Wednesday, May 15, 2002
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Wednesday, May 15, 2002 |
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Top deputy suspended, demoted in chase case By JOHN MUNFORD
A top official at the Fayette County Sheriff's Department will be demoted for "mishandling evidence" relating to the March arrest of twin brothers who led police on a chase through Fayetteville after the armed robbery of a grocery store. (See related stories on this page.) Ken Rose, an 18-year veteran of the department, will be demoted two ranks from major to lieutenant, confirmed sheriff's Maj. Bruce Jordan. Rose is serving a weeklong suspension without pay at the discretion of Sheriff Randall Johnson based on incomplete results of a pending internal affairs investigation, Jordan confirmed. The investigation, which has not been completed, revealed that Rose withheld a video from a sheriff's patrol unit that depicted a deputy using physical force to handcuff one of the armed robbery suspects, according to sources. Upon his return, Rose will be reassigned to the metro area customs task force, Jordan said. The position was previously vacant, and the department participates to assist with federal investigations which relate to Fayette County. Rose, who previously served as head of the department's patrol division, has been replaced on an interim basis by Capt. Tommy Nations, Jordan said. There will be no change in the level of service to local residents, Jordan added. District Attorney William McBroom, who has viewed a copy of the tape showing the physical arrest, said he will wait for the final results of the department's internal affairs investigation before deciding how to proceed. The FBI has also reviewed a copy of the tape, McBroom confirmed. Rose was initially suspended with pay, but that changed to an unpaid suspension after the sheriff determined evidence in the internal affairs investigation substantiated claims that Rose withheld evidence. "We don't feel like he has done anything criminally wrong," Jordan said. "We just punished him administratively." The deputy who used physical force on armed robbery suspect, Melvin Mitchell, 22, told investigators that Mitchell refused to show his hands after being ordered to do so, Jordan said. At the time, officers believed Mitchell might have been hiding a weapon, Jordan said. The physical force used by the deputy was appropriate and no action was taken against him, Jordan said last week. Mitchell was attempting to evade capture on foot after wrecking the car he drove away from the Ingles grocery store in south Fayetteville after it was robbed at gunpoint, police said. An attorney for Mitchell who was later charged with murder because his vehicle struck and killed another motorist claimed police brutally beat him while making the arrest. "Look at his face," attorney Dwight Thomas told a throng of reporters and television cameras after a recent hearing in Fayette County Magistrate Court.
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