Tag: charlottesville police

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Our back pages: What you read this year

UVA’s historic basketball win was, not suprisingly, our most picked-up print issue of the year. Kyle Guy jumped for joy when the team won its first national championship by defeating Texas Tech 85-77, in an overtime thriller. Photo: Jerry Holt

We looked back on the year and (with the help of Google Analytics) our most-read stories online. The takeaway? Our readers care about marijuana, Confederate statues, and food—with a side of basketball victory.

Here’s a rundown of our most-popular stories from 2019:

1. Pipe dreams: Virginia moves (slowly) towards marijuana reform

This piece, by longtime freelancer Shea Gibbs, was far and away our most popular online story of the year, even though the print version lost out on the cover to Virginia’s basketball victory (see above).

It charted our state’s halting steps toward marijuana legalization, along with the potential medical, legal, and economic benefits. Though Virginia has legalized CBD and THCA (elements of marijuana that are not psychoactive) and approved other low-THC products for medical use, it lags behind many other states in legalizing medical marijuana and de-criminalizing recreational use, let alone fully legalizing pot as nine states have now done.

As the story noted, a Republican-led state legislature ensured most bills taking steps toward legalization never made it out of committee, but with a blue State Senate and House of Delegates taking over in January, along with a Democratic governor, all that could change next year.

“If we elect a Democratic majority, I think you are looking at a clear, distinct possibility marijuana will be part of a new Virginia economy, along with clean energy,” Kathy Galvin told us back in April. Fingers crossed.

2. Permanent injunction: Judge says Confederate statues are here to stay

3. The plaintiffs: Who’s who in the fight to keep Confederate monuments

Needless to say, those McIntire-endowed statues of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson have been roiling the lives of Charlottesvillians for years, and that continued in 2019.

In March, then-C-VILLE news editor Lisa Provence wrote “The Plaintiffs,” a straightforward cover story about the 13 people and groups who had decided to sue the city of Charlottesville to prevent it from removing its Confederate monuments. One of those plaintiffs, Edward Dickinson Tayloe II, then sued Provence and this newspaper for writing about his family’s history as one of the largest slave-holding dynasties in Virginia. He also sued UVA associate professor Jalane Schmidt for observations she made in the story.

In what’s commonly known as “the Streisand effect,” the lawsuit brought renewed scrutiny to Tayloe, with in-depth stories in The Daily Beast, The Washington Post, and other national outlets. In October, Tayloe’s defamation lawsuit was dismissed in Albemarle Circuit Court, which found the defamation claims had no legal basis.

Associate prof Jalane Schmidt and former C-VILLE news editor Lisa Provence outside the courthouse after the defamation lawsuit against them was dismissed.

Tayloe had better luck with his lawsuit against the city: In September, Charlottesville Circuit Court Judge Richard Moore ruled that our 1920s-era Confederate statues are protected by a ‘50s-era state law forbidding the removal of war memorials. He issued a permanent injunction preventing the statues from being moved, nullifying City Council’s unanimous vote.

As with marijuana legalization, however, things could look different when the Dems take control of the Virginia legislature: Like David Toscano before her, Delegate-elect Sally Hudson has said she plans to introduce a bill to change the monuments law, and this time, it might actually get out of committee.

 

4. New bud in town: Is hemp flower legal? 

Staff photo.

Several shops in town sell hemp flowers, which look and smell very much like plain old (still illegal) marijuana—and at least one resident found himself hassled by local cops who couldn’t tell the difference. While industrial hemp is legal in Virginia, as are CBD products, the status of hemp flowers seems to fall into a gray zone. In any event, they contain extremely low levels of THC, so while they may or may not have beneficial health effects, they definitely won’t get you high.   

