Tag: Charlottesville Police Department

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Opinion

Worth the wait: We need the Police Civilian Review Board

Last June, police arrested several community activists who were protesting the conviction of Corey Long. Photo: Eze Amos

After nearly nine months of work, the Police Civilian Review Board is finalizing its initial bylaws. The proposed model would require the city to hire up to two full-time professional staff members to assist the board in processing and independently investigating complaints against Charlottesville police officers.

There has been an understandably high degree of public interest and public scrutiny on the board throughout its brief existence so far. This is a good thing. Hard questions asked at this stage will shape this body into a genuine reflection of what the community needs it to be. Because, make no mistake, this community needs civilian oversight of our police department.

As a municipal meeting enthusiast, I’ve enjoyed watching the body take shape. I worry, though, that those unfamiliar with the nature of the city’s boards and commissions will see stumbling blocks where I see building blocks.

The Civilian Review Board is just one of over three dozen boards and commissions operating in the city, some more functional than others (with a few appearing to be entirely defunct). The Planning Commission is a well-oiled machine, packed with policy knowledge. The Human Rights Commission is pulling itself back together after a few years lost in the wilderness. The Emergency Communications Board is struggling with staffing and training issues, not least of which has been its own inability to retain a director.

I’ve still never attended a meeting of the Towing Advisory Board—it is quite elusive, with meetings not properly noticed or canceled due to lack of quorum. What I mean is, unless it’s a call for a top to bottom audit of all city boards and commissions, I’m skeptical that the criticism of the CRB, much of which takes the form of attacking the personal credibility and professionalism of the volunteer members of the board, is in good faith.

Critics have questioned the cost and the need for a civilian review board. But there is one concept that is universal across every single government body: public engagement. It is, if you take them at their word, the heart and soul of any government endeavor. Why should policing be any different?

You can redress a grievance about an unattractive awning on Avon Street with the Entrance Corridor Review Board. You can tell the Tree Commission how you feel about the saplings put in by the John Warner Parkway. You can address the Library Board on anything from 3D printers to story hour programming. You can not only make your comment and be heard, but you can meaningfully engage with the process of resolving the issue you brought to the table.

But if you have a complaint about policing, that complaint goes into a black box. There is no community involvement. There is no dialogue. You will never find out what, if any, consequences an officer faced. You have no recourse. There is no relationship, no trust. That is a failure of government.

So many conversations about the current political climate in Charlottesville divide the course of our existence into Before and After the summer of 2017. For a not-insignificant number of people, that was their first significant encounter with policing in any capacity other than a traffic stop. But the problem with policing didn’t start the day in July when now-retired Major Gary Pleasants overrode an order from then-Chief Al Thomas, saying of his decision to brutalize antiracist activists protesting the Ku Klux Klan, “you’re damn right I gassed them!” The problem with policing in Charlottesville did not start when Thomas allegedly said, of the rioting in the streets on August 12, “let them fight.”

The events of the summer of 2017 did not cause a breakdown in an otherwise operational system—they just applied enough pressure that the cracks in the façade were finally visible to those of us not already living with the realities of racially biased policing. The battle for accurate, consistent, transparent stop-and-frisk data has been raging for years, and the numbers we have are deeply troubling. The problems aren’t new. We need a new approach if this police department hopes to begin to repair its relationship with the community.

What the CRB proposes isn’t radical. While the model it’s drawn up is its own, it’s similar to boards already in operation in cities around the country. The board would be able to process and investigate complaints, with a budget pegged at 1 percent of the annual police department budget. It is an investment in the department’s own stated goal of improving the relationship between the community and its police force, creating transparency in the process, and giving residents a voice.

Like many boards, the CRB is taking some time to get off the ground. But that’s in part because its charge is so important. The people of Charlottesville should have an avenue for redressing grievances about policing that is at least as robust as the appeals process for requests to paint historic brick buildings.

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News

Data drive: Police chief hopes to prove transparency by producing records

Chief RaShall Brackney held a press conference to announces changes she’s made to the department. Photo by Eze Amos

When Charlottesville Police Chief RaShall Brackney took her oath in June, she was sworn in to a position already highly scrutinized by citizens of a town where many are wary of the cops. Perhaps the thing locals wanted most in a new chief was transparency, and Brackney says she has spent the past nine months trying to give it to them.

Since September, Brackney has provided stop-and-frisk data in a monthly PowerPoint posted to the city’s website. And on March 8, she held a media-only press conference to announce that the police department would immediately turn over results of an internal affairs report on complaints made against officers, and make already public arrest data available online for anyone to peruse.

She also provided a 2018 report on use of force, which showed only one instance of deadly force, when a suspect shot an officer in September 2018, and the cop returned fire, killing him.

Incidents of physical force, without weapons, were more frequent, with 20 occassions including 10 takedowns, four hands-on encounters, and one knee strike.

Making the data easily available to community members is part of Brackney’s plan to restore the reputation of the CPD and regain trust, she said.

“I really believe that this meets the community’s call for transparency,” added Interim City Manager Mike Murphy at the press conference.

But the online arrest records won’t include race, an omission that local attorney Jeff Fogel called disappointing.

“The disparity between white and black arrests is what the primary issue is, and this won’t help,” says Fogel. “The department has that information but is not providing it.”

Brackney didn’t address why.

So far, nothing the CPD has produced isn’t already public information, though it’s now easier to find, says Fogel. And, he adds, the department and city manager refuse to answer why they won’t provide certain data, such as the details of detentions (without names).

