Man pleads to deadly assault at PTC bar

Thu, 03/12/2009 - 3:35pm
By: The Citizen

A Fairburn man pled guilty Wednesday to involuntary manslaughter for an assault that left another man dead outside a Peachtree City nightclub in June 2008.

Jeremy Scott, 23, of Elder Street, Fairburn, was sentenced to five years in prison followed by 10 years probation by Fayette County Superior Court Judge Paschal A. English Jr. Scott also pled guilty to one count of aggravated battery.

Police said the assault occurred at closing time in the parking lot of The Red Room when Scott struck Devan Abercrombie, 32, of Hampton, causing his head to strike the pavement.

Abercrombie died in a downtown Atlanta hospital of a brain injury one week after the assault, officials said.

Police initially arrested Scott on a murder charge, but he was indicted on the manslaughter and battery charge instead.
District Attorney Scott Ballard said while Scott didn’t intend to kill Abercrombie, the victim would be alive had Scott not punched him.

“There’s no question his actions led to the death of this person,” Ballard said.

An autopsy determined that Abercrombie’s cause of death was the blow to the back of his head that occurred when his head struck the ground after the punch from Scott, Ballard said. The punch itself didn’t do much damage to where the blow landed on the side of his face, Ballard added.

The plea was negotiated with the DA’s office, Ballard confirmed. One of several reasons for taking a plea in the case was due to the different stories several witnesses told of how the altercation began in the first place, Ballard noted.

Police said at the outset of the investigation that it was difficult to investigate because it was difficult to find credible witnesses since many people at the scene had been drinking.

A witness told The Citizen that Abercrombie was “sucker punched” in the side of his jaw during the assault.

The altercation occurred after Abercrombie intervened on behalf of a friend who was “being picked on” by seven or eight guys,” according to Kristin White, 23, of Fayetteville, a a friend of Abercrombie’s.

The owner of The Red Room, Jamie Gagarin, several days after the assault denied a statement of White’s that as the altercation spilled from the inside of the bar to the outdoors that Red Room security personnel said once the combatants were off their property, the incident was “Peachtree City’s problem” and not theirs.

White claimed that the security staff at the establishment “stood at the gate and watched the whole thing” instead of intervening.

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Submitted by Fuzzy13 on Sun, 06/28/2009 - 7:43pm.

First off let me start by saying I was a very very close friend of Devans. First off everything that Kristin said was true. She sat there and held the back of Devan's head with a towel trying to stop the bleeding. She doesn't drink due to the fact that she is a diabetic so anything she stated at the time was stated while not under the influence. And for this garbage about Devan going up to the group of black guys and calling them the N word,well let me just say that Devan had a tremendous amount of respect for people and would have never used such a word. I'm sure words were said. I mean he stepped in on a large group of black guys picking on a skinny ass white kid so im sure of course words were said. And regardless of what was said, does that give someone a reason to hit someone when they are not looking? That's coward. This story has been looked at from one side because there is only one side. Lets see. Scott had a numerous amount of background charges including drugs,weapons and armed robbery. That right there shows you what kind of person that is. Devan had his faults to but nothing criminal or persuasive that would indicate that he was a violent person. And from knowing him for many many years I personally know that anytime that he was in a fight, it was always and I mean always self protection. The owner of that bar denied those allegations made about security and whatnot in fear of his business. Trust me. That is the truth. I can't say how i know it is but I'll just leave it at that. But in the long run mercy was taken on the African criminal for what reasons I will never know. 5 years for killing someone, though unintentional, but with a very massive dangerous record. When is enough enough? Are we gonna keep letting violent people back on the streets. This guy will be out in half his time if not less. FOR KILLING SOMEONE. What part of that is right? If it was a white guy that accidentally punched a black guy and caused his death the NAACP wouldn't stop until that white guy either had life or the death penalty. That's a fact. You see it on the news and media everyday about the NACCP protecting the guilty Africans. This world is f'd up and bad. And the ones that get off easy are usually the cause. English and Ballard will rot in hell. Not just because of this but because of another case from which involved my Girlfriend and a black man. And lets just say my Girlfriend got the s***** end of the deal. I'm done.