5. 10 hot new restaurants: A diverse collection of upstarts drives a local dining boom

For the summer issue of our glossy quarterly Knife & Fork, we asked The Charlottesville 29 food blogger Simon Davidson to take a measure of the city’s new places to eat. What he found was an ethnic smorgasboard that included fast-casual Greek (Cava), Thai and “southeast Asian street food” (Chimm), Tibetan fare (Druknya House), and Spanish/Mexican-influenced fine cooking (Little Star). Quirky Peloton Station—a haven of inventive sandwiches, salads, and craft brews on tap—also made the list, as did the swanky Prime 109, which our readers voted Best Steakhouse in the annual Best of C-VILLE poll. “While our area’s restaurants scene has long punched above its weight, the latest additions remind us that even in the best food communities, there’s always room to grow,” Davidson wrote.

 

6. Why are Charlottesville cops still driving this car?

Earlier this year, one of our reporters was shocked to see a gray Dodge Challenger, the same type of car that was used to kill Heather Heyer and injure dozens of others on August 12, 2017, with a Charlottesville Police Department logo. The car also featured decals of the “thin blue line” flag, a flag that was carried by some Unite the Right attendees that day.

We weren’t the only ones to be disturbed by the department’s tone-deaf taste in vehicles—local community activist Rosia Parker had raised the issue at a City Council meeting, but received no response. In answer to C-VILLE’s inquiries, the department said the car had been designed and purchased well before August 2017. But just this month, after receiving a FOIA request for the purchase records, the city revealed that the Challenger had actually been purchased five months after the tragedy.

Asked to explain this discrepency, police spokesman Tyler Hawn called it “a misunderstanding.” While not apologizing, the city has removed the car from its fleet. “This is clearly a reminder for many of the Summer of Hate and the attack,” said City Manager Tarron Richardson, who made the decision with Chief Rashall Brackney. “We believe removing it from our fleet is in the best interests of the community.”   

7. Testing the waters: Wilson Craig bets on canned cocktails as the next big thing

Photo: Amy and Jackson Smith

To say we were surprised by the popularity of this story would be unfair to Wilson Craig, who launched Virginia’s first canned-cocktail brand in a city seemingly saturated by craft beer, local wine, and fancy cocktails. The early success of Waterbird Spirits showed that the region’s thirst for alcoholic beverages extends to portable drinks infused with potato vodka–the brand debuted with four-packs of Moscow Mules and Vodka Soda & Limes in 12-ounce cans. Craig got an insider boost from a family friend, Delegate David Toscano, who introduced and ushered rapid passage of a statutory amendment that made it legal in Virginia to produce a “low-alcohol beverage cooler” using a distilled spirit. But it’s the entrepreneur’s hustle that has really made Waterbird take flight. Craig says he will soon expand distribution to other states, introduce three more types of canned drinks, and start selling Waterbird in bottles.

8. Milli Coffee Roasters founder dies at 34

Many in Charlottesville were stunned and saddened by the sudden death of Nick Leichtentritt, a beloved figure in the local food community who had left a corporate job to open Milli Coffee Roasters in 2012 and, later, Sicily Rose. In May, we were pleased to report that Milli Joe would be reopening, under the direction of longtime customer John Borgquist and Leichtentritt’s younger sister, Sophia.

9. Windfall blowback: UVA donation spurs backlash

Photo: Eze Amos

Hedge fund manager (and UVA alum) Jaffray Woodriff made headlines with his record-setting $120 million donation to the university, to establish a School of Data Science. But with great power (Woodriff is also reshaping the west end of the Downtown Mall with his Center for Developing Entrepreneurs, and gave $12.5 million to the university for a new squash center) comes great scrutiny, and many raised concerns about the focus of Woodriff’s contributions in a city dealing with an affordable housing crisis.

These concerns were later echoed by none other than Bloomberg News, but many local readers were outraged that we had reported on criticism of the donation. “We’re just a about ready to stop reading C-VILLE because of stories like this,” one Facebook commenter wrote.     

10. The Power Issue: Our annual look at C’ville’s movers and shakers

Our annual list was a mix of old standbys (we’re looking at you, Coran Capshaw), new faces (developers Jeff Levien and Ivy Naté), and a lot of groups, from “Rich guys” to Charlottesville Twitter.

The Hate-Free Schools Coalition was recognized for its grassroots campaign to have Confederate symbols banned from Albemarle County’s public schools (it succeeded after more than a year of determined protest and a number of arrests). And the Counties, Cities and Towns Subcommittee of the Virginia General Assembly also made the list, revealing how “six state legislators you’ve probably never heard of” had the power to block legislation that would give Charlottesville local control over its own monuments.

Of Mayor Nikuyah Walker, we wrote: “While some wish she’d stop trash-talking the town in national media outlets (meanwhile refusing multiple interview requests from C-VILLE), Walker is keen to point out the ugly history and lingering inequities that exist beneath Charlottesville’s lovely façade.”

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Why are Charlottesville cops still driving this car?

This Dodge Challenger, seen here in June, is part of CPD's fleet.

Whether you were on Fourth Street that afternoon or not, you know the car: the low-slung gray muscle car with the distinctive brake lights that James Fields used to murder Heather Heyer and injure dozens of others on August 12, 2017.

From video footage and the shocking photograph that won local photographer Ryan Kelly a Pulitzer Prize, the car, a Dodge Challenger, became deeply associated with the terror of that day. Which is why one of our reporters was startled to see a strikingly similar car—another gray Dodge Challenger—with a Charlottesville Police Department decal, on a local street in June.

Police department spokesperson Tyler Hawn confirmed the car is part of the department’s fleet, adding that it was acquired well before August 2017.

Activist Rosia Parker says that when she saw the car, in the police department garage, it “gave me triggers” back to the attack. She raised the issue at a City Council meeting on July 16, 2018, but says she received no response.

A year later, on the way to James Fields’ sentencing, survivor Marcus Martin, who is pictured flying over the back of the car in Kelly’s photograph, said he had seen a similar car on the way to the courtroom and “it all came back.”

In reply to C-VILLE’s questions, Police Chief RaShall Brackney noted that the police department’s car is branded with the logo for the Special Olympics of Virginia Law Enforcement Torch Run and Polar Plunge events, and “this symbolic gesture is appreciated my many members of the local and state community.” Police participate in the events to raise money for athletes with special needs.

In addition to the Special Olympics logo, the roof of the car is emblazoned with what appears to be “thin blue line” iconography, which is commonly used to show support for law enforcement, but which some have argued is meant to show opposition to the Black Lives Matter movement. A thin blue line flag was among the flags carried by Unite the Right protesters at the August 12 rally.

“If the community feels threatened by the presence of this car, and request it be removed from our fleet, we would work toward an amicable solution,” Brackney said.

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Opinion The Editor's Desk

This Week, 7/24

In almost six years of living in Charlottesville, I’ve had two noteworthy encounters with the police.

The first time was several years ago, when I left my wallet on the curb in Woolen Mills (don’t ask). A CPD officer not only noticed it and picked it up, he found my email address online and then delivered the wallet to my front door that night. He saved me a trip to the station and both of us the hassle of paperwork, and waved away my effusive thanks.

The second time was August 12, 2017, when I watched a gang of white supremacists attack a woman standing near me on the sidewalk in front of the Methodist church, and ran to the nearest cop for help. It was 9 in the morning, and the church’s parking lot was supposed to be a safe space.

“Aren’t you going to do something?” I asked, panicked. “I’m not getting involved in that,”the female officer told me, shaking her head. “There’s guys down there,” she added, indicating the heavily-outfitted Virginia State Police massed at the end of the block. “They’ll handle it.”

They didn’t. When the young men in the white T-shirts pulled away, the woman was on the ground with blood pouring from her head. The attackers bounded off through the parking lot, practically skipping, exultant and gleeful. Nobody stopped them.

“I can see where the department or law enforcement may not have lived up to the expectations of the community,” Charlottesville Police Chief RaShall Brackney tells us about August 12.

She didn’t work here then, and she’s not to blame for what happened. But she is responsible for repairing the trust that the department lost that day. One of the most basic places to start is the Police Civilian Review Board, but Brackney says she doesn’t understand the need for the board, and her relationship with it has been contentious.