“That is the true test of transparency, that which the law does not require to be public,” says Fogel, who for years has called for cops to turn over stop-and-frisk records. His earlier demands for data resulted in the release of a 2017 report that showed approximately 73 percent of city stop and frisks involved African Americans.

Friday’s meeting, which was pushed back an hour and a half, started with a few remarks from Murphy and ended with a tame Q&A with the chief—in stark contrast to an October press conference she held outside the CPD, which was open to the public and became increasingly tense as it proceeded. That one came to a close after a couple of heated exchanges between the chief and attending activists.

Since then, a member of the Police Civilian Review Board accused Brackney of verbally attacking her, which led to a February protest outside the police station with demonstrators carrying signs that read, “Chief Brackney assaulted Katrina Turner.”

Brackney has faced severe understaffing at the department this year, and she’s listed pay, lack of take-home police cars, and the attitude of the community and of the Civilian Review Board as factors in the wholesale departure of officers. But Albemarle Sheriff Chip Harding said he’d heard complaints from cops about Brackney’s leadership, and he suggested an outside consultant do an assessment—a suggestion rebuffed by Murphy.

At the press conference, Murphy said he’s been impressed with her other accomplishments over the past nine months, such as making new assignments for officers, reviewing and changing policies, and creating a new command structure.

The new structure includes four divisions: field operations, administration, support operations, and investigations, and according to Brackney, it has allowed her to shift several of her lieutenants into different roles, eliminating assignments that kept officers cooped up at the headquarters during their shifts.

Brackney said the CPD is actively drafting potential members with a new recruitment video. There are still approximately 20 vacancies, compared to 25 at the peak of what she once called the “mass exodus.”

When asked about the current morale of those on the force, she seemed to dodge the question. Said Brackney, “When we talk about morale, it’s really just a very subjective kind of viewpoint.”

Cop complaints

Community members have also called for the Charlottesville Police Department to release a report of internal affairs investigations, or findings from cases in which people complained about their interactions with officers for issues including racial profiling, police corruption, rudeness, and unreasonable force.

Chief RaShall Brackney made these results available at the March 8 press conference, and out of approximately 40 reported allegations in 2018 (including at least five internal investigations with undisclosed results), only four complaints have so far been sustained—for inappropriate language, a traffic law violation, rudeness, and inadequate performance of duties.

Here’s how the others stack up:

  • 9 complaints unfounded
  • 6 complaints exonerated
  • 8 complaints still open
  • 6 complaints pending final review
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News

The gunfire next door: Police response uneven in Fifeville neighborhood

The sound of gunfire and the arrival of SWAT teams are unnervingly frequent within a few Fifeville blocks. Photo by Skyclad Aerial

In the early morning hours of February 10, Julie Bargmann woke up to the sound of gunshots. She laid still.

“Unfortunately, I’ve gotten kind of used to it,” says the Fifeville resident who’s lived on Sixth Street Southwest for four years. Over the last two, there have been multiple shootings and other incidents that drew a massive police response.

Every time it happens, she says, “I hunker down low and I stay in my bed.”

Police presence in the immediate area of Sixth, 6 ½, and Dice streets, in the neighborhood across Cherry Avenue from Tonsler Park, seems to be all or nothing. While community members say they don’t usually see any cops patrolling, when law enforcement does respond to the area, it’s quite a show—multiple squad cars line the narrow, one-way roads and driveways, and at times that’s been accompanied by a heavily militarized SWAT team that has terrified residents.

Bargmann and other neighbors say they’re aware that the Charlottesville Police Department is currently understaffed, and they’re sympathetic to its officers, who are currently down 18 co-workers, according to police spokesperson Tyler Hawn. But residents say a regular patrol is necessary in a neighborhood that has seen drug dealing and gunfire—and that a steadier police presence would make those SWAT raids unnecessary.

On this particular February morning, Bargmann waited until she saw the red and blue lights reflected onto her bedroom walls, then watched as the apparently naked victim of the shooting was hauled off in an ambulance.

Back in 2017, she’d witnessed a SWAT raid at the same house. An officer in military-style gear popped out of the top of a BearCat, a tank-like armored vehicle. He scanned the area with his gun drawn as other cops climbed a ladder leading to a window above the front door, bashed it in, and hurled a flash grenade through it, she recalls. 

“And then I saw Sam, my neighbor, being taken away in handcuffs,” she says. Court records show that Sam Henderson, who owns the house, was arrested November 16, 2017, for possession of a controlled substance and found guilty seven months later.

But she and other neighbors still see him come and go, and they’re wondering why police don’t shut down this known “drug abode”—or the other known drug operation in the immediate area. “You’d think it would be a pretty high priority,” she says.

At Henderson’s house on a recent Thursday morning, the front door is cracked open and there appears to be a bullet hole in a window next to the door. No one answers when this reporter knocks multiple times, nor did Henderson respond to a note left by the ashtray on his porch.

Police spokesperson Hawn didn’t respond to an inquiry about Henderson or the house, but says the department “actively patrols and engages the members of the Fifeville neighborhood on a continual basis.”

Edward Thomas, a longtime Fifeville resident with properties on Sixth and 6 ½ streets, says many residents are wary of talking to police, but he and Bargmann met with an officer in December to air their concerns after their houses were paintballed. He was left “flabbergasted” when the cop suggested they start a community watch.

“Community watch programs can be a resource multiplier and a system of support for the community and the CPD,” says Hawn.

Says Thomas, “I remember saying, half joking, ‘This week it’s paintballs, next week it’s going to be real bullets.’ Well, sure enough.”

About a week later, on December 29, Thomas woke up to the sound of gunshots on 6 ½ Street. Six days after that, around 6am, neighbor Stephanie Bottoms says Charlottesville police deployed another SWAT team to arrest the culprit.

As she watched from a window, she counted 30 officers, approximately 20 of whom carried what appeared to be automatic weapons. They broke down the front door of the house in the 300 block of 6 ½ Street. With two BearCats surrounding the home, they also busted through second-floor windows on its front and back sides, she says.

That day, Ernest Anderson was arrested and charged with shooting in a public place, a misdemeanor, and felony possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

“Thank God they got the guy that shot up the neighborhood,” says Thomas, because that isn’t always the case. After the February 10 shooting, police say a gunman in a black ski mask got away.

Matt Simon, who lives on Dice Street where it intersects Sixth, recalls hearing “a ton of gunshots” back in December 2016, when two people were injured by gunfire. Two weeks later, he pulled a record out of the bin he keeps in his living room and found it broken. He realized one of the bullets had barreled through six of his discs.

“I think we warrant a patrol car coming through every now and again,” says Simon, who says things haven’t improved.

“Nothing happens until it gets really bad, and then all of a sudden, it’s like a war zone here,” says Thomas. “It’s the scariest it’s ever been.”

He says he saw a kid shot to death several years ago, which was undoubtedly frightening, but now with the somewhat regular militarized SWAT response, “it’s like we’re scared of the police.”

This type of showing from the cops “makes the neighborhood even less desirable and scares people away from buying and potentially leasing the vacant property,” Thomas adds. Three people interviewed for this story mention neighbors who have moved or started renting their properties because they don’t feel safe.

“There is definitely an overuse of SWAT teams and military vehicles [in town],” says local attorney Jeff Fogel, who’s been known to criticize the cops. “They are incredibly intimidating, not only to the occupants of the house being attacked, but the neighborhood as well. I suspect they are used for that very purpose.”

Says Hawn, “The Charlottesville Police Department takes concerns about safety in the Fifeville neighborhood and throughout the city seriously. While we understand the presence of a SWAT or tactical team may feel overwhelming, we are committed to providing a safe response to incidents for our officers, the public, and any persons involved.”

The city’s general upkeep of the neighborhood also leaves much to be desired, Thomas notes. On any given day, neighboring lots are overgrown, and beer bottles and other trash can be found strewn across the lawn of the historic Benjamin Tonsler House, which was built in 1879 for Tonsler, a prominent African American teacher and principal in town. His friend Booker T. Washington once stayed there, according to the city’s website.

There have also been cables lying on the ground since a storm last spring, complemented by a nearly-collapsed telephone poll in front of Thomas’ house. He says some crime in his area could be attributed to the broken windows theory, which suggests visible signs of disorder and crime can lead to more of it.

“I used to worry about the gentrification destroying the character of the neighborhood,” Thomas says. “Now, I kind of want the gentrification to happen, because I’d rather have gentrification than bullets and trash everywhere.”

 

Updated February 28 at 3:54pm with an addition comment from CPD spokesperson Tyler Hawn.

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News

Words hurt: Civilian Review Board member accuses police chief of verbal attack

Demonstrators want police Chief RaShall Brackney held accountable for what Katrina Turner later clarified was a “verbal attack.”. Eze Amos

The complaint in front of City Council February 4 was pretty extraordinary: “Chief [RaShall] Brackney came out of nowhere and literally attacked me that night.”

That it came from a member of the police Civilian Review Board was all the more astounding.

At a February 5 protest in front of the Charlottesville police station, Showing Up for Racial Justice members held signs that read, “Chief Brackney assaulted Katrina Turner.” A handful stood in the street and stopped rush hour Market Street traffic and demanded that Brackney be held accountable.

“I wasn’t physically attacked,” clarifies Turner. “I was verbally attacked.”

She describes a situation at a November 5 City Council meeting in which a girl had a panic attack outside the council chamber. When Turner left the room, “This little girl was laying on the ground gasping for air. I said I know CPR. I’m medically trained. I could help her.”

Turner says police officers stood aside and let her approach the girl, whom Turner wanted to turn on her side to help her breathing. “The only thing I could hear behind me was the chief of police yelling that I needed to leave,” says Turner.

Brackney would not listen to her explanation and continued to “aggressively get in my face yelling to leave the scene,” says Turner in the complaint she filed with police January 4. “Her last words to me were, ‘Mrs. Turner, you have been warned to leave the scene.’ I also thought I heard her tell me that I would be arrested if I did not leave the scene.”

Turner asked for body camera footage from the officers present in her complaint, and at the February 4 council meeting, she said no one had called her to get her sworn statement.

“She does not like me,” says Turner. “I understand but when I’m trying to help that child is not the time to come after me.”

Civilian Review Board member Katrina Turner wants to know why no action has taken place on the complaint she filed against Charlottesville Police Chief RaShall Brackney. staff photo

Police spokesman Tyler Hawn declined C-VILLE’s request to speak to Brackney, saying the complaint is a personnel matter and she would not comment on it. He also says that none of the street blockers were arrested.

It’s no secret that Turner has issues with the Charlottesville Police Department, stemming from an April 30, 2016, arrest of her son after he called 911, and she’s filed several complaints about the handling of that.

Both Brackney and Turner are relatively new in their roles. Brackney was named chief in May, the first woman to hold the position. And Turner was named last summer to the newly formed Civilian Review Board, whose mission is to come up with bylaws for handling citizen complaints about the police.

Mayor Nikuyah Walker did not respond to a request for comment on the matter, but she did discuss it on “The Schilling Show” February 6. “From my understanding, the police chief yelled at [Turner] to move out of the way of a situation during an incident in the hallway during a council meeting,” she says.

Walker says if Brackney had physically assaulted Turner, “I’m sure we wouldn’t have gotten out of the building if that happened.”

The mayor says she talked to Interim City Manager Mike Murphy, and an external party will take a look at the situation “so it won’t be in our internal affairs department.”

Some of what she’s heard about Brackney from the activist community “hasn’t been very fair,” says Walker. “I’m hoping the community will give her the chance to do the work while understanding she’s a police chief in America.”

And if Brackney did something to harm Turner, council and the city manager should intervene, says Walker, “but if not, then it’s unfair.”

UVA law professor Josh Bowers is on the Civilian Review Board, and he doesn’t think the dispute between the police chief and a board member will interfere with the board’s job of creating bylaws.

“If Ms. Turner has a complaint against the department or an officer, that’s a personal matter, not a board matter,” he says. And because the board has not drawn up bylaws that would define what constitutes a conflict of interest, “I can’t speak to whether it’s a conflict of interest.”

Don Gathers was on the board until he resigned in January, and he says he doesn’t think Turner’s complaint against the chief will have any effect on the work of the board because “they’re dedicated people and they’ll go on with the work they’ve been tasked with.”

He did ask why the complaint was being described as an assault. “There’s some miscommunication. [Turner] never used that terminology.”

He says he hopes Turner and Brackney can work through their differences. “The community needs them both. We definitely need strong black leaders on both sides.”

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In brief: Out of business, second wettest, medically deficient and more

staff photo

Knock, knock. Who’s [not] there?

Sears. Sweethaus. Performance Bicycle. And Brown’s Cleaners, just to name a few recent local closings that left community members shocked, and in at least one case, without their clothes.

The closing of Sears at Fashion Square Mall heralds the demise of one of America’s most iconic retailers, known for its mail-order catalogue more than 100 years before Amazon appeared on the scene. The Charlottesville store has been at the mall since it opened in 1980.

Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce president Elizabeth Cromwell says it’s not unexpected that companies will move away, merge, or close their doors for good—but it matters how they do it.

“There is a natural cycle for business communities,” says Cromwell. “How these organizations communicate changes to their customers is critical.”

While most of the closings were abrupt, Brown’s is of a different magnitude.

Signs suddenly posted on the doors of its four locations on Christmas Eve directed customers to check the legal section of the Daily Progress for information on where and when to pick up their held-hostage dry cleaning. It then took about a week and a half for any information to be published on how to reunite people with their belongings.

If you’re wondering, clothes can be picked up from 8am to noon at the High Street location, and 1:30pm to 5:30pm at the Preston Avenue location January 7-11 and January 15-18. Dry cleaning left at the Millmont Street and Ivy Road stores can be picked up on High Street. All furs will be at the Preston location.

And a GoFundMe has been started for the reported 34 employees who learned on that December holiday that they no longer had a job. At press time, it had raised approximately $7,000.

Quote of the week

“I didn’t want to be that person that has to see a sports psychologist … [but] it didn’t just help me on the court, it helped me in life.”—UVA basketball player and ACC Player of the Week Kyle Guy talks about anxiety and stress to SB Nation

In brief

Legal Aid roll

After persuading a judge to issue an injunction on the suspension of driver’s licenses for unpaid fines, Legal Aid Justice Center scored another victory in federal court January 2, when Judge Norman Moon ruled the Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women had violated a 2016 settlement agreement to improve its “constitutionally deficient” medical care. At least four women have died since the settlement, and Moon gave the prison 45 days to correct violations.

Legendary coach dies

George Welsh UVA athletics

Former UVA football coach George Welsh, who led the Cavaliers to a pinnacle unseen since he retired after the 2000 season, died January 2 at age 85. Hall of Famer Welsh took over the Virginia program in 1982 and guided the team to 12 bowl games, two ACC co-championships, and a 9-10 record against Virginia Tech, which has since beaten UVA for 15 straight seasons.

Another A12 sentence

Daniel Borden, an Ohio man who was 18 when he came to the Unite the Right rally, will serve three years and 10 months for his part in the brutal parking garage beating of DeAndre Harris. The prosecutor and judge agreed Borden appeared “gleeful” in videos taken after the attack, but his age and guilty plea mitigated the sentence. Two others charged in the event are serving six and eight years.

‘Mass exodus’

Charlottesville Police Chief RaShall Brackney says the department is currently down 22 officers, and salary, lack of take-home cars, post-August 12 attitudes, and the demeanor of those on the Police Civilian Review Board are to blame, according to the Daily Progress. Outgoing Sheriff Chip Harding suggested Brackney could be the problem, prompting an impromptu press conference by City Manager Mike Murphy.

Election season

Three people have announced runs for open seats on City Council now held by Wes Bellamy, Kathy Galvin, and Mike Signer. Community organizers Don Gathers and Michael Payne launched campaigns January 8 for the June 11 Dem primary nomination, and Sena Magill joined the race January 9. No word yet from the incumbents on their plans.

By the numbers

Second-wettest year ever

skyclad ap

Record-breaking rainfall made 2018 the second-soggiest year since McCormick Observatory started keeping records 118 years ago. The week before Christmas, 2018 held the No. 4 spot with 68.69 inches, but over the holiday more than three inches drenched the area to put the year’s total at 72.14 inches, barely eking by No. 3, 1937, and over two inches shy of the No. 1 year—super-moist 2003, which followed worst-drought 2002.

And in top 25 wettest years since 1900, six of those have happened since 2000. Time to invest in rain boots?

Top five rainiest years

1. 2003 74.55″

2. 2018 72.14″

3. 1937 72.07″

4. 1948 69.72″

5. 1972 66.03″

Numbers provided by Jerry Stenger, director of the State Climatology Office at UVA.

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Day 7: Witnesses describe Fields’ arrest

The prosecution rested today in the trial of James Alex Fields Jr. and the defense began its case, both sides focusing on the defendant during and after his arrest August 12, 2017.

In prosecution videos of Fields after he was taken into police custody, he repeatedly apologized, asked about any injuries, and hyperventilated for more than two minutes during his interrogation. The jury also heard recordings of two phone calls from jail between Fields and his mother, in which he seemed much less apologetic.

In a December 7, 2017, call, Fields can be heard asking his mom an unintelligible question about “that one girl who died.” We can assume that this is Heather Heyer, whom he’s on trial for murdering when he drove his gray Dodge Challenger into a crowd on Fourth Street.

He then mentions that Heyer’s mother has been giving “speeches and shit,” and “slandering” him. “She’s one of those anti-white communists,” Fields says on the recording. And his mother, seemingly reacting to his insensitivity, points out that Heyer died, and that her mother loved her.

Responds Fields, “It doesn’t fucking matter, she’s a communist. It’s not up for questioning. She is. She’s the enemy.”

In a March 21, 2018, phone call between Fields and his mom, Fields complained that he was “not doing anything wrong” on August 12, “and then I get mobbed by a violent group of terrorist for defending my person.”

And he claimed “antifa” were waving ISIS flags at the Unite the Right rally. His mom expressed some kind of intelligible dissent, and suggested he stop talking. “They’re communist, mother, they do support them,” he countered.

Also entered into evidence were text messages between Fields and his mom before the rally. On August 8, he told her he’d gotten the weekend off to go to the rally, and on August 10, she responded with, “Be careful.” And on August 11, he said, “We’re not the [ones] who need to be careful.” He attached an image of Adolf Hitler along with it.

Before resting his case, Commonwealth’s Attorney Joe Platania also played bodycam footage from Detective Steve Young, who appeared on the scene of Monticello Avenue and Blenheim Road as Fields was being detained.

In the audio of the interaction, Fields appeared to be cooperating with police, and repeated multiple iterations of “I’m sorry.”

When Young asked what he was sorry for, he said, “I didn’t want to hurt people, but I thought they were attacking me. …Even if they are [unintelligible], I still feel bad for them. They’re still people.”

He said he had an empty suitcase—”a family heirloom”—in his trunk, and asked police not to throw it away.

Fields also indicated leg pain, and when asked if he needed medical attention, he said, “I’d prefer if they see to the people who were rioting.”

He asked multiple times about any injuries sustained when he drove his car into the crowd on Fourth Street. And once he was taken to the Charlottesville Police Department for interrogation, he finally got his answer.

“There are people with severe injuries. I know one has passed away,” answered Detective Brady Kirby, as heard on the recording. For the next two or three minutes, Fields can be heard hyperventilating. He simultaneously cries while struggling to breathe.

At this point in the courtroom, Fields sat hunched over between his two attorneys, watching the video intently and quickly flicking his pen back and forth. Usually seated to the right of his lawyers, he traded places with one of them for a clearer view.  

Once at the local jail, Fields could be heard telling the magistrate in another recording that as he pulled onto Fourth Street, he had his GPS turned on and he was just trying to go home. He saw two cars stopped at the bottom of the street and began backing up. He said he felt a “really weird” emotion once he saw the counterprotesters.

“I didn’t know what to do,” he said, and never mentioned driving into them.

He also requested to have his face washed before getting his mugshot taken.

After the commonwealth rested, defense attorney John Hill moved to strike all of the charges against his client except for the hit-and-run. He said the prosecutors failed to prove that Fields showed intent to kill and actual malice. But Judge Rick Moore overruled the motions, and said, “I don’t know what intent he could have had other than to kill people.”

The defense called four witnesses, including Deputy Paul Critzer, who chased Fields in his cruiser and eventually cuffed him.

Critzer said he followed Fields for almost a mile, and Fields eventually pulled over on Monticello Avenue. The deputy then instructed him to put his hands outside the window, and started moving toward the Challenger when Fields drew his hands back inside and smashed on the gas. Critzer then chased him for what he described as less than a football field of length before Fields stopped again, and following Critzer’s commands, he threw his hands and keys outside of his window.

That’s when Critzer approached him from the passenger side—another officer had met Fields on the driver’s side—and slapped the cuffs on him.

Deputy Fred Kirschnick described Fields as “very quiet” “very wide-eyed” and “sweating profusely,” as he waited to be taken to the police department for questioning. He smelled a “light to moderate” stench of urine on Fields, which matches the description of a yellow stain on his shirt that others had testified to.

Lunsford also called city officer Tammy Shifflet, who was stationed at the intersection of Fourth and Market streets that morning, and who left her post before the car attack because things had gotten too chaotic.

She said she called her commander to ask for assistance, and he directed her to meet up with other officers. There was a small barricade she described as a “sawhorse” blocking Fourth Street when she left.

The defense is expected to call approximately eight more witnesses. Closing arguments could happen Thursday with a jury verdict as soon as Friday, according to the judge.

