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? - --- MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman