Department since last month, when incidents of rock and bottle throwing on 11th Street Northwest raised the issue of the lack of blacks on the police force.
Some black citizens said a predominantly white police force is at a disadvantage when it responds to problems in the black community.
Of the 244 sworn police officers in Roanoke, eight are black. The city has a black population of between 20 and 25 percent.
After Canty's arrest, Jeffrey said, the NAACP decided to step up its efforts in calling for an investigation. Jeffrey said she also plans to speak to George Snead, the city's director of administration and public safety, about her concerns.
The NAACP is concerned about what it perceives to be poor relations and a lack of understanding between the black community and the police department.
Officers often show up in force when there is a report of a problem in a predominantly black area, some citizens have said.
Onzlee Ware, the attorney for Mason and Saunders, said after the General District Court trial that he was concerned that police may sometimes overreact in the housing projects, where they have been trying to crack down on open-air drug dealing.
He said that, in general, the police "do a fine job, and we'd be in bad shape without them." But "they're human. They can overreact. . . . I'm concerned that it seems like anything goes when it concerns the housing projects. That's just my personal feeling."
There's "a legitimate fear on both sides." Unless communication between the police and the community can improve, he said, the fear and distrust will continue and eventually "somebody's going to really get hurt."
Meanwhile, Ware said he planned to to file a complaint with the Police Department today on behalf of Canty.
Canty, a dropout-prevention counselor who also coaches football and wrestling at William Fleming High School, said six police officers beat him with billy clubs, sprayed him with Mace and called him "nigger" during a weekend altercation at the Hardee's on Hershberger Road Northwest.
Canty says he was just trying to help two young girls charged with trespassing; police say he refused to leave the area and then resisted as officers charged him with impeding police.
Hooper has said he was not aware of any excessive force or racial slurs used in the arrest, and that his department would not investigate unless a formal complaint was filed.
Once Canty's complaint is filed, Ware said, the matter likely will be referred to the department's internal affairs division. "I think the chief needs to know that these allegations have been made," he said.
Officers did not allow Canty to explain that he was a counselor who hoped to assist the students charged with trespassing at Hardee's, Canty said. Instead, he said, they began to beat him and called him racist names after he refused to leave the area.
Perneller Chubb Wilson, president of Concerned Citizens for Justice in Roanoke, said she was "outraged" to hear of Canty's arrest.
Wilson said her organization plans to discuss the incident with city officials. Part of the problem, she said, is the shortage of black police officers.
But city officials need to address other concerns in attempting to foster more respect and understanding between the police officers and the disadvantaged citizens they often deal with, she said.
"We need to stop worrying about the color of people's skins and start worrying about protection for the people," she said.
Lewis Peery, a well-known black leader and head of the city's crime prevention program, said after a march against drugs last month that the lack of black police officers in Roanoke "is not a concern of mine."
He said the problem is that too few blacks apply for police jobs, because the work is dangerous and they have other opportunities.
"I think you ought to respect the Police Department," Peery said. "I don't any problem with them - and I've been living here 43 years. . . . I'm not saying they're perfect."
Staff writer Michael Hudson contributed information for this story.
by CNB