Bridging the gap between my two stories, between two very different images of the police, may be an impossible task, and the verbal abuse Brackney has suffered as the public face of the department would be hard for anyone to deal with. But until the police show real accountability for their failures and a real willingness to listen to those who have been hurt, that public anger isn’t likely to go away.

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Where’s McFadden? Emotional plea from family of missing teen

LaTasha Dennis, center, Sage Smith's mother, says she can't get closure until she finds her chlld, missing for over six years. She's with her husband, James Dennis, and Sage's sister, Eanna Langston, at a June 27 press conference. staff photo

The family of Dashad, aka Sage, Smith made a moving, at times tearful request for help in finding the man last seen with the teen missing since 2012, while urging the community to not get hung up on pronouns or the name by which Smith is identified.

 At a June 27 press conference, Charlottesville police renewed efforts to find Erik McFadden, 28, the last person to see Smith six-and-a-half years ago on November 20, 2012, on the 500 block of West Main Street.

Smith, who was known to many as Sage, was expected for Thanksgiving two days later, and when she didn’t show up, the family called police. The case was initially treated as a missing person. In November 2016, police reclassified it as a homicide.

Erik McFadden. photo Charlottesville police

Police briefly made contact with McFadden, but he failed to show up for a scheduled interview, said Captain Jim Mooney. McFadden has not been seen since, allegedly even by family members. Yesterday Mooney filed a missing person report on behalf of McFadden’s mother, who said she didn’t realize her son had disappeared until 2014, and assumed his father would have reported him missing.

Mooney listed a handful of cities along the East Coast where McFadden may have traveled or lived, including Baltimore and Joppa, Maryland, Lake City and Columbia, South Carolina, Rochester, New York, and Atlanta, although he could be at unknown locations on the West Coast as well.

Smith’s sister, Eanna Langston, was 14 when her sibling disappeared. Now 20, she mourns the milestones he’s missed (the family used male pronouns to refer to Smith). “Our hearts are hurting, our hearts are heavy with pain,” she said, at times in tears. “At 19 he was taken from us without any explanation, and he hasn’t been given any justice.”

Detective Regine Wright, who is leading the investigation, addressed the use of pronouns and names for Smith, about which both police and local media have been castigated. 

photos Charlottesville police

Smith’s family members told her that Sage “loved being a woman,” said Wright. “I also understand Sage was comfortable being a man.” According to the family, Smith also was comfortable being called his given name, Dashad, or Sage, said Wright. Smith’s grandmother, Lolita “Cookie” Smith, who died May 3, told Wright that whether dressed like a man or a woman, Sage “just wanted to look fly.”

CPD will refer to Smith as Sage and avoid using pronouns, said the detective, although at times the department will have to refer to Smith as Dashad in the search for his body. According to family members, Smith was still exploring gender identity at the time of the teen’s disappearance, said Wright, and she asked for patience “because we’re human and we make mistakes.”

Sage’s mother, LaTasha Dennis, urged people to not get bogged down about pronouns in the search for her missing child. “I’m in a situation where I can’t grieve,” she said. “I just need closure.”

She added, “Stay focused on my son.”

A $20,000 reward is offered for information leading to an arrest in the case, and anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Wright at 434-970-3381, or call the anonymous CrimeStoppers tip line at 434-977-4000.  

 

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Epic fail: Heaphy investigation finds plenty of blame

Tim Heaphy summarizes his findings of government response to the summer of hate. Staff photo

 

Since the August 12 Unite the Right rally that left three people dead, Charlottesville residents have asked where the police were that day and why Fourth Street was open so that a neo-Nazi from Ohio could plow into a group of counterprotesters, injuring dozens and killing Heather Heyer. The release of former U.S. attorney Tim Heaphy’s 207-page report today offered some answers, with the use of the word “failure” 44 times.

Police were stationed behind barricades and while they were not given “stand down” instructions, says Heaphy, they were told to intervene only in instances of serious violence.

The report confirmed word that had been going around since August 12: A school resource officer was stationed alone at the intersection of Fourth Street NE and Market Street. When an unlawful assembly was declared and protesters flooded from emancipation Park into Market Street to clash with counterprotesters, the officer feared for her safety and was relieved of her post—leaving only a wooden sawhorse to block Fourth Street.

Heaphy pulled in four additional full-time lawyers, reviewed half a million documents and interviewed 150 witnesses, racking up what would be $1.5 million in legal fees, had his firm, Hunton & Williams, not agreed to undertake the review for $350,000.

“It was truly an independent review,” says Heaphy at today’s press conference. “I wouldn’t have undertaken it if it was not.” He stresses that he was “quite critical of the city.”

Heaphy outlined three major areas of failure: preparation, communication and protection of public safety.

The plan was to have the rally declared an unlawful assembly, and one officer told Heaphy that during the brawling on Market Street, police Chief Al Thomas said, “Let them fight for a little while” because that makes it “easier to declare an unlawful assembly.”

Thomas comes under additional fire in the report for failing to “exercise functional control of VSP forces despite his role as overall incident commander.” As the rally drew closer, he displayed a “hunkered down” mentality in refusing to consider alternate plans, and insisted Albemarle County police refused to offer assistance, an account county officers contradicted.

During the course of Heaphy’s investigation, Thomas attempted to limit the information Heaphy requested, deleted text messages, as did other command staff, and used a personal email account to conduct official police business, then denied doing so in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, according to the report.

“Chief Thomas’s attempts to influence our review illustrate a deeper issue within CPD—a fear of retribution for criticism,” says the review.

The attitude of city police, says Heaphy, was, “we’ve got this.” And while some officers talked to their peers in other cities that had experienced violent clashes, like Pikeville, Kentucky, and Portland, Oregon, that information did not factor into the city’s operational plan.

Rather than being in the midst of protesters, city cops were behind barricades, and when it became necessary to don protective gear, they had to retreat to another location to put on equipment some of them had never used before, says the report.

The alignment of police—and the lack of any being stationed at points of ingress and egress at the park—was a “recipe for disaster,” says Heaphy.

Virginia State Police sent 600 officers, helicopters and equipment, yet had their own operational plan that was not shared with city police. The state police were there to protect Emancipation Park, says Heaphy, and one VSP commander said about the violence around the park, “We’re not going into that mess,” according to Heaphy.

And the lack of a unified command—not even using the same radio frequency—was “horribly inefficient,” says Heaphy.

City Council, led by Mayor Mike Signer, also had a role in further complicating matters by caving to constituent pressure and making a last-minute decision to move the rally to McIntire Park, despite nearly unanimous advice that such a move would not withstand a legal challenge.

By interjecting itself into what “should be an operational decision,” says Heaphy, council created “further uncertainty” about where the event would be held and spread police resources even further.

“City Council should have been the mouthpiece in saying what the law says,” Heaphy says.

While the August 11 torch-lit march through UVA was not the responsibility of the city, it did have a “direct effect” on what happened the next day, he says.

University Police’s “soft response” to the alt-righters surrounding counterprotesters at the statue of Thomas Jefferson made a lot of people who were not planning to go the the August 12 rally decide to show up to defy the white nationalist and neo-Nazi presence, he says, while it “emboldened” the Unite the Righers.

The fundamental goals of government, says Heaphy, are to preserve free speech and public safety. “The city failed and it was not able to protect that fundamental right,” he says.

In a statement, City Manager Maurice Jones says that while the city does not agree with every aspect of Heaphy’s findings, he does acknowledge that the city and “our law enforcement partner in the Virginia State Police undoubtedly fell short of expectations, and for that we are profoundly sorry.

“This report is one critical step in helping this community heal and move forward after suffering through this summer of hate.”

Jones says he will present an action plan to City Council Monday night.

Read more in next week’s C-Ville Weekly.

 

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In brief: August 11 bombshells, sexual harassment and more

Neo Nazis, alt-righters and white supremacists encircle counter protestors at the base of a statue of Thomas Jefferson after marching through the University of Virginia campus with torches on August 11, 2017. (Credit Image: © Zach D Roberts/NurPhoto via ZUMA Press)

What UVA knew

Through a public records request, the Chronicle of Higher Education obtained nearly 3,000 documents from the University of Virginia before, during and after the notorious August 11 tiki-torch march through Grounds. “Together, the emails shed light on the mentality of a university administration and a campus police force that were caught off guard by a throng of white supremacists who used one of the nation’s premier public institutions as the staging ground for a demonstration reminiscent of Nazi Germany and the worst days of the Ku Klux Klan,” writes reporter Jack Stripling in his November 20 article.

The biggest bombshells

They might come as tourists. “Of course we anticipate that some of them will be interested merely in seeing Mr. Jefferson’s architecture and Lawn,” President Teresa Sullivan wrote the Board of Visitors in an email on August 9, two days before the Friday night march.

The Cassandra figure. Captain Donald McGee with university police warned his supervisors August 8 that there could be a repeat of the tiki-torch march held in May and the Rotunda and Lawn might be targeted because white nationalist Richard Spencer is a UVA alum.

If charcoal grills are allowed… McGee noted that the torches were a fire hazard, but university police were unaware they could enforce UVA’s open flame policy.

Blame the victims. Sullivan was famously videoed chastising a student for not telling the administration what the Unite the Righters’ plans were. “Don’t expect us to be reading the alt-right websites,” said the president. But student and faculty warnings appeared unheeded.

Call the first lady. Religious studies prof Jalane Schmidt heard chatter about a march Friday afternoon, but fearing she wouldn’t be taken seriously because she’s an activist, she notified Mayor Mike Signer’s wife, Emily Blout, an assistant media studies professor, who said UVA knew since 3pm and that she “went to the top.”

We’ve got this covered. University Police Chief Mike Gibson expressed confidence that the upcoming situation was under control when offered assistance from the city and county police, which kept officers nearby on standby. When the march started, one lone UVA officer was spotted on the Lawn.

Eli Mosley lied? The Unite the Right security guy, Identity Evropa’s Mosley, told UVA police the group assembling at Nameless Field was smaller than he expected, would march up University Avenue and not through Grounds—and would pick up its trash.

“In my 47 years of association with the University, this was the worst thing I have seen unfold on the Lawn and at the Rotunda. Nothing else even comes close.” —Professor and Lawn resident Larry Sabato in an email to Sullivan August 11 after the neo-Nazi march through Grounds.

 

 

 

In brief

And so it begins…

Cramer Photos

National Book Award winner and UVA creative writing professor John Casey is the focus of a Title IX complaint filed by former MFA student Emma Eisenberg, who alleges he touched her “inappropriately” at social functions, didn’t call on her in class and referred to women using the c-word. Casey is preparing a response, according to NBC29.

White power playbook

The apparently bogus UVA White Student Union posted a screed on Facebook that’s almost exactly the same as one posted for hoax organizations in 2015 at more than 30 schools, including UC Berkeley, Penn State and NYU. UVA says the owner of the page is likely not a UVA community member, and the White Student Union is not an official school organization, the Cav Daily reports.

“I felt like [August 12] was so volatile and it changed the mood of the whole country. My thought was: If these men aren’t held accountable, it will convey the message nationally that you can beat the life out of someone and just get away with it.”—Shaun King on why he dedicated himself to identifying violent alt-righters from the rally, as reported by the Daily Progress

Citizen oversight

City Council gave the go-ahead November 20 for a civilian review board to look at complaints against the Charlottesville Police Department or its officers.

City and county oversight

The Albemarle Board of Supervisors and City Council seek seats on the board of the Charlottesville Albemarle Convention and Visitors Bureau, to which they contribute more than $1.7 million in tax dollars. The current bureau hired Clean, a Raleigh, North Carolina, advertising agency, according to the Progress. Previously, the now-defunct Payne Ross handled advertising.

Tired of vigils

Martyn Kyle

Five years ago, just before Thanksgiving, Sage Smith headed to West Main to meet Erik McFadden and was never seen again. Earlier this year, Charlottesville police declared the case a homicide and named McFadden a person of interest. Smith’s grandmother, Cookie Smith, told the Daily Progress she’s tired of candlelight vigils and was organizing a sock drive for the homeless.

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United we stand: Charlottesville says no to hate

Members of the clergy link arms with counterprotesters in front of Emancipation Park Saturday, August 12, as alt-right groups of white nationalists arrive in waves. Photo by Natalie Krovetz

It was the day that kept getting worse. The weekend from hell. Like many of you, C-VILLE Weekly is still processing Saturday’s violation from ill-intentioned visitors with antiquated notions who now believe it’s okay to say in broad daylight what they’ve only uttered in the nether regions of the internet.

The Unite the Right rally left three people dead and countless injured, both physically and psychologically. We, too, share the sorrow, despair and disgust from being slimed by hate.

But here’s one thing we know: Despite the murder, the assaults and the terror inflicted upon this community, Charlottesville said no to hate. And the world, it turns out, has our back.

We sent six reporters and two photographers out to document the August 12 rally at Emancipation Park, the community events taking place around it and the weekend of infamy. Here’s a timeline of what we saw and what we felt. Because this? This is our town.

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Historic hire: Al Thomas is Charlottesville’s first black police chief

A big Wahoo fan, new Charlottesville Police Chief Al Thomas, left, says he wanted to make sure the community’s values were compatible with his own before moving here. With Vice-Mayor Wes Bellamy. Staff photo

City Manager Maurice Jones announced Lexington Police Chief Al Thomas as his pick to head the Charlottesville Police Department, and City Council approved Thomas, who is the city’s first black police chief, April 18.

Thomas was one of 63 applicants, says Jones, in a search that was “deep” and involved three rounds of interviews.

And while Thomas said he’s often been the first as an African-American, Mayor Mike Signer said Thomas told him, “I don’t want to be the first, I want to be the best.”

A Lynchburg native, Thomas was named chief of the 25-member Lexington Police Department in 2010. Before that, he was a captain with the Lynchburg Police Department, where he worked for 20 years, most recently as public information officer.

Thomas made national news in 2012 when one of his officers arrested Congressman Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, for public intoxication. Ryan was in Lexington that August for a wedding, and called the charge, which was dismissed in December, “garbage,” according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

There’s a perception among some, including Ryan, that Lexington Police target people for drunk in public charges. “We are a college town,” said Rockbridge and Lexington Commonwealth’s Attorney Robert “Bucky” Joyce. “The cops are always out prowling,” he told the Cleveland paper.

Thomas disputed the contention that his officers seek out alcohol violations because it is a college town, and said the stops are based on a suspect’s behavior and the observations of the officer, the Plain Dealer reported.  “We enforce laws and look for probable cause,” said Thomas.

Charlottesville’s new chief got into hot water in November when he described VMI cadets as “trained killers” to a Washington and Lee journalism class, and said the cadets are “not normal,” the W&L student paper, the Ring-tum Phi, reported.

At a press conference April 18, Thomas said he’s been drawn to communities with a college presence, and the town and gown relationship will be one of his priorities. He also is an adherent of building relationships in the community. “We do that by talking and listening,” he said.

Local civil rights legend Eugene Williams hailed the hiring of an African-American police chief. “I’m elated,” says Williams, who has bemoaned the lack of black supervisors on the police force.

In February, Chief Tim Longo promoted three African-Americans—two lieutenants and one sergeant—and says he’s promoted five black officers to supervisory positions during his 15-year tenure, which ends May 1.

On April 18, the same day City Council voted to approve the hiring of Thomas, Albemarle-Charlottesville NAACP President Rick Turner criticized Albemarle County for not including any African-Americans among its four final candidates to succeed Chief Steve Sellers, whose last day in office is May 31.

All five city councilors were present at the press conference for Thomas. Kristin Szakos noted that of all the groups of citizens, police and senior city staff evaluating candidates, “What was striking was in every group, he was the one who rose to the top.”

Longo said he was “particularly proud” of Thomas, a friend he’s known for a dozen years and who starts the new job May 23. Said Longo, “I’m still going to be a resident of Charlottesville, and I expect the best.”

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Alleged man with gun frightens Venable community

This was the scene for parents arriving at Venable Elementary this morning. Photo Alex Kent

Imagine you’re a parent driving up to your child’s elementary school and seeing it swarming with police cars. That was the scene this morning for moms and dads dropping off their kids at Venable Elementary School after a school employee spotted a man walking down Gordon Avenue with what appeared to be a shotgun.

Charlottesville Police got the call around 7:38am, immediately set up a perimeter and searched the school, nearby Lugo-McGinness Academy and the surrounding neighborhood, according to a release.

Alex Kent lives directly across the street from the school playground and he could hear police sirens as he was waking up. “About 20 feet away I could see a police officer with what was clearly an AR-15-style rifle,” he says. “It was a pretty surprising sight.”

He could see a second officer on the far side of the playground, also with a rifle, but saw nothing that looked like an active threat. “The officers were allowing people to walk by on the sidewalk and traffic was still moving as usual on 14th Street,” he says.

For Lindsay Neal, a police car went racing by her at the light at 14th Street and Grady Avenue as she headed to drop off her 6-year-old daughter, Ellie, a kindergartener at Venable. At the school, a teacher opened the car door and said, “Everything’s okay. We’re getting the kids in the classroom,” says Neal.

“I’m freaked out,” she says. “I kept seeing my daughter walking up the sidewalk into the school.” And she overheard a teacher say, “Are we on lockdown?”

Says Neal, “I didn’t know what to do.” She called her husband and circled around the block. The scene was chaotic, and she says she didn’t want to contribute to the confusion. Then she saw a cop near the parking lot in back of the school with a large rifle.

“That’s when I called my husband crying on the phone, saying, ‘It’s real,'” she says. She pulled over and called the school. After being put on hold, she talked to a counselor who was very reassuring. “He said, ‘This is very precautionary. There’s a police presence inside and out.'”

Neal says she felt confident in the staff at Venable. “I trust [Principal] Erin Kershner,” she says. “I trust her wholeheartedly.”

She says the school called her twice before noon with general updates.

Police say they’ll continue patrols around Venable and around other city schools.

Neal still wants to know about the man with the gun. “That’s so scary to me,” she says. “I had to really fight my instinct to go get my daughter.”

*The article’s original title was changed at 1:52pm March 30.

 

 

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Sage’s grandmother beseeches City Council

Sage Smith. Photos courtesy Charlottesville police

A couple of grim anniversaries were noted on September 13: the one-year anniversary of the disappearance of 18-year-old UVA student Hannah Graham, and five years since 19-year-old Orange resident Samantha Clarke vanished. Her last known contact was with Randy Taylor, the man convicted in 2014 for the murder of missing teen Alexis Murphy.

The grandmother of another missing teen, Sage Smith, 19, came before City Council September 8 to remind councilors it’s coming up on the three-year anniversary of Smith’s disappearance.

“I just want to put you on warning,” said Lolita “Cookie” Smith. “I’m going to be in your face every time you look around.”

Cookie Smith said she has undergone triple bypass surgery and has suffered from the stress of Sage’s disappearance. “I can’t understand, for the life of me, why these other people’s cases can’t be solved, but these white girls can be.”

Asked Smith, “What makes one life more valuable? I don’t understand. It’s killing me.”

Smith begged for answers. “Help me,” she said. “That’s my baby out there and I’m asking y’all, please do something.”

Smith had left by the time councilors responded to public comment. “I could feel Ms. Smith’s pain and know there could be nothing worse than losing a child,” said Kristin Szakos.

“Our police department has put in as many hours on this case as it has on the cases that have been solved,” she said. “It’s heartbreaking, but not every case is solved.”

Sage, a transgender black woman, was last seen November 20, 2012, on West Main Street after making plans to meet an acquaintance. She has never been found, nor has Clarke or Murphy.