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In brief: Worst state to vote, bug-free buses, facial hair for charity and more

Mississippi ekes by Virginia as the state that makes it the most difficult for its citizens to vote, while Oregon is ranked best state for voters in a recent study.

We’re No. 49

Virginia ranks as one of the worst states in the country when it comes to ease of voting, according to a recent study from Northern Illinois University. Our state has slipped in the “cost of voting index” since 1996, when we ranked No. 42, to the “second most difficult” place to vote in 2016—just ahead of Mississippi, says co-author Michael Pomante.

Voter fraud is often cited as the reason for the restrictions, but Pomante says, “We don’t see voter fraud in other states that make it easier to vote.”

And what does No. 1 look like? That would be Oregon, home to automatic voter registration and where every voter on the rolls is mailed a ballot, which can be mailed or dropped off, says Pomante. “It makes voter turnout much higher.”

The next step for researchers is to look at voter disenfranchisement, says Pomante. “We do know there’s a correlation with minority population and voting. States with higher minority populations make it more difficult to vote.”

And on the cost of voting index, most Southern states wallow in the bottom half of the scale.

Reasons why the Old Dominion is so voter unfriendly:

  • Voter registration deadline: It’s three weeks before Election Day, while some states have same-day registration, automatic registration, or even pre-registration for those about to turn 18.
  • Photo ID: without it, voters have to cast provisional ballots.
  • No early voting.
  • Absentee voting: You’d better have a
    darn good excuse to do so.
  • Felon disenfranchisement: While not quite as bad as Florida, where 10 percent of
    the citizens can’t vote because they’ve spent time in jail, Virginians who have served their time have to petition the governor to get back their voting rights.

Quote of the week

“We’ve got to do a better job of teaching critical thinking to young people so they won’t be suckered by hate mongering.”—Martin Luther King III at the Virginia Film Festival

In brief

Rebel flags banned

The Charlottesville City School Board voted unanimously November 1 to prohibit wearing hate symbols such as Confederate, Nazi, and KKK imagery across the division. Albemarle, which has been sued in the past for restricting images on students’ clothes, is still wrestling with the issue.

Another UVA frat racial incident

UVA’s Student Hip-Hop Organization and I.M.P. Society denounced “blatant discrimination and violence” at an October 27 party they hosted at Beta Theta Pi, the Cav Daily reports. After deciding not to allow additional guests, white guys guarding the doors let their friends in, and fraternity members set up a separate, exclusive space from other partygoers, creating an unwelcome environment for minority students. The fraternity apologized November 2.

‘Graduation rapist’ in news again

Jeffrey Miller, formerly known as Jeffrey Kitze. Photo: Virginia Department of Corrections

Jeffrey Kitze was convicted of raping his sister’s UVA law school roommate in 1989. And he was back in jail for probation violations for stalking a local woman in 2013, when he changed his name to Jeffrey Ted Miller. In May, he moved to New York, where a woman recently requested a protective order against him, CBS19 reports.

Books are back

Another used bookstore will take the place of the Downtown Mall’s now-closed Read It Again, Sam, according to landlord Joan Fenton. She says new tenant Daphne Spain will open the doors of Second Act in February.

Cost of grooming?

Some Charlottesville police are fighting childhood cancer by not shaving their facial hair until February. “Officers will be allowed to grow beards and donate the money they typically spend on shaving and grooming to benefit the UVA Children’s Hospital Cancer Clinic,” according to a CPD press release on the Winter Wool campaign. Here’s hoping some CPD members are used to expensive shaves.

Transit boss declares CAT buses bug-free

During the summer, C-VILLE Weekly learned of Charlottesville Area Transit drivers being plagued by irritations that they attributed to bug bites. The city confirmed it was aware of “two or three cases,” but said the drivers had not seen the bugs they believed responsible for the bites.

“They have never found a thing,” says transit director John Jones. “There aren’t any bugs on the buses. There are bugs on people.”

When passengers visibly sporting bugs catch the CAT, says Jones, “We call Foster’s Pest Control immediately.”

City buses are vacuumed every night, cleaned every week, and bug-bombed regularly, he says. In fact, one driver’s rash came from the cleaning products. “They’re harsh,” says Jones.

A new trolley will have hard plastic seats to further thwart insect infestations, he says.

He also notes that a sofa in the drivers lounge that employees wouldn’t touch was replaced by a leather one that turned up in the city warehouse. “One of the judges downtown was getting rid of some nice furniture.”

Jones reassures CAT riders: “We never found an infestation of bed bugs or anything.”

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Former police chief still on city payroll

Former Police Chief Al Thomas is still collecting a paycheck. Photo by Eze Amos

Former Charlottesville police chief Al Thomas may have left last year, but it hasn’t stopped him from collecting a paycheck.

Although the city said in December that Thomas’ retirement would be “effective immediately,” it turns out, as first reported by WINA’s Rob Schilling, that Thomas has continued to receive his $134,513 annual salary, and will do so for another nine months.

Though Thomas was largely assumed to have been forced out after criticism of his handling of August 11 and 12, city spokesperson Brian Wheeler’s explanation comes in the form of a distinction between “retirement” and “resignation.”

“Alfred Thomas retired from law enforcement on December 18, 2017. As part of his retirement, Mr. Thomas voluntarily resigned from the Charlottesville Police Department…with an effective date of July 15, 2019,” Wheeler said.

Thomas did not have an employment contract, and the settlement agreement is exempt from FOIA, according to Wheeler, who offered no further justification for Thomas’ parting gift.

Local attorney and City Council gadfly Jeff Fogel questions the legality of that FOIA exemption, and criticized the city for not making the terms of Thomas’ leaving clear.

“This is typical of the city,” says Fogel. “Release as little as you can get away with.”

Before Thomas’ sudden retirement, he disputed many of what Fogel calls “the most damning” claims made against him in former U.S. attorney Tim Heaphy’s independent review of 2017’s white supremacist events.

“He’s still on the payroll, and yet he’s never answered any of the questions about what happened on August 12, 2017,” says Fogel. “We need to know the truth.”

Adds Fogel, “If Mr. Thomas is still employed or still receiving money, we oughta get him to come here and explain what happened. That’s the least he could do for [$135,000] a year.

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News

In brief: Red Hen ruckus, ‘white civil rights’ rally, Republican dropout and more

The Red Hen is housed in a historic downtown Lexington building. photo News-Gazette

Red Hen refusal ignites firestorm

When two former C-VILLE Weekly writers opened the Red Hen in Lexington in 2009, they loved everything about the Rockbridge County college town—except its lack of a farm-to-table eatery. Since then, the restaurant has become a renowned fine dining option, and that could be why White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and her party of eight came to dine June 22.

Stephanie Wilkinson Facebook

Owner and UVA alum Stephanie Wilkinson, who used to write about literary happenings for C-VILLE and later was publisher of Brain, Child magazine, asked Sanders to leave because of her work for “an inhumane and unethical” administration, Wilkinson told the Washington Post. [Co-founder John Blackburn is no longer an owner of the restaurant.]

Sanders confirmed on Twitter she’d been 86ed, the second Trump administration official to not be welcomed into a dining establishment in a week, although Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, another UVA alum, left a D.C. Mexican restaurant because of protesters chanting, “Shame.”

Outrage—and appreciation—over Wilkinson’s action ensued, and other unaffiliated Red Hens around the country received death threats.

By Saturday night, the Red Hen did not open because of safety concerns, according to [former C-VILLE Weekly editor] Hawes Spencer’s report on NPR. Its Yelp page is going through active cleanup because of non-food-related comments, says the site.

And by June 25, POTUS himself tweeted, “The Red Hen Restaurant should focus more on cleaning its filthy canopies, doors and windows (badly needs a paint job) rather than refusing to serve a fine person like Sarah Huckabee Sanders.”

Trump administration employees are not alone in being unwelcome at a dining establishment. Local “white civil rights” agitator Jason Kessler reportedly was banned for life from Miller’s last year when protesters shouting “Nazi go home” became bad for business.

“An all-too-familiar story in my timeline. A beautiful woman’s life cut short by a violent relationship. The only twist today is it’s my child on the other side of the gun. My son is the perpetrator. The very thing I advocate against has been committed by someone I once carried inside me.”—Trina Murphy, advocate for Help Save the Next Girl

In brief

Xavier Grant Murphy Charlottesville police

Another Murphy tragedy

Xavier Grant Murphy, 23, son of domestic violence advocate Trina Murphy and cousin of murdered Nelson teen Alexis Murphy, is charged with second-degree murder in the June 22 slaying of Tatiana Wells, 21, at the Days Inn.

GOP resignation

Richard Allan Fox, co-owner of Roslyn Farm and Vineyard, resigned from his seat on the Albemarle County Republican Committee, because he says he can’t support U.S. Senate candidate Corey Stewart, who has not denounced Unite the Right rally participants, and who has said the Civil War was not about slavery.

ABC settles with Johnson

Martese Johnson, the 20-year-old UVA student whose encounter with Virginia ABC agents during St. Patrick’s Day revelries on the Corner in 2015 left him bloodied and under arrest, reached a $249,950 settlement with the agency June 20. Johnson, now 24, heads to University of Michigan Law School in the fall.

Cantwell calls CPD

On the same night that seven activists were arrested on Market Street for protesting the conviction of August 12 flamethrower Corey Long, “Crying Nazi” Chris Cantwell called the police department to commend it, chat about the rioting “communists” and suggest they be put through a woodchipper. He was recording as a female CPD employee said, “That’s awesome. Thanks for your support.” According to a city press release, the incident is being investigated.

Access denied

Community activists, some reportedly wearing Black Lives Matter shirts, were shut out of a meet-and-greet at the Paramount Theater with new Charlottesville Police Chief RaShall Brackney, who was welcomed on the theater’s marquee. Paramount spokesperson Maran Garland says it was a private, invitation-only event hosted by the Charlottesville Police Foundation.

I-64 stabber gets life

Rodney Demon Burnett was convicted of aggravated malicious wounding for the July 11, 2017, attack of a woman driver on I-64. When she stopped the car, he continued knifing her in the neck, pushed her out of the car and sped away, leaving her with life-threatening and permanent injuries. A jury imposed a maximum life sentence, $100,000 fine and seven years for other related charges.

Drafted by whom?

photo Matt Riley

Former UVA basketball guard Devon Hall is chosen by the Oklahoma City Thunder in the second round as the No. 53 pick.

Whites-righter seeks permit

Speaking of Kessler, the Unite the Right organizer is looking for a place to hold an anniversary rally August 11 and 12. City Manager Maurice Jones denied his application for a permit December 11, and Kessler filed a civil lawsuit against the city and Jones, alleging the denial unconstitutionally was based on the content of his speech.

On June 22, his attorneys filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to force the city to allow his two-day event and to provide security for demonstrators and the public.

According to a memo filed with the motion, Kessler contends counterprotesters were responsible for the violence. “Counterprotester misconduct constitutes a heckler’s veto and cannot be used as a justification to shut down Mr. Kessler’s speech by the city,” says the memo.

Kessler sued last year when the city tried to move his white nationalist rally from Emancipation Park to McIntire, and a judge sided with him in an August 11 decision that was made about the same time neo-Nazis were marching through UVA Grounds shouting, “Jews will not replace us.”

At press time, a hearing for the injunction had not been scheduled.

Many of those who attended the rally last year have said they will not return for a redo, but Kessler is asking those who want to come to be prepared to go to either Charlottesville or Washington.

His application for a “white civil rights rally” in Lafayette Square has received preliminary approval from the National Park Service, but a permit has not been issued.

kessler prelim injunction memo 6-22-18

kessler motion prelim injunction 6-22-18

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Top choice: Charlottesville hires first female police chief

RaShall Brackney, center, with Mayor Nikuyah Walker and City Manager Maurice Jones, will be the first woman to lead the Charlottesville Police Department. Staff photo

Two years ago, City Manager Maurice Jones announced the hiring of Al Thomas, Charlottesville’s first African-American police chief, who abruptly resigned 20 months later on December 18 following a scathing independent review of the handling of the violent events of August 11-12.

Today, Jones introduced his latest police chief pick: former George Washington University chief and Pittsburgh police commander RaShall Brackney. And with a petit protest by civil rights attorney Jeff Fogel in City Council chambers, Brackney got a small taste of the activities that have dominated much of local government over the past two years.

Brackney was chosen, says Jones, out of 169 applicants—more than twice the number the last time the job was open. And while City Council will confirm her appointment at its May 21 meeting, all the councilors were on hand to welcome the new chief.

Mayor Nikuyah Walker, who has criticized police profiling and mass incarceration, says she had difficulty “getting on the same page” as the rest of City Council when looking for a new chief, and was concerned about who would want the job after what happened last summer. She describes her interview with Brackney as “refreshing,” and says she’s “hopeful.”

Councilor Wes Bellamy notes that when he talked with Brackney, she said, “Community policing is somewhat of a buzzword,” and that she wants a “transformational style of policing.” He points out that Brackney will be the city’s first African-American female chief—although when talking to reporters afterward, she says she’s “multi-ethnic” and that she doesn’t think race or gender were reasons for her hiring, which “professionalism transcends.”

The need for a new style of police leadership was apparent from other councilors’ remarks. Kathy Galvin found “a marked difference” in Brackney’s delivery and wants to get back to “a feeling you can trust police.”

And Mike Signer says there are “increased demands for a new kind of policing” and protection of free speech in the face of the “dangers of extremism” that present challenges from “those who would terrorize us.”

Brackney stressed the “importance of setting a vision and tone for the community.” And she says she’d gotten tough questions from the community and from the police rank and file, who were “not shy” about saying what they wanted from a new chief. “Law enforcement is at a crossroads right now,” she says, and can “reshape the narrative on how we engage the community.”

The new chief currently lives in Arlington and asked for neighborhood recommendations from the attendees at her debut. She retired from GWU in January after fewer than three years heading the force, which, when she was hired, was “reeling from complaints of a hostile work environment after several former officers filed discrimination lawsuits against the department,” according to the GW Hatchet. She bought a fleet of Segways to encourage officers’ interaction with the community.

And she was named in a federal lawsuit by a former student, who alleged Brackney violated Title IX policies when the university rescinded the student’s enrollment after a domestic dispute with her boyfriend at an Elliott School of International Affairs welcome event in 2016, according to the Hatchet.

Brackney nearly rolled her eyes when asked about the suit, and said that had nothing to do with her decision to leave George Washington.

She also faced an investigation in Pittsburgh in 2007 when she picked up a friend who had plowed into three parked cars. According to the Post-Gazette, officers investigating the crash were disturbed by Brackney’s intervention. The district attorney called the incident “troubling,” but said he lacked evidence to file criminal charges.

The new chief was not deterred from taking the job after Charlottesville’s national notoriety following the deadly August 12 Unite the Right rally, and says she is more concerned that the city be able to tell its own story and “have its own conversations about the upcoming anniversary in ways it might not have been able to before.”

And while she’s read all 250-plus pages of the Heaphy report, the city-commissioned independent review of its handling of last summer’s hate rallys, she declined to judge the actions of her predecessor. “We have to make sure we embrace the recommendations,” she said.

Brackney says her first priority would be to get to know the community. “If the first time I’m giving you  my business card is during a crisis, then I’ve already failed.”

When she starts June 18, Brackney, 55, will earn $140,000. The salary of former chief Thomas was $134,509.

With more than 30 years of law enforcement experience, she sounds ready to tackle the new job. “I have stamina and grit. And I found the local organic juice bar.”

Fogel took the opportunity before the press conference to berate new city spokesperson Brian Wheeler for not providing notice that the special meeting was a press conference—”I sent out a notice this morning,” said Wheeler—and stood holding signs criticizing current police leadership.

staff photo

“Fire Gary ‘Damn right I gassed them’ Pleasants,” read one of Fogel’s signs, referring to Deputy Chief Pleasants’ order to fire tear gas at the July 8 KKK rally. “If he wouldn’t follow the leader then, why would he follow the leader now?” asked Fogel.

At another Fogel interjection, Bellamy put his fingers to his lips to shush the attorney.

Updated May 16 with Brackney’s age and salary, and Al Thomas’ salary.

Updated May 21 with the Pittsburgh investigation.