Pubdate: Thu, 23 Aug 2001
Source: Winston-Salem Journal (NC)
Copyright: 2001 Piedmont Publishing Co. Inc.
Contact:  http://www.journalnow.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/504
Author: Victoria Cherrie, JOURNAL REPORTER

ARREST WILL BE PROBED BY SBI

Witnesses Say That Two Deputies Beat Suspect In The Head

The SBI has been called in to investigate allegations of excessive force by 
two Forsyth County sheriff's deputies during their arrest of a man early 
Sunday morning.

Nakia Miguel Glenn was in critical condition last night at Forsyth Medical 
Center. He has been in a coma since shortly after he was pulled over just 
after 3 at 21st Street and Cleveland Avenue. The sheriff's office has said 
that the deputies acted appropriately after a routine traffic stop, but 
some witnesses say that the officers beat Glenn in the head with 
flashlights. At the hospital, doctors found a wad of cocaine lodged in his 
throat.

Sheriff Ron Barker and Tom Keith, the Forsyth County district attorney, 
requested the investigation, which will be conducted by State Bureau of 
Investigation agents who aren't based in Winston-Salem.

"After our initial review of this and considering the serious condition of 
Mr. Glenn, we feel it is in the best interest of the community to have an 
inquiry conducted by an outside agency," said Assistant Sheriff Allen 
Gentry of the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office.

An internal investigation also is under way, said Col. Danny Tuttle, a 
spokesman for Barker. But the two deputies, S.D. Wells and G.L. Simpson, 
are still on duty, according to the department.

Wells was cleared of any wrongdoing in January after an incident in which 
residents on 22nd Street complained of excessive force in the arrest of 
Confucious Ledrell Patterson. Patterson, 20, faced numerous charges, 
including fleeing to elude arrest and two counts of trafficking cocaine.

In that case, the sheriff said that his deputies, who were acting on a tip 
about drug sales, were not out of line. He showed videotapes from 
patrol-car cameras that he said supported the deputies' actions.

The sheriff's office would not release videotapes from cameras in the two 
patrol cars that initiated the stop on Cleveland Avenue. Tapes of police 
and paramedic radio traffic during the incident also are not being released 
because of the pending investigation, Keith said.

The sheriff's office said that two deputies who work on its Highway 
Interdiction Team spotted Glenn driving erratically and they pulled him 
over. Gentry declined to answer questions about the officer's actions, 
including where they began following Glenn. Friends and relatives said that 
Glenn was coming from a club in southern Winston-Salem.

The deputies - one in a Camaro and the other in a Crown Victoria with a 
police dog in back - typically spend most of their time on Interstate 40 
and U.S. 52. The unit's main objective is to enforce traffic laws.

Sheriff's deputies routinely make arrests in Winston-Salem, said Assistant 
Chief Pat Norris of the Winston-Salem Police Department. She said that the 
agencies occasionally work together on cases "but they are not bound to 
tell us what they are doing."

During the traffic stop, deputies told Glenn to get out of the car, put his 
hands on the trunk and spread his legs, according to witnesses. He balked 
when they began to handcuff him after they had initially told him that he 
wasn't under arrest, said Christopher Peoples, a cousin who said he watched 
the incident from his house at 1206 E. 21st St.

As deputies were attempting to handcuff Glenn, the passenger in the car 
left. At some point during the incident, one deputy called on his dog to 
subdue Glenn, who bit the dog in the face. During the scuffle, Glenn also 
bit a deputy on the hand, according to the sheriff's office.

The sheriff's office said that Glenn then ran to the passenger seat of the 
Pontiac. But Peoples said that his cousin was crawling away from the dog 
and the deputies, who beat him in the back of the head with flashlights.

It is not clear when Glenn swallowed the cocaine.

Peoples said that Glenn was talking clearly and cooperating with deputies 
just after being pulled over. "They asked for his driver's license, and he 
gave one to them," Peoples said. But Glenn appeared to be unconscious 
before an ambulance arrived, according to Peoples and others who gathered 
at the scene.

Deputies requested an ambulance at 3:24 a.m., said Neal Sizemore, the 
Forsyth County communications supervisor. The request was labeled "10-18" 
in police-radio talk, or "an urgent matter." The paramedics left the scene 
at 3:50, Sizemore said.

Doctors removed the bag of cocaine from Glenn's throat when they tried to 
clear an airway in the emergency room at Forsyth Medical Center, according 
to the sheriff's office. Glenn stopped breathing several times and remains 
on a ventilator, according to family members.

Glenn also suffered from a wound in the back of his head, which required 
surgical staples, his relatives said.

He was charged with driving while impaired, Tuttle said. No other charges 
had been filed last night.

During his arrest, deputies called the sheriff's office for backup. They 
also got help from Winston-Salem police officers, who filed 14 reports on 
the incident, Norris said.

Glenn is on probation after serving time in prison on drug charges.

He was most recently convicted in April 1999 and was released in January 
2000, said Keith Acree, a spokesman for the N.C. Department of Correction.
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