Submitted by Bonkers on Sun, 06/28/2009 - 8:07pm.

Stay out of those places where such stuff and such pitiful people congregate and you will not have all of these troubles.
Might pick your girl friends better also and keep them out.

Check the Georgia jail ststistics if you will and you will find the jails are mostly full of blacks, although they are less than 25% of the population. If, as you say, they are getting away with it, there must be a lot more not found!

There are ten times as many white crooks as black or yellow, but they have better lawyers and are smarter about their crookedness. No crippling or wounding or killing if possible.

The big difference and the reason we have more fear is the vicious nature of the black crime-physical stuff.

sniffles5's picture
Submitted by sniffles5 on Fri, 03/13/2009 - 11:11am.

I noticed the Citizen is once again giving this Kristin White person a soapbox to espouse her view of what happened. Yup, her "sucker punch" and "picked on" quotes made it into the copy. Funny how the "black guy used brass knuckles" quote didn't make the grade this time.

I guess length restrictions kept you from quoting the other side's witness, Nick Penson, who posted his side of the altercation in the Citizen blogs. You know, the one where the black guys were ignoring Devan until Devan got his drunken mug right up in someone's face and started using the "N-word".

You might have made a tad more effort in the "fair and balanced" reporting department, Citizen.

In any event, this sad tale played out exactly how I predicted it would last July. LINK


stonecold's picture
Submitted by stonecold on Fri, 03/13/2009 - 11:36am.

The guy got sent to prison for killing someone and deservedly so, anybody that "sucker punches" someone is a coward.


matt.barnes's picture
Submitted by matt.barnes on Fri, 03/13/2009 - 11:24am.

Thats true. The two articles published in the Citizen have been incredibly one-sided. Did they interveiw anybody else besides Ms. White? Her side did not make complete sense to me. She puts a lot of blame on the security for not reacting fast enough. But she also says that this was a one hit "sucker puch". HOw could the security of reacted fast enough to that? Also, why didn't she call 911 herself?

Where did you hear the drunk "N-Word" part? Thar seems like a pretty big event to leave out of the story.


sniffles5's picture
Submitted by sniffles5 on Fri, 03/13/2009 - 11:41am.

Here you go (LINK)

Reading through that thread, you'll also see Ms. White promoting her "sucker punch" and "brass knuckles" theories back then.

You'll note that the Red Room owner categorically denied words that Ms. White attributed to him.

But I agree with you, leaving out the "fighting words" aspect of the story is not the best journalmalism.


getalifeppl's picture
Submitted by getalifeppl on Fri, 03/13/2009 - 10:54am.

The security works at the bar not in the parking lot. From my understanding these guys are paid hourly to check ID's & keep people form getting hurt & safe inside the bar. They do not carry a gun nor do they have any authority to put their hands on people or put theirselves in danger. People yelling at each other outside the bar happens at every bar, every weekend no matter where you are. If this guy was scared or worried about being jumped or hurt he should have went back inside or called the police. This kid lost his life because of stupidity & ignorance aka "THUGS" NOT lack of Body gaurds! The first call reported to 911 was directly to dispatch from the Red Room security. How do you interven on one punch? Maybe the bartender should have ran out & taken the punch for him since she served the alcohol !!!!!!!!!
The whole incident lasted less than one minute - there was no fight inside and the Dumbass who hit poor Devon, was kicked out because he was grabbing girls inside the bar . The security did thier job by removing this guy-they CANNOT control what goes on in the parking lot.This type of stuff happens weekly at the Tavern and now at McGuires ... its only a matter of time!


Submitted by skyspy on Thu, 03/12/2009 - 8:55pm.

Let's throw him in with the pilot beast. Maybe some good will come out of it.

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