Pubdate: Thu, 29 Sep 2005
Source: Nashville Scene (TN)
Copyright: 2005 Nashville Scene.
Contact:  http://www.nashscene.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2409
Author: John Spragens
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

HOMICIDE NO. 71?

A Man Dies After A Violent Confrontation With Police, And It Comes At 
A Bad Time For Chief Serpas

On Sept. 21-the night before a young man went into cardiac arrest 
outside the Mercy Lounge-police responded to a call about an unruly 
person at the bar and music venue. In this case, the man who called 
the cops alleged that a bouncer at the Mercy Lounge had gotten too 
physical with him as he removed the clubber from the premises for bad 
behavior. According to a police report, Officer Jason Cregan arrived 
sometime after 10:40 p.m. and talked with the man, who said he 
thought he was supposed to work at the club that night. The bouncer 
disagreed, and a physical struggle ensued. Due to conflicting 
versions of events, the police officer didn't make an arrest, but 
sources say he told club personnel that when they have a problem 
patron (or would-be employee), they shouldn't take matters into their 
own hands; instead, call the cops.

The next night, faced with a disobedient customer, club managers 
followed those instructions and called police.

The man ended up dead.

The violent incident-in which multiple police officers Tasered, 
pepper-sprayed and baton-beat the young man-comes at a particularly 
bad time for Police Chief Ronal Serpas, who last week made news for 
presiding over Nashville's highest murder rate in seven years.

In 2004, according to federal statistics, the city saw an overall 
rise in violent crime (though a drop in murder) and a drop in property crime.

This year, according to Metro's numbers, Nashville finds itself on 
track to score just the opposite: an overall drop in violent crime 
with a spike in murders and a rise in property crime.

The newly announced police chief vacancy in New Orleans is looking 
better already.

After kicking 21-year-old Patrick Aaron Lee out of a Dark Star 
Orchestra show, Mercy Lounge employees called police because he was 
acting strangely and trying to re-enter the venue.

What happened next is subject to dispute.

Police say that when they arrived shortly after 11:30 p.m., Lee moved 
too close to a police officer, acted suspiciously and removed his 
shirt and advanced "aggressively." That's when Officer Christopher 
Brooks pepper-sprayed him. Lee, the police contend, removed the rest 
of his clothes and ran through the parking lot nude. Brooks called 
for backup, and Officer Jonathan Mays, among others, responded. Mays 
warned and then Tasered him for "acting in a combative manner." Lee 
fell to the ground.

As they tried to arrest him, police say, Lee squirmed from their 
grasp and tried to flee. Then, according to a press release, another 
officer Tasered him. Then they pepper-sprayed him again. Next, they 
beat his legs with police batons. Still unable to bring him under 
control, the cops delivered at least two more 50,000-volt Taser stuns 
to the young man. Thirteen minutes after Brooks had arrived on the 
scene, according to police, he was in custody. "Due to his bizarre 
behavior," police called for paramedics. Shortly thereafter, Lee went 
into cardiac and respiratory distress; he remained on life support at 
Vanderbilt  until his death on Saturday afternoon.

Lee's friends and family believe that he was killed, unnecessarily, 
by Metro police, and they dispute the department's official account 
of events. "We respect Chief Serpas, but this [Tasering] policy has 
gone too far in our community," said a family friend who on Monday 
joined dozens of others near the Capitol to protest Lee's death.

She described the Belmont-area resident as a young man who overcame 
adversity to make something of himself; he planned to follow his 
father's music industry footsteps by becoming a recording engineer. 
(His dad co-wrote the Garth Brooks hit "Friends in Low Places.")

As they held hand-lettered signs in the midday humidity Monday, Lee's 
friends expressed shock and anger about his death.

He weighed only about 160 pounds, they say, and didn't have an 
aggressive bone in his body. "He was the most gentle person I've ever 
met," says Felicia Zhuang, his girlfriend of a year-and-a-half. "I've 
had boyfriends who were abusive, and he's anything but that." On 
Monday, Zhuang held a sign with a photo of the two of them taken 
after Lee got his G.E.D.; she felt a mix of sadness and rage. "It's 
about Pat, but at the same time it's about a lot more than that. He 
was tortured to death," she said. "This shouldn't happen to anyone's 
son, anyone's boyfriend."

But what exactly did happen?

A source who saw Lee at the Mercy Lounge that night reports that he 
was "out of it" and clearly seemed to be on a drug of some sort. But 
he wasn't violent: "He was too spaced-out to be aggressive," this 
person says. After approaching the stage a couple of times, he was 
kicked out, and eventually the police were called.

A surveillance camera apparently captured some, but not all, of the 
ensuing conflict with police; Lee's friends and family report that 
someone in a nearby building took photos as well.

Beyond this point is speculation and hearsay that comes from family 
and friends who, in some cases, have talked with witnesses.

Lee, they say, merely took his shirt off to rub pepper spray from his 
eyes. His pants were baggy and barely stayed on to begin with-if they 
ended up around his ankles, that would be the result of gravity and 
grappling, friends say. He wasn't known to do lots of drugs or drink 
heavily, they insist.

And moreover, one adult friend of Lee's says: "So what if he was 
naked or on LSD? Like that gives them the right to shoot him 
repeatedly with a Taser?"

Dr. Bruce Levy, Metro's medical examiner, performed a preliminary 
autopsy on Lee's body Monday. "There was no clear-cut cause of 
death," Levy tells the Scene, noting that he found "a multitude of 
superficial injuries," consistent with a parking lot struggle, but no 
broken bones or internal injuries.

He found marks consistent with Tasering, he says, and took samples 
for further testing.

It will take several weeks to get the results of toxicology tests 
that can identify drugs in the bloodstream other than the small 
amounts of cannabis and tranquilizers found in a hospital urine test. 
(It's possible these could have already been in his bloodstream, but 
police say they found LSD and marijuana in his pockets.)

So if the initial autopsy is inconclusive, how will the medical 
examiner determine a cause of death? Levy points out that bursts of 
electricity are by their nature impermanent; electrocution leaves 
little direct evidence of death save a few scars. "It really becomes 
a situation where you begin to rule out the other possibilities," he 
says. "When you see burn marks on the body and can't explain [the 
death] any other way, what you are left with is electrocution." And 
time is always a factor. "If a person in general is shocked with a 
Taser and they immediately fall over and go into cardiac arrest, I 
would consider that good circumstantial evidence that the Taser 
played a direct role. If, however, they get shocked and fall over 
five minutes later, it becomes much less clear," Levy says, adding, 
"If it sounds like an incredibly complicated case, it is."

But there are plenty of sharp minds working on it. Metro homicide 
detectives have launched an investigation, as has the departmental 
Office of Professional Accountability. The medical examiner has his 
own investigators. And the Lee family, too, has hired attorney Tommy 
Overton to figure out what happened last Thursday night.

They say there are plenty of witnesses to the events that led to Pat's death.

Meantime, if Monday's protest is any indication, Nashvillians may be 
getting tired of some of the camera-loving police chief's tactics, 
which have included sweeping traffic ticketing, new surveillance 
cameras and the distribution of 45 Tasers to a handful of Metro officers.

Motorists of all colors and car types honked their support for the 
bereaved protesters: lots of African Americans (including an MTA bus 
driver), but also no shortage of suburban SUV drivers.

Even a guy in a pickup leaned out the window to holler, "It was 
wrong-damn wrong!" about Lee's death.

Tuesday, Chief Serpas took to damage control, penning a Tennessean 
op-ed piece pledging to redouble his efforts to stomp out homicide. 
"As of last Friday, 70 persons have tragically lost their lives due 
to the willful acts of others," he wrote.

That same Friday, Patrick Lee lay bruised and brain-dead in a 
Vanderbilt Hospital bed. The next day, he died. Will he be recorded 
as Nashville's 71st homicide of 2005?
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MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman