Pubdate: Thu, 31 Mar 2005
Source: Dundalk Eagle, The (MD)
Copyright: The Dundalk Eagle 2005
Contact:  http://www.dundalkeagle.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1781
Author: Joseph M. Giordano
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

PETITION REFLECTS ANGUISH

Friends, family seek to protect Noel's reputation

Neighbors and friends of Cheryl Noel, the Gray Haven woman who was shot to
death by a police officer in January during a drug raid at her house, have
banded together in an attempt to protect her character.

After reading and seeing media reports about the incident, a close friend of
the Noel family and Cheryl's supervisor, Robert Raspi of St. Helena, decided
it was time to start a petition.

"Cheryl Noel was a great person," Raspi said Monday. "The petition was to
let people know that."

In Raspi's petition, which he began circulating on Jan. 28, seven days after
the fatal shooting, he described the 44-year-old woman as "a co-worker you
could depend on" and "a mentor to the children of her neighborhood."

Raspi's petition, he said, is a result of news coverage portraying Noel as
someone who approached police pointing a gun.

"Only God really knows what went down in that room," Raspi said. "But I
believe the police may have overreacted."

Just before 5 a.m. on Jan. 21, officers from the Baltimore County Police
Tactical Unit were serving a search and seizure warrant related to a
narcotics investigation at Noel's home in the 8100 block of Del Haven Road
when two officers approached the bedroom door on the second floor.

This is where Raspi and others - including Noel's son, Jacob, who wrote a
letter to The Eagle expressing outrage at the way police handled the
incident - take issue with some news accounts of what happened.

"[Some accounts] reported that she came to the door with a gun," Raspi said.
"That was wrong."

Raspi may be referring to statements by Ofc. Shawn Vinson, a Baltimore
County police spokesman. In a WJZ-TV report on Jan. 22, Vinson said "When
[police] were inside the house, they were approached by a woman threatening
them with a handgun and subsequently she was shot," according to an archived
version of the broadcast on the station's Web site.

On Feb. 21, the Baltimore County State's Attorney's Office concluded an
investigation into the shooting and ruled that the police were justified in
their actions, according to Vinson.

Assistant State's Attorney Steve Bailey, who handled the investigation, was
on vacation earlier this week and could not be reached for comment,
according to his offfice.

The now-official version of events, according to Vinson, states that
"officers approached the door to the upstairs bedroom. When they opened the
door, Noel was pointing a gun at them. One officer fired three shots,
killing her."

Police said the officers were acting on a warrant based on a tip they
received, but have released no more details about the raid.

Raspi managed to gather 200 names, most from Noel's office at the Back River
Waste Water Treatment Plant, for his petition, which he hoped would let
people know the real Cheryl Noel.

"It's a sad injustice, the way [the raid] went down," Raspi said. "But words
alone can't describe what a wonderful person Cheryl Noel was to those who
knew her."

Police charged Noel's husband, Charles, 51, with two counts of possession of
black powder - possessing any amount over five pounds is illegal in
Baltimore County- and single counts of possession of marijuana and drug
paraphernalia.

Noel's other son, Matthew, and Sarah Betz, both 19, were arrested during the
raid and were also charged with possession of drug paraphernalia and
possession of marijuana, according to Vinson.

All were later released on their own recognizance, Vinson said, and are
scheduled to appear in Baltimore County District Court on July 14.

Charles Noel declined to comment on the petition or the incident.