Associated Press
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - Montgomery police officials released details of four cases of police misconduct that led to the resignations of eight officers and the firing of three more, including allegations of false imprisonment of one man for three months.
The cases involved beatings, cover-ups and planting false evidence, Montgomery Police Chief John Wilson said.
Wilson said the most serious case involved the arrest of a 36-year-old man who was held in jail for more than three months on charges based on planted evidence.
Shufford Chappell Jr. was arrested last year on a charge of second-degree receiving stolen property - a $500 police radio. But Wilson said the radio had been in a police officer’s car for an unknown amount of time and was used to frame the man after he had been attacked by officers.
The four cases were part of an investigation into activities on the police department’s midnight shift, including reports of officers running through Montgomery streets to mete out their own brand of justice. The midnight shift’s entire leadership has changed, and every officer who served on the shift is being interviewed by the Internal Affairs Division to find out if more officers were involved in wrongdoing.
According to police reports, Chappell was arrested Oct. 2 outside of what police described as a suspected crack house. Police Maj. Kevin Murphy said officers Wesley Hand, Michael Clark, Paul Sampson, Gregory Scott Charles, Randy Miller and Marcus Lightsey were involved in the arrest. The six officers all have resigned.
After a scuffle, officers reported finding the radio next to Chappell, but Hand later told the other officers that the radio was his.
Chappell was held in jail for three months and 11 days before he was released because the Montgomery County district attorney’s office never received the case file from Montgomery police, District Attorney Ellen Brooks said.
The FBI is investigating the officers for possible civil rights violations.
The other cases released by Wilson involved Montgomery residents who reported being harassed and beaten by officers.
According to records from a police administrative hearing for officer Gerald Davis, officers responding to a domestic violence call chased Montgomery resident Eric O’Ree through a parking lot, kicking him while he was on the ground. O’Ree was later taken to a Montgomery cemetery in handcuffs where he was released.
Davis testified in his hearing that “for a brief moment I got caught up in what my training officer was doing and what I ended up doing,” according to Wilson.
Davis admitted in the hearing to kicking O’Ree once, and maybe twice when the man tried to get up, the hearing records show.
Another incident involved Jesse Fuller, 52, who said he was walking from his house when he was told to stop by officers. He said he thought he was being robbed and ran to the porch of a neighbor’s house.
“When I saw who they were, I raised my hands, and they told me to get down on the porch,” Fuller said.
Police Maj. Kevin Murphy identified the officers as Miller and Charles.
As Fuller lay on his stomach, one officer pinned him to the floor with his foot. Then the kicking began, Fuller said.
“They just kept kicking me, kicking me, kicking me,” he said. “I don’t know. I didn’t do anything.”
Fuller was then taken handcuffed to the same Montgomery cemetery, where officers removed the handcuffs.
“They told me to ‘Run, run for your life,”’ Fuller said.
The fourth case identified by Wilson involved the beating of a 17-year-old, who approached officers who had just pulled over his godfather for a traffic stop. According to police reports, the youth, Bobby Holloway, was sprayed with mace and beaten before being taken to a juvenile detention center, where he spent two days.